Month: December 2008

North India …

This may seem a rant to some … for the rest, please be informed, that, this is indeed a rant.

Conversation in the ITPL shopping area (tech park mall):

Random Person>   Hi … You look familiar.

Me> Hmm. I dont recall seeing you (noticing the TCS badge)

Random Person> [Extends hand] Im Rajesh, from TCS.

Me> [Extending hand as well] Mouli from {insert company name here}

Random Person> Ah, ok [Pretty apparent that he did not recognize the company name]

Random Person> Where are you from originally ? [Apparent that he has mistakenly assumed that I am a Shukla/Gupta/Singh/Dey/… from  my fair complexion]

Me> Madras

Random Person> [Pretty taken aback]. Oh ! [a brief couple of seconds pause] I am from North India.

Me [in my head]> Uh. Where is that ? Is that a separate country (like North Korea/South Korea). I thought there was only ONE INDIA. Where did that come from? Ofcourse I was miffed. Very pis**ed off indeed.

Me [aloud]> I was in {stressing} North India too, you know. Noida, for about 5 years.

Random Person> Really. [Apparent from his expression, that he is shocked that someone from South India (yeah like in the separate country we are), could survive in Noida that long.

Me> Nice meeting you. Gotta go. [giving him a quizzical look and thinking, “tsk tsk .. when will these guys grow up?“]

I have to say something though — it is not everyone who is like this. I have several friends from Delhi, and not all of them are like this. I know several who treat the whole country as their own, and freely migrate to different parts of the country, and also adapt to the local customs/society etc. Maybe it is just me — but I guess, I would not have gotten so irritated, if he had said, “Im from Delhi”. What is up with the ‘North India’ thing ; and the shocking expressions. Grow up guys.

Shitty American cars

bigthree

(via GAS via yesbutnobutyes via boingboing)

Brilliant … just brilliant. I can vouch for this, after having lived in the US for 5 years. American cars are the extreme. Either they are bad in quality, outdated, and shitty, (or) they are huge gas guzzlers, polluters, and well, shitty. Every sane American used to buy a mazda or a toyota. Ofcourse every self respecting desi (Indian) would buy only HONDA or TOYOTA — barring only one stage of family life — when the second kid is born — when the family ‘graduates’ to a Dodge Van. 🙂

Cuppa chai and handwarming on a roadside fire …

OFFBEAT WEATHER(Image courtesy: The Hindu Images)

“It was 2003, and I can still remember as it was yesterday. I can still smell the charcoal fire….”

Ok, I will stop with the Titanic dialogue. But yeah, today morning’s heavy fog in Bangalore, brought back memories of Delhi. It was December 2003, the winter before I defended my Phd in the US and returned back. I had come to the VLSI conference in Delhi, Bangalore (with a bag full of resumes! :-)). The conference was over in 3 days, and I had 2 more days. I wanted to see the Taj ; and someone in the family had recommended Panicker Travels – which was apparently the default travel agent for any tamil guy in Delhi, because some of the drivers spoke Tamil, stopped in Veg joints etc. So I called them up, and booked myself a one-full-day guided trip of Taj-Mathura-Vrindavan. It so happened that, Mr. Panicker did not have that many takers in that chilly weather, and so I was consigned to join another similar tour from some other travel operator (all transparently arranged ofcourse), but that is another story.

Now coming to the  highlight of this post (and the subject line ofcourse). Once in every 3-4 hours, the bus would stop at a highway food joint for some tea/snacks/food/whatever; and ofcourse, the men went on to add free fertilizer to the fields behind the dhaba. In one of these joints, I spotted a road side fire, with a few guys sitting down (hmm .. how to describe this pose .. ah .. in a way, one would sit down on an Indian toilet!) around the fire, and warming their hands. I had always wanted to do this — and there it was, right in front of me. I jumped at the opportunity — Let me tell you — there are few other pleasures in the world, which can match this. The temperature was around 5 deg Cel, smoke came from your nose and mouth, even without a cigarette, and you toast your hands and body sitting in this unholy pose around the fire. I tell you again, there is no other equalled pleasure. Hmmmm.

PS: There is one  distinct after-effect though. Once you get back to the bus, you realize that your whole body smells of charcoal, and the smell does not go that easily !