San Antonio, USA

It is a small city. I reached this city during summer. Guess what. It was too too hot. Many times, it is not easy to come out during day time. Based on the climate, it doesn't feel like it is USA. I stayed next to my office or work location. So, I did not drive or go out a lot. San Antonio downtown is very nice; the river walk, the boating. You will feel alive when you are there. May be that is the difference between modern cities (with huge buildings but you don't feel alive) and old cities

Chicago, USA

I do not prefer to live is big or crowded cities. Fortunately, in Chicago my office was out side downtown. So I was happy. I worked and lived in the suburb Schaumburg. The place I lived was so nice. The lake, the swans, ducks on the lake the birds. Also I like Schaumburg public library

Indianapolis, USA

Indianapolis, the capital city of Indiana state. It is a wonderful place. Not a crowded city. I First I reached Indianapolis during winter. As I like snow and clod weather, I liked it. I used to spend time in public libraries and in downtown park.I wanted to stay for a long time in this city.

Dublin, USA

Overview

Dublin, Ohio is located just 20 minutes northwest of Columbus, Dublin welcomes visitors with 13 hotels, offering luxury and economy. Dublin's rich Irish and agricultural heritage is celebrated in the city's unique attractions, architecture and public art. It is home to numerous corporate headquarters and its strategic location makes it a premier community in which to conduct business.

Dublin is home to the nation's third-largest Irish festival, held annually during the first weekend of August. The festival brings some of the world's top Irish dancers, Celtic musicians and artisans and an array of Irish food and spirits. Look here for more details.

Things I liked

• It is a nice place with natural beauty
• The shopping mals and the Libraries
• I love shopping during the week-ends and visiting Library regularly
• Also the presense of more Indians/Asians and the Inia Festival

Denver, USA

Overview

Located in a spectacular setting at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Denver is one of America's fastest growing cities -- and one of its most exciting. The Mile High City entertains over 8.8 million visitors a year with people coming to enjoy the city's outstanding cultural attractions, museums, shopping, dining and nightlife.

Denver is a clean, young and green city with over 200 parks and dozens of tree-lined boulevards. The architecture reflects the city's three boom periods: Victorian, when silver was discovered in Leadville; turn-of-the-century, when gold was discovered in Cripple Creek; and contemporary, when the energy boom added 16 skyscrapers to the downtown skyline in a three year period, 1980-1983. Look here for more details.

Things I liked

• The facilities and the design of the Air Port
• The long road in open ground
• The view from aeroplane
• Walking on the ice

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New York, USA (Photo: Twine towers - ground zero on 11 Oct 2001)

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Mumbai, India

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Chennai, India

Overview

Before the British, there was no Madras. Nor was there Chennai. In an area fragmented by war; there survived the ancient villages and towns, Mylapore, Thiru-alli-keni, Ezhambur, Tiruvottriyur and several others, each separated from the other by scrub forest, wooded groves, wasteland and paddyfields.

It was from the ancient Pallava port town of Mylapore, later pushed from shore by the Portuguese to develop their settlement of San Thome after the 1520s, that the culture of India went to the islands of the East and the lands of the Menam and Mekong. In its suburb of Thiru-alli-keni, now called Triplicane there rises the naming of Parthasarathy during to the early years of the 8th Century. And by the southern city limits is the Marundiswarar Temple of Tiruvanmiyur, which dates to Chola settlement, and at least the 10th - 11th Centuries. At the other end of the city, in Tiruvottriyur, there is the Padmanakkanathar Saivite shrine that predates the 8th Century. All these settlements were in decay by the 16th Century.

In the void there first came the Portuguese, then the Dutch, the British and the French. It was in July 1639 that a strip of no-man's-sand, five kilometers by two and surrounded by water on three sides, was granted to the East India Company by the Nayaks of the Chandragiri court, the last governors of the slowly fading Vijayanagar Empire's Tondaimandalam. On this spit of the land, a part of Coromandel's shore, 5 kilometers north of Mylapore, Andrew Cogan and Francis Day built a small, rhombus-shaped warehouse with quarters surrounded with four protective walls. On St.George's Day, April 23, 1640 they christened this construction of theirs Fort St.George and then went about their business - trade - little realizing what they were getting started on a surf-wracked coast washed by the angry waters of the Bay of Bengal.

The role Madras played till Calcutta became the Company's headquarters in India, in the late 18th Century, is a role forgotten today. Not only was it headquarters of all British trade from the East Indies (now Indonesia) to Surat, but it was also here that the seeds were sown for much that has influenced India's present. Stringer Lawrence laying the foundation of the Indian Army in Fort St. David and Fort St.George. Cuddalore and Madras; the role Clive and that army played at Plassey; the first revolt against the British by that army in Madurai and Vellore; the founding and equipping of Job Charnock on that mission that culminated in the founding of Calcutta; the surveying the country that Colin Mackenzie and William Lambton commenced; the archaeological, botanical and zoological surveys that the peregrinating Francis Buchanan set in motion; Charles Trevelyan's role in establishing the Indian Civil Service and his dialogues with brother-in-law Macaulay that laid the foundations for the systems of education and jurisprudence we are today wedded to; Thomas Munro's sustained advocacy for greater powers to Indians, and much more are all now only part of the records. They are all pioneering steps taken in and by men of the Madras Presidency.

Recently there have been launched Madras Vision 2000, followed by 'Singara Chennai'. Madras, now Chennai will be made a brand new city, its citizens are promised. And work on the promise has begun. But the real needs of the Madras today are not the prettying of the city, the daub of paint here, the pat of powder there. The city needs water, electricity, sewage, keeping the roads and slums clean, garbage and waste disposal, improved road conditions, prevention of noise, water and air pollution, unclogging of its waterways and better civic discipline. And conservation of the historic - to remind us of the city's once and former greatness. Most cities around the world need these. But few need theem as badly as Madras that is Chennai.

Perhaps this has had something to do with the City being without an elected Corporation for over two decades. But the oldest Corporation, in what was the British Empire at its peak half the world, is back in business. And hope dawns again.

My Experience

• People are more reserved; strangers find difficult to manage
• Water, precious comadity of Chennai
• There is no respect for queues, always there is a queue breaker and people feel that as proud
• People have plenty of free time to look at others and expect something free from others rather than spending their time to work.
• The nice stay & experience at IIT Capus

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Raleigh, USA

Overview

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Trivandrum, India

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Bangalore, India

Overview

Bangalore is booming, and a look at some of its nicknames says why: "India's Silicon Valley", "Fashion Capital of India", "The Pub City of India", and on. Home to well over 6 million people, and a base for 10,000 industries, Bangalore is India's fifth largest city and the fastest growing city in Asia.

The capital of the state of Karnataka, Bangalore is situated halfway betwen the coasts in southern India. The city was founded in the 16th century, and witnessed great southern dynasties like the Kadambas, the Hoysalas and Vijayanagar emperors. Legend has it that the name Bangalore comes from "boiled beans" (Benda Kaluru), which were served by a humble old lady to a hungry ruler in the 10th century.

Surprisingly, despite some adverse environmental impact of industrial development in Bangalore, another of its nicknames is "The Garden City". That's thanks to many local parks, along with pink cassias, golden acacias, and jacarandas which bloom throughout the city.

Many international visitors come to Bangalore for its excellent schools and universities, such as the Indian Institute of Science. While enjoying the warm weather year-around, tourists can also use the city as a central base for day trips to other Karnataka attractions. And Bangalore doesn't only produce fine silk and software. "The Fruit Market of the South" is great for grapes, mangoes and guavas.

Last but not the least, Bangalore is even gaining the status of the "Floriculture Capital" due to the present blossoming of flower exports from the city. Because of its rich stone resources, Bangalore is also known as the "Stone City", for its granite deposits.

My Experience

• The (travel) experience on the Airport road and Pune high-way during rainy season
• The private van travel
• The regular electric power cut

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Kanpur, India

Overview

Nestled on the banks of the eternal Ganga, Kanpur stands as one of North India’s major industrial centres with its own historical, religious and commercial importance. Believed to be founded by king Hindu Singh of the erstwhile state of Sachendi, Kanpur was originally known as `Kanhpur’.

Today besides being the most industrialized region of the state, Kanpur is also an important educational centre, with institutions like Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Agricultural College, Indian Institute of Technology, G.S.V.M. Medical College, National Sugar Institute and Government Textile Institute being located here. Apart from playing a stellar role in the development of the country as a whole, Kanpur has also been instrumental in making an unforgettable contribution to the Indian freedom struggle. A favorite centre of activities of stalwarts like Nanarao Peshwa, Tantiya Tope, Sardar Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad among others, Kanpur is also the birth place of Shyamlal Gupta `Parshad’, composer of the famous patriotic ditty `Vijayee Vishwa Tiranga Pyara’. The propagation and popularization of Hindi also owes much to this city, with great Hindu literatures like Acharya Mahavir Parasad Dwivedi, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Pratap Narain Mishra, Acharya Gaya Prasad Shukla `Sanehi’ and Balkrishna Sharma `Navin’ having hailed from here.

My Experience

• The IIT Campus
• The South Indian meals like dosa, idli
• The three wheel Auto-Rickshaws (public traspotation). The expertise of the driver to drive in traffic, enjoyable
• The big queues in Railway station and puplic's usage of Railway station and Train travel
• The police with a big stick.
• Locally made airconditionor
• The way to drink water from public utlities
• Travel to Lucknow & Jansi