Yet another "so called" New Year ...

its over 2 and a quarter years since i have posted anything here ... but i do miss this virtual world of mine at times ... anyway just dropped by to wish you all a happy new year (not sure if anyone even checks out this page anymore :)) .... hope this year pans out to be New not just literally and calendarily ;) but also figuratively ...

~ take care peepz

Hungry ????

Guys (sorry gals, i m not a sexist but you would have better options :)), what do u do when, on a nice, sunny, lazy Sunday afternoon, you find yourself starving and craving for good, healthy, home cooked meal; something other than ready to eat meals, pastas, jacket potatoes, baked beans, curd-rice etc.

I was in one such dire straits (which unfortunately is the case every 6 hours with me here in Swansea :)) today ... and was contemplating to go to a nearby (so called) Indian restaurant. That’s when heavens decided to smile my way and help me out of today's craving. I was unexpectedly enlightened and like a programmed robot went to the kitchen and prepared a finger licking, hunger satisfying, scrumptious and healthy feast... I am jotting down the recipe below … so mates, go confront your hunger with this weapon …

Besides, friends, I am sure most of you all will be tempted to lift this recipe and post in your blogs or forward it to many others… (ceedy, I know that by now, you would have also thought of a nice title for posting this recipe on ambrosia ) … Don’t worry peepz, please feel free to spread this recipe without any fear of plagiarism … I believe that GOD has enlightened me so that I can pass this life saving message to as many hungry, helpless and lonely souls … I think I was the chosen ONE for this noble deed.

I request not that credit be given to me for this recipe when you guys spread it but I do request you all to ensure that my fiancé doesn’t come to know that I can do something in the kitchen. Hope you all understand the repercussions of that. :)

So, here goes the recipe:

• Take half an average sized onion and dice it finely,
• Take one average sized tomato and chop it into tiny pieces,
• Take half capsicum (green pepper) and chop that too finely,
• Take some cucumber and cut it into small thin pieces,
• Take 2 bowls of sev mamra* in a big salad bowl
• Add the chopped stuff into the salad bowl
• Sprinkle some salt and some chat masala to that
• Take 8-10 pieces of grapes (not too sour not too sweet ones) and chop it into small bits and add them to the salad bowl
• Mix the contents in the bowl well
• Squeeze half a lemon into the bowl (readymade lemon juice can be a substitute:)) (aint I talking like Sanjeev Kapoor ??? :P)
• Mix the contents in the bowl well again …
• Now sprinkle just a small amount of sev as garnishing (coriander leaves would be a good idea too but I didn’t have it at home:))
• Take a glass of Tropicana Orange Juice (not the plain one but the one with pieces of orange) to drink while relishing the feast.
  
  

Now savor your meal directly from the salad bowl. I repeat DO NOT transfer contents in another plate or bowl to eat; eat directly from the salad bowl. This enhances the taste and reduces the number of utensils to be washed :)

Well, the dish can be called as BHEL … actually SUKI BHEL (dry BHEL, since there are no chutneys). Remember that the grapes and lemon squeeze deliver the killer punch.

Cheers peepz,
~ hiren

*sev mamra = "kurmura + sev (in hindi)", "puffed rice + spicy dry indian gram noodles (in english) :D"

P.S. My naivety is so obvious in writing up recipes … I should have clicked a picture of the bhel to augment my recipe … but I was too starved to NOT to eat and click pictures for the blog :P Maybe next time when heavens decide to smile my way again :)

Imagination ....

"Only if one had the power of imagination ... the possibilities are simply endless ..."

I was watching a documentary today and realized that most of us would restrain our imaginations by weighing them down with the odds of getting them to life. However, the impediment can be our limited knowledge of things or our risk aversion nature ... whereas the realm of fantasy wouldn't be impossible after all...

Only if we had the power to overlook the feasibility aspect and let our imaginations run loose ... that would do wonders ... amazing wonders ...

Lucky are those who have the gift of pure imagination and vision.

ciao
hiren

P.S. I have said this hundred times ... and here i go again ... have been off blogger since long now ... but want to get back to it ... back to penning my thoughts ... back with narrations of the zillion things that have been happening in my life ... hopefully this post can be the stepping stone to the resumption ...

The Pulley ...

Since I am light on work nowadays; I am attending quite a few interesting and enriching training sessions that get conducted in my organization. The other day (a few weeks back) I was attending one such session on something related to business presentation skills.

After the initial introductions, expectations from the course etc, the instructor threw a sudden missile at us. She said that each one of us had to come to the podium and recite a poem. (What???? Are we here to read out poems?? Are you nuts???). Well, seemingly, this poem recital exercise would enable her to evaluate the vocal aspect of our presentation; she was trying to check the following five qualities of our voice – audibility, clarity, stability, modulation and control. (Did you ever know there were so many aspects about how the way we speak?? :))

Just as we all were staring at each other’s faces, not knowing how to react to this unexpected attack, she stated “I know all of you must be feeling weird; but trust me it will be fun.” she said with a smile, coming over to our chairs and handing each one of us print out of poems. “Take 5 minutes to read the poems, understand its message and mood and present it to rest of us.” In the following 10 minutes all of us were preparing for the recital, strategizing the pauses to be taken for emphasis, the pitch variation to be done as per the mood etc etc... and then actually reciting the poem multiple times in our heart :) it was a feeling akin to last minute revisions during the exam times.

After 10 mins, the instructor snapped, “So, who will go first? ... No volunteers? Okay, let me pick. Hiren ???.”

“Yea ... hmmmm .... yeaa ... sure...”, grrrrrrrrrr....

The other 7 people attending the course started giggling and I started my long walk towards the podium ... upon reaching there, I stood with my eyes refusing to see anywhere above the floor, for the first few seconds ... and then somehow, I managed to recite (read as narrate) the poem and there were claps all around. [That’s the benefit of a corporate crowd; you can get claps for craps too :))]

Okay, I won’t bore you all further with the session details. The intent of this post was to put up the poem that I had got to recite. It was a nice poem titled “The Pulley” by George Herbert. It has got a nice message and the simplicity of this message did strike me. Usually, I am not that much of a fan of poems, but liked this one [maybe because I had no option but to read and understand it :)]

The Pulley
by George Herbert

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
Let us (said He) pour on him all we can:
Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span.

So strength first made a way;
Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honour, pleasure:
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that alone of all His treasure
Rest in the bottom lay.

For if I should (said He)
Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore My gifts instead of Me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature:
So both should losers be.

Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that, at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to My breast.

p.s. Manallii reminded me of a quote, which describes this poem perfectly. Coincidentally, I had posted this quote around same time last year on my quotes blog.

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s Grace and
Your good days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s Grace ...”
~ Anonymous

Quiet & Relaxed ...

Since a few years now, I had my eyes on her. Her voluminous figure was repulsive. Moreover her meticulously detailed and sometime philosophical talks didn’t entice many. But I had fallen for her from the time I had heard about her chaste inner beauty from a few friends who had acquainted with her. For 3 long years, I tried many a times to get together with her but couldn’t succeed. But finally, our destinies converged a few weeks back; I saw her leaning prettily over a shelf at a bookstore. She was a bit overweight alright; but her striking face accentuated with hues of red was entrancing. I simply walked up to her, held her hand and got out of the store and the rest as they say is history ...

Okay, okay, gals don’t get upset or jealous!! I am just talking about a book here. I still am very much single and available :). Now, this is the first time I am writing a review of sorts for a book. Earlier I have recommended a couple of books as passing notes in my posts. But this entire post belongs to the book I just finished reading and which still has me under its binding spell.

In today’s fast paced world of short sophisticated stories, succinct narratives and innovative fictions, a 930+ pages epic based on a real life story might sound like a boring proposition. I guess I too would not pick up such a book unless I hoped to use it as a pillow (both literally and figuratively). But I had heard and read so much about this literary masterpiece that I had been itching badly to subject myself to the torture. And glad I am, that I did that to me.

Well, Shantaram is a real life inspired but fictitious account of memoirs of the author – Gregory David Roberts, an Australian fugitive who lands into Mumbai after escaping from a prison back home. Once into Mumbai he just falls in love with this city where he makes many friends, lives in Mumbai slums, deals in drugs, runs a first-aid clinic for the poor slum dwellers, finds a father figure in Mumbai's mafia, finds a few friends who could die for him and vice versa, makes a few enemies who entrap him, has near death experiences in Mumbai jail, joins the Mujahideen war in Afghanistan, becomes an important part of the mafia gang in Mumbai and zillion other things ... and did I say learns Hindi and Marathi?:) Okay, by now you must have at least realized that this book is a roller coaster ride of a plethora of emotions – trust, love, betrayal, respect, friendship, sympathy, blind faith, power, conviction etc etc etc

This one sure is right up there amongst the best prose (cant term is as the best since Bourne Identity is a tough competition :)) I have read. There are loads and loads of sentences and paragraphs in this gem that you would just want to engrave in your memory and quote them somewhere to impress others by its richness of literature and also some interesting philosophical focus. But the highlight of this book is the thoroughly detailed account of the writer’s adventures. Some of them are so comprehensive that you actually begin to feel the surroundings and start experiencing the feelings of the protagonist. For instance, after reading his ordeal at the Arthur Road prison in Mumbai; you will shudder even from the thought of spending a day in that jail. Similarly his depiction of the Mumbai slums and the entire south Mumbai area made me wonder sometimes whether I actually live in Mumbai or not.

This book is a must buy for book lovers, it is a captivating thriller sprinkled merrily with human emotions, interesting philosophy and descriptive writing. Mumbaikars will surely find a connection with this book owing to the scrupulous description of many of the city places with “Café Leopolds” being the prominent of all :).

On the flip side, in my view the book has two snags – firstly, it surely is HUGE, but, once you start this voluminous autobiography it starts growing on you and enchaining you in its grasps. Secondly, it has some open ends during the narration which might be a turn off. But most of them get clarified towards the end. Alas there are a couple of them still which I am wondering about (or did I just missed a few pages while reading the book in almost sleepy state)

Btw Warner Bros have bought the rights for making a film on this book in which Johnny Depp is slated to play the lead role while Amitabh Bachhan is slated to play the mafia head who becomes a father figure to the protagonist.

Lin Baba ki Jai Ho!!! :)

Ciao friends, tc,
hiren

p.s. the title of the post is the literal disintegration of the word “Shant - aaram” just in case you are still intrigued :)

p.p.s. now I have my eyes on another femme fatale and this one is not a book :)

Emotional Atyachaar

Friends,
I am glad to be ending my writers block with a short story. Well, here is my first attempt on writing a short story from a picture. Hope that it is at least bearable and sensible to some extent :) Earlier, a coupla times, I have tried to write something from 3WW word prompts ... but writing from a picture is a first of its kind for me. Looking forward to receiving honest comments from you guys...

I have been inspired for this post from stories by ceedy and sameera who have participated in the Ascension Short Fiction Contest running at the Jason Evan’s blog. The story cannot be of more than 250 words and has to be inspired from the given picture. So here is my rather naive attempt at it; and of course I am not submitting this amateurish entry to the contest. Although, just couldn't resist the urge to post it here.

Update: - Thanks to all your motivation and inspiration ... I did submit my story to the contest. It is entry #98 in the contest :-)

The below picture is the prompt given by Jason Evan for the Ascension contest.



Emotional Atyachaar
by Hiren

"Don’t ... I said Do NOT. Dare you step on the escalator!!!" shouted Karla at the top of her voice.

"Why are you doing this to me? You very well know that I have to get to her in time ... she ain’t going to wait for me even a minute after 9:30." I tried to plead with her while hopping on to the escalator...

"You have to make a choice today ... its her or me this time ... either you get down from the escalator or you don’t see me again..." she shouted beating her previous decibels record and ensuring that all nearby eyes gave me obtrusive glances.

"arggghhhhh .... GOD save this world from the emotional blackmail power of girls ..." I mumbled beneath my breath as I reached the first floor and got off the escalator only to take an about turn to the flight of stairs going down...

"Okay miss drama queen, happy now??" I teased her after sauntering down to the mezzanine floor where she was standing with a triumphant smirk on her otherwise innocent face.

"Darling, you are such a sweet heart!!!" she said restoring back her innocent smile.

"Anything for you dear; so which stupid hindi movie are we going for?" I mocked her again whilst thinking about the aftermath of missing the last Metra train to my town... 40 dollars cab fare to AMC, 50 dollars to drop her home, 100 dollars to reach my home :-(

Titanic ....

heyaa people,

Apologize to be absconding for so long ... was engulfed with many unavoidable agendas viz. umpteen weddings ... a couple of friends been back home from US for vacation... and yea work as usual... Now I am a bit eased out with all the weddings done with... albeit they have left me with another agenda of losing the kilos I gained during the last 3 weeks :)

My trip to north india was a pleasant one... will try to upload some pics from the trip ... special mention for two serene places that I visited in this trip – Golden Temple and Lotus Temple ... wonderful calming experience...

Thanks to all of you who were concerned about my well being during the Mumbai mishap... by gods grace all is fine with me and my near and dear ones ... I was in Delhi during that time ... just hooked on to the news channels all the time ... This terrorist attack was surely not just another one (as we Mumbaites seem to be used to them)... this one for sure has left back deep scars which will take time to heal...

Anyway, will catch up with all yaa blogs soooon... till then check this pic out... speaks a lot about the current recession and slump...

More later, till then take care !!!

ciao,
~ hiren

Season Update

heylo guys n gals ...

Just dropped in to provide a quick update – next few weeks; I will be totally engulfed in the wedding season ... and this, for sure is one of the biggest season for me ... with 7 weddings to attend in a span of just 3 weeks time.... and these are such weddings that I can miss only at the risk of getting amputated ... yea ... all of them of my friends ... well, suddenly seems everyone around me is getting hitched :)

But one good thing is that to kick start this wedding season, I am away on a 10 day trip to north India as the first wedding of the season is in Chandigarh. This is the wedding of the friend whose love story I had cited in one of my earlier posts – JoJhol. I have heard that the marriages in Chandigarh are awesome and full of fun ... so I am eagerly looking forward the experience the Punjabi style marriage...

Moreover, there are 4 of us who are leaving a bit early for spending a few days in Delhi, visiting Agra and finally a day in Amritsar to Chandigarh ... its hard to believe, but I have never visited Delhi earlier, so am excited about spending a few days there and experiencing Delhi life per se ... am also keen to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar ... and of course to see Chandigarh as well - the only architecturally planned city in India :)...

So, people, I will be away for a while due to this trip and post that due to the numerous weddings where I will mostly spending the free time in driving from one venue to another :(

See yaa all soon .. till then take care and have fun !!!

ciao
~ hiren

Moving On ....

No friends, the current mania of quitting blogville hasn’t caught up with me; it’s just that, of late, a lot of people who affect me someway or the other are moving on in their lives. In the past few weeks; I was shocked & saddened at least 4-5 times by the unexpected avowals of people quitting blogging; jobs and cricketing careers. Believe me; this is creating a feeling of emptiness. The least I can say that all of you will surely be missed and wish you all good luck with the future endeavors.

The subsequent part of this post is my diminutive tribute to the charismatic Sourav Ganguly and the altruistic Anil Kumble; two of the very few cricketing legends of my generation who decided to end their careers. So, people who are averse to cricket can skip the below unexciting and emotional blabber :)



Yesterday, India won the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy... by beating the hard nosed Aussies (not the Aussie countrymen per se ... but their cricket team for sure) by a thumping 2-0 margin ... Any other day such an astounding drubbing would have meant paramount pleasure and tremendous exultation ... But, with this test match being Dada’s last match and Jumbo already hanging his boots in the last test match; the victory celebrations were definitely sidelined by the emotional good-byes. This holds true for all the cricket lovers in India. Indian cricket has seen and end of an era with two of its prodigies calling it quits; whilst one can sense Jammy’s retirement too to be just around the corner.

Kumble, a fighter in true sense, a perfect gentlemen, an enviable team man, highest wicket taker for India and 3rd highest in the world, big hearted, a thinking bowler and someone whose commitment to the game was so infectious .... he will be remembered as someone who, never ever in his career spanning over 18 years, gave less than his 100% ...


Ganguly, controversy’s favorite child, most successful test captain for India, role model for the team, motivating and supportive leader (he did full justice to his nick name Dada), aggressive face of Indian Cricket, attacking batsman, affiliate of the most successful ODI opening partnership, god of off-side ... he will surely be remembered for decades to come for this contribution in taking Indian cricket forward.

Regardless of how the new look Indian team under MSD fares; Indian cricket will never be the same. I surely was lucky to be born in an era to witness the ‘god of off-side’ unleashing his sublime cover drives that effortlessly pierced packed off-side fields and the gallant leg spinner coming to take field for the sake of the team with his head wrapped in bandages owing to a broken jaw...

SG and AK, here is a heartfelt thank you to both of you for the gallant contribution and positive difference you have made to Indian cricket. God Bless!

~ hiren

Diwali Wishes ....

Friends,

May the divine light of Diwali illuminate your life with bright sparkles of joy, prosperity and peace ... wish you all a very happy and sparkling DIWALI !!!

Have been real tied up in the past few weeks, consequently, haven't been able to keep up with your blogs .... will try to catch up sooon ...

For now, its festive time here in India ... although, the festivity mood has been marred by a lot of frivolities viz. the sub-prime crisis in US, its adverse impact all over the world, stock market crashes (I should rather say collapses), forthcoming recession and subsequent pay-cuts, layoffs etc etc ..... but nevertheless Diwali has its own charm and anxiety ... so, people are still enjoying this festival with their loved ones albeit in a quite manner (literally, there are hardly 5% of fire crackers heard this time around) .... I too have managed to sneak in a week’s leave and am having a gala time with friends and family :) Hope that all of you too are enjoying this fest regardless the negativity hovering around...

Have fun and be safe ... avoid crackers and prevent noise pollution (those who want can read this as save money :))...

ciao for now,

Take Care.
~ hiren

Got no LOVE ???

Got no love ... don’t chaa worry now ... your problem ends right here...

Stumbled upon this smirky picture today ... seems that there is a desi version of the hitch budding somewhere in Karjat ... no, wait.... my apologies ... that position’s already taken by our Sallu miya ... okay maybe this guy (just a convenient assumption or writer’s liberty ... I am by no means a male chauvinist, this can very well be a gal :)) is an updated sophisticated version of the good old Baba Bengali ... “prem ki samasya? pyaar ka ijhaar? kisi bhi samasyaa ke liye sampark kare” types ;)

And come to think of it ... these guys are a touch better than our cinematic love gurus WS & SK ... they not only stop at getting two people in love.... but also guarantee the marriage ... talk about value added services :) Move away shaadi.com ... arranging a marriage is outdated ... :)

have fun friends !!!

ciao
~ hiren

P.S. if anyone of you actually end up using their services please let us know about the experience ... it would be very interesting to hear the customer testimonials ;)

** Disclaimer**
I haven’t started any such side business as an aftermath of the USA subprime crisis and this is not a marketing post :) I am in no way related to the business shown above ... for further details and clarifications please contact the numbers mentioned in the above photo... :)

a bag that wasnt a bomb ...

An incident that happened on Monday morning during my travel from Mumbai to Pune -

9:15am - Mumbai-Pune Volvo bus halts for its customary 10-15 min stop at Vashi.
9:16am - A dude gets in; places his luggage on the seat in front of me and besides an elderly uncle... then gets off the bus...
9:23am - Uncle is getting restless & anxious with the luggage in the bus and its owner missing ... so are a couple of other people.
9:26am - Uncle gets panicky; gets off the bus; calls the driver & cleaner (who were sipping tea at a stall alongside) and raises alarm ... “arey ek mulga tari aapla bag thevun gela aahe ... daha minute jaale ... kuthe disat nahi toh ... bagha tari .. bomb vomb tar nahi naa??” (A guy has left the bus after leaving his bag in the bus and cant be seen around since the past 10 mins... can it be a bomb?)
9:27am - many people get off the bus to join the commotion (including me)...
9:28am - looking at the hustle bustle, the dude who was about 50 mts away (and who btw was bidding sugary good byes to his girl friend, while waiting for the bus to start) comes rushing in ... so as to retrieve his luggage since he spotted people getting off the bus ... he thought that there was a breakdown or some other problem with the bus ....
9:30am - Everything settled, the bus resumes its journey ... the dude and the uncle have a hearty laugh over it...and I get back to reading “Road to Gandolfo”

This is the fear, that the flurry of terror attacks have created in the psyche of the people here ... I wont get into giving any sermons as to how should we retaliate ... or the terrorists’ point of view .... or HIS role ... or bitch about incompetent government & security measures ... or what is achieved by carnage of innocent lives etc etc ....

A lot has been said, shouted, cried and sighed about all these viewpoints ... the thing which enthused me to put this post up.... was a conversation with a friend who is a US national. We were discussing about the hurricane Ike, safety of her relatives etc and the topic turned to the recent bomb attacks in Delhi... my feeling of helplessness just made me blurt out to her that “at least for Ike you people have all the warnings and alerts ... and can take the precautionary measures.... here in India ... the bomb attacks come uninformed and take hundreds of innocent lives”.... (as an afterthought I realized that it was quite a rude (maybe selfish) comment on my part .... as there has been a lot of emotional and physical stress because of Ike)

Thankfully, she didn’t misunderstand my comment and her reply was pretty queer and left me at loss of words – “That is really sad. I remember when USA was attacked in 2001. I remember feeling so scared and unsure in my own home. At least one thing was a comfort that my own countrymen were not planning these attacks, which is not true for India. Indians themselves are causing the misery for their radical views.”

I could have given many counter arguments.... like not all terrorists are Indians ... there might be other countries involved etc etc ... but come to think of it ... she had got a valid point ... at the end there had to be countrymen involved at some or the other level ...I didn’t have a reply to her .... in fact I was experiencing the same helplessness that one feels when thinking about terror blasts ...

Anyways, one thing that I have pondered for years now ... is why do the terrorists have to kill innocent people to make a statement and get themselves heard??? There can be many other ways which wouldn’t involve loss of life.... and can probably have similar kind of impact ... (I will refrain from showcasing my vicious side by listing the alternatives... well ... yea i do have some wicked grey cells too ... well .... blame the numerous Robert Ludlum novels that I have read for that ... :)). No, friends ... I am in no way trying to support or justify the terrorists’ activities ... no ways, not even an iota of it ... my point is that if there is a group who can go to any length to get their points across .... why not assume a way which would not slay innocent people? This is genuinely a question that pesters me. Any idea?

ciao friends ... and take care !!!
~ hiren

P. S.: I would recommend you all to watch “Mumbai Meri Jaan” ... it’s a movie based on the 26 July train blasts in Mumbai and showcases the aftermath that a terror attack causes in the lives of common man ...

P. P. S: A couple of you have complained about me writing a lot of serious posts of late.... I agree to that and promise to try and get back to humor soon... :)