Tribute to Bangalore Roomies

Living with roomies has been an exhilarating experience over the past eight years that i have stayed out of home. It all began way back in 2002 when i moved to Bangalore, fresh after my Engineering degree and joined Infosys. After the initial one month in the "Maurya" Hotel, we had to find accommodation on our own.

I already made 2 friends before moving to Bangalore - Vishal (he was my mate in Engineering college) and Utsav (he was also from Mumbai). So once my stay in Maurya was over, had to look for new people with whom i could share a house with.

Accidentally it so happened that all five of us came together - myself, Vishal, Rana, Sudarshan, Ashish and Kapil. We had an awesome time together in those 1.5 years i spent in Bangalore from 2002 - 2004. The pic above is one of those rare pics of the good times we shared - be it Hooting for India during the 2003 World Cup, watching n number of movies on my small tv set, eating out in most of the bangalore restaurants, boozing in pubs / at home or  buying those cheap Rs. 100 T-shirts on Brigade Road, MG Road during the weekends. Watching movies in the movie halls, shopping at Marathahalli and Commercial Street, going for Go- Karting or walking down in the middle of the friday/ saturday night from MG Road to Koramangala singing songs (just cos we did not want to pay the Rickshaw guy 2-3 times the fare)...was awesome! We had a memorable time!

Mulianagiri Trek 2004

Our group spread beyond the roomies to others - Eti, Manu, Maria and other batchmates from September'02. Its going to be 8 years this month end since we had joined Infosys and it looks as it was only yesterday! Almost all of them have now moved out of Infosys and even Bangalore - barring a few!



Weekends were spent making plane maggie noodle - 4 packets, putting in a common plate, putting sauce in some areas of the maggi per personal preferences and having it together. We had also kept an ecosystem of support around...and did not let the statistic of 1 IT job creating 4 support jobs wrong. We had a maid servant to wash clothes and clean house, a cook to cook food. It was funny - the maid servant was a Tamilian and none of my other roomies could communicate with her except for sign language, when i was not there. When i was there communicating and getting things done was my cup of tea. Apparently after i left Bangalore in Feb 2004 , these guys still had her for sometime and continued with the sign language!

We indeed did some crazy things - like this tent which Vishal had got from his first onsite trip to the US (Suddu and Vishal were the first guys in our group to live the dream and go onsite to US with 1.5 years of joining Infosys. All others like me, Ashish, Rana got our due later). We hoisted the tent right in the big Hall of our 3 BHK, 1350 sq feet apartment in National Games Village, Koramangala and spent silly times over the weekend doing silly stuff like this!






Again this was the time when we had a party in one of the best hotels in Bangalore near Airport Road (probably Taj - can't remember). It was a combination of onsite treat of Vishal, Suddu and bday treat of Rana and someone else and we had a ball of a time. It was a big thing for us then to be in restaurants like this and eating and having wine! Man..those were the days!

 This was taken during the Vishals 22nd birthday. Heheh - it was a typical practise in A-301 Yamuna, NGV to cut cake the night before the bday and smear it on the face of the person. Also the rest used to pool in and buy a gift like shirt / shoes etc. In my case i opted for a VCD Player, on which we saw tonnes of movies for days together on that small TV set i had borrowed from Dad. This then gave way to our days playing X-Box computer games which Vishal had got from his stint in the US. Man - that was more fun - the way each of us had a preference for a charachter in the "Dead or Alive" game and used to compete with each other.

I was admitted to a hospital for the first time in my life in Bangalore where they suspected Dengue fever. Was in the hospital for 5 - 7 days under observation and i am indeed grateful to these guys for taking care of me as they would for any of their family members. Each night i had someone to give me company to sleep in the hospital and got all the food from home. Battling work pressures and other personal priorities - am indeed thankful for the attention and support these guys bestowed upon me. I infact had also informed my folks pretty late (2 days before being discharged) and assured them i was in good hands and there no need to travel to Bangalore. Hands down to you guys!

Then in Feb'2004 me and Vishal decided to move back closer to our homes in Mumbai. So we took a transfer to Pune office of Infosys. Indeed cherished those days with all of these guys. We did have some reunions later in the US - if not all of us together, but still in good groups. Those days and those times will never come back, but glad they did come the way did ! Hands down to my first set of roomies in Bachelorhood 1.0!

Norway: Bergen: The European Culture Capital of 2000

When: July 16-17, 2010

Where: Bergen, Norway
Who: Partner in crime - Wifey & I
How: NSB Train from Voss. This was the last leg of our journey after watching the Fjords in the "Norway in a Nutshell" trip

In 10 days time we had to leave Oslo and re-locate to a new city - Stavanger in Norway.  Our plans to visit Paris, France were cancelled - thanks to my laziness leading to delay in booking tickets - the ticket prices had now become unaffordable. So, we thought why not make the most of our vacation by visiting some unique places in Norway itself? We decided to combine two trips - which would include the most talked about tourist attractions in Norway - "Norway in a Nutshell" and Bergen trip. Norway in a Nutshell was a visit to the picturesque Fjords - Sognefjord. Post our Norway in a Nutshell trip (at the end of which most tourists take a train back from from Voss to Oslo) we took the NSB train (a la Indian Railways) from Voss and went to Bergen.

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population close to 260,000 ( almost twice that of Stavanger).Bergen is located in the county of Hordaland on the south-western coast of Norway. It is an important cultural hub in its region, recognized as the unofficial capital of Western Norway and sometimes also referred to as the Atlantic coast capital of Norway. Bergen remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia, and was Norway's biggest city until the 1830s, when the capital city of Oslo became the largest.

The Stay:


We wanted to experience living in a traditional Norwegian house, so preferred a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) over a hotel. The advantages are a plenty - you can cook your own food (we self catered for the major part of the trip armed with sandwiches, biscuits, ready to eat cup noodles, maggi, chocolates), get to meet local people and have conversations on their lives, about the city and much more - if your host is the one who likes conversations.

Our host was kind and nice and her house was well done as seen in these pics. There was another couple (unusual pair: a south korean lady and an Indian guy who was more British than Indian) in another room (a tourist just like us). We had limited conversations and co-existed peacefully for the one night we stayed.

We hit the bed early - around 10.00 pm as we had a hectic day seeing all the fjords early this morning and were up since 4 am. The next day was important - we had 13 hours to cover all that we wanted to see in Bergen.

Starting of a brand new day

The city was one of nine European cities honoured with the title of European Capital of Culture in the year 2000. And now we know why. As soon as you start walking around the city - you are amazed by the architecture and the "feel of the good old days" that they have maintained. This automobile - in the form of a train chugs past the entire city and is a tempting hop-on hop-off option to visit the city's attractions. We decided to walk around the city and resist this temptation.




Mt. Floyen

Floibanen

 Our first target was to visit Mt. Floyen. It is the most visited of the seven mountains that surround the city centre of Bergen. It has a funicular system Fløibanen that transports passengers from the centre of Bergen to a height of 320 metres in roughly 8 minutes

The journey on the Floibanen was amazing. You have to be alert - to not only enjoy the journey and experience, but also to not forget to take these pictures as you start the steep ascend upwards.

And this is the breathtaking view you get from the top of Mt. Floyen as you are just about to get out of the Floibanen. Amazing view! Try to see the sea and the mountains beyond the first range of mountains (closer to the horizon) - its awesome to see it live!

This pic is the view towards the left hand side of Mt. Floyen. You can see the entire city and the serpentine snake like roads - which at times get elevated onto curvy flyovers.

The walk back from Mt. Floyen

Us at Mt. Floyen

We decided to "Walk like a Norwegian" on the trip back to downtown to enjoy the pristine natural beauty of the forests that we crossed as we climbed down through a defined path. It takes about 30-45 mins and you get a chance to steal good views and pics from the various corners as you descend down. Hehe - and we saw some strange statues and nets and in one of those places - Wifey gave vent to an outburst of being a kiddo!

The walk back

Bryggen:

Bryggen, which means Wharf in Norwegian has been the oldest part of the city.Bryggen has since 1979 been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites. Bergen gets rains almost every day in a year. If you are a tourist and manage to catch the sun - you must be lucky. After battling rain in almost all our trips, including this one - we were glad that Sun God smiled upon us and helped us have a good time here. This pic was taken then,

Bryggen as seen from the area behind the famous "Fish Market" in Bergen. Most of these sloping roof houses which now house small shops had been burnt down by various fires that engulfed Bergen in the early years. Some of these have now been preservied. Today, some 62 buildings remain of this former townscape.

This is the backside of "Bryggen" indeed - very beautiful and scenic. We spent a lot of time in Bryggen as it was so scenic, wonderful to be there.







Miscellaneous:

Bergen Fish Market

 Around Bryggen - we then walked around to see some other sights like the "Fish Market",  "St. John's Church", "Maritime museum", "Bergenhus Fort", "Smalungeren Lake".

We walked around the city to find a combination of unique architecture in buildings and a mysterious collection of antiques in some of the shops around.

St. John's Church

Maritime museum

Bergenhus Fort

Inside Bergenhus Fort

Bergenhus Fort with Rosekrantz tower

Bergenhus fort, with Rosenkrantz Tower (the tomb like structure) is one of the most prominent buildings of Bergenhus fortress.  Bergenhus fort is one of the oldest (since 1240) and best preserved castles in Norway.

Smalungeren Lake

Heritage Mc Donalds

The pic to the left was taken at lake in the city center - Byparken Smalungeren. This is perhaps the door to one of the museums in here. What is more striking is the architecture - especially the top part of the door has a striking resemblance to the Lord Venkateswara Temple top. Will blog on this on some other post though in detail. 

Bergen Railway Station

Typically European small streets

Smalungeren Lake in City Center

Smalungeren and city center as seen from Mt. Floyen

Bergen Bybane

A memorial / square

The city of Bergen is a city in motion. To the left is the Bergen light rail system called "Bybanen". The first line of 10 kms was opened June'2010, with more to come.




Tired after a pretty long day walking all around the city - we headed back to the Bergen Railway Station and while waiting for our train - caught on a game of "Ludo" in the railway waiting area. Played after ages and reminded of the good old days as kids when summer vacations used to be spent playing games like this. Thanks to the fact that this was a "No Laptop trip" which meant we could take more of the city and the simple pleasures of life than the online world!

Norway: Stavanger: Sverd i Fjell (3 Swords)

Walking upto the 3 Swords

When: Saturday, July 31 2010
Who:  Wifey and I
Where: Three Swords , Stavanger, Norway
How: Bus from Stavanger Sentrum to Madlasandnes followed by a long walk.

It was less than a week since we moved into Stavanger. We had shifted to our new house and settled ourselves by unpacking the tonnes of card board boxes. It was the last weekend before wifey travelled back to India, so we thought why not make the most of it? Used google and the local bus map to set our short on-the-spur-of-a-moment planned trip to see the Three Swords.

Lush fields on the way

The Three Swords (Sverd i Fjell) stand on the edge of Hafrsfjord, 6km from the centre of Stavanger. There are various ways to get there. We chose to take the local "Kolumbus" ( a la BEST in Mumbai paralance) bus. We ended up getting down at the last stop and had to walk back for almost half the distance the bus convered from our house to the last stop! It was drizzling a lot (nothing new now that we think of UK, Denmark trips when it poured crazy!). So armed with an umbrella to wade those drizzles, a smile on our face and some self motivation to walk back - we clicked some pics on the way.

There were nice long lush fields in yellows and greens as we walked back to the 3 Swords as shown in pic . Reminded us of all those silly movie songs! 

Finally saw the 3 Swords and were delighted seeing them! This pic has a very mystic effect like that seen in the Harry Potter movies. This monument is apparently a famous backdrop of lot of wedding ceremonies in Stavanger. This monument was unveiled by King Olav in 1983 and commemorates the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872, after which King Harald Fair Hair united the three districts of Norway into one kingdom.The crowns on the swords represent the different districts which took part in the battle.

As we turned back and started walking back to the bus stop,we saw this man who venturd out into the sea on his kayak, though it was drizzling like crazy and the sea was a tad rough. Perhaps he wanted to prove the age old adage of "Time and tide waits for no man" wrong and rewrite it as "Time or tide or rain, i can tame them all"! No wonder Norwegians are the Vikings, who tamed the sea and exploited its potential to the fullest over centuries!

The parting shot has to be in "Sepia" mode of the Sony. It is just wonderful and makes the pics look so good!                                                                

3 Swords, Stavanger

  Travellers tip in Stavanger: If you are taking the Radisson Blu Airport Express Bus from Sola Airport towards Stavanger Sentrum, remember to sit in the line of seats which are behind the Bus Driver. You can then catch a glimpse of the 3 Swords clearly! While travelling towards Sola Airport sit on the other side of the line of seats where the bus driver is seated

Marriage is all about communicating on the internet while sitting next to each other!

Facebooking next to each other on the weekends!

Marriage is all about communication. If not in person, when words fail you - over internet through chat, twitter and social networking sites like orkut, facebook. This pic is taken during one of the many weekends me and my wife spent watching movies and soaps like Sex and the City, The Big Bang Show, How i Met Your Mother, having conversations & fights, chatting to family and friends over internet or just sipping tea and planning to prepare some great food! Is this where the next generation of the human life is moving to? Sitting next to each other and connecting to each other on the internet? Grr..this sounds like the ending of a "Sex and the City" episode?

Bachelorhood 2.0: The “Gayathri Mantra” of Cooking

If you are a Bachelor – either living through Bachelorhood 1.0 (before marriage) or Bachelorhood 2.0 (forced bachelorhood post marriage) and want to sharpen your survival instincts, no better way than to learn cooking. Cooking is a very peaceful process that gives you so much of creative liberation, which at times makes your regular day jobs more mundane.

Capsicum Fried Rice

A lot of times the typical response from guys (read roomies / peers) is
“Cooking is for girls”
“I can’t cook for nuts”,
“Cooking means emptying the Maggi packet in boiling water—right?”

Thanks to these dumb asses the likes of MTR, Maggi, Top Ramen and other fast food companies have created a small scale industry with “Ready To Eat” (RTE) foods where all one needs to know is to boil water in a vessel and empty the packet inside it or warm it in a hot water environment. At times these “RTE” are real life savers – when you are traveling or are too busy to cook anything. If RTE becomes a way of life, it just confirms the fact that one has given up on life and the excitement that cooking is about to unravel. Cooking will also help you to wade the troubled waters of a kitchen strike by your wife due to a tiff or sudden demand for a trip to restaurant or if they are ill!

Aloo Gobi

For starters to the cooking world, here is the “Gayatri Mantra” of mastering cooking. This is not only the “Starter Kit” that gets you started as a novice, but also will be a “Weapon of Mass Destruction” as you reach the expert levels to try cooking different varieties and cuisines. The mantra is written more like a poem as cooking is more of an art than the process of following step wise instructions with measurements from cooking books and sites like Tarla Dalal, NDTV cooks, Sanjeev Kapoor.


The “Gayatri Mantra”

Stanza 1: Background

“A little bit of oil in the frying pan that boils
Invites the mustard seeds (rai), cumin seeds (jeera) and asafetida powder (hing) to dance on it
and while they mingle and start bursting
smear the party with some colors - a dash of turmeric (hing) and salt (namak)
Spice it up with ginger (adrak), garlic (lasoon) and chilli (mirchi) to taste and fry till they turn brown”

Stanza 2: The beginning

“Then come the onions, who sweat till they slim down,
The tomato is excited to toil in the sweat of the onions
Now is a good time to add X
While they get friend and mix with each other, keep tasting a tad bit at regular intervals and stir the essence of them through your magic wand - The spatula till it tastes good for consumption”


Stanza 3: The various facets X - Factor

Where X is
1) a vegetable like carrot / beans / cauliflower / cabbage / red or green pepper (capsicum) / ladies finger if you want to create a curry as a side dish with no gravey

2) including some water to make it gravey like and any vegetable to make it a gravey vegetable that can easily go with rice

3) X at times can also have some more masala’s like “Garam Masala”, “Ghoda Masala”, “Corriander powder”, “Cumin Powder” apart from the water and vegetables.

Mixed Vegetables

Stanza 4: The closing

“Ensure that when all is fried and raising smoke that tantalizes your your nose to glory or burns the base of your cooking vessel to black
What your dish is asking for is some pampering after being stirred , fried and baked in the heat of your stove
While you don’t need to please it with bouquets, kisses or the latest platinum earring set, all you need is a sprinkle of coriander leaves, slice of lime or slice of red pepper/ green pepper (capsicum) to complete the decoration and consume it asap!”

Chole Masala

Remember that whatever goes into this mantra in the form of your vegetables, with the true devotion of your patience – comes out in the most palatable form – cooked by your very own hands! The measurements etc. are all per judgment and a true cook never measures what he puts. He just knows to put the right quantity – if not by birth, but by experiment and experience!

A glimpse to some of the successful dishes out of this mantra are attached in this blog!

On the lighter side, ensure to forget this mantra when you become a "grihasta" - marry or get back to your wife post Bachelorhood 2.0 and you suspect that they would strike a deal to force you to cook, just grin innocently and say
"I think i had the Ghajini Effect and forgot cooking"!

Enjoy cooking!

The transformation of Siva Rama Krishnan (Part 1)

He wasn’t any different than any of you who are now having your eyeballs glued on this text. He was inquisitive, had a self esteem and was a good person at heart, untouched by the cruelties of the “smarter people”. Traditionally born and brought up in a traditional Iyer family, he had his share of idli, appam, dosa and sambhar’s. When someone asked his name – his answer was “Mudalipuram Venkatanarayanan Siva Rama Krishnan”. And by the time he could complete his name, the person who made the mistake of asking his name was already a year older or perhaps gasping for breath to at least catch the tail of the Hailey’s comet called a south Indian name!

Siva, fondly addressed at home by this name, though born and brought up as a shy, god fearing, ashes-smeared on his forehead traditional prototypes had hatred to his own name. He was neither a hit with the daughter of the neighbourhood Marwari aunty whom he used to secretly admire nor with his friends. The reasons were aplenty, but the one he felt strongest was his name.

It was a year after engineering, once he started working in Bangalore in one of the well known IT companies and getting almost Rs. 1000 more per month than the nosy aunt’s son who lived next to his house when he transformed. He transformed overnight from a veshti draped lad with stains of sambhar on his t-shirt and a forehead smeared with ash to a guy wearing tight jeans that fitted the crotch so perfectly and the latest attitude T-shirt with a smart tag up his chest. Wirey eyeglasses with lens as thick as diamonds were replaced by flimsy lenses which could help change the color of his eyeballs per his dreams, wishes and fancies. The Atlas Goldline cycle was replaced by a smart bike with big tyres and all that was missing was a girl on the back seat to make the “vroom” complete.

It was during these days that during one of the weekend trips back to his hometown in T-Nagar, Chennai in South India he accidentally met the beautiful neighbourhood Marwari girl – his childhood crush. As he was just about to walk into the courtyard leading to his house, the rickety sound of a rickshaw chugging smoke into the air made his head turn. And a head turner she was. After all, hadn’t her father named her Mallika when she was a kid? Siva was still unsure if she is the same girl he had a crush on for so many years. But the new found confidence in himself, made him take a bold step to walk backwards and ask her – “Aren’t you Mallika?” and she replied “Gosh, aren’t you Siva?”

His response was “Call me SRK!”

To be continued..

Bachelorhood 2.0 Week 2 in September

Phew…so it was yet another week that went by me. It wasn’t that fast now that I try to think deeply on how it was. There was this cursory trip to Oslo for 2 days for business and what helped me survive those long hours commuting to the airport, flight and my journey back was the book “The Toughest Indian in the World” by Sherman Alexie which I had picked up from the Stavanger library on Sept 4th. What made me pick up the book was the word “Indian” expecting a book talking about NRI’s living in the US of A.

However I was wrong. This book is an interesting read on the lives of "American Indians" not the Indian-Indians, but native American Indians. Sherman has interwoven an interesting mix of short stories showing the changing times and affluence of the native Americans in the US. The way even the author tried to clear confusion amongst its characters is by saying “Indian with arrow in the hand” and not “Indian with a dot in the head”. Good read on the feelings, growing up pains of the native Americans in a white dominated society.

Movies:

Peepli Live: Awesome movie on a very serious topic proving we Indians can take a chill pill and laugh over the political and media circus that is taking the country by storm in various spheres with a specific case of “Farmer suicides”. The movie has all the touches of the same old art movies that came in the early 80’s starring Om Puri, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah with the wit and humor of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron kind of movies. A difficult balance, rightly achieved by less acclaimed actors. Hats off to Amir Khan Productions!

Udaan: Good movie on an dysfunctional Indian family starring a kid who is kicked out after 8 years in a boarding school and is now to live with his dad (Ronit Roy) and step brother. The step brother is very cutely essayed by the child actor. Ronit Roy has also grown in stature as an actor – thanks to his Amitabh like presence on the TV screen. The kid who essays the role of the main protagonist has also acted well.

Salt: Wow…what a movie! Angelina Jolie rocks! Probably the first movie that I remember seeing of this much talked about lady. She is almost like a rubber band – doing all those dare-devil stunts as if she is playing on the cot with her kids doing silly stuff. Liked it for the stunts and of course Ms. J!

We are Family: Was actually not going to watch it, but had one of my friends Doney come over to my place for lunch. So while we were thinking what next to do post lunch hit upon this movie. After 40 mins we both were not saying it, but had enough of it. Thanks to his rescue, he pushed off to meet some other friends for tea. Since I don’t like watching the same movie twice (and my wife hates me for it at times!) I decided I shouldn’t leave it half way. In between going to the Gym and speaking to folks back home in India I completed this movie. Kajol, Kareena, Arjun and the kids have given commendable performance. But the film won’t work, cos there is something missing, which I am still not able to figure out apart from the fact that Indian audiences have still not woken upto this fact on television. All that happens in real life can still be not admitted by folks as reality in life and if they get a chance to shun it, they will – by boycotting a movie like this.

Phew…enough banter on movies. This week should try finishing this Rudyard Kipling book I got from library, titled “Soldiers Three and In Black and White”. Tadaa…!

Bachelorhood 2.0 The survival guide in restaurants

Going to eat out to a restaurant is always a pleasure when you have company. But what does one do, when all one has for company is his shadow, thoughts in his mind and memories of companionship? Well here it is -

1) The "I am comfortable coming alone" confidence:

Make a decent entry into the restaurant, a confident walk and ensuring your eyes don't given in to the temptation of finding the nearest corner where you could dunk in and hide till your meal is completed. If you are supposed to wait till escorted by the waiter, have a pleasant plastic smile on your face (the one you usually have painfully acquired by posting for numerous wedding pics!) till the waiter comes and confidently say "Table for 1" as if it was a no-issue. Once you are led and seated on the table, be totally oblivious to the surrounding stares/ conversations from others. Be your pleasant self, order what you want to eat, have it and push off with the same confidence and smile.

2) The "I need some companionship" or "dependancy" mode:

Once seated, try opening your mobile phone and start playing with it as if this was what you always wanted to do in life - Buy a mobile and take it quietly to a restaurant so that you can play with it! Try SMS'ing all those friends whom you would never have wanted to SMS until this time. Also good time to catchup on some of the features of your phone, which made you buy the phone - though you may never have used those ever till this date. Other option is to clean your sent items of messages and re-read old sent messages. Try calling someone if you would like, while you wait for your food to arrive and have the same laughter, conversations that others around you are having.

3) The "Bookworm":

Once seated, open up the book that you are in the midst of reading, totally oblivious of the smell, sound, stares and the pitiful thoughts that you and others have for you for dining alone. Get absorbed totally into the book, creating the charachters in your mind and even imagining they are seated next to you and enacting the book out there in that restaurant. Just ensure you don't emote openly like laugh, cry or scream while reading through the book as this is the shortest way to be ostracized from the small society of which you are a part of!In fact even after the food arrives, you can balance the eating and reading simultaneously and feed your mind and stomach at the sametime!

I have tried all these three successfully so far! The bookworm was the one i hadn't tried for so long and yesterday i was "The Bookworm" in an Indian (read Indisk in Norwegian) restaurant.