On Hibernation,Boredom et al...

It seems like a decade ago that the cactus felt the blossom.However,its never too late for the blossom,be it au milieu d'hiver ou au mileu d'automne!

TFC has been a vent to the leaking brain that prevented oxidation and corrosion of the rut below.Post marriage,the migration to the US etc has managed to immerse the creative juices into chores that never occurred to moi earlier.

Living with silent taunts from friends,ignorant relatives and colleagues for not being "functional" professionally by choice is definitely not easy.One learns to overcome that with patience.Yes, missing all the professional credentials and opportunities at the peak of my career and age makes me feel miserable at times.

The fun is to remain optimistic and find the most opportune moment in time to turn the tide to your favour.The metal of person is determined with the struggles he overcomes and not through the number of competitors he beheads or trails ahead of him.I guess,we would not have had Abraham Lincoln in the American History had he surrendered to the failures in his personal and professional life,isn't it? There is always something to look from an open window of the world's panorama.

In the pass two years (wasted as some might want to think) I have had the privilege to accompany my soulmate Rohan,learn different ways of working and etiquette across the globe,pottery,house keeping,cooking,trekking (yes,me and treks!!) and human resource management.I have no regrets about the wonderful experiences that have made me mature over time.I shall always owe a lot to these 2 odd years for my entire lifetime.

 I chose to face the tide and decided to start a catering & event management entrepreneurship of my own with my husband Rohan's support.It is a new beginning.With  disciplined engineering oriented childhood,civilized graduation and management (hons)it would be a challenge for sure.But,I m ready to take on this plunge with a tiger's courage!

Not opting for the easy road was my preference.The road that I might have taken against my wishes on a red carpet.But a bed of roses or velvet each have its own reasonable price.

Opportunities have to be created not passed on,isn't it? So,all of those who have the dedication,determination and desire to fight,replace you swords (tongues to cut through the mean world) with actions.You are,therefore you stand!!

tfc

An Inspired Big Fat Muffin :P

Its astonishing and extremely bewildering how the likes of a workoholic can turn into a big fat bean bag,full of blueberry/chocolate chip muffins,gelatos,cheese of all classes and kind,fried fries,chips,chicken and Californian waters (registering water retention to the already dumpy bag of food).A perfect appetite for a newly-wed couple,migrated to the US of A to make a fortune,eventually transforming into "fatso-ouch-so-couch-so potato" glued to the Tulsta (Ikea's 99$ winner throne for our epic credit historybuilding process) and 4 set of lap desks (Courtesy:Dell,Apple,Hp).Fortunately,we thought we saved a fortune by not getting the big,flat screen idiot box into the apartment.Not is long lived the feeling of saviour for comes the summers and our parents hop in and the fifth box shall be introduced to us as well!

Lot of sarcastic stuff,isnt it? Factual though,believe it or not.

This post would sound contradictory though since we are going to read and relish together some foody thoughts!

Something very inspiring and encouraging to this muffin was a tete-a-tete with "Julie & Julia"-the movie starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child (the lovely actress from Kramer Vs Kramer,which was re-made in Hindi as Akele Hum Akele Tun) and Amy Adams as Julie Powell.This is a true story based on Julie Powell's novel.

Julia Child,a huge American lady ,married at 40 to Paul working for the American Embassy in France learns professional cooking and struggles successfully through publishing of  huge volumes of her books on french cooking.Her lively nature,determination and creativity make her unique and extremely lovable.

Julie,a failed writer is bound by a thankless job in a crowded city who often finds solace in cooking after a busy day.She has an understanding and encouraging husband who suggests her to beging blogging and re-discovering her talent as a writer.Julie undertakes that through this blogging mission she would make all the recipes (524) in Julia Child's cookery book (withing 365 days) and write the experiences of the same on the blog.The blog becomes an instant hit with the American household adorning Julie her due fame and encouragement.It helps her become a better human being and a descent cook.Julie begins to idolize Julia Child but is extremely jolted to receive staunch dislike from her through the press.However,she realizes that Julia has helped her grow as a person,professional and cook too!

I just find this thought irresistible.How about following Julie? Would it help me get some solace and shear joy of creativity through cooking and writing?

Who could be my Julia Child? Manjula Aunty (manjula's kitchen),Vah chef (vahrevah.com),Sanjeev Kapoor (Khana Khazana),Vishnu Manohar (Mejwani-Rangatdar recipes),Tarla Dalaal....lot of them! But,I have one name of a homely authoress who found a prestigious seat in the kitchens of my mother,grand-mother,aunts,my mother-in-law and cousins.She is the very honourable Smt.Kamlabai Ogale who penned "Ruchira".

So,will begin my quest once I receive a copy of the book from India in sometime.Till then,wait and watch :P


But,for the time being here's the link the cookery blog: http://cookwithmoi.blogspot.com/

TFC!

Vista:Indian Shores in United States Of America

USA has always been a country much larger than life for a naive Indian cosmopolitan.Hence,the exclusively golden "Aura" around the country of immigrants.However,settling in an alien country was more of a myth than a dream.Myth for the shear mysterious "Halo" around this nation for the strength,power,wealth and progress it has shown over the years.


15 years ago,visiting US as a traveler was fun.The fun of being to the foreign country at 11 was really wonderful.The clean streets,huge malls,buttery roads,no power outages,Mac D's,Pizza Huts were like "Eureka".Years later,India has progressed in all these departments and hence the "surprise" effect is lost.


Most American Indians are reticent and carry a sense of superiority.Apart from their wheatish colour and expressive eyes,there is nothing Indian within them.Sad to see that.The fake accent,the loud expressions (OMG,WOOPS etc) have replaced the believably Indian exclamations (Aai ga,Hey Ram! etc).Wicket keeper Nayan Mongia had made "Aai Ga" the international battle slogan.Kids from Indian descent disregard their relatives.Its difficult for our "Dadi" or "Aji" to get "I hate you so much" from a toddler of their own blood and skin.
Indifference is ruining our Indianness.Being to India once a year,buying Indian grocery from a NRI,worshiping Indian gods (in warehouse temples) are mere symptoms of being losely Indian.


Many of fellow Indians decide to leave this country while their kids are young.Seems like they are running away from some sort of infectious disease.


Standing in the patio of my apartment,a beautiful vista of Desis could be seen in a perspective,perfectly unbiased.I often feel that adversities must make it easy to prioritize and select.The culture and "sanskar" in which the Gen Next would grow is to be chosen by the parent.The parents often have an identity crisis,unable to accept what is foreign yet difficult to reject it.Acceptance by the Firangs (no offense intended) here is very important to stay here peacefully and amicably.


Weaving good things together, the scenic Indian shores would be alive at Monterrey or Hawaii.Its difficult,but ain't impossible! Lets adopt,adapt and help others do the same as well.If firangs can,why cant we? Most Indian restaurants are occupied with foreigners (non-Indians,we are foreigners here),who relish our food and eat the way we do with hands! Lot of women and men here could be spotted with Lucknowi Kurtas and hand printed Rajasthani shirts.But,they are still comfortable with their minis and jeans.Could we not do that as well?


India is right here within US in US of A.We,Ranades have decided to go that extra bit to remain Indians who accept goodies in the western culture.The freedom,liberties,technological approaches,working methods,human resource development strategies/policies,the legal impositions,education etc are worth applying and not merely applauded.


Could you guys offer help to help yourself?


Hope to hear from all the fellow Indians irrespective of their present place of residence or citizenship :)

If Yan Can,Yen Can,so Can TFC!!

Past 3.5 months of hibernation or so-called "Sanyaas" from blogging have been really great.The intermediate posts were just to avoid any turnaround of readers (if there exist any!)

Anyway,the EAD process is through.TFC can finally breathe a sigh of relief and plunge into the Americano skies for different vocational adventures.Hopefully,the recession should permit "The Indian Cactus" survive its current amicably on an indifferent Americaine mane .

The cookery blog is gearing up to face the challenges of taste buds (should we say "bugs"?,:P),stronger with every passing day.

Its unbelievable! Never thought that cooking would become one of my lead passions (perhaps,to run some meat for sailing through the "sansar")! All those years of education never allowed my one-track meso-brain to float on other branches of creativity.

Submissions,Books,Exams,Vivas,Thesis,Presentations seemed to blind the vision blocking the beautiful vista opening premises to impress (quite literally) and enchant beloved ones.

It was rather easy to answer the jury than to respond to a very casual question ("so,do you know how to cook?") from a relative.TFC would exclaim to herself "Ughh,but is it not it enough to be a gold medalist?" It would be the case with most educated girls around.

If Yan Can,Yen Can,why can't moi? Decided to take it up as a challenge and trying every day to better.This is a competion against one's own records,setting standards of potential and capability.The style of cooking need not be the best,but unique in its own right.Yes,edibility for healthy survival is important when cooking is under trial.Fortunately,my husband seems determined to consume most of the food cooked at home (and more so, reluctant to eat out :P).Occasionally,Mr Pinto (Rohan's friend,name changed for official reasons)also notices SunMan's (Oops,Oracle:read:post 20th April,2009) regularity in bringing a tiffin to the office.

The mad programmer prefers spicy Maharashtrian cuisine and relishes sweets.Making spicy delicacies was a tougher task than anything else.The meals are modest and weakly spicy in mother's kitchen while R's mom stays oceans away with the spicy cuisine! It became quintessential to develop a style to suit our taste buds.But,it has been fun! Steaming idlis to baking cakes or broiling tikkas/fish or rolling rotis/puris,blending shakes or chutneys and making noodles,biryanis,coconut barfis/mysore pak/gulabjamuns/kheer...cooking has been a roller coaster ride! One can't be a winner all the time.Some unfortunate dishes dish you out,but its all part of the game!!!

Apart from cooking,spending sometime painting and embroidering stuff too! Painting would not be unusual but embroidery is typically abnormal with someone like moi-meme!

It would all seem a politicians blabber,but as soon as the master-piece under construction is complete,will put pictures of it here!

Till then chao,
TFC!

The two of US :)

Deja-Vu!

Almost a month in Sunnyvale ,CA,USA.The place is quite beautiful,quiet and green.The topiered landscapes,huge avenues,cold weather,scarcity of population,unavail of pollution and inconvenient transportation systems are an alien feature to someone who has spent 25 odd years of life in an Indian cosmopolitan with excellent communication network,full of noise,commotion,pollution as well as population.There cannot be any other city like Bombay,c'est n'est pas?

One cushioning thought is that there are Indians,Indians & more Indians around.This place is nothing less than Little India,Singapore (@ Sharangoon Road).Our apartment rarely sees a Firang walk into its walking bays.The chaat corners,Mithaiwalas,Indianized Chinese stalls,Moughlai or Punjabi restaurants,Udupi's,P.N Gadgil Jeweller's...name it and it's here.Nothing short of deja-vu!

It's a bit boresome after my husband leaves for office since that keeps me and the house to struggle for the whole day.Me with my fairly contemporary yet Indian ways and the apartment with 70's style Americanized ways are trying to adjust to the weird cultures;hoping for the ends to meet! However,in the trunk period TFC awaits the EAD and planning to start a "cookery blog" to earn some bread for living before facing the realities of recession to grab a decent job! Will keep you posted so that the readers could get ready to buy some gas or constipation relievers:)

TFC.

Terror Terrifies Tarrots!

This fortnight has been very momentous,to me as well as to India.This blog shall unveil the most unforgettable incidences in the history of mankind that I have lived as well as survived in the last 25 odd years.

Commencing with India's historic win over the Aussies made the Indians proud whereas retirement of Jumbo and Dada moistened our eyes for we would miss them on field of game for a very long time.The inflation rates lowered their heads and welcomed the slashed fuel prices.Ah! what a relief for the frequent air travelers!

Lots happening on the personal front too.30 year old Gagan Ganpule (my first cousin) took charge as the Captain of the ship in Merchant Navy which was an ideal tribute to our 95 year old granny who passed away in August early this year.

Neel,the newest handsome nephew walked into our lives on 17th Nov,2008 with a storm and has blown me over completely!

Finally,the most awaited final year results [for M.Arch (const. mgmt)] arrived and the university declared a student called Manasi V.Ganpule who missed her distinction by 7 marks topped the university bagging a gold medal by the hands of the Giovernor of Maharashtra State! Wow,seems like self praise but as my father put it,"the originality,conviction and effort in my thesis has finally paid off handsomely,so a praise of appreciation is well deserved!"

Success and failure are relative to the bench mark of measure,almost reflecting the national sensex. Struggles make the journey more comforting as they strengthen you to face the world and yourself too! In the plight of failure,most often one tends to overlook the roots and gets burdened with sour fruits.Dignity is to rise after a fall and continue to do so at all times in life.Fearing a fall and being cautious isn't being psychopathic.Its to ensure that execution and planned procedures are in sync.The most is in your efforts but the rest is better left to the unseen yet experienced god all around and within us.

This is one of the most precious moments of honour in my life when my parents were proud of me.I can never erase the pain that hurt or wounded them several times.My relatively small and modest achievements can hopefully cure their worries.

After a preamble of a wonderful fortnight comes the darkest Wednesday (26th Nov.2008) in the history of Bombay.The night when terror conquers the city without any prior intuition and alarming killing almost 200 civilians and myriad personnel from branches of army etc.

Taj ,Oberoi Towers and Cama Hospital being victimized by terrorists killing alive innocent women and men transforming their remains into heap of ashes after bombing.The media reporters exploring and instigating the public to panic more.The entire network systems crashed and communication was at a standstill.

Mankind has become hostage to terrorism.Americans resort to war for oil reserves under the cover of rescuing several innocent lives in Iraq but never uproot the ammunition systems in P,AF,U nations. In crisis too politicians are busy muddling each others acts.How many of these politicians have sons or daughters in the armed forces or IAS/IPS? Perhaps,none.Most of their children are spoilt rich brats spending national income into pubs,luxurious hotels etc.The less said the better.But,politicians still move on with their faux melodramae and "we" blindly fall pray to their subtle exteriors.

Media,one of the most powerful weapons to enlighten the society has also become a part of the dirty politics with almost every known channel representing a political sect and hence its mandatory as well as obligatory to sing heroics of them while provoking the others to make contradictory statements to ingredient the Breaking News syndrome.

In an hour of crisis when NSG and other armed forces faced 60 hours of turbulence to save the Taj,we must reunite as Indians.Its time to help and integrate to stand as one,against inhumanity induced by terrorism for truce & human virtue to live a hundred million centenaries for centuries to come.

Indianism is the only religion which signifies our love for the motherland and gratitude towards those martyr's who bleeded to safeguard us.Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan,Hemant Karkare,Ashok Kamte,Sadanand Date and many others who lost their lives fighting like a lion for ensuring a lively survival for us deserve a big salute.Thank-you is too indifferent to be said to those who made the light of today possible for us.

Media even tried to instigate the "Marathi manoos campaign" (read:targeting only north Indians and not bengalis/southies) by MNS in this turbulence.FYI,these are top personnel from various armed forces of IPS & IAS cadre.Very few north Indians are qualified as IAS or IPS.Sometime ago,CET answer sheets for IAS examinations in Bihar & UP were published and quite self explanatory for why north Indians are often into jobs where application of mind or language is far from closer.No offense intended.

One rotten mango does not make the entire dozen spoilt. Dr Kiran Bedi and many other north Indian have done commendable works in their own professional premises.Job opportunities in a particular region are meant for them ,not for migrants.

India is one of the largest successful democracies in the world where we identify,suggest,select and elect our representatives.We need to elect qualified professionals from various branches of art,science,philosophy & technology to build the infrastructural systems of modern India who would not only ensure methodical planning but also its execution in the procedural formats to avoid delays in savior of citizens from crisis.

If the old politicians have worn out,we have to replace them without waiting further time and money.Lets exercise the powers authoritatively to develop this magna chaos of democracy.

Terrorist is an outcome of constant ignorance,hatred,anguish and hardships suffered by an individual or to sections of individuals beloved.Terrorism needs to be eliminated.Terrorists would never be born if terrorism survives but only inside the graveyard.What needs to be uprooted completely for betterment of entire human race is the psyche that gives rise to terrorism.

Rich have been affected by terrorism for the first time in India. Hopefully, this would generate pressure on the government (ruling & opposition) to respond to the crisis where actions would have certain momentum to arrive at relevant results. Michael Jackson might be known for his religion change gimmicks but his song "Heal the world" must remind us of curing the ruptures within us.Let's heal the world,share the pain , cure the wounds and make this world a better place to live.Bombing nations is not the solution but a consequence that shall commence the beginning of the end of this beautiful mystery called universe.

Perseverance and patience might have been invalid instruments to win but definitely not obsolete.They need some repair without any depreciation!

In this cloud of pain and agony celebrating personal happiness is far from possible.Pledging hereby to make a difference as a professional to my country and wait for others to join a league of Indians who would want to become politicians,economists,military men,legal experts and forensic or other technical experts.Optimism never deters with cynicism.

Iam determined,are you?? Celebrations can wait,national loss is incompensable.

TFC.