Itasveer: Not a stickler for quality

When Itasveer came about, the concept was new and being fresh out of college, memories was one thing I wanted to live by. This website allowed me to get some momentos done, photos printed to keep and such. That was way back in 2008. The first product I had got done from them, was the two-tone mug, and this was my gift to two of my best friends, and I must say this mug was of amazing quality. The mug looks as good as new even today. 

Recently, 5 months back, I ordered another Classic White Mug as a birthday gift for B, and it was delivered promptly, but being in use for just these 3 months, the print has started to peel off, and I could see in fact very quickly, that the print was not really onto the surface, but a thin film which is pasted onto the surface of the mug. This can certainly be expected to peel off when washed and used. 

In fact just 2 months back, we did order another classic mug, and that too is in the same state as of now. I am very disappointed with the kind of products which are being sold. I was under the impression that they did have a good product range and quality and time were of utmost importance. But, now I see that time is what they adhere to, but the quality is not that great. 

I am not sure whether it is because the Classic Mug is different from the Two - tone one, but even then, why sell a product which will not even last 2 months, and that too something like a coffee mug, which has the potential to be used every single day!

De-Facebooking

One of the things I have decided I would be doing is de-facebooking myself. I will certainly not be going overboard and deleting account or such. I will just restrict my Facebook checking to on the mobile maybe just twice a day. I mean I have come to that kind of maniac facebooking that I am bored, so will just vile away time on Facebook rather than read the so many books which I have at hand. I have not been blogging on so many things which I want to also courtesy this social networking giant! I do not think I want to go and hand my life over to this guy. Its just not worth it. 

The one major thing which steered me towards this decision is that they have yet again changed the layout and notification stuff which is making it irritating and also way more cluttered and too many numbers on the page, for my liking. Something which I had picked up recently again after a bad stint previously was gaming. I used to love the Facebook games.. and I am a great gaming addict… hell… my blog is called Vector Gaming ! This is something which I need to stop too… I think its such a wasteful activity, and all you are trying to do is spend time which you could have else done something more useful with. Like blog! Or Read! 

Speaking of reading, I re-iterate, I have so many books piled onto my to-read list and in fact have three books sitting right at home, waiting to be read. And knowing me, I know that its just a matter of getting these books into my hand, and getting engrossed in it. Like yesterday, I happened to be up reading till 1 am… and thats just because, I knew I was getting interested in the book, and the plot was really something one would ponder over after reading a few pages. 

The book that had me immersed at 1 am? Escape by Manjula Padmanabhan. Have you read it?

Menstrual Blood Banking

During my pregnancy, there was a time when we had to decide whether we wanted to save the cord blood to extract stem cells and ensure some amount of disease cure for our child. At that time, I felt that with around 30 years ahead of us for that, I am not too sure whether these stem cells can not be obtained by then in some other manner. So, I decided at that time not to bank my cord blood and not to choose to preemptively extend my and Trisha's life. And, today a friend send me this link.

Menstrual blood is said to have the same cord blood properties and women can choose to store this blood at any time, to use at a further point in time. And this is also seen as less controversial in terms of ethics and such in comparison to embryonic stem cells.. And this is not a blank trial, there has been menstrual blood stem cells used to differentiate to nerve cells in vitro and treat strokes, so there is really a use in doing this procedure.

One statement which struck me as weird in the article was that the author says at the end of it all.

Lots and lots of details would have to be worked out in order for this to become a reality. And, of course, there's the ick factor to overcome. Would you really want to be the recipient of stem cells plucked from the contents of a woman's monthly cycle? If it could save your life, I'll bet you would.

I do not know why is it that blood drawn from a woman and shed by a woman seen as so different. I am sure that if there was an option to just draw blood from the uterus and then use the stem cells, there would have been no problem. Here, the woman is just shedding it and giving an option of using it, and there seems to an ice factor associated with it! What is the problem, I just do not get it. 

My Upma

Well.. I have been dying to have some good home-made upma.. And upma which looks like this.
I am sorry Bangaloreans...i do not like your halwa upma...this is how my grand mom used to make it...this is how my mom makes it...and this is how I love my upma :)
The veggies can be added or not...i do not mind them, but this has to be the way it looks !
Edited to add: The upma here has been sprinkled with some chutney powder..another one of my personal preferences with upma :)

The Delhi - Southie letters

So we have a lot of talk on the blogosphere and the amongst the twitterati on why this open letter was written and why it should not have been written. 

I have read the reply from the Delhi Boy… and also from the Mad Momma… and I still am not sure why she has written this letter. Very evidently someone did tick her off. But, what all she has said there is something which most people know. There is that section of Delhi which she describes, and there is also another which does not fit into any of the categorizations which she has made. 

I have lived in Delhi for 6 years and I have positively loved the city. I love the late nights, the wide roads, the metro, the shopping paradise and I will not fail to add that I do agree it is not the greatest place for a woman to walk about on the streets or take to public transport without thinking twice. The metro has made things better with the women's compartment in the recent times. Anyhow, as everyone says, why judge a book by the cover? How can you say the whole city is so bad if you are going to base your one interaction with a non-so-great punjabhi guy? I have also come across a fair bit of well -read and not - so well - read punjabi folks… but that does not make the community as a whole this way or that. 

I am a true blue Malayalee and I have married a Delhi born and bred UPite. And, I met him at Bangalore, so does that make him any less a Delhite or a UPite? I do not think so. In fact I feel one tends to be more in touch with the roots when you live away from the buzz of community on a everyday basis. This is just my theory, and need not be true in any manner.

Anyhow, another thing which made no sense to me, is the upland English status. Where did you get that from? I know enough human beings who belong to Delhi and who speak perfectly good English, and what would be the idea behind saying that a region produces bad English speakers. Every region in India has a dialect of English and also an accent which needs to go. In fact when many of my friends used to say that I have a tinge of a Malayalee accent, initially I used to take it with a pinch of salt, and many a times, even countered demanding some explanation with examples. But, with time, I have seen that it does not really matter. Everyone has those accents, and the ones who try to camouflage these accents with the American/ British accents sound truly funny to me. What is the harm in being true to your roots? Even some Madrasis have an accent which is quite distinct, so I would not go to the extent of saying that all Madrasis have an accented English! 

There is also some humor which she has ride to infuse, but then hitting on family members is not a great way of doing it. If these are views which are written on a fun note, then great… which to an extend I do think… as you can see from reading the authors comments, but s I said… maybe the humor should have been rightly hit.... 

Home on weekends

Obviously, with a small kid, one can not have a social life or at least not a social life to what you were used to. Though, I did think that I would be on a gradual decline of social activities through pregnancy, that was not the case. I was quite active through my pregnancy, and hence once I came back with Tee, things became so very difficult. 

You can not expect friends to come over ever weekend to your place and have take away dinner also. But, I think more than that, I feel the facilities available for a nursing mother, is moreover the reason why I am not able to have a social life. Even if I were to go to a mall and spend sometime browsing through stores, I am unable to do that as most malls do not have a nursing room. The only option is that you can go and use the ladies restroom, and feed your kid. That's not a very great feeling, and in fact I can't imagine feeding sitting in the many smelly restrooms of the malls. Some stores have nice restrooms which can be used as a make-do baby room, but not all. I think this is one thing which every builder needs to keep in mind. If they wish to cater to a wider range of customers, they really need to have a baby room, maybe a small enclosure within the ladies restroom will do too!

Anyhow, I am on a look out to how I can keep myself happy and socially active through the weekends. I think I need to start getting back to doing something creative. I have thought of starting on some crochet, but I wonder whether this is going to be a great option. Knowing that its a weekend, and I am just sitting on the couch crocheting, doesn't seem like a great weekend option. Also am thinking of getting myself enrolled in the gym close by, so that there is at least an activity which will keep me occupied, if nothing more exciting happens over the the weekends.

Any other suggestions to someone who needs to be around her baby on almost all occasions?

Chilli bhaji

The sin before the diet starts :)
Home-made chilli bhaji :)

Movie Review: Just Go with It

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston

IMDB Page

A very light movie which is good when you would just like to spend the evening at home, with some take-away chinese. 

He's a doc, and she the assistant. He has his affairs and she is a single mom to two wonderful kids. He wants her to pose as his ex-wife who is a tad crazy. And in return she gets to do a lot of shopping with his credit cards. The plot takes a twist when he has to take the kids to meet his new love interest, and they all concur a plan to go to Hawaii. 

There is a clear mix up of feelings, but the kids have done a beautiful show, which makes one ooh and aah. So I will not spoil the plot for you…. but just tell you that this is a decent watch, and not a boring one! 

Green?

These are just my favourite :)
Layered Spinach paratha :)