How i stopped worrying and learned to love the american food.

It was my first week in America and i was scooting across Marshall street looking for a place to eat. Fatigue had hit me and i badly needed carbohydrates. I came across this food outlet called Augies and went in quickly realizing that this seemed like an inexpensive place to eat. Being a vegetarian all my life had never been a problem in India. There was always a Adyar Ananda Bhavan or a Shanti Sagar to the rescue. But this was a different place and i had read about the massive amount of beef these people consume. Everything under the sky revolved around beef here and i was a bit unsure of the menu in the place i went. To my rescue there was cheese pizza and i happily munched away the food.

Slowly i eased into the American system of nourishment and started trying different vegetarian dishes. Sometime it was terrible and sometimes it was awesome. I had always read in people's profile that they love Italian food, so i tried pasta and other such dishes and hated it. I guess salt has still not been discovered in Italy and spices are like alien contact for them, something in the future. I also once went to a middle eastern restaurant and loved the food there.

Once i was in JFK and was extremely hungry and in a state of hurry ordered Japanese rice and got so sick that i had nightmares during my flight. Chinese food is safe bed for rice lovers but i always get the idea that something from the dish is going to come out and sting me. Maybe it is just my imagination let loose but i still believe it is quite possible.

Braindrain...in people!

Recently i was conversing with my old roommate and he told me a strange story. It goes like this. He told me that during a group discussion with his classmates who constituted of students from various places like India, China, America and Africa, a student from Bombay surprisingly came up with a doubtful remark saying that Chennai is the capital of Karnataka. Enlightening the readers is my duty that the student is doing his/her Master's in Information Management and is a potential employee of the (God knows what) Big Four. I believe it is a sad demise of human thirst of knowledge and the beginning of a new wave of trend called moronism. I fail to trace the time when this all started, the divide of India as North and South. There has been a imaginary line drawn and everything that falls below Bombay is termed South. Now having said that, it is surprising that some of them take this to the next level. How can someone call Chennai the capital of Karnataka. Did they not read their texts?

Chennai has long cultural tradition and was noted as the gateway to South a few years ago. It has the one the India's oldest modern Universities, University of Madras who's alumni include the two Nobel laureates Sir C.V. Raman and Subramanyan Chandrasekhar. It has an Indian Institute of Technology and other notable Arts and Science colleges like MCC, Loyola and Presidency. Indian culture was always portrayed with the symbol of Bharatanatyam, a product of Chennai and Carnatic music which was popularized in Chennai. In a sentence "Chennai is the seat of culture in India".

Chennai is the home to much of the automobile industry and is the second largest producer of Software Technology only behind Bangalore, which i believe falls below Bombay.

Mumbai has long cultural tradition too. In fact it was considered the Gateway to India. It has the other oldest university, University of Bombay. It is India's largest city. It has the BSE which is the oldest stock exchange in Asia. It is the birthplace of Indian Cinema. It is the perfect example of a Metro in India. And according to the 1991 census 3% percent of the population include Tamilians. There is more outstanding facts about Mumbai which i expect the readers to go research.

I take a pride to be associated to both these cities and I would suggest to all those who are ignorant of these facts to read History properly. There is more to Chennai and Mumbai than what you think is.