My First US trip !!!

Beyond Einstein for discovering gravitational laws, Galileo for his heliocentrism theory,Edison for bringing light to our life, the most treasured discoverer by anyone in this contemporary world is Columbus for his discovery of the Dream land... the America (Did columbus really discover America ?? that is what we learnt when we were in elementary !!! ) ..

There is an inexplicable craze for USA in everyone and I was no exception !!.. While a travel to america always seemed anologous to 'finanical attainment', Ironically we were a couple who spent all our savings(?) to visit USA and spend a vacation. My Hubby - a visionary ,always says "Money can be earned anyday but not the time" .Though intially i denied , I was completely persuaded by his words that we reached in terms to spend a vacation at US on our Cost.

Ever wondered why talented always travel to west ?I was able to realize my brain was working 4 fold faster. Particulary my arithmetic skills was on high. Especially whenever we enter a store to purchase even as trivial as a water bottle, my brain computer would still return the conversion in INR for the price even before my husband could reach the counter. I was good only till 16th table when in school, but now got well-versed in 42 tables. ( $ -INR conversion was 42 when we travelled there...)

Staying as tight-fisted as possible, we went to lot of places in redmond and seattle to have the glimpse of the beautiful city . Didn't miss any hotspot at california (Thanks to my Bil and his family).

Definitely we were amused by the deligent lifestyle of the westerns . Never would you be encountering as many challenges as we might face here in our day-day living. Apparently we see everyone around us very assiduous.But I somehow felt missing something !!!

On the day of our return I was terribily upset. I felt I would be really missing this place

Heavy-hearted, I reached back home.

Scene 1 - At airport :

1. Ordered 2 cups unlike sharing one cup

2. Filled a bag full of snacks of our like. To compensate for what we were missing there.

3. Took a cab from where we waited, no walking till the cab pickup spot.

4. No peeping at the meter reading on our travel.

Scene 2 - Back at our home in Hyderabad.

1. Ordered 20 ltrs(!!!!) water can and groceries and got it delivered at home. (Complements from our grocery store for regular customers).

2. Took a bath and went for a walk, A free walk paying no attention to bikes and cars. No wait for pedestrian signal at the zebra crossing.

3. Bought vegetables (ofcourse on bargain).

4. Cooked food and had Lunch.

5. Relaxed and watched TV. I got completely pacified by now ....

I now felt , wow, I am back home ..... :-) I could now make out what I was missing !!!

Ganesha Chaturthi special

Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the acclaimed festival among hindus .It is considered the day when lord Ganesha is believed to bestow his presence on earth. The custom is to prepare neyvediams and perform pooja to clay-made Ganesha. A week after the pooja the clay-ganesha is immersed in water to mark the end of festival.
The items to be prepared for neyvediyam include Vada, payasam, kozhukattai, appam etc. A little complicated dish of all these will be kozhukattai , not for the experienced hands , but for the amateurs like me !!! :-) After a little struggle I managed to learn the recipe to prepare a kozhukattai .

Here you go with my recipe for Vella kozhukattai
Ingredients required :
For the outer white layer :
1. Rice flour - 2 cups
2. Salt - 2 Tsps
3. oil - 2 tsps

For inner jaggery ball :
1. jaggery - 2 cups
2. coconut grated - 2 cups
3. Ghee - 2 to 3 tsps

Preparation :
Outer layer :
Place a pan on heat , add 2 cups of water ,rice flour ,salt and oil to it and keep stirring until the paste leaves sticking to pan. keep it aside and allow it to cool

Jaggery balls :
Add ghee in a pan and put it on flame, and then add coconut and jaggery to it.remove from heat on turning thick. Set it aside, allow to cool and then prepare small balls.

Kozhukattai:
oil hands and prepare the white paste in such a way that u can place the jaggery balls within it . close it well. Now steam this for 5 min . You will get sweet kozhukattais ready ... :)

Savandurga

Savandurga - My first and only (till date) trekking experience. It sounded very exciting when Anuj first opened up the topic of going on trekking. This was not the first time he had come up with such an idea.... the list goes on like bowling, Go karting .. so on and so forth ... (though the occasions had been very rare that they got materialized!!!). But this time it was different, the interest level was very high and we were keen on making it . Anuj was given the responsibility of organizing. Prakash and Anuj effectively arranged a cab (Sumo) for our journey. All set we - Anuj, samridhi , sangeetha, prakash, nikhil,Harish and me decided to go on trekking.
In fact we all got geared up from the day before !!! Sangeetha planned to stay with me as we had to take up the cab by 5.30AM and the pick up point was near my house. Me and sam initially planned to wear our delhi dare devils T-shirt as it is IPL season (we are up-to-date always). But as usual I had my last minute plan change so wore a different one!! .I packed up breads, jams , wafers, water bottles , volini spray , sun glasses and other essentials. I advise people to wear sporty shoes with good grip so that it can make your journey comfortable.
Arrived the day of trekking, we all met at our office campus(oracle koromangala- This was planned as our pick-up point) and started by 6.00AM though we planned for 5.30!!!..It took us approximately an hour plus to reach the spot. The closer we were approaching the spot I could feel the thrill but when I had a first look of the rock I was taken aback . The very thought of "I can't make it " creeped up in me !!!
But how to give up when I made all till the spot?!!!. With all the support and encouragement from my friends I started my trekking. We first started climbing on the way through the steep rock which they term it as 'Route 2' . This is not for amateur trekkers , but by mistake we started from here, to add on more to my displeasure.Almost at a stage where I felt I cannot progress anymore we realized we were following a wrong way(not the one meant for us). So if you are an amateur trekker the Thumb-rule for the way you need to follow is -the popularly called 'Transformer-line way'. Follow the transformer line there.This is the walkable way for amateur trekkers.. This is Route-1. Initially it seemed easy for a little while. Then the way started getting so steep (almost 70 degrees) that we had to literally crawl.
First target we set ourselves to reach was a fort -like architecture(I in fact mistook this as the end destination from below). On reaching the fort-like architecture we realized there is distance equivalent to what we covered is still left.It was here , I lost all my interest and said to my friends that I will halt there till they go up and return. All of them felt so absurd to leave me there alone and forced to me to put in my effort. So I again continued. 10 min from there came my memorable spot - The total steep one which can be covered only crawling. Thanks to all my friends for escorting all this way.Traveling through all the dense vegetation, rocks, steep ways ultimately we reached the Hill top.
There was a Nandi inside the mantap on top of the hill. We took numerous pictures there. Once you reach the top the view from there is so amazing that you forget all the efforts you have put in to reach the top. On the way back it took 2 hours against the 1 and half hours we took to climb. The descend was equally adventurous as the ascend.The rock is extremely slippery in the wet areas . so always avoid them.Words cant describe the pleasure we had that day on trekking. Its such a memorable journey that I keep thinking on and on and on.

Awaiting for one another of such an adventurous day in my life.

IPL

For People feeling musty about the bromidic test matches, T20 is a real refreshment. IPL this season brings lots and lots of entertainment with added excitement and Glamour :)

So the whole excitement commenced with the mind-blowing auction where in Moolah played the entire fair. With Big businesses like Reliance (Mukesh), India cements, Emerging Group, GMR, Bombay Dyeing being part of the play and big Filmy heads like SRK & Preethi knocking the opportunity, IPL started with big bang from b(u)idding.

8 teams – Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai are racing in IPL this season.

Stirring much expectation worldwide, IPL made audiences worldwide wait fretfully for its start. And for all patience, audiences were treated with a swashbuckling inaugural ceremony. No, it didn’t end with the ceremony it continued with the astonishing innings of Mccullum and still continues…

Every team has played their part well in bagging star-dom players- worldwide, leaving authentic crickets lovers in quagmire on which team to support.

Now the whole world is waiting to watch which team heads the race !!!

The Name is 'Mahesh Babu'

When I was hopelessly surfing channels on a bored Sunday evening , I was caught by a clip in one of the telugu channels. It was from movie 'okkadu'. Hero gets trapped by a gang of armed villain men. Contrary to having unrealistic fight with 100 men at a time , the hero cleverly kidnaps the heroine at knife point to escape from them(as she is the one villain is in look out for ) and escapes. It was a tantalizing scene and the hero appeared very flamboyant on his role. I was so impressed with his performance that from then on my all time time-pass is to watch MB's movies and to browse and collect information about Mahesh babu.

facts gathered ....

'Mahesh Babu' and 'success' have become analogous these days. Any producer of Tolly-wood is ready to gamble on him. Any director is delighted to work with him. The Distributors are ready to erect skyscraper banners to promote him. To ensure Box-office collection, he has a huge fan following.

9 years back when this ‘Prince’, son of famous yesteryear Superstar ”Krishna”, made his debut as a ‘Raja Kumarudu’ (1999) starring opposite to Priety Zinta, he was promising. The on-screen chemistry of the pair worked very well, he danced well, his ‘boy next door’ looks catered to enrich the script, yet the youthful prince was accepted only as a ‘Chocolate Boy’.

He had to wait for 2 years to convince his fans of his action potential with his first mega blockbuster – Action-packed ‘Okkadu’ in 2001. Mahesh Babu was a treat to watch out in this movie, he underplayed his part very well. The strong storyline and the fast moving script were the other positive aspects of the movie. It inspired for several remakes and helped Tollywood to identify this raising star. Since then he assured success on his every project.

The year 2006 can be marked as the ‘year of success’ for this ‘Nizam ka nawab’ with the release of ‘Pokiri’ – sensational hit of Tollywood in the recent past. The movie scored in India as well as overseas and statistics proved that Southern Film industry have a point to swagger. It was listed one among the top 5 Box-office Grosser Indian Films. No one can deny the awe-inspiring performance of Mahesh in this movie. All his scenes in the movie were electrifying and zestful. Again a must watch movie of Mahesh series.

Post-Pokiri, Mahesh has stirred a zeal for him among audiences. The Grand opening for ‘Sainikudu’ and ‘Athidi’ proves the fact.

The fans are already prognosticating about the next release of ‘Prince’.

P.S. I am never missing any of Mahesh babu releases these days.

Life begins @ 2004 .... My intro with...... :-)

This is my first blog. I am not a frequent pen-pusher and have never thought about blogging. But certain momentous events in my life have urged me to engross them and here I go with my first blog.

There is a famous quote by Soren Kierkegaard about life that
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward” .....very true!!!we always rewind to draw some meaning out of life. I at times, correlate incidents that occurred before my marriage to solve the big Jig-saw puzzle – My Marriage.... !!

This was the time when I was in my final semester of B.E. Though I am an extrovert by nature, I am quite hesitant about circulating my CV to my relatives to have them refer my candidature. Very apprehensive if they would take it in a wrong sense (thinking that I had been in touch with them for favor). But one fine day mom came home rushing to convey me the news that one of my cousin got placed in a revered organization (which is known to be an employee friendly organization and she always wished that I get placed in the that org), Her joys knew no bounds, “hey I spoke to him about u, and he is ready to refer your candidature (she recited the names of books that my cousin has suggested me to go-through to get through with my interview) .He is my maternal uncle’s son and I had hardly spoken to him . With hesitation I forwarded my CV with the sole intention of not to disappoint my mother.

A month later, I got placed (of course on my own effort) in a good org. Corporate environment was very new to me and so every day had loads of stories to convey to everyone at home. Every night I chat with my brother with the stories about the day's happening for an hour (to my mother and my aunt too) .Amidst such a conversation one day, I got a call from a unanimous number. I picked up the call and on the other side was a very elegant voice :

UN: “Hi, I am Siva working with ---. I am a very close friend of your cousin. He forwarded your CV to me and I am planning to refer you at my organization. I am designated as senior systems engineer here. Tell me abt yourself”
Me: “hmm oh is it, Good, thanks, I am Divya … eh ... er … I have completed my B.E… “
UN: “OK, Will call you later.. Take care and be prepared for the exams. Will call you later. BTW, nice talking to you”
Me: “yeah, Thank you, same here… eh!!!! Bye “

Days went by and a month later since I got a call from the number, I received a mail from the same org –it was a call letter for an interview. I again received a call from the same number, talks were very cordial this time but very formal. (I did'nt get through with this interview is a different story!!!!!)

A month later, got a call from the same number:
UN: “Hi Siva here, so where are u now?”
Me: “yeah well with …..----“
UN: “still with -----“
Me: “eh .. yeah !!! “
UN: “OK, even my office is at EC, Will drop by your office”
Me:”hmmm yeah …”
Line went down.
In ten minutes he was in front of my office. I met him for the first time and had a formal talk about his profile and his family. I got to know that my maternal uncle's family and their family hold a congenial relation. They run a charity trust together..
Came home and narrated the whole incident to everyone at home.
Mom: “how does he know you are working there?
Aunt: “why did forward your cv to him?”
Bro: “How was he looking? Jovial or serious”
.....I reply only to my brother always … mom and my aunt had their own discussion post-meet.
Months rolled by and I was seriously working on my aspirations. Ultimately, I got an offer for a good profile from two organizations. I was literally in a dilemma to choose which one … I was again apprehensive to discuss with my cousins about this. (What if they bombard me with too many questions? I knew the profile was good but didn’t have much clue about the activities involved, I would land up in an embarrassment) , When thinking about whom to call, my brother suggested why not I call the same UN…
Me: “Hi, this is Divya here, I want to discuss with you something very important …”
UN: “Yeah temme..”
After an hour’s chat decided to pursue the profile he suggested.

My friend asked me once:"Why don't you marry this guy???"
Me: “No way!!!... Are you crazy? He is my cousin’s friend, I hold a good reverence for him “
Same at his end:
UN's Bro: “hey why don’t you get married to this girl ??
UN: “no way !!! I have no interest in getting married”

Never to mention ………….. We had our nuptial knot tied the same year …… !!!!! :)