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.

PICKLE TIME AGAIN! IT'S THE TIME WHEN I FEEL THE PROUDEST OF MY TELUGU ROOTS

Yeehaa..! it's that time of the year again when we put fresh Aavakaaya- and many more pickles, the live-wires that run through the famous Andhra cuisine. Our cuisine has a huge profile of pickles including the great Gongura- a biological cousin of the friendly cannabis. But the big daddy of 'em all just has to be the Aavakaaya. It's a mind blowing amalgamation of tasty green mangoes, the deadly Warangal red chillies and a special Gingelly oil made from de-husked seeds specially for pickles along with lots of mustard seeds and garlic.

Some like it fresh and new, like me, with a zing of raw spice and the hot red chillies spinning their magic. Others like it aged a few months with the juices from the Mango cut by the spicy salty flavours. I'm lovin every time I lick it off my fingers. Mmmm......

PAHAR GANJ, DELHI'S RAIL ENTRANCE IS UP FOR A REVAMP

This is a pic of the Main Bazaar, Pahar Ganj. Bustling with economy tourists from world over, the place - though dingy - tries to present India in the rustic hues that tourists would love to see. In fact I really love the way some of the joints here have won patrons among many expats. Book-stalls, boutiques, and joints that are a cross between a cafe and a dhaba, team up to make for a fabulous experience. While all this might make it a desirable crib for the discerning traveller, the place is, rather dingy. The many tiny corridores and super-crowded streets give it the real 'underbelly feel' - making it pretty possible for you to bump into someone selling you pot. Now you to must be thinking all this comes nowhere close to the pic here. That's because all of this might be in for some change. With Commonwealth games coming to town the government swung into action to revamp the New Delhi Rail Station only to open into the dingy Pahar Ganj. Now with days to go for the games they want to facelift Main Bazaar as well. All I hope is for this activity to not take away from the look n feel the place has acquired organically over the years.

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!!'

YAO! DELHI GOIN THE PARIS WAY

Saw this first at the DU station. Now we have this spawning to other metro stations. Cycle rentals at stations could be the ultimate answere to the ultimate excuse for not using public transit systems: covering the last mile. Like many other ideas, Delhi has borrowed it from other cities. We borrowed the BRT from some latin american metropolis, and cycle rentals comes from some Paris. For me its a great green idea imported from a city that has gone significantly green in super healthy ways modern Europe has come to adopt. I hope we Delhiits too take to this trend quickly, and i'm optimistic as well. Not because we guys love to ditch the comfort of our cars for the sake of the planet, but simply because we love to 'get with it' whenever it comes to trends that are perceived as cool. From what I saw at DU, these cycles were a hit. But one could also say as a counter argument, that it's a student population, a species Delhi lacks when compared to other cities like B'lore or Chennai. And Delhi's largely family crowd ain't getting out of their cars no matter what. I'd like to believe in the former argument and would love to travel on bikes n rails whenever possible no matter which way Delhi swings. My only request of my brothers out there is, not thug these cycles from the parking please.. :D

PRACTICING WITH CHOPSTICKS

Its not like I have chinese everyday. Especially not now, as i'm based out of home. I think the best way to get better is to go after every possible meal with a pair of chopsticks. And thats what I did today. Had a fun, lapping up gobi mutter with chopsticks.

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.

Testing my phone's email client.

Ui..!

Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

BIRBAL KI KHICHRI

They were the good old days when men used to be men. People never used to work their minds too much, and got flattered easily. One such man was emperor Akbar. A man spent the whole night in the palace lake. When Akbar asked him, did he not feel cold.. the man replied that the little light from the palace gave him all the warmth he needed. While that flattered the simpleton in Akbar, there was someone around to drive some sense into the emperor. He bunked the courtroom that day, calling in sick(no phones back then, must have sent a messenger). So Akbar went himself to visit dear friend Birbal. There was Birbal lying on the bed, and a pot hanging on top of him. Confused Mr. Akbar scratched his head and asked,"Dude, whats with that pot hanging over you?" And Birbal replied, "that's the khichri the doc prescribed". He went on to say, "if your palace light can keep that man in th pool warm, then the fever in my body can cook the khichri". And, that's exactly what I would say about this attempt of keeping this chinese curry warm. So that my friends, is Birbal ki khichri.

Or you might say Birbal ke chinese.

AND MORE:

AND MORE:

HERE'S MORE!

HERE'S MORE!

WINDSCREEN STORIES: An interesting set

WINDSCREEN STORIES:
An interesting set of pics from a day of driving through city streets, seem through the windshield.

ECLIPSE

ECLIPSE

"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. ;)

As I said, lets all get shameless and vote congress. So hear we are..
Again putting more dough into the hands that never deliver, or should
i say, the hands which have the most consistent record of not
delivering. 'Pranabda, where's the vision?' asked a headline in TOI.
People would have forgotten super procrastinating ways of the
congress, thanks to the nation being spared from a full blown cong
rule, for more that 10 years.. Not setting firm targets is she best
way to keep justify non-performance later on. The BEST way to thank
the electorate and give them exactly what they asked for is to bring
back the glorious days of opaque governance. And this budget puts us
well on our way to those days.. What's more? They justify their
proposed, non-transparent, passive and stagnant governance(simply put,
all the chori they're gonna do in the year to come), by saying that
budgets don't include declaration of policy matters..! Wow.. That's
what you call, "ek to com chori, uspe seena zori!!!"

--
Sent from my mobile device

SUSTAINABLE INEQUALITY: WHAT SAY DEAR MR. SAINATH?

I hate The Hindu! I mean, the news paper. And my friends very well know it. But today I was filled with admiration for one of their great collumnists., P Sainath. Yes, I'm getting extremely impulsive these day's. That's exactly why I'm writing this post post when I really should be practicing on my brand new six strings. And perhapse that's exactly why I got so charged up with the interview of P Sainath on NDTV that while logging into blogger I started typing psainath instead of my id. After a long time some one could actually sensitize me about the glaring inequality in our society today. You can find out more about this great dude on these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Sainath

http://www.indiatogether.org/opinions/psainath/

To tell you the truth I wasn't sensitized about inequalities and as I do believe that, inequality is at the core of our society, or any society for that matter. In fact, this once I was so dam pissed at the disastrous interpretations of equality made by most politicians, so enraged by societies inherent way of painting everyone in the same color, that I wanted to get a tattoo at the back of my neck that read, "I!=U". So, I love the inequalities in a society. They are the driver of the society. It is this gradient that makes society flow like the Ganges, metamorphosize(if there's verb like that) and not stagnate like a dead lake. But hearing from the ediot box what Mr Sainath had to say, brought an amazing thought to my mind.. I went euraka! This inequality that I romantisize, as beautiful as it well and truly is, needs to be within limits, for the sake of its own sustainability. That's when I asked myself, am I the first one to coin the term, "Sustainable Inequality"??

Now what on earth is that? I feel its best to explain with an example. I feel destiny is nothing but some mathematics.(Dunno where did that come from) Look, I feel, and we all know, that right now, and for a very long time in our history, at the receiving end of this great inequality has been our good ol' farmer. This cycle is about to change, or shall say the plunging happiness quotient of the farmer is close to getting bottomed out. Right now the world is looking at a very real scare of going without food. Focus in the next few decades will gradually shift to farms, and food production. the equation or rather the 'inequation', is going to change. There are two ways this'll happen. Either we get some sense into our heads, and bring some real focus to the farm sector, or we be the happy go lucky type society.. waiting for the farmer to catch his sickle, leave the harvest and come after us slick urbane types. The former, is what I call 'sustainable inequality'. All it says is, don't strech inequalities to a level where, simply put, it just snaps. I feel, in a broad sense, the society is also a corporation, that to a monopoly. You need to give the remuneration one deserves, cos attrition from the corporation called 'society', leads to birth of the gangsta, the rioter, the terrorist. One way or another the inequity will prevail.

I wish Mr. Sainath would actually come across this post and have the time to comment on this.

HERE'S MORE

HERE'S MORE!
...