Nothing to do, so some south bashing songs.
-----
HOTEL KERALA-FONIA
Copyright The Yeagles
On the road to Trivandrum
Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite
There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don't like the look of his sinister smile
Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering "No power today"
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It's infested here
It's infested here
His finger's stuck up his nostril
He's got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that's just his laugh
Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips
I said to the manager
My room's full of mice
He said,
Don't worry, saar,I sending you
meen karri, brandy and ice
And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray
Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace
Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies
The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said
We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise
And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our
steely knives
But we just can't cut that beef
Last thing I remember
I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit,
I am sure
Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me down
God's Own Country? Oh, Hell!
-----
Sambhar of 69
I had my first real six rupees,
stole it from my father's pants.
went to a madrasi hotel,
to eat the sambhar of 69.
Me and some kadke dost,
had it all and we caught bukhaar,
jimy puked, joey got ulcers,
and Bagga ne maari dakar.
Oh when I went back there now,
the food was as stale as ever,
and though it was 1999,
still the sambhar was being served over there,
that was the worst food of my life.
Therez no use in complaining,
when you got no other place to eat,
rushed in the evening to the doctors clinic, but he too was at the toilet seat, yeah
standing there waiting outside,
nurse told me I will wait forever,
oh and when I held my breath,
I knew that I had to use that loo there
That was the worst food of my life.
Back to the sambhar of 69.
Man I was getting killed,
I was full and restless,
I needed to unwind,
I guess nothing can wait forever - FOREVER... NO!!!!
And now the dhabas are changing,
new dishes have come and gone,
sometimes when I pass that old madrasi lane, I still smell it, I can't be wrong.
Standing in those unwashed clothes,
the waiters still call me in there,
oh the way my nostrils burn,
I know that it will be served forever,
what was the worst food of my life.
yeah it was the sambhar of 69,
the sambhar, the sambhar, the sambhar of 69
-----
No analysis of these songs.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Papillon
I completed the book Papillon last night. It was a rivetting story, something along the lines of The Count of Monte Cristo, or Robinson Crusoe.
There was something I found very funny in this book. When Papi lands in Trinidad, there is this captain who says how a 'civilized country' like France treats people inhumanely, and the King would never approve of such ill-treatment. Supposing the story is true, and the captain indeed said this in real life, I wonder if he knew about the penal colony in India, Andamans? Was he aware of how His Majesty's Indian Subjects were treated in such places? They were not even common criminals, they were political prisoners. Or was he aware of the treatment of Indians in British India?
Makes you wonder, huh?
There was something I found very funny in this book. When Papi lands in Trinidad, there is this captain who says how a 'civilized country' like France treats people inhumanely, and the King would never approve of such ill-treatment. Supposing the story is true, and the captain indeed said this in real life, I wonder if he knew about the penal colony in India, Andamans? Was he aware of how His Majesty's Indian Subjects were treated in such places? They were not even common criminals, they were political prisoners. Or was he aware of the treatment of Indians in British India?
Makes you wonder, huh?
Saturday, June 10, 2006
MP3 Player
Got a 6-mo old mp3 player (MuVo 512MB) today. Sounds ok, not bad! No text display, don't know in which order the songs are played. It was only for 2000 rupees, which one guy in office says is a steal. I hope it doesn't conk out too soon!
Monday, June 05, 2006
Some people hike it a lot!
Yet another trek, but this was my first monsoon trek. I should say my pre-monsoon trek, as it was very hot and dry going up, and cool and very wet coming down.
This thursday Gautam calls me up and says they have planned a trek to Gorakhgad, somewhere near Kalyan. It was supposed to be a simple trail, followed by a steep climb to the top.
As usual, we met at Dadar station, but very early in the morning, at 6 am itself. Me, Gautam travelled together to Dadar, and as luck would have it, even our stud, Arjun, was in the same compartment as us. The train is fast becoming a rendezvous point for us now! He had a friend with him this time. There was a big group in Dadar, and we took the super-fast local to Kalyan. The train sped towards Kalyan through tunnels and over hills. From Kalyan, we caught a state transport bus (ST bus) to Murbad, and another ST bus from Murbad to Dehri.
Gorakhgad, about 2300 feet above MSL, with a set of caves at the top; dead-drop cliffs and drop-dead gorgeous views.
The group this time was Nisarga Brahman, a group started and run by Rohit of Peb-Matheran fame. This was a varied group, with high profile people like Abhijit, Abhi of DeepAbhi.tripod.com, the encyclopaedia which everyone consults before trekking around these parts, a professional from TrekShitiz, and two 12th standard students!
We thought this was a monsoon trek, so less water would be required, we were close to wrong. It was hot, humid, and sultry during the climbing part, which made us sweat even more than a summer trek. Atleast the sweat evaporated quickly in summer. But the view, even halfway across the climb was awesome. There were quite a few balconies where we stopped and enjoyed the view. We enjoyed the city in the last trek (night), we enjoyed the vertical faces of hills in this trek. There are so many places to trek in Maharashtra! No wonder the Sahyadris is called the Trekkers' Paradise. If I did one climb every weekend, I guess I would require two years to do everything, and still have some left. Makes me wanna stay in Mumbai more.
We reached the trekkable part, and came to the rocky area, which we had to climb through a staircase carved into the rocks. Thankfully I didn't worry about slipping this time. I even saw a tiny snake at the entrance to the fort, so tiny I could close it in my fist. I didn't try, it was supposedly a poisonous snake.
We reached the caves and explored around the ledge, which led us to a regular carved-into-the-rocks reservoirs. Some of the group started playing and horsing around, throwing ice-cold water over everybody, stepping down into the pool, etc. Even as we were climbing, the sky was partially cloudy with chances of showers When we were by the pool, it suddenly started pouring - rains with heavy wind. I swear the rain clouds opened up just a few metres above our head. Some of the group had climbed up to the pinnacle (I had avoided it) and they were stuck up there, and the rest ran back to the caves. While we and they waited for the rains to cease, we started with our lunches. Tepla and sandwich were the most popular food that day.
The rains ceased, they people who went up came down, and we began our descent. The rains had cleaned every one of us (most of us, I wore a raincoat) and the hills, and made the descent slippery. Quite a few slipped and landed on their butt in the wet clay. We got down to a temple in the base where we cleaned ourselves and started our return journey. The trip from the village to the bus stand was crazy - two jeeps were arranged, and there were 10-12 people in each jeep. Three each were hanging on the outside. I sat next to the driver, behind the steering wheel, while the driver sat next to me, half out of the cabin. Sounds funny!!
Then it was the routine way back, bus, and train, back home at close to midnight, wake up late and come to the office late, etc.
This thursday Gautam calls me up and says they have planned a trek to Gorakhgad, somewhere near Kalyan. It was supposed to be a simple trail, followed by a steep climb to the top.
As usual, we met at Dadar station, but very early in the morning, at 6 am itself. Me, Gautam travelled together to Dadar, and as luck would have it, even our stud, Arjun, was in the same compartment as us. The train is fast becoming a rendezvous point for us now! He had a friend with him this time. There was a big group in Dadar, and we took the super-fast local to Kalyan. The train sped towards Kalyan through tunnels and over hills. From Kalyan, we caught a state transport bus (ST bus) to Murbad, and another ST bus from Murbad to Dehri.
Gorakhgad, about 2300 feet above MSL, with a set of caves at the top; dead-drop cliffs and drop-dead gorgeous views.
The group this time was Nisarga Brahman, a group started and run by Rohit of Peb-Matheran fame. This was a varied group, with high profile people like Abhijit, Abhi of DeepAbhi.tripod.com, the encyclopaedia which everyone consults before trekking around these parts, a professional from TrekShitiz, and two 12th standard students!
We thought this was a monsoon trek, so less water would be required, we were close to wrong. It was hot, humid, and sultry during the climbing part, which made us sweat even more than a summer trek. Atleast the sweat evaporated quickly in summer. But the view, even halfway across the climb was awesome. There were quite a few balconies where we stopped and enjoyed the view. We enjoyed the city in the last trek (night), we enjoyed the vertical faces of hills in this trek. There are so many places to trek in Maharashtra! No wonder the Sahyadris is called the Trekkers' Paradise. If I did one climb every weekend, I guess I would require two years to do everything, and still have some left. Makes me wanna stay in Mumbai more.
We reached the trekkable part, and came to the rocky area, which we had to climb through a staircase carved into the rocks. Thankfully I didn't worry about slipping this time. I even saw a tiny snake at the entrance to the fort, so tiny I could close it in my fist. I didn't try, it was supposedly a poisonous snake.
We reached the caves and explored around the ledge, which led us to a regular carved-into-the-rocks reservoirs. Some of the group started playing and horsing around, throwing ice-cold water over everybody, stepping down into the pool, etc. Even as we were climbing, the sky was partially cloudy with chances of showers When we were by the pool, it suddenly started pouring - rains with heavy wind. I swear the rain clouds opened up just a few metres above our head. Some of the group had climbed up to the pinnacle (I had avoided it) and they were stuck up there, and the rest ran back to the caves. While we and they waited for the rains to cease, we started with our lunches. Tepla and sandwich were the most popular food that day.
The rains ceased, they people who went up came down, and we began our descent. The rains had cleaned every one of us (most of us, I wore a raincoat) and the hills, and made the descent slippery. Quite a few slipped and landed on their butt in the wet clay. We got down to a temple in the base where we cleaned ourselves and started our return journey. The trip from the village to the bus stand was crazy - two jeeps were arranged, and there were 10-12 people in each jeep. Three each were hanging on the outside. I sat next to the driver, behind the steering wheel, while the driver sat next to me, half out of the cabin. Sounds funny!!
Then it was the routine way back, bus, and train, back home at close to midnight, wake up late and come to the office late, etc.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Developments, developments
It was coincidence, reading about Indians getting outsourced - one in Economic Times, and another in Dilbert! RBI employees are now demaning their jobs not be outsourced. Irony?
RBI employees demand barring outsourcing of services
Who is this new Sandeep coming in? Will he be as naive as Asok? Would he be an IITian too?
Ah! The irony of everything!
Someone on the net told this
A lot of developments in the office in the last 2 months. I am dazed by everything that happened, and the speed in which it all happened.
Now, it has started raining in Mumbai, very nice. A year back, I had no worry about getting soaked in the rain while coming to office. Now, I have to worry about both coming dry to the office, and coming in on time!
RBI employees demand barring outsourcing of services
Who is this new Sandeep coming in? Will he be as naive as Asok? Would he be an IITian too?
Ah! The irony of everything!
Someone on the net told this
Most of the time Asok is treated like dirt by the pointy haired guy. so much for "indians arriving on the global stage"I am not being anti-IITian, or jealous of IITs, obviously!
A lot of developments in the office in the last 2 months. I am dazed by everything that happened, and the speed in which it all happened.
Now, it has started raining in Mumbai, very nice. A year back, I had no worry about getting soaked in the rain while coming to office. Now, I have to worry about both coming dry to the office, and coming in on time!
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