Help this one!

Dear followers,

This one has been out of touch with music for quite some time now. This one would like to make a humble request to all of you to share your favourite music with this one so that this one can bring herself up to speed and stop listening to stuff from the 90's and early 2000's on continuous loop!

As far as possible, no Bollywood mentions. This one gets enough of that. Genres - no particular preference, except maybe Jazz. This one tried quite a bit to acknowledge jazz, but this one just doesn't seem to have patience for it!

Please be generous in your replies, and who knows, perhaps this might even give us an opportunity to catch up after a few millenia!

Lots of love.

PS. If you feel like it, please share your favourite books too :-)

'So, what are your hobbies?' 'Please define your timeline'

I have written few CVs in my life. Very few. Some asked for hobbies to be mentioned. Some did not, thankfully. But of late, I have been faced with, if not bombarded with this instruction: 'Hi. Please introduce yourselves. Mention your name, entity, where you graduated from and your hobbies.' Now I always wonder what hobbies have to do with a basic introduction of oneself,especially at the workplace, but I kept my mouth shut since I do not want any pange before I even begin my corporate life. But then, I keep wondering what I should answer with.

When I was a toddler, I loved to dance. Every time Chitrahaar came on, I would be there in the living room, dancing away to glory and entertaining the entire family.
Then in primary school, it was drawing and rangoli. Sometime between standard IV and VIII, it was playing the harmonium. And badminton in the same time. And quizzing. During junior college, it was watching movies,reading books and eating out. Yes, eating out was a hobby! In the engineering days, I watched a lot of football. Listened to a lot of genres of music. Read a lot of books. In the few months between college and work, I cooked as much as I ever have in life. Still do, but more on a need-to-do basis.

Now, I don't know where my time flies to. Most of the time since I started working has gone into the office and CAT classes. So no movies, some music, and a lot of boredom and restlessness that comes out of not being involved with anything extra-curricular, per se.

So when I decided to write this post, the title just came to me in a jiffy. Because that has been the story of my life. I have always kept moving on to different interests all my life.

The only thing that I have consistently done is talk. I'm not sure if I can answer a 'Whats your hobby' with 'Talking'. But I love to talk. Not yap like some girls do. I can talk to anyone, regardless of age,gender,background. I can go next door and chat up with the kaku's about the kitchen, how the bai's are a nuisance, how we can do better as a society; I can chat with a random ajoba at the bus stop about politics, the municipal corporation and rash drivers. I can talk to my girlfriends about fashion, about hair-fall, and about how girls our age are getting married already! To my guy-friends, I can talk about football, stupid girls, cellphones and whatever. I can give pep talk to anyone. I motivate sad trainee colleagues to have patience and deal with no work. I sympathize with people after their breakups. I discuss career options with cousins. Give me any topic, start off any conversation - and I'll join in. So is talking my first love? I guess yeah. But does that qualify as a hobby? You tell me.

Summing it up, my 'hobbies' have been changing as much as I have, in life. Currently, I think my hobby is ice-cream stick craft, and I've also started with a bit of paper quilling. I'm still not sure about my writing intentions. But yes, I have enjoyed writing the small things that I have written over the past three years.

So yeah, this will probably continue all my life. These changing hobbies. Kind of like my mum, who is an amazing multi-tasker. And I haven't even gone through all her previous diaries in which she has notes about the most unconnected, but useful stuff you may have seen! I never planned on following her footsteps, but I think its just seeped into me. So I think I'm ok. I still think those who have a specific hobby are lucky people, but I think I'm alright too. Those many things also give me many things to talk about ;-)

It is that time again!

Initially I used to think I was the only person having such thoughts. But now, after many incidental 'Aila! That happens with you too?' ' conversations, I have come to conclude that mostly people get really philosophical during exam days. Questions that otherwise pop into their otherwise busy brains start showing their ugly faces during the days leading up to the exam, and sometimes, even during that time when you're supposed to be writing the exam, are struggling and have finished surreptitiously looking around at what others are doing and feel like getting up and bolting from the exam hall. [Thats a long sentence, na?] Yes, that happens, I have seen it many times. People have that glazed look on their faces, which either means they can't figure out the solution to the sadist questions or they are wondering if they are in the right place after all. Especially the engineering folk these days. All they want is placement guaranteeing a fat paycheck, the less technical the better and then start cribbing about their jobs at every available opportunity. Some even wonder if they would have been better off in Commerce. Bit too late for that.

Anyway! I'm not going to elaborate on those conversations or those questions, we all know them very well. In fact, even though in my recent past, I might have spent considerable time blogging or watching entire Prison Break seasons right before exams and proving to myself how awesome I can be, by doing all this and yet getting a decent grade; I think its time I grew up and finished the post in three short paragraphs and get back to whatever I'm really supposed to be doing at this point of time. What an achievement, indeed! I have finally begun to master self-control!

So yeah, with this unnecessary blog-post which serves no other purpose than to merely increase the number of posts in my blog and ensure at least one post in November, irrespective of how lame and unnecessary it is; I'm going to shut my gob and go do what I'm supposed to at this point of time, Which is make some tea for myself and watch Masterchef Australia's last team challenge.

P.S.: Around the same time next year, I will have a different story to tell. You just watch out for it.

Now,Hibernating.

I just can't get anything worthwhile on the blog these days. Its not for the lack of thought, definitely not. I'm in the over-thinking mode these days, what with the new job and all.  I guess its just one of those periods when the writing doesn't flow. Or maybe its the fact that only 3 of my good friends for the last 4 years are in Pune, and I hardly meet any of them cuz our timings don't match, and the rest in the States and Europe are also busy, so I might just be sad somewhere. Its a turning point for all of us, and we all want to share each other's experiences, but the feeling is one of 'something missing'. No amount of skype/google+ hangout/chat can fill up the void created by 11 of your best friends being away from you.

But I'm not going to go back into the 'Cribs' mode again. All I want to say is that I'm going to take a break from blogging for some time, at least until I feel like writing good stuff again, and not just random videos or Maggi wale posts! I'll hibernate, lie low for some time and come back rejuvenated, whenever that happens. And then perhaps you guys will get to read something moderately good. Till then, have a good time all of you, and stay in touch through the other social media where there's no need of communicating through paragraphs!

Meri wali Maggi

How many times has it created a craving? How many times has it acted savior? How many times has it turned you back into the kid that slurrps the noodle noisily?

Countless, na?



If ever there was a universally binding food item across India, it is Maggi. [You're not allowed to point to 'universally' and 'in India' and say inappropriate. Hadd!] Its just, you know, moreish.

I must say I am a complete foodie, always was. But of late I've started experimenting with my cooking side too. I have this friend who puts up the most mouth-watering recipes she has tried, in the way of a professional chef or a cook-book, and it definitely inspires me. But nothing ever compares to experimenting with good ol' Maggi. Nothing.

So here's a sneak peek into a few of the tweaks I've tried over the years.  I haven't altered much [can you, with maggi?] but its just a few things that make a big difference to the taste.

1. Dash of red chilly powder and black masala
 This is pretty basic, and very easy to accomplish. While you're cooking, add some red chilli powder [ho ho, apan tikhat mhanto tyala] and some kala masala. I dont know what you guys may call it, or if its even there with you. But its one kickass masala that my grandmom makes every year and it brings life into every rassa that is ever cooked at home. Also imparts a burnished, roasty kind of flavour too.
But if you dont understand this masala I'm talking about, of which I'm pretty sure, chuck it. Just add the red chilly powder. Tweak it as per your capacity for hot stuff and for sure you'll have a mazedar experience.

2. Egg maggi
Beat some eggs while your maggi is cooking, and add them on top of your maggi just before you take it off the stove or immediately after you've served them. If you add them before you take the maggi off the stove, give them a minute to cook [they do]. Else you could cook them in a separate fry-pan and add that layer onto the maggi. You can add salt to taste, but I prefer them directly on top of the maggi.

3. Cheese maggi
Ah, heaven! You can make it whatever way you want. Add the cheese right at the start, add it sometime in between if you want it to be gooey, add it in the end if you want a separate cheese taste with the maggi flavour. I usually just use one cheese slice per person, because its always available and I'm not a fan of keeping the cheese boxes for a long time in the fridge. I tried this with the pizza cheese that you get in the market, and it tastes decent too. And if you like garlic, well use the garlic cheese. Lovely flavour!

4. Vegetable wali maggi
Well this is one of my least favourite maggi preparations. I do not like fresh vegetables with maggi. Ironically, I love the atta noodles! Heck, whatever. Best veggies to use in a maggi dish - carrot, capsicum, green peas or spring onions. If you want to use normal onions, I suggest you fry them [brown] separately and then use them in your maggi. Add them towards the end if you want crispiness. Dont try using cabbage in maggi. You may think it will taste chinese, but it doesn't and you'll end up pouring tomato ketchup in you maggi.

5. Ketchup? Of course!
Any maggi tastes good if you add ketchup to it. But thats a sad thing to do, kind of insults the noodles.

6. Soya sauce!
Yep. Tastes great. A dash of soya sauce when you add the Tastemaker makes all the difference to the plain maggi and this slightly tangy maggi. Try different combinations with chilly sauce/cheese and you'll end up creating cool new tastes.

7. Sweet corn
Again, very easy to prepare. Makes for a lovely preparation.

8. Chef's special maggi
I did the weirdest tweak today. I did not use the Tastemaker at all. Instead, I used a little turmeric [just a hint], some table salt, generous amount of chilly flakes, and some oregano [from the little packets we get with home delivered pizzas]. What it lacked in colour, it more than made up for by taste. Nicely spicy, with the smell of oregano just making it really tasty and flavorsome.

Tweaks I want to try:
1. Fried maggi :-D Not like the fried noodles they put in Manchow soup, but pan-fried. I think.

2. Non-tastemaker maggi and some wacky sauce that I'll come up with sometime soon.

3. Maggi roll
A far more refined version of the cheap stuff they had come up with in the boat club canteen. Come to think of it, a maggi frankie might work too. Hmm.

4.Maggi balls!

5. Fried maggi dipped in honey and served with vanilla ice-cream, a la Mainland China!


P.S: Do share your own recipes with me, cuz although this post might be titles meri wali maggi,  we all know its apni wali maggi, yaar.

Umm, kuch jyada ho gaya. Anyway, cheers!