Strawberries galore

Strawberry cake, with cream cheese and strawberry frosting and fresh strawberry.. yes, it does taste better than it looks, et oui, I baked it from scratch. I have to show off. Does good things to my ego! No, there's none left. The family polished it off!

A good haul

I went to the library this evening.I mean, no big deal.I've been going to a library ever since I could remember.First at school, and then one close to where I live. Its this little shop like thing, tucked between two others on the main road,something one can easily miss.But once you enter, it is stuffed with books,almost bursting at its seams.Shelves and shelves of books,old and new. a big desk behind which is the librarian whom in call 'Uncle'. The moment he sees me, all the good and new stuff comes out from under that desk.I love going inside, looking around,spending time and picking out books. Today was unhurried. Browsing is my favourite part.Only then shelves that are too high are kind of a pain.Its like this..first I look at the new ones,then go to the heavy reading section,Indian Authors,thrillers and detective novels,chick lit and then Archie comics.I Collect a huge pile and then read the back and segregate.I consider a successful haul with a nice little melange. 2 for heavy reading, 2 chick lit, and a Roald Dahl or James Herriot. I wish they were both still alive.I've read all of Herriot's books, and quite a few of Dahl's.I'm reading a collection of his short stories now. Preferably, I go alone. I hate being hurried with someone standing behind me, asking me to get done soon.
I just finished 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini.It was so good. I wouldn't say its amazing piece of literature, but so well written. I actually cried while reading it.Because although it is fiction, these things happen.'Truth is Stranger Than Fiction' is one of my dad's favourite lines. I picked up the Kite runner now. Hope its good.I've seen it before but somehoe never bothered taking it. I also got Jhumpa Lahiri's 'The Namesake'. I've already seen the movie. A first for me,cause I'm the type who likes the book better. I heard the movie is better from one person..saying its more visual(obviously!!) and nice. After that, a hundred others told me the book is more descriptive(sigh.obviously.again) I figured, I might as well try it out!

So here's to a good week of reading!

Me

I finally got around to doing the Visual DNA thing. I cant cut and paste from the site, so here's a brief what-Ne-is. A few lines..
You love the sun,sand and wind in your face. A holiday is to recharge and get pampered.You things to be clean,neat and smelling sweet.(Which might explain all my fruity shampoo,soaps,conditioners,foot scrubs,and my sangria bath set!)
You treasure your possessions.Looking fresh is a standard for you.You like your surroundings to life your mood.For you, love is a long term commitment, it means devotion and tenderness. You are a bit of a romantic and have a taste for the exotic.

:-)

Hyderabad Highs

After a month long hiatus,here I am again! :D I dint realize its been a month since I blogged.That was also because I was in Hyderabad for the last 10 days having a blast. Since I am leaving and all that, I decided to go to my grandparents place,meet cousins.I figured since I wasn't really doing anything here,I might as well go and do nothing there.Oh, and there was a wedding happening too! But I was truly in for a (pleasant) surprise. There was lots to do in hyd! I literally shopped till i dropped. The city is filled with malls and places to eat. The best part is,everyone seemed to be shopping and eating. What a change from the hyderabad I knew. Or maybe I dint really get to see the place since we would go there only for a wedding and my cousin sis,(who's just a year younger than me )and I wouldn't be allowed to stay out too late. Now that we're both working and "all growed up" we could do whatever we wanted. We had something to do everyday. One mall a day and a couple of shopping bags was like mandatory! The best part is, 10 minutes from their place is this HUGE row of factory outlets.From levis,to pepe,dockers and nike reebok and adidas. Need i say more?? *grin*

A typical day would be..wake up late,by the time we're all ready, its lunch time. eat. or go out to the various lunches organized in each aunt's place. shop.get home. go out for dinner.During the wedding time the lunch and dinner will be preceded by a function.In all this, my grandmother has a boutique.She does salwar kameez and saree business.So we would ooh and aah over the nice stuff she brought back from jaipur and when customers look at them. I seriously have the 'funest' grandma who brings back the most coolest stuff.I picked out this lovely toe ring which she brought back.The grandfather wasn't too happy about me wearing a toe ring since I am unmarried,but hello,its a fun thing and I'm wearing it only on one foot. He still dint seem to be convinced. Oh and we had this new flavor of Breezer called 'Jamaican Passion'. was yummy. Is it possible to sign some kind of a petition for them to start allowing Bacardi to market Breezer in Chennai? Grr. This is SO not fair. We have it in Bangalore and Hyderabad, Chennai really feels left out. Cant u see that??? H-M-P-H!!

I'm back in Chennai now. I need to learn to make all the types of Dal. Learn to IDENTIFY them first is more like it. I get so confused with the English,Hindi,Tamil and Telugu names! There are like some million varieties, multiply them into 4, and what do expect? One hell of a confused drama queen.

More updates on the dal et al later.ta!

right here right now

I know I havent posted in a long long time and I was actually questioned by a few faithful readers of my blog!! ..And I thought I was the only one reading me.So,YAAY.
These last few weeks have been a bit hectic for me,what with getting my VISA to the US and quitting work and all.What do u expect? So, now as you must have gathered,I am going to get back to being a student and start burning the midnight oil.I am off to the University of Maryland,College park.I am excited,sad,apprehensive,tense and a whole range of things.
I will post again tomorrow I promise. Have to run now! oh and I have started shopping! :-) ta.

So i've got eye trouble and am subjected to wearing my specs for like a week. blah.Apparently the inner eyelid of mine is all bumpy when its supposed to be smooth.And those dumb eyedrops end up at my throat when I lie down and it tastes terrible. :-(

The Life of Pi

Initially when I heard of the book, i thought 'The Life Of Pi' would literally have something to do with math,or some kind of a child prodigy. I couldn't have been more wrong.This Booker Prize winning material by Yann Martel is about this teenage boy from Pondicherry who's thrown overboard when the ship he's travelling on with his family sinks. With a male bengal tiger in tow,he manages to survive 277 days at sea on a lifeboat. The kid calls himself 'Pi' which explains the title(anyone would considering he was named Piscine Molitor Patel by his parents!)Speaking of names, why would parents choose names for their offspring that would definately give rise to a good bout of teasing,name calling and the like? I mean,seriously.What about the kid who's name is Fakir?(no prizes for guessing what his nickname at school would be) or Balaji who's always Bajji,Madhav becomes maddie,Nikhil to Nikki, Srikanth to Cheeky,cheeku,so on and so forth...aarrgh.digressing.back to the book.So Pi's dad is a zoo keeper who's immigrating to canada with a veritable menangerie on the ship.Needless to say after the ship sinks,a couple of creatures climb in.A tiger, a zebra and an orangutan. A battle of strength follows and Pi is left with the Tiger.
The book is about survival, which tells us a lot about human nature.He manages to land on an uninhabited island for a few days.The place is filled with these arboreal beings called meerkats. They reminded me so much of those creatues in the movie 'Madagascar'.The ones in the middle of the wild dancing and partying! Im not sure if Martel intended it that way, but hey,its my imagination and its a free world.

I really liked the book.Especially the detail and research that went into it..like the part about the sloth and its habits(no im not talking about my brother here.im referring to the animal.no no...not him.but then again...*grin*) The inital part of the story is of Pi and family's life in Pondicherry and general south indian stuff. Usually when foreigners talk about India, they tend to mix up the facts about the South and the North. Like people's names, and food. Here, there is no mistaking the effort that went into detail. A good, refreshing change. In this same way,in a grotesque manner he goes on to explain bloody fights between the animals and how Pi is forced to eat raw sea food.I almost threw up. But that dint stop me from reading. I guess thats what a good author does.

I am not saying i TOTALLY loved the book. But it was definately much better than above average. I cannot judge if it was a worthy winner of the Booker prize for that year since i'd have to read the other nominations to comment.

Neha's rating :

The Life Of Pi by Yann Martel : 8/10


The next review will be of 'The Home and The World' by Rabindranath Tagore. An english transalation of "Ghare-Baire". But for now, a little chick lit is waiting for me. Oh, and I finally got a copy of Shantharam. A good haul from the library this time. :-)