Hey, the Serbs are a lot like us Indians.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Belgrade (written as 'Beograd' and pronounced here
as Beyograad') has quite some resemblance to any Indian metro -basically in terms of
the infrastructure. The roads are like we have in Chennai - mostly good, but occasionally
bumpy. Like the old housing board apartments you see in Chennai, there are similar old buildings in Belgrade too. The cars scene is also like in India - small hatches are favourites
here too.

But what really interested me was the similarity between the people. Ofcourse being
Caucasians, the skin tone is different from Indians, but there are quite some similarities
in the way they think and do things.

Maybe this could be because it is also a developing country like ours. Like us, they try
to reuse / recycle everything. For eg. I do not buy special "garbage-bags". Instead, I
use the thin polythene covers in which my groceries come in. In our client's office, I saw
the maid do the same thing - for the dustbins, they use the polythene covers in which
the staff buy & bring-in bakery products.

Also, like us (and unlike Americans), they do not believe in if-it-is-broken-throw-it
and buy-a-new-one. Like I would try to repair and use a product till there is no more
life in it, I see people here also do the same.

And just because some product is old / out-of-fashion, they don't just go ahead and
replace it. Everything is used till it is no more usable. So common a practice in India.
Check-out the hanging flush-lever in this Water Closet. The last time I saw such a
flushing system was in Assam in the early-eighties. But it works, so they use it.


And ofcourse the famous 'jugaad' (make-shift) quality of Indians is very much seen
in Serbia also. If a device doesn't work, we would do some make-shift to get it usable.
These guys are good at that too. Check out the lock on the restroom door at our client's
place.


It was nice to come across countries in Europe that believe in the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle), which goes a long way in saving the environment.

The 2nd hair-cut.

Till some 2 months ago, my wife used to trim Aman's hair, which was possible only when
he is sleeping because otherwise he won't sit still while she was at it. Ofcourse, this was'nt resulting in a proper haircut & we decided that it was time for him to get a proper haircut
at the neighborhood barber-shop.

I have no idea whether he would sit still and allow the barber to trim his hair, but I decide
to give it a try. As he sits in a nearby chair, I get myself a haircut first. The idea is that he
sees me getting a haircut and understands that this is a normal thing and nothing to be
afraid of. As expected, he curiously watches as I get my hair cut.

Then when it is his turn, I decide to take it easy the first time. Instead of him sitting alone
in the chair, I seat him on my lap and the barber trims his hair. Overall, he was pretty still during the process.

Last week it was time for the 2nd haircut. Again, I had my hair cut first with him watching.
This time around, I felt he could sit on the chair on his own and have the hair-cut done. A
thick cushion is put on the chair and Aman is seated on it.

Last time there was no cloth around the neck, so I wonder if he will allow it or not.
But even though he finds it odd, he allows the cloth to be around him. And for most
of the time, he was still except when trimmed hair fell on his cheeks, which triggers
an itch. Ofcourse I was nearby to brush off the hair from his face and at the end of
the haircut, the barber was appreciative of the fact that he sat still and did not make
a fuss, like some other kids do.

Some snaps I took of Aman at his 2nd hair-cut.




It is kind of funny to see him all wrapped up in the pink cloth. At the same time from the
way he is sitting so still and calm, there is no indication of the naughty kid he usually is. :-)

A white crow ? No way can you fool me again.

A month or so ago, my niece Divya called me up all excited about a place in Cochin where
one could pay & take short horse-riding sessions. When I asked where it was in Cochin,
she said that she will not disclose the location, but if we were to come to Cochin, she will
take us there.

I told her that we need not drive 100 kms to Cochin to do horse-riding and that I was
planning to buy a pony for Aman. She believed my story & sounded very excited about
the prospect of having our own pony. I left it at that as I was just kidding.

Ofcourse, Divya believed what I said and this became a big topic of discussion for her at
home. Even though my sister tried to convince her that I was joking about buying the
pony, she would not believe it. Her logic being, "Mom, Biju-uncle will get anything for
Aman. So I am sure he would have bought a pony".

As I am driving home from work one evening a month ago, my sister calls me :

Sis: Hey, Divya actually believed your pony-buying story and is driving us crazy here.
Me : Well, that is not a story. We did buy a pony last week.

Sis: Hey don't bluff. Dont think you can fool me like you fooled Divya.
Me : What is there in this to fool you ? I had been thinking of a pet for Aman for a long
time and I thought a pony would be a good choice.

Sis: Come on. A horse costs a lot of money.
Me : Yes, race horses and top breeds do. But this is just a pony and no special breed.

Sis: Where did you buy it from ? I don't know of anyplace nearby that sells horses.
Me : From a stud farm at Kodukulanji, 15kms from our home. Cost 40K, but worth it.

Sis: Hey Biju, don't bluff ok. I don't believe this.
Me : If you cant believe, come over and check it out for yourself.

Sis: It won't be a horse. It must be a Kovar-Kazhuda (Mallu-speak for donkey).
Me : Donkeys are even cheaper. This is a horse.

Sis: Anyway, let me call up home and confirm for myself.

As she cuts the phone, I call up home. Mom takes the call. I tell her the whole story and
ask her to play along when my sis calls. As expected, my sis calls home immediately and
my Mom plays along to the pony story.

What I did not expect my sis to do was to call my wife to reconfirm, who being unaware
that I was playing a joke on my sister, promptly says that there is no pony or donkey here.

Anyway, after this incident, my sis is a little careful about believing what I say. So when
I called her from Serbia and told her that we saw a white crow here, it was natural for her
to think that I am again playing a prank on her.

But, I did see a white crow (atleast partially white) at Serbia and here are the snaps I took.




P.S. : A post after a long time - apart from lack of time, did not just get the mood to post.

Serbian Chronicles to continue...

Though I always make small reminder notes of the interesting stuff I come across in
places I visit eg. Serbia, I never came close to expanding them all to full-fledged posts.
Not because I did not want to, but because the last 3 weeks have been really hectic due
to work, travel etc.

Infact I drafted this post yesterday on the train to Kerala. And that was after putting
in 3-hours of work on the train - listing out tasks for the next 3 days that I'd be working
from home, going through & cleaning up pending emails, etc. After replacing the battery,
my laptop now lasts close to 4 hours and looks like I can use some of the time I spend on
the train weekly, in a productive manner.

While blogs are partly meant to cater to an audience, which is true of my blog too, most
of the impetus for my posting here comes from other reasons. Ofcourse I am honoured
that some of my friends and other random people consider it worthwhile to spend a few
minutes of their precious time checking out what I post.

But actually I write for myself. The blog exists for the same reason that I used to write
diaries in my childhood. To help take me years later to the life I was part of years ago.
Once in a while, I take out one of the diaries from the time I was in school or college &
reading the entries there brings back vivid memories of that time years ago. The only
difference is that while my blog is public, my diaries are not.

I came across a lot of interesting people in Serbia, different food and customs, cars,
buildings, hotels, awesome parks etc. If I don't jot them down somewhere, I am sure
to forget some of it atleast. So, a blog post on these would help save these thoughts for
years to come and in the lonely days of old age, maybe I can go check out all the old
posts and relive the experience.

Another reason to write this blog is for my family. Even though I talk to them daily,
I don't obviously have the time to tell them everything I want to about the places I
visit. A blog makes it easy for them to come read up and get updated. My sisters and
wife make it a point to check my blog atleast once a week (they dont have the time to
get on the net daily, like many of us here).

And ofcourse, I hope this blog will help my son know what life was like in his father's
time.

So, the Serbian chronicles will continue, though posts might be delayed due to work
taking up most of my time.

It's good to be back home.

Reached home around 1AM today. Managed to grab a few hours of sleep before getting
to work. Still feel kinda sleepy / groggy - nothing a few hours of sleep can't fix.
Chennai was mostly asleep as the taxi drove me home. Was nice to see empty streets,
instead of the usual maddening traffic. Feels good to be back home.

If you thought the Swift was ugly...

While the Swift is a very popular car in India and a hot seller for Maruti-Suzuki, there
is no doubt about the fact that it is overall an ugly car. My Dad has a Swift and when at
Kerala, I drive it and mostly like the car - though it is not a patch on my Baleno. But
that does not take its ulginess away.

But, if you thought a car could not get any uglier, you should have a look at the Renault
Megane. Looks like the car designers at Renault were given a very simple brief - take
the Swift as inspiration and come up with something even more uglier.

And that was how the Megane was born, oops, manufactured. Have a look at the snap
below - does it not look like a Swift that was hit on the roof with a battering ram, thereby
flattening it a bit and extending the rear, making it arguably the most butt-ugly car in the
world.


Ofcourse, the Serbs don't seem to be too bothered, given the number of Meganes you
can see on the roads. To each his/her own.

The car that put India on wheels is very much in Belgrade too.

Serbia is a dream come true for any car lover. Reason being that the variety of cars
seen here is unimaginable. You see a spanking new Merc S-class parked alongside a
decade-old Yugo or Lada. You have Japanese / European / American / Indian cars
and any other that you can imagine. And almost all the cars you have back home in
India, are available here -Spark, Optra, Accent, i10, Santro, Aveo, U-VA etc.

But nothing made me feel as glad as the sight of our very own M-800 on the streets of
Belgrade, complete with the "Maruti Suzuki" tag, which means that these are "Made in
India". Remember the Alisha Chinai video featuring Milind Soman that came a decade
or more ago, titled "Made in India" ?

Some M800s I spotted at Belgrade. The look like the M800 we have in India, but have
some must-have-here features like rear-demister, rear-wiper etc. I wonder if they come
with powersteering too here.

The M-800 has always been special for me. It not only put India on wheels, but that was
our first car, the first car I drove and the car with which there was such a special bond.
It was with us for 19 years without ever breaking down even once. And that car is why I
respect Japanese quality so much and why I would always buy only Japanese cars.

Cheers to the "Made in India" tag going places.

P.S. : I am doing a full-length thread on the Serbian car-scene on my car-forum and thus
won't really be repeating the stuff here, due to lack of time. If any of you want to know
more about what the car-scene in Belgrade and view snaps of cars available here, please checkout this linky.

PDA of a different kind.

While you will come across instances of PDA (Public Display of Affection) in most European
cities, Paris takes the cake and it is pretty normal to come across couples sharing loooong
hugs or kisses. Maybe it's something to do with the city itself - there is something romantic about Paris. We even came across a couple lost in their own world in a hug, under one of
the many bridges over the Siene river, while we were taking a boat tour of the river.

While Serbia is not out there, this city is not intolerant of PDA either. The University of
Belgrade is on the way we take to work and since the crowd is young, you come across
many instances of PDA.

While no one raises an eyebrow here about a couple sharing a passionate kiss in a place
as public as a road, what we saw one day did raise quite some eyebrows. No, there was
nothing lewd about it. Just that it was unusual - not something you would normally come
across. Have a look at the pic below.


We saw this couple at a pedestrian crossing. He was carrying her on his shoulders, like I
many-a-time carry my son. When the signal turned green for pedestrians, he crossed the
road and walked some 150 metres to his car. All the while, she was enjoying the ride and
the attention from everyone around.

We were taking in the spectacle wide-eyed & it took me time to regain my composure and
reach for my camera to snap this rare moment. By that time, he had walked away & thus
I ended up with this not-so-clear picture.

I sure was impressed by the guy's action. I mean, he surely is physically strong to carry
his girlfriend around on his shoulders. But it takes more than physical strength to do this
in a public place. His girlfriend must have been mighty impressed.

Getting colder by the day. And start missing home...

It was 6 deg C yesterday evening when we left for the hotel. As always, I had come
prepared for the winter - had a leather jacket and a sweater. But since one of my
colleagues had forgotten to pack any warm clothing, I gave him my jacket, while I
decided to manage with the sweater.

It was not a big gesture or anything. Just returning a favour that I have received
from others many times over. I have landed in Atlanta without a jacket or even a
sweater assuming that I would be returning home before winter starts. But as luck
would have it, I had to postpone my return and it was only helpful friends who came
to my help then. This was just a small payback from my side.

Anyway, winter seems to be setting in slowly, but steadily. Today it was 4 deg C, which
is quite cold. As we walked to the hotel in the evening, I could feel my hands go numb.
You see the locals walk around bundled in jackets and feel grateful that you don't have
to endure this on a yearly basis.

It's a week now that I have been here. Some places are now quite familiar. There are
people at work, at the hotel, at the restaurants we frequent, who are familiar. But still
you miss people back home. For close to 2 years, I have been seeing my son almost
every weekend and this is one weekend when I could not see him. I talk to my wife
over the phone daily, but still I miss the closeness of sitting across her & talking to her.

And last but not the least, I miss my car. By the time I return to Chennai, it would be
close to a month since I parked her securely at my friend's office. She is all covered up
from the Chennai dust & occasional rains, but then a car is not meant to be covered up.
As I watch the Audis and Skodas race by, the only thought that comes to mind is to
get back home next week and take her out for a drive. A long drive.

Serbia is great, the people are good, food is not bad, night life is excellent, the women
are the most beautiful on earth. But still there is no place like home.

It's a small world. No doubt about that.

Even before I came to Belgrade, I have been communicating over phone and email with a
few engineers working for our client here. Milan was one of them, a helpful guy who would respond promptly to any queries I had about their system.

His name intrigued me because not only is Milan a common name/word back home (one of
my nephews is named Milan and in Hindi, this word would mean "merger" or "union"), but
his last name Shreshta was also Indian-ish. I assumed this to be pure coincidence and did
not give it another thought.

After we landed here, we would come across Milan almost everyday since he also worked
at the same office. Yesterday evening, we were chatting after work when I told him that
both his first & last name sound very Indian. Imagine my surprise when he says that this
is because his father is from Nepal, and Mom is Serbian. He looks like any Serbian guy and
it would be tough to detect his Asian connection from his looks.

It surely is a small world. We have travelled many thousand miles from home only to run
into someone whose roots (atleast partially) lie just across the border of our country.

It's raining in Belgrade.

We left work late (around 8PM) and I had my sweater slung around my neck. The security
guard was aghast and went, "It is freezing outside. You need to wear the sweater, not sling
it around your neck."

While I would have liked to ignore the advice and move on, I decided to heed his words and
wore the sweater, which was good because by the time we walked the 2 kms to the hotel, it
was getting cold.

We picked up some food on the way - shawarma, pizza slices and broccoli-bajji and settled
down in front of the TV. A colleague had come down from Chennai today and while he was
sharing his travel experience, I decided to walk down to the reception.

It was raining outside and coupled with the cold wind, this meant that no one was on the
streets. There still were trams and buses plying and ofcourse people zipping around in
their cars, but there was no one on the streets.

It felt nice to watch the rain. Very different from the heavy rains in Kerala, but still it
always feels nice to watch the rains. All I missed was a hot cup of tea and a nice book
to read.

Where did these cuties vanish to ?

When was the last time you saw a sparrow at Chennai ? I really don't remember seeing
one for a long time. The only memory I have about sparrows is from my childhood, when
we were staying at Ahmedabad (GJ) and there used to be sparrows that built nests in the parapet, laid eggs and raised their young.

I am not sure why these birds vanished from our cities - maybe the pollution or rampant
use of pesticides. There is a theory that says cellphone towers drive away these birds. But
my colleague says that in HongKong, they use cellphones a lot, yet there still are sparrows
there. So that might not be a reason.

I clicked these sparrows at a park in Belgrade.

They have many parks here and it adds character to the city. Cellphone use is rampant

here too, but if the sparrows still are here, then that doesn't look like a reason for their

vanishing from Indian cities.

Also spotted was this pigeon, strutting around. One of the most favourite birds of my son.

With Chennai sprucing up all the parks in the city and cleaning up the Cooum, I won't be surprised if we see a return of these avian residents.

Slowly winter sets in. We could do without the rains though.

11-Oct-2009, Sunday :
It has been warm here from the time I landed at Belgrade. Which was, to be frank, quite
a disappointment, because I was hoping for a break from the warm weather back home.
To add to our woes, our customer's office being spacious enough just for their employees,
we were given a work-area which was a little low on ventilation and air-conditioning.

We had been cribbing all of last week about the weather and I guess as an answer to our
prayers, it started getting a bit cold yesterday evening. We left from work for the hotel
at around 7PM and we could feel the chill air. Today (Sunday) morning when we went
down for coffee at 8AM, it was quite cold, which was accentuated by the wind.

We had planned to take a conducted city tour, but the pretty girls at the hotel reception
told us that the travel agency did not have tours on Sundays. Anyway, we being not easily
deterred, we decide to explore the city on our own. One of us had a map and we took off
on foot. The destination was supposed to be the banks of the river Danube. Yeah, I am
sure most of you remember it from your Geography lessons in school - I do.

We walk some 3 kms and reach a touristy kind of place. Sort of like those big squares in
Belgium. There are open-air restaurants all around, big buildings, statues etc - basically
stuff that tourists love to photograph. After 4 days at Belgrade, this was the first time I
saw women who were flabby / out-of-shape, and I was seriously worried that this was
going to prove my theory of all Serbian women being flawless wrong. But not to worry,
these women were foreigners - mostly American tourists.

We decide to rest our tired legs and grab something to eat. By the time we had some
food, it started drizzling and down the drain went our plan to hit the river. What fun
would it be to get to the river all soaking wet ? And anyway who would be at the river
in such weather. Being tired, we hail a taxi and get back to the heated environs of our
hotel.

Size zero ? What's the big deal about that ?

Kareena Kapoor helped add a new term to the Indian vocabulary - size zero. Apart from
her effort, her dietician and trainer contributed immensely to help her attain "size zero",
which effectively means that she was stick-thin. Infact her boyfriend Saif said he felt he
was dating a coat-hanger, when she was in the size-zero phase.

While it did seem like a big deal to me till a few days ago, once here in Belgrade, it became
clear that unlike in India, size zero is more of a norm here. Women here are not only very
pretty (much prettier than the women in Belgium/France), but almost 99% of them have
a figure that is hour-glass like. I have no idea whether it is genetic or because they take
care of their diet and workout a lot.

And it is not just the young girls who have an awesome figure. Even middle-aged women
and elderly women are in great shape. Infact I have seen women who must be easily in
their early sixties, who still retain the figure of a young girl.

So much for all the hype about size-zero in India.

Nikola Tesla airport and a city almost like Chennai.

7-Oct-2009, 1:30AM Serbian time :

Reached the hotel an hour ago. Ours was probably the last flight into the Nikola Tesla
airport, which I presume is the major (and only) airport of Serbia. The airport was
practically empty when we walked out after collecting our baggage. A quick google
search revealed to me that Nikola Tesla was one of the big scientists of Serbia.

The first thing we did was to change some USD into the local currency, which is the
Royal Serbian Dinar. At an exchange rate of 1$ = 62.5 RSD, it is a pretty weak
currency, weaker than the Indian Rupee, but not as much as the Japanese Yen.

Anyway, a helpful lady at the Alpha Bank helps us convert some of our dollars into
RSD and we go find ourselves a taxi to take us to the hotel. Like auto-rickshaw guys
in Chennai solicit customers at airports / railway stations, a taxi driver approaches
us. I am wary, but there are no other taxis around and we ask him to drop us.

I see that it is a pretty new Mercedes Benz C-class station wagon. Its been a long
time since I was in a Merc-taxi and it feels good. The guy zooms out of the airport
and the car rapidly picks up speed. The road is kinda like at Chennai, a little bumpy
at times, but more or less motorable. I have a feeling that the guy is doing some
serious speeds, but when I lean over and look at the speedo, I am shocked to see
that he is doing a cool 165kmph.

Only once in my life, I have done that speed - on the awesome Coimbatore byepass
built by L&T and it did not just feel safe in my Baleno. But in the Benz, I hardly felt
the speed. As he drives along, he points out important places to us - the bridge over
the river Sava, an Arena (stadium), the main street of Belgrade, a famous beer-bar
near our hotel etc. Along the way, I can see apartments like back home.

This city does not seem to have fully recovered from the ravages of war and there
is lots to be done before it can be like any other European city. But I am sure the
government must be doing what is needed and it is just a matter of time before
the face of this city also changes.

He drops us at the hotel, wishes us a pleasant stay in his country & tells us that "we are
his guests first and only then his customers". I am damn impressed. The first impression
of this city is definitely good.

There are definitely quite some cons to my job (like with any other job), but I gotta give
it credit for one thing - helping me see the world, without spending a dime of my own. To
be frank, when I was young, I never imagined that one day, I would be getting to visit the
USA or Japan or Serbia or Belgium. I sure am glad I opted for a job in the s/w industry.

Aman is 2 years old. Time flies.

It seems as if it was just yesterday that Aman was born, and he is already 2 years old.
We started off the day by going to church and attending the morning mass at 7:30AM
& after mass was over, we distributed candies to those that were at church.

Aman posing in front of the church in the birthday dress - a gift from his maternal
grandma.


Then we dropped in at the homes of Aman's buddies - Christo and Johaan. We then went
out for breakfast and on the way back dropped in at the homes of some close relatives.

The birthday cake was only due at noon and so we had the cake-cutting in the evening,
which was a family affair - just the 3 of us and my parents. Both my sisters could not
make it due to other commitments.

Aman at the cake-shop waiting to collect his cake.




The cake and musical-candle.


Aman riding his new bicycle - a gift from his maternal grandpa.

Happy Birthday, Aman.