Monday, January 28, 2013

 

Here, back again with a new style.

Last post was on Oct 27th, 2011. After completing a year and 3 months and a day, getting interested to post again. This post is about a quick snapshot of last one year and what I am upto.
My baby Saraswatee completes 7 months today...For some of my old reader friends here, it might be news and they might chide me for not keeping in touch through this blog. My apologies for the same. No excuses, only unconditional apologies.
A note on how my baby's name is spelled. Kannada script software translates it correctly into her name ಸರಸ್ವತೀ only if it is spelled as Saraswatee. Correct name ends with deergha, since it is eekaranta streelinga. I've seen generally it is being used as ಸರಸ್ವತಿ, and I think putting a deergha is more correct.
Last one year has been really really good. I would say best year of my life so far and it also gave me a feeling that it was just the beginning. There are many more better years to come.
First week of Nov 2011, specially Nov 5th, Saturday, 2 important things happened. I discovered that I was pregnant. Same day I got initiated into meditation in Mysore, by someone who I think prefers to maintain low profile. Since then, I've been happier day by day.
I am not qualified to write about transcendental or any other meditation yet and I'll not be in the near future. So please do not expect a post on that. I have a gut feeling that if and when I become qualified to write, I will have higher priority things to do than maintaining this blog.
Between all these, my music classes have been going on fine, except for a 4 month maternity break. Sir has been very kind. He is teaching me more and more saraswatee devi kritis these days for obvious reasons. :)
My Saraswatee is rolling over more often these days. She doesnt go forward yet. She smiles nicely. She sleeps well in the night and takes good naps during daytime too. Absolutely no trouble.
Yesterdayhad been to phoenix mall in mahadevpura, for the second time. I intend to go more often. It is big, it has got hi funda shops and games. Parking system is convenient.
Some of my ex-students are in touch with me; it is always nice to keep in touch with younger people. It adds cheerfulness to life.
Going back to work from Feb 1st. I've got necessary support system for babycare. No worries. Life is Good, what more do I need?
Planning to do this more often.


Thursday, October 27, 2011

 

Continued chit chat...

Ah.. Not possible to sustain writing about what I cooked everyday. Also, it will be quite boring to read it, as we keep repeating.
However, last Sunday (16th oct), I cooked pumpkin halwa (mentioned previously) and the taste I cant forget even now.
Wanna cook gulab jamoon soon.
Cooking can involve a lot of discoveries and inventions..
My father in law taught me how to make curd.
- When boiling milk, I should keep it in the minimum possible flame, in the smallest burner possible.
- Half ltr heritage takes more than 20 mins this way (measured by me for my stove) and Nandini a little lesser.
- Let it boil slowly as much as possible, switch off, let it cool on its own
- When it is not very cold, may be lukewarm, put one drop on curd to it.
- Dont let it shake, close the vessel with a lid and keep it for a day.
I even remove the cream as much as possible and store it in freezer; in case I wanna prepare sweets, I can use it. If I remove cream, I feel the curd is more tasty, as it does not have the odor of milk.
Curd prepared this way is really tasty and good looking..(want a photo? let me try to post one)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

 

Oct 17th, 18th

17th Dinner
Bhindi huli, chapati

18th
Whole moong dal usli (breakfast)
Tur /Masoor dal with hirekai (lunch), Rice.

Monday, October 17, 2011

 

Music lesson and cooking updates

I've decided to put a brief log everyday on what I cook/eat and what I learn at music class..

Music class:
Oct 15th Saturday 11:30 am: Learning Sri Varalakshmi - Sreeraga, Roopaka tala, Dikshitar kriti. Also recalling Shankarabharana varna, Saami ninne

Cooking:
- Oct 15th, 16th: Dal makhani (Masoor dal), Rava dosa, Rajma hot and sour soup, Rajma masala chaawal, Tomato Rasam, Vangi Baath (this one by my mom in law) and Pumpkin halwa (Yummy!)
- Oct 17th : Dosa with batter prepared from Rice, Urad dal, split moong, pumpkin juice/crux. Should see what to cook in the evening.

I wont put any recipes, until I feel I have found something new. This shouldnt be yet another blog for cooking, there are already too many.

Cheers
Aparna

Friday, October 07, 2011

 

Changes in the Recent Past


In the past 18 months, there have been a lot of changes in my life.

I think 5 events in less than 18 months period is huge for anyone to handle. I too struggled through them. Yet, I feel it is good that all these happened in such a high speed. Now I am kind of relaxed. This post is to write about each of them.

New job: I like the work at HP-IPG. Image processing is a good domain to work on, in the long run. One can immediately see what one is doing, unlike in communications where one will be only counting some bit rates, frame rates and will have to wait till project gets over at the system level, to see something happening over a Wireless LAN or a digital TV. Image processing is not too hard to pick up. Also, as HP is a big company, there are a lot of internal conferences which give scope to write and publish papers. Good amount of intra and inter team interactions help to improve productivity.

HP - IPG offers work - life balance. There’s no slogging involved, as my work is exploration type and not deadline intensive. There is family day once a year during May, which gives scope to get involved in cultural activities. There’s a tie up with a few fitness related organizations and hence some activities go on. Within IPG there’s a community connect team for social service. ….

Getting married: Got married in August 2010. I think this is a complete private matter, so less I comment, the better. All I can say is that it is for good and I can see more good coming out.

Changing homes: My office is in whitefield. I shifted home from Rajajinagar to marathhalli in May, to reduce the travel time. Then moved to Banashankari (about 30km from office) in August, and then to a location 10km from office in October 2010. The shifting involved a lot of things like packing and rearranging, and also transferring gas connection etc.

Getting financially literate: I knew there was something about finance I kept on ignoring. I was ok with it until I got married. I had no responsibilities, and I found no need to invest and create wealth. Not even for retirement, as my line of thought was that if I didn’t marry, then my retirement life would be very simple, as a caretaker in an orphanage or residential school. Once I got married, I started dreaming about the future and got a bit more materialistic. By the way I don’t see it as a bad sign. Even in Vedas it is said that you cannot give up something which you never had. Started thinking about getting sufficient life insurance so that my family will not be affected financially, in case I die. It seemed very essential that I save and make money grow such that at one point of time I will be free to retire from software job voluntarily and focus on other high priority things at that time. That is when I came across Jagoinvestor and Subramoney blogs. These two have changed my perspectives on financial planning and, (to some extent ) life in general.

Developing culinary skills: I am afraid I won’t be able to stop if I start writing about this. My mom-in-law, my co-sister and sisters-in- law and even my husband all of them are awesome at cooking that I felt very bad that I didn’t know anything. Thanks to my colleagues especially Veda who suggested a book by Ms. Rujuta Diwekar “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight”, I broke the barrier between me and the kitchen. It’s not that I never cooked. I used to prepare carrot halwa often and curries very occasionally. Preparing food everyday was a boring job in my view. After reading the book, my way of looking at cooking changed. By following Rujuta’s four principles of eating and working out three hours a week, I’ve reduced 2.5 kgs in 6 weeks! As per the healthometer-a weighing machine we have at home-my body fat percentage has reduced from a big 35% figure to an okayish 31%. The key is not to go on diets, but to eat your food at the right time. More than the fat loss, eating home food all the time has lightened the mood and enhanced the spirits. Not to forget improved quality of sleep. Now I’ve picked her second book, “Women and the weight loss tamasha”, which conveys the message to stop trying for the weight loss and instead understand the body, associated changes and nurture it well.

Apart from these, one other good thing is: last week I rejoined music classes. My Veena teacher expired last year and I have been in no mood to continue Veena lessons with anyone else. Fortunately a musician friend of ours, Mr. Manasa Nayana suggested an excellent teacher for vocal, Sri R.N. Tyagarajan, elder of the rudrapatnam brothers. I am able to practice for at least half an hour daily. To someone like me who has no ambitions to give concert, this is sufficient.

Many of my readers have been asking me whether I’ve forgotten about my blog . I think now they got the answer. Priorities and passions keep changing for all of us; just that I have been getting passionate about other things, and was finding no time to write about them. Besides, as there’s always a friend of my age right next to me with whom I can discuss everything on earth, I am not dependent on this blog to let out my thoughts and feelings. Fair enough right?

Waiting for your comments, hope you haven't stopped checking this out!


Monday, September 05, 2011

 

Mallahalli falls

One could hardly find people in Karnataka who haven't heard about Abbi falls near Madikeri. However, I think it's hard to find people who know about Mallahalli falls in the same district.





















Trekking is also fun there. This is the path...





















Where exactly is the place? Please explore on your own ;)

Thursday, March 31, 2011

 

Long time!


Yes, I remember my password. It has been really long time since I wrote like the way I used to 3 yrs ago. I used to wonder why many girls go and hide in shell after marriage. I have not got the answer yet ;)

Not having time is not my reason. I have enough time. If I felt like blogging, I would have posted one or two in the last couple of months. I did not feel like writing. Don't know why. I don't know why I felt like writing today. No answers, only questions. But I've reduced asking questions to myself.

Earlier I used to wonder what is the meaning of life. I used to think that probably I would know after my marriage. The reason was that I would get a friend for life with whom I can be open and discuss anything and everything in the galaxy. Luckily I got a life-partner with whom I can share my views and ask questions. What he told me was, life itself has no meaning, we have to define it and make it meaningful. Very simple. I have stopped thinking about the meaning of life. Thinking doesn't seem necessary anymore. This blog's title says "Cogito Ergo Sum" - meaning "I think therefore I am". So, if one ceases to think, one ceases to exist. Is it true really?

Why do we have to believe all the quotes. Rene Descartes said Cogito Ergo Sum, because he believed so. I refuse to believe it now. I believe in believing that belief can do things for us. The first book I read in 2011 was "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and co. Try it out if you are not averse to the so called "self-help" books category. I hate to call it a self-help book because majority of books under that tag make me get head-ache. This Secret one is different. You need to believe in it to feel the difference.!

It is 8:30pm now. Still at office, came late in the morning. Got to leave for home, see you. Enjoy one more long break from me..

Yours truly
Aparna


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