A Little of Show and Tell

"Rich, fatty foods are like destiny: they too, shape our ends."

Author unknown

Imagine it being said with a slow, solemn voice. Put a bit of echo at the end and 3 seconds of awkward silence after that too while you're at it.

The Coolest Currency in the World

"Peace off, India!"

What other currency you know depicts a hand showing a "peace" sign on their coins, huh? I just noticed this a month ago actually, despite the fact that I have been using Indian rupees for the past two years. Talk about spending blindly, man.

I'm not sure why such a motif was chosen for their 2 rupees coins, but I am an educated man (no, honestly) and I am perfectly capable of making an educated guess. I'm thinking; is it possible that there's a good portion of India's populace, massive as it is, which isn't number literate - and by extension, is not able to recognize the standard numerals? It's a not a far stretch of the imagination really. Some people might seriously need two fingers to recognise that a particular coin says "2".

At the moment, only the 2 rupees coin are issued with that cute little hand, but perhaps the designs for the other pieces are still awaiting approval from the Indian powers-that-be. 5 rupees would naturally have an open palm on it. 1 rupee would be equally straightforward, unless the blokes at the mint got so stoned that they used the wrong finger.

I'm still wondering what they'll use for the 50 paise (0.50 rupees) coin. A finger which got half-chopped off?

I'm holding my breath.

Indian Chicken Fried Rice

Okay, this story is only funny to me - but heck, you got no choice but to listen to it anyway. Wait, you do have a choice. Damn.

Having my biological clock so screwed up that it's probably running backwards on stilts due to the recent examination screw fest, I am now completely nocturnal with my bedtime ostensibly occupying the period of day between afternoon to really late evening. So you must understand; the purveyance of food in the wee hours of after midnight can be terribly difficult, especially since most of the local eateries close their doors after 10 pm.

Hot 'n' Spicy, an (almost) 24 hours meal delivery service which I discovered only recently, had been my salvation from the Terrible Nighttime Hunger Pangs for about a month now, and their menu is adequately varied too.

Well, yesterday I made called for an order of chicken fried rice and the delivery was uncharacteristically late - it took the delivery bloke about an hour to finally reach my place. After paying him and settling down for dinner (supper? breakfast?), I discovered, to my horror (quick - faster gasp in horror), that my chicken fried rice is in fact... curly fries!

This was what I got when I ordered chicken fried rice.

I thought that the delay probably somehow caused the mess up in my order with someone else's - and the story of how that really happened probably would no doubt be a rip-roaring tale to tell. I didn't call to send it back, of course. If there's one thing you must remember in life, it's that you should never EVER piss off the people who prepare your food. Maybe I'll blog more about that someday.

I was halfway through my bag of chicken fried rice curly fries when I had this epiphany in mid-munch,

"The guy misheard me! Chicken fried rice sounds just like curly fries when said fast!"

Told you this story is not interesting already right?

Box-hunt

A day before Phoebe left Manipal to board the big metal bird back to Malaysia, she had to take care of the tedious business of moving her stuff from her hostel room to her new apartment - and she needed boxes for that sort of thing. Sounds like an easy thing to do, eh? Well, try beggaring for some in Manipal.

We visited no less then 10 shops all over Manipal which, we had reasons to believe, have cardboard boxes of adequate sizes for Phoebe's purposes. All of them however, seemed to have the same conviction that cardboard boxes are precious commodities which under no circumstances must be given away.

A change of tact was in order, and Phoebe and I started trying to buy those cardboard boxes - rather than asking for them for free. No luck there either. Apparently, cardboard boxes are more than just precious. They are also bloody priceless.

Most shopkeepers were honest enough though, telling us that they might have need for their boxes in the near future for some yet indeterminable reason, - but some others; they lied through their teeth.

And one in particular did it with such panache (and hilarity) that I cannot get angry with him at all,

"No madam, we got no boxes here. No sirree. What is this 'boxes' creature you speak off? Truly, it must be wondrously rare beast indeed!"

I laughed myself sick as Phoebe steered me out of the general store, wondering if I was having some sort of medical condition. I showed her the picture I took but she didn't find it as funny as I did though,

"It's just sooo absurd," I said defensively. "I mean, there he was sitting, saying 'No, we don't have any boxes', and right above his head, there is a whole storeroom full of 'em!"

No doubt, it is quite within the realm of possibility that there's stuff in those boxes, but there were some on the top right which I'm quite positive were definitely empty.

"Maybe I can use plastic bags," suggested Phoebe in the end.

"No good. Those will tear even if you use a few layers, especially when you're carrying your textbooks," I said. "And trust me, when Keith L. Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy falls on your foot, it hurts like a bitch."

You can build a house using only medical textbooks with no mortar to hold them together - and it can probably withstand a gale Armageddon.

"It happened to you, is it?" she laughed.

"..."



P.S. This is totally the last post before I head for my backpacking trip, honest! *Goes off to google for step-by-step instructions on tying a bandana*



Up, up and away,
k0k s3n w4i