The cat and the walk

I was sitting and watching Fashion TV, and got me wondering, how do these girls who are mostly 16 or 17 walking the ramp all from Eastern Europe and Russia. I have always heard its because of the economic conditions, which make these girls leave their homes young, in the look out for money. Many of them even drop out of schools to leave the country and join the glamour world. Is the situation so bad? How come the state of these countries were never in the news as compared to the Koreas and Afghanistans of today?

All said and done, there is some wow factor when you see some of these models, maybe the ones which finally came out victorious from the thousands who enter this modelling world with all the dreams. When I think of models, I think CIndy Crawford, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Madhu Sapre,Mehr Jessia and Sheetal Mallar. When I see the VS models, I think how is it that these women can replace the people above so easily, or is it that these top models of yester years did not want to be a model for life.

There was a time when I was so enthralled by the whole glamour world, that I thought that after graduating from college, I should give it a shot, if not anything else, get a photoshoot done. Neither did I do it, and I don't think I would have been any good in their world also. Do you know what is the daily schedule for a model when they are working? I guess many would have a fair idea post the movie , Fashion. When I saw this movie, I truly loved it, and felt it touched so many lives, and sought to show the face behind the glamour that we see, admire and lust over on every magazine cover or billboard. There are so many things which we never even think about, and now atleast every girl with the model dream will have a better idea to what they are stepping into.

Its a difficult world, but when they do make it big, I think its worth it. Every profession has the risks involved and the ones which have the greater risks are the ones which do end up serving the bigger returns back to us.

Culinary Calamities

Recently I was sifting through my many drafts and I saw that there was something which I started off sometime back, but never got down to completing. So on this occasion of my 150th post, on this blog which I started way back in 2007 (after being initiated into it by a professor of mine from college) I shall be continuing this post, though completing should be the better word I think. Also, I think with the past two years in Bangalore, there have been many more points made which makes it easier to trace the foray that I have made into the kitchen. Now when I look back, I think I did certainly inched my way into it, with many puddles to jump over and at times getting my feet ankle deep in muck too!

I think it’s most appropriate to inform that all that most of these items have been made over a period of years and many people have been subjected to it. One very calming effect is that in spite of that, I think the items not mentioned here (and which came out much better) must have compensated for some of the effects, as one person in spite of all the yuck tastings, has decided to stand by as my tasting partner for life.

Now, here I take a deep breath and bare before you all, the N number of mistakes that I have committed through these years.

Paneer Capsicum

The first time I made this, I had no clue that I was supposed to be frying the masala and following which the paneer is added. So, you must be wondering, what exactly did I do??? Well, I just sauted the onions till pink and then the tomatoes, after which I dumped the capsicum, poured some water and added all the masalas which I thought appropriate! After a few minutes, I added the Paneer and promptly switched off the flame after a few minutes!

Now, here I had a very raw masala tasting, almost uncooked paneer capsicum!

Bottle gourd or Laukhi

Everyone told me that this is one of the easiest veggies to make, due to its almost negligible cooking time, and I was Oh so thrilled with this piece of information. I fried the requisite masala this time around, in a pressure cooker and then added the laukhi when the masala was done. Now I added quite a bit of water (no one told me not to add water when cooking laukhi) and then closed the lid to cook it. I opened it after 5- 7 minutes and I see a complete kichdi form of the laukhi, which barely was looking edible.

Simple Masoor Dal

I wish to believe that everyone should have burnt dal atleast once in their lifetime. It’s a very satisfying experience of screwing up something which is deemed one of the simplest activities in Indian cooking. With my dal, I not only burnt it, I also spoiled the pressure cooker, by blowing off the safety valve! The water was too less for the quantity of dal I was intending to cook (as per my mom).

Bringal aka Baigan

My recent disaster involved trying to make something similar to bhindi masala using brinjal. I do not know why I thought by just frying the brinjal, it shall take a similar appearance, which it gracefully did not and finally ended up even with less salt and chilli so that one could not even pass it off like medicinal capsules! This is one the few things which had to completely flipped into the garbage in! :(

Now with all these interesting details which I have gained knowledge in, I hope that the following years shall be a tad better than the past two in terms of cooking :)

Whisky Bhisky

A long update

Its been over a month I have written anything here, and I have had so vast an agenda for the past month that updating the blog could just not happen. So here goes with the update... it might be a tad too long, but I shall make it simpler for you and make each para deal with a single agenda item only!

Visiting home has its own charm and the pampering that you receive there can not be compared to any place else. The pampering did not come without its own set of issues in terms of lard being added in layers around me! So now after all the gorging on lovely food items, its time to set down a routine and work this off me in anticipation of the next round.

This month has been by far the most satisfying month which involved large amounts of shopping and associated fun. All in all I think I have got over 10 sarees and some salwar suits too. And if you are thinking, why would someone go about buying such numbers, then the only answer which I can come up with and which is the answer also is wedding!!

Yes, I am getting married, and the date is December 26th. After what seems like a very long time I have known Bhupesh, now I am engaged to him and does it feel anything specifially different? Not particualarly, but nevertheless the wedding date is what I guess should change matters! And maybe that also wont, and then I shall be happy as a love bird! Something which I always pray about is that how many years might pass and where ever we might be, our love, friendship and trust should not change. Maybe this is the love struck me speaking, but its a wish nevrtheless.

I will have to a lot of travelling in the coming months with marriage preparations and my mom being alone at Trivandrum to manage everything is just not done. This brings about an issue regarding Whisky, I do not know who can take care of her these spells and she needs attention, else she tends to catch your attention by being naughty... she will claw at furniture, or try to get on top of the cupboards and refrigerator. I have been thinking of what to do and I am very seriously considering keeping her at a animal shelter during those times. She will have the company and maybe she will also be less scared of humans and other animals in that case. Presently, she skulks away at any sudden movement and when anyone visits our place.This is something which I do not know how she will react to... I do not even know if cats mind distance and being away from known people too much. Its said that cats are not very attached, but I doubt it after seeing Whisky and how happy she is when we come home after a few hours.