I have several small things to share, and I am taking this opportunity to do so here.
First of all, I am really thankful to you all for continuing to visit my blog. I have repeatedly requested you all to let me know whether the blog and its entries are liked by you or not, and what, if anything, do you feel about some of the postings, but, I am sorry to say that most of you do not think it important to provide feedback. I feel like the man who stands outside his house and talks ... and talks ... with the others only waiting to see the "tamasha", and then walking away. Is this what you feel about this blog? If not, kindly comment ... I really need the feedback. I want the feedback to be as honest as the style I write in, so don't hesitate ... just tell me it is b@@@sh@@ if you think it is. I won't mind it. Really.
Okay, on to my jottings, then.
I have, of late, stopped enjoying experimentation with cooking, and quite frequently end up eating my dinner at one of the local restaurants - either the Kerala one or the Pakistani one. Cooking by itself isn't so boring; it's the going to the market to buy things, the dicing of onions and the other preparation that really bothers me. Also, I have come to realise that although I make food that looks attractive and appetising, it is quite commonplace in taste. For example, I am unable to create the spicy red look in meat or the healthy yellow colour of the dal, no matter which permutations and combinations of spices and chilli I try. My room-mate Dr. Shahid, who makes his food every day afresh in the evening seems to think that my style is hampered by the fact that I do not use sufficient quantity of oil and/or I don't saute the onions and the spices sufficiently. Perhaps he is right. I am always a bit impatient when the onions etc. are getting sauted, and this is leaving the food inadequately tempered.
Okay, so I have no car or any form of automated transport, and the hospital is 1.5 km away from my house. It does not matter much when Dr. Shahid is around, as I go and return with him. Or Dr. Narendra, whose house is bang opposite my own. At present, though, both of them are away, and it creates problems. Especially in the afternoon when I wish to return home for lunch. Most of the days, I manage to get some or the other person to give me a lift back home from the hospital, and the same when I have to return to the hospital after an hour. I have honed this skill so well that I find that I am usually able to get a Saudi to give me a lift ... something that Dr. Narendra and Dr. Shahid say they NEVER did when they were without a car during their beginning periods. My ability to get the lift has also made me get closer to my patients, and they now recognise me and even smile when I meet them out of the hospital setting. Another significant thing that helps me reach out to the local population is my daily walk in the evenings. I feel sometimes that Saudis desire to talk to me as much as I do to talk to them. But only sometimes. Most of the other times, they will look past you as if you did not exist!
Of late, I have observed that I am NOT losing weight in spite of keeping up with the daily walks. The reason is not far to seek: I haven't cut down much on calories, I do not do strength training and I hardly run nowadays. In spite of this, I am not so depressed since I have maintained my weight at around 77 kg or so since the last one to one and a half months.
I think this is about all that I wished to write today. I will continue my Zalm journey with the next entry. Thanks for reading ... and please, please do comment, either here or on the Facebook entry for this one.
Bye for now.
First of all, I am really thankful to you all for continuing to visit my blog. I have repeatedly requested you all to let me know whether the blog and its entries are liked by you or not, and what, if anything, do you feel about some of the postings, but, I am sorry to say that most of you do not think it important to provide feedback. I feel like the man who stands outside his house and talks ... and talks ... with the others only waiting to see the "tamasha", and then walking away. Is this what you feel about this blog? If not, kindly comment ... I really need the feedback. I want the feedback to be as honest as the style I write in, so don't hesitate ... just tell me it is b@@@sh@@ if you think it is. I won't mind it. Really.
Okay, on to my jottings, then.
I have, of late, stopped enjoying experimentation with cooking, and quite frequently end up eating my dinner at one of the local restaurants - either the Kerala one or the Pakistani one. Cooking by itself isn't so boring; it's the going to the market to buy things, the dicing of onions and the other preparation that really bothers me. Also, I have come to realise that although I make food that looks attractive and appetising, it is quite commonplace in taste. For example, I am unable to create the spicy red look in meat or the healthy yellow colour of the dal, no matter which permutations and combinations of spices and chilli I try. My room-mate Dr. Shahid, who makes his food every day afresh in the evening seems to think that my style is hampered by the fact that I do not use sufficient quantity of oil and/or I don't saute the onions and the spices sufficiently. Perhaps he is right. I am always a bit impatient when the onions etc. are getting sauted, and this is leaving the food inadequately tempered.
Okay, so I have no car or any form of automated transport, and the hospital is 1.5 km away from my house. It does not matter much when Dr. Shahid is around, as I go and return with him. Or Dr. Narendra, whose house is bang opposite my own. At present, though, both of them are away, and it creates problems. Especially in the afternoon when I wish to return home for lunch. Most of the days, I manage to get some or the other person to give me a lift back home from the hospital, and the same when I have to return to the hospital after an hour. I have honed this skill so well that I find that I am usually able to get a Saudi to give me a lift ... something that Dr. Narendra and Dr. Shahid say they NEVER did when they were without a car during their beginning periods. My ability to get the lift has also made me get closer to my patients, and they now recognise me and even smile when I meet them out of the hospital setting. Another significant thing that helps me reach out to the local population is my daily walk in the evenings. I feel sometimes that Saudis desire to talk to me as much as I do to talk to them. But only sometimes. Most of the other times, they will look past you as if you did not exist!
Of late, I have observed that I am NOT losing weight in spite of keeping up with the daily walks. The reason is not far to seek: I haven't cut down much on calories, I do not do strength training and I hardly run nowadays. In spite of this, I am not so depressed since I have maintained my weight at around 77 kg or so since the last one to one and a half months.
I think this is about all that I wished to write today. I will continue my Zalm journey with the next entry. Thanks for reading ... and please, please do comment, either here or on the Facebook entry for this one.
Bye for now.
