Is dignity only "skin deep"....

When we are in India..we differentiate people from the way they dress, grow facial hair and what other accessories they sport on their selves. By looking at some one you can [most of the time] know which part of the country that person is from etc.

When you are in a foreign country [read western country]...these distinctions cease to make a difference.there we all "brown beings" are the same "South Asians"...If we are Indian, Pakistani ,Srilankan or Bangladeshi it doesnt matter to the average Caucasian.

The color of your skin determines how you will be seen by your fellow earthlings..our identity is the race we belong to.

I haven't come across any instance of racism in Greece as yet..though we have been referred to as Bangladeshis or Pakistanis quite a few times.Infact a lady at a bus stop asked me if I was from Egypt [That could be because on my distinctly Semitic nose].

There is one particular incident that has inspired this post and which I wanted to share for a long time.It happened at the Thira harbor [In Santorini], we were waiting for the "Flying Cat" fast boat to take us to Mykonos from Santorini.
We were all standing in a queue in front of a group of English girls ( aged aroung 25 i guess), as we were moving towards the boat, i overheard one of them telling their friends that she was scared.She then pointed towards us - 3 very brown (from the August Greek sun) specimens of Asian males- then her friend said "C'mon, This is not London,don't be silly".
This was around a month after the London Metro blasts, I guess that lady will have the same feelings whenever she encounters Asian men..who cares if they are from India or anywhere else.

This incident gives a glimpse into the psyche of the average westerner..and the way they look at us.

Well its a reality we all will have to live with.....

Santorini and Mykonos

Well this is not my farewell post on greece..that can wait till next week..

To start with our trip in August to the exquisite islands of Santorini and Mykonos was really a memorable experience. Both these islands present two very different aspects of Greek Islands.

Santorini offers one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. The villages in this island are situated on cliffs and offer breathtaking views over the caldera of the submerged volcano. In Ancient Time, the shape of the island was circular. The volcano's eruption was so strong that the centre of Santorini sank and created a crater in the middle and created islands around it. Being in Santorini is an experience. The picturesque villages built right on top of the Caldera, the white houses and the blue painted windows fight the reddish black rocks which rise from the deep blue sea, in a synthesis that post-impressionists would envy. Across the world the blue domed churches of Santotini dominate Greek imagery, the sunset as seen from the cliff side at Oia is considered as one of the best in the world.

Our stay at Santorini also took us to some amazing black and red pebble beaches..which are unique in themselves and come as a surprise for someone like us who expect typical white sand beaches.

Mykonos on ther other hand is a cosmopolitan island with a lively and most varied nightlife in the Aegean. A barhopper's paradise Mykonos is also notorious for its gay club scene..Its a place where you let your hair down and party like theres no tomorrow...its got something to offer for everyone. Mykonos is also a grand example of unique cycladic architecture set around a picturesque fishing-village bay. Totally whitewashed organic cube-like buildings fit closely together to form a kind of haphazard maze of narrow alley ways and streets.Its many well preserved windmills and hundreds of tiny red-roofed churches adds a flavor of culture and custom to the scene. Put this together with all the island's other qualities and it is no wonder Mykonos has been often named "the jewel" of the Aegean Sea.

With no hotel available [It was a long weekend in August, the peak season for Mykonos]..we managed to rent a Car and sneaked into a camping site for a shower, then it was all partying till the around 8 am the next day..

Thats all the partying we have managed in the last few months, the Last 2 months have been the most tiring in this project..well that phase of any project squeezes the juice out of even the most seasoned implementors.

We started the parallel run in late September...now when i think of it..its a blur of issues, frantic phone calls from users, patches, updates n meetings.We managed a relatively issue free Cut Over on the 20th of October 2005.After that it was time for the customary "We are Live !!!" mail...n the long list of congratulatory mails followed as if on cue.
The entire team has worked really hard on the project...It requires a dedicated post to list down the detailed contributions of all those people...