The Uncertainty of the times

is UNSETTLING.

Recession has officially reached my German client
as can be seen from their actions.Europe anyway sees
things 6 months late, so here I am - unsure of my job,
unsure of my stay here and hoping that things will
improve SOON.

Lets hope for the best.

Unravelling your other side

I have been experiencing newer aspects of myself since the time I moved to Europe.
It has more to do with the need to do so rather than wish.

The biggest change is me in the past 10 months has been my growing fascination
towards cooking. Believe me you, someone who had "a good cook" as a criteria for
zeroing on her could-be husband - this is a huge huge change!
But like I said, it has more to do with the need.

It is so absolutely difficult to eat German food EVERYDAY. Sorry Deutschland.
And the Indian food options are not that great. Well you may say something is better
than nothing, but you should try it yourself before you recommend it to me. Besides
being unreasonably priced it is as far apart from authentic Indian cuisine as the moon
from the earth. (Of course there is '1' good restaurant which I love, but it is not one
where one could go every week without pinching your pocket.)

So the last resort - cook your own meal. I did have a penchant for cooking and
whatever I tried out back home turned out finger-licking good :) Honestly. But I could
do that only once in a while. No, no, don't doubt my ability to recreate magic every
time, cos I can. It was just I was lazy. And who will not be! When you have so many
different options available!! I had a cook (who to be honest didn't churn out as good
food as I did, but like I said I was lazy to cook everyday), there were fine restaurants
nearby(not to mention they were affordable), you had home delivery service
available, you had tons of options of snacks to choose from, you could visit a friend's
place if you craved for some authentic dish from that part of India - so why would
anybody have to cook?!!!! Ah, the luxury that is India! :)

So now I have moved from that phase to this phase where I cook almost EVERY
day! Well, I DO cook everyday, sob, sob. (Yea my roomy does cook, but the mess
he leaves back is too much for me to handle. So I let him be most times) Anyway.
So like at other things, I am good at this too. Hehe. My inherent creativity has
cooked up dishes I could never imagine possible from me. And I am getting good
at it day by day.Necessity is the mother of invention they say. In the case of the
kitchen one could say boredom is the mother of innovative dishes.

Cooking your own food has its own pros you see. For one you can always believe
what you are eating, unlike at the restaurants. Secondly, you KNOW it is
hygienic and don't have to believe the hypocritical certificates the restaurant
flaunts. You always have the choice to "order" your own dish unlike where you
have to pick from "1,2,3". I think you get the point. So.. I am enjoying my time
in the kitchen. I ain't cooking any story here, honestly I am :)

So long... until next time, Guten Apetit.

Deutschland welcomes you..

The land of the Black Forest and Oktoberfest..

Munchen(Munich) welcomes all. My home to be for some
time now - is a nice place at first glance. Warm,
friendly and inviting (though the U/S-bahn system
is confusing to a new comer).

I am currently put up in a hotel provided by my employer.
I have the onerous task of looking for an apartment.
Will start sometime Monday. Currently getting to
know the city and my way around. My colleagues here
are very helpful and have offered to show me around the
most important places.. like the indian stores :-P
I think an Indian looks forward to grocery shopping
onlywhens/he does it when not in India. :-)
Well, I am ofcourse going to try out the german cuisine
but at a slightly slower pace for two reasons. Firstly,
my gastric issues since my appendicitis operation last year
are persisting and I have been advised to avoid processed
food.. which is almost impossible when you are in another
country and LAZY to cook :-) Secondly, I have to yet develop
an attitude to try-out/eat meat other than chicken and fish.
Its a big barrier to break - and i am very sure it is not due to
the culture factor alone. Well I can say this cos I took up
eating fish like umm... fish to water (pun intended).. unlike
with chicken. I ate very little of chicken but i can gorge on a
whole tuna. So anyway.

The hotel I am living in has service apartments and is pretty neat.
So cooking is not an issue and I am doing my bit to help consumerism.
;)

So long... will keep updating you on life in Munich. Auf Wiedersehen.