An attempt out of nostalgia

There are some delicacies which give me intense nostalgia about my childhood days. "Peda"(an indian sweet) is one among them. There was a small dairy shop somewhere near to my house that used to sell immensely delicious pedas. How much I used to drool over them!!..Haa...can still feel my mouth watering :P. I've had pedas from a hell lot of other places, but I swear, nothing could beat those yummy yummy ones of that teeny-weeny dairy shop. Unfortunately tht shop was shutdown long back and since then my cravings for such scrumptious pedas have remained unquenched. 

Till an year back, according to me, cooking was an art or an innate skill which could be mastered by only a few. I considered it as the terrible of all, when, out of helpnessness, I had to plunge into the world of cooking and recipes.But, like most of my thoughts, this also turned out to be a misconception when I started realizing that cooking ain't any rocket science and that with a little diligence and patience, this also becomes an interesting task ( especially when what you cook comes out well). So coming back to Pedas, recently I happened to stumble upon a recipe for pedas which I found to be really effortless. And its because of its easiness, that I decided to give it a try. 

Here's the recipe that I followed http://showmethecurry.com/2007/11/05/peda-indian-sweet/ and here's the output

This might be the most easiest of all the peda recipes and trust me, its more than "tooooo gud".

P.S :- Kindly bear with the not soo gud photography of mine :P

The Perfect Stranger

What I'm going to write may sound ridiculous or fictitious to anyone, but is what I truly experienced.

3years ago, I was in Chennai for a few months to be with my brother. One fine afternoon, I was on my way back, strolling to the bus-stop, after visiting few of my cousins who were staying in and around Adayar. The Adayar road was busy and occupied as usual, basking in the scorching sun. All of a sudden, as if out of the blue, a guy came panicking, in front of me. He appeared to be scared of something (not something, it was "me" only which I realized later),shocked, flabbergasted- all at the same time. The rest of the conversation goes like this..

He(with trembling voice): This is unbelievable..I mean how is this possible..

Me: Excuse me?? Are you sure you are talking to the right person?

He: I don't know..but are you from Kerala?

Me: But how will that bother you?

He: I don't know how to make you understand, but you'll have to believe me if I say that I had a friend Priya, who met with a train accident 6 months ago and passed away and...

Me: And she looked exactly like me, is it?

He( with wide-eyes): Yeah but how do you know. Do you have any sister/relative by this name?She was from Cochin and was my batch mate in Cochin University .

 

It sounded so silly and insensible to me that I could hardly hold in giggling, but felt embarrassed when I again looked at his face. He was still staring at me, startled, as if in a reverie. I couldn't withstand this anymore and told him that I do not have any sister or even distant relative by this name and started moving. I could hear him faltering words which I couldn't make out becoz of the vroom of the automobiles. I kept walking speedily until I reached the bus-stop. When I turned back, he wasn't there anywhere.

I have not seen him before or after that incident and may not be able to recognize even if we meet face-to-face. The only thing I noticed about him amidst all that chaos was that he was wearing a Wipro ID card. I was sheepish enough to not even notice the name on it. The whole incident jolted my mind for the next few days, though I tried to perceive it as a made-up story. But if so, then what baffles me is that there were many other people on the road and why did he have to choose me particularly? Even now when I think about it, that guy's terrified and spiky looks haunt me, leaving me dubious and curious about a girl with my face whom I've  never known or met.

The beginning of the end of Indian federation?

Almost a week has passed since the most gruesome of all attacks has happened in Mumbai, the financial capital of our country. While agitations, apprehensions and tautness are prevailing in a part of mumbai, most of the mumbaikars have started getting back to normalcy. The catchphrase is that mumbaikars are "resilient" which I feel is the most ridiculous of all. Its not because of their resilience, but their helpnessness-the bare truth that staying cold n frightnened will not bring them their daily bread, which is driving them to regain strength each n every time.
It was heart-wrenching to watch even a 3year old asking our leaders to carry out some action rather than pleading for votes, so that we can live in a safer India. Now they can say that its we, the people of India who elected them and chose them as our representatives. YES, but each and every citizen of our nation has a belief when they do that- that these leaders and representatives would carry out their responsibilities in a way that the woes and hardships of the common man and the entire nation as such would be given due attention. But here what happens is, the parties keep changing, the leaders keep changing, whereas the plight of national affairs remain the same yday and today.
I wonder if these leaders give the least seriousness to such catastrophes. What was Mr.Vilasrao Deshmukh thinking when he took RGV and his son Ritesh along for visiting the Taj Mahal hotel? That this is a terror-tour or something? Not even in any wildest dreams wud he have thought tht this wud cost him his chair. And this should be a lesson for all those nasty politicians out there looting and ruining our nation. Now there is an other pack of blockheads who neither does anything good by themselves, nor do they respect others who are willing to and who have sacrificed their lives so that the fellow citizens, incuding such dunces and morons are safe out here.If you still didnt get, I'm speaking about our honourable Chief Minister of kerala , V S Achuthanandan for the most despicable remark about martyr Sandeep Unnikrishnan's family "If it had not been Sandeep's house, not even a dog would have glanced that way".If this old chap had atleast a tinge of respect or condolence for them, would he have uttered those words?He himself has thus very well proved that what Major Sandeep's father has done by shooing him out of his house was the right thing.Such shameful figures like VSA do not even deserve to speak about bravehearts like Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan.Last time the role of bringing shame to keralites was well performed by Rajya Sabha MP Abdul Wahab when he abused an Air India pilot Rajat Rana by calling him a "glorified driver" when the pilot questioned an airline official about the delayed arrival of this VIP.Its high time a cleansing action gets started to safeguard India from lethal external forces as well as such menaces from inside the country hampering the progress of our nation.
The media on the other end is making things worse by playing the blame game alleging about terror attack links to Pakistan. At the same time it was more shocking to see the Pakistani media defending itself against all assertions stating that its a dirty game played by India to accuse Pakistan and its terrorism.Here is the video in which a famous pakistani defense analyst Zaid Hamid speaks about 26/11 mumbai attacks as a planned operation within India which terribly went wrong.He also says that it denotes the beginning of end of the federation of India.
http://neeshu.com/Articles/pakistani-media-taunts-indian-army-video.html
If only our leaders blow apart their oppurtunism and corruptions and stand together to fight against terrorism by formulating strict laws and security measures...but that again remains as a distant vision, for we all know its never going to materialize. And the worst of all, that I can also do nothing but mourn the loss of many innocent lives torn apart by those ruthless men. I salute all the valiant soldiers who have laid their lives for our nation,India..If at all we are safe, it is because of you people.

The Shawshank experience

It was on tuesday,14th of October,2008 that we reached Mansfield in Ohio..a one week official visit for my hubby. When he leaves for office in the morning, I would be here in the hotel room, spending time reading and mostly, browsing the net. This browsing spree took me to a site that listed the tourist attractions in Mansfield. On top among the list of places was this one called "Mansfield Reformatory". Further searches about this place revealed the fact that it is an imposing architecture of great historical importance which was a prison built in 1886 which had housed quite a lot of prisoners. Some other facts about this reformatory says that it holds the largest free standing cell block in the world at six tiers high which were also infamous for the tortures that the inmates had to go through. But something which instilled excitement in me was that, one of my favourite movies 'Shawshank Redemption' which I saw just one week before was shot in this huge castle like prison. This was more than enough for me to decide to visit this place and finally yday eve me and my hubby set onto the Mansfield Reformatory formally called as the OSR(Ohio State Reformatory).

The very first glimpse of the edifice itself aroused my avidity to explore the nook and corner of it. But to our dismay, we came to know that all tours inside the prison have concluded for the season. Since it is Halloween on Oct 31, they're conducting scary events called "The Haunted Prison Experience" which is a 45 mins long trudge inside the reformatory which they claim as the most scariest haunted experience..no its not just a claim, it was infact the most scariest experience of my life. OMG!!Only 4 of us were allowed to go inside at a time where there was absolutely no light but ample stuffs to scare the sh** out of you. Many a kind of props, 3D animations and the worst thing, actors who dressed up like the weirdest and dirtiest of ghosts or witches or whatever crap you can call, would spring upon you screaming and yelling. We were not allowed to take any sort of flashlights or cameras with us inside which was an other disappointment for me. We passed by the prison cells,the 6 tier high cell blocks,the warden's quarters which were all almost deteriorated by rust, and many other old and outmoded arenas shrouded in darkness, that I could hardly see. Finally after 45 mins of mental torture from the evils, we got out of it. I badly wanted to explore the entire castle during daytime, alas!! what to do. But this one indeed was a truly unforgettable experience..as if I was destined to watch the movie just a week before and visit the very same place a week later :).

Here are some photos which we took from outside the reformatory

Do we have to pull-through each day fear-stricken?

This is my first attempt at writing about a movie. It cannot be called as a movie review, for, I'm not good at it and also I don't want to quench the apprehension that this one brings along. Though there are more than a dozen movies in my personal favourites list, never felt like jotting down something about a movie until today when I watched "A Wednesday", materialized under the direction of Neeraj Pandey. It would not be an overstatement if I say that this is the most excellent movie of the recent times that I've seen and that too from the realm of Bollywood which renders nothing but tawdry dramas embelished with masala mixes nowadays. Contrary to such worthless flicks, this one stands out, depicting how the common people is left to bear the brunt of terrorism and how, one among this helpless mob ventures to give a strong backlash to the terrorists. Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher are at their intimidating best with the most finest acting delivered as usual. As the movie proceeds, you'll find each and every subtle scene inducing a gush of stimulation in you, finally to be enraptured by the end result. After having watched the culmination part, I definitely did think that "It should happen the same way". I'm sure any common man needing to live in peace would also have the same thing to say.

Happiness is not forever..sadness also

**Another one from my Infyblogs**

The first look of this picture doesn’t render anything unusual; not a great piece of photography also. But I sense some sort of magical power attached to it.
The sun that was glowing with all its mightiness is now setting. Having lost its glory, it is nearing the doom, leaving behind total darkness. But is there something to be upset about it? Even a small kid knows that the sun would rise again next morning and sunshine would be back to lighten the world. Isnt’t it a metaphor for each of our lives? God never spares anyone or anything from a darker phase of life. But with each sunset, he also guarantees a sunrise; with each moment of grief he promises a moment of joy as well.

Ever since I took this picture, whenever I feel down, whenever I feel that darkness is filling my life, I take a look at this one and I would feel my heart getting lighter..and this is why I consider it as my magical picture

*Captured from a moving car in my SE Cyber Shot K790i phone

"Love" is baffling me

Now don't get baffled by the subject line :). This blog is all about my life-long experience of love and a derivation of how people perceive it. Here, I don't intend a confinement to just the emotional or physical attraction between a man and a woman...a strong affection or a warm attachment that binds the human beings together, that's what I mean by LOVE. It's an unanimously accepted truth that existence of life without this so called 4 letter word is the most tragic thing. A need for belonging, someone to care, a smiling face, the flimsiest of consideration for one's wants...it's needless to say that these are all anyone of us would crave for..the bottom-line is all of us want to be just loved.



Now coming back to the crux of the post..in all my life I've come across 2 sorts of people ( By people I'm not generalizing the mob as such, but rather focusing on those who are closely bound to my life). The categorization goes like this

* Some, who r immensely obsessed with expressing all the love they have for you

* Some, who do not care ( or is it that they do not know) about letting us know what is in their minds


Well, the first category..I should say that those people are like the most affectedly refined gems, so rare to find. The second category, now they are the ones who r baffling me. They never say or even give the slightest clue about their love, but still we are obnoxiously obliged to believe that love is inside them and accept that this is how they are. Is it a fair deal? I don't know, but however hard I try, cannot digest this particular concept of love. Ain't love something that cannot be touched, seen or heard? Ain't love something that can only be felt? Then if that something is hidden inside the enigmatic dungeons of one's mind, how are we supposed to feel its warmth and pleasure? Is there any point in saying that u've so much of love inside you, without showing even the smallest act of it? All these unanswered questions are what that keep on baffling me..on and on. It's true that noone can always keep on saying or showing their love towards one another, some things are to be understood even in silence..but then how beautiful our lives would have been if each one of us can express how much our loved ones are important to us, how much blessed our lives are with them..how beautiful this world would have been with love and love only around us, rather than hidden mysterious minds that are difficult to be comprehended.