Respite

When you come across a thicket of green in this cluttered, cacophonous city, it's so refreshing. A soothing sight, a calming feeling. Walking down this lane itself gives me a reason to smile. 

Porridge with lumps

I came home from school today wondering what to eat. There wasn't much. I saw an unopened box of porridge mix up on the shelf. I wasn't feeling so virtuous and healthy so I decided to keep scouting for something a tad yummier. But I found nothing else. So porridge it was.
I read the back of it. Mix 3 heaped tablespoons of the powder in 1and1/2 cups of warm milk. Boil for 2-4minutes. Stir continuously without any lumps. Add sugar to taste. Okay; simple enough. So I get the milk from the fridge and pour in the required amount into a deep pan and start heating it. I left it there for a minute to check a couple of messages on my phone and when I got back it had begun to boil. "Great!", I thought. my warm milk is now boiling hot. So I added a little cold milk to it and then put in 3, heaped spoons of the ash-coloured mix. It landed into the milk as 3 stubborn dollops. 'No lumps' was my ultimate goal. I began my 2-4 mins of continuous stirring. I started breaking into the islands of powder. They fragmented and soon I had a pool of lumps. These lumps began soaking in the milk and got bigger. I was now looking down at an extremely unappetizing gooey mess with more blobs than milk. So I added some more milk hoping the excess would provide more scope for dissolving and started mixing vigorously. This wasn't such an easy task considering that I needed one hand free to keep pushing Juno (my cat) away from the stove; who was eager to taste this scalding concoction of mine. Poor guy, if only he knew what a disaster it was turning out to be....
So my 4 minutes was long finished and I was still trying to get it to look more liquid than solid. I was making slow progress. I turned off the gas and transferred the contents into a bowl. I now used a spoon to smash whatever was left of the powder. No luck- whatsoever. The lumps merely stuck to the back of the spoon making it look even more revolting. Ugh! This was exasperating. I was seriously beginning to doubt the solubility of this powder. I decided to taste it. I began with the parts that were fully dissolved and it was really yummy! This raised my spirits. So I took a spoonful with some lumps in them; It was disgusting. I tasted like mud. Really coarse, wet mud. (not that I have ever tasted coarse, wet mud- but if I did, I'd bet it'd taste just like that.) So I gave up. There weren't any more 'good' parts left and each spoonful had at least five lumps.
All I could think of was-- Yuck.
Moral of the story- if you can't get the lumps out, don't taste it.

Liquid gold

On the move

I like to take pictures from the car. It's boring to just sit in the back and look out the window. So I sit in the back and look out the window through my camera! Now that- isn't boring.  

and more importantly...

In the silence of the night,
My CPU farts with all its might

Whistling Nights

Naked trees and memories,
Painted skies and mysteries.
An eerie darkness before us falls,
Bound by nature's looming walls.
And through the black veil of the night,
A guiding path of golden light.

The darkness now far less muting,
The branched twigs no longer imposing.
On the bare branch of a sleeping tree,
A songbird rests endearingly.
And from the ominous night arises,
Beauty sparing all compromises.

A swift white owl in the sky,
A bat's distinct high-pitched cry.
Wings of the night fly with grace
Over the land's calm cozy face.
Oh! to be nocturnal, such dismay,
If only it were night, not day. 

when the children were away the cows would be at play

Swinging is a joy like none other. A feeling of movement that sets you free. If I could find a swing I'd fit into, I'd hop right on. So what if you aren't a kid?
It's fun! It's whoop-dee-doo! It's euphoria! It's yayness! This guy in the video sure agrees with me...

Street food!

I'm a foodie. Food excites me. And what excites me even more than swanky food in swanky restaurants is street food! Food is becoming increasingly innovative-you have indianised chinese and chinese-ised indian. Frankies, dosas, chaat- you name it, there's going to be something new and wacky to try. The latest on the list is baked vada pav! For those who don't know, a vada pav is a yummy fried batata vada (full of potato) put between a bun, sometimes with hot n sweet chutneys (heaven!). But this new vada pav, introduced to me by a friend of mine- is just too good. They've eliminated the fried batter around the batata and have put it directly into a round bun with garlic and sweet sauce. Now a combination of all that- piping hot, is an absolute treat! Especially on an empty stomach after a long day at school. But of all street foods, my unbeaten favourite is pani puri. The hot ragda, the sweet imli chutney and the icy-cool, spicy pani filled into a nice, big, round puri is sheer genius! Brilliance like none other! No variations with this classic food for me, thank you...you just don't mess with perfection.     

Oh bother...

Trying to study in a home with ten cats is a losing battle. Their presence is the easiest of distractions for a mind striving to concentrate. Besides, they seem determined to provide that distraction when they spot you with your books.

An open book, for a reason that's still a mystery to me, is to them the most tempting bed. Once sighted, they make a dash for it and sprawl all over the book, like liquid pouring out onto the floor. And now, this spot that they've secured, beating competition from nine others, is one they're not going to give up easily. If you're lucky, they'll fall asleep on the page you've already done studying or haven't got to yet. But the task of moving a sleeping cat is comparable to stunts they show on TV with a super that says 'these stunts have been performed by experts, please do not imitate.' Only difference is, there are no experts when it comes to cats. As it says in a Garfield comic strip- years ago someone lost the user manual! Then again, it depends on which cat has dozed off at your table. If it's the feisty Mili or the irritable Cindie, you can be sure to get out with a few scratches as punishment. Simba or Sony may peacefully move away. Sitting at the dining table gives me and the cats more surface area to spill over. In fact, I never have fewer than two kittens asleep at my books at such times. Oh! and the guilt of waking a sleeping kitten! I try to read slower, do the free portion of the page thoroughly and postpone having to turn the page and displace them. But moving them once isn't a permanent solution. It just opens up some space for another cat; or the same one you moved will come back, realizing no sofa or bed is nearly as cozy.

To a cat, humans are petting machines that also conveniently provide food and shelter. Apart from this, we're pretty useless creatures encroaching upon their territory. Hands were given to us for scratching them behind the ears, not for silly things like turning pages and using pens. Take Misha for instance. He jumps into my lap hoping to be pet. Realizing I'm busy writing and am ignoring him, he jumps up onto the table and sits square in the middle of my book. Now I'm forced to look up at him and when I do, his face is just two inches away from mine. Having got my attention, he lets out a loud, complaining meow, sharing with me his distinctive cat breath. A meowing cat that cute is impossible to ignore and so it's safe to say that he has been successful in getting me to abandon my books and massage him to his heart's content.

But all of this is just part and parcel of having cats. It's not something I regret, it's something I can't live without. I've grown so accustomed to these distractions that I'd probably find it harder to study without a cat bothering me! At the end of the day it's more amusing than annoying. Sure, cats have their irritating quirks, but that's just what makes me love them so much more.