Saturday, September 27, 2008

Hey, I can cook!!!

When I was a kid, I remember being absolutely fascinated with cooking and the whole thing about concocting something over a fire...but, now, I wouldn't exactly say I'm facinated...funny how quickly one can lose interest when that something which was once fascinating is now expected of you on a daily basis!!!

I've always thought that I can manage pretty well when it comes to cooking, a fact which my family believed in to a greater extent than even me!! But, taking into account certain recent anecdotes, I'd say, my father in particular must have begun having his doubts!!

When we were kids, mom used to go on trips to India occasionally, and at these times, dad used to take care of the cooking department. One such occasion recently came up, when mom left on an extended visit to India. This time though, seeing that I'm much older and capable (??) of taking over "the putting-food-on-the-table (in the literal sense)" aspect, she left with much confidence.

We had a special occasion coming up, for which my dad asked me to prepare this particular bread, unleavened, perfectly round and crisp. Crispy enough to be able to break it and hear the crack. Those were the specifications! Over the years, mom used to prepare it. So, this time, I felt absolutely honoured to actually contribute to this time-honoured tradition of ours and with great aplomb, set to the task. It was basically chappati mixture but without salt and not much oil.

Well, guess what!!! The results were very pleasing and my father was elated with the perfectly round, white and crispy bread. He, infact, made sure everyone knew that it was I who had prepared it (on hindsight, what he didn't realise was that, that was the only way I knew how to prepare it!!). And as you can imagine...I was absolutely pleased with myself and was grinning from ear to ear!! My father even went out on a limb to say that even my mom hadn't prepared it so well in all these years!!

The next day, I made some curry and thought, "hey, there's some dough left from yesterday's preparation, so why not use that to make some chappatis!!" and I thought that all I had to do was add a little more oil and everything would be fine...

...ahem...well, apply Murphy's law here, things didn't turn out exactly as planned...let's fast forward a bit here. The chappatis were bad...they were too rubbery, hard and dry...my father, the sweet person that he is, never complained even once. He managed to painstakingly (I learned later as I tried the chappatis myself, coz' you see, in a very traditional way, I insisted my dad eat first and then I would have my dinner after he's done) and slowly go through his 4 chappatis (Oh God!!) all the while smiling and ever so sweet.

I was so happy to see him enjoying his dinner that I offered to make more chappatis for him to take to work the next day, to which he politely refused mumbling something about not wanting to trouble me or something which I missed in my state of blissful oblivion!!

Anyways, the next day, my excellent cooking and it's effect boomeranged back at me!! I decided to take the very same chappatis to work for lunch and had to painstakingly toil through crispy, hard chappatis, at the end of which I had developed sores in my mouth (no exaggeration) from the over-crispy chappatis!! And to top it all off, had the cheek to invite my colleagues to share my lunch, so had to bear along with their teasing as well!!

If there is any truth to the saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", my prospects of finding a guy seem pretty bleak!! :(

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Men

Eversince I woke up this morning, I've been itching to write this post!!
There is this song that I'd once recorded from the FM, hence didn't know who the artist was or the name of the song, but I always liked listening to it and it never failed to bring a smile on my face. The song and the lyrics tickle me so much, that I just have to share this with others, so here goes:

The name of the song is "Men", sung by "The Forester Sisters" part of the album "Talkin' 'Bout Men" released in 1991

Men

They buy you dinner, open your door
Other than that, what are they good for?
Men! I’m talkin’ ‘bout men
They all want a girl just like the girl
That married dear old dad they make me so mad

Chorus: Men! I’m talkin’ ‘bout men
Well, you can’t beat ‘em up ‘cause they’re bigger than you
You can’t live with ‘em and you just can’t shoot ‘em
Men! I’m talkin’ ‘bout men

They love their toys they make their noise
They’re nothing but a bunch of overgrown boys
Men! I’m talking ‘bout men
If you give ‘em what they want, they never fall in love
Don’t give ‘em nothin’ they can’t get enough

Chorus

In the beginning they always aim to please
They serve a purpose they fill a need
They ensure survival of the species
They take you for a ride, run out of gas
Most of the time they’re a pain in the a-a yeah, yeah

Chorus

Silver tongue devils
Well, they’re lying through their teeth
Saying anything
Just to sweep you off your feet
Ooh yeah, men! Talkin’ ‘bout men
Mere mortal man


Well, doesn't that sum it all up? I needn't say anything more!
For the women who need a good laugh!! and men who can handle it!!

Nothing has triggered this post of mine!!! Trust me :-p

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Before Sunrise

As usual, I was wide awake at midnight and decided to see if they have something interesting on TV (which unfortunately has only 4 channels in an understandable language), was surfing through channels and settled on one.....and chanced upon one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen......"Before Sunrise" starring Ethan Hawke (Jesse) and Julie Delpy (Celine). Romance...but very practical, possible that it might be totally unheard of....now I don't want to make this seem like a movie review...but I was so struck by the movie that I thought I just have to share this...


In general, in a movie, when a guy and girl meet, no matter how incompatible they may seem at first, the audience take it for granted that by the end, they would be head over heels in love and you just go ahead and watch the movie to see the process or else purely for ROI. Though that element was always present in this one, the rapport between Jesse and Celine is so lacking in artifice that the viewer is left feeling like he/she is anticipating something.


Jesse and Celine meet on a train travelling through Europe. Jesse's destination is Vienna where a flight back to America awaits him the next morning and Celine is headed towards Paris. They have a lively conversation over a meal and when the train reaches Vienna, Jesse persuades Celine to keep him company wandering around Vienna until the time comes for him to depart.


We have this set, preconceived notion that this is how a romance should be like, or this is what the conversation should be like, but here, "we are privvy to the sort of unimportant dialogue that most romance movies shy away from". This movie has so many poignant little scenes that the whole effect or end result is very intoxicating. As the saying goes "the whole is more than a sum of its parts". Topics ranging from love, life, reincarnation, religion to philosophy, etc are broached upon in a subtle manner and are then left hanging in the air for the viewer to ponder over almost like the delicate odour of a perfume in the air after it's user has long gone!!


Some of the topics and dialogues that really caught my attention are:

- Jesse at one point mocks love and the attraction one feels for a person by saying that humans have a tendency to put a "romantic projection" on everything we come across in life and upon close scrutiny, the bubble of romance breaks and our feet land firmly on the ground

- In a quiet moment at a church, where they discuss religion and beliefs, Jesse relates an experience where he accompanied a friend to the wedding of one who belongs to the Quaker Religion. There is absolute silence in the chapel, while the bride and groom sit staring into each other's eyes in the resonating silence waiting for God to talk to them, and finally, after about an hour or so of silence, they exchange vows and marry.

- Celine says she wants to be independent and not be someone who's life revolves around a man. But then, she recounts a conversation with a 52 yr old man who looks back at his life and realises that all he's been doing is working and working but sees no true meaning in it and no one to share his life with. Celine then says "Deep down inside all of us, we all want to love and be loved"

- Jesse "We are all each other's demons and angels"

...and a lot more...Celine is this independent, philosophical yet romantic girl who yearns for true love and Jesse is this cynical, practical, feet-firmly-planted-on-the-ground kind of guy who also, at the end of it all, yearns of, one day, becoming a good husband and father yet wonders if relationships are meant to last forever!!

...the unsaid things and feelings between them due to the obvious realisation that their relationship is practically impossible builds so much of this tension and anticipation between them that it's almost tangible... of which we are given just a glimpse!!

"Before Sunrise" is a definite must watch for those of you out there who care about such topics!! I suppose it has a sequel as well "Before Sunset"!!

Love could happen when one least expects it!!!! Happy watching!!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

...

In the Bible, one would find many verses in the Greek Scriptures (also known as the New Testament) with nothing except for a dash or a blank space. These "dashes" or blank spaces are known as "ellipsis" (pl. ellipses).

Oxford defines "ellipsis" - omission of words needed to complete construction or sense; set of three dots etc. indicating such omission.

It is said that, these blank spaces or dashes were instances when Jesus was overwhelmed by emotions so much so that he was at a loss for words, hence it speaks better than words and helps in conveying the meaning intended!!! The power of imagination is such a great tool!!!

These days a lot of us use ellipses in the form of dots... (here I go again), in fact, I used a lot of them in my first blog and came about writing this blog trying to explain why I did that.....perhaps I was at a loss for words....or maybe I was just clearly confused!!! hmmm...

How far I've come since opening my blog!! I've managed three posts on the same day...and to think I was at a loss for topics to write on...

Realisations - some borrowed

So many special and cherished moments in our lives. When we look back on them, we realize that most of them were really short. And we wish that they had lasted longer but we don’t realize that their shortness is what probably made us cherish them and long for them so.

I have this habit of writing down or marking lines that I found to be really intriguing in books that i read. A few such lines are -

  • "Could fulfillment be felt as deeply as loss?" - Kiran Desai in "Inheritance of loss"
  • "A face long not seen finally fades" - Orhan Pamuk in "My name is Red"
  • "The worlds that people build for themselves are an open book - people build what they never had, but always wanted" - Robert Crais in "The last detective"
  • "Somewhere in my life I got the notion that if you tried to make a business out of the thing you loved, then that thing would become a job and the love would be ruined for ever" - Jeanne Ray in "Eat Cake"
  • "Tears are more special than smile. For smile can be given to anyone, but tears are shed only for the one we love" - Anonymous

Enters the world of bloggers...

Everyone, I suppose, at different points in life suffer from bouts of procrastination.......but i think i top the list.....
After numerous visits to the cafe, reading blogs, coming as far as visiting a blog site only to return back saying "tomorrow i'll open one"......I've finally, gotten down to doing it......and here is my very first blog about blogging.....
Words, impressions, thoughts, ideas, experiences thrown into cyber space........a silent scream.......probably a place to vent emotions, feelings.......better than a shrink??!!! the luxury of anonymity.....wonder!!! why do people blog??!!! I have seen blogs that have absolutely no readers and hence, no comments.......the link is  displayed on your profile for friends and acquaintances to read.....but, then again....you don't need to blog to share your thoughts with them.....
well, coming back to this delayed start of mine.....I look forward to blogging again!!!!

Shades of you...

On a balmy Thursday afternoon, I decided to step out for some sunlight and groceries. Blue eyeliner, lip gloss, and some jewelry…the first t...