Thailand: touring Bangkok, Phuket & Krabi

BANGKOK
We landed at Bangkok at 10. 30 pm and went for visa-on-arrival process. We filled out a form. Despite a long check-list of required documents, the only proof that they asked for was the to & fro tickets. After 15 minutes of waiting, we were beckoned and handed the stamped passports.
We headed out to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) and reached at around 12.30. Hungry and tired, we checked in and asked for some food. We were told that there was no kitchen and suggested we go down to the Mc Donald’s attached to the hotel which had plenty of beef, pork and chicken options but nothing that we vegetarians could eat. We had booked ourselves into this hotel at Siam, in the centre of the city but found nothing to eat in its neighborhood. Walking around at 1 in the night, we were looking for something to eat when a kind tuktukwala (tuktuk: like the autos in India but bigger) stopped and asked, “India?” and promised to take us to an Indian restaurant. I normally avoid Indian food outside India but then having no other recourse, got into his tuktuk and visited the Indian restaurant, which, as imagined, served an absolutely bland fare. By the time we slipped under covers, it was 2 am!
The next day was a trip to Ayutthaya. We started at 10 am, took help of the hotel concierge and booked a cab for THB 2000 to Ayutthaya and back.  All along the way, we were taken to several temples which belonged to many centuries back and were mostly in ruins. Though history interests me, after a point of time I was pretty tired from seeing ruins after ruins. There was the palace thrown in as well, but at around 11.30 am, at the beginning of the tour, it was too hot for us to enjoy going around. In the process, I got severely sunburnt.
The next day was the flight to Phuket in the evening. Therefore, we went for shopping at Pratunam, the street shopping at Bangkok during the first half of the day. For me, it was very much like the Sultan bazaar of Hyderabad, with crowds jostling against each other. There was a great fear of pick-pocketing and we were very careful, clutching on to our wallets and phones. We bought some clothes suitable for beach. At Pratunam clothes were as cheap as THB 65 for a t shirt! We also shopped at the adjacent Indira market where you find stuff priced slightly higher comparatively but still cheap.
We ate some Thai food at the food courts there. When we emerged onto the main road from Indira market, we found, to our astonishment, a line of Indian restaurants, mostly vegetarian! So, for people who want to stick to a familiar cuisine, this is for you guys.
After shopping, we rushed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and headed to the airport to Phuket.

AT PHUKET
At around 8 pm, we arrived at Phuket at a fairly better time than we did at Bangkok. We booked ourselves at Malika Hotel at Phuket Town. Phuket looks like a sleepy Kerala village. There is lots of greenery with long coconut trees swaying all along your route from Phuket airport to the town.
Even at 8 pm, we (again) found no food or kitchen in the hotel open at that time. Too tired to go out, we survived on some salvaged food from our bags.
We then held a discussion with the hotel receptionist for our next day’s plans. Don’t be fooled by the frail appearance of the receptionist. On travel review sites, people have mentioned about how this poor, frail thing carried your suitcases to the top floor in absence of a lift and the bell-boys. (She  actually sprinted upstairs with two 10 kg suitcases in each hand!
I would say definitely, in this case, appearances can be so deceptive!
She booked us to a Phi Phi island trip at THB 2000 each. Later, we found out that the people from other hotels had paid 900 to 1200 max for the same trip.
Though the hotel was set in a serene environment, it has no lift and no phone to call the receptionist! Just imagine trying to ask for something…
The next morning, we set out for a trip to Phi Phi islands and several other islands and beaches en route.
Organized by the APJR group, the whole trip experience was rather mediocre.
After Phi Phi islands, we returned in the evening at 5 and went out for a stroll and dinner in Phuket town. After knowing how much the hotel could overcharge us by, we decided to go to one of the several tourist centres to book a taxi for the next day to Krabi. By now, we knew better than to arrive late to a hotel and starve.
But we found our driver, Mr. Chai, through a car mechanic’s shop. We had strolled by to ask for a tourist centre who could book us a cab in Phuket Town and they called up this excellent driver who charged us cheaper than the tourist centres did . He was a thorough professional, arriving on dot the next day at our hotel, drove at optimum speed and with great care to Krabi. Mr. Chai can be reached at 081-6062485.
Phuket to Karbi is exactly 3 hours. Starting at 11. 30, we arrived at Krabi at 2.30 pm.

AT KRABI
Reaching our hotel IBIS, Krabi at 2.30 pm, just in time for lunch, was a vast improvement when compared to arrival times at Bangkok and Phuket.
Krabi, at 4,709 km² is the largest island in Thailand and, therefore, will have you puzzled about where to stay. Look no further…Ao Nang it is. It is closest to the beach and has a 2 km stretch of way-side shopping, stretching from our hotel to the beach. During our foray for lunch, we chanced upon a Thai- cum-Indian restaurant. We ordered Thai food sharing our requirements with its Indian owner and Thai chef.
The next day we went to a 4-island tour through the hotel @ 1000 THBs each. Where Phuket beaches are for those who swim, snorkel, dive etc. Krabi is more of pristine, clean beaches and fine sands. In sharp contrast to the APJR group we went with in Phuket, Krabi Mukandaman Travel, (phone: 075-695-591) was very professional. They had far superior boats, uniformed personnel and the jewel in the crown was the excellent tour guide who was so mindful of our needs, took great care and sprinkled his conversations with much witticism.

Mat, our cheerful tourist guide

To experience the feeling of being one with the nature, do visit Ao Nang beach in the evening. A quiet peace engulfs you as you walk away from the noise of the main road towards the beach.
The environment is electrifying with only the noise of waves splashing against the shores as you walk past many restaurants of various cuisines, massage parlours, live music, candle light dinners…the works!
Next time, it is straight Krabi for me!

How dare she!

Returning home, weary from work

suffering the sluggish traffic,

sprawling through potholes filled with pools of fresh rain

lost in thoughts.

Wanting to reach home

to plan for Friday and the weekend

...the usual stuff.

Unexpectedly, I catch this 8-9-month-old,

squeezed between her parents on the scooter

smiling and waving at me!

I looked up startled, waking from my trance,

wondering at what just happened…

I dismissed it…

just a fleeting moment in the humdrum of life!

Few minutes later, they cross me again

…and in those few moments, she smiles and waves at me, again!

I smile and wave back at her.

Shaking off the momentary distraction,

I got back to wondering how much farther my destination was.

But that vision comes up again…

the tiny being smilingly waving at me!

How dare she disturb me like this,

from my inane existence of Monday to Sunday

In this constant quest for ‘space’

when we all distance ourselves from one another,

how dare she disturb my space, break this reverie, and breach my world with her smile?

How dare she still revel in that innocent glee

unaffected by this world deluged with shrewd manipulation

How dare she smiles at me

and touches my heart in places I have closed to the world.

How dare she finds and targets those soft spots behind the hard shell?

How dare her parents gave birth to this little thing whose very fragility tugs at my heart strings

The image does not just cause transitory ripples.

But remains embedded as a memory, tapping at my heart again and again

asking me to raise my head from the hubbub of life, wake up, and live!

How dare she!

Mann mein doosara laddoo phoota?!

Kismet...what else can describe today's incident?
I had to attend to some work at the bank and I was putting it off for some time. The super-hot sun blazing away at 43° makes sure I confine myself to the cool interiors most of the time.
But then I went today as I had to get this work done. There was a queue and I decided to check the attached ATM meanwhile...rather reluctantly and with a certainty that there will be, as usual, no cash.
Since 8th November 2016, this has been the fate of the common man...running from ATM to ATM hoping to lay hands on some cash.
The ATMs are once again drying up after a short period of availability a month ago. Ironically, I haven't been able to draw money from the ATM of this bank (which is my main account) since November. And therefore, when I tried, I tried with really very little hope. And lo and behold! There was cash!
I typed 5500. It rejected suggesting that I draw 4000/- . The usual story, I thought...dispensing 2 two thousand rupee notes. Sigh! With the no-cash-no-change dictum presently in India, I despaired thinking of how to pay my tailor today.
I tried at another machine hoping to get 500 rupee notes. It rejected again with a suggestion of drawing 4000/ . With no other go, I typed in 4000 and guess what? I got 40 x Rs.100 notes! Can you believe that? For the first time, no 2000s or 500s but the whole of 4000 in 100s!
While I was smiling away gloriously, this guy standing at the next machine was muttering...'getting 100s only, want 2000 rupee notes.'
Man mein doosara laddu phoota! I was carrying the only cash I had at home...a 2000 rupee note and offered it to him. I watched with a gluttonous rapture as he counted, 1...2...3...4...20 of the limited edition. I wish I had another 2000 to exchange for that bundle of 20 x 100s that he was holding!

Am I not rich...rich...rich today?! 6000 rupees of spendable money in hand!

Street Food: Somajiguda

Friendships from school last forever. When my school friend came down to Hyderabad, I went to meet her at Somajiguda where she had put up.
We caught up with all those memories, our town, teachers, picnics, games and what not. In the evening, we wanted to go out to get some hot samosas and have it with hot chai. This craving grew with the darkening skies. But then copious rain had us imprisoned at home.We waited and waited. The more we waited, the stronger was the craving.We were told that some superb samosas were available at a small shop opposite BP petrol pump. As soon as we saw the rain slow down a bit, we ran out like liberated school kids. The streets were jam-packed with people returning from office. Looked like everyone was waiting for the rain to stop. The slight drizzle didn't deter us as we plodded on through the heavy traffic towards that hot samosa.
We had walked about 150 meters or so when the local people and the police stopped us from going further. They said a building was on fire because of a short circuit. We hurriedly stepped back, disappointed. But sometimes the wrong train takes you to the right destination, I guess :) As we were returning and just crossed a building called Fortune, which I learned housed the ADP, we saw a vendor with a 3x3 ft table selling momos. This small table had a banner reading Kathmandu Momos. He had both veg and chicken momos. When I ordered for a plate of veg momos, I was served them hot, despite the downpour earlier. The momos were simply superb. The skin was thin, the vegetables finely shredded, well cooked and slightly juicy as well. According to me, the perfect momos...served with an accompanying red chutney which I felt could be spicier but then it wasn't bland either. When I praised his momos, he replied, "try the chicken momos, they are tastier". Om Prakash, the owner, has been running this small stall for the last two and a half years. He serves 6 momos to a plate at Rs 40 a plate for chicken and Rs 30 a plate for the veg ones. The momos are small in size. He sets up the stall between 4 and 10 pm everyday. Got his mobile number to share with all interested. He can be reached on 08341149588. The landmark is the Yashoda hospital. This stall is diagonally opposite to it. By far, the best momos in town.

Veg Momos

After having these superbly succulent momos, we persisted in our pursuit of samosas. We finally found one Irani kind of a cafe opposite Mom & Me, beside Maa Hospital. We were told that there would be a fifteen minute wait. As we turned, we saw a golgappawala just outside the cafe! We ordered for three plates between the two of us and found to our surprise that they were super crisp and made with potato filling. Reminded me of my Orissa-wala golgappa: the taste and not the size though.We were so so happy at the second discovery of the day.
Once done we turned our attention back to the samosas getting made.We watched in fascination as the samosa dough was rolled into long oval shapes, piled and cut into half, Each of these halves picked up, stuffed with the potato mixture and tossed into the waiting hot oil. As we waited impatiently for the samosas to get fried, we found behind us a paan wala. 'Why not?" we thought and ordered two Meenakshi paans as well. While waiting for the paans to get made, I found the cigarette lighter dangling before my face. I tried to brush it away but found it refused to go."Cigarettes?" I asked my friend with a mischievous glint in the eye. The old man preparing the paans broke into a smile as he heard us.
We paid for the samosas after they got done. My friend was used to paying 3-5 rupees for samosas and when she heard these were priced at 8 Rs, she was amazed. I was equally amazed to see their size. Each one was the size of two samosas put together. Huge!
We carried back those piping hot samosas, had it with home-prepared khatta chutney, followed by garam chai. Eating one filled me up.The taste wasn't exactly great but then just the joy of eating a hot samosa is indescribable! Topped this experience with the well-made Paan.
For those 5 hours we spent together, we were a couple of giggling college girls having our day out. 

Small, little big things of life

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

—Robert Brault

Had this quote forwarded yesterday and at what an apt time!

What I never believed in is:

• trying to appease people so that your selfish needs are met
• trying to comply just because you need to look good in people's eyes
• compete: I am what I am , comfortable in my skin
• consider materialistic things important

If I  was sure of one thing from my childhood, it was the importance of love and relationships.

All that I ever cared for is the perceptive unsaid love one has for one's own. Of love that gifts you what you need and not what they think you need, of love that knows exactly what you want, like, of what pains you and what gives you joy.

My birthday this time was exactly this: gifts of no great value, money-wise. They were all a series of small gestures, very thoughtful and which could come only on being very perceptive of the needs of people we love, things not expressed or asked but given, each one bringing that twinkle to the eye and a smile to the face.
That was my son who made this birthday so special.

The music of silence

The world around me is silent.

as the noises of the day gradually fall silent 

as lights are dimmed one after another 

as the body and mind langurously unwind

as  the back relaxes at the support provided, finally, finally... 

A deep sigh of contentment

as the mind is quelled, after a string of maddening  chores

as the night deepens, the smallest noises enhanced

as  far away I hear a chirping, a cricket perhaps?   

as I sight the soft movements of shadows of night and dark 

as I breathe deep to hang on to these rare minutes of sanity

as I draw the sheets closer 

as I sink into a deep languid sleep

Sikkim: MG Road, a dreamy stretch at Gangtok

As written in my earlier post here, Sikkim is a land of hills, slopes, waterfalls, steps going up and down all the time, hazardous roads and routes.
Again, I am not providing a list of sights to see but those which have made a strong impact and I feel these are must-not-be-missed experiences. Will write about them in the next few posts.
At Gangtok itself, there isn't much to see. For all your tourist expeditions, you need to travel to its outskirts.  Yet, there is one place, visiting which will prove to be the most delightful experience for you, and that is the MG Road.

MG Road, Gangtok

The best thing about Gangtok is that it is a plastic-free area. The second best thing is that no vehicles are allowed to enter MG Road. The whole town is centered around this 1 km stretch which has many restaurants and shops on it. Now what's special about this road?
One, in absence of any vehicular traffic, you find a cleanliness so unusual of Indian roads. Not only is it kept clean, you will not find any littering on this wide road which is a completely pedestrianized zone. Along the length of this road, in the center, you find flowers, mainly roses, which further help beautify the area. Benches on both sides of the flower beds, and old-fashioned lights add to the languorous aura.
So away from the din of crowded streets and over-crowded malls in our cities!
As it gets to be dark early, no tourism is possible after 5 pm. The best way to spend time in the evening is to take a stroll along this street and enjoy the peace.
I only wish the tourists could respect this calm and talk in softer tones!

Kolkata: In pursuit of Bangla flavors

When we planned to travel to Sikkim, we had to go via Kolkata. So we thought, why not visit Kolkata as well. I was brought up in Orissa and therefore quite familiar with the culture, cuisine and language of the eastern states . I wanted to re-experience those flavors that I get so nostalgic about.
As part of my research for sites to see, I called up my Bong friend at Kolkata. Her first response was,"What is there to see in Kolkata?" :) I understood her response perfectly. If she had called me to plan about a Hyderabad visit, I might respond in the same way. The metros/capitals have become so indistinguishable from one another. We have the same malls, the same restaurant chains, the same cinemas. Despite this invasive urbane culture across major cities in India I was hoping to catch the Bengali sights and smells.
Towards this process, I first drew up a list of the recommended places to see: the Victoria Memorial, the Indian museum, Dakshinewar etc. But there was something different in my visiting Kokata this time. I wanted to experience the real Kolkata, get the whiff of Bengal and catch all the Bengaliness in it.

For shopping, we went to New Market off Chowringhee lane and Dakshinapan in Ballygunge.
New Market is extremely crowded, chaotic, and filled with 'guides' who try to ensnare you into buying the exorbitantly-priced wares at their shops. We went there on two consecutive days as we got tired just from going round the complex. We went with the expectation that we will get everything we wanted there but found ourselves going round and round the same shops selling only clothes. May be because it was 'Pujo' time.The upside was the throw-away prices that you can bargain for. Got a kurta for Rs.150!
Dakshinapan was a more solemn and a quieter  place offering you khadis/cottons/hand looms  from every state in India. Got 5 khadi kurtas for a total of Rs. 1500! That too from a West Bengal government-run shop which doesn't allow any bargaining. Can't think of such bargain  prices anywhere else in India!
For authentic Bengali cuisine, I short listed three places: Bhojohari Manna, 6 Ballygunge and Sholo Ana Bangali. Of these three, we had time to visit only 6 Ballygunge. From my rudimentary knowledge of Bengali cuisine, at 6 Ballygunge, I ordered for one shukto, one bhaja, one torkari, one pulao and of course the Loochis. The steward assured me that this was more or less the perfect combination of a typical Bengali meal.
On the day of return, we were less than 100 meters from Bhojohari Manna where we planned to lunch but had to give up as we were afraid that we'd miss our flight back home.We got jittery even though we had  four hours for the scheduled take-off as we had experienced terrible traffic jams where we covered distances like 5 kms in 1 1/2 hours! So we just took a U-turn and ate at Halidram's--a quick snack would have to do for lunch.
Despite the fact that Kokata has a majorly fish eating populace, in a city as large as Kolkata, I thought I'd find some exclusive vegetarian restaurants but these were few and far between. When we went to try the Bengali food, we had a very limited choice as vegetarians but what was a satisfying experience was to recall the tastes from my childhood... especially of the posto and mustard-oil combinations. Of course, my family found it a bit tepid as the Telugu cuisine is known to be fiery by comparison!
If Kokata is known for its mustard-oil preparations, it is equally famous for its street food. I was dying to try it and went to Vardhan Market near Park Street. But on the one opportunity that we got to try the street food, it was raining hard. Just a few puchkas and we had to run for shelter. Elsewhere we did try the equally famous Singhadas but the rolls and chops got left out :( Knowing how yummy they taste, it made me really miserable at having gone all the way there and come away without eating it.
The real Bangla experience was waiting to happen just round the corner...what else...THE PUJO! But instead of waiting for it to appear, we decided to flee as we were warned of serious traffic issues during Pujo and we didn't want to stay back to experience it.

More on Kolkata in coming posts.

Tao of positive expectations

Had this forwarded  to me and I feel it is too beautiful to keep it all to myself...

Dr. Robert Rosenthal of Harvard University conducted this experiment in a San Francisco Bay area school:
At the beginning of the school year, the principal called three teachers into his office.

He said to the teachers, "As a result of your teaching excellence over past years, we’ve come to the conclusion that you are the best teachers in this school. As a special reward to you, we’ve identified three classes each with 30 of the brightest students in this school—the students with the highest IQ’s. We're going to assign them to you to teach for the entire year.

"Now, we don't want to be accused of discrimination, so it's very important that you don’t tell these children in any way that you know they've been selected for a screened class. And second of all, we're not going to tell their parents, because we don't want to cause any complications there. I expect you to teach exactly the same way you normally do, using exactly the same curriculum. And I expect you to get very good results with these students."

The results: At the end of the school year, these students led not only the school, but the entire school district in academic accomplishment.

Calling the three teachers into his office, the principal said, “Well, you've had a very good year."

"Yes, we have. It was so easy!" replied the teachers. "These children were so easy to teach. They were so eager to learn. It was such a pleasure to teach them."

"Well, maybe I'd better tell you the truth," said the school principal.

"This has been an experiment. These 90 children were chosen out of the school population at random. When I assigned them to your class at the beginning of the year, I had no idea what their IQ’s were at all."

"That's incredible!" exclaimed the teachers. "But how could it be that they scored so high? They did so well. They got such good grades. Ah hah! Yes! It must be because we are such excellent teachers."

At which the principal said, "And I think I should also tell you the other side of the experiment. At the beginning of the school year, we put all the teachers' names in a hat, and yours were the first three names that were drawn."

***

You can understand why these average students did so well if you understand the Tao of Positive Expectations: you achieve what you expect to achieve and what others expect you to achieve.

A goat, a dog or...actually a bull!

Yesterday was a wonderful day as, coincidentally many of my acquaintances, some with whom I haven't been in regular touch, had called and we talked for quite a while.
Towards the evening one of them called to wish me on my birthday. I thanked him but told him it isn't today. Later in the evening, I had a call from an US number. This call I expect on my birthday, as an ex-student of mine who is currently in the US, calls every year to wish. The same kid had called and, yet again a correction. I told him it isn't today.
When I logged on to my mail, there was a mail from JobsStreet site wishing me. When I turned to my  Gmail, there was another message from another job site! I was as confused as the brahmin who was bewildered when thugs kept calling the goat that he was carrying on his shoulders, a dog. I started thinking that perhaps it was I who was wrong about my birthday, and actually clicked on the calender to check!
I wasn't. I grinned thinking of the double greetings that I'd get now.

In reality, I am not a goat or a dog but actually a bull...well, all Taureans are :) And like the well-known adage of a bull in a china shop, for my birthday, I wish I was actually left in a China shop and give vent to all pent-up feelings and break every item within. The bull does need to really give in to what he has been holding in for so long.
Once done, lie down  in a mud pool for a long time, in a lazy stupor, flicking an imaginary tail this way and that and once the body has cooled, be served a delicious meal after a clean bath and finally get presented with a spacious home with my own cozy corner to retire to...
Just the basic necessities of a Taurean, you see  :)

I wish

I wish I had this magic switch which when turned on every night, puts me to sleep within an hour of going to bed and automatically wakes me up after 8 hours. How refreshing such sleep would be!  :)

Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge...just loved it!

This movie title is opposite to what it depicts in the movie. I thought it is about the not-so-educated seeking 'fraandships' with people of opposite gender.
To my surprise, this movie involving college-going youngsters comes as a breath of fresh air as it captures the positive energy of these young people, their enthusiasm, optimism, their belief that the world is not unconquerable, their resilience...
A neat movie, maybe no great script but the pace is kept up. The actors behaving and dressed as 20-year-olds do in their real life...no item dance, no double entendres. In one sentence, the story-line is about how the youth hide behind Facebook to communicate through chats and not through real-time conversations.
I wish such movies were marketed better so that we feel inspired to go to the theaters to watch it as a result of which we could have more such movies made.
A cute, beautiful and a positive movie which forced a tear from my eye.

Top bina Lap

We have integrated so much with the digital world...I realized this when my laptop crashed. The motherboard that is...and that means a LONG wait as this was the office machine.
The machine was an archaic Dell 430 model. I had initially resisted getting a laptop from office. One, it would mean 24/7 support. Second, I have a very lady-like resistance to learning a new gadget. Gadgets, however simple, freak me out. But then I was given one. I had to learn first, that it has a charger. Two, that I need to learn how to plug in the network cable. Three, plug in the external mouse. I felt like a hardware engineer connecting all these wires to my laptop.
But slowly as I got used to it, I learnt I could operate it without having to keep the charger plugged in, learnt that the wireless can be configured and that the mouse can be done away with. The sleek laptop slowly crept into my bed to become my companion. Work or browsing was now being done while lying down.This serpent position quickly gave way to the supine with the laptop on the tummy. The elevated tummy gives an unhindered view of the screen :)
Well, as I slept on my side, the laptop also moved and I started reading from the tilted screen. When it blocked the fan and made the machine hot, I would turn to the other side. The laptop now replaced the book. Books started getting downloaded and read in bed. It was easier as I didn't need to get up to switch off the light after the book was read. I simply had to sleepily click 'Hibernate' and slide the machine to a horizontal position. The newspapers were discontinued as I could read the e-paper in bed.
And thus my laptop and I became 'do jism ek jaan'. Familiarity breeds contempt, they say, and perhaps that's why the laptop decided to die on me.
The first reaction was, 'you cant do this to me...com'on,  come back to life.' It didn't budge. When the network and support team looked at it, they confirmed my worst fears. The mother board has crashed and will be replaced after you obtain all the required approvals. Sigh! This flagged a loooooooong wait. Now how do I go to sleep? I have to read for at least an hour before I can sleep...what do I do now? I dug out my books again and tried to read them. But the light that the backdrop provided to all my e-books was missing and I started finding it difficult to read by the light in my room and then the hassle of switching off the light before I go to bed. :(
The withdrawal symptoms started, with me becoming grouchy and grumpy at not having slept well in the night without my laptop.
After nearly a 2 week wait, I decided to go and get myself a new one. ( And, this is from someone who resisted buying a laptop for nearly 15 years of computer use) The main purpose was to read in bed and hence the smaller, sleeker, lighter Acer D257.

                                                                                  image courtesy: engadget.com

Now don't ask me questions like what memory, what storage etc. All I know is, it has a 10 inch display and came with a web cam (haven't used the web cam yet). Ordered through flipkart and got a pen drive free with it :)
I now sleep in peace with my newer, sleeker and lighter companion.

Kolaveri: the carefully arranged careless look

I am sure, by now we have the Kolaveri, every version of it, oozing out of our ears.
Starting with the delight-to-watch Sharad Pawar one... transcending national/international borders, male/female/child/black/white/brown--even puppets on NDTV :) everyone seems to be encompassed by the infectious tune.
The skeptics have criticized it, the comments ranging from 'Rajni's son-in-law, hence popular' 'why the obsession with white skin in the south of India', some rubbishing the lyrics and many more such comments.
Let's admit, we don't create the music that we did until three decades back, when the lyrics held much meaning and moved us. Fast is fawned on and tardy is frowned upon. Instant gratification of all senses is sought. Here today, gone tomorrow. But as long as it lasts, people revel in its popularity.
One was dismayed at 'going viral' in our younger days but this is now a matter of great delight. So what's working in favor of this feverish zeal that encompasses the entire world with 21 million you tube video strikes? Remember the tananatananaaaaaaaa of Malgudi Days? Can we even try to explain why we feel so warm and joyous inside us when we listen to this song...especially those parts where we hear the looooooong drawn sleepy tanananananaaaaaaaaaaa.
 Such songs go beyond the superficiality and touch the child deep down inside us. Again, I don't seek to compare the two songs in either the lyric or tune. But equate the two as I find that that is the magic that is being sought to create.
We all know how much of a hair dresser's hand is involved when he needs to give his actors the tousled look of the mornings. A similar attempt has gone into making the song seem spontaneous and a lot more hard work has gone into giving the otherwise average-looking Dhanush a classy look. Dhanush and team has created this image of a simple South Indian rustic who seems to make light of his heartbreak. The part where Dhanush wipes his upper lip...seems so unaffected and unedited. That the song is in some silly English, helps people understand it. And they have loved it so much that no one seems to have pointed out the spelling mistake in the lyrics when it should have said 'I want you here now' and not 'I want you hear now'. Moreover, don't we all break into some such silly self-composed ditties when alone?
What also is redeeming  is that this song has firmly put South India on the Indian and world map in an astoundingly irrefutable way. The Southies are not simply dark skinned 'Maddus' who speak with a nasal voice but are now lending more and more of resources (music directors, actors, stories, films) to the North of India where we have the likes of Abhishek Bachchan confessing to feeling wonderful while working with the Tamil film makers.
I am aware that this song will not be the rage a year from now, but then why not just give in to the way it makes you smile and swing your head in rhythm with the simple beat?

Returning to mana Hyderabad

Tired of your routine life? Go out of town, stay out for a while and then come back…like me.
Three weeks of Chennai—staying in the outskirts of city, on the IT highway—hungering for a simple home-cooked meal and living with people with who you have no common language to communicate…all this cured my thirst for a break.
When I boarded the Hyderabad bound train, I couldn’t believe I was set to return home.

What I returned to:

• to read the wording Chennai-Hyderabad in Telugu
• to see my mobile phone stop 'roaming' as it entered AP!
• to step on to the Hyderabad railway platform and breathe an AC-free air again..AND not sweat!
• to the haggling with the auto driver in a language we both understand!
• to step into a messy, yet cozy home...away from the septic, formidable, cold, guest house walls
• to stop drinking mineral water
• to not having to keep my possessions under lock & key every time I step out of home
• to just have magi or rice and, yes, to be able to have my favorite upma once again
• to be able to prepare and have my paani-wala chai after three weeks of machine-brewed tepid sugar syrup
• to be able to sprawl out on my own bed

Even after a week of return, it sometimes still feels as though I am going to wake up to the sights and sounds of the last three weeks and I shudder! Feel so thankful to return to the routine that the body and mind are used to.

Garam Chai

As kids we were told that drinking tea or coffee is an adult thing and were forbidden from tasting them. It was a big glass of milk along with breakfast for us. Milk did not come in polythene packets. With a can and a lactometer in hand my father would set off  to get milk from the local doodhwala who had his herd of cows and buffaloes .
The coffee prepared was a mix of this fresh milk and decoction brewed by my mother in a small coffee filter. Tea was prepared in evening times. My parents sat in the 'easy' chairs in our lawn as they sipped tea and chatted, catching up on the day's happenings.
Having grown up drinking milk, I never knew what tea or coffee tasted like. This continued even after marriage. But then I had a difficulty...it was ok at home. But when we went visiting our friends, we were asked the inevitable, 'coffee or tea?' I politely turned down the offer but that led to the next question 'Maltova? Boost? Horlicks? Yuck! I liked my milk plain sans sugar. I had to give in and opted for their offer of tea/coffee.
Back at home, morning times were always hectic as we used to have our respective coffee/milk and rush off to our places of work but come evening, I started having tea to give company to my husband.That's how my tea-drinking experience began.
Gradually, I started making my own brand of tea which my aunt and I have proudly named 'kaamwaali chai'. Any kaamwaali who hears this will sue me, I am sure, as none of them will have this kind of chai any more. In earlier days though, the kaamwaalis were given chai prepared from the residual tea leaves prepared for the household.
My chai comes very close to that.The recipe for my Paani wala chai is to boil one cup of water until you see a vociferous dance of bubbles in the vessel, put in 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea leaves. Boil for 10-15 seconds. Switch off the stove. Put 2 tablespoons of milk and half tsp of sugar. The color should be a distinct brownish red. Take a deep breathe of the aroma that arises from the swirls of the steaming brew and tell me you don't feel alive! (Did you know that the word 'cha' in Hebrew means 'coming alive'?)

Many ask me why not coffee? Coffee is not like tea. Tea conjures a rustic image and feel. Coffee, on the other hand, is something that I might have as an-after dinner thing...it is an urbane experience. When you think coffee, you think rich, you think cream...better whipped cream, you think of espresso, cappuccino, mocha, latte and all those cute hearts, hopscotch and other figures cutely drawn across. Coffee is a leisurely and luxurious experience. Whereas chai is that delightful brown hot fluid that pumps life into your lethargic body. Of course, some coffee outlets have distorted the nice rustic chai with offers of iced tea, green tea and...even latte! But then why have chai there?
To have real chai, have this:

                                            (Image: Courtesy:Wiki)

 Moreover, a Hyderabadi = (Irani) CHAI and not coffee!

Man dheere dheere gaye re

Man dheere dheere gaye re, maloom nahi kyun...
Bin gaye raha nahi jaye re, maloom nahi kyun...

And if you think these are the romantic ramblings of a senile mind, you are as far from truth as the claims of AXE drawing the Miss/Mrs/Ms in droves. 
Then why do I keep humming this song today? And I ask you... why shouldn't I?
It  is said that it is not the big things of life that make us happy but the small-small things (choti-choti baatein).
There must be days when you experience a sense of deeeeep contentment...not a gleeful, rapturous, delirious, drum-beating kind of joy at having won the world-cup, but more like that of the pastoral musings of a cow as  she chews & re-chews the cud slowly, lazily, while flicking the flies with its tail from time to time. I feel like that cow today.
This is the list of things which gave me that feeling of ummmmmmmm...

1. I could sleep in longer as it is a Sunday
2. I was able to give my son his favorite breakfast
3. The joy of hearing my scooty purr back to life albeit after a few juicy ones from the watchman to its underside.
4. Finding that the week's supply of veggies cost me only Rs.120 this time!
5. That my son offers to cook lunch for me. Gosh,what an awesome way to be treated!
6. That I took a short nap after lunch
7. That I could quickly whip up a lassi when my son asked for it
8. That I succumbed to the wicked desires of the wicked tongue with some wicked snacking.
9. That I sweated so much in the kitchen while preparing dinner that it made the bath that followed all the more worthwhile.
10. That I could stand under the shower to my heart's content
11. That I have a clean set of clothes to slip into after the bath.
12. That I can rest this pristine body on cool sheets on a comfortable mattress at the end of the day.
13. That I can type in all these words to share this feeling of  absolute beatitude and double my joy.

Isi liye...
Man dheere dheere gaye re, maloom nahi kyun...
Bin gaye raha nahi jaye re, maloom nahi kyun..

(Waise, this song is from a 1958 Hindi movie called 'Maalik')

My companion for life

When you sit to write about a topic you are deeply passionate about, where do you begin? There seems to be so much to write about.Well, I talk about something that fascinates me...books! Just as a foodie salivates at the thought of eating, so does my mind at the idea of reading. The mind immediately conjures images of rows and rows of books of varied thickness, different writers, different genres of writing! My secret fantasy is to remain locked inside huge book stores like the Crossword, Odyssey etc. and lie sprawled amongst all those books...all mine and keep reading and reading. I don’t think I’d be tired of the activity ever.

Where did this journey begin? I have no recollection. The farthest that I can throw my mind back is to reading the Chandmamas when I must be 7-8 years of age . We kids not only read those interesting stories but also remembered the names of the artists who used to so painstakingly paint each of those pictures within. Gradually, that interest spread to comics. The Amar Chitra Kathas were devoured with gusto even before they lost their new smell. This time it was not only the artist but details like printer, publisher…all were memorized!

There is an interesting story about our reading the Amar Chitra Kathas. For our vacation, being in Rourkela, we had a long distance to travel to our native in AP. We had no other means of travel other than the Bokaro Express. The berths used to be made of wooden planks. 'Bedding' consisting of bed sheets for us all was one of the regular features of travel. We kids weren’t fazed by the hard berths or the long 24- hour travel because at the beginning of our journey, we were each given a rupee and asked to go and buy a book each. Three comic books amongst the three of us! Those books were read and quickly exchanged and exhausted before the end of the journey. A little later when I was in my teens, we had the Konark Express and imagine what! It had a built-in library where you could keep borrowing books throughout your journey. That sure made the travel tremendously exciting!

Well, the appetite was whetted and then there was the fact that we lived in the Steel Township and as any township is, we were a close group, socializing across languages and cultures. The movie halls numbered only 4 in all for a population of about 4 lakh! So one can imagine the interest that the people had for movies. Moreover movies were considered ‘bad'. Only selected movies, and that too only after passing parents' certification, were allowed to be watched. But I don’t recall ever longing to watch movies. Perhaps 2-3 movies in a year were all we watched. Well, I seem to digress...the point I am trying to make is that with no other source of entertainment (no TVs those days either) all that we kids were left with were those HUGE playgrounds to play on (quite enviable and unimaginable for the kids of metros these days) and books to read. Most of us were voracious readers and none of the township parents had dispensable income those days. The books were therefore preciously preserved and then exchanged for more with neighbors and friends.  And most of the time, they would find a way back to the owner though a little dog-eared. There were some fights over the condition of books, I remember, if returned torn.

The first few baby steps with the Amar Chitra kathas led to Archie’s, Tintin, Phantom and then my first novel—of course, Enid Blyton—the blue dragon, the green dragon, the yellow and then the red series indicating that that particular Enid Blyton was for the elder kids. Hardy Boys followed, and then Nancy drew. Perry Mason, Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Hailey, and who can forget the most important book for the teenage girl—the Mills & Boons series... we girls used to be hopelessly lost and come out starry-eyed after reading those Mills & Boons. The classics were not spared with the reading of Emily Bronte, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Somerset Maugham, Pearl.S.Buck and then later 'adult' books like Harold Robbins, Sidney Sheldon. The passion for reading was such that the newspaper that the samosa- seller used to wrap the samosas in wasn’t thrown away until we ensured that there really wasn’t anything worth reading on it.

In the later years, I read Taslima Nasrin, Kushwant Singh, John Grisham, Salman Rushdie and even Shobbaa De (!!!)

The books that have made an impact are:
1, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
2. Roots by Alex Hailey
3. The Good Earth by Pearl.S.Buck
4. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
5. Carpetbaggers By Harold Robbins

After marriage I was again in a small township with its own infrastructure and you guessed it… with its own well -equipped library! For someone as passionate about reading as I, that was a God-sent gift. My job required me to travel 3 kms and with no traffic, a 10 min drive. If I left home at 8 am, I was back by 4:30 pm. And that left me plenty of time to read…at least one novel a week.

In Hyderabad, I travel 60 kms each day to and from work taking around 4 1/2 hours to travel and very little time to read and enjoy books like I used to. And for the first time in my life I am distanced from a regular supply of books from a library. Human beings adapt and that’s what I did too.Books were replaced by online reading. All the classics are available online and that’s how I finished reading ALL short stories and novels written by my favorite author— the inimitable PG Wodehouse!

These days I have discovered the world of blogs and find many interesting blogs to read...each of them displaying such different genres of writing. The skewed laptop screen has replaced the book in bed and I curl up with it now reading all those blogs.The medium has changed but the habit stays on...hopefully never to be cured. :)

PS:I still have with me all those Amar Chitra Kathas  read in my childhood. :)

Small, little big things of life

The last week son comes home with a certificate in hand endorsing his work at office. The certificate was not like a generalized one but typed out specifically praising the work done by him for a project well-executed in Singapore on his own.

Even when the work was allotted, he was a bit skeptic about handling such huge project single-handedly especially given that he is still green behind the ears.Yet, venturing on a foreign soil and handling a project of this size successfully will sure fill him with a confidence to handle bigger responsibilities in future.

Handling the infrastructural set-up, working with the vendors, following up, support and maintenance...all this within one year of his first job...his skepticism is gone for sure! :)

Sreeram Wins Indian Idol 5!

It is indeed a very proud moment for every Telugu person to see Sreeram win the Indian Idol 5. At last a Telugu won the title.

Sandeep was far below Karunya's talent in season 2 and it felt very sad to see talent losing to mediocrity.
In the same way, very disheartening  to see Hemachandra lose in Saregama to Debojit Saha whom he far surpassed. 

Sreeram, the efforts of your parents in aggressive publicity and garnering votes, the support of the entire Telugu film industry...everyone worked for your victory...every Telugu person wanted you to win and why not?! There wasn't a match to your voice amongst any of the contestants. You have made every Telugu feel proud.

The Telugu news channels were waiting for the results, breath held and for once I fully support the media frenzy. As I type this blog at one in the night, I can hear the continuous sound of crackers in the background.
Feeling very proud and happy to see our AP getting a prominent place in India because of your hard work, Sreeram.
All the best for your future!