Military tattoo festival

Every year Edinburgh comes alive during August for the Edinburgh festival. This festival is a culmination of a number of festivals – the book festival, the food festival, the comedy festival, the art festival, the jazz and blues festival, the science festival, so on so forth. For each of the festivals there are performers/participants who come from world over and it is a sight to behold.

One such festival in all of this is the Military Tattoo festival, it is held at the Edinburgh castle grounds. Everyone I met here has raved of this festival and it is supposed to be a big deal. So I went to see the military tattoo show on 5th Aug and it was a preview show which meant we got the tickets at half price.

The show started at 9:30 and we were seated at the stands in seats close to the castle which was a good place to be since the performers all came out from the castle to begin with. It was a bit like being in our republic day performance except that it was in the night, the audience far too small and the lighting was amazing.

There were bands from different parts and each of the bands came in played their music and did a routine involving dancing or acrobatics. It was sheer poetry in motion. This year was the diamond jubilee celebrations so it was special. There was band participation from Jordan, Scotland, Wales, England, Gurkha regiment, etc.

There was a bit of fun when a small piece was done by children ranging from 5 yr olds to 16 yr olds all on bikes and they did some amazing stunts on their little bikes. The best being a two five yr olds on a Sholay style scooter (with an additional compartment for a 3rd passenger), the child at the handle bars manoeuvred the bike to ride it on 2 wheels rather than its 3 wheels and the child in the passenger seat beside him kept squirting at the audience with his water gun! That was really cute.

The Jordan regiment came out looking fierce and they were doing a fine job when one of the horses in the troop started getting a bit squeamish. The poor horseman he kept trying to get the animal under control but the horse kept turning round and round. So while the troop was out performing their heart out the horse stole the show by being shy and fidgety! :)

Any show of patriotism brings in a bit of sentiment I believe and I must say that night was filled with splendour with men and women teaming and performing to show how good their places were.

Of course Scotland being the host they didn’t want to be outdone by anyone so they performed for all they were worth and it was dashing to see girls doing their traditional dance along side men in the band.

And last but not least, truly a man in uniform makes the heart beat faster. :)

Apprehended by Police……Almost

 

Last weekend started off to be a normal day, actually it started off with a good feel because the two of us were up and about early. We were ready to go out by 8 AM itself, felt as if we had a whole lot of time to do things. Shaiwal decided to start the day off with some sweets so he went about trying to open Haldirams Cham Cham tin while I was cleaning the vessels. All of a sudden he started yelling with pain and then holding his right hand thumb close he rushed to the sink. Oh great cut his finger did he?!!! I looked on thinking how careless?

Suddenly Shaiwal turned back and said clean the walls otherwise it will stain. I gaped, “what?!” I turned around to see that his blood was splattered on the wall and quite a lot lay on the floor. It took me a minute to comprehend. He had cut his finger quite deep in fact two inches more and he would have lost the tip. Under the tap, blood refused to stop, so I rushed and got my cotton tshirt out, rolled ice in it and put it to the wound, made Shaiwal sit with his hands over the head to stop his bleeding.

As in all emergencies, I called up family to ask what to do? Over the phone that sounds quite normal, I mean so what he cut his finger and he was bleeding a bit. He’ll live. In person however it was turning out to be quite frightening, Shaiwal kept bleeding heavily and continuously, I was at my wits end when by 11:30 he didn’t show the courtesy to stop bleeding.

Since all clinics were closed due to the weekend, I called up the emergency number, a pre-recorded message said - ‘If you are in a life threatening state then continue the call else hang up!’’ What nonsense, I wasn’t in a life threatening state I just wanted advice on where to take Shaiwal and get him stitched up. So I called the nearby hospitals and they said we don’t do accidents minor or otherwise!!! So what do I do? Where do I go?

So that’s when I rang up 999. They answered within 2 seconds and said – “Police/Ambulance/Fire Force?” I answered saying I didn’t need any of these but I had a situation at hand and I needed to take my husband in for medical care so what do I do?” So they wanted to know if they should send in the Ambulance?!!! Oh god what drama, dude I know he is bleeding a lot but I wouldn’t call in an ambulance just yet. They put me on to the police instead, a nice lady picked up and asked me very patiently (I guess they are trained to be) – “Did I attack my husband?” That’s when I thought, can I go back to bed please? Could you please make this be a dream dear god?

I patiently (even though I am not trained to be) explained my situation and asked for advice. She said I needed to take shaiwal to the western general hospital and gave me the address. SO I finally called in a taxi took him there!! He got medical attention and I came back home emotionally drained. What a day!

Annual Leave

My boss came in yesterday. She works out of Manchester and she visits the Edinburgh office once in two weeks. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal but then I needed to tell her that I shall be on leave for 3 weeks in November. Why you ask? Well my sister in laws wedding of course.

So after discussing all action points relating to my work, I casually slipped in the point that I would be on Annual Leave during November. Annual Leave is something I picked up here, this past month I am seeing a lot of people marked “On Annual Leave” in their calendars. This is the time when Europe is at its sunniest or warmest, also the time for school holidays, so most people take off 2-3 weeks during this time. I figured if they can then so can I. My boss turned out to be very happy with me as I was professional enough to plan it well in advance and she had full confidence that I would ensure no work items would be hindered due to my absence! Duh – what?!!

Talk about managing expectations and people. I like the way she positively replied for that put me in the right frame of mind and then smoothly slipped in the fact that I should do relevant transfer of work responsibilities before I leave. Brilliant!

Anyways now my calendar has Nov days marked with Annual Leave. Whenever I feel swamped with work I just turn to my calendar and I feel a smile coming on. :)

Falkirk Wheel

One of my colleagues told me about the Falkirk Wheel last week and on hearing about it I was intrigued. It is a wheel which acts as a boat lift and takes boats from one canal to the other, consuming energy only as much as required for heating up 8 kettles of water!

The topography of Scotland is filled with mountains and hence a difference in heights of the canals. Since waterways are essential for trade and transport (in olden days), traditionally the boats used to manage through a series of Locks. Locks were compartments created in between, wherein a boat is brought to the end of one canal, huge doors closing in behind so as to not let water pass and the doors ahead opened to fill in the compartment with water and raise the boat to the height of the next canal. This was a time consuming process resulting in a lot of water loss as well.

Hence the wheel was built in Falkirk, which is half hour journey from Edinburgh by train. The wheel itself a huge contraption, panning over 117 ft high, transports the boats within a space of 3 mins and with no water loss. It is built on the Archimedes' principle – ‘Any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid.’ So when a boat enters the lift it displaces its own weight of water and when it is let out into the next canal that amount of water returns to the lift.

The benefits are amazing and the tour guide was very entertaining, she had us in splits throughout those 3 minutes. However what astounded me was that this particular lift is being used for recreation rather than to help actual boats, I guess the waterways aren’t used as much in this day and age. It cost 45 billion pounds to make it and I kept wondering when they would break even!

The icing of the day was we actually saw a private boat making its way through the canals, first used the boat lift and since it wasn’t available for all the locks throughout, we saw it go through a traditional lock system as well. That was awesome.

I especially liked the safety measure they followed, whenever a boat entered into the lift or the locks it was tied to side to avoid the boat crashing on either sides.

Banking Services

This weekend we needed monthly statements from each of our bank accounts respectively. So Saturday, although gloomy and wet, we decided to brave the weather and head to our banks. Shaiwal banks with HSBC and I bank with Santander. Let me at the beginning set the record straight - Santander was not something I chose because I wanted to but I chose it simply for the fact that while other banks were taking a month to process and open a bank account, Santander was taking only 2 weeks.

Before setting out to the banks, due to my low opinion of services here, I decided to call up the bank and check the process of getting a monthly statement. The bank executive assured me that I could walk in to the branch and get my statement, however (aha the catch!) I needed to carry my photo ID and proof of address. Why in god’s name I needed to carry the two for the life of him he couldn’t answer, especially when I was sincerely trying to explain that I was already an account holder and while I understand the requirement for my photo ID, I couldn’t comprehend the need for proof of address. Well I didn’t want to delay so I took along both while going to the bank.

First stop was HSBC, there were two beautiful girls standing at the entry asking “May I help?” One couldn’t help but smile back looking at such lovely girls and I guess the overall customer reaction would be, “No please, however if you may then I would like to be of help” Whatever!

Shaiwal explained he needed his monthly bank statement, the lady then proceeded to a nearby machine punched in the request, the machine promptly sprouted out a chit which she then handed over to us and guided us to go upstairs to first floor. The chit had instructions to go to the first floor as well and also the name of the bank executive who would handle our bank request. As we went upstairs the executive was already waiting for us and led us to her seat. After verifying Shaiwal’s identification, she then competently printed and handed over the bank statement, all the while enquiring if there was anything else we needed. WHOA!!! What service! To top it off the ambience was amazing too; the office is in the heart of Edinburgh with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Edinburgh Castle. We were impressed; banking with HSBC sure does make you feel good.

Next stop Santander Bank. I had weird feeling that my bank would not match up to HSBC standards so my feet dragged a bit on the way over. However can’t delay the inevitable for long. We went into Santander and found no beautiful girls, we found a queue to the teller window and a bank executive seated at the desk speaking in hushed sympathetic tones to a customer. I couldn’t make out whether the executive was solving a bank related issue or the customer’s divorce issue.

Anyways after a small wait, I went up to the teller window, since the executive didn’t look like he would be free soon. The teller very promptly assured me that I COULDN’T have my bank statement as these were never issued at the branches, the request for them were to be placed over phone and it would reach me in 10 -12 working days time. I laboriously explained to the teller my entire conversation with his phone banking and said I had even bought in my photo ID and proof of address. It didn't cause any ripple, the teller happily repeated to me what he said before. I did get a statement of transactions for the last 3 weeks but not a monthly statement.

Well Santander might be the official sponsors for Formula 1 but they don’t have well streamlined banking process in place to service the customer much less to provide customer delight! Oh HSBC tussi great ho.

FOOTBALL!!

I am not an avid football watcher, perhaps I should be more honest than that……I have hardly watched 5 football games in total. So when people go ga-ga over Manchester United, I normally have a bland smile on my face and I nod knowingly. World Cup 2010 therefore didn't stir any great emotional response from me.

 

My dad and brother on the other hand were going on about it; the latter more so being an ardent fan of Argentina. Last weekend we got a TV in our home here and there happened to be a match going on, I don’t remember the teams playing but I did sit and watch for a time. It sort of was interesting and I thought okay, I should see how it all ends!

 

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing said a wise man. Well I happened to watch yesterday the semi final match between Germany and Spain. Since Germany was being touted as the Goliath I thought I would support poor David. Luckily for me David actually paid off. So then today morning as I was talking to my brother, my poor husband was shocked from his sleep to hear me speak about defence, strategy, goal and such. My poor brother although knows that I was football ignorant in my childhood has no clue whether I picked it up during the years I was in Chennai. And I was just happy to share my new found knowledge via the commentators.

Indian from India!

One thing that I do notice now that its been almost two weeks since I joined here is the fact that people don’t expect me to be from India just because I am an Indian. Confused? Don’t be let me explain.

People here tend to be shocked, whenever during the course of conversation it slips from me that I have been in Edinburgh only for about 4 months now. There are now that I have taken the time to look around quite a few people who could be of Indian origin but carry themselves exactly how natives here do. I gather these people might be the second or third generation of Indians or Asian origin people who have been brought up here. So what I didn’t pick up earlier was on the fact that people around were far more comfortable with my existence among them than I myself. The operating premise is that I am perhaps one such second or third generation or else I have been here for quite a number of years.

So when they do come to know that either premise is false and that I have been here for only 4 months, the first question I get is, “But then, how come your English is so good?” the second question I get is, “So then are you here on your own or do you have family?” and the third and final question I get is “How long is your stay then?”

The 1st question initially felt quite complimentary but as the number of people asking it grew the question became tedious and insulting. Yes I speak English well, I am from a country which has English as second language and is spoken as much if not more than our mother tongues. Oh I tried that response once but then I had to explain why English was so widely spoken and I got into the tangled web of “India, you see, is a DIVERSE country!”

The second question surprises me for the people here are normally very aware of personal boundaries and take care not to cross them. It also gives me a feeling of being a frog under a telescope, up for scrutiny! And hello for heavens sake what does it matter if I am on my own or with family, right now right here, I am working, so what’s your problem buddy?

The third question is when I feel like giving up. And there I thought I was making some inroads and making a few friends here and there. But then all they want to know is when they get to see my back for good!!!! So much for gelling in.

Another week down people, weekend is here, wish all of you a great weekend ahead and hey don’t think of Monday unless you absolutely have to.