odzer's blog

This post is in response and in protest of Chandigarh Administration and its Department of Environment. I will continue to put updates periodically unless the notification to ban plastic bags is either withdrawn by the Administration or is struck down by the courts. It is now my intention to fight the government on this online because I see this as a mega downgrade in my quality of life. All of those who are affected by this ban in any way are requested to use the contact me form (opens in a new window) so that we can formulate strategy to fight this ban. Regular posts will continue on this blog as usual.

Exit the paper, enter fishnet!

The new obsence fishnet bag

In my previous post I had written about the store where I usually shop and how they had replaced plastic bags with paper. Well that did not even last one week. It seems the store has found a solution, well in these trying times it seems all retailers are struggling to somehow find ‘out of the box’ solutions. So exit the paper bag and welcome plastic fishnet bags. What you may ask is a fishnet bag? Well its simply a roll of bags that replace rolls of plastic bags that were previously routine. These bags are made of plastic (which the government describes as the greatest danger to humanity) as you can guess from the picture already. You use a knife to cut the length that you need since these bags are not perforated. I remarked while checking out to the staff that since they are now keeping two knives for cutting these ‘bags’ from the roll they also need to put some band-aids since there is an extremely high probability that one can cut oneself in the process.

Since plastic bags were banned we have been dealing with situations that range anywhere from comic to the downright dangerous. Imagine children who shop cutting themselves with knives or should children not be allowed in grocery stores at all now? The problem is that now that they have banned the plastic bag they can not reverse their own decision even if they realise that this ban is futile, useless, costly, stupid, discourages commerce and many other things because going back would imply that they were wrong to ban the plastic bags in the first place. This is every governments nightmare. Governmental ego is something that often leads to war, so keeping the ban even at a huge cost is of no consequence to our herodian administration.

So the fishnet bag while being just a plastic bag can only be used for solid produce like vegetables. Produce like tomatoes etc still need to be packed in regular plastic bags. It does not prevent vegetables coated with dirt and grime from soiling the cloth bag, back pack or any other type carry bag that you might bring to the store. The fishnet bag also looks obsecne but that is something that perhaps only affects me. However if we are going to end up using various types of plastic and synthetic bags at the end of the day because there is really no alternative why have this ban? A question that has still not been answered by the powers that be.

You either love a fruit cake or you hate it. Personally I find it nice and as khelljuhg pointed out to me other day quite gay. I have made two fruit cakes this Christmas. Why two fruit cakes? Well because you can never have enough of fruit cake and you do not make it every day. It can keep forever and in this season it does not even need refrigeration considering my whole house feels like a fridge. In north India unless you sit in your own house with a fleece jacket I do not see how you can survive the winter.

Now coming back to the cake, I had soaked a couple of black and white raisins for around 1 1/2 days in dark Indian rum to get them nice bloated and soggy. Indian rum is in my opinion one of the best things that comes out of this country. The other spirits produced in this country I am afraid are mostly good enough only to be flushed down the toilet. The rum is sweet, flavourful and on its own makes an excellent drink. Add a bit to your hot chocolate at night and its an excellent nightcap.So the cake again since I have wandered off…

I also added some dates, a heap of walnuts and almonds, some nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and of course half a bottle more of rum. Oh and a bit of Van Houten’s excellent cocoa as well not so much for the chocolate effect but for the heat and spice of it. One of the cakes was shaped liked a bundt and the other was baked in the regular round tin. Over all both of them cakes turned out to be veery nice and I enjoyed baking a lot. Of course as usual taking out a bundt is never an easy task but I seem to have managed it quite well. The end results can be seen by clicking the pictures in the gallery.

Like every Christmas Her Majesty has just delivered her annual address to the people of her commonwealth. This year she dwells on drawing inspiration on the times in the past for dealing with hard times that we are facing. I have always listened to the queen on christmas days and I have often found her words to be full of wisdom. She is someone who has seen a lot and has stood in the background but yet is a great source of strength for the English speaking world. She also touches on the subject of HM The Prince of Wales getting on to be 60 years old this year. There is some footage of previously unseen home video in her speech as well.

This year santa can be tracked using Google Earth

Oh Santa the wonderful distributor of gifts to the world and its many brats. Every year the good people at Norad track him going around on his merry old sleigh. I just happened to catch site of him while he was flying over Calcutta, India. This year he is being tracked using, what else but  Google Earth. So if you are waiting this evening for your presents eagerly go ahead click on the Norad website and see when good old St. Nic will make it through your chimney!

So what is on my christmas list? Since I have been a very good boy this year here is what I want :

1. An iPhone 3G, but you all already know that!

2. 2 Bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey, hey I am a punjabi!

3. Enough cash to go on another holiday!

I am going to wait up and see if Santa does bring me all of these things. I suggest you do too. Merry Christmas!!!

This weekend I did something with my spare time. I made two green tea cakes. Out of all the green tea cakes that I have made these ones were perhaps the best. Japanese powdered green tea has a unique flavour that is both light as well as aromatic. The reason why I did two cakes were because I wanted to give one to the parents of one of my friends because they sent me some Indian sweeties and some other food on some previous occassions. Food for me is a very social thing. I love to cook with my friends or even to exchange different eatable things.

As I have already done a blog before on Green Tea cake I have decided to give my recipe out so that you can have a try sometime.

50 grams of Salted Butter

3 Eggs

1 cup Castor Sugar

1 1/2 Cups Flour

1-2 tsp. Maccha

1 tsp. Baking Powder

Some oil

Melt the butter or if you have more patience cream together butter and sugar. Melting the butter in a microwave in no way comes in the way of baking a cake. Unless of course you have good biceps and you do not mind struggling with a cold slab of butter. Add all the eggs one by one and keep stirring till you have a nice creamy mixture. In another bowl sift together the maccha powder, flour and the baking powder. Now all you need to do is mix lightly and not with a heavy hand the dry ingredidents in to the wet mixture. If the batter is quite dry it may be advisable to add some milk. Grease a metal pan with some oil and dust it with flower. If you so prefer you can also line it with some butter paper. Now you need to bake it in a preheated oven at 200ºC till the crust is golden brown.

Every morning especially in winter time I sit outside in the verandah for a while. I love this time because it gives me a chance to “smell the air” per say. One of the things that I love about the mornings is a small pot of Darjeeling Tea. I like to make it the way I have always made it. Even if I skip my breakfast I can not skip this particular pot of Tea when I am by myself. When my mother comes to visit I often end up drinking normal chai but when alone I need my time in the morning to think and to drink my darjeeling. So here is my way of making this tea.

1. Bring some water to a boil. Make sure it actually boils. Electric water boilers I find are the best when making tea because they tend to boil water faster.

2. Wash out the tea pot with the boiled water so that the tea pot is clean and it gets hot.

3. Put in One teaspoon of tea per cup and one teaspoon extra for the pot.

4. Pour boiling water over the tea leaves and cover the teapot.

5. In winter time it is nice to cover the tea pot with a tea cozy so that the tea remains hot.

Something to eat with the Tea is always nice. I like toast. Although a muffin can be nice as well. I particularly like cucumber sandwiches but its too much of a bother and to be honest its just something that has stayed with me since those blasted cricket matches that my father used to play in. Personally I just enjoyed the tea time in those matches because I have never been able to make any sense of this game. Newspapers go well with the morning tea though. I drink my tea in a huge mug because I like large quantities of it. Although it is fun to have it in a nice china cup sometimes. People who know me, know well that I am very particular about morning time and I tend to be hopelessly grumpy because I do not like mornings. It is the tea that usually lifts my spirits and makes me look forward to the day and for which I am thankful.

An example of a fortune slip

When you go to a temple or a shrine in Japan you will often discover a few slips of paper that are folded up. Sometimes these slips of paper are available for free and sometimes you may need to pay a small amount as a “donation” so that a drawer will open and you can see what your fortune holds. I have never really ever had any good fortune when it comes to these slips. Although technically it is possible that you can get a new slip every day and see if your luck has improved. The other day I had taken out my thick winter jacket that I was last wearing in Japan and discovered this fortune slip in it. I decided to scan it for the benefit of this blog. I recall now that I had taken this slip at the Sensoji temple at Asakusa, Tokyo.

The front of my fortune

As you can observe from this slip this is really blunt and minces no words. You can click on the images to read the slip. I like that kind of direct approach to telling someone that they are going to suffer from a bout of bad fortune. I mean what is the point of telling someone that they have rotten luck if you are going to sugarcoat it. I say mince no words! Now every morning I do admit that I often glance at my horoscope and wonder what it has in store for me. I also even read the horoscope of my loved ones. I guess its a way of dealing with the uncertainties of one’s life. Even though I know that whatever the horoscope says is most likely to be made up, one can write off a “bad” day after it is done with and say to one’s self “oh well the horoscope said so….”

As for this particular piece of paper I think I shall keep it with me till my next trip to Japan and pick a new one then. Perhaps next time it will bring better tidings.

The back with the English part

A while ago I had the opportunity to do the six quirky things tag. Today I was tagged by Kanagu with the movie quirk tag. I guess my habits when it comes to movies are not that quirky. I enjoy a good film as any other guy but when it comes to watching movies I guess there are some peculiarities. Okay so let me write down a few.

1. I usually watch any English movie that is released every week in a multiplex. It does not matter if the movie is good or bad.
2. I like watching sequels to the movies just to maintain a continuity. Even if the movie that I saw before was not so good.
3. I am not likely to watch any Hindi movies and if I do it is very unlikely that I would actually go to a cinema for one.
4. I like to sit right in the very front row so that I can have more leg space because I am tall.
5. I love watching thrillers and detective movies. I am especially a big fan of the bourne series.
6. I have seen a movie a week almost for the last 15 years, when I was in school I would run away from school to do that.

I guess these things are not so quirky however may be it will shed some light on me as a creature of habit. I absolutely love cinema and I guess if I leave India the one thing that I will miss is the weekly trips to the movies. I am not going to tag anyone in particular with this but if anyone wants to leave some comments about what they like to do when they watch a film it would be more than welcome!

Every year around this time the Municipal Corporation blooms in to action and organises a chrysanthemum show. This time it was held between December 12-14 at the Terraced Garden in Sector 33. As with all the flower shows that they organise this one is the same. It is self congratulatory, ill-organised, botanically irrelevant and full of bored wives of Chandigarh’s bureaucrats. The prize winning flowers are mostly always from the Administration itself.

Having said that I must say that at least it is a chance to see some flowers even though if they are basically destroyed by the thousands upon thousands of visiting public with their ill-mannered loud children. I just happened to be there at this years show after many years of skipping it consciously. Of course I had not expected any change, they had the same tired looking displays of marigold stuffed animals. The same old pots put in a circular fashion etc etc. I managed to take some pictures of some chrysanthemums which I particularly happened to like and we purchased some “Ber” which is a sort of an Indian fruit. In Chandigarh you can find the red variety of these things all around the city and poor people usually gather them and sell them up for some profit.

I have often thought about this but flower arrangement is not one of the strongest of traits among Indo-European people. It seems there is a sense of beauty that is missing from our genes. Most of the arrangements that I have seen in India seem to have no ’style’ at all. It is just basically some flowers that have been put there. However we seem to be a bit better at planning geometerical gardens. I think one should stick to what one does the best. Would it not have been just wonderful if they had just used the whole garden as a display? They could have grown the chrysanthemums in the garden itself and opened the garden to the public. There is no need to have this vulgar stage and put sofa’s for the benefit of the so called VIPs. I am sure the VIPs could enjoy a stroll around the garden as well. There is no need for camel rides! What do camels have to do with a flower show! It seems that all they can do is just put a jumble of things together to attract a “crowd”. Flower shows should be for the benefit of the people that like flowers, there are plenty of events that you can do which can be transformed in to a fair. I guess it is again our Chandigarh Administration who thinks that it knows the best for everyone. I am basically irked at these bureaucratic types who think that they are doing such a good job at running this city. Well I have some news for you guys, you are not.

This post is in response and in protest of Chandigarh Administration and its Department of Environment. I will continue to put updates periodically unless the notification to ban plastic bags is either withdrawn by the Administration or is struck down by the courts. It is now my intention to fight the government on this online because I see this as a mega downgrade in my quality of life. All of those who are affected by this ban in any way are requested to use the contact me form (opens in a new window) so that we can formulate strategy to fight this ban. Regular posts will continue on this blog as usual.

What all can you do with a Paper Bag?

The paper bag is now the norm for carrying individual items

So here I am giving that regular update about plastic bag ban in Chandigarh. This week saw an interesting development. You might all have remembered the article appearing in the Times of India where our environment führer Ishwar Singh promised to take more stringent action against handle less plastic bags? Well his department seems to have made some progress this week. Of course the results have been even far less pleasant than I had anticipated. The other day I saw piles of brown paper bags lying at the local grocery store instead of the usual rolls of plastic bags.

So off we started with our shopping expedition and as soon as I inserted a kilo of onions in to the stupid paper bag it gave away. Somehow we managed to stuff everything in to these silly bags and I noticed that the shopping basket stuffed because paper takes so much space. Another problem that I see is squeashy vegetables like Tomatoes which if crushed in a paper bag would produce quite amusing results. Anyway as I have been writing for a while now, we have a government that has committed a blunder by banning convenient, recyclable and an effective plastic bag and is now hell bent on somehow imposing upon us a ban that has produced nothing but misery. It is of course just to satisfy their own bloated egos and nothing to do with the environment whatsoever.

At the end of this particular shopping spree when we finally made to the checkout there was another amusing incident. There were a lot of people standing angrily and there was almost a shouting match in progress between the checkout boys and the customers of the store. Apparently since paper bags happen to be opaque and you can not see what is in the bag, each paper bag needs to be opened by the checkout people to be examined. Also it takes longer to transfer them to carry bags because they tear easily and have to be handled with care. Now of course there is another problem, you need far more carry bags to carry them because again paper occupies more volume than plastic.

When one is finally home one realises the folly of the ban further. Forget about tossing the vegetables and fruit directly in to the fridge now. You will first have to toss tons of paper bags in the garbage. Of course paper bags can never be reused because if they do survive the trip home they are of not much use for storage purposes. Secondly of course you will bring out the good old plastic zip lock bags to store vegetables. So now you end up of course spending more than ever. So what is this ban for except wastage and more wastage. Wastage of trees in the form of paper bags, wastage of time and space, doing away with convenience and a total feeling of exasperation?