Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

RAILWAY FOOD - Mouthwatering Memories

EATING ON THE INDIAN RAILWAYS

MOUTHWATERING MEMORIES OF RAILWAY FOOD

VIKRAM KARVE

When I was a small boy I travelled extensively all over India by trains, and one thing I looked forward to during my journeys was the delicious food, the distinctive Railway Cuisine served in various restaurant and dining cars on prestigious trains and in railway refreshment rooms.

Unfortunately today one gets “ standardized” packed food.

The inimitable exciting dining experience sitting in restaurant cars each serving unique cuisine has disappeared.

Now-a-days most trains have crowded pantry cars where they only cook and pack insipid cold food.

You cannot sit comfortably at a dining table in the restaurant car and enjoy a relaxed freshly cooked hot meal while watching the view from the windows.

In many cases packed food is picked up from Railway Stations and served on your seat.

I vividly remember the delightful eating experience in the restaurant cars of the famous 1 Down / 2 Up Calcutta Mail via Nagpur (now called Mumbai - Howrah Mail) watching the picturesque scenery pass by through the large open windows.

I think this Restaurant Car (operated by South Eastern Railway) had the best menu – a variety of meals and the choicest of a la carte dishes, and even an impressive English Style full Tea Service albeit in typical Railway thick white crockery.

How can I forget those piping hot nourishing cutlets, baked beans on toast, and delicious omelettes in the Restaurant Car of the magnificent Deccan Queen looking out of the windows at the magnificent picturesque spectacle of the lights of Khopoli twinkling far down below from the misty Western Ghats.

The Mumbai Pune Deccan Queen is still the pride of the Central Railway.

I vividly recall lip smacking memories of the fresh piping hot South Indian Meal Thalis in Madras (Chennai) – New Delhi Grand Trunk (GT) Express (the Dining Car was operated by Southern Railway) and the wholesome continental meals in the Western Railway Dining Car of the Bombay (Mumbai) – Amritsar Frontier Mail (now called Golden Temple Mail) as the magnificent train sped past the plains and the deserts towards Delhi.

Some Metre Gauge Trains had “Royal” old-world restaurant and dining cars too, where one enjoyed a leisurely meal, vibrating Metre Gauge style, in the unhurried ambiance.

I recall that many important trains on the Southern Railway and South Central Railway did not have dining or restaurant cars, but delicious hot food in proper white cutlery was served in your compartment from the excellent refreshment rooms of stations [like the Southern Railway Speciality Meal of Mutton Madras Curry and Rice from Erode, Salem, Jollarpettai, and the tasty spicy Chicken Biryani from Guntakal, Cudappah, Vijaywada and Waltair (now known as Visakhapatnam)].

You could eat the piping hot food unhurriedly as the cutlery was taken away at the next station since trains halted every hour or so, then.

It was the same was with the Northern, North-Eastern and North East Frontier (NF) Railways I think, where many trains did not have dining cars, but delicious food was served in running trains from the Refreshment Rooms of the big Railway Junctions.

Even the railway refreshment rooms at important stations served unique railway cuisine.

At Churchgate in Mumbai, the Mezzainine Floor food stall serves delicious meals and snacks and so did the old world Refreshment Rooms at Chennai (then Madras Central), Mumbai CST (then Bombay VT), Delhi Main (Old Delhi) Station, Howrah, Lucknow, Kalyan, Nagpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mughal Sarai and Pune, where one could relish a hearty English Breakfast with cornflakes et al.

And there were many tiny refreshment rooms like in Igatpuri and Daund where one could hop in for a quick Mutton Biryani while the engines were being changed.

And how can I ever forget those nostalgic food memories of a quaint railway station called Rampur Hat on the Sahibganj Loop of the Eastern Railway way back in the 1960s.

I remember the best thing about Rampur Hat Railway Station was its Refreshment Room - in fact the Railway Refreshment Room was the best restaurant in Rampur Hat town in those days and it was the only decent eatery where you could go with your family to relish a tasty meal.

Two important trains halted for meals at Rampur Hat – the Darjeeling Mail [Sealdah to New Jalpaiguri] and Upper India Express [Sealdah to Delhi], and while the travellers enjoyed their meals in the refreshment room the Steam Engines got topped up too.

More than 45 years have passed since and I wonder whether the Refreshment Room at Rampur Hat Railway Station is still as famous as it was way back then.

Those glorious days of delicious dining savouring sumptuous unique railway cuisine relished in deluxe environs in a relaxed unhurried way sitting comfortably in restaurant cars and dining cars enjoying the picturesque scenery through the open windows along with your food are a distant memory – a thing of the past.

Today one has to eat insipid characterless “sanitized” foil-packed standardized food in claustrophobic environs of your berth or on your seat.

The glorious days of the “Railway Dining Experience” are long over.

Will some readers be so good as to comment and recall for all of us their delightful “railway food” dining and eating experiences and tell us of the varied railway cuisine of the “good old days”?

Do tell us about your memories of delicious yummy railway food experiences and also let us know if you have enjoyed good food while travelling on the Indian Railways in recent times.

The next time you travel on a train (or even while you nostalgically travel in your Mind’s Eye) please do tell us about your mouth-watering memories of railway food.

Happy Eating while travelling on the Indian Railways.

VIKRAM KARVE

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

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NLP in DAILY LIFE - PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

NLP in DAILY LIFE - PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

HOW TO GET A HOLISTIC VIEW

HOW TO SEE THE BIG PICTURE

THE CONCEPT OF PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

A Concept from NLP for Analyzing Problems and Interpreting Behaviour

VIKRAM KARVE

In order to get a holistic view of a situation, or see the “big picture”, sometimes, there is a need to view things from a distance .

They say that you cannot solve a problem if you are a part of the problem.

So you must “step out” of the problem and view the situation from outside in a detached dispassionate way.

This may help you in analyzing the problem properly and help you in arriving at a solution.

In your personal life too it may be of great advantage if you develop the ability to watch your own life from a distance.

In fact, the ability to see things from a distance is the sine qua non for self improvement and personal development.

Think about it.

If you are in the middle of trees you may not be able to see the whole forest.

Likewise, being in the middle of a situation may prevent you from seeing the “bigger picture”.

Tell me, in the personal and professional domains of your life, haven't you encountered situations where it would have been best to adopt a “detached” stance?

Is it not better to view a situation from multiple perspectives?

Is it not true, what I said earlier, that you cannot solve a problem if you are a part of the problem, especially an ethical dilemma.

I am sure you have heard people saying, “If I were in your position” or “I can see your point of view”.

Have you ever put yourself in someone else’s shoes and had the experience of seeing the world or situation through the eyes of someone else?

Have you ever tried to be an observer, detached and rational, and looked at a situation as if you are not a part of it?

Understanding and empathizing with other points of view is the sine qua non of effective communication.

Also, it is said, that to solve a problem you should not be a part of the problem or inside the problem, but view the problem from a distance.

The Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) concept of Perceptual Positions can help you see a situation, a problem, from different points of view, in new ways, dispassionately, from a “distance”, with emotional detachment.

It will help you get the “bigger picture” maybe even the “the holistic picture”.

You will be able to visualize and analyse a situation, especially an ethical dilemma, form the viewpoints of all stakeholders.

Yes, the first step towards solving a problem is to properly analyse the problem, get to the root cause, and this technique of perceptual positions will help you do formulate the root definition of the problem or ethical situation and facilitate implementation of Soft System Methodology, especially in the formulation of the CATWOE and SIPOC models, which is the next step in solving the problem.

THE FIVE PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

FIRST POSITION

My Perspective or the Self Perspective

Seeing the situation or world completely through your own eyes.

The first position enables you to be clear about what is important to you and discover your own personal values and beliefs.

If you are in the first position you are very much within your own body and you are subject to strong emotional feelings.

In NLP parlance the experience of being in the first position is called being “associated”.

The disadvantages of being associated are that it may be difficult to critically review your own feelings and sometimes you can get swayed by your own emotions.

The advantage of being associated is that you feel involved in the situation.

SECOND POSITION

Your Perspective or the “Other” Perspective

Seeing the situation or world from through the eyes of and from the point of view of someone else.

This perceptual position will help you get into the other person’s shoes and get a sense of their perspective and how they see the situation.

In common parlance, this is called empathy.

In NLP parlance the experience of being in the second position is called being “dissociated”.

This is because, in contrast to the first position you are able to be detached and you are able to observe yourself from a different perspective.

The disadvantage of being in a dissociated state is that it can desensitize your emotional responses and give others the impression that you are being cold and distant.

THIRD POSITION

The Observer Position

Looking at a situation as an external impartial observer dissociated and emotionally detached from the situation.

This perceptual position will enable you to have a balanced approach, especially in emotionally charged situations.

This entails both the individual and with whom she is interacting being observed at the same time from a distant position, outside all persons in the interaction - you may step back and “watch yourself watch yourself” – it is like seeing the situation on a movie screen.

FOURTH POSITION

The System Viewpoint or the Bird’s Eye View

Adopting a “systems approach” and looking at a situation from the perspective of the whole system, integrating perspectives of all stakeholders in the system using soft systems methodology in order to visualize the overall “system perspective”.

FIFTH POSITION

The Universal Perspective or the World View (Weltanschauung)

Seeing the “whole picture” by analyzing multiple perceptual positions. This is a most vital soft skill you must develop using various soft system models like CATWOE, Archetypes etc.

HOW TO ADOPT PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS - Benefits and Pitfalls

Close your eyes and think of various recent situations, especially situations of conflict, and the try to visualize the situations from different perceptual positions.

You can consciously develop the ability to visualize and adopt different perceptual positions – not only will this help you improve your conflict management and decision making abilities but this will greatly enhance your communication skills.

You must be flexible and try to move between perceptual positions in a dynamic manner to achieve optimal results.

Spending too much time in the first perceptual position may lead you to be excessively emotional, self-centered and lacking in empathy.

Always trying to be in the second perceptual position may result in you falling a victim to the “disease to please” leading to overemphasis in helping others to the detriment of your own interests and personal well-being.

Spending too much time in the third perceptual position may make you cold, hard-hearted, uncaring and insensitive towards others, so you must always try and develop the flexibility and agility to see different points of view from various perceptual positions.

Therefore, it is best to adopt a Triple Description which entails considering the situation from the three basic perceptual positions – the first, the second and the third – and combining the experience.

In the words of Robert Dilts:

“Excellence is a passionate commitment to something from the self position.

Wisdom is the ability to consciously move back and forth between self, other, and observer positions.”

As you consciously practice the concept of perceptual positions you will develop the ability of creative visualization to shift between perceptual positions at will.

In some situations you can experiment shifting between all the five perceptual positions and when you combine the experience this will develop in you statesmanlike qualities which all great leaders possess.

This “multiple description” ability to shift between perceptual positions and combine the experience will enhance your resourceful thinking process and enhance your ability to deal effectively and positively with a variety of people and situations.

On a lighter note, this concept will help you in personal life situations too, especially as you grow older.

The Perceptual Positions Concept is useful to retired “old fogies” like me as well:

You must have observed that, as you grow older, slowly but surely, you are made to feel redundant.

Your views are not sought and you are relegated to a position of an observer.

It is great to be an “distant”observer.

Looking at situations from different points of view by adopting perceptual positions will make you enjoy various situations.

And this will certainly help you in ascertaining divergent ethical perspectives of various stakeholders for ethical analysis in an ethical situation.

Let me paraphrase one of my favorite quotes:

If you want to be seen, stand up

If you want to be heard, speak up

If you want to be appreciated, shut up ... and appreciate the situation using the technique of perceptual positions.

Try out this NLP concept of Perceptual Positions in your daily life, at work, at home, everywhere, even while roaming on the streets.

You will be amazed by the results.

Have a Happy Wednesday.

VIKRAM KARVE

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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COCKTAIL ebook

Monday, February 4, 2013

BOOK CHUMS INTERVIEWS VIKRAM KARVE

BOOKCHUMS INTERVIEWS VIKRAM KARVE

Please click the link below to read my interview:

http://www.bookchums.com/blog-detail/author-interviews/bookchums-interviews-vikram-karve/NjE3.html

Do read my Blog (especially the short fiction stories)
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Regards
Vikram Karve

Sunday, February 3, 2013

THE STATUS CONSCIOUS SNOB

THE STATUS CONSCIOUS SNOB

VIKRAM KARVE

The other day I witnessed an amusing spectacle of a retired erstwhile senior army officer trying to pull rank and jump a queue for renewing a CSD Card despite the fact that he was now a “retired nobody”.

Of course, he was put in his place by those around him who told him to get into the queue and he beat a hasty retreat.

When I was in the Navy I observed that there were two types of officers.

1. THE GOOD OFFICER

There were the confident type who carried themselves with poise and dignity, were well-bred, polished, cultured and courteous, honest, transparent, fair and upright in their conduct and quite humble, modest and down-to-earth in their behaviour.

These officers did not need the crutches of rank – in fact, by their exemplary demeanor they enhanced the dignity of the rank they held and they always put service before self.

They truly epitomized the term: “An Officer and a Gentleman”.

2. THE CAREERIST STATUS CONSCIOUS SNOB

Then there were the insecure type who were excessively rank conscious haughty show-offs who believed in the dictum: “Boot your juniors and Boot-lick your seniors”.

They were unabashed careerists who put self before service because for them their rank and status were everything.

For these insecure types rank, promotion and their naval career was the be-all and end-all of life.

They knew, in their hearts, that without the crutches of rank they were zeroes, so they went to any extent to get promoted at any cost.

It is this insecure and ambitious type of careerist officers who often get involved in unethical acts and tarnish the good name of the service.

Snobbish and pretentious behaviour is a sign of low self-esteem.

So, if you see any status-conscious, pompous, egoistical snobs around you, please tell them this story (maybe they will introspect, reflect and change for the better):

DROP YOUR RANK and EGO

A TEACHING STORY FOR STATUS CONSCIOUS SNOBS

Keichu, the great Zen teacher of the Meiji era, was the head of Tofuku, a cathedral in Kyoto.

One day the Governor of Kyoto called on him for the first time.

His attendant presented the visiting card of the Governor, which read:

Kitagaki

GOVERNOR OF KYOTO

“I have no business with such a fellow,” said Keichu to his attendant, “Tell him to get out of here.”

The attendant carried the card back to the Governor with apologies.

“That was my error,” said the Governor, and with a pencil he scratched out the words GOVERNOR OF KYOTO, gave the card back to the attendant and said to him, “Take this card to your teacher and ask him again if he would please give me an audience.”

“Oh, it’s that Kitagaki?” exclaimed the teacher when he saw the card, “I want to see that fellow. Send him in.”

So that’s the secret – just DROP YOUR EGO.

Why is everyone so obsessed with rank, status, power, wealth, fame and other egoistic trappings?

Your individual qualities matter much more than your rank.

Your external rank will go away one day but your intrinsic worth will remain with you forever, and maybe even remembered as your legacy.

VIKRAM KARVE

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Did you like this story?

COCKTAIL ebook

Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

RAILWAY FOOD - Mouthwatering Memories

NLP in DAILY LIFE - PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

Monday, February 4, 2013

BOOK CHUMS INTERVIEWS VIKRAM KARVE

Sunday, February 3, 2013

THE STATUS CONSCIOUS SNOB

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