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