Of Santa & Secret Santa

It’s Christmas time again and I can sense it with all of the Christmas decoration around me. Even my team’s cubicle in office is decorated with a nice Christmas tree, balloons and other decorative stuff. And the excitement is evident not just because everybody is celebrating Christmas but because it’s the time for homemade wine and cake from my big boss and also , since this time our team (which has inflated to a good 100 + from last year’s 30s) is celebrating “ Secret Santa” and people are more excited about getting gifts from their respective secret Santa then gifting one to their “ secret child” ( no, no it’s not what you are thinking , it’s supposed to be the person whom you are secret Santa to ;) ). And I was secret Santa to a guy whom I didn’t know. So while rest of the people were playing guessing game by giving different clues to their secret child I was just sitting clueless about what to do and what to give. Finally i bought a coffee mug for the guy along with some mints. BTW this entire exercise was fun for at least some of the people as they get some or the other gift almost every day along with some puzzles to find out who their secret Santa was (except for me :(). So today when everybody reached office they either found some gifts in their desk or some puzzles to solve to get the gifts from their respective Santa and again I got none. I checked my desk, drawer and my mailbox from time to time with no success. And then when I lost hope and about to go home, I finally got my gift :) . It was a cute bunny and I loved it:) . Though I still don’t know who my secret Santa but then that’s the beauty of it!!

P.S: Saw two people (from different teams) dressed up as Santa (with their beard on too) smoking at smoking zone! Be careful Santa ;) .

A tale of two distressed souls

After my daily purchase of vegetables and milk I collected my bags from the guard who manages the baggage counter of Reliance Fresh. He passed a smile to me and i returned it. No, no it is not a love story in making ;) in fact it’s a signature for “sorry” which we give to each other whenever we meet. It all started one fateful day when i was in a very foul mood. I had a terrible day and one of my colleagues was accompanying me after office. We went to Reliance fresh (with me cribbing as usual) when the guard (i think he replaced the other guard the same day) stopped my colleague asking for his laptop bag. He told the guard that his laptop, wallet and everything else is inside and that he don’t find it safe to leave it there. Even after a lot of persuasion from our side the guard was still adamant. Finally my colleague left the bag with him. Now it was my turn. I was just carrying a handbag with my Tiffin, cell phone, money and OTHER stuff inside. He asked me to leave it at the counter and that was it. I bluntly replied that shall i take my money in my hand leaving my bag there. He didn’t say anything and i started to move inside. He shouted that i cannot take it inside as it has Tiffin boxes and i shouted back saying that do i look like a thief. My colleague interrupted saying that if he want he can check my bag once i am leaving the store. I said i won’t give my bag for checking , since no rule says that you cannot take your handbag inside the store. I just barged inside the shop and the guard followed me shouting. I turned back and then i said which i shouldn’t have said at all and which I regret till now “Shut up”in full volume and then he shouted back “ kya boli, phir bol” . My colleague and other guard on duty inside the store acted as pacifiers. My colleague took the guard outside and started pacifying him. And the guard inside the store started pacifying me with both saying the same thing to the guard and myself “He/ She had a terrible day at work today and he/she is in a very foul mood. We are sorry from their side, hope you will understand” . And yes, we understood. So much so that the very next day when i visited the store again (and was actually very embarrassed of my last day’s behaviour) and met each other we just exchanged a warm smile without uttering any word. Till now i don’t have enough courage to go up to him and say “sorry “for my behaviour that day but I know for sure that he has forgiven me and that i can in his smile and perhaps he in mine .

What's cooking : Carrot Halwa ;)

Winters remind me of the only thing which I love most of this weather and that is “Gaajar ka halwa” .Usually I used to be at home during winters and relish the delicacy made by my mom .Though, my mom would only make it if and only if we (i.e. the children) grate the carrots and the reward was the one who will grate the most will get the biggest portion ;). Obviously , no one used to do it apart from me as my siblings believed that their outdoor activities are more worth then that (That’s also one of the reason of my being more on a “ chubbier”(obviously I myself won’t accept my being fat ;)) side.

So, this weekend I tried it for the first time all by myself. BTW, it’s better be called as “carrot halwa” as I made it out of orange carrots instead of the red one , as you rarely get red carrot here in Bangalore(BTW , I never knew that they call it Delhi carrot over here ;)). This recipe is for bachelors like me ;), who can make it with least resources (like processor, oven, proper pans and all) and in least possible time.

So, let’s start cooking ;)

Ingredients:

Carrots, half kg (enough for 4 people if you eat desserts like dessert ;))
2 teaspoon ghee
½ ltrs. Milk
Almonds, Raisins and Cardamom
1\4 can of milkmaid (It’s very difficult to get Khoya here so I used milkmaid instead)
Sugar (“ Swaadanusaar” by that I mean , put some sugar and then taste if it’s fine if not add more and if it’s more then of course sweets are supposed to be “ Sweet”;))

Method:
Grate the carrot (preferably use a processor else you will find yourself with Band-Aids in most of the fingers ;)) and put the milk to boil along with some cardamom. Boil some water and soak almonds and raisin in it. Then, heat the ghee in a thick bottomed pan (preferably a kadhai) and put the grated carrots in it. Stir the mixture until water is dried up, and then add the milk to it. Peel the almonds and slice it and add it along with raisins to the mixture. Cook over medium heat and stir the mixture occasionally to prevent any sticking till 3/4th milk gets dried up. Add sugar and again stir the mixture till milk starts drying up. At this point add milkmaid and stir the mixture to prevent any sticking. Once all the milk has dried up keep it aside, decorate with dry fruits and serve it hot.