Alcatraz

Last weekend being a long weekend and all due to President's day, I had friends coming over visiting. I enticed them to California citing the warm, glorious spring-like weather. So of course, the day they landed, it poured like I haven't seen in months. Driving to the airport, I could barely make out the tail-lights of the vehicle ahead of me through the blinding rain. O boy - so much for spring-like weather!

By now the "San Francisco tourist circuit" is a well known route for me. Of the two visiting friends, S has been to the bay area before while it was the first time for V. So, though we had planned other things to do on two of the days, there was no avoiding the "let's go to SF and do touristy things" cry. It then struck me, instead of going on the bay cruise ferry yet again which had a very likely chance of me jumping into the Pacific if I heard Captain Nemo's voice (ya that is the name for the guy who gives the voice over on those tours) once more, why not do the Alcatraz tour instead?

For, you see, in spite of being in Pier 39 a zillion times before, I have never been to Alcatraz since those tours are *always* sold out. This time around, I was smart and booked tickets 3 weeks in advance.

Anyways, as I as saying, S and V arrived and we were having fun. The day of the Alcatraz tour dawned dull, cloudy and rainy (well, when it had been pouring for the past 48 hours, there was no reason for it to stop on that day either, was there?). I was worried that the tour would be canceled but a quick call to the tour operators confirmed that they kept the tour running come hell or high water. Oh well!

This I have to say for S and V. Where mere mortals (e.g. me) would have balked at the rain and shrunk from the prospect of taking the train to SF and then take public transportation to the pier and then travel on a ferry in the downpour, S and V cheerfully said, "Oh we are from Seattle. We are used to ignoring the rain and going about with our life. Come on, don't be such a wimp."

Who could say no in the face of such enthusiasm?

So off we set out. Mercifully it turned out that the rain was intermittent only and was never very heavy. After lunch, we ran pell-mell to the boarding area for the Alcatraz ferry - as usual we had ill-timed ourselves and were perilously close to missing our ferry. There it turned out that we were not the only crazy souls - the tour was sold out as usual and people in the long queue even stood in the rain cheerfully!

The ferry ride was rougher than usual. The boat rolled about quite a bit. But the incessant drizzle was finally taking a siesta and the sun came out to see the world a bit. S and me were very enthusiastic and clicked pictures from all possible angles. Of course, the Golden Gate bridge was our pet subject.


The ferry soon reached Alcatraz island and found the choppy waves near the dock too rough. After a couple of attempts, the ferry was finally able to dock at Alcatraz.



By this time the drizzle had woken up again and we were thankful that the guided tour of Alcatraz was indoors. We hurried our way to the entrance (quite a climb to get there) and picked up our head-phones and player for the self-guided tour.

As we neared the starting point of the tour, I saw the cells for the first time. Narrow, small rooms with a small bed, a small basin and a tiny toilet at the back. My stomach did a flip - this is how prisoners live?
The self-guided audio tour was an excellent one. But the more time I spent inside the prison, the more closed in I felt. I noticed S and V had become extremely silent as well and none of us were shutter-happy anymore. We were taking pictures more because we *had* to rather than because we wanted to. The unspoken thought was "I don't want too many memories of this place."

I could only imagine how horrible it must be to only see the outside world through bars! How long and similar each day must feel if the one after it only brought more confinement! How does a person keep from going insane under such a circumstance? Perhaps that is why the law tries so hard to make sure that no innocent get punished wrongly.

By then, the intermittent showers of the day had turned into a steady downpour. From inside the prison we could only see bleak and gloomy skies outside. The weather seemed to match our moods. Though we knew we were free to leave when we wanted, the place was still so depressing!


Once the tour was over, S, V and me made the unanimous decision to get back on a ferry to the mainland as quick as possible. One ferry had already docked and we ran all the way in the pouring rain down to the jetty to board it. We so did not want to stay on the island any longer than we had to!
On the way back, we were very silent, absorbed in our thoughts. Finally, I said out loud what all of us were thinking, "So far I have not had any intention of committing any crime - after seeing Alcatraz, I don't think I will get that intention ever!"

Really, prison is a seriously creepy and frightening place!

Bollywood shining

All the hype* around Slumdog Millionaire already had people buzzing about India in the USA. And then A. R. Rahman goes and wins a Golden Globe award - how cool is that?

A couple of days later I was idly browsing through Time magazine (don't you think they publish the mag way too fast? I am barely done with one before I am picking out the next from my mail box) when I thought I had read the word Chandni (Hindi word for moon) in the shortlist section in the last but one page where they usually list out a bunch of notable (according to them) movies/books/music etc. I did a double take and sure enough, the last item in the short list of five was "Chandni Chowk to China" - what!?! A full-fledged Bollywood masala movie actually made it to the review section of a mainstream English magazine published in the US! I was totally thrilled - first AMC, Century theatres et al. start showing Indian movies and now this! Woohoo. Of course, they might have showcased a better movie** - still, bad movie better than no movie, no?

Finally, two days ago, gossip about the Bollywood actress in Slumdog Millionaire, Frieda Pinto, got featured on my local radio show. Yes people, gossip! Bollywood has totally arrived and is here to stay! Yaay!

Yeah, yeah I know I will enjoy Indian movies regardless of whether they arrive or depart or whatever. But cheap thrill is still cheap thrill only. Add also the joy of sitting in comfy AMC seats while doing the above said enjoying ...

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And oh, Joy passed me a tag - this being easy tag and all, I am doing it immediately. Basically I had to take a pic of the front of my fridge and post it (or something to that effect).

As you can see, it is filled with magnets of places I have visited in the past 5.5 years or so. The only exceptions to the rule are the magnets from Dubai, China and London and the solitary postcard of NZ - all gifts.

I hit upon this brilliant idea of magnets as a cheap and easily transportable souvenir sometime in 2003 and have since been diligent about collecting them (sometimes friends/relatives have been bugged and begged to buy the needful in case I forget). As much as possible, I have tried to buy different patterns of magnets - that being about the only variety I can add to my standard souvenir. No magnets from India though - guess I have never actually seen souvenir magnets in India, have you?

Anyone who thinks their fridge front needs publicity :-) is welcome to pick up the tag!

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* not yet seen the movie so don't know if there is actual substance to the hype.
** again I haven't seen this movie but the reviews were pretty bad.

Bread

*Bread in this post refers to the western version. Not naan, parathas and the like.*

When I was in the hostel during my undergrad days, Friday mornings used to bring on a flurry of frowns to several faces around me. Friday breakfast provided by the "mess" was bread and kurma and quite a few students strongly objected to bread (hey, that's for prisoners!) being served for breakfast. Me, on the other hand, used to wait eagerly for Friday - I simply *loved* the toasted bread and vegetable kurma combination and it was easily my most favorite breakfast. Even at home, sandwiches for breakfast never evoked the kind of strong negative reaction like upma (gaaah) did. Bread omlette, toast, bread-upma, croutons, shahi tukre - I was up for everything bread.

My fascination for all things bread continued when I landed at grad school. I distinctly remember a period when I had two sandwiches - one each of jam and peanut butter - for lunch for almost *every* single week-day over a duration of three months. One fine day, I was midway through enjoying a peanut butter sandwich when my brain signaled, "Thus far and no more." I had to toss the rest of my sandwich and thus ended my love affair with peanut butter. But I still loved bread.

Anyways, bread has seen me through many a hungry evening when I do not have the time or the patience or the hunger-withstanding capacity to cook an elaborate meal before my stomach decides to digest itself into oblivion. When I casually mention my bread-based dinners to other folks, I always get a pitying "poor you" glance. Little do people know that toasted sour dough bread, olive oil and fresh ground pepper is pretty close to culinary heaven for me.

Anyways, I have tried all sorts of bread from the baked goods section - stone ground, dutch crunch (yummmm), sour dough, focaccia, pugliese and so on. The only bread I met which I didn't like was the multi grain, multi-whatever variety. But in a pinch, even that works.

Now it is obvious that I have an irresistible attraction to bread. Given that I am a fairly decent cook too, it has struck me only recently that I have never tried making bread. This thought has kept striking me on and off for almost a year now and finally in a serendipitous event, I found a link to recipe for focaccia in this blog which had followed the instructions from here.

Ah-ha. The instructions seemed quite straightforward and not too time consuming. Perfect! So last evening, while coming home from work, I stopped at Safeway to buy all the ingredients.

You would think that a person who has baked no kind of bread whatsoever before would be a little bit diffident about buying too much of ingredients which might go unused in case of a breaderly disaster. Not me.

I bought a big five pound bag of all purpose flour (really, is there anything else one can make with it, especially if you are fairly heath conscious?), not one, not two, but *six* packets of yeast, a big tin of sea salt (well, the small tin seemed too small) and jar of dried rosemary. After some prep last night, this morning the actual baking took place.



Contrary to what the original recipe said about pouring the raised dough into a baking tray, my dough was a healthy, firm specimen which had to be bodily lifted and dumped onto the tray for baking.

No smells of baking bread filled the house but after twenty minutes, I had nice looking golden crusted bread sitting in the pan. Whatever you might say, warm bread from the oven, even when it is not as light or spongy or bready as you would like it to be, still tastes heavenly. Of course, you also need to understand that I probably would eat hay too as long as it is topped with rosemary (rosemary has such a wonderful flavor, I tell you).


Now I can finally say that I *can* make my own bread. I probably will try making this bread again with minor variations but if anyone needs all purpose flour, I have got some for you!

p.s. While we are talking food, here is an awesome recipe for Chinese fried rice - I followed the recipe as is (minus soy sauce) and wound up with near-perfect fried rice. In the spirit of "what happiness I got, let the world get too" have been promoting the recipe ever since!

p.s.1. Sea salt does have a different (in a nice way) salty flavor.

p.s.2. Nopes, this blog hasn't changed into a food blog. Regular programming will resume next post.

A ten minute post.

I saw this rather interesting "writing prompt" on Altoid's blog.

Before you read the prompt, make sure you will have 10 minutes of uninterrupted time to write and please do time yourself. Once you've written it, please leave a link here so we can come over and read it.

Write about a sleepover, a slumber party or the time you stayed somewhere overnight.

Now, for a rambler like me, it is quite a challenge to get in all that I want to say within ten minutes. But I shall try.

Time start: 2.05pm

My parents never used to allow me to stay over at any friend's place. Visiting was fine, but we were supposed to be back home to sleep. The very first time they allowed me to stay over at anyone's place was when they allowed me to go to all the way to Bangalore (from Chennai) to visit Shilpa along with my friend C. I guess they knew just how close Shilpa and I were and somehow did not think to much about me staying at her place.

I was totally thrilled - yaay, I was finally going to do a "grown-up" thing of actually visitng an out-of-station friend all by myself (never mind I was in high school then). C and I went by train. Shilpa had come over to pick us up at the station. After the usual whoops of joy, we traveled to her house and were safely ensconced there. I don't remember much about the trip - I remember visiting her school (junior college as it is called in Bangalore), meeting her ultra-thin (omg, these bangalore girls!) friends, going to the ISKON temple and listening to an entire presentation in Kannada there(I don't understand Kannada) and in general having a lot of fun.

The nights were the most fun though. Long after Shilpa's parents were off to bed, we would sit in the hall watching late night movies. Or we would all retire to her room and chat and giggle through the night. In between we would silently sneak downstairs and make chai. Shilpa and I being avid tea drinkers, Shilpa actually harvested lemon grass from her yard in the middle of the night to make "lemon grass" chai. It was totally yummy. Of course, we also raided the kitchen for food.

Mornings were very lazy. Other than the weekends, in spite of the antics of the night, poor Shilpa had to go to college (Bangalore and Chennai had different academic years and Shilpa still had to go to junior college) while C and I would lazily/sleepily wave her goodbye.

We did go shopping in MG road and managed to buy stuff even on our meagre student budgets. I remember this black tshirt Shilpa and I brought with cute pictures of Tom Cruise all over it. I had it for a really long time.

This was supposed to be a slumber party post - oh well, it is a first solo no-parents trip post now. And my ten minutes are almost up. And it is. Adieu!

Time end: a few seconds past 2.15p.m

p.s. I have not gone over the post to correct errors. So if it reads even more gramatically incorrect than usual, I plead lack of time!

Notes from a vacation

- Did you know Anna Nagar tower in Chennai provides a wonderful 360 degree aerial view of Chennai? All for the royal sum of five rupees per person! Chennai looks super-green from above, I must say.
- Shops in Chennai sell winter clothes. I do not know for winter in which place. As far as I know, Chennai has no winter (or spring or fall for that matter).

- The side berths in current three-tier AC cars in south India are apparently meant to give us Indians a feel of how it used to be when the British used to rule (and be extremely mean to) us. I cannot think of any other reason why any genius would come up with the idea to insert a middle berth between the already teensy space between the upper and lower berths on the side.

- Attending weddings in India is so much fun!

- The mutton in the famous Hyderabad Paradise biriyani is the softest and yummiest I have ever eaten. However, I still think Ponnusamy biriyani wins the overall best biriyani taste award by a whisker (true blue Tam that I am). But nah, this realization did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying three generous sized helpings of Paradise biriyani in one sitting (I had to roll around for the next hour due to inability to walk).

- Hyderabad sells beautiful cultured pearl jewelry. In general, all ethnic stuff (clothes, accessories, footwear, furnishing, deco-items etc. etc.) in India rocks - shopping for them is a divine experience.

- Food in India is also awesome - my tight jeans and gentle pot-belly stand testimony to that. How come Indian restaurants here never manage to quite get the same taste?

- Mumbai's Colaba-Nariman Point-Cuffe Parade-Marine drive area looks breathtakingly beautiful. Its clean, cobbled streets and wide, tree-lined roads made it difficult for me to believe that I was in a bustling metropolis in *India*. My heart ached even more when I thought about the terrible terrorist attacks.

-Mumbai's traffic is a whole lot more well-mannered and regulated than Chennai's traffic. Like my sister said, given its humongous population, no one would get anywhere in Mumbai if they did not follow at least basic traffic rules like sticking to lanes, always using indicators etc. In fact, after spending time in Mumbai I am now even more convinced that someday India will grow to provide all the conveniences of the West.

- Of the very few books I read in India, Srividya Natrajan's 'No onions nor garlic' was a great pick and a hoot from start to finish. Go read it, especially if you are Tamilian (some of the references are very language/culture specific) - unless you are one of those easily-offended types.

- Some Trichy restaurants have interesting-sounding dishes like Pomegranite (that must be one hard fruit!) and vegetable stud nan (has it been working out :-D?) on its menu!


- I had forgotten how stunning some of the sculptures in Mahabalipuram are. I am definitely spending at least a day there next time round.

- Jude Law looks a lot like Aamir Khan when seen from a 3/4ths face angle.

- International flights from Chennai usually have much better tasting food than flights to Chennai. Yup, even when there is transit in between in Hong Kong. Weird.

- I still love watching the early episodes of friends. I thought I had seen *too* much of the sitcom. But I laughed as hard as ever while watching six back to back episodes of friends from Season 3 on the flight.

- 1 month India time = 10 seconds US time. That is the only sane reasoning I can come up with for explaining how my vacation went off in a jiffy.

Wishes

Some parts of the world are already in 2009. 2008 is fast slipping away in California too. Time to bid 2008 adieu *sniff* and give 2009 a warm welcome *yaaay*.

Wishing you a wonderful 2009. May all your dreams come true. May you have lots of health, wealth, happiness, food, sleep, vacations etc. etc. in the year to come.

Happy New Year!

Alive (and bigger)

Vanakkam! Just a post to state that I am very much alive. This has to be my *most* hectic trip ever to India - I have barely watched Sun music (on my last trip my sister threatened to cut off the cable connection since my insistence on lounging on the sofa all day long with Sun music on full blast (to catch the latest songs' visuals, you see) was getting rather unbearable), have watched just one movie in the theatre, have found time to shop for beautiful Indian western wear only in week 4 of my stay and have sorely neglected my poor blog. Phew or what!

Anyways, after spending most of my first week back home too ill to get out of bed and sick enough to even shun food completely *gasp* (I know!) , I am now catching up on the gastronomic front with the enthusiasm of a desert traveler stumbling upon an oasis. Also been traveling like crazy. And been meeting a lot of relatives and friends. Did I tell you how much fun I am having? I don't feel like leaving India.

Which reminds me - I am back in the US on December 28. Please cheer me up. I will very badly need all the cheering up I can get.

Lazy post

Joy tagged me a while ago. I can't think of anything to write about currently and my blog feels rather neglected. What perfect timing, no? So onto the game of tag it is. I call this the book tag (so creative, right? *applause*).

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Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
I had about a vampire's chance in garlic-field of not developing it :-)! My earliest childhood memories are of mom and dad sitting on chairs and reading while sis and I played on the floor. There was no way that I could not love doing something which my parents so obviously enjoyed doing.

What are some books you read as a child?
I started off with comics - Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha, Phantom, Mandrake etc. And then graduated to Enid Blyton (Famous Five, Five Find outers, Secret Seven, the wonderful, wonderful Magic Faraway Tree etc. etc.). From there it was on to Three Investigators, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew. Also throw in some abridged versions of classics. Basically, I traversed the arc which pretty much every reading Indian child used to travel (what do kids these days read?).

What is your favourite genre?
I like books which have lots of technical titbits and current/world affairs woven into a story. Frederick Forsyth and Michael Crichton are good examples. I like reading the classics. Of course, P.G. Wodehouse and Jane Austen are Gods.

Do you have a favourite novel?
There are plenty of books I thoroughly enjoyed reading - don't think I can pick a particular favorite novel. But some books that linger in my memory ...

- Five get into a Fix - the first full length novel I read.
- Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit - my very first PGW, it has a special place in my heart
- Pride and Prejudice - I *have* to read it at least once every year
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - this was the first book I read from cover to cover without even a single break (other than one trip to the kitchen to get the huge snack dabba for company)

Where do you usually read?
Anywhere and everywhere. Really. It is not the place which matters - more like, do I have a book to read?

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Pretty much always. Mostly because considering the n number of places I read my books in, I sometimes forget where I left a book. Then, when I need to have a book to read ASAP, I will just pick another one instead of launching a book hunt right away (unless of course book 1 is at some critical point). It is kinda easy to start off multiple books this way!

Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
Huh - why would that be different? Or are we talking about techie books/school books? In the latter case, yup, in addition to reading, I also used to pile a tremendous amount of imprecations upon my head for not having started reading sooner (beginning cramming the night before an exam sometimes brings a nasty shock in terms of the amount of stuff to be crammed).

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
The library is my blessed primary source. I have a collection of 15 or so good books in my house which I have never read. I have them unread because, in case there is an earthquake or a flood and I am not able to go to the library, I still will have new books to read. In case you were wondering, nopes, I do not have sufficient food stock to sustain me for more than a couple of days.

Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?
Yes - I usually only buy books which I think I will read a second time.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
Check back in a decade or so!

What are you reading now?
Wonder boys - Michael Chabon
A case of exploding mangoes - Mohammed Hanif

Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Yes - it is spread across my gmail inbox. However, when I am in the library scratching my head for the next pick, my memory as well as gmail does an exceptional job of hiding every book on the TBR. Not very useful if you ask me.

What books would you like to reread?
Comics. Classics. Humor. I almost never reread thrillers or adventures or suspense novels - you know what is going to happen, right? And in that genre, the getting there bit is usually not a scenic ride to be savored repeatedly.

Who are your favourite authors?
PGW, Jane Austen, J.K.Rowling, Fannie Flagg, Bill Bryson, Agatha Christie, Dave Barry (his columns and non-fiction , not his works of fiction - yuck), Terry Pratchett - ah well, just go and look at the list on my profile page. But that list is not comprehensive either.

Nah, not tagging anyone. Would love it though if at least a few of you readers pick it up. Go on folks, indulge me!

A song, a movie and a tribute

Jason Mraz's I'm yours is so cheerful. I simply couldn't help breaking into a grin and moving my head to the beat even the first time I heard it on my car's radio:



What do you think? Or are you already twirling around your computer :-)?
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Children of heaven
After a long while, this was a movie-watching experience I simply savored. Unfortunately, though I generally do not favor a split movie-watching experience, I had to spread watching this movie over a span of several days. But each time, within minutes of resuming the movie, I was totally drawn into its world. The child artists are awesome. The relationship between the brother and sister is so true to life. I especially loved the scenes where the brother offers the sister a long pencil as a peace offering (and as a bribe to not tattle), the fun they have while washing the shoes, how the sister confesses after all her bravado that she would not have complained about the brother to their parents anyway - okay, I don't want to blow it for the folks who haven't seen the movie yet. But suffice to say that the movie brought back fond memories of my own childhood relationship with my sister. No matter what the place, the language or the culture, some fundamental bonds are the same the world over, no?

If you have not watched this movie yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. If you still have your doubts, it just may convince you that no matter how bitter sweet life might be, the sweetness is perhaps always a wee bit stronger than the bitterness.
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Author Michael Crichton passed away :-(! MC kept me engrossed through long flight journeys, extended transit times and many long lazy holidays. Who is going to make reading about science such a thrilling ride now? Who is going to make me gobble up so much technical info with such great alacrity now? I hope you have got one of the plummest spots in writer heaven, MC! You sure deserve it! I will miss your writing so much. RIP.

Good deed for the day

Once upon a time, long long ago, me and my colleague V, both of us the youngest and the most recent additions to the company, were invited to a meeting filled with head honchos. Both of us spent the meeting wondering why the hell we were there and also trying to remain as invisible as five and half feet plus individuals possibly can. Midway through the meeting, the projector powered off. Everyone was wondering why when V, blushing beet red stammered that he had accidentally pulled out the projector's plug with his feet. For the next 10 minutes, various people tried to bring the projector back up while V kept up a constant stream of embarrassed apologies. Finally, peace was restored. Half an hour later, the meeting was done. As we walked out, I told V, "O boy, I wonder why I got invited to the meeting. I must have been the most useless contributor there". V stared hard at me and then said ruefully, "Well, at least you did not contribute negatively by wasting everyone's time due to turning off the projector with your feet!"

Now, why this sudden raking up of past pain? I got reminded of negative contributions. Today I was helping a colleague debug some issue and gave her a brilliant suggestion to try out so that I could confirm the problem she was facing. Fast forward two hours. Colleague sends a terse email saying "I have lost all my email thanks to following your idea." Brilliant me had forgotten to foresee what would happen if the problem she had been facing had not been a problem at all. Apparently crashing email clients is the result. Sigggghhhh.

p.s. Though in both instances I felt genuine regret, there is one part me, that part with the horns sticking through the head, which simply can't help being amused. I know, evil me.