Mom special!

On a casual Jewel Osco visit, I found super fresh cilantro (kothimbir/sambar/coriander) judis neatly stacked. As any female would do, I quickly made my way to the aisle and smartly bought 2 of them. At the checkout I realized my secret (there you go!) resolution to not waste any food items, and my spirits sank (guess to my knees). 

A quick call to India, and aai told me to make Sambar wadis! (oh well, she was woken out of her deep slumber and she still managed to give me a detailed recipe as well :))

I made my own changes to the recipe (out of constraints) and voila!

Here's my recipe for low cal Sambar wadis!

1. All one needs is cilantro, washed, very well dried and finely chopped, some green peppers finely chopped, few raisins, few sesame (til) seeds, grated dried coconut, rai (mustard seeds), haldi, mirchi powder, salt.

2. To make the dough one needs some gram flour (besan) and maida as a binding agent (I did not have it, so I used wheat flour). I took both the flours 50-50. I put some hot oil (called as mohan) in the flour mixture and made the dough and set it aside.

3. The filling which was the cilantro/kothimbir sabji was made the usual way. Tadka of rai, green peppers, haldi, mirchi. And then the coconut, raisins and sesame seeds. And finally the cilantro and salt. Took me hardly 5 minutes. One can also add grated carrots and green peas. Makes it even more healthier.

4. Now I made small rotis of the dough and started filling them with the subji and shaped them like spring rolls (thats the traditional way). In the midst of all this, I forgot that I was almost out of cooking oil. Sheesh..

So I devised a work around (which my roomie had suggested earlier :P). I microwaved each wadi separately for a minute! And the results were awesome!

Here's a pic stating the same!

Do try them, if you happen to buy an extra bundle of cilantro like me. Otherwise also ;)

~nightflier

makes sense ?

I was running. For a long time I was alone. Then I turned back. I saw a guy was following me. I thought may be he likes to run too. After a while, I turned again. This time I could see the guy closely, and realized I knew him. It turned into a chase. Like chor-police. I started thinking smart and began to dodge him by changing my route unexpectedly. Thankfully I would find a perfect turn at the desired point. During the whole chase, he got real close to me. I started fearing I will be caught. Then I saw a playground full of football players. I slipped into the crowd. I managed to swap tees with one of the Chinese players. I could see the guy waiting on a cycle at the other end of the ground, ready to catch me. I made an exit from a different direction. I kept on running. I came across a portal. It opened as I stood there. Then a guy gave me a hand to get in. We were in a horse carriage. There was another girl there. I realized my shoes were missing. And the girl gave me new shoes. As I was struggling to put them on, the carriage stopped in the middle of Camp. Guy and girl went to a disco. 


And I got up to the sound of my alarm...


Oh and this is the dream I saw yesterday. Very weird it is, as the 3 people in the dream are not a part of my routine life. We chat once every 3 months, on birthdays, special occasions and lead our lives happily.
The other weirdest part is it ended in Camp, yah, Pune Camp. I know I miss being there all the time, but whaa..Horse carriage and Pune camp..If dreams are a product of imagination, then amazing! Also a football field full of international people ? How much distance did I actually run in the dream ? Fails me :D


Sherlock did some investigation behind this dream. And here is what she found.
1. Reading hitchiker's guide to galaxy again, does wonders to one's imagination. I recommend it if you are bored of mundane stuff and want some weirdness in your life.
2. Watching weird movies boosts the effect of fact number 1. Mulholland drive, now proudly sits in my top 3 weirdest movies ever, following Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind and Memento. The movie is surreal and a masterpiece of narration. It does not make sense at all but it keeps you glued and grows on you. And it is weird to say the least. (These are very few words for this legendary piece of cinema from Mr. Lynch, but its about dreams after all!)


So, its elementary, dear Watson ;)


~nightflier

of re-connections

oh, and since that post was written long time ago, it set me into the thinking process. It struck me, that one of my closest friends is someone I had lost touch with many years ago. But then miraculously (as I would like to call it) we met again on the hostel steps, in a new city. And have been pretty close since then.


I think its perfectly random. Much thought to it doesnt help.


~nightflier

of lost friendships

I find adventure in being unsettled. Maybe that explains, how this trait got inculcated in me, by the needs of good education.


Although having spent my entire childhood in the same city, I had to change schools because, I was an above average student. So the need for exposing me to more competition! Well, I want to be honest, parents' transfer is not the only reason for changing schools and for that matter friends. The one good thing about this was it made me a friendly person, wherever I went I ended up making lots of friends. The one bad thing about this is the mutual feeling of losing touch also became very common.


Sometimes you can lose touch within a household, then living in the same city and going to different schools/colleges is not beyond comparison. And it isnt an ego thing either. It just happens. As I said mutually.


But over all these years, with the advent of facebooking and orkutting, at least 'being in touch' isnt that difficult. I mean I feel this strange excitement when I find a school friend on any of these sites. I add them in anticipation of knowing more about what's happening in their lives and how are things shaping up. But guess things are not as simple as it seems to the child inside. As we grow up we also get presumptuous, and form images about people. The feeling of simply connecting is lost over trying to project oneself as better than the other. And the mutual feeling sets in. You merely become an update for the other such numerous people with whom you lost touch. And oh, vice versa too.


May be there isnt much need of being connected. May be thats why we lost touch in the first place.


I recently met a very close school friend on facebook. I was in touch with her till 2006 may be, through random phone calls and random get togethers during my home visits. But then we lost it. Until I found her on facebook again. I was so excited to catch up with her for the 3 years that we had missed on. The hopeless optimism of the sagittariun took over to strike up a genuine conversation and by the time I realized it had become awkward, I literally had my foot in my mouth. Since then there has been no need for anything. We have mutually become the formal friends.


And why do I write about it now ? Because I find it weird, why the need to stay connected ceases. And even if we lose touch, why is it so difficult to re-connect. Is it the baggage that we gather while moving on ? Or simply relationships also become need-based ?


Whatever might be the reason, makes me think. And give it to my slightly neurotic nature, I am still thinking, whether to try to get in touch was a good idea after all ?


~nightflier


P.S. Inability to pen down anything for the better half of Jan, makes me post random drafts written long long ago. Have nothing against 2010 ;)

To the year that was..

To start something on a good note, one has to end something on a positive note ;)

With this thought in mind I started my 31st morning by getting up early. The sleep late in the night and get up in the wee hours of afternoon routine had to be changed. So I decided to twist it a little, to let it not become a thing of the future (many of us call it a new year resolution). Early morning sun rise with some kick-ass yoga session and a 2 course breakfast with NYT and TOI in 2 windows felt really awesome. The rest of the day that followed has been great. Finished a lot of pending work on a lot of fronts.

Now as I get ready for the dinner party with a bunch of friends, I realize instead of calling anything I decide as a resolution, I am going to call it a 'thing' I am going to follow (The word resolution sounds might scary to a person like me, who has a tendency to break one by the tick of the clock). So my 'thing' for 2010 is not to be lazy. On any front. Be it health, relationships, studies, getting up early or even finding myself a job ;)

On this note a big cheers to 2009! clink ;)

And I wish you all a super duper fantastic and wonderful year ahead.

lots of joy, sunshine and love,

~nightlfier

3 Idiots and the emotions it evoked

I just finished 3 idiots and somehow I do not feel compelled to write a review. The movie obviously is pretty good with loads of flaws, but I dont feel much critic-ky as I sit to jot things down. Hence the title.

First of all, 3 idiots came real close to resembling college life as we all know it (specially if you have lived in a hostel). I have actually grown up watching movies like Dil Chahta Hai (thoda 'hi-fi only' for me, I studied in a government college, the most de-glamorised engineering school in Pune), Mohabbatein (truthfully trashy) and the likes of RHTDM etc etc. So these movies in a way created a kind of wannabe-ness among normal college junta. I very well know most of us wanted those DCH types pensive snaps atop a hill :P (In that case me too is guilty as charged ;)) So classes apart...

The very first connection I drew with 3 idiots was of sharing hostel room with more than one person. Thats where real fun and college life started for me. Sharing and caring became synonymous. The 'ye dosti hum nahi todenge' types bonds were formed in those hostel rooms. And even though rooms changed, floors changed, my roomies never changed. We had our share of sweet-bitter stuff, but no one parted ways. I give you 100 on 100 for depicting that, Mr. Raju Hirani!

And the funny hostel stuff that was shown in 3 idiots, like fighting for water and shower in a common bathroom, the late nights before exams and praying for good results, struck a chord too. I fondly remembered those hassles over who should get how many buckets of hot water (believe me when I say that!), that bathroom hogging and partially, booking a bathroom for dear roomie and never letting others take charge :P 

These fights became grimmer during exam times. Girls already used to be pretty edgy due to all the stress and all nighters. And such triggers would just worsen it! Also in spite of being from different tracks of engineering, we always had the compassion (thats just the correct word!) to listen each other out or hear stories, before and after any practical and written exam. We particularly had this going to Dagdu Sheth or Pataleshwar ritual, after every result. We did (I still do) pray to god for good results :D

So-oh many innumerable memories were evoked, that I actually overlooked many stupidities and flaws in the movie. 5 point someone was a fun read. Movie is actually loosely based on it, would be the appropriate way to put it. Also I felt a bit annoyed by the feel good factor that Hirani infuses in each of his movies. The movie definitely had its highs and genuinely good and light moments. But somehow those weren't consistent enough. Anyways alll izz (definitely) well, as far as touching hearts is concerned. And hence the movie works :)

3 idiots is a good end to this 'year of bad cinema' in bollywood! At least its heart is in the right place :)

~nightflier

An ode

An ode to all the cities I have resided in till date :)




That was the first feeling I got after listening to this song. Apparently Haniya (the lead guitarist of Zeb and Haniya) also said similar stuff in the making of video, that its an ode to Islamabad, the city where she grew up.
I guess it touches those chords of a strange longing inside you. The words and Zeb's haunting voice are captivating.


I have become a huge follower of the whole enterprise behind coke studio. I think Sony TV had started something similar in mid nineties. But they had obscure singers like Sudesh Bhosle and Amit Kumar performing old melodies. Coke studio sessions and the whole troupe is just amazing. They give a feeling of being in a mehfil and still have that cool and hep touch. Oh and most of the original songs have been tweaked to create semi-classical fusions. I think its a fantastic attempt. Because the results are superb!


Anyways enjoy!


~nightflier