It happens only in India

On 16th March 2010, I read about the grand opening of a mall in Mantri Square Malleshwaram. I had heard about this for a while and wanted to see the place. I was more interested in visiting Spar hypermarket, which claimed to have opened the biggest hypermarket in South India. The biggest hypermarket I have visited till date in India is Shop rite at Nirmal Lifestyle Mulund and Hypermarket at Hyper city Malad. These are the best markets I have visited in Mumbai. I expected something similar or better, but was disappointed as soon as I entered the market. The entrance was rather small and congested with people who were unable to decide whether to go in or not and finally we managed to find our way inside the shop and shop for a few things. The eating counter was located right at the centre of the shop and this was a little inconvenient for people moving with filled trolleys, as they had to squeeze in the middle of hungry people.

I didn’t expect so many people to be present at that place and it was over crowded by Bangalore standards. I had not seen so many people in any other super market – be it Spar at koramangala, Big Bazaar or even Reliance mart. By the time I finished my small shopping – it was closing time and just as I removed my stuff before the counter, the person told me there was a problem with the system and he wasn’t able to bill in my stuff. I had to put back all my paraphernalia and carry to another counter. The person seemed to be a little irritated after a hectic day’s schedule and seemed to be in a great hurry to punch in the details and carelessly packed the things I had purchased.

The whole experience was draining and I swore to think twice before going there again. We reached home and then my dad was casually going through the bill, he found that the cashier had forgot to punch in the bill for 2-3 items I had purchased and had blindly packed them for us without charging us the amount. Probably the guy at the counter was exhausted and in a hurry to pack-up. I considered it as an inaugural gift and kept it for myself.

As I was chatting over this experience with a colleague, he mentioned to me that such things are very common in super markets even on normal days. Some items don’t have a bar code on them and hence doesn’t beep when an unbilled item is taken out. Lot of people take advantage of this and someone managed to sneak away with a LCD TV worth 1.5 lacs, when the systems crashed during peak shopping hours and while manual billing was being done, the guy coolly walked away without paying even in a penny…. Guess what? The company realized this after 6 months during stock checking and then traced out the person.

Waow! It happens only in India!!

Principles of my life

Some of the principles I follow in my life:

Dont hurt someone as far as possible.
Spend quality time with people you love.
Have an aim or ambition in life and believe in it. Work towards achieving it.
Look after your health. Its important to eat right - in quality and quantity.
Make a few, but good and trustworthy friends.
Read lot of books and remember one key point from every book.
If you cannot be a part of the progress, donot be a hindrance to the progress.
Speak only if required and think twice before speaking.
Be honest to your employer and be punctual.
Dont take work home.

Flash back 2009

Year 2009 zipped off really fast. Its hard to believe that one more year has passed off. It was a memorable year and some things I remember are listed below
Jan - went on a trip for 3-4 days to Pune and visited mini Tirupati temple on Satara road
Feb - Trip to Shirdi and Nasik with parents
March - busy with work
April - Trip to Singapore (wish i had time to do more shopping) and Baby shower ceremony at home.
May and June - enjoyed at home and work, countdown had begun.
July 8th 2009 - arrival of Aditi at Hiranandani hospital.
Aug till Oct - Spent good time with Aditi in Mumbai.
Oct and Nov - Came to Bdvt.Naming ceremony and Diwali celebrations with BKV.
Dec - Spent 2 weeks in Mumbai. Aditi's first flight experience and her "special" attachment to Bangalore airport.

Around the world...

Just about a week back, someone asked me how many countries have you visited till date?
It was only after that I started counting and here I list them all in order.
Jan 2004, Bangkok- This was my first visit abroad and whats amazing abt this is that long back, maybe 10 years ago, I met mom's friend who apparently saw me for the first time that in Jan 2004, I will travel out of India for the first time and that I should remember her words when it actually happens.....It was only when I was waiting to board, that I suddenly remembered her words and till date, I keep wondering how accurately she had told me abt the first trip.
Oct 2005 - First trip to Europe, Amsterdam. Same time halted in Zurich, Switzerland for a brief period.
March 2006 - Amsterdam, Hilversum, Naarden, Netherlands
April 2006 - Paris, France
May 2006 - Bangkok, Thailand
Oct 2006 - Antwerpen, Belgium
Nov 2006 - Cologne, Germany
Jan 2007 - Liverpool, Manchester, London, UK
Feb 2007 - Barcelona, Spain
May 2007 - Berlin, Germany
June 2007 - Brussels, Belgium
Oct 2007 - Luxembourg
Nov 2007 - Paris - France, Rome - Italy, Vienna - Austria. Also halted in Zurich, Switzerland
Aug 2008 - Singapore
Oct 2008 - Shanghai, China and Hongkong.
These are the places visited till date. Look fwd to explore more countries in the future. Btw, to answer my friend's Q, I have visited 15 countries till date. Still pending in my wishlist are US, Dubai, Japan and Australia.

MCC (Malnad Cuisine and Culture)

This Oct, my brother-in-law got married in coastal Karnataka, place called Kumta that is close to Gokarna and Murudeshwar. It was a welcome break for both of us to get rid of busy schedules for atleast a week.
The girl’s family had organized a Yakshagaana show the previous evening for all of us. The hall was completely packed with people and I was watching the show for the first time in my life. It was abt “Jambhavati Kalyana”, how Krishna loses Shamantaka mani and goes in search of it and encounters “Jaambhavanta”, teaches him a lesson while recovering the Mani and end up getting married to his daughter, Jambhavati. Three people were stationed on the stage – one for singing and explaining, one for beating drums for female character and one beating the drum for male character. The beat used for female characters is very gentle, slow and mild while the beats used for men are more loud and fast. Eyes are the most important feature for describing various emotions and the artists gave full justice to the characters they portrayed using the right expressions.

It was worth watching each and every move displayed. It was much more entertaining than watching any bollywood movie. I sincerely appreciate the talent of these people and I hope to get more chance to see such kind of programmes.
Another unforgettable thing abt this wedding would be the food prepared at the groom’s place during reception. The entire food was prepared using firewood in a traditional way and I must say that the taste of the food is definitely tastier, than the food prepared using LPG. Being a flavourist, I can vouch for it and can give a detailed explanation to it.
Some of the delicacies from this region includes – an appetizer prepared using buttermilk, with tempering of cumin seeds and ajwain leaves, mango pickle (prepared using small whole green mangoes), kashaaya ( prepared by boiling coriander seeds, cumin powder with water and jaggery and added milk before serving) – truly gives a refreshing experience, green mango rasam and saasve – prepared using grated cucumber, coconut and yoghurt and tempered with mustard seeds and red chilli are just a few examples.
After enjoying all desi cuisines and culture, I had to pack off immediately to go to Shanghai – to experience a totally different culture and cuisine.. I will soon find time to update the blog.

Hello Singapore

Recently I got a chance to visit Singapore for 10 days for a training workshop. I wasn’t really in my usual enthusiastic mode, due to work pressure.. I had to complete some line trials in our factory before departing to S’pore and barely got 2 days to pack off. Three of us were to go to S’pore in the same flight. On Sunday- 27th July, it was a bloomy day and was raining slightly. Fearing that there would be heavy rains, I left home quite early and my spouse was kind enough to drop me at the airport. The whole process got finished so fast that I reached the gate almost 2 hrs before time. I got a chance to roam around the renovated airport and started reading a book. We landed in S’pore by 7.30 pm and reached hotel by about 8.30 pm. We were too tired to go out for dinner. So I ordered food in my room only. I got a first hands experience on the vegetarian food. It smelt a little different than normal- probably the food was cooked in sesame oil..
Next day after a sumptuous breakfast, met up with old colleagues from Australia, Thailand and China – started chatting about the recent happenings in our company. The conversation lasted till the time we reached office in Woodlands, almost an hour’s drive from the hotel.After the training, I planned to extend my stay for a project and met a college friend over the weekend. The thought of meeting her kept me motivated and charged throughout the training. Over the weekend, we covered almost all places in S’pore except Sentosa. Singaporeans have a distinct English accent one cannot miss… Ok la, I go with you.. The taxi drivers are very helpful and it is very easy to go around places..I did manage to do a lot of shopping, that on the day of departure, I wasn’t sure if I had exceeded my luggage limit, but somehow managed to squeeze in everything in one bag. Not that Singapore is the best place for shopping, but I required retail therapy to get rid of my stress and chill out..During my next visit, I hope to discover some more interesting things abt this place..

Driving in Mumbai

Learning to drive in Mumbai is not that difficult and even getting a license is not that difficult if it gets done through a driving school. All it takes is spending half an hour each day for learning the lessons, half day to get LLR and one full day in the RTO office to get DL. This is considering that the driving school persons will help you skip the massive queue lined up to sign in front of the officer before and after taking the driving test. The driving test depends on the mood of the officer taking the test. The officer has a really challenging job to do. The test is conducted for a group by one officer and each group consists of at least 8 – 10 people. The officer is supposed to ask each person ion the group to drive for at least half a km while testing the person on his driving skills. If the officer-in charge is tired or stressed out only 2-3 people in the group gets the test and rest are given license without even a test. Generally it’s the girls who are chosen to get the actual test and I was happy I got to drive for at least 100 metres, else I would have felt the guilt of getting license without driving.

Glimpse of Mumbai Traffic

The real challenge starts after getting the license and when one has to drive on potholed roads, with the never declining traffic amidst autos, trucks, buses and other vehicles. Its even worse, when there is a sudden bottle neck, raining profusely or when one has drive through elevated roads and curves. Imagine the situation when one has to pass through more than 3 or 4 hurdles mentioned above while driving. Some of them don’t even have the patience to wait for the green light at a traffic signal. It’s only after practicing hard for at least a year, one can become comfortable driving in the city… As for me I am still in the learning and practicing stage though I have got my DL almost 6 months back. I hope I can practice more and get adjusted to driving independently here soon.