Back at Ireland

Here is me back at Dundalk, Ireland. There is me apartment and therez me car. :-)

Its been two weeks here, and there are two more to go. While most of the time here has been spent in training, and other logistics, its going to be the real issues and work that is to be done this coming fortnight to really serve the purpose of my trip here..

Its a pity I had to miss all the Puja week festivities last week, just because I had to sit through some dumb software training manuals, but then thats life. Whats assuring is that I would be home for Diwali, with my parents. This time we are planning to squeeze a weekend outing to any of the lower hillstations, or even to Chandigarh / Amritsar etc. and return just before the onset of the harsh winter, but then I hope its not just one of the plans which enjoy their lifetime just in your head, and never get materialized. Cos, all these 4-5 years, whenever I reach Delhi its always a helter skelter trip, schedules are tight, got to visit them , and do that job and everything.. and by the time you realize you can maybe relax, its time to say your goodbyes, and return to Bangalore..

Ireland is as green as I saw it last, which is what I love about this country. Lesser winds this time around, but then the climate is always damp and soggy, which is a kind of a put off, you kind of miss the sunshine back home. One of my Irish colleagues had been to Bangalore mid Septemeber, and when I had asked him what he had done for his first weekend, he had said
"Among other things , enjoyed the sun at my room balcony for 3 hours.." . I understand why :-)

The people are very warm though , even a bit "noisy"sometimes , if-you-know-what-mean !! :) . And plus there is loads of places I have to see in this country, I am planning a trip to the west coast with my colleagues, the country isnt that big.. so hope to cover a good portion in a couple of days. The car is okay , its a Rover 45 this time, and though it looks better and has more space than the Opel Astra I had got the last time, the MG cars I have driven can never seem to match German, or Japanese counterparts in smoothness and other car handling standards. The apartment is okay, has a good nice lawn on the backside, and since its very close to the Technology institute , there are loads of young college students staying together in the neighborhood.

Evenings are boring though, especially Television programmes quality can at best be called "sub standard". I had to fight myself into not taking the new Cable .. especiallysince 60 Euros is a bit too much, but nobody had said the cost of living was cheap. Other things are costly as well, and its not like the 5-7 kgs of Hersheys and a couple of Jackets, books or clothes I could pick up in the US, for my friends and relatives, just a 250 gm packet of Toblerone costs 10 Euros.

All this is understandable since not much of the consumer stuff is produced locally, everything is procured from outside states, and I somehow think "Euro" -ization of the country has helped it tremendously. But, you can see loads of development going around, high speed motorways and airport terminals etc. , people are generally, well to do, unlike our Asian countries., there is good social order and .


Anyways.. hope to finish all the work and head for home soon, for a week long rest. Am even starting to miss my 1/2 an hour Sudoku solving everyday morn. Would meet my parents after a long time as well..

Currently on the jukebox

"Vaishnav Jan to Tere Kahiye Je - Lata Mangeshkar.. "