I was away only for a day but it already feels as if it has been ages since I last came here. :-( I have long since finished reading Paulo Coelho's "The Witch of Portobello" and the Marathi translation of "Towards The Silver Crest of The Himalayas". Will try to write about it over the weekend for sure.

Till we meet again, let me leave you with the following lines:

गमके चाहनेवाले कमही पाए जाते है
जबभी पाए जाते है हमही पाए जाते है

It's so good to see that finally we are seeing some signs of the IPL-Pakistan tension easing up. Just when the two nations have started on non-diplomatic efforts (Aman Ki Asha) to bring about peace, this row could have derailed all the efforts.

Let's hope that good Pakistani players get chosen by the IPL teams. I agree with Afridi, sports should be a means of bringing nations together, not of dividing them. Amen to that!

दिल तो बच्चा है जी

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have listened to this song but a friend SMSed me specifically to listen to it on the FM. “From what I know of you, you would like this one” said he. “All right, let’s see how much you know me” said I. That’s how I came to listen to “दिल तो बच्चा है जी” from the movie "इश्कियां".

Though I have always loved Gulzar’s words, I didn’t much like the lyrics of this one. The music, however, is an altogether different thing. I don’t know how this song has been shot but as far as I am concerned, it somehow gives a feel of an empty road stretching till the horizon, a sky laden with rain clouds and a solitary figure singing and dancing his way through this landscape. The music has a sort of a Gypsy ring to it, if you know what I mean.

I have been hooked ever since :-)

You take a day off , get out of the city, do sightseeing, eat to your heart's content and generally behave as if you don't have a care in the world. Then the holidays are over and you have to get back to office. you log in to your office mailbox and there are mails staring at you in the face. There are team members who are asking about the next task on their list. In short, you are dragged back, very violently, to the life that's paradoxically called "Normal".

I was in danger of falling in this trap today so I took half an hour yesterday evening to clear my mailbox as much as I could. And I sent mails to team members detailing their work for this week.

So when I logged in today morning, there weren't any mails in the mailbox and I could start my day peacefully, well almost :-)

The media has reported that Major Mohit Sharma of 1 Para (Special Forces), Havildar Rajesh Kumar of 11 Rajputana Rifles and Major D Sreeram Kumar of 30 Assam Rifles have been honoured with the Ashok Chakra.

I think it is the Ashok Chakra that has been honoured!

The Indian President doesn’t believe much in keeping it “short and sweet” – judging by her almost 20-minute long speech in Hindi on the eve of the Republic Day. As if that wasn’t enough, she followed it up with its English version. Needless to say, I promptly changed the FM channel it was being broadcast on.

When, oh, when are our politicians going to learn to talk sense? :-(

There is a heavy mist shrouding Rajpath today. But I think it feels magical to watch the entire regiments and battalions as they roll out of this mist. :-)

Have the producers of “Food Paradise” published any books based on their episodes? If they have, I would like to buy them all and then tour the USA. :-)

I watched two of their episodes over the weekend – Diners Paradise and Bar Food Paradise. And the uppermost thought in my mind was – Boy! I have got to taste all this food one day! Of course, the portions were a bit too generous considering the floor space in my stomach and the sight of many big-sized (!) patrons left nagging thoughts about the calorie side of such food. :-(

I have never been to Florence, Italy but I now feel I should – watching Samantha Brown’s “Passport to Great Weekend” can have that effect on you. :-) If the cafes and markets selling local produce aren’t enough of a reason, there is this person who prepares a perfume that is solely based on you – and hence not possessed by anyone else in the world. Amazing, isn’t it?

I wonder how this person will prepare a perfume for me if I were to visit his shop in Florence. Let’s see – a whiff of fresh cool morning mountain breeze, a dash of fragrant jasmine flowers, hint of the earth as the season’s first raindrops patter on it, a trace of sandalwood and a dab of golden honey. Perfect! :-)

I have always enjoyed watching Nigella Lawson’s cookery shows. But while watching one of the earlier episodes – judging from her younger and slimmer avatar - over the weekend, I was horrified to see that she had committed the cardinal sin of the Cooking World – she mixed the salad, tasted it with a fork and then dipped that fork back in the salad, mixing it happily. It wouldn’t have mattered much if she was preparing the chow for herself but I couldn’t help say “eeeew” when I saw a couple of her unsuspecting friends munching on it later on in the show :-(

Oh, and the way she tears at the coriander bunch can only be described as “Violent” :-)