My days - these days.....

Winter Favourites....

2012-01-14T23:35:00.005+05:30

It is winter time and markets are full of fresh green lovely vegetables. Some of the all time winter favourites are cauliflower, peas, carrots, beans etc. And what better way than a vegetable pulao to enjoy the freshness & goodness of these vegetables !!!

Today evening while shopping for veggies, I planned to cook vegetable pulao. But then, the traditional vegetable pulao with khara garam masala & zeere ka tadka seemed too boring and much-used. I was looking for ideas for something different - something with a little south Indian flavour. I googled for the same without much success. Then I decided to try & create something new.

The result was pretty good and hence thought of recording it & sharing it here. For all Indian women (& men), the measurements are not fixed & rigid my any means - they are just indications. Please use your understanding & sense of cooking to decide on measurements.....Thats what I generally do, except in cases where I am trying to cook something authentic or traditional...

Try this out & create your own variations....with other vegetables, chicken, shrimps.

Veg Pulao with Southern Twist

Ingredients:
Vegetables
Cauliflower : 1/2 mid size
Beans: 25-30
Carrots: 2 Medium sized
Shelled Peas : 3 handfulls
Wet Masala:
ginger : 4 inch
Green Chillies : 4 mid sized
Coriander seeds : 1 teaspoon
Grated Coconut : 1/2 cup
Dry Spices:
Mustard seeds : 1 1/2 teaspoon
Curry Leaves : 10-12
Mace : a little
Urad Dal: 1 teaspoon
Chana Dal : 1 teaspoon
Dried Red Chillies: 4
Others
Basmati Rice: 1 1/4 cup
Lemon : 1/2
Grated Coconut : 1/2 cup
Refined Oil: 2 tablespoon
Sugar : 1 teaspoon (optional)
Salt: To Taste

Procedure:
1. Wash & soak basmati rice for 10 minutes & then drain
2. Cut all vegetables into small pieces.
3. Grind together all ingredients of the wet masala with a little water to a fine paste.
4. Heat refined oil & add all the dry spices one by one.
5. Once spices release their aroma, add the vegetables & fry for 3-4 minutes
6. Add the Wet Masala & fry till the moisture has almost evaporated.
7. Add rice & continue frying till all the moisture has evaporated
8. Add water to about 3/4 inch above the level of rice.(Or use your own measurement method that you use for pulao)
9. Bring to a boil & add salt. Add sugar depending on your preference
10. Cover & cook till rice & vegetables are cooked & all the water has been absorbed.
11. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon on the pulao.
12. Mix lightly with a fork.
13. Spread Grated Coconut on the pulao.
14. Serve with a simple raita.

Busy days in 2011....

2011-10-11T23:30:00.002+05:30

It has been a extremely busy year so far....Lot of activities on both professional and personal front. God has been very kind and I am so grateful for that. I have discovered "Secret" this year, all thanks to persuation by my friend N. I have read it many times and have been following it precisely hence.

Major learnings: to be ever grateful for what God has bestowed on us. Though I always felt grateful, but the joy of expressing and feeling gratitude is immense. I have learnt to really appreciate all the joys of life, big and small, and genuinely feel the gratitude.

The other major learning is believing firmly in your dreams, knowing that they will realized in right time, keep faith, and express gratitude for them. The power of attraction and the knowledge of secret can do wonders in our lives.

Holiday continued......part-3

2010-07-11T15:34:00.009+05:30

We were up and ready pretty early (by weekend standards), all dressed up and ready for all the excitement ahead. We took a ferry to hongkong and walked quite a bit to reach the ferry station for Macau. I was aware of Macau as the gambling capital of Asia, if not of the world - but had not really given a thought as to more details. Found that Macau is actually an independent country with immigration process carried out at the entry and exit points. It is an island with a portuguese origin similar to goa, with predominantly chinese population.

The ride was sophisticated and very fast, cutting through the choppy waves of sea. I as usual, was not too comfortable - a little nauseated, and preferred to close my eyes and sleep through the around-an-hour long journey rather than enjoy the views !!! The formalities over, we walked out to be greeted by a bevy of travel agents advertising their services. We spoke to one, and negotiated what looked to us to be a decent deal. Of course, N had done all the research work previously and had a fair idea of what should be good. We had a car to us, which would take us to a few tourist spots in Macau and finally drop us at the grand venetian for a taste of the "real thing"!! The first stop was at Indian restaurant, which was nice and crowd free. It was good to have a light Indian meal.

The first stop in our city tour was the Cathedral - one of the few remnants of the Portuguese past of the island. Lot of photos, with some generous support from fellow tourists for group photos, later, we were off to a walk through the macau square. There was just too much of crowd around - had to almost jostle for a walk around. This place has a very european look & a mecca for shopping. We could see equally enthusiastic tourists and locals enjoying an afternoon out.

The next stop was A-ma temple, which is said to be the earliest surviving temple in Macau, dating back to pre-portuguese days. This is dedicated to the mother goddess, revered by the local fishermen. I could relate it well to the Indian heritage - the tradition of worship of mother goddess which has continued to this day in the same form. There were two interesting things that definitely merit a mention. One was the wishing tree - where you can tie your wishes and hang them. You may ask - whats so special about this - don't we tie strings in many of our temples and dargahs with our wishes? Only thing different was you don't keep your wish in your mind while tying the strings, but you actually write it down in a paper attached to the string. And others can actually go and read others wishes !!! Isn't a little more privacy required between god and us :-)

The second one was a bowl of water, which when rubbed strategically on both sides with wet hands generated some kind of vibration in the water. It was interesting to watch though the significance was not clear as it was not written and neither anyone was around who could explain this in English.

The next stop was Macau tower - we went up some 60+ stories to reach the top. The view from all sides was amazing....I had the opportunity to visit few of such towers before - the Eiffel tower, the Sydney tower etc, and all of them were amazing experiences...This was also another of those, and the amazing skyline of macau made this extra special. But there was something else that I never realised I would be affected by - a fear of heights....The viewing deck has a part made of glass, through which, when we look down, we can see the ground. There were enthusiastic groups of tourists, capturing the great view. But for me, things were pretty different. Once I looked down, I started feeling extremely uncomfortable, and the dizziness continued all the way till the end of the evening. Lesson learnt - never ever try to look down from these kind of heights again, however tempting the view may be.

There were other exciting activities on on the tower including sky walk and bungee jumping. Going by my experience with heights a little while ago, I am sure the farthest I can actually go is to cheer the people who have courage and adventurous spirit to attempt these activities. We had some great photo sessions near the base of the tower, with the setting sun in the backdrop.

The final destination of the day was Venetian, the biggest casino hotel in Macau. By the time we set off towards this place, the lights were on in the city. The great hotels and casinos were decked up in all their finery. It was as magical as a view from a fairy tale....

Venetian is a huge and highly imposing structure from outside. We walked in soon, and after some coffee in starbucks later, we walked into the casino. I have seen casinos before in Johannesburg, but this one was particularly huge and dazzling. So many games, and so many people, blowing away so much money in each instant!!! You need to see it to believe it. We spent some time around the tables trying to understand each of the games, and once we did, it was fun watching. We also thought of having some and invested HKD 50 each, and we lasted for a total of around 2 minutes !!!

After casino, we decided to have a walk around the hotel, and discovered the beautiful shopping arcade, with all the world's designer brands. Venice has been re-created here, along with the trademark canals, where one can even enjoy a gondola ride!!!

Another exciting session of photography later, we were all ready to call it a day. Venetian buses run every minute to the ferry, and we got into one of them. And then it was back to Hongkong on the ferry...

End of a exciting but memorable day!!!

Holiday continued......

2010-07-11T12:39:00.007+05:30

Finally we were at the busy commercial area of Nathan Street where N's service apartment is located. She was there to receive us. A short walk to the apartment later, we were finally comfortable after a not-so-long-journey as such but tiring, as it was preceded by a long day at office !!!

N is a perfect host - in spite of her really busy schedule at that time, she had prepared food for us !!! She had to rush to office soon. We made ourselves comfortable, freshed up, had a lovely lunch, rested and all recharged to be back to our "tourist" avatar!!! All dressed up, we were out in Nathan street soon, checking out the plethora of outlets with highly attractive wares on display !!! Initiated photo sessions (one of the main objectives of a holiday is to share the views and go back in time later), and enjoyed coffee at Starbucks.

The evening plan was to visit the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront for the world renowned "A Symphony of Lights" light and sounds show. The view at the waterfront with the hong kong skyline, with numerous tall lighted-up buildings was breathtaking...there are very few similar spectacles I have experienced before. And the show, was simple amazing. It is a memory that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The rest of the evening, we took a harbour cruise, which took us around for a enthralling experience for around an hour. We were on the open deck, taking in the views and the lovely breeze....Such a welcome change coming from the hot arid plains of North India!!!

The plan for next day was to take the cable car to lantau island and visit the giant buddha. It was me and U as N again had to cancel her leave due to an unforeseen emergency situation at work. Armed with printed instructions prepared by N from her research, we were off to explore. The first hop was train to reach Tung Chung, and then cable car. The Cable Car journey was the best I had been to so far - the earlier ones being the one at Haridwar, in Science City in Kolkata, to Sentosa Island in Singapore. The cars were pretty big, with seating for 8 people, which helps to get into a "community" feeling !! Otherwise hanging in a box, from a wire, some hundreds of feet above ground, does give some initial jitters to "normal-hearted" people like me !!! There was a looooooong queue and a consequential looooooooooooooong wait before we could be on-board. The moderately hot (in 30s Celsius) and considerably humid weather made it pretty difficult though...

Finally the wait was over, and we were on board, and all then it was pure magic. The views around were breathtaking...the changing landscape - from cityscape to mountains to water bodies....the airport, the harbour - we could see it all. And then we could see the Giant Buddha...and as we came nearer, it emerged in its full glory...Lot of pics later, we reached our destination and took a walk around the Ngong Ping Village. We took the 268 steps to reach on top, and spent time absorbing the lovely views around !!!! The humidity did make the climb little difficult - but the excitement of discovering new places makes these little discomforts utterly insignificant.

We rested a while in the cool shadows around, visited Po-Lin monastery, enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then were on our way back. One very interesting find here was the giant sized incense sticks that were being offered !!!

Then it was time for the evening shift of fun!!! N was back from office and we were off to the Temple Street night market. Fun place for lot of knick-knacks and a heady dose of bargaining. The bargaining mode was mostly calculator, where the buyer and seller would sequentially put up their offer and finally the deal happens at the most mutually agreeable price point. Reminded me of Bangkok - where we had use exactly the same mode of communication. Its amazing how supposedly inconsequential fruits of technology has enabled the phenomenon of global village.....enabling global trade and tourism!!! Some shopping and a lovely dinner at one of the street kiosks later, we were done for the day...

Next in agenda was Macau - and we were all excited in anticipation!!!

Holiday !!!

2010-06-06T00:27:00.002+05:30

Just back from a quick Holiday in Hongkong. Why Hongkong of all places for a holiday, before the more popular destinations like Malaysia? Well, my friend N is there on a short term assignment, and from the time she came to know of it (that was quite a few months back), I had an open invitation to visit !!!

I had the same in mind, but no confirmed time frames. Around a month back, more serious thinking around the dates started, and also scouting for fellow singles (females only of course !!!) began. I was the only one who was confirmed and of course N, as we were visiting her. By the way, N is my classmate from college (of the long lost days of yore when I was actually that young). We hoped to see 2 more classmates, but none of them could make it due to different circumstancial issues, though they were eager to join. Finally I had company in another friend, U, who is an ex-colleague, and was my travel-mate in my first (the only one before this) foreign holiday in Singapore !!!

Only thing that required to be done in advance was ticketing as no Visa is required for 14 days - and our plan was for 5 days only. Oops I forgot the most important one - asking for leave from office and actually getting approval - that is the always the toughest part of any holiday project. These 2 taken care, I was able to concentrate on the finer details like some shopping for the travel.

Finally the day was here and we rushed from office to home and to airport, and finally boarded the flight. It was little scary for some time after take off as we felt that the aircraft was not gaining height at all. Air travel has become a little jittery last few weeks after the Mangalore mishap - with near-missed reported almost everyday. However our apprehensions were put to rest very soon and all was normal. Well - normal only from the safety front - otherwise it was pretty chaotic. We had a BIG group of people travelling together as a part of a some travel agency organised trip - and it was one of the most unruly, irritating & annoying group of people I have ever seen. And unfortunately, we were among the very few who were sandwiched in between the group. They managed to delay the flight & trouble the cabin crew so much that they stopped responding to any calls from this area of the airplane !!!

The journey from Airport to Kowloon island in the bus was amazingly beautiful - passing through mountains, bay, bridges & lot of greenery.

Many seasons later...

2010-05-22T00:27:00.004+05:30

Have been some of the most hectic few months, no time for blogging. Last 2 weeks have been particularly taxing as well, but today being relatively relaxed day, thought of scribbling down something on this page.

In terms of travel, these few months were mostly about local travel - I traveled to Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmadabad and Agra, each with a different agenda. This winter, also went around Delhi quite a bit, revisiting old favourites like Lal Kila & Qutab Minar and never visited placed like Jama Masjid & Chandni Chowk. Had a taste of multitude of parathas available in Old Delhi's very famous Parathe Wali Gali !!! Was it worth all the hype? Well, not completely.... the extremely narrow seating area left us pretty disappointed, which was compensated by the parathas. If you have never been to this place, and are as eager to explore it as I was, let me warn you of the assault of calories this adventure is going to turn out to be !!

The parathas are well not roasted in tawa or tandoor as per normal practice but deep fried in oil(don't even ask which variety;-)) But the variety is awesome ranging from the regular alu and gobhi to daal, pudina, mirchi etc. The accompanying dahi is also great. Conclusion - If you plan to visit this place, keep your expectations a little low, be ready to squeeze in a really small and not-too-clean place, and only think about enjoying the food. There is no other way you can enjoy this experience. Getting the parathas packed is not at all a good idea, as, by the time you reach anywhere from here, it would be completely cooled down, and then if you plan to heat them in a microwave, the crispness of a freshly fried paratha is lost, and what you get at the most is a soggy hot paratha !!!

Chandni Chowk ki galiyaan (rest of them apart from the Parathe wali) was also a unique experience. Rows and Rows of shops on endless narrow gallis on all directions....and people actually living on the higher floors of buildings of which shops are on the ground floor. There is almost everything available that you can ever think of - and as I understand from people, at a reasonably lower price that you would pay at a market. You need lot of time and lot of patience to go shopping here and pick up things what you are looking for. But if you manage to garner sufficient quantity of both of these, this is the place to be in for shopping you hearts out. Beware of the heat though - you definitely need to wait for winter !!!

Lala Kila including its light and sound show was good to watch - nothing has changed in last 23 years it seems (yes, it has been that long since I visited it last!!! ) Only the novelty seems to have worn off - it seems so pretty ordinary and normal now.

There was also intent to "re"-visit Lotus Temple, this one after slightly less number of years - around 18-19. But it was not destined, as we found the temple to be closed on the Saturday morning instead of normal schedule of Monday :-( So we went to Qutab Minar instead. It was a lovely winter morning with sun peaking out of clouds, and it would have been extremely disheartening to just let it go without enjoying :-)

Qutab Minar was a very very pleasant surprise again after interval of 15+ years. The entire compound is very well maintained, all buildings repaired and very clean all across. This is one of the rare occasions, I found a proof that our government really works and we have actually progressed on some fronts over the years ....it is not all a downhill journey !!!

Short trips to 2 great destinations....

2009-12-13T21:25:00.003+05:30

Just back from a week-long conference trip to Dubai. This happened to be my first chance to visit any place in middle-east, and that too the most happening city, so was naturally pretty excited. The conference was great and also the post-session city tours - shopping and mall-hopping.

The city, though a very apt example for the term "concrete jungle", is really really beautiful example of modern architecture - of all things man-made. Its an example what lots of money and lots of will can create on the face of earth...Tall buildings, great roads, out of the world malls with top brands, hordes of SUVs, Indians (and Pakistanis and Bangladeshis also)....almost everyone speaks hindi/urdu ...u almost feel you are in India - or rather an enhanced version of India.

One of the high points of the trip was a Desert Safari - a roller coaster ride through sand dunes in a caravan of Land Cruisers, followed by leisurely snacks and dinner accompanied by Arab music for most of the time, and a brief but very lively & fun belly dance performance.

The weekend before this was spent for a office team Building activity at Kanatal - in uttarakhand hills beyond mussourie. The resort is perfect for a relaxed holiday - the balcony opening to the hills - what can be better than a idle day, curled up in the balcony with a book - all covered up in warm woolies with a hot smoking cuppa tea !!! Well this was only a dream which I hope can be fulfilled when I get to go there on vacation. 2 days for us were all action-packed and hectic - starting with a morning walk through the hills just post sunrise, followed by sessions in the day and food and music in the evenings....

The only thing that I hated about this trip was the journey to and fro Dehradun through the hilly roads which just go round and round and round :-( Though I have travelled quite a lot through hilly terrains over the years, and considered myself immune to all uneasiness associated, but it was proven otherwise this time. The queasy feeling was common across, and even the bus had to be stopped quite a few times for people to stabilise themselves....So the next trip to hills - the anti-nausea pill will be part of the must-pack list!!!

A Tribute to Durga Puja - an amazing socio-cultural-relgious festival

2009-10-17T00:07:00.010+05:30

As usual, I will start with my usual quota of excuses for being absent for more than 2 months !!!I am again getting erratic in my posts, however hard I wish to be regular. The problem is that I only "wish" and not "try" hard enough to be regular :-)

Had a great Durga Puja in Delhi this time. Thankfully the weather gods were also not as harsh as we had anticipated - though days were HOT and SWEATY, evenings were tolerable. This time, the Puja committees also took a cue from the agony of last year and put up more fans inside the pandals.

In some small ways, the recession was visible in the way Pujas were organised. My cousin brother and brother-in-law being senior members of organising committees of 2 different Pujas in Dwarka area of Delhi (where I live) - had similar stories to tell. It was difficult to raise funds from sponsors this time. Even the cultural programs were not too star-studded this time around. Only "Star" performer in whole of Dwarka this year was Nachiketa, whereas every other year, there are quite a handful. In another Puja, announcements were made frequently that nobody should waste "bhog" (the community lunch which is to typical of Durga Puja celebrations), as everything is expensive. Some committees also cut down on the bhog menu - and did away on "luchi" altogether and replaced it with "khichudi".

But a little tightening of budget cannot dampen the spirited Bengalis from venturing out and enjoying thoroughly all through these 4 days of festivity. The activities are Pushpanjali in morning and aarti in the evening to satiate the religious appetite, & cultural programmes for the culture conscious Bengali in the evening. But no discussion on bengalis would be complete without a mention of the most important part of a bengali's life - FOOD !!! The community Durga Pujas take utmost care to ensure that no true-blue bengali is deprived of this - to be able to satiate their true appetite!! Community meals are served all 3 days consisting of Khichudi-vegetable-bhaja-chutney-misti and other variations like khichudi replaced by pulao and luchi on other 2 days, depending on budget and taste of organisers. The dinner on these days is mostly enjoyed at one of the food stalls that are setup mandatorily around the Puja Pandal.

The best part of Durga Puja is wearing new clothes on all 4 days!! And the associated shopping for oneself, family and gifts for near and dear ones. Though over the years, I have become cynical of life in many aspects, but I am amazed to find that Durga Puja still manages to excite me - almost equally as it did years back when I was little. I am still happy to shop for new dresses, matching jewellery, shoes and then dress up in all finery in those 4 evenings. I am happy to forget all my lows and negatives and transform myself to a magical dream world fully for 4 days....I suppose all of us become Cindrellas and enjoy an escape from reality for these 4 days...

I am not sure many communities in the world have such a festival with 100% participation from the community over a 4 day period. Though things are changing fast, with things no more like the good old days, but still we have managed to retain the festivity and true spirit of the Puja. Thank God for that!!!!

Busy Busy Busy................

2009-08-09T21:24:00.003+05:30

So happy to be back....These have been really really hectic 5 weeks where I just could not squeeze in even a weeny-bit of time to jot down the happenings around. And before I start, the combined onslaught of heat and power-cuts as I detailed in my last entry continues unabated in Delhi:-( in between there has been a day, or rather a few hours of rain one lucky day. It had a very limited impact on the cool quotient - bringing in respite hardly for a day or two, but had a much longer impact on the infrastructure here....The so called "best" public infrastructure in the "capital city" of the "emerging superpower" India !!!!

Many myths on the impeccable infrastructure of Delhi/NCR have been busted this time, but I would share the one which I experienced from close quarters. There is an underpass (under the railway tracks) which is a crucial link in connectivity between my workplace at Gurgaon and home in Dwarka sub-city. On the day of the rains, I took the regular office cab back and was hardly delayed by an hour or so due to traffic snarls caused by rains - the underpass was doing absolutely fine. The fact that everything was not OK with the route, was discovered the next day morning, when our cab driver had to take a long route and we reached an hour late to office. It seems the next hour or so of rains, during and after we crossed the underpass caused a huge accumulation of water and there were around 10-12 vehicles stuck up there - and the water reached up to around 20 feet!!!! Not only cars, even buses were completely submerged !!!

And the best part was, it took around 3-4 days for the administration to actually pump out the water, in spite of there being absolutely no rains afterwords!!! And in between, as usual, there were customary exchanges of accusations between different parties to pin down the culprit - the airport authorities were blamed this time for draining all the water accumulated in the runways to the underpass. I have never heard anything more hilarious that this!!! As always, so typical of us Indians, our immediate reaction in any situation is to fix the responsibility on some head and try to extricate ourselves from any blame whatsoever - rather than going all out to resolve the situation at hand.

This is when I realised the public administration in Mumbai and Kolkata are not so bad at all, as I used to think, when I lived in these cities. They are actually coping with deluge of rains, every year, all these years, may not be the ideal way, but not doing so badly either. I'm sure if Delhi gets the amount of rainfall in a year equivalent to what Mumbai or Kolkata gets, it will take years to recover and be back in business again......

We appreciate many things in life in retrospective, when we experience worse things later on....Its important to appreciate what we have today in life rather than complaining which we are so prone to do all the time.........

Highly delayed response to a tag

2009-08-09T20:52:00.005+05:30

AWARD-cum-TAG 1 : Thanks SGD for this Award and the TAG. This is my second (the first one I could not honour due to one of my long absence from blogosphere, but this one I did want to miss inspite of another long absense!!!)
The Rules for this tag are:
1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post.
3. Post this in one or all of your blogs.
4. Answer the four questions following these Rules.
5. Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them.
6. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List.
7. Have Fun!
The 4 Questions to be answered along with MY ANSWERS:

1. The person who tagged you: SGD

2. His/her site's title and url: WHIMS AND WISHES (http://whimsnwishes.blogspot.com/)

3. Date when you were tagged: 8th July 2009

4. Persons you awarded and tagged: sanjoy chakraborty, JD Pradip Biswas

Sorry I don't have 7 people to tag as I am not that popular in cyberspace yet :-(

Hot, Hot , Hot!!!!

2009-06-28T21:04:00.002+05:30

No, I am not excited about the latest flick of John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh....Neither I am talking about Ranbir Kapoor or Bipasha Basu, or Kareena or Deepika, or even Akshay Kumar....no not the new show of Rakhi Sawant on the telly either....All the credits of today's post goes to the "Summer of 2009: Delhi"!!!! I am sure you can appreciate my desperation!!!!

This has been one of one the worst weekends ever from weather perspective......the heat has been truly really unbearable. Maximum temperatures hovering around 43-44 degree Celsius, with 60% humidity, compounded by the fact that live at the top floor!!! The main weapons against the onslaught on summer in extreme climes as these are mainly 3 - fan, cooler and AC, in increasing order of effectiveness and power consumption. And most important is the fact that all 3 are rendered as mere stationary furniture once their lifeblood - electricity is missing !!! We are among the highly privileged residents here, to be living in a "housing society" with 100% power backup, which means the lifeblood is, theoretically never missing. So, what is the big deal then, summer at home on weekends should be a cakewalk, isn't it. Well no, hope it was all that simple.

Since I have fairly enlightened all with the background, now it is time to for the intricacies of the situation. Coolers survive on a diet of liters of water, and are fairly effective for cooling when humidity levels are very low- around 25-30% which is typical of summer in these parts of the country. Fans are almost of no use in mitigating any discomfort - though these are the lowest cost option. And ACs are the only ones which can provide complete comfort, but they are high maintenance. However, at the times of power supply cuts, the supply switches to the generators, and every household is entitled to a limited wattage of usage which unfortunately cannot cover AC :-(
For last 2-3 days, the temperatures and humidity both have been very high coupled with power cuts lasting 8-10 hours per day .....ooooooooooffffffffffffff!!!!

Today, somehow power God has been kind so far (fingers strictly crossed!!!), or may be the power companies have taken the warnings of Chief Minister seriously and have done some clean-up today!!!!

While I was trying my best to manoeuvre around the difficult climatic situation, multiple questions were criss crossing my mind, at its analytical best, again ;-). Both are completely diverse issues, and you may find linking them little weird but somehow both are linked to today's tagline "Hot, Hot, Hot"!!!

The first one, is a direct derivative from the word itself. It is the first time it struck me, why glamour is associated with this word. Why the people with well sculpted bodies, well groomed face/hair/hand/legs/everything else, with great fashion sense and especially belonging to the make-believe "dream" world of movies and fashion are termed as "hot". I fail to find a nearest co-relation. Is it because everyone else feels extremely uncomfortable when they are around these people??....naaah....dosen't sound convincing enough. Rather, I think, this term was coined somewhere in cool chimes of Europe or US, where "hot" is synonymous with summer, which is the most pleasant and looked forward part of the year. I would earnestly invite the people in media who use this term so routinely, to come and spend a day here without the comfort of AC, and decide whether they would really like to use this term anymore for describing the objects of adulation and desire :-) Or rather, I would urge the celebrities themselves who pride themselves on being conferred with the tittle of "Hot", to spend a "Hot" day here and then decide for themselves if they want to embrace or denounce their "title" !!! I feel "cool" is a much better option :-)

That was on the lighter side. On the more serious note, an innocent statement from a colleague triggered off this train of thought. His statement was interesting though - He observed that we generally tend to blame government for all ills around us - but for the heat we cannot. And the least govt can do to support the citizens is to reduce prices of ACs. Is it really enough.....How many of us are fortunate enough to own an AC. This brings to fore the bigger social issues - what does the government do at all for the basic requirements - power/ water / roads/ basic housing / health /education ? As per reports (today's Times of India), Indiam government is among the lowest spenders worldwide on social support of its citizens, though I am sure we are not the lowest tax payers!!! As I live in our occasionally Air conditioned (based on power supply status) home, work in a always Air conditioned office and travel to-and-from office in Air conditioned office cab (where again we complain if the cooling is not up to the mark), I come across the people from other rungs of society, for whom "hot" means so much more of discomfort....The security staff of our society who have to sit outdoor in all seasons, the maid who works in the house - lives in a dingy one-room apartment with her 7-8 member family-where water/ power/fan is a luxury, the handicapped pan-masala/cigarette/ toffee seller who sets up his shop with his little son in tow every morning while I wait for my AC cab, the bhutta sellers who set up shop on the pavements in the scorching heat every evening......

Only rains can provide an immediate relief to all........but for a long-term relief, a better life for all, better protection from this "Hot" weather, much more needs to be done, by all of us here....

Back!!!

2009-06-20T21:20:00.000+05:30

Its good to be back after a long time....The break this time got a little extended....It started with the loss in the family, then some business travel, and then some very serious juggling in the corporate jungle, some persisting depressing personal problems, and to top it all, a mild flu attack which is still persisting !!! Life has been on a continuous long roller - coaster....I have wanted to come back to blogging, taken mental note of stuff of things I would like to share with you all, but somehow it could not happen. And on the positive side, have had 2 review opportunities, first an e-book of a friend, and the second technical literature. The first one has hopes to see the light of the day, but the second was just a background job, but was great from experience perspective.

Had been to Stockholm on what I call my very short "annual pilgrimage" to the head quarters of the Swedish MNC I work for. This is the place where the earliest innovations in telecom had taken place more than 100 years ago, and still some of the most exciting innovations in telecom world are still driven out of this place. The agenda was introduction of new products to all the units in the company, which we are supposed to sell for the rest of the year. The amazing part of working in an MNC like this is that you can get into a conference hall with individuals from more than 180 countries, and feel part of a common goal. Diverse cultures coming together on the world stage feeling "one", makes one forget that political realities of the world - the gaping divisions that exist. Knowledge and Business are the greatest adhesives, which can bring the world from falling apart due to the political differences, and I believe that is the only way forward.

Since I was also there last year, and been through the city tour, cruise, the round of few museums etc., photography across the beautiful landscape etc. So this year there was nothing much on the agenda (non-work related I mean !!!). We reached a day before the event and had almost one whole day. But unfortunately the hotel was fully-booked being the most looked-forward part of the year for this part of the world, and the request for early check-in could not be honoured. Before you start imagining 40 degree Celsius+ temperatures, dry hot winds or extremely uncomfortable humidity - the various flavours of the Indian summer, let me tell u Scandinavian summer is nothing like it. The temperatures are at around 8-15 degrees, very pleasant when sun is around and actually shivering for us with the winds blowing at times!!!!

So, the after some freshening up, we deposited our luggage and went off to explore the Skansen museum - a very unique open air museum cum nature park cum zoo which showcases slices of life in Sweden across last few centuries. Also posting some pics for you to enjoy.

Another must-visit at Stockholm is the Ikea - the global giant in the home-store category. It was amazing with 5 floors of never ending floor space with all you can fit into a home - just amazing.

Well, thats all about my trip...There is lot of unfinished work to be taken up - the tale of the corporate jungle is the first and then sharing of recipes which I started sometime back. So many "breaking news" happening every day, on which we have passionate discussions in home and workplace, on which I would love to share my opinion.....In next few weeks I plan to to be BACK in full swing taking up these and more.

I also plan to move my other (autobiographical) blog to this platform, since yahoo 360 is closing down, and though I moved the blog to the new yahoo platform, I am not too sure it will survive. I am not willing to give up on the fond remembrance of first few years of my life which have penned painstakingly over last 2 years.

So folks, lot coming up. Please keep reading and watch this space for more.

random mid week thoughts....

2009-04-30T18:43:00.001+05:30

I am really disturbed by untimely loss of a dear one in extended family........going through a deluge of emotions.....mostly about how the people who are left behind will cope.....though I have lots to say, I believe these are very personal thoughts......and have still not opened up enough to share on cyberspace....May be some other day...

Another thing that has kept me disturbed this week and last one has been another very unique circus in the corporate jungle.......I am amazed and perturbed at the same time, and lost to find reasons for the behaviour....My analysis is on, though, and thoughts on future course of action.....Only silver lining is that it gives me enough food for to fill atleast 1 episode on the ongoing Corporate jungle series....

Life in the Corporate Jungle...- episode - 2

2009-04-24T23:00:00.000+05:30

The saga of corporate jungle has survived the first leg of its supposedly long journey and moved into episode-2. Pat..pat!!! Amused? You need to congratulate me on this.....and with every episode I am able to move it forward. Without your active support and interest, I cannot move ahead, and please don't let me lose steam .....

In the last episode I started with the characterization , and was into the 1st prototype. This time I plan to take you through some more prototyping. Once again, pre-apologising for using animal prototypes - don't mean any offence. Another interesting point here - There are some who retain their original animal traits all through their corporate life and there are others who imbibe other animal traits partially, intentionally or unintentionally along their journey along the wilderness. So there is a metamorphosis of "pure" types either to a "mixed" type or another "pure" type, depending on the circumstances. My original agenda of this mini-series was just to cover the prototypes and their behaviour under varied junglee scenarios, but now I think the prototype transformations would be interesting to cover as well. Lets see how I can develop this ....

Now let me get back to prototypes and finish of with the long list. The next type that you would see is what I call the "wolf" type. These are the cunning , wily types who are ready to try all possible tricks in the book or outside the books to achieve success. They don't like to spend time in working, or gaining knowledge in the area of work. They would better utilise their time in plotting and planning or building the right relationships, and how to utilise the "donkeys" to do the all the dirty work - well someone has to do it right. These ones do rise, upto a certain level, but beyond that results and performance also starts mattering. But let me warn you, who are smiling at themselves expecting downfall of some of your "wolf" colleagues sooner or later, it is always not the case. Some of them, are actually able to rise high, by adopting some "lap dog" and some "donkey traits" later in their career, at a point when being only "wolf" actually becomes an invisible "glass ceiling".

Lap Dogs I have already talked about in my last post, but what about "Donkeys"? These are the second most common variety of animals in this jungle. Most of us are "donkeys" when we start off. These ones just keep walking with whatever load is there on their backs, without looking anywhere. They are very focused, always walking along tagging the load, and the other types - including the wolf described earlier, love to dump more and more load on their backs. Growth prospects of these types are very limited, unless managed by "young lion" types. Otherwise there is complete stagnation after the first few years, and donkeys continue to burden themselves, as they know no other way to live in the jungle. Over years they get grumpy and frustrated, as they continue to remain on the same point on the corporate ladder while a whole lot of other march ahead. But some of them do transform themselves into mixed types, and then things get different.........

Life in the Corporate Jungle...- episode - 1

2009-04-20T21:35:00.001+05:30

Well, a rare mid-week or rather a non-weekend post. This is actually one of my favourite topics and have spent endless days discussing this with colleagues and friends. But this is the first time I really thought of putting it down on paper - or rather the nearest equivalent to it, on cyberspace....

My 12 years in this jungle has given me sufficient material to fill in reams and reams of paper, and I believe I could actually write a novel out of it. But the till the time I am able to sharpen my writing skills, to be able to actually dish out pages of literature that anyone can enjoy, I will restrict myself to this medium only. The aim is to share a first hand insider view of the circus that goes on, rather than develop a sermon on what to do, what not to do, how to do and how not o do kind of stuff that is available aplenty in the marketplace.

Why do I call it a jungle.....u can actually call it a circus also, the common part is that both have animals of various kinds. Sometimes you have to tread your path precariously as in the wilds, and some times u can enjoy a ringside view of the hilarious stuff that goes on. This analogy reminds me of article I read, not too long ago, criticising the way we use animals to depict human character in a derogatory way. Quite interestingly, the author was an animal lover, and took pains to analyse characters of each the animals' names that we use in a negative way oh-so-often without thinking twice. The list included dog, pig, ass and a whole lot of others. Each of the animals' inherent character was analysed to show how wrong we are to associate these gentle creatures to represent human beings with dubious characters, and actually demean the animals in the process.

Believe me, I do not have any such intention. My idea of using animals as analogy is purely to be identify different shades of characters which inhabit this jungle very clearly!!. Let me start with the categories - the first one and very visible - the tail wagging, domesticated, loyal variety - do I need to name them - u guessed it right, dogs - but the lap dog variety. Will be always on the lap of the master, always attached. It does no real work, its only work is to give warm up the master's lap and make him/her happy. The owner, in return of the favour and gift of love , is eternally indebted to the pet, and will go all out to support it. He will get the best food from fancy dog food shops, take it out for beauty treatments in the newly sprung pet parlors, and dress it up in cute doggy dresses. The owner will never let go of its pet and always tug it along everywhere he goes, every ladder he climbs, every new horizon he touches.....He will have a seat next to his, for his pet. On its part, the pet needs to remain cuddly, warm and he ready to give a nice hug to the owner whenever it pleases.

Can you find recognize these types around u ? I'm sure you do!!! Do recall your colleagues (including you) , and I'm sure you will do....I can see the smile on your faces.... Keep up the smile while I come up with more prototypes and then follow up with interesting anecdotes...

Do visit this space for more.........

Shubho Nabo Barsho!!!!

2009-04-17T20:32:00.000+05:30

This was the new year week ....the most important one for me....or the second important one.....not sure, may be both are equally important (The other one is the "original one - 1st Jan" )!!!! The great Nabo (new) Barsho(year) of the great race of us bengalis!! We actually add a Shubho (Auspicious ) as a prefix to the term Nabo Barsho as a an eternal wish that all all new years actually turn out to be auspicious for everyone. I too wish a Shubho Nabo Barsho to all of you, to all your families, extended families, friends, near and dear ones....Wishing you all loads of happiness, success, peace and fulfilment of all your dreams....

Nabo Barsho celebration varies, as we move from being resident Bangalis to probashi bangalis. I have had occassions to move back and forth between these 2 roles. While in Bengal, it is a complete festive situation, u can feel the vibrancy in the air.....people in traditional dresses (that includes females in sarees and males in dhutis?....no, not exactly, only the more adventurus opt for dhutis, others are comfy in kurta - pyjamas only)...Offices are mostly closed, working on Nabo barsho is considered almost a sacrilege. There are cultural activities all over - in most paras (neighbourhoods), with enthusiastic participation from residents of all shapes, colour, sizes and age groups, with any proficiency in singing/dancing/abritti(recitation)/natok (dramatics). The ones who cannot be accomodated on stage due to dearth of space and time, are content to be the audience and cheer the local heroes.

People visit friends' and relatives' homes for spreading the cheer of this special day - younger ones by doing pronam(touching feet of elders), elders by accepting the pronam and showering their ashirbad (blessings). There used to be an interesting tradition associated with this ritual. All blessings were accompanied with some token money which was called bajar-khoroch (cost of shopping). When we were kids, this was one of key attractions of Nabo Barsho. The aim was to touch the feet of maximum number of elders possible and collect maximum amount of bajar-khoroch. This was later spent in some treat like ice-cream or phuchka (pani-puris) or alu-kabli (kind of chaat with boiled potatoes, chickpeas, crushed papdi and lot of spices). The fact we kids most amusing was that even our parents, aunts and uncles got some bajar-khoroch from granparents and granduncles, and they accepted it with glee. I am not sure if these traditions still exist today...but I suspect that they have been put away in some dusty rack of an obsoleted almirah placed in a musty corner among whole lot of other things that we have left behind in our quest for growth, success, progress and what not......... we have left much of our "bangaliyana"(I don't have the right English word for it - the nearest it stands for is essence of being a bengali) long behind....

Not that I am too much of a authentic bangali, having spent most of my years outside bengal, but I do miss lot these things. I am saddened by the invasion of hindi and punjabi film music and bollywood dance in Bangla TV channels. Not that I don't enjoy hindi music, but I have 100 other hindi channels to watch them. I can hardly find any robindro-songeet, nazrul-geeti, adhunik gaan, polli-geeti on air....every reality show participant in Bangla channels is eager to showcase their "bollywood" talents, even to the extent that bengali judges start speaking in hindi !!!! What are we trying to prove here? That we are part of "main-stream"? Why don't south Indian channels need to prove that? Bollywood may be a good thing for India, but it is really sad that it is actually eating up everything that ever was of Bangla Sonskriti. I remember long back a famous quote from a minister in West Bengal - he termed Usha Uthup's performace as "Opo-sonskriti"(anti-culture). I wonder what terms he would have used for today's Bollowood-Bangla sonskriti, I suspect that we would be mostly left speechless !!!!

And before I go into a deep depression on my nostalgia trip, some good things about Nabo Barsho that have not changed and will not. Yes, all you "bhojon-roshik"(food-enthusiast) bengallis - guessed it right - it is FOOD!!! It is popularly said that we bengalis live to eat and not eat to live!!! Food has always been an integral part of any Bengali festival, and nabo barsho is no exception. The favourite breakfast is luchi-alur dom and some misti. Lunch and Dinner are elaborate affairs on this special day. The menu can contain anything among pulao, fish (Macher Kalia, Chingri Macher Malai curry, Ilish maach bhapa based on availability of type of fish), Kosha Mangsho(mutton curry), Fulkopir dalna (cauliflower curry), dhokar dalna(curry made of steamed pulse dumpling), tomato or mango chutney. This is just a sample and not the exhaustive list :-) And the sweet ending is by an assortment of Bengal's most precious gift to mankind - mistis and misti doi.....Thats what we call "Madhureno Shamapayet" (sweet ending)...

Don't even imagine that I spent my nabo barsho on those lines. Living in Delhi, it was a normal day like any other - only that I wore a new dress, and wished Shubho Nabo Barsho to the sprinkling of bengali colleagues I have. And the SMS, phone calls and scrap exchanges with relatives and Bengali friends - far and near - to keep attached to the bengali roots......and yes pronam to elders....

Dinner was definitely not as elaborate as my decription above, but was definitely yummy - courtsey my great ma.....Thank god for small pleasures like nabo barsho....

My articles in Pentasect....

2009-04-12T01:10:00.000+05:30

My friend, Pritam is an enterprising entrepreneur who is into lot many things. One of his initiatives is his online magazine called Pentasect, where he is kind enough to offer an opportunity to amateurs like me to voice our opinion on issues close to our heart.

Please do read my article on living in the time of recession as a first hand account:
http://www.pentasect.com/work@it/wapril09/livinginthetime.asp

Also my other article in Pentasect on life in Gurgaon:
http://www.pentasect.com/work@it/wnovember08/highsandwoes.asp

Holi over the years.... a little delayed post

2009-03-14T21:49:00.000+05:30

This post was intended for the Holi week but got delayed....but nevertheless, the content still remains sufficently fresh and readable :-)

The week was a pretty relaxed one, perfectly punctuated by a holi-day on Wednesday. I am overall really averse to the idea playing holi as I find it quite a messy concept, unless there is a right company. I did manage a quiet and peaceful holi this time. In the day-time, as per custom, offered some abir (the bangla name for gulal) to God and parents. In the evening cousin sis-jijaji, niece and maasi came for a visit. Sis carried a small box of fragrant organic gulal, and it was fun smearing each other with that. Post some tea, snacks and sweets, holi was over and then it was business as usual for the rest of the week.

Let me take you through some of my most memorable holies over the years. I remember shopping happily for colours and pichkari while in Dimapur from the time I was around 3 years till 8 years of age. On the D-day there was lot of fun splashing around with colour with other children around. And then, there was no holi colour-splashing/smearing for a long time when I moved to Kolkata and subsequently to Faridabad. But things changed when I joined college and started staying in hostel. I stayed in campus for 2 holis out of total 4 (2 years, managed a mini-vacation and ran home), and these were really fun times. The holi actually started a few days before the day with water being splashed on each other oh-so-often. Most of us enjoyed it thoroughly, but for a few unsporting types. I remember one of my close freinds S, was splashed with a bucket full of water while she was on her way to college to attend the 1st period. She was furious and had to miss the 1st period. But she was not really "unsporty-unsporty" types as otherwise, we actually would not have done this to her and she would have never spoken to the masterminds of that act ever again !!!

And on the actual holi day, it was really maddening....too much coloured water, gulal and pukka rangs being dabbed on each other, and we kept chasing each other across the length and breadth of our hostel compound. This was the first time I ever used pukka rang - which remains on the face for atleast couple of days, inspite of all the rubbing and scrubbing using an assortment of soaps. Another very cherished memory is of our another dear friend - R. She used to be paranoid about holi and was making plans to run away to one of her local relatives place. Her roomie had left for Patna to celebrate holi at home. On the morning of holi, we saw a big lock hanging on the door or their room. Somehow, we were suspecting that R may be hiding inside, and we tried all out collective negotiation skills to paint a rosy picture of the celebration outside, to pull her out of the room. There was no response at all. By this time, rest all the girls who were in hostel had surrendered themselves to the excitement of colours. At this point, we were little confused about R, whether she was inside the room or not, and decided to launch a full-on assault with buckets and buckets of coloured water which were pushed into the room through the narrow space below the door and through the ventilator. We hoped that R will at last come out of the room, to prevent her room being coloured in random colours all across :-) But again there was no reaction. Reluctantly, we concluded that she may have actually gone to visit her relatives in Ranchi after all.

The truth emerged in the evening when we found that one of mausis (female workers who helped with day-to-day work in our hostel) came with a key to unlock the lock in R's room and then she was found seated on her cot in the corner of the room !!! It took quite a while to clean her room, and her roomie was all the more furious to see the state of the room when she came back from vacation. It was a meticulously planned and executed escape plan I should say!!!

The evenings were even special. On Holi and diwali day, the curfew timings of 6.30 pm for girls to come back to hostel were relaxed and we made full use of the same by going around and visting all the profs homes. It was fun having home made goodies, which we missed so much in those good old days in hostel. The dinner spread in the hostel mess on holi also used to be really special!!

Another memorable holi was the one I spent in Pune, while I was attending my induction training in my second job(which was incidentally, only 6 months into my 1st job). We were 4 girls in a batch of 16, and stayed in individual rooms in a single apartment. There was no question of playing holi, as we all pretty uncomfortable with the idea. So we decided to lock ourselves up, and sit quietly expecting that no one would come calling us. But it was not to be the case. A big group of colleagues, mostly seniors came and knocked on the door. We, as per our decision, continued to stay put indoors, all dry and clean. But the persuasion became greater and beyond a point, you actually cannot defy your seniors in office, that too when you are just a new joinee. So with trepidation, we opened the front door and came out. And the minute we did so, we were drenched in a bucketful of coloured water - woosh.....and actually it was fun!!! We got into the game full fledged and decided to join the gang. Then it was lot of colour, food, water , music for next few hours....

Holi is about getting free of your inhibitions and letting your hair down. It is best celebrated in a fun group of people with whom you share a high level of comfort and trust. Otherwise, it is quote messy and no fun at all !!! There haven't been any occasions for such mad revelry on holi for quite some time, but I do look forward to similar opportunities in future. There is happiness lurking around each sharp bend in life's path and life always springs surprises when you least expect it............

Rest of my Kamarpukur Trip....

2009-02-22T21:41:00.000+05:30

Been 2 weeks in between....and it gets little difficult to pick from where I left last time. Actually so many things keep happening in between, which I feel I need to tell you all about. I wish I had the patience and the energy to write every day!!! But then there are so many things I want to do in life, but am never able to. And it’s really not about having not enough time or energy left after the tiring days at office...it is about your will, your passion and if one really wants to do something, nothing can be on the way......

Moral of the story: No excuses, I simply did not feel strongly enough to bring myself up to write ...

To avoid another of these long weeks long jumps, I would rather like to wrap up my Kamarpukur visit today. In my last entry, I had stopped at the point where we had just reached the place. Subsequently, we went through the registration stuff at the office and went on to occupy our rooms in the Ramkrishna Mission Guest House. There were 2 rooms allotted - demarcation of the occupants to be done on basis of gender. For those of you who get inspired to make this trip, please make a note that this is no 5/4/3 star accommodation - it is pretty modest and humble.

After freshening up, we went out in search of breakfast along the road that leads to the temple from the guest house. Again, very modest options here – no restaurants but small sweet shops lining both sides of the road. The popular options for breakfast in small town Bengal are shingara (samosa) and kachuri-tarkari (a type of puri with potato curry) and to end it on a sweet note – hot sweet syrupy jilipi (jalebis) or any other of the famous Bengali sweets !!! Between the group, we had various permutations and combinations of these and then washed down with some hot tea. The food, though not very high on hygiene standards, was really yummy and dirt cheap. Pet-Puja (a popular term for eating) over, we walked down to the temple complex. It is quite spacious, serene, well maintained and beautiful. It comprises of the main temple, a shiv temple, thakur’s house, the prayer area, the mission office, the community dining area, multiple water bodies and the residence of the sanyasis. We spent the rest of the morning paying our homage, and listening to some captivating discourse rendered by a senior swamiji. Normally, religious discourses rarely attract my attention, but this one was different. It was not anything like the run of the mill ones that we can see across the hindu religious TV channels. There was no direct attempt at imparting “gyaan” but it was more like short interesting stories and lessons drawn from there.

Then it was time for lunch. For the duration of the time you stay at kamarpukur, one can have breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening tea here itself. The lunch was traditional Bengali dishes – dal, 2 sabzi with rice and the very tasty payesh (rice porridge) for dessert. It was the most tasty food I ever tasted at a community meal, and the affair was extremely well organized. The best part was chanting of some vedic hymns before and after having food, mostly symbolic of thanking God. I found this really amazing and liberating, as we take so many things in life for granted without thanking god specifically, and keep cribbing for things which we don’t have.

Post a short afternoon siesta, we were back at the temple again to attend the aarti, evening discourses and the dinner. The most important part of the evening session was the ritual followed every night of serving dinner to thakur and readying his room for his rest at night. It was almost a surreal experience, one feels that he is very much around……

Next day ma and the aunts got up early to attend the 4.00 am arti, but I was not too eager for it. I got up later, and with baba and the other uncles, had similar breakfast as the day before, and continued with the day in similar way. In the afternoon, we went around the village, touching upon all the those places which had special significance w.r.t Sri Ramkrishna’s childhood and we could visualize all stories about his childhood that children in Bengali households grow up listening to….. The most exciting part of the site-seeing was looking at harvested paddy – stacked into big heaps, all over the village !!! I actually mistook them as stacks of hay, which I had seen before but was promptly corrected….Another amazing discovery of was the flower called “nagkeshar”, which actually has a small shiv-linga (Shiv idol in the form that is commonly worshipped) like structure covered by something like a nag (snake – which is always found with a shiva idol) !!! And there were other things like double storied mud structures, and a chikoo tree (nothing too great about it – only that I had never seen one before).

Next day we went to Jairambati, which is Ma Sarada Devi’s home, and spent the day paying our homage at the temple built at her place of birth, and other related places around…..

Any finally, after a memorable trip of 2 ½ days, we were back to home at Kolkata…

catching up on missed days...

2009-02-08T17:01:00.000+05:30

The visit to kamarpukur was a very memorable one. Though I am not too spiritually inclined as of now....I am full of questions, and cannot accept at face value most of the discourses delivered at Hindu religious gatherings. But the visit for special for other reasons...my first visit to "rural" bengal or for that matter any rural part of India and the hope that the tranquility of the Ramkrishna mission would help soothe my frayed nerves to some extent. Frankly, I was not much enthused by the thought of the visit initially when mejomashi had proposed it. The group was supposed to be constituted of mejomashi-mesho, shukla mashi-mesho and my parents. I was to be the only odd one out in this group - hence was not very keen. But somehow, the prospect of an outing, to be able to run away from maddening city life , and the uninviting idea of staying alone at home led me to promptly take the decision to join the group for the short tour.

The journey to Kamarpukur from Kolkata was around 2.5 hours, part smooth and part bumpy, courtesy the combined efforts of Central and State governments in utilisation of our hard earned money (the one which is snatched away from all self respecting professionals year after year in the name of development of the country....sob...sob...sob....). The day involved getting up early ...real early at around 4.00 am to get ready, which is so typical of such trips. We packed our stuff for the 3 day trip and stuffed ourselves in the waiting Tata Sumo, which has, over the last decade or so, has become the symbol of modern middle class India's wanderlust....

I am not an early riser and absolutely detest getting up early ....and my definition of early extends to about 7-7.30 in the morning :-)(Though I do have to get up at 6, five days a week)....So I have rarely seen how the world looks like really early in the morning. This was one rare opportunity when I actually got to see so, and all the trouble of getting up early was really worth it. The world looks beautiful in the mornings, clean, fresh and absolutely unspoilt - whether it is the busy city roads like B.T Road, the highways or the countryside. There is something very divine about this time, when u can feel his presence all around, very near you....

The first stop on the journey was...u guessed it, for tea. We stopped at a quaint little tea stall in a village on the highway. Actually this was the first tea-stall that had actually lit up its "unoon" (stove fired using coal, wood or dried cow-dung cakes, used till date in places where the ubiquitous cylinder-ed cooking gas has still not been able to reach). Being the first customers for the day, we were treated with a little more regard that the rest ...This is a common custom all over India ....reserved for clients responsible for "bouni", of the first earning of the day. People like me who are addicted to their morning cuppa, can well appreciate feeling that accompanies the first rush of warmth....the fresh aroma of tea in the morning.....pure bliss....and yes, as part of glorious Bengali traditions, it has to be accompanied by at least 1 biscuit :-)

We continued our journey amidst paddy fields on both sides of the road....Incidentally this was the first time I ever saw any kind of agricultural cultivation, from so near....so near that I could actually get down and touch them. The nearest I ever got to them earlier was from the train windows, on our numerous train journeys criss-crossing the country on several earlier occasions...

Finally - destination. We reached Kamarpukur at little before 9 am, and directly went to the Ramkrsihna Mission, where we paid our homage at the temple, before proceeding to the Math office to check up on our bookings for the guest house accommodation...

Follow this space for more on the tour....

Comeback after a long hiatus....what better time to be back than a lazed Sunday after Sarswati Puja!!!

2009-02-01T21:14:00.000+05:30

It is great to be back after a relatively long break of almost 2 1/2months. These long breaks are regular features with my other blog, but with this one I had promised myself to be regular. But like numerous other of my broken promises (e.g exercising regularly, joining a Gym, joining some cultural activity etc. etc...), this too was destined to be shattered to pieces :-) But well, I have enough excuses and I can back them up vehemently with anyone who dares to challenge them, I am very good at constructive arguments and the art of convincing ;-)

The last time I spoke from this forum, I was in dear old Kolkata for annual vacation. We had planned a trip to Kamarpukur-Jairambati this time, mainly due to interest and initiative of ma and mejomashi, who have recently been spiritually initiated into the Ramakrishna mission. For those of you who are not aware of the significance on these places, Kamarpukur is the place of birth of Sri Ramakrishna and Jairambati is where Ma Sarada Devi was born. While I was there, I was busy in detailed reconnaissance of the place so that I could bring it up in the same level of detailing that my senses were being exposed to in the serene settings of rural Bengal, later in the blog for you all. And after that, on my routine visits to New market, Gariahat, City Center, and even to the local market in Sodepur, I was always observing, things which I have known always....and things that I never noticed before. I suddenly seemed more aware and alert and ready to soak in all that was happening all around...Well, let me cut the story short : it has nothing to do with some spooky experience that you must be wondering I had in near past :-) This is so because now I feel I have a medium to express myself, my very own blog, where I am my own boss, I don't need to depend on any one's whims or fancies for expressing my thoughts, where I am not rebuked for my mediocrity. Such is the power of cyberspace, the miracle of the modern civilization.

Sharing the experiences of the vacation was planned for the last week on November and subsequently in December. But the day we came back to Delhi, Mumbai attacks happened, and I was stunned and shocked and upset and felt too numbed to even voice my anger and anguish over the cowardly act....The brutal attack on a city where I lived for 3 years and grown to love the freedom, openness and equality that the city offered.....I choose not to use the much maligned word "spirit" here, but these qualities of the city are essentially its spirit. I experienced a plethora of emotions, as I went through the 72 hours episode....recalling numerous times I felt so proud taking a leisurely walk along the seafront beside Taj Mahal Hotel. Being an employee of Tata group, and having known the glorious beginning of the Taj group, it was always a special feeling....

And then gradually, the realisation started seeping in, that this has actually happened....and as always, the danger of us getting back into our smug comfort zones started looming large....But I am glad this has not happened this time, and the fire is still burning....Lets hope this is the last such carnage out country is subjected to ...

And then I was swept off in deluge of work......and it continued through late nights on every weekday and working through the weekends....and it went on and on and on........and finally relief...So hereby I complete my explanation of my long absence and express my obligation to at least continue writing but without any guarantees of absence of any disappearance for short durations in future also :-)

And just to add the finishing touch for today, would like to share my culinary experiences (which also incidentally I indulged in after quite a while due to work related pressures). The day started with Ching Instant noodles in Hot Garlic Flavour with my special touch of spring onion and bell peppers. Lunch was an attempt at some continental fare with grilled chicken and prawns, boiled veggies sauteed in little butter, butter garlic mushrooms and butter-saffron rice. It was too late to cook the dessert, so I postponed it to evening. And in evening the dessert menu was apple coconut pudding, which turned out to be quite yummy :-)

Good Night all, and definitely see you next week :-)

Durga Puja and Beyond - part -2

2008-11-16T21:27:00.000+05:30

Though we are almost a month and a half past Durga puja, and lot of things have happened after that, which I am too eager to put across to all, but then patience is the keyword :), for me or the readers....well its for you to interpret :)

I will fast forward through the rest of the durga puja and beyond part so that I get to being more current and up-to-date on my blog. On Astami day, it was time to dress up early and dash to the puja pandal for the pushpanjali to devi. This is one event very few Hindu Bengalis would like to miss during Durga Puja, unless due to some unavoidable circumstances. There is something very mystical about offering flowers to the divine Mother amidst chant of mantras from the purohit(priest). And then asking mother for her blessing for fulfilment of all wishes and desires and dreams. This is a ritual I have never missed from childhood............and though the innocence of childhood is lost now in the harsh facts of life, somehow it still feels good to believe......and then everything is there in faith.....you have to believe and respect........

Well, it was too hot and humid this time in Delhi during Puja and it looked like only Bengalis live around the place..as we were jostling and getting pushed by groups of people all around :) Pushpanjali was followed by prasad. Ashtami was pre-scheduled as bhog eating day....at didi-jijaji's puja in Sector-22, Dwarka. It was grand affair with menu comprising of luchi, dhokar dalna, alur dum, chatni and mishti, a typical bengali combo... On ashtami evening didi had a performance - she had choreographed and was lead performer in a dance programme of rabindra sangeet. After her performance, we were waiting eagerly for a much publisized rabindra sangeet performance, but unfortunately the wait for the performer to arrive kept getting longer and longer and longer......yawn...........and just when we thought enough is enough, the lady finally arrives on stage.........but disappointment again. This was nowhere the rabindra sangeet we were expecting. The lady was actually trying out a remix version on rabindra sangeet with additional beats from musicians, claps and some basic form of dance....recreating some form of bangla band??? may be...and then she was trying to pep it up by throwing some quiz questions in between accompanied by prizes for answering correctly.....well this was the limit of our patience and we decided to walk out. Rabindra Sangeet may have a limited audience but we do appreciate it in its true form. I feel it is a grave insult to the great works of art by the great poet to try and create interest in this shabby way. It is a real shame. Rabindra Sangeet is NOT for the masses and let it not be. But please do not try to disregard and disrespect something that is so sacred for most of us bengalis.

On Navami, we planned to go to New Delhi Kali Bari - one of the earliest mandirs of Ma in Delhi. We reached on time to witness the hom and yagna and then got into the queue for bhog. After a patient wait for around 1/2 hour, it was our turn. It was time to sit on floor and enjoy a true community bhog comprising of khichudi, tarkari, chatni and payesh. On Navami evening, we went around pandals in dwarka, for darshan of Ma and catching bits and pieces of the ongoing cultural programme on. Nothing seemed too interesting until we reached the mahavir enclave pandal where bangla folk songs were on. We continued for some time and enjoyed what we nostalgic bengalis call "matir gandho"....the fragrance of the soil........It was time to move on and after a little more pandal hopping, it was time to retire for the day....and say goodbye to Ma Durga for another year.....

Aashche bochor aabar hobe !!!!!! (Pujo will be there again next year)....

Durga Puja and beyond

2008-11-08T00:05:00.000+05:30

woops......those were really hectic one and half months. Could not squeeze out enough time and will to update the blog, and I do feel sorry about it. Now for reasons. First was Durga Puja in 1st part of October, no sorry, the last minute Puja shopping was first. And then it was Durga Puja. Followed by business trip to Vizag, Diwali, Bhai-Phota and so -on. During Puja, I had planned for too much of activity, with the 4 day vacation (3 CL and 1 holiday on Dussera). Looked like I needed 48 hour days and not the regular 24 -hour ones to fulfill my ambitiuos timeplans!!!! The proposed agenda included... well of course going out to visit Ma Durga, lot of cooking, reading the Pujo Shankhas (Every reputed Bengali publication brings out special issue during Pujas which we call by this name), watching lot of DVDs, and lots of relaxing.

But unfortunately I completely missed the project timelines, and succeded in only 1 of the activities successfully - which was darshan of Ma Durga at variuos pandals. But undoubtedly I do not have regrets in not being able to fulfill the other planned activities. This time we decided to have a peek at famed CR park pandals in Delhi. But to avoid the infamous crowds and traffic snarls that are notoriuos for this area at Puja time, we decided to play it safe and go out on shashthi itself - that too in day. But surprisingly the pandals were almost empty this time around - 2 elements playing spoilsport - 1st the weather, which surprisingly remained extremely uncomfortably hot and humid even in October, and 2nd the fear factor induced due to recent terror attacks around the coountry.

But even then it was great going around in CR park - we went to 5-6 pandals there. In the evening we went to Sector-22/23 Puja in Dwarka, which is organised by my cousin didi-jijaji and their friends. Jijaji was particpating in the Agomoni - welcoming Ma, which is mostly a combination of songs, verses and narration, in the glory of the great Ma. He sings really well. And then there was is group dance of my little niece shirin - on the song "o o o o o aai re chhute aai pujor gondho esheche"....Does it sound familiar? Bengali children in good old days of yore, when we were growing up, were raised on a staple of children's song sungs by Antara Chowdhury in her childhood. Anata Chowdhury has since long grown up to be a singer and she is the daughter of the legendary composer Salil Chowdhury. And then, on the "professional" performances, there was something really interesting. It was from a troupe from bengal which practices "gouriya nritya", which they say is the classical dance form of bengal which was somewhere lost along the paasages of time and buried deeply in pages of history. This lady, who is a renowned scholar and teacher of music (extremely apologetic for not being able to remember the name.....so typically disgraceful of me ). She performed with her troupe - a bunch of very talented dancers - with the amazing danceform, which I had never seen or heard of before. Though I am a "kala akhar bhais barabar" (it is a saying in hindi which means illiterate) as far as dance is concerned, but I felt that it had similarities with Orissi but was still unique in many ways. Keep it up madam, will look forward to more of your performances.

On Saptami, there were some initial plans of visiting the nearby Pujo at Sector-6 in the morning, but the scorching sun outside actually led to cancelling of plans. The destination on this day was Matri Mandir at Safdurjung enclave. This is one of the many kali baris in Delhi, and one of the oldest and most famous. We do visit this mandir at other times also, and the ambience is really soothing. Here the Pushpanjali was on around the time we reached - 2 pm. And then there was aarti. There is something magical about the way mantras are chanted here, it is very very different from regular community pujas that we visit more frequently. And then there was bhog on offer. "Bhog" is the offering to the Devi, which is then distributed as a community lunch. During Durga Puja, more so in places outside West Bengal or "probashi" pujos, every day there is a community lunch and ALL are welcome, irrespective of anything, no one is turned away. As we were not very sure if we would be on time for the "bhog" we had already had brunch and hence were full. So we collected little bhog in the small tiffin box we carried to savour later. The menu was Khichudi (rice and lentils cooked together in mild spices), labra (a mixed vegetable dish), chutney, payesh (rice cooked in sweetened milk), laddu (a common Indian sweet). This is the most common menu across puja pandals for bhog. After spending some more time in the pandal, totally exhausted from the heat and sweat, we came back home to refurbish some energy for the evening out.

In the evening we decided to catch the cultural program in the nearby Sector-6 Pujo (by Dwarka Bangiyo Samaj). Somehow the programme was no where near expectation. There was a dance program by young girls from the area, which was pretty good. But the so called "proffessional" performace was what was disappointing. The start attraction of the evening was "Sanchita" - the winner of the childrens' version of the reality show "sa-re-ga-ma-pa" on Zee. But the evening was prolonged by some songs from another unknown reality show participant, and people were getting impatient at non-arrival of the real "star". And finally she arrived with a bang, with a popular bangla folk song "sadher lau banailo more boiragi", but unfortunately that was it. Rest of the time she kept the "interested" part of audience happy with her rendition of new popular hindi songs. But nothing interesting for me. These hindi songs are actually done to death every day on FM radio, on TV promos, and in hundreds of reality shows in all possible channel. There is no fun in listening to same hindi songs again on a cultural program organised on the occassion of Durga Puja and that too outside West Bengal. There are hardly any opportunities to enjoy Bangla gaan (song) live anyway here, only CDs and cassettes. So for me, live hindi songs do not have any appeal in this setup, but unfortunately singer after singer goes the same way, and organisers chose to close their eyes and ignore it. It is really alarming how Bollywood is eating into our culture and traditions, and the one of the most important constituent for the same - Music. I am sure people from other states would be going through similar emotions...

A "photo-publish" week

2008-09-27T21:17:00.000+05:30

How would you feel if your photograph is published in country's premier business publication for the first time (and may be only time !!!) It was that grand week for me and also some of my colleagues in our Gurgaon office. So what is the great feat that we had accomplished to be bestowed with this fortune? The precise idea of today's post is to unravel the mystery :-) Read on....

Ericsson, the Telecom multinational giant that I work for these days, decided to go for some reaching out to the people on the occasion of accomplishing the rare feat of achieving 100 million mobile subscribers in India. Hence the advertisement campaign in Economic Times, which is pretty regular for most companies. The novel part of the idea floated by the marketing team was to use Ericsson employees instead of regular models for the same. An all-user mail was floated by marketing inviting for participation, and like all such similar mass-mailers, went into its pre-destined folder, after a brief glance through. And as usual, was long forgotten under the pressure of more "real" work, with some snide remarks how the marketing guys have nothing "better" to do :-)

One fine day, the week after this mail was floated, I was coming back from the cafeteria after lunch. The "experience Center", where the photo shoot was planned, is in the way towards the lifts from cafeteria. Basically, one cannot avoid this place while going back to work station from cafeteria. The organisers : the marketing team was waiting outside, inviting anyone and everyone who was on the way back to work after lunch. If you have seen Indian weddings, especially North Indian ones, you can very much relate to this gesture - It was very similar to "ladkiwale" (people on the side of the bride) inviting the "baraat" (the people accompanying the groom) with folded hands :-) Though I was pretty averse to the idea of getting any photographs clicked, and was very sure this is only for the "kids" (I mean younger colleagues), and they would look best on the photo, not old timers like us. But there was no way to to ignore the generous welcome extended and then I decided to let go of all inhibitions and march in bravely. But more surprises awaited me inside. There were a generous mix of employees, starting from the freshers to senior most (by age I mean), all gleefully awaiting their turn to fame.

One session was on, and after tens of takes, they were done with, and my chance came. I was part of mixed group of various teams and departments cutting across technical teams, HR,finance etc. After numerous re-arrangements of people across rows, multiple attempts to extract some toothy grins with some funny and not-so-funny jokes, and many takes later, we were finally let off. We left the room with aching cheeks (try laughing artificially for half an hour without anything remotely funny happening anywhere nearby and then you would know), and some anticipation and half-expectations of seeing ourselves in the ad. We were told that only one of the many group photographs that were shot, would be find the place of honour.

Again forgot the whole incident for some days. Towards the end of the week, the final format of the ad was circulated internally, and I was pleasantly surprised to see my face in the photo there. What we found is that it was not one group, but multiple group photos that were merged together for the finished product. So now the wait was to see it in print. I was sure that before it is published, we will again get a mailer from marketing, at least a day before.

Next week, one morning at around 10 am, my cousin dada (elder brother) called to tell me that he had seen my photo in the Ericsson Ad that has been published in economic times. I was surprised that I didn't receive an intimation earlier, and was thrilled to know that I could be recognised within the array of people - some hundred plus in 6-7 rows. Next thing I did was to try and have a peek at it myself in the copy of Economic Times available on our floor. But sadly, somebody had taken the page out to adorn his/her personal collection without any sense of social responsibility. So much for Corporate Social Responsibility which is so much of a buzzword these days :-)

But I had to see it at least once. Again, as always, parents came to rescue. I called up my father and requested him to check if he can secure a copy from the local newspaper shop, which he did successfully. I could have a look at the ad only in the evening. It was a full page ad, with 1/3rd of the space occupied by the group photograph, and my face peeping out from the 2nd row at the back.

It was a proud and rare moment - pride for being associated with a global leader in telecom, and proud to be part of the telecom revolution in India....and also immense satisfaction to be able to be a play a part in it - what I always wanted to do.........

So end of the photo story.

Recipe of the week - coming up tomorrow....keep watching

This weeks recipe - Biriyani for Dummies

2008-09-21T20:09:00.000+05:30

Weekend ending fast - few more hours to go. Let me not let go of the glorious week-old tradition of sharing a recipe every weekend with all of you :) So this week its the turn of the biriyani. Not that it is something that I had any contribution in creating or improving, I have adapted my version of the layered biriyani from my mother's and various versions that I have seen on TV, read in books, newspapers, magazines etc. The beauty of the recipe that I am going to share with you, is that the base remains pretty much the same, and by varying some ingredients you can create entirely different biriyanis, and create new treats for your near and dear ones. Ingredients again, are not measured at all, you have to use your sense of cooking, and mostly if you have the right balance in taste, exact measurements are not so important in Indian recipes...

Basic layered Biriyani

What all you need

Common ingredients:

Rice
Khara masala - cardamon, cinnamon, Cloves - few pieces
Onion
Green Chillies
Ginger
Mint
Coriander
Ghee
Lemon
Saffron (optional)
Rosewater (optional)

Specific to biriyani type:

Chicken/Mutton
or
Mixed vegetables (cauliflower, carrot, beans, peas)
or
Mushroom
or
Jackfruit
or
Paneer
or Anything else that you feel like :-)
Yoghurt
Onion+Ginger+Garlic Paste
Tomato
Garam Masala Powder
Red Chilli Powder
Turmeric Powder
Oil

How to cook

Getting base ready:
1. Cook Rice in lot of water with little salt and khara masala till 3/4 done.
2. Drain and ensure that it is completely moisture-free.
3. Slice onions and fry till brown and crisp. Drain excess oil and keep.
4. Cut ginger into juliennes.
5. Slit green chillies
6. Finely chop mint and coriander.
7. Add little milk to saffron (if using).
8. If using chicken or mutton, marinate in yogurt and little onion-ginger-garlic paste for 1 hour.
9. If using paneer, cut into 1 inch cubes and fry lightly.
10. If using jackfruit - cut into 1 inch cubes and boil.
11. If using vegetables or mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch size pieces
12. Heat some ghee.

Cooking - Phase-1 - The curry

1. Heat oil and add onion-ginger-garlic paste, and fry till done.
2. Add tomato, turmeric and red chilli powder.
3. Add marinated chicken or mutton/ assorted vegetables/paneer/jackfruit/mushroom as applicable.
4. Add little yogurt if not using chicken/mutton.
5. Fry on high heat for some time.
6. Cover and cook till done. Sprinkle some water as required if the masala becomes too dry.
7. Sprinkle garam masala powder

Here again, this is just one version of the curry. You can create your own variaitions here as well. My ma makes a really yummy one with poppy seed and coconut paste, the details of which I will share sometimes in future.....

Cooking - Phase -2 - Layering:

1. Take a flat bottomed pan - microwave safe if planning to cook in microwave, baking safe if planning to cook in Oven or just any vessel if planning to cook over gas.
2. Spread a small amount of the prepared curry in the pan.
3. Cover with a layer of rice.
4. Sprinkle fried onion, Ginger juliennes, chopped mint+coriander, few slit green chillies.
5. Sprinkle some saffron soaked in milk, few drops of rosewater, little lemon juice.
6. Complete with generous spreading of melted ghee.
7. Repeat twice with another 2 layer of curry and rice alternatively.
8. Cover and cook in microwave or Oven for 1/2 hour. The better judgement is it is ready when u can feel the aroma all around you.
9. It can also be cooked over gas over. For that you have to seal the vessel with flour paste after fitting the lid. Keep the vessel over a heated tawa and keep a bowl full of of boiling water. The idea is that it needs to be heated from both sides, which automatically happens in a microwave or oven.
10. Open the vessel, mix lightly and your biriyani is ready to serve.
11. Serve with Raita - recipe below.

Basic Raita

What all you need
Yoghurt
Onion/cucumber/tomato/boiled potato - either 1 or any combination
Roasted Cumin Powder
Green Chilli/Red Chilli Powder
Mint/Coriander - completely optional
Mustard seeds+Curry Leaves+full red chillies
Salt to taste

How to cook
1. Strain yogurt to remove any solids and whisk well with salt.
2. Cut Onion/cucumber/tomato/ boiled potato into small pieces.
3. Add roasted cumin powder and finely chopped green chillies/red chilli powder to yoghurt and mix well.
4. Add finely chopped coriander/mint to yoghurt and mix well.
5. Add chopped vegetables and serve chilled.
6. As a variation, the coriander/mint and chillies (green/red) can be avoided. Instead, use a tempering of Mustard seeds+Curry Leaves+full red chillies and pour over the yoghurt mixed with vegetables.
7. Your raita - your very own variation is ready to serve.

This makes a complete meal - a great one for a weekend lunch or dinner - though sounds a little elaborate, but you will find it completely hassle free, once you logically divide the dish into sub-parts, and work on one at a time....
Do let me know how it was and also try out related innovations .....

Another weekend - time flies..........

2008-09-19T23:58:00.000+05:30

Here comes the end of another week. Friday nights are the most looked-forward part of the week - when you are most relaxed and eagerly waiting for 2 full lazy days to come. Mostly time for me to catch up with my friend in US, for her it is a busy Friday morning but still she finds some time for a quick exchange on weekly activities. And then some lazy late night browsing, and now of course blogging. Sorry I am a little boring type - enjoy being holed up at home rather than going out and having fun on Friday evenings !!!

Last 2 days the weather has suddenly improved around Delhi, it has been raining after quite some time. So today is an ideal Friday night - with all the benefits listed above with the plus of a great cool weather :)

This week one of my team members left the organisation for greener pastures. Though it has become a very common phenomenon these days - it is still difficult to accept for old timers like me - who have spent 9 long years in one organisation(my last one). We had a small team get together for farewell. Strangely in my last 11 months in the current team, there have been get together 4 times - all during farewells. It is a joy to work with a young motivated team, and losing a member can be quite disrupting for a functional team, which one takes initiative and lot of effort to build up. But at the end of the day, everybody is bound by his or her destiny.........and we all live and meet briefly in this vast world, during our journey of life.

Mid Week Musings

2008-09-17T21:09:00.000+05:30

The idea to put up the recipes on the blog looks to be quite a success!!! I think will add one recipe every week as a ritual from now onwards. These will mostly be recipes that ma has been cooking every day, regular day-day simple Bengali stuff. But that has to wait till weekend definitely :).

Last Saturday, turned out to be again another shocking one characterized by series of bomb blasts in Delhi in evening. It is again one of those mind-numbing effects - when we realize that we are living on the edge. These are busy markets, and the probability of many of us being in one of them on a Saturday evening in very very high. In fact quite a few of our acquaintances have been very near to either one or other of the blast sites on the ill fated day. It just reinforces the fact that there is indeed a very very fine line between life and death....One moment you are walking down a pavement enjoying a relaxing session of some real and some window shopping and the next moment you don't know what has stuck you.....Its a really really scary thought, and a very very real fear for all of us living in any major Indian city.

2 years back, it was even more heart wrenching experience to be in a city which was ravaged by serial blasts in trains - the infamous Mumbai serial blasts. There was fear and misery all around, and mostly sheer helplessness...

2 years and multiple blasts in many cities later, we still fare no better as a nation. Why do we allow ourselves to go through this every time and then boast of the fact that we are a "very positive nation", "we don't allow the perpetrators of terror to spread panic", "we return to normalcy very fast" and all such blah blah blah....The matter of the fact is the those who have actually lost family members, never actually recover from it.....The rest of us have become too selfish and insensitive, and continue to live our normal life behaving as if nothing has happened....Human life is cheap in the second most populous country in the world........and we simply don't care about what happens to others .....To top it all we have a governing system whose only connections with its citizens is to collect taxes and collect votes....What about the concept of security? Well we have enough civilian security staff and also robust intelligence but unfortunately it is only devoted to safety of the bevy of people in so called "public life" which includes ministers (Central/state), MLAs, MPs, opposition leaders, sundry politicians starting from village to block to district to state level, and yes all the corresponding "ex" es in all these categories...

Only life of common man has no value, no security - physical or social as far as state in concerned....But in spite of all this, one thing remains constant - deduction of 33% of my hard earned salary income tax every month !!!

This is really an amazing country...........

2 bhindi recipes

2008-09-12T19:41:00.000+05:30

Well, looks like this week had been a very bhindi-ful week!!! First weekend posts starting with bhindi. Not exactly. Had been discussing with one of my friends on 2 improvised bhindi recipes, and thought that instead of mailing to her, let me put up on my blog instead - for the benefit (being very optimistic about the effectiveness of the recipe ;-) )of others as well.

So here comes recipe no.-1

Superfast Masala Bhindi

What all you need

Bhindi - 1/4 Kg or as many as you want :-)

Masala Mix - Cumin, Coriander, Red Chilli, Turmeric, Dried Mango(aamchur)

Onion - Sliced (optional) - 1 big

Tomato - 2 or as many as you want :-), use your own sensibilities

Oil

How to cook

1. Cut Bhindi into 2-inch pieces, slice onions (if using), and cut tomatoes into small pieces.

2. Mix cumin+coriander+red chilli+aamchur in equal proportion, and a pinch of turmeric powder. For an approximate assumption, for 1/4 kg of bhindi, use 1 teaspoon each of the masala powders.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add onions(if using).

4. After onions are lightly browned, add the bhindi and fry for 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the masala mix and salt to taste.

6. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

7. Add tomatoes on the top layer and cover and continue to cook till done.

8. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Chilli Garlic Bhindi

What all you need

Bhindi - 1/4 Kg

Potatoes - 2 large

Green Chillies - 4 (can be reduced as required based on taste)

Garlic - 8 cloves

Coriander Powder

Oil

How to cook

1. Cut potatoes and bhindi into thin long strips.

2. Finely Chop Garlic and chillies.

3. Heat oil and add potatoes.

4. Once potatoes are fried lightly, add garlic and chillies.

5. Stir fry at high heat till garlic is fried and the aroma wafts around.

6. Add bhindi and continue stir frying.

7. Add coriander powder, salt to taste and cover and cook till done.

So thats about it. All my friends who will stumble upon this page, please try these and let me know. One point of caution though - the quantities of the ingredients are purely based on assumption - so it is advisable that you use your own measurements, wherever you feel something out of place :-) I know all of you out there, are very good cooks, and can sure sense whenever something is not OK with a recipe!!!!!!!! And again, this is my first attepmt at posting a recipe on a blog, so please bear with me - I will surely improve with time.

A little on the culinary adventure..

2008-09-07T18:07:00.000+05:30

This weekend was a completely relaxed one....enjoyed being totally holed up at home - not stepping feet out even once :-) So after a long rest on Saturday, was all fresh and energetic on Sunday, and hence announced the decision to cook lunch.

The menu would include chicken for sure, but in what form? I decided to browse through my recipe books to pull out some recipe with readily available ingredients. After pondering over 2-3 chicken recipes from my favourite Sanjeev Kapoor's cookbook, I finalised on a South Indian speciality "Chicken Chettinad". I normally am known to follow recipes to the T, complete with the ingredients, their amounts and the procedure. For this one, I decided to do only 1 thing differently. I decided to marinate the chicken with yogurt, and a little onion-ginger-garlic paste and then microwave it till tender, instead of using the raw chicken directly into the fried masala. Those of you, who suffer from hypersensitivity to smell especially in non-veg items( we call it aanshte gondho in bangla), like me, can try this always. Drain out the water in which comes out while the chicken is cooked, and you are free from all smell. Though it may drain out some nutrients as well, I am sure that is a small price to pay against enjoying a tasty non-veg meal...and also I am sure there are enough left also :-)

The original idea was to have plain rice with the chicken, but as I readied the ingredients, I started planning of a more complete meal with "South Indian" flavour....Well South Indians might detest me for having the audacity of calling a mish-mash combo meal a south Indian one....but to my Bengali palette - this is the nearest I can get to South Indian taste!!!!!!!

Instead of plain rice - I decided to try lemon rice. I didn't try to look for a recipe for this to get the perfectly balanced authentic flavour. Instead, I used my memory of a recent cookery show on television and my own sensibilities to arrive at the lemon rice - which thankfully turned out to be pretty OK.

The salad was a memory of our office food in Mumbai - they used to serve a variety of salads everyday. This one in particular is one of my favourites - cubed cucumber pieces with grated coconut, crushed peanuts with tempering of mustard, red chillies and curry leaves. And to wash it up all, some improvised buttermilk. Yoghurt diluted with water, with finely chopped garlic, green chillies, coriander and mint leaves. This needs to be chilled and served with ice cubes.

Again there was only 1 thing that didn't turn out to be the way I wanted to - the peanuts were roasted to a greater extent than i wanted them to be and hence a darker colour and slight bitter taste in parts... It affected both the salad and the lemon rice, but not to an extent that it could overwhelm the positivity of all other ingredients that were there just right!!!

And on the lunch table, my ma pulled out some earlier prepared hilsa fish in mustard sauce, which added the Bengali twist to the otherwise "South Indian" meal - perfect way to enjoy a quiet relaxed leisurely Sunday afternoon at home!!!!!!

Weekend movie review...........

2008-09-07T17:24:00.000+05:30

Well this is not going to be regular feature every week, only when I find any weekend viewing so compelling. This is about the movie "Aamir". I had earlier read very positive reviews about the movie and was eager to catch up. More so as it stars one of very popular TV stars - Rajiv Khandelwal. I used to religiously watch Ekta Kapoor Serial - Kahin to Hoga which actually catapulted him and Aamna Sharief to fame. That was actually quite long ago, when my tolerance levels of K-soaps were still withing limits of tolerance. It has been more than a year now I am completely liberated, having given up viewing of all Hindi soaps :-)

So Rajiv was this handsome chocolate boy, and would have suited any popcorn romance with jumping college kids - wearing colorful clothes and hip accessories, having fun at parties and pubs...and the biggest problem in their lives being having their love issues sorted and living happily ever after. But it was surprising that he chose to make his movie debut with this hard hitting film.

This was not just any terrorist related films that have become so common these days. This actually opened up another angle and forced us to think in a hitherto un-thought-of angle. For those of you who have watched it - a little recap. For those of you who have not watched it - this is about a educated, modern young professional, who was returning back to his hometown Mumbai after a 3 year sting, doing his PG in London. Strange incidents start happening once he lands to Mumbai - it starts with the immigration officer taking more time than usual - in confirming that he is not a "terrorist". Then he does not find anyone from his family to receive him at the airport, and no response from the home phone either. Then he is pushed into a wild goose chase - across the dingy and shady bylanes Mumbai, which we never knew existed even. With all his luggage hijacked, and a mobile thrust into his hand, from which an mystery voice booms every few minutes with the next set of instruction for him., with the rider that his family has been kidnapped and would not be released until he obeys all instructions.

The movie has all the thrills of a treasure hunt, only it is much more raw and real. It captures the dilemma of the young cosmopolitan secular Indian Muslim, who has the same dreams, aspirations as his Hindu Counterparts and also believes that Indian economy offers him an equal opportunity. The movie ends with the protagonist dying, clutching the suitcase filled with bomb, that he was tricked into placing in a public bus, without his knowledge, in return for life is his near and dear ones. He decides to save life of hundreds of innocent people against safety for himself and his family.....and is labelled as a "suicide bomber" by the media...

I used to very intrigued by the fact that so many bright intelligent young men are being lured into the business of terror these days, and wonder what made them risk their lives and also end it as suicide bombers. My educated guess was brainwashing....but this movie has actually compelled me to think differently....I don't know how much it relates to fact, but there could actually be this another angle to "terror" - tricking innocent unsuspecting people and using them mercilessly, without their ideological support...

Saga of a "power - less" week

2008-09-05T21:31:00.000+05:30

Oops....Its Friday already ???? Thats a great relief and a greater surprise. Life seems to be a mad rush, we never realise how the valuable moments are being drained out of life second-by -second-by-second (pal-pal-pal would be more suitable but I am trying hard not to pollute this with one of our regular "hinglish" conversations - Hope you appreciate) in these mundane days and nights. But there is no way other way!!! There is no time to take a break and smell the roses along the way.

Now to highlights of the week gone by. It has been extremely hot and uncomfortable in Delhi over 2-3 weeks now. All the promise of a resoundingly successful monsoon have been washed away, and we are back to oh-so-typical dry and hot days of North India. And then to top it up, the generator in our society went out of order. So 2 hours on an evening - under a candlelight with army of mosquitoes hovering around. Nothing romantic at all. Somehow the power was back and relief and comfort of the AC!!! Then the generator was repaired and we enjoyed two days of uninterrupted comfort of AC, interrupted by only periods when we had to do with only fan and cooler. But that is a much better option that to do without anything.

But happy days were not here to stay!!! Again the story repeated yesterday morning. Its just so disgusting to wake up early morning at 5.30 - no not by chirping of birds and no not even by the alarm - due to suddenly feeling hot and sweaty as there is no power!!! And yes, yet again the generator failed to jump into life. And the misery was compounded by the revelation that there is no water too!!! Not a drop coming out of any of the assorted taps around!!! So there was endless wait till electricity and water was restored. And the end result of all this was a foul mood to start the day and missing my cab. But things were soon under control and I decided to try one of "radio taxis" to venture out to office.

Radio taxis have been around for quite some time in Delhi, only that I never tried them. So armed with 2-3 radio taxi service numbers I busied myself in dialling. The success came from "easy cab". I was on hold briefly after which the executive noted my address, mobile number and my desired time of boarding the cab. Then there was in IVR in which I was put to hold for few minutes during which the auto-search for the nearest cab was on. And the end of this, the number of the cab was given and I was told that I will receive a call from the cab driver once he is here.

In 20-25 minutes, as committed, the cab was at my doorstep, and I reached office pretty peacefully. Post this very delightful experience, I have added Radio Taxi to my list of the scarce "public" transport available in Delhi/NCR.

But the misery of the morning was not to go away so soon. Around 9 pm there was again a power cut - and again - no generator. Power was back just in time to help us avoid the agony of another hot and mosquito infested candlelight dinner !!! But relief was playing hide and seek yesterday. At 12 am, when just getting ready to retire for a niiiiiiice looooong sleep, poof, power gone again. This time candlelight was not required, but mosquito coil yes !!! After struggling to pull out some prehistoric stocks, we did succeed. So armed with coil and sheaf of the day's glossy supplementary doubling up as makeshift hand fans, the great agonising attempt to sleep. Power was back sometime later, but that couldn't prevent us from getting up all groggy and irritated.

The good news is that , subsequently driven by collective frustration and ire of the society members, the necessary repair work on the generator has been done and hence I am able to enjoy a cool and candlelight free blogging session .

End to another weekend ........into Monday Morning blues :(

2008-08-31T22:09:00.000+05:30

So here comes the unceremonious end to another weekend - cool, relaxed and uneventful........Overall it was good with some shopping and eating out on Saturday. Had been to the State Emporia near CP, though pretty ordinary event otherwise - but this place is little nostalgic for me. We used to frequent these for shopping back in 90-91, when I was in Faridabad. And then discovered the Saravana Bhavan nearby. I knew there is branch tucked in somewhere around - but was not sure. The wait in the queue for around 5-6 minutes was every bit worth it. The Rawa Dosa and Uttapam we had accompanied by heavenly chutneys, is unquestionable the best ever...

And Sunday was more relaxed - decided to try my culinary skills on my poor parents :-) Mostly in my weekend culinary adventures I am accompanied by one of my many cookbooks (Sanjeev Kapoor, Tarla Dalal, Nita Mehta- my favourites), gathering all ingredients together and following all instructions to the T. This week, for a change I decided to give them a miss and attempt something on my own - for a difference. So the menu was decided on Saturday night - Fish Pulao or Biriyani accompanied by a simple raita. Somehow I could not decide between Pulao and Biriyani - and was weighing the pros and cons of the options for quite some time - over dinner on Saturday/post dinner over my blogging session/ Monday morning over breakfast etc etc :) and finally - the decision - go ahead with Pulao !!!!!!!

Mom made a lovely breakfast of Egg Noodles, and then I ventured into the kitchen....and Finally after some relaxed leisurely time in the kitchen the Pulao : with fried marinated rohu fish pieces in aromatic basmati rice was ready ....and also a simple cucumber-onion-tomato-raita with powdered fried cumin ......it turned up to my satisfaction levels .....

Kick Off

2008-08-30T22:01:00.000+05:30

Hi people.....
Oh No !!!why another blog???????Was the old one not enough to bore you all....Well there is a reason to it. I started the other one from my childhood and the idea was basically to reach up fast to the present time and continue from here.........But somehow as I started writing, I discovered that there is much more to my life that I could otherwise remember...and memories started pouring out as I tried to go into specifics....and then the revelation that if I continue at this pace, I would be sixty years old before I reach to the present time :) In my efforts to scoop out jewels from the depths of my past I will lose the wonderful days and nights of the very happening present times....the times that we live in...
Hence the new blog.....

I have actually been thinking of this for at least 2 weeks now, but could not find a hip and happening name :) Then today I thought what the heck - let it be dull and boring as me - how important is a name anyway....cannot resist repeating the very cliched "A rose is a rose by any name" :) So I wrote the first thing that came to my mind.....something that I believe in but sadly not "hip and happening"......

So here I am....with my bag of thoughts....Hope to see you with me in my second journey as well ...to my future...

These are real disturbing times, with violence raging in J&K, floods ravaging Bihar and Mamta on a hell bent upon continuing her disastrous journey towards downfall of the resurgent Bengal. It disturbs me no end to see politicians fighting over their individual egos and there is no voice of reason - no voice of truth. Where is the "leader" who speaks the language of the masses?