LOST IN VENICE - A short story

“What do you mean that you don’t have my luggage?” Jason Brown shouted on his IPhone.
“I transferred….to Hotel Danieli…” the phone fell silent.
“Ugh… Damn this network. There is no signal anywhere in Italy.” He said with a hint of fear appearing on his face.
The sky was a mellow orange over ‘Don’s Fresco’ and the setting sun created a mesmerizing effect on the water in the canals of Venice.
Jason hurriedly finished his mocha coffee and quickly left after throwing a tip on the table.
“Wonderful, now I am stuck in this city without my passport.” He muttered to himself.
He hired a water taxi and guided the driver to his hotel.
“This is the street, signor.” The driver said putting his hand forward expecting his payment. “That would be 25€.”
“Are you sure this is the right street?  It doesn’t seem familiar at all.”
Jason asked.
“Si, it is the Piazza San Marco.” He said monotonously.
“Alright then, here’s your 25 bucks.”
“Grazie.”
The water taxi noisily sped away and Jason started searching for his hotel.
He took out a piece of paper on which the name and address of his hotel were scribbled.
“Umm… let’s see… Hotel Danieli on….what’s this….Riva Degli Schiavoni.” He blurted out loud while squinting to make out the words properly.
“Looks like I will have to ask someone for the directions.”
He spotted an elderly man seated at a café nearby.
“Signor… do you know which way Riva Degli Schiavoni is?” he asked impatient for an answer.e stranger said nothing still busy with his newspaper and pointed towards a street with his finger.
“Thank you sir.” Jason said as he dashed away in the direction of the street.
He admired the scenery as he walked past the Basilica di San Marco. Thousands of tourists were wandering around the front of the church. Some taking a tour, some clicking photos and some just strolling.
I should be there having fun rather than finding my damn passport. He thought.
The sun was swiftly setting overhead and the night just seemed to approach.
It was not much time before Jason came to the Riva Degli Schiavoni.
“Now I just need to find where hotel Danieli is.” He muttered looking around for directions.
“Umm. Do you know where Hotel Danieli is? He asked a young man standing nearby.
“Perdono.” He said removing his headphones.

“Hotel Danieli, do you know where it is?”
“Hmm… stupido” he said putting his headphones back on.
Queer guy. I asked him a question. He wondered moving on.
“Umm do you know where hotel Danieli is?” he asked a gentleman in his young 50s.
“It used to be there.” He said pointing towards a recently renovated building.
“Thanks”
‘Used to’. Italians really need to work on their English. He wondered approaching the building.
“Is this the Hotel Danieli? There’s no board outside.” He asked the man at the front desk.
“Was” he replied without looking up from his work.
“Pardon me?” Jason looked perplexed.
“It was Hotel Danieli.” He replied this time facing Jason.
“What do you mean?”
“Hotel Danieli was shut down in 1983 due to financial crisis. This is no longer Hotel Danieli.”


https://creativehappinessjournal.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/lost-in-venice/

Sharks

It was 2011 and I was in Cape Town in South Africa. I had decided to go deep sea diving and shark watching where you go underwater in a cage with sharks all around. Even though I was a bit afraid of sharks, I decided to do it.
The day finally came when I was all ready in scuba diving gear and was about to go in the cage along with an instructor. I noticed that the lock was a bit loose.
“Ummmm ummm umm um uummmm!” I said the mouthpiece still in.
“What?” he asked.
“The lock is a little loose.” I said while pointing towards the lock.
“Oh don’t you worry sir, its tight enough.” He assured me.
I thought that he was right as he was a professional and must know what he was talking about. We went in the cage and started to go underwater. At first we saw the scenic corals and the picturesque blue water.
Soon we went further down and the water became darker and frightening. After another 50 meters or so, we stopped and the instructor threw a chunk of meat outside the cage.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a group of sharks came out of the dark waters and ate the meat.
The fish were humongous and must have been about the size of a school bus. They were dark grey in colour with razor sharp teeth that could tear a human into pieces within seconds.
The sharks were still hovering around the cage and clearly wanted more. However, there was overly greedy shark who so close to the cage that I could feel its sharp odour.
The instructor threw another chunk out which grazed the lock a bit.
The overly greedy shark hit the lock with its teeth and instantly it gave away. A cold shiver went through my spine. I panicked and for the first time in my life realised how deadly a shark could be.
I tried to keep calm and think how to save myself but when you are with hungry sharks, you don’t give a damn about calm.
I knew I was not a good swimmer and couldn’t out swim them. The instructor panicked and tried to swim out of the cage but the sharks were no fools and instantly tore him into pieces. The water turned red with blood. I realised that I was soaked in cold sweat.
One shark tried to get in but was too big and got stuck mid-way. My only escape route was blocked and I had to think of other ways. I took the instructor’s oxygen cylinder and bashed it as hard as I could on the shark’s head. The shark cried with agony and got out of the cage.
I quickly closed the cage door but I was no match for them. This time the door opened towards the outside and I was halfway out of the cage.
As I was trying to get back inside the cage, one of the sharks bit my right arm off.
A sharp pain shot through me and it felt like being shot 100 times. Blood spurted all around and I could see the sharks fighting for my flesh.
I started to black out and crashed into the cage’s bar. I struggled to get in with whatever energy was left in me. I slowly got in but was still feeling drowsy.
I crashed into the bars again and slowly sank to the bottom of the cage and blacked out with the sharks still hovering outside the cage.
Luckily for me, the instructor on the beach who had lowered us down in the cage felt the tugs on the cage and then saw the red water. He immediately pulled the cage up.
When I regained consciousness, I was lying on a hospital bed with bandages around my left arm. The doctor gave me a newspaper and I saw that I was on the cover page. I felt proud of myself for facing my fear and that too so courageously.

https://creativehappinessjournal.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/sharks/

Happy Fathers Day

Dear Daddy, Happy Father's Day.

Please take me on a farm,

to watch a pig eat hay,

then I will hang around your arm.

We will go to a Mall,

and test drive a Polo,

or watch a movie in a hall,

or buy a book called 'Going solo'.

(Found my first poem in Mom's diary written when i was 8 yrs).

Dharamshala - a Tibetan getaway

Dharmshala  is a hill station in the district of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. It has picturesque hills and vivid tea gardens. I had gone there for a vacation and stayed in the Club Mahindra resort for about 5 days. In this time, I visited a lot of good places there. The best ones are the Norbulingka Institute, HPCA stadium and McLoed Ganj. The Institute had a few temples and it's motto was to preserve and promote Tibetan culture. It had a shop as well but it's only problems was it's exorbitant prices. Next up is the HPCA stadium which is one of the world's highest stadiums. Dharmshala is divided into 2 parts- upper and lower Dharamshala. The upper one is McLoed Ganj and the lower one is lower Dharamshala. All the nice shops and temples are in McLoed Ganj. It also has the Dalai Lama Temple and a monastery. Overall, my trip was remarkable and I collected a lot of Tibetan souvenirs. the only thing I regret was not going for a trek to see snow-capped mountains. Instead, I went for a trek to see tea gardens which was also pretty nice. My favourite place was a momo stand next to a bridge  near club mahindra which sold authentic Tibetan momos which were truly divine!

Nature thru DSLR

Science

Science

Science, Science, Science,
Makes our heads go round and round.
But have you ever wondered
What goes on all around?
From Gadgets to Appliances,
Everything uses logic of Science.

Ichthyology - the study of Fish,
Exploring this field is my wish.
Chemistry is a field very vast,
CAREFUL, sodium and water together will blast.
While the earth is rotating and revolving,
The field of Physics is also evolving.

Science is a wonderful subject
Just like living on the edge.
It is like a enlighten prism,
Clearing our doubts through theorems.

Let's learn, explore, experiment and have fun,
For me Science is the greatest inspiration.


( Wrote few lines under School assignment 'Why I love Science' )

Sunset at Kandaghat

Recently went to Kandaghat during my Winter vacations.  It was very bright & sunny there.

Tried to capture various shades during sunset from my room window.