Remembering 'Silk'- Rehashed version of earlier entry

I am re-releasing one of my earlier entry which came as ‘Sheela ki Jawani’, with ‘Dirty picture’ hitting the silver screen today and memories of ‘Silk Smitha’ ( I knew you all thurkis read as mammaries) revisited,I have made minor changes from earlier one trying to add few more details of the era :-

Rejogging the memory after seeing buxom Vidya Balan on posters of ‘Dirty Picture’ it went back to timeframe of 1988-1995 and this was the time when out of teens, unshackled by parents we were absorbing all things new like a curious child, together we friends tried the goodies which were on offer in our small town of Dehradun.
Alok,me and other pals although were inhibited by our middle class taboos but still had unrestricted hormones which were overflowing like a dam bursting at seams with overflowing ooze ready to submerge anything under its way,lack of outlets and strong morality usually meant for us ‘God helps those who help themselves’ or a putting in chaste hindi ‘Apna haath Jagan Nath’ but then born creatives as we were, without props it all seemed quite dull, having exhausted IIIrd grade hindi pulps, we moved to ‘anonymous’ authors in English(Mendi had full mine of it) simultaneously rare dekko @ ‘Hustler’ or rather spuriously printed rehashed versions generally found on pavements outside bus stands and railway stations prolonged the ecstatic creativity for weeks. Lack of much needed solitude and fiscal support meant VCPs and much used video cassettes was option exercised only at max annually but then it had its own issues which I plan to recap later on…………And than we stumbled upon art house Cinema morning shows of French, english movies which were devoured to derive the much needed roughage, our creativity peaked with ‘Sirroco’ an all time favorite of all the ‘frustates’ I have been tracking career of ‘ Mr Roman Polanski ’ since then.Again something was missing as desi appetite can only be whetted with Roti, dal, sambhar, rice, pickle similarly creativity needed much sought after Indianness to it and than we discovered ‘ Digvijay’ and ‘New Empire’ two cinema halls in our beloved Doon, Different permutation and combinations of words like ladki, Jawani,Kam,Pyaas,Junglee,Aag,Badan,jism,padosan,darinda did all the magic, December winters made for pitch dark entry on a 1800 hrs show for us in the cinema hall and here we also noticed aged males coming helmeted in the cinema hall and we understood meaning of repressions and frustrations of provincial India.2-3 minutes of add on reels were the highlight for which IVth grade 2.5 hrs Malyalam/Tamil movie had to be endured, stock characters of impotant householder, young mistress, buxom servant lady and lecherous politician speaking in offnote sound track made miserable with Vth grade dubbing,it was almost addictive as a gambling forcing us to waste on a meaningless venture repeatedly without anyone of us getting any better creative inputs.
Now years hence suddenly song ‘Chutki jo tune maari’ of ‘Dirty picture’ made me situp and recap the misadventures, I have noticed atleast one of the above mentioned cinema hall in Dehradun on my recent visit still exhibiting similar fare I am not sure in today’s age who could be the audience ….but for sure Silk Smitha will remain immortal in reams of reels in these kind of movies.

Highway on my plate aka Thallapakatti Briyani aka Dindigul Biryani alongwith Chettinad liver fry and Lamb brains.

Guys recently I have been entrusted with south business in our feed grains and this is additional to my existing north/Nepal/B’desh portfolio so this makes it whole south Asia now and while this new responsibility takes me to metros like Bangalore/Hyderabad or mid tier cities like Coimbatore but than moffusil towns like Chikmanglur/ Hassan/ Dindigul/Karimnanagar are also on menu and whilst driving ofcourse I come across usuals like Dosas/Uutthapams/South Thalis but am also discovering exotic tastes of mangalorean cookery and Chettinad non veg style as well
Thallapakatti variety of briyani is quite popular in south India particularly in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.There are quite a number of eateries serving this type of briyani. Thallapakatti literally means turban in Tamil,Originating around Dindigul in Tamil Nadu is prepared using a small rice called seeraga samba and with special ingredients.
While Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The Chettiar community, who are a majority in this region, are a very successful trading community. The Chettinad people through their mercantile contacts with Burma, learnt to prepare a type of rice pudding made with sticky red rice.
Chettinad cuisine is famous for its use of a variety of spices used in preparing mainly non-vegetarian food. Chettinad food is less spicy, less oily and harmless to the stomach. Minimum quantity of oil, spice, tamarind and coconut is used in the real Chettinad food and topped with a boiled egg that is usually considered essential part of a meal. They also use a variety of sun dried meats and salted vegetables, reflecting the dry environment of the region. The meat is restricted to fish, prawn, lobster, crab, chicken and lamb.
Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosais, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis.

Recipe for Thopa

In late eighties, Gulati & I tried many different recipes to gain some weight and make our bodies a bit more attractive to the girls. Also, during these times, Sonu and Anil, all of a sudden starting gaining weight for unknown reasons, making me really curious( Dinu, of course, had no trouble gaining weight; he had trouble maintaining it and did a decent job of it). Turned out that they had been regularly visiting the Tibetan shanties near the local bus stand right next to the bhotiya market. Having been frustrated, I too decided to check out this place and joined them on one hot afternoon.

This was my first close encounter with Tibetan culture, the humble tibetan men, and the hot Tibetan girls. Sonu and Anil ordered Thopa and Mommo and ate them like animals while I struggled with the menu and also how I was gonna eat the meat as I had never eaten non-veg before. However, the 2 fatsos in front of me inspired me to the fullest and I took the plunge. After serious consideration I ordered Thopa as well. That was the love at first sight with Thopa and meat. I continued going back there every chance I got. I didn't gain a gram of weight -- while Sonu and Anil became Saands (bull) -- but picked up eating non-veg on the quest.

25 years later, however, when gaining weight is no longer a secret, I have finally decided to give up non-veg and get closer to my Jain roots, finding solace in compassion for other beings. Thopa and Momo became increasingly popular since then, slowly creeping out of the Tibetan territory and becoming mainstream. Now stalls are all over the city and the delicacies are being enjoyed by the masses.

Thopa Recipe: http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/YaBB.pl?num=1229042531

Learning ropes : My Nani's(P.B.U.H.) guide to making sun hemp rope

…………………Mahatma Gandhi strongly pleaded for decentralization of economic and political power through the organization of Village Panchayats. He was of the definite view that Panchayat system in India, if worked on scientific lines, could not only build up the social and economic strength of the countryside but also strengthen the forces of national defence against the risk of foreign invasion.He always wanted the villages to be a self sufficient units and enterprise such as below made it so


(Swarna bed in dusk and iron bridge on Swarna)

(Dry Swarna bed and Swarna in full aftermath of rains)

Place : Beautiful Swarna river near Belonwala :( 30°25’6”N 77°56’33”E)
Live Demonstration : A.D.1982 or so, it was time when Asiad happened and we shifted to Parkash nagar.
Participants : 1)Mighty Nani and 2)skinny me.
Raw material description :
Hemp is a versatile plant that has been cultivated for a variety of uses. Hemp fiber is known for its strength and natural resistance, hemp is most commonly used for making shoes, canvas, bags and rope.
Process Description:
- Dip the green branches of sun hemp during summers in the Swarna river bed during peak of summers when water remains a trickle.
- Secure them tightly by boulders and stones so they do not rush away during monsoon gut slought, This is to be secured as it is for 3-6 months till the time outer coating is pulped , rotten and ready to be peeled off with smallest of nudge.
- Take out the branches one fine summer afternoon with its warmth and before the sunlight starts fading and you start shivering under thin cotton dress you are wearing.
- With all your might and like a expert washer man beat continuously the pulpy, gooey outer coating on some nearby rock around the river bed till time sun fiber comes out all bright and shining.
- Separate the hemp fibers or unwind the hemp yarn and cut into lengths approximately twice as long as the desired length of the rope. Divide the bundle in two, holding half the fibers in your left hand and half the fibers in your right. Twist each bundle clockwise until the cord you are creating begins to kink and loop. Twist the two cords together, wrapping one over the other in a counterclockwise motion, to form a rope.

My Nani was one strong lady and as befalls all rural women apart from farm work most of all other chores were their domain and she made decent job of everything running the rural household efficiently, era was of saving and getting value out of last penny and thus old folks lived in Belonwala and other parts of India.They toiled so our future be made..hats off to them!!!

Recommended author : Amitav Ghosh

Just yesterday finished ‘River of smoke’ second novel in triology as put out by Amitav Ghosh first one was ‘Sea of poppies’.I started appreciating Ghosh when by chance at Bag dogra airport I happened to lay hand on ‘The Glass palace’ and was hooked to the novel of epic proportions, another flight another day and caught hold of ‘The Hungary tide’ and bond was sealed.

I was just wondering why and how this fixation for Ghosh’s novels is coming about and as I read further I can deciper…. the well researched works are generally spanning generations includes geographies I can identify with be it opium factory of Hazipur or boatmen of sunderbans and geograhies which hold mysteries for me like Burma(Myanmar) or for that matter Mauritius, it takes me back second world war also further down to opium wars. It gives a peep how history might have been shaped by incidences as innocent as child’s laugh and languages shaped by tower of babel the new lands of hope places like Mauritius or Canton became.seamless flow, mastery of language makes Ghosh celebrated award winning author, novels are never taxing to anypart of body including the brain novels are like Golden era of epic movies and Ghosh is masterful like directors of yore..gurudutt and Mehboob revisited.

I look forward to concluding part of IBIS triology now and few others so far not added…………. you guys know now what to gift me on my birthday!!!

Once in a Blue Moon

While drinking in a bar with friends has its own zing, the burden on the wallet is another thing. Finally, Patio has come to our rescue. Located right next to my office, it's perfect not only on the money but also on the time. If we leave at 4ish from the office, we are able to be done in an hour and be home on time as well. You can buy 2 glasses of beer and one plate of french fries for $6. That's unbeatable. So we are visiting it frequently.


Lately, we have also been indulging in the Belgian style beer, Blue Moon. With orange slices adding sweet taste to it, it has changed my perception of beer and I am finally off whiskey.




Baby preferring blue moon to milk


Blue moon also keeping white house running
[Images copied from various sources]

Marketing newsletter- 'Out of frame'

The Marketing newsletter i edit for BU(Business unit) and as you know is posted in whole of Asis-PAC , i run my own two column in that 1) editor's folly= editorial of sorts 2) Out of frame- cartoon on topics of quarter more related to marketing strategy..here i use one marketing lead who is saradr as well as my whip boy.
This cartoon was posted in annual edition whose editprial i have already given.

Newsltter @ Devigarh -I

Offsite @ Devigarh

The Teaser of two fun newsletters i am going to circulate during our offsite in Udaipur, will attch newsletters as well little later for ur readings.

ATM blues

India got its first ATM when the HSBC introduced the concept in 1987.

I saw an ATM for first time in 1995, it was December in Mumbai landing at around 10 in night at VT now called as CST(I think it was called CST back than as well) straight from Lucknow with an address in hand looking for my Buddy Alok Jain although I had sent speed post in advance of my arrival date it’s a mystery still where that post went.Out of train Frantically I looked everywhere for Mr jain..not a trace of him.I summoned all the courage and went out of station. Irani restaurant on the front street was full of crowd doing brisk business ….being a simpleton I told the owner guy the predicament I was in and told him I was looking for no of Colaba YMCA,guy was point blank and told me it would cost INR 5/- extra and than pushed thick yellow directory in front of me..one full page of YMCA nos!!! , this was a coin propelled phone and I was able to connect to manager of YMCA Colaba, I was speaking english as if everyone in Mumbai breathed only that language(assumed fears of a small town guy) he guided me to a phone no of the hostel and lucky me that Mr Jain was somehow was in his room awake still and was called instantly , for first time I felt oxygen in my lungs.My saviour the Irani the eatery owner never took that 5 from me I feel indebted to him still.

Mr Jain was prompt in coming and out we went for night of adventure( would recap that in some later post or maybe Alok recaps that) but first Mr jain went into kiosk sort of the thing pulled out card and extracted money out of the metallic box.

I had seen working of first ATM in my life.

My First Post- sending on behalf of Joshita recapped verbatim

Welham is the most enjoyable and the best school I have been to.It is a nice experience to live in a boarding school. I like many things about welhams and one of the best and the funniest is it's fire proof puris . They are not actually fire proof but as they are quite hard but tasty all the girl's (INCLUDING ME ) call them fire proof. A lot of things happen there,In the past two months (when I had gone there for my first term )we had two Spic Macay shows , one Basket Ball tournament and the annualinter house music and dance competition.The studies are also quite tough than in Gurgoan ,There is a lot to do here. and they keep us very busy .

So altogether it is fun.

Of Jasmine and beetles

The editorial i put up in 3rd edition, maybe something incomprehensible to you more so about insects and FMD outbreak but this is truly internationale article to be enjoyed by people whose playground is world :

As third edition of the newsletter rolls out we reflect back pleasantly sipping our Jasmine tea without brewing up any storm in our tea cup whilst another boiling of ‘Jasmine’ is taking place in Middle East this time a real storm blowing away entrenched ones packing off them as tourists to distant lands wanted or unwanted by hosts but meanwhile Vietnam has some unwanted tourists these days, they come without visa or passport and do not sport any kind of shades or even khaki shorts, no..no not at all they are not even illegal migrants in strict sense, ‘Khapra beetles’ those innocent looking insects severly challenging entomologists somehow went piggy riding on corn’s back but not everyone is as visitor friendly and were turned unceremoniously back, talking of piggy riding, hog’s are having quite tough sailing in Far East with everyone suddenly interested in their pedicures/ manicures and which does not stop with checking of ‘foot and mouth’ only.
All in all eventful three editions and three quarters more to come ,end of this quarter is a major customer event for all of us and being sharp as always we know which side of our bread is buttered although never would we admit treating customer as cash cow still all are ready to milk the opportunity to fullest.

Rama Maam

Some of my finest memories come from my SGRR days. The school may have lost some reputation now, but in those days it used to be just fine. There were many a fine teachers, each one unique in their character. Their voices and faces are still stuck in my mind as if I saw them yesterday.

Even though Rama maam never took a class for me, or at least I don't remember she did, there was something about her that made me admire her. I think it was her strong personality. Middle aged, she had a habit of supari chewing. She always carried a reshmi supari pouch with her, the one thats round and has a string at the rim so you can pull and close it. I don't think I ever saw her empty mouthed. As soon as she finished, she would open her pouch and ate a small helping. Because of this her teeth had become tinted, and there was big gap between teeth as well. For some reason, she also always limped while walking. One of my distinct memories also is that she used to wear dark green sari always. Sticking out from the short blouse, her extremely fair flesh always shone on the sunny days making her even more attractive.

When a new principal was once hired at the school, he tried to bring about a few changes, one of them being each one of us would bring the news highlights from last night's news or from the morning newspaper and read them to the whole school during the morning prayer gathering. Also, for the prayers, it was decided to make it more musical. It turned out that Rama maam actually knew how to play harmonium. So, then every morning from then on we sung different prayers like itni shakti hame dena maata or ae maalik tere bande hum with her harmonium and her strong voice took prominence over all other voices. Of course once the prayer was over, she took supari from her pouch for a fresh helping and sooth her dried mouth from all the singing. Such was Rama maam.

Link to Jaya Bhaduri's video for a morning prayer session at school, singing hum ko man ki shakti dena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbchuCfqBls&feature=related

Confessions of born Merchandisers

An article in yet to be published editorial in newsletter, it talks of confessions of one my colleague and is apt for sales personnals:

Fine day god gifted us to this earth we immediately put up a simple structured solutions for our parents….mom lovingly fed us while dad became our most willing cleaner and never have we seen again customers so happy ever. Growing up trial and error further honed up our marketing skills, initially fleecing grandparents for the pocket money on way to the school leaving behind again a set of well satisfied and adoring customers, still in college increased complexity of ‘Growing up’ business threw up challenges which certainly tingled our boiling hormones and growing grey cells, this time as complex as it can get..latest flames’ father finances the happiness of his child in turn feeling good whilst the child finances the surreptitious meetings again fueling the happiness all over….certainly we did get a engaged customers family.
Finally getting hired by Cargill to be paid for a job which came as naturally to us as honking comes to a donkey but never making an ass of ourselves always leaving a trail of devotionally singing customers behind the pied piper

Twinkle! , twinkle! Cargill star,
sometimes we wonder what you are !
making us feel good and high,
Like a fly caught in sweet pie!

OSAMA

Had Seen this pic somewhere in a magazine earlier saw again.

No virus in this.... :-)

News letter

These were the cartoons i has posted in my marketing news letter under new head of 'Out of frame" all these are real people, i am making more foes than friends.

Snow Aisle

Last night our town got 24 inches of snow. I have never seen so much snow in my time I have stayed in Chicago area, especially in one nite. Cleaning was a big challenge. It took me well over 3 hrs to get good clearance.

Here you have link to a video on You Tube.

One of the vessel Built by our Yard- Vessel, Named, W G Tasman.

Commissioned by your old friend.

Design was done by Ulstein from Norway.

You might observe it to be little different as the it has X-Bow and not a conventional

flared bow.(Bow=Forward part).

You can watch it in action....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3nyavoDJHI

Here it is seen doing Maneuvers

These kind of maneuvers are possible with Tug Support only for an average Cargo Ship.

(Tugs =Smaller but powerful vessels used for pushing a bigger vessel while coming in or going out of a berth)

These particular types are used for Oil and Gas exploration in Offshore regions.

(They were the ones who found gas on India's east coast for Reliance and ONGC).

Now this vessel is doing Seismic Data Acquisition at Brazil.

Some Pictures from Trials last year.

1.Early Morning prior going for Trials.

2.At Sea!

3.View from Vessel and Burj Khalifa in Backdrop.

4.A Compass On Bridge Wing

Sunset

Do not have pictures of Very Bad Weather we faced later with Very Strong Winds

A wedding and Funeral

This was second editorial i wrote in Sept- Nov edition, it makes light of the efforts with customers we make
"......

Mr Honcho head of the Big corporate growled at us, he could have very well afforded to be smug in discovery of his own greatness, we were three Mr. Biz manager, Mr. Marketing manager and poor me the account manager and we bowed deferentially almost grovelling like typical south asian parents out for ‘match making’ for their ward, this was the exact time of the year when everyone in our company goes groom hunting…….aka…. customer meetings.
Mr. Honcho looked at us enquiringly Kennedy like “Ask not what your customer can do for you…” we agreed vehemently nodding in agreement frantically, and than he thundered Martin luther style “ I have a dream” we knew start of a nightmare but in obamasque way we declared “Yes we can”!!
Marriage was done! Customer was ours!
In negotiation handing out so much and losing almost everything except the clothes we wore! we trooped out triumphantly celebrating our own funeral procession, humming like nursery kids
Jack and Jill
When in Cargill
Went up the hill to fetch a customer !!!
Hurtling they came down
Albeit With a broken crown
But you bet the customer came tumbling after !!!

............................................................................................................................."

What's in a name anyways !!

This was the first editorial in wrote in june-August edition of quarterly newsletter, my brief is simple, it has to be about work we do , about cargill and poking fun at whatever we do very seriuosly, this one was about pains we went to search for the name of the newsletter

“……………………………………

As we went hunting a appropriate title for this letter, the onorous task gave yours truly the first ‘ block’ a pulp writer can face and than i shrugged
What’s in a name?...anyways !!
Yes sir..that what it comes to these days, and our folks went to all trouble to find the funkiest name in town for you(Gawd….what’s funkiest).
Paul newman the legendary actor of Hollywood really must be turning in his grave with having to share the name with Octopus..and that too forecasting octopus..as if he did not have too much of same in his lifetime with another ‘legendary’ and ahem...’forecasting’ trader sitting at Singapore.
Well what’s in a name sir..anyways
Until..of course, the day a vernacular language paper in India was rueing the fact that farmers these days remember ‘Cargill’ more than ‘Kargil’..later being defense outpost one of highest in the world.That set me thinking overtime isn’t it a vibrant world where economics takes precedence, nationalist pride is in growth and Cargill signifies everything, so much so that Monsanto still has to sell the corn seed in backwaters of India terming it as ‘Cargill’ seed.
Do we again say..what’s in a name sir!
And said so we with the pleasure as we readily named this newletter ‘GOSCA marketing rolling out this first edition,idea is to share the good news, cheer the significant leaps and be happy together…. Collaborate ! Create ! Suceed……………………………..”

Editor in Chief

With the sucess of HOOPLA TIMES some how the news reached our singapore office and suddenly an idea came about in Top honchos mind of a quartely newsletter for Asia pacific listing marketing news and achievements and yours truly was entrusted to edit, design and get it printed in India, i cannot share the magazine since its internal publication but i will certainly share the one standard article i am carrying which is 'Editor's folly' and cartoon corner ' Out of frame' which again is taken up by me.

This newsletter is called soberly 'Quarterly marketing' and has set articles, all the titles are given by me but written by all top Asia pacific managers, so now i share space with our asia pac head.

Phas gaye rawat saab- Mosaic Plasty in Medanta

I was a early riser and went jogging/walking like an early bird but forgot birds and humans are not alike and in process deteiorated some injured cartilage which might have happened in teenage years.
As I found out :
Mosaicplasty is a technique of creating an osteochondral autograft by harvesting and transplanting many small osteochondral plugs from less weight bearing periphery of the patellofemoral area and inserting them into drilled tunnels in the defectice sections of the cartilage .
Simply put my cartilage was to be taken from some place in leg and transplanted in place of broken cartilage, the name of surgery i only learned on day of surgery when i went to insurers for covering the expenses.
Dr Rajagopal is world famous surgeon and heads the department in MEDANTA a world class institute in Gurgaon, my contact was Dr Rana but surgery was performed in presence of Dr Rajagopal, they claimed its perfect ly done after 2.5 hrs., it will take time to heal.

Now for 5 weeks i have to walk like this :


I plan to buy crutches monday onwards and emply a driver to attend office.