5 Beers to drink before you die

OK, its the first time I decided to en-cash my knowledge about beer. I had started drinking beer since I was in engineering college.And about 12 years later , I want to show some respect to the greatest pleasure on planet earth !

1. Corona

Corona is often served with a wedge of citrus fruit, usually lime, occasionally lemon, inserted into the neck of the bottle. Believe me, its
heaven on earth !
Its my #1.
Generally, its very expensive when imported. In France 6 33 ml pint costs roughly 9 E. It about 3 times regular beer !

Interesting facts -

"In the United States, Corona Extra is the top selling imported beer.^"



2. Heineken

Any time and any place !

Its all time favorite. Lights up any party ambiance.

Interesting facts -
" Heineken recipe has not changed since the beer was first produced 150 years ago"

"Third largest brewer ..."

"It took over Amstel in 1982"

3. Guinness

Simply mind blowing.

Interesting facts -
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) ... based on the porter style that originated in London ... one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. ... burnt flavor which is derived from the use of roasted barley. The thick creamy head is the result of the beer being mixed with nitrogen when being poured.... is the best-selling alcoholic drink of all time in Ireland

4. Leffe Abbey Beer

Amazing beer !!!

Interesting facts -

The abbey Notre Dame de Leffe was founded in 1152 ..... Using knowledge passed from generation to generation and ingredients found in the wild near the abbey, the canons developed a unique ale, brewed only at the abbey.

.... 1794 the outbreak of the French Revolution resulted in the abbey being deserted and the brewery destroyed..... returned in 1902.

5. 1664

Interesting facts -

Kronenbourg Brewery is a brewery founded in 1664 by Geronimus Hatt in Strasbourg, France as the Hatt Brewery. The name comes from the area (Cronenbourg) where the brewery relocated in 1850. The company is owned by the Carlsberg Group. The main brand is Kronenbourg 1664, a 5.5% abv pale lager which is the best selling premium lager brand in France.

Simple Is Life

A simple Human life

Sometimes I run for bus, when I am late to work. I am able to formulate my run through signals and passing cars to gain seconds before my bus arrives. I feel happy when I make it. A welcome smile of my colleagues makes me comfortable and then the aroma of the morning coffee gives me the spark for the day.

I know some people depend on my performance. I also know few don’t want that I should perform well. I know I have to do it, whatever may be the case, condition or situation. I feel so very satisfied when I perform well and agitated when I fail to do so. Every day it’s the same story.

In the evening it’s time to return home. My mind is still rushing with thoughts of tomorrow. I am impatient and want the next day to start right now. But I am tired and need rest for my body and mind.

On journey back to home I put on my favorite music in my Ipod. I feel relaxed. I come back home. Home gives me immense emotional security and courage. I taste some good wine and food. I get love and care. And now I am ready to fight tomorrow, of course after my sleep.

I am sure you can also relate some parts of it with your own life.

A complex human life

A genetic evolution to Homo erectus about 1.5 million year ago gave humans the capability to stand. And eventually with 1.5 million years of practice of mastering the art of balance, I sometimes run for bus, when I am late to work.

Evolution of “eyespots”, proteins that sense light (even found in unicellular organisms), to human eyes took more than 500 million years. Human eyes enable us with color vision, not present in many mammals, and auto focus mechanism. The ability of eyes helps me visualize my colleague’s smile.

As humans evolved to stand erect, nose lost the close contact with the ground. This made significant reduction in the proportion of functional olfactory receptor genes. But with functional 350 olfactory receptor genes, I get the spark from the morning coffee.

The most complex object yet observed anywhere in the universe is the organ that fills the space between our ears. Human brain is about 1.8 % of body, weighing about 1.3 kg. 11 billion of specialized nerve cells, or neurons, capable of receiving, processing, and relaying the electrochemical pulses generate all our sensations, actions, thoughts, and emotions. Using this extraordinary web of neurons I understand my desires, remember things and repeat the same story every day.

Hearing organs were the last pair of organs developed during evolution. Primitive amphibians (some still today) pick sound waves through bones and skull. With dozens of parts and thousands of pieces in my ears, which work accurately together to provide hearing, I enjoy my Ipod.
Using my 10,000 taste buds scattered over on my tongue, I taste my wine and enjoy the dinner.
I am sure you can also relate some parts of it with your own life.

Respecting the simplicity

If it is for free, it doesn’t mean it is cheap.

All the sensory capabilities that we are empowered with as human beings are more than extraordinary. They have been mastered through genetic evolution for millions of years. Each ounce of progress of genetic evolution was focused to enrich the quality of our lives.

From movie Spiderman I quote – “With great powers, comes great responsibility”

What responsibility do we have?

Enjoy your life, it’s a miracle!

Walk life with open mind ...

It’s October 1998 in Cuttack, Orissa, India. Having a good refuge from hostel during Durga-Puja , I have decided to spend the vacation at my friend’s home. Owing to Bengali tradition of Vijaya-Dashami I have accompanied my friend to visit his relatives living few yards apart.

It seems everyone from his family is living in an ancestral home. A very strong fortified home, with more than ten rooms, to accommodate two or three families. A grand entrance to enthrall its visitors is decorated with a framed photograph. The photograph has no difficulty in conveying the lucid message it intends the visitor to carry back with them. I am no exception. A girl is receiving award from president of India. The girl must be from high school and an expert of Odissi (a traditional dance from Orissa). The message of pride was clear as every visitor had to pass below its photographic representation.

After the tea is served my friend is engrossed with his relatives, mesmerizing them with the half true stories from our engineering college. In midst of partially true stories I saw the ambassador of pride entering the room. She was smiling and seems to decipher the stories of my friend. Wait, something is wrong. She did not even have the courtesy to pass a hello to me. I, my friend’s friend, was a very import guest. Even if I have to pass below her photograph to enter the fort, it still doesn’t detain me from my very rudimentary welcome rights. She just stood in the corner of the room staring at guests and smiling. She didn’t talk to anyone and neither did anyone in the room try to talk to her. Maybe her majesty talks to people invited for royal affair. Then, to stir my abjectness to extremity, she left the gathering without any formal good bye.

It’s time to retreat. Unable to suppress by uneasiness I fearlessly declared my candid thoughts about the princess to my friend. The answer was another smile with few words that eventually changed my way at looking life forever. My friend said, “She is very reserve and shy, as she is deaf and dumb. But she got the state award for Odissi. She is really a very nice person. I think you were really quick in accessing her.”

I would not say that I learned the lesson then and there. But every time I ruminate about this very minute incidence I am able to understand a basic flaw in human behavior. So quick we are to make judgments. We just make judgments about the people in not more than couple of minutes. We immediately start gauging and then believing. Misguided belief is not only humans, but also about cultures, society or anything which can give birth to a thought. And, believing makes what we are. I learned that living with false belief is like living an “unreal life”. And to live a true life, we should “Walk life with open mind”.

Every rose has its thorn in Sahara !

There are some thoughts in life which you always remember. Some thoughts give us pleasure or sense of pride. Whereas,some bring in bad waves which can even chill your spine. This blog is for about a incidence in Egypt Tour and still chills , when I think about it.

In was on 28 Dec 2008. A wonderful morning in Cairo. A clear sky. Mild weather. It was our day planned for El Faiyum Oasis and then to proceed deeper in the Sahara for a lake and desert. We had hired a Taxi.The taxi driver is our guide too. His name was Walid Wlily, a proud owner of Mazda 920.

By early after noon we reached El Faiyum . Not very impressed , we quickly proceeded to lake in Sahara. It took another 1 hour of drive. When we reached the lake , I was spellbound. I had never seen natural beauty so bold and prompt ever in my life before. The beauty was raw nature. No human activity had spoilt an ounce of it. We asked Mr. Walid to stop the car and we vanished in the sublimity. The lake was amazingly blue. A clear sky and desert around added to its brilliance. We were loosing track of time , but it was the moto of our every tour. "Spend time according to your heart". We spent about 2 hrs and then proceeded to sand dunes and rock formations . I was amazed with the magnitude and intensity of beauty that we were expieincing. The enormous rock formations stood tall and high , shining with clear sun overhead. We asked Mr.Walid to keep driving us to these kind of beautiful places that he knew. By this time,our anxiety knew no bounds . We climbed the rocks and took uncountable pictures .We found our-selves bathing in the nature.

But we never realized that many a places we were alone. Mr. Walid usually waited for us in his car. Some times he waived his hands when we were in his vision. But many times we were not in his vision. In some places , we were accompanied with few other tourists or picnicking children. But as dusk approached we realized we were alone almost all the time. It was almost evening and the air was much chiller now. We decided to back to the lake to watch the sunset. The thirst for more and more made us look from car windows to absorb every beauty in the vicinity. Then we came across another place, amazingly attractive. But by the time we decided and asked Mr.Walid to stop, he had driven about 300 m from the spot. We didn't ask him to turn the car as we though of walking to the spot. We asked him to stop there and we proceeded to the wonderful rock formation. We were in between the rocks and desert and nature was at its best. It was getting dark and it was revealing more intriguing beauty of the desert. We planned to walk in bit future for some pictures. Pictures are your best friends. They always tell truth and take you back exactly to the moment which you captured. We were the only soul no one within kilometers , except our guide Mr.walid, who was not in vicinity now. But,suddenly two people arrived. They were not tourists , it was clear from their clothing. which were torn and dirty. Both were young, about late twenties. It was very chilly , but they had no jackets on them. I did think they live near by. But it was a vast desert with no human habitations. How could they live here ? But it was not the time to think all these , we focused on beauty of the places and tried to capture few of those in camera. But they approached us and were in 5-6 meters from us. They stopped and watched us very attentively. I was not very sure what was no their mind , but Mr.Walid was not in visual range , so may be it lead them to believe that we were alone. They started to talk to us in Arabic , I could not make a word of it. But I found them gazing at Meghna , at this moment I realized something was realy very wrong. They started putting their fingers in the sand , making the foot-prints of jackal and showed us the direction to go. I did not understand much , but made out that they were saying jackals are around and could attack us , so we should go towards a certain direction. At this moment I knew they are planning sin. I told Meghna to turn and proceed towards the car of Mr. Walid. We walked very fast without turning back. But, we could hear the foot steps following us. They became faster and faster.We should call Mr.Walid, the mobile was with Meghna ( luckily Mr.Walid had provided us a sim working in Egypt). My god, no network was available in desert areas !

Unable to call , we increased our speed.The sound of their malicious feets also increased accordingly.Their foot steps were almost behind us.We realized that we were running. But could not be very fast as it was sand all over. To reach the car in the fastest way was to run to the road and then run towards the car. I knew we were attacked , but only strengths of our feet could save us. I was praying to god and desperately wanted to reach the road .


By then,I saw Mr.Walid driving in full speed towards us. It seems some how he had seen us in trouble. Within 1-2 minutes he reached us. By this time these two men stopped. We entered the car and Mr.Walid rushed towards them yelling in Arabic. One of them ran so fast that he disappeared in desert within seconds, but the other one stayed and talked to Mr.Walid for few minutes and then went away. Mr.Walid told us they we had met very dangerous people. They are people who cannot live in human establishment for their criminal activities. They hide in desert. For living they rob people and pick up woman. I could feel shivering in my spine and held hands of Meghna so tightly. Mr.Walid told us that he did not tell us before as their government are tracking these people and these activities have reduced to almost nil , and that if we were made aware we could not have enjoyed as we did. He always had been watching us , he told he tried to keep us in sight by walking a little distance from the car. Thats the reason he could see us trouble.



I rested very quitely in the back seat of the car till we reached the lake. Now with considerable human habitation , watched a amazing sunset in Sahara. They beauty of the sunset the most amazing part of our tour. I watched the sunset and took the pictures. But I knew within myself that this thought will send shivers in my spine still the day I live.

Every rose has its thorn

Wrong TAG on CORRECT bag, CORRECT tag on Wrong BAG

"Not to forget anything ... ticket , passport, cash, bag, wallet, and yes the chocolates too ...  "  is the thought that haunts you even in dreams the night before you about to board a flight to your homeland. This taught haunts you all the time till you correctly recollect what you are forgetting or  have forgotten. And the thought haunts you again ...

Living with this thought I reached CDG ( Charles De-Gaulle ) Airport. The flight company is AI ( Air India ) to Mumbai , a direct flight to my destination. A direct flight means less chances of my Black Polo Bag getting lost. Misplaced baggage is a trepidation which none can bear with enough sanity. It needs all your bad luck accumulated over years and a mystery man who puts your bag in a wrong plane.

No, I have a direct flight. I don't need to bother much , if I check-in my bag in Paris in the plane it has to reach Mumbai. I should instead to back to haunting thought of not forgetting anything. 

I am at my checking counter AI 4100 to Mumbai, a young man smiles at me. "Bonjour Misseur !" .... Did I recognize my mystery   man ? Obviously Not. No extra weight - good. A window side ticket , I requested. The wish was granted by my angel in black suite. Its time to print the Tag !

His confident fingers maneuvered on the keyboard to print the ticket for my bag. There is the ticket printing, a paper in white and green, I can see half of the word BOM on it. My comprehension of ticket printing was discomposed by a sound. An annoying sound of moving conveyor on which laid my Black Polo Bag. It was moving , but without a tag. I used all my remaining agility to call my Black Suited Angel's attention. My angel vaulted towards the bag , but just before getting the hold of the last visible strap , of my Black Polo Bag, he fell on the conveyor himself. My angel was now afraid of being taken away by the conveyer. He returned with a hurt knee, which did not allow him to think anything else but the knee. My Angel raised his trouser to reveal his bleeding knee. Bleeding ! A first aid is needed urgent. Staff is called in with a first aid. Did we forget my Black Polo Bag ? Its gone into million of bags without an identity !

Lets Talk About Tapas - Spain , Seville 26th Dec

With the knowledge "Tapas .... a must if you visit Spain" and that it is something to eat, I enquired at my hotel reception for some more precise details when I arrived in Granada. His response was that those are free eating provided in the Tapas bars.


Free eating ... seems interesting and complicated. To check myself now and a good excuse to have some beer.


I could not get time in Granada , so decided to have some in my next destination - Seville.


In the evening by 7 I commenced my Tapas hunt. Free eating .... NOOOO. I could see board displaying the Tapas prices. May be the typical Tapas bar where the drinks are expensive the tapas is free. But it was cold and I was exhausted enough to hunt more, so I decided to pay for Tapas.


I went in the bar and ordered beer. The victory was in ordering the best from the Spanish menu. To decipher the ambiguity the waiter told me that he will get a mixed plate of best tapas.


Finally the long awaited Tapas arrived. It was really worth the hunt !!!

Tapas are the snacks offered with the drinks ( you pay ). The varity of these are amazing. Sea Food, Veg, Chicken ... the list is on. I found lots of oil and spice being used, but thats its speciallity.


It was a great meal which made the day.

Indeed, its a MUST if you visit Spain.

Lets Talk About Flight From Paris to Athens - 21Dec 2006

To report at Charles De Gaule at least one and half hours before departure of flight, is considered noble in accordance to a renouned and established company like SWISS.

We had our flight to Athens at 7.30 am. This meant , like a good citizen of any nation, to report atleast by 6 am. Took the 5.15 am train to airport , Hurray - made it by 6.15 ! Went rushing , to get a window side seat, to the check in desk of swiss. With a smile welcomed and produced a print out , which we proudly say e.ticket. My baggage was weighed and a strap was tied to it. The lady at the counter told me that the ticket printing machine was out of order and I have to go the their open desk for printing the tickets. One law that Einstine had missed was " An object when repeled from one desk to another, the amount of good behaviour at repelling desk is equal in every respect to avoiding behaviour in receiving desk ". I found many others who had follwed this law. Here , we had conglomerate of deficiencies of SWISS airlines. Not just simple printer not working, but problems of flight connection and stuff. After waiting for 40 minutes I got attention , bingo its time for printing some thing with which I can fly. But the lady told me that the carrier is full and we would be put in the second carrier enroute for Athens , the next flight is at 9.30 am. And was told to wait for another couple of minutes to get more explanations. I waited. It was 7 am by that time. A young employee of SWISS came to me and said that SWISS airlines gives a penalty of 125 $ for the delay. I think I got the the message right hopefully, as French English is some time tough to decipher. Now thats sounds interesting ! Me and my wife , 250 dollars. Yep , who wants to go in 7.30 flight. We were told to wait in Swiss launge. I , followed with my wife, happily sat there and enjoyed some free drinks provided in the Lounge.

At 7.30 I went down to the desk just to reconfirm what was told to me. I was just thinking 250 cash or cheque ? Lighting strikes when you dont expect it. The lady who promised a 250 $ christmas gift came running to me almost shouting " We were trying to find you , you are flying on this aircraft". But my wife and luggage are in lounge. I need to get them. There was another man who I had not seen before, explaining " This plain is waiting only for you. I give you two minutes to get your luggage , else we put you in next flight". Did you hear the unsaid part of the sentence " But now we wont pay for the delay !" ? .I heard it. So I ran to get my luggage and wife too, when I found another swiss attendent approaching the lounge. She took my check-in luggage and told us to proceed towards the security check. We ran to security check , but where are the tickets ? We had no borading pass . The man in the security check was suprissed with my idea to fly without a borading pass, but I insisted that he should let me in as SWISS works like this may be. But it is chirstmas month and I could hear jingle bells. Two attendents from SWISS came running with our borading passes and then we crossed security check and finally in the aircraft at 7.50 am. A remarkable achievement to get in the flight. No extra dollars. But one thing that I was proud of is all aircraft crew , passengers ( including businees class ofcourse ) and the carrier was waiting for more than 20 minutes , JUST FOR US.I cannot blame the passangers staring at us , as the reason of delay, but at last we were on board. This is how my journey to Athens starts.

But not just this, after 15 minutes of take off , in television a famous swiss tennins player was advertising SWISS airlines and one of the points he stressed was smooth check in.


Seeing is believing