Sydney Stories - Week 42

Hello,

Last week turned out to be quite eventful as I expected it to be.

After all it was the week when there was a "race that stops a nation" took place. Last year while I was in Melbourne it was a public holiday in the state of Victoria. They might as well announce a national public holiday. You might've heard of the solar solstices, the "Cup day"  can be called the lunch solstice of Oz. Whichever office is working it is considered to be the longest lunch of the year. In other words people leave for lunch and not return till 4 PM only to pack up their bags. The most "impressive" part was when we were in the middle of a very important meeting. The meeting facilitator interrupted the meeting at 2.55 PM announcing a break for 20 minutes. The race goes from 3 PM - 3.07 PM and everybody is expected to be betting on the horses and be rooting for their horse to win. This can happen ONLY in AU. I guess I shouldn't ridicule this...it is a part of local culture one needs to adapt to.

November is called Movember here. It is the month where men grow mustaches to collect donations to contribute towards mens health. Particularly for prostrate cancer and depression. Yes, men can get into depression too!! I got an invite from a customer to join the program and am participating as well. I am growing the 70s style mouche. Will post some photos later. If you are interested to donate, feel free to click on http://au.movember.com/ and search for my name to donate. 

The other day I was waiting for the train in Parramatta station and a desi guy walks up to me and starts a conversation. I was first very apprehensive (remember the Piyush episode?). He immediately started making connections just by knowing where I worked. He mentioned a person's full name who used to work at my client's office. So I let my guard down a bit. He then mentioned that he is also a Test lead. I thought...wow..must be handy to network with other peers in the industry. I asked him a few questions about the industry in general and by the way he answered I was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about. So, I let my guard down and exchange phone numbers. On Sunday evening he calls me and says..."So Chenni...would you be interested in an internet based business...". I don't know if there is a "E-vaayan" (loser)  label written on my face that I keep attracting such people. :-( Oh well...

Deepavali...this year was quite unique in many ways. The celebrations started on Thursday at office with a pot luck lunch organized by moi. I had taken tomato rice, masala vadai and coconut chutney. It was a good hit. I had bought some Pune's famous Chitale Bandu's bhakarwadi's from one of the Indian groceries here. In the gang there was a guy from Mumbai. I asked him if he was excited about the bhakarwadi coming from Mumbai. He had a rather sad face saying these exported ones are no where close  compared to the fresh ones they can get only in Pune. I just realized that I myself avoided Adyar Anandha Bhavan sweets in the same shop knowing it must've been cooked at least a few days ago!! 

Deepavali started off as any other usual day, just that I got home a few hours early. The best part for this year was we could burst sparklers which I never had an opportunity while in US. Friday night we had a dinner at a cousin's house. We had made kothamalli (coriander) chutney as our contribution. It was alright. The crowd was mostly my cousin's kids' parents so not a whole lot in common. Saturday night was the mega event. Our neighour and his group of friends had arranged a super Deepavali party. It was arranged in a hall about an hour's drive from our place in some secluded forest called South Maroota. It was like college culturals albeit with kids. The program started aptly with a song from Endhiran to set the mood. A clown was arranged to do some face painting and magic show for kids. There were a few kids entertainment activities and then the adults cultural events - singing and dance. Hats off to those who volunteered and participated in all those events. Apparently all of them working parents spending late nights practicing for these events for almost a month. Yes, there were a few rough performances, but definitely not bad for a set of amateurs. Sunday we had another fairly quiet pot luck at another friend's place. This time it was chicken curry with Mangalam masala. The other ladies were curious to get the recipe from me. ;-)

So long folks...

Have a good rest of the week.

Chetty