An Unusual Love Affair

I pucker my lips, ready to take in, and open my mouth, only to listen to my inner self screaming at its highest pitch!

 "No! Don't do it. I am not satisfied. If at all you care for me, get me what i want". 

But then i try to calm it saying, 'this is not as bad as you think and good for you too unlike your love to that insanely harmful & vicious .....' 

"Stop it! Not one more word! I hate you."

And in that moment,all of a sudden, my hand twitched and the hot Tea spill all over my lap.

Yes. I tried to force myself into drinking Tea instead of Coffee. And my inner passionate self whose love for coffee is climbing Mt.Everest day-by-day has defeated me in trying to avoid coffee.

I am a person with simple beliefs that 'nothing should be excessive, lest it turns poisonous'. Now its not that difficult to understand, is it? Yet, the other me doesn't get it quite right. I  ( both me and the other me) have loved coffee ever since i took the first sip of that instant-mix you get in the market.

 But as time went by, there came the side-effects of having too much of it. Its more like, i can't get my head straight without having a sip of it everyday and when i drink it, there's acidity in the alimentary canal. Its like something is lacking in your daily routine if you don't have it. I had this insane desire of wanting to smell it, feel it and drink it everyday and once i have the first sip, i feel that all my grey cells start working faster than usual, my body feels strangely warm and relaxed. 

Now my logical self, which is the actual ME, has realized that this is going to be a problem someday in the long run. So i tried to chide the other me. It feigned fear, and then got back its usual self and continued the love affair with coffee. I felt dejected. I need to control it. Yes, i am a control freak and i wanted myself to control my love for coffee. Yet, it didn't happen.

So one day i give an ultimatum to it and stopped having coffee. Thought to myself that if i substitute it by another supplement before completely stopping, i can overcome the desire. TEA was my first and only option. So i resorted to it.

Day after day i've been giving myself tea instead of coffee so that the other me doesn't recognize the sudden change. But it did! It tried to reason with me and i neglected it.

"Tea is fine...but doesn't have the ambience of coffee. Coffee is much better y'know"

'Yeah.Fine.Just drink it up.Does no harm'

"Alright, just this time. Next time its gonna be coffee,okay?"

'You bet! Definitely'

The other time, it was bit more serious.

"How can you drink something like this?! I mean, seriously?!! This is not cool. I need you to understand that i can no more tolerate this."

I didn't give my two pence for its so-called threats.

And day by day i started conquering it. But something changed. I was no more happy. The inner bliss is lost. But i was adamant to control myself. And simultaneously unhappy.

Finally it rebuked that i spilled it all over! And only then did i realize what's going on. 

Sometimes, somethings are not good for us if overdone. But we can't abandon them completely; they gotta exist in our lives. Just like people. Though they are not-so-good influence, without them, life is not so enjoyable. It creates a void. Which can't be filled by Tea or anything better. You just gotta cut yourself some slack and try to be easy on yourself for the sake of happiness.

Tears started rolling by after that incident(Tea was way too hot and burned me like hell, you see!).And i cleaned up, strode towards kitchen, to make myself coffee and promised to never 'over-do' it so that i can satisfy both the persons inside me.

END OF THE STORY! People who got bored after reading this post can go have coffee. And people who found this article worthwhile, never lose the coffee of your lives. And don't over-do it either.ADIOS.

Mediocre But Arrogant-book review

A casual stride through the Indian Authors section of Crossword Book Shop showed me this 'No.1 Book On Campus'. Having completed my exams and searching a good-read for my insanely boring train journey, i picked up this book and flipped through the pages, to get the feel of the book. And guess what, i found few cartoons and doodles in it which immediately thrilled me to read and try new stuff among books. And as i leisurely opened the book, comfortably seated in my train berth, i dived into this imaginary world of MIJ. And the rest as they say, is history.

As the cover suggests, its a story of a guy Abbey, who stumbles upon luck and lands in MIJ-the premier institute of Management in India during the '80s who had been a Economics student in SRCC of Delhi University previously. Our protagonist finds its hard in the beginning to adjust to the stress-filled, pressurized B-school life, just like every living entity trying and adapting to the change that is induced in its environment, and during these modes of survival does he encounter many friends like Rascal Rusty( the brainy one who guides him every time a problem strikes), Gopher (the bottom licker of profs and nosy guy on campus), Ayesha-the coquette, Alps,Gur, Neats, Arunesh or lovingly called Annie, Pappu-the giant sleeper, Sethu-the geek etc.  A very good deal of narration spent on the professors like Haathi (Ed Hathaway-the founder of MIJ), Chatto (Chattopadhyay who gives 9.80 as the highest score out of 100 in the test of Mean,Median and Mode), Pari ( Parihar-who is the 40-year-old handsome hunk and know-it-all prof), Fr.Beez, Prof. Kameeni (shez Prof. Kaamini infact, but students change the name....you get the drift) will take the reader back to their splendid college days.

The story portrays the on-campus life, the love life of Abbey with Keya, Ayesha and Priya, although every time something nice is about to happen, he manages to mess it up. This novel brings the feel of college life, those stupid pranks on each other or the symbiotic life we opt for good grades during the exams, the rat-race for Placements or Summer Jobs, and the way one can get screwed and unscrewed during a summer job.

And halfway through the novel did i realise the actual meaning of the title-Mediocre But Arrogant which is indirectly screaming out its on MBA. Abbey says to himself, 'accept it Abbey, you are mediocre!' 'but i am an MBA' he defends. 'so what, do you expect the world to kiss your feet?',says his counterself.

Enjoyed reading this book and thoroughly laughed over Chatto and Gowariker of the book. And the author has a way with nicknames, they are funny and apt. 

Last but not least, the final letter from Haathi or Mr.Hathaway is the best advice for any outgoing student. Shows that he cares for his students and draws a summary for their college life at MIJ saying "You came here to understand yourself and your strengths. To believe how easy it is for you to make a difference. That is the purpose of higher education"

A real good novel for people not just aiming for MBA, but everybody who loves to go down the memory lane of their college life!

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The Salt Factor!

Not so many days ago, i promised my mother on a telephonic conversation that i would (finally) oblige her and learn cooking in winter holidays. And this promise was duly forgotten, but little did i know that a ladle and pan were waiting for me in the kitchen as soon as i step my foot inside home!

So here i am, being an apprentice to the most wonderful chef of my life, and i am actually enjoying it. I must admit that the beginning was a bit 'hot', but then, 'tis winter...(yeah! pun intended) and i started enjoying the way i can saute' the fried onions in the hot oil, just like a musician conducting an orchestra (naah! not literally). Oh...about onions, i must admit, it felt awesome watching them burn, since they've been making me cry ever since i've known them.

When i first tried preparing Sambar, i kinda felt that its similar to our college life. Only the main ingredient Dal being our academics, and the vegetables being the extra curricular activities or clubs, the bitter heeng and dhaniya being our bitter profs of the dept.,and the strong scent after we drop pieces of dried chilli being our semester results! Although these ingredients have their own significance, without the one star ingredient which magnifies the taste, we can't even eat it! 'Tis none other than SALT!

Basically, friends are like Salt! Without them, college life is just dull and tasteless, however healthy and nutritious other ingredients are! Friends are those who support us through thick and thin of our life, those are the people who help us coping with 'going-down-south-pointers', nagging profs, pointless assignments, accompanying for a movie or as simple or rather complicated as just listening to us. Life can cherished if we have them!

So, i shall now conclude my not-so-perfect-recipe-description saying 'Thank You friends! You are the salt of my life!'

P.S.: Sambar came out utterly delicious. Thanks to the adequate amount of salt i've taken!!

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