Reminiscence

There comes a time in a budding cook’s life when he starts getting bored of the usual stuff and looks forward to try something different; the ultimate test of cooking skills. But wait a second, the day has to be equivalently special in proportion to the “out of the world!” dish. So was one of the special days waiting for me? Oh yes it was! I called it a day to #CookForACause . An initiative to arrange a lavish lunch for the office hospitality staff, a fundraiser in the form of #CookForACause was organised from 14-18 th Feb 2016, wherein various cooks got a chance to sell their cuisines to others who don’t cook but only eat and the money hence collected would serve the main purpose. Well I had to take the main role here (for no reason) and I shouted out loud, “Boss!! I will get Kesari Kheer” (And the conscience speaks, “Dude do you even know how to cook Kheer? And where on earth will you get Kesar!”) Well let’s keep the struggle behind realisations aside and concen

Cooking food heavily depends on an initial phase of testing one’s skills in buying “bargained” healthy-cum-fresh stuffs. This activity takes away a lot of time consequently losing interest in doing anything further, especially if it is done on a weekend. One out of many alternatives is to go to a grocery shop and shout out loud, “Bhaiyyaa!! Zara 250 gm soya bean dena!!!”. Yes you got it right! Soya chunks or Meal maker is a best option when it comes to easy shopping and easy cooking as well. However I want to complicate this journey a bit with a twist of Green peas. So adding things or not is at your discretion. One must pack in the following ingredients (Please note that this journey is only for 4 people): a.        Grated onions (2 no.s) b.       Grated tomatoes (3 no.s) c.        Ginger-garlic paste (Half a teaspoon would do) d.       Bay leaves (1-2 no.s) e.       Cumin seeds f.         Dry chilli (1-2 no.s) g.        Meal maker (Soya chunks) (200gm) h.     

Tiffin breaks during school days were always the most anticipated hours owing to the good food one can eat besides his/her own home-cooked food. Well life is now in corporate phase so every childish activity needs to have a proper documentation. So is the faith of ‘Tiffin breaks’ as we call them ‘POTLUCK’ ( a meal or party to which each of the guests contributes a dish , #copied) now. Being a Sikh guy I had to show off saying, “Hey guys I will get a Punjabi style Rajma curry for all”. Seconds later I realised, “How on earth am I going to cook this thing??” Well mom’s telephonic instructions and a couple of YouTube videos were the source of inspiration. On this note here begins the first chapter: The Potluck "Rajma" Delight The ingredients required to prepare Rajma curry(max 4 people) includes Rajma (particularly the red kidney beans), 2 chopped onions, 2-3 grated tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric-green chilli-coriander( dhania )-cumin( jeera )-salt-rajma mas

Road to a Bachelor’s kitchen is all about my struggles (including strategies, failures and patch ups) while cooking. I would rather say that I thought to take an initiative (after Ankit praised my food) to help people out there to put their heart out in cooking commonly available dishes at home. This is neither Hell’s Kitchen nor a typical Khana Khazana cookery show so fasten your seat belts for a non-stereotype cooking journey. But wait!! I already feel like a celebrity. So why not begin this never ending saga with a brief history of time surrounding the cooking talent that I managed to grow. So here it is.... It had been a childhood dream of mine to ‘sometimes’ be a scientist or a doctor or an actor or maybe someone with lots of money to shell out. But then came those nights when my beloved ‘Buaji’ (Dad’s elder sister) used to wake me up at midnight, cook something for me, while me sitting on the kitchen sill and watching the process, however eating happily later. This wa

New glasses...new shoes...new clothes...new back pack...any guesses? Of course it’s gonna be another travel post. Well this time it didn’t begin as an idea but rather a never ending desire to run away from office and later proudly come back and say, “Hey people you know what the journey was so good that I forgot my machine password!” So let us travel 2 weeks back in time to recite one of the best memories captured in this year. Morning took a kick start with lots of selfies and a promise to visit more places than before. ( 14th August 2016) A day before Independence Day was in itself a perfect theme resounding an urge to live life like it will be never again. The hotel caretaker had arranged for a traveler ride which started at 9:30 am. However since we got up early so we had enough time. So before the actual journey began, we opted to experience a small teaser. Ooty was in its entire vibes when we reached the first stop, The Stone House . I would say the uphill walk was rat

One has truly said, “Engineering life is the best time to explore as many places as you want because after that there won’t be anything to be called as life”. Well I am still searching for that one person!! But in this search I have begun to realise that whatever has been told is true, though I had made my mind to prove it wrong. However please note that the term “Engineering” can be replaced with “College”: a disclaimer to avoid racist allegations! With this small introduction let me unravel a memory, shaped from the bazaars of Chennai to the streets of Pondicherry. “It all began” as an idea popped out from the curious mind of Sourav. It was a dull day, I was rotting up at office and Amartya busy with his studies when all of a sudden, Sourav pinged in “Zoo Kingdom” (A Whatsapp group comprising of me, Sourav and Amartya) saying, “Hey Bhaiyon!! Suno...we haven’t been to any place together after completion of engineering. So let’s plan to go somewhere. What about Pondicherry? Let u

It is the last working day of the month. Your mind has already begun to frame a SQL query with a where clause searching for keyword like “%credited%”.  But wait because your mind is a multiprocessor. One more process adds up of analytics where your mind has already projected the savings that you’re going to have in next 3 months On the other hand your heart beats in some other world, with totally different hopes; particularly dreams of extra 1000s or at least 100s adding up to what you call as salary popularly known as “monthly wages”!! And so the wait is over. The results are just the opposite of exit polls!! The tax component steals the show and you are left with money crumbs. Practically the month has not ended yet so you are already in debt! Well this is just another common story of a so-called miser like me whose mind’s savings and heart’s expenses ends up in a voluntary detention from the worldly pleasures. But since it is me who is writing so it is special. Let us begi