My Date With Andhra Food

Today I got to eat Idli with sambhar from new opened shop nearby. It also had 2 chuntnies. One of them was not had any taste. But the other one was so spicy that I needed to eat sugar to pacify myself. That sugar eating after such a spicy food reminded my first ever encounter with Andhra food.

First time I had Andhra food, after around 15 days I landed in Bangalore. I was staying in Laxmi hostel, Bilekahalli. After fifteen days of Andhra meals, new andhra mess came opposite to our hostel. Just to try new food me with my friend went there. Even the first appearance was different from our past experiences. First time we had food in banana leaf. We were excited with lot of caution. We asked for mini-meals. The difference between mini-meals and full-meals was that in full-meals they provide unlimited amount of rice. The first time even mini-meals was more than enough for me. But the daal, sabzi, kadi, and chutney they provided was so spicy that I drank at least a full jug of water. Even after that I had sugar with curd and again a jug of water.

Still till evening the spicy taste was there on our on taste buds. But we liked the food and went there again, this time with our other friends. After that it became our daily food for lunch and dinner. Hardly we used to miss that andhra food. Interestingly, after lots of feedback and request from us mess owner started making food less spicy or might be our tastes buds adjusted accordingly.

It's been long since I had andhra food but still I relish that food. There are lot many interesting stories attached with andhra food tourney which involved me and many of my friends. But I remember the food as a savior on which we survived during initial days in Bangalore.

One Night Stand

That night was different. It was gloomy. There was something not-so-good about the weather too. None of my friends was here in Bangalore. They all were at their respective places to celebrate Diwali. So, I was alone in this big city for the first time. It's not that I was new to the city. It just that I always live with friends.

To make life little exciting, I decided to go to the pub. There I was in 30 minutes at "The Royal Pub" in Brigade. Initially I was not comfortable in the absence of my friends but then I saw a pretty face sitting alone in one of the corner. I thought of talking to the girl to pass my evening. It was not that I haven't seen gorgeous girls in my life but she was different. She was in light pink dress with no make-up. It was hard to believe that I can notice so many things in that dim light.

I approached her and asked "May I join you?". "Oh, yes. Why not" She nodded affirmatively. Within 30 minutes we were talking as if we were known to each other from many years. Initially I hesitated but then we started with very general talks, then we moved to some intimate talking . After 2 hours we were there on the way to her apartment. She had the nice 3 BHK apartment. I was wondering that how can she buy an apartment in such a posh area.

Once we were there at her home, after some talking we started getting physical. I was little shocked but that feeling was suppressed by the excitement of having sex with such a gorgeous lady. I stayed there for a whole night and came back to my rented apartment in the early morning. I was feeling at cloud nine after having one night stand as none of my friends even kissed a girl till now.

After that incident I didn't get chance to talk to her. Firstly my friends was here and they were quite orthodox. I feared that they might tell the incident to my parents. So, I didn't tell the incident to them as well as spared myself from calling her. Secondly, I got busy as my project delivery date was nearing in my office.

But there was something after that night, due to which I was not able to concentrate on work. Initially I thought it was sheer excitement of that night. After sometime the symptoms changed to feverish feeling all the time. Whole day I felt dizziness, with weakness. But when it has been more than 2 weeks I thought I might got viral and decided to visit the doctor. He gave me some pills and advised a blood test. I thought it must be a routine test. Next day, I went to the hospital to collect the report. I was doomed when I saw in my report "HIV : POSITIVE"

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Kahi flood kahi sookha

Kahi dhoop kahi chaya, yahi upar waale ki maya.

Mumbai flood is back in news. The news get the worse in 2004 when Mumbai halted. But now the news doesn't excites more as it is more like a regular news every year. Everybody is used to of the floods. Even after all the efforts put in to avoid it, but all this in vain. I do not know who should be responsible for this. Mumbai Development Authorities or the God?

But one thing is sure, the journalists from other parts of the nation are definitely much more relaxed and must be partying. It's been many hours that I am only getting the news of floods in Mumbai, it means that only journalists in Mumbai are busy rest are holidaying.

But all this was in lighter note. On some serious note I would like to mention that the floods are not only in Mumbai but in north-east states too and since last couple of days. But they don't make news. Might be the news are not worth of the air-time for top and self-claimed "responsible" and "fast-paced" news-channel.

On the opposite there are drought like situation in rest of the India. Long power cuts, high food prices, water scarcity are just some of its results. In MP, water-rationing is already in place since long. There were riots also for water. people starting feeling in cities that they are living in 100 years back when there was no light invented. I really do not know what many govenments, and civil servants did about it during their respective tenures.Let's not go into the way of solving the problems but if possible give it a thought. Till the time we solve the problem enjoy not getting the chance of viewing those s**t-like news channels, Rakhi ka svayanvar and many more. Try to know your neighbours, friends and live a social life like 15 years back when we were not confined to our homes only. We used to know all the families living in our street and next to that also.

Cheers to power-cut!!!!

Budget with Behenji

Just 3 more days and "the" budget-2009 will be presented by our FM in the parliament. As always everybody has its own wish-list towards this budget, but the question of the hour is how many of them will get the answers. We'll talk about later. Here we'll talk about something else and not so serious. Businessmen want import duty cut. Salaried people are eyeing to increase the tax limit. Armed forces wants to increase their share of budget. Bharitaya aam-aadmi still asking for water, food and monsoon? But above all what Mayawati could be asking from FM this year. Her wish-list includes but not limit to:

1. First and foremost increase in the funds, which UP will get for natural calamity, disaster. No, she is not foreseeing any such thing in UP rather she wants to use that fund to build her statues. You may think where is the disaster. Don't you think she herself is the disaster to the UP.
2. She wants the increase in her security. She does not fear any Gundas. She has fear from the central government itself.
3. She wants more helicopters in the state quota, so that she does not need to move on the roads.
4. She wants the new "park-garden policy (PGP)" as SEZs. So that she can grab the land from the farmers and build her statues in the name of the parks. And by the way security for the parks too because anyone can throw the stone on her statue.
5. To implement "PGP" policy all over the country aggressively. She wants to build her statues all over Bharat.
6. She will ask for tax-rebate in pink colour paints. So, that people can paint there houses in pink colour. In fact she can demand to declare "pink" as the national colour. In addition to that she will demand to paint all the government building and monuments in pink color. May be, she will start from Taj Mahal.
7. Last but not the least, as she is well-known as behenji. She wants government to declare her "National sister" like National father Mahatma Gandhi. May be she'll ask for sister-day also.

PS: Please do not take it seriously. This is just to tickle funny bones inside us.

In-built Confusions

Sometime I get confused with:

1. If not having vehicle insurance and get caught by traffic police should I i) pay 50 or 100 bucks and get away or ii) pay full challan.
2. i) Will satyagraha still work in 21st century against the corruption in India or ii) even Gandhiji himself has opted for something else?
3. In the RTO i) should I get the driving license (DL) through the agent by giving money or ii) should I miss the office for a week and spent that time in RTO's office struggling to find even 1 officer to talk there.
4. i) Should I feel happy about the people making money in Sensex or ii) feel bad for those who do not even get 1 meal a day?
5. i) Do I need to be happy when I see Agatha Sangma as MP at the age of just 28 or ii) I need to feel pity of the political situation as she won because she is a daughter of well-known minister P. A. Sangma
6. i) I feel happy because women are doing as good as men or ii) and feel bad as they are doing good in smoking and drinking too.

Cricket vs Management

So, all of us witnessed the debacle of Indian cricket team in 2009 T20 world cup. I'll not go for what mostly are saying that M. S. Dhoni was the reason of team's bad performance there in England. There were whole lot of other issues also. It's just that the decisions taken by Dhoni did not went that straight and missed there target. After all it's just a game. Win and loose are just a side of coin. Australia too was out in first round itself. It does not make them an easy side. They are still tough to play. But of' course everytime we fail we should take it as an opportunity to learn things. There are couple of management lessons which we can learn from the cricket story.

Put your best foot first: One of the major reasons of Indian team defeat, which people are discussing about is sending Ravindra Jadeja up in the order in place of in-form Yuvraj Singh. And when Yuvi got a chance to play it was probably little late even for him too. It helps in understanding that everybody has to put his best when working in a team. You do not want to rest when project starts and slog when it seems to miss the deadline.

Be Aggressive: Again it comes to Ravindra Jadeja, he was on the slower side when it came to scoring run in T20 side. Might be he was instructed by Dhoni to keep the wicket. In the process, he might loose the runs. And this was the reason alone due to which they won T200 world cup 2007. What this incident suggest is that it's better to be aggressive when working on any project. If you'll be slow then you might end up in chasing deadlines always.

Don't wait till it comes to the height: One of the major reason of losing matches was the bouncers by West-Indies and England teams. They used it effectively. Similarly don't wait till the work-pressure will come to your head. It's always better to keep work-pressure low. Only then you can keep balance between personal and professional life.

Don't let fatigue grow: When we work we need to rest too. At last people are saying that players were not fit due to long cricket schedule and IPL. So to take rest is one of the most important aspect of keep yourself fit to work and take pressure.

Believe all your team members: I still question the decision of not giving the ball to R. P. Singh, who was in good form and he gave just 13 runs in his earlier 3 overs with one wicket too. Albeit, Dhoni asked Ishant to bowl, which cost him quite handsomely. So, it's better to understand all of your team-members, there strength and weaknesses and ask them to play the part accordingly.

R. P. Singh - A new episode in Indian Cricket Team

So, what is the difference between these two pics. They both led Indian cricket team bowling attack once, out of the team for a while and trying to come back to the side now. But who is selected for this year's T20 world-cup Indian team. It's R. P. Singh. You might have heard almost all the people about Sreeshanth's attitude problem in and out of the cricket ground. Even if he takes a wicket in last over of someone, who has already done enough damage to the Indian team, he dance like he has taken a wicket in first ball of the first over.

Aggression is good, but we must understand that there is a very thin line between being aggressive and being funny. Sreeshanth surely has crossed that line many times and make himself funny. Either it's a dance on the field after hitting six or it's the slap episode of IPL's first season last year. Just to re-iterate the fact that R. P. Singh is the most wicket taker in this year's IPL season. I remember after taking every wicket he used to smile, and did not shout like an animal.

Shreeshant was once a part of Indian cricket team. He has speed but I personally feel that he is overvalued bowler. He has a speed and aggression which is good but as I already mentioned that to be successful you are supposed to learn to contain your aggression and put it in one clear direction. You can not become Zaheer or Glen just by shouting at the opponent batsmen. You need to bowl well and get there wicket. And mind you just getting one wicket does not complete your job. You need to keep doing it regularly.

On the other hand R. P. Singh does not have that much speed as Shreesath's but the swing he got is lethal. And I never saw him getting satisfied with one wicket. That's why he is a purple cap holder of the tournament. He was neither depressed when he got a hit for six nor shouted when he took the wicket at the next ball. This shows the real character and the distance he has covered to reach here. He surely now an exprience bowler and I hope this experience will help him in taking wickets in coming T20 world cup as well as in following series. I believe that he'll do well and get many wins for Indian cricket team in future.