Eating Outside India

Has the word “Vegetarian” become so complex nowadays? Or has it been always like that? I don’t think any dictionary can give an exact meaning of the word vegetarian! To some people it is eating anything other than meat, eggs and milk. To few others it can include milk and for some the subset extends to egg products like ice creams, cookies and cakes. There are some elite groups, who dare to extend this list to fish varieties and claim themselves vegetarians. Whew! With so many different people claiming their own synonym for the sensitive word vegetarian, it’s not surprising that, it has evolved to become a complex word.

This writing is for the non meat eating, including fish and the non egg eating with the exception of ice cream and cakes, people. It is these people, irrespective of the synonym for the word vegetarian, suffer a lot, as the variety for them is shrunk, when they land up in a place where the synonym for vegetarian, includes the ultimate word MEAT itself!

So here I really am, in a land where vegetarians are very rare and you cannot find a hotel that is purely vegetarian (Not that I know of – as the hotels will run into bankruptcy, as the majority of the population is omnivorous.) I have frequented many a hotels here at Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, both Indian and American types.

Let me begin with the first hotel that I visited and that too on the day I landed in SLC. It’s called the Olive Garden. Considered to be a little expensive by some of my American colleagues, (Yep – they call it very expensive and I know few Indians, who pay this Garden, a visit for their Saturday dinner – Now let’s not argue if us Indians are profligate.) has a variety of great food for Non Vegetarians. I had to choose (Oops there was only one vegetarian soup as far as I could remember) from one vegetarian soup and 2 vegetarian dishes. I was thinking, I had more choice back at home, where only one cooked for just 3 persons and the variety was definitely more than 3 on a Saturday. Should I say that, I missed my dear folks back home, during the first dinner that I had at SLC?

There are about 3 Indian restaurants which I have visited and they do have quite a variety for my palates. Indian restaurants here always have both the names and the menu pertained strictly to North India, despite the large percentage of Indian population being South Indians. All the more, a valid reason, why I long to eat south Indian recipes like Dosas and Idlies with Sambar or Vadas.

One of my colleague and his wife invited a selected lot (I would call the lucky lot) once for lunch and once for dinner (Of course both the lunch and the dinner were on different dates). The menu to my surprise included my favorite Dosas, with varieties of chutney and Bajjis. Those were happy hours!

Hmmm – I still miss the wonderful Idli sambar that my mom used to prepare. However strong I convince myself that the recipes that I cook, has come out well, I must admit that they are nowhere near the delicious food that my mom prepares for me. The secret behind that is that, she adds some more ingredients to the recipes that she prepares, like love, affection, blessings, goodwill and what not? It is these that make the food that she prepares very special and a taste that fails to accompany in every other food!

More Thoughts…

The Public Library

It is now a habit for me, to visit the nearby public library in the small county of West Valley City, UT, which is reachable in 15 minutes by the speed at which I walk. (I walk at normal speed – Normal speed as per Indian standards). I did not expect much from a public library, nevertheless was eager to become a member. But the moment I learnt that they had a website, I thought they must be having something more. And yes, they had a LOT. The website itself was an ultimate network connecting the libraries in the neighboring counties. Right from placing a “hold” on a book which was in any of the county, to extending the features of the library for the blind, the library offers a variety of features.

When I went to the library, I was so impressed by the way the kids use it. The Library has a complete section for the kids, which include everything from audio CDs, DVDs, to toys. The interest with which the kids come here is itself a must see sight. Who said the Niagara is the most beautiful place in the world? Now, who is that saying, have you never once been to the Disney Land? It is to those people, I ask this question – Have you ever seen a toddler come and ask questions to a librarian and then search the books and read them? That is what you should call it as “cute”.

Most importantly, since it is a public library, access to all materials including DVDs are completely free. The membership is also free. The segregation for kids, young adults, adults with respect to the Fiction works are clearly made. Internet access is also free and every Saturday, when I pay my visit to the library, I can always see a buzz of activity, with toddlers, to young adults to senior citizens.

The library here, also conducts training classes like “How to use Internet”, “Using Word/Excel/PowerPoint” etcetera. There are many volunteers for the training classes as well as for the library maintenance. The ardor with which the librarians work and help the people should be mentioned, as you can see hospitality to eagerness to sincerity in their work.

I look forward for my Saturday, not just for the weekend life, but also for my visit to my dear library, in which I am a member and for which I have planned to do some volunteer work very soon.

More thoughts…

Travel

It was my first trip in the airplane and I was pretty much excited and nervous about it. Excited, as it was my first trip to the airport itself. Nervous, as I was hallucinating about turbulence, air crash etcetera. My parents, two of my aunts, one of my uncles came with me for a heart warming send off.

A wonderful Singapore Airline aircraft was supposed to carry me till Los Angeles. It was a split journey, the first stop was at Singapore and the next was at Tokyo and the final one at LA. Way back in time, when I was young I used to make fun of one of my uncles when he used to talk about his itineraries to me. He used to travel a lot and his travel plans used to amuse me. I would tell him - "Hey! You know what? I have heard of people boarding from Mumbai and go to B'lore, via Pune or from Chennai to Delhi, via Nagpur. But you are the only guy who talks about Pacific routes, Atlantic routes, the ‘What other Ocean’ routes!". Well, here I was, telling every one of my family members about my Pacific route, when they asked me about the trip! So there was I, in the not so luxurious Economy class - well that is why it's E-Class, right? So economized that you can't push back your seats without hitting the guy (Ok - or the lady) sitting behind you. My my, those who travel a lot from B'lore to Chennai will know about the KPN travels and I will tell them and the rest, that the seats in KPN are more luxurious than the so called sophisticated, luxurious airplanes (Now who told me that E-Classes are luxurious? , Have I ever seen the First class in a flight?).

Well still more descrimination comes when first class passengers are the ones who boards the flight FIRST. Oh! is that why you call them "First" Class passengers? Besides all these cribbing, your travel will be pleasent, if you have a wonderful "Neighbor" - Its no longer Neighbour - I have shifted from Queens' English to American English. I had an amazing neighbor, whose name was Deva. He taught me everything, right from how do you call an airhostess to how to operate the remote control. It was definitely the best part of my journey from Chennai to LA.

My cousin had come to the LA airport to receive me and I bet I will be one in a million to have had a lunch in McDonalds outlet in LA Airport without buying anything from McD's. I had the delicious curd rice and onion sambar that my cousin had prepared! Apart from enjoying the beauty of Singapore Airport and the breath taking snow clad hills, when the flight descended in the cold capital of the state of Utah (For GK buffs - Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah), I really must mention the wonderful news that my ears heard. While descending the co-pilot made the following announcement: "Today is a very special day for Delta Airlines (These guys took me from LA to SLC), as today on board with us are a wonderful couple who celebrates their 50th Wedding Anniversary. There are 17 of their family members, who have joined us and we take this opportunity to wish the couple 50 more happy anniversaries". And us passengers wished the same too.

With more thoughts...