...it was a wrong time to be in Mumbai. If I had to pick three months to be in Mumbai, they would be Nov through Jan end. Definitely not, July through September. Those are the months to avoid Mumbai. Given the current weather conditions as well as the overall feel for the cities of Mumbai and Pune, it doesn't get better than the end of the year. Nov (or Oct end) brings Diwali, the festival that genuinely bathes Mumbai in a shimmer of bright lights and the sounds of firecrackers. Sure, they are loud but the scene isn't half as bad as Ganpati or Navratri. By Indian standards, it is a quieter festival.
So, when I was in Mumbai there was no major festival. Festivals take off in the end of August, when Ganpati comes into town.
So, the initial weeks and months were free of the usual hindrances introduced by the onset of festivals. I don't remember any of the small, single day events.
I hate the Ganpati season in Mumbai. Don't get me wrong. Ganpati is my personal governing deity. I also love to wake up to Ganesh aarti. What I hate are the crowd, the gulaal, the traffic snarls, and the drunk exuberance that crushes heartfelt worship and melodious aarti.
People have made it a very loud, very vulgar time of the year. I nearly dread the 7th and 10th day of Ganpati when this crowd city seems to come out into the streets, in its entirety. And it does so loudly and obnoxiously.
And before someone says "Oh the boy has suddenly become American." I have disliked this loud part about this festival for a very long time now.
This time I can't say it was all bad for me. I didn't need to go out for work. I really didn't need to go out for food, since the flat was pretty well stocked and I could order from the most convenient place possible. I hibernated those 10 days. I was supposed to meet an acquaintance/friend but he didn't want to risk making it into the city and getting trapped ahead of his flight and I had no intention of getting trapped either.
Those days were spent doing my own thing...writing, reading, hanging out with Rohit, and listening to aartis and Ganeshnaam. No, I didn't play them. The entire city did it for me. All I had to do was not go deaf and I was certain to hear it.
I didn't end up going to anybody's home for aarti except Avi's place and that too because Deepatai was very earnest in her invitation. It was good fun. Remind me that I do enjoy Ganpati aarti. I have just become too jaded. The question 'Why' is to be pondered on at some later date.
At some point dahi handi crept up on me. This, ,again, with my medical background, I see as a major nuisance. Why do people subject themselves to life threatening actions and doctors to sleepless nights?
But, now, as a non practicing doctor, I was able to see the fun side of it. I remember vividly. I wanted to buy a bunch of my favorite Mocha sachets. I was going shop to shop, looking for them. Finally, as I was heading towards Ganga Vihar, towards Sandesh, right off the main road I saw a fairly high dahi handi. It was good fun watching the young boys organize the human pyramid so quickly and with so much agility. The handi had to be lowered, but it is all part of the game. The boys broke the handi and I walked on by in my quest to find my mocha...
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
A year ago...part II (Food reigned supreme)
OK, so pop quiz. When a desi in the U.S. is going back home to India for a vacation what is he really looking forward to? Sure, friends, family are all good answers.
But the correct answer is food.
In the U.S. you have a lot of variety - food of every cuisine you can dream of is either available in a restaurant nearby or 'ready in mins' packs are available. But the genuine touch of an experienced desi cook is missing.
The dosa here is a very sorry shadow of its true self. Biryanis and khichadi pass off as the other, no questions asked. Good quality rotis, naan, rumali rotis, parathas are the stuff of dreams. The one that personally moves me to tears is chaat. I mean, come on guys, the Kailash guys at Citylight are not geniuses. They are good at it because they churn out Dahi batata puri, ragda pattice, shev puri, bhel puri day in and day out. Possibly, they experiment.
But they come up with lip smacking, drool producing chaat.
The chaat I have had in the US is so ordinary, it nearly brings tears to my eyes for two reasons:
1) Of the 'N' no. of desi restaurants in Calif, none can really come out with chaat that touches the taste standards of a regular regdi in Mumbai.
2) Like idiots, us chaat crazed fools still rush to these places for something that distantly resembles chaat.
Point is - I was back in Paradise for a lot of the things I miss a lot.
My dreams revolved around dosai, uttapams, fresh idli that dissolves in your mouth, sambar with real drumsticks, Shri Krishna batata wada, Indian Chinese food at Gypsy, some good rumali rotis from Status, dalimbi usal at Aaswad, Goan food from Goa Portuguesa, and a lot lot more.
At the end of the day, I lived most of my food dreams. A few times over.
Trivia - I spent nearly 60-70% of that fairly lavish budget on food and drink.
There was a point when I was ordering food from Gypsy nearly every single day.
Now, for those not in the know, in the regular middle class area of Dadar/Shivaji Park, Gypsy is kinda an upscale restaurant. Not seriously expensive...but not the kind where regular folks just drop in for food when they are too tired of cooking.
The regular Dadar/SP guy who makes it big usually passes through a few phases with Gypsy as a benchmark. As a student and school days, he knows people who went to Gypsy for birthdays. He has heard of people who go there regularly and talks about Gypsy, as if he knows those regulars personally. The first trip to Gypsy is an experience. The guy may not necessarily like the food, but you don't live a dream and come out saying it wasn't as much fun!
Later, as a grad student, he ends up going to Gypsy more often, for birthday parties, farewells, and such. One day, the guy gets a good job or goes to the US and suddenly thinks of Gypsy as a totally regular place to eat.
In some measure, though not accurately so, I am that guy.
This trip, I think, I tried most decent things Gypsy had to offer. Some excellent, some simply did not take off. But frankly, at one point, I got fed up of Gypsy food.
The next on the list was Oven Fresh. This blog has already been witness to me shedding tears to the passing of the Chicken Club sandwich. But love affairs die hard.
In Part I, I mentioned having lunch 500 times with Vik. Given that Oven Fresh is a stone's throw away from where Vik works, we met there quite often. I introduced Vik to an entire new world of Continental food and to his credit Vik took to it with some gusto.
I used to think of it as expensive but everything is relative and contextual. In the changed context, I thought it was total VFM.
I really tried to hunt for a decent Japanese place in Mumbai to see if I could intro some of the boys to sushi, rolls and sashimi. Sadly, Mumbai is still pretty 'behind' on the Japanese food scene.
Now I have to confess that I am not a regular sushi starved guy. But I like it once in a while.
Digressions, digressions, digressions...so Mumbai doesn't really have many Japanese places. Either you go for something that is totally not close to the original. Moreover, I was unwilling to subject myself to eating raw fish in Mumbai, in the monsoon season, unless I was certain the risk was minimal. The other end was Wasabi, the Japanese restaurant at the Taj. They charge Rs. 10,000-12,000 for this sashimi platter.
News flash - I don't like Japanese food THAT much.
Where continental food is concerned, Mumbai has had a long standing love affair with that.
Churchill is an eternal favorite. Small place, so it is a tight squeeze. Come here without reservations at your own risk. Waiting time is 15-20 mins. It has an almost claustrophobic feel so you really want to dig your chops into the good food and get out. It's not very high on the ambience metric but more than makes up for it with quality of food.
Went there with Dole and Nitin. Dole had his chops in some lamb chops before I could coo "Baaa". I'm not too enthusiastic about red meat so I went in for fish cooked in some red wine sauce. The dish was spectacular enough so when we revisited the place a few weeks later, we scanned the entire menu again, but settled for the Ol Faithful.
Next place for mention - Shri Krishna Batata Wada. It is not an undisputed 'best wada place' but for the faithful who flock there for those two luscious globes of batter fried potato filling with marinated green chili, there can be none other. See the crowd there, at any time of the morning, day or night and you figure its a pretty popular place.
I don't care if it is popular, I just love their wadas!
For a wada place it is pretty steep. Rs. 14 for a plate of two wadas. Some people would call it highway robbery. All I do is drool and beg for more.
Made only two trips to SK this time around. Shame shame!
Next stop Aaswad and Prakash
No nonsense, straightforward Marathi snacks.
Aaswad is slightly more flashy (if you call that flashy...) Prakash is stark and devoted to providing simple, high quality food. All other extras - not available. Prakash doesnt vie for your attention. It has a typical Marathi attitude. We give quality, no flash. Don't want to eat here? Your loss.
Each his its own 'best at..'
Aaswad wins hands down with kande pohe and kothimbir wadi. Their misal and mattha misaL are pretty good too. Add daLimbi usal to the list and I could cry for joy. At Rs. 10-15 bucks per item, bliss could hardly come cheaper.
Prakash delivers with its unparalleled sabudaNa wada. Anything else? Kachori!
But in typical Marathi fashion (again!), it's available only on specific days of the week. Why? Sure there must be some reason. Good reason? Who knows? Who cares? They don't!
Went to a few other places, courtesy the Maushi. Jashn, MIG club restaurant.
MIG club restau reminds me of the worst wine I have ever had. It was ridiculous by any metric and I dont care if it costs only Rs 150. Heck, by today's rates, Charles Shaw costs Rs. 82 and it's not bad at all!
The list may never end. The taste will fade away, until it is refreshed by another helping, hopefully not too far in the future. The memories will linger. Words will hopefully make those memories last, that bit longer.
Next...well just watch this space.
But the correct answer is food.
In the U.S. you have a lot of variety - food of every cuisine you can dream of is either available in a restaurant nearby or 'ready in mins' packs are available. But the genuine touch of an experienced desi cook is missing.
The dosa here is a very sorry shadow of its true self. Biryanis and khichadi pass off as the other, no questions asked. Good quality rotis, naan, rumali rotis, parathas are the stuff of dreams. The one that personally moves me to tears is chaat. I mean, come on guys, the Kailash guys at Citylight are not geniuses. They are good at it because they churn out Dahi batata puri, ragda pattice, shev puri, bhel puri day in and day out. Possibly, they experiment.
But they come up with lip smacking, drool producing chaat.
The chaat I have had in the US is so ordinary, it nearly brings tears to my eyes for two reasons:
1) Of the 'N' no. of desi restaurants in Calif, none can really come out with chaat that touches the taste standards of a regular regdi in Mumbai.
2) Like idiots, us chaat crazed fools still rush to these places for something that distantly resembles chaat.
Point is - I was back in Paradise for a lot of the things I miss a lot.
My dreams revolved around dosai, uttapams, fresh idli that dissolves in your mouth, sambar with real drumsticks, Shri Krishna batata wada, Indian Chinese food at Gypsy, some good rumali rotis from Status, dalimbi usal at Aaswad, Goan food from Goa Portuguesa, and a lot lot more.
At the end of the day, I lived most of my food dreams. A few times over.
Trivia - I spent nearly 60-70% of that fairly lavish budget on food and drink.
There was a point when I was ordering food from Gypsy nearly every single day.
Now, for those not in the know, in the regular middle class area of Dadar/Shivaji Park, Gypsy is kinda an upscale restaurant. Not seriously expensive...but not the kind where regular folks just drop in for food when they are too tired of cooking.
The regular Dadar/SP guy who makes it big usually passes through a few phases with Gypsy as a benchmark. As a student and school days, he knows people who went to Gypsy for birthdays. He has heard of people who go there regularly and talks about Gypsy, as if he knows those regulars personally. The first trip to Gypsy is an experience. The guy may not necessarily like the food, but you don't live a dream and come out saying it wasn't as much fun!
Later, as a grad student, he ends up going to Gypsy more often, for birthday parties, farewells, and such. One day, the guy gets a good job or goes to the US and suddenly thinks of Gypsy as a totally regular place to eat.
In some measure, though not accurately so, I am that guy.
This trip, I think, I tried most decent things Gypsy had to offer. Some excellent, some simply did not take off. But frankly, at one point, I got fed up of Gypsy food.
The next on the list was Oven Fresh. This blog has already been witness to me shedding tears to the passing of the Chicken Club sandwich. But love affairs die hard.
In Part I, I mentioned having lunch 500 times with Vik. Given that Oven Fresh is a stone's throw away from where Vik works, we met there quite often. I introduced Vik to an entire new world of Continental food and to his credit Vik took to it with some gusto.
I used to think of it as expensive but everything is relative and contextual. In the changed context, I thought it was total VFM.
I really tried to hunt for a decent Japanese place in Mumbai to see if I could intro some of the boys to sushi, rolls and sashimi. Sadly, Mumbai is still pretty 'behind' on the Japanese food scene.
Now I have to confess that I am not a regular sushi starved guy. But I like it once in a while.
Digressions, digressions, digressions...so Mumbai doesn't really have many Japanese places. Either you go for something that is totally not close to the original. Moreover, I was unwilling to subject myself to eating raw fish in Mumbai, in the monsoon season, unless I was certain the risk was minimal. The other end was Wasabi, the Japanese restaurant at the Taj. They charge Rs. 10,000-12,000 for this sashimi platter.
News flash - I don't like Japanese food THAT much.
Where continental food is concerned, Mumbai has had a long standing love affair with that.
Churchill is an eternal favorite. Small place, so it is a tight squeeze. Come here without reservations at your own risk. Waiting time is 15-20 mins. It has an almost claustrophobic feel so you really want to dig your chops into the good food and get out. It's not very high on the ambience metric but more than makes up for it with quality of food.
Went there with Dole and Nitin. Dole had his chops in some lamb chops before I could coo "Baaa". I'm not too enthusiastic about red meat so I went in for fish cooked in some red wine sauce. The dish was spectacular enough so when we revisited the place a few weeks later, we scanned the entire menu again, but settled for the Ol Faithful.
Next place for mention - Shri Krishna Batata Wada. It is not an undisputed 'best wada place' but for the faithful who flock there for those two luscious globes of batter fried potato filling with marinated green chili, there can be none other. See the crowd there, at any time of the morning, day or night and you figure its a pretty popular place.
I don't care if it is popular, I just love their wadas!
For a wada place it is pretty steep. Rs. 14 for a plate of two wadas. Some people would call it highway robbery. All I do is drool and beg for more.
Made only two trips to SK this time around. Shame shame!
Next stop Aaswad and Prakash
No nonsense, straightforward Marathi snacks.
Aaswad is slightly more flashy (if you call that flashy...) Prakash is stark and devoted to providing simple, high quality food. All other extras - not available. Prakash doesnt vie for your attention. It has a typical Marathi attitude. We give quality, no flash. Don't want to eat here? Your loss.
Each his its own 'best at..'
Aaswad wins hands down with kande pohe and kothimbir wadi. Their misal and mattha misaL are pretty good too. Add daLimbi usal to the list and I could cry for joy. At Rs. 10-15 bucks per item, bliss could hardly come cheaper.
Prakash delivers with its unparalleled sabudaNa wada. Anything else? Kachori!
But in typical Marathi fashion (again!), it's available only on specific days of the week. Why? Sure there must be some reason. Good reason? Who knows? Who cares? They don't!
Went to a few other places, courtesy the Maushi. Jashn, MIG club restaurant.
MIG club restau reminds me of the worst wine I have ever had. It was ridiculous by any metric and I dont care if it costs only Rs 150. Heck, by today's rates, Charles Shaw costs Rs. 82 and it's not bad at all!
The list may never end. The taste will fade away, until it is refreshed by another helping, hopefully not too far in the future. The memories will linger. Words will hopefully make those memories last, that bit longer.
Next...well just watch this space.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
A year ago...part I
A year ago, as of this date, I was in rainy Mumbai, living alone in our Mumbai apt.
13 mths ago, I was in deep distress. Every single day was stressful. I had a good job offer, which I had accepted. I had a half decent signing bonus coming my way. My labor petition for H1 had been approved. On paper, life was perfect. But the lack of a date with the US Consulate, came in the way of this perfection giving me happiness.
I couldn't get a date to have my visa done in India. All dates for 5-6 mths had been booked. Finally, as a good Indian, I figured out the process and got a date in the Kolkata consulate.
I was looking forward to going to India for a longish break before I started work but it was such a wrong time to be in India. In Mumbai, July basically spells disaster these days, what with the heavy rains and flooding. To top it, a day or two, before I was supposed to leave for India, some fucked up terrorists set off huge bombs in Mumbai's crowded suburban trains.
I usually brag about the psyche of the Mumbai citizenry. You pull off 5 blasts, people will still use the trains the next day. They suck it up, and move on.
I am rushing ahead of myself.
I had to go via Heathrow, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. First, British Airways sucks, as a higher end airline. The food is hideous and in extremely small portions so that someone like me, a light eater these days, came out of a meal hungry. The entertainment sucks...no 'on demand' movies...and the movies they showed were so boring I didn't know what to do with myself for the long haul trip.
Heathrow was the disaster it had promised to be. The long lines and security checks almost made me nauseous. The 8 hr transit didn't help any. All in all, the price I had to pay for going to India was in terms of mental stability and my sanity.
Landing in India wasn't really an overpowering experience. I had been there just 6 mths ago. I got out of the security area pretty quickly and got myself a cab. 400 bucks to go from the airport to Mahim. I'd call that fairly steep in the geographical context. Converted to dollars, it was pretty cheap.
Then the miracle happened. During broad daylight, I traveled from the airport to home...an experience that had taken me 2.5 hrs, only 6 mths back, in 25 mins flat. The cab stopped only at two points, the first signal taking the left turn from the Airport road onto the main road and then again while taking the left turn from an inside lane, close to the Mahim-Bandra flyover, to LJ Road.
This is the point I go back to the mention of Mumbai, the resilient city.
This time the city seemed scared. It hadn't taken this last punch very well. The roads were empty, people were staying away from trains and buses. Anniversary of July 26 was looming over the horizon and people were reeling under the left-right of the rains and terrorists.
Anyways, I came home soaked. No, there wasn't any rain. Just my sweat. Mumbai humidity does that to me.
Reached home and hauled my bags to the second floor.
Our building had been painted a fresh coat of some hideous color but I didn't mind it.
Reached home and I had Deepak (mama) to welcome me in before he left quickly to get his work done.
Adheet dropped by for a few mins to say hi. Good times catching up.
Then I did what I ritually do when I land in Mumbai. I cabbed it to Siddhivinayak, took darshan and decided to walk back. It's a pretty short haul back and the afternoon, though humid, wasn't a combination of hot and humid.
On my way back, I completed another ritual. I stopped by at SPG. The security guy had changed. And he didn't recognize me immediately. That was a blow to my ego.
But I knew in some short time, all the security guys at SPG will know me like they know the guy who hands them their paycheck.
The Doc of SPG isn't to be forgotten so easily.
Things seem to be headed in the right direction. Realized I hadn't checked my mail in a long time (36-48 hrs) and went over to the Reliance WebWorld across from Gypsy. My usual trick, these days, is to keep my account alive with 100 bucks on it, and to renew it with 100-250 buck increments when I land in Mumbai. This time, the lady at the counter said that I needed to pay 500 odd bucks for the renewal. That's a load of bull crap!
I was going to get myself a broadband connection. No reason I wanted to put 500 bucks here. 2 missions remained - one) to find myself a cable connection and two) to check mail at some place the same day.
Adheet invited me over for dinner and promised to let me use his laptop to check my mail. Coming from a kokya, I was nearly moved to tears. Ya right!
So I hauled a few beers over like a good American guest, while Adheet and the missus set forth a table full of goodies and teased me for my reduced appetite. But he repaid in kind by helping me select a decent DSL line...good ol MTNL. I was surprised to hear how good it was but then I have seen AG throw a tantrum or two when the net connection speed goes down and interferes with his 'net experience'. So, if it was good enough for him, I was cool with it.
Next day I went to MTNL, to get my modem and connection, money at the ready.
Typical MTNL problem...we can give you connection but it needs a special modem that we lease to you, and that is out of circulation. So we havent had one for quite some time and may not get some more for as much as a month.
Upside was: if I got my own modem, I'd get the connection the very next day.
Here I was the guy from America, with dollars converting to rupees. Ran to Yogesh and Shirish's place, a stone's throw from MTNL office. These guys have got to be the most honest and awesome computer guys I have ever met. They are more personal friends now. One more + to AG's tab. He introed me to these guys many moons back.
Shirish explained that the modem prices had been shooting up in the gray market for the same reason. If you get your hands on one, you get a connection asap.
I wrote him a check without a second thought, and to his word, he had a new modem available for me the next day.
I seem to have the easiest time with bureaucracy in India, these days.
I got in touch with the guy who would configure the connection for me. He promised to come the next day, and set it up for me.
Three days after landing in Mumbai, I had a DSL connection going for me. A record of sorts, I am told.
Connected to the net, 24/7, I was a new man.
Later, the Mumbai humidity was to mess up the keyboard on my laptop so I ended up taking the face caps off the keys to see if I could blow dry the connection and get it going.
Finally, I gave up and bought a crappy 400 buck USB keyboard, which is attached to my computer to this day.
My aging laptop has the monitor of a more youthful computer but is making sounds in weird places, showing its age.
Coming out of the deprived life of a PIGS (Poor Indian Graduate Student - in the US) I set myself a healthy 1000 rupee per day budget - food, travel, gifts, things to buy, household, etc.
I really cut loose on my wallet to the point that Vikrant (henceforth referred to as Vik), who thought me the stingiest bastard in the land, had his eyes bulging and mouth agape when he saw me carry, and spew, 100/500 buck notes.
Though I need add, I never wasted money. If I saw a bus going to SP, I caught a bus a zillion times. I didn't have to always cab it because I had money.
One of the happiest experiences (or bunch thereof) on the trip was the many, many, many long lunches I had with Vik or the hundred times he came over to my place 'for 10 mins' and ended up staying for a solid couple of hrs.
I had landed a good job after a tough 3-4 confidence sapping years. Vik was in full struggle mode. He was handling marriage and increased responsibility the way only Vik can - with complete joy.
Had terrific long conversations with Vik - we talked life, we talked food, we talked money, we talked ambition. Being with Vik transported me to another era, where we did super spontaneous simple things.
Like the time he made me walk in light rain, all the way to Aaswad, for a plate of kande pohe. I begged him to drive or suggested I'd pay for a cab and typically Vik came back that he'd pay me the cab fare equivalent to walk. Obstinate bastard. Usually the pohe would be all gone by the time we reached Aaswad. And then I/we'd nearly collapse laughing.
Vik, with a bruised ego, and an unsatiated appetite for pohe, would force me around from Gypsy corner to N different places in the quest of pohe.
I traveled to Pune some, went to Kolkata for all of one day, met up with cousins and friends.
I intend to make this a series for the next few days...so these memories solidify into words.
13 mths ago, I was in deep distress. Every single day was stressful. I had a good job offer, which I had accepted. I had a half decent signing bonus coming my way. My labor petition for H1 had been approved. On paper, life was perfect. But the lack of a date with the US Consulate, came in the way of this perfection giving me happiness.
I couldn't get a date to have my visa done in India. All dates for 5-6 mths had been booked. Finally, as a good Indian, I figured out the process and got a date in the Kolkata consulate.
I was looking forward to going to India for a longish break before I started work but it was such a wrong time to be in India. In Mumbai, July basically spells disaster these days, what with the heavy rains and flooding. To top it, a day or two, before I was supposed to leave for India, some fucked up terrorists set off huge bombs in Mumbai's crowded suburban trains.
I usually brag about the psyche of the Mumbai citizenry. You pull off 5 blasts, people will still use the trains the next day. They suck it up, and move on.
I am rushing ahead of myself.
I had to go via Heathrow, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. First, British Airways sucks, as a higher end airline. The food is hideous and in extremely small portions so that someone like me, a light eater these days, came out of a meal hungry. The entertainment sucks...no 'on demand' movies...and the movies they showed were so boring I didn't know what to do with myself for the long haul trip.
Heathrow was the disaster it had promised to be. The long lines and security checks almost made me nauseous. The 8 hr transit didn't help any. All in all, the price I had to pay for going to India was in terms of mental stability and my sanity.
Landing in India wasn't really an overpowering experience. I had been there just 6 mths ago. I got out of the security area pretty quickly and got myself a cab. 400 bucks to go from the airport to Mahim. I'd call that fairly steep in the geographical context. Converted to dollars, it was pretty cheap.
Then the miracle happened. During broad daylight, I traveled from the airport to home...an experience that had taken me 2.5 hrs, only 6 mths back, in 25 mins flat. The cab stopped only at two points, the first signal taking the left turn from the Airport road onto the main road and then again while taking the left turn from an inside lane, close to the Mahim-Bandra flyover, to LJ Road.
This is the point I go back to the mention of Mumbai, the resilient city.
This time the city seemed scared. It hadn't taken this last punch very well. The roads were empty, people were staying away from trains and buses. Anniversary of July 26 was looming over the horizon and people were reeling under the left-right of the rains and terrorists.
Anyways, I came home soaked. No, there wasn't any rain. Just my sweat. Mumbai humidity does that to me.
Reached home and hauled my bags to the second floor.
Our building had been painted a fresh coat of some hideous color but I didn't mind it.
Reached home and I had Deepak (mama) to welcome me in before he left quickly to get his work done.
Adheet dropped by for a few mins to say hi. Good times catching up.
Then I did what I ritually do when I land in Mumbai. I cabbed it to Siddhivinayak, took darshan and decided to walk back. It's a pretty short haul back and the afternoon, though humid, wasn't a combination of hot and humid.
On my way back, I completed another ritual. I stopped by at SPG. The security guy had changed. And he didn't recognize me immediately. That was a blow to my ego.
But I knew in some short time, all the security guys at SPG will know me like they know the guy who hands them their paycheck.
The Doc of SPG isn't to be forgotten so easily.
Things seem to be headed in the right direction. Realized I hadn't checked my mail in a long time (36-48 hrs) and went over to the Reliance WebWorld across from Gypsy. My usual trick, these days, is to keep my account alive with 100 bucks on it, and to renew it with 100-250 buck increments when I land in Mumbai. This time, the lady at the counter said that I needed to pay 500 odd bucks for the renewal. That's a load of bull crap!
I was going to get myself a broadband connection. No reason I wanted to put 500 bucks here. 2 missions remained - one) to find myself a cable connection and two) to check mail at some place the same day.
Adheet invited me over for dinner and promised to let me use his laptop to check my mail. Coming from a kokya, I was nearly moved to tears. Ya right!
So I hauled a few beers over like a good American guest, while Adheet and the missus set forth a table full of goodies and teased me for my reduced appetite. But he repaid in kind by helping me select a decent DSL line...good ol MTNL. I was surprised to hear how good it was but then I have seen AG throw a tantrum or two when the net connection speed goes down and interferes with his 'net experience'. So, if it was good enough for him, I was cool with it.
Next day I went to MTNL, to get my modem and connection, money at the ready.
Typical MTNL problem...we can give you connection but it needs a special modem that we lease to you, and that is out of circulation. So we havent had one for quite some time and may not get some more for as much as a month.
Upside was: if I got my own modem, I'd get the connection the very next day.
Here I was the guy from America, with dollars converting to rupees. Ran to Yogesh and Shirish's place, a stone's throw from MTNL office. These guys have got to be the most honest and awesome computer guys I have ever met. They are more personal friends now. One more + to AG's tab. He introed me to these guys many moons back.
Shirish explained that the modem prices had been shooting up in the gray market for the same reason. If you get your hands on one, you get a connection asap.
I wrote him a check without a second thought, and to his word, he had a new modem available for me the next day.
I seem to have the easiest time with bureaucracy in India, these days.
I got in touch with the guy who would configure the connection for me. He promised to come the next day, and set it up for me.
Three days after landing in Mumbai, I had a DSL connection going for me. A record of sorts, I am told.
Connected to the net, 24/7, I was a new man.
Later, the Mumbai humidity was to mess up the keyboard on my laptop so I ended up taking the face caps off the keys to see if I could blow dry the connection and get it going.
Finally, I gave up and bought a crappy 400 buck USB keyboard, which is attached to my computer to this day.
My aging laptop has the monitor of a more youthful computer but is making sounds in weird places, showing its age.
Coming out of the deprived life of a PIGS (Poor Indian Graduate Student - in the US) I set myself a healthy 1000 rupee per day budget - food, travel, gifts, things to buy, household, etc.
I really cut loose on my wallet to the point that Vikrant (henceforth referred to as Vik), who thought me the stingiest bastard in the land, had his eyes bulging and mouth agape when he saw me carry, and spew, 100/500 buck notes.
Though I need add, I never wasted money. If I saw a bus going to SP, I caught a bus a zillion times. I didn't have to always cab it because I had money.
One of the happiest experiences (or bunch thereof) on the trip was the many, many, many long lunches I had with Vik or the hundred times he came over to my place 'for 10 mins' and ended up staying for a solid couple of hrs.
I had landed a good job after a tough 3-4 confidence sapping years. Vik was in full struggle mode. He was handling marriage and increased responsibility the way only Vik can - with complete joy.
Had terrific long conversations with Vik - we talked life, we talked food, we talked money, we talked ambition. Being with Vik transported me to another era, where we did super spontaneous simple things.
Like the time he made me walk in light rain, all the way to Aaswad, for a plate of kande pohe. I begged him to drive or suggested I'd pay for a cab and typically Vik came back that he'd pay me the cab fare equivalent to walk. Obstinate bastard. Usually the pohe would be all gone by the time we reached Aaswad. And then I/we'd nearly collapse laughing.
Vik, with a bruised ego, and an unsatiated appetite for pohe, would force me around from Gypsy corner to N different places in the quest of pohe.
I traveled to Pune some, went to Kolkata for all of one day, met up with cousins and friends.
I intend to make this a series for the next few days...so these memories solidify into words.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
"Americas Best Hospitals" 2007 Report
U.S. News ranking for Hospitals is serious bragging rights...and no little wonder. The entire organization works damn hard at maintaining it.
You see how serious all this is when you walk through the underground tunnel that connects the J Hop OPD area with the J Hop Hospital. The entire long, brightly lit tunnel is adorned with huge blow outs of the Cover pages from U.S. News declaring Hopkins as 'The Best" for the Nth time.
You see how serious all this is when you walk through the underground tunnel that connects the J Hop OPD area with the J Hop Hospital. The entire long, brightly lit tunnel is adorned with huge blow outs of the Cover pages from U.S. News declaring Hopkins as 'The Best" for the Nth time.
For the 17th consecutive year, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has topped U.S.News & World Report's annual rankings of "America's Best Hospitals." For a complete list and methodology of rankings, please visit www.usnews.com.
In addition to heading the Honor Roll, The Johns Hopkins Hospital ranked in the top 10 in 15 of the 16 specialty categories listed. Here are the rankings:
 |
| #1 | |
| #1 | |
| #1 | |
| #1 | |
| #2 | Geriatrics |
| #2 | Neurology/Neurosurgery |
| #2 | Ophthalmology (Wilmer Eye Institute) |
| #2 | |
| #3 | Cancer |
| #3 | Digestive Disorders |
| #3 | Endocrinology |
| #3 | |
| #4 | Heart/Heart Surgery |
| #5 | Orthopedics |
| #6 | Kidney Disease |
| #21 | Rehabilitation |
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