What is Indian food? If you ask a Caucasian, he would probably say Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Naan. But the real answer is, there’s no one thing called “Indian Food”. How do you define it, then? That’s the question that the TV show Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan tries to answer. I mentioned this show briefly in my list of favourite TV shows of all time and believe that it now needs its own post.
Raja, Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan is probably the most comprehensive look into what Indian food is. Each episode takes a look into a different part of Indian cuisine, divided carefully using state/region or cities. They discuss the following parameters for each of these cuisines
History of the cuisine
History of the various produce being used in these cuisines, along with their country of origin and when they came to India
Which meat is used where and why
The evolution of the cuisine over centuries
The role of royal families in preserving these cuisines
My favourite episodes over 4 seasons, in chronological order are the ones below
Overall, it seems that the only Indian cuisine I don’t love is Eastern and North Eastern.
The narration by Manwendra Tripathy is very good and I really enjoy the appearances of Pushpesh Pant in most of the episodes.
Pushpesh Pant in Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaaniyan
I am watching the entire series again for the second time and really enjoying it. If you like Indian food and interested to know more about it, I definitely recommend this show. Streaming on EpicOn (All Seasons), Netflix (Only 1 season) and Discovery+ (First 3 seasons).
I am a studio album guy. Playlists are not for me, nor is shuffle. I don’t like compilations either. I generally listen to music by the album and in most cases I listen to the album whole, in one sitting. Below is a list of my favourite studio albums.
The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) – Pink Floyd
The Dark Side of the Moon : Pink Floyd
There was never any real competition for the first slot in my list of favourite studio albums. I didn’t have to think twice. For me, The Dark Side of the Moon will always be as close to a perfect album that is technically possible. I can listen to this album and zone out with ease.
The only black-mark on this otherwise perfect album? – On the run. Can’t stand it and always have to skip over it. All the other tracks are just perfect in every way.
Highly recommend the Classic Albums episode on this album, narrated by Alan Parsons himself.
Rumours (1977) – Fleetwood Mac
Rumours : Fleetwood Mac
This album is rock bordering on pop. Which is why I was so surprised that I liked it so much. I listened to Dreams for the first time in Kolkata, but the first time I listened to the whole album was during a road-trip from Delhi to Chandigarh. Most of the songs are more or less perfect. My favourites are Dreams, Go your own way, The Chain & You make loving fun.
Even more fascinating is the background behind this album, the breakups, drugs and internal turmoils the band members were going through during recording. Highly recommend the Classic Albums episode on this album.
Animals (1977) – Pink Floyd
Animals : Pink Floyd
There’s absolutely no bad track in this album. All the songs are more or less perfect. But my absolute favourites are Dogs and Sheep.
This is also the last Eagles album before Don Felder was booted from the band.
Hybrid Theory (2000) – Linkin Park
Hybrid Theory : Linking Park
I am not into the genre that Linkin Park represents. But Linkin park is undoubtedly a big part of my college years and there are hundreds of memories associated with its albums. Out of them, Hybrid theory is perhaps the one that defines Linkin Park for me. My favourite tracks are Papercut, One Step Closer, Crawling, In the End, Pushing me away and My December. The last track only appears on the Japanese version of the album and which I heard through piracy. I probably won’t have been into them if I had heard them for the first time in any other stage of my life.
So what if the instruments are simplistic? They sound good and that’s all that matters.
I still listen to them but only when I go for runs. Transports me back to my college days.
The Division Bell (1994) – Pink Floyd
The Division Bell : Pink Floyd
This album gets a lot of flak for “being terrible”, but even though it is far moved from the 70s and 80s Pink Floyd sound, I still love it. This album is more David Gilmour than any other Pink Floyd album before it. It shows in the soulful long-winded solos. My favourite tracks from this album are Marooned, Wearing the inside out, Coming back to life, Keep talking and High Hopes.
High hopes transports me back to college days to a specific night when Whoreko was staying with us to appear for some exams and he showed me his Sony Walkman series phone. I chose High Hopes to test the music quality and was blown away by the amazing bass.
Coming back to life takes me back to my Kolkata days, going to Someplace Else and listening to The Hip Pocket.
Azadi (1997) – Junoon
Azadi : Junoon
This album was my introduction to Rock music. And what an album! And from Pakistan, of all places. Amazing soulful sufi-inspired music with rock riffs.
I remember falling asleep to this album every night listening to it on my Aiwa Walkman. This was when I stayed in Durgapur. I also remember once hooking up my radio antenna to our apartment window and catching FM radio from Kolkata and this was the track playing.
Too bad the band couldn’t continue their success after this album.
Wish you were here (1975) – Pink Floyd
Wish you were here : Pink Floyd
This album is carried by one track and that is Shine on you crazy diamond. At one point of time, I listened to this song every single day. The track starts out slow and soulful, picks up tempo, then goes slow again.
I am not into electronic music, but I love Kraftwerk. The Man-machine is an album of epic proportions. Just like Azadi, I listened to it while falling asleep in Durgapur. Every song in this album is great and I will never be tired of listening to it.
After writing this, I realise that 6 out of my 9 favourite studio albums all came out within the 7 years between 1973 and 1979. What a time it must have been to be alive back then!
Last few months have been very difficult. I have spent most of them doing documentation and it will be the death of me. I am not sure how it happened, but I got stuck with documentation of various kinds all within a span of few weeks. Tangled in the web of Indian government bureaucracy.
Below, I will try to show how complicated the various documentations were. Dependency of one document on another and on another, nested up to 4 levels deep
Daughter and my Visa/Work Permit extension
This is what started my death by documentation. Although the company handles most of the paperwork, I need to visit the Indian embassy and get a relationship certificate every year
Passport copy
Visa Copy
Work Permit Copy
Birth certificate
Relationship certificate from Indian embassy
Axis/Indian Bank NRO Conversion (In Person)
I got these bank accounts converted to NRO in-person when I visited Gurgaon and Kolkata.
This one was relatively painless, but they rejected my application for the first time and I had to gather all the documents again and send them to India a second time
This was the most difficult. Many of the documents had dependencies and sub-dependencies and it took me weeks of effort and a lot of money to gather everything.
NRI Account opening form (22 pages)
Demat Debit and Pledge Instruction (DDPI)
FATCA Declaration
PO Box Declaration
FEMA Declaration
Passport Size photo
Client details and declaration form
Copy of Passport
Attested by Indian Embassy
Visa
Copy of PAN Card
Attested by Indian Embassy
Overseas Address Proof (Thai Driving License)
Attested by Indian Embassy
Attested by Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Translated by a certified agency
Indian Address Proof (Indian Driving License)
Attested by Indian Embassy
Cancelled cheque for NRO account
ID Proof of Nominee
State Bank of India NRO conversion (Remote)
For this one, I shot an arrow in the dark. I just checked the documents online, filled the form and sent it by post without asking them. Still don’t know if the documents have been accepted or if it was all in vain
NRO conversion form
Copy of Passport
Attested by Indian Embassy
Visa
Copy of PAN Card
Attested by Indian Embassy
Overseas Address Proof (Thai Driving License)
Attested by Indian Embassy
Attested by Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Translated by a certified agency
Indian Address Proof (Indian Driving License)
Attested by Indian Embassy
Thai Tax ID (Self attested)
Salary Slips
Thai bank statements
Daughter’s Passport Renewal
This one was surprisingly easy and went through the first time. I was apprehensive daughter’s signatures will not match, but she did surprisingly well.
Passport Application form (Generated Online)
Photos (They first asked for 2, so I got 2. Then they asked for 3, so I had to get 4 more. Then they took only 2)
Old passport
Visa copy
Declaration for minor
Registration form for Indians staying abroad
Parents’ passport copies
Parents’ work permit copies
Thai Driving License Renewal
I can’t blame this one on the Indian government, though. I contacted an agency for this service and it was not too difficult.
Driving License application form
Photos
Passport copy
Visa copy
Work Permit copy
Address proof
Residence certificate from Indian embassy
Daughter’s Visa transfer
Since I re-issued my daughter’s passport mid-way through her Visa, now I need to get the Visa transferred to the new passport
New Passport
Old Passport
Father’s passport
Father’s work permit
Letter from embassy informing about re-issue of passport
Relationship certificate with new Passport number
And it is still not over, have a few more to do. I went through 2 cartridges for my printer already. I am sick and tired of this.
My friends know about my eSim suffering for quite some time, as I have been doing constant RR about it for months now. Still, I thought I should put my ordeal in words to document it for my future self.
Why eSIM?
The story starts some time in 2020. Me and the wife were living in India, happy with Jio SIM cards for our Indian numbers. Both numbers were registered under my name. Then we found out we were moving to Bangkok. I was not sure if I could get eSIMs for our Bangkok numbers and our phones could accept only 1 physical SIM card at a time. So I decided to convert our Jio SIM cards to eSIMs before going to Bangkok.
I regret doing that, to this day.
Turns out, it is ridiculously easy to get eSIMs in Bangkok. Never mind, no harm done. But then, I realised we could not buy new phones because the Indian eSIMs can not be transferred to new phones. Never mind, we don’t need new phones anytime soon. I thought I could convert back our SIMs to physical SIMs the next time I went to India. Then we would be free to buy new phones in Bangkok.
The Second Mistake
Then I went ahead and killed my wife’s phone (And the eSIM inside it) attempting underwater photography.
We use our Indian phone numbers to authenticate Indian banking transactions and what not (Indian society is built on OTPs). It was imperative we replaced her SIM as soon as possible. Suddenly, the pressure to go to India and replace our SIMs was real and immediate.
The Process
The process is pretty straight forward. You walk in to a Jio store, the personnel use an app to do biometric verification and click a photo of you. Then the request is sent to a back-end team for verification and once approved, your new SIM is activated.
The (attempted) rectification
I booked the cheapest tickets possible and travelled to Kolkata within weeks. I thought it would be a simple transaction and I would soon return with physical SIMs for both our numbers. My wife would get her number back and I would be free to buy a new phone. How wrong I was.
After a sleepless night travelling, I woke up early morning to find a Jio store and request a SIM replacement. It took them only 20 minutes to issue me new physical SIMs for both our numbers and was told they would be activated within 4 hours. Happily I went on my way. Soon, the 4 hours were up and the physical SIMs were still not activated. So we went to the Jio store to follow up and were told the requests were rejected due to “photo mismatch”.
I was flabbergasted. The only reason I could think of was when I had bought these numbers, I had longer hair and now, I had recently shaved my head. Either ways, I begged the staff to do the process again. We waited half an hour and again – rejected. With time running out for my return flight, I dis-heartedly bought a new number for my wife and left India with my tail between my legs.
The Aftermath
My wife had to travel to India to change her phone number with government agencies and bank accounts. I still have an eSim for my India number. If my phone were to die tomorrow, I would have to go to India again with no guarantee that I would get a replacement SIM.
Durga Puja (Worship of Durga) is the ultimate festival of the Bengali people. Although you cannot deny the religious nature of Durga Puja, it is as much a cultural and a social festival as it is a religious one; which explains my interest in it. Being an Atheist, it is the cultural part which draws me. It is my favourite festival of all time and is something I look forward to, all year, every year.
Durga Puja is celebrated in Autumn, on a date decided by the Hindu calendar, either in late September or early October. It coincides with the North Indian concept of Navratri, but unlike Navratri, we don’t punish ourselves by restricting our diets or eating vegetarian food. Unlike Navratri, Durga Puja is a time to meet people, feast like there’s no tomorrow & gorge on your favourite food, mostly meat.
My memory of the festival from when I was young is that I had no interest in leaving my house to go and see it. In fact, when I lived in Panchkula, one of the Puja committees even awarded me a prize (Set of Sherlock Holmes books, which I treasure to this day) for academic performance. I refused to attend and someone later brought it home for me.
The first time I remember attending a Durga Puja in earnest was when Ritwik Mandal took me to one in Nagpur. I remember he insisted that we have the puja lunch (bhog). They didn’t have cutlery; you were expected to eat rice with your hand. I was struggling and an elderly couple sitting next to us started making fun of me in Bengali, not knowing I could understand them. I took the higher ground and didn’t abuse them.
Slowly, as I attended more and more Pujas, my interest went up. I remember going to the Maddox Square puja once with my cousins when I was in Kolkata. We reached the venue well past midnight; still the atmosphere was electric. There were thousands of people there, chatting with family and friends. The smell of food being prepared wafted through the air. I hung out there for a few hours and headed home. I had not seen anything like it before.
Regular Patron
Eventually, I became a regular patron of Durga Puja, when I moved to Gurgaon and my parents moved there, too. My father had no interest in it, so me and my mother explored the city in search for new Pandals. After marriage, I drew my wife into the mix, too. Slowly we developed our favourite Pandals, although we would go Pandal-hopping to all the major ones in Gurgaon as well as Delhi. When our daughter was born, we got her hooked, too and we developed a predictable schedule.
Few weeks before the start of the Pujas, we would go to Slice of Bengal in CR Park to begin our shopping. My wife and daughter would both get Bengali sarees and other clothing.
We would attend the pre-Pujo fest at the Chittaranjan Park Bangiya Samaj.
On day 5, we would go to the Pandal at Kashmere Gate, see that it is not ready yet and return home disappointed. By next year we would forget this and do the same thing again.
On day 6, we would cover some of the Gurgaon pandals.
Day 7, we would go Pandal Hopping at CR Park in the morning (Including Navapalli, my daughter’s favourite), then go to Oh! Calcutta for lunch and then return home stuffed. In the evenings, we would go to some more pandals in Gurgaon, including my favourite at the DLF Phase 1 community center.
More of the same on Day 8
On the 9th day, we would go to all our favourite ones once again and then bid a tearful goodbye till next year.
I much prefer Delhi & Gurgaon Durga Pujas to Kolkata ones (which are complete carnage).
Disappointing 2021
Durga Puja in 2020 was a subdued affair because of COVID, but there was something, at least. This year’s Durga Puja was a big disappointment. Normally there’s one Bengali group organising it in Bangkok, but this year, there’s nothing. There are no Bengali restaurants in Bangkok either (There are Bangladeshi, but its not the same). So we are sitting at home, watching it on TV.
Hope I am able to enjoy my favourite festival next year, again.
When I was making a Facebook account recently, it asked me what my Hometown was. I thought about it for a while, but didn’t have an answer. Looks like I have had such a nomadic life, I don’t have a Hometown.
This list just covers the cities I have lived in. Even within these cities, I have sometimes lived in up to 3 different places. What is my Hometown, then?
Bhubaneshwar, because I was born there, but lived only a few months?
Kolkata, because that’s where my parents are from, but lived only a year?
Gurgaon, where I lived the longest and have my own place but don’t ever plan to return to?
Thankfully, I am off Facebook, so don’t have to answer this question anymore.
Last weekend, I got the opportunity to visit the city after a span of 2.5 years. Here’re a few things I noticed that have changed and some things that have not Changed:-
Some signs of development are showing up (2 new Metro Lines)
More cars on the roads
Not Changed:-
The filth still exists everywhere and in greater quantities
People still bathe on the streets
The cars still honk like crazy; driving etiquettes are non-existent
City is still severely polluted, buses still run on cheap Kerosene/Diesel Mix
People are still Lazy, un-friendly & in a state of perpetual anger
Kolkata Airport is the worst airport in the country at the moment
The city has a quality of bringing a lethargic feeling even to high-spirited individuals. I used to leave the place I was staying at to go out multiple times a day, only to feel tired in some time and come back.
I had given some thought to shift there in the past few months (to save on money), but all those thoughts are now gone.
I don’t know what’s up with this city. But one thing that you will abundantly find in all good quality restaurants is P.D.A. This is because of the high price of hotel rooms in city or because people like to show they have girlfriends, I may never know unless I ask some couple myself. They can be found in all the good restaurants and pubs on Park Street. They sit on the same side of the table and are constantly groping and touching each other. Some even go to the extent of smooching openly.. Atleast spare me of this embarrassment if I am ever sitting with my parents. IS this some way to show that you guys are cool? That you are as open and forward as the Americans & the Europeans? Can’t you just get a fucking hotel room and make out? And not surprisingly most of these couples are teens maybe from school. Explains them being wannabes for sure. Unfortunately, even the only place I like in Kolkata, Someplace Else (Someplace Nice :-*) could not escape the infiltration of these “Lovers”. While I try to enjoy the awesome music, there are always a few couple in the eyesight either groping or the guy grinding his thing on the girl’s ass. Moreover, they request for songs of Shaggy, Daddy Yankee(Who the fuck is he? Who’s daddy is he?) and dance on The Doors & Floyd and spoil the atmosphere. You fucking sexually frustrated creatures, why don’t you just go upstairs and rent a room for the night? Why do you have to brush against me again and again?? Go S.O.D. off!!
This city fucked me again. Today while going to office I was stuck in a Traffic Jam because some truck filled with human excreta had collapsed on the A.J.C. Road Flyover. It took more than an hour for the jam to clear. Couldn’t even go back because the Jam extended behind us for more than a kilometer and soon the whole flyover was covered with Traffic.
This place still sucks… All these months away, I had expected atleast some improvement but no!! Yes, there are changes, but no improvements. The traffic is as bad and the roads worse. Riding a bike is a pain in this city. The other day, I was almost run over by a tram. Yes, the tram tracks are on the road itself. Whenever it rains, the traffic situation becomes much worse. It’s also hot, humid and dirty.
The only thing good in this city is Someplace Else, the pub at Park Hotel. With Live bands playing every night and booze not very expensive, it’s a great place. The Hip Pockets play there wednesdays and fridays. They are a treat to listen to. They play all the classics and Pink Floyd numbers.
Also, I like cruising along St. George’s Gate road at night. The traffic is measly and you get a beautiful view of driving along the Hoogly river.
Anyways, getting tired of inactivity and boredom. Trying to accumulate the will to start going to the gym and hopefully, will go on Monday.
