A good day :)

Really happy today. Last evening I decided the spirit of Rakhi should be the same even though Bhai isn't here anymore, so I decided to keep the fast as usual however treat myself to a Rakhi gift from Bhai :) Then Devyani's call came in and I decided to catch up with her first and then head to get a pair of shoes from Basant Lok.

It has been 5 years since I last bought a pair of shoes for my wardrobe, the only shoes I've bought have been 2 pairs sports shoes in these years and thanks to Di gifting me a fantastic pair, that goes with everything I've not bothered, but I think it is time I picked up something nice.

So with this decision I closed last night and this morning woke up to the sound of rainfall. I knew the driver was having an off and that I'd have to take an auto. So I got dressed and left home, hoping, I'd get an auto with minimal fuss, since there was a temporary break in the rain. Went to the auto-stand and the guys were atrocious as usual with their demand for fare... as I pondered over what to do, it suddenly struck me that the I can actually have a ride on the not-so-new anymore AC bus.

Once this brilliant idea struck I decided to follow through, yes, it would involve a bit of a walk from the bus stop to Devyani's place, but this is a ride Bhai & I had been thinking of taking for ages and what better way to celebrate the day for him? Having decided I was pleased to see the bus arrive in 5 minutes, and in I hopped.

The ridiculously low fare was another delight, it has been nearly a decade since I took a bus and with the auto guys fleecing you at every given opportunity, I can't express the joy of shelling 2 tenners. Since I boarded at the point of origin, I was able to get an seat without any issues and the weather has been bleak enough for only a few souls to use public transport. So I settled, turned my i-pod on and just enjoyed THE most pleasant ride. The world looks so fresh and green after a heavy rainfall and traveling in this cocoon of comfort I realise I can easily fall in love with buses again.

Had a wonderful ride, the air-conditioned comfort, pleasant views and my favourite music, it couldn't have been more perfect. Once my destination arrived I got off, thankfully the interval between the showers was holding up so I decided to enjoy the pleasant stroll to my friend's place. Life was just perfect and walking down it reminded my extensively of my school years. It started drizzling just as I neared her place and thankfully once I was in it started pouring.

It was a joy meeting them all, spending a while just chatting and of course a bliss to meet li'l Pepe. Though he wasn't happy that I had come without his friend, still it was nice to just pet him and talk to him a bit. Since Devyani was exhausted, I headed off to Basant Lok market, had a nice time strolling down there, got a bit lost too but that is bhai & I in a nutshell, we'd always get lost when we'd attempt to take a shorter route and then end up discovering another way to reach our destination, so I really didn't mind, since I wasn't in a hurry to reach any place being lost was fun and trusting my inner compass as usual I found my way out.

Once I reached the market I decided to first go to one of our favourite stores, picked a few things there and headed to the shoe shop, suddenly I noticed there was this huge mess I'd have to navigate to get there and I just dropped the idea. It was way too pleasant a day to deal with any sort of mess, so I skipped past the shoes and decided to pick up a book as a gift. Luckily for me I found an interesting new author and decided that was the gift. But in all honesty today was a gift, and a perfect gift from Bhai.

Lord of the Zings: Revenge of the chili

There entire world can be divided simply into two sets of people one who can cook and others who can’t; but despite these clear categories there exists a fringe group that is populated by the likes of me. A group that lives on the edges of both the groups, like a seam that holds two distinct bits of fabric together, the food group’s worst nightmare people who love to cook and simply cannot cook.

We can follow a recipe to the T and still come up with an inedible new dish. But yes, even pretenders like us do end up occasionally cooking up a delight and try as we may to replicate it, it just can’t happen. I’ve been on an ‘I Love all things Italian’ mode for a long time now…….so it has been pasta, pasta & pasta the last couple of days. The first two days it came out good by way of sheer accident, feeling rather smug on day 3 I decided I was just a step away from being a cordon bleu master and cooked the same recipe on the third day, as I added the minced garlic to the olive oil I realised my otherwise perfectly fine nose was just not able to get the heady scent of garlic.. then I added the lovely red chili flakes.

Now one commendable thing about them is that they look fiery red, the killer seeds are all intact yet they add such a subtle flavour that if you didn’t train your senses well you’d just miss them. They are the ‘visual deceptors’ and while their taste generally eludes you, nothing elusive about it if you rub a finger that handled it accidentally on the eye suddenly it gets all huffed and puffed about total disrespect to all things essential and stings you with a biting retort.

Once I added these little cheats I added the real stuff. Chili powder, nicely ground with low heat roasting technology to preserve the flavours intact. [Now if that practically sounds like an ad it is because it is :-) however, since I’m not being paid for the ad I’ll refrain from revealing the brand ;-)] Now as I added a quarter teaspoon and let it boil in the tomato gravy I felt something was amiss……I tasted it and sure enough it was…..it seemed as if I’d added the sheep in wolf’s clothing, the Red Chili Flakes instead of the real deal I was quiet surprised, I added another quarter teaspoon and stirred it in, let it blend, tasted it, once again drew a blank, thought maybe my olfactory prowess was unbalanced and sniffed a jar of coffee bean to refresh & restore the delicate balance, once again a taste check…..and drew a blank again.

Thinking to myself that maybe it was a real inferior variety of red chili and some spurious stuff I added a quarter teaspoon out of a fresh pack expecting the dish to catch fire…….stirred it in, checked it out with a quivering hand, expecting a combustion with a prayer on my lips and a finger on the fire engine speed dial I took a taste test and amazingly no heat, at this point I gave up, the heavens had conspired, it was to be a day of dead food.

So I skipped past the chili and got on with another dose of minced garlic and sheer delight, I doubt any true blue Italian would’ve dumped as much as I did but well..... I don’t claim to originate from Italy so well, no big deal. Once I thought the sauce had achieved the right texture, in went the spaghetti and couple of nice twists of the arm and the master piece was ready.

With a preen worthy of Gaston (OK no stereo-typing, a French chef) I transferred to the food communing table, and settled for a lovely Italian spiced spaghetti sans heat. I took in a forkful, and the mild-manner pasta chugged down my system gently. Suddenly, I heard the shout "fire!"……sure enough it was a real cry for help. Mom was like, “what the hell were you thinking adding so much chili.” I told her I couldn’t taste it at all. She swayed her head as if she couldn’t really be hearing something so unbelievable!

The next thing she did was douse the tomato Ketchup on it and carried on; the amount of Ketchup was enough to drown a whole shipment of pasta….. I took a bite of her plate and followed it up with a bite from my own and the only difference I could discern was, one was a 'tomato-saucy' sweet spaghetti and the other a regular gravy mild enough to satisfy the most blandest of palate. Shaking my head in non-comprehension I finished my nice large plate of dinner while rest of the table was calling on Heinz Ketchup emergency 101 hotline services.

Of course just this by itself would’ve never merited a blog entry; it was what happened next that drove to this post. A couple of hours later at the earliest of hours of morning while I was working on the comp. a sudden explosion of heat rocked my core. Suddenly my stomach contracted and writhed as if set on fire. And I realised that in all name calling I had wronged the red chili flake, it wasn’t a pretender as much as the powder. Like some delayed reaction poison designed to kill much after the fact, the powder had released its potency once in the safe hub of my stomach from where there was no possibility on me hurling it out.

As the fire raced out and snaked across my stomach the core kept boiling over as if it had some sudden undiscovered solar cooker hidden just beneath it, and waves of heat boiled over from it. In all these years, I realised I’d never really acquired a cast iron stomach or if I did the iron just melted through the charlatan powder’s sneak assault……

Found this fab version of INXS's 'Afterglow'. A creature of habit I rarely like songs where they play with the original version, especially in the case of classic tracks.....this track by U2 is reason alone to convince people not to touch originals. Love U2 as a band but this is appalling.

However, some tracks are so refreshingly different that you're blown away. Some of my favourite versions of some classic tunes are:

Sona with INXS: 'Afterglow', fantastic blend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlodoUO4Ds

Chris Daughtry's 'I walk the line' It was this track that really showcased his talent in AI



Corrs: 'Dreams' I simply love their version of the Fleetwood Mac's track.



Dj Sammy & Yanou: 'Heaven' can't imagine anyone making a Bryan Adams track sound better.



Gypsy Kings: Volare an old cover but still a fave, but yes, Domenico Modugno is non-parallel



Don't know the artist but the best version of 'Sway'



Any tracks that you guys like the cover version better?

Arrrrrgh!

What an incredible week as far as things coming unglued go! I really needed to document this, hoping that few months down the line my sense of absurd and humour will have the courage to just laugh over it. It would’ve been uproariously funny had it happened to someone else, but when it happens to you, you’re so caught up in the lunacy of it all that you skip past the appreciation of life’s ironies and li’l jokes. As I mentioned it before life isn’t all that peachy right now, and yes my guardian angel is off on a much deserved vacation leaving me to face the vagaries of fate all by myself.

After facing all the curve-balls that life’s been tossing my way, my last two brain cells decided to go on a vacation. Since I was feeling really lousy I picked up some Chinese food for dinner, instead of attempting to fix something up. Now I’ve picked up stuff from this joint like a million times (OK that’s an exaggeration but you get the drift right?) never had an issue but as life decided to follow the Murphy’s law with great determination somehow the seal came unstuck from one end. On reaching home I took Baron’s lead in one hand and lifted the parcel in other, and all that made itself felt was the gravy seeping through the paper bag, of all the ghastly and frightful sensations, it was the most appalling thing! On surveying the damage I realised that it had spilled on the seat cover too, now I shoved the parcel into one of the other shopping bags, quickly set about cleaning up the mess on the seat, I’d just started off that Baron espied a dog and went ballistic, barking his head off and wanting to go & play. He was tugging me and trying to manage him with one hand and the mess was truly annoying. All commands went whizzing past his loony head and after getting most of the stuff off. I pulled the little loon in and went about unlocking the door.

Of course the other 3 idiots were at the other side and they rushed to greet rather enthusiastically and I was trying to just dump the stuff and go wash my hands first. As I ploughed past them and cleaned up, I knew now I had to get the shopping bag in which I’d dumped it all. Went out and got the bag the parcel was still leaking and the gravy had spilled across nearly all the stuff. While cleaning it up, by some miraculous bit of anti-gravity a large bob splotched on my most favourite cashmere mix coat! I chucked everything aside dabbed the bit off but I could see some of it had been soaked in. I rushed to the cabinet to pick up baking soda. The best stuff to get the stains off. I cut open the packet and spilled some off it over the spot and started rubbing it in and as I did my nose could detect a faint sweetness that was growing stronger, I realised something was definitely off and sure enough, I wasn’t rubbing the baking soda in but Vanilla powder!

It beats me as to what Vanilla powder for baking was doing in the baking soda cabinet, aside from the universe conspiring I can’t think of a possible explanation. Anyhow I rushed to get the baking soda again, checked the package this time before cutting it open. Then went about rubbing it on hoping that the stain would be taken care of in the dry cleaning process…. Ah! The agonies! As I maniacally rubbed it in. I noticed one of the DVD covers was soaking in the soy sauce as if it was a parched land thirsting for any liquid…. I dabbed the tissue at it giving a mental sigh! Seriously can this week go any worse???

Another tale to the 'hair-raising' episodes...

There are times when life just gets on its own course refusing to go with what you want. Started this week by burning hair in a freak accident, of which all you guys have been updated on fb; followed this topping incident by being possessed by a violent stomach bug, the darned thing didn’t just turn my insides out, it lay down a welcoming carpet for the Viral fever doing rounds, on its way out. As usual the fever decided it by itself wouldn’t nearly enjoy the opportunity to grow, thrive and expand so it invited the mother of all colds. So each day started off with aches & pains, continued with terrible headaches and ended with fever.

As things go it isn’t such a big deal, after all there are worse calamities than feeling like a washed out rag doll, however, a week that starts on a hair catastrophe ends with one, as far of circles of my life go. So after spending the week going like a bear with sore head trying to keep a lid on things and contain the irritation factor that comes with being unwell, and just trying to survive it all, I decided the head most certainly needed a wash. Never been a fan of the unkempt look, (of course because I can’t pull it off…sour grapes I know..) but keeping in mind the raging temps and the lovely sinusitis, I knew if I took one at home I’d end up not just nursing mother of all colds but the entire family and extended wing of it too, so I headed off to the salon.

Now a week that goes like this shall always be a little different, so taking on the theme my usual stylist was on leave, and I had to go with the other kid to whom my head was assigned. Now as things go had I just stuck to the plan nothing could’ve gone wrong, but would I do that?? No, of course not, I had to just go ahead and invite trouble. I told her to update the razor look post wash. Of course the last time I let another dingbat handle the cut and the fool snipped far more than necessary and I had to wait 2 extra weeks for the hair to grow into the razor look. So this time I told this kid very precisely that I wanted the first layer to start at the lip level so that post drying it shall be at the nose level.

Now after a clear & precise instruction, in an ideal world nothing would go wrong, but in MY world it always is anyone’s game. So this genius goes snipping the locks and then once she dries it off & sets the hair & shows me the mirror. I realise I have bangs added to the razor look because the ninny snipped it off at the most incorrect point. She smiles and asks, "What do you think?" I was on the verge of a conniption fit. Wanted to really shriek and very volubly tell her what I thought. The choicest of descriptive phrases regarding her skills as a listener and processor of information raced through my head, but I held my tongue. At the end of the day having a hissy fit, entertaining as it might be to a general audience, is hardly the right way to express oneself. So making a mental note to never let this genius with scissors near my head, I told her, the look wasn’t what I’d requested for but thanks anyway for the effort. She goes. “Yes, I know but don’t the bangs look lovely?” With the absolute conviction in the world of rising prices I’d appreciate the two for one look…….

A genuine error I can understand but a deliberate alteration, totally left me flummoxed. Taking off on wings of creativity without consultation, really is too much, once again I was at the point of giving a free reign to my thoughts, but the sense of humour asserted itself, if I can give myself a new style by burning my hair then what is a bit of chopped extra bit? After all it is just hair and will grow back, so what if it takes another three weeks to grow to the desired length…..so now I’ve another adventure to add to my “hair-raising tales” :)