Rocking Chef

Found this cool chef from Chennai on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/vahchef

This guy is absolutely incredible. The sheer enthusiasm he exudes in his videos honestly inspires one to start cooking. Fittingly, his motto goes as "Inspiring others to cook".
He has his own website too: http://www.vahrehvah.com/
The availability of videos to go with the recipes really helps.

I was always a utility cook so far, cooking more out of necessity than any passion. My experience was limited to omelets and tea while in India. After coming to Cyprus, I graduated to dal-rice, khichadi, and some basic vegetables. We tried chapattis few times but failed miserably. Last year, I got a new roommate who was an awesome cook. He taught me a lil more, but everything was forgotten when I changed appartments. Anyways, Mr. Thumma has got the fire burning again.

Some of the recipes I have tried so far are: Ginger Chicken, Lamb fry, Lamb curry, Chicken Chettinad, Tuna Cutlets etc. All have turned out quite good. Have been boasting about this to my mom, so I'll need to prove myself when I go back home. I mean, feeding roommates is a different thing, as bachelors generally don't ascribe adjectives to food. If its cooked, we'll eat it. Hope this lasts

Wikipedia answers bollywood!!!!

I love this song "Socha Hai" from Rock On. I am a big Wikipedia fan as well. So here are the answers to all of Farhan's questions:

Aasma hai neela kyun
Paani geela geela kyun
Gol kyun hai zamee
Silk mein hai narmi kyun
Aag mein hai garmi kyun
Do aur do paanch kyun nahi

Ped ho gaye kam kyun
Teen hain ye mausam kyun
Chaand do kyun nahi
Duniya mein hai jung kyun
Behta laal rang kyun
Sarhaden hain kyun har kahin

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Behti kyun hai har nadi
Hoti kya hai roshni
Barf girti hai kyun
Dost kyun hain roothte
Taare kyun hain toot-te
Baadlon mein bijli hai kyun

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Sannata sunai nahi deta
Aur hawayen dikhayi nahi deti
Socha hai kya kabhi
Hota hai ye kyun…………

Aasma hai neela kyun
Paani geela geela kyun
Gol kyun hai zamee
Silk mein hai narmi kyun
Aag mein hai garmi kyun
Do aur do paanch kyun nahi

Ped ho gaye kam kyun
Teen hain ye mausam kyun
Chaand do kyun nahi
Duniya mein hai jung kyun
Behta laal rang kyun
Sarhaden hain kyun har kahin

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi...

Socha hai… ye tumne kya kabhi
Socha hai… ki hain ye kya sabhi
Socha hai… socha nahi to socho abhi……


I believe I can come up with incredible ways to waste my time!!!

Dinner in 3 minutes flat

If there were a competition at speed eating, I think I would be pretty good at it. I have developed this habit singlehandedly because of Indian television serials. Let me explain.

While growing up, my family always had dinner together. We used to eat early, about 8-8:30. This happens to be prime time for the pathetic, completely unbearable and worst possible Marathi soap operas. My parents were avid followers, and my dad rules the remote at home. I always ate with my back towards the TV, but still just listening to the dialogues used to drive me crazy. I used subtle hints, sarcastic taunts and open cribbing to express myself, but nothing worked. I guess soaps are addictive and my parents were hooked. It may seem trivial, but soap operas really do irritate me that much. Its not just the stories, or the lack of it, but the tilted camera angles, sudden zoom ins, the stinging background scores..... Also trying to figure out why my parents actually liked these programs made me even more mad.

To save myself of the ordeal, I started eating faster. Usually I would complete my dinner in about 3-5 minutes flat (roti, sabzi, daal and fruit too sometimes). This had no affect whatsoever, and I wonder if my parents even noticed. One day, I took my plate from the dinner table, like a buffet, and ate in my room. Now this had a marked affect. Suddenly the sanctity of our "eating together" ritual was broken. It was important to eat together, even if you were just watching TV. Now it wasn't as if we didn't ever have good family conversations at dinner, just not during the 8-9 time slot, when my parents most cherished soaps came. Late dinners and weekend suppers were always nice. Anyways my father compromised, and started muting the TV during dinner.

Unfortunately, I was almost out of college and the habit has stuck on. Even still, I usually gulp down my food, rather than savoring it. I have to make a conscious effort to eat slowly , especially with my European friends. Now these guys take their own time while eating. People here sit for hours over a meze and some nice wine. When I settle down, I sure will make it a point not to keep the dining table and TV in the same room.

PS - Sympathies with those who suffered Hindi soaps. They seem to be a notch higher on the Irritation Quotient

The coolest travelogue

If you ever had dreams of traveling the world, check this out:
http://www.betzgi.ch/en/main.html
This is by far the coolest travelogue I have come across.

I would categorize myself as a proud Indian, and usually don't wish I were born somewhere else. But I have to make an exception when it comes to traveling. Plannig any long trip across multiple countries for an Indian is a pain in the ass. We never get any Visas on arrival (except Sri Lanka and Nepal maybe). Nevertheless, I wonder how much planning and effort such endeavors require, and how these people finance it.

Answer to the finance qustion:

Do you love your job as much as him?

Let me start from the beginning

Today I had a rather boring design review from 6-7 pm (to accommodate for the California colleagues on the conference). My teammate was presenting the design. He is very methodical, and was going over each and every part in a lot of detail, so naturally the rest of us were looking at each other exasperatedly. From time to time, the Californians were stirred awake from their slumber and "Pardon me, can you please repeat the question?" was heard frequently. Added to this, there were a lot of queries from the testers, so in all, most of us were concentrating on the clock.

While explaining a long flowchart, my teammate made a mistake, and said, "Let me start from the beginning". There was a collective gasp from the entire room!!

Developed Indian Male

My friend was telling me about a friend of his who got into Asian Institute of Management, Manila (How so many of my transitive acquaintances seem to land up in IAS, IIMs, IITs is a discussion for another blog). Now this dude had applied for a scholarship to Asian Development Bank for his MBA. A person from ADB called him up regarding this, and regretfully informed that he was rejected. He went on to explain a couple of reasons as to why he was not awarded the scholarship.
Firstly, the dude was from India, and the ADB person said that they were looking for a candidate from a less developed country! .... wtf!
Secondly, the dude was told, "We prefer a female candidate. Of course, you cannot do anything about that."
As my friend said, "Good to have a sense of humor, even if you are rejecting someone"