Green, blue and red

A year has passed since Green died. Some of it froze and became blue. Some of it blushed and became red.

Anna and Vijay

Watching an idiotic movie of Julia Roberts. Her name in the movie is Anna. I remember her name was Anna even in Notting Hill.

Was reminded of Amitabh Bachchhan and his name Vijay in so many movies. The only difference is that I still like watching Julia Roberts'n movies, at least some of them.

Golf

A few of my friends play and like Golf. I have never played this game - but am sure it would be fun. I still dont see any special skill in the game.

Am watching amateur golf on ESPN. All the players are wearing bermudas. Its almost like saying that you wear shorts when you are amateur and then when you graduate and become professionals, you start wearing pants. :-)

Interesting huh?

On men wearing pink

May be it shows that you are happy and 'gay'.
My wife thinks the only man who looks good in pink is Hugh Grant.

I have two pink shirts.

First day at new job

Got this from an editor friend... not sure of authenticity of this.. but surely a very interesting read...
_____________________________________________________

Nandan Nilekani in his new avatar as a Cabinet Secretary. Here is what
he had penned after his first day in the Parliament. The last entry
stopped when the House was just about to begin. Let's see what happened
thereafter....

The House was in pin drop silence. I was brimming with anticipation and
excitement!!!! Manmohan had informed me that my introduction was one of
the important points of the agenda. I hoped that I will be able to make
my speech properly. After so many interviews and conferences, I was
nervous today!!!! After the Speaker indicated that the proceedings of
the House could begin, Manmohan formally introduced me to the entire
House. He mentioned that as the head of the Unique Identification
Authority of India, I was responsible to ensure that each and every
Indian had a digital smart card as a proof of his existence.
Manmohan spoke about why I was selected and also some references to the
various projects executed by me in Infosys were mentioned. The House
listened with rapt attention. I was asked to say a few words and I did
exactly the same!!! I thanked the Government of India for having given
me this opportunity and I assured the House that I would strive to
successfully deliver this project. The Speaker then formally inducted me
into the House and before the proceedings could move any forward, there
was a small commotion on the other side of the hall.

It was Minister of Textiles who had a comment to make before the next
point on the agenda. He made a request that I should be attired in a
more austere way instead of a flashy suit. It did not go well with the
image of a minister who should live to serve the common man and should
be less ostentatious in his habits. I stood up to reply. I offered my
apologies to the Honourable Minister and assured that I shall be in a
more acceptable dress next time. I felt that he was right. We also used
to have corporate dress code in Infosys. So it's here as well!!!!

I sat down and felt somebody nudging me. I turned around and to my
surprise; it was the former Indian skipper and one of my favourite
batsman Mohd. Azharuddin. I remembered that he had recently won the
elections. I smiled at him and mentioned to him that I used to like his
game very much, shaking his hand. No Rolex, I noticed. Azhar told me
that he would "fix" me an appointment with an Italian designer who had
designed his dapper Kurta suit. An Italian designer in Milan doing
Kurtas!!!!! I made a note of this and reminded myself to give this
example to Friedman for his next book," The World Markets are
flattened".

Since there was no doubt about the "Fixational" capacities of Azhar, I
told him to give me the details and I would consider. The proceedings of
the House went on with numerous bills being debated and passed as I sat
as a passive audience waiting for my project's turn to come up. After
the lunch break, it was the moment for me!!!!

MY PROJECT"S FIRST REVIEW CAME UP FOR PRESENTATION.
I was at sea. My laptop did not have any reserve power. I went to
Manmohan and apprised him of the situation. I was sweating. He calmly
replied that this would not be a cause of concern. I was flummoxed!!!!
The Speaker asked me to explain to the House on what were my plans for
the Unique Identity Project. I replied that I have a plan prepared for
30-60-90-120 days' milestones and I have presentation to make for which
I need a power socket, a projector and a screen. I had no idea what was
going to happen after this.

The next couple of minutes were a complete jolt for me. I was completely
in a tizzy. Let me just summarize what happened. A Joint Cabinet
Secretary Committee was set up to judge the feasibility of my request.
The Under Secretaries for the Ministries of Power, IT and Broadcasting
will prepare a Viability Report after scrutinizing National Security
threats to my request. This was because the power socket comes under
Power, laptop comes under IT and projector comes under Broadcasting. I
have also been told to reconsider my timelines of 30-60-90 days and
start thinking in terms of years. Probably, they are right. I did not
have the foresight in this matter.
The summary of the issue is that I need to come up with a more
inclusive, democratic, comprehensive long term plan for this project to
be executed over the next five years. I have also been given a
presentation slot 3 months from now (by which the issues related to the
power cord etc will also be resolved). I am filled with mixed reactions.
I was planning for a quick resolution; the management wants a strategic
solution. I come out of the House and text Murthy.
"You won't believe it but these guys work just like us. I am on a
NATIONAL BENCH for the next three months!!!!!!!!"

condolences

Four Hindi poets died in a car accident near bhopal while they were coming back from a kavi-sammelan.

The names of the poets are -
- Om Prakash 'Aditya' - here is one by him
- Neeraj Puri
- Lal Singh Gujjar
- Om Vyas 'Om'

I practically grew up listening to Om Vyas 'Om'. He was our neighbor in Ujjain and was there in almost every function where he had a new poem to recite.

May their souls rest in peace.

वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

Dr Shivmangal Singh 'Suman'

यह हार एक विराम है
जीवन महासंग्राम है
तिल-तिल मिटूँगा पर दया की भीख मैं लूँगा नहीं।
वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

स्‍मृति सुखद प्रहरों के लिए
अपने खंडहरों के लिए
यह जान लो मैं विश्‍व की संपत्ति चाहूँगा नहीं।
वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

क्‍या हार में क्‍या जीत में
किंचित नहीं भयभीत मैं
संधर्ष पथ पर जो मिले यह भी सही वह भी सही।
वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

लघुता न अब मेरी छुओ
तुम हो महान बने रहो
अपने हृदय की वेदना मैं व्‍यर्थ त्‍यागूँगा नहीं।
वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

चाहे हृदय को ताप दो
चाहे मुझे अभिशप दो
कुछ भी करो कर्तव्‍य पथ से किंतु भागूँगा नहीं।
वरदान माँगूँगा नहीं।।

Notes - Another one I used to like.

बड़ी ई की गलती..

Om Prakash 'Aditya'

विधाता ने मुझको बनाया था जिस दिन,
धरती पे भूचाल आया था उस दिन
मुझे देख सूरज को गश आ गया था,
मेरे रूप से चाँद चकरा गया था

मैं तारीफ अपनी करून या खुदा की,
तकदीर का लेख लिख बे जबा की
लिखा उसने यह कोई लीडर बनेगा,
वकालत करेगा यह प्लीडर बनेगा,
यह बिगडेगा कम और यह अक्सर बनेगा,
मिलिटरी या नेवी का अफसर बनेगा

बनेगा कसीजिन घोडों का मालिक,
हजारों का लाखों करोड़ों का मालिक,
यह दुनिया में हलचल मचाता रहेगा,
सदा मुफ्त का माल खाता रहेगा
सभी वार हैं इसके हक में अक्सर,
ब्रहास्पद हो बुधवार शुक्कर सनीशचर

पढ़ा मैंने लेख विधाता का लिखा,
सनिशचर की "नि" को, ग़लत उसने लिख्खा
मैं बोला लिखा आपने "नि" गलत है,
सनिशचर में लिखना बड़ी "नी" ग़लत है,

वे बोले की तू क्यों तरक कर रहा है,
बड़ी चोटी ई में फरक कर रहा है
अरे अभी तो पैदा हुआ बी नहीं है,
तुझे क्या पता यह गलत या सही है।

करेगा तू अनजान क्या जनम पाकर। 

मेरी पोल खोलेगा दुनिया में जाकर। 

तेरे भाग्य को मैं तो चमका रहा था,

शनिस्शर से इतवार टेक आ रहा था।

जो तू चाह रहा है वही कर रहा हूँ,

बड़ी ई की गलती सही कर रहा हूँ। 

इसे ठीक लिखता हूँ मैं तेरे सर पर -

शनिस्शर, शनिस्शर, शनिस्शर, शनिस्शर।

दिया श्राप उसने गुस्से में आकर। 

नहीं चैन पायेगा धरती में जाकर। 

जनम लेके युहीं विचरता रहेगा,

सदा गलतियां ठीक करता रहेगा। 

फाटे हाल होगा, फटीचर रहेगा,

उम्र भर तू हिंदी का टीचर रहेगा. 

Updated on 17th Apr 2023, found full poem on another blog. 

Dont remember the rest, the problem with Hindi poetry is that you cant find it on google. There are more I used to remember and like..

- Sasoon ka Hisab by Dr. Shivmangal Singh 'Suman'
- Stithi tanavpoorna paruntu niyantran me hain (I dont remember the name of the poet)

And some more very good poetry but not sure how to find it, am trying to figure out books but really speaking do not get anything other than "Madhushala". And no, Madhushala is good, but its famous because of other reasons also and so can be found on net easily.

BTW, Om Prakash 'Aditya' died on 8th June 09 in a road accident near Bhopal. Two other renouned poets "Neeraj Puri" and "Lal Singh Gujjar" also died in the same accident. Another famous poet Om Vyas 'Om' is critical - has been shifted to Delhi and now is out of danger last i heard.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone

W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 

Notes – This is a very sad poem, a mourning, but is written very beautifully.

A Psalm of life

H. W. Longfellow

   TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
        Life is but an empty dream ! —
    For the soul is dead that slumbers,
        And things are not what they seem.

    Life is real !   Life is earnest!
        And the grave is not its goal ;
    Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
        Was not spoken of the soul.

    Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
        Is our destined end or way ;
    But to act, that each to-morrow
        Find us farther than to-day.

    Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
        And our hearts, though stout and brave,
    Still, like muffled drums, are beating
        Funeral marches to the grave.

    In the world's broad field of battle,
        In the bivouac of Life,
    Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
        Be a hero in the strife !

    Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
        Let the dead Past bury its dead !
    Act,— act in the living Present !
        Heart within, and God o'erhead !

    Lives of great men all remind us
        We can make our lives sublime,
    And, departing, leave behind us
        Footprints on the sands of time ;

    Footprints, that perhaps another,
        Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
        Seeing, shall take heart again.

    Let us, then, be up and doing,
        With a heart for any fate ;
    Still achieving, still pursuing,
        Learn to labor and to wait.

 

Notes – the seventh stanza is something i always remembered and liked

Windy nights

R. L. Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet, 
A man goes riding by. 
Late in the night when the fires are out, 
Why does he gallop and gallop about? 
Whenever the trees are crying aloud, 
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

 

Notes – a very mysterious poem indeed, has always attracted me for the sheer feeling of gallantry and mystery which it has somewhere

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy evening

Robert Frost

Was discussing poetry with a friend a few days back… here are a few of them i liked ever since I remember..

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Cos… listening is important…

Started reading Ayn Rand again, finished Fountainhead and moved on to Atlas Shrugged. While enjoying the day in Dukes’s Retreat Khandala – i was trying to read this book.

And as soon as I reached page 3-4, I realized how un-readable is Ayn Rand. I have read Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and We, the living while in college and it was more like a normal story book for me – so did not matter. Now i realize I do not agree with her much and so it was getting very difficult for me to read on. Nope, dont want to go into philosophical differences on why I think “objectivism” is wrong or what i feel should be the correct concept.

Its just that am thinking – am i getting so rigid? That I cant read a book if it says something I do not believe in. Thats not very good. That just means that i am probably getting older and so more and more rigid. And thats the reason I have decided – just to prove myself wrong in this case – I will finish reading Atlas Shrugged and hence, make sure that the habit of listening to people continues even if I do not agree with them. Cos.. listening is important….

The traveller of life…

There was a time in my life when the only pants i had in my wardrobe was jeans – all colours, the only thing I wanted to be was Indian Airforce fighter pilot (flying MIG 29. At least a Miraz 2000 or a Jaguar- india did not have Sukhoi then and MIG 29 was the best interceptor we had, the only bomber we had for a long time was MIG21 which is now called the flying coffin), didnt ever want to do engineering, didnt ever want to get married and live alone in a nice house on the 50th floor of a building overlooking a very busy road, drive a nice convertible or a Willis.

Then the time came when I knew I wont be able to join air force because I have spects, not even Navy, to fly sea-harriers because they are also supersonics, still the only pants i had in my wardrobe was jeans – of all colours, did not wanna do engineering, wanted to do CA. Or MBA from IIM and join Mckinsey or Lehman Brothers. Still did not want to get married ever, live alone in a nice house on the 50th floor of a building overlooking a very busy road and drive a convertible or a Ferrari.

Then there was a time in my life while i was doing my engineering, the only pants i had in my wardrobe was jeans – all colours, never wanted to go into IT, wanted to join IIM and join a Mckinsey or a Lehman Brothers. Did not want to get married, live alone in a nice house on the 50th floor of a building overlooking a very busy road and drive a Mercedes or a Ferrari.

Then the time came when I was working in a software company in Mumbai, I had a mix of jeans and other cotton pants, wanted to join IIM and post that, wanted to join a Mckinsey or a Lehman Brothers, wanted to get married only at 32, till then live alone on the 50th floor of a building overlooking a very busy road and drive a Mercedes.

Now, I am officially 32, happily married for more than 5 years with a kid, never did an MBA, working with one of the companies said above, again for more than 4 years, drive a santro, have just 1 jeans that too blue and my wardrobe is filled with formal clothes. Want to live on a 50th floor of a building with wifey and kid, overlooking a very busy road and want to drive Mercedes.

And strangely, do not seem to be missing any of the above which i didnt get. Thats life.

Mumbai to Indore and back

What do we want to achieve by writing text in front of t-shirts?

I like people, especially females, who wear t-shirts on which there are things written. I don’t know why people wear such stuff but there can be more than one way to interpret it. And I interpret it all of those ways.

Talking about , clothes.. cant forget sarees. The Indian Airlines airhostesses wear saree. Its a weird colour – red, black and white. Looks very bad for such elderly women. Am sure some intelligent looking person who would have thought of thesre colours must have put some interpretation as well. Like we put interpretation for our Tri-colour. So it might go like – Red is for energy, white for hospitality and black for security (blackcats wear black so might be). Thats what the India Airlines airhostess stand for - “secure hospitality with energy”. Not a bad punchline.

So 4 AM in morning when I rushed out of home to catch such an Indian Airlines flight – I was excited as I usually am when I am at an airport. I just love airports. They are air conditioned and so cool – which is very good. There are other good things about the airport – and one of them is the cafe coffee day which serves hot breakfast starting 3.30 AM in the morning.

Anyways coming back to the plane, when we boarded, this airhostess came to an elderly uncle and said – “app mujhe itne gusse se kyon deh rahe ho, zara pyaar se dekho” – listening to this, i tried all the available expressions from shock to sadness, but none matched. Actually never thought of such a scenario in a plane. The elderly uncle had asked for cotton, she gave it to him almost saying – “yeh lo beta”. Not sure if many people know, but airhostess is called “hawai-sundari” in hindi. Thats the translation, obviously not literal but a very old translation – probably someone thought of this when Air India was recruiting its first batch of airhostess. Now after so many year, those recruits have grown old and so the word does not fit well.

It however, almost fits very well for kingfisher. I came back by Kingfisher airlines. And I realized that there are three type of young airhostess in kingfisher. First are the ones which are fair – you dont have to look good when you are fair, thats a sufficient condition. Second are the ones who are not fair but have sharp features. Again you dont have to be good looking. And the third ones are obviously the ones who are good looking ones. So my flight have type 1 and type 2 airhostess. One of them was very fair and reminded me of Priyanka Chopra. Her lips like Priyanka’s covered 70% of her face. They looked very similar except for that the airhostess was very fair. Probably that explains why Priyanka could not become an airhostess. This another one was flashing a batch with her name of it. It looked like the name was LIMA – but that sounds like a name of software system, i stared more and more.. and it was getting awkward because the batch was almost playing the t-shirt with stuff written on it. But I persisted and got the name as “Pooja”. How does the name matter – in no way is it of any significance except for that it reminded me of t-shirts with text written on it. And so the question came to my mind…

What do we want to achieve by writing text in front of t-shirts?

The place I call my home - WIP

 

1. Abstract – thats living room wall with bumblebee paint
2. the bedroom wall wrongly painted
3. the dark and not-so-dark green – Half way split

 

Thats the safety door

 

Floor lamp in Arjun’s room – Arjun and Nitya looking – the floor lamp

 

Arjun’s room – one wall perky lime

 

Thats the master bedroom – with a sort of a book case and table lamps

  

Thats the kitchen – by day/nite

 

Thats one living room wall – bumblebee / Painting the living room wall
Painters with paints and tools (supporting infra)

This is the living room…some garbage and hanging lights…

Thats the passage – morning/nite

Polishing wood with this material

Thoughts...

Its 3 months today. He didn't deserve it. Like they say, until the day they put me in the ground I will wonder, what could I have done differently...

Of Rolls Royce(s) and Hyundai Santro(s)

While coming back from office, the clutch wire of my car snapped. As the road is almost at a 45 deg gradient, it was smooth drive down. After finding the parking place, I parked the car on one side of the road. Got into an auto and went in search of a mechanic. I went to this place called "Powai Auto works" which is a Maruti-Suzuki authorised service centre. I told them the problem and also told them that the car is a Hyundai Santro. They said thats ok and they were ready to help.

Now, this chap and I sat in the auto to go on site - where the car was standing. I asked him generally, "toh aap log sab gadiyan banate hain, ya sirf Maruti". And he says, Gee..Gee..."waise banane ko to hum Rolls Royce bhi banate hain (Gee Gee, Rolls Royce and Santro ;-) ), main khud Gulf me 30 saal rah ke aaya hoon, BMW (oh..), Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Saab - sab gadi pe kaam kiya hai. Jab tak main hai, tab tak baki gadiyan bhi banayenge, main nikal jane ke baad, nahi banayenge."

Since then, there is just one thing I am thinking - What mistake did Mercedes make?

Emotional re-balance

Am not the most emotional person you would find. Recently, I have gone through some tough times in a emotional manner. It was more like an emotional roller-coaster ride. At first it affected me, then my brain took control and shut me down (like a power plant shutting down) emotionally.

About a month back, when almost all the trauma was over, I think my Left brain woke up the right brain and started the process of emotional re-balance. Now its almost over I guess and I am back to almost where I was 3 months back.

Typically, a person's brain shuts down emotionally when the external stimuli varies greatly making the emotions hit the top and bottom boundaries of the band in which they should fluctuate in STP environment. The time to shut down varies from brain to brain.

I dont know if "emotional re-balancing" is a principle or a widespread word from a classical psychology point of view, but I am using it just to explain the phenomenon.

If you use this table given below - with value on X axis varying between 0 to 3600 at an interval of 300 and value on Y-axis being Sin of these values (remember Trigonometry ???)..

X	0	300	600	900	1200	1500
Y	0	-0.99976	0.044182	0.997803	-0.08828	-0.9939

 

1800	2100	2400	2700	3000	3300	3600
0.132202	0.98806	-0.17587	-0.980	0.21919	0.97060	-0.26208

You get a graph if you trace Y-axis... something like this -

So, at 0 - the emotions displayed are also "ZERO". Once the brain starts re-activating right side brain, the emotions per situation varies as Sin of situation index always staying between +1 and -1 (cos thats what sin curve does). It keeps going from one extreme to another extreme for a few days - remember - this is not normal - normally it might be a linear curve for the less emotional people and may be an exponential one for more emotional people - but the variation is always directly proportional to situation index (that's the phrase I coined for this blog).

While emotional re-balancing is going, if I explain in LAYMAN's language - then the theorem goes like this - "the emotions of a person varies for a small change in situation index oscillating between positive and negative values" - which means that the predictability of emotional behaviour of a person for any external stimuli (situation index) becomes very low.

Emotional re-balancing is a process which the brain undertakes to bring back the person to a less logical state from an absolutely logical state.

Now consider, dampening of the curve shown above - which means that the oscillations become less and than become predictable again. The emotions start varying within a band.

Slowly, the brain also starts oscillating within a band. The brain keeps playing Ellsworth Toohey turning Howard Roarks of the world into Peter Keatings.

Dal-bafle and churme ke laddo

I love Dal-bafle. Whats that? Valid quesiton. Typically a lot of people in cosmo-westenised world have now heard about dal-bati which the marwaries have popularised. I thing the marwaries are more enterprising than the malwa-ries. Malwa-ries - are the natives of malwa - the place where I come from in MP.

Malwa is the land of cotton - black soil, warm temperature and warm people. Cotton trading started in Ujjain some 200 years back. Almost the same time when three GERMAN BROTHERS started trading cotton in mid western US and then moved to NY. More about them and the company they formed later. Anyways, so the idea is, that people of Malwa didnt get ahead much in trading.

However, the NOT-enterprising nature of malwa-ries is limited to cotton trading only. In terms of food, you cant even begin to compare Malwa people with anyone else in the world. We are ahead by miles. I have travelled around the country and some part of the world and I dont think any food cuisine comes even closer to the Malwa food richness and variety. (people from other regions, pls don’t take offense, take this as an emotional comment).

So, coming back to Dal bafle (pronounced as baaf-lay). How do you prepare it? Its a very long winding process. A mixture of 5 pulses is a good dal for this. Urad, Masoor, Toor, Moong and Chana dals. Mix them in equal quantity and prepare dal - the way you prepare with onion and garlic.

For bafle -

- Take mota aata (you should ideally not add any rawa if you dont have mota aata, the taste does not come out very well).
- Add salt + ghee (as mohun - binding agent)
- Then add water and knead it hard - make cakes (bafle) almost the size 4 cm by 4cm. Professional cooks make much bigger cakes. Almost 4-4-4 cm or 64-70 cu cm.
- Now boil water so that all the bafle can be put it in. Put haldi in the water. Once water starts boiling, add the bafle to the water and let them be in water till they start floating in water.
- Now, allow them to float for 2-3 mins, take them out and put them on a cotton cloth to dry. Rub and dry the bafle properly.
- While the bafle is still in water, get cowdung cakes (kande in Hindi) and ignite them. Once its ignited well, start putting the dried bafle on kande. Its important that the bafle are dry before being put on kande, otherwise it gets sticky
- Allow the bafle to bake properly, it will become all blackish because of ash from kande. Take the baked bafle and clean the ash completely.
- Break it in two or four pieces and put them in the pot of ghee so that the ghee starts soaking in.
- The Bafle are ready to be served once they are soaked in ghee.

For Churme ke laddo -

- Take mota aata, ghee, milk and water and knead it.
- While you are kneading it, make sure the cow-dung cakes (kande are ignited)
- Make the aata mixture from above and make round laddos out of it.
- Put them on kande and let it bake for some time.
- Keep turning to bake them from all sides. The laddo start cracking once baked.
- Once they are baked, take them out and clean the ash.
- Break the laddo into smaller pieces and finely ground them in a mixie till it becomes coarse powder.
- Now, add ghee and sugar and mix - make them in laddo.
- Churme ke laddo are ready to be served :-)

You cant eat dal bafle, laddo in buffet format. Sit down with a dona - pattal, thats plates made of dry leaves. Take bafle with dal, kadhi, aloo- gobhi ki subji with churme ke laddo, green chutney + pickle with a dash of lemon will add to the taste. Hmmm...

People have started adding dry fruits, mawa to dal bafle and also to ladoo. It depends it you want to do that. You can easily use oven to cook this at home instead of kande.

Note - Make sure not to drink any water post eating this for at least 2 hours otherwise the bafle (which are full of ghee) expand in stomach. Dont wear belt + wrinkle free cotton trousers - kurta- payajama is better :-). And NEVER and I mean NEVER have dal-bafle for dinner.

The current record for eating most dal bafle + laddo is two and half bafle and 12 laddo in one sitting in the year 1996. The record is in name of yours sincerely. Want to break it anyone...

Happy eating!!!

Shab-e-Malwa...

I come from part of Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) called Malwa. There are total 6 malwas in India. Two in MP itself - one is the very famous malwa plateau where I come from and will describe and another is Seoni Malwa (now Hoshangabad district of MP). There is a another malwa in Punjab which consists of 10 out of 20 Punjab districts. Bhatinda, Ludhiyana, Firozpur, Faridkot, Patiyala are a few of the famous ones in Malwa of Punjab. The other Malwas are believed to be in U.P. (Gorakhpur in U.P.) and some part of Gujarat is believed to be called Malwa at some point in time.

The malwa we will talk about is the Malwa Plateau of M.P. M.P. is divided in various districts on political landscape. However, if we consider a physical map, we will find that its divided in 5 major regions - Malwa (Ujjain, Indore), Bundelkhand (Jhansi, Gwalior), Nimar (Khargon, Timarni, Khandwa - hot and dry region), Mahakaushal (Jabalpur) and Chattisgarh (Raipur, Bhilai, Bastar). Chattisgarh is now a separate state.

The name Malwa is as old as the human race itself. Historically, the word was used in Matysa-puran, Scanda-puran. Also Panini used it in his Ashtadhyayi (Not the panini sandwiches you get in Mocha. Panini lived in around 4th century BC in Gandhar region of India(now Afganisthan/Pakistan) and was the father of Sanskrit grammar. He wrote "Ashtadhyayi" which is a comprehensive document on Sanskrit grammar. This marks the beginning of Classical Sanskrit era and end of Vedic Sanskrit era).

Alrite, coming back to origin of word Malwa - historians have their differences about the origin of Malwa but Matysa-puran reference is the most popular one. Matysa-puran describes the story of Savitri and Satyavaan. When Savitri ask Yamraj not to take her husband Satyavaan with Him, she asks Yama for a vardaan that she should have siblings and also praises Yamaraj in the process. Lord Yama grants Savitri's wish and returns her husband. Also, grants the wish of her having 100 siblings which He says will be called "Malaw" (read ma-luv) named after Savitri's mother "Malwi". Also Savitri's 100 sons were called "Mukhars". They say the 100 brothers of Savitri came to a region in Central India and so Malwa is named after them.

Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Dewas till Ratlam is called Malwa (Also, Datana-Matana, Narvar, Sanwer, Ashta, Sonkachch, Sehore are some smaller places in Malwa region). Its the central part of M.P. rich in black soil good for cotton growth. Its in this part where cotton trading first started around 200 years ago but malwa-ries are not as enterprising as the marwaries, so Ujjain fell short of becoming the New York of the East. In NY, three German immigrant brothers did something similar almost 200 years back (More about the organisation they built later, you will find it everywhere on business news). Ujjain has a very old stock market. Now a days, they dont trade on anything but rain.

It also has a story. The brokers from Ujjain bet on rains rather than short-selling some of the investment bank stocks. The idea is to bet how much will it rain. Patre, Kavelu, Nali, Patri, Rapat, Chota Pul (bridge) and Bada Pul. These are various levels. Patre (patra) is a corrugated iron sheet. Kavelu is the earthen tiles (reddish in colour) used for roofs of huts. So, if the rain water starts falling from a particular parta(roof), they say "patre ho gaye", similarly, if it rains heavily, the mud of kavelu roof after soaking some water, will start flowing so - "kavelu ho gaye" and it continues and the bet continues :-). interesting huh.. well that's malwa.

The nights of malwa are extremely pleasant. No matter whats the temperature of the day 45 degs or 47 degs, at night the temp drops and cool breeze starts flowing. That's why they say -

"Seheri-Banaras, Sham-e-Awadh aur Shab-e-Malwa".

Jai Mahakaal!!!

The state of relative proudness

"Jana gana mana - the best national anthem", says UNESCO. Got this email from someone. Read it and thought its such a crappy thought to rate national anthems from best to worst. And because I am the non-believing types, I googled it and found its a spam.

I am an Indian and so understand people feeling proud of their national symbols, culture, anthem etc. Thats perfectly valid. I am proud to be an Indian, but why do people go down to this level as to boasting about stuff which demeans the national symbols belonging to other nations.

I don't think this is required. Its good to be proud of your nation but there is no need to demean other nations. The feeling of being proud of your own country is surely not relative.

I think people should try and come out of the state of "relative proudness".

Leonardo da Vinci and Adarsh Kachori Bhandar

Say if Leonardo da Vinci comes to you and describes in great detail how he created the masterpiece "The last supper". What are the chances that you will be able to draw it the way it is? Not the most difficult question to answer.. the chances are Zilch, Zero, 0. Why? Because, its an art, you cant really draw it based on a description.

Similarly, if Adarsh Kachori Bhandar, New Market, Bhopal reveals his recipe of how he makes perrrrrr...fect Kachories, chances are that you wont be able to make it like that.

I love Kachori. I like Samosas too, but Kachori is really very close to my heart. Making perfect kachories is an art. A real art. There are so many namkeen vendors in the world who make them, but a very few can make what I call perfect Kachories.

The interesting part here is that all the vendors who make them (or rather create them) think that they make good kachories and they keep making them over and over without getting "continuous improvement" in process. Thats the reason why you can distinctly figure out the name of the shop based on the taste of the kachories they make. Thats not exactly the case with Samosas ( sort of a cousin of kachori ). Nearly all vendors can make samosas which almost taste the same. The only difference is the size - some make them larger than the others.

And because everyone thinks their kachories are good, there has been no evolution in kachori making since centuries. There have been some variants though - like Aloo ki Kachori, Bhutte (corn) ki kachori etc. But all these variants basically have the same problem.

So, what is actually a perfect Kachori? Well, there are a few characteristics of a perfect kachori -

- It should not a residual oil
- It should taste good, but even after eating, it should not cause any acidity or the feeling of residual oil within the system.
- When you press it, it should break rather than getting pressed - that shows how khasta is the kachori.

Typically, a lot of kachories you would come across do not satisfy all these criteria. They might taste ok but its the after-effects of eating the kachori makes a difference between good and not-so-good kachories.

Personally, the only shop which sells great kachories is - Adarsh Kachori Bhandar in Bhopal. My love for kachori however takes me to various places tasting various kachories which are mostly not great and so I have acidity post eating those - but I will not stop trying various kachories just because I might get acidity. I will continue. I feel the government should put some funds to make sure that there are courses offered on the art of kachori making, so that tomorrow, we can have people with qualification M.A. - Kachori making and Adarsh Kachori bhandar will surely get a Padma Bhushan :) and that day I will publish my non-fiction novel - "Zen and the art of Kachori making" :-)

Rock On!!! - Movie review

Rock On!!! Nice movie overall. Can easily be watched almost once. Almost because, at some point, it feels like its become longish... Not long, just longish.

Very strong theme, "Do what you passionate about", "Go for it" types. Story goes like this, four guys formed a band while in college and later because of some reason, break up. Now all of them have not met for ten years. They are all doing various things and are successful /unsuccessful in various ways. The name of their rock band is "Magic". Can you believe it? Its such a weak name for a rock band. I would never make a movie around the name Magic. Anyways, out of the four, Poorab is ok, he tried copying Aamir Khan in DCH. I liked Luke Kelly - very normal acting but natural. Farhan sucks, sings well though and Arjun Rampal was ok cos he looked very old compared to the others.

All and all, the movie surely would have been good had Farhan Akthar directed it rather than Abhishek Kapoor. The story was very mediocre, screenplay was almost non-existent.Direction was weak. Farhan sucks as an actor, the only reason why the movie is worth-watching is because it has a very strong theme.

Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy impressed once more and Farhan was a good find as a singer.

Food glorious food...

I just love food. Eating mostly, not cooking as much. Have had various types of foods and liked them. I was thinking for a long time what I miss or what I liked a lot at various times in life.

Will start publishing food items which are just amazing according to me.

Watchout for this space.

Bombay to Bangkok - Movie

Another one from Nagesh Kukunoor. This is what I feel about the movie - this is one of the worst movies I have seen.

After watching this movie, I realised how wrong I was about Dor which I thought was one of the worst movies Nagesh Kukunoor has ever made and acted in. I cant even begin to compare the two movies. At least there was something good about Dor - Shreyas Talpade and Rajasthan, here there is absolutely nothing.

The more I am watching Farhan Akthar, I am beginning to appreciate his movie making skills - from DCH to Don to Rock On. Amazing stuff and the more I watch of Nagesh Kukunoor, I aver that Chemical engineers SHOULD NOT make movies.

The story of Bombay to Bangkok is nothing. Its just a movie you MUST NOT watch - even if someone is paying you for this. Earlier I thought he (Nagesh, who else) is trying to make a descent porn movie - but then I realised its not even that.

Shreyas Talpade is very ordinary, there is nothing for him to do anyways. The rock star villain added some idiotic comedy. Lena Christensen has good body and should try to learn acting. I don't know what else to say about her. There were no expressions and of course - not even an iota of acting.

Surprising part is - music is good. "Dheere dheere" is a fabulous song. That's the only song worth remembering, think it comes twice in the movie (probably broken down in two parts).

All in all, I take everything back I said about Dor. Its not the worst movie by Nagesh - but this one (B2B) surely is.

Great job Nagesh - you out-performed yourself.

Time has come...(31st May 08 - 91)

I have been struggling with this for a long time now. Well not exactly struggling, but have been trying to reduce weight. Nothing much happens on a permanent basis.

I think now time has come to do something about this. I have a very old weighing machine and on that I weigh 91 Kilos as on 31st May 08.

Will keep posting weight every week/15 days and see how it gets better.

Of busy fathers and beauty conscious mothers

14th Feb - Valentine's day. There was a function in Arjun's school. Fathers invited only. No mommy's, but as usual, there were some fathers and some mothers.

It was a well arranged function. Games, video, something to eat etc etc. There was a dancing stage set and photographers ready for you to take pics of you with your son/daughter. All in all, a job well done.

The idea was that the fathers can spend some time with their children. The fathers were spending time with their children, yes, but were also checking their mails on blackberrys, talking on the phone continuously.

Seriously, I admire the fathers who just said 'sorry' and didn't come. At least the mothers were doing a good job of being with their children.

Well, some of them were also putting a lot of pressure on their children to look good. :-) Just before the photo session, the combs and talc came out of the big purse and... Zaayyyyyaaaaaaaaad... please come here bete and comb and put powder. :-)

Well, such is the way of life... you need to look busy and good. Convoluted Simplicity should be the phrase...

In the history of mankind...

This is NOT possible. Period.

I would have never believed if I had not seen it myself. Nitya and I are both so pleasantly surprised at this and are still trying to see how it happened. The incident goes like this -

Arjun knows how to connect the headphones to computer and then wear them. He does that and says, "play music", so we put some music. This evening he came and did the same. Nitya said let me put Beethoven symphony 3 and see if he enjoys it. Nitya told him, there are no words in this, just instruments.

He listened to it. When asked, "do you like it?". He says - Yes, I liked it. After sometime, he says, what's that noise? :-) Nitya again explained, that's not noise, that's music. We thought, he is listening to this just like that. The next song started and we didn't pay attention.

Now, Arjun says - Where the 'song with no words' gone? Nitya said oh great, you like it, will put it and we put it on repeat.

Arjun was lazing on the floor and we were busy with Nitya's physiotherapy. Sometime later, we realised Arjun wasn't talking. we looked at him and what do we see?

HE WAS SLEEPING.

He fell asleep listening to Beethoven's piano. Now its been more than 45 minutes and he is still sleeping happily.

In the history of mankind, this is the first instance when Arjun fell asleep by himself. Is it the sign of things to come, or is it a spike, I don't know. What I know is this is surely an improvement.

I am going to Planet M to get all Beethovens, Mozarts and Vivaldis. And next time I am in London, I know what to buy :-). I appreciate the great musicians because they have the ability to relax my son. Arjun is sleeping happily... by himself :-)

Windows Live Writer

This is awesome! simply superb. It connects to your web -blog, blogger or any other, downloads settings on your local hard drive. Even the template. Gives you a MS Word like interface and allows you to type. While typing, you can also see how your blog will look like cos you are typing on the same template.

Download Windows Live Writer for free, set it up and go. it will ask you for your blog URL, user id and password. Make sure you save the password or at times it does not let you publish the post properly.

You can link as many web-blogs as you want and publish posts one at a time. Its the easiest way to publish posts, images etc. Just copy paste like on a word doc and it gets stored and published.

its a fool-proof way of writing a blog entry. Its great. Just download and use it if you are an active blogger. Thats why I love Microsoft.

Testing windows live writer

I have just read about windows live writer and I am just testing this.

Goa - the Hyatt way

Goa - our first trip to this place. If someone asks me what’s the best place to visit in Goa - I would answer - definitely Hyatt. So my recommendation to everyone visiting Goa is - stay in Park Hyatt Resorts and Spa.

It simply superb. 45 acres of lush green lawns, excellent 3-deck swimming pool and excellent cottages like rooms. The rooms themselves are very spacious and beautifully done. Sunken bath, rain shower balcony, great king bed and private garden. They also have a small theatre.

They have a beach also, its mostly not crowded, probably a private beach of the hotel. There are umbrellas in every nook and corner for the hotel which the guests can use.

Service is great, warm people and they even speak in Hindi without giving you a condescending look. The outfits of hotel staff is really unique, its this khadi kurta and pajamas. White mostly, looks serene and great.

Food is one thing where this place does not score a lot and that might be because I am a foody, I need variety, a lot of it either in Indian or any other cuisine. The taste of food is good, but not much variety. it’s the same food over and over. So it gets boring eating almost the same things for 5-6 days.

Overall, its one place where I would like to go again. Arjun loved the pool, Nitya was relaxed and I really was able to wind-down. What else do you require in a holiday.

I will go there again, next year and the year after that.

My movies wish-list

Well it has to start with ‘A few good men’, so this is how it goes… not necessarily in the same order. These are the movies which I am not sure if I like anymore. But had a lasting impact on me when I saw them… then.

- A few good men
- Cast Away
- Forrest Gump
- Speechless
- Lagaan
- Gadar - ek prem katha
- Jo jeeta wahi Sikandar
- Jhankaar Beats
- Monsoon wedding
- Dil chahta hai
- Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge
- Teesri manjil
- Border
- My cousin Vinny
- The Independence Day
- Top-gun
- Pretty woman
- Dil chahta hai
- Mr India - because of Sridevi
- The Rock
- Fir wohi dil laya hoon
- Rajkumar - the old one casting Shammi Kapoor
- Deewar of Amitabh Bachchhan
- Choti si baat
- Sholay - obviously the old one and NOT the new one by Mr Verma
- Dil chahta hai
- Munna bhai MBBS
- Satya
- Amar Akbar Anthony
- Company
- Shaukeen
- Goolmaal
- Chupke Chupke
- Naram garam
- American Desi
- The Lion King
- Never say never again
- The world is not enough
- Swadesh
- Sarfarosh
- Gangajal
- Omkara
- Maine Pyaar Kiya ( How can I forget this one? )
- Hum aapke hain kaun ???
- Muskurahat
- Dil chahta hai

Anyone, anything you guys wanna add...

Shantaram

Am reading Shantaram. Its an amazingly written book. Probably real. Or probably not. I dont know. What struck me in the book is the group of people this Australian convict meets in India. Mostly non-Indians, who know hindi. Prostitutes, writers, journalists, drug dealers, connoisseur of art.

I will have to say that had I been in touch with such varied set of people, my vision would have improved dramatically. Mostly all are like philosophers, have phrases on life which are very thoughtful.

More to come ... as I read the book more. Read around 150 pages and its huge book...

Philips DVD player DVP 3026 region free crack

Region code hack
The hack also works for Philips DVP5960/37.
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140. It worked very well for Dvp 3026 as well.

1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote

Congrates!!! your DVD player is region free

Days of Our Lives

"She is gone."

Left me alone in this world full of cries and celebrations and gone. I am angry. With her, with life and with ‘this’ world around me. I begged her not to go, I told her to be there all the time, but she is gone. I kept calling her... shouting and screaming at the top of my voice… but she did not stop.

Now-a-days, everyday I wake up; they are sitting there looking at me. They put me in water and then the torture begins. They ask me to open my mouth and put stuff in it. I feel drowsy and then… Water. All over me. Well, considering the rest of my day, the water is still a relief. I tell them, I don’t want to do it today, they don’t listen. They give me some food and water, for the rest of the day. Give me a white liquid to drink… they call it milk. “Here, drink this”, they say.

I am loaded with stuff on my back and transported to this strange place.

"Is it a slide?"

Am sitting and thinking. There is sand around me and rocks and I can see a huge structure. There are a few people around. All busy in their stuff. They have nearly the same story. But they can’t think, can they? A lot of them cannot, and a lot of them DO not. Some of them have come to terms with this daily suffering.

I think she wants me to eat… She thinks if I do, I will forget everything. I want to scream and ask her to go. She wants to talk to me like she does with everyone else around. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to anyone. I am ok the way I am. They think I am like a kid. They think I will soon turn into a person who will comprise with the situation and give up screaming and thinking. They understand I am different. I understand I am different too. They will soon take us into that darkish chamber. Everyone will be shut into it and the door will close. There she will start shouting and screaming.

"Again her same song starts"

The others are singing to her tunes. Why? Can’t they see what’s happening? How can they be so naïve? I want to go out. Out in the open, run away from here, but the door is closed. Once I was able to open the door and go out, I was held by the guards and was brought back. She is screaming at someone. Someone who is hungry and trying to eat. “No eating this stuff”, she is saying. And there are cries. She began to cry… Why is he crying? A lot of them are crying now. Going through the pain and experiencing it too. But they will stop. She will feed them what they like. They will start thinking she is their friend. She is in control.

I still remember the good old days. I can still remember a bit of it. It was a cozy place. My house. A few years ago. It was slightly small and a bit dark; I used to be a bit cramped in it, but it was mine. I was not alone. My parents used to be around. We used to interact with each other. I was happy then. Why have things changed so much?

"Let me read a bit… where is the bus?"

Oh, the door has opened, they will take us out. There are other people outside from various other chambers. I can see her hiding the knife. As if I don’t know what’s going to happen now. One of us will be randomly chosen. There are usually some strangers at this time. They hold flash lights. I will have to close my eyes, sometimes the flash light is pointing at me. So, today, she will be taken to the knife, she was good, never used to cry, she used to be happy even in this misery… still she is the one chosen for today… and… someone will be born.

"Happy B’day to you… "

Cries for some, and celebrations for some. This is my everyday life. She will cut in small pieces and those pieces will be fed to us.

"Oh that’s the bus… "

Did I see her? I think I did through that crack. Is she also here? Or is she back for me, to take me back from here?

Why is she looking at me? She has my backpack. She wants to load me again. The door opens. I run.

“Amma carry”, I shout. She is smiling and she picks me up. Haaa… the school is over. It will again happen tomorrow, but till then, life is good. I am happy.

"She is back. She is not gone away."

Dor - Hindi Film

I watched this movie called Dor this weekend. Probably the worst movie Nagesh Kukunoor will ever make and act in.

The cast is a disaster. Nagesh himself looked so bad that I am sure he wont even like watching the movie the second time. It’s a very normal movie about two women, one of whose husband dies and other’s is convicted in charge.

Gul Panag (Zeenat) played the wife of convicted - Aamir. If you watch the movie, you will know why she is not doing well in mainstream cinema. Her body language is almost non-existent. Droopy shoulders, lack of expressions and she was playing the wife who travelled so much to save her husband.

Ayesha Takia (Meera) is ok. Normal acting, nothing bad, nothing great also. Probably she is too sofo for the role she was doing. Her voice modulations were clearly matching that of a South Mumbai born and brought-up and convent school educated girl rather than the Rajasthani widow she was playing.

Shreyas Talpade (Behroopiya) was the saving grace. He is good in the movie, the only other thing in the movie. (The first thing of course is Rajasthan itself). He however has a very distinctive maratha beard and so one can say he is the odd man out in the setting, but other than that, he was good. He picked up the language and dialect well. He was a pleasure.

Nagesh Kukunoor – Chopra, playing a businessman was pathetic. He neither looked nor acted like Chopra. I would have seriously liked Shakti Kapoor better in that role.

The other person who has the only good dialogue of the movie is Dadi, herself a rajasthani widow. The last dialogue of her’s is really good and that’s the only good dialogue in the entire movie.

Music – wherever there is original music by the music director (as in most places, they have used standard hindi movie songs) is good. Never heard of Salim Suleiman but he was impressive.

So this is one movie which can easily be ignored and one should not think twice if they have not watched this movie.

So, all in all, a not-so-watchable movie.

Mentoring and bus drivers of Tirupati

I have been twice to Tirupati. Once 15 years back in '92 and once now recently.

I have noticed a lot of changes but one thing remains the same. The way the bus drivers drive the buses from Tirumala (mountain on which Tirupati Balagi temple is) to Tirupati.

15 years back, we almost prayed for our lives while sitting in the bus. The driver just left it on neutral and forgets that the break exists. The bus just flows on the curvy roads till we 'hit' the ground.

After 15 years, still the drivers drive with the same dexter and efficiency. They are as scary as their earlier collegues.

The other day sitting at the bus I realised one thing, this is what mentoring is all about. You need to transfer the same skill and method to the person you are mentoring so that when after you have moved on, someone has a look at the part you once handled, she finds the same efficiency in the way things are done.

If one cannot make herself redundant, she cannot grow to take a more senior position. So growth in corporate ladder is all about going from one redundancy to another.

Think about it...

Molaga Bhajia on the beach!!!

Ok, I know this is really going to piss Nitya off. But, I loved the Bhaiya on the Marina beach at night time. Its the the famous molaga (mirchi, chili) bhajia.

They make it really well, really oily and brown... you wont like to stop. And they give it with worlds most tasty chutney... it has some dhania, mirchi and some coconut and green(kachha) mango (kairee).

its really tasty and mouth watering..umm....mmmm.

Next time you visit Chennai, you know what to eat...

100 rupees a peek

I always used to feel that God is getting commertialised in places like Tirupati and Shirdi (At Tirupati they charge 100 ruppees for the highest ticket for darshans. Thats the express darshan which takes around 4 hours). I realised this on my recent visit to Tirupati that thats wrong. God is not getting commertialised, its the people who are becoming more materialistic. God probabaly Himself realises this and is sad about it.

We went to Padmavati temple (who is Lord Tirupati's wife). There also there was some rush, I feel if managed well, everyone would have finished ther darshans much earlier than it takes. I have realised that on the way to Tirupati and other temples theur are man-made bottlenexks. Anyways, thats not what I will be discussing here as everyone knows this. The incident happened on my way out of the shrine of Padmavati temple. In southIndian temples, they have thsi crown like thing called sadari which the pujaris to bless people on behalf of God.

I realised that the pujari who was standing there with sadari has one hand protruding from under the railing, people put 1-2 ruppe coins in his hand, he put the sadari on their heads and they go ahead. This all happened as programmed and within 2-3 secs the transaction used to complete.

I searched for coin and felt relief when found one, but then I realised ths is wrong... the God will bless me even if I do not pay that person, its just as respect to God that people are paying him. The money is not his, its the Lord's and God does not need my money. i decided I will not give him that 2 ruppee coin to this person and see what happens then.

My turn came, I did not hand him the money, the sadari was on my head and the his hand searching for any trace of a coin. It searched and searched for almost 5 secs, then he realised there is no coin available. he took off the sadari from my head and I moved ahead. This time the transaction took 5-6 seconds. I was a slip of 100%. I realised that money and NOT the blessings was on critical path here :-).

Different strokes

I have seen it many times but have realised it just now... I went to Rajasthan/Gujarat and saw the Dilwara temple there. The carving there is world class. The guide told me that the exteriors are very simple and dry but these temples have excellent carvings inside. He was right. He told me that reason for this was to save the carvings and art work from the mughals who would have used to destroy the temples which had great architecture.

On my Tirupati visit where I visited many temples in South India, the architecture has reversed itself. In south India you see Gold plated temples and bg kalashas and stupas on the outside but inside its very dry and dark. The interiors are mostly plain black stones.

It does not suggest anyhting just that at different times and places, how things can be exactly opposite because of circumstances. Probably that will make me more open. I can acept opposite thoughts and can understand why they both are correct...

Religion and Sprituality

Once I told someone, I am a very religious person. Now I know I am not. I am actually a spiritual person. There is a meeting point between religion and spirituality and so I pass on to the other side at times.

We went to Tirupati recently. It was actually a very easy trip (comparatively). I say comparatively because it was easy for us because of my father-in-law who arranged the trip very well. So, we went to the temple and it hardly took 1.5 hours for us to get the darshan and come back.

I was looking at the deity and felt its really grand and magnificent. They keep the lights very dim and it looks as if the God is un-perturbed by the hum-drum going on for His darshan.

I realised my mom-in law has eyes filled with water. She was so over-whelmed. I remember my mom to go this way when we went to Tirupati earlier or to Amarnath. There were other people there who have walked all the way to Tirupati to get the darshan and then were waiting in line cos they cant afford to buy someone to get a quick dasrshan. I sometimes wonder whether He will bless them more than me, well, I think yes, I think they deserve it also.

There were others who were non-stop doing roll overs to pay their respect to God. Looking at all these people, I really felt like I am a very small person in front of them as far as belief is concerned.

I have been a traveller, my blog title says that. Arriving is nearly the same whereever you go. Its the journey which has always excited me and will continue to do so always even in the future. Journey is enriching. Even if it is the same journey from home to work. Every journey will be new. Arrival is stale. Its always the same.

Life is series of journeys and arrivals. A person who maximises her journey and minimises the arrivals will have a better vision and allround development.

All this does not mean arrival is not important. Arrival can be the desired outcome of a journey. And so, going to such places like Tirupati and paying their best wishes to God bring tears in the eyes of people, as they have done a very difficult journey from far away places, taken all the trouble and now darshan of the Lord is the result of their journey.

For me, the concept of paying for getting darshan done is itself so materialistic, that getting overwhelmed becomes very difficult. I am unable to separate the God from the commertialization happening in His name. And so, that samarpan does not easily come.

I guess we are just different types of travellers. They are more focused on religion so corruption outside the shrine does not matter to them and I am more focused on spirituality and so believe in simplicity and serenity when it comes to holy places.

They are simple people. Its easier for them to get the feeling of samarpan and so, probably they will reach the nirvana earlier and more easily and I am a more complicated person and so it will require many more journeys for me.

I am looking forward to all those journeys...

F1 is not going to be the same again!!!

Today on a news channel saw the new McLaren Merc car, it was in Mumbai trade race course on display sans engine.

This was ther event which inspired me to write this article. F1 is not going to be the same again ever. This is because the KING - Michael Schumacher is not going to be driving Ferrari again in a F1 race.

I started following F1 not long ago, may be around 3-4 years. I have studied on it more than I have seen it. But, since I remember, I just want to watch Michael Schumacher in red Ferrari winning. And to be fair, he hardly ever disappointed me.

I have never seen such a desire to win in anyone, and that too to win every single race he was in. I am sure some of the other drivers also will have the talent, but this blatent and if i may say so, brazen desire to win and the attitude of winning at any cost is only indicative of never say die attitude of Michael Schumacher.

This is very hard to find. There is always a time when after long hard day, you feel like resting, its only human to want this. But, not Schumacher, he never rested even last year in 2005, when Ferrari was nowhere near the manuering of Renault and brute power of McLaren, he still tried every single time.



Thats what makes him a great race car driver. Many people will say many things about Schumacher and about his "winning at all costs" attiutude. Many people will compare him to Senna, or Mika Häkkinen, or talking about how he outmanoeuvred David Coulthard in 1998 British Grand Prix.

The truth is that many drivers came and went but the Red Baron stayed and won. And won 7 world titles. The likes of Kimi Räikkönen or Fernando Alonso have a mammoth task of reaching where Schumacher has reached. The bar is very high.

Hats off to you Schumi, you are the greatest champion and every single aficionado of F1 will miss you.

Iqbal - movie review

Watched this movie on TV. Never thought will do. Pretty straight forward movie. Same old story, a good side, a not so good side. Two good players (one better than other), on each of the sides.

The player on bad side also happens to be rich, still the talented one gets through in Indian criciet team. What happens after that, they have not covered.

Overall, the same old story we have seen in a lot of this sort of movies. A good combination of Awaal Number and Nache Mayuri. A challenged boy on the doing the right thing tries to get to Indian cricket team and in the end gets there.

Shreyas Talpade who played Iqbal did a good job. He looked really at ease with the role, also looked as he is a fast bowler. Being from Mumbai (land of cricket) helped him out.

Naseeruddin Shah who played the coach - Mohit also was good. Nothing challenging about his acting though, one of the simpler roles he has played. So, he was good as usual.

I think the difference about this movie and a few others based on sports was probably the focus on the subject. There was no heroine, no songs and dance, only cricket.

A good watch, still not in the category that you buy a DVD for it or go to theatres, but should watch if its on a TV channel.

Crazy about topless models ???

Here are two more...



Ferrari 360 Spider






















But as they say... real beauty is in simplicity... so, the last one is my pick. OK!!! I am old-fashioned...

Travelling made easy...

For those who want to travel but dont know where to go or how to book. This is the place.

Heard of Nivalink, live in Mumbai, rather, in a reverse order. Its a must know if you live in Mumbai - Pune.

A great site. It gives all the weekend getaways outside Mumbai and some outside Pune also. They also have a automated billing system, so talk to their executive and swipe your credit card. Your booking is done, just take the copy of confirmation sent on your mail id.

Travelling made easy and simple.

Keep it up guys, nice concept.

Prakruti Hermitage - Kashid

A very plesant place. Sand, surf and sun. They have accomodation in form of bunglows/cottages from bottom to top of hill. One bunglow houses four families as guests. Leaving room is shared. The rooms are quite big and well maintained.

They have their private beach also. Swimming pool, small golf course, snooker, table tennis and other standard stuff like chess/carrum etc etc.

4-star status but quite modest in price. Ard Rs. 4260 per night per couple including all meals. Meals are standard - one paneer, 2 non-paneer, dal, 2 chawal, roti/nan/kulcha, some desert and salads, so make sure you dont stay more than 2 nights or you will feel like eating out. ;-), at least for foodies.

Breakfast is eggs and some south-indian stuff. Usually the same... lots of tea and coffee and bournvita - for Arjun. :-)

Its a good drive, some 150 kms from Mumbai. Goa road out of Mumbai, cross Pen. You will see ISPAT. Go straight where Goa road takes diversion (Goa is towards left, Alibaug straight).

A few more kms till Alibaug is around 3-4 kms, then take a turn towards Revdanda/Murud. Take that road, till you reach Vikram Ispat. Revdanda is towards the left, dont turn, take the bridge to Vikram Ispat... You will find huge conveyer belts for ore or coke.

After the bridge, turn right and go straight, no turns. Prakruti is towards your left. Its actually a hermitage, cos no phones work there. No mobiles except for Tata Indicom. So, blackberrys are also out. Aadmi chah ke bhi kaam nahi kar sakta. I anyways didnt want to work so it was perfect.

Arjun enjoyed the swimming pool and also the sea. Was all in sand by the time we returned saying "bye sea" and "bye beach" 100 times.

Plan to go back sometime.

A must visit if you are in Mumbai. Will upload a few photos in the near future after I learn how to do it.