Weekend in Pune

Over my short over-the-weekend trip to Pune I spotted some pretty flowers and had a few clicks. My (amateurish) hand at photography. Do check them out. Edit after Prashant suggested to classify the flowers.





The picturesque Sunset







Lone Pink flower set aglow









Pink Oleander (Nerium oleander) flower from the oleander family.







The red flower perhaps the wild Ruby Cinquefoil from the rose family.
The tiny Yellow flowers are from the dog flower family and are called Asiatic Witchweed






White flowers (Still not sure of the name)





Edit 1:
Nomenclature courtesy: Flowers of India

PS: Came across a lot of interesting names of flowers; for instance:
Kiss Me Quick
Honesty
Shaving Brush tree (incidentally the flower does look like a shaving brush!)
Thickhead (not kidding)
Lipstick Tree
Hooker's Woodrose
Farewell to Spring
Autograph Tree
Bladder Dock
Cup Saucer Plant
Devil's Backbone
Foolproof Plant
Badminton Ball Tree
Devil Tree
Bridal Veil ..... and a flower on my name!!!

PPS: Hydrangeas are absolutely breathtaking!

Not the BEST of bus rides

I hate (read:H-A-T-E) traveling by bus. Period. Thank God for trains! Now I usually don't rant and whine, (S and Vintage would be synonymously shaking their heads in disapproval) but this post would say otherwise. I think reading Zee has kinda rubbed off on me :P :D And oh she's a interesting blogger I tell ya.
It was one of those days again where things didn't go as well as planned. Morning I get up as early as 8 and set out to battle against the outdoors when out of my abode's comfort. :P
Anyway as any other Mumbaikar I was to catch a bus to reach the train station within a half an hour's time. The bus came surprisingly on time and was pretty speedy. Or so I thought. The bus got moderately crowded. I scrambled inside the bus and hovered like a hawk to spot an empty seat. For two good reasons:
One: I was carrying my oh-so-heavy-it-would-break-my-limb laptop in one arm and my shoulder bag in the other. (You see, I realized my ONLY mistake after purchasing my laptop for a bargain price was NOT buying a backpack carry case for it instead of the free-of-cost-over-the-shoulder carry case)
Two: I like to sit! :P

To my dismay the reserved ladies' seats were occupied. And so after a while or so of standing and balancing my luggage like a clown on a tri-cycle I manage somehow to acquire a seat. And one with a window view! :D I was contended on that note. And so the passenger man excused himself to let me be seated, with some difficulty. These BEST buses usually have a sequence of two-seaters parallel to each other in every bus.
And I sat, and to my misery or just goddarn luck I realized that I was sitting on the seat which is over the wheel of the bus. So I am sitting in this crouched (read: very uncomfortable) position which on seeing my yoga instructor would've been so proud of me. And to add insult to injury I had my not-so-light laptop and carry bag placed precariously over my legs. And so went five minutes. I thought to myself, 'OK, this ain't that bad, I just have to sit this^ way for another 10 minutes. I'm cool'. And, being proud of myself on being so optimistic and adjusting I sat. 10 minutes. And I sat some more. 15 minutes. 25 minutes.
Right, now my male co-passenger was really uncourteous, not even throwing a look at my misery. He could've at least shifted, he had no luggage whatsoever. So even as I sighed and huffed and puffed, all he was bothered is to watch the bloody adverts on the mini-telly in the bus. and those adverts were so *beep*. The same irritating advert on Chyavanprash being played back to back. 30 minutes down and I was trying to feel my numb butt, adjusting my posture every other minute.
31 minutes down, my ray of hope arrives-the uncourteous idiot get up and leaves, but the bus is so crowded that no sooner did i try to shift, did another guy sit. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh! I yelled in my head; grinding my teeth, I sunk further as it was now a whole 45 minutes all thanks to the unending traffic and Metro Construction work. And then finally came a bus-stop where most people get off (bless them) and I could finally feel my legs again! 50 minutes of patience and composure. And I knew I had to blog about it ;)

BTW Mumbai locals ROCKKK!!! Mostly on time :D

^Rotate the image to the left and you'll get to know what EXACTLY I mean.

Food Tag

Since I'm a self-proclaimed connoisseur of cuisines and good food ;P I thought why not made a food tag? I declare it the "IamalwaysHungry" tag or IAAH tag for short. :P
(OK, so I am now a certified jobless person)

Alright, so here's my tag ishstyled by me, ofcourse! ;P
OK, so the tag:

THE FOODIE TAG

Rules:
Participants are requested to post the above barcode image to the post when answering to the tag.
Must answer ALL the questions as an impromptu response.
Be Hungry, Stay Hungry
May God help u! :P

Questions:
1. One dish you can crave for any given time of the day/ night/ situation?

2. One dish you'd never had and would love to regardless of the expense?

3. Most expensive dish you've ever had?

4. Most bizarre dish you've ever seen or tasted? Like totally blown your socks off! Makes you gag every single time your lay your eyes on it. (Hope you've got the point by now :P)

5. Your poison?

6. One a lonely rainy day, your sitting cozily on your sofa, you'd crave for?

7. First forbidden savoury you'd crave for while you've been sick?

8. Your all time favorite TV snack:

9. On your first ever kitchen experience you prepared:

10. After a tiring day at work/ college/shopping/loitering you'd loved to come home to?

11. A cuisine your most comfortable with:

12. A snack which you loved A LOT back when you were a kid and still love it till date?

13. A dish which your mum makes/ used to which you simply adore?

14. What you're eating RIGHT NOW? or had immediately before?

Just when you thought it was all over...
BONUS! (Don't cha love em?) ;)

*15. Your friends are coming over on short notice. You have half an hour. How would save your dignity by being hospitable and feed your friends? (considering you can't take them to a restaurant or call for take out)


I tag:
*drumroll*
.
.
.
.
.
Rach, Mahak, JoJo Tiffany

My first Tag (NOT Heuer)

Me first tag... cannot evade rach's tag. :P :D And since I 'm tired of reading my books, and got nothing interesting to do (read lazy). Forgive me if I'm biased towards Hollywood movies..So, here goes nothing!

1- Which was the movie that you had waited for with anticipation and turned out to be an utter dud?

Ahhh... A walk to remember. (OK, romantics don't kill me for this)

2- Which was the one most ridiculously stupid movie you watched in a theatre and then thought that you might as well have thrown that money in a well for all it was worth?

Hmmm.....OK, HAS to be a hindi fillum :P
Paheli... my mum loved it though!

3- If you had to be in a movie or a scene that you would want really really to be something that happened in real life, which would that movie or scene be and which character would you be?

Instinctively, Micheal J. Fox's character from Back to the Future. Sci-fi rocks! :P

4- Write three songs that would tell me what you lovvvvvvvvvve to do in your spare time...

Traveling: 'Yunhi Chala chal rahi' from the Movie: Swades
Gardening: 'Gunguna Rahe Hain Bhavre' from the Movie: Aradhana
Chatting: 'Yeh tumhari meri baatein' from the Movie: Rock On!

5- Name a movie you actually thought was better than the book or atleast did justice to the book...

Agreeing with Rach here.
Harry Potter 1 & 4 :)
AND
Lord of the Rings.

6- You are on a desert island... you found the island genie who granted you on wish that he would bring one person to join you on your exile... You have told the genie who you want that to be... apparently the genie isn't all that magical... he went to get that person and you are waiting for the procrastinating genie to get back with that person... What song do you sing while you wait?

Un-magical genie huh?? (There goes my wish list!)
Bob Sinclair remix- 'World Hold On'
or
Dido-'I've got sand in my shoes' (Ain't I on an Island?)

7- One song on your IPOD/mobile that was a huge hit a few months/years ago and the radio stations used to play every hour and seem to have forgotten all about now that you tend to listen to often enough

'Forever and For Always' by Shania Twain.

Bonus: Dil Chahta Hai: Title Track

8- One song that reminds you of somebody or a group of people... Do inform why it causes you to reminisce...

'Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan' from Dil Se... because I danced with my group on that number. (yep! believe ittt!)

9- The one movie you saw most recently and which lived upto all your expectations if not more...

'SAW' .... Wowwie!

10- The one song you have heard atleast twice today... either on the radio or the cell or on TV...

'Haule Haule' from Rab ne Bana di jodi
and 'Massakali' from Delhi 6 :D

Bonus Question: In view of today being Valentine's day... Well it was when I started thinking of this tag, type down song which is meant to be romantic, but the lyrics make you think otherwise (There are a lot of Govinda songs I know, but try to think of a song not many people would know or think of)

Anu Mallick with his impromptu and imprudent stuck-in-your-head-like-a-migraine-song: 'Unchiiiiiiiiii hai building' :P :P

*Phew!* Glad that's over! :P

I tag: Hope Catcher, Siby and Tiffany.

Kitchen Klutz

The other day 2 of my friends and I went to Mont's home to "work". It was my first time to his place, even though my place is pretty close to his, I've never been to his abode. So there we were sitting in front of his PC and chatting away, and "working". It was well past lunch time i believe and his elder sister who was at home was very kind to serve us some home-made chaat. (mouths' watering?) Now you must understand, when we are hungry we act like a pack of starved hyenas out to get every piece of meat in sight.
And it wasn't any different this time. After the Tang drink was downed in almost no time, the batata-puri chaat was relished in record time that would've given 100m Olympic Champ Usain Bolt a run for his money!
*chuckling* I remember now, my mom used the tell me and -to my sheer embarrassment -to a bunch of unknown relatives of how once when i was about 4, got up early morning, ran off from home (without even brushing my teeth!) to a biscuit-eating competition (parle-G if in case you've been wondering) in my neighbourhood. That too in my petticoat!!! (And I won first place, ofcourse!) :P *reminisces* And so history proves that I've always been a hungry kid and till date a experimental gourmet.
Coming back to our yummy chaat; was sooooo gastronomically and orgasmically delightful that even after a second round we secretly kept wanting more!
Ahhhh....! Better than the street chaat-Yes! I'll proudly say that!

Anywhoo, it was then I'd decided 'I need to replicate this gastronomic wonder!' and so after many weeks it was today that I decided of preparing it. Purchased the ingredients in advance the previous night and was all set.
I woke up this morning early around 7 (ya, that's early for me) to a gushing sound. I went downstairs to check it out and saw the kitchen sink was overflowing with water!!! Arrggggghhhhh... disaster!!! And it was my own doing since I'd left the tap open. Full 2 hours of water! Big deal you say? Not quite. The place I live at gets limited water supply, that too at wee hours in the morning and late evenings. Now since I don't get up early mornings, the evenings take up my time to do the household stuff (washing, dishes, cooking..the works). And so, I see my entire kitchen under water. I worried not, and started to get to work. Since I am an optimist topped with a dollop of opportunist, I started to clean my kitchen with a broom in one hand and detergent in the other. I can proudly say my kitchen is spotless now! :)

Ah.. no water can dampen my culinary spirits! Chaat I will maketh! :P
Now, I am not a novice at cooking. No no no no no NO!(in Russell Peters' lingo) I can cook pretty well, and can boast about certain items of Indian cuisine (mainly). Ask my neighbours if you don't believe me. (YES! They are still very much alive Thankyou! and NO! I did into bribe/plead/torture them in eating/praising food cooked by me). And so I begin with the process.
First potatoes need to be boiled and mashed. No problemo. I place 4 potatoes water in a bowl and turn on the flame to high. Quicker the better.
Few moments later I get a call and then another, so go to my room to talk. A good HALF an hour later, I'm in my room, smell something burning and think 'When will my neighbours cook SOMETHING unburnt?!' to which the light bulb in my brain finally set aglow and i shrieked "F**K!! my POTATOES!!!" I sped downstairs only to find the charcoaled remains of the potatoes stuck to the dish and the latter had turned as synonymous as charcoal. I tried to console myself of the torture i meted upon the multi-eyed vegetable by assuming I was distracted or maybe fainted even.
Hah! now the opportunist in me in action, peeled all the potatoes and mashed them. I didn't notice a difference in taste either!

All set put the rest of the ingredients together and voila! Potato sev chaat ready! Yummmmmmm!

*Wiping a tear* Mom would've been so proud!
:P

Date with a Woman

I just got this in my mail. You must have already read this or such stories like this. Very heart-warming read!

DATE WITH A WOMAN


After 21 years of marriage, my wife wanted me to take another woman out to dinner and a movie. She said I love you but I know this other woman loves you and would love to spend some time with you.

The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my MOTHER, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.
'What's wrong, are you well ?', she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.
'I thought that it would be pleasant to be with you,' I responded. 'Just the two of us.' She thought about it for a moment, and then said, 'I would like that very much.'

That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous.
When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary.
She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel's.

'I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed, 'she said, as she got into the car. 'They can't wait to hear about our meeting'. We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips.

'It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,' she said.
'Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor,' I responded.

During the dinner, we had an agreeable conversation - nothing extraordinary, but catching up on recent events of each others life. We talked so much that we missed the movie.
As we arrived at her house later, she said, 'I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.' I agreed.
'How was your dinner date?' asked my wife when I got home. 'Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,' I answered.

A few days later, my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have time to do anything for her.

Some time later, I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined.
An attached note said: 'I paid this bill in advance. I wasn't sure that I could be there; but nevertheless, I paid for two plates - one for you and the other for your wife. You will never know what that night meant for me.

I love you, son.'

:)

ta-daahh!

Finally after hours and I mean HOURS of patient and persevering search, I finally find the template I adore!
simple, cute and blue! :D
Tell me what you think of it...!