First things first - I'm going home for the holidays!!! Result: I'm way too excited to fix the critical bugs in my queue (I've always wondered what's with the spelling of 'queue'!!!).
Second things second - I'm going home for the holidays flying Air Deccan (for the first time, mind you). Result: I've heard contradictory things about flying Air Deccan. Most said it's ok, nothing to worry about. One said it's really dangerous 'coz their flights are under-maintained and some dont even have a licence to fly! Well, I'll know by midnight today (when I'm supposed to land in Chennai). I'm tempted to write something crappy like 'If I don't make it: It's been a great journey on this blogging circuit, thanks guys for making it so good!" - but I refrain from making pessimistic comments before I travel. Wish me bon voyage, would ya?!
Third things third - I'm going home for the holidays flying Air Deccan to meet my folks on Ugadi! Result: Happy Ugadi everyone!!!
Fourth things fourth - We watched Bluffmaster yesterday and I fell in love with Abhishek Bachchan. But Aishwarya Rai can rest in peace 'coz I'm married to a wonderful guy already. :-) Result: Everyone, if you haven't watched it yet, go watch 'Bluffmaster'. And hey, Priyanka Chopra was ok too. Boman Irani rocked. And, Nana Patekar! My god, when did we have such good actors all at the same time in Indian cinema (excluding Mohanlal movies - they always have big stars)!
Now to the main topic of this post - Ugadi! Also, Yugadi - Yuga + Adi - Beginning of a new age. (Celebrated this year on March 30)
Have I told you I like Ugadi more than Diwali or Sankranti? Yep, me loves it. Me loves the Ugadi Pachchadi and the mangoes and the yummy things that Mum makes at home. Me loves going to the Telugu Samiti programmes in the evening, spend an evening entirely surrounded by Telugu - it was a big deal then 'coz we were in Trichy surrounded by Tamil!
The Ugadi Pachchadi I made turned out sweet last year! :-) So was my year, actually (touch wood). There is a belief that the way the pachchadi turns out is how your year would turn out to be. So..for all those interested (I don't believe there would be many, but still...) here's how you make the Ugadi Pachchadi.
Ingredients Raw Mango - 1/2 of a medium size mango. Julienne or chopped to small pieces. Tamarind Black Pepper (coarsely ground) Banana Jaggery Neem flowers (yep, you need 'em for sure! No replacements!)
Optional Ingredients Honey Other fruits
Process: Soak the tamarind in water for 10-15 mins. As to the quantity of tamarind, a rough estimate would be 1/4th of the size of a golf ball. (I bet this recipe is one of its kind if it expects you to have seen how big a golf ball is!). Add the jaggery to this and mix properly so the jaggery melts completely in the tamarind water (remove tamarind pieces after extracting all the juice). Add the mango pieces, fruits, sprinkle black pepper, neem flowers and mix. The consistency can be thick like a chutney (add more banana and less water to the tamarind) or not-so-thick like payasam (more water with tamarind).
Ugadi Pachchadi ready! :-)
Simple, wasn't it? It's not mandatory to use all the above ingredients or use the above only. I'll tell you the significance of each and you can 'experiment' with it! The predominant tastes are sweet (theepi - jaggery, banana), sour (pulupu - tamarind), hot (kaaram - pepper) and bitter (chedhu - neem flowers). (I think I'm missing a flavor - is it vagaru? Telugu folks out there, inputs please!) The importance of Mango lies in the fact that this is that time of the year when you start to get cute green mangoes on most mango trees. You should probably know, this is also the time of the year when the neem tree starts to flower! So..its a mix of all the new things that come up around you and all the tastes symbolizing all the different emotions you go through in a new year.
There are lots of other things that come with Ugadi - Panchanga Shravanam (listening to the panchangam to see how the year would be for each zodiac sign), singing 'Maa telugu talli ki' (that's like the anthem of Telugu!), having umpteen flavors of the same ugadi pachchadi at a different friend/neighbor's place - it's such a cute festival, isn't it? No big brouhaha like Diwali or Sankranti!
So me off to Chennai to eat my Ammamma's Ugadi Pachchadi (among other yummies!)
Had the best Sunday ever! Well, if you exclude the sermon at church (it was a sermon in the true sense - all of 1.5 hours!), it was the best Sunday in a long long time. And the reason is 'Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat'. And what the heck is that? **wicked smile** You'll see...
What you see above is a dream come true. Yep, my very own Calvin and Hobbes tome with two complimentary Jujube sticks!
Been postponing a trip to the bookseller for eternity (I know! That's so pathetic!) . Went yesterday and blew a thousand bucks on books. It was totally worth it, though. And when we were paying the bill, Hubby Dear found these cute jujube things and picked that up (along with some mint - I hate mint! It's like eating toothpaste!!).
Came home, bugged him to take some pics so I can show-off here in front of you guys. Yes, I'm a meanie, so? You're just jealous, so I don't care. ;-)
And then spent an hour reading it and laughing my head off. The jujubes were yummy too.
So...that's one down, a million more to go. I intend to own every book of Calvin n Hobbes ever published. Even if it means me working for 2 years more than I intend to - the books are not that cheap, you know. I blew around 500 bucks for this one. I was not so sure about it, but Arun was totally for it and said, 'If you dont take it, I will. Later don't complain you've read them already.'. He's so sweet, isn't he? **blush blush**
I actually thought of takin' the day off and sitting at home to read this one. But had to come to finish some important work @ work. :-( Some things in life don't change - like Mondays.
I got one more jujube stick at home, for tonight. :-)
There was a girl who was still awake at midnight She just couldn't sleep - such was her plight! And so she wrote a limerick, But that turned out pretty sick - "Will somebody please switch off the stupid light!"
I got a whole bunch of absolutely random things to talk about, I mean, write about.
First: I got my Google Page Creator account today and was a bit excited about it for no specific reason. Thought of trying it out - my first impression, if you're used to Blogger or Y! 360, this is not exactly something you would like. More so because it's a page, not a blog! For people like me who prefer writing than doing the entire web-designing thingie, it's not a big deal. But, I'm not gonna leave it like that. Will try it out when I have more patience (I'm running short of that these days!). I did see a teeny weeny box that said 'Upload File'!! Gotto try that out for sure.
Second: I hate all songs by Himmesh Reshammiya! Dear God, I hate 'em. I hate the voice, I hate the noise and they are sooooo monotonous! It's the same music in all of his songs! I had to (yes, had to!!) listen to all this new numbers like 'Aashiq Banaya', 'Aap ka Suroor' and 'Jhalak dhikla ja' and it's a wonder how I didn't become deaf or lose my faith in music completely! Man, it's a waste of time and money (if you're crazy enough to go buy the CDs). I'm pretty sure they'll all fade away into oblivion soon enough. End result: I think I appreciate ARR a bit more than I did before I heard the above songs. On the same note about songs - I think my hubby and I have watched 'Right here Right now' from Bluffmaster more times than even Aishwarya Rai! AB Jr is soooooo cool in that! It was a drool fest for me! ;-)
Third: I'm a fan of Takeshi's Castle on Pogo! It's awesome - imagine a skinny dude trying to pole vault his way from one place to another across slush..he comes running, puts the pole into the slush and slides down the pole into the slush - STRAIGHT!! And man, Javed Jaffery is amazing in his commentary. And these folks who actually take part - my god, where do they come from??!!! If you haven't seen it yet, see it. Almost as good as 'Just for laughs - Gags'. :-)
Fourth: 5 back to back shows I watched on Sunday - well, watched as in didn't change the channel for like 2.5 hrs (which is a long time watching the same channel right?). So started with 'Parkinson' - cool show. All the guests have such an amazing sense of humor! Enjoyed it. Then came Oprah Primetime - interview with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (for those who don't know, they are hubby-wifey and both do shows together). Seemingly simple folks, seemingly very much in love...add to that the ever-screaming audience of an Oprah show! This is what happens if you put like 340 women in one room and give out freebies. ;-)
Then came Rendezvous with Simi Garewal. That's about the time I became temporarily blind due to all the white. Also had to strain my ears to understand all the whisperings. Followed by my fav, Desperate Housewives! Lynette spills hot coffee onto her boss's lap so she can go back to her desk to watch her son at his first day at school. Bree packs off her MIL (amazing woman, that Bree). Ok guys, stop yawning - I get the hint.
Last show was 'Lost' - its a mini series about an aircraft that crash lands on an isolated island - an island nobody even knows where! There is an escaped convict among them and all assorted kind of people. There's trust, faith, betrayal, pain...its a different kind of thing - exact opposite of Desperate Housewives, maybe. ;-)
Do not think, 'Oh, why does she boast?' Writing was something I've wanted to do most, So, went the whole hog, And got myself a blog - Welcome, people, to my one hundredth post!
I did it! No big deal in a cosmic sense, but for little earth people like me - sure made my day to see that magical 3 digit number on my blog. Is it weird that it feels like an achievement of sorts? Maybe because it amazes me that I was (am?) committed to the blogging cause for so long - I rarely do that, you know.
What started as a trivial thing I did to get over my homesickness when I was in the US has now, to put it mildly, become a part of my life. It does sound lame (ofcourse it is lame - it's a blog, for godsakes!), but then, there isn't much avenue to do something creative in my profession, so this is how I make it up. I'm glad I didnt take up writing full time though - would have been a disaster - I cannot imagine doing this for my daily idli (not a big fan of bread, so...)!
Seems such a long way from the '50 not out', but here I am! :-)
So..here's to me and my blog! :-) Yes, I can be this self-centered at times - actually, most times. I was born this way.
The sea was far from calm. There seemed to be a strange turmoil in its depths. God knows what those deep blue depths hid. But for Majid, the waves were the loving arms of his mother, the sea. Majid did not know any other mother. From the time he could remember, he was always in her lap - playing running & catching with the waves, building sand castles, even venturing into the open sea with the other fishermen in the village. It was in his blood, the sea and its salt.
But today the sea scared him. For the first time, he felt her rage. He was worried for his friends who had gone out for fishing that morning. Majid was just recovering from a bout of viral fever and had not gone. He still felt the taste of the antibiotics in his mouth - thanks to the missionary hospital near his village, he hadn't suffered with the fever. Dr.Ramesh had told him he'll be fine in a week. That was 4 days ago. Majid felt fine, just a lingering tiredness in his limbs due to the dehydration and lack of nutrition.
He stood at the shore, the waves lapping at his feet. The air was laden with rain - he could have sworn he felt electricity in the air. The sky was an angry grey and a rumble ripped it every now and then, with the occasional flash of lightening. Storms were not new to Majid, but this would not be an ordinary storm. He could feel it in his bones.
The evening breeze had turned into a forceful wind. He found himself shivering inspite of his blanket. He turned to go back to his hut when he thought he saw something bob up and down in the water just ahead. He couldn't be sure what it was, till a flash of lightening appeared. His heart leapt to his throat when he realized it was a human. Someone was drowning!!
It was more of a reflex that Majid rushed into the waters to save the poor fellow. The waves were not in a mind to let him save anyone - the harder he tried, the harder they pushed him back. Majid let out a groan of anger and surged ahead. He caught a hand and pulled with all his might. Only after reaching the shore did Majid realize that it was a girl. But wait..it couldn't be a girl. It couldn't even be a human being!
She was beautiful - strangely, angelic. But her body, how could it be, thought Majid. Where legs should have been, Majid found a tail fin! She was half fish! Majid stood rooted on the spot, unable to move or take his eyes off her. He didn't know if she understood his language. Hell, he didnt know if she could be dangerous! He went nearer, cautiously though.
She sensed him and looked up. Majid felt his heart skip a beat, she was beautiful! She extended her hand towards him, calling him to come closer. As if in a trance, Majid moved closer and touched her hand.
It was instantaneous - there was a loud clap of thunder and Majid woke up in a sweat. He was in his hut, his blanket twisted around him. The broken watch on his hand showed 6:30. It was just evening. He rushed out of his hut, expecting to be met by the half-fish girl. He found no one outside. He wrapped his blanket around and walked to the sea and stood there, feeling the waves on his feet. The evening breeze had turned into a forceful wind. He found himself shivering inspite of his blanket. He turned to go back to his hut when he thought he saw something bob up and down in the water just ahead.
A figure rose out of it, draped in shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size behind her glasses, and she revolved slowly; her feet in the basin. But when Sybill Trelawney spoke, it was not in her usual ethereal, mystic voice, but in the harsh, hoarse tones Harry had heard her use once before:
'The one with the power to vanquish the- Dark Lord approaches: born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies: and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not: and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives: the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies:'
The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.
The silence within the office was absolute. Neither Dumbledore nor Harry nor any of the portraits made a sound. Even Fawkes had fallen silent.
'Professor Dumbledore?' Harry said very quietly, for Dumbledore, still staring at the Pensieve, seemed completely lost in thought. It .. did that mean: what did that mean?'
'It meant,' said Dumbledore, 'that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times.'
Harry felt as though something was closing in on him. His breathing seemed difficult again.
'It means - me?'
Dumbledore surveyed him for a moment through his glasses.
'The odd thing, Harry,' he said softly, 'is that it may not have meant you at all. Sybill's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom.' '
But then: but then, why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?'
'The official record was re-labelled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child,' said Dumbledore. 'It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sybill was referring.'
'Then - it might not be me?' said Harry.
Source: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K.Rowling
P.S: I miss reading 'em! :-( Wish Rowling brings the 7th book soon. But then, the 7th is the last - what will I do after that?!
I'll let you guys in on a small secret - my most profound thoughts come to me when I'm standing in front of my stove, waiting for the oil to heat up before I add the mustard for the sambhar's tadka. Believe it or not, the biggest test for your patience occurs at that time - the oil has to be hot so the mustard pops and gives an aroma, but it shouldn't be too hot that it burns the mustard (then you end up with bitter seeds all over your sambhar). For someone who starts making dinner at 9:00 PM, those 2 odd minutes in front of the stove, waiting for the oil to heat up, feels like an eternity ('coz you're hungry enough to eat wood, but then since you're not a woodpecker, doesn't help at all. BTW, I know a woodpecker doesn't 'eat' wood, it just pecks at it. Jus' go with my flow, will ya, and stop analysing!). And that is when the mind wanders.
The wandering mind shalt return when the mustard is burnt. Yes, that's like a law. Lucky for me, it wasn't all that burnt (and no, you cannot go ask my husband if that is true). I got all the stuff from the fridge that needs to go into the sambhar and kept it all ready. And then...
Now, did you know that I've digressed from my original topic so much that the topic discussed on digression feels like the main topic? Go scroll back, read the first line and come back, I'll wait.
(Took you this long to read one line?) Right, what was that oh-so-profound thought, you ask? In those quiet moments of desperation, I realized that I first need to cook the dal before I make the tadka for the sambhar. **runs to hide before someone comes**
Thursday Tortures, this one. You're most welcome. :-)
Image Source: Yummy sambhar-vada isn't it? Me yet to have lunch ;-)
I just keep trusting my lord as I walk along I just keep trusting my Lord and He gave me a song Though the storm clouds darken the sky, o'er the heavenly trail I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail.
He's a faithful friend Such a faithful friend I can count on Him To the very end
Though the storm clouds darken the sky, o'er the heavenly trail I just keep trusting my Lord, He will never fail.
Lyrics Source: Somewhere on the web
You might be wondering why this and why now. Usual answer - just felt like it. Actually, been humming this song since yesterday and I don't even remember how it came into my mind.
I used to sing this in school for the ususal morning prayers. The difference is, then it was just a song I used to sing with the other people in the choir. But now, when you face so many struggles in life, it's not just a song - it's about telling yourself over and over again that you're not alone. You have the biggest, most greatest, omnipresent friend ever, who always loves you and has your best interests at heart.
And when you read out the lines in the song with all the faith that you have in your God, well, for me - it brings tears to my eyes to really feel and believe that God loves me no matter what. Yeah, no matter what. Amazing, isn't it?
And on this same amazing, religious note, I wrote this - mind you, I have not edited this, just wrote what came to mind. Didn't even worry if any of the lines make sense or are just poetic crap - so bear with me please.
The first rain on a dry earth, ah the petrichor - fragrance of the highest! You sent me a rainbow, when I only asked for rain! Dew drop so perfect, the sparkle - a blush when the Sun sends a kiss. Silky sky with cotton clouds, crumpled musings of a poet's pen perhaps? And the many hues of blue, pale here, periwinkle there and the bluest blue seas! A sunrise, a moonlit night and the stars out of reach but in sight. Flowers born at Your feet, a bouquet for me at my doorstep everyday! Oh what a blessing my Lord, you found me worthy of these!
Golden for all the love, blue for the laughter, Red for the smiles and white for the peace. Yellow for a happy sunshine, green so I'm glad for all that is mine. And last, a touch of black - for without it, there wouldn't even be a white! Heavenly painter with colors endless, paint my life thus.
If you're regretting the day you guys encouraged me to write a verse, well, I can understand.
Once there was a girl who was accident-prone - Whatever she did, it always ended with her groan. She cut herself today, Like she does everyday It's a pity resistentialism won't leave her alone!
I thought of cleaning my desk at work today. No, I'm not being fired (how could you think that?!! **emotional**), just that the mess it getting a bit out of hand. Now, let's see what I have in there - (you're most welcome to walk out this exact minute if you want - I know it will be boring going thru' another person's desk, especially if you're a guy. Girls love it!)
Biotique Mositurising lotion - I need this. Stapler (no pins, mind you) & Stapler remover (it's very handy, trust me) Headphones (very uncomfortable ones, I still wonder why I use them) Bills (no payments due, just FYI bills that deserve to be in the trash - that's why they are in my drawer you say?) Chocolates (all the time) - I need this too. Pens (that never write - we know why!) & Whiteboard markers (with no ink) Whiteboard duster (I need my board to be clean always - not a big thing given my inkless whiteboard markers) Paracetamol tablets (dont even ask) Income tax filing forms from the year 2002. I got like 4 copies of each! Umpteen copies of crap that I had to submit for my US visa long long ago. Umpteen copies of crap that I had to submit for my Italian visa even more long long ago. An empty Pierre Cardin pen box (For the world of me, I dont know where this came from! I dont even have a Pierre Cardin pen!) A cute masala box with 4 elastic bands, 2 hairpins and a keychain with a smiling Buddha. An empty Ferrero Rocher box (**singing** memories..left alone in the moonlight..) In transit (friend borrowed and returned it last year) - A novel - Colin Forbes' Sisterhood 2 CDs - 1. Mr. Bean the movie 2. Tom and Jerry Lunch and snack coupons (by far, the only useful things in my drawer) A mountain of tissues (I'd die without 'em - you could say OCD with wiping hands and desk) Work-related reference books (used during training, forgotten ever since. C'mon, I got PDFs of all those things! Can't do Ctrl+F on a book, can you?)
Bored already? That's just the first 2 drawers, folks, I got 1 more. And if you're anything like me, you should have, by now, got an idea of what sort of a person I am. Didn't understand? **exasperated** Ok..do you read detective novels? Poirot, Ms. Marple, Holmes, Perry Mason? If you just said no, then forget everything I've said till now. If you said yes, you know how you deduce all details about my life @ work with the above list of items, right? Yeah..nod your head now, good. :-)
My Dad always has this complaint with my Mom and me - we both collect things a lot. We hate throwing 'em away! Our reason? What if you need it some day! And its worse for me, 'coz I apply this logic to my hard disk too - I got songs I never listen to but hate to delete thinking what if I feel like listening to it some day. I got sticky-note-worthy-notes all over my D drive with Customer complaint numbers and just random digits I don't even understand now. The only time I had to delete them was when I had a change of machine. That seems to be the only thing that will make me clean up.
BTW, lost the mood to clean my desk today. Maybe another day. Maybe never. Whatever! It's raining outside and I just walked a little distance in a drizzle - man, nothing like it! Cold, but not too cold, the petrichor above all...Hmmm, best for a lazy day at home with a cuppa hot chocolate, hot potato bajji with chilli sauce and my favorite movie/book!
I'm not a burden anymore, not a big debt, I'm better than a son, yeah, you bet! I know what I want, I know how to get it. And I'll conquer all, sure, bit by bit.
Wife to a husband, sister to a brother, Daughter to a mother, someday a mother, Daddy's little darling, that'll always be me - I can be all at the same time, I am a woman, you see.
I will reach great heights, endless and carefree, Nothing in the world can defeat the girl in me!
Happy Woman's Day! Cherish the women in your life - they deserve nothing less.
Hailstorm in Hyderabad!! It's raining ice out there, people! This is the third time in my life I'm seeing a hailstorm, but the biggest of all. Is it normal that I feel really excited about it for reasons I really don't know? :-?
And you know what's the weirdest thing? Somehow, this evening feels like a Friday evening! So you can imagine my excitement at something as 'normal' as hailstorm!
Somebody up there is mighty angry and is in every mind to stone us to oblivion, perhaps! ;-)
**really excited** Ok, this is the third time I'm updating this entry in the last 5 minutes - I'm doing all I can to stop myself from jumping up and down shouting 'Hailstorm!' I'm stuck at work!! If I were at home I sure would have jumped up and down. **jumping up and down virtually** Hailstorm Hailstorm!!
Had to put this entry in my blog so I can read it during April-May's sweltering heat and thank God for the little blessings in life. :-)
Hail Hyderabad it is!
P.S: Thanks to my dearest hubbie for calling me up and telling me about the hailstorm :-) He totally knows me **wink wink** **blush blush**
P.P.S: You think I've lost it, right? I don't care! We got hailstorm!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've already called up everyone I know and told 'em the 'good news' ;-)
Umpteenth update: I wanted snow. But looks like God feels I'm crazy enough without it, so I'll have to adjust with hail! Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!!! I think now I know how Calvin EXACTLY feels when it snows. :-) Thank you God!!!!
It's that time of the year again! This little news item reminded me of my board exam days. My 12th grade - the one year in my entire life I would never want to go back to. The tuitions, the tests, the notes, the pressure...it's really unfair that our entire life will be decided by the exams we write in this one year (actually, it doesn't. We're just made to feel like that). I've always felt this as the biggest drawback of our education system - too much depends on the outcome of your 12th grade board exams.
For me, the people who suffered most during my 12th grade were my family. No cable TV at home 'coz I needed to study. Imagine my brother's plight! The poor thing used to live on cartoons and one fine day, no Cartoon Network! But I don't remember him complaining - I guess he understood the importance of '12th board exam' (it was like this really ominous sounding word you know). My parents were also hit hard - Dad had to drop me for tuitions at 4:30AM! Yep, I had Math and Physics tuition on weekends from 5:30AM to 9:30AM and you know what the craziest part is? I went for tuitions only because the rest of the world did! So here I was attending tuitions, half asleep! And my Mom had to get up at 4AM and prepare some breakfast for me to have after tuition (it would be 11AM by the time I could come back home). Come to think of it, I feel these were the things that made me want to get good marks - all the small sacrifices that my family made just so I can write my exams well and get into a good college.
Exam day. The first exam is generally the second language - mine was Sanskrit - piece o' cake! Went to the temple, did all the prayers and stuff and went for the exam. Strangely, the exam felt like any other normal exam - which made me realize that 'board' exam was just a thing in our minds. End of the day, it's just questions and answers! Then came English - it's always a tricky one! The important thing is with English exams in a State Board school, you cannot flaunt your command of the language on the paper (unlike in CBSE schools). You have to be as dumb as the textbook - simple. Problem is, I couldn't do that! Till date, I've never learned to mug-up stuff - it jus' won't stay in my mind like that! So..my lowest marks were from English (185 on 200 if you must know) - no big deal eh? Well, it is a big deal when you miss the state first rank by 9 marks!
Then came the monster - Maths! Aaargh! I used to hate it. It's amazing how I became an electrical engineer given my dislike of Math. Breezed through Math and then I think we had 2 days off for the weekend before Physics. I used to hate Physics - too much Math in it! ;-) We girls have this stupid habit of coming out of the exam hall and discussing the answers (a lot like Hermione Granger!!) - and it seemed like everyone in the entire school had given one answer and me, me alone, had given something else (for a multiple choice question)! Right! There goes one mark straightaway. I got 200/200 in Physics. Only one other person in the school did. :-)
Chemistry, followed by Computer Science. 199/200, followed by 199/200. There's nothing worse than missing a 200 by 1 mark. The look and words you get from people - 'Oooooh, narrow miss aa?! cha! you couldn't have got 1 mark more?!!' - what the heck do you mean I couldn't have got 1 mark more?! I got 199 marks! Well..who listens... BTW, I messed up the structure of Ethyl Alcohol - hence the 199! :-(
I got 'decent' marks. Got into a 'decent' college. Now in a 'decent' job. But I never want to go back to 1997-1998 ever in my life! Even if you give me a million dollars. And it's just not fair that students have to put up with this pressure year after year. It has to be made simpler and more of an exam that tests your knowledge, not your capacity to mug-up and remember stuff.
Let's hope we have some kind of a revolution in our education system atleast for the generations to come.
Doctor doctor! Don't give us a fright Please don't take our ailments so light! You're on strike, For want of a hike! Said the doctor, 'Let the Govt first treat ME right!'
- You look at every incident in your life for its blog-worthiness. Things as mundane as buying groceries miraculously becomes an interesting event where you can observe and make-up (?!!) things and then write a blog post about it. If the credit card-reader apparatus (for want of a better word) doesn't work, you can write a post blaming the Govt for poor infrastructure. If you had a really embarassing incident - nothing like it! It's like Christmas came early to your blog!! You watch movies/TV shows you can write about. You actually watch a saas-bahu soap to crib about it on your blog. If you suddenly remembered a funny incident that you had in your childhood - you DO NOT share it with your spouse/friend/colleague, instead run to update your blog with it so your spouse/friend/colleague can read it online and leave witty comments about it.
- Your mood turns sour if you got only single digit comments on your post. And this mood stays till you somehow - somehow- make the comment count >= 10.
- You spend time thinking on the topic of your blog. You're always thinking about what to write on your blog. You scan through all the junk emails you have ever got in your life and think which one would be an appropriate one to post. Any funny/weird/gross thing you hear, your immediate response? "Hey..cool..I'll put that in my blog!".
- You want to blog all the time - 24x7. Blog while watching TV. Blog while working. Blog from airport lounges waiting for your connecting flights. Blog while eating. Blog while cleaning the keyboard due to blogging while eating. Blog while cooking (thereby letting the curry burn - then come back and blog about that also). Blog while walking your dog (show off saying you mo-blogged!). Blog while on vacation. If you miss blogging on one single day - you come back with an 'Apology' for not updating your blog 'for so long'.
- The first thing you open when you come to work is your blog and not your email. Sure fire sign of blog-o-mania. Your email used to be your lifeline. Till recently. And then you started blogging. It's ok, priorities do change in life, go with it. It's more important to reply to the comments on your blog than send that quick reply to the manager saying you did not complete that fix. And then you get flayed alive by your manager and..get this, you come back to your blog and write about that flaying!! And then you get hazaar 'dont worry, take it light yaar' comments and a few comments that go "Huh! me too dude!".
- You write out lists that you expect people to find funny and nod their heads about. It's like you're reading this now, smiling to yourself at how right I am and how I hit the nail on its head and how come I can write so well.. and then reading the last few words again and think, "My! what an arrogant..er..girl!".
Get the drift? ;-)
I know there are more to this list - will collate 'em all from the comment box and update this blog as 'Readers Reply'. Gee, it's like having my own newspaper or something! Way cool!
Come away with me in the night Come away with me And I will write you a song
Come away with me on a bus Come away where they can't tempt us With their lies
I want to walk with you On a cloudy day In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high So won't you try to come
Come away with me and we'll kiss On a mountaintop Come away with me And I'll never stop loving you
And I want to wake up with the rain Falling on a tin roof While I'm safe there in your arms So all I ask is for you To come away with me in the night Come away with me
Alert: Please ignore this entry - this is purely for my 'saving-someplace-handy' purposes. I'm tired of saving notepad files and then forgetting where I saved them. I'm also tired of sending it as email to myself (how pathetic!) and then forgetting to which folder I moved it. I'm even more tired of taking printouts and losing it in the Mt.Everest-y pile of paper (read: crap) that I have on my desk.
This is a recipe that my mom gave me when hubbie had a severe bout of the oh-so-common cold. I'm going to try this out over the weekend, so till then I need the recipe to be available 'somewhere'!
So here goes...
Ingredients: To fry and powder finely Dried chilli - 3 Black pepper - 1 tbsp Urad dal - 1 tsp (Tamil - ulutham paruppu, Telugu - Uddi pappu, Mallu - no idea!)
Curry leaves - a handful (Tamil - karivepilai, Telugu - karivepaaku, Mallu - Karivepila) Salt - to taste Tamarind - a small ball (Tamil - puli, Telugu - chinthapandu, Mallu - puli)
How to? Powder the items-to-be-powdered. To this add the curry leaves, salt, tamarind and a bit of water - grind this to a smooth paste.
Take oil in a kadai, add mustard, turmeric and asafoetida. Add the ground paste to this and cook on low flame till the oil seperates and comes to the top. (Something like your 'pulikaichal' consistency - that paste thing you add for tamarind rice)
Done!
To be had with rice. If you're like me, you can have it with idli, dosa..anything!
I don't know how this will taste (I can guess it will be 'kaaram' looking at the first 2 ingredients). I can try it out and let you all know on Monday. Till then..you can try it at your own risk :-)
My experiments with backgrounds - finally, I seem to be getting somewhere! Still a lot of work to be done, still a lot of tweaking to be learnt, but I'm happy with this start :-)
Only problem now, is how to make sure the image encompasses the entire width and length of the post and not just where the text is! I could put new lines all over the place, but...there's got to be a better way to extend the image size inside an HTML table tag...gurus out there, any ideas please?
Max I could for now, people. Rounding up anything worth reading on HTML (I'm just starting with it) to see if I can achieve what I want. Till then...please put up with my ignorance!
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of my employer. The fact that a particular comment is posted on this blog does not mean that I have endorsed it in any way or verified the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any such comment. I, in no terms, shall be held responsible for/associated with the content carried by the blogs I link to.
