Two more books

My disappointing luck with books continues, this time in the form of Six Graves to Munich by Mario Puzo (writing as Mario Cleri). Good thing that he wrote under a different name, no way this goes along with rest of the books Puzo has written !! Very ordinary revenge story, no twists at all and does not really touch you. Needless to  say, I did not like this one

Then moved on to a borrowed book, Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup. [I wonder what is the significance of the number Six in both the book titles !! :-) ]. This one can be labelled as decent. It had a reasonable start and a good ending , however is cursed with a completely crappy middle portion. Author gets bogged down in detailed descriptions and begins to bore and irritate you. You can safely skip around 150 pages and still not miss anything !!

Ordered more books, hopefully something good will emerge soon :-((

Virus strikes again

This time it is not the computer variety, its the real deal. I have been out of service since Tuesday night. Fever hovers around 102 and just refuses to go away. Just beginning to slowly get better now.

It so happened that this was one of the rare occasions when my family was in Bangalore. So I had hot food to eat and plenty of time to spend with them. Bad health can have its own weird set of rewards :) Family went back today, so I back to pauper status.

I am extremely frustrated with the sub-standard quality of books that I have been reading of late.  I can’t wait to forget that I ever read miserable excuse of books like BPO-Sutras:The Stories From Inside India's Bpo's And Call Centres by Sudhindra Mokhasi and The Last Testament by Sam Bourne. I can excuse the former, because couple of the stories there were interesting. Mostly they were just boring, repetitive and predictable.

There can be no excuse for The Last Testament though. This was my first ever Sam Bourne book, and he has resoundingly proven that he is quite incapable of putting together a suspense thriller. 

It sounded like an interesting plot when I read the back cover. The book completely lacks in pace or suspense. And an extremely weak ending to boot. His attempt at using technology (like use of second life, the way e-mail IDs and passwords are hacked) are laughable, the thriller almost becomes a comedy novel in those sections. I wonder what would happen if a more capable author like Robert Ludlum had gotten hold of the same topic !!

Seems like I have to read 10 awful books to finally stumble upon a good one !!

The smell of success

Well finally wifey seems to have done it. She has done reasonably well in her practical exams, so in around a month she should be able to proudly display her well earned MD title !!

I’m very happy for her.  Past 3 years have been soul destroying for me [and no doubt for her as well] at times. But it sure feels nice to know that when it all settles down, it would have been well worth the effort

One of the few days in which I feel so deliriously happy that I feel like singing !! Which one should I sing ??? Aaj mein upar from Khamoshi ? Halka halka sa yeh nasha from Chocolate ? Dil Kya Kare from Salam-E-Ishq ?

You be the judge :-)

Happy Anniversary to me

6 years and still going strong :-)) Not a lot of those 6 years have bee spent together, but finally light is beginning to appear at the end of the long dark tunnel. Hopefully by next year this time, we will be a happily re-united family again !!

Even now, every time I see a dad and mom walking with their small daughter, I do feel a strong sense of pain. I guess this is a situation that I can never be totally in control of.

Decided not to go home and celebrate the anniversary as I thought it is better not to distract wifey during her final preparations for the practical exams

That leaves me with the ever challenging job of keeping myself occupied. Put on my master chef hat and baked a few chocolate chip cookies, samples below. Tasted very nice too

In fact looked so nice in the photo that several folks accused me of buying the cookies and taking photographs :-) 

I have finally decided to take the pains of writing up a recipe :-), you can find it below. Pretty similar to that of a cake

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey *
2- 2.5 cups of maida
2 eggs
1 tea spoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Lots of nuts and chocolate chips :-)) [ I just bought cooking chocolate bars and chopped them up ]

Mix the maida and baking powder and keep aside for 15 mins. Thoroughly mix butter and sugar. [I had used melted butter by microwaving it on low power for a minute or two]. Beat the eggs well with vanilla essence in a mixer and pour to the earlier butter-sugar batter and mix well. You can add honey also now. Fold in the maida and mix till the batter is thick. If it turns out to be a bit watery, add a touch more maida OR refrigerate it for 1/2 hour to get the water out. [ I employed both techniques , btw ;-) ]

Add a spoon or two of the final batter onto a baking pan [I formed a small ball with the dough and just pressed it on to the pan to get the shape]. It spreads as it bakes, so don’t put your clumps close together. Bake in a pre-heated oven ( 180 deg C) for 10-12 minutes, till outside begins to turn dark brown in color. As you take out the cookies, they may feel slightly spongy on top. Allow them to cool down and they become nice and crispy on the outside.

* Original recipe require 3/4 cup each of white and brown sugar, I had no brown sugar, nor do I know from where to get it in Bangalore. Hence used honey which was suggested as an alternative

Another cooking experiment

Let me start with :-(((, this is to represent how badly I am missing my family now. Maybe a familiar rant for some of you, even mildly amusing too perhaps. Ended up spending most of weekend with phone switched off, didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to see anyone.

Moving on to more pleasant things.

The master chef returns yet again with one of his magical mouth-watering creations. This time Paneer Tikka masala !! No idea of a recipe, so basically used the same one as for Chicken Tikka. I marinated Paneer in curd and masalas for couple of hours ( Tandori chicken masala, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt) and grilled it in my microwave oven. Took quite a while to cook, close to 30 mins in my reckoning.

Turned out quite decent and eminently edible. See the photographs below.

I was just too hungry. So forgive the lack of decorations and garnishing :) The onions you see were actually part of the grilling process. I am not a big capsicum fan, else could have added that also to the grill

Hence [for this weekend at least] a resolution to the Pradeep-ian dilemna : To cook or not to cook, that is the question

Exams and school start

Came back from a brief vacation to Calicut. I had to go home to provide moral support to wifey for her MD theory exams. Also had to be there for my princess’s first week of school in UKG. Exams went well, so did the first week of school

Only thing that did not go well of course is the part in which I had to come back to Bangalore:-(

Well, I have been thinking. Normally I am supposed to be someone of fairly even temperament and strong mentally. See the following description from a Facebook test Which Periodic Table element are you ?

“Iron ( Fe)

You are strong in character, emotions, ethics and physically. People who know you believe you are reliable and steady. You say what you mean and you will follow through with it because you weighed the positives and negatives of the commitment before you even said yes. Life may though difficulties your way but you are able to cope with them because of your strength..”

So maybe the reason that I have been experiencing so many troughs is NOT because I am not strong enough, it is maybe because no person is strong enough to withstand these experiences !!

There, I made a sweeping and generalized comment covering billions of people about whom I know nothing at all ..

But somehow the statement makes me feel happy. It is the world’s fault, not mine. I am fine. Ha ha ha ha !!!!!!!!

Permanent membership in a mental asylum does not seem to far off now :-)

The random thoughts continue to flow unabated …..

Hamlet and an empty stomach

To be or not to be, that is the question

Well maybe for Hamlet that is the question, for me it is more like To cook or not to cook ……

As any normal human being, I am quite hungry and tired by the time I get back from work. But often I do not feel like eating anything and go to bed on a near empty stomach. Now why is that I don’t feel like eating ?

Quote : “Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions”. I am not a Dangerous man, hence I cannot logically explain my feelings, hence I don’t eat.

Can you ever have any doubt that I live by Cogito Ergo Sum ? ;)

My random thoughts are getting really random , aren’t they ?

Well , for the record, I am not drunk nor do I take drugs, lest your thoughts proceed in that manner !!

On a more normal note, I watched Barcelona annihilate Manchester United in yesterday’s champion’s league final. Not very unlike a Maruti 800 going head to head with a Ferrari !! There are indeed few better sights in football than that of Barcelona midfield going at full steam at the opponents.

On the personal front, I just feel moody and restless. All friends have ‘deserted ‘ [ pun intended in some cases ..] , so I end up mumbling to myself most of the time.

If not for Cogito Ergo Sum, how would I even know I exist ?

Or a better question right now might be , is there a point in existence ?? :-((

Does an empty stomach make you a philosopher may be another relevant question. Wonder if Socrates could cook …….

All righty, this is getting too random even for me. So signing off for now.

Reflections on volunteering

I was looking up some quotes on volunteering, trying to come up with a catchy line for a volunteer recruitment drive being planned in office. Predictably there are tons of lovely quotes and stories out on the net. One of the better ones from Winston Churchill reads “You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give”

Speaking from my own experience, it is very tough to find one quote or story that spans the whole range emotions that you go through as volunteer. It is indeed quite a journey that is definitely worth undertaking !!

I’ll make no bones about that fact that I was dragged into volunteering kicking and screaming. I did not want to do it, it was more or less rammed down my throat by someone higher up. I had a hundred reasons on why not to do it, and I was quite vocal about them too.

Finally one of my volunteer friends looked me in the eye and calmly asked “At the end of the day, if you go and teach a bunch of kids, would you have done something right or wrong ?” I honestly had no rebuttal to that [ and that holds true even after 5 years :) ]

So what does it mean to be on the other side of the fence ?

To pull out another quote : “I always wondered why somebody didn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody”

Sure, there were times at which I have shed a tear or two, there were occasions when i contemplated giving it all up and there were times when I went through soul destroying experiences. But at the end of it all, I am glad that I made a choice to be that “somebody” around 5 years back.

I still have not scratched the surface of what I want to do.

Robert Frost says  “And miles to go before I sleep” and I agree fully.

However it is 11.45 in the night and I definitely need to sleep :)

Doctors and the weekend

Finally got over my huge inertia and kick started my volunteering again !! Feels nice to be back, I do enjoy teaching and have been missing it quite a bit.

Wifey’s MD exams are fast approaching, starting on 27th May to be exact. My respect for doctors has gone up quite a few notches after marrying one. Did I hear some married man snicker in the background ? “Did you have another choice other than to respect your wife”, did I hear them say ?  Come out in the open buddy and say it in front of your wife . And if you survive tell me about it :-))

I mean the sheer amount of effort that Doctors have to put in is quite mind boggling. Compared to my wife, I practically slept through my engineering and Masters :-))  

And to think that I was considered one of the better academics tells you all that there is about the effort levels needed to get by in engineering ;)

Except for a select few Doctors, I doubt if it the paybacks are in proportion to the efforts put. Unless you are one of those rare genuine human beings who think that helping to heal another human being is the reward in itself !!

You win some, you lose some

66.67% success rate for the weekend cooking.

Thumbs down for my experiment with Chicken curry ( odd taste, chicken a touch undercooked) .

Tasted major success with my attempts at Aloo – Mutter curry and Chole-Bhatura !! Recipes , of course courtesy of my ever present consultant a.k.a driving pupil a.k.a chatter box !!

I can write a thousand words, this time I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Looks professional, does it not ? :-)

I am really happy with my weekend’s cooking effort !!

As a token of my gratitude ( for the recipes and expert guidance) ,  I baked some experimental ‘chocolate chip -raisin muffins’ for my consultant. They too have received rave reviews :-)

The legend of the Master Chef continues to grow …..

The humble passenger blog

How would you commute to work if your car were out for repairs for close to a week ?
(a) Walk to office
(b) Take an auto
(c) Take a cab
(d) Take a bus
(e) Take a lift from your friend

Asthma rules out ‘a’ & ‘b’, depleted condition of wallet rules out ‘c’ and the desire not to lose wallet via pickpocket rules out ‘d’. So pretty much option ‘e’ is the only one left .

Well, what’s so bad about ‘e’ ??

Nothing, apart from that fact that a few nightmares from the past need to be relived. Beggars cannot be choosers, they say. And so the beggar began his adventures again :-)

Pickup happens on outer ring road at around 8 am. First thing that I notice is 400% increase in driving aggression level of my former mentee. Lanes are being switched needlessly and at high speeds. Couple of deep breaths and I calm down. Pulse rate around 95 / min

A sharp switch from left to right lane at 80 kms /hr , narrowly missing the back of a van ahead. A cold sweat begins to run down the back of my neck. Heart rate approaching 150 per min

A poor two wheeler guy is slowing down in front of us to get over a speed breaker. We are approaching him at 60km/hr. My driver has not seen the hump.

“What ?????? wait !!!! slowdown !!! there is a hump !!!! you’ll hit him ……. oh my god , i’m still too young to die !! “ pulse is at 280 per min

Sharp 90 degree twist to right, missing the two wheeler guy by the merest whisker, flying over the hump violently, and somehow managing to escape the traffic on our right. We were pretty close to hitting escape velocity and going into a geo-stationary orbit around the earth too.

A quote reads : “A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice”. Hmmm, the next time around, I shall stick to the advice.

PS : As usual, a few creative liberties have been taken in the description of some of the incidents ;-)

Facebook tests

I just started getting more active on Facebook. My cousin invited me to have a look at an app which says what you birth date reveals about you :) Here is the output

“Your Birth Number : 3

3’s are idealists. They are very creative, social, charming, romantic, and easygoing. They start many things, but don’t always see them through. They like others to be happy and go to great lengths to achieve it. They are very popular and idealistic. They should learn to see the world from a more realistic point of view.

“
Hmmmmm … I don’t know what to say …

Took another attitude test on Facebook, it says I am like this :-

”calm and quiet
you are the sort of person who likes to take life slowly... just one day at a time.. you usually know the difference between right and wrong. you believe in yourself. you put yourself in other peoples shoes and see how it feels to be them and then handle a situation accordingly.your attitude towards life is very positive.... you are liked by all and are a great friend.the flip side is that sometimes you care too much about other people and don't do what you really wanna do.”

Well, maybe some of it is true …

Hyderabad blues

Just got back to Bangalore after a 2 days business trip in Hyderabad. And I am happy to be back, only when you go away from Bangalore do you realize how awesome the weather here is !! Hyderabad was hot and miserable. And with the same traffic snarls as Bangalore.

What’s with Taj Banjara ? The lake in front of the hotel stinks, I mean proper 5-star rated stink. I wonder how they are running their outdoor restaurants !! No wonder they were offering a 30% discount on food :)

Due to our packed schedule, we did not really get time to taste the Hyderbadi Biriyani. Senior and Daya parceled the biriyani from Paradise and brought it to Bangalore. Apparently it was not good. Hmmm, the taste of hyderbadi biriyani may be just another myth …

And now at Bangalore you have to pay a Rs.260 user development fee !! Outrageous !!!

I am again wandering around sleeplessly, fed up :((

Daddy, I wanna be ………

I am sitting in my living room, reading the morning newspaper when my little princess strolls right up to me and declares 

Princess : “Daddy, I want to act in a TV serial”
Daddy : …………………………………………………………………
Princess : You know, I want to do something else also
Daddy Thinks : ( Finally she is going to say what she really wants)
Princess : “I want to become a reality TV judge”
Daddy : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess you can figure out what my daughter watches on TV by now !!

Wonder what she wants to do next ??

I remember that I had clear ambitions of becoming a bus driver. Sort of satisfied,  don’t you think , from the following evidence ? link-1, link-2 and link-3 :)

Jai Ho !!

I had the good fortune of being able to attend AR Rehman’s Jai Ho concert held in Calicut on 3rd May. This was of course my first ever experience of a live concert and I absolutely loved it !!

I’m no music buff, I tagged along just for the benefit of wifey, who happens to a big time music fan. The concert was also held to raise money for the rehabilitation of AIDS infected children. They showed a touching video of a small kid narrating her story of how she is banned from playing with neighbours, on how she was thrown out of the school in which she was studying, and how people would throw stones at her even !!

All this in the supposedly highly literate state of Kerala. I guess this is further proof that literacy and knowledge does not go hand in hand.

The concert itself was superb. It was held in the corporation stadium ( where I have witnessed many a football match in the past) and was filled to the brim with people. A variety of singers including Hariharin, KS Chithra, Sadhna Sargam and the maestor AR Rehman himself came on stage. The sound systems were superb, so were the lights and background displays !!

I should definitely go to more of these live concerts !!

A word of appreciation for the much maligned Kerala police, they were simply outstanding on the day. Making sure that a crowd of close to 40,000 does not get out of hand is no joke. They were helpful , courteous and enforced discipline smoothly when needed.

Maybe all of us are guilty of passing judgments based on the stereo-type images formed in our own minds.

Update , Sunday May 10th

A few videos of this event from YouTube

Inroduction

       

Tu Muskura

Masakali

     

Jai Ho !