Case of Exploding Mangoes

Just finished reading this book by Mohammed Hanif - definitely worth the 2 weeks rent :)
Am not the best reviewer around, least of the reasons being that am far too lazy... but what I will say about the book, is that I did not expect to like it a lot. To be honest, I thought it was going to be one of those books that everyone raves about - half because it's cool, and the other half because they don't want to be uncool. Instead, it was simple, straightforward language.. tongue-in-cheek humor... and above all, a very impressive flow that naturally led from one page to the next.
As always, the debut novel is always a writer's best work. Am yet to be proved otherwise :)

The times they are a changing

12 months back, you'd get a "such a snob" look when people realized you had a data plan on your mobile phone. Even if all you were doing was getting push email.

Fast forward to end of 2009 and just about everyone is on a data plan. And forget email, there's so much you can do with your phone! Stuck in a train for 7 hours? You can crib away to glory on Twitter or Facebook, marvel at the speed and class of Opera Mini 5 beta, check out what movies are running on BMS, even check the train lines and routes as you trundle along on Google Maps, or if you are "such a snob", check email. And yes, there is connectivity. At least for 95% of the journey.
Just for fun - boy gets married at 8 am. Changes his Facebook status at 2 pm. First comment from friend on train at 6 pm. Next 5 comments/pokes/jabs from friends on train by 8 pm.

To cook or not to cook...

I would have named this post "Cooking isn't rocket science" but for a show with the same name, and somewhere at the back of my mind, it still is :)

The mind thinks like a robot when it comes to the kitchen. You reach out expecting to find something in a certain place, cuz it's always been there. You're trying out mom's no brainer recipe and somehow it turns out to be this strange goop rather than the comfort food you grew up with. You measured everything to the dot - counted out the red chilles and peppercorns, used the timer on your cellphone for the pressure cooker, even decided to add salt once the food is on the table (that way it can never end up too salty). And somehow there seems to be one tiny thing, somewhere in the fineprint, that manages to screw everything up. (don't come back with the "mother's love".. TV's wrung that to death!)

But then after countless trials and errors and patient victims, one of the below happens:

1. you actually get the recipe right, and your mom's crying tears of joy on the other end of the phone
2. you get so used to the strange new version of the original recipe that you actually start liking it

No prizes for guessing which one it turns out to be most of the time ;)

Whatya day!

Tested out the Google Maps application on my phone today - the one you have to install. It showed me a completely new route to Cantt station that went through St. John's church road. Never been to that side of town.. so it was a bit scary considering that if the application goofed up we simply would have no time to retrace and get to the train on time! The route turned out to be much smoother - hardly any traffic, and good roads. The Indian-movie-climax scene came when we reached the station to find out that the train doesn't stop there..! So imagine we got from Cantt to Majestic in less than FIFTEEN minutes flat..!! Kudos to 3 things: Google Maps, Sandy's driving skills, and my Hindi-Kannada mixology ;)

I would have rested on my laurels and not publicly announced it if it had happened on any other day. But it had to happen on the same day that we cooked so much food for lunch that we had no containers left in the cabinets... and what looked like a lifetime penalty of cleaning.. sigh! What a Sunday!

Light 'em up!

What does Diwali mean to you?
...diyas
...fireworks
...serial lights
...waking up at 4 am
...all kinds of sweets all day long
...calling every contact on your cellphone
...asking your contacts for phone numbers of other contacts you've since erased
...wearing the newest jazz as clothes
...watching special programs on TV
...feeling good about the day just like that

Festive spirit!

We painted diyas for Diwali this year. Was a lot of fun, especially with the gemstones that wouldn't stick, and the finicky paint brushes :) Some of them you can't actually light up, so am still wondering what to do with them.. one stray thought was to fix them on to a plane board, and then frame it on the wall. What do you think?

F7 :)

Was referring to spell check :)

One of those things I don't get.. how can you send something out without doing a spell check?? I know every time I find a typo in the newspaper, I think lower of the editors - even with MS Word, they had to mess up!

Outlook, PowerPoint, basically all productivity apps have a spellchecking mechanism built in. You simply have to turn the feature on. Sigh!

Keeping logs

Have you ever tried keeping a log of what you do everyday? It's a LOT of effort, and after a while you really get to know the truth (it's what you do versus what you THINK you do). Wonder how explorers and sailors used to do this. I've been at it for just 2 days and it already feels like too much effort!

Starting from scratch

Don't we all love that? Erase everything and start fresh? That's what I'm hoping to do with this new blog. Gone are the days of hiding behind an alter-ego (still have one, but that's in slumber now ;)) so here I am!

No grand entry, but still.. am hoping to use this place to pen down my thoughts as they fly by. Some will be good to chew on, some will leave a bad aftertaste, and hopefully a few will be for keeps.

So here's to new beginnings!