PANEER BLAH TEAR MASALA

Recently the country was begrimed with a documentary ‘India’s daughter’ with regard to the nightmarish incident that occurred in December 2012. A girl in her early twenties was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi - this is what I knew. Rape cases - I get to hear or read about it often.  I do not know to what extent the documentary was polished, but one thing was sure - I was outrageous to listen to what the driver, Mukesh, and the defense attorney had to say. I was immensely disturbed mentally, so much that I was in depression for the entire day till I had to force myself to cheer up as I was going on a vacation. Even there, those baseless and harsh words said in the short film were haunting me like an evil devil. I wanted to write about it and vent out my anger on the whole issue but could not bring myself to do it then.     To think of it now, what the defense attorney (I have no clue why you even need a defense for this crime) said spoke the minds of most ...

This was around two years ago, we were a group of 12 girls who went on a trip to Dandeli, in Karnataka, India. We were a gang of friends, friend's gang of friends and so on. It was a very short trip but was the most thrilling trip of my life so far!! We did a lot of activities like kayaking, nature walk and so on  but the most dangerous and adventurous one was river rafting in the river Kali. We were all set with life guards and paddles. Till the last moment I was convinced that I am not doing it, and if I do, I will not finish it alive. The River Kali looked so full of force and vigor. My friends convinced me to go for it, and I could not believe how I ended up in the line. That line - waiting for my turn to put a signature on a sheet of paper that said they are not responsible if anything happens to me, including death. Wow. We started off, and the guide was a bold and young guy who took the responsibility of twelve young ladies in their early twenties. LOL. I'm saying this...

      I wanted to visit Pondi from a long time, and finally did this Holi! Every Holi I end up planning a quick getaway, knowingly or unknowingly making us not play Holi in this process. For the record, Augus and I have NEVER celebrated Holi together. After days of mulling over and considering the potential places we could go, we decided upon Pondicherry. I was agitated when Augus told “No” to a place that has wildlife, to a place that has beaches and to a place that has mountains. That is almost telling a n o for a vacation itself! Meano!     I was determined that I needed a break. A break from breaking my head over “What do I make for breakfast?” (That’s approved by Augus and his parents - mind you, I can count on one hand the number of South Indian dishes for breakfast the entire house agree upon. Sigh!). A break from the talks. The not-so-interesting talks that happen in the house, where all I can say is Ummm and nothing else, while o...