Dinner Session in Talybont South...

I will hold good on my last promise and put in some snaps about our good old times, back in cosy Talybont south.

Back then the trio Prakash, Vinoth and Santa were the definite members and Punit usually gave them company (though almost never did he partake of their food (that upright ass!) Sometimes Sajith, Raam, Joshi, Selva or me were also present , almost always the party exceeded 4 members, though the frequency of Joshi , Raam and me were markedly less in that order.

The usual items included rice (often cooked in the microwave (for a short while cooked in Santa’s cooker but then that was discarded as well) yoghurt and some curry usually with tomatoes, onions and/or eggs as primary constituents. We did have a few other dishes , meat for instance but the staple diet were the above mentioned ones. The dinner session was a lengthy drawn out session, often leading to us earning curses from our roommates [:P] because of the noise, mess and the space we took up, but I am never the one to complain. It felt good to have people around.

Prakash stayed 2 floors above us, yet every session he dutifully stepped out of his corner (the rest of the day he spent cooped up... all day.. making detailed analysis of pornographic motion films). Vinoth technically stayed in a altogether different flat but he was around in Santa’s place for quite some time … Punit and Santa usually tagged along each other wherever they went [which was usually to the library or the grad centre but Punit also managed to persuade Santa to take long walks with him to explore the different roads of Cardiff. Sajith had *ahem* *ahem* personal business going on … and he did drop in time and again, though towards the end his (and Selva’s ) frequency increased. Raam was a cook himself, so he didn’t feel the need to come down so often. And since I stayed there, invariable I was mostly around. Selva stayed in Court, and closer to Vinoth than the rest of us, it was only in the later stages that he started coming more often.

Sajith cooked whenever chicken was on the menu and he was a decent cook. I usually didn’t refuse their invitation to join them though I did feel a little guilty coz they didn’t really have an inclination for the food I cooked [:D] . Punit would invariably fiddle with his phone and prakash will give gay looks all around or ask about songs and games. Or gape at passing brit undergrads trooping out for their parties…

Sometimes, the dinner session was followed by a leisurely sutta session and random babble. The guys did make a hell of a racket, especially Punit and Sajith and the others pitching in with earnest on a topic that fired their cylinders and I usually was satisfied being a relatively quieter spectator with a bemused smile on my face as I watched them have go’s at each other.

They made a real mess of the Kitchen … spilling oil, and curry powder and leaving the dirty utensils in the sink, on the stove not to say that the rest of the flatmates were spick and span , so it added to a generally dirty shared space. :(

But it still was good times; old times; fun times. Life; with friends; Life with so few worries, with so much promise. Happy days … sigh….Talybont days… Happy days .

Dinner at Mirchi

But after that blunt-ended post, the images does tend to get a bit blurred

But since we were on the lines of collective eating habits of Indians, let me just pull together a few more snaps and write about a couple more sessions when I had the privilege of eating a more than decently cooked meal with my comrades. But be warned, its isn’t always a reason to celebrate, an occasion to memorise; for them , it is almost daily life, with an added guest to feed upon their rations (me, in case u didn’t get it) .

I have numerous snaps of our times in Talybont and I will conjure up a few of them (the ones that really explained the ambience) and I will also put in a few from the new place they moved into (even though it was only for a short while.) there is a complete album devoted to one such time though. “Dinner at Chancery Lane”

http://picasaweb.google.com/mohanty.sk/DinnerInChanceryLane#

But all that will be preceded by the tale when we went to Mirchi… good times…

The snaps will be in the Album “Dinner in Mirchi”

http://picasaweb.google.com/mohanty.sk/DinnerInMirchi#

The start…

The actual food… (I remembered, the guys kept on complaining about how it was not spicy enough!! LoL)and i believe the fork, and hand is sajith's .. strange notions , that guy has.. absolute possesive abt chicken... ha ha ha!!!

After a full stomach…

A separate snap for the great guy who took the great shots ... Selva, thanks buddy!!

Have Fun Always

Cheers

A vague memory of an important day

My public blog has been gathering dust for sometime now , and I realised it was about time I put in a fresh face, a fresh tale and obviously fresh illustrations to let people who give a damn know, how my life here in UK is going on…

But my basic problem, as is the root of all the incidents happening to and around me is my sheer laziness, I have this almost huge stock of pictures with me now ( just fitting within a dvd!! ) that the laziest of bums that I am , I am daunted just by the size of it and trying to pick out a single, interesting tale, unwoven with the rest [and thus free from choices… the scariest reality of my life] is a trying task. But alas, just like my bones, that refuse to do my bidding, so does my mind rot away in indecision.

But having time on my hands ; [and idle time that if allowed to fester can bring in the seeds of weeds unpleasant] I set upon this task with renewed fervour to - slowly , but efficiently craft the tale of my existence here, the land of … ( well too many things actually.)

So let me see, where did I leave the tale hanging the last time…

Ahh!! New Year 2008…

You see , I have sort of chronicled my life in a bare minimum kind of way, on my online photoalbum

The link is

http://picasaweb.google.com/mohanty.sk

but the space is slowly being eaten up, and not being a premium member (pay money for online usage, am I a self righteous Indian or no? :P )

there is a very valid reason for the discontinuation of the blog, for the abrupt disinclination to put forth more of my life here , but as is my clogged up self, I am not totally at liberty to express it out loud. And most of the pictures in those period of times did not really do much justice to the really wonderful place this is, and the opportunities that lie here, they were a reflection of the (oh here we go again … sigh) depression, and gloom that I experienced. But though I can justify the discontinuation at that stage , the picking up of the strand once things got brighter doesn’t have much explanation other than my old ally, laziness.

Things got really busy around end of May , till mid October, and I didn’t really get much thinking time, contemplating time , much less photo-editing time. The shutterbug did not cease , but most of the snaps remained dormant , waiting for the brush to bring them to light. I used no photoshop, to embellish the truth, my editing is always to cut away , that which is not part of the story.

The next big day (though I did not know it then) was the day we went to KFC; It was sometime in February is my guess. Obvious the day started off as any other day, but I do remember that there was a open job interview that I had to go to, I did urge the other guys to come, none of them did, (and one of them even boasted that he has gone to the same place before once and did not get the job ,though I knew this was the first time they were holding an interview in the first place, but I held my tongue and my peace.)

Events in the recent past had changed the situation slightly ( :D) and laidback though I was, some extra dough would have meant more than minimalisitic luxuries . (whatever that means!!)

Anywayz , I went to KFC, sponged my share of the chicken off the guys and took a bus to my rendezvous point. The interview wasn’t spectacular and I didn’t step out feeling either exhilarated or depressed, it was not even one in a series, but I reacted to it as if it was, like it was like the umpteenth number of interview that I had just attended. (attended?? Yeah guess so )

Though I do remember waiting in the bay for a friend to come down and give the interview a shot, she did come, very late and in a taxi (a luxury unacceptable , in my dictionary) but unfortunately she did not make it. Such things inexplicably make me sad, that I should get thru and someone I know wont. But I remember the chilly winds as I waited and the cake that I devoured as I waited.

cheers

have fun always

Talybont South

Cardiff is a nice place,
Nature is not restricted, not suppressed, it is allowed to flourish.


Talybont South , University Residences, Cardiff University, Wales. A memorable time of my life.

Lucky Me.

Food ... Yumm

Just a montage of the different variety of food i was 'exposed' to. Most of them are products of my imaginations and some owe their birth to different cultural entities. Most of them are more than edible, some serendipitous finds, and some essentially spartan - now that's variety for you.

Cheers

Have Fun Always

Sandringham Hotel and the tale around it

...Oh so i reach the security office and present my official papers and am bundled down in a taxi to a hotel called the Sand-Ring-Ham Hotel.
now a place where you want to stay a night over, if it has symbols of bondage , and flesh and external environment in it , may not sound very comforting , and i did end up sharing the room with a german, Dominic, who turned out to be more than a nice guy and we still keep in touch.

What i remember best is the the sumptuous breakfast , bordering very close to lavish that i got to enjoy the next morning, and the unidentified asian a few tables away who asked for baked beans !!! ( in a hotel) i wish i had clicked a snap of the breakfast, but i didnt have my cell yet!!

but it was a spread!!! lemme count out (despite my failing memory) toast, milk, coffee, tea, option of eggs , and all different meat , and cereals, and cut fruits and jams , and butter and ...
i just followed the lead of my newly acquired German friend and ordered the same as him , he ended up complimenting my appetite (embarrassed smile).

A very harassed looking lady (Rachael??) fended off the many students who assembled in the hotel lobby every morning and i got a room in House 22, Floor 3. And the bill incurred was borne by the residency department of the Uni..neat.

Apparently my father was scared to death that i had either managed not to get off the flight or have been shot in the london subway as a possible terrorist or something on those lines (since i had neglected (?) ) to call them back home to let them know , i am still around and in one piece, and he called up all possible numbers listed on the pages that i had given him about the uni i was coming to.

so as soon as i was alloted a room , i find out the Dean of the school has asked me to meet him , or call up home and report the same to a certain staff in the postgraduate office!!!! Arrrgh, how embarrassing , not yet here and already (in)famous!

Cheers
Have Fun Always

Dog Tags , and Tagging Dogs..

One of the few , 'extraneous' articles i brought along with me, coz essentially i came very light , very spartan . ended up giving it to a 'umm' friend.

drew a lot f comments these , not many knew i bought it off the streets of Kolkata for (i don't remember) 35/- or 75/-.

now u do :(
more aout the 'umm' friend?? maybe later... ;)

Cheers
Have Fun Always

How Hard

Not a reference to the decidedly stupid hairstyle of mine.

I don't even remember what i referred to.

Maybe to asking the person who clicked this pic to pose with us
Maybe to the situation i am in , of trying not to tread delicate female toes with my crass and unpolished sense of honest humor
Maybe to the level of tolerance required in a social setting
Maybe to the food, its nutritional value and taste bud impact,
or simply to

the finding out of people who would make life and living here simpler and happier.
People who made sense, who appeared sane and who understood the crap i blabbered.
the first girl i met who said , "i know Feynman and his quote about physics and mathematics" :)

didnt really expect it will take so long either.
Damn me! always late in life!!!


Cheers
Have Fun Always

Flatmates, Birthdays- why?

Core of Flat - 1, (apparently) Hmmph!!
I once read what Dale Carneige had to say about the power of influencing people - Thrust a responsibility upon them disguised as an honour, title or laurel.


I am ever a fun loving guy but somehow the people all around always have been the 'lets-study-or-do-something-equally-boring' type. :) i mean ... hey! ok, so i am a post grad - doesnt mean we shouldn't have fun, rite ??! damn it i dont have kids yet , i will chose to be 'dead' then maybe , definitely not now!! i need to live up my life , and not live it out.


but guess to stare at a shaking booty, i need to make a booty shake itself first !

Believe me, people dont really have much idea the 'papads' i rolled, and the 'dals' i boiled to get these 3 things up and running.

3 birthdays and a flat get-together... out of which funny tales can be spun out under the guidance of the proper expert hands (not mine :( )

1st - Freddy's birthday - Bought a cake, bought candles and ice-cream and drinks and begged people to step out of their Shangri-la at 12 to wish the guy (he was busy as usual in his darkened room,most probably playing Football Manager) 2 roommates were missing (pv and darshan) i made sure their absence was suitably compensated for at least noise-wise,
it was relatively better documented coz Shindi saar was around too...
and yeah the ice lollies sucked!! dont invest in them folks.

mistake discovered at end of the show?? it was 2 days in advance!!!

2nd - Jane's birthday - Bought stuff again (plus some evolved decorative thingees as well) and wanted to decorate the Perpetually homely (euphemism for dirty) Kitchen and give her a surprise.

I ask Santa (u dunno Sexy Santa yet?? will bring him up soon!)... i ask him to call all roommates and the first door he knocks on is Jane herself!!! Damn You Santa!! plus My photographic buddy Shinde is absent , so as i concentrate on the capturing of moments , the fun fizzles out. All a part of the learing process (wipe of tear of achievement... lesson learnt, if u have to put the cream on a face , u have to do it urself, and if u have to click a pic of doing the same that would be like having the cake and eating it too... )

3rd - Santa's birthday - I had big plans but realised he is way too popular to stick to our flat, plus some personal disurbing news as well so i had planned to do an dissapearing act but guess what - at 9 o clock big udder (slang for bro) comes to me, flings a £50 note and commands me to organize a party for him,!!! i am like -- What the fuck!!??

i get a party-for-8 scheme up and running and later realise , he meant a party for the entire Indian population of the Talybont Kingdom; 32 troop in , and it is Bedlam!!!

But allz well that ends well, half the folks get coke sprayed on them , people gobble down stuff , there is jostling and bustling in our humble kitchen, Santa and Sajith get their share of "bums" , and all are happy!!

4th - Flatmates - lots of mind racking for the grubbing session and finally ? - pizza and snacks and ice-cream and drinks...
but really really slow momentum,managed to make them all move a limb or more , but at what cost , at what cost!? but luckily , all the flatmates were there , atleast towards the end. :) a minor sigh of relief. But learning from previous mistakes extensive media coverage, no matter if 2 of them conked out , but the vision, the foresight counts for something doesnt it? (defensive protest, followed by sheepish grin) ok ok so i screwed this up as well, atleast i got massive media leftover from the occasion, which i have to come even close to editing.

Once the stone rolls though , it would be ungrateful to say i was not assisted.
Event Management Job Vacancy anybody?? -- you know whom to call.


Cheers
Have Fun Always

Life in Cardiff, Impromptu

Was walking by, on to lab , one morning
and a group of gardeners were cleaning up, one pile i noticed had this startling contrast within it,
the brilliant red of the fruit and the dull black and brown of the twigs and thorns , and the rain drenched tar did much to give the entire composition a polished look.

The U K experience

Why such a title?
The Magnitude of the place i am in , glimpses forth only once in a while
i mean for a laid back person like me , i sort of settle down where ever i am

but imagine going to the Bali jatra year after year and the Rama doli and finally seeing a ferris wheel here (around Christmas time) and guess what , the size is equivalent to a 20- storeyed building, damn!!

It was big.large.huge.
A regular landmark...

cheers
Have Fun Always

I am in U K

the fact , the privilege, keeps eluding my mind and strikes me now and then only
and why? coz of me ? nah! not really...

we all know better dont we ??

obligation and shackles ... damning words

i am in UK, i am abroad and i have lots to do here

Redemption!! heavy ! heavy heavy!!

cheers
Have Fun Always

A Brief Respite

Almost like my life ...

indeed a brief respite...

Solitary

One of the best place to saunter about , really
especially for a shutterbug..
so much scope , so much scope!!

damn what a time to lose my digicam!!

cheers
Have Fun Always :(

A Tale

Looks suggestive doesnt it?
Money, key, Stamped official looking papers, scribbled notes , photographs!!

This is the amount you can earn here working in a hotel bar for a month !!
really tempting options and u need to be a resourceful to snag a job as well!!

thats a lot of cash , believe me!!

cheers
Have Fun Always

Me... in Sepia

I like this shot and the small tale behind it.
It was close to the end of the day for me , and i had done a fair bit of walking about and when i reached my room , a friend of mine asked to me accompany him to a relative's pad, to pick up some stuff. i agreed (don't ask me what i thought) and we trundled on... it was quite some distance away but it was in a region i hadn't set foot on before , so it was kind of ok, the highways (expressways) gave me a strong feeling of road-rash, {remember the game which was a cult in the regions of India i come from.}
we reached the place and finished our work and decided to click some pics on our way back, on this night we have something like 60+ pics, mainly of him and roads, but i like this pic , coz i was still figuring out the position of my facial hair and the recent position looked ok , not intrusive , with just the dash of style i preferred (ok all this was then , presently i am of the opinion, clean cut is the only way for me, since i have essentially a boyish face and will only look like a teen trying to show off fuzz)

and i like the expression on my face and the relaxed pose that i hold in the snap, makes me feel very characteristic me, atleast the one that i want to portray.
thanks P

Cheers
Have Fun Always

The Key

This is a remniscient post .

Its about my first few days here , in Cardiff.

My coming up here was never , planned organized and anticipated... (u know like most people do that months and months in advance)
typical me , i got the visa and tickets just a day or 2 before
and since i planned to come back in 2 months i took minimal luggage (wrong choice of stuff, i agree now , but it was then)

so i just picked up a single suitcase and a cool bag and set out for UK, just like it was one more of my travels , it was cool, the airports , the screening , the protocol.. all cool, i mean i almost came across as a seasoned airtraveller (proof? - people coming upto me and asking for instructions, guess i have this very approachable look :) ) and to think this was like my first solo flight abroad (plus like the third of my over all airmile account) wasnt of much consequence any time other than this post.

well everything said and done i missed a few things, esp the ipod and a few typically indian items either totally absent out here or ridiculously expensive.

ok i got lots of advice of where to go and what to do and all that shit , but after a gruelingly long flight and the body aching from lack of proper sleep and food ( i had yet to pick up the habit of asking for a second helping) i reach heathrow, which is like a small city in itself and hunt out the nearest exit. any sensible guy would have informed me , that there is a straight bus service to my place and i would have done that , but trust my broz frnd to tell me the best things in life.. how do i summarize it? i reach heathrow at 7 in the morning and reach cardiff at 7 in the evening without a single scrap of food in my tummy !!! aaargh!!! i dunno remember how many trains i took (yeah trains!!) finally i manage to crawl up to the victoria coach station and wait for like 4-5 hrs (i dont remember how long) for a bus to cardiff and the funny thing is once i reach cardiff , i have no clue what to do next. and i walk up to a pretty gal with a cardiff uni logo on her sweatshirt and i realise suddenly, and i mean SUDDENLY! just how crude my english sounds. and i go all ... ah forget t, anyways she takes me in her taxi and i end up paying £5 ( i don know why?) she doesnt give me back the change either [:(]
and i reach the security office , a very good move as i later realised. and they send me off in a taxi to a hotel... which will be covered in another post , the name of the hotel was Sand-ring-ham
and all the hullabaloo around it in the other post.
so finally i reach and am given this key , the 1 key to my room , my life, in the United Kingdoms.

Cheers
Have Fun Always

Blood ...

The second picture is actually the first time i drew blood, It was over a can of something (maybe soup) and i went the indianised way of wiping the walls of the contents and i get this smooth deep cut and the blood dripping and all that.
it was only later that i got the idea to actually click it and record it for posterity. ha ha .
It was a neat surgical , cut and i did get wary of cans after that , lessons lessons!!

the first one was with a peeler, again in a typical fussy way i attempted to remove a piece of peel stuck between the blades (oh how stupid of me!) yeah yeah gloat over it, {it's over and done with} but the response elicited by the girls of the flat was (almost close) to worth it(of course nothing is worth stupidity ever, is there? it is always priceless, fool's gold). i mean 2 of them literally scream out , one of them runs to her room to get me a .... bandaid, a third one calmly offers me a bandaid, the second one just keeps screaming!! ha ha funny.
anyway , i felt-off (again a typical phrase from my better days) infront of them and refused the band-aid , and found out that i do need a band-aid later (sheepish grin). It wasnt much use though and soon was off me and being a part of the fixture of my room. I have come to the firm conclusion - band-aid is almost never for me, coz my wounds dont really heal under them , they heal much faster left to the elements , plus try taking out your contact lens with a piece of band-aid protruding from the edge of ur thumb, ouch!! not the best of options , i tell you , believe me on that.

the third one was a totally unexpected one, i dont know what happened and i washed my face and was wiping it with my hand towel and typical filmy style i notice my towel getting all red and all (damn ! my last remaining piece of clean 'cleaner') anyway, so it was bleeding, quite freely , without pain , just bleeding and as usual , i had a guest in my room , luckily not one of the volatile ones and i was made to sit down and asked to stuff tissue paper up my... , i even rinsed my nose a couple of times and i was ok.

I just cut off the piece of skin over the wound (a lil painful, but ok) and it is healing well now.

Coming to pain tolerance and imbibation. I have found i do have a above average tolerance to pain, maybe not extremely high (maybe coz i never was unlucky enough to experience it). Similar injuries, wounds and pains and i have found myself coping better than my counterparts. As for imbibation , i think this has something to do with my mom who kept on telling me , in my younger days, 'u are brave and strong, you dont usually cry and dont feel much pain' and phrases on those line every time i had a breach in my body's defenses (which was pretty frequent actually) and it sort of stuck , the responsibility to live up to her words and it sort of rubbed off on to me in a real way as well.


Cheers
have Fun Always

Go Global NIte : The Chinese

This is an unexpected entry I mean most of us didnt know there was a Chinese Entry,

But they did have one and it was very good, very very professional .
I must confess i was impressed, (maybe it had something to do with the Indian show , which was so obviously amateurish, jus college kids strutting their stuff.)

so the bias in judgement
but it really was good, The First Traditional Dance was Awesome, the girls looked so enticing in their costumes!! and the moves, slow graceful, almost swanlike... whoa!! and these gals studied in our uni??!!

that was followed up sometime later by a Fashion Show, elegance as the central theme, plus there was a solo vocal attempt, quite commendable (sorry no snaps) and a solo electric violin' rendition , which i must say (maybe coz she was so good) sounded suspiciouly synced!!


but over all a neat , worthy package


Cheers
Have Fun Always

FOD V : The Malays

Highly Hyped, but with a steep (for me i mean ) £13 entry , i gave the first round a skip.
But the shortened version too was quite good, especially since i knew one of the girls performing, Name :Kirsty and a really nice dancer.

the show was good, there was a certain professionalism in the execution which was impressive (and sadly lacking in the Indian Show)
plus elaborate costumes and excellent choreography made it totally ... how to they say it ... rad!
oh! FOD translates into Festival of Diversity, not for the gourmet minded folks really.

and Kirsty remembered my name and posed with me (puffed chest) he he


Cheers
Have Fun Always

The Yuva Team : Goan Dance

Actually the only authentically Indian Act that was wortha second show!!
The Simple nicely co-ordinated dance moves were a pleasure to watch .
And Remo's Song -- Ya Ya MaYaYa ...
On that nite we created a ruckus through out the program , to show our solidarity with the performers and i guess our response was the most , most authentic display of Indianness we could have aimed to achieve.

Nice going Guys


Cheers
Have Fun Always

The Go Global International Music Festival

Tickets £3

we enter at 8:00 , and what welcomes us? Hans Zimmerman's Pirates of the Carribean Performed by an obviously accomplished Orchestra!!!

WOW! My first thought!! A totally right choice to come here!!

The Music was good, the setting ok, the crowd varied, (not really a crowd really , the Great Hall filled up gradually , and by then the best pieces were over.

Obvously the first group were the most talented, churning really nice pieces . They were followed by a Jazz Group, Really soothing to hear the instruments wash over ...

The Ambience was a little dull, bland, No! i agree the pictures belies that ,
No complaints on the technical side, the lights , the sound, the resonance , echo was exquisitely controlled and there was this guy in curls who kept walking out from the techie corner to gauge what was working and how well, [reminded me very strongly of my old parthi days and the AVC boys there],

The African Acapella (i hope i got that right?) were as usual, lively and so very ... umm...
well.. african, catchy warm tunes and syllables... u can almost sway t the music , a sway of its own accord, (and then there was this violently blobde greek (part of the organizers i presume) who was doing the little jiggy jiggy steps, quite entertaining to watch.

the layout of the hall was simple (and effective?) round tables(arranged out in 3 rows , and small cup candles set in the middle (damn, i should have clicked one of those) giving it a very culturally intellectual feel (whatever that means!!)

and there was this minibar at one end of the hall!!

and a group came and sat at our table (our? did i forget to mention , i was there with Lone :) )
and soon were too interested in fiddling with the helium filled balloons than the music obviously.

Me and Lone had got some Victuals for ourselves and promptly settled down on them.
the Show was ok , though it sort of faded in performance , in between.

Cheers
Have Fun Always

Wild Time :New Year 2008