Can't you switch the damn light off???

One of my flatmates is a guy who lives in his own world, and has little interest in mundane earthly things like closing the fridge door, taps and switching the lights and AC off after use. Amongst my flatmates, I generally come home from work first and this eccentric fellow usually leaves last in the morning, so I am accustomed to coming home and finding the tap water running, lights on etc. One day I even found the gas on. My flatmate had used it in the morning to light his cigarette, and did not bother to turn it off. Fortunately he left the gas on with the flame, otherwise one can imagine what would have happened on my return after about 8 hours. My repeated attempts to ameliorate my friends senses have yielded no effect so far.

So while having the same old "Can't you switch the damn light off when you leave?" argument with my friend, I remembered a childhood incident. I was at a friends house, who lived in a very small village. By small, I mean really small, with no roads, where a lot of houses were just mud huts. We were playing cricket, and headed to the kitchen during one break. Everyone huddled around the fridge for some cold water. My friend left the fridge open while we were drinking water, and since we were about 7-8 kids, it was taking some time. Seeing this one of the village boys was astonished. He asked "How can you leave the fridge door open like that? My mom won't even let me put the fan on during summer to save electricity costs". Not that I had an awakening or anything after this, but somehow the way the boy had said it in his rustic ways left an impression on my mind.

Rocking Chef

Found this cool chef from Chennai on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef

This guy is absolutely incredible. The sheer enthusiasm he exudes in his videos honestly inspires one to start cooking. Fittingly, his motto goes as "Inspiring others to cook".
He has his own website too: http://www.vahrehvah.com/
The availability of videos to go with the recipes really helps.

I was always a utility cook so far, cooking more out of necessity than any passion. My experience was limited to omelets and tea while in India. After coming to Cyprus, I graduated to dal-rice, khichadi, and some basic vegetables. We tried chapattis few times but failed miserably. Last year, I got a new roommate who was an awesome cook. He taught me a lil more, but everything was forgotten when I changed appartments. Anyways, Mr. Thumma has got the fire burning again.

Some of the recipes I have tried so far are: Ginger Chicken, Lamb fry, Lamb curry, Chicken Chettinad, Tuna Cutlets etc. All have turned out quite good. Have been boasting about this to my mom, so I'll need to prove myself when I go back home. I mean, feeding roommates is a different thing, as bachelors generally don't ascribe adjectives to food. If its cooked, we'll eat it. Hope this lasts

Wikipedia answers bollywood!!!!

I love this song "Socha Hai" from Rock On. I am a big Wikipedia fan as well. So here are the answers to all of Farhan's questions:

Aasma hai neela kyun
Paani geela geela kyun
Gol kyun hai zamee
Silk mein hai narmi kyun
Aag mein hai garmi kyun
Do aur do paanch kyun nahi

Ped ho gaye kam kyun
Teen hain ye mausam kyun
Chaand do kyun nahi
Duniya mein hai jung kyun
Behta laal rang kyun
Sarhaden hain kyun har kahin

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Behti kyun hai har nadi
Hoti kya hai roshni
Barf girti hai kyun
Dost kyun hain roothte
Taare kyun hain toot-te
Baadlon mein bijli hai kyun

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Sannata sunai nahi deta
Aur hawayen dikhayi nahi deti
Socha hai kya kabhi
Hota hai ye kyun…………

Aasma hai neela kyun
Paani geela geela kyun
Gol kyun hai zamee
Silk mein hai narmi kyun
Aag mein hai garmi kyun
Do aur do paanch kyun nahi

Ped ho gaye kam kyun
Teen hain ye mausam kyun
Chaand do kyun nahi
Duniya mein hai jung kyun
Behta laal rang kyun
Sarhaden hain kyun har kahin

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi……


I believe I can come up with incredible ways to waste my time!!!

Dinner in 3 minutes flat

If there were a competition at speed eating, I think I would be pretty good at it. I have developed this habit singlehandedly because of Indian television serials. Let me explain.

While growing up, my family always had dinner together. We used to eat early, about 8-8:30. This happens to be prime time for the pathetic, completely unbearable and worst possible Marathi soap operas. My parents were avid followers, and my dad rules the remote at home. I always ate with my back towards the TV, but still just listening to the dialogues used to drive me crazy. I used subtle hints, sarcastic taunts and open cribbing to express myself, but nothing worked. I guess soaps are addictive and my parents were hooked. It may seem trivial, but soap operas really do irritate me that much. Its not just the stories, or the lack of it, but the tilted camera angles, sudden zoom ins, the stinging background scores..... Also trying to figure out why my parents actually liked these programs made me even more mad.

To save myself of the ordeal, I started eating faster. Usually I would complete my dinner in about 3-5 minutes flat (roti, sabzi, daal and fruit too sometimes). This had no affect whatsoever, and I wonder if my parents even noticed. One day, I took my plate from the dinner table, like a buffet, and ate in my room. Now this had a marked affect. Suddenly the sanctity of our "eating together" ritual was broken. It was important to eat together, even if you were just watching TV. Now it wasn't as if we didn't ever have good family conversations at dinner, just not during the 8-9 time slot, when my parents most cherished soaps came. Late dinners and weekend suppers were always nice. Anyways my father compromised, and started muting the TV during dinner.

Unfortunately, I was almost out of college and the habit has stuck on. Even still, I usually gulp down my food, rather than savoring it. I have to make a conscious effort to eat slowly , especially with my European friends. Now these guys take their own time while eating. People here sit for hours over a meze and some nice wine. When I settle down, I sure will make it a point not to keep the dining table and TV in the same room.

PS - Sympathies with those who suffered Hindi soaps. They seem to be a notch higher on the Irritation Quotient

The coolest travelogue

If you ever had dreams of traveling the world, check this out:
http://www.betzgi.ch/en/main.html
This is by far the coolest travelogue I have come across.

I would categorize myself as a proud Indian, and usually don't wish I were born somewhere else. But I have to make an exception when it comes to traveling. Plannig any long trip across multiple countries for an Indian is a pain in the ass. We never get any Visas on arrival (except Sri Lanka and Nepal maybe). Nevertheless, I wonder how much planning and effort such endeavors require, and how these people finance it.

Answer to the finance qustion:

Do you love your job as much as him?

Let me start from the beginning

Today I had a rather boring design review from 6-7 pm (to accommodate for the California colleagues on the conference). My teammate was presenting the design. He is very methodical, and was going over each and every part in a lot of detail, so naturally the rest of us were looking at each other exasperatedly. From time to time, the Californians were stirred awake from their slumber and "Pardon me, can you please repeat the question?" was heard frequently. Added to this, there were a lot of queries from the testers, so in all, most of us were concentrating on the clock.

While explaining a long flowchart, my teammate made a mistake, and said, "Let me start from the beginning". There was a collective gasp from the entire room!!

Developed Indian Male

My friend was telling me about a friend of his who got into Asian Institute of Management, Manila (How so many of my transitive acquaintances seem to land up in IAS, IIMs, IITs is a discussion for another blog). Now this dude had applied for a scholarship to Asian Development Bank for his MBA. A person from ADB called him up regarding this, and regretfully informed that he was rejected. He went on to explain a couple of reasons as to why he was not awarded the scholarship.
Firstly, the dude was from India, and the ADB person said that they were looking for a candidate from a less developed country! .... wtf!
Secondly, the dude was told, "We prefer a female candidate. Of course, you cannot do anything about that."
As my friend said, "Good to have a sense of humor, even if you are rejecting someone"

Want Work?

Driving through Limassol Town Center today, I remembered an old incident which happened here about a year and half back. My flatmate and I were walking down the pavement, when a posh Mercedes S class slowed down near us, the driver lowered the window and asked my fiend, "Want some work?". Having been in Cyprus for a while, we knew the Cypriots well, so this didn't really surprise us. For most Cypriots, every coloured guy is a day labourer.

Anyways, my friend answered "No". The man was taken aback, I guess he expected an inquiry at the least. He asked again "You don't want work?". My friend calmly said "I already have work". The man sort of apologized and drove on. Now it so happens that this friend of mine is filthy rich, is from a very well to do business family and his father is a Politician. I was feeling offended at this prejudice and told my friend "You should have said something. How can these fuckers always assume that we are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants?" (now I have nothing against Bangladeshis, its just that there are a lot of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants here). To my surprise, my friend was least bit perturbed, and said calmly, "are Rajat, if I had said something, the guy would think twice before stopping and asking someone else, and some guy in real need of work, would probably not get it". I was taken aback. Now how the hell does one build such a perspective about things?

The Bad

I watched "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" AGAIN last evening. Undoubtedly the best Spaghetti Western, I am sure enough lines have been written praising the movie. In fact if you just type "the goo" in the search section in a Google toolbar, Google brings up the rest for you. Now that is the true measure of fame and success if you ask me.

Anyways, each time I have seen the movie, a completely different facet amazes me. At first it was the brilliant sound track and the catchy plot. Having loved the movie, I went on to see the prequels by Sergio Leone - "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More". Now these are good movies, and the character of Blondie slowly grows on you. So when I saw "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" for the second time, it was Clint Eastwood who stole the show for me. I was also intrigued by the depiction of American Civil War, and read a little bit more about it. So in my third attempt, I was left fascinated by direction of Sergio Leone. The director did not speak English and had never seen the American Old West - curtsy Wikipedia - so I find it phenomenal that he wrote and directed the film.

Yesterday, I found myself gaping at Eli Wallach's portrayal of "Tuco", the bruto. I don't remember when I last admired the comic timing of any film character as much as Tuco. It's not just the witty dialogs, its the impeccable manner of dialog delivery which makes Eli stand out. The "Bad" is undoubtedly the best part of the movie, i.e. until i see it once more, and discover something altogether disparate to admire.

Programmer unleashes creativity in an otherwise monotonous workday

Quixotic

quix·ot·ic (kwĭk-sŏt'ĭk) also quix·ot·i·cal (-ĭ-kəl)
adj.
Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.

I wish i could say that about myself once in my life at least.

Scene at Sauna

66 kilo Asian guy enters (me!). There is a 100 kilo Caucasian lying peacefully, soaking in the heat. Has good physique for his age (about 60-65 I guess). 66 kilo Asian sits down, adjusts to the temperature, and realizes its too hot. Anyways, few minutes later, another guy enters. He is about 140 kilos, with a humongous belly, and 66 kilo Asian is not sure of his race at this point.

140 Kilo guy looks at 66 kilo Asian and says: "As-Salaam Alaykum"
66 kilo Asian: "wa `Alaykum As-Salām"
140 Kilo guy: "Arabic?"
66 kilo Asian: "No!"
140 Kilo guy: "Pakistani?"
66 kilo Asian: "No!"
140 Kilo guy is rather clueless at this point.
66 kilo Asian to the rescue: "I am from India." (Feeling mera bharat mahan at this time)
140 Kilo guy: "Aaahhh! I see many Indian movies."
66 kilo Indian: "In Cyprus? Is there some where place they play Indian movies?"
140 Kilo guy: "No, I see on CD nowadays"
66 kilo Indian: "Where are you from?" (Got a hint from "nowadays")
140 Kilo guy: "Lebanon."

100 kilo Caucasian is fidgeting meanwhile, sits up finally.
140 Kilo Lebanese to 100 kilo Caucasian: "How are you?"
100 kilo Caucasian: "I am tired. Came here straight from work" (Obviously a Britisher from the accent)
140 Kilo Lebanese: "You still work? Where?"
100 kilo Brit: "I teach English to Russian students."
140 Kilo Lebanese: "So work is tiring?"
100 kilo Brit: "Not so much now. It was much more tiring when I used to teach the whole class. I did that for 35 years. Now I just take individual lessons."
140 Kilo Lebanese: "Very important to learn English. My father made me, my brother learn English, my sister learn French"
66 kilo Indian is wondering meanwhile if Lebanon was a French Colony!
100 kilo Brit: "French is out!!! Everyone wants to learn English. There are 3 -4 good schools in Limassol (took names I don't remember) and they all have English as their medium of instruction. Even French is taught in English!"
140 Kilo Lebanese: "In school, my teacher tell me write A, B, C. I write (showing pictorially) A, B and ")" (mirror image). I never good student."
66 kilo Indian: "Are there many Russian students here?"
100 kilo Brit: "Yes, quite a few. They have a lot of difficulty initially. I take lessons from 2 o clock. A lesson lasts about an hour."
140 Kilo Lebanese: "My brother go to London. Come back after 10 years and speak English like a Britisher"
100 kilo Brit: "Ah! The London accent! I am from the middle, and speak the Oxford way of English. The Southern, Northern or London Britishers have a different accent"

66 kilo Indian is thinking "They all sound like British accent" and suddenly remembers Mickey O'Neill from Snatch, played by Brad Pitt. Now that definitely wasn't English. And 66 kilo Indian's nose is burning because of the heat. Feels like it'll start bleeding.

140 Kilo Lebanese: "Yes, London English, like Margret Thatcher and Mr. Bean."
100 kilo Brit and 66 kilo Indian start laughing.
100 kilo Brit: "You know, Mr. Bean is a Cypriot by the way!"
Both 140 Kilo Lebanese and 66 kilo Indian express surprise.
100 kilo Brit: "Bloody hell! There are more Cypriots in UK, than in Cyprus! And they want us to get out of Cyprus. What if we send all Cypriots back?"

100 kilo Brit is making reference to 2 British Air Force bases in Cyprus, which completely fall under British Authority. 66 kilo Indian feels that it's good for Cyprus that the Brit bases exist, as they prevent the Turks from completely taking over the island. He anyway makes a mental note to check on google about Mr. Bean and the Cypriot population in Britain. (Both claims are not true btw)

99 kilo Brit gets up and heads towards door. The heat is now unbearable. 65 kilo Indian takes cue and also leaves.

Baaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg!!!!!!!

An accident happened right below my building few minutes ago!! There was a very loud noise. One car is visible, seems no on is hurt. Can't see the other car, but there's crowd assembled near it. But no Cypriot police still. 15 min and no police!!! Like my flatmate said, "Dangerous to do an accident here. Cypriot police can't be trusted to save u on time!!"

Blood Diamond

The last really amazing movie I saw in a theater was Blood Diamond. It was gripping right from the word go. A somewhat "real life" plot and stellar performances from the cast make it truly memorable. Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Dijmon Hounsou were nominated for Academy Awards in their respective Lead and Supporting Actor categories. Too bad they did not win. Jennifer Connelly is as gorgeous as ever and has an amazing role. The movie is extremely touching. A scene in the end when Solomon Vandy is in London and is looking at a diamond necklace in shop window, each diamond in the necklace metaphorically meaning a person killed in Africa, is very moving.

Thinking about the movie now coz i watched it again on my laptop. The song at the end of the movie has some interesting lyrics:
Everybody wants heaven, but nobody wants dead,
Everybody wants diamonds, without the bloodshed.

I wish more such movies are made.

Tsonga

One of my friends mentioned that Tsonga looked quite a lot like Muhammad Ali. Quite true I say.
Can't wait for tomorrow's match. My money is on Djokovich.

After the match: What an amazing final!!!!! Too bad i am not into betting. Tsonga is unbelievable. But i guess Djokovich was just more experienced when it came crunch moments having won 7 titles and been in a Grand Slam final before (even though he's 2 yrs younger than Tsonga) . This season looks very exciting. After the humiliation he received from Tsonga, Nadal will be fired up for the Clay season. Federer will want the missing jewel in the Crown. Djokovich has come of age. Then there are Tsonga, Nalbandian and Murry. Men's tennis has reached unbelievable heights of late!!!!

1 Cyprus Pound = 100 Rs = 2.54 $ = 1.71€

Above are the various conversion rates I have had to deal with over the last year.

No, its not a typing mistake, 1 Cyprus pound is equivalent to about 100 Rs. I wonder how such a small Island with hardly any industry other than tourism can have such a high valued currency. But, tourism is free money, and people do spend a lot of their hard earned savings rather extravagantly on holidays. Anyways, I had a very tough time when I first moved here, multiplied all prices by hundred, and had second thoughts before buying even bare necessities. Imagine my surprise when I came to know that the daily newspaper costs 2.35 Pounds!!! The annual DNA membership back home is cheaper than this!! This phase didn't last long thankfully.

Since we were paid in Dollars when I came here, the next rate to worry about was the USD-Cyprus Pound conversion. Now this has been extremely volatile. From 1 Pound = 1.4 USD in 2001 to about 2.48 last month. For my colleagues working here since before 2001, their salary converted to Cyprus Pound today is lesser than what they made seven years ago!!!! Anyways, it was a monthly ritual to wait/hope/guess when the dollar would rise and convert your salary for the monthly expenses. Some people even tried Credit Cards to outwit the Forex market while others dabbled with Hedge Funds.

There were 2 alarming side effects of getting habituated to Pounds and Dollars. Firstly, since Cyprus is so fucking expensive, I did all my shopping on the net and on my US trip last year. US is so incredibly cheap!!! I mean not only for electronics, but even apparels and stuff. And just thinking about the high prices in Cyprus, I have started to get carried away while shopping on the net (to have the items delivered to colleagues on site in US!). Secondly, I found myself dividing each price by 100 on my vacation back home and started tipping autorikshaw drivers!!!!

Anyways back to conversions, the European Union came to our rescue this January, and the Euro currency has been introduced in Cyprus. The Pound was pegged with the Euro at 1 Euro = .585274 Cyprus Pounds six months back. And I chose to getting paid in Euro instead of the dollar (having lost faith in Uncle Sam long back). Now I sleep peacefully not having to worry about any conversion rates, except twice a year perhaps when I (hopefully!) send some money to the motherland!

The Wonder Years

There was a series "The Wonder Years" which used to run on Star Plus when I was in School. Dealt with the life of Kevin Arnold, a 12 year old kid growing up in small town America. It ran for 6 seasons picturing Kevin from Grades 7 to 12. I used to watch it religiously. Can't say honestly that there are too many similarities between growing up in Mohapada, quintessentially rural India, and suburban America. But i could still identify with the characters, and fell in love with the show. The way childhood relationships are shown is simply brilliant. Some very simple and unassuming and others rather convoluted.

Looking back at my schooling, my experiences were very similar in that regard. It was so easy and natural to be friends with some people, while with others it was more intricate but equally pleasurable. This is nothing new i guess, everyone experiences it.

Anyways, see the show if u get a chance. Definitely worth it i say. Part of the final narration is:

Growing up happens in a heartbeat.
One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone.
But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul.

We dont know whom to hate!!!!!

Got this interesting statement from George, a Cypriot man i had a chat with today.

This nice fellow is one of my friend's Landlord and simply loves to talk. I was at his place when the Landlord came for rent and he was there for a good hour and half eventually chatting about various topics ranging from rich Arabs, property investment, work wages, Euro currency, his wife and North Cyprus. The entire discussion was very captivating.

North Cyprus, or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as Turkey and the people over there call it, is Turkish occupied area of Cyprus island. There is line of control monitored by UN between the North and South parts of Cyprus since 1974. Since 2004, people are allowed to move to either side via some controlled points. George mentioned that before the border was opened, they had not seen or met the people from the other side for 30 years and used to think that they were poor, uneducated and generally backward compared to themselves (the Greek Cypriots). Once the border was opened, a lot of people went back to see their ancestor's or old houses on the northern side. They were mostly welcomed by the Turkish people cordially for coffee etc and to see their houses. The same happened for the Turkish visiting the South side. And in few meetings, people realized that the Turkish were as rich, educated and looked the same like the Greek Cypriots. so George said "We don't know whom to hate! When we had no contact with these people it was easy to blame them. But they too are good hardworking normal people. The politicians, army or whoever created this situation are crazy!"

Cyprus converted to the Euro this Jan 1st. My friend's monthly rent was 360 Pounds which after conversion should be 615 Euros. They requested George to round it off to 600 Euros as its easy to divide between 4 people. To everyone's surprise he easily agreed, only saying, "You round UP the rent. Who the bloody hell decreases rent to round it up?"

While discussing about work wages, George recounted an incident with his friend. This friend of his is a construction worker and earns about 60 Pound a day. The guy had gone to a night club where he met women wanting to "hire her services" for the night. After a few drinks and initial conversation, the women casually inquired about how much money the guy made. On hearing his reply, she was surprised and said she'd never work for anything less than 100 pounds a day!!!!! And for studying 4 years of Engineering and working for a Software firm, i don't even get 50 Pounds a day!!!!!

Lastly, George mentioned in passing that his wife is going out of station next week. I casually teased him that he'll be enjoying the bachelor life. He said "My wife generally spends 4-5 months some place else. The day after she leaves, i feel really nice. I enjoy my freedom. Then the culinary question arises. But the worst is the sleep. After sleeping next to a person every night for 20-30 years, its very lonely and difficult to sleep alone!"