It is so confusing !

Like every normal college student, I feel more and more distracted from my curriculum as the exams trudge closer. So like no other normal college student , I thought I should write. Having just watched back to back episodes of "Comedians in a Car having Coffee" I thought I should write something Jerry style. Something about "Nothing".

I love Jerry Seinfeld. Everybody does I believe. I too wanted to write about funny things around me. But I think he got there before me ;) And then when I came to the US, I realized that there are many people writing about things around them that seem really funny . I cannot write a series because there already is a series about "Nothing", so I thought I could blog about "Nothing".

I went to get some coffee sometime back. It was pipping hot. I had asked for cream in my coffee and the good old lady had added hot cream in my coffee. I, being from India, am very confused by many things in the US. And I have to confess this, after having stayed here for just over 14 months now, this was the first time I really had hot coffee. The thing is , for some reason, everyone here thinks they have to add ice to the cream they serve. I mean, your coffee is bad enough! Do you have to make it worse by adding cold cream. 

Also, for some reason, people here call ,what we call milk in India, cream. I mean don't people know that all the cream in the milk is piled up in the supermarket rack in the form of [so-called] cheese. When my mother first saw this "cream", she was like why did you add milk to water! Mind you not water to milk. One must understand the most "water-added" milk in India is thicker than the whole milk here. Back at home, the milk is still available with some amount of water but in otherwise unaltered form. Then when you boil the milk there forms a thick layer of , what we call and I hate , "cream".

That reminds me people don't boil milk here. I mean don't you think there could be germs or bacteria in the milk which would die if you boil them? Sorry , I come from a country where we boil our water before we drink and overcook our veggies and meat before we eat. But again , if you could drink coke for water and need corn syrup in everything, what can I say , I am not be surprised!

Food on my plate!

   When I saw my parents' photos as they were boarding their first flight to US, I started thinking about me being in the very same place not more than five months back. And when I look back at these five months , I feel I did not really see them fly past. I suddenly feel I should have stopped somewhere in between to think how I felt but somehow I was too busy keeping myself busy. There were many highs and far too many lows but I believe I will fight them all because of a wonderful person who has been spending more time in office than his wife :P

   What was I most excited about when I came to the US? It was surely the food. Whenever I go anywhere, even when it was Dandeli, Kerala, Nainital or Hyderabad , it is always the food I look forward to. Ofcourse, I did not expect the US to be France of any sorts, but it would be something very different from what I was used to eating, I was sure. First time me and A ate out, I thought it was just me who felt that the food was a little too much for one person, what with all the sides of fries and bread and pancakes. We, Indians , get one idli when we order one. Some waiters actually twitch if you ask for extra sambhar or chutney for your dosa. Rich that it is, maybe this country has a lot more per capita food, I thought. Even the smallest coffee here should easily be equivalent to five cups of our filter coffee.

    I never liked Pepsi or Coke as a kid and have given it up years back. I have always pondered at what my sister and mother loved so much about Pepsi to have it once a month or so. I could only imagine its effervescence clogging my sinuses whenever I saw it.  But people here seem to drink this same drink more like water. Not only that, the drinks are added with artificial color making them look blue, green , red, pink and what not. Imagine my shock when I saw a high school kid buy at least 5 for 6 of those 2 liter bottles for as cheap as a dollar per bottle. But again I thought it was just a cultural shock and nothing more.

   Another thing that I noticed that although the people here like black coffee without milk and sugar, everything else seems to be quite sweet for food.The snacks section is full of bakery items and biscuits and cookies. Yes, the pancakes and waffles with a dollop of butter and the heavenly maple syrup are something I love to come back to. It may also have to do a little with my obsession with Parks and Recreation [Thanks to Amy Poehler and her butter loaded waffles ;)]  But having come from a place where spice is part of our staple diet, the sweet in the American diet might put you off. With no chaats or vada pav stalls just round the corner, I feel a little lost for spicy junk food here.

   My friends had told me about how health conscious people here are. Unfortunately, I have not met many yet. Although the lunches and dinners have a lot of variety of whole wheat and multigrain breads with lot of eggs and greens, most of them are flooded with cheese. Once when I tried to get a Sub without cheese, the lady behind the table gave "which-third-world-country-are-you-from" look. The burgers and pizzas taste more and more of cheese. And for lactose intolerant people like me, limits non-sweet junk food options.

  Being a hardcore fish and chicken - eaterian, I tried different kinds of fish but have not been overly excited about it. Any meat without spices and a thick coconut or onion-tomato curry is synonymous to ghaas-pus to any Indian food enthusiast. I do not enjoy raw or undercooked meat, even less without a generous spice rub. But Denny's Grilled Tilapia with avocado, tomato and freshly roasted squash and zucchini seemed worth a shot.

  All in all , the food here was nothing you could gawk over. But with restaurants serving different cuisines opening up in Sacramento, I might have something better and different to eat and write about :) No more writing until I have more delicious food on my plate ;)

A perfect day!

Woke up at 6.15 a.m. and then again at 6.30 a.m. As usual, it was actually 9 before I physically woke up. Mentally would have to wait ;) My head was swimming as I ran through my cupboard pulling out clothes , as I pushed the minty toothbrush into my mouth. By the time it reached the other side, I was rolling in my chapatis for tiffin. I could hear Y and D jesting about how I was still asleep "In my head".

Oui! I did hear it !! No you did not!!! Am I asleep? Is it me fighting me! As if I cared! So I had my bath, got ready and left. By the time I walked a kilometer to reach the bus stop , I was surely up! If you are not, be sure you are going to step on some doggy poop :x

Somehow out of the blues, not overexaggerting, I found the exact bus I wanted to reach office waiting at the signal just for me. Elated I got in. Getting a seat in a bus to EcoSpace in the morning is a myth so I was happy enough to get breathing space. Soon after college , I got a window seat. Instead of reading GoT I decided to look outside the window. The wind seemed to love me for that. As it gently caressed my face , I felt lost in a good way. Sometimes just emptying our minds of everything at all is just so relaxing.

At office, work seemed smoother than usual. So smooth that I could actually leave at 6.30 p.m. , a privilege of late! Surprisingly I had a rather empty bus waiting at the bus stop for home and a seat near the window. I did not wish for anymore. The day was perfect as is.

As I walked down from SilkBoard towards home , I kept thinking about the day how it went by. I decided to prepare Palak paneer for dinner. Turned out to be my best paneer dishes cooked till date. The cake my roomie ordered just for the fun was the cherry on this cake of a day!

And as I plug in my new Sennheiser earphones, also delivered today and lay  cuddled up in the sheets, I am thinking did I ever wake up this day! Hmmmm ...Maybe I will sleep over it ;)

Good night!

1 day to go

What makes Sneha smile ear to ear... Is it the fact that finally we are taping out our project tomorrow or is it the end of a gruelling year full of study and work?

Sneha thinks it the pictures of crispy fried fish, newly painted Tulsi in our garden in Ankola, lights decorating our doors there.( Also the fact that the designer said you can go tomorrow evening on a leave for 2 weeks.... yayyeeeee)

With one day to go, and all things going like I would want them to, I couldn't have asked for more.

2 days to go...

Exactly two days from today, i hope to be on a bus to Ankola. Why? For the most anticipated event in our family this year. For which everyone seems to have been preparing for eternity.

After so many years, a marriage in our ancestral house. A house where our parents grew old and we grew young ;) It seems it was just yesterday when we used to wake up in the morning to watch Good Morning Disney here. Half asleep, we used to brush our teeth scratching our heads. Some aunt randomly would hit us on our ass for blocking her way. And now one of us is planning to get married.

With all shopping thankfully complete, its just a matter of 48 hours when all of us launch ourselves on the most planned journey of this year!!!

What awaits us at the other end ? A big fat Konkani Wedding ;):D

Grow up!

Another year about to end, a year that saw many blogs :) Many ups and downs. Things I would want to change , things I can ... things I cant ... So many losses, many more gains. New Starbucks outlets in Mumbai, infinite marriages and happy couples. People leaving back so many memories that you can sit back and cherish as the small tear builds up in the corner of your eye. Before that eye becomes so full that my vision gets all blurred, I decide to distract myself with some I-dunno-why-I am-blogging blogging :P...

After almost a year and a half, I am home for more than a week and it seems so much different . The Kakas and Kakus in the society seem to have hair grey-er  than usual. Sarika more busy with her stuff , Swati with Whatsapp. Baba is retired and Aai more busy than him :P. Funny how things change. I wish i had never grown up :(

Whats in the name!

  I am sure that is what the author thought when he christened his book. When I first read the title , I was absolutely sure I did not want to read it. Indian authors have failed to stimulate my grey cells more than once. Lets face it, not all can write like Shashi Tharoor! But then I read the author's profile. MBA from MDI Gurgaon [although I find MBAs nothing more than glib talkers] , publishing house of his own and another book to his credit. I had read Amish's Shiva saga some months back and this MBA from IIM -Calcutta had  surely impressed me with his story telling, if not more. So I thought I will put my prejudices aside and give Sachin Garg a chance. I clicked buy on flipkart.com and so started my tryst with "Its first love ... just like the last time"

  The title says a lot about not only the book , but the author. And if Sachin Garg was listening , please do not give titles which might make us think you are out being sarcastic and funny . Your first reaction when  you read the title was the book will be somewhat like a guy meets a girl , then another , then another mistaking his infatuation for love every single time. But you will be wrong , every single time. The last page refers to too many characters adding paint to your illusion. 

  Describing yourself as the simple boy next door who gets the scarred/broken/blemished princess is as cliched as it could ever get. But never mind. You keep telling yourself, you are giving the writer a chance here. So you swallow the criticism with a burning heart and a twitched face. Also the story involves many who come and go with the passing pages whereas the young lad and the princess stick to every page of the book. My friend Sachin, you might love them a lot but you are not helping the story in anyway by doing so. 

  As the book progresses , you realise that the guy was not going to fall for any more girls than the one princess who was a progeny of a bad marriage , not making you happy at all . Here I would like to point out that in the foreword I remember the author saying that we pass through different stages in life and our definition of love changes in every single stage and so on. Dear author , you just fell in so-called love for a year , saw your princess through some heartbreaks and personal losses in one year. That my friend does not qualify for different stages of life. 

   Also, if you use college as your backdrop, please make sure it makes its existence felt. For people who have enjoyed their colleges more than stretching on their single bed with their dates in a room outside campus, COLLEGE means a lot to us. Just putting random sex and porn talk in the book does not keep the readers glued. Unlike me who finishes each book she picks, many of you would have surely abandoned the book midway. 

   Finally the last page ends with an afterword from the author [which I felt was not absolutely unnecessary ] The author claims to have laid bare his life in front of the audience. My last advice to you, bare yourself when you think it might excite the onlooker, the reader in this case . Be a Khushwant Singh , be a Shobha De , be a Amitabh Bachchan before you think you should. For now, noone's interested ;)