the art of enjoying food

I think, the lady hosting the program 'Food Safari' in Fox History & Travel should take cues from Kalidasan. Kalidasan is the protagonist of the Malayalam movie Salt 'N Pepper. He just makes you want to go & eat whatever he is eating. He also has the talent to make you crave for whatever is being cooked in his kitchen. I believe thats what a host for a cooking show should be doing.

One day in 'Food Safari', the french chef gave up & finally said, 'I was hoping that you would ask this question'! Maybe her concept about the program was rite, but she is definitely not the rite person to host that show :-P Only people who loves food/cooking/experimenting with food could do justice to such programs ..... someone like Kalidasan.

Picture Courtesy : www.oprah.com

greetings

The movies are not at all exaggerating when they show girls screaming over nothing .... This happened during a meeting I had to attend ...

A guy meets another guy ... quietly pats of the each others back & a quick handshake
A gal meets someone she knows .... noise noise & more noise

Yes! irony of the year ... Posted by a gal who screams for nothing ... ;) 

Picture Courtesy : www.123rf.com

husbands & wives

Recently my 5yr old was introduced to a single lady friend of mine, who is contemplating moving into a shared accommodation. For obvious reasons, kiddo was curious as to how or why such a situation arises. This is a snippet of our conversation after we reached home ....

kiddo : Doesn't she has a husband?
Me : No baby ... she doesn't.
kiddo : She doesn't like husbands? She likes only to be wives?

I still am not sure what she meant with that question. As of now, I am assuming that she is exposed to the fact that people can choose whether to marry or not. 

Picture Courtesy : www.istockphoto.com

revelation of the day

I am a regular listener to Koit - the online version of the channel. Their catch line is 'lite rock, less talk'. But my line for them would be - mushy mushy songs :) I was listening to them today morning & I noticed a pattern among the songs they were playing at that time. The girls keep crying about the lost loved by repeating how great it was and the guys kept saying sorry. Not sure whether the playlist selection was made in that manner. But looked like the girls keep expecting sorry.

PS.
This post is purely coincidental. Any similarity to anyone living/dead was & is unintentional.

Picture Courtesy : www.clipartof.com

mommy moment

 One late evening, the phone rings.... Tringg! Tringg!

Me : Hello.
The other end : Helloooooo
Me {recognizing my niece's voice} : Hi baby .... how are you?
Niece : Is my sister there?
Me : Yes.
Niece : Can you handover the phone to her please?
Daughter : Hello Sister
Daughter : Okay ... hmmmm ... k .... hmmm ... hmmm ... welcome .... byeeeee

I was curious because this was the first time my daughter is having a 'quite' conversation with her sister! Normally, they have a high energy conversation - which includes a couple of screams. I asked my daughter what the call was about. Her answer was quite cryptic - "She wanted to say thanks because her teacher gave her 10 stars for her drawing in school". I was like .... "How wonderful!". But ... so?????? :-/

Next day, I got the complete story from my sis-in-law. My niece had drawn a picture which was inspired by one done by my daughter. Since my daughter was the main reason for scoring all those stars, my sil wanted my niece to thank my daughter.

Yea ... truly a proud mommy moment for me :D

Picture Courtesy : depositphotos.com

INKED!!!

After brewing it for 12 years, I was finally able to implement it today. Yes! I got a tattoo. My daughter is super excited seeing it & she is showing it off on my behalf.

Whenever I think of tattoo, the image that pops in my mind was that of people covered in ink. Something that reminded me of fish's scales, which discouraged me. And, then there was the pain factor to be considered.

One of my close friend had her hand tattooed (have to use 'hand' coz major part of it is covered in colors :) ). From her, I was able to get that it does pain, but it can be tolerated. But ... Hey! I am a mother, I have had a C-section & I have gone through the feeding process. If I can survive these two, I can definitely survive a tattoo!

But the loud designs still did nothing to encourage me. I am loud enough for myself. I didn't want my tattoo to scream as well ... :) That was when I saw her at a mall. I was waiting for my turn for the trail room & the girl in front of me had a cute tattoo. It was just an inch or two big AND was in black. So, tattoos can be monochromatic!

The last bit to gain some clarity was the design & location. I wanted something that I would feel comfortable wearing for the rest of my life. Yes, it didn't happen over night. But it did happen. And the final question - where? Being an Indian, that too from Kerala, I had to hunt for a place which wouldn't expand much. I understand there will be some sort of expansion, but somewhere the percentage is the minimal.

Today, I got my very first tattoo done. If you ask me, I would say, its zimble (simple), humble & a generic one O:-)

Epilogue :
This is just the first of the series, two more to go ....

T. D. Dasan Std. VI B

This movie was suggested to me by a friend. This was a nice & warm movie. I haven't come across a review which doesn't give a 3 star rating, if not more, yet this movie did not complete 1 whole week in the theaters. I was amazed that Keralite audience didn't accept such a nice movie. Was it because there were no 'super' stars, no kids of 'stars', no stunts, no dance in the rain, etc????

I am not sure if its because I like watching such movies that I am finding it difficult to accept that the general public didn't like this movie to let it screen for more than a week. As circuit says, "Shuru hone se pehle hi khatham ho gaya" (it was all over even before it started).

All I can pray now is, let there be more rich people who has spare money to invest in such movies without worrying about its box-office response. As for me, I will try watch a non-pirated version of such movies and encourage my family to join me O:-)

Picture Courtesy : en.wikipedia.org

planet wars

This conversation takes place between best friends. Situation - the girl & the boy are going through a rough patch in their relationship.

Girl : I am so tired sometimes I feel like ending it all up formally.
Girl's best girl friend : What happened? Don't you still love him?

Boy : She wants to leave me.
Boy's best boy friend : What happened? Is she having an affair?

And, I rest my case here.

Picture Courtesy : www.fotosearch.com

wine & dine

They say, music can bring people together. If you ask me, I would say, food too brings people together.

I had gone out with my extended team for lunch. I was seated next to a person I hardly know. While we were going through the menu, we started talking. That was when I realized we have something in common - our love for food & beverages and the excitement towards experimenting new dishes. We took the rest of the team by surprise with our enthusiasm.

So, next time I am in office & I get that strange feeling to eat something & don't know what that something is, I know whom to call ..... :)

Picture Courtesy : dailymail.co.uk

lost & having fun

My direction sense is world famous in my friends circle. The ever changing road rules in Bangalore has done nothing to help me either. And since there has always been the 'plan B' - ring someone if you sense a remote possibility for trouble - I have not taken any real effort to remember the routes. The bane & the boon of cell phone is that, you can connect to whoever & whenever. It has been a few weeks that I am running without a cell phone, not since my latest phone crash landed & was completely destroyed.

Yesterday, on my way back after meeting someone in the city, I lost my way ... twice ... in the same area =-O I was lost, in a strange place, started raining and it was getting dark. What amazed me was that I was not panicking and making backup plans for plan B. Instead, was thoroughly enjoying the situation I was in. Since there were no cell phones, I had to rely on myself to get out of the situation. I was able to enjoy the beautiful drive in the evening rain for a longer period of time ... :)

I was reminded of this comment I read somewhere ... "Why do girls need direction sense, we don't find it awkward to ask for directions" ... :)

winning = ??

This Sunday, my daughter was doing her reading homework with her dad, while I was making dinner for them. They were all 3 letter words and one such word was win.

Nans : w.i.n ... win. Acha, what does win mean?
Acha : {thinking}
Nans : Oh! yes ... it means coming first!

I have been troubled since I heard this definition. I mean, is that all win means? Coming first? What about the rest of the junta who did not come first, yet won? Isn't winning to be defined by oneself?

I am reminded of my friend's words .... "I don't want to win any race, I just want to finish it gracefully."

bond or break

This sat was my 5yrs old's day out. Yes, for a change, we decided to have lunch from a place of her choice. That was how we ended up in McDonald's. What I noticed when I reached McD was that, the number of dads with their kid(s) were much more that the rest of the crowd put together.

Not sure if it was the dad having a bonding time with the kids or the mom having a break time with herself :)

flyover constructions in bangalore

Every time I pass through a flyover construction in Bangalore, I am reminded of the mechanic v/s doctor joke. I have some sort of respect towards the people working on such projects. After all they are working with the 'engine' ON and an uncontrollable engine too. Yes, I am talking about the traffic and the ignorant drivers.

One day, while I was traveling from office, I witnessed the construction workers demolish the supporting structure which holds the horizontal portion of a flyover. The cops & the workers had formed a loosely bound human chain to block the vehicular traffic. A maniac biker, squeezed his way through two workers literally hurting their spread out arms. Seeing this a cop came over to check out the situation & two cars squeeze their way through the vacant cop's spot. All this happened in a span of seconds & just when the drivers were through, the supporting structure came down with a thud.

These are situations where I believe in the force of prayer. I don't see any other reason as to why the supporting structure didn't fall on the biker or on the cars. And, if it had fallen on them, who would have been blamed - "the authorities" and/or the construction company.

Yes, I was waiting for this newspaper article to write this blog!!!