Time Office aur Rajma…

Wierd title isnt it.. This post is also just a bit weird and random. Just wrote what I could think of.

Wondering where to start with.. As usual I was late again for office today. I think time really runs for me in the morning somehow. Either they have something against me or I am bad at time management.. Had planned to get sandwiches today and had made the preparations last night itself..But still as it was I was not able to get ready and leave home to reach office on time. But it also goes to the fact I was making lunch for my team members as well, as for myself. You see they really love what I get (not that I am boasting of myself to be a culinary expert). After having a bite the 2nd patent question which pops up is how did you make it. I go to all the details and tell them how did I do it without knowing the outcome how will it come out when they make it.
Though I have seen a sample of how Shruthi attempted to make rajma the way I told her. Incredible, it was a perfect south indianised rajma though I had told her in a north indian way. She had put her own efforts and it turned out to be good Needless to say that rajma is a north indian curry. I have to admit that how it just makes a difference just being a northie and southie when you cook. If you just do a google search on how to cook Rajma it will pop up 28800 results Wow!!! . See even the food discriminates itself when prepared and we are here on top of our voices shouting against indiscrimation…
So coming back to recipes, I have thought of a strategy. Whatever I decide to make I will type down the recipe the previous day and keep a soft copy saved. As soon as someone wants the recipe I would forward them the soft copy. And you never know in the coming years I may publish a cook book also, thanks to all the saved recipes. Anyways it’s a long way to go and and secondly I don’t like cooking so much as to take all the painful efforts to publish a book. There are enough in the market to help out with. Coming back to to office and time. I didn’t get my scooty again today and I am feeling bad for it. We are such strange people. We start feeling bad for little things in life. Wonder when will the good times come. Maybe when I reach office someday sharp at 9 on my scooty without having to cook and worry about the rest of the world. After all they say you should search for happiness in the little and simple things of life….Like a bowl of rajma curry and hot rice....Happy day.

Streak My Scooty Streak!!!

Ok so I have bought something which is the most expensive thing I have bought till date on own. I have bought a Scooty Streak.I wont say I am very excited as I was supposed to get it long back but still I am happy that now I also have a vehicle which I can take and go where ever and whenever I can. Depends on the practice thoughJ While I was getting it from the showroom to office to park it I fell down in the parking area. Lost my balance and a bit of confidence also. But then again took it back home.. So waiting to discover the roads, the places I have been waiting and wanting to go…Wish me a safe riding..

Mollarchok!!!

Any idea what’s this. Now before any of you reading my post jump into any conclusion I want to tell it’s the name of a sweet shop in Shibpur,Howrah. Just try pronouncing it and it would be fun. Growing up in Calcutta sweets have an important place in my life, and this neighbourhood shop has been there since the time I can remember and its still the same. Isnt it good in today’s time where things are changing so fast they have chose to retain their old charm and the spread of the sweets they had all these years.

It’s a small shop with no fancy attractions. A door which leads you inside and you can almost see all the sweets inside the glass case kept neatly arranged in trays. One one side there use to be huge vats of rasogullas and pantoouas floating in a thick sugar syrup.
There used to be a huge fridge in front and I always used to wonder this fridge is so big that even I can go and sit inside during summers. The fridge was the place where misthi doi used to be stored in clay pots and prices started from 5 rs. In 5 rs you get a small pot of mishti doi that will just satiate your taste buds.
At times lunch or dinner would almost be completed with a pot of mishi doi, and occasionally with any guests coming in, that was the shop we used to get sweets.

Variety of sweets, my favourite being kaachagolla….Its a milk sweet made with jaggery or sugar..Its just different very different.I can still feel the taste. Life changes but not everything changes with it and that’s why we love them for the way they are.

Calcutta will always be home. I have a crazy love for the city which would never fade.

Calcutta Calling!!! Memories Calling….

Well I am just missing Calcutta. I love it calling Calcutta as opposed to Kolkata. I can relate myself better this way. Actually Calcutta is the more fine way of calling it. Hindi speaking people call it Kal-Katta and the sweet speaking Bengalis call it Kolkata. So one can their pick what they want to call it. Does any other place gives that choice so easily.
Well Calcutta the city wich gave me everything…My parents my home my education and the reason to be what I am today. My memories go back as long as when I started realizing that I am a part of this city, this place. Yes no doubt I just love the place the way it is. With its narrow roads, walls laden with movie posters, richshaws pulling all over the road, egg rolls and chicken rolls shop at every stop and all the small sweet shops that line up at the road. Rosogollas, and misthi doi (Sweet curd) being an integral part of the city.The city has both a leisureness and a liveliness.
Boys having an adda at their paras, kids going to tuitions on bicycles, girls just going out for a stroll eating rolls or jhaal muri and doing jhaaki maara ( seeing people of the opposite sex) elderly people relaxing in the evening with a bite of muri (puffed rice) and chop (Bhajjis as known here) is just something one can experience there.
Today I miss all this so much and it seems life has become so different.. with no pauses no stopping. Its just going on and on.
The place where I used to live was Shibpur in Howrah. The biggest township of Calcutta or better known as the twin city. Though much better developed and maintained now it was not very upmarket some few years back. There is a shibpur bazaar where you get everything you want. From groceries to vegetables, fish, meat, sweets. Stepping in that bazaar will bring in you an activeness. One can see elderly with their jholas (bags) shopping and bargaining for vegetables and fish.
A small tea shop here and there where some people would just gather over a cup of chaa (tea) and discuss about Saurav Ganguly to football to governments policies to Mamata Banerjee and give their opinions. Well no one is there to listen to them but still. Its just an integral part of the lifestyle there to have an adda session. For people who dont know passion for football and Sourav runs in every one's blood.
Sitting just by the bank of Ganges or better known as the Hoogly river one can just gaze at the sky and think about nothing. The breeze is just wonderful which touches your face and soothes your soul. The ferry which goes across from Shibpur to Calcutta better known as launch, yes its launch, is a superb means of transport where one can reach the other side of the river without going through the traffic hussles and enjoying a river ride as well.Its a small kind of a ship which can carry 50 people to and fro and is an important means of transportations for people who dont wish to travel by roads or just want to avoid the traffic hussles and reach their destination peacefully.
The launch has given me some wonderful memories of my life when I was in college and used to take it to reach howrah. Standing on the launch and experiencing the wave and flow of the river beneath it and gazing the Howrah bridge from below, each time I saw it, I wondered what a creation it is…Today all this seems like a luxury..

Well summarizing all in one post what I feel about the city is difficult but yes the city is very much a part of me and my existence.
More is to follow.. Till then keep smiling:-)
Mani:-)

A Sunny Day....

A nice and sunny day but the not the mood. When I stepped out from home I thought its going to be better. But no, I am still feeling tired and drowsy and just want to doze off to sleep. Can I?? The fatigue of Saturday outing is still there. Well I had been to Club Cabana last Saturday and it was as usual great fun.The place was just beautiful. A perfect one where one can just go and unwind. Where you just can lie down with a book and no matter you read it or you just read the people who come there to enjoy We had great fun and it was the 1st time I played cricket and my team won. Hurray!!! The aggressiveness within us was remarkable. We were a one team before the cricket and we had split into 2 teams for the game. The way we were applauding our team batsmens and cheering when a four or six was being tossed off and the gloomy sigh when someone was out was noteworthy. We were just fighting for our own runs when the other team was reducing them in numbers and the same was the case vice versa. 39, 39 is the total. Hello when did it become 39 it was 29. no no it was 39 only. Masoom was shouting at the top of her voice against this so called cheating, well it was not, and Archana was just awesome as a bowler and an Umpire. She just refused to bowl when Srini didn’t accept he was out but he was.. Just a game and we were supposed to have fun. But then we took it as a game with all the aggresiveness and vigour and won it.And we were so happy….

The lazy river!!! The name is just so apt. You just have to take a tube and keep floating on it and enjoy the sun. Not everyday you get a chance to do something like it unless you have a pool of your own and have loads of time. Now who has a pool and time also.. Thats a prized thing to have it today… Well back to lazy river’s lazy lamhe, David was fun tumbling down everyone and creating more fun..Well all in all it was just fun and fun and fun and I guess that’s why we were there..

And all the after effects of having that fun are being experienced now. But still the time spent brings a smile which tries hard not to fade away with the aches and pains my body is having right now… I wish myself a nice day:-)

Some pics to support my views that they are facts indeed...

1 week Old!!!

The year has started and we are already 1 week old… Yipeee..So already getting adapt to the new challenges new dreams and receding old pains and reliving lost dreams!!!
A usual day at office with no work absolutely. Have made a goof up by dating my cheque wrong, 2 Dec-09..Waiting to go the bank to pay the money…..Money just flies. Where it goes I really don’t know. Bus fares ,auto fares, eating pastry, gulping pani puri, to that peanut guy , chewing pan, satiating the taste buds with a chicken roll, recharging you fone some thousand time for 60 rs, buying kurti or tshirt inspite having loads of them…And doing all this a visit to the doctor once in a while and how can I forget the birthday parties and farewell parties at office where we again gobble all the possible junk and fried foods with the same money we have contributed towards it…Money just flies..

Unknowingly I seem to be a little pleasant and happy. The thoughts of my past keep me happy.. Is there something wrong in it. Even it is I don’t want to care about it. Just for today I want to live it again become careless…Ah what a wonderful time it was.
But I am determined to make 2009 also as beautiful as it can be. I want to live it coz I think I owe it to myself…Now I really hope I keep up the thought and its not just a momentary high whilst I write this.. Everyday is meant to be upbeat and positive though I know at times its difficult to be.
At tea got to know about my colleagues’s dad who is suffering froma liver ailment and needs a transplant. Liver is an organ which can regenerate itself in the donor’s as well as the recipient’s body. The full organ is not required for transplant. Amazing and awesome isn’t it. The body in itself is a miracle and the way all the organs work together in harmony and sync to maintain the balance is an art beyond imagination. Ok too much philosophical now. I dont intend to become any guru maa and change my career path. Planning to spend another half day in office yawning.

Guten tag!!! I am again learning german you seeJ

Another New Year...

Another year has set in... The mood is set where we reflect and introspect on the past year,it's sucesses and failures, lost dreams renewed hopes and a lot of things... For me the year had started where I had thought about a lot of things but then I just slept over it. This blog is one example which I had started but just stopped after 2 posts. Anyways lets hope I continue it and I dont want to make any reolution for it...

Today I got a beautiful painting by my friend Masoom. Its a a simple painting drawn in pencil by her. The painting reminds me that somethings are beautiful when they are simple. Also it tells that even if we grow up we can do things in a simple way rather than expecting ourselves to be trained in whatever we do. I have kept it at my workstation board and its a cute one...
The day is as usual like any other day and i dont feel any change other than the date the last digit of the year and the month. Ya occasionaly hearing people beaming with joy and greeting Happy New Year does sends a thought to me that Oh!! one more battle to be fought, one more dream to be seen and one more life to lived. Hurray Happy New Year 2009.