G - R -A -T-I -T -U -D -E

"The secret to happiness is reflection and gratitude..."

When I had started off on a journey two years ago, I was excited, full of enthusiasm, full of life. A whole new world awaited me when I left my country for the first time. It was a whole new challenge, the time had come to take control of my own life... to become what I had always sought to be... and to break free and feel the pleasures in this world...

But not soon enough, life got back at me. I got sucked into the 'system' - the very 'system' that I was trying to break free from. Yes, I had achieved most of the short term goals I had set for myself, but there was (and still there is) something missing. Patience is one thing that I had always lacked in my life, but I am amazed at how patient I have been in the past few years. But with a lot of patience comes frustration, and frustration eventually leads to sadness. It is very easy for a person to give up, be disheartened and eventually compromise in life when things are not going the way they want them to. I want to avoid this... and I stumbled upon a site which I think would eventually help me with it.

365grateful began as a personal quest, but soon it has thousands of followers. Here is a video for what 365 grateful is all about:

365grateful.com from hailey bartholomew on Vimeo.

It is very easy to complain every time about whats wrong in your life. But why can't we take a moment and look at all the good things in our life? Even small things - Like having a healthy life, getting access to good education, food, having wonderful parents, etc. Thousands of people in this world do not have the little things that we generally take it for granted. My friend had been telling me about this for a long time. Finally, I think she was able to crack open my head and put those thoughts in my brain. And I am realizing that things could be much worse, and seeing things that I am really grateful for.

I really do want to do the 365 grateful project. Its not very difficult, you have to think about one thing that you are grateful for everyday for one year, and maybe write it down in a journal, make a blog, write it on post its, make a scrap-book, take pictures, etc. I haven't thought of my project yet. I was thinking of starting the project on my birthday, but I still haven't started it. Maybe, its time to stop procrastinating and start doing it.

Please visit the website: http://www.365grateful.com/

Another one bites the dust !!

Life and its funny ways...

One moment, it tickles you... makes you laugh your heart out...

And the very next moment, it kicks you so hard in between your legs... and you suffer from so much pain that you forget that you were laughing a few moments ago...

Life is funny... Life is cruel...

....

Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it 'cause nobody else will. Like when someone comes into your life and half of you says: "You're nowhere near ready". And the other half says: "Make her yours forever"....

...

The question is... How much am I willing to give ?

Only time will tell...

Just a thought...

It all started with the Oscar award winning movie "The slumdog millionaire"....
Mr. Benjamin Franklin was noticed (maybe) for the first time around the world as he was the face on a $100 bill...


and then for me, the Gandhis were replaced by the American presidents in my wallet...

A thought just crossed my mind... what if there was a proposal to have the faces of past Indian Prime ministers on the rupee notes? There would had been another riot on the scale of 1992 for sure, if not more...

Our very own Mr. M.K. Gandhi would have been found on Re. 1 note (as George Washington is found on a $1 bill)... and then the other Gandhis (Mrs. I Gandhi and Mr R Gandhi) would have taken over the Rs. 100 and Rs. 500 notes... BJP/RSS would have stormed the assembly and rioted on the streets of the Indian cities... Congress would have come into negotiations (under the table kinds) and would have agreed to have Mr. Vajpayee be the face on the Rs. 500 note...

Mr. Nehru will get Rs.100, Mr. R Gandhi will get Rs.50, and then Mrs Gandhi would get a promotion to Rs. 1000 (the new note)... Notes of new denominations would be printed out to accomodate the other past PMs...

Ironically, our very own beloved Mahatma Gandhi (on the Re 1 note) will get phased out, along with his principles...

Damn!! The amount of free time that I have :P

Just another weekend...

Wow!! It seems like it has been ages since I have blogged...

A lot has changed in the past few months since I have come to U S of A... everything is big in Texas, as they say... and so here I am dreaming big !!

I started last evening itself, and suddenly was bitten by the camera fever... since 7.30 pm, I was busy ogling at the black beauties on the internet... they had the most confusing of all the names, like D90, D40, 450D, 500D, Rebel XTi, and all... the most awesome camera search I had ever done...

mmm.. I just can't wait to lay my hands on them... I have really fallen in love after a loooooong long time :)

I wanted to cook chicken and I started googling for "Chicken Masala", but then I stumbled across a certain Chicken Marsala... seemed delicious and pretty easy to make too...

So a few dollars of shopping with Sid and we were ready on sunday morning cooking, in what turned out to be, the most delicious dish we had cooked since we had come to USA... mmmmm... the most juiciest of chicken breasts in marsala-mushroom sauce along with sausages in barbeque sauce... what was missing was a few cans of beer and pasta... but there is always the next time...

And here the weekend came and went away... and we have an exam coming up in a couple of days... just paid a little "hello" to my page as I had nothing else to do anyways ;)

ciao!!

A second chance...

I wanted to express a plethora of emotions over the past couple of months... But I just could'nt...

It had been a long past couple of years or so... The long years in which I really found myself, or at least thats what I think... As what my friend said, it was the rebuilding phase of my life... to try and get my life back from the shambles of failed relationship and a career that had promised so much and had doomed... I had let myself down, and I have no one else but myself to blame for it...

But I moved on, or at least I have made genuine attempts to move on and I am happy I am fairly successful in it... The quarter life crisis, as they say, is not so easy to get over... The moment you begin to question your own ability, the alarm bells should start ringing... But now that phase I feel is behind me... my life is all sorted out... I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, as they say it...

But...

The one hurdle remains...

It all comes down to what I converse in those few seconds with the person from across the glass screen... all these months of hardship, patience and frustration and moments of hopelessness and depression that I have faced for that elusive second chance to redeem my life have come down to a few seconds...

I have full faith in Him... everybody deserves a second chance in life... and I know I will get mine... I have to...

Failure is not an option...

Drooling over Kolhapuri Mutton...

Its been months since I am drooling over Kolhapuri Mutton and pandhra rassa (white curry).
I remember the first and the only time I had tasted the pandhra rassa was when I was at Kharghar, working at ACTREC. The dabba-waali maushi was supposed to go back to her native place, and before she left, she made some super spicy Kolhapuri mutton sukka and pandhra rassa... That was more than a year ago, and ever since I have been searching each and every maharashtrian restaurants I visit for this pandhra rassa...
Finally, I had made up my mind to go to Kolhapur itself and stay there for a few days and have this rassa day in and out... But decided to search a bit on the internet before leaving...
So an intensive search over the internet and I finally found the recipe i was looking for...
So the next Sunday I am home, I am definitely going to try and cook this delicacy and satiate my taste buds that are lusting for some Kolhapuri mutton... yummmmmmmm !!! :D

(The above photograph is taken from the link below)

Here are the links:

http://khaugiri.blogspot.com/2009/03/tambda-rassa-red-mutton-curry.html

http://khaugiri.blogspot.com/2009/03/pandhra-rassa-white-mutton-curry.html

Actually, this entire blog is full of delicious Maharashtrian recipes, some sort of a boon for beginners like me... Thank you buddy for your wonderful blogs...

The disappearance of a friend..

It was 9 am... I am out of my bed; another lazy Sunday lay ahead of me...
I made myself some tea, and I stood at the window... the April morning Sun shone straight on my face, the rays finding their way through the dense foliage in front of me... I was lucky today that I felt the morning rays, as the trees that have grown taller than my building usually end up cutting off the Sun...

Oh.. and then comes my feathered buddy... he hops from one branch to another, as he cannot fly, and lands on my window sill... I can't tell how glad I am to see him everyday... but this time, I am really missing someone a lot... someone whom I eagerly await, through the whole of monsoon and the Winter seasons... Come March and he used to arrive, with a shrill call... and me as a child used to jump out of bed and run towards the window and try and search for him... to catch just one elusive glimpse of him...

He had never failed in showing up through all these years.. I tried hard, and over the years I managed to learn his language, not literally, but phonetically... And I loved to play with him, tease him, frustrate him with my replies... till he was fed up and he conveyed the same to me with the tone that I could never match... But this time its different... Like a fool, I let out a call out of my window... or when I am walking on the street... people look at me in amusement, sometimes they think its his call... But I think I have mad him angry... sometimes I go too far ahead in teasing someone, but I swear I will stop it, if only you show up this one last time before I fly away across the oceans...
And I hope you will miss me then, this human letting out the cuckoo call....

O blithe newcomer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice:
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear;
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off and near.

Though babbling only to the vale
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.

To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen!

And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

O blessed birth! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, fairy place,
That is fit home for Thee!

-- William Wordsworth

The Skeleton Woman

"If I could start my life again, I would begin by changing my profession. I would rather live on a full stomach and an empty mind. Perhaps as a fisherman...."

This was the tag line of the new play that hit the theatres a few weeks back. I am a great fan of Anuraag Kashyap, and that he had produced this play, I thought I should give it a try. And of course, it had his girl friend Kalki (The "Chanda" from Dev-D) acting in it...

Being light on my pocket (Rs. 80/-), I was happy to go for this show without keeping any expectation... The story is an adaptation of an Inuit folktale of the fishermen from the north, and tells about a fisherman turned writer, who is trapped in his own imaginary world and his marriage crumbling all around him.

The play begins, with the writer sitting in a boat which consists of a wooden frame, lost in his own imaginary world, and jolted back to reality by his wife, who is tidying up the place after they have just shifted into the new apartment. Right from the beginning, the rift between the wife and the husband is quite evident, as she is really frustrated with him cause he is unable to complete a single story while she has to work and manage the house by her own...
Later she tries to become a part of his imaginary world.... the fishing trips....the talking goose who gets flushed down the toilet, swims all alone on the sea, and gets trapped in a dark cave in the night.... the paper swans... the beautiful sunset from the boat and the birds flying against the setting sun, who then suddenly turn into flying piranhas and attacking the duo... the shark who swims upto them and grabs her feet...and then the skeletal hand of a woman he found on the sea.... one hilarious scene after another and I am surely having a great time...

She tries to get him back to reality, wants him to complete his novel and tries to make their marriage work... In the end, there is a real twist in the tale which lets you leave the theatre with many questions in your head, questions for which each one of us may have a different answer based on our own interpretation of his imaginations...

Kalki Koechlin has written the play along with her co-actor Prashant Prakash, for which they have won the Metroplus playwright award 2009. Kalki surely has a better presence on stage rather than the big screen, which was quite evident in the way she has acted effortlessly.... and the emotional transitions that she has shown from being lost in his imaginary world, to being an exhasperated wife in the real world were really wonderful... The on stage chemistry between the two is too good and makes you feel that the acting was simply spontaneous...

I got to see Anuraag Kashyap at the theatre... too bad I didnt get a chance to get his autograph :(
But this is a play you should definitely not miss out if you are a theatre fan.

Performances and Playwright: Kalki Koechlin, Prashant Prakash
Director: Nayantara Kotian
Producer: Anuraag Kashyap

The Perfect Daal recipe...

Its been ages since I have written anything, and now after all this time, I thought about writing on something that is currently going on in my life -- Cooking lessons!! :D

It was way back during the monsoon of 2006 that she had cooked the daal for me... and that was the most amazing daal I had ever had... even better than Bhagat-Tarachand... and now I have mastered the art of cooking that perfect daal recipe after a zillion unsuccessful attempts..
I am just sharing it with you all...

Dal (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

Moong dal: 2 katoris

Ghee

Tomatoes: 2-3

Green chillies

Red chillies (optional)

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Coriander: handful

Spices: Red chilly powder, turmeric, heeng, jeera, dhaniya powder (optional) [use a small plastic spoon to measure out the spices and salt]

Salt and sugar

Lemon: ½

Procedure:

1. Cook the dal in a cooker (take as much water as amount of dal, add extra water at bottom of cooker). When cooked, mash it up with a ladle.

2. Chop finely: tomatoes, green chillies and coriander. Leave separate from each other.

3. Lightly mash the garlic until it splits.

4. Keep all ingredients ready beside you to put in dal, because if things burn, it tastes awful.

5. Heat a kadhai or aluminium vessel (not steel). When all moisture has evaporated, put in 2 large spoons of ghee (add more or less according to preference; more the ghee, tastier the dal). Things will need to be added as soon as it heats up, and very quickly, so be careful things don’t burn.

6. When ghee is hot, sprinkle a pinch of heeng. If it splutters, ghee is hot enough; if not, wait till it splutters. Then add a pinch of jeera, chopped chillies, and garlic. Stand back, chilly seeds are dangerous in hot ghee; then add jeera and dhaniya powders (opt), half a spoon of turmeric, and 1 spoon of red chilly powder. Stir and quickly add chopped tomatoes and half the chopped coriander. Stir for a few seconds.

7. Add the mashed up dal to this mixture. By now, it should be reddish brown or brownish red. Hold the vessel with a sanshi (pakkad, whatever) and stir everything together. Add water until desired consistency.

8. Now add salt as per preference; usually 2 small spoons should be enough. Add 2 pinches of sugar and stir in.

9. When the dal begins to boil, squeeze in the lemon [take care to avoid seeds falling in] and add the remaining coriander. Serve hot.

For the tadka (optional):

In a ladle, heat 2 spoons of ghee. Add a pinch of jeera, red chillies, and very little red chilly powder. Quickly pour over the hot dal and serve.

The Dream Job...

After skipping from one job to another, and after fretting over months about what I like to do... Suddenly while watching a TV show, I wondered... why not???

Highway On My Plate... an amazing show on NDTV Goodtimes...

The two hosts, Rocky and Mayur... travel the nook and corner of India... every show.. a new town, new people, new experiences.. and yeah... more and more new varieties of food... and CHEAP FOOD!!

I like travel.. and I love food...I love experimenting with new types of cuisines...
I can eat anywhere, anytime, anyhow....
and what would be more amazing than getting paid for traveling and eating??!! ;)

You can find some more info about the hosts at this website:
http://goodtimes.ndtv.com/lifestyle/GoodTimesAnchorPopUp.aspx?ShowID=7

I hope some NDTV person goes through my blog and consider me as a potential host, if either Rocky or Mayur decide to move on...

(bu SH)OE Attack

One of the most hilarious thing happened earlier this week, when the outgoing president of the mighty United States of America, George Bush was attacked by an Iraqi journalist at a press conference in Baghdad...
This was his last visit to Iraq...

"This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog," he shouted.

One of the shoes narrowly missed the president's head and slammed into the wall behind him.
Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, tried to block the second with his arm.
Apparently, throwing shoes at somebody is considered as the supreme insult in the Middle East.



After watching the news, I was laughing my heart out..
I remembered a similar incident when I was a school kid in 6th standard. That year, my sister was in 10th, in the same school. On 26th January, which was our Annual day, after the function was over, the chief guest had just finished giving a speech. He said something that was not taken well by the students. I don't quite remember what it was, but mostly he had given the news that there was going to be no holiday on 27th January (27th was given a Holiday as everyone used to attend school for the function on 26th..).
And suddenly it happened... Out of the blues, one chappal came flying from the crowd...
Our chief guest, just like our beloved Bush, had tremendous reflexes.. He ducked and the misile missed him... but it found a different target... our Maths teacher, Mr. Bunder Laj (Name changed to protect his identity :D), smack on his cheeks...

And what happened the next was even hilarious..
The Principal canceled the class picnic of the 10th grade, as it was one of them who had hurled the missile.. Instead, the picnic was held in the school itself, the girls all sat and cooked in our hall, and then everyone cleaned the entire school, swept and mopped the floors of each and every classroom...

I still enjoy teasing my sister with the same... :D

Anyways, coming back to The Bush incident..
A couple of days back I read in the Mumbai mirror that a man in Florida was charged under a new law for throwing a hamburger at her girlfriend, and was sent to prison for one month... It was the first case of the new "Food Attack" Law been enacted..
I guess the first law Mr. Obama might see through is the "Shoe Attack" law... :D

But whatever happens, happens for the good..
Finally Mr. Bush found the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" that he had been searching for !! ;)

Time to go..

The hair on my head have grown... it looks like a mushroom on my head...

Haven't shaved for 2 weeks... another couple of weeks and I will be a mulla-look-alike ...

I havent taken a bath since 2 days... Since my mom is not at home, there is no one to force me to take a bath... I hate taking a bath... maybe I was a cat in my past life...

And yeah, my body is stinking... badly... so no one dare come near me...

The Neanderthal in me has awoken... he does that all the time...
Its like my body is asking for some *primitive* pleasure, and no, its not sex !! ;)

Its time for me to back my sack soon... The winter trekking season for me has jut begun !!

Indian "Gandhigiri"...

India's response to terrorism has been a showcase of "Gandhigiri" in the truest sense...

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.... said the Great Mahatma...

In the recent Munnabhai movie, Sanjay dutt was taught - If someone slaps you, offer your other cheek...

Thats exactly what India's government is doing.. If they bomb our one city, we sit quit and offer them another..

But that is just the case of External affairs..

Our Internal affairs is a typical case of "Telgigiri"....

Pakistan - Really a victim of terrorism??

Pakistan President Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, after the terror attacks defended Pakistan's postion and stated that "Pakistan is itself a victim of terrorism", and that they were committed to fight against it...

I am still wondering...

Is Pakistan really a *Victim* ??

I think Pakistan can be said to be a comprehensive institute for the terrorists... they first learn the THEORY part in Muzzafarabad (Even a waif on the streets of any Indian city know where the terrorist camps are...), and areas of POK...

Then they undergo practical training in those camps...

Then they practice the *Art* that they have learnt, on the Pakistani people... (Its something like those clinical trials conducted for effectiveness before a drug is launched)

And finally, these terrorists perform what they have learnt in where else, but India ...

If Ambanis would had been owning Taj...

Mr. Tata showed his kindness and compassion towards his fellow citizens by announcing financial help to not only those who had been affected by the attack on Taj, but also to the others affected by the CST, Oberoi, Nariman house, Colaba, Metro, Mazgaon and Vile Parle attacks...

Picture this... If a certain Mr. Ambani would had been owning Taj, what would have happened??

A widow staying in Colaba who had lost her husband in the Taj receives a courier.
It is an outstanding bill for a couple of drinks he had ordered with his business colleague on the night of 26th November 2008 at the Taj....
It also says, "We are sorry for the loss of your husband, hence we are waving off the VAT"...


P.S. Its just a joke, and a thought that came to my mind... to be taken lightly ;)

A Smiley in the sky :)

I exited the Malad station that evening, frowning... cursing the overweight Gujju ladies blocking my way...
It was a long and tiring day, full of frustration... Had to run in the college from one department to another, to get my paper work done, and in the end it was a complete waste of time and energy, and as Municipal offices work, I had been called again the next day...

All I could think of is hot mom-made ginger tea that would revitalize my senses... Damn these women... Wish I could just shove them off my path and move ahead!!

And out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the sky... The sun was setting in the distant horizon... beautiful shades of orange intermingled with the pretty azure sky.. And something just caught my eye... There was a typical formation of the celestial bodies up in the sky... The Venus shone brightly, as it always does at dusk... but there was another bright star besides it, and coupled with the crescent moon over the 2 stars, it formed a perfect frowning sad smiley [:(] turned upside down... Duh!! The Gods are teasing me... I blurted and moved on... Oh God!! These ladies... *Shove* followed by *Curses in Gujju language*.... Blahhhh !!!

There is really some magic in mom-made ginger tea... and coupled with TLC (Tender Loving Care), it was the perfect therapy for a certain sulking Mr. Parag Mahale... all freshened up, I decided to go to my fav space, the terrace... N had sms ed me about a peculiar pattern of the stars and moon.. and I thought, yeah I had seen the frowning face already...

And there it was... right in front of my eye, the perfect Celestial Smiley... :)
I stared at it, Smiling.. It felt like I was smiling with God... Good ol' Lord.. some tricks he plays with us Humans eh??


I ran back home, to get my tripod and cam... and captured a series of pictures...
Meanwhile, I got an sms from K asking me to take the pics of the same... and I had already taken 20 shots by then..

It was difficult times for Mumbai, India and the world... terror stricken city was in shock and despair.. While Hindi news channels were calling this to be a "Shani ka prakop" (The Wrath of Saturn) and were calling out priests to pacify the enraged planet, seems like Venus, Jupiter and the Moon had some other plans... they brought a smile back to the faces of the lowly Human species... God surely is crazy !! :)

Its not just about lemon and water...

I wonder who had discovered... or rather made this drink for the first time...
Nimbu Paani... better known to the westerners as the Lemonade.. I feel its the perfect drink.. Nothing can better a glass full of cold lemonade.. No other drink, not even plain water can be that refreshing on a hot sunny day...

My fascination for lemonade started in childhood primary school days... At those times, the famous brand "Rasna" was in vogue... easy to prepare, all u needed to do was to prepare the concentration once, and then just add cold water and voila !!

Once in 2nd or 3rd grade, I happened to taste a glass of Nimbu Paani my Mom had made for herself... and then I made my mom prepare 3 more glasses of Nimbu paani for me, cause I had never had such a wonderful drink ever in my life... No Rasna flavour was as good as this one for sure..

Then One day I realized that this drink is more than just adding Lemon, water, sugar and salt... Just like any other delicacy, it needs to be prepared with care... each and every ingredient should be in the right concentration... I tried many places near my school, near my society, on the railway station, at my place... from my mom, my sister, my aaji... even at my friends' place... But I never found the right taste I was looking for... No doubt it tasted wonderful and refreshing, but I never had that satisfaction... Until one day, my experiments with the ingredients worked out perfectly :)

One summer vacation in school was spend in such experiments... my afternoons were spent in the kitchen... I used to sit on the chair with the entire kitchen spread all around me, which used to drive my Mom insane... I used to tell her I am working on some top secret experiment... she started believing I am like one of those mad scientists, who were trying to found the secret formula for everlasting youth... Alas, she Didnt know how much more important for me was to find out the perfect recipe for the Nimbu Paani...

And one such morning, I was finally successful... I wasn't in a bath tub or else I would have really ran out of it, completely nude... but would had been shouting "Aai aikla ka"... instead of "Eureka"... My mom tasted it.. she said... "Kharach changla banavla aahe re...", which I later came to know that she said it just for the sake of saying it... but she didnt realize what effect those words had on me... I bought about ten lemons from the roadside baniya, and made up almost 2 litres of the "Perfect" Nimbu Paani, and called up all my friends from the building to have a drink... (That was my very first "Drinks" party with my friends, back in 3rd grade :D)
I used to drink Nimbu Paani like anything, day in and day out... and i never used to drink it from the glass... rather I used to slowly take in small sips with a teaspoon like a baby who is getting spoon fed... I just loved to savour the taste of each and every drop of that refreshing drink... The Nimbu Paani drinking session actually used to last for almost half an hour, watching FunTime - Giant Robot and He Man on Doordarshan :)

Gone are the good old days... But Nimbu Paani still remains the best drink for me... All it requires is the perfect concentration of Cold water, the perfect amount of lemon juice, Sugar and salt, and a little bit of Jaljeera.. and yes plenty of love filled in it by the one who is making it... and voila !! The recipe for Perfect Nimbu Paani is ready :)