Remember the Rastas

This time last year was when there was a Reggae festival in Uppsala, where, fans from all over Scandinavia enjoyed the gigs by artists from Jamaica and Reggae men around Europe. This festival is held once in 3 years. This time there were people banging on about a Reggae picnic at the same venue instead. Thanks to Facebook and the networking it boasts of, there was a nice evening that some friends and I made best use of.

The weather had been very humid since the last couple of weeks, with showers and humidity jumping around like a monkey. That day was real warm and damp. 4 of us cycled there with great gusto to see what was up. Upon reaching, we saw a gathering of groups lazing around on the grass. No pun intended. With a Rastafarian stall- run by a man with multicoloured head cap with dreads and tees on display that spread a Bob Marley message.

Then came a band- out of nowhere. Like Batmen, they were there. Nothing fancy about their gear- a lead singer, a trumpet player, a harmonica, drums with cymbal set. They were a band that was promoting their music. A modern day "reggae fusion" would be the genre I 'd put them under. The lead singer was without a mic and amplifier. An honest attempt that most of the crowd admired and then gave into. Thanks to the beers!

This is Sweden, a country most obsessed with nature and keeping it clean- a table with two black bin bags; one collecting the cans and other collecting pet bottles and glass. Everyone cleans up after themselves here, for those who dont, there are "pant" scavengers. It means the value that the recyclable recepticle of alcoholic beverages. Some pictures from the damp yet warm evening. Backgammon kept me busy till the alcohol and music serenaded me.

Picture on the left is that of a friend of mine named Ulli, most obsessed with the music then. Was shaking a leg in vain till I said that he d go on my blog. Not the best facial expression to portray enjoyment.






Sexy sax lady and the kids that joined in.

And dancing some more, they did.




Then the rain came. The evening ended.

For us, we went on to have a nice Greek/Svensk meal at a local eatery and then cycled home. It was Ulli's last week in Uppsala. Truly, the picnic had made us all get together on a lovely evening before parting ways.

When in Sweden..

Some dear friends of mine from London decided to come over to visit me in Uppsala. As soon as they got the visa stamped they left their soggy ol' morose weather for something much more delightful and unforgettable.

The weather in Uppsala, days before they arrived was mysterious - Cloudy in the morning but clear bright skies by 11 AM. Luckily for them Londoners, it was perfect as they left Skavsta to reach Stockholm on a bus that drove them through "very picturesque" of all pine trees. As I find them in that hangar of a place called the Stockholm centralstation, they express their love to guzzle a pint immediately. And so, we did that exactly and caught up with each others busy lives.
And then some sights from and around central Stockholm.

Theres Chunchs and me on the right

 The Londoners -

It was only fair to end the evening with a bbq. Lucky for us, the sunny days prior to their arrival made sure that the wood in the forest nearby was as dry as bones.Some sights-

The next day was exploring Uppsala. As he was tired of the metro life in London, Ash and I decided to go to a very scenic picnic spot nearby called Skarholmen. A place with yatch and sail boat docks.

The next night was getting my visitors familiar with my friends in Uppsala. And considering it was friday, I couldnt think of a  more perfect place than that of Mo-Jos in Flogsta. Sat down with ambient music and drinks. The ladies talked about the fun they have in their cultures during a wedding. Considering these londoners were college sweethearts and were married only since last November, they had plenty of pompous photos to show the Swedish audience. Thanks to Facebook.

We were then told that Mojos would be driving all the way to Malmo the next day. That was perfect because visiting one of the Koping's was very much on the list for the Londoners. And so, we left home late morning towards Malmo. En route, that day, the weather was most pleasant so that Ash and Chunchs could absorb in the view.
A picture from a stop over at a fuel station

Then all that follows is from our walk in that once so very industrious province called Norrkoping.

 The love birds

We top the evening off with a nice pint of Hoegaardens in a cafe, basking the glorious sunlight.

Al Pocahone

For those who dont know me that well, I tend to love making an ass of myself, occasionally. These days I happen to make more of it than ever. Revolves around a night at the Norrlands nations which I thought was a Mafia themed night.

There were flyers all over the place about this 5 day event at the Norrlands nation. Going by the events I had been to earlier at other nations, I thought, simply going by the presentation of the flyer that it was a costume party of sorts with live Jazz music. Usually, google chrome and its translation helps me a great deal in deciphering Swedish, but for some reason this time, I overshot with confidence. The entry fee of 90 sek for students make me believe that it was a live band for sure. And so, I went there last thursday accompanied by two good friends of mine.

I was so confident that it was a gig, that I was growing a moustache to blend in with the mafia in there, just to make an ass of myself. I also wanted to go there in my dinner jacket strangled by a bow tie and a hat on top of the head. Luckily, for that day, I decided to go in with a shirt and all else because the land was slushy and I cycle everywhere. Didnt want to mess up my attire for a night of fun. I also got rid of the tache the day before as it didnt go well with my new haircut. I looked like a man with ambiguous sexual orientation.

Believe it or not, till it was time to pay for my booked tickets, I didnt know it was a musical in Swedish. Speak of all time shocks and stupidity. I decided to play along, as if I knew it was in Swedish and that I thought it was a good way to learn Swedish anyway. We went in, took our seats in a well laid array of chairs in the cellar. It was a housefull show, not a single chair went unseated. It was a play like I had expected, managed my students mainly, atleast some with some background in acting. Or atleast, they were convincing.

I didnt know a word they were saying as it was a mixture of colloquial swedish from different parts of Sweden (as explained by my friend). One had to have a good sense of of it to be able to enjoy it to the full. Yes, I was very much bored. The story was a mash-up of Pocahontas and The Godfather with singing in between. The entire act was managed by 12 people alone, with two randomly sprouting dancers (who needed more practise, I thought) and a Jazz troup who provided the music. The songs were dubbed tracks of Abba (no prize for guessing), the Godfather theme and the starting track of The Sopranos. I must say, one actor in particular was gorgeous, the one who played the part of the Mafia boss's love interest ( and a vamp). Worst of them was the "old lady" who couldnt help cracking up at some jokes, who had to look away from the crowd to hide her giggles.

One thing I learnt- the Swedish follow time with great accuracy and passion but not when it came to this play. For some insane reason, in Sweden during a play, its ok for anyone in the crowd to shout "Omstaat". That means once again and they can add a phrase with it like lets say happy, sad, slow-mo, fast forward. Which means  that the scene/line that happened just before that random burst from the crowd, has to be improvised to request. Like if one got shot, and someone shouted, "Omstaat, slow-mo", they d do it again. The downside to that is, the end time of the show is tentative. Moreover, most of the omstats were strategically shouted by the Norrlands staff members themselves. So, the improv itself was staged. At times it froze the play.

 Anyway, many seemed to have enjoyed it, luckily a friend wanted to leave early, so I joined her. We joined the entourage of our friends who were drunk silly and embraced our presence later at another nation with club night. Like they say, "All is well that ends well", right? Right!

Countdown

An update on progression in my academic conquest- the project work regarding my  masters thesis is going in good speed. Learning new scientific techniques regarding dietary fibre isnt just getting more aggressive, but also building up confidence to escalate to better career prospects.

The project being due end of fast approaching August is making me a little bit anxious. As everyone goes through the phase of tryin to plan out the next step post graduation, I realized the need to be proactive. Job sites, networking, updating the resume, looking for references and recommendations is all happening in a cascading manner. Having been here in Uppsala for past three terms, the feeling of having to leave (possibly) Uppsala is sinking in and its hard to keep it away from the subconscious. Now, I can relate to all friends and their feelings before having to say goodbye to Uppsala, indefinitely. Almost everyone that I was close to had similar feelings and lovely experiences in Uppsala.

Bright side- Valborg is around the corner, so is summer. The weather last few days has been as unpredictable as Lady Gagas performing attire(s). Also looking forward to see all friends coming over for Valborg, who were here previously on an exchange program. Only hope that the weather then will be very accomodating and pleasant for all festivities that will happen. A reunion is also planned with my friends from UK who are now booking tickets to come over to Uppsala to have a taste of Swedish summer with a bit of travelling and celebration. The smell of flaming BBQs and grilled goodies is already filling around.

Rest assured, a collage of pictures from Valborg is forthcoming.

Katalin and all that Jazz

A recent discovery of a cool hang out place for us was this restaurant/Jazz bar called Katalin in the heart of the city in Uppsala. A very classy joint, I must say. Located just behind the centralstation makes it the easy to find. Whats better is the ambience and the music they boast.

From the outside, it looks very much like a boxy hangar for a tour plane. The inside would be decribed a split to two large halls. The gradient walls with the bare brick matt finish, ornamented with psychadelic music band posters. Most of them being local or from various parts of Europe. One does need a help of a 3G phone to look up all the bands that have played there, if need be.

Whats better is that each of the hall has a decent looking bar overlooking an array of dark furnitured tables complimenting the glow of the bulbs hiding within large orbs.

The lighting in the other hall being the same. What adds to the beauty of this hall are the very slender and tall wooden pillars amongst the arranged tables. This hall hosts many tables and a large amplifier control box for the technician to maange the sonorous artwork of the musicians that entertain the crowd. The menu has a divine set of main courses. The link to which is right now not available on the website- http://www.katalin.com/. Hopefully will be remedied soon.

A look from the hall, as captured by the principle of Camera Obscura

 The look above is that of the hall minus the tables. On mondays, they host a Jazz night free of cost, usually with a fresh of the block local band. Thats when we had visited the place sometime last week. The Erasmus exchange students and I did enjoy the must too sophisticated 4 man jazz band. Many there were connoisseurs of the genre while us, the youngest lot in the hall were chatting away, celebrating a mates birthday.

I intend to go to the place again today as a band called Cosmic sounds from Goteborg is meant to be playing.
This time I ll take pictures and write a blog again for you lot out there. Easy now...

Bite sized Irony....

I love food, Man! So much so that I am doing my final masters thesis on Beta glucans and Fructans in processed barley. No, I dont look anything like this-

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Not even close. But I do love observing little details and write fun blogs about them. And this story happened in the lab today. For those who are elsewhere in the world, heres something you wont know about natives from my most favourite country-Sweden. They are so obsessed with energy and its saving that they hardly talk to each other. Not to forget their other indulgences- recycling, sorting waste, recycling, "Green" technology, environment and oh yeah! Recycling.

Something indeed funny caught my eye. For the non scientific critics who will be reading my blog, I am going to break it down to fool proof science- pictures and words. 

Here goes.

The picture below shows a small selection of plastic tubes that most people use to analyze their samples in a lab. Most of them are disposable and made of plastic. Not very "Green". Only some of them are reused depending on the numbers in use. Most of the time, there will be 100's of these in an assortment going to the bin.

Tree huggers....I know, but it has to be done, in the name of science.

                                                                                                                                                                    

Part of day today was to take measurements of 50 crimson coloured solutions to check for its intensity. The  picture on the right is that of a range of cuvettes- something made of plastic that the crimson solutions are added to, for measurements. They are expensive and disposable also. I remember there was a time when high schools in India has labs that had a glass/crystal cuvette that was probably the most expensive commodity in there.                                                                                                                      For 50 solutions we disposed of 50 of these bad boys. Straight in the bin that says "Plastic". Just hang on to this thought. 

Another experiment of the day involved weighing an array of 46 bran dust samples kept in Swedish Christmas candy foils. 

 

The picture above is exactly that product that Swedes make their home made chocolate in. They are fairly inexpensive (left to a rational persons imagination). After their weights, I disposed them in the trash can that handles miscellaneous waste.

Here comes the funny part. Earlier today, I had a discussion with my supervisior regarding the cuvette trivia that I have shared here. After a while when I was asked about if I had measured the weights, she asked me about what happened to the little cup cake foils. I said, " I put them in the bin". To which the reply was, "I forgot to tell you, we need them for reuse". I smiled at my supervisor thinking that shes joking, only to realize that she was serious. "They are hard to find and they suit our purpose best", she later added. 

There was a serious crisis of butter in the butter obsessed country of Norway last year during Christmas. So much so, it was all over the news. No joke. I had a hearty-hearty maniacal laugh then, but this one beats that. I have now sworn to my supervisor that I ll buy every available pack of cup cake foils that I will come across in the near future, no to make them bite sized goodness of chocolates, but, for my lab. Oh yeah! My department members have a sense of humour or what!

                                                                                 

The Cusp

For those who may not know, Sweden had been offering to qualified students free education till 2011. Students that were accepted before fall of 2011 could have been from any part of the world as long as they fulfilled the criteria- proficient in English (as most program offered here were in English) and have a degree of merit in their chosen field of science. Free education meaning that there was no tuition fee, library fee or the microscopic texts along with it, the reason why Sweden has one of the most diverse student culture in all of Europe. Since 2011 some things had changed, for better.

Free education came with the modern flexibility then- being able to opt a parallel course alongside to what was a persons expertise & being able to take courses in any university in Sweden as long as you had the pre-requisites. I was one of the students that managed to get the foot in through the door to a room that was last free. The first term, I could have applied for any course, anywhere in Sweden.  Bear in mind, the only cost to be born by a student would then be travel and living. After the end of first term, a law was passed that students have to continue acquiring credits in the university that they initially accepted to. They were however lenient to the courses that they could apply to outside of their program. For a masters student, 120 credits were the end mark of his degree and if one chose to get credits more than 120, he/she would have to bear the tuition fee, which, mind you, is not nominal.

I would consider myself a  Zodiacal Cusp in this case who just managed to push through all the elastic obstacles while changing the program from Masters in Biotechnology to Biology. One could ask, " Whats the bloody difference!". Atleast, I did, only to realize that its only bureaucratic palaver. Oh yeah, the Swedes are notorious for their unconditional love to follow the rules. The actual problem came when I was looking to choose my final thesis project work to find out that I had registered for courses more than 120 credit mark, creating a notion whether I dropped out of certain courses or whether I was abusing the legislation. Also, the topic that I had chosen was in the Food science department and could be classed either under a major in Biology or Food science. Major in Biology was only available option for persons belonging to that region in between "free and fee". It was more than just a difference in one alphabet, I tell you. It takes time, but the Swedes are always just and benevolent.

Since last week I have started my thesis work in the same field as planned earlier, under the same Supervisor as agreed and its going swell! The preliminary title is, Evaluation of Beta-Glucans and Fructans in extruded bran from Wheat and Rye.  As confusing/far fetched as it may sound, its not, not when you have great support and confidence from the Food science team at SLU. You will hear more as the magic happens.