Goodbye Singapore! :(

My time in Singapore is now coming to an end. What a ride it's been!

Two years back, when I first moved to Singapore, I hated it. I complained about everything - the weather, the lizards, the people's accents, the lack of a Chipotle and a lot more of such profound problems. Also, it was the first time that I was living alone, without any roommates or parents. That brings in a feeling of loneliness and a weird sense of freedom. Throw in a breakup with all that, and it makes the perfect combination for disaster! Not only are you lonely and desperate for company, there's nobody that's going to stop you from doing absolutely anything you want to do. So after being all 'badass' for a while, I snapped out of that phase with valuable lessons all thanks to absolutely amazing parents and friends like Devika, Priya, Srinath and Karthik. They're awesome.

My second year in Singapore has been superb! I met some of the best people ever. Bobby and Ranjani. I will miss all the weekend lunch-movie sessions at your place. And trying out new vegetarian restaurants in the city with you both. Everytime I watch a kanraviyana padam or have awesome saapadu, I will think of you and miss you! Aditya, Ram, Vidhi, Sandhya.. and gang! You guys have been so much fun. Mafia, random (handle) bar in Malaysia, East coast beach at 3AM, the Nagarita/Precipitator, logos quiz.. awesome times. I'll also miss Natasha, Chen Xue, Ngoc and our super chilled out prof! And of course, the huge CBT gang here in Singapore.

Slowly, my motto in life became 'all that matters is good food' and that's what this post is really about. So coming to the point, apart from missing Singapore for all my wonderful friends, I will really miss the gastronomical delights that this city has provided me. Here's a list of my favorite restaurants! If you're neither in Singapore nor into food porn, you should stop reading this now.

Holland Village has always been one of my favorite hangout spots because it's easy to get to from my house and it has some lovely restaurants.
Al-Hamra for Zatar bread, Moussaka batinjan (eggplant curry) and the vegetarian shawarma with feta cheese. I like their cous cous dish as well, and the batata hara but that's just like any other aalu curry. Their sangria is one of the best.
The Crust is right opposite to Al-Hamra and has some really good tasting pizzas.
Original Sin is a porsche vegetarian restaurant there with fancy yet tasty dishes and desserts, but it's pretty overpriced so go there only if someone else is treating :P Or if you're very rich. In which case, call me!

I started enjoying Thai food only after coming to Singapore. My friends usually get tired of having to go to Thai Express because of me. I love their basil tofu! A little more expensive restaurant is the Thanying Thai in Amara hotel at Tanjong Pagar. All their dishes are super and they have a Thai dessert buffet! Ruby Thai at Raffles is another nice place with good green curry.

In search of a replacement for Chipotle, I've always been enthusiastic about trying out mexican restaurants here. Though none of them could replace it, some came pretty close.
Margaritas The kitchen sink burrito is the usual favorite, and the jalapeño poppers for starters. If you're going to the one at Dempsey hill, then you might want to dress up. Shorts and t-shirt would work for the one at Faber drive which is way easier of course.
Cafe Iguana has something that kind of comes close to the Chipotle burrito bowl. It's called the vegetarian bowl I think. If you mix the sour cream and guacamole with other sauces, you might have your Chipotle bowl! What I love about this place though is the cheerful ambience; open air along the river, and the lights and sounds of the totally happening Clark Quay. I also like their chocolate shots.
Myras beach club is a mexican and north indian restaurant on the East Coast beach. The north indian food is better than their mexican, and it's right on the beach! Hot samosas overlooking the beach, playing pool..good stuff! And cheap as well. A value-for-money restaurant.

Then there are some random things I like from different malls. I sometimes pick up a Japanese rice roll from the QQ Rice at Jurong Point mall, on my way home. They let you choose between various rice options like red rice/purple rice/mixed grain/wheat and they'll make it into a ball and fill it with veggies of your choice like spicy radish, sea weed, carrots, broccoli, nuts, mushrooms. It's a complete meal by itself for just 4 dollars.
Paradise Inn at West Coast Plaza is one of the very few Chinese restaurants I like. By Chinese I don't mean Indo Chinese though. Even a simple dish like the vegetarian fried rice tastes so different and amazing there because of the sauces. The omelet is very tasty too. They don't have any vegetarian dishes on their menu, but they'll make it for you. Their branch in Orchard road isn't as good though, not sure why.
La Barra Colombian Bistro at the new StarVista mall. I particularly like the sauces that come with their papas criolas. The dish is basically small sized potatoes boiled with some seasoning. The cheese empanada and the domino is good too. But it wasn't filling enough because their portions are pretty small. They have good looking staff if you go on weekends ;)
Chili's I go here mainly to have their Oreo milkshake. Everything else is just additional. My friends order buffalo wings, and I think that's very tasty. The only meat dish that I've liked after tasting. One good thing about this place is that their portions are huge. It's like in the US. So when Devika and I go, we just share one dish (like a quesedilla which itself comes in 8 pieces with rice on the side) and have our Oreo milkshakes.
Marche the Swiss restaurant. You get to choose your ingredients and dish, and they make it for you at different stalls. The main course is alright, I like the dessert better. Delicious crepes filled with either chocolate sauce or peanut butter or nutella or caramel, served with strawberries and bananas and ice-cream!
Frunatic the fast fruit restaurant at Star Vista mall has some really nice fruit meals and fruit juices.
Awfully chocolate, Haagen dazs, Max Brenner chocolate bar and Gelataria have the best ice creams and chocolate fondue desserts.

Then there's Little India which basically has loads of Indian food chains, and is very cheap as well. Murugan idli and Lakshmi-Narasimhan have been my favorites for a while. I still think the Murugan idli near bessy beach is better. Komala vilas I guess is the favorite of the majority. A lot of people love the food at Arab street. But from all the restaurants I've been to there, and being a vegetarian, I have nothing great to say. Singapore is famous for all its street food - Kopitiams. I've been to a few with my prof and lab mates, but being a vegetarian is a big draw back! However, I did enjoy the satays with peanut sauce off Robinson Quay.

And lastly, NTU! The south indian full meals at the Komalas inside campus has really made my day on so many occasions. Especially when they make avial and potato curry. It also has other brilliant food - masala dosai, mysore masala, ghee roast, idlis, puri, naan, chapati, chili parota.. and sometimes when we're hungry at 5pm, Ajitha and I go there to have chaat items with masala chaai. She likes their dahi samosa while I like pav bhaaji. I'll think of you whenever I have chaat Aji. Right next to Komalas, there's a stall that sells different tasty varieties of green tea - my favorites have been honey green tea, hazelnut green tea and the caramel green tea. Somedays we go to The Palette, for the veg baked rice or pastas. Then there's Canadian Pizza for pizza, and the Indian stall at the food court that has yummmm alu parathas. Speaking of which, canteen 11 has all kinds of parathas too. Man, I'm going to miss "working" at NTU!

If it wasn't for Harish and the fact that I'm getting married, I wouldn't have had the heart to leave from here. Singapore will always hold a special place in my heart. Goodbye Singapore! Keep feeding my friends well and take care of them!

The horror scope mania

I think we Indians live in a pseudo modern world where we want to seem broad minded. We don't want to be seen following age-old customs blindly, but on the other hand we're also too scared to let go of some traditions. One place where I see this most is during horoscope matching for weddings, and how some astrologer has predicted what will happen to them. Here's a conversation I had with one of my friends in India who is trying to find his life partner through the arranged marriage setup. Although I'm taking his example, I know a lot more people on the same boat.

He: I spoke to this girl just now, she called me after seeing my profile on the matrimonial site. She's very bold, forward thinking and independent. She's really pretty too.  

Me: Wow that's excellent news! So you're going ahead with this one right? 

He: No I think she's nice but I have to wait till they check if our horoscopes match. 

Me: Wait, so you're saying if horoscopes don't match you'll let it go even if everything else about her is exactly what you're looking for? 

He: My mom said horoscopes absolutely have to match. And I also believe in it. 

I was quite amused that a person from my generation was willing to make life changing decisions based on how the stars and planets were aligned at the apparent time of his birth. But, I don't question people's beliefs so I left it at that. However, what's more interesting is what he told me after talking to the previous girl that he had met through a similar arrangement. The horoscopes had matched. The parents were very happy. But he said the girl was too traditional, did not have a mind of her own and was not "good looking".

End result: He is frustrated. The parents are worried.

This is the case with a lot of others too, both boys and girls. So what is the problem? We have a picture of this perfect person in our minds, and we keep waiting for that Prince Charming to come. He should be cute, rich, funny, loving, sexy and my parents should love him and our horoscopes should match and he should cook for me and do all other household chores as well because I'm all for feminism and shit. In return he'll have my conditional love. Come on, isn't that enough?
Harish sent me an article with 60 short love stories... and this was one of the favorites.

Today, when I asked my grandfather for some relationship advice, he said, “Honestly, the moment I stopped trying to find the right woman, and started trying to become the right man, your grandmother walked up to me and said, ‘Hello.’”

Pretty much sums up what I'm trying to say.

Coming back to the horror scopes. I have another friend who's doing a PhD that told me that she believes that only if horoscopes match, the marriage will work. And that her astrologer has correctly predicted that she will be married next year.
(Now the same astrologer had predicted that she will get married even last year).

I have no problem with astrology. I know that there are some really strong astrologers out there who know their stuff. But here are some of my problems with the blind rigid following.

1. Your entire horoscope is prepared based on the exact time of your birth. How accurately do you know your time of birth? The clocks in the hospitals may have been running ten minutes fast. The doctor may have taken a few extra minutes to note down the time after having you delivered. What if there was day light saving? ;)

2. Many times, two kids are born in the same place same time. But one dies immediately after being born. They have the same horoscopes don't they?

3. Have all the marriages that have been made through horoscope matching succeeded? No diseases, no deaths, no problems? No. I have examples from my family, and I'm sure you do too.

So, every relationship can go either way. The only reason for it to work is that you want it to work :) Instead of adding to your list of criteria the partner should have, work on being the person they'd want. And get rid of blind beliefs, replace them with faith in yourself. There's no star or planet in the universe that can control your life more than you yourself!

It's Maya Bay!

Until September 2012, when people asked me what my favorite place on earth was, I used to indulge in some of the most cliched replies. "Oh any place is as good as its people.." "I love Baltimore and Singapore because of all the wonderful friends I've made.." "I love Chennai - there's no place like home!" and so on. But after my trip to Thailand, my reply has gotten much simpler. "It's Maya Bay!"

Koh Phi Phi Ley, Thailand

Maya Bay is situated in the Krabi province of Thailand, and it is surrounded by the island Ko Phi Phi Ley. This may look familiar to you if you've watched 'The Beach' where Leonardo DiCaprio follows directions from a map to reach the secret paradise island on Maya Bay. The way to get here is first fly to Phuket, then hop on a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Don and there book the Maya Bay Camping tour. I suggest the Chao Koh tour, you can even leave your bags in their office. The entire camping tour is around 80USD per person. Totally worth it! First, they take you on a longboat to Maya Bay and from the minute you get on that boat, it is a whole new experience. Here are some of the sights en route... 

The blue waters around Maya Bay!

I fell in love with the water color! The phrase 'feeling blue' should be changed to mean feeling ecstatic! The bright blue colored waters and the huge mountain cliffs overlooking them... I had never seen anything as beautiful. The weather was very pleasant too. September is actually the off season, heavy rains are expected but it didn't rain at all while we were there. On the way, they stopped the boat and gave us snorkeling gear. Since the water was clear, the coral reefs and other aquatic life were clearly visible. (Although, the ones we saw off the coast of Gili islands near Lombok were better). After snorkeling and swimming around in the water for a while, we got back onto the boat and they gave us freshly cut pineapples to eat :) And then we reached the island where we were going to spend the night. 

The sunset was pretty gorgeous, just like all sunsets. We were entertained by the guides with some fire dance shows. They cooked us some brilliant Thai food, and a bucket full of a special Thai drink ;) There were about 15 other tourists as part of this tour, we all played some weird games. And then at night we slept on the open beach looking up at the sky! This was my favorite part of the trip. The sky was filled with stars and more stars. There was a mild breeze and the relaxing sound of waves, it just felt wonderful. And then. For the first time in my life I saw shooting stars! Three of them! I think the 'making a wish' thing really works because the first two times I wished that I see one more. And the third time.. well I think that wish is coming true too. Sleeping on a beach, looking up at the infinite universe, does make you feel on top of the world. Having lived in big, polluted cities all my life, this was very different and awesome! Kung Fu panda would've had no difficulty finding that inner peace here. 

That's me just before waking up

The next morning we went back to Phuket in the ferry, and did some jet skiing at Patong beach. Karthik and Srinath fell off their jet skis because of the rough waves and had to swim back to shore. I was of course racing through the waters like a pro! In the evening I got my hair braided like Beckham (David Beckham Hairstyle) except that it looked way worse than that. Way worse. Later we checked out the night life on Bangla road where two lady boys offered Karthik a rose, and Srinath almost got selected to do a belly dance.

On the whole, this is one place that I would love to visit again and again, even it is by myself :) So yeah, it's Maya Bay!