Take it........ and go

Banff National Park, polar bears in their natural habitat and Aurora Borealis will have to wait for some other time. In the few days, we had for such a beautiful and enormous country, we saw a lot, and did a lot more. As Vishnu put it, "Canada was more of an experience" than just a visit or short stay. An extremely enjoyable and memorable experience indeed.

It became very hot towards the end, - a humid 35 degrees without fans and sufficient ventilation, made me sleep downstairs for a couple of days. In James' words, it was that time of the year when Canadians reach the tipping point, and start craving for some less of the sun.
After Keerthi and Rohit left, we were left at the mercy of Supriya for dinner.With the fall in the number of inmates of 65,67 and 69, card games like Prableen (6) had to be abandoned. We took to watching movies and Russell Peters shows during the nights, after spending some time on TT/fussball/billiards. Bob came over at times to give us company.
One night at 3 am we went out for a walk to have pizza from the University Plaza. We recounted the early days and our initial impressions based on names.

The project was wound up with hopes of success in the coming days as my code would be run on about a thousand images. James took us (Ryan and Uzair included) to the grad house, where we chatted for some time, before it was time to leave and I "keep in touch"-ed everyone.

I went through some of the lasts that I would miss... sitting out on the rolling lawns, walking to Sobeys over the meadows and back, speeding down the slope on my bike near the Ron Eydt village while returning from university. After putting up ads on Kijiji, I finally sold it for $75. Five hundred kms of cycling and fun for 20 dollars, - a very good deal, though it would have been great if I could bring The Stealth back home.

The final night was chosen for (not 'by') me to get drunk over Canada. 4 shots of Tequila, with lemon and salt as prescribed by Vishnu, followed by Jack Daniel's was more than enough. It brought out an unforeseen side in Sundaram. He spoke of how much he hated missing out on adventure stuff. Only later did we realize that he can lie when drunk. He went on to give character analyses of everyone in the group, and apparently was pretty accurate at it. Of course, I wasn't in the right state to register what all he was saying, and was half asleep. These details were re-narrated to me the next morning.
The parting was kind of emotional. It always is. Without elaborating on that, I would just wish that our lives meet once again.
Yan accompanied me back to the airport, where it wasn't absolutely uneventful. The travel bags crossed the weight limits. I had to open them up and transfer stuff intelligently taking care of weight and volume constraints, as the bags were not just packed, they were jam-packed.

I had about a couple of dollars in my pocket and about one more in my card just before boarding. I couldn't resist one more Iced Capp Supreme from Tim Horton's before I left the country.

Kaleidoscope

"I may be colour blind, but you are blind" - Madhavan (on the topic of Savita Bhabhi and Power Girl)

"Appearance blinds, whereas words reveal." - Oscar Wilde

"It was a first time experience for the 3 of us" - Me 
"I will forever be guilty in the history of Prableen" - Madhavan
"Was I making a lot of noise in the night?" - Mr. Iran to Irene

"We're talking of the same night.... right?" - Kung Fu Panda

"He is here" - Madhavan, in a whisper

"One Chinese is dragon, many Chinese is worms" - Chinese PhD & driver guy, Shaun

"She knows everything, you can speak freely" - Rohit, talking of Supriya
"Is that big enough for you?" - Supriya, talking of samosas

"We had 3 hours together. That was the best time I had with him without irritating each other" - Rohit on Madhavan
"I won't wake you up tomorrow" - Madhavan to Rohit

On having alcohol for the first time, Sundaram claimed to have gotten addicted the next day....
"Daa...." - Rohit
"I can't go to the loo without having something to read" - Vishnu
"Paa...." - Rohit
Adarsh's adventure with the Burglar Alarm...
"Baa...." - Rohit

"Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it's a good cat" - famous Chinese saying

A career which started with amoeba shaped dosas ended in Vethakozhambu with nothing much inbetween. Retiring on a high....
"Is there something wrong with me?" - Madhavan

"Bring out the trumps, baby!" - Rohit
"Focus!!!" - Rishi

$4.99 Nesquik cereal => free icecream worth $5
"Take it..... and go" - Russell Peters

**Disclaimer: This is an assortment of famous statements made within the group, necessarily not in chronological order. The author cannot be held responsible for any misinterpretations by the reader.

Through Photographs of Waterloo and around

XP Wallpaper?

Columbia lake

The icon of University of Waterloo - geese

A Farmhouse

Laurel Creek Reservoir (above 2 photos)

Roller Coasters of another kind

The Final Countdown

Whenever Vishnu and I go shopping together, we end up spending more. We ask each other, "Shall we try this?" and the answer is never no. The most recent of our trophies was a bottle of marinated octopus. The reactions we got from everyone at CLV-home were legendary. Having touched the bottle, people reacted like they had just touched a dead body in a murder scene. Some screamed, some shrieked, some exclaimed just on seeing it from the distance. 

We have been eating out a lot - everyone's been calling for one last celebration before they leave. The Mongolian Grill place was good. Everyone makes their own combinations from a huge set of choices, and gives it for cooking on the large central frying place. It was the first time I was having something real hot in Canada. The previous week, Yan and Mohammed had come over to our place for a pizza party. Yan gave us Chinese hand fans as gifts, while Mohammed brought traditional Egyptian sweets.

And now there are goodbyes all over the place. That is one thing I find very difficult, but it is a contract you enter into, the moment you say hi to a person. Keerthi was the first to leave, and then came Rohit's turn. Adarsh was next in line, though I will keep meeting him back in IITK.

In the department, Stephen and I were eager to have one last card game night along with a few other friends, but finally didn't get the time for it, as Stephen left for Ottawa on 16th. We just had beer together along with Uzair, Caroline, Ryan and Jonathan. I also have to buck up a bit in terms of my project, to give a fitting conclusion to it.

Montreal: An Eternal Party - 2

We woke up late. But the hosts were still asleep when we left. Today our first destination was Basilique Notre-Dame. It is the beauty in the architecture and paintings that I like most about churches.

We walked down St. Laurent Boulevard and entered China Town. We came here to find one specific restaurant on Rue De La Gauchetiere, and it was special for its all-you-can-eat for 10 dollars. I am always in for variety and we couldn't have got a better offer. From the 30 odd non-veg preparations, I tried at least half of them. There was sea-food too including prawns, crabs and mussels (this time cooked). After 3 platefuls, I helped myself to a dish of desserts. And then we were too full to move.

We made the best of the 16$ 3-day all transportation ticket. On reaching Rue Saint Catherine, we found that the entire length of the street was lined with temporary stalls, with no traffic allowed. This is the arrangement for every Sunday.

Soon afterwards, Rajarshi had to return to Quebec, and I made my way to the foot of Mount Royal. Everyone had told me that I would be able to hear from the distance. And so I did. What sounded like a soft buzz from the kilometres away, gradually could be recognized as drum beats. This is known as the Tam-tams. Musical instruments of the drum family all over being played by drummers from a wide cultural background, but having one thing in common- they were all high on booze and drugs right in the open. There were many crazy dancers around as well.

The atmosphere was awesome, and when one guy left his drum to take some rest, I took over, and went with the beat with a lot of spirit. With 50 more drums being played around you, mistakes go unnoticed. What onlookers noted was my enthusiasm and effort. A group of girls who were dancing posed with me for photos.

After a short walk up the Mont Royal to another viewpoint, I was at a place where there were scores of raccoons coming out from the bushes and having food and water from tourists.

Montreal is also famous for it's gay village. The subway stop at Beaudry is the gateway to it. Lots of rainbows all over the place, and only a few couples of the other kind. After a dinner of Spaghetti and Smoked Meat, I returned to the bus station.

"A time will come when you can express yourself freely" (in French)

I have been to many cities around the world, but Montreal turned out to be very different. When I was in Toronto, I saw many people walking on the streets, mostly formally dressed up, and seemed kind of busy with themselves and distant. Here in Montreal, it is like a lifelong party. There are people merrymaking all over the place. The carefree attitude. There aren't too many notable points of tourist attraction in the physical sense or any natural beauty, but people come here to just let go and enjoy life. And they were so right about the food and the girls. Just can't get any better.

Montreal: An Eternal Party - 1

A trip by myself and I was back to my usual self where I went through some serious last-minute exercise just to make it in time to the bus. Montreal is about 700 kilometres from Waterloo. An overnight journey changing buses at Toronto, and the capital Ottawa. At Ottawa again, there was a situation. There were ten of us and only two seats left on the bus to Montreal. The next bus was about 6 hours later. That would be quite a lot of loss for a 2-day trip. Without joining the queue, I walked right up to the conductor, played the mercy card of me being a foreigner and having come all the way from India to go to Montreal, and without seeking his permission or looking back at the other passengers boarded the bus right away.

At 5am, I expected Rajarshi at the Montreal Bus Station. I didn't know whether it was too much of an expectation because we have never met before. He came about an hour later.
Our first stop was at Chez Cora, where we filled ourselves with a proper English breakfast. It was 7 and the streets still had a deserted look. From accounts of others, I guessed that the city had just gone to sleep.

We freshened up a bit at one of the MITACS students' room in the hostel. Then we set out. For starters, Montreal has a north deviated from the Geographic North by 80 degrees. I didn't find too good a reason for this other than the fact that Montreal-eans want to officially claim that they are crazy. Also this is in the state of Quebec, and has majorly a French speaking population - which possibly explains as to why the girls here are so pretty and cute. A metro ride took us to the Parc Olympique and the Biodome. We walked around the place, but didn't go for any guided tour. There was an adjoining Insectarium and Jardin Botanique (I love the sound of French when pronounced in English) We gave all of this a miss, because these are present in all major cities around the world. What we were looking for is a different kind of experience.

Biodome (previously Olympic Velodrome)

Practice underway for some stage performance

Montreal is named after the central hill in the city called Mont Royal. This was our next destination. We walked the streets, entered random shops, tried out random stuff, and then after a steep hike finally reached a viewing point, from where we could see the whole city. We made our way down by a different direction. On the map there was a huge 3 sq.km. graveyard to the West (yes, Montreal West) of Mount Royal. When asking for directions to it, a shopkeeper seriously told us not to go inside, as it is very easy to get lost. It made us all the more eager to go in. Might have been a fun idea to get lost, but with me around, that is kind of difficult. Besides we didn't go in to the core.

The tomb waiting for the living to come join the rest of the family

I have heard of the French delicacy of raw oysters, and have seen people have that in Paris. At Jean Talon Marche (Market), I tried it. All it took was a verbal assurance that it won't make me sick. I slurped it at one go, and couldn't dwell on the taste too much, but it is not anywhere close to repulsive irrespective of how it looks.

Slurp it at one go

A double lunch of Fish and Fries, and later Shawarma at a Lebanese place replenished us. In the river to the East, there is a large island (For that matter even Montreal itself is one huge island, with the river forking out and rejoining). It seemed like all of Montreal had come here to party at this Sainte Helene Ile. There were public shows, and lots of people. The island is also famous for the casino, and for the F1 race track which hosted the Montreal Grand Prix just a few days ago. We walked along a long section of the track, saw the race starting point, the pits. The road quality itself was nothing special. Seemed pretty normal with a few cracks here and there.

We returned back to the main island, and on the Street, we found people lined up, waiting for a procession to come. I was eager to see one in foreign land, but this turned out to be a Fashion Parade, whatever that means. What I saw, was a bunch of weirdos in weird outfits, doing weird stuff and passing us by. There were people on stilts, huge chariot like things, lots of dancing... as random as one could think. Brought to you by Jean Paul Gautier.

Around every corner of the street something or the other was going on - be it some band performing, or some kind of an exhibition, or some open air dance lessons going on.
After a Tim Horton's break, we continued to Old Montreal. By now it was getting dark. The cobbled streets with archaic looking buildings and churches on either side all in the dim yellow street light gave the place a definite charm. Around one corner we saw a video shooting taking place with some artists behaving or posing in strange ways. By now, Rajarshi and I had learnt better to accept things the way they are in this city and not to give in to our instinct of questioning logic behind everything.


We walked on till we reached the port. Lots of expensive boats and liners. And there were so many people all around, it reminded me of the Kolkata book fair. The crowd built up further until finally the fireworks started. Today was Australia's turn and of the 8 countries in the finals of the fireworks competition, going by public opinion, today's was the best.

Some more walk, some more shops, gyros for dinner, and then finally back to the hostel at 2 am. The hosts were very kind. They offered me Absinthe (69% alc.) in the manner prescribed with the sugar cube and all the rituals, and then I called it a day.

3As from CBS

Call it coincidence or whatever, a third friend from the 100-strong legendary 2007 batch of CBS was in town at the same time (the second being Aritra). It was impossible that we not get together once during the 5 day stay in Toronto. Aritra and I had been chatting for hours at a Tim Horton's. Abhirup joined us later. He is in Canada for his dissertation in journalism. For that, he has been travelling around Canada to interview many immigrants. On that day he was coming directly from Ottawa driving his uncle's car.
We had a hearty dinner at a restaurant, but Aritra's high hopes of getting high on alcohol, and spending some time in a club, had to be abandoned for practical reasons. Abhirup drove us to the Humber college where I had been staying for the meet. His talk-around skills got me permission to bring in my guests against the rules.

We chatted late into the night... inevitably the talk went on to our school days. All the funny incidents retold for the two hundred and seventy seventh time. And we laughed our hearts out. Never do they lose their charm. This went on till 4 am when Abhirup left. The next morning, the farewell with Aritra was extremely abrupt, as the subway train door closed with him just not making it, as soon as he had stepped out to get me a transfer ticket. We will all meet each other again.... someday later at some other place.

The Revellers

Yes a hand-drawn rickshaw

I remember last year during the DAAD meet, I was mostly part of a small group, and had even been particularly harsh in my blog about a group of merrymakers sitting at the back of the bus creating ruckus. The seats have changed this year around, and I found myself amongst the backbenchers. The Waterloo group (with support from the Western Ontario group from London) was the most vibrant sub-group during the meet. For the 5 days in Toronto, we laughed like anything. And we were suddenly back in school. Everyone were at their perverted best.
On Day 1, we decided to get over with the one thing, which in my case, took three years coming - A visit to a strip-club. The fact that entry was free, as long as you order some drinks, went well with us. I would rather skip the details of our experience at the risk of disappointing the readers. From movies, I used to have the impression that the strippers dance around poles and strip down to minimals. It was mostly accurate but regarding the extent to which they strip, let's just say that I was wrong.

On the second day, we slipped out during the Ontario Museum tour and went to Eaton Centre for some shopping, not for the love of it, but mostly because everyone else of our group went there. We hung around in Dundas Square, where a band was performing live. Afterwards a group of people were playing a game called Ninja. Kind of a fun thing. We joined in for sometime.

The Eaton Centre

At Dundas Square, these exotic bikes were all lined up as if for an exhibit

The following day we were forced on to a Niagara encore. What is supposed to be one of the natural wonders of the world, somehow interested none of us anymore. There was no excitement on seeing the falls again. After getting off from the bus, we didn't even go in the direction of the falls. We just walked the streets joblessly. The up and down bus journeys were more exciting though- Bada Don, Angry birds, Tamil songs, and a lot of fun. We teased the couples in the bus, deriving school-boyish pleasures out of it, and at that time it didn't seem silly at all.

On the boat cruise, there was good food. While helping myself for the second time, some random girl from Calcutta, who had already made herself infamous, tried to give me some baseless advice regarding eating habits in a very rude manner. It felt good to blast her off.

The sunset looked beautiful. The island to the south-west of Toronto downtown had a busy runway, and flights taking off and landing every now and then metres away from the boat made a wonderful sight. Soon after sunset, there was a disco arranged for us on the boat. The MITACS organizers hit the floor first and urged us to follow suit. We did so albeit in an ungainly fashion, except for Rohit, who was finally living up to his dancing reputations.

Poor Expectations and a Great Comeback

We were all in our formal clothing, most of us feeling uneasy about it. The first day couldn't have been more boring. After checking us into Humber College, MITACS arranged for an Opening Reception somewhere in downtown Toronto, where we were expected to socialize. Maybe they wanted us to realize that we are bad at this, and should do something about it, which brings us to the next 4 days of workshops.
After the first day experience and from previous year's experience, I was almost certain that the next few days would be torture for us. But against all odds, the workshops did manage to impress us substantially. The major positive about the workshops was that they were interactive in nature. It kept us busy and thinking. We were taught how to present and advertise ourselves, how to manage and plan projects and some psychological stuff. We solved puzzles, presented consultancy plans,  made Lego-kit windmills, designed business cards (mine said "we deal in dark matter") etc. The instructors were excellent communicators too.

On the second day, there was an assignment for each table to come up with one point that is essential for a constructive conversation. Vishnu's group said 'good listener'. Next was our turn. I was the speaker of the group. We had written down some points, but didn't have one single phrase. We were looking at each other undecided as to what to say or which of the points to choose, when suddenly Irene whispered 'reciprocation', and immediately I faced the instructor and repeated "reciprocation". And then I thought "What?" and the instructor repeated my thought "What?"...I realized what was coming up, and said 'reci-pro-ca-tion' once again to buy some time...."Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that?", he said with a smirk across his face. Somehow I managed the moment, by making up stuff then and there: "It is the method by which... umm... when a person talks, the other person reciprocates.. umm...  that is...umm... he shows agreement to what the other person is saying." And then I glared at Irene.

I must also add that I did not agree to some of the things they taught - be it the way of differentiating people on crude psychological bases and behaving accordingly with them, or be it the overemphasis on alertness. They had a fancy for tricking us with purposely mis-spelt words in unexpected contexts, to drive in the idea that we should always be watchful. What they didn't realize is that if we were to be so watchful all the time, it would hamper our concentration. In terms of reading, this translates as 'it would take ages to read anything'.
And while the windmill did get built in the stipulated time, by the 3rd attempt, it was more because of familiarity and practice than the planning that we were taught. However, the planning techniques involving time charts and money charts are important and can be useful in large projects.

My room in Humber College

Among other notable events, on the penultimate day, there was a fire alarm, that made us evacuate the building through emergency exits. There were many fire brigades and firemen all over the place, only the fire was missing. After about half an hour, we returned to our respective workshops.
Inbetween these workshops, we had some good, and some okayish meals in the same Chestnut Conference Centre. Sometimes there were speakers over lunch, and on the final day there was a panel discussion.

I chatted with Ed and Lorena a few times. They had seriously done a great job in arranging everything  including this Industry Week and making it a great experience for everyone. Although I have one grudge against them, for not giving us permission to go to Wonderland, and instead forcing us to Niagara Falls and a Winery. In fact they should have informed this to us earlier, because had we known this, we could have gone somewhere else during the weekend when we had gone to Niagara. They also arranged for a government event, again expecting us to socialize. Some did, but I believe all the high profile people went home with the idea that there is some kind of a serious food situation in India. Everytime when snacks were being served, like a bunch of famine starved people the students would come and jump into it from wherever they were, irrespective of who they were having a conversation with.

There was a visit to the Parliamentary Building too, where I did not pay much attention to the details. And then there was an enjoyable Boat Cruise and final celebrations on the Ontario lake, giving us the great downtown Toronto view once again. The whole programme ended with certificate distribution to all the students and a photo session amongst the MITACS fellows that continued forever, even after we left.

Uni pics

  Engineering 5 building - all the buildings are internally connected by these tunnels

 The public library

 Dana Porter library

Signatures of Banksy all over the place - mostly by some amateur artist, but you never know...

Inside the Student Life Centre (SLC)

At the University Plaza

Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics (one of the premiers in the field)

 The Physics Department building with the observatory visible at the top

 Dana Porter library from the Physics dept terrace

Through the telescope in the Gustav Bakos Observatory

The first Wednesday of every month is when Robbie gives a short lecture to amateur astronomy enthusiasts and then shows them some celestial bodies through the telescope in the Physics department obseravtory. Vishnu, Keerthi and Adarsh came along one day and we saw the close-up of the moon and also Saturn along with a few of its satellites. The ring was clearly visible. On another occasion we saw a Binary star system.

Of Dark Matter and Dwarf Galaxies

The field of astronomy has the ability to keep everyone from 7 to 77 mesmerized, be it by its sheer magnitude, beauty and variety of structures, its deep mysteries or the possibilities. Before I talk of my field of work, I need to give a general introduction in the simplest way possible, and of course I assume that the reader has some basic ideas like what a light year is.

Our life is centred around the Sun. The nearest star from the Sun is slightly more than 4 light years away. Take a moment to try to comprehend the distance, and then consider that the Solar System is a part of a galaxy (Milky Way) that is 100,000 light years across. And this galaxy harbours 10^11 stars. Just like satellites orbit around planets, recent observations have yielded that there are small satellite galaxies around most major galaxies including the Milky Way galaxy. These are called Dwarf galaxies and have a very low surface brightness.
The nearest major galaxy from Milky Way is Andromeda, and on a clear night it is visible to the naked eye like a haze. It is smaller than Milky Way and it is 2.5 million light years away. And if you think that these figures are huge, learn to live with the fact that there are about 50 galaxies within the local group of galaxies, and about 100 local groups form a supercluster of galaxies. Our Milky Way is one of the 4000 odd galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster (110 million light years across). And that is nothing compared to the farthest object detected (about 13 billion light years away). One must also realize that the farther an object is, the light coming from it is farther into the past.

Now I would throw in another weird observational fact about space. It is expanding. This term can be misleading at times, and I would use a line from Wikipedia: "It is an intrinsic expansion—that is, it is defined by the relative separation of parts of the universe and not by motion "outward" into preexisting space." A clarificatory diagram on this point and for a better idea of distances: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Embedded_LambdaCDM_geometry.png

To explain this phenomenon of expansion, Big Bang theory was developed, and the mathematics of it yielded the fact that what we see forms only 5% of the total mass-energy. That includes the massive bodies forming all the stars including black holes and the energy emitted from these mostly in the form of photons. Of the remaining 95%, the theory attributes 23% to dark matter and the rest 72% to dark energy. Frankly speaking, at the moment we know very little about dark energy. However for dark matter there is evidence, and a clear characterization of its properties. Dark matter is made of non-baryonic (don't mind the terminology) particles which don’t interact with light but have gravitational effects. Basically light passes right through it without any effect as if transparent, and the only way we know that there is something out there is from the gravitational pull of this mysterious dark matter on other visible celestial objects.

The early universe was very uniform. However the small irregularities as has been reproduced by simulations, resulted in clumping of dark matter into haloes. All present day galaxies are nested in these haloes. Observational data of the rotational velocities of galaxies (its variation with radial distance) is also suggestive of the presence of dark matter haloes around them. If there were only baryonic (normal) matter in galaxies, all matter would have lost their energy by radiation, and would have got clumped together. 

According to numerical cosmological simulations that predict the evolution of the distribution of matter in the universe, there seems to be enough observed normal-sized galaxies to account for dark matter distribution, but the number of dwarf galaxies found so far is orders of magnitude lower than expected from simulation. For comparison, there were observed to be around 50 dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, and only around 20 orbiting the Milky Way, while the predicted number is of the order of 1000. This is called the Dwarf Galaxy Problem.

And this is where I come into the picture. My internship is about developing a code that can find these missing dwarf galaxies from astronomical images. I have been trying it on a few of these images (1.5 GB each) and their cutouts, and when the procedure involved and the set of parameters used produce satisfactory results, the code will be uploaded onto the cloud, that will use the processing powers of hundreds of idle computers to process the 2000 odd 1.5 GB images (cloud computing) and give us the results. Let us see if we can find any new dwarf galaxy(ies).

On a separate note, one of the softwares I have been using for the detections is called Source Extractor. It is available under the name of Sextractor, and all its commands start with the word sex followed by a space and then the rest of the parameters and commands. There is a command to set the OS type and it goes as
>>sexmachine = 'linux'
In addition to allowing physicists their daily dose of 'sex' humour, the software also helps them in detecting celestial objects.



One of the astronomical image cutouts having a major galaxy (Spindle Galaxy - NGC3115) to the top-right. There is a dwarf galaxy, possibly a satellite to NGC3115 in the left part of the image, 2/3 distance from the top (forming a haze with a bright centre). Other objects in the image are stars (the ones forming a plus sign due to the photon overflow in the pixels) and the remaining multitudes of bright smudges against the grainy background are all galaxies from other clusters, each of roughly the same size as the Milky Way, and each a home to a zillion possibilities. All this within 1/3,000,000 of the entire sky.

Two and a half men in a boat - Part 2

The view from the campsite where we landed

We went around to explore the new place. A few log benches were present around a campfire area, about 10 metres from the shore. That was the only sign of previous human occupancy of the place. Well.... not quite. There was one more arrangement for campers. At the end of a trail leading away from the glade, there was the Thunder Box.... a huge wooden chest like thing connected to a deep pit, used to answer nature's calls.
About 20 metres diagonally from the campfire area, there was an open and more or less flat area with four trees at the corners, allowing for tying the tarpaulin. The tent was set up in its shade in a jiffy (Experts already!). We made sure everything was stable, and then went ahead to unpack the other stuff.


The utensils were kept outside, but the food was all placed in a small bag, and a rope was used to tie it up to a tree. This arrangement was to keep bears away. apparently bears have a liking for most human stuff including diapers.

The bag containing food waiting to be hoisted up to the branch

Vishnu and I decided to get into the water. Cold sparks up the spine initially. But then it became normal. We were wearing our life jackets and that kept us floating, as we tried walking off to the edge of our limit of having our feet grounded. We discussed the idea of swimming a few hundred metres across the channel to the island, but felt that it would be too exhausting. No argument could get Irene to enter the water. She was too scared of it.

Useless effort

Meanwhile water was getting boiled on the small gas stove to make it drinkable. Two of us started collecting splinters and twigs that would be used for the fire in the evening. There was plenty lying all over the place. I got bored of it too soon, and rather decided to saw off pieces from a fallen trunk. The idea was more to use a saw for the first time than to get wood for the fire. (Rowing for 17 kilometres and then this, definitely my arm muscles have never been busier.) However all this effort was wasted as the trunk was damp, and didn't catch fire at all. But we are getting too far ahead in the story. In the first place there was a serious problem as to how we would start the fire. Here I should give a briefing on this. The first requirement is something highly flammable but that continues to burn for a long time. Birch wood which looks like paper, may be used for this purpose but may not be found so easily. Next some splinters and dry small twigs  are required, that will help build the fire. Once the fire is up and steady, slightly larger branches can be added because if they catch fire they will sustain the fire for a longer period, without anyone having to pay attention to it.

As an alternative to birch wood we were given a candle like thing as a fire starter and sustainer. Somehow we had lost it. It seemed we were doomed to be in the dark. We decided we would attempt to light a fire directly with splinters. But there was still an hour till sunset and two till darkness. Vishnu and I again decided to set out in our canoe for a short trip around the islands. One was inhabited by campers, the other didn't have a camping spot, and as we neared it, we found thousands of inukshuks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuksuk) bordering the island.

With our inukshuk

We decided to park our canoe here and explore the island. After making our own inukshuk, amputed though it was, we tried to make our way into the island. A machete would have come in handy, as it turned out to be difficult and risky to force our way through dense foliage where possibly no one has set foot in recent times, if not ever. Suddenly Vishnu noticed some white sheet like stuff lying on the ground. Rolled up patches with small brown marks in some places. It was exactly what we needed. We didn't have to confirm with anyone that it was birch wood. We went a few steps ahead into an opening and there we saw lots and lots of it lying all over the place. All the trees around us were birch trees, and their white bark was kind of scaling off. We were overjoyed at this serendipitous discovery, and returned to our canoe, our hands full with birch bark.

It was getting dark by the time we reached our camp-site from our pilgrimage. Following the prescribed method, we got a steady fire soon enough. Here I could do with a flashback. 3-4 days ago, when we went shopping for food and equipments for the trip, Rohit and Madhavan were with us. The part they were most interested in was having roasted marshmellows by the bonfire (just like in cartoons, they said). They went to the extent of finding roasting sticks and marshmellow packets in the departmental store. Vishnu and I, on the other hand, not knowing about its popularity, declined the idea. Yesterday again, after we had collected all our equipments from the outfitting shop, the girl who was giving all the instructions was casually confirming that we must be having marshmellows with us. When we said we didn't, she exclaimed with an expression of "then why have the fire!!!" So we were left with no option but to get a pack of marshmellows. And so back at Parkside Bay Camp, we were sharpening a stick each. The procedure was to put the marshmellows in the fire, heat it till golden, but it shouldn't catch fire. The outer part became like a crispy coating to the gooey molten core. It tasted amusing.


As it became darker, we could see another camp merrymaking in the distance... songs, whistles, shouts. A persistent bird had been calling plaintively and irritatingly ever since we pitched camp here. Initially it gave us a feel that we were in the wild, but gradually it started getting on our nerves.
Sometimes our fire showed signs of dying off when left unattended for long, but everytime we saved it at the very last moment, collecting more twigs from time to time. Inbetween we had some coffee, and finally noodles was being prepared. We were very hungry and ate a lot. It was eleven, when the fire finally died off, and we doused it off completely. The starry sky thrilled me once again. But suddenly in the distance towards east, we saw a flash of lightning. And then another. We sat by the shore till some more time. It felt nice. Vishnu and I shared one more cigar (there were 5 in the pack we bought from Niagara, and we only had them on special occasions). Meanwhile we could feel the clouds approaching us. We could already hear the thunder, faint rumble though it was. We estimated that it would hit us around 2-3 am. We read the instructions for a thundershower just in case, and the plan we decided upon was to run to the end of the trail in the direction of the thunderbox, as it had less tree cover, thereby reducing chances of getting affected if lightning strikes.

Finally at 12.30 we got into our tent. The setting was perfect for some ghost stories but we were too tired for the unearthly. It has been a day where we did a lot and everything for the first time. We were soon deep asleep. The persistent bird continued.

I woke up to an orchestra. It was about 5am. There was faint light outside. No signs of storm or rain. And a thousand birds were chirping, at various pitches. Different melodies combining to give a grand effect. Add to that the snoring from either side of me, and it was quite some music. I tried moving a bit inside a tent, and found that my shoulders muscles were sore from exercise. Deciding it was too early, I went off to sleep again.

Morning coffee

The morning was spent in packing up. We were supposed to leave early, but the earliest we could do was 11 am. However this time we were really fast and made the return in 3 hours including the portage. There were a few hiccups though, once with direction, I said we had to go left, while Vishnu and Irene said that we needed to go right. It took quite some convincing, which I realized is quite difficult, when the listener cannot turn around to face me. On another occasion our map flew off from the canoe and floated on the water (they accounted for this possibility), and we had to make rounds till we could retrieve it. The remainder of the journey was more of a snake boat race. I was wearing my gloves today which made it easier, and we commanded each other from time to time for changing sides of rowing depending on our course.

We had told Shaun that we would return by 11 am, and that if we are delayed by more than two hours, he should know that something is wrong. We were delayed by three but no helicopter came our way. After all Shaun has gotten used to our ways. We reloaded the canoe to the car, took it back to the outfitters place, got some souvenirs, and drowsed off while Shaun drove us back. Irene met her relatives at Wonderland which was on the way. She went with them to Niagara (I wondered how!). As for me, I was completely spent. Spent, but happy and satisfied by our whole canoeing-camping experience.