the whole enchilada!

Make sure you do not start cooking till I reach. ok? Ok. Come fast. Like you'll do a lot anyway . You'll probably just sit around, watch him cook and absolutely love the attention. Cheech, we are having Perfect Poached Fish with Ginger & Basil . Sounds good? Umhmmm. Anything is good. Yeah, we'll make this then you won't be freaking out while eating it. Coz the rest of the recepies are all for fried fish. N here I made bok choy & mushrooms for you. U can munch these while we cook the fish. :D you did! but I told you not to cook till I came over. Ok what do I do now?  ummmm. you can put the chicken stock in the pan and stir it till it boils. I already marinated the fish and the salad is ready so there isn't much left to do. BUT! we were supposed to cook together! but we are cooking together cheech. don't worry we'll do it again soon.

politicians who know what to speak when realization within the media that everything cannot be sensationalized purple boots a charm bracelet a trampoline on the beach near my own beach cottage and the shack which cooks seafood as per my specifications a full night sleep with no alarm to wake me up thats it for now. im becoming more and more materialistic by the day!

"i made pasta for u cheecho. come fast!" I'd just landed and needed to be at a cousin's wedding. But there was no way I was going to say no to this.  He cooked for me! Nobody has ever cooked for me, especially for me(except my mom of course) just one of the few statements which can totally make your day.  it wasn't said in a lovey-dovey-extremely-mushy tone.  it was, in fact, said with a touch of irritation. but i was smiling throughout :D

umm... i am finding it extremely hard to talk these days. rather be civil to just about anyone. in fact it is a task to even talk to people i used to spend hours talking to everyday. i am feeling a little guilty about it as i do care about all these people in question but every effort on my part seems so fake that i would rather not do it. its not that i am upset about anything or anything is the matter. it is just that i have run out of things to talk about. and also nothing seems to excite me also these days. so i just want to stay in my room and read.  the last coupla months i have indulged in lots of food and work and alcohol and friends and one particular delicious boy.  there were the two consecutive exhibitions in delhi and mumbai where it was constant interaction with people. it was one and a half months of madness at the end of which there are several neglected and therefore unhappy clients, new opportunities and serious decisions to be made. the 14 days in mumbai where the si...

“Ma’am, address kya hai?” Did I get everything from the room? Where is my phone?! Oh, right here. “773-L, Model Town” “Koi landmark Ma’am?” I do not know roads in Delhi still and you expect me to know Ludhiana?! “Nahin, mujhe Ludhiana ke bare mein zyada nahin maloom” I wish I had gotten something to eat. But no, good I didn’t. I really need to loose weight now. I will loose at least 5 kgs before my birthday. Did that sample reach Mrs. Suri? I should call and find out. I need to send out that quotation today to Kavita. Is that “Jahajj” written at the back of the car? N then these sardars wonder why they are made fun of! “Ma’am, aapko pata hai Ashmit da ghar bhi yahin si?” “Ashmit?” “Aap Ashmit nu nahin jande?” (accompanied by an almost derogatory chuckle) Ashmit!? “Uh-huh” “Woh Indian Idol wala! Jiski abhi death ho gayi!” Indian Idol! I’ve forgotten when the last time I saw TV was. Actually, it was last night. But that was just because I had a TV to myself in a hotel room. Death! “Death...

"kesar kasturi and jagmohan! u have got to be kidding!" but apparently he wasn't. known to be extremely potent and made if spices and dry fruits this is supposed to be good shit. the thought of it is making me want to throw up. dry fruits, saffron and spices.  instead of the irish cream and coffee liquors. i guess my knowledge about alcohol is extremely limited. but seriously! saffron!

it was one of those usual dinners', dinner date if you might want to call it that. we were at a chinese restaurant. i wouldn't call it shady but not a place I would go to again. both of us had had a long day at work so nobody was talking much but it was nice nevertheless. he never decides what to order or where to go. i do not like that too much.  prawns sui-mui, n spicy seafood hotpot.  now thats taking a huge chance considering i've not heard rave reviews about this place. lets also order something safe, he suggested, chicken maybe. chicken hongkong, chilli chicken, spicy garlic, shezwan, n then troublesome chicken in wonderful sauce!  i finally smiled. now who came up with that?  my friends feel i have a tendency to do things i am not supposed to. i do not think it is just me. as soon as any thing/person enters that prohibitive zone, something/someone you are not supposed to do(pun intended), it/they immediately becomes more appealing. anyway, that is not what this post ...

it can make anyone smile :)

i love my pedicures.  i love how the massager and the hot water feel. how the pedicurist lathers up your feet, cleans every toenail, removes even the tiniest speck of dead skin which might make your feet even remotely ugly. n then the massage! your feet become the centre of universe for the pedicurist for a whole hour while he ensures your feet look and feel loved. but more often than not. rather always, as far as i remember, every time i have gone to get myself a pedicure i have been in a tremendous rush due to work commitments, being a designated driver commitments, sisterly, daughterly commitments. they tend to never end. i usually allow the pedicurist 20-25 min in which he tries to rush up the entire procedure. i usually miss out on the massage or the nail polish (the finishing touches for any pedicure).  also, my pedicures aren't very frequent. its usually 2-3 months before i manage to squeeze in one. every time i visit the salon for a pedicure they go on and on about how i do...

rather i toppled n fell flat on my face! imagine being trapped inside a bubble, which wouldn't burst, if i might add. surreal. thats what it was.

I find shatabdis totally frustrating. Granted, they make complete sense for these one day trips and save you a lot in terms of time and money but sitting at one place for 4-5 hours at a stretch is not something I look forward to. I could get up and move around but I am a little paranoid when it comes to leaving my belongings under someone else’s care. I am already prone to losing things/having things stolen / dropping things and just leaving things around and having them picked up is not something I would want to add to the list. So I caught the morning shatabdi to Ludhiana and was planning to stay there for a day. But surprisingly I got done the very same day and decided to leave for Delhi. Getting a shatabdi was impossible so I decided to just take a general ticket and get on any train that would go to Delhi. I met a TT at the station who was very helpful and told me to get on some train he called “Flying”. The train was already at the station and because it was unbelievably hot and...

Just when I thought I’d left all the deceitful and the manipulative and the calculative and the cunning and the bad bad people of the world behind and finally entered a happy place where people were genuinely nice and treated each other with respect and consideration, I came across another asshole and almost got my brain fucked over again. I mean what is it with men? Why is that all they want to do is get women laid. I genuinely do not understand the fixation men have with sex. Seriously, what is the big deal?! I am actually not pissed off with the guy in question. I am pissed off with the fact that I almost started believing the words which come out of a mans mouth AGAIN. I am not a feminist and I hate categorizing people into such broad categories. But when I come across such people over and over again I am compelled to make such generalizations. You cannot as much as let your guard down for 10 minutes these days. So much for all “ happy thoughts ” and “ happy place s”. I am back to...

yesterday it hit me that i am going to be 24 very soon! i mean, it feels like almost yesterday when i used to stay up all night hopping from one chat room to another and tell random people im 16 ( i used to love the attention!) n now im 23 years 7 months and 20 days old! im in my mid-20's! needless to say people around me have started getting engaged/ married/ in serious relationships. my relatives have started dropping hints to my parents. leave alone my relatives. my younger sister has tried to convince my parents that just might have to get their younger daughter married before me. simply because i might never consider it. anyway marriage is not even a consideration at the moment.  this post is not about marriage. its about me not being ready to get out of my comfort zone. i am in a happy place right now :D. my life revolves around my work. my clients, assignments make me happy and keep me motivated. my salsa classes (today was my 4th class) fill me up with joy. the delhi weathe...

i was watching one of the re-runs of Joey - the one in which Alex is turning 30 and has to do at least one of the things on her "list of things to do before turning 30". i decided to make one of those lists but ended up making a list of things/ events / inventions/ ideals which would make me deliriously happy! whenever they happen. (hopefully very very soon). i wish to keep adding on to these as the following came to my mind in a span of half an hour which i believe is too short a time for one to figure out whatever would make them happy. so here goes.... - to be able to dance like "penny" in Dirty Dancing. rather i want my own Patrick Swayze who'll make me move like that! - a cup massage - jump in to the ganga and flow with the water. bodysurfing!  - my own water bed :D - to open my own jump school - to be Anthony Bourdain - a "Lush" closet in my bathroom - to live alone - to be able to say the right thing at the right time - 2 day weekends - lebanese...

"I myself am entirely made of flaws stitched together with good intentions."

I am not doing so well today. I got a sunday off after months today. And it somehow made me miss a lot of people.  I was, till a couple of years back, not the very emotional, sentimental type. In fact! I was known to not have any emotions whatsoever. I cringed at the very thought of hugging. The usual "awwws" and "love u!" among girlfriends were rarely directed towards me. Simply because I always made a face. When I finally got myself a boyfriend, I remember a friend of mine actually went to the extent of imitating me( how she thought I would look like) while having sex, bored and telling the guy to get done with it! Even in my house I am, most of the time, treated as one with zilch feelings. My mother coochie-coos my brother and sister and I am mostly just ignored. Ok, there are times she has tried, but I feel so awkward I usually just make a face. That keeps her from trying for a while. Anyway, getting back to where I started, I am not liking this emotional self o...

lets just say I had become a cynic. i was the epitome of practicality. i could do nothing if i couldn't talk sense and be all logical about everything under the sun. i had written off all sort of frivolity and i was the "don't-mess-with-me", sensible, no-nonsense, work is life (almost preachy) 23 year old. life was all about a phone which rang nonstop, meeting targets, sweet talking prospective clients, hiring new people, drinking chai with bank managers and at regular intervals, wondering why, just WHY?! don't i just take up a job and get rid of all the hassles. my girlfriends( i love them!) were all that i ever looked forward to(socially that is). sleepovers, meeting at the "tea shop", going for shawarmas and TC(now opus). i had secretly started hoping that i was a lesbian at heart. i would never ever have to handle a guy then. or face the traumas of a relationship. my life was perfect. mommy pampering me n me working my ass off, trying to make somethi...

My wallet got stolen today. And it gets even better. It had my passport in it. With all my money and credit cards. And it gets better still. I am in China right now. In a country where even getting water is a problem because people just don’t know any English. My flight back is on Monday. And today being a Saturday the embassy is shut. And it will be tomorrow as well. I will have to beg and plead with the Indian embassy to issue an Emergency Landing certificate to me if I have to catch my flight back. AND because I have a history of losing/wrecking my phones/wallets nobody believes that someone actually stole it. No. It’s not that my family is not being supportive and giving me a hard time about the whole incident. My sister (her passport was at the hotel so she was a lot calmer), who is travelling with me called the cops. My parents, who are back home, immediately took control of the situation (as I was obviously nearing hysteria) called someone they knew in the Indian embassy ...

Girlfriends. I have never been able to do without them. Be it an endless analysis about what "he" actually meant or finding the perfect pair of shoes or how similar our mums are or how our siblings annoy us or what we want from life. Bonding over a face pack, a song, a book, the garish red nail paint, a smoke, girlfriends just seem to make life so much easier. We are a group of 8 "girls" who have known each other for more than 10 years now. There have been several fallouts, parties, break-ups, new friends, night-outs, sleepovers not to mention crazy drunkenness, random crank calls, getting busted smoking or sneaking out or sneaking a guy/alcohol in, getting caught by the cops, holi/ diwali/parties. I could go on and on. And now we are growing up. My closest friend got married day before. She moved to New York 6 years back but we kept in touch. We used to not talk for months but when we did it would be like the old times. We were the same people so we never needed ex...

The Nano was launched. I wasn't one of the thousands who went for the launch at the Auto Expo. I had been reading about it over the past year and was mildly curious about it. Not because I wanted to buy it. But because if the TATA's actually achieved the 1 Lakh mark it would be an achievement. Besides that, I didn't give it much thought. There has been some criticism and a lot of people have raised doubts about issues related to safety, comfort, durability, etc., most of which was expected. However, a conversation I happened to overhear between two women truly opened my eyes to not only the impact of this launch on the whole of India but also how oblivious and self-centred we ( I am including all us educated middle class, and upper class Indians) are. The conversation was something on these lines: Mrs. A: That 1 lakh car has been launched. Mrs. B: I know. My husband was telling me. Can you imagine how crowded the roads will become now. Anyway, my husband feels that all the ...

Quite a few years back I was introduced to the concept of looking at the bigger picture, developing a broader perspective, looking beyond the short term gains..you get the drift. I don't remember how and when, but since then I have tried to incorporate that in every aspect of my life. And most of the times I have failed miserably. Everytime I am faced with a situation, be it an unfulfilled commitment, or my 14 year old brother or unnecessary politics at work or my mothers nonstop monologue or several other aspects of my life which drive me insane, I tend to forget all my good intentions and behave in a manner which makes me want to disown myself later. I am trying to write this blog now to remind myself of all the better and bigger things in life. I don't know if I'll continue writing but I will definitely try. "the whole enchilada!". I have been obsessed with this expression for a little over 2 years now. I remember when I came across it, I was writing a business...