A New Year.

I haven't blogged in like ages. Well, what can I say? It just hasn't been the most inspiring and happening days of my life. Another year comes to an end in two days and that makes me unusually reflective. What did I gain/lose this year? What is still the same? Here is a generic list.

• I still lack focus.
• I became a graduate
• I've become more mature in my outlook of things. (Sadly, I am the only person who agrees with me on that one!)
• I have stopped speaking to a friend whom I knew for the past 18 years. Such is the result of some bad choices.
• I still haven't figured out that one thing I have a passion for and want to do for the rest of my life. (I have a deep inherent fear that I never will!!)
  
• I realized guys are not the only ones who are scared of commitments and have issues with marriage. I was recently asked by my family if I was interested in marrying a certain dude they thought was purrrfect for me!! To say that it was one of the scariest moments of my life, is putting it mildly.
• I've become more impatient than before. (And here I thought people become calmer as they age!)
• I have actually finished two knitting projects (a purse and a headband) which is a big thing for me because earlier, I used to take years to finish even the simplest projects.
• My cooking has seriously improved. Now what I cook is at least edible.
• I have started reading newspapers, something which I used to absolutely hate doing earlier.
• I've figured out that gardening is not as loathsome as I'd portrayed it to be, It can actually be fun.
  
• One of my first ambitions was to be a painter (and not the artistic kind!) I finally did it. I painted a gate and couple of the walls in my house. It isn't as fulfilling as I thought it would have been. But it was fun while it lasted.
• I still have a short attention span, i.e. I may find something absolutely fascinating for like 5 days and then I forget all about it.
  
• I realized the whole 'Best Friends Forever' thing from college and school days doesn't really last. Most often than not it would just fizzle out and die if it weren't for Facebook, Twitter, etc
• I also realized that my friends from college/ school are the best people I ever hung out with. Given a choice, I'd definitely chose them over the ones I made later (no offense intended!). Its probably the innocence but as we grow older we tend to grow more cynical and that ruins the actual essence of it.
• I miss my school days more than my college days.
  
• Well, I can't think of much else.
  

Hoping that the new year brings lots of joy and cheer to me and to everyone I know. Keep smiling, folks! :) :)

The game of the name - Ten Top Trivia Tips about Sonia! :D

1. If you lick Sonia ten times, you will consume one calorie.
2. The porpoise is second to Sonia as the most intelligent animal on the planet.
3. A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are individually known as Sonia!
4. The National Heart Foundation recommends eating Sonia at least three times a week.
5. Lightning strikes Sonia over seven times every hour.
6. It takes a lobster approximately 7 years to grow to be Sonia.
7. The moon is 400 times closer to the Earth than Sonia, and 400 times smaller.
8. Sonia is the world's largest rodent.
9. Sonia can jump up to sixteen times her own height.
10. Sonia was originally called Cheerioats...
    

lol.. this information was from The Mechanical Contrivium. Check it out if your as jobless as me. Its fun!! :)

If I Did It

Well, I read this book yesterday and I have to say, it was a very interesting read. Mr. O. J. Simpson clearly seems to have his way with words. Now, mind you! I'm not taking sides here. Because when it all happened, I was barely an 8 year old and obviously not very interested in anything on the television besides the Cartoon Network. So I don't remember much of it from my early years. But I do have a vague recollection of Mr. O. J. being the topic of dinner conversations between my parents and their friends for quite a while.

Recently, while browsing through videos on YouTube, I came across an interview given by him after his acquittal and frankly, I found it very interesting. It was then that I decided I wanted to know everything about these trails. I Googled him and let me tell you, that was quite a lot of information, a lot of opinions and guesses and second guesses about what happened 'that night'. This is also when I came across the pdf version of the book he wrote titled 'If I Did It' where he describes a hypothetical situation in which Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were killed.

In this book, he starts off with the end of his relationship with his first wife, Marguerite L. Whitley and goes on to give a very detailed description of his relationship with Nicole Brown starting from how he first met her to their marriage, subsequent divorce, their relationship after the divorce to the night she was killed.

It was so interesting that I managed to finish it in a day. While reading the book, I felt myself fervently hoping that the he hadn't committed those awful murders. I was hoping that somewhere in it, he would somehow find a reasonable explanation for the night. I mean the whole book seemed to have a weird twist because the details mentioned in the book up until the night of the murders seems to be somewhat accurate, if you compared it with the information already available online. Then he describes the night of the murders, almost in vivid detail, and continues to describe what happened afterward with the chase and the arrest and all without mentioning anything about that night anywhere else, till the end of he book. The book, I felt, was missing some sort of closure.

Anyways, whether it be fact or fiction, I found it interesting. The reviews on the internet aren't that favorable to Mr. OJ. A lot of people still don't seem to believe him. Well, I dunno what to say. He may have, or may be not. Guess we'll never really know. For those of you who want to read it, I'll upload a link from where it can be downloaded. Do tell me what you think.

The book can be downloaded from here. Enjoy! :)

Me in the kitchen!!

After a month of putting it off, today marks my first day of cooking actual food (My mom doesn't think chocolate cakes and pancakes contribute to the 'actual food' category!). So I made Paneer butter masala. For those who don't know what that is, its a traditional North Indian dish having cottage cheese. I got the recipe from here. Well, I'm having it for dinner. I'll report back to how that goes (assuming I'm still alive after eating it!!).

Cheers!! :)

Shopping time!! :|

Shopping!! Every girl's stress reliever.. apparently!! I've got countless friends myself who can undoubtedly vouch for the same. They say shopping is like the one thing which can get them outta depression in a matter of minutes!! :o

Now, in my day, I've heard stories about chocolate acting as an anti-depressant. Well, THAT I can agree on.. Duh!! :D But shopping?? Seriously?? I find that very hard to believe. I find it such an absolute trauma to go to a shop with people and browse through countless stuff bearing n different labels. And I'm not even gong to start on the trial room horrors! Now THAT would be my idea of an absolute stress-filled day.

When and IF I go shopping, its mostly by myself and only when it becomes absolutely necessary (necessary being translated as, my clothes literally look like rags picked up from the roadside and my family and friends absolutely refuse to be seen with me!!). And I'd certainly never buy the 5000 buck wedges because they look elegant on my feet!!!

And nope, this is not because I'm cheap.. (which I'm not, btw.. I'm just thrifty.. hehehe fer Russell Peter fans!! :D), its more because I can find a hundred and one more effective ways to spend my time which doesn't involve ineffectual nodding and smiling at blur of colors, all the while thinking about when I can get outta there!!

Anyways.. all this pointless ranting and raving was the result of getting to know that I have to accompany some 'people' on a sari shopping trip in the coming week! Someone just kill me now!!!!

Disclaimer: No offense to the above mentioned 'people' or any of my friends who I have ever gone shopping with! I DID enjoy it then.. seriously!!!

..on a lighter note!! :)

I came across these links when randomly browsing!

• Weird Signposts: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/06/cool-weird-signs.html
• Funny Tombstone writings: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/07/10-funny-tombstone.html
• Hilarious headlines: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/06/35-most-retarded-tabloid-headlines-of.html
• Literal Photos: http://www.myhumors99.com/2009/07/most-literal-photos-ever.html

Have fun reading!! :)

Shocked beyond measure.. !!

I was reading the newspaper the other day (Yes!! I've decided to become worldly wise!!) and I came across an article which shocked me to my very core.

It was about this young couple (a Dalit boy and a Muslim girl) in Meerut, India who was murdered because they married outside their communities!! These killings are apparently termed 'honor killings', are pretty common in this part of the country. What is wrong with these people?? Marrying outside their respective castes maybe wrong, but surely, the crime isn't big enough to deserve death. Why? Why do people kill? Apparently, the locals were heard justifying their actions on television and none of the them showed even the slightest sign of remorse!!

The news article went on to say that though a few people were arrested in this regard, no legal action would be taken against them. The more shocking part is that the Panchayat in these parts do not have much control in the happenings of the village. Instead the village elders control most of what happens around and they in turn chose to ignore it or worse yet, be a part of it. Aren't we still in the 21st century or did I miss something? The article says that this is the aftereffect of decentralization, but can we really place our blame on it? Decentralization was, in the first place, provided as a means for the empowerment of these rural areas and as an answer to local problems.

Isn't it just the sheer illiteracy of people that prompts them to do such monstrosities and believe in mindless superstitions? Or do these people function on some other level which forces them to be indifferent to the basic human values? Well.. I guess we might never know!!

Wilted wishes!!

When I was a kid, I remember desperately wanting to attend weddings. I never quite got the chance to, till I was in 8th grade. Surprising, isn't it? Well, I was one of those NRI kids who came to India every once in two years for two months. Much as I would've loved to attend any of my relatives weddings, I could not possibly insist that they wait till I get to India the next time. What I was left with, was loads of wedding photo albums and cassettes to pour over during my summer hols. And I'd be lying if I said that I did not feel a teeny-weeny bit sad that I could never wear one of those pretty pink/white lacy dresses my cousins wore with cute bouquets in their hands, happily smiling, standing beside the married couple while the photographer clicked away. *sigh*.

Anyway, now that I've grown up(or so I think!!), I still love weddings, but not of relatives. Its nothing to do with them. They are all adorable people and they mean the best for everyone. But the problem lies in me being a 22 year old Keralite girl who has just finished her studies. You see, that kind of a person is the exact prey for all these auntyji types in the wedding to explore their matchmaking skills with the girl in question and the auntyji's neighbor's mother-in-law's brother's daughter's son... You get the drift, right? Its annoying, to the say the least and it also puts unwanted ideas into ur folks minds. Dangerous, I tell you. Very dangerous.

You see, once they do happen to get such ideas in their head, (presuming it wasn't already there in the first place) they'd want to to go ahead, find the 'perfect' match for their daughter and get it finished off as soon as possible. Looking at it from their point of view, I guess its entirely right. But still!!!!!!

Our retorts which may go like "I'm not ready yet!" would mostly earn a reply like, "Your 22. Whaddaya mean ur not ready yet?!? Girls these days!! Your g'mom got married when she was 15 and had her first kid when she was 16. In our culture, girls have to get married before they reach a certain age or they are never going to find a good match and blah blah blah....". If you are a Keralite girl, I'm sure you know the rest.

To lower the percentage of such interactions, I'd say its best to stay away from our khaandan weddings. But, of course, that cannot be helped either. If you do manage to say something like,
"Do we HAVE to go for the wedding? Its a lot of people. I'm sure they won't notice we're not around", and voila, we're definitely in for another round of wisdom-sharing which might go something like this. "Not go for the wedding? Are you out of your mind? and blah blah blah..."

Here we go again!! :|

Hmmm.....

Well.. hello there..!! :) How u doin?? (Some say, that dialogue is Joey-customized, but I personally feel tat it becomes a Joey-dialogue only when you say it the way he does..which I don't.. So I'm clean here! :)).

Okay.. I'm in Cochin now. Done with college and subsequently plunged into an even greater abyss of joblessness than I was when I was in college. I am 'supposed' to be job hunting, but anyone who has been job hunting for any amount of time these days will know how that's been goin!!

My typical day consists of a lotta sleep, food, a lil internet and of course Radio Mango's always in the background. Could I BE more jobless??? (Okay.. I think I should stop watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S now!! :|).

Anyways, since I'm pretty much lazing around, I seriously think I should learn how to cook... you know like the traditional Kerala style food or whateva!! Cz I don't think I can survive on chocolate cakes for the rest of my life!! :| But that would require me to actually spend some energy which seems virtually impossible. :) The funny part is that, if I do manage to continue this routine for a while longer, I might actually succeed not fittin thru my door anymore!!!

hmmm..that'd be reeeely interestin!!!:)


Anyways..gtg... catch ya laterz!!! bubye!! :)

Eight glasses of water a day!!!

"You should drink eight glasses of water every day!"

Now where do you think you have seen that? Probably, only in like every health magazine, beauty care article or any diet you've ever come across. Its eight glasses of water for better skin, for a healthy body and like what not!! And chances are that, like me, when you actually read it, you were thinking, "What the hell? How hard can it be? Its just 8 glasses, rite!?!". If you were, then you are sadly mistaken, my friend. Its way harder than it looks, especially if your not a great fan of drinking pure water and normally stick to fizzy drinks and other things which have horribly huge calories!
I've been trying to achieve this feat for quite a while now. Everyday when I wake up in the morning, I decide "I'm gonna do it today!". But after like a pathetic 3 glasses, my hands automatically stretch toward that oh-so-tempting Pepsi/Fanta bottle, which then leads toward a mental struggle between my taste buds and my brain, for which unquestionably, my taste buds win nine times out of ten. :) So after trying for a month, the most I could do was five. I was, among other things, quite disgusted with myself. That lead to today. I woke up mid-morning and I, for some reason, was in a terrible mood. So I said to myself, "I'm gonna drink 8 glasses of water today, even if it kills me!". So now its like 10 in the night and I have had 7 glasses already. Wooohoo!! That's just the good part. The sad part is that, since I have been concentrating on getting so much water inside my body, I don't have the space in my stomach for anything else. So the only thing I've eaten the whole day is two slices of bread with jam. I actually feel like I am walking around with a water tank. I feel like I'm gonna puke and I don't feel good about it. So, moral of the story: I don't have a clue..!! Ok, why am I even writing this? Runn..I still have one more glass to go!!!

Ma FIRST driving class.

After more than four years of insistent pleading, Dad's finally given me permission to take a driver's license. Woooohooo! :) So after countless days of waiting, last week saw my first driving class. I was supposed to reach the institute by 8:00 am (that's too early to suit me..but still..!! ). There are two other juniors from college who are also studying in the same slot as me. I reached the institute to find one of them had already reached. We met our instructor, sort of introduced ourselves and decided to start off. But there in the usual manner that things happen around here, the car wouldn't start. Talk about rotten luck!! :) We both had to actually get out of the car and push the damn thing for a few meters to get it to start. It was embarrassing to say the least. Finally, we got the car up and running and started off. Well, I should say it wasn't as bad as I expected. Initially, we went through this certain part of town which was buzzing with tiny school kids waiting for their school buses and when I say waiting, I should mention that in the process of waiting, they'd managed to take up a part of the road too. So driving through there was a bit unsettling. Another thing would be the fact that I have a new-found respect to all those drivers I've jumped in front of during my reckless crossing-the-road sessions. Now I do know how it feels to have a pedestrian jump in front of your vehicle. Its a my-heart-is-in-my-throat feeling and after that feeling passes, you have an uncontrollable urge to stop the vehicle, get out and strangle that person with your bare hands. :) Anyways, so far so good, but my gear-changing skills need a lot of practice. But I should add that this was definitely worth the wait and I'm enjoying every minute of it! :)

Chocolate cake...!

A note for the NITCians of '08 batch. This is the cake we ( DP, Maddie n moi!!) made for Ragam 2008. This post is specially for those people who had asked me for the recipe. Its pretty simple, really!:) Here goes...

1oz. = 28g

For the cake
8 oz. flour
2 tsp baking powder
8 oz. butter
8 oz. sugar (powdered)
3 oz. cocoa powder
4 eggs
2 tablespoon milk

1. Grease a cake tin.
2. Put butter for melting in a pan
3. While the butter is being done, sieve together flour, baking powder and cocoa.
4. Take the melted butter and add the powdered sugar into it. Beat together until it becomes a fluffy light yellow mixture.
5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat them well after each addition.
6. Now put the sieved ingredients into the mixture with the milk and mix it just until the batter is even. Don't over-mix it,or the cake will become hard.
7. Pour the batter into the greased cake tin
8.Those of you who are using a microwave, put it at medium heat and bake for around 6 to 7 minutes and those who have the traditional oven have to preheat the oven at Gas mark 4 and the baking time would be 35-40 minutes.
9. Insert a toothpick to into the center of the cake and check if it comes out clean. If it does, your cake is ready. If not, put it back into the oven for 1 or 2 more minutes. Take care not to over-bake or the cake would lose its moisture.
10. Once you take it out of the oven, let it cool.

For the icing
3 oz. butter
2 oz. cocoa
4 oz. sugar powdered
6 tablespoon milk

1. Melt the butter.
2. Add cocoa powder.
3. Cook at very low heat for about a minute and a half.
4. Remove from the fire and add milk and sugar and mix well.
5. Spread it evenly over the now cooled cake and leave it for a few minutes.
6. Serve.

Well, That was simple, wasn't it? :) Hope that was properly explained. If you do have any doubts when you actually make it, feel free to ask!! :) Have fun n happy baking! :)

and I'm back!!! :)

Hey there!!! This is just to say that ONE of my new year resolutions was to start actively blogging, now that I spent so much time in front of the computer anyway!! What do you think? And now, that I've made such a decision, I don't seem to have random thoughts in my head anymore. How sad is that? Pretty sad, I'd say! Oh! that reminds me that I'd promised myself I would post the recipe of those chocolate brownies we made during Fete and Raagam in college. A few people had asked me for the recipe but I never got around to giving it to anyone. So this would be a nice place to post that along with a few other successful dishes I've tried(ahem!!!). There..I'm already brimming with ideas for new posts! :) Well, we'll see how much of it actually becomes practical. Did I tell you that I have taken a newfound interest in knitting? To be frank, I've been really crazy about knitting since 6th grade (when mom wouldn't allow me to take Home Science for Activities, instead she made me take Music which is another long story!) and I've started a few knitting projects. But me, being the restless soul that I am, never finished even a single one. So finally, I started and finished a magenta headband (I know! I know! Its a ridiculous color! But I didn't have much of a choice!) and I'm currently doing my second one, a pouch for my cellphone, and this time its black. :)Well, I guess that's about it for now. So ciao! Keep smiling!!!