Dude Food

The entire past week was a long, tiring one. Everyday, my eyes would shut around 10:30-11:00, and I felt like a little school kid who had to sleep early to wake up early, to make it to class on time.
With a zillion things occupying my time through the day, I closed my eyes either to a book or to the TV. One day as my eyes were glued to the screen even in their half-shut state, I was appealed by MasterChef Australia's competition on Dude Food.
I loved everything about 'Dude Food': the name, rhyme, sound of the phrase, idea of it and the fact that it was not restricted to any cuisine. It encompassed all my favourites!
The urge to eat it grew over me today(once again!), but failing to do so I chose to Google it. My favourite results are compiled below.
Disclaimer: Do not scroll below if you're on a diet! :)

Terrific Tacos

Self explanatory! But unavailable in India

Cheese Sticks

Pancakes & Root Beer
Love the picture!

Pasta on Pizza: Who said you can't have the
best of all worlds?

Olives on Nachos

Strawberry Crepes

'Sub' it up!

Spring Rolls

Run to your kitchen now!

PING!

As I'm typing the title to this post, the first thing that comes to my mind is probably what will hover above your head too, when you see this post.
PING! is a word which has become common in the Blackberry world. When someone pings you, and your BB is lying on the dinner table, everyone can figure that your phone is buzzing. If it Pings in your bag, the bag might just slide down your arm. If it Pings as you're standing in your Principal's office, then Oh! God save you!
Basically, a Ping on Blackberry is like your morning alarm clock, only this time it's set by your friends. Ping has now become a trend, and if you talk of trends in the Blackberry world, they're aplenty! The emoticons available to all Blackberrians might just force English scholars to change the saying from 'A picture speaks a thousand words' to 'An emoticon speaks a hundred words'. Their emoticons are so popular that people have started implying them even in their actions and the most confused one is the 'talk-to-the-hand' sign. As one of my friends showed her hand to another buddy, the latter confused it for a high-five!

Anyway to come back to the subject matter, have you ever thought of the Ping moments in your daily life?
I define Ping moments as those that throw you up from your relaxed, reclined state of being and thrust you into the present moment, as much physically as mentally. Here's a list of the Ping moments which abound my life:

• Sitting in the car, at a traffic signal. One minute you are restless and are counting the seconds with the automated timer displaying the time left. The next minute, your attention is caught by an interesting Billboard and you're so engrossed in reading the fine print that you lose track of time. Ping! The cars behind you are blaring!

• Again, at the traffic signal. You are walking casually, reading something on your phone when you're approaching a crossing and suddenly you notice that the lights are clear for you to cross. Ping! The phone loses your attention and you rush past the zebra line.

• Walking in a queue. The queue is really long and you're scared you'll get late. Suddenly, it starts moving fast all of a sudden. Ping! Just then the man infront of you decides to bend to tie his shoe-lace!

• In a class-room. Your friend is caught texting on the phone. You first pull out yours to ensure its on Silent. And then you smile a sarcastic smile. Ping! Your alarm from last afternoon's nap rings.

• In an exam hall. You enter. You begin writing. You know the answers. However, you also know its a lengthy paper. You check your watch, happy that you'd worn it. Over 90 minutes left. You get engrossed in writing and when you check your watch again it is satisfies you that you'd written all that in 40 minutes. 50 minutes and two questions left. You decide to take it easy now. Ping! The bell announces 15 minutes left! You double check you watch. It had stopped working! Sad that you'd worn it!

If it were smooth, it wouldn't be Life. Enjoy the Ping moments because without them, you'd run out of conversations, you'd have a constant emotion and expression and lastly, even if this sounds monotonous: you cannot enjoy the high points of your life until you know the other side of the valley!

What are your Ping moments?

Bharat Mata ki Jai

Returning from the Independence Day celebrations in college, with the patriotism in me at its peak, I made my way home. I smiled when I saw two little children dressed as freedom fighters, walking hand in hand ahead of their mother. The girl looked like Jhansi ki Rani, only younger and her little brother was dressed in stark white kurta-pyjama and as he had coupled it with a black Indian jacket, his attire was typical to that of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Today, 66 years after our Independence there might be less than a handful of Indians who have had the privilege to see the freedom fighters in person, but thanks to our socio-cultural systems; every little child knows how to embody them.

The clothes are the same, the attire perfect to every bit of accessory. However, the spirit of patriotism is missing. The love of the land. The addressal of the country as Mother. The rejoicement of our freedom. The emotion of a free, democratic, united Nation. Nothing is heartfelt. And I say this not because I wish to site the typical examples about the 'McDonaldisation' of our country or point fingers at the rampant corruption, but because I noticed something which was seemingly regular.

In college, during the programme I had heard the age old songs, written and sung in soulful voices, reflecting a truly heartfelt love for the nation. The songs ranged from Aye mere watan ke logon and Vande Mataram to Sare jahan se acha and Hum honge kamyab!  However, on the same walk back home when I noticed the little ones dressed as characters from the past, I noticed something which had the opposite effect of a smile. One of the local clubs(popularly known as para clubs in Bengali) had hoisted a flag and paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru  and set up a music console with two power packed speakers which were intended to arouse a sense of belonging to the nation, among passersby. Alas! what was blaring was Emran Hashmi's latest hit Bharat Mata ki Jai!

As the lads danced vulgarly to Sone ki chidiya, dengue malaria, gud bhi hai gobar bhi Bharat Mata ki jai, I thought to myself, "Now beat this!" They are addressing the country with due respect and they haven't even forgotten the typical Indian word 'Jai'. Its just the dengue and malaria, gud and gobar in between, which you have to overlook!
I walked on, ignoring the loud music and their dirty dance. Maybe this is why we call ourselves a free Nation, everyone is free to do what they want! 

Curiosity Rover

When I read the news about the Mars rover 'Curiosity' sent into space by NASA, I was pleased to know that the Mars Space Laboratory wing of NASA had been kind enough to name the rover interestingly and intriguingly. When we were in junior school and had to learn the names of satellites and suh space instruments, we had an extremely tough time. 'Sputnik' is one weird name which stands out in my head, 'Insat' sounds as an abbreviation of something but 'Curiosity' certainly wins brownie points for adding a tad bit of human emotions to the mission.

Whether or not the project will be a success, one thing is for sure and that is, the children of the forthcoming years will not find a difficulty in learning this!

Thank you God, for electricity

This morning I read in the papers about the electricity crisis in the northern parts of the country. Read. Felt sorry. And passively flipped the page to the Olympics' news stories. A few hours thereafter, after blazing the sweltering heat on my way back home from college, I entered home to a 'poweless' house.(The pun is deliberate!)

At 3p.m the electricity in our city let us down and chose not to come back until 8! This was the tale in my house. Each house in separate localities had its own allowances or disruptures!

Nonetheless, the point of this post is that I realized the life saving characteristic of electricity. It virtually gives life to us in today's age!
The complaints I heard invariably started from "My phone's battery is miserably low!"and went on to "Now that we need the rain, the sky will decide to hold back.", "What if it doesn't come back until tomorrow morning? Will we not have water to bathe?", "How will the maid come tomorrow morning if the trains aren't plying?"
My own insight was; "This is 2012!"
A few seemingly super long hours later, the lights came back and as the primitive men had started worshipping Sun and Fire, attributing the natural forces the powers of God; maybe an addition to those should be the God of Electricity!

What was your experience of chit-chat in the evening shadows?