Short short .. i promise!

I do solemnly vow to keep this post short. (Coz my hands are acting up ettagain!). But 2 of my fav ppl came over to dinner tonight to eat Paella that they missed last night. In addition there was
- self made near perfect bruschetta (mastery being developed in Penguin's absence, she's in Manila slogging her butt off as I post and cook away)
- asparagus sauteed with baby corn in sweetened soy sauce
- bread croutons moistened with tomato and mint gravy
on the side .. coz was afraid the Paella wouldn't suffice. And a good meal was had by all. :-) Esp by N as you can see from almost demented happy expression on his face :D




(Pls note: N was not ASKED to collect the dishes and keep them like a lost treasure next to himself. He did it on his own accord. We think it might be food induced temporary dementia, but with him, you never really know!)


On a related (!!?? how !!!) note, what I totally LOVE about these 2 is how well they know forgotten hindi songs from our childhood days. Everything from the "Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya" song to "Atushree Mahabharata Katha" comes waltzing back into the room when I'm with them. :-) In keeping with tradition, we you tubed the Mahabharata opening song and not only found it, but also sang along with violent glee :)

Louuuuittt when i find mad people like myself in the world to rejoice over the itsy bitsiest crazy experiences :D

And Sha is the bestest mostest astonishing Bong woman ever! I mean, to tell me to play 'Vaseegara' (the tam version of Zara Zara) coz it sounds so much better than its hindi cousin, then to play Sandai Kozhi instead of its hindi sister 'Kabhi Neem Neem' from Yuva and finally request for a song from Kannathil Muthamital I haven't even heard myself!!!

I officially LOU this woman!!! :D


And my mom gets here in 2 DAYS! :D

And my very good pal V is back from his week long absence in Europe :D

And my visa got approved for my Nov trip - I leave in 2 weeks !!! :DDDD (I'll post the where only when I get there. Enough of jinxing my own luck for one year!)

And I had fruit juice AND ice cream tonight. :S

(Note to self: Its just a sugar high - PHEW!)

Ok, ok. ... I'm off to rest the hand and the system.Good night (yaaaawwwwwwwwwwwn) everyone!

Music, food and broken bones ...

Music:
My carnatic vocal lessons started in May 2007 (despite original plan to start in May 2006, but has it really been a WHOLE YEAR!) and I'm so happy to announce that I'm officially done with phase 1 aka 'Githams' (Penguin, if this is factually incorrect, be a darling as always and DON'T correct me, im in the clouds and i really don't wanna crash land onto reality!) and phasing into Varnams slowly.

Sadly, with a lot of travel and the much awaited holiday season coming up in the next 2 months, classes will be suspended until I rejoin in Feb 08. But until then, a big hurrah to having completed 6 months of vocal training, something that had stayed on the 'to do before i die' list for WAY too long! :D

Practice shall continue with the wonderful Penguin crooning along (and leading in most cases, her expertise on carnatic vocals having been established decades before mine even kickstarted) and substituting for my 50 something teacher in the meantime :)


Food:
Tired of cooking same-old-Indian khaana and stubbornly refusing to settle for anything less than exotic, today just had to be uber-special in the kitchen.

Inspired by Penguin (what isn't nowadays!) and many many mentions of Spain in the last 2 days (apparently some training college for my old business team is happening in Barcelona and junta's flown to Spain for that .. some ppl have ALL the luck bleddy!) and inspired by my last successful foray into foreign cuisine (Pasta and Bruschetta, remember?), today was when I ventured further North in Europe in my culinary adventures and dug up a recipe for Spanish Paella.

Dug up recipe, and cooked to boot! :D Simmered in tangy tomato and bell pepper broth, in a base of sauteed onions and garlic, garnished with lemon and mint, here, here ... I present to you ... Spanish Paella!!!

Cool no? :D Now all those who declined my invite for dinner this evening (You know who you are!) pls to feel TERRIBLE at having missed THAT. It tasted a zillion times better than it looks. :-) Nyahnyahnyah loserrssss! :D

Broken bones:
Not literally. But seriously, every limb in my tiny (FINE, my 5' 8" giant self! Happy?!) being hurts like mad.

(I'm sending this link to my mom so she can feel proud of my cooking and all, but guess what's the one thing she'll remember and fret and instantly call me about?!)

Amma's potential 3rd degree notwithstanding, possible hypothesis on how this achy breaky situation might have happened:
1. Sporadic running. Not warming up properly? (not true, not true!). Getting back to it after too long breaks sometimes.
2. Not gymming properly? Lifting weights in ways that not only lessen fat but also grotesquely twist muscles all wrong! :(
3. Body massage that the self was subject to 2 weeks ago. Maybe, just maybe, one of the many many cracks I heard was a legit bone breaking :(
4. Amateurish feeling foot massage that I got done at the art exhibition a week ago. But can a bad foot massage affect everything from the bottom of my neck to the tip of my finger? Someone pls to enlighten my ignorant soul!

I put my money on 3/4 (obviously coz i get to blame someone ELSE!). Any vishesh tippani (special tips) from my beloved reader?

So if you see me squirming in the next few days, it MAY be coz ur pissing me off really bad (lets not rule that out too soon!), but more likely its coz im hurting all over and going ooh aah ouch under my breath!

I'm off to another night of sedated sleep and potentially another morning of waking up with creaky joints. Good night and hope ur having better luck! :)

Pasta and Bruschetta - made to order !!!

I'll admit the pasta may have been my 'same-old'ish idea, but the uber-cool 1st principle bruschetta was Penguin's idea AND execution, with exotic herbs, garlic paste, butter and olive oil thrown in for effect.

Both turned out SO SO good, I'll just leave a pic to say it all :)

Watta dinner! :D

Engliss is a phunny lenguage you say?

**************************************
Sensitive post coming up again. I'll get lynched after this one for real. I'm serious. I'm hence putting up a disclaimer before I commence.

The views in this post are mine and mine alone. You may think I'm shallow, petty or judgmental based on the post. And I'm perfectly ok with all of those labels. But I'm not extending the scope of my opinions to anyone beyond myself. My style will stay questioning, but you do not have to agree with what I'm saying. Just think about it and chew on the thoughts in your head.

Pls to very kindly note all the above at the very outset.
**************************************

Imagine you're listening to a speech. Intended to be power packed and inspiring. Intended to send a thrill down your spine and get you abuzz with excitement.

Now imagine the same smattered with grammatical errors, space fillers or incorrect usage of words. We all know grammatical errors. Those don't need explaining. Space fillers would be anything in the vicinity of "Ummmmmmmmmmm", "You know", "Errrrrrr", "So" and the like repeatedly inserted where they simply do not belong. Incorrect usage in spoken communication would be "Testimonial" used instead of "Testament" and the like. Incorrect usage in written communication would be "Compliment" used instead of "Complement".

You get the drift?

How do you feel after reading the above? If you're a grammar nazi like me, you're cringing deep down inside at how the language is being abused. More than anything, you're lamenting the loss of great content to poor delivery.

I'm not saying I'm holding people at fault for speaking in poor english. Understandably, not everyone had access to English education or books when they were young. Admittedly, some children grew up in more "English friendly" environments than others. Some were lucky to pick it up from family and friends while others had to struggle and look outside to grasp the language that would eventually become an essential part of their daily life.

I'm saying, I simply cannot seem to get over judging poor delivery. Errors in usage irk me no end. Even the best of speeches loses its charm for me coz i find incorrect English so distracting. It becomes a monumental effort to stay focused on the message when my subconscious is correcting the person as he / she talks. Which is my loss at the end of the day I guess.

But that brings me to my key question (as it does in every blog post!)

Should we as a generation hone our childrens' English speaking abilities considering it could be a driver to their success? Don't jump the gun on the answer yet. Think about it for a while.

Didn't your batchmates with fluent English speaking skills usually find it easier to crack interviews? Didn't you find that they sometimes (only sometimes, mind you!) got away with not so great content simply coz their style and delivery was impeccable, impressive even?

Don't you find that its easier at work to communicate with people who can grasp this language well? Their thoughts as well as your own, even in the midst of arguments, become easier understood simply coz they're better articulated.

Doesn't it become easier, in an increasingly cosmopolitan and globally seamless environment to have a spouse or parent who can speak in English to be able to connect with your circles?

All things being equal: Intelligence, Content and Charisma, if you had to choose between someone with flawless delivery and someone who made constant language errors as they spoke, wouldn't you be inclined to find the former more engaging?

And the simplest measure, in your day to day interactions, don't you find that people who are extremely comfortable with the language can breeze in and out of topics effortlessly, expressing themselves articulately, in the process eliciting approving nods?

I do. I find myself mesmerized by good speakers. That's not to say I can't see through fakes. They're pretty easy to spot. But I find myself being terribly impressed and connecting very very well to people who have:

1. Clarity of thought (assuming the willingness and ability to think!)
2. The ability to translate that thought into expression in a language that's familiar to me (English is the most common given the social and work environments I operate in)

Am I hopelessly shallow? Maybe I am. But I write this judgment evoking post here in the blogosphere coz I know its filled with others who love the language and nurture it through their own writing. Is this "shallowness" necessary baggage for someone who loves the language as I do? Or should I dismiss it as a personal flaw? A consequence of being harsh and non understanding of others' backgrounds?

And more importantly, do you think the idea has merit? Encouraging our children to pick up English much better with the cognizance that it will be the language of the future and that an advantage in expressing themselves in this language will give them that tiny, yet essential edge to make a great impression wherever they go?

Have you wondered ..

How despite being in a room full of people, you can feel silent, empty and on your own (lonely is too negative a term). How none of the banter, jokes or well meant conversation make you feel like you belong there. And how with some other people, even the longest silences can make you feel at peace, at home.

How sometimes, the harder you work at something, the worse you make matters. How sometimes you can run as fast as you bloody well want, but it won't make one bit of a difference coz ur not the only one who controls the outcome? How in the midst of all your professional success and achievement, this inability to make progress can still make you feel like such a top class loser.

How sometimes you click and become friends with the most unlikely people. They walked past you every single day of another life and yet you never saw them. They were right there, and yet you looked past them like you look past clean unblemished glass. And today, they've carved a place for themselves in your heart and soul simply by being who they are. Today having them around is like having the comfort you've craved for a very long time. How wonderful to have the chance to discover such people, later than never.

How some people can find it them to love you beyond belief. Despite the shit you put them through. Case in point - family. Esp mothers.
What on earth gives them the strength to have put up with the snot and the potty and the nursing while we were babies, and the arguments and clashes in points of view as we grew up and then the distance and isolation - real and figurative as we moved away. And to still love us and heal us through the worst lows and to rejoice with us in the tiniest highs, what makes them love us as they do?
Moms and good friends. And in some of your cases, better halves. Have you thought about how blessed you are to have all those people to love you? :)

How much appreciation matters? Do you comprehend the power it wields?
- A friend told me about how his girlfriend blends so beautifully into his circle of friends and how much he appreciates her for it. She keeps in touch with us all, knows all our stories. (She just cooked for a bunch of the 10 of us this evening.) Phew! Do you know what kinda effort that entails? And hence how much love it might come from?
- Another tells me about how her b school going bf never brings work home on weekends so he can have exclusive time with her. Apparently makes time between class breaks to call her and ask her about her day. Hmm .. where does tht kinda motivation come from amidst back breaking skeds and back to back lectures through the day?
- Another has a gf who left a settled well paying job and moved jobs and a country to be with him. Wait, that's 2 men I know. I can only hope they understand what kinda life change that is for the women in question.

So, to come back to the question, do you ever think about the things a previously unknown person today does for you simply out of love?

To plan your birthdays. To painstakingly arrange for little surprises. To put down how they feel about you on email/ paper when you've heard it many times before. To go through your resume when you're in the midst of applying to jobs. To listen to how crappy your day was. To hear your stories they're not a part of. And to enjoy them and try to become a part of your life even across a distance.

Its true that it may not be tough, it may not take sweat and blood of them. But do understand that they have the choice to NOT do any of those million things. They do it out of love. And you bloody well better appreciate it. The human heart although blessed in its ability is no bottomless pit! It can't sustain itself purely on its own unreciprocated goodness. Appreciation - as tough as it may seem, is the fuel that keeps that fire going.

Do you realize how much appreciation matters? Do you appreciate the people in your life enough? Do understand that if you don't, its your loss, not theirs. With their kinda ability to love, if not you, they'll find another person to appreciate them. It'll be your loss, end of the day. Don't let it be. :)

As Nuts puts it, do wonder a little more. Its more likely that you'll end up wondering more about the things that matter to you than those that don't. Maybe that'll be a good estimate of how you rank the people and things in your life today :)

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For those who plan on giving me grief about typing with a bad hand, go right ahead. But I figured after 18 hours of sleep and another 10 hours of no typing, this much I slack could cut myself.
----------------------------------------------

Health Updates...

Since can't sms / mail (hand hurts more when I type esp on small keypads) back to very concerned messages/ mails I've been getting from friends, am posting common update, will direct ur queries to this place for a reply for the next few days :-)

Pehle to, thanks for the smses and mails. Rk, V, SS, Bm and Sha etc. And million thanks to Penguin who knows how I hate going to the doc alone, so spent half her to be exiciting Saturday sitting with me at the doc's. True love is this eh? :-) For this, Penguin, any wish you cite, shall be granted. :D

And health updates:
A severe bout of allergic cold is the worstest thing to happen to my excited system. Runny nose, sneezing, red eyes, tired muscles .. ugh! After prescribed dose of medicines last afty, I slept off at 3.30 pm and woke up NOW at 9.30 am. 18 full hours of sleep! Yes, I do feel much better :-)

Hand doc wasn't around yest, so will go tomm. Until then I'm undergoing a forced seperation (feels like a divorce more :( ) from sms and typing on the laptop. So if i don't reply to sms, mails, orkut msgs etc pls to understand that I still lou u all, just tht i lou my hand a wee bit more. :)

Adios till next update!

Laga Chunari Mein Daag...

Let me keep this short and sweet.


Kunal Kapoor = YUMMY


*Be still my beating heart*

Shmucky ...

Hand swollen. Not surprising. The part behind the palm hurting bad. Amongst others. Weird bad day. (N, thanks for not asking questions and carrying on like nothing had happened). Weird bad time. Hope its over soon.

Promise to see a doc finally. This weekend is IT. For the cold and the back and the shoulder and the hand. Most imp the hand. Cannot imagine not being able to write :-( My horcrux, as I told someone once, is this space where I write. My passion. My love. At some level, an identity in itself, although its scary to give anyone or anything that kinda power. (But then, a blog can't possibly let you down). Urk. What a dark pathetic post this has turned into.

Anyway, won't be writing here a while. So much to say. Elsewhere, but.

Before i leave for a few days, here's a poem the wonderful Mogambo gifted me for my birthday.


I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
With thanks and love from mine.
Deep thanks to all
Who paused a little near the prison-wall
To hear my music in its louder parts
Ere they went onward, each one to the mart's
Or temple's occupation, beyond call.

But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fall
When the sob took it, thy divinest Art's
Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
To harken what I said between my tears,
Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot
My soul's full meaning into future years,
That they should lend it utterance, and salute
Love that endures, from life that disappears!


I pass this on to the people I love. Have loved. In any way. In any context. In any time and place....this, a borrowed piece of art that one friend sent my way and I send yours.

Ciao everyone! I'm seriously and freakishly scared. So pls to pray that my hand is fine soon and there's no bad news.

Ouch!

Is the current sentiment here. Shoulder is doing what they call a "Tandav Naach" wreaking absolute havoc on my system. Its a normal occurrence here in Unpred land. But its painful while it lasts. OUCH!!!

Oh also the cold. How can I leave out my darling cold? How, how can I deprive it of precious blog space? The thing that sneakily waits around the corner right until I want to do my favorite activities (cycle at beach/ blog/ go to movie with friends etc) and creeps up on me unannounced and sends me into my patented "Series of 12 AACCHHHOOOOSSS"! If you thought I was one of a kind, you weren't mistaken. No one else I know can sneeze 12 times in a row. If you can, then pls to let me know I have soul ... ermmm ... nose brothers and sisters around the world.

Ah anyway, let me not shy away from highlight of the day. The cooking keeda bit once again at 7 pm this evening while at work. Found the ever ready to come over and dine Nayak lurking in one corner of the floor and coerced him into coming home by name dropping dishes like aloo palak and peas pulao. (Eh well, it wasn't so much coercion as him getting free food and coming over willingly, but you guessed right, I happen to LIKE DRAMA!)

I ended up cooking an anagram of the above - i.e. Aloo Mutter and Palak Pulao. Am going to proudly (More like shamelessly you say?) display here wonderful pics of wonderful dinner. Those who declined my warm invitation (Read Sid and Penguin) pls to feel terrible cause it tastes much better than it looks! (Let me point out, I cooked and Nayak took the photos - therein lies the difference!).

Amidst all this was embedded a COB (close of business in P&G parlance) deadline from a friend to check his Saali's resume/ form for her internships which i started with as a formality and then realized how im hopelessly manic about words and their interplay only when my hurting wrist (OUCCCHHHH!!) signalled for me to stop editing the answers!!!

Anyway, all that is done and wrapped up and finisssed and closed and to end (FINALLY!) on a happy note, i'm leaving you with pics of the food that was cooked. And tomorrow I'll hopefully post about something more meaningful than aches and food. My life's much more interesting I swear (more like desperately hope, but wth!)

Pls to be seeing and applauding the strewn with cashews Palak Pulao!



And then to stop squinting and start appreciating this badly taken pic of the mostest wonderful Aloo Mutter! (Nayak you $^%^#^@!!!! Isko photo kehte hain???!)



A very good night .. OUCH .. to you all!!! :-)

Wat a ...

Wat a Monday .. passed by in a blur ... Sunday evening was spent sneezing like nobody's business (Yes, I have an ongoing undefined relationship with allergies) and looking like I was ready to die any minute. Slept at a record 9.30 pm and apparently blabbered complete gibberish over the phone to the 2 people who called me post that time, got 10 full hours of sleep and still woke up feeling dopey!! That's a record in itself (admittedly induced by the anti allergens, but wth, I get some credit!) .. but to my dismay the sedating effect of my reliable anti histamines lasted a little longer than expected - through ALL of the working Monday!!

My stoned expression was simply precious, esp through my afternoon meeting where I think I startled the boss with some terrible CP. S, if ur reading, I was on sedatives (reminiscent of Ross and Rachel's "We were on a break"! innit?) and I'm sorry!

And wat a Monday evening, I've never been on the phone that long even while at work ! Couldn't get any running done although really wanted to. Couldn't blog although I really wanted to. Another friend, a regular on this blog, gave me the 3rd degree over why I'm not blogging, and all i could hope was that its a GOOD sign that i'm not yet putting online pages and running tracks over real people and conversations!

I DID have something to write about last evening, a real topic that often does cartwheels in my little brain and bugs me no end. But I'll do that this evening.

For now just wanted to note that the 2 highest comment earning posts I've ever written were the one below this one (Marriage and the involved expectations) and another one on conversations written sometime in March. Likely coz both revolve around issues very close to most people's hearts. It's delightful to have comments pour in 4 ..even 5 days after the post is put up. But not to worry, I won't give in to the temptation and start primarily focusing on issues like tht. (Not like its in my control - my own mind possessing a mind of its own and all!) So the next post has nothing to do with relationships, Ok FINE! Very little to do with personal relationships... more to do with work relationships and the like.

Have a great day! Cya tomorrow! :-) And thanks everyone who dropped in page long comments on the last post, I appreciate ur views on the subject tremendously! :)

What's with the pressure?

This is a very sensitive topic. To me. To many people I know. Heck, to most people I know! - Marriage. And what we expect out of it.

I've wondered for almost 2 weeks now if I can write about the topic with enough sensitivity and objectivity. If putting it up here is a huge violation of my own privacy in some way. If airing my views on the topic makes me vulnerable to unnecessary judgment by readers, known and unknown. And then I realized, despite everything I potray about how much I care about the opinions and feelings of other people, there still rests inside me a person who doesn't hesitate once in a rare while to emphatically state "I don't care!!". And apart from making me somewhat proud, it also lets me write the kind of things I'm about to. On my public blog.

Btw, why marriage?
Coz its that life stage. Coz its that age. Coz most people in that lifestage at that age are around me and talking about it. Coz their momentary discussions trigger off in my head a series of long arguments with the self on the issue, making it much more complex than when it started out.

And what about it?
I've come to wonder. Don't we place too much pressure on the concept? As a result of having evolved to where we are now, to the point where so many of us can claim to be 'discovering' ourselves, our passions and views, somewhere we've begun to expect that a marriage will bring the fulfilment that our multiple activities and relationships do. Is that fair?

To expect that a spouse will be as good a listener as your best friend?
To expect that they would be great at advice on work related issues as colleagues and bosses?
To expect that they can support you with maturity and grace like your parents did?
To expect that they can find time for you, like your friends lucky enough to not be I bankers?
To expect that they can hold your interest through endless conversations, much akin to those few friends you have great conversational chemistry with?
To expect that they'd be cool enough to take out and socialize with your current circle?
To expect that they'd chip in with their share of housework like your best flatmate?

To expect all that and a little more.

Is it fair? Is it normal? I'm sure most people find a way to love/ find happiness/ both with a person even without ticks on all of the above. I'm sure that even if its not easy, people don't walk out on marriages. They try. And they learn.

But the para before last IS the aspirational list right? How terribly impossible esp for people who have trouble reconciling their expectations with reality! And hence how unfair for a potential partner to have to live up to! How unfair an expectation to peg onto an institution.

Coz that's what marriage is at the end of the day right? An institution. After all, marriages aren't supposed to replace everything and everyone else in your life. They're supposed to enhance the value of most people and things that already exist. They're supposed to (look there I go again ... making a list of obligations for marriage to fulfill!) be a simple uncomplicated way to ensure we don't live our lives alone. They're just a way of ensuring that we have someone to count on as we grow old.

But with lives like ours, in times like today, it's tough to just be content with that much, innit? Think about it. When you have a fabulous life as a single person, unless marrying someone makes a phenomenal positive difference to your life, why would you? And why should you? When you find everything within yourself to give you your happiness, why should you have to 'settle' for something just to ensure you have someone to come home to?

I think the argument is that you might have all of this today, but as time goes by, and more people around you either 'find love' or 'settle' for something close to it, you'll no longer have friends and peers to enjoy that fab single life with. And as many many wise elders have tried to persuade us into believing, you'll be too old to 'find love' or even 'settle' for something close :-)

Which is why so many people my age are struggling to find the middle ground between perfection and reality. Coz none of us know the answer. And despite all our so called self discovery, we don't really know ourselves well enough to know what we really want to make of our lives. OR marriage.

Its my most confusing, unstructured post so far. Simply because I'm unable to find a way to logically figure out this issue in my own head. A tiny voice says that with the right person, all of the above, all the random ranting and questioning goes out the window. But the booming voice (the one that rules for now anyway) says analyse, analyse!!! And so I do.

If u feel tempted to rip apart the style (which admittedly sucks) then pls don't give in to it. I'm not looking for comments on how badly written this is. I know already. If you have clear rational answers to my questions, now THAT's something I'd appreciate :)

Died and gone to heaven ...

More culinary celebrations in this house early in the morning.

- Flatmate makes hot cuppa chai (bless her soul, this is a daily thing!)

- Unpred makes semiya upma with the extra 10 mins tht she borrowed from sleep.
Today is already "sampanna" (accomplished and fulfilled - for those who don't understand Hindi)!

*Sigh and some other sounds of bliss as she saunters off to prepare for a workday*

Food .. lots of it ...

For some strange reason, whenever there's a cooking session in my house where anything more exotic than chai is made (which btw, is every single bleddy day!) I make a little mental note to put it down on this blog. Why I want to tell a bunch of friends (blogger and otherwise) what I've cooked, I know not, but tell I will! Think of it as boastings of culinary expertise, think of it as getting back into the blogging groove. (For that matter, think anything you want, its your mind after all!) But if you like food, and are hungry right now, I really suggest you skip this post. If not, read on I say ...


Cooking adventures from last 2 weeks:
- Last Saturday: Spunks and Kinks were invited home and Palli and I cooked. Scrumptious fare of Lemon Rice, Coconut rice, Vatthakozhambu (HAH! All you idiots who called me a fraud tam, take THAT! I even used a Z!) and Palli's classic Aloo curry.

(Spunks' moaning sounds were slisha testimony to how good the food was. Apparently I also made sounds praising own-cooked food. But that's normal for me. Bleddy, why wait for someone else to praise what you know is brilliant!)


- Thurs before that: Beans + Potato curry with coconut. This has to be seen to be believed. But then seeing is not happening coz i had to delete the pic from camera to make space for messages (yes i still put messages from live people over posting random pics on blog, i'm still human, even if i say so myself!). So you'll just have to believe. Light sauteed beans with tender boiled aloo in a lightly spiced dry coconut base ... heaven!!!


- This Thurs nite: Rava upma. I've screwed up upma so many times in this city over the last year, its not even funny. Let me pls clarify before you think im a blithering idiot. It isn't ME! Its the damn rava! For some reason the varying quality of rava ensures that the rava: water ratio is invariably too high or too low so i end up eating either a slimy gooey mishmash that resembles cerelac or sandy granules of unchewable dry rava.

But this time. This time was different. In my own words, (for the lack of any others'!) I cracked it! :D


- Fri evening: Bread Upma. (C'mon Nayak, vouch for this.) Wasn't the bread just the right combo of crisp and moist? Wasn't the salt absolutely PURRFECT! Wasn't the sauteed onions + tomato base delightfully light yet imparting the most wonderful texture to the upma? And the filter coffee! AHA!!

(Note: No sounds were made this time, my sound making makes me the victim of several corny shady jokes around my bschool friends. Snorting and mmmmming and sounds in or away from their vicinity are hence generally avoided)


- Last Monday: Aloo parathas. 1st principle. Meaning right from kneading of dough to mashing of potatoes to making of parathas. All done by Wonderwoman Palli. Thunderous applause shall get you invitation to next paratha dinner session, so pls to oblige!

(P: Wonderwoman is making me want to crack orre bad joke from yesterday, but I shall resist on a public forum! :D)

- Yesterday: Simmbbbull fare of Dal and Sabzee with rotis. But aha oho aha! Suchaa wonderful Dal it was with ginger, garlic and the secret ingredient (a lump of jaggery) for the perfect aftertaste! As they say in Tamil (the kind i don't speak normally) it was a Pramaaadam! :D


Wherefrom is coming all this enthu to cook all of a sudden you ask? Damned if I know. All I can say is sneak in an invitation and be the inspiration to more culinary adventures! :D We (P and I) promise to not disappoint! :D

Inspiration comes in all forms no?

Haven't blogged in 4 ... maybe 5 days now. No excuses. Ok, maybe SOME excuses. Busy slisha. Tired slisha. Sohit visiting slisha. Palli over for dinner, palli househunting trip and so on and so forth. Many many slishas.

But lots of inspiration. Blogger friends msging to ask if i'm ok. (Awfully nice of you :) am ok now) Friends orkutting and scrap leaving saying woman, stop raising our expectations and then vanishing like this. (Fine fine V, sorreeeee!)

But.

Mostest inspiring message to be found in one liner email from Palli this afternoon.

"Why you not blogging man? This is verry unacceptable behaviour. Bleddy phool. "

It IS true. Inspiration comes in ALL forms.

Oh, I'm back and all that :)

Yeehee!!!

The Rocking Girl Blogger award! My 1st ever award on the blogosphere :)

Rockin 'Girl' comes at just about the time when I've started to wonder if i've crossed the age where I can be called a 'girl' anymore :D And as the MM says, a party is only as good as the crowd that visits, so to Mogambo, Penguin, Bm, Ketan, Ravi, SS and all the others who visit here and fill my mornings with comment based emails and keep me going with this blogging thing, THANKS!!! :) Lurker or not, you have my regards :)

Btw, this one comes as a tag from SS, one of my fav bloggers and someone who feels utterly familiar despite the fact that we've never met! Thanks SS! :D

Now, to pass on the award to other rocking women bloggers, here's awarding

- Penguin (a wonderful friend and amazing woman, her kinda cheer is truly infectious, having transformed even grumpy ol me)

- Hilarious Y aka Yashodhara (Seriously, your sense of humor is just the way i love it, straight faced with oodles of sarcasm)

- Broom (The blogosphere respects you for your courage, for doing all you have, and then writing about it, so do I)

Just for the record, I'd have loved to tag SS and the MadMomma with this one, but they've both already been recipients of the award. But consider yourselves awarded even if not tagged, ladies! You rock, tag or no tag!

Ah .. wat a wonderful start to the week :)

Edited to add: Chandni, I wrongly assumed you were on MM's tag list ... since you're not taken already, here's tagging you with the award as well! :) Your posts are thought provoking and hilarious in equal parts and the link on my blog to urs (despite ZERO acquaintance) is testimony to this :)

Further edited to add: High level cute comment from my mom on seeing this post - "I saw, wonderful! At this age I feel like calling myself a girl, why not you when you ARE a girl!" TOO CUTE my mom is :D (and after all this, I hope she can leave a comment .. MA? You listening?)

I like .. I like ...

Funnily enough, a post named I hate .. I hate ... But I lou. Its wonderful to discover new bloggers like this every once in a while, esp when they also lou Sex and the city. :)

And then He makes it rain ...

One of those days again. Argh, this line of posting is getting tiresome. But its true. Its like someone up there reads what I write and sends the rains down just for me. Its magical :)

(It COULD just mean that my city geographically is prone to rains through the year, but where's the magic in THAT! Bweh! Unimaginative staid people of the world, don't make me like you!)

Shameful ..

For all that ranting about how this is MY blog and how I must speak my heart always and yet to feel utter dejection today and not want to blog about it, cause omg, what will people think if I write about sadness? (SS, you know now why I loved that post of yours about why you blog?)

I'm ashamed I stooped low enough to let my expression be influenced by others' perceptions of me. So to make amends to myself.

Its been a yuck day. Met good friend S after very long last evening and had a great time. But even meeting him this afternoon, even getting a new passport, even getting tons of work done and a very productive day in office, even coming home and cooking up a lovely meal for N and catching up with him after way too long did nothing to shake away the one constant of the day - that silken cloth of dejection, so light and sheer that no one else can sense it, yet heavy enough to stop the flow of fresh air to my heart and mind. That being said, I've smiled and laughed like a bloody hypocrite all through the day. Its scary, this ability to wear a mask at will. It doesn't feel like me. Then again, the cynicism and isolation don't either. Tough to tell if that thing called change is good or bad. Time will tell I guess.

Little black box, wait a while will, ya?

New milestones - For Indian cricket and my blog :)

It's been 10 years or more since the last match i saw. Yes, i mean that thing that makes the men in our lives turn into the apes they descended from. Cricket.
(Collective sigh from women of the world? Sounds about right!)

But today. Today was the day I tore myself away from interesting company (my bestest indulgence, really!) and ran off to watch the 2nd half of a match for reasons I still cannot explain. (P: I Louuuuu you!!! Soreee for ditching and running to seee match liddat! You still come 1st! It meant nothing! I was thinking of you ALL the time! GOD, I sound like a MAN!)

But this was THE match man! And how it ended! Purrrfect for an India Pak - one of those phenomena as awaited yet thankfully a little more frequent than a solar eclipse! And wayyyy more special (Ok don't get all geeky and scientific on me here, its just an expression!) considering how we won! :D

But did you notice? Did you see after all that nail biting when they finally zoomed in on the Indian players celebrating in gay abandon? When they no longer have the expectation of a whole nation weighing them down? That's when you see it. These players, these exalted, worshipped souls who carry the burden of India's pride on their delicate shoulders are just boys.

Young boys (yeah, this happens when you turn 26, you start talking like one bleddy Aunty!) who whoop and jump in joy just like any of us normal people. The facade of being a 'cricketer' falls to reveal kids soaking up the pure joy of a win.

Rain, chocolate, music and words all fade into gray against the rich colors of their joy :) Wat a! :D

I have to confess, I might just be a closeted cricket fan after all.
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Oh! And this was post 150 - a dual celebration is in order methinks! :DDDDDD

Good morning world!!!

It's a gorgeous Monday morning. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

There's all kinds of mornings right?

Ones that simply don't want you getting out of bed, the temptation to snuggle further into the covers is just too much, despite a whole work week that beckons...

Ones that aren't particularly sleepy, but have you keeping your eyes closed in a desperate attempt to avoid the world you don't want to face yet ...

Ones that you're delighted to wake up to ... 'school picnic' mornings, 'start of travel to exotic location' mornings, 'going back home from foreign country' mornings and such others ... wish there were more of these, don't we?

And ones that you're happy to wake up to simply cause the rain stands outside your window, gently nudging at first and then beating down its will upon yours with the furious vibration of windows, even closed ones. How can you say no to that, Monday or no Monday?

Its that kinda lovely morning now. As the MdDee's commercial would say, I'm louuuing it :D

Good morning everyone! Rise and shine!! :-)