Laughing Buddha

After you have a child...

2010-07-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

you find out that your baby does not behave like in the guide book.
you realize that you can sleep less and work harder.
when rock your child to sleep, baby's stomach makes sounds like a half-filled bottle.
you realize you play with the baby as much as she plays with you.
there is every reason to laugh while just wiggling your own toe.
you find your own baby the cutest, and others agree with you, completely.
your tea can go cold 3 times, while you run around the house.
you get to know the baby as much as she finds out about you.
you wonder if you got the correct one home.
your phone, computer, wallet carry the same pic, and it is not Madhuri Dixit.

First some old news on a new channel

Huston, we have a clown among us

Come Summer, we have two navel-displaying 'Bintaakars' here...

मैथिली, आजी आणि आजोबा !

2010-05-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

मैथिली आणि तिची मैत्रीण

पाचवा महिना आणि पहिला घास

आजी भरवते आहे

मैथिली आणि आजोबा

आजोबा, हसा हो !!

आणि मी खुश !!

मैथिली आणि विनोद काकांचे पक्षी

भाऊमामा-आजोबा बघा हो !!

मैथिलीबाई एकट्याच !!

Konningendag: Queen's Day !

2010-05-01T03:32:00.000-07:00

Konningendag is that rare day of the year that is also a tax holiday, when all Dutch go crazy and start selling their attic junk on the footpath, and that day the taxman takes break (for shopping for her/himself, presumably). Formally, it is Princess Beatrix's birthday, and celebrated as such. Note: most Dutch don't care two hoots who the queen is, even if that's a man. They are happy with the tax-break on that day and all the fun. That compares well with Ganapati festival in Maharashtra, for example.

For us, it was a good opportunity to walk, show aai-baba some Dutch people in their own setting, get Maithilee out in the open, and finally buy some silly stuff for our apartment. Here are some pics from that day:

1) Newspaper announcement:

2) Reason for this drama on lower left, other two are urging people to show up and enjoy.

3) Program of festivities, includes concerts, open-air music, dramas, sex-shows... well, i made up the last one there.

4) Program stages and artists put on a daily calendar and a map. Each star indicates activity area. This is ONLY for Groningen, each town, village has its own set of events.

5) Here are crowds:

listening to band music (patriotic and otherwise)

selling silly things, dolls, magazines, music, children's stuff,

young boys trying their hand at selling their musical talent

even meeting friends and having coffee in the middle of the din:

selling wood, furniture, tools...

and even used underwear !!!

The fact that the spring is here

2010-04-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

jumps out in the form of this flower-laden tree...

camera is lousy, but captures the essence well. This is on my biking path to ASTRON, I am back to my health routine...

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Growing Maithilee: learning to sing

2010-04-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Maithilee is growing and is now more than 2 ft long and 5.5 kilos. It is hard to hold her and play while I am standing. Gosh, even my age is apparent to me now :-(

Here are the latest pics (March/ April). The usually good girl...

Oh My My ! I am having a bad hair day!!!

Hey, don't disturb... I am reading (aloud)

See I am teething, so I chew on my toy!

once again, closer look at my bangles, my new, new bangles...

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Riddley Turtles, end of Winter, Maithilee's bibs, and that of brotherly love

2010-02-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

We have now uploaded two videos taken during hatching of Riddley Turtles eggs on Goan beaches. Dozens of young activists had given protection to them before and during hatching process, which happens in the night time. Man-made lights and construction plays havoc with these and many other natural processes, reason why turtles are not able to reproduce in large numbers any more.

and

The Winter in Netherlands is over, officially. The snow has gone for good, and it was bright and sunny today, with temperatures in higher (but single) digits above zero. We had a nice walk and shopping done without our fingers freezing. We can barely wait for Spring to take over, within a week temperatures will rise above +10 C , for the first time since October :O I keep reminding myself of time spent in Winnipeg (-40 C!!), but it still feels good to see sunny and warm weather.

Maithilee's saliva glands are now working. She needs bibs (this is one week old story), and for the past two days she has learnt to put her thumb in her mouth and suck, then her bib in her mouth, and almost any bed-sheet/ cover. She also pushes with her legs and turns in her bed, moves quite a bit. So, the next stage of development has come already.

Also, so many months of Winter we spent time together much like a brother and sister. Pregnancy is tough and how!! Well, no more brotherly love, no more... ;-)

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About parenthood

2010-02-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Dear friends (a couple) from Goa wrote to us thus [added italics are mine]:

How is maithilee? Yes, we saw her pictures in the blog as well as the write ups. It's really a challenging job. And usually talked about so much, one tries to think of it casually (Importance of motherhood and fatherhood, how they struggled to bring you up etc., you hear it all through your adulthood) . But when we have our own then we realise what it all meant!. It's not the heavy work of shifting a big pile of wood from one place to another, but a sleepless night 'cause of the child's fever, or the angst of a giving an injection, or getting hurt while jumping on the sofa, a non-stop cry which at times is difficult to interpret. And, the relief you feel when they stop crying and fall asleep.

Indeed, how true. Our strength will be measured in not carrying her around, but to watch her learning to walk wobbly-wobble, let her fall even when we know she would, wait for her to fall and cry, then let her learn to walk. This same story will repeat with cycling, swimming, diving, driving, being a teenager with angst, and, finally making boy friends and being on her own. All this we have to go through and love it all (only then it would be worth having her in the first place.)

So wish you both happy times ahead and let there be always a shiny mushkann on mithilees face.

Thank you, once again. Being parents of 3 kids, my friends are at a vantage position to lend us a better view of parenthood to come.

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Maithilee's smiles and tears

2010-01-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

No update for a long time, but not without reason. Maithilee kept us quite busy, with a short bout of fever and cold. What made it all so good, though, is that she has started to smile, and give us (two of her dedicated servants) some due recognition for our hardwork. That came about 2 weeks ago, 7th/8th Jan.

She is quite a devil now, wants us to pick her up, give her hugs/ kisses, tell her stories and of course sing songs. She gets quite bored with our faces, we think, for, when there are visitors, she perks up instantly. Deepa, for example spoke to her in Telugu, and Maithilee in "Maithi". They "understood" each other perfectly well.

When visitors leave, she is back to tears, YES, she can shed tears (also started around 5th Jan.) I have tested them for salt content, to make sure. And does Mithu know about how to screw up her face, throw her legs/ hands around, and give us a piece (peace?) of her mind.

When we oil her before her bath, she is all happy, curling her toes. Now, who can curl toes like shown below, Mithu can bowl 'leg-spin' using her toes !

Theresa arrived to Holland in the middle of its heaviest snow fall of 13 years. We could not meet, I did not have car then (and what now?) and she posted Maithilee's gifts from Jayanne. Maithilee got two lovely Canadian cats (Stella on her dresses and Alex as her bath pal) all around her now. You have to see her in her after-bath towel !

When we sing for her, she joins the party, like this!

When Maha entertains Mithu ("Hum honge kaamyab! Ek din! "), she looks with studied appreciation !

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Now, with all this effort of photo-shoot, Maithilee is taking a loong break !

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Dutch WTF

2009-12-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

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Name of a boat parked in a canal nearby : Royal Raand ! (I guess many rode the boat royally all through the Summer.)

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Lessons for my child

2009-12-26T15:59:00.000-08:00

Now that Maithilee is here, I would revisit a few postings from my other blog :

Lessons for my child: Curiosity

Lessons for my child: Discovery and Spirit of Observation

Lessons for my child: Logic and Rationality

I have one more post to go in this series, perhaps over next week it will be written down...

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Putting Maithilee to sleep

2009-12-25T15:55:00.000-08:00

To put Maithilee to sleep, I need to sing songs, do dance, rock her on my lap. I steal kisses, which she resists. If I'd give her one Euro for one kiss, she would soon be a millionaire!! I call her names (मिठू , ढूमकू, भीमसेन), tell her stories of her parents' greatness... and how it could easily have been much worse :p

If all this fails, I tell her that story from Sholay. Here is the result ! (btw, this photo was clicked at the first-month celebration party, Pandeys came over!)

Maithilee's Birth: some afterthoughts (Ashish)

2009-12-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here is an excerpt from my recent email to a dear friend:

Maha did well, it took 9 hours of labor, after strong contractions started till birth. i was, of course there. It was quite scary to watch, frankly. ... she was shouting, breathing, humming, generally everything very well, so birthing was smoother. wish we could use hot water tub for 'water birthing', because hot water showers during labor made it much easier for Maha. We had one set up ready in our house, ultimately we just used it for a hot bath later on.
there was total bliss n exhaustion on Maha's face when Maithilee was finally kept at her chest. and, later on I held Maithilee too, she was the smallest bundle of warmth ever. It is such a surprise to hold a baby with its shallower-than-spoon-full breaths and louder-than-room-full of cries. And, she makes you run, jump, do things that you would not do otherwise. Man, i thought i had enough of poop with all kittens/ puppies in my life, but nope ! :-)

Maithilee would get Indian citizenship, the European laws do not grant citizenships by birth. if we stay for more than 5 years continuously, she can apply for citizenship, and she would get it...

we had lots of snow over week-end and it will continue over X'mas. so, Maha got to play with it, a little bit. tons of pics, of course. Maha even managed to fall on her bum once! Maithilee slept through two long rides during snow so far, damn...

On a related note: I always very much admired my women professors: having kids, taking care of them, then teach, have a PhD student, post-doc, then 2/3 grad students, and manage thrilling research. Now that I have a first-hand experience, my admiration has only grown. Ultimately, it is the 'fire in the belly' that pushes one, i have to ignite/ preserve it...

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Maithilee : Day 28

2009-12-22T08:14:00.000-08:00

MiThu completes a month outside soon, and she already has a second chin. So, here are the latest pics, though you will not see the second chin i mentioned...

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Snow in Groningen, Dwingeloo, and everywhere in between...

2009-12-22T06:43:00.000-08:00

It snowed here most of the last whole 7 days :O this is pretty huge for Netherlands. not many cars have been moved from their parked places, many people are taking buses (not cycles, they are also parked and not moved) and even more (like yours truly) are preferring to stay indoors.

Netherlands will experience a baby-boom 9 months from now: my best prediction so far.

This is Mahalaxmi's first experience with snow. First day (last Wed) i went to work, when it had snowed over night. There was so much snow on roads, trees, and just about everything in the sight. I clicked quite a few pics from John McKean's car...

Dwingeloo telescope and the nearby forest:

Maithilee : day 22 -- can hold her gaze

2009-12-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

Just noticed today at 930pm: Maithilee could track sounds that I (ashish) made. Then she held her gaze on our faces and watched our faces.

... then she cried once more :p

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Maithilee : Day 17

2009-12-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

MiThu could track sounds: she appeared to follow the sound and turn her head. This was clearly seen today evening.

Maithilee: Day 12 -- can steady her eyes

2009-12-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Today (12th day) we notice that Mithu can focus her eyes towards her mum. i wish i could say to my direction too :-( but, she does seem to co-ordinate eyes with sounds.

She seems to say things in her own language, which are drowned in usual whines that preceed her bowel movements. She can also tell when we are going to give her a bath, when we are about to change her diaper and when she is about to be dressed again (so goes quiet again...)

For now, she has to be content with her baba's (bollywood) singing skills, his collection of Hindustani classical music, and assorted silly things he blabbers to lull her during 'burping' sessions. She has sworn her revenge, I am sure.

Maithilee (Day 6-9)

2009-12-04T03:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the famed babe from day 6 to 9. sorry, the videos are damn too big to send via email or put them up on blogger. be patient, will upload them elsewhere :-)

Here we are with Yolanda (L, with Maithilee) and Kim. Yolanda works with Groenkruis, a post-natal-care agency in Groningen, and is a trained nurse. Kim was an intern, who will soon become a nurse herself. Both were helping us for the first one week, trying to understand what Maithilee does, may do and what we should/should not do with her. It was a blessing that they were there, since we would have really struggled with their generous help. Dank je wel, Yolanda en Kim !

While Maithilee is put to sleep, I do the dishes (the hard working, and only, man of the house)

As a payback, on the Day 9 Maithilee gave company to her baba. If Maithilee would not sleep, the pacifier would be in baba's mouth instead :-)

Here, Maithilee is put to sleep on the bed.

and Maha shows the relative sizes of their palms.

You can start working on palmistry by looking at her hand, her life-line, heart-line, and wealth-lines are VERY strong. So, I am going to really pamper Maithilee. So, when she gets rich, she can repay that back. Well, if she does not, I have her pictures a bath tub :p

Coming next, birth chart of Maithilee Asgekar, radio astronomy style...

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Copenhagen and Climate Change

2009-12-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

We know the world is warming, on average by 0.74ºC during the past century, with most of that since 1970.

The negotiating process on climate change revolves around the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), which meets every year to review the implementation of the Convention. This year this process culminates in Copenhagen.

At Bali, Parties agreed to jointly step up international efforts to combat climate change and get to an agreed outcome in Copenhagen in 2009. Thus, an ambitious climate change deal will be clinched to follow on the first phase of the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

I urge you to visit greenidol.in and take action.

Almost 70,000 people have already written to the PM, but we desperately need to get to 1,00,000 and more. I am sure if each of us writes to 10 people we can get to 1,00,000 quickly. Tell your friends to take action - http://greenidol.in/climate/tell-your-friends/

I want my daughter to see a livable planet, greener and more environmentally safe.

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Maithilee Day 5: Bath

2009-11-27T08:19:00.000-08:00

Maithilee was tested for hearing ability, and her ears are fine. As the nurse said, that did not mean Maithilee was going to listen to us all the time :-)

She had her second tub bath. Although she hates getting ready for it, it's rather cold for her, she has enjoyed it in the water. On that front, she ranks right along her 'aai' (mother, who i suspect is a ex-mermaid.)

Mithu hates being dried, but when done, she is looks so adorable.

So, we have done her up with new top, and... The favorite maushi will notice something after a keen look at the pic, perhaps.

Maha is glowing as she did Mithu's hair...

Finally, time for a family picture !

Maithilee, Day 4

2009-11-26T14:34:00.001-08:00

Maithilee's pictures on Day 4 (26 Nov):

Admittedly her mother does not appear here. I promise to rectify that mistake at the earliest.

मैथिली and baba !

2009-11-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

On popular demand, oh wait -- i did not wait for one, here is Maithilee's pic with her baba. She still is fed with anti-allergic milk. Here, she is fed up with her baba's antiques to put her to sleep when she needs more feeding.

Maithilee

2009-11-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

मैथिली आसगेकर

We are blessed. Maithilee came to us in our arms on Nov, 23, 2009. She was born naturally, and Maha is doing okay. First night (tonight) they will spend at the city hospital, where the delivery also took place. Here is Maithilee hugging her "aai" for the first time :tears:

Maithilee learnt and was breast-fed to her stomach's content, but the Dutch nurse insisted on feeding her with 'anti-allergic' milk separately.

Now, here is the thing: whenever I did shhhhh...shh.... during all her whining MiThu was pacified, and went to sleep peacefully. So, this is the girl who would respond to my voice distinctly when she was in her mother's belly. She is her father's girl; jeeze, I am so PROUD !!!

Happy Diwali, 2009, from Groningen !!

2009-10-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Shubh-Deepawali !

Here is our apartment all cleared up for a small party, an excuse to introduce Maha to some of my work colleagues, esp. those who travel with me daily.

Maha made this 'Rangoli' on our window-sil, we hung her lamp on top.

The unsuspecting crowd that were exposed to hazardous amounts of idly's, chutney and sambharam ! they had masala chai, coffee and black tea to choose from as well.

It was Sofia who stole our attention, like only a toddler would.

Here are our pics before and after the party, which is which?

See the clean home, we have put 'unpacking' stage behind us.

Groningen, once again...

2009-09-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

That is Maha's latest get-up. Check out the Patiala salwar, and zoom in to see the latest of fashion in shoes ;-)

We took a walk on the canal side on the weekend, you can see so many boats. Is Rad's boat anywhere to be seen, we wondered :p

Maha surveys the boat field...

So, we took a walk in the city park, a dense grove and golfing ground mixed up with a few lakes. Here is Maha posing in front of, what appears to be, the highest point in Groningen at 8 meters above local ground.

While taking walk, we saw a strange bird on the lake side, about 1 meter tall with dark cap-like feature on a white head.

Here is the closest I could get with my mobile camera, can you identify it, Shrirang, Radhika?

Unfortunately it did not take fancy of my attention (like some of my past flames) and took a flight across the water (again much like the above-mentioned flames.)

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My cycle path!

2009-09-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

I cycle to work once in a while, although a week ago I was cycling daily. Here is the path I take from Beilen station to ASTRON, Dwingeloo. A nice 14.5 Km path, great for health and lovely during Summer season. I am yet to try really cold and damp days though.

Here is the outline of the map: Beilen station is on top right, ASTRON is close to Lhee village, in the national forest "Dwingeldelverd".

Point 1 looks like: fields on the left, road on the right.

point 2: tall tree groves on the left, motor road on the right.

point 3: A bridge to cross to other side of the high-way A28, see the map on the top. What is that damn van doing on the cycle path!

point 4: after crossing the bridge, we have to enter the forest here.

point 5 and point 6: tall trees in the forest

point 7 : open grass lands, this place is great for birds.

point 8 : Crossing over the motor road near Spier village (forest area continues)

point 9: lake closer to the ASTRON

in the evening Sun on my return trip (i made it back, 4 days in a row!)

Market at central square

2009-09-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Every day there is some market in the central square, see the large (2 foot-ball ground sized) area open with pavements. There is an equal area open adjacent to it, behind the camera. That forms the "down town", although there are hardly any ups/downs in the Netherlands.

This time we watched the market on a Thursday, it was my day off, Maha's second day in Groningen. So, we took a stroll, had some food, bought a couple of books and spoke to some artists selling their wares.

Here is Maha posing in front of a stall...

Baba (bhobe) would have been lost the whole day watching the crockery and antique pieces :-)

There is music, books, artefacts, coins, games, everything...

And here is the fish cart where we ate our "lunch". Maha ate so much of fish, I am sure you have never seen her eating that much...

Mahalaxmi in Netherlands

2009-09-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

The eagle has landed !! And Mahalaxmi looked lovely and healthy. She is growing, and glowing, see!

Our apartment in Groningen: 4 pics

2009-08-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

When you enter our apartment, you see the bedroom from the door, right next to you.

There is small storage room on the right (not shown in pics). Then if you turn left, you get into a passage-way to the living room.

The passage contains entrances to toilet (first glowing light), then the bathroom (second glowing light, and mat outside the door). Then it opens into a huge living-cum-dining room.

This living room opens in a balcony. It has two large windows as shown above, and two others which you can not see (they are on the wall on the right).

As you view this pic, the passage way (that we came in from) is to the left behind. Right behind us is the kitchen, which looks like below:

As of today, the pic is old. we now have a garbage bin, cleaner kitchen dash board, and more accessories.

So, I hope get a good picture of the apartment. There is also luggage space + cycle parking below.

Next time I will share our pics inside the apartment, Inshallah!
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Learning Dutch

2009-08-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

I attended my first Dutch lesson today. I had missed the first lesson of this semester, by someone called H. Every Monday we meet for an hour, speak a little Dutch, learn something and refresh the earlier lessons.

This is similar to French lessons I had with Alliance Francaise. In fact, Dutch are similar to French, in that they dislike English. Both would agree that English is not a "logical" language, and would show how English just has twisted rules from more logical 'main-land' languages.

Anyway, we had some numbers, beginner's words, such as "Who are you?" and "What is your name/ game?" etc. Later, I had some casual chat with H, who wanted to know a little bit about my background, and my details on some official papers.

She was impressed with my pronouncation and quick sentence-building activity. I told her that I had taken 8 months of French lessons, and Dutch was easy to learn. She said, "Of course. In 6 month I learn you Dutch, I promise".

I guess while she teaches me Dutch, I would have to fix her English.

"Plopp... kind of"

2009-08-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

When I was handed over the keys to my apartment, I was asked if I wanted the dirty tiles of bathroom and toilet changed. I said, "Yes", after confirming that it was the owner paying for it.

The maintenance fellow did not know how to speak English. So, when I told him to select faint blue color for wall tiles, he had to call his boss to translate it.

Then I explained to him that I wanted him to fix American commode in the toilet. This is so, because the locally they use a strange, shallow commode bowl in toilet, a German custom perhaps. Naturally I wanted to change the toilet commode to how Indians have it.

I tried explaining the fellow about what I wanted: 1) that the flush hole should be in the rear (unlike in the foto in the link above); 2) bowl should be deep, unlike common ones found here (see the link again).

After two minutes his eyes shone, as he exclaimed: "Ah, you want the plopp kind of commode", thus providing the title (and material) of this post.

The latest is that they will finish the repairs in 5 days (WED-TUE), just in time for Maha!

WTF in Groningen

2009-08-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am setting up our apartment in Groningen, in case you missed the declaration on tweeter and gmail. So, after a weekend of set-up and fixing, i walked around in Groningen to see three WTFs of this week.

Divine Disco : organised by Soc. Stud. Cath. (albertus.nl). I believe this is society of Catholic students. They appeared all young to fit this description.
Folkingstraat: a red-light street in Groningen. I wish they had dropped 'l' in that name.
Rottinghuis : house repairing agency, they repaired my bathroom shower, and will fix the toilet.

In the deepest waters...

2009-07-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

Our telescope has been shown to be completely operational: the so-called 'first light'. This means there will be further rush to test equipment and keep observing. Already various people have submitted requests of their fav sources, and demand time.

However, most of the astronomy and support scientist staff is on leave due to vacation period. I am alone supposed to manage support activities. Given my poor prep, this is akeen to throwing a child in the deepest end to learn swimming. Oh well, I will drink a lot of water, but I will learn to swim the hardest way! :-)

Who am I ?

2009-07-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

Just noticed, that the local town-hall registration letter lists me as "Burger van India". It does not mention if that came with 'Kabab sauce' or `Green Chutney' ;-)

Just to remind you, I was an `alien' in Canada.

Some more picckies !

2009-07-01T09:19:00.001-07:00

The other day I took a short walk around to click some pics using Francisco's mobile phone camera. Just to give you an idea of the serene surroundings.

my guest house room

Evening chai table

wooded areas around

Passing through the woods are the cycle paths

Just around the jungle are flat pasture lands

And cyclists go just about everywhere!

Turning back to the dish, which is right in front of the above bike path (behind my back)

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Renting a house and all that

2009-06-29T10:14:00.001-07:00

Today I paid the renting agency (Nijestee - pronounced as knee-ye-stay) via web transfer. It took a heck of my time, because the entire webpage was in Dutch. I was using Google translator to translate each and every page and line to make sure I was following the right procedure.

Ramesh will keep looking for his house to appear on the renting company's webpage (should appear this week). That will help to locate and register for this same house ( Polderstraat 28, Groningen : search on google maps for a picture) that he stayed in. We could compensate him for his furniture, house-hold items, floorings, washing machine, fridge and the rest. At Euro 710, it is still quite a bargain, since it is in the heart of Groningen city.

Talking about renting a house: I was about to register on muuse.nl for house search. They asked for Burgerservicenummer. What do you think that is? NOTHING to do with burgers! :-) It is their equivalent of citizen number, like US Social Security Number or SIN number of Canada (and what is going to be Nilkani Number in India)

I have started scratching around for my work, I fired up PRESTO program today. Without a proper manual, or anyone to guide me through it, it is going to be a hard-ball.

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In ASTRON

2009-06-29T10:02:00.001-07:00

Here I am with a couple of pictures of myself having some coffee and fruits. I am uploading them via a wifi connection (Note for Arsh: it works at 600 KBPS :p )

On my rear side is the office building of ASTRON, where I work.

In front is dense woods of Dwingeloo National Forest.

Our guest house can be seen on the left above, or in the photo below.

Banking, Mobile, Cycling, and Amsterdam's famous street.

2009-06-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

My bank deals with me entirely in Dutch, except for a few hand gestures and English terms. In fact, if google translator page could pronounce its output, it would do a better job of it. So, the webpage is in dutch, their manual is in dutch, thankfully their currency is still Euro. No credit cards for me, perhaps i should migrate to ABN Amro, which speaks English and would offer a credit card too.

Mobile: one needs to choose carriers, all of which have similar rates. The international calls are terribly expensive, in fact it is cheaper to call from India to Holland and I should pay my friends and relatives for calling me up. They can call me names, but whatever...

Cycling is national way of living, or peddling. One can even peddle drugs, real ones (Marjuana, cocaine), i am not sure in how large quantities.

And, I am yet to see Amsterdam this time. So, I will update you on your question about the R** light area soon.

Going Dutch -- 1

2009-06-19T02:03:00.001-07:00

Here I am in the middle of a Dutch reserve forest, next to an abandoned dish, which surveyed Hydrogen in the Milky Way while overlooking vast fields of potatoes, corn, millet, etc. After office hours, the only ones that make an eye contact are occasional cyclists, if I choose to walk on the long forest roads. The nights are so silent, I am told that some Americans can not sleep well due to lack of usual hustle-bustle. Remember Pushpak movie, anyone?

Well, everything goes as per some appointment, I am told. So, I had an appointment with our secretaries here, to decide the course of my life in Holland. Then I had an appointment with the bank, RABO-Bank, Dwingeloo. Now, I have an appointment on Monday to visit the town-hall to obtain my residential document. Then I will be residing in Holland legally for more than 3 months, as it appears on my visa papers. Today I should make an appointment to meet some companies in Groningen, in order to see some houses/ apartments.

Renting is not a straight-forward game in Holland. Government knows everything about you before allowing you a house on rent or purchase. The procedure involves companies that would hunt houses for you, you can not find owners directly. The companies would ask you to register, and then view houses. There is a waiting list on this register, and you are offered houses in that order. If you do not like 4 houses that they offer you, you have to register again, and lose on your priority number, so this is a BIG deal. For all this mess, companies charge you one month of rent as their own fee.

Houses/ apartments come in various catagories: un-upholstered (no floors, no furniture, no amenities), upholstered (no furniture, amenities), furnished (with furniture and other stuff). One has to see what is left by previous owners/ renters. Most of the times, renters carry flooring (wood panels or tiles), wall paintings/ furnishings, and other amenities with them (like shelves in kitchen etc). Sometimes they do not take everything (may leave behind a wash basin for you to use, I am kidding, of course). I may need to fix all that in an apartment.

So, I am asked to wait and watch, this is going to be a Dutch Roulette, if there was indeed such a game :-)

2003-08-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Bon jour, comment ca va?

this time i am going to focus mainly on French Canada, but, there are a few other (English speaking) issues to be settled first...

The case of Charlie Smith was in the news once again on CBC radio with his interview. is he an Canadian Indian that he claims to be? he lives with an Indian tribe in Alberta, i think, and is married with kids. or is he originally a US citizen (white) from Kentuki? his "father" and "step mother" claim he ran away from home 20 years ago and had an obsession for Indian life style (bow and arrow, oh who does not have obsession with that "Mogli" life style! we all grew up with-- & grew out of-- it). Based on his finger prints and other evidence, Canadian authorities believe he, indeed, is an (non-aboriginal) American & want to extradite him back to US... he says he is a victim of racist bias and careless state machinery (now seriously, who wants to leave his/her comfy American home and head to the "Bushes" (pun intended!)? Sounds so tantalizingly close to the story of "Grey Owl", if you have not read about Grey Owl previously, you must, here is one link:

members.shaw.ca/keithheidorn/naturesong/nature/greyowl.htm

Then there is this book, "How To Be a Canadian", presented to me by Samar (why me, jus' kiddin', eh?). this book told me various ways to look at the Canadian life. here are a few takes on this topic:

Canadians love to patronize the local brands/things. for example, in the case of literature, the "local talent" talks of the issues relevant for the community, think of songs of muddy rivers ("winnipeg" means literally that!) or love stories set on the Praerie backdrop. for example, Joanne (*see footnote) has read all the books by Agatha Christie (Christie was not Canadian you say, oh well...).
another place to notice this patronization is the sports teams. imagine Canadian team being thumped by Kiwis in a Cricket series in Canada (say, lost by innings and 140 runs): what do you think Canadians would do to their team if so happened, kick their ass around? hell no! you would read headlines like "Canadians Beaten by Kiwis But Not Disgraced: Opposition Coach Impressed"; "Beavers Stumped (mind you, an innings or something) But Stand Out With Their All-round Game". this is followed by the account where how "the coach told the players to fight to finish or take a flight back home, or how "even though the skipper was not effective, he still showed spirit and guts to warrant another chance". just imagine the scene in India for comparison (public call for amnesty for players is common!).
Of course, Canadians love the local beer, Fort Garry in Winnipeg--- Budweizer, aaaah, the piss-drink!!! come on buddy, gotta to taste the local beer. to be frank, Fort Garry is good, but is well-matched by King Fisher, if the loyal fans of the Indian brand want to know.
The local, grass root democracy of this nation believes in equal right and opportunity for everyone. the head of such a true democracy (no, i am not a bit sarcastic, read my earlier diary) is an unelected member of a foreign royal family (the family which never set foot on this land in its entirety for years, i believe) who is selected only because of his/her ancestry--- the Queen of England. how do you reconcile these two?? don't try too hard, the democracy throws up (no pun intended here) some funnier situations. the Bloc Quebecois (a federal party openly favouring a separate Quebec nation) were "the royal opposition of the Queen" in the nineties... sigh!
how do Canadians describe the cold weather? here are a few examples with their real meaning next to them (**see footnote):

chilly: below zero with blowing winds and sleet
nippy: well below zero with gale-force winds, ten-foot-high snowbanks and roaming polar bears.
cold: minus 20 with a wind-chill factor of atleast 40 below (also known as "Jesus H. Christ", it's cold, eh!).
really cold: exposed body parts freeze in ten minutes
very very cold : ------ " ------------ in two minutes
freezing : what do we need all these fingers for?

ok, we are to our main course, the French Canada. if you don't know, Canada is bilingual ("Kannada" in French). here a careful eye--- yours truely--- would notice one thing (make that two, please) everywhere--- I MEAN EVERYWHERE): all books or instructions/ directions/signs are in duplicate (street-signs: "STOP" == "Arret", "Mon-Fri" == "Lun-Ven", for example). now, when you see a French sign, just like the "deer sign" on freeways, it means there are some Francophones in the area nearby (they catch you at the stop signs and quiz you for your skills at Francaise). actually, no one in Anglophone parts can speak in French and struggle for words when you speak to them (in French), but all claim that they went to "French immersion schools" (when i first heard this term i could think of a river like Ganges, and all the Anglophone kids being immersed in it and put out--- in fact, these are schools all across Canada where everything is taught to kids in French---). all such people claim they spoke greaaat French just five years ago!! how such a large population learnt & forgot French just a few years before i ask them is a puzzle for linguists (who cares otherwise?).

So, everything public is bilingual, including the swear words (if you want to abuse someone in traffic, you better know the French words for b**d, e.g.). you ought to know "hommes" == "women" and "dammes"=="men" for public bathrooms (if this tip was useful to you, i will be eager to hear from you).

Another place to notice the bi-lingual nature of the country is to notice the names of organizations/institutions: CASCA (Canadian Astronomical Society-Societe Canadienne D'Astronomie), CIBC (BANQUE CANADIENNE IMP<83>RIALE DE COMMERCE-CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE), Canada Post-Postes Canada, etc.-etc. it is that simple: "NAME SHOULD APPEAR SYMMETRIC".

now this Francophone part, Quebec, wants to be free. that's what they think they want to say, atleast they think to claim so. confused? please... the politics is really confusing, you've stumbled on the first step. to make it simple: "Que" wants to be independent, "be" wants to be a part of Canada, and "c" wants to be a part of US (so, in every Hockey match three separate crowds come together to shout "QUEBEC" !!!). i was told that no one knows where the French want to belong, but it probably depends on the economy: when it's strong (Canadian economy) the French are happy to be a part of Canada, otherwise they scream foul and want to be independent. much like the ass that found grass on both sides equally green, no?

my trip to Quebec was absolutely fabulous. the most memorable instance was about Joanne (* note) being asked out by an Qebecois man after saying five sentences to her in a bar. now, that was quick! i was never asked by any woman (nor a man, phew!) for that matter. one can only blame it on my poor language (French) skills, i just could not understand those good looking women asking me out. i just thought they were asking me directions to mens' room. guys are a little more chic there and, in general, people appeared more relaxed. Montreal is a very attractive city, one of the best in North America and is very friendly. you will occasionally catch French people visiting the city, much like you. they have very strong ties with the French, though they find their "French" language at odds sometimes. its picturesque avenues, lively bars (with great music and beer---viva la' Maudit) and Mont Royal, all is tempting...

my visit to Kingston was all of three days. you can walk across the town in three hours, but boy, i found one of the best book shops there!! however, Toronto took the cake in the end. it is much like Mumbai, with all the glory of ethnic diversity. in one metro ride i found a Somalian woman, a British woman and a Sikh in their traditional head gears. the best part was, that they looked hardly out of place, just at home in their attire. it was awesome!! the city is relaxed and yet bustling with activity, art, music, movies and damn good food. people sit in groups and much like Indians, `singles' are not singled out to stay alone.

i guess i ought to stop. already it is time to look for my next job. more on that front the next time.

a bientot !

*(note) some names are changed to protect my own ass.

**(note) more than inspired by "How to be a Canadian" by Ferguson & Ferguson.

2003-01-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

this mail starts with 'statics', the discharges that shock you sometimes when you touch metals, particularly on a dry day. one evening I kept getting statics. i touched hangers to hang my coat and there was a little lightening display in the cupboard, oops! i touched the water taps, my bed, light switches, or fridge, all the while statics kept stinging me--- tut-tut-tut! may be it was my electrifying presence, so I thought, or my magnetic personality or the charged atmosphere. always kind, Jayanne suggested it was probably my shocking appearance! i experienced so many statics on that evening probably 'cause it snowed the whole day and the heaters were on for the first time, which left the air very dry. in Canada, statics are way more common. ahhh! one more just now :-)

it has been more than half a year already in Winnipeg. Even so, when i go to parties, initial dialogue goes thus,
"Hi! So, when did you come to Canada?"
"Some six months."
"Oh! How are you doing in Winnipeg?"
"I enjoyed my Summer here and people are so friendly"
"Oh, Summer is gorgeous, isn't it? So is this your
first Winter, oh wow! Did you ever have this cold in
India?"
"It's fun, I like it. This is the first time I saw
snow in my life".
"Is it, how nice! Did you make a snowman or tried skiing?..."
not a remarkable conversation to write about, i agree with you. however, if you are asked this question in every party, gathering, perhaps several times on one evening, it is special! people get so excited to see an alien (my visa status), like the way Indians get excited when they see firang's. i am not sure if this conversation would change much till i leave.

i heard on the radio the other night that Winnipeg is the Winter capital of Canada. books, music, art, it is happening here, apparently. it all happens underground, i think. it is all snowbound since snow appeared a week before X'mas. it's snow white outside. i have taken great pleasure in stamping my footprints on the fresh, soft snow on the road, sidewalks and (errr-stwhile) lawns. it's one of those really touristic things to do. i also made my own snow angel, but not a snow man.

i am now a avid radio fan, CBC radio-I 990 (kHz). the morning programs, Current, Sounds Like Canada and weather are my usual staple diet. the last one is essential in these parts and one dresses according to the weather forecast for the day. one may add one or two layers suitably. it was a warm December and now is the cooler-than-normal February. we walked for more than an hour in a rally against a possible gulf war.

one time when my Indian identity is surely invoked (and challenged) is when we go and watch some Indian movie or attend a celebration. for their credit, Canadians are well educated about India and other issues. they take pains to understand others' view and correct their information if required. we, meaning a group of (mostly) astronomers from our group, have attended the local Diwali celebrations and culture festivals. we have seen movies `Monsoon Wedding', `Devdas', `Hyderabad Blues' etc. it's then i am asked several questions, about history, geography and religion--- "Are Hindus all vegetarians? do they at least eat pork?";
"How does (or doesn't) an arranged marriage work?" (how do i know); "What was the status of Kashmir before?" i have been asked for my own Indian recipes too, yo ho!!

Most of us know Mac as in MacDonald or Mac'intosh (astro guys know McCullogh and/or Cricket-lovers know McGrath). now, here are some more from Mc-Canada: McAlister, McBride, McDermott, McEvans, McGregor, McGill, McKinley, McLellan, McMohan, McNally, McQuade, McRoger, McVaughan... was just checking my memory :-)

this diary will not be complete without a talk of Canadian politics. Canadians consider themselves as cousins, if not as brothers, of Americans. a lot of them have their relatives mixed on both sides of the border and share a lot of things with Americans, foreign/economic policies, culture and art, etc. sometimes it gets hard to notice the difference between the people. however, there is a significant, possible majority, fraction of population which believes in a distinct identity for Canadians and also believes that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the biggest mistake in their history. they loath the American bullying tactics and its right-wing politics. funnily, Quebec-French lean more towards the Americans!

One place where Canadians differ hugely from Americans is their health-care system, which is social. recently, there was a commission which evaluated the merits of this system and suggested numerous ways of strengthening it. the Roy Romanow Report was a matter of discussion for everyone, and it must have disappointed some MNCs from the South who hoped for some slice of the Canadian health-care market.

recently, a Canadian Foreign Affairs official created a huge stir when she referred to Bush (yeah, yeah, Dubya!) as "a moron" in some private talk on a conference premises. a reporter overheard it and the matter became a hot potato for the Canadian government. So, here was the Canadian Prime Minister the next day talking (on these lines) to the press,"Oh! I know Mr. President. he is my close friend and I played golf with him just a week. We share a great relationship. He is not a moron! I know that and this is not an issue". no one was sure if the Prime Minister was being sarcastic.

a last incidence in my mind is about the city mayor, Glen Murrey. a very visible and popular man, he walks around the city to see if the residents face problems of any kind. once, while standing in a bakery for lunch, i suddenly became aware that Mr Murrey was standing right behind me. without making a fuss he waited to meet the owner, obviously his friend and supporter, and left without making his presence an inconvenience. it was a remarkable thing given my experience of loud-mouth politicians in India. that was the incidence which made me aware of the live democracy that is at the basis of this nation.

I have been skiing and also walking on the river (Red River). it has been cold, but as i noted above, it has been quite enjoyable.

that's all at the moment. a lot of work is on hands and i look forward to my visit to Quebec in May and a possible hike in the Rockies.

take care and have an enjoyable world cup!

2002-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Cool Cool Canada!

My arrival in Winnipeg was anything but smooth. it was raining in Ottawa and we were delayed by 2 hours on termac. the pilot of NorthWest Air (they are funny) wondered on the microphone why we wanted to fly to Winnipeg at all, least of all on that day! Winnipeg was at -2 C that morning with a snow-storm in its full glory. we were further delayed in landing and i was to meet Samar (my supervisor) outside. we were nearly blown away by the blizzard on the way to her car and it was really difficult to breathe. if anything, this was a natural ("befitting", i was told!) "Welcome" to Winnipeg Winter. i stayed at Jayanne's (my other supervisor) apartment for just one day more and then moved on to the first meeting, CASCA 2002 in Penticton, B.C.

i will not forget the first evening in Penticton as we were at the lake side. i saw the aurorae for the first time in my life. the swaying, mysterious, cloud-like structures were hard to define by eye. i did not attempt to photograph them. i believe i am going to have some better sighting some other day and i will be better equipped for photography then.

the conference banquet indicated that mostly the Canadian people are friendly, honest and helpful. i was late and joined a much older group of people on their table, some of whom had visited India (a nurse, traveler, etc) before my birth! so, there were stories to share with them. during the meeting i heard two stimulating talks, in particular i should mention one on Teaching Astronomy. we visited the Dominion Radio Astronomical Observatory (DRAO), which carried out the Galactic survey that is a basis for my postdoc. away from the town, DRAO site is gorgeous, surrounded by tall hills (Rockies are nearby), with a blue sky and woods around. the telescope itself is not remarkable (for astronomers, there is a 22-MHz telescope there which produced maps recently) compared to GMRT or VLA... DRAO is building their own proto-type of the Square Kilometer (area) Array -- the Generation-Y in radio telescopes. their weird idea of building this telescope includes a baloon of size 8 meters that hangs about 200 meters in air at the focus of the telescope on the ground below. i could not figure out how they would make the whole thing as stable as required at 8 GHz or so (a few centimeters or so)...

the next stop was at Edmonton for a meeting of IGPS collaborators, this is the consortium which has pooled the data used for my work. Edmonton has the largest mall in North America, apparently. this was refuted by a friend in US ("there is nothing bigger in Canada than in US"). but temperature stays below -30 C for weeks in a row for most North Canadian towns and the idea of an entire fun park built in a mall, all underground, is not unthinkable. but, i am not sure if that one was the largest...

i stayed with Jayanne through June and took possesion of my apt on 1st July. since then i am honing my homemaking skills-- cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, etc... it takes time out of the day, but there is hope that i will get more efficient at work and that would leave me more time to myself.

all this time i have been learning new things/tricks. and first come first, my accent: Jayanne/Samar worked hard on my pronounciation. Canadians pronounce the first letter of each (English) word in a pronounced way! astronomy is pronounced as "aastronomy", pronounciation is "ppronounciation", banquet is "bbaanquet", and canadian is (naturally) "kkanadian", etc. the French pronounciation, for the time being, is beyond me. but, I was told that even "French" French can not understand Canadian French language. Canadians also like to raise the pitch of their last word noticably higher, like "this"(?). it is supposed to mean some kind of exclamation (i am yet to figure it out fully). a few common terms are worth a mention: shopping malls (not 'complexes'), traffic lights (not 'signals'), sport arena (not 'stadium'): these are distinctly American terms. Canadians have their own specialities: "okie-dockie", "all rightie", "thingie". the last one could be used as, "Is that your thingie (cycle, bucket or a lawn-mower) out there in front?". Did you know the great outdoor games in Canada? i saw one program on TV, where there were competitions in wood-sowing, log-axing, snow-digging, etc. all under the banner of "Great Outdoor Events!" i had numerous embarrassments at my own gaffaws or pronounciation, e.g.: "chicken loin", "harroin-addiction", "whow-well", "saloon", "khemistry". But, English is a terrible language in some ways. tell me, how would you pronounce the name of the street that I live on, "Grosvenor"? well, it is "Grov-ner". and how would you pronounce, Cockburn (name of a nearby street)? do not try it phonetically :-) it is pronounced as "ko-burn". so there!

Canadians love to chat, everywhere and with an acquaintance or a stranger. so conversations start at any place, malls /bus/theatres... so, you meet different people unexpectedly. Jayanne met this Punjabi woman on bus and congratulated Jayanne for her punjabi dress (Jayanne's best friend is a Punjbai and she has visited India for a wedding, so...). That woman was so happy to see some woman (in Canada, that is) in such a dress, she gave Jayanne her phone number so that she could talk to Jayanne leisurely. Myself and Jayanne met this student from Univ of Manitoba (UoM) on a bus. this student identified Jayanne (Jayanne English, a Canadian, is a local celebrity and once appeared on the front page of the leading daily, Winnipeg Free Press. She also used to be on radio in a weekly show to answer questions on astronomy in general). so, we had a long conversation about our lives and Winnipeg... one night i met a group of dancers in a Gelati shop (Italian icecream parlor -- i live in a Italian neighbourhood of the city). we enjoyed Gelati together chatting for more than half an hour. the group invited me to join them to learn Salsa with them in their dance studio, wow! i also happen to know this person, who has a married-couple as friends in Toronto and the husband is a terminal case of cancer. this person in Winnipeg bakes cookies, muffins, breads, etc. for this family and sends it by express post across. they last for the family's breakfast for a week or so. it is difficult to miss such friendly behavior any time.

back to my life: cooking has been an experience, probably like pregnancy. i had to invent my own judgement of cutting, frying, baking, etc. thanks to Jayanne, i learnt kitchen utilities pretty much without any bother. with minimum stuff in my kitchen, i think i manage the whole thing okay, by now. without any previous judgement about Western cooking, i followed one book very thoroughly and have enjoyed the results. my favourite dishes are: "grilled chicken salad with peanut sauce", "stirfried barbecued beef and noodles","Hoisin-glazed salmon", "asparagus with ginger", etc. i also love pancakes and french toasts for breakfast, apart from an occasional egg-fry or oatmeal. laundry and cleaning are manageable tasks. shopping, particularly for vegetables and meat is an issue. so far Summer was warm and i did well. i have no idea what happens when there is chill (-20, gosh!).

notice, i have not spoken a word about my actual work so far. i am looking at a survey of our galaxy done at one important spectral line of neutral Hydrogen, which falls at 1420 MHz in the radio band. this probes the medium between stars, which is diffuse and consists of neutral and ionized gases, mostly Hydrogen, Helium and a little of the entire Atomic Table. not only can we study the distribution and kinematics of these gases, the dynamical events in the Galaxy leave their mark in the structures of this diffuse medium, much like an jet liner leaves behind trail of its trajectory in the atmosphere. those can be studied too. one such are supernova explosions, which leave behind shells and mushroom-type clouds in the interstellar medium. i study these "mushroom-type" clouds and their possible connection with the energetics of supernovae & the interstellar matter.

i should get the photographs scanned soon, this week-end quite possibly. that should go with the description above about my life here.

PS: i went for a canoeing and hiking trip about 250 Km away on September-long week end, it was fabulous. i received the developed prints of fotos this Tuesday. should scan them too. more about that later.