Shyam's Blog

Everyone in life starts his/her day with a commute - be it school, college or work. Right from age 5, we have that routine of leaving home and return back in the evening. This blog is recollecting those moments and my experiences. It varied from a small walk in my primary school to car-train-walk combo in Boston. My first commute was in kindergarten when our maid used to walk me to school in the morning and bring me back by 3pm. Though it was less than 1Km walk, I felt that school and home were a long long way away. With my first commute to kindergarten being a smooth one, my next commute was from a village to a town in a passenger train. In my 1st standard (and my brother's 4th), we were transferred to Kyathsandra (15 Km away from Tumkur). Bangalore-Tumkur passenger train was the mode of transport. Train travel was a great experience. Standing on the platform, we (my brother and I) were welcoming the coal engine with a great gushing sound. Once we boarded, it was a 15 minute tra...

I completed my Science and English tests yesterday and I have Social Studies and Maths test tomorrow. Last evening, I was doing maths and today too, most of the day, I revised Maths. I didn't touch Social Studies at all. I am sure to fail tomorrow in that exam - This is what I saw in my dreams last night. That is because, I used to find Social Studies, especially History, too touch. More than that reason, my wife and I watched "Taare zameen par". It is so true that some of those incidences really happen to kids. In my 5th Standard, there was my best friend, whom we called, 'mungeri lal'. That was when a television serial, 'mungeri lal ke haseen sapney' was popular. My friend used to imitate that character's eye movement and that is how this guy got his name. His hand writing was really illegible. In the end, he was detained in 5th for his poor performance. I recollected him a lot while watching this. Couple of other 'school day' nostalgia - 1) ...

Bridge of Veena Keyboard Veena frets Acoustic Guitar frets

Close-up corn Spicy green chutney Grand finale - Yummy!!!

1 table, 2 barbeque grills and 4 benches

Feb 2008 Feb 2005

Old Wheel Hub Did a pencil sketch after a long time and my wife put it to the wall! Couple of days ago, I took my wife to Micheals store which was long pending. She bought some art and craft things she wanted. I was also curious to do something interesting that made me buy few pencils and couple of books on drawing. Today, I inaugurated the pencils with this sketch.

I had made jamoon last night for my wife. It was all mine yesterday when I told her to practise music and I took care of kitchen for preparing dinner. I started with jamoon and made raddish sambar. In the end, I also made a few happala-s (paapad). My wife was curious to taste the jamoons I made. She arranged the table for dinner. She brought two bowls for jamoon and put 3 in each. I wanted her to inaugurate the session with a bite of jamoon. I took half jamoon in a spoon and offered her. She said, "This is too small. I will rather take one full please!" She tasted one and her eyes started to shine bright. By the time I could take the next breath, she had swallowed the other two from the cup. In the end, it was a success story seeing that we two had eaten 25 jamoons between us in just one dinner session.

Its been a few weeks since my wife landed in the US and there are lots of things she found different, interesting, peculiar or funny. The moment we landed in the LA airport, she started feeling the difference. I am imagining similar people who land here for the first time and how this place looks to them. The first thing she noticed was the thing that many will surely agree. She glanced through the long corridors and lounges in LA airport and felt that the airport is huge, really huge. She saw bags being carried by people - they were huge. We ordered for Chai Tea in Starbucks, she felt that the cups were too huge for a single person to drink. Finally, she saw couple of cops standing at the door. She was really shaken by their size! I was finally asked, "what is this place? Everything is huge here??? Buildings, food served, people, etc???!!!" Coming to food - all must read! Food in US is BAD till you get used to it. When flying from LA to SLC, I asked for tea and my wife peace...

My dream vacation is traveling on The Golden Chariot for 7 days and 6 nights. This world class train takes us around Mysore, Nagarhole National Park (Kabini), Belur, Hampi, Badami and Goa. Price - Each day - approx 350 USD per person. Package for couples 7 days and 6 nights- approx 2,500 USD !!! "Is it worth 2,500 USD?" is the question. Check it out here