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.

Donate With Dignity

I looked at my college sweatshirt and again that nostalgia occurred which occurs almost every time I take it out of the box. Memories, I tell you, don’t let you leave so many things and the result is my box full of clothes, which I haven’t worn since ages and probably won’t ever wear again. There was my college sari which I didn’t let my mom give it to our maid. A grey scarf, which I used to wear in school. A jacket for which I and my sister fought almost every day, since my uncle just got one as a gift and mom asked us to share it among our self ;) . My favorite kurta which I got from my first salary and cannot wear anymore as it doesn’t fit me. My mom’s handmade sweater with a doll holding an umbrella, which I had worn since I was in class 12th and now cannot wear because it’s never so cold here in Bangalore. I would have almost closed the box once again but this time I decided not to. How long can you clutch them and not let go. Probably this is the time to part. I ironed them and put it in a bag and wrote “ Goon j “ on the top.

Every year just before Diwali, my office administration sends a mail to all the employees asking them to donate generously to “Goonj” not in cash but clothes. The mail is always titled as “Donate with Dignity” meaning donate only those clothes which can be used by somebody, not the one which are torn and almost unusable. Goonj had been founded by Anshu Gupta. The NGO collects clothes through various channels, sort them, mend / repair them and then dispatch them based on geographical and cultural need. Torn clothes are used for making various things like school bags, mats, baby sheets, undergarments and even sanitary napkins.

You can find more information on their website http://www.goonj.org

When I was young, I and my sister used to wait for my aunt (my dad’s elder sister) to visit us. She had three daughters (all elder to us) and used to bring their clothes (since they used to outgrow them almost every year). We used to get almost new and stylish clothes (as my cousins were in their teens and used to be our role models right from dressing to almost everything else ;)) and would be very happy. So, this time when I opened my box I decide to keep the memories and distribute the happiness. I decided to “ Donate” , “ Donate with Dignity” .

So what if you don't have a man?

Read it in today's TOI and really really liked this article. So ,i decided to put it in my blog .

Disclaimer : This works is a production of " The Times of India" . This article is work of the writer of column for TOI.

Are you SAS( Single, Attractive, successful)?Or a woman of a certain age (i.e. Middle) on the verge of a nervous breakdown? Because whoever you are and whatever state you'r in , surly you occasionally feel that other woman have it easier. Married women look at single friends and think " Lucky cow. All that room in the bed and no arguments about remote control". singletons gets frustrated by turning up to the parties alone and wondering who'll look after them when they are ill . Mothers feel torn to pieces, pulled every which way by their kids , work and partner- if they have one. The childless hit their late 30s and get a yen for teeny socks and plastic toys.The truth is no one's life is perfect. No woman has it completely easy Not even Kelly Brook , and she's well , Kelly Brook. As radiant as young Liz Taylor and , as of now, free and single. But even Kelly must have moments of self doubt . She gets slated enoughto bring on: for being able to hold on to a man(she's only 30) and for taking her clothes off for playboy. Kelly, though seems to be doing all right. She's canny enough to concentrate on her carrer when it looks like it going place . Then there are women like Jennifer Anitson , Kylie Minouge, Cameron Diaz . The se women are doing fantastically well. They are beautiful, successful, happy and have preety good love-lives. They are not all in relationships , but so what? They have been, with some gorgeous men , and will be again.

But it seems every famous woman, no matter what how fantastic , is still defined by certain things . How she looks . And if she is settled down and spawned. But can't a woman be herself, whether or not she's ticked certain conversational boxes?Famous women are , by definition, successful:they would't be famous otherwise. So horray for them . They shoud crow about theit luck , not be glum over their sad lives. Bexause that's allit is , really , Luck. Some people are lucky enough to meet a life partner, some have children ; some are born beautiful;some make right carrer choices.

Why aren't women allowed to concentrate on the good things in life , rather than where we've supposdly fallen short? You are not a failure if you don't have it all . You are human , that's much more intresting. Relish the joy in our lives and stop picking over the rest.


Courtesy : The Times of India, Bangalore Times,13-Nov-2010.

Lemon Fresh on Diwali

Wish you all a very Happy diwali!I hope you all have celebrated with bursting lots of crackers , putting up colorful rangoli at your place , doing pooja and ofcourse stuffing lot of sweets( i don't want to feel guilty all alone , so please say yess!). As for me, i didn't celebrated much as i was alone at home . My roomie went home and my sister has office ( thanks to the great "O" of outsourcing). I did perform Pooja , cleaned the house , decorated it , lit my place with diyas , candles and light . Alas , all alone:(.

But in the morning i visited my cousins's place . It was her son's naming ceremony. My cousin and her husband are new to Bangalore and still setting up the place.They however arranged for the priest , but he knew very little hindi and english, so most of the pooja actually happened with sign languages ;) . After the pooja it was time to put the boy's name. And the alphabet was "V" . My cousin and her husband being an "IT" couple has already taken the help of Kundali software and has come up with their own version of kundali and the letter which the kundali has suggested was different from "V" . So when the priest asked them to suggest three names starting with "v" , they asked him to wait for a while and started googling(IT couple right!) :P. They started reading name mentioned in the site one by one to take everybody's opinion. One word was " Vishnu" to which the priest exclaimed " Achha" , " God Vishnu" " good name" . My cousin said that it's good but they want to put a little modern name.The priest replied immediately " Vishnu Vardhana"!!! Another word came up " Videsh" , again the priest said "Good " " foreign jaayega" !!!.Few other words were too common , too oldfashioned and sometimes too girlish ;) . Few of the comic suggestions were" Virappan" and "Villian". After half an hour of struggle , they put it as "Vivaan" . Parents were happy, we were happy , Baby Vivaan also seemed happy and ofcourse the priest too was happy after we told him that "Vivaan" stands for lord Krishna! So, i think that the key take away from this "Lemon Fresh" (Sorry for using such a technical phrase! i work in IT you know !!) was that when you are expecting child , atleast pick up 3 names each from all of the alpahbets for both boys and girls ( as Sex determination is illegal and you should respect the law but also let there be a bit of surprise ;)). Lets welcome little " Vivaan" and wish him all the best for his future.

Confession of a confused soul :(

So i am back again and this time it's a good two months . It's never like i didn't want to write or that i am too busy with things. It's just that i felt a bit lost somewhere . Lets call it an introspection phase. Where you know that you are thinking about something but you are clueless about it. Confused?? Yes me too . So what i did in this introspection phase ? Well, i did think about where i have been,where i am and where i would be? Then read it somewhere that past is something which is long lost and future in unpredictable so just live in the present.So,my introspection zeroed down to my present and it's surly not like" everyday is a gift and that's why you call it present :P".

My present starts with an early morning ,where i always think about getting up @5 AM sharp to go to gym.But getting up realising that i am just not only too late for gym but also for catching office cab.Almost running to catch the bus and making all neighbours realise how good a sprinter i am( or for some " how can she be so late always) i catch the cab with " you are always late " glance from co-passengers.Then spending a fifth of a day travel to work and eating my heart out at breakfast(Eating always is a great stress buster). Reaching my desk and thinking about the last day argument(oops discussion) with boss,career path discussion with HR , a little serious discussion about " how i would like to put my energy on some other project which intrests me" discussion with big boss,his big no and my hopeless walk to my desk, where i am sitting just now. Then start doing something which i probably won't like but can't resist too and if i still want to do share all this grief online then wait.. blogger has been banned and so does the rest of " SOS" social sites.A few cribbing here and there @ lunch, tea and way back home.Shop my heart out on mood enhancing but self esteem reducing foods.Hogging on them while answering my roomies questions on being a "little chubby". Answriing my mom's calls too asking for an introspection again for current phase of life. Diverting mind off to idiot box or shall i say ekta kapoor box and realising that it's just adding more pain to my wounds.Switching off to facebook , further sneekingg into other's life and thinking if it could be mine ( when the truth is that they would be thinking the same).Desparate to pour out my emotion vsomewhere and here i am penning it down @1.30 in night . knowing for sure that i would be getting up late tomorrow again , missing gym and henceforth.

Confused .. so am i! Wish to be more regular at this space i hope i could.

Lemon Fresh from Office

It was just another grim meeting of project when our PM asked (in hindi) one of the team member about a deliverable which has to be sent yesterday. Our dear friend, who has learnt Hindi through few of his Hindi speaking friends and some typical Mumbai masala films and who still need to be corrected for his improper use of nouns , pronouns and rest of grammar, replied “diya na main kal tere ko, tere mailbox me atak gaya hoga ”. This one liner caused a red sheen on my PM’s cheek, a screwed smile on our face and a proud expression on my dear friend’s face who just replied to his PM’s question in Hindi. :P