Swades

We are a proud people…Proud of our culture and values…Admittedly our values are the best on paper...though questionable how much we practice it…Quite often the pride sometimes lean towards arrogance and disdain for other cultures. I used to smirk at western culture and habits without actually thinking about it and rather more based on a stigma. But over the past year I understand that there are many things which we should appreciate and learn from them…Would love to share a few things where we are lacking and would do wonders if we pulled our socks...

One of the striking things that I found here is that they follow discipline…for example you don’t see cars jumping lanes or anyone horning superfluously. When the traffic light turns red , all the cars line up in the respective lanes in a military harmony...Our system would do a lot good if people are trained not just how to drive…but also how to drive within the framework of RULES. Probably there is not one among us who haven’t jumped the lane one time or the other. And we all have a plausible explanation that everyone does it neways…The license should be issued only after sufficient training , the police must be given rights for harsher punishment on law breakers and more importantly the public should understand how we could infact move much faster and comfortably if all followed the rules..

Talking about traffic I couldn’t help but mention our system of having a police convey for every dumb wit… why do our ministers/MLA’s have to break all the rules, blast sirens , create unnecessary hullabaloo. .and drive in screeching hurry...As if a minute delay might bring all the developments in the state to a standstill… Do we need such special privileges for special people..

Cleanliness…Our attitude says we keep our home clean…Everywhere outside our home is our garbage bin…Why can’t we bother to keep our surroundings clean as well... We teach our kids to keep our country clean without ourselves doing a bit about it…Littering is probably a national pastime for many of us...Is there any penalty for littering in our place…forget it.. Is there anyone who can bother to impose it…Such basic civic sense would help a lot and make life easier for the garbage disposers…


Perfection in work...Although we are fast working industrious people…quite often the quality of our products are questionable. I mean here, people make sure that starting from a safety pin to an aircraft the products they make are of the best quality in the world. I heard from a German colleague that the simple motto behind how a German worker creates a product is “To find a mistake in the product”. This work philosophy has ensured that they don’t make any junk products…We have our limitations of a developing economy but still we can make sure that we don’t go the China way…
(P.S. Two Wal-Mart’s at my place had to be closed down recently. Probably coz the predominantly Chinese products wouldn’t sustain the law which states that any product sold in Germany has to provide a minimum warranty of two years.)
Although we have few companies which create world class products, they are sold to the west rather than for the domestic market. I don’t get a clue why the companies serving domestic market do the same.. Deep dent on the profits...eh??


I personally appreciate the noble intention behind Tata’s attempt to bring out the 1 lakh car…but I would have loved if he would have invested that money in some mass transport metro network in a few cities…Our environment is not healthy enough to suffice the surge in pollution nor our roads which already cannot bear the mad race .I wonder when the 1 lakh car is out in the market will we fall into a point of no return.. The cheap car will sure be a big hit in the market where the real price will be paid our next generations..


The obscene big political thamasha. I might face lot of brickbats for this...But the whole idea of state/national governments giving monetary soaps to cricketers’ sucks!!... Are our government coffers overflowing money that they are clueless about how to spend em...If these political pawars (err...powers) suffered from momentary loss of sight please do look at our roads..our slums...and our rivers…The days of fighting for independence was over long time back...please stop all the bull shit rhetoric you say in those speeches...biggest democracy…peaceful co-existence of religions..blah..blah…get down to some serious work dudes…Unfortunately unlike us they have a appraisal only once is five years and they always get a role change by then!!

Why don’t we just dispose of with the whole caste system...Let us pass a decree one fine day
that there aint any castes among us...Well they cant do it coz that leaves 60% of our parties without a cause!!…Just how much effort and blood is spilt just for the silly name tag called “caste”...And don’t assume that making people literate and educated shuns these prejudices…Coz I have seen a friend of mine in trouble marrying his love coz the so called “castes” are different (both families are well educated folks)…

I can list out a 100 places where we can improve...so easy to write it and yet difficult to follow enmass..Probably I crib like this coz I love as much to see my country in a better shape…India is rising and shinning ...we are a huge growing economy…but remember all these sweet talk is about getting a share of the pie...It takes a lot more from than a “chak de” from each one of us to make us a prosperous and developed nation..

Guten Appetite

Saar. Would you like to have Italian/Mexican/Chinese/Spanish/French/Thai/Indian?
I want food!! (I think he testing my geography :-O)
Saar...That’s what I asked, what kind of food..??
Indian
Saar...Vegetarian/Non-vegeterian/Humanatarian/Manchurian/Pomeranian
How dare you ask a puritan who has always abstained from green leafy things such questions? Now what??
Saar...South Indian/North Indian/East Indian/West Indian/American Indian/Pakistan occupied Indian??
For god sake bring me some south Indian chicken dish!!
Saar...Chicken chettinad/Chicken kasargod/Chicken Ooty/Chicken Hyderabadi/Chicken Maananthavaadi??
ww..waaait…Okay..I accept that you absolute rock with places. Btw ..Am I on candid camera? ;-P
Saar..Spicy..Medium spicy… Light spicy. Spicy with tinge of sweet…Sweet and sour…spicy and astringent
Thengakolla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Mallu swear word with U certification)§$§”%”!#
Sorry…Sir we don’t serve that….



Ballet Dancing…Taekwondo…Space walking…Dining out…This was part of the list that came out in international survey to find out the most challenging activities in the world. I have been hearing interesting stories on why Dining out can be a mentally and physically challenging activity...

Typically a niche restaurant has assorted weaponry like spoons, knifes, forks and an armored cloth to protect your torso…mmm…Good enough defence to protect a small country like the Vatican. These equipments are necessarily what make the diner a loser or a sore loser…But then you learn from mistake as an old wise man said and keep repeating em to prove it again and again…


1) Avoid ordering grilled chicken. Dissecting a dry fried piece of chicken is an exquisite art. Some surgeons whom I talked with said that doing a Cataract surgery with one hand is much easier. It’s like formula 1 racing. A split second mistake can cost your chicken leg, which might have landed in nearby Parthasarathy’s soup…

2) Don’t order Chinese food if you don’t have control over the slithery noodles…You might end up with noodles puffing out of your mouth and look like that girl in The Exorcist... Infact during my first few days in Germany I learned that I couldn’t basically eat the way we eat Onam Sadya back home. For those unaware of how Onam Sadya is eaten, It’s the most dignified way of eating where you eat so much that you can go actually go without food for months like the Arabian camels…

3) While having dinner with vegans never talk about how tasty that mutton chaps was…or how tasty is chicken mughalai … It is not polite to let them know how lip smacking tasty they really are..;-P
But I really understand how bad they feel when recently a Russian colleague was explaining me how tasty the buffalo tongue is. Some hardcore delicacy there…yuck… For god sake doesn’t he understand that am a pure non-vegetarian!!!

4) Don’t try forks to eat pappads especially if your boss is around you…Give the chicken leg piece to your boss and help yourself with the gravy…And during company dinners if the boss orders Palak Paneer, order the same and make sure you make it loud and clear how much you love Palak Paneer (however yuck they tastes). Breaking any of the above mentioned rules could cost your job without notice…

5) Never order “chicken 69”...There is no dish like that. I make it loud and clear there is only chicken 65!!

As I say this I ll pass a few techniques to get out of embarrassing dining goof-ups

Imagine taken a bite of something too hot and you are in a catch 22 situation. Start repeating the shloka...”“Waaah…Waah...Waah…bwaaaahahaaaaaaah” .It will spare the tongue of blisters and moreover the host might assume that you are really enjoying the food…

And sometimes it happens especially in Christian families when during dinner someone starts with a prayer...”Let us praise the lord”. And you don’t know how to finish the prayer and somehow make it up like... ”And bless the lamb who sacrificed voluntarily for our gourmet delight.”


Another important aspect is topic of conversation during the meal. Make sure that you talk about something relevant and interesting to all. Last time I had been to a project dinner I stood out like Bush in a party of Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Edison... Coz I was the only bachelor and all they talked was about baby food and the price of prams in town whereas all I wanted to talk was about Cuba and Bill Cosby…!!

And you all might know there are guys who trick us in this business...I wonder how Georgekutty can make chicken mughalai when he himself is Syro Malabar and what he should be making is Malabar chicken curry!! Broad Day light cheating I would say!! How do they make Kentucky fried chicken when am sure the chickens are from Kanjikode...The icing of the cake is when they bring a bill in a nice folder and you have to open it holding your breath and surprise!!. 1000 bucks for that chicken bone...when you can buy a whole poultry farm for that money…

And for redemption the only thing you could do possibly do is steal a few toothpicks, which seems be plenty and free!! :-(

Dennis the Men-ace!!

I have been reading many blogs about the troubles faced by woman in today’s world like harassment at work place, work sharing at home and men not being understanding. “Not being Understanding “ isn’t that a cliché...Someone who doesn’t agree with you is someone who is not being understanding. Well they all are trivial if you think about what men go through…
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Have you ever wondered how difficult it is for a guy to shop in a supermarket? I remember last time when I accompanied mom to a store and I had to buy some Dal for use here.

And Mom started…”Channa Dal…moong Dal...Green Dal…black gram Dal…which one do you want??”
A slightly shaken and wide-eyed me: hihi…Just “DAAAL” would do…!!

C’mon do you think a guy can answer something like that for god sake…For a guy It is that one crore question in KBC!!!.

Talking of shops I often hear the typical sales boy trick to sell something...
“Sir...Your missus would like it”
“WHAT ABOUT ME DUMBO…and well how do you know what my missus likes... hmmph”

And don’t assume that a guy is really aware of the price of stuffs you get in the market. A guy might buy half a kilo of tomato in a grocery shop for 200 bucks without battling an eyelid. The last time he might have bought tomatoes might have been a year or two ago and he might have assumed the higher prices due to inflation...globalization…market capitalization and other such complicated jargon.
And you thought men cheat on women?? Kidding...eh!!. Don’t you see this day light robbery where men are cheating on men?

Contrary to popular belief ladies do lot of cost cutting when they go shopping...They precisely know where exactly the cheapest things are in the store…Haven’t you seen ladies asking the sales boy when that particular brand of “Maida” which comes for 12 rupees 43 paisa is arriving again…
Men don’t think that way. If maida is not there buy beer... All calories anyways aren’t?

The only place where a guy can stand longer than 2 minutes is an electronic shop. It is sheer pleasure for him to talk about RAM, gigahertz and memory sticks. He will drool over LCD screens and anything which has a word Mega or Nano in it…And ofcoz needless to say the quintessential liquor shop where all those svelte bottles seem to say in unison...”Here I come Baby!!...Buy me my lover!!!”
Another reason why I hate supermarkets is coz there aint any television screen in a supermarket.
Men love places where there is a TV screen like a Barbershop or say a BAR…We cannot bear without knowing what happens around the world. If you ever come across a guy who says.”Well I couldn’t catch up with today’s news”. You will find all the guys scurrilously avoiding him.
Whispers fly like... ”Psssstt...He is the one…Oh...yeah…I hate to be seen walking with him”

Now I don’t understand what is it with woman’s beauty parlour. It is very rudimentary for us. Walk into a barbershop and yell...”Babu cut 2 inches of hair from head!!.” yes that’s it. As simple as that..
No silly questions like “do you want a facial…do you want a streak of yellow just above your eye brow…or do you want sky blue nail polish or Mediterranean blue…Why do they make it all complicated!!

Something, which I hate about, are stereotypes...Why all criminals are chased in Manhunts!!.. What about woman criminals…Why are all dangerous animals Man-eaters...Why don’t they eat women..?? This is all not fair...thump!

History has proved that always. That bad hair day when the Titanic sank it was “Women and children first”
What about men…Are they amphibians. Just imagine the guilt the ladies might have lived through after the tragedy...aww…Those poor men…Even when they wrote the book “Men are from mars and woman from Venus”. They gave the smaller planet to us. This is all not fair…

Remember that Story of Adam and Eve where Adam ate the apple offered by Eve. In spite of the fact that Adam was allergic to apples...!! ; -P
Do you know what mistake he did…He tried to be “understanding”!!

Home Alone and some economics…

Warning: Long post. Do read only after you got bored of playing snake in office for the nth time…


Looking back…

While reading this blog about travails of families where parents had to work in separate places gave reminiscences of my home.

Back to the time when I was waiting to start my higher studies and my brother was still in school. Probably the time didn’t matter at all. It was difficult in the beginning to adjust to the new lifestyle when a ridiculous central government policy resulted in mom being transferred to an island near Mumbai and dad to some forsaken place in Tamil Nadu. And ofcoz we were envious of Mom coz she got to work in a place where the military stores all the ammunition they got and rumors say the stationery stores out there sell past expiry date Prithivi’s and Agni’s for Diwali…The kids out there had plenty of fun

So it fell on myself and bro to take care of the 12 bedrooms, 8 cars, 11 swimming pools attached bungalow in a 250-acre plot we have in Trivandrum (sorry I got dreaming while writing this part..; -P). We had pledged full confidence in taking care of the house partly due to the newfound freedom and primarily to give some confidence to parents who were going to work elsewhere.

The initial few days were wonderful or better said it was gastronomical nirvana. Chicken...Mutton...Beef…Fish all cooked and ready to eat stocked in the fridge…amazing television time for the idiot-box deprived...a round the clock working computer (updated with the latest NFS 5) which was bought under the pretext of learning C programming by this humble and devout student (well Vinu if u are reading this the Michael Jackson video which we copied on the first day instead of installing some C language was a big disaster... ;-P)…Waking up early morning at 11:30 and lazing in the sofa reading the morning newspaper at leisure.. Long telephonic conversation with friends…so lazy were those days that we wouldn’t defrost the fridge until the fridge started shivering!!...

If you don’t find these outrageous I must say it was more outrageous than a Britney spears joining nunnery…coz we were not exactly the rich kids in the block. Just like the typically sarkari family going for the cheapest government supplied ration rice and frugally metered telephone calls …So all what we did during the first few days of staying alone at home were obscene even in our own eyes…

One month later…

The phone bills skyrocketed much faster than a GSLV…and the telephone department started sending letters to Dad telling how they were grateful to him for holding up a crumbling enterprise

The house had gathered enough mud that would have made a decent miniature ancient Greece or something...

Our house had more dried leaves than whole of Kerala. (Who said Kerala is green. you should have come to my place back then)

Our green color Maruti now had a new color. A chisel was used to chip of the thick layer of chocolate dust on the bonnet.

And more importantly the fridge was now stark naked almost pitying at its once prosperous barracks.


Year of Glasnost

A revolution was imminent under those circumstances. There was widespread discontentment amongst the plants, the car, the kitchen and the goldfish in the tank (which we were not sure was still alive due to a thick layer of green algae). The kingdom was in utter disarray with criminals like cockroaches, lizards, ants, spiders etc etc enjoying a free run. In an unprecedented move the inhabitants decided to change the face of the country.

We learned work sharing and very important economic principles at a young age coz my bro found that he was actually doing the difficult part of scrubbing the plate’s n stuff. So a new system of living called Kureekatism (in the lines of communism…socialism or whatever u call it) was introduced at home. Work was split on mutually agreeable terms and the famous ‘Pattom Pact’ was signed. The residents rejoiced this decision. Even Jesus whose photo was hanging on the wall seemed to give a funny smile at us.

The new laws and work regulations did wonders and new age technologies were introduced like using pressure cooker for cooking rice, vacuum cleaner for cleaning the floor and hit spray for killing mosquito’s. Domain skills in cooking curries, breakfast and other edibles were improved (received the golden globe award from medical college thattukada association). Infidels like insects and others were driven out from the country even though they kept coming back. The kingdom was fighting back!


New challenges

And then it was one fine day we got the news that our paternal grandmother would be staying with us coz her caretaker relatives were going abroad…. A relative had arranged a caretaker for my 90 something grandmother and to complete the mayhem my grandmother’s caretaker was another 60’s something grandmother. The new ammachi at home would cook food for us and lend an ear to my grandmother’s small talk. So it was in the end a picture perfect scenario of two schoolboys and two grandmas’ in one home where their combined age outnumbering ours by several multiples. Needless to say our responsibilities increased manifold. We had to heat water to an optimum temperature and carry it all the way to the bathroom, place a stool and several other attachments inside... After each bath we had to dry up the bathroom floor coz ammachi feared she might slip in there. All this on a daily basis. And to make matters more complicated ammachi was strict on punctuality (a very strict pathyam follower). She wouldn’t take lunch at 12:55 pm…she wants the meal on the table exactly at 1 pm.and if it is 1:01 pm she would be unbearably hungry... She couldn’t bear the television noise past 9 o clock for she slept quite early...I guess ammachi was with us for about 8-9 months before she went back to our native place. So again the house was like old times with just myself and bro and a house.

The Wonder Years

Staying in such a house had its own fun...

There was a half yearly ceremony called combined studies which occurred usually a day or two before the university exam when the house would be swarmed by my friends, at times the number reaching 15…One of the rooms was exclusively for my bro... all other rooms with 3-4 guys in each and each room were used for certain specialized studying activities. One room for core studying, which would be used sparingly. One room for studying the intricacies of playing cards … one room for television viewing where we suggest how Mohanlal or Al Pacino could have acted better… one room for random kathifying (blabbering of everything under the sun)...And finally in the evening we ride to the nearby Ambalapattu restaurant to finish whatever they cooked that day. The university exam would happen next day but the real adrenalin rush was on the day before when we discover in sheer hopelessness how huge our syllabus really was…

We were given a lump sum amount to take care of house expenses like food, phone/electricity/water and other umpteen bills. We had a finance budget day where I will present this ‘heavily doctored’ budget (sure taking in mind how much we can ethically steal ;-P). After a few budgets the Prime Minister’s relief fund cut down the rampant corruption by providing generous aids and in the process teaching a few good lessons.

And then there used to be frantic cleaning of the house as soon we got a call from either of our parents that they might come down soon. There was war footing working happening on the day before D-Day…Cleaning the house for me meant hiding the dust to obscure corners or coating the car with a bucket of water. But my method differed with bro and we finally decided to do some actual cleaning. And next day when parents come they sigh in relief seeing that we are after all not bad caretakers and we sigh glad that they can go back to their workplaces without worrying about home .It is used to be lots of fun…

During those times the citizens in the kingdom were rewarded with ESOP’s called weekend happy meal allowance for dinner in a restaurant in the weekends. The clever entrepreneur’s we were, the dough would be saved for more useful things like having a beer or hanging out with friends and the usual fun in college. Here I used to get envious of my bro who might have been the richest man in India but for the withdrawal of ESOP’s after economy became self sustainable…

Today

Eight years gone by…Jeez...Cant believe it…
I can go to the best hotel in town and eat till I can’t take in anymore. But they don’t taste as good as the parotta bought using hard saved money from Ambalapattu…
I have some frugality rubbed off on me. Though I hate to admit that. ;-P

These are just a few tit bits. There are countless many more which I might have learned sub consciously.

Now looking back at those years…I guess it wasn’t easy...but definitely worth the lessons it taught us…

golmaal hai bhai sab golmaal hai…

Way back in 1992, I saw it for the first time in life .I don’t remember anything more than an animation of the human digestive system which the teacher was showing in that dabba screen. Understandably yours truly was over-awed by the occasion of having the darshan of a computer for the first time. Technology has come a long way since then and over the years I have kept pace with inventions that have bygone. Well most of the time my outlandish ideas out running the sluggish thinking of the techie inventors.

Google ever since they came up with “google earth” I was always tempted to call up Larry Page and ask for something more…I would love google to come up with 1mm resolution images, which could seep through the roofs of houses to my little dingy room. It will come in handy as I always forget where I keep my pack of toothpicks and I don’t have to search all over the house all the time… Rather i ll sit on the cozy couch and do a Google earth search and do a Eureka hip shake after I locate it. It will come in handy for misplaced or lost needles at home too coz Mom always says she can’t find where she kept her needles. Very useful especially in office that I can find when my Boss is just near the door and I can in a jiffy close the arsenal.com website and open some complex power point!!

Btw guess u all know Steve Jobs is one smart fella...Would be terrific to see him coming up with some iOpeners ideas like inventing iLashes for ladies or a touch screen iCar …These days he claim that iReland and iRaq belongs to him…exactly why iRish don’t see i to i with Steve. Well brainy chap he is that why they say he is an iCon. After I met him at iOwa, I had an iDea that I should have a quick brunch somewhere. I walked into the KFC counter and had an unhappy meal that reminded me of something else.

I want KFC and Mc-D to come up with French fries and chicken nuggets that help reduce weight. Just imagine if they come up with a secret formula for the KFC chicken that will help you loose weight. More Chicken nugget you eat...The more you loose weight…1 chicken nugget you lose 100 grams…and another one 200 grams. I get Goosebumps when I think of that. It ll be the invention of century. . You can start catching the chickens even before they hatch....woo!!…All scientists out here I am giving you free ideas!! ;-p

After that light lunch which made my pocket feather light I took the flight back home. The Kingfisher airline pilot was red-faced coz I reached the airport quite late. But I say there was too much red out there and with all the kingfisher planes parked together in the runway it looked like a red light area. They should recruit airhostesses who wear white saree’s, make them wear full white sleeve blouses serve kingfisher neem extract instead of the beer and play bhajan’s in the in-flight entertainment system. All these just for the heck of it…scandalous wouldn’t it be.eh!!

Talking of airplanes, nowadays we keep hearing about big aircrafts, which can carry 555 passengers... Only if they knew our airlines if given a chance could accommodate at least a thousand in a small turbo prop plane and our railways have been holding the Guinness records (most humans/goat/hens all in a single coach) for decades... And I have not seen any other organization with as much innovation as Indian railways. Would love to see a special train on the lines of “garib rath” where people can travel ticket less...This train will cater all the ticketless travelers in our country. The TT will be forcibly recruited hardcore criminals/terrorists from our jails and shoved in each compartment... Wow... And then the fun begins. Saves a lot of money and health for the Police too!!!…


Last week I saw an ESPRIT umbrella at an up market shop here...Never knew an umbrella was a fashion accessory until I saw that...My close friend who specializes in business espionage says, taking cue from the current brand craze Starbuck’s is going to introduce branded pappads. Eating Star buck pappads will be latest in thing in town, which will guarantee jealous glances from passerby’s…Ladies will drop on the knees seeing guys who could afford Starbuck’s pappads!! And Versace is coming out with retro-bindi’s starting 1000$ excluding tax and ear buds embossed with high quality Versace embroidery work... Our ‘Popy kudaas’ and ‘Haldiram’s’ should reinvent themselves as chic fashion statements. If ESPRIT can do it why cant Popy!!

Taking cue from investors in gulf and due to rising land prices I would love to see the land mafia back home to create islands like the ones near Dubai. But instead of shapes like palm trees I would like one for me shaped like an ‘arivaal’…and one for my bro shaped like a ‘chuttikaaa’…There will be a separate island accessible only by air to simulate Malayalees who can’t bear without going to Middle East. And to make them feel at home we will have a brand new “Kalady Duty free” shop at the airport…To give the authentic touch sheikhs will be invited once in a while and wearing sun glass (which in neutral Minglish is called a kooling glass) made compulsory in this district...

And the last request of all. Why don’t all the people in the world decide...Say..Okay let’s slow down a bit. Why are we competing hard against each other? Let’s have a 4-day weekend. And the whole world will work only for 2 days henceforth…well who is in a hurry man…;-P


P.S Folks who are severely malnutrioned after Silverine's miracle diet.please help yourself with a calorie boost from the chef's kitchen..

Mr. Schmidt country and some lessons …

I still remember writing a blog from a small café two days after I reached Hamburg.. all excited and gaga over the trip..And a year went by as quick as...well 365 days!!!.. giving me unforgettable experiences...fulfilling many a dreams and a lot more..

I complete one year of stay abroad today. And a year has taught me some wonderful lessons. (As if am going to learn ;-P)…All the lessons learnt in the eyes of a small town boy who was exploring a new country just like a scaled down version of Vasco de Gama…


Lesson 1

For someone like me who never had to interact with a Caucasian before in life it was a new experience. When I was a kid a white man/woman were a kauthukka vasthu (can’t get the exact English translation for that. I guess it means ‘curio item’)..I used to look in awe at the phoren tourist who came to shed their clothes at our kovalam beach. They were looked at like aliens with a curiosity to touch them to see if their skin is like ours or if they had five fingers in each hand just like us.. Like we always looked down ourselves as a poor hangry people. ‘no money..poor poor..please Saar some Singapore dollars..you white fair and lovely..very rich fella..’

The whites were a people much above us...The last one year helped me shed this apprehension or stigma I attached to interacting with a Caucasian..If I say in more dramatic cinematic style I ll lift the line from a movie and say, I learnt to talk man to man.
The white skin doesn’t awe me anymore. I understand they are as human as us..and as inhuman as we are.. I might have still carried that baggage of white “the better guy” stigma back home.

P.S. My co-workers are nice folks who happen to appreciate our culture and ideas..I like my work place coz I get to work in a team of Indians..Germans..French..Spaniards..Brits..Russians..Poles and Japanese ..We have Hindus..Jains..Christians..Atheist..Muslims..Bhuddhist and Jews in our team.. Am sure this combo is a real heady mix…

Lesson 2

Had a picture that poverty existed only in Africa and Asia..Learnt that poor people exist throughout the world even in the supposedly affluent west. And sometimes I think the trauma the poor here goes through might be much more agonzing than what the poor back home face coz here they are simply alone. Completely isolated from the society in the midst of prosperous and affluent lifestyles...At least back home the poor have a network of their own...they have people amongst themselves to share their miseries and sorrow. Here the poor are folks who have succumbed to drugs or binge drinking and in the process became social discards…

Lesson 3

Faith is almost non-existent here.. Church is a place where they can get married and they can be packed in neat caskets for the delivery to hell or heaven..wherever...
Otherwise the church isn’t of much relevance…The west now suffers spiritual poverty. This country is now having an atheist population of 40-45%.I have nothing against atheists myself having harbored such sentiments in the past. But the point is atheism has indirectly resulted in an intolerant society where atheists ridicule sentiments of the believers.


Lesson 4

However communication gets better. However advanced be Gtalk..Skype..Messenger..it is just not the same as having the friends around you. Technology still doesn’t get better than bytes or pixels.. I have learnt how important is to have friends near you. I have friends out here but they wont ever be like the friends back home..

My close friends are now in different corners of the world. Wondering when we ‘ll get a chance to meet again.. There is nothing like the nostalgia of good old times that can make you crave about home.


Lesson 5

Although the foreign land has all the facilities you can think of… the majestic Alps…the charming castles…Disneyland…stylish cars…trains…it doesn’t stand up to the beauty of our country. We have more people smiling in out part of the world despite the fact that we don’t have reasons enough to smile about… We have more people sharing food from the same plate despite the looming poverty…

Our country is colorful …Almost as if we try the extra bit to literarily make our life colorful...Everything looks like shades of grey out here…

The colors…the tolerance…and the spirit of our people are simply unmatchable…You learn to appreciate how good our country is when you stay outside, even though there are thousand reasons to crib about our own country. How true when Gregory David Roberts said…” In India the heart is the king.”

Addendum

I got lucky when I was given the thinking blogger award from Mishmash who in her own rights is one of the best foodie bloggers around here having a distintive style of lacing a food blog with anedcotes of little stories back home.Thanks a lot..

I would pass on this award to my obvious choice of fantastic four who might have already got this award and a few others like ..
Shruti..who blogs quite far and in between..but I love reading her philosphical insights about life..Alex who create sparkling gems from no where..and Rupa who writes some thought provoking posts...

Dedicating this song for friends out here..