I haven't posted for a few days, so apologies to my dedicated readers for making all of you bite your nails until bloody and raw...
well, i finally got to eat at an agreeable meal at a restaurant in columbus, where i met one of my cousins for the first time. I had a rather tannic and drier-than-usual zinfandel for starters, ordered by the glass, by my cousin, who seems to have a soft spot for wine. We got talking, and rajeev learnt of my passion for food and cooking, and subsequently offered to set me up with an internship in a good place in Columbus. It's an offer that is too good to be true, but i categorically told him that i'm going to count on him to help me out, sooner or later.
It was a welcome change, from my uncle and aunt, who were less than enthused by my career choice. I'm not too happy with the way they opined with me and my parents about how this career was a dead-ender, and how it would lead to an income of a paltry $50,000 a year. Of course, i'm sure in their long lives they've seen many instances where people like me ended up in a less desirable situation. But that doesn't give them the right to dismiss my chosen path, and suggest that i do something else....like medicine. Frankly, that offended me outright. I considered it as an affront to my right to choose what's the best for me. That was an extremely naive and digustingly elitist statement, and just for a fleeting moment, I hated them for it.
well, i finally got to eat at an agreeable meal at a restaurant in columbus, where i met one of my cousins for the first time. I had a rather tannic and drier-than-usual zinfandel for starters, ordered by the glass, by my cousin, who seems to have a soft spot for wine. We got talking, and rajeev learnt of my passion for food and cooking, and subsequently offered to set me up with an internship in a good place in Columbus. It's an offer that is too good to be true, but i categorically told him that i'm going to count on him to help me out, sooner or later.
It was a welcome change, from my uncle and aunt, who were less than enthused by my career choice. I'm not too happy with the way they opined with me and my parents about how this career was a dead-ender, and how it would lead to an income of a paltry $50,000 a year. Of course, i'm sure in their long lives they've seen many instances where people like me ended up in a less desirable situation. But that doesn't give them the right to dismiss my chosen path, and suggest that i do something else....like medicine. Frankly, that offended me outright. I considered it as an affront to my right to choose what's the best for me. That was an extremely naive and digustingly elitist statement, and just for a fleeting moment, I hated them for it.
When i lay down to sleep that night, i realised that what i was feeling was probably a knee-jerk reaction. I contemplated that since they really had no idea about this line of work(a fact they confessed themselves) they were really not in a position to guide me. I still feel bad about what they had to say, but i'm not going to let this affect me, and like a cheap meal, let it pass.
As i was saying, rajeev was quite supportive, and even stepped in when i was being offered similar constructive criticisms by my aunt, such as, "son, don't smell everything" and "don't express yourself with your hands"
Come on people, who doesn't want to savour the full aroma of a lovely california pinot noir?? who doesn't want to sample the full spectrum of sensory input offered by a beautifully prepared filet mignon?? trusting just your tongue is like trying to talk after a shot of novocaine has been injected into your jaw. there's just so much more to food than taste.
anyway, i traveled to detroit the next day, and met our old family friends, the Prinjas. After the cavernous maison in springfield, the prinjas' modest apartment was like a meerkat's underground habitat on the serengeti...in a most welcome way. I felt royally pissed the next day, because i couldn't get to meet a friend who was quite close by, and instead went to a mall...bloody hell. the next day was scheduled for our attempt to get into Canada, an endevour that could be expected to end in both ways.
and finally, we did win the race. This kid is a bunch of fun, and i could never imagine such a compact package could make so much noise...the people at Bose need to see this. he's huge for a 19 month old, and looks like he's three.
1 comment:
Hey P--
You should add authentication to your commenting function so people (bots?) stop posting these scams. Annoying! If you go on the Blogger help page, you should be able to find some info to easily set it up. I am a moron and yet I figured out how to do it.
And re: family/career choices, don't worry too much. Everyone will always have an opinion about what you're choosing to do, where you're choosing to live, whom you're choosing to marry/date/etc. And so long as you're happy with what you're doing, it doesn't matter. Having lived in India and getting many, many, MANY castigations about living with Sumeet without being married, I decided I could either choose to be angry and mount long justifications about our wondrous bliss, or I could let it go in one ear and out the other. In one of my American idioms, you draw more bees with honey, or something.
Also, I'm not sure if Mitu bragged to you about this yet, but we managed to find Phnom Penh's only wine tasting room and we sampled three whites and a red. I, of course, liked a rather sweet and young Australian riesling, but S has good taste and delighted in numerous other things. We also had delicious brie and baguette, and the entire shebang was just over $10 (Rs 450). It was really beautiful and peaceful, and I'm thinking that it's just what Delhi needs. Even if laws on foreign liquor importation are a bugger right now, setting up some sort of tasting room to showcase Indian wines on a permanent basis might be an interesting business venture...and we could make it half an art gallery, too. I'll handle the business end, Sumeet can do the decoration, and you can do the wine schmoozing and business. Really, it was fab. Maybe you can Google it -- "Red Apron, Phnom Penh." So good.
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