Of thoughts and teachers.

A weekend well-spent for a change. Entire Sunday dedicated to a painting and Saturday for time to myself. It feels great! Past week has been quite good,for nothing substantial has happened at all. Back with Gems now, ‘Gems’. (Refer to previous post on the same)

Teaching is definitely one of the best professions one can opt for. But then one should be really good at the subject before trying to enlighten others. Here are a few handpicked lines emnating from teachers all over the country.

Economics class:

The GDP of a country is the value of the goods and services produced in the country divided by the number of goods and services.

India is a developed country on account of all the technology we have.

There is no difference between Factor Cost and Market Price in National Income Accounting.

History:

The first printing press was in Turkey in the 1500’s.

Constitution:

While explaning article 301, Bong-return says: Intercourse means commerce and not otherwise!

Arbit stuff:

While explaining a policy on sex education:

Golti Ma’am: Resort to sex as a last resort!

That’s about the  most happening thing right now. Which amounts to nothing. Absolutely.So, here we are.

Chocolate cake.

Here’s a damn easy way to bake a cake on your own. Kritika’s recipe

225 ml – Fresh Cream (1/2 cup)

1 Cup – Powdered Sugar

1 Cup – Maida

1 tbp – Baking powder

4 eggs

Drinking Chocolate or Cocoa powder, depending on how chocolatey you want the cake to be.

1 tbp – Coffee Powder (in case you are using Drinking Chocolate)

1-2 tbp – Butter/ Oil.

1 big slab of chocolate to be melted for the icing

And here’s how you piece them all together:

1. Take the fresh cream and add the sugar to it. Mix it very well so that the sugar blends evenly. If you do not have powdered sugar, you could use sugar cubes.

2. Now, in a separate bowl, mix maida and baking powder together and to this mixture add the Fresh Cream and sugar. Add the eggs to this mix and then the Chocolate powder/ cocoa. Mix, mix, mix.

3. Add coffee powder. Mix, mix,mix. Making the batter is the most important thing. This will take atleast 20 minutes. You could add choco chips to this if you want.

4. Now set this aside and take the tray you are going to bake in and spread oil/butter on it and sprinkle maida powder over it. Now pour the batter into the tray and leave it the microwave for 6 minutes. (Yes, ONLY SIX MINUTES).

5. Now to check if your cake is done, insert a knife into it. If it comes out without sticking, dry, then your cake is done.

Now for the icing:

Break the chocolate slab into small pieces, add a little milk to it and leave it in the microwave for 3 minutes. Spread it over the cake evenly. You can decorate the cake with gems/choco chips.

For those who do not like chocolate cake: ( WHO DOESN’T?)

Orange Cake – take one orange and use the juice without adding water.

Banana cake – Take 3 bananas, mash them and add them without water again.

That’s it for now. Eggless recipe coming up soon. After I find a guinea pig.

Phew!

A breath of fresh air at last. Mid-terms are OVER!! A beautiful day today. No classes. Shopping with Gargi and Sindhu, picking up random stuff. Made Dhokla on my own for the first time. It wasn’t great, a little hard. But then am happy I atleast tried! A cake was baked. Another one to be baked tomorrow.Lunch to be made by me too!

Music beckons and so do a bunch of other things.

Sigh.

Semiya Upma.

Now that I know to make perfect Upma, I thought I might as well flaunt it for the benefit of those still trying to get there

Alright, in the velaness that Law school offers sparsely, I have been experimenting with the minimal ingredients I have in my room and here comes the recipe:

Upma is possibly one of the easiest things to make in the whole wide world and is one of my all-time favourites. There are a dozen ways to make Upma, the spicy way, the bland way, the healthy way with lots of veggies (will pass off as Kitchadi too!) and I love it with Paati’s Manga/Lemon thokku!

The magic :

1 Cup Vermicilli (Semiya)

2 Red Chillies

2 Onions (small) , finely chopped. (I hate using the food processor)

1 Carrot (small), diced.

1 Cauliflower (small), cut into fine pieces.

Peas a handful, shelled

1 Green Chilli or 1 tsp. Red Chilli powder (if you want your Upma spicy!)

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Urad Dal

1 tsp Channa Dal

a pinch of Asafotedia

1/2 tsp Jeera

Curry Leaves

1 tsp Cooking Oil

Salt – to taste. (This, your truly, believes to be the key ingredient! )

1. Roast the Semiya until it turn golden brown and you may use an additional tablespoon of oil if you aren’t picky about oily food. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil, add mustard seed and when you hear ‘pops’, thrown in the urad dal, Channa dal, red chilli, asafotedia, jeera and the green chilli/ red chilly powder.

3. Add the onion and wait for it to turn light brown and add the remaining vegetables.

4. Wait for 5-7 mins or until the veggies are atleast half-cooked.

5. Now add salt and corainder powder (if you want!). Note that it is imperative to add salt at this stage. Mix well and add curry leaves.

6. Now add the roasted semiya to this and mix well again.

7. Adding the exact amount of water to this mix is what determines if you are a good cook, in my humble opinion, and you are to add water which just about covers the mix. Nothing more, nothing less.

NOW – DO NOT TRY AND STIR IT. Just let it be until all the water is absorbed and in case you like the burnt bit at the bottom, leave it on for a couplea minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.

Like I said before – pickles/sugar with upma is the best thing that can happen to anyone.

A letter to her.

It’s hard to forget certain people in your life, no matter how hard you try. They leave this space which nobody else can ever fill. I don’t think anybody can fill the space she left in me, ever. I’m twenty years old and there are a billion things that I still don’t understand. Some say it’s because I haven’t seen much of life, well pardon me for that but I’ve lived 1/3 of my life already, and the others say I will remain this way, like a kid. And to that, I completely disagree. I still can’t narrow down on one person who knows me for what I am, who understands things I never say, who likes me for what I am and can see through what I say. But then again, how many of us find somebody like that? Living in a dream is much better than reality. Sigh.

I miss her like hell. I just want to tell her that I love her like crazy and that I would never ever forget all those bed-time tales she has told me, those days when she took me shopping (for books!), she took me to the store at the end of the street and let me buy anything I wanted, the food she cooks (which is by far the best South Indian food I’ve ever tasted), the days when she tried to drive sense into my head, the days I slept on her lap for the comfort it offered and the times I’ve wanted someone to listen to me.

I’ve fought with her, loved her, admired her for what she is and today, I can’t stop myself from thinking about all those good times inspite of other things that stop me from doing the very same. If you are reading this, I hope you understand what I am going through and will forgive me for the very same.

Hitting the ceiling.

Tempers flaring.

When all is fine, I HAVE to lose my cool, I HAVE to say things I don’t mean, I HAVE to ruin things.

But then again, I am not someone who looks too much into the future, I doubt I’ll live that long anyway.

I hate it when I can’t put it a point across.

What I hate more than that is wanting to put something forth but knowing it will make no difference.

Blah. It’s one of those days I don’t want to talk to anyone else or do anything at all but sleep.

Good Night.

Tagged.

In response to Hakuna Matata’s tag (Yes, you shall not be referred to as the Girl-below-me anymore! )

The rules: for each question, look up the answer in a Google Image search. Then choose your favorite from the first page of results only.

1. MY AGE

2. I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT

3. MY FAVORITE PLACE

4. I HAVE A THING FOR

5. MY COMFORT ZONE

6. MY FAVORITE ANIMAL

7. MY KIND OF ART

8. THE TOWN WHERE I WAS BORN

9. THE TOWN WHERE I LIVE

10. A PAST PET

11. A PAST LOVE

12. CURRENT LOVE

13. BEST FRIEND’S NICK NAME

14. I WANT

15. SCREEN NAME

16. A BAD HABIT

17. A DREAM

18. FIRST JOB

19. I MISS

20. WHAT I’M DOING RIGHT NOW

There! All done.

And now I tag :

Reesh because of a billion reasons which I won’t bother enlisting.

Niru for adding to the pain of being my best friend right from school.

Vishnupriya for good old times.

Shruti Chopra because I am sure she’ll love doing this.

Avani for nothing at all. Ok, for Badminton days!

Genius.

A letter from Harish Gnansekaran to Sreenivas Rathinasabapathy.

Serious relevations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Call the marines, We’ve got an emergency
Hey Mr. I-am-too-good-to-call-before-I-leave-whoopass-,
So hows it going you **#@#? enjoying in London you son&^%#@?? laughing it out there you #@$#*****?????!!!!! So, you wont call before u leave you (*!@#!@$#?? so anyway hope you will roll in your grave one day, you >#$@$(*_)(()&*%^#$@%&(*(*************!!!!!!!!.

All things aside, drop everything!!!! We’ve got code red on our hands!!!! Highest levels of infiltration ever!!!!!!! Many new stunning relevations!!!!

1) When Arjuna is under the guise of a woman during the 14-year exile and serving as a chambermaid in some kigdom-named-i-forgot. but if you remember your Mahabharat well, still dressed as a woman, he briefly serves as a Charioteeress( what else do u call it?) and leads his king to victory. and then, I BELIEVE, as he came back to the kingdom, the other woman were all in awe and Arjuna took the opportunity to say “Wake up, sisters, there is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo such thing as a weaker SEX!!!!”

2)And this one you ll be very familiar with.. When the entire army was standing on the shore contemplating how to get to Lanka, suddenly someone came and announced tot he world at large,very dramatically…”Across the sea……….lies Lanka!!”
There was five minutes of stunned silence and then, I BELIEVE, there yeah like that was what we did not know!!! ” Step Back, we have a winner!!!!!!!!!!!! “

3)When Ravana finally fell, and the war ended, I BELIEVE, Lord Rama said ” Swoosh, Woosh, aaaaaand thats the game!!!!!!!!!!Nothing further, your honor!!!!!!!!!!’

4)Infiltration has even penetrated western music, man!! you are familiar of course with the story of how Lord Hanuman, when very young, thought the sun was an orange, and flew up to the sky. I BELIEVE, when he was flying,he sang “I Believe I can Fly…”. and we all here thought it was R.Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5)And even more shocking, when Lord Rama discovered Sita missing and was looking for her, he came across Jatayu, right? and then,I BELIEVE, the conversation took place like this..
Jatayu- ” Can i help you? “
Lord Rama-” I’m looking for a woman.”
Jatayu(laughing uncontrollably)-”Aren’t we ALL???!!!!!!!! “

and the others what we saw..
6)Harishchandra’s ” Ding ding ding, what do we have for her johnny..”

7)Sugreeva’s- ” I believe all we have done, is awaken a sleeping giant”

8)Ravana’s- “I can run for 6 months, but thats it.”

9)Lord Rama’s-”You can run, but you can’t hide”

10)Lord Rama’s-”B-E-A-yoootiful!!”

11)Lord Krishna’s-”Move over, sugar, cuz daddy’s got a sweet tooth
tonight!!!”

12)Lord Krishna’s-”I DEEEMAAAAAND JUSTICE!!!!!”

13)Dhirthrashtra’s-”you look like you’re havin a rough morning”

14)Kaikeyi’s-”Ding ding ding, what do we have for her johnny?”

15)you ancestor’s-”man this bridge is like, so bogus, dude!!!”

16)Lord Rama’s-”Now wait just a hotdoggin’ minute!!!”

Sounds like Lord Rama singlehandedly monopolized the trade, didn’t he!?? but if you see very closely, ding ding ding was said so many times, indicating deeper levels of intra-infiltration!!! Probably Kaikeyi said it
first, but Lord Rama was the best!!!!and probabaly a million others, man!!! the main infiltrators- Jim Carrey, R.Kelly, and the rest of North America!!!
We have to take this matter up with interpol and launch a full scale
code red criminal investigation., into this. i believe we finally should
bring our ancestors justice and resotre full credit to where it
belongs.!!!!! we demand justice!!! lets rock forward, and take the red-hot iron in our hands, mike. let us send the message across”wake up, brothers!!!!!there is noooooooooooooooo such thing as westernization!!!!!!!!!”

Take care, all fortunes, God be with you,
Harish.

Why kids are lucky!

This one is from my old blog. It sounds really funny when I read now! Anyway, here we go!

Ever thought growing up IS “sick and boring”…?

(This is an outcome of sheer joblessness in the night)

1.Kids use their brains for better things like-How to grab the chocolate out of the other kids hand without making him/her cry,they realise that they can get anything-ANYTHING-by just throwing a tantrum-the best usage of the tear glands.

Whereas,An adult has to slog his ass off to “win his bread” which ultimately he doesn’t spend on just himself.Also,the egoistic maniac can never bring himself to cry ..Forget crying-not even shed a tear under any circumstance!!

2.Kids do not get bored even in an aircraft hovering 10,000 feet above the sea level.They get “soft toys” to cuddle and sleep with and colouring books if they are bored.(Psstt…they can even kiss the steward or airhostess!!)

All that an adult can do is-drink as much beer/wine as he can,look “outside or inside”(whichever the case maybe ) and eat “food” and at times stare hard at the “screen” in front of him if he’s lucky enough!!

3.Children can pick their nose in public,pee in their pants whenever it’s unbearable,are tolerated for showing their middle finger,can kiss their sweetheart in the public,can sleep for however-long-they-want and are forgiven for anything they do-”They’re kids! They will learn about life later..”

What do adults learn? To “control emotions”-(geez…why are they called EMOTIONS then?)

4.The few things that kids have to worry about are-homework,projects,the bully of the class,what-mum-is-making-for-lunch-tomorrow and what he/she will wear on his/her birthday to school.

For us?Income tax,Sales tax,boss,spouse,school fees,traffic,Savings,Investment,Property,Rivals at work,what’s new with the neighbours,..and the list is endless…Tension,tension,tension…..

5. Have you ever wondered why babies take so long to learn to talk ? Who wouldnt, if all they ever heard was “oh cho chweet, look at the lil , cutie sweetie icky mickey thing..awww..”

6.Find it hard to smile in front of the camera? Look at you childhood albums..I bet there woudn’t be even one snap in which you’re not grinning like an idYUT…As we grow old,we forget how-to-smile.This is a FACT.

7. Growing old implies-you realise that you should not need luck for anything and it’s just “stuff” that counts!As kids you cannot reason -so you need luck many a times…..its a way of nature ot make you “grow up”

8.Kids get concessions in theme parks and are allowed to ride on merry-go-rounds.

Merry-go-rounds for us????…Oh no! All I want to do is look at other kids laugh.My foot!

9.Ah! How can I forget this?In a country like India?Any palce with plenty of water.Splash!! Kids naked playing in water.Err..umm… we go-”Say Cheese,sweetie.Look at me”.They do NOT have to worry about Tom,Dick or Harry because they wouldn’t get commented on.All they would get is-”Awww….”

Elated.

One lazy Saturday , in the heat of the afternoon, genius struck the girl-below-me as well as me. We decided to record a song. AT LAST. Of course, this happened only because a certain person provoked me to do the same. Getting rid of laziness, procrastination and other associated things is certainly beyond me. We took two whole hours to record a song that lasted for approximately two  minutes since I was hell-bent on re-recording and getting the words right. Ah, why I did that, I shall not disclose in this post. Let’s just say it was for a special someone and updates on it will come up soon! With the song itself!

This is my first attempt at composing something.

FINALLY! Some  music in this place.

Elated about the very same.