What next... Java or Jalwa?

Classes (No not the course kind), Inheritance, Polymorphism, Methods, Interface and Encapsulation. Any of this sound familiar? Am sure that all software engineers and programmers will find these terms very commonly used and implemented in their daily life. But my last brush with any of these was way back when I was a freshman in Trichy, India. A trip down memory lane actually tells my I had actually not heard any of this even back then. My programming was limited to writing programs for finding out prime numbers within a given range, creating small games like finding out who typed A-Z at the fastest speed (I hold the record with 2.5 secs) and creating a system for a cinema's ticketing system. And so I decided to do a Bachelor's in Electronics, with a dream of one day designing Pentium XV processor or making the nVidia GeForce 10 chipset. But we all know how that dream ended.

So then I decided I was no good in Electronics (Which was actually not true.. but still I decided) and applied for a Master's in Engineering Management. As most engineers do, I too wanted to stick with at least a little engineering even though I wanted to go into the management side. So I ended up doing what one would call a splendid Master's in a colorful city called Syracuse. And I say colorful because it is one of the few places which over the course of the year sees all colors engulf the city at different points of time (Of course some of my friends who worked in the dining hall would say its colorful because of the presence of err.. a lot of cheerleaders. :)). Just when we all thought here is a new dream, one of becoming a Supply Chain Professional that, for a change, looked like turning into reality. And what's my status?

I am Learning Java 5.0, which is actually Java 1.5 since Java 1.2 was Java 2.0 (for some weird unexplained reason) and figuring out exactly what all those terms I started off this blog with mean. And how much of my Master's is coming in handy? Well, you can't say its totally useless, considering that I got work in a dining hall doing my MS and also learnt to sit long hours in different kinds of seats and couches in the library reading pages and pages of text (Something I did only the week when we had exams back in Trichy). What I will be doing next, the almighty shall deliver the sentence for. For he beholds key information about the next unexpected path that my career will take.

You may never know, I could be the next successful thief- like what people claim Bill Gates or the Facebook guys to be- and may start the next big phenomenon to overtake Apple and Google on the World stage. Or I could write more recipes and become the next Gordon Ramsey or PF Chang. But whatever happens, I will never forget 2 things in life:

1. Eating at home is the best option.

2. Hot homemade pepper rasam with rice is always the best item on earth. :)

Is that random enough a post for you guys? Do I hear virtual rotten tomatoes? Keep em ready and stack em up. The next few weeks you will need a lot more.

To all Chilli Parotta Fans

There has recently been this demand for the recipe of the chilli parotta that I make once in a while. So I thought I'd put pen to paper, or rather some fingers to the keyboard and write it down. Its a very simple thing to make for those people whose cooking skills are better than making just Maggi noodles and toasting bread (Trust me, there are people who struggle to do even that). This is a delicacy in Tamil Nadu and this recipe is dedicated to all my school and college friends with whom I've enjoyed this item umpteen number of times in Chennai and Trichy.

Here's what all you need to make it for 3 people

Oil

Cumin seeds - 1 spoon

Cloves - 2 pieces

Onions- 1 big or 2 small

Mixed veggies- 1 cup

Green Chillies- 4 to 6 (depending on how spicy you wanna make it)

Bread- 10 slices

Salt- 2 spoons (I guess. :) You'll know how much is needed)

Red Chilli powder- 1.5 to 2 spoons (again, depending on how spicy you want to make it)

Crushed Tomatoes/Puree or Tomato Ketchup- 3 to 4 spoons (Both work perfectly fine)

Garam Masala- 1 spoon

Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 spoon (If available)

The procedure is as follows:

1. Toast the ten slices of bread without any oil/ghee/butter on a pan. In the meantime, boil the mixed veggies till they become a little soft.

2. Chop the onion(s) into tiny pieces.

3. Heat the cooking pan and add 4 to 5 spoons of oil to it. (Dear cooks, you would know how much to add, so do the needful)

4. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and cloves.

5. Once the cumin seeds have turned dark brown, add the chopped onions and fry them for a while.

6. Next, add the Ginger Garlic paste and mix nicely.

7. Before the paste gets sticky on the pan, add the mixed veggies. Fry the veggies for a few minutes.

8. Add the salt next. (Make sure you add enough for the vegetables and the bread you will add later)

9. Add the green chillies and the red chilli powder to the veggies and mix it well. (This is just to spice things up)

11. Add Garam masala and sprinkle some water.

10. Add the tomato puree/crushed tomatoes to make it a mild gravy. Make sure that you don't make it watery. The gravy should just be enough to give colour to the bread.

11. As the gravy melds with the veggies, make little pieces from the bread that you had once toasted. (Seems like a long time ago doesn't it)

12. Add the bread pieces and mix it nicely with the gravy. Mix it such that the bread pieces take the cover of the gravy. (If the colour is not red/orange, something is very wrong with how you prepared this. :))

13. Add a little oil and mix well so that the bread also cooks well.

14. Mix continuously and fry for a few minutes and make sure the taste is fine. (Especially the salt)

15. Once you think its done, just add some Cilantro/Coriander leaves on top to garnish and switch off the burner.

As Chef Ramsey or that famous cook on Star Plus would say, "The dish is now all set and ready to be relished by the lucky people who are gonna eat it." It is best served with plain yoghurt or onion raitha.

If you want to make it a little more authentic, you can use parathas or chappathis but make sure that they are properly roasted/toasted with the pan before you add them to the gravy.

Tip: If you think the salt is slightly excess (in any dish for that matter), add a little lemon extract to contain it. The lemon should be added when the dish is still cooking and the lemon can diminish the effect of the salt.

If you have any further questions, comment here or feel free to write to me. The so called "Critics" are welcome to insult/abuse at their own risk. Be advised that I have a spy in every one of your homes.

Signing off! Chef Vats

Friendship it is.. or is it

If you're still wondering why this post has such a title, it is because thats what people wanted me to write about. In particular one friend of mine (codename: FlowerGo) who is also jobless and waiting for work to start from Tuesday, wanted me to write about how wonderful it is to analyze our really good friendship over a very short period of time. But something tells me that before I ventured beyond three sentences, all you readers would be fast asleep and wouldn't depend on Benadryl shots or sleeping pills.

So today I thought I'd write something totally different from what I've written before. I thought I'd analyze a few nicknames. Nicknames are a funny thing. From being called as the unit of power (Watts) to having a hospital ward as part of my nick (Sriward) I've seen it all. In spite of my name not being the easiest to pronounce, I've not had it butchered by anyone here in the US, yet. Its always been my dear fellow Indians that have screwed it up. And then there was this friend of mine who was Under Influence and was totally into Lits (Literary events), so he came up with 'Vats the good word'. This would later on replace the event Whats the Good Word in one of our college cul-fests as well. And as you all know, it is also the name of my blog. Incidentally, this friend of mine is almost always addressed by his nick- Patti (Means dog in Malayalam).

Nicknames are something to cherish for life. I am sure every single person has a list of nicks that they accumulated over the course of their lifetime. It just takes some digging up from the memory and a trip down memory lane back to the college days, when you had all kinds of people around you who did not care to call you names (some of which are better left unsaid), which sometimes end up being nicks. Usually I was not the one who pioneered in coming up with nicknames for people. But with one particular nick-Rules, that I came up with for one friend of mine, I started enjoying it. Why the name Rules? This friend of mine had stormed into the railway station to send off one of our seniors in college and in the process had forgotten to buy a platform ticket. So she decided to be truthful and bought two tickets the next day she came to the station. I could not help but come up with this name for her.

As for how I got the name Sriward, well that one was a little weird. I would say that my school cricket team's coach had a serious hearing problem, and thus heard Srivats as Sriward and even wrote it down as that on the team list given to the umpires. So when they were calling out my name, it took a while for all the team members, including me, to realize who it actually was. The bigger irony is that this same coach of mine used to call me something that sounded like Si-ri-way-it.

I could keep on writing loads about nicknames, but I guess any longer and this could fill up one section of The Hindu Editorial page. The idea behind writing this one is to take all of you people back to those days where you were the victims or predators who coined silly/stupid/slick/dashing nicknames for the people around you.

My Friend Once Told Me I Should Write Again

As I sit here, at the center of a huge couch on a Saturday night with nothing to do, I realize the transition I've made in life. Its been one helluva journey through undergrad leading up to Grad school and now life post graduation. The most important addition to my life during my two years in the US has been a pair of spectacles. Funny as it may be, the pair I sport were Made in India (for a change) and came right out of the excellent Eye care facility in my hometown of Chennai. Its been one boring evening, and I even tried sleeping through it. But I would not be able to sleep either, mainly due to the fact that my dad woke me up with a phone call all the way from 8700 miles away, but also considering that my previous several weekends had all been fun filled and this silence and emptiness in the house somehow seem strange.

We have an excellent collection of Indian restaurants on a street called El Camino Real (No I am not calling the Real Madrid football players Kamineys, although they are ;)) but still I chose to eat fries and milkshake at Mcdonald's. Could it be perhaps that I am reminded of those umpteen road trips on I-90 and I-81 where we always stopped at this particular eatery to grab the very same thing-I guess it could! The milkshake still rocks there and I have no reason to complain except for the fact that being a vegetarian thats always my order at MacD's. As for travelling on the highways to tour around some visually breathtaking parts of the country, that dream will have to wait here in California. The main reason for this being that its going to be another month before I get at least my learner's permit thanks to an ever-crowded DMV office. People also say that it will take a further 2 to 3 months to get the actual drivers license. So here I am, during this Labor Day Weekend wondering where I should plan to go in November- encouraging isn't it. I guess I'll just have to stick to visiting all places inside my head.

An air conditioner that does not work, dirty water coming from the taps, a bus fare that'll eat into my salary like piranhas latching onto any food they get and a place that will remain warm throughout the year. Whoever said California life is going to be wonderful should be gunned down unless he/she makes my life better. Alright, I'm just kidding about the gunning down part; You never know who is prowling on these blogs to get a reason to arrest me for a crime I surely did/will not commit. Come to think of it, it will be cool to have to FBI walk in to your house and push you to the wall- Ok wait, my wish list is just getting worse by the minute! Trust me, I did not take any drugs, just the superb Aloo bhaaji cooked by my roommate.

If you're still reading this post, then you are truly my fan and you deserve an award that I cannot afford. Your patience and tolerance for random ramblings is truly exceptional. On a more serious note, I have absolutely no idea why I am writing all this. Anyone who can explain this to me will get a surprise gift that I can afford. Lets see if any of you win a pair of sunglasses from me (Oops.. so much for the "Surprise" gift :))

Its good to be back

Its been a long time since I put this part of my brain to use. One of my friends started blogging, and that reminded me of the time when I had been a regular blogger writing about snowy nights and Rajnikanth entering politics. Sitting on my king size mattress (some of my friends feel thats the only size I'd be able to comfortably sleep on) I am watching Murali Vijay make his way out to the centre, to try and save India from the deep hole South Africa have put them into. But wait, lets not start talking about cricket here, I can get carried away completely. My personal heater is running at full blast in spite of the central heater doing its job. The reason, of course, is that Syracuse has decided to throw a late (but latest) and severe winter at us. When it was still the first week of December and my friends felt that the winter was going to be delayed, I was delighted to not see heavy snowfall yet and insisted that winter would be short but fierce. Well, its fierce alright, but it looks like this winter will last for a long time to come.

Amidst all this I make sure that I have all the fun possible. Yes, I do get busy with classes and work, but that doesn't keep me from having fun. I am answering very interesting questions on Facebook with every passing day. Some of them get interesting answers out of me, but most of them I just skip because they ask me if I'd go out on date with guys(:O). I think these applications could do with a feature of detecting the user's gender and providing questions pertinent to that. What else keeps me going? The answer to that spontaneously comes out of my roommates' mouth. The new movies that keep coming out and the weekly episodes of some of the best TV serials keep me hooked to my laptop. Playing Mafia, counter strike and poker, organizing birthday and farewell parties, working at the new Ernie Davis Dining hall, have all been fun.

What really has kept me going are the many friends I have made in Syracuse. The year immediately out of my undergrad did give me many new acquaintances, but it has taken me a whole year to realize that I was clinging to my past a little too hard. At some point I had to let go and put the fond memories in the safety locker box in the memory bank of my brain. My trip to India the summer of 2009 was responsible for this. Since the beginning of the Fall of 2009, I have had a lot on my mind, but my near and dear friends have guided me through it with utmost ease. And what is the lesson I have learnt from this first quarter of my life (Some FB application told me I would live till 92 years of age :P) is that if you make good friends and help them through their tough times, then you shall be taken care of.

Alright, thats enough nonsense for my comeback blog. I will throw up some more in due course. And next time, the stuff will be more interesting to read. Till then, enjoy Sachin blaze away.