Happy Valentines Day

Hi All

Happy Valentines to all the people across the Internet. Wish you all had a good time with your loved ones, remembering if they away.

City of Djinns

I am very lucky to have come across this book called the 'City of Djinns'. It is a travelogue by writer William Dalrymple who visited Delhi in the nineties and lived there for 6 years. This book has opened my eyes to the lost history of the great capital of India. I am still not even half way through the book and I cannot keep it down. The characters are very beautifully portrayed and each one of them tells an era of Delhi or a story which I would never have otherwise known.
All Indians should read this book to know more about the great city. The book is more like a novel than a history lesson and is very entertaining.
I feel so proud to be part of such rich history just by being born in this great country.
Reading this book, one can realize and live through the most elegant and pristine heights the city has experienced and also the most nasty downs and ruins.

Coincidentally one of my best friends is also reading a book by Williams Dalrymple called the 'Nine Lives' and she tells me how awesome that one is.

This weekend I got a movie named 'Amu' in the Netflix mail. I must have added the movie long time back. But the interesting part was that the movie is a story of a girl returned from US who is visiting her relatives in Delhi (coincidence once again). She has been told that she was an adopted child all her childhood. During this visit to the city she goes to many lengths to find out about her parents and her past. The movie does showcase the lives of people in Delhi during the 1984 riots after Prime minister Indira Gandhi's assassination. The book however I found to be 10 folds better than the movie in depicting the gruesome reality during that phase.

Jai Hanuman

Saturday we had been to Modonna Mountains south of San Jose.
Here are few pictures of the place. It was mind blowing. Very serene, calm and peaceful.
It was amazing to see American priests chanting the Sanskrit shlokas flawlessly and fluently.
I wanted to sit in the temple longer. Felt the moment lasted forever.
We went to see the baba too. He asked me a question. It was wonderful and special.

Bread making gone wrong

Last week my colleague at work got something really interesting in his lunch box. It looked like a dosa but it had vegetables in them. First thing he said was how bored he and his wife were to cook anything the previous day so made this dish.

I know what he was saying. I know how it feels to go home and first thing decide what to cook. And if within so much time you don't think of anything fun or interesting, you have tons of reasons not to cook. And ofcourse end up picking a fatty burrito or lousy chicken curry from Au's kitchen.

And as part of heathy lifestyle I have decided to carry home cooked food to work. Every single day! Yes, every day. Believe it or not, I have been successful 2 weeks in a row (just one more day to go in this week)!!!
Here's the recipe - Thalipit!

Cooking has always been fun these 2 weeks. I know what you would be thinking. When did cooking become fun especially when you do it everyday? Well, thats the thing. I was not regular at all. Now and then I get a sudden prick of enthu shot and challenge myself to a every day healthy meal contest.
Last night I was tried baking some bread! And this is what they turned out to be!