Sydney Stories - Week 49

Hello,

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

This week as to be expected was quite interesting. The Xmas spirit has been going on for the past few weeks and was reaching its peak this week. There were carols going on at various public spots. So far the only Christmas carol that I have been familiar with was Jingle Bells. This year I have been exposed to a new song - Rudolph  the red nosed reindeer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55j7rLp8iIY. It was played at Nandhitha's school concert and then I keep hearing that everywhere. At work the Christmas cheer was interesting. Not many people were there at work this week. On Friday the day started with champagne, berries and pan cakes. Our client's office was closed post noon. Merry Christmas!! I think one should not waste taking leave during this time. Just enjoy the good time at work.

The weather has been acting really crazy. We were lucky to have sun on Christmas day but so far 2 other days have been washed out by gloomy weather.

This was my first X'mas down under and yes had a fair bit of learning. The only shops that was probably open was the gas station and the mini marts with it. There was absolutely nothing else open. My friends and I planned on a trip to a place called Palm Beach. One of the scenic beaches of Sydney. Apparently the home of some of the rich and famous. The trip started with some adventure where I took a wrong exit on a Toll road. Ended up paying $15 ($5 each way) just to realize that the toll road didn't make much of a difference. We left home packed with a few snack tid bits assuming that there would be some wayside Maccas (Mc'donalds in Oz) or Hungry Jacks (Burger King in Oz). Merry Christmas - none of them were open. When we reached the beach it was a massive picnic spot where everybody had come absolutely prepared for a good barbie (barbeque). After scouring the beach for food the only option we had was a small snack shop. There was nothing they had that we could eat. Our lunch then comprised of different flavours of potato chips (or crisps as they called it), and cornetto ice cream. Kids had no problem with this LUNCH!! 

Spent a good amount of time in the water and in the sand. Nandha did a Krishna by taste testing the sand. Couldn't control him much beyond a point. He had a good time though exploring. Returned back home at around 5 PM. Had an early dinner at Billu's in Harris Park. After dinner went to see Man Madhan Ambu. Sooper duper movie. Incidentally this is a record of sorts. Our first movie in a movie hall down under and I suppose Nandha should mark this as his first movie in a cinema theater. The day ended well thanks to  MMA.

We were supposed to go to a place called Hunter Valley Gardens, thanks to weather and some lack of planning from our end dropped the idea. Hopefully we can catch up before the Christmas lights are taken off.

Traffic in Sydney - a big lesson here during the days after Christmas. Should never venture anywhere near a 3 km radius from a shopping mall. By mistake I thought of entering the mall to get some groceries the day after X'mas. After wasting petrol for about 20 minutes turned around empty handed. While we were driving today  we had to cross the mall area - bad idea. I think the best thing to do for Christmas is to stay put at home or travel to some remote place fully loaded and chill out.

Oki doki...1 more day to go for the holidays. Hopefully it is quiet.

Have A Great Week!!

Wishing you all A Very Happy New Year!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 47

Hi,

Hope you had a good week.

Looks like the maargazhi maasam (month of maargazhi)  music season has hit Sydney as well. There are a bunch of concerts happening in the last few weeks. Just that this is of a different kind - rock and pop. Eagles, U2, what not. One of my clients was mentioning that these days when every other country is watching every penny Aussies have the money to burn. Not sure how much of this is economically true...just an Aussie perspective.

This weekend we had the kids' birthday party at Hungry Jacks (equivalent of Burger King) near our place. It looked like a muhurtham day for b'day parties. There was a party before us and another after us as well. It is a neat concept where there is no worry of cleaning up the mess after the party nor the cost of booking a function hall. Just that the space is a bit limited and could've got cramped if more than 15 kids were in the group. Kids had fun I suppose jumping around. We had a Dora cake for Nandhitha and Spiderman for Nandha. Hungry Jacks was supposed to organize some "activity" for the kids but they decided not to considering the average age group of the kids. After the party couple of my friends came over to our place and we had a poker session at home. 

Today we went to Parramatta Park at around 7 PM. It was quite bright and sunny then. Nandhitha had fun cycling and playing in the park. It was getting darker and suddenly we realized that we were the only ones in the park. While trying to get out the park gates were closed. Then we read the "fine print" that the park closes at 8 PM and we tried coming out at around 8.45. Had to wait for 30 minutes before a park officer could come and open the gate. Luckily they had posted a number we could call if we had "overstayed" and yes, there was a fine as well. The most expensive public park experience so far. A couple of passers by on foot and bicycle stopped by and enquired. A desi gave some suggestions to avoid the fine. A chinese lady suggested that I go reverse (it was a 1-way loop that we had to drive on) on a curvy path for about 2 kms and find an "exit". However we stay put not to make more mistakes and increase the fine. Nandhitha almost lost her hope that we would get back home tonight and I had to prepare for answering her questions on why and what happened. Guess the weekend was wrapped up quite eventfully.

Photos uploaded at - http://picasaweb.google.com/ncchetty/KidsBDay2010#

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 48

Hello,

This week officially commences the Silly Season in Australia. Guess the term comes from people drinking silly during this season. At work we were told to come in casuals until the New Year. The only restriction was not to wear shorts, thongs and midriffs. Thongs...aka flip flops aka chappal.

The weather has been acting up really crazy. Today it was in the later 20s in the morning and was woken up to a good rain in the evening. Its all good. Keeps the weather pleasant.

Nandha is slowly experimenting his walking skills from today. Guess we will be soon start burning some calories running behind him. Hopefully we do after all the sweets and treats in the last few weeks.

Today we had a good breakfast in Parramatta called City Extra - a 24 hour cafe. One of a kind I would say for Aussie where nothing is open for 24 hours except for a select few Mcdonalds along a highway. A typical continental / European deal. Had good pancakes and eggs for breakfast after a loooong time. IHOP...miss you much. :-) We also tried a sea food crepe which was definitely worth a try (and worth repeating as well). 

Some more photos uploaded at : http://picasaweb.google.com/ncchetty/MiscDec2010#

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 46

Hello,

I had to go to the post office here recently to collect 2 parcels. One was a package from India and another from here. As expected the names were different on the envelopes. The guy - a Chinese I suppose got confused. He said, "So who are you BTW? You people always mixing up names. Me - was named Fung and will always be a Fung. No confusion.". I sure would've gotten into trouble if I had shown him the multiple identifications I had to prove either way.

Saw Guzaarish this weekend. Didn't realize Hrithik Roshan can act so well. A beautiful love story. I guess the tag line could've been "Do you love someone enough to kill them?"

Made it a long weekend this time to celebrate Nandhitha's b'day. Visited the Helensburgh temple. Got in there right in time for the Uchhi kaala (Noon) pooja and hence had "special" darshan. Had lunch at a convenience store. An interesting business model. You have a grocery story and if some customer feels hungry they can cook the food for you right there. Introduced Crumpets to Uma and Nandhitha. Crumpet is like a pre-cooked pancake with a gingery flavour. It is toasted with a dash of butter and honey. 

Nandhitha's long due visit to the beach was accomplished finally. All these days we visited a beach it was a short trip and just wet our feet. This time the weather cooperated and so was the time available. Had a good 1 hour without being too hot or cold (23 deg C). Nandha was not quite upto it at the beach. Guess he was scared by the sound of the waves.

Oki doki. Have A Great Week (the rest of it)!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 45 (and 44)

Hello,

Yes, I couldn't make it to write last week. Right about Thursday I had some time, but then it was too late and too early for this week's story. Suddenly life seems to be running on turbo mode.  Gotta slow down. :-)

I was reading a book review in a kid's magazine picked up in Nandhitha's pre-school. The title is "The Very Bad Book". Here's a sentence from the review - "This book is 172 pages of rotten rhymes, despicable drawings, crude cartoons and juvenile jokes that are anarchic, offensive and even funny". Apparently there no censor board for children's books!!!

It is spring time here and flowers abloom all over. There is this purple Jacaranda flowers all over Sydney. Didn't notice this in Melbourne seems like a feature of Sydney and Brisbane. Wonder if it is the same sampangi flower found in Bangalore but a purple version. 

This Friday we had a "Family Disco" event in Nandhitha's pre-school. A nice way of raising funds for the school. However I was not "prepared" for it.  Maybe a little more orientation would've helped. However did come back with a dinner voucher worth $50. Guess I should not complain. :-)  

The dinner voucher - we got it as part of a raffle ticket prize. It is one of the trends of the holiday season to have a Xmas raffle going around. Everybody seems to have one including our doctor's office. It's not too expensive - 50c a ticket so one would not feel the pinch.

Talking about donations, my Movember collection has been pretty pathetic. I was the only one who donated (to me) inspite of me reaching out to my "network" via email and also shamelessly asking people to donate whenever someone commented (positively) on my moustache. Firstly I wonder why I even wanted to do this, next wonder what I can do next year to improve the collection. 

I have told this many times already but will repeat again. Australia does not know how to deal with temporary workers like us. Or should I say temporary workers should be just that - temporary for a few months and not hope to have a decent living. One of my colleagues had their 2nd child last week. He is also on a 457 visa just like me. The health insurance for people like us works a bit differently compared to the normal private health insurance (am not talking about the public medical care). The coverage is so bad that one should'nt really be thinking about having babies with this visa. My friend was pretty nervous that nothing should happen over the weekend because the costs will increase and his insurance will not cover that additional weekend charges. The treatment itself seems under par when I compare to what I had experienced in US. Maybe it was just that hospital which apparently had underpaid nurses. There was a board outside the hospital...beware of underpaid and overworked nurses. 

Ta ta for now.

Have A Great Week!!

Chetty

Sydney Stories - Week 43

Hello,

The holiday mood is slowly settling in at work with the desks getting decorated with the red and green stuff. The week went by quickly as usual with all the fun stuff at work.

Our anniversary was celebrated by me doing a WFH (working from home). In the evening went to a Murugan temple in Westmead. It is run by Sri Lankan tamils and the day we went was Surasamharam I believe. It was interesting to see the crowd there. The men were wearing the dhoti in a very unique way with the borders (paettu) displayed in 3 different layers. Later in the evening went to a North Indian restuarant called Haveli. Had a nice "banquet" dinner. It was supposed to be like a thali meal with unlimited supply of curry and naans. They had a simple rule, we can ask for as many repeats we want, but we can't take home anything if it was requested for a repeat. However we couldn't even finish the 1st rounds. 

Weekend was quite hectic as well. Finally made a visit to THE Bondi beach of Sydney. Some of my clients and colleagues had planned on a 2 km walk along the beach where there were some sculpture exhibits. I had foolishly signed up for it thinking we can still manage with the 2 vaandus in strollers. Thankfully we got delayed with yet another commitment en route. Must've been a pretty scenic walk but would've been treacherous to attempt with kids. We finally caught up with the gang for lunch in a beach side cafe. Nandhitha had some fun later at the beach. And yes, finding a parking spot was a nightmare. Spent about half an hour just roaming around to find a parking spot. Lesson learned, never ever try to drive to Bondi again. Bondi beach can be considered the Miami or Santa Monica of Australia. It was the most happening place. In fact right when I was searching for parking there was some arrest happening and a  TV crew was interviewing some life guard. 

Slowly getting used to the road ways in Sydney. What is called as "car pool" or heavy occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane in US  is called as a "T2" or "T3" lane which mandates a minimum of 2 or 3 passengers to be travelling in the vehicle. Continuing to be learning lessons not to rely on the GPS 100%. 

On Sunday went to the Helensburgh temple where my uncle had organized a Kanda Shasti pooja which apparently they do every year. If not for anything temples are a good source for socializing. Was fortunate to meet a  senior person in the IT industry. It was a bit unnerving to see Indian women visiting the temple in shorts and minis. Not sure if they were visiting the temple for religious or touristy purposes. I understand the foreigners (or should I say the locals) coming like that, but Indians? Oh well...let me not be judgemental. ;-)

Went to our neighbour's son's b'day party in the evening at Hungry Jacks. Hungry Jacks is the equivalent of Burger King (everywhere else in the world). For the first time in my life had a veggie burger (outside India) on recommendation from my neighbour. Was pleasantly surprised by the taste. Didn't expect to enjoy a veggie patty. 

The lifts in our apartment stopped working again. :-( Apparently some major fault due to some water leakage somewhere. Not fun to go up and down 5 floors with 2 kids.

Oki doki. Have a good rest of the week.

Chetty

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