happy new year and new year resolutions

First of all a happy new year to all ...
                                                      New year reminds of many things .. New year celebrations . Any suggestions from my side is not  needed as each person knows how to celebrate new year in his/her own  way  . As for me its time spent with my  parents today .  Meanwhile this blog is about new year resolutions . 
Here also my suggestions are not needed for anyone . Hey then what am i going to write about  . 
                                                                          Here it goes . Being an ardent fan of bruce lee movies  i have seen  all of them  . Though Enter the Dragon is the best  for the fight sequences , photography ,direction , location etc his last  movie Game of Death is unique  in one way  .  In that  in one of the fight scenes our kungfu master is against an  opponent  almost double his size .  A tall  opponent  almost 7 foot poor bruce lee has a tough time even landing his punches for this guy is towering in front of him  .  But at a particular moment  in the fight  the villain this 7 footer  bends slightly and at that moment  bruce lee though tired after the long fight  puts a choke (strangle hold )  to his neck  . It was not  easy  to hold on  for the villain was as tall as he was strong  .  He  does all possible  things to get out from that choke hold with the relatively much smaller bruce lee but  that hold lasted  till  the end.  It lasted almost 5  minutes and this scene symbolically gave me a visual  ideal  when  making a new year resolution however tough  .  The point is  however  tough  a  problem  or  a wish  if we put our  heart and soul into it  mostly  it is possible  ... if its not in this year maybe next  .  
                                          Away  from bruce lee ,  i have so many real life examples for this  .  There was this cousin of mine who always dreamt  of becoming a pilot  .  This was before the great indian avaiation revolution of Captain gopinath and the multiple job opportunities in the field .  She (yes that also is important  which  makes it tougher in a male dominated airline world at that time )  finished her private pilots licence and after 200  hours of flying  got her commercial pilots licence .  Most of her friends who shared the dream  dropped it  on the way  as it was a tough schedule .  In the end she couldnt get a job  as there were very few pilots jobs at that time (1990s )  and some of her friends who reached upto the commercial pilots licence level opted for jobs unrelated to the "dream "  .  But  she took up  a  job in rostering  which though a subordinate job  helped her be in touch with the field of her interest  .  I used to wonder at that time how she could stay in that job where you interact  with  the pilots inspite of being  fully qualified in  a subordinate function  .  Now retrospectively thinking these were minor  issues as the dream was more important  .  There were very many  major hardships on her way  but  the end result  is  for the last 5 years she is a commander pilot in  a major airline  . 

                               Then there were two  friends of mine in medical college .  One guy was always sleeping in our class for the reason  was he was not interested in becoming a doctor  .  Another guy  never slept in the class but he too didnt want to be a doctor  .  During that time many people especially  my friends in engineering college used to say  this sleeping guy wouldnt reach anywhere ... he will neither become a doctor ( cause he is sleeping fulltime )  nor an engineer ( MBBS will not get an engineers job) . That time i was also skeptical about these two  .  But  time and "the dream "  they had  sent them  to places which neither my engineering friends nor I  could envisage  .  One finished his Ph.D  in computer science in UK and working as a network security consultant and the other one  is Vice President of Tata Consultancy Services which is as of today  the company with largest market capitalisation in india  . 

                                                                                    All these 4  people (  4 th one is bruce lee ) achieved their goal  though the path was  tough  .  So  the point is  if  there is a dream and a resolution you will reach  it  99 percent of time  . Do  our best , (however never be too  hard on oneself )  and then still if you dont reach  your goal  be content that you have  done your  best  .

The first step is new year resolution ...  and hope your dream come true either this year or  in the years to come  .
regards
dr haroon marikar .   

little thoughts on racism

I wanted to blog on this topic long back but in a way didnt because i thought the world was becoming a more civil place  , But  once again a news article taunted the blogger in me
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/215522/racism-not-ruled-indian-students.html

One indian student was shot at point blank range and police are not ruling out racism as motive .  I am saddened by the incident  but  am consoled by the fact that british police has arrested suspects and  they  have not ruled out racism as motive .  This brings to my mind my recent visit to China .  Every day  from  8-11 pm i used to take long walks to go to my favourite restaurants 3 kms away .  The  route was dotted by  restaurants and many areas were fairly isolated .  But i  never encountered  any  chinese looking to accost  any other  person . Many were minding their own business or if at all our paths crossed they  were friendly  .  The same about all the restaurants and shops i visited .  All of them  were either neutral or friendly  . And all of them were as fair  as fairies and many especially the young women were reddish in their cheeks  .  And yes china is a country which has a 7000 year old civilisation and at present  having one of the most rich economies  .  Coming back to my country india we too inspite of our  "caste system "  ,poverty  we  have  since independance  not killed nor injured people on the basis of race .  Even our  caste system and the laws are such that  even verbal abuse  against a lower caste is punishable by law . 

Six months back  i was in a domestic flight  and near me was seated a british elderly couple  .  We started talking  and  there were a zillion potential topics we could have discussed but this elderly gentleman --a tourist who chose india among all the countries in the world --- was describing  how he distributed  the shampoo packets he took from his hotel to  the  cheering  kids who welcomed him at a particular tourist destination in kerala .  He was telling all this like a great king who had distributed  alms to  poor subjects  .  Generally avoiding conflict with strangers i politely stopped talking to him and went back to my  jet airways brochure  .  In retrospect i was thinking about  this tourist basically stealing the shampoo saches (  i dont do  it  from the hotels i visit  .. thats cheap )  and distributing it to a group of cheery youngsters who were merely excited and friendly on seeing a foreigner and accepted his gift as they took it as a token of friendliness not because they were poor   ( even beggars in kerala dont accept shamopoo packets -- the state of kerala has a high human development index ) 

Last week i met my uncles friend who is an indian now living in south africa .  Discussions were interesting about the national parks , the indian diaspora in south africa , the economy ,lifestyle ,food etc  .  Then the question was asked about racism .  The answer was unique  .  He  described  thus  ...

"In the early 1990s during apartheid he went to work in south africa .  During second day evening he and his friend seeing the nice weather went out at around seven pm for having a beer at the local restaurant/bar .Suddenly  both of them were took by the collar and pushed out into the street  .  The reason that restaurant was not for blacks or indians .  " I was astonished . 1990s is the period when countries in asia were undergoing or already undergone drastic development in all spheres .  Physical violence or even verbal abuse against anyone was unthinkable .  Then we asked what about  nowadays in South Africa .  He answered  nowadays if we have any problem we inform the blacks and they take care of it  .

 Last but not the least  a few months back   many indians were brutally attacked in australia .  It was not the attacks that were more alarming but  the attitude of the police .  There was even an explanation that indians take shortcuts through parks which australians avoid at night  .  My question is if police  cant keep  the country safe then what development we are talking about  ? 

Once again  i am happy  about  the pretty girls in shanghai who  served me food with a smile and the haircut i had  in china by a  punk haircut  boy who  smiled said "nihau " and cut my  hair  (that too in punk style ) .
Shanghai rocks ...and india rocks too  ...

pork ,wine and some little thoughts

Russia had proposed to ban Bhagwat Gita a few days back and today the verdict came that they are not going to do it  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16344615                
                              As a citizen of india the largest democracy and a person who believes in free speech its great that no book is banned .  Meanwhile i have my own reservations about the way some people interpret religion be it hinduism , islam or christianity .  Belonging to a cosmopolitan family i have read the three books the Holy Bible , Bhagwat Gita and Quran .  From my reading i have found that all of them give guidelines on human conduct .

 But i have found so many "believers "  who  use the guidelines for their own benefit  .  To make one point ,  I  knew many people who did  five times prayer and at the same time abused  alcohol . And as i understand islam , alcohol is prohibited . Just like five times prayer which should be done   alcohol is not permitted for the "religious " muslim .  Mind you , i am not against anyone who use or abuse alcohol . My point is the same persons who argue vehemently about islam and telling how other people should live have amended part of the holy book for their personal gain .

Another is pork consumption .Its good that most muslims exert self control in not consuming an animal God has forbidden in Quran ,    But  when some "believers " comment that  the people who eat pork will go to hell i cannot understand the implication  ?  Do they decide who goes to hell or heaven ?   And just coming back from shanghai  China where so many people eat pork but are quite a friendly crowd what does it imply?  In this 21 st century what to dicsuss with such people rather than avoiding them .
                                                    There is even one sura in the Quran where it is told your belief is yours and mine is mine implying belief is a personal thing . When even the holy book says so why some religious people try to propogate their version of religion .  If you go through the online article in yahoo.com i was initially skeptical . Bhagwat Gita to the best of my knowledge does not spread hatred against other religions . Its about Sree Krishnas counselling to Arjuna in his moment of crisis .  When i browsed through the article it became clear that the ban was instigated by a "comment " by  a group of followers .  Apparently that comment was against other religions . 

My point is why we need comments and personal versions of religions to be transmitted to people.  In this century of internet most people have the intelligence and the means to access information and to make connection with God if they want to . Why some of us want to play God and make our own versions of religion or doing the duty of heaven-hell decision etc .  And regarding my views as long as the blood drawn from your vein is similar there is only one religion .. human

pls comment ..

Going back to the dark ages ...Denying science the new trend

                                                      Is cigarette smoking especially heavy smoking  a great way to lead a long healthy life ?  Is eating fatty foods everyday in enormous quantities guaranteed to give a great healthy heart that works till 100  ?   Please answer these questions before  you proceed ...

Now another question .. Do all smokers die young  in their  prime when  they have  a family and kids in college  often of cancer or heart attack ? Do all gluttons  die  early  say in their  40 s or 50 s of heart disease  ....

Any educated person  irrespective of whether they are a lawyer ,engineer or an accountant  know that heavy smoking  and gluttonous eating " increase  "  your chance of an early grave  .  But  its equally  known that all smokers dont  die  young  .  Just like most rash drivers die not  from motor vehicle accident  many  factors  also  play  in who will die of smoking  and gluttonous eating  . So  should we recommend "eat and be merry ", "smoke and be merry"  .

    From the  days  of  bubonic plague when  millions died  a  horrible death due  to lack of knowledge and no good treatment ,    science has progressed  to such an extent  that we know much about many diseases curing  many ,preventing many  . Polio, small pox , some cancers  ,  list goes on , But still there are many  more discoveries  to be made,   as compared to a  car ,  human body  is  not designed  nor  the design print given to humans .  Over many centuries many scientists have  used the scientific method including statistics to  study diseases , their causes and their cures .  Just because we do not  know hundred percent of some diseases doesnt make the 60 percent we know  useless .  Thats neither  logical  or rather  is a  disrespect to  scientists who toiled hard like Madam Curie who dicovered Radium and died in the process   . 

If  one of your relatives  these days says he is going to give  massage therapy  for acute appendicitis  you will in all probability shout at  him  .  Why  then is  it  that  we  smile and encourage  seemingly "educated "  people  who  tell  other people eat what they want  the body  will take care ? Is it because we want  to eat  gluttonously and dont be guilty about  it  ?     It  is true that human body is remarkable and in rare cases even certain cancers can disappear  by itself  .And some people who eat gluttonously  live till 100 .   But  does  that  mean  that  cancer shouldnt be treated  ?  My  point is thanks to the internet and google.com  people have now the opportunity  to  learn about  science of the human body  and its treatments  .  If  you  google  you will  see  that  many  research focussed  on rats which were overfed with fatty foods who died early and research  to prolong life  focus on low calorie diet  .  Coming back to the cigarette smoking  with 4000  or more chemicals many of which are known cancer producers  and many studies showing it increases  risk of cancer by  upto 10 times  and heart  disease  significantly  .  Though all cigarette smokers dont  die early  at least  my maternal uncle  though survived  even a brain surgery  and eating  a  low calorie diet  died one early morning  suddenly  of heart attack  . He was  52   .   He used to  smoke a cigarette every 10 minutes from the day  i knew him  . 

. I  never  try  to  teach  an engineer    the  microchip  to be replaced  or the wire  to  be  connected  . I am  not an expert at  that  .  I never  teach a lawyer whether section 302 or 420 should be applied in case of murder . While i am an expert in the clinical  science with some idea of its application in engineering  .  Isnt  it  then justifiable to blog about  it  when some "educated " people make random comments about  a science  which  they know little about  nor  are they keen in learning  . 
Or  is  it that im hypersensitive about  "freedom of expression  in any matter "  which  is  the  boon (or bane )  of our  democratic country  ... 

P. S  :  I sincerely  hope  that people do some research  at least  on the books or internet  (good quality  medical sites  )  before  giving  health advice to people including  recommended eating etc  .  Maybe  we can prevent some premature deaths due to wrong but  " pleasing  advice " .especially  since  obesity is becoming a major health problem these days  ...Please comment  .

surviving shanghai food ... or rather enjoying it

For starters  remove  these wrong assumptions  ...

1.Indian chinese food  is  not  the  real  chinese food available in china 
2. In china you will starve as everything is snake meat, smelly and horribly  bland 
3. china is  an island where only chinese food is available  . 

I  was there  for two weeks and couldnt locate snake meat  ... Good or bad  ?  Good for the snake  :) 
Indian chinese food is  very tasty  but the fact remains  its  only  a  distant distant cousin of the chinese  food available  in China  .  Or strictly speaking  for the average human there is  no  relation except for the soy sauce and noodle  base  .  So  if  you  are  not  a food experimenter  (whats that  if you ask me  .. you are not one  )  need not try chinese food  .  But  if you are like me  its  a  gastronomic adventure  .  China has at least  8 different cuisines  .  And some of them like Cantonese cuisine is fantastic for a food adventurer like me .  Let me explain .  Shanghai  being  a big city in China  has  restaurants  serving  different cuisines  . But  you  have  to searchg and  find  these  places  which are spread out  . I  got  so  worked  up seeing  them roasting a goose Cantonese style  i  searched  in the net and found one  called Hengshan cafe serving cantonese food .  Now ask me why i am asking hongkong food (cantonese ) in shanghai  my answer is shanghai  doesnt have  a  strong cuisine of its own  rather it has restaurants from different other areas of china which are famous  .  Roast goose belongs to the category of sui mei  or roast meats and it is roasted after marinating with a rich spicy paste which contains red chillies , cloves , cinnamon , orange peel  .  Dont ask me why  they put orange peel in  a marinating mix  .  I will ask a question back as why they put orange peel which is dried and aged for 10-20 years and this recipe is more than 100 years old  .  Restaurant  is  a nice chinese restaurant very close to metro station (check on google )  and how to  recognise  it is by the many roast goose  and duck close to the  gate of this cafe  .  Cost  for a piece of roast goose is 50 rmb  and  i  had one piece and  a piece of soy marinated chicken . The  sauces for dipping was yummy  pum sauce and some other sauce i have  never had before .  Fried rice is available  but  i am  highly focussed  .   Only  meat  for tonights dinner  . 

shanghai ...things to do ..

If you are on a business trip to Shanghai  you should visit the Bund .  This is a place  where the Huang Po river divides the city into pudong and Puxi districts .  All the famous landmarks of shanghai like the oriental pearl tower , shanghai financial centre buildings (many of them of the top 10 highest buildings in the world ) are here . At nighttime its a beautiful view to see all the lighted buildings(images in facebook)  on one side of the river which have a modern architecture and the colonial architecture buildings on the other side. You can either cross the river in a ferry for 2  rmb  that is around 16 rupees or gofor a  river cruise for 50 Rmb. never take a walk under the river which costs 60 rmb but u see only lights as water is murky. You can see the shanghai bull (remember shanghai index is one of major asian share market indices) . Have cold protective clothes here as the windchill effect will take temperature near zero in winter time . If you go in evening time you can  cross the river and ride up one of the towers to see shanghai from high up .

Nanjing road is just next to the bund and easily accessible by metro station . This place has got a pedestrian only area where you can just walk and see on either side the modern china  with all the shopping brands of the world . Like someone told about another city you can buy everything except mom and dad , in shanghai everything is available at this 6 km stretch from east nanjing to west nanjing . From a chinese curio to designer watch everything is available . Now two things to avoid here are the infamous tourist traps --- dont go with a friendly chinese girl at nanjing road  .Check out tourist traps in virtual tourist or lonelyplanet for details .And secondly try to avoid buying fake watches from nanjing road ...Except for branded shops bargaining is the norm so if you enjoy bargaining shanghai is your place .Do you need chinese for bargaining  ...No .. The answer is a calculator  ...Do you need to buy a calculator and take with you  ?  No need this is not a maths exam .. the shopkeeper will bring one and u start bargaining the shanghai way  ...high tech  ...And remember  there is "last last last price  "  which may still be not the last price ..Its interesting and funny  ..at least for me  . 

If you want to buy bargain price chinese curios the place is the market below the metro station at science and technology museum . This is also the place where people go to buy  the fakes  so also called the fake market  . The chinese curios are not fakes especially the chopsticks and chinese fans  (  have you ever heard of a branded chopstick or a chinese fan  ?? )  . Here  a presentation quality  chopstick set which costs 600  rupees can be  had  for  150 rupees  .  Chinese fans which cost  400 rupees can be had  for  100  rupees  . 
Now  this place has more than 200 shops many of them selling fakes of many of  the great brands  ..Out of curiosity i saw many  but  didnt buy any  . This place  is  great  for buying chinese curios  but also  just to see  the chinese ingenuity  and bargaining skills . See it to believe  it  .,....
One girl is calling me "  Sir  no charge  for  looking  ...  You know Shah Rukh ?  Namaste "  and  remember  this is Shanghai where many  people dont know english  and secondly  she has rightly concluded with 100 percent accuracy that i was from india without  me uttering a word  ..."

shanghai --- why i like it

disclaimer ... these are some of the things i did ... others may follow at their own peril .

Shanghai is one of the largest cities of China with a population nearly as much as my state kerala . So you may expect a hustling bustling congested city  .  The answer is No .  Or  being the seat of communism you expect red dress clad men and women all doing the same jobs and getting the same pay and leading a middle class life ... No. Snake fry ,  dragon roast .. No .  Then what is it  ? 

Inspite of a population more than 2 crores for a city the city has an infrastructure that rivals cities like munich in germany . 8 lane roads ,  3 tiered flyovers ,  buildings interspersed with gardens and small canals the city has imbibed the values of the 5000 year old chinese culture , the work ethic of communism and the zest for the modern life and that balance is seen in that city .  There are  skyscrapers which are more than 80 floors high  especially in the Bund area but many areas have beautiful villas with gardens on either side of wide roads (check out my facebook photos). I heard China has some regulation on occupancy of  a certain area . It is not possible for a person residing at a village  to  come and buy  a place in the city  just like that  .  He can come and work  in the city but  depending on his skills etc  ..  Not  randomly  as in india  creating slums like in cities of Mumbai  or even  in  big cities in USA  where they have poor neighbourhoods where people from outside cannot travel safely  .  The end result  of all this  at least  for a visitor  like me is a beautiful city  which doesnt have the shoving pushing character  of  a crowded city .  I have put up some photos in facebook where none of them  shows like its from a city of 2 crores  ... Another advantage  of this setup is the low incidence of crime . Everyday  i was walking  4 kms  at 8-10  pm  and i felt very safe  .  Consider  walking like that  in many of the "developed "countries  and you may even get murdered .

Now about red clad men and women ... there are no redclad men and women in shanghai . When i went there it was winter and temperature was between 3 and 10 degrees .  Everyone was in stylish winter clothes with jackets , puss in boot shoes . And this being China and Shanghai being paris of the East the public had two options . All the luxury brands at their luxury prices where available .  From Prada to Gucci , Louis Vuitton to Rolex all of those were available especially in Nanjing Road which is the largest shopping road in the world 6 km stretch . And some of the brands largest shops in asia is also at shanghai ? Gucci  . For the people who are not into brands me included there are reasonably good quality  winterware available in the shopping area . Before going to China i  had a feeling that it had many cheap price things available . But coming here i realised the Shanghainese mostly used high end products or the medium priced ones .  No ones dress (  i was as expected checking out  the girls winterware ) looked cheap .  My point is there were no cheap looking  products at least in Shanghai . There was a  big crowd in applestore and iphone is very popular .

movie review ... Scoop

I recently saw a movie on HBO .  Thought i would share it here .  Its a murder mystery where a serial killer in london goes on killing  women and leaving a poker card at the murder site. Murder mysteries are always interesting but this movie got me more interested as there was an old man who is a supporting actor  but in most of the scenes he is stealing the show  ... The main actor and the murder suspect is the handome actor Hugh Jackman and the journalist who is the main actress is the beautiful actress Scarlett Johansen . They both acted well but  this old man was acting much better  .. I saw the movie to the end and then researched who this old man was .. Movie buffs will kill me that i didnt know " Woody Allen "  but frankly i didnt know him .  Only when i searched in the net after searching the movie did i find that the funny  old man was no other than the great actor woody allen . And i was happy that i discovered him in this retrospective way meaning  just by seeing his acting i  could feel he is someone great  .  Please check out wikipedia to find out  he was not only a great actor  but also his adventurous personal life . See "Scoop "  if  you are interested in murder mysteries or if you like Scarlett Johansen :)

Shanghai noon or the .mallu in Dragon land

I came to china day before yesterday by Cathay Pacific airways . The service was very good and they served Indian food in the flight upto hongkong . I was worried that I would be lost in the big airport and with the transit time of just one hour  I was really worried  .  But immediately on deplaning  I saw a nice Chinese flight attendant holding a board showing that the next gate for shanghai passengers  is gate number 50  .  My point is inspite of having the most advanced technologies the human touch could be seen typical of an asian country  . I like it  .  Was  it all human only  ..  No way . This was china where there was a unique blend of humanity and technology  .  I was walking for 10  minutes and suddenly I reached a subway . Felt like science fiction . Subway in an airport for transferring from one gate to another  . Hi-tech . Total time after I came out from the plane to hongkong and reached boarding gate of flight to shanghai only 20 minutes .  This is in sharp contrast to airport at Amsterdam where I had to virtually run to avoid missing the connecting flight  .  The connecting flight was also good and I had the first taste of proper Chinese food – thick flat noodles with seafood .  Much blander compared to the Chinese food available in india . I  reached shanghai by noon  . 

The shanghai airport is in pudong district of shanghai  and the immigration process was very smooth . The immigration officer with police badge on the shoulder  smiled .  I have passed through immigration of india , srilanka ,Kuwait and germany but a smile was first from immigration . 

Money changing at airport to Chinese RMB or Yuan  was done and got a local SIM  for cheaper calling  .  Those who on  their international roaming my only advice is try to avoid for it costs too much the money which can be better spent on shopping or eating  . I saw the arrow pointing to the Maglev train which is faster than the bullet train and the French TGV train  and much cheaper . I will use it later as  it doesn’t go to  my hotel area  .  Got a taxi  from  the taxi queue below.  (Never take taxi from solicitors like any big city  )  .  One girl was calling  to me  but as mamma told never go after a girl who calls you J

                                                    Always  I repeat always take the address of your hotel printed in Chinese and the hotel number as most drivers don’t talk a word of English. And learning Chinese is not easy  .  The cityscape is great  with 8  lane roads with  separate cycle tracks  .  The buildings are beautiful as shanghai has a cultural history with interspersing of architecture of many cultures . Even the  modern buildings are stylish  .  Many buildings are 25 floors +  in downtown shanghai  .  Vehicles are ninety percent  sedan type Volkswagen and a Chinese company predominates . Don’t ask me the name of the Chinese car company I cant read Chinese .  But  leave  your  notion of  “Chinese “ make .  The car  is very stylish with great build quality . Its finish is better than Volkswagen passat  .  Another thing is so far I haven’t seen a single beggar here  .  The people are all fashionably dressed  ,being winter ,  with all the stylish overcaoats and puss in boots shoes  . I  reached my hotel  Citadines which is  a  chain of  hotels worldwide  .  After checking in the hotel  I strolled through the roads of shanghai  .  Everywhere I look I see  the look of a developed country  .  You never feel that you are in a country with most population in the world  .  And yes ,  there was not even  a  single  political flag  anywhere  .   No hartals , bandhs or dirtying or roads  ---and remember this is a communist country  .   My state  kerala should follow the Chinese example  which  being the seat of communism doesn’t have  any  of  it affecting the day to day life of common man  .  Just before the day  of my coming here there was a bandh or strike against walmart in india  . And  I saw a walmart  in china  and  the Chinese supermarkets are equally flourishing there no problem  .  My point is  though india is shining  and I am proud to be an Indian we have  to learn a lot  from our asian neighbor  . 

Another  thing  I  noticed  here which can be copied is their culture of sports  .  There were numerous basketball courts and shuttle badminton courts on side of road  and the public both children and adults were playing  .  In india sports are delegated to  college age  people . No wonder I hardly  saw an obese Chinese  .  There were huge  stores selling exclusively sports goods like Decathlon  .  Trekking outfits , fishing rods , archery equipment ---you name it its there .  The store was 15 minutes walk from my hotel