My Life, A Cocktail

Finally met a friend today, close to my heart, who I had never before had a proper face to face conversation with. Had an amazing lunch at Rajdhani. Watched 3 idiots, and completely enjoyed it. A void still waiting to be filled. A phone conversation awaits…

Like the grain that struggles between the mortar and the pestle. Both equally stubborn, working against each other. Its her destiny to transform.

We went to Dosai Place today. A nice Indian Vegetarian restaurant in Santa Clara. It wasn’t our first time, and I have always been pleased with their dishes. Tonight, hubby and me decided to go for idlis. Yes, we have been quite stressed through the week, and when we are stressed, we eat. Eat something utterly simple, filling and delicious. What better than idlis. Now, Dosai Place has 4 different idli items on their menu. One’s a simple 3 idlis thing. The other’s Vijaywada idli, basically idlis soaked in ghee, and then they have the Ghee Sambhar idli, which is mini idlis swimming in a bowl of ghee sambhar. The last one is Kanjeevaram Idli, which is idlis with nuts or something like that. Four choices in Idlis is quite a variety. But hubby insisted he was going to ask for something not in the menu. He wanted idlis (the big ones) soaked in sambhar, instead of sambhar as a side. They refused. No matter how much hubby insisted, they plainly refused. They suggested they would provide us wit...

I do. A lot. A fresh piece of white paper and a newly sharpened pencil can do magic on my brain. It instantly positions the graphite on the paper and sketches away… The whole world ceases to exist; the deadlines of life just wait, as the doodle takes center stage. The outcome is a pretty piece of what I like to call “art”, but can’t quite be defined. The best of dictionaries fail. There is no name for that thing drawn so beautifully on paper. Its the time I know bliss, its like meditation.

After a few boring weekends and stressful weekdays, I have taken to reading. I mean regularly. Reading keeps me happy, and I feel a sense of accomplishment as I reach the end of each book. It also brings the anticipation of my next visit to Barnes and Noble. I have been avoiding the temptation of stepping into that bookstore for so long, coz I already had a stack of unfinished books! In the past week, I finished Bollywood Nights by Shobha De and Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I enjoyed both. I am currently reading Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai. Hubby never gets it. He doesn’t quite see why I would want to spend time at Barnes and Noble, rather than go to IKEA. I try hard to explain, it makes me live experiences that I may never get a chance to live in my life. “Go watch a movie!” he would say. I look forward to my allocated reading time every night. Of course, it means sacrificing certain other things, but that is fine…. I also know I might not be able t...

Certain people in your life… who have always tormented you, and I mean always, and yet you are totally crazy about them? Almost like you love them for being such a pain? Its happened to me… and I always felt like such an idiot, until I started to watch HOUSE. He’s like that too, he a great diagnostician, but is a pain to almost everybody in the hospital. And yet, people in and out of the drama, absolutely adore him. I am not crazy… it happens…

It was a thoroughly thought out plan. I was to make multiple sweets this Diwali, all from scratch, no ready-made mixes allowed. The reasoning behind such a plan was, as we were growing up, sweet making for Diwali was a major part of the celebration. Yes, there were the fireworks and all, but I loved the few days before the actual festival, spent shopping and cooking, as the excitement of the festival day grew. The aroma of raisins fried in ghee, the grinding of elaichi, sitting around the table making laddoos, the decisions of kolam designs, the new dresses adorned with turmeric… The sweets changed through the years as me and my sister’s tastes changed, but sweet making and certain other things remained. There were always laddoos. It was always idlis for breakfast on Diwali mornings. And that’s how its going to be this Diwali. There is going to be laddoos and there will be idlis… I love my mom to have kept up the tradition. I love me to be continuing it…