MY PASTA'S A HIT! SO HERE'S THE RECIPE - ON PUBLIC DEMAND

So here I was terrorised by treat threats from all my buds at Oracle. Yup, When everyone cooks up goodies and you hog on all of that, you have to treat them to ice-creams n pastries. So one month down the line when the threats started surfacing again, I decided to unleash on them the cook within. So here's the pasta I made. Proud to say t'was a hit with everyone. And on public demand, here's the recipe.

PASTA: MA WAY

Ingredients: Any Pasta(My fav: Spaghetti), Olive oil, red chillies, garlic, lots of tomato, all the veggies you like, basil, thyme, any other spices you like.

Preparation: Boil the pasta, add some salt to the water. Once the pasta's nice and soft, drain the water. Now for the sauce- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan(this one's too big for a saucepan). Smash the garlic just enough to get their peel off and the into the hot olive oil. After a couple of minutes slice some dried red chillies into and put them in. Now you can either throw in the veggies along with the tomatoes or stir fry everything except tomatoes separately, adding tomatoes to the pan with garlic and chilly(I like it this way, making the sauce separately). And as I hardly get those juicy tomatoes(Hamesha salad vaaley crisp tomatoes hi miltey hain), you can always use puree, I did it with this one - although home-made tomato pulp's great any day. Once the sauce starts cooking well throw in the veggies, throw in some salt, throw in the spices - lots of basis. Feel the need to add water? Go ahead. Feel like adding olive oil? More the merrier.. but remember, your gonna drizzle some from the top once your done. And of course salt to taste. Keep tasting and keep adding salt or spice as per taste, I also like to throw in some pepper. And once your happy n you know it.. Toss the pasta into the mix let it simmer for some time n Voila! Drizzle some Olive oil now or better still, at the time of serving.

PS: Thanks Jyotsana for making me write this, as this adds a new label to my blog- Recipe.

THE ROAD WHERE YOU DON WANNA STOP

Here's a song that I wrote recently. Will try to compose this one also, no matter how bad I am at it. Apart from being a confession of stupid situations I get myself into, it's also a comment on the superb, efficient and women-friendly law and order situation we have in our national capital. So here you go..

THE ROAD WHERE YOU DON WANNA STOP

Half sane
Half miserable
But for all my buds this day
This day ain't nothing liveable
Of all the roads back to our home
Tis the road less travelled
So I'ma put my foot down hard
Break every law applicable

I'ma put my foot down hard
Break every law applicable

Chorus:
Cos This is a place where you don go lone,
And this is the road where you don wanna stop
Lest you like a prick with a gun in his hand
Put the gun t'your head and ask you wachugot!

See me through please..
Don't die on me now
It's a bad country for chicks
You had better duck down
Duck down n stay like that
Although its hot,sweaty n how
Got meself into shit like this
Feels good its been so long

Got meself into shit like this
Feels good its been so long

Chorus

Who the Shanks! pulled down the windows?
All of you uninvited quetoes!
D'you really think i'ma scratch her toes?
Go away n leave us alone!

[This song is dedicated to our saviours, Saurav n Sweety]

SANIAMANIA! WHO'S REALLY BOTHERED? FROM SHASHI THAROOR TO SAYALI BHAGAT. EVARONE.

Omigo!! Sania's gonna be 'Pakistan ki bahu'! Now which country will she play for? How can she marry into a terrorist country? What about 26/11. And who's really bothered about all of this? I'm the first one, because it spurred me to write something after a long long time. And Shashi Tharoor.. in an attempt to be sarcastic, asked where are the Indian guys? And if it was a diplomatic/romantic failure? Agreed he was trying to be funny. Celebs and politicians feel the need to make comment on the issue because both of them require attention desperately. Their profession needs them to keep yapping about it. I for one, don't feel the need to take a stand. Because it's a strictly personal matter. They say people without opinions are jerks, but there are exceptions. When media is sad enough to bring such stuff into public domain and the society is 'sadder' to crave for such news, you'll find plenty of issues in public domain where having an opinion is not just unnecessary but foolish.

First up, even if she was to play for Pak, anyone who actually follows tennis knows that she's past her prime, done well, peaked, won her grand slams and now is gonna settle down. It's tennis for God's sake, no one but Martina Navratilova can carry on till 40. If the marvellous story about Shoaibs first(and blind) love wasn't funny enough, it just keeps getting better. Everytime some bright soul out there tries to show that models and actors aren't such a brainless species after all, you can find someone who does more than enough to prove the contrary. This time round it is Sayali Bhagat. Says she turned down a film with Shoaib Malik because of 26/11. And miss Bhagat that's as wtf as it gets. Worst of all is the Branjelina style branding for the couple some brainy fellow came up with.. SHONIA!!

SHONIO.... O SHONIOooo... Tu bas dede mera saath.

IDIOT ME!

Yeah I've seen this superbly made satire and absolutely loved it. Sure it gives the message that's been given loud n clear previously, but it really made me ponder about myself and in the end I found a lil bit of every character in me. Yup, I write this post to confess that I now clearly see all the idiots in me, and more! The message was clear in the book, and beautifully portrayed in the movie, 'Follow Your Heart'. But it posed a real uncomfortable question to me. All the frustration in life could very simply be traced back to an effort aimed at confirming to 'inspirations', if I may call them so, from outside and not from within. Yes this is where the itch starts. Many would blame parents for creating pressure, I feel this attitude is akin to blaming politicians for all the flaws of our society, rather than first looking at ourselves. If RDB taught us that we are to be blamed for our society to be screwed up, 3 Idiots was even simpler. It extends the same philosophy to our own lives. So I'm the one to be blamed for my life, if for nothing else, at least for those occasions in my life when I didn't well, 'follow my heart'. From hear popped up the real disturbing question. I say, But've always followed my heart. So where's the gap? The discomforting answer to this one, was something many won't accept. Well, I'm not sure what my heart wants, So how the F do I follow my heart??






Yes, as much as I would hate to appear to be a clueless balding young guy, it's a high to wake up to this reality. And I owe it to this movie to have made me realise this. But all is not bad. In fact the best thing I take away from this phenomenal flick and this equally phenomenal realisation is that, if I sill don't know what I want from my life or what my heart wants, then I haven't really made the most horrendous mistakes of my life yet! And I haven't committed myself to something that I simply, don't like or am not good at. So if you are as clueless about what your heart wants, that means one good thing, 'arre chachoo ALL IS WELL!!'

GOOD RIDDANCE

Swear to god there's no better stress buster than music.

O YEAH BABY! WROTE DOWN CHORDS FOR THE SONG I WROTE MONTHS AGO

Wrote this song 7 long months ago. Now I guess I've got the chords right. Greatto!! Ma 1st OWN COMP!!

STONER SONGS!

E
Stoner songs!
G
In my mob!
C
Screamin out!
F D A
Lets get high!

E
Stoner songs!
G
In my mob!
C
Screamin out!
F-----D---A
Lets get high!

C----Am---C--Am-C---Am--D
Come to the horizon and go beyond
-C-Am---C----AmC-----Am-----------D
It happens when u -see all -that you never saw
---C---Am------C---Am---D---E---E
So lets get there, drift away n sing wid me..

E
Stoner songs!
G
In my mob!
C
Screamin out!
F---D-- A
Lets get high!



E
Stoner songs!
G
In my mob!
C
Screamin out!
F---D--A
Lets get high!

C---Am--C--Am---C---AmD
Like atom like is the vast uni-verse
-----------C---Am--CAm------C-Am-----------D
Look at the dark world above you to know who you are
C----Am-------C----Am-------D----E---E
duh.. raa raa.. duh.. raa raa.. duh.. raa raaaa..

E
Stoner songs!
G
In my mob!
C
Screamin out!
F---D--A
Lets get haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

I guess the Es at the end of the 2 stanzas going into the chorus need some visiting by me n all my mentors. Googlevana! Saurav! helpout guys!

Disclaimer: I was on nothing but some yummy pasta n a heavenlycup of hazlenut capuccino when I got this brainwave.

"BUT WE'RE ALL GAY!!"

Recently I read this article in DT about whether Delhi pubs letting only couples in was 'Anti-Gay'? This reminds me of one hell of an anecdote from my first year at college. Couple of our seniors wanted to paardy.. N as the plan went around everyone hopped in and by 8 in the evening it was 13 guys game for a guys binge out. Mr Bacchan 'shaved off' to make that smooth impression on the pubbing crowd. Everyone put on their cool t's and sneakers.. N all jumped into the cab.

Yeah cab.. Its actually a mini-van.. the size of a big ambulance that we're used to calling RTVs or 'Hari Bhari' here in Delhi. Those were the times when we had made it a habit to invade the porches of big five stars in these rickety vehicles, creating a gaudy contrast with the Mercs, Audis and the Porsches in the background, much to the horror of the doormen and the front office staff.

But that never bothered us one bit. What was to happen that night was rather humiliating.. and super fun in the hind side(No.. stop thinking too much and read on). Thanks to my previous time we went out.. with Sachin Ball n Daadi, Bikes n Barells was the first choice.. If only we could get in. When we asked the cabby to drive us to Residency Towers he frowned.. saying we were wasting out money and that we would enjoy Saravana Bhavan(referred to as SB henceforth) much more. When we laughed off at this suggestion, little did we know that he'll be laughing at us all night long after what was gonna follow. We reached Bikes in out characteristic style.. our driver sane enough to notice the frowns of the valet guys. Me, Sachin and dear friends Shashi and Robbin happily entered and started ordering as well without realizing that smooth Mr. Bacchan, Shiv along with Jeenie had fell into their own trap. Shaving made them look too young, and the doorman insisted on IDs. As much as we act like who gives a damn.. ;) In the end its One for all and all for one you know.. So out we went, the driver must've thought, and rightly so.. the boys've been thrown out. Only, we were in no mood to listen to him n go to SB. So we said next stop.. Speed! a few more Kms down Annaa Salai. We had great plans, of groups of guys who look old enough going in with each of those who were stopped at Bikes. But another form of sexual discrimination awaited us at Speed. And those were the days when Junkyard Groove lead vocalist Ameet used to be on the staff at speed. Shashi bhai n co walking a little ahead of us were stopped.. The dooreman telling them with an attempted sweet smile.. "Saturday sir, we have entry only for couples." And to that the post modern thinker in Shashi had a brilliant snappy spark of a response. "But we're all Gay!!" He declared, looking back at this scattered gang of 13. They say that everyone at the entrance, was rolling over laughing. As far as me and a few others were concerned, we turned back almost instantly and rushed into to the cab like models who've just had a wardrobe malfunction rushing into the wings, red faced inside, but tryin to be cool n confident outside. Well, these days one would say its just something we could simply laugh off. But that's now.. n that was then. Again shamelessly smiling at the driver.. SB seriously looking like a real possibility now. Our last resort was.. StarRock. and after a little quarreling we managed to get it. And the rest as they say, is history.

Couldn't help but remember this night when I read this article in DT. Now I know there'll be many a friend of mine wanting to beat me up for writing this. ;)

EVERY BEAUTIFUL GIRL DESERVES AN EYE
That's what i learn't when i screwed up the tuning of my guitar. Yes! I finally bought myself a guitar! And i post this pic of mine, thanks to my buddy Google's advice. Now he says posting pics of me playin the guitar'll be an incentive for me to make sure i learn it and not just keep it like a trophy in my room. And yes, i do plan to join Noida School of Rock next week. Its funny actually how, Gokul(google) n i, both had guitarist roommates through college, guitars, amps n stuff all over my room, which doubled up as a jampad, n we never learn't to play. Perhapse attracted to more creative stuff ;). But now, with life between work and home proving to be a drag, i had to find a way to let my impulses out. How i wish i had learn't to play back at college. But no worries, i'll most probably be back to school next week. NSR seems to be the best in Noida. N where did i buy my guitar from? The best n perhapse the only watering hole for music around Noida, Onstage. What a mind blowing collection of guitars! I leave you a few pics of 'em..

MAMMA 'N' PAPA LIED TO US!

Ya! Remember all those times at school when you never used to study? Parents used to go on ranting.. 'work hard now! One should work hard as a student, So u can enjoy all life long later.' Bull. When a friend of mine recently asked me if Im enjoying in Delhi.. I gave him a lecture.. You do enjoy somewhat, but nothing like student days.. It doesn't matter where you are.. One can truly enjoy only as a student..1s u start work.. Aah.. Its all run off the mill. So there you go all kiddos in school.. Don't buy that crap about hard working students. Go out n enjoy! Squeeze every bit outta this time you got. As another friend of mine wrote in his facebook profile a while ago, 'there's nothing like college life. When else do your parents shell out thousands of rs. Jus for you to go to a strange place and get drunk every night!' Of course, after accusing parents of lying.. You've gotta give them the due credit. Right?

CHAMPION ABUSER, DALIT KI BETI.. WANT SOME PAPPI??

Yeah that's exactly why I get enraged at the thought of Maya getting the top job. Because she is Dalit ki beti. Call me a communal exploitative Brahmin.. but a Dalit ki beti becoming PM is an absolute disgrace. Why? Because electorate vote for her, because she is Dalit, because she is a female.. in a nutshell, gimme her caste, gimme a sex, screw merit.

I remember a godforsaken communist from Tamil Nadu(I'll soon remember the name) once asked on a TV debate while advocating reservations, Why do you have this prejudice, that people from lower castes can never score good marks? His passionate question was actually a retort to a poor hapless and concerned lady from the audience who said that, When she goes in for a critical operation, she wants to be sure that the doc became a surgeon on merit and not because of his caste. You can have your own judgement on that.

Vote for her cos she's a female? In my view, there can hardly be a worse way to disgrace the female kind. If you can please pickup one of the Sunday additions of the Times of India from last month. In the cover article of Times Life, a woman asks, Why can't you just take me for a person? Why do I always have to be a woman? When all that matters is my merit and not my sex. Again you decide.

Now, lets talk about Maya memsaab's merit. You don't have entrance exams and cutoff's in politics (every one's invited). But you can always judge their Karma. And a look at the track record of Maya will show you, one can hardly contest the fact that she's the champion of abuse of power. The ease with which she slams cases and the way she invoked NSA on Varun is a striking and potentially lethal attack on the legal system of India. My Social Studies teacher had once taught me in school that the Judiciary of this country especially the Supreme Court is what has kept democracy afloat and breathing in this country. I'm afraid if this wretched female increases her influence at the centre, she might perpetually damage both the Judiciary and the Election Commission.

In fact inspired by Sanju Baba, I thought what would happen if he or me, my utter distatste for her notwithstanding, actually went on to give her a Jhappi and a Pappi? ..eeeek! First of all she might do a Rakhi-Mika scene. Might just give her consent initially, so she could get some political mileage out of it later. And then, in true Maya style, might slap a rape case on me!! The problem is, if the accusation is somehow proved in the Supreme Court, I myself would commit suicide without waiting for any judgement to pass!

Yaaaak.. still can't believe I cooked that up.. Sanju c'mon man, even Bapu would think twice before displaying the least bit of affection for her.

AM BACK TO REWORDING!
VICTIM: ROCKSTAR
ARTIST:NICKELBACK

So there's this guy sitting in the cubicle next to me at office who's got this strip of text pinned up on his board. "Go in direction where your heart takes you. Live the life you dream of." It got me thinking, I mean its not such a dreamy life this. We write code and mostly try and enhance an already delivered code. Sometimes interesting, boring at other times. But I'm still wondering, what time of my workday actually corresponds to those inspiring lines! Perhaps all they can do is inspire my weekend.

And this is what I make of my first six months at work:

Rockstar

Well we all jus wanna be big rockstars
Goin to the IT office in the mornin bus
The girls are all married n all guys have a ponch
We stare at the screen like a kid watchin porn

N we hangout at the rest-o-bar
No one takes a swig cos its office hours
Gotta get back to work n get back in the cab
After we put in 'those late long hours'

Hell yeah.. Still wanna be a rockstar..

'll i'm smokin my pot n downin beer
N driving fast down DND
There's no where else you wanna be
But with me

So how you gonna do it

Your gonna trade that ganji
For a lil' black dress
Walk down to my car
Get me impressed

Cos we all jus wanna be big dopechi's
Screamin high all day havin loud orgies
And by nighfall go get back home
Be nice lil' kiddo of ya lovin mom

Dichotomy tears apart
Life's like that, one big facade

ROUND ABOUT DELHI!

Its a boring drag, office to home, home to office 360 minutes a day go away traveling. The good part? If your in the mood you can really appreciate the well groomed Lutyens' Delhi. And especially its roundabouts, which are plush and flowery in spring. Here are some pics I took.



Akbar Road-Man Singh Road



Akbar Road



Akbar Road



Teen Murti Marg - Akbar Road



Teen Murti Bhavan



Kautilya Marg - Teen Murti Marg



Sardar Patel Marg

There are much better picture of this part of Delhi all over the web. Do check 'em out.

PSEUDOPODIA

I wanna be here too n there too
Life is all bout what I really wat to
Doooooooo..........................
Miss yooooooooo...............
Hate yooooooooo...............
Love yooooooooo...............

Pseudopodia is the way to be
Every direction has a taste that's - never before
want cocktails
Don gimme just one taste - ever again

I'm here n I was with you too
You're there but here too
Transistor suddenly came to life
When I lost it n just nudged yoooo
Some guys I just lost
Cos I couldn't be here n there too

Pseudopodia is the way to be
Million things - huh - million places - huh - never before
Everywhere anytime
So I can see it comin - never again!!

TRIPPY MIDNIGHT IMAGINATION.. DAMMMM...!!

Ripley gipley.. zipey rippey
Blip blip.. clip clip
C'mon!! Quit sleepin at night
Up! Set it all right
Don suit 'em.. Suit yourself
Jump around be an elf
Run around the stilt
Deflate tires.. no guilt
No booze, no grass
Get high cos you jus kicked some ass
Go crazy
Shakin to Marley
Wanna have a good night?
Rather not sleep tight.........................

I just sms'd it to my buddies and heres the playlist that impregnated me with this trip.. Miss You, everybody, Sweetest Goodbye,Trench Town, I'm Happy(Gorillaz), Speed of sound, Hailies Song, Yellow, Sing for the Moment, Lonely, Buffalo Soldier, no women no cry, Golden Brown(sranglers), Let it Loose, Rabbit Chase (Snatch), Fallin in Love(Elvis), Hard to Concentrate, Time of your Life, Serenity, Voodoo, Wet Sand, Slow Cheetah.

Its almost gonna be 3 am and now, I guess this video's a perfect fit to the whole context.
So before I crash..

WORST PAKOMENTARY!!

Off late the Pakistani's have found a befitting reply to Sidduisms. In fact they go one up, cos they're so successful in missing the context completely! Here's the best of Pakomentary that I observed during many matches of the tri-series in Pakistan, courtesy Ramiz Raja with some help from Aamir Sohail.

Its not clear as to how complimentary it was of Ramiz to say that "Simon Toffel won't refer to the third umpire unless it was absolutely not necessary"!

Though the "halp from flet track" accent could be accommodated the basics for all curators went for a six, when Ramiz gave this expert comment during the pitch report,"Its as flet as a mirror, a nightmare for the bats.."!

Cut to the middle of a blazing Sehwag innings and the Pakomentric sense of humor cuts loose complimenting an in form Sehwag. A boundary past midwicket n Aamir Sohail says "Sehwag's lovin it" and Ramiz snaps back"cos he ate at Mcdonald's".

That's not all that they find funny. There's no stopping this duo from having a blast in the box as they get overjoyed to see Mohammed Yousuf bust his package while fielding, dragging they're giggles into the countless replays they relish.

There's no end to Ramiz's fantasies as he fancies branding the Dhoni-Rohit partnership which was decently consolidating the innings, "this Dhoni-Sharma relationship.."!

After analyzing the match (and taking tables for bar charts) our man arrives at the presentation ceremony, where he promptly cautions the presentation party to handover the correct trophy to the man of the match!

Top it all up as the match referee is called on to receive his memento, our man blurts out, "YOU CAN REMOVE YOUR GOGGLES, THE MATCH IS ALL OVER!!"

DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH MONEY IS SPENT

I found this awesome must-read on Amit Verma's blog India Uncut where he quotes Milton Friedman-

There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost. Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch! Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government!