TATA bye bye

My 5 years in my first company has drawn to an end. And as I look back, I know that it has been one heck of a roller-coaster ride.
I learnt how to actually use a computer - 4 years of engineering and the internet age couldn't make me do it, but work did.
I moved from calling IT and Computer Science engineering graduates as IT guys and included myself in that group of 'techies'.
I was forced to learn computer languages ;0 Harder than that was learning 'People interaction skills'.
Work is never really painful when you look back, but I remember complaining, cribbing that it was so hard and never finished.There were lots of late nights where friends would wait for each other to finish. Then there were the fights - cold war style with so many people who had made life mini-hell for me.Turns out every incident good-bad has actually taught me something, while there are still somethings that I continue to repeat for the heck of it, some are real lessons about what to stay away from.
For the longest time, I hated the open politics or at least the un-acknowledged undercurrent that runs through every team, every office, every group of people. I hated,still do, it when I saw people 'butter' their way through life, though I had lots of people telling me to fit in , I think I took pride in stubbornly staying me. One of my achievements, 5 years in an IT company and I am still BLUNT. Guess thats why only my friends can stand me ;0
I did get a chance to go abroad to the US of A. lots of new things that opened up.
I have made friends for life - that's my favourite part of all the above lot.
It really is funny that at the end of such a long 'journey', it's the smallest things that come to mind.
When I was leaving, I remembered the first time I walked into a lobby and how awed I was at the receptionist talking smooth and juggling 10 calls a minute. I remembered being wow-ed by the entire wall in the ladies room being a mirror.My first look of a cubicle that I had heard so many jokes about.My first manager, the first late night stay, the first appraisal, the first friends, the first team outing, the first salary, the pride in buying something on your own, and so many more. And of course, I did get married while I was in this company.
Sigh, no matter how prepared I was for leaving - 1 month notice is a lot of time - putting on the tag one last time, submitting it to the HR , it did tug at my heart when I saw the big name board on the building one last time, I felt so senti when I was taking my vehicle out the parking lot for the very last time, and the worst was when I was passing the gate for the last time as an employee - I knew it was over - no more turning back.

An ode to the flame

Friday, January 2, 2009

It happened !!! It finally did, the cooker stopped after just one whistle and then died on us. Vc walked in to find that the cooking gas cylinder had finally run out.
It lasted 8 months almost. It gave us a scare a couple of times in its 5th month when the flame turned orange and all thought that it was finally time.
It stood by us when lots of people, parents, friends, the gas agency guy too all ridiculed us that it lasted way longer at our home than any other home they knew.
I will miss the first household appliance that Vc got.
Here's to it's memory !!

Myu tata

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Its about time isnt it ! I mean I am cooking every day and this blog doesnt get all the attention that it actually deserves. yeah yeah rub your hands in glee, coming up is my next 'mis'adventure with cooking :)


What I used :
Pillsbury vanilla cake mix.
Oil
Egg

What I did :
followed instructions on the back of the Pillsbury cover ! duh !!!

And for laughs:
Well, I didnt know that microwaveable bowls cant be used for cooking in the microwave!!
After putting in the batter into the bowl, I realised that my microwave doesnt have a temperature setter, ah well, cant do anything after having come so far, now can I?I put it in anyways and set the timer for 25 mins. I settle down comfortably with a novel waiting for the ting ting ting 'Your food is ready!!!'
I am not sure how much later but I get up to get a nibble since I was getting hungry, and I see smoke billowing out of the kitchen. There's no fire, thank God but the source is ,you guessed it, the hero of the story- my darling mirowave!
I turned off the switch and pull open the door, the plastic bowl's half gone, melted onto the glass floor, bursting as it died onto to walls of its confines changing the palette of heaven to that of hell.The cake was still there, it dint vaporise!!! darn!!! but it had turned into stone(the mister checked)

End Result :
The smoke caused far too much of coughing and brought about a mini-breathing issue not to mention burning eyes!
Its been 3 days and there's a faint burnt odour in my kitchen and not just when I open that darned door!
The inside of my brand new microwave oven has turned from white to a dirty brown(not on the outside though, its mishaps are its to hide ;))

Moral of the story: Dont get into cooking extra stuff just coz you got home early from work !!!

Peas Pulao

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

What I used:
Rice(Cooked)
Peas
Onions
Green Chillies
Oil
Salt
Cardamom
Cloves
Ginger-Garlic paste
Sugar

What I did:
Started with the rice cooker, got to have the rice ready before we start.

Chop up the onions and green chillies.Heat some oil in the kadai(and definitely do no add ginger-garlic paste now!!!) Add the cardamom and cloves, followed by onions and chillies. And now the ginger garlic paste. Wait till all looks fairly cooked and add the pretty peas :D. Give them some time (and don't let them get squishy!) and add the rice, some salt and a dash of sugar. Mix it all up properly and tadaaaaaaa......

and for laughs:
I got to move Vc away from the tv and come running into the kitchen ! All I had to do was heat the oil in the pan and add the ginger-garlic paste directly. It spewed it all out like there was no tomorrow, I had stand at the far end of the kitchen and watch all the oil spurt out all over the clean ledge and all the utensils kept around. We couldn't even reach the stove to turn it off, the brave knight tried to by shielding himself with a towel, but just as he reached out to turn the stove knob, a nice drop of boiling oil landed right on his wrist and he hopped back into the safe zone ! I ended up with a half burnt pan and it took me 15 mins to clean up the oil splattered all over the walls and the floor , not just the ledge ! and I did have an oil coated cucumber to contend with ;)
and of course,Vc says "Tv isnt as interesting as the kitchen ;) "
Made my day !!! uahahhahhahahaaaa ....

End Result:
Not happy with the result :(

Good 'ol Indian Pizzzzzzzza ...

Saturday, March 8, 2008

What I used:
Mozarella cheese
Pizza base
Veggies:-
Beans
Carrots
Cabbage
Capsicum(I know, Its not there in the snap)
Onions
Green Chillies
Tomato sauce
Garam Masala
Oil
Salt
Microwave Oven

What I did:
Chop up the vegetables.Heat some oil in the kadai, chillies go in first, followed by the onions until they are a light brown. The veggies go in next. Add salt as per taste and a sprinkling of garam masala. Toss it around for a while till properly cooked.
Spread tomato sauce on the base, the vegetable fry goes on top of that. And grated cheese right on top, generously please.
Set the microwave oven in convection mode at 190 deg C, pizza on a microwaveable plate for 4 minutes.
and tat-ta-daaaaaa.

and for laughs:
Well me cooks and you don't get a laugh or I don't get scolded, nah, not possible!!
I had put one in the microwave and was getting the second one ready and I smell smoke.I was worried the pizza was burning, but nah it wasn't that.There was smoke coming out of the electrical socket.The poor thing had fused.And yours truly decided to do it the old fashioned way. Put on the dosa tava on low heat and put pizza2 on that.And 5 minutes later the base had fried out, charred black.
I had dad's lecture about not being patient enough to wait till he got another adapter.Mom saying she was trying to make it while waiting (scores a point).HeHeHe

End Result:
All still standing and it was rather good, if I may so.

Desserts galore

Monday, August 11, 2008

Will you believe it ?? I actually made Gulab Jamoons and Coconut burfi last week !
I am so happy I could do a somersault :D not really no, all my 'colleagues' would be scandalised.

Gulab Jamoon was rather simple. Of course it always is when you have a ready mix packet in hand ;)
I used 100gms of the GulabJamoon mix, a dash of water to make it into dough, Sugar and water to make a sugar syrup. It took me just half an hour to make it.

Mix sugar:water at 1:2 ,set it to boil. Mix the dough, it takes verrry little water . Keep aside for 5 minutes.
Make small balls of the dough (the size of marbles is good enough) . I made them the size of the jamoons that are ready to be eaten. I was sort of heartbroken that 100gms of powder yields only 5 Jamoons. I mean, when my mom made them , I could eat 5 each day for a week and they would still be some left for others too ;)
On a medium flame, 'fry' the batter-balls in oil till they get to a honey-ish brown colour.
And then the fun part, dunk the roasted balls into the hot sugar syrup. They semi-sink with a hiss (I did jump back a bit not sure what woould happen, but other than the fizzing , nothing else did) .
I left them in the syrup and by the time I was done cleaning up, I saw them becoming big, soaking in the sugar and looked like they were trying to escape from the vessel. Had to put them into two seperate vessels.
We finally ended up with Gulab Jamoons the size of Ragi mudde uahahahahahahaa .....

The coconut burfi was right out of a recipe on the net. Grate a coconut, fry it slightly.Add elaichi powder to it. Make sugar syrup , make sure its 'tight'/ and put the fried copra into the syrup.
Voila ! Its done!
But how can we leave at peace, what will happen to us adding a touch of individuality to it??
Vc saunters in, adds badam powder (to change the color), he tilts his head left and then right,(he's not too happy about the color). He (hold your breath) peels badam and adds it on top.
I was almost going to wait for it to harden so I could make squares and then cut it(like in the shops duh!) , but turns out the syrup was more than the coconut could handle.
We had the sweet today morning . Sort of had to drink it like a soup ;)
uahahahahahhaaaa

Hero

I saw one of the weirdest movies yesterday, weirdest EVER. The plot is about a supposed-psycho who does some really whacko things all through but in the end - he's the hero, he's the scarily-selfless sacrificer and that makes it a happy ending.
His idea of making friends is - ask a guy if he knows how to swim and on learning that he can't swim, push him into the water, wait for him to struggle and call for help, save him - then say 'I helped you, we are friends now'. That people, is the opening scene.
He acts like he's a PERFECT guy in office and has everyone literally bowled over, in walks the heroine, and he kisses her as soon as they are alone in a lift - their first conversation. And there were people laughing in the theatre at this.Imagine, in real life, a guy kissed a total-stranger-newcomer in a lift. I am sure there will be a dozen committees waiting to take that guy down. The heroine complains to the HR and the HR tells her she is hallucinating, because the hero is PERFECT and wont do that. And there people guffawing uncontrollably at that scene.
Sigh, I was really worried what I had dragged myself into.
While, as an actor, the hero really made me believe he was off the hinge, he did an amazing job at dancing, really outstanding. The script writing was probably different/unique while I am not a fan of the story, I can acknowledge the script writer and the art director for putting out something sort of intelligent on screen.

Oh - the movie is Arya-2.

It sort of got me to think, why I was uncomfortable with a weirdo for a hero. Why I was uncomfortable that he was uncouth with the heroine is definitely not being questioned ;)
We are used to a hero being, well, a hero. Extremely well cultured, well mannered, perfect (really perfect, not fake perfect), can fight 2 dozen men gun-toting men single-handedly with bare hands, who absolutely adores the heroine,always does the right thing.
Now, I think, we idolize heroes and expect them to be like that, because that is what sets them apart from being ordinary- that is why he is THE hero, duh!! If he breaks/doesn't conform to any of the above aspects of his definition, he is like us, so how can he be the hero.
It doesn't matter if he doesn't get the girl, he sacrifices her for her happiness/for traditions/some other unwritten law that binds him and makes us realise his greatness in doing it.A hero has to be great, has to do what no one else can do, has to be amazingly God-like, otherwise, it'll be an ART FILM!!!
he he he
Well, I did adore the hero in Magadheera - he could kill 100 men and still stand, he is reborn again to claim the woman he couldn't get in the past birth where he sacrifices his love for her since the king demands it against his honour.
That's my hero - honour, valour, belief in the power of his word.

And the weird part is, by the time Arya-2 was ending, I sort of pitied the hero who was giving up the girl he loved because he loved his friend more (even if the friend hated him). I realised that since we can't get all the qualities of a legendary hero, we make do for a few and overlook all the scary-psycho-weird-freaking parts.
Just like we accept other people in our life - s/he is like this and that, but s/he has these great qualities, so , I like him/her. No back and white anymore, we live with the greys, eh?

Would I recommend Magadheera, without even thinking once , forget thinking twice. But would I recommend Arya-2 .- hmmm, ummm , uhhhh , maybe you should check it out for yourself. Maybe you will have fun seeing a 'different' movie.

yayyyyaaaaayyyyayyy

I lost a kg ... and I am loving it. tralalllaalaalllaaaa ...
oh and 10 new dresses actually might be a reason too.

La la land

When people see me sitting with 600-700 page novels, 90% of the time, their response is varying levels of shock, wonder and partial pity on me that I am suffering through so many pages of the written word.
And the very same people who don't know even as many authors as I do(all of 4 - Ayn Rand, Robert Ludlum, Robert Jordan and John Grisham) love to snicker when they see me reading a Mills and Boon.
I don't understand what the big deal is. There was a phase when I went through my share of MnB, way back when I was school. I remember it being totally unrealistic, hopelessly romantic and always with a happy ending. And then I went through a phase for the last 10 years or so where I looked down upon them. How I caught that view, I have no idea! But recently, when I wanted to read a light book, the first thing that caught my eye was an MnB.Predictable plot line, warped sense of feminism, exotic people and location, fairytale romance - it had it all - and surprisingly, I didn't mind it.
I think I got tired of all the novels dealing with the reality of suffering, pain, death, honour, various kinds of subterfuge and the other set of novels set in pure fantasy of dragons, magic, kings and what nots.
This book was such a refreshing change. I tried reading other chick-lit - Danielle Steel-but she kills too many people in her plot - sad touch again. Whereas the dear MnBs restrict themselves purely to the 'tension' of 'does he like me, does he not' and since we know 'he does', we are happy for the heroine too :)
Next time you look down on an MnB, just remember, it could just be your escape into light, reading and some amount of romanticism. Real life is all around you anyways, why go looking for it when you read for pleasure !!