My quote and I quote

Don't count your chickens while they are being culled....

Labels: Food, Humor, Life, Thought

Bal Kutir

I never went to an orphanage, at least not with the sole purpose of interacting with the kids, until yesterday. My mother used to cringe at any suggestion of my doing so, because she somehow finds it downright upsetting. Even I was somehow convinced that I would be a little upset to meet some underprivileged kids. That, however was not the case. I've been part of some food donation campaigns, but the interaction with kids there is limited to distributing some basic food items, and those kids aren't really orphans. We mostly help out the nomadic labourers with their food supply. I am personally not convinced with this form of Social giving, because I feel it serves a very short term and narrow purpose, but that discussion I can leave for later.

Yesterday, about 7 of us from office went to 'Bal Kutir', an orphanage run by a nice old lady in her own house. We went with the intention of holding a small drawing contest for the kids, and using their drawings to decorate our floor this Diwali, and we did just that (Yea, no surprize). But I did come back with a very different view of these children. I did not feel any pity whatsoever. Maybe because they themselves were not reeling in self pity as I had imagined. They were just back from school when we got there, and so we had some amount of trouble getting them out, and getting them started. I was a little apprehensive at first, and I didn't know what to say. So we sat them down and distributed the coloring pencils and stuff, and asked them to make any drawing about Diwali. Some started with geometrical designs, and some with diyas, and most of the tiny tots started with a contorted version of whatever the person sitting next to them was drawing. It was fun watching them draw, and helping them out. I drew a diya for 'Golu', so that he could color it in, but he did not think very highly of my artistic talents and chose to politely turn his drawing sheet over and start afresh!

Another one of the few boys there initially drew a boy holding a pataka in his hand and trying to light it with a candle, but chose to erase it when I patronizingly told him that it wasn't the most prudent method to light crackers! (yeah yeah, I'm boring.)

The kids seemed mostly unperturbed by our presence, which was probably because they interact with hordes of people all the time with rising guilt of low CSR. But they seemed to be well behaved and intelligent lot, and it was a lot of fun interacting with them. I hope to go again soon and spend some time playing cricket with them. :)


PS. There was also a guy who traced out a duck on his sheet, and along with one of the more demented people from office, insisted that it was a "Murga", and so he claimed to have made the advertisement for "Murga Chaap Patakas". Weird the people in my office I tell you :p

Labels: Education, Food, Life, Society

Brothers in Arms

Do we ever feel strongly about any social issue unless it affects us directly? I went to protest with my peers when students protested against the Reservation bill. Our presence there was a sign of solidarity with the idea, with the people who were leading the movement. We went to reassure them that we were there to support them. Yet, I lay in bed watching the news when MCD sealed the shops of so many people in Delhi. Their shops were their only source of livelihood, and yet, I was not concerned.


I remember when I visited the 'War Memorial' in Seoul, I went around admiring the realistic reconstruction of war scenes and the Viking style warships, the guns and everything else on display. It was like a pleasure trip for all of us. We visited the souvenir shop and I bought a Korean army Dog Tag (Which was later stolen by the infamous Kleptomaniac of DCE!), and a little medallion with the War Memorial building on one side and a figure of 2 men hugging, on the other.



We went on to have a sumptuous lunch, something I have to write about in detail someday, and moved out of the complex, and started taking pictures. There I noticed a huge statue of the 2 men hugging each other, complete with their accouterments. Won (Our guide, not the currency!) told us that the statue represented a real life incident, wherein during the war between North and South Korea, two brothers from opposite armies met on the battlefield!
Suddenly, the war memorial meant a lot more. I stood and admired the statue, the position of the two men, the way their bodies leaned on each other, as if their knees had given way, their grief apparent by the mere position of their bodies.
The globe on which they stood was cracked from between them, symbolic of their world torn apart. We even caught hold of a little terrified (by us!) kid wearing a 'be the reds' t-shirt, and made him pose with us in front of the statue :) . Apparently, quite a few of us felt the same way about the war between the two parts of Korea. I say this because that night we came back to the university and laid out huge sheets of paper and left messages of peace.


We signed our names, made India's flag, and wrote a peace message in Hindi and in English.

Sometimes you just need to be in the eye of the storm to realize its futility. I felt the same way at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The wall obviously wasn't there. Just a slight depression in the ground where it once stood, and panels with photos and descriptions of the time it was there. It's really hard for me to explain, but I'll try. Potsdamer Platz is now a wide open area right in the centre of Berlin's business district. The DB building, all the financial giants, Sony center are all a stones throw away. The Berlin wall divided this area right through the center into half. It would have been like dividing the heart of a city. Train tracks were blocked, the city was divided into half and walled. There was a little ramp onto which people were allowed to climb to see the goings on on the other side beyond the wall. I stood there with one foot on either side of the wall, and took a snap. Then I just strolled around the place feeling the pulse of the city. Among all the cities I visited in Europe, Berlin was the one that was 'Alive'. It was exciting just to be there, just to walk along the streets. Something or the other was always going on.


It felt great just to be able to cross the places where the wall once stood, especially at the Brandenburg Tor. There was also a photo exhibition depicting the Tor after the world war, in a rather debilitated state, and we took snaps there and 'Crossed' the Tor to head toward the Live 8 concert going on between the Siegesäule. Just to think that you would have been shot down if you tried to cross the place 2 decades ago.

The only image of the Berlin wall I ever had before this trip was the one created by the Scorpions music video, "Wind's of change". In the last part of the video, there are images of the Berlin wall being brought down. After I returned from Germany, this song had an entirely new meaning for me. Having talked to people who were present at Potsdamer Platz when the first piece of the Wall crumpled, and also people who hid in their house for days fearing some sort of riots would break out, the Wall was not what it used to be anymore.

Some parts of the world are not as fortunate as Germany though. Back home, I went to watch the gate closing ceremony at Wagah recently, and after the ceremony, people are allowed to walk around the fence, touch the border post, and at one point, Indians and Pakistanis are a couple of feet away, separated only by 2 cords of barbed wire. Its amazing the way you feel looking at people across the divide. There is no ill-will, no enmity, just a weird feeling, like we are caged. They probably felt the same way. I held the gaze of quite a few people, longer than necessary, just to see how their expressions changed, but they didn't. There was no trace of malice in their eyes. They were looking at us in an incredulous manner, just as we were looking at them I'm sure.

We drove back to Amritsar discussing that maybe the aggression apparent in the gate-keepers actions should be toned down a little. There are two sides to the coin as always. At one end, we are trying to spread a feeling of mutual trust and understanding, and this demands that these proceedings be toned down. On the other hand, it is a rather good location and setup to instill feelings of nationalism in people. Gradually, the discussion changed to where our next meal should be. Incidentally, in Amritsar, all you manage to think about is food! Having tried all the street food on offer, and all the famous dhabas, we settled for Crystal, which was recommended by the owner of the Jutti Shop my mum and sister ransacked.




I kept toying with the thought that maybe someday cars will be allowed to cross the Wagah, and we will be able to go to Lahore and eat a better preparation at the Food Street. Someday soon perhaps.

Labels: Food, Life, Politics, Travel

Wicked Apple Brew

Apple's are always associated with the wicked, the evil, and not entirely without reason.

Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical and forbidden fruit. Though the forbidden fruit in the book of Genesis is not identified, popular European Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve coaxed Adam to share with her. As a result, in the story of Adam and Eve the apple became a symbol for temptation, the fall of man into sin, and sin itself. In Latin, the words for 'apple' and for 'evil' are similar in the singular (malus — apple, malum — evil) and identical in the plural (mala). This may be the reason that the apple was interpreted as the biblical 'forbidden fruit'.

So, I walked into a coffee shop, and saw a drink called "Wicked Apple Brew" on the menu. Naturally, I fell prey. I do not wish to wax eloquent about how good it was (it was :). All I intend to do is give a factual description, tell you where to get your glass, and wait for your comments.

Location : Barista (India)
Cost : Rs. 55 (L.T. extra)
Description : Thick golden apple juice, slightly warm,with a fine essence of cinnamon. Topped with sweet whipped cream, sprinkled with cinnamon powder.

Go and get one, now!

Labels: Food, Review