THAIPUSAM - in KL - Malaysia

Vetri Vel Muruganukku arohara!!!! - chill out folks, this is not some foreign language. Its my maatru baasha - Tamil. :)

When I first visited batu caves (a tourist spot in KL - Malaysia) , the locals mentioned about Thaipusam. Given the kind of job I am into I was hoping that I get to see this festival live here in KL. And yes, I did, I did get to visit batu caves to see the festival today - 30th Jan 2010.

Tamilians would corelate to this festival,even though I am one - somehow I never expected that this would be such a big festival in KL. Partially because I have never seen this celebrated in bangalore on a big scale.I am not really sure that the pomp, the fervour, the magnitude associated with this in KL can be matched in any of the celebrations in Tamil Nadu. In fact out here in Malaysia it is a national holiday!!!. Not sure even if it is a STATE holiday in TN - India:). Intrestingly I have been told that Penang (north of KL in Malaysia) scores over KL when it comes to the grandeur associated with this festivity:).In Penang as part of the chariot procession, I was informed that millions of coconuts are offered (smashed). And this chariot procession covers a good 10 Km stretch. Oh yes, folks from across the globe do get involved in this festival. Didnt come as a surprise for me to see a few chinese folks accompanying their family folks in the temple premises here in KL.

Thaipusam - is a festival celebrated mostly by tamilians on the full moon day in Thai (one of the months in the tamil calendar). This day also is the birth day of Lord Muruga (Subramanya to some, Mayil Vaganan to some.... ), brother of Lord Ganesha. Folklore has it that devotees celebrate this festival by fullfilling their 'commitments' to god once their wish comes true. Commitments or burdens - well, this is something I had heard of but never seen live.

It was amazing scenes to see devotees (Kavadi bearers) carrying different things as burdens - like - a pot of milk carried on the head, small (maybe upto a meter long!!!) Vel (spear) pierced through the tongue or the cheeks, smaller burdens like lemons, oranges or coconuts hooked (metal hooks) into one’s skin/ flesh on the chest or back. There were other devotees who had bigger hooks attached to their back to pull a cart!!!!!.I did get goosebumps watching all this. The entire burden was being carried all the way on to the top of the hillock. It is believed that the devotees are in a trance and do not feel the pain whatsoever. And yes, the common man does seek blessings from these kavadi bearers.

One intresting thing I noticed was a devotee with cigars hooked up all over his shoulder, chest and back. No clue at all what it was. Truly this has been a mindboggling experience for me here in KL. More pics? - Check out my picasa link - http://picasaweb.google.com/ravi.veeraswamy/THAIPUSAM#

Would I be around here in Malaysia for a visit to Penang for Thaipusam 2011 :) Time will tell.

C(K)LUELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

woh era uoy - nah its not some sentence I can translate - neither does it mean anything in Malay or cantonese or mandarin for that matter. So what is it doing in here. I dont know myself. Google? - might help you, but I cant assure you of results from that. Am I talking drivel? wouldnt be surprised if you agreed - well thats the kinda state I am in. I have heard of sleepless in Seattle - but klueless in KL? Yeah - thats the state I am in, absolutely clueless - I dunno if I should be thanking the little one for this clueless sojourn of mine. Am I kinda sounding lost? I have a small anecdote from my hostel days related to lost n found. One of the hostel mates had lost his calculator and he had put up a note saying "Lost calculator model FX-** - if you find it please return to me." And he had left his name,room number etc.. A couple of days later there was a note underneath that which read "I have found your calculator - now you find me!!". Come on folks, it was not me who added that note. Trust me.

Digression, let me get back to what I wanted to talk about.

So, c(K)lueless, where did it all start? I would attribute this to the economy slowdown...wait wait, what did I say? Big words? nah not at all..in fact it HAS to do with it. If only companies could afford me (guess I am a touch expensive for most of the companies in this region) - I wouldnt be sitting here trying to while away time doing everything else that is not related to work. An empty mind they say is a devil's workshop (trust me, it is already in overdrive mode). Just to avoid the devil in me to stop working overtime , I was looking for avenues to channelise my energy into something constructive. Did someone say sleep? There could be folks who would like to contest the usage of words like energy with reference to me - no comments. :) Digression Ravi , get back.

So, it was one those forward mails which got me into the state I am in. Klueless it said, and it has continued to reflect in me until now. The disclaimer note on the webpage warns folks of getting hooked, loosing ur hair (if any), loosing ur job and a host of other things. As yet, nothing adverse (everything happens for the good aint it) has happened to me. Yeah, there have been instances when I havent been in a position to devote more time for my other pastime - cooking!!. But yeah there have been a couple of times when I have switched off my lappy out of sheer frustration at 12 or later in the nite, and woke up within the next 15 minutes or so just to crack one of the levels. Just one more try for what you surmised might be the answer. Wondering what I am grumbling / ranting / raving (not sure what to say) about????? Here it is - check out this link ->>>>>>>>>>> http://www.ahvan.in/ahvan/klueless5/ . Before you can really get on with it, I would strongly advise you to go thru the pre-reading material that has been 'prescribed' for this game. :) And if you develop a liking to it, am not to be held responsible for the consequences.

It is all about cracking puzzles which is presented in the most obscure form. Clues? well, when IIM Indore folks have christened this as 'Klueless' - you can very well know how easy it would be to get the clues in the first place. :) It surely has been an intresting experience. Zara hatke, you could call it as. Tests your patience to the limit. And I did do a select count(*) for hair count - need to do it again once I am done cracking this all the way. Oh yes for me - its been a wonderful learning experience. Quite a few things which I was not aware of, I got to learn - thanks to Klueless and yeah to the little one who got me into this. Grrrrrrrrrr..

PS: Dont tell me it is too hard to figure out my first sentence - woh era uoy?

The Art of Cooking - by Ravi ...................

Apa kabar awak, thats bahasa malay for you meaning how are u?

During my earlier job , I had this discussion with a consultant about their 'modus operandi' - pardon me for that usage. What he said did sound pretty impressive ( just a case of 'other side of the pasture is greener'). So I took the plunge and here I am working as one as of now.

I looked back over this period (as a consultant) to see what is it I have gained. To name a few - a richer CV is one thing for sure, in addition to travelling to other countries, working alongside folks from different walks of life and ofcourse various cuisines to indulge in. Lying on top of this heap of things I have gained, is one more soft skill which is rapidly improving - but - unfortunately I am not in a position to add this to my CV. Wondering what skill set I am talking about? Cooking!!! yes, me - Ravi - who dons the garb of a cook quite frequently oflate. If Yan can cook - I can cook too. (too much of TV!!!). I can see some of the folks curling up their nose associating my fondness for sushi. Recipes for sushi are surely welcome. With the local restorans (thats bahasa Malay again, for Restaurant) dishing out all the TN cuisines in every nook and corner, it was time to get into something novel, zara hatke. So in my free time (most of it is, as of now :P) I spend time in my kitchen.

We guys, me and my apartment mate(Angshuman), have a mutual respect for whatever is cooked by either of us. Never ever have we said "nahi yaar yeh theek nahi bana". Its been "arre yaar.. yeh toh ekdum sahi hai", "mast hai boss" or "accha hai", "theek hai" (actually the last two are variants for - 'mmmmm its ok - can manage' or 'no comments' :P) With the basic parapharnelia available, and the challenges (I love this word being used by the IT industry folks!!), its been intresting. I have had this good fortune of savouring (I know its a bit too far fetched - those words) some bengali cuisine. Heard of Shahi alu karela sabji? Would like feedback on this from you folks. If it is something never heard of, I need to talk to my apartment mate to patent this!!. Recipe? - please do mail us and I am sure my apartment mate would give it a thought (pending patent?) and might wanna share it. FYI : For a start we never come up with names for the dish we concoct. Its only the end product that is christened appropriately..;).

Cooking, ofcourse, is not all about coming out with concoctions. We realise it everyday that it is also about 'managing' things (read as taste). We come up with lot many workarounds (uff the IT lingo again).Here is one of those workarounds - What do you do if the dish you cooked is a bit too salty. Simple - add a bit of sugar. DISCLAIMER: Please do note that we do not assure you the best of results if the same logic is applied vice versa. One more tip? here it goes - if the dish you prepared doesnt come out well.. mask it.. oops.. garnish it with something appropriate. Want more tips.. feel free to revert. I would refrain from revealing the identity of the person who came out with those bright workarounds. Reason - as of now its a healthy race between the two of us as to who is a better cook. I wouldnt want that suspense to be revealed right away.

Actually we are ruminating over the prospects of taking up cooking professionally - so that we could be called as CHEF(s). Stay tuned folks, depending on who wins the coveted title we shall come up with a new cuisine which would be a combination of TN Cuisine and Bengali cuisine. (TamGali or BengMil - we are open to suggestions for other names as well). My apartment mate has been pondering over the idea of having a website catering to - yes, cooking!! and in addition to that we shall 'also' provide solutions for specific software related issues. Yeah, we are looking for sponsors - again - feel free to get in touch with us.

PS: Just wondering if employers read blogs - searching for 'would be chefs' who have 'some level' of exposure on computer software as well. Wont be too long before I shall be updating my resume. ;)

Nee Hao ma?

Nee Hao ma - mandarin for you, meaning - how are you? needs that nasal touch to get it right. Before you get ideas, lemme clarify - thats the one of the few words/ sentences I picked up during my 8 month existence in HongKOng (HK). And that too from my wife (surprised?) - hang on hang on .. my wife is neither chinese nor has she mastered mandarin / cantonese. It is just that she picked up a bit of that language during her 45 day stint in HK.

I guess it would make sense for me to add a note saying folks who cannot 'digest' some facts related to eating, please keep away from this posting. :) Yes, this is a piece on food related stuff in HK.

HK, one thought that comes to our minds when we think about these parts of the world is -the culinary 'delights' and the eating habits. I was not too surprised to hear them mention about things they eat which we have kind of come to terms with. I am coming to the point that anything that moves is considered edible. Chill folks I am not talking about the robots. Spare a thought for the arachnids, I had a colleague of mine who said - scorpions tastes good wt beer!!!! whew isnt that a 'stinging' combo ?. There was this other colleague of mine who attached a medicinal value to Pearls and as per him I believe they are crushed and taken in the form of powder for that lovely skin. The fellow commuter in the bus was trying to extol the virtues of having snake soup during winter and he told me about the place I hould head to for that. Dont ask me if I found that place. ;)

The food habits I figured out, is more to do with specifics - sample this - OX's tongue, chicken neck, duck tongue (I liked it!). At the super market, my daughter was all excited to show me the container labelled 'edible frogs' and an other 'crocodile tongue'. I asked the person I worked for - as to how that tasted, her reply was a classic "t(h)ongue on t(h)ongue huh" smiles. Tongue fixation? :) Along with that she had that little story of going to meet her elders back in mainland and as part of their family dinner - she had to eat bugs :). Mummy Returns!!!!! .I did want to try frog leg soup (considered a delicacy in this part of the world), alas, I couldnt until the end. The list is never ending.

Leaving aside all that I spoke of, from what I learnt HK is a gastronomers delight. I had folks from Philippines who would talk to me about the stuff which I should try out here. Try?? yes I did... a little bit. Didnt have the time for everything. hahahahahahah. Intresting fare I would say, specially if you had that drive within yourself to try out new things. I did develop a liking for some chinese, japanese and thai food.

Dimsum, nothing too fancy about that - it is steam cooked stuff so all the health conscious folks - this is the right thing. My wife likened this to the modak. Ofcourse the filling is where the difference is - out here it could be anything from pork to chicken to prawns to beef. Snails, was something I found intresting to eat, I sampled a few and yes its good. Variety they say is the spice of life. :)oh yes, I can vouch for that. Folks out in HK like stuff to be fresh, head to spicy crab (a popular restaurant amongst locals) -and you would see what freshness is all about. The waiter would walk up to you with a live crab in hand "ok?" he would ask - all you do is nod your head - and in sometime that crab is cooked and served on a platter for you. Gooooooooooooood stuff - goes well with beer. Talking about freshness I can never forget that expression on my daughter's face when screamed "appa the prawns are moving" looking at the ones we had picked up in a polythene container - apparently a few of them were live.

Japanese - yes you got it - sushi. Its all about clearing out the mental block about eating something raw. Come on dont we eat raw vegetables - so why not meat. Trust me, once you get over it, you would relish sushi. The best part is the fish eggs and the wasabi sauce combo which kinda seem to explode in your mouth when you chew on it. One of the folks I was working with over there said this "u need to feel the raw meat on ur tongue" - thats the right way to eat sushi. Is that taking you back to the prehistoric period?. Eel, I didnt get electrocuted when I tried the eel dish I had one of those days

Thai Simple - IS THE place in Causeway bay if you develop a liking for thai food. Pad thai and satay - is palatable rather I would say good. Keep away from the avacodo prawn, for the presentation one would give it a 10/10, unless and until you wouldnt wanna see a obese caterpillar like presentation which you are expected to eat.:)

Coming to our own Indian cuisine, I did get to savour some new stuff as well, Murgh chat - a first of its kinds for me (maybe it is available in India as well). What is it? - a spicy concoction similar to all the chat varieties we get in india. Only difference - add a few chunks of tandoori chicken instead of the mandatory aaloo, poori etc, and garnish it with some greens. Voila!!! what do we have? Murgh chat. Goes well with a sip of JD. Go to Bombay Dreams within central for the best of this. Moving on to drinks, I fell in love with the frozen margharita served at Jashan (within central again) - try that with the chicken kaali mirch they serve. There are quite a few indian restaurants which serve good food - Tandoor (central again) - is in a class of its own, with a couple of folks entertaining your request for filmi songs. Wouldnt it be wonderful to listen to these guys singing "thodi thodi peeya karo" while you are sipping on your JD. Khaana Khazana (wanchai district) - a veggies delight - touch on the expensive side, but yes it is purely a Veggie restaurant. Intrestingly this purely Veg restaurant serve drinks as well :). More indian restaurants? - oh yes - there are heaps. Viceroy, Jojo, CurryPot (all in wanchai) does cater good food.

Hungry anyone, well I am. Adios folks - dinner time. Nothing fancy tonite - chapathi,daal and aloo/bhendi - the chef happens to be ..... your truly

Flirting ????? Is this it???

Am being encouraged by a little one to indulge in this activity. Wondering if this is a medium to express yourself? Or is this a medium to know more about yourself? Or is it a medium to tell others what you have been upto lately... Answer to it - yes - time, time will tell what this is all about.

After much of thought, I thought it is best to blog about what I consider myself (correction - its more according to others, including my better half!!!! ) good at ...... flirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtingggggggggggggggg..... oh yes, if someone were to ask me what my hobby is, I wouldnt mind telling it is flirting. :) So many people cant be wrong when they say I am good at it, isnt it. So probably it is the truth that I am good at flirting. Am serious - dead serious about it. Wondering how can flirting be serious? Well yeah according to me it is an art which needs to be practised to be perfect - or should I be telling - to be successful. Flirting has to be taken up seriously - else you would land up in big trouble. And trouble comes in all shapes and sizes. Conversely its a well know fact - no pain - no gain. That leads me to the point of talking about gains.All said and done - what would I consider as being a successful flirt? For me - hmmmmmm time to think over.. do I have to revisit my goals?? :) Jokes apart, it is just about developing a rapport with an individual of the opposite sex. Getting them to feel comfortable to talk to me with a smile on their face. PERIOD. Oh yes I am very clear about this - oppposite sex. Come on - its Dostana ka zamana (due respects to all who have IT for members of their own gender) - and I for one prefer to be straight. Digression.

Coming back to what I wanted to blog about, I strongly believe in the fact that flirting is more of a relative term. Consider this - there could be a girl for whom just a look and saying good morning everyday - and she might think "oooooo this guy flirts to the core". There could be someone else who I would luv to 'flirt' with and I say "u r luking lovely today" - she might as well dismiss that as a compliment. :( Those were just couple of examples - just think about it when you are mingling with folks from different ethnicity, different countries etc.. ooooooooooooooo that makes it much more complicated. Imagine how it would be to 'flirt' with a person who speaks normal english and after you say one of the best lines - she smiles at you and says "sum ting wong ken u splain"............ uffffffffffff... give up? Na never, thats where the challenge is. Persist (euphemism for stubborn according to a taurean) on what you want ... oh gosh - am getting a bit to philosophical here. Lets cut out that . Talking about the best lines - just imagine this "god must have worked overtime to creat you" and for all that you know the girl is an atheist hahahahahahhaha. Imagine again if a guy is talking to a girl and their conversation goes on something like 'good morning sister, how is mummy daddy and all'. And here we have the folks around this guy 'yeh kabhi nahi sudrega - dekho kissey baat kar raha hai - baaprey kitna flirt karta hai' pity the guy who is looking for a sister. Bottom line - perceptions differ.

Body language plays a big part in this. I have a ex-colleague of mine who has imparted some of his knowledge on body language and flirting. Did I put to use the knowledge I gained from him - no not at all. One of the basics I learnt from him was to watch the toes of the lady when she is sitting next to you. As per him - if pointed in one particular direction the lady is 'flirting' with you. There you go, you have the lady expressing herself with crossed legs and her toes and all that I percieve is "uffff.. such ugly toes why doesnt she wear a socks". Perception boss, perception.

I really do not understand the point wherein one gets classified as a big time flirt if he is 'accepted' by girls. Thanks to the little one's perception - a few key words I learnt - Casanova , maska maarna, charmer (westerners pls note..we indians are not just snake charmers :P) are some, a 'flirt' like me would be associated with. Boost to the ego for the guy who is a compulsive flirt? not really!!! unless and until he is of my kind :). Just talking to the fairer sex (on a regular basis ;)) doesnt make one a compulsive flirt - Chill out - am not complaining about anyone. :)

So what really is Flirting? I just checked out on the online dictionary - and it is relating to innuendos, double entendres, expression thru body language, sexual connotations etc etc etc. the list goes on. Gosh thats a huge list where I guess I dont fit in at all. Or is it that I have been indulging in all that without realising that it is being perceived as such by the fairer sex? If yes, hmmmm I cant be forcing folks to change their perception about me. Its all in the(ir) mind - isnt it?.I have this classification called harmless flirting - how do I define that?. As per my books I would define as indulging in banter with members of the opposite sex (there I go again emphasising on the opposite sex thingy) in a jovial manner ensuring that the other person is comfortable enuf to perceive the way I would expect. Thats a bit too complicated isnt it. Thats where it comes to drawing the line. And I make sure that the line drawn flashes in my grey matter every now and then. And as long as the grey matter functions normally - I guess I would keep continuing with my so called flirting.

Adios for now - lemme see if my flirtatious ways can be maintained in this different place and different environs. Keeps me going folks!!!!