Blog, don’t die.

After several warnings, I have finally decided to revive my almost dead blog.

Getting down to things, I just realised it’s that time of the year when toys are IN.

Golu.

How I miss the days of poking fun at the maliigai poo clad aunties, croaky singers forced to pay tribute by singing in front of a sundal-relishing kootum during navrathri, pattu pavadais in bright Indian colours with broad zaaris, the much anticipated quarterly vacations when I yearned to sleep all I wanted, cousins visitng from all over the country. Suddenly, it is action time. Carnatic music floods the streets in Mylapore before the Kapaleeshwar kovil in Mylapore (not that it doesn’t happen any other time of the year, considering that it is the most happening art centre in Chennai, still.) All this makes me look back and gently acknowledge the fact that I have grown past all those days of vettiness, all those days when I needn’t give a damn for anything are begone. It is this very thought that scares me.

Change is the only thing that is constant. How I agree with this now!

My friends have changed. My best friends have changed. My perception of life has undergone a tumultous change. I have changed as a person.

I’d like to believe I learnt things the hard way. Belief.

I’ve not kept in touch with too many people. I’ve not bothered to be the social butterfly, that I was, here in law school. Coldness has kept me warm here. Ignorance, in bliss. I’ve this feeling of guilt deep inside me which tells me that I should get back to what I was and give everything my best shot instead of the half-hearted effort I put into things here. This post is an apology. An apology to all those people I have been extremely rude to, in the period of three years. Not staying in touch. Being a snob, as Swathi would quote me.

For starters, I’ve just been busy trying to keep myself busy. Nothing else has changed with me, in life. I still believe there is something nice and good about every person I meet, I still think we tend to draw conclusions about people based on their friends or based on whether the majority of your friends like that person, which is totally uncool, I still believe we can set things right. I believe there is still a lot left to be done by me.

Belief.

I know this post has been very random.

But then again, all my posts are.

Happy Birthday to me!

I had the awesomest birthday ever!

Thanks to Reesh, for the kickass gifts I love you.

To Niru, for not calling for the first (no sarcasm, it’s something to remember!) I love you too!

To the bitch, who doesn’t want her name put up on my website to avoid the embarassing things I write about her from appearing on Google search.

To all near and dear ones, who remembered to wish.

To,all that food and sleep then and forever!

CHEERS!

Vendakkai Curry

A simple recipe. Best suited for those office-rushing times in the morning when you can’t make up your mind about what to cook.

Vendakkai – 1/2 kg
Red Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder – 1/2 tsp
Sambhar Powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Dry Mango Powder – 1/2 tsp
Vendayam – 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds
Urad Dal
Oil – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves

1. Wash the vendakkai and pat it dry with a towel. Keep aside for 5 mins.

2. Heat oil and let mustard seeds pop. Throw in the daal and wait for it to turn brown. Now add all the masalas. Wait for 2-3 mins.

3. Add the vendakkai to the masala and saute.

4. Cover it now and steam it for about 5 mins. Stir occasionally.

Don’t forget to add the salt and coriander leaves int he end!

Airtel sucks. The life out of you.

I got a Madras Airtel pre-paid connection in December’08, I got a lifetime,’LIFETIME’, validity with it and my services were cut abruptly last evening. Reason Airtel gives:

1. You didn’t use the number for 3 continuous months.

My argument: Why the heck is it a lifetime validity? I am assuming I can’t ask a third person in Madras to use my number while I am in Jodhpur. 3 months, so why didn’t you disconnect the service in March? Why do you do it after I get a recharge for 500 bucks?

2. The number was inactive

My response: Yeah, so I assume I will use the number when I am in the city and not when I go trekking to Timbuktu or elsewhere. And my services were very much active until the day before yesterday and my call was cut. In the midst of a peaceful conversation. The call was cut. Services were cut.

What is the locus standi?
Somewhere deep down in small prints, they had a 1/2 print, which says if you dont use the number in 3 months, I will cut your services. Fine, but why now?

Yes. I am repeating myself. I have been asking Airtel for the logic for disconnecting services and yet there has not been one single response. Nodal officers & Appellate authorities are enjoying a holiday for elections while am stuck answering calls on my Jodhpur number when I don’t have to spend a rupee every minute on my frickin’ INCOMING CALLS. Damn you, Airtel. You unresponsive piece of sim. GAA!!

Iniya Tamizh Puttandu Nal Vazhtukal

Tamil New Year day always, in my school years, meant the end of Annual Exams and the beginning of Summer Vacation. I always loved this day, only for this fact and nothing else. And so, I thought.

So it is another Tamil New Years and am stuck in Jodhpur which is getting hotter by the minute. You can’t escape it even with an umbrella. All that heat wave hitting you, like a butcher mincing meat. Coolers breaking down in every room, my own motor had to be repaired twice. With 9 outpasses this month, I doubt even 1 will be spent on a morning.
Anyway, chucking all that trash about Jodhpur.
I remember being woken up every Tamil New Year’s day by my mom, who will give me new clothes to wear. A quick bath early in the morning (Even though Annual exams were over and Summer vacation just began), adorned in new clothes, a quick prayer to God, the rest of the day spent hogging various South Indian delicacies and watching Sun TV which played-Vishu’s NY special: “Aratai Arangam” or some melodramatic Tamil movie. Of course, a visit to Gran’s was a ritual. First my paati-thatha in Nanganallur and then Mylapore paati, Latha periamma and Vivek. I remember cribbing about the mundane routine but now, stuck in the middle of nothingness and a plethora of desert snakes and insects, I terribly miss that routine. I miss having relatives around. I miss that puliyodhare in human temple. That aroma of payasam that woke me up with my mom on these morning. That feeling of relief (that there were no more exams until the next academic year). The lack of responsibility. The utter lack of it.

And now, I have no one to yell at me to do my work.
Nobody to wake me up with a smiling face to wish me a Happy New Year.
A whole set of assignments waiting for me plus a test tomorrow.

Now that I am done cribbing. We did make Payasam on the floor. Pallavi and Nayanthika did. And it tasted yummy.

Iniya Tamizh Puttanmdu Nal Vazhtukal.

Earthquake in Jodhpur

7.15ish in the morning. Alright, maybe the title is too much of an exaggeration but then yes, everybody in the hostel felt a tremor this morning (Am surprised people were awake) and yours truly felt absolutely nothing while taking a shower. Reminds me of the time I felt a tremor for the first time and another friend of mine, who was taking a bath at that time said she did not feel it! There’s something about taking a bath and earthquakes. Anyway, we would usually deserve a holiday for all that mental trauma but then again, it’s Jodhpur! *Yawn*

Time for class, now.

SM’s this morning:

Karan: “Even God Figured Jodhpur Was Boring And Decided To Shake Things Up.”

Rashi: “Earthquake that only we felt and its on the News. Nayanthika told me.”

Elbee sucks.

Recently, I discovered a certain courier company named Elbee while ogling at the multi-coloured sarees and lehengas displayed in our very famous Sardarpura ‘B’ Road. It was a er..um.. shabby office with inexpensive rates and a promise to deliver goods in 5 days! DTDC or DHL stood nowhere near it when it came to prices and so, I decided to send a package. I sent it on the 14th Feb and the package hasn’t reached yet. On numerous days it was stuck in the Bombay Customs Dept. and on other days, Singaporean Customs Department took the pleasure of inspecting my package at their leisure. On certain other days, a man was already sent with the package but disappeared with it in the vicinity of oblivity.

I am tried. Sick. Irritated of the varied versions.

The Customer Support sucks. Not one person knows English.

So, moral of the day, Trust DTDC and DHL when they say they’re the best around. Amen.

Vathal Kozhambu

Grandma’s recipe, revealed at last!

A handful of Sundakai/ Manthakali vattal

Tamarind – size of a lemon

A pinch of Asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Urad dhal

Tuvar Dhal

Mustard Seeds

Jaggery – say as much as a tsp

4 Red Chillies

1 Green Chilly (cut into tiny pieces)

1 tsp Vendayam

5-6 tsp oil

Salt (Rock Salt, preferably!)

1. Boil water (about 250 ml) and add the tamarind to water and squeeze it. Remove the seeds from it and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a thick pan and fry the vattal. And mustard seeds and when you hear them pop, add the dhals and asafoetida, green chilly, turmeric and red chilli powder. Add the vendayam. Once it turns light brown, add the tamarind water you set aside.

3. Let the water boil until the smell of raw tamarind goes away. Normally, it takes 15-20 minutes. Rathe, wait till the water reduced to half its original proportion.

4. Now add more water and let it boil. At this point, you may ad curry leaves if you wish to. (And I usually add another pinch of asafoetida)

5. Take a small cup of water and add 1-2 tsp of rice flour to it and add this mixture to the boiling water. This is added to thicken the mixture.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves.

‘Dirty’ Politics

We got our independence in 1947 after decades of ahimsa and ‘non-violence’. We decided to adopt a democratic form of government and said to ourselves that secularism would be one of the basic structures of our constitution. Pakistan schools have Kashmir in their territory and teach the students are all Indians are Hindus and that they are ‘kuttas’. Our RSS schools are no better and call us a Hindutva nation. What the HELL is wrong with the world? Why do you care about a Mohammed Ghori or Ghazni, or whichever fool it was, who plundered India in some ancient time? Why is that taught to kids at school to invoke in them hatred for muslims? Once in Dubai, my brother went down to play with the kids around and was refused to be acknowledged there because he was ‘Hindu’ (said with a scorn). All this, by a 7 year-old. Hatred in imbibed in minds in most countries, kids in Pakistan are taught to handle guns when they should be holding a pencil, Why is there such branding? Here I was thinking, branding ended with cows and products of late but then, I have been proven wrong as always. Textbooks are edited to show History in the wrong light. We are all after all, humans. Why should religion be such an essential criteria in deciding if we are of good character? Much of our military expenses can be cut short if only we resolve our Kashmir dispute, but then Pakistan will not give up on it and India won’t let her walls down. Look at Babri Masjid, some idiot once said I know exactly the place Rama was born in. ‘Ayodhya’ (What a surprise, there!) and points to a mosque (did he remember things from his last birth?) and THEN people decide to bring the mosque down for the sake of Ram, not realising that the mosque is also a place of worship. Look at P.N.Oak, the idiot, who said Taj Mahal is a temple converted into a memorial. From which angle does it look like a temple? And there are bigger idiots who believe that as well. Where is the reasoning power of men? BJP and Congress bank on the Hindu-Muslim divide to get votes, how can such a party help the nation prosper and uphold our constitution? All the political parties are merely concerned about money and power. Nobody cares for the country. Why the Fuck is it called politics then? If I want to make a difference today, I cannot do it without being a scapegoat of these parties or at the risk of dying any minute. Wake up, people. It is time we opened our minds and thought beyond what we know of. To think. Think a new life. A new India. World.

Water on Mars!

People, it is true. Water-on-Mars. Pics on the net at last. Check it yourself!

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0504/WaterOnMars2_gcc.jpg