Rant 61: Talking to myself..the sequel to Rant 5

So here is a sequel to the getting out of my mind phase. The only difference is the "mine" character which was originally my brain, is now me in the future......"me" is still the same old me

Mine: I shouldn't do this but I pulled you out for a moment to give you a hint.

Me: A hint???

Mine: Take wrong turns, talk to strangers, open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they're doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out.

Me: Why tell me this?

Mine: You're curious and smart and bored and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember, that you are always making up the future as you go.

Me: So wait, what is this place? Am I going to wake up thinking this was a dream?

Mine: Think of this as after the game, outside the theatre. To go in, I had to suspend disbelief, forget the outside.

Me: So you, why are you giving me hints that I'm going to forget?

Mine: You'll forget this trip but I think the hints should stay with you.

Me: If this is a game, are you - are we cheating???

Mine: Yep.

My thanks to some very experienced friends from 2007-2009.

Rant 60: School of Rock

The real spirit of Rock and Roll lies in the people who give the Respect and Reco'nize

(images taken at Campus Rock Idols 2009 held in Manipal University grounds 

For those about to Rock....

We salute you!

Let the heads bang

Rise you spirits

Rant 59: My Office part 4

Things I like about my office:-
1) The work…(love the ass covering don't you?)
2) Watching free tv and browsing free internet

3) a semi-sleeper push-back chair with roller wheels (ultra deluxe, for even bigger fans of Durgamba travels) ...which translates to: wheeeee!

4) The security lady trying her level best to run the metal detector around all who enter/leave…but thanks to my daily intake of Kellogs all nutritious corflakes (kidding of course), I am one step ahead…most of the time at least.

5) catching snoozes within the three walls of my work-station in weird angles so that the security cameras don’t catch me…

6) Upma with coconut chutney for breakfast in the office canteen.


Things I don’t really like but have to deal with anyways:-
1) ass kissers

2) frigggin’ cold-ass air conditioning

3) insane amount of wiring below the work stations, which basically means I cant stretch my legs out in all directions

4) office gossip. I’ve pretty much grown out of my high-school phase of hating people who talk behind my back. It made college a whole lot more bearable. This monster, in a different guise, is slowly rearing its ugly head!! Am trying my best to keep my own head straight.

Rant 58: reaching for the skies

Someday we will be able to harness this power to its full extent

and...

...FLY

Rant 57: A journey of a 1000 Pillars

Moodabidri, around 35kms from Mangalore is quite renowned for this 1000 pillared Jain temple (also referred to as a Basadi).
An interesting place I say. Though I should add that I reached there in the worst possible time, NOON! It is by far the worst time to take pictures. Still hope you like them

The temple

The Pillars

Beyond the hallowed gateway lies....

this statue....

and this

Lets not forget the Elephant in the room...or is it two?

 

All hail the great Jain prophet, Sri whats-his-name!

Rant 56: The Desert Diaries P3: Taking notes

Apologies for the break in field notes updates. I was, in fact, a bit bored of giving chronological accounts of my holiday here and was taking time to observe Kuwaiti life a little more carefully. My previous three visits to this country were pretty much about the awesome food, the fast cars and the pretty women. So on this particular visit, I hope to have acquired more than details of the afore mentioned superficial aspects. Here goes. (Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this series)

First up, since my folks are doctors and are employed by two different hospitals here, I managed to get a guided tour of one. This one is the Al Orf hospital (no it’s not Scooby Doo saying “wharf”!) where mom works. I could, of course, have also visited my dad’s employers, but that would have entailed me waking up at the unearthly hour of 6am (sigh! Holiday sleep is a bitch, what to do!). Nevertheless, I was given the full tour by mom, of what is purportedly one of the “low budget” hospitals here; low budget compared to the other hospitals I mean. Once you have a look around…

You realize, that perhaps even Apollo or Escorts will be hard-pressed to find the funds for such extravagant care. The rooms all have an ante room, complete with couches, coffee tables, LCD TVs, DVD players, you know, all the things you need when your loved one is dying from cancer. Oh and they have a bed for the patient too! Seriously though, you wouldn’t be blamed if you mistook this establishment (or any like this all over Kuwait) for a hotel instead of a hospital.

Anybody call for a Bell-Hop???

Secondly, Supermarkets. Now, I know India is developing in that area. Gone are the days when Sharma aunty’s monthly groceries were bought from either the Sunday haat or Nathu’s big store (helped by an overpowering rice+wheat smell, combined with odour from five overworked helpers). We now choose to have our already dead vegetables subjected to the autopsy of a barcode beeper (my name for it) which shoots a red laser into the critter’s ass, forcing it to reveal its price. Putting aside the fact that I adored Sunday haat sellers for being able to memorise purchase details for every single customer thronging the stall, I do believe that supermarkets here (talking about Kuwait now) are miles above our desi ones, as I believe, most “americanised” marts are. From TV sets, to washing machines, to frickin bicycles, you can pretty much buy it all! And I wanted to photograph them all. However, owing to a grumpy looking security dude standing next to the electronics section of this place, I was only able to grab snaps of two commonly placed items from this mart.

Here fishy fishy...aww poor fishy fishy!

and then there was milk....rows and rows of it!!

 Next up, the people of this fine country. Ladies first…my word! Such beauty…past compare (to quote the melodious Bianca Castafiore). I only regret that the women here choose to put on so much of make-up. I mean, it’s one thing to apply a slight blush mark, quite another to seem like you just came out of an obscure, dangerous medieval ritual where a spiked rod, full 4 inches in circumference, was poked through your cheeks, leaving you looking like Heath Ledger’s Joker after a make-over (you wanna know how I got these blushes??? …err maybe not). But all in all, yes, the women look absolutely gorgeous. I know someone at work who has completely given up on Indian women after only a year in the UK, and for once, I have to say, he may just be right. Keep up the good work ladies!!!

On the other side of the gender spectrum, the males tend to exhibit various idiosyncrasies. They all hold their mobiles in their hands as they walk, well mostly the ones with the flashy ones. I’m not going to jump to conclusions, or draw stereotypes. I’m just a spectator. Most of the dress sense here is – for want of a better word – metrosexual. No more on that. Plus, what is up with all the cheek kissing as a form of greeting. I’m going, guys get a room, seriously! A typical scene might go something like this. Five guys, each of whom manages to dress in the full rainbow colours spectrum, strutting around (mostly malls), holding PDAs in their hands (which 15 year old needs a fucking PDA I ask you???), and hair straightened. The obvious attempt is to look cool, which, in my eyes, takes a downhill direction the moment another group of guys walks up to them. And then the cheek kissing begins. Now, I’m not a homophobe or anything. But seriously, I’m ok with a guy and a girl doing that, seems polite (not to mention, two amazing arab women doing that…even more amazing!!) but this is a little too much for me. So without delving too much on that…

Of course, if you ever come across one of these,

you feel like going, GET ME OUT OF HERE! (celebrity or not mind you!!)

Enjoy the rest of the pics

The profession the country was founded upon...now a national pastime

Let’s hope this is not a national pastime as well

 

Sunset at Safat

Rant 56: The Desert Diaries P2: looking around

(PS: For part 1 of this series click here)

Had the laziest day in weeks yesterday. Woke up late, had a late breakfast, a late lunch and a late-afternoon siesta. Evening time

we went to the electronics district of Kuwait, better known as Hawalli, one of the six Governorates of this country, where bought a 1 Terabyte external hard disk. Most of the shops are run by people from the Indian subcontinent and it’s a welcome change (from listening to all that Arabic) to be able to talk to someone in hindi here. The market itself is quite fascinating. It’s sort of like a black market for electronic goods, only the prices are quite reasonable and the products themselves fairly reliable. To give you an example, I have myself bought – over three years – three different external hard disks from this area, two 80 gb ones and one of 500 gb, with all three running quite well. I wish the same for my fourth as well.

I must say here that dad has really gotten the driving concept here down pat. Never could I have imagined him driving in a country with a minimum speed value. My dad, who in India, would let rickshaws overtake him, looked quite at ease behind the wheel, when I myself get a minor chill down my spine every time a car literally zooms past us. He himself admits driving is a pleasure here, and I can see why, what with amazing looking “Freeways” (yes yes, u can shoot me now!) where you can basically rip to your heart’s content.

 
McDonalds in Hawalli...or is it???
Next stop was the main city area, officially known as Kuwait City (popularly known as Mallya).

Other than Hawalli, this is probably the one area where you find the most number of expatriates, and not just subcontinental folks, but people from south east asian countries as well. I also saw a lady in a saree, which was yet another welcome change from the myriad of Dolce Gabbana fashion ants I’ve seen since arriving here.

Made a stop at a mall called the Multhana complex. Pretty sweet place. Visited the bookshop on the basement floor and bought some football magazines, (October edition of Four Four Two, November issue of Inside United, official Man Utd magazine, and November issue of Champions, the official UEFA Champions League magazine). Incidentally, I had to get my watch repaired, and if I had assumed that one of the many big watch shops in this mall – those that sold practically every branded name you can think of – would be able to do the needful then I was rudely surprised. Not a single one had a workshop for repairs. In the end, an Indian doing watch repairs on the roadside was more than glad to help us.

Topped off the evening’s  enjoyment with some lovely food from this blessed place. No prizes on guessing what I ate.

A touch of home @ Mirqab area