Sydney Stories - Week 24

Hello,

There has been lots going on this week in the world and in down under. Awesome Wimbledon record break. Were they human or what? I think the Energizer bunny has a new mascot(s) after Michael Chang. Australia's first woman Prime Minister - Julia Gillard was sworn in this week. Not that I follow politics here but was given a quick refresher at work. Obviously the views might be one-sided. Aussie soccer team the Socceroos as they are called won the war but lost the battle. Sounds unfair that a team's win depends on another match where they have no control at all. 

Finally finished reading "PowerShift" by Alvin Toffler. It took about 2 months to finish the 600 page book (of which more than 150 pages were dedicated to notes, references and indexes). It was a pretty interesting book but quite dry so easily puts me to sleep in the train. The core topic is about the shift in power from violence to money to knowledge. Concepts vary from corporate games to international politics. 

Weekend was quite hectic as usual. We were invited for a dinner hosted by 3 of my colleagues (2 girls and a guy) in the City. Dinner was good with rajma, aloo gobhi and chicken something. Came to know that amchur powder can do a lot to the dish. Sydney has a unique feature to promote family time and public transport usage. They call it Sunday Funday where a family can travel all around the city at the cost of $2.50 per adult (an unlimited adult ticket would otherwise cost around $25 - $30). The criteria is the travel should include kids of a particular age. What intrigued me though was the condition  the bus driver had that the kids should be of school going age. This weekend the train service was interrupted due to track work for a short distance. Had to switch 2 buses and a train to get there. It was about 11 pm by the time we reached back home. Felt like doing a "We did it.." as Dora and Boots would do at the end of their adventure. :-)

Have a great week.

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 22

Hello,

A short work week - had lots to be caught up on Tuesday. It doesn't help when a country behind us is working when we are not. 

One of the days I got a call at home asking if "Jasmine Natarajan" is at home. I said it is a wrong number. The other guy persisted "Is this Natarajan residence? I got this number from the phone book. Is Jasmine home?" Ada paavi...kudumbathula kuzhappam undu pannaaatheengaiyya... 

Had Nandha's vaccination done during the week. Realized how "sophisticated" Aussies are in their medical systems compared to the US of A. The vaccination was delivered by a general practitioner, which was not really a problem. Firstly she (an Indian lady probably 50+)  wasn't well versed to give the vaccine to an infant. We had to do a bit of circus. After the vaccine (or before) she did not do any routine checkup - height weight, pulse whatever. We were used to all this in US. After a routine checkup the (qualified) paediatrician (not a GP) gives us a consultation based on the child's growth. Over here no such things were entertained. Here the response was "Oh sorry, we don't do anything like that here. The child looks ok, if you have any specific question you can ask." On insistence she did weigh Nandha and we came to know that he is slightly underweight for his age. 

We had a bit of a reality show at home over the weekend. Had to prepare dinner under tremendous time pressure. We had invited a relative's family over for dinner on Saturday. I had told them couple of days ago that they could come any time after 6 PM. Our planning went for a toss a little bit. The guests arrived at around 6.30 and dinner was yet to be prepared - I was just chopping onions. The kitchen was in a mess. Thankfully they were quite understanding so not a whole lot of formality was involved. We had made bhindi masala (my contribution), peas pulao and carrot phulka. The kitchen was in a mess with so many unwashed vessels. Oh well...got through it somehow. 

Alrighty, more next week. 

Have a great week.

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 21

Hello,

Just in case you were wondering about the delay it was a long weekend here down under. It was Happy B'day to Queen. Apparently even Britishers don't celebrate this with a national holiday. 

This week the football fever had caught up at work (as I should've expected). Every now and then some fever is caught at work and people put together some money to bet on something. They call it "sweeps". While in US, I have seen clients pooling in money to buy Powerball tickets (in other words lottery) whenever the total prize money exceeds a few hundred millions. Here in Australia money is collected every few months to bet on a football game or a horse race and this time it is the soccer World Cup. There are few things one must do to be a true Aussie - drink beer, gamble (the only nation which has a state holiday for betting on horses) and relish Vegemite and toast for breakfast. I haven't tasted much of vegemite. I think the closest analogy I can think of is like having Dabur Chyawanprash on bread.

While I was on the train 2 high school girls with  badges stating that one was the student leader for the year and another as the deputy leader got on board. They were accompanied by an elderly lady who could easily pass for a principal. The leader says..."umm..I dyed my hair brown from my natural blonde. Blonde hair gets too much unwanted attention." The elderly woman says "hmm..a life changing decision indeed" with such a straight face. Is that called maturity?

This weekend we had a get-together at home with 2 other friends. It was housefull with 3 kids running around and 2 trying to crawl. Nandhitha had a blast. It was a pot luck lunch. Nothing exceptionally exotic in the menu. Not surprisingly the topics of discussion were about pre-schooling and what vegetables are being given to the 6 month olds. 

Have a great week.

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 20

Hello,

Wonder what I would be doing if www.raaga.com did not exist. Early morning begins with some vedic shlokas and the day ends with ML Vasanthakumari's thaalaattu paadalgal (lullabies). I think I was first introduced to vedic chanting by some Adi Shankarar cassette (80s maybe?), the next significant incident was in Phoenix at the Udupi Puthige Matt. They used to chant this every Monday evening. Before you start getting ideas about ME listening to shlokas. Nothing religious about it. I think the music feels good to begin the day with. MLV was introduced when Nandhitha was born. Nandha seems to be liking it too. It is part of his sleeping routine now (especially the midnight round). Nandhitha puts her "baby Nandha" to sleep (Winnie the Pooh) with MLV as well. 

The week and especially the weekends are zooming past with no notice. I really wonder how the previous generation managed with so many kids. Probably, servants and maids would be a key factor. There seems to be a never ending pile of clothes to be washed and dishes to be cleaned. Wonder how my electricity bill is going to look like this quarter. Hopefully we come up with an improved routine soon. 

This weekend attended a friend's son's b'day party. He turned 2 today. My friend stays at a place at about 20 kms away. He came down to our place, gave his car (so that we can attend the b'day party) and went back with his friends. Now that's what I call an invitation. :-) I would normally take a bus (which would take about an hour or so) to reach his place. They were too particular that I don't take the bus this time with kids. On the way back he dropped us back. Preparing 2 kids to a party is not a joke. Again goes back to the same question - how did our parents manage? We were just about an hour late than planned. Thankfully they did not wait for us to cut the cake which reduced the guilt by just a bit.

Met another distant relative of mine in the b'day party. They also have 2 kids both born in December. We were discussing about hosting a b'day mela for December to avoid multiple invitations and trips for everybody.

Liverpool had an interesting street where it was lined with Indian shops. It was an unexpected surprise for that suburb. There was even a Fiji Indian restaurant. How much more Indian can it get?

Being a family man (re-instated) seemed to have added some extra qualification. Received a couple of phone calls from people whom I knew who wouldn't normally bother to call. 

Oh well, I better hit the sack soon. Yet another long week awaiting.

Have a great week.

Chetty