travel week..!!

Last week was my "whurstest" travel week so far....excluding my first trip to US from chennai - back then i did not know you have to keep the office travel agent in check !

Mar 19-Mar 26

24 hrs travel | 9.5 hrs sleep | 12 hrs meetings | 7 hrs sleep | 8 hrs meeting | 9 hrs travel | 9 hrs sleep | 4 hrs meeting | 7 hrs sleep | 6 hrs travel | 7 hrs sleep | 8 hrs meeting | 5 hrs sleep | supposed to be 26 hrs travel bk home | but the last leg the tow truck's tow bar broke - damaged the nose gear - stuck on tarmac for 3 hours in JFK | then flight circled over ATL for 2.5 hours unable to land in heavy thunderstorms | diverted to jacksonville before fuel ran out | slept 4 hours on airport floor | 1 hour flight back to ATL !! :))

And the other one -

The first trip to US - the office travel agent booked me MAA-BOM-CDG-EWR-ATL-LFT - a total of 48 hours just from take-off to touchdown and not counting the time i started from home or got to hotel !!

a sensational switch

Asianet news LIVE coverage of world cup:
Anchor trying all he can to create extra SENSATION on top of a sensational innings by sehwag..

Listeners calling in to express their opinions...anchor switching lines and topics faster than sehwag could swing his bat...

one conversation...
Anchor: "ഇനി നമുക്ക് ദുര്‍ബനില്‍ നിന്നും വിളിക്കുന്ന സുരേഷിനോട് സംസാരിക്കാം, സുരേഷ്, എന്തൊക്കെ ആണ് പറയാന്‍ ഉള്ളത്?" ("Let us now talk to suresh from durban. Suresh - what do you have to say")
Suresh: "നല്ല innings, sachin ഇല്ല എന്നൊരു വിഷമം" ("great innings by india, sad that sachin is not playing")
Anchor: "നാട്ടില്‍ അച്ഛനും അമ്മയും ഒക്കെ cricket കാണുന്നുണ്ടോ?" ("Are your parents watching cricket back home?"
Suresh: "അച്ഛനും അമ്മയും ഇപ്പോള്‍ ജീവിച്ചിരിപ്പില്ല" ("my parents are not alive")
Anchor: "ശരി, ഇനി നമുക്ക് സിങ്ങപോരില്‍ നിന്നും വിളിക്കുന്ന വിനോദ് ലൈനിലുണ്ട്..വിനോദിനോട്‌ സംസാരിക്കാം..വിനോദ് എന്താണ് പറയാനുള്ളത്?."("Ok, we have vinod from singapore on line...let us talk to him..vinod, what do you have to say?"
!!!

more warnings !

i remember writing about some silly product warnings (to avoid lawsuits) like the small needle with "do not swallow" written on it..here is a new one i stumbled upon last week...

on the phone i have "car talk" and "wait wait don't tell me" podcasts downloaded, for listening to at airports / flights etc. - recently on a long drive, i connected it to the car AUX ..and my usual listening volume was not loud enuf for the car input - so cranked the phone volume all the way up...and it stopped playing...

at the next stop, i looked at the phone, and there was this disclaimer on screen "Warning - you have enabled super sound boost on the phone. This can severely damage your hearing. If you want to continue, please read and agree to this message.." followed by some warnings from surgeon general or someone like that....!!!

makes one wonder where we are headed ??

Portugese nuts !!

Following is just putting some two's lying around in my head together - no claim that these facts are in fact facts!!

The Portuguese call a "bun" a "pao", just like the goans. I know I have to say it the other way round, but I learnt the word in goa. Used to see the pao vendors every morning, out the same time as newspaper guys, going house to house and delivering pao. And of course the pao bhaji is definitely not Portuguese :)

That got me thinking about all the things Portuguese we grew up with, without even thinking about it (at least till now). Don't know why, but they were (and still are) referred to as "parangi" in malayalam - the old Portuguese are - u won't call ronaldo a parangi now. And vasco da gama or someone after that brought the cashew tree to kerala and goa and its pretty much everywhere now. The goans called it caju like Portuguese and made awesome fenny out of it...the mallus called the tree parangimaavu and called the nut a parangaandi - literally translated, that is a Portuguese nut that grows on a Portuguese mango tree !!

The tree itself did not come from portugal though, it came from brazil - another Portuguese colony.

And historical mallu movies (not super duper hit historical, but those that have some history in their story) that feature the Portuguese usually have some ligher-than-normal-dark-skinned-mallu actors wearing a blond wig and trying to speak malayalam with a british accent. Am yet to meet a blond Portuguese (even after looking for one in Portugal) and they seem to have a strong Portuguese accent !!

My resident consultant on these matters - my mother - says "they have to look and sound different - so isn't it easier to put a wig on a guy than try to change his color?"

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

what the kids pee...

long long back...early '80s, when we did not know the word "diaper" - good morning stores in trivandrum used to sell them...and since no one knew the word and there was no equivalent in mallu, they just had a board advertising "കുട്ടികള്‍ ഒഴിക്കുന്ന മൂത്രം കുടിക്കുന്ന ജെട്ടി" - or roughly translated "the undie that drinks what the kids pee" - its not as funny in english though..

:)

small embassy ...

had to get a visa for a small european country...called their embassy consular section in washington...

a lady (lets just call her X) picked up the phone, asked me for my e-mail address, and said they will e-mail me visa requirements.

Got a mail later from lady X, with details for the visa application. Got all the documentation together and mailed my Passport over to the address provided. The UPS delivery confirmation says my package was signed for by Lady X.

Just got back my passport with visa. The visa is signed for by the same Lady X....

and I took the visa receipt to submit for reimbursement to my company and noticed

that the cashier field in the receipt is also signed for by Lady X....

looks like Lady X is the consular section :)

Breaded !!

Read about this beer bread recipe, and it was too simple to give up - beer + flour + sugar, set aside, bake, and its ready :)

So that got me reading up on making just plain bread - it ended up being just like the bread aisle at kroger - too many options and choices.

So here is what I wound up with for my first attempt - i am not putting any quantity here coz we are not trying to make a bread to "specifications", make it your own :

flour - whole wheat atta or whatever you want (i read you can add some chopped wheat to get that grains found in market breads) this was about 3 cups for a full loaf

sweet - honey (i would use sugar for my next attempt - i dont like honey anyway :) )

salt - as desired (i used very little - half a teaspoon i think)

warm water (for the yeast)

milk - (a little again 2%)

oil - about a tablespoon (am gonna try butter next time)

yeast

also for next attempt will try one egg also in the mix - so it will be sugar, butter and one egg :))

and any other flavors you want to add !!

mix up everything other than the flour - this will be ur liquid for mixing the flour in and it has to be warm for the yeast to work.

i used a processer to mix coz they said knead for 8 minutes !!

so mix up the flour till it is one piece, but not as thick as chapati mix, it should stick together, but still stick to your fingers if you poke it...so somewhere in between a cake mix and chapati mix.

now take the end result and shape it into a loaf (as best as you can), pat the outside with oil (basically create a barrier so it does not stick to anything).

grease a bake plate, put this in, leave for an hour in a warm place - should double in size (if not check your yeast or temperature)

once it rises, bake at 375 F for 40 minutes. check and add more time if required. basically outside will get a good crust like the European breads (dont expect market bread consistency without additives) and you should be able to tap it and hear a hollow sound inside. Maybe stick a fork and find out the inside :)

cool and cut..