My First Chicken Curry:)

I am a die hard fan of 'Chicken' and I have always had chicken made by somebody else - my mother, neighbour aunty, friends. Today we had some friends coming over to our place and I thought I should try making chicken and so I made my first 'chicken curry':)

Below is the recipe I followed and I think it came out pretty well..Well I liked it and so did my friends....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HB7ywgJuTg

Let me know how it turns out for you.

Back to the brush once more.....

My first memories of drawing were the ones where I used to sit with other children under a huge tent with free colors in coconut shells provided for us to use. This is the Universal Arts Competition, which used to be held once a year, for which my dad had taken me till I was like 10 yrs old. I used to randomly draw something on the chart paper there along with my cousin who also used to accompany me.

My dad later sent me for drawing classes, and I had learnt a few basic things about drawing there.
Even though my artistic skills were not the best, I still used to take part in a few competitions in school. I soon realized that I suck at drawing with a "theme" or imaginative drawing. Give me a picture to look and draw and I can recreate atleast 50%. So from the above one can understand how mediocre I am in this art.

Well, after years of not touching the brush, I decided to give it a try again last week. Above is a picture I drew. Its a simple one, but the important thing for me was how happy it made me feel.

Moral of the story : Trees are artist's best friend. Even the worst artist(like me) can manage to intepret it in their own way( With a few strokes here and there) and it still will look like a Tree:)

Jingle Bells!!!

"Christmas"..I think its one of the most beautiful words that I know. It carries with it the smell of food, the happy faces, family get-togethers, the sight of beautiful decorations and the best of the best, the feel of HOLIDAYS!!! Well I could say that the above statement has held true for me right from when I was a child till date( not sure of the HOLIDAY part though!!! Its an unwritten rule that you are officially non-holidayic species once you start working in IT).

As a child, I used to wait for the last of the half yearly exams to get over to enter the Christmas Holidays! There will be children shouting to each other "Happy Holidays" and planning for meet ups during holidays:). Extreme happiness of having done with exams and studies for the next 10 days is written on all their faces. We were living in a colony, where all the families around us where Christians. I was the one who was most benefited by it:) We would at least get 7 cakes at home( me being a favorite among all for the amount of food I eat)and yummy dinners from my and uncles...Thank you all for those wonderful times:)..I still miss every bit of it! One of the most cherished memory of mine is the 'Star' that my dad gets for me every year without fail.We both used to go to the terrace and hang it there with lights! Thinking of it now just makes me realize what a precious memory it has turned out to be.During the week of Christmas, I can see the different kinds of Stars hung in every house surrounding ours and all of them twinkling in unison!

Well those were my childhood memories of this wonderful season. And now I am recreating those memories with Sree [ thatz my way of blackmailing him to help me decorate the Xmas Tree:D]with a Christmas tree at home and cooking something special on Christmas:).

Merry Christmas to all of you........

The Tree we loved...........

Once Sree got his transfer to Sunnyvale, we both shifted to an apartment here. The one thing that we were most happy about was the fact that there were two beautiful trees right outside our apartment and we were enjoying them whenever we looked out.

The tree changed is personality during Fall, bringing in more colors for us to enjoy. I was delighted.

One day, there was a banner placed informing us that there is a plan to cut the trees. There were some high tension wires going above our apartment and the trees were so tall that few of their branches would have posed danger as it was so near to the high tension wires. Well taking off a few branches wont harm..
But when I came back in the evening, I couldnt believe my eyes..They took off both our favourite trees..

It might sound silly...but I was really upset...I couldnt bear to look out of the Patio for a few days.

Finally now both of us accept that our beautiful tree is gone....but neverthless, we miss it..and whenever we look out of the window....we miss it more....

Carrot Rice!

OK...I know its been a long time since I blogged! I haven't blogged since I came to US and joined my job here.OK, that implies something;)...I'll reserve my thoughts here, because this is not about why I didnt blog, it is about Carrot Rice!!!

Well, I happened to visit my friend Suseela's place few months back and she had made carrot rice..It was my first time to see the combination of Rice and Carrot. I am not a huge fan of carrots, but this dish was a killer!!! :D. Sree, loved it too!!!

From that day, I was thinking of making this someday, but days went by and I actually forgot about this. Last week when we went for shopping, Sree bought carrots and told me we'll make somehting out of it. I told him, I'll ask Suseela for the recipe and try this out over the weekend...

After a quick chat with Suseela, I wrote it down and here it is...


Ingredients

1. Carrots : 4
2. Rice - 3 cups
3. Ghee
4. Coconut(grated) : 1 cup
5. Urad Dal
6. Bengal Gram
7.Clove powder
8. Cinnamon powder
9. Green Chilli - 3,4
10. Ginger
11. Garlic
12. Mustard
11. Turmeric
12. Salt
13. Curry Leaves
14. Oil

Steps to make Carrot Rice

a. Grate Carrot finely. [ If possible, make your husband / friend do this for you..this is the toughest part :D]
b. Put ghee in a pan, and fry the grated carrot in this for sometime, till the carrot turns a little pale and its raw smell dies off.
c. Wash the rice and fry the rice in Ghee, for sometime.
d. Cook the rice by putting water in 1 cup rice = 1.5 cups water ratio.
e. Grind the ginger, garlic and green chillies to a thick paste.
f. In another pan, heat oil and add mustards, bengal gram, urad dal and the cinnamon and clove powder.
g. Once the items on step f is done, pour the ginger-garlic-chilli paste to it and add grated coconut and turmeric and cook this mixture for sometime.
h. Add the cooked carrots to this mixture and stir the mixture well
i. Add Salt to this mixture
j. Once rice is cooked, add it to the mixture in step 'i' and stir it well.
k. Put Curry Leaves to garnish.

Well Carrot rice is ready now. This came out well in my case:D and I was surprised, my first try could taste good ..Anyways...its an easy recipe...So try it out. I couldnt take a pic of this, as it was over before I could even think about it.

I would like to thank my friend Suseela for this valuable and easy recipe and also my dear husband Sree[a.k.a Kodak] for grating the carrots for me and being my assitant in the kitchen.

Happy cooking!

First Step to US

OK....I know its been a while since I wrote something..but I am well justified...:) the past 2 months have been the busiest...with marriage plans, post marriage plans and now in US!. Time just flew!!!Earlier when people use to talk about US...it was some place so far!!! that's all that i had in mind.....but now since I am here.when I think back..I realize the actual meaning of terms like
'jetlag', 'Indian food', 'Bland food', 'You cant live without a car here', 'Expensive'. I am not yet old enough in US to actually to form judgements right now...about this place...but all I can say is that it was an impressive sight during landing and also I had been treated royally here(thanks to my hubby and his friends:)).

Packing up!!!

I have been living at chennai for the past 3 years of which, one year i stayed with friends....the first year...and then i went to china shifting all my things to my uncle's place, the third year i was with my uncle at besant nagar. Now the time has come for me to relocate...and i started packing my things...

As i was packing i realised that i can never throw away things that i acquired.. letters...and diaries. Clothes also..there are ones that are totally out of fashion...and stuff that i wont wear outside anymore...i know that...but my mind will tell at that point that..u have spent money on this...u better do justice to these and where them when u can..and again i keep them back...

I have donated clothes before....but then...when it comes to things we really wanna keep or those that we have just worn a few times...my mind flutters...:)

The stuff i accumulated over the three years was packed in several bags...clothes, gifts, cards..and three boxes were parcelled and i also carried some on several trips to home. Inspite of all this it has come to 6 big bags!!!

Unusual.....

Well...I must record this day. The moment this incident happened I decided to write about this.
Its what we wish most people would do. Today I had to go to Ranganathan Salai for something. From Adyar I asked an autoricksha driver and he quoted...
Auto driver: "100"
Me:"100 is too much, 70"
AD:"No sister...90, and its a deal"
Me:"Nothing more than 80"
AD:"ok 85"
I hesitated and was about to look for another one when he said..."OK 80.."
And i got in and he dropped me at my destination.
After some time, i was looking for an auto to get back.
The moment an auto stopped, i told him my destination and told him "Nothing more than 70"
He looked at me and said,"I will put the meter".
Did i hear him right?Meter?? Auto drivers do put meter? Whenever i get into an auto...i used to tell him meter charge and the guy used to tell me..."Sister,Meter does not work". And this is the same dialogue all auto drivers give me.Once i even asked one of them.."why do u have it then" for which he replied, "It was working right till yest" and smiled.

After few months and years of being in Chennai..i realised that nobody puts meter. So i made it a point that i wont get into an auto without an argument.I mean sometimes i hate to the thought of calling an Auto just because i have to bargain to reduce rates. I stopped even looking at the meters in autos as they dont even show digits now.

Today..after so many years.i heard this person tell he will put meter..i was kinda skeptical. I was sure he is saying so confidently just because he has done some adjustment with the meter that it would show extra amount. I told him..."See...noting more than 70". For which he replied.."Nothing more than meter charge".

He took me till my home in besant nagar..and i saw 45.20 in meter. Still i asked him how much as i thought he would defn charge me some extra money telling there is no returm. But he said..45.20!!!. I was so astonished....i took a 50 note and gave him...and he was like....
" I dont have change...".
I said,"Keep the 50".
"No..i dont want any extra money"!!!
I was shocked!!! People think this way even now...????I mean...really? i came down till besant nagar from ranganathan salai for 45 rs???
I fished my purse and found 10 rupee notes and exactly gave him 45.50:).

I mean...i thought he was abnormal. How ironical..for the first time a guy did something correct..and i think he is abnormal????

We are so used to paying extra and being cheated that...i couldnt take his honesty at once!!!
Well i forgot to ask his number....:(. or else i could have saved loads and loads of money which we usually pay extra on autos...I was kinda taken aback by the fact that i actually pay double the price to reach the destination always...

I mean we watch movies like Annyan, Swadesh etc and all the sincere stuff just remain in movies.....Atleast i am happy..not all human beings have turned out to be ignorant about rules in India. I hope this one guy become and inspiration for many others to just accept what they truly deserve....

Friendships in general........

Memory of my first friend goes back to days when I was hardly 3. There was Jebin chettan and Mithun..my neighbours who were my playmates to play on mud and with blocks. I also faintly remember a swing my dad had tied to one of the trees and we three taking turns to swing.
After we shifted to a new place, again my then neighbours Alex and Ammu....became my friends....Then it was followed by many as we progressed through classes in school and then in college.
In school, we have one big advantage in building friendships - you have the same set of people in each year(Unless your parents had transferable jobs, well mine didnt..so i kinda did all my schooling in one single school) and your friendships have time to grow and mature...You start off with just friends to play games and fight, to forming your own groups later on, to taking credit and feeling on top of cloud nine to have a best best friend, then later you become a little more mature and realise that there is much more responsibilites to maintaining a friendship like trust and care.
The next big change comes when we leave school and join college. By this time we have a good ability to realise with which people we gel well...and with whom we dont..we form friendships based on our comfort levels...we are much more maturer and we accept all people who are good to us as our friends..The concept of best friends starts diminishing and the concept of close friends come in.
From college to Job, is again a change. Initially you have your friends from college also in the same work place..you add on more friends to the existing group as days go by and everything looks just like college...but no...we are wrong. In a few months we find our close gang of friends being shifted to many other work locations for new projects or for personal reasons(like marriage, higher studies etc). Initially you wont feel the change so much..but as one by one your friends starts moving on..you realize that change is inevitable. I am right now at this point in my life where I have many friends but the span of togetherness is probably just a few months. Afterwords you just cant be sure where you will be or where she/he will be.We are stil gonna be in touch with occasional mails and calls...but togetherness is only once in a while...
As you look back to school,college and workplace, school is the place which gives you the maximum amount of time for your frienships and these are friends who has actually seen you grow..College gives a little lesser time than school, but this is the time you make the most closest of friends..this is the time you actualy realise the importance of a friend as she /he sees you through your age of questions and doubts and confusions.Workplace is a place where you meet the maximum number of different people, and yes i agree we do make some very close friends out here also(well, i have) but this is where you can consider friendhsip as a basket which is never empty but...one which is always filled with different flavours as time goes by and none of the flavours are going to be in the basket for a very long time...
In my opinion, friendship is of one kind...and the basic rules apply to all friendships..
Whatever stage we are in..there is nothing that can fill the need of a friend.....and first and formost...You are your best friend...:)

A Talent indeed....

Well, today the account for which i was working for hosted a small get together with the senior manager who was supposed to come and speak to us and answer our questions. Usually i am not very interested in such meetings as most of the talks would be boring and esp when u have lots to code you just feel..its not a good idea to go and listen to the same old stuff..Neverthles..i just went.

We were all seated, and the senior manager walked in. Its the first time i am hearing him speak.
Right from the first word he spoke..till the end..i was never bored!. I mean may be its the way he spoke with little bit of humour, with the wits cracked, the 'right to the point' sentenses..,that made me observe the way he spoke. The way he formed his sentenses with the right words of the right clarity was amazing..the same things were not repeated and everything had a touch of humour. Somehow the discussion was very lively.

It is a very big talent to communicate effectively and also to make the listner enjoy while he listens:). I mean i would call him a true leader because of his communication skills...apart from the wide knowledge he has on the subject:)...

'Dont judge a book by its cover'

To reach my uncle's house in chennai, we have to follow a narrow road which has slums on its one side and temple, shops etc on the other side. And in between these there are wider roads that will take you to apartment blocks. I do pass through this road whenever i walk down to my bus stop. And the sight of the slums was not exactly very pleasant for me. I even wonder how people live in those tough conditions, in such tiny space. And it looks all crammed, and so i try not to look that direction as i walk.

For some personal reasons, i wanted to meet an old brahmin couple and one of my uncle's acquaintances helped us in finding this couple. It so happened that they stayed in the slum.
A set of houses in the slum had a common gate. As i walked through the gate i was totally surprised by what i was experiencing. I had expected to experience bad odour, dirty lanes, dirty water flowing etc.But what i found was neat lanes, nice agarbathi or smell of cooking food. I mean when u actualy look the houses had bad and broken floors and walls with paint peeling off..We reached this old couple's home and i must say, they have kept the house so clean inspite of all the short comings of their living environment.

There was one cot with no bed on it. 3-4 plastic chairs, buckets and a shelf with god's pictures and another room where i guess they hanged clothes. There was nothing like a kitchen or bathroom- or rather i guess i didnt see these from where i was sitting. But the neat and tidy house actualy give u a very warm feeling to heart.

I am almost into 600 pages of 'Shantaram' by Gregory David Roberts and there is a section in the story describing his life in the slum and it seemed like i was experiencing something directly from what was written in the book.....

The thaata(old brahmin grandpa) and the patti(grandmom) were there. The taatha was has lost one of his legs and he hardly speaks. But the paatti had a wide smile and she talks a lot. They offered nice warm tea and was very happy that we visited them. We took leave after a while.

It was a very pleasant experience and one that opened my eyes to see the 'world of people in slums' through a different angle.

'Dont judge a book by its cover'