Monday, March 30, 2009

The art and science of being socially tolerable

"Ohh.. auntiji .. your saari looks gorgeous.."

"What have you done to your hair.. its brilliant !"

"Is that neck piece new?? Really complements this dress."

"You're looking like that film actress."

And many more..

I suck at it myself. But I like to watch though.. Its hilarious.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Blunders

There must be 1000 ways to ruin a dish.

One of the very weird ones is that the cook's stupidity. Something I discovered by firsthand experience (yeah.. and No. its not funny)

Misinterpreted the 350 F as 350 C. If u have ever been a science student you would truly appreciate this huge huge stupid mistake. The contents of what was left in the baking dish could have easily passed as a specimen of peat and bitumen.

Phew... Anyways.. i have decided to stay away from the oven for sometime.

Decided to sketch again. Have to get attuned. Might take some time.

And ohh yes.. Got a new set of woodwork tools. Yet to buy wood. But I do luurrvveee... the set.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

No more cakes

Gave up on cakes..

Made one which turned out to be just ok, a borderline case between cake and a really big biscuit. (yeah so it was not so soft as I would have liked. So what.. it tasted fine)

Turns out I am not capable of cooking dishes which require insane amounts of butter/cream and sugar. So no more cakes or puddings. Will have to do with the bakery variety.

On the other hand, i have started pastas. Just put one in the oven right now. The recipe says wait for 30 minutes.

I havnt got the patience.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Title less 1

Fact: The difficulty level of writing a blog increases exponentially as a function of the time since your last post.

Last six days are a blur now. Doesnt mean anything since my short time memory is really bad anyways. ;)

We went to this wildlife reserve this weekend. Now, I have always known that I love jungles. But this was my every jungle dream mixed into one. We rode(?) a motorized canoe sort of boat to the place. Then hiked, climbed, walked, waded,...
(Its too tough for me to describe it. I give up)
The best part was the stream. It was a lovely little meandering stream that led to a lovely little waterfall hidden deep in the jungle. We had to walk in the stream to reach there. And i could see little fishes right there in the water I was walking in. Thankfully I didnt spot any snakes. It was awesome.
There was also a pretty frightening climb. I hate heights. i am totally acrophobic. It was my worst nightmare come true. A watchtower some 50 meters high. I could feel it shaking. Believe me, I got myself out of that place as soon as possible. And I swear I could feel my legs shaking hours later.
It rained while we were coming back. Imagine a canoe with a motor and rain. It was awesome!! (the funny thing was that mom couldnt even berate me for getting soaked :D :D :D)

I have quite settled down here now. I have a routine which involves having fun, doing anything I want(which involves a lot of things) and watching sitcoms(Finished House. Why do I like watching that arrogant man?)

Have I ever mentioned how much I love grocery shopping. The thrill I feel when I find myself in a superstore almost equals to that I feel in a hardware store. Got a lot of things today. Am going to master the art of making cakes. That is my agenda for the next week.

:)

Monday, March 16, 2009

Daily pinks

Time has a different pace here.. First of all, the sun rises too early, and then there is this time difference. I have to get used to getting up on time.

Will begin going to the pool from today. I hope I can be regular.

Some pics from the garden.. :D .
Can I ever resist flower pics?? :P






Sunday, March 15, 2009

Thoughts overload

Caution: Too-many-thoughts-on-my-mind alert!!

A week without net access

A week of manging a household on my own(and doing well)

A week(ohh.. ok. Just 4 meals) of self cooking.. with good results.. [experimented.. successfully :D :D]

A week in familiar surrounding.. with loads of memories.. :)

And now..

Homeward ho..

A great sunrise( it was wow.. Thank you God)

To some great times..

And now.. time for a cup of good coffee

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Beginings and endings

Last night here..

I really wanted to whisk away unnoticed.. but then some part of me wanted to stay.. 

Bid farewell well.. (how can I ever leave PJs behind :D) 

but then.. those who matter.. always stay.. and those who dont, dont.

I still cannot comprehend the enormity of whatever i am doing.. maybe this is a required step in the process of growing up..

I wish good luck.. 

to all of us

to everybody 

May everybody get what they deserve.

Friday, March 06, 2009

God bless Vijay Mallya

The Indian Branson - some call him.. 

I call him an Indian. One with a true Indian heart. 

First he bought back the sword of Tipu Sultan. And now Bapu's belongings. :) :)

Frfom now on, m gonna travel kingfisher whenever I can.  

Thursday, March 05, 2009

A bit of spring.. & hope

Spent a good part of the afternoon running around the so called mini golf course. 
Thats one thing at MDI that I will miss the most. I almost know all of the trees by their leaves. 
:|

The day went by with a strange sense of incompleteness. And I cannot pin point the exact reason why. I did everything I could. I guess.

Wanted to go on a panipuri trip today. Pani puri always helps :) 
Will go tommorrow. 

Tomorrow will be my last week day at MDI. And i havnt done any major packing yet. ksh will have to help me with the heavier stuff. So everything waits till saturday.

And boy oh boy. I m so excited about going home. It will be almost an year since I have been there. 
:O 
 

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

The girl with a stiff neck

(who also sneezes a lot)

That time of the year again.. wonderful breeze, air full of pollens.. and madhu on a sneezing spree..

Sprained my neck from sneezing yesterday ( yeah there is such a thing.  You CAN develop a stiff neck and shoulders from sneezing too hard).. The result being that I am unable to turn my neck in any direction. Its really funny though.. I turn my whole torso to talk to people.. Its like I am a puppet with the neck joint seealed stiff with too much glue. ( really bad simile.. oops i mean metaphor)

So now that I am confined to the room.. I decided to work on the pics I already had from yesterday. I need photoshop badly. I hav been searching for the sw ever since I formatted the lappie. Still havnt managed to find it.













Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Playing Lensman (lensgirl?.. lensperson?)

Some random shots around the campus










Mornings without newspaper

Our newspaper subscription has expired. And we are not gonna renew it now that we only have a few days left here.
I feel lost without solving the daily crossword. That is one thing I truely look forward to everyday. 
Khair.. what has to be done has to be done.

Spent  a good part of the morning browsing through some wonderful sites. (Declaration: I LOVE stumbleupon)

Planning to click some nice pics today. Started with my room :)


 This is one of my most favorite doodles yet. Liked it so much that it went right on my closet door. Cute cow. Isnt she?? 


Now go a little easy here. This is one of the frames I was talking about. Got it from the flea market near mehrauli (wonderful stuff there). I wanted to give it a pale powder blue color, but has limited colour options. Still i kind of like the effect. This one is already claimed by Rashi :)

In the making. The clour kind of changes once it dries. I have to keep that in mind next time.

And this is how they looked when I got them.



Next time, I will try for a good before-after shot. Its getting tougher working on it since I have to finish packing in like 3 days. I think I will take it home with me. Will have plenty of time there.

:)

Monday, March 02, 2009

The day I almost missed the daliya

The first word I uttered today was.. Sh*t

I was late for breakfast and did not want to miss the last day of Daliya in the mess.. 
(Luckily I didnt hav to miss it. :D) 

The day seemed to be suffering from an identity crisis. It began as a monday(got very very very very pleasant surprise) but then lost its zing. I spent a good part of the afternoon sleeping and feeling guilty about it at the same time.

The evening was lost somewhere between a longish bath and getting stuff from DC++. 

I am still feeling a bit lost. Sleeping in the afternoon has this effect on me. I like what the spanish call it - a siesta. The word sounds pretty.. doesnt it. :)

Finished an Agatha Christie today. It must hav been years since I had last read one of those. They used to be my regular companions in my teens. (Damn I am old now)

The weekend was a breeze. A very busy breeze though. But we did manage to finish most of the work.. so gud..

And yes.. enjoyed a good doze of ice cream. Almost for the first time here.