Sydney Stories - Week 31

Hello,

After several weeks of being late, this time for a change this is coming out sooner in spite of being one of the busiest weekends.

Had colleagues come over for lunch today. It has been close to 7 months since I've been here and only now got the opportunity to have them over. It was a completely south indian deal except for the appetizer - quesadilla. It was ven pongal, dosai (masala, egg, plain), bele sambar, chutney and chicken kozhambu. It was a north indian gang so most of them have had dosais only in restaurants and hence were excited to have "home made" dosai. 

This week I attempted to add Uma to my bank account. Yet another example for victorian age aussie rules. Yes, I couldn't add her to my account. They needed a "100 point" identification for Uma. All she had of course was her passport which gives you only 50 points. Why should it be so difficult to add a spouse to a bank account? For one, I couldn't add her to my existing account. I had to create a new one to include the spouse. I couldn't even get her a supplementary credit card because she "fails" to meet the identification criteria to be able to "utilize" any of the bank's financial "services". 

While waiting for the bank to open we saw a jeans shop which has some amazing deal going on. Since I was also looking out for one, decided to make use of the offer. While we were in the shop selecting a pair the attendant came around and said that the offer is no longer on. However since we were the first customers for the day (the shop had just opened), she agreed to honour the previous offer. That was a real time deal changer. :-) So any way, couldn't get a bank account came away with a new pair of jeans,

I have this ritual of eating Thai food on Fridays since 2001.  Of course there were exceptions ONLY where Thai food was not available. This Friday I was tempted by a malaysian restaurant close to work called Jimmy's Recipes. One, I think I've been missing a good char kway teow for a while and second, the ladies in the restaurant wore the traditional batik dresses (like in Spore airlines uniform). There's something in that design. ;-) So I took a deviation from the ritual. Damn what a disappointment. They gave me something which was a cross between a kway teow and a chopsuey. So, I've decided not to deviate from my ritual. Is this what happens when something is done "religiously"?

One thing I should appreciate about public transport in Sydney is the support people with handicaps get for their travel. They have a system when someone on a wheel chair boards the train, information is given to the station where they are supposed to get down. A guard goes there ready with a temporary ramp to be fixed in to get the wheel chaired person out. I guess that is one of the signs of a "developed" country - the support available for old and handicapped people. But of course, I have seen trains (in US) where this is done in a mechanical fashion. At the press of a button a ramp stretches out so that the wheel chair can get off and not have to wait for a person to come and help. Oh well, Aussies definitely have a long way to go. 

Today I was relaxing a bit in the morning and Nandhitha came up to me and asked me if I was tired.Not knowing what her intent was, agreed that I was tired. She came back with a pump (one used to fill air in balls) aimed it on my arm and started pumping. At the end she asked "Now do you have energy?". I was absolutely speechless. Wonder where she picked up energy and pumping part.

Have A Great Week !!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 30

Hello,

I should say that I am getting some pressure now to get week 30 out of the way. Am missing my SLAs consistently by a day. :-(

There is a non-stop radio station in Raaga - http://www.raaga.com/live/. I wonder what their logic is to mix up the songs. They have not failed to impress me so far. It has been the latest kitchen music for quite a few weeks now. Who care's for MP3 and iPod when there's such good non-stop music on the net!!

Using swear words seem like a norm here. This is a stark difference compared to folks out in the US of A. Over there, just in case someone uttered the "non-utterable" they will apologize for it big time. Here they simply don't seem to care...at least most of them. There seems to be so much of stress built up here in spite of having the "work life balance". You just throw in a small bit of a surprise element and you had it. 

Weekend was hectic as usual in spite of visiting a cousin's house for lunch. Beginning to hate public transport more and more over the weekends. All our plans went for a toss simply waiting for buses. An activity that should've taken 1 hour  took almost 3 hours to complete just because of waiting for public transport. As such time has a different premium on weekends. Don't feel this pinch during weekdays while I go to work probably because the frequency is not bad enough. 

That's all folks!!

Have A Great Week Ahead!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 29

Hello,

For a change a very relaxing weekend in spite of all that could be done. Getting the groceries done during the week makes quite a bit of difference for the weekend. 

A friend of mine and his wife from Melbourne had visited us on Saturday. Had a spread starting with sweet corn chicken soup, chilly fish, bhindi masala and pasta. The sweet corn soup from y'day morphed into hot and sour soup for tonight. The chilly fish was a complex mix of indian, european, chinese and thai spices. Turned out pretty well. Sunday was quite relaxing for a change without having to do much. The fact that I am able to write this by 11 PM means something.

Nandha has started moving around quite a bit making it dangerous to leave anything on the floor. He targets anything that has a LED or anything that is colourful. Food items if any left on the carpet is another source of attraction for him. We bought a play pen where he can roam around within boundaries. He has been fine so far however a bit of a circus when he is not in the mood for his pen.

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Apparently I dozed off y'day typing up to the above paragraph sitting on the couch. And I thought I had a relaxing weekend!!

Nandha has had a home-hair cut now. I suppose he looks more of a boy now. People got confused seeing his long hair (bound with hair-clip). 

So anyway, wonder what is up with food that "may" contain "traces" of something. Something is either there or not there. Noticed this while I was buying pasta. Every brand had this warning "May contain egg" or "May contain traces of egg". Not that I am bothered by the existence of egg or not, but I know people who are strict vegetarians. Wonder if they can eat pasta ever!!! 

Finished up reading the book called "New Games New Rules" for the Aussie industry. It was more about how to handle union issues and how restructuring the impact of unions will help Australia. However I can see the effect of it in non-union organizations as well. This country needs reformation big time. They've been living in their own little world down under, guess it cannot continue for too long. I still am not able digest the number of people the suburban railway system employs. One to wave the flag, one to see the waving of the flag and another to drive. And yeah, there is a guard in every compartment. No wonder the unemployment rate is low here.

Oki doki.

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 28

Hello,

Last week was eventful because 2 of my colleagues returned to India after a short stay for one and a long stay for another. A couple of farewell parties including an impromptu dinner at our place as well. We managed to do masala vada and pasta. There was one guy by the name of Ashwini (yes a guy) I need to talk about. He is an absolute vegetarian to the core who cannot even consider cakes if they are made with eggs. He eats Indian and Indian food only. One of my achievements in the last 6 months is to have him try "other" cuisines such as salad and Subway. Every time he is in the mood for a salad or Subway I am his official "orderer". At Subway he used to rely on me to order the right bread, veggies and sauce that will suit his taste buds. Oh well, he was an interesting person.

Am currently on a book which talks about how the union system is affecting the productivity in Australia. Here for any job done by 1 person anywhere else in the world, it would take 2 Aussies to do the same.One of the unique things about Aussie police is that they always roam around in groups of 4. Not just police, in Melbourne even the suburban train ticket inspectors move around in groups of 4. I can understand having a backup, but 3 backups? Probably the police unions decided that no policeman should wander in the dark (or bright daylight) on his/her own. I kind of see this in many places. Looks like it is an union thing.

Oki doki...a short one for last week. Seem to be forgetting the stories a bit. Hmm...short term memory retainment. ;-(

Have a great week.

Chetty