ca va?

Many years ago before the World War II, a blitzkrieg of German soldiers would come right up to the border in their Panzer tanks and turn their guns at a poor French farmer and shout…

"Entschuldigen Sie mich. Kann ich etwas Käse und Wein. Und Sie können meinen Porsche"

To rather briefly put it the German would politely offer his Porsche for some good French wine and cheese…Unfortunately by the time the soldier finished his statement in deutsch which in these days would roughly take up 15GB of your hard disk, age would be catching up with the poor French farmer and the wine would have turned vintage!

Out of sheer boredom and effort needed to have a conversation with the German, the Monsieur would curtly reply...

‘Oui’

It was to no one’s surprise that in a few years Germany realised the importance of occupying France for strategic military reasons as mentioned in weekly newsletters issued by the third Reich... It was though an open secret in SS circles the strategic reasons were mainly cheese from Strasbourg and the wine from Bordeaux....

Several years later a malayalee landed in that country for the same strategic reasons as the Germans did.... and voila he had no choice but to express his joy when he tasted the fine elixir in the most passionate way possible...So he did fold his mundu, toasted his glass high and waxed eloquently what he had memorised all along….

“Monsieur this wine is excellent…exceptionnelle !!!… céleste!!....it has the earthiness of Bordeaux and astringent after taste of a Cabernet sauvignon and yet sublimely robust with a tinge of cedar wood and unpretentious crispness of autumn air in Burgundy. A grapey finesse with a peppery flourish which discreetly emphasizes the opulent undertone of a citrus crust that succulently brings out the Joie de vivre every human aspires for…”

Ofcourse as I said this the frenchman looked everybit the angry Gaul I had Imagined from Asterix comics… Either he was contemplating to use the french legion against me or the even greater humilation of running over me in a french made car.. Inspite of all the french sense of fashion and avant garde and other such sophisticated words which they are proud of, that is one thing they are really bad at…The Renault’s and the Peugoet’s were probably designed only with sole intent of packing as much groceries from Carrefour as possible... and the only reason why the world has forgiven them was coz of their cusine..

I realised how seriously they took their food when I looked at the menu in a restaurant out here… They could pretty much convince you with vivid descriptions and exquisite phrases how delicious it is to eat sawdust if the wood is French!!

There is nothing that can bring passion amongst the average Charles de and Gaulle as much as food does. For centuries they occupied countries in Africa and Asia and even took the effort of going to far away islands in pacific to steal the local cuisines. Ofcoz Algeria due to lack of parking spots in France but Pondicherry that was only for curd rice!! Infact several years ago, parts of France were declared as famine hit when there was a sudden shortage of caviar at a few Michelin starred restaurants in Paris … Well I must say a French man might after all die, but never of poverty...

While the language is really pleasing to the ears, for someone who is attempting to try a few phrases like myself the consequences are disastrous...After spending several hours memorising phrases like “Parlez vou Anglais” (Do you speak English?), I have been quite lucky to see a wide variety of French facial expressions when I gallantly asked them… “Poulet vou Anglais” (Chicken do you English?)

But I must admit, the French way of speaking French is very sweet…So its hard to make out what the mood of conversation actually is...Sometimes you think that a couple who seem to talk animatedly and loud in the street was probably saying very moving and romantic French lines from “Gone with the Wind”… only to realise after a few minutes that they would blow up like RDX coated popcorn generating enough power that sends those rockets to space from French Guyana…

Hmm… and I know you must be wondering why hasn’t he yet talked about French ladies…Well there are days here when the sky is grey, gloomy and overcast… you read about massacres happening in Libya…project fails and system crashes at work…somebody tops your top score in flight control…. You lose money at the stock market…salary hikes become a myth… and one of those days while sitting alone in a restaurant looking forlorn outside … you see a petit mademoiselle with a sweet and warm smile walking towards to you…and quips…

“Monsieur…Could you pass the salt? ”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...or…maybe NOT!

“I am on a Diet “

The moment I uttered it,my friend started laughing voraciously with a disdain usually reserved only when he hears something outrageously impossible and inconceivable… However I felt like he was laughing mockingly at the director of an intense and serious foreign language movie!! It was insulting and hardly motivating for a guy who was hoping to get a tummy like Baba Ramdev’s!

“I am on a Diet “ I vehemently thundered again thumping my fist down the desk…. But I was greeted again with a nonchalant response that was making a mockery of general practices to be followed in mockery. Not to be discouraged by such folks, I set a deadline for myself. It was my own Anna Hazare moment of truth.

I saw telebranding videos of a white chettan from Louisiana, USA speaking flawless Malayalam in Kairali TV and swinging sidewise flaunting his six packs. Along with him was a chedathi who was showing a photo of another lady claiming it was herself one week ago. Surprisingly she knew Malayalam and sounded less convincing to me because she had a heavy Thrissur accent and I haven’t really seen many blondes out there at the Round.What really discouraged me was the chettan looked like someone who was still evolving into a human.

Meanwhile I searched for articles on how to lose weight in 7 days without exercising and without compromising on cheese burgers. That unfortunate day, Google failed me for the first time in my life….However I wondered how life is when people eat salads, throw away the egg yolk, buy a chocolate pastry and give that “OMG so many calories” look and actually read what is written behind milk cartons. So when I got a fruit bowl for breakfast I could sense somewhere deep down that I was doing something completely unnatural coz fruits as I knew until then was used only for making soaps natural. And a few days later I discovered a cruel and highly uncreative meal called the salad… A bowl which vaguely reminded me of the kitchen while Amma was cutting the veggies for an avial!!Folks who are not familiar with salad must know that it was used as a torture technique during the crusades. Believe me!! All those vegetables look good only in high definition television!

This brief attempt with fruits and salads resulted in cold turkey. I started hallucinating and behaving like a zombie… I would imagine fried ethakkappams and chicken kebabs floating around me…I insulted my friend Sam by addressing him as Samosa during a project meeting. At the canteen I longingly looked at the main course… the paneer so near and yet so far….Maybe as they say revenge is a dish best served cold and no surprise if the cold turkey must have been the curse of a sizeable lineage of chickens, cows, goats which had an abrupt end thanks to me.

Not to shy away that easily I looked for inspiration in movies… There was a Sylvester Stallone in me who was jogging inMysore city streets at ungodly hours to the background music reminiscent of his “Rocky” training …I would symbolically raise my hands at 12^th cross, Vijayanagar 2^nd stage staring intensely at chamundi hills only to be greeted by a few cows grazing early in the morning!! Other days I felt like a man on a run…a la Forrest Gump but not cross country like in the movie where they hide reality…mine was inside the Taluk only and I drove back home in a car….I bought Nike track wear and started drinking Gatorade and it made me feel like Carl Lewis though maybe his pace was negligibly different…Towards the end of such a routine the uncanny resemblance with a panting dog made me realize why the wise men say it’s a dog’s life after all…

In such a situation I sought solace in Jesus…I asked him for a sign….A sign that would tell me what to do….

“Oh Lord, I am hungry!!” I clenched my palms and looked skywards…

So when I walked into that book store I had no inkling of the mysterious ways the lord works…

I glanced at a book…”Eat, Pray and Love” which during that moment of enlightenment read...”Eat, Eat and Eat”

That was a sign and I knew it… And then there was another sign as I kept roaming in the bookstore…

“Who moved my Cheese…?”

Oh Lord, you even tell me what to eat!!Cheese Burger right? Your mysterious ways!!

My joy knew no bound as I started running out to the streets… Faces crossed my mind…Baba Ramdev...Rocky Balboa….Maybe it’s another sign I thought…. After pacifying myself I returned home consoling that maybe after all there is nothing like a free lunch … or in my case fat-free lunch!

And a few days back as I strolled by M.G Road Bangalore, I saw a bespectacled man wearing a bow tie at a distance…He seemed to be the kind who gives one of those offer you cannot refuse…His shop was buzzing with friends curiously dipping hands in oversized red buckets ….I stared longingly through the glass window of the KFC outlet….but then a poem crossed my mind…

The drumsticks are crunchy, golden, and delicious,

But I have promises to keep,

And calories to burn before I sleep,

And calories to burn before I sleep

Well...umm….Maybe the in’fat’uation would last for a while…

Barley and Me

A couple of months ago at Munich, Germany.....

Sunday Mornings are often colder than weekdays and the process of getting out of bed makes you act like a tortoise who is not interested in any kind of race for that matter! However as a true devout whose commitment was unquestionable, I did not think twice before waking up when the clock struck six...

It was dark and chilly outside...It does not matter when your faith is strong and unwavering....I took a quick shower as the urge to get there as soon as possible was overwhelming...At 6:30 am I started my brisk walk towards the holy place… It was overwhelming to be part of the august gathering of people who were marching along to offer glowering tributes at the shrine...It actually reminded me of what it really means to be part of it...About sharing happiness and sadness...about touching people’s lives...and about forgetting... Being someone who hates to be late, I was glad that I could sit right in front along with passionate gathering... Glancing at the faces around me I realised how over blown were talks of atheist’s taking over the world... There was a collective sense of hope...and an electric vibrancy in the air...I wondered, wasn’t it amazing that thousands of people sacrificed a lazy sunday morning to be part of this offering...to be part of something truly special...At precisely 8:30 am after a long wait, when the first german frau wearing a dirndl and holding 8 mugs of beer arrived...ten thousand devotees from around the world at a beer tent for Oktoberfest had the widest glee’s in the whole world!!

PROST!!!

The crowd roared in unison… The blessed moment we all waited anxiously had truly arrived.

Oktoberfest is as important to Bavarians as yeast is to Bread! The annual event which attracts the faithful from around the world does bear justice to the magnetic reputation it has. I had tried to get into one of those tents with my friends on a Saturday morning and we had to return disappointed as we underestimated the strength of people who took the pilgrimage…So it was with brahminical devotion that we made our second attempt that Sunday morning. What makes Oktoberfest amazing is the fact that it proves wrong a myth that Germans are cold (well the beer is…J), unsocial and hard to have fun with… I can imagine why Oktoberfest may not be as great in a place like Brazil coz we expect the Brazilians to be fun loving people… The first Mass (1L mug of beer) is drunk by the locals with all the stereotypes typically attached to Germans… People talk in hushed tones at the tables as if they were discussing the second quarter results of an IT firm! The first Mass is usual the tonic what the Germans need to shed that inhibition to talk to strangers and start singing and dancing.

Besides your friends you would often have random strangers sitting beside you...In the beginning the strangers start talking to you in German and you reply in a mix of broken German and English...However after the second Mass I faintly remember that we had a deep and intellectually stimulating conversation in Malayalam... Schmidt chetta, if you are reading this, Kottayam is not a 10 minutes bus ride from Bombay as I had claimed that day.

Although I don’t remember much of Schmidt, I do remember the beautiful german ladies whose appetite for beer can only be topped by Kalmadisque penchant for buying expensive refrigerators! Most of the local girls wear the German version of chattayum mundum called the Dirndl which actually is cool and pretty. And the guys wear the lederhosen which can make your Levis denim look cheap...As the drinking and the music continues you could occasionally see some daredevils grabbing the attention of everyone in the tent and proclaiming his/her attempts to drink the one litre mass in a single gulp which is by no means a small feat...The crowd cheers such daredevils but usually fizzles into good hearted boos when they fail... The local Bavarians look at in amusement when outsider’s attempt that and fail gloriously and later as a sort of vindication they show the tourist’s how it is done...Believe me these guys have tummy’s as big as a fuel tank of a decent sedan.

The mood in the tent gets progressively jovial over time and the real fun starts when the music begins...Almost everyone in the tent are up on the benches with hands on each other’s shoulders and sing passionately beer songs...

“Allee Allee Allee Allee Allee

eine Straße, viele Bäume,

ja das ist eine Allee

Allee Allee Allee Allee”

It is an amazing feeling when a group of people who did not know each other a few hours ago start showing camaraderie like they were best buddies in town...People take photos with each other bridging nationalities and although there are sporadic cases of bad drinker’s creating havoc, most people in general are jovially happy and soaking the moment...The beer girl’s (actually middle aged women) make sure that the ale is supplied at the tables with precision typical of Germans. You look at in awe how they hold 8-10 glass mugs each containing a litre of beer which is a feat in itself...Besides the beer they make sure that the revellers are supplied with roasted chickens, steaks and pretzels... It was really hard for us to leave the tent afternoon as the atmosphere is something which you don’t want to run away from...Unfortunately we had to catch the train to Hamburg and we did not want to end up as beer corpses (as the locals describe the passed out fellas).

Over the years and places I have been in Germany, it was easily one of the best experiences I had...As we came out of the tents and marched to the exit, I thanked the beer gods for the pilgrimage I could make... The satisfaction of being at the holiest of shrines…of having tasted the beer which might have inspired hundreds of poets and writers…Schmidt did tell me that I am a blessed man having come all the way from Kottayam…duh...He was drunk it seems!!….But as I strolled out, the true sign of being blessed was charmingly displayed in that outrageously zigzag spaghetti walk to the train station…or as I prefer to call it ….my Beer Ballet!

COVER POINT

“The bitch will behave nicely today and looks a lot better than the bitches we have seen in the country.”

Although I was startled for a few minutes to hear this on primetime television while I was making tea in the kitchen, it brought immediate relief when I heard the next sentence…

“The bitch will have something for both the batsman and the bowler”

First I wondered whether it was my new TV who’s crystal clear and some Ph.D. lingo technology was working way too precise for comfort. But later when I saw Sivaramakrishnan the commentator still praising the bitch I kinda assumed it was the bitch of his tone which was creating all the trouble...And as marketer’s try hard to sustain the interest in cricket from the giddy successes of world cup and however I try, the whole IPL feels like a bad hangover … or rather a drink too soon after a binge party!

I had managed to insulate myself from the advertising blitzkrieg by subscribing to the HD telecast and I saved myself the trauma of watching Akshay Kumar who seemed to have tried a thousand times to say Mannapuram Gold and failed miserably at it…I was equally glad that I could skip those Idea-No Idea ad’s where creativity was as lacking as hair on post-world cup Dhoni…While the telecast did not save me from the Sidhu talk which probably was like one of those sufferings you go through to finally enjoy the good things in life, I really enjoyed watching the World Cup on TV.

Since I had never here been during IPL in the past years, I really wanted to watch atleast a few matches to get the gist of it. Infact what amused me more than cricket was the marketing machinery which displayed endorsements that could actually bring more than a chuckle …It was amazing to see the plethora of sponsors ranging from cement manufacturers, marble sellers, liquor makers and even tea manufacturers. Well infact the sponsors also taught me that White Mischief was a cheer leading group and not a detergent manufacturer as I presumed. At times you would see one of those “Thank you *tournament sponsor* for everything!” placards and wonder…Seriously? It’s like a Mc Donald’s ‘I ‘m loving it’ ad in an Udupi restaurant!

For many cricketers from abroad the IPL is more like the onsite trip folks in IT would love to have… I can imagine KieronPollard’s mom packing tortilla chips and himself smuggling in a good bottle of Jamaican rum when he left the West Indies shores. After a few weeks in India he would upload pictures in Facebook with Album names like “Rocking in Fort Kochi” and photos of him probably eating naan and butter chicken at Mohali...Status updates like “Missing Barbara” instead of Barbados would make sure his relationship got fireworks.

As these phoren cricketers take work in IPL, we can see that jobs are lost back home. Offshoring meant that expensive local talent lost job and had to engage in alternative professions like commentary! On the bright side some visitors did really indianize beyond recognition… Shane Thakur Warner has got such a tan now that he can camouflage easily in the Rajasthan deserts. Cameron White even got his name changed to Cameron Brown. And so can Vettori easily pass of as the tired and overworked resident doctor at St. John’s medical college. Lasith Malinga whose hair locks are considered a national asset in Sri Lanka and infact even causes the stock markets to plunge every time he passes by a hair salon has now become part of folklore in Mumbai.

But alas after a few matches in IPL I think I have had enough of it…It has now become like the 8^th season of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. You know it was good in the beginning and now getting somewhat ho-hum…There is something discernibly lacking in how the game is showcased this time around…Or maybe am someone who likes the good old test cricket with its broad culinary experience involving lunch, drinks, tea and all…team jersey’s devoid of the overdose of advertisements and where passion amongst the cricketers are real and where the lady at home could do some bpitch talk with her friend about a husband who spends five days watching cricket all day…….. Have a nice week ahead folks! :)

Genesis- The true story

Place: Somewhere in Middle East.

Time: A couple of thousand years ago…

It was a weekend and actually one of the first considering the almighty himself had only recently declared it so… And after Adam reached home from work and plonked himself on the couch at his cave aptly called Legend of Rocks, he uttered what several billion people did ever since…”Thank God its Friday!!” But before he could grab a bottle of home made beer which he had carefully brewed, someone shouted from inside…. who else could it be...but Eve………

Eve: “Adam…Honey...lets go shopping...we are running out of fruits”

Adam: “oh…c’mon...can’t we just order it from heavenbay.com”

Eve: “you don’t understand Adam…we need to have something fresh…bio-fresh...could you just get ready fast!!”

Eve pestered and coyly managed to get Adam drop his weekend plans…

Adam: “Okay...if you say so sweetheart…”

Getting ready was easy those times as nobody had to change clothes after getting back from work. Life was so different from current times…Those days Man and Woman took the same time to get ready….But there was a minor aberration that day…

Adam: “Did you see my fig leaves somewhere??”

Eve: “Eh…why do you need them anyways??”

Adam: “I just get the feeling we might need em today!!”

Eve: “okie dokie…it must be somewhere...i ll get it”

After walking a couple of kilometers….they sighted a beautiful gate above which was written.…

“The Garden of Eden” *Today’s offer…Apples!!*

Eve’s joy knew no bound and she pestered Adam to the shop…But Adam reminded her of the fatwa issued by the almighty…But in an unprecedented move they went inside and plucked an apple. Life changed ever after. This historic shop lifting incident documented in a holy book gives insights into why women love shopping and men don’t.

Over thousands of years the fig leaves graduated to products from L’Oreal and wardrobes from Louis Vuitton. Men were forced to buy products from Gillette and had to stop hunting for wild boars under the pretext of wildlife protection. These drastic evolutionary changes also resulted in man adapting to the new way of life. God who was very well aware of the plight men were going through did occasionally make products like I-phone, Bluetooth headsets and play stations. Though I believe those were mere ploys to make men come of their caves.

I have had the" joy" of shopping (hic hic) with woman of all ages starting from kids, to friends and my mom. And each expedition only left me bewildered about this ritual called shopping and associated social conventions... The sort of magnetic attraction which effortlessly bring a lady close to a product at the shop shelf has not been construed inspite of widespread attempts to explain so...Infact Noam Chomsky considers it as the most fascinating phenomena and ranks it close to “The Big Bang Theory” among controversial topics of all times. So next time guys, when you go shopping with someone and end up bewildered thinking why it happened to you… Don’t try to fight it… It is a phenomenon which has been entrenched and perfected over centuries …right from the days of Adam and Eve… Surrender yourself to it....

The easy guide book for a mallu to become a dude!!

Several eons ago, fashionable people imitating Elvis Presley roamed the streets in a land called Kerala…Polka dotted shirts with designs that appeared like carbon covalent bonds and side burns that would have rendered contemporary shavers useless were sported generously by our older generation…. Though with a slight difference coz the malayalee Elvis was shorter and he was not Caucasian…That made Babumon rather an overweight Boney M with a moustache…

Circa 21^st century….

The mallu aspiration that once made Babumon a Boney M and that made Mariamma chedathy a Marilyn Monroe is making a comeback…This time with a renewed vigor among the malayalee youth aiming to be the uber-alpha-metrosexual dude …Considering the entrepreneurs malayalees are, institutes have sprouted wide across the state which point to be noted, claim to be better than IIM’s….These institutes boasting a faculty having a dudeness oomph unheard of have instructional course designed for all categories of mallus…Pure 24 carat mallus to NRK’s to NRI’s….The institutes guarantee on successful completion of the course, the dude(previously mallu) can be proved mallu only if he is made to come near a plate of beef fry.

Hear what Eddie (previously Idiculla Thomas) who passed out in 2003 has to say…

“The Dude Institute has changed my life….There used to be a time in my life when I was so desperate to be a dude that it almost drove me to the verge of suicide... I am thankful to institute principal for giving me confidence to live again.”

Clara, a recent graduate gets emotional when asked...

“No….please don’t ask me about it…being a dudette was all I wanted to be…My ammachi is so proud of me now!!.” She replied wiping tears of her cheeks.

After a lot of deliberations the course director and renowned dude Tommy gave a brief insight about the high profile program…

Each participant on submitting the entire fees has to submit his/her passports and all kinds of identity information. The in-house agents would provide the candidate a complete new identity. Taking a stroll down the institute Tommy introduced us to some of his students…Chacko from Cheruplassery was now Chuck from Charlotte Town, Ousepachan from Idukki was now Bob from Idaho and it was not surprising to meet a Tracy from Panama city who apparently once was Thressiakutty from Pathamanathitta!

The resident English language instructor mentioned to us that trainees are punished severely for using malayalam phrases like… ente eeshoyeee...ente Velankanni maathaavei...bhagavathi...ente ammo…

While they are encouraged to use english exclamations like oops, ouch and schmuck liberally.

Another situation which dude has to be careful is when a dude meets another dude. This is especially important when you are meeting the other dude after a long time…Such dude-dude situations have to be handled with care. Sthalee ithu aaru...Machu kore naalu aayallo...aliyaa nee evide aayirunnu…are replaced with...yoo man…wassup….Such a pleasure to meet you…howdy man….

Besides the language a dude has to be surrounded by entirely new set of gadgets and stationeries and use new naming conventions…Trainess are encouraged to use the new names like...

• Tuvaalaa >> tissues
• Pants >> trousers
• Kaapi >>> Cappuccino
• Dosa >>> crepe
• Puthappu >>> bedcover

The dude will not henceforth use the following products…

• Lifebuoy soap
• Godrej shaving box
• Ummukiri
• Blade

The dude is strictly restricted from having a mustache or a beard….Unless if it is of specific nature like a goatee….. The dude cannot have a hairstyle which has got a parting line… The dude cannot wear rubber chappals…The dude has to burn away all his lungis in a ritual which is done on the third month of the course…..A dude will have to make some major dietary changes…

The dude’s favorite dishes now include…Salad’s, low fat milk, the mandatory burger and pizza…

And the dude has definitely not heard any of these…

• Cabbage thoran
• Pulisseri
• Parippu vada

The dude has to be extremely careful while mentioning his/her favorite books…The dude books are usually…

• Ayn Rand
• Dostoevsky

And a Dude definitely does not read..

• Balarama
• Malayala Manorama

By the sixth month the mallu has already transformed into a 80% dude. The remaining 20% is all about practice…The way you walk, the way you talk…

Put both your hands inside the jeans pocket while you walk..

Wear over-sized T shirts preferably with a picture of a black rap singer.

While walking, do it like you have a painful sore on one feet which moves to the other feet after a step.

If you follow the above methods you can reinvent yourself as a cool dude ….Our research have shown that we can transform themselves into highly sophisticated human dudes following the above procedure… On successful completion of the course, the dude would be given the honorary dude certification by the chairman of the dude board himself…The prestigious Salim Kumar dude scholarship would be awarded to the most outstanding dude of the batch in a glittering ceremony at the dude university..

If you find the dude course useful, kindly sponsor a desperate mallu so that he could become a dude as well…

Happy weekend to all dudes and dudette’s!! J

To a new beginning.....

When I started blogging, I was fascinated by the space and its ability to reach out to people around the world...Its ability to find people who shared similar thoughts...Infact I loved the media so much that I really did not imagine that I would hit a road block in blogging someday… Unlike many who had stopped blogging as a conscious decision the reasons why this space hit a halt was a landslide of several reasons… There has been drastic changes in my life since the last time I blogged…The times I have blogged from 2006 till 2010 were times when I had probably the peak happiness in my life…I was someone who hadn’t really anything much to worry about and most days were generally joy filled…well ofcoz there was periodic disappointments of reasons subtle to not so subtle…ofcoz there was the joy of meeting new people to the heartbreak of knowing that a crush was already seeing someone…there was the adventure of cooking dinners, of seeing new places, of laughing over a beer, playing Jenga with friends to tragic failures in learning new languages, unfortunate or delightful stories from friends and likewise… And all these incidents were fodder for me to keep blogging… Then 2010 happened!!

Although I had stopped blogging sometime in beginning of 2010 it was due to sheer laziness and the fact that I was getting quite busy at work around then…In the summer of 2010 while I was enjoying a vacation with my close friends from Hamburg at an island in the north sea (Rugen), I received the call from my cousin who delivered a news I feared the most… And then from that day nothing has been same for me… I hurried back home in India to meet my family … I don’t remember a journey as excruciating painful as my flight from Hamburg to Trivandrum and I was probably too over struck by shock that I can barely express it in words… My dad’s demise in a car accident on May 21^st was like a big arresting stop in my journey of life… I don’t think I have to tell how I felt during that day and the following weeks as I believe it not something you can really explain…you just have to go through it…I was lucky that I had really good friends in Hamburg who gave me the strength in the hour of need and to my beloved relatives back home who played a huge part in my personal recovery…After 3 and half weeks I returned to Hamburg…I wanted to be alone…

I am usually a person who keeps all my emotions with myself and rarely share it with anyone unless am absolutely comfortable with that person… The physical and emotional toll of the few weeks made me really sick and I was bed ridden in Hamburg for a few days..The following weeks I was going through periodic depression and an urgency to withdraw from all sorts of social contact with people I knew… I had become some kind of a social loner and it was necessary for me…Atleast that’s what I felt around then…My behavior was ofcoz weird to my close friends and family as I can presume...But the period also taught me how to fight and be strong…. This was probably the lowest ebb in my life and I needed self conviction to fight it…The period also helped me to know the people who really mattered to me…

My friends out there who made sure that I did not sulk and stay at home all the time…friends who took care of me when I was sick…family who used to call me to check on me….My biggest reassurance or tonic for my recovery was how my mom and brother were doing…It was a huge relief for me when I saw them pulling the strings back…Infact I think that’s the most beautiful aspect of a relationship in a family….The relief you get from your loved ones recovering helps you the same…Infact when all do it for each other…the collective recovery is faster… I have to particularly mention two of my friends in Hamburg S&J who took me as part of their family and made me feel like I was not alone… And new friendships came from unexpected quarters when a spanish neighbor of mine became a very close friend to whom I could express my fears, disappointments…etc… It was a liberating feeling for me who usually tries to keep a cocoon around myself from expressing to friends what I truly felt …

Although people say time heals things… and my general optimistic nature should have helped me, I was going through something that needed something beyond that…and am thankful to all the people around me for giving the much needed relief…I need to mention a lot of my blog friends/readers who checked on me and encouraged me to get back to blogging…I don’t have to mention names here as I know they themselves know it…I have shifted from Hamburg to Mysore last December..am back at my old workplace and have settled here…I miss my friends in Hamburg a lot as I realize that they can never be replaced…Getting used to rigours of work life in India is a bit intimidating after the relatively balanced style in Germany and the difficulty for someone to get used to the ‘indian way’ of life was not exactly smooth after such a long gap. (The difficulty often misconstrued as arrogance from a foreign-returned in our parlance is quite natural and I really have to walk a tight rope to make sure people don’t think otherwise )… After a few months now in Mysore, I am much more comfortable than when I had landed in town… Even though the residual romantic love for Hamburg still remains, I am counting on starting a new life in India with new friends and happier times…I have promises to keep…And I believe the first thing I need to do was get back to blogging which is one of my first loves besides Frasier and pencil sketching ofcoz..:)

I would like to express my sincere apologies to all friends and family with whom I have not been my usual self…. I have not replied emails from many of my friends and family during this past year due to my indifferent nature … I hope you can understand and forgive me for the same.

I would like to stop for the time being with a favourite quote from Emily Dickenson...

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all."

Polska..

More than a month ago I embarked on a trip with a friend to a country less frequented in usual tourist escapades…Poland….A country which had its share of tragedies and which was rebuild on both stones and souls, bricks and aspirations over time….There is something about this country which is unique…It has faced twin tragedies…the world war II and a long communist rule…Both of which had significant impacts on the life of people there. My desire to visit Poland goes a long way back since the time I watched movies like Schindler’s list and The Pianist. Part of it had to do with a personal desire to have a pilgrimage to the place where millions of people died in a manner unimaginable to us and suffered consequences of a Nazi plunderage the testimonies of which exist till date. And then there was a side of Poland which managed to hide its charming and beautiful past in the lovely town of Krakow where the churches and castles did manage to survive the rampage going on elsewhere. I had good polish friends back in Hamburg and probably it endeared me with the country as well.

My trip started from the city of Warsaw which had completely been rebuilt after a particularly devastation carpet bombing which had flattened the famous Warsaw ghetto in a lethal dominos game played by Nazi Luftwaffe. Our first stop was a relic from the soviet past called the Center of culture and Science. A typical soviet architecture which starkly did not gel with the city skyline and ofcoz the place was presumably boring.

Maybe it helped actually to enhance the charm of our next destination. The old Jewish town.

The pastel color buildings and the vast open square or rather a triangle with the palace façade on the right was outright impressive. An ideal place to bask on a sunny day listening to sounds of the horses galloping along the cobbled stoned path. (Of course you should be good at temporarily holding your breath when they go by).


The best part of visiting this part of town is unlike in Western Europe where such a place would be thronged by hundreds of tourists the place was fairly less crowded. This is arguably the most charming part of Warsaw where café’s and bistro’s seamlessly exist along with shops selling amber and tourist memorabilia. And as common in most of Europe you would find street artists selling their skills and wares or an odd musician playing his violin and in the backdrop dogs having merry along with children. It is a temporary transportation to things we calls, beautiful in life for the brief moment you spending in a charming place like this.

Splurging is not easy for most budget travelers in Europe and surprisingly Poland is an exception. The weaker currency (zlotys, 1 EUR=8 zlotys) allowed us to splurge on luxurious hotels and restaurants which otherwise is unaffordable somewhere like in Germany.

The next day we packed our bags early in the morning to Krakow. Our first destination was Auschwitz.

I suppose most of you know about Auschwitz-Birkenau which was the ground zero for Nazi crime. Please read the hyperlink if otherwise. Auschwitz is a good hour and half drive from Krakow and by the time we reached the place from Warsaw it was almost noon. When you visit a place like this you should be prepared that you are going to see something sad. I cannot imagine anyone going in to this place just as a tourist and not coming out unscathed or emotionally exhausted. As I entered through the same gates where millions walked in not to return you realize that you are entering a place that would forever be etched in human history. ARBEIT MACHT FREI the sign says…..(Work liberates you). A cruel irony indeed!

The concentration camp in Auschwitz actually exists in two different camps. The Auschwitz which is the smaller camp and Birkenau the bigger one where most people were actually exterminated. It takes atleast 3 hours to walk inside Auschwitz entering each rooms where we actually see what happened back then. Believe me..I think no body talked much inside the place coz its hard to….Cameras don’t come out easily partly due to the absurdity of taking pictures here and to a extend because you wouldn’t want to see them again and again. When you see those holocaust movies its true that they touch you. But it’s a different ball game when you actually see those heaps of glasses, toys , clothes, kitchen utensils, human hair etc heaped into gigantic glass containers for visitors to see. I would prefer to skip detailing the Auschwitz part of the trip.

Our next spot was the Birkenau camp.




Folks who have see the movie “Life is beautiful” might be able to recognize these famous rail gates.

Auschwitz makes you realize what the Nazis did to the Jews, homosexuals, disabled and others. But Birkenau makes you realize the true scale of it. The camp is so vast and seeming to end nowhere. Only few remnants of the crematoriums remain. But you get an idea how big it was. At one end of the camp you will find this.


Walking around this place I got a feeling that the ground was soft...almost cushion like…which actually gave me goose bumps when I though about why it might be…We spend a hour here as well and walked along the rails back to the exit. And then embarked on the drive back to Krakow.

Reaching Krakow at dusk we retired to our rooms quite early. I don’t think it would have been a good idea to enjoy Krakow just after a trip to Auschwitz.

The next day our exploration of Krakow began. Hired a golf cab for a ridiculous price and started the hip hop tour. Visited the Kazimierz which was the important Jewish part of Krakow. And then we moved along to the place I badly wanted to see in Krakow. The Schindler’s museum. Unfortunately it was closed on Easter Sunday. But I managed to see the famous gates and a glimpse of the factory through it. There is nothing spectacular about the place. But I was more than happy to be there.

Later in the day we explored the Wawel District, which was home to a beautiful church and an adjoining castle. And I must say Polish cuisine is actually good. I particularly liked the roasted duck and the famous zubrowka vodka. The town part of Krakow is typical old european with majestic churches like St.Mary’s church and a lively square in Stare Miasto. The square is an ideal place for a coffee or a beer on a good sunny day.

What was striking about Poland was how catholic the country. It was amazing to see the churches packed with people attending the Easter mass. The faithful were even getting chairs from their home as the seats in the church were overflowing. This was very unlike what I have seen in Germany where people are predominantly atheist.

Krakow was definitely the cultural capital of Poland where the squares and streets effused a charm of its own. I enjoyed having my regular coffee in one of the numerous café’s that dotted the main square. I also picked up my share of Amber for which Poland is particularly famous for…

Took the evening train back to Warsaw and checked back at the nice hotel in the city. Probably the best value for money hotel I have ever stayed in Europe! The last day of the trip was primarily to cover the places we missed on the first day in Warsaw.

Visited the calm and soothing Łazienki Park in the morning where you could stroll in the company of squirrels and peacocks.




I think the place would be awesome during summer when the trees would be lush green. We reached a bit to early at the cusp of winter and spring. Nevertheless it was a delightfully peaceful and tranquil place.

Later walked along the royal route which was dotted with buildings in neoclassical architecture. A really beautiful route which takes you all the way till the Jewish town in Warsaw.


And as we reached back the old town area we knew it was time to bid goodbye to Poland. Climbed the stairs of a nearby tower to get the aerial view of the colorful part of Warsaw which otherwise is jaded in character compared to Krakow.

Poland cannot boast of landmarks like Eiffel tower or a colosseum nor locales as touristy as its Western Europe counterparts. But it has its own little treasures which I felt were grossly underrated. Unlike the snobbish Pariser, people in Poland are quite friendly and eager to help you in the streets.

It was a trip worth taken and in some sorts a mix of tourist adventurism and personal pilgrimage. My travel mate was a school/college junior and a blogger as well who generously agreed to have a coffee which I was drinking like crazy…As I bid goodbye at the airport I went back to the shops to buy my last piece of Polish memorabilia. A small bottle of Chopin vodka and shot glasses to accompany!

Dziękuję Polska! ;)

Thank you!

My sincere apologies to all for the lull in blogging..Thanks a lot to all blogger friends who made me feel special!! I had to stop blogging mid-way due to several reasons..personal and otherwise....The space would be up and running soon.......

Elbe

The Elbe is the river which i see every day..on my way to office...it has a calming influence on me....But just like humans the river has its own mood swings...i have some pics captured over past year....in different seasons....some taken using my mobile cam...

I have started believing in sun signs...i am a crab and i like rivers... ;-P

And life goes on!

During my vacation I was amused at how things haven’t changed much at home…Dad is still superstitious considering his strange belief that eating carrots are good for health…quite startling when you consider that he has a masters in botany!! Meanwhile Mom believes that we are facing a imminent shortage of food (which btw has no link to my consumption graph)…Why else would she insist on buying groceries every time I go out…Consider case studies below..

Me: ”Amma…I am goin out for a movie…”
Amma : “Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
*duh…okay… :-I *

Me:”Amma…I am goin out to meet a friend…”
Amma : “Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
*eh…now??… anyways… :-/ *

Me:”Amma…I am goin to Bombay …”
Amma :“Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
* it can’t be!! :-O *

Me:”Amma…I am…”
Amma :“Buy 2 …” (stops abruptly)
Me : “What Amma..?”
Amma :“What were you saying?”
Me:”Amma…I am goin nowhere in life”
Amma: “okay.. :-I”
* gotcha!! ;-P *

Me:”Amma…I am goin to the grocery shop…Do you need anything? “
Amma :“nothing!”
Me: “NOTHING!!!!”

And after a brief pause.….

“Okay….Buy 2 packets of milk and 10 eggs in that case…”
* and life goes on… *

Living in such tragic environs it’s also the envy of many to have a bro who believes in God for all the wrong reasons…In one particular instance which left me shaken and stirred was the sighting of this remarkable man, kneeling down as pious as a bishop from Rome and praying fervently at the church…

”I believe in God, the father almighty…creator of Mohanlal and chicken curry”…

And I was thinking all along…things would change somehow as he grew older!! Sigh!

But then there are certain things which you never expect would change as it was proved recently…After alighting from the car my brother quipped...”Amma…you don’t have to lock the door…I ll do it with the remote”. She overestimated the technological advances cars have made in recent decades and left the car door wide open... It was after a brief moment and a few minutes at the porch observing mom who in turn was waiting to see the door closing act did we realize her sky high expectations…My brother looked at me and said in a tone which was desperately seeking sympathy...

.”You are lucky, Chetta... After all you see things like this only when you come down on vacation…”

Vacation or no vacation, certain things are constant…As is tradition in our family coupled with a hereditary desire to bargain with vendors especially the ones who sell fish, it is often with religious fervor we go shopping to the city market…And when dad alights at the palayam market he is a new man.. A man possessed by a strong conviction to get the best bargain and the freshest piece of avoli…someone who wouldn’t actually mind arguing that the onakameen is not fresh … someone who believes strolling across those stinking puddles of water and listening to the maniac calls from the fisher folk is the equivalent of a julie andrews singing and prancing at the meadows in alps!!! I ll never understand that!! Neither the post script which happens at home after every trip to the market... Ever since dad retired, he is missing the biology lab classes he took in school…I was not surprised when he pinned down a chicken in a vitruvian pose and started pining tiny needles on its body parts and explaining to mom the digestive system of a chicken…Amma being the english teacher listened to it with the same curiousity a Shelley or Keats would have about E.Coli bacteria. Those were days when I literarily wished we had bt. brinjal for lunch instead!

And to seek solace I visited my cousin who lives in kottayam…someone who had gone through a rough patch himself…The last time I met him, his angst was very evident…Evocatively complaining about a lack of purpose in life….It was heartening to see a very positive change in his outlook…He looked like someone who attended a couple of “art of living” courses and Robin Sharma lectures….But the happiness lasted only for a few minutes when I figured out his purpose in life was playing hangman, raising sheeps and harvesting crops in facebook…sigh…atleast that keeps him happy!! And that’s when I overheard his nephew talking in the other room over the phone…

“This time Pytho Korah’s theorem sure question daa…”
“no...no...onnum pazhuthilla…”
“okay da…”
“Rascals lawyoo….ayyo...athinte chit undaakilla! “
“okay da…”
“ninte achan schoolil poyyittu undoo?”
“really!”
“ettaam class veryoo??”
“am sure daa…you can beat it!! Don’t worry!!”
*click*
The symbol of hope and the torch bearer of our legendary academic heritage doesn’t disappoint me…He would probably end up singing like Susan Boyle…. “I dreamed a dream in time gone by...”

And so would everyone in the family…………..

A prayer

Dilawar Singh aka Philip, as we friends call him is now in the hospital recovering from his third surgery...

A month ago Philip, Jaya and myself had met up in town for a pre christmas get together…We had reasons to look forward to in the coming month…I was going home on a vacation after a year...Jaya was getting married soon…and Philip was visiting India to start life afresh…Three of us wished each other good luck and parted ways that night…

My vacation was going as per plan…Surprising dad with a car on his birthday…throwing a party on his retirement…meeting friends and relatives…traveling around…the typical happy vacation for a once in a year visitor!! .A few thousand kilometers away Philip had come down to start life afresh…Going through a painful divorce he was under lot of emotional stress…….And he had decided to turn a fresh leaf and start life all over again, quit his well paid job abroad to find a new one in India and start everything on a clean slate…While Jaya and myself bid Philip good bye during the get together, I was not sure that I would be meeting him any time soon…coz he would never come back from India if everything went as per plan…I was both happy and sad at the same time…Happy that he was positive after going through the emotional atychaar on his personal front and sad that I would be missing a good friend back here…

Two weeks later I get a mail from Jaya…Her mail read…

“Hey...sorry to disturb your vacation…but I had to tell you this!…Philip met with an accident in India…He was driving in his new car with his mom in Delhi…His mom passed away on the spot…Philip is in serious condition…His number is xxxxxxxxx…take care...Jaya “

There are times in your life when you start questioning...”Why it happens to me!!” …But that day I was asking...”Why it happened to him!!”… To someone who had left the country where he was working for 10 years hoping to get over with trauma of parting with his wife and kid…how bad could it get!! I could manage only bits and pieces of information from his Punjabi dad…Two weeks later I got a call from Philip himself...

I am normally not short of words…But when I have to talk to someone who has just gone through a huge loss like this…or someone suffering from painful physical / emotional injury….I am at loss for words…But when he called up that day, the first thing he said…

“Hey dude…why don’t you come down to the hospital …there are so many beautiful mallu nurses here…!!”

I smiled at his sense of humor…his ability to joke and make me laugh inspite of what he was going through…Philip had multiple fractures on his hands…His facial bones were crushed…and a good deal of skin on his face lost….One of his eyes is probably damaged…A team of 8 doctors had performed surgery on him for 11 hours just after the accident…His face had to be simply held up by a assembly of metal rods and plates!!!.They were amazed how he was after all alive!!! But then he is a proud sardar who wouldn’t give up without a fight!! His jaw bones were broken and he could hardly speak…And yet he was checking out about my vacation…or whether I have gone bride hunting…and whether I was having a gala time with friends…He wished me a merry christmas….And when he ended the call he just said ‘take care’ as always..!!! Me?

I talked to him a couple of times later….Meanwhile I was back after my vacation and getting used to my routine life….A call few days ago, Philip told me that he was coming back to continue rest of his treatment abroad…Apparently it had already cost him 10 lakh rupees in a span of 2 weeks and unfortunately his foreign insurance wouldn’t cover it…He flew back alone from Delhi….a excruciating 14 hrs flight spending a night in between at an airport inside of being in a hospital bed… He wouldn’t even tell us when he would reach the city since he wouldn’t want anyone of us to bothered to pick him up at the airport…On the same day he got himself admitted to a hospital here…

Few days ago….Myself and Jaya went to the hospital to meet him for the first time since the accident…It was almost a month ago when we had met up last…We were chilling over some wine at one of the christmas markets back then ..All three of us had something to look forward that day…my vacation, Philip’s plan to start afresh and Jaya’s wedding… So we were obviously quite happy that day…But for my flight next day afternoon, I think we would have just stayed back fooling around… But that day when I met him in the hospital…I was shocked!! I was shocked that I almost cried!! Meeting him in the shape he was in, it was hard for us to just act normal…I tired my best to put a regular look and did not want Philip to know that how dismayed I was….But then we were not good actors!!

It happens that when you see someone change so much in a span of a month, you forget how to react for a moment…We talked for a few hours in the hospital with Philip…A month on liquid food, the sturdy sardar had become a frame of bones…how much can a soup help! .His face disfigured and swelling all over…plastic surgery done with skin grafted from his legs….This was not the Philip I could imagine…Philip was tired…and in pain…but he was putting a brave face…A lesser mortal would have succumbed long ago!! On the way out from hospital, I did not know what to talk with Jaya...and I could see that she did not know either…

There are moments in our life when it suddenly strikes how helpless we could be…how fragile our life is….how much human relations matter…how important it is to love others...and to be loved…how desperate you would want god to hear you…..all these thoughts just came flashing by!! Some times when I have those one to one silent conversations with god I complain about trivial things which I thought were big in my perspective…we crib about people not reciprocating camaraderie, love…we crib about work…we crib about lack of respect from others….but then….when I saw real pain…i couldn’t help but think how naïve I was….I realized when I saw him the importance of having good friendships..(Not the 'hi-wassup-take care'-thing)..i mean real ones…how important it is to take care of people around you…how important a hug can be…I also realized how powerless as humans we are…

Dear lord, I know I have bored you several times with my little requests and its probably a overflowing mail box…but this time I really wish you would help Philip recover fast…Its hard for me as a fellow human being and a friend to see him and feel all helpless.. A little prayer for Philip to reduce his pain…to make his life worthwhile again!! Please give him the strength to fight and recover his confidence…to fight the adversities!! Over the past one week when I visit him I attempt to make him laugh with my silly jokes and though I manage to make him once in a while I realize deep down he is missing the love of a family…Its hard being in pain…but its harder not to have a family around…I wish to anyone who reads this…Love your family, your friends without any strings attached…Love them without expecting anything in return…these are little things which often we realize when it is too late….I wish Philip recovers soon and gets to start life afresh….as he had wished!!


P.S. This post probably not the happiest one to start a day with... but then i couldnt help express it...

Update
For many who have asked how Philip is doin....
He is doing much better than the day I put this post...he has gained a few kilos thanks to some solid food he has started taking..On a positive note there seems to be some vision left in his damaged eye which could probably be rectified with surgery....He has a couple of surgeries in the pipeline...But the dude is in much better spirits now...Infact good enough that we actually had a beer together....Thanks a lot for all who have prayed for him...it has definitely helped him!!

A vacation gone by..

Sometime in December in a very immaculately planned mission otherwise called a vacation this soul took the avatar of a human being in search of a precious vital element for the survival of mankind. The avatar was accepted by the ayyo paavam malayalee tribe and they sympathized with desperate search of his resulting in a pact enabling the avatar access to copious quantities of naadan food which was consumed at a alarming rate which later lead to chaos in that part of the world…Vaiko threatened with blockade of livestock and poultry supply to the state, LPG tanks were blown up in protests against depreciating stock of food and a propaganda movie was released in malayalam sympathizing with farmers….Facing hostile conditions the avatar retreated back to Hamburg where he was welcomed by a crowd waving sausages and baguettes… The avatar now looks back with fond memories of those 25 days when he was transported to a wonderland where he swam with neymeens and karimeens and flew with quails and ducks….well ducks can’t fly but hey it was a wonderland!!

Sometime early December I took the flight to Trivandrum to begin my short escapade from realities of life…Considering that I had a hectic two weeks just before the India trip as I had to travel for work in Toulouse, I slept off during most of the flight…So as I landed in tvm next day morning I was hardly tired and whisked home by Dad, Mom and Bro from the airport…After a few days in tvm I started off with the detailed trip I had chalked out..

Mumbai
Visiting the maxim city was a dream come true….Though I spend less than 24 hrs in the city, it was awesome to jaunt around the city with 2 college buddies who gave me a quick tour of the metropolis and I was left wanting for more…Landmarks like Leopold café, the Taj Hotel, Gateway of India, the sea link all covered in a single evening with visits to two pubs to drink tea…err… ;-D .. A friend who fondly address his place of residence as ‘Candy Valley’ instead of Kandivili and another resident Navi Mumbai resident harboring dreams of a villa at Malabar hill never missed an opportunity to sing halleluiahs about their beloved city…It’s undoubtedly a city of contrasts which gives you the impression that there is something for everyone…taxi drivers and rickshawswallas who could teach a few lessons to their counterparts in other cities like Bangalore…witnessing a traffic jam at 1 am in the morning…finding a eat out serving fried rice and chicken at 2 in the morning….it was absolutely impressive to see a city that never sleeps…the day I left the city it only left me with a longing to visit the city again and hopefully for a much longer time…I missed meeting a good blogger friend of mine in the city too and I have to make up for it sometime!!

Bangalore/Mysore
Arriving in Bangalore the next day…the city I know the best outside Kerala…I was happy to be greeted by more welcoming weather than Mumbai…Met up with a German friend of mine after almost a year and it was a short meet up...But very glad to meet up with her whose juggling act of doing a MBA and at the same time working a hotel left me impressed…sheer German ideals of self-independence!! I am yet to hear a Ph.D holder from India who would do that…I travelled to Mysore the same day to meet up with another old buddy….The next day morning I went to our office, the place from where I left almost 3.5 years ago…and it was a very nostalgic experience for me…the office had grown sprawling huge and the sight of the new buildings were jaw dropping…just like old times relished a breakfast at the office canteen…though there were hardly any recognizable faces insides the office anymore….I took the bus back to Bangalore to visit my grandma and other relatives…and Amma had arrived in the mean time from Trivandrum…At my uncle’s place is Bangalore I feel perfectly at home and there is no dearth of topics when family meet...Unfortunately time was short and we had to fly to naadu the next day..

Note: The new Bangalore airport is awesome…great ambience and feel and easily international!!

Kottayam/Changnacherry/allapuzha
Meanwhile bro picks us up at Cochin and we drive down to kottayam…and we cousins did what we did best…get into nerves of the elders at home ! Ever since cousins got older, many getting married, having kids….its rare to get everyone in place for a full family get together…But thankfully except for 3 who missed out we had a wonderful family get together at a hotel in town…Like old times we cousins got to play dumb charades and pull each others legs…One of the best parts of the trip was meeting my peppy and cute adorable nieces who just were an absolute delight to be with…And my aunt had a lipsmacking kappa with yellu which I gorged in vivacious enthusiasm…Above all it was the company of loved ones that made the whole time I spend there memorable!

Trivandrum
Being a very hectic vacation I couldn’t really relax at home...We did have a great time around with Dad's birthday, his retirement party and ofcoz christmas with family!! And ofcoz I did not miss visiting my favourite hangouts in Trivandrum….the beach, museum, the burgers in Ambrosia …A pleasant surprise this time was meeting up with school friends some almost after 10 years and one among them being a blogger!! We drove down to Kovalam beach and enjoyed a cup of coffee at dusk…And I also managed to meet mother in law of a very famous food blogger friend of mine!! :-)Being the foodie I am, I checked out my favourite eat outs there including new ones…

Note:Loved the buffet spread at the Keys hotel and the sandwiches at all spice !

Trichur
Apparently this is now bro’s adopted city…and he invited me over to his place.. As they say in Thrissur, it is one city where it is okay to go round in circles! I guess Thrissurians get that one! ;-) Got to see the famous Vadakumnathan temple…whatay fabulous piece of architecture…and ofcoz other famous landmarks like Thiruvambady and Puthenpalli…Loved the local cuisine there as well…which was actually quite different from Kottayam / Trivandrum...

Though I met a fair share of hostile people in between like the rickshaw driver who was asking for 500 bucks for a ride from pattom to the railway station on a strike day to drivers along the city roads who would honk and take pleasure in breaking the rules, they were minor irritants…Travelling by bus or train in Kerala would normally not be exciting on a regular day few year back…But this around I relished the sights and the experience as much I would love going to a new place…

Well…I think it wouldn’t suffice to write how much I enjoyed the trip in a single post….Sorry to all my friends here for being lax at updating the blog and replying to comments…I have to catch up with a lot of blogs!! I was apparently not feeling positive to post anything here, the reason for which I ll explain in a later post…Wishing you all a lovely weekend!!