What’s cooking?

I know I know. It’s been a really long time. Blame it on the internet service and my pc which conked out. The whole of august went in gathering prerequisites for our project on anti acne properties of Indian medicinal plants. The easiest was the source of the bacteria; for which we promptly (n happily) burst rohit’s big zit. And also practicing for the lame fresher’s put up by the other group in class. The best part was the dance. Yay!

I have a new found love- COOKING!

For the past 1 month I have been making friends with deserts and other delicacies. Being a foodie myself I never knew that I would enjoy cooking as much as eating. I have been making chapattis and other vegetables for more than 4 years now but I never really explored the other possibilities. But last month I just came across a brownie recipe and there was no looking back. Of course the brownie was good enough to eat and so was sewaiyya ki kheer. People kept asking for more puranpoli and I was more than happy to oblige. There was also the ‘sheera’ or the rawe ka halwa as we call it for savoring. And the down to earth chawal wali kheer.

So our stomachs our full. And so is my appetite for sweets...

Now to invade other possibilities J

death be not proud

I don’t want a missing entry for July. I mean what did July do to me! Lots actually. The reason why there’s such a long gap between 2 posts is well yet to be determined. There’s no one particular reason which I can pin point…

Anyway July has been eventful. A lot has happened since the last post. Got my result-74.3% if anyone cares, third year has started long back... been giving tests and not being given reference books.. Had to hunt for a project which has to be submitted before year end.. ... And also had to hunt for partners which was more excruciating than searching for topics.. After all I did not wanna end up with those two who keep discussing KI KAL RAAT KE MILEY JAB HUM TUM MAI MAYANK NE NUPUR KE SAATH KYA KIYA.. Phew! So I’ve found two decent partners and my presentation can be anytime this week..

Turns out angel and demons did hit the multiplexes here and fortunately for us we saw it in English. No reviews. Am not a good critic.. Also I did manage to see Harry potter and the half blood prince.. And I did not like it..

Bhagat sir is staying back for a while. Till they find a replacement. That I think isn’t gonna be easy..

I would like to share this poem which I learned in 7^th or the 8^th I guess...

Death Be Not Proud

by John Donne
(1572-1631)

---

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe go,
Rest of their bones, and souls deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Now now. I’m not depressed or anything. Nor am I dying. Just that in the past few days a lot of talk about death and dying has been going on. And I have realized I don’t cringe anymore. Nor do I feel scared as I used to. I remember vividly the day SHIRLEY Tr. was telling us about NOAH’S ARK. I was in the fourth STD then. She said God promised that he would not destroy earth again with water. But God being God found a loophole when man was being a bad boy. He said next I’ll destroy the earth with fire. And she said that can happen anytime. Coz we’re practically in the age of nuclear weapons and before God has even a chance to say BOOM we would’ve destroyed each other ourselves thanks to the nuclear weapons. That scared the hell out of me! I came home and cried and cried that the world was coming to an end and we are all going to die and I’m probably not related to modern day Noah! My mum just laughed and said we all do have to die one day or the other. That really didn’t help. But later when I got a little more sensible and started understanding things in a better way I understood what life is all about. Living with the fear that you’ll be dying one day is as good as being dead. And like adke mam told her friend suffering from HIV “you atleast know you’ll survive for 8 to 10 years... I don’t even know if I’ll get through the next two min!”

I know all this is spooky and u might think I’m going nuts. But it’s my triumph over fear of death. Everyone’s being dying.. Someday I will too.. Until then life’s a meadow... J

NOT BULLET-PROOF

Going with the current trend on the blogs, I decided to write my own entry in bullet style.

· It’s proven. When you have all the time in the world to do everything including writing a decent post for your blog your grey cells fail you. Somehow even the neurotransmitters go lazy and the signal takes a long time to reach its destination and till that happens you have already moved on to resting your butt on the couch and flicking channels, some sort of default setting.

· Too much of anything can be hazardous to your mental state. In my case, too much of holiday has been showing its effects. All hail the queen!

· Ipl season over. Csk lost in semis. Dhoni looked like it was a relieve it was over. Hope it was only because he was dying to get some rest before he represented India in world cup and not because he wanted to meet some sultry south babe.

· ADAM GILCHRIST was sheer ecstasy to watch!

· Star plus shows B grade movies in the mornings! Then again it shows other mindless crap in the evening and the afternoons.

· I did not get tanned this summer! *shudders*

· Twilight sucks! So does new moon! Hmm...Why am I dying to read eclipse then?

· This is my last year in college and the only reason we all went to college has deserted us. Bhagat sir has left the faculty. Now our juniors will never be able to isolate dna till they’re in that god damned place

· I did not watch angels and demons. Because the ‘multiplexes’ wont show them. Not surprising considering that they DID NOT run DARK KNIGHT! I now miss going to circle theater which showed every English movie available.

And served extra salted stale popcorn. Or wait was it salty because our sweat was

being mixed with it? The ceiling fans obviously were placed in another galaxy.

· Results haven’t been declared yet.. and am not happy

· MAN U LOST!! HAHAHAHA

· Since when has salwar kameez been branded as formals?

· I rock at bowling!! J

· Its nice meeting old school friends once in a while.

· Hey! This bullet idea is working! I’ve actually managed to write.

· Nah I lost the zeal again.

summer bummer

Its that time of the year again folks! Where u sweat it out even if you are just plopped on your bed doing nothing. Vacations on. Exams were pretty good. Don’t want to bother my mind with the result; it’s snoozing. 

Summer plan just includes the usual-mangoes, sumptuous amounts of watermelons, arguments about sun screens, roohafza, Indore, swimming, books, late night TV watching, movies, scrabble with brother, carom with everyone, badminton with the aunty-in-nightie brigade in the evenings and lots more.

Till now I’ve managed to watch quite a few movies thanks to DDT! Bucket list was really moving

I cried a lot! And 27 dresses was a nice watch. Taken was depressing and Madagascar 1 and 2 are my all time favorites. Twilight was dumb! I mean falling in love with your food? It’s in the same league with the mango slice aamsutra ad with Katrina in it. Weirdoes!

The books include Sidney Sheldon’s nothing lasts forever, jef archer’s quiver full of arrows, the afghan, love story by Eric segal (2nd time) and currently reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. 

On TV besides friends and the really hilarious poll scenario there’s ipl! And I’m supporting Chennai super kings. I’ve never been to Chennai and the only south Indian words I know are idli, Dosa, medu wada and wannakam. The only reason I’m supporting csk is dhoni! :)

Speaking of ipl, here’s a video of the first match of season 2 played between Mumbai Indians and csk. It was interrupted by a rather unexpected visitor. We’ve heard of naked people running across the field and innocent pigeons distracting the fielders but this was one of its kind! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUpp19IpeaE

ha! 

anyway whats with srk? they're too busy playing games in their own team that they forgot all about the game they're actually supposed to be playing. anyway who cares! i'm supporting csk! mind it!

SURPRISE SURPRISE!

Contrary to what everybody has been thinking I had a blast on my birthday!

My pre birthday gift included this really yummy sponge cake from anuja! Thanks anu! J

College folk used holi as an excuse and smeared my face with all the icing on the cake. And of course about 3 and a half bottles of water were emptied on me. :/

My 3 idiotic friends from school kept devising these small schemes as a result of which I got a bag full of chocolates from the watchman of my college and a huge bouquet of gerbera flowers awaited me at home. At about 1 in the afternoon I opened the door to find a huge bouquet of yellow roses and a large black forest cake in the shape of an ‘A’ (A for ADITI dum dum!)!  Thank you very much masi!

In the evening I went out with the 3 idiots and they gave me my fake gifts and in return it was expected that I make faces and look disappointed. But me being me (read unpredictable and impossible) I loved those gifts too!! They had no other option but to roll their eyes and finally hand me my ‘real’ gifts- zoya factor and for matrimonial purposes. 2 books of which zoya factor is quite nice.

So the day was not at all like any other day. And to top it all I received ‘the’ card from priya! Priya is the greatest card maker ever! And she makes them for really close and special people. So ahem ahem I got one! J

Thank you all for making my birthday very very special!

And now let me shut myself with lehninger and PTC.

 

birthday special or special birthday?

Its 11^th march. My 19^th birthday.  I was born 19 years ago on this same day and co incidentally it was holi that day too.

Birthdays have always been special. I remember being super excited from February itself. I couldn’t wait for 11^th march.

My birthday cakes have always been home made. Almost. When we did not have an oven it was jaju aunty who used to bake delicious cakes in the shapes of dolls, butterflies and all that. My mother used to cook mouth watering delicacies and the kids from colony, school friends, family friends would all turn up for the bash. I used to love my birthday parties. Dressing up for the same was such a lot of fun. Dressing up in pink frill frocks (when I did not mind pink) and skirts and receiving compliments for the same was a ritual. And the excitement of unwrapping presents when everyone was gone was uncontrollable!

In school I used to distribute chocolates and choose a lucky friend to accompany me to distribute sweets from class to class. The teachers too used to admire my dresses. And back then all that mattered too.

Now things are different. I really don’t make a fuss with what I’m going to wear. i do not expect gifts because over the years I’ve realized that what matters to me the most is the presence of loved ones. An ideal birthday for me would be my really close friends, and my family at my place hogging on home made pasta (or pizzas or Chinese. Mum is great!)

And of course who can forget the bday cake!

Lets see what this year has in store for me. Nothing much today I guess coz its exam time. But still it is a special day for me because it makes me realize there’s a lot to do... And time is running out.. J

this and that..

Been very busy lately. . No seriously! I mean had completion, had my internals, had social issues, and had family issues. Lots going on.

My internals were good. Okay as in they were just 2o marks each. 3 subjects and one of them being English *smirks*.

It’s very annoying to see the general approach of people in my class towards English. No doubt they find it difficult to grasp it as many had it as their second language but what I feel is at least there should be a will to do it. Marks are all what they care about. Don’t they realise that all the further interviews and the research papers to be written and read would all be in English?  Anyway not my problem is it?

Was dad’s birthday yesterday. Had a lot of fun! Baked a cake which turned out to be pretty good considering that I hadn’t baked since last April and that one was a complete disaster. (Rock solid on the outside and half baked on the inside! disaster indeed)

But that’s that. No grand celebrations. Can’t even think of it. Not because of recession but because of boards. My brother has his boards coming up in like 7...no just 6(omg) days...

So no party sharty.. no late night TV watching.. No talking on the phone in front of him.. No talking when he studies... For 20 days to come. And then? Then what? Freak out as much you want. But hey! What about my exams???? ‘Your’ exams? 3 papers with one of them being ‘English’ and you call it ‘exams’??   

Ya whatever!

p.s. I also made pizza day before yesterday which was yummy! J