Chick Peas Recipe

To most Indians back home this recipe would seem quite trivial - so on the onset I will state that the recipe is catered to the 'newbie' cooks like myself and any other person who may consider trying some Indian cuisine.
As always with my cuisine blog - credit is given to the person who talked me through (literally) the entire preparation, Divya 'Divvi' Gupta. Must have had a lot of patience to keep me occupied through the entire time it took to prepare this. For things like recipes I move away from my no-name policy so that the right people get the accolades. So without much further ado - lets get started.
I think this should easily serve 4

1 can (32 oz.) of chick peas. (Divvi suggests fresh chick peas soaked overnight, drained and kept in the refrigerator before cooking, obviously I didn't have the luxury of time to do that)
3 green chilies
1/2 bunch of cilantro (coriander) leaves (and yes - I DID remove the stalk!)
a small piece of ginger (or a tsp of ginger paste)
1 pod of garlic (or a tsp of garlic paste)
1 tsp pomegranate seed (anardhana) powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
a pinch of salt
1 big potato
2 medium sized onions

(the spices can be obtained from any Indian Store)

Preparation
saute the chopped onions is a little bit of oil (I used olive oil since its healthier).
blend chilly, cilantro, ginger, garlic with a little bit of water (if necessary) until it forms a paste.
pressure cook (boil) the chickpeas and potato until they are soft (DO NOT MAKE IT SUPER-SOFT). In the pressure cooker it should take one whistle. Add a little water in the pressure cooker while cooking the chick peas.
Mix all (onions, paste, chick peas and potatoes (cubed)) in a pot. Wait 10 minutes heating on LOW.
and Lo and Behold its ready to EAT.

Again the recipe is good since it is a dummies one - chance of failure is small. And to give the best compliment of how it turned out - the word came from my roommate ..... Authentic

Feast and Enjoy

The Laws of Attraction

"Like poles repel and unlike poles attract"

Guess most of us learnt this during high school in some obscure science class concerning magnetism from some now forgotten teacher who in vain hoped for a Newton or Einstein to emerge from one of the motley bunch in front of him/her. Little did my mischievous self realize that such laws applied to so many things apart from science itself.....

I used to believe that well 'like men think alike' and so on and so forth. Quite a pragmatic thought I must say. However as times pass wisdom appears over the horizon to cast its shadow on such fervent beliefs - and that is what I am going to espouse in this essay.

My first opinion when I saw her was.... hmmmmm too quiet for my liking. Not exactly distasteful but what common ground would a free bird like me hope to find with someone who on first impressions preferred to be the silent observer. So much for appreciation on first sight (and yeah I am agnostic on the love at first sight thing).

Life went on its own humdrum way meandering through the little oddities we call the 'joys and sorrows of life'. Sure living in the modern global 'village' we would on occasion meet each other - which would consist of a very courteous greeting (gotta thank my parents for that) followed by an equally civil and studied..... silence (gosh, if telepathy was in vogue we would have certainly reached max capacity in terms of unspoken words :-))

However ever so slowly the ice started melting. In a way I guess I began to appreciate the fact that even although she was different, maybe she was different in a good sorta way. You still couldn't talk economics, tech or any of the equally abstruse topics up my alley but I would be wrong to say that we didn't share anything in common. [ah, speaking of ice-breakers - to all my friends and well-wishers.... well include people who don't like me for any particular reason; who are on the verge of getting into the arranged marriage maze - for heavens sake don't make the mistake of asking the other person about his/her hobbies........ errrr I don't collect coins, stamps, cars - parties don't count. That's a super cliche question to even pose to anything in this modern day and era... yeah I am most definitely going to devote one whole essay on that topic - but not just yet..] - Coming back to her. Now, to be honest I don't remember what we spoke about - trying to making casual conversation - and hoping the other wasn't hoping for a sudden death to get out of it. In some way I would say it was an exploratory phase of a budding friendship - no strings attached.

Retrospectively speaking we sure would have made an odd pair - she being quite unlike any girl among my friends circle. Petite features which revealed little, with a quiet voice carefully weighing each word that was spoken. Enigmatic - yup, you could certainly put it that way. Different from me - oh most certainly, but in most reassuring way. I wouldn't call it bonding - that would be taking it too far - but in some inimitable way each meeting would be a soothing salve which would leave me in the quite a good mood.

In some ways this friendship has stood fast - blossoming in its own enchanting way, across distance and time, bringing along its own special moments and memories which make life so much more worth living. Looking back - guess the laws of magnetism sure hold good - they most definitely did so for me.

A Thought

Heard this on the radio station on my way to work, and would like to share it with whoever would care to read this blog.

"Reputation is what you are in the light......
Character is who you are in the dark"