The story so far

Neha tells me, I need to put my blog to better use, to save myself from the loneliness and newness of my life here. But this state of inertia has to go first. My mind has been numb through the Hyderabad halt, Singapore trip and while seamlessly packing and unpacking into countless serviced apartments. Ok, not countless, 3. Still. Imagine, I have been packing and unpacking since August end! So instead of reacting in my signature style (read: grumble, yell, swear), I decided to go undercover. The sun outside and a bit of yoga jolted me back to my senses, and I realized , the story so far needs to be told.

 

The first thing that struck me about Sydney was how the amount of immigrant Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and the like, have made Sydney their home. I have seen more of them than Australians in my one week something stay at Sydney. And along with this populace are teeny weeny restaurants by the roadside to cater to their gastronomic demands. It is amazing and very comforting to know that I can still get a huge bowl of chicken sweet corn soup, that tastes exactly like the Nanking one, in Hyderabad, unlike popular belief that authentic Chinese food is unpalatable. And not just that, the regular Jap, Korean fare is very very delectable.

 

So much for gastronomical updates. The women here are lean and ‘wiry’, guess that’s got to do with the myriad low-fat, aspartame filled options of processed food available. And the men are happy in shorts and tees, or grim three piece business suits. of course, all this is at the surface, and hence pretty superficial observations.

 

When people here say spring, it means winter in normal conditions for Indians. When they say winter, they mean winter in extreme conditions. And when they say summer, I guess they mean winter in general. I am hoping as hell that summer really means summer, with sun, sand and all. Its been weird here since we landed. Its grey all over. And the 2 days when we did see the sun, it got real ugly in the evening- the temperature dipped to some 10 degrees. Its weird. That’s all that can be said. But then again, I am a week old. Veterans in Sydney swear by the weather. I too will, soon. Once I am off the Hay fever I caught.

 

My husband gets most stressed about grocery shopping. He complains there are way too many options and he hates to browse through them. On day One I had asked for full cream milk for Meeshu. He came back all haggard. He said there was a countless variety of milk…and that such things stress him out. However, he did get back with full cream milk – only, it said 98% fat free. What the heck was that? Fat free cream????? Whatever! We finally figured a brand which sells only milk – no slim, fat, full fat, 50% fat, 30% fat free, flavoured, non soy, soy, long life, shot life, dairy, non dairy…whatever.

 

Oh. And the apartment. It’s beautiful. It is by the bay. It is in a suburb called Rhodes. It’s got a terrace. We plan to get a barbeque. :) . We shift in next Wednesday. We are open to taking donations to do up our home. What are friends for, after all. And then remember that dinner where we paid the full bill? Don’t you think its time to repay? And if you donate today, you get to stay free in this beautiful, waterfront apartment, whenever you come over. Wiring money is simple these days, you know.

 

The train'/tube which connect the Sydney suburbs and the city/CBD is most interesting. Just like the Mumbai locals, you will find a hundred stories to tell, if you travel by them. It will soon be a reality for R and for me when I start work. The Monorail on the other hand, which runs within the city is a beautiful piece of technology. I wish the Bangalore and AP govts. borrowed from here. The metro seems like a tedious exercise.

 

And oh! Darling Harbour …….. sigh! That’s all that one does there.

 

Haven’t hit the beach yet. Will do this weekend.

Shops and spermarkets in the suburbs too close down by 6-7 pm. Enough to get me worried and discplined at the same time.

 

So the story so far has been thus. The king and queen along with their little princess, tried living happily ever after.