Micro-blogging!

 Here I am with 'no time to stand and stare'. However, there's still the zeal to celebrate life, the earnestness to learn new things and the wonder of a new-born child delightfully exploring his new world. So, this is that record...

Cool summer evenings, clear night skies, family rendezvous on moonlit terraces, wafting aromas of flowering mango trees, an air full of seeming anticipation and expectancy. Spring evenings and Summer nights in Hyderabad – magical! - April 22 at 12:39am

A thunderstorm raging away in the night sets the atmosphere so perfectly to curl up with your favourite read in your warmest, coziest spot with a steaming cuppa nestled comfortably beside you. And along comes the vision of a hard, tiring school day the very next morning to jolt you back to reality! - April 19 at 11:27pm

Ah, Mimosa! I couldn't be happier to see that you're in Charleston! - April 19 at 1:51pm

It's curious how distance and time filter out bad memories (most of the time) and leave you with gold-coated impressions of only the good and wonderful. - April 15 at 7:35pm

Each day is bringing me a new experience. I'm not sure I've made up my mind about them being 'good' or 'not-so-good' - April 12 at 8:33pm

Dreamy, idyllic, irrational, idealistic, looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses and living in wonderland! - April 9 at 1:15am

The road runs along straight and meets a soft blue sky at the farthest point beyond which the eye can see no further; the vista all around you is sublimely bathed in a glorious orange; the road takes you past a clump of tall bare trees silhouetted black as a vivid sun glows low on the horizon through them. You gaze at the beauty, soaking it up and wonder at being a part of it all even as the road turns leading you away…into the splendid sunset. - April 3, 2011 at 4:34pm

And you gaze out of your window at the gathering dusk, the dull blue-grey sky getting ready to turn midnight blue, the vague glassy facades of buildings in the distance which reflect a constant shimmery flicker of the headlights of vehicles passing by. The air feels celebratory, the lights festive - just like there. Home is where the heart is, home is where you find it, home is everywhere. - February 28 at 7:12pm

Swathes of golden-orange and peachish-pink streaking across a heavenly blue sky - Sigh! I live for gorgeous sunsets and beautiful twilight skies like todays! - February 18 at 6:34pm

'Thanks to the human heart by which we live, thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears...' - William Wordsworth - February 16 at 11:55pm

I'm surrounded by squirrels merrily scampering by, happy birds skipping from tree to tree - I feel like Snow-White! - February 12 at 7:29pm

is zooming out onto the larger picture and looking at things from a different perspective. It's wonderful to be older and wiser and to know what things in your life deserve what amount of importance and attention. - February 8 at 8:01pm

So, you know you're either advancing in age or dead tired when you start dozing in the middle of the day in a library with waves of uncontrollable sleep stubbornly shutting your eyelids when you should ideally be pouring over the big fat book on your lap. Because it's me, it can't be anything but the 'advancing in age' option!!! - February 4 at 10:04pm

wants to learn how to sing! - February 2 at 7:38pm

'Aisi jagah baith jo koi na bole uthh, aise baat kar jo koi na bole jhooth' - Thanks Bademam (Masood Humayun). - February 1 at 10:34pm

'...life is a continuum. We find ourselves in different places in our lives and must do what we think is right. While some like to feel like they are in control of their own destiny, I contest that you should make the best of what you are given, and leave your mark wherever possible.' - Adam Salmen - January 29 at 7:29pm

'Learning how to learn is what academia is all about.' - John Motloch, my prof. - January 28 at 11:32am

'Hissy Fits'!!! That's definitely my USP! - January 27 at 4:31pm

Weekends come along, treacherously deceptive, dressed to ensnare and throw you off the rhythm and momentum you carefully cultivate over the week. Then you have to start all over again!!! - January 23 at 11:03pm

Poetry in a History class, Ozymandias and Landscape Architecture - wow, wow, wow! - January 18 at 10:18pm

Submitted the very first assignment of my Master’s program! Some benchmark that is! - January 13 at 2:25pm

The things you want are always like mirages - beautiful - until you get there and realize that what you saw was only a projection. There's heat and dust and discomfort which makes up the pretty picture - only illusionary, at that. - January 9 at 3:45pm

 

All things intangible...

...like smells...odours - the fragrant kind, the tantalizingly tempting and the temptingly enticing. The zesty tang of a bright yellow lemon. The crisp, sharp nip of its slightly sour aroma that screams 'freshness' like no other is one of the most uplifting of 'smells' that can instantly alter your mood to surprisingly match the fruit's cheery colour. And, Oh! The royal aroma of thinly sliced onions being fried a deep golden brown. There's a hint of sweetness in that smell and a delectably alluring hold on you that you can't break away from until you've gorged on the eatables that those onions have garnished. There's nothing more heavenly that the smells of fried onions, topped with sprigs of mint and coriander and sprinkled with fresh lemon juice - it's indescribable, only an aroma you'd associate with food fit for the gods.



Or that unmistakable flavour that fills the air when you fry a paste of freshly ground fragrant ginger and garlic - a base for the rest of your regular, mundane curry, yet that bourgeois ingredient that never fails to lace your cooking with a hint of sour-sweet and fried, golden goodness.



The delightful aromas that spices give out when you roast them and grind them. Oh! The smells of a melting pot of all that's nice that is merrily boiling away can bring a smile to your lips and lilt you like a sweet melody does - or perhaps it’s the tune of that happy song you're listening to or humming away as you stir, boil and whip up a delectable treat. Because that's what cooking does - it lightens your mood, peps you up, de-stresses you - it engages all your senses, especially the olfactory one, which play such a large role in making you feel happy at your food smelling good. It invariably means you're doing all the right things to make your recipe a success of a dish.



Cooking is all about the smells, isn't it? Glorious, tempting, tantalizing smells that waft through the air, enticing you, whetting your appetite, making you salivate and lust desirably at all the sublime food giving off those aromas.



Why, then, would one want to remove all traces of lovely aromas that linger around while they cook? Why would one want to cleanse the living quarters to a sanitized lab-like atmosphere by sucking them all out through exhaust fans? Why would one not want those smells to stay on in one's hair and clothes or drift around and out through the windows?



I think the aromas are the best part of the cooking process. They're the raison d'etre for cooking, eating and enjoying your meal.