A great cook is born....

She never entered the kitchen all her life… She didn’t find the necessity… And moreover her mom didn’t allow her to… She knew nothing about the specific constituents which went into her food… She couldn’t differentiate the different kind of dals, she found she was better off doing C programming... She was the object of ridicule of her friends, when it came to cooking.., and once when asked by them as to whats required to make something as basic as idlies, she replied - "just soaked rice", only to realize that even most of the guys knew that there was soaked dal which went along with it… :p


After she left home for bangalore, again there was no opportunity for her to cook… Amidst the hectic academic schedule, all that needed to be done was make a trip to the cafeteria for lunch and dinner.. But jus like any other amateur cook, she could boast that she could make maggi…

After quite some time, on her friends' birthday, to make the occasion special, she made payasam(kheer)... but there was nothing great about it, as it was a ready to make one… In the process, she didn’t know when the milk would boil overflow, and slightly burnt her fingers in the process..But it was really worth the effort, as it tasted pretty good and her friend loved it! :)

She was this confident female who thought that nothing was very difficult to achieve… So during one of the trips to chennai, she told her mom that she wants to learn to cook… Her mom was kind of shocked to hear that, but at the same time was glad that she had atleast given a thought to cooking..

She wanted to cook on her own.. She thought she will take her mom's guidance whenever necessary.. She gave a "here-i-come" look as she entered the kitchen, knowing that she would master the art.. And if she had even a small part of her mom's genes, she would do a wonderful job…

Her cousin gave her a call.. He said he would come home to see her, as it was real long time since they met up… She invited him for dinner and said that she would be cooking… He said he was reconsidering his plan of coming home, then… ;)

She commenced...opened the cook boook… scanned it to see as to what she would cook… decided on 'peas pulav' …Methodically cut all the vegetables required, occasionally getting instructions from mom as to how to cut, with which knife etc…Then she followed the instruction from the book perfectly, and started making the dish… Her pre-conceived notion of kitchen work being tiresome and sweaty was proved wrong.. She moved around with sophistication and confidence and did things as if she was an expert..

Towards the end of the process, the aroma of the peas pulav made her feel on top of the world.. Her first creation.. She was desperately waiting to taste it… And as it cooled a bit, she made onion raitha to go along with it… Then she tasted her masterpiece.. Wow! It was amazingly tasty ! :) She thought she could give the peas pulav at 'Gramin' a run for its money.. :D Here it is….




(You cud click on the pic to enlarge... :D)

She couldn’t stop talking about how good it was.. Everyone at home, including her cousin tasted it, and said that it was nothing short of amazing and it had exceeded expectations, and the entire thing was finished off in no time… But they still wonder as to how, this person, who has never entered the kitchen, managed such a good job…! She never failed to take a pic of her maiden attempt.. When her friends, who didn’t get an opportunity to taste it, saw the pic, questions like -"Pic looks nice, but who knows who cooked it? " and "Whats the guarantee that it tasted as good as it looks" kind of questions… But at the end of it all…

A great cook is born… All the Mallika badrinaths and Sanjeev Kapoors… watch out… :D


Psst... The 'she' referred to all this while is none other than ME (if you havent realized...)!! :D

The Demonizing Cold (acchoooo… Excuse me..)!

Whats life without cold! It has become an integral part part of my life that if I DON'T catch a cold atleast two times a week, it means something is terribly wrong with me and I need to consult a doctor… Thanks to my classical music classes and my guru, for the major part of my life, I had abstained from cold stuff…And now, all of a sudden in the last few years, if I expect my body to put up a brave fight against the virus… poor thing, its helpless…


Last couple of years came the usual hanging out with friends, hundreds of coffee day trips and ice cream parlours etc.. And after each of these events, it could be proclaimed beyond doubt that I will land up coughing and sneezing, the next day… And Cetrizine came to my rescue most of the time… Pop one cetrizine and the cold is gone..! Though I claim that I don’t take alcohol...the quantity of Benadryl(cough syrup which contains alcoholic content too...) consumed in my life time is enough to send any big time boozer to a dizzy state… well… that’s an exaggeration.. :)

My mom always prefers natural stuff to allopathy… hence thanks to my grandma and mom, I have been fed with enough shoots, barks and leaves… well now that I am well equipped to handle these situations...I can survive without any hassle even if I am stranded in a forest..!! The traditional 'kashaayam' which my grandma makes is very effective.. But its kinda bitter and hence she adds lots of sugar to it and somehow used to make me drink it 3 times a day! And her statement- 'All that is good for the tastebuds is not good for health' is so true most of the times..All our pizzas, bhel puri's icecreams etc… But comeon… we don’t belong to mountain community to eat such stuff all the time… I can hear people say.. "Prevention is better than cure" .. but it jus doesnt happen that way always.. does it.. missing all the fun in life.. so its better to search for a cure, in this case.. ;)

Even when I came to bangalore, I was so worried as to what would substitue all the pampering I was subjected to… And along with my luggage, mom (advised my grandma) packed 6 - 8 medium sized boxes, containing stuff ranging from pepper(which is known to control cough.. Believe me..its so effective..!! ), panan kalkandu (which is also an effective remedy for cold..) , turmeric (which I have always had with milk, which is supposed to be good for the throat.. Especially when it comes to singing..)and lots of other things which I don’t even remember the names of… Since my fav 'Cetrizine' has come under the banned drug category(the papers say...) it is the godsend 'Samahan' which is what I majorly consume nowadays..(Its some ayurvedic powder which contains an extract of 14 herbs which can be added to water/milk and consumed… that’s whats written on the packet!! ) Pretty effective…

And to put an end to this by boosting my immunity level to cold, I decided to take homeopathy medicines(for 5 months..), which is kind of permanent cure..But the major headache being that there are different 'powders' and sugar balls to be taken religiously 6 times in a day! :-O …(early morning, before going to bed, half hour before lunch and after lunch… half hour before dinner and after dinner..!)
Give me a break! I thought initially.. Sometimes I even forget to have my lunch/dinner.. Then comes this half an hour before and after thingie.. But to gain something, u need to sacrifice something else.. In this case sacrifice my irresponsible behaviour and have meds on time! Well.. Reminders in phone work pretty well.. ;)

Lifes a lot better now, and strong piscean intuitions tell me that permanent freedom is jus a few months away.. :)

Ode to my phone....

As I sit on my bed, wondering what I should pen down, before I sleep, I look at my new phone which lies next to me. Me went back in memory lane.. was reminded of my old phone...that was a really really special thing...
It entered my life on the 29th of May 2003, when I was just preparing to leave for Bangalore, going away from home for the first time.. It was a Nokia 3315! Nowadays, these old/obselete models are looked at with a lot of contempt that no one would even like to accept it for free as their second phone(except for people who still own it before they change.. ). But at that time it was real special! And moreover it was extra special as I had got it with a part of my engineering scholarship money.! Took a hutch connection at that time, and still faithful to the same number and connection!

My phone was such a darling thing to me that I couldnt even imagine spending an hour without it. The time when local smss were free in Hutch, for almost a year's time, my phone was subjected to brutal torture and Nazi treatment I should say, with 'hi' 's to even the next room exchanged strictly through sms only! And the hundreds of hours spent talking over the phone, Poor thing.. it had to put up with all that..
How many times has it faithfully woken me up during exam times and forgiven me and kept snoozing every ten minutes even if i hit it in anger when the alarm i had set in it, rung...
How many times I had choked its memory with messages and finally had to make tough decisions as to which special message can I afford to delete...
How I had to subject it to double work whenever I had sent messages, by asking for delivery reports..
How many times I cause pain to it by pressing its keys, and it gives me nice little characters in return,,,
How many times I had made it reset its Total Call Duration value, as it ran out of digits..How many times I had tried my hand at composing awful tunes that it had to bear with...
How many birthday's has it promptly reminded me of, making so many of my friends feel special.. One thing I have never exploited my phone with, is, by playing games.. vaguely remember seeing something like Bantumi and Snakes or something.. :)
Cannot forget as to how its calculator helped me in the finance exam, when I forgot to take one on that day...(Ok.. ok.. i can hear people say "For gods sake, ANY phone is supposed to do all this..but still... my phone is special...) :D
I loved my phone..I adored it.. Ask anyone associated with me as to how proud I was to own that instrument,..even after the keypad showed signs of ageing, and could work properly only after excess pressure application...
I liked it even when the down arrow used to make the screen scroll upwards, and thus me having to read every multiple screen message in the reverse way( scroll 5. 4. 3. 2. read 1st page.... then scroll 5.4.3. read 2nd page etc... ) ...
I loved it even when a vowel key didnt work and i had to kindle the usage of brain for guessing, in those people who were reading my messages. I refused to part with it even as my friends begged me to change it, as they felt that it might land up in some museum... Then one day when it had dutifully reminded me of my cousin's birthday at 12, and i tried to call her, the main 'CALL' button simply refused to work, and I was for the first time kind of irritated and spent almost 10 minutes trying to press keys properly..
Then with no option left, I removed the outercase and the keypad cover, and pressed the key directly..Ah.. it worked beatifully..By now it was looking like a hero of an AI movie,hmm.. more like an Intel chipset... and still looked fundu to me.. :D And then used it for a few days like that..
I changed its case.. then... Friend: "Oh good! So you finally changed the phone.. ?Good Good :) "
Me(with a big grin...) "No.. No..jus the case.." Friend: "Oh No.. you are incorrigible..!"
But then,slowly, the ageing factor played a major part,with the battery.. So finally I took THAT decision.. The decision to give my dear thing away..
I let 29th of May 2005 pass as it as it celebrated its 2nd birthday with me.... And on the 30th I went to the Nokia dealer to get it exchanged... People passed comments like "If you want to exchange this phone, then you might end up paying him excess for him to have this phone.." or "Its an antique piece, so it might fetch a lot of money! "
But even as it left me, it did so much of good.. The dealer checked the phone, he wanted to check the volume of the phone and played a few ringtones.
It sang clear and real loud with all its glory....It never let me down... He was impressed..
Then he asked me whether the battery when charged would last for 2-3 days.. I replied with a confident "Ya.. Ya.." and thought to myself about its actual state where it would last for 5-6 hours if I charge it the whole night! He said he will exchange it for 1000 bucks! Whoa... That was real good!
My phone surely deserves it, I thought.. Comeon.. any hardworker deserves recognition... :D My friends were shocked to hear the news.. Till date they wonder as to how the hell the dealer gave a 1000 whole bucks for my phone!! :D Well... my reply .. "I told you.. my phone is the best....You never believed when I said that.." :)
Bottomline....I love my phone...! :D :-*

From BTM to E-City

Had to travel from my place at BTM, to electronics city, where I had to go and get my "no dues" done ( an essential part of college life when leaving..)
Events in a nutshell….
-> only one particular bus could take us to e-city.. 373!
-> waited for sometime in the signal, greedily hoping to get the bus there,instead of walking to the bus stop (I can hear some of my friends say "Anniyan avadharithu vittan…! :D)
-> Hundreds of Infosys buses pass by…...
-> not even a single 373 is seen…


-> frustrated, I suggest that we take a bus which will drop us at Bommanahalli and take a connecting bus from there…
-> bus crowded, moves inch by inch… takes 20-25 whole minutes to reach silk board(distance of 1 km)
-> jus when u think the bus has started to move, it stops..!!
-> god has indeed blessed BMTC bus drivers with a lot of patience..! Else they wud all be at NIMHANS by now.. ( for those who don’t know, nimhans is the bangalore eqiuvalent of namma kilpauk!! )
-> I put on my earphones...to add to the irritation, radio city plays "god-knows-from-where-the-got-this-song" kind of music!
-> I pull them out, and decide to resume after sometime for some better music..
-> Since I had so much time n nothing to do, I even ragged the conductor as to why he gave me an Rs 8 ticket when it’s a Rs 6 ticket generally… he also needed some time pass I guess, and gave me lengthy lengthy explanations… (half of which I couldn’t understand..) and finally said.. "rise in the price of ticket due to petrol price rise , madam! " I didn’t want to drag it beyond that… I kept quiet...
-> We get down at bommanahalli, we wait at the signal there for a connecting bus, and we see half the bangalore junta waiting for the bus at the signal only… !!
-> Scores of infy buses pass by, packed with employees… and they are promptly stopped at the signal and by the traffic police standing there….
->Infy employees looking out of the window, and giving "poor-things!-they-look-lost" kind of looks!!
-> And finally when one BMTC which is capable of carrying normal population appears after almost 5 whole minutes, the police guy waves and asks the bus to not stop at the signal, but proceed…
-> Now we are totally pissed off !!!
-> This "infy-bus-stopped" and "bus-which-we need-not-being-stopped" process repeated 2 times, ..
-> We couldn’t stand the stink of the place..
-> Vouched that we should never attempt something like this again…
-> Not left with much option, finally decided to board the much hated private bus...
-> It welcomed us with some really really jarring telugu songs… which made my blood reach boiling temperature...
-> switched on radio city again, hoping to find something decent now…
-> reverted back to the telugu music in a few seconds…hmm...so u can understand…
-> decided not to be affected by this, and looked out of the window, and conciously diverted my thoughts to nicer things in life.. :)
-> didn’t know what happened around me, till my friend who was sitting 2 seats away from me, told me that we were supposed to get down….
-> My friend, (who has her office at e-city) had a pathetic nauseating feeling after getting down.. and I tell her.. -"Whatever it is.. Please ensure that you don’t miss your office cab! "
Whooooo….What a journey that was…. ( knowing that it was a part of life for thousands of software professionals, travellin to office everyday, held up badly, by the bangalore traffic...)

Guess however miserable things turn out to be, how to manage to get out of it, is all in the mind….

New House Adventures!!!

Finally, my friend and me packed our bags, bid byebye to our good old hostel, and headed for our house! Packed our bags is a total understatement I should say! We had to make two trips from hostel to house in Sumos..
We totally underested our luggage, thinking that it would be 'a few suitcases and bags' And we ended up having atleast 23-25 huge polythene bags EACH apart from the suitcases !!! We were puffing and panting by the time we loaded all the stuff in the car!

We were greeted by strange glances, as we entered our street and started unloading our stuff! People would have been wondering whether a whole khandan was moving into that house, seeing our luggage! My friend and me still wonder as to how we managed to accumulate stuff of such magnitude, in 2 years time!
Since our house is on the 2nd floor, with strange feelings of back aches and dizziness, we some managed to get all the bags inside the house, We were almost dead by that time!

Well... thats a pic of our house! the second floor... :D

It was a total surprise to my parents, when I told them about my hardwork.. They were shocked to hear that their daughter
managed to do so much work here, when she wudnt even move a finger at home… ;) This is probably the only
darker side of an independent life u see… :D
Well.. Getting back….
That night, we cleared up some sleeping space in the bedroom, neatly spread the new mattresses/cushions we had bought
and slept! Didn’t have the energy to unpack the things…
After a good night's sleep, the next morning, started a lot of trouble!
Me: "Hey, do u remember the bag where I had packed my brush and paste? Hmm….Not able to find it yaar"
She: "Hey comeon... I don’t even remember where I kept MINE!.."
We ended up searching for almost 45 minutes, applying various techniques of logical reasoning as to where we could have
kept it.. And finally! Managed to find it… Both of us extremely happy, now..
In 2 hours, we ended up carrying out exhaustive search for every damn thing, right from a comb to 'which-suitcase-has-this-ironed
-kurta' and … The worst part was that we hadnt got a mirror in the house, and I didn’t realize that I went to office wearing one earring
And forgot the other…!!!! Heights!
We realized that we should, clear up things as soon as possible, and we simply cant continue at this rate!
In the evening, both of us took a walk to the shops near our house…we had a made a list of things which we should be buying
for the house, right from broom, dustbin, odonil, mat etc.. We came back like victorious people after a war, carrying all those things,
Once in a while exchanging "look-how-responsible-we-are" kind of looks! :D
After retiring to bed, we made a list of our expenditure for the house right from beginning…had our laptops open,
New-> Microsoft Excel Worksheet .. (afterall... the habit doesn’t leave you!)
I made the entries…
Then becoz of pazhakka dosham,
my friend says: "Mail kar de yaar! "
Me: "Okies! "
(Then we exchange shocked looks! And then smile...)
"No wi-fi from now on..!!! " (In chorous) :( :(
Both of us jokingly… "Kitne backward area mein ghar liya hai yaar hamne… wireless bhi nahin hai..." and we laugh..
"chalo IR se kar…."
Welcoming ourselves to the non IIITB world!.....

Brokers - how smart they are! And how they try to fool you!

Searching for a house and finalizing it is not the end of story, we had a real novel experience with our broker. When you think back at the conversations and analyse every statement he makes, you understand that there is a lot more 'business' involved in it, they are not from the whartons, harvards or the IIMs, but they sure know how to make money! ( that too totally non-taxable :(
We searched for quite a few houses before we met this guy who found the perfect house for us.
Starts the conversation after hearing our requirements by saying..

B : Which place are you from madam.. Native..
Me: Chennai

B: oh tamil a? naanum tamil nadu dhaan madam..(and starts speaking fluently in tamil, my friend who doesn’t make out a single line is standing next to me fed up!)

Now here, point to be noted is as soon as we hear someone speaking in our mother tongue, theres this feel good factor which automatically surfaces…and he says..

B: neengalum tamil a irukkarudhunaala, brokerage la oru 500 rs kammi pannikalaam madam…namma ooru kaarangalukku seyyama vera yaarukku
And you stand there, extremely happy, with a feeling that you have made the accomplishment of your life!
( Realizations will happen later… but at that time, he hits the chord with you…)

Now he sees that my friend there is bugged… he turns to her and says..
B: Madam, you are from which place.?
My friend: Kanpur …

B: Oh hindi.. I know hindi very well madam… meine north bahut travel kiya hai… aap chinta math keejiye..bahut acha ghar mil jaayega…main hoon na..
(me thinking: Aaaaah … statement a?? )

Phew! Now he's managed to get her confidence also…
So both of us are happy, he manages to show us a real good house, we loved it!

Lesson one: Once the broker manages to show you a house you like, start talking with the owner directly about all payment related matters…
They will promise you the moon and the stars to get their brokerage….
Our experience…(even when the owner was present in the vicinity...)
Me: We can give only half the advance amount initially , as it has to get processed in our offices…
B : That’s no problem at all madam…..
Me: We'll give a post dated cheque for the remaining amount…
Broker murmurs something in kannada to the owner… he too nods his head.. So we think that things are fine with him too…

On the day of payment….(broker hadnt arrived...)
When we hand over half the amount, owner asks for the remaining also..
We: The broker told us you are ok with a post dated cheque..!!!!
Owner: He told me that you people will give it when you shift...
We: Oh no.. We told him clearly and he said you were ok with it…
The owner being pretty well educated and nice agreed that we could give it a little late...

All of us together: Let that guy come.. We wont spare him today….
The hero arrives… all of us pounce on him…
B: madam, I only said that you can give him a cheque for the remaining advance..
We: What the hell !! We explained the whole damn situation of processing in office, delay etc….
B: No madam, probably u misunderstood… our owner is a very nice person…
Turns to the owner…
B:Sir, they have to get the thing processed, so they'll give it asap…

Me: We've all sorted it out, and since you caused the confusion, your brokerage will be a post dated cheque only, as we don’t have money now…
Keeps quiet… and says..
B: Ok madam.. Please give it in one week madam..

After a week….
We give him Rs 500 less than the actual amount…
B: What madam 500 less….
Me: Ennanga… namba oor kaarangalukku idhu kooda pannalena enna….
B: (grins) No madam.. We have to pay taxes.. But ok.. Thanks madam….
Me: Get us the receipt for this, we have to give it in office(for some other processing required at my friends office)
B: ok madam.. Tomorrow morning sure madam…

Morning we see a cover on our door.. Contained a receipt…
Receipt was a print out on an A4 sheet… received rs--- from --- towards brokerage… and his signature and name below it…

We got furious.. Gave him a call…
Me: Sir, what sort of a receipt is this? How will they accept it in office..no bill number, no letter head of your real estate, nothing….Even I can take a printout and put my signature and give….
B: What madam, this is what we generally give to others also madam.. In that paper, can u see my signature there? That’s what is important madam, I have signed there, that’s the proof madam..

I have mixed feelings… I am irritated, at the same time its comical….

Me: Sir, onga signature enna RBI governer signature a sir? Ellarukittayum oru copy avanga purse la irukkum and avanga verify pannuvaanga nu…. Even if he signs it has to be on a revenue stamp sir, engalukku onnume theriyaadhu nu nenaichingala..…Freeya vidunga… I cant take more….
And I hung up...

How hitting emotional aspect can make you succumb… i learnt lessons to look at things with a small percentage of suspicion…
Nice experience though…..
:)

Resuming...

Me decided to move my blog from the active to the passive state, thanks to a friend who made me think about it again, when i had almost forgotten about my blog...