Quarter life nearing and so is something else!

 
I always thought it is cool to be a 25-year old. And now that it is coming closer, I think I am feeling it more. It's not a feeling to stay away from, let alone frightening, but it feels different. Mature? Responsible?Independent?
Self sufficient?Liberated? I do not know.
I have made a resolution to follow something from my 25th Birthday. May be writing, photo posting, working out, painting or sculpting.could be anything as random. But I intend to post it here on my blog, and want to make it a habit.
Wish me luck for that,and wish me lot of creativity to be able to do that! :)

More the sun,merrier!

 
 Let us face it. India is a HOT country. recently, I have started seeing many other sub shades of that term, as I have traveled a lot in last 5 years within the country, though here my usage of term hot is directly co related with the sun. The heat, the rising temperatures, the flaming sun.
So what do you do when you face terrible heat around? Some would buy air conditioners, many would resort to traditional anti-summer treatments and some would fly to destinations, to escape the great heat. This summer, I did the same. I flew to a place, where the sun was all shining, with moderate temperatures. Where we could for once, enjoy the  April sunt, enjoyed basking in that light. AND it was not a beach.
Turkey is one place, which I commend one should visit in the scorching hot month of April. I would not talk about destinations in southern hemisphere and how to enjoy that, as it is not a summer time for Aussies and kiwis. It is summer in turkey, and a one that you can enjoy thoroughly as a tourist.

To begin with, the place called Cappadocia, in Turkey  has great landscape. You probably will find no match for the kind of lunar feel it gives. It feels exactly as if you are on the moon. And you will be awestruck by looking at just how many shades can brown give you. The sun is usually up in the sky, for a long time, almost till 8 pm, and it is a boon. Sunlight gives it a kind of lively feel, which would have been a morbid place otherwise.

Going ahead, I would say this is actually a place one can enjoy thoroughly only in summer, as winter would put a snow blanket on it, and would bring it to a very silent and lifeless place, as you can imagine from the photos. The clear skies, with a bright and smiling sun in it put me in the happy mood. And this place kept on showing me unreal locations. Absolute unreal.

Of course, we need not be sad, as Cappadocia offers all what any fun loving tourist would ask for. You would not miss out on anything that you get at other tourist hot spots. There is a wide variety of wines, in fact Cappadocia is known for offering some of the finest wines. There are beers, which include Raki- the local one that you have to taste. There is apple tea for teetotalers and there is this undoubtedly yummy Mediterranean cuisine to look forward too. There are belly dances to be experienced, which originate from this region, and folk music to be heard. To top it all, there is Turkish hospitality, good looking people around, (!)and  a very pleasant weather in spite of all the sun.
And most importantly, it is a young place. the landscapes may be thousands of years old, but the vibe is young. You experience something totally different that you can not at your own place.You get refreshed,recharged. With right precautions like help of sun experts there are no worries about getting tanned in these treeless surroundings either.That's what our trips are for!
So having a couple of days off and enjoying at this location with Elena does sound like a good job to do. Boy, there is a world to see in summer besides beaches. It is high time you realize it. Elena will this summer, and probably when she is back next year, you might want to tag along!
p.s. If Elena is a photography buff like me, Sun is probably the best thing that can happen to her. See the photo above! :)
 

अतिथी देवो भव-commercial edition

 

The idea of going to Turkey struck many people in more than one ways. They said it was out of the box, hippie and cool. The actual trip to Turkey struck me in more than one ways as well. There are just many things to write about, which I hope to formulate and write in coming pages, though this one was one of the most striking ones. 

You find Turkish people to be extremely hospitable. At least, those who are in business of hospitality. We just met Turks who were hotel managers,waiters,guides,shopkeepers,street vendors, immigration officers and so on. I do not know about normal Turks,who are not in the business of travel and tourism, but I will give them benefit of doubt and not talk about them. But you simple can not look over the fact that all the hospitality professionals are living by the name of that sector. And they are doing this in their own unique way. 

Nilay,My tour guide at cappadocia, was one wonderful person. About same as my age, stout, with a striking mixture of asian and europian features, spoke English in her funny accent. We just instantly clicked. She gave us information as it was expected. But she did not stop at that. she initiated discussions within the passengers, spoke personally with me for a long time, we chatted about religion,national spirit,staying away from your parents,university education and what not. She has done her graduation in tour guiding, which I found to be cool. 

Raedire, the cute receptionist at the Gamirasu cave hotel,cappadocia was so hospitable that we almost felt obliged. She would personally come to every table when we had dinner, ask us how our day was, Every time we came back from sightseeing, she would chat with us for 5 minutes. The hotel manager would say Namaste, and also knew the word 'chalo'! Everywhere we went, Apple teas was given to us for free- that's a welcome drink. And apple teas could well be replaced by wine,or Raki- the local beer! 

to top the list, the immigration officer at Istanbul airport saw my passport and asked me if I can speak Hindu!(meant Hindi).The knack to make people felt included, to make them feel comfortable was seen in all these cases, and that definitely means a lot.

The point is that you realize after a while that it is all a part of professionalism. They are being hospitable as a part of profession, as a service that you paid for.  But not once did we feel that this is a paid hospitality. We kept on believing that this behavior is real, genuine and to an extent of it being special favor to us. Of course we knew that  all tourists will be greeted with same hospitality and would encounter same experiences, still the feeling stayed. And after a while that feeling started causing pain to me, made me feel hurt, to realize that this is all paid service, and might be-might not be real, and its definitely non-exclusive. It is a weird feeling where you really appreciate something nice, and realize that you can not get too attached to it!

I really felt that our countrymen who scream ATITHI DEVO BHAV at every occasion, (and still need Amir khan to advertise against troubling the tourists) could take some inspiration. we can not be the professional hospitable gang the next day. But hospitable enough to serve what people paid for. With these thoughts I landed in Mumbai only to be greeted by a half-asleep losy faced woman at immigration counter, who did not bother to check our immigration forms and was pretty foul mouthed with a firang behind me. 

Atithi devo bhav- the invisible edition.

संस्कृती वगैरे..

 

माझा मराठीतला पहिला ब्लॉग :)

चेन्नईला  येउन मला आता चार आठवडे होतील.. अर्थात कुठल्याही शहराबद्दल वक्तव्य करण्यासाठी, किंवा मत बनवण्यासाठी म्हणू हवं तर,  चार आठवडे  हा काही फार काळ नाही. पण कसं आहे, की तुमचा मेंदू ताजा असताना, कुठल्याही प्रकारचे संस्कार त्यावर झालेले नसताना, जे ठसे  त्यावर उमटतात, ते  तुम्ही जुने झाल्यावर उमटत नाहीत. नवीन शहरात गेल्यावर तुम्हाला जर लगेच नोकरी धंदा असेल, तर मग तुम्ही खूपच लवकर जुने होता, आणि रहाट गाडग्याला  स्वतःला जुंपून घेता. मी सध्या सुशिक्षित बेकार या गटातली असल्याने, मला तसा स्वतःला नवं ठेवण्यासाठी पुष्कळच स्कोप आहे. :)
चेन्नईच  नाव ऐकल्यावर नाकं न मुरडणारे लोक मला फार कमी सापडले. आणि केवळ महाराष्ट्रीय नव्हे तर अगदी मूळ तमिळ लोक सुद्धा. ते घाण आहे, गरम आहे, अतिभयानक उन तिथे असतं, तिथे रस्त्यावर अस्वच्छता आहे, लोक हिंदी मुळीच बोलत नाहीत, तमिळ शिवाय पर्याय नाही, त्या शहराला असा एक मेट्रो चा फील नाही, डास तुम्हाला फाडून खातील, इ इ अनेक गोष्टी मी ऐकल्या. यातल्या अनेक गोष्टी अंशतः का होईना खऱ्या आहेत देखील, पण तरीही चेन्नईला स्वतःचं म्हणून एक व्यक्तिमत्व  अर्थातच आहे, आणि ते व्यक्तिमत्व शोधण्यासाठी चार आठवडे हा कमी काळ असला, तरी काही ठसे, किंवा खुणा उमटवायला तसा पुष्कळ काळ आहे.  त्यातली एक सतत जाणवत राहणारी खूण इथे लिहावी  यासाठी हा ब्लॉग प्रपंच!

चेन्नईत, दैनंदिन आयुष्यावर स्थानिक संस्कृतीचा जाणवेल इतका प्रभाव आहे. मला कल्पना आहे, हे वाक्य अगदीच जनरल आहे, मात्र  ज्या विविध गोष्टी पहिल्या, त्याच्या सगळ्याच्या मुळाशी हे एक समान सूत्र आहे,असं जाणवतं. 
तमिळला पर्याय नाही वगैरे उक्त्या काही अंशी खऱ्या आहेत. बहुसंख्यांना इंग्लिश येतं हे ही तितकाच खरं आहे. मात्र : तुम्ही कुठेही जा, समोरचा माणूस तुमच्याशी बोलताना तमिळ मध्ये बोलायला सुरु करतो. तो रिक्षा वाला असेल, बस कंडक्टर असेल, भाजीवाला असेल, डॉक्टर असेल, दुकानदार असेल, रस्त्यावर पत्ता विचारणारा माणूस असेल, वेटर असेल, किंवा अन्य कोणी. तमिळ इल्ले हे एकदा तुम्ही सांगितलत किंवा तुमच्या मक्ख चेहऱ्याने त्याच्या लक्षात आलं, कि तो इंग्लिश मध्ये बोलेल किंवा बोलण्याचा प्रयत्न करेल. (रिक्षावाला असेल तर तुम्हाला आणखी लुबाडेल!) पण सुरुवात तमिळ मध्येच. अर्थात दक्षिणेकडली राज्यं भाषेबाबत कट्टर आहेत, हे आपण ऐकून आहोत. पण बंगलोर मध्ये तरी हिंदी बोलणं बरंच सापडतं. इथे मात्र, "तुम्ही आमच्या राजधानीत आहात, आमच्या भाषेला प्राधान्य आहे", हे कोणी काही न बोलता जाणवतं. भाषा हा शेवटी अभिव्यक्तीचा मार्ग असला, तरी भाषेतून संस्कृती कितपत हाडीमाशी रुजलीय याचं दर्शन होतं. सगळ्यात आश्चर्य कुठे वाटतं, तर मेनलेंड चायना सारख्या उच्चभ्रू ठिकाणी सुद्धा, मला अभिवादन तमिळ मध्ये केलं गेलं!
हॉटेल वरून एक वेगळा मुद्दा आठवला. इडली, डोसा, पोंगल ह्या सगळ्या मूळ इथल्याच गोष्टी. त्या लोकांनी इथे खाणे यात काहीच आश्चर्य नाही. (महाराष्ट्रात किती हॉटेल्स तुम्हाला पोहे आणि मिसळ देतात? पण ते जाऊ दे ) केळीच्या पानावर हे पदार्थ अनेक ठिकाणी तुम्हाला वाढलेले पाहायला मिळतात. मुद्दा तो देखील नाही. खाऊन झालं, की हे पान दुमडतात. ते खालून वर अश्या विशिष्ट पद्धतीनेच दुमडायचं असतं,कारण श्राद्ध वगैरे गोष्टींना ते उलटं दुमडल जातं! आणि हि गोष्ट मोठ्यापासून लहानांना माहीत असते! पाहून खूप आश्चर्य वाटलं, की ही तशी सो कॉल्ड धार्मिक/सांस्कृतिक गोष्ट रोज अवलंबली जाते. आणि त्याचं कारण असं की तिच्याकडे धार्मिक गोष्ट म्हणून न बघता रोजच्या आयुष्याचा एक साधा भाग म्हणून बघितलं जातं. भातासोबत वरण खाण्या इतका साधा !

एका  बाबतीत माझ्याशी बरेच लोक सहमत होतील, ते म्हणजे इंग्रजी वर्तमानपत्रं, आणि त्यातही टाइम्स, हे स्थानिक संस्कृतीला धार्जिणे कधीच नव्हते आणि नसतात. पुणे टाइम्स मध्ये तुमचा वेडिंग ड्रेस पांढरा शुभ्र कसा ठेवावा याबद्दलचे लेख, किंवा (तुरळक अपवाद वगळता), साहित्य-कला-संगीत  म्हणून मराठी गोष्टींना खिजगणतीतही न घेणं हे अतिशय कॉमन आहे. मी चेन्नईला आले, तेव्हा पोंगलला १० दिवस होते, आणि मार्गळी (मार्गशीर्ष महिना) साजरा करणं जोरात चालू होतं. अनेक सुंदर शास्त्रीय गायन, अभिजात नृत्याचे कार्यक्रम, रांगोळी स्पर्धा, साड्यांचे सेल, गजरे आणि फुलांची सजावट, पोंगलच्या नवनवीन रेसिपी, दीपमाळा उजळलेली मंदिर, तमिळ फिल्म स्टार्सच्या शुभेच्छा देणं,हे सगळं चालू होतं, आणि मला हे समजण्याचा एकमेव स्रोत म्हणजे चेन्नई टाइम्स! आपण तमिळ पेपरच वाचतोय असं वाटावं इतका 'तमिळ'पणाने तो ओसंडून वाहात होता! सार्वत्रिक उत्साहाच्या बाबतीत आपल्या गणपतीशी याची तुलना करता येईल, पण ते १० दिवस सुद्धा पुणे टाइम्स इतका मराठीपणाने ओसंडून वाहताना मला कधीच दिसलेला नाही. वाचकांच्या मनात संस्कृतीच इतकं प्रेम असल्याशिवाय, भलेही ते अव्यक्त का असेना, हा पेपर नक्की हे करणार नाही याबद्दल  मला खात्री आहे!
सगळ्याच  गोष्टी स्तुतीजन्य आहेत असं नाही. केवळ मुलांची किंवा मुलींची शाळा कॉलेज इथे सर्वत्र आहेत. को-एड फार कमी. झालंच तर बस मध्ये पुरुषाच्या शेजारी जागा रिकामी असली तरी बाईने तिथे न बसणं हे देखील सर्वत्र! (मुंबईत राहिल्यावर हा महामूर्खपणा आहे असं वाटतं) पण हे देखील त्यांच्या संस्कृतीतल्या कर्मठ पणाला धरून आहे.
भाषा, सणवार,परंपरा आणि धर्म म्हणजे केवळ संस्कृती नाही. मग नेमकं काय?संस्कृतीच्या अनेक व्याख्या आहेत. समाजशास्त्रानुसार माणसाने निर्माण केलेलं काहीही म्हणजे संस्कृती. प्रत्येक समूहाने आपापली संस्कृती निर्माण केली. जागतिकीकरणाने कदाचित सगळ्याच संस्कृती लयाला जाताहेत. पण त्यात काही थोडं आपलं जपलं जावं अशी इच्छा असेल, तर ते दैनंदिन जीवनात आणावं लागतं. पुस्तकात ठेवून ते आणखी लवकर लयाला जातं. त्यात काही बाबतीत तमिळ लोक यशस्वी झालेत. अर्थात सगळ्याच एतद्देशीय लोकांसारखी आमची संस्कृती बुडाली अशी त्यांची ओरड असेलच, पण मुंबईसारख्या संस्कृतीशून्य शहरात राहिल्यावर मला इथे जरा बरं वाटलं. माझे निष्कर्ष चुकीचे असतीलही. किंवा अपुरे देखील असतील. पण मी आधी म्हटल्याप्रमाणे, ही फर्स्ट इम्प्रेशन्स आहेत. चेन्नईच व्यक्तिमत्व ओळख्ल्यानंतर ती बदलतीलही. तोवर यावर विचार करायला काय हरकत आहे?
काही नाही तरी विचार करणं ही मराठी संस्कृती नक्की आहे! :D







 

Murugan ke gun gao!

 

               Contrary to popular belief, I do cook at home :) It's been couple of weeks since I have started my housewifing in Chennai and large part of it involves cooking. Of course, my husband and more importantly my father in law are my great helps there. but we do go to these nice restaurants in Chennai, visited four until now :P

So  Murugan idli ,  one of the most popular eateries in the whole Tamilnadu, has a branch that is in the vicinity, and we go there. In fact, I have been there twice in just two weeks. Murugan has a decent amount of space, which can accommodate about 25-30 people, not to big and flashy, but the taste of food will make up for any lacunae this place might otherwise have.OK, so let us start over. 

Murugan serves only south Indian food. All you can get to eat is variety of Idlis, Dosa, uttampam, and white Paniyaram (which we call appe back in Maharashtra) In drinks, it serves tea, coffee, milk, mineral water and their own product, Jigarthanda. That's all. No Menu card is served, of course because the choice is so limited. Murugan seems to be following the principle of serve little, serve the best.

You can swear by the quality of Idli here. well, people expect that while you are in Chennai, idli is one food which ought to be served best. It is not true. It is like saying whenever you are in Maharashtra, you ought to have Pohe and Misal served best. It is a local cuisine, and a staple to most of the people here, still there are places where Idlis are rice stones, and not cakes! Murugan serves Idlis which are an epitome of being idlis. Snow-white, extra soft, fresh and hot from the cooker direct to your plate. oh no, on your leaf.

Other aspect of Murugan being a Southie hotel is emphasized by it's absence of serving plates. There are banana leaves,  one for each, laid out on the table by the waiter here. the customer is supposed to take some water, and wash the banana leaf with your own hands. Then There will be boys roaming around with bowls of different kind of chutneys (or Podi). And as soon as you are given a table and banana leaf is cleaned, samples of different Podis will appear on your leaf. your order is brought to you within 5-7 minutes, and as those super soft Idlis or other stuff appears, another waiter comes and your meal is made complete with Sambar and the normal white coconut chutney.

oh and most importantly, Whatever you might have ordered, just mix everything together, most presumably, make balls and start throwing them in your mouth. This is not a place to be sophisticated and eat your idli with a fork and get a taste of sambar with a spoon. This is a place to be totally Southie, eat that oh-so-tasty food with a typical south Indian fervor, and then, if you please, complete it with a filter kaapi :). Burrrp! 

more on idlis and other stuff later. till then, sing my version of the song-

Idli dosa appam khao

tum bhi murugan ke gun gao!
mind it mind it! :)

Gym pori Gym! :D

one of the main attractions of my current Chennai life is by the name of pink- the 'wonnly ladies' gym which I have recently joined. It's my third gym in last 4 years, but that is because it is the third city that I am leaving in, in last four years. the previous one, named cloud nine was in Mumbai, and it was my first experience of an AC gym, operating in confined spaces. Chennai is no better with respect to AC gyms, (well, AC is the basic necessity for any gym in cities like Mumbai or Chennai!) but it fares better in lot of other areas, and it fares super amusing in couple of other things too.
To start with, it is only ladies gym. you know, it was kind of a necessary thing, or lets say it was 'in' to go to a women's gym (or health club, precisely) in the days of my mom. She herself went to one of such aerobic classes for some years. But my generation, who usually does not believe in this kind of separation of the sexes, is used to unisex gyms, with probably reserved timings for ladies. Both my earlier gyms were unisex, and hence there was a lot of population sweating around, trying to build six packs, showing their biceps in extra tight T shirts and smelling a bit like pigs! Pink is totally different. women do not do heavy machine crunching and bicep building, do not make funny sounds while lifting super heavy weights, and certainly do not smell like pigs, they go for fancy De-os and perfumes instead.

as it suggests from the name, it is an out and out female gym, with instructors wearing pink T shirts, and nicely supervising the clients, and instructing the extra heavy aunties. Oh yes, the percentage of extra heavy aunties is much more over here. and that's not a very good point so to say. I guess the aunties are probably too shy to go to a unisex gym in a unisex timing, and hence i never spotted so many of the lot in both my previous gyms.here they move around freely, have a nice conversation with the fellow dieters and also, share an elderly advice with the young instructors!

there are so many colors in the whole gym environment, with lot of pictures on the walls, the colorful charts decked in front of our treadmills, nicely patterned curtains,  the pink instructors, and the multicolor costumes that clients themselves were. and you have to give it to me. how often would you find gym clients,particularly the bicep building lot,  dressed in anything from florescent blue to bright golden?! women do it, and it adds to the overall brightness of the gym, resulting in probably the brighter mood of clients during and post workouts. And to top it all, probably because its a women's gym, there is also a winner recipe of the week, this weeks being batataa poha :)

of course, this gym has certain things which I am finding super amusing. (It seems that Chennai has a thing for gyms named after colors. there is a gym in the next lane which is named purple :D) well, to start with, the instructors all wear bindi( tikli), and have long locks. No offense, but i think it does not go with the track pants and bright pink t shirts that they wear. but it being in Chennai, I will probably give it to them. more interestingly, all the instructors and most of the gym clients look at me with utmost disbelief/ disapproval/anger that I do not wear a bindi, earrings, bangles, bracelet, long locks, flowers in my hair, necklace,chain or even Mangalsutra, ever. that's quite a crime in their books, but so be it. I guess they still have tough time getting used to public like me. ( i was happy when I saw a young lady, exactly like me in the gym, wearing tracks and T shirts and totally ornament less :P)
Also, they, as a rule, play only Tamil songs. the songs being played are very hip, modern and popular in the crowd. but I usually get a couple of word out of the 500 being played. the only song which I knew in one hour was kolaveri Di, and that had some Tamil words, so it qualified. I felt so  soup! sigh sigh!
 well, just wrote about the early days. the grass might not be so green,( and as i start understanding Tamil, the yellowness of grass will reduce! :p) but picture to abhi baki hai mere dost! Gym pori gym till then!

citee sun of shennay :D

ahoy! so here I appear again after a long long gap, which was there because of lotsa things.
I have moved to chennai, as you can guess from the title above, (if you are able to make sense of it!) and will be blogging from here.
so happy new year to all, and I promise, you will read posts more often now :)