Painted Skies

The skies here look painted. I have not seen prettier skies anywhere else. My brother's home is on the top floor of a building (9th) maybe thats how I get to see this really vast expanse outside. The room he has opens out into a terrace... it has pretty high walls, so all you see when you step out is the sky. Even in the night the sky is breathtakingly beautiful. Its raining off and on these days, so the clouds just roll in at times... there are grey clouds against white. Its like white takes on more shades in this land (read sky).

Last night the moon was shining from behind these pretty clouds... I tried to take a picture, its nothing great, but I am sure it gives an idea! I have been to the hills in India, and the sky there is beautiful. But there you somehow expect it to be like that. I know that sounds unfair. But try and understand. This is a busy, commercial city. I havent smelled fuel smoke even once here. Maybe they make cars differently here. In the middle of all this hustle and bustle, when you find so much beauty its really overwhelming. If just below your modern appartment building, you have a pristine canal and ducks and swans - well, it really does take your breath away. And you wonder how its possible. You wonder what did we do wrong in our cities. Are we so unaethetic or is that part of the globe just not so pretty? Delhi gets pretty in the winter, but thats short lived, and has so many other unpleasant connotations attatched to it. Alright, I should not get personal here. Delhi is pretty in the winter. But the smoke, and the traffic and the garbage. The dirty smog that settles every evening coz of the pollution.

I had gone to Munnar in May - its a picture perfect place. Beautiful hills and lovely weather in the middle of the Indian summer. It really has a lot going for it. But the main town? Its ugly. There are small budget hotels sprouting up like weeds on the hill sides. They are bright pink and indigo blue with ugly facades. The market place is a jumble of concrete buildings, of myriad shapes and sizes. It has just begun developing, its not a very old town. I wonder why someone can't come up with one aesthetic pattern for development of that pretty town? Very soon it will look like downtown Ooty, where you wonder why you came there at all. There is no quaintness left in that town, its a dusty, dirty town. The only sanity is the Botanical Garden there. You have to get away from our towns and cities to find beauty. Thats my whole point. Here, its right here. I dont have to run away anywhere to find it. Its under the building, its by the side of the road, its by the side of the pavement.

I just had to write this down before I slept. The pictures of the sky... I will put them up tomorrow!

Nepalese Food In Leidsplien, Amsterdam

A day back we left home late in the evening only to have dinner. Its getting a little tiring to go sight seeing everyday, really, even though the weather is nice and one does not get as tired as in India. But still, maybe its the mind that tires out. My brother took me to Leidseplien. I thought just Dam Square and Amsterdam Central were buzzy. How many places in one city can be buzzy??!! Leidseplien was terribly terribly buzzy. Young buzzy. There were hardly any older folks around. The lanes were packed with discotheques and cafes. There was music streaming out of everywhere. At the main square (plien) there was a musician who played music for almost 3-4 hours... can't say he was the best I've heard but he was fun, and added music to the atmosphere. Then there was this guy who played the electric guitar for a long time with a lot of background music on his sound system. There was also a comedian performing for a while, but I found his humour pretty crass, I was wondering how so many people were laughing to his jokes!

So, the food options were pretty simple. Leidseplien is famous for its steaks and almost all the cafes there served really good ones. It was a little nauseating, I have to admit, to see people grappling with huge pieces of meat on their plates and tweasing the flesh out with their teeth. I am fond of steaks, I knew it was gonna be beaf that I would mostly get here and beaf steaks that were popular. I am sure they would have laughed had I even suggested a chicken steak to them! That truely happens only in India!

We passed by this quiet Nepalese restaurant and were amused by the fact that they served "Dal Bhaat and Tarkari", thats the kinda language I often hear from my Grandmom who is from Bihar! Nepal and Bihar anyway border each other so there! We decided it was a little silly to have dal and rice for twelve euros so went off searching for another place. Then ... suddenly, the urge to eat "dal bhaat tarkari" happened. I have been eating all kinds of trash food this past ten days or so. Fried chips, yucky Mc Donald burgers... all that just got to me and I knew my food for the evening would be this Nepalese fare!

Its a little difficult to aptly describe what that dal bhaat tarkari really tasted like. I am serious. Coz, if I compare it to food back home, it was quite simply, not comparable. It was quite ordinary. But both me and my brother really relished every morsel and even asked for two extra rotis for two euros each!! We came to the conclusion that the only kinda food it can be compared to is "hostel food". Difficult to describe that again! You know, one hates the hostel food. There is monotony in taste and menu. But after a long day of college and roaming around, there really is nothing like hostel food. I still remember the taste of the paneer and aloo ki sabji that was a delicacy then, it was watery and we had to count the paneer pieces for each one of us. Sometimes we even traded the paneer for other things!

I hope I have managed to get across the taste of the food we ate. I wish I had taken a picture of the food itself. It was interesting and I know my brother would take his friends back there again!I have to tell my nani next time I meet her that I had Dal Bhaat Tarkari in Amsterdam! And actually loved it!