Happy Fool's Day

Here's Orkuts gag on Fool's Day - calling themselves "Yogurt"...

In case you want it see it fresh, log in to your Orkut Page.

Other gags - CNN IBN actually had a totally fake 'Rakhi Sawant assaults reporter' video. It was fake from the first microsecond and anyone who'd not guessed as much has some serious disorder.

Rediff had the headline - "Sorry Ranbir.. But Deepika weds Yuvi" - again it was soooo fake you could smell it. And then there have been the usual Jolie-Pitt wedding rumors. People should grow up and post believable April Fool's gags... Google usually does a great job.. In fact their ever-increasing mailbox storage was introduced 2 years ago on April 1... which led many people to believe that it was joke.. With the storage still increasing, we all know now who the joke's on. They also had a great one on some pigeon-flying search method or something similar...

Check out this year's Google Gag here.

Traditionally though, for me... April Fool's Day in India at least as long as my brother and I were there held the charm of fooling all my really naive family members. Mostly my brother and I would fold an 'Inland' Letter (remember those blue-coloured one and a half page paper which would fold into an envelope and had a printed stamp?) in which we wrote nonsense in Tamil, fold it, stick it and address it to our Chittipatti (Granny's younger sis who lives with us). Then we'd take turns in going out the door and ringing the bell. The other would open it announce loudly, "Babu letter." She'd come over expectantly before we screamed "April Fooooooooool" at her.

Soon, everyone else caught on... making fake calls from the mobile phones to the landlines, saying they cooked something else as opposed to reality and what not, and everything got the April Fool's tag with it. Now I suppose the charm has slightly faded on me... Or I would probably have attempted a gag post on my blog. That would've been fun... Lol.

Wool-Static

No, this is not a state like say, ec-static. Those of us who've stayed in cold countries have experienced this some time or the other. I remember in Cincinnati how we used to make sure to touch something wood before touching anything from the door knob to the microwave to the taps on the sink in winters. Everything used to give off that brief static electricity that crackled uncomfortably in your fingers for a microsecond. In fact VV and I have experienced worse static.. almost like a minor shock from our crackling hair. But the point is.. That was all ONE static jolt. Yesterday I had the opportunity to witness something different yet fascinating. I wore a sweatshirt over my shirt last night before sleeping. Half asleep I had gotten warm under the comforter and was uncomfortable with the extra layer. As I peeled away my sweatshirt, I actually saw hundreds of crackling little sparks, whitish-yellow in colour in the dark even as the sweatshirt separated from the shirt. It was like a bunch of tiny little glow worms moving along with a sputtering noise. I actually awoke my hubby to witness the spectacle. And I woke him up remarking "Sparks!" Jolted by the possiblity of sparking electric wires, I can't say he was truly amused at my discovery. :)

The beginner's guide to being vegetarian at a French Cafetaria

Alright... Its almost taboo to be vegetarian in this country... much worse than the United States. There's so much collective disbelief that you don't eat anything that once lived that you almost feel bad to disappoint them. My first few lunches here at the ESIEE canteen were sponsored by my professors and I didn't pay much attention to what I threw on to my tray. Later I realized I was hungry in no time and of course that was because I had barely eaten anything. When I started coming here full-time, over the first week I was perpetually hungry even an hour after a seemingly long lunch. I was doing it wrong. Here's what I really have to do have a tummy that lasts without grumbling atleast till 3:00 pm.

1. Stock up on the salad - The salad bar comes first in the scheme of things. And usually I tended to take measly portions of the salad. This is the crux of the meal and it is important to take healthy portions.

2. Check out the desserts enroute - Usually there's some chocolate/caramel cake or something for the sweet tooth.. If you're trying to be healthy, pick up a bowl of fruit.

3. Pick up a carton of yogurt or a can of juice.

4. Main course: There's probably ONE dish you could take. Its probably boiled potatoes/beans/peas which is just that.. The veggies have been dumped into boiling water and taken out. Do not expect any salt/pepper or other flavours. These are just meant to serve as a side to some form of sizzling meat which will also feature on the main course

5. Sometimes you also have legumes (dal) and riz (rice), both undercooked and not very recommended.

6. Ask for some frite (French fries).. and a fresh fruit (apples, banana, oranges, whatever you want), you are done!

Now pay for it (it probably cost you under 2€ no matter how much you took) and a carafe of water and ooh yeah.. how could I forget the bread?? At least 3 varieties are available to choose from, and are free and unlimited. I prefer taking the mini baguette, scooping the soft inside and eating it, forming a shell into which I stuff about half my salad and voila, I have a stuffed baguette. You can always spice up your boring salad/rice or whatever at the condiments table with everything from paprika to olives.

Thats the best you can do here.. Bon Appetit!

Heavy on TV

I've realized that when S is out of town and when its vacation day, like Monday was... I can spend 10 straight mindless hours watching TV. This for someone who barely watched TV in India (I would choose a book over the Idiot box anyday). I donno if its coz we've gotten this gloriously huge, flat screen LCD monitor which makes you wanna watch just about anything or because there are NO english books sold here (I should've stocked up in England - damn!) or maybe I just had it in me.

I had seen 2 whole discs of F-R-I-E-N-D-S and 1.5 movies! I cook with the TV on.. I eat with the TV on.. I clean with the TV on. Or maybe its because we don't have our internet connection yet. Whatever the reason, the madness has got to stop!

Memory Rush

We visited S's college here this last weekend. We'd driven up there with a bunch of friends, with me doing the driving - something I am proud of. It was a manual car with a left wheel drive - a combination I hadn't tried before. Ok.. but the point is that we were at INT (Institut Nationale d'Telecommunication) - Pardon me if the spellings are screwed.. thats the limit of my French so far. Its a tiny little campus in a place called Evry outside of Paris. And going there... seeing how S and his friends recollected a flood of memories made me recollect my own. And suddenly I missed Cincinnati and my days there with my own band sourly. Here they were showing off their Forum (my TUC) where they had weekendly parties, their cafetaria which constituted millions of meals, their main building where the classes were held.. and all I could do was to compare it with Baldwin Hall. UC is a small campus, smaller than most other US University campuses which are spread across miles and have towns built around them. But INT is smaller than UC... but just as self-content.. It had its own stuff - large hostels, huge administrative buildings, its own hill (which reminded me of the tiny hill with the winding path in front of Morgens @ UC), tennis courts, et al. Gosh, I miss Cincinnati!

S, we've got to go back so I can show you UC and much more..

French kisses

Nope.. This is not any spicy blog about what you may have thought its going to be from the title.. This is about the French way of greeting people (or saying goodbye to them). I believe it is called faire la bise.. La Bise means kiss in French.. So this is the action you might've caught on TV somewhere where 2 people exchange kisses (to the air) on alternating cheeks. It seems that 2 kisses is the norm.

I was at a party yesterday.. It was a birthday party for an Indo-French kid hosted by his family, an entire bundle of Indo-French folks... They spoke fluent Tamil and French and halting English.. It was my first time at any such gathering and I was observing the customs quite amusedly. Initially when I met the first 2 people, I enthusiastically followed along kissing the air ( I realized that these people exchanged 4 kisses - it seems its a custom for people in Nantes) But my interest waned when I met another whole bunch and I saw more of the surrounding people than the one was meeting while kissing the air around me 4 times!! Gosh!! It was a pretty long drawn process and started to get to me a bit.

That apart, at the time of cake cutting (there were 2 huge cakes to accomodate servings for the number of guests), each one flanked by a flowerpot cracker. There were 2 bottles of champagne and we were each given sparklers (mathaappu) which we were to light when the birthday boy was about to blow out the candles.

And once we were done, we got started with the goodbye kisses. Some customs just require getting used to.

I need to know NOW

Ever had that experience? Where if you didnt't find out about something right at that instant, your head will explode? I am in that situation NOW and I have been chewing my nails away.. And I still have a few hours to go.. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!