Shopping – Therapy ???

Shopping is therapy only for the first ten minutes.After that,its a mad,tedious world of choices and confusions and discounts and bargains and frantic euro to rupee conversions and wondering if the little item in question would be priced the same or lesser in India.I wish I had never known that One Euro is equivalent to 59.376 INR.God.The woes of shopping keeping exchange rates in mind.Yes,yes,wedlock induces frugality.Or I would call it,the need to save for a rainy day.Generally.I hope I’m not the only one..

The perfect Indian Dinner

Eleven months in Deutschland and I am yet to utter one complete sentence in German.But,but,but, that has never stopped me from watching German TV programmes.The TV is hypnotic.Even if I don’t understand a single word of whats being said,just turning it on turns “house” into “home”.”Loneliness” into “lazing happily on the couch”. And thats precisely why I actually do watch a few German programmes here.One of them is a cookery show.The show is called “Das Perfekt Dinner”.A reality show in which 5 contestants are pitted against each other to make the bestest dinner ever and win the prize money of 1000 Euros.

On yesterday’s show,there was this one contestant who had decided to cook an Indian meal.The menu was as follows :

• Appetizer :Urad Dal.

Yea,just Urad Dal.I was wondering what she was planning to prepare.Was it going to be Medhu Vada dipped in Yoghurt or something of that sort ? The dish served was plain pressure-cooked Urad Dal with turmeric.And a whole bowl of that.How can one finish that off ?

• The Main Course : Aloo Phool Gobi Panneer Sabji

Again,fried potato,cauliflower and paneer soaked in water boiled with turmeric and salt and chilli powder.Served with plain rice.Worse still was watching her prepare the dish.We Indians are so used to the tadka i.e., the mustard spluttering when you drop it in oil that we barely notice it.It was only yesterday I realised how brave Indian women are to face this “mustard spluttering” without fear.The contestant was so petrified that the mustard was going to splutter all over her face,she was standing with this shield all the while she was cooking.

Luckily,she had stuck to some non-Indian dessert that she probably knew how to prepare.And oh yea,our dear Pillaiyar was sitting on the table as a table decoration.You poor Pillaiyar,the amount of respect you get in India and ,there on the show,you were sitting on the table as a little toy .And so ended the perfect Indian Dinner.And,surprise surprise,she ,on an average,got 8 points out of 10 from the others.If I had known,I could have possibly got the 1000 Euros with a simple rasam and curd rice and poriyal and semiya payasam.I missed my chance.Damn.

P.S : I really felt pathetic after watching this.If you don’t know a thing about a particular cuisine,just don’t dare to try it.To me,and especially after eleven months away from home, nothing can beat Indian cuisine.And she made mincemeat out of it yesterday .

Snow White !

Nice to see,
A view to behold,
But when you get out there [ I tell you],
Its really cold !!

Last weekend’s one day trip to a nearby town called Winterberg.As the name suggests,and as do the pics,you can guess what its famous for. Seriously,snow looks great as long as you are either sitting,all bundled up in the warm train or at a restaurant sipping coffee.

But,man,did I have a tough time keeping my fingers and toes warm once I was out in the snow I think I am blue-blooded [ I mean,my blood turns blue fast,especially at end-points like fingers and toes,only ]. Really,me only fit for the Indian summer.

A greeting a day.

Of late ,I’ve only found reasons to crib about being in this cold city.Stinging wind,freezing cold,no good Indian [athuvum South indian Saravana Bhavan-like] restaurants,unable to communicate with most of the natives except through sign language.And ,yea,the lists pretty huge and still growing now that I’ve kind of reached my breaking point .

In all fairness,I should also point out the trivial things that I like about this country,this city.In India,at most supermarkets (especially happens mostly to me at Food World),after all the joy of senseless,useless shopping,when you come to the counter,most of the times,all we would be greeted with is a sullen look.Or the robocop look.Its different here.The lady at the counter gives u this nice smile and greets you with a sing-song Guten Tag .Shes all smiles even if u buy just a toothpick.And now,even I’ve got into the habit of just saying a hi or returning their greeting.

I have to get out of this habit before I get back to India.I can just imagine the counter fellow staring at me as though I am totally mad if I do this in India :-O

Waterworld

A visit to the aqua zoo last weekend, and I learnt a few new facts.

1. You have a bigger chance of winning the national lottery than being eaten by a Shark . [Screw Jaws,Open Water and all other shark movies,man.Anyways,I have no chance of being eaten by a shark.I guess I would drown before the shark finds me.]

2. Jelly fish,those fragile creatures that seem to be made out of polythene.I was always awed by them.How could such things survive ?? Well,it seems that Jelly Fish have no brain and no heart. [ That explains it all.No brains.No think.No worries.No heart.No emotions.No trouble at all.Can survive ]

3 .Don’t bother taking a camera to these aqua-zoos or whatever.Especially normal cameras.Its just way too hard to get nice snaps.Plus Flash photography is prohibited.Supposedly,flash is not good for fish’s eyes ( ????)

The appointment

I might die sooner than I might get an appointment with a doctor here.Or so it has been ,so far.An appointment, that was requested two weeks back, has finally been fixed for the next week.Luckily,I am not on my death-bed ,so I can manage to stay put for three weeks,but I wonder what happens to people who are like,you know,in dire need of immediate medical care.This apart,giving your details is a nightmare.Especially your name.Definitely something like Satyanarayanan is not a very familiar word to a German receptionist.As both mine and my husband’s name are relatively long , my total name is quite huge now ,at least by my standards .Its got around 22 letters ,I think.Poor spouse spelt out this name thus on the phone.S for Spain,A for America,N for Nigeria,G for Germany ..and so on.He took around 10 minutes to spell out my full name to the poor German lady at the other end.He must have used atleast half of the countries on the world map.She must’ve freaked out. Lesson learnt-Don’t pass on the burden of long names at least to the next generation.Keep it short,and sweet.Would save them a lot of trouble.

Yuck.

“Rain rain go away.

Come again another day”

What wisdom ! Rain looks good only in the movies.And only when pretty heroines are prancing around or chocolate-boy heroes are dancing about it. I fit neither category.

One can’t step out. And even if one does,the rain makes you all soggy and slushy.Just can’t stand it.

Next,this chill weather.Freaks me out.Everytime I got to go out,its a ritual.First the sweater,then the woollen scarf,then the winter jacket,then the winter cap.Then the socks,the shoes…Sigh.Tired even before I step out.

Nothing like the heat-stricken cities of India.Can’t wait to get back there and get roasted.

Pretty.

Nothing more relieving than entering shopping malls on weekends to escape the chilly cold outside.And seeing some beautifully decorated Christmas trees as well .

Now,don’t ask me why the hell I go out on weekends in that case. Its basic instinct .

The way the decorations are presented at the shops just make them so very attractive you want to grab a couple of them just for the heck of it.Maybe I should buy a few.And hang them as drishti poosanikais when I get back.

Italyil Idli..

..romba miss pannen.Enna irunthaalum namma idli, dosa pola varaathu.I remember the times during my childhood when I used to avoid idli like the plague.Every single day of school ,just seeing that plate of 2 idlis used to make me go eww.It was a humongous task for my mom to make me eat just half an idli before going to school.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder,I can say.The first time we made idli after arriving here ,it was one hell of a feast.And,during the Italy trip,my love for this food group has only grown.Four days of croissants,cup cakes,pizzas .Had enough of it.

The cappucino was heavenly,though.

Italy,here I come !

Preparing to go on a vacation is way too hectic.Paranoia strikes after you read about the umpteen instances of pickpocketing and thefts that take place at your destinations.Then you start to read about how to carry your belongings safely.Its when you read other travellers’ accounts that you realize,thankfully,that you’re not the only one who is over-cautious while travelling.What can I say,there are people who’ve stuffed money down their socks ! Paranoia is finally replaced by exhaustion when you decide its just not worth getting so worked up about,just,a vacation.Then comes the checklist.What to take.What starts off as a simple half -a- page affair elongates and prolongs like our TV serials.Then the getting charged part.Charge,charge everything you can get your hands on.Cell phones,camera batteries,ipod.Thats when you realise it would have been better to be living in the Stone age.Next,print.Print everything you can get your damn hands on.Flight tickets,train tickets.hotel confirmations.

Too bad we grew up.It was easier just holding my Dad’s hands and walking to the train station for a vacation.Or I could console myself that the Colosseum and the Leaning tower of Pisa is worth this Paranoia