December 30th 2007.
Kangaroo thinking : what a beautiful day, perfect weather- nice and hot – 40 degrees celcius- let me take a quick nap under this eucalyptus tree…
So we were on the ocean drive road with Luke and Ngoc (Ba for the ease of pronounciation). Who are they, well they are the sister and brother in law of my friend Tai from Wharton. Tai was very kind to introduce me to them and in fact we lived in their house. They were so welcoming and such warm people that I couldn’t believe my luck. They not only were good people but very caring and thoughtful. They offered to pick us from the airport, helped us with understanding the city and commute etc, gave us their house keys as well as fed us food the first night we reached Melbourne. They took uswith them to St Kilda’s the next day which is a wonderful part of the Philips bay area and has a jetty that ggoes quite far into the water - to the right of the jetty could be seen the sky line of Melbourne – the observation deck which was the highest building in Melbourne, till a taller structure dwarfed it to make it the now second tallest building… The walk along the jetty was quite and serene… it was mildly windy and the temperature were back to the normal mid 20s from the hot high 30s earlier in the day… St. Kilda’s is a very nice place to go and spend sometime with the wind and the sea… I went back for a brief moment into all the good things in life and happy memories started flowing… I don’t know about you guys, but what happens to me is that there are some moments and places that you want to stand still… you are right there in time and relaxed, calm and not thinking too at all about any worries, issues or even problems or anything other than being there at that moment… So that exactly was one such few minutes of my life there…
So anyways backing up, the drive from Melbourne airport to their house was fantastic. I cannot explain the roads – as smooth as a marble flooring? Should be the feel when we were driving through- no traffic jams, speeding all the time at around 80kmh (finally kms and driving on the correct side of the road : ). Well after dinner we went off to sleep and next day all our ambitious plans of getting up early and heading to Flinders street station or the Federation square, which is the central place oor finding out tourist information etc, were down the dreams…
We went straight to the cricket… I bought myself a bottle of coca cola… and we went and sat in the sun… nice and warm (36 degree celcius – for my American friends celcius = (Fahrenheit – 32) * 5/9. The Australian cricket team was at the top – as usual … in fact I took a few sips from the bottle of coca cola to take my mind away from the relentless Aussie supremacy and the unstoppable heat : ) So guys the Kangaroos are my favorites (the cricket team I mean )… I want India to beat them – because they are the pinnacle of professionalism, the best in the world, aware of their position and power still so ruthlessly disciplined and workoholics… and its fascinating to fantasize the talented indian team trying to beat the talented but much more pprofessional Australian team… it was not happening in the MCG game – a. coz they were much better it’s a fact… b. coz the BCCI is weird and ridiculous as they did not give a couple of practice games to the Indian team before the test matches…. Imagine, getting up from bed and straight walking to try and putt a golf ball from 70 meters… is it a joke… ? the board of control of cricket in India thinks so…
So while the Aussie batsmen hit us for another boundary and the bowlers squeezed us for runs and thrashed us… my coke kept lying in the sun… I again decided to change the taste a bit and took another sip… believe me even coffee is not that hot… I am always asking for room temperature coke… but this was beyond my abilities- it was hot 40degrees coke… I almost burnt my tongue… I immideately remembered BPUB 621 Prof Hunter’s course where we were told that a lady sued Mc Donalds for hot coffee and no warning that coffee could burn… if I were in America I could have thought of a funny suit myself… no wwarning that a cola left in the hot sun can burn my tongue … : ) lol… And we lost the game… no problems… for some of you – who are asking me- is my trip worthless now… since my team is losing… a big no- you don’t understand a cricket fan then and no use replying to you all on my blog : ) its amazing watching cricket in Australia.. at the Melbourne cricket ground and watching the best team in the world play my Indian cricket team… and visiting this beautiful country and experiencing Aussie life…
After we lost the game.. we metup with Manas’ friend Sarvan and a couple of other friends of his and had dinner at Lygon street… full of Italian restaurants… and another wonderful place to come and roam around – in fact across from it is a park… and then we headed to the Crown casino… now I have never been to Vegas- but this casino was huge… not only machines, card rooms, and poker players but also restaurants, a cinema hall and night clubs… Obviously first straight into the night club called Odeon… now my one complaint about clubs I have been to in Philly… bad DJs…. This place had some throbbing music and a great DJ… in fact after leaving Philly I have come across 2 of the best DJs I have ever heard… the first in Malad in Mumbai at the Christmas party my sister organized… local guy… no suave or sophisticated youngster but a local, just ok English speaking kind of simple guy churning the best mix of bollywood music I have ever heard (and I have heard a lot believe me)… then the next this DJ in Odeon in Melbourne… great mix and blend of some pulsating music… I danced away to glory.. as usual… So for some of you guys who don’t know this – Dave Orowitz my friend from Wharton – we have a pact – we if we go to the same party… he drinks for and I dance on behalf of both of us… :
So back to the great ocean drive ) – we are here on the Sunday… with Luke and Ba who again have very generously driven us here… some amazing country side small towns of Melbourne… obviously the ocean view , beaches, a waterfall place where we adventured a bit… and awesome company… At one place we went to see some kangaroos and we were blessed with 30 of them I guess… but they would run away where we would go… well we reached one of them – this one was sleeping – like I mentioned in my first para… my friend decided to go closer and take a photograph… went like upto 3 meters away and happily took photographs… the kangaroo awoke- looked at him and again went back to sleep… how funny… So I remember a t shirt I saw in South Africa a few years back… on the left side were a lot of wild animals looking to the right… on the right were a lot of people on the beach etc, partying, doing ridiculous things… and the caption said on the left as if the animals were thinking… “so they think we are wild!!!”
One factabout the kangaroos is that they are quite animals that seem harmless… till the time you touch them… if they don’t like that, they hold you with their hands, go back on their tail… and jump and smash their legs into tour stomach and groin… and the toe nails are quite sharp… ooops…
Time to leave Melbourne… an amazing 3 days and more… looking to the new year… Happy new year guys….
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