Bye Bye 2012, Hello 2013

It's that time of the year again!
Time to bid adieu to the year that's going away and welcome the year that's coming to meet us.
Time to retrospect.
Time to feel sad about the opportunities that were missed.
Time to celebrate the triumphs achieved.
Time to go over last year's resolution list.
And time to make this year's list with equal fervor and enthusiasm. :-)

So while wishing you a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy and Safe 2013, I cannot resist the temptation of posting the SMS that a friend (who happens to be just a few years younger to me) sent to me today morning.

As the year comes to an end, take special care of yourself.
Avoid injuries because spare parts for old models are no longer in stock!

Let me add a special prayer to this:

I pray that all our soldiers remain safe and sound this year and beyond! 

Want to do your bit this coming year in making this country a better place to live in? Check out the following 2 sites:

I Paid A Bribe

I Change My City

अर्ज किया है....

रास्तेमे रुकके दम लू ये मेरी आदत नही
लौटके वापस चला जाऊ ये मेरी फितरत नही
और कोई हमनवा मिल जाये ये किस्मत नही

Hinglish Vinglish

"Did you get to watch the movie? How was it? I couldn't get it recorded" said my friends's SMS. "It was good. The ad breaks were tolerable. The movie was actually over by 10:45" I replied back.

Good. That was the adjective I used to describe the movie. That means I didn't think that watching it was a waste of time. But that also means that it somehow fell short of the expectations that were built by the ooh-and-aah of all the reviews that I had read on the net. Of course, that isn't the movie's fault.

To start with, the movie deals with a new subject - not the usual boy-meets-girl-and-they-fall-in-love or angry-man-out-on-a-revenge-spree that make up most of the Hindi movies. And the subject is not unfamiliar to many from my generation who had homemaker moms who never had any reason to converse in English. So we have Shashi, hmmm, Godbole. A Maharashtrian lady with a name Shashi was a bit difficult to stomach. She is said to be from Pune. But somehow the way the family is depicted doesn't somehow sound convincing. Of course, by that I don't mean that they should have been shown to speak a sentence or two in Marathi every now and then (aka Pavitra Rishta!). But I guess there are a few aspects of any Indian culture that clearly mark them as belonging to this community or that. It wasn't apparent here.

So Shashi doesn't understand or speak English. And that's what makes her a laughing stock of her husband and daughter. She understands this but the feeling is swept under the carpet because there simply is no time or luxury to examine your feelings and deal with them. Then comes the news that her America-based niece is getting married. For whatever reason, Shashi has to travel all the way to America by herself. She manages to clear the hurdles of visa interview and then immigration well. And then, she is made aware of her inability to converse in English once more, in a very painful way, just when she is feeling confident of her ability to manage on her own in a foreign land - without knowing the local language. A woman can do almost anything - she simply has to make up her mind about it. Shashi does exactly that. She joins a course that promises to teach people to speak English in just 4 weeks.

This is where I stopped believing in the movie. English in 4 weeks? Come on now. Oh, I know! Shashi had no reason to stay back in "the US" for more than a few weeks. So the course had to be of a short duration. But it also means that her progress in those 4 weeks is directly at odds with the fluent speech that she gives in the end.

Of course, that's what I feel if I listen to my brain. But if I throw logic out the window, then the movie gives a message that's very relevant to the patriarchal society that is rather emotional than practical when it comes to family and relationships - love alone is not sufficient, there needs to be respect too.

Thank you Gauri Shinde for that! And hats off to Sridevi for essaying the journey of an English-challenged homemaker to a confident one. I do hope that you get to play more such meaningful roles in your second inning. Welcome back!

1. What - Fish and pet animal exhibition
Where - Mumbai University's Vidya Nagari Sports Complex, Indoor Stadium
When - 3rd to 6th January, 10am-7:30pm
For more information, click here.

2. What - Silk and Cotton Exhibition
Where - Urban Haat, Belapur, New Mumbai
When - 26th December to 8th January, 12pm-9pm.

I cannot make myself watch news or read newspapers. I just can't. I have no idea when I can bring myself to doing it. While surfing the net on Friday night I had read about the deteriorating condition of the Delhi girl. And had feared the worst. My fears were confirmed the following morning. I don't have words to describe my feelings - anger, frustration, grief......

As if this was not enough, her case seems to have opened up a proverbial Pandora's box. Suddenly the Media doesn't seem to find any news, except for rapes or gang rapes, worthy of reporting. As it is, by their rule, any good news is not a news at all. They seem to have crossed all limits now. Anyone who has never been to India can be easily forgiven for thinking that this is a country of rapists. Why cannot the Media find the word 'restraint' in their dictionary, if they have any at all?

The government would do well not to proceed at their normal snail's pace in dealing with this. We don't need any half-baked measures. They need to come to a swift decision as to whether we need new laws or just strengthening of the existing ones. But laws alone won't help. The cops need to be sensitized about the safety of women. The Common Man on the street needs to know that there is strength in numbers. So people must come to the aid of any woman who is being harassed on the street. And we need to take the matter of training women in self-defense seriously.

Can we do it all? Or at least some of it? I don't know. But I fervently hope that we do. Because that's the only way I can make the sick feeling that I am having in the pit of my stomach to go away.

Food for thought.....

We need everything 'Permanent' in a 'Temporary' life

Hinglish Vinglish on Zee Cinema

If you are one of those - I surely am - who are yet to watch this movie, here's your chance. It is going to be aired tomorrow (29th December) at 8pm on Zee Cinema. But if my friends are to be believed, there are going to be advertizements galore. So I better be ready with a stack of to-do things to be completed during the inevitable ad breaks :-)

2 links worth taking a look at:

Notes for the new year

Boring party survival 101

अर्ज किया है .....

तुम्हारे बाद बाकी तो सब ठीक है लेकिन
जहा दिल था कभी पहले वह अब दर्द रहता है

(Forwarded)

A friend sent following SMS today morning:

Time decides who you meet in your life.
Your heard decides who you want in your life.
And your behavior decides who will stay in your life.

Most of it is true I guess. But I think that Time also decides who gets to stay in your life - irrespective of what your heart or your behavior says. People leave just because their time is up!

I miss you.....

I put the Christmas leave to a good use by cleaning out many of my mailsboxes. It was while cleaning out one such account that I came across a mail that a friend had fowarded 3-4 months back. There were a couple of images of things that were part and parcel of our childhood but have become excinct (or almost so!) these days. :-( Here are some of them.....

Thanks Ashwini for bringing back memories of childhood :-)

Ordinary People Extra-ordinary Acts

Hard to believe that in this day and age there can be someone who is barely 27-years old and is yet looking after 42 orphan children, isn't it? Yet, it is true. Read on for the full story.

A true Mumbaikar will swear that there is no such thing as Winter in the city but last year the weather around this time of the year was fit to be called 'Winter'. As far as I can tell, this time the temperature is not so low but there is a definite chill in the air early in the morning and when the sun goes down.

So here are a few lines by Edith Sitwell:

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.

Happy Winter Dear Mumbai!

Wanna do some research before buying that stock? Check out http://www.screener.in/

Apocalypse Now?

Phew! 21st December came and went without the solar flares baking us all to crispy crunchy human bacons, without a hitherto-unknown planet called Nibiru (sounds straight out of Star Wars, doesn't it?) crashing into Mother Earth, without the ground opening up under our very feet (I wonder if people in India would have noticed that - when our roads are already filled with giant potholes!) or tall tsunamis sweeping blowing everything in their path to smithreens. I guess the Mayans were a bit weak in their Math, what say?

I am glad though that, at least in India, there were no people standing at the traffic junctions with huge boards that said 'Repent, for the end is near'. That there was no stampede at the supermarkets for bread, vegetables and packets of Maggie noodles! That team members turned up at work and made plans for work to be completed next week.

I hope the Mayans won't be offended. This in no way casts any aspersion on them. It's just that we have been through too many 'end-of-the-world' like scenarios to take such predictions seriously. Or maybe it's a simple case of accepting whatever it is that you simply cannot control.

Oh well, I just hope that we won't have a white Christmas - in Mumbai. :-)

Currently, while reading Agatha Christie's 'Taken At The Flood', I came across some unfamiliar terms.

While describing a leading character's eyes, she uses a phrase - put in with a smutty finger. I had no idea what she meant by that so I searched the net. Here's what I found - http://syds-thoughts.blogspot.in/2008/07/turns-of-phrase-that-dont-mean-what.html

In another scene, while offering a drink to someone one character says 'say when' to which the other replies 'when'. I was so confused by this that, for a moment, I thought there was some typo here.The internet came to the rescue, as usual. Here is the explanation.

The third reference has been to something called a 'pierrot doll'. The first link shown by the search engine had such creepy images that I didn't have the heart to search further.

I am almost halfway through the novel and curious to know what other new phrases and idioms I will come across.

Mah Jong, Khar (W)

This eating place at Khar (W) has been a favorite for lazy weekend lunches. But we hadn't been there for quite some time. Lately, I have been rather bored with the run-of-the-mill Chinese fare like Chow Mein, Schezwan Fried Rice, Manchurian and Spring Rolls. So when we landed at Mah Jong today morning, we decided to try some new dishes.

The first dish was, of course, Crispy Prawns in butter garlic sauce. Now, I am not fond of sea food (except for good old pomfret) because most of the times it smells 'fishy'. And the sight of King Prawns, for some inexplicable reason, turns me off completely. But this dish was so scrumptious that I didn't even realize when I polished my portion off my plate. You bet I am going to order it every time I visit this place.

I remembered that last time we were here, we had ordered some chicken dish which had crispy shredded chicken. We looked through the menu and ordered 'Shredded chicken in home style sauce'. When the waiter turned up with the dish, we realized that we had ordered something else. Luckily for us though, the dish was tasty as well - though very lightly seasoned.

We racked our collective brains over the dish that we had missed out on. Combing through our menu, I came across Crispy Chicken with Honey Chili. Aha! This must be it. We placed the order and Bingo! We were bang on the spot! Shreds of crispy chicken, pleasurably chewy - perfectly seasoned in a tangy-sweet-spicy sauce. Heaven on earth!

The clay pot chicken rice was a bit of a disappointment though. Though it had chicken, mushrooms and the creamy sauce, it lacked the capsicum strips that are part of the same dish served at Chandragupta (Shivaji Park). And it should have been a bit more spiced.

I am already looking forward to my next visit to Mah Jong :-)

कुछ इच्छाए बारिश की बूंदोंकी तरह होती है
जिन को छूनेकी ख्वाईश में हथेलिया तो गीली हो जाती है
पर हाथ हमेशा खाली रहते है

Only Parathas

Parathas are not on my list of favorite food items. But then I was tired of the same old South Indian and Chinese fare dished out here, there and everywhere. So I decided to try out "Only Parathas". The Chaat section on the menu had all the usual suspects so I chose Papadi Chaat. The Paratha section was, predictably, long enough to cover distance between Mumbai and Kashmir twice over. It started with simple parathas and went on to more complex stuffed ones. Since I didn't know what the difference between 'single-layered' and 'double-layered' parathas was - though I could guess it - I ordered single-layered aaloo parathas.

The order was served quickly enough. Papadi Chaat was everything a Chaat should be - light, refreshing and perfectly seasoned. The paratha, however, was a huge disappointment. The crispy covering was so thick that I could hardly taste any potato filling inside. It was accompanied with Black Daal which I have never been able to develop a taste for and the chhole were utterly tasteless.

I stepped out wishing that I had ordered more Chaat instead.

Lately I have been watching one show on Travel Trendz channel - Bharat Express. It gives good information on tourist destinations across the country. Today's episode was on Amritsar. Apart from the well-known places like the Golden Temple (with its langar), Jalianwala Baug and Wagah Border, it featured a place called Haveli - which is sort of a Punjabi version of Chokhi Daani - a Punjabi village set up for tourists with magicians, weavers, potters, shopping, song and dance and at the end of it, a huge Punjabi Thali.

I am tired of Meredith Grey. More tired than perhaps Derek Shepherd. Granted, her mom was an ambitious lady. Granted too, that her mom was all broken up over a love affair that went wrong. Meredith has abandonement issues. She has inferiority complex. She has trouble trusting people. But isn't it time she stopped citing these excuses for her erratic behavior and concentrated on her career instead - just once in her life? (Oh, I know the season being aired on Star World is the 4th one - and not the latest!)

I admire Yang despite her apparent lack of anything close to a human emotion. She is singularly focussed on her career and wants to be the best at what she is doing. No wonder she was mad at Grey for going on and on and on about whether she wants Derek to move in with her or not. And I agree with Yang's assessment that it won't work out between Derek and Meredith. He would have been better off getting back with Addison.

But then the show isn't called 'Addison's Anatomy', right?

"Hang me" says one of the perpetrators of the Delhi gang-rape case. Or so the newspapers tell us. My first reaction was - yes, hang them all, in public and in such a way that they die a very long, slow and painful death. And then hang their corpses in the city square so that passers-by can flog their dead bodies. And then refuse to cremate or bury their corpses anywhere in India. Human rights be damned!

But I think this would be like letting them go easy because once they are dead, they are past all this. So castrate them all instead with the most painful method available - and without any anesthesia. Plaster their photos all over the cities - so that their faces are imprinted on people's minds. Parade them across cities so that people can heap abuse on them. And then put them behind bars where they will be forced to live the rest of their miserable, sorry lives in solitude.

We all should aim to stop the hideous, shameless exhibition of female bodies in movies, magazines and fashion ads - in print, on TV and hoardings. The Censor should not allow songs with provocative banal lyrics. If it takes us to the so-called Dark Ages, so be it. We also need to make more efforts to educate Indian men - perhaps right from childhood - that their gender alone does not make them in any way superior to women. Like charity, this should begin at home, all across India. Mothers, grandmothers and sisters have to do it - even if it means standing up to the men of the family in this patriarchal society of ours.

That said, I am unable to shake off my anger at the stupidity of the victim in question. Didn't she think even once before boarding a private bus at night? This is not Ram-Rajya for heaven's sake.

I wish I could say that women everywhere would have wizened up after this incident. Sadly, that is not true. It was just yesterday that I was waiting at the bus stop when a girl asked me if I was going to a certain destination. When I replied in the negative, she went to a guy standing nearby, he nodded and then both of them left in a rickshaw.

When are we going to learn that personal safety should be given priority over absolutely everything?

अर्ज है

उम्रभर ग़ालिब यही भूल करता रहा
धूल चेहेरे पर थी और आईना साफ़ करता रहा

'I am bored to death with this routine' complained my friend, a colleague, over a cup of afternoon tea. Normally, I would have agreed, or at least sympathized with her. But this time her comment reminded me of an article - about the plight of Christians in Iraq - that I read in the latest issue of the GEO magazine. Living in a country torn apart by war must not be easy. I am aware that this is an understatement. Many people of my generation can only recollect the Kargil war and that didn't throw the life of most of the civilians out of kilter by any means. However, what most of the Indians will be able to identify with is the misery that a communal strife brings to everyday life. When this strife breaks out in a country ravaged by war, the misery gets intensified manifold.

That's what those people are going through. Every day of their life.

They are living in the shadow of death.

And we, who are blessed to have a "normal" routine life, are "bored to death" by it.

Most of the times I don't bother reading Print ads. But the picture of a broken window caught my attention. It was an ad for Tata Capital Home Loan. The text accompanying the picture was a short piece about how a kid had to leave behind a broken window that was an important part of his childhood because his family had to shift from that rented place. It was so beautifully written that I couldn't help but cut out that ad. It's kept in pages of a favorite book.

I know that someday in future when I open the book to read it, that ad will tumble down from its pages. And I will get to enjoy reading it once again :-)

I have always wondered at the human mind's ability to fish out memories that you didn't even know you had. It happened again with me today morning. I got into a bus and the conductor gave me ticket. As usual, I kept it in the front pocket of my backpack. Sometime later, I opened the pocket again to take out my mobile. The ticket almost fell out.

And that, somehow, triggered a memory from my school days. A friend and I had boarded a bus and got tickets. We were so busy chatting that she absent-mindedly chucked the ticket out the window (I used to be less bothered about civic sense back then!). Then she realized what she had done and was horrified at the thought of the Ticket Collector catching her without ticket. In fact, she had been so rattled that she had promptly got another ticket.

I smiled as I thought back on it and pushed the ticket back inside. I don't know where that friend is now. I know that in this age of Facebook and LinkedIn, I can track her down if I make some effort. But then, I guess some friendships do have an expiry date. When you haven't seen each other for years, there is simply so much to catch up on that it's probably best not to.

I wonder though, if my friend remembers that incident anymore.

Spark The Rise

Be the change you wish to see in the world

That's what Mahatma Gandhi had said. Guess we will have to be a lot of things if we decide to follow this advice. However, there is always that first step. And if you wish to take it, do check out Spark The Rise website.

अर्ज किया है.....

मंझिल मिलही जायेगी भटकतेही सही
गुमराह तो वो है जो घरसे निकलेही नही

Raw Banana Curry

Boil 2 raw bananas and dice them.

Heat oil. Add finely chopped green chillies (2-3), 1 red chili, 1 tsp mustard seeds, half a tsp of methi seeds and a pinch of turmeric. Saute. Then turn off the gas and add half to quarter cup of grated coconut. Grind this mixture to a fine paste.

Heat oil. Add mustard seeds, banana pieces and saute. Add some water. Cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.

Add the ground mixture, salt and a bit of jaggery. Mix and bring to a boil. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve hot with rice.

Source: Program Amhi Saare Khawayye, Zee Marathi

Ordinary People, Extra-ordinary Acts

Read on The saga of Sagayam and Durai. A couple more like him and we won't have to worry about Lokpal and Jan-Lokpal.

A slice of Egypt in Mumbai

Love the Egyptian Mummies? Pyraminds? Hieroglyphs? Then head out to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai's Fort area. If the Forthcoming Events section on their website is to be believed, then there are a lot of activities - talks, workshops & exhibitions - related to Egypt that are happening out there.

Happy Journey! :-)

एका मित्राने चंद्रशेखर गोखल्यांची एक चारोळी पाठवली.

शब्दांना कोडं पडावं अशी काही गोड माणसं असतात
केव्हढ आपलं भाग्य असतं जेव्हा ती आपली असतात.

Nukkad starting on Hitz Entertainment

Remember Guru, Radha, TeacherDidi, Ghanashu bhikhari, khopadi, Raja, Hari, Kadar Bhai and Tambi? If you do then, like me, Nukkad must have been a part of your life once upon a time. The trials and tribulations of a group of people staying in a corner of a busy metropolis were captured beautifully in this show. None of them were celebrities in the prevalent sense of the word . And yet, in their own special way, each of them was precisely that. In the good old days of DD, this show was a favorite when I was growing up. I am so glad Hitz Entertainment is bringing it back.

You can watch it every Sunday at 4:30pm starting from 30th December.

Hitz is already airing Malgudi days on Sundays. With Nukkad now joining the fare, I am hoping that they bring more such shows from the bygone era. Maybe Lifeline? Or Yatra? Or Swami and His Friends? :-)

In the meantime, I am just happy to welcome Guru, Radha, TeacherDidi, Ghanashu bhikhari, khopadi, Raja, Hari, Kadar Bhai, Tambi and the rest of the Nukkad back in my life. :-)

There was a time when I used to lament the fact that there is not much opportunity to work from home in India. But over the years, I have found working from home to be more cumbersome than convenient. But if it suits you, then maybe you should check out the following gadgets

Happy Working from home! :-)

Legal Jini

Guess which are the 2 things that make you aware of your mortality almost instantly? Oh ok, here's a clue for one of them - it's a subject matter of solicitation. You are right! It's called 'Life Insurance'. Wonder which is the other one? Well, it's called "The Will".

And yet both are very essential when it comes to your financial life and to the secure future of your loved ones.

I cannot advice you on either matter here but I can point you to one site that I came across in a newspaper article sometime back. It talks about making Wills. Visit Legal Jini and make sure that you leave your hard-earned money to the right people.

Rice Spinach Pakode

The word 'Pakoda' sounds like heaven - especially in this weather that passes for winter in the city of Mumbai. I guess a pakoda cannot be truly called a pakoda if it is not deep fried. That said, strips of spinach and a bit of some cooked rice do give it a bit of a healthy touch. Easy on the 'weight-watching' conscious, huh? BTW, this dish was demonstrated in a cookery show called 'Amhi Sare Khawayye' on Zee Marathi.

Here's the photo:

And here's the recipe.

Cut the spinach leaves in strips - not too finely. Add to it cooked rice (leftover rice will do nicely). Just keep the amount of spinach more than that of rice so that the pakodas turn crispy rather than soggy.

Add finely chopped green chillies, baking soda, black salt, rice flour and little water. Knead thoroughly and make small balls. Deep fry them into oil.

Serve hot with ketchup or chutney of your choice.

Prayer to God

God, when I lose hope, help me to remember that your love is greater than my disappointments and your plans for my life are better than my dreams.

(Forwarded)

If you are one of those who gets overjoyed when you hear a Fantail sing in the bushes or when you see a Bulbul make an appearance early in the morning? Then you must check out http://www.migrantwatch.in/. Maybe our winged friends might be having their favorite watering hole next to where you are staying :-)

Ever heard of 'Malgudi Days'? If yes, you might be one of those who watched episodes of this TV show during your childhood. If you want to feel nostalgic, tune in to Hitz Entertainment channel every Sunday morning around 12:15-12:30. They air 2 episodes back to back.

I just loved the story of the pick-pocket. The story titled 'Four Rupees' failed to match the expectations created by the pick-pocket's story though.

Whatever the case, it was a sheer delight to listen to the familiar song at the end of both the episodes. Very few things have the power to take me back to my childhood these days. This was definitely one of them :-)

Interested in taking a class in cooking? Wonder if anyone will teach you how to play an Electric Guitar? Then check out http://skillkindle.com/. You might just get lucky :-)

"I have been pressing this button for the past 10 minutes. You went downstairs and up again twice. Didn't you see the indicator? I get late everyday because of you people." I was venting my frustration at the watchman manning the elevator in our society.

'Madam, the lift stops automatically on the floors. I cannot control it' he was trying to get in a few words - now that I had paused to catch some breath.

'What non-sense!' I managed a final reprimand and hit the floor running as soon as the doors opened on the ground floor.

And then, I read 'The ups and downs of Making elevators go'. Oh well, I am not saying that the elevator in our society is running a complex algorithm. But I guess I can make a few seconds allowance for the poor machine.

On second thoughts, I am better off taking stairs!

Tata Log

“At the IIMs and Harvard Business School, we have ‘case-studies’ of companies, but many of them are written in a clinical and intellectual style, accompanied by lots of annexes and data. This makes them quite heavy, dry and sterile."

When I read these lines at the beginning of the article that talked about Harish Bhatt's book 'Tata Log', I felt immensely relieved. Finally! There is someone who shares my opinion about this supposedly important part of an MBA curriculum. I was never able to wrap my head around the numbers. :-)
Jokes apart, I believe that this book would be an interesting read because this will give an excellent insight into what makes companies and their employees tick and how big projects and products are launched because someone somewhere dreamed about them.

I am not an animal person. What I mean to say is that though I can admire cats and dogs and other animals from a safe distance, I can never think of petting them. I guess that's the reason why I should read the book 'Man Meets Dog' by Konrad Lorenz.

Oh well, here goes one more book in the list of books to be read on a rainy day!

Moms have an inexhaustible supply of practical information! It so happened that last week I bought the Rangoli colors but for some unfathomable reason didn't buy the dotted paper and book of Rangoli patterns at the same time. I had planned on leaving from office at usual time in the evening and then stopping at the market to purchase both the items.

Alas! Murphy's Law has a habit of applying itself all too often to my life. I got delayed at the office. By the time I reached home, I was bone-tired. No worries, I will buy both tomorrow morning on my way back from the temple - I said to myself.

Cut to Tuesday morning. I roamed the market twice from one end to the other. There were lot of vendors selling Rangoli colors but none, I repeat, none of them had dotted paper and book of Rangoli patterns. I was close to tears. What am I supposed to do?

'You can always make the dotted paper at home' mom said matter-of-factly. "What? How?" I was all ears. 'Oh, just trace the outline of holes on a brown paper and then use an incense stick to burn the holes. We used to do the same when I was a kid. We never had the luxury of purchasing the ready-made paper." BTW, Mom grew up in what we now-a-days call a Tier 2 town in India.

So there I was, struggling with a ruler and sheet of brown paper. Drawing a straight line is not as simple as it looks. But I stuck to the task at hand. The pattern complete, I got the incense stick burning but putting it to paper to burn holes was another matter altogether. It tasted my patience to the max. The stick kept getting extinguished.

"No issues! Just light up a candle and keep it handy to re-ignite the incense stick." mom said without missing a beat. I followed obediently. Many minutes later the dotted paper was ready - with some extra holes where the incense stick. had touched it inadvertently due to my impatience and taste. :-) Here is the result:

 Not so bad, huh?

Well, the next hurdle was of course the Rangoli patterns - or lack of them. Drawing skills are not my claim to fame. So no possibility of any free-hand Rangoli. I turned to the Internet for rescue and managed to download a few patterns.

Here are 2 of the Rangolis I made - the first one was made yesterday and the 2nd one today.

I must confess that though it sounded highly irritating at first, I thoroughly enjoyed making Rangolis this Diwali.

I guess, it is a little late in the day to wish. But hey, it is better to wish late than never. So here goes.....

God has deposited Love, Joy, Prosperity, Peace, Laughter plus all kinds of Blessings in your ATM Account.

Use without any Limit.

The PIN code is Prayer.

Happy Diwali!

This one came in an SMS:

A Millionaire lost everything in fire.
Next day he placed a signboard

"EVERYTHING BURNT but luckily FAITH and CONFIDENCE UNDAMAGED.
Business starts TOMORROW"

This is more of a note to myself than a blog post. I came across reference to this blog - http://www.yesheeandmommy.blogspot.in/ - in a Marathi newspaper. And I want to go through it one day.

In the meantime, if you happen to read it, do let me know.

when I was a kid, one of my most prized possessions was a set of small animals. My mom had told me that one animal used to be given along with a pack of a toothpaste - I forget which brand it was. It was a sort of a collectible. This was a long time before Hamley's and the neatly packed set of assorted animals on its shelves. I remember looking at the small monkey and deer and wondering if there were any zebras or kangaroos in the set at any time.

The reason I remembered that toy animal set after all these years is because I read a reference to a site in one of GEO's articles - http://wild-wonders.com/.

Trees, flowers, birds and animals - they seem to have documented so much. :-)

Virunga National Park

Lately, I have become a huge fan of the GEO magazine. I eagerly await the arrival of its next issue and lament the fact that they don't bring out more than one issue per month. The story of how the park rangers are waging a difficult fight to save the mountain gorillas in Congo's Virunga National Park was both sad and inspiring. I hope and pray that they win this fight - and soon.

I am going to check out the following sites to see how I can help:

http://gorillacd.org/

http://www.virungacrisis.org/

And if you care about the fact that only 880 members of this species are left worldwide, then so should you!

This one came in an SMS:

सात रंग
सात सूर
सात फेरे
सात समुंदर
सात आश्चर्य
सुरजकें सात घोडे
सातवा आसमान

इन सबसे ज्यादा किमती है....

सातवा गेस सिलिंडर

Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

When Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière (the Lumière Brothers) showed their single-reel film at a Parisian cafe, the people fled thinking that the train will run over them.

When I read above sentence in an article recently, my first impulse was to laugh at the naivete of the audience - given that this is an era of 3D movies. But it was the first public exhibition of a motion picture so it is not hard to imagine the terror the audience must have felt.

If you want to watch this 50 second clip, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk

A Place Called Matheran

Recently I came across reference to a book - A Short History of Nearly Everything by author Bill Bryson.Sounded pretty interesting so I marked it for future reading. The internet, however, is such a wonderful thing that I found a .pdf version of it.

All, I need now is a wonderful rainy day :-)

Tired of the same old games? Try your hand at the Sifteo Cubes.

And here is one for all my friends:

I am not a pencil to write your happiness
But I will be a nice rubber to erase all your sadness

Who are the Talibans afraid of?

Who are the Talibans afraid of? A few days back, maybe different people would have given different answers. But I guess today, many people would say that they are afraid of a 14-year old girl. A girl who dared to speak against them. A girl who defied their orders to go to school. A girl who refused to back off. And so they decided to kill her.

Fortunately for us, they didn't succeed. Malala Yousafzai is alive and fighting for her life. I hope and pray that she wins this fight.

This reminds me of an Urdu couplet.

मेरी सोहबत मे भेजो ताकी इसका डर निकल जाये
बहोत सहमी हुई दरबारमे सच्चाई रहती है

Please send the Truth with me so it can lose its fear. It seems pretty terrorized these days.

I guess Malala is one person who is perfectly capable of looking after the Truth!

"Who would you say is your favorite leader?" someone from the interview panel had asked me during my B School interview a couple of years back. I was clueless. A couple of names popped into my head but honestly, I had never paid much attention to their lives except for the occasional news in the Business newspapers. ' I am afraid I don't have an answer' I said and prayed that this answer wouldn't be the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back. Turned out my fears were unfounded because eventually I received the letter of acceptance.

In due course MBA was over and I started working again. Over the course of years, I completely forgot about this question. Until I started watching 'Grey's Anatomy' that is. If someone were to ask me this question today, my answer would be 'Dr. Miranda Bailey'. 'Why?' you ask. Okay, here's why.

First of all, she is very good at what she does, in fact one of the best. Then the way she manages her team is a perfect blend of assertiveness, supposedly a masculine trait and nurturing, supposedly a feminine one. She is not open to suggestions when she decides who gets to work on which case. She demands discipline and obedience. She is strict and doesn't give much allowance to her team. But she waits by Christina's bedside when she is operated upon due to the complications in her pregnancy. And is the one to tell Dr. Shephard off in no uncertain terms when she senses that his constant attention will do more harm than good to Meredith after their rather public breakup.

She has a good sense of humor and is quick to respond with witty rejoinders. She has the guts to take on the The Chief whenever the situation demands. And she is perfectly capable to put the annoying relatives of a patient firmly in their place. And yet, all this comes wrapped up with the sensitivity and practicality that is so essential to becoming a good doctor and a good surgeon.

Oh yes, Dr. Miranda Bailey is my idea of a perfect leader. I must confess that I wasn't too fond of her when I started watching the show. She was a bit too high-handed for my taste. But as the show progressed, my opinion changed. I was disappointed when she went on leave following her pregnancy. But I am glad that she has come back - time for more leadership lessons I guess :-)

McDonald's is not my choice of destination when it comes to lunch or dinner. I feel that their vegetarian menu doesn't have a lot of choices. And the non-veg one contains too much chicken for my taste. But the rest of the group wanted to eat there so I decided to go along. Once there, I had to settle for McSpicy chicken.

I was almost through the meal when, suddenly, out of the blue, I remembered the Leviathans (from the show Supernatural) and their evil plan to turn the entire human race into fat stores of meat to feast upon at their will. Their choice of weapon? Specially manufactured burgers! Try as I might, I couldn't think of anything else. Whatever was left of the burger in front of me turned even more unappetizing. I had to make a Herculean effort to finish it off and I did so just because I don't like to waste food.

Whatever the reason, I am glad that I am weaned off at least one type of junk food :-) 

अर्ज किया है.....

एक उम्र के बिछडे का पता पूछ रहे हो

दो रोज यहाँ खूनके रिश्ते नहीं चलते

This one came in an SMS:

Barfi is the real story of every couple. 

A mute husband

A mad wife

and

A beautiful ex-girlfriend!

:-)

Portfolios of the poor

They say money should not be the sole motive in your life. But God knows we all have our days when we wish we could be earning more. :-( I was no exception to this rule till I came across a reference to http://portfoliosofthepoor.com/ in one of Monica Halan's articles. To say that it was an eye-opener would be the understatement of the century!

मराठी व्यंगचित्र - http://vyangchitra.blogspot.in/2012_09_01_archive.html

Been plagued with a writer's block recently? Check out the apps that could save the day for you - http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/ZNZWULnBZmesr6jNMsc4yM/The-right-approach-for-writing.html

The cab was waiting at the traffic signal for the last turn to office. Just I was fishing for my purse in the backpack, I noticed a woman in dirty clothes perched precariously in the narrow space next to the signal. She looked haggard and tired. Needless to say, there was a baby in her arms. I kept telling myself not to look at her because that would start me up on the usual internal debate – whether to give her some money or not. Paying means encouraging beggars but does not paying mean that the baby will not get any food? Even if I pay who is to know that the person who has made the woman beg won’t take it all way and still leave the baby hungry? Was the baby really hers or was brought on rent? I have wondered for long if I should keep any dry biscuits or some small eatables with me so I can hand over the same to these people instead of money. But from past experience I know that I end up eating all that. So that’s of no use.

I was suffering like this when suddenly the woman noticed me staring at her. In a moment, she stood up and came up to the window. I was dumbfounded. For lack of a better word, I would call it professionalism. She noticed an opportunity and didn’t waste a minute grabbing it.

This time I didn’t hesitate. I guess pity went flying out the window when I shook my head firmly, refusing to pay her. She moved to nearby cars. But as my cab started to turn, I couldn’t erase from my mind the look of utter exhaustion that she had on her face when I saw her leaning against the signal. That had been genuine.

So was I wrong in not giving her some money? Can life, for once, have answers for some questions?

I was glad that the AC bus had turned up after a long wait at the bus-stop. After getting the ticket, I was about to sit back and relax with my favorite Golden Era songs when I heard someone arguing very loudly with the conductor. A passenger had fished out a 500 Rs note for fare and the conductor was refusing to accept it. His argument was that he didn’t have any facility to check if it was a fake one so if he handed it over at the depot and they find that it is a fake, he will have to reimburse it from his own pocket. The passenger was arguing that since the conductor had accepted a 500 Rs note in the morning, he should not have any objection to accepting it in the evening.

The passenger said that he will travel without ticket since the conductor was not accepting the note. The conductor asked him to get down at the next stop. After arguing back and forth, the passenger got down at the next stop muttering that he would have been better off going by a rickshaw.

Just when I thought everything was quite, other passengers started arguing with the conductor. One lady who was occupying a seat in front of me started shouting in a loud voice that we should complain at the depot.

Frankly, I think the conductor was right. If he is made to pay from his own pocket for a fake note, he has a right not to accept 500 Rs notes. Other passengers were suggesting that he take down the name and address of passengers who hand over 500 Rs note. But who can verify that the address is right? Won’t the conductor then have to note down the number on the currency as well? And who will chase the person after it is discovered at the depot that the note given by the person is indeed fake. We can’t blame the depots for their practice because if they don’t enforce such rules, unscrupulous people can use this route to circulate fake currency. I guess the onus is on the passengers. If you are traveling by a bus, you have to have at least a Rs 100 note. I always do.

If you are thinking that I should have voiced my opinion there, you are right. I should have but I was worn down by a hard day’s work and waiting at the bus stop. I didn’t want to get drawn into arguments and I knew that the people wouldn’t have been receptive to any reasoning.

So yes, it was wrong on my part to let the conductor fight it out on his own.

That said, I wonder whether in our zeal to expect better service we are forgetting to be reasonable?

 This one came in an SMS:

Always give 100% at work.

12% on Monday
23% on Tuesday
40% on Wednesday
20% on Thursday

And

5% on Friday

Joy of Giving week

Check Sonali Kulkarni's Column in Viva

Can someone please tell me how these guys at Copper Chimney make that heavenly Mint Chutney? You heard me right! I am talking about Mint Chutney. Oh, that's easy, you might say. It's just a mixture of mint, coriander sprigs, green chilli & salt. Perhaps a bit of curd. Sure, that's what the cookbooks say. But I suspect that the chefs at Copper Chimney have some secret ingredient up their sleeve. The chutney was so creamy, fresh and tasty that I couldn't stop myself from munching on the raw onions dipped in it. I was almost full by the time the main course arrived.

And though the murg makhani and malai kofta were delicious I haven't been able to stop raving about the Mint Chutney.

They should bring out some vaccine for people like me who are getting addicted to Fox Crime :-) At first it was Criminal Minds. Now it is Las Vegas. Though I cannot catch any episodes during weekdays, last Saturday I managed to watch 3 of the 5 episodes that were shown back-to-back. Though I have been to the Sin City twice during my stay in the US, I never really took a liking to it. I must confess that the sheer cultural shock of watching rows and rows of old women playing the slot machines with drinks in their hands was partly responsible for it, it is equally true that I don't, as a rule, try my hand at anything that remotely involves Luck.

The show, however, opens your eyes to a whole new world that's hidden behind the glitz and glamor of the casinos. The dialogues are crisp and the characters are finely defined. I don't have any favorites as of now but Samantha could potentially turn out to be one. She is shrewd, fast and oh-so-practical. Delinda and Mary pale in comparison. As for the males, I am not partial to anyone - as of now. Nor do I see any possibility of favorites in near future.

So about that vaccine.....anyone? :-)

Komala's Thali

I am always game for Komala's Thali. Sambar, Avial, Rasam, 2 sabjis, chapatis, rice, raita, papad, pickle, buttermilk and a sweet dish - it's a veritable treat for anyone who is looking for a simple home-cooked meal. It's easy on the stomach, tasty and yet, very healthy (if you leave out the fried papad, mountain of rice and ghee-soaked chapatis!).

The last time I ate there, the thali came with a desert that I hadn't yet tasted - a kheer made of Chana Dal (Bengal Gram) and Sabudana (Sago), which, if the net is to be believed, is called SenegaPappu Saggubiyyam Payasam (I rather doubt it if I ever will be able to remember that!). I liked the dish so much that I Googled for it after coming home. I found a recipe at Sailu's Food.

I followed it faithfully except for the low fat milk. Since I don't believe in anything low fat, I substituted it with regular full fat milk. :-) The result was a tasty sweet concoction that's going to be my favorite for the lifetime!

I wasn't brought up in exactly Prince Sidhhartha style. But during my formative years my griefs and miseries were more or less similar to that of any upper middle class child of that time - pressure to perform well in academics, restrictions on what you can and cannot do, having to eat brinjals or cabbage for lunch/dinner etc. There was no concept of weekend trips to malls as there were no malls. A long trip was possible only during summer holidays and would be confined to maternal grandparents' place in Belgaum.All this meant that though I was aware of poverty I wasn't exposed to the stark realities of it.

Even when I started working, I don't remember paying much attention to the slums that occassionally came into view during daily travel. And you rarely think about something that you don't notice.

But these days, the story is different. During my daily travel by train or cab I seem to notice only the hardships and grind of human life. As the cab rattles along the many potholes that pass for city's roads, I cannot help but notice the shacks that are constructed haphazardly alongside, people lying on makeshift beds late in the morning, unattended children playing in dangerous proximity to a busy road and women taking care of daily chores in unimaginably tiny areas. Sometimes when I am coming home by train, I see some lady in her late 50s selling snacks in women's compartment. I wonder how she manages to get off one train and into another when all I can think of is going home as soon as possible and relaxing a bit. When I am done reading the newspaper I sit there watching my co-passengers and see women catching up on some missed sleep, some staring into space - their faces lined with tension and worry. Some are pouring their heart out to a friend - in person or on phone, usually it's about a husband or mother-in-law.

Is this all that is left in our lives, I wonder. And then I hear someone laugh. Maybe it's the same lady who was complaining about her in-laws a couple of minutes back. Now she is laughing as if there is no worry in the world.

As I look at her, I remember something and I fish out my cellphone. I once again read an SMS that a friend had sent a few days back:

If one day, we all are allowed to put our troubles on a table & exchange.....

For sure, after a few moments.....

Everyone would silently take his own & leave.......

अर्ज किया है......

करीब इतना रहो की रिश्तोमे प्यार रहे
दूरभी इतना रहो कें आनेका इंतजार रहे
रखो उम्मीद रिश्तोंकें दरमिया इतनी
कें तुटे उम्मीद मगर रिश्ता बर्करार रहे

तेरी महिमाकी छाया तले कालके रथका पहिया चले..........

गणपतीबाप्पा मोरया पुढल्या वर्षी लवकर या

This one came as an SMS:

Life has so many great options but you don't have to pick what seems to be the best.
Just pick what makes you happy and it will be the best.

Easier said than done, what say?

Handwritten Newspapers

Ever heard of a handwritten newspaper? I must confess that I hadn't till I came across Mr. Osama Manzar's article at http://origin-www.livemint.com/Opinion/XYRX4lhL7OsfX0tWZz8dSO/A-handwritten-paper-gets-a-voice-online.html. Even if you don't have time to go through the entire article, I would urge you to take a look at http://www.deendalit.in/. It's definitely worth a look and more.

Grey's Anatomy

I was addicted to 'Criminal Minds' (Mon-Fri, Fox Crime, 10pm) but it so happened that I had watched one of the episodes and so went channel surfing that day. I landed up at Star World which was airing Grey's Anatomy. I watched the episode and have been hooked to the program ever since.

Why, you ask? Well, there are 3 reasons! Dr. Shepherd!Dr. Shepherd!Dr. Shepherd! He is so handsome that he is practically edible. Of course, I haven't liked that he has gone back to his wife citing marital vows and ring. Didn't he know that he had a wife when he started dating Meredith? Sounds rather hypocritical, doesn't he? On top of it, he is not leaving her alone. What a jerk! But then you cannot be mad at such a handsome man for long, can you? ;-)

Jokes apart, this show has made me realize both - why I wanted to become a doctor and why didn't I become one. I wanted to become a doctor because the profession actually lets you make a difference somewhere, in someone's life. You are saving people's lives, relieving them of pain and suffering. What can be more noble than that? And yet, on the flip side, you are responsible for a human life. That's a huge responsibility. Plus there is dissection! That's what made me make a beeline for the Engineering college. :-)

So there IS a fourth reason why I watch Grey's Anatomy every night. Nope, it's not Dr. Shepherd again.. It's just that I love shows set against the backdrop of the medical world. It reminds me once again of what I could have been but didn't become.

It would have been like any other board that warns hawkers at the entrance of a building except that it had an odd message:

गाडियों का गेट से अन्दर-बाहर जाना सिर्फ मेम्बरोंके लिए

(Only members' cars can get in and out of the gate)

पैदल आना-जाना सिर्फ मेम्बरोंके लिए

(Only members can walk in and out of the gate)

The building in this case being a commercial one, I wonder if the customers are supposed to wing their way in and out of the gate :-)

Tintin @ Sony Pix, 16th September -12pm and 4pm

'You mean to say you haven't read Tintin?' my friend Karthik had asked in shocked disbelief. 'No' I said, puzzled, wondering what I had missed. 'How?' he was still in shock. 'I don't know. I guess because I have done my entire schooling from a vernacular medium school?' I ventured. 'Then you must read it now' he said plucking a book off a shelf of our B School library (I guess they were kept there for the benefit of the students' children') and thrusting it in my hands.

'What? Are you nuts? Why would I want to read it now? You can't always make up for all the things that you have lost out on doing in your childhood, you know'.

'Who told you that Tintin is meant to be read only by kids?'

My common sense did. In fact it was practically screaming in my ears. But Karthik sounded very confident. So I checked the book out and have been an ardent Tintin fan ever since.

In case you are one from this club, tune in to Sony Pix this Sunday (16th September) at 12pm and 4pm. It is going to air 'The Secret Of The Unicorn'. :-)

When I was in school, our favorite pastime during breaks and off periods used to be opening up the Indian Map, locating a tiny place somewhere and asking the other party to find it. There were, of course, no mobile phones then, so no games and no social networking sites. I still remember that ‘Jalpaiguri’ was one of the destinations that used to often come up because it was very hard to find. Maybe I will visit it once just to see what it actually looks like.
I must confess though that I had never wondered about who was responsible for making these maps. Turns out it is National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organization - NATMO.

Wonder what other organizations like these are quietly doing their job without the general population ever noticing it.

If it were not for Google’s Doogle, I would never have heard about Clara Schumann. In case, you are wondering who she is, read on.

‘IAF Pilot refuses to fly Rahul Gandhi’ screamed the headlines. When I came across them I was reminded of something that I had witnessed the evening before as I had stood waiting for the AC bus.

In the midst of the peak hour traffic, a police vehicle came into sight – its red light flashing incessantly. There were 3 cars closely following it. One of them had the tricolor on its bonnet. Another police van brought up the rear. The setting sun and tinted windows made it difficult to see who the occupants were. In any case, they zoomed along at a fast pace and were gone in seconds.

Just then a non-AC bus stopped at the nearby bus stop. It discharged a few passengers but not many boarded it. When it started pulling away, it was more than half empty. A guy carrying a heavy office bag came rushing along. He waved both his hands to stop the bus. I am sure the driver saw him but didn’t bother to stop. The guy ended up waiting at the bus stop for the next bus.

When I got into the bus, R.K. Laxman’s celebrated Common Man kept popping into my mind. I guess in India, the Common Man is becoming more Common day by day.

P.S. Why was Rahul Gandhi being flown by an IAF pilot? I thought IAF was responsible for country’s defense. But then I could be wrong because in this country only politicians are allowed to be right. Hats off to the IAF pilot for “standing his ground”!

Food for thought.....

Life can be stress-free and happier if we remember one simple thing.....

We cannot have all that we desire but time will give us all that we deserve

There is one thing that never fails to surprise me. No matter how comfortable our lives are, we almost always find something to gripe about. I was suffering through a hacking dry cough a couple of months back. I stuck to my decision of not taking any antibiotics for as long as I could before I gave in. They failed to cure it. Homeopathy was equally ineffective. A visit to a chest specialist resulted in the diagnosis that it was caused by pollution. The remedy was neither very expensive nor particularly inconvenient – a couple of pills and an inhaler for a few days. But that was enough to make me complain 'why me?'.

And today morning I read an article about VonHippel-Lindau syndrome. I read about how rare it is and how those who are afflicted with it are fighting back. The same newspaper carried another article about Mark Inglis who is living life to the fullest despite being a double leg amputee. I can't express in words how ashamed I felt of myself and my constant griping.

Funny thing called 'Life' always has a few lessons in Perspective tucked up its sleeve. Thank God for that!

I don't get it. Whichever way I look at it, I just plain don't get it. When the so-called 'law-makers' of this country can spend majority of the monsoon-session hours arguing with each other and coming to blows, then that's acceptable. That's not at all considered to be a mockery of the democratic system even if they are doing it at a time when the economy is floundering. But if someone decides to raise voice against corruption using cartoons then that's branded as an insult of national symbols? What in the hell is wrong with these people? They are worried about national symbols when each and every one of the states is plagued with one problem or another? They are worried about national symbols when the decisions that are for the good of the country are being delayed forever? They are worried about national symbols when the rich are getting richer and the poor are being pushed deeper into poverty?

There is a lot that is rotten in the state of India.

As part of my duties as the Delivery Head, I am present when candidates are being interviewed for the positions of a software developer. Though I come from a Java background, the company that I am working for currently has all development in .Net. That means I don't generally venture into technical questions except for basic OOPS stuff. And yet, surprisingly, I find that the candidates who claim to be very good developers are often at the deep end when it comes to the fundamentals. Some cannot give a whole picture of the project that they have worked on except for their own contribution. Some are clueless as to how the project is going to help the end client. And some are over-confident to the point of sounding arrogant.

Last week I dealt with one such developer who answered my questions as if he was doing me a favor by providing answers to the questions that I in my ignorance wasn't capable of finding on my own. And then, at the end of the interview, he had the cheek to ask me for feedback. I almost heard myself say 'You are very confident - because you gave even the wrong answers very confidently.'. But I held back out of sheer politeness.

Looking back, I think I need not have been so polite.

Recently came across a book review of "The myth and reality of office life". Must check it out one of these days....

'How much is it?' I asked as I checked the reading on the cab's electronic meter. 'दो सौ पैतालीस' said the cabbie. ' दो सौ पैतालीस? मतलब कितना'. I said in a puzzled tone. The driver looked at me as if I am from another planet. 'Is it two hundred fourty five or two hundred thirty five?' I asked again. Now it was his turn to get puzzled. Oh dear, 3 years of Hindi in school wasn't helping me here. ' दो सौ पैतालीस मतलब दो सौ पचास में पांच कम या पंधरा?' I asked in desperation. 'पांच मेडम' he said. I handed over the money and got down wondering if he was the illiterate one or I was.

It is not often that you come across a cab driver who is philosophical about life. Last week I ran into one. We were stuck in a traffic jam where I get stuck every day. He muttered something under his breath and then turned to me 'If everyone drives in straight line then there will be no jams'. I nodded. 'But who will tell them? If you try to, they will only shout at you and curse. Even educated people don't know how to behave with others'.

I folded the newspaper that I was reading. 'I don't think civility has anything to do with education. They don't teach you that in school or college. Now-a-days the kids spend more time away from the family so there's no teaching of basic values anywhere during their developing years.' Now it was his turn to nod. 'You are right. People don't know how to talk to their elders. They don't even know how to talk to their younger ones. It used to be so different in my time'. He said sadly.

I looked at him and wondered if I will say the same a few years down the lane.

जिंदगीसे आप जो भी बेहतरसे बेहतर ले सको ले लो
क्योंकी जिंदगी जब लेना शुरू करती है तो साँसेभी नहीं छोड़ती

(Forwarded)

It was the last signal before the office. I had almost finished reading the newspaper. That's why I was looking out of the window. A PUC van was parked at the curb and its door was ajar. The lone attendance inside was feeding a street dog some biscuits. I remembered my brother telling me that the digestive system of the animals gets disturbed if they are fed the biscuits that are meant for human consumption. But looking at the skinny dog, I rather doubted that he was getting much to eat otherwise. As I looked at him, an article from yesterday's newspaper came to mind. It was about the perennial issue of what to do with the stray dogs. When I read how a small child on his way to school was attacked by 3 stray dogs, I could think of no other solution other than putting down the dogs. But the dog near that PUC van looked very tame and harmless, rather forlorn. It would be cruel to put him to death. But then who knows? He might turn vicious and attack someone some day. It's a difficult choice like in many of the problems that continue to plague our nation :-(

A guy driving a scooter stopped near the PUC van – most probably to ask for directions, I thought. But as I kept watching, the PUC guy got down from his vehicle, went to the back and got a thin pipe out. Just then the signal changed to green and my cab pulled away so I could not see the rest of the process.

Must say that this is the very first time I have seen anyone use the service of the PUC van.

"The Supreme Court has upheld Kasab's death penalty" read my friend's SMS. I looked at the message and wondered whether to be happy or not. It's not that I have completely lost faith in the country's judicial system. But who knows what appeals and pleas – not to mention appeal for presidential clemency - his lawyers may come up with to keep him safe behind the bars for years to come. Come to think of it, I wouldn't even have rejoiced if the SMS had read 'Kasab to be hanged tomorrow'. The only message that can ever bring satisfaction and some sense that the justice has been served to those who died in the 26/11 attack and their relatives is 'Kasab was hanged today'.

Just wonder what happened to the old-fashioned Hindi movie tactic of the cops taking the criminal out of the prison on the pretext of transferring him somewhere and then shooting him in cold-blood because 'he was trying to escape'. I wish the real life would imitate reel life just this one time.

अर्ज किया है

दिलमे चाहत का होनाभी लाझमी है
वरना याद तो  दुश्मनभी रोज किया करते है

(Forwarded)

The Making of Khao Soi

It had been days since I had bought Thai Red Curry Paste from Godrej's Nature Basket. Every time I opened the fridge, the packet would remind me that I am yet to try my hand at making Khao Soi. Last Saturday night, I had made up my mind that it is either going to be tomorrow or never.

A search on the net brought up 3-4 recipes. I selected the one that had maximum match between the listed ingredients and the contents of my fridge – http://www.food.com/recipe/chiang-mai-curry-noodles-kao-soi-192829. I simply didn't have the time or the patience needed to buy anything extra.

So on the D-day morning, I faithfully followed the recipe to make the curry. But when it came to serving the dish, I added a few boiled noodles at the bottom of the bowl. Then ladled spoonfuls of the gravy onto it. To that I added chopped coriander, chopped mint leaves, fine powder of peanuts, thin slices of deep fried onions, finely chopped spring onions (green part), a sprinkling of red chilli flakes and finally fried noodles. And topped it off with few drops of lemon juice.

I am happy to say that the end result turned out to be surprisingly delicious. Maybe it was the beginner's luck! I will know for sure when I make it again - and again and again :-)

'These are bad times. You cannot trust anyone' we keep saying the same thing in our living rooms, our offices, trains and buses. Are we being too cautious? Too paranoid? Too afraid to call our existence 'living'? I used to wonder but then it changed yesterday evening.

I was paying off the rickshaw driver when I saw my bus pull away from the bus stop. There was no use running after it. A conductor who stops the bus upon noticing a harried commuter is an endangered species. It is safe to assume that you will never come across one. I made a half-hearted attempt at waiting for the next bus. A drizzle was all that it took for me to change my decision and make a beeline for the nearest cab.

I told the taxi driver my destination and he nodded. Just as I was getting into the cab, a girl standing nearby asked me if I was going to an area which was en-route. I obviously was. It was a split-second decision and hence something that was truly reflective of my state of mind. I thought for a moment and then blurted out that I have to pick someone up on my way. She nodded and stepped back. As I sped away I felt really bad.

I put the question to 2 of my female colleagues today. One of them did say that there was no harm in sharing ride with the girl. But when the other one shook her head saying 'we cannot trust anyone these days', the first one nodded too.

I just wonder if that girl believed what I said yesterday or did she figure out that I was afraid to trust anyone?

सुदामाने श्रीकृष्णसे कहा 'दोस्तीका असली "मतलब" क्या होता है?'

कृष्णने हंसकर कहा 'जहा "मतलब" होता है वहा दोस्ती कहा होती है?'

Reply to All - by Mr. Aakar Patel

I didn't notice the columnist's name at first. Then I came across the following sentence in reference to the Maratha king Shivaji and his army:

'One the day of Dussehra, the mounted horde set out in the direction pointed by their great king. Too often, alas, he pointed towards Surat.'

This made me look at the name at the top of the page - Aakar Patel. Oh, of course. 'That explains it' I said as I continued to read.

The columnist went on to write about how the Maratha army was not engaged in any warfare during the monsoon months. I quote:

'No woman, female slave or dancing-girl was allowed.' reported Sir Jadunath Sarkar.. The moralism of the peasant Maratha, like R.R. Patil, who has murdered Mumbai's beautiful and civilized dance bars, comes from a background.

Whoa, where did this totally unwarranted and absurd remark come from? Is it a cheap publicity stunt to rake up controversy by mentioning Shivaji's name ? And who in his right mind would label the dance bars 'beautiful and civilized'? If they are so, how would Mr. Patel feel if a woman from his family were to work there?

This one came in an SMS:

Shortest description of a married man - Ek Tha Tiger :-)

You haven't seen anything in India if you haven't seen a family of 4 zoom past on a scooter during peak hour traffic. I was going home after a particularly long day. Songs from the Golden Era were doing a great job of isolating me from the outside chaos. Just then this scooter zipped past my cab window – the dad was driving and the mom was sitting in the back (with both feet on one side) with a tiny tot balanced, in my opinion, very precariously, in her left hand. My heart leapt into my mouth with fear. What do the baby carriers cost these days? They start from INR 1500 onwards. And the price of your baby's life? Priceless!

If spending for a product that can be used for a limited time only is an issue, there is always market for second-hand items. For net savvy people, such buying and selling is just one click away with sites such as Quikr and OLX. For others, there is always someone in the neighborhood with a new arrival in their home.

I don't think they are being careless. Like most of us, they must just be thinking that accidents only happen to others. :-(

I used to be a fan of Chetan Bhagat. I have purchased 'Five Point Someone' and 'One Night At The Call Center' for my personal collection. Then I read 'The 3 Mistakes of My Life' and didn't like it. I didn't bother to read '2 States'. And thereafter kind of lost interest. Just the other day I read that he is coming out with a new book called 'Revolution 2020'.

A search on the net revealed that it's about a love triangle (aren't all novels about the same?) , corruption (a favorite teatime subject for us Indians) and self-discovery (huh?). So I guess I can safely give this one a miss as well.

BEST bus drivers are one of the most maligned lots in this city. But during my daily travel to and from office, I have seen them drive very carefully battling city's potholed roads, heavy traffic, and unruly pedestrians at the same. I am not saying there are no bad apples but the entire cart is surely not full of rotten fruits.

Take yesterday for instance. We were just one signal short of reaching the highway when I noticed a car parked right in the middle of the road. The driver had stepped out of the vehicle and was inspecting its front side. A rickshaw had stopped close by and its driver too joined the car owner. It did not take a genius to figure out that the car must have been practically tailgating the rickshaw and bumped against it when it stopped suddenly. As we watched, the rickshaw driver got into his vehicle and drove a little distance ahead while the car owner kept inspecting his car. Then he seemed to have changed his mind and dashed after the rickshaw. The signal ahead had gone green in the meantime and every car in sight was honking at its loudest.

But the owner was unperturbed. He came back to his car with the rickshaw driver and inspected it some more. The two of them discussed something. The rickshaw driver went away again. The driver dashed again after him.

The driver of our bus, who had earlier watched this whole drama unfold with great patience and some amusement now joined the chorus of honking. He turned to me 'Can you believe this guy? I have half a mind to bang his car and go ahead' he said with a smile. If he had done that, I wouldn't have blamed him.

With me so far? Okay, read on. The car owner, on coming back, showed no signs of moving his car out of the way and the bus driver, losing his cool, opened the automatic doors. That was the only way he would have been able to make himself heard. He shouted at the top of his lungs at the car owner to get his car to the side of the road. I guess that finally brought the jerk tearing out of his own private world consisting of him, his car and the rickshaw driver.

He got into his car and moved it to the side of the road. I am sure he must have gotten down again to inspect it. I wonder if the car was new or was the driver driving on Mumbai's streets for the first time.

Our bus got moving again but the signal had gone red. It was 5 minutes before it turned green again. And you know what 5 minutes mean in this mad city. Remember that song from 'Taxi No. 9211'? It says 'Yeh Mumbai hai....yaha time ka matlab hai paisa' :-)