A Girl From Foreign

Two kittens looking for a home

2010-03-21T19:48:00.011+05:30

Remember this kitten I wrote about earlier? Well, we started calling her Kitty-cat (I know, very original :o)) since then and she is a big cat now. She is very smart and sweet, she comes to our house to eat every day, most of the times, both in the morning and at night. And now she is a mommy of these two sweetos. They are just over a month old and seem to be very healthy. Really cute kittens and if they are anything like their mom, they will make excellent pets. Since we have two adopted cats already, we cannot take them in. It breaks our hearts, really. So if you are in Mumbai and looking to adopt a kitten or two, or know anyone who does, please contact me on the blog.

Desert song

2010-03-06T16:25:00.004+05:30

I took this video on our trip to Jaisalmer where we went for a desert safari. No one else around, just us in the bright moonlight of a full moon and a million of helicopters.... I mean stars (did you get the Madagascar reference? After all, Mumbai is NY of India ;o)) It was quite a magical moment. After a dinner prepared by our camel drivers on a bonfire, they sang us a couple of desert folk songs. Here is one of them.

Spreading the Xmas Spirit!

2009-12-22T13:40:00.002+05:30

I was reminded about this funny version of 12 Days of Christmas on Our Delhi Struggle blog and could not resist the urge to spread the Xmas Spirit! :o) Last year we made our own version of it, well just the lyrics... Anyway, once again enjoy the video!

I realised how terribly homesick I was....

2009-12-20T14:18:00.007+05:30

... when I put the best of Foje on and listening to the first song made me weep. Well, only for a short while, it was bliss singing along in Lithuanian for a couple of hours after that. I am amazed that I can still remember the words of every single song on the CD. The CD that my big brother gave me long time back and songs that I used to dance to and sing with my friends through our highschool and university years.

Xmas is the toughest time to be so far away from home.

Buddy

2009-12-06T12:19:00.012+05:30

I started writing this post more than a week ago, but was not sure if I was ever going to publish it. It was a very sad time for us. On a late night a couple of weeks back, we lost our just 2-year old cat, Buddy. A car accident cost him his dear life. I won't go into more details about this unfortunate event that left us feeling devastated and heartbroken, which I am sure all pet lovers can understand. This post is about some good memories of Buddy, and there are so many of those with him - our absolutely loving, the most gentle, smart, curious, always happy and optimistic, faithful Buddy.

We met Buddy when we decided to adopt two rescued kittens on my 30th birthday - an event we soon started calling our best decision of 2008! I was just starting my third month in Mumbai and my life was still very strange and foreign to me at that time. I was freelancing from home, which didn't help me adapting to India any faster. On many days, the only person I would see was our maid who used to come and work for about an hour and I used to dread this hour every day. Then a few strange people would ring the door bell from time to time and I would have no idea what they wanted. So sometimes I didn't even open the door, which didn't leave me feeling any better about myself. But then we brought home these two sweet and playful kittens, who changed our life completely. It was never lonely again.

While both kittens were very curious, Buddy was the true explorer going into the deepest corner, drawer, cupboard whenever there was a chance. From time to time, we would end up with a meowing drawer :o) Sometimes he used to get closed in by accident, but never for too long as I knew I had to start reopening all the doors I just closed, if I didn't see him around for a few minutes. He was a great companion, he loved being close to people. He could be fast asleep nearby when I was working on my laptop, but as soon as I got up and left for another room, he would follow and continue sleeping there. When I was watering the plants, he would run - first behind me and then overtaking me - to every single window I was going to open. Sometimes when we were cooking, he would comfortably sit nearby just touching with his tail, or if he wanted more attention, he would sit straight on a foot :o) Oh and he could not resist an opportunity for a group hug! Whenever Ranjit and I used to hug, he would come right in the middle and rub purring "Hey guys, I love you too!!!" He had so much love that he was sharing with everyone, doing his rubbing-rumba to every leg and every corner. One of our friends asked whether Buddy was drunk when he saw this for the first time :o) The people who rescued him called him Joey, but from the day we got him, the name Buddy came so naturally to us, cause he was our true buddy.

After a few months, Buddy started showing interest in exploring outside the house. At first we were terrified and kept him inside, which made him quite miserable for a while. It was the phase of Buddy the destroyer [no serious damage done] :o) After thinking and talking about it a lot, we decided to try to take him out. We would walk him for the first couple of months, no leash was needed, he was always staying close by and every 5 or 10 minutes coming to us and giving a gentle brush against our legs, as if thanking us and reestablishing the connection - "I am with them and guys, did I tell you lately that I loved you..." :o) He learned to climb a tree, not too high, but oh boy! how happy he was! He became even more gentle and patient, always walking with his tail straight up :o) Once we realized that he learned to take care of himself and run straight back home, we started letting him out to wander by himself in our compound for a couple of hours. But whenever we came down and he saw us, he would run from wherever he was straight to us and happily roll in the dirt and rub, he was so sweet! He would come back home completely tired and dirty, lay down and start licking his paw having this satisfied and mysterious look in his eyes. He lived every day to the fullest!

Ranjit and Buddy had a special bond and a special morning ritual. Every morning, when Ranjit sat down to read the newspaper by the dinning table, Buddy would jump right on the top of it and declare it his petting time. He was so smart, as soon as he noticed that Ranjit started reading another article on the side, he would move and sit on the top of it claiming his complete attention and purring so loudly. When he reached his state of ecstasy, he would start drooling :o) After that he would come to me for some more of this goodness and some more drooling... :o) And there was nothing better than coming home from the office and being greeted by these two "instant stress relievers"... We kept saying to them, "What did we do to deserve such great cats?"

We miss so much his smart yellow eyes, wet pink nose, with which he used to give us countless kisses, his soft rubbing when greeting us after reaching home from the office, his loud purring and drooling in the mornings, his hugging when we carried him, even the mess he managed to make... We miss our friend.

The next day after the accident, we got so many thoughtful and beautiful messages from family and friends. Everyone loved Buddy. Now we have Buddy's tree right outside our window, a coconut palm tree where he learned climbing. We are sure that wherever Buddy is now, he is {...enthusiastically destroying all the toilet paper and...} happily exploring :o) That's Buddy!

Office Supplies

2009-11-17T12:20:00.017+05:30

This just might be the most important piece of advice for someone going to work in an Indian office -- chain or superglue your pen to your body or at least hide it very well every time you step away from your desk even for a minute! I can guarantee you that it will be gone in no time otherwise and you will be constantly looking for another pen... And guess what, since all pens keep disappearing all the time, office supply of pens will get over pretty fast too and no, it won't be refilled any time soon. I have no idea what they do with all the pens as everyone seems to be always in need of another one. This is one of Indian Mysteries to me....

While we are on the topic, unfortunately it's not only pens that go missing. My chair used to be taken away every time I went to get a printout, for example. See, having small group meetings is a regular practice in my office. That's fine with me, they try to solve a problem together, help each other to understand something... So a few guys gather around one computer and grab any chair available that is the closest to them. No matter that this workstation is being used by someone else who just got up for a minute... Also, it doesn't matter that the next workstation might not be used by anyone and there is an empty chair right there. So I get back, take a new chair, adjust it for myself, warm it up (heeeey who set the AC temperature on 18C degrees again???? :o)) and lose it the next time I get up.

Just imagine how irritating this can get: for example, I send some tax form for printing, go to get it from the printer and come back to my desk to fill it out, but my pen is gone. I go around looking for a spare pen (the cupboard with supplies is empty as always), finally find some half-broken pen that no one seems to be using, come back to my desk to fill out the form, but my chair is gone! I am not kidding :o)

After one particular employee left the company the chair issue was pretty much resolved, but then I made a mistake of telling my boss where I hide my pen... Humph! ;o)

The comic below is not really related, but it made me laugh. I hope it will cheer you up as well.

"The youngest headmaster in the world" - BBC News

2009-10-15T18:53:00.004+05:30

Just as my friend who recommended this article, I was speechless after reading this article on BBC News. My eyes were also getting full of tears... It was just beautiful, read it for yourselves.

Ju goes Bollywood

2009-10-15T12:38:00.008+05:30

Yeah, my nickname here is "Ju", pronounced as [you], not [jew], as Jurate is way too complicated in a country with names like "Anantharaman Subbaraman", for example... It also gives plenty of opportunity for everyone to feel like they are funny when they crack the same old jokes interchanging "you" and "Ju". Everyone's favourite and the only real-life situation is:

R: "Hey, nice bag, who is this for?"
P: "I got this bag for [you]"
R: "Really? Oh, thank you!"
P: "I didn't mean you, I meant Ju...."
R: "Oops, so sorry..."
P: "No, I am sorry..."
A: "Hahahahahahaha!"

Now, really bad jokes are:

A: "[you] did it."
B: "No, I didn't do it." - knowing that A meant "Ju"
A: "Not you, Ju!"

Or

A: "[you] is....."
B: " Your grammar is so bad HAHAHA...."

Anyway, getting to the main theme of the post - Bollywood dancing. One of our dearest friends is getting married this fall and she is having a big fat Indian wedding, with Sangeet and all. Sangeet is a singing and dancing party that is held after Mehndi, where they draw ornaments with henna. Some say that the Sangeet is the merriest part of an Indian wedding. Usually, young girls and family members practice group dances and perform for everyone during the Sangeet. So far I was safe as no one ever thought - and rightfully so - of me being able to move to Bollywood tunes. That's until our dearest friend decided that she wanted all of us to dance. I still thought that "all of us" didn't include me - how could it? - and I was smart enough not to confirm it with her for the longest time feeling happier living with this illusion. No such luck, I am not getting away this time - I will have to perform on a stage in front of who knows how many hundreds and hundreds of strangers :o/

Then the day of the first practice came. I was happy to know that this was "girls only" practice. Our friend got a choreographer and promised me in an SMS that it would be lots of fun and I would get nice and uncomplicated steps. I tried to believe it, but my intuition was telling me otherwise :o) When I heard the song, Thoda Thoda Pyar (thoda = little, pyar = love) from a movie called Love Aaj Kal, I knew I was in a big trouble - it's damn fast, yaaaaar! Then the steps started. All the Bollywood moves I knew so far were limited to "playing the flute" to Hare Ram, "screwing the light bulb", "chopping the vegetables", "slapping a man on his face", "applying kohl"... That's right, this is Bollywood dancing for you! I mean, if the song says "kajra re, kajra re...", which means "kohl", you pretend to apply kohl under your eyes, not completely literally, euf course, but close enough. Unfortunately for me, none of these moves were included in this dance. Why? Well, as our frustrated salsa instructor liked to say, Bollywood dancing is all about dancing out the words of a song, no need to listen to the melody, improvising is a big NO-NO ;o) So, different words mean new moves.

Our teacher asked me if I could understand the words of the song and when the other girls said that they could not understand them either, she.... repeated the words a bit slower in the same language... whatever that was (Punjabi, perhaps?). That helped, NOT. I still need to find someone who will translate them for me, maybe then I will understand what the %$^#*@ I am supposed to be doing. "So you do like this, and turn and do like that and turn again, twist your arms, hold one finger with the other hand, hip out, got it? Do it!" -- "Eh, do like what...?" :o) It didn't help also that the teacher was "a lefty" as she kept saying and sometimes she did the steps our way, other times - the opposite way. Or that she was doing the same step differently every time.... Or that the other girls were doing something different at the same time as we were all struggling to remember the routine as well as do it along with the fast music.

I thought I would find the video and then I would be able to see the steps, but unfortunately, our choreographer was the creative type and had come up with her own steps rather than copying the movie. In the movie they seem to have more pauses than we do! :o/ We looked like we were after a tough workout while we managed to put together only 1 minute and 5 second of our dance: jumping like a rabbit, doing balle balle, bow and arrow, slap your bum, do the whip move, wave, heartbeat etc... After all that I didn't find it funny that the teacher could not remember even my nickname - seriously, how hard it is to remember "you"? - and I became Sue*, then Jew, after which I asked her to just call me Shruti. She kept saying that I looked terrified and the only look she gave me was "who is this loser?".... ;o) Anyway, I am sure it will get better, it's just so much fun complaining about it for now. Check out the song below:

Not sure if it's true, but I heard that the boys will be dancing to the Twist - now this looks really complicated! When watching it, keep in mind that the main guy, Saif Ali Khan, is 39. You gotta respect the man.

*Any guesses why Sue? :o) Because there was an English girl called Sue in Rang de Basanti or as the teacher explained herself "Someone WAS called Sue, noooo?" Hehehe

Navarathri Celebrations

2009-09-17T12:54:00.021+05:30

I wanted to share another email that was forwarded to me today, which will be interesting to those who want to learn something about Hinduism. Navarathri celebrations will start on the 19th of August and end on the 28th with Dussehra this year.

"May be this can be seen by children and grand children to know as to why we celebrate Navarathri

Nine Goddess

Literal meaning – ‘nine nights’, this nine-day period from the new moon day to the ninth day of Ashvin is considered the most auspicious time of the Hindu Calendar and is hence the most celebrated time of the year. Although it has different names in different parts of India, it is celebrated by Hindus from all regions. It is celebrated with great enthusiasm as the conquest of good over evil. Every region has its own myths and reasons to explain this.

The nine different aspects of Devi are worshiped over the nine days. These are the most popular forms under which she is worshiped:

1. Durga: goddess beyond reach;
2. Bhadrakali: the auspicious power of time;
3. Amba or Jagdamba: mother of the world;
4. Annapurna: giver of food and plenty;
5. Sarvamangala: auspicious goddess;
6. Bhairavi: terrible, fearful, power of death;
7. Chandika or Chandi: violent, wrathful, furious;
8. Lalita: playful; and
9. Bhavani: giver of existence.

The festivities culminate on the tenth day, called variously Vijayadashmi, Dushehra when people in most parts of the country burn effigies of Ravana, Meghanatha and Kumbhakarna.

Some people fast on all nine days, eating only fruit and milk dishes. Some fast only on the eighth or ninth day. As the festival is dear to the mother goddess, on the eighth or ninth day many people invite over nine young girls from the neighborhood. These girls are treated as the goddess herself. People ceremonially wash their feet, worship them and then offer food to the "girl-goddesses" .

On the first day of the Navaratras, grains of barley are planted in the puja room of the house. A small bed of mud is prepared in which barley seeds are sown after a small puja has been performed. Every day some water is sprinkled on it. On the tenth day, the shoots are about 3 - 5 inches in length. After the puja, these seedlings are pulled out and given to devotees as a blessing from god. The seedlings are placed on their caps, behind their ears, and inside books to bring good luck. This custom suggests a link to harvesting. The sowing and reaping of barley is symbolic of the "first fruit". Soon after this festival, the sugarcane crop is harvested and the winter crops are sown.

The Legend

This festival commemorates the victory of Goddess Durga over a demon, Mahishasur. Endowed with power by the blessing of Lord Shiva, the demon started destroying innocent people. The gods then invoked Goddess Durga and asked for her help. The goddess, astride a lion, fought with the demon and cut off his head.

According to one hypothesis, in ancient times, this was a festival intended for the Kshatriyas. After the four-month long monsoon when military activity was not possible, this was considered a good time to start afresh on one's conquests. For nine days before starting on the war journey, kings prayed to the nine different aspects of Devi or Adishakti. They also prayed for their arms and ammunition. The tenth day was when the journey for the conquest began.

The origin of this custom can also be traced to the Ramayana. According to it, Rama had to pray to the nine different aspects of Devi to be able to kill Ravana. He then accumulated enough power to kill Ravana on the tenth day, which was called Vijayadashmi or Victory Day. Since then, the tradition of praying to Devi for nine days has continued and was especially pronounced amongst the Kshatriyas who believed that by doing so, they too would be able to defeat the most powerful enemy.

Celebrations in different parts of India

Today, it is celebrated more for its mythological significance and reaffirms the Hindu faith in the triumph of good. Even today, the nine different forms of the goddess are worshiped. Though several communities of Hindus are staunch vegetarians, Navaratri is one exception. On the eighth day, many communities, especially Gurkha and other hill tribes who are believers in the Devi cult sacrifice an animal. This blood sacrifice is a form of thanksgiving to the goddess for a wish that has been granted. People often sacrifice a buffalo symbolic of the killing of Mahishasura by Durga.

In Bengal, this period is celebrated as Durga Puja. Groups and residents’ associations in towns and cities erect beautiful marquees, where they install the idol of the Mother Goddess. In Calcutta, as also other places, there are competitions held and the most beautiful and creatively done marquee gets a prize. For all the nine days, the marquee becomes the center of all activity where cultural events and competitions are organized every day.

In Gujarat, this is the time for the joyous Garba and Dandia dances [that dance with sticks you might have seen on "Bride & Prejudice" ;o)] and people pour out at night to participate in this community festival. Women and girls in all their fineries dance around the garb a pot, clapping their hands in rhythmic movement. The pot is decorated with flowers, betel leaves, and has its mouth covered with a coconut.

In Tamil Nadu, the first three days of the festival are dedicated to Lakshmi, the next three to Durga and the last three to Sarasvati. The nine-day celebration is compartmentalized in certain parts of the country, dedicating three days each to a trinity of goddesses: to Durga the goddess of valor, to Lakshmi the goddess of wealth and to Saraswati the goddess of knowledge.

The one thing that remains constant in most parts of the country is that daytime is exclusively for prayers, fasting, and solemnity while the nights are spent in joy and revelry. Men, women, and children, who have fasted during the day, have a light repast of fruit or other non-cereals at night before going out to enjoy the festive season.

In Punjab, people organize Jagrans to sing devotional songs all night in praise of the Mother Goddess. Solemnity and piety mark these nine days as even those Punjabis who do not keep a fast, stop eating non-vegetarian and impure food items like onion and garlic.

Another part of the Navratri celebrations is the Ramlila. In places like Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, almost every locality has its own group of actors re-enacting episodes from the life of Lord Rama. This is probably because, the day after Navratri, i.e. on the tenth day of Ashvin called the Vijaya Dashami, it is said that Lord Rama killed Ravana and other demons to rid the earth of evil.

Rituals

The tempo of life changes perceptibly in every family, in markets, in Mata’s temples, long before the festival commences. In homes, the corner or room reserved for puja becomes the scene of intense preparation. A coconut, saffron or sandalwood paste, a garba (perforated earthen pot), a kumbh (earthen pot), grains of wheat or barley, ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil for a lamp that will burn incessantly all through the nine special nights, are placed in readiness for the ceremonial ritualistic initiation of the festival.

Housewives draw designs and emblems with rice flour, turmeric powder-and vermilion. Each of the motifs symbolizes abundance and represents hope for the future.

The eagerly awaited first day of the festival witnesses a flurry of ritualistic activity. On a small platform of fresh earth in front of the idol of the Mother Goddess, all the things collected for the puja are placed and the lamp is lit. As evening falls, people gather around the sacred flame that is constantly fed with ghee or oil, and soon, mellow voices singing bhajans can be heard from home after home.

On Lalita Panchami (the fifth day), children gather all the books in the house before a sacred lamp and invoke the blessings of Saraswati. It is also the occasion for all artisans to lay down their tools before the goddess and seek her benediction upon their trade.

On the eighth and ninth days of the festival, yagnas are performed as a final act of farewell that marks the termination of the ceremonies. Ghee or clarified butter, a sweet concoction of rice cooked in condensed milk (paayas or kheer) and sesame seeds are traditional items used in the yagna to the chanting of mantras conveying the theme – "This is my offering to God".

On the tenth day or Vijaya Dasami, more popularly known as Dussehra, enormous effigies of Ravana stuffed with firecrackers are torched with flaming arrows to the delight of throngs of revelers.

People read "The Devi Mahatmyam" (Glory of Divine Mother) having 700 Mantras on Shri Durga Mata."

Hindi movie time!

2009-09-01T10:55:00.008+05:30

Quick Gun Murugun

There were three original Hindi movies that I saw recently and thought they were absolutely worth my time! Sadly, too often a Hindi movie I watch is nothing more than a complete rip-off of some English movie plus lots of masala-overacting-breaking-into-a-song action :o) While I liked Bheja Fry, I loved Le dîner de cons (The Dinner Game) when I saw it some years back... How do they get away with this is still a big mystery to me. While I found Death At A Funeral to be hilarious, there is no way I am going to see Daddy Cool -- not only it is a complete copy, but also seems to be quite a terrible one. Anyway...

Quick Gun Murugun [Murugan is another name of Karthikeya who was Ganesha's brother] - (I saw an English version) absolutely hilarious, leave your brains at home and enjoy it kind of movie. I was giggling and laughing from the start till the end. It's about a pure-vegetarian cowboy who fights a non-veg gang of villains with Rice Plate Reddy being the worst of them all. It's making fun of South-Indian, Bollywood and cowboy movies. I kind of fell for this obnoxiously dressed make-up wearing righteous "Mind it!" Tamil cowboy by the end of it. Worth seeing, I say!

Kaminey [means rascal or scoundrel] - an action movie, not bad at all. Interesting story, good music (did I just say that about a Bollywood movie????), decent acting, overall - entertaining. I heard Indians complaining that it was too short, only 135 minutes. I must say the concept of "time is money" is understood differently in India. When it comes to movies, the crowd wants a full day's entertainment for the rupees they spent on a ticket (Full Paisa Vasool! ;o)). There is this probably the longest running Bollywood movie called Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (190 minutes). It was released in 1995 and was still playing in a theatre in Mumbai as of 2008. Maybe it is still playing on its 14th year? I hope so as I would love to put myself through more than 3 hours of Bollywood movie crying and laughing, singing-dancing with Shahrukh Khan himself :o) But back to Kaminey. I put two new song from this movie for you to listen to on my MP3 player (left sidebar). Should I even start on a popular Bollywood cost cutting trick of coming up with a story with twins or a hero who gets killed and then comes back in his next life? This way they have to hire only one star for both roles!

Khosla Ka Ghosla [means Khosla's nest]- on a DVD. This is the movie I should have seen before moving to India! A very educational story, a "slice-of-life comedy", as someone said it. In a few words, a government employee and a father of a middle-class family in Delhi puts all his life savings into purchasing a plot where he plans to build his first house. He dreams of this big house where everyone will live happily together, but nothing goes as planned. There is family drama, love story, local mafia... A very charming action packed movie.

Recycling in India

2009-08-15T12:46:00.003+05:30

This is from an email I received some time back and I wanted to share it with you. Here are some words you will need to know :o) "kachra walla" = man who comes to your house and collects trash every morning; "paperwalla" = man who buys newspapers from you; "doodhwalla" = milkman; "bhaji walla" = vegetable seller; "machi walla" = fishmonger; BMC = Bombay Municipal Corporation; "aloo paratha" = flat Indian bread stuffed with potatoes.

"In the CHS we live in, there’s a kachra walla. We also have a paperwallah, a doodhwalla, a bhaji walla, a jaripurana walla, a machi walli, and so on and so forth... And CHS for the unenlightened is Co-operative Housing Society. Which means we spend three hours debating about whether the water pump should be switched on at 7.00 am every morning or 7.01.

Our kachra walla's name is Sonu. His is a hereditary profession. His parents are in the same line of work. Between them they have the neighbourhood covered. Every morning he shows up at our door lugging a big plastic drum, gathering everything we don’t want from yesterday's banana peels to empty Old Monk bottles. He finishes his rounds and then hands over the day's collection to his wife who does the sorting of all the dry goods, old plastic bags in one pile, paper in another, bottles, wire, old shoes, the dead gold fish... just kidding! The dead goldfish’s fate is inextricably linked to yesterday's banana peels and the sucked empty bones of the paya curry.

There’s a market for everything: cassettes, odd socks, the cardboard carton the new fridge came in, dead batteries, chipped glasses, both drinking and ocular.
Sonu is way ahead of the BMC with it’s Clean Mumbai campaign. He was segregating from when segregation was what Martin Luther King was fighting against. The actual collection pays him little. The recycling is what brings home the bacon or the aloo paratha. He now has a mobile phone. He gave me the number in case of 'Emergency'. It is an emergency when Sonu doesn't show up. And the goldfish’s mate has also died out of loneliness.

Sonu is green in the truest sense of the word with a rating the Exxons and the Union Carbides will never achieve even in their dreams."

To break my blogger's block....

2009-08-14T12:36:00.019+05:30

There were a few things I wanted to write about, but then I was worried about offending some one's feelings... So instead I am posting some current pictures :o)

Our long festival season is about to start again - Hindu, Muslim, Catholic - it's almost a nonstop marathon that lasts from August till December (or later?) Here are some Ganesha's statues being made for Ganesh Chaturthi. There are actually huge rooms full of these beautiful statues, but I've been having really bad luck with something blocking my view while passing them these last couple of days...

Just some balconies I liked :o)

I love looking at these colourful baby clothes on the way to the office every day. Something to keep my mind off the traffic noise.

Morning chai.

A few of the causes for the bad traffic? :o) Hello, sidewalk is on your right...

There air was so clear after a short rain that washed away all the dust. You rarely can see the skyline and our Sea Link bridge, which is open now, so clearly.

For all the CAT lovers

2009-07-30T12:05:00.005+05:30

I am in love with this!

To visit CATcerto website and read more about this project follow this link.

If you are in Lithuania, visit Curonian Spit

2009-07-19T12:00:00.022+05:30

Unless you prefer this kind of beach like in Palanga, which is a resort by the Baltic Sea up North...

...spend some peaceful time in Neringa on the Curonian Spit.

The Curonian Spit is a 100 km long, out of which ~50 km belong to Lithuania, thin sand dune spit separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon. It was formed about 5000 years ago. The legend says that the Curonian Spit was formed by a giantess Neringa who was playing on the seashore. These are the highest drifting dunes in Europe with average height of 35 m, but reaching 60 m at some points. Since 2000, the Curonian Spit has been on the UNESCO's World Heritage List. There are many overview points with lovely views of the dunes and both the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea. There are endless walking paths in the Nature Reserve or you can rent a bike and go from one small resort to another on the path along the Curonian Spit.

How to get there: take a short ferry ride from Klaipeda. There will be a small entrance fee to the National Park.

The views from the Dune of Parnidis (in Nida)

The view of the the Baltic Sea above and Curonian Lagoon below

A peaceful beach at Pervalka on the Baltic Sea side - white soft sand and blue sea....

Walking up on to the highest point of Nagliu Dune in Nagliu Natural Reserve

...and the views from the top of it

For a change of the scenery, go to the Hill of the Witches in Juodkrante. It's a small hill in a nice forest with many cheerful wooden statues telling stories from different legends and fairy tales.

What else to do there? You can rent a boat, a canoe or go on a group boat ride between the resorts or in the Curonian Lagoon. You can reach the Curonian Spit on a rented boat from a few small towns (around Vente) on a mainland. Take a stroll along the cost at cute small resorts with authentic wooden houses, art galleries, amber jewellery, souvenir shops, a few small museums. And don't forget all the fresh smoked fish and cold beer!

If you have only one beautiful and sunny weekend day free, you might consider a cruise in Curonian Spit leaving from Klaipeda in the morning, going all the way to Nida with a stop at Juodkrante and coming back to Klaipeda in the evening. You can spend a couple of hours in Nida and go back to Klaipeda or get off in Juodkrante and catch the same ship on the way back. To read more about it, click on this link or this link.

Time to take a ferry back to Klaipeda

My Trip Home - Vilnius roofs

2009-07-18T02:12:00.013+05:30

City views from Gediminas Castle in Vilnius:

TV tower

Neris river

Vilnius Cathedral

St. Ann's Church

St. George

Vilnius University

Office of the President of Lithuania

Donut Perfect in Mumbai!

2009-06-21T14:16:00.006+05:30

I remember a Friday morning when I was introduced to donuts/bagels/muffins at my first job in the U.S. It was my first week there and on a Friday morning my new co-workers stopped at my cubicle on the way to the office canteen. One of them said to me with a lot of excitement: "There are bagels, donuts and muffins for everyone on Fridays!!!!" I said: "Oh ok, thanks for telling me that...." As they moved on and noticed that I was not following them, one of them came back to see what was up with me. He gave me a confused look and I admitted: "I don't even know what those things are... besides, I had my breakfasts already, don't wait for me...." (btw, I was really slim then and isn't it obvious why ;o)) The expression on his face turned into: "Are you mad?! It's FREE DONUTS!" :o) Getting a little bit impatient, my colleague insisted on me coming along to at least learn what a bagel was. Then I knew.

I didn't become a big fan of all these guilty American treats right away, I started from having only a half of something from time to time. But a few years and several kilos later, I was having one or two of them every Friday morning -- just like all of my American and Americanized colleagues. I discovered chocolate chip cookies, fell for freshly made blueberry muffins, learnt what an old fashioned donut was.

But I better get to the important part of my post. Recently I read on Burrp.com about a new branch of M.O.D. (Mad Over Donuts) opening on Carter road in Bandra. Their first store was in Goregaon - way way waaaay too far for us. So I made a mental note to myself to stop at that shop sometime on my way when I am in Bandra. Yesterday, Ranjit's cousin brought a huge box of these donuts while coming over for dinner. My Friends, they were EXCELLENT! So light and melting in my mouth, not a bit greasy, so fresh and soft, it was like biting into a cloud (I don't know about you, but I always imagine clouds being some kind of sweets when I am looking outside an airplane window :o)). The first bite into M.O.D. donut did to me what 6 yrs in the U.S. failed to do -- I became Mad Over Donuts :o)

If you take an exam in India - Part 2

2009-06-16T13:06:00.010+05:30

Here are only some of many examples of interesting practice questions from the study material provided by ICAI (The Institue of Chartered Accountant of India) for CPT exam. They tell me "Pick up the correct answer". ICAI you are FUNNNNNY! ;o) And the question is (go ahead, try solving it):

"The age of a person is twice the sum of the ages of his two sons and five years ago his age was twice the sum of their ages. Find his present age.

a) 60 years b) 52 years c) 51 years d) 50 years"

If you wonder, the correct answer, according to the textbook, is "d". And I thought, THEY WERE ALL DEAD!

Another good one:

"Find the fraction which is equal to 1/2 when both its numerator and denominator are increased by 2. It is equal to 3/4 when both are increased by 12.

a) 3/8 b) 5/8 c) 3/8 d) 2/3"

They say that the correct answer is "a", but I thought it was "c" ;o) Would I get -0.25 point if I chose "c"? There is a -0.25 point penalty for incorrect answer AND "Multiple darkened circles for a question will be treated as wrong answer" - now this is just mean :o/

Point #22 from the instructions for the test sent by ICAI:

"For any inadvertent printing mistake or framing of the question, he should write to the Additional Secretary (Exams), ICAI within a week of the date of CTP examination."

First of all, I should report you for unequal treatment of genders and secondly, don't you think I will be too busy figuring out what you are trying to ask me in each question and solving it in just over a minute to check if your freaking questions and answers make sense... Do your own work!

And these kind of questions are my all time favourites:

"A promise is defined in section

a) 2(b)
b) 2(e)
c) 2(d)
d) 2(h)"

OR

"In April 2007, Bank rate was_______percent

a) 6
b) 7
c) 5
d) 8"

Would you also like to know what it was in May and June? No problem at all, I feel blessed at this divine opportunity to extend you every courtesy by elightening you with this knowledge which I will pray is to your liking and eternal satisfaction failing which I will supplicate myself at your feet and beg forgiveness for I am but a humble servant waiting at your beck and call to ensure that your every need and desire is fulfilled.... (inspired by Paul Tonkinson, Comedy Store UK)

Fresh Coconut Water Anyone?

2009-06-12T23:05:00.015+05:30

Our building has several tall coconut trees. Once in a while, I get startled by a loud sound of a falling coconut that sometimes hits our window on it's way down. One way to make sure that a coconut doesn't happen to fall on your or my head is to get them picked before they get too ready. So our society sends a few guys to do just that from time to time. This morning just before leaving for the office, I saw one guy climbing up a coconut tree. It's amazing how fast and effortlessly he did it with a help of just one small piece of rope wrapped around the trunk. I will try to get pictures of that another time as he disappeared behind the leaves long before I grabbed my camera. I wanted to get a picture of him going down, but there were way too many coconuts up there and I could not wait for that long as we were getting late already.

So what is going on here? They use pulley system.(Click on the picture to enlarge it.) One guy is sitting on the top of a swinging coconut tree and he has one end of a long rope. He ties a bunch on coconuts onto it and another guy holding the other end of the rope takes the coconuts down by slowly releasing the rope.

The third guy catches them and takes them off. They repeat this until all coconuts are taken down.

Fresh coconut water is so refreshing on a hot day!

If you take an exam in India

2009-06-11T10:13:00.010+05:30

So finally, after almost a two-month wait, I got my ticket for the exam and it didn't even have any mistakes! :o) It came with a list of instructions that was very useful and clarified some things I was wondering about. But then it added a couple new things to wonder about. As I was reading through the list, I stopped at this point:

"Candidates may bring a card board or clip board on which nothing should be written so that they have no difficulty in darkening the circles in OMR Answer Sheet as the tables provided in the examination hall may or may not have even or smooth surface."

Really? How bad can it be??? I had to ask my hubby about this. He said: "Yes, we will get you a clip board! Those tables sometimes can be soooo bad, with big holes, you can tear your answer sheet while darkening a circle with a pencil." :o/ This made me wonder how this exam hall will look, will chair have all four legs, etc.... :o) Well, here is an idea. You know those examples of how to mark the answers correctly? They look something like this:

I propose to add this image to the CORRECT side:

Not only it will save a lot of time to candidates who tore their answer sheets and now need to start over again, but it would be also GREEN. The only drawback is that you cannot change your answer for that one, but it can cost you -0.5 point max ;o)

Cuteness!

2009-06-09T17:13:00.007+05:30

My mom forwarded these pictures and I could not resist sharing them with you. I googled it and found out that they came from Snooty Paws Blog. It's a baby hedgehog and it is so adorable! Enjoy :o)

A morning ride

2009-06-05T17:57:00.025+05:30

At the first signal. Squeezing through...

"Where can I squeeze through...?"

"Oh, here I can see the whole 5 cm of space in front of your car..."
"Hey, it's our green!" :o)

Oh no, hitting bad traffic!

Nothing else to do, let's look around at all the small shops. All kind of Indian snacks (sometimes mispronounced as "snakes" [sneyks] in India)

Mochi = cobbler. The cobbler's children don't have shoes... and neither does the cobbler.

Watermelon walla with a cute antique cupboard :o)

Another mochi and a tailor

Loaded

An ad for a tire repair shop

Cycle delivery walla :o)

Chatai wallas

It's never boring, but sometimes I feel like I did enough for the whole day after one such drive. And I am not even driving! Being stuck in a traffic in Mumbai can be quite exhausting: you need to constantly push ahead and fight for each inch of space, while keeping an eye for everything and everyone that might get into your way or bump into you. Don't forget that idiot right behind you who keeps honking at you while stuck in a standing traffic :o)

How sad is my Hindi...

2009-06-05T13:35:00.006+05:30

Or what I can get away with living in Mumbai ;o)

I had an introduction to Hindi more than a year ago, but I didn't use it much since then. All of our friends and most of the family talk only in English. So naturally, when people ask me how my Hindi is, I say that I have learnt some and then I forgot even the little that I knew. The only thing I advanced at fast was giving directions to auto wallas as I was taking autos to the office every day. Oh yeah, I also tried my Hindi at the market once, but the problems was that I had no clue what they were answering to my question. After my first or second class I walked up to a fruit walla and said proudly "Kitna hai?" (how much), he said "&*^&^*", I was "Eh?". I didn't know numbers yet :o) And I am still struggling with them...

Anyway, today I had to tell our maid's husband that her salary was left for her at home. This is what I managed to come up with:

Shoba ka salary kitchen counter ke uper ghar per hai. ["Shoba" is her name; "ka" = of; "ke uper" = on; "ghar" = home -- I am sure he would have understood "home", I am just showing off now ;o); "per" = at; "hai" = is]

And the best thing is that it worked! He understood me :o) So here is another example for you how to talk "Indian", in Mumbai anyways. Learn some prepositions and put it around English words.

And this is how my Hindi teacher was telling me to make verbs when I didn't know a Hindi word: English word + form of "karna", which means "to do". We used to spend some time of each class on translating sentences: he used to tell me one in English, I tried to say it in Hindi, he corrected me ;o) It was quite funny how after a couple of classes he started telling me very passionately: "Don't think about it! Don't translate it, just say it in Hindi! Let it come out of you naturally!" Eh...? I doubt it WAS ever in me :o)

A few snaps from today... simply

2009-06-01T01:04:00.016+05:30

Chembur and Vashi (New Bombay) Click on them to enlarge.

Efficient

These are my friends - animal huggers :o)

Bandra

How to talk "Indian"

2009-05-29T10:21:00.017+05:30

Even if you don't know Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Bambaiya... you can still talk more like a local without saying a single non-English word. And this is how:

1. Repeat the verb twice. For example, you are sharing a snack and there is one piece left. Instead of saying "Please, you can have this last piece, I insist" you say "You have have". Say it emotionally, don't forget to wobble your head, you might even extend your hand like you are pushing something towards the other person. Or if you want to say "You come here now!", just say "You come come" :o)

2. When making a request, add "no" at the end of the sentence and make it into a question instead of starting with "please". "Please do this" -- "Do this, no?" or "You'll do this, no?" You can spice it up with a whiny voice. The length of "no" indicates how badly you want the other person to do it. So a long "no" is like saying "pretty please". "Come here pretty please" - "Come here, nooooo?"

3. Add "no" at the end and you have a question. "Lunch is ready, no?" "She left, no?" "No" can be replaces with "nah". The length of "no" in this point is shorter than the "no" in point 2 :o)

4. End sentences with "only". I am not even sure how this happened as it is not a literal translation of Hindi, but it sounds very Indian. "It's like that only." "They serve beer and wine only." "I paid five rupees only." "I didn't go only." "I was joking only."

5. You can end sentences with "also"... where it is not needed. "He came up and sat down also." "He was late also."

6. Say "good name" instead of "first name". Now this is a literal translation of Hindi. "What is your good name ma'am?" -- "My name is Jurate, I don't know if it's any good... What about my last name or should I say my bad name?? eh??" :o)

7. Make "tschhh" sound instead of saying "no". You don't need to shake your head, but you can frown or stretch out your lips for more emphasis. Ok, let me put it this way: "Make "tschhhh" sound only" :o)

8. End your sentences with "yaaaa" (in Bombay) or "yaaar" (in Delhi), which means "friend". "It was terrible, yaaaa." "Awesome music, yaaaa." If you want to be more savvy on this topic: "re" is kind of "yaa" or "men", which they use in convent schools, or say "da" in Tamil Nadu...

9. Use "the same" instead of "it" or "above". This is meant to make it sound more official (more confusing, if you asked me...). "I am sending you the documents. Please sign the same". Or instead of "...in the above paragraph..." -- "...in the same paragraph..." No, it's not THE SAME paragraph...

10. Use progressive tense a lot! "I am knowing..." "She is wanting..."

11. Say "marriage" when you mean "wedding". "I am attending my friend's marriage this weekend." If you are attending their marriage then you might be a bit too nosy. Besides, that's what in-laws are for ;o)

12. Add "walla" for occupation. Milkman - milkwalla; taxi driver - taxiwalla; trash man - trashwalla; a man who sells coconut water - coconut water walla; a man who brings your lunch - dabbawalla; sodawaterbottleopenerwalla would be a man who makes bottle openers :o) By the way, the last one is an actual surname, but a separate post about it is coming soon...er or later :o)

13. Create rhyming double words: chai-vai, fighting shighting...

14. Say "fire" instead of "yell". I hear this a lot! What can I say, Indians are feisty ;o) "I fired him!" "I got a firing from him!" "So did you fire her?!" Put a lot of emphasis on "fire", say it like you really mean it! Indian "you're fired!" makes Donald Trump look like a pussy cat :o) When I came to Mumbai 1 week before our wedding, I heard a lot about "firring" different people involved with organizing the wedding. I was getting confused and scared: "What? Will you be able to find a replacement so fast? The wedding is in one week!" For some time I wondered what kind of people they were -- walking around and all day keep firing people working for them... "You even fired a taxi driver? HOW?" :o) I didn't know that it was: "I just fired him, I didn't fire fire him" ;o)

15. When answering the phone, say "tell me" or "bollo" (Hindi) instead of "how can I help you?" :o)

16. Q: "Which one of those two is better?"
A: "Both are better"... [eh?] OR "This one is more better" [at least I can understand what she/he means] :o)

I thought it would be a short post only, but I can write much more of the same as I am knowing many more examples-shampels. I will stop here, nooo? The post is getting long, yaaa...

Now start repeating it and you won't notice how soon you will be talking like this. I am writing from my own experience only! You can thank me later. :o)

Sea Link at night

2009-05-25T11:21:00.004+05:30

And just at night :o)