'Dosas Will Inherit the Earth'

These were the wonderfully witty Knife’s words after last night’s IPL Finals, not mine. I couldn’t stop laughing for a good ten minutes after having read them, the reason for which I would rather not expound on here.

But seriously, why couldn’t the Mumbai Indians see what the whole world could during last night’s game? 165 isn’t an impossible total to chase. This IPL has seen scores well above 170 having been made a number of times.

I think Mumbai was done in by two poor decisions on their part. One, they left the runs for too late and by the time they started going after the bowlers, the required run-rate had climbed so high it was practically impossible to score such a large number of runs without batsmen of the caliber of Sachin Tendulkar or Adam Gilchrist. Or Chris Gayle on a good day. And second, they sent Keiron Pollard in too late. That guy can hit. He can loft the ball effortlessly into the stands. But he can't win the match for you if he has no balls to play!! I wonder who was taking the decisions on the field for the Mumbai Indians last night.

I haven’t written anything about the IPL controversy yet. Too uninspiring. Neither the moustached, pot-bellied BCCI officials nor Lalit Modi with his pink & purple suits turns me on. Seriously, the guy (Modi) looks sleazy. Particularly with that smile of his that he has plastered on 24x7.

Well, he has already been suspended from the IPL by the BCCI. Poor guy - or not so poor guy depending on whose side you’re on - he created the IPL monster, fed it, grew it into the “paisa (money) league” that the media is calling it these days, and he has been ousted from his own creation!

I think he should've got a fair trial before being ousted, and I'm not playing the devil's advocate here. I think everyone deserves a fair trial and should be convicted of the charges against them, before being punished. By all means Modi should be ousted if he is found guilty of rigging/ manipulating the team bids, betting and the other charges against him, but until the charges are proved in court I don’t think it was fair to suspend him.

The bigger issue, however, is to find the right guy to replace Lalit Modi. There's no denying that he is enterprising, gutsy, an astute businessman and a visionary. Only someone with a vision, big ideas and who can look into the future could have come up with something as big and money-spinning - for the franchisees, the sponsors, the economy - as the IPL. It will be a challenge to find someone as dynamic as Lalit Modi to head the IPL. There is no dearth of intelligent, smart entrepreneurs in India - or so I'd like to believe - but dynamism and vision are qualitites that are still rare in this country. For the IPL, in its current form, doesn’t need an uninspiring BCCI official and definitely not a corrupt, lazy politician to head it!!

Bhindis

They're a vegetable I hate. Along with kaddu...lauki...gourd whatever you call it in your part of the world. I mean, are they even edible thingamingas?

As for bhindis (okra), I don't like the way they feel. Slimy to touch. And so I dutifully stayed away from them for quite some time. Unless I got these Gujarati neighbors!

Now, Gujaratis as you know love their vegetables. My neighbor, who is this darling woman of 22 who's just got married and moved to Calcutta from Ahmedabad, and who brings me dhoklas, theplas, sev ka shaak, Gujarati kadhi and very amusing desserts from time to time, introduced me to this masalewali bhindi. Bhindis sliced open along their length and stuffed with a concoction of spices - crushed garlic, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric, salt, sugar & a teaspoon of oil to bind the spices - and cooked in some oil on low flame till they are done. If you like spicy food, you will love this dish.

So I'm friends with bhindi again. What to do, I had no choice. I demanded a care package which never arrived. Instead I got a very gruff, "I'm going to take you back to your father. I've been given damaged goods. I want a fresh piece...or my money back".

Well, so much for having expected a care package. Not even one-hundredth of what I made for The Boy when he was sick, I got. So I set out for Flury's feeling sick and grumpy while a craving for chocolates & pastries swelled up inside of me like a surging tide, and bought a boxful of chocolate pastries & a walnut cake. Which are now sitting pretty inside my fridge b/c I'm back to craving the spicy bhindis.

Well, at least the bhindi & I are friends again. And I won't expect them to make me a care package, so there's no potential for disappointment either. It is all about expectation management, you know. And choosing your target well.

P.S.: Totally unrelated to bhindis, but I quite like how Deepika Padukone looks & struts her stuff in the Sony Supermodel Cyber-shot Camera ad. I like her hair (extensions, of course), her make-up, her dress & the way she walks down the ramp. Now only if she wasn't so much of a turn-off as soon as she opened her mouth.

An Uninspired Post - Do You Still Want to Read It?

Do you know the feeling when two of your favorite bloggers call/SMS you to ask why you've been silent on your blog for quite some time and is everything alright? And they ask you to get back to blogging because it's boring when you don't post?

Well, two of my favorite bloggers asked me just that and there's no better compliment for a blogger! It makes you want to do cartwheels, viral fever notwithstanding.

That's what it was, if you must know why I've been missing from action. Still is, rather. The virus, it strikes you when you least expect it to, and no amount of efforts to jack up your immunity during change of season by ingesting fruit juices, green leafy vegetables & vitamins will dissuade the determind virus from hitting & felling you savagely like them dinosaurs clasped lesser animals between their teeth & hit them bang on the earth.

So, plenty of fluids have been advised. By mouth to be specific, like there are other ways to ingest fluids. Oh yeah...the needles!! I don't even know what drugs are available in liquid form to be pushed up your veins, so I'm not sure why my doctor felt the need to be so specific of the way fluids need to be ingested. But he's a good doctor, keeps me away from antibiotics as much as he can. And also worries about when I'll get married!

I have also been advised rest but the powers above have decided that people are more productive at work when they're sick, and so I must accept my fate in life. But let me now get to the point of this post - which is that, people, be careful of the viruses! Temperatures are soaring, the humidity in the air is just short of turning to rain right at your eye level, and the air-conditioner provides the much needed relief. Except a-ha! The AC does you more harm than good. Not that you didn’t know that but let me expound anyway, since I love to hear myself talk.

Frequent alternating between a chilled and a hot room or the sun confuses your brain. It can’t send your body signals as to which temperature to adjust to, fast enough so your body isn’t able to make the number of anti-bodies it generally would under consistent temperature. Besides, viruses thrive in humid climates and are generally most virulent during change of season. This is a double whammy, in a bad way for you of course. And then there is the other issue of the AC re-circulating the same air over & over again. So if someone in the same room as you is breathing out viruses, they get re-circulated back inside the room instead of being expunged, and given that immunity is anyway low in colder temperatures, you are at a higher risk of catching the virus.

That Little Bit Extra

Okay, so I did the Cherry on Top award, and I said that my honesty, my "coolness" quotient :) and my sense of style were the 3 things I love about myself.

On hindsight, I couldn't think too much at the moment of writing the post due to work pressure. And there were various other amazing things about myself that I over-looked. Such as the fact that I'm such an independant person. I love love love that about myself. I've been living on my own since the past 12 years, and I'm completely self-sufficient. I manage my own life and my finances, I deal with the crises in my life on my own, I run my errands, get things fixed...in short I can deal with most problems in life on my own, without the help of another person. Unless there is a language barrier of course.

I also forgot to thank Chanz enough. Thanks a ton Chanz for the award, and sorry I didn't thank you properly earlier.

AND...AND...AND...my new pic is up! With my new "look"! I got this haircut completely unaware that this was going to be, like, the hairstyle of the season. Just went to my stylist and told him I wanted to go short. He said, "How about a bob?"

I said, "Sure, why not?"

He said, "An asymmetrical bob?"

"Even better!"

And that's how this look came about. And I love it, it's so chic! Now all these stupid Bollywood people, such as Lara Dutta, are going & getting this look, posting it all over Twitter and calling it their "summer look". Aargh! It's a style infringement. I expect to be compensated. With Oscar De La Renta dresses, Miu Miu hand bags and Salvatore Ferragamo shoes, no less.

Cherry On Top!

And I have been tagged!! :)

Here are the rules and I'll do the tag as I go along...

1. Thank the person who gave it to you - Thank you Chanz.

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog - Here goes...

3. List 3 things you love about yourself

i) I love my honesty. People who I like know that I like them, and those I don't, know that as well! And I make no efforts to pretend otherwise. Sure, this gets a lot of bitchiness coming my way...it also gets me the tag of 'arrogant' & 'snobbish' by people who don't really know me. But it keeps my life simple and I wouldn't have it any other way.

ii) I've been told I am a pretty cool person :) I don't poke my nose in other people's business. I am non-clingy, non-possessive. I try to be as non-judgemental as I can be. I don't judge people by their actions immediately. I try to give them the benefit of doubt at least once...try to make external attributions for their actions. I label them only if they exhibit the same behavior over & over again. I won't get offended if you forget to return my call...or didn't do it b/c you were feeling lazy. It's okay if you want to take a raincheck on meeting up an hour before we're supposed to meet! That's not to say that I'm a push-over...just that I have very few hang-ups in life.

iii) I love the fact that I'm reasonably stylish. Because, you know, appearances do matter. Deny it all you want, they do. Besides, it adds a little bit of excitement to a dreary work day!

4. Post a picture you love (e.g. a person you adore etc.)

Well, I'd like to leave the people I love & adore out of this public forum. So I'm putting up the picture of the University I did my undergrad from - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My Alma Mater. The place that changed my inside out & made me who I am today. The place I spent THE BEST four years of my life & gave me friends for life. The place I love & will miss till the time I die.

These pictures are just a glimpse of the heavenly campus and don't even begin to scratch the surface.

5. Tag 5 people you wish to pass this award on to.

Well, I'm going to tag 3 people instead of 5:

Moonshine - That "little bit extra" spunk!

The Knife - Beautiful food blog with that "little bit extra" that has made him a celebrity food writer!!

Serendipity - She pours her heart out in her blog.

Photo1 courtesy: http://www.travelguideofamerica.com/landscapes/ChapelHillCampus.jpg

Photo2 courtesy: http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/radisci/images/oldwellspring

Will They, Won't They?

Sania - Shoaib. The media is ODing on them. Their marriage is front page and “breaking” news every single day, as if there’s nothing report-worthy happening in the entire world. Bookies have ditched the IPL and are placing bets on their wedding - Rs 1.25 for every rupee if they get married, Rs 3.50 if they don’t.

The controversy has gone way beyond being absurd. It's hilarious now. I mean, who the hell ever gets married to a person he/she has never met and that too over the telephone??!! Are we living in pre-historic times? And how does marrying over the telephone work, exactly?

Then I read an article where Shoaib admitted that he went to Ayesha’s house a few times to meet her before their wedding but she was never there! Her family would make excuses for her - she had to go out of the country for some urgent work, she was having an emergency surgery yadi yada.

And he bought their stupid excuses!! Ha ha ha!!

You travel all the way to another country to meet your bride-to-be and she’s never there. Wouldn’t you be a tad bit suspicious? Just a tiny little bit, Mr Malik, not much? Didn’t a warning bell ring in your mind? Such a thing can happen once, not repeatedly. Even a dimwit will be able to see the warning signals.

Which brings me to my conclusion - Shoaib Malik is either seriously dumb or he was desperate to get married! Or both.

I think it is both. He has got to be really thick AND desperate to not have smelt something fishy in this bizarre case.

‘A’ put it beautifully. He said, “this guy is a ch***** of a different level”. It may sound crass but that’s the only word to describe Shoaib Malik. Who else will get married to a woman he hasn’t even seen, on the telephone!! I just can’t get over the hilarity of it.

I really don’t care who’s right and who’s wrong in this entire episode of telephonic shaadi (patent it Shoaib Malik before someone else beats you to it!). And now that Ayesha is claiming she also got pregnant with his child - did he even impregnate her over the telephone?? Brilliant…he should patent that as well.

If you ask me though, I think the guy could've been duped. But then, given how dumb he is/was, he totally asked for what's happening. And that's exactly what prevents me from sympathizing with him.

The question I can’t stop asking is – why is Sania Mirza getting married to this guy of all the people in the world? She is an educated, financially independent, career woman. She's a smart woman too, or at least she comes across as being one. Then why is she marrying such a stupid guy??

Maybe Shobhaa De has the answer. She thinks Sania has fallen for Shoaib’s “boyish good looks & rakish charm”.

Voila! If this is the case, I think their marriage will definitely happen on April 15th. Unless law gets in the way. Or the real Ayesha turns up! Sania Mirza is a woman in love after all, and a woman in love knows no reason, no matter how smart, practical and accomplished she is otherwise. The bookies will be better off betting on whether SRK will dance naked at the end of this IPL.

Inshallah.

Dumbledore's Secret

In a March 9, 2008 interview JK Rowling admitted that Dumbledore is gay and was in love with a wizard named Grindelwald whom he later defeated in a duel.

She said and I quote, "I had always seen Dumbledore as gay, but in a sense that’s not a big deal. The book wasn’t about Dumbledore being gay. It was just that from the outset obviously I knew that he had this big, hidden secret and that he flirted with the idea of exactly what Voldemort goes on to do, he flirted with the idea of racial domination, that he was going to subjugate Muggles. So that was Dumbledore’s big secret.

He’s an innately good man, what would make him do that? I didn’t even think it through that way, it just seemed to come to me, I thought, ‘I know why he did it. He fell in love.’

And whether they physically consummated this infatuation or not is not the issue. The issue is love. It’s not about sex. So that’s what I knew about Dumbledore. And it’s relevant only in so much as he fell in love and was made an utter fool of by love. He lost his moral compass completely when he fell in love and I think subsequently became very mistrusting of his own judgement in those matters so became quite asexual. He led a celibate and a bookish life."

Reactions?

The Name is Bond

Shane Bond.

And he is super HOT.

And my crush du jour.

The biggest turn-on about him is his icy cool demeanour - composed & aloof.

Yes baby, I would totally take you to bed.

Later Alligator!

Hi Mom! What’re you doing?
I’m at the parlor getting my hair colored. What are you doing?
Not much, I’m at home.
Listen I can’t really talk now. Can I call you later?
Sure mum. Bye

Hi Mom! What’re you doing?
I’m out having lunch with some friends. Where are you?
Oh, what fun! I’m home…
Listen beta, can I call you later?
Sure. Bye.

Hi Mom! What’re you doing?
I’m at a friend’s place. What are you doing?
Nothing mom, getting bored at home.
Don’t get bored at home. Go out somewhere! I’ll call you later, ok?
Ok mom. Bye.

Hi Mom! What’re you doing?
Papa & I are at K uncle’s place for dinner. What are you doing?
I’m at home having sad home food.
Home food is healthy. It’s not good to eat out so frequently. You guys eat our very frequently as it is. Listen beta, I’ll call you later, ok?
Yeah mom, sure.

Hi Mom! What are you doing?
I’m out for coffee with some colleagues. What are you doing?
Nothing. Where’s dad?
He’s gone to meet his friends. Listen beta, I’ll call you later.
OK mom.

Sigh....

Since when has my mother become this social butterfly? Shouldn't I be the one doing the party hopping & lunching with friends kind of thing? Since when has my mom's life become so happening? Isn’t she supposed to be there to talk to me whenever I need her? Is she supposed to go “later, alligator” on me??