Ad Libitum

Moving Out ..... Again!

2011-09-21T15:41:00.000+05:30

Hello dear readers, I have decided to make a significant change in this blog .... again. Sorry, but I promise this is the last time I will mess with Ad Libitum. In fact, this blog is going to be clubbed with my Pause & Bookmark blog at http://janehamilton.blogspot.com. The Why's and the Wherefore's are explained there.

So, all the posts here are available on Pause & Bookmark. Those who visit me, please continue to drop by over there, and those who follow me on this blog, please click over and give me some love at the other blog.

I know I change my mind more times than Kanye makes a gaffe, but stick with me here, okay? Thank you so much.

I love you guys, and you make my blogosphere go round!

I'm over at Pause & Bookmark. See you there!

You Searched for THAT and found ME???

2011-06-09T20:02:00.002+05:30

So, I was looking at my blog stats just now, and found this:

Wait...what?!

oh yeahhh.... that's me. 'Tirunelveli tamil teen girl blogger profiles'. Yep. That would be an exact description of me.
Uh! 'teen' it seems. Thanks a lot. Now I feel the youth coming back to my bones....

On a side note, what the hell sort of search term is 'and where i usually would'?? ! Someone dissect that for me please?

Poem: Street food...

2011-06-03T22:00:00.002+05:30

Written on 27 April 2011

Street food...

"... Is unhygienic, uncovered, and unappetizing",
Said mother, piling a mountain of rice
Onto a plate already sagging
Under the weight of healthily boring home-cooked food.
Grumbling, sniffing, dipping fingers in gingerly
I question...
"Why can't I have a snack instead?"

Crisp samosas are the best.
Waiting near the familiar heat of food
Sizzling in hot oil,
Eying the one that you will choose
If you had a choice,
Peering into the cart
At sauces and spices,
Making a mental note -
'Remember to ask for
The sweet and sour sauce.'

Jaws clench at the tangy thought
Of salted gooseberries
That bring back memories of
Dead-broke college days,
When a rupee earned you a bag of those sour gems
That set the saliva flowing 10 years later!

Corn on the cob
Luscious, spicy and crunchy
Satisfy the sharp hunger that comes
From trudging up the lanes
Of little towns on hill stations
In search of the perfect bargain
On a thick woolen sweater.

Ice cream in a park -
Dripping water and icicles that takes the place
Of real cream and flavor,
Cold chunks breaking off
Onto tongues,
Causing brain-freeze
And the rush of guilty pleasures
That mother would scorn at.

Vadais are good too.
Crisp exterior giving way
To warm dough and stray chilli bits,
The accompaniments as beckoning and cozy
As the kitchen at home...

The kitchen. Where mother
Would always have food on the table,
A soothing word
A listening ear
A tearing eye
A smiling face
For me, the wayward child,
Who ate too much street food...

My Trip Back Home to Beautiful Kerala - April 2011

2011-05-03T22:35:00.003+05:30

As you all already know, Debbie was with my mom for the past week and half. So, last weekend we took a quick trip back to my home town to bring Debbie back. I would have loved to have spent longer in Kerala, but all we could squeeze in was the weekend. So, I just want to tell you all how it felt to go back home after more than a year...

If someone asks me where I'm from, I usually find it very hard to answer. My mom's and dad's forefathers are from various parts of Thirunelveli and Kanyakumari district. However, my dad was born in Chennai, and lived there all his life. My mom was born in Kerala in the Idukki district, and called it home. I lived almost all of my life in Dubai, and that is the only place that finds a place in 90% of my childhood memories. So when I finally came to India and people would ask me where I'm from, I just couldn't answer. I couldn't very well say that my hometown is Dubai, because I am not a citizen, and I no longer live there. I also could not mention any of the four places I have already mentioned in this paragraph, because I was not really familiar with them.

It's only since graduating college have I started telling people that my hometown is Idukki district in Kerala, because I have family there that I love and my family home is situated there since it is where my father preferred to settle down. Also, now the place is even more special because that is where my father has been laid to rest.

So, after more than a year, I went back to this little town called Vandiperiyar in the Idukki district of Kerala. It is a beautiful, cool, green and breathtaking hill station on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. It takes us around 10 hours, traveling in a very badly furnished bus to get to this little paradise, but the sore back and the sleepless night in a bus is totally worth it. Allow me to show you why... (this is going to be a little long-winded so brace yourself...)

Traveling to Vandiperiyar

Taking a route through Theni, Rajapalayam, Kumbum, you reach the Kumily hills, which is a 15 minute slow and deliberate ride along a winding and precarious path that hugs the hill... On the way, you will see a deep forest with exotic trees, lots of monkeys, and beautiful streams and water falls that fill the air with the smell of a healthy and well-balanced environment. There is no place for pollution of any kind or buildings of any shape, save the two little temples at various points on the road - one for Hindus and another for Christians.

What you see below is the rise of a grand mountain that abounds with greenery of all kinds.

These are not the most professional shots, but then we had bright sunlight and a very shaky bus ride to deal with...

Dense forest with really old trees

Going uphill, you suddenly come across these huge pipes. At the very top is a water turbine in a power plant. Kumily houses the MullaiPeriyar dam, a great reservoir that is the primary source of most of the electricity generated in the plains below. Kumily also has the famous Thekady dam. I wish I could show you pictures, but we didn't get to go there this weekend. We will in the future, and when we do, I will show you pictures of the beautiful lake.

They don't look that large here, but they are really huge and imposing!

Along the way, you will see really old bamboo trees that stand in clusters. If you were to venture into this patch of bamboo I really doubt you would be able to get back out again without your limbs getting hopelessly tangled in this!

The road is narrow and winding, with many hairpin bends. When there is another vehicle coming in the opposite direction, usually one has to come to a complete standstill to let the other pass. Many times, large vehicles have to back up all the way to a wider part of the road to let the other vehicle pass. If you look down the side of the mountain, your head will spin from the sheer drop down!

This winding action is seen pretty much throughout the journey, all the way to my home, in fact!

Yes, we had to stop to let this bus go by...

Finally, after 15 minutes of something that resembles spinning around (a trip not for the light-headed, I must add!), we finally reach Kumily bus stand. This is the very border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The road we saw till now actually belongs to the Tamil Nadu jurisdiction, but the town on the hill belongs to Kerala. So, who has dibs on the mountain?! Heh! I have no idea! Anyway, Kumily bus stand is filled with the chatter of beautiful Malayalam (which I am no good at speaking, since my mother tongue is Tamil), and the whiff of banana chips fried in coconut oil, cardamom and black pepper... Kumily is a popular tourist spot and is most famous for the spices sold everywhere. You can buy the best quality of cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. But the area is most famous for its top quality tea. I don't buy any brand of tea since I get mine from here all the time.

The bus stand bordered with shops and hotels for tourists

The KSRTC - primary transport of almost all Keralites in this part of the world!

Just look at the red blossoms on that tree!

Here, we've got to take another bus that takes us to Vandiperiyar, where we have to take another bus, and then walk up approximately 150 steps, or spare ourself the heart attack, and take an auto all the way home. On the way, all you see is large expanses of tea fields (the main source of income for most everyone here), and trees with pepper climbers entwined around them... Like this...

It was a misty morning, the day we went. It was around 8am and the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. The thick rolls of leave that you see on these trees are the pepper plant climbers. The trees are usually used for firewood (which obviously people need a lot of!)

Looking up into the mist, over a carpet of tea bushes

The road you see here (another winding one) will take me to a higher hill where my home is situated!

These are women on their way to work. If you stick around, you will see them donning plastic capes and carrying huge gunny sacks, trudging up tea plantation hills, to pluck tea leaves.

This is a tea bush up close, but much prettier in person, I assure you! :)

Finally, I reach this beautiful house that I call home...

Who is that little girl? I'll tell you soon...

I have a lump in my throat every time I look at my house. My dad had it built a couple of years ago, and he did it with extreme love and concern for my mother. He made sure that the house was not too high above the road, since my mother can't walk up too many steps or a very steep pathway. He made sure that clay tiles were used on the floor, because marble or ceramic tiles get cold and my mom could get achy knees from walking on them. He made sure that the master bedroom, the bathrooms and the kitchen were all constructed in the way that would be most convenient for my mom... Even though my dad planned to spend his retirement relaxing in this nice home, my mom was worried that he never put in anything that he would particularly like. Little did we know that my dad would, in fact, not get to spend his days here.

Sorry guys, I know I am not supposed to be getting all weepy and maudlin here. But looking at my home always makes me miss my dad, and I was just sharing my feelings with you. Anyway, Vandiperiyar is a beautiful quaint town, and my home is comfy. You are all welcome to come visit our little corner of the earth when you have the time... Just let me know first ok? :D

Okay, I promise, I'll be more bearable in the next post... where I tell you about that little girl in the picture, and all the lovely precious people I spent my weekend with.

Food for the brain and feast for the eyes - Internet fodder for You

2011-05-02T20:26:00.003+05:30

So, Internet crawling should be called a legitimate hobby, because the gems we unearth sometimes are truly priceless! I came across some things that I simply have to share with you guys. Touching, thought-provoking and down-right weird, these stories and posts are Internet gold!

50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind : This article is a list of questions, some familiar and some new, but all questions that will get you thinking. Asking you about the most important things in life, questioning the direction of your life, and the very need to slave at that job that you so hate!

Some questions that really got me thinking:

1. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

2. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

3. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?

4. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?

5. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?

6. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?

7. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?

I can't say I have an answer, but when I'm old with lots of gray hair, and a dozen grandchildren milling around me, I hope I have a clue... :) I do have the answer to question 6, though. It is quite evident in the sudden shortness of breath that I am now experiencing - a sure effect of trying to be aware of your breathing. Try it! The minute you become aware of your breathing, you can't breath... we homosapiens are weird, no?

Speaking of breathing, here are 7 Things You Won't Believe You're All Doing Wrong. Don't read this article if you are also eating, because apparently the first and foremost thing we have no clue how to do correctly, is orchestrate our bowel movements!! There. I have said it as euphemistically as possible without making you barf! So, after you're done with that sandwich or the slushie, gander into this link and read how we adults have no idea how to do things right! By the way, you'll soon find out that babies are ninjas when compared to us lesser mortals!

Even if you have never said a prayer in your entire life, no matter what God you pray to, or whether you believe that there is no such thing as the big Gee Oh Dee, the minute you have a child, you feel like you really need someone stronger on your side, helping you look after that infant when you can, and watching out for that rampant teenager when you can't. Even uproarious comics like Tina Fey feel the need to pray for the little person put into their care. Here is A Mother's Prayer for Her Child, by Tina Fey. Although I would definitely skip some of the church-unfriendly language when I talk to God, I think the sentiment of that prayer is my feelings exactly. The few hours I am away from Debbie are the most worry-filled hours of the day. When she went to stay at my mom's last week, I lay awake a couple of nights wondering whether she was eating well, having her bowel movements (Sigh....as you grow older or have kids, bowel movements seem to become more and more of a top priority!!), falling down too often and scraping her knee, being safe when she travels with my family...etc etc. The worry list, my friends, is endless. Fact of LIFE! This prayer, in the article, is one I could repeat everyday till I have grandkids.... Then, it's Debbie's turn.

Okay, enough with the heavy sentiments and the teary eyes! Now for some awesome Internet fodder that are totally deserving of a thousand email forwards!

Here is a story of how clever people can be! Hiding the Lockheed Plant during World War II. This is a story of how soldiers, during World War II, hid an entire geographical area (an aircraft plant) from the eyes of the enemy through an ingenious method. You won't believe what you are seeing, when you look at the pictures. I had to go back and read the article a second time to actually grasp the magic and genius of it all! Take a look.

Finally, I love pencil drawings. My brother ans sister do a mean drawing, and I have always envied their ability to create beauty with a pencil and paper. Me? I need water colors, brushes and high quality paper to create my art. I am high maintenance, I guess...sigh. Anyway, my husband is really good with a camera. He takes the most breathtaking pictures I have ever seen. His specialty is nature. Put him behind a camera lens, and I don't even think you need to feed him! Hence the clash of the high and low maintenance groups! So, when I found this article that merges pencil drawings and photography, I was enamored. This is some really clever stuff - Incredibly Creative Pencil Drawings vs. Photography. Enjoy!

These links are courtesy Stumbleupon - another really clever thingy on the WWW!

Of Homemade Music Videos and Home-cooked Food

2011-04-27T23:23:00.000+05:30

It's vacation time right now, and where I usually would be sitting at my computer, trying to get a view of the monitor through my daughter's flailing arms, and trying to coax my thoughts to surface above the din of Debbie's voice and her noisy toys, I sit here right now in utter peace and quiet, with no one switching off the computer mid-post, no buzzing voice in my ears, and no baby fingers trying to get at the keyboard... Just me, my thoughts, and you readers.... and I HATE IT! No. Sorry. I didn't mean you, my readers! I love you guys! I meant sitting at home alone, without Debbie, just me and this empty house...sigh...

Debbie's gone to her grandma's (my mom) for a week...wait, actually it is now been more than a week. She is having the time of my life (I mean Debbie, not my mom! God only knows how my mom is handling it there, because along with Debbie are 6 other boisterous cousins filling the house, and toppling down God knows how many flower pots! Enjoy mommy...hhehe!). So anyway, Debbie gets to play with all those kids ranging between the age of 6 to 16. And they are not even her cousins...their mine!! That's what happens when your grandmother is your grandfather's second wife, and is just around 6 years older than your mother...and she (your grandmother) had 8 kids! I think they took the whole "the more the merrier" thing too seriously! Whew!

Anywho, Debbie is playing with kids ranging from 6 to 16 years old, who are all her aunts and uncles!! And she has not missed me yet... :( That doesn't mean I can't miss her... I do, I do... I miss her sooo much...

I miss this little girl...

and her lovely smile...

and her crazy-awesome singing...

Boohooo! I want my babyyyy!

*sniff* *wiping eyes, blowing nose*...

And in a funny tangent way, I want my mommy.... and her food...
Actually I've been feeling that for quite a while, so I wrote something for her...

Mom, this is for you... (pssst, can you please consider this as your advanced birthday present? Kidding. Totally getting you a real present on your birthday... :D)

----------------------------
Street food...

"... Is unhygienic, uncovered, and unappetizing",
Said mother, piling a mountain of rice
Onto my plate already sagging
Under the weight of healthily boring home-cooked food.
Grumbling, sniffing, dipping fingers in gingerly
I question...
"Why can't I have a snack instead?"

Crisp samosas are the best.
Waiting near the familiar heat of food
Sizzling in hot oil,
Eying the one that you will choose
If you had a choice,
Peering into the cart
At sauces and spices,
I make a mental note -
'Remember to ask for
The sweet and sour sauce.'

Jaws clench at the tangy thought
Of salted gooseberries
That bring back memories of
Dead-broke college days,
When a rupee earned you a bag of those sour gems
That set the saliva flowing 10 years later!

Corn on the cob
Luscious, spicy and crunchy
Satisfy the sharp hunger that comes
From trudging up the lanes
Of little towns on hill stations
In search of the perfect bargain
On a thick woolen sweater.

Ice cream in a park -
Dripping water and icicles that take the place
Of real cream and flavor,
Cold chunks breaking off
Onto tongues,
Causing brain-freeze
And the rush of guilty pleasures
That mother would scorn at.

Vadais are good too.
Crisp exterior giving way
To warm dough and stray chilli bits,
The accompaniments as beckoning and cozy
As the kitchen at home...

The kitchen. Where mother
Would always have food on the table,
A soothing word
A listening ear
A tearing eye
A smiling face
For me, the wayward child,
Who ate too much street food...

The Men in Blue Bring It Home!

2011-04-04T20:45:00.001+05:30

YAAAAAAAY! India won the Cricket World Cup after more than 20 years. I am truly happy! It was a wonderful moment, when every Indian on the planet felt one with their Indian counterparts, regardless of the religion, state, caste or social status they belonged to!

Let me stop the gushing to tell you that you would never have heard me rave about cricket ever before on my blog, and, I solemnly promise you that you will never again hear another word about cricket in the future! I am no cricket fan...when it's IPL time, I flee a mile away from the general vicinity of the television and my cricket-maniac husband. I still hold on to those ideals. As a matter of principle, I never watch cricket, because here I am slaving over a desk all day, and coming home and slaving over a stove, and some boy-man hitting a ball around gets paid a gazillion times more than me!! I take exception to that. And what do we get sitting in front of a television watching said boy-men romping around? NOTHING! Those are just my views, and you are free to disagree - in fact, please do disagree. That's what a free country is all about. Anyway, point is, I "dislike" cricket, to put it ever so lightly.

BUT, c'mon winning the WORLD CUP is a whole new deal altogether!! I actually invested a good 3-4 hours of my weekend on Saturday night, sitting and watching the latter half of the match. All because I truly began to admire the grit and determination of our boys out there on the field. I have developed a sense of deep respect for MS Dhoni, captain of the Indian cricket team. The way he carried himself throughout the game was simply awe-inspiring. Even after he hit the winning sixer, his obvious happiness was so understated and so balanced that you had to admire his maturity and his ability to keep his head, no matter how low the 'downs' or high the 'ups'! He let Sachin take center stage during the celebrations and he walked a good two-paces behind, just enjoying watching his team mates celebrate. The whole country is cheering for this man who has led the Indian cricket team to so many victories in such a short time. I think he is truly an inspiration to the youth of our nation!

And then there was the game itself. Though I wasn't exactly gnawing my way through my nails in anticipation, it was an exciting game, all said and done! The moment when Sachin got out was a real shock. Even the celebrities in the stadium lost their photogenic smiles when Sachin walked off the pitch. I think that was the one time I saw Rajnikanth actually look defeated!! :) I also felt really sorry for Gautam Gambhir, after he failed to hit a century. The look on his face when he walked back the stands, was nothing short of heart-breaking... :(

But the fact that Dhoni and Yuvraj were able to bring the team back to pace, and win the game for us was really thrilling! At the end of the game, when Dhoni hit that fabulous sixer, my husband had just one thing to say, "Now Sachin can retire in peace!" And I had to agree. It was so moving, how the entire team was playing for just one man! One man who had inspired them, made India the force to reckon with in cricket, and took so many risks for his team! What Virat Kohli said about Sachin was amazing! After he had walked around the whole ground carrying Sachin on his shoulders, he was asked why he had done that. His response: "Sachin has carried the burden of the country on his shoulders for 28 years. So, I don't mind carrying him on my shoulders!" Awwww! that is so adorable! :)

So, there it is - India won the CRICKET WORLD CUP! I think we will be riding this wave for a long, long, long time! And hey, I don't even feel furious that these guys are getting a crore each!But, it stops there. IPL is next week, and you won't hear a word about it from me..NO SIR!

The Boys in Blue lift the Cricket World Cup!!

Check out Sreesanth's expression! :D

The Indian skipper reaching out for his keep-sake stump from the winning match

The great Sachin deserved the parade on the shoulders of his teammates

Awww! Isn't this adorable?!

The Ultimate Blog Party 2011 - Join the Fun!

2011-04-01T17:13:00.001+05:30

This is my linky post that is going to be my ticket to the Ultimate Blog Party 2011, only THE MOST sought after online blog party for mom-bloggers like me, and probably you! :) The party is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.com, a really great blog written by twin mommies (how cool is that?!) Janice and Susan. Check out this post to know more about the Ultimate Blog Party 2011, and how to enter. If you headed here from the party itself, allow me to introduce myself and my blog very briefly. I am Jane Hamilton, and I have been blogging for the past 3 years. In my blog here, "Ad Libitum", I talk about anything that interests me, including cooking, a great trip I had, a soppy romantic movie I saw, or my opinion on stuff. Nothing earth shattering, but I just like to put my two-pence out there! Also, I do what mommies love doing the most - talk about my child. My 4-yr-old girl, Debbie, is the joy of my life, and here I talk about her little skirmishes, her toys, her favorite food, and generally how she makes sure I never have to suffer from dull moments in my life. And of course, I talk about my beloved husband, the man of my dreams, my knight in shining armor, and the reason for my deep-seated hatred for watching any sport on TV!

I am neither a prolific writer, nor a regular one. I hold down a 9-6, and though it is no excuse for not posting often enough, my lazy self somehow lets it be. When I do write, I spill my heart out!

So, welcome to Ad Libitum, where, really, things are quite adlib. Hope you enjoy your stay.

If you are one of my readers, what are you doing reading this? You already know boring old me...HURRY and join me at the Ultimate Blog Party!! Go ahead and add your blog to the linky and meet more awesome bloggers like you! I'm going to do just that right now!

Tell Me About Yourself, Please?

2011-02-22T10:39:00.000+05:30

It's a random day today ('random' since The Big V-Day was a week ago, and if I wanted to make a comeback, I really should have done it then and yet I chose today...) and I am ashamed, and am mentally crawling with my tail between my legs right now, because I have not blogged for so long. The last entry was a lame one on my Wordpress blog status update in January. Why I felt driven to put that up is anybody's guess. It makes me cringe....like, major hiney-cringe, when I look at it, but I am leaving it up there anyways, because you're my friend, and whether you like me the way I am or not, I am not going to pretend to you, this far in our relationship...," thus she spoke into total emptiness, without stopping to wonder who was listening.

Ahem...anyway, so, instead of talking about me I want you to tell me things about yourself, since I love you all, my dear second-chance-giving readers. I have a few questions for you, and I hope you will answer them in the comments section. So, here goes:

1. What do you like most about being around friends?

2. what is your favorite drink?

3. What is your idea of fun?

4. What book are you reading now?

5. Who is your favorite actor/actress?

6. What is your favorite movie of all time?

7. What time is it?

8. If you could change something about yourself, what would that be?

9. Are you in love?

10. Are you able to love peope with all your heart, mind and soul? (corny, I know, but answer it anyway, won't you?)

11. How can you describe the worst feeling that you have ever experienced? (heart break, cramps, you can talk about anything here, as long as you don't mind doing so...)

12. What is the first thing that crosses your mind when you wake up in the morning?

13. How many times do you wait for your phone to ring before you pick it up?

14. What is your favorite smell/flavor?

15. Do you cook? How much do you like your cooking?

16. What is your idea of partying?

17. You will grow up some day, won't you?

18. When you grow up (whenever that will be), what would you like to be?

Right, now that you're going to tell me all your dark secrets, we're going to be BFFs. Yaaaay!

Note: These questions are taken from SampleQuestionnaire.com. I think it's okay to borrow from them, coz I think that's what they intended. Anyway, feel free to use these questions on your own blogs, if you want. Have fun!

2011-01-04T10:53:00.000+05:30

Wordpress sent me this... Hey Wordpress Admin? You guys could have been this nice when I was on Wordpress. Anyway... good to know... Happy New Year!

Team WordPress.com + Stats Helper Monkeys
January 2nd, 2011, 07:22am

Your 2010 year in blogging

Happy New Year from WordPress.com! To kick off the year, we'd like to share with you data on how your blog has been doing. Here's a high level summary of your overall blog health:

Wow

Blog-Health-o-Meter™

We think you did great!

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2010. That's about 9 full 747s.
In 2010, you wrote 26 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 53 posts. You uploaded 70 pictures, taking up a total of 70mb. That's about 1 pictures per week.
Your busiest day of the year was May 9th with 478 views. The most popular post that day was Growing Pains on Mother’s Day.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, mail.redegginfoexpert.com, janehamilton.blogspot.com, and lovejoneslane.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for mother's day clip art, happy mothers day, happy mother's day, mothers day clip art, and happy mother's day clip art.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010. You can see all of the year's most-viewed posts and pages in your Site Stats.

Growing Pains on Mother’s DayMay 2009

About the Blogger

Top 10 Movies that Left Me Speechless!May 2010
2 comments

"Baby Einstein Made My Child Dumb"! Yeah, Right!October 2009

About the Blog
4 comments

Some of your most popular posts were written before 2010. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.

Inspirational Stories Series - People Who Make a Difference

2010-11-27T10:42:00.002+05:30

I was really bad at history, so I have no idea what Aurangzeb did, or whom Subhash Chandra Bose fought. Heck! To this day, I can't accurately say who really built the Taj Mahal (it's a tie between Shah Jahan and Jehangir! I know. Shameful.), but I do know it was built for love! I'm basically not one to follow the lives of powerful, inspirational people from the annals of history. And so, when you ask me, "Who's your role model?" don't expect me to say any names you may recognize.... That's why I felt this little inspirational passage holds a lot of truth. Read on!

Take this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel, appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you. Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care. Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life.

Now, let me tell you, that if you were to ask me who my role model is, you might just be surprised to know - it could be You!

Inspirational Tales Series - The Parable of the Pencil

2010-11-26T10:12:00.000+05:30

This parable of a pencil is so simple, yet it carries so much truth in it. When my husband first shared this story with me (he was preparing for a motivational talk for his students) I was stunned by the simplicity and poignancy of this little parable... Hope you find this as enlightening as I did...

The Pencil maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. "There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."

Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."

And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write."

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Now replace the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you'll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

- Author Unknown -

Inspirational Tales Series - Don't We All?

2010-11-25T11:03:00.001+05:30

Hope you liked the first story I posted in this series. Here is the second one:

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum (homeless or poor man). From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered. This was one of those "don't want to be bothered times." "I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought. He didn't.

He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke. "That's a very pretty car," he said. He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around him. His scraggly blond beard kept more than his face warm. I said, "Thanks," and continued wiping off my car.

He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between us widened, something inside said, "ask him if he needs any help." I was sure that he would say 'yes', but I held true to my inner voice. "Do you need any help?" I asked.

He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall never forget. We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments. I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He spoke the three words that shook me.

"Don't we all?" he said.

I was feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above a bum in the street, until those three words hit me like a twelve gauge shotgun. Don't we all? I needed help. Maybe not for the bus fare or a place to sleep, but I need help. I reached in my wallet and gave him not only enough for bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for the day. Those three little words still ring true. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too. No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help.

Even if it's just a compliment, you can give that. You never know when you may see someone that appears to have it all. They are waiting on you to give them what they don't have. A different perspective on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respite from daily chaos, that only you through a torn world can see.

Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger wandering the streets. Maybe he was more than that. Maybe he was sent by a power that is great and wise, to minister to a soul too comfortable in themselves.

Maybe God looked down, called an Angel, dressed him like a bum, then said, "Go minister to that man cleaning the car, that man needs help." Don't we all?

- Author Unknown -

Inspirational Tales Series - The Gift

2010-11-24T10:24:00.000+05:30

I never read inspirational stories. That is 'read' in the past tense. I had become such a cynic that I used to find them tacky and silly, and a waste of time. I felt that these preachy stories where from someone who just sat in the comfort of their homes and didn't know anything about how horrid the world, and people in general, have become. Having a child shifts your opinion of a lot of things - for their sake you need to be optimistic, noble, courageous, and believing. Now every inspiration story I read (present tense) I remember so that, one day, I can pass these values and thoughts to my daughter. I will post a few stories that inspired me or struck a chord deep in my heart. And another important point I need to make - I am a Christian, and I don't hide it. So I'm taking things one step further in this blog, and talking about spiritual things. I hope you, my reader and friend, will stay with me on this. Enjoy...

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As graduation day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you gave me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy book.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search for his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he read those words, a car key dropped from an envelope taped behind the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?

Blondie Jokes!

2010-11-23T12:16:00.002+05:30

Saw this in the Blondie archives on my Google Reader (yes, I totally subscribe to this stuff, and I adore it!) [And yes, I read the archives! Why? Wouldn't you? C'mon, it's Blondie!!]

HAHHA! :D

This image is taken from the Blondie comics strip featured on ArcaMax Publishing. So, please don't sue me!

Blogging Gems I Need to Share

2010-11-22T18:13:00.000+05:30

Every day I read a lot of interesting stuff on my Google Reader, Twitter feed, and Facebook wall. I come across something that is so gripping that I decide it's not enough to share it/retweet it/or bookmark it. I have a deep desire to talk about it on my blog. Notice I said, 'deep desire'. So, I bookmark it under 'Blogpost Idea' on my Google Bookmarks, and vow to return to it at the end of the day, and share it with my faithful readers. Then I sit at my computer and start posting insightful blog posts about these useful things and then all my readers are empowered and enlightened because of my wise comments!... Or not.

Instead, once these interesting blogs, pages, or posts have been bookmarked, they rot in bookmark purgatory until one day, I decide to purge myself by putting ALL those posts into one single humongous potpourri of miscellany.

Anyway, here are links to articles/posts/blogs that caught my interest. If you like it, good! If you don't please don't do a psychoanalysis of my personality based on my reading preference!! :P

Blogging - because I need serious help there.
604 Blog Post Ideas for When You are Stuck...like right now! And also if you need to see an adorable picture of a little boy and his pet dog!
13 Types of Posts That Always Gets Lots of Comments. Geez, I could use some of that!

Social Media - for the uninitiated (if they exist at all)
For Those Facebook Left Behind - if you are one of the million people who thought they are one of 4 people who knew nothing about social media.
Generator Blog - well, it generates everything except electricity. Go and experience hours of mind-bending and fruitless yet strangely addictive Internet activity that this blog has to offer!

Good Advice - because I know you won't listen!
Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young - Yeah! Way to go! Tell it like it is!
42 Practical Ways to Improve Yourself - I've already done one of them. Guess which one! If you know me, you know this is really lame...

Making a Difference - some people really do have better things to do.
The Ugly Indian - when will we learn to clean up our own mess...literally?
My good friend's blogpost on Contemplations and Ruminations - it's a post on Sherlock Holmes (she's crazy about books!), but at the end she talks about something good that the Kanyakumari district has been doing for a while...Find out!

Creative People - bringing the Wow! because they can.
3D Projections on Buildings - this is awesome!
Flash Mob at the Ohio Union 5/3/2010 - because I love to see people suddenly break out in dance and song!!

Food - because, with me, it all comes down to food!

14 Useful Tools for Your Kitchen - you know, when you can't use the pan for frying bacon, like normal people, and you need to use the microwave...or something like that!
Carl Kleiner - or when you're so NOT like me, and can resist yummy food long enough to go photographing them and making lovely ethereal pictures!
KFC Double Down Sandwich: Why Use a Bun When You Have Fried Chicken? - for when you really want a massive heart attack! No, really. This is atrocious...why don't you just pile it on, one day at a time, with chocolate? At least, it's more fun! But then, that's just me...

Ode to Rain - A Series of Haikus

2010-11-16T20:00:00.000+05:30

November rains beat down
On dusty roads.
Gardener and Artist in one.

Sitting here watching raindrops
Race down to the pane.
Win or lose, they all become rain.

Rain showers always form
Yearnings for warm food
And mothering.

After the rain,
Comes cleansing clarity
And the desire for new beginnings.

Ode to rain... ceased due to Monotony.
I wonder
What rain feels like?

South Indian Fish Curry - My Mom's Recipe

2010-11-12T20:00:00.001+05:30

South Indian Fish Curry...Mmm!

You might remember, a while ago, I declared shamelessly that I cannot cook Indian food. This post is not where I tell you that I can finally cook! Nope. I just want to reiterate the fact that Indian food, with all its coconut and weird garnishing and all those powders in varying shades of brown and yellow, with all those herbs....IT'S JUST DRIVING ME CRAAAAAAAZZZZYYYYY! Sorry, that rant might have erupted from the fact that I burnt perfectly good carrot-beans poriyal today morning... sigh.

Anyway, as a responsible South Indian wife, living in Kanyakumari district, it is my bounden duty to learn to make fish curry...yes, we live in the 18th century here. Why do you ask?! So, I learnt it, by god, I learnt it. I decided I was going to learn to make it, if it killed me...(sometimes, it very nearly did!) My 'women's lib' flag holder friends are going to hate me for this. But the fact is, that everyone here makes wonderful fish curry, and I hated the fact that I couldn't make any to satisfy my fish cravings! I already tried one recipe, but then it was like a tornado - never know when it takes off, and where it will hit, but damage always ensues! Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with the recipe, it's the way I make it that is so off the point! So, if you want to make that fish curry, go right ahead. As for me, this recipe which my mom shared with me, is what has finally satisfied that fish curry craving I have been carrying around for centuries!

My Mom's Spicy Fish Curry

Things you need:

- 1/2 kg fish (you can use any kind, but the fun kind of fish is one that doesn't have too many bones to pick! Go ahead and use your favorite)

- 1 cup fresh coconut scraped (or whatever they call it, when you use that thing to get this - now that's amazing technology, and the main reason for the ultra-small hip sizes our mothers used to have!)

- 1/2 onion - 1 half of the half (stay with me) should be chopped, and the other half should be used whole.

- 3 cloves of garlic (or 4 if they are small in size)

- 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds

- 2-3 whole black pepper seeds

- half of a medium-sized tomato (make sure it's ripe and red)

- 1 tsp turmeric powder

- 1 tbsp fine red-chilli powder

- 1-2 tbsp pure coconut oil

- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil (sunflower oil, or something which does not have a strong flavor)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds (just tiny black things that pop like crazy!)
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds. They are tiny, but they pack a flavor-punch!

- 1 inch of very dark tamarind dissolved in 100ml of water. Remember, the darker the tamarind, the more sour it is. If what you have is a lighter shade, go ahead and use more than 1 inch of it.

- 1 inch of fresh ginger, finely chopped

- 1-2 green chillies (optional- hold on, I'll tell you why)

- 1 sprig of curry leaves

- 1 sprig of fresh cumin leaves (I think some people call it 'parsley')

- salt to taste

Here's what you do:

1. First take all ingredients, beginning from the scraped coconut till the red-chilli powder on the list above. Drop everything except the onion, into your grinder/mixer/blender.

2. Cut the onion in half. You need only the quarter of an onion for the paste. Drop this into the mixer, along with everything else.

3. Grind the ingredients to a fine paste in a blender/mixer, adding a small quantity of water to enable smooth grinding. Keep the paste aside.

2. In a wok, or a clay pot (the mud pot is best), heat the cooking oil. Note: You can use coconut oil here, but I am terribly turned off by the smell of heating coconut oil! It fills the house, and the smell is overpowering. So, I just go with some harmless vegetable oil.

3. When the oil has heated, drop in the mustard seeds and the fenugreek seeds. Wait till the mustard pops.

4. Immediately, drop in the chopped quarter of an onion, and saute.

5. When the onion changes color, or becomes whiter, drop in the paste that you made earlier. Please do not let the onion saute to a brown color. The flavor of well-sauteed onion will only go well with other meat preparations (like chicken curry). We need everyone in this recipe to stay fresh and dainty!

6. Now, give the paste a good stir in the pot. Add a couple of teaspoons of water and cover the pot. Keep the flame in simmer, and let the whole mixture come to a slow boil. This could take you anything from 3 to 5 minutes. DO NOT let the mixture boil away to glory! You will be disappointed...Remember, it's all about keeping things fresh and lively

7. When the mixture has boiled once, add the fish and salt to taste (I would suggest that you add a tiny bit more than you usually do, since it will complement the spice and sourness well).

8. Cover the pot again, and let it cook on high flame. After 8 to 10 minutes, carefully lift the lid and take a peek. I say 'carefully', because for some strange reason this curry tends to sputter like a volcano! Why? Beats me! So, unless you want to walk around smelling like fish curry, and making everyone salivate, including the neighbor's cat, be careful when you lift the lid!)

9. Lift a piece of fish out of the curry, and see if it has taken on the color of the gravy. If it is still whitish or pale, cover the gravy and let it boil some more. If the fish has turned yellow, and looks cooked, go ahead to the next step.

10. Next step - Strain the tamarind paste, removing all the seeds and the other stuff that doesn't dissolve. Pour this into the curry and give it a slow stir.

11. You can also add the chopped ginger at this point. No sauteing needed. Don't worry, the fresh ginger taste does something awesome for this recipe! Now let the curry boil for a minute, with the pot uncovered.

12. If the gravy is too thick, you can add a little water to ease things up a bit. If you want a thick gravy, it's fine. Just make sure it doesn't burn.

13. Taste the curry (very important step! Really!) to see if the balance of the salt, sourness, and the spice is right. You can add the sliced green chillies that you put on hold, if you feel that the heat is not enough. The spice, salt, and sourness should not overpower each other. When you taste it, it should feel delicious! If it does, you've hit the spot! When it comes to fish curry, it's all about the balance.

13. Now, pour in the coconut oil, as the curry is boiling.

14. Finally, chop up the curry leaves and the cumin leaves and drop them right on top of the oil on the curry.

15. Cover the pot and turn off the stove. You're Done!

16. After a couple of minutes, when all the boiling is done (yes it will continue to boil for a while, even after the stove is switched off) you can taste and enjoy!

This recipe received great reviews from everyone who had this. It's a little bit of hard work but the effort is totally worth it.

That's the story of how I finally learnt Lesson 1 of 'Being a Good South Indian Wife'.

I discontinued the course, so that's all the subject knowledge I have, and I'm fine with that!! :P

How Do You Cure Boredom?

2010-11-11T19:13:00.002+05:30

Found this prompt on Plinky.com and decided to go for it. Sometimes I get stuck on thinking of something clever to say. And, well, a blog is all about thinking of something clever to say, isn't it?! Anyway, I thought I'd look to Plinky for help, and I found this as one of the prompts for November 9: "How Do you Cure Boredom?"

Even boredom is adorable on a baby!!

Hmmm....Interesting question...

Have I ever been bored? Heck, yeah! Like a lot! How 'bout all the way from 4th grade to college final year?! Yeah, I cannot count the number of classes where I have happily dozed off (while simultaneously writing notes! yeah, I wish there was a Guinness Record for that. I'd totally win!) and woke up to the entire class staring at me, wondering when my precariously perched head is going to fall off my shoulders!!

So, boredom is nothing new to me...

But, how to cure boredom? Now that is something new. So, let's see... what are the things I've been doing to cure my boredom?

1. Reading - Yep. This pretty much takes the cake! I read a lot. If I don't get anything, I have taken to reading eons old news on the newspapers that I line the cupboards with! And I don't just read if I'm bored! I am bored when I have nothing to read! Reading is definitely a cure for boredom. I wish that more people would pick up a good book which they have to turn the pages rather than scroll through or download, sit down with a hot cup of coffee (or not), curl up in a comfortable position, and just....read. It's one of the best feelings in the world, apart from smelling the head of a new born... ever tried that?

2. Blogging - start a blog. And then just write! Do not care about the following: a) how many readers you have; b) how often you write; c) how many people know you have a blog; d) how many people care that you have a blog; e) are you funny, charming, interesting, controversial, or even consistently any one of those! My friend, all those concerns are totally secondary to the fact that you just get to vent online and no one can stop you.... :) Got a better reason?

3.Reading Food Blogs - I tell you, once you've gone into a routine of blogging inconsistently, you will bored...again. So, what better to do than go read other people's blogs?! Some people like to read their colleagues' blogs, some like to read boring corporate blogs, I like to read FOOD BLOGS!!!! yaaay! So, if you're a food lover and just like to oggle at good food, go and subscribe to really good food blogs! Too many double-'Os' in that sentence! I like to read The Pioneer Woman (duh! of course!), EpiCute, Joy the Baker, Bakerella, Smitten Kitchen, and Two Boos Who Eat. Each one carries different recipes and it gives me something like a goal or dream to reach out for...because I like cooking comfort food! Which leads me to...

4. Cooking - Feel bored? Learn how to make a brownie, or really good fried chicken, or French fries, or a cake, or pizza! Go look up the recipes, list out the ingredients, go grocery-hunting (trust me, I do that a lot and it's fun!), plan ahead to make your yummy comfort food, let the anticipation build up, dream about it every night till D-Day, get excited, and then make the recipe, then eat to your hearts' content, and then blog about it!! Tell me, I challenge you, tell me, what's not to love about that process?!

5. Find a cure for boredom! That should keep me occupied for the rest of my life, I think!! :)) heheh!

Anyway, that's my list, you guys. What about you? What is your cure for boredom? Have something exciting to fill the hours? Tell me in the comments, okay?

Savoury Pancake Made with Potatoes + Sides of Sauted Veggies and Tuna Masala

2010-11-08T15:47:00.000+05:30

Pancakes have become a mainstay at our household lately. After I made pancakes the first time, the main consumers of my cooking have decided that they will allow me to continue this trend. Now the problem is that I can try out different recipes only at dinner time, because that is the only time of day when I can take time to be creative/daring/foolish (or even manage to get all the grocery I need for a particular recipe!). So, I end up wanting to make pancakes for dinner a lot. This went down well with the husband and child the first time. Second time around, they had a doubtful look on their face, and then smiled their way through their pancakes anyway. Third time came by, and when we had pancakes for dinner again, my husband might have tried to run out the door! Humph!

Anyway, I decided we can't have that going on any longer, and ventured into (notice how I make it sound like a great journey or business undertaking...) savoury pancakes. And I am really glad I did. Since we can't just have a savoury pancake without something to complement it, I also made two side dishes to go with it.

Whoa! Wait...What?!?!? Did you just say, "TWO side dishes" lazy procrastinating Jane?!?! Yes, I did. Because, I started out with one plan, and then I ended up making something else. Happens to me frequently. So, I had cut up veggies for one dish, and opened a can of tuna for topping the pancake or something like that. Finally I ended up making two separate sides to go with the pancakes, all because I forgot my original plan!! Anyway, no complains from anyone. Debbie ate up the whole thing, and told me she loves me! So, I think we have a winner. Recipe? Here you go...

Savoury pancakes with Tuna Masala and Veggies Stir-fry

Savoury Pancakes with Potatoes

Things you need: (this is the basic pancake mix, minus the stuff that makes it sweet, like vanilla essence and sugar. Instead we use other yummy savoury stuff. Simple!)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup maida (flour)
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2-3 medium-sized potatoes
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- some cumin leaves (a.k.a parsley)
- some diced bacon or chicken frankfurters (optional)
- 1 tbsp oil

Here's what you do:
1. Peel the potatoes and boil them with a pinch of salt, until they are very soft.
2. When they are well boiled, mash them and set aside to cool.
3. Next, start on the pancake batter.
4. Beat the egg well, in a deep bowl.
5. Now add the maida, baking powder, salt and pepper into this and mix well.
6. Gradually add all the milk and mix well.
7. Now, slowly incorporate the mashed potatoes into the mix.Mix it well and try to dissolve as much of the lumpiness as possible. If there are stray bits of potatoes that just refuse to dissolve, let them be. They'll only add to your happiness!
8. If you feel that the batter does not have a pourable consistency, add some more milk.

9. Finally add the diced meat. I did not add meat, because for some strange reason I bought a can of tuna! Don't look at me like that...I think I zoned out for a moment at the grocery store. Also, I think they didn't have any other type of processed meat. But if you want to, adding some meat in this pancake batter is just the thing you need to do to make this world a better place! :)

10.Finally, add in the finely chopped cumin leaves for that 'Howzat!' effect.
11. In a flat pan, heat some oil, preferably something that does not have a strong flavor. Oh, you can also use butter.
12. Now, pour a large ladle-full of batter on the pan, and let it cook on one side. DO NOT try to spread the batter! When you see the bubbles burst, turn it over ever so lovingly.
Now, savoury pancake is ready to go. This is great all by itself, but if you have an unused can of tuna, and some coarsely chopped veggies which you forgot why you chopped, then go ahead and make these:

Tuna Masala
What you need:
- 1 small can of tuna
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 tomato finely chopped
- 2 large green chillies finely chopped
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp mustard seeds (optional. Go ahead if your method of cooking is deeply Indian, and you just need to see those little guys in every dish you make. Or if you need the time to chop the onions!)
- curry leaves (again, optional. Only to be used, if you are using mustard seeds. Otherwise, why bother? I don't think this influences the taste of the dish. Only maybe if you like the gourmet look of green leaves sticking out of your food!)
- salt to taste

Here's what you do:
1. First, heat some cooking oil in a pan.
2. To this, add the mustard seeds and wait till it pops.
3. Now add some curry leaves, and then the onions.
4. Saute the onions well, until they turn slightly brown.
5. Now add the chopped tomatoes and saute well. Let it mix well together until the onions and tomatoes merge together.
6. Add the green chillies and the ginger-garlic paste. Let the whole thing simmer for a while.
7. You can add a little bit of water, if you find the entire thing too thick.
8. Drain any preservative oil or liquid in the tuna can, and add only the tuna meat into the pan.
9. Quickly add the salt and give it a good stir.
10. Let the mixture simmer for a while. Make sure that the dish is not too watery. It should be a thick paste-like consistency. Now, take it off the stove.
11. Garnish with some cumin leaves.

Stir-fry Veggies

I wanted some color, crunchiness, and healthy food in my dinner that day, so I also stir-fried some vegetables. The secret behind a good stir-fry is to make sure that the vegetables retain some of their fresh crunchiness and their original flavor. So, hold back on those wide range of spices and sauces, except for the bare essentials, and let the veggies do the talking!

Things you need:
- 1/2 cup carrots coarsely cut into 1cm long pieces (I don't know the technical term for this. Just don't go and finely chop them, okay?)
- 1/2 cop onions coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup green peppers (capsicum) coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup ripe tomatoes coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup beans cut into 2cm pieces. You know...they should all be the same size...figure it out yourself!
- 1/4 cup green peas (I didn't have any, so none in the picture)
- 1 tsp of soy sauce
- a sprinkling of oregano
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste

What you do:
1. First know that vegetable stir-fry is really really simple!Okay, now that we've established that, let's move on.
2. Heat some cooking oil in a pan. You can use olive oil if you are going the healthy way.
3. Now, drop in the onions and green peppers together. They both require about the same cooking time, and also give out some water, so let them meet first!
4. Now drop in the carrots, beans and peas. Sprinkle salt and stir very quickly on a high flame. Make sure they are partially cooked.
5. Add some oil every time you feel that the veggies are about to stick to the pan. You just want the vegetables to be a little on the fried side of things :) I like the sound of that - 'fried side'. "I'll meet you on the fried side!" hehe!
6. Now, pour in the soy sauce, sprinkle some oregano, and give it another stir.
7. Finally, add the pepper and give it a stir. Okay, if you see the word 'stir' a lot here, that's because it's the basic concept of a stir-fry....That's all there is to it! You just heat some oil, and just dump in veggies you like, and stir. Simple!
8. There is no 8th step. Just serve and eat. Or don't serve. Just eat! Heheh!

I arranged both the stir-fry and the tune on top of a pancake to make it look all 5-star-restaurant-ish, but I doubt if it looks like that at all! Anyway, it certainly tasted like a 5-star! Who cares about the way the food looks, as long as the picture is your's right? Yep, I took the picture this time. So...

This was truly delicious. Of course, you shouldn't just stop with one pancake...

How to Deal with Childish Adults at Work

2010-10-29T12:18:00.001+05:30

(This article appeared in YourOfficeCoach.com, and is written by Marie G. McIntyre.)

Ideally, everyone would behave in a calm, rational, adult manner at work. Unfortunately, some people just never grow up completely. If you have to deal with immature bosses, coworkers, or employees, perhaps the suggestions below will help you keep your sanity. Here are some signs that you are dealing with childish adults.

1. Throwing Temper tantrums: Like 2-year-olds, people who throw temper tantrums believe they are entitled to get their own way. They therefore feel free to abuse anyone who thwarts their desires. Unfortunately, this group often includes immature high-level executives who believe that having power gives them the right to treat others any way they like.

The Proper Response: The best response to a tantrum is no response at all. Stay quiet and calm until the tantrum calms down enough to have a civilized conversation. If it goes on too long, politely excuse yourself and leave. Never show fear, anger, or any other emotional response, since that will be very rewarding to the tantrum thrower. When someone acts this childish, you must be the adult.

2. Tattletales: Some people enjoy telling tales and rattling out their colleagues. (My note: ‘tattling’ means complaining about one person to a higher authority – much like children go to their parents and complain about a sibling or friend for silly reasons!) This can be blatantly childlike: “Mary came back late from lunch two times last week.” Or it may be disguised in more professional language: “Although Bob’s group made a good effort, we were never able to get their documents on schedule, so the whole project is late.”

The Proper Response: Tattling needs to be directly confronted. If the information is inaccurate, let the tattler know this and be sure to correct any erroneous impressions that others may have. If the information is accurate, but detrimental to you, ask the tattler to please share concerns with you before taking them to others. Sometimes one member of a work group tattles on everyone else, in which case, the whole group may need to confront the issue.

3. Not Sharing Their Toys: Collaborative colleagues are willing to share plans, goals, resources, ideas, and information. But some people are hoarders who obviously never learned to play well with others. They hog the equipment or fail to let others know about important developments. This may or may not be intentional, but either way it can create problems.

The Proper Response: Hoarding can be dealt with directly or indirectly. You might be able to ask for an agreement about how equipment will be used or when information will be shared. Buit since some people never change, there are times when the best approach is to keep reminding, requesting, and following up. Angrily confronting hoarders is almost always a mistake, since they may retaliate by becoming even less cooperative.

4. Craving Attention: Some people are attention junkies who want all eyes and ears focused on them. This behavior is actually rather pathetic, since it usually reflects a deep-seated lack of self-worth and self-confidence. But although it may be pathetic, it can be very annoying.

The Proper Response: The worst thing you can do is give an attention junkie more attention, since that just rewards their self-centered behavior. When they begin to go on and on about their problems and accomplishments, you need to change the subject or politely excuse yourself. If you get hooked into these conversations, you may never escape. But don’t except the person to become less self-absorbed. Attention junkies seldom change.

5. Sibling Rivalries: When unhealthy competition develops between coworkers, everybody suffers. Some people always have to prove that they are better, smarter, or more successful than others. Of course, anyone with minimum of psychological insight will immediately conclude that these braggarts actually feel very inadequate.

The Proper Response: Never get trapped in a “my dog is bigger than your dog” conversation with a braggart. They will always find a way to top your best story, even if they have to stretch the truth. If it’s just harmless bragging, say “that’s nice” in a sincere manner and change the subject. But if you believe that the rival might actually take devious actions to get ahead of you, then watch your back.

6. Crybabies: Crybaby colleagues may not actually cry. But they are always whining or complaining about something. Nothing is ever quite right and they are never completely happy about anything. If you say that it’s a nice day, they’ll reply that it’s probably going to rain tomorrow. Crybabies invented the half-empty glass.

The Proper Response: You don’t want to reward crybaby behavior. So don’t join in with the complaining or start whining yourself. If you do, you’ll soon become the crybaby’s complaint buddy. Just change the subject and try to shift the focus from past problems to future goals. If the behavior persists, you may simply want to avoid these people.

7. Forming Cliques: In some work groups, a little group will decide that they are the ‘insiders’ and refuse to admit anyone else to their exalted circle. They may eat lunch together or play golf together or talk exclusively to one another. But the point is that they’re special. They probably did the same thing then they were in middle school.

The Proper Response: These people are silly and childish, so find a more mature and rewarding group to interact with. Be friendly to clique members when you have to work with them and just ignore them the rest of the time.

Childish adults are annoying, but don’t get upset about them. Just be glad that you are a mature person yourself.

Discovering the Elementary, my dear Watson! - Bread Pizza!

2010-10-26T08:09:00.000+05:30

Mind you, I said, 'Bread Pizza' and not 'Pizza Bread'. If I had said the latter, that would mean that I have the superior skill-set it takes to make pizza dough from scratch, that I would know what is yeast (including its properties, and why the heck exactly we need it in this recipe - I have no idea why), and that I have the upper arm strength to actually make pizza dough!

You know me too well, so I won't elaborate on that!

Instead, what I did was, used my normal bread slices that I always have lying around at home, and turned it into something that would satisfy my perennial pizza craving. Yes, I do have a perennial craving for pizza. I think I was born with that technical fault! Something about the cheese and the sauce and all those carbs...

Anyway, if you suddenly have a craving for pizza, and want to fix a quick and painless dinner, make Bread Pizza.

Bread Pizza

Things you need:

- 1 tbsp oil - either olive oil or normal sunflower oil.

Psst, you could also use butter...or pretend I said nothing...

- bread slices (obvsly!)

- onions diced into not-so-large pieces

- green peppers (capsicum) diced

- red peppers (capsicum that's red)diced

- yellow peppers (capsicum that's ... you get the idea.)

(you don't need all of them, just one kind will also do just fine)

- 1 tsp black pepper (ha! No. This time it's the black powder!)

- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

- Pizza Sauce 1 tbsp per slice (I think FunFoods has a product that some Ngl grocery stores carry - Lynns to the rescue!)

- Mozarella cheese grated

- chopped canned-meat of your choice - chicken frankfurters, luncheon meat, or even cooked and shredded chicken - whatever you want your topping to be. As long as it's not sweet - I don't dig sweet pizza! Sorry, there are some things my palate won't accept...

- oregano flakes

- soy sauce

- 1 tsp red-chilli powder, or 2-3 finely chopped green chillies

Here's what you do:

Just make the topping and arrange on the bread, then microwave! Ba-ding! You're done!

Okay. So making the topping takes a little longer...:P Sorry!

I just threw stuff together on the pan, and improvised as I went along. So, anything that caters to your taste/craving should do.

1. In a pan, pour in a tbsp of oil or melt some butter. When the oil heats up, drop in the diced peppers.

2. When the peppers are well sauteed, add the onion and a tbsp of ginger-garlic paste.

3. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on this, and saute well.

4. Now pour in the soy sauce. Then add the green chillies or red chilli powder if you need more heat. Note: if you have a palate that doesn't take much heat, STOP with just adding black pepper powder.

5. Throw in the meat, and let it cook with all the veggies for a while. If you want to go vegetarian on this one, or if you didn't have any meat on hand when your craving struck (you know who), skip this step.

6. Let the whole mixture simmer for a while, till all the water content in the veggies have released and reduced. Now you have yummy pizza-topping! Yaay!!

Note: You know, you could also arrange all the toppings raw on the slice, but what's the fun in that?

7. Next, grease a baking pan or microwave dish that's flat and arrange bread slices on it.

8. Spread some pizza sauce on the bread slice. Go easy on the sauce, because it has a distinct tangy flavor that you might not like too much of. I got so excited that I slathered on the sauce for a couple of slices, and regretted it with every bite. One spoon sauce per slice will do.

9. Place some of the pizza-topping on the bread. Arrange greens olives or just leave it like it is.

10. Finally, for the glorious part of the entire thing - grate some Mozarella cheese onto each slice. You can over-do it or under-do it, but I'd think you were weird, if you didn't want too much cheese on your pizza! Hence, my culinary contempt for a certain cheese-hater's preferences...

11. Now, just stick it into the oven or the microwave for 3 minutes or till the cheese melts. Let it sit for a while after you remove it from the oven.

12. Eat. And thank me for this pizza short-cut. Or not. Don't have to thank me if your mouth is too full with wonderful pizza! I'll understand :)

Just want you to know that I failed, AGAIN, to take a picture of something I made! So, your pizza could look like this...

Or this...

...based on how colorful your pizza-topping is. Mine was pretty amazing - emphasis on 'pretty'. Unfortunately, you know what transpired. I ate, and forgot everything else...sigh. This is getting to be a problem.

Note: These pictures are not mine.

Anyway, enjoy, until I come bug you with another recipe, complete with MY OWN pictures of the food! :D

Discovering the Elementary, my dear Watson! - Pancakes!

2010-10-25T18:16:00.000+05:30

I have had many 'Duh' moments! In fact, 80% of my life is all about the 'duh' moments. You know, like stuff that everybody just KNOWS when they are put into a certain situation, but for which, I need a user's manual, complete with detailed, labeled diagrams! Yeah, sometimes I make myself tired...

Anyway, cooking, by and large, has been that way for me, which you already know if you have closely followed this blog. I can't cook. That should probably be my epitaph, or something. So, I used to think that making pizza, pancake, and brownies were like high-end magic, or at least stuff that I would never be able to do, without changing life as it was for myself!! HAHA! I have no idea what I just said! Oh yeah, what I said was that I thought pancakes and brownies were hard to make.

But then, (I love how you can break all rules of grammar on your personal blog!) I decided last week, that I am going to figure out the pancake and the pizza. One was, and the other wasn't really...

So, here's how I made pancake - those who make scrumptious pancakes on a daily basis and WOW your family every day, and are adventurous with their pancakes to turn them into 5-star restaurant cuisines, please...PLEASE ignore this post. Others, like me, who have no idea how a pancake is made, have never eaten one, or think that it is 'Un-do-able' follow me. It's really elementary, my dear Watson!

Basic Pancake Recipe

This is what you need:

- 1 egg

1 & 1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour (maida)

3 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp baking powder

Here's what you do:

1. Whisk together the egg, vanilla essence, sugar and salt. Whisk till the sugar is, at least partially, dissolved.

2. Now, add the flour and the baking powder, and combine well.

3. Pour in the milk and stir well, so that no lumps are formed. Remember, lumps are no good for any one, anywhere.

At this point, let me just say, that if you have ever made wheat dhosas for dinner on those totally uninspired evenings, you know that making a pancake is not very different. It's the ingredients that are the fun part!

4. Anyway, make sure that your batter is not too watery (or milky!), and not too thick either. You know... your 1&1/2 cup of milk should be enough to make an easy-to-pour batter.

5. Heat up a flat pan (non-stick pan or your dhosa pan should do), and, if you don't care about your diet, go ahead and dab some butter on the heated pan. If you do care about your diet, skip the butter. Nothing inedible will happen!

6. Take a large ladle-full of batter, and simply pour in the center of the pan. NOTE: Please, please DO NOT spread it around with your ladle!! If you, like me, have made one too many godhumai dhosas (wheat dhosas) and rice dhosas in your life, you will have the tendency to spread batter around on the pan. DON'T DO IT! Hold your hand back, and grit your teeth if necessary.

You see, pancake is wonderful like that. No effort at all, no stress to make perfect round-shaped things. Just pour and let it be.

7. You will see that the batter itself has the tendency to spread a wee-bit. After that it will stop spreading and start to fluff up nicely. YUM!

8. Wait till all the bubbles on the batter burst (now it's back to the dhosa process again!). Flip it over on the pan, if you have crazy Julia-Child-skills! If not, just take a flat ladle and turn it over.

9. Let it brown up a bit on the other side too. You shouldn't let any dark-spot, burn-marks, or scars form on the pancake. Treat it like a gentle flower...

10. Flip it back up onto a plate...and go make some more. Or...leave some one else to make their own breakfast (I only wish...) and pour some honey over your pancakes and stuff your pretty/handsome face with them!!! Usually, people use maple syrup. I have no idea what it is. So, I used honey, and I was anything but regretful...meaning, that I could not wipe the smile off my face...

Pancake, where were you all my life? Sigh!

PS: If you are wondering what's all this 'pancake & image not mine!' about, I just wanted to let you now, that I did NOT photograph even one part of the pancake-making process. Even though I seriously considered it for all of 2 seconds, I did not even stop to photograph the finished product. It was all already in my mouth! I made it twice last week, and still failed to get a picture. So, I used an image I found on the web. Just googled 'basic pancake' and got these images. These images are not mine. But, for the record, I would like to sincerely state that I did make pancakes and they did taste heavenly. And mine looked exactly like those in the pictures. So, There!

Top 10 Things I'd Love to Do, but probably won't!

2010-09-23T13:03:00.000+05:30

So, I came across this post by Shoni (entered in OhAmanda's Top10Tuesday linky party), which was inspired by this post by Stephanie....and I decided to tell you what is lurking in the darkest recesses of my mind! My dreams, desires that I will never quite be able to carry out... Top 10 Things that I so want to do, but somehow never did...sigh! This is maudlin...*sniff*

1. Cut my hair short - I've seen many people take the plunge and be happy about the results! Whenever I look at my straggly, split-ended hair that is so neanderthal, I just want to lop it all off. When summer comes, I just want to go bald, and sport a jug of ice cold water as a hat!! Don't laugh! You would too, if you have really experienced south Indian summers! So, I dream about the day I cut my hair, style it, and look uber cool...so not happening right now. :(

2. Write a Book - Am I totally out of my mind???!!! Who in the world has the time?? I have ideas, but no time. My sorry tale of entering the NANAWRIMO is testimony to this...

3. Traveling the World - Or at least, The Americas and Europe...Or France and USA? No? Okay, how about just USA? ... Okay, just India...you know? All India Tour! No? Okay, what about if we just visited Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata? They're interesting! No? Okay, can I just visit my friends in Chennai, please? No? Okay. Sorry, I forgot...I'm married to a very grounded and level-headed man with his "feet firmly planted on the ground". Had no idea that he meant he hated traveling!! And, anyway, who in the world's got the time?!?!?

4. Make Chocolate Ganache - It looks yummy, it looks easy, but I'm not getting it done in this century, because 1. I will never find the ingredients. 2. I don't think I will ever buy any more cooking equipment. Not after what happened yesterday (What? Oh, you didn't know? Yeah, I almost blew up the microwave, when I reheated bread pudding on a plate that had a little gold design on the sides!! Sparks flew...and I blew a fuse... Also, the electricity bill is the highest we have ever had. My baking is taking a year-long hiatus!!)

5. Make a Living as a Real Writer - you know, the sort that writes a best seller, and then makes book tours all year long, but somehow finds the time to write the next best seller, so that he or she can fill the next year with book tours! And autographed copies of the book sell for thousands of dollars...or rupees! Yeah, that dream...meh!

6. Live in France - WhyFrance? I don't know...maybe because I can eat macaroons and croissants all day long? Could it be that? Or is it because I just want to look at the Eiffel Tower at night, whenever I feel like it...I'm sure it's one of those reasons...Also, let's face it...We ALL, at some point, envy the French for their 'laid-back-ness'!

7. Sip a Cool Glass of Clear Water! - not happening. Bad teeth, one of them missing a nerve because...well... it just right out decayed! (Sorry, TMI, I know), and the others are all wailing at me every night to go make that damn dentist's appointment... So, No. No sipping ice cold water, ice tea, or iced anything for me...

8. Take Debbie to DisneyLand - She loves Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, and is currraaaaizzzy about Donald Duck! Taking her to DisneyLand, and watching her squeal in delight is what my best dreams are made of...Anyone has extra tickets, you know where to send them...Plane tickets, I mean...

9. Master Indian Cooking - Sometime around last week I realized, to the chagrin and dismay and ____ (fill the most disappointing/negative words here!) of my husband, that I cannot CANNOT really cook Indian cuisine well. Nope. Sambar, rasam, and fish curry that is digestible is the best I can do... :( Whereas, give me a microwave and the right ingredients, and I can make a good plate of mac&cheese, or really delicious pasta, make a whopper hamburger with the yummiest ingredients, some good dessert etc. I wish I could cook good Indian food, I really do... My husband looked crestfallen when I announced my discovery...Yes, 'Crestfallen' is the word to describe the cheese-hater...Ho Hum...

10. Meet The Pioneer Woman - You know, I have never wanted to meet anyone as badly as I want to meet Ree Drummond!! No really, it's like an obsession!! I remember, when I was in 9th grade, I wanted to meet Tom Cruise this bad!! And then, well, he went whacko, and I kinda lost interest. Now I am a bit repulsed by him!! But, Ree? Well, I want, WANT, to meet her. I want to see her in person, and I want to shake her hand, and be at the receiving end of that smile, I want to take a tour of her kitchen where all the magic happens, and I want to take one bite of her famous Cinnamon rolls, and I want to die in peace....SIGH!!! Sorry, did not mean to sound like a psycho fan, but really, I adore her that much...If you, by some sad twist of fate, do not know who Ree Drummond is, go and visit The Pioneer Woman! Your life will never be the same again!

"Tell me, who wouldn't want to be friends with her?! She is so sweet!"

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I know it's Thursday, but I am entering this post in OhAmanda's Top10Tuesday posts anyway!

Learning from Karen: Apple Upside Down Cake

2010-09-19T18:00:00.000+05:30

I baked again! And this time, I adapted a recipe from Karen's Contemplations and Ruminations. I tried the Apple Upside Down Cake! And it was gooood! (Please say that like Bruce Almighty!)

I made it for my in-laws when we visited them this weekend, and I am glad to say they liked it! It was the kids and the husband who liked it the most, I think. My man is a lover of all baked stuff, so I couldn't go very wrong with this one! Also, Karen's instructions and pictures are really helpful, so it was a breeze! Here is Karen's recipe.

And now...

Ingredients:

2 - 3 medium apples (or 2 large ones)

1 & 1/2 cup maida (flour)

2 heaped tsps baking powder

1 & 1/4 cup sugar

about 80 grams butter

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

Equipment:

Baking dish

Baking oven (or microwave)

Method:

1. Peel the apples and slice them into wedges.

"I like this dish with its pretty African shapes and colors"

2. It will be very convenient if you have a helper to get rid of all the skins and seeds of the apples! My diligent helper did a pretty good job, I must say!

She emptied the skins onto the table and put them in the dish again to pose for this picture!!

Public announcement: At this point I felt like I will not be able to do any proper dinner-cooking, so I resorted to serving this and left over sambar from lunch, for dinner:

a South Indian favorite and the savior of all working women throughout the country!

3. Next, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan, over a low flame, and add 1/2 cup of sugar to it. Stir constantly till the sugar melts.

I may have added a tad bit more butter than necessary...I'm not saying."

4. The sugar will melt to form a golden gooey liquid. This should probably be made into currency or something!! It's that golden and precious!

The good stuff

5. Please ignore the not-so-ideal-looking pan, and go to the next step before the sugar hardens into toffee. 'Coz harden it will! I let it harden a bit too, just like Karen did! But don't worry, you can totally dilute it again, but why bother if you can do it right the first time?

6. Now add the apples in and stir to coat them with the caramel syrup. Cook till the juice of the apples completely leaves them and mixes with the caramel and the entire thing becomes sticky, gooey, golden, sweet and brown, and you can't resist sneaking a spoonful into your mouth!

7. Butter a baking dish and spread some flour over it. Now spread the apple caramel mixture at the base of the dish, making sure that the entire bottom of the pan is covered.

8. Let's make the batter now. In a bowl, add all the remaining melted butter (I like the sound of that!), and the sugar and mix well.

I have no more pictures the next couple of steps. Seriously, do you think I was so skillful to photograph the ENTIRE process?!?! I'm glad I got this far without burning anything!!

9. To the mixture of sugar and butter, add the egg and beat well. You can also add the vanilla essence into the mixture.

10. Now add the flour and mix vigorously because you really want everything to blend together smoothly. You can add the milk gradually to loosen things up and form a smooth batter that is pourable. If you are greedy and disobedient like me, you can add some chopped nuts - I added cashews!

11. Pour the batter above the caramelized apple, and sit back and contemplate on how awesome this is going to turn out. Also, you can smell the divine perfume of vanilla and caramelized apples.

12. Stick it into the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes or you microwave it on high for 10 minutes. Open the oven and take a peek to make sure everything is going okay....if you are paranoid like me!

13. When it's done, it should be brown, and slightly cracked in the middle - if you used the baking oven....head to Karen's recipe to look at the picture. If you used the microwave, chances are you're not really getting the brown look, rather it will look like this:

This looks alarmingly like the dhosa! But I assure you, it is very yummy apple cake!

I have poked a hole into the cake to make sure it is baked. I don't have toothpicks at home (I have a 3-yr-old instead), so I used the end of my wooden spoon! You may now laugh your heart out at me...sigh.

Oh! Look at the pan from the side! It looks good enough to just scoop put and eat with some icecream!

14. Now comes the 'Upside Down part. Take a large cake dish, or a stainless steel plate, if you don't have those fancy things. I don't have one because, never in my life did I expect I would be baking...So...

15. Place the plate upside down on the plate, and then carefully turn the entire thing upside down again.

16. Let the cake loosen itself from the pan and settle on the plate. Now you have the lovely apple top-side, and all is well with the world!

Oops! Sorry. I did it again!

Now, you can cut a piece, all warm and lovely, and eat it with vanilla icecream!

Learning from Karen: Macaroni and Cheese

2010-09-19T16:47:00.000+05:30

Here's a shout out to an interesting blogger who hails from Nagercoil, and has one of the most interesting blogs I have come across. Karen from Contemplations and Ruminations , a very artistic person who loves to read, and frequently updates the best reviews. She also cooks, and is very nimble with arts and craft, volunteers at local charity organizations and does so much more cool stuff! Oh, and she also has a really cool haircut!! In fact, she is a lot like me, except way cooler than I can ever hope to be!!

So, lately, I have been quite adventurous, and have been taking pointers from Karen's food posts. I have tried out a couple of her recipes. The first that I tried iiiiis (drumroooolll) Macaroni and Cheese!

What? That is your idea of adventure?!?!? Believe me people, when you live in a place where cheddar cheese and unsalted butter is a rarity, simple and straight-forward Mac & Cheese is akin to jumping from the top of the Empire State Building - months of research, scouring the market for the right equipment, and then, taking the plunge! When it's done people appreciate you for the sheer awesomeness of the act, but they still can't believe that you were actually able to do that! Some others will ask, "Okay, but why do you need to do such things? What is the purpose?" To those people, I say, "I do it because I wanted to tell myself I can... HA!!"

So, here's what I used for Karen's Mac & Cheese, but I made a few changes for my convenience:

Ingredients

1 cup of elbow macaroni

2 - 3 tbsps butter

1 heaped tbsp flour (maida)

1 & 1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup ham or salami chopped. I had chicken frankfurters, so that's what I used.

salt, pepper and oregano to taste (this is the stuff that I mentioned scouring the market for - oregano. I found it in Lynns! So, Nagercoilans take heart!)

Equipment:

Baking oven (I only have my loyal microwave, so I just nuked it. Note: it does not give the best results. The baking oven is ideal)

Baking dish (or a glass or microwave friendly dish)

Method:

1. Cook the macaroni aldente (that is, it should be soft but half-done. Like it requires more cooking. Don't be like me and be oggling at the white sauce that you made and let the macaroni over cook!) Make sure you add some salt when you cook it. Drain the macaroni and set aside.

2. Heat the butter in a pan on a low flame, and add the heaped tablespoon of flour to it. Keep stirring so that the entire thing does not form one big lump! You don't want that. Lumps are bad, wherever they are...think about it!

3. While you're reflecting on the dangers of lumps, don't forget to add the milk! Add it slowly, constantly stirring the mixture to make sure that everything blends in smoothly. This along with salt and pepper, as Karen says, is the basic white sauce.

4. Remove the pan from the flame, and add 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese to the sauce. It will melt in the heat of the sauce, and you can give it a stir to make sure it makes friends with the sauce.

5. Now add the pepper, salt, and oregano to the sauce.

6. You can also add the meat - in my case, the frankfurters (about 1/2 cup) - and stir everything in well. Note: the meat part is optional. If you are on a diet (ha! what are you doing making mac & cheese?!?!!), or are resisting meat for a while (poor your!), or just do not want to add to the extra calories and guilt (join the club!) then you can leave out the meat... I know, I jabber a lot...

7. Anyway, now, pour the macaroni into your baking dish.

8. Now comes the good part. Pour the sauce onto the macaroni, and give it a light stir so that all the macaroni is completely coated with the sauce.

9. Spread grated cheddar cheese on the top of the macaroni.

10. Plop it into the oven and let it do its thing for about 10 -20 minutes. I nuked it on high for about 8 minutes.

11. There is no '11th step'. Take the macaroni out and oggle some at the browned crispy top of the dish, and then dig in!! I totally missed out on the crispy browned top because of the microwave. Invest in an oven. I will, one day...sigh!

Mine looked like this:

Ooohhh Mama!

No crispy top, but who cares?!? It was yummy, YUMMY!!! Debbie loved it! Why, even the resident cheese-hater (hint: I married him) deigned to have a plate! WIN!

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Karen's Macaroni and Cheese

Want yummy life-size images that make you drool? The Pioneer Woman's Macaroni and cheese will give you the fix!

Defeating the Purpose of the Teddy Bear!

2010-09-10T11:42:00.000+05:30

Okay, this morning, when I read this article, I essentially felt a sense of hopelessness in this world, and all I can say right now is, "Heck, I've seen it all. I should just roll over and die now! It can't get worse than this!"

"Stop. What are you ranting about?" You ask.

Well, this...THIS!!! Go ahead and read the article if you have the morbid fascination and the stomach for this sort of thing....

: If, for some reason, people take pride in this sort of thing, then this image is from Metro.co.uk.

For the love of all that is dear to mankind, where the heck is this coming from?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I thought cuddly toys are just for little kids to snuggle with! The teddy-bear-lover in me feels violated when soft toys are incorporated into horror movies. It's even worse when children become horror objects in these movies. That "Chucky's Back" crap was the worst...or so I foolishly thought! Now this!

Already, I feel nervous that Debbie is taking her teddy-bear too seriously - talking to him all the time about her school, reading him her books and singing him her rhymes, and the worst yet, crying to him when she gets told off by one of us!! I HATE that!

And, can I just say, that I HATE, DETEST, and am totally and irrevocably repelled by Mr. BEAN! I mean, what is the deal with that jerk? People, please, please, for the sake of the mental stability of your children when they reach their 40s, don't let them watch Mr.Bean...PLEASE!

That show is utter crap! All that nudity, innuendos, and the sheer stupidity and crassness of the man. And I am not even talking about the real show! I am talking about the animated series that is meant for little kids!!!And he has taught my daughter how to talk to her teddy bear.

If you see this man, you have my permission to shoot at sight! With a gun, and real bullets.

You are probably now asking me, "Woman, why don't you just turn off the television, and be done with it? Stop the whining already!" Well, I am working on it. I really am. I feel ashamed with myself for letting things get this far....You see, this show comes around Debbie's dinner time, and she will not let one morsel of food get past her lips if she is not watching this crappy show. And after I deal with 30 minutes of copious tears, the worst case of 3-yr-old tantrums, and the highest pitched screaming in the world, I usually cave in, because I just don't want my already skinny child to go to bed on an empty stomach....

Sigh....

So, this post, which started as a rant on cuddly toys with mental disorders has come down to a plea for help to all moms on the internet. Someone, please advice me on how I can wean my daughter off her soft toy (and her incessant thumb-sucking, while you're at it!), and this stupid Mr.Bean animated series.

I'm waiting for your advice in the comments section. HELP, someone!

Microwave Brownies... And my Baking Debut!

2010-08-30T12:18:00.000+05:30

My mother bakes the best cakes I have ever had. She is one of those rare people on the planet who can taste food and figure out the recipe all on their own. I think 99.9% of those people are master chefs!!! Okay, you guessed right...I am really proud of my mom and her culinary skills. I would also like to point out that my

culinary skills are...well...no where in sight, so far!

The closest I ever got to a baking dish is when I dig in to my mom's Dates Cake! (will get you the recipe soon) However, I decided that, having a chocolate-loving daughter, this state of affairs could not go on for very long! And, I have been craving brownies from the time I knew they existed. The local bakery sells brownies, but I came very close to asphyxiation when I tried them!!! I want to live, people!

And then, there is the fact that I have no oven...yes, I know, I sound like the pathetic soul that I am... But I do have a microwave!! Yaaay! So...

I Googled, found, learnt, revised, and etched into my memory...this recipe:

MICROWAVE BROWNIES

(Caps lock deliberate to indicate awesomeness!) This is my first attempt at baking, EVER. So, cheer me on, okay?

This is a small serving, but you can double it and it works out just fine, as I found out yesterday. I first made these 2 weeks ago, and the pictures are from that attempt.

Things you need: (Basic, non-fancy-schmancy stuff will do for this brownie! And that's good, because, duh, I live in Nagercoil...)

1/2 cup flour (maida)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (Note for folks in Nagercoil :P - I used the Cadbury cocoa powder that is available in a purple tin in local shops)

1 cup sugar (best to use powdered sugar, because the granules take a heck of a long time to dissolve in the butter - not good. If you don't have powdered sugar, just powder the sugar you have, in your grinder/food processor!)

1 & 1/2 stick of butter (I used the Amul salted butter)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

Chocolate chips (So not optional, but I could not find this wonderful blessing anywhere in this town, and I had to do without it...*sniff*)

Chopped Nuts - any kind. I used cashews and almonds

Method:

In a bowl, mix the cocoa and flour well so that both have blended in.

Soften butter and mix the sugar in with it, until soft and creamy.

Add the 2 eggs and whisk till soft and blended in well. You can add the vanilla essence too.

Now, add the dry ingredients very gradually into the liquid mixture (one tbsp at a time) and keep stirring till your arms fall out! Or, if you are lucky like me to have a sweet, patient sister, get her to stir while you casually stand by and add the dry ingredients!! :P Better, yet, use a hand-held or table-top mixer.

When the entire batter has been stirred well, pick the bowl up and sniff the awesome aroma of the entire thing. "People" have been known to eat a finger-full of batter right off the bowl...but that's just "people"! You don't have to do that...or you could, if you want to...*hint, hint*

Now, grease a round (or rectangular) glass baking dish* with butter, and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. I did not have powdered sugar, so I just powdered up some butter cookies that I had and lined the baking dish with it, over the butter! And it rocked!!!

*Use only glass dishes that are meant for microwaves. NEVER use metal, unless you plan to blow up your microwave oven!!

Now, just pour the batter into the baking dish. You might have to spread the batter equally to all parts of the baking dish, because sometimes the batter can be on the thicker side.

Now, stick it into your microwave and set it on high, and set the timer for 10 minutes.

I would strongly suggest that you take a peek at the 7th or 8th minute to check on things. Take a toothpick and insert it into the center of the brownie. If it comes out clean, it's done. If there is almost-cakey batter stuck on it, you need it to go on for the remaining time.

There's no hard-and-fast rule here. If after 10 minutes it still looks suspicious, give it another minute of baking.

At the end, let it sit in the oven for a few minutes. Then take it out and cool it completely, because warm brownies refuse to let go of the baking dish. They still want their mommy!

When cooled, eat the whole thing up without sharing...Oh, sorry...bad advice!!

When cooled, cut out a piece, place it on a small plate, top with vanilla ice cream and a cherry (optional)....eat and go to heaven!

Then come back and tell me how it was. Okay?? This part is NOT optional! Come one, I want to know how yours turned out!

This is the chewy, moist variety of brownie that I love! I am so not into the dry-cake kind of stuff...

Not the best picture possible, but it was after 10pm and I was not at my most patient self....

...as is obvious from this picture!

Wasn't me!

Anyway, she loved it... that's what's important.

Of Morning Walks and Monologues...

2010-07-27T09:38:00.000+05:30

I walk to work everyday (the most misleading thing I have said all day!). And when I say 'walk to work', I don't mean a brisk 1-mile trudge that keeps me healthy and fit, and looking 10 years younger. Nope. The daily morning walk to work takes me a measly 8 minutes!! Totally not beneficial.

So, anyway, I walk 'briskly' every morning, and I'm usually having a happy, interesting conversation with someone....usually myself :(

And this is how it goes...

"Okay, hon, stepping out right now...you're already late...you have 8 minutes to clear an 8 minute distance....Are you going to do this? Hmm...we'll see...walking. walking. walking. step. step. step. looking good baby! Walk, walk, walk....

OOOUUUCChhhhh! What was that?...Something went 'click' in my knee! Okay, ignore it, keep going...Limp, limp, limp....ok, better now...walk, walk, walk...

Oh cripes. There's the Cake shop across the street! Mmmm...nice smells...yummy smells...

(looking at watch) Do I have time to step in for a quick purchase? Okay, Do I NEED the extra calories?? No, and No...for God's Sake Jane, NO!! Geez!

Okay, walk, walk, walk, walk...TRIP! Shucks! Who put the stones in the way?!?!

Okay, nothing happened...no one saw you hon..keep walking, keep walking...you have time...(looking at watch) OH CRAP! I have only 3.5 minutes...where did all the time go, darn it?!?!?!

Okay, keep walking...no ditch that...I think it's time you started running! Oaky, run, run, run..."Run, Forrest, Ruuunnn!" Okay, grow up...Do you really need the "Forrest Gump reference now?!?!

Ooh, nice new shirts on display at the Men's Clothing store on the way!...Hmph! Ignore it! Stupid stuck up clothing store...probably too expensive! Sour grapes...blah, blah...

Oh good, finally at the office building...(looking at watch [for the umpteenth time, even though it does NOT help!!]) Oh cripes...1 more minute...

Okay hon, now you have to climb 4, Four, FOUR floors...Sheesh people, lifts were invented for a reason, you know..Anyways, it's the only exercise you get all day!! so, CLIMB already!!

Climb, climb, climb, no..scratch that...RUN, run, run...

What the...people walking up the steps are getting there faster than me! Shucks.

Run, run, run...GASP, GASP, GASP!! Run, run, drag your feet, stomp, stomp.....crawl, crawl, craaaaawwlllll......Wheeeezz, wheeezz, wheeezzz....cough, cough!

(Drumroll and trumpets blaring) I MADE IT, I MADE IT...YAAAAY!!!! And heck, I have 5 minutes left on the clock!!!!!

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?", you ask?

Well, this is precisely why I set every, and I mean EVERY clock 10 minutes ahead, so that I think I start out 10 minutes early, and half way through I think I'll be on time, and then I assume that I am already 5 minutes late...and PANIC...and when I reach, It's a nice surprise to know I am 5 minutes early!!!

Now ain't that wonderful...fine and dandy!!........................................

.................Aw, shucks....sometimes I don't even recognize myself....!

Somebody bring back the 20 year old Jane, please!

What I wanna be...

What I really am...

HELLPPP!!!!!

Twitter Hop Thursday!

2010-07-22T13:08:00.000+05:30

Hey guys! I love linky parties...they are the single most effective reasons to get me to write something in this space!!! Now, that's a compliment to all the linky parties out there, but I don't think it says anything nice about my blogging skills!

Anyway, I found this Twitter-hopping linky party the other day, and am absolutely thrilled with it.

What is a Twitter Hop Thursday? Well, a bunch of bloggers host this linky party where everyone gets to enter their twitter handle/username. You get to follow many fun twitter users, and...get this...they follow you right back!!

Superb way to get more followers!!

So, Twitter Hop Thursday is hosted by Simply Stacie, The King's Court IV, Little Yaya's, and Review Retreat. All great women, with wonderful blogs (their blog layouts are awesome...I want too!), and to-die-for giveaways. Check them out! Oh, and they always follow you right back, on Twitter! how cool is that??!!!

So, head on over to Simply Stacie's blog here, and get yourself the code, this here cute button, and linky code etc. I am no good at all this code and stuff, and after several frantic bouts of copying and pasting, I have not been able to make the linky thing appear on this post....HELP!!! Somebody....!

Aaaanyway, have fun Twitter hopping, you guys!

Speaking of Music...This is the stuff I Live for...

2010-06-11T16:58:00.000+05:30

This is the theme song for the World Classical Tamil Conference that will be held this month. Written by M. Karunanidhi (chief minister of Tamil Nadu, and one of the greatest men of words that the nation has produced), the music score is composed by our very own A.R. Rahman (saying his name gives me goosebumps!). The song is sung by the best singers of Tamil Nadu and neighboring states, and is a feast for your ears!

I am feeling all patriotic right now, and so I will add this video to go with it:

Vande Mataram...I am moved to tears every time, and I mean Every.Time, I hear this song...

This is the Hindi version of the song...

I hope these songs make you feel the same way they do for me...Enjoy!

GrooveShark - Killer Music!

2010-06-10T15:03:00.000+05:30

I love me some real good music through out the day... There are around a gazillion music CDs lining the shelves of our humble abode, and not one of them belongs to me!! You can see who's the minority here! So, we got HillSong - the whole series they EVER released. Then we've got some Tamil Spiritual Lyrics, some weird classical western music CDs that I can never enjoy, no matter how hard I try...(on such days I'm sure my husband is asking himself, "Ok, someone remind me again, why did I marry her?" But really, I just cannot feel anything when I hear a million violins scratching it out, cymbals clashing, and drums acting like they are the voice of God!!! Nope. It does nothing for me.

Anyway, what I like is The Corrs, Enrique Iglesias, ABBA, BoyZone (even tho' they are so 'yesterday'...), BackStreetBoys (don't laugh, I love their music), and nice melodies like that. No hard rock (GOD, NO!) and no heavy metal (Over my dead body...no, not even then!).But hey, I love country music! Of course, nothing beats A.R. Rahman's music (a little patriotism, and lots of love for his talent, I guess!).

So, downloading these songs from YouTube is a pain..blame it on slow Internet connections. And here I am, one day, craving music, with YouTube downloading a song for so long that I grew an entirely new gray hair! So, I go on an Google for websites for music, easy to download and all that.

AAANNNNNddddd....(drum roll, please)....I discover...Grooveshark.com

Now, I love, love, love this website. Why? Firstly, it has all the music you can ever want to listen...although it is only western music...but hey! at least that is easily available, right? Second, the songs download so quickly!!! I cannot believe how efficient the download is! Thirdly, it has a lot of other cool features...now, I really haven't checked out this website completely, but added features are your thing, you should certainly go check it out.

And so, days go by, and I'm like really enjoying my music at home..I play my favorite play list, set the speakers on full blast, and listen to music while I work...and I am in pure music heaven.

And then, I feel, "Okay, maybe I can share this information with my husband..I mean, after all, I am married to him, to love and to hold, and share cool stuff that we find on the internet! So, I tell him one day, "You know what? There's this really cool music website which plays all kinds of music, and downloads really quickly...I mean this is better than YouTube!" And he's all like "Uhuh! Whatever..."

Next day he casually asks me, "Jane, what is that website you were talking about?" and I tell him.

Next minute, my blood curdles...because what do I hear???

THIS!!!!!

WHAAA.... are you KIDDING ME?!!!

Note: Okay, this is from YouTube because Grooveshark is occupied by my husband!

...Till death do us part, I guess...sigh!

But, I still love Grooveshark, mind you, and that's why I entered this post in "Things I love Thursday" over at DiaperDiaries.

Disney Magic - Love is In the Air

2010-06-09T15:28:00.000+05:30

So, I came across this fantastic story about this married couple whose paths crossed in DisneyLand, and they didn't even know it. The story goes like this:

Alex and Donna Voutsinas are about to get married and they are looking through old photo albums. Donna shows Alex a picture taken in DisneyLand, with she and her brother and some Disney character. Imagine his surprise when he spots his own father pushing him in a stroller in the background of that picture!! Cool, right?!?! Stuff that fairytales are made of...but then again, Art imitates Life.

[caption id="attachment_355" align="aligncenter" width="392" caption="Guy in the black shirt is Alex's dad!"][/caption]

image: WXII12.com

Don't believe me? Watch this video

So there you have it - my pick-me-up-'romance-still-exists' story of the day!! You like? Vote here please?

[polldaddy poll=3321058]

SinkHole in Guatemala - Shocking!

2010-06-01T14:28:00.000+05:30

Guatemala has been going through terrible times recently...If you've been watching the news you will know that they have had volcanic eruptions, tropical storms and what not.

Looking at scenes of the devastation and suffering in that place, is heart-wrenching...

Today, I saw this...

Apparently, this is not photo-shopped! It's real, very real. A really huge sink hole right in the middle of town!

Did you even know that was possible? I thought we had solid ground under our feet, and, the Earth, along with the gravity and everything, has got us totally covered! But LOOK at this!

It's a really deep hole formed because of the ground water eroding the weak limestone that is found underground. This phenomenon is called a 'karst'. The place is called 'karst topography'. Direct quote from an article about Karst Topography and Sinkholes in About.com - "About 10% of the earth's land (and 15% of the United States') surface consists of soluble limestone, which can be easily dissolved by the weak solution of carbonic acid found in underground water."

Basically, what they're saying is that the earth can cave in at any moment, without prior warning - no smoke signals, no hot water spurting out...nothing, absolutely nothing!

Apparently, this has happened in Guatemala before - the depth of the sink hole being twice deeper than the height of the Statue of Liberty!

I took one look at that picture, and shivered in horror...Imagine looking down into one of those holes just outside of your backyard...Or worse, falling down one of those holes...losing everything to a giant hole in the ground...sounds surreal...I still can't believe such things can actually happen in this world. I guess they can...

Disclaimer: Okay, now I don't know if this is photo-shopped. And I kind of hope it is...for the sake of the people who live there. But if it isn't, then I pray that the people of Guatemala will have the strength to face their trials...

And I hope we can all do something, however small, to help these people.

Note: I am so blessed to live in one of the most boring little towns in India! I used to complain that nothing ever happens in Nagercoil...well, right now...I am not complaining at all!

I am counting my blessings right now? Are you?

Top 10 Movies that Left Me Speechless!

2010-05-27T15:41:00.000+05:30

This could take a while...You've been warned...Okay, moving on...

I love watching movies. If you have known me long enough, you just said, "That is a terrible understatement"! Okay, this one's for movie buffs like me...(looking at you, Nameeta!)

Watching movies is one of those things that I cannot resist. Every time I have to turn off the television mid-movie because Debbie wants me to color with her, or it's time to make dinner, it is gut-wrenching... I know...it's that bad.

So, I love watching anything that Star Movies has to offer, although I will never watch HBO unless I know specifically that they are showing something romantic or very highly acclaimed. I just cannot stand lame action movies ('lame action' is probably an oxymoron, but I don't care...besides, one half of 'oxymoron' precisely describes the characters of majority of action movies...just saying...)

Aaaaaanyway, some movies I watch, like, remember; some I want to watch again; some I learn up the dialogues of (!!); and some I forget almost as soon as I have watched them (but this is very, very rare...)

However, some... I don't know why, but they leave me speechless! Which is probably a good thing, because I can be a bore sometimes....and my speeches are nothing to die for!

So, here are some movies whose genius I can't believe, and I am so lucky I got to watch them...I feel lucky to be from the same planet that they originated from...anyway, I don't believe that there is life in other planets...and, Okay, I am getting to the point...

1. Shawshank Redemption - This has to be on the top of anybody's list of great movies. I love the characters, I love anything that has Morgan Freeman in it...seriously! He is 'God'! I love the fact that even though we know that Tim Robbins escaped from prison and there is nothing more to look forward to, we have little surprises at the very end...surprises for Morgan Freeman and for us! I loved the spirit of the movie, the inspiration, and the sheer genius of story-telling. Breathtakingly awesome!!!

2. Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) - The woods were anything but lovely, they were dank, dark, and deep. And most everyone in the movie is butt-ugly, except for Orlando Bloom (sigh!) and Liv Tyler! Okay, some were not that ugly, but seriously, if there really was such a time in the world, and everyone did look like that, I don't think I want to be part of any glorious past, no thanks! Ugly faces, lots of them...but heart-thumping action, style, grandeur? Unparalleled!

I Googled for images of LTR, and came up with millions...but this is the one I have chosen...case closed.

3. Sunshine - It is already melting hot where I live, and I had to go watch this movie... The sun, it's there, in every shot, in every scene, it stifles you, makes you sweat...pour, even...you squirm in your seat...At one point, I wished they would just explode or something...and spare themselves the misery of sitting so near the sun...When I watched this movie, I felt....really FELT.... the greatness of the Sun...I started wondering how can a God who made something so cool and refreshing as rain, something so soft as snow , make something so fierce and HUGE as the Sun??? I am struggling for breath even as I write this....Watch that movie, seriously.

If you are not hot under the collar now, you are probably seated in the fridge!!

4. Sound of Music - Well, this one left me speechless because all I could do is sing!! "THE HILLS ARE ALAAAAIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUUUUUUSIIICC!"

If that was annoying, you should hear me just after I watch the movie...and how many times have I watched it? That, my friend, is one of the many things I have totally lost track of in my entire life...!

Bet that song is ringing in your head right now, huh?!

5. Grumpy Old Men - HaHaHaHaHa!! That is all. How can you breathe, let along speak, when you are clutching your abdomen and rolling off your chair onto the floor?!?!?!? Sometimes, this movie also reminds me of my dad...we watched it together, and he laughed so much and so hard...My Dad loved a good comedy... I miss him, and that leaves me speechless too. Well, if there is something I want that reminds me of my Dad, this movie is the best thing ever!

HaHAHHAA! You guys crack me up!!

6. As Good As It Gets - Okay, I am not terribly impressed with Jack Nicholson (sorry Jack Nicholson fans..if there are any!). I mean, how much effort does it take to be rude and obnoxious all the time, and deliver some dialogue?!

Still, this movie is something that talks to my heart...because of the effort the character of Helen Hunt takes in understanding an obnoxious and rude person like Jack Nicholson (I mean his character in the movie... I think...). If I ever get to be like that (God Forbid!), I would like some one to take that effort for me...wouldn't you?

There is also Jack Nicholson's dialogue at the end of the movie...that obnoxious inability to give anyone a straight compliment...Get this:

Melvin Udall: I might be the only person on the face of the earth that knows you're the greatest woman on earth. I might be the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing that you do, and how you are with Spencer, "Spence," and in every single thought that you have, and how you say what you mean, and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good. I think most people miss that about you, and I watch them, wondering how they can watch you bring their food, and clear their tables and never get that they just met the greatest woman alive. And the fact that I get it makes me feel good, about me.

HAHA! Awesomeness...that is genius dialogue-writing, I tell ya! Simply genius!

7. BraveHeart - This movie is violent, like absolutely inappropriate kind of violent...or that's what I thought when I first saw it! Part of the reason I was left speechless...It really brought home the point about how violent people were in those days. However, any one of those lame action movies made nowadays could totally pwn this one, as far as violence goes! And I mean this in the most irate sense possible...! Anyway, I was also totally taken with the sheer bravery and courage of men and women of those days. I lose my mind when I see a lizard on my kitchen wall!! These men and women walked around with daggers and swords on one hip, and an infant on the other! I cannot imagine a world like that...This all seems really awe-inspiring when you think the story narrated is actually real events! Are we even 1% as brave or passionate about anything?

This picture is funny and inspiring, all at the same time!

8. Music of the Heart...no, The Devil Wears Prada...actually, Marvin's Room...no, make that Mamma Mia! Okay, I can't decide...it's just that Meryl Streep leaves me speechless! What is with that woman, seriously?! Has she always been like this? Oh wait, just Googled her, and...yeah, pretty much, like from 1977...steady awesomeness!! All her movies are poignant and flawless. For discussion sake, let's compare Mamma Mia and The Devil Wears Prada - in the first, she is a scatterbrained, passionate, sometimes messy, 'breaks-into-song-at-any-moment', 'totally-driven-by-her-heart' woman who does not really know which one of her former boyfriends is the father of her daughter!! In the other, she is the epitome of 'stiff'! Never flinching at anything, never missing a beat in her back-breaking high heels, flicking people off like flies, and making the most sarcastic comments about a person's fashion sense without batting an eyelid. People run sobbing after having been in her office for a few moments! I sincerely think she should never be nominated for another academy award, or any other award for that matter. You know, just like we can't nominate God for 'Most Powerful Leader in the World', or give him a Nobel Prize for Science! This lady is way beyond awards. I think we should just watch her and learn...that is all I have to say about this.

9. The Shrek Series - Oh Donkey, Donkey...I think I'm falling in love with you...hahaha! "Choose me...choose me"! Get this: (pearls of wisdom from Donkey...)

Shrek: For your information, there's a lot more to ogres than people think.
Donkey: Example?
Shrek: Example. OK, er, ogres are like... onions!
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes. No! [...] Onions have layers! Ogres have layers. D'you get it? We both have layers!
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. You know not everybody like onions! Eh, cakes! Everybody loves cakes! Cakes have layers!
Shrek: I don't care what everyone likes! Ogres are not like cakes.

Later...

Donkey: Oh, it's another one of those onion things isn't it?
Shrek: No. This is one of those 'drop it and leave it alone!' things.

HaHaHa! You may want to kick his backside sometimes...but you can't help but love him!

Another one...

Donkey: I guess you don't entertain much, do you?

Shrek: I like my privacy.

Donkey: You know, I do too. That's another thing we have in common. Like I hate it when you've got somebody in your face, you trying to give them a hint, they won't leave, and there's that big awkward silence, you know...

[Awkward Silence....]

Picture says it all!!!

10. Life Is Beautiful - I kept this for the very end, because this is the most poignant, beautiful, and tearful movie that I have seen...ever! It combines love in a marriage, love for a parent, love for a child, and so many different emotions in such a heart-wrenching way. I love the humor in the story, but when I think of this movie, the only scene that always comes to mind, is that of the father walking off with soldiers, to be shot. The only thing the little boy can see is the huge smile on the father's face and the mischievous wink he gives him, reassuring his son that he is definitely going to win this game... My heart skips a beat just thinking about the courage of that father...

...I am reminded again of my own father, and how he used to make everything a game so that we would be interested enough to do something that we would otherwise find unpleasant...like eating - he always did something creative with our food. My mom cooked it, and he turned it into something interesting, so that we would enjoy eating it!

Today would have been my Dad's 58th birthday. He loved movies, and he loved birthdays! He would remember every birthday of every member of the family, and I'm not just talking about my siblings and my mom! He would call up some uncle on his birthday, or some relative whom we have almost forgotten. This year, may of us did not receive a cheerful wish from him. It was odd, and painful...like the day was incomplete, or something...

We miss you Dad.

Okay, sorry for going into sad mode! So, what's your favorite movie? Which film left you speechless? Tell me about it in the comments...

...And go make your own top 10 list, and link up with Amanda at her Top Ten Tuesday post!

Unresolved Hair Issues!

2010-05-07T12:52:00.000+05:30

Remember the discussion on Debbie's hair we had the other day... well, apparently, there is a shift in perception of late...

Today morning, I looked at Debbie's hair, and patting the wild curls, I asked her, "What is this, baby?"

With a wide grin of amusement (perhaps she anticipated my reaction!), she uttered these words of wisdom, "Amma, this is noodles!"

Wide grin of amusement:

Go figure...

She Makes My World Go Round...

2010-05-05T10:19:00.000+05:30

... (and my head spin...but, it's aaaaaalll in the game)!!

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Join the Wordless Wednesday linky party @ 5 Minutes for Mom!!

World Vision - Trip to the Dominican Republic

2010-05-04T12:46:00.000+05:30

Amanda, a sweet mother, wonderful Christian, and a popular blogger over at OhAmanda.com, writes about her trip with World Vision to the Dominican Republic to visit the little girl she sponsors, and to lend a helping hand to many others in need. (World Vision leads you to children in need, and you can sponsor one of them) She will be joined by some wonderful other bloggers. Check out their posts on this trip. Amanda will be blogging throughout her trip to the Dominican Republic, so subscribe to her posts and read on.

You can also grab this widget over at her blog, to show your support for the cause...I've got mine on the sidebar (it's way, way down, I know....but, one of these days, I'm gonna rearrange things here a bit...soon, hopefully!)

Of New Friends and 'First Times'...

2010-05-04T12:02:00.000+05:30

I never thought I would ever say this, but here it goes, "I guest-blogged this week"...Oh no wait, that was the wrong font... People, I GUEST-BLOGGED this week!!!!!! ....Okay, that's better... whoa! how did that happen...? Flashback..scene fade...

It was two weeks ago, that I registered myself into 20SomethingBloggers... I know, that was like saying, "Yesterday I watched Titanic the movie"...(sometimes I come across as being pathetically ancient, and I am totally aware of it...). Anyway, I was immediately given a warm welcome by a couple of really sweet bloggers who introduced themselves, and even read my blogs...That's where I met the lovely Charreah Jackson who writes an interesting blog on love at Love Jones Lane. (Visit her sometime, she has some cool stuff to say about love and marriage, and why they drive us crazy!)

Here's where it gets exciting! She visited my blog, and actually asked me to write a guest post for her blog, on Love and Marriage in India!!! Okay, I think I need to go easy on those exclamation marks!!! So, I was like, 'Really? Is this happening to me?!!' Anyway, as she says, "Believing is half the battle".... so, I wrote a post, and hoped I didn't disappoint her terribly, and emailed the write-up to her...

Turns out she liked my post enough to actually put it up right there, along with her other posts. She also said some nice things about me, that are totally undeserved! So, go on over to her blog, and read my post entitled, "Marriage in India - I Chose Love".

I Want Your Face!

2010-04-30T14:54:00.000+05:30

So yesterday, Debbie is sitting on my lap, and sucking her thumb, cuddling her favorite teddy bear, and watching cartoons (yeah, she's a multi-tasker, that one!). And please ignore the part where she sucks her thumb... She WILL grow out of it soon, when she is 5 or 10...or whenever, I promise...

Anyway, there she was, and at any given time of day, my daughter's hair is all wild curls and sticking straight up or to a side...usually, I'm like, "Baby girl, what is the deal with your hair?!?!?!"

Her hair is actually quite tame in this one picture above! When things get out of hand, we just plop on a hat!

So, I just curl my fingers around some locks of hair, look at them wonderingly, and ask her, "Debbie, how come you got so much hair, babyyyyy....wow! you have nice haaaaiiiiiiirrrrr, baby".

She looks at me with a very somber expression, and then says, "Amma, I want to have your face and your hair..." I said, "No Baby, you have nice hair..."

And she said, "Don't you like my face and hair??" And I was thinking, "OHMYGODOHMYGOD.....Whoever gave her that idea?!??! WHOWHOWHO...? Wait...did I do that?

And then, I went, "baby, you have the prettiest hair and the prettiest face in the whole world, and you are really pretty, and you are the prettiest little girl I have ever seen...." and gave her a big kiss on each cheek.

She thought for a while, and my heart was pounding.

After a moment a slow shy smile spread across her face, she looked at me, and said a very nonchalant, "Seri" (Tamil for "Okay") I love you, Amma!, and walked off to play with her toys...

All I could think was, "What was THAT all about?" So, turns out, she wants long hair and a pretty face (like a typical 3 yr old girl!)...!!! That was the best thing that happened to me....all week! And that's why I am so happy today...my little girl wants to be like me...she adores me!!!!

My sister summed it all up wonderfully when she said, "Give her time, when she's 15 and comes to you for fashion advice, I'll believe that story!!"

Can't blame her.... (wait, maybe she gets unruly hair from me!)

.....eeeeehhhhh...I've seen better!

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Do you have something making your day today? A favorite moment, child (no, don't write on that!), food, favorite anything this Friday? Go on and join the Friday Favorite linky party over at The Other Mama. Have fun, and happy hair!

Top 10 Moments of Vanity!

2010-04-27T12:57:00.000+05:30

So, Vanity...we all have a bit of it, right? I mean, it is not so much a 'nose in the cloud, I'm too awesome for the world' kind as the 'I am precious in my own way, and I KNOW IT!' garden-variety!!!

This type of vanity is not obnoxious in any way, and mostly it's rather endearing! Still, it's a moment of self-love that can't be ignored. I am guilty of some of these myself, and I'm sooo not going to tell you which ones! heheh!

1. Making sure that you hold your new purse 'best side out'! You know, no matter what tearing hurry you are in, you make sure that the snazzy side of your purse is turned outwards - the side with the obvious designer logo, or the gorgeous buckle, or the pretty flap!

2. Strutting! You walk into a room, and everyone is seated, and well, you know that everyone is watching, and you know that you are no beauty queen, still, you know you are dressed at your best, and your hair is shiny, and people are oggling you, even if it is briefly...and you strut...just a little...but it's a strut nevertheless.

3. Exhibition of Good Parenting Skills! Your daughter is about to make a fuss, and other people are present. You keep your cool, talk to your child, calm her down, solve the problem - basically do just what a good parent ought to. And you ARE a good parent... Everyone is watching, and you know you rock! And then you flash your neighbor a smile like 'Hi, I am a good parent, and I do this sort of thing all the time...it's nothing!'. No, you are not haughty or anything, just proud that you did good!

4. Telling a Joke, and Loving It! Your sense of humor is popular with all your friends, you are sweet yet ROFL funny! And you say a joke, and everyone is doubling over, rolling on the aisles, and loving you! You are thinking, "Boy, I'm pretty funny, huh?!"

5. My Family is Awesome too! This is probably the sweetest kind of vanity, and I'm sure most women are guilty of it...personally, there exists enough evidence to prove that I am so guilty of this little vanity! Your husband is addressing a crowd and the audience is spell bound! Your child just sang a song in the most wonderful voice, or said the most clever thing a child has ever said, and everyone is Oooh-ing and Aaah-ing at him or her! And you're thinking, "yeah, I know, they are wonderful...and they're mine...Booyah!!"

6. Doing a Personality Test/Quiz and Posting it on Facebook! Okay, you know you are a nice person, and a Facebook quiz just told you you're right! You answered honestly, and still got told that you are a wonderful team worker, mom, friend, lover etc etc. Facebook asks you, "Publish this Quiz" or "Skip this Step"! You picture your friends seeing this, and all the comments you'll get, and then everyone, and I mean at least everyone, clicks over to take the quiz. So, you hit "Publish"! Then Facebook sends you a message that you are an awesome user! Win and win, all around!

7. You go up to Your Spouse and ask them, "I was wonderful out there, right", just after you have done something awesome!!!! And you know they will say 'Yes'! (I don't do this all that often, but a significant other person does it all the time...and I kind of find that endearing in him...!!!!) No, you don't brag about yourself to anyone else, but you do fish for compliments from your spouse, because seriously, who loves you more? Of course, you are open to constructive criticism, and you do get a lot of it (!), but sometimes, you know your significant other thinks you're wonderful, and YOU JUST WANT TO HEAR IT! Sweet!

8. You start a blog. (you link shamelessly...here's my twitter feed for good measure! @janehamilton !!!! shame on me...) And then, another one. Even though you know quite well that the both could have easily been combined into one blog, and it wouldn't be such a big deal! Because really, the stuff here is not that earth-shattering! (Okay, this vanity moment? I think I'm the only one here guilty of it! Still, in the name of being honest, and all...)

9. You write a post about Your Moments of Vanity!

10. You link it to OhAmanda's Top 10 Tuesday, so that you can see your name along with some wonderfully awesome, enviable bloggers out there, and tell yourself, "Hey, my name appears on a blog other than mine! Yaaay!".

I'm hopeless, I rest my case! So, what I really want to say is - even though we all have these little moments of vanity, it is what makes us human, and endearing, and loveable.... and also, reminds us that Humility is important too!

Food Blogs, and Why I Hate Them!... a.k.a Okay, I Actually Love Them Too Much!

2010-04-21T17:01:00.000+05:30

Okay, I have an obsession (this blog just got dangerously personal...)...staring at food...there I said it! People make food, eat food, sell food, buy food, design food, sculpt food...I just stare at it. At the lovely colors, the lovely food photography, the chocolate cake that I can almost taste off the book or computer screen, the roasted chicken I can almost smell in that scrumptiously lighted photograph...

And the best place to appease the hunger pangs coming out of my eyes? Food blogs!! I don't know why I had to say that with double exclamation points, since food blogs are a dime a dozen these days...! exclamation point! (I seem to use a lot of these nowadays, probably because I can't believe myself half the time?? Question marks?

Okay, help me out people...don't tell me no one else in the entire blogosphere has this obsession??...come on!!! Okay, I hear you back there...thanks for the support.

Anyway, I have, like, tons of them subscribed on my reader, and bookmarked left and right, that it takes me hours, every night, to finish oggling at the food. Some recipes, like a few, ...okay, maybe 1 or 2 in the entire time I've been reading these food blogs... I have tried to make. Others, I simply look at, and wish someone would make them for me...not make by myself, mind you...but that someone would bake me that cake, roast me that chicken, saute that asparagus, get me that doughnut, give me that cookie, brew me that coffee...you get the idea ..... siiiiiiiiiighghghghgh! I am really sad now...

But WHY? Why do you obsess over food blogs? Why do you do it? My answer, (channeling Isla Fisher here), "Because when I obsess over food blogs, the world is a better place". Camera zooming in on dreamy eyes (mine), shocked expression on face (yours), violin playing a slow tune, rising to a crescendo (orchestra...Hey, who invited them?!?!)... surreality follows...

So, maybe I am no expert when it comes to blogging (I totally wrote 'globbing' just now...probably delirium from staring at all that sugar!), but these are some of the best food blogs out there...take a peek, and hope you can never look away...and Hey! if you cook some of the food you see here, be nice and send me a sampler, or a big package...I'm not picky that way!

Bakerella You have got to be from some other galaxy, if you are a foodie and haven't heard about this lovely lady. She stands for all that is sweet and cute...lotsa sweet, but the cuteness...ooohhhh, I feel faint already!!

The Pioneer Woman I wish I was one of her kids, no seriously...Ree, will you adopt me...like, not for always, or anything...but only for meal times...please...Pretty PLLLLeeaaaassssse?!?!? Could I have your Cinnamon Rolls just once, please? Then I can die peacefully... Reader, go to her website, click on the 'Cooking' link, and stay there!

SmittenKitchen The only food blog whose name is a warning of your fate once you start reading the posts! I am smitten, absolutely smitten! There is always a jaw-dropping picture smack in the middle of the page, and...well, that's usually as far as I get! Her recipes list is so long, you could put on weight just by reading it! And I am smitten...but I already said that... Go get smitten, people! You know you want to...after this picture....

Joy the Baker Can't argue with that! What an appropriate name! What joy at looking at all those good eats, and that fabulous personality! I love the little bees buzzing around on her blog...I mean, who can resist food like that, right?

Two Boos Who Eat A lovely couple who love good food, how simple yet yummy can it get?! And they like to stay healthy...important if you have all this yummy-ness going on!

Love and Olive Oil And while we are on the 'couples' thing, these guys are pretty cool, too! Love and Olive Oil, two very healthy, very 'good for you' things...I can't complain about this visual either!

Multiply Delicious Really huge, mouthwatering pictures of food, and this Heath Bar Chocolate Trifle pretty much did it for me! I'm a a fan for life! Mommy Heather and her family of 4, cute family picture, adorable babies, yummy color-scheme, - win, win, win!!

Fancy That...Fancy This Ameena Din's awesome humor, her cute little baby girl, her humor, her interesting food choices, equally interesting rants about the furniture, and humor! She has some good recipes too! But best of all, she has visited my blog..Yaaay! I have 1 reader that other people recognize!!!!

And, finally, Dad~Baker & Chef Super Dad who makes the best Chocolate Mousse in the whole world, on short-order? Bakes awesome birthday cakes? Cooks delicious Indian cuisine? Takes on a Daring Baker Challenge? Check, check, check, and check...Guilty on ALL counts of Awesomeness! Sheesh, I envy the kids!

Okay, now that I am sufficiently miserable knowing what I'm missing, I will proceed to share the miserableness with my family through dinner...Actually, I am not that bad a cook, just not 'Food Blog' material...so, I wrote this post to get some of that awesomeness onto my blog!!

Enjoy... But first, tell me, do you know of any good food blogs out there? Or do you have one of your own?...Tell me in your comments; I would love to visit!

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I have entered this post in "Things I Love Thursday" over at TheDiaperDiaries. Go on over, and join the party!

March Madness - The Good Man Goes Shopping!

2010-04-13T13:01:00.000+05:30

This is what was special about last month...this man....

went on a business trip, to this place....

And, the month was nothing but March Madness! Well, long story short, it was a business trip that lasted a week. He also got to do some sightseeing, and shopping, went to Harvard University, and also met some of the nicest people he knows (more on that later).

So, I was saying...shopping...well, we all know how important that is, right?...right?...RIGHT.

So, it was a whole new experience for my husband, and, as with everything else in the country - the culture, the people, the food & the size of each portion (!), the number of choices for even a simple cup of coffee! - shopping too, had him flummoxed (does any one even use that word nowadays!).

Anyway, he did have to buy another huge bag to stuff in all of his shopping...and here are some of the things I loved... (Okay, I know this is purely 'showoff'..but this is my blog...and the only place I won't be boo-ed off the stage), so...

This lovely silver necklace that he surprised me with...

Notice the beautiful pendant on this one...totally love the little plant thingy...

and my photography... :P

My husband did something else that is so unlike him... he bought me this...

and IT. WAS. GOOD! Black, by Kenneth Cole (I don't know who he is...but God bless him!) - Eau de Parfum for Her (simply means, 'smells like a girl'.) and I love it!

My husband also got these...

'Jacob' is my crazy sweet brother, and 'Captain Debbie' is my husband pushing his hidden agenda at my 2-yr-old!!

He also got this for my lovely sister Jone...

It says "Sung...Alfred Sung"...and I can see why...it smells so lovely, I would sing too!

Oh, and my wonderful husband also went and got li'l Debbie this book...

At this point, I would like to add that Debbie actually got a lot of other cool stuff from equally cool people...

For instance, this coloring book (which, as you can see from her expression [you can??], Debbie reeealllly loved!)...

and they came with these pretty coloring pens...

and these were a gift from the lovely, absolutely friendly, and warm Deborah Lee Hill, who is the mom of two adorable little girls...and shares the same cool name with my daughter...

[caption id="attachment_263" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="from left- the hubby, Kylee Hill, Deborah Hill, Ernest (works with us, went along with the hubby on the trip), Kianna Hill, and Eric Hill."][/caption]

She also sent Debbie these books that her daughters used to read...

These are totally Kiddies-Approved!

And those are Debbie's little hands owning them..."Amma, these are MINE...don't photograph them...Nooo, what are you dooooinnggg???" Yeah...we like to make everything dramatic around here...!

I reviewed these books here...if you are looking for good reads for your li'l 'un, these are pretty much up there...

Also, these cute clothes from Old Navy were nice to receive...cute summer clothes are in, anytime... :)

And Debbie wearing one with really pretty colors (we're really going with the summer look here), although I couldn't get her to stand still long enough to get the dress in full...and don't even ask about the constipated (for want of a better word!) expression...she is kinda cute even with the expression, though...incurable mom-pride kicking in!

The good man brought some interesting eats, too...lotsa candy...for the little tike in the picture...some chocolate chip cookies, a weird, packaged steak, and other stuff I cannot recollect....What I really liked was this...

Planters DayBreak Blend Berry Almond Trail Mix (okay, you can totally read that from the picture!) This was the first time I tasted granola, and I had no idea the stuff was so good. I don't think anyone at home was all that crazy about it (more for me!), and I would simply grab a handful everytime I walked past the tuck-box (yeah, we have that) and munch away...and my mom will give me a glare that means, "Like you need all those extra calories, HUMPH"!!

I also took a picture of this bag of crisps ('potato chips' is what we call it), not because they were the best I've eaten, but because I liked the package (that happens, right?)

The granola makes another appearance there, because I like it so much!

Anyway, final item on the list of things I liked, this book on Boston's history. I enjoyed reading it!

Disclaimer: No cameras were hurt in the making of this post, although they were 'borrowed' from their rightful owner i.e. the husband of this blogger. Shaky photographs are so because a certain 2-yr-old couldn't leave well alone, over exposure is due to the human-melting hot sun that we have to tolerate nowadays (Yaay for global warming, people), pretty backgrounds are silk sarees and churidar shawls that have been put to better use, and total awesomeness of the blog is all MINE!! hee hee!

Fun Poll! Vote Away!!

2010-03-15T15:29:00.000+05:30

[polldaddy poll=2889618]

Happy Birthday, G.J. Hamilton

2010-03-12T14:27:00.000+05:30

"The only way to keep or receive love it to give it unconditionally and selflessly". This is the quote for 12 March, on my quote holder on my desk.

I can't think of a quote that applies more for my wonderful husband than this. His patience stretches so long that I still haven't done something to snap it! Thank God for that...

Stuff he loves: music (some classical western music is always playing on a speaker somewhere if he is home!), aetheikka appam (plantain fritters) - he loves the stuff...his staple food if he is traveling!, spending time with Debbie (lot of wrestling...a grown man and a 2-year-old?... Go figure!...sigh..., singing at the top of their voices, watching YouTube videos of Mickey Mouse and Pingu, etc.), choral singing (my husband has one of the best tenor voices I have heard...I am being partial here, but I don't care :P), reading up on his latest interest (he will read up like crazy on whatever occupies his mind at the moment...everything from kidney stones, rheumatism (for me), train timings in Tamil Nadu, universities across the world, management skills, MBA courses, Dr.Chidambaram, heart surgery (for his Dad), things to consider while traveling abroad, how to use his camera, what do 2-year-olds eat?, everything, everything... Note: this is probably one of the reasons he has never really read this blog!... Anyway, Hamilton belongs to the clan of people who believe that information is power...so he reads... Don't be shocked if, soon, our family moves out, to make place for his books (*rolling eyes here*). He loves Sachin Tendulkar...a die-hard fan of the cricketer! Loves him so much, if he starts talking about the guy, it usually turns into an epic!

Hates: Nothing. That's it. Hate is a strong word that this man prefers not to use...What can I say?...Other than, "Why the heck is he with me?!?!!"

One unforgettable thing about him: How he cried along with me, when we heard my Dad passed away. The look of pain in his eyes, when he saw my pain... Well, he is one reason my family was able to stay strong through it...

What he has, I wish I had: His unwavering unshaken faith in God, and his spirituality. I wish I had that.

Happy Birthday Hamilton...You are Special!!

Top Stuff I Can't Cook Without!

2010-03-12T11:44:00.000+05:30

I'm no good at cooking. Let me make that absolutely clear, going forward. But then, I guess, it is pretty obvious, if I have to write a post on stuff that I can't cook without. A good cook makes a feast out of anything! Also, most daughters can never be as good as their mothers... or is it ONE daughter.... yeah, I think this rule pretty much only applies to me.... and I will stop this meaningless rambling now, thank you.

Anyway, there are some things I cannot cook without. Especially since I am supposed to create ethnic South Indian dishes which taste good, are suitable for my spice-intolerant daughter (btw, that is not a real allergy, just 2-yr-old tantrums!), and do not set off the 'Eat Only Healthy Boring Food' Radar of my better half! So, I have a list of stuff that always goes into my cooking...logical conclusion? We eat the same food pretty much everyday!!! This is going around in dizziness-inducing circles. So...

Onions - I cannot cook without onions. Please tell me no one else can, too...pretty please?? I have to start every meal by chopping an onion. Unless I throw some onions into cooking oil and stir them around, I feel an ominous foreboding that things will go wrong! I feel this every time I make Rasam. And I'm usually right :(

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Chilli Powder - I have to have all my food glowing red!! Otherwise, I feel it does not qualify as real food. Also, I have to have my food tasting super spicy! so, when something like Vegetable poriyal calls for green chillies only, I feel apprehensive. Some times, I sneak in a pinch of chilli powder, and usually the above-mentioned RADAR goes off.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="223" caption="image: manjulaskitchen.com"][/caption]

Tomatoes - Tomatoes are so beautiful, so colorful, so necessary. And I can't cook without them. Unless I cut up a tomato, and throw it in, squishy pulp, seeds and all, I feel I have failed myself greatly! Tomatoes were totally banned at home for a while, due to health reasons of the residents, and I WAS LOST. Yes, more LOST than the people in LOST! So, I just made rasam!! ... (Go back to 'Onions' and read again... gaaah!!)

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Cooking Oil (lots of it) - Okay, I know it is bad to have too much cooking oil. Cholesterol, and all that stuff. But, hey, try scraping burnt stuff off the bottom of your kitchenware after leaving it on the stove, to go assist your kid with potty, and you will resort to a LOT OF OIL too! I now use less oil, and more tomatoes... (go back in circles...your eyelids are getting heavy...you are feeling sleepy...you will now zonk down on your simmering gravy!) By the way, my favorite cooking oil is GoldWinner Sunflower Oil (and no, I'm not paid to say that.)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="image: www.hindu.com"][/caption]

Rice Batter - this is a white batter made from rice and urad dal, used to make dhosas and idlies. And I cannot do without it. Why? Simply because we have dhosas or idlies most everyday! If you are a South Indian working mother-cum-juggler, juggling five different things...oh, you know...life and all its ingredients...well, you definitely know the advantage of making idlies! Shout out to all the mommies with whistling idli cookers...forget the iPhone, I think we should deify the man (or woman...probably a woman...Men don't care either way, I think!) who invented the idli cooker!! Pour the batter into little idli plates, mount it on the stand, lower into said cooker, close, light stove, forget. Listen for the whistle and turn it off. DONE!! Time invested: all of 10 minutes. Result: hot idlies for breakfast, probably even dinner... Others in the house: Not Happy. Me: VERY VERY HAPPY! :D

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Spices - viz. Coriander, turmeric, chilli powder (the super 3!!!) I do not know how to make the food have any kind of flavor, if I don't use these three...Okay, right now, I am slightly beginning to feel sorry for my family...the poor consumers of my half-hearted sorry excuse for cooking. So, invariably, everything kinda tastes the same... If I don't add tomatoes...you see my predicament? Cooking is really hard, I tell you!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="113" caption="turmeric powder"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="125" caption="coriander powder"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="146" caption="chilli powder"][/caption]

Wooden Spoon - Okay, this is technically not an ingredient, but I hate the scraping sound that metal spoons make on cooking ware. And, when I cook, I really need to stir a lot, and peep into the dish or pot...just to reassure myself that everything is going as planned! So, I cannot do without my trusty wooden spoon. It is one of THE BEST things my Mom bought me! I love my wooden spoons, and fiercely guard it from runaway 2-yr-old hands wanting to clank wooden spoons on metal plates and generally be noisy, and grown up men who generally allow 2-yr-old daughter to make ear-splitting noise and drive mommy mad in the kitchen, so that they can get some time alone on the computer!...Sigh...where is this going?!?!?

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Television - Okay, this is probably high on the quirky-bizareness meter! But I have to have the television on. I love the house we recently moved into, because the kitchen is right next to the sitting room, where the TV is situated in a nice angle, easily seen if I stand at a certain angle near the kitchen sink...rented house SCORE!! Also, the recently added soft couch means that after every paranoid stir of the gravy, I can literally run out the kitchen, directly into the said couch, sit under the fan on super-fast, wipe away the free-flowing perspiration (direct result of the sweltering South Indian heat that is sucking away my life-energy for the past few months!), and watch So You Think You Can Dance!, or some romantic comedy on StarMovies...anything goes...

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So...There you have it..stuff I cannot live without, in my kitchen...What's your favorite stuff that brings out the gourmet chef in you...or simply helps you tolerate the task of making a meal thrice/frice (my word for 'four times'!) a day?

"Baby Einstein Made My Child Dumb"! Yeah, Right!

2009-10-29T12:51:00.000+05:30

Learning begins at home. I am a staunch believer of that view point, and take my responsibility as my daughter's first teacher very seriously. My husband and I try to fill our house with fun-yet-educational toys, lot of colorful books, and educational DVDs. Debbie is perfectly happy looking at her books or playing with her toys. She also has loads of time to play outdoors, and loves running around the house hollering and chasing a ball as much as playing a tame game of 'cooking' indoors.

She is also a BIG FAN of children's videos on YouTube, and educational DVDs. She loves Baby Einstein videos, Sesame Street songs, Dora the Adventurer (her favorite!), and anything with lots of toys or animals, colors, and loud music! I admit that I have a very selfish reason for letting her watch them... that's the only time I can get her to stop hating food long enough to eat it!! Don't get me wrong, we do have really fun eating time, when we don't watch TV and concentrate on finishing what's on the plate. Debbie can feed herself, and she does enjoy doing it. But sometimes, she gets it into her head that she can live on love and fresh air! and there is nothing a mother can do to change her mind... other than switching on the computer or the television...

Apart from the obvious value of these videos and DVDs (!), I really believe they are useful to a child's learning process. Which is why I was shocked at the study published by the University of Washington, that the Baby Einstein DVDs make children... dumb... (to be very blunt)! The study says:

The scientists found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them. Baby DVDs and videos had no positive or negative effect on the vocabularies on toddlers 17 to 24 months of age.

Well, I don't know about that. Baby Einstein videos have pictures of these large and colorful toys in the shape of animals and other shapes that a child needs to learn about. I think it is much better to let a child learn the names of shapes, animals, fruits, vegetables etc. through song, music and fun than through getting a book out, pointing at objects and loudly repeating the names!

And anyway, unless parents simply dump their children in front of a TV or computer for hours together, I don't think these DVDs are going to do any major damage. If parents want to take the easy way out and let their children watch TV all day, I think the children were destined for limited intelligence, DVDs on not! As a parent, it is my responsibility to decide how much time my child watches videos, how much reading time she gets, and how she learns about the world. If I go wrong with my planning, I don't think I have the right to blame any one else for my bad judgment.

The Baby Einstein Company seems to be doing something good for children across the world. They are parents too, so I am guessing they must possess some parenting experience! Give them a break! Come on!! They are normal parents who decided to make a fun video for their kids... we're blaming them that they did not do their research?!!? Ok, so the scientists who made nuclear bombs do a lot of research, so I guess wiping away an entire country is acceptable... I mean, criticising their work is one thing, but thinking people deserve a refund!?!?! Really now!

Too many people now are looking to shift the blame on some one else for just about anything. If your baby is not an Einsten before he is 2, maybe that DVD is to blame; if your boy is roughing up classmates in school, maybe the teachers are to blame; if your child broke the law, maybe the society is to blame... when a person commits murder, maybe the people who ignored him at work are to blame...

When did mistakes stop depending on the wrong choices a person made, and start depending on everybody else's behavior? When do WE take responsibility for our mistakes? And when will we teach our children that when they become adults, THEY are answerable for their mistakes, and that they cannot shift the blame?

I for one cannot believe that some DVD is being blamed for children's lack of learning. What do you think?

Poetry Prompts to Perk You Up! 2

2009-10-28T13:02:00.000+05:30

Oh heck! Who am I kidding?! I am desperate to show off... So here are the rest of the poems...!

I Won’t

I will read the book that sits on my desk,

I will do the dishes promptly,

I will remember to get the groceries,

I will not forget the milk again, meanwhile.

I will smile at my child,

I will mean it.

I will not stare at the mirror,

And wonder where she went… I miss her.

I will stop picking at forgotten friends in forgotten memories,

I will forget the friends I forgot.

I will ignore the pain of those memories.

I will forget my singing voice,

I will sing to remember I can’t.

I will stop now…

I will make dinner.

_______________________________________________________

Where The Lost Go…

The keys dropped onto the table

Something was wrong

It had been right that morning.

The table had been bare when she left,

Except for the half-drunk coffee,

And the ring left by a wet coffee mug.

Where are the coasters?

Why was it so quiet?

The shower is usually running at this time.

Where are the kids?

And why is the television not on?

Why is the bedroom door closed?

It seems so Final.

Where are the shoes?

Who was in the closet?

(And the baseball bat is missing).

His clothes are missing…

He left one of his socks behind,

(She saw the little white dots where,

She spent an entire Sunday afternoon,

Mending his clothes… buttons, tears, holes for toes to peek out).

The lounge was gone…

He loved it.

His cologne was missing…

His smell was gone

He was gone…

---------------------------

The bar round the corner was always open…

The keys on the table were picked up... again.

______________________________________________________

Air-Conditioned Offices

Outside it is 40 degrees

Sunlight glares off everything

Car windshields, reading glasses, display windows,

My nose.

Switch on the stove,

And it just got hotter.

Steam does something for your skin,

But that doesn’t help the knot in your brain.

Sweat can run down any way it wants,

But it flows into your eyes.

And salt always stings.

The shower can wash the sting away,

But the sun is more persistent.

More scalding than warm…

I could use a cool drink.

I don’t; I have a reason.

You could leave all this behind,

And step in to the office,

Where swinging doors let in the cool breeze,

Of recycled carbon dioxide.

I don’t care, it’s cool inside; freezing cold…

I’m glad I didn’t take that cool drink!

_______________________________________________________

It Was My Idea

It was a bad idea,

To look her in the eye,

To pick up the hint,

To return the touch.

It was a bad idea,

To shake that hand,

To tell the secret,

To loan him the money.

It was a bad idea,

To buy those flowers,

To unlock the door,

To see what I saw.

It was a bad idea…

To introduce them.

_______________________________________________________

Beware of Signs

Do not trespass here,

There is nothing to see.

Keep to the bright side of the street,

Don’t stare at the dark side.

Beware of low-hanging grief,

Hard metal can knock you out cold.

Watch out for the poison envy,

It can turn you blue… or green.

This coffee is scalding hot,

Do not spill on self.

Do not speak,

It is too revealing.

Flush after use,

No one wants to see your past.

Keep It Simple, Stupid,

I am seeing others too.

_______________________________________________________

You are Back?

Out of Sight,

Out of Mind.

When you left,

I didn’t die.

Work was tough,

Pay was good.

We can live.

You should leave.

Close the door,

Don’t look back.

Note to self :

Do Not Cry.

_______________________________________________________

Poetry Prompts to Perk You Up!

2009-10-28T12:56:00.000+05:30

There was a time, long ago (at least that's how it seems), when I used to write poetry.

And I was told I was good...by published and popular poets, no less.

And then, life

happened. And I was too busy living it to write about it. Sometime, in the silence of the kitchen, with just the sizzle of sauteing vegetables in the background, the memories would come creeping back - of all those poetry workshops and those pages of poetry stashed away in some forgotten shelf. And I would wonder if I could even write poetry anymore, whether my mind was still unfettered and potent enough to put thoughts to words.

It was then that I came across this wonderful blog on writing (Thank you Google Reader...I love you!). It's called PoeWar.com, and written by a brilliant writer called John Hewitt. The most fascinating thing about his blog is the 30 Poems in 30 Days series. The writer gives the readers creative prompts, and also writes his own poem based on the prompt. And I tell you, the prompts are really innovative! It certainly helped shake up some very sleepy and demotivated gray cells in my upper chamber!! So, I took the plunge, and wrote some poems of my own. Whether I was any good, remains to be seen! Tell me what you think...

Here's the first one...

Patterns

The pattern does not matter,

As long as it is how it is

To the very end.

Color in the dotted lines,

And be done with it.

You don’t have to replace spots with lines,

It is not normal, they said.

Just do it, follow the pattern.

Make it look like you know how,

Like your mother taught you right.

Follow the pattern,

And you’ll be alright.

I’m Not.

--- Jane Hamilton

...and another one for good measure...

Secret

I have a secret,

A part of me I willingly forget.

Then I remember, and loathe it.

My secret festers,

Guilt buzzes around it in dark clouds,

Settling briefly on little white incidents that led to it -

The thing that I will not speak about.

Sometimes, it smells.

Intrudes the little tunnels that lead

To gray cells, and dark thoughts,

Every time I gasp for breath,

When a kind word is offered,

Kindness I don’t deserve.

I look away, “Look, there’s a nice spot!”

Walk away, hold hands with Happiness,

Cover the secret with a smile… Forget.

But, it wafts back, now and then,

To cloud a picture-perfect view,

With the Secret.

--- Jane Hamilton

False Evidence Appearing Real!

2009-10-16T11:48:00.000+05:30

I read somewhere once that FEAR stands for "False Evidence Appearing Real". I have to agree with that, in retrospect, that is. But when you are lying on your bed, staring at the ceiling, heart pounding at the very thought of that awful thing you fear so much, the evidence you dig up from the recesses of your mind seem anything but false…. You know what I mean, right?

I have a 2 year old daughter. I should stop right here, and let you make the obvious connections with FEAR, and fear in general. But, I love to talk about my fears, and so I will.

When Debbie was born, she was barely 5.5lb, tiny and fragile, her wail almost a squeak. Now, although she is still tiny for her age (only 22lb when she should be 27lb, and I get my share of flack about it from busybodies of all descriptions. In my defense I would like to state, both my doctor and this website claim this is quite normal.), she is growing up to be a source of admiration, jaw-dropping disbelief, and pure joy for my husband and me, every moment!

She is a lovely, delightful little girl! She runs around making shrieking noises when I try to make her eat food. She throws a healthy tantrum (the habit isn’t, but the gusto of the display certainly is!) when she is refused ANYTHING, yes, even the flames on the stove burner (?!?!?!) She sings non-stop (ie. When she is not shrieking or throwing a tantrum). In fact she can sing the entire alphabet song, even the last bit (“Now I know my ABCs…etc.), a couple of rhymes, can count till 10 in a random order (!), and recite a couple of Bible verses… *I’m on a roll here, aren’t I… ;-]… and you say “Mmhmm…keep going…”* She cries VERY LOUDLY (seriously, that is how it sounds, my eardrums are not what they used to be…) Sigh…, loves books, and dotes on her big brown teddy bear. She is healthy and happy. She is surprisingly intelligent and insightful for a 2-year-old, and did I say she loves books…oh yeah, if she is very quiet and you don’t hear shattering glass, she is definitely poring over a book. There is no need to worry, no need to lie awake at night wondering about the future. If we do our best, everything will turn out just fine.

However, and you mommies will surely understand, I sometimes have these fears… Will she grow up into a healthy adult, or will she inherit any of my health conditions problems? How will she stand up to a bully in school? Will she be able to cope with the harder lessons in school? Will she maintain good (if not excellent) scores throughout her student career? Will I be able to guide her well through her adolescent years? Heck, will she let me?? Will she meet the right guy? Will she love him? Will he love her long enough (‘long enough’ read ‘forever’…) Will she achieve all her dreams? Will she love me when she grows up? *Aside: Will she love me more than her Dad…* Aaaarrrrgghhh! Come to think about it, these are all Worries. I worry about her a lot, and which mother doesn’t.

And these worries turn into fears, slowly but surely. Looking around at the world, I do not receive much consolation either. Relationships of any kind are not what they used to be. Even in a relatively conservative country like India, divorce rates are creeping up the ladder, families are becoming more dysfunctional everywhere, psychos are created at every street corner (False Evidence or not, it is creepy!), educational systems losing quality, and the list is endless. Of course, there is any number of good things in a society that can influence a child: a good family, good friends, the church (or any religious institution), good teachers, true ‘soul-mate’ kind of love, and lots more.

But it all depends on the choices that my child makes. Will she let the bad influence her, or will she take in only good influences. As parents, we can guide her, but (I hate this part) we can’t make the choices for her. Sometimes, these fears make us let go of the Trust Factor and lay down absurd rules that curb the normal growth of a child. There really is a thin line between caring and controlling. So, you lay down the ground rules, teach your child everything they need to know, set a good example, and expose them to a loving and caring environment…. And wait. You Wait… to see how your child turns out…How do we do that? How did our parents do it? And what will my little girl be like when she is an adult? What kind of a woman, wife, mother, and human being will she be?

Now, tell me, how can I not let False Evidence Appearing Real creep up on me every night?

_______________________________________________________

This is my entry for the Write-Away Contest for the month of October, over at Scribbit - A Blog About Motherhood in Alaska.

Presentation on Twitter

2009-08-24T11:54:00.000+05:30

Twitter for PR (Public Relations)[gigya width="425" height="355" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=twitter-1224550852471242-8&stripped_title=twitter-for-public-relations-presentation" quality="high" wmode="tranparent" ]

View more documents from Corinne Weisgerber.

Starving African Children Don't Twitter...

2009-06-30T15:35:00.000+05:30

I found this discussion on TechCrunch about a particularly brow-raising Twitter account. The account user is a 'StarvingAfricanChild' (!) and the Tweets are a whole bunch of "I'm hungry"s. Only two or three tweets mention anything about the surrounding. The post I mentioned also has some really insightful (and some truly shocking) comments from regular readers. I found the Twitter account and the pictures an unnecessary gimmick, as it seems to cheapen the suffering of the child, seeing as it is obviously not the real experience of the child in question but the random rantings of some person who has unlimited (and maybe free) Internet access (which in itself would be unheard of in a famine-ridden region of Africa, I presume!) An even worse example of online inappropriateness and crassness is this Twitter account of 'Hellen Keller'. It's a shame that people are so unfeeling, disrespectful, and evil. Even more sad is that they are so proud of their nature that they want to exhibit it online!

Anyway, coming back to the post - first of all, I personally wish to express my appreciation to MG at TechCrunch for feeling the need to address such issues on his otherwise techie blog. It shows that he is humane and also cares about global issues as much as the latest iPod application... or whatever he writes about. Tech is good, but empathy is necessary. Atleast, I think so.

Secondly, the comments to the post were absolutely shocking, with people more bothered about a small typo MG made on the number of followers that the account had. The issue at hand was completely thrown out the window. What's worse, some people griped that the blogger should just stick to techie news and not lose focus. Oh for God's sake! Why do people have such an aversion to being faced with anything unpleasant. One person claims that there are other people who will bring such problems to the forefront and TechCrunch should simply stick to techie stuff. Contrary to this, I believe it is the duty of every person who enjoys such a wide online visibility and credibility to talk about such global issues, since they have more people paying attention to what they say. Same reason (although on a much more wider reach) as why the American President is asked to comment on everything that happens in the world. You can't tell him it's not his business, can you?!

Thirdly, one reader brought this comment that should jolt any sane person out of their social lethargy:

"Know what is in poor taste? The hours and hours of media and dialogue dedicated to Michael Jackson’s death while 3.2 Million people die each year from water related illness. That’s not even getting into hunger issues.

In fact, it’s not just poor taste. It’s downright tragic and disgusting.

It’s nice to see someone trying to remind people where their priorities should be."

Enough said!

So, when the world is seeing the highest levels of pollution of every kind; a spread of more diseases than we can account for; the death of more people due to war and terrorism, more of the human population caving in to famines, droughts, fires, and other natural disasters, shouldn't we sit up and try to be real and look at what's really important in life.

Shouldn't we try to appreciate what and whom we have in our lives right now; shouldn't we learn to respect the other person; shouldn't we set out priorities right; shouldn't we finally try to make a difference in the world around us?

In Memorium

2009-06-26T15:14:00.000+05:30

It has been a really long time since I posted here. The past couple of weeks have been especially hard for me. My dad (Mr. C. Mohandoss) passed away on 13th June, 2009. He was 57 years old and died of a massive heart attack. My family, especially my mother, is devastated. Mom (Mrs. Vijaya Mohandoss) cannot imagine a life without my dad, but is forced to swallow her grief and get on with life for the sake of my little sister (Jone Dorothy, age 22) and my brother (Jacob Timothy, age 18).

We still can't believe that he is gone. At the funeral, for the first time, I saw how so many people had been touched through my dad's life and testimony. He was a man of God, and a wonderful human being. I can only hope to be half as good as him.

I wish he were still here, because we feel we lost the corner stone that supported this family. But we owe it to his memory to be strong and to be the best at whatever we do, just like he was during his life on earth, and just like he wanted us to be.

My father, who taught me confidence, self-respect, enthusiasm and creativity; who inspired in me the love for writing, books, and music; my dad will be missed for as long as this family goes on.

Dad, we love you forever....

Wolfram Alpha - Alpha? Really?

2009-05-20T14:54:00.000+05:30

The Wolfram Alpha, launched on May 15, 2009, claims to be a computational engine that has all the answers to your queries. It has initiated much discussion on whether it will kill Google, taking over as the ultimate search engine, or will simply be a ‘nerdy’ assistant on someone’s science project.

The Atlantic carries an article on the useful features of Wolfram Alpha, and how it really provides answers while search engines like Google and Kosmix only claim to do so. The writer says that Google only shows us the direction to pages that it thinks are relevant.

ZDNet wonders if Wolfram Alpha is a Wikipedia Killer, while SearchEngineLand.com says that WA is what they would call “Un-Google”. Pretty high praise, also seconded by ITProPortal.com and DailySEOblog.com.

Others are not so sure. Epicenter says WA simply fails the cool test. Ryan Singel describes it as “the nerdy kid the other kids only talk to when they need help with a physics exam…”! I have to agree on that. WA brings up only facts and figures, no matter what the search term is. Google, on the other hand, brings up results from all spectrums, from facts and trivia to entertainment and Twitter updates. If facts are all you want, we do have Wikipedia, which is the input of many people, whereas WA is one entity’s research. Blogs.com says that Wolfram Alpha is a huge nerd, in spite of its winning computation moments.

Mashable’s post on Wolfram Alpha lists out 5 things that WA does better than Google: complex queries, localization, precision, calculation, and comparison. I can only imagine a silver-haired science professor working on his post-doctoral, staring with admiration at Wolfram Alpha, lapping up the facts and figures it doles out. I simply cannot picture me or any other Internet surfer looking for some normal useful info on Wolfram Alpha.

So, who is WA for? CNet News carries the comments of some users who say that WA is for ‘the tech crowd – the kind of people who want to dig into the data’. Another user says he would not recommend it to normal users as WA is very picky about search terms and accuracy of words and spellings, which difficulty you would never face on Google (italics is mine).

In a lighter vein, one user says how he entered his own name into Wolfram Alpha, and the engine responded with a very curt “Wolfram Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input”! I received the same response when I searched for this 'Ad Libitum', whereas on Google I would have found my Twitter account, a post from this blog, and at least one other human being who has a blog with the same name.

In conclusion, go to Wolfram Alpha by all means, but only when you have some serious facts and figures to crunch, or when your science paper is due tomorrow. For a more thorough search of the entire online world use Google, or if you want them arranged according to your interests, use Kosmix. If you want a scholarly look at the topic, look up Wikipedia.

Wolfram Alpha has a long way to go if it wants to nudge out these big fellas…!

_______________________

Other sites I referred to:

Technology Review

Geeks are Sexy

LockerGnome.com

National Novel Writing Month- November 2009 Contest

2009-05-12T11:19:00.000+05:30

I have enrolled myself into the National Novel Writing Month Contest. This is a great contest, where you only get to start writing your novel on November 1st and have to end by November 30th. You do get all year to prepare, though! Your novel should have 50,000 words. Check out the web site for more information on this.

Believe it or Not! I have also started writing my own novel. It is about a writer (duh!). That's all I'm saying right now, because that's all I know!

I am treading virgin waters here. Never tried my hand at fiction before, but fiction it will be. Surprisingly, I have already written 2 and a half pages. The working title of my novel is "In Good Faith". Well, there's someone in there called Faith, so I reckoned... Well, you know. Ok, whatever.

The pure excitement of it all (and my inability to believe that I have actually let myself into writing fiction!) kept me up almost all of last night :0P The web site suggested that I tell a whole lot of people that I have decided to write a novel that will be done by November of this year. That way, I will be sure to finish my novel just to avoid embarrassment.

So, this is me putting myself in an embarrassing situation of major proportions...

Wish Me Luck.... on everything. Write to me if you have enrolled yourself in, and be my writing buddy.

10 Mother’s Day Quotes

2009-05-11T11:39:00.000+05:30

While we’re at that Mother’s Day sentiment, I thought I could put down here some of the wonderful quotes I found on Mothers. Here they are:

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie”. ~Tenneva Jordan

“A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after”. ~Peter De Vries

“Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly”. ~Ambrose Bierce

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his”. ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

“Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother”. ~Oprah Winfrey

“You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back”. ~William D. Tammeus

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body”. ~Elizabeth Stone

“Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love”. ~Mildred B. Vermont

“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible”. ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

“All mothers are working mothers”. ~Author Unknown

____________________________

Courtesy: http://www.quotegarden.com/index.html

Growing Pains on Mother’s Day

2009-05-11T11:24:00.000+05:30

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new". ~ Rajneesh

I doubt my mother would agree with that. Let alone my grandmother. You see, I grew up in a society where every woman is expected to have motherhood, wifeliness (is that a word?), docility, and kitchen and household skills the day she is born. All other skills were taught. Motherhood was always left to good woman sense. My mother showed me how to do the dishes, wash clothes, clean floors, boil rice, do the laundry, make the bed, and vacuum under the sofa. She never once talked about how to bring up a child. She probably thought I should learn that through observation, or that it should come by instinct. Now, my sister and I were brought up just like my brother was – equal opportunities, equal freedom, and equal couch space in front of the TV. All of us were expected to put our own dirty plates into the wash basin; none of us were expected to clean them. Basically, I didn't know motherhood from Adam (or is that Eve?).

Suddenly I was 24, I got married. Within 7 months I had a baby! Mothers often make the joke, "My daughter is herself a baby, and she has another baby now!" That is not funny, and I kid you Not. Motherhood was not born with me, I swear. It was born with my daughter. My motherhood is not yet 2 years old. I have motherhood tantrums that equal my daughter's child hood tantrums. I am still learning the ropes. I die a little when women gasp that I forgot to wipe the chocolate off my 2-year-old's dirty shirt. This is all coming over in a very bad way, but I hope mothers out there understand what I mean – Motherhood is difficult.

The only thing that came long before the motherhood is the love for my child. That love was born when we first found out I was pregnant. That love grew with every new cell added to my daughter's being. That love will continue to grow forever. Everything I do for her, I do out of that love. I cannot be the best mother in the world. I may not turn out the plumpest, cutest, most intelligent, ultra-achieving child in the universe, but I can nurture a friendly, humane, intelligent, hard-working, empowered spirit in my little girl. I can introduce her to the best in the world and in herself. I can grow along with my daughter to be the best mother I can be.

With every growth spurt of my motherhood, I realize that my mother is still growing. I also realize how much my mother has must have grown, and how fast, with the least amount of help, bringing up three little children, in a foreign land. Every growing pains I have makes me grateful to my mother, who had the same pains but never let them show. Mom, I love you. I hope 25 years hence, Debbie feels I am half as good as you. That will be my true reward.

Happy Mother's Day Mom, and all growing Mothers of the world.

Kosmix.com: Searches Everything!

2009-05-06T14:29:00.000+05:30

I came across Kosmix.com on a blog post today. This is a search engine that is completely different from Google. It organizes the search page into topics like Reference, Media, News & Blogs etc. When you search a term, the results are arranged again as Twitter feeds (which I totally loved!), online discussions, Q&As, Videos and more. At one glance, I had it all. It is easy to use, and a refreshing change from Google.

Okay, I am not saying that Google is no good. I love Google search, and it is absolutely my browser homepage. Still, I am happy I found Kosmix.

Kosmix.com was founded by Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman. These guys also created Junglee, a shopping search engine (!!) which was later bought by Amazon.com.

So, these guys are all about search engines with a difference. You'll understand that from the article on Wikipedia. Well, I recommend this search engine, so that you can get a different perspective of things. Check it out and tell me all about it.

The Amazon Kindle 2

2009-03-08T16:06:00.000+05:30

The Amazon Kindle 2 must be a book worm's idea of technology heaven. Gone are the days of reading the written word on the very paper it was written on. No more having to keep one hand free to turn pages, doggy-earing pages you want to come back to next day, worrying about termites eating into your precious library, or scouring way side book stores and vendors for that book you always wanted to read.

The Kindle 2 has redefined the reading experience. Simply download and read. I remember, in the not-so-distant past, people used to imagine of a world that was so technologically advanced that books were extinct. Instead they had a technological device that held all the books they ever wanted to read. Guess Amazon decided that it no longer need be someone's imagination.

Slim as a pencil, this cool e-book lets you read books, newspapers, magazines, and even blogs. Barely 10.2 ounces in weight, this is your ultimate library when you are traveling light! Check out this video demo here.

What I like best about it is that it is glare-free, so you can even read it in broad daylight without the sun shining in your eyes, and it has long battery life.

It hold over 1,500 books, imagine! That's more books than my real library has. And all those books that I am dying to read, but are just not available in local bookstores - suddenly within my reach!

And stores even have really cool Kindle covers in a wide range of colors. This is the idea of heaven if you love books, a lot and technology, and even more style!

You know, maybe in the near future, we would see authors having e-book signings! Gosh! I would love to have an e-book signed by J.K.Rowling!

The Finish Line

2009-01-10T02:30:00.000+05:30

I have never run many races in my life so far, whether rat or otherwise. So I do not have any 'record-breaking' memories to choose from when I think of a finish line. What comes to mind, though, is a 'Rabbit Race' we kids ran, back when we were in grade three, and the world was a rainbow. Apparently, I was on the other (more rainy) side of the mountain...whatever.

Anyway, our teacher, a wonderfully sweet lady with a beautiful singing voice gave us our instructions to run the race (but not in the form of a song). She should have sung it, maybe then everyone would have listened....I digress.

Anyway, during rehearsals (yeah, we used to have dry runs, many, in fact), the teacher said that little containers of mango juice (my favorite kind) would be placed on chairs at the start line and each one of us (dressed as rabbits - rabbit ears made from pink chart paper, socks on our palms for paws, and socks on our feet for, well, rabbit feet..duh), had to drink up all, she said All... the juice as fast as we can, and run (no, hop) to the finish line. Sure, that's easy, right?

Anyway, (Gosh, I sound like Ellen Degeneres), the big day arrived, and we lined up for the race, every little girl with paper ears, sock paws and hopping rabbit feet. Our teacher blew the whistle and everyone hopped to the juice containers, picked them up, started sipping (so far so good), and...dropped the containers and ran....Hey wait! You guys are supposed to Finish the drink, and then run. I was following instructions and the others were finishing the race... where do I come from, anyway, gaaawd! No prizes for guessing what position I finished in at that race. My mom still has a picture of me at that race - lopsided rabbit rabbit ears covering half an eye, drink in hand, and a "What The..." expression on my face!

I look at the winners of that race now, and I wonder if they still have the head start - cool jobs, cooler hairdos, parties, pets, apartments and travel photos - while I try to not to burn breakfast, then force-feed it to my daughter Debbie, and get to work on time.

And then I turn around and look at her toothy grin and the love in her eyes, and I think, well, Mama Rabbit's going to sip this one in, moment by moment, before the next race catches up... We got time to sip the juices, smell the roses .... The finish line can wait.

____________________________________________________________________

This is my entry to the "WriteAway" contest over at Scribbit for the month of January, 2009. Check out the contest and give it a go. She has great prizes every time around!

Help Me...I Am Wonder Woman

2008-07-17T09:36:00.000+05:30

India is a land of wonder women – women born with the sound of their mothers whispering into their ears about the nobleness of sacrifice and compromise, of forgetting one’s own comfort and living for one’s husband, children, in-laws relatives, family and society. The Indian woman grows up thinking she exists for the very convenience of those around her. My Indian sisters who disagree with me are either painfully naïve or are part of the uppermost echelons of society that miraculously believe in equality of the sexes. For those on the lower rungs of the ladder, equality is a luxury they can’t afford.

At the lowest rung of this ladder made up of miserable women, are the ‘manual scavengers’, their very classification a testimony to the detestable prejudice of the caste system that they are victims of. Women forced to collect human excreta from dry latrines in order to earn a few rupees which will buy their children food.

Mahatma Gandhi, that revered man who has posthumously progressed to the greatness of a god, called them the ‘harijans’ – people of ‘hari’ or god. What he called them showed what he really thought of them – untouchables. ‘Achooth’ – a word that, perhaps, has its roots in the very upper caste Mahatma’s own prejudices. Yet, I am only speculating.

He, and many others after him, stressed on better brooms, gloves, and baskets for these people, but no one spoke of letting them move into another profession. Nobody spoke about doing away with this horror, and making people responsible for their own mess. That, anyway, is a trait that seems hard to find in most human beings nowadays.

For the wonder woman, as I prefer to call her, all this discussion is just a stale stench of political hot air strategically performed before the elections. She will always have toilets to clean and money to earn.

15 years after the government banned manual scavenging [Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act No. 46, 1993], these wonder women, found mostly in small towns and rural areas, have not seen one paise of the government grants that were supposedly set aside for them. Although Rs. 473.80 crore was spent in the name of rehabilitation between 1992 and 1998, only 13.9% of identified workers were trained and only 29.7% rehabilitated.

When interviewed they have appalling stories to relate – how they do not have water to wash their hands in summer, how the rains are even worse because the waste is wet and gets all over their clothes, how they can barely look at food let alone eat it, how they grow thin and waste away due to lack of food, how their children pick up all kinds of diseases and they cannot afford the medical help. Alcoholism is rampant, understandably, because only hard core booze could render them numb enough to do this task. Their children do not go to school. Their girl children tag along with their mothers and eventually take over when their mothers fall prey to rape, death, or disease.

In recent years, though, some of these people are realizing that they do not have to stay this way. They seek help from organizations like the Navsarjan Trust, Janodayam in Chennai, Sulabh International, Garima Abhiyan of Jan Sahas in Madhya Pradhesh, and the Safai Karamchari Andholan in Andhra Pradhesh. According to the last mentioned organization, there are over 13 lakh safai karamcharis (another word for people who clean human waste) cleaning toilets all over India. Of them, 95% are dalits and 80% women. The Ministry of Social Justice and empowerment, though, officially announced in 2003 that there are ‘only’ 676,009 safai karamcharis in India. The rest simply slipped through the wide gaps between truth and politics.

These wonder women, fight against such hardships and have a lingering hope in their hearts that some day their life would be different. Atleast, some day the future of their children will be secure. They wonder if it will ever happen. Hope lies heavily on the actions of the organizations that have taken up their cause, and us who read this post and feel at least a tinge of guilt or sense of responsibility.

This is a long and sad post, but the life of the wonder woman cannot accommodate frivolity or fun. Her life is too long and sad. Maybe she is asking you and me, “Can you help me”?

_____________

This post is my entry to the July Write Away Contest over at Scribbit. Have a look here: http://scribbit.blogspot.com/2008/07/julys-write-away-contest.html

Facts and Figures taken from:

http://www.empowerpoor.com/programmereport.asp?report=574

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/indian-women-scavengers-hit-catwalk-un

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2318/stories/20060922005601000.htm

Onion-theories!

2008-06-18T10:09:00.000+05:30

I have a theory. Its like this. The high school wall flower always marries the most popular guy in high school! Even more shocking, that nerd in your class - gap-tooth and thick-as-a-wall glasses - will almost certainly date that pretty blond girl whom you always wanted to ask out but never got the vocal chords to cooperate. ( I hate long sentences!)

I am serious, really. This is not a joke. Go for your high school reunion and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Look at any successful, handsome (remember, your idea of 'handsome' is not what it used to be in high school), confident businessman/doctor/scientist/professor, with a beautiful, smart wife. One look and you might think that he was what he is, since the day he was born. Ask him, and he will tell you differently.

He would have been too clever for his class, too geeky for his friends (if he had any), too weird in the eyes of his own parents, and described as too weak or sickly in the doctor's file.

One closer look, though, if anyone at all had bothered to indulge, would have shown greatness that could rock a high school kids idea of 'cool'.

He would invariably have possessed the right amount of sense ( a rare thing, indeed), skill, knowledge and street smart-ness to make it as a "successful, handsome. confident man with a beautiful and smart wife".

The wall flower, not to be outshone, would have bloomed into this gelled-hair,-swept back into a severe knot- smart as hell-top of the corporate/organizational ladder-men eating out of her hands-kind of business woman/teacher/stock broker/lawyer/doctor or any professional she chooses.

And she will attract a handsome, moderately smart, totally devoid of streetsmart-ness, ex-most-popular-guy-in-high school-guy who gets pushed around now in the big bad world where 'he ain't no high-school superstar no more' because he needs someone to tell him "he can do it". He will approach her because he mistakenly thinks that she was this beautiful and successful all her life. She will accept him, because she can't believe a handsome guy actually wants to be with her.

Sometimes, just sometimes, a geek-turned-successful professional and a wallflower-turned-successful professional will cross paths, eventually arrive at love (they never fall in love, they never 'fall'), and decide - with minds analyzing the pros and cons of such a decision, and trying to comprehend the unfamiliar emotions welling up - to stay together for a very long time. Such relationships have the potential for greatness, real greatness, maybe like the Curies.

Disclaimer: This is only a theory that has been partially researched using limited knowledge. the sample universe is a motley group of individuals that do not represent the human race in its entirety. The data is skewed and the results are highly debatable. Consequentially, the derivations are fallible and may be deconstructed to nothing, just like onions. People who were popular in high school are not to assume that it is directed at them. The not-so-popular others also need not take offense, although anyone fitting the favorable descriptions in the above post are encouraged to gloat, brag, and generally burst at the seams with pride while secretly laughing at those unfavorably portrayed. (Today is 'be mean day').

Sigh...today has been a day of long sentences.... I have a theory... long sentences usually stem out of suppressed feelings resulting from traumatic events experienced at high school... hmm, must research that.

Pride and Prejudice!

2008-06-03T10:45:00.000+05:30

My computer crashed! How timely is that?! I mean, I have to submit my MPhil. thesis at the end of June, and here's my computer showing attitude! AAaaarrrgh! I took four days off, and got my husband to help out with Debbie and the chores while I worked on my thesis. He even did some of the typing work for me. And then, Sunday morning I open a blank file where Chapter 3 used to be.....!

I mean, I saved the file and everything. I think it's about time we got rid of that computer (It's as old as the hills!) My husband just won't do it...I don't know if it has emotional value for him (he just tried to throw out Debbie's favourite book last weekend because it was dogeared! I just don't know what makes these men tick...). Maybe, he has some distant hope in the computer's human-like will power to make one last Herculean effort. I tell you, the whole deal is as nonsensical as that last sentence. Anyway, that's my husband and his computer!

So yesterday we just gave the entire chapter to be typed at a DTP centre, where they will type your stuff out and save it for a minimal amount of money. That works for me, I tell you.

I don't have to deal with the typing work along with all the other stuff that's driving me crazy around here.

Debbie is beginning to stand without support for a few seconds nowadays. Her best yet is 10 seconds! She is really excited about it...but unfortunately has inherited the family trait of letting the excitement get out of control!

She now walks around the entire house (with support) and pulls down anything, and I mean anything she can reach. She pulled down on herself the entire pile of xeroxed secondary source material I had collected for my thesis! She managed to eat a few words too!

One day, I found her dutifully chewing her way through the headphones! That cost a lot of money and she was brunching on it!

Then there's the books, face cream tubes, underwear (my husband left the drawers open again!), stationary, TV remote, clothes (right off the hangers) etc., etc...

She is getting her fourth teeth and it's driving her crazy..She has recently developed a craving for my fingers. I would be sitting there, absorbed in my work, and she would sneak up to me, grab one of my fingers and dig her teeth right in! Gosh, I should probably introduce her to hotdogs, or maybe they have already been introduced and she just misses them!

When she cannot get at my fingers, she goes for my hair! Yep! That's what I said, my hair! She likes to pull really hard at one strand at a time and put me through excruciating pain while she claps her hands in absolute delight! Oh yeah, just for the record, she has learnt to clap her hands to music or when she is happy!

See what I mean? Here I was, narrating my unfortunate accidents and the torture I suffer at the hands of my 10 month old daughter. Yet, I can't resist bragging about her achievements. I guess that's what parents are like. So proud of their children. Makes me think of my own parents and the sacrifices they made for me. Every time I excelled in school or at art or music, they would be so full of pride and would talk about it to relatives and neighbours for so many days! Failure on my part, at the same time, would send them to the depths of disappointment that was worse than the sadness I felt at my failure. Parents practically live for us, and love us with a love so pure that it is only lesser than God's love for us.

I have wonderful parents, let me tell you. At the most unexpected of moments this fact hits me and I feel a rush of gratitude and my eyes fill up with tears. I regret to say that I rarely express this gratitude properly to my parents.

I guess that's why we have Father's Day and Mother's Day, a day on the calendar when the whole world is telling you "this is your day to go and tell you mom or dad that you love them, that they are special and that you are happy and successful and they had a large part to play in forming this success and happiness". Just tell them that you love them.

Happy Father's Day in Advance to all the fathers in the world!

Spicy Marthandam Fish Curry

2008-05-19T11:37:00.000+05:30

Fish is almost the staple diet here in Marthandam. This used to be a fishing village at the southern most part of India, belonging to the Kanyakumari district. Remember tsunami?!

It's a booming town now, with the residents emigrating to all parts of the world from Ernakulam to Europe! However, in spite of all the cuisines that one gets to taste, sea food will always remain a delicacy, more because it reminds us of home and our mothers than its absolutely mouth-watering taste.

No lunch at Marthandam is complete without the spicy fish curry! So here's a simple recipe, Marthandam style...

Ingredients

1/2 kg fish (cleaned, washed and cut in to 2-3 inch length pieces)
1/2 cup grated coconut, grind with water till smooth
half an unripe mango, cut lengthwise into moderately thin slivers
one drumstick (the vegetable, please!) cut in to thumb-size pieces
one ripe tomato, cut length wise into thin slivers
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp fenugreek powder
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
one small piece of really dark tamarind, dissolved in 2-3 tbsp of water (remove the stuff that doesn't dissolve)
curry leaves and coriander leaves (a handful, chopped)
2-3tbsp coconut oil
salt to taste

Method

Get yourself a well-burnt mud pot that's especially used for cooking fish. If you can't get your hands on one, a wok will do just fine. People from Marthandam will tell you, though, that cooking fish in a mud pot makes it all the more delicious. Don't know what's the science behind that, but I absolutely agree!

Throw in the coconut, the mango pieces, the drumstick pieces, the tomato, and all the powders. Pour in the tamarind water. Add salt and allow to simmer.

When the gravy is beginning to simmer, add water according to the quantity you want (2-3cups water, in this case) and add the fish pieces. Allow it to boil for 20 minutes or so. Make sure you do not cover the pot with a lid.

After 20 minutes, pick up a piece of fish and see if it has taken on the colour of the gravy. If it has, it's good to go. Now sprinkle the curry leaves and the coriander leaves. Check if the salt is sufficient. If not, now would be a good time to add some. If you have added salt, give it 2 more minutes,

Finally, pour the coconut oil in a circular direction all over the gravy, switch off the stove and close the pot with a lid. The coconut oil will hold in all the spices and give the fish curry a divine smell and taste!

This curry tastes great with rice!

The Lake House

2008-05-16T10:57:00.000+05:30

I saw the movie The Lake House. Those who do not like a good, soppy, sobby, predictable romance.... stop reading. You might give your self a hemorrhage! Those who love the stuff just described, join the club!

Why am I like this ?I love soppy romances. As soon as I see the font of the Movie Title, the name of the lead characters and listen to the opening music, I can more or less predict that it is going to be a romance movie. Then, fifteen minutes into the movie, I can usually predict what's going to happen, how exactly the hero and the heroine are going to cross paths, and whether they are going to get along. Then, even worse, one hour in to the movie, I can usually predict how it is all going to end. The last one, I bet, is a no-brainer, because the ending of a romantic movie is always happy, right?! If it is sad, then they probably have another name for it in Hollywood! So, why do I actually sit through the whole movie, why don't I just go on to the news? That's totally unpredictable and shocking..or is it?!

Anyway, The Lake House was no different. I mean, it was predictable as ever. Also, I am no fan of Sandra Bullock. However, she stumped me in The Lake House. For starters, she was a doctor; then she drove safe and she spoke slowly. Moreover, she had the habit of writing letters. Even in 2006, who ever wrote letters??

Keanu Reeves I have always loved. He is the strong silent type in all his movies. You can call it a stereotype, but I call it consistency, and I like it.

So here's Keanu Reeves in 2004 and Sandra Bullock in 2006. They supposedly write each other letters and pop it into the mail box at the lake house where they both used to live. And then they finally meet up when Sandra Bullock manages to stop Keanu from meeting with an accident that happened two years ago and then, they finally manage to meet in the present. When the movie begins, actually, Keanu Reeves dies in the first ten minutes, even before the audience gets to know about him properly. I know!

Yet, I watched it. And cried during the end of the movie.

Why..why am I like this?

Why are we such suckers for romances and happy endings?

The same reason why we laugh at comedies and why we watch movies in general. Because it is not happening to us.

This kind of whirlwind romance, this crazy, unpredictable and absolutely swept-off-the-feet romance, flowers and white weddings does not happen to everyone. Yes, we are happy with what we have, but there is always the fantasy, the dream, the wish. And all these people who seem to be normal folks like us are getting it all. So instead of feeling envious about them, we pay money to be part of their lives for a few hours. What if the characters of The Lake House started living in real life. Would they last forever? I mean, she is a doctor who works long hours and has to run away from the hospital every time one of her patients dies. She cannot handle the stress of her work. He has a history of disappearing from a situation, too. And then there was the plan for a law firm he made with his brother that he backed out of. How many plans will he make with the girl and then back out of? Will they even manage to get married?

Who is going to pay for the renovation of the Lake House? Does the guy have a job? He did quit the previous one, right?

See what I mean? This is real life.

Still, when you watch that movie, you decide to forget all that, forget even the issues in your own life and then allow your self to believe the happiness, the bliss that these people offer you. That, in literature, is called 'willing suspension of disbelief'. Like when you allow your self to believe your husband when he says that he will remember your daughter's recital. Like when you allow yourself to believe your friend when he says he will return the loan in a week. Like when you allow your self to believe the claims of that fairness cream.

You know, happiness is what we make of it. Too much thinking about something destroys the thing itself. Try thinking about your ability to read, and you will suddenly forget how to read! Seriously, try it! Think about how you breathe and you will feel your lungs closing up on you!

I am almost done with this post and at the end of this, I just figured out that just as we should never take anything for granted, so also we should never take anything too seriously. Take success, failure, love, achievement, kids, your husband, your sense of humour and yourself as they come, and you will find that things are less complicated.

I think for now, I will look out for the next soppy romance. I'll watch The Wedding Singer...again..for the 100th time! And..cry at the ending...!

Thou Shalt Blog

2008-05-13T13:45:00.000+05:30

It is truly despicable that a blogger should ignore her blog for a period of two months and finally come back with a cheeky post about how 'thou shalt blog'! But it's happening and I am the blogger in question.

And suddenly there was work. I think it's a good thing that I am suddenly in demand for a whole batch of technical writing tasks. My work is sought after, and I get paid for it. (am i making it sound like a great adventure, here?! It really isn't. It's just work that I am supposed to get done.)

But that left me with absolutely no quality time with my blog. I just stuck to plain technical writing. I do have a sense of achievement that I have finished one training manual, written an advertisement and a promotional letter to school principals, have written a post for the company blog and an article to be featured in a popular search engine news section. Still, I feel guilty that I forgot my AdLibitum, green layout and all. (The layout has been changed since then - my update on January, 2009). Sitemeter traffic is truly humbling. I plead guilty but acquit me in the name of all things creative and verbose.

Will try to do more justice from now on!

This was a really lame effort, but I'm saying this was atleast an effort, so ...

Next post, and all that...tomorrow.

On Looking Inside the Grecian Urn - A Preface

2008-03-20T10:18:00.000+05:30

I envy people who travel. Life must be exciting to them, almost every single minute. I traveled from Coimbatore to Bangalore once, a day-and-a-half trip by train, just to visit to the local libraries. It was more work than pleasure. Yet, I could recount at least two interesting things that happened, which I would never have experienced inside Tamil Nadu. So I can imagine how people who travel often, especially for pleasure, would have so many tales to recount.

For people like me, rooted in the motherland, and no immediate change of address in sight, a book is the next best alternative to travel.

There are two types of reading that a person would do – one, reading for enjoyment; and two, reading for information. No, reading the newspaper does not fall into reading for information, because chronic newspaper readers, much as they would like to claim that they are reading for information, are actually addicted to the thing. Try denying them the morning edition one day and you will find out!

So, what would classify as reading for pleasure? Well, anything from your favorite author, favorite bed time story, favorite love letter (!) and …well…your favorite magazine that would give your mother a heart attack! Reading for information is a different story all together. You have to read it, or else! You simply have to read your Grammar text book in sixth grade, you have to read the road signs if you don’t want to get your car’s face relocated and you have to read melodramatic plays, maudlin fiction and ambiguous poetry if you are a student of literature. You also have to read critiques by men who did not find success as writers or poets. This is the final cut…

Incidentally, this last category is what I was up against for my Mphil. Exams that I talked about earlier! So you can imagine that reading up for my examination was no party at all. As every student assumes, I too thought that I was not really going to use, much less enjoy, every thing that I learn.

My reading of excerpts from Letters by John Keats changed all that. What started out as reading for information gradually transformed into reading for pleasure, as I discovered the greatness of the man called Keats. The world is quite familiar with ‘Junkets’, as he was fondly referred to by his friends, but for me it was a discovery of sorts.

Adequate justice is not done to his genius, in the study of the works of this great poet. Schools prescribe Shakespeare and Milton because every literarian, critic and teacher in the world claims that they are truly phenomenal poets. Keats, on the other hand, is read, not because he is a great poet, but because his poetry is beautiful, quaint or just plain familiar. My aim is not to undermine the worth of Shakespeare and the likes; only, to throw light on the thought that, in our bid to extol the greatness of poets already hailed for their greatness, we must not forget other lesser known poets who also possess true greatness, but were not around long enough to seep into the psyche of their society.

To truly enjoy his poetry to the fullest and know the heart that beat so fervently behind those verses, one needs to delve in to the life of this man called John Keats, the man who saw so much tragedy and loss and went through such mental and physical agony and yet produced some of the finest, most delightful poetry the world has ever seen.

In the following posts I would like to share with my readers the wonderful, breathtaking discoveries I have made for myself in the life and works of John Keats the poet and the sensitive soul.

Hope this endeavor will be as refreshing to you as it will be for me.

Exam Fever...running 103 degrees!

2008-03-10T12:39:00.000+05:30

I never imagined that after being out of school for so long, I would get exam fever now!! The interesting thing is that I never had exam fever when I was in school... So you get the idea!

The reason for my fever? My Mphil. Examinations at the end of this week...and week after next! Hence, I declare myself officially a nervous wreck!

Oh! And did I tell you that I already flunked in the first round of tests?! Yes, that's what happened. So it makes it that much harder for me now, since I know that this is not going to be the cakewalk I thought it would. I know, I know, this is too much deliberating over a test.

Please understand - the last time I picked up a book to study was ... what ... four years ago! So, suffice to say, I have all but forgotten how to revise for an exam!

Therein lies my predicament. How many ever examinations I attempt, I doubt (Oh no, there's that word now) if I will do well. However, that's only a personal opinion. The examiner may decide otherwise, bless his heart!

I hope I clear the test this time around or Debbie might not decide to cooperate next time around.

For her, it's one big party. She gets to chew at all the paper, and destroy all the notes, she wants. She also throws in free 'time-eating' activities like a temper tantrum, an "I refuse to sleep as I want to scream and wail the night away" show, and the dreaded "I will let my bowels run wild today" routine. Maybe she is not completely in control of that last one, but I suspect it's more a kind of mind-over-matter thing...! well, it doesn't 'matter' now!

I've finally been able to go through the entire syllabus once, my confidence is really low (maybe because I went through the entire syllabus! Who knows...!)

Wish me luck and hope for the best for me!

This is...no, was, supposed to be a short post to tell you that I won't be posting until I'm done with my tests.

See you two weeks from now!