Back from Pondi!

Back from a relaxing trip to Pondicherry...the trip began one cloudy Wednesday morning, everyone seemed  to be going about their business as usual, the fresh morning dew was a sign of a wonderful beginning. The flight landed under the glare of the scorching Sun in Chennai- the city of temples. I sat wide-eyed on my drive all-the-way to the small town of Cuddalore. The straight-forwardness, no-nonsense nature of very ' Madrasi' is reflected  from the sign-boards to the street-signs. The hospital board read 'kidney stone center' whereas the school was named ' Student education institution'. The driver was a shy 40 year old for who barely knew Hindi, so we barely got round to introductions and few basic about the city questions (which were also quite an effort).
Next pit stop was lunch at Pondicherry , fondly called pondi. By the promenade, right under the blaze of the sun lay a line of small cafes and restaurants, but a inviting arch, covered with plants and creepers at the entrance of a narrow pathway caught our attention, it was leading us to a popular vegetarian restaurant. The food they had to offer , was finger-licking and left us satisfied. So we then continued our trip to Cuddalore a small town, more famous for the devastation that the 2008 Tsunami caused, leaving its locals reeling under the shock for a long time.

Dirt, factories, smiling locals, hot air was what described this town. There was nothing left to explore. The recent spate of industrialization had left this coastal town dirty and hot. So travelling back to Pondi/ now Pudducherry was our next plan.

A  little something about this french village, the town is literally divided into two sections, the indian quarters and the french quarters.The demarcation clearly exists and you can know in which section you are by looking on which street you are , if its a Rue - then you are at the french quarters. The french'ness' is preserved in the food they serve, languages they speak and their way of life.

Pondi has a almost spiritual air about it, it might have been the Osho asharam centrally located which spread this vibe. But also the people, foreign travellers included, eluded a peaceful vibe, unlike my earlier trip to Goa where wasted travellers were in plenty. The promenade which is a street by the beachside , welcomed you. My book gave me company one evening whereas on another I accompanied my mother for a stroll. Taking a cycle on hire and exploring the small territory was also my favourite part. I can now claim to go about pondi without asking for directions. Delicious Food, lots of it was on top of my list. We tried different cuisines- south indian, chinese, french,  italian, different deserts, soups... every corner has something appetizing to offer. A small french restaurant named 'Le terrasse' had yummy oven- baked pizzas and french onion soup, the thought of which still brings a smile on my face. Pondi which was colonised by the french, has a french quarter where streets are names Rue..., libraries are bibliotheques, bakeries are pattiseries etc. The ashram guest house we stayed in was a beachside inn which had strict rules- no drinking, no drugs, timings when gates shut and excellent rooms.One warning though 'Dont expect room-service'.
General warning, while travelling in Tamil Nadu- if you want to communicate anything, do it not once, not twice but thrice, as locals here somehow never seem to understand. There were times when we ordered paratha(wheat bread) and got chinese noodles, we asked for some salt and got a cup full of sugar instead, asked for directions to a grocery store and were directed to a hotel, it was exasperating and funny at the same time.
Enough of my blabber now, here is a what pondi was all about....

Also an interesting link- Auroville, a small model township near Pondi is a must-visit, the philosophy and message on which this town is constructed is something I as a global citizen with a 'one world, one race' philosophy can relate to and so can every peace-seeking human being.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville

chatterings & happenings

Today a stranger yelled out to me ‘Helllooo Madam how are you? Where are you nowadays?’ as I entered the gate of a local hyper market. I was taken aback as it turned out after a minute of confusion, an air of familiarity remained. After answering her questions & asking a few , it turns out the stranger ( a lady security guard ) frisking women entering the store was a guard who worked in a place I worked a few months earlier. After enquiring about her well-being, she informed me she was now working closer home after she gave birth to her daughter ‘Nikita’. We exchanged smiles & later bid adieu. It feels nice when you bump into an unknown acquaintance.

Also I always had a bad image of corporate India a place thronging with bad guys, greed for that huge bank balance, stooping to disgusting levels, but my recent acquaintances all from this same corporate world where I am temporarily allocated in , have left me pleasantly surprised, it took some time to gain their trust but a genuine smile & concern went a long way, now couple of them talk to me about their families , show me their family albums, few greet me with a welcoming smile & few even crack a joke or pass a witty comment & glance at me to know my reaction. Now I am happy that the situation is not as bleak as I thought it was.

The woes of a young professional

Its tough being a young free-filled professional. People are constantly underestimating you.(Also if you are a bit underweight then its even worse as people view you with this suspicion) They think your ideas, opinions, views are not worthy of consideration. They try & hear you out just to be civil but never actually bother to listen & consider it. If the same idea was put forward by some other experienced, older person it would readily be accepted. There are exceptions of course, but the general perception is young = dumb.You have to prove yourself not once but several times, just because of this stereotyping.

I have been to some clients place on work, who look at you as a speck of dirt. Also if you can speak articulately then they start getting intimidated & try to show whos boss by being aggressive.There are these big bosses who sit in their fancy air-conditioned cabins expecting respect(sometimes undeserving) for their designations & move around with a air of superiority. I once went to this place, where this MD of the company expected everyone in the room to stand up whenever he entered the room(even when he just visited the washroom outside his cabin) as a sign of respect, the poor receptionist & peon had their exercise routine cut-out for them.

The other tough place to be is in a meeting. First of all there is this hesitation ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ say something you have in your mind which is relevant in your head, then after you surmount the courage & put forth your views, it is rejected even before you have completed your sentence. The repurcussions are, it is then a case of ‘once bitten, twice shy’ & then those same individuals complain about you being silent. However I must admit I have been lucky & there are few encouraging seniors as well, to compensate for those haughty ones.

Being young & full of laugh is a sin, you must stare at your workstation screens with all seriousness & be all prim n proper or else be ready to be judged with the same ‘ todays generation …., in our times we…..tch tch!!” Anyway a don’t care attitude, in some of these situations I think is useful. So Goodluck, all you young pro’s & we shall overcome!

Sighting the rare Moray Eel!

On a trip to Lakshadweep Islands we spotted this rare 'Moray Eel' in its element admist the corals & enchanting marine life.

Authentic Chinese - a review

My ever-longing tastebuds were crying out loud for some authentic Chinese food , so I tagged along with a comrade to a nearby restaurant going by the name 'Mainland China'. After a small argument with the rickshaw-driver who was trying to make a few extra quick bucks from who he thought were gullible commuters & exclaimed 'Madam, परेशांन कर दिया' ( you troubled me). Anyway, after the usual conversation about how the whole world is out to cheat us, we entered

My first day as a Volunteer

Today was my first day volunteering for an NGO which works for providing basic education to underprivileged children. I was excited as I am a kid-person & a famous 'didi'(elder sister) for the bachhas(kids)in my society. As I reached the school I was greeted by a warm senior volunteer who after the introductions, briefed me on how to go about things. It was the last Assessment Day & tests (oral & written) were the plan for the day. As the clock struck 3 , AROUND 50 children varying from7-14 years hurried into the classroom with the usual ‘May I come in Teacher’ & wearing the uniforms provided by the NGO along with a mischievous smile on the face. The naughty ones immediately began whispering, making noise & were sent to the last bench.Then after a small prayer the written assessment on their Engish & Maths skills began.

I was in-charge of oral assessment along with 3 other volunteers, I had to assesses & grade their abilities based on their listening, speaking & reading skills. The first child I was assigned was Radhika, a bright 13 year old who aspires to become an athlete, her role-model being PT Usha. She also tells her views on how the main problems facing the world is “garbage, smoking & noise pollution” & confidently suggests the solution to these problems along with their ill-effects, she also teaches her younger siblings to read.She got an excellent grade from me. The other children, each different in their way , a small 10 year old girl aptly named Gudiya(doll) was scared of me & had to coaxed by me to speak out. A boy named Arbaaz answered mostly in monosyllables but when it came to talking about cricket his eyes gleamed & began talking excitedly, Yusuf Pathan is his favorite cricketer. Then there was a girl named Poonam who was couldn’t stop smiling & at the beginning was coyly looking at me but later opened up about how she wanted to become a Doctor when she grew big & how she felt sad when her mother shouted at her for not washing the vessels at home. The one common thread was that they all loved to go to school. Some even wanted to know my name & more about me…sooo cute!

While I am always a bit sisterly & playful, with kids around I was surprised that the other two female volunteers yelled as though they meant serious business…..Anyway I returned with a smile on my face which was quite a rare sight when I returned home from my 9 to 5 job.

Weekend Diaries

Yesterday it was my great-grandmum’s death anniversary, so as per our tradition we perform certain rituals to appease the gods , as a mark of respect. So a sub-contracted rice-devouring, pot-bellied, dwarf-like holy-man arrives with his cloth bag filled with his tools(a holy-water jar, a plate, fruits, flowers, tulsi leaves etc).He then performs a modified, short-cut version( much to my grandad’s irritation) of the normal ‘pooja’(worship ceremony) after which we are offered some holy-water, flowers & ‘prasad’. Then we offer two-plates of food prepared one to a cow & other to a crow as they represent an incarnation of our ancestors. Now after the rituals are complete d we begin with our colorful sumptuous lunch consisting of jackfruit-curry, some yellowish gravy, rice, various roasted vegetables, idlis & chutney, desert served on contrasting bright green banana leaves. In the middle much to the annoyance of the servers the Pandit kept giving unnecessary instructions & orders with a tone layered with I-am-a-god’s man-superiority attitude. Anyway we enjoyed a healthy satisfying meal…..

Today on the other hand was a regular Sunday spent in the company of a friend window-shopping at a mall trying out everything from shoes to clothes, visited a huge bookstore looking for interesting new arrivals, one thing I like to do sometimes when I am in this generous mood is return home with small presents for my sisters & parents, it feels sort of like Santa Claus. So after working up an appetite, walking for almost 3 hours we decide to head to a place known for authentic Mexican food where we were welcomed & served by friendly warm people. We relished our virgin watermelon, kiwi mojitos, nachos with chilly beans & some spicy Mexican rice smothered with melted cheese, cottage cheese & mashed potatoes….yummy.

So that was the story of my weekend - one day was spent as a traditional religious Indian & the other as a regular modern city-bred consumerist.

Home-alone!

This post is a narration of my experiences staying by myself in an unknown city. This is the first time I have stayed alone for such a long period. I know it surprising but its true….I am all geared up , with my 2 bags stuffed with all stuff I can possibly need for 20 days of my life I travel to nearby sister city. I am bit wary at first due to the unfamiliarity of the suroundings but in a few days time I totally adapt to it.

Total independence is something I have always craved for.When I am living with my family I have to follow all these rules& also there are these restrictions, do’s & don’t’s, which hampers my ‘free-bird’ spirit.Now with this freedom along with sense of responsibility I feel at ease & in control of things.

Here is how my regular day panned out. Get up comfortably when I am ready, with no disturbances other than the pigeon flapping its wings outside the window. Have my cup of soothing green-tea as I fllip through a magazine. Enter the kitchen & manage something edible.Do the small little everyday things & rush out for my class which would keep me occupied till sunset.The evenings would usually be my time to meet up with people, walk around, explore the city. Then return at night after a tiring day & end it lazily on my bed with a nice book for company….

The main problem I encountered was my lack of cullniary skills. I can make a tasty sandwhich or a salad but I end messing-up , anything that calls for cooking with fire.(My future lies in the hands of a good cook as I have given up hope on that front.)One morning I wake up in a cheerful mood, ready to try something new so I try my hand at a potato curry & rice combo for lunch. After an hour of cooking my jacket- potatoes are hard , but the curry turned out to be quite decent & rice undercooked( though I refuse to take the blame for that as the pressure-cooker was faulty).I can never forget the expression of horror on the face of a friend who had come to visit, on sampling the potato. Still my other experiments were not as bad. The result of this shortcoming was I lost a couple of kilos when I returned home much to my mums horror whos principal motto in life is to fatten me up.

Inspite of my doubts I found out I was quite decent at running a home…pat on my back. Washing clothes, tidying up everyday, doing the dirty dishes, locking-up etc.

I miss the little joys from things I could do only when I am by myself like dancing while cooking or cleaning( trust me it is fun), singing when I felt like, going out for a walk at any time, returning home from a late-night dinner without being pestered by calls, no constant instructions…

So now with all the practice I think I am ready to move out & ‘spread my wings’.

My scuba-diving experience

The night-before:

Our instructors 2 of them have sent a stern warning not to do anything funny underwater as it’s a precarious situation with the wild marine life in its full form , anything can happen but not to worry if everything goes according to plan we shall survive. I am shit scared (sorry for the foul language but it brings about my emotion at that time). I express my emotions along with all the scary images playing in my mind to my friends. They downplay it as they are anyway not taking up the scuba- diving lesson….so they have no reason to fear. Anyway I go to bed with the hope that it won’t be the last time.

The day arrives:

Finally the day arrives & I am filled with nervous energy . A parasailing session is planned prior to the scuba- diving lesson but it gets cancelled after 3 unsuccessful attempts due to lack of wind speed. So we walk over to the scuba-diving training area .

There are 2 instructors sweet Sinshu(a very experienced local) & cute Tomi( a Danish fellow who has dived 60 times before…wow!) . All the girls are fighting to go with Tomi. Since we are going in pairs, albeit separately & I’m paired with a younger-than-me schoolish girl I settle for sweet Sinshu.

After some waiting comes my turn, about 6 of them who had gone prior to me ,come out with narrations of their experiences , most of them full of praises but also with warnings regarding the acute ear-pain, the feeling of breathlessness ,etc

Then I’m all suited up in a body hugging wet-suit ( which did win me a few compliments ;-) ) & guess what, due to some last minute confusion my partner has to go with Sinshu whereas I have to go with Tomi. Tomi with his red-white flowery shorts & surprisingly untanned skin greets me with a smile. I step into the shining blue waters armed with my mask, oxygen-cylinder & flippers, after which he begins his basic instructions on the various hand-signals, how to breath through the mouth etc.

Then after few trials we go down under. We are diving 5 metres & we will gradually touch the seabed.The sights are AMAZING to say the least, I have never felt soo one with nature….ooo…goose-bumps. At first we saw lots of colourful corals & small fish , as we went deeper & lower the things got bigger & better. There was a sea-cumber, a school of clown-fishes, the sea-animal, eels, big fishes whose name I don’t recollect…but the memories are something I shall take to my grave. I touched the sea-bed & played with the sand for a bit. We move around the entire area.Suddenly then it is all over & we go back to the surface & back to our lives….

On surfacing Tomi asks how many times I had scuba-dived before? And when I replied in the negative he was surprised. He told me I was very good since I didn’t have any complaints the other first-timers had & we could thus do a non-stop lesson & then asked me to give him a high-five. It was moment of pride & couldn’t stop beaming & grinning for two days after that….:):):) After a small chat with him I learnt that I am now eligible for the advanced course ..yippie. also he had dived all over the world , the deepest being 60 metres where everything was dark & scary . with that done we went for our lunch..Also i was awarded a certificate as a proof of my having completed the Beginners Course.

My first tryst with failure

It has been one month since my results of an exam I took were announced…It was the dreaded 4 –letter word a ‘FAIL’.

It is horrible to digest & I have not been even able to speak openly about it( except to a few selected people) but it has created a block in my mind & so I thought I should write about it before it eats me away.

To top it all since I haven’t told too many people about it so I have to act nonchalant & be my usual pleasant self in front of all.

Its not as if I sit brooding about it , but it creeps into my thoughts quite frequently…for someone who has never failed, never even come close to failing it has been a challenge to overcome.

Let me paint the scene ‘I was in Pune(a sister city of Mumbai) , the results were supposed to be announced at 6 but due to some delay it is not, so I keep trying on a borrowed laptop at regular intervals all anxious, all the while my parents who are out of town too are constantly keep trying on their GPRS-enabled phone.This continues upto 8.30…I & my sister are at a multi-cuisine restaurant ‘Metro Fusion’ having some mushroom soup when a refresh on my gmail account tells me a new mail has arrived , containing the verdict…I open it only after 10 minutes of indecision , & see those never-seen-before words…as soon as my brain-processes the information the reaction is instant ,drops of tears get mixed with my soup….

My sister tries to console me with the usual ‘its only an exam, not a big deal’, but after a point i am not even listening. I call my parents & tell them, their reaction being ‘don’t worry, enjoy’ makes me feel guilty as ever , they have always had high hopes for me….so…

Later I suffer from periodic silent fits & my friends from mumbai keep calling, even attempting to call from different numbers when I don’t pick-up, get worried over the situation…but I knew nothing they would say would heal the wounds…

Still I feel thankful to have such dear friends…..

The wounds are still sore, it still hurts & I’m sure I will wail if anyone mentions it but I’m trying to be all mature about & I guess I have dealt with it in my own way.

Another exam will come & I shall make it.

Amen.

The Bryan Adams Concert

Saturday night has arrived 12^th feb-its time for the Bryan Adams concert. Not in a very concert-ish mood , due to my recent illness tried hard to sell the ticket through a friend but didn’t succeed…anyway my motive to go was just not to waste the 2000rs I shelled out in my earlier excitement & my friends insistence of how it wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t there.So I after sum deliberation wear a cute pink skirt with a black sweater….though considerably underdressed even compared to the crowd outside Mc Donalds …where I wait for my friend to hitch a ride….

Finally we leave for the venue …on the way we play cat & mouse with a Rolls Royce with a number plate bearing the number ‘1’ & with a police van filled with plain-clothed policemen tailing it…who after being overtaken gave us a signal to pullover the vehicle much to my friends annoyance…

Anyway we continued & 50 calls, & sum confusion later ( from a couple of friends who had already reached the venue) we arrived at the MMRDA grounds ….suprise surprise the event is so badly organized that the silver gate entry(priced at Rs 2000/-) is bursting with people & a bit further from the stage than expected….

So we start looking for a spot with the perfect view , we find one but beside us a tall-uncle is standing his ground inspite of people behind yelling at him to move to the back he didn’t budge….one guy with a pair of red-lit horns even suggested we stand height-wise, short-sighted people standing ahead….

Then there was a small scary incident when a firang came & fell all over me…I thought it was the crowd getting a bit unruly at first but then this firang was just falling all over me with his hands over me but after I nudged him two guys thankfully came to my rescue & called the security to deal with him….whew..close call.

All this before the concert even had begun….

Then at about 7.30ish Bryan Adams in his black shirt-black denims makes a grand entry & begins by belting out ‘Everything I do’ in all soo Canadian raspy voice….ooooo

It gives me the goose-bumps….’’’

Since we were quite sum distance from the stage with barricades put so as to separate the 2000ers from the 10000ers (which included a whole lot of bollywood celebrities) the crowd started chanting ‘Barricades Down, Barricades Down…’..but all such attempts were futile , sum also called out to the hawaldar to let us ahead by addressing him as ‘Pandu’ n ‘Mammu’ much to his irritation.

It took a while to get into the mood..there was lot of bad singing, chorus, swaying, waving of mobile phones……

His songs reminded me of why he was my first ever celebrity crush …but to my disappointment he didn’t do the ‘Have you ever really loved a woman’ my favouritest of his songs & he did some never-heard of songs from his new album ‘Bare Bones’.

Then he did the usual- pick sumone with a bad- voice- but- pretty- face from the audience & I was soo envious when she got to give him a bear hug…I could so do with a nice bryan adams hug to cheer me a mopey me…sigh…

Then several small funny anecdotes from the crowd around, a fat-man shaking his ass wildly which would put even shakira to shame, we waving our mobile phones in the air, calling out for an encore for ‘summer of 69’ later we reach the end of my first concert-experience, which has some good memories to take-away.

Now I am hoping John Mayer – the apple of my musical heart comes soon…..