visited 53 states (151.%)
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Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
my first thoughts on Sydney and Australia
[written long back & shared with some mates via email...thought will post it here]
Landing into the Sydney airport is one of the most beautiful sights I hve come across….the runways seem like they merge into the sea….so when ure landing onto the runway, it's almost as if ure flying from the ocean and straight onto land…
The first thing that strikes you when u enter the land down under – is something which strikes you at most foreign places….the cleanliness of the place, the smoke-less air. There's a certain order in most processes, and the integral thing being - people are willing to follow some rules to bring by these ordered processes.
Aussie civilization is to do with the coastline…all the big cities AND the densely populated ones are around the coastline…from perth in the west, darwin in the north, cairns, Brisbane, Sydney along the east coastline & Adelaide in the south – the aussie love for the sea is very evident all around. The centre of the aussie mass-land can just boast of the ayer's rock, the alice springs desert and the extensive outback bushlands!
As with most modern Indian towns, Sydney too has a hub-n-spoke kind of city proliferation. There's the central throbbing Sydney CBD (central business district) which never sleeps- always pulsating with traffic, both human & automobile – the nightlife, the neon lights and the multi-national faces on the streets; and as you start moving out of 'sydney city', u start coming across the various suburbs – glebe, leichardt, parramatta, baulkham hills – the farther they are from the central district, the more sparse and farm-like they are. Most people prefer to stay in the suburbs, even if their work has to bring them into the city. This is due to both economic reasons (lesser rent charges, etc) as well as the sense of peace and calm that the suburb atmosphere brings them.
The Workplace
The best part of aussie work places is the multi-racial mix that you encounter there, which is but a rarity at most other places. From personal experience at my workplace in Sydney, the department I worked in had around 15 ppl which comprised of 3 Indians, 2 Chinese, 1 Iraqi (who at 1 time had served in Saddam's army), 1 Serbian, 1 Russian, 1 South African, 1 American & 1 Pakistani among the Aussies. The other departments too had their fair share of multi-national hues. This multi-racial workplace was a revelation in itself as you tend to learn so much about the world that you live in, about places you haven't been to, about lives you knew nothing about. You hear a first-hand account of how it was to live under the rule of Saddam in Iraq & not a jingoistic-American glossed version of it. You hear of some of the horrors of the serb-bosnian war and the hardships that they had to undergo to leave their homeland behind to carve a new life for themselves in this faraway foreign land. You get some rare glimpses into the lives within the Great Wall into Dragon land, and you realize sitting there – 1000 of miles away from home – that you're not really that different from that colleague of yours from Lahore.
About the work culture, the people are not as work automatons as the Americans or the Japanese – yes – they do work hard during their work hours, but they also like to take their frequent 'ciggie breaks' accompanied by their cuppas (coffee/ tea/ coke). Work starts pretty nearly at 9, and must definitely end by 1730…1800 at the most! Weekends are sacrosanct – they definitely don't want anything to do with work then. And most places have a 5 day week. Lunch is an hr and half of relaxation accompanies by lotsa food, but again ppl are bck at their desks by around 14-1430 for intense work for the remainder of the day. Fridays are a different time altogether…Friday lunches are commonly wet lunches ( something I would luv 2 have back in India), tad longer….and post lunch sessions on Fridays are just an extension of the weekends – it's just used to send out mails - the essence of which are – 'ya…it may be/ may not be a problem, will definitely be looked into on Monday…hve a nice weeknd'….and comps are switched off!! J
The People
One word that definitely comes into mind after spending some time with the indigenous aussies is 'bindaas'…the ppl are damn chilled out….they do their own thing – lets you do their own thing. Slightly haughty at the onset, they warm to you pretty fast if u don't rub them the wrong way. Crazy about sports, fitness and exercise of any and every form, greater percentage of aussies look and feel pretty fit and energetic. Most males do have an intimidating physique, and they flaunt it pretty much….and the females, though big-boned, do have a sculpted fitness aura about them. Often you will see them running on the streets with just an ipod for company…the swimming pools are filled with people doing their laps….the beaches – aahhh…wat do i say abt them…the beaches and the ppl (read ladies) on the beaches...swimming, surfing, snorkeling….running on the beaches, swimming and then lazing under the sun….perfect idea of a weekend!! Ppl just take a backpack stuffed with a towel, a sun-block, a book, an ipod….and dats it – they can just spend the entire day lazing at the beach….absolutely my kind of ppl!!
And one more thing abt sports – u defeat the aussies in the sport of their choice – and you hve got their respect for life!
The Food
The thing that I miss the most – the food and the beer!.food enerally consists of meat, meat & more meat!! J beef, pork, lamb, kangaroo, chicken, turkey…u name it - u got it. And then there's the sea-food! My diet generally consisted of meat and beer…and I had nothing to complain about it! Sometimes I did make an allowance for a little salad to enter my system, but generally stuck to meat and beer. Even McD's had a burger called the 'quarter-pounder' – a simple burger of a quarter-pound patty of beef, a cheese slice and a lettuce…dat's it! awesome in taste! A pity that none of the Indian McD's serves beef….a travesty of food justice. The beef was just too good for words….the porterhouse steak, the eye-fillet steak, the rump steak….u could almost smell the freshness of the meat! Apart from it, there are loads of fruits, sauces, veggies, cheese, milk products, asian foods….
And the best part – the beer!! I could go on and on…but the beer variety wont stop! Apart from the usual international names like Bud, Heineken, Guinness & Stella Artois– we had the Aussie favorites of Victoria Bitters, Toohey's, Crown, Coopers…each region having a different fave (like VB for Victorians, Coopers for the Adelaide mates)..and there is the japanese asahi…the german, ducth & belgian beers. And yeah – for all u guys out there – most aussies hvnt heard of Fosters'…and neither do u get foster's anywhere out here (u still do come across Kingfisher)…so much for 'australian for beer'!!
So…by and then…ppl will mostly have a nice time in Oz-land…the pp are tolerant….incidences of racism is pretty low and not that rampant. The rare incidents which do occur are mostly by the teenage crowd. The average aussie is pretty much against racism on the outside, not bothered about what they mite feel inside. There is an element of frankness across the people…they make away with formality pretty easily, and though it takes a little time to get a hang of their 'aussie lingo' – it somewhat grows on you…pretty soon you get to realize that what they mean by 'mite' & 'dite' is actually 'mate' and 'date'! most ppl I hve met there are proud of whatver they work at….every work of skill – whether it be masonry, plumber or a consultant, has an element of pride in it. No occupation is looked down upon, every work is accorded a place of respect and class. And ppl do their work passionately and with love. Every restaurant you go to – the waitresses will greet you with a smile and actually make u feel at home and as a wanted customer, and not just that – random ppl on the streets also pass by with a greeting whenever you cross each other.
you get to meet a lot of ppl….ppl from across the world….u realize that the Lebanese women are among the most beautiful women on earth, that authentic Chinese is a world different from the Chinese food you get in india, that a feeling of fitness and sports passion breeds better in an atmosphere of it and that a little bit of cleanliness ethics among the ppl makes a world of difference to the cleanliness of the people.
So that's a lot of things that you don't get in India…the lovely beaches, the awesome food, the cleanliness around, the multi-racial work culture….but at the end of the day – when u land back in india and get the familiar stink which greets you upon your arrival – you cant help but think – 'no worries mate...I'm back home!!
Landing into the Sydney airport is one of the most beautiful sights I hve come across….the runways seem like they merge into the sea….so when ure landing onto the runway, it's almost as if ure flying from the ocean and straight onto land…
The first thing that strikes you when u enter the land down under – is something which strikes you at most foreign places….the cleanliness of the place, the smoke-less air. There's a certain order in most processes, and the integral thing being - people are willing to follow some rules to bring by these ordered processes.
Aussie civilization is to do with the coastline…all the big cities AND the densely populated ones are around the coastline…from perth in the west, darwin in the north, cairns, Brisbane, Sydney along the east coastline & Adelaide in the south – the aussie love for the sea is very evident all around. The centre of the aussie mass-land can just boast of the ayer's rock, the alice springs desert and the extensive outback bushlands!
As with most modern Indian towns, Sydney too has a hub-n-spoke kind of city proliferation. There's the central throbbing Sydney CBD (central business district) which never sleeps- always pulsating with traffic, both human & automobile – the nightlife, the neon lights and the multi-national faces on the streets; and as you start moving out of 'sydney city', u start coming across the various suburbs – glebe, leichardt, parramatta, baulkham hills – the farther they are from the central district, the more sparse and farm-like they are. Most people prefer to stay in the suburbs, even if their work has to bring them into the city. This is due to both economic reasons (lesser rent charges, etc) as well as the sense of peace and calm that the suburb atmosphere brings them.
The Workplace
The best part of aussie work places is the multi-racial mix that you encounter there, which is but a rarity at most other places. From personal experience at my workplace in Sydney, the department I worked in had around 15 ppl which comprised of 3 Indians, 2 Chinese, 1 Iraqi (who at 1 time had served in Saddam's army), 1 Serbian, 1 Russian, 1 South African, 1 American & 1 Pakistani among the Aussies. The other departments too had their fair share of multi-national hues. This multi-racial workplace was a revelation in itself as you tend to learn so much about the world that you live in, about places you haven't been to, about lives you knew nothing about. You hear a first-hand account of how it was to live under the rule of Saddam in Iraq & not a jingoistic-American glossed version of it. You hear of some of the horrors of the serb-bosnian war and the hardships that they had to undergo to leave their homeland behind to carve a new life for themselves in this faraway foreign land. You get some rare glimpses into the lives within the Great Wall into Dragon land, and you realize sitting there – 1000 of miles away from home – that you're not really that different from that colleague of yours from Lahore.
About the work culture, the people are not as work automatons as the Americans or the Japanese – yes – they do work hard during their work hours, but they also like to take their frequent 'ciggie breaks' accompanied by their cuppas (coffee/ tea/ coke). Work starts pretty nearly at 9, and must definitely end by 1730…1800 at the most! Weekends are sacrosanct – they definitely don't want anything to do with work then. And most places have a 5 day week. Lunch is an hr and half of relaxation accompanies by lotsa food, but again ppl are bck at their desks by around 14-1430 for intense work for the remainder of the day. Fridays are a different time altogether…Friday lunches are commonly wet lunches ( something I would luv 2 have back in India), tad longer….and post lunch sessions on Fridays are just an extension of the weekends – it's just used to send out mails - the essence of which are – 'ya…it may be/ may not be a problem, will definitely be looked into on Monday…hve a nice weeknd'….and comps are switched off!! J
The People
One word that definitely comes into mind after spending some time with the indigenous aussies is 'bindaas'…the ppl are damn chilled out….they do their own thing – lets you do their own thing. Slightly haughty at the onset, they warm to you pretty fast if u don't rub them the wrong way. Crazy about sports, fitness and exercise of any and every form, greater percentage of aussies look and feel pretty fit and energetic. Most males do have an intimidating physique, and they flaunt it pretty much….and the females, though big-boned, do have a sculpted fitness aura about them. Often you will see them running on the streets with just an ipod for company…the swimming pools are filled with people doing their laps….the beaches – aahhh…wat do i say abt them…the beaches and the ppl (read ladies) on the beaches...swimming, surfing, snorkeling….running on the beaches, swimming and then lazing under the sun….perfect idea of a weekend!! Ppl just take a backpack stuffed with a towel, a sun-block, a book, an ipod….and dats it – they can just spend the entire day lazing at the beach….absolutely my kind of ppl!!
And one more thing abt sports – u defeat the aussies in the sport of their choice – and you hve got their respect for life!
The Food
The thing that I miss the most – the food and the beer!.food enerally consists of meat, meat & more meat!! J beef, pork, lamb, kangaroo, chicken, turkey…u name it - u got it. And then there's the sea-food! My diet generally consisted of meat and beer…and I had nothing to complain about it! Sometimes I did make an allowance for a little salad to enter my system, but generally stuck to meat and beer. Even McD's had a burger called the 'quarter-pounder' – a simple burger of a quarter-pound patty of beef, a cheese slice and a lettuce…dat's it! awesome in taste! A pity that none of the Indian McD's serves beef….a travesty of food justice. The beef was just too good for words….the porterhouse steak, the eye-fillet steak, the rump steak….u could almost smell the freshness of the meat! Apart from it, there are loads of fruits, sauces, veggies, cheese, milk products, asian foods….
And the best part – the beer!! I could go on and on…but the beer variety wont stop! Apart from the usual international names like Bud, Heineken, Guinness & Stella Artois– we had the Aussie favorites of Victoria Bitters, Toohey's, Crown, Coopers…each region having a different fave (like VB for Victorians, Coopers for the Adelaide mates)..and there is the japanese asahi…the german, ducth & belgian beers. And yeah – for all u guys out there – most aussies hvnt heard of Fosters'…and neither do u get foster's anywhere out here (u still do come across Kingfisher)…so much for 'australian for beer'!!
So…by and then…ppl will mostly have a nice time in Oz-land…the pp are tolerant….incidences of racism is pretty low and not that rampant. The rare incidents which do occur are mostly by the teenage crowd. The average aussie is pretty much against racism on the outside, not bothered about what they mite feel inside. There is an element of frankness across the people…they make away with formality pretty easily, and though it takes a little time to get a hang of their 'aussie lingo' – it somewhat grows on you…pretty soon you get to realize that what they mean by 'mite' & 'dite' is actually 'mate' and 'date'! most ppl I hve met there are proud of whatver they work at….every work of skill – whether it be masonry, plumber or a consultant, has an element of pride in it. No occupation is looked down upon, every work is accorded a place of respect and class. And ppl do their work passionately and with love. Every restaurant you go to – the waitresses will greet you with a smile and actually make u feel at home and as a wanted customer, and not just that – random ppl on the streets also pass by with a greeting whenever you cross each other.
you get to meet a lot of ppl….ppl from across the world….u realize that the Lebanese women are among the most beautiful women on earth, that authentic Chinese is a world different from the Chinese food you get in india, that a feeling of fitness and sports passion breeds better in an atmosphere of it and that a little bit of cleanliness ethics among the ppl makes a world of difference to the cleanliness of the people.
So that's a lot of things that you don't get in India…the lovely beaches, the awesome food, the cleanliness around, the multi-racial work culture….but at the end of the day – when u land back in india and get the familiar stink which greets you upon your arrival – you cant help but think – 'no worries mate...I'm back home!!
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