Musings from a Quiet Life

Food Review: Commissary

2011-08-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Let's face it-I live to eat. :-) There's nothing like a well prepared meal with friends. I usually brunch with my old neighbors from the Chastleton and I now call them the Chastleton Mafia. We usually meet up every Sunday at Java House for coffee and gossip and move on to brunch if we're in the mood.

We went to Commissary today, which is one of my favorite restaurants. I usually get the latkes with applesauce but tried something different today: the goat cheese and sundried tomato burger. I got it well done (think I'm getting old, can't do rare meat anymore) and it was perfect. A standard burger with a healthy dollop of goat cheese with chopped chives surrounded by bits of sundried tomato. A dash of brown mustard and ketchup and it was heavenly.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Any Human Heart

2011-08-07T12:47:00.001-07:00

I saw Any Human Heart on Masterpiece Classics last season and loved it.

I just downloaded the book onto my Kindle and love it.

It's the story of one Logan Mountstuart and his experiences throughout the 20th Century. In a nutshell, it is a sort of British Forrest Gump-Mountstuart meets famous people throughout history, the King and Mrs. Simpson, Ernest Hemingway, members of Bader-Meinhoff among many. His Oxford years are a bit boring but once he gets posted to keep an eye on the (newly abdicated and titled) Duke of Windsor and Wallis in the Bahamas, things get interesting.

There you have it, a very short and sweet book review. Highly recommended for lazy Sundays.

Back again from a long hiatus

2011-07-22T18:01:00.001-07:00

I couldn't just sneak back into this blog, could I? I renamed it Musings from a Quiet Life, which is just about as airy-fairy as you can get. :-) Facebook and Twitter are great but, after a while, I found something missing, trying to fit everything into 140 characters. I've always wanted to write so I guess I have to start somewhere and a blog is a very good place to start (When you read you begin with ....:-))

So it's all going to be a bit of fun. I might try a daily entry but I think I'm just going to end up doing weekly postings.

Huh, I just realized that this post is exactly two years since my last entry. Strange.......

Back to India: July 10, 2009

2009-07-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

I was super excited to be going back to India but was not looking forward to the long ass flight. I went straight to Dulles from work on the 5A and checked in 5 hours before my flight. Ouch! So I decided to try the massage bar and got a 30 minute seated massage. It was good and took away all the stress of the week and I was in a relaxed mood as I boarded my flight.
Ah! British Airways: bad food, bad movies and the zoo that is Terminal 5 at Heathrow. 7+ hours later I was walking around T5 and killed 4 hours before I boarded the flight to Bangalore. Another 10 hours of bad Zac Efron and Hannah Montana movies later, I got off the plane in namma Bengaluru.
I was greeted by airport workers wearing surgical masks and health officials took my temperature and I was processed through immigration, got my bags, cleared customs and was out of the terminal in 10 minutes. This is the most efficient airport I have seen!

We came home and had some tea and it was off to the Central Tiffin Room for dosas. Mmmmm sooo gooooddd.

After 3 long years.

2009-05-31T04:15:00.001-07:00

I started the MBA in the Fall of 2006 and am ready to finish in two weeks. It has been tough at times but totally worth it. AMBA 605, Financial Accounting, kicked my ass into the next zip code but I passed with a decent B.

School ends June 14 and I leave for India July 10. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I can't wait to see Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, especially after reading the Enchantress of Florence.

I love relaxing in Bangalore-the benne masala dosas, the endless cups of tea, the constant 65 degree weather, Malleswaram market with Washington apples on sale. Lol. Love it.

Back to India

2009-04-23T17:15:00.000-07:00


Flight:	BA0119
Status:	Confirmed
From:	Heathrow (London) Terminal 5
To:	Bangalore
Depart:	Sat 11 Jul 2009, 14:10
Arrive:	Sun 12 Jul 2009, 04:15
Duration:	9hrs 35mins
Class:	World Traveller
Operated by:	British Airways

February 4-7: Florianopolis and the Mad Dash

2009-04-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

We rented a car and Danya drove us around from beach to beach and we spent the next 2 days going to the beach, clubbing and drinking caipirinhas and caipiroskas. My favorite beaches were Praia Mole and Praia Santinho. I spent too much time in the water at Santinho and came out looking like Barney, all purple.

Praia Mole is a surfers' paradise. It is known around the world for its waves and surfers come from all over.

Praia Santinho is a calmer beach with families and stuff.

Praia Ingleses is a mix of the two and the most popular but is only accessible from downtown Floripa by public bus.

We also took two public buses to get to Praia Ingleses, which was awesome. :-)

Then came the Mad Dash. We were to fly from Floripa to Sao Paulo wait 3 hours and then fly back to the U.S. The TAM flight from Floripa left two hours late due to a rain delay so we had 30 minutes to make our flights. We ran from the domestic to the international terminal and Ed ran to United for his flight to D.C., David ran to American for his flight to Dallas, and I ran to Delta for my flight to Atlanta.

We made it with 15 minutes to spare before they closed the gate.

The next morning I was standing bleary eyed in the immigration line with passengers who got off the Mumbai flight, waiting to enter the U.S. in Atlanta.

Et notre voyage finis.

February 3, 2009: Sao Paulo and Florianopolis

2009-02-26T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've never had to run for a flight but I did in Brazil. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm there at least 3 hours in advance-for a damn domestic flight. We thought a domestic flight from Sao Paulo to Floripa wouldn't be that bad so we got to the airport at around 12:45 for a 3:30 p.m. flight. The TAM line was packed. All flights for TAM, domestic and international, were standing in one line. It was a nightmare. We finally got up to the check-in counter at 2:55 and had just enough time to run to the gate and get on the bus to the plane. The flight to Floripa was short and I was talking to two college students going home from Sao Paulo. They told me about the beaches and the clubs and were very excited showing me their city from the window of the plane. :-)

We landed and took a cab to the Mercure. Big improvement from the Ibis. We had two aparthotels with kitchenettes and seperate bedrooms. David stayed with Danya and Ed and I shared a room. Floripa, the capital of Santa Catarina province, is a cute island city at the southern tip of Brazil, by the Argentine border. We stayed in the Centro which was close to all the clubs. The city looks like San Francisco with a bit more L.A. thrown in. We decided to rent a car the next day to go to the beaches. The first night was spent in Centro and we had a great dinner at the Pier 54 restaurant, under the Hercilio Luz bridge.
The food was great. We had Mocqueca (a fish stew)and Bacalao (grilled Cod), which was yummy. Of course, David got the best Malbec I've had- Latitude. We found that when we ordered Malbecs (from Argentina), the waiters would try to steer us towards Brazilian wines but we stood firm and had Malbecs throughout the trip. Supposedly Argentina and Brazil don't see eye to eye and the rivalry effects everything from futbol to wine. I guess it has something to do with trying to be the most powerful country in South America. The Brazilians can't stand the Argentines and the feeling is mutual. When I was in Buenos Aires, I found out that the derogatory slang for a gay man is brasilero. Go figure.
We spent a quiet evening drinking Caipirinhas in an outdoor bar straight out of the 1950s. A breezy evening, tons of limey cachaca and good friends. :-)

February 1 and 2, 2009: Sao Paulo

2009-02-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Notre voyage commence. The flight was good. I was pleasantly surprised by Delta's service to South America. It was on a retrofitted 767-400 with an excellent touch-screen entertainment system you'd find on a 777. I could choose from different CDs and create my own playlist. This was a huge improvement over the Delta 767 I flew from JFK to Rome in 2007. Atlanta is a madhouse. The gate next to mine was for Mumbai and I felt sad for the poor bastards waiting for the 17.5 hour flight from ATL to BOM. Yoww.
Delta did a fantastic job and is much better than goddamn United. I cringe when I think about my United flight to Buenos Aires two years ago. Ouch.
We landed in Sao Paulo and immigration was a breeze. I got my first stamp on my new biometric passport. They covered up the Liberty Bell on the visa page, though. Oh well. Customs was another story. Lines slowly snaking around to clear through ONE gate. Brazilians returning home were stopped and asked about purchases made in the States and they were arguing loudly with customs officials. I eventually got through customs and picked up a pre-paid taxi from a booth. Got to the hotel and checked in. English is not widely spoken so I tried French, this being the Ibis-a French chain. Nope. Solamente Portuguese. Well, I used broken Spanish and hand signage to check in. The room was smaller than my little box at the Chastleton but hey, it's only $67 a night. You can't beat that. BBC World on the TV is icing on the cake.
I freshened up and met the boys in the lobby at 1230 and we went out for a snack. Fran's cafe down the street became our main hangout for the next 2 days. We went out to a club that night and had to get a drink ticket. You order a drink, get your ticket stamped, and then when you leave, you pay and show the "PAGO" stamp on the ticket on the way out. They asked me for my name to write on the ticket. I said Amit and they wrote Omet. So, for the next 6 days, I made it easier on all the bars in Brazil- I was Joao or Gilberto. :-) The club was fun with the same music there as here-Brittney, Madonna etc. Whenever I travel there is always one song I keep hearing that becomes the song of the trip. I hear it in the clubs, in the stores, on the plane there and back and all over. In Buenos Aires it was Mika's Love Today, in Rome it was Madonna's Jump. In Sao Paulo and Floripa it was Madonna's Miles Away.
We spent the next day walking around Sao Paulo and met up with Wagner, Ed's friend. He's from Sao Paulo and showed us around town and took us to this amazing Greek restaurant.
Ed, Wagner and me at the Greek Restaurant, Sao Paulo.

We then walked around town to the train station, which was built by the British. Wagner told us that in gratitude to help in fighting against Napoleon, the Brazilians gave the British contracts to build things like train stations. Interestingly, during Napoleon's romp through Europe, the King of Portugal had to flee to Rio de Janeiro and rule the Portuguese Empire (including Brazil, Goa, and Macau) from Rio.

Wagner, David and me discussing Brazilian history outside the train station.

We also found out that all museums in Sao Paulo are closed on Mondays. We went to the University of Sao Paulo on the other side of town to see an art gallery and that was closed too. So we went to the Hilton in Morumbi and walked around the shopping mall in the swanky part of town.

We then had a great dinner at a sidewalk cafe and coffee after that at Fran's cafe.

2009-01-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

It didn't hit me till noon yesterday. Yes, I ran down the streets screaming when Obama won on election night and my friends and I hugged and cried at 11 p.m. EST. But when I went to work yesterday, I caught snippets of the festivities on the radio while I was working crowd control 8 blocks north of the Capitol. Luckily, we had some downtime just as he was about to take the oath of office and as he said "so help me God" my colleagues and I high-fived each other. It was so awesome seeing him on his first day on the job behind the desk at the Oval Office. The decisions he has made today are the right ones and things are really going to start moving along in the right direction from here on out.

Florianopolis

2009-01-11T14:51:00.000-08:00

The NY Times had an interesting blurb on Florianopolis this morning. Apparently, it is THE place to go to now in South America. :-) Can't wait.

Beneath the Equator, there is no sin

2009-01-03T18:40:00.001-08:00

So said the Portuguese when they talked about Brazil and we're off in 3 weeks.

Traveling to Sao Paulo

Sat 31-Jan-09

Baltimore(BWI)
Depart 1:40 pm

Atlanta (ATL)
Arrive 3:44 pm

578 mi
(930 km)
Duration: 2hr 4mn

Flight: 1887

Economy/Coach Class ( Seat assignments upon check-in More Information ), BOEING (DOUGLAS) MD-88

Atlanta (ATL)
Depart 7:35 pm

Sao Paulo(GRU)
Arrive 8:10 am +1 day

4,653 mi
(7,488 km)
Duration: 9hr 35mn

Flight: 105

Economy/Coach Class ( Seat assignments upon check-in More Information ), Dinner, Boeing 767

Total distance: 5,231 mi (8,418 km)

Total duration: 11hr 39mn (15hr 30mn with connections)

Traveling to Baltimore

Sat 7-Feb-09

Sao Paulo(GRU)
Depart 11:55 pm

Atlanta (ATL)
Arrive 6:50 am +1 day

4,653 mi
(7,488 km)
Duration: 9hr 55mn

Flight: 204

Economy/Coach Class ( 40G ), Dinner, Boeing 767

Sun 8-Feb-09

Atlanta (ATL)
Depart 9:55 am

Baltimore(BWI)
Arrive 11:55 am

578 mi
(930 km)
Duration: 2hr 0mn

Flight: 1878

Economy/Coach Class ( 36E ), BOEING (DOUGLAS) MD-88

Total distance: 5,231 mi (8,418 km)

Total duration: 11hr 55mn (15hr 0mn with connections)

Random Empire Builder Pics

2008-12-25T05:30:00.001-08:00

Amtrak Cascades locomotive. The Cascades runs from Portland, OR to Vancouver, BC

The Empire Builder at the end of the line-King Street Station, Seattle WA

Everett WA, home of the Boeing assembly plant.

Observation car aboard the Empire Builder

We stopped in Minot, ND to change locomotives.

Seattle: December 12, 2008: Roeing and Blogging

2008-12-14T05:23:00.000-08:00

So I was up again at 4 a.m. PST and couldn’t sleep. It was raining cats and dogs outside between snow flurries. I had planned on exploring Freemont and Ballard, two neighborhoods, but decided to stay in Belltown/Capitol Hill for the day and just chill out. I walked down 4th Avenue and turned left onto Pike and walked up to the 900 block of Pike. I skipped breakfast and chilled out with some coffee and a croissant at a local coffee shop on Pike. Seattle magazine raved about the Pike Street Fish Fry and I went in as soon as they opened. It is a small fish and chips place with about 4-5 different kinds of fried fish and veggie tempura. If you go to Seattle, you have to eat at this place. The veggie tempura was perfect with battered and deep friend string beans which brings the sweetness out. The fried catfish was great and the deep fried lemon wedge was an excellent accompaniment to it. I washed it down with a local beer and then spent a lazy afternoon reading Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger” at the Tully’s at Pike and Broadway.
I spent a good 3 hours there and finished the book, walked down Pike back to the hotel, and took an afternoon nap before my evening spa appointment. I had a quick dinner back at Shiro’s and they had the uni special. Uni is a sea urchin and its roe is prized and delicious. I had seen Ming Tsai do an episode of cooking with the roe. I asked for two salmon roe, two lumpfish roe, and the uni. It was bitterly cold outside and I ordered a hot sake. The uni was excellent and the sushi chef was entertaining with stories of how women in Japan dive deep to fish for them. He described the roe as sea chocolate and he was right- it has the consistency and the silkiness of milk chocolate without an overpowering fishy taste. It was served on the half uni shell and looked and tasted interesting. The salmon roe was perfect, just like Wednesday night. The sushi chef told me that they buy the salmon roe everyday at the Pike Place Fish Market. Instead of gobbling up the piece of sushi with the roe on top, I took my time picking up each egg with a chopstick and biting into it. Mmmmmmmm. Pick up salmon roe with chopstick, bite into it and savor the salty fishy taste, take a swig of hot sake, rinse and repeat!
It is said that Winston Churchill liked his martinis so dry that he never added any Vermouth in them. He prepared the martini with gin and then held his glass up in the direction of the Vermouth and acknowledged his glass to it and that was it! Shiro’s sashimi was so good that I didn’t need any soy sauce or wasabi. I picked up the piece of sashimi, acknowledged it to the soy sauce and enjoyed it.  I used the gari as a palate cleanser at the end of each piece of sushi. I finished the meal with some hot green tea and walked out into the frigid night.

I watched Chris Matthews scream on the T.V. again and then went back to Ummelina’s for my appointment. I had signed up for the Crowning Glory treatment, which was a head, neck and shoulder massage, went through the sanctuary ritual and then was escorted back by the therapist who started by massaging rosemary oil into my hair. While that was taking effect, she massaged my neck and shoulders, and then drizzled hot rosemary oil for what seemed like 5 full minutes drop by drop on my forehead as the oil soaked my head and fell to the sides onto a towel. She then wrapped my head with the towel and let it stay there for a while and when I was done I took the 7 jet shower to rinse it all off. It was a short massage but the therapist told me how she trained in Ayurveda and has a bachelor’s degree in herbal sciences.
I floated back to the hotel with a bottle of Moet Chandon, toasted the Space Needle, and enjoyed the bubbly sip by sip as I watched the Bourne Supremacy on HBO. It was a quite last night in Seattle, but a fabulous one. 

Seattle: December 11, 2008: Capitol Hill, the International District and "Simply the Best"

2008-12-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

Obama fever and clever marketing in Capitol Hill.

I love exploring a new city and one of the best ways to do it is to get lost. I woke up today refreshed from my amazing massage and read the latest issue of Seattle magazine and DK Guide’s Seattle Top 10. I first heard of Capitol Hill when I saw CNN coverage of people going crazy in the streets (like we did in D.C.) in this part of Seattle on election night. I cannot emphasize how Democratic this city seems. I haven’t seen a single McCain/Palin poster and restaurants, book stores and other businesses have red and blue posters of Obama and Andy Warhol-style multicolored prints of JFK side by side with words like “HOPE” and “PEACE” written under them.
So I figured the best way to start exploring Capitol Hill and other Seattle neighborhoods was to start walking. I walked out of the hotel down 4th Avenue and turned left on Pine Street and walked about 8 blocks, across a highway, and was in Capitol Hill. I saw the Jimi Hendrix statue at Broadway and Pine and then walked up Broadway past the Seattle Community College to the Broadway Café for breakfast, which was recommended as a good breakfast spot by the clerk at the Walgreen’s. It was closed so I went to Julia’s café next door and was greeted by huge portraits of drag queens with slogans under them. The portrait of a drag queen impersonating Tina Turner had the slogan “Simply the Best.” LOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!
Breakfast was a Spicy Baja Omelet, which was an omelet with pepper jack cheese and red pepper flakes topped with a spicy, lemony guacamole. One thing I have noticed about Seattle is that people take their food seriously. Everything is properly salted and spiced and the ingredients are fresh and the best. After breakfast I decided to get lost again and, grabbing a large jasmine pearls tea from the corner Peet’s, I walked down Broadway towards Pike crossing Pine and turned right on Pike, heading back towards 4th Avenue. It was a lovely walk in a hilly area as Capitol Hill merged back into Belltown.
Once I got to 4th Avenue past the glitzy mall with the Nordstrom and H&M, I turned left on 4th and walked for a good 16 blocks, mostly downhill, thankfully, to Jackson Street in the International District/Chinatown. I wanted to try the Chinese food but sushi beckoned me again. So I slipped into a sushi restaurant and was greeted by an elderly lady. I got the lunch special, which was a cold noodle salad, miso soup, tuna, squid, and salmon sashimi and yellowtail maki, all washed down with some hot sake. It was excellent and I was stuffed as I walked down Jackson Street to King Street to Seattle’s Best Tea, where I was greeted by the owners’ dog and bought half a pound of Jasmine tea (not from the dog, of course!) For a change of scenery, I walked to 2nd Avenue and then walked uphill 16 blocks back to the hotel. My thighs and feet screamed bloody murder but they were in for a treat.
I had made another appointment at Ummelina’s Spa and I showed up on the dot for my massage. I told the therapist that I needed her to focus on my legs and when I told her that I had walked from Belltown to Capitol Hill to the International District and back to Belltown she must have thought I was crazy. I went through the ritual of the foot soak and the warm lavender water felt miraculous to my poor barking dogs! This time around, I took the 7 jet shower first, with the same cucumber scented body wash I used the day before, and I almost drifted off to sleep while I waited for the therapist in the massage room. She was a different therapist and used deeper massage techniques, which were excellent for my battered legs and shoulders. I tried the bergamot massage oil the first day but today I tried the calming lavender oil. Every few minutes during the massage she would spray a lavender mist near my face so I could inhale the calming scent as part of the aromatherapy. I went through the same gong ritual as the day before when I finished, got dressed and went back to the hotel to relax and took a nap as I watched Chris Matthews screaming on the T.V. for a bit, and went to Wild Ginger for dinner.
One of the hottest restaurants in town, Wild Ginger is an Asian seafood place that focuses on fresh ingredients. There were no tables available so I got a seat at the bar for dinner. I started with a Wild Ginger martini. The bartender told me that he cuts ginger up into one inch cubes, plops them into a bottle of Stoli, leaves it there for a month and then makes martinis with it. When he made my martini I could still see the pieces of ginger in the bottle. Now, it doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? It is a strong martini but it tastes great. For dinner I had the Cantonese salmon. Fresh, just-flown-in wild Alaska salmon was steamed with a hint of ginger, salt and scallions. The salmon was done just right and was full of flavor.
I walked around admiring the Christmas decorations at the Macy’s and made it an early night plopping down on the bed, tipsy from the strong ginger martini. 

Seattle: December 10, 2008: Flying Fish, Soothed Muscles, and Buttery Roe

2008-12-11T18:42:00.000-08:00

I checked into the hotel at 3 p.m. after lunch at the Pike Place Fish Market. This is where they throw fish around and catch it too! I had the clam chowder, which was creamy and hot on a cold day like this one and then had the mixed grill with Pacific Salmon, tiger shrimp and Dungenous crab cakes with a spicy horseradish sauce on top. Mmm so good. After lunch I browsed around the market and then went for my spa treatment at Ummelina spa. I checked in and was escorted to the changing rooms where I changed into cotton pajama-type things and a cotton top and stored all my belongings in a garment bag. I then had to ring a gong to say I was ready to enter the sanctuary. The therapist escorted me into a darkened room with candles and different scents in the air and offered me water with lemon and some herbal tea to soothe me before the treatment. I was in the room with the other people who were getting different treatments and I found I was the only man in there. No sweat. There were some ladies of a certain age getting massages and it was like a girls’ night out, in the middle of the week. A guy came along and gave me a foot soak and foot scrub with bergamot and citrus scented water. That itself did so much to take the stress off my feet.

I was then escorted into the treatment room. I lay on the massage table and was given a choice of oils-bergamot/citrus or the lavender. I chose the bergamot. The massage was great and the therapist worked on all my problem areas like my shoulders and I felt the stress melting away. It was not as rigorous as the massage I had had at the Jiva spa in Goa, but it was deep tissue and I felt like I was flying after the treatment. I then took a 7 jet shower with cucumber scented body wash and it felt like I was wrapped in a glove of hot water. Soooooo good!!!! When I was done I was escorted back into the sanctuary and given a hot pillow to place around my neck, more herbal tea and lemon water and was told I could relax until I was ready to leave. After about 20 minutes, I got dressed and floated back onto 4^th Avenue.

After the spa I didn’t want to eat anything heavy so the concierge recommended Shiro’s sushi. I thought I had had great sushi in San Francisco, but this sushi was out of this world. I had the sushi dinner, which is an assortment of different types of sushi and some sashimi with miso soup and hot sake. The hot sake really hit the spot on a cold, damp day. I had the fatty tuna sushi which tasted like butter and the sushi topped with salmon roe. The salmon roe had the right amount of salt and burst in my mouth in little buttery pops. I got talking to an aerospace engineer for Boeing (of course) sitting next to me and we were comparing the different types and sushi and sake.

I don’t recommend too much sake after a massage because you’re already floating on air and alcohol only makes you feel airborne! I floated and staggered back to the hotel, plopped on the bed, opened up the curtains and fell asleep looking at the Space Needle outside my window.

NEWSFLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-10T13:57:00.001-08:00

I just got an e-mail from the prof and she gave me a 93 on my balanced scorecard paper and said she enjoyed reading it!! YES!!!! She also gave me a B in the class and I'm OK with that. Coming from a strong liberal arts background, I had to really work my ass off in this class. I could barely make cells merge in Excel when the semester started and now I can chew gum and create multi-page linked spreadsheets while calculating complex financial formulas at the same time!

Sleepless in Seattle

2008-12-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally made it to Seattle. The Empire Builder was awesome and I won a bottle of Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot mix in a trivia game we played aboard the train. Well, I won by default because the last bottle left was given to the youngest person in the room, and that was me, by about 30 years! Well, I guess there are some advantages to being 32! All is not lost!! Anyway, I blogged along the way and since I couldn't find a wireless hotspot in Minot, ND, I thought I'd post all my musings along the way. So here goes:

12/07/2008

1605 EST- we are supposed to leave now but the train’s been delayed due to mechanical problems. I’m reading Around the World in 80 Days and the more I read it, the more I feel like Phileas Fogg. Well, there’s no 20000 pounds waiting for me at the end of this journey!!!

1700 EST: We are finally underway. I tried to board the lower level car but some lady told me it was only for handicapped people. That’s not true. But, it wouldn’t be nice of me to argue. I’m on vacation, anyway. So I’ve settled into the upper level seat #28, which is still very spacious. Wonder what’s for dinner. We were delayed because there was a problem between the dining car and one of the sleeper coaches. Oh well, the train’s moving and NOTRE VOYAGE COMMENCE!!!!!!

1732 EST: approaching Rockville and watching Devil Wears Prada on my laptop. That’s all!

1924 EST: had a soggy ham sandwich and some horrible wine for dinner. Off to bed and up tomorrow morning in Chicago.

12/08/2008

0845 CST: We stopped overnight in Pittsburg for some freight traffic and are now 4 hours late getting into Chicago. Yuckies, but I can still make my connection to Seattle, I hope.

1225 CST: Made my connection and sitting in the relaxing sleeping accommodations lounge at Chicago Union Station. Got some authentic hot dogs and some Jamba Juice for lunch. Gorgeous Great Hall, bigger than the one at Union Station.

12/09/2008

0935 CST: I slept like a log last night. Just as we were approaching Minneapolis we heard over the PA system “Ladies and Gentlemen we need to stop because we have just been notified by the CP dispatch that there is a cracked rail up ahead and it will take an hour to be fixed.” OK. No problem. I was busy enjoying my gigantic lamb shank with rice and vegetables and a bottle, yes a bottle, of Chardonnay from Washington State.

I am now sitting in the observation lounge and watching the Great Plains go by. I had breakfast as the train stopped in Minot, ND to change engines. I met a lady from Pasco, OR who was returning home after Thanksgiving with her father in Wisconsin. We chatted about our families and about where we came from and stuff.

12/10/2008

0400 PST somewhere in Eastern Washington State: I am up because I am still on East Coast time. Dinner last night was with a guy going home to Olympia Washington who is a part time guitar player in a band and a water conservation specialist for the city of Olympia by day. Seated next to me was a lady going back home to Seattle. I had the baked chicken which was not as good as the baked chicken I had on the California Zephyr a few weeks ago. Still, it was good when washed down with more Washington State Chardonnay. I finished dinner and went back to my room and sipped the Cab-Merlot blend I won at the wine tasting and drifted off to sleep. Patrick woke me up and made my beds so I could sleep comfortably. Patrick was awesome throughout the journey. Just like Lonny on the Zephyr, he was attentive and jovial. Amtrak sometimes gets a bad rap but it is a surprisingly well-run service and the food is not half bad. The restrooms are always clean as are the showers.

0600 PST - We seem to be entering the Cascades and they are gorgeous. Streams and mountains just like you'd see in a National Geographic magazine. Snowy pine forests and log cabins here and there finish off this beautiful picture postcard of the Pacific Northwest.

0815 PST-Patrick announced that we're now in Everett, Washington home of the mighty Boeing. The Empire Builder guide says that you can sometimes see them test flying 747 and 777s but nothing today. The train is skimming along Puget Sound and will be in Seattle proper in an hour.

1000PST-A bit delayed, but we have finally pulled into Seattle King Street Station. 3200 miles more and another Amtrak line completed. If I do the Southwest Chief from Chicago to L.A., then I have done all the cross-country lines. This Amtrak thing is really growing on me!

1100 PST-The hotel room is not ready and I was asked to check in at 3 p.m. So I walked to the famous Pike Placae fish market, had some bang up seafood in a cute restarant overlooking Elliott Bay and walked around the city a bit. OMG I LOVE this city. The gray weather agrees with me!

1300 PST- Of course, little spa whore that I am, I made an appointment at the first spa I saw. Ummelina's looks really swanky. I'm going to check into the hotel in two hours, take a hot shower and hit the spa. Can't wait!! :-)

To the Space Needle

2008-12-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

I'm working on my 15 page balanced scorecard paper (yuck) and will probably be up all night doing it. I leave for Union station tomorrow at 1400 and board the Capitol Limited to Chicago and leave Chicago Monday morning at 1400 on the Empire Builder to Seattle arriving 10 a.m. on Wednesday. I will have my shiny new laptop with me so I will try to blog live using what little bandwidth I can find along the way. If not I'll save everything and post it when I arrive in Seattle. Off I go again..........

Kerala

2008-11-27T07:01:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun in India on July that I am planning on going back every year. We plan to visit a new state when we go every year. We're going to India in June 2009 and will see Kerala. The plan is to stay at the Taj Kovalam (and use the Jiva spa, of course) and then stay on a houseboat in the backwaters of the Arabian Sea. Can't wait.

No rest for you, Passepartout! We're off again!!! Across America to the Space Needle!

2008-11-15T06:01:00.001-08:00

29 Capitol Limited	Washington, DC Union Station (WAS) 4:05 pm 07-DEC-08	Chicago, IL Union Station (CHI) 8:40 am 08-DEC-08	1 Lower Level Coach Seat
7 Empire Builder	Chicago, IL Union Station (CHI) 2:15 pm 08-DEC-08	Seattle, WA (SEA) 10:20 am 10-DEC-08	1 Superliner Roomette Room: 003 Car: 731

From Sea to Shining Sea: Day 4: Aboard the California Zephyr: (10/29/2008): Nevada to San Francisco

2008-11-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

I was up early, as I usually am, and spent the time reading in the observation car. It was too dark to see anything outside the train so I relaxed and made small talk with a San Franciscan aging hippie type English teacher we decided to name Willow Rain. We met her the previous day in the sightseer lounge where she was correcting papers on Pride and Prejudice. She was returning from her father's funeral back east and was taking a slow train to San Francisco. She told us where the good Chinese restaurants were and we talked for a bit.

We were still in Nevada and as the sun came up, we were seated for breakfast with an elderly man originally from Germany who was going home to Lake Tahoe. Becky decided to call him Fritz, after the boy in Sound of Music (go figure.) Our conversation with Fritz was awesome. We talked about politics and the anti-intellectualism that is so rampant these days. He talked about his days when he was a law student at Georgetown and his subsequent law career in Chicago.

We then bummed around the sightseer lounge for some more Nevada desert scenery and just before lunch we crossed the border into California and into the Sierra Nevadas.

Nevada Scenery

The Donner Lake area was GORGEOUS!! We saw drops of 2000 feet and pine forests for miles.

Donner Lake hidden behind the pine forests in the Sierra Nevadas

We had lunch with a mother and son going home to Oakland after living in Missouri for 5 years.
A guy going home to Martinez, CA, who we called Martinez (duh) told us what to look out for as the train went slowly through eastern California. He had done this trip many times before and was returning home after hunting deer in the Rockies with some friends.

Curators from the train museum in Sacramento were on the train explaining the scenery on the PA system. They talked about the California Gold Rush and the small towns that sprang up around the Sierra Nevadas.

We spent the afternoon talking to a Canadian guy we met in Colorado. He is a truck driver based in Vancouver who hauled a load to Granby, CO with another driver based in Granby. When he got there, the other driver fired him on the spot, gave him $500 and told him to take a train home. He was supposed to haul a load back up to Vancouver but got fired and was now on the train with us going to Sacramento to change to the Coast Starlight to Seattle and then the Cascades to Vancouver.

As we approached Sacramento, the terrain became relatively flat and then the train went through the fields and fields and just before Martinez we saw the Bay. After stopping in Martinez for a bit the train went around the Bay and, since the tracks were right next to the water, it felt like we were on a cruise.

By now the train was almost empty and all the passengers were in their rooms packing up. Dining Car Donna was sitting in a corner all smiles, relieved that the trip was over. She told me that they had one night in Emeryville and then they had to turn around and go back to Chicago!! No wonder they were not always in a good mood.

We pulled into Emeryville, CA on time at the end of the line. We had just been on a train from sea to shining sea and now had to take an Amtrak bus across the bay into Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

Becky gets down from the train after 3 days!!

The California Zephyr in Emeryville, CA--The End of the Line.

Et, NOTRE VOYAGE FINIS!!! We had just come 3219 miles by train from Washington, D.C. to Emeryville, CA.

Benny and Bjorn, ACLU guy, Willow Rain and us piled into the Amtrak bus and as we rode across the bay we saw the fog rolling in over the Golden Gate Bridge! Wowwww. :-)

Having travled to 5 continents and 15 countries this was one of the best trips I've ever taken. I think what made it great were the people we met on the train. So many different people and characters with such interesting life stories.

After we got off the bus at Fisherman's Wharf, we said bye to Benny and Bjorn and ACLU guy and hopped in a cab to the B&B, Noe's Nest.

As we walked in we were confronted with Victorian Halloween decorations straight out of the Adams' Family! We check into the View Room, which had a huge picture window overlooking Noe Valley and the Mission.

Up the next morning, I looked out onto San Francisco.

View from the View Room at Noe's Nest

From Sea to Shining Sea: Day 3: Aboard the California Zephyr (10/28/2008): Nebraska to Utah

2008-11-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 4 a.m. MDT somewhere in Nebraska. I spent the next few hours reading Babycakes, the 4th in the Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin. Maupin writes about San Francisco in the 70s and 80s as seen by his colorful characters who live at 28 Barbary Lane, a fictional place set in Russian Hill in San Francisco. I love the characters and their stories, especially Mrs. Madrigal, the transgendered eccentric landlady. I read the books along the journey to get me in the mood for San Francisco.

We pulled into Denver at 7 a.m. MDT and stayed there until 8. Becky woke up and we went to Dining Car Donna to get seated for breakfast. We were seated with our next set of dining buddies, an elderly couple going to Grand Junction, CO, a couple we affectionately called the Butterworths. Mr. Butterworth was a train buff and Mrs. Butterworth couldn't stop talking about their travels (15 times to England.) Mr. Butterworth would lovingly reproach Mrs. Butterworth by saying "stop talking dear and finish your breakfast." Awwwww. We were served by the grumpiest waiter I have seen in my life. Becky and I decided to call him Lurch because he was in a perpetual bad mood and got irritated when Becky tried to change her order. Lurch gave Mr. Butterworth my omelette and gave me his. We laughed it off and Lurch just sulked in the corner.

After breakfast and Denver came the most beautiful part of the journey.

The train left Denver station and started climbing the Rockies. It first went through a series of sharp turns to climb the front range and when we came out through our first tunnel we saw the red rocks of the Rockies and the pine forests with 1000 foot drops. Gorgeous!!!! The rest of the day was spent ooohing and aaahing at the amazing scenery while the train trundled through Aspen, and western Colorado into Utah. The train went through Blue canyon and other gorgeous canyons. We saw wild bald eagles sitting on a branch along the Colorado River and a lone cowboy herding cattle. Lunch was a warm sandwich and we were seated with ACLU guy and a lady from Fresno who we called Raisin Crisp (because Fresno is known for its raisins.) We made small talk about the upcoming elections and Raisin Crisp told us she voted for Prop 2, to give animals bigger cages and to stop animal cruelty. ACLU guy told us about his run in with the DEA. We spent the rest of the day in the lounge car watching the absolutely gorgeous canyons, rivers, and small towns along the way as we crossed into the relatively flat terrain of Utah as darkness fell.

Leaving Denver and climbing into the front range of the Rockies

Canyons in Colorado along the way

Colorado scenery

Utah sunset

We had steak for dinner and went to bed early.

Of course, Dining Car Donna came on the PA system and screamed"HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, FOLKS. REMEMBER, TOMORROW WE WILL BE ON PACIFIC TIME, TOMORROW WE WILL BE ON PACIFIC TIME."

From Sea to Shining Sea: Day 2: Aboard the California Zephyr (10/27/2008): Chicago to Nebraska

2008-11-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

We got on car 512 on the California Zephyr and settled into room 11. The roomette we had was a little cramped for sitting but the seats converted into comfortable beds at night. We met our car attendant Lonny who was great to us for the next two days all the way to California. He made our beds at night and left mints on the pillows and made sure we were comfortable for the journey. The train pulled out of Chicago Union Station at 2:15 p.m. and we were off to California.

Outside the sleeping car in Emeryville, CA after 3 days on a train!!

The California Zephyr is one of Amtrak's most scenic trains. I took the Adirondack from NYC to Montreal in 2003, which went along the scenic route up the Hudson River, along Lake Champlain and into Canada.

This train was gorgeous. The observation car was the best, of course. As the Zephyr trundled on through Illinois and Iowa, we saw a spectacular sunset over the cornfields of Iowa. It was cornfields for miles and miles dotted by harvesting trucks and the odd yellow meadow with black and white Holstein cows.

Nap before dinner

After sunset we went to dinner and were introduced to the second of our dramatis personae: Dining Car Donna. Donna was "THE VOICE!!!" of the dining car. She would make announcements
about reservations and admonish the whole train for coming to the dining car too early. Here were some of her jewels:

"ATTENTION, THIS IS DONNA IN THE DINING CAR. PLEASE DON'T COME TO THE DINING CAR UNTIL YOUR RESERVATION TIME IS CALLED!!! WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEAT YOU!!!!!!"

"ATTENTION, WE ARE NOW SEATING FOR LUNCH, FIRST COME FIRST SERVED ONLY!!! DISCOVERY GROUP, DISCOVERY GROUP YOU ARE FIRST!!!"

We felt like scolded children throughout our trip. :-)

When Dining Car Donna finally summoned us we were seated with two Germans, father and son, traveling from Chicago to California. Becky decided that the son had a 70s haircut like Benny from ABBA and the father looked like Stig Andersson, the producer of ABBA. So, for the rest of the trip, they were called Benny and Stig. Whenever she saw Benny, Becky simply insisted on singing "Bennaayyyyyy, Bennaaaayyyy, Bennnnayyy and the Jetttssssssssssssssssssssssssss." LOL. They were really nice and we talked about American politics and the joys of rail travel in Europe and the U.S.

Lonny had made our beds and we slept like babies, lulled by the gentle rocking of the Zephyr. Just as I was about to fall asleep, a bit tipsy from the bottle of Merlot I had at dinner, Dining Car Donna screamed "HAVE A GOOD EVENING!! PLEASE REMEMBER, WHEN YOU WAKE UP YOU WILL BE ON MOUNTAIN TIME! ONCE AGAIN, WHEN YOU WAKE UP, YOU WILL BE ON MOUNTAIN TIME!!!" like it was our fault we were going to be on Mountain Daylight Time. :-)

November 4, 2008: Election Special: Redeeming Ourselves

2008-11-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

We take a break from the regularly scheduled travel blog across America to scream: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

I became an American citizen on October 23, 1999. It was one of the happiest days of my life. When I became a citizen I felt like I could now fully take part in the American dialog and had a seat at the table. I remember Clinton's second election and felt left out not being able to vote in it. I voted in my first election in my life (I was 17 when I left India so I couldn't vote there) in 2000 and was heartbroken when Gore lost. I voted in every election for everything from dog catcher to slots. I was again disappointed in 2004 when the Dems lost. I went into this election season already knowing who I'd vote for but was nervous about the outcome having experienced the last two catastrophes.

I voted in the Potomac primary in February and saw Obama and Hillary fight it out. I waited for the conventions to come and go and the race was on. Polls suggested it was a dead heat. Even the high election turnout at my precinct, Rockview Elementary school, left me unconvinced that Obama might win. After all, Maryland is a Democratic state.

I had no specific plans to watch the election returns that night. Kyle was having a party at his place so I thought it was going to be a low key evening. Kyle emailed us and suggested the event at the Cap City Brewery. We all showed up and sat in the tent outside the brewery and started watching the returns. I was excited but still cautious. For the next two hours I was a nervous wreck switching between the BBC on my BlackBerry and CNN's coverage on the big screen TV. As the Great Lakes and Northeast regions fell for Obama, I thought it was going to be close. I was elated to see Elizabeth Dole loosing her Senate seat. She ran a bigoted campaign just like Jesse Helms did all those years ago.

As the middle of the country went for McCain, I thought it was going to be close. CNN called Virginia for Obama at around 10:50 p.m. We then knew that Obama winning was actually possible. We did a countdown to 11 p.m. and when CNN projected the entire West Coast for Obama, we knew he had it and the words "President-Elect Obama" flashed across the screen, I lost it. I was screaming at the top of my voice and Kevin, David and I burst into tears! I just couldn't believe my eyes. Kevin and David could not stop crying. Everyone around us was crying and hugging.

We took the Metro back to Dupont and people were cheering on the street and cars were honking their horns. We missed most of the action on U street and at the White House but we
went to a club and watched Obama's speech and we cried again! What an amazing night!!!!! As a country we have had a chance to redeem ourselves. The people said no to torture, no to warrant-less wiretapping, no to big business being cozy with the government and getting bailed out when they messed up, no to the erosion of our civil liberties, no to 8 years of the myopic foreign policy of this government, no to the growth of runaway social conservatism hell bent on taking us back to the 1950s, no to a unilateral foreign policy, no to "my way or the highway" policies.

We got the chance to redeem ourselves as a society and to show the world that we can still be the "beacon on the hill" by electing an African-American as President. Tom Toles' November 5 cartoon says it all. It shows Obama arriving at the White House. The top caption reads "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." The caption at the bottom reads "ratified November 4, 2008."

We don't expect President Obama to solve all our problems within the first 100 days or even within his first term, as he said in his speech. All we know that we desperately needed someone so new and different that it would redefine the country like an FDR or a Kennedy.

From Sea to Shining Sea: The Capitol Limited: Day 1 (10/26/2008)

2008-11-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

1300 EDT. I finished my problem set for the week and spent so much time on it that when I closed my eyes, I only saw Excel rows and columns. I packed real quick-just some sweaters, jeans, toiletries and, to get me in the mood for Frisco, 4 of Maupin's Tales of the City series books (I've already read Tales, More Tales, and Further Tales.) I sent Becky a text to meet me at Union Station and off I went, with a duffel bag and a laptop bag with nothing but 3219 miles of track in front of me!

1545 EDT Becky and I got the second coach car and two lower level coach seats, which were as big and comfortable as business class airline seats. Since it was just one night, I figured we could rough it and get the sleeping accommodations for the Chicago-Emeryville leg.

1605 EDT: The Capitol Limited pulled out of Union Station, Washington D.C. Notre voyage commence!!!!

We got to talking to Dr. O, a pediatrician from Chicago interviewing for a job at Childrens' Hospital. She wanted to know about the different neighborhoods and we recommended Silver Spring.

2000 EDT: Dinner was trout with veggies and Becky had the pork. We were seated with a retiree from Philly and a freshman from Notre Dame going back to school in South Bend.

I dozed off in the comfy seat at about 10 and woke up at 0240 EDT when we stopped in Cleveland. Going back to sleep I woke up somewhere outside Chicago and stayed up till we pulled into Union Station, Chicago. Pulling into the station reminded me of that very forgettable 80s movie Silver Streak about a thriller that takes place on a long-distance train or something like that.

Dr. O suggested that we do breakfast at some place called Wishbone. Since we had sleeping accommodations on the California Zephyr, we could check into the first class lounge and store our bags while we went exploring around the city. We arrived in Chicago at around 0800 CDT and the California Zephyr was not due to leave until 1400 CDT so we had some time to kill.

The Big Bean in Chicago

As she got off the Capitol Limited, cousin Becky says "oooh where is Obama's headquarters? OOO where does Oprah live?" Dr. O was kind enough to drive us past Oprah's studios, which were on the way to Wishbone. The creamy cheddar grits and shrimp was just what the doctor ordered (sorry!!!) and hit the spot on a cold Chicago morning. All we saw all over Chicago were Obama posters! Yay!

After breakfast, Dr. O went home and we went about exploring Lake Michigan, the Magnificent Mile, some museum on elections, and a candy shop, where we bought some candy. After some Patel pictures at the shiny silver bean, we hopped a cab back to the station and relaxed in the lounge until we were ready to leave.

"TRAIN 5!!!! ALL PASSENGERS FOR TRAIN 5 PLEASE COME SEE ME!!" screamed the ticket lady. The California Zephyr was train 5 so we collected our bags, showed her our tickets, and followed her trainside to the California Zephyr.

We met many interesting people throughout our journey and didn't really know their names or didn't remember them. So we gave them all names, some less flattering than the others. The names were not meant to be mean-spirited in any way, but we had to identify them, so we did.

First on our list was ACLU guy. As we boarded our train and got into car 532, room 11, a DEA agent got on our car and conducted random bag searches. ACLU guy got upset and suggested it was profiling. When the DEA agent asked him if he was a lawyer he said "I don't have to answer that." So we assumed he worked for the ACLU and he was known as ACLU guy for the remainder of the trip all the way to Emeryville, which was also his final destination.

WOWWWW

2008-10-18T05:20:00.001-07:00

http://www.nomadicexpeditions.com/index2.html

This is SO on my list!!! :-)

Flying south for the winter: Brazil

2008-10-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

So Ed's turning the big 40 and a bunch of us are going to Sao Paulo and Bahia to celebrate in February and I get to add one more country to my list! :-)

Baltimore (BWI)
Depart 5:50 am

Atlanta (ATL)
Arrive 7:49 am
Terminal SOUTH TERMINAL

578 mi
(930 km)
Duration: 1hr 59mn

Flight: 725

Economy/Coach Class ( 45A ), Boeing 757

Atlanta (ATL)
Depart 9:50 am
Terminal SOUTH TERMINAL

Sao Paulo (GRU)
Arrive 10:35 pm
Terminal 1

4,653 mi
(7,488 km)
Duration: 9hr 45mn

Flight: 145

Economy/Coach Class ( 43A ), Lunch, Boeing 767

Total distance: 5,231 mi (8,418 km)

Total duration: 11hr 44mn (13hr 45mn with connections)

Across America by Rail

2008-09-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post, I talked about my love for traveling and history. I've spent the past 7 years traveling around the world but haven't seen much of America. So, along with my trusted Passepartout, in this case, Becky, we are going on a jaunt by rail across America. When I was growing up, no book captured my imagination like Around the World in 80 days and Phileas Fogg is still my fictional hero. In the book, Fogg arrives in San Francisco by steamship from Yokohama and takes an eastbound train across the Rockies. On October 25, Becky Passepartout and I will be taking two westbound trains, tracing Fogg's journey backwards. We will take Amtrak's Capitol Limited to Chicago and then take the famous California Zephyr to Emeryville, CA, right outside San Francisco. The California Zephyr goes from Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City-Reno-San Francisco. It goes through Moffett Tunnel and through the Rockies. We will spend 4 days in San Francisco and then fly Virgin America back. It's going to be a fabulous trip!!! :-)

29 Capitol Limited	Washington, DC - Union Station (WAS) 4:05 pm 26-OCT-08	Chicago, IL - Union Station (CHI) 8:40 am 27-OCT-08	17h 35m	Dining car, Lounge, Checked baggage, Onboard wheelchair ramp	2 Lower Level Coach Seats
5 California Zephyr	Chicago, IL - Union Station (CHI) 2:00 pm 27-OCT-08	Emeryville, CA (EMY) 5:40 pm 29-OCT-08	53h 40m	Dining car, Lounge, Checked baggage, Onboard wheelchair ramp	1 Superliner Roomette
5005 Bus	Emeryville, CA (EMY) 5:55 pm 29-OCT-08	San Francisco, CA - Fisherman's Wharf (SFW) 6:40 pm 29-OCT-08	0h 45m		2 Reserved Thruway Seats

Day 12: Back home to good ol' D.C.

2008-08-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

The vacation was great but it was time to come back home to D.C. I said my goodbyes and it was off to BIAL for the long trek home:

Bengaluru (BLR)
Depart 1:55 am

Paris (CDG)
Arrive 8:50 am
Terminal AEROGARE 2 TERMINAL C

4,869 mi
(7,836 km)
Duration: 10hr 25mn

Flight: 191

Paris (CDG)
Depart 1:25 pm
Terminal AEROGARE 2 TERMINAL E

Washington DC (IAD)
Arrive 3:55 pm

3,849 mi
(6,194 km)
Duration: 8hr 30mn

Flight: 24

This trip to India was long overdue. Meeting extended family and seeing the amazing sights made this the best trip ever. Being back in Bangalore was great and it felt like a warm bowl of chicken soup on a cold day.

I won't wait 15 years to come back. I will definitely be back next year.

If you're planning a trip to India, don't hesitate. Just do it. India is very different and exciting. You just have to close your eyes and dive in and soak it all up.

Some useful links:

Incredible India

Karnataka Tourism

Day 11: Wearing a dhoti and visiting the Swamiji

2008-08-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

We had planned on spending a lazy day shopping on MG Road for gifts for people back home when we got a call from the Math (pronounced Mutt.) One of the aides to the Swamiji, who is the religious head of our particular sect, wanted to talk with Ma about a possible visit by the Swamiji to the US. So Ma wanted us to go along and get his blessings. Now, I have never been very religious, but the chance to see the Swamiji was like an audience with the Pope. Supposedly, the rule is that men cannot wear clothes that are stitched so Ma and I dashed off to Girija Silks on 8th Cross to get some dhotis. Dhotis are like sarongs and, in their simplest fashion, are wrapped around the waist. We got long pieces of cloth called angavastras to cover our upper torsos.
So there we were, Doodle and I, probably two of the most non-religious Amchi's draped in dhotis and angavastras trying to climb out of Fats' car at the Math. It was a great experience. We got in line and when we reached the Swamiji and got the tirth (pronounced teerth, which is sort of a holy water-like mixture of camphor and other ingredients) he made small talk with us. He said, in Konkani, "what do you do in Washington? And I said, in horribly butchered Konkani, "I work for Metro." And that was that. All I could say to the religious head of my sect is "I work for Metro"!!!! ROFL. We got his blessings and moved on.

Dressed in our Swamiji audience finery. Becky pointed out that the whole world could see my A&F moose boxers through the outfit!!!

We got home, got dressed and went shopping. I bought some scarves and rosewood elephants at Cauvery Emporium. If you are ever in Bangalore and you want authentic Mysore Silk and sandalwood products you have to shop at Cauvery. At the intersection of MG Road and Brigade road, it is one-stop shopping for all things Karnataka.

I couldn't leave Bangalore without RR Biriyani. RR restaurant on Church Street specializes in Hyderabadi biriyani. I had the lamb biriyani and the mutton fry and it was as good as I remember.

Ma and I then went to Cottons and I took some pictures. Bishop Cottons Boys' School is a Hogwarts-style grand old school (sometimes called the Eton of the East) in Bangalore complete with five houses (four in my time.) Each boy belongs to a house (like Gryffindor in the Potter books.) I was in Pope house and our colors were yellow and white. The other houses were Packenham-Walsh (purple and red), Elphick (blue and gray), Pettigrew (green and black) and, added recently, Thomas, (red and green.)

Standing in front of the Cottons gate brought back many memories of my school days there. I saw the First Elevens' Field, around which I was made to duck-walk (walking on my haunches for a mile) by the Prefects for being late once. The pain of duck walking a mile and the bamboo caning I got in 1985 made sure that I was on time for the rest of my time at Cottons!

I went to Gangaram's, a bookstore, and bought Kautilya's Arthashastra, published by Penguin. I also bought the Amar Chitra Katha Mahabharata.

Day 10: Visiting more family and Indo-Chinese!!!!

2008-08-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

We visited my grandmother, aunt and cousin today. It was nice seeing them after such a long time.

Day 10 and I still hadn't had any Chinese food. Chinese food in India is very different from Chinese food anywhere else. It is more Cantonese than Szechuan and includes dishes like Gobi (cauliflower) Manchurian, Chilli Chicken and, of course, Fried Rice. I grew up on this food because my Dad had an Chinese restaurant in Malleswaram and it was the best food around. He had a small folding hot dog cart-like contraption and he cooked and sold Chinese food from it to mostly college students from nearby MES College. His cart was initially parked outside CV Raman's house and I used to pedal up every evening on my little bike and get a fried rice and chilli pork. Once, his cooks decided to strike and walked off the job so my Dad and I ran a two man operation for a few days. He would do the cooking and I would do the washing up. Seeing that is was still successful without them, the cooks came back on the job. That was probably my first experience with (dis)organized labor! Even to this day I absolutely hate it when people threaten to walk off the job or any kind of direct union action.

Well, we went to Mainland China on Church Street for some yummy Chinese food. Twiggy was appalled by the price of 200 rupees for a bowl of white rice and in a typical Auntyji tone said "200 rupees for a bowl of rice? At this rate I will bring my own bloody rice cooker and make my own rice!!!" The food was great and we had the pepper lamb, chilli chicken, fried rice and of course, Kingfisher beer. Yummy!

Day 9: One More Maalish and back to Bengaluru

2008-08-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to let the last day in Goa be boring so I got up at the butt crack of dawn (yeah, they have those here too) and walked around the hotel and fort to the ramparts, stood at the cannon turrets and surveyed the Arabian Sea like some potentate! LOL. Doddle and I had rented scooters at the Holiday Village and we drove them to Fort Aguada but it rained the rest of the time and we didn't really get a chance to drive around Goa. But we got to drive them a short distance, on the left of the road.
I got one more pehelwan maalish before we checked out and it was back to Dabolim for the bumpy ATR flight to Bengaluru.

It was sad to leave Goa, but, it was back to reality and to lovely air-conditioned Bangalore.

We landed back at the fabulous airport and took a Meru taxi home. Meru taxis are awesome, well-organized and quick. All the Meru taxis were Chevys, so someone's buying them! We got home and crashed in front of the TV and relaxed.

Day 8: The Ultimate Spa Treatment

2008-08-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

After a day of temples, cathedrals, and being lightly hungover from kala-khatta mojitos, I signed up for the ultimate spa treatment. It was a 2.5 hour treatment that included a Sammardana massage,
a Narikela scrub, and a Mukhalepa facial.

The day started off with a one hour yoga class on a pavilion overlooking the Arabian Sea. I did basic yoga poses like the Suryanamaskara (sun salutation) and the cobra pose. Well, I tried to do the Suryanamaskara because it was quite cloudy and we had to guess the direction of the sun to do the pose! My horribly mojito-pickled inflexible body screamed bloody murder as I tried the cobra pose. It was more like an overfed python pose rather than a sleek cobra pose! The best part of the yoga class was the meditation. I closed my eyes and chanted "Om" with the instructor and the only thing I could hear was the sea and the wild monsoon waves crashing against the ramparts of the fort.

Then came the best part-the 2.5 hour spa treatment.

It started off with the scrub. I was covered in dessicated coconut mixed with honey and wrapped up like a mummy for what seemed like an eternity. In a fit of jetlag induced euphoria I had declared to Twiggy "I want to bathe in milk" a la Cleopatra. Well, I almost got my wish. I felt like a mummified Cleopatra in my scrub and wrap but I drifted off to sleep and, for some odd reason, dreamed of dhows (ancient ships) plying the Arabian Sea between Oman and India, trading spices!
After a shower, I got a vigorous massage and then the most amazing facial with honey, sandalwood, ashwagandha (a fragrant root extract) and jasmine.

At the end of the 2.5 hours all I could feel was my face. All the aches and pains were gone and I was floating on air. I'm turning into a certifiable spa maniac!

Day 7: The Cathedral of Bom Jesus, Mangeshi and Shantadurga temples.

2008-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

After a day of relaxing and unwinding at the hotel, we decided to go sightseeing. So we piled into a car and went to see the Cathedral of Bom Jesus (Good or Beautiful Jesus, in Portuguese.) The cathedral is about a third of the size of the National Cathedral in D.C. and is gorgeous. The inside reminds me of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. What is unique about this cathedral is that it houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier, which are on display in a glass coffin. Legend has it that when St. Francis Xavier died in China, his servant put his body in a coffin and covered it with quicklime to speed up its decomposition. When the body was exhumed it was still intact. This was seen as a miracle and the Portuguese brought the body to Goa and enshrined it in a glass coffin. The body was put on display on special occasions and the last time this happened was in the 1950s when Goa was still a Portuguese colony even though the rest of India was now independent. The body began to gradually decompose and this was seen as a symbol for the end of Portuguese rule in Goa, which came in the 1960s. The body is today displayed in a glass coffin and is rarely ever taken out and put on display.

We then went to Mangeshi temple. This is the temple in which my ancestors worshipped. Well, the original temple was razed during the Portuguese Inquisition and rebuilt in Portuguese style once the Inquisition ended. The story goes that during the Inquisition, the Konkanis fled down the coast settling in towns and villages between Goa and Mangalore. One such small village was Tonse, where my ancestors settled and they took the name of the town as their last name. After the Inquisition, the temple was rebuilt and is visited by people from all over.

The Troops (avec un chien indien) at Shantadurga

Mangeshi temple is dedicated to Mangeshi, another name for Shiva. Shantadurga is dedicated to a peaceful Durga, another deity. People visiting Mangeshi temple also visit Shantadurga, which is a short drive away. Both Mangeshi and Shantadurga are the family gods so Heery Aunty gave us some money to put in the hundi (a piggy bank-like box that takes up the collection for the upkeep of the temple and for charity.)

The tired Ray-Ban cousins at Kamat's after all the sightseeing.

After a long day of temples and cathedrals we went into Panjim, the capital of Goa, for lunch. What better way to end a day with Konkani temples than Konkani food? So we had traditional Goan Konkani food at Kamat's where I showed Twiggy the Thums Up trick. Thums Up, spelled correctly, is a local drink that is India's equivalent of Coke. The Thums Up trick goes like this: you take a straw in the Thums Up bottle and move it up and down and the bottle erupts in a fizz. Very juvenile, but fun nevertheless.

Becky (left) sampling Kala-Khatta mojitos, her hair oily-fresh from the spa!!!

Doodle and I getting boozy on Kalla Khatta Mojitos and Martinis

We got back to the hotel and hit the spa and then the bar. The bar at Fort Aguada was awesome and the bartender, Royce, is one of the best ones I have seen. He will make you anything you want, even stuff that's not on the menu. I had a 007, which is a standard shaken-not-stirred martini and it was good but not as good as the one I had in St. Michaels. What was amazing and unique was the kala-khatta mojito.

Blackberry juice+rock salt in a mojito= Goan heaven.

Day 6: Bumming around the hotel and Cafe Mambo

2008-08-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

We spent the day bumming around the hotel. Our rooms were in tiny little cottages on a hill on the hotel property and we got 3 cottages. Ma and I were in one cottage.

Reading the Times of India-Goa edition at the cottage

Goan food and entertainment

Doddle, Twiggy and I went to Cafe Mambo so shake our bootys (or is it booties?) Lots of good music like Dr. Alban and Jamelia. The club was on Baga beach and was great but it was a bit dead as it was the off season.

Day 5: Off to Goa

2008-08-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Lunch at Souza's on the beach-traditional Goan food, yummy!

When we planned this trip to India we decided to go to Goa for a few days. So Twiggy, her mom, my mom and I went by Kingfisher Airlines and Doodle, Fats, and Becky went by Jet Airways. Kingfisher is the best airline I have flown. It is run by the beer baron, Vijay Mallya, India's Richard Branson. The service both at the airport and on board is amazing. The food was very good and we were given a full meal on a 90 minute flight. Beat that, United! The difference between Bangalore airport and Goa airport is night and day. The one in Bangalore is brand new and is privately run but the one in Goa is government run, is older, and was recently converted from a naval aviation base to a civilian airport. The baggage carousel was worn out and it was old and run down.

We got into Goa and took an hour long courtesy shuttle to Sinquerim, which is in North Goa, and checked into the Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort .
View of the pool. Goa was a Portuguese posession from the 16th century to 1961. The Portuguese refused to leave Goa after independence in 1947 so then Prime Minister Nehru sent Indian forces into Goa and sent them packing. Fort Aguada was built by the Portuguese to protect their prize possession in India-Goa from the British and French. During World War II, some Germans traveling through British India were captured as prisoners of war and held at the Fort Aguada prison. The Taj Fort Aguada is built into parts of the fort and one of its ramparts is visible from the hotel pool. The ship in the right of the photo is one that ran aground in a storm 5 years ago and is still there rusting to decay.

The beach at Sinquerim was really rocky so we had the option of going to another beach at Calangute.

The Taj Fort Aguada was great. We were in the off season, which is the monsoon season. It rained a lot so we spent a lot of time indoors at the spa getting pampered and relaxing. The spas at Taj hotels focus on ancient Indian treatments combined with aromatherapy and ayurveda. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian discipline that goes back to Vedic times. It combines natural elements and ingredients to maintain wellness and cure minor ailments. I went to the spa everyday and got a different massage but my favorite one, which I got three days out of five was the pehelwan malish. Pehelwans are wrestlers who work and sometimes live in akharas or academies where they learn the art of Indian wrestling. Part of their daily regimen are vigourous massages and rub downs that soothe the muscles. The spa had the pehelwan massage and it was painful at first but felt great later. At the end of the 90 minute session, I felt like I was floating on air.

We went to lunch at Souza's on the beach at Calangute. This is the best traditional Goan food I have had. Goan food is heavy on coconut and seafood. It also has a Portuguese influence. The famous dish pork vindaloo originated here. Our first meal at Souza's was Goan fish curry with pork vindaloo and sanaas, which are steamed rice cakes. Mmmmmm. The rest of the day was spent bumming around the pool and lounging in a pavilion overlooking the Arabian Sea, reading Paul Theroux's Ghost Train to the Eastern Star . I love reading the journey he describes from Amritsar to Bangalore and his experiences in Bangalore. Now that am here I can relate to his views on the new Bangalore.

Day 4: Visiting Heera Aunty and more family history

2008-08-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

Heera Aunty hugs me tight and refuses to let go!!

My family has an interesting history, as most Indian and Pakistani families affected by the events of 1947-1948 do.

Starting in 1498, India had regular contact with Europe with the advent of Vasco de Gama who arrived on the west coast and started trading in spices and other goods. The British arrived in 1600 under a charter from Queen Elizabeth I and set up the East India Company. It expanded and, after retaining armies and playing one ruler against another in the waning years of the Mughal Empire, they were able to build up a sizeable landmass that came under the rule of the East India Company. Decisive battles against the French, their main rivals, culminating in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 made Britain the main European power in India. The War of Indian Independence/Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, and its subsequent reforms, brought all the land directly under Crown control in 1858, and Queen Victoria was claimed Empress of India. The Anglo-Sikh and Anglo-Mysore wars and other wars, skirmishes and deals increased British land assets and led to what eventually came to be known as British India.
The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 at Jallianwallah Bagh unofficially kicked off the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, which led to the partition of British India into India and Pakistan and their independence in 1947. That, in a nutshell, is the history of modern India.
When British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan, the new countries went through what was arguably the bloodiest period in their history since the Kalinga War (which led Emperor Ashoka to renounce everything and convert to and spread Buddhism.) Mass migration from India to Pakistan and vice versa led to thousands of people being slaughtered along religious lines and war broke out between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir. Kashmir remains the main bone of contention between the two countries today. A good book to read on the events leading up to Indian independence is Freedom at Midnight by Dominique LaPierre and Larry Collins.

My grandfather, Flying Officer Umesh Tonse, got his wings at RAF Cranwell, which is Britain's Air Force academy. When war broke out between India and Pakistan in 1947 he was deployed with his squadron to fly troops fighting on the new Indo-Pak border. He was the co-pilot of a military version of the Douglas DC-3 Dakota when it crashed into Banihal Pass in the Himalayas on October 31, 1947 . He was missing in action for a year and was then classified as killed in action. The bodies were not recovered until 1981 when mountaineers searching for the crash site of a Russian plane found the wreckage of the Dakota. The remains were brought back to Delhi for a funeral with full military honors.

Heera Aunty is my grandfather's sister. Visiting her was great because she is the only link left to my grandfather from that generation who is still alive.

When I walked into her apartment, Heera Aunty got very emotional because she was seeing me for the first time in 15 years and because she repeatedly said that I reminded her a lot of her brother, my grandfather. She kept saying "you look just like him" and she hugged me and wouldn't let go!

Doodle, Heera Aunty and me.

After lunch at Heera Aunty's apartment.

I also found out that my great grandfather, Heera Aunty's father, was the Grand Master of the Freemasons in Bangalore in the 1920s!

Goa, Velha Goa

2008-08-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

We just came back after 5 days in Goa and had a blast! I went to the Taj Spa everyday to get Ayurvedic massages and enjoyed the Goan seafood and entertainment. Took lots of pics of the Cathedral of Bom Jesus, the Shantadurga and Mangeshi temples, and all the other sights in Goa and I will try to sort them all out when I get back home to D.C. this Saturday and post them up on this blog.

Goa is very different from the rest of India. Known for being very liberal, this live and let live town still counts hippies from the 60s as its residents. The clubs are world famous and the cuisine is unique with lots of seafood as the main ingredient.

Goa is also the place from which my ancestors came. The main language spoken here is Konkani, which is the linguistic group to which my family belongs. It was comforting to hear everyone speaking Konkani and seeing the temples that go back hundreds of years in my family. During the Portuguese Inquisition of the late 1600s, many Hindu Konkanis fled down the coast and settled in places like Mangalore. They then moved to Bangalore in the early 20th century to work in the cotton mills, which also brought my family to Bangalore. My ancestors can be traced to a village north of Mangalore called Tonse. Many Konkanis took the name of the village in which they settled and that's how our last name became Tonse.

Tracing the movement back to Goa before the Inquisition was interesting. When we went to the Mangeshi and Shantadurga temples we saw the idols that had been smuggled out of Goa to protect them from the Inquisitors. When peace was made and some Konkanis returned to Goa, the temples were rebuilt with a Portuguese architectural influence. I will post pics of the temples when they are sorted out.

So we are back in Bangalore. I visit my grandmother tomorrow and some shopping Friday and then it's off to the airport Friday night for a 1:55 a.m. flight back to Paris and then home to D.C.

Day 4: To Market to Malleswaram Market

2008-07-31T22:26:00.001-07:00

Malleswaram market is a huge sprawling market about 2 city blocks long and wide, where you can buy everything from marigold garlands to all kinds of fruits and vegetables. When I was growing up, the biggest festival my family celebrated was Ganesh's birthday. I remember going with my grandmother to buy groceries for the big day and also to buy idols of Ganesh, and his mother, Gowri (or Parvati.) My grandmother's favorite fruitseller was a guy she nicknamed Mohammed Rafi, after the famous Bollywood playback singer, because when he shouted out his wares, he would sing them and he was LOUD. He stood at 8th Cross and Margosa Road but you could hear him at least a block away. He always had the best mangos.

We're having guests over for dinner so Fats and I went to the supermarket to buy some chicken and to Malleswaram market to buy fruits.
Market Day: Pic 1: Fats picking out Guavas
Pic 2: Yummy green Guavas
Pic 3: Flower sellers
Pic 4: Look, Congressman Inslee, Washington Apples. They may not buy our cars but they're at least buying our apples. Keeping the farmers of Washington State happy!

Day 4: Malleswaram Morning

2008-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

The jet lag is almost gone. I went to bed at 11 p.m. last night and woke up at 7 a.m. today. We dropped Twiggy off at Bishop Cotton's Girls' and drove to the Central Tiffin Room and got some hot butter masala dosas. I took some pics of the Malleswaram morning.

Pic 1: Autorickshaw speeding along 8th Cross.
Pic 2: Ganesh stores across the street.
Pic 3: Dosas to go come wrapped in old newspaper.
Pic 4: When you unwrap the newspaper, you have a dosa on a banana leaf and chutney underneath it.
pic 5: The dosa with chutney on a plate. Yummy!

Day 3: More Family Visits and Meeting Twiggy's Friends

2008-07-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

I finally got a good night's sleep. I think walking up those 860 steps might have had something to do with it!! :-)

I woke up early and after a yummy breakfast of idlis and vadas from the Veena Stores, got ready for a day of family visits. We first visited my dad's aunt and her family.

We then had lunch with another aunt from my Mom's side at an awesome steakhouse called the Only Place.

And Doodle waxes lyrical about the food (with Twiggy)

We then met Twiggy's friends at the Garuda Mall.

Home early and to bed! Long few days.

Belur Temple

2008-07-31T10:23:00.001-07:00

After Halebid, we headed to Belur temple. This temple is dedicated to Vishnu and is still a functioning temple, unlike Halebid which is dedicated to Shiva and is pretty much a museum. Both temples are maintained and protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.

As a functioning temple, services still go on at Belur. We were there at 3 p.m. when the priest opened the door to the inner sanctum and did a little puja.

We ran into a Spanish backpacker, Jeroni, from Barcelona at Belur Temple and we gave him a ride back to Hassan after the visit. He is backpacking across South India. He started off in Bombay, went to Goa, down the coast to Gokarn, Hassan, Belur and Halebid, is going to Kochi, Kanyakumari, then to Madurai and a few other places and back to Spain. I want to do that next time!!

Top pic: Me and Jeroni at the side entrance of Belur Temple, middle pic: Doodle and Mish at the main entrance (gopuram) of Belur Temple, bottom pic: lunch on the way to Hassan.

Halebid and Belur Part II

2008-07-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

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The lowest layer are the elephants, then come the lions (some of which are decapitated and in the British Museum or lost to history), then the flowers, battle scenes from the Mahabharata, more flowers, more battle scenes, then a layer of a mythical creature called a Makara (body parts of a lion, crocodile, and elephant.)

More layers with different sculptures.

Halebid Temple side view. The hole in the wall is an exit point for all the holy water poured on the Shiva Linga during the puja or worship. The water then drains into the drain below.

As in most Indian temples, scenes of sexuality were carved into the temple walls along with other scenes from daily court life.

Day 2: Halebid and Belur

2008-07-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

After Sravanabelagola, we went to Halebid and Belur. Both temples were built in the early part of the 14th century, Belur 7 years after Halebid. But Halebid was attacked by members of the Delhi Sultanate and the temple was vandalized. What was left was vandalized during the Raj and many pieces are in the British Museum today.

Both and temples at Belur and Halebid are built in layers like a cake. Each layer is decorated with one particular theme. The base layer is usually decorated with elephants, the second with lions, the third and fifth with flowers and the fourth differs on what side of the temple you're on. The upper levels are decorated with scenes from the royal courts, including dancers and courtesans.

A brief primer on Hinduism: It is a polytheic religion with three main gods-Bhrama(creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer.) This trinity has different avataars or manifestations that make up the rest of the religion and its pantheon of gods and goddesses. So, Halebid Temple was dedicated to Shiva and Belur Temple was dedicated to Vishnu.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Ma, Me and Becky at the entrance to Halebid Temple

The inner sanctum, a Shiva Linga, which is an object of worship to Shiva, to whom Halebid temple is dedicated. Most carvings on this temple tell stories of the life of Shiva and his sons, the elephant-headed god Ganesha and his brother Kartikeya.

View from inside the temple.

The main entrance to the temple is guarded by two gods, carved on either side of the door and a scene from the court carved on the upper part of the door.

A Day Trip to Sravanabelagola, Halebid, and Belur

2008-07-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

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On the way to Sravanabelagola

Sravanabelagola has the statue of Gomateshwara, another name for Mahavira, the founding saint of Jainism. We set off for about 3 hours and arrived there at around 11 a.m. What we did not know is that the statue of Gomateshwara is at the top of a veeeryyyyy steep mountain. It is 800 steps to the first temple and then another 60 or so steps to the actual statue.

The kicker is you have to take your shoes off and climb the 860 steps on the side off the mountain BAREFOOT!!! Ma and Mish said "no way." Ashish and I felt that since we had come 8800 miles for this vacation, we should make the most of it. So we paid 10 rupees for shoe check-in, got our stubs and off we went. The first 200 steps were OK. Then we were completely out of breath.

And so we trudged on and on:

until we got to the top and rested:

The Brothers Tonse summit the mountain!

And then take another rest

After dodging some red worms on the steps, we finally got to the statue of Gomateshwara.

This is the temple in which the statue is housed

I thought this was a great shot of priest high atop the mountain:
Then it was off to Halebid. That's Ma and me in front of the Nandi statue. In Hindu mythology, Nandi was Shiva's vehicle.

The columns you see in this picture were carved out of a single piece of rock. The craftsman held the chisel straight while an elephant tied to the rock rotated it, creating the designs.

Eden Park and Yellay Saapad

2008-07-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

An authentic south Indian meal is something called a yellay saapad (literally a meal on a leaf.) The best yellay saapad I've had so far is at Eden Park in Bangalore last night.
It starts off with a cut banana leaf which is the plate.

Different curries and condiments are added on the upper half of the banana leaf.

Then comes the rice and you dig in: yummy. It is , of course, best eaten with your bare hands.

Day 2: Up early

2008-07-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

0500 IST. The jetlag is still with me like a bad hangover! I was up at 4:30 this morning and walked around a bit. I heard the muezzin's call to prayer at 5 a.m. I've always been amazed at the different religions that live, for the most part, in harmony in Bangalore. I hear the muezzin's call to prayer at 0500 then the next door neighboor starts banging the gong at precisely 0845 as part of the morning ritual of Hindu prayers. It is usually a bell, but the neighbor has a gong.

The weather is perfect-about 68-72 degrees and breezy. The breeze blowing through the coconut trees and the rustling of the palms is soothing, I wake up to the cuckoo and some unidentified bird having a sort of battle of the brids early in the morning to see who can make the most noise! :-) Throw in some crows, autorickshaws, and the train whistle from the nearby station in the mix and you have the Malleswaram morning symphony! :-)
I'm sitting on the balcony in a lovely cane chair drinking my morning tea and listening to the birds. Malleswaram is slowly coming to life and the sun comes up. A family of donkeys passes by and seem to know where they're going. :-)
The Deccan Herald, the local newspaper, will be here soon. Its coverage on last week's blasts is extensive and pretty graphic.
We're off to Belur, Halebid and Sravanabelagola to see the ruins of the Hoysala empire. More later.

Malleswaram Station and Visiting Family

2008-07-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

Family: L-R: My grandfather's brother, Ashish, me, and my grandaunt.

Ashish and I at Malleswaram Station almost 20 years after we took the train to Yelahanka from the same platform. :-)

When I was a kid and mad about trains like most little boys are, my grandfather used to take Ashish and me from Malleswaram Station to Yelahanka on a Saturday morning. We'd pack some breakfast and take the hour ride to Yelahanka and back just for the fun of it. Today, I got to go back to Malleswaram Station. Gone is the cute little stone station from the days of the Raj right out of Malgudi Days. R.K. Narayan supposedly based the fictional town of Malgudi on Malleswaram and Basavangudi, hence MALleswaram and BasvanGUDI= Malgudi. It is now been replaced by a modern monolith with a big sign that says "SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAYS-MALLESWARAM."

We first went to see the house in which I grew up. Well, that house has now been razed and my Mom is building apartments. After we examined the construction site, we went to see my grandfather's brother and his wife. It was nice seeing them and catching up on the gossip. We then saw some old neighbors and friends. Fun times. Walking around Malleswaram is interesting. I see so many things I remember and so much has of course changed.

Day 1: The Central Tiffin Room

2008-07-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

I got some sleep and woke up at around 8 a.m. We dropped my Aunt off at her school and drove around the old neighborhood. It is amazing how things have changed and yet, many things have stayed the same. We drove past Nobel prize winning scientist C.V. Raman's house, the Chitrapur Muth, which, if I were religious, would be a sort of religious center for my particular sect, as it were. We then drove to the Central Tiffin Room, where we had hot masala dosas and coffee by the yard. Soooo good!!!!! Hot hot dosas cooked in ghee (clarified butter) and coffee in a small tumbler (little bigger than a peg) and a small bowl in which to cool it. The coffee is transferred into the little bowl from the tumbler and back again until it reaches drinkable temperature. Love it! Crossing the street has been interesting. You look for a break in traffic and make a run for it.

Day 1: Bangalore

2008-07-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Washington DC (IAD)
Depart 4:45 pm

Paris (CDG)
Arrive 6:15 am +1 day
Terminal AEROGARE 2 TERMINAL E

3,849 mi
(6,194 km)
Duration: 7hr 30mn

Flight: 39

Paris (CDG)
Depart 10:50 am
Terminal AEROGARE 2 TERMINAL C

Bengaluru (BLR)
Arrive 12:05 am +1 day

4,869 mi
(7,836 km)
Duration: 9hr 45mn

Flight: 192

I'm sitting here blogging at 0430 Indian Standard Time (IST) which is 9.5 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. Why 9.5 and not 9 hours you say? It supposedly has something to do with Indian Standard Time being based in Imphal, India, which is exactly 5.5 hours of GMT.

The flight from Dulles to Paris was delayed for 2 hours, which left two hours to connect to the Bangalore flight. The Paris-Bangalore flight was looooong. I fell asleep on take off and woke up somewhere over Romania, fell asleep again and woke up over Turkey, fell asleep again and woke up over Iran, fell asleep again and finally woke up over the India-Pakistan border. It was only when I saw the map of India on the GPS display in the seat in front of me that it hit me that I am actually here!!!!

The new Bangalore Airport is fabulous. With all the traveling I have done, Bangalore immigration was the most efficient and the best experience I have had. Immigration was done in precisely 5 minutes. Baggage was another 10 and I was out of customs shortly thereafter. Ma and Fats (my uncle whom I affectionately call Fats) picked me up from the airport and as soon as we crossed into the city into Malleswaram, my old neighborhood, the memories came back. I remembered the Palace grounds, the Indian Institute of Science and the cross streets and main roads. We saw two guys on camels plodding down the road at 3 in the morning! Ashish arrived yesterday and I got in today so we're both jet-lagged out of hell and are sitting around the dining table finishing off Chinese take out leftovers. Sooooo good to have Indo-Chinese food again. ;-) The weather is perfect and is about 65 degrees and breezy. Lovely tropical climate.

We're off to the Central Tiffin Room to get some hot masala dosas and Nayak's coffee. More on that later.

Papers and Packing

2008-07-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still working on my two papers. Looks like it's going to be an all-nighter. That will help me sleep on the flight tomorrow. I know I'll sleep fine on the DC-Paris leg but the Paris-Bangalore leg is another story.

Blogging the Return to India

2008-07-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

There's the passage to India, the discovery of India, the rediscovery of India, and all that stuff. I am going to blog my Return to India, with apologies to E.M. Foster, Pandit Nehru, V.S. Naipaul and Sashi Tharoor. Of course, I am in no way comparing myself to these great writers but the fact that I choose to call it Blogging the Return to India, honor is due.

When I got into college and started dabbling in History before it turned into my official major, I was fascinated by Europe and the effects the Cold War had on it. Dr. Taylor at Montgomery College, our Harvard on the Pike, taught a class called the World in the 20th Century and while it addressed the whole world for the most part, it tended to focus on the effect the two World Wars had on Europe. Since most countries up until the end of WWII and a short while later were colonies of European powers, I suppose this made sense. Two wars that started in Europe and which should have only effected Europe ended up changing the world since European colonies supplied troops and fought on the side of the mother countries. Hence there were Indian forces at Gallipoli and Indian soldiers were imprisoned with other British subjects at Colditz.

When I got into UM College Park, I had the good fortune of studying under some amazing professors who had either worked for the State Dept. or other agencies in post-war Europe. Focusing on Great Britain and Western Europe was an easy decision. Most primary source material was in English and that made research easier. Dr. Kent's European Diplomatic History in the 20th Century and Dr. Lampe's Eastern Europe in the 20th Century gave me excellent perspectives on the Cold War from the Western and Soviet Bloc sides. My interest in Thatcher's Britain and the Falklands/Malvinas War sealed the deal.

I didn't get the chance to study much on South Asia. The only offering at UMD was in the Germanic Studies department and was a class on Ancient Indic Culture and Civilization taught by the legendary (to UM students) Jere Fleck. In a quirk of the language tree (I still remember memorizing the Old Church Slavonic branch!!) and with the help of many 19th century German Indologists, Ancient Indic culture and its study has come to fall under the Germanic Studies department of some schools. Dr. Fleck taught a marathon of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays-Ancient Celtic Civilization from 11 am to 1230 pm, Ancient Indic Civilization from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m and Ancient Viking Civilization from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. I took Ancient Viking Civ but sat in on the previous class, Ancient Indic Civ. I found the class fascinating. Stories that I had read as a child in India were explained and the class read different interpretations of the Mahabharata. If you can't read Sanskrit, J.A.B. van Buitenen's version, while incomplete, is still the best for an unabridged English source. The Bandarkar Institute and C. Rajagopalachari versions are good for a relatively quick reading.

When I got my History degree in 2001 the first priority was getting a job. After a year of hitting the pavement in the 2001 recession I finally got into the management trainee program at Metro and decided to use all my vacation time traveling. I decided to see all the places I had studied about in my history classes. My first trip was, of course, to London. The 2003 trip was better than the 2001 trip for many reasons. I was more relaxed and had more time to really explore the city. A side trip to Cambridge was icing on the cake. Later on that year, in May, was a marathon trip through Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hensingoer, Malmoe, and Roskilde. Roskilde was the best part of the trip to Denmark. I saw the Viking ship museum and an excavated Skuldelev ship. I had written a paper on Skuldelev ships for the Viking Civ class and actually seeing it was a dream come true. Seeing the graves of Gorm the Old, Harold Finehair, and all the Viking kings at Roskilde Cathedral was like walking through a history book.
Over the years I returned to Paris, my favorite city in the world. I visited other places from my coursework-Argentina, Egypt, Rome.

After doing all that traveling, I decided it was time to go back to visit India. When I came back from Egypt in December, it reminded me so much of India that I decided I would visit India in 2008. So here we are, with six days to go before I return to India for the first time in 15 years. I am excited and also not quite ready for the shock to the system I am sure to experience. Even though I know that our house and my grandparents' house have both been razed and rebuilt, in my mind, Bangalore is just the way I left it in 1993. I plan to blog almost everyday I am in Bangalore. When I am in Goa, I will try to blog between being a beach bum and getting massages at the Ayurvedic Spa at the Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort. It's not going to be the usual "oh look at the poverty/ IT boom" blog. I think it's going to be more personal and a trip down memory lane comparing today's Bangalore to the one I left.

Washington-the Transient City

2008-07-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

As of this August, I will have lived in the Washington, D.C. area for 15 years. One of the things I have enjoyed is meeting people from all over the world who have eventually become close friends. When I moved to the Chastleton in 2005 I made a whole bunch of new friends who have almost become like family to me. The downside to that is when they move, it is often bitter sweet. Three friends of mine are moving away to Seattle, Sweden, and Germany. I've been busy this weekend with their bon voyage parties. Washington house parties are fascinating. At Jonathan's bon voyage party last night I spent some time talking with people ranting about the Metro (!!) and then the conversation turned to the Belgian guy who is doing development work in Chattisgarh, India. From there the conversation went to who got the hottest Madonna tickets to NYC and Miami to the 2008 campaign. Love this city!!!

The gang, or the Chastleton Set, as I like to call it, is breaking up and that is sad but there will eventually be a new Chastleton Set and we will always be in touch with the old one. So, we raise a glass to friends who leave and who will be back, and we welcome new Washingtonians. :-)

Of Art, Treasures, and a Silenced Bigot

2008-07-06T16:51:00.001-07:00

The gang and I went to see Donna Summer at Wolftrap last night. It was a BLAST. She sang all the old hits like "MacArthur Park", "On the Radio", "Hot Stuff", and "No More Tears".

We also went to see the Treasures of the Afghan National Museum exhibit at the NGA. It was fascinating to see pieces from Alexander's time to the very recent past. A sad addition to the collection was photographs of the destroyed Bamiyan Buddha statues. The film in the exhibit showed heroic Afghanis protecting other artifacts by hiding them from the Taliban.
It is a warning to society when those in power start destroying art and cultural artifacts. It is only the beginning with worse things to come. We saw that when the Nazis started destroying art, burning books and deeming music and cultural artifacts as subversive. We saw that when the Soviets sent many authors and artists into hiding or worse, to Siberia. We saw that when the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan statues. Those statues stood there for hundreds of years and were gone in an instant.

In other news, Jesse Helms died this week. He was a no-good segregationist bigot. Good riddance, I say. I remember his filthy vitriol during the Clinton impeachment trials. I remember his grandstanding in the committees he led and his sheer refusal to work with the Democrats. I remember him vilifying the National Endowment for the Arts and ranting and raving against artists he didn't like. Like I said in the previous paragraph, the trash-heap of history is full of people like him. They say real change comes one funeral at a time. Change is on its way.

South Kensington, MD

2008-06-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, according to the latest Facebook stats and some other sources, I now live in South Kensington, MD. Kensington, MD is a tiny little town that flits by when you're driving from D.C. north on Connecticut Avenue. It is not big enough to have a north and a south. First, during the real estate boom, we were called North Bethesda so that people could sell their houses at a higher price. Since we moved in to this neighborhood we've been Rock Creek Palisades-Kensington, Kensington-North Bethesda, and now South Kensington/North Bethesda. Hmmmm, I wonder if I could improve my street cred by claiming that I'm from the south side of Kensington like the south side of Chicago!!!

Visa Update

2008-06-15T04:02:00.000-07:00

So, I got my Indian visa!! Wheee. The Indian Embassy returned my old Indian passport with "Accepted US Citizenship, June 9, 2008" stamped across the last page. This guy in line told me that I should carry my Indian passport with me just in case immigration in Bangalore asks for it. I've heard stories about immigration in Bombay and Hyderabad harassing American citizens of Indian origin for their old passports and such.

So, I'm all set to return to India. I can't wait!

The Last Frontier of Outsourcing-Tourist Visas

2008-06-09T08:51:00.001-07:00

One of the first paper-pushing tasks for any new Foreign Service Officer of the United States is the dreaded visa circuit. This entails interviewing people who are applying to come to the United States for a variety of reasons. This also includes a lot of personality reading, cross questioning, and investigating at the interview. For example, is this person applying for a tourist visa nervous because they don't interview well, or is it because he/she plans on settling down in the U.S.? I have heard stories of new Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) assigned to the Embassy in Mexico City, which makes or breaks an FSO. People have reportedly quit after their first tour just issuing visas because the workload is so high.

The outsourcing phenomenon that began in IT, where jobs were sent from the U.S. to India, has now even effected the Indian Embassy. In an interesting twist, visas for people visiting or working in India are now handled by an outsourcing agency called Travisa India.

I think this is a great idea. I filled in my application for a tourist visa to India on Friday online in a pdf file, printed it out and hand delivered it today to Travisa India. After turning it in, I was given a receipt and told to check the status online. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I also had to surrender my old Indian passport and fill out paperwork renouncing my Indian citizenship, but the process was quick and painless.

The status reads "Documents sent to Embassy" as of 11:25 a.m. So I guess the Embassy still issues the visas but the initial collection of paperwork is done by Travisa. I'll keep you posted on the outcome when I go to pick the visa up this evening.

2008-06-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a good, quiet Sunday.

I went out last night and stayed out till 4 a.m.! So when I got back home this morning, I spent the whole day on the couch watching Spiderman 3 and doing a bit of studying. I'll be glad when the MBA is over, and I hope it will be worth it.

I've started exploring post MBA opportunities. I want to be a transit consultant and have been looking at Booz Allen and McKinsey. They seem to have interesting jobs in many sectors for people with MBAs.

The weather is infernally hot today so I'm just sitting here watching episodes of SATC and drinking plenty of ice water.

The Gulliver Bug

2008-06-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Au Secours!!! I've been bitten by the travel bug and am waiting to fly off into the world again. First comes the trip back to India in July. Then a week in Beijing/Xian in October and finally a week in some Caribbean spa/hotel in December. The best trip is going to be Australia for two weeks for Ed's birthday in January.

Ed turns 40 and, so far, Ed, Kevin and I are going Down Under!!! We're going to celebrate his birthday in style. We're thinking of Sydney and Melbourne or Singapore and Sydney. Should be a blast. I've already started putting money away in the Kangaroo Fund!

So, I saw the Sex in the City movie AGAIN today and loved it even more the second time around! The critics have panned it and over-analyzed it. Look, it's just a bunch of girls out having fun. It is about relationships and their highs and lows to which we can all relate, men or women. It's about snazzy Manhattan apartments and the rock and roll lifestyle and a whole lot of harmless fun and chuckles. The critics can go cry over another movie but this one is just the sort of movie you go see with a bunch of friends before a night on the town! So just go see it and laugh your ass off. I will be seeing it for the THIRD time next Friday with Jen (sorry, luv, had to see it with the cuz on opening night!)

A new semester

2008-05-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

The new semester started 3 weeks ago. We are studying operations management and I like it more than marketing.

I saw the new Sex and the City movie last night and LOVED it!!!! It was big and bold and FABULOUS!!!!!!

Once I get caught up with the semester I will be a blogging regularly. I have so much to say about this damn primary season but have to finish my schoolwork first! :-)

The end of the semester

2008-04-14T07:38:00.001-07:00

Well, the semester is over. I'm looking forward to spending the summer catching up on some fun reading and being a little more disciplined with my Rosetta Stone French. French is such a beautiful language and I would love to be fluent in it.

I'm reading William Dalrymple's fascinating book of the last days of Bahadur Shah Zafar and the Mughal Empire before India officially passed onto the British Crown.
I'm slowly getting back into Indian history and the best introductory book I have read so far is the Oxford History of India, first written in 1919 and updated through WWII. Even though it is very dated and the spelling of some of the names is very colonial, it is a good introduction from the Indus Valley Civilization to the first World War.

In the news this week, and it's only Tuesday!

2008-03-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Eliot Spitzer should resign. He cut through Wall Street with missionary zeal and made them quake in their boots. However, people who live in glass houses don't throw stones. This whole thing was uncovered when some banks reported suspicious transactions to the IRS. Coincidence? I don't think so. Spitzer made many enemies in the financial industry and now it's payback.
I have no sympathy for him. He is a sleazebag and his wife is even more stupid to stand by him. If you are going to run for office you better be sure that you have NO skeletons in your closet because they are going to come out. I think he should be prosecuted under the Mann Act for helping transport prostitutes across state lines.
In a pathetic aside, Jim McGreevy's ex-wife is now making the rounds of the talk shows saying everything short of "I told you so." The media is giving her fifteen minutes of fame and she's milking it for all it's worth. She was on Larry King last night and on the Today show this morning.

If Spitzer does not resign, he should be impeached. As we have seen in the past few years, holier than thou people on both sides of the aisle like Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, and Eliot Spitzer have fallen harder and farther because of their moral grandstanding.

Onward to India

2008-03-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

So, I have decided to visit India for the first time in 15 years. I've spent the last few years traveling all over the world and, now that I have almost exhausted my primary list of places to see, I am off to India this summer to reconnect with old memories and spend two weeks doing it. I'm spending a week in Bangalore and 4 days in Goa. The last time I was in Goa, I was 3 and it was 1979. Sources tell me that I picked up a fish from a fisherwoman and ran down the beach. Seems like that was the last exercise I got! :-)
I've always been attracted to the ocean. I've taken a dip in the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribben Sea, and the Pacific Ocean and it never ceases to amaze me. I would like to make my millions and just set sail over the oceans. :-)

2008-01-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the New Year is here and so far it's been fun. School is kicking my ass and I have to buckle down and get an A. I thought I'd be good at le marketing but it's a pain in the ass.

On the political front, I am loosing respect for Bill. Attack dog I can understand but unfair pot shots are just so, well, unfair. But I guess that's politics.

I am supporting Obama. I like his style, I like his message, and, most importantly, I like his vision of hope for the future of this country. Realistically, I know that he might not win the nomination this summer, but, until then, I'm with him all the way!

2007 in Review

2007-12-23T06:20:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires, January 2007
Rome, March 2007
Egypt, December 2007

There was also a little jaunt to the Bahamas in October 2007 but I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy being a beach bum. :-)

My New Year's resolution for 2007 was to see the world and so I did. I woke Passepartout from his deep slumber and off we went on adventures on three continents.

2007-12-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the Glory of Egypt. I'm on a camel called Mickey Mouse, or so the guide told me.
For more pics go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54659588@N00/

Le Caire

2007-12-04T07:46:00.000-08:00

As-Salaam-aleykum from Cairo or Le Caire, as my carte d'embarquement read last night on Air France 503.

I went to the Pyramids today and there is only one word to sum it up: MAGIC! I climbed down about 200 feet downslope and then 200 feet upslope into the funerary chamber at Khafere's Pyramid (the middle one.) The Sphinx was awesome too and I got to ride a camel called Mickey Mouse! :-) Oh lord, I fell into that tourist trap but it was worth it.:-) The people are really friendly and love Indians. I went Papyrus and perfume shopping today and ate some heavenly baba ghanough and hummus. Off to Luxor tomorrow! More to come.

A L'Egypte

2007-11-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Ah how time flies. My last entry was on October 15, 2007.
I had a blast in the Bahamas. Great island, great people, great food, gooooorgeous beach and the most amazing spa ever. I went for a different treatment every day. I got the hot stone massage one day, the aromatherapy the next but the best was the massage in a tent on the beach. I could so get used to this Caribbean every October lifestyle.

Well, Passepartout has had no rest this year, has he? Argentina in January, Italy in March, the Bahamas in October and now, this Sunday, the glory of EGYPT!!!

This is a dream come true. I am spending 3 days in Cairo and 3 days in Luxor. I am also staying at the same hotel as Agatha Christie in Luxor-the Sofitel Winter Pavillion Palace. :-) How very Death on the Nile.

A la Plage!

2007-10-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well,
I am off to the Bahamas on Sunday for a week of parking my ass on a beach and doing nothing. :-) My vacations this year have been hectic and this one is just to completely detox and relax. The next vacation in Dec to Cairo will be hectic since I'm trying to cram everything into one week. Here is the initial itinerary:
Dec 2, 1700 hrs: Leave Dulles
Dec 3, 0655 hrs: Arrive Paris
Dec 3, 0800 hrs: Clear customs, hop on RER to Le Marais for a pain au chocolat and a cafe creme.
Dec 3, 1400 hrs: Depart Paris
Dec 3, 1900 hrs: Arrive Cairo
Dec 6-7: Luxor, Valley of the Kings
Dec 9 depart Cairo 0700
Dec 9 Arrive Dulles 1900
Dec 10 0330 up for work! :-( Oy Vey!

2007-09-12T14:54:00.001-07:00

Cousin Becky pokes fun at ourselves by bestowing upon us the moniker of Cousin Clarice. We love it!
Monday was a gooorgeous day. Sunday was a blast with Adams Morgan Day and stint at bingo. Rather tired on Monday morning, I decided to Cooper it down to Rehoboth and Fenwick Island. The drive down was perfect-John Lennon, the Scissor Sisters, and me all in the little Coopie hurtling across the bay and I was in Rehoboth in 2 hours 45 flat. I lolled about on the beach like a beached whale and then drove down to Fenwick Island, which was near deserted. Just the way I liked it. I got some realy R and R in and then Coopered it back home ready for a new crazy week at work.

2007-09-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here are the lyrics to Hello Bonjour by Michael Franti. I love his message. I wish we could all listen to him:

I don't need a passport
to walk on this earth,
Anywhere I go cause I was made of this earth
I'm born of this earth,
I breath of this earth,
and even with the pain I believe in this earth, So
I wake Up every mornin and Im steppin on the floor,
I wake up every mornin and Im stepping out the door
I got faith in the sky,
faith in the one,
faith in the people rockin underneath the sun
Cause every bit of land is a holy land and
every drop of water is a holy water and
every single child is a son or a daughter of the one Earth mama and the one Earth papa, So
dont tell a man that he cant come here cause he got brown eyes and a wavy kind of hair, And
dont tell a woman that she cant go there because she prays a little different to a God up there
You say youre a Christian
cause God made you
you say youre a Muslim
cause god made you
You say youre a Hindu and the next man a Jew
Then we all kill each other
cause God told us to NAH!

-Hello, hello!
-Bonjour, bonjour!
-Hola, hola!
-Konnichiwa, konnichiwa wa!

As the good man said "WAR IS OVER, IF YOU WANT IT."

2007-09-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

My new favorite song is "Hello Bonjour" by Michael Franti. It's very one world-y and very cute :)

Bathroom Wrongdoing

2007-08-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

So, eh, Laarryy. You're a FUCKING HYPOCRITE !!!!! Good LAWD, man! "Senator Denies Bathroom Wrongdoing" scream the headlines.

This is the problem with the Republicans. I don't care which way you swing but when you're a hypocrite, you deserve to be exposed. Ted Haggard, Newt Gingrich, Mark Foley, David Vitter, and now Larry Craig. FOR SHAME!!!!!! Holier than thou, these people live in the most fragile glass houses and throw boulders. God Bless the Idaho Statesman! :-) True journalism, for once. Maybe the WaPo can learn a little something from our friends out west, like REAL JOURNALISM!!!

2007-08-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

I've had a busier weekend than Paris Hilton with a gallon of Jack. Oy vey! I realized this weekend how much I miss living in Dupont. WAAHHHHHH! I want my Dupont. Anyhoo, Friday ended with a party at David's gorgeous old house in Mount Pleasant where we got quite tipsy on Sangria. :-) In attendance at the party were people from India, Spain, the U.S., Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Namibia, the U.K., and Germany. That's what I LOVE about D.C.-the international flavor of the city. So we were all just drinking Sangria out on the porch talking politics and getting tipsy.
Saturday night was the bon voyage party for Jai's 'rents who are going back to India. Thrown in with the above mix were some Argentinians and Brazilians. Add to that a rooftop in Adams Morgan with a view of the National Cathederal and a hot tub and you have bliss. After that is was off to Cobalt and dancing till 3. Oy, my damn knees still hurt. I'm getting old.
I barely had enough time to sleep when it was up again and out the door to celebrate Jamaica's 45th Anniversary of Independence from Blighty at the Organization of American States. The Red Stripe beer was free and the curried goat was yummy. The MC was fucking hilarious. :-)
Then, I got home, showered, and off to Gtown for Chris' 30th Bday at Bangkok Joe's. Some cheesecake at chez danoises and home to bed to be up for ops this morning. Ah bliss! I love les weekends.

2007-07-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

The Washington Summer aka Potomac Swamp Soup starts tomorrow. Why do you think Congress goes on "recess" in August? The damn city is a humid, putrid swamp. The humidity was so bad last night that it created a soupy haze for most of the evening. Usually when it rains, it cools off. Not in D.C. When it rains here it gets more humid in the summer.
All things considered, summer in D.C. still has some redeeming qualities. It will be easier to get reservations to restaurant week and most of the annoying Hummers with Texas license plates are out of town or out of sight and not clogging up Georgetown. I am so tired of looking at gas guzzling SUV's with Texas plates and W o4 stickers on them. I can't wait for the new administration to come in 2009 so we can at least get rid of these fucking monstrosities.
I had the day off yesterday so I went to Dupont and read my Economist and then shopped at the Farmers' Market. Farmer Dan makes the best pierogies in the world.
I finally finished my team project for the MBA. I find business school easier than I thought I would. I guess that's a good thing. I'm flirting with law school. Dunno. Should I, shouldn't I? In a perfect world I'd get my PhD. in History and teach Cold War History on the college level. I'd sit there in my tweed jacket and pipe (unlit, of course) and throw papers back at the students screaming "Kissinger has two s's, you fool." LOL.

2007-07-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

They ask me who I support. I say Obama. I think Obama has a great chance of winning the nomination and the White House in 2008. I like his life story, I like his vision, and, best of all, I like his messages of hope for the future. Obama will bring a clean slate to the White House. Clinton is sullied by her 8 years there as First Lady.
However, things being as they are, I think the best ticket will be a Clinton/Obama one. This will trounce the Republicans in November next year. To use a cliche, it is a ticket whose time has come. CLINTON/OBAMA 2008. RAH RAH RAH!!!!

2007-07-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Traipsing around the internet, for one often engages in that unspeakable vice on a Sunday afternoon, we happened upon the following little gift for the inner Brit in all of us:

Henry Poole.

What a lark! That would sadly be only for weekend wear and for declaring war against the sheep farmer over yonder. I do like his bespoke suits, though the price tag is well out of my range!

With all that money you can't spell?

2007-07-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

"I apologize to the pap for a stunt that was done 4 months ago regarding an umbrella," Spears said in a statement posted Wednesday on her Web site. "I was preparing my character for a roll (sic) in a movie where the husband never plays his part so they switch places accidentally. I take all my rolls very seriously and got a little carried away. Unfortunately I didn't get the part."
This was the statement posted by Spears on her website according to CNN. You would think with all that money she would learn how to spell. She definitely is on a "roll." Checking her website today, the spelling has been corrected.

I watched Larry King with Isaiah Washington this week and saw his pitiful explanations on why he is not homophobic. Then he has the audacity to suggest that racism was the reason he was fired. Umm, no, asshole. You were fired because you're a cheap little bigot and the way you made those comments the second time was totally uncalled for. He was rightly fired from the show and should not be allowed to work again. There is no place for comments like that and he should be made an example of to show others that if you use language like that you're out of a job.

Of West Wings and Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer: The New Adventures of Deep Throat and Mrs. Robinson, the Younger.

2007-06-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. It is gorgeous, it is glorious. Nothing captures summer for me the way the comic strip Red and Rover does. It's the cutest thing since a certain nefarious cat which prefers to attack Mardi Gras beads while being spoiled rotten aka Jefferson Tonsils. :-)
The reader might remember that two years ago, we left Mrs. Robinson, the Younger (then just known as Mrs. Robinson because Mrs. Robinson, the Elder hadn't met her bit of cradle-robbing crumpet yet) and Deep Throat frolicking amongst the waves of L'Ocean Atlantique after Coopering down to the seaside.
Mrs. Robinson the Younger, to be differentiated from Mrs. Robinson, the Elder who is REALLY Mrs. Robinsoning around this summer, and I decided to have a Vive La France night last night. So we went to Mon Ami Gabi where Mrs. Robinson proceeded to lay waste to a delicious onion soup and I buggered an Ahi Tuna for the second time (one is known to be given to buggery when the climes are unbearable). After much discussion of the antics of Mrs. Robinson the Elder, we wafted on over to the theater and saw Paris, Je T'aime. It was the cutest French movie since Amelie. It is a movie which is 18 short movies about the different arrondissements of Paris. GO SEE IT NOW.
After a breath of fresh air we once again descended into the caverns of the Bethesda Row cinema to see the gut wrenching and beautiful La Vie En Rose. It is about the life of Edith Piaf. It was well done and the music was divine, mais bien sur. Don't listen to the critics, GO SEE IT NOW. All in all a good evening for Deep Throat and Mrs. Robinson, the Younger.

On another note, I've been watching the West Wing season 5 back to back. I realized I've been watching too much of it that instead of telling cher famille that dinner is at 7:30, I said "wheels up at 7:30." I love the West Wing. I'll take my fake President over the real one anyday. :-)

2007-06-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Shameless Endorsement:

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur

This is an awesome CD of covers of John Lennon's solos by groups like U2 and Ben Folds. U2's version of Instant Karma is, of course, FUCKING AWESOME!! Anything that band does is GOLD, baby, GOLD!!! :-) Love you, boys.

If there was a soundtrack to my life it would have all U2 songs, mostly from Rattle and Hum and Achtung! Baby.

2007-06-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

I had a perfect day yesterday. I did my Sunday morning ritual of having a cuppa coffee at the Dupont Starbucks and reading my Sunday Post and then getting my weekly fix of goat cheese from Farmer Dan. I love shopping from Farmer Dan because we always end up talking about traveling around the world. Yesterday we talked about Morocco. Fun! :-) Must put that on the list. :-)

So, the plan we (as in the Royal we) made for 2007 is coming along just fine. We decided to go to Buenos Aires and Rome, which we did and we also decided to go to Beijing and one other undisclosed location. Well, we are contemplating Morocco or Spain for the week of Dec 2 thru Dec 9, 2007. Hmm, which one should we choose? Decisions decisions. :-)

Probably the Coolest Guy in the World

2007-06-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

OK, STOP THE PRESSES!!! I want to be this guy when I grow up. Such a cool life! :-)

NO FUCKING JUSTICE

2007-06-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton served less than a week and now she is under house arrest because of some medical condition? Yeah, like what? She misses her fucking Louis Vuitton pillows? There is no justice!! I say throw her in the Chateau D'if! Off with her head.

In other news, my favotire Woodstein, my little Macaca, was in the Washington Post today for a quick second. I was shedding tears of pride and joy for my little boo for finally being published in the WaPo.

2007-06-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. William Jefferson was just indicted today but he hasn't been convicted. I am disgusted with the Democrats. Why don't they just kick him out?

2007-05-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

I love the Grooming Lounge. I love the oak paneling, the service, and the modern-day Reform Club atmosphere of it all. It feels like I'm getting a haircut in a law office. I love the old fashioned smell of strong cologne and after shave.
Ever since I took up the desk job I have been investing in nice things to complete the corporate whore look, a look which I love and enjoy! I bought some gorgeous ties from Daddy and Son Camiceria and some spread collar shirts from Nordstrom. Why, oh, why can't I find reasonable priced spread collar shirts here? The only good ones are Faconnable and there's no way in hell I'm spending $125 on a shirt! I got some nice shoes from Kenneth Cole to complete the look.
There is still so much to be said for dressing well in this day and age of dressing down. There is nothing like a good conservative pinstripe suit, good black shoes, a white spread collar shirt, and a good stiff bold tie that is tied in a Windsor knot. Call me old fashioned but it looks smashing! :-)

2007-05-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Here's more evidence that the insurgents in Iraq do not have the best interests of Islam at heart and are not representative of the religion. How do you kill an international treasure like that? Calligraphy is a precious art and there are very few people left in the world who can still practice it. I put these insurgents in the same trash heap of history as those who destroyed the Bamian Buddhas.

Follows, a shameless endorsement of the Economist:
In other news, I LOVE Bagehot. Bagehot is leaving to make way for the new Bagehot. The old Bagehot was such a crusty old man/woman but I LOVED his/her wit and analysis. I LOVE the Economist. I stumbled on a copy of the Economist when I was working at CVS in 1998 and have been hooked on it ever since. If I've had a crazy week at work and haven't had the time to catch up with the news, I just read that week's Economist and I get all the news and analysis I want. After I've read my Economist I feel edjamacated and informded. :-) It is worth spending $5 a week on it, when a latte is $3. So make your own coffee and subscribe to the Economist!!!

2007-05-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Herge! My favorite comic book is the Tintin series. I grew up on it and I still read it every now and then and am surprised how, as I've grown older, I get something new out of the stories each time I read them. I am also amazed by how much my wanderlust is influenced by Tintin and his adventures. My first exposure to the world was through Time magazine and Tintin, although Tintin's world is very dated (1930s Shanghai in the Blue Lotus, for instance.)
Herge's ideas and creations were ahead of his time, especially in Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.

2007-05-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Jerry Falwell died earlier this week. To many he was the face of the Moral Majority and a protector of values. To me, he was a sad little bigot. He did his best to dehumanize anyone whose views or lives he didn't agree with. His statement after 9/11 was "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" For shame!! He did his best to take us back in time to a backward society but the strength of this country has prevailed and now people see through the filthy muck of the hypocritical religious right. My feelings when I heard the news of his death is best summed up in a text message I sent Etiene "Ding Dong, the Bitch is Dead."

I want to be like Julia Child. She made such a positive and happy contribution to the world. Even though people still picture Dan Akroyd doing an impression of her in SNL with blood spurting everywhere she is remembered so fondly by everyone for her wit and her fun cooking shows. It is often said that she taught America how to cook again.
That's the kind of contribution one should make. One should be inclusive, not divisive.

2007-04-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Lou Dobbs is a wannabe demagogue- nothing more, nothing less. History is littered with examples like him. People like Lou Dobbs single out a vulnerable group of people and incessantly attack them because they know that group can't fight back. Poor old Lou is trying to pander to what Nixon used to call the Silent Majority thinking that if he keeps on with is racist and xenophobic rants, they will rise up against undocumented workers. What is dangerous is that there are people who are stupid enough to believe his drivel and act on it. Lou Dobbs, the Minutemen and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) have formed a dangerous triumvirate that, if left unchecked, can turn into a juggernaut that will create more divisions in the country-something we can really do without. Also, Lou Dobbs and his sorry little foot soldiers like Kitty Pilgrim, who both insist on calling the PRC Communist China in every sentence, are nothing but rabble rousers. Yes, the PRC is communist but they're trying to start another Red Scare because Dobbs suffers from what most of the current administration suffers-Cold War Hangover. They want to go back to a time when everyone was so afraid of communism that they didn't care about how deep the military industrial complex invaded their lives and their privacy.
Lou Dobbs and his foot soldiers remind me of the media tactics used by the Nazis. The Nazis used the same media tactics in newsreels and posters to demean Jews and other people they considered "undesirable." Lou Dobbs needs to stop and be stopped. FOR SHAME!!!!

2007-04-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

I've loved the Gipsy Kings since I heard them in India in 1992. Their music is haunting and crosses all borders. I stumbled on this awesome video on youtube.com. It is a video of Gipsy Kings and Ziggy Marley doing "One Love." I say we all sing:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AxCm9TvlVP4&mode=related&search=

2007-04-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a few weeks and I am ready to wax about Rome. After spending hours at that airline purgatory called JFK, off I went hurtling across the Pond and plopping down in Rome. A half an hour later I was at Termini with a startled look and WOWWWWW there it was-Roman ruins!
Checking into the hotel, my room was about 150 sq feet. I got lost, like I normally do in any new city, and wound up on the Via Veneto and walked over to the Spanish Steps. *Enid Blyton alert* After tea and scones at Babbington's I went to the Trevi Fountain and then stood in line for two hours outside the Museii Vaticani and then an additional hour inside just to get to the Sistine Chapel. Words cannot describe the detail and the grandeur of the Sistine Chapel. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I then mailed the obligatory postcards from the Vatican with the Vatican postmark and walked along the mighty Tiber to an enoteca or wine bar. I love Roman enotecas. You walk in have a glass or two of spumanti or chianti and then you're out and about again. :-)
Ed came in on Wednesday the 21 and we went exlporing some more. There are so many Romes to see. There is Ancient Rome, Renaissance Rome and modern Rome with its smart cars and Minis and fashionably dressed people.
The food was great. Pizza, pasta and gelati but also the Indian and Ethiopian food was amazing.
The bars and clubs were phenomenal. There was one right next to the Colisseum so when we stumbled out we stumbled past the Colisseum. Monte Testaccio is a great neighborhood. My favorite clubs were Alibi and Mucca Assassina at Qube.
The best day was Sunday when we walked around Trastevere and relaxed in the Campo de Fiori with its musicians playing American standards while we sipped cold Birra Moretti. :-)
I love Rome but it still comes a close second to Paris. :-) Rome is grand, Paris is seductive. :-)

2007-04-13T19:28:00.003-07:00

Allors! La Macacarie est commence! My fabulous boo, Maryland Macaca, has entered the slugfest that comes about when the north/south divide is discussed. I only have one thing to add:
Hindi is not the official language of India. There are (the last time I checked) 18 official languages of which English is one. When people speak to me in Hindi in the U.S. I reply in Hindi, but with a Tom Alter accent (Tom Alter is a white Indian actor who used to get the generic evil British/European guy roles in some Hindi movies in the 80s and 90s) which seems to piss people off to no end and stops them from irritatingly insisting that Hindi is the official language.

My take on the Hindi thing: I don't give a flying fuck. I'm in America now and can manage English on a good day. Nothing good ever came out of regionalism one way or the other. I say we all hold hands and sing the following:

I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow-white turtle doves
I'd like to teach the world to singIn perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
"Ah, peace throughout the land"
(That's the song I hear)
I'd like to teach the world to sing (that the world sings today)
In perfect harmony(Lead singer and background singers singing simultaneously)
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
Id like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow-white turtle doves

PACE!!!

2007-04-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Um, we did WHAT???? Oy vey, indeed! Step in the right direction? Maybe, maybe not.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR2007041000852.html

2007-04-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

OMG I want to be this guy. So cool, he flies almost all of United's inaugural flights for kicks. He did a brutal 38 hours doing Dulles-Beijing and then turned around and did Beijing-Dulles. Yowww.

2007-04-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Roma was a dream come true. Check out the pics:

Roma, March 19-26, 2005.

2007-03-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Fuck a Duck! The planes are all delayed. I hope tomorrow's flights are OK and there's no fucking snowstorm. I hate changing planes! :-)

2007-03-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

IT'S THE IDES OF MARCH, THE IDES OF MARCH! BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH!
On this day, the Ides of March 44BC, Julius Ceasar was stabbed, fatally.
ET TU, BRUTUS?
I tried to synchronize my trip so I could be in Rome for the Ides of March but I couldn't get the time off. :-( Allors. I'm off to Roma on Sunday!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

2007-03-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Batty Maccaca has suggested that one must publish one's favorite spots to reside on our little blue dot so here goes:

#5 London, UK-Jolly ol'England. God Save the Queens. Great city, great ethnic food, great markets on Portobello Road, great pubs (shout out for the Prince of Wales on Old Brompton Road), great mix of people, great history, Great Britain!
#4 Copenhagen, Denmark-Great people, great history, cute homes, hyggelig (loosely translates as cozyness), Great Danes!
#3 Paris-Ah Paris, je t'aime. What else to say? I'd run off here in a hearbeat and live in Le Marais and spend hours on the Ile-Ste.-Louis painting in my beret!
#2 Washington, D.C.-Home sweet home. Love you boo, great city lousy politicians, great museums, great ethnic food, great monuments, Dupont Circle!
#1 San Francisco-went there in 2002 and fell madly in love with it. The fog rolling in over Golden Gate Bridge, priceless. Great people, open minds, easy access to wine country.

Honorable mentions for places to run off to when I've had my midlife crisis/40 year heart attack/nervous breakdown

#5 Reykjavik, Iceland-Fun people, ice ice and more ice. Pickled Ram's testicles and putrid shark meat to boot!
#4 Buenos Aires, Argentina-no one will find me here, all the steak to eat and chimichurri sauce, balconies galore for singing "Don't Cry for me Argentina."
#3 Pacific Beach, CA-Surfs up!
#2- Torrey Pines, CA- Turquoise beaches, beach bummery.
#1- Helsingoer, Denmark-Quiet contemplation with Hamlet.

2007-03-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I only have one entry up about Buenos Aires and I am too lazy to update and do all the photo adding thingamabob to it so if you want to see all my B.A. pics and their respective explanations, check out my flickr site at http://flickr.com/photos/54659588@N00.

Allors, so I have started a new position at work. I now have my first desk job in 4 years. I am excited but need the aid and assistance from a small little coffee company from Seattle because desk jobs sometimes lull me into oblivion. Anyhoo, the MBA is coming along fine. I did a paper on corporate social responsibility and shat (or is it shitted) all over Milton Friedman's bullshit theories.

I'm off to the Eternal City next Sunday and will spend my birthday at the Vatican, like the good little Catholic I am, even though I am heathen! :-) What a difference between birthday 30 and 31. 30 was filled with more wanton debauchery than one man should be entitled to handle and 31 is spent in quiet piety on the steps of Saint Peter's Basilica. Hmmm.

Before I forget:

REST IN PEACE MR. HUMPHRIES!!!!

He's probably taking an "inside leg" at the Grace Brothers' Store in the sky! :-)