My Home….

"If you could choose any one place in the world to be your home, where would it be and why? Feel free to choose anywhere in the world, even if it's somewhere you haven't been."

This should have been a simple question to answer. Technically, home should be the place you are staying with your family. One can even be a tad sentimental and say that it doesnt matter where you live as long as your loved ones are with you. This is true to a great extent, after all the best & most beautiful city might seem empty if you dont have any one to share your life with. But when I am being given a choice of picking a place anywhere in the world, I am not going to let go of this opportunity.

I have lived in exactly 4 cities throughout my life so far. I have visited numerous other places. Each of these places has left an impression, sometimes negative but positive for the major part. But do you really think about pros and cons when you are thinking of your favourite place in the world? Arent pros and cons very perspective? What I might like in a city might be the exact thing that you hate about it. So to conclude there is really no benchmark or criteria to decide this, not that I needed any. As soon as I read the topic, my choice was clear in my mind.

It has to be Bombay without any shred of doubt. Yes! I still call it Bombay and not ‘Mumbai’. It was Bombay when I moved in and that is how it will stay for me. I know it should officially be called Mumbai, but does the name change the city or the people living there? I dont think so. I have many reasons to like Bombay (the friends I made there, being a very important one), but I am sure these reasons might apply to a lot of other cities. Living conditions, good facilities, career prospects, safety & security and so on. As I have mentioned earlier, this city also has a lot of things that people dont like at all, such as the crowd, the ever ‘on the move’ life, people being stuffed inside local trains, not to forget the 2 months of monsoon rains that almost turn this city into a huge ditch. In spite of all this, advocates for this city will argue for the city, citing the famous ‘spirit of people’, solidarity, diversity and rich culture & heritage of the city. Apart from these ‘positive’ points I actually quite like the ‘negative’ points also that I have listed. I really long to travel in Local trains again, where you meet and make friends for life, who otherwise would not even have a chance to cross your life. I quite prefer the busy life, where everyone has a purpose and no one is idling away their time. I used to love walking around the Dadar-Plaza area, which is always crowded any time of the day or night. And, I would give anything to experience the Bombay rains one more time, notwithstanding the July 2005 flooding which had caught all of us unawares. Really, after the drizzle fest that I have been treated to all these years in London, I am ready to do anything to get ‘real’ rain on my face!

But these reasons are not enough for anyone to pick and choose a home. Wherever I have lived so far, I have always formed great memories to cherish. Actually, for me it just boils down to the fact that I feel ‘at home’ when I am in Bombay even though I dont have a ‘house’ there any more!

Fifty-2 weeks of 2013: Week 10 – A Cinquain

I have to confess that I didn't know what a Cinquain was until the theme for this week was announced. First of all writing a poem sends me into a panic mode mainly because I don't think I write good ones. A poem always reminds me of William Wordsworth, maybe because I have always read his poems as part of the school curriculum and so have come to associate him with poems. So whenever I think of writing a poem, the first thought is that there is no way I can write something like him. But then, I should remember that you don't have to be like Sachin Tendulkar to play cricket!

The Cinquain is a 5 line poem where the words don't necessarily have to rhyme. This form of poetry suits me because it is short, simple and fairly uncomplicated. There are a few patterns that a Cinquain can follow and that served as a very good guide for me. So here it is then, I hope I have done justice to the format of the poem.

Coffee

Steamy, Aromatic

Brewing, Refreshing, Stimulating

Make mine strong & sweet

Bittersweet.

Fifty-2 Weeks of 2013: What I didn't like about my Childhood

This week’s topic raised mixed feelings in me. I was glad to be thinking about my childhood again, not that I have forgotten it but having an excuse to explicitly think about it and relive all those moments was very welcome. At the same time it was a bit difficult because instead of the sweet and fun filled memories I have had to think hard about the things that I didn't like about my childhood.

I am sure like me almost everyone had things they hated when they were happening to them in their childhood. Like the cut off time for playing out with your friends, ration on the snacks you really liked (crisps, sweets & such), constant insistence from the parents to finish all the vegetables on the plate and oh yes the pressure of studies. But now that I am a mother myself, I realise that those things were necessary. I now know what my parents meant when they said “You don't know it now but you will understand when you have your own kids!” I have ended up reflecting that particular emotion with my daughter already!  Anyway, since I have to list down something that I didn't like about my childhood, I will try to do that instead of going off in a tangential direction.

I have had a pretty normal and happy childhood. Doting parents, great friends, plenty of opportunities to pursue my interests while maintaining the grades at school. So to actually come up with something I didn't like about the great time I had as a child, I have had to resort to comparing my childhood with today's children.

The one thing that I would have liked during my childhood is the kind of exposure kids have today. They are being introduced to all kinds of topics/subjects early one. They know a lot more about technology and what is happening around the world than what we knew. Kids aging from 4 onwards talk about a variety of subjects with confidence and most of the time have accurate knowledge about things. They can no longer be taken for a ride by the adults, they ask questions, they don't accept incomplete or fantastical explanations, they debate and counter question. I sometimes look at my daughter and think how I was completely oblivious of the events in the world when I was as old as she is now, whereas she is duly informed about everything interesting that is happening in the world.

So, there it is. Its nothing that I disliked from my childhood because whatever we lacked in terms of exposure we more than made up for it in terms of social contact. Today the children or rather their parents have to make a conscious effort to get them involved with other children, make them mingle with people, whereas for us it came very naturally.

Fifty – 2 Weeks of 2013 – Week 7

She was always apprehensive about the kind of life partner she would get. Will he be sensitive enough? Will he be loving & caring? And what about the sense of humour that she so wanted her man to have? What would happen if he was a very serious & no nonsense person who looked at life as a series of tasks that need to be completed right on time and with precision. She had come across such people and absolutely dreaded the possibility of having to spend her rest of the life with such a person. You see, she herself was a down to earth, happy go lucky kind of girl who wanted to enjoy every bit of life. She was some one who could smile or laugh in any situation. She always believed in the adage – If its not happy, its not the end!

So there she was, of a marriageable age, meeting prospective grooms every weekend and wondering whom she will end up with. Is it really possible to judge or know a person well enough in 2-3 meetings lasting for not more than 1-2 hrs each? Especially when you are surrounded by family members, who are stealing glances at you while pretending to talk about some socio political issue. But she went ahead with the process nevertheless, constantly thinking if this meeting would be the final one that chooses her life partner.

And then it happened one day. Another one of those normal alliance meetings, with things going almost exactly as they had for all the other previous meetings. But she felt that something had clicked and she found herself saying yes just as she was trying to convince herself not to be terrified at the thought of spending her entire life with a relative stranger.

But it turned out that all her fears were in vain. She was so comfortable with him that it didn't seem like she was with a stranger, even from day one of their marriage. He was almost everything that she hoped & wished for in her life partner. Almost, because no one can be perfect after all! He was sensitive, had a great sense of humour, understood her so well that she was amazed sometimes. Life with him was easy & simple. He was a simple person with simple tastes & likes.

He was so transparent that one look at his face could tell her exactly what was going on in his mind. So she always knew how he felt about things. This proved to be a handy tool because after all she could always adjust things if she knew it was something that bothered him. Little did she know that the same transparency would later become an annoying problem for her. Like yesterday when she asked him if he liked the Karela Bhaji (Bitter gourd Curry) and he smiled and said it was great but she knew he didn't like it one bit! Why couldn't she stay ignored and enjoy the fact that her husband liked everything she made?

Fifty-2 Weeks of 2013: People watching

Before my visit to Disneyland, Paris, I couldn't imagine people, I mean grown ups being crazy about something or someone. I had heard about people screaming out Pop star’s names and falling all over movie stars but never before had I seen the kind of excitement and anxiety I got to see in Disneyland. I was expecting the kids to go berserk and jumping around in excitement but what I saw was the adults equally looking forward to meeting the Disney characters. This snap was taken during the famous Disney parade where all the characters come out in colourful costumes and huge displays.

 

Even the dark looming clouds could not deter them from finding an ideal place and waiting there for hours to get a good view at the parade. We were among them too, along with people from all possible age groups, new born babies to senior people in their 80s or 90s! And the parade was every minute worth the wait and all the fuss! There is something about these characters that totally draws you to them and makes you feel like a young child again. It must be something to do with the fact that deep down we always have a child within us and would always prefer to be that child rather than the adults that we are!

Fifty-2 weeks of 2013: Week 3 (A pound of flesh)

Its week 3 of Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 and the theme this time had me completely stumped. Should I go for fiction? Should it be a thought provoking write up? After thinking about it for the whole week (or rather trying to come up with something), I finally had to settle on this picture.

I had to dig this one out of my very old archives. I couldn't even remember which year this was taken. All I could recollect was that due to some odd reason we had ended up clicking this Cheetah in the zoo enjoying his lunch vociferously. I remember being actually repulsed by it at the time but GM insisted on clicking it and I am so glad he did, for otherwise I wouldn't have anything to post for this week!

Week 2 - Colour Garnet (Photography)

Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 continues with a photography post, having the colour garnet as the theme. Now, I have to admit I was a little puzzled when I saw the theme. Were we supposed to take a pic of the gemstone itself? Where am I going to find one now? But then, the 'colour' solved the problem and as members started posting there pics, it was clearer to me.

But the real confusion started after that. What do I chose as the subject? Coincidentally I bought a pair of ear rings with the same colour. I say coincidentally, but now that I think of it, the theme might have influenced my choice when I was browsing through the jewellery section! Here is the snap that I took of the ear rings.

But then I did a complete change of mind and decided to submit this one instead.

It is a shot of a bottle of Rose syrup against the sunlight (whatever little was available!). I thought the colour was perfect and the pattern on the bottle made for a good visual effect.

New Year Resolutions - Fifty-2 weeks of 2013

If I  tell you exactly how many times I have made New Year resolutions and then conveniently forgot about them, I would be revealing my age. So instead of that let me just say that it has been so many times, that off late I have stopped thinking about making them altogether. I might be giving away this attitude somehow, because people have even stopped asking me about my New Year resolutions. In fact I have had people checking with GM about his resolutions in front of me and not bothering with me at all! But I am not complaining at all. After all if you haven't told any one about the resolutions, there is no need to be worried about embarrassment when you actually break them. So in a way I have at least followed my rule of not letting any one know about my resolutions, so far that is. As is true with any rule, I am about to break this one too!

I wouldn't call them resolutions because as mentioned earlier, I can never keep up with them. This is more of a To-Do list that I hope to accomplish before its too late.

• Try to be a bit more patient - I used to have a lot of patience. I was never irritated to stand in a long queue to pay for items, I never had a problem waiting for the bus/train to turn up, I could engage a toddler for hours  together without feeling the need to pull out my hair. But age seems to have taken its toll and I find that nowadays I am sometimes irritated at small things. Things that wouldn't have bothered me a few years back, things that I would just smile and brush off. They say you get wiser and more patient with age but it seems to be the opposite with me, just the patience bit mind you! I do believe I am wiser now. So I want to consciously try and work on this.

• Try to work more on my writing - Fifty-2 weeks of 2013 is the first step towards it. I will try to keep up with every theme every week so that I am actively writing again. Somewhere down the line I also intend to revive the food blog, I have now forgotten how many revivals it has seen! I still cook and sometimes still take snaps but somehow never post them on the blog. I intend to change this. This blog also should see more posts and I will try to post about things that I feel very strongly about.
• Try to incorporate some Yoga - God knows I do enough running around, but I feel my activities or whatever exercise I get are not structured enough to make any difference to the body. So again I am going to make a conscious effort to get this done.

That is all, this should keep me well occupied and out of harm's way for the major part of the year. Notice how each of the above starts with the word 'Try'. This is deliberate because as I have said before, I hardly ever stick to resolutions, so this time I am just going to try and not impose any compulsion on myself!

Miss Marple or Madeline Bassett?

After a huge gap, here I am posting for the writer's circle again. The topic for June (I know I am late!) was chosen by Amruta and when I saw the topic, I had so many things I wanted to write that I couldnt decide which one to go for. Her topic is

"If you were a character in a book, which book, which character and why?" or "Which book would you have wanted to be a part of?"

For some one who can live on books (reading them, not eating!), this is quite a tough topic. I had so many books that I wanted to be a part of. How do I select only one? As for being a character in a book, again I would like to be so many of them but with some minor changes. So I am going to cheat a bit and list a 'few' books and characters here instead of just one.

To start with I would love to be Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, but a younger version of her! Or should I say, I would like to be Miss Marple when I grow older? I like detective/spy stories a lot and so being a detective would be my first natural choice. Having said that, I am not very good with violence and too much blood (The reaction of David Suchet as Hercule Poirot comes to mind in 'The cheap Flat' episode of the televised version!) , so the Agatha Christie mysteries are perfect for me. They have murders in them of course, but they are rarely ever gory or too bloody. The mystery is solved using logical deduction rather than a blood bath! There are twists and turns to keep the reader interested and completely glued to the story and it is great fun to try and guess what might happen next or who might be the murderer. 


To continue with the same genre, I would love to be a part of a Hercule Poirot mystery as well, and this list can never be complete without a mention of Sherlock Holmes. I wish I could be the Dr Watson to him but I would like to be a little smarter and cleverer than the original Dr Watson, giving my contributions in solving a mystery!


I would also enjoy being part of one of the Dan Brown books with Robert Langdon. What could be better than going on a treasure hunt of sorts, following cryptic & ancient clues?


And I can not forget the Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. I like all the books in the series but Bourne Identity is my favourite and one which I would want to be a part of. I don't think I want to be a character in the book but it will be great to be a part of all those thrills and chills that the book packs in, and actually experience them happening. The film did not capture the whole essence of the book, in my opinion. But then I have rarely liked the movie versions of any book that I have read, you can say I am partial to my books.


Moving away from adventure & mystery, I am quite fascinated by the English way of life in the  pre World War-I era. One of the authors who depicts this time period in his books and modestly describes how the British upper society lived, is P G Wodehouse. I have read all his books in the Jeeves & Wooster series and it would be great to be a part of one of these books and experience fun, chaos, mayhem & excitement, the Wodehouse way.  Bertie Wooster's cousins (Honoria Glossop, Madeline Bassett etc) make for very interesting characters and it would be nice to dress up in those lovely clothes, dine on the fine British food and generally behave like typical girls in those days!


There are many more books that I have loved reading, they were the ones with a lot of depth in the stories and strong characterisation, but most of them also tend to be very intensive in terms of what happens to the characters. If I have a choice why shouldn't I opt for something lighter in life and forget about the more serious and intense things?

What are your favourite characters that you might want exchange places with?

Back to the Future

The writing Circle is going back in time this month. The topic was chosen by Seema and she asked us to write a letter to our 20 year old self. So here it goes.


Dear 20 yr old me,


I hope you are doing well. I am trying to think what you must be doing now, but I am struggling here. Gosh! Has it really been that long or in other words, am I so old now?


Anyway, after much brain racking I now remember that you must be in the middle of your Engineering course, still coming to terms with the endless assignments, journal writing, practicals, lectures, results etc. If you think the tension and stress of the studies is too much, let me tell you that in future you will have various moments where you would wish for those days to come back. So enjoy this phase while it lasts, I know it will seem endless but it is not. These days will end and the next phase will start before you even realise it.


Oh and I have to remember not to make this letter a  very long one. I know you will be quite busy with your friends. Have you had your daily mandatory 30 min call to each of the friends (from school, Junior college and Engg college) yet? Now that I think about it, I am amazed how you get the time to do that, after such a hectic day at the college.


But I have to take this opportunity and thank you for all the great friends you made. In fact this is probably one aspect where I dont have any advice for you at all, you have done very well here! I am especially thankful that you got over a prejudice made a life long friend in S, you know who I am talking about. Yes, that anecdote about you two being bitchy about each other and then turning into best friends is still going strong. I take every chance to narrate it and always get the same expected reaction of awe from people!


Now, let me talk about the things you have done so far and what you will do in future. You have been a good daughter so far, except for some minor incidents where you argue and don't listen to your parents just like any other teenage girl. You have been quite a good sister, in fact a friend, to a great brother you have. Keep it up, I would say, but there will be some moments when you will be forced to think if you have done enough for them. Well, all I can say about it, is that nothing can ever be enough, just hang in there and do your best.


Although things may be looking quite tough right now on the education front, you will manage to complete your engineering and look back fondly, at the days spent in the college or "Shantiniketan" as you guys are calling it now! The wait for the bus to Vashi station which seems irritating and tiring right now, would come back to you as one of the most enjoyable times of your college life. And dont forget the coffee, Wada Pav and the dosas at the station (both Vashi and Nerul), you would really end up craving for them in future. Even writing about them is making my tummy rumble right now!


You will not only land a very decent job doing what you like and love, in your chosen field of Telecommunication, but also make some great friends while working too. You do realise that you have a knack of making good friends and you have your parents to thank for those genes, think of all the great friends they have.


In fact you will have the best friend you can have, for life, and who will be with you always, supporting you all they way. I am talking about your future Hubby. He doesn't own a  Silver/Black Mitsubishi Lancer as is your criteria at the moment but believe me, you will never miss the Lancer! And who knows, I may very well influence him so that he buys one any way! You will have an adorable daughter who will give you sleepless nights and make you run for life, almost literally, but it will all be more than worth it.


This reminds me, do pay more attention to what Amma says, you will end up repeating the same things to your daughter. You might be resenting all the things you have to hear now, including " you will understand when you are a mother yourself" but trust me, that is how things will be.


Keep up with your cooking, that will be something which will keep you sane when things seem to be going totally out your hands. Would you believe me if I told you that you take up baking too, in a big way? And that you would write a food blog, enjoy it and be proud of it too? I should really resume it actively now.


Speaking of food, you should have really kept off the junk food a bit and may be got into the habit of going to the gym or at least have some form of exercise everyday. And however you may justify to Pappa, doing Pranayam for 15 minutes and then devouring a plate of Sev Batata Puri does not help you at all. Stop fooling yourself there!


On second thoughts, forget whatever I asked you to do. Go on, continue to eat the way you want, plonk yourself in front of the TV and watch all those Salman Khan movies as much as you want, continue to 'pester' amma by pretending that you dont listen to her. After all you have your future life to contemplate on all those things. For now, enjoy yourself . I just hope that if and when we come across each other, we can laugh at all those things and agree with each other about the choices we made in life.


Would love to hear from you too!


Yours,
Me.
PS: I still have loads to write about but as I have promised, I wont make this a very long one. And as you can see you will maintain your habit of writing PS after every letter/email, whether it is really needed or not!

I have the Power!

The Writing Circle is all about having super powers this month! The topic that we are writing about is - 'Given a choice, the Power or sixth sense, I would like to have.'

Although I chose this topic, I was very apprehensive since it sounds very cheesy and straight out of a Beauty Pageant. But then, come to think of it, we all have at some point thought that it would be so good if certain things were under our control. We could have faced this moment at any point in our lives - waiting for that crucial train/bus/flight which seems to have been delayed on purpose, losing out on winning anything by just a hair's breadth and especially when things are not working out for us and we need them to just fall in place. I have experienced this so many times in seemingly small things - cooking Malai Kofta and letting it simmer for 5 minutes longer led it to stick to the bottom of the pan and there I was, wishing that I could go back in time and switch off the gas!

But to come back to the one thing I would like to be able to do, I am quite clear on what I want, although there is one another thing which I will mention later. I  would want the power to know what others are thinking, I want to be able to read every one's mind just by looking at them! The need for such a 'sixth sense' for me, might have stemmed up from the fact that I am particularly affected by what others are making of my actions or words. I say something & then keep wondering if the other person actually understood what I really meant by that or whether I offended some one unknowingly.

Imagine how lovely it would be if we all had such a power. It will be so easy to just clear up any misunderstanding brewing in a person's mind because you know how they are thinking. There will of course be other complications. There wont be any diplomatic talks/discussions, no need for elaborate gadgets to detect lies, salary negotiations would take a completely different form and of course there will be no poker! It will be very easy to call some one's bluff and so every one will be forced to be honest & truthful. No so bad, if you think about it.

The other thing I wanted to mention here is the power of one's will. Now we have all read about accounts from people in adverse conditions who overcame their difficulties due to their will power. But is it possible to control the happenings in your life through your will power? Can  will power really make something happen or prevent something from happening? If there is any possibility, I would like to have that power too!

Fiction: Hell can wait!

The Writers' Circle is back and this time we are trying our hands at fiction. 
I have given this a tentative title for now, but would welcome any suggestions.

Hell can wait

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in front of a huge gate. It took him a few moments to realise what was happening. He had been dead for only a couple of minutes but it felt like eternity. He wasn't sure what would happen next.

And then he saw some one approaching him from behind the gates. It was a welcome sight to see another 'person' and suddenly he realised that he must be standing at the gates of heaven. "So this is how it all ends, at least I am in front of heaven." He felt happy.

The Apsaras were all excited too, at the thought of having a chef come and stay with them.
 “Finally I can learn how to make perfect souffles!” Thought one of them.

But the chef was being told some thing else by the gate keeper “ You know we would love to have you here in heaven but although you have done a lot of good deeds by pleasing a lot of people through your food, there is one thing that is preventing you from making heaven your home.

You have broken a lot of hearts through that program on TV, where you judge a cooking competition. Your caustic remarks and harsh language made half of those aspiring chefs to abandon their dreams and some were so depressed after that competition, that they thought they were good for nothing.

But you are still being given a chance. We have arranged a similar test for you where you have to cook something with the given conditions. If you succeed you may enter heaven, otherwise the other world is waiting for you. But you are used to Hell’s kitchen arent you?"

The chef smiled, after all this was something he did every waking moment of his life. How hard can it be?

He was then led onto the kitchen area. Everything looked different. It reminded him of his long lost & forgotten village kitchen where his grandmother used to cook. There was nothing he could identify with, no non stick cookware, no ovens, no gadgets, not even a proper sink! He was handed a sheet of paper with instructions and was left alone.

"Cook something savoury using Chickpea flour and the other things provided." Said the sheet. He looked around for other ingredients and found a tray with some basic essentials but only a few teaspoons of oil. So frying was out of question. He looked around and could see only one sauce pan, a few spoons, a few plates and a small herb garden. For once, he was stumped for ideas. His mind went blank and he could not think of anything at all.

As he gathered himself and started to think, all ideas he came up with, required elaborate ingredients and costly gadgets. While he was looking for a way out, his thoughts kept returning to one student who he had criticised a lot. He would always look lost in the plush kitchen of the Chef's culinary school. The student would always make something that his great aunt would make at home for him and the Chef would always ridicule him for that, saying, how did he expect to serve something as plain as Khandvi to the distinguished guests in his 5 start restaurant. His Khandvi had tasted great and was so simple to make though.

"Of course! Thats what I can make now!" He tried to remember what the student had done and how.He quickly gathered everything he needed to make it and went about preparing it. He was just adjusting the coriander garnish, when the gate keeper walked in and asked him to stop, since his time was over. The chef proudly presented his dish and waited for the verdict.

To his own astonishment, he was actually sweating with tension and was really scared of what he would hear about his creation. Is this what the contestants went through while he smugly went on tasting their creations and said whatever came to his mind. Hardly ever appreciating any one, always keeping them on their toes and conveniently ignoring their best efforts?

He looked at the gate keeper's  facial expressions for a clue and was even more tensed. He took his time tasting the Khandvi, looked at him one last time and said “ I will let you know the decision but after our special guest has tasted this." As they all looked on, a young boy, no more than 5yrs of age entered the kitchen and went straight for the dish. He took a mouthful and instantly spat it out. The chef could not believe what had happened, a first for him. He was about to give up completely when the boy returned to the plate and carefully picked out the coriander leaves with his fingers, then picked up the 'clean' khandvi and relished it.

He turned to the chef and said " Its delicious but without all the green leaves that you put there for decoration." The decision was made, the chef could stay there but on the one condition that he would cook for them and be prepared for their criticism every day.

India Shining? Definitely!

This post is a part of what I call a " Writers' Circle". We are a group of friends (some real life, some just online) who write on a common topic every month, in an effort to keep our love for writing alive (At least that is what is behind my posts, a few others do manage to write regularly without having to wait for the compulsion!)


This month's topic chosen by Deepa,  was India Shining: 2 Things I like about India and 2 things I would want to change.

As soon as I heard "India Shining", the first person to come to mind was the former Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. For those of you who don't remember his blink-and-miss tenure in the Govt, it was during that time that the phrase "India Shining" was first coined. It has been extensively used by everyone since then, sometimes with proud and sometimes sarcastically.
Since I have been living outside the country for more than 6 years now, this topic is even more significant for me. Overall, I feel that as a country we have come really far and I would consider India's standing in the world as an achievement. Having said that I also realise that there are a lot of avenues that need huge improvements, as would be pointed out by some of those cynics out there. Dont get me wrong, I am very pragmatic when it comes to my thinking and feelings but to just snigger over any comments of development by saying that there are so many things we lack is being very pessimistic, in my opinion.

Now before I get too serious and wander off from the topic let me start with the top 2 things I like about India. It is very tough to choose only 2, but I have tried.

Unity in Diversity - Cliche to some, but absolutely unique according to me. Where else can you see people from so many different backgrounds and culture, living together and flourishing in each other's company by sharing everything. On the last count there were 29 states and 6 Union territories in India. Each with its own culture, heritage, beliefs and language. In fact you would find many different dialects of the same language in a single state. Now add to that the population that India has, and you get numerous combinations of people in any given town/city. Barring a few communal and caste instigated incidents, we do manage to live peacefully with each other, enjoying every festival and every occasion equally. I can go on and on with instances that I have myself seen and experienced about this unity.

Tolerance and Adaptation - I didnt really know how put this one. Let me try. India has always been exposed to various foreign cultures and trends over the years. Now there could have been 2 scenarios with this - either the foreign culture could completely take over or it would be totally rejected keeping in mind the traditional values. But the thing I like very much here, is that we have managed to create a balance between the modern foreign trends and our own traditional values. An average Indian youth wears Levis Jeans, eats at McDonalds, dreams of owning a Mercedes Car, is hooked on to Facebook completely but is still deep rooted in the family values and traditions which we are so proud of.

Now for the things I dont like so much and want them to change

Civic sense in people - I think this would be a classic pet peeve. Why cant we think of others too when we are in public? Why cant all of us make it a point to throw the rubbish in the bins, not spit wherever it pleases us, respect others' right to the road and other public amenities, not always be in a rush and have some patience basically.  There is no point in honking your horns when there is a huge queue of vehicles in front of you. If the person in front of you could drive on, he most definitely would. He isnt really interested in camping out in the middle of the road, you know. And then again, if we all were a bit patient and did not cut lanes or force ourselves onto wrong lanes there wouldnt be a traffic jam to start with. So for once, why cant we stop blaming the Govt for everything and start acting responsibly?

Small - no the word I am looking for is trivial - Issues! - There are loads of things, very important and some even very critical that need attention in India, but the majority of our political brigade seems to be concerned with issues that are beyond my realm of understanding (and I am sure lots of others too!) in terms of their significance and importance. We have fights over naming of roads & by lanes, riots over the incidents such as a statue covered in bird poo, endless discussions over what to call the city/town, renaming of airports and other landmarks and not to forget what is being shown on TV & films and their names & songs too! Remember how "Billu Barber" was renamed "Billu" just because the the Barber association did not like it? We have several law suits filed to protest against how some one dresses up, what some public figure said what occasions we celebrate (Valentine's Day for example). Add to that the fuss created by top politicians & celebrities when they are required to go by the rules at airports, Govt offices and other such places and the list can go on.

Let me repeat here that it has been very difficult to limit myself to only 2 things in both the categories because there are a lot of other things I really like and dislike, but that could be material for another post some other time perhaps....

5 Influential Quotes

Its time for us to get back together again and write about a common topic which for this month is, "5 influential quotes you love & live by".  As I love collecting quotes, I jumped at the idea but realised that selecting only 5 out of my collection was really difficult. I have tried to do it anyway, by picking up the ones that apart from being some of my favourites also hold a special meaning for me in some way.


1. Amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic - Source unknown
I love the simplicity of this quote and how easily it puts forth the idea that, just because someone is not a conventional expert about a certain thing, they should not be ridiculed or discouraged. Recently I have started seeing how well this applies practically, whenever Shreya points out something which is so obvious that we later wonder why we didnt think of it!


2. If its not happy, its not the end.
I knew this and lived by it, long before Shahrukh Khan condoned it in 'Om Shanti Om'! Remember this - "Picture abhi baki hai mere dost!"


Again, I don't know the source but this is something I have strongly believed in throughout my life. Some might call this overly optimistic but I sincerely feel that everything will sort out in the end. In fact there was a time when I would refuse to watch those serious 'art movies' where the end used to be left vague with the lead actor and actress going their separate ways, or the frustrated youth either jailed or dead, or the harassed child going on to become a frustrated youth and so on. I always wanted the characters to have a happy ending. Maybe this is the reason I still adore the Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies, where it always ends with all the characters smiling for the camera, everything sorted out and in place for all of them to be happy ever after.


Having said that, I do not live in my own fairy tale world and I do realise that things dont always work out, but the way I look at things is that, whenever it is not working out, it is just a passing phase and eventually everything will be fine.


3. When you look back on life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the one's you did.
This is a classic one, if you ask me and so true as well. There are a lot of things I have wanted to do and whenever I think about them I feel very sad that I didnt pursue them. Even now while I am drafting this, I can hardly recollect anything that I have done & regretted. Of course short term regrets will always be there but you tend to forget them in the long run and what you are left with are the things that you didn't do.


4. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
An often repeated quote that I love because of what it implies and of course the Tomato angle gives it a witty edge as well. Surprisingly there are a lot of people who really dont know that Tomato is fruit and not a vegetable!


5. No matter how thinly you slice it, there are always two sides.
My attitude in life exactly! Anything that happens always has 2 aspects to it, you can choose either the positive or the negative one. As I have already demonstrated in one of the earlier quotes, I am the perpetual positive thinking one, which sometimes is annoying to people. But this quote has stood me in good stead and I am always preaching it - there are always two ways to look at things!


There are lots of other quotes I like and I have to mention a few more here.

• Everywhere is within walking distance, if you have the time. (Steven Wright)
• Our house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.
• One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension
• Opportunity has to knock, but it is enough for temptation to stand outside and whistle
• Being right is highly overrated. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day
• You can discover what your enemy fears the most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
• A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.(Arnold H. Glasow)

Purpose of Life.

Now thats a topic which should make you think, it sure made me. What is the purpose of my life? Do I even know what I can call a purpose? There are a series of things I would like to do, but do they qualify as the puropose of my life? I dont think so. I believe that the purpose of life should be something that should make you feel absolutely content with life once you achieve it. No more contemplation or struggling and that is hard to achieve in this day and age because our needs and wants are constantly changing.

Having said that, there are people who understand the true purpose of their life early on and work towards achieving it the rest of their lives. Some manage to do it in their lifetime and some are credited of having achieved it after their stint in this world. As for me, I am not in that category as I haven't been able to fathom the purpose of my life yet. There have been events that made me happy and for some duration after those events there was nothing else I wanted - my first job (the look on my dad's face was priceless the day I brought home my first paycheck!), my marriage, birth of my daughter etc. But as I said the satisfaction was only for some time before I started to feel that I want more from life.

That has continued till today and I am nowhere near to finding that elusive purpose or one single objective of my life. I did have 'mini' objectives at different stages of my life. When I was in school the sole purpose was to study hard & get good marks so that the future is secure. Did that help? I am not sure.

Once in college, in addition to the above there was another purpose, of keeping & maintaining the friendships I struck. I am very happy to say that I have been able to manage that even now after all these years and I do consider that as one of my achievements. Didn't some one say that friends are the best investment you make? I totally standby it.

After achieving the education that I set out to achieve, the next big thing of course was the job and again I consider myself fortunate that I got the chance to work in my chosen field for a reputed company and more importantly I thoroughly enjoyed the work and that became my purpose for that phase of my life.

Once I got married and my daughter was born, I think I can say that the only purpose I have now is to give her the kind of upbringing my parents gave me. If she turns out to be an intelligent, independent, tolerant, respective and humble person, I would consider my purpose as being achieved.

But again, is that the purpose of my life? Not really, that may be one of the things I want to achieve in my life but not the sole purpose. Just like many others I will be in search of the purpose of my life and the day I chance upon it will be the most significant day, I am sure. I only hope I realise what it is, before its too late for me to start trying to achieve it!

10 Day You Challenge: 10 Secrets

The 10 day challenge kicks off, with me writing about my 10 secrets. Now I am not sure if they really are secrets. There will definitely be some people who know all these facts about me, but these are some of the things that I believe are not common knowledge about me, so here it goes in no particular order.

1. I am a huge fan of thriller/detective/murder mystery programmes on TV. I am on a first name basis with Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Barnaby, Inspector George Gently, DCI Banks, Taggart, Lewis, Morse, Foyle, Frost and so on, the list is endless. Give me a murder any time and I am glued to the screen. It need not even be in English, I have even watched Swedish murder mysteries with subtitles and thoroughly enjoyed them. I can watch all the gory details (CSI style!) without wincing even once!

2. I would like to believe that I sing fairly decently. Nothing too classical but I can easily manage the semi classical ones, although I am too conscious to sing in front of others. The only person who has heard me in full swing is my daughter, who has had to put up with my semi classical lullabies when I used to sing to her during her bedtime right until she was 3 yrs old, that was the only 'riyaz' I got :)

3. I have a habit of talking to myself all the time. Although I tend to do it in my mind, some times I am quite loud even without realising it. I discuss pros and cons of things with myself, remimnd myself about important events/things, repeat instructions etc and generally behave as if there was was someone with me.

4. Another thing that I do very often to kill time while I am out and have got nothing to do, is play Antakshari with myself. I sing a song in my mind and continue with another song starting with the last letter of the previous song.  We took it a bit too far once when I and my friend P played Antakshari during a Physics test, for which we were not prepared at all. So when the question paper was given, after about 10-15 minutes we had written all we could but had to pass time for the next 2 and a half hours before the the test got over. Luckily we were seated one after the other and we would quietly whisper the last letter of the song that we would have just finished singing in the mind and the other would continue. I know, it sounds absolutely crazy and thats what we were then!

5. I am a big movie fan and know the dialogues of most of the Hindi films that I have seen including Sholay, Chupke Chupke, Andaz Apna Apna, Bawarchi, Hum aapke hain kaun, Gulam, nearly all Govinda movies, Agnipath, Deewar, Don, nearly all Bacchan movies too and so on. Actually I should mention here that I do watch a lot of movies so the list would be quite long.  In fact, I and my brother have this ongoing challenge wherein we use a dialogue from any movie while talking normally and the other peson has to instantly recognise which movie it was. We can hold a complete conversation using only the dialogues from movies and no other words.

6. Talking of Hindi movies I am a die hard fan of Salman Khan. There I have admitted it in print now! I have been teased all my life for this and especially when he is in the news for all the wrong things. I am very protective about this and can not take anyone saying anything bad about him, maybe thats why I get teased all the time! I feel equally protective about Sachin tendulkar who happens to be my favourite sports personality. I get furious when people equate him to God, yet wouldnt think twice before rubbishing him for getting a low score or accuse him of taking away all the credit sometimes.

7. Although I like things neat and tidy, I am very bad at clearing clutter. I collect all sorts of things and can not bring myself to throw away anything even if it is no longer in use. I still have my daughter's clothes from when she was a baby, of course sentiment plays a very important role here, but apart from that I also have my own clothes from long back which dont even fit me any more. In the kitchen, even after I get a replacement for some thing, I am very reluctant to throw away the original one, specially if its in a working condition. I stash such things away to be used in an 'emergency'! GM is really annoyed by this habit of mine as all these 'useless' things take up a lot of space in the house but I keep telling him that we might need them some day.

8. It might be slightly hard to believe if you see me now, but I have been very much into sports throughout my school/college life. My favourite sport to play is Cricket and if you are one of those people who have raised their eyebrows at this, yes one more time, I do play cricket and not just watch it! In fact my brother who is now an accomplished player and happens to be in his Company team, has learnt the basics from me way back when we were 12-15 yrs old. I have also been a Kho Kho and Kabaddi player on the zonal level and have won medals for long jump too.

9. There was a time when I could recite the whole of Bhagvad Gita. I was a Sanskrit student in school and I had learnt it to take part in an elocution competition.

10. I hate getting facials done at a beauty parlour. Apart from not liking them I am also sort of allergic to them. Till date I have had it done only 2 times in my life and both the times, my face broke out into pimples after 1-2 days of the treatment. I only tried it the second time because my friend and colleague managed to convince me that it was completely herbal and had no chemicals in it. The result was the same and now I am on a vow never to try them again. Home made face packs or even the ones available in shops such as Everyuth and Cuticura are different but I hardly have time for them anymore.

So these were 10 facts/secrets about me. Next Sunday I will be writing about the 9 loves of my life.

10 Day You Challenge

There will be no use giving excuses or explaining the absence inspite of claiming otherwise in my earlier posts, so I will get straight to the point and once again mention that this time I will be writing regularly. What is so different about this claim when compared to the earlier ones? This time I have a bunch of friends to motivate me, some of whom I havent met at all but we share a liking for writing.

As an engineer I have noticed that I work better with deadlines. I dont know if this is something general applicable to all engineers or if its just me but somehow when I have been given an 'assignment' and told to complete it by a certain time, I really get working! So I thought of giving myself a project to do and just so that I dont take it lightly, I am setting a deadline as well!

This challenge has been doing the rounds of the blogosphere and I thought why not? So here am I writing about myself using the guidelines provided in this challenge. It is pretty straight forward and clear in the the above image. Everyday I have to write about a topic, giving my list of the specific subject. Now I dont want to send this blog into a shock by writing everyday as opposed to just 'opening' it once a month, so I have decided to have a gap between the posts. I will be posting every Sunday.

My first post for this series will be published on Sunday, the 23rd.

Another revival....

This blog has seen too many revivals or rather the attempts, so this might not be taken very seriously but there is something which doesnt let me leave this in oblivion. I am now busy with my other blog, which is doing quite well, if I say so myself but I can never forget that my blogging started with this one.

This was supposed to be my space where I could write about anything that came to mind, about things that were important to me, my likes & dislikes and so on. But life got busy and when handling the food blog itself started getting difficult, this was promptly forgotten. But not any more.

This is it! I might sound like one of the aged Bollywood stars trying to make a comeback again & again, but this time I am here to stay!

Coming back from India

I am back from India & no I didnt get the Shammi Kapoor DVDs as I had planned. The main reason being lack of time to go looking for it and also I observed when we were there that S has started making a fuss about eating even if we try to distract her with Shammi Kapoor or any one else for that matter!

Its always the same when you are leaving for India and also when you are coming back from India. Whether you get a days notice or you know months in advance the packing will always be done at the last minute. There always will be a struggle to fit in everything in the bags taking into account the weight limitation. While going its the presents/gifts etc and while coming back it will be the odd masalas/papads/eatables and anything that you think you wont get the same as in India (I bring back bottles of Silk n Shine conditioner everytime!) . Theres always something or the other that is left behind either because you forgot about it or the weight limitation. Its only been a month since I came back and I already have a list ready for my parents who will be coming shortly!

Thank You Shammi Kapoor

for making my daughter finish her dinner without any fuss and in record time i.e. 15 min flat!

Meal times are testing times for us, testing patience that is. S may be very hungry but she will still take her own sweet time to eat. Sometimes not even finishing completely. But again whenever her food is completely over, some of it has been spilled by her active hands, some spit out while trying to 'speak' something.

On Saturday, while channel surfing, GM came across the movie 'Teesri Manzil' and we had it switched on while we embarked on the task of feeding S. To my surprise she was completely drawn to the movie and while she watched wide eyed, I gave her spoons after spoons of her food and she ate without any fuss. Then when I paid attention, I saw that she was actually interested in watching Shammi Kapoor with those characteristic moves.

Most of the eating was done during the 'Aaja Aaja main hun pyar tera' song. But Shammi Kapoor was the only one who interested her. Whenever he was not on the screen and Asha Parekh took his place she would look at me questioningly. Sorry Ms Parekh nothing against you, but my daughter just prefers Shammi Kapoor.

Now I channel surf in search of a Shammi Kapoor movie before every meal. Maybe I should just get some DVDs on my next trip to India.