Twinkles Tinkles

Victoria Sponge Cake

2010-06-14T17:41:00.003+05:30

Ok, I spent the past weekend baking - orange flavoured victoria sponge cake. Baked twice. Y loved it! So, here's how I went about it,

Ingredients:

1 : 1 : 1 proportion of Maida (all purpose floor, I guess) : Butter : Sugar. I used the measure of 1 cup. [Don't think it was a good idea - cos that caused more butter to be used I think. Using actual weight measures should be better]
2 eggs + 1 tsp vanilla essence ( I made it with 3 eggs as well - not able to grok the difference yet)
2/3 tsp of baking powder. 1/8 tsp of salt. Mix in maida. Sieve.
Grated skin of fresh orange. Just a teaspoon.
Some warm milk in a cup. Just for final mixing to get the consistency.

Basic Tips:

Butter should be @ room temperature
Sugar is powdered sugar. I scooped out 2 or 3 tsps of the cup - helps reduce the sweetness. (The first cake was too sweet.)
Pre-heat the oven. @ 180 C. Have both the upper & lower coils on while preheating. It should be the symbol '==' in your preset settings.
Keep a large mixing bowl, a spatula, a wooden spoon handy.
Grease the cake pan with butter, dust with maida and keep aside. Idea is to pop the cake in as soon as it's mixed and ready.

Steps:

Cream the butter in the bowl first. Use a wooden spoon. Do this till the butter is a smooth creamy fluffy paste
Add the sugar and continue the mixing. The mix should be a smooth creamy & fluffy mixture
Now beat eggs with the vanilla essence.
Add 1 tsp of the beaten eggs at a time into the sugar/butter mix. The idea is to avoid curdling the sugar/butter mix. This is very important and the hardest step of cake making. Mix thoroughly till the egg is blended in completely.
When all of the egg is mixed into the butter/sugar mix, then its time to add the floor.
First, mix in the grated orange rind into the flour.
Now - remove the wooden spoon from the mixing bowl. Time to use the spatula or a broad knife.
Pour in the flour. use the spatula to gently mix in the flour in folding movements. Here the idea is to not lose the air we have built in the creamy mix. The air is what aids a well risen cake.
Add enough milk in the end and continue gently mixing. The consistency should be such that when lifted, the batter should just fall from the spatula.
Pour this mixture into the greased pan/bowl.
Now reduce the setting to heat from the lower coil, the symbol "__" on the settings.
Pop in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes. [The best way to check is - after 30 minutes, open the over and insert a thin knife or a toothpick into the cake. If it comes clean, then the cake is done.]
The final 3 - 5 mins, change the settings to "==" to get the browning on the cake top. This should be done only if the cake hasn't browned already.

Raajneeti - my 2 paise!

2010-06-09T22:05:00.004+05:30

OK... Raajneeti is over hyped. Its not a great movie. Doesnt measure up to Jha's other movies such as Gangaajal.

In fact Raajneeti is a not-so-well-made bhelpuri of Godfather and Mahabharata. An american mafia saga mixed in with an indian epic!

But I must say it - the movie's unlikely star is Raajneeti's Sonny - Arjun Rampal! He is simply great in the movie and has done a brilliant job.

The movie belongs to Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal. Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan have sleep walked through their roles. Katrina Kaif was good in spots and Ranbir Kapoor is OK.

But the hype around the movie being a great story, well made movie etc was a bit too much for me... so thought I would throw in my view as well! :)

Its a good movie and it has ridden to greater success on the failure of Kite! Dunno how to explain it - but its a above-average hindi movie to hit the screens after a long time. No wonder its raked in the moolah! But its not a great movie... its just a hype wave everyone's caught up in!

But Arjun Rampal is fantastic!

Defying Gravity.... 2009 -> 2010

2009-12-31T10:14:00.006+05:30

Am back to blog about the year past and the year forward. Been thinking about and around this post a bit.

In a blog, you tend to be careful with your words, sound appropriately humble and optimistic. As of now, this is an audience-free blog. I guess, I might as well go ahead and jot down the twirly things in my head as they twirl! Optimism be damned!

So, the typical way to approach the year end blogs, I suppose, is to write up the good things, the bad and hopes for the future. True to form, it is taking a lot of effort to think of the good things. And I realize that what I recall as good has a tint of sad to it. On the same lines - perhaps whats not so great also has a tint of good ( not that I can spot it in the long shadows cast ).

Recession loomed large early in the year and I desperately wanted out of the then current team. Some tears, prayers and effort later I moved to oss. It was a good thing. Began with a blockbuster policy launch - a job well done but not as completely as I would like. This was almost mid year when it happened. Interesting insights into gravity again - ability to scale not being a strong point.

Niece 2 was born. Saw her actually drop into the world. A speechless and numbing experience. I still don't know what to make of what I felt. Then I saw her gender and remember the nervousness I felt about what the in-laws would say and so on. So birth tinged with social anxieties. Then came the care-giving. Daily supply of food to the sister - in the face of the mom-freeze. Then the eruption of jealousy from mom - when she saw that her stint in hospital for niece 1 was laced with familial neglect.

Bitter taste in the mouth - the whole episode. Saw sis grit her teeth and complete her due stay and run as soon as possible. Bitter bitter bitter.

Work wise, then started the lull - the inability to take off, think big, start projects. Gravity. Saw what team I was a part of - and that set me deeper in stone - immobile.

Personal front has also been a lull - status quo. Disenchantment with the Mother - constant reminders of the gifts from the womb. The glorification of mediocrity. Gravity.

Disenchantment with VJ - a long standing friendship that just lost some sheen over the year.

And so much illness around. Aged by a year. Mortal and vulnerable.

Nothing specific to write home about except for a plus year. Many resolutions made and promptly forgotten.

Infuriating lethargy - mental and physical. The gravity of justification. Cocooned in comfort zones. Explaining away to self. Dull aches, pain in the head. Gathering moss.

The recent part of the year has been bad. Work has been hell - what with being exposed to manic bouts of managers, weirdness of colleagues - first time in all work life.

So much of illness and death around.

A deep sense of loneliness, a desire for a deep bond of friendship has been gnawing away at me.

The one thing that keeps cropping up is - GRAVITY.

I remember a friend from another lifetime saying that a person should have "the wings of an eagle and the roots of a tree" or some such. That phrase creates a mental image of status quo and tearing insides.

My prayer and wish for myself is - to un-root myself and defy gravity.

Christmas and holidays.... & condolences

2009-12-25T10:13:00.007+05:30

Merry X'Mas World.

Its been a great break from work. I am already in my 7th day of vacation today and have another 9 days to go. Me purrrrrrrrrring with pleasure every now and then.

I guess I will be back with a year gone by post sometime next week - the highs, the lows.

But the past couple of months haven't been great...and X'mas began on a sad note last evening.

Wanted to say a prayer for Inder uncle who passed on yesterday after a 10 month battle with cancer. My prayers and condolences for the family - especially S aunty.

I have always known him as S aunty's husband. A very dashing and smart man - who had charmed aunty in a whirlwind romance and quick wedding 40 years ago!

Aunty loves him deeply and completely. Through their ups and downs as a family, the love has been intact. I can feel it in her words and saw it in their togetherness. And that speaks a lot for uncle.

I think the world of aunty and she thought the world of him. Frankly, just that puts him right up there in my books.

He was a retired officer from the army and still led a very active life working for a company till he fell ill. He was a brave man who fought the brutal onslaught of cancer with the even more brutal sessions of chemotherapy.

Y and I met them at their home when uncle was back after one of the earlier stints at the hospital - on Ganesha pooja day. Uncle and aunty were watching a movie and relaxed at home. We gave them home-made kadabu and chatted for a while.

My last mental images of uncle is will be of that evening and of him on the night of K's wedding reception.

I will remember uncle always as a strong, dignified and gracious man. Rest in peace, uncle.

PS: Lotsa cancer around. Y's dad's been diagnosed too. As I keep talking and listening, almost every family has an incident. Sigh.

Touch or Click and increase font size.

2009-10-30T09:34:00.002+05:30

From the time I have started using the iPhone, my reading on my mobile has increased. In fact, over the weekends, I dont even take the trouble of opening my laptop at all for my casual reading and surfing.

One absolutely cool feature is the ability to increase font size or maximize the frame which is being read with a finger touch.

I am so spoilt by the feature that I have started wishing for the same in my browser on the laptop - IE or firefox anyone...

Sigh.

Maggi Stories

2009-07-06T07:19:00.003+05:30

Apparently, Maggi noodles has been around in India for 25 years now! Really? Has it been so long now? I still remember listening to the jingle "maggi maggi!" Wow! There have been many other instant noodles but none that came close to denting Maggi's brand. Top Ramen was close - but I guess it never displaced Maggi.

They have come out with this cute series of adverts about people's Maggi stories. It got Y and me thinking...

My maggi story has been a non-story, actually. :) Mum never liked Maggi. And I distinctly remember her making/flopping maggi once in Osborne road apartments ( wow that was when I was pre-13 ! Its really 25 years now! ). And she never made it again.

Over the years, I discovered and really loved eating noodles. My freind Rosh's mum would make excellent Chinese style noodles with Keema, veggies etc. So I embarked upon the Chinese 'ishtyle" in my noodles journey.

But I DO have my Maggi story - but its rather recent. Its all the absolutely yummy combinations Y conjures up when I am too lazy to cook and we still need to eat. It helped that Maggi kept up with the times - offering whole wheat options. Otherwise Y would have steered clear of the noodles.

Maggi has helped us have many a tasty tangy piping hot one-meal dinners. With lots of added veggies, tomatoes and chillies. Yum-yumma-yum-yum!

Happy 25 years Maggi in India - and many more too! :)

Happy Birthday Samyu!

2009-06-20T07:31:00.002+05:30

Today is my little niece's birthday! Not so little - she is a little lady of 6 years today!

Time flies. I still remember when I first laid my eyes on her - about 6 hours or so after she was born. I will never ever forget how I felt when I saw that little bundle of life fast asleep with her, nose slightly twitching held up by my mother. All those phrases - "Weak in the knees", "Maternal instinct", "family bonds", "blood ties" - all of it completely made sense and applied to me.

Tears of love, joy and gratitude just flowed down my eyes. I remember being so grateful to have experienced these feelings!

Oh, I love her so so so much. Words cant begin to express what I feel for my niece. And today she is 6 years old! On her way to her 1st standard / 1st grade! :)

Happy Birthday, Samyu Mari! :))

Daniel Suarez's Daemon.

2009-04-27T15:41:00.008+05:30

Ever since I heard a Google Author's Talk by Daniel Suarez on YouTube, I have been dying to read the novel-Daemon. First of all, it's not available in India. None of the book shops have it in Bangalore. They offer to get you a copy - if you order for one, pay an advance and wait for 10 days. And after all this, the cost of the works out to be 1.5 times the price.

So, I resigned myself to wait for the book to get really famous and land in Bangalore in paperback version when Y decided to delight me and bought the through a friend who visited US. A gift! :) (I know, I know. Y is a gem and all! Can't love him enough:) )

I finished the book within the day he gifted it to me.

It is an un-put-down-able book. Very well written and believable. Scary but believable. The details related to technology are described so well. I have never ever read any book thats gotten technology so right. Hell, this must be the first!

Its a great book and must read. The rest of the reviews and 'about' the book is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel)

I tend to think of myself as the perfect listener. Tell me a story and I will listen - however fantastical... it will make 'sense' to me. I will connect to any well thought out, well formed and well told narrative. Stories have this 'soul' and I believe people can touch it. There is this thread of narrative... listeners can follow it. Listeners to a tale, will diligently follow the thread while it jumps through any hoop of imagination.

A story doesnt work - when the storyteller breaks this thread, jumps threads, doesnt tie ends neatly etc etc.

When I think of Daemon in these terms, I lost the thread towards the end. I felt the book was labouring to some sort of close. And the end is not satisifying at all - which makes sense - cos apparently Suarez is getting ready with a sequel for the book.

The other thing is that - though the book is peopled with all these wonderful interesting characters, they didnt seem true. They seemed more like mere tools... they could have been etched out better. The whole human emotion, state of mind, ebb and flow in the human interaction could have been better, I thought. Is that what makes for great literature?

Towards the end, the chapters turned out to be scenario descriptions - very interesting read of course but from my 'thread' angle, doesnt work too well.

On the whole, still a great book. People who work in the technology area will simply love it. Its so wonderful to see a writer who 'gets it'. Like I read on the net, this writer just earned himself some serious geek credits.

ringa ringa ringa .....ring!

2009-04-09T06:09:00.010+05:30

That's my life - going in circles. The things that matter to me are spinning out of orbit. The past 4 weeks have been crazy. I am part of these somewhat high profile 'task forces' @ work. And in these TFs, I am the rookie.

Being a rookie started as an interesting thing - especially considering the last time I was a rookie was a good 10 years ago. That was a different ball game altogether and deserves a separate post.

Anyways, the current rookie-joy lasted about 2 hours into each of the TFs - till I realised how everyone wants to just 'review & manage' while there are very few who build the actual work products. We will call them work horses and I am one of them.

During an average work day, most of my 'seniors' in these TFs go from one meeting to another. For every 4 such people, only 1 contributes at a more relevant level than the other three. These people live in villas, drive nice cars, globe trot & hob nob with the CxOs of the company.

How aspirational it can be for the work horses... and so dangerously misleading too ( I am thinking ). How easily the goal can be - to just somehow get to that place where all that's needed to be done is to 'review & manage' (that too badly) and get paid for that! WTF?!

OK - enough rambling in a tune that's dangerously close to 'grapes are sour, grapes are sour'..

As for the rookie experience - its OK. Except that it's a lot of work on my plate and interesting situations. Like getting reviews done when the work is not read at all by the reviewers, differences in language use that goes into long mind-numbing debates. And getting a sense of what consensus and 'getting people on board' really mean.

Right now, I could do with a couple of extra hours in a day. Miss reading, YTubing, regular home cooked meals, 8 hour sleep cycles, mental meanderings.

Most of all I miss not being continuously connected to Y. We are off-sync right now. Sleep @ different times, go to work @ different times, lost in separate thoughts.

Like I was saying..my life's going ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa, ringa-ringa-ringa ring!

An 'aks'-ish Delhi - 6

2009-03-03T12:52:00.009+05:30

Watched Delhi 6 during the past weekend. Came away thinking that its yet another self-indulgent movie - reminiscent of "AKS" in ways.

I came away disappointed... and will just vent away first,

- There are visual shots of Chandni Chowk that are repetitive.
- The story is such a non-starter. None of the characters are well developed. Not even that of Delhi or Chandni Chowk.
- Sticking to just one point and beating it to death is the movie's undoing. The "Kala Bandar"... It was like Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra, ( ROMP from now) wanted to make sure EVERYONE absolutely gets the point. So subtlety just went flying out of the window.
- Basically, ROMP takes his 'social voice' mantle ( given to him after RDB ) a bit too seriously. His story telling skills take a beating as a result. :(
- The movie could have as well been a play. The landscape or setting of the movie is so constrained. The characters are a little too stereotyical to work completely. Some of them at some places are endearing, no doubt. The point making too earnest.
- Rishi Kapoor is wasted. There was one hell of a great story there... in his character.

Ok..now the rah rahs.

- The cinematography is top quality.
- The background music soars. Its much better done here than in Slumdog. No doubts.
- Waheeda Rehman is a gem of a sweetheart. What a pleasure to see her work. She is so wonderful.
- It's a great concept. The "Kala bandar". Needed a riveting human story to weave it around.

The 'untouchable' angle would be unbelievable for younger city-dwellers of today I would think.

But I have seen these folks near my gran's place (old Bangalore parts) in my childhood. They were called "Vadru" and lived separately in a locality. They would come by to clean the toilets and perhaps collect garbage too ( am not sure).

And I have heard some passing comments about how someone or the other visits the "Vadru Guduslu" ( Vadru's huts ). Of course, in a dissapproving way.

So to me, the double standards around those folks is very believable. I can believe that such practises could have existed or continue to exist in old parts of Indian cities.

But overall, the movie : what a wasted opportunity. He could have scripted a great ravishing and passionate love story to Delhi. Rather than this bewilderment of a movie. I remember reading a quote of ROMP about the movie, something to the effect of, " I still dont know why I made the movie, or what moved me to make the movie".

Well, all I can say is - Yeah, it figures.

In other rooms, other wonders

2009-02-15T20:57:00.003+05:30

I just finished reading Daniyal Mueenuddin's "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" . After a long long time, I read a book from a sub-continent writer that was simply un-put-downable.

Before I get into other stuff ... I am wondering, is Daniyal pronounced "Daniel"?

Anyways... a simply fantastic writer. The stories are so wonderful. Like I read @ Ultra Brown - the excerpts floating around don't do justice to the actual stories or the book at all.

Whenever I think of the book, I feel I just finished watching a movie - thats how vivid the whole thing is in my mind.

Last year, I spent 10 glorious days travelling across Punjab ( the Indian side ) and loved everything about the state - the sights, the smells, flavours, tastes, the stories. And to get a glimpse of the other side of Punjab through this book - was a treat. Absolute treat.

That apart, I have been meaning to write about a couple of movies I watched recently.

Starting with Slumdog Millionnaire. First of all, I must express the absolute frustration I had trying to pick up the music CD for Y. It took me about 6 trips to the various famous music stores of Bangalore - Music Planet, Planet M, Crosswords etc - before I could pick up the CD. A good 15 days after it was officially released.

So much for muscling out small gems of Bangalore like "Rhythms" and becoming the de-facto stores for music. The staff @ the store had not even heard of the movie when I went asking for it.

As for the movie itself, most of the people around me were wondering what the fuss was about. Most people caught on to the weakness of the script pretty quickly but I dont think that was the reason for the dis-enchantment or the surprise about what made the western audience take to Slumdog Millionnaire in such a big way.

IMO, the whole thing is visual. What we saw - the face of India ( no, am not talking about the slums or the crowds or the skin color in particular ) - is familiar to us. We have seen it in many ways - in hardhitting commercial, out and out commercial and artsy movies. The face, the 'visual' of India.

It was that familiarity with the face - that made us wonder about SDM's popularity I think. Whereas, for the western audience - this was a new visual treat on their screens.

I have been thinking of a better way of expressing this - but cant come up with anything better as of now.

And by the way, Anil Kapoor has done a fantastic job in the movie..

Next is Dev D and Luck By Chance.

Luck By Chance - was nice. Not great. But nice - engaging and interesting to watch. Agree with all of the review comments - the sudden ending, etc. And Y and I came away thinking that we want to see more of Zoya's films to decide if she is as gifted or better than her brother or some of the other young turks out there. Right now, I dont think she is. The movie seems almost like "All of us have this one great movie or novel in us" kind of thing. Only, she got to make it.

Dev D - like No Smoking - makes one thing very apparent. Long shadows of all the 'famous' directors across the world looms large over Anurag Kashyap. He is still posing in some ways about statement, making a point etc. This aspect takes away from his story-telling ability, quite a bit.

Anurag Kashyap needs to become a little more invisible in his movies. That will make his movies work better. The pace of the film will become more taut. The point in the making will be much sharper. The ending would not be so abrupt.

Having said that, the film is good. Abhay Deol shines. He is fantastic. Again - having seen Punjab, I can believe that Dev D can happen in Delhi/Punjab setting.

The music - thats all the rage - is also a poser in some sense. As in - there is so much variety and hint of ability. But - none of the compositions give one a sense of depth. But still - its a great set of songs. I like them!

My father.

2009-01-21T14:59:00.004+05:30

I never really had a relationship ( the part-grown-up to a grown-up kind) with my dad. By the time I was in my teens, late teens actually, he was quite ill. His illness pre-occupied all of us as a family. And eventually, he died. When I was about 20.

I rarely talk about him. When he was OK - I was a teen. A difficult one at that - at least by normal middle class standards. I look back and feel, I was ok. I studied hard, conformed and didnt get into any major sort of trouble.

Yeah - to get back. The oldest I was - when he was ok - was a teen. And I remember fighting and hating. I remember being strongly disapproved of, being told about how to be, behave and who to hang out with and so on.

Over the past 8 years, I have learnt to relate to my mother and have a better relationship / equation with her. It is a great gift. I still recall thinking how much I hate my mum and how much I wanted to get away from her. And those thoughts were painful to have. So what I share with my mum today is really a gift I value.

When she or I move on, the regrets perhaps will be lesser and memories of times shared together higher. Certainly when compared to what I recall of my dad.

My memories are so fragmented of him. I remember the difficulties and inconveniences of his illness clearly - in terms of feelings and thoughts. Every now and then I remember incidents - but over time, specifics are fading away a little by little.

Regrets and memories. Regrets - I am sure I have. I still havent figured it out.

Memories - yeah. I have memories of him, or rather remember him in the most unexpected ways.

Chinu's innocent, trusting eyes. One of her eyes seem smaller and she tends to lightly wink it every now and then. They are almost like a doe's or a calf's eyes. Her eyes remind me of my dad. Everytime I look into them.

Indira Gandhi - He had strong opinions about her administration. I don't recall the details. But seeing a picture of her or reading an article about her certainly reminds me of my dad and face when he would talk of her or her governement.

Bharat Sinha of a serial Subah - when I see this actor in any other film, I am reminded of my dad. He disapproved of my interest in that serial - all the drug abuse by young folks! :)

And the latest today - The Man Machine. This is an album by kraftwerks. It was a tape with a bright red jacket cover - a photo of 4 robotic looking men.

We had this small tape recorder/player. There were these few tapes at home. Silsila, Star, Zoom, Satya Shivam Sundaram, Boney M and the Man Machine. I remember these were my dad's tapes.

We had other tapes too - devotional, other movie tapes.

But I kinda remember these tapes as my dad's. Like the James Hadley Chase and Perry Mason novels he used to read. He also read Arthur Hailey, Robert Ludlum I recall.

I just heard "model", "robots", "neon lights" on YouTube. And my dad came rushing into my head.

I used to love the tape and listen to it all the time.

Like I was saying, I get this sharp and vivid memories of him in most unexpected ways. I can recall almost everything of that memory - when its triggerred.

Last Day Of The Year....

2008-12-31T11:40:00.007+05:30

The papers and magazines I have been reading are capturing the moments with phrases like "New Year Blues", "Worst Year of Indian History?", "Thank God, Its Over" and so on....

I too spent some time looking back and came away less than encouraged. Mainly because I have a tendency to look down at things... specially when they concern me. So I decided that I will make a focused effort and talk about the good things first (no particular order),

1. I have blogged more regularly than I expected myself to.
2. Typical special days of the year have been well spent and properly celebrated.
3. Had a big work stint & holiday break in the US. Y was with me. Vegas, SFO. New York... fun oh fun!
4. Money scene improved. I actually have some savings and have been cautious about mindless expenditure. I feel in control.. which is a nice feeling.
5. Duties to mum, s, s, and n have been fairly nicely executed.
6. Work - did it well. Very well actually. good rating, decent hike - given the circumstances.
7. Home - nice and peaceful.
8. Y - good and nice. Next big step taken. It was easy. :) The build up is always the torture.
9. Obama, the elections were interesting. Got me interested in UN, UNHCR and a lot of interesting journalistic writings along the way.
10. Movies - Dark Knight, Ghajini, Oye Luck Oye, The Good Shephard, OSO, etc etc. Quite a few treats. Picked up most of the Merchant Ivory DVDs at a discount in the local store. Very nice. :)
11. Reading a lot more this year than the last. In the past 2 months alone - must have read 8 books. Nice. :)
12. Wining and Dining has been great as ever. :)

Hmm.. now the bad...
1. My fitness schedule. Has gone down the dumps. :( I can write a million worded blog post on this.
2. Stocks - thanks to the recession, I too have taken a HUGE beating on this. :(
3. Work - transition needs and anxiety. Tough times leave few options. worrying about what to do. What steps to take.
4. Me Time - has been a bit of a yo yo. I have rejuvenated whenever I got it. But not enough I think.
5. Restless. What Next? Bogged Down - feel less free, more constrained. Have tasted fearlessness fleetingly... its very liberating. Roadmap concerns - is all I can say on a open Blog.
6. Mumbai attacks. Affected me more deeply than I thought was possible.

See? When you put it down - seems like the good was more than bad. Work wise - it was not perfect - but hey thats life. Recession blues- its the pain with everyone - so I am in the bandwagon too. Guess cant complain much.

Fitness.. yeah - that bothers me like hell. It brings to fore - all the things that stop me from going forward. The reticence hidden behind laziness, bad self talk that slows me to inaction, not enough me time and so on.

As of now - today and yesterday - the interesting thing is how un-excited I am feeling about the occasion. How normal I am trying to keep the day. Eating regularly and catching sleep on time. And generally keeping it very low key.

Quite a contrast to the past years...when new year's eve meant *having* some plans..heading out.... *doing something*... :)

That perhaps I am aging did come to mind. :) But then again... I am bored - of anything that thsi city may have to offer - by means of new year celebration. Anything.

Maybe - quietly recharging my batteries for what promises to be the next 3 months of absolutely hectic work schedule is not a bad idea at all.

My New Year Wish? I have a set of goals. The same as last year. If I can maintain my equanimity, and one day at a time - work away @ the goals, I will achieve what I want. Just need to deal with or prevent the outside from messing up with my inside.

Happy New Year! :)

Mumbai Meri Jaan.

2008-11-28T16:28:00.003+05:30

My eyes fill up with tears when I see the picture of this little child in a policeman's arms - drinking water - clothes soaked in blood. Hers ? Her kins? Where are they? From the time I have seen this picture in the morning, I cant just stop the tears flowing from my eyes.

PICTURE 16 in this slideshow -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2008/11/26/GA2008112603190.html?sid=ST2008112701218

With her nose, mouth being covered by the plastic cup - she becomes anybody's child, everybody's child. What did she do - to be subjected to this terror?? What kind of a world are we giving our children? Oh god! Help us. :(

I am so angry, so helpless, so shocked and hurt and heartbroken at the tragedy caused by this senseless act of terror! I havent been able to think of anything else much today.

Oh yes, we are resilient, Mumbai will dust off the shards of broken glass and move on to another day of work. The rest of us in elsewhere in India will also.

But, when will we all get together and work together and STOP this? When will our leaders unite and take strong and firm steps to prevent such acts in the future?

When will we say that this is UNACCEPTABLE! When will we all look in the face of Terror and say that you are not welcome here!

Like Mr Bachchan says, tell me what I need to do - what can I do to help? To help and make a difference. To bring about peace and safety to our nation. To make the cities safer for our children to grow up in.

They should be able to walk the streets like I did when I was a child - carefree. Skipping along with friends - gorging on ice candies... not thinking twice before going into a crowded fair, cinema or exhibition.

My salutes to the brave men of the army, navy and police working to resolve tihs situation. My condolences adn respect to the brave men who laid down their lives fighting last night.

God bless.

India on the moon!

2008-11-15T19:58:00.000+05:30

Yay!

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Lunar_landing_has_Indians_over_the_moon/articleshow/3716744.cms

Way to go, my country! Congrats to team that made us all proud!

Congratulations USA!

2008-11-05T12:57:00.001+05:30

Congratulations on the presidential elections!

Way to go! Y'all made history today.

Yes You Can!

Music of Yuvvraaj...

2008-10-21T13:18:00.006+05:30

Upcoming film by Subhash Ghai
Music by A R Rahman
Lyrics by Gulzar...

Wow - thats a deadly combination! I cant wait -to see it will be as fab as Taal was.

Anyway - my two minute review on the songs/album - not listed any particular order. Just how I remember them.

1. Main Hoon Yuvvraaj: No song this. Just the voice of Salman Khan - calling himself Baaaaaaaaad! I love it. Score: 4/5. ( No 5 out of 5 because I wish Sallu spoke some more! :) )

2. Tu Muskura: Alka Yagnik's voice is too too shrill for my taste. :( I skipped after listening to 4 lines. May be the song itself is nice. Dunno. Score: 0/5

3. Tu Meri Dost Hai: I like it. Normal song. Reminds me of "Valparisio" - Mercury Falling ( Sting ) in the start of the song. Nice. Score: 3.5/5.

4. Shano Shano: Fantastic. Starts off in way that reminds you of Rang De Basanti - but moves on to its own dhun. Some lines are sung a la - Axl Rose... I love it. Score: 5 /5

5. Shano Remix: Is also great. Hip Hop. I love it too. Score: 4.5/5

6. Mastam Mastam: Sonu Nigam's voice is distinct and nice. The tune is very nice. We could have done without Alka's shrill voice inbetween. But well. Score: 3 / 5

7. Dil Ka Rishta: Again a nice nice song. Score: 4 / 5

8. Manmohini Morey: Classical. Seems like a great fav on the net. I dont like the distinct tamilian accent coming up every now and then. Otherwise nice. Score: 3.5/5

9. Zindagi: Again distinct celtic/irish tunes mixed with classical A R Rahman ( that reminded me of his early Roja days... ) Score: 3/5

A R Rahman's songs are fantastic. They sound so complete and full to the ear. Well recorded - almost like every sound was intended down to the last detail. That itself is a pleasure - the quality of recording.

That apart - the fact that his music grows on you... is such a treat! You can listen for a long time and love it. :)

As for Gulzaar saab's words... I haven't listened often enough to go beyond the music.

That's another treat I am looking forward to. Oh, to be surprised by the great poet with lines like "Kajra re, tere kaare kaare naina" or "Beedi Jalaile" or my favorite "naina thag lenge".. just to name a few songs from the recent past...

I am happy! :)

Long time no see...

2008-10-21T10:22:00.002+05:30

Its been a long long month already. Missed celebrating Dassara, same case with Deepavali I am guessing. Mum's not keeping very well ( small hairline fracture - nothing serious ). Y has been busy too - we are not catching up much. Both of us are so caught up in our work. :(

Its been busy busy... and tiring. Mentally mostly - tense and pre-occupied.

Otherwise, I have been reading Mr Bachchan's blog regularly - and its such a delight to read. Following the US presidential race closely too. Its interesting.

Celebrity Blogs, Google Apps, Ubona.

2008-09-20T08:29:00.002+05:30

Been a while since I blogged. Life is a bit down in the dumps, am out of rhythm, am not sleeping well, and dont seem to have a grip on the daily grind thats called life.

Its showing too - my dark circles have gotten darker, have started sprouting pimples, have a constant mild headache in the back, am so distracted and switched off. Days seem to roll into each other - cant figure a monday from a wednesday from a friday or a sunday.

Speaking of days, I watched the movie "A Wednesday" last week. Its a great movie. I had read a few reviews/blogs about the movie and I knew that the theme revolved around the 'common man'.

Apart from entertaining, the movie also strikes a chord with the common urban Indian - what with all those 'low intensity' blasts that have recently happened across the country.

When it happened in Delhi, all of us frantically called S to check if she and her family were fine. When it happened in Hyderabad, the same with N. Folks called me when it first happened so close to my workplace in Bangalore. For 'aam janta' like me and my sisters, those moments are scary.

That apart, I have been reading a few Bollywood Celebrity Blogs regularly. While most of them are trite and shallow - two blogs that catch my interest are - Mr Bachchan's and RGV's.

AB's Blog is by far the best celebrity blog I have read. I love his blog. I think, mostly because I never expected him to be such a fantastic blogger.

A writer yes - what with his literary legacy, but blogger, no! The details he shares, the clarity with which he connects - is simply amazing.

Ram Gopal Verma's Blog is interesting in the details of his life that he shares. When he is touting his beliefs ( or the lack of them ) or his movies, he sets out to provoke... but right now he is talking about his Hyderabad days and they make for a great read.

Both these bloggers regularly post! I think a lesson for me somewhere, there. Both have a disdain for the media and the misrepresentation they suffer at it's hand. And hints at the limited IQ of these scribes.. which I totally agree. One look @ the quality of the press coverage in popular newspapers and TV channels is enough to confirm that.

Now on to Google Apps. I know I am saying this in a half - ass way - but I have realised that I am no fan of google software. I used google desktop on Windows for a while - and am now using Google Chrome. Installed it the next day after the press release.

Clean looks etc - but there is always a mysterious slowing down of my desktop when I install google applications. I will write up a more coherent review on google chrome one of these days.

But right now, I am thinking of uninstalling chrome.

Ubona was recently in news in Bangalore press for interesting application of their Voice recognition technology. They have a foodie hotline - 080 40700000 - where you can call in and say the name of the food-spot you want to hit and get connected to make a reservation. A very cool application. I liked it and have started using it.

As usual - new technology from a startup, its application has gaps which we all can chip in to fill. So I have asked them to point me to a place where I can file in these issues.

So thats it. My random, wandering post.

See you soon, my cyber doppel.

A Taste of Shakespeare - tadka maar ke!

2008-08-20T08:12:00.002+05:30

Just watched Omkara again. What an engaging film. I came away with Saif's acting/role, Gulzar's lyrics and Omkara's inferiority complex - strongest on my mind.

The backdrop of UP Brahmin politics seems so fitting - one almost forgets that the film is based on a famous Venetian tragedy.

The insidius way Iago ( Saif - Langda Tyaagi ) poisons Omkara's( Othello ) mind is chilling. The suave Saif, the ever cool and sophisticated, has outdone himself. He has played the role of Iago redrawn in UP hues fantastically.

I am eager to see the next file adaptation by Vishal Bharadwaj.

The Dark Knight Rocks.

2008-08-06T10:30:00.002+05:30

Its one of the best movies I have watched so far. Easily the best comic-book based movie. And like Rotten Tomatoes says - a masterpiece.

You come away feeling awed by the Joker and I think for the first time, I really grieved the passing of Heath Ledger and all the absolute artistic treats we will miss because he is now gone. Rest in Peace, Heath.

I was so satisified by the movie -watching experience, it was equivalent to watching a spectacular theatre performance in NYC's Broadway or London's West End. The costumes, the scale, the performances, the depth in the narrative, the fantastic dialogue, the dark but universal appeal.

It was so riveting and so live, it was like watching something happening in front of me..never once did it feel like a film.

I cant remember when I felt like this about a film before. What a fantastic effort.

And the Late Heath Ledger as Joker was superlative and breathed life into the film. He is the one you walk away with from the film. Bravo!

Aamir - the new movie about town.

2008-07-15T12:33:00.004+05:30

So, there is this new movie about town - Aamir.

Not exactly brand new ( I am a little late with my comments). The movie is now out of the theatres and doing the DVD rounds.

I have been away for a month and came back to rave reviews of the movie. I decided to buy the DVD version and watch the movie that's gotten all this praise!

I watched the movie and all the while kept feeling this invisible pressure to 'appreciate' the movie, its 'freshness', the great find - Rajeev Khandelwal and so on and so forth.

I came away liking the ending - when Aamir behaves in a way deserving of his name ( which apparently means leader - the one line concept to which the entire movie builds up to ). But I wasn't sure if it was a great movie etc.

Normally, I simply know if I liked a movie or not. In this case, I obviously didn't like the movie and felt very pressured to re-consider my opinion.

All this was over the weekend.

Today, I spent some time reading comments on mouthshut. Boy! was I glad that I did! It was liberating. :)

For one, this movie is supposed to be a copy of Cavite. Why am I not surprised???

Its a simple, no-brainer kind of movie.... clad in psuedo-intellectual garb. As Taran Adarsh puts it, the movie tries to be for the 'discerning' & 'thinking' viewer.

Whatever. It's not a great movie. It's exactly what it was meant to be - a small budget, arty effort. What's worse, the plot and film making is supposedly inspired from other films of the world!

Can be missed.

The White Tiger & Superstar India : An (un)likely duo for a book review.

2008-05-26T16:24:00.008+05:30

Last week, I read two books back to back.

1. Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger

And this followed by,

2. Shobhaa De's Superstar India

I finished reading the two books within five days, in between work and the usual processes of living. And I must say, they made an interesting reading combination.

Given below are my thoughts on Adiga's first book and De's 15th or 16th (?) book. I was just done reading the books and realised they do make for a combined review and to my mind, they were talking to a common theme.

My one line review of the two books?

One ( The White Tiger ) is a comment on India from a servant's point of view while the other ( Superstar India ) from the master's point of view.

Well, thats my one liner for those with short attention spans. Good bye see ya! :)

The others ( still here? yay! ) - read on.

One is fiction, the other a memoir ( or rather "A very personal story", as De puts it). Neither does justice to their actual intended form (fiction, memoir). What we have instead is the viewpoint, thoughts and opinion of the writers pouring forth through the narrative. And in a very engaging and articulate way.

I am not a big thinker or reader. What I am - to any book or film is - an unbiased audience. The ultimate intent listener to any story teller with a good yarn to spin. I can suspend disbelief.

Well, I guess, thats my own convoluted way of saying, I dont think too much and read with a certain laziness. If the book is not good enough to grab me, I usually give it up.

I didn't throw these books away, both are very readable. De, especially, is a sparkling writer! She had me smiling, laughing and cheerful by the time I finished her book. She is completely deliriously optimistic about India. She also sounded like she was finally relieved that she didn't have to be apologetic for her glamour and wealth anymore. :) Her book is a summary of all that is urban India today - the good, the bad and the ugly. Minus the statistics and similar such.

I read a blog post on De's book somewhere - where the blogger had said something to the effect: if you are an Indian - you would know all of this. Don't know why Ms De spent time writing it all down. I somewhat disagree. A fairly well read urban Indian is most likely going to come away with that thought. But I think it is the book causes this 'I already am aware' feeling. It's also kinda cool to have it all in one book and to have such an articulate cheerleader for India - poised and shining.

What little I have read about urban India has always been a bit on the negative and quite dry. In contrast, De's book is cheerful, pulls your focus to all the good that's happening, cheers on about the democracy we take for granted. She does point out the ills and painfully neglected aspects of India - but moves on - says she has faith in India and we shall overcome! :)

So, I guess - those who want to come away with some vague intellectual befuddlement and feel 'challenged' will be sorely dissappointed by Ms De. Here is a woman to whom India has been good and she reciprocates with her appreciation.

The downside is - De's book is a collage of articles. The invisible thread one follows in any book is missing. It's not Superstar India - as much as it is Superstar Urban India. Even when she is not sharing her 'know' about the rich, she is still the urban middle class. She herself confesses to the 'outsider' feeling when she ventures into rural India.

There was one phrase in her book about her driver, "He kept his eye on the road and his mouth shut. Exactly the way I trained him".

The word "trained" - it took me to Aravind Adiga's book which dwells at length on the living, breathing, passionate human being who is broken into a successful invisible servant - testimony to a master's good training. And centuries of oppression, of course.

The format of the book is - a series of or one long email to the premier of China outlining the protagonist's life and times in India. In his voice. About his journey from rural India to the urban, from a servant to an entrepruener.

It is interspersed with commentary on life in rural India, the northern cities and Bangalore with its IT boom.

A commentary on the growing disparity in wealth and opportunity, about how there is a rage brewing in India and the day is not far when the oppressed class will break out and grab their share of India - and thats what the Naxal movement is going to bring about. ( De says, she has been hearing of such an uprising for the past 15 years and is yet to happen. And thats what my friend and colleague SP said - twenty years was his number ).

A line I read in both books and hear very often is - there are many Indias. Same way, may be there will be a million small mutinities and looking for one big co-ordinated rebellion is missing the point. Adiga has a valid comment - well worth paying heed to.

But, Adiga's book is not great fiction, not that it takes anything away from the point or newness of his work. Its an "I" narrative but not a great one. I read it more like how it was designed: an electronic essay with some quote-unquotes thrown in.

The intended audience of this e-essay is the visiting Premeir of China.

I had a thought that with so many people in India still living in oppressed circumstances and not having the 'democratic' chance to better their lives, perhaps we are in no different life circumstances than that of the Chinese as a people. Did Adiga intend to make this point? Maybe in that way, despite democracy, on some levels China and India are not very different?

De also talks about China and how 'sweeping under the carpet' appears to be the strategy there, what with sprucing up for the Olympics, demolishing settlements to make way for the new buildings and so on. While India 'lets it all hang out' - especially with respect to the urban poor.

She thinks, and I agree, this is the power of being a democracy - we are forced to face up to it. Optimistically, we will soon be forced to fix it!

Constrasting with China, De talks about India and exults about how we take our democracy for granted and treat the right to vote as an absolute birthright! And then Adiga talks about the "Dark" India where 12 elections go by and a man in rural India has voted in all of them without ever having seen the inside of a voting booth!

The rural man wonders aloud about the "other" India where people get to actually cast their votes by themselves!

Overall, for me - Adiga's book was a much more sober reading. It was an important view point for me to understand. It was also a book of hope for me - because - for the Darkness that is India - there is also Light in India. People are finding their way towards it.

The urban grind in today's unlive-able cities is taking its toll - obesity, mindless hedonism, crime and what have you. De's book makes you take note of it.

The lack of jobs, oppresive ruling classes, abject poverty is breaking the villages too - starvation, ruptured families and smouldering rage. Adiga's book takes note of this.

There is a long dark shadow cast by the shining and poised India across the urban and rural. Demons lurk in the shadows. All is not well for India as a whole - both agree. De in a serious but optimistic tone. Adiga - in a serious and somewhat brooding tone.

However, Adiga also ends on a cheerful note. There is light in India. There is choice. The rich better share that choice with the poor, or the poor will step forward and grab that choice, sooner or later. All at once or more likely, bit by bit.

And I thought De made a related point when she said that the future belongs to Mayawati and the faster the rest of India learn to deal with it the better.

As for me, I am glad I read these books within the same 'time unit'. Both are good books and well written. It helped for an interesting perspective. I came away thinking all is not well in India and we still have a long way to go. If we are not careful, there are oh-so-many ways we can mess up this progress thats come our way.

Rather than getting worried or being broody about it, I guess being cheerful and optimistic a'la De would not be such a bad way of living the life that is India!

Get a life, you bollywood gods!

2008-05-14T16:06:00.006+05:30

http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2008/may/13aamir.htm
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/may/13ab.htm

Word play with "Shahrukh Khan" in your blogs? Whatever the reason be, these blog posts just took a little glitter and shine off you folks - Mr Bachchan and Mr Aamir Khan!

Chenaab: The scam festival @ Zaman, Ista, Bangalore.

2008-04-25T12:03:00.008+05:30

The fancy north Indian restuarant Zaman, in Ista, Bangalore - recently announced a "Punjabi Food Festival" called Chenaab. This has been running since 18th or 19th of April to 26th April '08.

It has been one of the heavily publicised food festivals in recent times. Notice that I say - publicised and not advertised. I can't recall seeing even one advertisement for the event. But Times Of India has been carrying news and listing of the food festival every single day - starting 2 days prior to the start of the festival.

There have been nice page 3 news items on how the Bangalore Page 3 regulars met there and danced to Punjabi tunes and really enjoyed a great Punjabi meal and so on. There was even a write up with quotes from a manager of the hotel on how they had quite a cool thing going on.

Well, I bit the bait.

And went there yesterday - April 24 2008. For dinner.

And boy, if there ever was a scam of a food festival - this was one. It was an expensive, stupid and anonymous north Indian meal. Thats it. No flavours of Punjab anywhere.

They had a measly food menu with not more that 6 starters listed - including all categories - vegetarian, red meat, chicken and fish! It was the same for the rest of the menu. The special Punjabi menu of Zaman did NOT have tandoori rotis in their menu.

Food Festival - so where was the food? Where was the introduction these festivals normally make to a whole exciting world of flavours and tastes of a cuisine? The food menu was so small and boring that the average Punjabi restuarant around town would have come out a winner in a comparison!

The food preparation, serving style was all boring and same old same old. And of course, no new gastronomic experience to be had - so sublime or exciting trip to the taste buds here.

No attempt to create any mood of the festival - that was so heavily talked about to the press.

OK - the lilting Punjabi music? The zesty bhangra tunes? Nopes.. no such luck! There was a bad bad speaker sound system - which was set so that the songs sung would sound like they were coming from the next building! And there was some singers - local no doubt - who sang some really bad ghazals. And they tried their hand at a couple of Punjabi songs and quickly gave up!

Decor? Nothing - it was the same old same old Zaman.

So where was the festival? It was not there in the food, sound, sights or smells! Least of all in the service. Such good looking waiters - all hiding boredom and robotic in their movements.

What a scam Chenaab was! Why did Ista even bother with this?

Get a lot of press and not live up to the built expectation? Where do they think their money will come from? The Page 3 regulars and the Times Of India - or the greater numbers of Bangalore Janata which is willing to pay a lot for a paisa vasool dining experience?

Don't they realize they have more custom to lose than gain with such half hearted attempts? Bangalore - has so much of food choices - how many will come back to get fleeced at a place like that - which can't deliver what it promises?

I have been to so many food festivals in Bangalore for the past 10 years and this festival "Chenaab" in Zaman, Ista has been by far the worst.

One of the best in the business of fine dining is F&B's Bouquet. Their food selection is amazing, fantastic service. Zaman is not even half as classy as Bouquet. Bouquet right now has undergone a subtle makeover in sync with the season - summer colors, different menu and generally a lighter and more fun atmosphere.. without missing a step and losing a drop of their class. Zaman could pick a lesson from them!

Spaghetti Kitchen @ Lido Mall, Bangalore is terrible!

2008-03-17T11:10:00.008+05:30

This weekend, Saturday lunch, we went to Spaghetti Kitchen that's newly opened @ Lido Mall in Bangalore.

Now this is an Italian restuarant in a mall, it is a part of a food chain ( yeah like McDonalds ) and even had a positive review in the previous day's Bangalore Times.

I know, I know- that should have been enough to put us off, but the bravehearts that we were, we went anyway.

And boy! Did the place live up to it's context! Apart from the really nice interiors, the place has NOTHING to go for it. Let me quickly list them for you,

1. The tables were greasy. Not clean. We saw why. There was a totally un-interested, incompetent waiter cleaning all tables - with the same dishcloth - moving from table to table. Basically he was evenly spreading the grease to all tables.

2. The service is TERRIBLE. The guys just don't care. They seem like seasoned imports from some other Spaghetti Kitchen joint. They had that distinct absent way of service and taking the order. Our waiter didn't have the patience to speak to us or listen to our order. It was almost as if the dining guest is in the way of him doing his job!

3. Our drinks were pre-prepared. We decided to drink Sangria ( it was listed as a pitcher but was not available ). It was pre-prepared and the apples had badly discoloured.

4. The food is frozen food. Make no mistake about it. It's frozen food that's then put together and served. We noticed that of both the chicken and fish we ordered. The fish was deep-fried in oil and any taste/flavour of fish had been successfully killed.

We selected 2 of their signature dishes and they left much to be desired. The food was oily and didn't have even an iota of subtlety that one would expect from Italian food. Only the Pizza appeared to be freshly made.

So there you go, the place is not clean, the service sucks, the food and drink that taste very very bad.

It is a perfect example of standardizing and mass producing a cuisine and totally ruining it.

Spaghetti Kitchen serves up the perfect example of "mall food" - unhealthy over priced trash. The best way to torture even the mildly discerning palate.

I am running back to my good old "The Only Place", "Sunny's", "Fiorano", "Via Milano" and Sunday brunches @ "Ista".

You know why? We paid a bill of Rs 1900/- at Spaghetti. This was for 2 drinks, 1 starter and 2 main course dishes.

At the same price, I can have an absolutely delightful Italian meal for two at any of the above places.

A moment of perfection.

2008-03-10T14:17:00.003+05:30

That's what Anamika Chaudhary had with "Mahiya Mahiya" that night. A pristine, magical moment of perfection.

Checkout the video: One of the YouTube links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOoyi3RAw7E

Heard she became the champ of this season's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Very deserving.

Heading out for the wekend..

2007-09-14T17:30:00.000+05:30

Thanks to Gauri and Ganesha, this is promising to be a busy weekend.

What with the relentless rains, the city has turned into one large dirty water-pool. Jokes are floating around about "Silkboard Swimming Pool" and so on. Pictures too..taken with mobilephones.

It will be tough getting shopping done for the festival this time. Well, mum and others are waiting for me to make "Karjikaayi" or "Kari-gadabu"... a fried variation of modak. I hope it comes ok and I am eager to get Y's opinion on them. :)

A Trip Down Memory Lane.

2007-09-11T10:34:00.000+05:30

Recently I was at Mount Carmel College for campus recruitment. It was a post lunch half a day activity that I had completely forgotten about. When I got to work that day and the recruitment team coordinator called, I rushed through my work and started at 2pm.

The drive to the college took a good 45 minutes and was largely uneventful. When we got there, the day was just ending for the college and the girls were spilling out..sitting on the drive, heading home.

I became unabashedly nostalgic. I lived on Cunningham road and had attended class for 11th and 12th std in MCC.

Nothing much had changed at first glance. I caught snatches of conversation. "Most famous model in Europe..", "...lousy movie...", "...Classes...", "...missed lunch?..?", "..grab something...", "...I am going by auto, you?"... and so on. The drive was the same. The main office was still there. The home science building was still there... There were a fleet of "women's special" BMTC pushpak buses waiting to take the ladies home.

Then I looked closer and saw Fatima hall had been rebuilt. The main audi was demolished - apparently a huge auditorium with state of the art facilities, AC et al, will open. A new hall - 3 floor tall - called Jubilee hall had been built. The hostel was demolished. A new hostel building was being constructed in its place. I also heard that the home science department will be demolished and rebuilt.

Mobile phones are apparently banned on the campus. Carmelites have to adhere to a dress code now. The college is autonomous and is seeing a huge inflow of UGC grants that explains the construction frenzy.

I spoke to a teacher who was incharge of coordinating with us and she said UGC grants also meant that the teachers are earning much better now. At the same time, the annual scheme is replaced with a semester scheme and each department has to come up with extra credit courses. Teachers now have to teach upto 120 students at a time in popular courses, in addition to crafting these credit courses.

There are many new courses now - computer application related, travel management, business management and so on. The pressure is telling on the older lecturers quite a few of whom have opted for voluntary retirement with a decent pension under the UGC scheme.

The college was as clean as it was when I was studying there. The canteen is still there - serving the same burgers, pizzas and pastry puffs with diluted sauces. All departments have a noticeboard. Many chartpaper based posters adorn the walls - talking about successful young folks world over, about debit cards, about some business achievements, about some competitions, cultural festivals around the city. There was also a "radioactive campaign" on called "Toilet Bachao". :)

The new buildings are big and spaciously built. May be nostalgia, but I did think the spirit of the college was intact. The girls seemed the same - young, beautiful, full of hope and spirit.

I am so happy I visited college. I wish I can do that sometime again with my Mount Carmel gang - A, B, P and Y.

Stunted nostalgia, smelly plates, expensive but great food.

2007-09-10T12:49:00.000+05:30

The title sums up my first impression about Moti Mahal, Tandoor Trail @ Sigma Mall on Cunningham Road in Bangalore.

The food is great tasting. Good quality fresh meats were used in the preparation. The spices are balanced and one gets to savour wholesome flavors in the cooking. Despite some of the other downers I will point out, chances are I will visit Moti Mahal again, if I want to indulge in a good non-vegetarian tandoori meal. (I just may need to carry my own plate!) That it's located in one of the more pleasant malls in town, Sigma Mall, is another draw.

To begin with, the menu. There is no bar and the restaurant focuses on food. The waiters are brisk and appear to be a mix of local talent and imports from the other Moti Mahal locations . There are specific items listed out as Moti Mahal speciality.

Slightly amusing is the "Bata" style of pricing. Yoghurt is Rs 59/-. Plain Naan is Rs 49/-. Naan with Butter is Rs 59/-. Chicken dishes are all priced Rs 249/- and upwards. A Pomfret preparation is priced at Rs 499/-.

As is apparent by now, Moti Mahal prices are above average, placing a premium on its brand and history.

Another peculiar thing was, that their square tables ( seating four ) were really big and their rectangular tables ( seating as many as eight ) were really narrow!

Even otherwise, the decor of the restaurant was overall drab - the only concession to an ethnic look was the use of inverted Kadhais (Indian woks) for lamp shades! One wall of the restaurant was fully windows - and that was so dirty! If clean, the windows could provide some really nice views.

For lunch, we had Kalmi Kababs (house speciality), Keema Masala, Tawa Chicken, Tandoori rotis and Khuskha for main course. The kababs were served on a sizzler and the marinade was excellent. The minced mutton used in Keema was appropriately coarse and it was a near homestyle preparation, simple and very tasty. The tawa chicken had excellent flavour.

We gave desserts a miss and ordered no vegetarian food either. So, while I cant share my opinion on them, my guess is that they too will be well made and tasty.

The worst and most off-putting aspect of the place was that the plates were greasy to the touch. Y smelled them and got completely upset. It was obviously not washed properly. He had them changed 3 times below they got him some really clean plates. For a place serving such oily food and non-vegetarian food, they need to be more careful about the plates.

The other aspect is the stunted nostalgia - most pictures are really dated - showing Nehru, Kennedies and so on. Its almost as if the brush with celebrity stopped in the 60s and then was picked up again in the recent years. We see pictures of Shiela Dixit and the tourism minister. The pictures tend to give you an impression that Nehru and the like visited the restuarant very often but according to the book - "Moti Mahal - Taandoori Trail" that we leafed through in the restaurant, seems more like like Moti Mahal catered food at government dos those days.

Anyways to conclude, its a place of dubious cleanliness and great tasting food.

"Graze"-ing is acquired taste

2007-09-07T18:42:00.000+05:30

After all, we aren't cows! Lame jokes apart, Graze is the new address in Bangalore for "dining on the lighter side of European cuisine".

We are somewhat resentful of the place, because it replaced our favorite bar in town - Jockey Club in Taj Residency. Graze is a minimalist and smaller place - not as spacious and plush like good old Jockey Club. When we got there, it was full - a considerable number of them were foreigners - maybe folks staying at the hotel.

Anyway, we were shown in and asked to occupy an extremely cramped table. By then, the ever resourceful Y found us seating at the dining bar facing the bustling open kitchen.

We were the only people at the bar counter. That pretty much set us up for the evening and we had a great time looking at the chef and his staff create some extremely good looking dishes.

As for eating them, well - that’s a different story. For me at least. Y is very adventurous and is open to trying all foods.

Basically this meant that I couldn't enjoy the foie gras and some shell fish based appetizers at all. We drank a couple of imported beers. Asahi was one of them - very light.

The main course was better. I safely ordered roast spring chicken that was done a tad too dry. Y had some excellent lamb chops. The dessert - more than anything was stunningly pretty. I had a chocolate mud cake with 'crème Anglais' and I can't remember what Y had.

The service was brisk and non-intrusive.

Through out, we had a great time watching the kitchen staff at work. Especially the 'make up man' - I think called the Expediter or Announcer, who finished the dishes. He was a delight to watch - working away diligently at the most sparkling and spotless table of the kitchen.

When we were done eating, we had the Chef saunter across to where we were sitting asking us how we liked the meal. I told him about how the chicken was dry and he said, "Yes madam, I too like my chicken juicy and tender but our Indian guests keep asking for it to be sent back to be over done. Also because of my fear about Chikungunya, bird flu etc, I have instructed for the chicken to be well done. Next time you come by, I will take care to have it made to your liking".

!! Fears of Chikungunya after a Rs 4500/- meal and veiled racist comments about Indian dining preferences!

The conversation actually went on to the foie gras and the chef remarked about what an exotic delicacy it is, how it is his personal favorite and that I didn’t have "the tongue for it" - meaning taste for overfed goose liver.

You know, I wish waiters and chefs didn't indulge in small talk - at least with me!

Well, Graze is a smart looking place and expensive. The service and ambience has the usual quality of a star hotel.

As for the taste, I would like to reserve my judgment. I didn't enjoy the meal. Even Y gave it thumbs down.

Who knows? Like the chef said, may be I don't have 'the tongue' for it. Or maybe, we just miss our good old Jockey Club - a place where many an evening was deliriously well spent.

Then again, we eat out a lot and maybe we are right.

Italian fare Via Milano @ Koramangala, Bangalore.

2007-09-07T17:22:00.000+05:30

'Via Milano' is a new addition to the Italian restaurants in Bangalore. It’s a stylish chic place done up in red, black and white. Located on the third floor next to Sony World in Koramangala, the place has some nice views.

We went there for dinner mid week - 2 nights ago and the place was full. It seemed to be a favorite with expats and quite a few people appeared to have dropped by after work.

Now on to my dining experience.

The two things that stand out in my mind are - the reasonable bill and one over-enthusiastic/pushy head waiter - who never waited on us. (Yeah... I seem to have this thing for waiters :)).

This particular head waiter was someone who had obviously spent a lot of time at the gym and dressed carefully to show off the effort - quite unusual and pleasing to the eye. What was absolutely terrifying was how over the top he was with waiting. He talked a lot, leaned a lot towards the table, and made far too many suggestions about what to eat or not.

We saw him working the nearby table and got so frightened that we quickly placed the order with the waiter who was perhaps supposed to just serve the food. He was quiet and did his job calmly and we were spared any overbearing hospitality.

The staff did seem a little flustered. That or perhaps something else, did not lend a completely relaxing atmosphere like say Fiorano ( another Italian place in Koramangala) does.

We had all courses - antipasti, pasta, fish for main course and a dessert. Unfortunately, we aren’t great fans of delightfully healthy food so we found the antipasti selection disappointing - what with most being lettuce or green leafy based. The chicken tortellini and red snapper for main course were both well made - except that the sauces were a trifle too salty.

We mentioned this to another hovering waiter and he replied, "I tell them in the kitchen to be generous with food and they add extra salt". And a prompting smile. We lamely smiled back. Sheesh!

Anyways, that apart, Via Milano has an well stocked bar and like most restaurants around town - they too have the irritating habit of getting only one bar menu and chauvinistically handing it over to the man at the table! Like women can't read and choose their own drinks. bah! :(

The dessert was quite ordinary - a rum cake with some fruit and orange custard.

The final bill presented - for 2 bottles of Cobra beer and a complete meal for two at about RS1500/- was very pleasant indeed.

In terms of actual menu selection and food quality, I still prefer my experiences at Sunny's (on Lavelle Road) while Y says he likes Little Italy (in Indranagar) better.

But Via Milano is a nice place; particulary ideal for a business lunch. Though Via Milano is quite not there yet - in terms of an overall complete rounded experience, it is value for money. Go try it sometime.

Tchi - Good food and that's about it.

2007-09-07T15:13:00.000+05:30

Tchi is a Chinese/Thai restaurant tucked away in a quiet interesting corner of Queen's Road - Edwards road in Bangalore. Its a house converted to a restuarant.

I have been there three times now. The very first was just two days after it opened. The bar was not yet functional.

The service was a bit tacky - 'perhaps because of the newness/earnestness ', I thought. The most noticeable factor was that - the waiter doesnt rest till he has hounded you multiple times to take the maincourse order - after you have ordered the soup. The funny thing is - this repeated itself all 3 times!

The food was delicious. Priced a little above average, the portions were very satisfactory and preparations very tasty and balanced in flavors.

The second time around again - great food and tacky service. The head waiter wouldn't rest till he forced out a complete order from us and another waiter spilled wine on our tablecloth. Minor glitches I suppose - but the stuff that separate the classy from mediocre is what I would say.

This third time last month was the worst - their valet service was not present because 'the boys have gone for parcel delivery'!

This time around, they had some extremely bad acoustic live music. Seriously, the place could just do with some soft instrumental music in the back ground.

Of course - the usual: great food and off service.

What finished my experience with Tchi was they way they dealt with the bill. Suddenly, they were not able to accept credit or debit cards! Their 'server' was apparently down. We paid up a bill of Rs 2000+ in cash - rather unexpectedly and headed out looking for an ATM to replenish our cash reserves to last for the weekend.

To conclude. like my title says - good food and thats about it.

And frankly, Bangalore has such a vibrant eating out culture, I could easily give Tchi a miss and not notice it at all for the rest of my eating out here.

And thats what I am going to do. :)

Nice to be back!

2007-09-07T13:00:00.001+05:30

Wow... didnt know I would miss blogging this much!

Quite a few things conspired to keep me away from my i-home. The main thing being that for some mysterious reason these pages were blocked @ work place and I just couldnt get enough time to blog from home.

N, my little sis, got married. The runup to her wedding was nightmarish for mum and me. But what a lovely wedding finally! And my lil sis was looking like an angel. So beautiful and happy.

S came down from Delhi for the wedding and we all had so much fun together.

The reception at Hyd was so classy. S and N had done such a great great job of it. The impromptu dancing to bollywood numbers was a great end to a great party.

Another really nice thing we did in time for the wedding was finally hang all the black & white pictures on the walls at my mum's home. About 16 pictures - from my mum's childhood to her wedding. There was also pics of us 3 girls when we were 2 years old. People visiting couldnt stop looking at them and praising! Mum just preened as usual. :)

Y and me worked so hard for the pics. Its all worth it.

Beer Batter Recipes

2007-07-16T13:39:00.001+05:30

I have been searching for beer batter recipes to make some good ol' fish n chips @ home. I am yet to find a Bangalore restaurant that makes good fish n chips. Its always the batter thats not good enough.

Sumptuous Tuesday At Barbeque Nation

2007-05-08T16:10:00.000+05:30

After bleary eyed and somewhat blue-ish mondays, tuesdays are always good for me. Happy things happen and I am usually productive.

Today, I came to work on time, am getting stuff done and best of all - went to Barbeque Nation for lunch today with my office colleagues.

This is a very busy place on all days (reservations are a must) and the the grill + buffet idea works very well for an office lunch. The grills are interesting and having one at your table is a first for Bangalore.

This is the third time I am visiting the place. And this time around, the non-vegetarian grills were reduced to 2 from 3. I hope it was a one off today. The buffet is regularly refilled and so far has maintained a consistent satisfactory quality.

There are 2 or 3 non-veg grills and 3 veg grills served at your table with a variety of sauces and marinades. There is the excellent gilafi kulchas to go with the kebabs. A complimentary mocktail or a pint of beer is also part of the buffet.

Then you could proceed to the buffet that starts with 2 soups and a good quality salad counter. The main course for the non-vegetarian has 1 fish, 1 chicken, 1 meat main course and a meat biriyani. There is typically a paneer dish and 2 other vegetarian main courses, a pasta, plain rice, dal, curds in the vegetarian section. Of interest are also the pickles and chutneys kept in a corner. Indian breads ( rotis, naan and kulchas ) are served at the table.

Finally, the dessert counter has 2 or 3 pastries/puddings , 2 Indian sweets (Gulab Jamoons always), fruits and ice creams. Its pretty good.

A good buffet - but sometimes the queues are long.

All this for about Rs 282/- inclusive of taxes. For lunch. For dinner, it is Rs 400 + taxes. The number of grilled kebabs are increased - 5 vegetarian and 5 non vegetarian.

The restuarant has 2 more levels which open for dinner only, I think. The 2 nd floor has a view of the Airport Road flyover which I thought looked pretty good. The first time I went there was for dinner and there was some good live singing on the second floor.

Thats it - Barbeque Nation is a fixed menu place - lunch and dinner - every day! :)

Barbeque Nation is busy at nights too. So, it is not exactly a great place for a quiet, intimate and paced meal. But its still great value for money and is a must try - at least once.

Oh they also have valet parking.

As for our lunch, the food was great and the company fun.

It was also a much needed respite for office cafetaria food.

Compliment, Perspective

2007-05-04T14:08:00.000+05:30

K and I had to go to a different office today morning for a meeting. We got in earlier than expected and the meeting was running behind schedule. We ended up sitting in the reception area, chatting, almost for an hour.

All the while that we were there, people kept walking in and out and it seemed like every other person was someone I knew or worked with in the past. So I was very frequently greeting some one or the other and making small talk.

Internally, I was feeling quite pleased with this happening in front of K - who has just spent 2 years overall working.

And then he says, "Wow, you are like the building security guy. You know everybody".

:)

Of Temples, Devotees and the Priests...

2007-05-02T11:52:00.000+05:30

Venue: Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

State of Mind at the Start: Curiosity, excitement to see the dancing Shiva idol, the place of Chidambara Rahasya (secret) - where the formless is worshipped.

And then,

As we start entering the temple, young priests start waving furiously at us. We avoid a couple of them and are soon stuck with one young enthusiastic Pujari near a deity.

Priest: Where you come from?
Me: Bangalore.

Priest: Rajajinagar, Malleswaram, Seshadripuram?
Me: Koramangala?

Priest: Yes yes. We have a lot of devotees in Bangalore. I have visited Bangalore many times.
Me: uh huh. Nice.

Then, the priest launches off into a detailed explanation of the temple and its history in Tamil. Finally, he finishes off by telling me that not everyone has the fortune of visiting the temple. I am lucky that the auspicious time for visiting that temple and seeing the dancing god has arrived for me. And then, he goes for the kill...

Priest: Why dont you leave your name and address?
Me: No no.

Priest: We will pray for you everyday. Nothing is required. Just put your name and address. (slides a notebook towards me).

Me looks around for support but by then Y too is stuck and nods helplessly.

Me: How much will it cost me?
Priest: Nothing at all. Whatever amount you want to donate, thats ok. Please give us your name and address. Write down the names and nakshatra ( birth star) of all your family members.

Me: Ok ( and write down )
Priest: Can you fill up the amount? It is Rs 600 per year of prayers for you. How many years you want?

Me: Just 1 year.

We pay up and run.

And of course, by then, I am irritated and angry and just want to exit the temple. I dont care about the history, significance, etc by then.

All I can imagine is a weekly status meeting to take stock of how all these priests have done with their collections. How it will affect their appraisals and their payhikes...

And I think about the TOI (transfer of information) program for new-joinee priests on how to collect from hapless visitors who are conditioned to be polite to priests and so concerned about looking good in front of these scamsters.

Because, there was a priest at every other corner in the temple with a book and started off with the same spiel - Where you come from? Rajajinagar, Malleswaram?

Chilli Garlic Chicken with Pesto

2007-04-27T12:00:00.000+05:30

I tried this last night for dinner. Its a dry and very spicy chicken preparation. It worked well as a side with plain steamed rice and curds last night.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken ( about 900gms ) cut into medium pieces.
About 2 to 3 teaspoons of mustard oil
5 to 6 peppercorns
half teaspoon of jeera / cumin seeds
2 small sticks of cinnamon and 3 cloves
1 medium sized onion sliced
2 to 3 teaspoons of crushed or chopped fresh garlic ( more if you like garlic!)
Green Chilles sliced into halves. I used 4. Use to the level you can handle!
Readymade Pesto Sauce: About 2 teaspoons
thick cocunut milk: 2 or 3 teaspoons ( this is optional )
salt to taste

Method

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the jeera, cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns. As it starts to splutter, add the onions. Fry the onions till they start to brown. Add the crushed garlic, chillies, pesto sauce and stir. Add the coconut milk. Add the chicken and salt. Stir well. Add a little water. Pressure cook till chicken is almost done. Open the cooker lid and reduce the liquid. Remove from fire when the chicken is fully done and the sauce is semi dry. Serve hot.

Reading UG

2007-04-26T14:36:00.000+05:30

Since my school days, books and material about matters of religion and spirituality have always come my way.

When I was around 9 or 10 years old, R aunty who lived downstairs offered me a big pile of books. Used books - stuff she was looking to dispose I suppose. I hesitated to take the throwaway offer.

When I told my mum about it, she - surprisingly - said it was ok to take the books because the content wouldn't be secondhand for me!

I am glad she approved. Because those books introduced me to all the interesting stories in the Bible. All the books were designed to introduce the Bible to children. Oh, what wonderful stories and so riveting.

I also remember attending satsangs with my best buddy R in our colony - where verses from the Gita would be read out and interpreted by a serene lady in a white saree with a benign smile. We would sit through because the lady in white was R's aunt and it wasnt so bad either.

Then came a Chinmayananda group for children - I forget - what it was called. That ran for a while.

In between all this, I had folks in the colony giving me very many books to read - Herman Hesse, OSHO's teachings, books talking about Hindu mythology, Greek Mythology, books on Buddhism and so on.

Later, I also met friends who shared books about classical philosphy, evolution of western thought and so on.

At home, the ritualistic aspects of Hinduism were fairly toned down - but we celebrated all Hindu festivals with great enthusiasm - so mainstream simple Hindu practises were also a part of my upbringing.

But I digress.. I meant to tell you about UG.

I discovered UG when I came across Mahesh Bhatt's deeply personal biography on UG - U.G. Krishnamurti: A Life. An excellent write on the men - UG and Mahesh.

I remember feeling so much relief that a man like UG exists! :) I dont know how else to express. UG refuses to be described with any of the words we know.

So its best you read him and figure out for yourself!

Currently, I am reading Mukunda Rao's biography on UG: The Other Side of Belief: Interpreting U.G. Krishnamurti. It is by far the best work on UG I have read so far.

The book poignantly begins with Mukunda's young daughter's death and takes an indepth look at UG's life. And all through, the author spends time talking about various philosophies and religions, incidents and beliefs that shape human thought and create a continuous consciousness. And juxtaposes it quite well with UG and what UG stands for - or rather all that he breaks down for us.

A compelling read and personally, I think its best to read this book after reading Mahesh Bhat's biography on UG.

Twinkle Tinkle Little Blog....

2007-04-25T14:35:00.000+05:30

dict threw this up ( among other definitions ),

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :

Twinkle \Twin"kle\, n.
1. A closing or opening, or a quick motion, of the eye; a
wink or sparkle of the eye.

Suddenly, with twinkle of her eye, The damsel broke
his misintended dart. --Spenser.

2. A brief flash or gleam, esp. when rapidly repeated.

3. The time of a wink; a twinkling. --Dryden.

Tinkle \Tin"kle\, n.
A small, sharp, quick sound, as that made by striking metal.
--Cowper.