Apologies to all the unreplied comments on the previous post. Shall be back to reply to all of them.

Last week was one of the busiest so far. I guess, I have not really gotten a chance yet to finish with all the unpacking from India. No joke. Every time, when I go home (as in actual home and not the aptmnt) and enter my bedroom, I am greeted with two oversized bags with unwanted stuff stuffed in them. The room is a mess with papers strewn all over. It is impossible to now tell which ones belong to my brother and which ones belong to me. On a side note there, brother dearest uses my desk and my room to do his homework, because he claims his room isn’t big enough. It is another story that he has a king sized bed all to himself in there with a walk-in closet and a large light lamp and a big book shelf. So much for being the “only” son! Bah!

Back to the strewn papers. The desk has scattered papers, occasionally pushed aside when I make room for my laptop. There are Indian clothes all over the room because I bought them and don’t wear them here. The comforter on the bed lies in a bundle because I do not bother to fix it. I spy a toaster which I was supposed to take with me on the rocking chair. There are atleast a million CDs lying around waiting for their turn to be labelled. The fitness bike in my room seems to have gathered dust over the years. Poor thing is only used when my brother wants to do a “cowboy” style run on it or when I feel guilty about that flab (which is not very often).

That was the not-yet-unpacked story.

Also, I had to start classes the very next day after my arrival. That has not really given me a chance to sit back and relax and figure things out or atleast take them in stride. I pick things that are thrown at me, finish them and move on. Have not had a moment to think except for when I blog! That too because it helps with the ranting,whining, and complaining and also helps in taking my mind off my long to-do-list, which I think will put the tallest man on this earth to shame.

Incomplete reasearch, mad scramble to finish clinical requirements, unbelievable workload, the extracurricular stuff, job, and then two tests in one day have taken its toll. I am exhausted and I do not have a breather in between for atleast another two months. On the bright side, out of the 1000 things on my list, I now only have 500 more to go.

Wishlist: If only life could pause for two days and tell me to enjoy a nice massage, followed by spa, a pedicure, a manicure, a shopping spree, and a 24 hour sleep cycle.

And I snap back to reality….two tests tomorrrow. Sigh.

Happy Birthday Mom

My roomie watched this little show about a kid who was talking about harmony and how people of different religions were all the same.

The kid was five years old and mind you very intelligent. He said somethings that a five year old wouldn’t say. He was going great guns but just then he said something and…..

Anyway here’s what he said. Just look at the language he uses, great job but then….

“My mother tells me that regardless of what a person believes in, we are all one and the same. Religion is but a choice of faith and belief, and even though all of us might have different beliefs, we are all the same people. We are all part of the human race and we should respect each and every person who belongs here. Like there are different religions all over the world but people are still humans….see you could be any religion, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, Chinese…..”

The rest of the sentence was not heard over a round of laughter. Gotta love them kids!

I found this article on Rediff today.

Are us Indians really the 4th happiest of all the countries on this earth?
The government is decayed with corruption, the slums keep growing larger and larger, the gap between the rich and the poor keeps increasing by the day. Each day, a father loses his son in a brawl, reports of gang-rapes are all over big cities, we fight in the name of religion, and we also have huge squabbles over our Oscar entries. Are we really the 4th happiest nation on earth?

On the flip side…

Despite the corrupted government, we progress ahead, the people in the slums go home and are atleast able to sleep soundly even if it is because they are tired, neighbours go out of their way to help each other out, and even though we might not be that well of financially, we open our doors for all guests and say “atithi devo bhava.” We have a diverse culture to boast about, sundays out to be happy about and although the gap might be increasing and we might be complaining over petty things…we are generally happy.

Those were two sides of it……What is your take?

I am really not the types to get into a brawl or a fight with anyone or even get pissed off for no reason generally.
However, I just found out that somebody has hacked into my blogger account and has been attempting to hack into my email account. I am not a fool and while I am not that great at computers, I know when someone is trying to hack into my emails and blogger accounts. Since it is a blog account, I am assuming the hacker knows and reads this site. DO NOT continue any of this please. Let me have my privacy with my account and email. If you really want to know what is going on with me and my blogs, then email me with a damn good reason and I will tell you the password. For right now, I am not about to take any of this hacking crap from anyone.

I don’t know if it is just me and my household or is this the case with all of the Indian community?

Now, the case with me is that I always overcook food. No, not as in cook too much as in cook it a little longer but as in cook too much as in cook it WAYY too much..as in a much more than needed. Ah, you get what I mean right?

Week One in at the appartment:

Cooked some fabulous pav-bhaji without any pav-bhaji masala, because lets face it, us college kids are poor and unless we cannot gather our masalas, untensils, silverware etc from the house, we usually and generally dont have it! Although a pat on my back for convincing mom to pack garam masala for me which she was happy to! Turns out the pav bhaji also did not have a “watery gravy” per se because yours truly does not have a blender at her appartment. Although I must say that I was actually impressed with the end-product. A great pav-bhaji or to be politically correct, a great kaush-bhaji without Badhshaaah or MDHh masalas! Actually tasted great.
And now to the topic in question here, as usual I overcooked it. No no, not as in cooked it too long, but as in tooo much extra! Had to pack it in one of those empty butter boxes and leave it in the fridge. Monday I had kaush-bhaji coz it was all fresh and yum. Tuesday I had kaush-bhaji because I came home hungry and that was what I had my eyes on. Wednesday and Thursday I had kaush-bhaji because I did not want to cook any frozen things and Friday I had kaush-bhaji because I kinda felt bad about wasting food. Come Saturday, I took some kaush-bhaji home so that I dont waste it.

Week Two:

Made chole-bhature, more like chole-tortilla. (tortilla: A thin disk of unleavened bread made from masa or wheat flour and baked on a hot surface,usually hispanic… more like ready made roti but really not roti). Here again, I had not blender so made “gravy” with really finely diced tomatoes onions and garlic which for some reason did not get minced as well. I went a wee bit overboard with the masala and also ventured into the unknown by adding some chat-masala to it. Added a little too much! And needless to say, cooked a little too much of chole-tortilla..err chane ki subzi-tortilla. Monday thru Thursday was the same story as the week before and Friday took it home for everyone to savor. Twas enough for the whole family and a little too khata coz of the little too much chat masala but good nevertheless.

Now to the question of this post. Why do I always overcook things? Us Indians are so used to feeding large families, aunties, uncles, bhaiyas, bhabhis, and all the ladies here know what I am talking about, and the men really need to step in the kitchen once in a while to know what I am talking about! Really, why cant men cook when we sweat, slaughter, cry, and cook in the kitchen always.
Anyways, back to what I was saying. We are so used to cooking for many people that when there are only two people or in my case only one, we really okay atleast I really go overboard, and then I have the whole week to enjoy the delicacies.

A footnote there, while I am not a mean person, my roommate never gets to eat the food that I cook. Reason? She is as gori as can be and cannot handle the spices. Roomie, I still love you and I will still make that kaush-past for you soon.

Another footnote, if you gentlemen out there really don’t know what is to worry about over-cooking, then I suggest you take a little advise from me and help your mothers, sister, and significant others out every once in a while. Not only will they appreciate it but also you will appreciate the fact that they will never ask you to step into the kitchen again. Ever again. try nevertheless. I know a few of you here do.

Had a pizza in the oven today, and as usual, overcooked it and this time it was the “real overcooked”. Its burnt and well on the bright side, it won’t last a week!

But I still haven’t answered my own question of why I always end up cooking for more than one person, sometimes for more than a week. Is it just me?