Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Cooking Escapades - Part 2

Well, contrary to what you think, I do not only write movie reviews! My last two posts have been of movie reviews and I was desperately trying and thinking hard of blogging about something totally different and distinct. So here I am with a post about something that is the third best thing I love doing ~ Cooking!

If you have been following my blog for long you will be aware that my food related posts are not-so-visually-appealing, because of the not-so-good camera and not-so-good utensils and not-so-pretty backgrounds. Well, in a PG with 7 different types of girls, what else would you expect? Anyhow moving on...


Those are mixed veges, please don't miss the endearing and alike shapes of the potatoes and beans :)

This is my favorite egg curry, boiling away to glory (in my tummy)!

A close-up of the mouth watering egg curry!

That would be masala aaloo baingan ( Spicy Potatoes and Brinjal)

Yep, thats Chicken! Very very yummy it was...

My mouth just filled up with a lot of saliva after looking at this pic!


That was an experiment which was very successful! Presenting  Spinach  Corn  Potato salad!

Kashmiri Spinach with dried red chillies

Thats aaloo baingan chowka, I learned to make from my Orissi Roomie

Sweet Corn :)

Vegetable Pulav ~ The rice is hidden behind all the vegetables !

Good old vegetable maggie with my Mom's homemade carrot pickle!

Mixed Vegetables cooked today , I mean like just now!

The close of the just now cooked vegetables :)



I know the post sounded a bit too narcissistic but I feel really happy when I cook. And I feel all the more happy and excited when I see pics of my cooking results. So please don't mind the over-enthusiasm reflected in each caption!


Lots of Love:
SEPO



Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Movie Review : Ishaqzade



First things first, watch this movie strictly for the awesome performance by the lead actors (Parineeti especially gets a few extra points). The chemistry between the actors is fire crackling, their energies and passion is highly infectious and will definitely keep the adrenaline pumping throughout the movie. Arjun Kapoor makes an impressive debut with this movie.


The story of the movie holds nothing new and nothing special. It’s a same old same old sort of a movie involving family rivalry and hate. The kids of the families fall in love and how it turns against them and how they choose to protect it is basically what the movie is all about.


The music of the movie is highly refreshing. Main pareshaan is already topping the charts and on repeat mode in my cell! The title track is kinda groovy too. However the items songs picturised on Gauhar Khan are a huge disappointment. But Gauhar’s sexy moves and patli kamaar more than makes up for it. The girl should be cast in more movies.


So winding up, the movie deserves to be watched at least once. My rating 3.5/5

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Movie Review – Jannat 2



I was definitely not looking forward for this movie. In fact I was not even aware that it is going to release this weekend.  So in short Jannat 2 just happened and it was not that bad an experience. The movie is nowhere in continuation with its Part first but yes the story in somewhat similar. Small town guy with an uncanny talent, a love story, his contact with influential people which ultimately leads to his downfall.

The movie starts on a very good note with SD KKC (Sonu Delhi Kutti Kamini Cheez aka Emraan Hashmi) giving intro to the nature of his job. Emraan’s character is affable and endearing. Randeep Hooda plays a cop who wants to eradicate the supply of illegal arms. He is back after Sahib, Biwi aur Gangster with a superb piece of role and acting. His brooding past makes him protective of his informer/friend Emraan and his girlfriend Jhanvi (Eesha). Eesha ups the glamour quotient of the movie but she needs many classes in acting. The love story between the lead pair is extremely boring and predictable. There is no spark and no chemistry whatsoever.

The villain of the movie is menacing and good for his part. The guy who plays Emraan’s childhood friend is good too. The best of the movie according to me was Randeep Hooda. He is awesome throughout the movie. The movie captures the essence of Delhi to the fullest. The men in the movie have more expletives to utter than the dialogues! So be really for a lot of gallis throughout the movie. Some dialogues (especially Emraan’s and Randeep’s) are whistle-worthy. Music of the movie is hummable and decent. The movie overall is good and definitely worth a watch.
My rating – 3/5

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Prescription Phobia


A Doctor is supposed to be a person you can trust your life on. The confidence and faith on a doctor is tremendous and extreme. It is one of the most unusual and pure relations in the world. One will blindly try and follow whatever the doctor will ask them to do.

But how correct or righteous is it? Is the blind faith we keep on our doctors a tad bit overrated? If you ask me I will definitely say YES!

There was a time when the means of communication and knowledge were limited. People did not have an easy access to good books, journals etc and hence the information horizon was extremely limited. In this scenario Doctor was considered to be someone equivalent to God. His word was power and his touch was magic. I have heard my parents’ recite the stories of Doctors, who with just a look at you would tell the symptoms as well as the details of the disease being faced by you. The medicine they gave would cure you in no time at all.


After the huge globalization, the Internet and Google the scenario has changed a lot.Today everyone considers themselves to be doctors by merely putting  symptoms on net and checking the solution.One good thing about this is that people are highly aware of their conditions and the fact that what exactly needs to be told to the doctor. In addition to this people also have an easy access to check the medications provided to them, their usage and side-effects; all can be known with just a click of few buttons.I am not saying that doctors have lost their worth and don't mean anything. I am totally aware of all those magical surgeries that happen all over the world. The hard work, that extra intelligence and that power is really commendable. I also understand that to the families of such people doctors are just like God or should I say angels in disguise.


But the bone I have to pick with doctors is strictly based on my personal experience. After I shifted to Mumbai (I write this line in every other post of mine now-a-days) I frequently started getting ill. Not that I did not fall ill before but yea before these troubles were taken care by my parents and not me. However here as I am responsible for every action of mine and falling sick is not as easy as it had been before.

So my visits to the doctors here have been nothing short of a trauma and tension. The general tendency of any doctor now-a-days is to hear the symptoms, jot down a long list of tests relevant (or irrelevant) and that is all. Rest of the information will be given after the reports are obtained. I mean “hello, did I just pay Rs 500 to get all these tests done”? “Couldn’t I just do it myself and know what I am suffering from?” Not to mention the extra cost to be incurred for all these tests.



I have not been able to build any sort of a relationship with any of the numerous doctors I have visited here. I have to trust the doctor in order to respond to his medications (yes I am that weird). I strongly feel that the amount of trust I have on a doctor is directly proportional to the speed with which I recover. Also I have a habit of giving a detailed description of the symptoms and the problems that I face and I hate it when the doctors nod their head impatiently over the vivid and clear picture that I present. Now I will present1` before you a list of varied and different types of doctors that I have met in the past 1 year:



1. The Impatient one - This one lady doctor that I have visited more than twice. She has already written the prescription while I am still narrating my symptoms. In-between she will interrupt me to ask my name and age to fill in the prescription. I end up feel so incomplete and hurt. I mean isn't it really bad to interrupt someone while they are talking? And not just some random talking but conveying important information to you! So this is like something I really don't approve off and that one quality that I never expect to be in my Doctor.

2. The Come-Hither one - This is the one Doctor that I visited only once (for which I curse myself everyday). Now he had some serious doubts about this profession. I strongly feel that the animal inside him thought that he can pretend to be a doctor and take advantage of the situation which presents him to be alone with a only-lonely girl visiting him. So to check my breathing he took his own sweet time. And his hands refused to be removed from my stomach where he was apparently checking my digestion! This was one of the ugliest moments of my life and I am dead sure that this has happened with at least 90 % of the girls out there.

Girls, next time whenever a doctor tried checking your breathing by putting his stethoscope on your chest, just interrupt him and tell him to check your breathing from your back. As per the information that I have received Doctors can check our breathing perfectly from the back and are even encouraged to practice this for Girl patients.

3. The One-Medicine one - This was one strange doctor who insisted on giving his own medicines. Ok! So far so good. But then I noticed that a woman in my PG suffering from Epilepsy popping the same Green Pills he had given to be for headache and nausea. Now I know that Homeopathy medicines are the same for all but he was not a Homeopathic Doctor. He was a Physician (or so the board on his clinic said). Needless to say, his green pills freaked the hell out of me and that was the last I saw of him.

4. The Over-Smart one - This one doctor I visited for severe shoulder pain. So the prescription consisted of all the tests I had ever heard (and unheard) off. Ultrasound, ESR, X-Rays, Blood Test, Urine Test and what not! Apart from that a few medicines. When I tried to probe him with some information about the medicines all I got in reply was "Painkillers". Okay, painkillers, fine. After going home I randomly checked the medicines on Google and my-oh-my! Mr Smarty Pants together with painkillers was feeding me Anti Depressants and Tranquiller. I mean hello? Not where did that come from? Still I did not lose faith in him, I immediately consulted my family doctor, who by the way freaked out the moment I mentioned the names of the medicine. That was the last time I saw Mr Smarty Pants and his anti depressants.

These different varieties of doctors have shaken by belief so hard that it is really hard to fall sick now. What I have decided to do is, accumulate my diseases, go home to Jammu and consult my family doctor and be relieved of this tension and trauma.


Friday, April 27, 2012

The Big Fat Indian Wedding


It had been months since I had wanted to go to a wedding. Enjoy the bright colors, the grandeur, food and the mere excitement involved in figuring out what to wear. I had been dying out to experience all these emotions involved in attending a wedding and not forget the free food! It is such an astonishing fact that we make such a big thing out of weddings, even if they are of a random acquaintance or even an old neighbor. Ladies will start planning for it weeks and months before. Frequent visits to beauty parlors days before the wedding are no strange scenario. Isn’t it amazing that we spend so much time, money, energy and thought over someone else’s wedding, when we know that we are not going to be the centre of attraction there. But I guess the whole ideology in India is such that everyone expects you to be dressed in nines when attending a wedding. Otherwise it would just be a scandal and a hot topic of gossip-y-discussion on the wedding.


There was a time I hated going to the weddings. Wearing that false forced smile plastered on your face. Random people hugging, kissing you and swearing to be your aunties and uncles. And finally when you brace yourself to get the food, the video camera guy suddenly decides to pop up and focus on your plate. All these reasons mounted together and I and my sister refused to attend any random weddings. So life was fun attending just close weddings.

After I left my home and shifted to Mumbai, I began craving the strangest things. I longed to eat the food I hated when I stayed at home and since the last few months I have badly wanted to go to a wedding. I actually missed the loud and over the top fun. So you can imagine it very well how I must have felt when I came to know that I am supposed to attend a wedding that too here in Mumbai and wait for the best part…. My relatives would be joining me for the wedding here in Mumbai. WoW … Right?

So I attended the wedding and it was like soooo relieving and such a nice break from my well, boring life! A farmhouse was booked in the outskirts of Goregoan Mumbai where are the wedding guests stayed and had lots and lots of fun. The days were filled with lots of gossips, fun and Kashmiri food. The nights were filled with some more fun and loud foot tapping Kashmiri music. Exactly what I needed. The wedding was awesome and the food was great. The opportunity to dust off my vanity was also a very welcome change. By now I am sure you guys are dying to see what I wore for the wedding, so here’s a glimpse.  


I kept my make-up , outfit and accessories all very subtle and simple. It was a day wedding and anyhow I don't really like the loud outfits!

Do let me know your views on weddings and stuff

Love:
SEPO


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The North, South and the West of it


Deny it as much as you want but it exists. The divide between the North and the South. North Indians feel they are the best, South Indians feel they are the best and the fight goes on. Over the years being a North Indian I too had developed a few misconceptions about the South side of the country. Some are them turned out to be really true, some funny, some lame and others just plain dumb! I am writing a few of them below, they are really good for laughs:


1. Telugu, Tamil, kanada, Malayalam... I always thought it is all the same.
2. South Indians are sincere and hardworking people.
3. South Indians are pure vegetarians and eat food cooked in coconut oil only.
4. South Indian girls always dress modestly.
5. South Indians are generally more studious.
6. They hate North Indians.
7. All south Indians have curly hair.
8. Crime rate in south is almost nil.

I know I am not alone amongst the North Indians in thinking so. There will be many others who feel just the same. In fact the south Indians would have a similar kind of a list for us North Indians as well!This post sprouted in my mind because of a recent development in the PG I lived in. We are a mix of cultures here, with people from J&K, Orissa, Bhopal, Lucknow, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Quite a mix isn’t it? The difference in states and culture was never an issue between us (though it still isn’t, to some extend). After a new girl came from Andhra we suddenly noticed a great change that took place in the PG. All of a sudden we were unknowingly divided into two groups. Yes you guessed it right ~ North & South!

I considered this fight between North and South like that of Girls Vs Boys, which is sweet, adorable and entertaining! Little did I know that what I thought to be superficial was something so deep and serious. I have a habit of generally googling about the topics I intend to write. So while surfing I came across this very awesome blog (http://www.the-nri.com/index.php/2010/12/the-indian-north-south-divide/). The blog post was somewhat similar in lines to what I was planning to write. So far so good. But what caught my attention was the comments on this particular post. If you go through this post of the blog, you will see the hatred and revulsion reflected by people for each other. Reading this spoilt my mood big time. Even in this age people in India are not one. The caste, culture and creed still come inbetween the country’s progress.


Does it really exist or am I blowing things out of proportion?


Monday, April 2, 2012

The Cooking Escapades

Recently I have been hooked onto the food blogs. You should try searching for them some time. They are informative, provide you a sufficient amount of visual pleasure and are a great source of time-pass. Exactly a year back I knew nothing about cooking, all I could cook was Maggie Noodles. However today I can proudly say that I can cook anything (not sure about the results, but I ain't afraid to try). This confidence does count for something right?

I get really happy feeding people and receiving compliments for my cooking! So coming to the post, all the food blogs inspired me so much so that I decided to try something of a similar nature on my blog. Now as I am an amateur and can't really do a proper post on food. So for starters I ll just let the pictures do all the talking :-)

Don't expect grandeur in the pics, the utensils are limited and the time is always tight! So there is no garnishing and no fancy china..! But decent comments are still expected.:P

                  1. The first three pictures are of matar-paneer in various stages of cooking





2. I am no more a lazy bum. I get up and make myself some salad :)


3. My two favorites - matar aaloo and desi french fries!


4. My fifth attempt at making zeera-rice, which came out very well by the way!


5. Maharashtrain style aaloo curry


6. Spicy black channas


7. My (not so good) attempt at making Tom yum soup


8. Amid all those dishes, good old maggie shouldn't be left out right?


9. That was an incredible fruit salad!