Featured Posts

Hey Ex-trainees!

While waiting for one of the new trainees to volunteer to be the Blog Administrator, I've added a new section to the right - Featured Posts. This will contain links to past posts that would be useful to current/future trainees. Any of you ex-trainees have any other suggestions for posts that you would find useful as a new trainee?

Welcome New Trainees!!

Anyone have a photo of the huge trainee dinner the other night? If you do, then please post it on the blog. I'd love to see it!

Slight problem...

Martina, the present blog administrator, is leaving tomorrow. And although there are lots of new trainees (4-5 Nigerians just arrived, and Anja from Germany arrived as well), none of them have regular access to the internet at work. So who will be the next administrator? AND who will read the blog in Chandigarh except me, the poor wannabe trainee?

Any of you trainees have any ideas (or I guess you ex-trainees since no trainees seem to read the blog anymore)? Maybe Martina can administer the blog from Germany until a trainee shows up who has access to the internet? She's travelling around India for 2 weeks, but maybe after that??

Trainees In Bollywood

Hello Chandigarh & everyone else!
How are you all? I just thought I’d update you all on my movie stardom & encourage you all to go & see what is obviously gonna be THE best bollywood movie of all time, I know this because 2 of the coolest trainees are in it!
Yes on the 8th of September, mine & Lucie’s big bollywood adventure was unleashed in India!
For those of you that don’t know this is the film me & Lucie ‘starred’ in whilst holidaying in Mumbai!!!
Go see it (if you can handle that much Emraan Hashmi!) & let me know what it’s like! Don’t think it’s coming to Cairo just yet but I’m sure I can track down a copy once I get back to Bonnie Scotland!
Jean

PS for any those of you who can’t get enough of the film – there’s more about it here!

PIGS Brunch Chez Moi: Take 2!

More of you better show up this time - no excuses!!

Sunday, September 10
11am
My house - just ask Martina or send me an SMS if you don't know where.

Bring some food to share. I'll provide juices, plates and cutlery.

Unfortunately I don't have a big nice patio, so this will be mostly indoors with a balcony some people can sit out on as well.

Please forward this on to any other foreigners who might be interested in coming.

And if anyone's interested in a soccer match at 9am before the brunch, let me know.

(PIGS - Punjab International Gourmet Society: An informal brunch held once a month at somebody's house where all the foreigners in Chandigarh can get together and socialise.)

Hello?

How many trainees are in Chandigarh these days?

Probably not as many as there were applicants for the Chandigarh LC. A whopping 564, if my numbers are correct. I think 65 were selected in the end. That's crazy if you ask me.

This one looks interesting.

Anyone wanna go?

Today

Exhibition at the Alliance Française

I just don't know what to say...

So yesterday I read an article about an Indian 20something living in the UK.  He is the son of a successful businessman, and has been over here helping run the business.  And one evening he went out to the movies or somewhere with three Swedish girls that he was friends with.  They enjoyed the movie and went back to his hotel room and ordered room service and had dinner.  All very innocent I’d point out, and after a few drinks, the girls fell asleep in his room – two on the bed and one on the couch.

Now here’s where it gets interesting…

In court his lawyer described him as a geeky guy, unaccustomed to western ways, and that – quite accurately – such a situation is unheard of in India (3 girls sleeping in a guy’s room).

However, now we’ve all been in different cultures, unsure of what to do in certain situations, but hands up anyone who’s thought that rape is the appropriate solution?!

In the middle of the night he got himself naked, took off one of the girls’ skirts and her underwear and jumped on top of her.  She didn’t wake up, but one of her friends did.

But of course it gets better… what would you suppose the British courts would deem a fitting punishment for this sexual assault?!

…An apology.

I just had to laugh with disbelief when I read it.  Un-frikin-believable.

PIGS Brunch

Here's an invitation to the next PIGS (Punjab International Gourmet Society) Brunch. New trainees - this is an informal get together held every month for all the foreigners in Chandigarh. All trainees are invited.

~~
hi everybody,

it's time again for another PIGS brunch.

Date: Sunday, 6th August 2006

Time: 11.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.

Venue: [Address omitted - message/e-mail me for the address]

Please bring along some snacks ( sweet or salted, hot or cold) preferably no salads,
also some juice, cold drinks, coffee!

If you like to swim please bring your swimdress and a towel along.

Looking forward to meet you!

Maria and Walter Kissinger

Reading Recommendation: Third-class Ticket

Here's a new reading recommendation to follow-up on a prior post and comments.

Third-class Ticket
by Heather Wood

I just started this book and I really like it so far. I borrowed it off my boss who bought it when she was in India ten years ago, so I hope it's still in print.

An old wealthy lady dies and in her will, she leaves enough money to the Indian Railway Company to send all the people from her poor village on a railway tour of India. These people have never seen most of their own country and are amazed and changed by the journey. The author is a Canadian (from Red Deer, Alberta) who was lucky enough to travel with them for 7 months and penned a novel recounting their story.

one more: best/worst/funniest

No posts for quite some time here, so I just thought I'll drop a line to the Chandi-Blog. I had been in Chandigarh from Nov 2004 to July 2005, so that's quite some time ago. Does anybody remember Manimajra House? (MHA??!)

Anyway, I am quite late with this, but wanted to mention best/funniest/worst India experience. It's tough to fix it to a single one each, but in the end it really doesn't matter.

Best

We had just come back from a one-week stay in Srinagar and it had been at quite the end of my almost 9 month stay. At ISBT I jumped out the bus from Jammu, and I already had a sensation of coming back home. Packed with luggage I looked like they perfect prey, so it was the normal situation "Sir, where you go?" "Hotel? Cheap? Come!" and rickshaw guys pushing you in some direction. Over time I had begun enjoying those situations, but this time a guy topped it all:
From the rear part of the crowd he quickly stepped to the front through the other guys and proclaimed: "Ahh, Mister Hennes! Manimajra? Modern Housing Complex?"
I was so happy that I had almost hugged the guy. That really felt like coming home! I didn't even ask the price, and as far as I remember, it was the normal 40-60 Rs....

Funniest

Riding a cycle rickshaw was definitely unforgettable. I still remember the smile on the driver's face, sitting in the back next to Luisa and all the other rickshaw drivers shouting something and laughing. At the same time I have to express my respect to those cycle rickshaw guys, because after two sectors you clearly feel your load and the fun is turning into some real exercise!

Edited/added on August 6th: Actually at minute 2:20 of this video you can see that rickshaw thing. Btw, I uploaded the whole bunch of videos I cut, just go to the playlist.

Worst

Well, who would be stupid enough to put all (ALL!) his valuable belongings into one single backpack when travelling to Goa? I did, and that one got stolen from right above my head from the waiting deluxe bus to Delhi. It didn't only include digicam plus all tech equipment like CF cards, MP3 player etc., it also carried my diary and other personal stuff, which I think was even worse. Being in Goa without camera, a nightmare.

At the same time I got in close touch with Indian bureaucracy. That is, going to the police office at ISBT and trying to "fill in" (free-form!!) a report, which name I don't remember (maybe F.I.R. or similar). In fact, I had the choice between two versions, a simple missing report and another one, which would induce an investigation. That actually only Rahul from AIESEC could explain to me after he arrived at the scene (thanks again for that!!) Before that no one spoke any english, no one felt like explaining anything, and so I wrote that 2-page report 4 (!) times, because each time something was missing and could NOT be solved by crossing it out *sigh*

By the way, we could catch the deluxe bus to Delhi 2 hours later and also could catch the flight to Bangalore!

Traineeship In Cairo

Salam!
How are you all doing? Chandigarh appears pretty quiet these days…Just thought I’d send you all greetings from Cairo! Its great here but the trainees are nothing like the cool chandigarhians I spend the last year with!

Last night I had a very exciting experience that was nothing to do with the World Cup - I used a washing machine!!
Do you know it’s been over a year since I used a washing machine – it could possibly have been one of the happiest moments of my life. I felt like a housewife that has just been freed from the shackles of the sink (or bucket if you’re in India!) …amazing how much technology has advanced in my year’s absence from Normal Life!
It is perhaps the first model of washing machine ever invented (even older than the one in Panchkula!) & the directions are written in Japanese! Of course, why not?! [But I’m telling myself it’s just a cool new retro design]

So yes the Pyramids are breathtaking, the Nile is outstanding, the Red Sea exciting…but this washing machine has really won my heart! I’d love to have some pictures of Egyptian life to share with you all but every camera I’ve touched in the last week seems to have broken…maybe later.

Maasalaama
Jean
X

World Cup

An Icelanders Indian Memories

My Worst India Moment(s)
On my way home to The City Beautiful I took a Sleeper Bus fro Udaipur to Delhi. Ofcourse my bunker bed was the ONLY one not to have curtains. So, ofcourse, the lovely Indian men sleeping around me all had their curtains open for the view. I turned to the window and tried to ignore it and sleep.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to something stroking my butt. I decided someone had been passing by and accidentally bumped into me (now, after all this time in India, don´t ask me why I gave these Indians the benefit of the doubt).

A few seconds later, I got stroked a second time. I realized it was no accident. So, when the third stroke came, I rushed up and saw an Indian jump behind the curtains of his bunker bed across the hallway.

I opened the curtains and started yelling “Excuse me, excuse me” at the man who lay there pretending to be fast asleep. After a few loud “Excuse me´s” he pretended to wake up with a confuzed expression on his face. Pathetic! I screamed a few well-picked words in Hindi, but seeing as I had been working with children during my traineeship, my vocabulary was limited to colours, animal names and such. In the end (as I usually did with the children) I made him apologize: “Bollo: Sorry – Bollo: Sorry”. What an asshole!

The story is not finished! After a whole night on the bus, I took a bus from Delhi to Chandigarh, ran some errands in Sector 17 and 35 and took a rickshaw back home to the traineehouse. Now, when I took of my clothes to take a shower, I noticed a BIG hole in the back of my trousers. YES, the Indian gentleman had been cutting a hole in my trousers when I was sleeping. And, I had walked around Delhi and Chandigarh with my underwear showing the whole day.

Amazing Indian Men

My Best Indian Moment
Oddly enough, I had to think for a while before I could find a good moment from India... most of my memories seem to involve harassments of one sort or another.

I will give my “Best Indian Moment” to my favorite stalker: Narinder Singh “The Guardian of Tourists”. As I´m sure many of you did, I had the pleasure of bumping into him quite often.

He had the best explanation to why Indian men think they are “all that”. They concider themselves to have very large Johns. So large in fact, that us western women would much rather be with an Indian man than one of our own. Now, I never experienced an Indian John during my stay. Obviously a grave mistake. Can anyone vouch for this?

Amazing Indian Confusion

Funniest Indian Moment
In the beginning of my traineeship there were about thirty trainees around. Someone had heard of a circus coming to town and we all baught tickets. I hadn´t had much experience with India or Indians at that time, so I went, expecting a circus – a real circus.

Dear lord! It was the most awful entertainment.

There was a man on stage making his dogs roll over for ten minutes.

A girl lay on the ground and an huge elephant layed on top of her. I would have been more disgusted if it hadn´t been for the ridiculous giant advertisement for “Mandir Taylors – Suits and Sarees” hanging over the elephants back which kept my attention.

The best moment was when twenty girls came to the stage holding flags. They walked around in circles for five minutes, without doing so much as waving one flag.

All this, and more, went on to the most hilarous music. Repeatedly they´d play Circus-versions of The Beatles “Hey Jude” and Phil Collins “Groovy Kind of Love”.

Amazing Indian Entertainment

Granny Jean is leaving Chandigarh!

Granny Jean



Never without a drink in her hand... And very cranky when she doesn't get her 8pm!

But where would we have been without you DJ-ing. Certainly the international dance styles wouldn't have bloomed so well!

So on behalf of all the past traines, current trainees, stalkers and wierdos you've met along the way, Chandigarh will miss you.

Enjoy Egypt!!!

World Music Day

Best/Worst/Funniest Awards

Damn you for making me reminisce, Sam!

Best Moment

It has to be shooting the movie…  spending a day kissing Dobi while dressed as a soldier – you can’t go wrong with that really!  And then dressing up as a rather dashing Navy Captain which meant I could recreate the scene where Richard Gere picks up his lady and walks off into the sunset with any obliging young lady.  I want to be a movie star!  …again!

A close second has to be when, a few days after arriving in Panchkula, I was getting ready to go to Manali and got talking to Kent, who I hadn’t really spoke to that much beforehand, and told him that I was really looking forward to going away for the weekend.  When he asked why, I promptly told him that it was because I wouldn’t have to see his ugly face while I was away.  And so it was that a friendship was born based upon friendly insults from Kent, and honest insults on my part (just kidding Kent…)

Worst Moment

Having random things stolen from my room, and my first bike, Agnes, taken for a joy ride, abused and then returned as a complete wreck.  Only to be repaired and stolen a couple of weeks afterwards.  Or maybe it was getting my second bike stolen.  I also heard rumours that my third bike was stolen as I left the country…

Funniest Moment

Salvador is better at telling this story, but I’ll have a go anyway…

It all happened during one of the traditional RMS trainee’s Saturday Chats between myself, Vladan, Salvador, Marian and Arno/Parno.

During his time in India, Arno developed an evil personality at RMS, Parno, owing to some confusion between pork and porn (that’s another story though…)  and we were talking rubbish about that during a group MSN chat, when we started to wonder why Marian was being so quiet (this was his first time joining in the conversation)  So we guessed that it was because the evil Parno spirits (at this stage I’d like to point out that we were working Saturdays, and so even the slightest distraction became amusing…)  had infected him.

I think it’s also worthwhile to note at this point that Marian’s keyboard was quite temperamental, and only some of the keys worked – a problem he had raised a couple of times before, but of course being in India, nothing was done about.

So when Marian tried to defend himself, all that he could say was a clearly demonically possessed “hshffmmwinf”  or something along those lines…  and now I can get around to the Funniest Moment bit…

This garbled comment was enough to crack me up, but I was managing to control my laughter - until I heard Vladan laughing out loud way over at the other end of the office.  The laughter was still pretty much under control until I looked over my shoulder to see what state Salvador was in.  At this point Salvador also looked over at me, in pretty much the same state I was and once eye contact was made we were both pushed over the edge into uncontrollable laughter.  Salvador was beyond control now, so thought it would be best if he left the office and seek solitude in the toilets to calm himself down.  Only to make himself laugh even more with the realisation that his attempts to suppress his laughter resulted in some rather dubious groaning sounds coming from the toilet cubicle…

And so he had to leave the toilets which weren’t helping his situation and leave the building completely for a cigarette break.  Only now as he was struggling to control his laughing, the owner of the company happened to walk past and ask him how he was doing…

Salvador’s description, and acting out what happened, when he finally returned to the office rounded off the whole event nicely, ensuring that no work would be completed for the rest of the day as we kept falling back into laughter about it all.

And I know the post is already quiet long now anyway, but I also need to mention my close second…  when during a horror movie, The Grudge, Benjamin managed to recreate the ‘scary’ noise that had been used throughout the movie, during one of the tense scenes by slurping the remains of his drink through his straw…  that in itself slaughtered me, but Johanna’s persistent confusion about why me and Ben were laughing meant that my face hurt from laughing way into the journey back from Fun Republic.

Random Question Time

I was wondering does anyone know a good website where you can share your personal videos/film clips?
I mean a site where you can upload them and friends etc can view them... nothing like youtube or that public!

Any ideas/suggestions would be most welcome!

Best/Worst/Funniest?

Wow, this is tough. I need to submit the candidates to my brain for voting. Hopefully the voting will be fair and democratic, without any influence from the other lobes. Sorry for the lack of pictures, maybe i'll upload them some day.

Best Moment:

Hanging out in the back of a liquor stand with the Panchkula police eating chapati, daal, and aloo and drinking some beer. Highlight of the night was getting to hold a rifle.

Worst Moment:

Although I was already back at home, the day that same liquor stand was demolished was a rough one. So many memories went down in a cloud of dust.

Funniest Moment:

Buying liqour at said liquor stand for christmas party, only to have a case of beer fall off one of the bikes. Five were lost in the debacle, however we did manage to save a horse from being crushed by a cart. I'm still trying to figure out why this is funny....

I find it odd that my most memorable moments from Panchkula are based around a liqour stand. It's justified as follows:

Internship at Company = Bad, Liqour = Happy, therefore Liqour + internship at company = necessary to remain sane. Hmm...that made no sense.

Music

PIGS Brunch

PIGS = Punjab International Gourmet Society
(i.e. foreigners in Chandigarh who get together once a month to share food and socialise)

It's time again for another PIGS potluck brunch! Trainees are all welcome to my house for a cool air-conditioned break from the hot summer. But for those die-hard sunlovers, there are two balconies where you can enjoy the warm air.

Sunday, June 18
11am

Please bring enough food to feed the number of people in your party. I'll supply juices, soft drinks and whatever alcohol I have in my liquor cabinet (warning - my liquor cabinet is rather limited).

I'll start...

Since I'm not actually on a traineeship, then I'll just describe my best, worst and funniest moments relating trainees.

Best Moment:
During the Christmas party in Panchkula that Kent's boss paid for, when during the first five minutes of the feast when everyone dived into the cheese, all you could hear was "Mmm... Yumm... Mmmm" and various other expressions of satisfaction. It was a great shared moment that only we could have understood and appreciated.


Worst Moment:
Saying goodbye to so many trainees, like Johanna & Ben, Kent, Nacho, ... and the hardest was Ryan because he was the one I had spent the most time with (and because he's a great guy, of course).


Funniest Moment:
Definitely Alcolympics By Night. Watching drunk people run crazily in the wrong direction after having chugged beer, spun around in circles and had their retinas burned out by a camera flashing right in front of their faces was priceless!

FORMER TRAINEES UNITE! SAVE THE BLOG!!!

Now that Jamie, the blog administrator is gone, and Jean, also a frequent blogger is leaving soon, the trainee blog is in grave danger of going extinct as bloggers become an endangered species in the trainee community in Chandigarh. (Or one could say that the trainees themselves are the ones becoming endangered.) There are only 4, soon to be 3 trainees left in Chandigarh. So we need to convince them that the blog is a fun and happenin' place to whittle your hours away at work.

To all the former trainees, here is your call to show your support to the blog! Here is the challenge:

Create a new post describing your best, your worst, and your funniest moments during your traineeships in Chandigarh.

Feel free to give a little background for trainees who weren't around during those moments. And if you can't think of all three moments, then just list the ones you can think of... Or if you can't think of any, then just post something, anything!

SPREAD THE WORD! SAVE THE BLOG!!

A cultural event

BBQ at Sandra's

For the four trainees who are left in Chandigarh, Sandra (one of my colleagues) would like to invite you to an informal BBQ at her house tonight at 8pm. If anyone needs the address, then send a text message to me (or Jean). Afterwards, if you guys want to stay over at my place, then you are welcome to.

I asked her what we could bring and she said that dessert would be good.

Lucie - sbohem! And Safe Home. A Tribute.

Surprised Lucie

Cooking Santa Lucie

Shopping Lucie

Dehydrating Lucie

Best of Luck at home Lucie!

...All My Flatmates Are Gone!!

Jamie – Cheerio Old Chap. A Tribute.

Possessed Jamie

FilmStar Jamie

Holi Jamie

SunStroke Jamie

Best of Luck on your travels south! And enjoy your Virgin flight home!

Be Wary of the Satanists Today

I've just found out, and felt it was my duty to inform you all, that today is the 6th day of the 6th month 2006 – 06/06/06 and therefore “has great significance for evil-doers and Satanists who revere the number 666.”
But it's ok because there are Christians holding 'a violent day of worship', whatever the hell that is?!

And an added bonus fact from the BBC - The fear of the number 666 is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Now try saying that after a few drinks!

Cool – Normal Films!

I've just realised Steven Spielberg's last film Munich is in the happening FR! Of course the timings are stupid, but I plan on going this week some day to the 7.30pm show if anyone wants to join me!


Thought I'd go watch a film for a change instead of starring in one!

Something for the Girls!!!

Good news girls, a recent study has just revealed that
'Moderate Alcohol Consumption May Make Women Sharper'

If you don't believe me you can check it out for yourself!

To hell with Chandigarh -

I'm off to Egypt!

Mmmm......wonder what the class system is like over there...

Guess The House

I have a game all the trainees can play whilst at work it's great fun, it's called Guess The House, there are many variations and perhaps you can even create your own version too...here's the idea-

You have to guess which trainee house AIESEC decide to close next?

Or put more correctly

Which trainee house AIESEC will declare is to be closed in the near future?

Variations can include

• How many hours in advance will AIESEC call trainees to announce house closure?
• How many hours will trainees get to move?
• Which sector will the new imaginary talked about for months trainee house be in?

The trainee to guess correctly will get to stay in the house of their choice! (if it still exists)

More movie news with Jean -

Looks like the Da Vinci Code might not make it to Chandigarh after it has been banned by the Punjab Government, not for blasphemous reasons like in other parts of the world but for "intelligence inputs".

You can read about it here.

As Chandigarh is actually UT & not Punjab I wonder if we'll get to see it. I just wanna see it now it's being banned, it didn't bother me before!

Finally...

Some more Amir Khan in the world!

A South African in Europe

I miss my India...

I look like a bollywood actor in a fake indian european scene

Dear trainees this is a short message from Europe, just to say hi and show you a little bit of my trip in this different continent...
Nobody asked me...`Which Country` or `Father´s Name`...

i´m having problems with food because is all about meat....I have no problems with bear, i spent the first two days drinking wine and bear which means that i was drunk all the time.

I miss all of you and i hope India ig doing well with my dear trainees.

Auf bindensen (Something like this Germans say when they try to say goodbye)

A tribute to our "South African" friend

Working Nacho


Contemplative Nacho


Cool Nacho


Kashmiri Nacho aka Rickshaw Driver Nacho


Happy Nacho!

We'll miss you in all your forms. Have fun in Europe!

A real taxi service! Chandigarh's moving up in the world!

Kerala Exhibit

Yes sir! Mr. McLean SIR!

Being always the good student, here is my homework. Although now that I think about it... I seem to remember always asking for extensions on my deadlines and never handing anything in on time... But this will be submitted before the deadline. Maybe I`m just out of practice.

Did you know that the ketchup dispensers in Rishikesh are Sikh (not 'sick')?

Nacho: Where's the party everyone?! I want to dance to Kaj ra rai with Ashwarya Rai!

Aww... don't they make a cute threesome?

Jamie's decided to leave his traineeship to pursue his hidden dream - to become a Carmen Miranda impersonator!

Bunty aur Babli

Any trainees remaining in Chandigarh are invited to my place tonight to watch Bunty aur Babli (or am I the only one left who hasn't seen this movie?) The movie showing begins at 8pm sharp!

Ooh! The songs are still going through my head. I love the soundtrack!

So long Sailor!

Ghandi, King & Ikeda

There's an Exhibition -

'The Power Of One: A legacy Of Building Peace'
or
“Apostles of Peace: The Inspiration of Gandhiji, Martin Luther King Jr and Daisaku Ikeda”

Taking place in the Conference Centre of the National Muesuem in 10-C from 16 - 27th of April.

Know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it sounds pretty interesting to me, so if anyone does decide to go, let me know what it was like!

Apparently it is 'Directed primarily at the youth, this effort is aimed at revisiting the values of non-violence and Gandhian principles.'

Animated Features

MOISTY THINGS

TWO TRAINEES UNDER ATTACK

Lately, we were travelling around City Beautiful just to have some fun...Some trainees have been to "Bizarres" National Parks...and personally, i have to take Jean every weekend to an amusement park otherwise she doesn't stop talking about Amir Khan...
We remember trainees from 38-B going to a National Park near Haridwar just to spend some time with tigers but they saw sick (not sikhs) elephants "only" and weird people doing "moist" things outside the road "only"...ask Jamie for more details.

I have to tell you that last weekend Jean and I went to the mountains looking for that Mysterious Tiger (Not Kasouli Tiger) and we finally found it.

Here is the evidence of our extreme and dangerous weekend...

This is "Moisty"...The Tiger

I was so scared of Moisty...

I think they have something...look at Jean's face

SOME WEEKENS IN CITY BEAUTIFUL...

CHANDIGARIAN TRAINEES

Here some pictures of our last activities during nights in the last two weeks.

just a little drunk...ass dance, not anymore!!!

Jamie needs an exorcism!!!

Ryan needs a Therapist!!!

Asami hiding from the indian Ghost!!!

non-drunk people

Jean, after she saw a cockroach

Ryan being a 4 years old drunk boy

Dirty Lucie