Belgium for Beginners - Part III - the Language Mélange!!!

This is a country which has capitalised big time on its ONE outstanding feature - its Geographical Location. Being right at the center and at the heart of Europe was both a boon and a bane over centuries. It went through the most brutal battles, was ravaged by savages and conquered by barbarians but managed to maintain its poise throughout and finally reached great heights - all because of its location. Belgium is known for its Trinity of Official languages derived from the immediate neighbours - again a matter of location!

English maybe the most popular business communication language and popular all over the world but in Europe the national language reigns Supreme. Belgium tries to maintain its pride with the various regions fighting for supremacy of their languages - French, Dutch and German. You cannot distinguish which one is more important and never mention that any one of them is easier or more popular than the other. Simply accept all the three.

If you are a visitor then try to learn the basics of atleast one language and remember to respect all the others. Needless to say - languages are developed and derived from cultures so kindly google or yahoo search a little of each culture before visiting. If you are planning to stay in Belgium get to know which area you will be staying in and the dominant language of that area before moving in.

English rarely works out here although Brussels has a self-declared status of a Cosmopolitan city. Even if you hear a little English now and then, don't expect the clarity or the accents that you are used to. This language barrier is a common complaint by ex-pats and visitors.

There's an old saying - When in Rome act like a Roman - now you may add -Talk like a Roman too! It suits the situation in Belgium. Most of the other countries have adapted to English but Belgium is either still evolving or trying to maintain its Old-world status!

"Mom - I Love Broccoli, Karela and Garlic!"

While on the topic of food I remembered this discussion that some of my girl friends and I have been harping on off late. Cooking and recipes is a common source of entertainment when women meet and I'm no exception. We suddenly realised that the kids don't get to eat a particular category of food if the Moms dont like it. Forget about the husbands (they belong to the same gen)!

This realization hit us and at present most of my friends are giving it a very serious thought. Imagine the next generation grows up not knowing about the existence of a particular vegetable or a taste that we took for granted as we grew up.

The common hate factor was Karela - most people don't appreciate it's bitter taste so avoid it completly ignoring it nutritious values. Another was Brinjal. Personally I can't imagine food without these two maybe because I saw abundance of these two while growing up.

I grew up without the influence of ginger-garlic pastes or any normal masalas coz my mom thought it wasn't good for health or she might have learnt it that way from her mom! There was this misconception that garlic was used mostly by the non-vegetarians and so was almost banned in the vegetarian households of our ancestors and thus the influence continued.

This is constraining the Knowledge transfer through the generations. I suppose now all these super-moms should become super-human too and suppress their aversions for proper knowledge transfer. They should allow the household to form their own opinions while keeping their perceptions to themselves. This is a little far-fetched and very difficult but necessary if you look at the big picture! I've seen my MIL achieve this so I suppose it is do-able.

Let's try to help pass on the tastes through the ages. People should learn to appreciate all the tastes bitter-sour-sweet- salt and get on with life!

If you know of anything that I don't like to cook just let me know about it because generally food and I walk hand-in-hand. But, there is always scope for improvement!

(Thanks to the ladies who hate Broccoli, Karela, Brinjal, etc. now we strongly feel we need to change our styles of cooking.)

Belgium for Beginners - Part II - the Food

If you are travelling from India and are here to stay then you better be prepared to get experimental with your food. The Indian palate is not designed to accept bland food (read as no seasoning) or coarse food (read as sandwiches hard to bite) or rare/medium food (read as half cooked meat)! That's just a starter...

Belgian cuisine is similar to French, based on game and seafood. Butter, cream, beer and wine are generously used in cooking. French cuisine is considered the best in the world - dainty, classic and tasty. A cut above the rest! But definitely its a question of palate and seasoning. The rest of the world seems to enjoy bland food. The blander the better and what a nightmare for Indians. You do get acclimitised to some aspects after a time but the basic craving remains.

Now if you are vegetarian then GOD save you. For one - you wont know what to choose from the menu and two - you wont know how to ask in a language which they understand. So, a restaurant outing can be a nightmare at the beginning. Meat eaters, too, need to ask for a well cooked steak and check that it's not ham or pork if they are religious!

The Flip side of things is that you get amazing Viennoiseries - all types of fresh bread, croissants, pain au chocolate, baguettes, brioches, raisin buns, etc, all very delectable !

Some of the top of the tops available here are:

1. The Belgian fries - frites (invented by the Belgians not the French)

2. The Belgian beer (400 varieties are brewed here)

3. The Belgian chocolate (the highest export)

4. The Belgian waffles - simply world class

(and my latest Favorite is - The Tartines!)

The supermarkets are well stocked with juicy fruits and fresh 'English' vegetables! Meat varieties are unlimited and the 'Ready to eat' varieties are mind boggling. Cooking is easy here with all the tinned food and the freezer gardens.

Ofcourse you have the traditional South Asian shops selling everything from mustard to mint but then, they are way out of the normal living areas. You've gotto make an expedition (we call it) to reach them and trolley back your purchases from those outlandish areas. A little difficult but worth the effort!

The rest is upto you. Cook your food or Buy your food and simply- dig in! And while you are at it don't bother about that waist line or the extra calories! Bon Appetit!

(Thanks to Alexandra who inspired me to write this...answering her questions on Indian culinary tastes and the Belgium influence!)

The Oscar goes to...

After all that Oscar mania I was really tempted to day dream a little more. I hit upon the idea that I should ask my friends what they like the best about me and if I had to win an award what category would they think I would get it!

Everything need not be Filmi like screenplay or direction so I asked them to get as creative as possible. I received nothing less that 26 categories some outrageous comedies and some really sincere compliments. But why this exercise - simply to feel good - sounds like Vanity too but then a woman requires a little pampering now and then - such exercises can be excused.

Here are some of the awards categories (in no particular order) that I'm entitled to:

- Best Troublemaker (this one is my favorite)

- Best Useless Fellow (that's my hubs decision and his pet name for me)

- Best Fight Master (this one is grrr - dunno wht's that for I'm the most peaceful person in this universe right!)

- Best Comedian (I liked this coz it sounds better than Joker)

- Best Attire (hmm thats nice!)

- Best Irritating Positive Outlook (that's from someone who is really bugged with me)

- Best Cheerful Face (I can't imagine how I look w/o this face- born with it)

- Most Vivacious Person (nothing to beat this & only a best friend can say such things)

- Best Lazy Oaf (thats from my dear sister and seconded by mom - they know me the best - wow what love!)

And the Oscar goes to...

My Oscar speech:

I'm so thrilled (sniff sniff) - never expected that I had such friends - well from now on these titles become synonymous with my name and I have to get used to it (sniff sniff). Before I get emotional I wish to thank all the people who supported me in my life- my dad, my mom, my hubs, my sis, my BIL, my nephews, my doggie, my first class teacher, my neighbours father, his daugher and her friends and my aunt's sister and all those thousands of people out there viewing(reading) this post and encouraging me! (Also have to thank George Clooney for inspiring me to create this speech!!!)

P.S. Any additional awards will be screened and scrutinised by the awarding committee. Entries to be sent through the comments box!

Restoring Identity - The Stolen Generations

The Stolen Generations is a term used to describe those children of Australian Aboriginal descent who were "removed" from their families by the Australian government or church missionaries for reasons known only to them. This "removal" occured for over 100 years between 1850s and 1970 - continuing well into the modern world.

C'est tre's Bizarre! Mais c'est Vrai! Its History and its a reality. Quite well depicted in a fictional movie - Australia. Although the movie doesnt deal with the reasons or causes or solutions to this behavior it atleast made many people aware that this is actually a reality and not just a part of the history books.

The world has seen many outrageous episodes such as Hiroshima, The Hitler mania, The Gulf war, 9/11 and the recent 26/11 which have killed thousands of people. Great tragedies! Loss of life can never be compensated. I consider this "removal" of children from their families to be on par or even more than these tragedies. Its a total loss of culture, identity, security and even if it doesnt equal the loss of life - its the loss of identities changing most into living aliens - neither here nor there! The "removed generations" are lost forever and we can't even gauge the personal loss of each family!

So have we lost some old world customs and traditions followed by generations of Aborigines? For now this seems to be an excellent political debate - who cares? Does anyone care to take measure to restore some identities?

Check out what's the latest on this issue - http://www.eniar.org/stolengenerations.html

Belgium for Beginners - Part I - the Northern Light

After a chilling winter - said to be one of the coldest in the past 25 years - the weather has now reverted itself to what all visitors are warned against: chronic rain.

I was waiting in a hospital lounge and what better to do than read an old English magazine (for the first time I found something in English). I was amazed to read this description- "Belgium occupies roughly the same parallel as Irkutsk and Moose Jaw", in an article by Leona Francombe. Now something caught my attention and it took me sometime to figure out that she kept drawing parallels between Belgium and these outlandish sounding names of places in Siberia because of the depressing weather! A little harsh but true.

Some general weather updates:

- Common weather throughout the year - RAIN

- Windy as HELL

- Jackets - NEEDED throughout the year

- Learn to live/work/talk/eat in the dark (but save electricity as much as possible big time)

- Dont expect the day to start or end as per normal time

- Sometimes the sun rises at 9am and sometimes it sets at 11pm too depending on the season

The Northern light is a TREASURE - you have to enjoy every second of daylight and freak out if there is SUN light! Not an exaggeration because most days you would wake up to a dull, depressing, dark, rainy day and you are expected to live a normal life and not get affected by your surroundings!

The only way to be cool is to be mentally active and alert and have good friends around you always. The minute you lose touch with society you can easily decline into oblivion - thats the power of the NORTHERN Light (or the lack of it)!

I've painted quite a sad picture but if I can stay cheerful inspite of the weather and lack of light so can YOU! I suppose I can live in Saskatchewan or Irkutsk too with this experience - what say?

The Amish - The Other World!

Can you imagine life without electricity or Television or Telephones. How would you feel if you didn't have a car or a bike to commute? I can imagine life w/o some of these but telephone goes beyond every nightmare.

But why do you need to think of a life like this? I just saw a program about the AMISH and realized that they are a society within a society. In America - In Philadelphia within 2 hours driving distance from the world's leading business city - New York. Yes, these people live without all these luxuries - which we have taken for granted. They lead their lives exactly as their ancestors did 300 years ago. Their dress, means of transportation (horse buggy), their customs and traditions and most important their faith in God is exactly the same as their forefathers designed.

Originally from Germany and Switzerland these people migrated to the west and are now known as the Pennsylvania Dutch folk. Their language sounds like Dutch - German. So how do they survive in this competitive world? Money- business - school - how where what? I was intrigued to find out more. Its simple they follow some basic rules:

• Farming is the primary means of income
  
• Follow the rules laid down by the forefathers to the 'T' - they survived happily so can we
  
• They send their children to their own schools till 14 years
  
• They support each other - social interaction is high on their agenda of lifestyles

GOD and Thy Neighbour will protect you throughout life! That's' the underlying secure feeling they carry!

Its Amazing how Generations together have managed to hold onto their beliefs and its no wonder that they are UN_HIT by these worldly RECESSIONS. Now that's a thought which we should dwell on! Check out this link for more details on this blissful existence -

http://www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml

Cider - my latest acquired taste!

In simple terms its apple juice - which I always liked since my childhood. Apple was/ is my favorite fruit and its not a surprise that Cider should appeal to my tastebuds.

The fundu discovery I've made recently is that fermented apple ciders become alcoholic beverages and are very popular in the western world. You get hot ciders, cold ciders, dark ciders, clear ciders, dry ciders, sweet ciders, sparkling and still ciders too. After the beer tasting mania of the last couple of years now its the cider adventure that I plan to undertake. I've noticed people toning down their alcohol intake by moving to cider drinks once per week or more. Good idea! Drinking cider is mainly thought to be a very English custom and is very popular in the UK. (Overall, the UK produces 500 million litres of cider per year source Wikipedia).

Let me tell you Hot Cider (cidre in French) can be the best drink to be had in this cold depressing weather! Right now I'm enjoying a hot chocolate brownie and dreaming of hot cider and feel that life is at its best!

Hugs 'N' Roses - St. Valentines

Valentines Day was a fun affair this year. The entire city was decorated and was aimed at making even the gloomiest person happy.

We went to check out some shops and the ambiance in the city center and were not disappointed with the decor or the mood. Its great to see that its not the young or the youth that celebrate St.Valentines here but the middle aged and the old enter into the festive spirit with gusto. We regularly see middle aged couples (40- 60) walking hand in hand on the streets here and on St. Valentine this hand in hand walking was accompanied by red roses and beaming faces. Such happiness and contentment can surely bring a smile to anyone's face. The youngsters were well wrapped around each other and beaming all the way too. Overall the smiles were contagious!

Another interesting feature was the "Free Hugs" posters. Its not uncommon to see these things all over the place during all festivals or carnivals - but on St. Valentines I spotted gangs of pretty women and groups of handsome hunks with these posters all over the place. It was fascinating to watch the giggles and some bold approaches and some shy applicants for the free hugs. It was a neat affair and that's why the gang to protect each other! As a passer by I was thoroughly amused with the whole thing as its a totally new concept for me. Hubs was quite flustered and I did enjoy teasing him a little.

Chivalry was all over the place too. People giving out free roses and showering extra courtesies by holding the door for the ladies extra wide was pleasant to watch. We went to a movie and the gentleman right in front of us held the door for me - with a great big smile and with a rose in his hand he welcomed us into the theater. It took us a moment to realise that he was trying to be extra chivalrous and funny at the same time. He must have been well over 60 and he smiled and wished both of us a great Valentines day! That was a real highlight to my day.

Hope to see many more lovely days like this!

Luck By Chance

I don't believe too much in luck and neither does Farhan Akhtar. So why the title?

Its one of those realistic movies which seem to hit you more often nowadays. Gone are those lovely romantic movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or DDLJ. Now you see more reality movies than you'd like! This movie is more like the other one Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion - not a great difference from the modelling world to the movie world totally superficial!

I wont say its too bad its fine you can watch it - just don't expect too much from it as a movie lover!

There were a total of TWO good dialogs in the movie
1. You choose Success or Failure - you can choose to sit down and crib OR to do something about your life!
That one was cool one and that's the whole gist of the movie. What Farhan wants to prove is that Luck plays little role in reality - you've gotta be smart and be at the right places at the right times!

2. When you succeed let not success hit you so much that you crave for power, fame, money, lifestyles, etc and tend to ignore those important people in your life who were a part of your life before this success - those people who encouraged you and who were your friends when you were not successful!
Wow what a dialog! That's the moral of the movie delivered by the One and only SRK and understood by Farhan.

Its worth watching atleast for these 2 dialogs!

Its time to say ADIEU to Abitha & Chaman

One day in 2008 these two smiling faces walked into my life and who was to know then that these 2 seemingly shy little waifs would create such an Impact and leave a lasting impression on my heart!

The first day they came to my house was with their parents for a mutual assessment and one of them was as shy and quiet as a mouse and the other was full of suppressed energy bursting to speak up and I got the impression of a little tornado in a bottle!

The first interesting and wonderful word that I heard from each of them was an emphatic "NO" and I knew that my work was cut out for me. Well this word continued in various forms and versions for the initial few months and hopefully has been eradicated from their dictionary by now!

First about the Tornado -as I love to call Abitha- this tornado is not the destructive kinds but definitely You Cannot Ignore ME kinds. She absorbed everything that I taught like a Sponge surprising me endlesslessly. She transformed into a beautiful talented butterfly (or should I call her the Princess Belle) right under my nose. Actually I should confess I must have been blind at the beginning not to recognise the butterfly immediately. I call that my learning phase- my moments of truth - my moments of frustration. I had to count 10 to 1 atleast a thousand times and learnt that patience IS actually the greatest virtue and then got in touch with reality to recognize the transformation or rather the Unveiling. I suppose some of my patience did work actually!

Meet her and the first thing you would spot is her bright eyes emphasising her vivid interest in life and her curious nature. And ofcourse you can't miss that energy when it hits you in waves and waves and waves. You might actually get submerged if you dont watch out. This girl is no - ok let things go by types - she needs to be there where the action is! She's smart, super smart and touchingly she is extremely emotional, passionate and has a warmth about her you cannot miss. With her natural passion she weaves her way into your heart to stay forever. Unforgettable is the word for her!

On the other hand to live up to her pet name the Tornado she retains all her childish mischief and playful attitude. Man! She can be the T for trouble and the H for headache when she wants to be! Well - that reminds me so much of myself that I'm definitely not the one to complain. You've gotta create some trouble in your childhood if not you lose the chance once you become the so called mature adult!

From, "I dont know English!", "I dont want to write", " I dont want to speak" to, " Aunty, these are my thoughts please can you listen to me NOW!"

Wow! The little lady can be forceful and as I said before you just cannot ignore her!She's the fairy tale Princess - dreams and lives it out and ofcourse loves Belle (maybe more because inadvertently it slipped out that Belle is my favorite too).

A natural leader she's got to be nourished, loved and guided well for an excellent future ahead!

Hmm what about the other little kid? Under all this overpowering influence of his sister the little brother not to be outdone emerged slowly and steadily until one day he declared his independence. From the - Stick to akka attitude he became I AM Chaman!

Being the youngest in my group not to be outdone he became the fastest writer and a glib talker. Wow can he talk! Nonstop and all in English. Fascinating to watch his struggle to get his thoughts into words but he has an undying never give up attitude. With an amazing ability to pick up all that his sister learns and adapting them to his own style and adding his own thoughts he stood up to claim his own space. With his new found confidence he slowly turned into a motivator for the group encouraging all the others to follow instructions and speak only in English with me.

Everday its a wrench and a struggle and a small internal battle for him to go back home. He kept asking his mom why is that she had to take him early always or why couldnt he stay for some more time. Don't know how this comfort developed - it really surprises me too many a times because I always felt that I was not very good with interacting with small children. Seems that I can actually hold their interest for a couple of hours atleast. Wow how much confidence a little kid of 3 can give an adult is to be experienced to understand.

I always asked mom how she felt at the end of a year when she had to let go of a batch of children whom she taught for a complete year. How did she feel? Did she miss them? How did she move on? She told me that ofcourse initially it was difficult but later you learn that you are letting them move on because you love them and they have to find their own feet in life. Its like your own children how you let them go to school on the first day. Love them and watch them grow she said! Thanks mom that's exactly what I have to do now.

Its heart wrenching to think that I wont see them for sometime now as they are going back to India this week. I've written this for myself trying to capture my feelings for them but I hope sometime when they grow up they might read this and remember me as I will always remember them.

I wont say bye but I will say as the French say - AU REVOIR (until we meet again). Dear Abitha and Chaman Au Revoir to both of you.

Yours

Siva Priya Aunty