76. UKELELE

For the want of things to write about, posting a video of one of my first experiments with the ukelele. Any suggestions and tips to learn to play better are welcome :) 

75. DEAR NON-INDIANS..(and some Indians too..)

Over the past couple of years that I have been outside India, I have come across many people from different countries and cultures. It was great to find out how people across the globe know Shah Rukh Khan, and Modi and the 3 Idiots movie. All izz well…. It was indeed heartening to know that I come from a famous country, but it was also disheartening to find that there are a lot of preconceived (and mostly untrue)  notions about India and Indians.  Some of them are ‘harmless’, but some of them are quite annoying. So here goes the list of common myths about India.

#Dark skin doesn’t imply you are from the South, and fair skin doesn’t imply you are from the North. There are fair skinned people all over India, and the same goes for dark skinned people. 

I have had countless people ask me if I am from the South and if my roomie who is also a Mallu(Malayali), is from the North. But the worst came from a Gujju(Gujarati) friend who commented on my neighbor that she was way too good looking to be a Mallu! :-|

                           

#Not all Indian men are rapists. Yes, from the insane number of rape incidents that make headlines everyday, rape seems to be a favorite pastime for Indian men, but decent and respectable men still exist in the country. 

I have friends who have been asked how come they haven’t been raped after staying in India for so long!

#This one is especially to Singaporeans and Malaysians: Tamil is not the national language of India. I know that majority of the Indian population in Singapore is Tamil, but in India, Tamil is spoken by less than 6% of the population. We do not have a national language, probably because of the hundreds of native languages we have in different parts of the country.

                                

#Hindi is the language. Hindu(ism) is the religion.

Please don’t ask an Indian if he/she speaks Hindu.

#Speaking of Hinduism, not all Indians are Hindus. There are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Zoroastrians, Jews and Free Thinkers.

                                                        

#Not all Malayalis get drunk everyday. 

(Interestingly, one of the most disciplined and lengthy queuing systems in India can be found in front of liquour shops in Kerala:P)

                                 

74. SAWADIKA! -The Bangkok Trip

The City:  The city seemed to be quite developed. Roads and public toilets were relatively clean and maintained.  A few beggars could be seen near the MRT stations. 7-11 seemed to be the national shop of Thailand as you can find one or two after every kilometer. The general architectural style of the city seemed to be that of the temple one – most of the buildings, houses and even bridges have roofs with ornamented gabled-ends.  The entangled mess of overhead electric lines would have baffled Mr. Kirchhoff himself :P

Traffic: One word for it –Horrible! The worst experience was that of the 1-hour bus journey for a 2 km distance. So taking MRT wouldn't be a bad idea, for traveling to MRT accessible places during peak hours. 

Public transport: MRT and sky train systems are so poorly integrated, and have poor connectivity to places.  They are not cheap either. Sharing a cab by 3 or 4 would be cheaper and advisable for traveling during off peak hours. Patience bears a metered taxi. Wait for it.  We never tried the public bus. 

Food: Again, one word for it –Awesome! I guess Thai is one of the few cuisines that suites Western, Indian and South-East-Asian taste buds alike. Also it has a lot of options for vegetarians as well.

Weather: it's better to always carry a rain guard with you. Weather is similar to Singapore and Kerala.

Safety: If you take care of yourself and travel in groups and go around at the right places, it's decently safe.

Thai vocab: Sawadika - hello (for females); Kab koon - thank you (for females)

My takeaway: The trip was quite nice and educative. It made me realize that I really really need to travel more. Travelling can really modify your perspective and make you grow. Being in a group, the members of which I wasn't really close with, I learnt that different people have different preferences, concerns and skills. There are foodies, shoppers, explorers, photographers and aimless people. Timely and good food is important to some. Enough rest for others. Leisurely pace for the others. I can't chop chop everyone every time. Planning beforehand saves a lot of time, effort and money. Raincoat makes walking around in rain more comfortable. Shelling out a few bucks for a local sim-card with data is not a bad idea. Travel adaptors are a must. Don't hesitate to speak up your ideas and wants and needs. And don't get disappointed if they are not heeded to. Helping others always helps you. 

Kab Koon! :)

73. It happened/happens to me….. again!!

Airhostess (announcement): “The seatbelt sign has been switched off, however for your own safety…blah ..blah.. blah… refreshments will be served shortly. We will be serving food for the children first.”

Me (Gosh! I’m so hungry, now I will have to wait till all those pesky kids are fed! Hmph! )

Airhostess (reaches the row behind my seat, with her food trolley and her one-liner): ”We will be serving the children first”.

Me (How much longer?! Sigh!...The smell of food made my tummy growl)

Airhostess (reaches my row and repeats her chant): “We are serving the children first”

Me (Alright get on with it fast. There are no children over here……. Wait! Was she looking in my direction?!!!)

I gave her a meaningful ‘matured’ smile just incase.. you know.. to avoid any confusion…

Airhostess (her eyes and wide smile fixed on me): “Do you want veg meals or non-veg meals?”

Me (swallowing my pride along with a few years of my age): “Okay, veg meals please”

I was served orange juice with the meal. No wine. No coffee. No tea. :-|

72. And that being the only thing I did in the past 2 years remotely close to blogging..

I recently came across a free offer from Vistaprint to get name cards. Though skeptical about this tempting offer, I went ahead with ordering 250 of them. Had to tread through innumerable pop-up menus offering added offers at ‘low’ cost before I finally got to the shipping page, when I realized the catch –I had to pay for the shipping. But I guess 250 of these pretty cards was worth paying 7$ for the shipment. I just love the design 

But I wonder what to do with them now. 

71. Nam Wah Pai!

Even I don't know what that means. I came across this term for the first time during my initial jobless days in NUS when all that I used to do were whine about the high cost of living, whine about the high tuition fee and then whine again about the high food prices.

If it were not for the orientation programs conducted by the innumerable clubs and faculties in the campus, I would have died of either too much whining or too much boredom or too much loneliness, if not of too much joblessness. There are a lot of departments and clubs in the uni, and each of them organize various fun activities at the beginning of the semester for introducing themselves to the newcomers. Most of these events not only involve various interesting  activities, but often food and goody bags are also provided for all those who drop in to help them fill their seats. I see these as perfect opportunities to get back at least a fraction of the money invested in the exorbitant tuition fee at NUS. Sometimes these goody bags are really good with really goody stuff. So far I have managed to collect items ranging from Coffee mugs, water bottles, notebooks, t-shirts, post-it notes, travel pillow, marker pens , gift vouchers etc.

Thus my calendar, during the initial parts of the semester was filled with the schedules of all the orientations in various departments and those with either goody bags or free food were highlighted.

Coming back to Nam Wah Pai, it was one of the orientation programs that I happened to attend. Like I said before, I didn't have any clue as to what it was, other than that it was some kind of sport and free refreshments would be provided. Yes free food...so I didnt have to think twice ;)

I arrived 20 minutes late for the event, helping to reinforce the general opinion of the Singaporeans that Indians indeed have poor time-management skills :-/

From the costume of the students there, I figured out it was some kind of martial arts. The students were working out in pairs -one helping the other to stretch. It was the warm-ups. I stood there watching and wondering how silly this looked, when 'Master Shifu' asked me to join in. I was to help a girl to do the stretches in a similar manner. Piece of cake...or so I thought...

And...

I found out she was quite flexible!...way too flexible... I was so afraid to help her stretch too much, fearing that her back might just break into two! But she just kept insisting to push her back down and down until her torso and legs touched. There were few other scary stretches like the ones shown below, and I was glad to finally get done with it.

Little did I know my happiness was short-lived for it was my turn to be stretched next. I found that my entire body was stiff, and my torso, legs and other joints couldnt stretch beyond 30 degree angle. But I had help -from the girl whom I had helped a little while ago. And gosh did she help!! I felt my entire body being ripped apart and feared that my ligaments and bones would snap any moment. I was cursing her under my breath, wondering if she had some personal grudge against me. :-|

Phew! And after two excruciating hours of more torture, I limped back to my hostel munching a tuna sandwich, reminding myself that free food often comes at a price! :-/

70. It happened/happens to me!

Me(at Japanese Cuisine Stall) : "Auntie, one Curry Rice"
Japanese Stall Auntie(scans me up and down): "You student here ah?"
Me(nods vigorously smiling) : "Yes Yes"
Me(wow! thats new.... at least in this part of the world, they think I look older than what I really am..*grins broadly*:D)
Japanese stall Auntie(grins back): "You look very small la!"
Me(grin disappears :| )

69. Different people, and their totally different eating styles -Observations

The same kind of food; the same kind of mouth; the same kind of hands -but gosh! there are a hundred and one different ways of making the food reach the mouth!

This is one of the observations that I have made during the past few months in S'pore. Many gadgets have been discovered over the centuries to aid people in this 'laborious task' of making the food reach its destination. With varying latitudes and longitudes, the  permutation&combinations of different tools used varies -fork&spoon, knife&fork, fork,knife&spoon, chop-sticks&spoon and so on. However, from what I have observed, whatever be the kind of food they are dealing with, people generally prefer to eat it the way they have been taught at home by their mom, during their 'table manners' course. So that means, be it rice, noodles, yong tau foo, the Chinese can tackle anything that comes across their way with the help of two puny sticks. Likewise, the Europeans equip themselves with fork&knife. Singaporeans -fork and spoon and occasionally a pair of chopsticks too. And we Indians...well we don't usually require any eating aids. Why bother when God has given us awesome hands!! (But still most of the people, all over the world are taught that eating with bare hands is ill-mannered!! [sigh])

Rice and curry, I can eat with a pair of spoon and fork; noodles and the like, I can manage with a pair of chopsticks(my latest achievement :D ) but when it comes to chicken and other such dead animals which have bones, I need my hands desperately.

I realized this truth when I was lunching with some of my European and  Singaporean friends.
It was the Dutch guy's birthday, and the birthday co-ordinator selected this fancy Indonesian restaurant to celebrate his b'day. Browsing throug the menu card made me 'gulp'. The starting price for the main-course was10S$. I ordered roasted chicken rice for myself since it was the only comprehensible item in the menu that suited my budget. (My brain was calculating: 10S$ = Rs 400. I recollected those days in my UG college when one month's canteen fee was around Rs. 1200 = 30S$ . I gulped again.)

Our food arrived in no time,and all of us geared ourselves with fork and spoon to attack the food. 
'Uh Oh'... The chicken had bones, unlike the usual chicken rice. I so totally don't know how to tear the flesh out from the bones using fork and spoon. The Dutch guy was complaining too -he wanted a knife instead of the fork. I sat there wondering what in the world to do with the two metal pieces in my hand. My hands longed to reach out to the morsel.

Nevertheless, I dug in. With all my might and skill, I managed to finish off the first piece fairly decently. Hmmm...Unlike most of the other times when the chicken was half cooked that made me gag, this one was especially tasty. Yumm...I was into my second piece trying to do the flesh-bone-separating act, when, the spoon slipped and the chicken and the fork went flying away in opposite directions. I sat there stupefied, while the others burst into laughter. Needless to say, I was embarassed to the core:| And I was sad, and guilty too -sad for the chicken who sacrificed its life for nothing, and guilty for wasting money...that chicken piece would have cost atleast 2 S$. Sigh!

My so polite friends(Europeans are always nice) bent down to take the spoon for me, and I deftly used the time to grab the next chicken piece and have a bite ;)
..
..

Weeks later, I was lunching again with my international friends. This time, I played safe by sticking to  vegetarian food.

Our random conversations reached the Indian boundaries, and the Singaporean friend suddenly remarked: "The way Indians eat their food is so cool. They have special skills to eat their food. They not only eat rice with hands but can even tear dosa and pratas with one hand easily. The way they maneuver their fingers dexterously to take food and push it inside the mouth is amazing."

Well what can I say? I beamed at my 'awesome dexterous skillful hands' and ever since I have a special regard for my hand whenever they 'maneuver their way to get food into my mouth'. ;)

68. Bleed Blue!

I had sworn that if India won the Semi-Finals, I would blog right away(after a lull of 4 months). And hence the post!

I’m neither a cricket fan, nor do I watch cricket matches often. I don’t even understand the game very well for that matter. And I can hardly name a handful of cricketers!! 11 fools playing and 11,000 fools watching....Bah!


As a rule, I pay a visit to the sports channel only when there is either Cricket -World Cup Finals, or Football -World Cup Finals, or Tennis -when Federer plays.

But the Mohali match last Wednesday had this bewitching, enchanting effect that made not just me, but millions of ‘laymen’ who are hardly acquainted with the game, feel the THRILL!!! Fingers were crossed, butterflies played their own cricket match in the stomach, heartbeats got paced up, lips kept murmuring prayers, the whole body tensed up–I know I was not the only one who went throught this experience.

I happened to watch the India-Aus quarter finals, thanks to my cricket crazy roommates. Thought of watching the match as a time-pass while preparing my dinner. But hardly a few minutes into the match, the dinner was forgotten and the half cut onions were crying for attention, while we were shouting and cheering for India. Though the match started with everyone anticipating the thrice world cup champs repeating history, our tigers eventually hunted down the kangaroos moving on to gun down the ‘terrorists’(no offense intended).

The hype created over the Mohali match was humongous. The high security alert, the terrorists threat, the No-Fly zone over Mohali, the Gilani visit, all just kept the tension at the pinnacle.

I was eagerly waiting for it to be Wednesday.

And sure enough Wednesday came, after Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday dragged by.

From morning, there was an incessant inflow of the World Cup forwards which kept chocking up my inbox. Many private companies had given half day leave to their employees also. I was cursing my ‘mokka’ company for not being 'patriotic' enough. K

There were very few people in my department. Some were on leave. Some took half day off. Both my bosses had gone for ‘site visit’. (But I have my doubts as to whether these 'site visits' are just code names for ‘watching World Cup’). The rest few who stayed back, were rooted infront of the Samsung LCD in the lobby.

However the bickering later turned to praise and adoration for my 'super-cool' company when I came to know that the match was being telecasted at our Convention Centre. It was awesome!. The lights were off –only the skylight seeping in through the small opening of the dome shaped roof lit the auditorium. The sound system was amazing –had the feel of watching a Hollywood thriller in a theater. The crowd was in full form –I never thought I would get a chance to howl and scream again after college.

Like someone rightly tweeted, very little activity happened in the Indian subcontinent in the afternoon of the March 30^th- the day when India took on Pakistan!

It was not just a game. It was some sort of a battle, an epic event that will be etched in the pages of history!

The volume of the crowd in the Convention Centre kept on varying, depending on who was batting. Half the crowd disappeared after Sachin got out. I was bugging the hapless colleague who happened to sit next to me with all kinds of doubts – Who is batting? Who is bowling? What’s a power play? Is that a wide? What is a wide?........

At the same time I was 'sms'ing updates to my unfortunate friends who were restrained to their workplace.

After India’s batting got over by 6 o' clock, we hurried for home. Like I said, very few things happened in the country that day -the roads had a deserted look, the shops closed early, people were huddled around roadside TV shops. However the fast food home deliveries jumped 50% on that big day.

Sure enough my other roomies were glued to the TV by the time I reached home. We had only DD National, that too the picture quality was very poor and it was full of 'grains' most of the time. But that wasn't enough to diminish our spirits. Though we could hardly make out where the ball was going, or barely comprehend the Hindi commentary, I cheered along whenever I heard cheering from my roomies and from the neighboring houses ;)

The whole country was in jubilation after the match. It looked like Diwali came a bit too early this year.

It was one heck of a match worth watching... Tomorrow's 'Lankadahanam' is gonna turn out to be an even greater spine-tingler. And I just pray that our Bosses have yet another of those 'site visits' tomorrow. ;)

There's a dress code for office tomorrow -Blue! Yeah! We're gonna Bleed Blue!