It took me 7 weeks. 7 full weeks to finally sit down and write. It's been some crazy times and hard too. A change of place, a change of culture, a change of lifestyle. lifestyle is the one killing me. "Roti , Kapda aur Makaan" Nah, just exaggerating but very close to not too. April 14th, I made a move to US to take up a position with Mentor in Austin and it has been "this or that" on both sides of the date ever since.
Of all my previous sojourns in past 3 years (can happily say about the company paid world tour accumulating to 1 year or so), I have always looked from the other side. Posh hotels, rental cars, Taxis , arrays of restaurants on offer to eat and experience the culture of the cities and above all everything expensed. Lifestyle is a different matter.
Since the relocation, it took me 3 weekends at Ikea(a place everyone recommends for newbies like me) to collect all the "furniture". When I say furniture, I am actually referring to cardboard boxes who come with components of different shapes and a manual that if you do everything right might ultimately look like something that you looked at at the store. No free deliveries and no free assemblies. One might thing, that what a laze ass I am that can't I get this much done, but thought process arises from those "carpenter dihadis" where you can pay someone some money in India and get all things done. Ultimately, I did it myself with a lot help from Aditya and Naveen, my colleagues and friends.
Though I had been to Austin before, I had not actually been to South Austin, where I have taken up place. So initially, it was all hunky dory with new restaurants to explore, new cuisines to savor but soon the realization started creeping in, that its not going to be expensed, so its a fine time to pull out those utencils and crockery that you paid extra dollars to the airlines for all those extra baggage pounds. Pulling them out and placing them in the cabinets is one thing but what to do with them is completely another. Again, my though process comes from the cooks which were so freely available before that you never had to do even go and buy some haldi or sabzi. As appalling and shameful as it may sound, I could not even bake eggs properly. Here thanks to my dear mom and my dearest friend Suruchi a.k.a tillz to help compile a list of all the list complete buffoons and amateurs like to me need to get started. Being in California, Tillz helped a lot with all those recipes and step and step by process to make aloo pyaaz for a start. But the aloos remained hard till the very end. I took them for lunch hoping that another microwave round might soften them up. My admin came near microwave at the wrong moment that day when I was heating them up, so I had to offer here some as courtesy. She looked at them and said that "her husband and me had been conspiring to kill her" of course jokingly but they did not taste as bad as they looked.
Its been a few weeks but I am getting there. Now I can make Baingan Bharata, Aloo Gobhi, Aloo Pyaaz that are edible to some degree and I have been experimenting out of my laziness to finish the last night dinner without making anything else with maggi + baingan bharata, nachos + aloo gobhi. I am pathetic.
But the apartment is almost set, I am still looking for a Sofa that I do not have to assemble. But I am getting there. Slowly slotting into a daily schedule to cook,eat,work. I won't go to cleaning and washing as you already know where I am going to get at, but they also arrive with bandwagons once every weeks :) . This all is not going away so lazies like me who are not good at anything also have to fall in line. Do get my started on closets. They do not have almirahs. !
All has not been that bad too, but I will keep that for another day !
Of all my previous sojourns in past 3 years (can happily say about the company paid world tour accumulating to 1 year or so), I have always looked from the other side. Posh hotels, rental cars, Taxis , arrays of restaurants on offer to eat and experience the culture of the cities and above all everything expensed. Lifestyle is a different matter.
Since the relocation, it took me 3 weekends at Ikea(a place everyone recommends for newbies like me) to collect all the "furniture". When I say furniture, I am actually referring to cardboard boxes who come with components of different shapes and a manual that if you do everything right might ultimately look like something that you looked at at the store. No free deliveries and no free assemblies. One might thing, that what a laze ass I am that can't I get this much done, but thought process arises from those "carpenter dihadis" where you can pay someone some money in India and get all things done. Ultimately, I did it myself with a lot help from Aditya and Naveen, my colleagues and friends.
Though I had been to Austin before, I had not actually been to South Austin, where I have taken up place. So initially, it was all hunky dory with new restaurants to explore, new cuisines to savor but soon the realization started creeping in, that its not going to be expensed, so its a fine time to pull out those utencils and crockery that you paid extra dollars to the airlines for all those extra baggage pounds. Pulling them out and placing them in the cabinets is one thing but what to do with them is completely another. Again, my though process comes from the cooks which were so freely available before that you never had to do even go and buy some haldi or sabzi. As appalling and shameful as it may sound, I could not even bake eggs properly. Here thanks to my dear mom and my dearest friend Suruchi a.k.a tillz to help compile a list of all the list complete buffoons and amateurs like to me need to get started. Being in California, Tillz helped a lot with all those recipes and step and step by process to make aloo pyaaz for a start. But the aloos remained hard till the very end. I took them for lunch hoping that another microwave round might soften them up. My admin came near microwave at the wrong moment that day when I was heating them up, so I had to offer here some as courtesy. She looked at them and said that "her husband and me had been conspiring to kill her" of course jokingly but they did not taste as bad as they looked.
Its been a few weeks but I am getting there. Now I can make Baingan Bharata, Aloo Gobhi, Aloo Pyaaz that are edible to some degree and I have been experimenting out of my laziness to finish the last night dinner without making anything else with maggi + baingan bharata, nachos + aloo gobhi. I am pathetic.
But the apartment is almost set, I am still looking for a Sofa that I do not have to assemble. But I am getting there. Slowly slotting into a daily schedule to cook,eat,work. I won't go to cleaning and washing as you already know where I am going to get at, but they also arrive with bandwagons once every weeks :) . This all is not going away so lazies like me who are not good at anything also have to fall in line. Do get my started on closets. They do not have almirahs. !
All has not been that bad too, but I will keep that for another day !
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