The Coconut Barfi.....

Something got me cooking today.....this is what I made..

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/pallavimv/TheCoconutBarfi?authkey=Gv1sRgCIys4qqy8JH6KQ#

Finger licking good! :D

Bye bye 26th

Hello 27th! :)

Can’t do without….

Half cup of tea in the morning

Reading the newspaper …….books…..reading anything

Checking mail

Goofy people…goofiness galore

Listening to music

Seeing the funny side of things

Making people smile

Mum’s kadhi chawal

White Musk perfume

Thinking about getting a dog

Thinking about getting fish

Bread and butter

Animated movies……romantic comedies……all movies!

Popcorn

Best friends (S, M and S—you gals make my world vibrant and vital)

Watching programs on animals or travel or cooking on TV

Listening….and truly believing that it helps

Drama in everything, so that I can weave stories when I get old

Water

Greenery/plants

Intelligent conversation

Writing

Stationery

Procrastination

Lounging in pyjamas once in a while….doing nothing

Extended sleep on Sunday mornings

Mangoes and watermelon

Singing out of tune on purpose

Attempting to whistle

The colour blue

Silver bracelets and silver earrings

My watch

Day dreaming

Jeans

Calvin and Hobbes

Remembering trivial utterly useless GK

Asking questions

Invariably putting my foot in my mouth

British humour

Eating the cherries off cake and ice-cream

Subtle sarcasm and mild flirting

Telling the truth

Writing bad limericks

Getting ribbed…………blushing

Remembering numbers and dates

My iphone

Forgetting why I got angry

Brother’s advice

Being fascinated by lights and fireworks

Being agony aunt

Consulting…counseling…..worrying

Learning new things

The elephant God and His humourous ways to test us poor mortal humans

Never finding the right clothes to wear

Wishing I could play tennis more often or atleast watch it being played

Planning to not die till I learn or attempt to learn salsa

Thinking P G Wodehouse is the greatest author ever

Making a “things to do list”….then promptly forgetting to look at it again

Wanting to drive an SUV

Enjoying the smell of the first rains

Wanting to finish a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle

Having an opinion on most things

Being on time

Wishing I had said the right thing at the right time

Always regretting words spoken in anger

Being annoyingly optimistic

The window seat…always!

Wanting to see a F1 race someday

Believing that all things are equal and yet the balance tilts to favour those who show enough courage to want it badly

Reading between the lines…..then getting into trouble

Watering plants

Giggling

Wanting to see the world—the hills, the valleys and all that lies in between.

Logic, practicality and science….and also that some things I cannot explain

Wanting to be a student for ever

Thinking about being a photographer someday

Experimenting with cooking

Standing by the window when it rains

Coming up with every excuse to not workout

Wanting to see and touch snow

Cuddling up with pillows

Being a hopeless incorrigible romantic

Wishing I could play the piano or the guitar

Talking forever……saying everything and nothing at all

Letting go….when I can’t do anything else

Keeping the faith

Believing that hope always floats

Wanting to see a Broadway musical

The fact that what goes around comes around……and the world is a small place

Being naïve sometimes

Reading a book...never figuring out when I fall asleep

The knowledge that humour helps lessen the pain when it hurts the most

Admitting that it all happens for your own good.

Of auto fans and psychos……

I have this uncanny knack of picking the wrong autowalla no matter where I go.

In my unmatched travels in Bangalore I have come across enough specimens to be inspired enough to write this blog.

Let’s begin with a very scary auto fan/ psycho type: This guy is forever parked outside my street. He is also forever ready to go anywhere I ask him to. He never uses the meter and always charges less than what the fare would normally come up to. All this is still tolerable, until he begins asking me questions—what are my office timings? Do I work Saturdays? Can he come to pick me up in the evenings? What is my phone number? Can he call and check if he can come and pick me up in the evening? Can he call in the morning and come and pick me up from my building? Who is my watchman? Etc etc…

As you can probably understand……..I make an effort to not take this auto in the morning. If it means I have to leave a little early, little late, or from another street, then I just do it.

The second category of autowallas includes the geography gene deficient chaps. This is how the conversation usually flows;

Me: “Race Course Road?”

Him: “Eh?”

Me: “Race Course Road??”

Him: (Scratching his chin or poking his ear, looking sufficiently mystified) “Where on Race Course Road?”

Me : “Near Taj West End”

Him: (Now vigourously working on scratching that chin or digging uranium in that ear, looking positively dumbfounded!) “Which route to go?”

Me: (Controlling the urge to hit the man, wondering why they always ask you questions when you are running against time to reach work….) “Over Old Madras Road….”

Him: (Scratch, scratch or dig, dig, Oscar winning cinematic look of deep mystery and incomprehension) “After Old Madras road, which way?”

Me: (Grating teeth, wishing for something hard to hit his head with, with increasing volume…) “Over Dickenson Road, then you take a right , parallel to M G Road, then you drive straight down to Raj Bhavan Road, then you take a left at Chalukya circle, then straight down to Race Course Road!!!! The whole thing will last 30 mins ! ARE YOU COMING OR NOT???”

Him: (In deep thought for over a minute, working out on that chin or/and ear)“ No madam” (cheesy grin)

Me: “ THEN WHY THE HECK DID YOU ASK THAT MANY QUESTIONS???”

Him: (another cheesy grin)

Suddenly another auto draws up almost running over your toes……

Him2: “Where to madam?”

Me: (hopeful again, there is a lord!) “Race Course Road?”

Him2: “Hmm”….scratch……

And life goes on…………..

The third category belongs to the virgin autowalla. Rare and very hard to come by, this auto walla doesn’t know a single place in Bangalore. He asks you if you know the way (bloody gall I tell you!) and as is the superior human tendency of non auto drivers; you smirk and tell them that of course you do! Then begins the jolly ride, where you realize that this absolutely cunning and shrewd fellow has made you his Bangalore guide for the day………he insists on knowing when the Ulsoor lake came into being, or when a particular street became one way, or why old Madras Road is called that, one guy even asked me what the price of a film ticket was when we passed a mall! All in all you are mentally drained, not to mention pocket empty, by the time you reach your destination.

The fourth and final type of autowalla are found dime a dozen. They wait till you are seated and then say; “20 rupees extra”

Smart these fellows are! They know you cannot jump off a moving vehicle and that you are sufficiently and psychologically cornered into accepting. Yet I have learnt after a lot of fighting that this need not be an all encompassing losing battle for you….I usually say, “WHAT!!Stop this auto immediately”

Ah ha! You have realized that their weakness lies in not having a scene (here is where you feel like grinning goofily, but since you are having a fight, you must look distressed and agonized enough…)

He persists and tells you, “You won’t get any savari (customers) from there!”

You retort with, “So? Is that my fault?”

You have managed to stump him! Hurray!

The euphoria doesn’t last too long. He says, “Madam, what is 20 rupees to you? We have to come back empty from there….”

You reply, “So that gives you a right to cheat people?”

Again you have come up with a winner! (Pat on your back my friend!)

He says, “Ok madam, 15 rupees, not yours or mine”

You: “ You think you can cheat people is it? No 15 rupees! You want to come for 10 rupees then come otherwise stop this auto right now!”

That my friend, is when it strikes you that you have comprehensively lost an extra ten rupees for absolutely no reason. It is then that you should just meekly accept that the laws in this auto filled world are conspiring to constantly win against you and your silly little brain. Just give up and lead a peaceful life.

Life without drama, like I always say, is no life at all.

Heat , rain and some candles......

.....life.

I am usually, almost incorrigibly, definitely annoyingly optimistic about most situations that come my way.
I stand defeated and very alone today.

Vacation?

I was feeling a bit frustrated last week. There was no particular reason really.....I just wished I had a little more "patience" to step back and see any situation from a third party perspective. I wished I didn't jump to conclusions or get emotional about the whole thing, so quickly! This invariably lead to hurting oneself. I have learnt that there isn't much that is worth this kind of involvement...

The bigger picture gets lost when you deal with trivial--and as you will later realise, utterly useless--by-issues. I have to keep telling myself--more often now, when something makes me angry--that this is just a small part of your life and not your entire existence! Don't give situations undue credit especially when it isn't due...

"Compartmentalising" you life is hard. It is not entirely impossible though. Boundaries are lost over time and some things gather all the priority they don't deserve. Trying to avoid mixing bogies is a full time job.

Phew!
What a roundabout way to say I NEED A VACATION! :)