Post Diwali

Love the crunchy veggies tossed in a dressing of lime, garlic, pepper, salt and olive oil and even the juicy liquid that remains after the veggies are over!

Diwali cooking

Wanted to make a diwali sweet with the odd constraints: should be non-liquidy, should have coconut-jaggery combo and one should be able to bake it! Snicker-doodle topped with coconut-jaggery-cardamom paste satisfied the constraints pretty well and in fact we liked it so much that it is going to be a diwali regular from here on.

For the longest of times I have been wanting to make samosas, finally it happened today. My favourite recipe book by Madhur Jaffery has a detailed recipe and it was quite easy to follow. I tried making the uncooked samosa the previous evening and refrigerate them in an airtight box. Unfortunately this led to condensation and there was much liquid in the bottom making one of the sides really soggy, also the covering becomes a shade darker. Anyhow, post frying they looked pretty okay. Perhaps it would be better if one keeps the container open while refrigerating till it thermalises and then put the cover to avoid dehydrating them. Will have to wait till next time.

Testing times

Exam time in the institute. Had invigilation duty this morning, and therefore my share of viewing typical exam behaviour. As you enter the darkish classroom with your load of exam papers and answer books, invariably there are already a few early birds who have come for their worm even if the worm is distributed only half an hour later. Occupying the best seats right below the fans, armed with sharpened pencils, spotless erasers, pens of three colours and a straight edge they are ready to take on the exam and don't seem to get what this delay all about. Next comes most of the junta and as they settle into their seats it is about time to start distribution of answer books. Before you are done distributing, you can count up on that bunch of people who whizz in rather importantly and want to get their answer book immediately on arrival, even before the last person who has been sitting in the class much before they arrived. Silence prevails, some stare at the question paper, some dive in straight into writing without bothering to read, some can think only when one of the hands is busy rotating the pencil between the fingers, some are too curious about neighbours and some of course need to pick their nose to kick start their brain. Ten minutes into the exam, it is time for at least one headless chicken to make an appearance and ask if we knew where the exam for his/her course is being held and without waiting for an answer disappear somewhere.

And finally there are those people who have been given their answer books and the question paper at the right time at the start of the exam, but don't reciprocate by returning the answer books back at the right time after the end of the exam. I am usually quite polite, calm and yet firm, but in today's invigilation duty I finally had to snatch the answer sheet out of the last student. Grrr….

Keep it boxed

Little wary of perpetually-out-of-box thinkers, more often than not they sound like they are out of their mind.

Regime change

That was long overdue ......

Timing it right

Administrative work in academia often seems like a waste of working hours. Would an academic rather spend his/her work time on a problem that is towards scientific and technological advancement or resolve issues pertaining to distribution of course load between faculty members, allocation of lab spaces, purchases of equipments, re-look at course program etc.? Even though often the latter option seems to contain the highly avoidable activities, I realise that if you want to have the infrastructure around you to work in a way that you feel it should and if it bothers you when it doesn't then it is time wise much more efficient to participate in the administration.
 
Having said that, I also feel that administrative work requires a certain level of maturity which comes with experience and in the beginning of your career you don't have much of it. Not only that, a new faculty member should have some time to settle into starting a research group and learn how to teach before getting involved in administration. So when is a good time for a faculty to start participating in administrative activities, and what percentage of the working hours should go into it? Also, what is good split of your working time between teaching related activities (include teaching hours, preparing for lectures, preparing assignments etc.), research related activities (include reading literature, meetings with research students, writing papers etc.), administrative activities (not immediately connected with academics) and miscellaneous (socialising, net surfing, etc.)? 

Yogic glow

Not sure if it is the actual doing of yoga in the morning or the fact that I did it which is making the day perfect so far.

Jagjit Singh passes away

:( For those millions of times when I could turn to your songs..... thank you....

• Baat nikalegee to phir door talak jayegi
• Hazaaron khwahishen aisi
• Apne hoton par sajaana chahta hoon

Of tomatoes and rasbharees

One of the most exciting discoveries of our Kodai trip was this fruit that they call tomato, available in every fruit shop and there were so many of these shops, which don't look so tomato like. A duller brick red, shape more oblong and the bottoms pointy rather than flat but when when you cut it open you see the tomatoeness of the fruit. A thick, fleshy center with an exploding population of bright seeds stuck all around it and the characteristic spongy inner layer under the peel. Taste wise, it was tangy with a hint of bitter but the flavour was strikingly similar to those green juicy fruits called as rasbharees in Kanpur. I still recall marveling at the amazing natural packaging of rasbharees in paper thin brown covers. Anyhow, many Kodai tomatoes peppered with salt and chilly powder were consumed while debating over why is it called a tomato and stating how long it has been since we had rasbharees.

Main Roun ya Hasoon.....

Kissa ek coffee ka

Usually it is over coffee that I socialise at work place. Being not much of a coffee drinker, rarely do I go for it by myself but after downing a heavy meal complete with a generous helping of tayir saadam in the end, to head for the coffee counter seemed just the right thing to do. Unarmed with my trusted friends who explain my requirements with their carefully chosen words in tamil, I felt a little vulnerable but really how tough can it be to explain that I want light coffee: cheenee baraabar, doodh zyaada, coffee kum. Me (feeling all tense): Saar, coffee. Strong kunjon kamee. Coffee guy raised his eyebrows giving me what would surely qualify as an approving yes-of-course look. I immediately felt reassured and started my hunt in the various flaps of my purse to find the coffee receipt. Aah there it was and I reach for my coffee. I don't know what went wrong, perhaps saar didn't like my sentence construction or he thought kunjon and kamee cancel each other out, but there it was staring at me, a dark, potent cup of coffee. It must have been the general feeling of well being induced by the tayir saadam that I didn't put up any protest, sat and did the now-in-glass-next-in-bowl mixing, took a few sips of the liquid and dutifully remained on a coffee high ever after.

Steve Jobs

A man who did amazing things in the short time he had. Absolutely personified Apple's motto to 'think different'.

Stunning Kodai