The Chef in Me

After a month long planning and lot of discussions, finally my thoughts were put into execution and CHAPATHIs were made for the first time in my house on Jan-28, 08.

Every day at the dinner table me and my roommates used to discuss how bad the frozen parothas were and how costly they were. We use to come to a conclusion that we making chapathis ourselves will be a good idea. Though we use to come to a conclusion but its implementation was a difficult job. Making chapathis firstly require us to prepare the dough, then the Rolling of the dough and finally the cooking. Making the dough according to us was an ok job. But Rolling of it was the most difficult job that we thought. In every discussion we used to come long way till this point and then conclude that frozen parothas even though costly and not that good but were suitable for lazy guys like us.

But on Jan-27 I finally decided to give a shot, went to Indian grocery shop and bought wheat flour. For my luck there was no 1-2KG wheat flour bag so I ended up buying 5KG bag. As I entered the room my roommates were surprised to see wheat bag and they burst into laugh saying that I will be wasting a huge lot of flour.

That evening after gathering a lot of courage went and prepared the dough. For my luck it came properly. The rolling was also good. Even though the chapathis were not round I was able to depict various country maps in them. The taste of chapathis was really good and I got a lot of kudos from my roomies. Now from that day onwards every night we make chapathis. Wow my first planned project is a success…………..

This is me Now. A year back I didn’t know what happens in a kitchen. Never ever lighted a gas stove. My mom is an awesome cook and never allowed me to enter kitchen and while I was in Bangalore we had a cook who used to make good food. But after coming to US I had to cook and initial two months were really hell. But thanks to my roomies I learned the art of cooking. And also thanks to them who tasted my worst cooking and kept on encouraging me. Atlast the Chef in me has started to grow :)

Champions at the receiving end

What a month January has been for sporting activities. Australian open tennis and India tour of Australia cricket. Both the events were feast to watch.

To start with let’s begin with Australian open tennis. I have been a tennis fan since I was a kid. After coming to US the enthusiasm has increased as now I have even started to play the game. I am a diehard fan of Agassi and Nadal.

This year Australian open was quiet important for Nadal as he had to prove his point on hard court. It was also important for Federer as he was defending the championship and was playing to win the championship three times in a row. But both these great players lost in Semifinals. Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The last time when Federer lost in straight sets was way back in 2002. Nadal lost to Tsonga in straight sets.
What this year Aus open proved is that even Masters of the game are vulnerable. If pressure is applied at the right time they too make mistakes. Its always the masters of the game are the one who are in pressure as they are considered to be the favorites. The underdogs are the one who have nothing to lose. Djokovic played superb tennis for which even Federer has to bow.

The next big event of the month was India tour of Australia. The two best test team in the world. It’s always difficult to defeat Australians in their home. And after losing the first test Indian team looked vulnerable. But Indians came back fighting hard in Sydney, but unfortunately they lost that test too. Going for the third test Australians were playing to set a world record of 17 consecutive wins. But Indians fought hard and defeated the Australians in third test at Perth where only few thought that Indian could survive. One should really appreciate the way the Indians have played as they were down under and were also involved in lot of controversies.

The young bowlers did the trick for Indians. Australian middle order batting line up was never in pressure in the past 3 years as their openers would give them a solid start. But in third test the openers failed which tested the middle order. For Australians Attack was the best weapon, but in third test the attack from batsmen back fired them as they lost quick wickets for bad shots. Even here too the Masters were at receiving end. Indians proved that if you play good sensible game you can defeat the toughest opponent too.

The Sleep Button

Ever wondered GODS ultimate creation….. The creation of human being…. Where every single part works very correctly, works even more accurately than the now a days modern precision devices. Well the only thing which i guess God has forgotten to put in human being is a Sleep button.
You use your laptop/ desktop the whole day and when the job gets done or you have finished ur work u just shutdown the computer. The same logic could have been applied with us with a sleep button. Finished a day of tiring work, return home wrap up all the essential stuff and press your sleep button and go to sleep say for 8 hours.
Sleep is one essential thing which we deserve every night. Try thinking of waking up continuously for 48 hours and then imagine the things to come for next 6 hours. We will not know what we are doing. Eventually we will not be in our conscious mind.
Imagine you are going to give a seminar to your new team tomorrow morning. You are all exited about it. Want to give that perfect first impression. Done all the hard work of preparing the seminar. You goto bed but still thinking all about the seminar in the back of ur mind and not getting the sleep. You know that if u don’t sleep you wont have that energy the coming morning but still the excitement is killing ur sleep. At this moment if we had a sleep button how good would that be?Well may be this is my fantasy of saying God is not 100% perfect, but maybe he had some other ideas. He wanted to conquer our fear or excitement and come good on our own rather than he helping us at all the time. May be lots of thing to ponder about?????

The idea courtesy goes to my roommate Guru who was cribbing of not getting sleep and wishing he had a sleep button as the shutdown button in the comp.

Good Cricket Spoilt by poor umpiring

Ind vs Aus - 2 test
SCG - 2 - jan to 6-Jan

What a test Match!!!!!!! Aus vs Ind 5 days of cricket and until last minute winner was not decided...... and in the end Aus emerge winner only due to poor umpiring. Day-5 when India need to play the tiring 72 overs on the fifth day pitch stsrted poorly by losing Jaffer on first over. By tea india had lost 2 more wickets. Aussie needed 7 wickets in the last session. After tea the problem started for India. Dravid was given out when it was clear that the ball has deflected from pad. It was very clear because the bat was behind the pad and bat was not at all visible for umpire, then how can he give out........... then the controversial decision of Sourav. From the replay it was clear that ball has touched the ground. Even sourav didn't walk. Why did the not umpire take the help of technology?????

This test has been a nightmare for umpire and more likely for Indians for losing a winning battle.......

India Rising

Just came across this video in youtube about india:

http://www.youtube.com/v/0XehNQ2OMfE&rel=1

WOW........ thats what i can say after watching the clip.

The person whoever quoted "India's economy is growing when the Government is sleeping" is absolutely true. Imagine where india will be if the government performs as it should be.
We have the potential to be the strongest nation. But are we electing the right person to govern us?
Well every parents want their children to be a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer but none want them to become a politician. So we have to change this basic thinking in order to give the country a good ruler.

Fantasy

What if the rules of death doesn’t hold good for a day? What if Yamadharmaraya goes on leave for a day?
Do what ever you want and still you would not die that day……

If such day occurs these are the 5 things I would like to do:

1. Jump from the terrace of a skyscraper. I want to feel the sense of free falling.
2. Drive the car at around 160 MPH and hit a solid stationary object. Would like to experience the jerk that would be felt.
3. Would like to get hit by AK 56 riffle.
4. Would like to taste the cyanide.
5. Would like to catch hold of a high voltage electric line. Would love to allow the current to pass through me.

Well watching Family Guy on TBS TV channel on Monday night gave rise to this idea.

Just imagine and come up with your 5 things that u would like to do.

Am i changed ?????

It was 5 P.M. Friday evening. I got up from my chair ready to leave. Happy that weekend was coming. No need to think of office stuff for next 2 days. Wished my colleagues bye and left my floor. I was at ground floor in no time thanks to high speed elevator. The floor was almost vacant as most of them left early for the weekend. In US weekend starts from Thursday evening itself. All start to talk about the weekend plans from Thursday evening itself and Friday all day they dream about the coming 2 days. As I walked towards the exit I remembered that I haven’t wished the security personnel good bye. I walked towards his desk. He was busy reading a novel. I wished him bye. He wished me back too. I was out of office and walking towards my bus stop. On the way I just remembered how I used to treat the security employees in my Bangalore office. I never used to wish them. Whenever they asked me to display the ID card I used to groan at them. Am I changed after coming to US, or is it I have become more respectful after coming here. I really don’t know. But one thing for sure once I return to India I will be more humble towards every one respecting the dignity of labor.