Wine Festival

The Limassol Wine Festival is back!
It is an annual event which we all look forward to. (Read - lots of free wine ;) )
Last year, my friends and I spent a wonderful 3 - 4 hours walking among the crowds, tasting the different kinds of wine, watching the local artists sing and dance. The best part was watching the grapes being crushed and the music and the dance during the whole process.

Well, we managed to get out not too drunk and with a few bottles of some really nice village wines.

The Entrance



From here floweth the wine

Letters of appreciation

29/Aug/2006

Dear Ms Gopinadhan,
We are glad to inform you that the company has decided ot reward you for your extra efforts.

As a token of gratitude, you will get an amount of 250 CyP and a gift hamper from GUCCI. Please collect the same from your floor secretary.

With warm regards,

Dido Baygon



30/Aug/2006

Dear employee,
On second thoughts, the company has decided to limit the extra efforts bonus to less beautiful girl employees and to those who is expected to stay with DVCC for next three years. So, you are kindly requested to give the money back. You can do this by depositing the amount with the secretary, whose name starts with an "A"

With regards,

Dido Baygon


Well, as you might have guessed, this was a prank pulled by one of my friends. He took a printout of these letters and left it in my pigeon hole.
Have sent a reply, but all that later......

Paphos and Parasailing

Saturday was a change for me after a loooong loooong time. One of my friend's gf has come down to visit him and we decided to show her around the island.
So, out came the map of the island and among the 4 – 5 places of interest, we decided to head out for Paphos.
Paphos lies to the west of Limassol and it is one the most beautiful drives I have ever been to, in this place. The best part about the drive is that we are passing through mountain sides and all along we can see the sea stretching below us, all sparkling blue and inviting.
Stopped near Curium Beach, Aphrodite's birthplace, Paphos port, Mosaic exhibition and then went parasailing.
Parasailing was the high point of the trip!
The boat that we were in got overheated in between and we got stranded and had to be rescued. The whole parasailing thing was AMAZING. It definitely is a whole new world up there. Like taking a ride on Aladdin's magic carpet ;)
But the bad point - now a tanned little piglet :D (not a pink one)
A very red lobster look (definitely not fit for a blushing bride)
Ended the day with a nice dinner at a Kerala Restuarant and then a sleepy ride back to Limassol.

Curium Beach

On the way to Aphrodite's birthplace. You can see the blue sea right ahead.

Aphrodite's Birthplace (the rock a little far from the shore)

View from the road

A Monumental task

One Two! Huff! Puff!!
2 more months to go and I still look like a piglet. Ahem, don't have the heart to call myself a pig. :D
Now, the days of binging on yummy chocolates (1 bar before lunch, one after and of course the one before going to sleep) and the huge helpings of dessert are over. Sad, but I must say I relished them to an extent that was quite sinful.
Have to get back into shape (err, whatever shape I used to be). Gotta be the radiant bride! Proving to be quite a task.
All my cousins and sis are on a diet and they seem to be succeeding. Think the air in Cyprus has something to contribute?
Somebody help me out!
Liposuction seems an option
Well, of course there is always the age old argument that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and that beauty is skin deep and all that.
But call me a little vain if you must! :P

Who wins? Who loses?

The urge to protect one's own territory has been present in man and beast alike since the dawn of evolution. This is a well known fact.
Cats scent-mark their territory by rubbing their faces and flanks against objects (never knew this. My cat always used to do this to me! :D)
Birds and gibbons defend their territories by either visual or auditory means.
While in the animal kingdom, defence of territory rarely takes the form of overt fights, it is not so in the human kingdom.
It is when this urge becomes an obsession that the urge to protect becomes more than just that. You transgress and then there is chaos.
A beast is born. A beast who is unstoppable and like a juggernaut picks up pace and flattens all that comes in his way – be it the innocent or the criminals that invade his space.
Now the question is – what do you get out of all this? A land to call your own? A territory to be marked and proclaimed as 'my land'? At what cost?
This is the modern age where war is one country affects not just the people there or their neighbours but every one else.
Consider this.
Terrorists blow up a pipeline in the middle east. What happens next? The price of petrol shoots up all around the world. Cooking gas becomes dearer.
Israel attacks Lebanon. And then? Countries all over the world have to send in their ships to move their people to safety. The air ways of the neighbouring countries are jam packed. The normal routines of millions are disrupted, not to mention the lives of thousands and the emotional turmoil of the people.

I recently read this article on the net which proclaimed

GE was one of the first companies to recognize the business opportunity in counter-terrorism and has spent over $4 billion since 2002 to acquire smaller business to take a bigger slice of the $160 billion global security industry.

Recognise the business oppurtunity in counter terrorism!!! God! How can you be so cold when saying something like that?
Terrorism opens businees doors and oppurtunities to so many companies – now that is really something new!
Someone makes better weapons and then the next individual markets a way to get over this. Now – that is what humanity is all about, isn't it?
Instead of proclaiming this so proudly, why don't people find a way to break this vicious circle? Coz as far as I can see while the common man on either side loses out, it is only these businessmen who still manage to laugh all their way to the bank.

Languages galore!

Talking of languages, I have always wanted to learn new languages. I have always been fascinated by cultures different from mine, their way of living etc.

I have always liked to believe that it is easy for me to learn new languages. But was I wrong!!! After coming to Cyprus, I tried learning greek. Phew! Gave up after learning a few phrases like kali mera, parakalo etc.

And there was this short stint at learning French! Man! That language has more exceptions than rules. Am still struggling with the basic phrases.

I read somewhere that it is easier to learn a language when you are a small child. Small children have this amazing ability to pick up languages, any number of them. One eg would be the Indian babies that I see here in Cyprus. By the time they are 2 yrs old, they can speak in their 'mother tongue', English and Greek too.

I remember watching this 1.5 yr kid who has a malayalee mom and a tamilian dad. The kid was so smart that he used to talk to him mom in malayalam and to his dad in tamil. After saying something to his mom, he would translate the same into tamil for his dad. Now, is that smart or what? Ever wondered how the kid picked this up?

On the other hand, I also know kids of mixed parentage who could not pick up either of the languages. Not their fault am sure!