Yay! My first award in blogosphere

So Mandira has conferred upon me this prestigious award.

The very first award for this blog. I don't know if it is out of sheer friendliness, fondness or for the real substance here. But I'm glad nonetheless.
Thanks so much Mandy dear. It made my day.

Unrelated:
I don't know what else to say right now. Lots of things are going on in my mind. May be I'll do a detailed post soon. I'm still contemplating whether I can spill out my life in front of everyone. Will come to a conclusion soon.

My hands have mind of their own

My brain is playing kinda crazy games on me. Or my hands have developed a mind of their own. Okay, the context is, that I closed the drawer in the kitchen on my own hand, completely knowing that my fingers can get stuck and hurt. Can you believe it?

So yesterday after breakfast I went to keep the cups inside the drawer. When I was just about to draw my right hand out, my left hand snapped shut the drawer. But not very hard and my right hand escaped unhurt with slight swelling on tip of middle finger. What I could not understand was I knew I was having my hand inside but still used my own other hand to shut it. It's crazy ain't it?
And no, I'm not overworked.

Sometimes actions are so non-coordinated, even within out own body that makes us wonder if it's a manufacturing defect or something.

Anyways the only lesson I've learnt is to pay more attention to what I'm doing and control my hands rather than let them take control of themselves, which is not funny.

Innovative Filmcity

Thursday, that was two weeks back (yeah I know it is quite long back, to talk about, but anyway) was very bright, hot and humid. It felt as if the sun was at his fullest heat and trying to pierce his burning arrows into my skin. And he did. You ask why I was out roaming in the hot sun? Yeah I will come to that shortly. So, the heat was so tremendous that I started sweating profusely and drank a hell lot of water. After drinking, came the thought that I might not find a loo wherever we were going. But I didn’t have to think, I never searched for a loo. I guess the water just evaporated :P

So, yes, I and a friend were out in the scorching sun at 9:15 in the morning, hunting for the place we had to be at sharp 9AM, but still had no clue of. We set out from our place at 8:45, caught a bus and got down at what we thought was the right location (where we friends had decided to meet). But we had to roam around for about 30 minutes to get to the spot where already two punctual souls had been waiting since 8:40 AM.

From here started the marathon wait of 2 hours, for our other friends who took it for a joke that we were waiting. They woke up lazily late and arrived, while we spent time taking pictures of ourselves at roadside garage!(that’s where we were waiting). Some came at 10:40, some at 11:15 and the last one at 11:30. But there was no time to crib about it. So we all got on bikes and rode off (yes in the burning sun). I didn’t, in the joy of riding realize that our dear sun was burning my exposed-in-sleeveless-top arms and completely uncovered face. Heck! I can’t even wear sun-glasses since I already have my glasses on.

After 30 minutes of journey we reached our destination, Innovative Filmcity. We got the tickets and entered. The place was incomplete and there were workers all over the place doing this and that and making a lot of noise. I thought the place would be deserted since it was not completed and was on a trial run. But at the entrance I saw a huge crowd waiting in the queue for tickets.

I expected it to be a film city but it turned out to be something like a fun-fair. There were some rides for kids, there was a Ripley’s believe it or not building and another Louis Tussauds building. And we wondered if Louis Tussauds was Madame Tussauds’ brother or something. But we enjoyed whatever it was (though none of it seemed original). Ripley’s was quite interesting. There was also a Dino-Park which was supposed to be like Jurrassic park or something. I don’t know. But I got really bored inside it. What with all that noise, sounding more like a grunt than a roar, getting on to my nerves. We left that place as soon as possible (not very soon as my dear friends wanted to take pictures with each and every Dino).

After visit to Ripley’s everybody was exhausted. I was the first one to come out and badly wanted something cold. The sun was blazing hot and I felt myself melting.

We had some (crappy) lunch at the self-service thingie restaurant-types. Actually they were more like stalls. So we had to wait painfully long for all the dishes to arrive. I couldn’t control the hunger and hence started on the Gobi-Manchurian (which I felt was the only delicious dish).

After lunch nobody had any stamina or interest left to explore anything further. And it helped that there was nothing more to explore. We went and sat by the (artificial) beach, which had no waves (okay they had put up a board saying so) and got thoroughly bored. And I suggested getting out of there. Then we saw that we had missed out on Fun-4D (I know that s a weird name). They were showing some 4D movie over there whose next show was scheduled at 6:45PM, which was too late for us. So we left the place and I enjoyed the ride on a friend’s Blaze.

And so ended my friend’s birthday treat (which they cheated ‘coz I doubt they paid much for the food, and more so because we had to pay for everything else except the food). Nevertheless it was fun because it was a get-together after a very long time. And I enjoyed my time with the Gang.

Kehdo...

Waadiyon mei goonjti teri awaz
Garajte baadal mei teri dhadkan
Phoolon mei teri mehak
Kaanton mei tera dard
Sarsaraati patton mei teri aahat
Kudrat ke har hisse mei teri maujoodgi
Hawaaaon mei teri saansei
Har jhonke se jaise tu paas bulaaye
Kehdo yeh pukaar jhoot nahi.

Khayaalon mei khoya har pal
Jaagti raaton mei taaron ka gin na
Tere dard mei palkei hai bheege
Bheed mei mehsus hoti hai teri kami
Tanhai mei yun hi muskurana
Dur hoke bhi tere paas hone ka ehsaas
Kehdo hai yeh izhaar jhoot nahi

Honton pe thehre hue hai lafz
Karwat badalti, theherti zubaan
Thartharaata jism, kaampti rooh
Machalte armaan, thirakte khwaab
Raftaar dhadkan ke bayaan kaise kare?
Kehdo yeh ikraar jhoot nahi.

Teri yaadon mei gumsum
Raahei takhti nigaahei hai nam
Milne ko tarasti, thaki yeh bahei
Guzarte pal ke saath badhti beqaraari
Tujhse hi shaam hai, tu hi savera
Teri yaadon mei mera guzaara
Kehdo yeh intezaar jhoot nahi
Ek baar, sirf ek baar kehdo
Kehdo yeh pyar jhoot nahi.

Ek soch

Dil mei ho hazaaro toofaan
Aur zindagi shaq mei doobi
Darr mei bhaagti duniya
Toh sukoon dhoondei kaha?
Yaha nahi, waha nahi.

Himmat ke dagmagaaei kadam
Gham mei toote dil
Nafrat se saji mehfil
Kho gayi hai jaise sab khushiya
Kaha gayi? kaha gayi?

Har taraf hoti jazbaaton ke maut
Jeene ka armaan jab toot jaaye
Saare sapne jaise naino se rooth jaaye
Kya hasi khile kabhi?
Kabhi nahi, kabhi nahi.

Khile dilon mei ummed ki bagiya
Itminaan ki kuch saansei
Do meethi baatei, ek duje ke liye
Mushkil palon mei saath
Muskuraake lo haatho mei haath
Chale toh bechain ho din raat
Tab jannat hai jahaan
Phir khushiyon ka thikaana hai yahi
Aur kahi nahi, aur kahi nahi.

Pooran poli / HoorNada hoLige

As promised to Mandira, here I am giving the recipe for pooran poli (described as seen while mom's cooking).

Ingredients:
Yellow lentils (tur dal/togari beLe)
Jaggery (gud/bella)(crushed into powder)
Maida + fine sooji(also called chiroti rava)
Elaichi/yelakki
water

Method:
Take maida and sooji and prepare a thin dough adding lot of water (donot let it turn into a syrup since you need it to wrap around the lentil paste). Keep it aside.

Boil the lentils in enough water until they are soft.
Separate lentils from water.
Add crushed jaggery into the lentils (measurement is 1-1, that is if you take one cup of lentil you should add one(same) cup of powdered jaggery)
Add 3-4 elaichis (more if you want)
Boil the lentils with jaggery for sometime, while stirring all the while, until the jaggery completely dissolves and mixes with lentils.
*avoid adding water to this, add a little only if the lentils are burning*
Grind the contents(either in a grinder or mixi) after cooling into a thick paste.
*donot add water while grinding*
You get a thick paste of ground lentils. Take care that the paste is not too dry.

Make small balls of the ground lentil paste. (If the paste is dry then the ball will be crushed as soon as you touch it with belan, so the paste should be just enough so that you can make it like chapati)
Apply enough oil to your palms.
Take a little amount of maida dough (which is almost like a thin paste(you can add some water if the dough has turned thick by this time)) and spread on your palm, keep the lentil paste ball on the dough and cover/wrap it from all the sides with the dough, so that it forms a thin layer around it. It should give you a white ball of maida dough with lentil ball inside it.
*note that the maida dough needs to be thin and elastic so that it wraps completely around the lentil paste. You should not see the yellow colour of the lentil after the wrap. The dough wrap should not be too thin as it can tear while flattening. Also it should not be too thick, as after cooking there will be too much maida and not good to eat*

Take a clean thick plastic sheet(can also do with milk packets cut and widened inside out) and apply enough oil.
Make polis/hoLige on that sheet, while the tava is kept on sim.
Add quite a bit of oil to the tava and while it is hot, put the puran poli/hoLige on the tava until it turns light brown. Apply oil to both sides of the puran poli/hoLige.
You need to add oil to the sheet and tava before making every poli/hoLige.

This can be served hot with ghee applied on top and mango rasayana in a cup.

Enjoy! :)

PS: Remember the water taken out of the boiled lentils at first? You can make delicious sambhar (hoLige saaru) from that. That will be another recipe, need to take it from my mom first before I post it here.

it's rainin mangoes...

Well, here comes the summer and it reminds me of school days. Particulary the summer holidays I spent at my grandma's. All the kids in the road would gather and play many games. We would climb on trees and have fun.

This is also the season of mangoes. And this reminds me of a sole mango tree at my grandma's backyard (which doesnt exist now). We would get delicious and big mangoes from that tree. We would also eat kaccha mango with salt. All these memories make my mouth water.

Well here I'm giving a simple recipe of how to prepare mango rasayana(made from pulp)

Ingredients:
As many mangoes as you like
sugar/jaggery(crushed into little pieces (almost powder))
Bananas (3-4)
Powdered elaichi
water

Method:
Remove the skin of mangoes and mash the pulp(into a container) after removing the seed. add sugar/crushed jaggery according to your taste (if mangoes are not sweet enough you can add more sugar/jaggery). Cut the bananas into semi circles and add them into the container having mango pulp. Add two pinches of elaichi and mix thoroughly. If it is too thick add some water. Garnish with a bit of elaichi powder and cut bananas.

Best with pooran poli. Also tastes heaven with chapatis.

Optional: Can freeze it for sometime and have it in a cup.

Now this post finally made me crave for Mango rasayana. Go make it, have it and enjoy it.

More about me

Taking up this tag from Mandira... I bet many have done awready so here goes...

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
It was Taare Zameen Par.

What Book Are You Reading:
Finished Order of phoenix for 3rd time(not in a row though)

Favourite Board Games:
pictionary and business

Favorite Magazines:
Reader's digest

Favorite Smells:
First rain wetting the mud, smell of forest, delicious food (veg)

Favorite Sound:
chimes, guitar, baby babble

Worst Feelings In The World:
Loneliness and worthlessness

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?
I hope today is a saturday

Favorite Fast Food Place:
Any chat stall(if that can be considered)

Future Child’s Name:
As of now no idea...

Finish This Statement. “If I Had A Lot Of Money I’d…”
I'd go roam around the world, o'course with my family(future ones included ;))

Do You Drive Fast?
Nope

You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
Never ever

Storms - Cool Or Scary?
Sexy

What Was Your First Car?
If it is the first car I drove, then it would have to be the Maruti 800

Favorite Drink:
salty Lemonade

Finish This Statement, “If I Had The Time I Would …..”
I don't believe in the statement.We do have to take the time for what we want to do instead of thinking that we dont have time.

Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?
Yeah

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?
My hair is black. I'd like to give it a tinge of burgandy.

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In.
Tiptur, Bangalore, Pune

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Depends on the mood

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
Supercool ladie she. Replies to all my comments and I feel I can connect with her at all levels.

What’s Under Your Bed?
under bed and above cot? Some papers.

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Yup!

Morning Person Or Night Owl?
Night owl

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Explain! dint get the question.

Favorite Place To Relax:
Island resort

Favorite Pie:
Apple.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavour:
Vanilla

You pass this tag to -
Anyone who wants to take it up. Niveditha?(hope you havent stopped visiting here)

Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who’s Most Likely To Respond First?
err.. no idea

Gyan

Dunno why but the below line managed to sting me...

Love can sometimes be magic. But magic is actually always... just an illusion.
-Javan

Common sense is so uncommon in a common wo/man

What a crappy start to the weekend that just finished! For me weekend starts from Friday evening when I click log-out on my workstation and happily hum a song and get into the cab listening to music and start day-dreaming. But this time I didn’t put on the earphones, simply for the reason that I stupidly forgot them at my room. So I sat watching out from the window of the cab. Seeing all the commuters (mostly techies) trailing their way back from their workplaces. Most of their faces lit up bright on the prospect of the coming weekend. Two days of complete fun. I think most of them had their plans in place. Did I ever tell you I was bad at planning stuff. Yes, I am pathetic. I like the sound of ‘go’ when I least expect it to happen. That is what makes life exciting, innit?

Even though I say I didn’t plan anything, I was thinking secretly about what all I could do over the weekend. And I was suddenly blank. Besides meeting the Significant One and a friend I had no ideas whatsoever. I was thinking on the same lines when I heard a shrill voice beside me “Hello, how are you?” And no she was not talking to me, but on her cell phone. I sighed and tried getting back to my thoughts. But there was no getting back. Because my mind and ears would forcibly tilt towards the dear laydie sitting beside me screaming at the top of her voice into the phone. And slowly I gave up on investing my mind into the thoughts and stared blankly outside the window. I was increasingly getting annoyed to see the cloud of smoke coming out of the vehicles and the traffic jams and people who had plugged on their earphones and even people who were sleeping. Sheesh what is wrong with me to be angry on poor things who were sleeping after a tired day of work. Than I realized it is not me, it is the dear laydie sitting beside me who was still screaming. And now that I knew what caused the anger, I wanted to paste a huge cello tape on her mouth and give an end to the high pitched screeches. I bet everyone in the cab would have thanked me for that. But I neither had a tape nor the heart to be so rude to ask her to shut up.

“You know I cannot go against my parents' wishes. Whatever the matter might be, I will never go against them” Ah! There she was explaining how she loved her parents and how she wouldn’t go against them and blah blah. I started listening. It was far from interesting, but I didn’t have any choice. Did I?

She went on to explain that her ‘brother’s marriage got fixed’, dunno if it actually means anything but you get the idea. It seems the other person did’t have no idea who this brother was. So..

She: “Arrey he is my orkut brother”
Me(all the while in my mind): Wha? Orkut brother? Whoa! Whole new concept. I don’t have brothers can you find me one too?
She:”you know he works in mumbai with so-n-so company”
Me: Oh wow, now tell me his salary too.
She:”But I got jealous when he told me he is getting married, she is going to snatch my brother from me”
Me: If you don’t stop I am going to snatch the phone from you.
She: “But its ok, Bhabhi is nice. I spoke to her”
Me: zzzzzzzzzzzzz
She: “You know she said she would find a pilot husband for me”
Me: “I feel sorry for the guy.”
She:”I don’t know how girls can be so serious about career, what will it give for life? I want to get married and settled down with kids. Be a good wife and mother. That is my aim”
Me: “what in the world did you study BE for?”

She went on blah blah-ing into the phone and I was searching for something solid to bang my head into. The pain was searing through my forehead and now the level of patience was at all time low. I could thrash her or her phone or both. But the guy at the other end somehow said good bye and the call ended. And I restrained myself from doing any harm to either me or her and safely reached my place.

Saturday was a good one and the fast one too for I never knew when it ended.
Sunday was boring and gloomy. Actually that was my mood as the day was quite hot and humid. And it ended with me burning my eyes into the Harry Potter book I’ve started reading (for the third time).

And I still feel the headache might return even if I thought about that telephonic conversation of Friday.

*sigh* some people never will show grow common sense on their thick brains.