January 29, 2009.
The day had come. The day when our friend Chintan would leave Cyprus and fly back home to India.
We all came to cyprus in september with big hopes and dreams and were very happy to see ourselves in such a good place professionally at such an early stage of life. We were so happy when we bought our own car, went around visiting cyprus, enjoying food at restaurants, the bowling games, and so many wonderful experiences. But all this was short lived. Life took us out of our dream world and brought the reality before us that there are two faces of it. It was time to experience the sorrowful part.
January 7 became a one of the night marish days in cyprus. The experiences of that day were painful to say the least. It became our friend Chintan's last working day in amdocs all without any prior intimation or knowledge. The news sent shivers down my spine and felt so bad for him. We all were left shell shocked with what had happened in a span of few minutes.
We all tried to cheer him up and tried to show the positive side of life. But on an honest note, the way Chintan handled the situation with so much maturity, hats off to him. Probably somone else might have broken down, but he showed a tremendous amount of maturity and courage to face the situation for which i respect him.
The next few days we all spent together knowing that soon Chintan will not be with us in cyprus. We went out for few nights to bowling, to dinner, to the beach and spent the last few days with him in as happy a way as we could.
On the night of 28th Jan, we all went out for dinner and then we shared our experiences with Chintan at our home. At about midnight, the others left , punit and sarvoday went to sleep. It was Chintan and me.
We sat throughtout the whole night till morning talking sharing the few days we spent together.
The 4 months from September to January had not made us good friends. That night sure did.
The next day, we went to the airport to be with Chintan in his last few minutes with us here. The moment when he left us and the drive back from the airport to office was painful. But such is life.
A friend had gone. A good friend.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Instant Khichdi
January 7, 2009.
It was another day at the office. Had become a daily routine from going in the morning and working till evening. That day i returned home before punit and sarvoday. And after a long day at work, empty stomach was growling. Apart from a few biscuits and chips, there was nothing ready or cooked to eat. And i did not know how to cook anything. Well almost anything.
I thought to go out to McDonalds have a burger and milk shake and that would be for dinner. An easy way out but something compelled me to make a start. A start towards cooking. The idea seemed scary as it would in most likelihood be wastage of time and resources. But a couple of days before my friend and room mate sarvoday had taught me to cook khichdi (also called tahiri in his native place). I still am unable to fathom why does he call it khichdi when infact it is so different from the simple khichdi what i know. This khichdi of sarvoday when he cooked it first time, it was totally different from what i was expecting and so good. Nice orange colored rice with peas, carrots, potatoes and spices.Since then the new khichdi has almost become a kind of staple diet.
Continuing with that evening, i recalled the khichdi lessons of sarvoday. The problem was that day, sarvoday had prepared the khichdi and i was just a spectator, a kind of theoretical lesson. And on that evening, i was alone with no one to guide or correct me. Well there had to be a first time and that day it was. I took out some rice kept it in water and in the meanwhile cut potatoes and carrots.
Now came the most difficult part. The process called " chokhna " sorry guys, could not find a fitting english word for it. This chokhna involved adding oil, jeera, spices, salt in the right proportion and cooking for the right amount of time to avoid burning. So i started this task adding all the ingredients and vegetables and mixing them thoroughly and voila, my good luck the color and smell seemed good.Then added the rice and after about 40 mins my first dish was ready. In between those 40 mins, i had opened the cooker 3 times just to see how things were looking or better put it cooking.
After about 90 mins from the start, the khichdi was ready. Now was the time to test or taste it. I had the first spoon of it and was pretty satisfied with what i had prepared. Had a plateful of it and then went to sleep. Sarvoday and Punit came later in the night and they were also pretty surprised with what they saw on the dining table. In the morning when i woke up and went to the kitchen and opened the cooker, it was almost empty. I also had a glance at the garbage bin just incase. But that was also empty. So i presume they liked it and ate it.
It was a good start towards cooking. The khichdi took double the time what sarvoday takes for the same. But none the less, it was satisfying in the end. 1 dish done. Lets see what's next on the menu.
It was another day at the office. Had become a daily routine from going in the morning and working till evening. That day i returned home before punit and sarvoday. And after a long day at work, empty stomach was growling. Apart from a few biscuits and chips, there was nothing ready or cooked to eat. And i did not know how to cook anything. Well almost anything.
I thought to go out to McDonalds have a burger and milk shake and that would be for dinner. An easy way out but something compelled me to make a start. A start towards cooking. The idea seemed scary as it would in most likelihood be wastage of time and resources. But a couple of days before my friend and room mate sarvoday had taught me to cook khichdi (also called tahiri in his native place). I still am unable to fathom why does he call it khichdi when infact it is so different from the simple khichdi what i know. This khichdi of sarvoday when he cooked it first time, it was totally different from what i was expecting and so good. Nice orange colored rice with peas, carrots, potatoes and spices.Since then the new khichdi has almost become a kind of staple diet.
Continuing with that evening, i recalled the khichdi lessons of sarvoday. The problem was that day, sarvoday had prepared the khichdi and i was just a spectator, a kind of theoretical lesson. And on that evening, i was alone with no one to guide or correct me. Well there had to be a first time and that day it was. I took out some rice kept it in water and in the meanwhile cut potatoes and carrots.
Now came the most difficult part. The process called " chokhna " sorry guys, could not find a fitting english word for it. This chokhna involved adding oil, jeera, spices, salt in the right proportion and cooking for the right amount of time to avoid burning. So i started this task adding all the ingredients and vegetables and mixing them thoroughly and voila, my good luck the color and smell seemed good.Then added the rice and after about 40 mins my first dish was ready. In between those 40 mins, i had opened the cooker 3 times just to see how things were looking or better put it cooking.
After about 90 mins from the start, the khichdi was ready. Now was the time to test or taste it. I had the first spoon of it and was pretty satisfied with what i had prepared. Had a plateful of it and then went to sleep. Sarvoday and Punit came later in the night and they were also pretty surprised with what they saw on the dining table. In the morning when i woke up and went to the kitchen and opened the cooker, it was almost empty. I also had a glance at the garbage bin just incase. But that was also empty. So i presume they liked it and ate it.
It was a good start towards cooking. The khichdi took double the time what sarvoday takes for the same. But none the less, it was satisfying in the end. 1 dish done. Lets see what's next on the menu.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
200 km for a stamp
December 29,
After a long 5 day vacation, it was time for work again. In the holidays, we had gone to Troodos enjoyed the snow out there, then went to Turkish cyprus. In the turkish cyprus we were amazed to see the castle, mountains, beaches. We returned from turkish cyprus on 27 December night. We never would have thought we would have to go back to the border back in 2 days.
While returning from the turkish cyprus, at the border we stopped our car. Slowly we proceeded towards the southern cyprus but we were not stopped by any police. We exited from there virtually unnoticed. Next morning we found out that we were supposed to have an exit stamp on our visa which we did not have. We were in a way illegally staying in turkish cyprus.
This beacme a bit of bother and worry for us. Even though turkish cyprus is not recognized by any international community we thought it may create some problems in future. We consulted police and seniors and then on 29 Dec evening at 9 pm we decided to head back to the turkish cyprus border and sort things out.
Devashish and Sarvoday accompanied vinay punit and myself just in case we 3 would be troubled. Vinay and punit left in 1 car and deva sarvo and myself left in mine and head towards the border. After about an hours drive, we reahced the border. Vinay and punit had reached before us and they had sorted things out. The police there did not trouble us much and all the formalities were done though we were warned to be careful next time and that we would not be lucky again.
We then headed for a restaurant and after filling our stomach, me and deva left in my car with the others in vinays car. I was very much relieved that the things were sorted out. While returning we all were very tired and wanted to reach home as soon as we could since next day we had to go to work. So with no more tension in my mind, i stepped on the gas reached the highway and drove consistently over 130-140 kmph. At one particular downslope, i managed to take the car to 175 kmph. The 100 km highway to home was covered in around 35 to 40 mins flat.
The exit stamp on our visa took 2 mins. All this would not have happened had the police on the border been more vigilant. For no fault of ours we had to go travel 200 km to clear things out.
Drove 200 km in 3 hours but gained peace of mind.
After a long 5 day vacation, it was time for work again. In the holidays, we had gone to Troodos enjoyed the snow out there, then went to Turkish cyprus. In the turkish cyprus we were amazed to see the castle, mountains, beaches. We returned from turkish cyprus on 27 December night. We never would have thought we would have to go back to the border back in 2 days.
While returning from the turkish cyprus, at the border we stopped our car. Slowly we proceeded towards the southern cyprus but we were not stopped by any police. We exited from there virtually unnoticed. Next morning we found out that we were supposed to have an exit stamp on our visa which we did not have. We were in a way illegally staying in turkish cyprus.
This beacme a bit of bother and worry for us. Even though turkish cyprus is not recognized by any international community we thought it may create some problems in future. We consulted police and seniors and then on 29 Dec evening at 9 pm we decided to head back to the turkish cyprus border and sort things out.
Devashish and Sarvoday accompanied vinay punit and myself just in case we 3 would be troubled. Vinay and punit left in 1 car and deva sarvo and myself left in mine and head towards the border. After about an hours drive, we reahced the border. Vinay and punit had reached before us and they had sorted things out. The police there did not trouble us much and all the formalities were done though we were warned to be careful next time and that we would not be lucky again.
We then headed for a restaurant and after filling our stomach, me and deva left in my car with the others in vinays car. I was very much relieved that the things were sorted out. While returning we all were very tired and wanted to reach home as soon as we could since next day we had to go to work. So with no more tension in my mind, i stepped on the gas reached the highway and drove consistently over 130-140 kmph. At one particular downslope, i managed to take the car to 175 kmph. The 100 km highway to home was covered in around 35 to 40 mins flat.
The exit stamp on our visa took 2 mins. All this would not have happened had the police on the border been more vigilant. For no fault of ours we had to go travel 200 km to clear things out.
Drove 200 km in 3 hours but gained peace of mind.
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