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Sambar made in India, vegetables from Israel

2009-11-08T02:06:00.000-08:00

I was really lonely for almost most of the past month. Really alone, did not know what to do and whom to get to. It was getting a little cranky, I was slowly but surely loosing it. My job was boring, so doing something nice and worthwhile was the order of the day. Obviously, it had to make me feel good from within.

I could read a book, see some movies, but all this was not getting that inside bliss I was looking for. I was in an alien country, with no one to look for, doing things on my own. I tried cooking for a change, it did some wonders to my attitude and soothing my cranky mind. It was a totally different subject for me. I never thought cooking could relieve my pressures. It surely did.

Now I was back home, but was still alone. As parents were on vacation, I had to do something to keep me going, as I was loosing it fast for the last week or two. I did call friends, but it did not make me feel great. I fell back to cooking like I was doing in Israel. I had bought some onions and potatoes when I was there, which I never used. I could not throw them away when I was packing to come back. So brought it with me.

Vegetables from Israel:

Potato cutting, This is hardwork !!

Now I remembered the vegetables and included them for my sambar. Some potato cut into pieces and cooked with oil, chilli powder, pepper, garlic-paste, jeera, some masala powder and lastly haldi powder with salt. And like magic, Aloo-jeera is done. (Microwave cooking only, do try this at home)

The attention now turns towards dal and rice, which is so easy if you have a cooker. So for dal it is 4 whistles and for rice 2 whistles. This is pretty easy. Cooker 1 for Dal, Cooker 2 for rice. Put exact amount of water, otherwise the dal cooker will over-flow and form a yellow water deposit on the cover of the cooker like you see in the picture.

Now, tamrid water preparation for the sambar. It is tricky to clean tamrid. After that, cut onions I don't have a picture of onions as I was crying (when you cut onions you have to cry). Frying pan to fry the onions till they turn brownish. Now take a big vessel add the onions and tamrid water. You will have to squeeze the tamrid to get the juice. Then the dal, then the magic mom prepared Sambar powder. When you put it, the smell of the whole atmosphere changes.

It is a fairly simple procedure, but something to get my mind into away from the things happening around me. Finally I bought some curd to finish my small lunch. The sambar and the Aloo jeera subji tasted like bliss. It was cooked just fine, just perfect. My stomach is full and it feels great to get that drowsy feeling after you had your lunch on a sunday.

Diwali Muted

2009-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

I was on a vacation to Rajasthan, the place of colours I would say. So many bright colours. I enjoyed my stay there. It was a real awesome tour. I was really unhappy that it came to an end. Diwali celebrations at Jaipur and Udaipur were going on in a way I could not explain. The markets were open till late nights. There was a mela at Udaipur were I went on a swing ride, which made my stomach muscles feel the acute pull. The zero-gravity feeling, made me release how the astronauts would have tackled such a pull. It was my first time with these rides.

Unlike this swing, the other ride I went was really cool. It felt like turning with my bike. It was fast though, very fast. Udaipur is a very small town, and is very quiet. The taxi driver (later) here in Israel I met, liked udaipur more than the buzzing streets of Jaipur. I liked Jaipur more than Udaipur though. The people here and the jalebi I tasted here is the best of its kind.

Celebrations at Jaipur:

Celebrations at Udaipur:

At home, it was like bombs every second. Diwali had come by then. I could not listen to the TV, which was set at more than the normal volume. The fire crackers bursting in random haphazard manner was not a welcome sound to the ears. But it was Diwali and that is how it should be. No other festival in the Indian calender gives such an outright delight when you just hear the name. I made it for Diwali to be with my parents from my vacation to Rajasthan.

I had to do some shopping for the day. Nothing brings joy more than buying new clothes, especially when you like them. It was just one day for me as I had to go abroad to Israel the next day. It was not great feeling; having to leave Diwali celebrations with family and friends and go to a destination where Diwali is so much at a distance like India.

Having finished it, I went off packing my bag and preparing things for the travel. I had a transit at Istanbul. The connecting flight at Istanbul was delayed(less sleep and delays like this makes you cranky). I finally reached my apartment at Tel Aviv. I put my bags down and just fell on my bed. I was dead exhausted. But I could feel the silence there in that apartment. Like nothing moved in life, nothing existed. It was dead silent, the only sound was me adjusting my body on the bed. Not a soul moved. Now that was totally different to my ears as it was nothing like Diwali. I just felt, I have just got the remote control of my life from somewhere and pressed the mute button. :) :)

Thats the bed I am talking about!! :) :)

I jog on

2009-10-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

I am really not great at poetry, but I thought I should write this for sometime to come. I went jogging.

Inspired by the movie 300. Here goes.

"Into the narrow corridor of road I jog;
The traffic meets a bottleneck, where the horns sound like grunting hog;

I think about how good I did my job today; I jog;
I think about the girl who did not reply my sms; I still jog;

I look at the wet slippery roads, without slipping I jog......
I think about my next vacation, I jog;

I see a wide smile on the face of a guy who just crossed the road and almost cheated death; I jog;
I laugh at myself, of how stupid I have been in giving so much importance to people who took me for granted; I jog on;

I ponder, what next, what is going to hit me, I jog without an answer;
The pounding heart and suffocating breath stops my progress, I halt to gather my thoughts back;

Not bad for a start, very simple. I know it is not be termed as poetry. :) :)

Locked out!!

2009-09-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

When I was in my 5th standard, I learnt a poem called "Leisure" written by William Henry Davies". The first line

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."

Looking at work pressure for the past few weeks, I knew that I needed a break. So I joined some photography training sessions. When I came home, I had a suprise waiting for me. I had forgotten to take the keys. All of them at home were out.

I was straddled. I could not go inside. So I took some snaps here and there.....and went out site seeing, roaming here and there. The metro railway in mumbai has come a long way, the pillar are all up. The sun was setting. The reflection of the sun rays on the building looked so brilliant.

I have never seen such a beautiful evening ever. I was roaming with nothing on my mind. I had to take atleast 3 hours out, before my mom would be home with a key. I saw a tree which was so old bang in the middle, which I had never see before.

These snaps are as it was taken, I have not altered them. They look awesome don't they. Here is the banyan tree, so old as me I should say!! I found two Hotels side by side, one named Paarth and the other named Saarathi. Paarth is the name of "Arjuna" from Mahabaratha and "Saarathi" is the name of Krishna himself. Paarth being a bar and restaurant. Saarathi is a Veg restaurant. I guess Paarth has not learnt from Saarthi after all. :) :)

In the twilight I see a board that explains the situation a little. Traffic congestion is really the reason for the metro, but the irony is the building a metro needs space, which eventually causes traffic jam. :)

New stores like "Jumbo king" and Brownie point have come up. They never told me :( :(

I am still exploring around. After all being locked out, does have its advantages.

Liverpool

2009-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

I could not get into blogging for sometime because of hectic work at office. Finally I got some time to blog about something great. I have been a supporter of Liverpool for a long time. Even though I am not a ardent follower like football followers are usually are. I do want my team to win.

Liverpool beat West Ham 3-2 ; a great news to rejoice. The thing which is more awesome is that one of friend had been to England. He got me a Liverpool jersey and some accessories. Check out the snaps!! :) I am so happy........

Victoria Terminus (Part 2)

2009-09-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

Moving away from Bandra, you come to the khadi, which stinks like hell. It has been the same for almost 10 years that I have been there. As soon as you cross this khadi, you enter an over bridge road, which is like a tunnel.

Then comes the most famous place on Mumbai, from where slumdog millionaire was made, part of Dharavi comes on the left. Next stop “Mahim”, I really don’t know anything about this place. Next stop “Kings circle”, I don’t know why this name has not been changed yet. There is a big circle which has a park. It is flanked on one side by Matunga, a small south India I should say. The South Indian Education Society High School is situated very near to the station. Next stop “Wadala Road”.

It is actually a very busy station. The people, who want to go to Navi-Mumbai, have to catch a train from here. It is kind of a junction. The guy who was sitting in front of me was checking overseas jobs column on his paper. He tired calling some numbers but could not find a suitable answer from any, he kept trying. The rain picked up again. It is amazing what a small drizzle can do. It wets all the railway signals and electric trusses. People here and there were running for cover.

Next stop “Sewri”. Before the station came along, I could see big oil tankers and storage vessels so huge. The IndianOil vessel was one of them. The “Sewri” station was flanked little higher than the usually stations. On the left of the station towards CST, was a road where all the tanker lorries were running hammock. As the train left “Sewri” station, I saw something interesting, there were small tankers which were pulled by oxen. Suddenly the town scape turned into village scenery. I saw more than 50 oxen and the tankers just parked there for filling kerosene I guess.

Just outside Sewri, you can see those oil tankers. "IndiaOil"

Next stop “Cotton Green”, before we reached the station on the left is “Cotton Association of India”. It is full of mills and hence with cotton association, the name. The buildings before and after the station are more or less look like warehouses. Some of them look dilapidated, but some of them are still alive and kicking. Moving away from cotton to Iron, next stop “Reay road”. Know for its iron garages all around the station. I saw a naked kid playing with another kid who was fully dressed. Irony of India I should say!! :P

Dockyard Road as the name suggests it’s the place of docks. Next stop is “Sandhurst Road”, it is quiet an unique station as it is at a raised platform from the other stations. Iron pillars beneath hold the station up. It was completed in 1921 quiet a feat then. Reay road and Sandhurst road, are named after British governors many years ago. Next stop is Masjid. It is a very busy station and, there was a bridge demolition going on just the day before. It had been finished on time and the trains were allowed through in record time. Masjid like popular belief is not named after mosque but a synagogue. 200 year old Gate of Mercy Synagogue is present here. As there are wholesale markets here, the volume of people going here are really alarming. At a peak hour you stand there and you will be completely swept away.

Last stop VT, or now CST(Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus). A one hour journey on the train never felt like it; when you are watching. I got a bag for my camera. I was home after 3 hours I commenced my journey. Mumbai Railways is truly faster than you think it is.

This is VT station, undergoing renovation!!

That is Queen Victoria at the top of the tower holding a torch!!

Victoria Terminus (part 1)

2009-09-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

I had some work at CST (Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus), which has been renamed from Victoria Terminus long time back. CST is where the terrorists attacked if you remember some months back. From Andheri we have a Harbour line that takes us directly to CST which is actually on the central line.

The ticket counter at Andheri station is really frustrating as the queue is very huge. It takes rather 15 mins to get a ticket for your journey, wherein you can miss trains in minutes here. Standing in the queue we get to see regular travellers buying coupon books, punching them, beggars sitting right at the entries with their small babies. Next was my turn and ton ta dan, comes a guy says, senior citizen; please buy me a ticket. I get tickets for him.

Then climb the staircases to reach platform number 7, where my CST train has not yet come. When I reach the platform, I am greeted by a very serious glance by a bloke who has an extraordinary belly, with big ear phone (like the kind you wear for computer, silver colour) some kind of “Dinchak” music. He looked at me as if he had the best ear phone on display, some Chinese company mal. I could have shown him my music player, but the charge of my mobile was very low. Damn!!

The timer at the station said 1:06 pm, scheduled departure of the train. The train arrived just on time. I specifically chose this train as it was lunch time. :P less crowd. People got down not many, people hopped in not many. With swine flu tremors going around, many not all, had a handkerchief to cover their nose and mouth. Got a window seat, cursed myself for not bring a book to read. But I changed my mind at the end of the journey as it was good I did not bring a book.

I have been to CST in the same route before, but never on a window seat. So I thought I will check the sites. Being a slow train it stops at all the stops. Breezed pass the signals and into the aroma of Parle factories. The smell of Parle G filled my nostrils. First stop “Vile Parle”. Big walls separated the train rails parameter and houses. The walls painted with ads of banyans (Lux) and other faltu ads.

The train strolled into “Santacruz”, this is the place where we have the Domestic Airport. But if you happen to go there, it would tell you “Chatrapati International Airport”. Just to confuse people. Next stop “Khar road”, posh localities and the lot of rich people stay here. I used to get down at this station during my college days. Nostalgia of those days got hold of my memory. Ashwariya Rai used to live here before she got married.

As you move away from “Khar road”, there is an over bridge, which makes the switch to harbour line. Nice view of the station and its rails and tracks. Just past it on the left is the “kabaristan”, where Muslims bury their bodies after death. It started to rain; still some work was going on here inspite of it. Just after that, one more over bridge and you come to Bandra terminus.

Bandra comes in a jiffy after Khar. Again posh to the core, it has amazing hotels and clubs. I had been to a buffet called “Global fusion”, amazing place that. I saw Katrina kaif and Salman khan once walking here once. Shahrukh Khan stays here……contd

Remembering the past

2009-08-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

I was in my school, when I tasted my first Bhel puri. Down south we never had such dishes made. It is the speciality of Mumbai, a dish that very much belongs to Mumbai. It felt nice very nice.

I think it was my dad who first spotted this shop near Andheri Station. Once in a while we used to go there to have bhel puri. It tasted divine. I remember even during college days I used to stop by this shop to have it. The guy who prepared it was so fast in doing the procedure of mixing things that he could do more than 3 bhel puris in less than a minute. It was totally a spectacle to watch him perform this task with such speed and accuracy.

The Guy!!

After my college days; and through first job, I somehow lost touch to this place. I just could not find time to go and have this majestic piece of snack made with astounding timing and taste. Not that I did not have Bhel after that. I did have, but nothing like this place.

Few days back, when I was chatting with my friend, this place popped up. Without any hesitation, I told him that we should go to this place. It was almost 5 years that I had not been to this place. My dad used to bring home bhel often from this place. But I had never been to this place for a long time.

I made time one evening and went to this place which is no where in the way to my home or office. We finally reached the place and saw the same buzz of people queuing to buy it. The same guy was standing there with his two new subordinates at work, preparing bhel puri at the rate of knots. The Bhel tasted the same after so many years. It sure gave me a déjà-vu feeling rolling back all those years.

Unfathomable Forlorn

2009-08-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

How do people look at you? How do people rate you? What happens when someone you think things of you better acts differently than you think they should have? Some don't care what others think about them. But some do care a lot. I should say, I am somewhere in between.

There are times when impressing someone will help you better. The ways to impress remains a major task to understand for many. For some it comes pretty naturally. These are the guys, people envy. They say sometimes impression cannot be created in a flash. It takes rather mammoth steps to devour and fathom the insurmountable task of impression. Time as it happens always, plays the vital role in climbing to some one's heart.That's the reason, may be finding a loved one is almost very difficult. The people we meet on everyday basis never get impressed with our looks. May be if you are dressed like a hippie they will notice you but never do they get impressed. The amount of time you spend with someone and frequency of meeting them plays a real vital role in creating an impression.

Everyone wants to create an impression somewhere or the other, they might not agree but that is all inbuilt and involuntary. Many would say, why do you do it to impress someone. "Do it for yourself, things will happen". Does that happen in today's world. Well not really. It is a nice advice to give, but to follow I doubt. After a careful needle and thread action to create a potential impression base, when the cracker jack tail end action comes, of someone expressing about yourself, it is always a surprise and gets a mickey out of all of the efforts put in.

Off late, such concerning circumstances have beaten the day light out of my solar sails. Things I thought would work out and thought people would understand me; like the "don't try to impress" way..... Now I feel, I should have tired impressing. But I guess, I was proved unimpressive with my "Do it for yourself way"..... Getting to know things about you from someone else and something which is not as per you expect it to be, is quiet an aghast feeling.

A new blog

2009-08-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

I have started a new blog, just to learn how my photographs improve over the time. I am planning to update this blog with all the impromptu images I take with my new camera.

When you get bored of reading what I write, you can just go through this blog.

The link would be http://lanandsnaps.blogspot.com/

This new blog is dedicated for my photography!! :) :)

More DSLR snaps

2009-08-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, these are some cool snaps I experimented. They can be better in the future!! :)

LAN's day out

2009-08-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

What a day!! It was awesome, totally convincing. I could not have planned it more than this. I had registered for a workshop on Digital SLR camera working and basics of photography. I got up late in the morning. I thought of giving this workshop a slip. But I had already payed 500 bucks for it. It was at Atria mall. I had to travel almost an hour to reach there. Something urged me to go. I wanted to checkout the Canon lens on display there. It was a very big showroom.

I was late by 20 mins. The workshop session had just started and I got my goodie bag (Will get back to this one afterward). I was surprised to see so many people interested in the workshop. Almost 30-40 people had turned up on a Sunday(amazing). There were foreigners, slightly old uncles and aunties, young people. It was a mixture of ages. All were driven by only one word actually "Photoholic". I don't know if there is a work in English, but it sure is an invented word. All of them were either photographers are people who were very much interested in photography.

The lady instructor had command over the subject. She knew how to take the workshop and to what extent. I was delighted to learn the information she gave on lenses. The type of lenses, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and lot of other things which were very useful for me to decide on a lens to buy.

Every single person in that room, had brought a camera. I had not taken any, as I did not have a DSLR then. DSLR cameras have been on my mind for a long time. I did a lot of research regarding which camera to buy and had zeroed on one. Canon 1000D a digital SLR of which the price had dipped just a month ago. I did not take any snaps during the session. I was so indulged in the session that it never crossed my mind. The workshop was coordinated and done meticulously by Zoomin.com. Very professional I should say. The coffee and biscuits with it was icing on the cake.

After the workshop, on my way back home, I got down at Dadar and went to JJMehta and Sons store. It is a well known camera shop in Mumbai. I bought the Canon 1000D with one extra zoom lens. I started clicking some snaps at the shop and then came home and started clicking. I took some amazing shots. Now I will leave you to marvel these excellent shots. :) :)

Oh yeah the Goodies I got; check out the snap: (free magazines)

Check out the cool camera man!! :) :)

Some snaps from my camera: This is the best part :)

This snap was taken by the shop keeper. He did get a good smile out of me!! :)

LAN and full blood brother

2009-08-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

Thinking about the past that I have left behind, the people whom I have loved and hated, I laugh at myself. The way I behaved with people, the way they reacted at my attitude, my actions. Thinking about all this, tells me how foolish I have been then all my life. How silly I was when I fought for pity things in life. The one person I could never give up a fight was my own brother.

With him I have always had a love-hate relationship. It has been more of a hate than love I should say. Being just one year younger to me, he will never give up a fight with me. These fights might go on for a week may be a month. That's how brothers are I guess. Growing up we have become increasingly away from each other, just to avoid a fight I would say.

One fine day, I started to wonder about such increasing rift and gaps among us. I don't have an answer as the hatred has become hard coded in him. I do love him for the way he is. Not that I don't hate him, I hate him a lot too. After I wrote this much, I started to drift away and thought I will not continue and thrash this blog. But I have taken it a resolve to write something about him.

On 26th July some years ago, Mumbai came to a stand still. He had been to college and could not make it home that night because of the deluge.It rained so heavily that day that it has ever rained before. Everywhere there was water. Mumbai was flooded, totally creamed. The mobile network went down. So we could not contact him. Our landline number was working. But Mumbai to Mumbai calls were down only STD was working. My dad was not around, he was out of station. It was havoc. We reaffirmed among our self that he would stay at his friends house.

He was stranded, he spent the night at a police station. The next day tried to catch a bus and could not find his way home till late in the evening. I was home could not do much. I could not see my mother praying for his safe return. The thoughts in my mind were asking me to do something fast. I decided then that I will go to his college somehow and search for him.

The landline numbers were up by the next day afternoon. It was almost 5:30 pm. I told my mom that, don't worry come what may, I will come home with my bro. The frequency of bus for Andheri station from my place was very less, understandable after the deluge. All the people who were stranded the day before had reached home. I walked all the way to station. It took me half an hour to reach there. It was not raining that heavily. Infact by that time the local trains started running, but they were running only from Andheri to Bandra. Bandra was the place his college was.

Picture: This is a street where we used to play cricket with badminton bats and shuttle cocks. Interesting combination of sports i should say!! :) Once while playing normal cricket, I scored 206 runs. The rule was, if you hit a ball on the terrace of a building you scored 100 runs :) I hit twice and ran 6 runs. :) :) My brother was so upset with me on that day!! He has also had his winning days, I can never forget this road.

Before I entered the station, I rang home and asked mom if there was any calls from him. I got a negative feedback. With high hopes and hoping against hope I got to the station platform. For some reason, I wanted to ring home back again. But there was no bloody telephone on that platform. So I had to cross the bridge to another platform. I did and called home back asking if there was any calls again. This time my mom shouted back on the phone. I have never heard such a happy voice from her. My brother had called. He was also in Andheri station.

By god's grace I spotted him getting down a bridge, he was damn tired. I took him to a "Bhel puri" stall first and bought him one. (It is his favorite) Then we luckily got a bus and took him back home to see my mom's cry hugging him. It was a reunion of its kind. I do love him sometimes, you see. I thanked god so much that day. Next day paper read more than 150 people died in this deluge. It was horrific experience.

Since then it has been a roller coaster ride among us. Two days back there was a cricket game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka (T20). We both watched the Sri Lankan chase. We were discussing and marveling the game. It was like we were 14-15 again. The child in us does vanish as we grow up. The love for thy sibling matures but we don't show it often. Ego checks in, it sometimes creates a rift. I am not saying I am perfect and my brother is at fault. I am also as much part as he is. It is such days in life which we can savor in our countless GB database of brain. After all brothers will be brothers.

The specs story

2009-08-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

When I was in my 8th standard, I tired to show some tricks to a baby boy. I closed my left eye and open and blinked my right. Nothing was wrong; when I changed it to my left eye, I felt something uneasy. I did not think much then. This happened again, this time I was looking through a key hole. It was clear to me that I was not able to see clearly with my left eye. When I close my right eye, it was blurred.

When we look with both eyes, the best image from both the eyes is captured and transmitted to brain. The brain checks and super imposes the better image. So my right eye was taking the bulk of vision. Even though my left eye vision was blurred, because my right eye was normal, when I used to look normally, everything was very clear.

I took my mom to a ophthalmologist. He checked my eyes and told me that there is a power problem with my left eye and it can be corrected by spectacles. From then onwards, till now I am wearing it. The left eye had a complicated number and it was not the normal power lens. It was a cylindrical lens. But my power has slightly increased initially till I got the exact power.

A spectacle is a style statement know a days. Getting a nice pair sometimes is very difficult. I was thinking about a 70s style glasses for a long time. Last Sunday I decided that the time has come for a change of specs. I went by the optician and got a cool specs for a very low price. Nothing like fashion at a low price tag.

The professor look I should say!!:) :)

100

2009-08-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Not bad at all. I started this as just a time pass where I can say my blah blah. I have gained some fans on the way. I have written about things on various topics. As I look back on this blogspot, so many blogs have come and gone. This has been an amazing start to a place where I can call home online. I will keep thinking about thinks that come out of no where!! :) :)

For now, "Tonight we dine in Hell" :):)

I was flowered

2009-08-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

August is always a month of festivals. I have to do lot of small work during such festivals at home. We have pooja at home. (If I would have said this at office, Mr. AB would have a raised eyebrow or two, useless humour) Usually I get some small jobs like cleaning here and there. My mom surely knows my area of expertise. So she gives me some work which I hate!! :( :(

But as the work I do eventually goes for God, I have no complaints. This time there was a bag full of flowers what we got the other day. Some of it got spoilt as it may have been the flowers from day before. The trouble was, we cannot use the spoilt flowers. The even bigger trouble was the size of the flower; it was jasmine.

I was given the job to separate out good flowers from spoilt ones. It looked very simple. I almost thought, wow that's something I can do. It was almost 3 -4 kg I guess. I started doing it one by one. Then I realised if I do it like this, it will take me 4 days to complete. I rate my brain to be very very bad when it comes to logic, but I am a quick learner. I checked out a logic to work on. Instead of taking out good flowers from the pack, I thought of taking spoilt ones out. As the number of flowers which had gone bad seamed less as compared to the good ones.

This I should have done a long time back. Now i decided to take handful of flowers and pick the spoilt ones from it and then hurray I have a lot of good flowers in my hand. This seems simple, but I started dividing it, I had to dynamically change my logic. Something went wrong, I was picking lot of spoilt flowers now. The logic could hold only for some time. What had happened was the number of spoilt flowers were indeed more than it seemed to be. And as the division went on the proportion of bad flowers increased exponentially as the visibility factor of bad flowers shoot up the dynamic curve of bad vs good.

I changed my logic and now started picking good ones from a handful of mixture. I had gained so much mastery in division of bad and good flowers that Adam smith would be pround of. Sorry Adam smith is associated with Division of labour. This is called concept mistake not spelling mistake. Coming back to division of flowers, I was almost through with the division. As at one point, the number of bad ones were more than good ones. Now my logic worked with utmost efficiency. I know lot of people will check who Adam smith was after this. Very bad very bad.

The human brain is very calculative. It makes a logic for even things like this, which we don't even think of. It creates complex logic very easily. It learns very fast, in one way of working does not work, it decides and defines another way. The complex logic of brain has been a essence of discussion for long now. Scientist have some discovery over it. But the lump some large brain eludes a lot of them. I don't have the brains to think about my brain. I can just shout at someone and say "Don't eat my brain".

Changing the sacred thread

2009-08-06T04:01:00.000-07:00

"Malakara" shouts a guy who sits in front of the agni homa. A scared fire that burns which is used for pooja with a desire. Agni Homa is used to enhance the effects of japa. Agni is said to be the mediator between humans and gods. A small brick square wall is built and small well cut dry wood mostly from mango tree is used for buring. Mostly ghee is used to enhance the fire. A Hindu dictionary on Homa says: "A sacred ceremony in which the Gods are offered oblations through the medium of fire in a sanctified fire pit, homakunda, usually made of earthen bricks."

This guy in front of the fire pouring ghee into the fire at every interval when he finishes a wonderfully recited Sanskrit rhymed poetic verse. He pours the ghee into the fire with a rather extravagant hand moment and raises his voice at the climax of it all. He looks no older than 45, with a big beard and a spectacle which is hanging on his nose almost at the edge of it. In between the mantras he recites he does give out a boyish smile and says something humours to keep all of us rather awake. The place we had been was a secluded places, away from the busy city. The time seemed to have stopped long before here. The building appeared very old and so was the setup for pooja. We were asked to wear something called "Dharba" which is nothing but dry leaves (dry grass) twisted to wear on your fingers.

I was in a Hindu ceremony, to change my "poonal" or "genevara" they call in kannada. My mom woke me up 7 in the morning. Every year in the year of "sravan", we have to change the scared thread, that we wear across of our body. Any brahmin hindu will know this, as it is a rather laborious procedure, not just wearing the new one; and removing the old one. "Malakara" means to wear the thread like a "mala" ( mala is a garland that is given as respect in cermonies to important people present.) Wearing the scared thread in malakara, was to do some rituals and say some mantras.

The pontiff now shouts, "Sabya", which means to get back the thread in the initial position. The pontiff signs each and every action we are to perform. As I sit with my sleepish eyes closing at different intervals. Suddenly the pontiff shouts, take tulsi in your right hand. My eyes open with alarming shiftiness. The pontiff's subordinates distribute tulsi. Then there comes something which looks like curd. We are asked to hold it on our right palm. The pontiff says some sacred lines and asks us to swallow the white mass before the our teeth can touch it. It was sour and was curd mixed with half cooked rice.

Then comes the biggest task of all the above, to open the poonal from its closed state to the open state. If not done in a certain way, missing one thread here and there will land you in a pickle with the thread all tied haphazard. Then to get it to the open state, you will need to out source it to someone. Luckily I could open it and helped my brother too. Then comes the mantra, which brings lot of smile to my face.

"! Yagnopaveetham paramam pavithram prajapatheryasahajam purasthad Aayushyamagryam prathimuncha shubram yagnopaveetham balamasthu thejah!!"

That means wear the new thread. Married guys are to wear two threads, hence to repeat this mantra again. Then comes the mantra to remove the old thread. The procedure ends with giving the pontiff dakshna, and also buring dry leaves. These leaves are nothing like a normal leaf; very long and very small. It looks like dry grass, a special grass I should say. We did have upma and tea after all this. I have never tasted such a nice upma before. I felt something in me that reinstated who I was and where I belonged to. There are somethings which we are brought up doing, which has not only become a part of you, but defines whom you are and where you belong.

Out of my first coma

2009-08-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

I got a mail which told me about the horoscope of the coming month, which I had subscribed some year or odd ago. I had to click on a link, to get the complete horoscope. The detailed one which gives details about my love life, job, etc ... Something sparked an interest in me to see the horoscope for the rest of the year. They did have a link to check it. There were all the signs just in front of me.

The title above it said something which was slightly different as compared to what I have seen. It said "Moon signs", which was different to what I have seen so many days on paper. What we normally check in the news paper column is the Sun sign. This new epithet confused me. One link said "New user, find which moon sign you are". I had to fill a small form. It said birth date and birth time. Now I did not know what my birth time was. I knew that i was born on a Sunday.

I had to ask my mom about it. That Sunday almost 25 years ago was not as cheerful as it sounded for my mom. I was a cesarean baby. My birth had some complications. The food pipe that took food to my stomach got tangled pretty badly. After a long battle of survival for almost 8 hours, I made it a point to say everyone "Hi guys I will not give up". The nurse did shout at my mom's ears saying "Its a boy". My mom was unconscious but she could make out something.

I cried with full throat and indicated my arrival in this world, which is still the same labyrinth like it was then. I did fight really hard in the very beginning to survive. Like they say, Survival of the fittest. I am still to get fit now a days though. Seems like I was very fit then. If something would have gone wrong that day, this blog would not have come today.

The life which we get is an amazing gift. Every single day we live on. We don't bother a lot about many things. The birth, the character, the every breath you take, is a gift you have. Live it wisely as you wish. When you wait for a train, if it is late by 10 mins, we flinch. Not many get the point that we are 10 mins more mature and wiser. The experience we gather today is something for tomorrow.

The entanglements I face today in life, is nothing as compared to the one I faced that threatened my very survival. I am very happy to have stood here today, to see the smile on my mom's face day in and out. I wanted to finish of saying "Thats my life"; instead I think I will say "Thats my birth". Today will be yesterday soon, so enjoy today and enjoy its memories tomorrow. Don't forget to take a picture today. It will help your remind things tomorrow. You see, picture memory.

yeah yeah!! thats me!! dont go by the dressing!! :) :)

Naneghat मधे गोंधळ

2009-07-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

The title actually did not match to something I wanted in the language Marathi. Though it has the vernacular script, Marathi sounds very different from Hindi. It means "mess at Naneghat". "Ghat" means mountain and "Nane" is the name of the mountain. I went trekking last Saturday, infact I would term it monsoon deluge. It was pouring sometimes and made the conditions difficult for us to climb.

Kalyan Railway station

House Fly center(Kalyan bus stand)

Mr. A to my side. Don't go by the pose, he was in a slumber

Naneghat is around one and a half hours ST bus from Kalyan station. Any ST bus that goes to Alifatta or Ahmed nagar will take you there. The ST bus station at Kalyan is a treat for house flies and other insects, which grow on abundance of non-hygienic conditions. Getting all six of us together on a Saturday morning was a daunting task. We bought water bottles at Kalyan station from "Apollo pharmacy", which has a sea of vegetable waste all around it. Five of us were on time to miss a bus. We were late for the 7:30 bus, and if the sixth member Mr. S did not make it on time, we would miss the 8:30 bus also. The next bus to Ahmed nagar was at 10 o clock.

Luckily we got a bus to Alifatta. We would have missed that too if Mr. S did not make it on time. Having a nagging back injury, Mr. S did well to get for the trek. He was to give the trek a miss, but thought otherwise. On the bus, I got another shock as I never expected ST buses to be so costly. The tickets cost Rs. 60 per head. Then the bus went endlessly into the rain. Lush green landscapes welcomed us with a clouds casting its dark shadows over it. Animals grazing, people running for cover during the sudden outburst of torrential rains, electric poles in between the fields kind of creates a rift in the continuity of the scape.

We got down near a symbol that said, Naneghat. As soon as we got down, there was a small rush of shower which made us rush a little, as the breeze picked up and hit our face. An arch of the forest department showed us the way we had to take. The initial phase was a plain. The grass on the way was dead, because of constant walking over it. The mud beneath out feet was wet. Mr. A was now fresh after all the slumber in both the train and bus. His sleepy eyes were gone now. He asked me to take some snaps at different postures and poses with the customary Vivekananda pose. Swami Vivekananda would be a proud man if he would check the snaps.

We reached the base of the climb. Even though it is monsoon and we don't get tired easily, carrying lot of water is a must. It was not so steep as we imagined it to be. The path became rocky after the soft spongy mud tracks with big boulders. It was a meandering uphill from there on. We came across two fresh water streams on the way. Mr. R, put on his photographer hat to get some set piece photography. It did come out cool.

Left to right: Mr. A with Vivekananda pose on the left, Mr. S follows suit, he does copy a lot of times, me in the middle, then Mr. V who does not laugh at my jokes, and Mr. SA on the right. Photo by Mr. R

After a small climb there is a plain, from wherein you can have a slighter of the peak we were about to scale. After a brief break and photography session we climbed again. This time the climb got a little steep. The rocky terrain was very hard on the shoes. Always have an extra pair of floaters when climbing. Short burst of rain caught us unawares. With lot of crabs and snails running and crawling around, you will notice atleast one crab. When we reached the top, we touched the clouds. It was amazing to be inside the cloud. The wind there was so strong that, it could was pushing our step every now and then. Inspite of all this Mr S and Mr R went to the edge of the slope and taught spider man some steps for his next movie.

The plateau in between
The guy in orange is Mr. R

Almost there!!

Thats me!!

At the top there is a pass in-between two peaks. This was a old silk route used many centuries ago. After you pass this place it is a plain, a plateau. Mr. A had lost all his enthusiasm by now. Only his legs and hands were making movements and showing us that he was still walking. I remember this saying "What is this life which is full of care? There is no time to stand and stare". When the cloud cleared once, we could see the amazing view of trees and mountains with not even a single building in site. During the climb down, the narrow pass was impossible to descend with the rain and heavy wind on the face.

Made it Hurray!!
The descent like always was simple, baring a part where Mr. SA lost his cool. Mr. V did no enjoy my jokes and kept asking others to stop laughing at my jokes, in vain I should say. But Mr V did invoke or spark a reading habit in me. By now Mr. A had forgotten wikipedia and other scientific Space Odyssey. He did slip a couple of times. He had the heart to keep going. We finally made it to the place where we started. A small hand from Mr. SA and the bus stopped. I should say the "Hand of god bus stopped". Back to kalyan station and then home for a warm shower. Awesome trek came to a warm finish. :) :)

The Inner you!!

2009-07-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

What takes someone to like you or the things you do? What takes you to like yourself? Thinking about this, I always find myself gaping , thinking, processing, laughing and thinking again. What takes you to love someone in the first place. The way he or she is. How they dress? How they behave or talk ?

Really remarkable aspect of human nature is to like someone. It can be anyone, it may be a complete stranger, a first site at him, you like him. The character of the guy does play a major role. The turn on's also play some part, but nothing is greater than the personality of the person. The way he or she handles herself and things, pertaining to his or her sphere of influence.

Impression can be created in one day or the first meeting or over a period of time. The more you see a person, the more you know about them. It does change sometimes, the first impression and the final impression on someone. People tend to do a lot to attract someone or impress someone. It does work a lot of times. But nothing is permanent. Sometime or the other the true nature will peep out and show its ugly face some way or another.

The only thing that stays permanent is your personality, some one within you. Things which we might do, will surely look foolish and stupid to many, but what matters is how it looks to you. The more you think about what others will think about you, the less it will help in growing your inner-self. Shah Rukh khan acts, not all like his style of acting. He is true to himself, but surely shows some glimpses of brilliance, which no one can do. But many are mad on him, inspite of his over acting skills.

JK Rowling and her part of books, "Harry Potter" would never have come to her if she thought it was not a good story herself. It was a awesome story line, which no one would have imagined. Every individual does things and perceives it as he or she likes to do it. The more you talk to yourself and the more confident you are of yourself, the better individuality will come out. Infact it will shine and your personality will show itself.

People tend to criticize many a times. They would dent your spirit and dampen your morale. It can happen to anyone. The more one feels confident about themselves the more they can defend such situations. Confidence is a great power which can do wonders. The more you are confident about yourself, the more your individuality shines and more people tend to like the inner you. Believe in yourself and it will do wonders. You will feel good from inside.

Biggest looser

2009-07-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

I was looking down the barrel not long ago. I had gained 5 kgs from my recent trip abroad. It was tough as I did not show an signs of loosing weight. By that time, I had grown so lazy and had no inspiration to carry on my gym or jogging.

The only way to reduce weight is to follow a strict diet. Eating 5-7 times a day, small meals every time. 70% of reducing weight depends on the diet. Lot of people work out lot of days without giving a damn to their diet. They eat unhealthy food thinking that as they are going to gym it is totally okay. That I should say is not good at all.

I have a very responsive body. Very high metabolism rate as I am very active. But two weeks back, I had no inspiration, I had become a lazy bum; which is why I gained weight at the first place. The more I exercise the faster my body shows changes. Even the unhealthy food I eat does not stay on my body. May be it is my genes.

So one fine day, I decided to take control of myself. Made my lazy bum work a little. It sure takes some conviction and a lot of drive to move things when you are staring the barrel. I don't have a great body. It is just that I want to keep my belly flat instead of a parabola curve. I concentrate more on stamina than on building body. Life does throw you lot of challenges. This one was not a big one. Some people neglect such rise in weight. It is very alarming as gaining weight will indirectly lead to lot of other health complications.

I did cycling, jogging and some weight training. I used to go to gym by cycle. After a matter of 2 weeks, I lost 3 kgs. When I saw the weight machine, I had a big smile on my face!! Sometimes being a looser also makes you feel good!! :) :)

Mooseekah without lyrics

2009-07-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Mooseekah means music in hebrew. Its pronunciation sounds more like the word music in English. Listening to music of some other language, how does it sound? I have seen that, many people just don't like the sound of carnatic music or hundustani music. They say it is classical and not their style of music. Many are into filmy music. I don't blame them. It is how they are brought up. What kind of taste their parents have. What kind of situations they grow in, plays a vital role in what kind of music one listens to. But like always, there are exceptions but not a lot.

What is the kind of music do you listen to? Are you influenced by your parents or do you have your own taste? The amount of exposure you get to a kind of music style does not make it your kind of music. When I was a kid, I never had any great liking for carnatic music, I liked filmy songs. My father put me into learning classical carnatic instrument called Mirudangam. It is a south Indian drum, which has so many modulations that, we can even produce the sound of drums and also tabla from it. I never knew all this, I lacked discipline in it. Even after putting in my better efforts, I was not able to master it then. Its a different story that I sparked sudden interest after many years and learnt it and am still learning it.

Lyrics of music plays a vital role some say in listening to a particular music style. If you understand the lyrics, if it is in the languages you can understand, you will enjoy it better. Well I feel, music has no barriers, even if the language is Japanese or Portuguese or Spanish. If it sounds good to hear, you can enjoy it without knowing the meaning of the song. During my last visit to Israel, I used to travel by taxi for work to and fro. All the taxi have their radio on all the time. It is always Hebrew station and all the songs were in Hebrew. They do everything in Hebrew. English is still an alien language to many of them.

There was this song which I heard not once many times. Captivating song; it played in my head again and again. I had grown so much in love with that song that I could easily identify with just the starting two chords of guitar that it was this song. I did ask the taxi driver about who sung it and later asked my friend at office and downloaded the song. Ofcourse the song was in Hebrew and I did not understand anything, but it captured my senses. In another instance, we were stuck in a heavy traffic jam. Like lighting up a dull day, one song aired on the radio. There was something different about this song.

It was very familiar to me, but I could not understand it. When the song eventually filled the taxi with tapping legs and fingers, that I realised that it was similar to 'Whenever wherever" by Shakira. But there was something different about it. The music was the same, but it was in some other language. I wondered if it was Hebrew. Out of my ignorance, I asked the taxi driver if it was Hebrew. He said no it wasn't. He said it might be Spanish. It was indeed Spanish. It made an Indian and an Israeli tap their legs and hands and enjoy it fully even though it was not in a language we both could comprehend. Truly mooseekah is spellbinding and enthralling even without lyrics identification.

Hey guys; here is the song in hebrew that I downloaded.

A quick nap!!

2009-07-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Finding time for a quick nap has become like finding alice in wonderland. What can a quick nap solve? Before you go into the nap we have the same problems to face; after we get up from it; nothing changes!! The cruel world is the same. What can a quick nap do to you ? I have seen people sleeping just for 5 hours a day. Is that enough? I read somewhere that 8 hours of sleep is a must for a healthy life. I think it is all in how you feel after the sleep!!

One fine Saturday, I got up in a rather rusty mood. Irritated I should say, to be more precise. I got very irritated with things going around me. It was not surprising that I caught a fight with my mom. I try my level best not to get angry on my mom, as she is such a sweet person. But sometimes in situations like this, it is unavoidable; before you know it, it is over.

I skipped my breakfast; because of the fight. I don't know what happens to us when we are angry; we just show it on food. By staying hungry, we are just punishing yourselves. I tried a lot to understand my ego and alter ego, but I never found a way to show my anger other than food. Human ego and anger are our worst enemies not in the past; in the future aswell.

I did sober down a little by afternoon as they say time heals a lot of things. I did not talk well with my mom though; I was moody. I did eat my lunch. Then after some TV time, I dozed off. I took a quiet nap for almost 3 hours. When I woke up again, I was a different guy. Lot of energy inside me; I talked with my mom as normal. Nothing seems to have changed, except my way of thinking and action.

My mom knew everything in the back of her mind; she kept a low profile till I spoke normally. So like her. I went out met friends had a great time. When I woke up in the morning, I felt a small head ache, may be that may have triggered some irritation and then the fight eventually this quiet nap for 3 hours, made me feel fresh again. Sometimes, a quick nap can do wonders.
STATUTORY WARNING: Try this at home!!

Not a care in the world!!

2009-07-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

How much do you care about someone whom you care about? How much time do we give for people who really care for us? What happens when you care so much about someone and they just give a shit to you on your face? When you give so much time for them, cancel a lot of things to just be with them and they just take you for a ride, instead of being with you and spending time, they go out on a their own spree making you feel like shit!!

Recently I met someone, when I had been to Israel. Not only was she very cute, she was so down to earth in the way she talked that I felt I had a lot of attitude as compared to her. A total gem of a person I have ever met. She had a broken English, but very good at that. She tried her level best to explain the situation and things to the honest of her knowledge using her broken English. I could not speak Hebrew, hence English was the only way I could converse with her. It was so cute to see sentences forming from her words, just like a small kid trying to learn English.

The way she excused and felt sorry for her way she spoke her broken English was something I have never seen before. Just to make sure that no one is hurt just because of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. "At Khamuda" means "You are cute" in Hebrew, when you say it to a girl. She deserves more than one "At Khamuda". Lot of things happened, partly things which I cannot recollect fully, and partly things I cannot say here as it is a open source. Overall just the attitude of being humble and not to hurt anyone you care by your speech or action is what I learnt from her. Man!! she was adorable. I will not say I don't care for her, but there are lot of other people whom I care about if not more, certainly not less.

I do try my level best to implement, what she follows so easily. But seldom do I succeed in accomplishing that, still I try. Again I want to restate that, inspite of the communication barrier, we could gel well. As always, life always throws you otherside of the coin. You care so about someone that, you seldom realize how much they care about you until something strikes you like a bolt lightning.

People whom you know very well take you for granted and don't care a shit about what you think or feel. They do what they think is correct and if don't even bother if it affects others in anyway. They just don't care. People whom I know so well for a long time, also give a damn sometimes. Sometimes people who are close to you, will do things you cannot imagine.

Where is this girl who does not even know me, behave so down to earth and where is this girl who I know well, who does not care a shit about what I feel!! :( :(

As the world turns

2009-07-04T09:58:00.001-07:00

Date: 28th June 2009
Location: Tel Aviv
Scene:
Having a stroll in Tel Aviv beach at the end of the day. The Tel Aviv beach is artificially made. The sand there is so soft that, it does not stick to our skin. When you pick it up in your hand, it escapes throw your fingers. Every day in the morning, a truck comes, to clean all the dirt people have left. I really did not see any trash scattered on the beach. It is such a clean beach. The people play a very important job in maintaining it. They don't throw trash into the sea. Unbelievable but true, they are very disciplined. People going on a evening jog to stay fit. Most of them go jogging or cycling to stay fit. There is a free gym on the beach, where in you can go and pump up some muscles, the weight is your body weight. You have to lift your body weight, some of it is tough body exercise. All my efforts to go jogging did not help me. I could manage only 3 days of jogging in the matter of month I was there. I got a inferiority complex looking at all well built guys and girls with amazing body. Truly I must give my back a strong kick and get fit. I gained almost 4 kgs, which is totally unacceptable. As I was walking, I saw many girls having a tattoo done, kids playing around with firsby. People sitting on the beach enjoying a drink talking with their friends and family. Amazing place to get rid of pressures and tension at work for some quite time and get going the next day with a refreshed frame of mind. People with full cycling gear with light flickering on the front and back of their bicycle were going up and down. It was something like watching "Tour De France". I am a fan of Lance Armstrong, read his autobiography some years back. Some musicians were playing violin, some clowns were making money by dancing on the pathway, doing lot of tricks. But literally, it was amazing seeing all these guys caring so much about free time and also about staying fit. I also had a smile on my face, as I was leaving the next day for India.

Date: 4th July
Location: Andheri(W), Mumbai
Scene:
When the rain does not come, we people of mumbai complaint that there is no rain and it is very hot. When the rain eventually comes, we want it to go off as it disrupts the normalcy of life. It pours in buckets not drops. I had been on my bike to Andheri W for watching a movie. It was raining when I left home. I did reach the cinema hall on time for "Terminator Salvation"; I liked the movie. The action scenes and also the camera work is cool. Coming back to the scene, when I started my way back home, I did not know the worst nightmare awaiting me :)
It was pouring, and I was caught in a worst traffic jam. The water levels were raising. The traffic did not move an inch. I had to take a big detour from my normal path. All of a sudden coming from such a nice climate and place like Tel Aviv enjoying the sun set view and late night walks, I was jolted back to reality. I had to reach home some how. All the roads were jammed, me being on a bike did not help as I was getting almost fully wet now. My only concern was my bike, in this water should not give up on me and my mobile phone in my bike should not get wet. I have already lost one costly mobile to rain water. There was no discipline in the traffic, everybody was going on the wrong side, running scattering. Traffic police were present only at important junctions. It was impossible to regulate traffic, with such disciplined people at the first place. You cannot say anything, as everyone is trying desperately only one thing, to reach home by hook or crook. I took a detour route. I did not know this route as I had not been through it at all. The rain had shown no sign of stopping. The autoricshaw drivers were very helpful in helping me map a route back home. When it rains, it is not impossible to get lost. The water level raised to my knee. I took almost 2 hours, to reach a distance of half an hour journey. The reality of your world does hit you so hard sometimes, that it takes you some time recover from it!!