मैथिली and baba !

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

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 !!

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...

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!

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

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

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

Our apartment in Groningen: 4 pics

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

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"

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

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.

1. 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.
2. Folkingstraat: a red-light street in Groningen. I wish they had dropped 'l' in that name.
3. Rottinghuis : house repairing agency, they repaired my bathroom shower, and will fix the toilet.
   

In the deepest waters...

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 ?

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 !

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

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

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.

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

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 :-)

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:

1. 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...).
2. 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!).
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. 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.