odzer's blog

Yesterday we went to the bakers and one of my friends purchased a Ciabatta bread. So today during lunch time I felt like eating something bread like. I decided to make a pizza. I used bacon, green olives and some Gouda cheese. Not the most conventional but I like Gouda. So after I had prepared the dough, I topped it off with some home made tomato sauce flavoured with garlic. Later I added the toppings and the cheese.

It was ready in around 15 minutes at 300ºC. So in a way faster than if I had ordered it. The pizzas we get in Chandigarh are quite disgusting to be honest. We have the wide choice of Dominoes or Pizza Hut. I did love the smaller chain called Smokin Joes but they were not popular enough and have had to move to the suburban hell of Chandigarh called Mohali.

It is funny how this works but I am not amazed. It seems different cultures are always attracted to other cultures. I noticed this coffee creamer, rather it was pointed out to me by my friends. It is called Creap. Although the quality of creamers in both Japan and China is such that it will creep anyone out this one definitely stands out. Most products in Japan seem to have all their titles boldly written in English although the rest of the packaging may be in Japanese. It is about the same as how sometimes I discover weird tee shirts or stickers on motorcycles in India that do not make any sense or are supposed to be in Japanese. I have seen Hindi and English in Japan of course that makes no sense at all. One of the more interesting points is the graffiti seen on walls with the graffiti artists trying to write something on the walls in English but not being able to and it appears like a 3 year old scribbles something. If you want to see more examples of the unique take on English by the Japanese just head to http://www.engrish.com.

I have been a supporter for the independence of Tibet for the last one decade. I have written a lot about this topic over the years and I really do not want to repeat myself. Tibet is really a sandwich between India and the communist giant we all know as People’s Republic of China (PRC). A lot has been said about making Tibet a zone of peace. However lets just look at it factually. Would we rather have an aggressive nation who has attacked us in the past and stolen territory from us as a neighbour or a friendly nation as a neighbour? Even if the Indian government does not support Tibet overtly it must do so covertly. The time is now ripe that we basically tell the Chinese albeit in a discreet and subtle manner that their rule in Tibet must come to an end. Many Indians and the government here of course is afraid that we have our own skeleton in the closet in the form of Kashmir. However here is a fact, Kashmiri’s are not busy burning our flags in world capitals or protesting outside our embassies. There are not hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri refugees in foreign countries and moreover Kashmir is a disputed territory between two sovereign nations i.e. India and Pakistan. The situation in Kashmir has no parallel with the situation in Tibet. So what I am saying rather directly is, let us stop being wusses and actually stand up to China. If China losses Tibet we would have removed a threat to our future generations forever, also do not for get that China uses Tibetan soil to supply Pakistan with weapons and is also occupying Indian territory due to its border with us. As we build bridges to Pakistan in the future we need to be equally firm to China so that they realise that they are not the only power in Asia. A support for an Independent Tibet along with better relations with Japan and South Korea could greatly extend our sphere of influence.

I often take small walks near where I live. On one of such walks I found this bottle brush shrub (Callistemon). I think this plant originally comes from Australia. These plants usually seem to flower in Spring. I really do think that it is extraordinary that the plant resembles the real Bottle Brush so much.

Ever since I returned from Japan one of the things that I miss the most in India is the vending machines. It is possible to buy many types of unsweetened hot or cold tea’s in Japan. Unfortunately when you buy an Iced tea in India it is usually prepared from a premixed Iced tea mix and is highly sweet. Most brands available in India are in fact sickeningly sweet and these include both Nestea and Lipton. I seem to miss the Green tea iced tea’s the most. Now I can understand why in India the concept of vending machines has really never taken off. The high rates of anticipated or existing vandalism, the low value of the available coins are all factors that work against vending machine culture. Perhaps if they were to introduce 10,20 an 50 Rupee coins then things would work out differently. Not to mention these coins would also have a longer life than the present bank notes that tend to get so dirty after just a while.

Japanese vending machines do not seem to be very technologically complex to me, however their fun aspect is that they dispense both hot and cold drinks. I think it is only logical that it should be that way or the sales with respect to winter or summer would not be consistent. Still I guess it depends on a culture of a place. In India so far it is still possible to buy many things from street vendors though it is just that the quality and the variety of the drinks that are available is so severely limited.