OUR DATE WITH THE GATES

For the past one month or so we had been in contact by e-mail ,with the organiser of Fulbright award ceremony to honour Bill and Meinda Gates.We had a Friday seminar and after that we left for the Mazza as officials from AED and Dept of state came over to see our homes.After a hurried brain storming at the Stamp shuttle bus stop , we came to the decision that going over to DC for the Fulbright award ceremony in a taxi as we were all spruced up.

.After a departure from the Mazza at 2.45 PM, we arrived at the Library of Congress in time for the reception .We got busy taking photos inside the Library of Congress and the inside is like the Paris Opera house . It was beautiful . We then took our seats and got busy taking another set of photos in front of the dais.


The function started with everyone eulogising the welfare work done by the Gates.Next the award was given and first Bill and then Melinda responded . Bill Gates had a lot of statistics with graphs and pictograms to support the work his foundation was doing.But I liked Melinda 's speech more as her's was appealing to the emotions of a person.She described what one feels when , you sit across a mat talking to a mother with an acutely ailing child .It was very touching.She had a humanistic approach in her talk.After that a group of 5 students from different countries asked the couple a question each.

After this some snacks and drinks were served . As we were partaking of this , some of my Fulbright colleagues were lucky enough to have pictures taken with the Gates individually . After this we returned by the Metro at 9.00 PM or so.It was a good day - a day of sharing someone else's accomplishments.

The march to the CIrque du Soleil

We had bought tickets for  Cirque Du Soleil for  Friday the 8th of Oct .By 'we '  I mean Eija ,Aurelia,Carmen  , Lalla and me.We left soon after lunch at the Stamp by 12.45 PM ,  as we had our regular Friday seminar from 9 -  12 Noon.We took the shuttle to the Metro and there a minor hiccup occurred  .  I used the Metro card bought for my son ,  Prathyush when he had come to see me.As the edges of the card were a little soiled , it got stuck in the slot at the entry gate . So I had to wait for the officer in charge to come and release it.Thanks to me , we missed one train.After a short wait for the next train we boarded and traveled for 45 minutes till the end of the Green line;Branch Avenue.There we took a Metro bus to National Harbour and at the Harbour we picked up the free shuttle to the Cirque....
               The Cirque is held on a picturesque Plateau in the Harbour area.We crossed it even as we traveled by the Metro bus from the Branch Avenue Metro . But as there is no scheduled stop next to it , we had to continue till the Harbour and make our way back on the free Cirque Shuttle. We arrived by 3.20 PM. A brisk walk up an incline brought us to the entrance of the Cirque. We showed our tickets ( which Carmen handed over to  each  of us ) , at the entrance and proceeded inside. As we went in , Aurelia stopped short and retraced her steps to a person standing on a slightrly raised platform  , at the entrance selling something. I walked back and found to my surpise that the programme and pictures of the Cirque were being sold. We had been told that no photography would be permitted , so we quickly bought one each as a souvenir.On going past the ticket checker , we entered an enclosure where all kinds of memorablia for the Cirque was being sold.We bought some popcorn and some gifts and went into the Big Top. We saw that squat in the middle of the stage in front ,  was a big egg illuminated in a dull light "  Every Cirque show has some theme " , was the very informed comment  passed by Carmen . So there was the theme staring at us ...... "OVO" ( Egg).
  The first scene saw the insects waking up and getting ready to face the day.Insects of all kinds ; crickets , dragon-flies , lady-bug etc. They are awakened by Master Flipo  who plays the role of a joker in the entire act. As the insects awaken , the dragon-fly got into the act and did flips and spirals with both hands and then one so effortlessly that we found ourselves clapping at the end of its act. .The story then builds up with a foreigner arriving carrying his treasure;  an egg . As he  gets distracted by an attractive looking lady-bug , the OVO gets smuggled away by the other insects.Having realised his loss , the foreigner runs behind the insects that have smuggled his egg and thus goes off stage. Then there was a show by the ants with some pieces of kiwi fruit amd corn .The display involved the twirling and rolling of these pieces with their legs , all the time lying on their backs . They even rolled from  the legs of one to the  other  and were twirled up and down ,  as effortlessly as the pieces of fruit that they had used earlier. Then there was a beautiful metamorphosis of  a larvae  , to pupa stage and finally into a butterfly.It was all done on a pair of ropes. The slow transformation  was set to slow lilting music  and it was a sight to behold. Then there was a love duet of a pair of white butterflies , It was an act on a single rope . It was so captivating .  Next came the dance of a firefly which was very adept juggling of several pulleys on a string which were thrown  up  and caught on a string very quickly . Then came the trapeze act by the Scarabs .It was like they were flying in the air  from one end of  the arena to the other . The next act was the movement of spiders in a web put up on the stage . With crickets moving all over the web as prey , the slow  movement and gymnastics   of the spiders was very sensual.Next came the dance of the fleas .It was set to quick music and was very spritely .  All though these acts was the blossoming love affair between the foreigner and the lady-bug which added humour to the show. Then there was a display of very quick footwork , jumps and leaps on to and from a trampoline floor on to a vertical wall , by the crickets and fleas.This had some very good roll of drums . It was a feast for the eyes and the ears. The finale saw the insect world come together for a banquet to celebrate the acknowledgement of love by the foreigner and the lady-bug for each other . The elusive OVO makes it appearance again at last . The colour , the costumes with the very appropriate make-up , the  skilful gymnastics  and the foot-tapping music  all had us celebrating the "END" with the participants.

                 
                   Throughout the programme we were either holding our breathe when the different insects got into the act or were appreciating the feast of colour spread out in front of us , or  tapping our feet to the samba we heard. The essence of the theme "OVO" came through musically and coloufully .
               I will be  eternally grateful to Carmen for having got the chance to savour the experience . With no acts using animals and  with only men/women playing their different roles , displaying  such fine gymnastic skills ,the gratifying feeling I had as   I came out of the Big Top was one of accomplishment-as if I had done something satisfying . While all I had done was watch a dramatic mix of circus acts( with no animals) in outrageous costumes and captivating colours set to some very catchy and foot-tapping music .

           

Baltimore banter

Yesterday we went to Baltimore , a port close to College park.We traveled to and fro by Amtrak . The journey to the New Carrolton station was completed by a taxi.We were 6 of  the DAT Fulbrighters traveling together.I traveled half sitting on the handle of the door and half on Sashi Maam.s lap , with my head occasionally hitting the front wind screen.Thankfully it was a 15 minute ride.On reaching our destination , I fell out of the car but landed on my feet.It was a new experience collecting tickets at the station after getting the bar code on the emailed coupon scanned , by an automatic ticket machine.Like in an airport , we waited till our train time was announced and then we walked out to our track .

                      Mrs Sashi struck up a conversation with another passenger travelling to New york by the same train  and was informed of the presence of a 'Quiet Car ' , where passengers could not talk or use their cell phones.So , when our train arrived  , we very prudently opted for the ' Normal Car ' .The half an hour journey to Baltimore went very quickly . We disembarked at Penn station , ,Baltimore and walked out towards the  stop for the free Circulator/Shuttle that the city has.

                     The first stop was the extreme end of the city , as we planned to visit Fort McHenry.After a 25 minute walk to  and along the beautiful promenade ,

              we were informed by the DockMaster about the existence of a water-taxi which would take us to the fort. At the pick up point of the taxi , we came to know that the fort had closed down for the winter since the 1st of Oct . We paid 10$ for the taxi and got off at the Aquarium .

 

             We planned to take a ride in the boat all around the harbour  later in the day .The aquarium was very good . I liked the fact that there were a large number of exhibits , stacked up on four floors , but spread over a small area . There is a escalator that takes one up to all levels .After our entry inside at 10.45A M , we went to the Dolphin show within half an hour as the timing on our ticket said 11.30 AM The Dolphin show was nice .The 20 minute show ,  had the Dolphins doing a number of antics . When the trainer came up to the edge of the pool and talked to the audience by hanging on to the edge of the pool , the Dolphin too mimiced  her by perching on the edge. It was very cute!! After this we completed viewing the rest of the exhibits and went for lunch at 1.30 PM.We ate at an Asian joint ,where we selected our vegetables and gave it to the chef , who then prepared it  to our liking ( spicy/ not spicy ) and served it with rice. After that we went on a shopping spree at Hard Rock Cafe and Noble and Barnes and then went to the Baltimore World Trade Center  and viewed the city fron the 27th floor .

         We clicked away on our cameras and finally descended .Here Eija parted ways with us and arranged to meet us at the station at 6.15 PM.We continued to the Maryland Science Center , stopping at the Visitor's Center to pick up a map of the city . 

           The hands on activity for children was good and one set of exhibits  was for adults too.It was not a very big museum . After this ,  we boarded the  water-taxi and took a complete tour of the Inner Harbour and returned to the Science Center after an hour.

       Despite the sun on us , the wind on our faces had us feeling chill . But the water tour was very soothing . We then indulged on a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream and took the Circulator back to the station. We arrived back by 6.15 PM and found to our dismay that our train was delayed by 30 minutes . We were informed that we could change our tickets to an earlier train.We did  so , with no charge and returned to N ew Carrolton by 7.15 PM  with me sleeping all the way .Again in a taxi ,  with the others sitting and me crouching and nearly plastered to the front windshield  , we arrived back by  7.40 PM or so. 

 The early return helped ,  as we did not feel very tired.  That was a very pleasant experience and the day was cool and sunny .The sun helped to restore balance when the wind got chilly.

Hello!

I officially begin my blogging on 1st of October '2010.It feels nice to be able to share my experiences.I shall add updates regularly.The first blog is under the tutelage of Aurelia ,my DAT Argentinian friend.We just finished our seminar for the week at UMD.Benjamin and are relaxing.Replete with Tortilas ,thanks to Carmen my Mexican friend ,I am blogging away.