Namma Bengalooru

If you are driving your bike and U felt you were having a Speed boat bumpy ride,
You know you are in...
If U r driving in the left lane and still get overtaken from the left,
You know you are in...
If it takes you 30 minutes to travel 4kms,
You know you are in...
Yesterday you saw a lake and today u saw an apartment there,
You know you are in...
Instead of the early morning mist , u see a cloud of dust,
You know you are in..
You are on your bike and the weather is Amazing ,cloudy, chilling but you still fail to enjoy the weather busy struggling to reach your destination,
You know you are in..
You wait even at the smallest eat out on a weekend for a dinner table,
You know you are in..

Thats Namma Bengalooru for you! Jaisa bhi hai, jithna bhi hai humara hai!

Birthday This year...

twenty six candles glowing big on the cake.. who wants to cut that cake!
Mid twenties.. going towards higher side of twneties.. Not a very good idea I suppose! 26 years and I hardly realised before i reached this landmark! I have lived one thirds of my life( assuming 75 to be my bucket kicking deadline) not doing anythign significant :) and am not sure if in the remaining years I will do something! may be I will try given my laziness doesnt run ahead of me as it always does!
Birthdays stopped exciting me some 4 years back.. even the gifts dont seem to make up for the getting older feeling! There were times when I used to get soo excited about my bday and plan for it 2 months ahead and keep reminding people of the things I wanted as gifts :) The best part of the bday was the new dress, the special treatment all day, evening party with frens and oooooh those glittering pack of gifts! How much i waited for my friends to leave and controlled the temptation rising within to open those gifts!!! I used to guess what they had got for me based on the shapes and the packing.
The gifts also aged with me, from pencil boxes to hair bands to nail polishes to handbags to blue topaz gold rings to a Microwave oven :)

Actually I was even excited on my sisters bday for the sheer pleasure of sharing her gifts and opening them before she could! Well I never shared my bday gifts with her! elder sisters are supposed to be like that sharing and caring no matter what their lil sisters do! :) I insisted on getting a new dress on her bday too and even more a better dress than hers.. I even cut her cake once with her.. For the perfect sis she is, she never complained! Love you di..

whats happening!

A lot of things have been happening around me from the last one month and i am hardly finding anytime for self. Not that am busy @ work (I was really busy at work sometimes.. u gotto believe me here) ..Just that life has picked up pace and i have started feeling that I no longer am able to keep up with the pace. Too many things happening in too little time.



I bought a mobile(Sony walkman phone W810i) , Lost it, bought another mobile(Moto yuva the cheap one!) , lost house keys, Got the new lock fitted to house , Lost a jerkin and found it after a week, lost a handbag, lost my Loreal facewash, lakme liquid Lip colour, Nail polish, Bike keys - Thats just the lost and found list over the last 3 weeks!



But everything was soon forgotten(conviniently by me only) as soon as I saw my lil nephew! he is truly a bundle of joy! One week spent at vizag was enough to get addicted to him! that innocent baby face just got imprinted in my heart! its for the fost time in my life that Ive baby sit and did the diaper thingy but it was an experience in itself! i just didnt mind doing it!



Then my new found interest in gardening has started big time! Today I woke up at 7 in the morning and planted the croton cuttings in to the pots for almost an hour. I even forgot I had a training at 9! But I think growing plants is like growing babies! it gives u sheer happiness to see the plants u planted grow healthily!



Work front.. currently in the status of "bewarse". Absolutely no work but I somehow manage to spend all the 8 hours in office without getting bored. Theres so much to do other than work friends!! Got rolled off from the proj on 30th Nov and have been projectless since then! Attending some arbit trainings now and then.

so Life's actually going good with no work but still busy!

Miss you sweetheart!

Holded hands..
Tight hugs
Gentle kisses
Naughty smiles
Sweet nothings
I miss them all.. I miss you!

Jab We Met!

One of my friend called me up today and we were randomly chitchatting about arranged marriages and stuff. She asked me how I decided on this particular guy out of the whole lot and all this discussion drifted me in to the past.The memories still fresh in my mind and feels like we just met yesterday!
7th March, 2003 , the day I fell for someone special for reasons beyond my comprehension..
Dad had arranged for a meeting with their family at a common friends place in Hyd. I agreed very reluctantly as I didnt want to make daddy angry and I actually didnt have any strong reasons to say NO.I dunno how but mom somehow convinced me to wear a saree and make a pigtail out of my very short hair! I was looking funny enough for them to reject the alliance, thats what my mirror told me!
They came at around eleven in the morning,Naresh along with his dad, mom, younger sister & grandpa.There was this killing silence in the beginning as soon as I entered the room. I started feeling very awkward.Then people around me were trying very hard to break the silence and make Naresh and me talk. Arbit discussions about politics, traffic in Hyderabad, traffic in bangalore then draw a comparision between hyd and bangalore,Climate in bangalore. I found it hard to stop myself from giggling. Either people didnt know what to talk or they didnt mind talking anything!From from those generic topics, they became a lil specific, specific like, questions about my work, his work, how many leaves he has , how many I have, how many holidays do we have etc etc!Total waste of time and energy! I could sense that his mom was continously looking at me and may be even others and that made me more conscious!I wanted to look at him but wanted to avoid others gaze, rather didnt want anybody else to know that I was looking at him! Highly impossible I realised and then I was left with no other option but to become shameless and stare at him :) And to my surprise, he was not looking at me! He was more than shy to look at me. He preferred looking at the roof, the light, the fan, windows and the aunty who was serving sweets.It was probably his shyness that made me more shameless! I started staring at him shamelessly to see when he would look at me.Sweets, salted Kaju and soft drinks/tea was served. I was given prior instructions that even if I was tempted to eat what was served, I should not be even looking at them.. forget eating!There were several other instructions also, most of which I didnt follow.. Intentionally/Unintentionally. One of the instructions was that, I shouldnt sit with one leg over the other. I shouldve both the legs grounded. I didnt realise when I had gone in to my Rajni Style of sitting!
After all this dramabaazi, people realised that we should be given sometime to "interact" with each other. Sigh! I was waiting for him in the room and what do I see! His sister came along with him! The last thing I was expecting to happen!3 of us in the room and someone had to break the silenceand it had to be me! The first question I asked him was Do you know cooking?I still dont know what made me ask that question!!! Dumb me! They were shocked and surprised for obvious reasons and then on the conversation went for for about 15 minutes. Then I guess people sitting outside could no longer wait and all of them entered the room.Then what.. neither could he ask what he wanted to ask nor could I!
and till today.. we are making up for that! :)

When the Going gets tough, I start running!

This week has been a little tough on me. not yet recovered from the travel sickness.Back to back journeys week after week, life suddenly looked difficult. Thanks to the Karnataka Rajyotsava holiday, life bounced back!

Did Attla thadhi on sunday, full day fasting for a foodie like me huh! fasting followed by a No reservation sleepless night journey!Now may be looking back at the journey, I would say it was fun, romantic one! How often does one get to share the berth, and have a synchronized, cozy sleep(Lack of it!) with the loved one :) After reaching home from station(not less than an hour) , I had to cook Veg biryani for the office potluck :)
Follow it up with a long day at office analyzing some damn non existant issue! After all this, to everyones surprise, hubby and me had the enthu to head to the theater and watch a movie 7 to 10 show!When it comes to watching a movie, nothing else makes more sense than watching the movie!
Ok.. after the movie, if someone asked me head straight to bed, I wouldve loved it! But no, we had to pick up my Grandparents fromt he airport at 1:30 am in the night!We went to a friends house near to the airport, did some tp there and went to the Airport by 1:15 am. Thanks to Murphy's law, Grandpa & ma were the last ones to get their luggage and come out of airport at 2:40!1 and half hours on a cold night waiting at the airport! there cudnt be anything worse at that point! But one glimpse of Grandparents was all worth the effort! Its not very often that we get a chance to host them.
3 hrs of sleep and I had to wake up again to prepare lunch for grans. Office, work, then again cook for dinner.. it almost seemed never ending for me! Taking them out for dinner was one option i was having , but they just didnt want to eat out!I had no energy left to indulge in the long chat with granpa. I wouldve loved it if someone cooked for me and I had all the time to sit and talk!
Wednesday was juggle between office, home, Rly station, back to office, and then to Dp's house for dinner! All that was on my mind was sleep sleep and more sleep! The thursday holiday was more than welcome!!!

5 things I simply adore in my Man!

1) His Never ending passion for work!
2) Patience - Any time, any place with anyone!
3) Unconditional love for Family - Loves everyone and loved by all!
4) Sincere - personal/Professional - I cudnt ask for more!
5) The smile :)

Its the Pad-Thai time!!

There was a lot of enthu and excitement building up for the Thai trip and the 2 month long wait finally came to an end!
16th oct - Bangalore Aiport to Suvarnabumi Airport.Left for the airport at 11:15 pm. We were the firt ones to arrive at the airport :) Slowly others started coming and all the hulla gulla started off!A group of 29 can be quite noisy. We flied with NokAir, the International AirDeccan Kindof airlines. They didnt even serve us water, forget candies.The plane was half the size of the other international planes. The flight took off at 3:30 am and it took us 4 hours to reach Bangkok.It was 9:00 am local time. And all the other immigration formalities took us another 2 hours.
17th Oct - Pattayya time
We were recieved by our tour guide, Karn at the airport. Started or Pattayya. Around 2 and half hours drive from Bangkok.We reached Pattayya by 3 and had lunch at a pathetic India restau. Then we checked in to our A-One Ryal Cruise Hotel. The welcome drink was some Thai Herb juicewhich tasted like some rice starch water with a biryani essence. :) And as expected, most of us just couldnt sink it in!
We started for the Alcazar show at 6, and the night life at Pattayya had just begun. I had no clue of what to expect there,but as we went across the road, the reality was right there staring at us! And may be I was the only one who was shell shocked!Other knew how its gonna be there.
After the show we went for the Japanese restau - Fuji , and the whole menu was completely greek and latin for me.The food was not as bad as I expected, infact I liked the Prawn tempuras :)Then we headed to the Hard Rock cafe. The long walk along the beach road was very refreshing. The rock band at the cafe was amazing.The music so good that one cant stop from jhooming. We left the place around 1 dead tired.
18th oct - Water sports!
The day started quite early. We started by 8 all set for the water sports. We left for the Coral island in Pattayya in a speed boat.The speed boat ride was something like a speed drive on the bumpy roads of bangalore. I almost felt that I was just one jump away from landing in to the deep blue sea!Parasailing was the first thing on the agenda. The first time I did Parasailing in Mauritius was better than this one as there both Naresh and me were tied to one Parachute. But here, I was all on my own!The take off was scary but after that, i thoroughly enjoyed the swaying and the cool breeze. Felt like a bird! I wanted a dip in the ocean but the winds were so bad that i had to give the dip a skip!
Then we went for Under sea walk. It was good but may be all of us expected lot more out of it. 25 mins Under the sea, feeding the fish searching corals can never be bad !The moment we held the bread piece in our hands, we were surrounded by hundreds of fishes, an experience i cannot put in words.Then the guy showed us some interesting sea living beings, one Voilet in colour, looking like an octopus and we were asked to touch it!Another one Black porcupiny thing which he ran over our hands.. a lil slimy I must say!
After that we were just left in the open green crystal clear beach to play to our hearts ocntent!This was real fun. I tried teaching the huby dear some swimming and it was almost like a murder attempt for him :)I finally had to give up on him!
reached hotel by 1:00 and we had to leave by 1:30 again for lunch. After a quick refresh, we left for lunch and it was indian again!But as we all were famished, the food tasted heavenly! After lunch we went to Mini Siam. Miniature thailand it is. It also has some miniature models of some other famous monuments.Then we headed back to hotel and went for a Barbeque dinner at the host hotel. May be we expected too much out of the Barbeque dinner, it was nothing but a big disappointment!Hardly any seafood to gorge on! After the so so dinner we headed to The Pattayya famous Walking Street! we were a lil apprehensive about the street after hearing a lot about it from the guide, but we had to hit this place coz without this, our pattayya trip would be just incomplete!As soon as we hit the street, we knew it was the place to be! Loud People,Loud music, this was where all the action was happening!I was watching with mouth wide open , trying to sink in what I was watching! We hit the Tony's disc and took sometime to get used to the place. But once we hit the dance floor there was no stopping! we danced non stop to the rock band till 2:00 am! Long day it was but the energy levels were never down!
19th Oct- Under water world and Bangkok
We started the day a lil late, at 10:00, had breakfast and headed straight to Under water world. A short walk under the aquarium with fishes in all shapes and sizes and colours.The first tiff among the group started this day. Some wanted to go to the Botanical garden and some were just not interested given the entry fee constraint and other reasons unknown!People were just not ready to shell out 500 bucks for the garden, but some were really zealous. and Mojority won and we had to skip the Botanical garden.We headed straight to Bangkok, this time the drive being longer than 4 hours givent he friday evening traffic.The first 2 hours of drive, everybody slept like the dead! but after that the fun began.. each and every couple in the bus had to sing duets and singles had to support!Real fun it was. naresh and me sang "gazab ka hai din dekho zara" :) Reached hotel by 7 and checked in and started for dinner by 8. again an Indian restau.. pathetic enough! After dinner we all went to the Night market to get a feel of shopping.Awesome place with lot of life and activity till late in the night. We primarily went for window shopping and to my surprise, I stuck to it!Though I was tempted at many a places to buy stuff, Naresh was capable enough to stop me from indulging in compulsive shopping.It was again past 12 by the time we reached the hotel. Hot water tub bath was all I needed!
20th Oct - Wild safari
We had to start early this day, given the tight schedule of the day but we started one hour late and the whole day we were running to cover up. Lot of shows, loads of animals! felt like home :P Orangutan show was the best! Wonder how they train those cuty pies to do all that stuff!Then there was this dolphins show, sea lions show, hollywood action show, warship show. The last two are not even worth a mention. Boring!The wild safari was amazing. Loads of zebras, giraffes, lions, tigers, peacocks, bears!After safari we were taken to some duty free mall. 2 hours of sheer time waste!Dinner again at the same pathetic indian place and after dinner, we headed straight for the famous Thai Massage! Its one of its kind and something one musn't miss in Thailand.1 hour of complete relaxation. I only wished we had more time for that but it was already 12 by the time our one hour massage got over.After the massage, sleep was the only thing goin on in my mind, but this being the last night of the vacation, we all gathered at Ram's room and started playing antakshari, Pictionary.Night camp went on till 2 in the night and we were all too tired to have more fun.
21st Oct - Bangkok city tour- SHopping time!
We started very liesurly, which we all regretted in the later part of the day as we ran short of time for shopping! damn!We visited Golden Budhha temple and Reclining Budha temple and by the time we reached the shopping place it was already 3!we only had time till 7:00 as we had to start for airport by 8 pm. 4 hours for lunch, 20 min walk to the mall and shopping!Even in the time crunch, we decided to have only thai lunch so we went in search of a Thai restau! SO much for food Lovers!I had Crispy fried dumplings Pad thai with prawns and Naresh had some sea food mix rice. The watermelon and coconut frosties were just out of the world.After lunch we headed for the MBK Mall. We had other options for shopping like Indira market, Big C, and one more mall for electronics. But given the time crunch, we could cover only one place and for us it was MBK.we had to walk for about 20 mins to reach there and as Murphy's law never fails, my sandal broke. The shopping freak that I am, I walked bare foot till the mall and started shopping till one of the sales girl mentioned, madam why r u bare foot! then i started hunting for shoe shops :)Shopping was a hurried business, so much to buy so less time! The mall was just treat to the eyes! And I think we almost bought everything we wanted. For us, for others.I missed out buying some stuff for Subbu, sorry dudie.. next time!We went back to hotel by 7:30, packed all the shopping stuff and left for the airport by 8.Flight was at 11:30. We again had Pad thai with prawns at the airport restau.
Tired, sleepless, filled with sweet memories we left Bangkok! Bangalore was never very far.

Joey.. Tu aisi kyun hai!

Just how blind can anybody be to miss out the upcoming birthdays list in the orkut home page??
Today morning, strongly believing in my talent to remember birthdays, called up my friend Pradeep to wish him on his birthday! The first time I tried, his number was busy, which convinced me even more that it definitely is his birthday and hez busy recieving calls from others!
The second time i tried and when he picked up, me and my stupidity wished him "Happy birthday dudeeeeeeeee" in the brightest tone possible!
Poor thing.. All he could say is today is not my birthday.. I remember your birthday so well .. its dec 16th right? .. Gee.. what can I say! Aisi hi hoon main!

when things go wrong...

Whenever things go wrong, the focus is completely back on us. We have to do something to pep our mood up and go on.. For me somehow everything relates back to food. when am Sad, i love to ea some good food to pep up the mood and also when am in a good mood, i prefer eating something heavenly to make the mood better :)

today is one such day that no matter what I did through out the day, nothing is making me feel better. So i resorted to prawns for my rescue ..

here's prawn biryani in a Hurry..


200 gms raw peeled king prawns
2 small onions, thinly
1 green finger chilli, slit lengthwise
1 stick cinnamon
4-5 cloves
1 tsp minced ginger and garlic
Quarter tsp chilli powder
Quarter tsp garam masala powder
1.5 cups rice
3 cups water
2 tsp gheeSprinkling
Wash and soak the rice for haff hour.

Heat the ghee and fry the onions, ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon. When the onions start turning translucent and soft, add chilli powder.
Fry this paste until the raw smell of the masalas go.

Then add the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the water, and put it ther ein that electri cooker and close the lid. Dont bother for another haff hour.
Your yummy dish is all ready to go!

The Mask..

Heart aches everytime a true face comes up from behind the mask.. why this hypocricy? why this act feigning happiness cheating people.I feel am surounded by people with remarkable masks! their happiness comes from the other persons suffering.where is all this leading.. why is there so much pain?
Why cant people be just normal?

Someone says..

Do what you love and if that doesnt happen then love what you do.
Easier said than done eh? :)

Chasing dreams...

Yesterday I gave a send off to yet another friend... most of my friends from school, college, workplace all have gone places abroad chasing their dreams.For some it was the only thing to do, for some it was a dream to land there and for some others it was Money.To be frank even I tried to go with the flow and check it out for myself as to what the US of A has that is attracts so many people everyday year after year..But my destiny had something else in for me.. Dad was not very keen on sending me that far all alone. Now I am not keen on going anywhere else, mera bharat is indeed mahaan :)or may be I got so used to life here that am resisting any kind of change now. May be i am growing older.. naah.. bad thought.!I dont know how it is to be there, what it takes to stay in a country thats not ours, to be an outsider even after years , to own a lifestyle thats so different from what it was all the way till then..so for me its good here. I have been here all my life, its like home here. Known surroundings, family and friends.
But nothing seems to deter people from going there, they are all ready to face any kind of challenge in that new place.what must be that driving force that for people even from remote villages dont worry about leaving their family and go and adapt to a completely new environment.
I sometimes wonder how students who are just out from college can take such a big decision about going to some other country for the rest of their life.I know its no longer a big deal, but still it cant be just for that easy lifestyle and money that they leave behind their family, home and their own country. or may be its peer pressure or may be just a matter of pride.I can only imagine how overwhelming it would be to be in a new country all by your own thats so different from where you come. Suddenly you are responsible for everything, there's no one to fall back on , no one there to nag you about having food in time, waking up early, studying! Independence is the word! thats the reason why may be, people who come back for a vacation find it so difficult to gel in the environment they've grown up and been there for their whole life. The suddenly start finding things chaotic and suffocating and crib about everything that they missed initially.
My colleagues who cringe everytime they hear someone is going onsite have only one thing in mind, another opportunity missed to earn big bucks.It seems only more logical to me that people wait for that one opportunity to make big bucks that will make life much more luxurious here. It makes owning that house and car so much more easier.These people atleast have an intention to come back and come back to a better life. This for me seems to be a good thing to do than to go there and settle down and living a life thats not yours and wasting away the whole life leading a life thats not yours trying to earn big and save money. Think twice about spending every penny!!Whats a life where you earn a million but still have to vaccum your house and wash the dishes and clean the toilet!
yeah, theres one more category of peoplewho like to go abroad just for the sheer pleasure of going round the world at company's cost - mix work with pleasure. :)I fall under this category. I love going places, but at the end of the day I long to be back at home, I strat missing my family. There cant be a home away from home. If there's a home, its gotto be here!
hmm.. Destiny decides destination..

Daddy's daughter!

Can you believe it?? Dad called up yesterday to tell me that people who are doing their MBA from IIM's are earning bigggggg bucks..and if only I had paid heed to his advice of doing an MBA from IIM's I wouldve also been earning so much!
Dad puhleeeeeeeez!! its okay.. its a lil embarrassing to tell you that your lil girl is not all that talented/equipped to do MBA from IIM's and earn 1Cr per month!! :)
May be you should try encouraging your grand-son/daughter now :)

Relief finally!

Sigh! it was a big sigh of relief! I no longer have to write any exams.. No longer have to force myself to sit before the books and listen to the lectures.. but looking back I think I will miss all that! it was fun in a way though I did not really enjoy it that much!
While preparing for exams.. I used to wonder, why am I doing my Masters? what am I going to achieve by getting that extra degree! For I dont even know if am going to work in this field for how many more years or may be months!
These questions keep hitting me.. why am I in IT field.. why am I studying.. but then If I am not doing what I am doing, what else can I do!!
I agree this job has everything.. right from money, respect, learning, challenges, freebies.. everything! but if there is some lacking.. i guess its in me.. the enthu to do this job and the job satisfaction is I guess what I lack!
The first thought that strikes as a solution to this is to quit! but the immediate question is what next! what do I really wanna do.. doing what will give me that satisfaction that this is something that I always wanted to do! And I know nobody will be able to help me figure this out.,. this is something I have to figure out on my own and I dont have a way to find it! how many more years will I be trying my hands at various things and when will I decide and when will I settle down!
I dont even feel like sharing these thoughts with anyone.. as I only feel more dumb and portray the impression of a confused soul! I tried talking this out once to my Mom and you know what she said! She said I dont have enough work at office and thats why my idle brain is thinking of all this garbage! For her all that matters is that I have a good job, good salary, happy settled family and what more do I want! When I myself am not clear about what more I want, how can I expect her to understand!!
Or may be I never had a specific goal or ambition in life, no specific die hard interest because of which I am not able to really enjoy what I have! All the important decisions in my life till now have been taken by others.. and the decisions I took for myself didnt really have a strong reasoning behind them!
In school.. studied because everybody else was studying and to sustain this pressure from parents to perform better than others!
After 10th, the decision to take the Maths stream was also not very strongly reasoned.. Just because I didnt have the courage to take up biology or history, the only choice I had was MPC!
and EAMCET? Yeah why did I write EAMCET? Dont you know? everybody in Andhra writes EAMCet.. and i was just one among them!
Yeah then computer engineering.. this was one decision I made! and I guess I never would like to share the reason behind choosing computers science as my branch.. I had other options of ECE and EEE and mech and all others.. i dont remember who but someone told me Comp sci was the easiest of all branches! and Lo! I made my dad pay big bucks as fees for my comp sci engg seat! Even then I never understood I was making my dad pay a lot of his hard earned money on something I really never wanted so much!
After engineering again a point where I had to take a decision on what I wanted to do next! My dad wanted to force his opinion but I managed to not agree to it somehow! and even till date he keeps saying, i didnt listen to him then! I had lot of options i thought after engineering, GRE and MS what everybody did, GATE and MTech.. what my dad wanted me to do , CAT and MBA which i felt i could never do and yeah the easiest of all the 'IT' job!! and yeah easy guess, I ended up in my first job at Hyd!
And yeah as I told you my dad kept on cribbing about my masters degree and hence the application to do MS in software systems at BITS Pilani! Afterall he had every right to flaunt his daughter was doing masters from BITS Pilani even after a Job and marriage!
Ohh good! Now I know why I applied for this "Masters" degree of mine and slogged 3 years in and out of it! So much for Degreesake!
Someday... I still have that hope that I will realise what I want to do.. some die hard interest that I will develop.. I will not let this life of mine go waste...

My picture perfect sunday

Sunday always scores over other holidays.. it has got a special charishma around it! and I loveeeeeeeee sundays for all reasons!
Yesterday was one such perfect sunday.. lazy start to the morning at 10:30 and browse thru the paper.. then a cook together session! whats on menu. ummm CHilly chicken and chicken biryani! woww! yummy!
Lunch with India New Zealand T20 match! Nice combo I must say! chilly chicken goes well with the cheer leaders :)
Evening walk in slight drizzle is always refreshing.
Sunday without a movie? No way! whats the home theater for!
The lunch leftovers are not that bad an idea for dinner afterall... it always saves the cooking effort :)

My Fave dish made easy!

You need:

1/2 Kg chicken Boneless - cut in to small pieces
maida - 1 tbsp
cornflour - 1 tbsp
Gingergarlic - 2 tsp
salt
chilly powder


Marinate all the above for 1 hr

Deep fry the chicken pieces and keep aside


1 cup curd( 3 tbsp)
1 tbsp soya sauce
onion 1 long slices
10 long slit green chillies
Curry leaves


Mix the curd and soya sauce.

fry the chillies, onions and curry leaves and add the fried chicken pieces. Add the curd and soya sauce mix. Mix well for 10- 15mins

CHilly chicken ready :)

Home sweet home

Was looking forward to this trip of mine from a long long time. lead approved my week long leave with great difficulty.. not that I wudnt have gone if he didnt approve my leave but still his approval made it tension free :)
We first went to Vijayawada for Hari's marriage. As soon as we got down at the station, we had 2 options to reach the hotel one by auto and another by rickshaw!The very idea of rickshaw excited both of us and LO! we were sitting on an open top rickshaw.. amazing experience. Of course I felt bad for the poor thing that was pulling us but the experience was worht it.
Met other friends at the hotel and then went to the Kanaka Durga temple after having sumptuous lunch at Hari's place.
I saw the film actor Jagapati babu there!! Ok ok.. I saw the goddess first :)
Reached the mandap just in time..for the muhurtham. My best friends weddin! He was so Happy !
We all had nice fun at the marriage and it was more like a college get together! Miss those lovely days!
I headed to vizag the next day.. lazy sunday at home with Naresh, Mom , dad and grandma.Monday we all went to Kailashgiri and Gitam. Then we stopped by the beach road and had yummy fish fry!Hey I found hundred ruppees at Kailashgiri and hence the free fish fries :)
Tuesday was Janmashtami, dad took us to temple for bhajan. I was more eagerly waiting for the prasadam .. the yum Pulihora and chakra pongal.. my all time fave!
Wednesday was one hectic day.. went to Bunny's marriage in the morning and came back home only at 11 in the night.I cudnt believe i was tying her the saree and doing her makeup! I even did her poola jada! I didnt know I was so capable :P
Then the remaining week just flew.. eating, watching tv, meeting old school frens.. Met Divya Soma and Udaya after long long time.. its so good to get back in touch with ol frens
Started back on sunday to bangy.. As long as I was there in Vizag, my heart was there in Bangalore.. but on sunday I wanted to stay back in vizag!I just didnt want to go anywhere away from home .. sweet home!

Men get flirty at three zero 30 !

7th August.. Darling Hybby's Bday.. his 30th! :) His dad and Grandpa came to Bangalore. I was really amazed at the effort they took to show they care.His grandpa at the age of 75 doesnt mind the long travel just for that one day. And the way he makes sure he's there for this day every year come what may makes the day even more special filled with love and affection.
This year if Naresh has missed anything on his birthday, it was his Aunt's handbaked Cake. Life goes on even after someone leaves, but the void remains.I tried to fill in the void by trying to bake a cake, but yeah as expected it was a disaster. But I guess the effort was all worth it. wishful thinking:)
12 o clock cakey disaster was followed by the pleasant surprise. Gifted him a Yamaha PSRE 203. Something he always wanted. I was well aware of the trouble i was inviting, but yeah its okay.. cotton buds for my rescue :)
The day started on a good note. Grandpa's train arrived right in time and he was the first one to wish us in the morning :)I cooked Peas Pulav, egg curry and Fruit salad with much care not wanting any more disasters. Office was routine and in the eveningwe invited friends for dinner. 9 of us met at Spice Garden.I arranged for a Black forest cake and the party began with lot of noise snow sprays and music!Food was good and all of us had a blast till 12 in the night.
I missed my salsa dance class but I guess its ok. Theres always a next time!

Sweet memories

It was only in the last week that i was reminded of our childhood times.. akka, chandu, chunki, deepa, praveen, pratibha, jyotsna akka. it was a small world full of joy and happiness. All the games we used to play, land and water, crocodile crocodile which color do you want, kith kith, memory game, carrom, shuttle, hide and seek. Uff.. did we ever feel tired?
There was competition between us.. who would go to school first, whose dad came home from office first, whose dress was the best on the festival day, whose mom cooked what on each day, exams, marks, who collected more flowers while coming back from school.. aah how much i miss those days! Diwali was perfect, the whole week was full of excitement. If someone bought crackers for bigger amount, thats it, there would be mahabharat at home that day.. beg borrow or steal, we had to have maximum crackers. same with holi! totally colourful.. who bought which color and who had the unique pichkaari! and who started off on streets first!!!
Now when I look back, i really want all those days back.. its so boring to be grown ups!
I spoke to Deepa yesterday, she has a baby girl. Chunki also had a baby girl last week. Akka is carrying now. Prati has a baby boy,jyotsna akka has a boy and twin baby girls!
all of us going thru the same phases of life.. looks like the competition is still thr.. whose growing up faster :)

As I walked down the memory lane
happy memories started drizzling
my soul was wet with Happinesss
it longed for its soulmate.. for you..

Tears in my palms
Filled the void of you in my arms
So close to my heart yet so far
Loneliness was never so scary

Days goes on no matter what
but when there is no love
there is no life!

Hydi!

Disastrous! thats the only word i have to write about it!
the train was late by 8 hours.. the journey to Hyd had never been so long! then we had to rush to the bank as the function had started already! no food..no water and thr we were amidst boring lectures!
it was complete 24 hrs before i saw foood :( and the moment it was kept before me i just jumped on to it!
sunday was as usual.. paradise biryani and stat back!
I cudnt even take time to call up frens in Hyd! next trip i make i have to meet up with all my frens!

Mumbai Rocks!

We reached mumbai on thursday night.. I was looking out of the rickshaw in awe :) the roads were awssum.. much more wider than what we have in bangalore!

Jijju picked us up at IIT Powai and we went home! Pompret fish fry aroma greeted us! Akka prepared prawns biryani and fish fry and my fav Gajjar ka halwa!! we just plunged on to the food and relished every dish! next day morning we started off for Lonavala.. pleasant weather awssum music.. Green surroundings .. awssum drive! we spent the whole day in Lonavala and came back and went to Hiranandani.. did bowling and had sizzlers for dinner! it was soo yum!

next day we just lazed arnd, went to Nirmal lifestyles and did some tiny winy shopping.. evenin went to PM's house and spent time with kiddos. it started raining heavily that night.

next day we planned to go for mumbai local sight seeing and my fav shopping! but no.. the rain never stopped! but it cudnt stop us from going shopping!!!!! :) yeyy! but yeah it did stop the shopkeepers from opening the shops! all the market were closed! but i still managed to buy some stuff in fashion street! it was all mine!
Then we went to Marine drive! it completely rocks! it was just excellent!
we came back home packed bags for next day and had thai dinner :)

and now.. bakc to bangalore!

Coming up

There are a lot of trips coming up this month.. Next week to Mumbai and then to Hydi. Naresh would be travelling to Bristol in mid july but I guess I cannot join him. :(

Am so looking forward for the Mumbai trip.. :)

K Gudi Jungle Lodges trip

11/06/07 Bangalore
We have been planning for a trip for a long time now.. and it finally happened last weekend. We made reservations a month in advance at K Gudi a jungle lodges resort. its a place 250 kms from bangaloretowards mysore. All I knew about the place was that it was a jungle and there would be a wild life safari. I didnt have an idea of what was awaiting us there :) We (Abhishek,Pavana,Naresh and Me) bought all snacks and drinks on friday (8t June) and packed our bags all set for a weekend getaway! Naresh and me woke up at 6 even after the alarm snoozing from 5 :) Abhi and suzy picked us up at 6:30. There was little traffic on the road and soon we hit the NICE express highway. It was just amazing and we were going at 120kmph. we halted at Kamat Lokaruchi restau on Mysore road for breakfast. After a yummy breakfast we started again for our destination. As we approached our destination the weather became more pleasant and even the surroundings.. big big famr lands.. sugarcane fields, banana fields.. it was amazing. Suzy took over the driving wheels when the road no longer had any other vehicles :) but after that i could no longer enjoy the surroundings.. i was only looking at the road ahead and the driving wheel :) The best part was after we entered K Gudi. there was a wild elephant on loose and as soon as it saw our vehicle.. it started chasing us! :) thank god suzy drove fast then! we reached the resort at 12:30 and then settled down in our log huts and then came out for lunch.. Lunch was ok. Then we climbed up a tree house and then a big net hammock where all four of us climbed and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting. At 4 we were served tea and then at 4:30 we started off for the wild safari in open jeeps!excitement was building up amongst us. there were 38 tigers and plenty of leapords in the jungle. but all we could spot was loads of deers - spotted,sambar,barking. and bisons, elephants. one elephant chased us and we were scared to death. the elephant was roght in my face with its trunk up. the driver didnt even let us scream. we reached back by 7:30, relaxed in our log huts for sometime and went back for dinner. dinner was also ok. then we played scrabble in suzy's log hut till 10 and then went back to our hut. Power shutdown happened at 10:30 dot. we were deep asleep by then given the whole lot of activity in the day. we woke up at 6:15 the next day, got ready and went for trekking. it was amazing route amidst the jungle. we saw heaps of elephant dung and live bisons just at stones throw. it was a long trek of 4 kms. we stopped by a pond took lot of snaps on the way. we reached our camp by 9:00 and directly hit the breakfast table and hogged on food like anything. it was the most amazing meal. crispy dosas, hot bread omlette, lemon rice, kesari bath and lots of juices. then we again hit our fav hang out the hammock. went back to log huts and packed our bags, took more snaps at the log huts and started back at 11:30. we bid good bye to the place.. very happy that we came here. on the way back we stopped at quite some places and reached bangalore by 6:30.

Dusty is my life, who is my wife :)