Cricket fun at the world cup

Prasad was trying to find tickets for this match for a few weeks. Unfortunately, it  was moved from Calcutta and the tickets were not sold online till the last minute. Most of the tickets were given to politicians and corporations and 6000-7000 were released to the public.  At 11am this morning, a friend calls to say she has 2 tickets. Prasad's friend who was visiting from the US originally wanted to go however he wanted better seats so opted out of going. Rushil and I stepped in and went to the game. What a match it was!! The excitement in the stadium was very infectious especially towards the end. India batted so well and I thought they had a good chance of winning but England batted equally well and it was a tie! We couldn't stay for the whole match since it was a school night but I watched the rest at home. I was at the edge of my seat, the match could have gone either way.

Different ticket from this match but this is from the Ireland match.

When we entered the stadium, it took a 1/2 hour to find the gates and I just cannot describe how crowded it was. Rushil was petrified he would get lost and held on very tightly. When we reached the gate, they searched my purse and said I couldn't enter because I had my camera. Prasad warned me but the tickets didn't say we couldn't bring a camera. I was so upset, I couldn't believe they stopped me and they wouldn't budge no matter how hard I argued and begged. As I stood there wondering what to do, I  noticed that the security guys had moved on and turned away. So we snuck in. Rushil and I rushed into the stadium and practically all the seats were gone.  I found 2 seats and we sat down quickly. This couple was standing there and said those were their seats and that they were with the group sitting next to us.  At this point, I wasn't sure what to do. I just sat there and didn't move and the couple went away. The seats weren't that great, there was this huge pole in the middle and we had to lean over to see the match but it was better than standing or sitting on the stairs. The rest of the match was smooth sailing and for Rushil the best part was that Sachin hit a century, what a treat!

Sangria, Tapas and Paella anyone?

Finding vegetarian food was a bit of a problem in Barcelona, we managed but our choices were limited. Our first night, we tried an Organic Vegetarian restaurant mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook run by a Pakistani off of Ramblas. The salad bar was decent but the selection of main entrees was quite limited and their sangria was mediocre, I would pass on this place. During our stroll on les Ramblas on that very rainy day,  we found an excellent lunch place that served the most delicious falafel sandwiches.  We ate at Maaz twice and to our horror discovered that that the "to die for" cauliflower topping was deep fried for 10+ minutes which explained why it  was so damn good. Nevertheless, great value for money and possibly the best falafel you would have ever had.

The three things I really wanted to sample in Barcelona were Sangria, tapas and paealla. Sangria, we managed to have it pretty much every day and I could drink Sangria every day if someone made it for me. Tapas and paella were more of a problem. A must-see place on les Ramblas is the Boqueria. It is a colourful Farmer's market with food from all over the world and small restaurants with benches around the kitchen serving wine and gourmet food. In Europe, even fast food places have class. There, we found an eatery from the  Organic restaurant chain we tried our first night. Their menu seemed interesting with curry tapas, vegetarian pizzas, sandwiches  and vegetarian paella. Again, the food was mediocre but at least we had our paella.

We had our best meal on our last night.  We chose a restaurant from the guidebook but to our disappointment, they only had 1 vegetarian option. In the Barri Gotic area, there are many outdoor cafe restaurants and although it was too cold to eat outside, there are still many options available. We settled on a restaurant on Princesa road, I forgot the name but it was a popular place among tourists so it's probably listed in some guidebook. We had mojitos, sangria, some decent tapas and vegetarian lasagne. For dessert, we had catalan cream which is the specialty in Barcelona. The drinks and food were excellent, the ambiance lively and festive, it was the perfect place to end our trip in Barcelona.

Boqueria in Les Ramblas. Fresh fruit juices, sold throughout the market

Have you seen lettuce so big?

The "fast food" joints at the boqueria

Lots and lots of fruit - oranges were in season. Probably most of the other fruit was imported

Candy - We picked up a few pieces for the kids

Yes Prasad looked scared but we didn't have a better picture. Taken at the  restaurant in Barri Gotic our last evening.

Shopping Spree

My friend has been telling me that I need to have more shopping posts in my blog, I know she was referring to Bangalore but Raji, this is for you.

Surprisingly, many of the souvenir shops in Barcelona were owned or managed by Indians or Pakistanis.The same applies to the cooks and waiters at restaurants.  They all speak fluent Spanish too.  The first day, we were lost and asked for directions and a restaurant host shocked us by speaking to us in Hindi, he didn't look Indian so he took us by surprise.

It is difficult to get anything but Barcelona specific souvenirs, I only saw a few items from the rest of Spain at a couple of stores. Soccer paraphernalia and specifically FCB souvenirs are found everywhere at fairly exorbitant prices. Rushil was easily taken care of, a soccer ball autographed by the Barcelona team made of Pakistani leather which is apparently what all the professional soccer teams use and an FCB baseball cap. The t-shirts were just too expensive There was an FCB match on Sunday, if it was only one day earlier, we would have been able to see a soccer match. I was hoping to see some Nadal specific sports gear but we could not find a single item, soccer, soccer and soccer, that's all the Catalonians are interested in.  For Sindhu we bought, a small Barcelona shoulder bag and a pair of earrings.

I  purchased Porcelain flamenco dancer dolls in Gaudi's mosaic style for my mother and I. Later I found out that the dolls were partially made in China so not really authentically Spanish but lovely nevertheless. I bought them on Les Ramblas but found they were a bit cheaper on Princesa road in Barri Gotic. Barri Gotic turned out to be a better place to shop for souvenirs. The stores were less commercial, they sold more unique pieces and occasionally from other parts of Spain. I picked up one small  pottery serving dish and that ended our shopping spree in Barcelona.

Chilly and Relaxing in Barcelona

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Barcelona. If it had been a bit warmer and it rained less, it would have been perfect. The kids bonded with their grandparents and hardly missed us and my parents said they were angels.  It was so successful that we're already planning to have them spend a week with their grandparents next summer.

Self-serve bicycle rental - they have outlets all over the city, so you can drop your bike off at any location

Barcelona is the perfect place to visit for 3-4 days. We walked so much, wouldn't it be nice to get your daily walking dose by just going to work every day by subway? It rained non-stop our first day and it was miserably cold. We strolled down les Ramblas, Barcelona's Champs Elysee. Les Ramblas is lined with shops, eateries, an impressive food market, street entertainers and on a sunny day, it's one of the most festive places in Barcelona. We were there at least 3 out of the 4 days for one meal or another. The rain still didn't let up, we visited the Picasso Museum which provided a fairly good biography of his life although I'm still not a fan of his art.  We walked in the rain to Poble Espanol in the Montjuic area which is a lovely Spanish village  to enjoy sangria, tapas and an excellent Flamenco performance. I'm no expert but the dancers, singers and musicians were very entertaining and seemed authentic and not touristy.

Street entertainer on Rambla

Street Entertainers on Ramblas

On Ramblas, in front of the vegetable market

School children having lunch outside the cathedral

The next day was beautiful, sunny and fairly warm for this time of the year. We strolled through Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), saw the exquisite Gothic Cathedral and visited the History Museum of Ciutat. The museum excellently displayed and preserved  a Roman excavated site, definitely worth a visit. In the afternoon, we visited one of Barcelona's treasured sites, Sagrada Familia, a Roman Catholic Church designed by Gaudi. and still  under construction. Since Gaudi's presence is felt throughout Barcelona, this is a must-see place to get an idea of who Gaudi is. That night, the original plan was to go see an opera however the tickets were sold out so we settled for a ballet. It was a lovely ballet with a unique storyline but I still would have liked to see the opera.

Cathedral at  Barri Gotic

Cathedral at Barri Gotic - Gothic Style

Sagrada Familia - Simply stunning inside, the picture doesn't do justice.

One face of the exterior of Sagrada Familia

On our last and final day we took a train ride 30km out of Barcelona to a monastery in Montserrat. It is a small sleepy town in the mountains and gave us a different perspective from the city life in Barcelona. That evening, we strolled along Montjuic to see the Catalan Art Museum however we arrived at closing time so we stayed back to see the lights at the fountain but had to pass on the museum. The museum's building architecture itself was a sight to see.

Montserrat Monastery

Candles lit at the cathedral in Montserrat

Outside the cathedral at Montserrat

Inside the cathedral - It was hard to get a good picture with so little light.

View of the monastery from the top of the funiculaire

So that ended our dreamy vacation in Barcelona. More on food and shopping coming up in the next posts.

Pickpocketed in Barcelona!

Prasad and I were reading our guidebook after coming out of a museum. A tall dark haired man with a couple of flyers in his hand asked Prasad if he wanted to buy some tickets. Prasad said no and went back to his book. He persisted and the third time, he even stuck his leg between Prasad's legs to indicate he was selling soccer tickets. Although seriously annoyed, we went back to our guidebook. A woman started to say something to us and others in Spanish and  Prasad's radar went off. He checked his pocket and realized his wallet was missing. He turned around and saw the man standing behind us. Prasad asked for his wallet back and after asking a couple of times, he returned it. It was a bit surreal, it happened so quickly, I didn't even know what was going on. The man then disappeared, the woman was still telling others what happened, Prasad returned to his guidebook and I'm like, hello, can you tell me what exactly happened and are you sure nothing else is missing. Earlier, we had just run out of money so we were fortunate that no money was stolen however a few minutes later we realized that his subway ticket was stolen. What was surprising was the man didn't disappear immediately after stealing the wallet and also that we didn't suspect a thing but a total stranger picked up on it. We were grateful to her and thanked her profusely while still stunned that we came out of it relatively unscathed.

Books and Movies

Here's a very short review of the movies we've seen recently.

Udaan - My favourite of the bunch. Whether you're a fan of Bollywood or not, you should see this movie. It's a very touching movie and a tear jerker so keep some tissues at hand. 

Band Baaja Baaraat - Surprisingly a good movie. The newcomer Ranveer Singh is a pleasure to watch and he acts really well. Except for one scene, it's ok for the kids to watch too. If you're a fan of Bollywood movies, you'll probably like this one.

The American - I picked this up because I'm a Clooney fan but I was disappointed. It moves too slowly and I fell asleep watching it.

Going the Distance - This movie was highly recommended by the video guy and later Prasad told me that he also liked it. Sweet movie, I like Justin Long, he's a very natural actor, I remember liking him from "He's Just Not That Into You." See this movie, it's definitely worth watching once.

You will meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Boring movie, not worth watching.

Meet the Parents - Little Fockers - If you liked the other two, you can't go wrong with this one. It's a good way to end the week with some quirky humour.

The Tourist - If you're an Angelina Jolie fan, go see the film. She looked stunning in it although she could put on some weight. My  problem with Angelina is that she always acts the same way in all her movies, her ice cold  persona gets tiring after awhile.  Johnny Depp however was great in this movie!!

No One Killed Jessica - We had high hopes as the reviews were good but I think the movie could have been better. Vidya Balan was deglammed to the point that it was ridiculous and her role was very understated, I was expecting her character to be much stronger. Rani acted well but the script could have been written better, she didn't need to swear so much. It was however nice to see a movie that was carried entirely by two women and without all the Bollywood glam to go with it.

I finally finished Shantaram, it took me almost a month to complete but it felt like an achievement after I was done. Rushil being the non-reader that he is was extremely impressed that I could get through a 900 page book. The book is well written although it's hard to read in one stretch.  It's interesting how a foreigner could move to India and embrace the country the way he did. He experienced and was exposed to more of Mumbai then most people from Mumbai probably were. If the Oprah show was still around, she may  have reviewed it in her book club, it's a book she would have liked.

After reading Shantaram, I needed a lighter read, so I chose  PS I love you. I have not yet seen the movie however the book is such an easy read. It's not the most happiest topic however it ends in an upbeat way and the entire  book is not a downer.

My last review is on Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandana. This book takes place in Coorg which is what I found most fascinating and an interesting perspective on the culture in that area.  The book dragged on a bit at the end. 

More reviews to come, I'm on a movie watching and book reading spree.

Crazy I know

Prasad is going to Barcelona for a conference this coming week and guess who will be joining him? Me!! And sans les enfants!  My parents happened to be visiting us next week so they will be watching the kids. Both my parents and Prasad suggested this wild and crazy idea. When will this ever happen again, me not working and my parents here the same week Prasad is going to an exotic location. It's still not ideal, Sindhu has her midterms.  I'm a little nervous, I'll  map out her study schedule and my father will be monitoring her progress and helping her as needed.  It'll be an experiment to see how she manages with minimal help. Amazingly, S&R seem to be ok with this, I'm sure Sindhu is secretly happy since I'll be off her back and Rushil is excited that we're going to the same country that Nadal is from.  So now the research and planning begins, what is there to do in Barcelona, I have to go and find out.

Finally, I have started volunteering.

After struggling for the past few months to find the right organization, I have finally settled on one and it was right under my nose, Parikrma Foundation. I had visited one of their schools  in 2009 but never followed up. I'm not sure why I was not impressed with the organization back then. I had even sponsored a child through Parikrma for a year when we were in the US and one of my friends spent 6 months volunteering at one of the schools and had a wonderful experience . For the past few months, I have contacted quite a few organizations but either they did not get back to me, they needed exhaustive applications filled and were meant primarily for students abroad and not local volunteers, or they were just too far, or they needed weekend volunteers or I didn't think there was a match. I visited one school for migrant worker's children funded by Sampark that was just a few minutes drive from my house. The teacher had to manage 20+ children of all ages in one small room, many of the  younger siblings of the children were also there.  Since the children only spoke Kannada, I realized that it would be very difficult for me to add any value. I  decided to pay  Parikrama another visit and this time around I was extremely impressed with the Koramangala facility. They desperately need volunteers and they even have a volunteer coordinator who structures the program. They have an English medium progam with what appeared to be a caring staff and highly qualified teachers. The school is obviously well funded and they are making excellent use of the money. They have an impressive computer lab, audio visual room, a huge cafeteria/assembly hall, a library, a science lab and an excellent remediation program for children who are struggling with academics. In addition, they have a mobile science team to expose the children  to science experiments and attend field trips. The mobile science teacher has an engineering degree and gave up her lucrative job to work here so she could spend more time with her daughter. They serve breakfast, lunch and milk before the children leave school at 4pm. They only accept applications for children in LKG, hardly any children leave, so they don't accept  children in the higher grades, they seem to have a fairly rigid entrance criteria.. The average income of the parents is just 2000 Rs per month so most of the children are from single family homes. They  have a healthy mix of young and experienced teachers as well student interns.  They have a set of full-time foreign volunteers that are probably on some grant similar to what my friend had  many years ago.They reach out to many of the local IT companies and have a set of expat and local volunteers to help. I was just so impressed. So what will I be doing there?  They have assigned me a set of children who are struggling in English and I'll be handling about 6 children over 3 periods twice a week. I'm encouraged to bring my own worksheets, assign them a bit of homework and define my own curriculum with the teacher's guidance. The children were very enthusiastic. One 13 year old boy with an infectious smile told me as soon as he sat down that he liked running, that he won a lot of the running medals at school and that he wanted to be a sportsman when he grew up. The girls were a bit shy and perhaps it was because they were younger but  the boys were very interested in my  cell phone (bling)  and wanted me to take pictures of them and at one point, I had 10 boys clamouring to touch my phone. If I knew how to get the pictures off of my phone, I would have attached them to this post. Anyway, I'll be there for the next few months so I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to take pictures of them.

Living out our lives

The last couple of years in India have been a race to see and experience everything we can. We try to visit a new place during school breaks, long weekends and attend as many weddings and events as possible. Every festival is celebrated. We've been to more sports events in India and although I used to be big basketball fan, I never once went to an NBA game. My cousin who just moved to the US and is living there for a few years, just saw a game the other day and I bet he never went to an official cricket match in India although he is a huge fan.  My cousin who has lived in Bangalore for 10+ years has never once been to the Chitra Santhe arts festival.  Yesterday, I was in Indiranagar and I had to stop at the homeopathy doctor's office and saw the store Bandhej along the way. They were having their annual sale so I popped in  to buy a couple of tops since it may be the "last" sale I get to go to. Although I know we're living in a unique bubble, but maybe we should adopt this way of living when we move back. Ok perhaps, we'll take less vacations but in some way try to not put off doing things because "we can do it next year or some other time."  Realistically, we have to set some boundaries but when we know we'll be somewhere for a short period of time, we end up seeing more and experiencing more than we would if we lived there for 10+ years. Something to ponder about...

Pesticide Free Vegetables

I have always had a nagging worry about the vegetables and food we eat. I worry about the quality of the water used to irrigate the farms, the soil, and the pesticides used. I worry more than I used to in the US primarily because the farms are less regulated and I see the garbage, dirt and pollution in the lakes firsthand almost everyday. In the lake right next to our house, recently, a large number of fish died unexpectedly due to suffocation, too little oxygen because of pollution.

Recently, Raamavana Biofarms started a weekly delivery of pesticide free vegetables to our complex. We ordered our first set of vegetables and I must say I was impressed with the quality, the packaging and the flavour of the vegetables.  The man who delivers the food is the managing director of the company that grows the vegetables.  I'm concerned about how regulated organic farming is and if we can really  trust what we're getting. It's still better than nothing and the convenience of having the vegetables delivered to your doorstep cannot be beat.

Bey Blade Revolution

What are little boys in the metropolitain cities of  India spending their time obsessing about? I  have no idea if bey blades are the rage in the US but without a doubt, since bakugans in 2008, nothing has been so popular. A few months back, Rushil saw some boys playing with them at our complex and he begged me to buy one. I took the opportunity to bribe him to read a book in exchange for it. He complied immediately but two days later, it broke and he got a new one for Christmas.  His two best buddies convinced their parents to get one and the three were happily battling bey blades. A few weeks later, Rushil and his friends were involved in a playground fight over this "glorified spinning top" because apparently, theirs was not a "real bey blade". Before we knew it, Rushil's bey blade was already obsolete and he and his friends were excluded from playing with others. It was ok by me though, even now, I cringe every time I see the boys gather around the clubhouse battling bey blades rather than playing a sport or just running around. Rushil begged me to buy the newer more sleeker version but this time the price was higher, 3 books in exchange for a new bey blade.  Rushil said, "Fine, I'll wait till my birthday."  I asked Prasad to pick one up when he was in the US for his birthday because  believe it or not,  most of the toystores in Bangalore are out of stock. Prasad never just picks "one" up, he picked up a set with  two bey blades and accessories. Stay with me, I'm sure I could write a shorter version of this, but there is a point to all the details I'm providing. On Saturday, his best friend came over and guess what he brought over?!? Rushil was devastated, it was fine as long as he had the same version as his friends but now the playing field had changed. On the same day, we had some people over for dinner and their two sons also told Rushil that his bey blade was not the "real" one. So what did we do, we caved in and opened his birthday present and gave him one bey blade and saved the other one for his birthday. Now the third friend was left out, I was talking to his mother who told me she was going to stick to her guns and not buy the metal fusion one, but guess who showed up at our place with a new bey blade yesterday, I bet you, his dad bought it. Suckers, that's what we are.

In case you're wondering, that is a steel dinner plate.

Preparing to "rip" their blades

Chitra Santhe - Bangalore's Annual Art Festival

Prasad and I went to Bangalore's one of kind art festival on Sunday. It happens once a year on the last Sunday of January. Last year I was simply awed, this year, a little less so but it's still a wonderful experience, the streets are bustling with people, street dancers, food stalls and of course many many artists. I ran into someone from Montreal, an aquaintance  that I had not seen in 15+ years. I usually don't forget a face. I asked her if she was from Montreal and at first, she said, no, but I insisted and the 2nd time she said  yes. . She couldn't place me, I told her my name and she squealed in delight and said, "You're Shanta's daughter!"  Anyway, who would have thought, it was sort of bizarre running into her like that.

 I would say there were about 5-6 very talented artists. Subhashish Mandel is one such painter, who is popular and his paintings are priced well . Last year, only his smaller paintings were available, the rest were sold. This year, we went earlier but still not early enough , by the time we arrived, there was a huge mob at his stall. We were able to get one  painting but I wish we had reached his stall 1 hour earlier. His paintings will be displayed at Chitrakala Parishat in the summer time which is quite an honor.

We took a few pictures, not sure if we were able to capture the essence of the festival but this should give you an idea.

He was one of the talented painters (forgot his name). His paintings were priced a bit high  but we really liked the one in the center with the 4  boys, he captured their smiles so beautifully. He has an interesting style of leaving most of the canvas blank except for the people in it. By the time we roamed around and came back, our favourite painting was gone :-(

Street dancers and musicians resting

dancers on the street