Norge for Xmas

For Christmas this year, me and my brother ( in Goteborg) decided to visit a first cousin in Stavanger, Norway. The couple had just moved to Stavanger a couple of months ago when he changed employer. The trip was planned in a way that we both got to travel together to Stavanger from Goteborg. That way, I d get to see a bit of Goteborg also. The other reason was that the cross country train network to Stavanger was available only from Goteborg and not directly from Uppsala.

I didnt know much about Goteborg before I reached there. The place is much milder, weather wise cos its so close to the coastline. The humidity keeps it damp and relatively warmer. The downside was that the snow never sets there. You get hail more than snow. We decided to go to one of the islands just outside of the Goteborg- Branno. Slightly overcast, the weather was but that didnt stop me from getting my camera out to cover the day.

Once we reached Stavanger-

The family..

We decorate the tree together

As we were told we brought good weather with us, we decided to take a quick walk to the centrum to get the last minute essentials before everything went shut for Christmas

A place where they sold fresh catch off the boat. A lobster is called hummer here. 

Just outside an 'Oil Museum' we see a model of their hole drill bit

Just some pictures

 We then did what men do best- talk no sense and drink beer.











There ll be more of Stavanger to come.

Pillage of ambience

A long wait from my last blog. Was giving in to the taste of Autumn. The subtle changes that tingle the nerve cells on the largest organ. The change in taste of ground water, the swings in mood and the change in pastel colors on the sky by the horizon just before the sun makes it to the other side. A recent funny experience that I would definitely have to share with the small but dedicated readers of mine- (almost) fine dining with friends of mine at a restaurant in Uppsala.

Has to be the first ever restaurant that I visited in Uppsala if you dont consider fast food in the same menu. The occasion was that of a close friend of mine getting what he wanted, a green signal to entry in the Swedish army forces as an artillery man. We decided to make the best of the day that was, a saturday with no hangover, a sunny cold day that can be only described as inviting to nance outdoors. While on a budget, people look for best option to fine dine while looking for quality. It is too much to ask, but we got it at a local Chinese restaurant serving a buffet at 1600 hrs on a saturday. There were atleast 14 items on the menu with appetisers and dessert. The drinks were extra as the restaurant hopes to draw a small profit from its business. The soup of the day was my favourite- Chicken sweet corn soup. It was the very dish that turned this little Brahmin born Hindu boy in India on track to be a world class carnivore. I have to thank my old man for that.The dishes were real easy on the palate. Full of flavour but free from overdose of astringent spices. Shrimp dishes were my target as I am a fan of seafood. Two dishes on the list that caused surprise among the three of us were these Sushi items. I couldnt tell you the names, cos I aint a fan of Salmon or Sashimi. That was it about food.

The ambience- A fountain with a bank and goldfishes as you enter. Tables demarcated by aesthetically placed wooden booths with arty sculpting. Framed posters on walls with Chinese pieces of art. Gradient lighting (energy saving of course, we are still in Sweden) and clean spic bar counter. Once we got to our table, we did what any hungry guy bunch would do- try to talk about domestic problems i.e money and girls. The topic deviate focus every other second as if you were looking through a Kaleidoscope. I know what you are thinking, but the drinks had only been served to us by then. Amidst the rambling, we saw a table that was occupied by a company of three- two girls and a boy. We were talking while they were sitting like spies, not a word to each other while looking at their smart phones. The large table of 10 behind us were a large family/friends together seemed to be having a nice time, talking. Just as expected at a restaurant. We couldnt help but notice the former table of 3. The friend of mine was telling me that they had to be Swedish. But how uncommon it was to behave in such a way, not talking to your friends and just staring at your phones. Thats how nosy we are. Everyone loves to gossip, not just girls. What do you expect three guys to talk about at a table? We were like the fellas from the movie 'Goodfellas'. I imagine I would fit the Ray Liotta shoes, or it could just be wishful thinking. Anyway, just then, a man from the larger table while on his way for a third helping stops by their table and says something to the young bunch in Swedish and walks away. Emil, my friend gave me a look right then. After a while, when the three musketeers left, Emil told me what the man had said to them. He had said, " Are you guys playing a video game amongst yourselves?". That got the man like a zillion points in my "book". Here I was thinking that the Swedish didnt have a great sense of humour and that anything goes here; BAM! A hammer of wit shuts me the fcuk up. It became the highlight of our day. Definitely something worth sharing about. Laughing about. Admiring about.

'People are people no matter where you are, only clothes and the language may be different'  -Some wise guy

Reverberating Cathedral

We know of fundraisers that collect cash for people in distress in different parts of the world. This one was for the destitute in Somalia. The venue was the Uppsala Cathedral, one of the oldest, most traditional landmark in Sweden. Music was the emalagmate to get to people with cry for help. The evening was called 'The Light-Dark' or 'Ett Ljus | Morkret' in Svenska.

The evening was cold but surprisingly pleasant considering its November. Me and a bunch of friends from my block and from Flogsta decided to reach the venue early to get decent spots. I was thinking the weather would be too cold so we dressed in layers, just to be warmer. Little did I know, that it was inside of the church. The same place where people pray and try and connect with the almighty or the like of it. There were handouts with the itenerary of the evening. The songs that the band would play and also the lyrics to each song, apart from the instrumental ones. There werea variety of 12 timeless numbers in all from the Icelandic Bjork to Engel. Well, timeless ones were actually covers of Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Pink Floyd. The songs were in order of play- 'Rockin' in the free world' by Neil Young, 'Joga' by Bjork, 'A whiter shade of  pale' by Procul Harum', 'In the light' by Led Zeppelin, 'Angels' by Robbie Williams, 'Listen to your heart' by Roxette, 'Life on mars?' by David Bowie, 'The great gig in the sky' by Pink Floyd, 'Engel' by the jarring Rammstein, 'Sound of Silence' by Simon and Garfunkel, 'November rain' by Guns'n'Roses and 'Viva la vida' by Coldplay.

 I thought that the songs had mostly some religious essence in one way or the other. We were intrigued about the song by Rammstein. For those who haven't heard it, its by a German heavy metal band. The ones that can leave you wondering if you are dead or alive, in the end. The Gothic, abrasive feeling to the original was well masked by the choir singers in chorus. It did give me some creeps though. It was my first time listening to loud live music inside a Cathedral. Pictures will appeal more

 A quiet gathering patiently waits. As the church bell marks the start of 7 PM with the bells, we knew the gig would start at the end.

 One of them beautiful Chandeliers.

 The Neil young started fine and melodious.

The lighting during the rendition of Bjorks 'Joga' was well matched with the vocalist. Was very much impressed. No music like that from a quality live band who know what they are doing. 

Bass and lead guitarists.

 Whats a fundraising concert without the messengers interlude. The message was read out in Swedish but some one with common sense could guess that it was about Somlia.

 Was truly blown away with the cover of 'The great gig in the sky'. It was the girl in the picture on far right who sand the topsy turvy of a song by Bjork and the singer from the Pink floyd hit. As challenging as it was, the girls voice hit all notes with an impressive degree of precision and control. Not trying to sound like Simon Cowell, but, she can sing!

The intense fiddlers with their Maestro who was also the Pianist when the need came.

 The lightsets were a sight on their own. Set the mood just right for a wonderful show.

 The Drummer rocks the Led Zeppelin tune, originally by John Bonham

 

A view of the choir members as they sing in unison, 'Engel'.




Everyone enjoyed it. One could tell from the applause they showered them. Considering the band was made of 12 members, plus the choir singers, it was a show to watch. Hope the hit their ideal expectations in donation from the attendees. Short, artistic and eventful the show was, I thought.

Honzas' Umbrellas

Its raining these days indiscriminately. A sign of winter to come, when precipitation changes from water to icy flakes or hail. Before land gets covered in sheets of white, me and a blockmate, Honza decided to walk on the slushy, moss ridden forest bed in our vicinty looking for mushrooms.

Honzas from Czech Republic and he loves the taste of wild mushrooms. Off we went, towards the canopy with a polythene bag to fill with the lil' umbrella like bounty. He said that he has limited knowledge of edible mushrooms and that he's still training his eye to be the master picker. I, on the other hand, look for chances like this to take pictures and write funny blogs. It also makes a great outing on gray sundays. The forest area is exactly about 25 metres from our block. The day was sunny and bright and we started at 5 PM sharp.

To give you and idea of the dead foliage ridden forest floor, Honzas picture here demonstrates how limber he had become at the sight of the first edible mushroom.

I was like a gnat flying around Honza, pointing at every edible looking mushroom, asking him, " That looks edible, should we bag it?".

Honza is a man of patience, or atleast can't vent his emotions out at me because, fortunately for me, we only have the english language in common and he is not comfortable with it. Great success.

This mushroom that I happened to pick and pretend to inspect seems really tasty. The top was pale and the gills beneath for some reason looked very tasty and healthy. Deep inside, my post graduate diploma in human nutrition reminds me that mushrooms have no nutrional value, only organoleptic pleasures.
Honza quickly says to me, " Dont be fooled by the exterior looks". Atleast, I am guessing thats what he wanted to say, trying to sound like my Zen master.

This nasty looking slimy shroom caught his eye. To me it seemed anything but edible. But he decides whether to bag it depending on the underside of the umbrella.

If its spongy to look at if you press down on it, it should turn to a shade of dark blue. And that means its the edible mushroom he knew.

The inspector at work- for some reason he doesn't rip them out of the ground and then inspect to see if its baggable or not. He leans to the ground level, gently looking at the underside.

Why not rip 'em, then throw it away. They are afterall, only mushrooms.
At this point in out hunt, we had only bagged two mushrooms.

It was like he heard my thoughts- the next mushroom he inspected was ripped out of the ground, inspected and then thrown away.

Honza was real picky. Pun intended here. I hadn't found anything impressive of whatever size. I wanted to find a mushroom that he'd approve of and say, " You are good!". That didn't happen.

This picture is me pleading Honza to bag the old, sorry ass of a mushroom. He didn't budge.

 I wasn't giving up. I picked this one on the right closely matching the two lil umbrellas he'd bagged earlier.

He said, " Ees no good. Look like ant eat it".

GADS!

This one in particular was really inviting. Honza said that his trained eye can only recognise these ones and that the others could have possibly been edible.

 The point is, the mushrooms have to boiled for atleast 20 minutes before using it in a stew or soup. With that treatment, I thought most mushrooms would've been edible. Then a funny wisecrack occured to me- Everything is edible, some, only once. HAH!

I did try to pee him off with my repetitive question. He warded me off with a smile.

At this point, I was borderline bored and began to take picture of every kind of mushrooms. 

Heres me with a bright white pair of trainers. 

Like I said, anything with any sort of shroom. 

This shroom in particular was edible, he said. This one I had my serious doubts about cos when you pushed the top of it, fine brown powder dispersed out. Even after I pointed it out to him, he said he knew it was definitely edible and also tasty.

I told him to not use that nasty umbrella in the stew he'd later promised to make for us. He giggles.



On the way back, there is no regrets or disappointment as Honza knows that the stew that will derive of this in future will be lip smackin' good.

He did try to blame the climate and that the rainfall wasnt enough to get the lil' umbrellas opening up. I intend to join in on more of such mushroom journeys. Readers should well be ready for a part 2 of 'Honzas Umbrellas' ;)

PS- If anyone can tell me, from the pictures, if the mushrooms I had in my hand were edible or not, I'd be grateful.

Defeating purpose

'If you believe everything you rea, better not read', says the Japanese proverb that I happen to come across recently. A coursemate of mine took it to a complete new dimension in my Biofuel tech class when he asked out loud, while being out of the context then, " This might be a stupid question. But did Dinosaurs actually exist?".

   Immediately after I had heard the question, I thought he was trying to be funny. The reason behind that thought of mine is that he was a student of Biology, was signed up for the Masters in Biotechnology program at SLU currently and intends to be a prospective biofuel technician- a scientist working on finding ecofriendly alternative to fossil fuels! He wasn't trying to be funny. It was a serious question. I almost fell off my meds. The teacher in class is a man who respects every question no matter what intention it is, but, for a second he thought he hadn't heard it correctly. It was one thing to share the moment of awkwardness with my other classmates.

I love incidents like these because it gives me something to blog about. Plus I think of such irrationality with great depth and admiration, in a way. What could be the possible reasons behind a grown ass man, born in July 1988, being educated in the principle sense, making it abroad to Sweden to dedicate his cognitive calibre to understanding science, and yet, questions the existence of Dinosaurs.

It was the same case with another friend of mine from previous term courses. Ironically, the course was genome analysis- revolving around the genetic formula and evolutionary science. This friend of mine was from the native of Coffee, Ethiopia. A very religious man, of whom, I have written a praiseworthy blog about, that many had loved reading-'Iceman'. His religious upbringing makes him believe that the earth is no more than 6000 years old and that man was constructed on the sixth day of creation and his first lady, quite literally, was made from his donated rib and magic to cure him of his boredom. On the other hand, he had the comprehensive knowledge of evolutionary science- man evolved from Apes. He constructed answers in the paper for the final exam and passed it with grade 4, out of 5. He intrigues me as well. He can compartmentalise his belief structure based on necessity- if he has to score in genetics, he s a scientist and in his personal life a staunch Christian. A Superman of sorts. I m sure there are more like him out there. Those, who circumnavigate around logic and reasoning and please someone in their professional life while being a closet believer of the opposite.

I will always be pleased to meet such people in future as well.It is proof enough to show that mankind is still evolving with the brain functions not at its optimum yet. Something, I ll definitely write blogs about, laugh about in the right sense. For me, its like a man dealing with schizophrenia. For a person who observes details, its very funny. I love it!

Field trip to Agroethanol

Another field trip blog from last weeks visit to a bioethanol plant near Linkoping. This is the first time the course Biofuel technology was introduced for selection in SLU. The science where new modes of fuels are being developed in place of non renewable sources of energy. The modern techniques include extraction fuel of combustible values like methane, ethanol and hydrogen from waste- lignocellulose (wood), household waste and the likes. This plant involved in extracting pure commercial grade fuel ethanol from food grade grains.

A class of 13 showed up on time on the day of the trip at 9 AM. There were two incharge of two VW vans to take us to the site. The day was glum in the beginning but cleared up to a sunny start.

Happy start with pleasant weather and comfy seating.

Upon reaching the site at 1 PM, the site engineer was there to welcome us as present us with the factfile and trivia about the site. The modus operandi, the concepts, the challenges and the science.

Some views from while walking around the site.

 Grain loading bay

Gargantuan silos

The grains that make the ethanol

Meit turned to a "Silo hugger". He says, " If trees need a hug, why not these?"

Amongst us we had some who were "Dressed to kill". 

 Everyone on our carriage realized that they were a fan of MAX. On the way back, we had a quick pit stop at there.

Everyone as happy as they could be.....