I finished my copy of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  It was such a satisfying read, and I must say I am proud to be a witness of the literary phenomena that is Harry Potter.  It is like being part of history in the making - the classic that will become for generations to come...

Click here for a fun video ~ it seems to be a Japanese music video, very interesting.

Who hasn’t heard of the new wave?  It’s the source of many unanswered questions, political debates, on every candidate’s action plan, heated discussions, extensive news coverage, pro-ads, protests and rallies against it.  It’s called outsourcing and its here to stay.  Welcome to globalization of an ever changing world.

I never took it seriously; I didn’t have many reasons to care.  I paid little attention during the abundant news coverage, and countless articles.    I thought it was beneficial to India in general – this outsourcing of call centers, tech jobs, tutoring, medical advice, you name it whatever could be outsourced.  It was awakening the world of the potential in India and being a proud desi – what else could I ask for? 

I happen to catch this YouTube video by random chance, and it sparked many questions in me that I should have been asking.  India as a mini-America?  I am not sure if I am too comfortable with that.  It sounds like double standards coming from me because I cherish and respect the American society I live in.  Watching this documentary makes me wonder whether it is all worth it if we are losing our culture?  Because you cannot have just a customized globalization ride.  You get the whole package – the good, the bad and the ugly with the ticket.  An interesting quote from the video: "Today, human beings are consumers and the world is a market."  How true and sad when it hits close to home.  Does India have what it takes to shift through the globalization chaos, emerge as a winner and still have its strong roots?  It’s yet to be seen but for the future Indian generations – I hope it is true.

To the one I met not so long ago

Seems I have known you all my life

So many things I want to say

For every passing minute of every day

And I hope my message reaches

Across each ocean between us

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day

I have been sick the past week or so.  It’s been freezing temperatures, ice on the roads, snowing steadily (although it has subsided now) since the end of what they called the winter storm weekend.  No one predicted that this week was going to be the worst of the winter (hopefully).  It was so horrible yesterday that it was a work-from-home day but being the silly me I am sometimes, I had left my laptop at work (don’t worry it was locked up), so I trudged against the cold, blasting wind to my car in the morning and drove perfectly to my workplace, and I was just turning into the parking lot and the curve it must have been slicker than I thought because the tires slid slightly and the passenger side of the car screeched and scraped against the curb.  I pulled into the parking space and I thought it was too cold to stand around and assess the damage (and I have put it off, still don’t know the status of it).

I knew that I was traveling for work sometime in January for awhile now.  Turns out it’s a northeast place, ok I thought, no qualms about it.  It is dead of winter there, bound to be like that.  Had no qualms about it until the location’s point of contact stated that there was a ski resort 30 miles from the office, and my manager at this point in conversation asked, why would we want to go skiing, to which the guy on the other end replied, ‘We just had 4 inches of fresh snow, it’s 13 degrees here!”

Yeah, just great, just what I wanted to hear!

Jaan

3:12 PM me: !

                   stranger

3:13 PM        call you tonight :D

3:15 PM Ruchi:ok!

                   i love you :)

          me:    i figured

                   :p

3:16 PM        i meant i figured you were busy

          Ruchi: ok g2g

          me:    k ta

          Ruchi: bye! :-*

          me:    lol

                   :-*

O those long gone, remember when's...
Jaan

One of my all-time favorite books that really shaped my taste and passion for reading is The Giver by Lois Lowry.  I picked the book in the Scholastic’s catalog sponsored by the school so nonchalantly and funny how life turns out.  I bought the book for myself in eight grade – a time of such intense turmoil while (re)discovering my true myself and understanding the new world around me (I moved to the US during this time).  I still remember my empathy for Jonas and his anguish, the frustration and joy of the loose ending.

Over time, I have enjoyed novels such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver Travels, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and I have to thank my two high-school English teachers (in different cities) who were most influential in introducing me to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Acebe and my most dear copy of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Brave New World was a fantastically written story and the depth and pain of cruelty in the life of and triumph (or not) of John the Savage, and it never ceases to amaze me.  I seem to gravitate towards utopian/dystopian novels but a good read is always satisfying for me.  I wish to complete these during this year:

Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Plato’s Republic

Herman Hesse’s Siddartha

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist

Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen

and of course, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

Jaan

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to cook one dessert item every week and try new dishes as much as possible.  Keeping in mind, I baked cookies for the first time last night.  Twenty-four gooey chocolate chip pieces of deliciousness from the Tollhouse brand’s ‘slice and bake’ cookie dough.  For the first batch I used wax parchment paper for a cookie sheet.  Nine minutes into baking and the chocolate smell was wafting from the oven and pervading throughout my apartment.  It came out alright but the bottom of the cookie was a little browner than usual.  I should have taken the tray out of the oven after the timer went off; instead I just left the oven door open a little and turned off the oven.  I think the cookies continued to bake more, just sitting there. 

For the second batch of cookies, I gently applied a non-stick cooking spray on the tray and no cookie sheet this time.  I thought my chances of making the perfect cookies were slightly higher.  I turned the oven off sooner than the timer because of the extra heat from the previous batch.  These came a bit better but the corner pieces had browned just like the first batch.

Overall, not bad for a first time baker and planning on making mini sugar cookies later.  Next week, am going to try making an item from scratch.  Maybe cinnamon streusel, raspberry almond, lemon drop or vanilla bread…oh choices!  Pictures coming soon.

From the kitchen,

Jaan

OBSESSED with this song currently, so much so that it deserves a special post by itself.  Maybe it's just me, my mood, emotions, or whatever it is, this song just clicks with me...I love driving to this type of music especially on my weekend trips out of town...

"dil mein hai bas tu hi tu o jaane jana 
tune kiya hai mujhko sabse begaana
meri duniya mein jabse tu aayi
meri nazron pe bas tu hi chhayi
miit gayi meri saari tanhaai bairiya ve"

You can find it on various indian music sites like www.indiaglitz.com, www.musicindiaonline.com etc.  Here is the uploaded YouTube of the music video.  Of course, there are times the song is annoying especially the 'wassup' part but overall, I love you O Sayyoni I love you O Sayyoni koi sha-q...

Enjoy,
Jaan

This week has been out-of-sorts for me.  Workflow is a bit heavy, got an exam on Saturday morning (which I am dreading), and the piles of laundry.

I realize that all I ever do at home is ignore the pile of laundry.  Everytime anyone asks, 'So what are you going to do this weekend?' or 'What did you do on Sunday?' or something to that effect, my automatic response is 'I have a pile of laundry' and lately I have noticed that has been my response for the past month, 'Have a pile of laundry to do'.  It doesn't sound like much work but it is.  Every piece that needs to be ironed has to have the perfect creases and casual clothes must be put away folded nicely in their designated places.  I realize that I am a laundry snob but I like things in neat order and the satisfaction of work done good - it compliments my obsessive compulsiveness for certain things.

But how did things get to be this way?  How come I have a pile to wash, a pile to fold that has been sitting in my closet straight from the dryer for three days now and two piles to iron from a week ago?  Am I becoming a laundry slob?  The Gods have mercy.

Random thought - I remember this old nursery rhyme we had to learn in school (this was in Mumbai), it goes something like this...
"The King was in the parlor,
counting his money.
The Queen was in the kitchen.
eating bread with honey.
The maid was outside,
hanging up the clothes.
Down came a crow,
And pecked off her nose."

I wonder if she ever finished that pile of laundry...

Jaan

On the ice day last week (Thursday when everyone worked from home since it was snow, sleet and winter storm weather), there were birds drying their feathers (is that politically correct or whatever?) and keeping away from the cold in my balcony.  I didn't want to scare the birds, so I slowly opened the blinds a bit more and slid the door and the screen door as silently as I could and they looked so small and vulnerable, so I took a handful of my Multi-Grain Chex cereal and threw it over and quickly shut the screen door close.  The birds of course flew away to the balcony next door but when I checked the balcony later in the day, there were none left.  Perhaps the wind was too strong and it was blown away but I would like to believe that just maybe the birds had a chance to taste the cereal.  It's moments like that that keeps me going some days...and today was one of those,

The time was 5:30 when I finally shut down my laptop and walked to my car.  There was something distracting in the sky and I looked up just in time to see one of the most gorgeous moons to grace the clear evening sky...
No clouds in sight, no trees blocking view, just the glowing moon and me
I came home and opened the blinds and for awhile the moon shines through and I can't wait to doze off in the moonlight tonight
For some reason, I find myself at peace and happy with these breathtaking views which I am blessed with on occasions...if I only had a camera with me to capture my elation at seeing this sight.

Since ruchikapoor tells me that my name means night  and not 'an exquisite woman' as I believed it was (so, scores of Indian baby names sites are wrong), I have a new affinity towards the sexy and seducing mistress of the night, who displays her beauty in the dark evening sky...somehow I feel like I can relate

Jaan

I invited couple of co-workers for dinner at my place last night. 

One of my co-workers told me he would be getting a bottle of wine for us all and oh, it was so good!  I remember having a great glass of Kendall-Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon and of all the Cabernets, the Kendall-Jackson was my second favorite until I tasted this one...  (my first one still being the one I cannot remember the name of but ah well, maybe someday I will figure out that name)
It was a Bin 45 Series Lindemans Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia...mmm mmm divine!  And the night before, I had a another great glass of Cabernet - I did not notice the name of the bottle close enough since it was a work Christmas party and there was a line for the bar!  Everything was top-shelf liqueurs there, so it must have been a very good bottle - the taste certainly was, hmm, maybe some one at work noticed the name on the bottle.

How did I ever drink a Pinot Noir?  That is such a girly wine!  Maybe I can try a good Merlot for a happy occasion later this year.  I feel like such a wine connoisseur now, ok maybe not a great one but hey, I am learning here.

Jaan