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.....

Dawn of Nordic games in Uppsala

Its Swedens turn to host the Nordic games, this year. Uppsala became ground for participants from all over Scandinavia. The SLU student pub had planned an evening bash to welcome all athletes and stir them up with some new friends. Little did I know that it turned out to be one of a kind evening.

Wednesday evenings are usually laid back, with mostly mature lot occupying their favourite seats in various Nations. I was catching up with some friends over dinner at V'Dalas. The club sandwich I had ordered was much too impressive. Cycled back to Ultuna campus (where I live) to hear loud noises reverberating from the pub. It was the busiest and most colorful, with teams from respective countries in their chosen colours- the Finnish were in purple, Danish in red and white and Norwegians in green. Not that it made a big difference in mingling about. The pub usually operates with a manageably drunk customers, on ordinary days, but not then. Teams were drunk beyond belief and dancing over the tables. As much as I'd like to say its a rare and lovely, sight, it wasnt. Atleast, not to the poor maitre d'pub who had to politely ask each and every Calisthenics artist to step down, after which in their drunken boorish minds, they climbed right back. Me and only a handful of friends I was with were sober enough to laugh and notice these things. A bunch figured out a way to keep the maitre d happy by choosing to dance on chairs rather than the table- a loophole they tactfully used, I thought.

The outside of the pub were smokers, some making out and some rambling about their conquests. Met a Norwegian guy who was speaking english better than an Englishman. He was switching between regional accents- Jordie, Cockney, Scouse and Irish. I wondered if it had anything to do with him being piss drunk at that time. He had a Mohican hairdo of which he had no recollection of why it was so. That, added to a tickle in my funny bone.

The dancefloor- typical. What caught my eye was that people actually united, they didnt want to be recognised by the color of the tee shirt they were wearing, so, many lost it. I dont know if it was too stuffy and warm in there because of the large number. Witnessed a Danish member doing things that could only be a reminiscence of the most controversial/funny/iconic excerpt with Sacha Baron Cohen and Ken Davitian from the movie 'Borat'. It became one of those nights where one could say, "what happens here, stays here".

I guess every normal person has had his share of drunk experiences. One would understand why its easier to lose sanity when you are away from home, amongst complete strangers, losing any inhibitions you have, simply cutting loose. I hope all athletes were nice and rosy when they woke up today and took part in the events that start this morning.

There are no pictures from this night as an act of self preservation. Good luck, crazy athletes!

Culture night

The dawn of winter starts with a culture night in Uppsala, probably because people realize that the weather, from now on will only get more unpredictable. Culture night or as the Swedes correctly spell it with a 'K', is a day entirely dedicated to celebration of wordly cultures. Great food, musical gigs and roadblocks are set all around Stora Torget ( the absolute city centre of Uppsala).

An aerial view of Uppsala on that day might only shock some as the not so crowded town seems to be filled with a horde of human populus, only dressed in their vibrant clothing and attires. One like myself, wondered then, how dynamic is Uppsala actually with the play in numbers. Summer, its almost a ghost town, and come fall, its not just students, but, people of varying age groups. All I am saying is one could easily get claustrophobic on that day.

A little trivia on Culture night-  its celebrated on the second saturday of every september since 1989, managed by culltural workers, institutions, amateurs and other organisations. A way of showing how important cultures are, in our lives. Many show of their artistic work handled by the organisation- brass orchestras marching, knights on horses, fire juggling/knights tournament. Its also a chance for Uppsala to flaunt its traditional landmarks to the visitors from all over- the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, oldest botanical garden ( the garden of Linnaeus, founded by Carl von Linne). The university library of Carolina Rediviva with the Silver Bible, Uppsala castle dating right back from the 1500s and the anatomical theatre at Museum Gustavianum from the 1600s. Pretty rich in culture.

For me, it was more like a day to take great pictures, walk with swarm of friends I made recently and just enjoy the lively-ness of my favourite town. A tour of my pictures will show you how versatile the culture shows were.

Right by the lamp post in the dead centre that makes Stora torget was a ring with a "Uncle Sam wants you" like poster only advertising the school of Muay Thai.

A digital timetable for those who hate carrying a printed sheet of the iternarary of the evening.

Some roads were blocked by stages and the supporitng crowd. This one in particular were playing Brazilian music with the drums and tunes from the Brazilian carnival.

Yes, some dancers were in unbelivably revealing two-pieces.

Picture on top is that of a stall selling ice cream and donuts while the one on the left is that of a stall with colourful exotic  cakes.

 Candle stall with perfumed wax.

Capoeira, the Brazilian form of dancing/martial arts. For some reason, it felt like the Uppsalites were really fond of Brazil. Could it be the revealing attire, they stand for/with ;). Makes you wonder many things.

Picture from Knights tournament and fire juggling. Most acts were impressive except when the experts took a break and two amateurs showed on stage with sheils and a fire mace hitting each other. That can only be described as a act of retardation, by many.

There were mini concerts that were set up all over town, waiting for the dark to set in to show off with their beaming conglomerate of lightwork.

Their music however, attracted dedicated crowds. This one on the right was real popular with a crowd of no more than 14 year olds. A music I would call Pop rock. Still better than a stage that was death metal or 'rant-for-song' bands that can only invoke severe headaches. 

There were also a band in the city centre whose music was ok but made better pictures.

In all, a very fantastic saturday that only concluded with a beer binge at Flogsta with mates I met after a long time. All thanks to culture night, I got in touch with my beer drinking culture after a rather long interlude.

Do comment.