Mountains

A poem by Arjun:

Mountains
Snowcapped fingers
Rising to the sky
Looking over everything
Forever.

Chanakya

I have gone back to watching Chanakya. I think this is one serial which helps me think. Its like going back to roots. 

Over a period of time when you grow up, you become a person, have your house, family, friends, you become someone who is different from what you were. And yet in many ways, you remain the same. Your thought process becomes more rigid, stable, clear. You start standing for things you think you should stand for. And you are just too full of yourself :).

This is when, serials like these, keep you grounded. They tell you that there is a greater goal, or can be a greater goal. Bigger than a house, and a car and the money you earn. As, at the end of the day, all these are utilities only.

I vividly remember having numerous discussions with my dad about Chanakya. He was opposed to the philosophy of "samrajyawaad" or imperialism. And has always wanted India to be several small parts tied by the thread of culture. Different parts of body acting together when needed. But, you don't have to make it into a single part.

Logically, this makes perfect sense. And I see the point. Its just that the "pragmatic" in me always thought, this would be very difficult to implement as its very easy for all people to start pushing their own agenda and its just easy to forget about the greater good. In order to keep remembering the greater good and work towards that good, you need a very strong system which keeps reminding people of this.

So, how do we ensure that there is constant positive reinforcement of of these things. Earlier, it was the education system, which was ensuing this. And that's what Chanakya tried to do. Used the influence of teachers in society to change the course of history.

How do we plan to do it today?

Well, the first step is to get into the system. And how do you get into the system... that's the big question. And, right now, I don't have that answer.

May be one reason I keep going back to Chanakya is to find that answer. :).

Apple

The build quality of Apple products is so good. They almost look "Made in Germany".

Eating philosophy...

This weekend I was observing that when I eat a big lunch or a nice breakfast, I feel like I should rest, relax, lie down...

Whereas when I eat less and keep myself a bit hungry,  I am more alert. Dont feel lazy, ready to do stuff.

So I was thinking of this newer philosophy of having a big breakfast, big lunch and small dinner... how does it work really????

I need to be alert in the morning and noon for stuff to do. At night, I need to wind down, so that i can slow down and sleep. Then why do people prescribe an ulta routine in food. Isn't it weird?

I think it is. And so I am changing the philosophy of my eating. Have a small breakfast, small lunch so that I am not full and hence more alert. May be have something at 4 pm if I am hungry and then have a big dinner 2 hours before sleeping. That will help winding down.

And life will be good. That's what I am following now on... because thats what makes sense.

Dal makhani

Today, we made dal makhani. Oh.. it came so well. The receipe is quite simple actually.

Take a cup of brown urad dal and one fourth cup of rajma. Let them soak overnight. In the morning,  they will become around twice the volume. Put that in a cooker and let it whistle 8 times.

Now, take 4 tomatoes,  4-5 garlic cloves, some adrak and 2-3 chillies. Make a puree in mixie by adding some water. The mixture should not be very thick. Let it be flowy. This will add volume to the dal. You can also add an onion to the mix.

Now, take makhan (of course) in a deep pan and let it heat. Add jira. Then add the puree. Let the puree come to a boil. Add haldi, garam masala. Then lower the gas and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer for around 5 mins.

Once dal is boiled in the cooker, mash it in water already present. Don't throw the water. There should be some water in the dal. More than some.

Add this to the kadhai. And let it boil. Add salt to taste. Now is the great part.

Once this is done, cover the pan. Put the gas on sim and let this simmer for around 45 mins. Every 5-10 mins. Open the lid and stir to ensure the dal is not stuck to the bottom of the pan.

In 45 mins.  The dal will cook and all flavours will be mixed nicely.

Add half a cup of milk and stir it again.  Once it boil once again.... you are done.

Eat with roti, nan or rice. Its fantastic :)

A dog

When and how to get? Are we ready for the dog??? I dont know....

It can get tricky in city life and that too in an apartment. So do we move to a villa.  Well, had I known we would be talking of a dog at some point in time, would have definitely gone for a villa.

But anyways, that way even people are not supposed to live in small apartments but we do.. so why not dogs :).

Lets see. But more research is needed. More preparation is required. Let's do it.. ;-).

Sunday again...

We cooked Palak paneer. Came out well. May be should have out less water in the masala and shallow fry it more.... it was a bit more runny than I like.

Also, a bit more rounded taste would have been good. Some sugar....

But otherwise,  was good and tasted well.

Auto ride

Today after a long time. Looking out like a foreigner and clicking photos all through the road.

I think i should do this once in a while. May be it will connect one more to the real world. With AC cars and tall buildings, this provides a perspective.  

May be some day,  one will notice people also. Real people....

Sunday

Woke up at 7.30 and slept again. Then breakfast and again sleep.

Then going out, having lunch... back home and sleepy again.

Will watch tv, make khichidi, eat, watch tv some more and sleep.

This schedule I want for everyday of week ending with a 'y' :).

6 rainy days...

Last week I was in Goa. Enjoying a long break and vacation.  Its been sometime we have taken a holiday. That long I mean.

Driving was out this time as Arjun wanted to travel by plane. It was his birthday celebration so it was the way he wanted it to be.

The idea was to enjoy the rains really. Monsoons in Goa are beautiful and as all of us like the rains, we were all excited. Suhas, Kanchan and Tanu also decided to join.

Fort Aquada was the spot. Beautiful hotel. 40 acres of mountain. Cottages and rooms on it. Mountain is overlooking the sea. On all sides.

A beautiful swimming pool. Infinity pool. I love this concept of infinity pools. Its cool really.

Arjun and I climbed mountains in rains. It was amazing. Played in pool almost 4 hours a day while it rained heavily all over.

Food was fantastic as with all vivanta hotels. Went to Panjim and walked around. Saw the old Portuguese settlement. Beautiful houses. People still live in those. Some houses have been converted to galleries. We picked up some Mario Miranda cartoons. Saw some beautiful cut glass glasses. Each costing 3000 rupees. But boy, they were nice to look at and hold in hand.

Old Goa churches. Once more. Yes. And this time we had a guide. I love the concept of guides also. They are like same song,  different singers :). They all have exactly the same script, just everyone delivers in their own voice. Haha.

But thats like so much of trivia that its worth the 100 rupees they charge. Then you can roam around once your tour is done. It was good.

Tried martini for the first time in my life. Lemon-pepper martini. It was great. And some nice wines. Suhas wanted to start with wines. With little knowledge I had because I have been drinking for 3-4 years, I tried to guide. He enjoyed it so  guess I am a good guide :).

Some cashews, and not cashew fenny (thats for next time) :).

It was an enjoyable one. Goa is always great. Guess going there once a year is a must go. One more in the rainy season is surely on cards.  May be next year or may be year after next.

But surely on cards...

Once you back. Its like a sweet hangover.  You still can feel it and you are happy. That's what holidays are like. That's how holidays should be.

Here's to the holidays.....

Goa

Goa view. Sun (or the lack of it), sand, swimming pool and sea.

Murry or Djokovic

Who will win the wimbledon 2013 final?

The Chennai trip

The Chennai trips in my life have their own significance.  First time I visited was to meet a girl who later bacame my wife. Next few times again was to meet the girl really.

Then visited to get married. And later to meet in laws. One late night, I went to Chennai as Arjun was born. A few more times here and there for some reason or other.

There has never been a scenario when I went to Chennai just like that. There was never a reason to.

So last time when we decided to purely go on a trip to stay by the sea and relax, it was a very different experience. The city now was more of a tourist spot for me which was never the case before. And though I always liked Chennai, this time it was different. The sea, the sand and the surf were different. I could judge the place rather than accepting it at face value. Like I judge any other place I visit as a tourist. This helps me decide if I will come back or not.  If I will stay here or eat there. What else is there to do.

And I have to say.  I loved the place. And even the Bay of Bengal. I am more familier with the Arabian sea having spent 11 years in Mumbai. Thats my ocean if I can claim that. But this side of the ocean is as refreshing and great.

So I went exploring the ocean. Arjun and I decided to go for fishing in deep sea. But that didn't work out. Then someone suggested that they have catamaran rides where they take you into the ocean.

So we wore our life jackets and went to look for boat. This was hardly a boat. 4 logs connected with a rope. I am like WTF. But the boatmen were confident so I said fine.

We sat on the floor of the logs and it went to the sea. Water coming in and flowing through the logs. It was unique.  Then 2 km into the sea and he abruptly stopped. I waited to see what's happening. No petrol scenario?

He untied a rope,  gave one end to me and said "jump". I am like what.. where.  He said in the sea. Dont worry sir jump and swim a bit. I will hold the rope on other side.

I looked at the water.  It was green and had visibility of 6 inches. May be not that much also. What if shark comes and attacks.

The boatman said again. Sir dont worry. Jump. He looked at Arjun and said, you also jump. He looked confident. Once again I decided to go with his confidence rather than mine. I took the rope and jumped in the ocean. There was no bottom and I was floating. With rope in one hand. Arjun also jumped and he barely knew swimming then.

We spent around 15 mins in the water. It was great. Not many waves as we were nowhere near the shore but water in ocean is layered. You see something like a boat at a distance and then it's lost as another layer of water comes up and you go down comparatively.

Well. It was a great experience overall.  Next time - deep sea fishing ;).

Reading

Lately I have been trying out newer techniques as reading on the ipad or phone. And I didnt really enjoy the concept of reading on my phone. And I know its not a whim as I did read one full book on my phone.

I am realizing that I stilll enjoy reading the old fashioned way. A book in hand which you can feel and touch and use as pillow :). Open up the book and smell the pages :).

I used to use the book as a pillow sometimes when I was in college. I used to think that the dense medium does an osmosis into the rarer medium of my brain :).

Anyways. I will still try reading on a tablet though. I think a phone, no matter how large the screen is, is still small compared to a book page. May be a tablet is more apt. Lets see if size matters here :).

Meanwhile, I visited some book stores and picked up some books :).

Flight attendants

If you travel wearing a kurta, they will talk to you in Hindi, else English.

Its just a number after all :)

Name is Bond, James Bond!!!

Have been thinking about this for some time now. Who is the best Bond and whobis the best Bond girl? While I like Bond movies for Bond, the women also play an important role in these movies. And of course the cars. :).

I have googled on thoughts from people and found that a lot of people go with popularistic approach. 

Most of the men have named Sean Connery as the best Bond and Ursula Andress as the best Bond girl.

I disagree with this. I am not sure if Bond is about handsomeness or Bond girl about being sexy and good looking. I think Bond is about preciseness and coldness.  The feeling of detachment is Bond for me. Sean Connerry fails as he is not detached but holier than thou. He is the smart guy in the room who has it all figured out.  And that's stupid.

The beauty of Bond is not about having it figured out but about making mistakes and learning from them. Its about being unemotional. Bond is stoic and cold. Bond is not Sherlock Holmes. He makes mistakes but has this innate ability to bounce back. He loses control and then with great effort, gains it back. Sean Connery on the other hand always seems to be in control.

I think the best Bond so far is Daniel Craig.  Undoubtedly.  For all the reasons above. He fits the bill perfectly.

Similarly,  the best Bond girl is not Ursula Andress. Ursula Andress is undoubtedly very beautiful. But a Bond girl is someone who is confident and intelligent and not only beautiful.  Ursula Andress fails to impress in intelligence department. A Bond girl is opinionated, understands what she is doing and sharp. Razor sharp. 

I think the best Bond girl till now is Eva Green in Casino Royale. She is tough, has a air of intelligence about her. In the "I am the money" scene, she is an equal of Bond. And even in the rest of the movie for that matter.

I think she is the best Bond girl till date. She is mentally strong, intelligent,  opinionated and beautiful. If I make a Bond movie in the future,  this type of cast it will have.

Here's to Bond. And his Omega :).

Intelligent people of Mandya

We pass through Mandya on the way to Mysore. Now Mandya happens to be the largest town on the way to Mysore. It's claim to fame is sugarcane produce and so rich sugar lobby people.

While you cross Mandya, there is this 5 km stretch which goes through the city - SH17. This place has put around 4 signals on the road. Each of the signals is above 150 secs. So one, you keep waiting and then 1 signal is next to bus stand. So irrespective of state of signal, bus drivers feel they have the born right of way and so keep pushing their buses in the middle. This just makes the signal stop of 150 secs even worse. As some times when signal is on, buses are all blocking the way and you can't go.

May be its worth investing all that money you earn in some intelligence and planning, people of Mandya.

Vivanta by Taj @ Madikeri, Coorg

So we left from bamgalore around 2 pm. And realized that of all the times we have driven to Mysore from Bangalore, which is quite a few in past 2 years we have been in Bangalore, this time is the best time to leave from Bangalore to Mysore. May be rains on the way played a part because the roads were pretty clear.

We reached Mysore in 3.5 hours. Which is a record till now. We stayed at Brindavan gardens. Nice place to stay for a night. The Queen bed room is small. But serves the purpose for a night. It has good views of the garden. So all in all, good place.
Next day left for Coorg. The roads are surprisingly good. Four lane till Hassan and then two lane. But well built, no potholes. It still took us around 3 hours to cover around 95 km because of ghats.
At the Taj, they sprinkled holy Kaveri river water and opened the gates to a grand opening. It's a high lobby on top of a mountain. Nothing marking the boundary so gives a feeling of infinite stage extending till horizon. Extremely beautiful. If you don't see it, you are missing something in life. It's a work of art. They have made this 7 storey building to have the large infinite deck. The temperature controlled infinite pool underneath and entertainment /activity area. All in all pretty good.

The cottages are huge. I mean huge. The cottage we stayed in was bigger than our Mumbai house. One living room with fireplace. One large, and I mean large bedroom area. Then 2-3 steps down to study and viewing deck. Large windows overlooking the valley. Huge bath area, wardrobes, walk in closets and what not. It was pretty good.

Issues, no issues? Well, not really. There were issues. The restaurant processes were not figured out. The food was exorbitantly priced. There used to be a good half an hour of delay once you order the meal. So eat and then go to restaurant so that you can wait there for the food to arrive. Options were limited and they were not sure what to do if you need customization. Any, even the smallest of customization.

We witnessed the first ever buffet served during dinner in the hotel on 20th Oct. Was served an hour late from the time it should have started.

The place is new. Soft launch happened on 15th oct. Fully functional by 15th dec they say.

The place is nice. Coorg is about coffee plantations. And this place is about rain forest. The resort is on 250 acre of land. Mountains, valleys and ponds. All in the resort. Belongs to a private investor and Taj has leased it I think. 6 acres has cottages and pathways and all the stuff. Rest is jungle. Nature trails, cycling trails and what not.

It's a mixed bag review only because we have seen very high standard of service from Taj before. This still has to cover a lot of ground before it reaches say Holiday village in Goa. Or Coonoor Taj.

Overall. Extremely beautiful place. Very relaxing. Very pricy in everything. Needs improvement in service quality in restaurant. I think I will visit again. May be after Dec 2012 once it's fully launched.

Some life...

Was watching rains this morning and thinking of mountains.

If I could, would just go to mountains. Somewhere in himachal or Kashmir. Build a hut near a small mountain river.
May be just open a tea stall next to river on the side of a road. Serve hot tea with buns. Drink lots of tea. :).

Talk to people of the village. Read local news-papers. Sit on bench next to the tea stall.
Keep looking at river flowing by and mountains. Read lots of books in the night. Go on walk in mountains and forests in morning and evening.

That would be some life. :).

It's beautiful today

It's very rainy and very wet. The road to Arjun's school is quite scenic. Lots is grasslands, fields and trees.

It's fantastic when it rains in the fields. I can just stand there and keep watching the rain in fields.

I have always believed that water has a property which drains all tiredness, sorrows and what not. I still remember, in Mumbai, in struggling days desperately trying to get a better job, I used to go and sit at Marine lines looking at the sea. And in like an hour or so, I used to feel refreshed and ready to try again.

It's beautiful when it rains on the sea also. And I am missing Mumbai again. For the rains, for the sea.

Don't feel like going to office today. Feel like getting wet in rains, sit in puddles and splash water. Just like older days. Wilder days :).

I like rains. It changes the perspective of how you see a place. It's beautiful and it makes even the traffic stuck roads look great.

I never had issues puddles on road. And the drain pipes. So many times have I just stood under a drain pipe splashing water full force.

I like everything about the rains. The good, the bad and I think both good and bad is great.

In my scheme of things, rains is as spiritual as mountains. Nothing else even comes close. Except of course when it rains in mountains. It's amazing then. And it's the most beautiful sight in the world.
Superlative in every sense.

Here's to the rains. :)

Mumbai

Nitya and I were talking about this yesterday. There are times I still miss Mumbai so much. May be just for the heck of it.
It's difficult to get the city our of your system. I still will put my money on Mumbai long term than Bangalore.

I realized

That some movies my mood and the books affect my mood as well.

Self discovery. A lot of it happening.

Great Men

Read this somewhere:
Great men die twice, once as greats and once as men.

Haha, so true :).

I know what I need to do

Exercise. That will bring the focus back ;)

I am

So tired, I can't sleep.

The path

Kachori!!!

I have always loved kachoris. I really thinnk making Kachori is an art and not everyone can make it well.

This post of mine on Adarsh Kachori Bhandar says a lot about the respect I have for someone who can make spectacular kachoris.

In Bangalore, yes, in Bangalore. Here in Bangalore, I found someone called "Saraswati Mishthan Bhandar". He is almost there in making kachoris as Adarsh, if not fully there. His is the best dal ki kachori I had in years. I have not been to Bhopal for almost 2 years now and already miss Adarsh. But this guy is just soo good.

You have to eat it to believe it. The other kachori he makes is "pyaaz ki kachori". Now that one again is splendid.

I still remember the "aloo ki kachori" of Cafe centre, Indore and Mayur shop at ghanta ghar, Ujjain. I dont think anything comes even close to the aloo ki kachori which Cafe centre makes and the way he serves it with 2-3 chatnis and finely chopped pyaaz. That guy is a champion.

Also, can you believe it, I have found in Bangalore of all the places in the world a shop which sells milk at night. Not close to home but still its there. I love all sorts of food (except for Chinese) but dont think any place in the world comes even closer to Malwa and the food there.

Bangalore definitely is surprising me in some cases where I am mostly shocked by it :).

Dont think I need this

Not sure if I really want my children so impossible to ignore that they become in your face.
I would like my children to have an option that they can be ignored when they want it that way :).

Bombay!!!

I was explaining Mumbai and Bombay to a videsi in office. We were discussing recruitment at some senior level and I was telling him that I am looking to see if some of the people I know can move from Mumbai to Bangalore. And that it is very difficult.
And he said but Bangalore is green and nice. I said well so might be Tulsa in Oklahoma, but you wouldnt want to leave NY, would you? :).
Then he asked, what happened to Bombay? Bombay stood for everything which is quality in India. I said yeah, it still does, it's just called Mumbai now.
Bombay has now more become an adjective rather than a noun. Bombay symbolizes things, a way of life. It symbolizes a cosmopolitan forward looking culture which resides in and explains this place called 'Mumbai'.

It's so true actually. Am not into this political debate or anything. And I like Mumbai as name. It's just that Bombay represents an era, a time, a philosophy for me which is so unique compared to the way people live in other places, it's amazing. It's amazing that similar people bahaving more unemotionally and in a balanced manner that it's just a lot more mature. That similar kind of people are more open to others and think about overall effectiveness from a long term perspective.

This is unheard of and unseen in most parts of the world. That's the spirit of Mumbai. That's Bombay.

Advika

Is here. It's been a long wait. She arrived on 7th Mar - anniversary of Aai and Baba.

We are all very excited :). Finally we will plan a Oz trip to meet her and I course Pradnya and Ritesh as well :).

Welcome aboard.

Bipasha Basu...

Has started looking nice for a change Strange ha.

Today...

Arjun Learnt the F-word ;). Am I proud? Well...

Audi :)

Inception - movie review

Watching Inception. It's one amazing movie. May be I am not understanding it or may be I am, it is based on weird thing like dreaming.

I have thought a lot on dreams and thr weird dreams I get sometimes that I am a gangster and running from other chaps in similar profession and of course winning against them.

Very odd people coming for help, the ones I haven't seen, met or spoken to in years. Almost a Don movie running through. These dreams have come quite a few times.

So I have always been intrigued by dreams as such. Some of my friends think that dreams are B&W. I dont think so as I can remember the colours in my dream. My violet car with black windows when I was playing Michael Corleone. The steel of guns, robbers in one of my childhood dreams wearing a weird blue trousers and pink t-shirts. No hair, or may be they were masked.

Anyways, the concept of the movie is very good, dream within a dream and then again another one and how it affects the subconscious.

Controlling the dream is again a very simple scenario, you can actually script your dream to move in a direction, sometimes you can control it to nth degree.

They have taken this to the next level, pretty well done. Leonardo de Caprio is an actor who has changed completely. Compared to Titanic where he was ok to now in the Departed, Catch me if you can, Blood Diamond, the Aviator and now Inception. The guy is fantastic.

Would want to watch it once more, may be in Hindi this time to ensure that I didn't miss anything :).

And I finished the the review without reveling the story :).

I think

I think I should start a different blog, I dont write much here ;).

Choosing 'the' camera

Has to be a d700. That's the one.

And lenses?
Nikon 50mm 1.4d
Nikon 35 70 2.8d - push pull ( used )
Nikon 80 200 2.8d ( new ) - the 'new' is in the name. Does not mean new.

Lets see.

Rajni.

Rajnikant knows the two people............

Who shakes there hands on NOKIA phones at start-up.

Some images

Deep analysis

Almost looks like things are falling in place. That's deep :).

Elevated Earth

It's strange that when every night you sleep, you don't realize that the earth rises in elevation. Bacause if you wake up pre-dawn, before the earth has returned to its level, you wake up in the sky.

Clouds passing through you, ambling right ahead. Everything just merges into one another, a little more. It's hazy, boundary less. Lights diffusing and not shining.

Everything seems to be fused with each other. A little more.

The buildings merging into the sky and background. The lights like lanterns glowing with a smoky haze.

It's a very spiritual feeling that you feel more part of the world than ever.

Tall trees rising and then disappearing somewhere at the top. It's more mysterious almost like you are closer to the vast universe compared to the cozy comfort of the familier earth.

It's all very beautiful and mysteriously calming.

Generation gap

Was talking to two of my friends who wanted to send me some photos. And both of them told me the same thing - "but you are not on Facebook, not even on Orkut how do we send you our photos".

Very valid point indeed but I don't get it. I mean people used to share photos even before Facebook.

:), may be I am just getting old. Generation gap between me and my friends.

Reading

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Again.

The Blind Side - the movie

Was watching this again yesterday. Ita about a white family adopting a black boy and the boy becoming a great player in American football.

Now I am not a big believer in America or it's football. Nor am I much interested in blank-white tension. We have enough issues of our own, but the movie is fantastic. I think it was very mature in it's own way. The overall portrayal of a mother-son relationship, and in American social conditions.

The other thing I loved was the occupation of the "dad". I think owning 85 taco Bella and fast-food chana is amazing. And it's steady money, and a lot of it too :).

The confidence and security the entire family in that movie show comes out very naturally to the actors. This is amazing quality of actors, being into their character. Unlike a Shah-rukh Khan who is always himself no matter what the movie :).

So all in all, I liked what I saw in the movie.

Is Chess a racist game??

Ever wondered in carrom, why is white a 20 pointer and black a 10 without being a rare entity???

And why in Chess, whites always start.

Just thinking :)


- Posted from phone

Knowing more

If you know what your problems are, at times it's tougher compared to if you do not know them.

Life is funny :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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.