Don't Miss a Thing

Can you miss a thing if you never had the 'thing'?

How can I miss the 31st Dec 2009 today at 31st Dec 2010? Can I ever forget the horrible memory of 25th Dec 2009 and the following bleak days? Can I ever miss that? I wish I could forget those days.

Do I really have anything to miss, anything to long for, anything to look back?

I am profoundly happy now.

Culinary Achievement

Last weekend I tried to overcome my age old fear to prepare Dosa and Sambar. I was always afraid that once I’ll pour the batter on the frying pan, it won’t come out freely but will remain stuck on the frying-pan. But to my wonder, my dosa preparation experiment was a successful one. Thanks to my friends Sharatha and Sharanya for teaching me how to prepare it.

I didn’t want to prepare Dosa with readymade batter available in the market. I wanted to do it from the scratch. So I bought the Idli rice and Urad dal (kalai dal) from the shop (not to mention that the shop keeper was also very warm to help me when I told him that I was trying it out for the first time), took Urad dal and rice and soaked them in two different bowls. The next morning I grinded them separately and left them in two different bowls to ferment. In the evening I mixed the grinded rice and grinded dal, added some salt and got ready to prepare Dosa and face my fear.

I put oil in the frying pan (then only I realized that we didn’t have a non-stick frying pan!), spread it on the pan with the help of brinjal head and poured the batter, spread it on the pan and started to call all gods I could remember at that time. I could see it was taking some time to get cooked, so I went away from there. When I returned I found that the Dosa was ready to get turned. When I turned it, it did not show any tantrum and didn’t really stick on the frying pan! I couldn’t believe that my fear didn’t come true. I prepared another dosa as a trial and we all were still surprised while having it that I actually prepared it.

The next day our breakfast menu was Dosa-Sambar. I prepared sambar, which was easy and dosa for all. My breakfast menu was a hit as my brother said that this was the best food he had in last 2-3 years. So, I actually got the Culinary Achievement Award! :D

Epiplex 500 is an amazing tool

Just learned how to use the tool Epiplex 500.

It’s an amazing e-learning tool. We can do so much with it.

Generally, for creating a training for system application, we create simulation based training. Earlier I used Adobe Captivate4 as the authoring tool for this. But for the last project, we were facing some challenges. So, we opted for Epliplex 500. There may be another explanation to the situation that since I am not well aware of the pros and cons of what Adobe Captivate4 can do, we switched to this tool.

Anyway, the point is that I came to learn Epliplex 500 from a very senior colleague of mine who took care to teach me even the inner functionalities of the tool. Big thanks to him!

With Epiplex500 we can create one entire e-learning course including guided simulation and practice simulation for the course. We can also choose a template and have the logo we want at the top. Even more, we can go to every slide, open it in any image editor and edit it! Even more, it creates two sets of images so that we have the original image set always untouched for future requirement.

Another interesting thing about the tool is that we can generate the output in Flash, HTML, Word document, PowerPoint presentation, PDF document, and more.

So once you have captured one simulation, you can either create a WBT with Flash and HTML files or create one ILT with PowerPoint presentation and documentation in MS WORD.

Actually Epiplex500 is a training and process improvement tool. The e-learning output that it generates is just a part of the mammoth it offers. I am still to gauge the mammoth from its trunk to tail. For now, I am happy with the functionalities that I have learnt.

My take on 2010 movies - till now

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? - Very enjoyable! Though very predictive.
Badmaash Company - Very intelligent storyline....
Dabangg - Total enjoyment!
I Hate Luv Storys - Hilarious to the core! Imraan is even better than expectation.
Ishqiya - Wonderful!Wonderful!Wonderful! Vidya is too good!
Karthik Calling Karthik - Boring,predictive and same old Farhan
Khatta Meetha - Good but missed Priyadarshan
Kites - A real nice movie that left its impact on me for a long time.
My Name is Khan - Yaakkk!
Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai - Very good..better than i had expected.
Paathshaala - Confusing! It's the one with Genelia or Ayesha?
Raajneeti - The best pick of the year....can't get out its effect!!!
Raavan - Sadly bad!
Housefull - The worst pick of the year!
Aisha - A brainless, dumb chick flick! Abhay Deol is a total waste here.
Lafangey Parindey - Very average..but Neil is better than New York.
Rocket Singh - Nice and smart one. Ranveer has matured so much since Saawariya
Kam ka Plot - An offbeat movie like this is always my favourite. Though it was very predictive from the begining, but still it was a great experience to watch.
Before The Rains - After long and patient wait I have finally managed to see it..worth waiting! So beautifully photographed and crafted!
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se - Hats off to Asutosh Gowarikar for choosing such a project that had no commercial promise. He proved again that he is an artist and not a businessman.

Feels Like Heaven

Early morning when surajmama is still in polite mood, when the buses have not started their cacophonies, autos have not started nudging their nose in the badly jammed traffic, and you have not started your day actually, an extremely pleasant feeling catches your senses! You wonder what that is! And then you realize that it’s the heavenly fragrance of flowers coming from the flower vendor standing next to the temple. Nothing can match starting a day like this. It’s a heavenly start.

Fortunately, ever since I have come to Bangalore, my days start like that. Nowhere have I seen such variety of flowers like I have seen here. Any time you visit a flower vendor in the city, you will see at least 20 types of flower. Most of these flowers are fragrant ones like juhi, malli, chandramallika, sanna jaji, yerra jaji, and various types of roses. Interestingly I have not seen much marigold here, which is ubiquitous in Northern and Eastern part of this country.

One thread of juhi or sanna jaji in your hair and you will never feel like applying any perfume/deo-spray again!

My Way or Highway

Do people with this attitude gain in the long run?

I have come across some ladies with this attitude in my life. They might have gained some brownie points on me over some small and big issues, but I wonder that will they be able to win in life?

In the run to earn those points, can they see that they are actually losing out in the run for life; that they are actually losing out on some vital moralities and relations in life that someday they will realize that the life has just slipped out of their hands! May be then it will be too late to repent.

Some are already realizing that....some are yet to realize.

The Da Vinci Code

Last week I finished reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. It was a breathless experience for me as I was reading it breathlessly all the time. I just LOVED it.

This novel has opened up so many avenues of interest to me!

Thanks to Ananya and Ayan for this wonderful gift! May God be always with you !