Bloggity blog blog

Lava lamp.

2012-02-29T21:16:00.002-08:00

Sagchet and I have one of these lamps which have blobs of colored wax moving up and down when plugged in- a lava lamp. I don't think this particular device serves any practical purpose and I'm sure many would agree with me. Yet it adds aesthetic value to the house.

When you're upset, or in a contemplative mood - all you need to do is turn off all the other lights and switch this thing on. As you see the blobs move around in the glass enclosure somehow you forget about everything else and you feel at peace with yourself. This small colorful device manages to put a smile on my face every single time!

Amazing, innit? If you don't believe me - why don't you try it yourself? :)

Mirage.

2012-02-29T21:02:00.004-08:00

This was a common sight on our recent road trip where we crossed the breadth of Arizona - a state which is mainly a desert. Yep - its a mirage on the road. Even though I knew what it was, I couldn't help but believe that there was , indeed, water on the road in the middle of this parched, dry boring landscape!

Sabudana (Sago/Sabakki/Javvarisi) lemon kichdi recipe

2012-02-29T20:56:00.001-08:00

Can you hazard a guess as to who has been cooking a lot lately? ;) Anyway - here is one of my experiments with my favorite ingredient , Sabudana. I liked it and I hope you'll like it too!

Here are the things we need:

Sabudana - 1 cup
Groundnuts - 1 Tbsp
Green Chillies - 4
Ginger - 1 small piece
Lemon extract - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Mustard - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coconut - 2 tsp
Oil - for seasoning
Coriander
Curry leaves

Step 1: Soak sabudana in cold water and set it aside for about 3 hours.

Step 2: Roast the groundnuts lightly. Grind half of it along with ginger, curry leaves and green chillies into coarse powder.

Step 3: In a Kadai, add oil, mustard, jeera and the remaining groundnuts and let it sputter. Then add the ground powder to it. To this add coconut and salt and fry it for a minute. Then add turmeric and lemon extract. Remove off the stove.

Step 4: Drain away all the excess water and add the soaked sabudana to the above mixture and mix well. You may decorate it with coriander.

Hot and tangy Sabudana kichdi is ready! It tastes good when served with Indian mixture (snack) and curds.

Bon appetit!
Enjoy.

Vazhakai (Raw Plaintain) Puli Kootu recipe.

2012-02-27T19:28:00.001-08:00

There aren't too many dishes that one can make out of raw plaintain. Its either the Bhajji or the south indian poriyal. That's what I thought till my granny told me otherwise. She made this delicious kootu and taught me how to make it too.

Here are the things we need:

Raw plaintain - 2
Red Chillies - 4 or 5
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Grated fresh coconut - 1Tbsp
Tamarind pulp - 1 cup
Tomato - 1 or 2
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 4 or 5
Oil - for seasoning

Step 1: Cut the raw plaintain into smaller pieces as shown and pressure cook.

Step 2: Remove the peel after the plaintain is cooked and chop it up into smaller squarish pieces as shown.

Step 3: Dry roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, jeera and pepper corns. Grind it together with the coconut to make a smooth paste.

Step 4: Take a big vessel. Add tamarind pulp, chopped tomatoes, asafoetida, turmeric powder and bring it to boil.

Step 5: Add the raw plaintain pieces to it and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the ground paste to it and cook for about 5 minutes.

Step 6: Add seasoning with mustard and curry leaves. Steaming hot puli kootu is ready!

Serve hot with rice. It tastes best when served with boiled rice.

Bon appetit.
Enjoy!

To Albuquerque and back - Part I

2012-02-27T17:21:00.001-08:00

2012 seems to be a good year indeed! We're not even two months into it, but we've already been away on another one of our impromptu [more or less] road trips. And this time the territory we set out to conquer was - the state of New Mexico.

On Friday afternoon around lunch time sagchet, me and four friends of ours decided to just get away to Albuquerque for the weekend. At 7pm that day we went and picked up the only big rental SUV available and paid a bomb for it. After an elaborate dinner we set out of San Diego at around 9.30pm the same day. Our first destination was Phoenix - a midway stop where we would catch a few hours of sleep.

Our car for this road trip - Dodge Durango.

The first driver at the wheel was KrisD - one of the fastest drivers I've seen around. He was constantly doing ~~over 100mph~~ (oops!) erm.. well, lets just officially say he was going VERY fast. Miles just flew by. After two hours it was Sumanth's turn. He took us into Arizona even when the rest of us were dozing away. The last hour to Phoenix was the toughest though for it was 2am and everyone was drowsy. Sagchet bravely endeavored to take up this task and he took us to a Days Inn at Phoenix where all 6 of us simply crashed and began snoring away to glory.

Days Inn motel Phoenix

We woke up , grabbed a quick breakfast and headed our way to Sedona. This time it was me driving through the winding roads of Arizona. The most interesting spectacle we saw on our way was - one truck towing two other trucks on the freeway. And then just like that the boring terrain suddenly got interesting. We could see beautifully shaped red color outgrowths in the middle of the desert and we knew we were in Sedona. Since all of us were hungry we decided to finish lunch before we headed out to explore this place. We had a sumptuous lunch at a very nice and quaint restaurant - Thai Palace [ I would highly recommend this place to anyone passing by Sedona, btw].

A very nice Thai restaurant in Sedona.

After lunch we set out to one of the scenic viewpoints - Cathedral rock. Tejas was driving now and he made ample noise when he realised we had to go over dirt road for a while to get there. We finally reached the place. There was a small stream beside the rock and greenery all around it. We also scientifically found out that the stream was running pretty fast [by dropping a twig into the water, of course]. Then we went to another scenic view point took the usual group pics and decided to head to our next destination - Albuquerque, NM.

Scenic view point - Sedona

To be contd..

My new found love.

2012-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

Sagchet's Valentine's day gift to me this year is a brand new 21-gear bicycle. And I'm already in love with it! Before this I've owned only one other bi-cycle and that was nearly 10 years ago. I did own a two-wheeler later, but its not the same.

Gliding along the streets slowly, pushing the pedals monotonously one gets to see the world at 2x speed. And I like that a lot. What's more, one can dis-assemble and put the whole thing together using just a bunch of screw-drivers!

Well, I'm going to be off now - time to go "tring-tring"! :)

Mighty tale.

2012-02-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have not clue how many more blogs of mine are going to be about Ajanta and Ellora. Do bear with me - I simply loved these places. :) This one here is one of the best features of Ellora according to me. This wall of sculptures depicts the tale of Ramayana. If we take a closer look we can see some of the significant events - Rama's arrow which pierced seven sal trees, Hanuman crossing the ocean to spy on Lanka, the battles between the Rakshasa and Vanara army etc. Doesn't this remind you of the following very famous Sanskrit Shloka (which tries to summarize the entire tale of Ramayana in 4 lines!)?

आदौ राम तपोवनादि गमनं हत्वंरिगं कन्चनं

वैदेहि हरणं जटायु मरणं सुग्रीव संभाषणं |

वाली निग्रहणं समुद्रतरणं लङ्कापुरी दाहनम्

पश्चात रावण कुम्भकर्ण हरणं एतद हि रामायणं ||

Why di, Why??

2012-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Its not a complicated musical composition, its not a new genre nor has it been sung by a brand new professional vocalist who has a soothing voice. But it is an amazing song and is definitely one of a kind! Yep, I'm talking about the 2011 year's sensational song "Why this kolaveri di".

The singer/actor Dhanush is a decent actor[not the best, mind you] and has worked in quite a few movies so far. But somehow , through no fault of his own, his claim to fame was that he was Rajinikanth's son-in-law. But this song has changed everything! Even his wiki article has been edited and now it says he is a playback singer and no one cares much about whom he is related to anymore. What's more - he is being invited to give talks at the IIM about the success formula of this song!!

I have been breaking my head trying to figure out why this song rose to fame too. I mean - yes I do like it. But why did millions of other people (not just country-wide, but world-wide!!) ? I have no answers for that and I'm sure Mr. D doesn't either. So why waste our time? Lets simply listen to the song again and have some fun!

Vegetable Bonda.

2012-02-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

I was bored with the routine snacks at our place ( Mangalore bonda, Bajji etc) . I wanted to try something new which is when this dish came up - Vegetable Bonda.

Here are the things we need:

For the filling:
Potatoes - 2
Carrots - 2
Peas - 1 cup
Green chillies - 3 or 4 finely chopped
Coriander leaves

For the batter:
Asafoetida powder - 1 tsp
Gram flour - 2 cups
Red Chilli powder - to taste
Jeera Powder - to taste
Salt - to taste
Baking soda (optional)

Mustard - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Oil - for deep frying

Step 1: Peel and Cook the potatoes and carrots till they get soft and mash it up.

Step 2: Add Peas , green chillies and coriander to it. Heat a little oil, add mustard and jeera seeds to it and wait till it spatters. Add this to the above mixture along with required quantity of salt and mix well.

Step 3: Mix all the ingredients required for the batter with water and bring it to the consistency of dosa batter.

Step 4: Roll up the vegetable mix into balls, dip it into the batter and deep fry till it turns golden brown.

Drain excess oil and serve hot with tomato ketchup! :) Vegetable Bonda time it is!

Bon appetit!
Enjoy!

Celebrity factor.

2012-02-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

He flipped his hair to one side and said "How is this?" and the entire audience yelled "SUPER"! God knows how many other men tried the same and they received only a chorus of boos. Another man stood on a stage with a faulty device and assured the audience that "It happens in all the phones" and people believed him and rushed to buy the faulty phone. If any other guy had tried this gimmick he would have been at the receiving end of rotten tomatoes.

I've often wondered about what makes some people click? Is it talent, looks or luck? Or is it the obscure entity popularly termed as charisma? Are people born with it or do they work hard to acquire it as they grow? What a heady feeling it must be to know that any word or action of yours will be hurrahed and worshiped by throngs of people, neh? Maybe its time to dissect this "factor" and figure out more about it! What say you? :)

Beach ahoy!

2012-01-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

I like beaches in general. But I love this particular one (its in Jumeira , Dubai) the most. The water is our own Arabian sea - warm and choppy which is how I like it best. The sand is very fine and feels so soft to tread on. But the best part is that there are palm trees on the beach! Throw in a hammock and a tender coconut, what more does one need in life? ;)

Running around the trees.

2012-01-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

There are several elements common across all movies made in India - the popular 'meri maa' sentiment, a villain twirling his moustache [usually potrayed by men who look or are made to look very scary], a lot of dishoom-dishooms AND songs ! And right since my childhood days I was always a little perplexed with the last one - yep songs.

What I mean is- I never understood how the hero of a movie (who is a police officer and is about to catch a criminal) stops and suddenly starts dancing away funnily to some song with a pretty girl around. I mean, that never happens in real life!

Not that I go around jumping up from building to building chasing some thugs on a daily basis but we do get into some fights in our daily lives[verbal/physical], don't we? But somehow I have never ever started singing and dancing loudly in the middle of , say, a railway station to attract the attention of the love of my life who is on one of the many trains! How can he even hear me amidst all the chai-coffee shouting going on there? And what's more - there are no microphones around!

I wonder how this nature of film-making came into existence. I understand dance dramas, and I also understand if the music is played in the background of a play/movie. But I still never get the [supposedly] lip synced oo-la-la-las churned out by our various "woods"!

Its all written... or is it?

2012-01-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Yes you guessed it right. This post is about one of the longest debates consuming some of the brightest minds of the human kind - is there such a thing called fate or destiny really? Or is it just some mumbo jumbo people have come up with over the centuries? Several people line up to defend both the views and most of their arguments are sound.

All our lives have so many designs woven into it. Many of us go through major upheavals too! One small turn and it would've taken us down a totally different path. So was this design pre-determined by some all-knowing entity? Or do we create these designs for ourselves? Some say that nothing comes to us unless we work for it. Others say no matter how much we work we won't get anything that we are not destined to beget. And then there is the biggest gray area of course - luck!

What is this luck? What factors influence it? Is it mere coincidence? Can we do a statistical analysis on it the way we've explored the probability of the result when two die are thrown? Does it really make a difference whether I call it luck or by some other name - say fate or destiny? To me it doesn't. But I am sure there would be many people who would disagree with me.

In short let us just conclude this post by saying this - I haven't made any conclusions or firm opinions on this matter. What do I say - maybe I am not destined to ? ;)

Put(t) it in!

2012-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

Golf always seemed like a boring game to me. There are so many technical details about how you should stand, what angle you have to hold the club blah blah. So it was with extreme reluctance that I agreed to go to a course near our place and play a game of putting this weekend. And boy - was I surprised or what? Because I simply loved the game!

I have to admit I am still not a big fan of golf driving. I can never get it right and I end up hurting my arm. But putting is very different. Its all about accuracy, judging the terrain and of course a lot of luck. This weekend, four of us went to this 18 hole course where we competed against each other. Initially I did not get it at all! But after some time I learnt a bit of the game and was competing with the others no end. I didn't win of course, but I totally loved it. Golf [atleast the putting part] has earned itself another fan and its "MOI". :)

Mangalore Bajji (GoliBaje)

2012-01-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

It is raining today. And what's the first thing that comes to my mind? Yes of course - hot tea with Mangalore Bajji [deep fried - flour dumplings] !

Here are the things we need:

Maida flour - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2 or 3 - finely chopped
Ginger - small piece - finely chopped
Coconut - 1 Tbsp - grated
Salt - to taste
Buttermilk
Baking soda - a pinch (optional)
Coriander - finely chopped
Oil - to fry

Step 1: Mix the flour, salt, green chillies, ginger and coconut (baking soda) in a bowl.

Step 2: Add buttermilk to the above mix to make a dough of about the same consistency of chapathi dough. Let this stand for a while.

Step 3: Heat oil in a frying pan. Roll out the dough into round shaped dumplings.

Step 4: Deep fry the dumplings till they turn golden brown. Drain the excess oil using paper.

Tadaa!! Bisi Bisi [hot from the oven] Mangalore Bajji is ready! Serve hot on the side of tea to have a glorious rainy day. :)

P.S: You can also add finely chopped onion along with Step 1. That tastes good too! :)

Bon appetit.
Enjoy!

Musing-er.

2012-01-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus's parting gift for the year of 2011 was this - a reclining sofa. Sagchet and I ordered one of these for ourselves and it finally came to our place a couple of days ago. And it is one of the best things we've bought so far!

True, it is a bit addictive and one can easily become a couch potato. But as long as you don't overdo it - it is a multi-purpose piece of furniture. For one it is extremely comfy. Apart from the usual lazying [TV watching, book reading etc] one can also use this as a workplace with absolute no need for a work table. Best of all this is the ideal place to sit and muse over everything in this world and beyond.

So thats right - you can expect many many more blogs right out of the couch from now on! :)

Pongal with Bastilia!

2012-01-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

This year's Pongal celebration was very interesting! In addition to the usual 'Sankranti/Pongal'y things we usually do - like eating Khara/Sweet Pongal, Ellu Bella , going to temples etc we went to a Moroccan restaurant for dinner. Yes you read it right! And it was easily one of the best dinners I've had so far.

Everything from the soup to the Baklava dessert was yummy. But what we loved the most was an appetizer served to us called Bastilia. It is a simple dish - Pilaf rice with vegetables and fruits stuffed into a crumbly fried wrapper. There was a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon on the top. In all it was a real delicious combo. It made us go Pongalo-Pongal indeed! ;)

Slug-go!

2012-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

It was a weekday afternoon. I was driving back home after lunch. And suddenly I noticed how different everything is! Not a single vehicle breaking the speed limits, no rash drivers cutting the queues and getting in front of me, nothing adventurous at all! Everyone and everything was moving at a sedate pace. Guess that is what a full stomach does to one, eh? :)

Dolphins.

2012-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Dolphins are fascinating creatures. They are said to be one of the most intelligent marine creatures. And I got to see this for real, recently. Sagchet and I had been on one of the dolphin-watching tours. So our boats would follow a group of them into the ocean and we would wait till they plop up near the surface. It so happened that there was one small fella among this group who decided to show off his talents to us. Every time all the boats lined up it seemed as though he knew he had audience - he would come out of water do a few flips [multiple times] and then dive deep into the ocean! Amazing huh?

Cling on!

2012-01-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

In our recent trip to Maldives, sagchet and I found many species of the marine world very interesting. But the ones that were most intriguing to us were the Maldivian crabs. [We don't know if that is what they are called. But they were crabs and we found them in Maldives - and hence the name!]

We stayed on an island close to Male [capital of Maldives]. There were several walkways build of stone all around this isolated place. And we found tons of these little crawly fellas all along the stone walls. And they all seemed to cling onto the rock surface where the waves of the mighty Indian ocean came and crashed periodically.

The rock surface was covered with moss and yet the crabs had no problem at all staying in one place! The tenacity with which they clung onto the stone walls was amazing. They must be so strong and their claws must be so sharp. Sagchet and I kept jumping up and down trying to stay as far away from them as possible. They looked scary to us.

But what was very surprising was - these ugly looking tenacious creatures were scared of anyone and everyone around them. They were scared of us and they kept scampering away. Weird eh? :)

Ajanta Caves.

2012-01-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'd heard the names of Ajanta and Ellora in my history text books. And a few friends of mine who went there used to throw these names at me. All these years I used to simply nod my head and tell to myself - "Maybe some day in the future, I'll go there. It is just some caves after all." Well, that 'some day' never came in all of my 25 years of life until last month. And boy did I know what I had missed all these years!

The horse-show bend in the terrain where Ajanta Caves exist (Courtesy: Google)

We stayed in Aurangabad and took a cab to Ajanta from where we had to use public transport to get to the caves. As the bus wound through the hilly road I could see dry arid land all around me. How could these caves have been hidden in such an open area, I mused. Turns out there is exactly such a place in that terrain- a horse-shoe bend in a canyon which is practically invisible from any normal approach to this place!

The stupas for meditation - Hinayana monks

There are about 30 caves here. Some of them are Buddhist meditation temples while the others were Buddhist monasteries. Some of these caves here have been around since 2nd century B.C and the most recent ones date to about 5th-7th century A.D. There is a differentiation based on the sect of Buddhist monks who lived there too - Hinayana and Mahayana. But all these caves are spectacular and each and every one of them had spectacular sculptures and/or beautiful paintings (which are slowly fading away because they were made of vegetable dyes). It is simply enchanting that a work of art so old is alive and thriving even today.

Vegetable dyes used for painting the pillars inside the caves

There are several tour guides you will find here. They will go over what each painting means, they will narrate the exact Jataka tale a particular statue or mural depicts. I was however not interested in that. I just wanted some peace and quiet while I sat down and admired these murals and drowned in awe and admiration.

The most popular painting of Padmapani in Ajanta caves

How did those simple monks carve statues on the ceiling of these caves? What scaffolding did they use to go up and paint the beautiful pictures up there. What happened to these men once the Hindu reformation movement came up in India which was mainly anti-Buddists and anti-Jains? A thousand possible answers to those questions [even if you ask the guides there - each one narrates his own version!].

One of many carvings of Buddha

Sagchet and I went hopping from one cave to another when, finally, the most beautiful of all sights met us. It is the valley/canyon where these caves exist. If this glorious sight greeted these monks every day they woke up - what better inspiration did they need for their art?

A view of some of the caves facing the open canyon of a small stream.

New Year is Here!

2012-01-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

The brand new year of 2012 is here! It is going to be an interesting year indeed. Well, not only because of the supposed end-of-humanity-hype (I personally think the Mayans simply ran out of paper and/or ideas to fill and hence stopped writing beyond a certain point). For me this year will be very important both in my personal life and career.

I am on the verge of changing my profession and walking down a new path. Whatever I do, this year will define the rest of my career. Also, this is the first year of my marriage. I am not sure if it is going to change my life largely, but I am definitely sure that it is going to be very interesting.

Here's wishing everyone an exciting, awesome and fun-filled year ahead!

Enjoy!

A permanent signature.

2011-12-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

Kailash Temple at Ellora - What a stupendous monument it is! It is a monolithic marvel carved from top-to-down. This project was commenced under the reign of Krishna I , Rashtrakuta ruler and it took more than 400 years to complete. Generations of sculptors have sweated away and spent their entire lifetime in completing this structure. Even now if you go to a silent spot and sit down you can hear them chiseling away at the stones.

Mysore Rasam Recipe.

2011-12-27T23:09:00.000-08:00

Its winter time, you already have or are on the verge of catching a cold, you are hungry and need to toss up something for lunch... which is when , obviously, you make Mysore Rasam and gulp it down with steaming hot rice!

Here are the things we need:

1 tomato - sliced.
1 cup Tamarind extract (diluted)
2 Green Chillies
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Pepper corns - 6 or 7
Red Chillies - 8 or 9
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Toor Dal - 1 Tbsp
Oil
Salt

Step 1: Boil the tamarind water along with the tomato slices, green chillies, asafoetida and turmeric. Continue boiling till the tomato gets cooked.

Step 2: Add 1 tsp of oil and roast the chana dal, red chillies, coriander seeds and pepper corns. Add it to the grated coconut and grind this mixture into a smooth paste.

Step 3: Pressure cook the toor dal well and fine. Remove excess water and mash the dal properly.

Step 4: Add the ground mixture to the boiled tamarind water and let it boil for about 10 minutes. And then add the cooked toor dal to it and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Step 5: Garnish this with some seasoning and coriander.

Serve this with hot rice. Try it with some plain cooked Toor Dal for I think it tastes even better that way!

Enjoy and Bon appetit.

Celebrations.

2011-12-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

Festivals are festivals. Religion, region, caste, creed no bar.... atleast for me. I mean what are festivals after all? There is always a legend or a story attached to it - some hero is born, some villain is killed and so on. But the way we celebrate them is more or less the same. We get together with friends and relatives, eat delicious food and simply chill out. The real point of festivals is that it gives us all an excuse to take some time out of our viciously busy schedules and spend quality time with our loved ones.

I celebrate several festivals throughout every year. Not all of them are necessarily significant to my religion. But I still enjoy each and every one of them equally. So guess what I did for Christmas this year? We brought the traditional Christmas-time-chocolate-cake home, sang a "Happy Birthday" song to Jesus and enjoyed it with some delicious and hot Mangalore Bajjis(Goli Baje)!

It was a lot of fun! So do write in and share the stories of your celebrations too. :)

Enjoy!

7am arivu

2011-12-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

This was a very strange movie. I think this is the first politically motivated Tamil movie I've seen. The premise is very promising - a Pallava intellectual called BodhiDharman went to China from Tamilnadu in the 6th century, and became renowned there for his medical and martial prowess. He went on to establish the Shaolin school there and passed on his medical knowledge to the Chinese, while Indians forgot all about him. Now, almost all Chinese people know who BodhiDharma is, but not a single Indian knows about him ( and neither did I). So, if all this knowledge was in India so long back, isn't it worth our while to explore our roots and find out the meaning behind all our ritualistic practices?

Surya plays the Bodhidharma character pretty well, acting as the calm yet deadly wandering monk and teaching the Chinese his skills. However, Shruti Hassan in the female lead couldn't pull off her role so easily. This is still one of her early films, so I'm willing to give her some slack, and hopefully her dialogue delivery improves from now. The execution of this movie, though, is among the worst I've seen, and there were many moments in the movie when I would physically cringe at the dialogues being spoken. As Katy put it, Udhayanidhi Stalin is the producer, so DMK dialogues have to be in there.

So, the rest of the plot ( the cringe-worthy one, that is) goes something like this - present day China wants to wage biological war over India, and they come up with this disease that only BodhiDharman could cure. Shruti Hassan, as a genetic engineering student, is very intrigued by the legend of BodhiDharman and wants to genetically modify his descendants to make them as talented as BodhiDharman. When the chinese get wind of this, they send their most talented assassin (Dong lee :)) to Chennai to kill Shruti Hassan before she makes any progress. Our hero, Mr.Surya, is an acrobat in the local circus ( aptly named Bombay Circus) and falls for the Hassan girl at first sight. After some very contrived and non-convincing romantic sequences, she tells him that the only reason she interacted with him was for this:

She wants to genetically modify modern Surya's DNA to, wait for it, bring back all of BodhiDharman's knowledge and talents in one shot!!! This is called genetic memory apparently, and, I'm sorry, no amount of movie masala can make up for this craziness..

She then goes on about how Tamilians have become crazy about moving abroad (true) and have forgotten their roots (not so true, I think). Anywho, the assassin tracks down the lady and "hypnotises" an entire police station worth of policemen to shoot each other to death... sobs.. :(

Mr.Surya is then mightily angry about the whole thing. How can it be that Tamilians are losing everywhere, he asks. Apparently, they have been losing in Malaysia and Sri Lanka and now they are losing in their own homeland!! This affrontery can no longer be tolerated, and he volunteers to get genetically modified. I was too stunned about the losses in Malaysia and Sri Lanka to pay attention to the rest of the movie...

DMK, I get it. You are popular in Tamilnadu because you have helped Tamilians regain their lost pride, and sure, you have a lot to be proud of. But there are lines that you shouldn't cross. The LTTE was a terrorist outfit, no matter how noble their intentions were. The fight in Malaysia is happening because too many Tamilians went there, and naturally, the locals got freaked out! Have some political rallies about those causes of yours, I don't mind. But please don't spoil the film industry with your political crap. This could have been such a good movie, if not for your meddling ways. This whole harping on about the Tamil race tells the rest of us that you don't want to be Indian anymore, and I don't like that. The 7th sense here could have been the sense to see the underlying science in Indian traditions, but instead it becomes the sense of being a vengeful Tamilian. What a shame.

A blur.

2011-12-25T06:37:00.000-08:00

Has it really been a month already? I can't believe it. Around this time last month, everyone at home was abuzz with excitement coz it was the "Mehendi" party before my wedding! A MONTH ? Really???

What followed simply seems like a blur to me. We spent several months - picking the venue, debating about the food menu, vendors, invitations, guest lists, logistics etc etc.. and it all got over just like that, in a day (more about that in our later blogs)! Not that I am complaining for everything fell into place perfectly, but I am simply stunned.

Also its been nearly a month now since I have been married! And it doesn't feel so long really. Maybe it is because of all the zillion trips that I've been on with my hubby (sagchet) [oh yes - those will come up on our blog space pretty soon too] ? Well, if this is how married life is, its definitely not bad. Not bad at all. ;)

Anyway, I have been away from blogging for more than a month now! Time to pick up a pen and a paper and start scribbling again. And what better day to do that than Christmas eh? :)

Everyone's Day!

2011-11-13T20:48:00.001-08:00

Independent India's first Prime Minister - Jawaharlal Nehru was very fond of kids and was popularly called "Chacha Nehru". In India we celebrate his birthday as Children's Day - every November 14th.

What do we do on Children's day? Nothing much really. This is a day earmarked to all kids in our country to feel special. It is a day for all of us - to let the childish part of us take over and hence feel happy. :)

I am planning on throwing a couple of tantrums to seek more attention at home. I'll possibly even demand that my favorite dishes get cooked for lunch and dinner today.

So what do you plan to do for yourself this Children's Day?? ;)

Rockstar.

2011-11-13T07:53:00.001-08:00

For the first time in a long time I'm stumped after watching a movie. I don't know whether to "+1" or ignore it. And to be honest I am not able to do either. The story is simple and yet complicated. It is the journey of a very innocent ,naive and impressionable middle-class guy whose aspiration is to become a "rockstar" like Jim Morrison - and how he becomes one. There is a very passionate and sort of "Ayn Rand"ish romance which forms the basis of this entire tale.

This movie has several strong points - the script is powerful [controversial of course], direction and editing in the first half is brilliant, the background score is surreal, all the songs have been used very well and have been used in the right places. Especially the song 'Saada Haq' - it makes you forget you are in a theatre and you believe you are in a concert and you want to jump up and join the crowd's singing and yelling! But the biggest plus point of this movie is Ranbir Kapoor. He has delivered a genuinely impressive performance. He has nailed the character. He starts off as an innocent happy-go-lucky college kid [reminding us all of Wake up Sid] and then reaches , what according to me is, the other end of the acting spectrum - a serious, violent, seemingly-arrogant celebrity. And he does all of it flawlessly.

Coming to the downfalls of the movie - first and foremost is Nargis Fakhri who is the female lead. Of course, it was her debut and it was a very challenging role. Yet, her bad acting spoils the movie for everyone. The second half of the movie feels like a bit of a drag. It could have been edited and trimmed better. Also almost all characters yell and shout a lot in the second half of the movie - some of it was a bit unnecessary.

I liked the central theme of the movie - people (and especially artists) rise to fame and become successful, quickest , when driven against a wall and when they have nothing to lose. Also the eccentricities and difficulties in the personal lives of celebrities have been presented very realistically. My only regret is that this could have been a very very good movie. But due to unfortunate shortcomings it fails in certain areas.

Interesting, different, definitely worth a watch but majorly flawed.

Enjoy!

The little squeaker.

2011-11-09T00:24:00.000-08:00

I was at work and typing away to glory on my keyboard and staring at my desktop screen intently. When a tiny little 'squeak' interrupted me. I turned around and checked - was it a cell phone alert, or one of the systems rebooting? And then I found this bushy little tail quivering with fear behind one of the unused system monitors. I went nearer to get a closer look which is when this little squirrel stared back at me with fearful eyes.It was just a glimpse and then he scampered away as if his dear life depended on it!

I was perplexed. How did this little fellow get into the sealed air-conditioned office of ours? Where was the rest of his family? Not knowing what else to do, I called the office boy and sought his help. After much debating, we decided it was best to set this fellow free outside the building. We asked everyone to leave the particular room and left a few crumbs of biscuits on one of the tables to draw him out. Our little squeaker, after much deliberation, came out of his hiding place to grab some lunch. While he was busy nibbling the biscuits, he was caught unawares taken prisoner into a bucket with a lid.

And my god, did he panic. He rattled away inside the bucket so violently that our hearts went out to him. It took us hardly few minutes to reach the ground floor and release him out, but by then he had raised a racket! Once out of the bucket he promptly climbed the nearest tree real fast running as far away from us as possible. Seeing him bound away , I couldn't help but think how true this statement is - "As timid as a squirrel!"

Endlessness.

2011-11-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

Every time I stand on the shores of a beach and look out at the vast ocean, I get a thrill. I always want to believe that there is nothing beyond the waters and that it seamlessly flows to meet the hidden horizon from where the sun rises out and sinks in. Don't you agree?

Life IS a metro.

2011-11-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

It was a usual day, a usual routine and just yet another journey by metro train. The train stations, people getting in and out at the respective stations, the doors sliding open and staying so for a fixed amount of time. The main transit points where people switched trains and so on.

And that is when a realization dawned down on me - Our lives are quite similar to these journeys. Each experience in our life takes us to the next destination point. Sometimes these destinations coincide with our goals in life.

But at others we might miss the time window and not get off at the right place. But that is never the end really. We can always alight at the next point and from there we could either trace our way back to the original intended destination or simply change our minds, catch another train and head to a brand new destination.

These trains do end up in a final stop somewhere. So do our lives. But that is not the end either. Instead it is simply the starting point for yet another fresh journey all the way back. Is that true with our lives too? I don't know and I'll never ever know, will I? :)

A mystery.

2011-11-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

We all know him as the master-strategist. The author of Arthashastra, Neetishastra and so on [these books are researched and studied in detail in most B-schools these days]. He is the king-maker and even today (several centuries after his death) his teachings and way of life are relevant. Yes, he is Chanakya (also known by the names Kautilya or Vishnugupta).

So much is known about the life of Chanakya. At the same time, a lot remains unknown too. His origin is a mystery with different communities claiming he is one of them. The nature of his death also has several versions. I am sure I am not alone in wondering - What kind of a person was the boy-Chanakya? Where or how did he develop his keen intellect? What events in his life must have lead to him becoming so shrewd and cunning?

These questions remain largely unanswered. Who knows? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to stumble upon these answers in my lifetime. :)

From the top.

2011-10-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

I went up there - to the 124th floor of the tallest building in the world , Burj Khalifa! I was so excited the whole day and a couple of days before that too. :)

I set out of the house and reached Burj Khalifa through the metro train facility. I had my camera on me all the way. I reached my destination well before time and was busy shooting pics here and there. We were then taken through several galleries which explained how this monstrous construction was thought of, who were the brains and muscle behind this feat and the step by step progress of how the building was put together over the years. I was simply spell bound.

We got into a fancy elevator on the ground floor which would then take us a hundred and twenty four floors above in less than a minute! Is that an elevator or a rocket machine? And the ride was so smooth that I never even realized how or when we reached the top floor!

And then I stepped out - with full of anticipation and a little bit of fear. How would it feel to be on the top of the world? To see other concrete blocks dwarfed by this giant? To see the limousines and Hummer trucks reduced to the size of toys? To see the whole of Dubai miniaturized and folded up neatly? And then I found the answer......

.........................................

Maybe its just me - But it doesn't really feel very different from being on the ground floor!!! :(

Curious George.

2011-10-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was being bombarded with a hundred thousand questions - "Why do those houses look like small stone blocks from here?" .. "Why should I wear this seat belt?" ... "What is a life vest and how will it help me if the plane plunges into the ocean?"... and so on. Yes you guessed right - a 10 year old cousin of mine was travelling by air for the first time and he wanted to know everything about everything! :)

As I patiently answered one question after the other and slyly [at least I think so] glided over the ones to which I didn't know the response, I sat back smiling. How wonderful it is to be a kid and full of curiosity, indeed! The mind is fresh and absorbs all ideas and thoughts as a sponge would absorb water! Very little skepticism and a whole truck load of thirst for knowledge.

Maybe the world would be a much better place if we all remained as curious , broad-minded and innocent as the "Curious-Georges" we all were when we were 10-year-olds ourselves,eh ?? :)

A quarter of a century!

2011-10-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today I have turned 25 years old... that is a quarter of a century of my life. That sounds like a long time eh? Surprisingly it doesn't feel that way!

When I woke up today morning, I was as excited as I used to be when I was 5 years old on my birthday! The tradition of wearing new "color dress" followed. And then came the habitual ordering-my-mom-and-granny-to-cook-my-favorite-goodies part. This was appended by all the calls from friends and loved ones who wished me a great day and great year - and just that made my day! :)

I keep hearing people [some, not all] grumble about how they're getting 'OLDER' with every birthday. They become glum and sad. And to be honest, I was apprehensive till today. How would I react when it was my turn to stand on the other side of my first 25? Would I become a gloomy person too?

Thankfully - NO.Now I can tell you confidently that its all nonsense! There is no magical number at which one would start feeling older or younger. Its all up to us and its in our big fat heads. Be it 25 or 50 or even a 100, we are only as old or young as we believe we are! That said, its time to go and cut my birthday cake and demand my share of birthday gifts from people around me. So - I shall take leave from here and get busy for a while. ;)

Miniaturized beauty.

2011-10-17T23:55:00.000-07:00

This may seem like just another "macro" picture of a very small but beautiful flower. But it is very special to me. Because this was the result of my very first attempt at macro photography!! I came across it accidentally today and I thought it deserves to go on to my blog! :)

Chug (chug) along.

2011-10-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Travelling long distance? Without a moment's hesitation, I would pick the train. I love train journeys in India especially the overnight ones. After a very long time, I went on one such trip to Madurai from Blore (and back) recently. Only then did I realize what I'd been missing all this time!

As the train pushed its way out of the crowded station, progress was slow. I could see the multi-storey apartments and other buildings whiz by. Once we were out of the "city", the pace went up by a few notches and the scenery changed along with it. Gone were the concrete blocks, and were replaced with hillocks of all shapes and sizes standing in the middle of wide open land filled with farms or wild grassy lands.

I could see cattle grazing here and there around patches of small water bodies. People were far and few and their homes were simple and quaint abodes. Some of the kids would stand near the railway track to wave at us. At each stop on our way vendors went about shouting loudly to sell colorful toys and goodies. In the evening I went and stood near the door of my compartment to see a glorious view of sunset as the train snaked its way around the terrain.

As night fell, the beds [berths] were quickly made and people settled down for a peaceful night's sleep. There was complete silence everywhere and the only sound I could hear was the rhythmic chugging of the engine. And before I knew it, the gentle rocking of the train had sent me to a land of dreamless and blissful sleep. When I woke up I was at my destination and it was a brand new day.

I got off the train and stood watching as it labored on carrying more people to their respective destinations. I smiled, bade a silent goodbye and vowed to myself that I'd see him/her/it soon again!

The only sure way of catching a train, is to miss the one before it - G. K Chesterton.

Antibioticzzzzz....

2011-10-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

More often than not, when we fall sick, we are given antibiotics to get better and get well. I agree it works and that when the prescription course has been completed, we are fit as a fiddle. But how does it feel while you are on these meds? To sum it up in one word - SLEEPY!

Everything in life moves in slow-motion, your limbs don't respond to your commands fast enough, and your eyelids end up winning every battle you wage to keep them open! You're in front of a computer and you're trying hard to work, to stay up, to write something sensible. But no, what happens is this - out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever, before you know it...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

P.S - In case you haven't guessed it yet.... yep! I am not well and am taking antibiotics now! ;)

Magical words.

2011-10-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

We've all read these poems : Be it "The Daffodils" by Wordsworth or Shakespeare's "Shall I compare thee to a summer's night". They sound so dreamy and take you away to a world of fantasy, right? For a moment or two we forget the harsh realities and difficulties of life and give way to the romantic hidden in every one of us. Such is the power of words - if they're strung together the right way.

Today I've decided to do the same. Snap the string that holds me down to reality and float amidst fantasies. And to do that I've taken upon myself the chore of translating a very fine song in Tamil written by Vairamuthu called "Nila Kaikirathu" from the movie "Indira", into English.Why this particular song? Simply because it is one of my all-time favorites! :)

Oh beautiful moon - you glow in the sky,

Waiting for no one, not even time.

Yet not one has looked up and admired you,

But for these two eyes which seek you.

A breeze, pleasant, wafts in my garden,

Seeming to liven it up with a laughter,

Yet not one has noticed the smiling flowers,

But for these little hands which have found you.

The sun shines with all its glory

And the wind blows around gaily

As the sky above and earth beneath

Bless and enrich our lives, daily.

There I see the clouds water-laden,

From them ask for rain!

There I hear the cuckoo's voice,

Listen to it croon and sing !

This world is but your garden,

Go and seek your flowers!

This life is but a bag of treasure,

In it find your wishes !

Oh beautiful moon - you glow in the sky,

Waiting for no one, not even time.

Yet not one has looked up and admired you,

But for these two eyes which seek you.

P.S - The above translation is in no means exact or accurate. It is simply my interpretation and I apologize for any errors or inconsistencies with the original.

Genghis Khan

2011-10-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading the first three books of the historical fiction - "Conqueror" series written by Conn Iggulden and boy am I impressed! This series is about the Mongol empire . The first three books are based on the life of the first Mongol emperor and one of the mightiest rulers human kind has ever seen- Genghis Khan.

The books in this (yet-to-be-completed) series are:

1) Wolf of the Plains. (also published as "Birth of an Empire").
2) Lords of the Bow.
3) Bones of the Hills.
4) Empire of Silver - (This is about Genghi's son Ogedei Khan's rule.I have not read it yet.)

The series begins with the birth of a boy, Temujin, to the Khan of one of the nomadic tribes of Mongols who call themselves the "Wolves". The boy is born with blood in his fist which is regarded as a fearful omen - death would follow him wherever he went. A series of unfortunate events lead to Temujin's family being deserted and left alone to die in the harsh natural terrain of the Mongol Land. However the family not only survives but grows in strength. It is the same Temujin who later on bounces back to wreck revenge on everyone who did him and his family wrong. He unites all the nomadic Mongol tribes, with show of force if necessary, and declares himself as the Khan of all tribes - Genghis Khan. He then goes on war against the rest of the world.

In my opinion, this series is very well written. All three books are very fast paced and historically accurate in most places. And it is not all about mindless battles either. Enough room has been provided to explore Genghis Khan's personal life, his nature and his mindset. I also liked the way the author has carefully avoided repetition when he described the numerous sieges and wars. As a conqueror or warlord, Genghis Khan has always commanded respect. After reading this series though , I have a lot of respect for the human being that he was (irrespective of the fact that he ruthlessly killed innumerable people).

A must-read for sure!

The Strike-through effect.

2011-10-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

I ~~do not~~ know what I intend to write in this blog. I guess I'm just going to play around with the ~~text-strike-through~~ effect! I honestly believe that this is the single most creative option of any text editor. It brings back the touch of writing on paper - where we are used to writing something , ~~scratch it~~, and write it something else.

This is also a way of saying something ~~and yet claiming you never said it~~. Helps certain folks ~~who love sarcasm~~.

Well, I am not really sure what brought all this on but I'm impressed with this text effect! From now on you can expect ~~a LOT of~~ a bit of these in my blog posts too! :D :)

JOB(s) well done !

2011-10-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

What is the first thought that comes to you when you see the above image of a half-eaten apple, in the last decade? Its Apple Inc. Not the good old "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" apple. And this, though is due to efforts by several people, is mainly thanks to the charisma of one man - Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs - Feb 1955 to Oct 2011

An iphone came into the market with a faulty antenna. This man put a rubber around it and proclaimed "It works". And the world believed it. That is how he could awe people! A very eminent marketing salesperson is claimed to have said - "If you see Jobs among your competitors when you're bidding for something, you need to simply give up, sit back and watch the show." Such was legendary oratory skills of this man.

But it was not all pretense and no substance either. He was a great visionary and had a passion for gadgets. When he co-founded Apple Inc back in the late 70's he's known to have said "I want to change the world. Do you want to join me?" And change the world - he did.

What amazes me most about this man is his persistence and his confidence. He was forced to walk out of the company he co-founded. But he did not lose hopes and kept starting afresh every time and ended up doing so well that he was invited to become the CEO of the same company years later!

Today he is no more. But he has left a lasting mark in the world of technology. People all over the world are genuinely sad knowing they will not get to see this marketing wizard in action ever again. I am not a big Apple Inc. fan myself but I am definitely a huge fan of this man - Steve Jobs.

As the rest of the world says RIP , I simply want to say - JOB(s) well done (i)MAN!

Let's keep it beating!

2011-09-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Today - the 29th September 2011 is earmarked as World Heart Day by the World heart Federation. This is an annual event and has been in practice for the last 11 years. The purpose and intention of this event is to spread awareness about heart-care and to make people more responsible about their own health. Several marathons, seminars and debates are arranged all over the world just for this purpose.

Heart diseases claim millions of lives every year. And all this is owing not only to the hectic lifestyle of ours but also because of extremely unhealthy habits that we've developed over the years. Here are a few tips , simple ones, which if we follow religiously it would help us stay fit and fine for as long as we live:

1) Avoid junk food , fast food, chats, burgers, deep fried food, sweets etc. These should be partaken only occasionally.
2) Eat good quantities of vegetables, fruit and other nutritious food and drink a LOT of water.
3) Walking is a must - for a minimum of half an hour everyday.
4) Avoiding elevators and taking the stairs everywhere [preferably when we're climbing up rather than down ;)]
5) Some form of physical exercise everyday [apart from the walking] - it could be dance, sports, gym, swimming - whatever interests us.
6) Early to bed and early to rise.

That's it! Shouldn't be too hard right? If we all do put in this little extra effort we'll leave behind a healthier, fitter and a happier human civilization behind us !!

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. Yet, it is worth every bit of the struggle!

Dasara a.k.a Bommai Kolu!

2011-09-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

Dasara is a festival celebrated all over India. It signifies different things to different people, but the net result is the same - it is a lot of fun! For me, this has always been the most important festival. Because this is the time of the year when all the dolls in the house, come out of their hiding places !!

My mum has accumulated several dolls over the years - clay, wood, porcelain, plastic - you name it and you'll find it. And they range from mythological characters like "Raama" and "Shiva" to animals like "cows" and "dinosaurs"! It is our joint task, every year, to bring them all down from the attic and arrange it in our hall as decoratively as possible. And then it is my task to go around the neighbours' place and invite them over to our place to see the "kolu".

I had missed all this the last three years for I was not at home. This year we decided we'll go through this routine no matter what other task came up. As we were dusting the old dolls I was fondly remembering my childhood days and exchanging nostalgic stories with my mom. I smiled away happy and content that I got to enjoy "Bommai Kolu" at home this year. Who knows where and how I'll be the next year, eh? :)

Simple-complex-ity.

2011-09-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

People say that life is simple. I respectfully disagree. During the course of human evolution and our survival against other species, we have made our lives quite complicated. In out eternal quest of comforts, we have managed to build perplexing barriers all around us. As a result of all this, today we need "idiot boxes" [computers, I mean] and "idiotbook"-like websites to even say hello to our friends and neighbors. Simple old-fashioned walk-uptoa-person's-place-and-say-hello-over-a-cup-of-coffee won't do at all!

The advance in science and technology is phenomenal and it has made our lives very easy and comfortable. If there is anything that is lacking in our lives today - it is simplicity. Is being simple important? I don't know. But I definitely wish that my life was simpler. :)

All hail the Queen!

2011-09-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

"She appeared before me the other night suddenly. The Queen of Night (Brahma Kamalam) ! How poised and pretty she looked. I had seen her as a scrawny little girl the same evening. Not much later, she began to bloom until she stood open and proud - looking drop dead gorgeous. It saddened me to know that come the dawn of morrow, she would be gone.. leaving behind only the memories of these fleeting glimpses of her beauty."

A few drops.

2011-09-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

We've all seen it on one of those misty days. We've marveled at its beauty and simplicity, captured a few pictures and walked away with a smile. We've all been mesmerized at how beautifully it dances on the tips of green leaves. We've all mourned its evanescence. For it is here for a moment, and then it is gone!

Yes, I am talking about a "dew drop". It is a wonder indeed that, in spite of being one of nature's smallest and most transient components - it gives us so much pleasure! Our lives are often compared to dew drops for they are as unpredictable and as fragile. So as long as we last, let us dance away to the rhythmic beat and give away joy in heaps to all who behold us.

Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. (Quote by - Rabindranath Tagore)

Oh butterfly, butterfly...

2011-09-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

What dost thou seek, oh little fellow?

As you fly about all meek and mellow

I see you go hither and thither

Amidst the bushes of many a flower.

What a pretty little one you are, indeed

Among your own men you are envied

A zillion colors to you doth belong

And many a poet has written unto you a song.

Butterfly O Butterfly, everytime I behold thee,

I am filled with a hitherto unknown glee!

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun, And find your shoulder to light on, To bring you luck, happiness and riches...Today, tomorrow and beyond.~Irish Blessing

Flock of red.

2011-09-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Flamingos are beautiful birds. I saw a flock of them at the San Diego Sea World and found the sight very colorful. Don't you think so too? :)

Unchanging place.

2011-09-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Like many others I too have a "happy place" of my own. It is the terrace of my house. I've spent many evenings here - reading books, watering plants, taking pictures, admiring the drifting clouds, watching the flock of birds return home and so on.

Today I went there again after a very long time. And I noticed that nothing has changed! The place is as peaceful as ever. As I lay there under the wide open sky, I was reminded of the first day I ever came here (which was a couple of decades ago). I remember being awed by the view from there - the groves of coconut trees, small little houses here and there, small lines of concrete crisscrossing everywhere. The scenery that met me today was very similar , if not the same.

This made me very very happy. For, almost everything about me and around me has changed since I was a kid. I am glad I have this one place to myself - unspoilt and unchanging.

Calvin and Rajinikanth.. part 2.

2011-09-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

Calvin and his parents saw Baasha movie and got back home.

Mom: "Calvin, why don't you have a quick shower? You've had a long day".

Calvin: "No I wont. நான் ஒரு வாடி குளிச்சா , நூறு வாடி குளிச்ச மாறி" (Me having bath once is equivalent to having bath a hundred times).

Mom: "Fine. Why don't you at least sit down and complete your homework?"

Calvin: "No I wont. I did yesterday's homework didn't I? நான் ஒரு வீட்டு பாடம் எழுதினால் , அது நூறு நாளுக்கு எழுதின மாறி" (If I do one homework assignment one day , it is equivalent to have done the same for a hundred days).

Mom: "Well, I see. If that is the case you've had food in the afternoon already haven't you? I think you don't have to eat for the next hundred days, do you?"

Calvin: "Grrr. Darned loopholes!"

Through the tunnel.

2011-09-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

I was travelling back home from work by bus and was busy reading a book. All of a sudden everything went dark and I couldn't see anyone or anything. I began to panic and it was only after quite some time I realized that I was inside a tunnel!

This happens a lot in our lives, doesn't it? We are usually so engrossed in a particular task or responsibility that we forget about the rest of the world. When we finally look up - we notice that many things have changed, many people have left. It often leads to despair and gloom. We wouldn't know what wrong we did or what we should do next.

During such times, we only need to remember that life's "metaphorical tunnel", too, has an opening somewhere. The darkness is not pervasive. We only need to keep marching ahead determinedly, till we get out where sunshine will surely greet us all!

“The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is."

To teach and to be taught.

2011-09-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

The 5th of September is celebrated as Teachers' Day in India as a mark of tribute to former PresidentSarvepalli Radhakrishnan. This day is meant to honor and thank teachers across the country and is a "celebration" for the teachers. Usually, students organize sports and other fun activities for the teachers and give them some small gifts as a token of appreciation. Sometimes the senior students of the school volunteer to teach their juniors and relieve the teachers from their work on this one day. It is fun - for everybody!

I've had so many teachers in my life. Today I sat down fondly remembering them all(most of them anyway):

-->My kindergarten teachers - who used to brandish a wooden scale to scare me.

-->My primary school teachers - who taught me the basics of language, science and arts .

-->My high school teachers - who taught me all about discipline, hard work and focus.

-->My Pre-University teachers - who taught me the importance of tuition classes (unfortunate but true :().

-->My tuition class teachers - who worked harder than the students.

-->My undergrad lecturers/professors - who helped me become a professional (some taught me how to sleep with my eyes open too... but never mind that ;)).

-->My grad school lecturers/professors - who helped me gather specialized knowledge in my domain.

-->My music/dance teachers - who taught me to appreciate the finer aspects of life.

-->My parents (of course!) - because of whom I am who/what I am today. :)

-->My friends - who taught me how to trust and help others.

-->My not-so-friendly acquaintances - who brought me face to face with life's unpleasant realities.

.... and several others. On this Teachers' day I want to take a moment to thank them all for having been a part of my life and for having made it so much better by just being there!

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY TO ALL THE TEACHERS OUT THERE!!

Shopping Mela.

2011-09-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

I was in Chennai last week and I was there for shopping. Like everyone else, I went to the main shopping hub of Chennai - Thyagaraja Nagar (T Nagar). And boy, was I shocked or what!

A typical scene in T Nagar, Ranganathan St,

Chennai. (Photo: Courtesy Google Images!)

The place was swarming with people! And it wasn't even a weekend or a festival day. It was just any other working weekday. I had never seen so many people in one place [even in India] except in the exhibitions or fairs, before.

As we went into the shops, I was fascinated to see the efficiency of the system. Each shop is multi-storied with each floor marked off for a particular article or type of clothing. There are separate people for selling the goods, separate billing counters, payment counters and delivery counter for each section of each floor. So many things could go wrong right? But amazingly, it doesn't. Everything works seamlessly!

It took me some time to take in and admire this place. And then, without wasting time, I dived into the crowd, to enjoy the "Mela" of shopping too! :)

Mounted on a mouse.

2011-08-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

ಆನೆ ಮುಖದ ಹುಡುಗನೊಬ್ಬ ಮನೆಯ ಒಳಗೆ ಬಂದನು,

"ಕಡಬು ಕಾಯಿ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ?" ಎಂದು ದಿಟ್ಟ ಸ್ವರದಿ ನುಡಿದನು.

"ಬಲೇ ಹುಡುಗ, ಯಾರು ನೀನು?"ಎಂದು ಗೌರಿ ಕೇಳಲು,

"ನಾನು ತಾಯಿ, ಗಣಪ" ಎಂದು ನಗುತ ನಲಿತ ನುಡಿದನು.

Gowri Ganesha Habba is here again! The city of Bangalore is strewn with colorful idols of Ganesha and Gowri. The markets are crowded with people who are buying flowers, fruits, banana trees and so on. The kids are running around in the streets showing off their new clothes and purchases. The excitement is definitely infectious.

Ganesha is easily one of my favorite guys. He is just like me - chilled out, easy going, friendly and most importantly a foodie! I (on behalf of Ganesha) am looking forward to all the delicious food this festival brings along - modaka, holige, shundal, kadabu and many more. I am sure you are, too. ;)

Here's wishing everyone a very happy "Gowri-Ganesha" festival!! :)

A bird in the sky.

2011-08-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite shots taken at the Miramar Air Show, San Diego 2010. Doesn't it look like a mighty bird soaring towards the sun - as though mocking and daring the sun to come any closer?

Gubbachigalu!

2011-08-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Any kid who grew up in Bangalore during the 80's or early 90's would know how much fun it is to live with sparrows. Yep - sparrows lived with us in our houses! Their chirping would be the first sound I'd hear in the mornings. This music would fade into oblivion as the sun sank in the horizon. They would flap their tiny wings and go about their chores busily all day long! Over the years- time, pollution and increasing population caused these small little creatures to dwindle in numbers and I hardly see them around these days.

When I was a kid, "A Little Cock Sparrow" was one of my favorite nursery rhymes and I used to sing it loudly day in and day out. Today I searched for this song and found it right away. So I've posted it here on my little blog - as a tribute to all those companion "gubbachigalu" of my childhood!

"A Little cock sparrow sat on a green tree,
And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he .
A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,
Determined to shoot this little cock sparrow.

This little cock sparrow shall make me a stew,
And his giblets shall make me a little pie too.
Oh, no, said the sparrow, I won't make a stew!
So he flapped his wings, and away he flew."

The sparrow that is twittering on the edge of my balcony is calling up to me this moment a world of memories that reach over half my lifetime, and a world of hope that stretches farther than any flight of sparrows - Donald G Mitchell

A new future?

2011-08-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

I met up with some of my ol' buddies yesterday! After the initial rounds of "hello-hi-how-are-you-what-you-upto"s we got into the inevitable topic of discussion ..... our careers. That was when things got interesting!

I was surprised and interested to note frustration in most of my salaried-employee friends. They were unhappy with the nature of their jobs and were bursting with enthusiasm to do something new and challenging in life. One of my friends has decided to go back to his hometown, join his father's business and expand it. Another young friend of mine has decided to open a boutique of her own. A few others wanted to get into real estate, wedding-planning business etc. I was amazed as I sat listening to their thoughts and ideas. Mind you - these were no mere words in thin air. These people had genuine intent and concrete ideas as to how to proceed about their plans!

THIS is the new generation of India. A generation which is well-educated, well-informed about world geography/economics. Here is a generation not content with accepting a monthly salary and leading comfortable life. This a generation wanting to challenge their own capacities and wanting to forge a new path ahead of them.

All this - combined with a distinct possibility of our country becoming less corrupt - I definitely see a colorful future and interesting times ahead of us! Don't you? :)

Deiva Thirumagal.

2011-08-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

Deiva Thirumagal is a 2011 Tamil movie (also dubbed into Telugu as "Nanna") and is supposed to be loosely based on the 2001 English movie "I am Sam". [That is what I read, I haven't seen the English movie myself]. The movie has been written and directed by A.L Vijay who has in the past given us interesting movies like "Madarasa Pattinam" and "Kireedam".

Krishna (Vikram) is a mentally underdeveloped adult with as much brain capacity as a 6-yr old would possess. He lives in a small village near Ooty , has a bunch of friends there and works for a chocolate factory owned by a benevolent and caring - Victor(Krishna Kumar). Krishna is married to Bhanumathy and has a child whom he names Nila(Baby Sarah). Due to the untimely death of his wife, Krishna now takes over the responsibility of bringing up his child which he does extraordinarily well with the help of a few friends and neighbors. The father-daughter duo live in a blissfully happy world of their own until the arrival of Nila's grandfather Rajendran (Bhanumathy's father - played by Sachin Khedekar) and aunt Shwetha (Amala Paul) to that village.

Using their cunning , might and affluence they manage to separate Nila and Krishna. Krishna is forlorn and searches for his daughter in the vast crowded city of Chennai which is when he bumps into advocate Anuradha(Anushka Shetty) and Vinod (Santhanam). Learning the sad tale of Krishna, the newbie advocates decide to contest the custody rights of Nila in the court of law but are dismayed to learn that they are up and against advocate Bhashyam (Nassar) a senior and feared lawyer who has a reputation of not having lost a single case in his long career! Rest of the story is all about the various mind games between these two parties culminating in a touching and sensible climax.

Vikram and Baby Sarah have stolen the show without a doubt. The father-daughter chemistry is flawless and every scene that Vikram and Sarah appear together seems magical. The movie , not withstanding its serious theme, has a lot of humor in it and Santhanam should get most of the credit for having delivered such a neat comedy track. The music by G.V Prakash Kumar is very pleasant, elegant and apt for the movie. The cinematography and editing departments have delivered well too!

All in all - this movie has a very touching story-line, splendid acting , delightful humor and is technically sound. Must watch for sure!!

P.S - I have not seen "I am Sam" and hence am not sure how badly plagiarized the script and direction is. Since I know no precedents to draw parallels from, the movie was fresh, new and interesting to me!

Cotton Candy

2011-08-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

"Cotton candy cotton candy,

Buy as many as you find handy

It costs no more or less than a penny

Squishy soft big fat candy!"

...shouted a cotton candy vendor. A swarm of kids and I ran up to him and hounded him to sell us his candies! I gathered up as many of 'em as my two hands could hold and then walked back to my parents with a satisfied smile on my face. For the next hour or so, I did not utter a 'peep' and was drowned in the pleasure of nibbling away to glory at the soft cottony sugary candy! By the end of the day, my face had a slight pinkish tinge and was a bit sticky. But it definitely was one of the best days of my life!

Several years later, even today when I see a cotton candy store I am tempted to run to the shop with the kids and buy myself a treat. However, sadly, I no longer am supposed to indulge in such savories [something to do with me being an adult now.. hmph x( ]. I get my share of the pleasure by buying these yummy candies to my cousins and younger friends. Seeing their excited candy smeared faces puts a smile on my face for it brings me even more joy!

Care

2011-08-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

I fell sick today... after a real long time! Nothing too scary, it was just another viral fever doing its rounds in town due to change in weather. As I curled up inside a warm blanket I drifted off into deep slumber. I kept waking up on and off but was mostly too woozy to notice my surroundings. And then it hit me - a big wave of deja-vu!!

Its just that, I've been sick several times in my life before! As a kid, there was hardly a week which went by without me having to visit the doc's shop. But every time this happened the routine at home was the same. I would be tucked inside the warmest blanket. I would be force-fed hot liquids from time to time. I would feel cold hands on my forehead every hour or so checking my body temperature. I could hear whispered and worried conversations about how the "kozhandai's" (child) fever is not subsiding. And so on.

I am now no longer anywhere close to being a "kozhandai" (child) , and yet this time too I was treated just the same. I am not very proud of it, but the fact is I've led a pampered life. I took it all for granted when I was an ignorant innocent child. But now that I am world-wise, I know what a rare thing it is, indeed, to be cared for.

I have been very lucky to be so loved by my family. I only hope I can repay this affection to them in full or part in some way or the other.

Independence.

2011-08-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

It has been 65 years since our country has been Independent of foreign rule. We now have a democracy, we elect our leaders, we live in a free and fair country . Theoretically at least it is all true.

However, today I logged into a social networking site and I saw most people complaining and wondering about whether our country's independence has any meaning at all. "Too much corruption everywhere, nothing good can come of our country" says one person. "Absolutely nothing has improved in our country since 1947. We were doing better under the British rule" says another.

It is true - we do have several challenges and unresolved issues. But at least these are our own problems and we are free to resolve them or work around them. Our country is not perfect but then no country ever is. So as citizens of a free country, let us all celebrate this independence day and take efforts to make our country a better place for us and the future generations to come.

JAI HIND!

A fragile relationship.

2011-08-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Most people take their friends for granted. I think, thanks mainly to all the cool quotes and dainty dialogues in the movies, it is assumed that one doesn't need to(rather shouldn't) thank his/her friends, one could say rude and hurtful things to them, one could treat them as badly as his/her mood dictates and even so the friendship would survive.

Well.... I respectfully disagree!! Friendship is no magical bond. It is simply another relationship we forge with a person for companionship. The advantage here is we need not be related to or be attracted to a person to seek his/her friendship. Casual conversations and common interests are about enough to forge this bond.

However there is a downside to this. Its as easy to break friendship as it is to make. If we hurt a friend knowingly or unknowingly, that is more or less the end. Apologies and pardon notwithstanding, once a crack appears in a friendship it only gets worse till the day it shatters completely. It is probably no great loss for we have the option of discarding the broken pieces and getting ourselves new friends. But what we don't know is that these wounds are deep and seldom heal.

Friendship is special - for it is the one relationship which is forged through our own choice and no one else's. There are few expectations and fewer pretenses. Finding good friends is quite tough. So if you've found them, hold on to them and treat them well........ simply because they deserve it all! :)

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. All of which are special and vulnerable at the same time.

Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cottage Cheese curry) recipe.

2011-08-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

Palak Paneer is a delicious Indian-Pakistani curry. This dish consists of a gravy which is mostly pureed spinach (the healthy ingredient!) along with fried paneer/cottage cheese (the sinful but tasty ingredient!)

Here are the things we need:

Spinach leaves
Onion - 1 peeled and chopped into pieces
Tomato - 2 or 3
Green Chillies - 3 or 4 (can vary depending on how spicy you want the dish to be)
Ginger - one thumb size , peeled
Cashew - 5 to 6
Paneer - sliced into squarish small cubes.
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Jeera - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oil

Step 1: Rinse the spinach leaves under running water and keep it aside.

Step 2: Shallow fry paneer cubes in oil till they turn golden brown. Drain away excess oil and set them aside.

Step 3: Take a frying pan and shallow fry the chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and cashew. Once the onions turn golden brown add tomatoes and wait for them to cook.

Step 4:Add the rinsed spinach leaves to this mixture and let it cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 5: Place the above mixture in a blender and make a fine puree/paste out of it.

Step 6: Take a kadai vessel, add one teaspoon oil and jeera and let it sputter. Add the above puree to the kadai along with turmeric powder and red chilli powder. Mix well, cover the vessel and let it cook for about 10 minutes or so.Then add coriander powder and salt.

Step 7: To the above mixture add the fried paneer cubes and let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Yummy-licious Palak paneer is ready to be hogged on! This tastes best with rotis. It goes well with jeera rice too.

Bon appetit!!

The Vibram Blog: Episode 4

2011-08-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a couple of months since I bought the Vibrams, and I have used them lightly so far. I didn't do any heavy gym workouts ( not because of the shoes, just my own laziness), and neither did I go on long walks ( again, my inherent addiction to steering wheels came to the fore).

Today, thanks to the relentless efforts of a certain Mr.Tejas ( who gets even more active than usual during weekends), I was persuaded into going for an afternoon hike in the hills of Ramona. A perfect time to take the Vibrams into the real world, thought I, and off I went all barefoot-y and proud....

Our original trail was closed off by the authorities for some reason, so we had to go find another trail. I had worn the Vibrams hoping to see how they work on hilly terrain, but the next trail we went on had no gradient at all. Still, I was really eager to see what would happen on gravel and rocks and sand..

To say that I'm proud of my purchase would be a total understatement. I felt like I was barefoot, and yet, I felt like I could walk for hours on end without the slightest hint of soreness in my feet or legs. I was observing my feet quite a bit during the walk ( given that there wasn't really much else to see on the trail), and I noticed that my toes naturally splayed out in sandy terrain and allowed me to kick back without having to engage my calf muscles as much.. Marvellous!

Over firmer terrain, my feet felt completely in contact with the ground and I could glide along happily. There was also a stretch of pebbles on the trail ( almost like the trail was built to test these shoes). I was a little worried about walking over those without bruising my feet, but the toes came into play again, and I could keep my footing without undue effort. I could feel the rocks under my feet, but so did my friends who were wearing normal shoes..

Of course, after coming home, I feel a slight soreness in the soles of my feet, but that is nothing compared to the usual searing calf pain that I get with long walks with my normal shoes.

I now know why the Vibrams are so popular. These are easily my most comfortable footwear of all time. Now, if only I could wear them without as many body contortions, they would be just perfect.. :)

Pack, wrap and go on!!

2011-08-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

I remember almost every summer vacation of my school life vividly. I would've done different things every year of course, but the end was always the same. I always used to get a bit depressed that the holidays were getting over and that I had to spend more time on homework and listening to lessons rather than running around with my friends on the streets. I am sure I am not unique and that almost every kid would go through similar emotions. Admit it - you were one of those kids too, weren't you?

Its now been a long time since I got out of school. I have no summer holidays, nor do I have homework. Yet, very little has changed about me apparently. It so happens that I am now on a sort of vacation and am having a gala time. However this trip of mine is coming to and end. Hence I'm all gloomy, sad and sulky.

And then it suddenly hit me. Despite all my tantrums, I used to love attending school. Hanging out with friends, the games and pranks, the competitions and rivalries, exams and results - it was tons of fun. Similarly, this vacation of mine is getting over and I now need to get back to real life where every game, every friendship and every rivalry is a lot more serious and challenging.

That is bound to be a LOT of fun, neh? I guess its time to stop moping , start packing and hit the road! :)

Down the windy lane.

2011-07-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

It was a slow day. No deadlines to meet, no appointments to keep. It was peaceful and I let my thoughts drift away. And drift they did far and wide. Eventually they wound down one of the path of my memories upon which I don't tread that often.

There is a good reason for this. For though there is a lot of laughter and happiness along this path to begin with, all doesn't end well really. Hence I make a conscious effort to not think about it at all. But on that particular day I figured I was going about this the wrong way.

True- when I think of the abrupt and bitter ending, it causes a lot of pain. But if I learn to not dawdle there and if I let myself run along the more colorful parts of this lane it feels really good. Recollecting the happier times rejuvenates me.

That is when I realized I had to stop clinging to these memories and getting depressed that it all ended. It was time to smile, be happy and feel good about myself - for I was lucky enough to have lived through such happy memories in my lifetime.

A curvy path.

2011-07-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

This a picture of Lake Austin taken from Mount Bonnell during sunset. This lake is one of the reservoirs of Colorado river. It is really fascinating to watch this snaking water body wind its way through houses, hills and lush greenery bang in the middle of the city of Austin.

Dance dance dance.

2011-07-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Alright alright. I am no Indian Idol material. I am pretty sure that my dancing skills are so bad that I wouldn't even qualify for the qualifying rounds of such dance competitions. Even so, I love dancing!

I'm not professionally trained nor do I ever hope to be. Yet, when I'm depressed or sad or alone or bored, all I need to do is simply tap my feet away to some cheerful tunes. Voila - all gloom flies away, literally. And I don't need a dark dingy room with flashing lights going on and off to do this. My simple abode will do as long as I'm listening to some good music!

You should try it too! Next time you hear "ina meena dika" or "Ainvayi Ainvayi" just swing your hips away. It will surely put a smile on your face too. :)

My new hero!

2011-07-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Not a familiar face eh? I don't blame you. Like you, I avoided anime cartoons like the plague until recently. However, I'm now a die hard fan of this fellow - Naruto Uzumaki!

Naruto is the main protagonist in the anime and manga franchise titled "Naruto" and "Naruto Shippuden". He is an orphaned child who is a below-average student at school. He is extremely mischievous and keeps pulling pranks every other day. Most people from his village despise him - because there is a dark force sealed inside him. They fear that this dark power will some day be unleashed upon them and hence try to stay away from him. So , through no fault of his own, he is lonely, ignored and despised all through his childhood.

You must by now be wondering how he could possibly be a hero, right? All his traits should add up and make him a depressed and useless person. You couldn't be more wrong. Because despite everything else, Naruto has a couple of redeeming qualities - He is simple minded, optimistic and has a never-say-die attitude. All these combine to make him a wonderful human being overshadowing any other negative factors.

Naruto has a simple goal in his life - to become the headman of his village (Hokage) and hence be acknowledged by everyone. To this end, he battles against enemies outside (and inside him) relentlessly and tries to protect those few who are dear to him with his life. One cannot help but be charmed by this noisy, funny, adorable brat as he bungles his way through one adventure after the other.

Anyone who comes across him (the fictional characters in the series OR real-life people like me) is immediately infected with a large dose of optimism and positive energy in life. What more could you ask of a hero, eh?

I am definitely smitten by the Naruto-bug! You should give this anime series a shot and I'm sure that you'll become a convert too, DATTEBAYO!! ;)

Delhi Belly

2011-07-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Delhi Belly is a strangely nice movie. It's a different take on the usual smuggling-ring-meets-innocent-heroine-meets-unsuspecting-hero. Instead of a result like Jewel Thief , it manages to be light-hearted and not overly slapstick.

However, the bane of Indian cinema makes a full, unadulterated appearance here - potty jokes. It's such an important part of the movie, in fact, that one character's job is just to make potty-related acts. I will admit that a few of them were laugh-worthy, but the soundtrack of the film is filled with farts every few minutes. It gets a little too disgusting after a while.

There is relatively nothing new in the plot, so I won't bother too much with it. The actors have all done a very good job, and I would say the most interesting character would be Arup (Vir Das):

He starts off with a proper That 70's show-styled perm, and then shaves his head when his girlfriend dumps him. The poor man then gets strangled, put in a burka, made to drink water thru the burka and enters the biggest gun-battle of his life armed with a vase. He manages to be funny and yet I could completely sympathize with him throughout the movie.

All in all, a very in-your-face, refreshing movie.. True, there are lots of swear words and farts, but atleast you will spend most of your time laughing. I think it might have been a lot better if it was in Hindi, but then, that's just a small niggle in an otherwise decent movie.

Sabudana Kheer / Sabakki (Javvarisi) Payasam / Tapioca Pudding Recipe.

2011-07-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

Kheer/Payasam is a very common and delicious Indian dessert. And Sabudana Kheer is my all-time favorite. It is very simple to make and yet finger-licking-good.

Here are the things we need
Sabudana/Sabakki/Javvarisi - 1/4 cup
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Pistachio - 2 or 3
Badam - 2
Saffron (optional)

Step 1: Soak the sabudana in about 1/2 cup of water. Let it soak for about 2 hours till it becomes soft.

Step 2: Pour the milk into a pan and boil it and continue stirring the milk for about 5 minutes after it begins to boil.

Step 3: Around this time, add the sabudana into the milk and let it cook. This should take about 5 to 6 minutes.

Step 4: Add sugar and stir well for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 5: Chop the pistachios and badam (saffron) , sprinkle it over the above mixture. Yummy sabudana Kheer/Sabakki payasam is ready!

It tastes best when served cold - before or after food. :)

Bon appetit!

Transformers : Dark of the Moon

2011-07-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a sci-fi action film which is the third of the Transformers movie series. This movie is released in 2D, 3D and IMAX theaters. This movie is directed by Michael Bay based on Transformers by Hasbro.

The story begins with a ship "Ark" that leaves the planet of Cybertron during the great war carrying something which would have helped the sentient beings "Autobots" win the war and save their planet. However the ship is hit and it crashes on the dark side of the moon. Meanwhile, this crash is recorded by NASA scientists on earth. To investigate this event the US government cooks up a cover mission to put human beings on the moon. These two men secretly investigate the crashed ship and retrieve some machinery from the crash site back to the earth. Several years later, as it turns out these retrieved "pillars" become the key for the restoration of planet Cybertron and consequently possible annihilation of humans?

To be honest the plot of the movie is shallow, half-baked, confused and pretty bad. I won't even bother mentioning the cast and who-did-what in the movie. But who cares about that anyway? The visual effects and the action sequences more than make up for all these flaws! Every single transformation that each Autobot or Decepticon makes, has been depicted brilliantly. Some of the daredevil stunts of the NEST team is simply mind boggling. Each action scene in the movie has been choreographed and picturised perfectly. It is definitely a let down that a movie which is such a visual delight is not accompanied with a stronger script.

A quick summary - The acting and story of this movie are thoroughly disappointing. But on the other hand the visual effects are one of the best I've seen so far. Definitely worth watching once.:)

Enjoy!

The true gift.

2011-07-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Oh I don't know what I'll ever do with him! He is always out there playing. Thinks life is a joke I suppose. Doesn't he realize he needs to get serious and start attending IIT coaching classes, study harder etc?" so complained my neighbor lady. And just in case you are wondering, she was referring to her 10-yr-old son!

"But he's just a child , aunty. Let him have his share of fun" I replied. She gave me a very funny look as though I were a freak and it seemed as though she made a mental note to make sure her son never hung out at our place anymore. This is not a very uncommon incident, yet it disturbed me slightly.

We are all caught up in a very fast moving world today. We spend almost every minute of everyday trying to make our future comfortable (aka earn more money) so that we'll be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor some day in the distant future. So we make plans, execute most of them..... and then what? We're either too frustrated after all the hard work or we're too worn out (physically and mentally) to be in a state of mind to enjoy the results.

In the midst of all this hullabaloo, do any of us wonder what happened to "today" or "now"? I mean, the one gift that nature/God/evolution bestowed upon us is the lack of foresight - we do not know what will happen tomorrow or even the next moment. Most people think this is a handicap but I believe this is the best thing that happened to us! The future is veiled to us. Hence shouldn't we stop worrying about it and thoroughly enjoy what we really have and can control - the present?

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present." - the one and only Oogway in the movie Kung Fu Panda(2008)

Up in the "Clouds"!

2011-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Cloud Computing - now that is one mantra we hear all around us these days. Its not a new chant really, even so it has picked up many more followers these days.

The promise of cloud computing goes far beyond simply providing software updates and dealing with growing server and storage requirements. It has the potential to transform the role of IT within the business. There is indeed a cloud hovering over the future of IT!

How nice and convenient it sounds right? Push all the data you need to a virtual data space using the internet, and retrieve it at any time you need by connecting to it. One needs to own no or very little storage equipment. No need to struggle with expanding data storage requirements, expanding data centers and other infrastructure issues. This would not only suit the needs of an average PC user but business offices too. In theory it sounds perfect.

Of course, reality is a slightly different story. Data security is one of the main concerns in such an environment. Also if the "cloud" hosted by a particular vendor goes down temporarily , it'll cause widespread panic.

There are many pros and cons to it. But given that the world today is moving into the mode of "mobile computing", I think this is one of the best directions to move along. Its not just me, Steve Jobs thinks so too! ---> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/03/wwdc-2011-icloud-announcement_n_870773.html

For more reading have a look at the following forums/articles:

http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/1682640

http://www.suite101.com/content/cloud-computing-future-trends-a340827

http://cloudtimes.org/cloud-computing-its-current-market-trends-and-future-opportunities/

Look at me!

2011-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken at the Muthanga National Park, Kerala. Of the various animals we saw there here was one fellow who couldn't stop staring at us. He didn't even seem surprised or scared to see the homo-sapiens with their cameras flashing at him. He seemed to enjoy all the attention, indeed!

Baingan Bharta [Indian Roasted Eggplant/Brinjal Curry] recipe

2011-06-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Eggplant/Brinjal is a very popular vegetable in India. We use it in Sambars, in dry curries, in Bhajjis etc. Yet, most Indians love to eat it as "Baingan Bharta" - a rather simple yet delicious curry made out of roasted Eggplant.

Here are the things we need:

Eggplant/Brinjal (the ones that are big, elongated and ovoid) - 1
Tomatoes - 2
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Ginger - 1 thumb size piece
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 2 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil
Coriander leaves

Step 1: Chop away the crown/thorny part of the eggplant. Place it in a microwave safe dish. Microwave it on high for 10 minutes.
You can alternatively use the conventional oven for this - it would take about 45 minutes when the oven is set to 350-400 F.
There is a third option too - Use the conventional stove top. Though I find this to be very messy and time consuming process.

Step 2: Let the roasted eggplant to cool and peel the outer skin. Mash the eggplant and make it into a pulp.

Step 3: Make a smooth puree out of the tomatoes, ginger and green chillies.

Step 4: Take a kadai/tava add oil and jeera to it and let it sputter. To this add the above puree, turmeric and red chilli powder and let it cook for about 10 minutes. To this boiling mixture add the mashed eggplant, salt, coriander powder and garam masala powder and mix well. Let this simmer for 5-10 minutes more. Garnish with finely chopped coriander. Yummy tasty Baingan Bharta is ready!

Optionally - you can shallow fry chopped capsicum (green bell pepper) and onions slices and add it along with the garnishing.

Serve hot with rotis, chapatis or rice.

Bon appetit!!! :)

Here a pop, there a pop, everywhere a ...

2011-06-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

We both stood with our heads bent in shame and with sombre expressions on our faces. Mom had just discovered the existence of a handy-cam which we had purchased (without telling her, of course) and had tried, quite unsuccessfully, to hide it beneath the pillows ! And yes needless to say she was furious. After a rather long session of being lambasted, we were left to ourselves. I was on the verge of tears which is when he sighed and turned to me with a huge grin and removed cotton plugs out of his ears! Thats it - gone were the tears and I was howling with laughter. Mom must've thought - "What a pair of hopeless idiots am I stuck with?".

Yep - thats my family for you. My mom, me and my awesome dad! :) If I am even a teeny bit responsible, efficient and disciplined its purely and entirely due to my mom. But most of the times I am a happy-go-lucky person, a child at heart busy doing mischief and having tons of fun. THIS is only because of my dad. He is the one who taught me that it is OK to be irresponsible now and then as long as it makes me happy. He is the one who taught me to take everything in life with a pinch of salt. He is the one who taught me to forget and forgive the negative factors around me. He is the one who can make me laugh , and smooth the worried creases on my forehead.

I've probably said this a million times already but here it is yet again - Thank you dad, for simply being the person that you are. :)

Here's wishing my dad and all the dads in the world a very Happy Father's Day!! :)

Past the "C"!

2011-06-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

It is the number of years in a century. It is the number of tiles in standard scrabble. It is the HTTP status code indicating that the client should continue with its request. It is the police telephone number in India, Nepal, Israel and Greece. AND it is the number of posts that we've exceeded on our blog - a big fat 100.

It seems as though it was only yesterday sagchet and I were celebrating the first milestone on our blog - 50 posts! From that day to today we both have enjoyed our journey of sharing our experiments and musings on our web-space. We thank you for having stayed with us and having patiently tolerated our various rantings and ravings. We hope to keep up the crazy job and continue the entertainment.

So do keep tuned in!! :)

Life's Upma?!

2011-06-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

As I was grudgingly downing today's breakfast , Upma/Uppittu [more popularly known as "concrete"] I suddenly had an epiphany. I realized that I have the same attitude towards Upma as I do towards life!! I know I know - it doesn't sound as glamorous as other similes and poetic references of life to a rose or the wild sea. But do bear with me and read on. You might even agree with me. ;)

The Upma Vs Life table:

1) My first complaint about "upma" is that it is tasteless. But it only becomes as tasty as I want it to be! It is up to me to add vegetables, coconut and garnishing and various other flavors to make it delicious.
Similarly, I grumble about how my work ,life etc are boring and bland. Isn't it totally up to me to spice it up and make it interesting?

2) "Upma" is actually a nutritious breakfast with carbs, proteins and vitamins. It is a healthy breakfast item. Yet it is the oil-fried 'pooris' and high-carb 'dosas' that I crave for.
Similarly, my lifestyle is healthy enough. The work-play balance is more or less perfect. Yet I compare my lifestyle to those of people with 'high-stress-all-work-no-play' and sulk.

3) In spite of all the lame excuses or reasons I give for not liking "Upma", the real truth is - IT IS ALL IN MY HEAD. It has nothing or very little to do with taste or texture or color.
Similarly - everything that I claim not to like about my life is simply and only due to my big-fat-over-thinking head!

SUMMARY :- Life = "Upma".

Nah.. that can't be right. Life isn't THAT bad after all!! ;)

The Vibram Blog: Episode 3

2011-06-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

Day 4: By morning, the pain in my calf muscles had subsided, and I could walk around normally during the day. But today, I decided to get a little more time on the treadmill and see how my newly awakened calf reacts.

Today, I started off with a brisk walk (for me) at 3.5 mph. In my sneakers, this would have resulted in the front portion of my calf getting exercised and pulled. However, in the Vibrams, there was almost no strain on the front of my calf at all. I walked for about 5 minutes, and my legs couldn't tell the difference - this is a huuuge improvement for me. I've always had trouble walking quickly, and that is now just gone! Superb.. Vibram 1, sneakers 0.

Then I pedalled up to a 7mph jog again. Today, I noticed that the sound of my feet striking the treadmill was noticeably softer. I think that may have to do with the forefoot strike working its magic. It's not effortless though. After 3-4 minutes of this, my calves were crying out for mercy and I had to dial back to a slower speed and get back onto my heels. A few cycles of this walk and jog and I called an end to the treadmill. Cycling, weights, all the weird machines which exercise weird muscles - as usual - no difference between Vibram and sneaker.

So, day 4 from purchase and day 2 of running - calves still complaining, less sound while running on treadmill. Need to read up more about how to run and how to use these shoes properly.
PS - the Vibrams are looking very different - they seem to have expanded around the sides. Here's a pic of my dirty Vibrams. Sorry for putting up such a picture, but this is for a scientific purpose :)

The Vibram Blog: Episode 2

2011-06-08T00:14:00.000-07:00

Day 3:
Today, I changed the routine. I wore sandals at work and carried the Vibrams for a light gym session. Nothing strenuous - just 15 mins cardio on the treadmill, 10 mins cycling and a few squats.

This is where the going got tough - Running on the treadmill, I immediately realized how much pressure I put on my heels every time I land. At 7mph, I'm not running super fast, so I usually settle down with my nicely cushioned New Balance shoes into a fast jog. Apparently, I was landing heel-first every single time. The deeply cushioned sole on my sneakers absorbed that impact without any fuss and I never felt a thing.

With the Vibrams, that is absolutely inexcusable. By my third step, I was forced to get off my heels and use the pad of my feet for landing, else my heels would scream in pain. Also, because of the five-fingers arrangement, my toes suddenly felt useful and started playing a role in every stride. This felt wonderful - for the first 10 seconds. You see, what the toes do is help you lift off by splaying out, gripping the ground and allowing the calf muscle to pull up the foot.

That calf muscle has never been exercised in its life before. Today, after 24 years of slumber, it was suddenly jolted to life, and it expressed itself eloquently. It still is bothering me 2 hours after the workout. I knew from my reading that my change in gait would lead to some discomfort in the legs, but this much muscle throbbing with just 15 mins on the treadmill is crazy!

However, the cycling was superb. I could actually position my feet on the pedals such that my forefoot was on the pedal and the toes provided grip. Cycling was a breeze. During squats and weights, I didn't really notice any difference between normal shoes and the Vibrams. Maybe I already had a good posture for those exercises ;)

So, day 1 of workout - bad pain in legs, complete surprise that I was such a clubfooter all these years, wondering how long I have to endure the pain before I adjust. Also, am I a convert? Not yet, not by a long measure.

The Vibram Blog: Episode 1

2011-06-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

I recently came upon the barefoot walking movement: here is a little background.

After reading that article and a score of others, I was profoundly intrigued by the concept of walking better by protecting the foot less. The notion is counter-intuitive to every single shoe ad and film ever made in the history of mankind. So, in the interests of the common man, I have decided to experiment with the most popular type of barefoot shoe, the Vibram. Also, I will journal my first few weeks with the shoe so that people interested in doing this will know what they face.

Vibram Five fingers Bikila LS.

A little bit of background first: in terms of being a fit athlete who hikes and treks and is a creature of the great outdoors, I figure on the extreme opposite end of those things. I'm fat, heavy and stumble from one foot to the other in what can be called a cow-walk. I have never walked more than a mile in my life, and the great outdoors are appreciated from the window of a car, bus, train or plane.So, the Vibrams are being used by the exact kind of person they were not designed for.

Day 1 : I was so excited about the shoes that I walked around in them at home all evening. Nothing strenuous, just some walking from the hall to the kitchen and back. Let my feet get adjusted to a snug glove around them. The toes feel very comforting, and the tight fit makes it feel like I'm not club-footed anymore. Nice!

Day 2 : Continuing with the tradition of lightly breaking into them, I wore them to office. I took along a pair of sandals in case they hurt during the day. But, given that I hardly move out of the office during work hours, nothing taxing was done, and all the odd looks people gave my feet got a little taxing after a while.
Note: These Vibrams do not make your feet look good in any way. If anything, they emphasize the stubbiness of the feet. However, if you care so much about the way your feet look, you won't be interested in these shoes anyway.

So, first 2 days - no pain, not much use, a few odd looks. Let's take this to the next level!

Virtuality.

2011-06-06T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today we all live in a world filled with gadgets and gizmos. We meet people on "skype" because our lifestyles are so hectic that there is no longer any time for good old-fashioned hanging out for a coffee or taking a walk with friends around a park. We keep in touch with people through "facebook" - apparently there is no point in mails, phone calls or even e-mails! We play games with wii or kinect , since it is super fun but more importantly it doesn't feel so bad when you lose out to an unknown animated character on screen, does it? ;)

Advancements in technology and communication are changing the basic psyche of human beings. I belong to a generation which is probably standing at the cusp of this wave - we are familiar and comfortable with normal social interactions and at the same time we are in awe of the cutting-edge virtual environment gadgets. This will most probably change over the next few decades. Face-to-face interactions could become altogether redundant and inconvenient. We might end up using 3D holographic images of our selves to go and meet anyone we want anywhere in the world, while physically we could simply be sitting at home. [I know what you're thinking - "She just stole that line from some sci-fi movie/book". The truth is, you are absolutely right! The movie is "Surrogates" and the books you are looking for would be among Isaac Asimov's tales of Solaria ]

In future, the word reality would become archaic and it would be replaced with "virtuality" - a more relevant and apt word. There is no debating that such a change is inevitable. Is this change for better or worse? We can only guess. :)

Frozen perfection.

2011-06-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

We saw a frozen section of land near the Niagara falls last winter. Even time seemed to have stopped here. It was quiet, sort of eerie but perfect. :)

Kung Fu Panda 2

2011-06-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

We haven't written a review for the first and original Kung Fu Panda movie in our blog. Here it goes ... it is simply "AWESOME" :) Right, now that we've taken care of it let us move on to its sequel very creatively named - Kung Fu Panda 2. And yes,this one is a 3D movie. I don't know how much of a difference it really makes, to be honest.

Most characters from the first movie are back in this one too. The legendary "Furious Five" - Master Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Master Monkey (Jackie Chan), Master Mantis (Seth Rogen), Master Viper (Lucy Liu) and Master Crane (David Cross) , the all-time super cool kung-fu teacher - Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), the simple-minded noodle and tofu man aka Po's dad - Mr. Ping (James Hong) and of course the one and only inimitable, legendary, super awesome dragon warrior Panda - Po (Jack Black) .

The story is simple enough and even predictable to an extent. Po, to his but no one else's shock, learns that his father Mr. Ping (a goose) had adopted him when he was a baby Panda. [I know what you're thinking... what a tube-light indeed!] He now wants to know who his real parents are and where he came from. At the same time, China is invaded by a dark force which has the potential to stop Kung-Fu itself! The Furious Five and Po set out to stop this menace and save Kung-Fu. But how does one stop something with Kung-Fu which stops Kung-Fu itself? The answer apparently is that - Po needs to attain "inner peace". Does he attain it in time? Does Kung-Fu survive this test? Does Po discover his identity? These are questions which will be answered when you watch the movie.

The highlight of this movie is the main protagonist, Po. He steals the show with his antics and gimmicks and leaves you rolling on the floor laughing. Also, hats off to whoever thought of casting the main villain of the movie - Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) as a peacock! The character does justice to the popular saying "As vain as a peacock" indeed. The action sequences are beautifully choreographed with just about right amount of humor in them. In spite of the fact that the underlying story is quite serious the script is so beautifully woven that at no point the movie strays from being a light-hearted entertainer.

In short - Kung Fu Panda 2 is a fun-packed non-stop laugh riot. Do not spoil it for yourself by comparing and weighing it against the first movie or any other movie for that matter. There is no point, and it simply is not worth the effort. :)

Enjoy!

Sunset

2011-05-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of many sunset pictures in my collection. Yet, I really do like this one. Simply because it looks as though it came right out of our primary school drawing book.... doesn't it? :)

The power of dreams.

2011-05-25T03:50:00.000-07:00

My music player was on shuffle mode today. And at some point it started playing one of my all time favorite tamil melody - "Suttum vizhi chudar" from the movie "Kandukondain Kandukondain". [Note of caution - Kindly ignore the picturization of this song, close your eyes, don't watch the video, just listen to the song! Well at least that is what I would do - I am not very fond of those two actors, you see! :) ].

And for the first time in a long time, I paid more attention to the lyrics rather than the tune itself. Which is when it hit me - what beautiful poetry it was indeed! I admit I had to use "google" liberally to fully understand this song , especially since my knowledge of tamil poetry is nothing to rave about. (Some of the most comprehensive and interesting translations of this song to English have been compiled here.)

This is one of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi's many works. Born into a traditional Tamilian Iyer family, he grew up learning Carnatic music and composing poets and prose. Money and worldly comforts did not draw his attention. He was a dreamer. He travelled extensively , met several people and his mind was filled with revolutionary ideas. He was not only a freedom fighter but even during the first decade of 1900's he fought against caste system and suppression of women. And his only weapons were his literary works - which turned out to be mightier than swords in the end!

His unbounded spirit and modern outlook to life is quite apparent in his compositions. His patriotic poems reflect his fearlessness. His romantic prose and poetry mirrors his admiration and respect for women. Several of his works also directly criticize the social inequalities widely prevalent during his days. Back during his days , these issues were probably one of the most controversial ones. And it would've taken a really gutsy person to stand up against the established norms and voice his contradicting opinions.

Today, Bharatiyar's dream of "modern , independent women" [Pudumai Penn] and "caste-free society" have transformed into realities, more or less. It is only fair that we thank him for having had the purity of thought and broad-mindedness necessary for dreaming up these ideas which has led to this free society in which we all live.

Magical musical notes.

2011-05-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

As I sat there in the fully packed auditorium, I could hear the lead performer's broken voice as he sneezed and cleared his throat. [And if you're wondering how I knew it was him - trust me, very few people would be unable to identify his voice. :)] It sounded like a real bad bout of cold. I was wondering if the concert would be cancelled. Or worse, would he continue to sing with his cracked voice??

Seconds later the curtains were drawn aside even as Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna began humming the "Arohana-Avarohana" of some raaga I didn't recognize. Accompanying him on violin was Mysore Manjunath and two very famous percussionists on mridangam and ghatam. The opening song was a hymn praising Ganesha. His voice doesn't sound so bad inspite of the cold, I thought to myself. This was followed by a couple of other warm-up songs. Then someone in the audience requested him to perform the popular "Kamalaambaam Bhajare" song set in raaga Kalyani. And that is when the concert's quality reached its pinnacle!

With his deep sonorous voice, Dr. Balamuralikrishna literally played with the notes as he delivered the "alapana". He actually sang in three different octaves with such an ease that an ignorant person would believe this feat was rather simple! The accompanying violinist is actually a very famous performer himself, but he couldn't keep up with all the twists and turns that Dr.Balamurali introduced in his narration. It was an absolute masterpiece. I couldn't believe that this was the quality of his singing , in spite of being stricken with severe cold!!

From that point onwards the concert got only better and better with each song. The percussionists' "thani avarthana" (percussion solo) was superb too! I sat there totally absorbed in the concert as though I were a little child. The best part is - I noticed that the performers too had abandoned all pretense of being "stiff-necked" and "professionals" and were enjoying their performances. They were teasing each other and competing with each other on the stage as though they were a couple of small kids racing each other to cross the finish line and win a lollipop!

As I saw these maestros, I couldn't help but wonder... maybe this was the secret of excellence after all! To be yourself and to thoroughly enjoy what you do! :)

Winter's gift.

2011-05-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

Wrapped in a blanket cozy and warm,

I glanced out of the window admiring the dawn.

I watched as the coat of white spread on the lawn,

Upon the trees and over the barn.

The trees stood deprived of their leaves long,

The cool crisp air was bereft of birds' song.

In the silence I could hear the distant tower's gong,

It really did seem as though all life was gone.

I sighed and looked out again,

In the vague hope that some sight of life I may gain,

My search, it turned out was not in vain,

For there in the distance - I saw them all dancing in the rain !

In this winter lonely and cold,

Even as the ground shone as well as gold,

The sight of every single beautiful snowdrop,

Gave me so much joy , and made me go hippity-hop!

Optical illusion?

2011-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

This passage is a part of the Tanjore Brihadeshwara complex. Here there are hundreds of granite pillars along a perfect straight line. But seen from this point, it looked as if the pillars were tapering down to a single point. I found it pretty fascinating and spent a lot of time [and quite a bit of memory on my card too!! ] - staring in wonder and clicking away pictures to glory.

Nothingness.

2011-05-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those rare mornings - where absolutely nothing was running in my mind.No thoughts, no opinions, no emotions, no daydreams - nothing at all! It felt very odd at first, especially since my head is a place which is buzzing with activity even when I'm asleep [or at least thats what people tell me... I am known to give eloquent speeches even when I'm fast asleep, using the limited resources of my sub-conscious mind] .

But soon I got used to this new found peace and quiet. As the "nothingness" wrapped itself all around me, I did not feel suffocated but felt, surprisingly relaxed. It felt as though I was in a place where I actually belonged. I am not aware for how long I remained in this state - a few seconds, minutes or was it hours?

I snapped out of this reverie as soon as I heard a very familiar voice asking me to "become aware of the surroundings again". It was then that I realized I was in my yoga class!

So the brief "nothingness" I experienced - was that the ultimate goal of meditation , an art which our ancestors have been striving to perfect for the past who-knows how many millenia? Or was it just me dozing off and dreaming away to glory during the yoga class? No one will ever know! :)

From the Pacific to the Atlantic - Part 3.

2011-05-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

Click here to read Part 2.

Empty Jax Beach, FL

We spent as much time as we could on the pleasantly empty but quite unpleasantly cold Jacksonville Beach that evening. We then bid our goodbye to the Atlantic ocean, headed back to our hotel and got ready to leave back and reach our destination across the breadth of the continent, right along the coast of the Pacific ocean.

Our first task was to drop off our trusty Nissan Sentra at the airport and head to our five hour flight to Las Vegas, Nevada. We found this Jax airport rather interesting. There were beautiful Christmas decorations all around. But the best part of it were the rocking chairs which they'd placed here and there. We grabbed some coffee and settled down for all the "rocking" until it was time to board the flight.

Near Las Vegas airport, Nevada

We reached Las Vegas around 5 in the evening. It was no longer hot and the sun was dipping in the horizon. As it happens, this was our second visit to Las Vegas [The details of our first visit to Las Vegas, which was also a road trip, incidentally shall be posted asap!]. Last time we went around this colorful city on foot. So this time, we decided to take a quick look around - by car!

One of the many colorfully lit buildings in the "Strip", LV

We drove up and down the "Strip" of this colorful , crowded and fully lit up city. Having had an overdose of flashy bright lights, we turned back and headed south to San Diego. This was a three hundred odd miles drive. Ideally, shouldn't have taken more than 4 to 5 hours. But we forgot one thing - since it was a long weekend tons of people had visited Las Vegas and were all returning to various parts of California , all of them at the same time! We got stuck in one of the worst traffic jams of our lives ever. The traffic was crawling at an average speed of 5 to 10 miles/hr on the interstate ! And hence it took 8 [rather than 4 ] hours to reach home even though we stopped only once at a "Dennys" for dinner.

Our road trip across seven states of the USA had come to an end. We were tired beyond words by the time we crashed on the comfortable and familiar bed at home. But just before switching our brains off, we both wore wide congratulatory smiles on our face as we vowed to keep going on more such fun and adventurous road trips all our lives!

NOTE: Here is a link to view the google maps of our journey!!

Prelude.

2011-05-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Often we come across sights which leave us utterly speechless, thoughtful, elated or depressed. There is a saying which says "Action speaks louder than words". Similarly "Pictures speak louder than words" too!

I have decided to begin a new series of post - where every weekend I want to put up a picture with an interesting note/story associated with it. And needless to say, these pictures shall not be picked from "google" but shall be the ones which either I or "sagchet" have captured over the past few years!

Stay tuned in for more! :)

Baby Corn Manchurian recipe.

2011-05-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

Baby Corn Manchurian is an Indo-Chinese starter. Its yummy and its one of my [and many others'] all time favorite. To my surprise, today I discovered that it is rather simple to make!

Here are the things we need:

Baby Corn - 5 to 6
Maida flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 tbsp (optional)
Onion - 2
Green chillies - 5 to 6
Ginger - 1 piece
Garlic - 7 to 8 pods (optional)
Spring onion - 3 to 4
Chilli powder - to taste
White pepper powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp
Oil

Step 1: Chop the onions, green chillies, ginger and the spring onions (garlic too, if used) finely. Cut each baby corn into two to three pieces as shown below.

Step 2: In a bowl mix maida, rice flour, salt and chilli powder with a spoon of oil and water. The consistency of the batter should not be too thick or too thin.

Step 3: Dip the baby corn pieces into the prepared batter and deep fry in a kadai or a wok.

Step 4: Take another wok (Kadai or frying pan) , add two tbsp oil, and fry the chopped onions, ginger, green chillies, spring onions, ginger (and garlic too) till they turn golden brown. To this add the fried baby corn "pakoras". Add soy sauce , tomato ketchup, salt and white pepper powder to this mixture and toss it all together.

Delicious crispy Baby Corn Manchurian is ready!

............Don't forget to serve this with yummy hot-sweet sauce!!

Bon appetit!!

Shogun.

2011-05-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

Shogun is a historical fiction authored by James Clavell. The events in this book portray a beautiful picture of a feudal Japan in the early 1600's as seen through the eyes of an English sailor. The plot is supposed to be loosely based on the life of a 17th century English trader , William Adams, the first Englishman to have ever reached Japan.

John Blackthorne is a Protestant English pilot who is swept helplessly (along with the rest of the crew of his ship) to the Portuguese and Catholic dominated shores of Japan. These bearded, unclean sailors are frowned upon by the Japanese and are almost sent to the gallows. But one of the feudal lords, Kasigi Yabu, realizes he could use Blackthorne's knowledge about ships and guns and spares their lives. Yabu's overlord and a powerful regent, Toranaga , learns of this and demands that the foreigner be turned in to him. The rest of the story is about how Blackthorne - the wild English pirate takes up a Japanese name (Anjin-San) , adopts to the new way of life, gets swept by the charms of a beautiful lady transalator (Mariko) as he sweeps across the mystical lands of Japan playing a key role in determining the Shogunate.

The most special thing about this novel, over and above other things , is that it gives a delightful insight into the society, philosophy and life of the Japanese of the 17th century. It is filled with fascinating tales depicting the discipline of the Samurai, the wiles of the "Geishas", the cunning of the ruling lords, the horrifying acts of "Seppukus" and more. The writing style is exquisite and the author paints the picture of Japan very vividly and realistically.

To sum it up - Shogun is an eventful journey into the past , into the magical lands of the East. A definite must-read!!

Mum's the word!

2011-05-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Moms are so much fun! Their foreheads crease every single time we sneeze. Their eyes follow us wherever we go and their hands are always geared up to steady us every time we stumble. Their faces beam with pride and joy every time we win a 'spello' contest. And no matter how old we grow, to them we are tiny toddlers. They are soft enough to be our pillows when we shed tears. At the same time, they are tough enough to glare down any adversary who might show any inkling of harboring intentions to bother their kids.

I am sure all of us love our moms. I'm sure too that they know about it. Even so, it might be a good thing to express our love and concern for them out loud, as often as may be possible. What better day to do that than today, eh? :)

Kudos to all the moms around the world! We, your kids, want you to know that we love and respect you more than anyone else in our lives. Wish you a very happy Mother's Day! :)

Trust or Umbrella?

2011-05-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

Rainy days are here. So I've made it a point to have an umbrella with me no matter where I go. This paid off today - I was on my way to Yoga class and it suddenly started pouring. I had a smug smile on my face and patted myself on my back for my forethought. As I reached the Yoga class, I saw that quite a few people had sought the shelter of the building waiting for the rain to subside.

One of them, a middle-aged lady, came up to me and said "Can you please lend me your umbrella? My house is two streets away. I will reach home, pick up my own umbrella , come back here and return yours. Otherwise, I would simply have to stand here for God knows how long!". My initial reaction was to just hand over the umbrella to her. Poor lady, she must be getting tired and bored standing here in one place , I thought. But the supposedly-saner screeched at me!

"Wait! You don't even know her. What if she takes your umbrella away and never returns? How can you trust this stranger whom you've just met? Stop being naive - how many times in your life are you going to fall for such pranks? Listen to me this one time at least!".

Now the supposedly-naiver and dumber part of me argued back "Oh, come on! What will she want to do with my umbrella! Its hardly worth a few pennies. And even if this is an elaborate [and ridiculous] plan of hers to steal my umbrella, how does it matter? Its super nice to get drenched in rain, isn't it?" .

You see, this debate was going on inside my head. And I hadn't said anything out loud for a significant period of time. She must've guessed my thoughts and said "Please do trust me. I will be back in 10 minutes. If I can't come I will send my little grandson". I made up my mind, decided to listen to the "dumber" side of me, yet again, and politely handed over my umbrella over to her.

She thanked me and went her way. I entered the class and began my practice. After a while I noticed the time and it had already been half an hour since the class had begun. And the lady still hadn't come back. I kept looking back at the door, to see if she had left the umbrella somewhere near the door, but no such thing had happened. "Oh no! Not again" I moaned to myself. I continued to berate my own stupidity as I practiced the asanas. The prospect of getting drenched in the rain cheered me up marginally though.

I was lost in my own thoughts when someone nudged me from behind. I turned and it was the same lady! She handed over my umbrella, gave me such a genuinely grateful look and flashed a bright smile. That simply made my day, indeed! I gloated as the skeptical-part-of-me cringed in shame

What is the point of suspecting everything and everyone around? Life only becomes miserable that way no matter how much material wealth [or umbrellas, in the above case!!] we manage to accumulate. This is probably why Lincoln has rightly said - "Believing everybody is dangerous, but believing nobody is more dangerous".

Fruits of Patience!

2011-05-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

There was a mild mid-summer shower in Bangalore yesterday evening. I stepped out of the house, played a bit in the rain and was about to turn back when I jumped up with joy because I saw all of 'em on my tree.

Well, I might be stretching the truth a little when I claim this to be "my" tree. Because this mango tree grows in my neighbor's house. But I have a strange attachment with it. Even when it was a young sapling, I used to secretly add fertilizers and sprinkle medicines over it. I used to make it a point to go and say a "hello" to this plant once a day at least. I waited for days, months and years at end to see this fellow grow into a big sturdy tree and bear lots of fruits!

The tree grew up well and fine alright, but the fruits never came. Not one not two, Nothing happened for 6 long years. I had given up hopes and even forgotten about this tree. But yesterday , for the first time I saw the green, delicious, bunches of mangoes hanging from almost all its branches.Few other things in life have given me as much happiness as this singular sight.

Which is when I concluded - Fruits of Labor are sweet. Fruits of patience are sweeter still! :)