Few poignant seconds...the tranquility forces you into contemplation...

The Main Beach skyline in expressionless anticipation...

Early hours of 25th March, 2005...anxious moments before the Sunrise.

The last gathering...did you notice my biggest investment in Australia?...yup, the 15$ haircut...couldn't wait for the other teams to join as most of my packing was still left...few stories were exchanged and was asked to join them again for the sunrise next morning.

The phone booth near the apatments...made most of my calls from here.

The skyline at Surfer's Paradise...the sea doves are still around.

At the beach at Surfer's...can you see that shadow?...that's me lost in thought.

Evening of 24th March, 2005...headed straight for the Surfer's Paradise from the train station...here at an aborginal art store...picked up two boomerangs from here...

On a pedestrian bridge over the Brisbane River while heading for the train station to catch one to Gold Coast.

With Dr.McDonald who is in-charge of the Moot Court Department at QUT.

The Moot Court hall at the QUT...Gone are the days of bulky briefs...QUT envisages a day when the lawyers would enter court rooms armed only with CD-ROM's and Flash Drives...the giant screen is for the judge....each mooter has his own computer and uses the same to guide the judge through his brief...all moots are recorded on camera for the students to analyze their own performances.

The GABA

I wasn't as lucky...The Brisbane Lions(Australian rules football team) were playing before ta packed home crowd...There was no way I could have seen the turf.

Before GABA, lets have a look at the Sydney Cricket Ground...Dad was lucky enough to get this picture taken inside the stadium in April, 1999.

Was at the front seat...Dr.Fitzgerald is a sports lover and promises to stop by the GABA, the Brisbane cricket ground on the way.

Dr. MacDonald(moot coordinator...also in-charge of the Commonwealth and Stetson International rounds) and Dr.Fitzgerald were kind enough to take few of the participants to to Brisbane for us to look around the QUT, Faculty of Law...on the Gold Coast- Brisbane highway...world famous Movie World (Warner Bros. owned) was on the way...couldn't visit it though...had constraints of time and money.

With Ira and Dr.Fitzgerald

The Closing Ceremony lunch of the LAWASIA Conference...few blessed moot participants who were hanging at the Convention Centre then, were let in owing to the kindheartedness of Mr.Fitzgerald...had my first ever fortune cookie after the lunch...these dragons are celebrating the declaration of Hong Kong as the next conference venue.

Last day...At the mall at Surfer's Paradise...

An undesigned interlude...Bombay again

Bombay...13th June, 2005...11:15 PM...I along with Shantala and Sandeep(Boss's juniors) come out of the office, and after the daily game of death(i.e. crossing the road) are strolling on the dimly lit sidewalk on our way back...a sturdy looking drunkard who has gulped down enough to smell like an inbriated pig with a gold chain strapped on, closes in on us and collides his hand against mine...he doesn't seem to fancy my spontaneous askance and barks,"Apun Indian hai...haath laga to problem hai kya?....kyaa?"(I'm an Indian...did my hand bother you or what?)...Before I retort back, Sandeep is quick to pull me aside as we watch him swagger past us...Message from Sandeep,"Don't ever mess with drunkards here!!!...unless you want to be knived for no reason..and always carry sir's visting card incase you end up in some police station...not all is hunky-dory over here boss."Point well taken.

We have no matters in the morning today.Can blog for some more time.

A bit of panic...

Lost my way while heading back...reached some other place instead of Main Beach...took almost 2 hours and 4 people to to find out the correct way...most of the people I asked were tourists and had little idea themselves...a shirtless gentleman rushing towards the beach with a surf board in his hands guided me to the main road...was quite dark by now and for the first time my nerves were under some tension...had been walking for almost two hours now and didn't carry enough money for a cab...finally, caught a bus from a bus stop across this hotel...reached safely.

At a place called Surfer's Paradise...evening of 23rd March.

Self-obsessed at the Pacific Fair

At the Pacific Fair...the largest shopping mall there.The entire Australian trip cost me around fifteen thousand rupees and a quarter of it was spent here.

Saw some unparallel sights here...is unparallel a proper word for topless girls...common, just a question...

The beach at Burleigh Heads...

A 6$ meal at the Burleigh Heads...

And him?...common

And how could I miss them?

How could you ever expect me to not meet him in Australia?...here at David Fleay's Wildlife Park.

To call a cab, just look out for one of these boxes and drop a 2$ coin (make sure to collect your bill) ...the nearest cab around would be at your service and the amount would be adjusted against the rent.

I am kind of satisfied with whatever I achieved...it's the morning of 23rd March, 2005...am not at the Southport District Courts to see the finals between Hong Kong and Australia...am here for two more days and and should make the best of the time left...here at the Burleigh Heads.

That's it for me.If only my co-mooter had been there...but then no man can change is destiny.Can he?Receiving my certificate from Dr.Brian Fitzgerald, Head, School of Law at QUT. Dr. Fitzgerald specialises in technology laws and had drafted this years moot problem...check out his profile at http://www.law.qut.edu.au/about/staff/lsstaff/fitzgerald.jsp

The Queen of Hearts

At Mano's, an Italian restaurant...That's Queenie Lau, the Chinese girl with a British accent...she is a law graduate from Cambridge and is currently in University of Hong Kong for the course that would make her eligible to practice in Hong Kong where her parent's live...I remember telling her as we walked along that she would go home with the best mooter prize...She instead told me that she was looking forward to meeting me in the semi-finals...my prediction turned out to be true...and hers...well, I missed out to the International University of Malaysia by just 8 marks after two moots...However, I couldn't stop myself from pulling Ira'a leg as I had beaten them in the preliminaries...she smiled back but I guess I had hurt her...had no intention though...

Queenie wants to be a politician and is very possessive about Tibet...Chairman Lau?...who knows?...was wonderful talking to her over the dinner.

The participants just before heading for the dinner ceremony where the certificates would be handed out and the semi-finalists announced.

Certainly not a rare sight there...but I was too exited to care for those cold looks people threw while I captured this one.

The camera was placed on a similar table few yards away as the self-obssessed maniac had just taken his seat after adjusting the timer mode.

Self-obsessed maniac on his way back to the apartment...on a jogging track that ran along the beach...that right hand is sticking out and the camera happens to be in it.

Loitered at the Mirage till the Sun was out again...

The Southport Yacht Club was just across.

Came out on the road soon and came across this dock at the estuarine waterfront area as I walked towards the Marina, a shopping arcade.

If....

If only I were one amongst these...I could have carelessly strolled on these sublime beaches while men who had travelled thousands of miles to see us would be left gaping as we spread our wings and vanished into the skies over the enormous pacific on cloudy autumn afternoons like these...If only...

Some food for my thoughts!

By now, I have perfected the art of clicking my own pictures by sticking the camera out and looking away as the camera is being clicked...I love being alone...yes, I am not a very people person...and here amongst the sea doves, the pacific, the wandering clouds and the bikni clad girls who passed by, am in a state of absolute bliss!!!

After loosing out to the University of Malay (by a whisker though) on the morning of 22nd March, had nothing much to do...the semi-finalists would be announced at a dinner ceremony in the evening...am free to wander till then...am back at the beach near Chidori Court, an inn where we were put up.

That's not a movie set!

A state of the art court room at the Southport District Courts...Yet again, I was left pondering on my providence as I gazed at the Gold Coast skyline through the crystal clear glass panes....standing by the jury box here...Australia has jury trials like US and unlike India.

One for the History Books

Around 8:00 PM...The gentlemen standing to the left didn't wear the usual black and white as he was emulating the Australian lawyers who need not stick to any colours....and after beating this Malaysian team of four which had come there after winning in their national rounds (defeating the National University of Malaysia), he is completely in the world of 'vanity struck' and is on the verge of taking off owing to the surplus of air in his cerebral alleys. From left to right(sitting)....Justice Marshall from the Supreme Court of Fiji, can't recall this Judge's name...was from Southport District Court, and His Hnour Judge Rakemann from the Fedral Court of Australia...(standing)..Myself and the International Islamic University of Malysia Team...Ira and Abida (two girls in the middle) were the mooters.

The air head got deflated next morning after getting beaten by the University of Malay...For an official version of what happened check the Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Law Website at http://www.law.qut.edu.au/about/moots/lawasia/index.jsp for more details check out the University of Hong Kong website which came out with a press release after winning the Competition(http://www3.hku.hk/law/upload/images/sy/LAWASIAMootPressRelease-May2005.pdf).

21st March, 2005, D-Day...Hidayatullah's first International Moot...Place...Southport District Courts, Gold Coast....This one was taken just before it began around 6 in the evening.

The entrance to the Conrad...took this one while leaving.

Have already written about the food...

Participants moving towards the Conrad Hotel from the Convention Centre...had to cross this beautiful pedestrian bridge.

Myself, Chris, Andrew Lodder, Can't recall(All three from University of Western Australia, Perth...Lodder has been a mooter in the UWA team which won the Jessup's moot in Washington few years back...had good words for NLS whom they defeated in the quaters), Vincent Tan (University of Malay)....outside the Gold Coast Conention Centre, the venue for the LAWASIA conference, just before the banquet.

Let's get done with Australia...

Just came back from the office...Am in no mood to write about the day...

Am in a cafe...yup...is it too late?...not here

This is what I had typed on my laptop last night...

Just before moving on to Australia...I had a 'not so tiring' day at office today....After waiting for a considerable amount of time for bus no. 84, I had to finally catch a cab to make sure that didn't get late (bus timings are extremely flexible unlike the trains which run exactly on the dot)...Left the office along with Sandeep (boss's junior) and was on a bus to Dadar soon...Got off near the station and boarded a VT (Victoria Terminus) bound local train. Most of the offices in Mumbai are on vacation hence the crowd seems to be relatively less menacing.

It's just a five minutes walk from VT to the Esplanade Court (or the Azad Maidan Court-a metropolitan magistrate's court)...was there till 4 in the evening till the concerned matters got over took a bus back to the office and was there by 5...Boss is coming back tomorrow and for me, that launches the three week decathlon though Bombay...run Bantu,run!!!

Now, picking Austarlia up from where we left...

I am told that since my co-counsel is not present I'll have to try and fill in her shoes...i.e. moot for 40 minutes instead of the 20 minute per speaker for the other teams...it's a blessing in disguise and I know it at the back of my head. It's the evening of 20th March, 2005 and all the teams are at the 'Opening Ceremony Banquet' of the LAWASIA Conference...The participants mingle with each other at the sprawling lawns of the Conrad Hotel.I am not sure about the other participants' taste, but one for me, the food is pretty bland...if only it tasted as good as it looked...Nevertheless, the desserts section compensates adequately.

Bombay...

The early days (16th-20th April, 2005) were quite uncertain as I spent the mornings going through the local dailies in hope of finding a paying guest accomodation not far from my boss's office at Worli.The afternoons were spent in calling up the estate agents who would then fix up an appointment with the prospective landlord...A Christian family at Mahim, a Maharashtrian home in Mahim, and few hostels in and around Dadar after, I finally got in touch with one Mr.Patel through the Mid-Day(A local daily)...He showed me a place at Shivaji Park, very close to the Western Highway and I had shifted my luggage at this Maharashtrian family's house by 9:00 AM on 20th morning.

Geoff Grimes, aPhD student at the University of Texas at Austin is my roommate...he is an ethnomusicologist (have never heard of it before)...he is here for his field work associated with his dissertation on "Regional influences on Hindustani Classical Music"...if only our Universities had the kind of money US Universities have....Hats off to this man's dedication...goes through Hindi, Marathi (yes, u read me right!) and English dailies for any information regarding any happening concerning Hindustani Classical Music and visits the places,calls up and sets up interviews with the legion of Classical Musicians in Bombay, etc....is here till August...has spent some time in Varanasi already and would be heading for Calcutta from here...will start writing only after going back.

He is a true scholar in no uncertain terms...its been a pleasure discussing subjects ranging from American History, Music, Politics, Cricket, Soccer and almost everything under the sun...on many ocassions these discussions have continued till late...

I have already completed 3 weeks under my boss who practices at the Bombay High Court, the Greater Mumbai City Civil & Sessions Court, and the various metropolitan courts spread all over Bombay...I'll write about the work culture after resuming the internship on Monday...am here for another 3 weeks.Criminal Law Practice in Bombay is much different from any other place...what fancies me the most is the variety...one case for example involves a gentleman who was an officer on a merchant ship which capsized off the Bombay coast on a stormy morning...all (but 3 people on board went down with the ship including the officer's wife...now the officer who is alive only because a strong wave had swept him off the deck just before the ship sank, has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder because he was was allegedly responsible for overloading the ship before it went to sea at a Middle Eastern Port...now my boss is defending him...as a lawyer, he must now know everything about the ship (from engineering intricacies to affect of weather on sinking)...it's cases like this which enthrall and motivate...most of the cases he handles involve white collar crimes...this is the commercial capital of the country after all (unlike my last internship at Chandigarh, I am yet to come across a murder case...and forget about any rape case...however, my boss has handeled some high profile murder cases in the past)...

all in all, have been very lucky to have been learning the nuances under him...practice/litigation is not hunky dory through out...the initial years can be a real struggle...but, once you r known here (of course depends on the work you do and the contacts you build), u can really mint money....

this is without doubt the city of dreams...it gives everybody the opportunity to either realize them or see them being shattered ...yes, there is no middle ground here..jara hat ke, jara bach ke yeh hai bambai meri jaan!!!.

Commuting in Bombay is another art one learns over the time he or she spends here...keep track of the bus numbers one needs to catch, make sure that he wants to travel on the harbour line or central line before boarding a train, know about ways of maneuvering his way to a seat while making sure he does not end up at window seat with the scorching sun on its side...daily commuters have got it all programmed...

try boarding a train at office going time...just stand at the platform near the edge once u have decided to catch the next train...relax just as the train arrives...fellow commuters will force/power/take/pick you along if you happened to be in front of the gate...do the same when it comes to getting off...don't worry, they do it every day...you will LAND safely...all this only if you are not claustrophobic otherwise you might require hospitalisation and somebody might get late for office only beacuse of you!!!So be a bit considerate and stay away during office rush.

You will become a true bombayite the day your claustrophobia ceases to bother you anymore and the day you stop covering your nose while going past the monsterous drains carrying all the city's muck into the Arabian Sea...

More to come...

Another holiday, another movie...

Regal...The Ring 2

Reached on time for the 12:30 show...As I parked myself in the rear stall, and the murmurs subsided with the curtain raising from the screen, the ambience reflected a place geared up for a horror movie.

Just as the lights went off, a group of young ladies entered the hall and one of them broke the silence crying out,"Oooh!I am so scared!"...After that, many shh..shh's were exchanged and almost everybody was laughing as the first scene began.

The first 10-15 minutes were excruciatingly painful...one could almost feel for the 50 rupees spent on the ticket...

It picked up some pace soon just as some scenes sent few chills down the spine...
(The Raindeer scene is in no unceratin terms the best one the movie has)

After the interval, the pace is quite intense with a chill sent down every now and then...

In between, while absolute silence prevailed in anticipation of another such scene, a gentleman sitting few rows ahead came out with a horrendous sneeze and sent roars of laughter all over the rear stall...the spooky scene was rendered impotent as joviality prevailed for quite some time.

Best Dialogue- "I am not your f**king mommy!!!"...another roar of laughter.

Go watch it in a big group...scream, laugh, and have a ball...don't even think of watching it on the small screen...you might be next!

Tommorow is Saturday and could be my last holiday before I go back...Monday to Saturday requires work from 10 in the moring to 10 in the night...I know you think that I am exaggerating but you got to be a lawyer in Bombay to face such music...My boss earns around 2 lakh rupees a day on an average and works hard enough to deserve it...I don't get paid but am learning a lot!

Bombay Hustle!

am back in Bombay...reached around 4:30 in the morning...didn't want to disturb my landlady so early on hence waited at the bus stop near the flat till 6:00 AM...Work resumes only on Monday...am free till then.

9:00 AM...Took the Flora Fountain bound bus (goes along the West Coast) and reached Regal ( a movie theatre of British times and my favorite in Bombay) around 10:15...got a ticket for Kung Fu Hustle...the show starts at 12:30...The Prince of Wales Mueseum is close by...have been watching it from outside for quite some time now...checked it out today...nothing special...But the battle gear of Akbar the Great was truly awesome and those blood drenched swords simply amazing.

When I was here in April-May, never did a Holiday pass without being in Regal...The trend continues...

Kung Fu Hustle is a brilliant movie...just throw away all your intellectual inquisitiveness('How on earth can that happen?' kinds) before entering the hall...Stephen Chow's acting is the only low point...all others have done really well...specially the fat guy...the dumb girl is phenomenally beautiful(she reminded me of Queenie Lau from the Hong Kong University team, her eyes actually)...some of the sequences are even better than Matrix.

Will come back to the Australian story soon.