The lost love affair...

We all have that one special one... something that made us feel special at first and then just got more and more comfortable as time wore on. Something almost perfect. And after as long as it has taken, even though you're not willing to let go, you have to face the fact that the other side has. It's over. I am talking about that love affair with that one favourite pair of jeans of course! :D

Everyone I know of has a favourite pair.. unfortunately though denim as a material can almost last forever, it can't guarantee the non-appearance of some random rips and tears which we obviously carried off in the name of fashion when it was simply holes at the knees or some... but once those rips started appearing, er.. someplace else, it wasn't so much a fashion statement anymore as it was worn out. How many of us have tried to have them fixed or save them somehow? Or at least worn them around the house where "no one" was going to see us anyways? Till finally one day you realize that no matter what you do to try to salvage it... it's time to let go and usher in the new pair. For everyone who has had a random nail end their love story, I have many pairs I have sacrificed to electroplating. Indeed it was almost like a curse I had to break free from. However careful I was,  whatever chemical resistance gown I donned, at least one misguided drop of copper sulfate would stain my jeans at the worst possible place, which when in contact with water would form sulphuric acid, which would then create a sizable hole in it's place. And that marked the birth of the new pair (of course once I figured nothing was salvaging this one). And the old begets the new. A typical life cycle.

Terms of endearment

What do you do when someone calls you a term of endearment that you're not comfortable with or you think is inappropriate to your 'relationship'? Do you just call it... ignore it or let it happen a few times more before potentially over-reacting?


Interesting thought isn't it? Do write back with your invaluable comments.

True Lies

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”- Mark Twain

Liar liar pants on fire...if only it were that easy... like you mumbled that and the person's pants really would be on fire, something like a Harry Potter spell... problem solved. When we are little, we are taught the most simplistic definition of a lie - something which is not the truth. Ergo, when we were young, if we stated something not exactly as it was, it was a lie. This was very crude and just as easy to fathom. As we grew up, more coordinates got thrown into the picture. We could now not just mis-state the truth, we could replace it with a whole different scenario/event. We could simply choose to defer a truth... and here's where things get dicey. Is a deferred truth a lie? Who decides when something has to be disclosed to someone? And God knows there is a world of difference between technicality and the morality of the issue. And then come the reasons... ranging from absolute frivolity to absolute necessity, with the thinnest of lines dividing them. I have even seen cases of chronic lying.. where they can't even help it.

 Being highly truthful myself, I find it utterly ridiculous when some others want to lie for something silly in the first place, unless it is to spare someone's feelings or something similar. The other thing I hate about lying is the number of details you have to remember. You see, for the truth, all you need to remember is what really happened and our memories are fabulous at that. But for the false, not only does your memory store away what really happened, in addition you have to add the new version which almost always is a burden to recollect later. Oh and add to that, the situations which escalate by the second... one lie piled upon the other till you are seriously piled high n deep in a truckload of them. Seriously, why bother? Almost always, the goal is to avoid unpleasant confrontations... or to hope that the gravity of the deed mellows down in comparison to something else or over time... plain fear or sheer laziness, none of them too credible in the end.

Having been the one to discover many foiled lie attempts over the years, my reaction has varied from utterly amused to utterly pissed off given the gravity of each situation. Sometimes though you just have to accept that some truths are indeed, stranger than fiction.

Ringing true...

I just read a whole bunch of posts on Slate's Prudence column about a guy who had some doubts as to whether he had to shell out a lot of cash to get his girlfriend an engagement ring which she demanded be of a certain size. And it set me thinking... about this whole western culture of having to give something, usually a ring, usually expensive, to sort of seal the deal when the guy proposes. And of course I thought of it in the Indian context. These days however, I have heard of more Indian "proposals" (maybe without rings) than foreign ones and this can be attributed to the following facts - (a) I know more Indians, so duh... (b) Indians have modernized, embracing the western culture along the way and (c) Indians are marrying foreigners and hence the twist in the traditional tale.

Traditionally, India being the land of arranged marriages has had lesser opportunity for men and women to truly discover one another before one feels compelled to pop the question. Rather the meeting is arranged in context of an eventual wedding and hence there used to be no proposals of sorts. On the other hand, this whole ring deal is only something we've heard of from the westerners and we either want to mimic it and feel special or just think it's a fair deal... after all we are spending the rest of our lives with them. But pause a second for a reverse-case scenario... if the guy demanded even the least-expensive car (no, not the Tata Nano, something a tad more expensive) from us, we'd be running high and dry complaining about dowry, anti-feminist sentiments and what not. So why is it okay for the woman to be entitled to lets face it, something terribly expensive and not too useful while the men have to buy us that (especially in this day and age of self publicized and demanded gender equality?) Wait.. what was that? For social norms, you say? Ah... here is the crux of so many of our problems. The social norms... what society expects from us and how we are fulfilling those expectations. And it's all unfortunately way too true in the good old Indian society, where the new generation is surging on par with the whole modern theme while the older generations (well, most of them) are comfortably ensconced in their antediluvian beliefs of how things should be.

Social norms. These were made back in the day when the man was the sole breadwinner. And so if he wasn't buying the woman jewelry, no one was. Come this day... women making as much money as men, contributing to household incomes, are fully capable of buying themselves whatever it is that they want. However, while they would splurge on clothes, handbags and other jewelry, they're never going to buy themselves an engagement ring when you propose. And say what to the friends? He proposed and so I went and got myself a ring? Never... that's just not in our DNA, I guess... there's no other explanation for this. And it doesn't even sound right. Does it? 

There are these couples who'd rather put in the money that it costs for an engagement ring into something more meaningful and can be enjoyed by both people - like a trip or a down payment to a home or something like that. That makes most sense, perhaps. And what do you do when the people ask you where your ring is? One great option is to ask them to MTOB but if you were the one for that, you'd have done it a long time ago.. On the other hand, if there are men with money to spare and have all the right romantic bones, go for the ring. You simply can't deny, practical or not, no woman would say "no" to being wooed.

PS: I have more apathy against social norms for sooo many other things in your everyday Indian society. Wait for those posts.

Spell-check

Dedicated to all those people whose spellings I have corrected at least once in the past. ;)

Okay, I admit it… I have a big pet peeve when people intentionally misspell words because they're lazy. I understand the concept when it’s a text message or some email to a friend but otherwise, I just find it plain irritating even though it’s none of my business. And this isn't about the "u" or "yr" as much as it is about the "frenz" or "4get". But that’s not what this post is about. Let me brutally honest and shamelessly self-congratulatory about myself. In everyday life, I am as good a speller as anyone out there. I don’t have to think for a split second to spell a word.. I can just rattle it instantly. And if this works verbally, it works even better while writing/typing it. And I am sure there are tonnes of you out there just like me (unless you are one of those people who spells wierd in place of weird). However there are times when I am zoned out thinking about something else while typing  or writing (yes, yes I multi-task regularly), that I find myself completely lost. And no, I don't mean it an ordinary sense.I mean that I would've written a word as plain as "noble" and be staring at it for an entire half-a-minute wondering if the spelling was really right or if it seemed right because I was staring so hard at it. Ever happen to you? For the simplest and least complicated of words. Truly weird. And I attribute it entirely to the fact even the best multi-taskers have to pause for a second on each of their tasks to make sure aal izz well (courtesy: 3 Idiots). :D

The emailers..

Sure.. all of us email. I mean in this age of the Internet, who doesn't? But this title, the "emailers" should strictly refer to people who email for everything. And I've come to believe I am one of them. Often I email my professor who is one floor below mine, rather than simply going over and conveying the information. And this has more to do with practicality than laziness. Before you start questioning that line of thought, let me assert that indeed I got into this groove of things 'coz of Dr P back in UC. Often we scheduled meetings in the stairwell or near some classroom only for me to learn later that he'd either forgotten about it or scheduled something else in it's time slot. "Why didn't you just send me a confirmation email" would often be his chagrined response. In his defense, I guess the email helped him directly put it on his Outlook calendar or something similar to schedule a meeting which would then send him a reminder and essentially set the ball rolling. And so it began. Emails for everything... from meeting for coffee to setting the thesis defense date. From friends to professors to colleagues to family to companies to industries and what not. Email. The easy, comfortable, reassured way of reaching people who remained connected. And so I was hooked to it. I have discovered however, that in Paris people prefer the personal touch. More often than not, it's more of you could've just told me rather than email me. Often emails are forgotten, ignored or trashed without being read and people seem to remember personally scheduled meetings rather than impersonally worded emails. It also helps build rapports with people you haven't worked too often with in the past. I've learned to work with this situation though. These days, I send an email as a correspondence-retainer and then follow it up with a phone call or a personal visit to the office of whoever I am contacting just to make sure they read the email. And here it works out even better because while they can certainly understand my written French, with my spoken French (though I presume I have gotten infinitely better at it), it still leaves room for some interpretation and entertaining dumb charades at times. Finally, communication is the key. And who cares if I had to resort to either actions or English to convey the last couple of words to complete a message? And in time, I won't need those either. Fingers crossed.

More to the chicken n egg conundrum

Here's a chicken and egg question when it comes to a lot of people, not even the hypochondriacs necessarily. Which came first - the illness or the symptoms? For those who are wondering what the heck I am talking about, consider this scenario – You’ve always been wary of catching the flu. It makes you indisposed days at a time... and who the hell can sleep well with a clogged nose anyway? And recently your cube-mate caught a mild form of flu and has been sneezing away, further fueling your misgivings. Suddenly your throat starts to feel scratchy, nose runny and eyes watery. Are these for real?  Or did are your fears of catching the flu acting out? The brain being as influential as anything can be has the effect on your body to manifest symptoms which otherwise wouldn’t exist. But wait a second… you didn’t really think that this blog was about health or any of those things, did you? But of course a highly imagination-based extrapolation of the situation is just waiting to happen. 

It’s about how we subconsciously mirror someone’s feelings towards us whether we intend for it to happen, or not. For example, you can’t help but be sweet to that cheery colleague who seems to get up on the right side of the bed everyday. Or keep it concise, short and not necessarily sweet with someone who’s been a bit of a sorehead anyways. Body language is one of the least-credited aspects that influence our behaviour with others. But as subtle as it may seem, it has the most impact on our daily selves and resultant interactions. And more often than not that means our mouths don't match our eyes, our demeanor doesn't match our words and ultimately translate to a sure shot "message received" signal from the opposite end. As if we didn't have enough things to portray upfront. As much as everyone loves to be themselves, a teeny part ends of them up being someone else. Call it diplomacy or the good old plain truth.

Test blog

I've always wanted to blog on the go and with my new android based phone, i can do just that. Cheers to MindBlogging

Illusions daily..

Yesterday was one of those days. Something f-ed up the trains and there was a minimum 40 minute wait for the next one. And while plotting my other routes to get home, I came up with the most-suitable bus combo that would do the trick. But the grand difference between waiting 40 minutes and then taking the delayed train and instead taking the bus immediately was, get this, at best 5 minutes. Common sense would dictate that I head back to school, do something for half an hour and come back to take the train 40 minutes later. More productive, right? Not exactly. 'Coz here's where your brain comes up with all the implausible scenarios of the world. What if that train was canceled/delayed? What if you lost track of time and missed the train? So many what ifs with very little credibility. And one glance at the clock that confirming that it was indeed 6:30 pm was enough to eliminate the possibility of going back to school at any rate. And hence to give myself the illusion of having done something in the right direction, I took the bus, the concept being, that even though the final arrival time was much the same, I was still going somewhere. There was some movement, translating to vague momentum translating to an even vaguer sense of work done. Go figure.

Pretty UC!!

UC has been named one of the most beautiful campuses in the world by Forbes magazine! I couldn't be prouder!!

http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=11524

This post is dedicated to all you fantastic people I had the good fortune of meeting at UC. Indeed I have made some of my best friends there and it would by no stretch of imagination be an exaggeration when I say I miss you all a hell lot and that those were some of the best days of our lives. Lets revel in UC's glory and relive those truly golden days. Love y'all! Cheers!

Know-how

I only just recently wrote a post on the all important no-how.. but this time I am here to talk about something that only sounds similar but is in no way connected to that post. This is about how some people are plain confused between knowing you and knowing of you. And with someone as accessible as me, it's very easy for someone to make that error in judgment and assume they know everything about me while as a matter of fact what they know is only something I've chosen to share with all the world. This whole blog for example... most posts are reflections of daily happenings in most people's lives with a splash of my unwarranted opinions thrown in. And we bloggers are nothing if not opinionated ;). 

Back to the viewpoint in question, it does irk me when someone thinks they've been in touch with me by simply reading what I write on the blog. I contend of course that the blog coupled with all the content on the many networking sites would amount to a fair share of generic information, none too personal though. And I would hardly think it would be weird on my part to consider that it was preposterous that it was supposed to be flattering that they kept in touch by these means. Simply reading a blog... really? Something a bit more would be understandable.. a random text/email or message/chat of some sorts. But being an anonymous reader simply doesn't cut it at being a good friend. A nice follower yes, but friend? Absolutely not.

Slumber party..

The difference between a guy’s slumber party and a girls’…

Guys: Many rounds of booze + some spicy food + a bit of yap, a bit of blab = Knockout nice n early.

Girls: Yap yap yap + Yap somemore , attempt to sleep and fail, so yap just a little more = Sleepless night = Perfect sleepover.

Destiny

All of us at some point of time have made this sagely statement – If it has to happen, it will. In these cases of course, we are all referring to fate taking control. And some teeny part of us wants to believe in something like fate... something that would have a say in the whole cosmic picture of our life... something that lets us believe that though things aren’t in our control, they are taken care of by some power, which is hopefully on our side. And it also acknowledges that some things just aren't in our hands and it precedes from the requirement of making a decision. And why am I rambling on now? Destiny once more proved it's existence in my life yesterday, you know, just in case I forgot.

The moment I stepped out of my apartment yesterday, I saw the bus pull over. And so, I got in, swiped my Navigo, found an empty seat and settled in for the 8 minute ride with the right song on the i-pod. While I adjusted my earphone, my left hand brushed my ear lobe only to realize that my earring was missing it's lower dangling part (this was one of those annoying kokki earrings which you looped into your ear and had no back plug). And so I scanned the ground. Fortunately the bus was empty and I probably didn't appear like a complete psycho as I frequently switched seats to look beneath each of them for the missing piece. After scanning about 5 minutes, I decided that it was indeed lost and it was sheer bad luck. Having accepted my fate, I took off what remained of the earrings, put them  away and got zoned out into the rest of the journey. In my office, as I peeled away my layers, and untangled the scarf from my neck, suddenly, there it was, nestled amidst the folds, the missing part of the earring. The luck had all transformed. Delighted by the unexpected find, I attached the pieces together, rammed the minuscule gap between them with a heavy book for good measure and now certain that it wasn't coming off anytime soon, I wore them again.

And so the day wore on, busy as hell. Back home finally and worn out, I went to splash some water on my face. And that's when I noticed it. The earring was gone. This time in whole. And I hadn't a clue where or when. Fate...

The Internet addiction

I read this article on msn about signs that you suffer from Internet addiciton. And  in case you noticed, it asked us to step away from the computer once we were done reading, but instead, here I am blogging about it. Well, what did you expect? Of course I am addicted! And just so you know, so are about 90% of all of you in the age group < 35. I mean honestly, we are so connected these days that sometimes a mere Internet slowdown at work or GMail maintenance shutdown renders us completely restless for a while unless we are obviously occupied elsewhere. As for me, when I am traveling to or from work, or if I am out someplace with friends, etc., I am not bothered too much about being "connected". But come the era of the smartphones and with everyone carrying an Iphone or something just as fancy, there's no need to be out of touch even then. And of course it begs the question - aren't we too exposed? Every second of every day, someone somewhere can keep in touch with you by not actually "reaching" you. By not even taking the effort to make a phone call. Simply by checking tweets or buzzes or FB status updates. It's that simple. We're to blame for that. No one really cares what we had for lunch or where, which movie sucked or rocked. And yet we make it our business to express our unsolicited opinions on anything and everything and worse, expose personal details on the worldwide web which transcends all boundaries only to reach the million people you know of and the other billion you don't. Thankfully I try not to do that. You maybe wondering what the heck I am talking about considering I maintain a regular personal blog which you are currently reading. However, there's a fine line between telling too much and just talking about everyday occurrences in most people's lives... something I try hard to tread. (Agree or disagree?)

But all this revelation once more begs the question as to why I have never been me out of touch with some of my priced friends. And yes, I blame them of course. With all that possibility it is obviously their fault to try that hard to stay out of touch. And anyone who knows me the slightest will agree that it's as easy to reach me as it is to reach the nearest Internet-enabled computer. 

But having recognized my own addiction at this stage and for a while now, I have decided to give myself some "unplugged" time. And that means I get to figure out when it'll be convenient for me to remain so. :D. Happy browsing or happy unplugged time, as you may deem necessary!

The all important "no"-how

I admit it... I was stuck in a phase a long time ago where I was eager to please others at times. A lot of times it was simply my personality to try to be nice to everyone upfront. Often times I had the problem of simply saying no, much like so many others to different situations or people. And that meant I was stuck with tasks, chores or unpleasant business that I'd simply rather not have done, if only I had expressed the opinion. I've attributed this to being a part of the "immaturity" and the process of growing up, though many many people I still know suffer from the disease of not being able to say no where appropriate.

Recently though, I have become a little more aggressively unconcerned about what opinions I express and what effects they may spawn. This doesn't imply that I have become callous or rude, just that I am not walking on eggshells anymore and well, everyone around me can deal with things just the way I can. Or similarly, at least. Saying no to something can be empowering. Not that you turned someone down and got the upper hand... just that you've gotten your priorities right. And importantly, you know what you should be doing. And if by saying "no" like one time, you feel that you are going to jeopardize the relationship, then it wasn't worth your while at all. 

Here are some pretty obvious tips - 

1. Honesty. Believe it or not, unless you're especially glib, it shines through if you're making something up. If you'd rather not do something for some reason, let it out. People can be more understanding than you give them credit for. And if you'd rather not out the truth itself because it's mean or whatever, practice your lie enough to pass it off (read Sheldon in BBT with his made-up cousin, Leopold who's in a drug intervention. Ok, not that extreme, but you get the point).

2. Sincerity. While being honest, it is possible to still come across as brutally honest. I don't want to go shopping with you because you try on every dress in the store and frankly, I have better things to do. Instead, tone it down with sincerity. I only have an hour of free time. I thought I'd just chill at home with a cup of tea. Is it okay if I take a rain-check?

3. Back-up plan. While refusing someone for something, try to reassure them that you would have done it under different circumstances. And that includes pointing out instances in the past or possibilities in the future. I am pretty caught up right now, but how about we meet up on Saturday? This not only takes the focus off the rejection, but also opens the opportunity for a different rendezvous clarifying the fact that the problem was with the date and time and not the person. But if you do make a back-up plan, please try to stick with it.

If only more people knew how to turn down someone and not make them feel lousy, a lot of generic ill-will between people can be avoided, leading  in fact, to a healthier friendship or otherwise between two people. So please, if you must, go ahead and say no, rather than get stuck with something you don't want to do and worse, impose your grudging self on some unsuspecting person.

Baby corn manchurian

I found some baby corn at the Chinese grocery the other day and what better to make than baby-corn manchurian? Here’s a quick look at it -

And what better to eat it with than jeera rice?

Both being very traditional and well-followed recipes, I am not going to bother giving them here. If anyone needs to know, drop me a line… Bon Appétit!

The man.. the master.. the legend

This one had to be mentioned. By now, every single Indian in the world must have touted it wherever possible.. the immediate tweets and FB statuses said it all… Sachin Tendulkar, India’s own God of Cricket achieved the impossible – a double century in an ODI (One Day Internationals).

Read all you can read here.

Watch the highlights here.

For this moment in history, let us all take pride in this man.. in this game.. in this achievement. Hail Sachin! Signing off as a proud Indian…….

Does Karma exist?

Note: In this context, I am purely talking about "payback" and not the destiny cycle as defined by Hinduism.

  

Do you believe in Karma? Like if someone did something wrong, do you believe that eventually, surely it  will bite them in the ass? And even if you believed it, does it make you feel any better about the injustice that was meted out to you? No offense to anyone, but I only believe in Karma to the extent of limiting my own "bad" actions so as to not suffer from something else in the future and then wonder if that "bad deed" was what caused the sufferance in the first place. If only everyone followed this give-and-take policy, people would be erring on the side of caution. As for how it affects other people, I find no solace in consoling myself that they will pay for it, especially while I am nowhere around to witness it. You know what I mean? If someone stole your ideas and profited from it (not too scientific, mind you or on the lines of plagiarism), what good is it going to do you if you believed that he/she will somehow pay for it in the future? And that too after they benefited from your ideas. And it seems much more satisfying to take things in your own hands. And this isn't one of those take-the-law-into-your-hands kind of situations either. This is something personal... something you want to do... something for which laws don't exist.. something that just surpasses the moral boundaries that you've set.. something that is so irritatingly important for you to settle for yourself... something that you owe to yourself... something. Bah, Karma isn't waiting around to redeem you. It's off busy with the bigger bad-doers. So you might as well take this in your hands right? Glad you agree. Only the piece of your mind can bring peace to your mind. Ah wordplay! Time to grab the fictitious bull by the horns.

PS: Any violent actions against anyone/anything are strongly discouraged (unless it's a stress-buster/punching bag, in which case, go for it!!)

Save the tigers - PLEASE!

This is an appeal to all of you individually. And if any authority ever comes across this and they should, I wildly hope that this "park" is shut down, the tigers rescued and treated and their dignity, restored. The fate of my favourite animal literally moved me to tears. You can read and see evidence of this ridiculous cruelty here - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252500/Exposed-Dark-secret-farm-tigers-bodies-plundered-make-185-wine.html. And please, please spread the word.... Blog it, Buzz it, FB it, whatever... The power of the word is greater than we think and it's the absolute least that we can do.

The mouthpiece

Are you one of those people who can speak to anyone else, stranger or not, with equal ease? Well, that just makes life simpler, doesn't it? Especially for the people around you. For as long as I can remember, the people in my life have used my unabashed-ness as their tool to information. I have always been the one they ask to call someplace and find some information, be it to check if someone's flight is arriving on time or make reservations at a restaurant. And in fact I was so used to getting on it by myself, that it took me a while to realize that everyone else around me was just as eager to dump the responsibility on me too. I suspect my mom was on the same boat as me. It's all ok now when you are old/young enough to get away with most things you are asking about on the phone. But being a trained "mouthpiece" from very young has it's disastrously comical outcomes. 

I once remember when I was really little, maybe 12, when my brother was back from some eye appointment and it hadn't gone well and he had had some allergic reaction to some drops or something like that. Me being me, I called the doctor's office to enquire what had gone wrong. The doctor's husband picked the phone and I asked for his wife. He asked me who was calling and as naive as I was, I didn't want to admit to being the patient's kid sister. And so I told the next obvious thing - that I was his mom. Now when I think back about it, I can laugh over it... but it was humiliating back then when the husband did handover the phone to his wife while audibly saying, "It's a child saying she is your patient's mother."  Gulp.

And so I learned early... don't let the others' excuses fool you. Be it improving your language skills, or interpersonal communication, the only reason you are doing it and they are not is because they've labeled you the mouthpiece. If someone else can do it better, you should probably make them do it, even if they convince you that you are the best person for the job. After all, how hard can it be to dump back some of that responsibility on them?

Spicy Sabudana Vada

Ahhh it's been a trillion years since I food-blogged and I am sure most of you must’ve wondered if I’d stopped making different things or what. To be honest, I kinda did… Getting home late only meant that I was whipping 15 minute dinners on a daily basis. If it wasn’t quickfire bisibela bath, it was some fried rice. If it wasn’t subji-chapathi, it was noodles. And so on.. But today I soaked some sabudana (jevarusi in tamil or tapioca for the rest of you) to make sabudana khichdi. However once I got home, I thought it’d be more fun to make sabudana vadas instead. Here’s a first look-

So here’s what you need..

Tip: The sabudana becomes more than double the quantity once soaked 6-8 hours. Plan accordingly. So it's just enough if you soak half a cup of sabudana in half a cup of water. Filter after 8 hours.

Ingredient	Quantity
Soaked sabudana	1 cup
Mashed/Grated potatoes	2 large
Green chillies	3 large finely chopped
Onions	1 finely chopped
Rice flour	3 tablespoons
For seasoning
Salt, turmeric, red chilli powder	To taste

Mix all the above ingredients into a thick dough. To get the consistency right, make sure you squeeze out the potatoes and the sabudana well enough to avoid excess liquid hampering the consistency. The dough should look something like this -

How?
Ah the simple part! Make patties off them and deep fry! That’s the one-line version and that’s pretty much all there is to it. Comply with typical deep frying funda -
1. Wait till the oil is hot enough. Test it by putting a small bit of “dough” into it and see if it rises immediately.
2. Put in as many patties as your container can take and let them sit and turn golden brown on one side before turning them over and letting them brown on the other.
And voilà, here you go, one more look -

Serve with ketchup/chutney and enjoy.. Bon Appétit!

Truth or mad?

How many times have you told sometimes ridiculous truths only to be scoffed at? And what's your reaction at those times? Here's a lousy example to get you in the groove of the discussion. You missed a meeting because Murphy made you project-of-the-day. Still don't know what I am talking about? Something like this happened. You narrate your sorry tale to anyone who'd listen only to be smirked at in response, as if to say "as if". What's your reaction then? Are you just satisfied that you have indeed told them the truth and they in return, believing you or not is something that you care about or are not concerned with - after all, you did tell it as it happened. Or are you a bit like me? Going to some length to prove that it did indeed happen? Being a predominantly honest person, in that I never lie in situations of importance, it irks me if someone gives me the yeah right take on something that really did happen to me. And so I feel the need to prove it, not just to show that as far as that instance was concerned, I was right, but also to prove that every other time I have come up with something as unlikely, it did happen. Know what I mean? So where do you belong? Calm, composed and devil-may-care or just a little pissed off that people have no value for credibility however incredulous it maybe? Truths only please.

Heal the world..

Is it me or has the world totally gone mad? This is no trick question and as a matter of fact, it's only terribly easy to answer this one. Yes, the world has gone mad. Look at what's happening around us. The bomb blast in Pune... the train crash in Belgium... the earthquake in Haiti. And that's only the top 3 disasters off the top of my head. Everyday I open any news page, there's nothing to rejoice. If it's not about the Afghan war, it's about the poverty and starvation in some country. If it's not an Olympic death, it's about an Italian landslide. And what's with all those unexplained bulk airplane crashes in recent times anyways? Be it Air France or YemenAir - what's going on?? After witnessing the events that the world has undergone in just the recent past, suddenly the 2012 predictions for the end of the world is not looking so implausible after all.

Just take our basic behavior with one another. It sort of reminds me of a Frasier episode in which Niles wonders aloud if all social etiquette has died. So many people are no longer considerate about the many basic courtesies that at least some of us are used to... and these are not even the antediluvian chivalrous acts like holding a door open for a lady or something. These are basic at best -

1. The verbal courtesies - When did it become uncommon to thank someone for something? Not just that, taking someone for granted ranks high up there in the social non-etiquette. Returning pleasantries is another thing. Being rude is an entirely new level, which seems to occupy the most-opted for pedestal in recent times. Is it too hard to be polite upfront? Like someone once said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. Go figure.

2. The physical courtesies - One can only wonder how it is possible to go wrong here. And I am not talking extremist-terrorist behavior, but just ordinary everyday people in everyday interactions. You bang into someone.. you're in a hurry, but yes, everyone's in some world's-rushing-by-and-I've-got-to-catch-up hurry too, but it's only polite to apologize, no matter whose fault it was. You knock someone down.. please apologize even more profusely and help them on their feet. Do not run away in either situation, unless you tried to steal something from them and actually succeeded. Simple? You'd think so.

3. The mental courtesies - No matter whom you are pissed of at, do not take it out on another innocent person. It may have been bad service at a restaurant or just a bad dream, but taking it out on someone else only spreads the ill-humour, like ripples in a pond. So do everyone a favour, including yourself, and let it rest. Deal with it.

Don't you think just including these ultra-basic courtesies in our everyday lives will make domestic and social situations much more pleasant and easier to deal with? And yes, I realize that none of this is going to solve any of the worldly problems that I began with in the first place. But it will help us remain civil with one another and help one another out in situations that demand it. And while we are on etiquette, please show some respect for the place you dwell in as well. And yes, that means, please find a dustbin to stow away the trash or cigarette butts and refrain from spitting that gum on the road or sticking it what you think is a hidden corner, no matter how tempting it is. It's a humble request on behalf of everyone who's found gum in the unlikeliest of places and been icked out by it.

Is it so wrong to want to "heal" the world? Let's give it a shot.. one band-aid at a time.

To my Paati who bore the brunt of one of society's uncouth examples, get well soon.

Saving the souvenirs

Ever gone to a place and collected all sorts of bizarre things by telling yourself you’ll keep it as a “souvenir'”? Of course I mean those things which aren’t actually the ones sold at stores exclusively for the purpose of keeping something as a token of your trip like shot-glasses (want to see our collection? See it here. Of course it’s far expanded now) or refrigerator magnets. I mean the later meaningless things like travel tickets, or entrance tickets to the various attractions, coins and currency notes, visiting cards from interesting places and what not. More often than not, once you are back from the trip, it’s all about the photographs and all these other “souvenirs” you picked up along the way either remain ignored or worse, trashed. So for a change, when S and I picked up all these things along the way in our Prague trip, we decided to put them to place. So here it is -

Fortunately, we found all our stuff from the Rome trip last year as well.. and hence that’s a work in progress. So here’s something saved as a different sort of memory, this time in honour of the place alone and not the way we visited it. Here’s to more trips and more memories! Cheers!

Postcards from Prague

So here it is… 4 days , 1330+ pictures later, just 3 photos.. to represent the wholesome spirit of Prague. This first one says it all – a beautiful castle overlooking the entire city, a lovely river that separates the castle and the Old town and the medieval architecture if that wasn’t enough..

And then this one of the twilight. Twilight is brilliant in Prague, making the entire sky a beautiful inky blue. What better to see it against but the gothic church of Old Town? Here, decide for yourself..

And here’s one last picture.. this one for a quirky fact. The longest escalator in all of Europe in the Metro station of Namesti Miru.. At a whopping 88m high and an arduous 2 minutes 30 seconds long and over 400 steps, it’s one hell of a “ride”. What’s worse? The advertisements on the side walls are also posted at an angle. So, if you lean to read them, you may feel a slight spin of vertigo chugging along with you. And the worstest part? The escalators are at least twice as fast as anything normal you’ve gone on before. That means quick step-on and quick step-off. With no elevators in sight on most Metros and the extra'-tall, extra-long ride ahead, it’s an everyday amusement for the “fearless” and intimidating for the rest. Ok ok, I sense it’s enough build-up. Here’s a pic; And what you think is the top, is not. Go figure.

Dobry Den from Prague!!

Playing the trump card..

Of course in many situations what I am about to say won't probably matter... but if it does, would you be complaining? For instance, merely asking the flight check-in people if there are seats available in first class on a sparingly-filled plane has enabled many people who wouldn't otherwise buy an exclusive first class ticket to be able to travel in first-class comfort, all because of one thing - they asked. The people who asked certainly aren't going to be the ones complaining. But I bet it'd invoke a bout of incredulity or grumbling from others in earshot at the "luck" you chanced out at... But here's the thing... not many people bother asking at all. They either think it's embarrassing if turned down or unethical or plain weird. Mostly it's the first one. They are too embarrassed to try. But here's the other thing - where better to "embarrass" yourself than in front of a bunch of strangers you are hardly likely to set eyes on again. And even if you did, it's not like asking for first class seats is going to reduce your standing with them in any significant manner. So, why not?

So after all this subconscious analysis about similar situations, I decided it was worth a try to get a piece of all this action. People were kinder and more giving than we gave them credit for, after all. So what was I to lose by trying?

First try. So when I sent an email reminder to our hotel in Prague, intimating them of our time of arrival, I dropped in the hint that it was our wedding anniversary trip. And guess what? We'd only booked a simple double room but they gave us a spacious top-floor suite at no extra charge. And I am only guessing that this and the part where they threw in the complementary breakfast every morning was all because of this simple mention on the email or sheer good luck.

Second try. Mention the occasion at Hard Rock Café at dinner. And voilà, chocolate fudge sundae on the house with a souvenir

Third try. The word at Khajuraho, the fabulous Indian restaurant on Old Town. And? Free gulab jamun for dessert and a handy little embroidered purse for me.

So there we go.. three attempts and no strikes. Of course none of the attempts were totally legitimate in trying to get extra favours from the attending staff. What was just a mention of the date was acknowledged for it's merit. And that's why there was no risk of embarrassment and a weird sense of "accomplishment" in these deeds. So is there any of you out there with tried and tested experiences to share? Find the comments section and tap away...

And yes, some Praha pictures are lining up to make their way up on MindBlogging. Keep watching this space! Thanks :)

Pirates of the movie industry..

Just today when S was watching a series of videos on Indiaglitz, I eavesdropped on an interview by Karthi, the star of the recent movie, Aayirathil Oruvan. It was basically a plea to stop piracy and avoid the flooding of bootlegged copies of the movie on CDs and Internet likewise. And it sparked this entire blog and a worthy discussion at that.

Of course anyone with the slightest scruples of morals would agree that it is indeed unfortunate for the producers who dished out all that money in making the movie to not get their fair share from the movie watchers. But you know what? All of that makes sense if you were pretty petty sitting in India with a million theatres available to see the movie, and still chose the slow internet + download-cap ridden broadband to sit and download a lousy copy of the movie to see it at the comfort of your home. Indeed I know of no one who does that. On the other hand, bootlegged CDs and DVDs are a real problem. What's shocking in some cases is that the print is pristine. Practically as good as what the late "officially-released" versions are likely to have, indicating that the leak is somewhere high up the order, alongside the copies being distributed to theatres for shows. And that comes down to trusting the wrong people, which is up to the distributors.

On the other hand, I am certain that less than 10% of the people want to see a shaky handy-cam footage of a movie on a CD that cost 30 bucks (Indian rupees) anyways rather than pay a bit more and hit the cinemas or wait further for a decent copy to turn up. But the real conundrum lies with the actions of people living away from immediate access to these movies. Eg. People like me. What do we do? None of these movies release here in Paris (Hindi and Tamil alike) unless they are of exceptionally big banner (read Rajinikant). And hence the pseudo-Indian market is strewn with copies of the latest movies, weeks after the release. So are we morally wrong to buy them as the only opportunity to watch the movies? Or is it worse downloading a semi-decent copy of the movie before all the copyright infringements pounce in and wipe them off the Internet? In this case, is it the fault of the distributors for not catering to scattered audiences across the world or is it ours for wanting to see them with the best solution to the earliest-possible-time-cum-least-cost problem?

All the same, I know of people with extremely high morals who would never buy music unless it was the original CD, and the likes of that. I must admit that my ethics aren't on that kind of pedestal as far as the entertainment business is concerned. It was like I was trying to explain to S. It isn't that I go looking for opportunities to "pirate", but I don't unconditionally stop them either. In other words, if someone invited me to watch a downloaded version of a brand-new movie, I wasn't going to call in the cops and raise hell. Unfortunately I guess most of us are in the same page. Which brings us to the other big issue. Are we at fault for downloading these movies/songs or does the blame solely rest with the people who first obtained pirated copies and put them up for download? For a wafer-thin argument siding "us", if it wasn't freely available, we weren't going to do anything phenomenal to find it, are we? Another of those grey areas in the context of right or wrong. And since this topic relates to something we've all done or seen done in the past, I'd like to hear from the rest of you on where you stand in this whole issue from the moral viewpoint and otherwise. Anti-piracy? Prove it.

Proof that it's Kaliyug

Birds getting "divorced"! What more evidence did you need? Here's the news article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/8477351.stm

What's the world coming to?

The GMail search engine..

We all know that Google has become synonymous with search engine. Indeed an entire verb has evolved and now, "googling it" is practically the doorway to information. But recently I have used GMail as an effective search engine - for my friends. Those of you on my Gtalk would've seen the now-familar, "Someone, where are you?" status message under my name. Call it bizarre, but I have had responses to these statuses. Either the "missed" people or closed friends have responded, either enquiring welfare or giving me location information, both of which was deeply appreciated. See? Mission accomplished. Thanks, GMail.

On a different note, I have been trying to wean myself this past week from addictive GMailing. And I daresay that the first step to succeeding is to remain logged off from chat throughout the day. First step? Check. Next Step? Only check email at random intervals. Am working on that... After all, mountains can't be scaled in one day by foot.

The Lazy Susan earring organizer

Ah so it was one of those days where I was trying to find places for some of the things I had and just find some other things. So I ran across this lampshade which I hadn’t hoisted up on the bulb in one of the rooms and I figured I wasn’t getting around to it any time soon. And just then, I couldn’t find one of my favorite pair of earrings. And all of a sudden I decided to put the 2 together. Sure, S thought I was nuts when he saw me piercing the earrings I could find on the lampshade, but only until he saw the finished product. Here’s your first look.

Well, so the centre spindle of the lampshade rests on an empty wine bottle. And so, guess what? it spins freely and just like the displays in stores, I can check out everything to choose whatever I want to wear. The other upside? I can put them back the right way each time. Of course I have to keep this thing near my bed because I am less likelier to take off my earrings any other place.  But anyhoo, here’s another look at this resultant piece of an hour of joblessness.

Oh and one side, I’ve clipped my hair accessories. Oh, a win win all the way!

Oh BTW, do you know that the phrase Lazy Susan has an interesting story? You can read it here. Cheerio!

Short circuit

Ever wanted to cower in the corner and pray for the dark forces to take you? Well, you’d probably understand that feeling if you’ve ever done circuit training at the gym. After my first evening at it, I am kinda wishing it was the good old days of comparatively easy-peasy Total body Workout Wednesdays at SD. This was pure hell. The only time I was truly relieved was when I was at the last lap of the 3-repetition circuit. And that was of course knowing that it would all be okay soon. That I would soon breathe normally again. And that I may just survive.  I am never going to see a pot of yogurt the same way again and think – oh it’s just 45 calories if this is the way I have to burn it. Lol. Talk about learning things the hard way. Ah well, the joys of burning all those calories only engulfs you when you step out to the freezing cold and don’t feel it. Every cloud has a silver lining. Of course people like S view the cloud itself as a silver lining in this pretext. Here’s hoping perceptions change and I enjoy gymming as much as he does (I bet that’ll happen once the bathroom scales and the mirror start talking to me). That should put the fuse on this short circuit, shouldn’t it?

MindBlogging goes global..

I check the visitor map for MindBlogging periodically just to see where the word has spread. Today I had a nice surprise in store. Here, see for yourself!

Thank you all for visiting even in this time of sporadic posting! I promise I have 3-4 posts sitting as drafts just waiting for completion. And I am getting to it. Meanwhile, as always, keep visiting and keep commenting. Xoxo.

I swear........

Not everyone is an "emotional" person. By that I mean that not everyone is prone to express their emotions in the most obvious of manners for all to see. For instance, some people are easy to be provoked to tears/tirades/laughter etc., but some others are not. I, for one can reflect either extreme as I please and according to situation. But by default I think I am a more expressive person. My face/eyes give away my reaction before it's vocal. However, this isn't what I am talking about here. Some emotions drive us more strongly than others. And identifying it may help us focus it in a more desirable manner than leading to detrimental effects. For some people it's sadness... some others it's jealousy. But for me, it's anger/rage. It's my most palpable emotion. Sometimes I feel so strongly about something that I can almost feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins and me wanting to explode. Thankfully I've started streamlining it. To address the immediate problem, I've realized that a slew of well-chosen expletives/ghastly profanity against the situation really really helps. And no, thinking it does not have the same effect as verbally expressing it, no matter how un-ladylike it maybe. In fact I think I read a news item on BBC a while back, which said that this was a scientific fact that swearing actually takes away pain. They meant physical pain but it also addresses the psycological side to some extent. And it has another advantage. You don't end up breaking something to vent out your frustration and since it's all verbal, as long as it's not against any one person in particular (and they hear it), no harm done! Ok so you've made your "peace" with the situation by swearing it away, but there is still all that extra energy that your body is feeling at that time. Put it to use. Often I get a lot of work done if I was pissed off at something. Consequently inadvertant train delays/broken-down equipment yield some of my most-productive desk work. Funny, yet true! Anyone else on the same train of thought? Voice up!

The case of the missing atta bag..

This is one of those real-life mysteries to which the solution lies only in conjuncture but with no sure-shot evidence whatsoever. So, it being a lazy Sunday morning, I finally conceded to the loud grumbles of our famished tummies at 11:30 in the morning to try and make something quick for lunch. A quick peek into the fridge confirmed the worst. All I had was a couple of bell peppers and some peas. I had potatoes and onions elsewhere and so I thought I’d whip up a random subji and make a couple of parathas each for S and me. I washed the bell peppers and placed my onions and potatoes together with them on the cutting board. I decided I would make the dough for the parathas first so that while I made the subji, the dough would get some “sitting” time which makes the parathas come out so much better. And so I took out my conventional dough-kneading bowl and set it on the counter and leaned over to reach out for the bag of Pilsbury atta. Only it wasn’t there. Don’t you just hate it when that happens to you? You always leave something somewhere and the next time you look for it, it isn’t there. Needless to say, I was completely bamboozled, considering that the Atta bag was the one fixture in it’s own corner on the floor (I keep it there owing to lack of any storage space whatsoever in my minuscule kitchen). What ensued was a hunt, a clean sweep of the kitchen and the hall even… and no atta bag. The bag in which the Pilsbury atta bag sat was there, but empty. Also missing was my measuring ladle. And so I racked my brains. When did I last make something with it? It was one of the weeknights for dinner. Thursday I guessed. When did I take out the trash last? Also Thursday. Did I accidentally throw it out? And so I recalled my garbage –throwing sequence. No, I only had one trash can for the kitchen and yes, I threw out only one garbage bag. Of this I was certain. In the disbelieving wake, I continued to rummage the already-checked cabinets and the obviously empty floor and under the sofa and what not, irking S in the process and with no result or explanation. The only only possibility was that the dudes who came to check the exhaust on the kitchen’s heater unit yesterday thought they were cleaning up when they picked up their trash and my atta bag and left. This is only an assumption of course and there’s no telling it did happen. And if it didn’t, it means I have no explanation left. Hmph.

The digital photo conundrum

Ok, moment of truth. How many of us have thanked technology for coming up with digital photography? Almost all of us I bet. Every household now boasts at least one digital camera. All the uncles and auntys are totally familiar with the USB cable and picture transfer, all the way to the uploading of the images on the internet and web-sharing as well. The good old days of film roll are now obsolete and so are the first digicams that had floppy disk/zip drive memories. Now's the age of miniaturization, what with the advanced memory devices which started out at SD and have gone well and beyond micro-SD to built in large memories too. Everything's as perfect can be.

I have a confession to make. I am not entirely satisfied with this arrangement. Back at home in India, we have a huge cabinet stuffed with picture albums that document the childhood of my brother and me. It has all those trips we made as a family, those birthdays, those family outings, my brother's upanayanam, our Kuwait days, and what not. And sifting through these pictures every vacation is a trip down memory lane for me. And though I can do a similar thing on the laptop, sifting through folder after folder of saved photos, I don't do it. And even if I did the warm glow of memories isn't as strong. I don't know why. There's another problem in this. In the days of the film roll which restricted us to 36 pictures per roll (with a charge for development and approximately Rs 5 per "maxi" print), we were judicious in our usage of the roll. And hence every photo was thought out and worth it. Come the digitial era, of course we are thankful for it eliminates the mental tension of waiting for the photos to develop - Was the film inserted correctly? Will Ihave a blank roll? Were too many pics blurred? No tension at all. Instant previews. A bit blurry? No problem. Take 3-4 pictures extra just to make sure you got everything right. You can always delete the ones you don't want later. But hang on a second... how many of you actually go through all the pictures and delete the ones that don't need to be kept? I do. And it's a tedious process. Add to that "selecting" a maximum of a 100 photos from a folder of well over 500 per trip to share with family and friends. And then "working" on them - brightness, contrast, blah blue... And then adding comments to these pictures (ok that's not mandatory but somehow people got very attached to the comments I give under each picture and so now it's no longer an option)... and uploading everything. It's all a big abuse of digital memory and I am only one of the million doing this. And after this tedious process, I kind of lose the interest to sift through those pictures again for a long time. And that's true of every trip/occassion. And so when you think of wanting to relive some of those memories, more often than not, you end up going to your own Picasa album of the event (it has a more concise set) than to the real folder which has one too many extra pictures.

And what about prints? Are you one of those very few who take select prints of your trip just for the keeps? Or is it the one odd blow-up or the personalized calendar? If you are like most people it's the latter. Thanks to all of this... when my laptop crashed and lost a good deal of pictures from recent trips, I experienced no tremendous grief. I still had the Picasa albums... and so what if they weren't the real high quality? I wasn't doing anything with them anyways. Sad but true. I'd love to hear what the rest of the world thinks on this whole conundrum. So if you have something to say, say it!!

Good tidings to one n all....

Happy New Year to everyone out there! Well I am almost a week into this new year before debuting the first post this side of 2010... And though I've had a bunch of posts (many negative) to start out with, I decided I wanted to start the year on a positive note unlike what I did last year (not that it had any dramatic repercussions). So here's looking on the brighter side of things...

The cold is abating a bit and though we have a couple of more months of cold nights to withstand, things are looking up... the days have become longer and that's good news. The thesis (cross your fingers everyone) should chug along soon once I have a few stumbling blocks removed from the way. Plus I want to finish my long-standstill book (wish me luck!)

This year I made no resolutions considering that I suck at keeping them anyways. But S n I have decided that this is the year for travel (so look out for exploits), the year for exploration, the year for the carefree merry enjoyment (well apart from what the thesis permits me of course).

However I'd be just as interested in knowing about all your new year resolutions, if any and how keeping them up last year went. So, speak up and all you missing commentors, come back!

Apart from this cheerily sunny post, watch this space for my cribsheet, which includes cussing the makers of the Avatar game and my own personal body heat which is coping up with the cold outside by having me exploding in mouth ulcers and kirikkattis (boils in the eye).

Bye bye 2009. Hello 2010.

When I read these numbers, 2009-2010, it almost seems like we are living in an era different from what we actually are. I remember celebrating the Millennium new year, 2000, back at home in Adyar with a huge party for friends. And we were ushering in the new era, the new millennium, being among the gifted bunch to be old enough to appreciate the turn of the decade and what not. A decade has gone by since then and life has changed almost beyond recognition. We’ve grown up. And I can sparsely believe that 2009 has flown by at the pace that it has. Sure it differs for everyone with perspective and just like everything else, time is a relative quantity. But the popular vote this time seems that everyone agrees that 2009 was in quite a hurry to get done. And like everything else, it’s easier to reflect upon now that it’s over.

But instead of listing out the goods and the not-so-goods, I am going to swing right ahead and welcome 2010 with outspread arms. Here’s hoping that this new year brings better luck, better fortune, only the best news and the best results, a lot of fun, loads of cheer, good health to all near and dear, great spirits and great contentment to all!

Happy New Year 2010!

The generation gap

Ok so the time has finally come when we can actually speak about the generation gap, not in terms of the elder generation that preceded us alone but rather with reference to the “kids” that are following us now. And as you witness each generation, you can see the distinction between them quite clearly. For instance, it’s cute to see our parents get all tech-savvy and fire away emails, sometimes with the “Safe” on top. All that perfect vocabulary and official grammar n stuff. On the other hand, the texting from the next generation drives you nuts wid dis kinda typin. WTH is that? But that’s the way it is. And sure the generation after them will probably be used to memory mapping or something. Just the way, personal written journals are now almost obsolete, so will online blogging someday. Other than that, I guess the kids these days are way more mature than we ever were. Where we played out on the street with street cricket, went cycling with buddies through the neighbourhood, shot hoops in the school basketball court and such for entertainment, the kids these days have their Wiis, PS3s and X-Boxes. And with the Wii-Fit, there is now no feeling guilty about sitting on their asses all day and playing games either. Everything finally owes it’s roots to the technological advancement. With the internet becoming the major source of all information, I would imagine that most kids these days “googled” their texts and wrote stuff in their exams off Wikipedia. I think I wrote a post about this on a not-so-educational viewpoint a while back. You can read it here. And that means that the older generation is having to adapt too. Actually I think I will visit my school the next time I am in Chennai and see how they’re trying to keep abreast with the technological advancement. Coming back to the next generation though, sometimes I wonder if all this technological exposure is robbing away some of the old-world pleasure off of their lives. For instance, I read that Amazon sold more Kindles than they did actual books. But can the e-book hold the same feel that an actual book can? When you fold out the fresh spine of the brand-new book, the smell of the pages, the big black ink on crisp new pages, the feeling is classic and something that every book-lover has enjoyed. Sure the Kindle emulates the text and the overall package, but the “feel” isn’t going to be replicated any time soon. i guess I am just old-worldly in this. But I’d love to hear from the new generation, Do they think they are missing out on anything at all? Or do they just think we are sentimental fools who are dragging them back on the whole techy run? Something similar to our parents trying to convince us about gramophones as opposed to our uber-cool ipods. And then suddenly I understand. It’s all about the perspective. What you grew up with will always remain dear to you, no matter how everything else evolves technologically around you.

Merry Christmas n Happy Holidays!

Ok, so I am a week early in wishing you all a Merry Christmas. But then it is the holiday season after all. And Paris has had bout after bout of snow. A white Christmas is after all traditional and many many people hope it. And just in case the snow melted away, I went into our backyard garden which is pristine from the non-intrusiveness… took away the urge to make a snowman by dressing up one of my teddy bears (er.. squirrel?) in my garb. See -

That apart, I tried to try and set it at good places to get a nice shot of the snow and the surrounding, trying to battle the cold and keep my hands steady (I was still in PJs, I couldn’t bother to throw on anything warm to wade out into the backyard garden).

But here’s one and I hope it captures enough spirit to depict Christmas or at least the winter holidays -

Happy Holidays everybody!

That first snow of the season

 

Ah how we hate it… the biting cold, the numb fingers n toes, the reddened nose, the dry mouth and stretchy skin. We all hate the side effects of winter. Yet there’s something magical when the ground is covered with that first snow of the season. Suddenly all that cold doesn’t bother us for those few instants that we marvel at the beauty of nature, that pristine white cover that makes everything seem better almost immediately. Snow has a way of lifting spirits, maybe because it makes everything look brighter from reflecting the light off of it. Up above is a picture of the first snow outside my window (I apologize for the quality of the image – I took a hasty picture on my cell camera just to make it count). Time for some hot chai now to make up for the icy cold outside. Happy Winter!!

Behind the veil of anonymity..

What would you do if you could do something and you could get away with it? Something like an invisibility cloak where you could glide along doing good/bad undetected? Unfortunately such powers mostly always invoke that tiny part in us that wants to do something "bad" and get away with it. They don't say for nothing that with "great power comes great responsibility". However with the invisibility cloak being a not-too-distant reality, what I am really talking about is the whole wide world of web anonymity. Where it's all too easy to create fake email IDs, fake logins to most things, where there is no real verification, where it's so easy to word your thoughts in someone else's lingo and pass it off for the real thing... where hate mail is sort of second nature and what not. I will be honest and say that I did create a fake email ID but to my credit, I haven't sent any emails to anyone from that. I sort of use it on movie websites or other random newsletter subscriptions which require email verification and where I don't want spam on my primary ID. But I would assume that almost everyone has multiple IDs which they use for work/fun or whatever else. I am unaware of anyone who has used a fake ID to actually get some message across to someone they knew but who wouldn't have a clue of who they were from the ID. That would be fun though and potentially gossip-generating in this dried out era of time, but dishonest, nonetheless. This is sort of one of those things I am on the fence on. While expressing your thoughts as your own is probably best, anonymity sure helps when you want to avoid any long-drawn repercussions. Of course the whole "hurt" factor is killed as well... which explains why even on MindBlogging when people want to leave comments that are not concurrent with my thoughts, they are usually anonymous while they take the effort to sign in when it's all praise. What do you guys think? This time, anonymous comments are welcome. There is some comfort behind the veil after all...

Guilty pleasures

One of the biggest negative forces of motivation is guilt. Of course almost all negative forces are very powerful in their motivation. But mostly they don't lead to good actions. Like anger, jealousy or revenge never really resulted in something that you could look back upon fondly. They result in impulsive actions, more often regretted than not. However, guilt has the special distinction of being a negative emotion but resulting in something usually positive. Like eating too much can invoke guilt leading to an effective workout session or diet plan, however short, as penance. Guilt also has the side-effect of extremely heightened senses. For instance, if you lied to someone about being occupied with some other engagement but ended up going shopping, roughly 40% of the random people you encounter begin to resemble the one you are avoiding. And the darting eyes and jumpy demeanor are enough for you to hope you didn't have to lie. Of course if you're lucky, you managed to get past it without any fall from grace. Work situations are some places where guilt reigns supreme. Having indulged in plenty days with little work done, the guilt finally catches up to you and makes you work hard at least for that last week before the vacation (no such luck in my case considering I am writing this at work). But on the other hand, it is the guilt of having written very little over the last 3 months that is making me come up with excuses to write. And another rule of multiple guilts? One outweighs the other. Apparently the blog trumped the cleanroom. Not for long though.. I am headed out there right now. Everyone wins.

"Bi"-lingual

For many people learning French for the first time, it may seem absurd that French words have a specific gender. Of course this is nothing new to people familiar with our very own Hindi. Like mera bag(my bag where bag's male) or meri kursi(my chair where chair is female). Interestingly, taking the very same examples to French yields the same gender. It's mon sac and ma chaise respectively male and female for the corresponding examples of bags and chairs. Most words match for the two languages as far as I checked, except some, like "telephone", which is male in French and female in Hindi. Which makes it "bi-lingual" in more than one sense, if you get my drift. The funny part's when the ignorant English speaker attempts French or vice versa. Often times the gender is messed up.. Perhaps it's not so weird when the English speaker says mon chaise for his chair even though the chair is female. But it's funnier when the French are trying to explain something to you in English. Like when the computer hangs, for example. English, being gender-neutral, we tend to say, It's not responding. When the French people translate it for you, they often say, He is not responding. Ok, I don't know why, but I thought this was funny when I started writing this post. Now it seems a little rhetoric. Ah well, it's something interesting, if not funny at least for a few lingual enthusiasts. For everyone else, Happy middle-of-the-week and hope I think up something more fun next time around! A+

The shortest route algorithm

I suppose a lot of people are like me... living their lives by the "shortest route algorithm" where possible. For instance, I know precisely where I need to stand to get into the right train compartment that'll stop directly in front of the exit I need to take. I am sure a lot others know this too which explains why that particular compartment of the train alone would be significantly more crowded than the ones away from it. This of course is a very simple example of the algorithm. But there are other places I put this theory into practice as well. Entirely sure that the shortest connection between 2 dots is indeed a straight line, I tend to tell people what's on my mind directly to them rather than to a third person which then creates a complex loop and a mesh of other things that I would rather remain untangled from. Undoubtedly, even so rather more so perhaps, I have landed in trouble because of this habit. This yields into the foot-in-your-mouth situation sometimes and that's never pleasant. But I would like to think that I have toned it down a notch and sort of taken the diplomatic in-between path over the years. Now I no longer think it is entirely necessary for me to express every opinion (except here :D) to everyone concerned, unless they are positive of course. And being fabulously in favour with everyone didn't hurt anyone. So in this case, I'd rather excuse the shortest route algorithm. And I'd recommend you do too. After all, somethings are best left to the imagination, aren't they?

New-age arranged marriages

Here's yet another post about marriages. It seems to me that I have given my unsolicited opinion about anything and everything regarding the topic over many posts in the past. That hasn't really stopped me now either. Wondering what I am talking about? You have some catching up to do!! Read these set of posts, and if you weren't bored enough, this one and this one and last but not the least, this one. And yes, they are all different posts (surprise, surprise).

Anyhow, this post is about how arranged marriages have come a long way since the days of our parents' generation. How the concept of the bride n groom sort of meeting at the wedding venue is no longer remotely true (I do know of a case where they did meet only like a day before the wedding.. but the amount of time they spent on the phone together, they might as well have been living together!) But it's how the concept has evolved. Now the arranged marriage has strictly become only a portal to meet someone. And while everything has graduated to going online, why not the marriage meeting-ground? It only makes sense. But once the people get introduced, it's as much a courtship as anything else outside of it.

No, the involved girl/guy do not take for granted that they will end up with any other person that they meet. No, it's not easy to convince someone to marry you even though they are meeting you with that end result in mind. And yes, the romance has to ring true. Yes for flowers, candy, jewelry, chivalry and whatever else that can woo the woman (ok, there are few not-so-diehard-romantics who claim that they don't need all of this, but trust me, almost everyone enjoys it). I mean, who doesn't want to be the center of someone else's universe (even if it is only for the courtship period)? As for the guys, of course they have their own criteria that the women have to fall over themselves to fulfill. And just because the parents convinced him to meet a girl, doesn't mean he wants to marry her. He'll meet her to shut his parents up, but the spark has to be a true one. Everyone wants the fairytale romance. The whisked-off-one's-feet feeling. No wonder "proposals" have become common in arranged-marriage scenarios. I first found it to be a little bizarre, but I have come to understand it now. The dates, the drinks, the visits to maybe multiple men/women were all sincere efforts (well, in most cases at least) to finally zero-in on the one "life-partner". And hence the proposal. The actual statement of the undercurrent running through the entire courtship period. The Will-you-marry-me? There's a bonus in all this. The woman definitely feels more special and that wins the guy brownie points. Go romance!!

To Priya and her beau who took the plunge. Congratulations!

The inner paradox

Sometimes I am amazed by what I want to do and what I really want to do and how much they differ. And this paradox is usually a result of fulfilling other's expectations of me, projecting a more flattering image of myself or something similarly irrelevant. Atleast that's understandable when it's something stupid. Like not eating the last bit of the shared chocolate-something-delicious at a restaurant for the want of not appearing gluttonous even though you'd really just like to have it. I am actually talking more about things that you'd normally think are more serious and hence the course of action, pretty straight-forward. Like reactions in my case. I consider myself a true Scorpion in every sense of the word (though not believing all that much these days in all that Linda Goodman astrological mess - ok, there's another paradox for you). You would then think that negative reactions like spite should come easily to me. But yet again, I am caught in the middle of being truly vengeful and just plain nice and mostly the good trumps the evil. And the part of me that believes that I am capable of true spite is truly saddened. See the paradox? Even being good can sometimes make you feel bad. As always I am going to extrapolate a simple thought to something a bit more complex. Some people for instance just deserve to be at the receiving end of spite sometimes and the “bad” that you’re feeling is being unable to mete out what you think is the right treatment to them. The really funny part is where only the bad things stand out in our heads immediately whilst obliterating everything good that might’ve been in the past. One bad experience can wipe out a multitude of good ones in a second while it takes more than just one good experience to overcome just the one bad experience. Isn’t that weird? Go on, give it a thought. Think of that restaurant you stopped going to because their service sucked one time even though they’ve given umpteen good ones before that... or that brand of milk you stopped buying because once it was bad. Ever noticed it’s similar with people too? One act of distrust for example is going to take a long time to wipe away from memory while all those good things before were not given enough credit as they were. Scientifically it means just one thing - Good and bad are neither white and black respectively nor weigh the same on any scale. Why all these inequalties? It’s just in human nature, I guess.

On that philosophical note, this post marks the 600th for MindBlogging overall and the 200th this year. Pretty momentous, I'd say... Thank you readers for keeping me motivated. Keep MindReading!