Originally posted on 13th October
The last week has been a week off for me, in Melbourne. I week where I had no commitments, no plans whatsoever and I took each day as it came, and did exactly what I wanted to do and when I wanted to. Its been a refreshing week.
a couple of days ago, I wanted to do something constructive and I decided to weed out useless stuff from home that included clothes and paper/documents. While doing this, I had to take eth suitcases from atop the cupboards and I went through many a nostalgic moments. The old clothes reminded me of times wearing them and some pics where I was wearing them. It also took me back to ethdays when I was packing to come to Melbourne. The documents had hand written letters, my visa application copies, my college notes etc. I also found a diary which I used to keep track of my expenses here in Melbourne as a student. I lived on a shoestring budget of 650$ month. The enteries on that included some very interesting ones that took me back down memory lane. Some samples are :
Hungry Jacks burger - 3.15$
Tennis ball for cricket (10 / 4) - 2.5$
Donut - 1.10$
Tram ticket - 83.2$
Chewing Gum - 0.70c
Ah God!!! it brought me to tears!!! Those are the days that I am proud of. It taught me to live within my means, to prioritise things, and to set myself realistic expectations. It taught me to sacrifice things and also not to regret having to sacrifice. It was a wonderful learning experience.
The other days in this holiday were spent, watching India play Australia, playing cricket at home with my housemate, visiting friends for dinner and inviting them over for dinner on other days and also waking up late and watching atleast 2 movies a day. Its Saturday and I am looking forward to the Cricket ball cricket after along time and then dinner with friends.
Oh and I did not mention that this break is between jobs, so its an exciting time. Tomorrow is reserved to get focussed on the new job and also to watch India play the Aussies at Nagpur!!
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Attachment to inanimate objects
As humans we do have an attachment to inanimate objects. We bond with our study tables, get comfortable in our couches and beds, feel connected to our accessories and even feel attached to our houses.
Recently, I felt this attachment at a totally different level. The objects in question were the non-stick kadai and tawa that I had brought with me when i first came to Melbourne. In the last 5 years, we bachelors - amateur cooks have given the utensils a good beating, and inspite of all that it has served us very well. A few months back I noticed that its use by date was approaching and promptly got another set of non-stick utensils when i got back from India recently.
For a few weeks now, I have tried, in vain, to get rid of the old set of utensils. I feel this attachment towards them. They have served me for 5 years, sometimes with amazing food and sometimes with crappy food, but nevertheless served me my food. Those utensils remind me of the spicy Choley my friend made, the gulab jamoons that I made, the sambar that my mom made while she was here, among other things. Kaise jaane doon usko!!!!!!!
Last weekend, I thought I got over the attachment and was able to keep the utensils next to the garbage bin, to be disposed off with the next garbage collection cycle. In came my other friend (who has seen quite a bit of these utensils) and asked "should we actually dispose these off?". I melted again!!!!!! Its about a month and those old utensils are still lying next to the bin, without any action being taken on them!!!!!!
"Oh Bartan(s), I am going to miss you soooo much!!!!!! Thank you for all the good times, and the bad, I will never forget you!!!!!!"
This weekend will see them done away with.
Recently, I felt this attachment at a totally different level. The objects in question were the non-stick kadai and tawa that I had brought with me when i first came to Melbourne. In the last 5 years, we bachelors - amateur cooks have given the utensils a good beating, and inspite of all that it has served us very well. A few months back I noticed that its use by date was approaching and promptly got another set of non-stick utensils when i got back from India recently.
For a few weeks now, I have tried, in vain, to get rid of the old set of utensils. I feel this attachment towards them. They have served me for 5 years, sometimes with amazing food and sometimes with crappy food, but nevertheless served me my food. Those utensils remind me of the spicy Choley my friend made, the gulab jamoons that I made, the sambar that my mom made while she was here, among other things. Kaise jaane doon usko!!!!!!!
Last weekend, I thought I got over the attachment and was able to keep the utensils next to the garbage bin, to be disposed off with the next garbage collection cycle. In came my other friend (who has seen quite a bit of these utensils) and asked "should we actually dispose these off?". I melted again!!!!!! Its about a month and those old utensils are still lying next to the bin, without any action being taken on them!!!!!!
"Oh Bartan(s), I am going to miss you soooo much!!!!!! Thank you for all the good times, and the bad, I will never forget you!!!!!!"
This weekend will see them done away with.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Looking back at my Day 1 in Melbourne
I was reminded about my first day in Melbourne when i was interacting with my friends colleague who has just come down to Melbourne. I did not know about blogging then, but that doesnt mean that my first day in melbourne cannot be documented on my blog!!!!
I took off from a 40 degree hot Mumbai to land in a 7 degree cold Melbourne. That was the first bit of change. It was bloody cold and only the excitement of a new country, a new place, new beginnings, new friends and more that kept me going. The infrastructure (roads, traffic etc) was not such a surprise to me as I had been to Dubai before. The accents of people and the numerous Goras that were there all around me was a change indeed.
I checked into the Hotel and just stretched after that long flight. It was about 9 in the night and I munched on some roti and jam that Mommy had packed for me. After a quick call home to tell tham I reached safe, myself and my 2 other friends were left wondering about what to do. It was Friday night and university would not start until Monday. Because of the time difference there was not an ounce of sleep in our eyes. We decided to go out and explore the city.
The Hotel was in the heart of the city and being Friday night, it was a happening place. Lots of people, many with beer bottles in hand and almost everybody were in couples!!!! There were so many 'Chinkis' there that I wondered if I got on the wrong flight and landed in Shanghai!!!!!
Whatever I saw, was so different to what I was used to seeing - the way people look, the way they speak, dress, walk, laugh, the roads, the sounds, the boards ....everything. I saw the first case of PDA when this couple was making out bang in the middle of Bourke Street. I was taking all of this in. My university, my course, my ambition etc were all secondary and I was just taking in everything that I was actually seeing.
We walked a bit further and saw boards that read "ClubX" and "Adult Show" and "Peep show" and the like. Whoa!!!!! Now thats a big change. It was all too much to take in in teh first few hours of having arrived and I needed some water. I went into a 7-11 and bought the most expensive bottle of water at 2$ and thought to myself that 52Rs for a bottle of water is ridiculous. (in those days 1AUD = 26Rs)
It was about midnight and we decided to go to the HOtel room and try to get to bed so that we got into local time schedule soon. We lied down on our beds and put the TV on. It was one of the National channels and what was playing is what I better knew as "porn"!!!! We said to each other "Sahi Desh hai yaar ye!!!!"
The nights sleep was quite disturbed and i woke up only next afternoon!!!!!! i walked into McDonalds and looked up the board for something veggie. There was none. So I ordered a Cheese Burger. When I collected my burger, I could see some meat inside my burger. When i asked the counter girl, she said it was a Cheese burger and that is had a slice of beef. Oh Ok - cheese burgers have beef in them. I asked if I could get a burger with just cheese inside and I got an affirmative. But what followed was just plain funny - the girl took the cheese burger from me, removed the slice of beef from between and gave it back to me as a burger with just cheese in it.
It was not their fault, I paid 4$ (oops i mean 104Rs) for it and threw it straight into the bin. I think I had a jumbo margherita pizza slice for lunch. cant remember.
Day one was eventful and its been a long way since then, but times have gone by so fast. It was a challenge and all i can do is to hope for more such challenges in the future.
Note : Reproduced from my other blog at http://o3.indiatimes.com/rpramod
I took off from a 40 degree hot Mumbai to land in a 7 degree cold Melbourne. That was the first bit of change. It was bloody cold and only the excitement of a new country, a new place, new beginnings, new friends and more that kept me going. The infrastructure (roads, traffic etc) was not such a surprise to me as I had been to Dubai before. The accents of people and the numerous Goras that were there all around me was a change indeed.
I checked into the Hotel and just stretched after that long flight. It was about 9 in the night and I munched on some roti and jam that Mommy had packed for me. After a quick call home to tell tham I reached safe, myself and my 2 other friends were left wondering about what to do. It was Friday night and university would not start until Monday. Because of the time difference there was not an ounce of sleep in our eyes. We decided to go out and explore the city.
The Hotel was in the heart of the city and being Friday night, it was a happening place. Lots of people, many with beer bottles in hand and almost everybody were in couples!!!! There were so many 'Chinkis' there that I wondered if I got on the wrong flight and landed in Shanghai!!!!!
Whatever I saw, was so different to what I was used to seeing - the way people look, the way they speak, dress, walk, laugh, the roads, the sounds, the boards ....everything. I saw the first case of PDA when this couple was making out bang in the middle of Bourke Street. I was taking all of this in. My university, my course, my ambition etc were all secondary and I was just taking in everything that I was actually seeing.
We walked a bit further and saw boards that read "ClubX" and "Adult Show" and "Peep show" and the like. Whoa!!!!! Now thats a big change. It was all too much to take in in teh first few hours of having arrived and I needed some water. I went into a 7-11 and bought the most expensive bottle of water at 2$ and thought to myself that 52Rs for a bottle of water is ridiculous. (in those days 1AUD = 26Rs)
It was about midnight and we decided to go to the HOtel room and try to get to bed so that we got into local time schedule soon. We lied down on our beds and put the TV on. It was one of the National channels and what was playing is what I better knew as "porn"!!!! We said to each other "Sahi Desh hai yaar ye!!!!"
The nights sleep was quite disturbed and i woke up only next afternoon!!!!!! i walked into McDonalds and looked up the board for something veggie. There was none. So I ordered a Cheese Burger. When I collected my burger, I could see some meat inside my burger. When i asked the counter girl, she said it was a Cheese burger and that is had a slice of beef. Oh Ok - cheese burgers have beef in them. I asked if I could get a burger with just cheese inside and I got an affirmative. But what followed was just plain funny - the girl took the cheese burger from me, removed the slice of beef from between and gave it back to me as a burger with just cheese in it.
It was not their fault, I paid 4$ (oops i mean 104Rs) for it and threw it straight into the bin. I think I had a jumbo margherita pizza slice for lunch. cant remember.
Day one was eventful and its been a long way since then, but times have gone by so fast. It was a challenge and all i can do is to hope for more such challenges in the future.
Note : Reproduced from my other blog at http://o3.indiatimes.com/rpramod
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