The Severed Link

No no ... this is not some philosophical post about failures at maintaining ties with people or something like that.

The title is literal. This is about a severed link from one of my tyre chains. Why is that worth blogging about you ask. Well, one of the links broke half way when I was using the tyre chains for the first time.

Instead of throwing the chains I had the brilliant idea of actually sawing off the link from the other end. So, I went ahead and purchased a hacksaw and 15 minutes later I had the severed link. Finally, I used one skill I had acquired during the workshops that were manadatory in the first year of engineering. Yay !!!

Something Fishy

Growing up in Mumbai I had a chance to try different kinds of seafood. I have wondered in the past about the English names of the seafood common to India. I never gave it much thought though. Now, two things brought about the following post.

1) Koli songs. The Koli community are traditonally fisherfolk from the coast of Maharashtra and Goa (?). I heard a lot of words in the popular Koli songs that I knew referred to seafood but couldn't identify what they were referring to. I knew some of them, of course, but many escaped me.

2) My trip to Kerala. While in Kerala, I was dining at a seafood restaurant, apparently the best in Cochin (Fort Cochin at the Casino Hotel) and the entire menu was filled with seafood names in English. I was unable to order the fish (Surmai in Marathi) I wanted for lack of knowledge of its English name.

This post is an effort to help out other poor souls in similar situations. I haven't eaten most of the seafood listed below, so I can't really say which ones are good. Another disclaimer that I want to add is that the list below is a compilation from the teachings of Lord Google. Hence, accuracy is suspect. Please let me know if you find something wrong. Since, Lord Google reads my humble blog, future generations of his disciples will benefit from whatever corrections I make.

Round bellied sardines	Tarsulo
Cat fish	Sangot /Sangtam
Long fin cavalla	Koncar
Gold spoted anchovy	Capsali Mandli
Indian Salmon	Raus/Rawas
Reef cod/ Rock Cod	Gobro
Pearl spot	Kalundar/ Karimeen
Whip fin majarra	Shetki
Dhoma / Croakar	Dodyaro (Hodki)
Butter fish	Saudalo
Common pony fish	Khampi
Mangrove red snapper	Tamoshi
Horse mackeral	Hado bangdo
Mullet	Shevtali / Shevto
Japanese thread fin bream	Rano
Black Pompret	Sagoti (Kayi) /Halwa
Indian Mackral	Bangdo
Indian oil sardines	Tarlo
Railbow sardines	Krishranchi peddi
Sead	Konkoro
Indian dog shark	Mori
Barracuda	Tonki
Hilsa ilisha	Peddi
Hilsa species	Vonog
Seer fish / King Mackerel Fish	Surmai/ Visonu / Viswon
Black tip shark	Pilo
Ribbon fish	Bale
Bombay duck	Bombil
Sole	Lep
Anchovy or silver belly	Velli
Pomfret/ Butterfish	Pomplet/ Paplet
Silver bar	Korli
Kite or Ray fish	Waghole
Butter fish	Karchani
Lady fish	Mudoshi/ Kane/ Nogli
Rock bream	Haddo
Perch	Palu
Ghol (Jew fish)	Ghol
Giant sea perch	Chonak
Naked head glassy perchlet	Buranto
Red Snapper Fish	Rane
Greas carp Fish	Rohu
Muliet Fish	Shevto
Mackerel	Bangda
Clams	Teesrya
Crab	Kekda/Kurlya
Prawn	Jhinga/ Chingri/ Chemen/ Sungat
Sardines	Pedvey

I hope this will serve as a guide for people wanting to translate between English and Marathi/Konkani for the names of seafood of their choice.

Wisdom from my recent trip

1) The Seoul-Incheon airport doesn't have ATMs. So all purchases have to be made using a credit/debit card. The other option is to convert US to Won. Currency conversion is the only option if you wish to buy a phone card from the phone card vending machines.

2) The cell phone networks available at the airport are 3GSM (UMTS) hence, non-3G cell phones won't work.

3) Korean Air allows 32 kg per bag as against 23 kg per bag by paying only $25 extra.

4) The Regional Transport Office at Mumbai now issues Driver License smart cards instead of the old booklet form.

5) Kerala is a beautiful state.

6) Mumbai is a very very very polluted city.

7) Buses going from Pune to Mumbai spend 2 hours roaming around Pune picking up passengers.

8) Dominos pizzas are better in India. More variety in toppings.

9) Drunken driving is finally being taken seriously in Mumbai and other big cities.

10) India is a food-lover's paradise.