First Day in Desh

I landed yesterday night after a long long journey of over 24 hrs including the waiting times at the intermediate airports. Was finally glad to land and stretch my cramped legs. At Delhi, as i landed i was shocked to see an extremely long queue for immigration. In fact the queue was uptil the stairs which lead down to the immigration area. There were lot of folks who were pushing and forcing their way through the queues to get their immigration done soon. Well, thats how things work here, don't they? I waited and got my immigration done in 1 hour.Quite an experience. Then i headed towards the baggage claim area and got my 2 suitcases very quickly. Was relieved to see my baggages on time! Finally i was on my way home. The parking of the cars was as always disordered. I was expecting to see some change but hopefully will see somewhere. The new road built was pretty impressive from airport to Dwarka. It was a 4 lane road wide and nice just like the highways in US. I was home pretty soon. Today i went to the local market and sat on the rickshaw to go to another sector to buy some stuff. Quite an experience, well it does take some time to adjust to the traffic sense here. Rickshaws never stop on redlights. They squeeze their way through the narrowest bumpy side walks anywhere. It would really be good one day to see the traffic abiding by the traffic rules everywhere. I am sure i can no longer drive here as driving here means being careful not just for yourself but for every other vehicle driving around you and unexpected rickshaws and bicycles which can crop in any time. So first day a mix of both good and bad. Good because there are new big wode roads and bad because the traffic sense of people still remains the same.

Sunday evening by myself...

After a few hrs of work, i came back home at 5:30 in the evening today. With a totally empty stomach i attacked the aloo pakoras i made yesterday evening. Followed by that i had a combination of maggi tomato soup and maggi noodles - my favorite combination since i was a child. i sat for some time in my patio enjoying the cool breeze. So then i wanted to go for a walk around the community. I saw the full moon in the sky. I was totally taken by its beauty that i went home and got my camera and tripod and clicked some pictures of the moon..Here is one, Enjoy!

What is Life...

What is life, is the most complex question, almost as complex as the origin of life and universe. Atleast there is a theory in place for origin and evolution of life- Darwin's theory, but there is none that defines 'What is life' from a human perspective. In the end both remain unanswered.

Today evening i drove down to the Golden Gate Bridge inorder to break the same daily routine of coming back home late from work followed by eating with Fred Flintstones on my TV and then sleeping. Although it was a thursday evening, i had the enthusiasm to go since its Friday tomorrow, finally! Yes, i am one of those who look forward for the weekend.

On my way to the bridge i saw the hills of San Francisco and the low black clouds hovering over them, which reminded me of the Mordor tower in Lord of the Rings :-), although there is nothing evil about these hills. Maybe just a little fantasy running across my brain after seeing the LOTR triseries last week. The moon suddenly peeping through the windshield brought an unexpected smile on my face. Well, these unexpected smiles are a must once in a while to get the blood pumping through your jaws. Finally i was at the GGB. Quite some people had turned out there, with their cameras to capture the bridge and the Sf city shining on the bay in the night. The first thing i noticed was the Big Dipper in the sky, visible very clearly. I was quite happy to recognize it.

And then i was doing what i had gone to GGB for. I just stood there looking at the calm ocean in the dark cuddled by the bay bridge, the city and the golden gate bridge. Looked like somebody had painted a painting in front of me. I was trying to find answers to the questions which keep cropping up in everybody's mind once in a while. What is life, and what do i want to do? Huh, thinking and thinking but no answers. And then i just looked in the distance and thought maybe this is what is life:

Traveling to the unexplored lands, far and distant never seen before, experiencing the wonders of the pristine nature untouched my man, musing and shocking yourself by composing a rhyme , singing a song long lost and forgotten, feeling the drops of rain, the colors of sunlight and the frail breeze on your face, seeing the stars twinkle in the dark sky, loving someone.
I dont know whether thats the answer or not but for now my soul is satisfied with these thoughts that came across my mind. But, not for long!

Bagalabath Recipe

I tried making the South Indian curd-rice or Bagalabath yesterday night. Quick and simple to make and tastes delicious. Being a North Indian, i didnt really know that curd-rice is typically eaten at the end of the meal. I actually ate it as a full meal with the gobhi-gajar-shalgam pickle. Awesome combo! Funny trivia is that since i only eat Basmati Rice, thats the only one i had at home so i made bagalabath with Basmati rice. My tamil friends were all laughing at this. Here is the recipe:

1. Make the rice in the microwave. Put some more water so that the rice are overcooked and can be mashed easily later.
2. In the mean time, take some ghee in a pan and heat. Add mutard seeds once the ghee is hot. Once the mustard seeds sputter add ginger, green chillies to the pan and mix. Now add curry leaves.
3. Take some seedless grapes and split them into halves. Add these to the pan mix. Also add a pinch of hing to this.
4. Once the rice are done, mash them and while mashing them add some milk to it. Once they are mashed, add curd . The amount of curd depends on the amount of sourness you like. So you can add more as you like.
5. Add the above rice-curd mix to the pan and garnish with very finely chopped coriander leaves.

The old chocolate days!

I had a slice of a "Chocolate on Chocolate" cake today at Prolific Oven. Pretty delicious and ofcourse loaded with calories :-) . It reminds me of the exam days in Madison. I had Trader Joes , a block away from my apartment During the exams i used to eat huge portions of junk food. i used to walk down to the Trader Joes and buy a plethora of food items like veggie chips, my favorite pink lemonade soda, a big tub of salsa, veg cutlets, tandoori masala chips. One of my exam favorites were the chocolate cup cakes i used to buy at Trader Joes. Sitting whole day on the weekend in the apartment, i used to have a delicious feast with the cup cakes and other stuff..somehow eating used to get the exam stress off my mind..Those days were fun!

This one is for you - Dadi..

Solitude is sometimes a good means to reconnect to your past. I generally go for a short walk after finishing lunch at work. I headed again today alone for a short walk. The thoughts which crossed my mind were of my childhood when I was blessed to have my dadi (grandmother) around. She was the most magical person for me ever. I remembered how i used to trouble her after coming back from school and she used to take everything with a smile. She was my best friend, confidant, my candy supplier and what not. She used to pack lunch for me everyday for school and used to give me a slice of my favorite home made pickle made by her in my lunch box. My mom never knew about it as she didn't like me eating too much of pickles which would lead to coughing. And then the summer vacations which i loved to spend with her. I remember hazily as i was in nursery or the next grade probably that time. She used to make mango ice cream and i used to wait impatiently for it to freeze opening the freezer every 20 mins. She used to put me to sleep for a short nap after lunch and i used to wake up and run back to her. I remember pulling her hair when she used to comb and climbing all over her on the sofa. She used to buy me those small toys which the guy on the road used to sell passing by our house every afternoon. She used to go to her cupboard, pull out some coins from her old tin can and buy me those small goodies. I don't remember she scolding me for anything ever, and i still wonder why as i was such a troublesome kid , especially I used to deliberately trouble her a lot. She was calm, sweet and adorable. She was the best and her memories will always be in my heart...

Yummy Samosas

I believe that Delhi serves awesome chaat and samosas through its myriad restaurants, dhabaas and chaat corners. The samosas, chole bathure , pav bhaji and any other dishes used to be divine at most of the places i ate in Delhi. Especially Samosas used to be for evening snacks every other day and be present at every other party. The second part even applies to US. It was a pleasant shock for me when i saw samosas served at my first office party. Since then i have been expecting them at every office party and well that happens to be the case! But in terms of taste and closeness to the actual punjabi samosas i ate in Delhi, they were not too close. However this weekend i tried the punjabi samosas at Milan, a small restaurant on Abel Street in San Jose. This was the best i had in US so far. The taste was pretty close to Samosas i have had back home..So if you are looking for good samosas in San Jose, it might be a good try:
Milan Sweet Center:

296 S Abel St, Milpitas, CA