The Story of Vodka and Water...!!!

Its a known fact, the effects alcohol could create in an individual's mind. Especially people light on their feet. Scientifically speaking (to whoever consider this relevant and of importance!) alcohol affects the way the neurons communicate, thereby the making senses go haywire, resulting in poor muscle control, speech, sight, blah-blah-blah! (Definitely not a post on ill-effects of alcohol!!! :P) However, these consequences come with a very compulsory condition that "Alcohol should have been consumed!"


There are different alcoholic drinks available with varying percentages of alcohol. Vodka is one with higher percentage, ranging between 38-40% of alcohol concentration. Its primarily used for preparing cocktails or could be consumed in the form of shots too (2-4 cl). (Neither a post on ways of using and drinking vodka!) Among the various brands of Vodka, Greygoose is considered to be one of the best. (No I haven't been paid for advertising it!) How do you say if the alcohol is good - depending on how smooth it is and how quickly it hits you.

Alright getting to the post now! On a particular Friday, I had organized a small get together at my place here Linz. Just normal dinner and a movie night was planned. What transpired later in the evening opened up a whole new dimension to the research on the effects of alcohol, or should I say the effects of media, or effects of knowledge - I let you decide.

The story starts with me being busy in the kitchen. It might be relevant to mention at this point, that I had a Greygoose bottle in my room. (bought around the New Year's eve!) I had a couple of friends over here, however, only 3 among the others conversed in this scene, including me.

KP - (Entering my room) Kya haal hai bhai? (Whats happening dude?)
Me - Everything's cool, just come cooking going on. (For ease of understanding, english is being used!)

.....  After around 10 mins, the subject enters ...

X - Wow, Harish, you have a Greygoose in your place?
Me - (Evil brain ticks on!) Oh yeah I thought a bit of vodka for the movie night would be a good add-on.

Again its important to mention at this point that greygoose brand being one of the best, quite obviously, is expensive compared to others!

X - Obviously impressed with the product bought for the evening, its supposed to be a very good brand.
Me - Oh yeah I had to flush 80 euros for that!(A bit of masala is always helpful to spice up such events!!!)
X - Can I try a sip?
Me - Oh please, be my guest, I have bought it to be drunk and not just stared upon.

.. KP in the mean time is all ROFL (I find it hard to ask him to control his laughter)...

X - (Finally opens the lid) It smells weird, actually, doesn't have any smell at all?
Me - (My brain sending all the impulses to my mouth to just burst out laughing, somehow I control it!) Its a very high quality and high distillation involved, which gives the best alcohol. Best part, its got no smell. Probably might not even hit you immediately, like the normal ones!
X - Pours in a glass and asks for ice.
Me - Dude, I don't have ice here.
X - Atleast let me mix it with water.
Me - Dude, why do you want to spoil it by mixing with water, just drink it neat, its damn smooth.
X - No, no, its 40% concentration.
Me - Dude, trust me, you wont feel a thing. (Ofcourse not!)
X - (Has a sip! Has a weird look in his face! After thinking, comes up with a question!) Either its damn smooth, or its...

Before he could complete, KP and me couldnt hold it in and burst out with laughter till our stomachs literally open up. Ofcourse no one would get a hit when they drink WATER..!!!  And that would explain the evening that followed, whenever my friend would ask for water, we would pass him the Greygoose..!!! 

What makes it funnier, the dude is a chemist...!!! 

The Swimming Tales..!!!

"It was all wet around, I couldn't decipher if it was water or sweat! The panic had completely fogged out all the rationality! I tried to rub it off my eyes! I had to search the person responsible! And there I found him in the pool, moving across the water! My immediate reaction - You ASS#@$$%##$...!!! I never realized how long I kept the curses on for! The best thing however was the response I heard - hey what happened, man!? (That moment when you'd do anything to bang your head in wall or the relevant person's!)"

Rewind...

One of the many things which is yet to be checked on my check-list is to learn swimming. I have been amazingly successful at giving up the innumerable instances where I have started to learn it and then "poof" something happens, and I stop. Since coming to Europe, its even bigger an embarrassment when you go off to the lakes with your friends and they jump into water, asking you to join them. The only thing I could muster up with courage and a faint smile is the very well known "I don't know swimming!". The immediate question which follows is, "are you aqua-phobic?" (Oh yeah, if not knowing to swim was not embarrassing enough!) But yeah this I was not. (Yeah definitely not! Except for the scene of being surrounded by sea at night!) Now that coming to Europe gave me the freedom of making my schedules, completely based on my rational thoughts (Oh boy!), my immediate thought was learn swimming. (Quite obviously!)

Over a period I tried to figure how to move around in water (ofcourse not with my legs!). I remember in Germany, a friend and me used to visit the pools and we would try to move around and compete as by how many inches(ahem!) we managed move. Since I moved to Linz, I decided that it was time to manipulate these inches to meters or centimeters, atleast. Apparently I found another friend who knew how to swim. That brought a smile and I was of the opinion, finally I might be able to learn it. (Haha, Mr.Fate had other thoughts!). On a particular Sunday, my friend and I decided to venture the pools and I had hoped he would teach me a few techniques.

Before entering the water-
Me - "Dude, so how do I go about it?"
Friend - "I dont know, just move your arms and legs." (WTF..!!!)
Me (with the most confused expression ever)- "You sure, you know swimming!"
Friend - "Hahahahahaha...!"
Me - "Dei, I am serious!" 

The next comment of his was the remaining part of the event that followed.

Friend - "Just move your arms like this, flap your legs, and move towards the deeper part of the water, you'll learn it automatically. It starts subconsciously!!!"

I immediately remembered the lectures given at my bachelors college. The reason you ask, they were the worst lectures ever, but after hearing to this comment, all of that made a lot more sense than this. But that's not the worst part yet. So I decided to play a bit with my subconscious. The only sensible part of the evening I did was to take a pool buoy, and try to venture into the deep part, more than 1.8 m deep. I was happy with the distance I was covering and got a bit confident there. And just then, the pool buoy slips out of my hands, panic sets in, and I submerge in water. I try to wave my hands so that my friend or someone would take notice, but no one was around (We had to go on a Sunday!). The second sensible part of the evening, for some reason I kept swimming close to the edges of the pool. After around 15-20 seconds, (which felt like an hour) I saw a railing around the edge, which became my only hope. One leap, and somehow I manage to catch it and was able to lift myself off water. I was wondering all the time, how come my friend didn't see me waving my arms. Oh well, he was busy swimming somewhere else in the pool.

Well lesson learnt there, my next swimming lesson is going to be with a PROFESSIONAL, PERIOD!

After all that verbose of swearing, my friend earned the title "WORST TEACHER EVER!"

Good Old Murphy..!!!

"Phew...!!! Damn, I almost got myself banned from the supermarket there..!!!" - A silent thought graced through my mind after a pretty interesting morning at the supermarket. (Am glad none of the supermarket employee are reading this though, else they'd ban me for writing this, after having done what I had done..!!!)

On the whole a normal day, or what it was meant to be, started off with a customized domino effect, created by yours truly, me (Ahem..!!!). I am sure the curses that followed are taking their toll on me now, as a weird symphony is being played in my stomach right now. I am a believer in big breakfasts, but as the week progresses, my tendency to snooze my alarm increases drastically, from once on a Monday to 'n' number of times on Fridays (Whoever invented the snooze...!!!) . Oh the point, well, this affects my breakfast preparation time, from leisurely preparing them on Mondays to buying them in the supermarket by Thursdays and Fridays (And it sucks, not to buy them but to eat them..!!!)). Anyways, I got my breakfast from the  supermarket today, being a Thursday. As I got down to get a sandwich, my headphones wires got stuck in the price tag and as I got up with a jerk, it flew and fell on the overflowing fruit stall. An artist or a photographer would have appreciated the scene of falling fruits, but you cannot expect the same appreciation who spent the entire morning trying to arrange them (Of all places it had to fall on the fruit stall...!!!). That almost explains how my morning was. I heard something being murmured (blasted actually) in German, my only response, with the most awkward smile ever, "Entschuldigung..!!!" (Sorry..!!!). The fury in the supermarket lady's face was quite evident (Why would she try to hide it..!!! But aren't the customers always right..!!! A concept lost in Europe I presume..!!!). They could be quite edgy when they have to get up and come to work at 7 am on a cold, wintry morning. Well, I was thankful for not getting getting my ears-full, but my fate was still laughing at the events to follow. As I turned and walked around, my bag, which is not over-sized at all, gets caught in yet another price tag, this time on a stand. I was lucky to catch it before it fell and leave the scene, before being caught by that female again. I was just starting to feel good about my reflexes of having caught the stand, when at the turn I ended up dashing against one of the other supermarket ladies (Apparently reflexes work only once..!!!). In this case we both were looking in the other direction, me towards the price tag on the stand (Although am not sure if the curses followed...!!!). Finally, when I reached the counter, I picked up one of the wafers, which had an offer, when another lady at the cash counter says, this offer is only if you get 2 packs together. When I bring the second pack, the lady sees, checks something and says, "Oh sorry, this is an offer with 3 packs together". A thought went through, "could this be revenge for what I had done..!?". Nevertheless as I turn around and go to get the third pack, this time my bag hits on another one of those damn annoying price tags on the stand (Seriously guys price tags on a stand in the walkway, not happening..!!!), and I just gave up trying to catch it. It falls with the most annoying sound ever. If I was glad that no other customers were there at supermarket, it was my agony too. I was surrounded with an audience of annoyed supermarket ladies, extremely irked with this scene (including the lady whom I had dashed upon, why would she miss a chance to put the blame on me..!!!) and with an expression of this being done intentionally. I just turned around got my third pack and came to the office, with one of the most difficult shopping days in a supermarket, where I had got only a sandwich and some wafers.

Like I said, I am glad that I am not banned from the supermarket. Although am not sure if am blacklisted or not, since am a regular customer there and I have a customer card though..!!!  

P.S. - BTW the catch here - I was wondering the reason for this Mozart symphony being played in my stomach the entire day, even-though my diet was nothing out of normal. Oh wait, but it was, remember I bought (or was made to buy) 3 packs of extra wafers, and finished almost two of them..!!!

The Beginning...!!!

Begone is 2012 and cometh the 2013..!!! Er..!!! Apparently quiet late for such a statement. Well I start this post with the statement, as 2012 turned out to be quite special for me, in many ways, primarily at the personal level. We'll step into each, one at a time and for people who thought they'd be relieved of reading my jabbers, "Hahaha, you've been served, folks!" (Probably not the attitude I should be having for keeping the popularity of my blog!!!)

My last recollection of full fledged running, with immense concentration, was when I was being chased by a dog in my 2nd grade. Little did I know that a visit to my friends house would lead to such startling discoveries. There were three things I got to learn then:

1. When dogs chase you, all you have to do is stop and stare back and DO NOT throw stones! (Unless its a Doberman, but in this case running or throwing stones don't help...!!! )

2. I am bad at running. (Worse actually...!!!)

3. I hate running. 

If you think this is 'the beginning', oh no, it isn't! Wait for it..!!! ;)

Since then I have been adverse to running, as oil is to water, as in I do play sports, but running for no reason didn't make much sense, or rather I didn't want to understand. I tried taking part in the school competitions, however, hmmm, I don't want to embarrass myself with the results on the World Wide Web. (Duh, might be too late for this statement too...!!!) The best part when I came to Europe, I used to see people running all the time (On a snowy December night at 11pm, and the guy would be 60+..!!! Seriously..!!!), and the ridicule that followed (of-course, in my head..!!!) would lead to a laughter riot. Little did I know, that I'd be joining that club too - not the one to ridicule, but who'd be ridiculed (Karma always completes the circle...!!!).

In Europe I got to meet a lot of amazing people, who've inspired me and changed me to who I am now. One of them (the shortest one till date..!!! :-P) Janani Natarajan (Omg, she's gonna keep flying high after reading this..!!!), a close friend, always used to talk a lot about running. (And it was a LOT..!!!) Once a while I'd think, "Really, could this shorty run!?" But ran, she did! (Not like the wind - who am I kidding..!!! :D) For a short person (Ok maami, last time wont use it again HERE..!!! :P), she's quite a strong personality. What inspired me about her though, is her perseverance. Inspite of being an asthma patient, she runs. And that is just the first step. I am sure she laughs at her so called 'disorder' whilst continuing the run to uncountable miles. And that thought, on a perfect sunny evening inspired me to try out my first run, for the sake of running. And so came The Beginning...

Apparently she's taken this as a hobby now (process of inspiring..!!!), she hasn't stopped with just me, there's quite a percentage among the group of Indians, in Tuebingen, and nearby, who run coz of her inspiration! Keep running maami and keep inspiring..!!! (Damn, I have to follow-up with a post so that she stays grounded..!!! :D)

The Awakening, ahem, Really..!!!???

'Awakening' - synonymous with the word inspiration, is basically a stimulus which generates an idea/activity or awakens one which has been dormant for long. One thing I am pretty sure is, am gonna get cursed for such a hyped start, or the title, to this blog post. But as they say, I shall face the wrath!

Disclaimer (Its a new technique to break the usual scenario of putting the disclaimer before the topic!!!) - The characters mentioned here are purely fictional or very pragmatic. So please feel free to imagine as a fantasy, or base it on true events, witnessed and lived by the one and only, yours truly, the author!!!

As I was returning from gym today, I stopped at the laundry room (for some reason I decided to do my laundry today!), to see that a girl - little girl, ironing her clothes. It was kinda cute scene, so I decided to put my clothes in the drier and have a little conversation. It was a normal conversation of what I do, where she studied and blah blah...!!! It lasted for 15 - 20 minutes. And then we parted our ways.

When I reached home, my eyes saw every cloth in my wardrobe completely wrinkled, and the need to iron them 'awakened' within me. I decided to iron only the clothes which I had washed and later come back for more. I was so confident that I would come back! The minute I went to the laundry room to start ironing, I felt something was wrong, 'What the hell I am doing here? This doesn't feel right! I never iron my clothes.' I threw the shirt back into the basket, and for some reason, I came back to my room smiling, reconciling on what had happened, thinking if I had a coffee anytime in between and laughing it out loud. (I hope it cracks your brains, but shouldn't be that difficult, I guess!)

Till next time..!!! Cheers guys..!!! 

P.S. - Oh BTW, did I mention that it was not a little girl..!!!

Food for 'Thought' - 2

Yo people..!!! Ok the 'Yo' is not some-confused-slang which I have learnt, just coz I am living abroad for while now (which again is not blowing my own trumpet, phew!!! ), its just an exclamatory statement! (Like this one).

So, after a pathetic start to this topic (a total useless statement), let me get straight to another irrelevant note, 'yes, I am back, baby!' And there it is, yet again 'nth' time, me returning, trying to keep this space alive. Looks like most of my posts are full of 'this' crap, than the other ones. Nevertheless, moving on..!!!

Just a briefing so far, I have been living my professional life in Linz, Austria, which is quite a beautiful city, with all the landscapes, the lakes, the sunbathing scenes(ahem..!!! ), I mean sunny scenes!(Oh well, too much of information) Visit to find out for yourselves. And most importantly, this stage has made sure that I stay alone by housing me in a comfortable studio apartment and it sucks!

Now we get to the topic, it is about food. Last week, I found myself completely abandoned by the 'Food Luck'. Not once, twice but thrice, I had my food burnt. The worst part, it was the same food, which I burnt thrice, so you could feel the pain I had to bear to eat it. Ok, the option why I didn't throw it is, its just that I hate to throw food, I'd rather wait till it gets completely spoiled and inedible before I decide to throw. I remember eating breads which were cultivating fungi on the half surface (ofcourse I didn't eat the fungi part). And it was not even a complicated one, just simple rice and dal. Well to a major extent its a side effect of the FAD (Facebook Addiction Syndrome). So I thought I had enough of punishment for burning food, but the 'Food Gods' had other plans, this time freaking me out.

 I was casually hogging on the most important meal of the day, Breakfast (Oh yeah, I make sure to have routine meals!). I had two slices of bread, omlette, apple, pear and a few dates fruit. As I was eating I saw a small insect crawl on the plate near the dates, I just removed it and continued to eat. A few minutes later, I saw a small white worm, yes worm, around the same place where the insect was. It was in the larva stage (if I remember my biology), moving around. Now that freaked me out a bit, I started looking in the bread, apples and pear, everything looked fine. The plate was also clean. And then I cut open the dates, voila, I discovered it! The dates fruit providing a very beautiful home for the growth of these insects. And then it struck me, the dates fruit, WHICH I HAVE BEEN EATING FOR A MONTH, providing a nest for these insects! I felt nauseated, for a moment. It was a 250 gms package, I had eaten almost upto 3/4ths of the package. Well whats done is done, its been 2 weeks now, I haven't had anything weird so far, other than my mind playing games with weird crawling sensation throughout my body. I still keep my fingers crossed though, that all those worms (if any), should have dissolved as proteins, and nothing else. Now I have started praying to 'Food Gods' to bring me more 'Food Luck', as in no food with such kind of worms or burnt food, just normal food. Actually it'd be cool if I got some kinda super power through this, become a worm-man or something, but that'd be just disgusting!!! (And I know I have been watching one too many super hero movies).

P.S. - Oh BTW, read at your own risk of getting nauseated. The writer shall not be held responsible for any such kinda feeling setting in...!!!

Many food luck and happy hogging to all. Till next time - signing off..!!!

Daddy's Back...!!!

Alright, I get it, looks like the jinx is working. The day I started this, I was jinxed with the ability to keep it regular. Lesson learnt, never over-think to think over something, just go ahead and do it, ofcourse the rule has its exceptions. So on yet another stint to keep my blog alive, I try a return with a typical 'Barney Stinsonesque' stylish-but-desperatesque quote, 'Daddy's Back', which has got nothing to do with getting hooked up for a happy ending (I know it sounds so lame!). Nevertheless, its gonna be legend--- wait for it ---

Just before we get on, a few updates from my last post. I finally managed to graduate in Masters, after a struggle (physical - don't be surprised and mental) of around 3 years, for a course which was supposed to be finished in 2 years - ideal case scenario are always so hypothetical. Nevertheless it feels good to put a title like M.Sc./MS/Masters after my name. (yet again, lame!) I managed to find a job too and shifted to Austria, and hence the start of the Austrian Chronicles, (I'll try to make this exciting!) so yet another country on my list checked. Wait, it was never on my list, hmmm, oh well, yet another country checked.

A bigger outlook, India managed to win the cricket world cup 2011, for which I celebrated by getting my face painted. (Ok I agree its not as big as Poonam Pandey or Laura Riquelmy declaring to strip for World Cup win, but common its a celebration and not a punishment, nevertheless a bit of self -glorification!)

 So that was a small brief on the updates so far. Here's hoping a new beginning, a new place and a new life turns out to be exciting enough to complete the first paragraph as --- dary, Legendary...!!!