Tales of travelling … again …

This year has been seminal in terms of the amount I have travelled. Do not believe me when I crib that I am not travelling enough. I am just being a bad boy, and asking for more candies !
In February I went to north east Oregon with a few friends, to the Eagle Cap Wilderness and Wallowa Lake & Mountains. The night-stay in a charming cottage in the snowy wonderland that it was was worth way more than the forty dollars that the trip cost me. In retrospect the stay together with friends and spending the long hours after sunset came, chatting, making fun among friends, playing up each others’ imaginary fears of the netherworld, falling asleep in weird cozy positions mostly in the midst of talking and playing games was very, much fun. I am convinced it has added to that sum total of life’s pleasure invoking experiences. The album is here.
In June (5-12) I went on a car tour of the Pacific northwest, as I mentioned in the previous post with a an old college room-mate.The 2200 mi tour was nothing short of fantastic. In fact I was so enamoured I am ready to go back there the next summer if the chance so arises. While the weather had played spoilsport initially, and the day at Crater Lake was a total gray out, the rest of the days were out of that stack of post-cards at the souvenir shop ! Oregon’s Pacific coast is what the seascape lovers paradise look like. Forested headlands, cliffs, cobblestone as well the “standard fare sandy” beaches strewn with bleached driftwood, off-shore rocks with abundant birds, seals, and the amazing multi-coloured sea life in tide-pools – everything come together to make it a cornucopia of sorts ! The Coastal Redwoods of Del Norte county in northern California were all that they were promised to be from the brochures and more, a land of giants with an almost primeval flavour. The constant fogs rolling in, the dripping moss of the far-above branches, the dark, shadowy ominous groves of trees with their age wrinkled barks, all came together to take us into an almost make believe world, as if we were standing in the company of Elders of Prehistory !
Between the two of us, we clicked with such abandon, that the editing of all those photographs looks like a gargantuan feast to me, something that I am still to put my teeth into to relish enough. Only about a sixth of it is done, and hopefully the rest would be done in some not too far off future. The album, as much of it is done is here.
The judgment I had reserved in the last post about the city of San Francisco, comes now. It has its share of sky-scrapers but I must agree that the frenzy of Midtown Manhattan, or downtown Chicago is missing. The city still retains the cultural piquantness of the waves of immigrants who have come over the decades, and made the city their home. I like the distinctiveness of the old Victorian houses, the flavour of Spain in the areas near the Presidio, the pagoda lilt of Chinatown, and the little sidewalk cafes, eateries and churches in Little Italy. In short the flavours are still discernable, and have not become the hotchpotch of cosmopolitanism looking to become that suave, blended smoothie ! The patch work on the tapestry is very much evident. I am sure that under this welcoming warmth the city still has its ruthless commerce and under the carpet poverty, the daily drudgery of urban mayhem and cruelties of lives gone astray, but it is covered with an élan, that must be appreciated.
The stay in the academic environs of Berkeley also had its pluses I believe, the liberality espoused in that acclaimed university town has spread out in all its sentient sympathy and affected the whole of the Bay Area. In short it was a nice break over the weekend.

Shinni Recipe

When Bengalis make a peace offering to the Hindu Creator Deity Vishnu (Narayana) they conduct a special puja called Satyanarayana puja (this puja is fairly common across many Hindu sects all over the world). The specialty of the Bengali version is the main prasad (food offering) a delectable sweet thing called shinni - below is the recipe:

Shinni Recipe

The proportions are important to maintain. Scale up or down as necessary.

Ingredients

• 300 g atta / wheat flour - preferably whole grain atta, don't use self-rising flour
• 300 g 'batasha' or dried drops of clarified (white) or jaggery (gur or unclarified sugar) -  Sugar / Jaggery -
• 300 ml raw (unboiled) cow milk
• Grated fresh coconut to taste (don't be too liberal with this, it gives it an 'oily' taste)
• A little green cardamom seeds (chhoto elach) (again keep it low, it has a very strong flavour)
• 5 nos. (4" x 1.5" diameter) ripe bananas (must be well ripened to avoid that faintly brackish taste, ideally use the 'martaman' (bananito) variety (probably grown only in E. India / SE Asia) the commercial cultivar Cavendish ('singapuri' in India) does not give that typical taste.
• (optional) Cut dry fruits to taste (avoid this to get the real taste of the offering)

Method

1. Start by mashing the bananas and sugar into a smooth paste with your hands in a steel or brass vessel.
2. Add milk, mix and then add atta in small parts till the consistency is that of a pourable cake batter

Notes

• Under no circumstance eat too much of this thing. It is known to cause stomach cramps and indigestion on account of the uncooked flour / raw milk combination.
• Most Hindus consider making this other than on occassion of the Satyanarayana Puja as inauspicious and forbidden.
• Needless to say, I looooo...oved this thing as a child and had had a few cramps on eating too much of it. Even now would love going to someone's house for the Satyanarayana Puja more to satiate the sweet craving rather than for any degree of piety.

Traveling

Traveling is something I have always liked. Yet, there is something to be said about lazing ... it always feels different and sometimes restful to comeback to "home-base". A fortnight back I took a road trip from eastern Washington state to the Pacific coast till the California redwood country.

Between the inevitable pitfalls of taking a 2000 mile trip and the 'sad' weather that that you chance upon, there was a lot to be seen. The Oregon Pacific coast is particularly beautiful with dense forests and breathtaking seascapes. I got to see sea-cliffs, rocky shores, a panoply of marine life, and generally enjoyed the unshackling from day-to-day work.

I traveled with an old friend from my college days. Probably for him too this was the longest trip of any sorts in his 6 year stay in the US. Our drive across Washington and Oregon (primarily) also allowed us the chance to see the variety of terrain that the US Pacific northwest offers. A list of sorts follows:

Palouse short grass prairie (South-eastern WA)
Semi arid scablands (South-central WA)
Volcanic mountains and temperate sub-boreal rainforests (Central Cascades in WA/OR)
Temperate coastal evergreen rainforests (OR/CA Pacific coast)
Alpine / sub-alpine forests (South Cascades, West-central OR)
Semi-arid scrublands (East of Cascades, Central OR)
Alpine / sub-alpine forests (North-eastern OR)

The geography of OR is perhaps one of the most varied among the states in the lower 48. It pretty much has everything ! The state is a nature photographers paradise !
The canyon lands in the northeast of OR are extensive and Hells Canyon on the Snake river on the OR/ID border are the deepest in the whole of the US ... though the access to the place is fairly limited for motor vehicles. Trail access is extensive, mostly following the old trails of the Nez Perce Native peoples.

Some photos are being put up here (as they are processed)
http://picasaweb.google.com/kachra.dabba/ORCAWATrip#

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In general the central business districts of most US cities are fairly similar. This weekend I am going to San Fransisco to meet my sister / bro' in law. I have heard much about the city, and its picturesque vicinity. Let us reserve judgment !

Writing after another hiatus of a few months ... it always feels weird to do this. Guess one never knows one's own mind. My Didi (elder sister) has started a cooking-cum-travel blog ... she is much more regular I dare say ... I am such a slack in these things. Yet writing about life's experiences should be a fun thing to do. Always. I have started a photo-blog of sorts. The aim is to take a good photograph every day for the next one year. I am trying my best to do it, but there are holes within it ... I have never however found self flagellating myself to stick to routines particularly enjoyable. Yeah, I know, it is just procrastinating and giving poor excuses. Well, so be it. Let life live in all its untempered and untethered glory. More later.

By the way, there has been 2-3 holes in the past 11 days, not bad for the likes of me :D ... yayaaya !

Didi-bro'-in-law and respective parents went to Varanasi, that city epitomizing Hinduism ... nay, Indian-ness, in all its hoary hues. Didi wasn't impressed by the general tropical and (ir)religious dirtiness. They also went to Sanchi, where the Buddha's relics are supposed to be in rest ... and Didi likes it, probably because Buddhism is dead enough to keep it clean :p ... I haven't visited that place, nor the religious Varanasi, well some time in my own ancientness that pilgrimage may be undertaken.

Here is the link to the picture blog/album:

An addendum to the post below.

In early 2009 between Feb & May 2009, I spent some 3+ months in Baroda. I city which I have come to love very much in spite of its many limitations. Somehow there is still some small-town charm there, that appeals to me. I feel out of depth in the larger cities in India. The above mentioned 3+ months were among the most relaxing in my life.

It is not to say that the fact I wasn't basically doing anything with my life during this period was all charms. It did have its share of ennui-induced frustrations. But the fact remains I got to know a lot of new people, helped them in small but easily forgotten ways. These had no pecuniary remunerations, but gave me immense pleasure. And the ability to do things without thinking about the future is an indescribable stimulant.

Needless to say, looking back from among the stream of 'profitably employed people', rather than living by my own means and wits has made me nostalgic again. Suffice to say, there is a certain deadness when life goes on from one deadline to another. Yet, you are still alive to feel the tribulations after the deadline. So much for living life for the moment.

Some more pictures from those days of mental-vacation, so-to-speak.
Baroda/Bombay Feb-May 2009

Photographs and more ...

Just logging in after more than a couple of years into Blogger. I am just too lazy to become a dedicated blogger I guess ... :( ... thought I would post some of my photography album links, that is the only thing that I have been doing with some semblance of regularity ... though did get to indulge in my see more of nature and new places in the past year or so. It came in lieu of a messed up professional life though ... ;-) ... but then its the end that matters in such things rather than the means, and then the quantum of happiness gained is more than enough recompense ...

I am keeping most of my online viewable pictures in PicasaWeb, still haven't come to love Flickr as many well-wishers fond of my pictures have told me to ... there are too many pictures that I haven't sorted through ... so, here goes ...

Elk Creek Mushroom Hunting, ID, Sep 2009
Pullman - 1, WA, Aug 2009
Puducherry, June 2009
Puri/B'swar, Orissa, June 2009
Kumaun/Garhwal, Uttaranchal, April-May 2009
Saraswati Puja, Storrs, CT, Jan 2009
Garhwal, Uttaranchal, July 2008

I guess looking at the list above one would think that it is enough of traveling to new places to last me at least another 2-3 years, but then such is the nature of vagabonding that it is never enough. The "urge to be anywhere but here", as Steinbeck would have said, is a strange affliction of the professional bum.

In stabler moments of my life, when things are in a more even keel, I seem to think that for some people, listening to other people, and working in a system is not something that they do naturally. This is a natural handicap in a systematic human world, those of us suffer from this are never completely happy doing things from the external perspective. Let me rest it rest it at that for today.

The links below are mostly non-functional, being more than 2+ years old in the this transient virtual world, nevertheless if you want to listen to the songs just search for them in sites such as esnips.com, raaga.com, youtube.com or musicindiaonline.com

There is a certain pathos and odd enjoyment in reminiscence ! These songs somehow remind me of my home town, and my provice, so warm and green, and now lush in monsoon. Just listen to them and enjoy !

Ei meghla dine ekla
Aami gaan shonabo
Bonotal phule phule dhaka
Alo amar alo ogo
Amar mukti aloy alo

Mountain Nostalgia

Himalayas Trip - June, 2004

This morning I was looking at these old pictures again. Reminded me of those boundless eight days in the lap of nature. Will have to go back there pretty soon if I am to keep myself alive. Any way, got to go now, and do the drudgery ...

War and Peace

Ha! Ha! ... I just love Watterson's C&H ... sad he doesn't make 'em anymore ... so much philosophy in the guise of cartoons !

Reminds me of that quote I heard from my dad, (he attributed it to Robert McNamara) " ... the history of the world is largely that of war, punctured by periods of exhaustion which goes under the name of peace ..." - I would say that hits the nail on the head in succinctly describing the innate vices attributed to mortal men - a lifelong accretion of material objects most of which we do not need.

While I well understand the rationale behind the Darwinist survival of the fittest, I fail to understand how our "superior" intelligence have enabled out continued existence in this chimeric world. In my humble understanding, it is only humans who have the habit of taking more than they require from Nature, and it is this tendency that will be our downfall. All other species, take what they will honestly require. Ever heard of a tiger killing two deer, when it takes it a week to consume one ?

We humans have complicated our lives with the unnecessary accoutrement of civilization. We are continually working towards a less enriching life, and I talk of life as the sum total of the human species' ability to live happily ... but more on that later ... in another of my tirades ...

A return ...

Hello !

Well .... writing a blog after a long time .... wrote last almost 3 months back ! but today, I was reminded of blooging and its certain merits by a link sent by my friend Satyajit (aka Ali .... I wonder where he got that name from .... never asked him ..... ;-)) ....

Any way spent most of the of the day sleeping ..... awoke at 11 am and brunched and then listened to Hariprasad ..... he is just to good with that mere piece of cane ! Sometimes I feel if only I could do something wonderful like that ..... I am sure creating something like that takes you to a higher spiritual level, all with your feet still on the ground !! Such music is elevating ...

Well then I spent the next couple of hours from late afternoon 4 pm ?? till 6:30 ?? basically watching Hum Tum for may be the fifth time .... I kind of like the goofy / cheesy humor of Saif, the dialog is pretty cool too..... even tho' it is an adaptation from Hollywood's Harry met Sally .... but I would say an excellent adaptation to desi mentality and street talk ..... tho' missed some parts due to use of panjabi lingo ..... punjabi stuff seems to have gripped Bollywood movies this last few years ..... and this was a Yash Chopra production so I guess panjabiyana was bound to leak into it ! ..... tho' I didn't like it when it also seeped into Saif's Parineeta that I watched sometime back ..... I am more or less sure that you didn't have "horde" (chorus singing to be polite) singing at upper middle class Bengali pre-nuptials, I doubt whether you have it today also ..... and definitely not in the 60s which it is supposed to depict ..... (forget about the 20s ..... which the original novel was based on ..... but let's stick to the 60s ... that that's what the film makers say they wanted to bring forward into from the 20s ) .... guess this was just to give it an India-wide appeal .....

Well basically watched because my new roomie hasn't watched it before ..... but I fell asleep some 20 minutes to curtains I think ..... and as usual woke up 3 hours later ! God knows why I can't sleep less than that .....

Well some other time .... someone's calling on the cell ......

Chicken Pox

America is a strange place ..... here you have to have a car to go any where worth its salt ....
even the nearest shopping mall is 8 miles away .... and there is a limit to how much you can walk ...

I tried that when I first came here ..... its no joke walking that far to grab a cabbage !!
Even riding a bicycle is difficult, the so called freeways are so unfriendly to bike riders,
only on the backroads, which usually lead nowhere (nothing of a "civilizational" nature at least) sometimes end up as muddy ruts in woodland or turn back upon themselves, and just cater to a couple of houses along that road ....

What about "public transportation" you might ask ..... don't joke my friend is all I would say, except in the very big cities (NY, Chicago, Boston, LA, Frisco...)and their vicinity you don't have any worth while public transportation network .... everybody uses cars .... probably you would have to take a car ride to the nearest sulabh as well if it were India !! But yes, people can relieve themselves in the wooded patch off the road I guess, and in the US you do get to see people do that, India is not too bad man ..... the frequency is bound to be atleast ~10 times more ..... (three times the population, one third the area .... :-) ...)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Last two weeks were a bit of a down-drift .... I contracted chicken pox from a friend who was returning from India, poor bloke had his rashes break out when he landed here, after enjoying 3 weeks of leisure at home !! .... atleast I had the worst period spending time at my apartment here !! The medicines they give you here are really powerful, back home in India, when we were young "pox" used to be a 2 week letdown .... here you are up and running in a week .... but I guess it is worse for children, because you cannot administer such high dose anti-virals .... Anyway it was nice seeing so many of my friends here getting concerned over me, and my apartment mates were so helpful by helping me out with some of my usual duties and by being considerate .... these little things makes one feel better so far away from home ....

Now I am feeling so much younger and energetic .... having "basically a childhood disease" at 26 makes one feel like this I guess ..... :-) ... however my fave is a motley patchwork of shades .... these will take some time to go I think .... (if at all they ever go) .... asked the doc the "medical" name ... and infection of "varicella zoster virus" .... quite a mouthful ....

Any way got to go .... there is a seminar to attend, let us see if I can find it interesting enough to listen to ... or may be 45 mins of napping or doodling .... !

For want of a shoe ....

This week end, on Sunday, I enjoyed trekking and cycling in the neighbourhood, first instance of my legendary walking abouts in the US ..... was a bit windy, and the ups 'n downs of Storrs taxed my lung and legs ;-)

Nice place where I live .... my friend Jaideep thought that this was some exotic locale away from where I live ..... but it is the self same 'Orchard Acres' outside the University campus .... poor fellow little does he know ..... it is a bit disconcerting knowing that the University of Calcutta is in the midst of a bazaar ....

Now it is Tuesday ..... week will be a bit lax .... little TA work ....
How is little sis doing in Helsinki ?? ..... got to ask her in detail ..... !
will be sort of a madhuchandrika for her !!!

raat tinte bajlo ... jhNapi namai ...