Thursday, November 27, 2008

Shocked, Pained, Angered and Hurt...

By what is happening in Mumbai over the last 12 hours.

God, be with the people who lost their lives and sacrificed theirs in their crusade against terror.

Update 16 hours after the attack began:
Q: So have they finished with Mumbai yet, ripped her breast, and crushed her beating heart and silenced her ?
A: No

21 hours into the siege

Waiting for the military operation at sundown.

34 hours into the siege

The war has taken on epic proportions.

I hate to ask the obvious and oft repeated question--should this really take this long?

Are we ill-equipped/ incompetent?
I don't want to admit to anything not when 25 Mumbai policeman have died. Not when THE Army has stepped in.

Don't we deserve better?

Like Suhel commented yesterday, cant we be the instruments of change?

36 hours later

Casualties: 25 policemen, 137 civilians, unknown number of NSG.

Some of us have the option to turn away from the disaster, by changing channels, switching off the television, not the men on guard in Mumbai. The real men are those who are manning the hotels, engaging with the terrorists, rescuing the hostages ; not the wimps, who rule the state and center, who issue lack lustre robotic statements from prepared pamphlets, not those publicity hungry politicos, who show up at the site of terror to be 'seen' to give a 'soundbyte', and thereby posing a security hazard and unwarranted distraction to our already harried security personnel.

Shobha De on TV yesterday: We as taxpayers have spent billions on providing Z plus security to these politicians, and what do we get in return? Terror attacks of some form in some part of the country, every other month.

I agree-- they owe us an explanation.

I am reminded of a scene from the film Mumbai Meri Jaan, where one of the protagonists, is mulling whether he should move to work in the United States. He then finds himself in the midst of the train blasts in Mumbai. He is caught between loyalty for his country and the lure of a better life in the Americas. Moved by the resilience of the city, after the blasts, he decides to stay on.

How many times are we going to call upon each other to be resilient.

How many of us are thinking: I deserve better!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I am awestruck by the beauty of terracotta jewellery at Aakar. Thanks to my akka H's (also!) single minded determination, on a cold overcast Banaglore morning- we actually drove 30 kms out of the city, in circles, with slightly skewed navigational skills and reached the sprawling jungle property/ boutique.
More about the gallery here.
~*~
Tomorrow is dad's birthday and he is travelling in cyclone hit Chennai with bad network coverage. Whoo...
Its also Soo's birthday; and I cant help but think, that, this time last year, I was planning his birthday party. And today so much has changed in the last three months that, I am wary of intruding in his life. Of course Goddess Sou is all set to make him a special birthday snack. Well she is shining proof of what i said ' on Relationships'.

Poetry with caramel

I made a slightly wobbly , runny but nevertheless nice tasting caramel custard for dessert yesterday. Since the caramel decided to swirl around , it could be poetry. :-)
The idea is, we eat it through the week for our post-dinner sugar hit; this, so that we aren't left craving- binging dessert over weekend. More so cos' gym don't happen over weekend.
~*~
Anyhow, I am seriously contemplating getting me a conventional oven for bakin' and grillin'.
Two years ago, I never thought I'd ever look beyond a microwave for the cooking or the lack of it that (un)happens in our life.
But well, stuff happens and then it doesn't!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A cousin and his fiancee have come up with a lovely wedding website! Now why did I not think of that, two and a half years ago?
Now, I'd go back and redo my make-up and my hair and all the other wedding weirdness that befell me. We'd need a time machine for that then? I wonder what else, I'd have changed with that time machine, anyways.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

oN ReLaTiOnShIpS

Relationships are undoubtedly the most dynamic and complex societal contraptions.

And after 27 entire years of meeting greeting bonding bickering quarrelling misunderstanding un-bonding drifting away and reconciling with various people I have realized that relationships don't come with a real expiry tag.
By real, I mean they may seem extinct at some moments, but they actually are dormant. Because a connection once made, or nurtured, exists at some inexplicable level - it exists with a sense of permanency, one cant comprehend. It's never over, it just can't be.
Vacuum can never replace a 'once -was' relationship.
There can be doubt, anger, suspicion, aloofness, indifference, hatred, it still is a relationship. And yeah these feelings are dynamic. Anger today could fade into hurt tomorrow or into indifference or into aloofness or forgiveness. Its a delicate and fickle thing- this whole relationship deal.

I know I'd give an arm and a leg and a lot more for the stability and reassurance of a relationship that's rock solid , transparent, unchanging ! But I guess, you come to learn that an equation which with all these constants may not evolve. I must admit, a relationship does acquire some character, after some upheavals.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Its at the oddest times that inspiration finds you. And certain impulsive individuals like me, simply have to act on it right away, lest it drift away.
Yesterday evening, while clearing out the fridge, I was inspired to throw together a salad with left overs: so it was cottage cheese, spring onion greens, tomato. I had wee bits of each, so I decided to stir in some wheat pasta to give it some body and colour.
Recipe
I poured out about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl. To it I added, about 4 cloves of minced garlic, some chili flakes, some mixed dried herbs- oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary and some salt and pepper.
I chopped up the cottage cheese in small strips and swirled it into the oil and herbs mixture. To this I added spring onion greens and largish pieces of firm tomatoes and then let them all sit there for about an hour covered.
I then cooked up some pasta, drained it out, ran it under cold water and then added it to the dressing prepped in the bowl. I then mixed it up with a salad ladle.
Needless to say, it was a nicely Mediterranean tasting pasta salad.
Rather pleased with myself now :-)