Saaar change illa, 10 rupees idre nodi

Its about time i got out of my lazy cocoon and wrote new blog post..I have been keeping up my illustrious reputation of starting something with all the enthusiasm in the world and then losing it in between..

Its the end of another semester...siggghhhhh...feels like it just zoomed past me...I cant believe il be graduating next semester...zoooooommm.....siggghhhh...
This time around, i'm bouncing of the walls....India here i come!!! yaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!! A week to go...but the excitement is flowing through me already...time to pack my bags, make a list of all the things i want to eat and head off, half the way across the globe, an agonizing day of travel....Back to Bangalore...YYYAAAAAAAAAY!!

The first thing i would be doing (any student whos going back home would be doing), is making a list of all the things i want to eat, in all the right places....the masala dosas at vidhyarthi bahavan, the churmuri from all the dingy carts next to the gutter, pani puri from corner of sriraj lassi bar, mango lassi from lassi park...(i better get some diarrhea pills)...etc etc..blah blah yada yada...
Making this long list, made me realise, there are a lot of things that people in India take for granted...Some things are just so easily available and used without realising its true value..

First i think we totally underestimate our skills in mental mathematics... All those tables drilled into our heads during childhood actually seem to work wonders today... Simple addition and subtraction, which would seem so trivial to us, is not actually simple in this part of the world..

I would suggest the desis in America to try this...go to a McDonald's...one which is away from downtown, an isolated one, buy something and pay in cash...If the bill runs up to say $1.42, pay the cashier $5.42...well, simple right? u wudnt want to have all that loose change in your pocket..

Lo and Behold, you will see the cashier's face turn from confusion to bewilderment to utter helplessness..they wudnt even have an idea as to what all the extra money is for. :) :)
Well, cmin back to India, your local vegetable gaadi guy, who hasn't studied anything all his life, will know his basic math...he instantly calculates the price according to the weight of the veggies, sums up the total purchase, all this while trying to haggling over the price with my mom!! U buy stuff for 60 bucks, hand him 100 rupees, he will promptly say "saar, change illa, ten rupees idre nodi, 50 kodtini"..Mental maths seems to be hardwired into the system, so much so that u know the answer instinctively...

No offence to the Americans here, there is the "clever" lot who actually decide to to use the cash register, type in 5.42, the display spits out the answer and he returns four dollar bills..Just for pure fun, i sometimes hand them 20.42, just to look at that precious expression :) :)
I take back all the curses to my primary school math teacher..rote memory rocks!!!!!!

Second, I would have to say chow-chow bath...for those unfamiliar with the term, its an exqusite combo of upma and kesaribath...nowhere else in the world, has there been a perfect fusion of two opposite flavours, a blend of contrasting tastes, built to satisfy all the tastebuds at the same time. Well, think i'm praising it too much?? try blending a spicy and a sweet flavour..maybe u shud try eating vanilla ice cream with mango pickle (which actually tastes good by the way)..it is impossible to get the same magical blend of flavours

Third, i would like to throw in an assortment of things like tender coconuts, sapota milkshake (thers 1 of those ganesh juice centres in almost every road in bangalore now!!!), sugarcane juice, yummy jackfruit...some little pleasures of life that are missing in US of A...

In five days, it will good to get smacked by dust in face, cough a little, breathe the fresh polluted air......siggghhh......Bangalore=Bliss

Latest release from Kitchen.Inc.....the new and improved Rasam5.0 (tastes just like home)

Well, I'm back after a long time...Its been a hectic month...almost done with my first semester(finnaaallly!!)...time flies...hmmmm

Well coming to question of being busy for such a long time...U might ask any student in grad school about the work load...all of them will say, "iv got too many assignments!", "im too busy"..."grad school is hectic"...yada..yada..blah..blah...wellllll, all of them are lieing....

Hmmmmm...Not entirely of course..work in grad school is like being constipated(forgive my disgusting comparison, let me explain).....u put in all ur strength and energy, push hard and go hmmmmmmmmpppphhh!! thats till the assignments and seminars last(for a couple of weeks)...u get a piece of crap out of ur system and ur relieved for a little time...then u strt heaving again...assignments and projects again(now u see the comparison makes sense!)

Well, i am done with all my pushing and heaving for this semester, almost emptied my bowels..time to tear out some toilet paper and look forward to holiday season..

Before ending this term and getting into holiday spirit, i am compelled to tell u a tale of great adventure, personal discovery and achievment.. :) :) :)

Well, ondanondu kaladalli(long long ago, but not very long ago) there was this notion, that women were better at cooking..but i can see the tables have been turned in this century(i dont know wether thats a good thing or bad thing!)..

I think the trend began with guys trying their hand at using salt and garam masala when they go abroad...well, guys, we have no other choice do we? we have cook for ourselves(cant get ur mom to come with u :(  )...and the ladies will deny it, over the years, we have gotten better than them!!

I dont know wether its the clean & unpolluted american air(yea rit!!) or all the constipation(course work i mean), u just cant get rid of the hunger!!! I am not making this up and many guys here will vouch for me...u just seem to be hungry all the time!!! no matter what u eat and how much u eat, u get hungry in a couple of hrs!! and i think its evolution at work, which has over the years made us men better at cooking (PS: women dont suffer from "always hungry syndrome"..maybe a Y chromosome recessive trait :D)

Well, the actual cooking is a huge experiment in itself...and all those familiar with Murphy's laws would know that, sambar has excess salt ONLY when ur freaking hungry!!! U cant do anything about it, u just curse american salt..." Damn this american salt! its too salty..tata salt is better" and gulp it down with 2 large glasses of water.

Initially when u get here, with the taste of mom's cooking fresh in ur mind, u set out to make the same dish...child's play right? wats so tough in making rasam? all it has is tomatoes and water right?? 

So said the fool, till he realized, cooking is all about tiny things which give subtle flavors and using the right ingredient in the right quantity...

When u actually try to taste the great concoction u just brewed(bubble bubble toil and trouble), u kinda realise, ur mom was a gifted individual with extraordinary talent for measurement and taste...

Well, u live and learn i guess...NOT to add two spoons of chilli powder AND a spoon of rasam powder! to cook potatoes in the cooker, to neutralise extra spicy stuff with jaggery and tamarind paste...etc...etc..

After many versions, Rasam 1.1, rasam 1.2...etc..etc....the taste of home long forgotten, there comes a day, a great day for student kind in US, when the great inventor claims to have created almost an exact replica of the wondrous meal, the taste of which he once knew...the same flavor, the same aroma....yummmmm....but thrs still SOMETHING MISSING!!!

Many versions later... Rasam 2.0 and rasam 3.0(cmon! edison took 6000 attempts to get the right filament for the light bulb) and many international calls later, the great genius back home lets u know, the secret missing ingredient is grated coconut(no coconuts in this part of the world :( :(  )....well, so much for all those attempts to get it rit..huh!

Once u get acquainted with the salt,chilli powder,the tamrind paste and the garam masala, thers no stopping you...As u quickly learn, a tasty dish is a spoonful of that, with a spoonful of this and a dash of that with a pinch of this..and voila.. a new dish..."well wat i wanted to make was cabbage curry, but it turns out to become cabbage rasam"(or watever u wan t to call it..i thought all that water was going to evaporate!!!)...well who cares anyway, lets eat, i am hungry.. :) :) :)

Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, by which time u have advanced from a lowly single dish experimenter to a 15th century chemist...."what will happen when i mix this and that??"...poof...yesterdays' sambar and today's rice mixed gives u bisisbele bath....todays vegetable curry and rice would give u vegetable pulav....and the dal u made 3 days ago mixed with...ehhh..u would wana mix it with the trash....

Eventually, out of pure EXPERIENCE....u turn into a expert at cullinary artistry (aha! amma,i now know ur secret!)....In no time ur making paneer butter masala, onion pakodas and what not (thanx to youtube and this amazing mallu aunty for the videos :D )

So, for people who are still eating over-salted sambar and undercooked potatoes, dont worry, give it some time(just make sure nobody has to go to the hospital)..and for people who are planning to come here, ask ur mom for a recipe book and please learn how to chop vegetables...

Hmmmm..all this typing has made me hungry again...time for a snack...

PS: I dont mean to be an MCP, but everytime i enter a house in which girls stay, it seems to be filled with smoke..wat do you people do in there??!!? and how do u get so good by the time ur moms!!?!

...Signing out (Anybody who wants to see me chop onions like a bhelpuri gaadiwala and eat paneer butter masala is welcome home)

..........................for everythng else there's mastercard/visa/american express :)

First of all, before starting this post, i would like to take time out and thank all the people who have appreciated my blogging...Thank you for all the support..And a special thanks to my silly poo, who kinda got me started on it :D

In this land of cheeseburgers, there are some things simply bring warmth to my heart, make me feel good...get my happy hormones alive and kicking...make me go awww..etc..etc..i guess u got the drift...I decided to list down a few of them (u wont understand the importance of the first 2, if haven't worked in the lab).

1. The absolute joy of wearing gloves in the lab...u know those tight, latex gloves which fit perfectly onto ur hand...makes me feel important, like I'm a great research scientist or something (not that m not :P )
I remember back in college, v used to use everything, from newspaper to plastic covers, and eventually, "maga just wash your hand with soap before going, nothings gonna happen." So when the prof handed me those sparkly white amazingly awesome latex gloves (i jus love them!), to use compulsorily no matter what chemicals i was handling, i couldn't help but give a broad smile.. :) :) :) :) :) :)
Well after putting them on, i couldn't help but have a lilt in my walk, a song in my head and a great feeling that I'm gonna get the Nobel prize 1 day :) :) :)

2. The absolute abundance of distilled water in the lab....Nobody from the lab back in college would believe me if i told them we get distilled water from taps! yes, m not kidding u guys...all the labs here have dedicated taps for distilled water, which give distilled water 24/7...
Well, back in blore, we used to have this secret stash of distilled water, our very own cache for our experiments...I remember at one point of time, our bacterial culture plant tissue culture media had mineral water (supposedly sterile!!)...well, now i can water the plants in distilled water...Hell! i can bathe in distilled water!! :) :)

3. After many attempts and many experiments (trust me "many"is an understatement) , u finally take a spoonful of whatever you have made in the kitchen, and taste turns out to be purrrrfffeeecctt....oh, joy to the world! annadatasukhi bhava.. :) :)

4. A single bedroom house, 8guys dancing like hooligans, 4am in the morning, watching Sachin Tendulkar (live, courtesy 6mbps internet speed and live streaming site) become the highest run getter in test cricket, half way around the world...a religion called cricket... :) :)

5. Some traditions never change i guess....Birthdays are celebrated the Indian way....a big choclate cake, a pool party and a very wet b'day boy at 12 AM..

Staying away from home for the first time can be a hard experience, if not for the little moments of joy that truly warm ur heart...
Maybe i can end this post with a really senti quote from a really familiar place...
Life is like a box of choclates, some are crunchy,some are soft,some are minty...but all of them are sweet in their own way..

Guru, Kadrenhalli yavkade?

U never really appreciate something, until you start living without it....I never for once thought, i would miss the traffic in Bangalore this much..Being in a country which runs on a
"car culture", u will start missing a few familiar sights and sounds from Bangalore...like the trademark drone of an auto rickshaw running on kerosene or the honking of the "musically inclined" lorry drivers....Maybe i should have recorded a few noises to remind me of home. :)

In spite of all the cars zipping around the roads, life on the road as a pedestrian is not as hard as it seems....if he doesn't stop for me when I'm crossing the road, i can sue him..if he honks, i can sue him...if he drives the car too close to me, i can sue him...if i don't like the colour of his car, i can sue him...so basically, I'm the king of the road!!!!(and of course i was kidding about the colour part :D) What the hell, i can even walk blindfolded!! :)
so, guys if u r coming to America and u luv walking (like me)...u will have the time of your life :)

The funniest rule of all though is the part where i can file a law suit against the guy if i feel his driving is in someway scaring me...if he turns suddenly,stops suddenly,drives too close to me, i can haul his sorry ass to jail..
Seriously, we would all die if this rule was implemented in India...The BMTC bus drivers are experts in nanotechnology...that's the distance they leave when they stop behind you! and i dont even have to get started on the matrix style stunts of our auto drivers....i think all my reflexes became lightning quick after i started driving amidst auto rickshaws :) :)
Oh, what the hell, the first thing I'm gonna do when i come back to India, is drive really close to an auto and listen to the driver's choicest of expletives..ah,music to my ears :)

Why all this blah blah on the American traffic system?? Well, it so happens that this dude wanted to get to the USPS(United States post office), to pick up a parcel from back home (mane thindi...yummm)..and he has this amazing compass in this brain which lets him get lost even in his own apartment complex (its confusing,cmon!)...so he gets a printout of the route map from google maps (god bless google!) and heads out on a cycle..its 2.3 miles on the tiny inner roads after all (3.7km), piece of cake...

He goes cycling for about 40mins and suddenly realises hes hopelessly lost (it took 40 mins to figure it out?!?!)...what would you generally do? ask somebody for directions....well..thers not a person walking around for miles and all the cars are zooming on..windows up, AC on full blast, eyes and ears trained on the GPS (greatest technological gift to America..huh!)......It was much simpler back home, drive up to an auto rickshaw (i'm just missing those darn things too much!!) , shoot up a question, "guru kadrenhalli yavkade", for which you would get an accurate and highly detailed driving instructions...all of this whilst riding next to him! :) :)....
So he curses his sense of direction, curses America, curses the guy who invented GPS ...heads back home (thankfully its 1 straight road!) , replenishes his drained energy and heads back on the road, with undeterred determination (mane thindi aase :D )...

U cant blame the poor guy for getting lost...Ok, if u r at the intersection of 4 roads, and there is a board hanging from the signal right in front of you, which says "Saturn lane" ...u would normally go straight to go to Saturn lane...well, apparently, at a junction, a sign board in "front" of you on American roads tell u the name of the road you would be on if you took a right turn or a left turn..wow!! i would like to meet the genius who thought of that!!! there should be atleast an arrow pointing to the left or the right after the name...huh!

Finally, by sheer instinct and pure luck, the guy finds his way to the post office, gets the parcel (worth more than its weight in gold) and heads back home...aching thighs,sore butt, a little wiser perhaps...Well, m not saying the guy in the story is me, nor am i saying it isn't me....just that I'm missing the chaos of Indian traffic..

Signing out [my butt still hurts :( ]

Here goes nothing...

Well, this is my first experience as a blogger, and i hope i live up to the expectations. I guess this has been a loooong time due...ehhh.. the name of my blog should pretty much tell you why....

What finally got me out of my hibernation and got me started? hmmmmm....i must say, iv had too much time on my hands ..hmm..not that i wear more than 1 watch at a time(Please refrain from swearing at me, i have an unnatural ability to come up with the most repugnant of jokes which u will end up laughing at :) ), but i got tired of trying to figure out if my fingernails actually grow faster than my toenails.

In spite of of my daily drudgery(unlike some ppl who have daily adventures), i did find myself in one of those situations, which makes u go "if i ever write a blog, I'm gonna write about it".

Hurricane season in Texas can be an overwhelming experience the first time...(PS: if you don't follow international news, Sept-Oct is hurricane season for the gulf coast in America)

Being in India, we do get our fair share of natural disasters, but not having had much experience with hurricanes, the experience is something to write home about...


The "hurricane experience" begins almost 2weeks before it comes in....
we were asked to fill out evacuation forms, given explicit instructions on what to bring during an evacuation,mails from university president asking us to stay calm,all profs going on and on about their own previous hurricane experiences....blah blah..yada yada...

And the worst of all, the TV channel, called the "Weather channel"...i mean, cmon guys! who came up with the idea of a channel giving you weather 24/7??!!! I would rather watch ekta kapoor soaps than weather the whole day! (on second thoughts, id rather stare at the clock all day)...
Hats off to their technology though,These guys track the movement of the hurricane in real time...guess this is the time their TRP is higher than any show on television :) :)

"The hurricane has winds of 330mph (eh, how fast is dat kmph? im still not used to american units) and is moving at 60mph and is large as the whole of Texas" ..well im already shiting in my pants, wishing i had picked some other university to apply to, they show pictures of previous hurricanes and the devastation, destroyed homes,flooded streets..OK Mr. messenger of doom, we get the point!!
Well,actually,I still think the buildup to the hurricane was scarier than the actual hurricane!!

A day before the hurricane...i am evacuated from near my university (it was "apparently" in the danger zone) and move into my uncle's house near the Texas medical centre(safe zone)...after stocking up on food and water to last for three days (eh..electric stoves..no power..no oota..get the drift?)...we sit down to watch the weather channel (i told you, high TRP during hurricane season)...the hurricane is headed straight at Houston and will make its landfall at 2am...hmmm..time to board up the windows, secure all glass panes, sit tight and wait for it to hit..

Power blows out at 12am and we are plunged in darkness....The hurricane finally is here!!
The hurricane makes its landfall, heads towards Houston...Howling winds and torrential rains batter the windows..trees swaying violently, first in one direction then in another...the wind seems alive, making a loud howling sound, like an approaching train....branches are thrown to the ground, trees uprooted...loose wooden boards are ripped off the walls..yea, every bit like a hollywood movie...

And if u ask me wat i was doing amidst all this? Standing bravely next to the window, marvelling at the destructive force of nature?Wondering if chaos was the answer to order in this universe???? Hmmm...Sound asleep cozily tucked under a comforter, dreaming of...eh..lets not get there..
I mean, cmon, its not my fault...its freaking 3am in the morning..and trust me, if you are conditioned to sleeping through 60 diesel buses starting together(my room back home is next to the bus depot), a hurricane is child's play...

Morning light shows us leaves and branches strewn everywhere,a few uprooted trees, slush and water everywhere...no major harm done...v survived!!!

There you go, my first experience of a hurricane narrated first hand (read "in dreamland")

Two days without a bath, yummy home made food courtesy my aunt, and a trip to the Texas medical centre....not a bad experience with my first hurricane...

Signing out...