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Tuesday, November 30, 2004 "When you see things differently, you can do anything! Please speak openly & honestly with our sales team and remember we may be recording your call. Listen carefully and press a number"- This is what you hear when you dial O2 mobile network sales team (0870 225 7879). Don't know what these guys had in mind while phrasing this blurb, it not only sounds out of place but also irritating. Who are these guys to advice me to talk openly & honestly? In addition to the honesty bit, "remember, we may recording your call" sounds like a threatening note. Hardly the right way to welcome the new customers. Posted at 11/30/2004 09:54:02 AM Link Monday, November 29, 2004 DianaPerhaps if everyone connected with Princess Diana join together and publish a compendium of information, it would a world of good for many. If everyone publishes a book, releases a taped interview, presents some other evidence about Diana, how many sources of information would the future generation look for? Seven years after her death, there is no dearth of stories of whom Diana shared her bed with. At the way at which it goes, several decades later, we would still be able to find lot of 'sensational' stories about Diana. One big problem of being a royal in UK is, everyone wants to have a peek at your bedroom. Posted at 11/29/2004 11:00:18 AM Link Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Hot Des(s)ertI've never had fritters before. Neither did I know that it would be served hot. Last night when we dined at Good Earth, a Chinese restaurant at Bournemouth, I ordered a Banana fritters for dessert thinking that it would be some sort of cold & creamy stuff, only to find it served hot along with a syrupy sauce, tasting great. But what appealed to me most was the Vegetarian Pork. Since I have already had experience of being served prawns when asked for Veg. Fried rice, I asked the waiter several times about the ingredients. It was nothing but deep fried vegetables esp. cauliflower, capsicum and pineapples over sweet & sour sauce, making the plate very colourful. When taken with rice, it was heavenly. Having enjoyed it, now we aren't bothered whether its vegetarian or otherwise. Posted at 11/24/2004 01:01:02 PM Link Tuesday, November 23, 2004 Readers of the futureThere is a book shop on the way to my office. Today morning, I saw a boy of about 5-6 years running past that shop and stopped on seeing something, started giggling and called his friend - another 6 year old. On seeing what he saw, the other boy started giggling as well. The reason for their giggle was a fairly large book with the appropriate picture on its cover. It was the picture that caught their attention. The title of the book: Joy of Sex. Posted at 11/23/2004 09:45:18 AM Link Monday, November 22, 2004 What should I look for while buying a Digital Camera?I want to buy it for someone who wouldn’t be using it a lot, but occasionally. He doesn’t care about any hi-fi stuff. Any suggestions/recommendations? Posted at 11/22/2004 01:03:26 PM Link Friday, November 19, 2004 Indian Holy ManToday as I was walking past a school on the way to work, I found that the children were dressed up in different, funny costumes. It appeared that a Fancy Dress Competition, as it used to be called in India, was being held today. It was heartening to see that parents had taken quite a lot of effort in getting them dressed up as Dinosaurs, Saddam Hussein, Ancient warrior, Frog etc. A mother approached me and asked whether I could help her with her son's costume. That kid was being dressed up like an 'Indian holy man', dressed in orange with a long wig on his head, plastic trident in one hand and a little stick & a metal container to make up for kamandalam, all done to perfection. She even had some white & red powder to be applied in the forehead. Only thing she was confused about was which colour should be applied horizontally/vertically? I helped her do it the right way and that boy really looked like a young saint despite his lengthy black wig. That lady was saying that she had read in the media about the life of a recluse in India and went on to say how learned & noble they are. Perhaps, she hadn't read about the latest news on an Indian holy man. Posted at 11/19/2004 11:01:51 AM Link Thursday, November 18, 2004 A Lovely Photo Gallery by one Maciek Da... (dunno what his full name is) Among so many galleries on display, check out the one on India. For a change, it presents a realistic picture (pun intended).After enjoying those lovely photographs, do check out the other great photo blogs (Shyamal, Rajesh, Pradeep) and leave a note encouraging them. Nothing like a word of encouragement to do wonders to one's spirit. Posted at 11/18/2004 10:48:06 AM Link Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Ashoka, the GreatThis is not a film review or any historical note, but yet another trip down the memory lane. I was in Class IV or V then, studying at ARR Matriculation School in Kumbakonam. It was one school that took Sports meet & Annual days very seriously. Weeks of preparation would go on religious and most of the students would be a participant in one event or other. On that eventful year, I was part of a play titled 'Ashoka, the Great'. It was the same Ashoka and his same story that everyone knows. That guy Ashoka went for war with Kalinga, won the war but horrified on seeing the loss of life he turned a new leaf and became a man of peace. Thanks to my appearance, I didn't look like an Emperor, but someone thought that I would make good as a soldier. I know that I was not given that role due to my fine acting skills but only because I shamelessly, repeatedly & voiceferously volunteered to do anything to be up there on the stage. As it so happened, there was another group wanting to enact a play, our school decided that both the groups would perform on stage before a select audience (school management & teachers), who would select one play to go on stage on the D-day. Everything was going fine on stage and there came the part when Ashoka would be on the battlefield seeing the ruins. I, as an injured soldier moaned in pain, delivered some dialogue and died. My mate was to do the same. But an ever-smiling guy he was, he was laughing all the way in the battle and also while he was dying. His supposed hoarse cry out of pain evoked laughter from the audience. As if that was not worse, the guy who played Ashoka was made to wear high heel footwear after making some funny decorations over it. Probably he was wearing it for the first time, he found it hard to walk taking each step with a sort of fear, that he looked more an aged old man than a young, great emperor in the battle. At one place, he was supposed to stop walking, rest his foot on a log or something and was to deliver a lengthy dialogue, which was the core one for the play. Ashoka stopped walking, started his dialogue and rested his foot - but not on the log. What he thought was a log was actually my leg. That stiletto in his high-heel shoe went straight into my leg that blood started oozing out immediately. The very next second I let out a mild scream and sprung up. Ashoka didn't expect that kind of attack from a supposedly dead soldier. That was enough to upset his balance and he barely managed without falling down. In the meanwhile, I suddenly realised that I was supposed to be dead and fell back again. The entire crowd were rolling on the floor laughing. However, that didn't prevent our Ashoka from thundering his well-memorised dialogues. Should I say, which way the decision on who to take up the stage on the Annual Day went? Fortunately for many and sadly for me, that was the end of my career in acting. Long live, Ashoka. Posted at 11/17/2004 01:03:32 PM Link Tuesday, November 16, 2004 ShankaracharyaWithout an exception, these politicians, bureaucrats, religious men manage a huge smile flashing their toothy grin, when they get arrested. The pride in their face would suggest as if they are going to prison for a national cause. To my knowledge Shankarcharya hasn't done anything of that sort so far. However, having moved with politicians of all types, he had indeed picked up few lessons from them.. 1) To promptly plead for medical treatment the moment he was produced in court. 2) To say that the arrest is politically motivated and vindictive (through his lawyers). Given the influence of Kanchi Mutt across the political spectrum in India, would there be a free & fair trial in this case? Only time would tell. Posted at 11/16/2004 10:34:21 AM Link Monday, November 15, 2004 Aishwarya Rajnikanth soon to be Aishwarya Dhanush
Posted at 11/15/2004 10:27:00 AM Link Friday, November 12, 2004 Heights..Couple of days back, my wife was chatting with one of our relatives back in India. During the course of conversation, my wife had asked that person to have a look at my website. Pat came the reply, "No no! I will see it later. I don't want to disturb him while he is at work". Few years back, when I had gone to India I showed my site to someone. She was like "How does this website work while you are here? Did you leave your computer switched on when you came here? What if there is a power cut there?". Which one is better? :) Posted at 11/12/2004 09:50:01 AM Link Thursday, November 11, 2004 Happy DeepavaliTo those souls who are lucky enough to enjoy Deepavali at home, happy deepavali & have loads of fun! To those like me, who are at work on this day, happy slogging & a very happy deepavali too! Posted at 11/11/2004 09:54:10 AM Link Wednesday, November 10, 2004 Mysurpa & Raddish SambharYesterday, as the realisation about the fast approaching Deepavali dawned on my wifey dear, she set out preparing Mysurpa. Looking at the way it went, we thought it would end up like a set of bricks and even considered donating it to the nearby construction site, if we managed to take it out of the vessel in the first place. Sometimes as it happens to the surprise of everyone, like a rain in Chennai or like GT Express arriving on time, what she prepared indeed looked like a mysurpa. But one thing I wasn't sure about was: How much salt she should have added to get 25 pieces of mysurpa? In case if you are wondering "WHAT? Salt in Mysurpa?” with the ease of a politician, she shifted the blame on the salted butter she used for making ghee. Unsalted butter is hard to find here, you see. She is even planning to give some pieces of mysurpa to our Indian neighbours on Deepavali day. If ever, you hear about the breakout of any epidemic in this part of the world, you know the reason. In order for her to focus all her energy on preparing yummy-yummy mysurpas, I promised to prepare an unforgettable raddish sambhar for dinner. That would be a fitting compliment, I thought & told. As it happens to me most of the time, either I use too little or too much of tamarind. This time, it was the latter. Too much was too small a word to describe what I had done. In a rare act of magnanimity, I had added about 5 times the usual quantity of tamarind. Unforgettable. It truly was. Jokes apart, about two-dozen pieces of mysurpa came out really, really well. If ever, Sri Krishna Sweets think of opening a branch at Bournemouth, my wife would give a run for their money with her delicious tasting mysurpas. She threatened me that she would make me eat those mysurpas if I don't write like this, so I better. In the mean while, we are wondering whether some one would visit our place in the very near future. We have to finish off the sambhar, you see. Posted at 11/10/2004 10:03:09 AM Link Tuesday, November 09, 2004 Airport Experiences: London GatwickPart 4 of 4 When I approached the gate, I saw the check-in guy standing there. He recognised me instantly and it was obvious that he was looking for me. Luckily as it happens so often in the Tamil movies, the passenger who was before me in the queue had trouble carrying her cabin luggage. Her box spilled open in front of him and as every other crew was busy, he had to help her pack the luggage. Without wasting a second, I sneaked past through the gates and into the aircraft. After walking some distance, I turned to see him still helping that lady. The devil in me wanted to wink at him but he wasn't looking at my direction! :) Well.. What did I do earlier that gave me confidence to sneak in without trouble? I walked to one of the deserted Duty Free shop and picked up Johnny Walker. While paying for it, I asked the old lady at the counter whether I could get one or two huge carry bags. She promptly got me 2 big plain carry bags. But, they weren't of any use to me. I asked her whether I could get two bags that had 'Duty Free' logo in it. With a puzzled look, she asked me why. I couldn't think of anything better to cook up, so I told her about my situation. She gave a broad smile, took a huge bag with "Duty Free" logo and helped me pack the contents of the items into that bag. Now, it would look like I have made a heavy purchase of Duty Free goods. The clause I saw behind the boarding pass read, "Apart from the hand baggage, which shall not exceed the prescribed maximum limit, passengers are allowed to carry Duty Free goods of reasonable weight". It wasn't specified anywhere as what the reasonable weight was. If at all any of the crew managed to question about the size of my DF bag, I thought of using this ambiguity in the clause. As you now know, no one bothered about the extraordinary size of my Duty Free bag. In the meantime, due to the heavy weight, the Duty Free carry bag was stretched beyond its capacity and it was apparent that it would give in any moment. I found my seat but the cabin racks above were all full. As I was struggling to find some space for that bag, a cabin crew offered to help and lifted the bag to place it on the rack above. Perhaps, he didn't expect the bag to be that heavy, he lifted casually and at that very moment the bag gave in. Chocolates rained over me. Three weeks later, when I returned back to UK, there was a letter of apology waiting for me from the company that handled the check-in at Gatwick airport. They said that their employees have been warned of any rude behaviour and appropriate action taken. By that time, I had forgiven that person and had they sacked him, I would have been guilty. I called up Gatwick Airport next day and asked to speak to that guy. He came on line in few minutes. Fine, they hadn't sacked him on my complaint. I explained him who I was and he did recognise me and was more polite that time. Before hanging up I said, "Just called up to say that I managed to carry all the baggage into the aircraft on the other day. Thought you'll check. Have a nice day. Bye". In a way, what I did was wrong. I breached the air carrier's stipulated maximum weight. But I convinced myself by saying that I didn't commit any big crime. For a premium price I paid for the trip (peak season, that was), I think I made use of every penny I paid. PS: I could have said this entire story in a paragraph or two. But wanted to check the reception for mega-serials in Blogs. Not bad at all. Posted at 11/9/2004 10:14:21 AM Link Monday, November 08, 2004 Airport Experiences: London GatwickPart 3 of 4 Clearing the security formalities, I came to the Duty Free area. There were more than two and half-hours before the departure. The first thing I did was to look for a complaint box. When I found one, I wrote a lengthy complaint against the check-in person and rested. I remembered about my friend's request to get liquor. One of the connoisseurs of 'saarayam' suggested me to get Johnny Walker from the Duty Free and I was contemplating whether or not to buy one as I already had a huge stuff to dispose off. Unable to come to a decision, I sat down to take my breakfast and while doing so, I went through the terms & conditions printed at the back of the boarding pass. One of the clauses caught my eye. There it was. An idea germinated in my mind. I am no Einstein or Newton. Every crook would get that idea if they read that small print. I executed that idea to perfection and felt somewhat better. Still, I wasn't at peace. No man would like to see his best idea fail. What if our man thinks like a crook too? His last few words towards me was, "I will check". Anyhow, this is the best I could think of. Even after this, if he manages to find out what I have done, then my luggage deserves to be dumped. While thinking about all this, I heard a Tamil voice. A Tamil speaking guy was making a presentation of his plans to the world holding a phone. I didn't have to overhear, I just had to hear what he was saying. He was flying to Chennai via Dubai in the same flight as mine. He had just flown in from Canada and Gatwick was his stopover. I saw that he wasn't carrying any luggage on hand. I patiently waited for him to end the conversation, which he eventually did after more than an hour. An extrovert that he was, he told me that he has been working as Travel agent for the last 10 years. I told him about my current situation and asked him whether he could help in case of any trouble while boarding the aircraft. He assured me that there won't be any trouble and promised to standby as backup in case things go wrong. Would I make it or end up with egg on my face? Thinking of it now, it wasn't a matter of any importance. After all, it is a matter of chocolates and few other gifts to my family & friends. But on that day, I felt that my life's only mission was to smuggle those extra kilograms of goodies into the aircraft. With a thumping heart, I walked towards the gate. Posted at 11/8/2004 10:31:28 AM Link Friday, November 05, 2004 Airport Experiences: London GatwickPart 2 of 4 I stood in the queue again, but this time in a different queue. As it would happen at these times, when I neared the head of the queue, something happened and the same guy started manning this check-in counter. This weighing machine indicated that my baggage weight was 31 kgs. Did I not tell you that no two weighing machines show the same weight? I am more than 100% sure that it weighted more than 31 kgs as I saw that about 10% of the baggage was protruding from the weighing slot and the check-in guy didn't notice that. After murmuring something, he just let it pass. Without any necessity for petty mischief, the cabin baggage passed the test as well. I was smiling inside. It was then he noticed the backpack. In an ugly display of arrogance, he literally shouted at me, "what are you going to do with that bag?". In an equally offensive and mannerless tone I snapped, "thats none of your business. u needn't know what i'm gonna do with that". My tone infuriated him further. He said, "If i catch u carrying that bag into the aircraft, i'll make sure that you don't board the flight". I could faintly hear him murmur, "bloody indians". My baggage had already been checked in and I have got the boarding pass as well. Now, if I create a scene by calling his superiors for insulting me, I have got nothing to lose. With fuming anger, I would have called him names, perhaps uttered that four letter word. I was about to do that when better sense prevailed. I realised that there is no point in wrestling with a pig in the mud. While we get dirty, the pig actually enjoys it. In a calm & composed tone I said, "Boss, is this a way to treat a customer? Is theren't a way to tell that politely. In what way, me being an Indian make you angry with me?". My sudden change of tone surprised only me. He was not exactly floored, but did mellow down a bit. Only a bit though. "Okay. Don't take that bag to the flight. I will check". Without waiting for another word, he said, "Next please". I moved away from the place for the second time that morning. Had it been Heathrow airport, one of my friends would have accompanied me and I wouldn't have had any problems disposing the extra baggage. Perhaps, my roomies would have feasted on those chocolates. But it was Gatwick and that meant that I have to handle this on my own. Sending the package to India would cost me half my airfare, so that was ruled out. Sending it back to Hounslow is possible, but that would mean spending more than the value of the content on courier. So, the only option was to find a bin and dump the goodies. I was mentally ready for that, but the rude attitude of that person made me feel that I had to somehow beat the system in a big way, although my initial idea was never to tweak the system. Somehow, I felt that it is the way I could salvage my lost pride. I called up my friend who said, "carry on as far as u can da.. let dumping be the last option". What he meant was, instead of using the bin at the check-in tarmac, use the bin near the gate. Posted at 11/5/2004 10:09:29 AM Link Thursday, November 04, 2004 Airport Experiences: London GatwickLess than two months to go for our trip to India and we are all excited about that. As we were talking about what and what not to pack, it reminded me of my trip three years ago. Part 1 of 4 That was in August 2001 and I was living in Hounslow - about 10 minutes drive from London Heathrow. A quickly planned trip meant that I got tickets only to fly from London Gatwick, which is in the other end of the city. I was visiting India after a gap of 15 months - my longest stint away from home at that time and in between I had visited about 5 countries, accumulating several kilograms of photographs. Goodies meant for all & sundry and little parcels given by friends to be passed on meant that my baggage really swelled in size, but I had no idea about its real weight. Passengers from Europe are allowed one main luggage up to a maximum of 26 kgs (they wd normally tolerate up to 30 kgs) and a hand luggage weighing 7 kgs. I know for sure that British Airways staff wouldn't be flexible in accommodating a kilogram or two beyond the prescribed limit, but I heard that the other airlines were quite lenient. Fortunately, I had booked my tickets in Emirates, flying via Dubai. A common trick to beat the weight problem was to check-in very early. So, on the D-day, I reached Gatwick airport at around 6:30 AM, 4 hours before the departure. Even the check-in staff hadn't arrived. Eventually when they did, I was first & the only one in the queue. Without showing any expression on my face, but with great effort I lifted my main baggage and placed it on the weighing belt. The electronic display showed the weight as 45.5 kgs. The guy behind the counter was aghast. No way he was going to allow me with that kind of weight. The fact that man behind the counter was an Indian made it even worse. It appeared that he has never learnt a lesson or two on politeness. Very rudely, he asked me to take some of the things off my baggage and check-in again. I was pissed off at his behaviour. I may be carrying more the prescribed limit, but that is no reason to be rude. I wouldn't have hesitated to create a scene there, but I decided that it was not the time to fight. I made a mental note of his name, whoever he is, he could be tackled later. I simply moved away from the place. In a quiet corner at the airport, I opened up my main baggage and wondered what to throw out. Finally, I took out the huge chocolate parcel & some misc. stuff and weighed the rest of the baggage in the nearby machine. It showed a respectable 34 kgs. Certainly, I hadn't bought 11.5 kgs of chocolates, but no two weighing machines gave identical results. I knew that my cabin baggage would also be weighed. In India, they don't ask you to weigh the cabin baggage. If the baggage is of normal size, they let you go ahead. Among the things I had, there was a little weightless backpack. I took it out and along with some other stuff I reduced the weight of my cabin baggage to around 8 kgs. Now, I carried a main baggage weighing 34 kgs, hand baggage weighing about 8 kgs and a backpack weighing around 12-15 kgs (I didn't weigh it though) plus a little camera bag. I hadn't actually decided what to do with the backpack. Let me cross the bridge when it comes was my thought at that time. Posted at 11/4/2004 04:49:58 AM Link Monday, November 01, 2004 Deepavali PurchaseWhat comes to your mind when you think of Deepavali (I don't like to refer it as Diwali, which gives me an alienated feeling!) - new dresses, sweets, crackers list, holidays, TV, new movies, Oliyum Oliyum, roll cap, gun, deepavali marundhu, smell of oil & ghee, deafening sound of atom bomb, lakshmi/kuruvi/yaanai/sivaji/bijili vedis, pattu pudavais, rains, dhavanis and much more. Above all, more than the day itself, what I enjoy most is the pre-deepavali excitement of deepavali purchases. The amazing crowd, which would be there in every little town or city in India is something that has to be experienced to be believed... there would be T.Nagars in every town. Shops would open over the weekend couple of months before Deepavali and tailors would have their best month of the year. "Deepavali purchases ellaam aachaa" could be heard from all & sundry. Festive atmosphere would truly be in the air... cut... cut... end of flash back... now, the reality. Yesterday, my wife & I decided to make our Deepavali purchase and we went to our local high street. If the same set of chain stores make all the high streets in UK indistinguishable, the bland - lifeless designs of clothes sapped our enthusiasm very quickly. Thanks to the weather of this time, majority of clothes on display were winter clothings. Fifteen minutes and six shops later, it was still the same. Not that there isn't a shop selling something to wear in UK, but simply put, the variety on display is very much monotonous for my taste. I would have chosen to call off our shopping, but my wife insisted that we buy something for the sake of shaastra of wearing something new on that day. At last, after lot of hunting and literally digging out from one of the shop's shelves, we completed our deepavali purchase in 40 minutes flat. Posted at 11/1/2004 01:50:34 PM Link | ||
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