All Izz Well

Want to be a part of an outbreak of laughter this holiday time? "3 idiots" is the movie to watch. I got to see it yesterday. The movie is hilarious. Aamir Khan has proved it yet again, every year mostly near the end of the year, he gives the best movie of the year (atleast according to my standards). The whole team has done a fantastic job. A movie with a message to the Indian Education system and the psychology of students and parents. With descent music, and brilliant performances by all the characters, the movie is a must watch..So Enjoy!

Anonymous

Memories of the past strike the soul,
like the waves hitting the sea shore,
Relentless, powerful, sweet and sour.

They make the heart weigh pounds of flesh,
lugging someone who fails to refresh,
of reasons unknown, of things unsaid.

Still life goes on every day,
nothing matters, you cry or pray,
things you hide or you say.

Past is dead, future is away,
where is the hope, where is the ray,
of enduring belief that wont sway.

Stress buster

How could i forget my favorite remedy to get instant relief from stress. Its none other than music, music, music. Maybe writing it thrice will not let me forget next time. I do listen to music everyday, while commuting in the car. But sometimes all you need to get out of the stern grip of stress is just a particular frequency. It acts like a mask, blocking all the stress and making the mind crisp and clear...
So enjoy this ubiquitous stress remedy next time when you need it :-)

Evening snacks at work

I think evening is one of the deadliest times when people get hunger pangs. I certainly noticed this trend in my group at work. I see folks taking nibbles of different snacks, junk food like cookies, chips, crackers etc & gobbling them down to get a quick relief from hunger. I am also a part of the evening junk eaters at work. After a moderately sized lunch at noon, its natural to feel hungry in the evening. Also, we tend to stay at work till late evening like 7:30 or 8 pm, which makes the gap between lunch and dinner too long & irresistible. So, i am attempting to create a list of the options for snacks that can be had at work without consuming monstrous calories, do add to it if you have ideas:

1. Fruits: the most convenient & healthy option.Bananas, oranges, melons or any other seasonal fruits can provide some calories to get you through the day.
2. Sprout Salad: Rich in Iron and protein, toss any sprouted legumes with some spices, tomatoes, cucumbers, walnuts & lemon juice.
3. Rawa Idlis: Extremely simple to make in a microwave, just takes a few minutes and is also a healthy option.
4. Sandwich: Tomato & cheese sandwich is easy to carry from home, ofcourse if you don't mind a few extra calories from cheese.
5. Bhel Puri: Easy to concoct, just add the chutneys before eating else it will be too soggy.
6. Baby carrots tossed in spices and lemon juice.
7. Yogurt snacks: Here you can have a fruit flavored yogurt or yogurt mixed with some spices, cucumbers and cilantro.
8. Oatmeal: Last but not the least, might not be the most palatable for some of us but it does a god job of filling you up.
Got more ideas to add to my versatile list?

Common English usage goofs

I goofed up and got tricked on some of the following items. I believe some of these are common goof up spots for many of us , so listing them below. Hope you find them interesting and learn something out of them:
1. Traveller is British english whereas traveler is American english. Both are correct spellings.
2. Tonight is the coming night, however tonite is an explosive compound !
3. In US english practice is used either as a verb or as a noun. However in British english practice is a noun and practise is a verb. My google editor doesnt even recognize practise while i am typing right now, it marks it with a red underline.
4. Both flower and flour are pronounced the same way.
5. Jewelry is US english whereas jewellery is British english. All my life i have been spelling it as jewellery , when i came across jewelry it was unbelievable!
6.license- yes thats how its spelled not lisence.

Chocolaty San Francisco

It was a nice day out with my roomate R in San Francisco, walking along Embarcadero from Ferry building to Fisherman's Wharf, all the way till Ghirardelli Square. Along the way i saw plenty of interesting things ranging from Chocolate/Candy shops to T-shirts, breads and what not! Here is some for you to Enjoy..

Some nice soups

Came across this,
http://soupblizzard.blogspot.com/
Perfect weather for having a hot cup of soup..

Its My Life...

Reminds you of Bon Jovi? Here you go, fantastic lyrics from a fantastic band,


This ain't a song for the brokenhearted
No silent prayer for the faith departed
And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life

This is for the ones who stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks

It's my life
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life

You better stand tall
When they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break
Baby, don't back down

It's my life
It's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life!

A road trip to remember

Me and my best friend M decided impromptu to drive to Utah over the weekend. We packed our bags and left on Friday, driving 700 miles through California, Nevada, Arizona and into Utah. Friday went off in just driving, and we reached Hurricane at 10 in the night. My main job on the trip was to be the DJ and keep the driver awake, i think i did a pretty good job of navigating considering i slept only half an hour over the whole drive :-).
Saturday morning we drove through the beautiful red canyon state to Zion. We hiked up Angels Landing, which truly stands for its name, a place where Angels land. It took us 2 hrs to reach Scouts Point which stands tall 1100 feet over the canyon floor. While hiking we saw some Fall colors in the Canyon along the Virgin River. The views were fantastic from this trail. From Scout's point, we could see the gigantic Canyon carved by the assiduous Virgin River. The skies were clear, and there was mild fragrant breeze, perfect heaven. From Scouts , i attempted to go 0.4 miles up to reach the end point of the trail. However, there were unprotected vertical dropoffs, i could just go 0.1 mile up from there when i was almost trembling from the treacherous cliff 10 feet long and 3 feet wide with 1000 feet drop on both sides, and just chains to hang on to. I had to retreat from there :-(. Still, the views were completely phenomenal from Scouts, and we headed back down.
From Zion, we drove to Vegas and spent the night there. Wynn had an exceptional buffet, and we walked on the strip for a while before crashing after a long and exhaustive day. Sunday morning, we went and strolled inside Stratosphere, before heading back home. I-15 became one of my favorite highways after CA-97 on Crater Lake trip. I-15 meanders through the canyons in Utah, then the rocky Arizona , followed by the deserts in Nevada. It felt like paradise driving through this beautiful road.
Overall a weekend well spent in nice company , with nice food and in beautiful places.

The play of weather

The weather started transforming a week or so back. From bright sunny, hot days to foggy mornings, tender sunlight in the afternoon and chilly evenings. With the weather changing, i feel a whole new potpourri of feelings, energy and emotions storming my mind and heart. I must say, i do enjoy this bittersweet change in the weather of my mind & soul. As its a bittersweet feeling, i have things I love and hate about this beautiful Fall, because it refreshes a lot of beautiful & uneasy memories from the past.
I love this weather as it reminds me of the foggy Delhi mornings, and warm afternoons, when me and my mom would amble down to the market. Me and my brother M would sit on the rooftop while Mom would get a colorful plate of winter Salad to relish.
I love the sip of hot steaming ginger tea complemented with Pakoras on a rainy day, and just watching television adds with M. It reminds me how far I am from home and my family, and makes me nostalgic. The falling of leaves bring the memories of the flying cotton meshes from the huge cotton tree in my school. Not just Delhi, this weather also brings another place very close to my heart, alive in my mind. It takes me to the chilly dull evenings when i used to walk on Monroe Street to the campus. And the weekends, spent in the Library, looking out of the window of Wendt while studying. Ofcourse, the basement lab , where each semester was a different project and thus a different memory.
I can write infinite words about the past, but in a nutshell, just go out and let the weather do its play on you. It will take you across a huge ocean of bittersweet feelings, if you leave your senses open and offer your mind and heart as an empty slate.

Journey

Me and Madhubala set off on a long journey on Saturday early morning. It was still dark when we left the house. I saw the most beautiful shade of blue between the San Jose hills on 680N. It was the blue before the sunrise, mild and soothing. The drive was through some very beautiful places. The tiny dunes covered by luminous brown grass on both sides of the highway was followed by the green Shasta County. There was the blue Shasta lake, tall pine trees and the gigantic Shasta mountain. Shasta peak is so fascinating that i could have spent hours just staring at it in awe. Highway 97 goes all around the Shasta exposing 180 degrees view of the mountain. As soon as i crossed into Oregon, i was welcomed by the huge Klamath Lake along the highway. The view was simply breathtaking. After a long but exciting drive of over 8 hours i reached my final destination, Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake was formed several thousand years ago when Mount Mazma collapsed after a volcanic eruption, into a crater. Over years, rainwater, melted snow accumulated in this crater, forming the deepest lake in United States, Crater Lake. I was stunned by the "bluishness" of the lake. A 33 mile rim drive that goes around the lake shows you the lake from every angle. I did the rim drive and was patiently waiting for the Sunset at Watchman Point that overlooks the Wizard Island , when black clouds gradually started flooding the sky. I had to drive another one hour from there to get to Prospect where i was staying for the night.
I had a spooky experience at the hotel restaurant where i was the only person by myself, and either i was over conscious or many people were really looking at me strangely. I had the most delicious hot chocolate and the most distasteful salad in dinner which happened to be the only vegetarian item on the menu.
Next morning, i got up and drove to the lake to see the sunrise from the crater lake lodge, and did the rim drive loop one more time through moist woods, fragrant air, and splendid views of the lake. The return drive was equally beautiful, although i was quite tired as it was a long 500 mile drive back home. But overall a great experience, and a nice time to just go and explore a place on my own. For those of you who are wondering about Madhubala, that happens to be the means to go on the road, the car :-)

Idle Saturday Morning

Most of the past weekends, I have been upto something. Usually something outdoors on atleast one of the days. The previous one being a long weekend was fun with some hikes, food and sightseeing. But time just flies! Before i know it would be the end of 2009 and time to wish happy new year 2010. Last night was a relaxed Friday night by myself, i read for a while and then caught a flick on Netflix. Sometimes doing things without any aim, hurry or plan is kind of fun, although i am not used to it. How much ever we plan and try to squeeze out of life on a day to day basis, life is so dynamic, keeps running out of our hands.. That is what is beautiful about life, each moment of it forming memories....Don't you agree? This reminds me something i came across in the novel i was reading last night, definitely worth a mention and a moment to ponder over, some food for thought:

"In order for the true energy of love and life to penetrate your soul, your soul must be as if you had just been born. You should not try to imprison that energy. Its difficult to do because that energy gets blocked by all kinds of things: commitments, children, social situation..."

Mango Week

I bought 2 large mangoes on Sunday, a colleague at work gave me another bigger one to try the next day. To finish these 3 ripe mangoes, i have been celebrating a personal mango festival this week. Any cooking that i did this week has revolved around the mangoes. Mango Raita, mango rice, mango dessert. However, i still maintain my stand on the best mangoes in the world , Ofcourse none other than our Indian Alphonsos. They are out of this world!
P.S. any mango dish (which is not a dessert) tastes delicious with mango, tomato & red chili combination. Like mango rice, mango raita, mango curry.

His melodies continue to captivate

His melodies are as if the lark singing. They can fill the driest hearts with romance. Even decades after inception, they are as fresh as the first rain. They enchant you immensely and no language is needed to comprehend them. These protean and beautiful compositions continue to drown many even today. Any words in his praise are just not enough, he is none other than the legend himself, Mr. R.D. Burman.
Reward yourself by listening to any of his all time hits:
http://www.rhapsody.com/rd-burman/unforgettable-melodies-hits-of-rd-burman

Things worth fighting for

All over the world, countries, communities, organizations, cults and people are fighting for issues ranging from Nuclear Weapons, piece of land, religious beliefs, wealth, power and the list goes on. Most of these issues might look petty when we see some of the extreme situations prevailing in the world in different regions. For instance, the penury which peaks in parts of Africa and Asia, the intolerance in many countries where innocent people are murdered for not following the conservative beliefs, the violation of human rights to an extent that can appall even the toughest men, children not being educated or being misled at an age when they are incapable of deliberating right and wrong, people dying because of the lack of medical facilities and basic hygiene. Some of the things really worth fighting for and history has remarkable examples for these:
-Freedom: Every human is born with this right, although not all of them live it. Some are unfortunate to be born in territories where due to the political or civil conditions they are denied this right.
-Education: Nothing more to say about this, education promotes rationality and survival in the world.
-Live without fear: Every human should be able to live without fear from another human or group, irrespective of his religious , traditional, scientific beliefs.

Its a shame that not every person living on this planet gets to enjoy these basic rights, and we are quite fortunate to be born or living at a place where we are enjoying much more than these basic rights.
-

Why

Air France plane crashed into the Atlantic killing 228 people. Sudden astronomical loss of innocent human life. It leaves the mind just baffled & full of anguish. Imagining what those people would have felt in the final moments is just impossible. Such disasters, whether human triggered or nature triggered are no different. In the end , they just leave a group of mourning individuals. When i was looking at the beautiful sunset today, i was just thinking , i wish those 228 people could have seen this sunset if this disaster wouldnt have happened. Life is so ethereal, there is no guarantee of the very next second for any of us, so what exactly makes "what I call, our short stay on this planet as a collection of atoms & molecules weaved into a bodily form" substancial? I dont have an answer for this, and neither is there any justification of sudden disasters, killing innocent individuals. That is the intangible mystery of life and it goes on....

Busy Busy Week

Its Thursday night. Cant believe how the week got almost over. Especially this one was extremely busy , exhausting but a little different. I drove almost 200 miles in 4 days of the week so far. Thats a lot considering it was a working week, not a vacation week :-) and i live a meagre 4 miles from work. Tuesday morning I had to drive to SF for my passport renewal , yesterday for a doc appt, today for a guitar lesson. Now i dont want to drive anymore. There was a time when i used to consider anything under 20 miles as near, no big deal category. Now 20 miles is too much :-). Maybe i am trying to do too many things in too less of a time. These days when i am on the road, i want to drive fast and get to my destination in the least possible time. Earlier i used to drive enjoying and not worrying too much about getting there soon. Maybe all i need is a break from it so that i can start enjoying it again...Or maybe i am falling into that spell, where everyone is always in a hurry, always obsessed with something going on in the mind, always trying to get something done, never leaving the mind blank and pure to enjoy the present, always running a marathon towards the future but the present slipping out of the hands every second. Too philosophical huh? Well test yourself against this statement, are you in this category or close, if you are you got to do something before the spell grips you sternly.

Mango Dal

A recipe after a very long time. This week was pretty good on the food front , as i experimented with new dishes and flavors, all Indian cuisine. This was inspired by the need of me getting bored of the routine stuff and mainly because I had to cook food for someone else this week other than me. Well, that means i can not survive by cooking just twice a week and lasting on those supplies. For a change i cooked almost 4 times in these 5 days of the week. It does make a difference to your cooking when you are cooking for someone else, other than you. From next week i am back to feeding myself though :-).
This week i made Bhindi Kadhi, Aloo Jeera, Bhindi Masala & the delicious mango dal. Here is the recipe:

1. Boil the Arhar Dal (Toor Dal) in a pressure cooker with salt and turmeric powder added to it.
2. Cut two tomatoes, slit 2 green chillies, and cut a green mango into big slices.
3. Heat Ghee in a Kadhai, once hot add cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Wait for them to sputter.
4. Now add the diced tomatoes, green chillies & ginger. Add a pinch of turmeric powder to this and let it become a gravy.
5. Next add the mango slices to the tomato gravy, and let them heat for a few minutes.
6.Once the Dal is pressure cooked, add it to the Kadhai and mix.
7. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
8. Serve hot with white rice.

That Land

I miss the sweet smell of the mud after the first rain, and the excited faces of people. The steaming hot tea, and the dazzling street markets bustling with noisy crowds. The guy frying samosas and selling them to the young and old. I miss the excitement of the holiday, spending the day on the road feeling that freedom like no one has. The crowded buses now replaced by the elegant metros, hopping on and off them to reach the malls with utmost ease. I miss the hundred options in a snack shop filled with delicious munches to eat. I miss those PVR shows, with chips and salsa in the intervals of long boring movies. I miss drying my wet hair on the bench in the tender winter sunlight, and enjoying the winter salads on the rooftop. I miss the proud feeling of driving the car to the college for the first time, and the endless times spent in waiting for the DTC buses to use the student pass. I miss the walks to the temple every other day in the fresh and crispy sunlight of the summer. And those juicy leeches and mangoes in abundance every summer.
I miss that land, my own land.

We are

Ofcourse, human beings "Homo Sapiens". A specie which evolved from the apes. Apes which evolved from some early vertebrates, which inturn evolved from sea life , which eventually boils down to some cyanobacteria, the originator of life according to the published theories.

Physically we are all a bunch of atoms and molecules, and we were created as a result of Big Bang. These atoms and molecules we are composed of, keep getting recycled everyday. Everyday our composition is different, but ultimately we are all a result of some comet that might have hit the earth or some fragmentation that formed it in the first place, billions of years back. We are just star dust from Big Bang.

Chemically, we are all (all species of plants/animals) organic carbon compounds with some amounts of other elements like zinc, calcium, phosphorous etc. We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide and there are many chemical reactions going on in our body to keep us alive.

Biologically we are a bunch of cells, the life forming building blocks. These cells carry information on chromosomes and genes, and they manufacture energy for us by burning the food we eat. The genes are probably what separates one specie from another and organisms within the same specie too.

So what is the meaning of alive or dead in terms of the biological, physical and chemical processes. These processes can be conducted in a science laboratory too? So what is it that makes us fit to be called alive? Soon will we be manufacturing life in the lab using the advancements made in genetic engineering? I think yes, considering the fact that scientists have already created genetically altered species of different plants and animals by disrupting the normal genes..
Would Darwin have imagined such a day would come?

When the going gets tough

Rounds of layoffs, pay cuts, increasing work pressure, increasing work hours..huh..Quite a history making time in economy i guess, after the great depression. These times are tough on pockets as well as minds. What do i think? Maybe at the other end of the tunnel, this time there will be some new trend setting. This could mean new types of jobs emerging in the next decade after the dot com surge, this time it could be green, stress pacifiers :-).
These times could be hard on you so watch out, try to get descent amount of sleep, and enjoy some moments in the day to day life. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going..

With this Economy

Where are we heading? Money & power makes people dance on its tunes everywhere on the globe. With the dismal advancements in economy, jobs are being cut in thousands everyday. Everyday you go to Reuters and see some XYZ is cutting 7000 jobs. In this turmoil, many people have and are being affected everyday. So what are we going to do about it? Its a vicious circle, keeps engulfing more and more people and businesses every moment. The prices are falling, so is the demand violating the simple price and demand rule of any economy. And its not just hitting the IT industry or Finance, its hitting all segments equally be it manufacturing, housing, retail or anything else. Where is somebody expected to go without even having enough for 2 meals in a day for his family. There are so many mouth to hand people who live pay check to pay check. Its probably the toughest time for them and a fear lingering at the back of everybody's mind as to how the future would be. This entire thing of collapsing economy still doesnt get into my mind seeing its magnitude and gravity. Its quite incomprehensible as to why and how for an economy illiterate for me. I just see people getting jobless and the general moral sinking. I wish there is something that each one of us common person could do to improve the situation. But all this money game across the world is a web spun by Money Moguls. Its something only they can entangle or do something about. So common man is just a silent spectator, i wish we could so something.

Eye Twitching

Daayin Aankh Phadakna, is it considered good or bad? I am sure many people will have 100 beliefs about it. I dont put myself in this list :-). Stress is one factor i have realised atleast for me. Puts you in very embarassing situations sometimes i bet, imagine talking to somebody at work and there goes your right eye. Involuntary muscle movements. Not sure if they are that dramatic that the other person will notice , but still puts you in a spot. I have been dealing with it for almost 2 days now. Never used to have this problem before. Recent addition to the list of my problems, now i am not whining :-)

Void

Time teaches us so many things. It teaches us how to accept certain things the way they are, other things the way they are not. If i look at myself 1 year back from now and compare it to myself right now, 'Change is the only thing thats constant' proves itself without any doubts. There are so many things that i might have considered a big deal earlier, and now it means nothing. Is it all for the good?, cant say.
Our surroundings, desires, dreams, confusions keep affecting our inner conscience constantly and gradually keep changing it. The way things are done on this planet, which has been designed by humans over all these civilizations in the past, some time or the other makes us fall into that vicious circle. The circle in which you get so involved to fulfill your & your family's 'roti, kapda aur makaan' needs and even more so much. What about the needs of the soul, do we ever give any attention to that? Most of the times we dont, as by fulfilling those we dont earn any material assets in this world. And in the first place, its not trivial to identify the needs of your soul. It could be helping others to fulfilling your lost dreams to anything unreasonable. The soul knows no bounds, it can desire anything. Maybe thats befuddling enough, atleast for me so will end it here.