Thursday, July 24, 2008

North meets South

Had some people over for dinner, colleagues of the Man. I always think of Indians as one large homogenous group...the differences owing to the directions of our origin apart, we are not too different..or so I would like to think.
Well, apparently not!
For starters there is the presumption that anyone with a lighter skin colour is either part foreign. But if you are from Southern India..fair skin, plus smooth hindi = Punjabi. And I always clench my teeth and highlight the fact that there are more states north of Punjab that exist..hmm..no one ever thinks of Kashmir unless voting is around the corner I guess.

The next thing is the language barrier, Hindi is the national language..right or wrong..but most people dont speak it, people in question here were from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, they spoke good English with a different accent, but Hindi conversation between us (incl the Man) was met with blank looks. And I say..come on..something..anything..you must have seen some Hindi film..no? no! No.

The approach to food was wary, chicken curry, chola, aloo, and cabbage with peas, all made indian style were reluctantly tested. My food is not mild in terms of spice, but it turned out without pepper corns, food is not categorised as hot, which is typical of 'North Indian' food..is it really!! Apart from the chicken nothing else was eaten..maaaaybe it was alien to the taste buds. But suddenly I was very aware of the fact that I am NORTH Indian. Hmmm!! My curiousity and fondness for food means I am very happy (and well acquainted with all things South Indian) also gujarati bearing in mind London is full of all kinds of Indian food..and I have travelled a fair amount in India. Thus this reaction towards my food..was hmm..surprising. I had made some well known dishes..Aloo is universally eaten!! Even the yoghurt was rejected for being too thick!!

Apart from the apparent, there was a distinct difference in reaction..to conversation, to thinking, to behaving..including sitting on a sofa, carrying on a conversation. One person decided to sit ramrod straight and stare, whilst the other went on giggling..make me quite confused really..as to what to do. Their opinion about my house was 'lovely' but why do only 2 of you live in such a large house..hmm? Understandable I would say. Puzzling reaction though!

Being in London and not being curious about everything around you..specially the well known, thanks to Bollywood, landmarks..well you HAVE to see them..but nope. They had not seen them and were not keen to either. Most people would think..financial restriction to spending a large amount of money causes prevention to seeing places. Hmm..not true really..its not cheap, but it aint stupendous amounts of money either. It seemed to be a lack of curiousity..and I am sitting on judgement..forgive me. But these people are paid decently.

Initially uncomfortable, then strange, turning to curious and then just plain confused happened over a couple of hours to me. Am I too North Indian or have I just not met too many different people from other parts of my country.

Monday, July 14, 2008

iPhone 3G = Cool


Ok so I am not too good at finding phones with contracts. I have had a long strange equation with most of my phones I guess as long as I have one which catches some network and has a long enough battery life I am happy.

The good old Blackberry had stopped working as well as it did before..and before I knew it, it was time to upgrade. Being married to a geek means any phone I liked aesthetically was pooh-poohed, any phone I thought was smart was not good enough for him, and ofcourse I should never buy 'first generation' technology. So I sat with my Blackberry..waiting for a nicer newer phone..hmm...I was told all about the Google phone which shall some day arrive..but now..I have gone ahead and got myself the iPhone 3G. the idea of having music/video and internet on a good looking (though slightly large) phone was appealing. The fact that the O2 contract here was the best deal iPhone is offering was mentioned by Pushkar and the idea kind of stuck on from there. However I refused to stand in long queues on 11th July when the phone was released..after much media hype, I am not going to scream for my handset, I shall not be one of those people on TV who were camping outside the phone shops, standing and standing and then watch them run out of phones. I would do that for a new Harry Potter..but for a phone..uhh..NOPE! So I ordered it and sat and waited for 48 hours.

Meanwhile the Apple fan husband decided to go hunting online for reported faults and glitches in the new phone. Looked for discussions and conversations..could not find any realistic ones..so I was told..there are no reported problems..as people have not got the phone yet...O2 has run out of handsets, as have CarphoneWarehouse..so..By twisted logic..there are no problems, coz there are no phones, and as there are no phones, dont be surprised if yours does not arrive tomorrow. Be prepared to battle O2 to get your hands on one. hmmm!!

And I waited..as promised..its here..dot on time. In well designed packaging...which I shall take photographs of to use for my teaching..small, well shaped, tiny manual, smart box, little text, straight forward graphics, minimal use of paper and packaging..and ofcourse all recyclable! Now I need to avoid using the Man's Mac..as his iTunes library shall get messed..so now I need to buy a MacBook - Air to complete to cool look :)

Guess who is going to be busy all day reading manuals and downloading, uploading and importing? Guess who is going to hurry back home from work..to make sure the wife does not 'mess up' the phone or his lovely computer!!

Friday, July 11, 2008

No Real Reason

After having known hectic schedules, constant chasing of my own tail, being a headless chicken, I am in a period of forced rest. Yes I am on holiday and have little to do..which means the little that I need to do also does not get done. Which means the little piles into lots and then inertia strikes. Making it impossible for me to actually do ANYTHING.
Not needing to get out of the house, translates into not needing to dress up, which now means I need some more track pants! The fact that the British summer is not really here, and from the looks of it, wont really get here either, I see no reason of getting out in the cold and wet outside.
Which leaves me at home, with the internet and TV and a LOAD of books for company. Ideal situation some would say. After seeing some people struggling to cope with 24 hours in a day..I find myself lucky..to have time, sleep, books and nothing much else to worry about. I know it will be shortlived..and so I need to enjoy this space and time..I might not get it back!
However the feeling of being 'useless' is not easy to shake off, it multiplies when the husband comes home, tired, hungry, cold and wet..and yours truly has just finished watching The Simpsons with yet another cup of tea!

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Nothings sweet about me

I seem to be unable to stop..I keep singing the chorus of this song..well have been doing it since Saturday morning..I am starting to get to myself!!

This is Gabriella Cilmi 'Sweet About Me'

Ohh watching me, hanging by a string this time.
Don't easily, the climax of the perfect life.
Ohh watching me, hanging by a string this time.
Don't easily, smile worth a hundred lies.

If there's lessons to be learned, I'd rather get my jamming words in first so, tell you something that I've found, that the worlds a better place when it's upside down boy.

If there's lessons to be learned, I'd rather get my jamming words in first so, when your playing with desire, don't come running to my place when it burns like fire boy. Chorus:

Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh

Blue, blue, blue, waves they crash as time goes by, so hard to catch. Too, too smooth, ain't all that, why don't you ride my side of the tracks.

If there's lessons to be learned, I'd rather get my jamming words in first so, tell you something that I've found, that the worlds a better place when it's upside down boy.

If there's lessons to be learned, I'd rather get my jamming words in first so, when your playing with desire, don't come running to my place when it burns like fire boy.

Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh
Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, Yehh

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Stumbled upon James Frey


Yup..I picked it up, after seeing someone look completely absorbed in it on the tube. Okay I am not exactly picking it up while its hot. But I have spent the best part of the weekend stuck inside 'A Million Little Pieces'

Its a serious, dark, well told tale of an Alcoholic, a Drug Addict and a Criminal.
I did not know the Queen of TV and pretty much anything else of any consequence in the US..Oprah herself has been involved in the huge debate that surrounds this book. Apparently its not all non-fiction and the author, James Frey, has been asked to apologize to the public.

I did not know about the debate, I have noticed the book in various locations in book shops and also on some charts sometime ago. So while shopping for groceries I picked up 'A million little pieces'. I must say, I do not care about the debate too much - the book is great, it asks to be read at one sitting! Its straight forward, graphic, in places disgusting, very realistic and cynical, some interesting philosophy in places. Now I shall have to pick it's sequel!! Read it. I kept thinking that I need to go back to prison and read bits of it to my students..but I cant..I dont work there anymore..perhaps one of my ex colleagues can do that. I used to teach drug addicts gone cold turkey..and some of what I am reading in Frey's book recalls conversations I have had in prison with people.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

'Her' Photos...

The ship I wrote about..Sarah her name was...here are the pictures..
The first ofcourse is the colours of the flag..British. The second shows how long she is..all the way to the small tall chimney like thing in the front (and we are 1/3 away from the back end of the ship). The next one is the exhaust pipe..which is tough to show in context..lets see..the two on the side are for the generators and the big one is for the engine..lets not even start talking about carbon footprint for Sarah:) The last one is of the cranes that are used to load and unload the ships at the port.