sukhino bhavantu

Deep Tissue Massage

2009-08-13T01:51:00.002+09:00

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...)

2009-08-11T14:35:00.002+09:00

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

2009-08-10T14:35:00.002+09:00

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

2009-08-07T17:46:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-08-04T21:50:00.003+09:00

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

2009-08-02T18:47:00.002+09:00

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

2009-08-02T18:30:00.004+09:00

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...

2009-08-02T18:18:00.002+09:00

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)

2009-04-23T20:40:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-04-23T20:31:00.002+09:00

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

2009-04-11T16:18:00.002+09:00

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

2009-04-11T16:07:00.002+09:00

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

2009-03-27T01:26:00.000+09:00

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

2009-03-15T17:29:00.002+09:00

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

2009-03-15T17:18:00.002+09:00

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

2009-03-10T02:20:00.003+09:00

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

2009-02-24T01:41:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-02-22T20:46:00.003+09:00

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

2009-02-22T20:35:00.003+09:00

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

2009-02-22T20:10:00.003+09:00

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...

2009-02-20T23:27:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-02-20T01:54:00.002+09:00

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

2009-02-19T02:24:00.000+09:00

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

2009-02-19T01:28:00.002+09:00

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

2009-02-14T21:13:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-02-14T16:34:00.003+09:00

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!!!

2009-02-11T23:38:00.002+09:00

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

2009-02-11T01:28:00.004+09:00

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

2009-02-05T00:17:00.002+09:00

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

2009-02-04T00:52:00.001+09:00

'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

2009-02-03T01:49:00.003+09:00

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

2009-02-03T01:30:00.003+09:00

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!

2009-01-31T16:43:00.002+09:00

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

2009-01-31T16:36:00.003+09:00

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

2009-01-30T02:19:00.003+09:00

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

2009-01-26T20:09:00.003+09:00

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.

Republic Day

2009-01-26T19:35:00.002+09:00

Today is Republic Day, a day in which India became a republic. It seems that although India got independence from UK on August 15, 1947, it took them until January 26, 1950 to draft the consititution, submit to the Assembly, be approved by the Assembly and become the official constitution of India. Anyway, so in all schools, students raise the Indian flag in the morning and come home for the day (no classes). I unfortunately missed the event because I had my morning tennis practice. We went to our aka's place early afternoon and she had a nice tricolour saree with Indian flag colors to celebrate the day. Many people on the streets also had small Indian flags pinned to their shirts. I guess many people are quite patriotic here.

PS - I was able to meet Amuda's children (our maid) since they did not have classes after the flag hoisting. They were very cute.

5K Fun Run

2009-01-26T19:23:00.002+09:00

Our company group organized a 5K run yesterday morning. About 40 people gathered in front of Ayaapan Temple at 5:30am and started the run at a bit after 6am. It was so much fun! Since Arvind has a bad knee, he could not run, but he participated as a volunteer providing water and juice to runners at the midway point. Because I was paced by other runners, I ran a bit faster than usual; I finished 5K about 5 min earlier than my usual time. We completed the run at Beach and we were right in time for the sun rise! I wished I had a camera then since it was very beautiful (the sun was coming out from the ocean) but unfortunately, I did not have it with me... Anyway, the entire run was so much fun and it was really a nice feeling to engage in these sports activities with people who usually work with.

IIT Madras Culturals!

2009-01-24T20:11:00.004+09:00

Today, Arvind and I went to IIT Madras Cultural Festival called Saarang (Indians usually refer to Cultural Festivals as 'culturals'). It is basically university-wide festival with lots of activities, competitions and food. According to Arvind, many university students attend culturals of other universities to compete in different oral, dance, and acting competitions. It was nice to see all these young bright people having a fun time :) We both felt like we were undergrads again. But the competitions that we saw today was not that good. The quality of nonacademic talents have gone done in the recent years?? That's what Arvind felt when he compared his culturals to this one. Anyway,tomorrow, we will go there again to hear some music and dance programs. This should be fun! All in all though, I had a great time. Nice to be back in an academic setting.

My office

2009-01-23T01:40:00.006+09:00

I walk to office everyday. It is only 5 min away. A big headache of most people in Chennai is commuting so I am very lucky. Now that I think about it, I have been lucky in terms of commuting all throughout my professional/student life. It has either been walking distance or commutable by bike. The first picture is my desk - one laptop is for my individual use and the other one is for research. I usually use two laptops to do my research work in office. The second picture is one of the friendliest security guards at work. The last picture is the road right in front of my office. It's always very busy with traffic.

Today's Lunch

2009-01-21T01:18:00.002+09:00

Today's lunch was made by Amma. The color balance was amazing! I had to take a picture of it :) Of course, the taste was also very good. This is one of my favorite Indian dishes called Rava Idlis. I don't really like the sour taste of regular Idlis but this kind of Idlis are not sour at all and there are a lot of crunchy things in it that I really like. Thanks Amma for the great food!

Surprise birthday party at work!

2009-01-20T01:30:00.003+09:00

My colleagues at work organized a surprise birthday party at the terrace today! I had no clue that this was coming. One of my colleagues came to me after lunch to tell me that there is a small meeting at the terrace to plan for a farewell party for one of my colleagues who will be leaving us soon. When I went up to the terrace with him, ....voila! All my colleague was there with a huge chocolate cake for my birthday!!! They even prepared a small apple pie for me since they all know that I don't like regular cakes but just looooove apple pie! They all sang for me and had the cake/pie :) I am very lucky to have such great coworkers like them :)

Birthday weekend

2009-01-18T21:34:00.004+09:00

Saturday was my birthday. Since Arind and I came back from Thanjore very early morning, we slept in. We had a late lunch and went out for shopping. We could not get anything we wanted, but it was nice just being in the city. For dinner, we decided to go to a Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant called Cedars and it was great! The service was unfortunately very slow (and it felt like that especially because we were both starving) but the food was great :) I think this restaurant will be one of our 'hang-out' places in Chennai.

Today (Sunday), I went to play tennis for the first time in Chennai! My mother gave me her tennis racquet when I went back to Japan and so I had all the gears necessary to play tennis again. Arvind's uncle took me to one of his tennis clubs to 'evaluate' my tennis skills (to find out whether I was good enough to join his group!). I played with a Marker there; Marker is a person who takes care of the courts and supervises ball boys - yes, there are ball boys at tennis clubs! All the Markers were playing tennis with no shoes! Who would have every thought of playing tennis with no tennis shoes?! Very Indian. Anyway, this Marker was very good. He was being very 'nice' in the beginning and was hitting the balls to me in the beginning but once we got over the first introductions, he started to hit the balls from side to side making me run everywhere! Anyway, fortunately, I seemed to have passed Arvind's uncle's 'test' and he told me that if I want to play around the time he plays, he will let me play with him :) I am planning on taking tennis lessons once a week and additionally playing two or three times per week :) I am very excited to get back to tennis and very very happy to be a part of Chennai tennis scene! Arvind will give me this club's membership for my birthday gift!

This weekend is definitely the best weekend I've ever had in Chennai so far :)

Official holiday.... out of the blue

2008-09-15T15:02:00.000+09:00

I am sitting on the porch not really doing much but browsing internet in Thanjore right now. I am here on a business trip to supervise and oversee our census surveys that “were supposed to start” today in a village here. I wrote “were supposed to start” because I am not sure if it really is going to start today. It seems that today is a 100th anniversary of the founder of DMK political party and all fo the sudden, the government declared today as a national holiday!!! Strange.... I can see the road from where I am sitting right now, but most stores are closed. The town looks very quiet... and everyone seems to be on a holiday mood :) I am not sure what my plans are for the day, but I guess we will have one meeting in the afternoon as scheduled (unless someone objects)... not sure, really. Things are so random sometimes in India that it is quite amusing.

Mapala (son in law)

2008-09-07T17:47:00.001+09:00

Mapala is a very important concept in Tamil Brahmin families (or just Arvind’s family??). Mapala is a Tamil word for son in law. Son in laws are treated extremely well in families here. It seems like Mapala comes first and then father, mother, etc… in terms of priority given within a family. It also feels like people go out of their way to make sure Mapalas are happy. I do not the reason why this is the case, but maybe in a way, they are still the ‘guests’ of the house and not truly a part of the family. Just like guests are treated with more care then family members, Mapalas are also treated in a similar way. Unfortunately, I cannot think of a concrete example from the top of my head, but it is definitely the case. One example (not a very good example but oh well…, I can’t seem to come up with any now) may be something that happened just now. Arvind’s father was looking for yesterday’s newspaper. (Note: He just LOVES newspapers and cannot go without reading the newspaper even for a day. If he goes on a trip and cannot read during that time, after he comes back from the trip, he will go through all the papers that he missed reading even if the news is not ‘news’ anymore. Moreover, he keeps all the newspapers without recycling them. He has stacks and stacks of old papers from years ago…. or so I heard.) He asked me where it was and I had no clue. I just told him your Mapala was reading it yesterday and I don’t know where he put it after that. He eventually found it in one of the rooms and told me, “Oh well, what to do?? Mapala was reading it in the room,” and that was the end of the story. A few weeks ago, the same thing happened and although I don’t remember clearly, I must have said something like I saw Arvind reading it. Arvind’s father was a bit upset saying, “Where is it?? He always takes it somewhere and does not return it properly, etc, etc…” Yes, Arvind’s father is definitely one of a kind (very different!), but maybe this difference in the reaction came from this whole Mapala concept, who knows. Just as a footnote, often times, they are not even called by their names, but called as ‘Mapala’, just like all the respected people are called not by their names but by their position in the family like, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, etc.

Private Tamil Lessons

2008-08-24T14:27:00.002+09:00

These days, I am going to Thatha and Patti's place (Arvind's grandfather and grandmother) after work. Unless it is too late, I go there for a workout at their gym and then for a Tamil lesson from Thatha. Thatha is a great Tamil teacher!! Everyday, I am learning 1-2 sentences in Tamil that are frequently used in everyday life. He is very forgetful so he repeats the same things over and over again and this is actually a great thing for me because I am ‘forced to’ (not ‘forced’ in the literal sense but you know what I mean…) listen to the same sentences over and over again and also I am ‘forced to’ repeat the sentences myself over and over again :) Recently, Mami (Arvind's grandfather and grandmother’s live-in maid) joined Thatha in teaching me Tamil. Since she cannot speak English at all, she is providing me with an even better opportunity to learn Tamil. Let’s see how much I can learn in the next several months…!

Locked out!

2008-08-12T02:49:00.003+09:00

This weekend, Arvind and I locked ourselves out from our apartment... Both amma and anna were out of station and we just stepped out of the apartment to say hi to thatha and patti without taking the keys. What was ironic about this whole incident is that thatha kept saying that we should stay with them over the weekend but we kept refusing because it will be inconvenient for us, but it turned out that we had no other choice but to stay with them for the entire weekend. It turned out to be a nice weekend, just relaxing and chilling. One thing I was a bit worried about througout the stay was the concept of yechel. In a Tamil brahmin community, there is this concept called yechel which means that anything you eat from (like plates, utensils, your right hand if your hand touches your mouth) is considered dirty and you have to make sure that these do not come into direct contact with the non-yechel things (like common plates, dishes, cooking utensils, pots and pans, etc). In Patti's household, this yechel is very strictly followed, so I was very consious when eating. The concept itself is pretty straightforward once you think about it but since eating is something that you do without thinking too much, it gets quite confusing. Also since there are also some cultural differences between Japan and Tamil brahmins, it makes me even more difficult & confusing to follow the ways. For example, if you don't want your right hand to become yechel (eg. if you want to directly eat something like chips from the common plate), people will just throw the food into their mouth. In Japan, it is extremely disrespectable to throw the food, even if you are throwing into your mouth, so I find it quite difficult to follow this custom. Also, in order for the left hand to not be yechel (eg so that you can use left hand to get second servings, etc), you cannot touch your plate with your left hand. In Japan, it is often not respectable, if you DON'T put your left hand to hold the plate lightly.

What I found was interesting was when Arvind moved his plate a bit to his side (position A) to get the second servings of something that was placed a bit far from where he was sitting. After he put the food on his plate, he moved his plate back to the original position. Patti spilled water on the place his plate was (position A). I thought she did that by mistake, like accidently tipping the cup, but actually she did that on purpose to purify the place (position A) where yechel plate was placed. Very interesting... I think it will take time for me to fully get accustomed to this custom.

ホッケー・スティック

2008-08-12T02:48:00.000+09:00

今朝、ammaがあーびんのホッケー・スティックを持ってベランダを出たり入ったりしていたので、何をしているのかな、と思い、聞いてみたら、まだ朝のシャワーを浴びていないので、洗濯されたきれいな服・タオルには直接触ってはいけないんだと説明されました。もちろん、何か宗教に関係した理由があるからこのような事をしているのです。あーびんのおばあちゃまはとてもtraditionalなのでこのようなことをされると耳にしたことはありましたが、まさかammaまでこの風習を守っているとはびっくりしました。このようにインドで生活していると、普段の生活の中でちょっとしたことからインド独特な文化・習慣を垣間見ます。

Puneへ

2008-08-07T00:23:00.002+09:00

出張先のPuneから帰ってきました。どたばたと忙しい出張でした。月曜日の夜に着き、色んなごたごたがあった後、やっとホテルにチェックイン。ごたごたというのは、Chennaiオフィスから4人、ミーティングのために同じ飛行機に乗ってPuneにきたのはいいものの、タクシーだと思ってお金を払った後連れて行かれたのは、Shared　Van。エアコンは効かないし、窓はあまり開かないし、蚊がたくさん車の中にいたのでものすごい勢いで刺されるし、運転手はいい加減で初めに行ってほしかったホテルをは通り過ぎるし、もうひとつのdestinationであったゲストハウスはではちゃんと行くかな、と思ったら、ここだといって何もないところに下ろされそうになるし、本当に初日は散々でした。翌日は、タイム・マネージメントはどうなってるの？？と思いたくなるような長時間のミーティング。午前10時半から午後7時半までのミーティングのはずが、夜の8時の時点で全プレゼンの２５％を終えただけ。私と同僚はラッキーなことに飛行機の時間が迫ってきていたので、9時にはミーティングを退散。夜中の1時ごろにやっとマドラスに帰ってきました。ほんとに、やれやれ、という感じの出張でした。

Eclipse

2008-08-02T14:38:00.001+09:00

Yesterday was a solar eclipse (around 6pm in Chennai time). Too bad that I missed it, but the interesting thing happened after I came back home from the office. Arvind and I went to his grandparents’ place just to show our face to them but when we went there, his grandmother kept asking whether we’ve had shower or not. Of course, we haven’t taken shower because we immediately left home after I cam back from office. She kept asking why not?, why we haven’t taken shower? etc… That was when I was told that eclipse is a very auspicious event and very religious people will take shower both before and after the eclipse. They will also have to finish their food 6 hrs before the eclipse so that their stomach will be completely empty when the eclipse happens. Also men who lost their parents (i.e. whose parents are deceased) should do a special prayer during that time. Certain stars (i.e. people with certain horoscopes) will be affected negatively by this eclipse, so usually a priest does a small prayer to get rid of the evil that may affect these people. I saw a priest leaving Arvind’s aunt/uncle’s place yesterday and I later found out that the priest was doing a prayer for their grandchildren who have this horoscope. According to amma, these days, people don’t follow these things that strictly but they do follow things like not eating before the eclipse (4 hrs before instead of 6 hrs before) and doing prayers for those people who have a horoscope that may be affected, etc. Arvind wanted to drink beer yesterday because it has been a while since he drank last and also because it was Friday night, but since it was eclipse, he asked for permission to drink at home (actually he does this everytime since anna is religious and we don’t want to offend him but taking permission was especially important yesterday because it was eclipse yesterday). It seems anna did not really like the idea, but amma was okay with it because he will only drink after the eclipse (not during eclipse which is the auspicious time), so he ‘sort of’ got the permission and drank. Everything was really interesting :)

Back from South Tamil Nadu Trip

2008-07-30T02:10:00.003+09:00

I just came back from my business trip few days back. I went to Madurai, Tanjore (and its surrounding villages) and Trichy. It was such a hectic trip! But I managed to squeeze in some trips to some of the tourist attractions including Meenakshi Temple in Madurai and the Big Temple (as my colleagues called it) in Tanjore. Unfortunately, Meenakshi Temple was under renovation (repainting was being conducted) so I could not see the Kopurams (the towers) except one. They were covered by coverings made from coconut leaves. I could not see the main parts of the temple either because I am a foreigner (only Hindus were allowed in these main parts)… The temple staff told me that I need to show them my marriage certificate to be allowed inside. If these things happen when I am with Arvind’s family, somebody will definitely fight for me so that I can also come inside with them, but since they were not there this time, I was waiting outside with the other foreigners. Maybe from now on, I should carry around a copy of my marriage certificate… Aside from this small disappointing field trip to Meenakshi Temple, I had a great time touring around the rural villages.

Farewell Lunch

2008-07-19T03:04:00.002+09:00

Today, I went to a farewell lunch for the Japanese intern with my office colleagues. We went to a nice restaurant (non Indian food) and had a nice meal together. It was a treat for all of us because we had a very important meeting in the morning and the meeting went very well. His work was really good and he was an expert in the field that no one on our team has in depth knowledge about, so I am sure he will be greatly missed. Of course, for me, it was just nice to have another Japanese person around (I was speaking at least some Japanese everyday – something that I never did in Ithaca because I was not in that kind of environment) so things will probably feel a bit different on Monday, I guess. For dinner, again, I went out, this time with Amma, Anna and Arvind to the Alumni Club. We went there pretty late so by the time we finished, it was almost 10:30pm! A bit late even for Indian standards…

Anna's Back!

2008-07-17T03:09:00.002+09:00

Anna came back from Aadi Kailash/Om Parvat. He was on a pilgrimage/trekking trip for several weeks. He showed me many pictures during his trip and it sure did looked interesting. When Arvind and I have time (we just have to make time since I am getting more and more busy with work), we have to do something like this…

Demonstration Against a Liquor Shop

2008-07-17T03:00:00.004+09:00

One day, when Arvind and I were going shopping, we came accross a demonstration against a local liquor shop. It seems that in India, many men (husbands) drink up all the money in the house to purchase liquor. This demonstration was by the wives of these husbands who wanted this local liquor shop to leave their neighborhood. Really interesting.

First Thanjavur Trip

2008-07-17T02:54:00.003+09:00

This is the except I wrote when I just came back from Thanjavur.... but I could not upload it until now... so here it is:

Yesterday, I arrived in Thanjavur early in the morning (around 6am). We took the overnight train from Chennai to Thanjavur in the 3rd Class Air Conditioned compartment. It was pretty pleasant trip. After we reached in Thajavur, we checked in to a hotel (a very nice hotel in fact - there is toilet paper :) and had some rest until around 9am when we got up again to have breakfast and headed to office. Our office had nothing in it, no furniture at all. So we arranged for some local staff to buy lots of furniture and little office goods and by the end of the day, the office looked quite cozy and nice. The entire day, I was not doing much... just working on my report that I was working on in Chennai so basically my trip this time was not to do work at the field but to get accustomed to the environment here.

Mangoes and international telephone booth

2008-07-07T21:18:00.002+09:00

Yesterday, I tried to update my blog but my remote internet access was not working properly and was not able to do it... anyway, yesterday, Arvind showed me a mango picker who was collecting mangoes from a mango tree that stands right in front of our balcony. He clearly picked mangoes from the tree with a long stick with a sac attached to it in the end and when the bag was full, he would detach the bag from the stick and slowly lower the bad to the watchman who were waiting at the bottom of tree to collect the mangoes. Amma told me that those mangoes will be distributed equally among all the residents in the apartments. Since the mangoes were still green, they are suitable for mango pickles - it was an interesting sight.

I also took a picture of one of the telephone booths that I go to make international calls. Since we do not have international telephone connection at home, I have to go to one of these booths to make international calls :)

Tomorrow, I will be going to Thanjavur and Pattukottai for a business field trip. This will be my first time going anyway without a family, so Arvind and Amma are very worried for me. I think it will be a great experience for me - and besides I will be with my boss/colleague so I am sure I will have a great time. I will take an overnight train, stay there for one night and the next day, I will again take an overnight train to come back to Chennai :) Thatha (Arvind's grandfather) told me he will be coming with me (FYI, he is 93 years old) because Pattukottai is his hometown :) He told me that he will take me around :) Of course, he can't come but it's really nice to know that he has a very positive view about everything.

To the beach

2008-07-04T03:27:00.006+09:00

Today, most people at work went on a company trip to Mahabalipuram, but I stayed back to finish work and to instead take a long weekend. Since I do not have to go to work tomorrow, Arvind and I decided to go out for dinner. We actually wanted to go to Hot Breads, one of my favorite bakery cafes in town, but for some reason, the store that we were looking for had vanished and the other store (in another location) did not have anything but sweets, so we settled on Carnival, another bakery café. I had a veg quiche and a veg bun although I could not eat them fully because it was too hot… So as usual, I came back home to have some mangos & yogurt with granola, one of my favorite foods in India. After dinner, Arvind’s friend, Jana picked us up and we all went to the beach to chill out. It was great. The weather was nice and there were not too many people on the beach, so we had a nice really nice time.

By the way, there is a gas shortage in Chennai right now and there are long queues at gas stations. Since the cars that are lining up to get the gasolines are blocking the roads, the traffic is worse than usual. These pictures were taken when I got stuck in traffic the other day.

Work started

2008-07-03T00:26:00.003+09:00

I started working in my new workplace from yesterday. It is a research job but now, I am not doing much. The entire day yesterday, I just went through lots of documents to catch up on what is going on at the centre and today, I began working on a paper that I need to present in a week or so. The office is very close by, so I can technically walk to office but for now, Arvind is taking me by bike (scooter). He drops me off at office around 9am, I work for several hours and come home for lunch and leave around 6pm. A pretty peaceful life. The funny thing is that there is a Japanese guy who is interning at our research centre! His term is only a month so he will be leaving around the middle of July, but it was a pleasant surprise :) There are a few more foreigners working although I've only talked to one another person. I took a picture of my office but it is a bit dark so I will take the picture again during day time and upload it as soon as I take it.

First entry! - In India

2008-06-30T10:50:00.001+09:00

Finally, we are in Chennai. The last few days in Ithaca was just too busy packing and selling stuff that we cannot carry to India, so we slept throughout our journey. Since we arrived very early in the morning on the 28th, Logu, our uncle/aunt's driver, picked us up at the airport. He dropped us off at Amma's place and Arvind had his long awaited meal, Dosai. Today (29th), we went to Balaji mama's place for Thatha's (Amma's side) religious function (something like anniversary to honor his death) and met all Arvind's relatives on Amma's side. We had a good time, good meal and good rest. The highlight of the day was, of course, shopping! Lots of awesome stuff for such a reasonable price! I LOVE my INDIA~~! By the way, for those people who have no clue what I am talking about, check this out: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=2eua92fsJpg