Monday, 24 August 2009

On becoming fearless - by Arianna Huffington

I read this book on Pradnya's recommendation. And boy, am I glad I did :)

"Fearlessness is not absence of fear" - so damn true. She talks about not conforming to societal cliche's like being 'nice'. She encourages every woman to be a go-getter, to be aggressive, and ofcourse, to be fearless.

Absolutely loved it!

Friday, 24 July 2009

Parle rocks!

Did anyone ever imagine that the same company that gave us Parle G, would ever give us Milano??

The shy, cute little boy of Parle G

Has now grown up into the hunkman Hritik!

Monday, 29 June 2009

Kitchen tips

Almost every blogger worth his/her salt, has a blog that showcases his/her cooking talent. With this entry, my blog is about to become a complete blog! Only, I wont be sharing a recipe, but a fantastic tip, that I bet you have not heard/seen before!!

What do you do when:
- You feel hungry at 10 pm, and realize that you haven't had dinner
- You feel like eating, say, hypothetically, Poha
- You chop up onions, chillis, corriander and soak the poha
- You place the pan on the stove and realize that the gas is OVER!! (ofcourse its over, afterall its been over a year; even if you cook just 4 meals a week, the gas will run out after a year.. Predicting the parameters of the almost-annual change-the-gas-cylinder cycle merits a separate post)

So yes, what do you do now that it is 10.30 pm and it is almost impossible to order anythin, and you dont have any bread at home, no biscuits or other life-saving munchies either, and you are HUNGRY, and hungry for Poha in particular? (I strongly believe in the hungry-for-a-specific-food-item concept, especially since most of my "I am hungry" wails were answered by my mom with a (hatefully tall) glass of milk!)

What you do is, use the roti maker that you got in dahej (which, upon reflection, reflects how much confidence your parents have, not just in your roti-making skills, but also in your ability to predict when to change the gas cylinder)

Yes, for all disbelievers of the roti maker - it works great as a hot plate!
Ofcourse it wastes electricity, and the rotis may never turn out fine after this little experiment, but well, maybe by next year I will have a better solution for this problem.

Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Epiphany

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy says that the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.
It was brought to my attention that I have it - i.e. the answer to life, the universe and everything AND more! Thanks to my hubby :)

Jatin = જતીન (in gujrati)
= 43 (જ = 4 in marathi, and તીન = 3)
= 42 + 1

Yeps, one of those PJs I enjoyed very much :)

Friday, 3 April 2009

Scuba diving at Maldives!

Jatin and I went for a trip to Maldives in Feb 2009. The place is gorgeous - sandy white beaches, beautiful blue water, a gorgeous reef, and so much more.

Some friends asked me to blog about the trip - in particular the diving. So here are some details about the best part of the trip - the scuba diving:

- If you can snorkel, you can most probably dive. So do give the 'beginners lesson for diving' a shot. They teach you some basics of diving for free, and you pay only if you are confident you want to dive.

- We went through Delphi's school of diving, and they charged us USD 75 for one dive. (The cost included equipment - oxygen tank, fins etc, but not the wet suit). PADI school of diving is cheaper, and better, so if your island has a PADI centre, go for it. They even give you a certificate after the dive :)

- You are charged separately for renting a digital camera. Delphi's charged us USD 45. PADI charges approximately USD 30. I would say renting a cam is completely worth it!

- You can dive only 24 hrs after you fly in, and 24 hrs before you fly out of the Maldives. This is to give enough time for your body cells to adjust to the changes in pressure due to flying and diving. Plan your dive accordingly. If you want to try snorkeling for a day before diving, plan accordingly.

- It was freakin cold in the water, especially at greater depths. If you wish, wear a tee to keep you warm, instead of wearing just a wet suit.

Diving is a wonderful experience. We went diving only upto a depth of 8m, but got to see many different types of fish, corals, oysters, and even a sea turtle :)

So, in a nutshell - if you go to the Maldives - definitely go diving!

Friday, 13 March 2009

Perks and quirks of working in the same office as your spouse

perk: You can travel home together
quirk: If your cab mate does not know that you 2 are married, it might just surprise him a bit when the 2 of you take a drop to the same house late at night.

perk: Any office outing is also a 'family' outing
quirk: Being the only 'couple' in the outing, you are teased to death if you try to steal some moments of time together.

perk: You get gifts even on your spouse's bday!
quirk: The gift is usually a 'parenting guide'

Thursday, 26 February 2009

Will A R Rahman become the next Lata Mangeshkar?

This is not with reference to his singing skills, but with reference to award monopoly.
Lata Mangeshkar had taken voluntary retirement from the awards scene - to allow new talent to be recognized. There were other talented performers during her reign, but she was the most loved by the award committees, hence the monopoly.
Considering that A R Rahman is what he is (a magician), and (now more than ever before) the pride of India, would he end up like Lata Mangeshkar?