Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The chemistry COOK!


My friends always say that i always cook well with the values in the chemistry lab! Though this aspect is not verifiable ( even by my professors!!), you can verify how i cook at home! yesterday, a new recipie struck me and i name it,
PSEUDO PANEER MASALA.

The basic aim is to replace paneer by someother thing so that people on "diet " can relish it without having to worry about the calories. And also, i chose a vegetable that is usually blended in the base in this kind of dishes as the main ingerdient.

Carrot! cut it into cubes and boil it soft. Shred cabbages and boil them soft too. keep them aside and remember to add salt when cooking the carrot and cabbage. Make a fine paste of Tomato, onions and ginger. Add butter to the pan and let it melt. Add a few pieces of cinnamon, elachi and clove to this and saute. Fry cut onions in this butter melt till the aroma elevates you to a few inches above the ground. ( errr... actually till the onions are golden!) Add salt and garam masala and red chilli powder. Now, add the paste of tomato, onion and ginger with a little if water if it is too thick. Let this come to a boil. Now, add the carrot and cabbage to this and close the pan with the flame on simmer. Stir after sometime and add finely minced capsicum ( cut in thin strands for more glamour! ) . Take it off the flame and garnish with fresh corriander and few pieces of cashew.

The boiled carrot is a beautiful substitute for paneer and it tastes awesome ( tested and certified!!) . Goes well with Basmathi rice varities. In the picture, my mom cooked the pudina-basmathi rice and i did this side dish!

Guten Appetite!!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Arvind Sir

When the time comes, let this be the fist one about the Man who is.

He is courage. He is strength. He is what the youth have lost. Arvind sir.

I was in my second year of BSc chemistry. Those were the days of utter carelessness. We had shortage of faculty and hence a lot of free hours. Towards the end of the second year, he entered our department. Average height, athletic, fair and with a lot of beard. His eyes spoke before he did. He was not employed like a faculty, he was a part time staff and handled only Allied chemistry.

Then came the final year BSc and then came to our class, Arvind sir. Physical chemistry, gaseous laws and stuff. He stood before us, we laughed from the last bench. If he shaves, he will look like a kid! What a baby face! Skinny man! Ho... another new faculty, gonna mess up the subject. It was just the usual welcome.

After the class, i sat mesmerized. Well, where has this guy been all these years? It was not a class, not a lecture, not a meeting. It was an experience. The way he brought out the concepts and the way he talked in class, not a single student needed to take notes. It was like energy reaching out to you and getting inside you. After all, it does travel from higher potential to lower potential without strain!

And then i contacted him. Something drew me to him. He accepted my request to train me for IIT and thus began my trip to his house.

I entered his house, there he was, seated on the floor. He looked like Buddha. Radiance emitting was so powerful that you will never feel any hatred in his presence. I asked him, sir, you practice Buddhism? why all these pictures of Lord Buddha here? What he answered that time i cant remember. But he follows no religion, for his religion is mankind, the youth.

I will coach you in chemistry. I will just give you questions, find out the answers and we will discuss them. And i return, i heard you are a flute player, so, teach me flute. I was stunned. Accepted it without any hesitation and the next moment he thrust a few currencies and asked me to get him a flute. Then he brought out his Tabala and played a thaal. After some time of chemistry discussions, he got out his Harmonium and played a raga. I was literally stunned.

In college, his classes were getting better and better. We had this practice of playing table tennis after the college time. One day we were in for a surprise. It was none other than sir, with the TT bat in hand and skillfully smashing the shots across. It took one full year for me to block and return his smash to his own table and till now, no one has won him!!

After a month of the classes, flute and TT, he asked me if i could take classes for the less previliged childen in the slums. I accepted. He made me feel the most wonderful thing. Then i came to know the real Arvind sir.

The MSc from IIT Madras, a part time faculty in our college who taught chemistry the way it must be, a philosopher, who believed that the villages in India are the key to its development. He told me about this Organization. Mother, he had named it. Educating the children from the villages and making them know the value of education and trying to develop the villages was his primary activity. His teaching in college was just his hobby!

Having education networks in over 16 villages, he coaches the students and supports them to pursue their interests. The most unique thing about him is that he gives charge to the youth. He himself, just over 25 years, has over grown all the basic things that attract the youth.

Life and emotions are nothing but chemical surges. The effect of this on the Mind controls the body. The experience of these on the body controls the mind. He had everything in control. His chemicals, his mind and his body. Meditating for hours and a staunch follower of Vipassana, he cannot be shaken by any worldly thing.

His aim, develop the villages, develop the youth, develop the nation. He resigned his job in college and is now full time into his ambition.

I go to his house often. To be frank, he is an addiction to me. It feels great to be with him, to speak to him. We have had endless conflicts about everything. From chemistry to Love. We have spent so much time playing the flute. Never seen someone who can pick up things very fast. He is the most positive force on earth.

To put it very short, the summation of energy, hope and self is him.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Life is worth living

Life starts the way it must,
it goes on the way it does.
People turn when they can,
some turn whenever they can.
For others, its a wild river,
turning whenever it wants.

Many give a discourse,
on how to put life on course.
But what purpose is this force,
makes things little but worse.

sit down and give a try,
find out the real I,
then to places unreachable, you can fly.

What you are is living.
What you want to be is life.
Aferall, life is worth living.

WALK BACK, AGAIN

I walked down the road,
plugged my ears with music, cutting off all others
Through the crowd i waded,
each face, meaningless, yet meaningfull.

I just moved on....
why did they exist?
why did i?
why did he stare at me?
why did it run away?
why did she stop?
why were they shouting?
Do i need answers?
I just moved on....

The wind blowing salty, i neared the beach.
with the waves beneath me, i stood.
A toddler learnt to walk, just like i did,
to walk through life.
He played in the sand, vastness unknown.
Should he know it?

The sun sank into the ocean.
I know it will rise again.
I know i will walk back here,
again.