Chai

I was reading Kerouac the other day, and this is what his buddhist friend tells him about the oriental passion for tea ..

"...The first sip is joy the second is gladness, the third is serenity, the fourth is madness, the fifth is ecstasy."

Tea is more than just a passion to us Orientals. It's more of a culture, a tradition, a part of your life.. Starting from the college days when you used to cut classes and sit in the canteen for hours over "Cutting Chai" , to those beautiful rainy afternoons when you can warm your hands over a hot cup of tea and bread samosas, tea permeates our entire desi existence.. It's like a lubricant oiling away the hinges in our lives especially those who work in our sarkari offices.. Couple of rupees given as "Chai Paani" and things mysteriously fall in place. Lost files suddenly reappear and the ever-elusive Babu suddenly appears on his desk to sign his autograph..

In our homes tea is more than just another drink.. Even with the proliferation of bottled water and cokes in our homes today, a hot cup of tea at the end of the day is something we all look forward to. Mebbe it is something to do with how everyone has his own special method of preparing this brew.. There are some people who can literally butcher it, while there are others who can make it divine, divine enough to write/recite haikus about.. as Kerouac's friend does above..

Anyway enjoy your cup.. Here is a nice article I found on CNN/Travel about chinese teahouses. Enjoy..

www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/12/07/
chinese.teahouse.ap/index.html

Jingle Bells

A cool variation to the classic Jingle Bells.. Bart's favorite christmas song.

Jingle Bells
Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile lost its wheel
And the Joker got away - hey!

SouthSide

It's been a long time since I posted something.. Things were kinda uncertain for some time and that's one thing I truly hate.. Not knowing what's around the corner.. I am a control freak in that sense. I know I should just try to let things be, but...

We saw the real south side of Chicago last weekend. See, we had to go to this store and since we didn't have a car, the only way was to take the train to the 47th street and then take the bus from there.. It's amazing how things change in just a short 20 min train ride.. Here I am living in Downtown Chicago; a bright gaily lit place with high rises, expensive malls and coffee stores on every corner, and just a few minutes from this enchanted place lies a place which seems to be just forsaken.. Boarded up windows and doors, people huddling for some warmth and I don't know.. there was just this tremendous feeling of despondency which seemed all-pervasive. Unless you have seen it, you wouldn't believe that this was America..I have seen poor places but this was simply not expected in this rich country.. More than the abject desolation, it was the feeling of hopelessness, a feeling that nothing good is ever going to happen here. Ever noticed how we tend to remember all good things and try to forget what is not to our liking.. In that sense, I think most people have just forgotten that such places still exist in the US.

Anyway, we didn't stay long in this place.. We were kinda anxious to get out of that place ASAP.. Seemed we were the only outsiders in that place. We took the bus to our destination, did our shopping, and came back home. But this time, we took another route to come home.. It was a bit longer, but we just couldn't do the same route again.