Quick Fix Recipe

When you are really into cooking and add to that experiment is the force that drives your cooking, living alone can really help fuel that desire. When you are alone you end up making stuff which are quick, effortless and yet tasty and elegant.

That is what I did as I prepared Fried Bread crumbs with Chicken and sausages. All I needed was bread, roast chicken in mustard and schezwan sauce that I had prepared two days back, Venky's sausages and curd for seasoning. Fried bread in onion and oil and added the chicken to it. Sautéed it for 5-10 mins till it became crisp. Added vinegar and soya sauce to it. Garnished it with two strips of sausages that I simultaneously boiled in water and turmeric. Voila!! My dinner was ready.

To garnish it I prepared my own dip. Added half a table-spoon mustard and pasta sauce along with 2/3rd table-spoon of Schezwan sauce to 6 table spoon Danone Curd. Satisfying dinner cooked in under 15 mins plus some left for tomorrow's breakfast :)

'Aircel' and 'Airtel'..is C*#T the only difference??

Abuses, frustration and feelng to strangle someone is the feeling that i get when i think about Aircel and Airtel. Pathetic experience as a customer as I look to switch over om Airtel to Aircel. Like all good sales rep I keep getting frequent calls explaining me how good an Aircel service is followed up by exceptional time management skills potrayed by sending an agent to collect my documents within 2 hours of me accepting to go for the connection (This after I have been horribly frustrated and pissed with Airtel services). However this is where the agony starts for me.
After collecting my documents i was told that a verification would be done within 48 hours (that did not happen for 7 days as the sales rep said that the verification can only happen at my residence and I am never there as i work the whole day). After 7 days the verification guy tells me that we can do the verification at my office too. (Geez, imagine my rage when i heard that!!). After the verification I was again tod to clear my outstanding biling amount which I had already done 7 dys back and because Aircel was not able to do my verification 7 days back my outstanding bill had again gone up. So even after that when i cleared my outstanding bill amount my connection till date has notstarted.
Airtel people tell me that my cnneciton has been cancelled from their end whereas Aircel people keep assuring me that there was a problem with the Airtel guys due to which they could not get my number switched using Mobile Number Portability (MNP) I dont know how many people have gone through the agony of opting for MNP?? However as i still wait for my connection to get activated, i doubt whether I will stay with Aircel for long. Vodafone, here i come!!

Per ardua ad astra

"Per ardua ad astra"...the story of my life. well to think about it, i share this story with each and every one of you. Economics has taught me that "there is no such thing as a free lunch". Took me some time to get the logic in that phrase tooo...

Aaaaah..never mind!! Every milestone in our life has come after "ardua". Our first stepo (althoug we do not remember it), the first day of school, first time we every hopped on a cycle (i remember mine, scared the bejesus out of of!!), school exams, admissions to college, gatting a career panned out. Life has always been about "ardua"!!. But we never stopped, we never ran away. We fought, we huffed and we puffed till will reached the "astra".

The journey between "ardua" and "astra" is the fibre that binds us and our lives. It is that journey that makes us cherish ever moment. So it wasnt that difficult when i wanted to go for my second tattoo. I knew what i wanted to get iked with..."Through struggles to the star"..

A ride in the "Shikhaara"

I don't think there is ever a way to define "a perfect dinner" and I don't think I will try to attempt it. Although i must say that I had what I would call an absolute thrilling evening. What made it thrilling??Aaaaah.... the ambiance, the setting, the food and yes, the company.

I dined at Shikhaara at kalyani Nagar. A roof-top restaurant that serves Kashmiri and North-Indian delicacies. And i must say that it was the one of the most tastiest Kashmiri food Ive ever eaten. Definitely there is no match for the Kashmiri food cooked by my friend Zohaib's mom. The rooftop hotel has very comfortable seating, chairs, sofas and baithaks (take your pick). The walls of the restaurants have something engraved in Kashmiri language i believe as I could not make head or tail of it. Now for the setting. A candle-lit dinner under a clear sky with a full moon to grace the dark night and the icing on the cake was the music that was playing. From jagjit singh, pankaj udhas to mehdi hussain. The ghazals that were playing back to back just made the air more soothing and enticing.

We were offered papads which were complimentary that helped us get into a perfect conversation. We ordered Kali miri kabab which was spicy and warm for our throats considering we were having cough ;-). we ordered Rishta (minced mutton koftas in red chilli gravy) which was medium-spicy and tasted absolutely perfect with onion kulchas. We ordered steam rice as the gravy was not thick and quite spicy. In deserts we ordered firni that was yummy to say the least with aroma of kesar and other spices. If this was not enough and we could not stop talking about how wonderful the food and the place was, we were served Qahwas that were complimentary as well. Wow!!..its been long since i have had one and I absolutely savored each and every sip of it.

I walked besides that someone special beneath the moonlight, and I now live in yesterday's afterglow.

Finding a way

I have always had the zest to tread a path which has never been used. To create a path made by my footsteps and by the feet of the poeple whom i cherish. But its very funny that although you try creating a path for yourself, knowingly - unknowingly it starts intertwining with different paths. Paths you dint want to cross, paths you never thought you would take, paths made by your friends and most interestingly path created by that special one. As i walk on this new path that has intertwined with mine, I hope that the unknown, beautiful, topsy-turvy path always walks beside me......