Aravind's Blog

Trip to Newzealand - South Island - Part I

2009-01-10T19:21:00.003+11:00

A forced 3 week vacation at work during Christmas and new years made us plan a holiday back in September. Due to visa conditions, holiday period bookings and time restriction we had to plan our itinerary in September itself. I wanted to visit New Zealand for its natural beauty, it being an underrated travel destination and the fact that I live in Melbourne which is closer to NZ than India is.

Tickets to Christchurch
With so much competition between the airlines and the absence of need of food in a 3 hour flight the tickets were cheap. $400 AUD return was a bargain, if I waited a couple of weeks it would've been cheaper. If there are flights from Queenstown to Australia, it would've been better as one needn't drive back to Christchurch.

Car hire
We hired a car as opposed to hiring a campervan or trailer as the requirements were to have a private toilet and cheap at the same time. Campervan's are not economical for a short trip as the cost of hiring a car and living in motels/bed and breakfasts is cheaper than hiring a campervan. Besides campervans need maintenance.

Melbourne to Christchurch
We took the low budget airline Pacific Blue to Christchurch and lost two hours by the time we landed in NZ. The South Island of NZ has a population of 800,000 only of which Christchurch is the largest city, so not much traffic on the roads. Except, of course, tourists like us. Driving in NZ is the same as Australia, but the first thing I noticed is that when turning left at traffic lights one should give way to on coming traffic from the opposite direction, where as in Australia when turning left at the traffic lights you have right of way after the pedestrians if they are crossing.

Christchurch
Our primary reason to travel to NZ was sightseeing and Christchurch doesn't offer much for our requirement, so after checking in to Base Christchurch (Backpackers accomodation with hostel type and hotel type rooms) we drove to Akaroa. As we started off at 5.30 PM and were in a hurry we could not carry our cameras and missed taking pictures of this wonderful harbour town. You can look at Flickr pics of Akaroa here. Akaroa is about an hour's drive from Christchurch. By the time we were back to our hotel it was 8.30 PM and still light.

Christchurch to Hanmer Springs and then to Oamaru
Brochures are a traveller's friend. But not all brochures say the truth. One such not-so-true brochure was the Hanmer Springs one. We thought that the hot springs of Hanmer Springs were natural springs, but were wrong. So an hour plus drive and about $15 entrance to the Springs we were greeted with artificial pools with different temperatures and mineral quality waters in each pool. After spending an hour there we started off to Oamaru. On the road to Hanmer Springs there is river with jade coloured waters, somehow we missed the road to get closer to this place.

Oamaru is a quiet town on the coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the main attraction of this town are the two Penguin settlements, one of Yellow Eyed Penguins (only about 20 nest on the beach) and one of the smaller Blue Penguins (hundreds of these). The Yellow Eyed Penguins on the Bushy beach were too far to take pictures of but a group called New Friends of Bushy Beach left two pairs of binoculars for viewing pleasure.

Bushy beach Oamaru:

Blue Penguin Colony is about 10 minute drive from Bushy beach. The penguins come back to their nests here after dawn starting at around 9PM during summer. For $20 per adult head one can sit in a viewing platform and watch the penguins coming back to their nests. Photography is not allowed here in case the automatic flash of cameras startle the penguins.

Oamaru to Queenstown
A three hour drive from Oamaru will lead one to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. The journey itself was delightful with lakes, historic paintings, dinosaur remains finds on the way.

On the way to Queenstown from Oamaru:

But the destination was something we didn't quite expect. Situated on Lake Wakatipu, this picturesque town is the stuff made of material for computer wall papers and scenic calendars. The only adventure activity we did in Queenstown was ride the jet boat. For about $75-$90 one can get a ride on this boat which goes at high speeds and takes 360 degree turns.

Queenstown (not just good for Adventure sports):

Queenstown to Te Anau
We ventured into Fiordland part of NZ to visit Milford Sound. While Queenstown to Te Anau in itself is picturesque the drive from Te Anau to Milford (about an hour's drive) takes ones breath away. The combination of snow capped mountains with clouds foraging in between them, rainbows, colourful flowers make the sights overwhelming, there is not enough space in camera memory cards to capture all the beauty.

On road to Milford Sound:

Rest in Part II

Google's new Favicon?

2009-01-10T18:39:00.004+11:00

Most of google's services are now posing a new favicon (A web icon where you can identify the website just by looking at the icon).

It was recently changed to this:
And now some Google sites are showing this:

No doubt, this is more colourful, but not all of their sites show this for one reason.

On being amit_123

2008-09-29T20:17:00.003+10:00

Krish Ashok's excellent blog here first mentioned amit_123. A typical North Indian who hates everything from Madras and feels that the North is superior in many ways than just the weather (amit_123 hates Chennai’s weather).

We have all heard about the typical South Indian as well (I am from Hyderabad and proud of it), the one who hates learning Hindi and though knows it won't utter a word of it. Both these types of aforementioned people are probably in every Indian. But then I think that is just me giving it not a second thought and letting rip the very human trait of being judgemental. But then are these types of people truly around? Do these people think of themselves as superior in some way?

Living in Australia was the first time I got to meet a very good cross section of Indians. Being from Hyderabad meant for me to know how to speak in Hindi/Urdu/Hindustani and Telugu and determining the part of India where a person comes from just by listening to their first few words of Hindi. I have met both the typical amit_123 who refer to anything from the South as Madrasi and the Tamilian who wouldn't speak one word of Hindi though being a running database of ShahRukh Khan movies.

So, when I first read about amit_123 I didn't think of these people, but promptly left a comment as amit_123 myself to redirect some traffic to my blog.

The great thing about being in Hyderabad is one doesn't run into any amit_123 or Madrasi for that matter. They would feel very comfortable being themselves in most cases as there is free run of good South Indian food with equally good number of Hindi speaking people around. So, no cause to complain. A Hyderabadi probably wouldn't go and live anywhere else in India (may be overseas yes) and if he did, he probably would complain about the lack of proper Biryani joints thus making himself a hyd_123.

I admit that I stumbled across Krish Ashok's blog quite a few times and also read Great Bong regularly, but the first few times have dismissed them as being very regional. But now I have kicked the amit_123 out of myself and do see the better parts of these blogs.

On watching a report about the unrecognised new country of Abkhazia the other day, I heard how the president of this region was saying that they are culturally and linguistically different from Georgia and thus are a different country. This made me realise how the same thing is true about different parts of India, but we still live as together as one, not just now but have been doing so for thousands of years.

So when you find an amit_123 or a Madrasi who complains, smile and take him out to eat Biryani, perfect blend of North and South. You can't change their complaining though. It's just human.

uTorrent - Frequent Error

2008-07-28T21:25:00.002+10:00

If like me you are using uTorrent and keep getting the error: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process", then the issue might be something very simple... like Google Desktop.

After searching for a fix for this issue on the net and not reading the very apparent messages, I switched so BitComet. Bitcomet used to be good once but not any more, it locks up the entire system after it starts.

To fix the issue, check if you are running Google Desktop and then:

Go to its preferences page
Go to "Do not search these items" option.
Select the folder where the file you are downloading is being saved.

If you are not running Google Desktop then there are other options like Unlocker which I haven't tried (so cannot recommend).

Good news in the Morning

2008-07-28T21:16:00.002+10:00

Sleeping on Friday night after hearing the news of Bangalore blasts was bad enough, waking up on Sunday to the news of Ahmedabad blasts made very bad news for the morning. Monday morning, no bad news, should I feel happy or should I feel sad for those who passed away?

The poor average Muslim joe in Gujarat now has to fear more than anything else as he might have to wake up to something like Godhra news again. The Hindu fundamentalists now will come out in full force, no thanks to those Muslim fundamentalists who planted the bombs.

Blogs I read - Futility Closet

2008-07-26T19:24:00.002+10:00

If you have an afternoon to spend reading fascinating stuff, the you probably would like Futility Closet. A Sample:

The first arrest by telegraph took place in 1845. John Tawell poisoned his mistress at her home at Salt Hill and fled by train to London, but police sent the following memorable message ahead to Paddington Station:

Read rest of the story here.

1 Trillion pages on the internet

2008-07-26T11:18:00.000+10:00

Official Google Blog: We knew the web was big...
Google now indexing 1 trillion pages and counting. If you read the post above, they say it may be infinite as new pages keep getting created every minute, the crawlers will have a tough time keeping up.

In a college assignment to create a search index for an article containing 1 million words, my program took about 30 seconds to execute. 1 Trillion web pages with so many words in them, it is awesome just to imagine that.

Blasts in Bangalore

2008-07-25T20:20:00.002+10:00

Again, these bastards (whoever they are) did this. 2 dead as per reports. All the hype about how the Indian spirit won't die and people will go back to work tomorrow will be played over and over again. And if there was a cricket match scheduled it will go on.

No one will take long term steps to fix this. Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur and now Bangalore. While the government will continue playing cash games in the Parliament.

Hopefully not many people are affected and more hopefully, the Indian government now takes some concrete step about this.

Knol - A review

2008-07-24T20:24:00.004+10:00

I write this like I write some movie review which comes after much awaiting by fans. This is not a movie review. Unless you have been living in a cave you probably know about Knol by now. Knol is Google's answer to Wikipedia.

So, the search engine giant has created an online encyclopedia for us, so that if wikipedia's answers and the numerous web links wikipedia provides isn't sufficient then we can go over to Knol to get brainier.

I went over and checked the site out. It is impressive the way Google has set it up. Here is how I understand it works:
1. You write a Knol (or an article).
2. Some others who read it make suggestions.
3. You have the control to either make edits based on their suggestions or not.

This throws up many issues: As with Wikipedia Edit Wars, if you disagree with someone you can create your own knol on the subject or worse, can write a very biased article about someone or something and get a few people to agree with you and get your article popular. Imagine how politics would be played on Knol.

The articles themselves are very good and would probably take an afternoon or two just to go through one of them. See the articles on Type 1 Diabetes and http://knol.google.com/k/ryan-moulton/how-to-backpack/oggVvQ9h/aMOKbQ. While the depth of the article and the knowledge of the author is appreciated, there certainly is lots of information to go through.

What does the above picture mean? Probably nothing. Late nights on TV there used to be ads about random stuff with women just smiling and only at the end of the ad you would realise how dumb those ads are. The articles have pictures very unrelated to the actual article. Not sure what they want us to look for here.

Also, as someone pointed out there are no actual links to other articles within articles. When I first learned about wikipedia it was hailed as the perfect example of internet working with links to other places within articles so that internet grows. None of this here in Knol.

While there are certainly other concerns about search results (will a Knol article rate higher than anything else?) or about how multiple articles on the same subject will be handled, Knol is certainly a good way to get quality information from qualified people.

Australia - No Fair Go!

2008-07-21T18:27:00.003+10:00

When trying to look for work as a student, I hit many blocks. It wasn't the number of opportunities available, Australia has been having a very good run of low unemployment rates with a large number of jobs still being advertised. Currently, this report shows that there is a very low unemployment rate in Australia (around 5%), and at the time of this writing, jobs website Seek.com.au is advising 212,700 jobs online.

I cannot count the number of applications I made for specific and relevant jobs, but never even got a call back. The same jobs were being advertised time and again, but no go for my application. When I did get one lowly call center job, I met with so many over-qualified professionals working with me, I knew I wasn't alone. That was five years ago.

Now my wife faces the same issues. This is not a rant about not getting a job, but more of a pattern that I see emerging as even my wife's colleagues are still overqualified professionals getting by with a job which will pay the bills, barely. No amount of overseas experience or qualifications matter as she and her colleagues keep applying for different jobs.

Then I read this opinion article in The Age, the author Helen Szoke talks about the something similar:

At a time when we are hearing so much about labour market shortages and skill shortages, Harnessing Diversity reveals stories of people who have lived in Victoria for some time, can't get their overseas work experience recognised and can't get a job. How can this be so, when we know that some sectors of the job market are running at 20% vacancy rates, when employers are using all sorts of strategies to retain workers because of labour market shortages?

This part of the article is certainly very demeaning:

Take, for example, the research on people with Arabic-sounding names who failed to win an interview until they changed their names on their applications to ones that sounded Anglo-Saxon.

If someone looked at this in a different light, they probably would call it racism as this is systematically avoiding outsiders. May be not racism, but some kind of bias towards people only with Australian experience, but you probably see my point. The people who are struggling probably won't be able to speak up as they are too busy worrying about their career.

Helen also says, "The land of the fair go is an illusion for many migrants.", lets hope people in charge of hiring actually do something about this.

Picture courtesy: Auckland Art Gallery

Dark Knight: A different look

2008-07-21T18:20:00.003+10:00

Blog LifeDev has listed 8 ways The Dark Knight is different to other movies, I happen to agree with all of them. On Saturday we had to go to two different cinemas to get a ticket for this movie and also had to wait in the for about 20 minutes to get a good seat.

There are only a few movies that break the norms and become something special because they didn’t do what everyone else did before them. The latest Batman movie The Dark Knight is just one of those movies.

Read the rest of the post here.

Ronaldog!!

2008-07-20T21:15:00.002+10:00

No words!

Crime in Melbourne - Part 2

2008-07-19T14:43:00.002+10:00

As previously noted on my blog, Crime in Melbourne is pretty non-existent. I keep getting traffic through search engines about this issue and here are a few points I would like to make:

Assault type crime is lower in Victoria (of which Melbourne is the capital) is lower than the national average, even lower than in NSW, as per this.
The last major scare in Melbourne city was 2007 CBD Shootings. It wasn't a terrorist type scare, nor was it organised or pre-planned.
There aren't any street muggings, at least none are reported.
Victoria Police have released their Crime stats here.
While Footscray and some other areas used to be a problem earlier, they are much safer now.
Late night train rides can be an issue with drunks and druggies creating nuisance for others, however, they do not interfere with others.

Rest assured, I feel as safe in Melbourne on the streets as I would feel in Hyderabad or at my home.

Indian Caste Discussion on Economist.com

2008-07-18T17:42:00.002+10:00

Was reading this story on Economist.com:

PEOPLE cross the street to avoid Baby, a sweet-faced young woman dressed in a cherry-red salwar kameez. It is the wide iron pan and wire brush she carries that mark her out as someone to be avoided: these are the ancient tools of the “manual scavenger”, a euphemism for those who clean up the faeces from houses that lack flushing toilets.

A couple of delightful discoveries in the story:

Sulabh International has been started by a Brahmin.
The same Dalits who were not allowed to enter temples are making wicks for oil lamps.

Great story, greater moral for those high-caste idiots who think they are superior.

Obama to target Pakistan

2008-07-16T18:40:00.002+10:00

In what seems to be perhaps the most logical step being taken or even considered by the US, Barack Obama says he would target Pakistan if he becomes the president.

But Obama, who also promised to use diplomacy to end Iran's nuclear program and renew US alliances, promised to switch the focus of US military action overseas from Iraq, to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Source

This is great news, as someone finally is looking at the right way towards the whole Al-Qaeda issue.

Otway Forest

2008-07-15T18:54:00.003+10:00

The wife's birthday on a weekend was just a very good time to visit the Otway Forest just along the Great Ocean Road. When all the weekend pack of tourists were away on the snow mountains, we went to some place where fewer visitors planned to go.

Great Otway National Park is 3 hours drive from Melbourne. The natural rainforests features Australian wildlife and also some great Waterfalls, which unsurprisingly very few people bother to visit.

Slowing the shutter speed when taking pictures of a waterfall produces the silky effect that can be seen here. Without a tripod, I think I did ok.

It also has Otway Fly, memo to Australian government: Constructing a high tower in the middle of a forest and ripping off visitors by giving them access to it is not appreciated.

Want to go to the top? That will be $20, thank you.

Otway remains the younger brother of attractions when compared to the Great Ocean Road, but is much more beautiful if you want to work for it. (The walks down and to the waterfalls is only for the very fit).

Comma rules!

2008-07-13T17:30:00.002+10:00

Some rules about how to use the comma in daily use are here.

One of the examples:

10. Use commas to avoid confusion. For example: Tell the doctor, pepper is one of your asthma triggers. Or better yet: Tell Christopher, Columbus discovered America..

Also, while on the topic of a comma, read up on the Oxford Comma.

Epic India is Epic!

2008-07-11T23:03:00.003+10:00

Click on pic to view larger version.

Found this on Wikipedia, here.

Interesting to note the familiar names of places after watching Ramayana and Mahabharata on TV when I was young. Places of note are:
Kuru of Kauravas
Panchala of Draupadi's father
Dwaraka of Krishna
Magadha
Anga of Karna
Gandhara of Shakuni (note the geographical location, Afghanistan perhaps?)

Also of note are kingdoms of exotic tribes in Pink. Yakshas, Rakshasas, Asuras etc were referred to as different types of beings with special powers, Rakshasas were for example simply demons as depicted in Ramayana. As I haven't read Ramayana myself, I am not too sure about it now. This maps certainly is a good way to read into India's ancient history.

6 Reasons I won't get the iPhone tomorrow

2008-07-10T18:22:00.003+10:00

Tomorrow the new iPhone 3G will start selling in 23 countries including in Australia. I won't get the new iPhone because:

1. It is too costly. If I wait at least 2 months, I would probably get an upgraded model or the same thing for cheaper.

2. It is a new model (3G) and with all electronics there may be a few technical glitches that may need fixing.

3. Contract. Sure, in Australia I have a choice with three different providers, but if I want to move between providers I will have to break the contract and pay termination fees. I should be able to buy the phone outright and then plug my SIM card in and be able to use it.

4. I am with Three. The only mobile carrier which is not offering the iPhone. This may change in the future.

5. Everyone will have it and it is not a novelty anymore. Whenever the price decreases, I can be able to point and feel smug about how I still have the same thing they have and I didn't have to mortgage my house to get it.

6. And the number one reason I won't get the iPhone tomorrow, is because I am broke. :(

Total

2008-07-10T18:15:00.005+10:00

This made my day in the morning itself.

Found here.

AVG 8.0 now malware

2008-07-04T18:47:00.003+10:00

As per this.

Even my favourite site Whirlpool has been affected by AVG sending out DDOS attacks to Whirlpool. Around 12 per second.

For someone who has recommended AVG to so many friends and colleagues, this is disheartening. I used to trust this software and now in the guise of protecting us from the internet malware, AVG itself has turned into one.

It all started when grisoft launched 8.0 and the pop-ups started coming up to upgrade, this was annoying in itself. The installation needs one reboot and the first scan needs another reboot. And now I am giving it the boot.

Free alternatives are:
1. As per Simon:

If you follow some basic rules — don't download dodgy crap, don't use IE6, use a virus-filtered email service like gmail, and stay behind NAT routing — you can avoid most everything out there.

2. Avast
3. Avira

UPDATE: Peter Cameron from AVG has released an update here:

As promised, I am letting you know that the latest update for AVG Free edition has addressed and rectified the issue that Simon and other members of Whirlpool (and others) have brought to our attention. This update has now been released to users and has also been built into the latest installation package for AVG Free.

Indian Scientists Firm Believers

2008-07-02T18:59:00.003+10:00

My father was at best an agnostic, refusing to bend to norms but still leading us into the rites on a major festival. Understandably, this drew criticism from my mom about how even our family doctor was clearly very religious. "Are you wiser than him?", she would ask. The comparison of course meant that the doctor studied science and still is religious.

Seems like my mother had a point. As per studies it has been reported in The Hindu (lucky coincidence) that:

A survey, by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut and Hyderabad-based Centre for Inquiry, found that religion and faith had deep roots in the minds of Indian scientists.

The upside to this is that the religious scientists refuse to develop any kind of weapons, a concept that makes one wonder how much better our world would've been if all scientists thought this way (Not religious, but against weapons).

On the 150th Anniversary of the Theory of Evolution, this news has been brought to you by the very irony that also made Robert Oppenheimer (contributor to the Nuclear bomb project) who quoted Lord Krishna's words, "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds".

Hancock: Review on Wired

2008-07-02T18:56:00.002+10:00

I am looking forward to this movie. Wired.com has put a review for it here.

Yes, he can fly, yet the hard-drinking, bulletproof superhero is so reckless that his life-saving rescues destroy property and prompt lawsuits, jail time and snarky comments from bystanders.

Books I am reading

2008-07-01T18:53:00.005+10:00

A frenzy of book buying has got me a ton of books at home, like a child with a big piece of candy, I am slowly reading through them.

The books I am reading are:

1. Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian (Preview: Engaging, Interesting)
2. Cervantes, Don Quixote (Preview: Old School, Amusing, Satire)
3. Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers (No preview, haven't started)
4. Homer, Illiad (Preview: Read it once in school before, want to read it in full)
5. Alexandre Dumas, The Man in the Iron Mask (No preview, haven't started)

If you have read any of these, please provide a short review in comments.

First Indian Gay Pride March in New Delhi

2008-06-30T20:02:00.002+10:00

As per this. This is great news for the gays of India who not only have been persecuted for very long, but actually have some very harsh laws against them.

A quick search for Section 377 leads to links of laws in Singapore and India pertaining to gay legislation. The reason the code is the same is because it has been inherited from a common British law. So, if it is such an old law, it is time it is reviewed.

But with Eve Teasing being such a prevalent issue in India, the society taking gays as natural is probably still a long way off. But with this news of Gay March going off peacefully, there is hope.

If you want to read more about Section 377 please check out Naz Foundation.

Spanish Apes have more rights than humans in some countries

2008-06-29T22:29:00.003+10:00

Spain’s parliament approved a measure Wednesday to extend some human rights to gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, becoming the first country to explicitly acknowledge the legal rights of nonhumans.

From: here

This news is great for the animals, I am not too sure that they realise this though. If you randomly pick a human from India and an ape from Spain, the Spanish ape probably has a better chance of being treated. Think about it.

Phoenix Mars Lander is on Twitter

2008-06-28T20:27:00.002+10:00

If you guys know what Twitter is then Mars Phoenix Lander is on it providing us Earthlings with updates and news. You can follow MarsPhoenix here.

If you don't know what Twitter is then it may be a good thing to get on to. You can follow me here.

Wordsmith changes email format

2008-06-28T18:37:00.002+10:00

After more than 10 years of text emails, Anu Garg of AWAD (A Word A Day) has changed the format of the emails to HTML. There isn't much great about it, but it looks much better than the text emails.

If you are into learning words and haven't heard about this service it is great to learn new words, go to http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html to learn a new word everyday. With around 400,000 words in English there is much to learn I reckon.

Life - Part 2

2008-06-05T21:47:00.003+10:00

After waking up today the first thought that crossed my mind was, "Another chore done, what's next?". Life got so routine that even sleep is another chore for me. :(

This cartoon sums up what I feel like about it now:

Source: http://www.savagechickens.com

'Life' is the favourite theme of cartoonists it seems, with this one showing how much we 'play' in 'life':

Source: http://www.subtire.com

And life summed up in this Persian comic:

Source: www.haditoons.com

This is how I felt two years ago:

Alarm clocks. Snooze buttons. Cereal breakfast everyday, serial breakfast. Train ticket. Petrol costly. Drink coffee during morning tea. McDonalds. Worry about weight. Credit card bills. Mobile ringing. Office meeting. Call home. Mild home sickness. Beer. Hair cut. Working holiday. Long weekend. Washing machine. Press clothes. Vacuum cleaner. Government taxes.... Life!!

Careerwise!

2008-06-03T19:35:00.003+10:00

Looking for a job is exciting, very exciting. You are geared up to get more money and not just the 3-5% of annual raise the company plans for you. Almost no one gets the 5% raise, but when you are looking for a job, you can command a salary depending on the experience. Lesson learnt: Loyalty pays less than 5%.

A new job is certainly not very easy to find, nor is moving out of your comfort zone painless. But the excitement of doing something new and proving a different set of people how good you are is something of a challenge I do enjoy.

Job hunting is a time that is certainly stressful, but in retrospect feels so much satisfying. You get to learn a few new things about yourself and your confidence certainly shoots up. The mindset that you take in the interview room certainly sets the tone. The few interviews I wasn't too sure about, I didn't make it.

I followed tips given on few career blogs (psst, here - http://career.alltop.com), here are some tips that I worked on:

Don't flood the market with your resume, if a recruitment agency sees your resume too many times they will probably start ignoring you. Apply for jobs that you are certain that you will get a call for.
Do a follow up call with the agency/referrer to check if they received your application.
Fix your resume (search on the internet on how to make it better, I got calls just by doing this).
Write a good and very relevant cover letter, it should make the person open your resume to read it. If there is no cover letter or it is poorly constructed, they probably won't go any further. Again, search the internet for this.

I am now happily employed in a new organisation. After months of searching without any results, I got two offers on the very same day. Very good advise from my wife made me pick the right one even if this one pays lesser. Another career tip: If they talk to you about your hobbies in the interview and they offer, then work there.

Out of form? Indeed!!

2008-03-03T21:20:00.002+11:00

One very convenient excuse for a string of bad performances of a cricket player is "He is out of form!". Now, that is the most pathetic excuse one can give for anything.

What does it mean? Lets see what I can come up with:

I am having trouble at home with my wife/girlfriend and not able to concentrate while playing.
I cannot concentrate because I am constantly calculating my earnings and tax returns in my head.
No matter how much we sledge, it doesn't seem to affect the opposing team. Let me try this...
I am the man, I always perform, look at me do this...

"Out of form" excuse has been used by many a cricketer, the last days of Ravi Shastri, Navjot Sidhu, Mohammed Azharuddin were torture for cricket fans as the batsmen came in to the crease and then just had a picnic. In the old days if a hunter went to the jungle and came back empty handed he would probably be ridiculed so much he would give his profession up.

Agreed, there is some bad luck when at the crease and probably the opposing team is in much better shape than you are, but when you are consistently inconsistent then you must step down for a while.

Now, lets see what professions or performances would not allow the excuse "Out of form"!...

Student failing all his exams.
Air Traffic Controller, God forbid!
Soldier.
A cook.

So, why are these highly paid cricketers getting away with that excuse?

Hayden calls Harbhajan 'obnoxious little weed'

2008-02-27T12:58:00.002+11:00

Listen to this http://media.theage.com.au/?rid=35838 (The audio clip begins with an ad.)

In other words, "He still keeps objecting to our sledging after all this time." Note that it was Hayden himself who started it.

Also, to Ishant Sharma he says, "We all play for our country mate!". But Hayden also plays for Chennai Super Kings.

Goa - India Trip Part 2

2008-02-24T22:39:00.004+11:00

When I decided to travel all over Australia and then may be more across the world, I realised that I haven't travelled anywhere in India itself. Sure, I have been to Udaipur when I was young, but that was with my parents and not as laid back as travelling is supposed to be. So, as honeymoon plans were being made we had to pick Goa as one of our destinations as my wife had been there earlier and she knew a bit about it.

We reserved first class train tickets to get there, first class being air conditioned coaches with clean sheets, clean towels and marginally better food service. Also included in the deal were cleaner toilets and an attendant to clear the litter.

Earlier, getting to Goa meant taking a train upto Hubli and then taking a bus ride to get there (or direct flight). But train lines were now going to Goa state. The last stop of our train was to Vascodagama, but we got down at Margao and spent Rs 550 on our auto trip to Candolim where we were supposed to stay.

The major thing that gets you in Goa are the costs involved. Rs 550 for a 55 kilometre trip wasn't much as the taxi cab charges would make us poorer by Rs 770. We took the cheaper option.

Beach shacks in Goa are the places to spend your day in. I heard that these are set up only during winter. At the shack one can drink, eat, read a book, have lunch, have dinner, drink a bit more, watch fireworks, play board games and much more without leaving one's cushioned seat. All this while taking in the fresh salted air in and watching the sun go down.

Renting vehicles is the way to move, unless you want to spend all your cash on taxis and autos. The rent is around 200 to 250 rupees per day and require minimum paperwork. The guy we were talking to said if there is Police lafda(issues) then I need something, I gave him my bank atm card which I don't hold money in, he kept it for five days, cash was handed over and I had a scooter at my disposal.

Northern Goa has the most number of beaches that are recommended. Ask anyone and they will rattle off names like Anjuna beach, Vagator beach, Arambol beach etc. All of them in the Northern side of Goa. Candolim is in the Northern part of Goa and going to any of these beaches didn't take too long a ride.

The roads are very narrow in Goa and it feels like you have gone back a 100 years looking at those old style houses and churches, driving by them you would occasionally come through to huge fields surrounded by coconut trees. Commercialism, if alive and well in Goa, has not hurt the natural beauty away from the beaches.

Fort Aguada is a proper fort. Though paling in size to other bigger forts in India, this fortress has a moat with self explanatory design. One doesn't need a guide to go around it, nor does it take hours of walking through it. The views from this fort of the sea and of Goa are not to be missed.

The one beach that is not be missed is Arambol. I have read about this beach in Jamies blog and wanted to get there. It is a good 40 kilometres from Candolim and took about an hour to get there. But there was a double surprise when we got there. On the way to Arambol is another beach called Mandrem.

Mandrem Beach surrounded by coconut trees. The coconuts cost Rs 50 each (compared to Rs 6 in other parts of India).

If the major beaches of Goa are filled with touts and sellers of an assortment of trinkets Mandrem and Arambol are featured with their absence. So, to really relax one has to first get here and then sleep it off in the sun.

Sellers of trinkets and various other types of clothing speak very good English. It is about their survival for them. They also speak in rhetoric: "You kidding madam?", was a question posed by one lady when my wife tried to bargain for a sarong.

The temperature while we were there was a gorgeous 30 degrees with some humidity as to not make it dry and hot. Guys could ride around without their shirts all day and all night, so did many of them.

More about Goa later.

Australia Apologises

2008-02-12T21:01:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow the 13th of February 2008, will be a great day in the history of Australia. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is going to apologise formally on behalf of the Australian government to the Aboriginal community. This apology will be for the policies of Stolen Generation which were in place for almost a century from 1869 to 1969.

This is great news, not just for the aborigines of Australia but for every Australian as they shake off the stigma attached to their past and now move on.

Full text of the speech is here.

History being made and I am present here, I feel very lucky.

Qtrax - Update (Don't bother)

2008-01-29T23:21:00.000+11:00

Looks like I got excited 'bout Qtrax very early. With reports from the blogosphere not very encouraging and Wired giving it a miss. I tried to download the player but keep getting 'page not found', so won't bother with it till encouraging reports come up.

So, for now it is back to hoping for a really free music downloading source. Till then check out Lifehacker's list on ways to download and listen to music on the web (free of course).

Qtrax - 25 Million songs for free download

2008-01-28T22:04:00.000+11:00

Starting tonight, Qtrax is putting up 25 million songs for listening and downloading for free. This is an ad-supported site with a peer-to-peer network for downloading music.

This is great news for music lovers like me. I just hope that this doesn't go the Spiral Frog way where the music is only available for downloads in the US.

In other music download news - Amazon music is considering going worldwide with their DRM free sales of music online.

Happy Republic Day, Happy Australia Day

2008-01-26T19:05:00.000+11:00

From Australia Day website:

The tradition of noticing 26 January began early in the nineteenth century with Sydney almanacs referring to First Landing Day or Foundation Day. That was the day in 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain and the first governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove.

From Indian Government website on Republic Day:

It was on 26th of January 1950 that the constitution of India came into force and India finally enjoyed the true spirit of freedom. More than on a political level, the day has emotional significance for Indians. Attached to the day is the recognition that we live in a sovereign, secular, and democratic nation that breathes on the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

Today, I have double the cause for celebration. A proud son of two mothers, I am a citizen both of India and Australia. Overseas Citizenship of India has recognised its global citizens and gives opportunity and the privilege for expat Indians to enjoy the benefits of being an Indian citizen as well.

As if on cue, I got my OCI passport yesterday along with a sticker on my Australian passport with validity date of LIFELONG.

Have fun on your holiday and enjoy the benefits of living in a free world.

What a win for cricket!!!

2008-01-20T00:35:00.000+11:00

After India's performance and its luck with umpiring in this series, I wasn't really sure of what would go down in Perth. Given the WACA's history and Australian team's aggressiveness I imagined Perth would be a draw rather than India's win. If India did win, then may be it would be a tight call.

But, no.

India won the series like champions of the game. When I used to watch Billiards and Snooker matches I used to think that I could hit the shots that the pros could, but there was one difference, the pros could do it repeatedly. So, when Ishant Sharma, R P Singh and Irfan Pathan bowled ball after ball with great accuracy and correct line and length they did show real skill in bowling.

That 19 year old Ishant Sharma would trouble a quality batsman like Ponting was not just amusing, but real treat to watch.

What would be memorable is R P Singh's hanging on to the batting along with Laxman to give just that little bit extra runs to India during their second innings. Kudos to Mitchell Johnson who made Indian bowling look stupid along with his adventurous shots, that stuff is what makes champions champions.

At the start of the game, the odds for India's win was $8, something I wouldn't really worry about. If I did bet on India, they might not have won, effectively, I made them win.

Picture courtesy: Cricinfo.com

Nobody remains a virgin...

2008-01-19T12:44:00.000+11:00

Quite F***ing true.

Monkey walks a robot

2008-01-17T00:50:00.000+11:00

Scientists in Duke university USA connected a monkey's brain to a robot in Kyoto, Japan. The monkey's thoughts made the robot walk.

Read all about it here.

Live in Fear, die anyway

2008-01-17T00:31:00.000+11:00

According to a New York Time article, American's are probably worrying themselves to death. The cause of worry? Terrorism!

But worrying about terrorism could be taking a toll on the hearts of millions of Americans. The evidence, published last week in the Archives of General Psychiatry, comes from researchers who began tracking the health of a representative sample of more than 2,700 Americans before September 2001. After the attacks of Sept. 11, the scientists monitored people’s fears of terrorism over the next several years and found that the most fearful people were three to five times more likely than the rest to receive diagnoses of new cardiovascular ailments.

Living away from India and getting the news that there has been a terrorist attack in Mumbai or Hyderabad worries me a lot. I make frantic calls to friends and family to make sure they are okay. But the response to any of this call is a very casual, "Don't worry about it.".

Major shopping centres and tourist places do have mandatory security checks in Hyderabad and no Hyderabadi would blink before letting someone else grope you for possible bombs. In effect, they just grin and bear it.

But the wonderful thing about all this is, there is no fear or worry that they might be attacked. I am no psychologist or a social-worker to find out whether people really are afraid, but one look at the way people congregate at various exhibitions and no one in the family raises any concerns about security when planning to go anywhere, it is evident that the attitude is definitely positive.

Be resignation to fate about death ('When your time comes, you go') or the immense and pervasive faith ('God will do right'), Indians are definitely better off in this area. They might not be enjoying the benefits or comforts of a first world country, they are not hindered by first world fears.

My India trip - part 1

2008-01-14T23:58:00.000+11:00

I just returned from a seven week relaxing trip to India. The trip was for a very personal reason and also for a bit of travelling on the side. The spirit of the people there and the ubiquitous positivity of the people amazes me still. The happiness factor is definitely very high there. Mix this with the available food options, family gatherings, cheap travel with hundreds of worthy destinations and a very good weather make me kick myself why I don't live there.

Of all the things you love about India its traffic is certainly not one of them. There were times where I longed to stay back and continue my life there, but once I hit the road, I am too glad that I don't live there any more.

Whinging and bad-mouthing apart. There are quite a few changes that I noticed that the government is working on to tackle the various issues. And I cannot help but wonder that if India has come this far despite the lax policies and omnipresent corruption, what where would the country be if things were a bit better much earlier when development started accelerating.

So there are now footbridges on major roads in Hyderabad (which, sadly was prompted by the death of 2 school girls) and plans are being laid for metro underground rail, which will take another 5 to 10 years by the time they are fully operational. The traffic issue will get worse before it starts looking up.

Public servants who sweep the roads have been given longer brooms so that they don't have to bend when doing their job. I always notice this because I cringe at the thought of them bending and doing their jobs with small brooms, but now am happy for them. It took so many decades for this change to come, probably no one ever protested enough. Not all municipalities have this though. One can still find some cringe worthy scenes of old ladies hunched up amid the dirt.

While my flight was taking off from Hyderabad, all the street lights looked very hazy through the flight windows. I was wondering why. Only later did I realise that the smoke and dust make them look that way. Why has no one thought about paving the roads so that there is less dust and dirt on the roads is another multi-decade question.

Will write more about my India trip later.
----------------------------------

The reason I went to India was to get married. The wedding was in typical Bengali style with styrofoam crowns and conch shells blaring. I am now a honorary Bengali.
The wedding followed by a honeymoon trip to Goa and Hampi, both places being very relaxing and wonderful places to visit.

Title Change

2008-01-13T01:36:00.000+11:00

Not to focus only on Australia and India, I have now changed the title to make my blog more generic. I don't know if anyone reads this blog, but since I have written about cricket, the traffic has been constant.

Unrational? Yes. It may not be a word, but I will use it, just to show case my quirky way of writing sometimes.

Taare Zameen Par - Stars on the ground

2008-01-12T02:34:00.000+11:00

Okay, the cheesy translation(which is, due to an some inspiration by my local DVD guy who wants to translate every movie title) aside, the movie TZP itself is a star in its own and all other rights.

When the rate of sub-standard movies coming out of Bollywood is faster than the birth of potholes on Indian roads, we have a winner. Taare Zameen Par, I am sure wasn't made to be part of the race.

There are a few times when a very new artist out performs senior players in the industry. 'Sixth Sense' is one example of this. Lux New Face Award in Filmfare awards is not. TZP is another example.

When every new movie that is made in Hindi has to have a romantic angle to it and very subtle points are exaggerated with emotional music, a song and liberal use of glycerine on the heroine's eyes, TZP managed it with great acting and minimal music. The point in the movie where the shishya (pupil) outperforms the guru (teacher) is true not just in the story but evident even in the acting. Aamir Khan's direction, of course played a huge part in production of this gem of a movie.

Ishant Avasthi is a dyslexic kid stuck in the race for perfection on report cards. A race set by parents and schools, but the participants never realised they were running in. So, when he cannot pass exams due to his inability of spelling and reading he is despised for his inabilities by his teachers and parents. This, by the way is nothing new for any kid in India, where he/she is judged solely on their report cards and nothing else.

His condition, dyslexia, is discovered by his teacher Ram Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), who takes upon himself to improve Ishant's condition by teaching him. I thought this was another example of Bollywood excessiveness until I found out there is a pretty good reason for this.

As pointed out earlier, the entire movie rests only on great artistic skills of Darsheel Safary, the young artist who outperforms Aamir Khan not just in the story but in real life. When Darsheel weeps on the screen out of sadness, it radiates. "Fully grown men wail", was one observation noted in the cinema by a friend, I don't consider myself fully grown (not mentally at least), so I did not wail, but I was moved enough.

There is very good use of animation in this movie. Of all the children's movies that Bollywood doesn't make, one would think that animation is not part of their forte. But the few times that it does come up in TZP, we know that there is real promise in that direction. Whether directors or big studios would make some good children's movies is another question.

So, when you want a respite from all the stupid comedies and over-acting from old actors, a breather from the item numbers and a break from over use of glycerine on thick make up of heroines, watch Taare Zameen Par for some very genuine acting and a heart-touching story. I would translate the title as "A Star from Bollywood".

The Haneef issue

2007-11-03T19:13:00.000+11:00

"Wow! You are getting new roads around here.", I stated the very obvious happening in the streets of Hyderabad. "Yes, it's an election stunt", was the rather smart reply coming from my 10 year old cousin. Oddly, the part of new roads being an election stunt was very obvious as well. That was back in 1991.

Any casual observation of a politician's activities in a democratic country will make things very obvious that most of the good deeds they are doing is an election stunt. Even 10 year-old's cannot be fooled.

Caught in such a good deed by Australian immigration minister Kevin Andrews was the Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef. Being a distant relative of the suspects in a terror attack in the UK made Haneef find himself in detention in Brisbane. Subsequently, charges were laid and due to lack of evidence, bail was granted. In what involved knees and its jerks (pun-intended) the honorable Immigration Minister promptly cancelled Haneef's work visa on character grounds. At this point it is worth pointing that Dr Haneef had a temporary work visa in Australia and his departure from Australia was viewed as suspicious.

One would dismiss such an act as an unfortunate misjudgement on the minister's part, but for the subsequent acts of his office. The office leaked selective information without context to the press to show that Haneef was indeed guilty. Laying mortar is a relatively easy task accomplished for another tenure in office, but these kinds of slip ups was enough battery charge to kick start the Australian opposition parties into laying it thick on the ruling party and demanding enquiry into the whole fiasco..

What both parties unfortunately overlook is the protection of law and order (rather respect to it) and ultimately Haneef's well being. As Australia gets closer to elections, I hope everyone here sees through both party's pithy bickering.

As an aside, this is what happened to another terror convict David Hicks. Another pre-election stunt? You decide.

Gap uses Child labour in India

2007-10-29T21:24:00.000+11:00

See here.

International clothing company Gap has called an emergency meeting with suppliers in India, following the discovery that some of its clothes have been made using child labour.

If you didn't know what GAP is, it is a major clothing store chain in the US. This is nothing new in India and on a very small discovery in the great labour scene of India. GAP clothing is also going to destroy all the stock made by these factories who employ kids. Just giving it back to those kids would've made their day or month or year depending on the quality of the cloth as these kids probably work for kapda (Clothes, trio of roti, kapda aur makaan or Bread, Cloth and Shelter that so many Indians work day-in and day-out for).

Crime in Melbourne

2007-10-27T23:29:00.001+10:00

Where do you live? Footscray? Oh my god, is it safe?

This is quite a normal question I keep getting asked by new comers to Melbourne. And to tell them that the suburb I live in is very safe only for them not to get convinced about it makes me feel a bit upset.

Ok, there are a few suburbs in Melbourne that were once not very safe and by safe I mean if we can walk from the station to our home getting off the last train without fear of anyone disturbing us. Out of my 4.5 years in Melbourne, I have lived more than half the time in Footscray and never have I been disturbed or even afraid of anyone stopping me to ask for some change, a smoke(cigarette) or even threatened.

I have been to Sydney twice and spent a total of 8 days there, in this time I have seen more street fights in Sydney than in 4.5 years of living in Melbourne. May be I was just at the wrong places or may be that's just the way Sydney is.

In fact most of Melbourne is very safe not just for guys walking back home but even my girl friends are not afraid of getting back home late at night. This post is actually wasted on something that is non-existent and I like it that way.

Monkey kills senior official in New Delhi

2007-10-22T17:13:00.000+10:00

See here. As inconsequential as news this really sounds, the reason I am blogging about it is because I read it in an Australian news site.

A WILD monkey that attacked the deputy mayor of New Delhi has been blamed for his death.

This, when news about Hyderabad blasts went largely unreported here in Australia. I guess the giggles factor counts. There is nothing funny in 35 people dying due to a terrorist attack.

Indian spectators taunt Andrew Symonds....

2007-10-20T16:18:00.000+10:00

... or may be not. This message is for the omniscient media who have pitched notions such as 'Cows on the main streets in India', 'Turbaned Indians praying in front of Taj Mahal when aliens attack', 'Kangaroos on the main streets in Australia' and my personal favourite, 'Brides not meeting grooms before their wedding in India', please back the f*** off and report the facts as your supposed to!

Andrew Symonds was not subject to racist taunts, he was teased with monkey noises and ape like acts by individuals who probably belong to the jungle. Where does racism come into the picture? Unless monkeys are another race living amongst us.

For the record, us Indians do have a lot of respect for cricket and cricketers, we just get into the heat of the moment and start throwing things and making noises if team India is losing. When millions of us actually water at the mouth at the thought of India trouncing Pakistan in any form of the game, you can see that the audience at the stadium actually do congratulate even Pakistani cricketers for their achievements on the field. Still not convinced? then may be this should convince you. Seriously though, even Australian cricketers will know the passion Indian fans have for cricket.

What must have prompted the antics of a monkey must've been the appearance of Andrew Symonds with his braided hair and copious amounts of zinc that he applies on his face. I am sure that the average Indian would not know how to racially taunt someone like how 'Kaffir' would be the word to taunt a South African black player.

I congratulate team Australia for winning the series and am a proud Australian (one of my two countries) as we have won another series. As my friend Akhil did blog about this, I would say: "Andrew, get a haircut". Sad for India as they have lost another series.

Update: See here, Andrew Symonds never complained, it was the media who blew it out of proportion.

What's been happening

2007-10-20T15:56:00.000+10:00

Actually nothing more than the normal course of events, except for Spring is here and the spirits are high. Them spirits were in fact low, so the posts weren't in at all. But now back to business and hopefully a good run of regular posts till I take a big break.

I am now an Australian citizen, so may be I should change the blog title to something like "The larrikin from Green Land". With the rules on immigration in Australia changing faster than Linux updates, I have had a good option of living here only for 24 months as a permanent resident before being eligible for citizenship. For now people have to wait for four years or so.

The citizenship test was also smooth and was undertaken by an Indian-Australian. May be it was just to drive home the fact that Australia is actually made up of lots of Immigrants, the swearing in ceremony was held by another Indian-Australian lady.

They don't let you smile in Passport photos any more. I don't think any terrorist would be smiling either when getting a passport done. The ones who actually submit straight-faced pictures should be promptly arrested.

I am now also in the process of getting Overseas Citizenship of India also known as OCI. The time of getting this processed according to the website is 6 weeks, but when I called in and asked it is more like 4 months. So, for now I am going to get a tourist visa to go to my country. "UNWARRANTED PHONE & WRITTEN ENQUIRIES MAY DELAY THE PROCESS." - This is just a notice on the visa information page, they probably have a basket at their office labelled "Delay these", once someone makes an enquiry.

More updates from this Golden Land soon.

The Race Card

2007-08-12T21:04:00.000+10:00

Walking into any Indian restaurant one is likely to find many whites savouring the seriously watered down versions of Indian dishes. This is not just to prevent the highway murder which would be result as a consequence of the spicy food to an untrained mouth, but also to gain more customers in the long run.

On one such event recently (of walking into an Indian restaurant, not highway murder) I saw the all familiar group of one or two whites sitting with a big family of Indians. Indians like to boast of their culture at the drop of the hat to anyone who is remotely interested. Coming to an Indian restaurant with an Indian family would qualify as being interested in the food and culture. I would imagine the whites were given a fair dose of the culture by the all too proud family around the table.

Prone to imagination as I am, I turned this situation around and tried to see myself with an African family at an African restaurant eating their food and listening to what they say about their culture. If such a situation comes around, I would relish both the food and the company.

Such a scene of an Indian sitting with a group of Africans/Japanese/Europeans would not be too common in a multicultural place like Australia. One can accuse me of gross generalisation here but I cannot really say us Indians to be really interested in other cultures. Apart from trying to westernise oneself which is the cool thing to do, Indians are not really interested in anyone other than themselves.

Why then, I would like to ask would Indians who want to leave India so desperately and travel to western countries but absolutely do not want to know others? Why is Australia (or anywhere else) is just to make money and send it back home, but not mingle and celebrate the diversity? Isn't calling westerners racist and at the same time trying to isolate oneself from all others while living with them hypocritical?

Passing of a Grandfather - For a 12 year old.

2007-06-23T14:23:00.000+10:00

Just when the memories of my grandfather are fresh in my mind. Blogger and writer Sam DeBrito presented this wonderful, heart-rending piece of memorial for her grandfather by 12-year old Pia from the remote town of Weipa in Queensland, Australia.

Hate, love and in-between

I hate funerals, everyone crying, whimpering and sobbing, Kleenex and soggy hankies flying everywhere. I can hear the Frank Sinatra My Way music sailing in as my grandfather's coffin is carried by my older cousins and relatives.

"Regrets I have a few but then again, too few to mention," I hear the deep, strong-as-a-lion voice of Sinatra belting in my ear. It is like a big annoying fly I can't get it out of my head, that won't ever go away.

I'm certainly not going to cry. I'm not that sad. There are an obese amount of people here, relatives I don't even know, you'd think my grandad was Elvis Presley or something. I'm sitting next to my mother who's literally crying her eyes out. She's looking at me sideways like I'm some extra-terrestrial. She must think my blood is made from ice and that my heart is a hard, freezing icebox, refusing to make any emotion whatsoever.

"He was a wonderful grandfather, Dad, and a mighty man all round," sobs my cousin Ben. He looks like a wreck, his eyes like gushing waterfalls, full of fresh, raw and clear water.

I've got better things to think about. It's in the middle of the day and the sun is outside, sauntering through the windows, bringing life into the dark and disturbed room. You'd never know it, there's nothing shining in here mentally. I'm too ashamed to look at anyone in case they take offence or get embarrassed.

Everyone is dressed very formally; tailored suits and dresses, good shoes, make-up. Most of the outfits consist of black, navy blue and brown - the most depressing colours in the rainbow. My grandmother is dressed up the best I have ever seen her, wearing a matching skirt and vest with horrible, 80's style, so-over-and-done-with shoulder pads. I feel like telling her to get with the times and throw them in the bin.

Everyone puts roses, daisies and tulips on my grandfather's coffin, which is made of hard oak with a nice glossy sheen, the best money can buy. Beautiful flowers, daffodils, tulips, some bright and some pastel - colours that stand out on the shiny coffin lid. They look fresh and premature like the beautiful gift of life has just burst into them.

I feel a lot of emotions: awkwardness, confusion, wonder, sadness. I start to remember. He was a wonderful man; tall, beer gut, bandy legs and a croaky voice. He liked a beer or two, or three or four. He was a great bloke to have as a grandfather; he treated me like a goddess, but with restrictions too. He taught me right from wrong, how to say a few Russian words and when a tomato was ripe enough to pick.

I'm suddenly struck by the fact he's no longer around. How will life go without him? I talked to him everyday, sometimes about my innermost thoughts and I never had to explain anything. I feel like an arrogant, too-good-for-this, too-high-class, insensitive idiot for not crying. I'm overcome with feelings of goodness and joy; the world feels like it has stopped, paused for a few moments.

A slow, long, wet drip slips from my eye and runs down my cheek. It feels like ice on my warm face. How did I let this happen?

A Grandfather's passing

2007-06-06T22:43:00.000+10:00

Why are children and grandparents very close?
Ans: Because they have a common enemy.

I got the call from my sister, I was at work, I heard the news and couldn't comprehend it for some time, then called my father, he was at work too but he did not know yet. I walked away and drove home, missing a few red-lights, not starting at a few green ones. My grandfather, one of the very few relatives I respected had passed away, I cannot think of going back and meeting him because he won't be there. What I will be meeting is the family he spawned and see his qualities in them.

Though we talked very less, it was more of the understanding that we shared. When he knew that I would be leaving for Australia he did not question my decision, rather encouraged me to go ahead. When I went home for the first time, I saw him first. He was there, tall and strong waiting for I don't know how long for me to come out of the terminal. When I touched his feet, he hugged me tight.

One of my earliest memories of him was sleeping besides him waiting for him to tell me a story. But he was working, cutting away at one of his Burqas. He used to stitch this gown worn by muslims, a Hindu himself. But work was work and he was good at it. He would come back and tell me a story of an elephant. I don't remember the story, 'cause I slept. It was a sleeping story.

He got all his five daughters married. It is a huge achievement in India, where the father of the bride does not only burden himself with the weddings but also a bit of dowries, he handled them all. He was around for the wedding of two of his grandchildren, my sister and my younger cousin. He wasn't just around, he helped with my cousin's wedding as well, monetarily and physically. He was lucky to play with his great-grand child-my niece. He was 85 when he passed away.

Always up for treats: ice-cream, sweets, Biryani, Paya (Hoove's curry), kidney curry, it was readily made under his orders. The grandchildren got most of his love. No request was denied. There would be no reason to request anything, they were readily available.

Always up for exercise and being fit, At 85, his diabetes was under control. He could walk down five storeys of a building without help, his much younger wife couldn't perform the feat. (Any one with problems with legs would know that going down a flight of stairs is harder than going up.). Him and his two elder brothers would finish a whole cooked goat in one go. I have never seen him sick or not at work. There were times he would be asleep, but the orders for Burqas would come from far and wide. His favourite story would be when he would walk all the way from Hyderabad to Secunderabad (about 12 km) to meet my other grandmother (my father's mother) who he was distantly related to.

All major events were celebrated with pomp. A garland and sweets for all birthdays were a must followed by a feast with Biryani being part of the main course. All of us grandchildren would demand feasts which were honoured. Invitations to such events could not be refused.

He was an epitome of optimism: Everything good always would happen (according to him), there was no reason for pessimism. My sister was getting married when my then would-be brother-in-law wasn't yet employed, when most of us wouldn't think of going ahead with wedding plans, his word was final: "He would get a job.No reason for us to postpone the date for that reason". And that was that.

In Hyderabad, Muharram is observed by Muslims. He was a part of it. The reason I mention this is because he being a Hindu was a significant participant. One of my ancestors (and his) found icons of Islam in a river and would make those icons a part of that Muharram observation, the rite passed on to him and he did his part, with great dedication. In January this year, when I was there, he couldn't come see me off for the same reason. Responsibility before family. I was disturbed that he had to apologise to me.

The most significant thing he did for me was he was always there. He had so many responsibilities but still there for me. When I went for my Defense Academy interview he came to the train station to see me off, he would tell me stories, he would take me along to feed pigeons, he would stand in a crowd for over two hours for me to come out of the airport, he would take me along to buy me a police dress (when I was four), he would want his grandsons to wear suits and he got them stitched for us (when I was 26), he was there by my side when I broke my leg and I was whimpering in delirium with pain (my father fainted then), he was an inspiration, he was the strength helping me make decisions, he wasn't a guide but he is the goal for me in my life. I wouldn't forget his optimism, his love of life, his love for celebrations and most of all his responsibility and love for his family. Baba I love you and rest in peace.

At the Traffic Signal

2007-02-05T18:10:00.000+11:00

While waiting at the red light here in Melbourne, the one thing that is way too different to the red lights in Hyderabad are not the honkers or the rule breakers who jump red lights, but an absence of human life on the sides of the roads.

The main reason for me visiting my family in Hyderabad was to spend time with my 20 month-old niece, whose precious moments of growing up I may be losing for ever. In the course of my visit my sister had given her unboiled water and my niece had to suffer 2 whole days of dehydration. A few days later I saw a 2 year old child on the footpath near a major intersection, her face was covered with grease and she looked very happy in doing whatever she was doing. I am sure that the kid doesn't get boiled water or good food or baby oil or baby shampoo, yet she was healthy and looked happy.

The one thing about us Indians is that we choose to ignore such things (I am guilty of it as well), the feeling of helplessness at that traffic signal overwhelmed me.... till the light turned green. If you cannot do anything else then give the kids on the roads a toffee, a ball or a used doll. I am sure that it won't get those people out of the roads, but please do not ignore them as they deserve a childhood as well.

Traffic

2007-01-31T22:11:00.000+11:00

On the busy road today back from work at the traffic lights, I heard a siren wail and suddenly realised that there was a Fire Truck two cars behind mine, in the bumper to bumper traffic all the cars tried to create space by moving into their side lanes to make a partition. Then the lights turned green and everyone was still looking behind if there is space for the truck to go through. My car was the one obstructing the truck and then I floored it as all traffic in front mine cleared, going over the speed limit so that the fire truck can go faster.

Two weeks ago, when in Hyderabad, when crossing the road (on foot) in bumper to bumper traffic cars and bikes refuse to let me get through, would they have let a fire truck or ambulance through? Not sure about that.

At the Hyderabad airport when the guests (of the travellers) to travellers ratio was 15:1 and a queue to get in the terminal, every other person broke in not allowing the patient ones to get through and one foreigner turns around and tells his friend, "Same rules as traffic!". I guess it will take some time for us Indians to think about others, if only for a second.

To India and Back

2007-01-28T10:27:00.000+11:00

Inspiration lost and laziness is to be blamed for the absence of any blog postings over the past few months. Quite a few changes happened to me personally, which I won't bore you or myself with.

One major thing and a highlight of the past few months was me visiting home. Now, if you go by my previous post ranting about visiting India then it was a very good experience overall. I thought the best way to get through Indian customs is to not be guilty of doing anything wrong at all. I didn't get any gifts for my blood relatives or the hosts at the airport at all, which helped me walk with my head up through the customs gates at Hyderabad.

A 6 hour wait at Singapore airport for my connecting flight allowed enough time for me to go on a free tour of Singapore sponsored by Singapore Tourism. If you have enough time there then it is recommended you take this opportunity, no visa required. Just ask the helpful staff at the airport and you will be pointed to the right direction.

Singapore in itself is a remarkable country, though I saw most of it through the bus in about 90 minutes, which kind of makes it very small, but the history of the country is something very interesting. From what I heard, its name was changed by the Japanese once as well. A large part of the land there is reclaimed from the sea, only for a golf course and a park to be built. But a remarkable congregation of three very different Asian groups: Chinese, Malay and South Indians is something that is not to be missed.

Nothing very notable about Hyderabad, except that the traffic has grown and with it the number of vehicles. Every second car I saw was newly purchased. The Nithari murder case of Noida was a rude shock as it shows how we Indians react to news this horrible. The blatant politicisation of it by our emminent rulers made it worse. We Indians have to realise that something of this kind may affect one of us soon and this is not something that is happening only on TV at some far off place.

I am back to work in Australia now. I am still contemplating if I should apply for citizenship here or not. Losing my identity is one of the top concerns, or may be I will be a very good example of "You can take the Indian out of India, but not India out of the Indian".

Essential Desi Food Guide in Melbourne - Part 1

2006-10-18T16:32:00.000+10:00

I have got lots of people looking and asking for good Indian food in and around Melbourne. I will post about places only I have been to and tell you about my experiences. This is going to be a continuing thing and will hopefully keep the guide updated on every visit to an Indian restaurant.

First off Hyderabadi food, best food on the planet. Like Telugu language being appreciated by others, this food is appreciated by Indians from other parts of the world as well.

Nila's Restaurant, Coburg: Acknowledged by The Age, this Malaysian-Indian restaurant serves both Indian and Malaysian delicacies. The Indian food in the menu is mostly dominated by Hyderabadi cuisine. Most notable are Paya (Lamb Hooves Curry) and Haleem, and they are not just notable, they are made with perfection only Hyderabadi cooks could master.

The Malaysian food is made hawker-style, I took my Malaysian friend along and she said that the taste here is much like Malaysian food. (I say this because food cooked outside a country is cooked close to the liking of the people of that particular country. Like how we have spicy Chinese food in India.)

This restaurant is recommended for any one who is really interested to get the real feel of Hyderabadi food and those who are feeling homesick just ask for them to make it spicy.

Address:

702 Sydney Rd Brunswick 3056: (03) 9383 4888

Bismi, Brunswick: Similar to Nila's in their menu and offerings, I heard that the owner is Singaporean-Indian and serves a bit of Indonesian, Malaysian and primarily South-Indian food. Taste is ok, but I avoid it as I have had a few mis-adventures with their food.

Taj Palace Tandoori Indian Restaurant: This restaurant serves real North Indian food with their delicious Naan's and spicy food, this place is a must visit if you want a taste of the Tandoori Chicken. You can also ask for Kingfisher beer while you are there and wash it down when you are stuffing yourself with that bit of Prawn curry. Go and speak to the friendly chef and ask him to make the food military-style for the real Indian taste.

Address:

228 Nicholson St Footscray 3011: (03) 9687 1020

Kake Di Hatti: Lygon street is known for the innumerable restaurants, but this one is further up on Lygon street where it is a bit quieter on the streets, but once you walk in to this restaurant it is not quiet at all. What this restaurant lacks in ambience it makes it up on the taste. Who needs a good ambience when the Tandoori chicken is so good, you don't want it to finish. Also, call in advance to avoid disappointment, there will be no place to sit (or stand) if you just rock up. I think that itself makes it up for the delicious food they serve.

When I was there, an Australian, who probably did not have much spicy food, was wrestling with a piece of chicken Tandoori, an artist trying to paint this scene would use the same colour for both the piece of chicken and the colour of his face. In the end, the piece of chicken lost.

Address:

128 Lygon St Brunswick East 3057: (03) 9387 7771

Trip Around the Bay

2006-10-07T23:33:00.001+10:00

Making money and travelling don't go hand in hand. There wouldn't be backpacker hostels if everyone who travels is rich. Unless of course your job is a travel reporter, getting time off work to travel is very tricky. How long do you take the leave for? Will these many days be enough for this destination? Do I go according to the tourist operators schedule or do it alone? All these questions gnaw at your mind when you want to go somewhere, and there is the big question: Will I get my job back once I get back from that long holiday? May be I should just stick to my career.

But this same career gave me long weekends, last week I happened to get 5 day weekend. Don't ask how, it is a long story. So, I took my car to travel around the bay.

Sorrento, was the first stop. A Beach facing East and a Beach facing West, about 5 minute drive apart is the highlight of this quiet town. A ferry would take us through to Queenscliff another lovely and quiet town on the other end of the bay.

The feature of the ferry ride is one gets to watch dolphins, I have to take this ride again very soon because the dolphins come out in Summer.

Queenscliff to Geelong (Largest non-Capital city of Australia) takes about 15 minutes drive.

Beauchamp falls in the middle of Otway National Park, this takes a bit of walking downwards and then more of walking back. But who would think of going back when you are at such a lovely place?

At the end of my journey at Warrnambool I was fortunate enough to see Whales, though they were too far for me to capture them.... in my camera. :) I hope to see more of Victoria and get to go on a ferry to look at the whales. But till then it is back to work and slogging for me.

Grand Final Weekend

2006-09-30T12:23:00.000+10:00

For those not familiar with Australian Sports, Aussie Rules Football also known as Footy is widely popular here. I am not a sports-loving person. Of course I watch the 100 meter finals in Olympics and try not to miss World Cup Football matches, a completely new type of game does take some time for me to like.

Here is what I know about Footy: Two teams, one oblong ball, each trying to hit the ball inside the space of two tall poles on the opposite side. If the ball goes through the space between these two poles, then the team gets 6 points, if it misses this space they get 1 point anyway, provided they are within shorter poles a bit wider off the longer poles.

The top 16 teams within Australia compete against each other in league games for 6 months starting April through to the last Saturday of September each year. The Grand Final is played on this day, today.

While this is primarily a Victorian Game, the two temas to be playing today are West Coast Eagles - a Western Australian team and the Sydney Swans. Last I heard, most players in the Sydney Swans team are Victorian.

Rugby League

Another football based game which is immensely popular is Rugby League and the final of the leagues is being played tomorrow.

While this game is popular primarily outside Victoria the two teams to play the final are Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos.

Now, I just need to get me beer and sit in front of the telly to watch some footy action. Where is the remote?

Spring is here

2006-08-31T22:30:00.000+10:00

All this time I was worried about winter and when it will go away. I have friends who have lived in Germany and Switzerland who say that Melbourne's winter bites more than European winters though the latter are colder.

Melbourne's weather bites too much due to the winds and also the fact that not once does the temperature go over 17 deg C. And the official announcement of Spring (for me) is when it hits 20 plus, which it did today. My colleague terms it as non-jumper weather. If you don't have to wear a jumper when you are going outside then it is good enough. Not wearing a coat or a jacket outdoors truly feels so good. But it remains foggy in the mornings. I was probably suffering from Winter Depression.

Who cares what it is termed, it is Spring and I am happy.

A New Blog

2006-08-31T22:23:00.000+10:00

I have started this blog to highlight my unique experiences as a visitor to Australia. While there is much to say about Australia and my life here. I think that this blog is not really a personal blog and as such I will refrain from writing my personal experiences on this blog.

I am too chicken to say that I got a new personal blog at http://gyaniblog.blogspot.com see you there.

Desi News

2006-08-12T18:08:00.000+10:00

Any news impacting desi's does not come out of Melbourne, this place being down under and mostly ignored by news, both Indian and international. So, whenever such information or news comes up, I will try and post them in this blog.

On Aug 9th, an Indian taxi driver died due to injuries sustained when pushed out of his moving cab by a person who wanted to take over the cab. The said person was running away from the police and was picked up by the cab driver as a passenger.

Rajneesh Joga, the victim, was from Hyderabad, was doing his Masters in Accountancy was only 27 and worked part time as a taxi driver, he used to send money to his parents and also pay for his fees.

This has evoked cries from the taxi drivers of Melbourne to raise security in cabs to prevent further violence against them. Last night they held a vigil on the streets of Melbourne in front of Flinders Street Station (the main train station for suburban trains), stopping all tram and vehicle traffic. This is the third such vigil they held in two days. The transport minister of Victoria is speaking to the taxi association to come to an agreement.

I was there at Flinders Street last night, most of the taxi drivers who were striking looked as they are from the sub-continent. Didnt think anyone else would care..

Links: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20076200-2862,00.html

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Phillip Island

2006-08-06T00:42:00.000+10:00

Mother Nature at her best at Phillip Island, Victoria about an hour and half journey from Melbourne. I was speechless then as I am now.

Mount Dandenong

2006-08-01T22:06:00.000+10:00

If one has been on the internet for long (and I mean more than 5 years) then One of the stupid one-liner internet jokes that used to go around were something on the lines of, "Why do people go on top of buildings and look down?", something very suspect of the jokester's sense of humour there.

People ride up bicycles to this mount, others walk, I just drove. Mount Dandenong is about 40 km from the city, city being the buidings or what we call the Central Business District (CBD).

Through the Westerner's eye

2006-07-31T22:38:00.000+10:00

I have been reading up on three different westerners' (Two Australian and one British) experiences in India. Three very different people, one works for ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) the other two I am not really sure of.

Three different perspectives, just one view. India is dirty, India amazes them.

The first one is a book titled 'a billion voices' by Phillip Adams who hosts a program on ABC Radio. Writes Phillip in his first chapter about India where he is describing his travel from Mumbai to Delhi by train, "Indians describe India as a land of a billion anarchists. Yet there seems to be an equal number of bureaucrats. The entire nation is locked in an endless conflict between spontaneity and rigidity, between creative chaos and the claustrophobic of regulation. But perhaps the anarchists are winning.", how apt.

Jamie (I hope I got the name right) decided to retire at 35 and travel in India, in his decision to live in India he says: "I’ve never been to any other place that has affected me so deeply. It’s beautiful and horrific, funny and appalling, fragrant and rotten to the core, virtuous in spirit and sick to it’s very soul, sublimely pure and utterly, utterly corrupt. Simultaneously. I love it and hate it. It’s a wonderful, wonderful place." I hope he finds more wonders, unfortunately he does not like Hyderabad(My home town) much.

Tim of the flashpackers blog (at http://flashpackers.blogspot.com/) writes this about why travellers get sick so often when in India, "Well in a word, its because India is filthy, and understand me here, I don't mean just your run of the mill filthy, I mean FILTHY. There is more concentrated filth here than in New Scotland Yard. I honestly think it is the most filthy place in the world, if not the entire universe." I am not sure about this though, a billion people don't get sick everyday or every other day even. May be it is just the food that doesn't go well with them.

Good reads all, I would recommend these to any one who, like me, is trying to discover his real identity while outside India.

Melting Pot called Melbourne - Part II

2006-07-26T12:25:00.000+10:00

My friend and I hit upon a Japanese restaurant yesterday. Japanese food would not appeal to Indians simply because it is not too much spicy. That is not a reason to ignore the subtle tastes that the Japanese and mostly Oriental food presents.

Tomodachi (Japanese for friend) was the name of the place. Japanese restaurants usually have Sushi trains where Sushi dishes keep going round on a conveyor belt on a large table. Colour coded plates means they know how much to charge on each picked up plate. Sushi is usually raw fish wrapped in sea-weed with rice. Some sushis have chicken, beef or pork but these are usually cooked.

Takoyaki:
Takoyaki are fried balls of Octopus meat. I first tasted Octopus in a Chinese dish, being overcooked and hence becoming rubbery in that case. But didn't know that Octopus meat is this tasty. In this instance it was cooked in the right way and was too irresistible to stop at just one plate.

Tonkatsu:

It's deep fried pork served with rice. Like Indians Japanese food(and for the most part, Chinese food)is served with rice. But unlike us, they do not have curries to go with it.

I do not usually like to eat Pork, but tried this nonetheless and I thought it was chicken, because it was cooked so nicely that there was no smell of pork, nor it was too hard. It was crisp and made just right.

BiBimBap:
This is a Korean rice dish served with our choice of Chicken or Beef. I ordered the Chicken version. Under the egg, there a variety of veggies, including carrots and also sprouted beans along with Mushrooms.

For the desi hot taste the red sauce that was served was some kind of chilli sauce, which when tasted by itself would be like playing with fire, but when taken in small quantities with the rice was really tasty. Miso soup (on the top) is served with most Japanese food, or so my fried said.

While real good Japanese food is hard to find, Tomodachi was a good place to enjoy Oriental food. It may burn a hole in your pocket, but it certainly is good for your stomach and for your taste buds.

Waiting for Spring

2006-07-22T15:09:00.000+10:00

Morning: When already late leaving for work, I discovered that there is frost on the windshield. Wipers with water did not do the trick, nor did using hands (gave me frostbite). I thought hot water would do the job, but decided against it, my knowledge of simple physics gave me the momentary flash of a fright that the glass might expand and break. Bottled water washed the frost away, but brought fresh frost on the window. Water with a cloth to wipe it off took care of the business.

Afternoon: The sky was clear with warm sunshine, it wasn't even cold in the shade. If one landed in Melbourne at that time, he would be forgiven for thinking it is spring.

Evening: Mild fog with chilly winds, no sign of warmth. About to get colder.

That is a perfect example of the weather in Melbourne, always unpredictable, so full of pleasant surprises. No wonder they keep saying it is like living with a woman and dealing with her moods. I am still waiting for spring though. I am a sunny-weather man.

Blogger.com blocked in India

2006-07-18T12:35:00.000+10:00

I interrupt my general blogging of Australia and how my life here is such a song to point out that in India our fellow netizens are being denied access to a few blogger websites.

While this type of reaction to the recent attacks in India are unique in a way that no other country came up with this brilliant idea of bringing the terrorists down to their knees. No increase in security, no concrete steps taken to bring the culprits to court, no strategic steps against the neighbour who perpetrates this. One swift step of information blockage and the terrorists are seriously affected now.

Thanks to the Indian Government. You have begun the cyber war against terrorism. Citizens of India, do not expect any more innocent blood to flow.

Links:
Rediff News article
Bloggers Collective
Protests by Bloggers

Sad Day for India

2006-07-12T11:51:00.000+10:00

Another sad day for India. Such cowards who will not think twice before killing the innocent. Hopefully Indian government works on this and prevent future attacks, may it not just remain a hope.

See - http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/ and http://groups.google.com/group/BombayHelp for comments and help. Thanks to Alfred J Prufrock.

Coming home

2006-07-09T17:50:00.000+10:00

We NRIs have a huge problem. Coming home to India to visit. Now, coming back to India on a permanent basis is a different problem altogether, one that I haven't got the luck to experience yet. But visiting itself is a project in itself. It is an obstacle course. Preparation is mandatory.

One question all and sundry pose, "When are you visiting?". The phone calls are replete with this question, not once, everytime. The answer: well, if it only is that easy. Old friends and acquaintances ask the same question here as well. "When are you going to India?", nice topic starter that.

Firstly, there is the timing. When does one come? Summer in India: too hot there, Summer here: tickets too costly. Does one have enough leave to make the visit a longish one? Does one have enough money to get along?

Then there are the relatives and more relatives. They mean well, the relatives. But I am not really sure when they expect some gifts from Phoren (desi slang for foreign). Most gift material is available in India anyway, one can find anything that is sold here, except for the 'Made in India' tag paid in dollars. If only they could understand.

It takes a bit of showing off in India for us NRIs, huge expectations of it. So, when we speak without the accent or don't go clubbing when in India, we haven't learnt much. It is readily taken care of by wearing open-toed shoes, 3/4th pants and following traffic rules when driving. Atleast we get noticed. One has to remind oneself that the food in the restaurants in a bit too hot than what one is used to. When ordering Biryani one has to roll the 'r' to make sure they understand.

The most worrying prospect of visiting India are the hosts at the airport, they have to be kept happy. But no one is not really sure how. They seem to be doing their job well, when all at once they corner you with one of the bylaws in page 563 clause (ii) b. Then the machinery stops. It has to be oiled now; Dollars need to be spent; Cursing is optional with more dollars lost, will not get you through sooner though. The process is reversed when these very hosts are seeing you off.

One of the most shameful times is when one has to oil such machinery, principles need to be broken and one has to be business like in these dealings, how much is enough to get through? Once one gets through, you meet family and dispose your gifts, worry that the traffic has gotten worse since your last visit, show off as an NRI and then wonder if it was better to wait a bit longer to get some more leave. And try not to miss your home in the process.

Desi looks

2006-06-28T17:32:00.000+10:00

After working out at the gym, went to the reception to pick up my wallet and the lady asked, 'Oh! you are here for your jacket?',
I smiled, replied, 'No, I know where my jacket is. ',
She goes on 'Yeah, it is here',
I smile more now, 'No, it's in my locker',
She is not convinced, 'Then you forgot your jacket?',
I am beginning to get the picture, 'Never did.',
She now does not believe it, 'You mean, you came here just for your wallet?',
I reply in the positive and walk away..

I tell my friend while walking out 'Yeah, we all look the same'.

Do we?

Life!!

2006-06-23T22:57:00.000+10:00

Alarm clocks. Snooze buttons. Cereal breakfast everyday, serial breakfast. Train ticket. Petrol costly. Drink coffee during morning tea. McDonalds. Worry about weight. Credit card bills. Mobile ringing. Office meeting. Call home. Mild home sickness. Beer. Hair cut. Working holiday. Long weekend. Washing machine. Press clothes. Vacuum cleaner. Government taxes.... Life!!

Australian animals

2006-06-11T19:03:00.000+10:00

A relative's arrival gave us the chance to visit a zoo this weekend. Australia is host to a large number of kinds of marsupials. Though the weather kind of sucks at this time, it was ok enough for us to go out for a drive to watch them. My camera tagged along.

It sleeps for 20 hours a day, eats eucalyptus leaves which aren't that nutritious, making them more drowsy. But for me, this Koala was awake. And I think it is very photogenic as well.

Australian animals' pix without kangaroos is like a book without punctuation. While kangas don't usually jump around, this moment was captured by my friend.

I don't really know if this is a black swan or not. The zoo keepers probably did not know either, as there were no signs (or did I miss them?). But this gorgeous bird does'nt seem to like the cold water.

These pelicans were having a jolly time when we met them. They were of course glad to meet me.

Pelicans are not known to be vain. But we can forgive them if they indulge in a bit of showing off-ism.

Ok, I think they look better from behind.

The Tasmanian Devil, it barks like a devil and so named. But this one knew that him and I belong to the same community and gave me a smile.

So, while I missed a good shot of other marsupials like the wombat, the most loved animal in the zoo, I had a good time while at it.

Links: How Australia was born.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

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Fair Dinkum English

2006-05-30T22:55:00.000+10:00

Aussie cricketers speaking after their match is the only time I heard some of Aussie accent. Living here certainly made it different for me. So, when you have a few tinnies around the barbie and get pissed you certainly are feeling a bit Aussie. For Desis it is drinking beer while cooking meat in the open and getting drunk.

Just listen to this joke which went around a couple of years ago. Perfect example of how the Aussie accent confuses us Indians who make it a point to speak the queen's English.

It's not just the way we (yes, I consider myself a bit of Aussie now) speak but the way large words gets shortened, cause we cannot be buggered to say the whole word. So, the favorite pastime Barbecue becomes a barbie and the postman is a postie, a linesman is a liney and a sick leave is a sickie. Takes a bit of getting used to, but fun to use.

A 'total bastard' is a real close friend and a bit of a bastard is the real enemy. While, getting into the real Aussie English takes some time, you have to make a fair dinkum effort to get along with it.

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A melting pot called Melbourne

2006-05-24T23:34:00.000+10:00

Coming from India esp. from Hyderabad makes one's tongue like a hide, if you are accustomed to eating hot and spicy Indian food that is. The spicy food not just makes one's taste yearn for that extra bit of Garam Masala but the stomach gets used to as well and gets along with your excesses of Paya (lamb hooves curry) or the ever popular Hyderabadi Biryani.

Sadly, other cultures do not subject their stomachs to such heat and rather have a noiseless visit to the WC. And why not, when it comes to taste, I am sure the Indian tongue among other tastes would like to experience the subtle tastes and exotic smells of international and intercontinental cuisine. But that is just my opinion of the Indian tongue, it never told me so.

What was told to me, by my Indian friends is that they do not want this subtle taste business and rather dive in to something spicy, but I was of a different opinion and would like to try something from other countries/cuisines. With that in mind I headed to the nearest Indian restaurant in Melbourne.

Now, if you miss home and rather have that Murg Mussalam than hop on a flight to remind yourself of India, you should rather hop on the flight. Because Indian restaurants cater to the international palate and don't remind you of India at all. I don't think I found Murgh Mussalam in any of the menus either. What I rather found was one dish called Vindaloo. I cannot say I travelled much of India, but I never heard of something called Vindaloo before and here I was, every Indian restaurant making it. Turns out our Anglo-Indian friends introduced it here, never bothered to let us know.

What is rather odd is that there is no American Chop Suey served in Chinese restaurants. Instead there is Peking duck and Cantonese Fried rice. Both, certainly recommended. South-East asians are not far behind in cooking. Nasi Goreng in an Indonesian restaurant, Thai Green Curry and Roti Chanai with Malay chicken curry are certainly recommended for that spicy yet not too hot tastes.

While, Melbourne is a melting pot of many cultures, I would like to write more about what is available with pictures if I can later. For now, I miss Haleem.

Ferry to Williamstown

2006-05-21T17:53:00.000+10:00

Melbourne had a sunny day yesterday. While clear and fine days are in high demand during this time of the year, we had some supply of sunshine and getting that on a weekend was the perfect icing. I hopped on to a ferry from the city to Williamstown. Black swans on the Yarra were a very good start to the trip.

Start of a journey. A couple just got married and are very lucky to experience such climate on their wedding day.

I won't be surprised if I find a pregnant Preity Zinta dancing around this bridge/pathway.

A city taking rest after its weekend. As seen from the sea. (Yarra meets the sea somewhere on our journey.)

Williamstown at last, against the backdrop of the city. It grew dark very soon, but not for my camera.

Why I came here

2006-05-17T21:11:00.000+10:00

Us NRIs are called a few things before leaving. Foreign-crazy, Taking the road to America via Ameerpet, keeda (bug) to make money, following your dollar dreams were a few things we were referred to as doing. I took offence at this if it was referred to me.

But, they were mostly true. Now, I love India with all my heart. But I wanted to travel, go places. While my Australian adventure is described in this blog, I think I have more places to go to.

I always wanted to come to Australia, not the US or UK. In fact after getting a good score on GRE, I did not apply for any US university. Australia, was the easy and preferred option. Why? Australia is closer to nature. The Great Barrier Reef, the Ayer's Rock (which changes colors according to the weather), the camper's heaven called Victoria all were attractions I planned to visit. And then there was education.

Not that there aren't other places in the world closer to nature, Australia's warm temperature is appealing. I also realise that there are numerous places in India I haven't been to and I hope to get there before commercialisation takes over.

I was reasonably well-educated before I started this journey, but the timing and my field of study (IT) were not suited at that time (which was the excuse I gave to my parents). So, I figured further education would lead me to travelling across Australia.

There are lots of things one can have on their to-do list. I have one thing to do, 'travel', and I already started it. Will not stop doing it till I die.

Far away from home

2006-05-14T21:51:00.000+10:00

I have heard about it, I have read about it and felt very certain that I won't be affected by it. But three months in to living in Melbourne and it hit me. I was caught unawares. If you ever tripped over a step when you are feeling the most smug about yourself, you will know the feeling. If you have not, then try it once, up your confidence and remind yourself that you are all knowing, all conquering, you are the smartest and the strongest, do this while you are walking up a flight of stairs and sooner or later you will trip.

Back to the point, I became home sick. While there are varying degrees of home sickness, I was unfortunate enough to get hurt the hardest. I will say that about me won't I? During the start of winter 2003, I was a lonely soul, wandering about on the streets of Melbourne, very depressed and longing to go back home.

I had no money, had about 90 dollars left in my bank account. The remedy for homesickness is to not let it get worse, a whole lot of good that would do. Calling home and crying over the phone is not recommended, cause the called party wails more than the called party, which in turn makes the called party (in this case me) a bit more depressed, if you catch my drift.

The remedy for any mentally related problems is to keep your mind busy, which certainly wasn't being observed in this case. But washing cars in the middle of winter certainly took my mind off things, I was too busy thinking about how to stop my foot from freezing.

A tip for you dreamers out there, if you leave your home and ever get homesick, just remember that it is natural and expected. And if it is winter then wash cars, you will make a bit of money and sleep tired.

Continuing Education

2006-05-11T22:40:00.000+10:00

Education took up most of my time in the first 8 months that I came to Melbourne. The agent in Hyderabad reminded me that the course I am doing is a bit tough. I took it as when we are reminded in school that the exams are tough.

The major difference between education here and the one back in Hyderabad was the hands on approach. Assignments had to be completed during studies and counted for marks. So, when last minute cram sessions worked in India, I had sleepless nights throughout the semester working on assignments.

At the end of semester one, there were 6 assignments for 4 subjects to be submitted and exams were looming after that. I realised that there is enough time if you use it correctly, so out went watching TV or hanging out, all time was spent in libraries and reading up in the train.

'Everything's easy' approach got adopted in semester two and it hurt me hard, I failed one subject and had to clear the subject. Desperate times called, but easy subjects were offered. No time was wasted picking one up and passing it.

So, while I studied databases, Software Engineering, Network security and such, I work in a different field altogether. Am I happy? Of course I am, I passed didn't I?

Busy Procrastinator

2006-05-08T23:16:00.000+10:00

Higher studies were the main reason I came to Australia. But the number of things I had to take care of put my studies in the background.

I was very busy the first few weeks I came to Melbourne. Coming from a city known for its lazy Nawabi culture, it felt like getting off the bed and running full tilt right away in the middle of the night with lights still off. Since I did not have much practice doing that, a few problems crept up.

One of the first things I had to learn was to walk. Yeah, I learnt that when I was a kid but somehow lost touch after getting a bike in India. Though public transport is a bit more efficient here than what we have in Hyderabad, it still does not drop you at your doorstep. Which meant I had to make use of my legs a lot.

Part of running in the dark was to figure out how to cook and how to wash clothes. Raw food simply did not agree with my stomach and I realised clothes smell bad if worn for too long. I now found ways to save time on these things.

I did not hurt myself too much by running in the dark, cause when I kept running dawn came. If I was back home, I would still be sleeping.

My work, my life

2006-05-07T21:51:00.000+10:00

Leaving India meant supporting myself. Though it was pointed out that pretty much everything from cooking to doing the laundry was to be done by myself, I did not worry too much about the money as well before leaving.

I first tried my mouth at telemarketing and got sold on the idea that I am bad at selling. I did a one up on my employer and quit before I got the boot. Physical labour was the other option, but I did not take it. Three months later hunger came up as another option, I opted for labour.

Christina Aguilera made working at the car wash a glamour job, but thankfully it wasn't as popular when I applied. I always thought I was fit, then I started working at the car wash and I lost about 5 kilos.

I now know that I am a bad waiter, not too responsible to manage a store, a sloppy sweeper, not really qualified to wash dishes and too slack at collecting data. But I got those jobs anyway.

How I came here

2006-05-04T23:36:00.000+10:00

I am one of the thousands if not millions, who have left their home land to move on and make money in a foreign place. Further education and settling down was the idea. Now I am settled down.

With not much of an idea of how I would get through living in Australia I came here. I had misconceptions and I hadn't planned this trip much. The planning sucked so much that I did not pack enough warm clothes. I checked on some site that Melbourne's weather ranges from 13 to 25 C. Assuming it can get as low as 13 in the winter nights, I got one blanket and a few sweaters. Last winter it hit 5 C at around 11 AM in Melbourne.

Another thing I had a misconception about was a part time job. I had only one friend living here and I spoke to her twice before I left Hyderabad. She said that getting a telemarketing job is easy to get. Australian governement is setting up a national Do Not Call Register now. So, telemarketers were just about to start being hated then.

The thing that I was most unconcerned about was my studies. I failed one subject in my first year of study.

But the important thing is I learnt that I can pull through surprises that spring up when you least expect. What I haven't learnt yet and don't want to, is to prepare too much for something I would like to begin. Would spoil the fun.

Free Hyderabad, Full Hyderabad

2006-05-03T17:46:00.000+10:00

For someone living outside of India you will just be amazed at how many people you meet are Indians, there are Indians everywhere, some enterprising, some hardworking and some plain lazy like yours truly.

Someone told me a joke that in some remote part of Africa, a call came through and asked for Patel, they had to clarify if it was Dr Patel or Mr Patel they were after.

More amazing is the number of Hyderabadis you will find. Now, if you are in Hyderabad and know that every two and halfth person has left every next week to every which place outside of India. But, you may be forgiven for thinking that everyone else does it.

In my three odd years of living in Melbourne and the bit of travelling I have done in Australia, I have known and met many Hyderabadis and it is oh so comfortable speaking in Hyderabadi for a while. So, cheers to Hyderabad, a full Hyderabad, a free Hyderabad.

My first blog at last!

2006-05-02T20:49:00.000+10:00

Hi all. After pondering and reflecting about my own blog for very long I have finally published it.

I was born in India and now live in Australia. If you ever wonder why Australian sports is represented in Gold and Green, I think it is because of how beautiful Australia looks when you watch it from your flight, it does look golden with green bits. It is probably one of Australia's many deserts. That is me, a desi in Golden land.

Will keep this blog updated with my experiences, my dreams and their designs.