Dinner with the President!!!!

I am definitely going to mark this date on my calendar....11th dec 2007. The day I met my President with his family, not in Singapore but in KOLKATA!!!

President along with his family (which included wife, sister, brother-in-law, daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, son, etc) was visiting Calcutta as part of his personal trip to India. Singapore airlines welcomed them at the airport and was invited to dinner by the President. And so, on 11th Dec, we were all ready at Taj Bengal to eat with the man himself. (Yes, to me this is a big deal). We shook hands and settled down at a table with the Sg high commissioner, his wife, Nath's daught, etc etc etc. Gosh, it was so much fun. Was chatting away with J (daught) and our table was roaring with laughter. In the midst of dinner, SRN walked over and asked if we were doing ok and said he should have sat with us because our table was a hilarious one. Dinner was heavy but yummy...

At the end of dinner, we shook hands again, exchanged a few words with SRN and made our way out of the hotel. I was soooooooo thrilled!!!

Ok, had enough raving. Thanks for listening.

Sheela returns

Ok, I have neglected this blog for sometime but thats simply coz I have been lazy.

I was in Bangalore visiting family and in-laws 2 days before Diwali and in Singapore for Diwali, only to find myself down with food poisoning the day later. Must be all the cleanliness in Sg that my system is not used to. 2-3 months of filth exposure and see what happens. So, I was largely at home and this gave me ample opportunity to spend time with mom.

I had to recover from food poisoning asap because of my trip to Bangkok. I did recover, till it resurfaced again the night before my flight to Bangkok. 17th Nov, I bid goodbye to Sg and boarded my Thai airways flight to Bangkok- my first trip to Thailand. I was to meet Vinod there at the airport as he was coming in by Sq (duh!!) Eagerly we headed to our hotel, chucked our bags, had lunch and headed off to Chatuchak Weekend market. My, what a sight or should I say what a stench. Stretches and stretches of shops selling almost the same stuff welcomed us. Did a bit of shopping of coz not without the bargaining. Since I was still not feeling my best, we headed out for comfort food- Indian food so as to comfort my tummy. I had to get well for the next day was my birthday!

As expected, my tummy was as fit as a fiddle on 18th and we booked ourselves on tours that covered the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, Emerald Buddha, etc etc etc. Starting our tour at 8am we were back at the hotel at 4...2 hours to get ready for our dinner cruise. The highlight of my bdy celebrations in Bangkok. The cruise was awesome. Not the food...but the ambience, the gentle breeze, the beer, the sights of the monuments at night, etc. Awesome.

19th and 20th Nov, Vinod had work. Met his friends for brkfast and lunch. Then they headed off for their conference while I felt the magnetic pull towards the malls that were near our hotel. Walked and walked, bot stuff, had lunch, dinner etc..Had a facial massage........Oh the massages...we had the foot massage and I had an additional facial massage with hot stones... Bliss I tell you.

Wed, we were out of Bangkok, and in Singapore for our connecting flight to Oh Calcutta. We landed in Calcutta late wed only to find that parts of the city were under curfew because of violence by brainless people. Many ppl tell me Calcuttans are warm and friendly. I think they meant only some Calcuttans. Strike is the religion of jobless people here. Oh well, I am Singaporean and oh so proud to be one.

Ciao

New album

Hi Folks,

My old photo album is full.. So created another one.

U can find the new link on the right hand side of my blog. Cheers

The Golden Triangle

Mid October marks festivities in Calcutta with Durga Puja being a big celebrations amongst the people here. The city celebrates with a 4 day off from work and a longer break for school. The entire city is filled with abodes for goddess Durga. Music, lights, dance, crowd- all the highlight of this grand festival.

So, here, we get this break and we decide to head off to Delhi to go on a trip to Agra, Jaipur & Udaipur, affectionately known as the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur)

The trip starts with us reaching the airport half an hr before the scheduled departure of our flight to Delhi from Cal. We are told that we are absolutely the last to check-in...but we realise that we weren't that late. When we boarded the flight, there were people behind us waiting to board. We board the flight and are welcomed by a full flight. Knowing my luck, I had problems settling down in my seat. Why?? All because there was already someone sitting on my seat with my seat number printed on his boarding pass. Indian efficiency for u! So, the airhostess tries to find out what happened while I struggle to give way to the inflow of passenger, given the narrow aisle. Eventually she comes and requests the guy sitting on my seat to move to another seat. He refuses and she tells me to go. Good I agreed coz I had plenty of leg room. Stupid guy for refusing! We then reach Delhi 2 hours later.

The heat is cruel and we were again whisked into our car that we had arranged for our travel. We take a 5 hour drive to Agra, get a glimpse of the awfully congested roads of Delhi, compliment Kolkata on its 'Not so bad after all' status and also a rally which i hear ended ydy. People from all states congregated and were walking from Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh to Delhi to meet the governor. We finally reached Agra and checked into our hotel for a brief rest.

Shortly after that, we started to make our journey towards the wonder of the world- Taj Mahal. Wat a mess it was outside the entrance. There were 2 queues, one for the ladies (which obv had no sign suggesting that) and one for the men. Reason : Security screening. Unaware of the 2 queues, I lined up together with Vinod in the men's one. As we reached the entrance, the guy tells me the ladies queue is on the other side. What #$%^& luck! I had to go all the way to the end of the ladies queue, only to find myself waiting for another 30min.. Ladies jostling behind with one sticking to me like i was a magnet which attracted her. Some others tried to jump queue from the men's line to the ladies. I refused t budge. I pushed them aside and barricaded such that they would end up behind me. Tats wat these brainless women deserve. Wats worse, they have the audacity to tell the security guys that they were in the queue when obviously they out of it.

After the severe jostling, I eventually made it in. All my anger and frustrations disappeared looking at that magnificent piece of architecture. Lovely surroundings. Had a damn good look around the Taj Mahal and then headed to the Agra Fort. The place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son. After that we went back to our hotel for a gd nite's rest.

Day 2: We started our journey to Jaipur, also known as the Pink City. Once there, we visited Palaces and forts...Just trying to imagine the kind of luxurious lifestyle these rulers lived, makes my head spin in wonder. Highlight of the trip was a visit to Choki Dhani, an ethnic Rajasthani village. Exhibitions, dance, rajasthani dinner,etc etc all awaited us.

Day 3: Was also spent in Jaipur

Day 4: We headed next to Udaipur where we spent 2 days. The city is gorgeous and is known for its lakes and beautiful palaces. Amazing architecture. Highlight: Fireworks on the last day of Navrathri while having dinner by the lake. How romantic!

Day 5: We set off for Kolkata, eager to go back to a pleasant and not-so-harsh weather. Rajasthan was awfully hot. All in all, a damn good trip!!

Next trip : Singapore & Bangkok! :D

Cheers

TEFL graduate is in the house

Course is finally over. No more shuttling up and down Hiland park to get to class. The course ended with a bang in Tung Fong restaurant where we had our end of course lunch. Certificates were distributed during lunch. I am now officially qualified to teach kids English while on posted life.

Got a call some days back from a principal of Calcutta International School for the English teacher position I had applied for. Interview was fixed for today at 4.30pm. My driver was stuck in the traffic and only managed to pick me up at 4.15pm. But watever happens, happens for the good. At 4pm, I get a call from CIS telling me that the meeting has been rescheduled becoz of an urgent meeting the Principal has to attend. I was sooooooooooooooo elated. Asked them if I could meet them the wk after next coz I was gonna be in Singapore next week.

And yes, I'm coming back to my country (for a wk)....a country I have learnt to appreciate having spent 1 mth in Calcutta. So what if we r a fine city, we r a rocking city...unlike some cities I know........

Come Mon, HOME SWEET HOME!!!

Cheers

Rain rain go away lil Sheela wants to go to school

I am at home writing a blog today thanks to the floods in the city. Its been raining incessantly since Sat night. Owing to the wonderful drainage system in India, let alone Calcutta, we are swimming. Schools have been closed since ydy and there goes our teaching practicum as well. Its our last week of classes where we have 4 teaching sessions. Fri's officially the end of course that is marked by a lunch outing. If the rain persists, then our practices are going for a six. No clue wat will happen if we don't meet our quota of teaching practices. As long as I get my certificate after paying a bomb for the course, I'll be more than glad.

The rain's been pretty bad. The lobby of our apartment is waterlogged. Froggies and tadpoles are happily swimming around. Wat a sight. You should be here to know what its like!!! Ciao as I go get my hot cup of tea.

Pics

Here's the link to the pics from my bhub-puri-konark trip.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560740058FJaGnn

cheers

Puri & Konark

So here goes the rest of my Oriya Odyssey. On 15th we headed off in a car to Puri via Konark. The journey was picturesque with green pastures around us. Drove through villages and saw ladies clad in blouseless sarees...Just the way u find them in picture postcards. We stopped at Konark to visit the much-talked about Sun Temple. Amazing stuff.. U will know when you see the pics. We hired a guide who explained the intricate sculptures of the temple. How hinduism glorifies kamasutra. After Konark, we continued our journey to Puri while stopping at little temples along the way. Checked into our hotel at Puri and went for a walk along the beach. Clean sands, waves crushing at our feet......BLISS. We then got changed and headed out to the Jagannath (Lord Krishna) temple. This is a true example of a remarkable architectual feat. Interestingly, the temple has a red flag on the top and apparently it denotes that Jagannath is within the building.

What I found really strange was that the temple is selective regarding who is allowed entry into the grounds. Theres a board on the wall of the entrance that says that non-Hindus were not allowed entry into the temple premises. While I was googling for possible reasons, came across a site that said there was some evidence that this came into force following a series of invasions by foreigners into the temple and surrounding area. Cameras aren't allowed in the temple premises. So if you need to look at pictures, google "Jagannath temple"- Plenty for your perusal.

I will attach the link to the pics of Nandakannan zoo and the Sun temple soon once they are done uploading. Enjoy.

Oriya Odyssey

On 13th Sept, Vinod headed off to Bhubaneswar for official work while I stayed behind to be a good student and attend my classes. Despite this, I was not going to lose out on my chance to visit other parts of Eastern India. I wouldnt miss that for the world!! So on Fri even, I was whisked to the airport to catch my flight to the state capital, Bhubaneswar, fondly known as Temple City of India. Reached on time and was welcomed by Vinod at the airport. We then proceeded to our hotel- the best in the city. Mayfair Lagoon.


For a bit of history about this enthralling city: Being the seat of 'Lord Lingaraj', a form of Lord Shiva, Bhubaneswar is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. Hundreds of temples dot the landscape of the Old Town, which once boasted more than 2000 temples. Bhubaneswar, in particular hosts the Lingaraj Temple. Lingaraj Temple stands majestically as the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. At 55 metres high, it dominates the landscape with 150 smaller shrines in its spacious courtyard and is surrounded by massive walls lavishly decorated with beautiful sculptures. Beautiful not because they are well maintained...but beautiful because of the ancient look the temple has. Truly an outstanding specimen of Oriyan craftmanship.


Despite the richness of the temple experience, the trip was somehow marred by the fact that people claiming to be priests ask for money to perform poojas or for giving of prashad. I was terribly disturbed by the fact that these people would try and make money in the name of GOD. We stuck to putting our donations in the donation box instead of putting it on the tray belonging to the priests. Who knows if they pocket the money. This seemed to be a trend in all temples that we stopped by during our trip. They chant some prayers, give u the holy water and then ask for more money when you put your donation. Ridiculous people.


Just as we finished our temple visit, it started to pour cats and dogs. With our car down the road we had no choice but to wait under a tent belonging to a shop till our driver drove to where we were.


The city of Bhubaneswar amazed me. For one, it had wide and DECENT roads. The city was colourful and it was an experience of its own because there in Bhub, vehicles compete more with goats and cows for road space more than with PEOPLE like in this city of "JOY".


I will attach a pic of Lingaraj Temple and follow up with more details on my trip in subsequent posts. Dont wanna bore you too much.

Tranquility

When you think Kolkata, you definitely do not think of tranquility. Not till I arrived at Vedic Village- a unique spa resort experience with the flavour of the Indian countryside. Set in the exclusive Rajarhat Megacity - a 20 minute drive from Kolkata city airport and just 40 minutes away from the centre of the City. Truly a place to relax and recharge. The drive to Vedic Village wasn't a pleasant one with bad bumpy roads but all of that was forgotten when we checked into our Earth Villa. A truly rustic room. We looked out of our window and found ourselves surrounded by a lake and pretty white-winged water birds flying around. We put our things in our room and headed home for lunch at the in-house restaurant, Yagna. Indulged in a yummy buffet lunch which was reasonably priced. Later when back into our room, did some assignment, watched some cricket, played carrom, pool, table tennis and chilled again in our room. Definitely what I wanted. Some peace and quiet. As we ordered some snacks in our room, we got a call from the hotel staff saying that we got an upgrade into the spa villas, the best in Vedic Village. (Don't ask how :P)

Time for dinner - and we headed out for dinner. Ordered some cocktails in our room and enjoyed the tranquility around us. I always love hotel breakfasts and this was no exception. Awesome omelettes, idlis, sambhars, etc etc etc. With a full tummy, we left Vedic to face the hustle bustle all recharged!

Ciao

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

My long awaited course finally started. The TEFL certificate course that I decided to pursue to occupy my time. Who knows I might even become a teacher in some school here in Kolkata. Anyway, we are into the 2nd week of our course and it has served well in occupying my time. In fact more time than i could afford with the tons of assignments we gotta at home. The class is great with 8 of us in total. One from South Africa, 3 from USA, 1 from Israel and 2 from India. The trainer is a fantastic tutor, someone you can keep listening to for hours. We are now starting our teaching practices which is the highlight of the course.. I think we have 8 of them. Trow we are starting with the Shared teaching practice which we get to do in pairs. I got exposure to a local govt school which hosts largely kids of underprivileged families. It was an awesome experience just talking to one student. I think there are far more educational experiences to come, more than just learning how to be an English teacher.

Fragility of life

Even though I hardly know her, Vinod and his parents have a long standing association with her. Gowri, the maid had been with the family since the time he was born. Last night, we made our usual phonecall to his parents only to find out that Gowri, whom we had just seen last week while in Bangalore, had been hit by a vehicle and died. This news came as a shock especially since she had wished us well just 3-4 days ago. Especially so for Vinod since hes seen her as a kid. Apparently, the accident became a police case and when she was finally taken to the hospital, she passed away. My father-in-law had been to the hospital especially since while she lay dying she had asked for him. How fragile and vulnerable life is....one day u r ok and the next u r gone. My in laws are definitely going to miss her presence around in the house.

Gowri, rest in peace.

Food Galore

Vinod told me that there was a vegetarian food festival going on at a hotel called Kenilworth Hotel. One could choose from Rajasthani food, kebabs & sizzlers or an italian fare. Having craved for Italian food for quite some time, we decided to give the vegetarian Italian fare a try. Nothing fantastic really.

Ydy was Avani Avittam (a religious observation where brahmin guys who wear the so-called sacred thread get together to perform some prayers.) The sacred thread is changed on this day. After the religious part the ladies supposedly arrange a sumptuous feast. At our end, I, for the first time, tried making the traditional Indian varieties of food - Vadas and Payasam along with a 3 course lunch. (its a huge deal i managed to make all of this ON MY OWN). Not a terrible success, didnt reach the standards of my mom but nonetheless the food was enjoyable.

Raksha-bandhan of North India is also observed on this day. This is where sisters tie a friendship band sort of thing (called rakhi) for their brothers. This band is supposed to protect them from evil. After the band is tied, brothers present their sisters with a gift. I tied rakhis for my cousins in Bangalore and got cash in return. Just perfect for some mini shopping.

OK, I am back to doing my long-pending homework. Ciao!

Welcome the Goddess of Wealth

I have been absent from the blogging scene for a while mainly becoz there was nothing much going on here. Last Thurs, I flew Air Deccan to Bangalore because of a festival/occasion called 'Varalakshmi Vritham'. Varalakshmi is the Goddess of all wealth and gives us whatever we want. To get the blessing of Lakshmi, this pooja is performed. As the pooja is not practised in my home, this was the first time I was conducting one in my in laws place. It was a new experience doing this pooja and I realised I really have many years to go before I can appreciate rituals. Pictures of the pooja shall be uploaded when my camera is finally charged.

Met my folks in Bangalore and made merry. Left for Kolkata from Bangalore via Hyderabad, the current terror city by Kingfisher. I must say Kingfisher is in a league of its own. A really good domestic airline with great looking cabin crew.

In the meantime, I am doing my pre-course homework. Loads and loads of stuff to read, some of which I have learnt before but just can't remember. Sch starts on Mon (3/9) and I am so looking forward. Also hav a trip to Bhubaneswar coming up wkend after next. Basically Vinod is going there on work and I am tagging along to enjoy the sights and sounds.

Bhubaneswar is the capital of the state of Orissa, India. This city has a long history and today stands as a centre for religious activity. Apparently, there are about 7000 temples here and therefore got the coveted title of "temple city of India." Am really looking forward to this trip.

Till then cheers!

Rain rain come again another day

Its the monsoon season now and many parts of West Bengal are seeing showers like crazy. In Cal, its not that bad but when it pours, it pours so very gloriously. It rained from Sunday up to Mon afternoon. Not a big deal...but the repercussions of the rain were terrible. Many parts of Cal were seriously waterlogged and we had to avoid those areas. Traffic was snarling...Its already bad on normal days...Imagine the scene when it pours. I got to see what the monsoon is like in my apts on Monday. The following pics will speak for the condition of the monsoon.

This was the scene on the ground floor of my building. Pictures taken from bedroom.

Wed was India's Independence day- a holiday. In the morning, our building had flag hoisting. We thought it was a good opportunity to see the inhabitants of our building. After the flag was raised, people sang the Indian national anthem. Thereafter, I had a private rendition of the anthem on the guitar, courtesy of Vinod. In the afternoon, we headed off to a place called Hiland Park to watch Shah Rukh Khan's latest movie, Chak de India (loosely translated as Go for it, India). Movie was good though seats were slightly uncomfortable. Anyway just before the movie started, the trailer had some famous Indian singers sing the national anthem. We were so engrossed in the music that we failed to notice that everyone in the theatre was actually standing at attention. We followed suit....At the end of the movie (which was good), we were welcomed by a massive crowd in the mall, with ppl behaving like they were seeing the escalators for the first time or like they had never seen sales before. I think the way people behaved here is far worse than Singaporeans reacting to a sale. Oh boy....Think a public holiday is the worst time to go out for shopping here.

Till the next post, ciao!

Adieu to the weekend

Well folks, another weekend passed with me in Cal. Sat was very a really exciting day as we set out for the streets in the afternoon. Vinod drove quite a bit and I think his confidence is growing. Our driver says in a months time, he'd be ready to hit the streets. I really hope he is able to manage driving on his own soon so that on days we don't have our driver, we can still go for drives.

Sat, we went to some shopping malls, of coz I bot sth for myself. Would have bot loads of other house decoratives, but considering that we would have to move base again in the near future, I resisted the temptation. Also went to Victorial Memorial. Well, if you want to know what this place is about, visit http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/ . Basically its an art museum documenting the history of India, growth of Calcutta, etc.





Sunday was a lazy day and we spent our time at home. Got really boring at home, so I attempted to start on my pre-course stuff. And it was no surprise that I cudnt rem loads of things from my El bachelors course. Now, at least I know I need to read up n refresh my memory on grammar stuff.

In the news this morn : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=250720

Who would have thought that an innocent Sunday morn could turn out to be THE NEWS in Kolkata the next day. This piece of gripping news is the highlight in all papers in the city. In fact, I wake up each morning to the newspapers and this morn, I was awaken to this. Not a terrorist attack, just an accident. Yet, I am sure, in the minds of many, the first question would be "Was it a terrorist attack with Independence day around the corner?" Apparently, that morning, the employees of Macdonalds were preparing for a child's bdy party with the kids expected to arrive at 10am. Time of explosion : 9.34am. Imagine the state if the explosion took place any later. Lives of innocent kids would have been at stake. While investigations are underway as to whether the restaurant had adhered to fire safety rules, we can only hope that this remains an isolated accident. Coz Park Street is a prime eating location, that sees tons n tons of people each day, any time of the day.

Restaurateur Baba Kothari suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after witnessing the damage to his restaurant next door, Flavours of China. We had been to this restaurant just few days back....and today the restaurant stands damaged....May Kothari's soul rest in peace.


Till then, Ciao.

Some pics

Hey folks,

For those of you who wanted to see some pics. Below is the link. Excuse the mess in certain parts of the house. Am still in the process of neatening/rearranging stuff.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560237971TQxjYW

There u go..Cheers

Sights & Sounds of Calcutta

A few days back, we went to Lake Market (a market near Lake Gardens, which apparently is predominantly occupied by South Indians) to get Gingely oil. We needed that oil for our cooking and for the altar lamp but could not find it anywhere in the supermarkets around our house. All they had was MUSTARD OIL. (which I understand stinks). The day we ventured out to Lake Market, I wish to hope was an isolated instance of complete darkness. There was a power cut and the entire area was pitch dark, the only light around being headlights that were on high beam.

Roads were potholed (not like its any better elsewhere, this was just really bad) and stallkeepers trying to attract you to their stall. After much asking around, we managed to find the oil we needed, bot some flowers and fruits and headed home. Thank god for the driver and the car, our misery in Lake Market was shortlived. Feels great to be chauffeured from place to place. Speaking of chauffeur, I must tell you that the streets in Calcutta are on sensory overload. Everyone moves around one another - all driving here is based on a dare. Whomever is going faster or looks crazier has the right of way. Just like ydy, when my husband who was driving the car tried to make a turn and a taxi refused to budge. End result, we suffered some scratches on our Chevy. No serious damage but its amazing how such bumps and grazes are considered the norm. When you drive, you share the street with bullock carts, bicycles, cows, packs of wild dogs, lots and lots of people trying to cross the road or simply strolling along the road, buses, trucks, trams, hand rickshaws, bike rickshaws, motor rickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, handpulled carts overloaded with goods going to market, construction materials, etc. ... (I might have missed a whole lot more modes of transportation for all you know). No one ever uses a lane (I mean I dun blame the drivers coz the god damn lanes are not even marked)

Drivers use their horns constantly. (This applies to all of India anyway) and I am so glad even my hubby who has nvr driven in India before has learnt how to use the horn in appropriate and inappropriate occasions. If you think the roads are disastrous, you really should look at the side streets. A 2 way road will consist of 3 lanes of onward traffic and 1 lane of the opposite. And by the way, I managed to cross a busy road full of trams, dogs, cars, etc etc etc etc etc safe and sound!! Hurray!!

Today I am due to go to the foreigners registration office in Calcutta to register myself. I dun really know why I need to do that but the rule says I have to so I do. I hear from my hubby that the people there are a bunch of 'unemployed' fellas who just sit and chat with each other. No different from the scene at the Automobile Association of India, Bangalore. People were just sitting around watching one another, talking on the phone or simply staring blankly into the air. Well, let me go the office and judge for myself. I hope this trip will not be an arduous one.

Till then, Sheela OUT!

Lost in translation

I came to Calcutta knowing very well that language was going to be a huge problem for me. Since I was going to be at home for some time, I knew I would have to converse with the maids and occasional repairmen who would come for maintainence.

My biggest fear was realised on Monday when the plumber had come home to repair the flush in one of the toilets. I was listening hard to his hindi (which to me sounded bengali) trying to make sense of what he was trying to communicate to me. Well, I did succeed to a small extent and responded "Theek hai" (aka OK) to everything he said. Just hope he didnt ask if he could sell me off to Sonagatchi. ( the red light district of Calcutta). What was important at the end of this hindi endeavour was that I was able to learn some Hindi vocabulary and got the required work done.

My hindi endeavour continues with the maids..perhaps thats how I will finally make some sense of this language. And now I know how important communication is...how important languages are....Now I truly understand why language is power. Because if you don't speak a certain language, you end up feeling powerless...the way I feel now. For now, I am managing.

I really hope I get a hindi tutor soon, someone who would help reinstate my power. My power to communicate in the language widely spoken here in Calcutta. Really looking to moving from telegraphic speech to proper free-flowing speech in Hindi.

Taking Kolkata by Storm

3rd August- Sheela left Singapore for Kolkata to join her husband, who has been posted there for a couple of years.

3rd August, 10.30pm: Sheela reached Kolkata and the first thing that she noticed - her hubby waiting for her at the immigration. They collect the bags, clear immigration and head straight home.

Upon stepping into the house, I looked around and noticed tons and tons of boxes lying around the house. And I thought to myself- I know exactly how I am going to spend the rest of my August before schools starts.

4th August- We have lunch at home and head out to the mall to do some shopping. Thereafter, we went to do some vegetable shopping (a whole new experience it was). Till date, I have only seen my folks buy vege from an Indian market. Now, it was me at the market, trying to choose vege. Thereafter, we headed to Red Hot Chilli Pepper for dinner. This is a Chinese restaurant located near our home. A pretty decent place packed with people. Food was more than decent except that we both felt soooo full after the appetizers, we couldnt really finish the main course. After dinner it was HOME SWEET HOME.

5th August : Today I tried to tie a saree for a Bengali function that we were invited to. I must have tried for about an hour and yet was not able to to tie a saree that came as close as the way my mom would drape one. Frustrated, I just decided to wear a salwar kameez. Anyway, thank god I didnt bother with the saree, coz by the time we reached the function hall, it was time for lunch.

Icing on the cake for the lunch was the mango kulfi...which by the way, literally is MANGO + ICE CREAM. The ice cream was served frozen on a real mango fruit. Amazing stuff. Food was not bad either.

Rest of Sunday was spent at home. In the evening, I got the flavour of a North Indian temple. Marble idols that were beautifully decorated and sugar as prasadam (offering).

So, one weekend successfully spent in Kolkata, India- The land where everything is old.

Rest of my week shall be spent unpacking. Maybe I should catch up on some reading as well.

Cheers

Final farewell

It was finally 1 Aug, the day I officially became unemployed and added to the unemployed statistics in Singapore- but not for long. When 3 Aug came, I contributed to the unemploed statistics in Kolkata.

The mini farewell in the office on the 1st was fabulous. As I made my rounds to say goodbye, my colleagues over at my cluster were preparing for a toast of.....BACARDI BREEZER...the one that tastes of medicine. We toasted and took some pics (Which I am yet to receive from Selwyn). I then made my way out with Arthur acting as protocol officer. He tried to form an entourage but that failed miserably. The rest of my colleagues were waiting for one another to come...so it was just he n me in the lift. I was rushing for a lunch appointment at Biopolis so had to quickly say my goodbye to him before trodding up the hill for lunch.

Hours passed and I was home and had to get ready for a spa treatment I had made an appointment for. Raj, I used the voucher to its max potential. The spa was amazing.

Till then

Ciao

To Brittany with love

Some interesting food I had tasted off late. So thought it would be a good idea to share them.

The unofficial farewell dinner we did with some office folks was at Creperie Ar-men. This place, as you can guess from the name, specializes in crepes, or as they put it, "Authentic French crepes from Brittany." A few early birds amongst us decided to order starters and a group of them decided to go for escargot (perhaps an obligatory French fare). I, on the other hand, just stuck to ol' traditional onion soup (which turned out to be yummy).

The escargots had sth greenish on them which I assume to be green herbs. Reminded me of pestos actually. My colleagues urged me to try the escargots and so I did...a teeny weeny piece. Verdict: Rubbery black substance.

Soon after the rest of them turned up, we moved on to the savory buckwheat galette selections. I had the mushroom-based broceliande, which I felt could not go very wrong. (how can one go wrong with mushrooms anyway?) while my colleagues had various other crepes with interesting fillings in them. As soon as we were done choosing the main course, we had already decided on our dessert. Val and myself decided to share the rum and raisin ice cream with chestnut sauce. This was way better than my main course and I loved every bit of the sweet crepe.

Some Kodak moments of our food galore.

Speaking of food, I think back fondly on the Swiss delights I had in Switzerland during my honeymoon. I tried the Raclette, Rosti and the Cheese fondue - Swiss delights INDEED! The raclette (which I was quite sceptical about) was amazing i tell ya. For those unfamiliar with raclette, it is essentially melted cheese, served over boiled potatoes with lots of ground black pepper, accompanied by small pickled onions and gherkins. Need pictorial illustration?? Here u go...

Yummy!! I know....:P

Tata

Before my Auld Lang Syne

Its been about 9 months in MOE where I work as Corporate Communications Executive. I love my job, and more importantly, I love the people in my dept. The idiosyncracies of colleagues which I will not belabour on this blog. (I know they will kill me if i did). We've had some really goofy times in CCD despite the madness comms work present us with. I think I have picked up quite a lot about communications as CCD has exposed me to a wide range of works areas: Media relations, speeches, internal comms and the works...

It's a pity I have to leave so soon, at least when I am enjoying being in this place. Yet, another part of me is looking forward to the new experience lying ahead of me. While at present, my career stands hanging, I am all geared up to go to Calcutta, settle down in the new way of life (yet again) and find out whats in store for me.

Colleagues @ CCD held an unofficial farewell dinner at Creperie Ar-Men and an official lunch at Fig Olive. Both eating sessions were fabulous. U know the best part of being in CCD is the food. 1 more day in CCD...

Some kodak moments in the next post.

Till then

Cheers

Love in the Swiss Alps

As we slowly found ourselves settling down into a new way of life, in our new apartment, we were counting down the days for the much-awaited vacation cum honeymoon. We were heading to oh-so-gorgeous Switzerland for a 10 day vacation. And as planned, we landed at Zurich airport on 12th May 2007.

Heres our itinerary for the trip. Something that we worked out after lots and lots of changes.

May 12th, 2007

We flew out of SIN to ZRH via Singapore Airlines at around 1 am. That flight was really memorable I must say. We were in the business class (for me this being the first time in business class, i was thrilled). We were in a 3 seater but it wasnt cramped because the plane we took was the bigger one which had more room for movement. I was sitting in the middle- to my right, Vinod and to my left, an old lady who I later found out was 70 yrs and travelling alone. Halfway through the flight, she started feeling breathlessness and asked the stewardess for oxygen masks. She used up one whole tank and asked for another. The cabin crew asked her if she would like to see the doctor on board but she refused. Eventually, they did get a doctor to attend to her ( I was wondering why they even had to ask her, they should have just called the doctor right from the start) She was pricked, had drips attached and what nots. Anyway, that lady made it through to Zurich (though I have no idea what happened to her thereafter).

Along the 12 hour flite to Zurich, the cabin crew brought out a cake that read "Happy Honeymoon" and 2 glasses of champagne for us. We were pleasantly surprised. I was later told by Vinod that his best friend, Bharath and wife had arranged for these.

Eventually, we landed and got our rail pass for the trip validated at the railway office. I think it was 6ish-7 when we landed. I couldn't believe I was out of Singapore and in Zurich. It was amazing walking out of the airport to the railway station, against the background of the alps and the chilly weather. We trodded along to the railway station to catch our train to Lucerne. The first place on our itinerary.

May 12-14th

Zurich- Lucerne

We couldnt check into our hotel till about 2-3 pm that day so we decided to dump our bags in the hotel and head out to explore the place a lil. I must say Lucerne is one pretty city. So beautiful and idyllic. Throughout our stay in Lucerne, we did a city tour, visited the lion monument, the glacier museum sort of thing and BUT OF COZ, Mount Titlis. Who ever goes to Lucerne and not see Titlis. And so we are, at Mt. Titlis, all geared up in our winter wear.

There was this mirror maze we went to in Lucerne..No idea what the significance is, but it was damn cool.

May 14th-16th

Right after breakfast on 14th, we made our way with our bags to the train station to head to Interlaken. We took the Golden Panoramic Train ride which was awesome. Loads of beautiful scenery...felt like heaven. I was really excited about Interlaken because of the famed Jungfrau. Heard so much about it from my colleagues that I wanted to see for myself those beautiful mountains. We were in for a pleasant surprise at our hotel in Interlaken, when they told us that they were upgrading our room to a suite for our honeymoon, complimentary of the hotel. We visited the casino near our hotel, a flower clock and did a mini city tour. Oh yes, we also visited the St. Beatus-Hohlen Caves. Basically, amazing caves. Some pics for yr eyes.

On our way to famed Jungfrau, we stopped by some waterfalls called- Trummelbach Falls. Its basically a series of glacier waterfalls in the mountains....Gosh, the crowd up there...I tell you they were from a tour group and I swear, if you didnt give them space, they would have probably pushed you down the waterfall, leaving you to fight for dear life. So Kiasu!! And they weren't even Singaporeans! After seeing the waterfalls, which was again awesome, we made our way to THE JUNGFRAU! It had been a cloudy day that day and visibility from the top of the mountains was close to 0. Yet, we wanted to go up..at least to tell ppl we visited Jungfrau. When we went up, as expected we could see nothing but clouds. It was snowing so heavily with strong winds. Although we could not see the beauty surrounding Jungfrau, having heavy snowfall and strong winds was an experience on its own!!

May 16th-18th

From Interlaken, we made our way to Geneva for a day. There, besides a lil shopping, we walked around the city. It was a real change from Lucerne and Interlaken as we were suddenly surrounded by lots of people- a real busy city. We saw the flower clock which was quite a disappointment..I mean..it was nothing compared to the one we saw in Interlaken. Oh yes, we did UN, which to me was the highlight of our Geneva trip. We mamaged to do a tour around the UN premises and even watched some health conference in progress.

May 18th-19th

From Geneva, we made our way to Zermatt. One other place I was excited to go. Perhaps coz it is a car-free village and I just wanted to know how people commuted. And u know what..the day we landed in Zermatt, it was actually snowing. According to the hotel guy, it was unusual for it to snow...so we counted ourselves lucky to be able to see it snowing! Went up Gornegrat, another mountain in Zermatt..played with the snow and chilled in our room. It was there in Zermatt, where we had a wonderful dessert...crepe with all sorts of alcohol poured on it.

May 19th-21st

Our final stop is at Zurich where we go round the city and then back home (:( ) to Singapore. Did some or should I say lots of chocolate shopping for ourselves and our friends and family back in Singapore. We also did a day trip to Heidi land and to Liechtenstein. A bit about this place...The Principality of Liechtenstein is a tiny, doubly landlocked alpine country in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its West and by Austria to its East. However, you don't need a visa or a passport to enter this place. Nonetheless, you can get a chop in your passport if you visit the Post Office. At the end of our Zurich tour, we felt like the pic below: TOP OF ZURICH!

The flight back was smooth as well and this time we got the cake and champagne from his colleagues in Singapore. We landed in the morning and went straight to home sweet home.

Till the next post, Adios!

Home & hearth

Well, the tying of the knot led to a slew of activities- that included getting our new home. We arrived in Singapore on 20th April 2007 and were slated to move into new apartment on 22nd April 2007. And so we did.....Boxes and boxes and boxes of things were shifted into the spic and span house. Together with the help of my mom and brother (who hardly did anything in the end, as usual!), we managed to unpack enough things to find space to walk around the house. The rest of the unpacking took many more days..But nonetheless, a beautiful house, a house we wanted to make home ASAP.

When one buys a new house, we have these prayers to bless the house. Likewise we had prayers done one Sunday. And from that day....we were all geared to get ready for our long awaited honeymoon!!! More than anything else to get away from familiar faces, from fatigue, from the hustle and bustle of everyday living.

Adventures of our honeymoon in the next post...in the meantime, here are some pics of our new home.





During the housewarming prayers

"I do"

I wanted to start this blog with some background instead of jumping straight into my life in Kolkata. I felt it would be essential to provide the reasons why I moved to Kolkata. And when I looked back, THE reason it happened was because I said "I do" to someone called Mr Vinod Kannan. (who thereafter got posted on work to Kolkata in June 2007)

The moment of realisation that i was going to spend the rest of my life with Vinod came on April 12th 2007. (It's a hint for all u people to wish me on this date) when he tied the knot. For the clueless, Vinod and myself got married to each other in Bangalore on 12th April. It was one heck of a hectic period but definitely an unforgettable period. Anyway, who can forget the day you sacrifice yr freedom and youth for yr partner??

The wedding was a 2 day affair but the fatigue from the ceremony lasted more than 2 weeks!! So many people to visit, so much food to eat and so many new people to get used to. Amidst all of this, I even wanted to squeeze in the shopping I love doing in Bangalore. Like this wasn't enough, we had arranged for 2 receptions in Singapore. One for Vinod's colleagues at Raffles Hotel and the other one at Khalsa Association for my friends, family's friends, etc. Here are some pics from our celebrity wedding.








































Now that I have set the context to my move to Kolkata, in the form of my wedding with Vinod, let me rave a lil about my new home in the next post. Adios!