The Black Shirt and The Chase

 

Today, I encountered an issue with the polling process. Yesterday, I had downloaded the voting slip on my office laptop which I couldn't transfer to my phone because of security restrictions. I assumed someone would have dropped the slip at home letter box as is the case usually since the house is locked. But upon arriving home late last night, there was no sign of it. So I tried downloading it again onto my phone, but unfortunately, the website was down today, leaving me without the slip at the polling booth. Despite the efforts of the polling agents to locate my name, they were unable to find it. They suggested I look for someone wearing a tucked in black shirt outside the booth who might be able to assist me faster. Upon exiting, I searched for the individual in the black shirt but couldn't locate them and so returned home to retrieve the slip from my laptop. Upon my return to the booth, I spotted the man in the black shirt, wearing white pants, which reminded me of a funny incident from 25 years ago.

We were in our 7th semester and had signed up for the IES exam. At that time, we had no idea about its difficulty or seriousness; it was more of 'our seniors are taking it, so we'll do the same' mentality. Most of us in our class had signed up, with all the enthusiasm of clueless adventurers, and we had planned to travel the previous day to Ernakulam, where the center was located. I believe someone in the class had booked a couple of rooms in a hotel, anticipating a large group. However, on the day of the exam, only four people showed up - two boys and two girls. This was a time when even interacting between girls and boys was enough to raise eyebrows, and staying in a hotel would have been scandalous. So, we decided not to go to the hotel, and our classmates left, leaving only me and my friend behind.

My friend called her dad and explained the situation. Naturally, he wasn't too thrilled but told us to wait in the station to see what he can do. He then managed to coordinate with one of his colleagues in the Ernakulam office to assist us. So when we called again, he instructed us to look for someone wearing a "black shirt and white mundu(dhoti)", and we were to go with him. We had no idea who he was, his age range, or how he looked. By then, it was late evening, and darkness was setting in, making us increasingly uneasy about being alone at the station. Obviously, this was before the era of mobile phones, so we waited at the station looking for our knight in not-so-shiny attire and eventually spotted an elderly man dressed in a black shirt and white mundu. Assuming he was the person we were supposed to meet, I stayed back with our luggage and my friend approached him. However, the old man seemed frightened by a girl approaching him with confidence. He began walking faster, with my friend following him, and he paced even faster. Somewhere along the way, she lost the chase and the sight of him and we were wondering what to do. There was no way we could call back home again and admit that we had lost sight of our 'savior'. Luckily, our actual rescuer showed up eventually and whisked us away to a convent hostel, where we stayed for the night.

The case of mistaken identity and "the chase" became a source of legendary tales in our circle for a long time. Unfortunately, this incident also meant we were denied permission to travel for any future exams or placement calls, which were centralized in Ernakulam at that time.

New trail+New terrain+you = Unlimited fun

And it was exactly that - unlimited fun :) I am talking about the BSA moonlight ride that happened yesterday. I remember seeing its ad some 5-6 years back in the papers but couldn't mobilize any of my friends then. But this time when I read about it in BBC forum (Bangalore Bikers Club), I just forwarded it to a friend who has bought a cycle recently. Surprisingly by evening, there were quite many interested colleagues and we all registered for the event. All of us where equally excited and was looking forward for the ride. But the preparation ended there. I haven't ridden a cycle after my PUC days except a fun ride during kodai trip. Somehow my feeling was that we have run a 10K marathon with hardly any practice and so this shouldn't be an issue as I just love cycling. [yeh heights of confidence I know :) ]

Finally the D-day arrived and we were at the peak of our excitement. We were picked up from corporation circle and when I saw the crowd in the bus my heart sank – most of them were pros with long distance riding experience and the news that they will give us geared cycles was not comforting for me either. I know it is easier to ride a geared cycle, but I was not at all used to it. Once we reached the starting point, we were given a briefing on how to operate the gears and soon we started off. The first stretch itself was a steep climb and I tried to change the gear. Alas it got stuck in between two gears. After that it was a struggle to pedal and I was totally exhausted in the first 1 km itself. I was like “if this is the starting how am I going to do 25km?’. SS from our gang had to back out as she got a bad wheezing attack (though she made up for it by driving the trailer truck almost all the way). Heard some more girls backed out after that first stretch. Think that stretch was little difficult and somehow I managed to cover it. It seems my cycle had some wrist gear and it is not very smooth in engaging unless you do it properly (at least that’s what one expert told me). Anyway with expert intervention the gears got engaged again and it again became a smooth ride. The trail was nice – hardly any vehicles, smooth road, the moon was playing hide n seek (not the full moon but). We were stopped by some curious onlookers of the village asking what we are up to :) The gear got stuck again a few more times, but I was less panicky and could bring it back to normal soon. Finally I decided not to meddle with the gears and started riding in same gear throughout. In fact, I was surprised when we reached the Big Banyan Tree for dinner as it didn’t seem like 15 km at all ;) We had dinner there and I started getting a headache. That’s when I realized that I didn't drink water all through and is getting dehydrated. Thankfully the rest of the trail was so much fun. It was mostly downhill with trees on both sides and the road were pitch dark except for our torch lites. In between I realized I am riding alone and was wondering whether I lost my way. So got off and waited for others and continued when I saw some in the group. We soon reached the end point and frankly I was so sad that it’s over. Anyway all of us have decided to do it again. When you need to get some exercise to counterbalance your sedentary lifestyle, nothing beats getting out in the open air and pushing yourself; Right? :)

Life changes in seconds

Today it's exactly one month since I got the phone call in the middle of the night asking me to come home asap as amma is not well. At that time little did I expect that my life is never going to be the same again. I couldn't believe it when they told me finally the next day or even when I actually saw her lifeless body. But now that my life is thrown out of sync, I'm slowly realising what has happened and what's the impact of it on me.. Two days before death she wrote in her diary that the whole night she was having a dream that I got lost in a thick forest and is struggling to find my way. And I realise how true her dream has become..

So far I was oblivious of my surroundings and was leading a blissful life.. But now I seem to be in charge of everything.. Suddenly I became responsible for things I have never done or heard of before - handling property documents, sorting out bank accounts, checking the investments they have done, trying to locate the bank locker(I didn't even know how the locker key looked like!), making bill payments, pension issues, insurance, electicity, water, gas, ration card or even simple things like deciding the wage of the maid servant or the driver.. I was someone who never cared about finances and mom or dad used to take care of everything. Even my tax excemption investments they only used to make and my contribution ended in giving them a cheque once in a while and then collect the bills when it was time for proof submission. But now when I sit in front of all these documents knowing nothing about it, I just wish I could make one last phone call to mom and ask her what it's all about..

On the other hand there are many things going out of my hand and I stand there helpless.. For some matters, there seem to be too many people deciding for me and they don't even bother to ask me what I want. There are too many people managing or giving directions for my day to day activities.. And they doesn't seem to realise that I also have a mind of my own.. Then there are others who urge me to sell my house and ancestreral property as I won't need it at all!! If I ask does that mean I should never ever come back to my home town - the place where I grew up , the place where all the memories are still fresh, the place where my ancestors are resting, the place where I can bond - there is an easy solution. You can buy a flat which is much safer! Then there is presure to give the house for rent coz there is a prospective tenant who needs a place urgently. Was he waiting for mom's death? Then there are the 'kudiyanmars' who lives in my ancestral property and they urgently need some more land to build a 'sarppakaavu' since they have lot of problems due to the lack of it and I need to give them an answer in two days. And I didn't ask why they didn't face any problem all these years when my parents and grandparents were alive..

And the next hot topic is my marriage. Everyone wants me to get married asap. I even got a complete biodata of a prospective groom on the 10th day ceremony for which I had to give a decision almost immediately and the person made it clear that he won't accept a 'No' from me. It seems some people have given character certificate about me and there are some families intereted in absorbing me to theirs. I never knew I was such a hot commodity in the marriage market!! I know many of them might be doing this coz they are too eager to help.. But I donno how someone can think of such things when the mind is totally devastated..

And I guess it's these troubled times that you really come to know how people behave in different situations.. Mom always used to scold me saying I believe people blindly and will end up in trouble. And I used to fight with her saying all people are basically good and if someone behaves otherwise there will be a definite reason for that. I used to believe that I have the knack to deal with them..In fact I have a history of earning the trust of the so called 'goonda's and 'bad people' and many a times I have managed to change them at least to some extent. It's not that my beief has changed, but I am just surprised at the insensitivity of people and of people taking advantage of the situation..I feel like how can they do things like this at this time?

There was a time when I wanted someone so badly, but there was none.. Even people close to me were avoiding me like plague coz they said they don't know what to talk to me.. Sometimes someone will call me and after the usual hello, there was silence.. And I had to take the pain of striking a conversation..But I also came to know the good side of many people.. There were people reaching out to me from far and wide, people whom I have never met, people whom I have never talked,.. Many called me, many mailed me, many are constantly supporting me via chat every day, many took pains to come and meet me, there were people who even flew down to be there when I needed them.. And yes it's a sooting feeling to know there are so many people to support me..

Emotionally also I am going through a tough pace.. My landlord was telling my friend that I have become moody and irritable.. I am staying here for 9 years and think this is the first time he is seeing this side of me.. He was telling me that he is not even able to look at my face as he can't find any trace of the old smiling and cheerful face.. I know it's true.. I'm getting irritated at the smallest possible things.. I was known for my patience and I have no idea where it has vanished when I need it the most.. I'm breaking down at the smallest comments that people make.. Even day to day things I'm finding it hard.. My house is a big mess with things scattered all around - some my things, some mom's things, some stuff that I had to take with me when I locked the house and I'm not able to do anything with it.. I just stare at it thinking that will help!! I was supposedly a good cook but now a days whatever I make is either burnt or is half cooked.. This is what a dear friend wrote to me when I told her that I'm yet to come in terms with the reality..

"it will take at least 6 months ... before it sinks in... you will cry at the least thing .. you will see a reminder in everything around you .. you will talk to her and rave and rant .. you will ask her why she left so soon ... you will always wonder why you were not there .... and, then she will speak to you and place her hand on your heart and soothe the pain away .. she will tell you everything will be alright ... this will take at least 6 months .. loss causes the greatest grief .. the deepest sorrow .. nothing compares and the healing takes a long time. It took me almost 1 year or more .... so dont wonder ... you just allow the pain to hit you ... cry as loud as you need to ... dont pretend that it doesnot hurt ... with every ventilation .. there will be a small release ... please dont be strong as people will ask you to ... you need to endure your weakness to find your strength.. read your blog ... it does not talk about the nothingness you are experiencing .. this nothingness is a sublimation of the cutting pain in your heart ... you need to talk about that to someone ..."

Even my other friends say that I need to talk about it and they are all ears.. But even that I'm unable to do..I know I will never be able to talk to someone about my emotions.. It's not because they are not close enough, but it's my limitation.. And that's the reason why I decided to write whatever I'm feeling.. I really hope it helps and I can return to normal soon..And hopefully this will be my last random rant post..I really hope so..

Impossible = I'm possible

I am not sure whether I really believed in it. But now I do believe in it. You want to know why? I completed the 10 km in the Sunfeast World 10K today. I know it's not a big deal for a fit or trained person. But for a couch potato like me with a lousy stamina, who has never ever run in her whole life it indeed is a big deal. When Diana founder of Chrysallis asked us about the marathon, all of just laughed it off. It looked just impossible. But later when me and a dear friend H discussed about it we felt we should do it and told this to Di. Since this was the first time for all of us, we were totally confused and it took us some more time to actually decide. Finally we did make a last minute entry for the 5.7 km Majja run which looked doable for non-runners. But by mistake, some in the group entered in the Open 10K category and then Diana felt all of us should do the 10K. Having worked with her and Chrysallis for these many years, we knew what it meant. Diana has always shook us out of our comfort zone and made us do things that we have never tried or done before. She has made non-dancers to dance , non-performers to perform on the stage, non-talkers to compere and end of it we all came out with a sense of accomplishment and belief in ourselves. It was all about hard work, dedication and joyful discoveries and this was no different.. Anyway end of it we all enjoyed the experience thoroughly and is looking forward to more such runs ;) Btw we also managed to raise enough money to gift 20,000 children in such a short span of time. Isn't that wonderful?

Ending this with a summation I liked very much:
"Do not lower your goals to match your abilities but raise your abilities to match your goals"

How to handle men???

Oh no I'm not at all an expert here and would be the last one to give any advice on this topic. ;) If you are a girl and came here to get some dating tips I am so sorry to have disappointed you..

Anyway I started this topic for a different reason. Someone came to my blog looking for "How to handle men neighbors while staying alone". Unfortunately she got only the thief story and some comments there. But it triggered a thought process in me. I have been staying alone for 2-3 years now and before that I was 'virtually' staying alone. In the sense my cousin used to work in evening shifts and reached home only by 3-4 am when I will be deep in sleep. Same way when I get up he would have snarled under the blanket and we never got a chance to meet. We used to communicate via notes on the almirah and meet only during weekends. If either of us had to travel on weekends even that won't happen. There have been times where,in spite of staying under the same roof, we have met face-to-face after a month or two and wondered stuff like u have gained/lost weight!!!

Sorry I am digressing.. Coming back to the point, at least in the place that I am currently staying, I feel so safe and secure especially because my landlord is very protective and filter out all the unnecessary and unwanted visitors who comes in different shapes and forms like door to door marketing / beggars / fund raisers etc. Also he make sure all the visitors I get are people whom I know well. But the problem is trouble always comes from the most unexpected sources rather than from complete strangers. These 'known' devils can come in any forms/shapes like say the middle aged 'friendly' neighbor (whose children are as old as you) who offers you a 'good time' if you accompany him alone to his farm house or may be even a close relative who is trying to make a pass at you..

And workplaces are not an easy place either. While some bosses like to conduct looong(3-5 hrs) one-to-one meetings every single day on the same subject for months together there are some others who always have a clarification just when you are about to leave and this will go on for hours. And once you somehow get out of the meeting, they will be too 'concerned' to offer a lift home. Then there are others who need a status update every hour and their proximity will be such that you will start doubting whether they have some hearing problem. I have also come across a cheapo boss who hacked into one of his subordinates machine and accessed all the private data and photos. And many a times we girls share our solos and girls only group snaps only within the girl's gang. And this guy intelligently accessed other girl's file shares from this machine and got access to those photos!! Problem here is most probably the targets will be the fresher/less experienced girls who won't have the courage to react to a person in power.

And then the roadside cameos. A friend has explained how she handled one here and this is just one sample. Have faced situations where people in cars/bikes offers you a lift and they gets so angry if you ignore them and just walk off. One of my friend was once dragged to a car that too in a busy street just in front of the office. Luckily she was saved by some passers by. Now if you thought it's only people using public transport who have this problem you are mistaken. If a girl is riding a vehicle, there are people who tries their best to throw them off balance or create a dent/scratch in the car and then they will blame the girl for improper driving. Once Me and a friend was coming back from Nagarhole and there was an Omni following us for almost an hour in the Mysore-Bangalore stretch. Although it was a four lane and they could have easily overtaken us, all the time they were behind us blinking the headlight. How much ever we slowed down for them to go in front they were coming in the side trying to be too close. It was just too irritating..

So the question here is how to handle these men?

1) It's easier to tackle the first category of known devils as they are mostly cowards just trying their luck on any random person. You don't even have to waste your words as just a sharp look will make then run for cover and they won't dare to show their face again.
2) Workplaces is more tougher coz it is difficult to ignore/avoid contact with your teammates/superiors whatever the case may be. But no point in suffering silently like most people tend to do. Instead it's better to react openly and if it still doesn't end there, don't hesitate to complain to higher officials/HR.
3) For me the absolute strangers are more difficult because we have no idea whether they are maniacs or mentally retarded or demeans. So as much as possible I try to get out of that situation/place. But yeh that's not a solution. I admire Sini's courage to react and confront them.

Whatever I described here are just a few samples that came to mind as I sat down to wrote this. I am sure every single girl will have one or other such similar stories to tell with varying severity. May be I should ask you how you handle/have handled such situations? The floor is all yours..


PS: Don't mistake that all men are like this. I have so many good male friends who are very understanding and supportive. But the problem is although the above said species are a minority(?), it really makes the girl very insecure and depressed..

Eternal Worrier !!!

Have you come across them? I guess most of the mom's fall in this category and mine leads the flock!! I think they just loves to worry about anything and everything. Mine even goes to the extend that if she doesn't get anything she just creates something and worries about that imaginary problem.. If I'm little late for the train she starts worrying that I will miss the train. Btw late means I left 55 mins before than the recommended 1 hr (and the dist bn my house and railway station is just 1.5 km that can be covered in less than 10 mins).. I have an endless list like this.. Here is the latest..

Conversation that happened yesterday.
Me : Amma I'll be going to Chennai on Sunday. Will be back on Monday.
Amma : Chennai?
Me : Yes
(Worrying starts)
Amma : Why do you have to go? How will you go? Will there be anyone to help? .....
(I don't remember all the questions now)
Me : I don't have the details yet. Will call you once I get it.


Today early morning.(She wouldn't have slept for sure)
Amma : Are you really going to Chennai?
Me (wondering whether I missed telling her) : Yes. My tickets are confirmed.
Amma : Will someone be there to help?
Me : My Finnish counterparts will also be there. But they are driving down and is staying in a different hotel. I didn't get bookings in that hotel.
Amma : That means you are traveling and staying alone?
Me : What is the problem? I have the tickets and hotel booked. Pick up and drop from airport is also arranged.
Amma : How will you know who is going to come to pick you up?
Me : It will be a cab of course and it's arranged by the office travel agent.
Amma : But what if you get into a wrong cab? Chennai is a bad place. Not safe. Someone else can come and pick you. You don't know the place at all.. How will you know that they are taking you to the correct place?
Me : Ammaaaa this is not the first time I am traveling.
Amma : It's not like how you have travel alone abroad. Nor like how you travel around with friends for trips..
(and the worrying continues with things like how will you eat? , How will you stay alone in the hotel? etc etc. )

OMG I never imagined a simple client visit can get this complicated. I know she is not going to sleep till I'm back on Monday! Now if you thought this is only for cases where I'm traveling alone.. Sorry you are mistaken.. There will be umpteen reasons for others as well - language , food, terrorists, climate , new place , new people,..
What to do? Any remedies?

PS: There are lots of people who asked me why I was missing in action. There was no specific reason. Just didn't feel like writing :) May be that's blogger's block.( i.e If having a blog makes me a blogger :D)

Does "M.G. Road" mean God-forbidden place in kannada?

I'm really getting this doubt when I see the face of autowalas the moment I utter this word. Even worse the way they accelerate and run for their life without even giving a second look.. On an average, I need to ask 30-40 autos(no exaggeration) to finally get a ride or on some unlucky days need to walk the entire 4 km distance!!!

What's their crime?

They could have been like any other children but for one reason – they are refugees from Sri Lanka. These are students of IGIA and should I add a school that barely manages to survive.. 370 kids, most of them orphans, live and study in the same place. Lunch is provided by ISCON but breakfast and dinner is always a question mark. They don't have electricity for years (they owe 10 lakhs to BESCOM!!) They are even discouraged from talking with anyone from outside or venturing out..The gates remain locked.. Like any other kids of their age they would also have dreams about life after school, hopes of a better future.. But the only thing I see in their eyes is a sense of frustration and longing.. When will their miseries end?

Intuitions

I'm getting used to the regular "power failures" in Bangalore and usually during these times I prefer to read. So today I lighted a candle and was reading holding the candle stand in one hand (I know it is a little dangerous). Although I used to do it often, today something in my mind told me that it's going to be disastrous. I had a feeling I'm going to get burned. I get such gut feelings often and experience have taught me not to ignore these warnings. So I decided to keep the candle stand down and while keeping it down all the melted wax flowed down my hand burning them !!! I'm happy that it didn't become too grievous. But as I told this is not the first time that I'm having such experiences.. I remember in Rome, I had a feeling that I'll be pick pocketed and coz of that I was extra careful and was checking my purse every 5 mins. In spite of that I got pick pocketed! Again during the early days of my career, I used to work in a very jolly gang. But whenever we used to have fun, I got this funny feeling that it's not going to last long and I'll be separated from the team. There was no logic behind that as I was supposedly handling a critical component and though I had asked for a component change, the answer given was I had to wait at least for 1-1.5 years. But within 2 weeks I was moved to a different component and out of that department. Similarly I was not interested in pursuing engineering and so though I had got a decent rank, I joined a degree college and even attended classes. But later I ended up taking engineering that too a stream which I was not very keen on and the interesting part is all through I knew I had to do that!! There have been so many such instances most of them I can't remember now.. I don't know how to explain this.. Articles, especially about positive thinking, ESP, holistic or meditation, will tell you that it is the power of your mind. What ever you are imagining , your mind has the power to make it happen and you can even develop these instincts!! But what I don't understand is it's not that we are imagining these things deliberately(who will imagine all these unpleasant things?) nor is it that all things that we are imagining is happening this way (if that was the case, we could have imagined all nice things and made our life much much easier)..

Another similar experience is when you are in a situation, you feel the event has occurred in the past. You can recollect the scene as if from a movie or a drama. All the characters exactly in the same place and doing exactly the same things as if in a replay. My friend's dad who is a psychiatrist once explained to us that this is because of hormonal imbalance during teen years and it is more prominent in girls. He assured us that as we cross the teenage the frequency of such occurrences will be reduced which is actually true in my case(tho it hasn't gone completely). But again what I can't understand is how can the hormones know what is going to happen in future? Or is it that the feeling is only an illusion? But then why is it happening only for some scenes?

Whether it's the power of mind or trick of hormones, I feel it's little creepy. Also I guess most of you would have experienced it(unless there is something terribly wrong with me). Is there any other convincing explanation? Or is this really a sixth sense?

Some meaty issues

Being a vegetarian some questions that I constantly encounter are
"Being a mallu how come you are a vegetarian?"
"How do you manage to survive in different places since you travel a lot"

For the first question the only answer is that it's a matter of choice. Second question probably deserves a little more explanation. The longest I have stayed away from home was in Munich, Germany. I somehow managed breakfast and dinner without much trouble(read as survived on cornflakes/fruits/bread/chocolates/nuts or even cooked if I got some good company). However, for lunch, my only option was company canteen. Every time when it was time for lunch, I used to have a funny feeling, similar to the anxiety you feel during exam days - "what's in store? " or "what's my fate today". Anyway I used to gather all my courage n march to the canteen, enter and stare at the menu:

It would read something like this:

Brathuhn
Eintopf
Eisbein
Karpfen
Kartoffelsalat
Knödel
Matjestopf
Maultaschen
Reibekuchen
Schinken
Schnitzel
Schweinebraten


Spaetzle
Wurst Salad
Brotknodel
RoteKohl
Schnitzel Holstein
Jagerschnitzel
Sauerbraten
Schweinsmedallions mit Sommermajoran
Schweinhaxen
Bratwurst

And the feeling that I would get was, "WOW looks really good. Nice rhyming words!!" How am I supposed to select from this?? The only way out used to be to go by "looks". (If some of you are wondering why couldn't I ask the people serving there, the problem was they spoke only German and my German was too pathetic. Many a times I had attempted, but it confused both the parties. Sometimes, some counterparts would be kind enough to tell me what it contained or what I should avoid. But mostly I had to manage myself). 

Anyway, coming back to choosing 'food' - I couldn't pick any spicy/complicated looking stuff. So, a safe option used to be Potatoes, potatoes n more potatoes (in all forms - fried , deep fried, boiled , steamed , raw , mashed, salted ). Otherwise, a little bit of vegetables which had a natural look (mostly just boiled) or a piece of bread. And then the most delicious part - the desserts. The dessert collection was really impressive and me being a sweet lover used to indulge royally. But even that wasn't really safe as some of them contained alcohol! Luckily I always managed to take the sweet ones ;) (This also explains why I blow up, unlike others who shrink after an abroad trip)

But while travelling around, finding a suitable place to eat out used to be a problem.. Within Germany I could manage somehow since I could ask for "Pommes frites" , "Gemüse Burger" or "vegetarisch Pizza". But in non-German speaking areas, it used to be a "probleme". So, in some places we carried our own food. But again, that was not a pleasant option. I remember how we carried lots of bun n fruits to Sicily(Italy) for all the meals and by the fourth day we were feeling sick even at the sight of it. We were longing to get back to Rome to eat something spicy

But yeh not everything has gone smoothly.. I have had my share of bloopers as well. Once I was picking up chocolates for home. And there I saw these nice looking red and black chocolate bars and in went some 10-20 of them. Actually that was expensive as well but I thought it will be some exotic ones(It was). Once I reached back home I tried one and eek it was bitter n had some funny filling too!!! (Can u guess what it was??). All of them promptly found their way to the waste basket :(

Another incident happened in Paris. Since it's a famous tourist spot, we were so confident that we would be able to find McDonalds or at least some English speaking people. So didn't take any precautions(read as didn't carry any food). Alas we couldn't find either. We were at Notre Dame and too hungry. A survey of the place revealed that almost all shops sold something called a Crepe(A famous French dish. can be considered as a variety of Indian Dosa) in different flavors, but they all contained egg. Somehow that trip was too tiring and JK was not keen on exploring for an alternative. His argument was that since I eat cakes n ice creams that contain egg, I could have this as well.

Next one was in the UK. When I landed there I felt really odd. Suddenly I could understand the language and even read the sign boards around me!!! Yeh everything was in English and I knew that language!!!! May be with that confidence, I went and ordered a veg burger combo in McDonalds. They promptly handed over the bag too. As usual I finished off the French fries and started to attack the burgers. One bite, and hey, something was fishy (or meaty).. I took a closer look. The stuffing inside was a white single piece thingy, deep fried, like a hard dried log. Anyway since I was too hungry I didn't bother to question them(and I'm not sure whether it would have made any impacts too) and so removed the filling and ate the bun.(Reason : Fish is considered vegetarian in many places)

And yet another similar incident happened in Leh. During our trip, we were so used to eating momos and so when we stopped at a daba, P went and ordered a plate of momos. He didn't specify what kind, since by default, they used to give us the veg ones. One bite and Pint realised it was pork. Luckily due to my eating style, I hadn't reached the filling..

May be I'll conclude my post with a cooking blooper. This happened some years ago. 4 of us were staying together, out of which me and another girl were vegetarians. We never used to cook non-veg, and rarely if we cooked egg, it was always the other two who managed it. Then, my other veggie friend got a long term onsite assignment and she decided to convert to non-veg. As a first step, she decided to make egg. Unfortunately, that day the other two non-veg friends had gone out and we both clueless females were trying to make an Omelet. Both of us had only seen the cooked form but had no clue how to make it. We knew what all goes in it, but the big question was whether to deep fry, shallow fry or make it like a dosa!!!! Finally we decided to make it shallow fry (Our theory was it looks oily so there should be a little more oil than dosa kinds). And you can imagine how it would have turned out to be !!! When our other roomies returned they were shocked to see our experiment results. They just couldn't imagine how we managed to spoil a simple omelet like this !!!

It happens only in India

Today I got a call from home saying my uncle was hospitalized with a heart attack. He was in the ICU for some days and now out of danger. But the reason for this blog is not that. He got the pain on last Thursday (25th Jan) and it was a bandh day in my native. This is essentially a shutdown of all shops and traffic and is fashionably called 'hartal'. The reasons for this can vary from local incidents like a conflict between some students and bus conductor to international affairs like, say, execution of Saddam Hussein. It doesn’t matter that Saddam Hussein was executed in a country far far away and perhaps a vast majority of the local population couldn't care less, but we had to have something like this. But I guess it is in such emergencies that people really think about the real consequences. In his case even though the taxi stand was very near, no one was willing to come!! Luckily my cousin’s friend took the risk and volunteered to take him to the hospital. I'm just wondering what would have been the case if he was denied the treatment on time.

A similar incident happened to me last week in Bangalore. A rally against execution of Saddam Hussein turned violent and I was asked to go home early on Friday. What was the need for such a protest (other than the selfish motives of some politicians), that too after 1 month of his execution!!! On Sunday there was another rally and this turned to a communal riot. For my bad luck I had a lunch party to attend and really had a tough time to get back home. It was a hold-on-to-your-dear-life kinda driving- through the blocked roads, broken glasses, burning vehicles, bunch of goons -which barely managed to get us home. That day I got screaming from many of my friends for venturing out of the house on such a rally day.

But even on a so called normal day, I'm scared to go out alone after 9 PM. Every day I'm hearing many stories, most of them true ones, of horror and desolation - ranging from the murder of elderly couple, the brutal Noida killings, the techie strangled for the sake of money, to the never ending tales of corruption. As soon as one thinks it can’t get any worse, there’s another one and the newspapers and media is celebrating all these…

I do agree that are so many good things happening and one needs to look at that. But there are many bad things happening too and how are we going to fix that? Why should I think twice before walking the streets alone in a country which proclaims that I am as free as a bird? Why is it that I don’t feel I am in control over my own life? Why is it that every time I step out of the house, I find myself saying a silent prayer for a safe return? Because, for the many things that happen in India, there is no rationality, there is no logic, there is no real reason...Everyone just gets along with their life, as if they are everyday occurrences, which they probably are!!!

"I have lost all my friends"

When Romesh told this, all of us were totally silent. We had just started our journey to Leh. Since the trip was bit taxing we were trying out some means to entertain ourselves. Even though it was the fourth day of our trip, we felt a self introduction will make sense. When Kiran’s turn came, he was telling how he and Gopan were together from childhood. It was then that Romesh interrupted asking

"Do you know what is the biggest loss in my life is?"

We couldn’t guess and he continued

"It is the fact that I have lost all my childhood friends"

Romesh was our guide who accompanied us from Manali to Leh and was basically from Kashmir. He then explained that his family migrated to Delhi after the riots. He said he did manage to make lot of friends afterwards but can never forget the ones he already left behind/lost.

For me it's difficult even to think of such a situation. My childhood friends were and are always an integral part of my life. I would say they were more like family than friends. Now even though we are in different parts of the world and cannot spend time together as we used to, deep inside we all know that we are there for each other whatever the case may be and that is the biggest confidence I have in life.

I'm just wondering why it that some people are deprived of this happiness that too for no fault of theirs…

As Poonthanam rightly said

"koodiyalla pirakkunna neerathum
koodiyalla marikkunna neerathum

madhye ingane kaanunna neerathu
mathsarikkunnathenthinu naam vruda"

(We are alone during birth n death. It is in between these two that we meet other people. Why are we wasting this short duration by fighting with each other?)

Are you terrorists?

Have you ever faced this question? How will you feel then?

I was once asked this question and was clearly taken aback. It was in Sicily the land known for its strong mafia roots. Although looking back I feel very silly, that incident is something that I cannot forget easily.

It was my second visit to Italy and I was bit intimidated as my first experience was not a great one. Also in all the travel guides, there used to be a special mention about the strong mafia in Sicily. In spite of all these, we choose this place mainly coz it was a long weekend and also a fuming mountain is not something that you can visit everyday. Mount Etna is the highest European volcano which is around 3300 m high. We stayed just 30 m from Etna and so could see it all the time. But we wanted to take the Circumetnea which is a small railway line which circles the base of the volcano. But since Sicily is not a well developed tourist destination, the public transport or even tourist information was very pathetic.

Somehow we managed to reach the subway and took an underground pathway. It was almost empty except for the two of us and two punk styled guys walking in front of us. One of them was almost double my size, very hefty and looked very rough. Maybe coz of my preset mind, I felt a chill go down my spine.

Then they saw us and the immediate question was

'Are you terrorists?'

That was more than I could take. All sorts of terror stories started coming to my mind. There was no one else in the vicinity even if we scream for help... I couldn't utter a word and it was JK who answered them (tho later he too confessed that he was also very much scared)

The question answer session was like this

Punk1: "Are you terrorists?"
We: "No"

Punk1: "You are Indians?"
We: "Yes"

Punk1: "Are you Muslims"
We: "No"

Punk1: "In India most people are Muslims right?"
Punk2: "No Muslims are in Pakistan. In India majority are Hindus. Only Muslims are Terrorists!!"

Aha so that was the reason - they were doubtful that all Indians are Terrorists!!! Our Kashmir has given this kind of impression to the outside world..!!

Anyway, after this JK managed to get some information about the train timings and the station where we could board it. So after all it was not that bad :-)