Cooking Confessions !

Its been a great cooking experience these days, though painful sometimes. I have been cooking almost all evenings since I landed here last month and I used to cook for the next afternoon too. Its all new for me. I have never been like this. Usually, I dont eat the food cooked the day before. Things had to change now. If I want my native lunch, I had to cook. Well most of the days, I prepare rice and sambhar. Sometimes, I go to a lighter version, Rasam! I have almost tried dumping most of the vegetables in sambhar. One reason is I dont want to waste time cooking a side dish or I am lazy rather. Sometimes, I start cooking sambhar and end up in dhal. Being my only judge, my colleague has no other option...be it tasty or not, he has no way to go. Mostly I get a positive rating on my Sambhar though, the taste is unique each time I cook. :)

I am getting used to the open-heat-eat concept. Whenever I go to the stores, I look for the most possible ready-to-eat dishes that are available. It actually helps when I am very very lazy. :) I now wonder, how my mom got used to this all time cooking activity. Its indeed a tough task in the long run.

Above all, whatever it is, I feel satisfied and content when I eat what I cooked. Its because, when I do something and expect an outcome, my mind tries to console and also appreciate it .

Happy Cooking!

I am in a world...Experiencing the change!

Its been a long time, I blogged here. I was lazy, rather. I have been experiencing a lots of transformations in self for the past one month. Been seeing new things, people, workplace and of course the culture variance. Sometimes its nice, sometimes its difficult, sometimes wondered, sometimes excited, sometimes bored, sometimes no thoughts...

I am in a world where people believe in rules be it in roads or anywhere. I am in a world where I feared to travel alone. I am in a world where I did not eat idlis or dosas in the morning but corn flakes. I am in a world where I rely on the internet and GPS. I am in a world where I was cooking full time. I am in a world where I am not @home.

Its almost a month since I flew all way from Bangalore to San Diego here in the United States for a short term assignment. Its been a new experiment through out. Be it the flight travel or landing in a foreign land or travelling alone in a taxi to a unknown place, the FIRST experience is always a mixture of all the expressions I could think off. Now things are settling slowly and I have started to explore in this world. I am now trying out the different varieties of food here - American, Mexican, Thai, Chinese etc. Of course, I had these flavours in Bangalore but I had preferred or relied mainly on my native rather. I still have a long way to explore out here!

See you then!

Unnai Pol Oruvan - Kamal's flavour of the original !

I had not scribbled anything on “A Wednesday”, but some how wanted to for this tamil version. May be, because it’s a dual Padma shri movie, may be I saw the original version a couple of months later its release or may be this is something new to the “Tamil” audience.

This movie should be enjoyed in theatres as I did. This movie which has been released with hardly any hype unlike the previous venture “Dasavatharam”, is a fast paced political thriller involving five to six characters with absolutely no songs and the total duration winding up in less than 2 hours. It’s also very un-common in Tamil cinema to flash the hero’s name without a title, and this movie is one such. There is no “Ulaga Nayagan”. There is no “Padma Shri”. Of course there is no publicity required for this proven star. The whole movie is about a series of incidents happening in 3-4 hours duration of time and Kamal Haasan raises question on every one's mind about his portrayal of character in this movie until a few minutes before the end credits. His only company being a set of hi-tech gadgets which includes laptop to routers to cell phones and others. He has only phone conversations with two characters, except for the climax scene. Neither his name nor his religion is revealed in this movie though he gives hints in a few scenes. It’s always difficult for me to understand his dialogues which most of the time has an inner meaning. I saw Dasavatharam twice to grasp some. I think I should do the same here too.

Padma Shri Mohan Lal is the serious and responsible commissioner of Chennai, who speaks Tamil in his own Malayalam accent. His character just shows how, who and what kind of decisions will be taken at the time of an emergency situation and its impact. No doubts to his performance. He has done this role like a cake walk. The other guy, worth to mention was the clean-shaved-smart-rough cop. The interrogation scene is one of the scenes which just shows the attitude and power of that particular character with less action and dialogue. They have showed the female press reporter as a smoker in this movie. To avoid controversies, they never show the lady smoking. I am still not very clear on the point of such a characterization. Is it the job that is stressful or I don’t know why?

I enjoyed the dialogues in this movie. In fact the dialogues play a prominent role in this movie. It had a good number of sarcasms and revolves about the current affairs, especially the conversations between the both legendary actors. Unlike “A Wednesday” the character of Lakshmi was an addition in the Tamil version and was interesting too, especially her political heated arguments with Mohan Lal.

Shruthi Haasan’s background score was apt. I liked the song “Unnai Pol Oruvan” which was played at the background during the end credits. It remembered the end credits of ‘The Matrix’, when this song started with the lines from the holy “Bhagavad Gita”.

Finally, I felt it’s a welcoming movie for the Tamil audience and I do like to watch more such fast pace movies with no songs. It’s just like the T20 version of Cricket from the conventional 50 over ODI. It’s more thrilling and exciting you see!

Conjeevaram - More than a movie!

Last week, I happened to watch this movie in one of the Tamil Satellite channels "STAR Vijay". It's really a nice experience watching this movie. The movie is setback in the period of 1940's. Personally I am excited when i see movies which are of unusual genre and this is one. You get to know lot of information about the past. May be its true or not, its told and we see it.

Conjeevaram, as Kanchipuram is originally spelled before independence is famous for its silk sarees. Saree is a traditional costume wore by married woman in our parts of the state. And Silk sarees are so special and are considered to be of a superior value, which is usually wore by Indian women on any important occasion or festivals. The other fact is this silk saree is hand woven by the people who have been in this place for centuries.


This movie talks about one such person, who weaves one of the finest Silk sarees. Though he weaves silk sarees, he could not own one such saree or even see a person wearing it. And this is the case for all the weavers in the place. After all they are just labours and the zamindars take credit and do the business. In this movie, the weaver dreams and promises a silk saree for his daughter at the time of her wedding. The movie takes through his journey on how he manages to weave and own a silk saree and was he able to succeed?

There are other aspects which is shown in this movie. It shows how communism had its roots in Indian soil and how it emerged. It shows how important a government job was when a constable feels restless when he finds his hat missing the government emblem. It shows how the present Co-operative society for the weavers in Kanchipuram had formed. It shows how the English were fascinated with hand woven silk sarees. It shows how the labours were charged in return for their marvellous work. It shows the Zamindari system that prevailed then. And there are more! I just watched and admired!

Admired the way it is filmed by Priyadharshan with Prakashraj in the lead role. Its not a movie and its more than that, may be awareness or education!

The Road Now Taken - Madikeri to Bangalore!

This is a continuation of my previous post "Exploring Coorg!"

Now it’s that we have spent one day in visiting places in and around Madikeri. Our plan was to cover some places during the return journey and reach Bangalore before 9 pm, so that we could have a good sleep and avoid the tiredness on Monday while going to office. I mean we can be in office without working but cannot be restless in office.. he he!

July 19th Sunday 10:30 am, we vacated the home. We had our breakfast in one of the hotels on the way and then headed to Dubare Elephant camp which is around 20 kms from Kushal Nagar. We had to cross Cauvery River, using the boat service to reach the Dubare camp. Unfortunately, due to heavy rains, the river had higher water levels and the boat service was cancelled. So we could not visit this place. We then headed to Cauvery Nisargadhama which is also on the way.

Cauvery Nisargadhama is also located on the banks of the river. We had to reach the place by walking over a hanging bridge. This place is more or less like a park. It had tall bamboo trees all over. It also had a deer park. After spending some time over there, we then headed towards Bylakuppe.

Before starting this trip, I had just browsed and found that there is a Tibetan monastery. I was startled. Why would a Tibetan monastery be in Karnataka? I got the answer when I reached there. It seems the Indian government has given land for the Tibetan people who had come to India some time back. They have their own way of living, culture and tradition. The whole place looked like somewhere else. I could see monks or students with their unique maroon colored cloth or uniform. There is not only a monastery, but other facilities like hospital, petrol bulk, school, college etc. They have their language printed on all the hoardings, boards, public addressing etc. About the monastery, it’s amazing. I mean, it’s really different for me. This is the first time; I have been to a pilgrim center other than a temple, church or a mosque. The prayer hall is totally colorful. It has three tall statues comprising Lord Buddha at the center. The walls have the pictures of the different disciples of Lord Buddha. They have their own preaching and they are explained in the walls as well. It was more like a meditation hall, where we can sit and meditate for some time and of course, I did close my eyes for some time.

July 19th Sunday 03:00 pm, we started our journey back to Bangalore. We had our lunch on the way. We had literally been worn out and all unknowingly went in to deep sleep as we started our return journey. It was before Mysore, we all woke up. We didn’t want to visit any place and were keen to return. We stopped at Maddur in the evening to have a taste of its well known famous snack – Maddur Vada! We had Maddur Vadas in “Maddur Tiffany” which was on the highway. Of course it was different from the conventional Vadas we eat in Tamil nadu.

July 19th Sunday 08:30 pm, we reached Bangalore and our journey ended with last longing memories of this trip!

Exploring Coorg!

This is a continuation of my previous post "The Home stay experience in Coorg"

July 18th Saturday 10:45 am. After our breakfast, we were just having a walk amidst the coffee plantations. Our plan was to go to Thalacauvery. It was around 50 kms from the estate where we stayed. We started our trip around 11 am. On the way to Thalacauvery, we witnessed the natural scenic beauty of this Coorg district. On our way, it rained heavily. Thalacauvery is located at a hill which is 4000 feet above the sea level. Bhagamandala is a place at the foothill. We reached Bhagamandala around 12 pm and to our excitement, the road to Thalacauvery was blocked. We were all very disappointed. It was because of the heavy rains, Cauvery is overflowing above a low leveled bridge and this was the only way to head to Thalacauvery. I thought our 50 kms travel would end in vain. Thanks to a local, he said that there is a boat service sponsored by the temple to cross the river and from there we can hire a jeep to and fro to Thalacauvery. It was really a different experience.

July 18th Saturday 12:30 pm. We stopped the Qualis, walked a few distance and crossed the river using the boat service. On the river bank was the temple. It was of Kerala style. I guess most of the temples in Karnataka and Kerala are of similar architecture, unlike the ones in Tamilnadu. We then hired a jeep. It was an eight km travel in hills from this place to Thalacauvery. As we started, it started to rain and gradually it turned heavy. On the way, we could see small waterfall and the natural Cauvery water flowing down all over. As we headed further to a higher altitude, the presence of mist couldn’t be avoided. The area was fully covered by mist. It was a very refreshing scene – full mist, raining and chill – all at the same time. The jeep driver stopped at one place and said that we reached the place. I couldn't see anything but mist. The whole temple was hidden. It’s a nice experience. I felt I am in Kulu or Shimla, though I have not been there. This place was believed to be the origin of river Cauvery and a temple was built and now it’s a tourist place. There is a view point as well above the temple. But we could view nothing except the mist. We clicked a few photographs, of course to fill our personal portfolios. We returned back using the same jeep, took the boat, crossed the river, returned to the Qualis and started our journey towards Madikeri.

July 18th Saturday 04:00 pm. We had our late lunch in one of the hotels in Madikeri. After that, we headed towards Abby Falls, which is around 5kms from Madikeri. Since it was monsoon time, Abby falls was overflowing. There is a hanging bridge which is built approximately 50 metres from the falls. The water fell with such a force that the water splash has made us completely wet, when we stood on the bridge. It was again a must visit place in Madikeri.

How is it possible for us to return Bangalore without getting Coffee Beans? So it was purchase time then. We stopped by a shop – “Ganesh Coffee” recommended by one of my room mate’s colleague. My father has specifically asked me to get the Coffee Bean from Coorg. Each of us got a kg of it and we headed towards our next spot – Raja Seat.

Raja Seat was like a park similar to the conventional parks found in other hill stations. Except that it had some historic identity. It seems that in the olden days, the king used to sit there and watch the sunrise and sunset. We could only see the mist. We returned to our home around 7 pm. We had already ordered for our dinner. As you know, Coorg is famous for its variety of dishes using pork. I did not have pork, instead had asked to prepare Chicken. We had a simple but awesome dinner – A few chapattis, rice and curd with Chicken curry. It was very cold outside. The rest of the night was spent chatting, listening to music. I had a very good sleep, really!

I will end my scribble here. The return trip would follow soon.

The Home stay experience in Coorg!

Coorg as already known, is famous for Home stays. This is an idea where in people stay in homes and the house owners provide food and all the other facilities. Its like a feeling that we have a holiday house somewhere in a remote place. This is the continuation of “The Road Not Taken – An exciting journey to Coorg!” I thought I should describe my experience of one such home stay in this space.

July 18th Saturday 05:45 am, the sky was dull and grey. It was still raining. We reached the Beta Cad Estate after seeing the sign board. The road was very narrow. I could smell the aroma of Coffee all over. In a short distance, I could see a house with red tiles on the roof. Some 50 meters aside was the in-charge’s house. The place was in the middle of the coffee estate. I hope you could just imagine the scene. I could see tall trees and coffee plantations all over.

After a while, came in the in-charge with his umbrella on. He showed us inside the home. I don’t have words to describe the home. It’s simple, old and neat. It had a living room, two bedrooms, one kitchen and a verandah. There was no power since 3 days. The cottage had a UPS backup, so that we remain uninterrupted with the power cuts. The living room had a television. Its walls were not left empty, but filled with portraits and paintings. One part of the space was occupied by the dining table, with plates neatly arranged. An olden styled cupboard was there nearby, which had a provision to keep the plates, cups & saucers, spoons etc. On the other side was a sofa and besides was a book shelve, which had some informative books about Coorg and its culture. I didn’t have time to read it though! Each bedroom had an attached bathroom. One of them was a master bedroom. Both of them had a night lamp and an almirah to keep the clothes. The beds were all designed in olden style. It was of wood. The floors were all covered with big carpets. It was very soothing for the chill weather. One of the bathrooms had this manual heater, where in from the back side of the house, they heat the water in a vessel with woods and the tap in the bath room is connected to the vessel. The kitchen was filled with all the utensils that we require. It had a gas stove, a microwave oven, a mixer and a mini fridge. Hope I didn’t miss anything. I was just enjoying the facilities they have provided. It’s a perfect place for a family who plans for a weekend break.

We were all very tired as we didn’t sleep well during the travel. No sooner we laid on the bed, we all slept. We all then got up by 7.45 am or later. Coffee and break fast was ready by then. I should say I am more or less addicted to Coffee/tea, and especially the coffee they gave, I liked it very much. No sugar more, no less. It was no strong, no light. It was just what I wanted. I went to the verandah, sat on a chair with my coffee and started to admire the cool weather and the natural scene that surrounded the lonely house. After that, I had bath in the hot water. Wow bathing in the hot water, amidst the cold rainy morning….mmm…no words… Do you think, this is a routine work, we normally do? No, No…that too in the weekends, the probability is very less, you see.

The breakfast was ready then. They had prepared Coorg style Idlis, Sambhar and chutney. We were so hungry that, we didn’t even comment on the taste, though it tasted good. The Idli was a little different. They had added grinded cocunut to it. In fact, there had been a shortage in Idlis. People who came last to eat, had to manage with only 2 or 3 idlis. Fortunately, I was the first to eat! He! He!

Our plan that day was to cover Thalacauvery, and the tourist spots in and around Madikeri. It is the headquarters of the Coorg district. I will scribble more on that in my next post.

The Road Not Taken – An exciting journey to Coorg!

Life had been the same for the past six months – same job, same project and same salary. I desperately needed a break. I wanted to relax. It has been more than a year; I had gone for a trip outside Bangalore. I was asking my roommates for an outing since then. It took so long for us to decide as one week or the other, one or the other person was held up somewhere or the other. Finally, it became a reality last week. Even then we had to go with one absentee, Raja. We had planned to spend one weekend in Coorg district. Many said that, the time we had planned to go is when the monsoon is at its peak. Even I felt the same. But on the other side, I was thinking, why should we worry about this? Can’t we manage this? Are we taking our family, to worry about the weather? Even the newspapers showed the photographs of the flooded areas of the Coorg district. Yet, we never backed off our plan. We didn’t want this trip to be called off because we knew that it would be difficult again to gather people. I had invited my ex-room mates also for the trip and few of them have tentatively agreed for the trip.

One of my room mate – Karthik had arranged for our stay in a lonely cottage which is inside a coffee estate. As usual we did some googling about the place, saw some photographs, made some analysis…the usual techie thing. It will be my first experience staying in a coffee estate. Everybody was excited as it’s our first visit to the Scotland of India as Coorg District is otherwise referred as. I packed my bag with one jean, a short shirt and two Ts, along with a jerkin and umbrella. I thought I would bring in my speakers, so that we can hear to some songs from my mobile in the cottage.

July 18^th Saturday 00:05 am, the Qualis, we had booked had arrived. We loaded the Qualis with all the snacks stuff, our luggages, speakers and finally ourselves. The vehicle started to move towards Maruti Nagar to pick my ex-roommates. I was accompanied by Arun and Karthik. In another 20 minutes, we were in front of my friend’s house. Karmegam and Magesh were the other guys, who will join us. My other ex-room mate, Vasanth, whom had already told his non availability for the trip, was standing in the terrace waving hands to us. I just asked him, one more time if he could join us in the trip. In 10 minutes, he came down with his luggage. So finally, six of us were ready for the excitment and fun. It was 1 am when we reached the Mysore road. The route was Bangalore – Mandya – Mysore – Kushal Nagar – Madikeri and the distance is around 300 kms. The Bangalore – Mysore 4 lane high way was just awesome to ride. I could see some bike riders as well on this cold rainy night. For the first hour, we chatted and slowly the voices dropped off as the time rolled.

I was half awake, seated beside the driver, trying to give him company. We stopped twice before we reached Mysore for a tea break. The weather was chill till we reached Srirangapatna. After that it rained through out. I thought, if it rained continuously like this, we should just stay in our cottage and not go out anywhere. We reached Kushal Nagar around 5 am in the morning, it was raining. The estate name is Beta – Cad Estate. Our driver spoke to the estate-in-charge to know the exact routes. The road was really bad here with too many ups and downs and water clogged here and there. Some 10 kms after Kushal Nagar, at the right side, the driver could manage to see a small sign board stating “Beta Cad Estate”. We were in the estate around 5.45 am.

I just saw my scribbling till now, and it had come to three paragraphs. I think I should stop till this post the remaining in parts. The rest of the journey would follow soon.

Wow !!!

I was just casually looking at my own blog, which I always do. I found that my first post was on July 2007 and wow...i have completed two years of blogging with 25+ posts and 500+ visits. Though the statistics aren't very sound, it is still significant to me. Hope I should continue to blog more!

The Weekend - Delightful, Extraordinary !!

July 4th Saturday Morning 6’o clock. The weather was very cold. I was standing in one of the platforms of the Bangalore East Station with my jerkin on. It was the second visit for my parents in my three years of stay here, but first visit for my bro and grand ma. I was excited. This time they had come fully prepared. They had brought the home made karahs, Murukkus, Rava Ladoos in tins.

It was really nice having them here in my home. They gave a positive comment on the way we maintained our home. No no..we are still a bachelor… he he ! I hired a car and took them to my office. They would have had a rough draft of my work place and when they saw in real, they were very happy. It’s the same feel when we go to onsite and see things for the first time..though I have no words to describe… Amidst the distance between places and the traffic in Bangalore, I could take them only to Shiva Temple and ISKCON during the remaining hours of the day. Next day my mom and grand ma (mom’s mom) had planned to prepare food for us. So in the evening we went to the nearby shops to get the grocery and other vegetables. It is just a simple ordinary task which is done day-to-day. I don’t know, even this simplest task made me rejoice.

July 5th Sunday Morning. It was not the usual lazy Sunday morning. My mom waked me up at 6 am or even earlier, an unusual scene in the bachelor’s dome. She served us coffee. I like her filter type decotion Coffee. She then prepared her favourite Poori and Channa masala. I felt everything was at my reach. Me and my room mates had the break fast, and all were gearing ourseleves for the lunch. I have never seen our kitchen so busy all these years. Even the uninvited Cat smells and peeps in often. The lunch menu was obviously non veg and I had asked to prepare Fish as we don’t often eat fish outside. After the heavy meal, we took a short nap and then planned to go to the Commercial Street.

I should say the weather in Bangalore during their visit was fantastic. The sun hesitated to shine brighter. The rain hesitated to fall off fully. It was a light drizzle here and there and the gentle cool breeze all through made us to switch off the fans. This sort of weather cannot be possible at my home town Madurai unless any geographical change happen. They just enjoyed the weather here. Sunday Evening and the next day fully were spent on shopping.

July 6th Monday 9.20 pm, they were waiting in the Cantonment Station to board the Tuticorin Express.I went with them to send off . I have never seen this train come earlier than 9.30 pm in this station. This time to my surprise, it arrived at time. They all felt very happy spending their weekend with me here in Bangalore and me too.

July 7th Tuesday 6.45 am, My mobile alarm beeps! Oops there is no body to wake up! I had to go out to drink coffee. I had to go to office. I had to have break fast in the office. The regular weekday routine continues… :)

India did not qualify...

...for the semifinals in the T20 World cup 2009 after they lost the match to England by 3 runs. I was a little surprised as we lost the match. Yeah I too agree there had been a concern on the way we did our run chase or batting order, bowling etc. It’s finally how we enjoy the game. Yeah of course, if India had won, the rest of the matches would have been interesting.

The most annoying thing is the way the media has showcased this. Today morning all the news channels were literally commenting on Dhoni’s captaincy, strategy, tactics and whatever techno-words they use. We should note that the same media had praised Dhoni for his captaincy, for winning the previous T20 World cup. Joginder Sharma bowled the last over of the crucial final against Pakistan in the previous T20 World Cup and fortunately India won. I am not sure if that decision is good or bad but we won the match. By the way I am not commenting on his captaincy and I am not an expert either to do that. The other irritating thing is one news channel went one more step ahead and asked for polls – “Should Dhoni retain the captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2009?” Its not only this instance, but media wants to mint money out of every sort of news which may be useless, useful, critical, hot or important or whatever. I remember the movie “Mumbai Meri Jaan” where in they clearly bring media to the lights. It’s not only the media, but also my fellow people who respond to those polls. At least to the extent of my knowledge nothing had got impacted because of these polls, except they get charged for that sms and media or the service provider gains out of it.

India did not qualify “only” now…

....but lots to come favorable in future!

Pasanga - Not only for kids!

I was waiting to watch this Tamil movie in a theatre but unfortunately it didn’t get released in Bangalore even after a month. Finally managed to see this in a DVD. It’s been a good experience watching this movie. Almost every one of us would have experienced in our life. It’s been a very long time, there had been a movie where kids do the lead roles. A daring attempt by debutant director Pandiraj, who had surprised not only the kids but guys like me too. The back ground score just suits the the movie. One of the melody “Oru Vetkam” composed by James Vasanthan is very pleasant and gentle.

Right from the beginning till the end, they talk about positive thinking, dreaming a vision, aiming higher. But not as an advice! They have said it with neat incidents and lots of humor. They also talk about how parents and teachers play a role in motivating a student.

There are many scenes which I could personally relate to my own. One of the scenes where in, the class leader writes the names of the students who are talking. The students show gestures and signs instead of talking. I myself had been a class leader during 6th or 7th standard. The other scene in which the hobby of collecting stamps is shown. My father had a stamp collection album which he gave it to me. I used to trade stamps with my neighboring friends. Good Old memories... hmm! The other scene where in a student does Karate ‘Katas’. We were also taught those Karate steps in school. Those were funny.. :)

Most of the time during this movie, I was taken back to my school days. Its definitely a movie to watch!