Certified crazy

Another update on life. Random points jotted down at various points in time.

• Its a bad idea to try to open the door with the same hand as the one that holds an egg or more.
• Always, always, always keep a scarf handy. Especially in Paris. You never know when it starts to get real cold.
• Try and have an extra bath the evening before an important event. If Murphy strikes, the chauffage will go dead the morning you have the important event. And deo or parfum (more than normal) makes it obvious that you have skipped the bath.
• Buy croissants between 8 and 10 am. Most bakeries make them fresh around that time. You can not miss the smell of the butter anyway.
• Dinners have turned into a snack + dessert thing for me these days. Oh I so detest getting used to new electric plates for cooking. Food ends up raw or overcooked.
• eePhone has helped keep up with tweets. I also have tried that thing called twitpic.
• It is also a bad idea to try and tear off a piece of kitchen tissue from a kitchen roll when you have an egg in the same hand.
• A few months ago, my kitchen saw me baking more often. There are yet a few dishes that I would like to try before I leave France. Time will tell.
• I have fallen in love with the butter that you get at Pascal Beillevaire. Démi sel, croquante. And it shows.
• It is better to travel alone than with company that you will probably feel uncomfortable with, later.
• Do not try lenses if your eyes are on the dry side. (That is when you use too much of computers and too less of your brain.)
• DO NOT EAT ANYTHING OUTSIDE YOUR OWN KITCHEN 3 DAYS BEFORE YOU HAVE TO MAKE A LONG JOURNEY. No matter what. Even if you do not get to eat Paneer or Pani Puri for a long time to come. That includes dabheli, sev puri, bhel and dahi puri too. And dosa. And Kulfi. I ended up taking 3 injections within 26 hours. The last one 3 hours before my flight.
• It is a bad idea to read food blogs when you are hungry. And especially when you do not have quick access to good food.
• Its a pleasant surprise to listen to a French or a Spanish guy to say a few words in Hindi now and then.
• Letting go one hour of chatting with friends per day gives you more time to spend on other things in life. Try it. And besides sending and receiving a personal email is always such a good feeling.
• Himesh Reshammia and his songs are funny. No matter if he changes his hair style or his singing style.
• Either plan your travels very well or dont plan them at all.

I hope I put up more of these notes. More for my reference than for that of others.

Life would have been so much more interesting if all the signs on our Indian roads would have been in what we call “Bambaiyya Hindi”. Some examples:

Exit: chal kalti maar. 

No smoking: Cigarette nahi pine ka, kya?

(French) Vous n’avez pas La Priorité: Abey, tera number nahi, apun ka hai. 

No entry: Andar nahi ghusneka. 

Keep left: Baine baaju me rakh. 

No U-turn: Wapas ulta nahi ghumne ka. 

Can you think of some more funny ones? 

Runa tagged me sometime earlier this month with the 7 things tag. The rules are:

1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

The 7 facts are:

1. I have eaten Pani Puri for breakfast, lunch and dinner, two days in a row.
2. I was once addicted to Internet chat.
3. I am petrified of ghost stories.
4. As a kid, I used to cry so much so that my teachers used to complain to my mother “iske aankhon me nal lage hue hai. Hamesha roti rehti hai.”
5. I like reading children’s story books – Nancy Drew, Famous Five and The Secret Garden have been among my favorites since school.
6. I have never been hospitalized.
7. Most of the songs that I love are from the black and white era of Bollywood.

And now, I tag fellow bloggers *drumroll* Ruchna, Kapil, Sharan, Anuja, Ankur, Prakash, Tejas. Feel free to go / not go ahead with the tag.

Ah, the post comes rather late. But, I’d rather pen this one down.

Andorra was the vacation that happened – even before college officially closed. On Thursday, the 18th, I was off to Andorra. Because of the famous strikes, I missed my connecting train at Marseilles and then the connecting bus from Toulouse – by a mere 6 mins. Stayed on at Toulouse for the evening, and took the bus next day to Andorra. I had an awesome time with my cousins. We even went to Spain’s Seu D’urgell for a lunch one day. My Aunt made sure I got to have all the little things that I miss – from back home. Even the same Sindhi recipes for some particular bhaajis. *drools* Andorra photos are up on my flickr set. Some more will be added later.

Paris was the vacation that did not happen. But I’m glad I stayed on. Had an awesome new year’s eve dinner, among other things, that would probably not be possible ogling at Eiffel tower fireworks at night.

Since I did not take my camera along to the last trip at Les Deux Alpes, some of Haiyong’s and Chang’s pictures have been uploaded here, with their permission. Thanks guys! Ruchna has a hilarious account of what happened at the Ski trip.

Now, less than a month before the exams start. And then, the next vacations!

o Sometime last month, some of us decided to break the monotony of home to college and back, and went to Monaco for a day instead. Saw “The Casino” (from outside – to go inside, you need an evening dress and a passport, and ofcourse, lots of cash). Saw an amazing number of Porsche and Ferrari cars. There are gardens – trees even on top of terraces of buildings in Monaco. Some people there have awesome toys. Took a ride after years – it was a crazy machine, but hell, I enjoyed it!

o After that followed a month of serious college work – labs, reports, projects, presentations, homework.

o Until last week, when we went to the Weekend of Ski to les2alpes. Fell on my backside over and over again. No broken bones. Its interesting, the things people do when they get drunk. Finally got to taste real fondue and the famous La Raclette (with baked potatoes) and loved it.

o Heading today to Andorra for a few days of much needed vacation – away from projects / slides / presentations / notes.

o Did I mention I loved the Raclette? So much so, that I went in to the same restaurant again, the next day to have some more.

o I have about 20 hours of journeys to make – and no books to read this week. Sad. Travelling without books after a long, long time. Currently trying very hard to read Harry Potter et le prisonnier d’Azkaban.

Calvin: This piece of pie is awfully darn small!

Calvin’s Mom: Life could be a lot worse, Calvin.

Calvin: Life could be a lot better too! … But worse is more likely.

There’s Treasure Everywhere p121

Source: Wikiquote

Paris – check
Eiffel Tower – check
Arc de Triomphe – check
Champes Elysees – check
Musee d’Orsay – uncheck
Musee de Louvre – uncheck
Hagen Das triple scoop ice cream – check
Gare du Nord – check
Onion Uttappam in Paris – check
Rosgullas from Paris – check
Sunday morning mass at Notre Dame – check (in French though)
Brunch at a French Patisserie – check

Paris is Grand! And charmingly beautiful in its own way. It is very much like Mumbai though – people are always in a hurry, well most of the times.

It was an early winter in Paris – too cold, but I ain’t complaining. Maple leaves everywhere. With less than 30 hours on hand, I tried to feel Paris. A lot more to be seen, a lot more to be heard. May be, some other time, some other season.

Did I mention that most of the tourist places checked above were done on a cold, windy evening, without a proper overcoat, in a saree?

Crazy.

Last friday we decided to beat the boredom of not having anything to do, with a trip to nearby Antibes. It was fun learning the bus routes (the wrong way )

Antibes is a quaint little town and we thoroughly enjoyed passing around, smelling good food, posing with BMW motorbikes, running down races and practicing some horrible, horrible French. All in all, a fun weekend Some pictures are here.

Now, off to Paris tomorrow morning. Hopefully, some good touristy pictures coming soon

Met Pradeepto and Missus, and Anurag at our usual hangout place – Pizzeria – to get the update on their Akademy visit. Need to try out the Bachelor’s ice cream next time, now that I know the location.

I went down South last weekend for the Bangalore Flex User Group meet that Mrinal tweeted about. I reached halfway through Vandana’s OpenLaszlo talk. (Thanks to Bangalore’s famed traffic jams). The part that I attended went well, with flex users trying to grasp laszlo’s components and comparing similar alternatives available in Flex. Quite a few new people joined in too, I was told. The meet ended well with discussions on how should laszlo save its backside As always, coffee time is the best time to get a feel of the group. Met some people with brilliant ideas and trying to get them into action. Nice!

Headed to some shopping and thought of picking up something to eat at MG Road. Wasn’t hungry, so headed back with some coffee instead.

Next day was spent trying to figure out what OS to install on the new laptop, at Parthan’s place, after an awesome Thali at Nandhinee. A few hours later, I ended up buying two waitlisted tickets (both of which got confirmed btw – separate trains ofcourse) to Chennai for the next day, all the while having a confirmed KSRTC bus ticket. More has been blogged about this meet (and the goofups) by Parthan, Aanjhan and Onkar.

Next day was spent in Chennai. The flight out was delayed by almost two hours. Landed up at home at 1.45 am with Mom yelling. All attempts at breaking in quietly failed terribly.

Note to self: Next time, plan things out! (but unplanned trips like this one are awesome fun too! )

I head out to France to pursue a Masters degree next this month. Now, for the first time in my life, shopping seems like a daunting task.

A quick update on what I have been up to:

• Took a train with Aanjhan to Pune last Friday, to meet Runa, Sankarshan and Ramkrsna. Train route was amazing. Need to take the train next time.
• Talking to random people in a train and passing time is simply awesome. Like one of them said, 77 INR, not bad at all!
• Went to Raigad and Mulshi lake. Both are awesome places to be in. Check flickr streams here, here and here.
• Runa treated us to some awesome home cooked bengali meal.
• Ramki treated us to some more of his uncle jokes.
• Sankarshan threated me and ramki with “Don’t move a muscle” while the 5 of us travelled up the mountain in a 4 seater ropeway car

A much needed vacation well spent.