Deep Tissue Massage

I went to a deep tissue massage at Savera Hotel today. What a relaxing experience! At first, I was a bit skeptical since I was taken to a regular hotel room that was converted in to a massage room, but my anxiety diminished immediately after the massage began. I had a full one hour massage (although I was told later that to experience the full effect of massage, it takes at least two hours, preferably three hours...) and came back out all refreshed! India is amazing because all this is about Rs 800 (about $16) :)

Mosquitos are back!!! (along with other insects...)

Normally, the monsoon does not reach Chennai this time of year (or so I've heard), but for some reason, we've been getting occasional rains recently. With the arrival of rains, the mosquitoes are coming back!!! I just realized my legs and arms are full (well not really, but it does feel like it) of mosquito bites! Ahhh... irritating but patience, patience. I also realized that there are more insects around - just today, I saw small ants crawling on our bed sheets!! Where did they come from? Why are they there??? It is a fresh new sheet that were cleaned and placed there last night. My dad thinks that the world will be conquered by yogurt bacteria (In India, we make yogurt at home and the culture is passed on for a long time - from the old batch to the new batch). I honestly think the world will be conquered by ants! The ants here are so resilient here - they bite in to plastic bags to get to the food that they want to eat, they somehow find food in places that we did not even know about, and even without food (like today's example) they find things that they want in odd places...

Theatre Fest

Arvind and I have been going to plays at Metro Plus Theare Fest 2009 (http://www.hindu.com/theatrefest/whois.htm). We purchased tickets for all the shows. So far, we saw Antigone, Chicago and Hamlet. To be honest, we were not very impressed with any of the shows so far. Antigone was too slow and dull. Chicago was dragging and the stage crew (especially mike and lighting) were making things worse. Hamlet was like a slap stick comedy show in school-level cultural festivals. While the shows did not live up to our expectations, we were pleasantly surprised at the music performances that were going on outside of the theatre. The ambiance was nice (a bit like outdoor concerts in Ithaca!) and the music was also good (jazz, fusion, even some genre of their own creation - Indian eclectic trip music, etc). We had a great time overall - we went to some cute bakery cafes (for me) and chaat places (for Arvind) for evening snack, hang out, chilled out, etc, etc... We had a great weekend!

Shiva and Parvati

I just came back from a film screening and discussion of a German/English documentary called "The Legend of Shiva and Parvati." (http://www.shiva-parvati-film.de/) It was a documentary about how a German hippie woman and an Indian yogi fell in love and got married to start a family life. Their son who grew up in Germany made this film about his parents as his graduation project for his film studies. Basically the film was a collage of interviews who knew his parents and old pictures that gave a glimpse of how it was when his parents were young. It was a very interesting film - all the people who were interviewed were very unique (and quirky!!) which made the film very interesting. I was surprised to find so many people at the theatre!!! What are they all doing on a weekday morning?!!

First day at home!

Wow..., what a luxury to be at home and chill out when everyone else is working! But I decided to be a good wife (at least when I can) and made some sambar and vegetable curries for Arvind :) As it turns out, they came out good and authentic, so I am pleased about that. I actually wanted to go for a spa today (as a treat from Arvind), but our driver did not show up (it seems he had some family emergencies) so I had to forgo this plan till maybe later on this week. But I did all the other things I wanted to do... went to my Tamil lesson (this would be difficult!), did some yoga, read books and newspapers, etc. I hope I can finish all the things I had planned for myself before I go back to Japan in Sep!

Brunch at La Boulangerie Cafe

This weekend is the first weekend after I am completely free (from work)! Today being the Sunday, I decided that it would be nice to go for Sunday brunch at a cafe that recently opened near by. It is actually a cafe that is operated by a bakery that I really like in another area, so it was a pleasant surprise when I heard that they will open a cafe near our place. As expected, it was a nice cute little place and we had a really nice brunch. After the delicious meal of club sandwich and tomato pasta, I became greedy and ordered two desserts (kiwi and grape tarte and apple pie). All the food was great and I had a wonderful time there. Thanks Arvind!

Dinner at Bella Ciao's

Suddenly, I wanted to have some good Italian food so Arvind took me to Bella Ciao's where I heard was a good place to go. It was a bit difficult to spot, but it turned out to be a nice place :) It was quiet since we went on a weekday night but the food was good - we ordered broccoli and asparagus brick oven pizza and mushroom ravioli for dinner and tiramisu and apple tarte for dessert. All my selection, as always :) The food was NOT Indianized at all and we enjoyed them a lot. After we came out satisfied, we spotted La Boulangerie, one of the bakeries that I like very much here, right next door, so we bought some quiche to go before going home. It was a really nice food outing that we did after a long time!

Note: I am seriously looking in to the menu to decide what to eat! Due to this intense concentration, I made the right decisions in the choice of food :)

Many things happened from then till now...

It seems it has been several months since I updated my blog I did not realize it was that long... but many things changed since then. First and foremost, I resigned from my job. Things were not turning out the way I was comfortable with at work, so instead of wasting my precious time in India, I've decided to quit and enjoy my time here. Afterall, we're only going to be in India for a couple more years anyway. I have many things on my to-do-list: learn Tamil, become a yoga instructor, learn kalari (Indian martial arts), read books, go to spas, go to music concerts, do some consultancy work, write research papers, etc, etc. Let's see how much of these I can get my hands on :)

Bandh (basically a strike)

Today, I am working from home. All my colleagues are told to work from home due to a Bandh (or a strike) that is in effect from 6am to 6pm today. Tamil Nadu chief minister declared a strike for the entire state today to protest against the treatment of Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sri Lankan government. He requested all businesses and activities to stop for one day to show solidarity. These bandhs sometimes get quite violent so our company decided to have all employees to work from home to get out of harm's way. I don't see anything really happening here (although I haven't stepped outside of the house today - because it's too hot and I am not well enough healthwise to withstand the heat) but our driver called in this morning to let us know that he would not be able to come because the public buses are not working. It's very interesting that these things really affect ordinary people's lives, and that too for something that is happening in a different country. I guess since the elections are coming up, politicians are using every possible issue out there to damage other political parties' positions.

I'm still alive!

Yes, I am still alive. It's 40 degrees celsius outside and it's humid. It is simply impossible to go outside other than in an air conditioned car. Even inside the house, not all the rooms are air conditioned, so Arvind and I are confined to one room. But this is not much of a problem for Arvind because he just got his knee operated (ligament tear) and cannot move anyway. I stayed with Arvind at the hospital for a week and it was tiring, but probably more so for Arvind since he was the who went through all the pain and drowsiness. He is safely back home now under Amma's good loving care but now I am down with a cold... I guess I overstretched myself by doing my usual work, etc on top of attending Arvind. The good thing is that both Arvind and I are on our way to recovery :)

Elections coming up

The elections are coming up in India. All political parties have been actively engaging in their political campaigns, making new alliances, etc. The first page of the newspaper is always talking about it. One article that I found recently was quite funny - there is a political party (or rather a political group? since I am not sure if they have their own candidates) that is trying purswade people to vote only for vegitarians who meditate! Their reasoning is that vegitarians are more calm and less likely to cause trouble after they get elected and those who meditate are even better in terms of these two aspects. Very interesting. These things can only be seen in India, I think.

Back from Ahmedabad

I went to Ahmedabad for a seminar and just came back. To my surprise, the city was hotter than Chennai! Although the temperature at least drops a bit at night in Chennai, in Ahemadabad, this does not happen! My colleague and I ventured out in the city after the seminar each day (which was about 6pm) but the night was still hot and steamy :) I made some interesting findings in Ahmedabad... camels on the streets! Papa Johns! Oh by the way, Gujurati food (Ahmedabad is in the state of Gujurat) was sweet... Literary all the food was sugery... Not the my favorite type of food, for sure.

Already hot in Chennai

It is getting very hot in Chennai. The peak summer has not arrived yet, but it is already very very hot. Fortunately, Arvind and I hired a permanent driver for us, so we can go around to places in air conditioned car which helps a lot. We can also come back home for lunch now (our new office location was a bit far to come home for lunch if we travel by bike), so I am very happy about that. With this heat, I have to be very cautious about everything, from water to taking food from outside, since this weather is very prone to all sorts of diseases and illnesses and I do not have enough immunity like the other Indians to handle them. I just got sick yesterday with a severe stomach ache and I could not even lie down straight on the bed (had to lie in a fetal position). My doctor friend thinks that it is from some kind of viral infection. Today it was much better but I really have to be careful. This weekend, Arvind and I will escape the heat in Chennai and spend the two days in a hill station called Yercaud. That should refresh us a bit from hot and humid Chennai.

Indian remedy

In India, people say that you get 'boils' (pimple like thing) when the weather gets hot. I am not too sure how true that is, but maybe it's true... I am the type who rarely gets pimples, but the other day, I woke up with a pimple on my face! And that too, quite a big one! So I've decided to try out an Indian remedy for skin problems. Arvind has been suffering from mosquito bites and recently, his skin is getting much better because he has been putting a green paste made from Neem leaves and tumeric powder. One of Arvind's gramdmother's workers made it for him. So this time, I decided to try it for my self. Within a few days, the pimple went away :) I cannot tell whether it was due to this paste or not, but it is nice to think so :)

Concert at Dakshichitra

Arvind and I went to an outdoor concert at Dakshinchitra last night. Our friend was playing western classical music on piano and he was collaborating with a violonist who was playing South Indian classical music. Both musicians were doing their own music but magically, they fit so well and became an amazing piece of fusion music! The venue was Dakshinchitra, an artist village about 45 min drive from our home. The outdoor amphitheater was also a great place to have this concert - tropical birds chirping added to the awesome melody created by these two great musicians.

Trip to Pondicherry

Arvind and I went to Pondicherry for the weekend. It is an union territory about 3 hours south from Chennai. Unlike the rest of the country which was colonized by the British, Pondicherry was colonized by the French. One part of the city called the French quarter really looks like an old French town. There are still quite a number of French people living here. We stayed in a nice heritage hotel called Hotel du Parc. It was a perfect little whole-in-the-wall hotel right in the heart of French town, close to the beach as well as the shopping area. The food was also very delicious!!! We had such a great relaxing time that we did not have time to go to Auroville (a commune that consists of people from all over the world), one of the main 'attractions' of the city. We'll go there again (most likely) very soon so we'll enjoy the rest of Pondicherry in our next trip :)

Getting ideas

Amma, Arvind and I went for shopping today. The purpose of this shopping was not to buy clothes but to get ideas for a dress that we are going to make for my graduation. I have a blue saree silk cloth which I am thinking of using to make a dress and we wanted to get some creative ideas for it. We went to some interesting shops including this one which was hidden in a quiet residential area. Outside of the shop, one craftsman was working on an embroidery. It was quite amazing to see his skillful techniques.

La Boulangerie!

Arvind and I went out from the party to go to a jewelry exhibition that were supposed to be on near by his uncle/aunt's place but for some reason, we could not locate it... In India, for some reason, street numbers are not in order! For example, after house number 1, then house number 4, then 6, 13, ect, etc... Strage, very strange. Anyway, we made a great finding though. We found La Boulangerie, one of my favorite bakery! So since I was quite hungry (as I mentioned earlier, I could not eat much at the party), I had two pastries - one grape tart and one napolean! They were good :) I initially bought two thinking that we'll eat one each, but I ended up eating both! Greedy :)

Sunday morning at the beach

Arvind took me to the beach this morning. It was quite hot already (we went around 8am) and there were already so many people on the beach playing cricket, volleyball, etc. The beach was full of life. Today, I decided to dip my feet in the beach. The current was strong, as Arvind has always told me, and the shoreline was pretty steep, dipping down to the water. We had a great time. We stopped by at a nearby park on the way back and found men's public urinal station right on the sidewalk :) Pretty embarassing because you can see people in the booth because their head are sticking out, but I guess people don't care here because honestly, many men just pee on the streets without any hesistation. Very strange, isn't it?!

Uncle/aunt's 25th anniversary party

Arvind and I just came back from Arvind's uncle and aunt's 25th anniversary party. It was a potluck so Amma made some pilau and raita. I couldn't eat much since most food was either spicy or dishes that I don't really like, but I enjoyed the party. There were about 20 people there and everyone went into the stories of the old times, as they always do when they get together. I guess all the prayers were already finished by the time we reached there, but it was a nice Sunday family get-together.

No water again...

The construction work that is going on at a nearby road is affecting us again... no water, AGAIN. I guess this is the way of life here... I would have to live with it - no other choice.

Bought the tickets!

I purchased the tickets to the US today! I am going back to the US this May to attend both Arvind and my commencement but I am also visiting my sister in Seattle and my sister in law in LA. I also have some work to do in DC and NYC so it will be a fun trip :) Lots of travels but I love trips especially to places that are dear to my heart. I am really looking forward to the trip.... 3 more months!

Two dance shows back to back

Arvind and I visited two very interesting dance shows in the past two days. Last night was a fusion dance between Indian and West African (Burkina Faso) dance styles. One kola player was accompanying two dancers (one female Dutch dancer of Indian origin and one male dancer from Burkina Faso). Some parts were purely weird, eg. the lady started shrieking!, but overall it was a nice performance. But today was the best. It was a modern dance performance originating from Indian dance style with multi media effects. This was great. The dancers were all very good – they all looked like they were octopuses…. They were that flexible and free flowing. I wish I can dance like them. They actually have a dance workshop coming up and I am seriously thinking that I should give it a try… :)

Fish out of water

Sometimes, I feel very 'different', very 'alien' in India. I grew up in the US so I thought I knew what it meant to live and work in a society with different cultures, languages, etc. Apparently not. There are inefficiencies everywhere and I sometimes just cannot understand how some people think and operate here. When I ask people to do work, they do not follow deadlines. Only excuses and justifications. When I expect people to follow instructions, they do everything other than follow instructions. Some people just fail to show up at work. After tracking them down, I find out that they decided to quit their jobs without any prior notice. After a long day of work (or more precisely after a day long battle to understand India), I come back home with no running water. And this has been an ongoing problem for several days now at home… then the mosquito attacks, and the ants crawling on our food, and the constant worry for clean water (maybe not ‘worry’ but more ‘suspicion’ about water quality due to occasional stomach problems), and the dirty feet (due to dust and dirt in the apartment), etc, etc… Don’t get me wrong. I like the country and its people very much. I also like the lifestyle here too. But sometimes, things get to me. Sometimes I can’t act nonchalant at the people who stare at me and so I stare back. I don’t raise my voice but I sometimes loose patience. I guess I am just going through a cultural shock. I guess I’ve only known how to live in a more comfortable, more privileged environment.

I am glad Arvind is here with me. He understands everything – where I am coming from and how I am doing my best to deal with this drastic environmental change. Let’s see how I manage to figure my way through this pretty chaotic environment.

PS Senior Secondary School, Ramakrishna Math and local bakery

Arvind and I just came back from a stroll around the neighborhood. We first went to Arvind's school where he studied for 12 years (elementary, middle and high school). The school was closed but we were able to go in and see the place. It looked quite nice - it is very different from the schools that we have in the US or Japan and had some kind of tropical mood to the entire campus. Then we went to Ramakrishna Math to chill out a bit. It is like an oasis in the chaotic center of Madras city. Surprisingly it is very quiet inside and very clean and nice. On the way back, Arvind stopped by a local bakery for a midday snack :) Very very local - he had an egg puff, a veg sandwich, and a cream bun, all bite size and perfect for a snack. They served them on a small piece of newspaper. Really interesting.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is valentine's day :) Not that we celebrate it that much here, but slowly the trend is coming in, even in a conservative city like Chennai. Of course, there are fundamental religious leaders that oppose to this foreign holiday celebrating love. In Bangalore, a fundamental Hindu group declared that they will be going around the city today to apot any couples who are 'displaying acts of love' (whatever that means) in the public domain and marry them off with 'thali' (the necklace given to married woman at the wedding) and a 'kum-kum' (a red powder that married women put on the forehead or along the hairline). So basically, if they find a girl and a boy holding hands, they will marry them off at that instant! Strange, right??!!! I am just very amazed that there are such people out there in this age and time :) Arvind and I were jokingly saying that we should go to Bangalore today and hold hands walking around the city to get one more 'thali' :)

Anyway, our valentine's day will be low key. We're planning to go out a bit in the afternoon and go out for dinner in a restaurant/cafe where I've always wanted to go, which serves awesome baked goods and pastries :)

No water!!!

There is a road construction going on near our house and because of this, the government stopped supplying water to our neighborhood. Yesterday, water suddenly stopped flowing from the tap so Amma investigated the issue and found out that the government decided to stop the water supply for several days! And this happened without prior notice! These decisions are usually announced in the newspapers prior to the date, but this time, I am sure it was not in the paper because neither Anna nor Arvind nor I saw it and we read newspaper thoroughly every day. Anyway, Amma somehow got private water company to deliver water to our apartment to fill the water tank on the roof, but again just now, the water stopped coming... I was lucky enough to at least wash my face and feet after I came back from office, but Arvind came back just now and there's no water to take shower... We have water from the well coming from one of the taps in the kitchen so we tried filling a bucket with this water, but to my surprise, it's dirty!!! The water is brown! So we tried storing trickling water from the regular tap from the kitchen and guess what... this water is also brown!!! I don't know if the water is brown temporarily because of this 'water shortage' or the water from the tap is always like this... Scary to think too much about this because Amma always uses tap water for cooking... By the way, I never use tap water for cooking or drinking, which was suggested by Arvind. I think his suggestion was a really good one.

Bombay trip

I just came back from Bombay trip. Everyone told me that Bombay is an entirely different country all together since it is the financial capital of India and unlike the other ordinary Indian cities, Bombay is the happening place. Because of this, I imagined Bombay to be like New York City, a city of sky scrapers. So even when I reached Bombay and was in the heart of the city, I asked Arvind when we will be reaching Bombay! So the overall atmosphere was similar to other Indian cities, but I did see one difference - I felt that the city was more artsy and had many cultural things that I could relate to. For example, we went to an art festival at Kala Ghoda. Many artsy people were gathering there to enjoy sculptures, painting, music, carfts, etc and for some reason, it reminded me of Ithaca. I had a great time there :) We also took a walk to other places in South Bombay including Gateway of India, Taj Hotel (we also checked out the inside of the hotel - an entirely different universe inside compared to the outside world), queen's necklace, etc. We also went to have lunch and dinner at some of the very good restaurants in town. Arvind even ate some road side food called 'baji pao' :) Quite an experience! We were in constant touch with a friend from office who is originally from Bombay and thanks to her, we enjoyed the trip to the fullest. Unfortuantely, we didn't have enough time to see other things in town.... Next time, next time :)

Nothing really happened

So despite all the fuss that the Tamil Nadu government was creating on Sri Lankan strike that was scheduled for today, nothing really happened in Chennai today.... or at least I did not see much change in my surroundings. The only thing I noticed today that was different from other days was that the tea stall which is always crowded with people in the mornings around the corner from our place was closed. The streets seemed a bit deserted in the morning because of this, but overall, nothing really happened. I wonder what the hype was all about.

Preparing for a strike

'Sri Lankan Tamil Protection Front' has organized a strike for tomorrow, February 4th, in the state of Tamil Nadu to seek cease fire in Sri Lanka. The situtation for Tamil civilians who are caught in warzone between LTTE and Sri Lankan government is worsening day by day and the political parties here in Tamil Nadu are trying to intervene to solve the situtation there. The government of Tamil Nadu is preparing for this strike using every possible measures. It even closed university hostels and canceled lectures at universities fearing that they may become a cause of disruption on the strike day. Wife of one of my colleagues is a student in a local university and he told me that his wife has gone back to Delhi since all the classes are canceled and the university has not told the students when they will reopen again. For those students who were in university dormitories (eg. North Indians, foreigners, etc) have been kicked out of their dorms with no where to go. It seems universities are not doing anything about this; the head of departments are not reachable by phone or by email! All the newspapers are also talking about this strike. On the streets today, everything seems to be the same as other days, but I wonder whether I'll see anything different tomorrow...

To the ocean

After the exhibition, we went to the ocean to pray for my ojichama. It has been almost 22 years since he passed away.... I can't believe that it has been that long... We were standing and watching the ocean for a long time, just thinking about ojichama and the good times I had with him.

Ikebana exhibition

This weekend, Arvind and I went to Sogetsu Ikebana exhibition. All the flower arrangements were created by Sogetsu study group in Chennai. some looked very traditional while others looked very modern. All of them were very beautiful and very unique; although the flower arrangements looked very 'Japanese', the flowers and plants used in the arrangements were all local and that made them all look very special.

Some wierd fruits!

I just realized that there is one tree in our parking lot in our workplace that has some wierd fruits hanging from it! Huge fruits about the size of volleyball are hanging from it. Very exotic!

Sambar powder

Yesterday, Amma was doing her preparations to make sambar powder. Her sambar powder is appreciated all over the world (including all my family and her family here and in the US) and since she is going to the US again in a couple of months, she started preparing for it. The picture is basically all the ingredients that goes in to a sambar powder. She is going to dry them first and then bring them to a professional grinder to make them in to a powder. A lot of hard work goes in to making it but it's definitely worth it. Her sambar powder makes wonders to any kind of food!

デリーへ出張

出張でデリーに行ってきました。今回は、短い出張だったので（1泊2日）、同僚のご両親の所に一晩、泊めていただきました。彼女のご両親は本当にとてもいい方々で、楽しいひと時を過ごすことができました。遅いフライトだったに加え、フライトが遅れて、本当に家に着くのが遅くなってしまったのにもかかわらず、晩御飯を食べずに待っていてくださって、結局晩御飯を食べ始めたのが夜の11時半！なのに、ちゃんとアペタイザーの鳥のお料理が2つ先に出てきて、その後に本格的なお料理が。しかも私が始めて北インドの家庭料理を食べる、ということをご存知で、おば様が色々地元のspecialtyを作ってくだいました。メニューは、生野菜のカットしたもの、鳥の煮込み料理、paneer（インドのチーズのようなもの）のカレー、dal（レンズ豆の煮込み）、ピラフ、チャパティー（インドのtortillaのようなもの）を頂きました。もう全て美味しくて、美味しくて。同僚の家族は、北インド出身、しかもSikh教なので、あーびん家とは全く違ったカルチャーで、本当にいい経験になりました（例えば、チキン中心のお料理、家では靴を脱がない、おじ様は家でもターバンもしくは野球帽をかぶられている、などなど）。おじ様は日本に一回出張で来られたことがあるらしく、しかも接待で色々箱根などにも行かれ、温泉での経験など、楽しく色んなお話を聞かせてもらいました。今朝は早く出かけないと仕事に間に合わなかったので、私達にあわせて、おば様は早起きしてくださって（昨夜全員寝たのは午前1時40分）、私に典型的な北インドの朝食を作ってくださいました。本当に、ご両親のご親切には感動しどうしでした。おかげさまで本当に思い出に残る出張になりました。

IIT Madras Culturals 2

I just got pictures from Arvind's friend who came to visit Chennai for a few days. We all dropped by at IIT Madras to get a feel of the culturals at night before Arvind and I formally went on the following day.