The Seven Year Itch

So if you are wondering what exactly is the meaning of “The seven year itch” , here goes the explanation: The seven year itch is a term to describe a married man or woman. After seven years of marriage, the eyes tend to wander. It refers to the inclination to become unfaithful after seven years of marriage. The term was coined in 1955 by the movie with the same name "The seven year itch".

Even I didn’t know the phrase till few days back. It was when I was reading this article in the newspaper about the growing divorce rate in china and the Chinese post office’s unique policy to address it. The couple can write a letter to each other on their wedding day and it would be stored by the Beijing post for seven years. The letters would be sent to the couple on the occasion of their seventh anniversary. If the couple is undergoing martial problems then this letters will tell them the vows and love they have for each other seven year back and perhaps will help in saving their marriage by rekindling the romance. There are many loopholes in the process though like: the seven year itch research dates back to 1950s in US, which perhaps is irrelevant in these times. Today is the couple is unhappy in a relationship; they won’t take time to come out of it and proceed with another one. Getting a letter from and ex will not be taken on a brighter note then. Secondly, in the time when people are breaking up even on social networking site, how relevant would a letter bee in saving a relationship? Thirdly, when you are getting married, you are all in awe for the person. Marriage is a different ball game altogether. You come to know a lot of newer things about the person you had married to and these things either strengthen your relationship further or start breaking it. And lastly, is the couple sure that their address is going to be the same even after 7 years? These are just the few of many questions which are needed to be answered.




I however love the concepts of love letter. No not an email, but actually a letter. It’s probably a curse of technology that today even though we have all the means to tell a person how we feel but still we won’t and even if we will, it will be a card tagged to your love in Facebook or your proclamation of love through a twitter. Don’t you think that it lack the warmth of a real letter? A letter which is perfectly calligraphed for you with each of the words distinctively penned the warmth of holding it in your hands and the scent of love. You can read it umpteen numbers of times without bothering of opening your system/laptop/cellphone/tablet. You can keep it under your pillow and feel as if the person is as close to you. You can keep it forever and ever and treasure it for your grandchildren to show off: P.

I have never received a love letter (sighs and sobs) and as for a normal letter goes, I think I have received a one twelve years back from one of my aunt. So, even though getting a love letter is very good idea, getting it at right time at right place and by right person is very much important. I hope the Chinese understands.

Gastronomical Delight: Palak Paneer & Makki Di Roti

Last weekend my classes finally got over (and i am still sulking over the amount of reading i have to do now). There were so many things which couldn't do due to these weekend classes. So, this weekend i got up very late, watched a movie in the multiplex after a very long time, had dinner at my favorite place and finally managed to cook(I loved the this part the most :)) . I decided to cook "makki di roti and sarson ka saag". But when i went to shop for the food items i couldn’t find the rest of green vegetables except spinach so i changed the menu to "Palak panner and makki di roti". Here is the recipe :

Palak Panner:

Ingredients:

Spinach : 2 bunch

Panner: 200 gms

Onion: 2

Garlic : 10 cloves finely chopped

Ginger: 20 gms finely chopped

Green chillies: 3

Method:

Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seed to it . Add ginger, garlic and green chillies to it. Add onion (not finally chopped) to it and sauté for a while. Add spinach leaves and salt to taste. Sauté for a while and den add half cup of water and put a lid on the pan. When the spinach become soft , let the mixture cool and then grind it in a mixer. Put some ghee in a pan and fry the paneer cubes (you can however skip this step and just take panner cubes). Add the fried panner to the mixture and let the gravy boil on a slow flame for a while. Once done, season it with butter on the top.

Makki di Roti:

Ingredients:

Makki ka aata (don’t buy the white corn flour, ask specifically for makki ka aata)- 1 cup

Coriander (finely chopped)

Wheat flour( it’s difficult to knead just the makki aata , so it’s always better to add wheat flour)-1/3 cups

Method:

Knead makki and wheat flour and add coriander while kneading. Put a ball of kneaded dough on a polythene sheet and keep pressing it with your palm till it become round ( it’s better not to use “belan” as the dough will keep on breaking ). Put the roti on tawa and heat it like normal chapatti with help of little ghee. Serve hot.

I hope you like it , till next recipe Bon Apetit !!

Leh & Ladakh by Pixel Factory

Ahhhhh , Leh and Ladakh. Seems everybody is visiting the place except me (and i am reallly hating it) . My college friend send me the picasa link of her "girl gang "adventourous trip there . Monika also posted about her visit and i am eagerly waiting for her travelougue.One of my collegue (and the best budding photographer i have ever seen )has just returned from Leh and shared few of his awsome pictures with us. His photography comes under the name "Pixel Factory" and you can just get a glimpse of his photography skills by the pictures below .

Here is his short travelogue :

Ladakh Landscapes

It was a wonderful road trip and that i can remember forever. We left for Delhi ...on 25th evening and on 26th to Leh by flight.

Day 1 : We visited Shanthi StupaDay

Day 2 : All the monasteries near by leh. Starting with Hemis followed by Thiksey, Shey palace, Sindhu Nadi and Stok.

Day 3 : Start of an adventurous road trip by bikes. We rented 2 bullets, 1 Thunderbird, 1 Avenger and a Pulsar. This was the day we all experienced altitude sickness at Khardunga Pass, the highest motor-able road in the World. Our journey continued towards Nubra Valley(Near Indo-Pack LOC)

Day 4 : Back to Leh from Nubra Valley.


Day 5 : Pangong Tso Lake(Near Indo-China LOC). This lake is of 135kms long and 2 Kms wide. 45Kms of it is in India and rest is in China. In winter it will be frozen and no one except indian army is allowed to be at that place. Stargazing in the night near the lake was an unforgettable experience.


Day 6 : Back to Leh from Pangong Tso Lake. We passed through the Third Highest motor-able road on the way.

Day 7 : Journey towards Tsomo-riri Lake (Near Indo-China LOC). Beautiful place near the border. We had a wonder tea time with nomads near this place for half an hour.

Day 8 : Back to Leh from Tsomo-riri. This time it was Second highest motor-able road on the way.

Day 9 : The best and scary experience of Rafting in Indus river. Many whirlpools, hot sun and finally ended with raining experience while rafting :D :)This is gist of our 9 day Leh Trip. Once our travel log is well written will share it soon :) Thanks guys :)

Disclaimer: All the pics above are the copyright of Pixel factoryand clicked by Karthik Vn.

Tit Bit

This post is totally random :P , there were so many things going on my mind that it became difficult for me to pen it down separately , so here it goes:

I realized that I have become super lazy. I am in bench from past two months and I think it has added to my laziness. So much so that I find it extremely difficult to get up on time and catch my company shuttle. So, last month I paid double the amount for transportation. One for company shuttle and one for missing it, paying 130 bucks to the stupid autowallah created a big hole in my pocket. Thereby today I finally cancelled my bus pass and decided to take public transportation for work. Sigh! I feel relieved now :)

My year resolution of losing weight is still left and I am nowhere near to it. At the start of every month, the guilt of gaining weight reach to all time high, so much so, that I would run to the gym and pay my monthly fees. That day i would work out like Sylvester Stallone and sweat like pig, only to return after a month to pay the fees again.

My reading habit has gone haywire and the credit goes to my iPhone. From the time I have got it, I am totally occupied by the big apple. Games, apps, movies, Face book and so many other think. I think the fad will soon evaporate and I will get back to my favorite hobby.

I haven’t posted/scraped/walled about Janlokpal bill at all (plz consider this as an exception). It seems all my friends on Face book were as much excited about it as their wedding. Everybody was giving their opinion about it when even half of them wouldn’t even know completely about it. I totally respect Anna and think he is did a great job. But wouldn’t it be better to show the solidarity towards him or the bill by participating in the movement real time rather than being opinionated in the virtual world?

I have pets at my place and they are cute little fish. When i got the fish bowl i bought two goldfish but they died soon after. Later after lot of googling i found out that you shouldn’t keep them in fishbowl. My manager, who is from Kerala and has a huge aquarium at his place, got me few fish. Last week while changing the water the bowl slipped from my hand, however we were able to save all the fish miraculously. But after this incident i have decided that i am never going to have fish as a pet again. I am better with dog ;)

And finally, I am hooked to KBC. I watch it just for Big B. I love his immaculate Hindi and the way he connects with the participant. I think it was the major thing lacking in SRK‘s KBC. And now, since i am watching it , i am replying to all the questions for audiences religiously. I know it’s a bit teenagish but then it’s worth a try. Wish me luck!