Espana April 2016

It was my dream to visit Spain. Ever since I had watched Spain episode on Gulls-n-Guys show as a kid that I wanted to visit that country. (Gulls-n-Guys was a documentary cum travel guide reality show directed by Shoaib Mansoor. Each country was covered by a different celebrity)
Marvelling at Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona, being awestruck by Flamenco dance(r) in Seville, soaking into Moorish architecture in Granada - This is what Spain is about and much more !

We went with bunch of couple friends having same age-group kids like ours. The exciting part for me personally that I got to travel with the person who gave me inspiration to travel. His name is Owais whom I known him for more than a decade now. He is my Rick Steve minus the hairstyle lol. I look up to him in many ways especially dietary habits lol.
My other traveller buddy is Hisham. I have known him for little more than 4 years but it seems we have known each other for a long time now. He was my inspiration to pursue my Masters

It was a trip of a lifetime. A 10 day trip, visiting 5 cities with 6 adults and 6 kids. We checked out all the landmarks we wanted to visit. Kids had a great time having one another's company. At the end of our trip, Everyone was safe and hearty and best of all we are still talking to one another and taking group selfless :)

I will try to summarize the trip with some key highlights:


Toronto - Barcelona:
- Evening flight that meant kids will sleep in and spare us for some sleep as well. Wishful thinking I tell you. After we landed, we took a bus to our hotel 'La Meridan'. Amazing hotel and breakfast !

- La Ramblas was buzzing with tourists. Metro station was very close-by

- La Boquera Food Market. The famous saying here goes "if you can't find it here, it is not worth eating'.  We had a group "LA BOUKAIRAA" selfie pic here.

- Columbus Statue:
At the end of the La Ramblas street there is a status of Christopher Columbus.

- Port Vell Marina - beautiful waterfront harbour with cable car , beach and Frank Gehry's Golden Fish Sculpture. (Shayaan became raucous as we failed to dissuade him not wanting to wait in the line for the cable car. In the end it was a worthwhile 65 min wait lol)

- Park Quell  - famous work by Gaudi. Its purpose was a residential community for the elites. It was failed project. It is now converted into a park and now is it is the most visited tourist attractions.
We took the bus to get here. The bus was crowded and travelling with strollers and kids was interesting lol. It was over here I had lost Sheza's comfort blanket.

- Sagrada Familia  - still under construction Church is an iconic landmark of Barcelona. Breathtaking architecture taking inspiration from nature. (leaf plane, beetle doom, plant stalk etc). 
We had a group "SAGRADA FAMEELIAAA" selfie pic here.

- Casa Batlló - Another Gaudi's modern mystique masterpiece. It literally means 'House of Bones' because of its organic architecture.

- Magic Fountain - Busy touristy area. 'Bumped' into my friend's brother here. He was also visiting Barcelona with his family. What was the likelihood of meeting him in that part of the world !

- Barcelona vs Valencia game. This was the biggest highlight. Watch Neymar, Messi and Suarez play for one team was a dream come true. Although Barcelona lost but Messi scored his 500th goal. I and Shayaan had bought the Messi jersey. The crowd energy, enthusiasm and the atmosphere was simply terrific. Something that I will always cherish. Thanks to Hisham for the soccer game idea and pushing me to watch it with them !

Barcelona to Granada:
- Took flight to Granada in wee hours of the morning. It was couple of hours flight. We had an apartment there.

- Mirador de San Nicolas was a beautiful view of Alhambra. Cobbled streets, very old buildings, untainted suburban landscape made Granada very interesting.

- We had a fancy dinner here overseeing Alhambra. The tranquillity was soon turned chaotic thanks to Sheza's tantrums lol

- Alhambra Fort was the highlight! We were lucky we had bought the tickets in advance as the line up for tickets was huge. The only bad part was that it was raining. I had not packed any jacket/sweater and Owais had to lend his wind-breaker jacket that I was wearing throughout our trip lol.

- Saba met her middle school from India after 16 years. Her friend was backpacking Spain and thanks to Facebook check-ins got to know their whereabouts. Now what are the odds of that??

- Midnight and it was Saba's 30th birthday again. Aisha and Javairia had arranged birthday icecream cake and showered her with gifts. Saba celebrating her birthday in Spain with friends - #wahwah

Granada to Seville:
- It was a fun bus ride from the station to Seville. We played 'solve the mystery' game in the bus.
- We had an apartment house for our stay. All the people stayed in one place under the same roof. Luckily, we were here only for one night lol
- Seville Catherderal - largest Gothic Church and recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is built on Almohad mosque. It was towering the whole block. 
Spain has 'Siesta' time where everything gets shut down in the afternoon for couple of hours. Churches have siesta too ! (god needs a nap time too)

- Alcazar Palace - another breathtaking Moorish architecture. One can spend all day marvelling at the calligraphy, well trimmed gardens and the Palace itself. This is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

- Plaza de Espana - magnificent area with towers and building built in Renaissance and neo-Moorish style. We had our group 'PLAZA DE ESPANYA' selfie moment here. 

- Saba's birthday dinner was followed next. I had to as I was reminded (read coerced ) 300 times by everyone right after we booked our air tickets in Toronto lol. It was one of the best Mexican food I ever had.

Seville to Cordoba:
- Stopped at Cordoba to visit the eponymous once-a-Mosque-now-Cathedral there. The iconic red and white stripes along the arches are spread all over. Sadly, many chapels have been built inside the mosque destroying the original architecture.
- We had our luggage placed in the locker room before we went to see the mosque. 
- It was Friday and sadly we can't pray over there.
- Allama Iqbal had recited azan here on the permission from the city. 

Cordoba to Madrid:
- Final stop and our hotel name was 'Westin Palace'. One of the beautiful hotels we have stayed.
- Madrid is famous for its gastronomy. The restaurant scene is very alive !

- Took a picture with 'bear and Strawberry Tree' statue (El Oso y el Madroño)

- Strolled Plaza Mayor and El Retiro.

- Mercado de San Miguel  - The historic wrought-iron-and-glass food market building. It is one of the liveliest culinary spots. They have stalls selling fresh produce in tapas bars offering a wide variety of treats such as garlic prawns, small skewers of olives, cucumbers, peppers and pickled onions.

- Sofia aka Choupa (Hisham's daughter) - got fever here. Poor kid was still smiling MA !
- Prado Museum. Only guys went as ladies were not interested. It was a yawn-a-fest ! lol
 - The breakfast place in the hotel was astounding. The décor as well as the breakfast selection. We recorded Sofia's Ameen video message here with the family. It was on same day as the day we were flying out.
Toronto:
The memories created are priceless. Our trip was successful because of the company of our great friends. 
Our good old friend from Ryerson - Rajaram graciously agreed to pick us gleefully.

Food:
Paella being the famous dish. We enjoyed the seafood paella. We had mostly Turkish and Mexican food.

Seafood Paella by the Marina

Amorino Gelato Icecream - we had this in all the cities.

Turkish Lamb Chops

Mexican Food

My [could had been] Speech for the Groom...

This was my speech that I wanted to say at my brother's Reception ceremony that I made a mess of it. I had not written down my speech which is why I was not able to gather my thoughts coherently.
I blame my daughter squarely for that lol. (Poor her). Excuses aside, there were lot of lessons learnt. As they say, you learn more from your mistakes than successes. 


" I will keep it very short as I have to run to the washroom *giggle*

AoA Everyone, on behalf of the Farooqi family. Welcome everybody!

For those who don't know me, My name is Salman Farooqi and I am Rehan's best eldest brother *smile*

*Looks at the couple * You guys are looking fab Mashallah! Welcome to the family Mehak!

I am remembering my wedding day which was not tooo long ago..only 9 years  back *giggle*
I was the first one to get married in my circle of friends. So after I got married, I used to meet with my friends with less frequency. Whenever I used to meet them, I was asked this cliche question - "Hows it going bro, hows the married life?" and my answer was only one word "goood".
On one occasion, I met my another friend after a hiatus and he in the similar tone like the above question: "Hows it going bro, how was the first fight?" and I said "good" in same vein without thinking. I retraced my word "whaaa...fight? no ..no". I was trying to chew my words back but the cat was out of the bag at that point.
The point being is that when you have 2 individuals living together you are bound to lock horns once in a while. But at the end of the day the deep love, trust, respect, care and compassion triumphs all other barriers.
I have read and heard that in Islam, couples are like 'Libaas' or 'wardrobe' of one another.
It has a very deep meaning. It means we are like shield to one another, protecting each other's faults, honor and at the same time caring for each other's well-being, needs and desires.
*Looks at the couple* I hope these feelings keep blossoming between you guys.

Since it is your day *looks at Rehan*, I will say only good things about you *smiles*
He is the best brother I could had asked for. There is nothing new to tell about him that you *looks at Mehak* don't know. What I admire about Rehan is his sportsmanship spirit. Rehan being an athlete , he imbibes virtues like leadership, motivation, patience and hard-work. Welcome to the married club Dr. Rehan ! *smiles*

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all my family and extended family who have made it to Rehan-Mehak's Wedding. Special shout out to Dr. Ali Farooqi and Hashim Siddiqi - my 2 cousins who couldn't make it to the event. Your absence is surely felt :)

Thank you everyone. Enjoy rest of your evening.
Now I will go to the washroom *smiles*
"

Story telling...

A lot has been written and preached about the art of story telling. A simple reason why it is important: Humans get fascinated by stories. It is part of Homo Sapiens nomenclature. It intrigues us, captures our attention and registers a strong impact in our Gray matter.

With Analytics; 'Story telling' is being thrust into the foreground in the decision making process. It brings a 'human touch' in to the world of Big Data and Analytics where 'models' and 'stats' form the bulk of Machine Learning paradigm. 

Yes, you acquire data faster than ever before (Velocity). Yes, you store data than ever before (Volume). Yes, you get data from different channels in different timings (Variety). 

Story telling becomes a need rather than a wish. It serves not only to entertain but to elucidate.

But the main ingredient that will make people trust and appreciate your story is the consistency.

I had my hot water tank break down Monday morning while getting ready to work (I know eh!). A technician came in the morning only to conclude that he has to order some parts and only then can it be fixed.

From the next moment, it was just a waiting game. I was calling them intermittently to check on the status. Amusingly and frustratingly, I was getting different versions of the story every time I called (even if I called again after hanging up). 

"The parts will be couriered to your place" said Caller 1. "The parts will be delivered to the Technician" confirmed Caller 2. "The parts will be mailed to the Material Department and then they will call the Technician" refuted Caller 3.

On the screens, they all see my call history and the notes by the technicians. 

Every caller was quiet confident and made me assured their version of the story is correct. A coherency in the process workflow aka story was clearly lacking.The same data should provide the same story. Always.

At this moment, I am waiting for a technician to come Tuesday morning to rescue me from my misery. 

Never take No for an anwer

I have trouble adjusting to this attitude. I often succumb to the fate and say "it is what it is" to find a shred of optimism when the doors are shut.
It all depends on what you are trying to get. If something that is of high intrinsic value you go out of the way to get it no matter how many obstacles you come across.
This is a test to 'test' our resoluteness. An illusion of a brick wall standing in front of us, testing how hard can we can knock it off in order to get something behind the wall.
One case that has a huge impact in me is that of my cousin who a mildly mannered person  refused to be a cog in a wheel of a slow grinding bureaucratic process and pushed the envelope to get what was the token to travel to visit his ailing father.

The day he received his Canadian citizenship that same night he received a call from his brother from Madison,WI; breaking the news that their father has passed away. Thier Dad had succumbed to stomach cancer that he was battling for past few months. At that moment, my cousin had decided that has to fly to his parents place to attend his father's funeral. He knows he has just applied for a passport that takes 2-3 weeks to get it. He also knows that in Islamic tradition, the burial procedure is not recommended to delay for a day or two.
Next morning, he got to the passport office before its opening hours and waited to be opened. When the office opened, he requested and pleaded to expedite his passport application so that he can travel to his father's funeral today. They told him that it is highly unlikely and upon further insistence they directed him to the main passport office for such special requests. He called his friend who was also his reference in his passport application and drove to the main passport office. His turn came at 11:30 AM, upon hearing his side of the story; clerk asked him that he needs to provide two references, letter from the hospital where his Dad's body is and finally his air ticket receipt to validate that he is committed to fly today.

As one of the reference was already present with him. They just had to call the other reference and confirm the applicant's details.  He called his brother who in his grief state was able to get the letter from the hospital and emailed it to him. In the meantime, he called his travel agent and booked the next available flight.

He fulfilled the above requirements to the best of his ability and it was up to the Passport Office to process and deliver his passport. It was a moonshot as it takes approximately 2-3 weeks to process let alone same day !

The Office gathered his documents and approved his application and told him that he can pick his passport by 4 PM today! This was first in the history of the Office where they have done something like this. The Passport Office closes at 4 PM and the staff also showed a sense of urgency in making sure the son is able to fly today to attend his father's funeral.

He was able to catch the flight at 6 PM and give a supporting hug to his widow mother and attend his father's funeral. In the span from 6 am to 6 pm - he had taken 11 Tylenol !

"Take time to arrive on a decision, but once you have made a decision, stick to it."

Just Hang in there ...

It was my worst drive back home from Chicago! Freezing rain, ice pellets and strong winds made the driving conditions hazardous. My car (Mazda 2014 CX-5) was dancing on it own tunes. I had to stop just to shove ice off from my car wipers. Driving at 60 kmph for hours and hours was exhausting. Gruelling. The ordeal lasted 16 hours.

Seeing a plethora of cars in the ditch, flipped and taking 180, 270 and 360 degree 'turns' ,I feel very fortunate to have gotten home safely with my wife and kids. My kids cooperated to their fullest which really surprised and impressed me. 

By just hanging in there, you get immune to the torture and get to the finishing line before you even realise it. This concept was a piece I read in Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational where he said the effect of undertaking a mundane task or undergoing a horrendous ordeal can be smoothed out if endured for a longer time interval. Taking shorter breaks throws your system off and the brain has to re-calibrate again. On the contrary, taking a short break from an enjoyable experience (for e.g. furnishing your room or enjoying an aged cheese from Amsterdam) makes you relish that experience for a longer period of time. The joy lingers. Savour the moment instead of binging and purging.

  

So the next time, in order to hang in there with class before embarking on a long drive, here are a few things that might be handy:

- Valid Insurance Card/ Car registration form

- Printed Map (GPS backup)

- Check weather

- Cellphone charger

- DVD Player
- Follow the speed limit

Afternoon Meh-ness

I hate this time of the day when my sugar level is all time low and period of weakness and lethargy ensues. No amount of caffeine can elevate this feeling of worthlessness (sounds harsh ! )

Instead of relying on external factors for some uplifting, this uplifting should come within. You should rely on WMD - not Weapon of Mass Destruction.

- Walk out in an open air for 20 mins. Change your shoes and pace yourself. Don't forget to swing your arms freely and raise your leg.
- Meditate (prayers can help) or power nap for 15 mins can do the trick. Point is to shut your eyes and relax.
- Drink lots of water. Hydrate yourself. I fill my 900 ml water bottle and finish it in the first 45 mins to have some oxygen gushing in my body. (Chemistry 101: Chemical formula of Water is H20 where O is for Oxygen #duh)

Practicing this ritual on consistent basis will sure bring laurels and provide a boost in your productivity.

When it rains...

The scene from 'Social Network' flashes in front of my eyes. The scene from a court hearing against the Mark Zuckerberg character.
The conviction he delivers those lines is superb. The frustration and agony is woven in the texture of his voice. The arrogance that he bulldozes the client's lawyer is applause worthy. A scene reminding of David and Golaith,  where a 19-year old Mark Zukerberg is stacked against the odds to face a wrathing and a ruthless lawyer.

The Scene!

It is raining while I am going back from work in a GO Bus. And when it rains it also pours :)