I go Nostradamus way (Ooooopieeesss)!

(Ahem...... hem..... em.........m..... As I clear my throat!!)

....... In the 1980s
Aunty Laxmi waits eagerly for her daughter to call from the US of A. Just recently married off, daughter Malathi is off to a different land, poles apart. Her only point of contact with her only child - a phone. When telecommunication was yet a researched field, and when "talk time" was an unheard term, aunty would just pray that her talk would be as long as possible for a person she craved to care for.

Ttring....tring ringed the bell....!! What better joy could Laxmi aunty wait for than this moment? She grabs the telephone and as usual tears start rolling down her cheek.... for she hears a voice that could only console her. Aunty wants every detail of what her daughter is upto. She shoots her share of anxious questions in what is a trunk-call!! And before she even completely knows how life is treating her daughter..... the phone line goes boink....!! (sigh!) that meant another long wait for a longing soul!!

Come 1990s....
Well.... things did not seem as hopeless as to begin with.....!! Aunty Laxmi has already seen her daughter 4 times since she was married off less than a decade ago.

Phone calls are limited to the weekends. But guess what! She can now make calls to her daughter! So what if it costs!!

She also owns a computer, her niece Nandu comes home to log her into whats called an Internet and then he goes click-click to open a box called a messenger that gets her talk English with her daughter!! Aunty now even can understand slangs that her daughter has picked up! Being a visitor once already, aunty can even correlate her daughter's mention of neighbourhood.

Come early 2Ks....
U just can’t guess how smart aunty Laxmi has become. She has her own recipe website (laxmiskitchen.com) and has a major fan-following. Thanks to Nandu becoming a software professional and he married off to a software company!! Laxmi aunty has not already seen him for the past 2 weeks. Wonder if he is already traveling to Oz/UK/US (Bet, aunty knows what they stand for!).

Aunty now owns a high-end laptop. She is able to see her daughter and vice versa!! Oh so lovely, aunty can even see her 2 grandchildren. She is hooked to her laptop like never before....!! She can even see what her daughter's cooking. Best of all, aunty can even sit in the pooja room and talk to her daughter. All chaturthis and panchamis are all with each other hooked to the "Internet". Phone calls..... well its more easier catching up on the Internet maccha!!

Going into a little further.....
..... Lo behold, before I go ga-ga & U assume this a fiction write-up.....!!

Before I churn on more stories of the Laxmis and Malathis...., think of what we have been through the past few decades. A technological revolution, where distances do us apart with closer ones.... but only to bring us closer to them on a virtual space called Internet!

Ahem..... Are you sure they are only close-ones? Oh no, the worlds opening up like never before. Thanks to all the networking channels, teenagers brag about friends from the most popular to the obscurest countries. I have friends who had a friend from Dubai (they met online) attend their wedding in India. (Dosti keliye saath samudar bhi paar karke aayega!)

Infact I knew that my good friend played the piano only after i looked up on his homepage. I have atleast 1 friend who is not around, who sends in an invitation for viewing their fotos almost every week. And a constantly open messenger, with friends from all over the world popping in messages whenever (jobless....!! ahem.... err) they want to! I chat/mail friends more than I talk to or see them!

I could go on n on over this tangent to.... but U do all that summary of pros and cons!!

On a quick thought, think of all those wonderful minds, who knew how to harness inventions to create more! Infact, I am wondering where do I get started: Electricity or telephony or computers or networks..... We could actually argue on the who’s who of this bunch of change-the-world protoganists.

My xyz cents!!
Well.... if technology still spearheads into better times of the world, there is little doubt that life is changing for better.

Perhaps, if i could make a medley of all the sciences that i managed to pass through in my academics, then I for one, surely foresee a technology revolution, where we get to TIME-TRAVEL into the future.

Now whats that, U wonder..... Well I am no Nostradamus..... but a real lesser mortal, who chooses to imagine, than hypothesize.....!!

Think of this, U want to go to New Zealand for a break. All that U have to do is log into the virtual space, time travel to New Zealand, and lo U are already in NZ just minutes later. U are in NZ physically. U can feel, sense, jump, run, walk, breath, laugh, talk ..... all in NZ. Boy-o-boy, U go to your favorite resto in just a click away. U are there a couple of minutes later in the NZ beach (oops, dont ask me the name!).....!! Life bangaya gentlemans......!! U are Around the world althru 365 days.

Jules Verne's "Around the world in 80 days", mite still remain a fiction novel, perhaps in a lesser fictitious way!!

My guess is technology would then take us to a point where we have a physical view of a virtual world. Talking to someone at a distant place, would only mean logging into a virtual space, from where on everything else is real. U feel, touch, sense much the way as in your own physical world. Essentially would mean U are anywhere anytime U want!!

U save everything ---- money, time, effort, most importantly health.

I name this product AIA (prounounced as yeah!!), expanded as "All In All"..... :D

But...... am I giving the aviations and tourisms a run for their money ;))??????.......... Nah, not for some more time, till they give halwa to all the junta!!

But Aunty Laxmi, let me console U, it’s a thing in the future and for all U know we might be part of that revolution too.....!!

It was supposed to happen someday and it happened when we could least act on!!

1 of those days when it was late (around 9:30pm) when I started from office. He had come to office to pick me up. The haplessly tired souls that we were, decided to eat out that night. Well at 10:00 pm in the night, we don't have much choice of eating out.

We went to this nearby Punjabi Dhaba (a decent hangout for most bachelors in this area), called New Punjabi hotel. The place was full of Northi men (except for him) and I could spot only another female at that hour. The place felt so North Indianish.

And, either of us have this technique of calling out some1 "Bhaiyya" just to start an authentic hindi-like conversation, but still continue in the broken Hindi, utmost shedding our ignorance in the language, which we rather are happy not to learn. Thats a technique we learnt when at Delhi.....

We ordered some phulkas and a methi roti. It was long since I had Rajmah masala. So I quickly concluded that we have Rajmah. It was not long b4, we saw food. I mean this was 1 hotel, where we would not have to wait endlessly for grub to arrive all with hungry tummies, droopy eyes and a sorry feeling for the other, unless we chose to eat in a buffet dinner/lunch. A la carte is sometimes painful. I could possibly go on with more stories of how much we have fought over lunch/dinner table to grab the grub we want in an a la carte.....

Well, it was a quickie dinner, and food was just ok to satiate our hungry souls. Long before 6 overs in the West Indies - Sri Lanka world cup match was over, which had hooked a few bachelors in the dhaba, we were done ordering and finishing our dinner. It was close to 10:20 pm then. And was time to head home........ to catch all the lost sleep at office ;)).

We reached home and he was parking his vehicle while I went to open the door. Oh no, I thought, I dint have the key, so I waited for him. I asked him for the key and he said he dint have it in what I thought was his usual frivolous tone. I was dead too tired and pleaded him for the key and his expressions told it..... We DID NOT have the KEY!! Both of our keys were safe inside the house!!

OH BOY!! It was supposed to happen someday and it happened when we could least act on!!

.....And it took us little time to gather that and we were stranded safely outside the house........!!

(Now..... don't ever tell this to my parents!!)

Perceptions And Realities!!

Pic 1: U spot the protagonist X (reasons that this is a public blog, the identity of X is a top secret :D) hanging from a rope? Well, the distance between her foot to the ground is all of just 20 feet. Checkout how naively she holds on to her life onto the rope. Also notice that she is hooked to a rope securely enough!! 20 feet is all that separates from a free fall.... But thats enough to scare her for a fall (THUDDDDDDD!!!!!)


Pic 2: U spot the protoganist Y (reasons that this is a public blog, the identity of Y is yet again a top secret :D) posing for a camera. Well, this time, she is at an altitude of 14000 ft from ground level, rearing to go higher up the mountains. And at this high an altitude, she seems to have not too much (I guess) a hassle with whatever she is doing......


Well, moral of the story goes thus (U cud well choose to disagree): It DOES NOT at all MATTER where U are on earth (at whatever height or depth), unless you have your FOOT FIRMLY ON GROUND!! ;))

I need "Wide Open Spaces"............!!

....... No I am not talking of the peppy Dixie Chick's "Wide Open Spaces" number.

Read that as, I need Wide Open Spaces in Bangalore..............
Ah.....!! Now I see the entire world nodding at me......!!
Before U continue reading my blog, heres a questionnaire, answering which, I assure is not even 1/100000 times as painful as Blore traffic.

Have U traveled on Blore roads? (sigh!)
Have U been victimized to long travel time on roads?
Have U been pushed and pulled by a hazaar ppl in a bus that can fit < 50 ppl?
Have U had a less painful weekend than shopping at the Malls which take more ppl than it can fit??
Have U walked half the distance to office, asking for an auto every second?
and.....
most importantly........... Does pollution bother U??

If Yes, welcome to the club!! and a hi-fi before we proceed :)
If No, trust me, I am the first to envy U man!! :(

To the former, heres is 1 forum we could have a mass cribbb session.

Being a blorean from birth, I have seen how this place has transformed over the past few years (say around 5-6 years). Well, I thought I would grow to see a more transformed world.......... but this kind of transformation....#%&**#%%.......... I DINT ASK FOR IT!!

But before I proceed more of the crib session ahead, I would certainly acknowledge the honor that Blore is getting in being the most sought-after city in India. This place has:
a) given shelter to so many people coming from other states
b) laid grounds to an IT revolution that pays the bread & butter to people like me
c) enabled SMBs to enterprises to have their share of growth and profits
d) transformed the life-style of people.
e) and has the best weather among other cities in India (TOUCH WOOD!!)........ Hmmmm..... Namma Bengalooru!! I love Blore,.................... FULL STOP!!

But should I rephrase that as I loved Blore?? Hmmmm......... well........, ah! uuuuuuuughhhhhhh!! Nah!!

I mean, my academic days, we had a rather peaceful life.... If not for too much of an infrastructure, we atleast had some facility to go places in Blore. I have not been a active sports, but I still remember, I had a hoard lot of neighbour kids playing around on the roads........... games like hide& seek, gilli-dhaanda, and ofcourse the must play kunte-bille.

But what remains of today is still the suffering infrastructure, which is just not healthy enough to gain momentum. And now, I see hoards of neighbour kids stranded at home watching TV...... and if they have to play on roads, there is more fear of vehicles running down......
Even the open spaces, we had once upon a time near my house, has some uncle build a big house.......

All the playgrounds we had near my house, has some commercial establishments set up. And with the property crave booming, I see houses come up in any little open space....... I fear Gen Y would not even play as much as I used to.........!!

I am at this point addressing 2 issues: a) the traffic problem b) the space constraint...... Both of them are directly proportional!! and there arises the problem. In either cases, we are talking of more number of people than what the system can fit in........!!

What strikes me at this point is would Blore, anytime see "Wide Open Spaces", rather "open spaces" at all (forget wide!!)??

MCA Day-out!!

Well, with some junta watching for a happening "cook" space, I am most honored to inaugurate a humble "COOK" space called "uppuchakkara.blogspot.com".

Imagine, life without "uppu" (read salt), "chakkara" (read sugar) [I mean as an after-effect to no-food]!! Tuff naa?

No kidding on the blog; I plan to jot down a few of my cuisines, prepared at home, (with either amma or attha monitoring me....)!! (yeah! i hear a sigh of relief or two!)!! Am sure following my recipe is gonna result in a wholesome meal 4 4 (read four!).

Well, lets do some justice, my bloggie name, seems too South Indian.... So, what happens of my ardent non-South Indian visitor??

Hmm..... am thinking!! U cud well suggest a name for my "cook" blog.... trust me, i wud feel honored :))

More whens its the Namakaranam (read naming ceremony!) day!!

Head Chef!

Studying MCA!

Have just entered into MCA (Master of Culinary arts)!!!!! Well..... not long b4 I master :-)!!

They (Elders da!) say marriage could be an eye-opener for a lot of reasons..... But I think the most impactful is when the couple gotta manage the household.... COOKING in particular.....

I have managed cooking a lot of news in life..... Well, time up for me to do some serious cooking, (culinary i mean!).... dress on an apron, hold a spatula, stir some colored semi-liquid/solid.

I have never been a good gourmet nor have been extoled for any good kitchen activity. Trust me, given this scenario, it was a creepy feeling for me initially, of how i wud manage to cook some palatable stuff.....
But when life gives U no choices(;-)).... here I go..... stepping into MCA...... of which am sure I will emerge a CHAMP!!

Wait b4 I start a vareity recipe BLOG!! ;-))....... After all, vareity is the SPICE of life!!

Funny, nah!

I was listening to Loius Armstrong's "What a wonderful world"..... Thot it was the funniest song I had ever listened to......

But.... could n't resist listening to it the 2nd time.... and then the 3rd time..... and the yet again..... oh boy!

Heres it:

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
(George Weiss / Bob Thiele)

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah

I think I have heard this in some movie.... Dont remember where though!