Facebook and I - 3

I think facebook has made communication more frequent and more meaningless.

Spot Me!!!

Testing the new mobile blogger

Love is "also" a four-letter word !!!

Arjun is learning to read. Nitya is starting him on three letter words. I will teach him the four-letter words ;)

How to eat a pizza!!!

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Packing and Moving

Packing and moving has been a steady and constant part of our lives in the past 7-8 years of marriage. And even before that I have been changing cities, houses constantly as long as I remember.

Things have changed in this industry, it was very different when we moved from Barkhedi to Shahpura. That was when I was 9. I still remember the use of "bori" and new-papers as packing materials. Most of the packing was done by us and loading and moving part was taken care of by professionals with trucks. Unloading as well, but no unpacking (as the term evolved).

Second big movement was from Bhopal to Raipur. Again the same thing. I remember the evening we reached Raipur and our stuff was still in transit, we slept on a coir with bed sheets and quilts provided by landlords who used to live on ground floor of the house where we occupied the first floor. That was I guess the most stable time I remember till date as a grown up. We went to Raipur when I was 11-12 and were there for 7 years living in the same house.

The third movement I distinctly remember was in 1994 when we moved back from Raipur to Bhopal. It was very similar, you do packing, someone will do loading, moving and unloading. Unpacking will be done by you again. You are tired as you packed all stuff and came all the way and then you start unpacking again :). God, that would be physically and psychologically draining, but what was the option. I remember though that this time, as suggested by Devaria uncle, we let the movers get the TV also, still not sure if it will reach in one piece :), but it did and Baba called Devaria uncle to tell him that. To us, it was an achievement, getting a TV across 700 kms. Unheard of.

My move from Bhopal to Ujjain was relatively simpler as it was just my clothes etc. This was all pre-car era and so we travelled in train reaching Ujjain where my enginnering college was starting on 17th Aug 1995. What a day that was and what an amazing start of the fantastic 4 years of my life. While in Ujjain, I shifted once in those 4 years from Manda mawshi's house to Kaku's. From Free Ganj to city. From Sri Ganga to Bhagat ji and from Jain sev to Ratlami sev, from Dewas gate to Bhola Guru.. I can continue for even :). Yes, all these things are important. A huge difference in way of life in the same small town of Ujjain.

After college, moving back to Indore to think about work for some time. Soon, it was Mumbai calling.

Drove all te way sometime in 99. Started with Kandivali Lokhand and from one building to another in a matter of a month. All this was simple, living with friends, only belongings were clothes and suitcases.

Alica Nagar was an experience, four of us started there and not a day in first 6 months when there was no one else in that flat. Someone new to Mumbai who did not have place to live. It wa a party and everyone was invited.

Then a move from Kandivali E to Vashi with Harshu and Vahini. It was another fantastic six months before it became difficult and tiring to travel from Vashi to Andheri E everyday. So moved back with friends to Andheri E. We used to watch a lot of movies.

Mumbai to Delhi was another big change again. People I didnt know, nice flat and good money. Made good friends, but then came back in 9 months to get married. Back to Mumbai, started with living in Andheri E. Known place, office nearby. Good one bed house but one rainy season on returning from London, found the house flooded. Another move came as I wanted to re-live the Vashi experience a few years back.

Koper khairane is still a small town place in Mumbai. We packed our stuff and we moved. They unnloaded and unpacked. When Arjun was born, this is the house we got the first car. We were not very pleased with the place as it was far away from office, so moving back to Mumbai was inevitable.

Hyderabad came as a surprise and relief. This was the first time we used Agarwal Packers and movers. They move everything in cardboard boxes - along with the car, well almost everything. Trained packers who made packing and moving from an art to industry and efficiency. They knew how to pack everything you have, do not think looking at the items and thinking.. Now how do I pack this? I think it was creative.

It was boring and interesting to watch these people work. They packed, moved and unpacked as well. Efficient and nice. No work of art, but following set rules. Creativity lost.

6 months in Hyderabad was fantastic time spent. Back to Mulund W. And then in a year to Powai. This started a stable time, well, relatively. We lived in same house for around 2 years before moving to our own apartment in Powai. That was almost like end of movements. We completed a good one year in our house when Bangalore came knocking :).

Nice house, nice place. All good. Wanted to stay here and buy this house from landlord before he informed that he is moving back.

9 months and we are moving again and part of move started today, it will finish this weekend.

I dont think life is unstable causing us to move every now and then. I think instability is within. The desire to throw yourself in a whirlpool and then then making things stable again and then again destabilizing.

I think moves are important. Every move brings along with it opportunities, challenges, adjustments and new perspectives.

I will like to keep moving, travelling every few years. I think we grow and mature as we move. Its like reading a book. You dont stop at one.

A lot of stability brings rigidness and closed-mindedness. When you do not want to look at a new perspective but just missing what you had. Its not forward-looking but frustrating.

If I can, I will keep moving. Dragging people along :). Always!!!

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Taj at Coonoor!!!

Taj at Coonoor is part of a priory built 150 years along with this church.

Beautiful place, a fireplace in each of the cottages.

This is one must visit destination.

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I like

Bread!!!

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Facebook and I - part 2

I have finally uninstalled facebook from my mobile :)

Worth posting it on facebook. Huh ;)

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Arjun... :)

In all his glory

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Facebook and I

I have a Facebook account for quite some time now and I have (not) been using it for all that long as well. Earlier I thought its more for youger crowd and probably i have just outgrown it. But I see a lot of people who are my generation, friends, some people I used to work with and are quite older to me, do seem to use it with ease. So, this argument does not hold good.

Well, now I know that I am not the most open people there are in terms of sharing personal life. Very few people working with me have visited my home and a even fewer number whose house I went to. So, then I though may be its the people who are on facebook and as they are ranging from friends to just plain people I have known once or know through a friend etc which is causing me to share stuff online. But then I realized that I am happy with those people reading my blog and have no such issues there, sharinh what I want to put it down. The blog is not written for others, its my brain-dump which i keep putting on these pages. So - this surely is not an issue as well.

Then I thought about it.. it looks like there is a basic weirdness about facebook and that is that its about other people all the time. I am eating here, I have a smart crack.. its all about sharing it with people for the people. Very less is intented as a brain-dump etc which you are ok with even if noone reads it.

Its the whole idea about thinking about what I should tell others and puttin it down is a big turn-off for me. I am happy to share some information about myself here and there, but I am comfortable with it being on a need-to-know basis. If someone needs to know, will just call up the person and tell him/her rather than publishing to the world.

This does not mean, facebook is crap - the advantage is that you can find a long lost friend, who otherwise you would never get in touch with - now, its ok if thats the case, nothing stops because i cant get in touch with this person who I have never spoken to for past say 11 yrs - but its, in Goscinny's language "Justforkix". :)

Dusssara - Today is special

Why???

Because I cooked all tthree meals today. Nice kuskara in morning, dum aloo pubjabi and jira fried rice in afternoon and light and nice jira ke tadka wali khichadi :-)

Dum aloo punjabi - receipe

Made this. Came very well. Simple way -

Ingrediants -
1. Baby potatos
2. Garlic - 2 cloves
3. Tomatos - 2
4. Onion - 2 medium size
5. Chillies - 2-3
6. Garam masala, salt, haldi, amchoor powder, jira
7. Ginger - small piece
8. 2 cups of dahi


Method -
1. Peel off potatoes, dont boil them.
2. Put holes in aloo with fork.
3. Put oil in frying pan and fry the potatoes till they are pink-brown.
4. Whisk the dahi and keep aside
5. Put tomato, onion, green chillies, garlic and ginger in mixie and make into a coarse/fine paste.
6. Put some oil in frying pan and put some jira in it.
7. Now put the paste in pan and let it be for around 10 mins till its nicely fried
8. Then, put haldi, dhania powder, amchoor powder and let it fry for 5 mins.
9. Move the pan away from gas so that it can cool a bit. Keep it away from flame for around a minute, and then put dahi
10. Put it back on flame for 2 mins and then add aloo.
11. Add a spoon of garam masala and salt to taste
12. Let it simmer for around 5 mins.
13. Add water, milk if gravy is too thick.
14. Add coriender, cut green chilly and garlic to garnish.

Enjoy :)

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My experiments with Listerine!!!

It tastes like iodex. Almost feels as if am putting harpik in my mouth and flushing it.

Germs, you are welcome to stay, adm not using listerine again.

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Ambition to buy a small car.. O sorry - plane

Its is expensive for a 6 seater

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My car

Amazing isnt it?

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My cycle

Enjoying the ride. Amazing..

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a plane

We were discussing the convinence of buying a small 11 seater plane. So many things can become so easy and accessible.

While nitya agrees, she still does not want to inveast in this.

Still might be worth looking at economic aspect. Just in case...

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Test

Testing the new blogger app on my android

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Reputation in God's hand

Compliance is like Moral Science, just replace God with reputation.

Are you busy??

If you wanna get your job done, assign it to the busiest person :)

World Cup 2010 - Argentina

It almost looks like its goin to be Argentina this year. Maradona is back with his "Hand of God" and this time, surely looks like its going to lift the world cup.

SOS - Same old shit!!!

I am surprised that England still hasnt found anybody good to replace Gerrard and Lampard. In fact Lampard is now the England captain.

Both of them still struggle to pass a ball to their team members. Same story for the past 12 years.

You know you are in Bangalore when...

you find an Udipi which does NOT home-deliver.
A good restaurant which does not have parking.
Bombay blues which does not sell Nachos and does not recognise the item Onion Rings.
A Sanskriti counter selling dal-bati but does not know what that is.
Auto walas who always ask for Rs100 no matter where you wanna go.
10 AM in the morning can mean anywhere between 10 to 9 PM at night.
When it drizzles, people behave like its acid falling from the sky and start looking for umbrellas.

Bangalore !!!

I like Bangalore till I dont think about Mumbai. Then, I feel differently about it.

So - what car do you drive?? German!!!

So, what do you do for living Mr Schumacher?
I drive.
He drives.
What do you drive?
Cars
Hmm... Well, I want a driver actually, do you know anyone?

100 up

this is post no 101 :-)

An order for food

Do you have dal tadka?
Possible sir.
Possible?
Yes sir, possible.
Ok, you have steam rice?
Possible sir, it's possible.
You mean you have it?
Yes sir, possible.
Ok, and paneer tikka dry?
Yes sir, possible sir.
Ok, cool. Please send it to my room.

Punjabi Chole

This is the second time in last 5 days I made Chole. Last time it was fantastic - almost the best chole I ever ate. But this time, I made it for 25 kids for Arjun's school khana turn.

Its a very different ballgame making for 25 people vs for 4 people. I feel really good about it :-)

Will post the receipe in next blog.

Valentines's day

UTV movies is showing ads that they will show Delhi-6 on Valentine's day.
Whats the relevance ???

A conversation

So when does Mr Maker come?
After Bobinogs.
Ok, and when does Bobinogs come?
mmmm.. before Mr Maker.

Why I like Roger Federer

Well, I have seen a lot of great Tennis Players before. But Federer is simply the best among them all. The difference - well, the ability to annihilate the opponent in straight sets. That too in final of a grand slam. It seems that the 1st seed player is 100 places ahead of second seed.

Federer, you are God of tennis. I take a bow.

Pizza Hut Powai

I remember the first time I ate in Pizza Hut Powai. It was some Jan-Feb time just after our marriage, more than 6 yrs back. Nitya and I really liked it then. We used to live in Andheri E then.

Its been a long time since I visited Pizza Hut Powai. Today after a long time, we went to Pizza Hut to eat. I still liked it quite a bit. They have launched these new range of pizzas and pastas. The masala lemonade is outstanding.

Somehow though, if you wanna order pizza home, dominos still has the upper hand but i think Pizza Hut is a great eating out experience.

So, if I wanna order Pizza - I will still go for Dominos but if I have to go and eat, Pizza Hut it is.

The GPS Navigator - new toy

I hv got the MapmyIndia GPS device. Model VX140 and its pretty good. Am impressed.

3 Idiots - movie review

Everyone told me its a fantastic movie so I thought lets see it. Lets at least try. So got my pack of 5 movies for 60 rupees - one of the movie was of course 3 idiots :-)

Third big movie from Rajkumar Hirani and really speaking, its 3rd if you try and rank the three movies he made with both Munna Bhais.

Why does Munna bhai score over 3 idiots - Originality. And no, I am not getting into the "loosely based on book" debate - not at all. What I mean is there are some issues in the world which will all evoke a very strong emotional response from people and almost everyone will have a similar opinion, like education system of India, terrorism, child labour, poverty, bureaucracy, Indian constitution, x-tra marital affair etc etc. A lot of people do mostly say the same things on these topics without providing a solution.

3 idiots is no different, it re-emphasises the fact that change is must however, after stating this universal truth (like The Sun rises in the East - with "S" of Sun and "E" of East in capital), does not get into providing solutions, its almost like in a project - the solution has been defined in the "Not in Scope" section.

Acting and all is good, Aamir is a master and Sharman and Madhavan have been ok. Strangely, Kareena Kapoor has proved that she can still look sensible, I was impressed - she was not completely repulsive.

At some points, movie is OTT and some sections seem to have been added for no reason - or at times, to prove a minor point, a lot of story has been told, characters added.

The movie could have been made with a lot less characters only focusing on the main ones more so as to make their presence felt rather than 3 people travelling from Delhi to Shimla to Laddakh in a bright red Volvo XC90.

Cinematography is good - nice landscape shots of Shimla and Laddakh. Music is so-so.

Overall, surely a watchable movie - after watching this movie, people will start thinking about what they are doing as job against what they have studied. All the IIT, IIM grads will start thinking of themselves as confused lot :-).

Well, not to worry anyone, nothing is wrong with anyone. All is well!!!

I think...

So, I am opinionated.
I like it that way, ONLY ;-)

Irony of life...

ever wondered in a non-QWERTY keyboard of a phone, typing selection and rejection use the same keys. Thank God HR does not use sms as a medium to announce interview results ;-)

My camera

Picked up T1i of a friend and played around with it. Am sooooooooooo happy that I bought a Nikon and not a canon.

Electric Feather - Book review

Compiled by Ruchir Joshi and publicized by Times of India and Outlook as the 'coming of age' of Indian fiction.

Supposed to be a book on erotica, its just really crappy porn which will not appeeal to anyone with even pea sized brain. Starts with a monologue by Ruchir Joshi on how the esteemed writers turned his offer of writing stories for his book down, more like a self-praise that despite all odds, this book is out, type of message he wanted to give.

Well, the book is out for sure but I would really like to meet those reporters who think this is any good. I would rate even Mills and Boon a lot better than this. Seriously.

Not a readable book at all. If 1 star (*) is poor, I will rate it -1 *.

Sorry Ruchir, but this also means that I am not reading any of your other works.

Its 85!!!

We started almost together, but she went ahead.
Nitya finished 500 posts in same time I finished 84 - so thought will make it 85, so one more ;-)

2 idiots

Now I hear Mr Bhagat (Chetan Bhagat) is very unhappy with Rajkumar Hirani because Mr Hirani and Mr Aamir Khan claim that the movie 3 idiots is only loosely based on Bhagat's book - "Five point someone".

Well, I think the movie is good only because its not fully based on Mr Bhagat's book. Now, dont get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Mr Bhagat, its just that I dont think he is any good as a writer.

Now Mr Bhagat, dont get so upset, at least your name is associated with the biggest hit of 2009. Stop behaving like an idiot.


This is one, who is another, well add Mr Arindam Chaudhary from my side - Chetan Bhagat reminds me of Mr Chaudhary quite a bit, may be they should make a movie together. It might still work, in spite of both of them.

Got d D

Picked up D3000 on Christmas eve. Its outstanding, althought just clicked ard 200 photos yet - but its surely better than anyhing i have experieenced so far.

Am yappy :)

Looking for a D...

D3000 it is. Zeroed in on this one at last. Picking it up.

How am I???

Introspecting... hmmm...

Next movies to watch

1. Did you hear about Morgans? - Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker
2. SALT - Angelina Jolie
3. Rocket Singh - Ranbir Kapoor and Shazahn Padamsee

All of them to release shortly in theaters near you.

Today - saw TinkerBell - Lost Treasure in BIG Cinema, R-City Mall - Arjun's second movie in theater, loved it.

Vibration Dampners

MS Dhoni, Indian Cricket captain built a new house in Ranchi. The house has a swimming pool and a cricket pitch on the third floor.

Now, I have heard of a swimming pool on floors other than ground. But cricket pitch??? It would be interesting to see what dampners his architect has used to make sure that the vibrations from ball do not reach the rest of the house.

Looks like Fiat can take a leaf out of Mr Dhoni's book and make a better Linea with less vibrations ;-)

Tunga Vihar - restaurant review

Going to Tunga has become like a weekend ritual for us. I think it serves the greatest south-indian food in this part of the Mumbai.

Paper masala dosa is the only thing not worth eating, because at times it has surplus oil. Everything else is absolutely fantastic.

5-Star to taste.

Dil Bole Hadippa - movie review

Loosely based on "She is the man". Tried watching this movie for more than half an hr before I started writing this post. Rani tried playing Amanda Bynes in the movie. Rani looked really nice. She was a sardar in more than half the movie.

Shahid Kapoor has a sort of confidence as he thinks (or maybe he almost believes) that he is a good looking guy who can act well too. Unfortunately, none of this is true yet.
In this movie, he gave a tough competition to Sherlyn Chopra by showing as much cleavage as she did.

Anupam Kher is wasted, the cricket theme and the plots around it are idiotic and out of context.

Yashraj films and Aditya Chopra want to experiment, which is good news. When we try changing something, going beyond our comfort zone, initially some of us fail miserably. Dil Bole Hadippa is exactly that failure for Yashraj and Aditya Chopra. I wish them all the best for next movies.

The chronicles of a hyperactive brain

Its back, idiotic viral. Am ok with fever and weakness and everything related to that. I can handle it.

But the hyperactive brain becomes too much to handle. Can't sleep peacefully. Am going to be soo drowsy for the next 3-4 days. Now heres the catch, I cant sleep cos my brain does not stop, and if I dont sleep, how will I get better.

You know what, maybe eating panipuri will help. Njoy ;-)

Highway on the plate

Watching Highway on the plate. They went to Sonkachch while approaching Indore (am assuming from Bhopal as Sonkachch is mid point between the two cities).

I was surprised that they went to Pappu ka dhaba and had dal, paneer and roti there. I hope next time you will do better research guys, the punjabi meal portain of Pappu ka dhaba is non-existant - no one goes there. They should have gone to the other half of this place where they serve amazing bhaanp ka poha (poha cooked on steam) and mawa-bati (a form of gulab jamun).

Not impressred really with the show - they need better research team on what to eat where.

mas(s) turb(o) a(c)tion

The other day, I saw a brand new Deep Sapphire Blue Honda Jazz. Inside sitting was a fat-bald-guy (I almost imagined myself on the driving seat).

Hands clamped to the steering wheel, chubby cheeks pulled back, jaws clenched, double chin almost hidden in shirt collar, eyes wide open - very focused on road, driving @ little under 10 km/hr. He came and stopped his car near me.

Beautiful car, wide tyres almost like a sports car, alloy wheels look-alike wheel caps. Interiors gave a feeling that the fat-bald-guy is sitting behind controls of a MIG 29.

Pictured a 16-17 year old guy looking up and imagining of !@#$%^&# J-Lo while actually, what he was doing was...

More Arjun...

Arjun - over the years

Jazz up the life

Saw her the other day and realised that her eyes are quite big. Nice beautiful eyes. Still she has chinki features.

Thats weird, that means you need not have small eyes to look like a chinki. I always thought 'eyes' is the defining factor.

In spite of the features, I still like her. Might buy a Honda Jazz someday. Lets see.

Toyota Fortuner Review

Saw two Toyota Fortuners today. Never thought there would be a car from Toyota stable which I wont like but this one is surely one of them.

Very bulky and looks like Tata Safari (which is another one I dont like), backlight arrangement is very similar to a X5. Its very curvilinear almost is as tall as it is broad. This somehow does not fit the SUV image in my head. I think SUV should be broad and flatter in looks, that gives it a mean look. More like a wide jawed Arnold Terminator look.

Now I hear this Fortuner has a 3 litre twin-turbo deisel which packs power of 171 horses and all time 4WD. Am sure toyota would have done a good job there. And I am sure its a very nice car. However, I will not buy it.

The SUVs I like Range Rover, Audi Q7, Volvo SUV which I saw today, not sure the name.

Confessions of a grocery shopper !!!

Surati Kolum, Surati Kolum, Surati Kolum, !!!

Nahi bhaiya - nahi aap aaise mat kaho

Kahan hai yaar - Surati Kolum?

Bas mat kaho aaise, woh aachha hai.

Doobraaj, Surabhi Kolum, HMT Kolum, Kolum Economy, fir Doobraj.

Nahi, haan uske pass itne paise nahi hain, par aaisi halat koi kharaab nahi hai. usko main ghar leke gayi hoon, sab se milwaya hai. ghar pe sab ko woh pasand hai.

Boss, yeh surati kolum kahan rakha hai...
Thanks boss. Next is pickles. Aachaar kahan rakha hai?

Haan woh chota hai thora mujhse, par main usse bahut pyaar karti hoon, aur woh bhi. Haan, hum dono ek doosre ko bahut pasand karte hain.

Pickles kahan rakha hai.
Wahan last me.
Thanks.

Nahi, aur mere commitment ka kya? Nahi maine waada kiya hai usse ki main usi se shaadi karoongi, main apne commitment se peeche nahi hatoongi. Bas.

Got the pickles, aam ka, niboo ka, mirchi... aam is ok, lets take aam. Done.

Now only milk. good. Ah and a few happydents.

Honda act

Probably the no 1 is not all that secure now. And so, is trying things in the market to challenge rather than to lead.

Toyota has launched a Corolla Altis sports model.

Movie review - Love Aajkal

Watching this movie called Love Aajkal.

In the first 10 mins it goes from atrociousness to ridiculousness. In the next 5 mins, it keeps swaying back and forth. Post that the movie is good.

I didnt dislike it. I didnt see it.

Diwali

There was a time in my life when I used to dance to very loud music till midnight and then start bursting crackers till 4 AM in morning.
There was a time in my life when I used to burst the loudest bombs infront of houses of people who used to tell me they have problems with loud noise or that there are old people in the house who would like to sleep.

Obviously, things have changed now as I didnt enjoy someone bursting crackers at 10.30 PM when Arjun was asleep.

Is it possible to be balanced without swaying too much on any one side. Still thinking.

Happy Diwali everyone.

Open – the magazine

Reading Open for the first time. I am really impressed with this magazine. This is why -

Stories in narrative form, no unnecessary graphs, tables. The main thing, stories are not very long like a India Today or Outlook where the articles/stories run to 7-8 pages. The longest article in this magazine is 3 pages which is a good length.

Editorial is another relief. It has been some time since I read an editorial which had an opinion. Be it times of India or any other magazine, editorials are either just an introduction of what’s inside or some 500 word article, which conveys nothing. After reading it, you don’t know anything more than you already knew about the topic, does not bring any value to the table.

I think Open in that way is quite decent. Am liking it. Got a 1 yr subscription. I recommend it.

The art of politics

Saw on TV Karan Johar has apologised to Raj Thakrey for using 'Bombay' some 12 times in his film "Wake-up Sid". Raj Thakrey was angry that he has not used 'Mumbai'.

Was wondering whether "Bollywood" should now be called "Mollywood". :-)

What are you upto???

Arjun - Are you in a meeting?
Me - No
Arjun - No, what are you doing then?
Me - I am working.
Arjun - I have to ask you a very important question.
Me - Ok???
Arjun - What do you do but?
Me - What do you mean?
Arjun - I mean, what do you do in office? Your work?
Me - I ...... am a project manager.
Arjun - Ok. What does that mean?
Me - I will come home and explain.
Arjun - Ok, so are you coming home in 10 mins?
Me - No Arjun, I will be home in the evening. Ok, bye now.
Arjun - ok, bye but Pyash wait, I have to ask you something...
Me - Ok, whats that?
Arjun - What are you upto Pyash?
Me - :(, will explain once am back mate. I will have to hang up now, have to rush to a meeting.
Arjun - Ok, I will see you in the evening, bye now.
HANGS THE PHONE
Me - Bye...

Work vs TV

Watching Man vs Wild on Discovery. Sounds like a name of a rec :-)

Troy

Am watching Troy for the nth time. It is an amazing movie. A movie made on Homer's Iliad (poem), this is the poem which gave the phrase "Trojan Horse".

Let them say, I walked with Giants.
Let them say, I lived in the time of Hector - tamer of horses.
Let them say, I lived in the time of Achilles.

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.