Not so lucky

Well, against my expectations, he didnt show up. I waited for around 1 hour but no one came.

Cannot do anything about it, but yeah - another lesson learnt. Hope I am able to build on this experience.

Oh no!! Not again :(

Well, time and again I have promised myself not to be careless. But I think this particular character trait is permanently engraved inside me. To the series of losses I have incurred, a new was added today morning – My cellphone, Nokia N95.

I went for running in the morning with the phone in my pocket, as I always do and as I am doing for the past many years. I ran for around 40 minutes and returned back home only to realize that the phone is missing from my pocket. I ran back to all the places I expected it to be, but no use; it was gone.

I came back home and tried calling the number. Initially, no one picked up but later some guy picked and asked who is calling? As my Spanish is not good, I was not able to speak to him and soon he hung up. I rushed to office, so that I could make someone from office talk to him. One of my friends called the number again and talked to the guy. Seemingly, the guy is ready to return the phone but wants money in return. He is not asking for much money (around 5 USD) but is insisting to meet only sometime in the evening. He has agreed upon the time and the place – 7PM near my house. To make things more interesting, my phone doesn’t have enough battery and it can switch off anytime during the day.

It is 10 AM right now and I cant wait for the clock to strike 7. I cannot even explain what kind of thoughts are running in my mind right now. Maybe it is Karma; you do wrong and you get wrong in return. But I do not remember doing much wrong in the recent past. Whatever it is, though my mind is telling me to give up the hope and be prepared to buy a new one, my heart is clinging hard to the thin string of expectations that the guy maybe is not as bad as I suppose him to be. Maybe there are still some good people in this world.

I made some promises to myself; about things which I would stick to if I get the phone back. I would like to make them public, so that I won’t forget them soon after I get the phone (if at all I get it)

• I would never carry my phone for running.
• I would stick to the schedule I made a couple of days back and which I am not following due to laziness.
• I would do all the things which I know I should and I am not doing anyways.
• Finally, a promise which I always make to myself – I will start being careful.

Will update the blog in the evening if (or not) I get my phone.

Avocado y Guacamole

Avocado is something I never heard of before I came to Mexico. My first personal encounter with the fruit was quite amazing. Before I start describing that, I want you to know what exactly an Avocado is.

Avocado or more commonly known as aguacate in the Spanish speaking world is a pear shaped fruit with an egg shaped seed at the center. I have seen two variants of the fruit – one with a hard outer inedible coating which has to be removed before you eat it & another with a thin blackish-purple skin which can be eaten along with the fruit. This fruit has a buttery texture similar to how a banana feels if you peel it and hold it in your hand (that slippery greasy touch). It is light green in color from inside and has a mild taste. See here for more details.

I have been eating this fruit almost as early as 2 months after I arrived to Mexico. The main source of it was the Taco shop just outside my office. The guy at the shop used to put it in my tacos. Also, I ate it in the form of Guacamole at the local restaurants but that started only since a couple of months back when I started eating Mexican food frequently. While living with my Indian friends I never experimented much in terms of food and always stuck to basic Indian cooking. But now that I got an independent apartment with more freedom in terms of choice and variety of cooking I decided to explore the available options. Including Avocado in my cooking was the first thing which crossed my mind. I bought a couple of them during one of my visits to the local super.

It was the first time I was buying Avocados & hence I had no idea how to choose them. I just bought three good looking “firm” fruits and came back home. I had seen the man at the Taco shop peeling and putting them in the food and hence I knew that the fruit was expected to be soft and creamy. But the ones I bought were firm and raw. So I thought that maybe I have to boil them before I eat. I boiled the poor little fruits for more than hour before I came to know thru one of my friends that it is only the ripened fruits that you have to buy and if you buy raw ones, you have to wait for a couple of days for them to get ready. To give a parallel, just imagine something like boiling a raw mango to make it ripe and yellow :)

I am totally in love with the fruit and its taste. I make sandwiches, guacamole, put it in chutneys and even eat them with my salads. Check out the videos below to catch a live glimpse of the fruit.

Avocado the fruit




The delicious Guacamole

A runner's paradise

Running is something which gives me a lot of mental satisfaction. I really enjoy running for long stretches and getting drenched in sweat. It somehow helps me get rid of my stress and other mental pressures apart from keeping me active.

So when I decided that I am going to continue with this passion of mine after I reached Puebla for my 4th trip of Mexico, I was faced with some disturbing little problems. First was a rather dangerous “canine” problem. Yeah, you read it right – canine. The first day when I set out of my house for a run, a huge furry white dog almost bit me on my leg. From that day onwards I was so watchful for dogs that I could hardly concentrate on my thoughts or on the running itself. The second main problem was the traffic. To avoid the dogs in the residential areas, I was running on the side-lanes of the main road and hence was confronted by fast and furious flow of traffic. So again, I had to be very careful about how and where I am keeping my steps. These things virtually sucked all the joy out of my running.

Yesterday when I stepped out again, I saw a huge football field with a nice racing track just across the road, at a distance of around 5 minutes by walk from my house. I have been eyeing it for long but since it was adjacent to a big school and I didn’t know the local language so that I could go and ask, I was avoiding entering the field. But this time somehow my legs automatically took me inside the campus.

I saw a couple of people standing there and I decided to go and talk to them. I approached them and asked “Hablar ingles??” they said, “No”. I knew it was no use waiting there to find for an English speaking guy. But before I would decide to quit, I thought of giving it another try. I saw another gentleman coming my way and I asked the same question to him. Hesitatingly, he replied, “Yes, por que”. I was happy. I said, “Una pregunta. Do I need a permission to enter this field and do some running?” He said “No! Its free”. I replied,” Muchas Gracias” and left the place.

The place was a real paradise for a runner - lush green football field surrounded with a contrasting red running track. I could run forever at that place if my body allows me to. I ran for about 30-35 minutes before coming to a grinding halt. It was getting dark and I had many things to do at home. I just took some pictures with my mobile and started walking towards my apartment.

I was so happy that I got such a nice place to run where I do not have to worry about life threatening traffic or perilous dog-bites.

Here are some photos

Access denied

A toilet is one place in this world where people can move in and out freely, no matter where it is. Be it a restaurant, an airport, your office, or any other public place, “paid-toilets” being an exception, no one will stop you from using the place. Even a stranger will allow you to come and pee in his/her toilet if there is an absolute emergency and nowhere to go.

But things are astonishingly different in my office here in Mexico City. On my first day in office, I had an urgent nature’s call, when I found myself struggling to open the toilet door. It just won’t open. Then I thought that maybe the toilet on this floor is not functional, so I will try the one on the next floor. But it was the same story at each floor. Under such a “pressurized” situation, I can’t even go and ask someone, as people don’t understand English. Also, it would have been quite embarrassing to ask someone in sign language that “Boss!! Why this darn gate doesn’t open? I have to pee!!!”

Finally after an hour’s wait some of my Indian colleagues arrived and from them I came to know that the toilets have been locked. Each employee of the bank has been given a separate key to the toilet. It is just like giving an access card. For a single lock, they have made around 400+ keys and distributed them among the employees.

What stupid concept is this? No one is going to come from outside the bank just to use the toilet, that too when you have a big private building with access controls everywhere. Neither have you engraved your toilet pots with precious stones, so that someone will come and steal them. You have an ordinary toilet, which most of the people will use for normal purposes only. What is the need of doing this stupidity?

On that very day I made sure I have a key to that “protected & confidential zone” so that I don’t have to wait for ages before I can do something that I used to do at my will at other places.

Innovative cooking

I went out with some friends in the morning and returned pretty much at lunch time. Tired from the whole roaming around and my stomach screaming for some food, I really wasn't in a mood to do some time consuming cooking. Being a Good Friday, the shops were closed for the holiday and I couldn't order something from the nearby Subway too. So all I had was hardly 10 minutes to figure out what edible can I make out of the things I have in the fridge. Given the limited resources which would qualify for a quick meal, I made up this - Steaming corn with scrambled eggs.

Recipe (Serves 2, if I'm not one of them)
Eggs - 2
American corn kernels - 200gms
Green chilies - 2
Lemon - 1
Black pepper powder
Butter - 1 spoon
Onions - 1

Boil the corn kernels and mix the butter & lemon juice in it. Fry the chopped onions and chopped chilies in a separate frying pan. When the onions are brown, break the eggs and pour them into the pan to make a mess. Once the scrambled eggs are ready, add the pre-prepared (sounds inappropriate, but who cares) corn to the pan. Cook for 10 minutes. Add some ketchup and salt to taste. Serve steaming hot along with some orange juice & pickle.

So, I did all this and had a heart warming meal. It came out really delicious I tell you. Hunger does lead to innovation.

P.S - By the time I took this photo, it went cold, so I had to heat it up again in the microwave :)

Loupe

There is a small Taco shop outside my erstwhile office in Volkswagen. Given its vicinity to the office and the nice quality of food that it provides, you can see long queues standing outside this roadside stall at lunch time. Though being a vegetarian, I wasn’t able to savor most of the things served at the place; I was a regular customer, having something he prepared exclusively for me; Tacos filled with rice potatoes, chilies & beans.

Coming back to the subject, “Loupe” is the guy who owns this shop. Majority of people in Mexico don’t know English. Even many people who are working for big banks & are at considerably high positions face much difficulty speaking in English. But to my surprise, Loupe was more fluent in English than any other Mexican I have met till date. My project manager in Mexico also speaks good English, but he too wasn’t any match to Loupe. This was the fact which made me so comfortable going and having food at the place. Because I was sure that he would understand what exactly I need. There was something in his appearance which made me have a sense of familiarity with him. Though I never talked much to him, given his busy work conditions, we knew each other well due to my daily visits at the place.

He was so prompt in his work, that you could actually see the difference when he was not around. While he took hardly 10 minutes to serve to a queue of 10+ people, his assistant who would fill up for him in his absence would make you wait for ages. Given the liking for the food and the server too, my last day in Volkswagen was not that pleasant. I knew I wont be coming here any longer to have this food or to meet this guy. So, after the peak business time, I went and talked to him. I asked him for a photograph for which he readily agreed. I wanted to give something to him, just as a memento. Giving money seemed very impersonal to me. After a lot of thinking, I took out a 50 rupee note from my pocket (An Indian currency note) and handed over to him. I told him. “This is for you & it is from India”. He gave me a nice smile and accepted my gift. I too was content in giving him something which will hold some value and will be peculiarly related to me.

Its been around 3 months since this happened. I wanted to post this for a long time but never got enough time. Now that I am back in Mexico, I am planning to go to Puebla and meet him again and of course taste those Tacos once again.

You can see him at this post on my image blog.

Quesadilla

From this post onwards, I am planning to write one post each for some of my favorite Mexican dishes. These dishes may be known to most of the people and maybe unknown to many. You may know a different form or the version of the same thing. What I am trying to present here, is the form of the dish in which I tasted it on the streets of Mexico. For any city, as far as I have experienced, street food gives you the authentic taste and flavor, be it the mutta-parota of road side vendor in T Ngr, Chennai or the delicious pav bhaji of the road side stall in Model Town, Delhi or my present favorite Mexican delicacies of the roadside stall outside Puerta Tres, Puebla, Mexico.

To start with, I will take up one of my personal favorites in Mexican cuisine, “Quesadilla”. This dish is basically made out of Corn tortillas (tortillas are Mexican equivalents of Indian Chappati/Roti, only a little thicker), Queso Chihuahua (a special kind of cheese which melts into soft cream like substance when heated), mushrooms, green chilies, red & green salsas (sauces).

The tortilla is first baked and cooked properly from both sides, without any oil. This is a plain Chappati/Roti like preparation with a bit of salt added for flavor. Once cooked, the filling is spread over the tortilla, which in my case, being a vegetarian, used to be chilies, cut mushrooms and pumpkin flowers. The cheese is then torn into shreds and spread over the rest of the filling to form a layer. The tortilla is then folded and left for some 5-7 minutes so that the cheese gets melted and sticks the two oppsite folded sides of the tortillas and keeping the filling inside the quesadilla. Once fully cooked, it is opened again to put the salsas inside. Depending on your choice you can have any salsa added to your quesadilla.

When served hot, it just melts into your mouth, leaving behind the splendid combined flavor of cheese & mushrooms. For me, it is the best thing you can get for around 13 Mexican pesos, which will leave your stomach full and your taste buds quenched. But for eating quesadilla, I have a rule. I eat it only if I have attended my gym workout the previous evening. This is because it is high in calories and excessive eating may leave you worrying about your bulging tummy :)

So this was my version of the Mexican Quesadilla. There are many other varieties and variations depending on the fillings and on the way it is cooked. You can find more about quesadillas here.

Of India & Indians

There is so much pride we Indians associate with our country. But you will be surprised to know the outlook of people who see the country from outside it’s borders. These people don’t belong to the uneducated or ignorant lot, but are those who hold masters degrees in finance, who are heading the entire finance departments of big firms, who listen to news daily and are well aware of the world-affairs. Just have a look at some comments I came across on my beloved country & some questions I had to answer, that too patiently.

• Are women allowed to touch anyone else other than their husband, father & brothers?
• You have only one brother?? I have heard that each family has 8-9 children in India.
• India is land of 1100 million people, who share water, bedroom & bathroom. But apart from this over-crowding, it is a nice place.
• The govt spends most of the money protecting cows, then some on protecting other animals and whatever is left, on humans.
• People have to often leave the country for better development (note the word) and to feed their many children.
• India has the largest film production in the world, because the government spends most of its funds on Bollywood instead of feeding it’s people.
• Indian people eat only twice a day, have unsafe s*x and beat their wives daily.

Petrosh ??? What the Hell !!!

People have always had problems in pronouncing my name for the first time, not only pronouncing, but also writing and reading. But it’s always the first few times. In two or maximum three attempts they manage to get it right. When I landed in Mexico a month back, I faced the same problem. I had to complete a lot of formalities in the new office and for that I had to fill up many forms. The written part was comparatively easier, at least people can take their time to read my name and then pronounce the way they like. But when it comes to telling them verbally, it is really was a problem.

It started when my manager asked my name. I replied “Pratosh”. He asked back, “What? Petrosh?”. I patiently replied again, “No Jorge, its ‘Pratosh’”. He fired back,”Yeah, that’s what I am saying, ‘Petrosh’”. I understood it’s no use convincing him. So I gave him a frustrated smile and just laughed away the matter. But I never knew that that will be the way people will start calling me from that day onwards. Most surprisingly, all Mexican people who meet me, pronounce my name in exactly the same way. Also, each of them has the same question after hearing my name. “Petrosh is a Russian name right” And each time I think that there is no use telling them that its not “Petrosh” and also its not a Russian name.

I always had a feeling that people find it difficult pronouncing my name, but Mexico has given an entirely new dimension to that thought. I am afraid that by the time I leave this place, my ears would have been so much used to “Petrosh” that “Pratosh” will sound like some stupid “Russian” name.

Friday evening FUN

Friday evening is a time to relax. Somehow we get into a joyous mood and suddenly all the tiredness of the whole week is gone and we start planning for things to be done during the weekend. We usually think that we’ll utilize the Friday evening to the fullest. We’ll watch movies or hang out somewhere or maybe just chill out with our friends at night.

Here in Mexico I think the people have comprehended this thing very well and are using it to promote their business better than anyone else anywhere in the world. It was the same happy Friday evening when I started for my hotel from the Volkswagen facility in Puebla, Mexico. I had just come out of the main gate when I saw around three to four girls standing in the open area in the front of the office. They were holding some papers in their hands and were giving out some cards to the people passing by. I had no idea what it was but was really surprised that such beautiful girls were given a work like this. When I crossed one of them, she handed over two cards to me and said something in Spanish which I couldn’t understand. But her way of dressing and all the makeup she had put on, really amazed me. Her dressing was impeccable and she was looking damn sexy. I took the card and walked away after giving a smile, the smile conveying that I didn’t understand a word of what she just said. Just have a look at how the card looked.

I was so amazed that how these things can happen right in the open. Maybe this was the first time that I was exposed to such stuff or maybe I was overreacting. But I really appreciate the mid behind this idea. People are usually in a mood to enjoy and relax when they are coming out from the office, especially on a Friday evening and that guy has taken this fact to such an advantage of his. I’m sure that if not all, then 4 out of 10 people would fall for this, because most of them are living in hotels and are working away from home. My friends who are doing their management degrees can use this instance as a case study for their business discussions.