Finally!!

I impressed H with my baking skills ;-)

We had coffee and cake and chatted for so long over a movie
just like old days .... its pretty late in the night and i am not tired ... just plain happy
nah
ecstatic is the word!

Cake, H & Me

These days I have been too worked up trying to balance my personal goals with the work pressure. I feel like a zombie and my reaction time is reduced as if under the influence of alcohol!
My managers have to give in to my extreme dedication of working and providing accurate results ……. No off and working on weekends for straight 2 weeks with only 5 hrs of sleep everyday.

Kitchen is the only place where I get to relax myself with extreme pleasure!

So I decided to bake this new 5 minute instant microwave cake …. Checked the ingredients and realised the only thing I required was baking powder, which I bought on my way home.

To surprise H with my baking skills I decided to bake the cake while she was still upstairs busy with her laptop. She gets hooked to that wretched thing the moments she gets into the house till I give her a peace of my mind for ignoring me! (These days by the time I get home its way past 10 and she is almost wrapping up for the day)

Anyways, back to the cake making business of de-stressing myself.

While getting the ingredients together I realised that I would have to use Coffee instead of Cocoa and will have to do without vanilla essence.
So I decided I will make ginger cake with Nescafe!
Once the mix got ready I realised there wasn’t enough sugar in the house (remember I haven’t got more than 5hrs of sleep in 2 weeks now)

Anyways, the final outcome was a diet ginger cake with less sugar and oil!
H decided to do the honours to take the first bite and she liked it so I insisted her to take another piece which she gladly did. I felt good about it!
After a long tired day at work atleast I was still good in the kitchen!

While talking to her about the cake I took a bite and arghhhhhhhhhhhhh
I ran to the bin and spit out the ‘shit’ in the bin. It was the most horrible thing I had ever put in my mouth!

H said she didn’t want to make me feel bad esp with my current schedule and so she had 2 pieces of that ‘Cake’. The sweetness she is … I decided to bake another cake.
I am always this excited and enthusiastic about everything in life irrespective of my schedule!
And this time it was another special reason – to impress H with my baking skills!

The second cake didn’t had ginger but Coffee instead of Cocoa and brown sugar in place of white sugar and no vanilla essence. H said “Trust me it tastes better than the first one but still the diet cake feeling”.
I didn’t taste it.
Next morning while I was still in bed, H came back munching on the cake and said “Babe, let me be honest. The cake is crap and there is something seriously missing”

I got out of my bed, went to the kitchen, threw the cake into the bin, dressed up for work and left home a bit ashamed at my deteriorating skills in the kitchen!

I have decided to bake the cake when I am in full senses to ‘impress H’.

Heating Mishap Yet Again

Life has moved on since the last time H, the amateur technician, had worked up her ideas, giving me sleepless night!
We are now into our new rented house … winter is around the corner and the temperature drop is quite apparent. This also means its time to set the timer on our boilers to make sure we get up to a warm house in the morning.

Well, as luck is with us, H & I are always stuck with this boiler problem … first the room heater didn’t work (now mercifully sorted) and now the timer!!!
So after a lot of wait for our land lord to come over and acquaint us with the settings we decided to try it ourselves. Google didn’t help much and setting the hand positions on the timer didn’t work either.

Our next day was hectic and so we decided we will retire into our rooms with the heating on for few hrs until we decide to retire for the day. It was 7:45pm.

H was still deciding about her dinner, when I left her to go into the room to pack for my visit to my brother’s. At 8:00pm when I came down to join H for our cooking …
Hold-Behold
The amateur technician was at work!!!!!!
The lady with her analytical mind at work was fiddling with the heating system timer, decided to fix the damn thing before going to bed!

Fair enough … I was waiting for her to complete her fiddling to her satisfaction when she yelled Eureka!
The timer was set and it was working. I felt so proud of my babe until of course another few minutes L
By 8:30pm we realised that the heating was not working. Thinking that the timer was set incorrectly, we did some research with the boiler. (‘We’ means H)

No prices to guess what happened this time AGAIN
The boiler mishap … thanks to my proudly beaming H, the whole heating system went dead. All in all, like the last time, I had to sleep with my hot water bottle tucked under my duvet.

Can someone tell me how to tackle an overenthusiastic amateur ‘Boiler’ technician from creating disasters!

NB : For all those who can’t understand the word ‘AGAIN’, please read the July blog ‘The Boiler Mishap’

For you H

I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright
I’ll be alright

Jaane kyun ab lag raha hai
Jaana maana yeah
Coz when smile for me
World seems alright
Yeah sare pal yahin
Yun hi tham se jaayeDostana yeah

Jaane kyun (jaane kyun) dil jantha hai
Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright
(I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright)
Jaane kyun (jaane kyun) dil jantha hai
(yeh, yeh ,yeh)
Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright
(I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright)

Tu hai toh tedi medi rahe
Ulti pulti baatein
Sedhi lagthi hai
Tu hai toh joote moote vaade
Dushman ke irrade
Sache lagthe hai
Jo dil mein taare vaare de jagah
Woh tu hi hai, tu hi hai
Jo rothe rothe de hassa
Tu hi hai wahin

Jaane kyun (jaane kyun) dil jantha hai
Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright
(I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright)
Jaane kyun (jaane kyun) dil jantha hai
(yeh, yeh ,yeh)
Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright
(I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright)

Jaane kyun (jaane kyun) dil jantha hai
(yeh, yeh ,yeh)
Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright
(I’ll be alright, I’ll be alright)


A thousand times over for you H!!!!

My Boots from New Look

Realisation struck late!
It was Wednesday evening when it was bought to my notice that I can’t wear my heels to the Saturday Chessington Park trip.
I don’t have a panic striken personality and so with all my cool temperament I decided to go to Oxford Street after work on Thursday and buy myself something nice & trendy.
Thursday’s is the only day of the week when the shops are open till 9:00 so I knew I will have enough time to buy something to my taste.
Backup plan was to buy online and worst case recovery was to wear my trainers with boot leg jeans to hide them!!!
So I was pretty much sorted.

My colleague M joined me for the evening. After a quick scan of the market I knew exactly where I need to buy my boots from only that they didn’t had my size.
Plan B: My colleague M told me as part of his new mobile contract he had free internet browsing on his mobile phone.
Imagine what M & I did at the store??????
Standing inside NEW LOOK we were browsing there website to order the boots I decided to buy. As luck would be … the mobile internet was so slow that M couldn’t help much with the ordering part. Me just being myself decided to order once I reach home as it was way past 6 in the evening and the order will not be processed until next day, so ideally the time of order doesn’t really matters now.
Well, all in all, M & I couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that we must be the first ever customers to think about placing an order online, standing in the store surrounded by the merchandise … only not in the size we want!

Now the real story begins!
I have this funny urge to own anything & everything which I know is mine. Like after placing food order at a restaurant I suddenly get too hungry OR like in this case after placing the order I was all eyes for the courier guy!!!
(Not the guy duh... I was interested in the courier – my boots)

I did order using the ‘Express Delivery’ option, which dispatches the order the same day & worst come worst I will get the boots around early morning on Saturday. I have to admit that, most of the Friday was spend trying to track the parcel using the online tracking system. I was too hyper and excited that whole day.
Called my ex-landlady twice to confirm the receipt of any courier for me ( my delivery address was still my old address).
Called up the store customer service to enquire about the status and they were not very helpful (told me that the delivery will happen on Monday as Saturday & Sunday were non working days).
Royal Mail people said they work on Saturdays and the delivery will happen early in the morning around 6:30.
I think I was being tested for my threshold to bear the excruciating pain mixed with the feeling of excitement!

I am more or less convinced that Lady Luck charms are only meant to happen to men we are surrounded with.
The Royal Mail delivery didn’t happen due to some unforeseen circumstances.
(Period)
The enthusiasm about the boots drowned by Monday evening, they still were somewhere on the way to reach me. Tuesday brought with it the excitement of Diwali day, my wearing traditional Indian dress to work and the thoughts of evening affairs. I had practically lost interest in my boots by now.
(Period)

H, M and I had just finished dinner and were clearing away the dishes when I just called my ex-landlady to ask about the courier and she said there was one that arrived this afternoon (Finally! ).
It had started snowing and gales were high. H told me to collect it next day after work, as I didn’t need them urgently and I agreed. Went up to my room grabbed my overcoat, skull cap, gloves and rushed outta the house. Ran with a full stomach to get my boots and was back in less than 10 minutes – I met aunty, exchanged diwali wishes, collected my boots, ate a Jalebi (Indian sweet), bid farewell and ran back.

Did I just say I lost interest in ‘My Boots’ – the boots I was dying to get my hands on since the time I ordered them?
Did I just say I lost interest in ‘My Boots’ – the boots I was dying to put on and show off?

Planet India - Mira Kamdar

India is in my blood. It is also lodged in my heart.
Mira Kamdar, Associate Fellow of Asia Society

Through incisive reportage & brilliant analysis, Mira explores India's astonishing transformation from a developing country into a global power house. She reports on the people, companies, and policies defining the new India and reveals how it will profoundly affect our future.

Provocative, timely, and essential, Planet India is the groundbreaking book that illuminates what there is to lose, and what there is to gain from India's rise.

NB : Must read for all the lovers of this fastest growing democratic country, which is transforming the world.

Diwali in Snow

Diwali – the festival of light and which generally marks the beginning of winters, as my dad puts it, has always been my favourite.
The house smells beautiful from diyas (small earthen bowls filled with purified oil for lighting using a cotton wicker), candles and incense sticks.
It’s the time in the year when the whole family gets to do a proper long prayer together. And I absolutely love to sit with my parents and sisters to do the pooja (prayer).
I am not a very religious person but yes I definitely love to listen to my parents voice chanting hymns & mantras. I love the stories my mom recites for our benefit, mostly repeated from the last year or previous.
But I love the family atmosphere and then dinner followed by our long drive!
We as a family have always been averse to the use of fireworks and so its always limited to a few at the society level, if any.

It’s been a few years I have been on my own for the festival because of my studies and then job, but I still follow the rituals I have grown up with - Candles, Diyas, incense sticks, prayers and Prasad (holy offerings to god).

This time I was in UK again and so it always includes a visit to the Gurudwara (if u have read my old posts u will know I have turned into a half-Sikh already – courtesy H). We light candles there and pray to Babaji.

So its like, H knows about the Hindu Hymns through me and she (H) helps me understand the prayers read at the Gurudwara.

I had made dinner at home this time because I was home first from work. I made semolina halwa, lentils, brown rice and pasta. Yeah pasta on Diwali because I felt for it!!

This time it was the coldest day of the month and it actually snowed! I was out in the snow moving around candles so that they don’t blow out. When I came back into the house I was looking like a Santa Clause myself with fake beard & moustache from the snow flakes. My skull cap had turned white from cream and all I had to say was the traditional Ho-Ho-Ho.
Diwali celebrated Christmas way!

The high wind factor couldn’t mellow down the festive mood. We had friends over for meal and the day ended beautifully way past midnight.
Diwali is still my favourite festival will always be!

NB: Oh! and did I tell u about my new boots I got on Diwali day after like a real long impatient wait. Well, that has to come in as a seperate blog, a very interesting story to order my boots.

Chessington Adventure Park

Have you seen 2 grown up kids … here lemme introduce you to the 2 gorgeous ladies who are game for almost anything when together … I mean come on ... who wants to go to an adventure park all dolled up to test adrenalin rush …
Yeah, its ‘US’ again … me and my girlfriend H … imagine we getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning to get ready for rides!!!!
And esp when we say we don’t enjoy rides and all that heart racking effect they leave when ur on them …
but well well … it’s the annual Diwali meeting from my company and it’s a perfect excuse for a great get together for all its UK employees!!!
I was allowed to get a family member with me and H is the only family I have in UK … She comes as a package with me and I am inadvertently her package !!!!
So we being the sport and perfect team players decide to go.

Now, let’s walk into our house at 7:00 on this saturday morning … its chaotic …. Both of us at the mirror with our mascara, Blush-on, gloss and all the works … Half of the wardrobe is out and we are still not sure on what each one is wearing. The Hair straightner is sitting in the corner and is flicked to ON.

Okay the UK weather is quite unpredictable so we planned to carry our big bags stuffed with umbrellas and shawls … Its better to be overdressed than underdressed … that’s the first thing you learn to beat the UK weather.

Took a while but then dressed up in the best girlie outfits with our flats and overcoats we were all set to rock the Chessington Adventure Park.
Oh and did I tell that we were supposed to be there by 10:30 … that’s why we had to get up at 6:30 !!
Whats that strange look on your face for now ?
We were supposed to be there in a presentable way so we had to get up a bit early like some 5 hrs in advance to get ready !!
Phew!
Now all ‘presentable’ and ready to enjoy the rides we reached at 10:15 to collect our tickets and lunch pass (we had already decided we wont do many rides and leave around 1600 hrs. The park closes at 2000 hrs)

The fun begins now …
Let me introduce you to the Park before I begin writing any more about our adventure in the fun filled park
http://www.chessington.com/plan_your_trip/chessington_map.asp?css=2

As you can see from the map link above, the whole park is divided into some ten parts/zones which have rides and refreshments.

At 10:15 we were amongst a few excited souls to enter the park and so we decided to begin by taking a stroll of the park: SAFARI SKYWAY – a simple train ride which takes us around the whole park and gives us a good overhead view of all the rides in general.

So like many others we decided on a few rides and marked others as IMPOSSIBLE!
Our starting point was a decent and lady like ride called SEA STORM – a boat ride which goes up and down like waves in a circular fashion quite close to the ground. We didn’t realise that it does spins once in a while to add that extra effect!

That’s the last I remember about the sophisticated ladies in us!
Shouting (decibel reading was well above the recommended levels) and Giggling (enough to give any kid a tough competition that day) we entered into the world of adventurous rides.

That’s us H & me … Two naughty fun loving pals for life!

A little fast forward required here … So while I roll the reel let me tell u we managed to finish all THE 25-30 rides and did many twice or even thrice!

Oyeeeee … Stop the reel … yeah that’s the BLACK BUCCANEER – a long boat which goes from one point to the another in the air to cover a complete 180 degree – I hated it to the bits … with gurgling stomach, jumping heart, tears rolling down my cold and numb face, the intermittent shrieks, laughs, shouts and donno what not!
I was d first to jump off it vowing never to try that again ever in my life
(A very ironical statement I made!)

Next ride was VAMPIRE RIDE – a ride which takes u round in the air with you strapped to a chair and legs hanging loose … well, it looked scary but we picked it up because it had d longest queue, which means its popular, and we thought it will give us enough time to recoup from the previous Buccaneer experience!
My heart was doing more than the regular lub-dub at that moment!

Wow … I loved Vampire ride and H hated it .. she was in d same state as I was when I got off the Buccaneer … so we both had a ride we vowed not to repeat ever in life .. H loved what I hated and vice versa …
We then did quite a few other rides here and there … enjoyed most of them and had developed a tough heart by then!

It was past 1 o’clock in the afternoon when we decided to lunch which wasn’t worth mentioning about except that we loved the Profiteroles and our tea!

Now we knew we had to give rides a break with our stomach full so we went towards the animal zoo followed by the SEA LIFE CENTRE and CREEPY CAVES … all was fun and quite educative. Most of the fishes were mating and the Pythons were all in pairs! Learnt about the display of affection !
Lions, Tigers, Panthers, Orang-utans, Seals, Insects, Reptiles, Lizards – you name it and we saw it … really enjoyed the walk and learning about so many different species, their habitat and the sheer pleasure of looking at them.

HOCUS POCUS HALL was Halloween special : A 3-D scary dungeon where u enter with the 3-D glasses (sitting comically on ur eyes covering most of the face) in a group of 6-7 people made to walk through the hall in a line. Your hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you like school days, the only thing missing was the teacher shouting ‘Finger on ur lips children!’
We were d last in d line so u can imagine we got bored to death in there. The effect of all the excitement and fun was over by the time it reached us!

We now were ready to start with our remaining rides – RUNAWAY TRAIN(we almost fell off to sleep), RATTLESNAKE(which rattled H’s entire body) and all the others. It was almost 4 pm when we took a break for our green tea dose; after washing down 2 cups each, we felt rejuvenated to check the map for left over rides before we wind up and leave for the day.
So we started with BUBBLE WORKS – a cute safari through bubble making process which ends beautifully under a canopy of water fountain, CUTE is the word!

It was 5 and we decided to leave after doing the last ride which was the Elephant Ride … yeah a kiddies ride on elephant going in circles with an option to force the elephant to go up and down … our elephant didn’t go up even after repeated tries on the push button! I guess to remind us it was a kiddies ride!!! So we just ended up going in circles … that still didn’t stop us from enjoying and laughing the ride…
That’s us – full of life!
H what will happen when we go for our Europe backpacking trip!
Oh! I am sure when the 2 of us are together it will be fun....a definite rocking safari!

Its 6 in the evening and we decide its time to head home …. We are going towards the exit when we pass Vampire ride … my eyes flicker and H is all NO NO
Next we remember being in the queue … isn’t H a sweet heart
H came in against her wishes because I wanted to do the Vampire ride one more time and ofcourse we have to do everything together!
But then its H after all … just when our turn for the ride came she put her foot down and the Akashwani (H’s golden words) goes ‘We do Vampire then we do Buccaneer as well’
Valid enough – if she does a ride she hates I do the same!
That’s us … either it’s a NO from both of us or it’s a yes from us!

So it was fun with vampire ride but when the ride ended, I wanted to elope somehow …. Made enough attempts to loose r way to buccaneer but you have to know H by now!
After all d convincing & pestering into doing something against my will, she had me say YES for the Black Buccaneer
Quote “Get that fear outta you babe!” Unquote
We sat at the extreme end of the boat and I remember my shouts and squeaks but when it was all over... I couldn’t believe what I did!!!
I actually requested for a second round and H had to force me from going for the third round.
I guess the fear went away a bit too quickly … I love Buccaneer and H loved the Vampire by now
Aren’t we cute little kiddies!

Now what, we were back in the spirit and so we started again … Sea Storm here we come...
Did that for 3 times back to back and left when the ride closed. It was 7:30 now and most of the rides were closing. It was getting dark and we were laughing on our achievements of the day; the thought that we had decided to leave at 5 ….
Anyways, we still had 30 min before the park closed and guess what we did … a few more rides …. H & I together are always a deadly combination, and I can vouch that most of the People working at Chessington Park knew us towards the end of the day. Who wont with all the excitement bubbling out of us, the smiles to try a difficult ride, the enthusiasm of achieving the target ride!

The day came to an end happily @ 9:30 when we reached home. Sunday was a lazy one as our bodies needed rest but our dreams were full of Chessington rides for the whole of next week!

God, thanks for introducing this beautiful heart into my family.
H, thanks for being my family.

I learn every day

Phew … I am glad the nightmare is over !
Though the dreams reccur once in a while but then
‘Prevention is better than cure’
The dreams keep me on my toes

I learnt the hard way ….. it’s a big bad world outside …
All I can think this minute is the song from the movie ‘Ek Ajnabi’

Danger Danger
Stranger is danger
Watch it
Mama told me don’t be talking to stranger
Stranger Stranger
Stranger is danger
Danger Danger