Tomorrow never comes II

Tweet

This post is my take on what Thanai had to say here.
As a kid I used to (and still do) love reading Mickey Mouse comics. But for some strange reason me and my brother din't own too many of these. It used to be mostly from the library or borrowed from cousins. I remember one comic, that we did own, very distinctly. It was a story set in the future. In the story characters live on tree houses and each of them move about in a kind of one seater, oxygen capsuled flying machines. That was my vision of 2010. LOL.
I somehow always believed 2010 would be drastically different in terms of environment and life itself. Maybe that's one reason I did not give much importance to learning to drive properly cuz I always thought that skill would become obsolete soon! That "soon" hasnt happened any sooner. We are 3 years from the magical year and am still caught in the same bus in the same traffic jams as I did 3 years ago.
There was another event which made a profound (I always use this adjective with the next word) impact on my outlook towards life. Reading Nostradamus' book. Rather a translation by an Indian author. It made me very pessimistic about history and future. I somehow understood from this book (You should remember I was 11 years old at that time) that the world would come to an end after 2010 or so. That was very bad for the world but if you see it from a student's (my) perspective it was pure joy. I realised that I might burn the midnight oil today and top all the rank lists but tomorrow the world would come to an end anyway! What's the point? So much of my 7th standard(grade) in school was spent in the illusion that I dont have to study because the world would not exist long after. This illusion was broken (by my mom) when final exams were approaching and I was not prepared in the least.
And here we are, so close to the timeline and yet so far from all the images I conjured up!

Montreal : Loved Saturday

Tweet

Just in case people decide am a complaining wimp, I want to tell you all that I had a glorious time yesterday. Went out with a friend-couple and discovered a whole underground city in Montreal. Literally, one does not have to walk outside. You can go through the whole downtown area just using the Metro or walking through the connected underground. A whole host of food courts, shops etc line the inside of the underground city. A whole variety. And many big malls also have openings directly in the underground so you can just go through. I love the way this city has adapted to the extreme weather conditions.
Also thankful because it does not help to walk in these shoes on icy footpaths here unless you want to be crowned the sidewalk skating champion!

We walked a little bit outside and since it was raining it was warm enough for just a light jacket. Oh, it was fun! We had a nice huge chinese meal. I like their USP. What I mean is, if an Indian opens a restaurant in any of these western cities, the prices would be exhorbitant. 15$ for a palak paneer? Are you crazy? But the chinese stir fried vegetables would cost me 5$. They maintain this kind of price tags wherever they open shop. Be it europe or north america! And indeed they are popular. The quantities are big and prices and small. There were two things I forgot to do yesterday. One : open up my umbrella when it rained. Two : take photos to post on the blog. But there is a lot of time yet for both, so maybe next time. The weather is supposed to hold up this week but from friday onwards its supposedly going to minus deg celcius again. Atleast T will have a warm welcome when he arrives next week!

Montreal : Frustré à l'hôtel

Tweet

No, am not picking up french like how one picks up socks. I am just using Google translate. Chose it over Babelfish today. No idea why.
Today is Sunday. A glorious Sunday if you go by the weather channels (it's like a national hobby to know hour by hour weather condition) and my eyes. I see a nice and sunny day outside my hotel window. How can I be sure? Well, there is this building right below my window whose roof was completely covered with two feet of snow and most of it has melted from today morning onwards. There you go, I am SURE. Sorry, I am not being rude but am just so bored. Why am I frustrated? Because I have been seeing the great weather outside from the inside. The one thing I hate to do is to move around in an alien place alone like a zombie. Unless I have a goal in mind I don't do that even in Bangalore! Hence I have been lazing around in my hotel 10*10, snacking continuosly on sin food with an occasional smattering of healthy stuff like fruits but mostly Oreo.

A few minutes ago I made myself some tea. I made it the same way I make coffee, in a coffee brewer. Call it Innovation ;)
Me drinking tea now hence the pause in post.

The tea turned out awesome (a little too much of the sugar-free sugar but that doesn't hurt)! Am done drinking and wiping mouth on sleeve of tshirt. A little carefree (indulgence) never hurts when you are away from home and the special someone is not giving you a frown and stare.
In the afternoon I watched a movie called 'Serendipity', a very cute movie which I hadnt gotten around to watching till now.The hero John Cusack is so adorable.
I was half wishing either T or my parents had left their webcams on so that I could feel I was in Bangalore. Am crazy!
The hotel here has registered me as Mrs Yen. The first time I heard them calling me that I found it strange (N is my initial) but yesterday when I went to exchange a few USD to CAD a clerk actually gave a receipt in that name!!!
Its 6:10 PM but the sun thinks its 5:10 so its nice and bright and sunny outside. Am totally confused about DST. Who said it was day light saving? The sun decides that as I know it!

Hokay my brother called and I made a complete idiot of myself (again). Sigh! Why can't I sound more intelligent when I talk to him? Oh well, I will try and follow instructions atleast to the T (thats a funny pun if you know what T means in my blog *grin*). Today I got this great idea of posting a recipe in my food blog from one of the channels I was watching. It was in french. It was a great salad full of paneer and a little spice. The only problem was I couldn't fathom a few of the green leaves and oils and sauces. And these according to me make up all the taste of a good salad. My bro-in-law always has a deadly combo of these and he makes some yummy salads.
Now its 7 and like a nice Montreal person I should start making my dinner. I have this sudden craving for pulav. But will make do with a peanut butter sandwich, an apple and some orange juice. The all american Lunch he he he!
Goodbye folks and good luck :). Its time for Shalom in the Home (I am also addicted to a channel called TLC).

My connection to sanity, my blog (really? :)..)

Bonjour Montreal

Tweet

My first morning in Montreal saw me sitting in front of my laptop chatting with parents and T in India! I was up by 3 AM, a feat which one would never see in India. But today I am jet-lagged or so I would like everyone to believe. (I would love to use this as an excuse for the next two days to take it real easy at work!) I aint tired nor sleepy just wide awake. My bio-clock is not acting crazy but is in perfect shape. Why, you ask? Simple : I come wide awake in the afternoons even in India! And 3AM here is afternoon in India. So, really, my clock knows what its doing! What is also giving me trouble is the growling tummy. I forgot all about it being empty and slept off before I knew it and obviously its the tummy's birth right to protest as soon as my mind came to its senses. Dontcha worry tummy I have ordered room service breakfast for ya.
In the meantime I took some pictures from my room on the 19th floor of a giddily tall hotel. This was the view at 6 AM from my room whose window I cant open (which explains the lack of clarity)!
I just heard the weather report and its going to be minus 14 deg celcius!! I cant even imagine how cold it can be. I hope I dont freeze into a statue on the way to office. How many sweaters does one wear for this weather? Or does it matter-after a certain point our body can still feel colder?

This is the parking lot of the next building. The shapes in the snow are not cars but the area where cars were parked the night before when it snowed.

The building right opposite to my side of the view

Early birds on the road

A quick update at 7:07. Yes, am still up and the sun decided to say hello

A Book Tag!

Tweet

Hannah, the lovely maiden, has tagged for a book related meme (*chuckle*, i always find that word funny)
I met Hannah in Bangalore and what I liked most about her (apart from the fact that her blogs are ultra cool and funny) is that she opines about everything under the sun. I, am this cathartic creature who is gone deeply in the zone of "I dont care", hence it's a welcome change to be a part of this meme (*chuckle*)

Hardback or paperback: Paper. Harbacks give me the feeling of reading text books

Barnes and Noble or Border’s: Never gone to either. But my favourite in Bangalore used to be Premier Book Store (which closed down a few months ago). I like small shops where books are piled to the roof and I can rummage through that discovering treasures. Also like Crosswords which is neat and organised and lot of people to help you. Am a paradox!

Bookmark or dog-ear: Ok if you poke me and ask Bookmark but then I usually dont remember to keep those in. I generally remember the size of the pages left to read and I approximately open a page and start looking. This practice is very handy if you take up a book to read again after a long gap. It helps you re-read and re-remember :) (I like collecting bookmarks though)

Alphabetize by author, alphabetize by subject, or random: Random, hmmm I like to stack books according to their length!

Keep, throw away or sell: Keep. (Wish a genie would neatly dust it every once in a while)

Keep the dust jacket or toss it: No idea, whats a dust jacket anyway?

Short story or novel: Novel.

Collection (same author) or anthology (different authors): Anthology

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket: Neither (R.K.Narayan)

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks: I pull myself to a chapter break but my eyes decide usually.

“It was a dark and storm night” or “once upon a time?”: Depends on my mood. I like mysteries when I want to get away from things :)

Buy or borrow: Borrow (and then keep). Ok any of my friends reading this - Am just kidding ;)

New or used: I like new. What I like more is the smell of new books, fresh pages :)

Buying choice: errr...whatzzat?

Tidy endings or cliffhangers: Tidy endings. I may appreciate cliff hangers in a movie!

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading: Night, but these days its more relegated to weekend afternoons

Stand-alone or series: Stand-alone.

Favorite series: I read all of Arthur Hailey's books one after the other.Though its not really a series I loved it!

Anyone is free to take this meme forward!