Thursday

Happiness Comes in Small Packets

Date: January 31, 2013
Time: 1:45 p.m.

Ting tong!!!
"Who's there???", I asked
"Courier", a voice called from outside
"Mumma!!! Book ! book!" I jumped from my place and rushed to collect my very first novel.
"Sign here." A little bit of formalities.

 
The courier boy handed over the cyan-envelope to me. The envelope was addressed to me with Blogadda label at the bottom.

Yeah!! Yuuhooooo. I received it. Truly, Happiness comes in small packets and I'm holding that packet.

Hey! people reading this. It's true that Blogadda cares for its bloggers. Provides them with opportunity now and then to come up and showcase their talent to all those likely bloggers and readers. Grab your copy now . Participate now. Who knows the next is you.

Right now I'm on cloud nine. Here comes my heartiest wishes for Blogadda team.

I'll be posting the review within next few days. Till then Happy Blogging Buys.


P.S. Generally we call our friends Guys, our fellow peers Puys. So why not to call our fellow bloggers Buys. :P :P :P


Hioy'oy Hoi Polloi
       JJJ

And He left for HIS Home


Unaware of the deadly Cancer he was in the best of his spirits.
Restlessly engrossed in his daily chores from dawn to dusk,
Making every effort to make a deal in profit ,
Calling his wife in the most amatory voice at the morning cup of tea,
Embrassing his grand-daughter to cast off his weary soul to a juvenile one,
Cheering Cricket Team of India at the loudest of his pitch.
Went his each day at just another day but was actually One more lucky day.
In his 50's he was more of a twenty.
Full of energy and vigour he was
That even the venom cringed into just a lump in lung.

Late 2012 he winced in pain
Was carried to docs to bring some relief
Went under the magnanimous machines
Vein blockage- said the report
An urgent operation -said the docs
Couldn't look through the greedy soul
Wanted just bucks to guise him sooth
A wrong operation brought everyone to worry
Cursing the saviour-turned-monster
Went to another human-God
Who assured to restore health
At the cost of a Little wealth
Were trapped by another mongoose
Came to know the lump was pinched
Spread the infection at every inch
Pay Doc and Take home
Sorry! That's all we could do.

Heck! an innocent had to pay for the guilty
Eight more days cringing and flinching
But all at the mute tone
Didn't let anyone know how much he cribbed
A promising smile - I'll come back
Laid on his face till the end.
A heavy breath on January 12 ahh
And he left for HIS home
Leaving his home
Knocked HIS door
To rest in peace.
Leaving us all.
Staring at the dark sky today
"Here I'm", says one twinkle
To cheer up every crinkle.

Hioy'oy Hoi Polloi
        JJJ
 

Tuesday

Captain's Thinking Cap

Life is iffy.
Shit happens but life goes on and on.


These are the words of Capt. (Ex.) Rajat Mishra – an ex- NDA, ex -Army officer and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus who was not born as a prodigy but went on to become a Living Legend, who was born as a righty but chose to be a lefty and became ambidextrous. Sometimes there comes a time in your life when you are completely depressed and dismayed, your fire is extinguished and an external flame is needed to rekindle your lamp. He is one such lamp who keeps on kindling the blown out ones with his own flame. He lights to light up others. It's said Good things happen to Good people. But when I came to know Mr. Rajat, I realized Good things are made to happen by Good people.

I never knew I would be coming across some of the chosen few. And he stands amongst those chosen few. I hereby take extreme pride to dedicate this post to the chivalric knight Mr. Rajat Mishra. I am extremely grateful to Pagalguy which made me land on his space and imbibe myself with an all-new zeal and exuberance.

While I was surfing Pagalguy threads for admission related queries, I found a puy who was completely disheartened and shattered for his poor results. The MOD provided him with this link autobiography of Rajat Mishra . I nonchalantly went through this link and within a few minutes, I was flabbergasted to find such a Real Hero who hasn't succumbed to any of the blockades and went on to win each of it. At every inch, he was brought down to his knees by this iffy life but as he says Shit happens but Life goes on and on. And he too went on to be crowned as the winner. I was highly actuated to read his autobiography and the responses from across the world. He has inspired thousands of dispirited hearts and is treading on towards millions. I was so moved to read him that I decided to dedicate this post to him and contribute in reaching him to millions. Please accept my tribute, Sir.


Coddled in the teenage fun
Was a boy from Jabalpur
Enjoying life with candyfloss
Was he glossed in the merry rain?

But a candy unwrapped bitter
His brave father smilingly succumbed to Leukaemia
First time he realized
He too stood in the OTHERS' circle
Those Others who are subjected to all the vagaries and uncertainties
Dealing with the misfortunes was his turn now.

Shouldered with the responsibility of
A brave mother and a sweet sister
He went on to complete father's last wish.
Joined the prestigious NDA
Became a cadet
Three (plus one) year of hardships
Garnished with fun, fervour
Delight and discipline
Came out the Lieutenant
With the cap in air
And stars on the shoulder.
The  10+2-3 degree (torture)
Got commissioned in the army corps of EME.

Seemed the weather has changed
Salubrious breeze flew
Stupid cupid too struck his bow
Love and life both were in full swing
When suddenly the tractor got hold of him
Dismantled he was transported to docs.

He woke up after five long days
When Tsunami hit the nation
He was hit by the surgical action
Amputated right hand, broken teeth, plastered legs
Was all he managed
But didn't wallow for the irrecoverable loss
Instead asked for a chocolate shake.

Making everyone smile was his prime aim
While doing stunts on the wheel chair
Stupefied everyone in the hospital.
The officers gave him two choices
A stagnant Continual or another career withholding the army rank.
He chose the latter and battled against life once again
To search for new options.

Sister came to his rescue
Decided to go back to school
But this time a big B-school.
Slogging day and night for three months
In Pune army camp
He became a student again
Learning, forgetting, revising
Became his daily routine.

Puys on one hand
Determination on the other
Crowned him with a good score
In GMAT(740) and CAT.
That was all to embark on glad.

IIM-A over ISB was a wise decision
For he was a newbie in management
Two years in WIMWI was a bumpy ride
With mammoth mugging and loss of first love
But skidded smooth when
Cupid struck right this time
Seeking the blessings of one and all
Was he happily married for then and ever
Blessed with his angel daughter
A proud father is he now
Proudly puts on his Captain's Cap
To salute the life with a serene smile.

Ciao people!!!
Ciao life!!!

JJJ

Thursday

Happiness Baked in Steam

 When a cakeoholic meets a chocolate cake, a lifelong romance begins. YY
 
I always look for an occasion to visit a Bakery and feed the spirit of confectionery growing brassy in me with each passing day. Came the New year and pangs of cake savouring started hitting me hard.But this time I didn't want to go for a market-baked cake as always and then placate my stomach to digest the unhygienic piece. Since it's new year ,so I set the resolution to eat hand-baked cake only. Now for a girl like me always staying at an inch from the kitchen, the baking seemed a herculean task and that too without Mom's help (She resolved not to help me in my debut cooking ).The absence of oven from our kitchen exacerbated my already helpless condition. This was an unavowed challenge from my Mom which I had to win anyhow. I kick-started towards the kitchen to show my amateur culinary art. As I embarked on the baking - project, I saw a number of speed bumps coming in my way.

Obstacles

1. No ingredient in the store.
2. No magazine to refer for the recipe.
3. No oven for baking.
4. No helping hand.
 
The Battle Begins
 
The only saviour GOOGLE-baba came to my rescue (but this time it's for the kitchen project). I hurriedly googled for the cake recipe. The search results showed up with numerous links. But all asked to bake the cake in oven in one of the steps of their recipe. I filtered the search with the tag, Bake eggless cake without oven. This time the search brought out some good links. I rushed to a few of them to note down the ingredients first. The english links said Plain Flour as one of the ingredients. Now What the hell plain flour is?? The flour(used to make chappatis) is always plain and not any concoction. So I filtered my search with an additional tag of "In Hindi " to the title.
Finally I landed onto a site telling me in hindi how to bake without oven. The chef has recommended the use of a pressure cooker. I found it quite relieving to eventually get the entire procedure ( as in my Lab experiments) listed step-by-step.
Finally cake mil gaya
 Now with the information collected , I headed for the market to get all the ingredients. The list was as follows:
1. Baking powder.
2. Plain flour ( maida, Finally I got to understand :P )
3. Sugar ( already found in the kitchen, needn't to buy it)
4. Butter
 5. Aluminium Foil ( not available in my kitchen )
 
Now when I went to the market and asked for the stuff. The shopkeeper provided all except the baking powder and said, " Baking powder to nahi hain, Baking soda chalega?? ".
I was puzzled what to do whether to abide by the online chef's recipe or go with the Jugaad technique. I stared the shopkeeper with a quizzing look and after a while said, " Acha rehne dijiye. Aage se le lungi." He packed the other and handed over to me.
I looked for the Baking powder at a few more shops but it was my Luckiest Day, so none of them had in the store. While I trudged through the street , the chemistry gyaan pinged me. Baking powder is Sodium Bicarbonate needed to make the cake fluffy with the release of carbon-di-oxide. So may be in the usual lingo, they are calling it Baking Soda. 'Baking' is common in both (words) so I should buy it. :P kuch bhi ho, hai to baking hii ( Difference between baking powder and baking soda)

I went back and bought the soda.

Coming back to the home, I puffed myself in front of my Mom on successful completion of Part-I. She chuckled under her shawl. I went ahead to accomplish my project.

Modus Operandi

I put all the ingredients in a bowl and battered them untill the mixture became a bit fluffy and devoid of any lumps. I didn't abided by the exact procedure set out by chef. Afterall I'm not going to present the cake to Kate Middleton .:P It has to be consumed by me and a little turn away won't restrict the carbon dioxide from escaping :D So, I was ready with the mixture. I put a little water in the pressure cooker and allowed it to heat up. Meanwhile, I cut wide the biscuit wrapper and spread it upside down ( from inside it looks like aluminium foil only :P ) in the steel bowl ( no aluminium bowl and was not allowed to buy one , so another jugaad ). I removed the whistle of the cooker and closed it.
Afte 20 minutes I checked the stuff with a knife. It didn't stick.
Hurray!!! I baked the cake.
Hot cake!!
Mouth watering!!

I took out the bowl, cut out a piece , spread the melted Dairymilk silk over it and garnished with some butter and clicked !!! (First pic is to be recorded for history, cake ki muhdikhai )


And my tongue was ready to savour the my-cooker-made-cake. And I gulped a hot bite.
Hmm, it tasted like a sweet dhokla with khaman-like perforations making it look like a perfect cake. Keeping aside the little-bit-distorted-taste, my first cake gathered lots of praise and I am too happy to eat it. Now I dream of participating in Ultimate Cake Off after mastering this art.
Till then Happy Baking!!
J J J
 

Tuesday

भारत माँ की बेटी

 
 
मानवता की त्रासदी देख
जब आमजन सड़क पर उतरता है
तो एक गूंगा बहरा राष्ट्र अपनी पीठ मोड़ लेता है |


बहन की इज्जत लूटकर वह
जब है माँ का आशीष माँगता
तो क्यूँ नहीं तमाचा मरती उसे माँ ??


देवी की शरण में जाकर
बेटी न हो की मुराद माँगता
तो क्यूँ है वह बेटा कहलाता ??

पितृशक्ति की छाया में
जब करे वह अत्याचार
तो क्यूँ नहीं मातृशक्ति का त्रिशूल
करे उस पर वार??


नहीं चाहिए बहरूपिया भाई
जो माँ- बहन कहकर अस्मत की ही
कीमत लगाए |


हम है भारत माँ की बेटियाँ
उसकी हर पल की सहेलियाँ
बेटा बन रहा है भक्षक
बेटी ही बनेगी माँ की रक्षक
बेटी ही करेगी ऐसे भाई का नाश |


मैं हूँ मेरी माँ की इज्जत
मैं हूँ मेरी भारत माँ की बेटी |