random ramblings

പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് ഒന്നും ചെയ്യാനില്ലാത്ത ഒരു വൈകുന്നേരം. കുസൃതി ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ ചോദിച്ചു സ്റ്റോക്ക്‌ തീര്ന്നു. Dumb charades കളിച്ചു മടുത്തു. ചക്കി അമ്മൂമ്മയോട് എന്തേലും പഴയ കാര്യം പറയാൻ പറഞ്ഞു. അമ്മൂമ്മക്ക് ആദ്യം മടി. എല്ലാം പറഞ്ഞു കഴിഞ്ഞത് ആണത്രേ. ഈ ഇടയ്ക്കു നടന്ന എന്തോ ഒന്ന് പറയാൻ തുടങ്ങി. "81 വയസ്സിലതു പോരാ, പഴയതു വേണം" എന്നായി. 5-6 വയസ്സ് വരെ നടന്നത് ഒന്നും ഓർമ ഇല്ല എന്ന് അമ്മൂമ്മ. ഇവിടെ 5-6 ദിവസത്തിന് മുൻപ് നടന്നത് ഓർമ ഇല്ല അപ്പോഴാ. എന്നാൽ പിന്നെ ആറര വയസ്സിലെ വിശേഷം ആയിക്കോട്ടേ എന്നായി ഞങ്ങൾ. അമ്മൂമ്മ തുടങ്ങി. "ആ പ്രായത്തിൽ എന്റെ അച്ഛന് മങ്കൊമ്പിൽ ആയിരുന്നു ജോലി..". ഞാൻ - "അതെന്താ പ്ലാക്കൊമ്പ് ഇല്ലായിരുന്നോ ". ചളു അടിക്കാനുള്ള ഒരു ശ്രമം. ചക്കി ഉടനെ - "Pause, Pause.." ഒരു marker എടുത്ത് board ഇൽ പോയി എഴുതി ഇട്ടു - "He is trying to win 1st prize for Comedy" ചളു അടിക്കാൻ പഠിപ്പിച്ചത് ഞാൻ ആണെന്നും അതിനു എനിക്ക് ഗുരു ദക്ഷിണ പോലും തന്നിട്ടില്ല എന്നു പരാതി പറഞ്ഞിതിനുള്ള reaction. "ഒരു ആറിൻറെ അപ്പുറത്തായിരുന്നു സ്കൂൾ. ഒരു തോണിയിൽ കയറി വ...

Recent reads -          Unsolicited Advice for My Three Sons, In No Particular Order – enjoyed this article. Starting from lactating cow that need to be pumped about swelling up with advice. I never begin conversation with strangers, I have to search hard in my memory when I did that last, if at all. Maybe need to do that more often. Green tea – I remember the horrible taste still and never mastered it, didn’t try it enough though. Same with many other habits that I tried to form, even though I know the theory very well. Good reminder there. Think for oneself – infact, I always use 2 mins in microwave to make a black tea. Other day made a tea 5 mins before I was supposed to go somewhere, drank it and burnt my tongue – this was a reminder to say that 2 mins is not a rule, could have been 1.5 mins. Negotiations – big need in life, poorly practiced. “You win not when you get the best price, but when you do so while building a s...

This... Most human heartbreak stems from this half-arrogant, half-naïve tendency of ours to believe that we can change the course of events and the feelings of others by bending, twisting, and exerting ourselves a little bit more, as if the entirety of their free will was a function of our own actions.

Got to finish a saved reading list, one of many. We got an old easy chair and saved couple of such old but gold furniture which is crowding up our balcony. When it is windy, even in this hellish heat, I could sit there for hours. Especially if there is tea - I am experimenting lot more with tea now – lemon, ginger, green, masala, with spices, honey and pepper – not all at once, but trying the combinations. Few of the recent reads:- -           Inside Mark Zuckerberg's Bold Plan For The Future Of Facebook :- it is interesting to see what they are doing with Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality, Connectivity using drones. Such articles always gives me a pang of guilt too that being part of a technology company (services though, which is a big difference), we are doing almost nothing original whereas likes of Facebook are leading Artificial Intelligence revolution. I access FB very rarely now and not active on a...

Made Veg Biryani today, following recipe from here . I prefer to pickup recipes from blogs than professional sites, just thinking that blogs are real experiences of real people cooking for themselves. Hope to get some real tips. After making it this time, I wanted to note down some things I did differently to remember later, but then writing a recipe is a big job, so just doing ditto to original recipe and adding on a few observations as a note to self. -           2 tumbler rice is usually enough for a family, with some leftover too. Then the proportion becomes 3 potatoes, 3 or 4 tomatoes (I like more tomato in anything, but then it is just me), 1 capsicum, 3-4 carrots, 10-12 beans, 3 onions, quarter cup green peas, 2 green chilies (more spicy), few curry leaves, ginger garlic paste. I got tired of taking part of the Gobi and it gets so messy to cleanup, so replaced it with capsicum. Tried Brinjal as add on once. -   ...

Reading Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s Collected Works. Came across this quote in the introduction, Basheer telling someone to write down in the heat of the emotion, but don’t publish:- “In this occasion, while your heart is full of happiness, you write stories and poems too. Don’t waste such occasions. Don’t let emotions cool down. Before that, put it on paper. Remember that always.. Don’t be in a hurry to send the stories for publishing. Write down, a lot. There is time. Just don’t waste the occasions to write”. Basheer is known to polish his writing so much that original writing to publishing might take years and the material shrinks considerably by then. What would be his reaction to this age when everyone is publishing their thought streams – to blogs, social media, emails. There is less rewrite, less editing. In college, I read mostly pulp fiction. Gorged on the “thrillers”, any kind. It was an easy way to kill time. But last week, when I was in a used book exhibition in offi...