Movies I saw on Xmas

Yesterday night i saw 'Taare Zameen Par' directed by Aamir Khan. The movie was phenomenal and very realistic with respect to the Indian society. The child who acted was very natural and a perfect fit for the role. Aamir Khan's debut as a director is an amazing attempt. The movie portrays the emotions of a 9 year old child very effectively and a typical day to day life of the kid as well as his parents. An awesome movie with nice inspirational numbers.
Today evening was for another movie- 'I am Legend'. Well i didn't like the movie at all. the fiction plot was good but the movie lacked content and detail according to me...

Punjab De "Amritsari Chole"

I tried this recipe for the first time. Pure Punjabi delight- Amritsari Chole. Here I am sharing my recipe:

1. Soak Chole (Chick Peas) overnight. Next day morning put them in a pressure cooker with water, add half of white salt and half of black salt needed. Amritsari Chole are black in color after cooking. To give this black color, add a tea bag in the pressure cooker. Close the pressure cooker and boil for 15 minutes.

2. After opening the pressure cooker discard the tea bag. It would have left the chole black in color.

3. Now cut an onion in small slices and fry in oil in a pan. Also add a few bay leaves while frying the onions. The bay leaves will give a very distinctive smell to the masala. Now chop 2-3 tomatoes and add to the onions once they are golden brown. Add ginger to this masala and heat till a smooth paste of masala is formed.

4. On a separate tava roast the dry spices- black pepper, red chilli powder, jeera powder, mango powder( amchur powder) and coriander powder. Once the dry masala is roasted, add it to the paste of onions, tomatoes and ginger in the other pan. Right now the paste will be smelling very nice with the smell of the bay leaves.

5. Mix the Chole with this paste now. Boil 2 potatoes wrapped in plastic foil ( microwaveable) in a microwave. Cut them into small pieces and add to the chole. Garnish with coriander leaves.

6. Delicious Amritsari chole is ready to eat with bathure/ kulcha. Unfortunately in USA you dont get these things in grocery stores so I had it with garam chapatis.

Enjoy!

Seeing Rain

Unlike in Delhi where I have spent 22 years of my life and where it rains during Monsoon season every year, it rains in winters in Northern California. This area is surrounded by hills and I am seeing it rain for the first time here. The hills are typically taller than the elevation of the clouds.

Today morning while going to work, I saw the top portions of the hills immersed in the gray clouds. The sun was smearing the clouds to find its way out. The greens around were giving a different freshness to the air. I could admire the sun, clouds as well as the greens around me. It was a beautiful day.

Halloween Trip To Badgerland

I was once again in bliss. I was in Madtown this weekend after graduating 2 months back. Me, Waj and Arvind flew there on Friday evening. We rented a car from Ohare at 8 and reached Madison around 10:30. On the way I was sleeping on the back seat of the car using Waj's huge jacket as my comforter. In Madison, the first place we stopped was Olin Park. The cold winds made standing on the pier quite amazing. I saw once more the city of Madison shining brightly on the edge of waters of Monona. The city looked calm and beautiful as always. I was wearing my blue Columbia jacket which I had worn all my student life in the utter winter of Madison. The cold winds which blew on my face while i stood on the pier felt very familiar. From Olin Park we headed to the State Street to see the Halloween party. There were quite a few people dressed up in different interesting costumes walking on the Street which led to the Capitol. We walked and watched the people. We came to Isha's house at around 1:30 and I had an interesting night to spend trying to sleep on the floor. Well, that did not work so I was just killing time in the night waiting for morning. On Saturday morning we left Isha's place and went to Engineering Hall and CAE. It was a football Saturday and the Badgers were out all over the place enthusiastic and dressed in red. We went to Union South and had the same coffee in Red Oak Grill along with the French Fries with tonnes of Mayonnaise. I was reliving the moments which I had spent in Red Oak reading 752 papers whole day with Coffee and taking short naps in Copper hearth lounge next to Quick Byte in Union South. We went to the West town mall for an hour passing by my 1664 Monroe Street Apartment and lake Wingra. The small lake was surrounded by trees in beautiful Fall colors. In the afternoon we had the typical lunch of lentil soup over rice in Mediterranean Cafe which we used to after the 755 Class. After that I did splendid shopping at the University Book Store. That was followed by an evening at Mendota and a babcock sunday at the Memorial Union. I sat besides the lake trying to think nothing and absorbing the calmness and beauty of the lake in my heart. We then headed to the hotel followed by a delicious dinner at Laos La Xang. After that we headed to State Street for the Halloween party which was wild and crazy. My legs were shattered by this time and still we walked till the Capitol before heading back. I slept like a log after returning to the hotel that night. Sunday morning i got up late at 9 as we rushed as we had just a few hours left to spend in Madtown. We went to the zoo and I picked up some stuff from their gift shop. We then went to India Durbar for the usual buffet. After that we went to Olin Park and I lay in the sun on the grass for a little while staring at the lake. To conclude we met a couple of friends- Sunil, Magesh at Engineering Hall before heading for Ohare.
Overall a fun filled and colorful weekend with lots of sweet memories and golden moments relived.

First Impression: Silicon Valley

So i am here finally in the Silicon Valley in CA, precisely in San Jose. First two days here have been quite unsettled with the usual moving blues to a new place. Nothing unusual. But this place is very different from the midwest particularly my University town Madison. Madison is much smaller, organized, clean and beautiful from the area I am in right now (San Jose and surrounding areas). But heard that some of the places a little far like SFO, Mountainview etc are pretty good. Well, will discover that soon. However life in CA seems to be much more stressful and fast compared to the pleasant and calm life in Madison.

The Day has almost arrived: Leaving Madison

Time does fly. 2 years in this beautiful city of lakes, "Madison", as a student passed with the blink of an eye. Now just one day before i board the flight to Silicon Valley as a professional and not a student anymore. Tough to accept and even tougher to leave this place. Hundreds of memories run across my mind now, particular smells in the campus buildings remind me of past days and events. Today i spent an hour in the evening at the memorial terrace and probably had my last Babcock icecream. The lake looked more beautiful today and i felt like taking pictures of every corner in the Union. The sight of the lake brought me the memories of my previous semesters. Canoeing and coming and sitting , watching the waves hit the bank, ducks swimming and eating the buraka peanut stew besides the lake with the tally shop Pina Colada juice. Those were the days! Colorful days! And then i left for a friend's place in bus number 80 , the free campus service. Along the observatory drive i was trying to guess the names of all the buildings i saw. My favorite still remains the Bascom Hall and the Agriculture building which almost looks like a palace. I remembered the days and the nights spent in CAE working on my favorite course 552 project taught by Prof. Lipasti and eating the Toppers pizza at midnight. Waiting for the safecab and sometimes even walking back at 3 in the night.
Well, anything and everything i look around today, whether the street, Library or the stairs in the house rings just one thing in my mind. That I am feeling and seeing these things probably for the last time. It feels I am being parted from my heaven, the place which transformed me everyday towards a more matured individual and made me grow everyday by making me fall and stand up on my own. I wish I could have been in this place forever!

Absolutely Beautiful- "Kuch Is Tarah"

I was in search of good new music recently . Since i am not in touch with the new stuff coming in Hindi music anymore so i was just listening to the good old AR Rehman and RD Burman. But this song , i dont know how new it is, but i came across it now...Absolutely beautiful rendition with extremely meaningful, simple and deep touching lyrics.."Kuch Is tarah teri Palkein" by Atif, Enjoy the song from the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1vvjU55v1U

Finished the last Dan Brown

Last 3 days for me were filled with adventure through the Arctic circle, sea floor of the Arctic Ocean, a huge meteorite buried in an ice shelf, scary sharks which can smell a drop of blood upto a mile away, radio signals, SOS, NASA, NRO, a US army submarine and a guest stay in the White House. Does that sound fun? This was the experience vividly felt by me while reading the 550 page novel 'Deception Point' by Dan Brown. This was his only novel that I had not read.He has written 4 novels so far. The start was with an intriguing murder as in his other 3 books. The story become more and more captivating towards the middle of the book. I was reading the book while eating, while in the bus etc etc...I didnt switch on my laptop for 8 long hours today( which is sheer disbelief from me as there is no force in this world which can keep me away from my laptop for so long :-) ) , as I was completely captivated by the book. Verdict: Extreme High Tech Thriller, you cant sleep peacefully till you finish the book. The addiction is atleast 10 times stronger than any hollywood thriller. I dont read much but I must agree that all 4 of Dan Brown's novels have given me 3-4 days (in which you will read his 500 page thriller at the most) of extreme thrill that no movie for a long time has matched. All his 4 books show that he is a brilliant author with lot of research behind his plot, characters, information..Thumbs up for Dan Brown! Waiting for his sequel book on Da vinci Code..

Birthday gift shopping for me

Well, birthdays come once in a year and you are one more year old. However despite that discouraging fact, birthdays make you feel special on that day and for me its a celebration of completing the eventful past one year which definitely has if not many, some good memories to look back. I always gift myself a present on my birthday which is coming soon next week. Afterall we must treat ourselves well. Next week i will be busy with my exam and coursework so i decided to go to west town mall yesterday. I bought a black leather handpurse for myself. Apart from that i tried formal clothes in 4 different stores- The limited, Express, Banana Republic and Gap. I was among the people in the stores who were trying clothes very seriously one after the other as if they had to shop the entire store. The extensive trials were to see where i get the best sizes( which is always a problem for me) and get an idea of prices. Next time when i go to the mall it will be for actually buying :) , as i was too tired yesterday after the store to store adventure to actually buy.

Live Free Or Die Hard

What a mighty mighty action! The 1.5 hrs of ultimate thrill with helicopter and plane crashes , freeways cracking and computer hacking. Bruce Willis still looks awesome in his one man army. Reminds me of Sunny Deol. Actually that would be a dishonor to Bruce Willis :)...The movie was too good and so was Bruce Willis. But the theatre was a big mess. Me, Waj and his parents went to Orpheum theatres on State Street for the first time. It was not even a theatre, just a screen, an old building , a pathetic audio and only 10 audience. Those were also interested in getting the money back after seeing the theatre. Well I am planning to see the movie again at a better theatre with cracking audio..The movie was mindblowing!

Multitasking in human brain- Are we better than computers?

Yesterday I was travelling in bus number 6 returning home from Walmart. As ususal my ipod was glued to my ears. I saw a kid probably around 10 years sitting on the opposite seat. He too had his ipod plugged and was simultaneosuly writing some stuff in English in his notebook. He was writing, erasing, writing again turning back and forth the pages and ofcourse listening to music simultaneously. That made me think that the Multitasking Era has been set into place at quite a young age now. We listen to music, even watch TV while working, do sms in between studying, i talk on the phone almost continuously as long as I cook. And sometimes i burn the food doing that! To make things easy for me I have installed my blue tooth so that I can work more "Efficiently" while I talk over the phone. So technology is really taking care of the new Maultasking brain. So the question is , is multitasking good for us? One thing ofcourse is that we dont burn Watts of power as the processors even if we do extensive multitasking. Our operating system (the brain) is more efficient than Windows to set the priorities among the different tasks we do simultaneosuly assigning them the needed resources. Yes this does happen, the brain assigns different resources like thinking, logic etc to different tasks as discovered by a UCLA group through MRI images. The neurologists also say that multitasking is less efficient than doing one job at a time, so if a kid reading a history chapter does text messaging in between thats not too good for his learning. And so for us too like browsing the net while working to check the bank account or pay the bills, messaging etc etc etc ..list goes on..Well i have a couple of times felt the heat of multitasking when i felt really exhausted after trying to complete too many things in the least possible time. Sometimes it makes me really wonder that the flexible 1.5 Kg brain we have packed inside our head so compactly is really good in assigning the priorities to tasks and executing them in the multitasking mode..Dont know what algorithm it runs though! The irony is that the society is being shaped in a way which demands humans to do multitasking, primarily the reason being the technology. So next time you multitask, dont forget to enjoy the job which you could have done one at a time and maybe also better!

First Summer Class

After the last one and a half month of no classes, it was an extraordinary effort to attend the first class of the lazy Madison summer this morning. And this class was 3 hrs since the course (Information Systems) is a short 3 week course so 3 hrs every day. Well I must say I was awake throughout the 3 hrs which is not like me at all. Its not because i was extremely excited about the course but just that its the last course I am taking at UW-Madison. The city of Madison and the University of Wisconsin Madison are the two things I adore beyond limits and will miss them when I am gone in a month. Madison has been the centre of my life for almost the past 2 years. I came as a MS student in the ECE Dept and like any other Indian student who came in the Dept that fall in 2005, i was searching for funding quite desperately. It reminds me of those days when we used to walk with resumes in our hands in the Chamberlin Hall (physics) And Van Vleck ( Mathematics) , the two favorite spots for finding funding. The roads of Madison were new and we used to get lost quite often. There used to be long walks on the beautiful roads of Madison to which i wasnt accustomed initially. However the whole experience of getting settled in the new unfamiliar but extremely warm and greeting city of Madison and the University was one of the most enriching experiences of my life so far. The last 2 years in this place have made me an independent individual from a college girl in India who had never stayed away from home even for a day. The thought of missing the vibrant student life at UW-Madison very soon kept me awake through 3 hrs of lecture!

The Punjabi Masala Burger on Sunday Evening

This evening, after a nice long walk in the morning followed by an icecream at the Memorial Union and a movie in the afternoon at home, I was wondering what to do. I searched for any events in Madison on Sunday evening at google but in vain. I had just finished the extraordinary genius and captavating book 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown in the morning. After the past 5 days which were extremely interesting because of the book I was feeling bored and dull. So thought of cooking something I hadnt cooked before, that was the only thing that came to mind I hadnt tried for the past few weeks :). Seeing the few ingredients I had in my kitchen i thought of making a Masala Burger. It turned out fine for the first attempt and there is plenty of scope for improvement for the second one. So here is the recipe incase any enthusiast wants to try. I call it a Punjabi burger because it was cooked by a Punjabi chef ( thats me :) ). Here it goes:

Ingredients:
2 Potatoes
Coriander/Cilantro leaves
1 Onion
1 Tomato
Cucumber
Curd
Oil
Bread crumbs/ Rusk powder
Kishmish, cashews
Lemon
Spices- ( Salt, red chillie powder, garam masala, jeera powder, turmeric powder)
Tamarind (optional)
green peas
Buns

Procedure:
First Boil the potatoes either by wrapping them in plastic and using a microwave or in a pressure cooker using water. Next mash the potatoes as much as you can and add the bread crumbs or rusk powder ( as fine as possible), cashew, kishmish, coriander leaves,salt, chillie powder, garam masala, green peas and jeera powder to the mashed potatoes. Now mix this mixture properly. Taste and see if the spice level is good enough. It should be a little more than what you like as after being sandwitched in the bun the spice level of the tikki in between will be pacified. Once this mixture is ready, heat some oil in a pan for frying the tikkis. Grease your hands with oil and make round balls from the mashed potatoes and make the balls flat in the shape of the tikki (they should be as flat as possible for better frying). Fry them 2 or 3 at a time depending on the size of your pan. Once the surface on bottom is brown enough tilt the tikki upside down and fry the other side. In the mean time tikkis are frying you need to prepare the mixture for garnishing. Cut the tomatoes and oninons in medium sized slices and mix them together. Now add some curd to this to form a paste like mix and add coriander leaves , turmeric powder and some red chillie powder to this mix. Slice your lemon ad squeeze it generously in this paste and mix again. When you leave this paste aside for some time and then you smell it it will be a very delicious and nice smell because of the coriander and curd mixed together. Also slice cucumber in round slices. Once the tikkis are ready you could grease the inside of buns with butter if you dont mind some extra calories. Next place the tikki inside it and a slice of round cucumber. Now add the onion tomato paste generously on the top of the tikki and stuff the burger with the paste and then close the hamburger. Serve with tomato ketchup.

Optional: If you are a tamarind lover, you could prepare a tamarind mix by mixing tamarind in water and brown sugar and then heating for a while. This tamarind paste can be added to the onion tomato paste. ( I did not try this since I didnt have tamarind at home).

So that was the recipe I tried this evening and it took about an hour to make some delicious masala burgers.

First Blog

Well just became a member of Blogspot.com. Not any particular reason but just that I have quite some time now for a month which is a rare thing in a grad student's life. Finished with my spring semester at UW-Madison 3 weeks back and starting with the summer semester in another 3 weeks. That will be my last semester and unfortunately the end of my student life for now atleast ( dont know about future where i might be a student again :)) Had a nice time with my mom who visited me here for the last 3 weeks. Lots of food and desi ghee! Also went around Chicago and New York with her for a couple of days. She just left yesterday evening and I am finding myself with nothing to do for now. So it is the time to scratch my head and think of all the hobbies which I had or wanted to have but never had the time.