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.

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 :)

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!

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'

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?

An American Crime

I have a soft corner for Ellen Page's movies. That's one of the reasons why I picked this film to watch.

Knowing that it is based on a true life story will definitely make you want to read about it before/after you have watched the film. And even if the film (which shows just a fraction of what really happened) does not manage to disturb you, the complete true story most certainly will.
Briefly, it is about a teenager, Sylvia Likens, who was tortured by her guardian and a number of neighborhood kids.

The thought that the victim let the torture happen to her, completely depresses me. She was probably helpless towards the end and could not fight back, but how could she ignore/accept the initial abuse and injustice? And how could the neighborhood kids contribute to such atrocities? And why did the adult-neighbors turn a deaf ear to her cries? There are so many how's and why's that people have brought up time and again concerning this episode, and I am probably just re-iterating them :(

Its just too depressing to think how much kids rely on their parents'/guardians' views, and how that fact is sometimes exploited for carrying out child abuse :(
How can knowledge about basic human rights be kept secret from anyone?

P.S. It took a couple of episodes of Friends for me to get over the depression caused by this movie, but I suppose I will never forget the story.

iBored

Nothing against the snazzy iPhone's and iTouch'es and iWhatNot's, but the iHolders seem to really show off in front of the iBeholders!!!

P.S.:Yet, iLove iPod when iGym :)