Tales of swimwear shopping

I was out shopping for a swimwear last weekend. Even before I left home I knew that I was going to spend an awful lot time in shopping for that one perfect swimsuit. Since I am regular at swimming, my utmost requirement is comfort. How hard can it get, you say? Well, Very!

I entered a small shop that welcomed with a colorful array of skimpy swimwear for women. There were a plenty of options to chose from, from the chic and sexy 2-piece suit to athletic to conservative full-limbed suits.

First, there were dresses with jewels and gems; those were the party wears. Then come those with the breathtaking (literally) underwire (google for it means if you don’t know).  Then there are the ones with a tiny skirt. I don’t even get this; why have a skirt that floats on the surface of the water once you are inside. It is to give you the allure, I suppose. Just not for me and I move on.

There were swimsuits in conservative category. These swimsuits do not show any skin but leaves nothing to imagination. They were dangerously thin, flimsy and hug the contours of one’s body like second skin. All the above options are available for little girls starting from the size of infants. Why does an infant or for that matter, a 5 year old needs a bikini style 2-piece suit, I can’t fathom.

That’s when I spotted the rack of fully comfortable and functional swim shorts on the farther remote corner of that shop. The salesgirl was quick to point out that it was the men’s section. I told her that I would still take a look. She gave up on me and turned her attention to other shoppers.

This rack had the short, flimsy, body hugging material of swimsuit (competition category suits). But it also had a lot of other comfortable options. Most of the swimsuits were not body-hugging kind yet tight at the required parts. The material was thick and durable. They even had inner lining material. I almost cried out at the unfairness. Those shorts could easily pass off as casual outdoor / sports shorts.

These are my requirements in a swimwear.

1.     Underwire should be banned.

2.     No thin, flimsy and clingy material.

3.     Thick fabric and durable material (Inner lining is an added bonus)

4.     Something that I can wear comfortably to a grocery shop and jump into pool afterwards. (What? Is this too much to ask? My husband does this all the time.)

I ended up buying one of the shorts from men’s section that passes all of the above criteria. I also bought competition category women’s swimwear. It didn’t pass any of the above criteria but over time I have learnt to be comfortable wearing it to the pool.

Party ke side effects

First of all, Happy New year all you lovely people!!

I have something really important to share. Being an Indian and a girl, I really have to talk about this and share my experience.

Being outside India, I have been leading an absolutely harassment free life here. I do not worry about what I am wearing, what time of the day it is, where I go and how late I step out of the house. I am usually with my husband or other friends, so I feel very safe when I am outside. Partying till very late is the normal lifestyle of every 20 somethings and above here in Singapore. Nobody makes a big deal out of this. Even families with young kids stay out as late as 12AM.

An incident happened this new years eve when I was out with my husband and a few of my very good friends in a beach party. One of the parties that night was a foam and shower dance floor with great DJ. Naturally that was the most popular and crowded of all parties that night. We entered the party after midnight and the foam had stopped for some time. The crowd was waiting for the foam rain to start again. And so it started, as promised, with fantastic music. The crowd went wild.

As if out of nowhere a hand appeared to pinch my belly. I looked around but couldn't spot anything funny, so I dismissed it and went back to dancing. And then I felt it again. This time I was fast enough to catch the hand that was pinching me. I started pinching the hand as hard as I could all the while holding tight onto the re-treating hand. In no time, I spotted the face associated with the hand. Without thinking anything else, as a response, I started slapping the face just about everywhere that I could reach. I must have easily hit the face about 6-7 times.

At that moment I didn't think all these but thinking about it now, hitting him across his face felt good, real good. I was not afraid. I was not worried that he might challenge me. I was glad that I hit him right across his eyes and nose and on his head. Right then, I was high without any drink.

The person (he was of Indian origin, I can tell that much), disappeared into the crowd soon after that. I was back to enjoying the party with my husband and friends who were close enough to see all this. Everything happened so quickly that they couldn't react. Once we were out of dance floor I spotted the face again and I tugged at my husband's hand "It's him". I didn't expect that my husband would make a mad dash towards that guy who had starting running away after recognizing me. My husband confronted him and I vaguely remember my hubby holding his collar. I felt extra brave with my dear husband backing me up and I pushed the guy a couple of times as if to challenge him (dhakka marna). But when the guy didn't make sense and appeared scared I asked hubby to let go of him and pulled him out of the scene. I should have let him continue so that the matter would escalate to security personnel.

This sounds too cliched but there is some charm in your man fighting for you :) I had a new-found respect towards my hubby dear that night. My husband was worried slightly that the incident would spoil my mood, he wasn't sure how I would react. When I was very casual and told him that I actually enjoyed all these (who wouldn't enjoy hitting the wrong-doer!) he was relieved.


The rest of the night passed without any untoward incidents. For such a huge party, stray incidents like these are expected, unfortunately! Will this stop me from going to the night party next time? No way! Next year we will make sure to get such guys expelled.

Austrailian food

Australia is a foodie's paradise. With people and culture so diverse, one can imagine the diversity in food, its range and quality. There is Greek precinct with an array of Greek cafes and restaurants, Chinatown precinct for Chinese delicacies, Lygon street for Italian and so on.

Being a vegetarian is not at all difficult in Australia. Every food place has quite a few vegetarian options. As I was in budget mode I couldn't explore restaurants in Australia but here are some of the things that I tried in food courts and mid range cafes.

Mine and your favorite Coffee:

Australians love their coffee to the point of obsession. They take their coffee as seriously as their beer. Australians whose families migrated from Greek and Italy introduced coffee culture in Australia. Australia can be considered one of the world's great coffee lovers.

Vegemite, Concentrated yeast extract:

Source: Wikimedia

This is one of Australia's very own, most widely eaten as breakfast. It is a thick black gooey "spread" eaten with cheese crackers and bread. This is a byproduct of beer brewing, a concentrated yeast extract. This is more of an acquired taste, like Durian of Malaysia/Singapore. It has a bitter and sour taste that shocks you on your first bite.

Greek - Veg Souvlaki:

This is a traditional greek food. Souvlaki is Pita sandwich of crispy vegetable(/chicken) kebabs in a bed of crunchy lettuce and onions with tzatziki(creamy cucumber yoghurt) sauce. This sandwich was so filling that I could only finish half of it. I have nothing to compare this to. This was my first taste of any kind of Greek cuisine. I will watch out for this one. Love.

Italian: Pasta, one of my comfort food.

Penne pasta with roasted cauliflower, red onion and garlic breadcrumbs, spiced with chilli flakes.

Y-U-M. 

Asian: Asian food is popular in Melbourne. I could find more vegetarian options in Melbourne than in any Asian countries.

 Thai food - Sweet and spicy vegetarian fried rice and crunchy fried sinful spring rolls complete with sweet dipping sauce.

Stir fried vegetables in fiery Thai red curry and rice. 

 Creamy Alu-matar-palak(Potato, peas and spinach) and spicy, tangy chole (chick peas) with yellow rice. Cooling thick Mango lassi to go with. Wish they had soft rotis to go with all the yummy side dishes.

Gado gado is an indonesian salad that had many levels of texture to it which was what I loved about this dish. There was stir fried crunchy vegetables, fried tofu, boiled cauliflower and raw lettuce. This was served with rice and strong flavorful peanut sauce.

One thing that I regretted:

This was served as stir fried noodles. Utter disappointment.

The noodles were slimy, the sauce sour and vegetables overcooked.This was a confused dish. It seemed like the cook started with pasta in mind but midway he decided to change it to stir friend noodles!! *Shudder*

Finally for Austrailian dessert - Lamington cakes.

www.taste.com.au

Vanilla cake in a generous coating of chocolate ganache and rolled over dessicated coconut.

I remember eating 2 pieces of this simple yet delicious cake.

Licorice Raspberry bullets:

chocolatefish.com.au

A friend of mine recommended these chocolates to me and I thank him for that. These are nothing like I have eaten before. It has a soft melting outer layer with Raspberry jelly at the core. I bought a big packet to share with colleagues and friends but everyone loved it at home so much that we finished it all by ourselves :-)

These are just a few things that I tried. Some of the food that is associated with Australia are non-vegetarian like Fish and Chips and kangaroo meat delicacies. And off course there is Australian beer & wine. I didn't get a chance to try Australia's pavlovas.

Food sets my mood and I have enjoyed eating in Australia. Melbourne will remain in my memory as a city with mouth watering, wide variety of food.

Australia - The land down under

Recently I spent a week in Melbourne city - World's most liveable city.

I have always wanted to visit Australia. Firstly because its closer to Singapore and affordable to travel on budget. Second, Singaporeans have a fascination towards Australia and being in Singapore I have heard so many stories about Australia. Australia is a famous destination for budget travelers, students who couldn't get into American universities for further education and for those who want to explore Australia on a work visa. Third, I hadn't been to southern part of hemisphere and Australia is the land down under.

I wasn't disappointed a bit. Melbourne is multicultural and diverse city.  Off course my comparison is with Singapore which is every bit glossy and glamorous. In contrast Melbourne has a rustic, small town charm to it. Melbourne is a very young city which had its first settlement in 1803 by a group of victorian sailors. The city has huge victorian era buildings that gives it a feel of London. Melbourne of today has Victorian era gothic structures and modern sky scrapers side by side.

The city itself is very small but energetic; bustling with people who are very laid back and chilled out "Don't worry maite". Australians know how to slow down and enjoy their lives. They have a relaxed working hours, almost no one works long hours. Evenings are for beer and trust me, people really get drunk. Australians love their coffee and are sports fanatics. Greeks followed by Italian and Chinese form the majority of Melbourne population. Greek, Italian and south east asian cuisine is readily available in Australia. You could even find Indian ready-to-eat food in supermarkets. Australians come across as very direct and straightforward people. Asians of all people, are definitely taken aback by this straight forwardness.

Australia is very easy to travel by budget. There are enormous choices for budget hostels with bars specifically for backpackers. Cost of living is high in Australia but rentals and accommodation is not so expensive. Australia has an option of "working holiday" visas that lets you have temporary jobs to sustain and fund your travels. Labour costs are high in Australia so by working even as a waiter or cleaner you could survive, save and travel within Australia.

I am surprised how is Melbourne the "most liveable" city because of two reasons.
First safety concerns. While in Australia we were advised not to venture out after dark. If you encounter muggers or drunkards, its better to leave everything you have and just run.
Second reason is the weather. Summer and winter weather is too extreme. This is winter time in Australia. Temperature was allright, around 8degrees but the wind was too rough.

Most liveable city or not, it is a very interesting city. I would have loved to stay longer if not for my life and job back in Singapore.
Couple of more Oz posts coming up, watch out this space.

Life stands still

The joy of camping has to be experienced. 

Getting back to the basics

the heat, the sweat, the cool breeze of midnight;

huddling inside the tent when its pouring outside

walking on the beach in the death of night; 

sleeping to the sounds of darkness

insects screeching, leaves rustling, wind howling;

therapeutic sounds of water lashing at the shore;

waking up to the raising sun on water;

sand, castles and bubbles;
chirping birds, flying kites, giggling kids;

this is where life comes to stand still ... 
or so you wish ..

The ecstasy of camping has to be experienced. 

of Tirupathi and Bangalore

We are back from a short but eventful and hectic trip to India. It was just a visit to spend time with my husband's and my family. I was in Bangalore the whole time but managed to squeeze a trip to Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh.

Trip to Tirupathi was an experience in itself. Tirupathi is a very famous and one of the richest pilgrimages of India. It is also one of the most visited temples. Devotees throng to the temple from every corner of India and Indians staying abroad. We decided to pay respects to Lord Venkateshwara this time. I had an experience of the temple and its crowd once before this. I knew what to expect. The queues to see the god even after buying a hefty priced ticket is a minimum 4 hours wait. The free entry wait time is easily 8-10 hours.All this for a blink-and-miss split second slot to see the lord!

I was amazed at the efficiency of the system in place to control the crowd. Waiting people were broken into different queues to avoid stampede but mainly to control the flow of people to the main temple. There were people who used the waiting areas as toilets (highly insenitive bunch). In spite of that and huge crowd round the clock, cleanliness in temple premises and waiting area was very impressive. Even though there was no personal boundary while in the queue and you were walking sticking to the person in front of you and behind, no one misbehaves. Majority of the crowd waits patiently for their turn resigned to the fact that there was no use pulling/pushing.

On the other end, Informants and monitors of queue were impatient and non-courteous. Corruption such as bribing is heavily practiced. One can't find a single item for fixed price on the Tirumala hills, not even hotel accomodation or sweet laddu offering to God. Even priests ask for money in return for extra prasad.

Temples are supposed to be peaceful places to pray and meditate. One can't even see the main idol for more than a second, then why go there to pray? One can't sit in temple premises for more than a minute, what purpose does this serve? Does one go there to find out why so many people throng to the temple? I didn't understand. If you go there to use the temple premises as urinals, bribe to get an extra laddu or get pushed by one of the temple guard like a cow in a herd, what is the point?

To my dismay, I realized that I have lost the street-smartness required to manoeuvre on Indian roads - be it crossing a busy road skillfully, bargaining with street vendors or communicating with auto wallahs.

There was this one incident that leaves me puzzled even now. I went to a roadside vendor selling few books. I picked up a couple of them and asked for the price. The guy behaved creepy. He looked at me intently quoting 2-3 prices and eventually settled to 140Rs for 2 books. I asked him if he can give me the books for 100Rs. And that's all I spoke. Before I opened my mouth again, the guy was shouting at the top of his voice - " What are you talking? Dont you have any shame? What do you think of these books? These are original books. You are asking for such a low price!" I tried to diffuse the situation "Ok, tell me for how do much you want to sell?". There was no stopping the guy, he was still shouting at the top of his voice that I was a shameless lady who wants to buy things at cheap prices! So I dropped the books and being ill-tempered, I talked back to him "Don't you think I know how original the books are?" "Then why are you buying here?" came the answer. I left that place silently with the guy still shouting and throwing curses at me. Was I over-reacting? Was it normal for him to get defensive thinking that I was going to bargain real hard? Or should I have paid 140Rs silently and gotten the book even after he harassed me like that?

A couple of more days on Indian streets and I would have gotten back to the game(of shouting in frustration and hurling curses to bounce off the ones coming my way), but my skills were rusted and I needed help to get out of a situation.

On a general note, Bangaloreans were very hopeful and happy about the Infrastructure development in Bangalore. People were hopeful about Namma Metro project and development of few new roads and fly overs. Also on the other end, I heard comments about people worrying about slowing economy and IT companies moving away from Bangalore because of lack of infrastructure, population and government policies.

Whatever is the infrastructure, pollution or population, Bangalore has never failed to impress me. Be it in 2004 when I first resided in Bangalore as an intern drawing no salary or now, as an NRI. It remains Namma Bengaluru - the IT capital, the city of opportunities, the city of mouth watering food, the city where my dear ones reside, the city where my heart lies.

Conversation with a free thinker

I was having lunch with a colleague the other day. I was getting to know her better. She mostly dominates every conversation and steers towards the topics she likes and makes it interesting for everyone. She was getting to know me as well. We started with the usual banter - work, followed by kids and then conversation was steered towards our costums, values and beliefs.

She asked me about my religion. Any topic about Indian religion always starts with the many gods we have and the main gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. And it invariably moves to discussing cast-ism in our society and various traditions that dominate a particular caste.

I asked her about her religion. This is how I asked her. "So what are you? A Buddhist or Christian?" Those are the two religions that a Singaporean Chinese belong to. She answered 'none'. I asked her again. She has to be something, to me the thought of not belonging to a religion just didn't exist. She said again "none, I don't have a religion." It took me a while to understand what she was saying. She was saying that she doesn't believe or belong to any religion. She was a free thinker.

To an Indian, she had said something unthinkable. We Indians belong to one or the other religion. We are born to a religion, we do not chose our religion. Even if an Indian doesn't believe in his religion's traditions and practices, he still belongs to that religion because he is born to parents who follow the religion. Religion forms the foundation of India, its culture and its society. Religion defines who we are, what we can achieve, what is expected from us. It has influence on politics, architecture, cuisine, dressing and thinking. There are religion and caste based reservation policies. Religion is so important in our society that you cannot understand India or Indians without first learning about their religion and its influence.

How can my colleague not belong to any religion? She must automatically belong to a religion her husband follows. She said her husband's family are Buddhists but her husband himself is a free thinker. So don't they believe in God? She says no, she says that there are things that are beyond her control in this universe, but that is science, not God. How are values inculcated in them? As kids, we were told stories of God, that he is the supreme being. The fear of god, the notion of hell and heaven teaches us what is right and wrong. She says, while growing up, they were told that they are supposed to follow certain things because their parents said so. Their parents are experienced and they know better; they were the guardians, so the kids listened to their parents. They learnt values for the greater good of society and not for the fear of God or religious practices. She clarified that she or her family is not against any religion or its practices, its just they do not follow any one religion. They are free to learn from all religions and pick and practice what they like from each religion.

Whats the role of the society in their lives? Racial harmony is one of the fundamental value of Singaporean government. All the religions co-exist in this country peacefully. Each religious group observes their traditions and government supports and encourages it. Schools and offices celebrate all the major festivals of religions here without bias. In-fact, being a free thinker is a religion in itself in this country. All official documents accept free-thinkers as a religion. There is no religious bias.

My colleague is a very warm person. She is an extremely friendly girl who is liked by almost everyone. She makes anyone welcome in the group. She can make witty conversations. She is a super-mom. She is very well balanced emotionally and is seen to be calm even in stressful times. She is a go-getter. Free-thinking or not being bound to a religion obviously hasn't done her any harm!

That conversation with her left me debating within myself. Free thinking is accepting the values of others and extending friendship by respecting their religion. And since the society doesn't need you to belong to a religion you call yourself a free thinker. This is same as being in a religion, because your society wants you to and respecting & adopting values from other religions. There are many Hindus who bring home a Christmas tree or cut a cake on New Year. Isn't this free thinking? Or is this just religious harmony?

Closure to 2012

2012 is done and we are entering a brand new year - 2013. Even a year-ending, like everything else, needs a proper closure. We as a family are closing this year by taking the last week off from routine and spending some good family time together.

This post is a closure too, to year 2012.

In retrospective, 2012 has been a very good year for me, personally and professionally. Some major milestones reached this year.

Health:
I maintained my weight this year but I was not so great in exercising regularly. I could do better definitely. 

Marathon:
I completed a 10K run(technically, not a marathon) with a better timing compared to 2011 run. I developed a faint numbness in my ankle after this year's run. I am hoping that with regular exercise this could be tackled.

Blogging: 
Blogging has been in my mind since a long time which I achieved in 2012. I started of with a private blog about my daughter. I then started writing for a parenting website called parentous. Inspired by parentous, I started this blog - Potpourri.
Find my articles on Parentous here.

Learn something new:
I learnt threading - an ancient method of hair removal. Indian women are blessed with luscious thick black hair, and unfortunately even facial hair for some. I am one such lucky person. I disliked those bimonthly visits to a beautician, it takes time and effort. After I learnt threading I can do this by myself and it is such a freedom. I don't have to wait till the end of 2 weeks to get rid of that unwanted hair! In the end, I save some time too.

Visit to Indonesia:
We visited Bali in August of 2012. Bali is very scenic city of Indonesia. Majority of people in Bali are Hindus, they worship hindu male gods - Ganehsa, Shiv, Vishnu and the like. With every street and shop named after a hindu god, people with hindu names I felt like we were travelling within India.
I was not very impressed with Bali - I have visited better beaches and cleaner cities in south east Asia. The beaches were dirty and not well maintained. The city doesn't live up to the expectation its name sets - Bali Paradise.

2013 is another year full of promises.
I have set my resolutions for the new year and looking forward to a new start.
Here is hoping that the new year will be a good mix of joy and sorrow - Happy New Year !!

Slow down!!

While growing up, I was mostly clumsy. I tried to do too many things at a time or tried to do things very fast! 
My hubby is at the other end! He is too slow (to me). He is the master of doing one thing at a time, slowly and carefully. He takes his time to complete a task and does it thoroughly.

Lately, I am learning to slow down. I have come a long way.

Few things where I slow down in my day-to-day routine:
1. After I am awake, I take time to get out of bed. I lie there, enjoying the sounds of early morning and the warmth of cozy bed.
2. Drink my morning cup of coffee without doing anything else, just gazing out of balcony.
3. Take time to exercise slowly.
4. Take a slow, long shower.

Anything after this becomes a bit rush. My office culture doesn't support doing one task at a time! 

After coming home in the evening, I slow down again.
5. Enjoy and sit-down to spend time with my 3-year old being completely with her - no cooking, no mobiles, no laptop, no TV.
6. Take time to slowly go to bed following all the night routine.

Image source: http://slowdownnow.org/

Slowing down doesn't mean being lazy. It's just an effective way to get things done efficiently in the same time. By multitasking, you are not doing justice to any task at hand. There is a whole website dedicated to slowdown and to take it easy! Go ahead, get some tips to slowdown. Ah, right! That website gives exception to women stating that women have superior brain function and are capable of multitasking! Most women who multitask are frazzled and exhauseted. That's exactly why women should slowdown too.

I am seeing a reflection of my childhood in my daughter. She wants to do too many things, all at once! I am trying to teach her to be patient, to do one thing at a time. I am sure we both will learn together to slow down, to be patient and to only do one thing at a time. 

10K Run Experience

Just 3 years ago, I remember calling a friend crazy for running 10Km at such wee hours of the morning. I couldn't fathom why one would want to run such long distance for nothing in return! And here I am today, having completed two 10Km runs and looking forward to take part in many more. I finished my second 10Km run last week. I am glad that I completed it with better timing compared to my first run. And yes, it’s just a run, not a marathon. Only 42Km and above is considered a marathon.

I registered for the first run because my lady boss called to sign up; it was obligatory. At the start line, I didn't believe in myself that I would complete all of 10Km. I had resolved that I would return back in 15 minutes. But,I was in great spirits even after 5Km. This was the moment when I started believing that I would actually complete 10Km. I was halfway there. I decided that I would finish it, even if I have to crawl back the remaining 5Km. I took my own sweet time to complete the race. I didn't set any targets. I completed the run in 2:10hrs.

The environment of a marathon is usually loud, cheery enough to lift your spirits high. There are comperes motivating you on loudspeaker, warm-up sessions from fitness experts, elite athletes intimidating you with their pre-race preparations and hordes of ladies in identical T-shirt waiting for flag off. The motivational quotes at each level mark really works.

"You made it to the START, you will make it to the FINISH" “Think bragging rights".

Volunteers cheer you to run faster “Come on, you can do better”. There is nothing more disappointing than letting a group of old women take you over. I even spotted a pregnant woman with “baby on board” proudly displayed on her T-shirt. What excuse do you have to not complete the race?

The second time was easier as I believed in myself. I had targeted to complete within 100mins and I achieved that. I did feel high again; I did feel proud of myself. I was smiling wide when I reached the finish mark. The very thought of completing 10Km gave me runners-high. The feeling after completing the race is something that has to be experienced. It’s exhilarating. It empowering. It gives you a sense of accomplishment.

"The person who starts the race is not the same person who finishes the race."                   

Gambling : Diwali Taash

It’s a tradition in few parts of India to gamble as part of Diwali festival. The tradition is to play gambling games around the time of Diwali, only once every year, to get attention of Goddess Lakshmi.

I got an invitation to one such party. The culture in which I grew up considers gambling as taboo. So it was a bit awkward when I got the invitation to gamble as part of festival celebration. I accepted the invitation to be open about other cultures. We accept mothers’ day, Santa Claus, Halloween and other such western practices. After all, Diwali taash is a tradition of people of India. The stakes were low and I was going to play just for fun with a group of friends.

I saw it as just another experience. I enjoyed the game.

There was one game that we played, a game of probability, which was real close to serious addictive gambling.  It was a game where luck matters and nothing else, no brain required. I realized how alluring it is to gamble at higher stakes, how easy it is to get lost in the game hoping to win more.

Oh, by the way, I did win a game. But overall, lost some money.

Losing gets attention of goddess Lakshmi or winning does?