Kantine Food.

When I used to be a member of a HEI ( High Esteemed Institute ) in my country, we have had enormous debates on the canteen food we had there. It was of course not the best one can think of ( I do not believe one can make everybody happy when the number is about 200 odd people coming from different states having completely different food habits ), but it was not the worst of all. However, the thing which used to bother me was not the quality of the dishes, but the hygeine level and also many times we were served stale food and food which were a few days' old.

Now, here I am in one of the premier research institues in arguably Europe's wealthiest nations ( Germany ) and I still similar features in the canteen which were so familiar to me. Probably the hygiene level is higher ( you do not see rats or cockroaches or lizards running around ) but the quality of food is quite bad here. And on top of that, we are often served salads, the looks and taste of which clearly tell you that they have been bought cheap and from places where quality of these things are not given a high priority and mind you, this kantine is not subsidised, we pay quite a bit but we do not get a very descent meal.

There have quite a few protests but not much has happenned. Canteen people all over the world seem to be like-minded..... !!!!!!!! And all this happens in one of world's highly developed nations !!!!!

Sometimes I get confused when people talk about development : Is just the sensex or GDP or how much foreign reserves a country has the only way to define development ? When I am complaining about what I wrote above, am I not talking about development ? Are'nt depriving somebody of basic necessities of life a sign of under-development ? I am really confused...........

Oliver Twist : Revisited !!!!

This boy holds a special place in my heart as this was probably the first serious novel I read when I was growing up. And when the master director Romans Polanski made the film, I wanted to watch it more than anything else. And yes I did a few days ago. Without a doubt the Roman Polanski version of OLIVER TWIST will surely go down as one of the greatest version of this story ever filmed (Before this I had seen a TV series on Oliver Twist which was equally moving, david Lean also made a film which I have not seen but had received a lot of acclaim ). Dickens portrayal of 19th century poverty stricken underworld of England has been masterfully handled by Polanski and he was lucky to have the help of some of the all time great artists of motion pictures : Ben Kinsley. Superb acting, effective characterisation, the typical Dickensian idea of fighting for survival against all odds, a glimpse of the inequalitites of the Victorian society and its rather warped sense of justice : nothing coould have been ever so brutal, shocking and yet exquisite.

Yes, Oliver Twist moved me to tears, and hats off to Polanski : a truly wonderful adaptation of a classic novel.