Notes from a club.....

There was this "club"(Not to be confused with pubs, lounge bars etc. Am referring to "Club" in its truest meaning - A group of people meeting up wih a specific purpose that can vary from "entertainment" to "social (or anti-social) causes) that I recently had a chance to interact with at close-quarters. Here are few of my "Thinking Aloud" thots post that:

This "Club" is a place where you will see movers-n-shakers of the city rubbing shoulders - the typical member-profile would say Self-Employed Entrepreneur (more often than not!) rolling in money And yes, they do a lot of donations-contributions and try n give back something to the society.

Now if you ask me their main objective seems "Networking" and "Expanding their own business circles"! Of course there is nothing wrong with it esp with them never calling themselves a NGO! But my point is will these same gentle-men have been so "selfless" with their time-n-money if they dint have anything to take back?? Or possibly its a good business-model - You do ur bit towards society n at the same time reap more-than-ample opportunities (profits) outta it? A win-win situation? Thou they need a bit of moderation when they speak of "their selfless services".

But what completely beats my v limited understanding is when people whose family, is while not struggling to make ends meet are a far cry from being "Rich". Whats that which makes them "donate" money(Mind you its money only - not time - thats "donated" with its fair share of hue-n-cry) for "Social" causes - Is it jus the inherent goodness - I am not denying that there are people who belong to this almost-extinct sect. Or is it the "Pat on the Back", the popularity and power that you invariably get when you ready to spend money like water?

Book Review: Boy's Life by Robert Mccammon!

Any book that I hv read is either a pick from on of ma fav authors or hv been a reco by somebody from my circle or is a pick of hubbs. At the min, I read the preface of the book n then pick it up. No surprises here- I guess most of us do the same rt!


But recently I made a exception ~ a exception am glad I made. It so transpired that my kindle was full of the action jumbo-mumbo that hubbs swears by(read: David Baldacci, Jeffrey archer etc) that yours truly dint hv the heart to read. So on a whim, I pick a book from the archive randomly and start reading it....

Only to fall in love with it... A book that you relish a page at a time (unlike my usual style of race to finish!), A book where you let each page wash you over n refresh a few wisps of your childhood memories. A book about life, a book abt growing up ... so much ala one of my other favs 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'.

Only when I googled it later, did I learn that this was a bestseller of its time - Boy's Life by Robert Mccammon!

'Bombay Toast' And Other Tales....

The tasty,filling,delicious yet easy-as-a-jiffy sunday morning breakfast... Jus puurfect for a cosy, cuddly Sunday morning :-D


More Food Porn For u! Pic courtesy Hubbs....

 
If u want to know, this is french toast with a twist! French toast minus the sweetening agents n of course topped with cheese strips - supposedly called "Bombay Toast" in these parts!
 
Now onto some other interesting news, my mom is decided to become a egg-iterian n a Fish-iterian after a long gap of 13 years! For once am happy that she decided to heed the docs advise...  Our incessant breathing down the neck jus kicked out the last iota of doubt she had :-D. Indeed its time for a "Pat On The Back"!

Linking this to Color Deckors weekend wrapup and ABC Wednesday(B is for Bombat Toast :-P)

How do you Break Abstain-ism...

How abt some 'Chicken Soup For Soul'??

.. Follow it up with some 'Beef Cordon Bleu Steak'

... And then wrap it all up with some sinful Chocolate!

All pics clicked @ a old Bangalore Fav - Juke Box. Chose this place cause wanted to show ma mom what a "English pub" looks like without scaring the hell outta her n then trying to gett her to taste something other than her usual suspects. But damn! she chose to stick with her 'holier than thou' veggies!!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr .. So much for all my plans!

PS: While the Abstain-ism did end, hubbs n family couldn't unfortunately make the sabrimala trip due to some unavoidable-unfortunate circumstances :-/ May be next time?


Linking this to ABC Wednesday(A is for Abstain)! and Color Deckors weekend wrapup :)

Mirror on the Wall!

The beauty parlour tht I frequent is this small dingy place down the road from ma place! Not for me those fancy places where if u choose to go with anything less than their "premium", they do such a half hearted rendering!(despite burning a hole in the pocket). The only exception thou is the hair saloon where we(me n hubbs) hv been loyal customers for more than 5 years(!!!) ~~ come to think of it thats the only retail brand to which we have shown any loyalty!

So onto ma hole-in-the-wall parlour -  I am generally so engrossed in my Kindle that I hardly bother about its ambiance(or rather lack of it!). But yest on a quick glance up the roof, I realized that this beautician (something tells me that she is a divorcee for whom this is the sole source of survival) had made a valiant attempt to cover up all the dirty wiring dangling from the roof-top(Which was a eye-sore on ma previous trips there) by a false roofing.

Nothing out of ordinary abt it u say - the 'out-of-ordinary' bit here is that the 'false roofing' she has used is these mirrors stacked along-side! How wonderful n apt for a beauty-parlour rt - for a moment u forget that u sitting in this dingy parlour. The fact that these morrors must be the low-quality cheap ones picked for a deal at some wholesale market doesnt take out the wow! factor from it(if not for nothing but for the thot thats gone into it!).

Its these small elements of beauty in such unexpected places that brightens up my day.

PS: There is ofcourse a element of exxageration involved in this post :-D.  N hey! with this I finish 400 posts in this space. So time for Cheers it is!

Pic courtesy Hubbs!

Note the usage of 'Milk' for bringing in the celebrations(yikes!) ~~ well with the 'Absistence' period still going strong, we obviously cannot hv Champagne flowing can we.. duh!

Zest!

Thats Ma Little Niece Up there!

Reaching upto the skies, riding way up the tress, letting the wind caress your face........Now if this aint zest for life than whats :)

Linking this to ABC Wednesday(Z is for Zest)

With This I end a successful season of ABC Wednesday! U can look them all up here........

You bet, I had soopa fun doing them! At a time when life was crazy this was my only anchor to blogging. The fun of trying to weave a story around a pic n the joy when u happy with the end result.... Priceless!!

Thank You ABC Wednesday!

Friday the 13th :-D

Does it spook you? Nee not me... at least one superstition that I don horde on to!! The reason thou is got no scientific bend to it.. its jus tht 13th of aug happens to be ma hubbs bday n I cant afford to be spooked if it falls on a friday rt :)

Today - Friday the 13th also happens to be ma BILs B'day... did anybody say "Devil" :-D

Yummy(licious) huh!

Rain Rain..

...Come again, TODAY!

Nee not any rain-romanticism happening here! Its the very earthy-practical taurean in me speaking.

You see B'lore is Hardly seen any monsoon yet, thou we into Jul already! This will of course mean water scarcity! Now imagine what that will translate into - A hole in the pocket(who will pay the water tanker!), Some erratic regulated water timings... N I can bet ma last penny, that the organized selves that me-hubbs are, we will miss this sacred few drops of water n then run helter-skelter looking for a bucket of water!!! Stuff of Nightmares I say......

Mr.Varuna, Please be a sport and do shower some blessings this side of the town! Come to think of it - you more often than not are the uninvited guest on most of our hols n now u act pricey!!!! Phew!!!!!!!

Come to think of it ~~ What marriage does to a care-free gal like me! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Poori Tales!

One of the biggest attractions of a Sunday is a king-sized breakfast\Lunch! In my childhood, Poori - crispy-paapad pooris(minus any sabji) was the definite favourite!

So time passes, I get married and then one of the v first experiments was of course the pooris. But by then, me realized that the sign of a good poori is for it be fluffy and soft(A far cry from my crispy-paapad ones :-D). So with all gusto, I dish them out -Now only if I were re-living my childhood fantasy then these pooris would hav truly been 'Picture Perfect'(So hard n Crusty were they)! Post a couple of other such disasters, poori was shelved off into the back-burner!

Fast-forward to present - A newly-joined colleague would bring this as-soft-as-can-be poori in his lunch dabba n I would literally drool over them! A oft chance conversation gave me a tip that they use a 50-50 ratio of wheat Flour-Maida. That coupled with another tip from hubbs to not to roll out the pooris too thin(I told yea he has cooking in his genes) gave me the push to try my hands at them again.

N lo-n-behold, I plate my first eva soft-n-fluffy(at least in my definition.. nee they not yet as fluffy as it should be!) pooris :-D

Me now off to do a Poori(licious) dance ... yummmm!!!

A tall Story...

Literally! Go, look up this link to know what am saying...

http://www.punemirror.in/article/62/2012062820120628153417190890402a3/A-tall-story.html

You guys rock!!!

I am going all-empathetic with  them.Cause thou am no-where near their 6'+,  Right from my kinder-garden days I was the tallest girl around ~~ so much so that when me was a little more than 10, I could give any girl-boy of my age a run for their money what with me towering above them at a good 5'7'' :-D. (Reason for quite a bit of heartburn for my mom... no prizes for guessing why)!

Thou today am proud to be the tallest lady in at least my circle, it was reason enuf to cause more than fair share of despondency especially during those not-sure-about-myself awkward teen-age!

Why O Why?

I respect people who go out of their way to help others - I respect all the more, people who stand up in situations from which the average Jack will shy away! 

For Instance - I hv seen people (I claim guilty myself) who laugh their guts out at some funny typos on billboards(n indeed they are funny). But how many of us will take the effort to let the concerned people know abt the typo and have it corrected!

But what I don get is - what makes these do-gooders think the entire world is laughing behind their backs?? Some insecurity? Or did some insensitive dude(or dudette) indeed laugh at them for this? But then shouldn't we know better as we age - Why carry this bitterness around that that the world is full of "laugh-behind-my-back" people when its not indeed the case!

Tales of Absistence.....

Must be this abstinence for close to a month now, that the word "Beverages" pops up the images of Beer, Wine in ma mind :).

The reason for the abstinence, is the fast hubbs is on for his up-coming sabrimala visit. Now knowing him, his concurrence to go on a religious sojourn without kicking up a hue and cry, is a surprise in itself :). The bigger surprise is that he has been able to stay away from meat, booze n smoke(strictly in order of his indulgence) without showing any obvious withdrawal symptoms. Way to go ma boy!

Funnily enuf, the person who is showing the worst withdrawal symptoms - for lack of any kinda "entertainment"(use ur imagination) -  is been errr... yours truly :-O. Added to it is the fact that ma sis is busy entertaining her set of in-laws n Sabs is gone on a self-imposed social out-casting mode! Truly boring times I say :-/. The only relief is been my kindle :)


Well until then here is some food-porn(Dint I tell yea I luv the word) to stare at

Clicked on ma B'day - pic courtesy Hubbs!

              
Linking this to Thursday Challenge - "BEVERAGES" (Tea, Coffee, Wine, Beer, Water,...)

Yummy(licious)!

Typical accompaniments with our morn cup of tea is 2 Marie n one choco cream bisc! Now ma hubbs who cant otherwise be trusted to do the grocery shopping without a list in hand, does a enviable job of ensuring that they are stocked up!

It so happened that this sat night, he opens the fridge only to realize that his stock of choco cream bisc is run out while the marie bisc is almost overflowing. So  cooking-in-my-genes enthu-cookie of hubbs who is already high on his regular dose of  Food porn(:-D I think I luv this word) thanks to Masterchef Australia~~ pre-heats the oven, stuffs his fav Lindt Dark choc(yuks) in between two marie biscuits, Microwaves it for couple of mins n lo-n-behold look what you hv!

Tastes best when frozen!

PS-1: How I wish he replaced that dark choc with something more edible :-D

PS-2: I know there is no word like Yummy(liciouc) - but am allowed to coin new words ... lol!

Linking this to ABC Wednesday(Y is for Yummy(licious)!) and the Color-Deckors weekend wrap-up!(Ages I linked there simply cause my weekends off late hv been crazy!)

Where the rain is born.....

... Gods own country, Kerala should ofcourse be the ans rt? :-D

Pic Courtesy - Google!

No, am not being a Kerala-Fanatic. This is actually the title of a book by Anitha Nair. Its in fact a collection of stories from diff novels, diff authors where the subject was centered on 'kerala'!

Two things I luved abt this book. One, gives different perspective of life in Kerala ~~ All v distinct but all v. correct - If u ask me, no other books has so concisely captured the spirit of life in kerala in all its myriad colors!

Two, gives you glimpses of writings of different authors ~~ many of them unknown(at least for me) ~~ N for all you know you will end up finding your next fav author from here. I definitely did - more on them in the next few posts!

So if you a lover of Gods-Own-Country then go ahead n gift urself this! N no, dont jus take my word for it ~~ I was gifted this by Sabina Zacharias who definitely knows her books!

Of Trust n other issues.....

I hv been the types who from the time I remember, wasn’t a big fan of being in places where I seem to hv no control! Possibly why, I was never fond of slides n all those contraptions u see in amusement parks ~~ of course the absolute lack of motor skills was the cherry on the cake!


Fast fwd to post marriage era! As luck would hv it, Hubbs thou well into his 30s now, can still give any child-teen a run for money once he sets foot in a amusement park!

Now my dear mister decides that not only will he climb up each of this like a monkey but will drag his mrs along (atleast on the easy ones!). But of course I firmly refuse to be a part of this hideous plan of his! Now comes the most interesting twist to this post....

The reason he accredits to this non-cooperation on ma side is my "Lack of Trust" in him! Now tell me plz how does not wanting to subject one to all those topsy-turvy stomach churning (who in their sane mind will!) be attributed to "Lack of trust" in him...... **Bangs my Heads**

Men I tell Yea!!!

Xolo!

I seem to belong to a generation (Man! I officially feel old now) who believes that a phone is well jus a phone which means u use it to make\receive phone calls ~~ msgs, pics are all aded freebies but yea nothing more! I hv seen my frnds who hv the fanciest of phones but well really don use it for anything other than calls-msg-photos ~~ so yea I was quite happy with my stone-age generation phone.


But when I see ma hubbs n few others flaunting their smart-phones(!), I realized I was clueless around it ~~ no prizes for guessing that am no gizmo-geek nor am I known to embarace new technology(or any change for tht manner). Hmmmm :-/

Pic courtesy ~~ Xolo Website

So yea when an "opportunity" presented to set things right, I well hv decided to jump right into the wagon! So presenting to you my soon-to-be-possession! Xylo ~the Blink phone!

Now now lemme be v frank ~~ the "opportunity" was well the only reason I jumped into the wagon. You see one reason for my absistence from these fancy phones was the "Price Tag" ~~ My wallet wasn’t(isn’t) jus big enuf to accommodate it and neither did I hv any fascination for them! The "opportunity" being that my sis who happens to work for Intel could pick up the phone at almost 1\4th the market rate :-D and she being her generous self kindly gifts it to me n hubbs(who v conveniently lost his phone around the same time!)

While I of course cant yet review this phone ~~ ma hubbs is pretty happy with his thou he aint a bg fan of its camera n believes that its priced on the higher side.

So Xolo it is for ABC Wednesday (X for Xolo)