Thursday, December 18, 2008

Happy anniversary, sweetheart

This post has been long due. Didn't post it up on the day, because we were out being together and enjoying ourselves.
Last year, we fought that night, and in a bid to kill that negativity, I came up with this.
This year, due to extreme lack of time, and due to its easy, mushy availability, I dedicate to you...

Yeh
Tumhaari meri baatein
Hamesha yun hi chalti rahein
Yeh
Humaari mulaakaatein
Hamesha yun hi chalti rahein
Beetein yun hi apne saare din raat
Baaton se nikalti rahe nayi baat
Phir wohi baatein leke geet koyi hum likhein
Jo
Dil ko
Haan sabke dil ko
Chhoo le
Baatein suron mein yun hi pighalti rahein
Baatein geeton mein yun hi dhalti rahein

Geeton mein har ghum ko
Khushiyon se hum saja de
Jo sunne ka hai woh humse kaho na

Yeh
Tumhaari meri baatein
Hamesha yun hi chalti rahein
Yeh
Humaari mulaakaatein
Hamesha yun hi chalti rahein
Beetein yun hi apne saare din raat
Baaton se nikalti rahe nayi baat
Phir wohi baatein leke geet koyi hum likhein
Jo
Dil ko
Haan sabke dil ko
Chhoo le
Baatein suron mein yun hi pighalti rahein
Baatein geeton mein yu hi dhalti rahein


For ignorant (or less fortunate) souls who don't know...
Song Title: Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein
Movie : Rock On (2008)
Music Director: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Producer: Excel Films
Starring: Farhan Akhtar, Prachi Desai, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny, Shahana Goswami, Koel Puri
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Also, this becomes the pic of the year--shows how our relationship has made us grow, catch the drift?

Friday, December 05, 2008

Venting and other such crap

Something I wrote about 6 months back, I think. I don't even remember how many times I have brooded thus, and just stopped at it.

I've got to write. What, I do not know. But, there's something waiting to burst out of me since some months now. I've shoved a lot of stuff under the carpet. And it's showing now. Smelling too. The past six months seem like a blur. Six years, actually. All through the day, there are zillions of thoughts zooming in and out of my mind, taking me through highs and lows. There are moments when all I want in the world is to talk about them, or pen them down. And all I will be doing is staring at my computer screen. Working, chatting, playing games, trying to convince myself that I will find time to be all by myself, conjure up an idea, toy with it, see if I can stretch it, manipulate it, develop a generalized principle from it. Everything but doing it. I push back so many thoughts, ideas, emotions into dark corners of my mind, imagining that I will find time to draw them out again and do what I was supposed to do with them; but that never happens. What happens is that I lie wide awake at night, and none of those dark corners are accessible any more. I lie lost. I lie helpless. I lie depressed. I lie frustrated. Because I didn't act when I had the opportunity. It's not as if I have great ideas that could change the world. But some of them could, at least, change my world. And as I have said to myself countless times, I think too much and act too little--in fact, I don't act at all. All I do is think, then I think about something else, lose track of what I should be thinking, I talk, and in the process, lose track of what I should be doing. Exactly in that order. I'm good at making plans. And that's all I'm good at. There's probably only one thing I planned out well, and acted accordingly. That got me where I am today, professionally. But the rest is just a blur. A blur of events. A blur of people. A blur of thoughts. A blur of inertial moments. Till, one day, I get shaken by an event, or a person. Something happens that makes me sit down and write some crap, like this one, about how hopeless I am, inspite of all the intellect I have, the abilities I acquire, and the opportunities that come my way. And that's about it. This must be the third or fourth time in the past two years that I have chided myself. But, I never seem to go beyond this chiding and actually do something, with determination, regularly. I lack consistency. I lack perseverance. And, I hate to say this, but I lack passion. I wasn't like this. I get tears in my 
eyes every time I think of this, but it's true. I was a very passionate person. Over the last two or three years, however, that emotion has been smothered inside my mind. I don't know how I did it, or why I did it. Now, all I do is sit and cry (or worse, feel nothing) when I remember who I am, what I am capable of, and what I am (not) doing.

In the midst of all external changes and enhancements in my life, my spirit lies neglected. The flame is slowly dying away. I may not be of any use to anyone, or the universe in general, but I would not like it if I'm a hindrance. I do not like the feeling of being just another rock on the face of this earth. I am a human being and have been given this gift of life for a reason. It may not be contributing to anything, but there's a reason I live. I've tried to find the reason, at times, by following 
the path others have trodden, at times, by developing my own theories. But, what went wrong, I know for sure, is that I have given up before I reached the destination. Like I said before, I lack perseverance. 

I don't know what more to write. I'm gonna leave this half-way too. But, for a change, am not just giving up. I'm turning to something that will give me inspiration. A book. What book? Doesn't matter. I know I'll find inspiration there. There's plenty of it anywhere I want to find it. What I am actually giving myself is another opportunity. To start reviving myself. It's like CPR. 

Pray that I never give up this time.

I found this after I wrote into my Nokia notes last night, as I sat on a park bench after a walk to destress from 12 hours of being at the computer.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Brinjal Crisps

A recipe post (+) ingredients (-) instructions (+) pictures (+) tips.

Tip:
Option 1 - Wash the rice grains, spread it on a piece of cotton cloth, and sun it.
Option 2 - Heat in a pan, on a medium flame, for about 5 minutes; stir continuously.
Option 3 - Microwave for 1.5 to 2 mins on medium power, and spread on a steel or porcelain dish to cool.

Tip: Grind in a mixer (or a stone grinder, if you love it the traditional way) until it's a slightly coarse powder.



Spices: Turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, aamchoor (you may use a few drops of lemon juice instead); as per pereference.









Tips:
1 - Turn the slices in the order that you laid them on the pan to avoid burning.
2 - Take off the slices in the center first, and push the outer ones closer until all of them are evenly colored (or not, as you wish).
3 - For crunchier slices, heat 'em longer on the lowest flame.

Tip: You may not drip the oil, if you're not in love with your healthy heart and don't care about that darn BMI.


Tip: For those mushy-sappy folks who like to give their own touch to anything they do, you may serve it in a way that depicts your true personality.

Note: It's a side dish, but our* absolute love for it tempts us into making dinner-sized quantities that we gobble up in 5 minutes!

* Me a fan since childhood, when mamma used to make these as a treat, and the hubs who HATES brinjal and ABHORS baingan-ka-bharta too, but throughly loves these!

Note: You can also try the same with potatoes, slightly raw pumpkins, and neerphaNas (I have no idea what they call it in English or Hindi, but it's a miniature version of jackfruit, never turns sweet, and is used to make subzis... know this?)

Update: Hunting the internet grounds brought me to what I think is the closest to or may be the same as neerphaNas--the breadfruit.