My Pensieve

I had bought a DVD of Steven Spielberg's "ET-The Extra Terrestrial" during my trip to Bangalore last weekend. Now, my wife, Anu, is not into English movies and falling asleep besides me or doing her chores while I watch one has become a sort of routine for her. I have been slowly trying to break this ever since our marriage and trying to induct her into the world of Hollywood cinema. What better way to do this than to show her one of the "best family films" ever made? We were seeing the digitally remastered 20th anniversary edition of the movie and I could see from the corner of my eye that Anu was hooked. The antics of ET, little Drew Barrymore’s scream, the scene where ET walks about in the hall right under Elliot's mothers nose, the sensational cycle-flight scene were all being thoroughly enjoyed. Then came the gut wrenching scene where ET is pronounced dead. During the build up to this, I had told her jokingly that the movie would end once ET is dead...

Posting after a long time. This was a short essay I had to write for a forum at Infosys. The theme is mentioned in the title :) Papers and Pens have been an integral part of offices throughout the world. They are considered indispensable and until recently, had anyone even mentioned a paperless office, he/she would have been considered a candidate for serious mental evaluation. It is only with the recent advent of IT and its infinite possibilities that people have woken up to the fact that the paperless office could become a reality. However the transition is not easy. Ensuring that the office is 100% paperless would mean making sure that technology is affordable and accessible to all members and a huge influx of support infrastructure. Even if these are available, the functioning of the technology need to be absolutely PERFECT with all dependencies accounted for and with a contingency for all possible issues defined. This is certainly a very tall and seemingly insurmountable ...

Iniyennu kaanumente puthu vasanthame... Nirathingal chiriyalen arikil varille... Pularkalam viriyumbol innum nin mukham.. Ariyathen ormayilo madhura nombaram..

Veni readily accepted Siddharths invitation for dinner. They made their way to “Azeez Chinese Restaurant” and when they entered, Siddharth had a real shock!!! Azeez had made a lot of changes to the interiors. The chinese lamps that were previously hung just as decoration, now covered the over head light bulbs, throwing the restaurant into a romantic twilight. He had brought a music system and it was playing soft-music. “Nice ambience”, observed Veni. “Ya. That’s what I like about the place apart from the food. It’s actually quiet surprising that you too like authentic Chinese food. How come you never told me?”, asked Siddharth. “You never asked me”, replied Veni with a twinkle in her eye. Azeez approached them. “Ha…Azeezji!!! This is Veni. Veni, this is Azeezji, the owner and chef of this restaurant”, said Siddharth. “Hi”, said Veni to Azeez. “Nice to have met you, Veni. Sidhu has told me so much about you. He seems to have forgotten to mention that you are also a beautiful woman?”, sa...

“Tell me,Sidhu. Don’t you have any other friends?”, asked Azeez. Siddharth had started coming to Azeez’s every Friday night at first and then this had become a daily routine. He used to enjoy the food as well as Azeez’s company. After a while, the food started taking a back seat. They used to talk on a plethora of subjects. Siddharth never used to talk much about his problems but during the rare occasion that he did, Azeez was able to give real insights and solutions. He learned a great deal about chinese food and the intricacies of its preparation. He in turn told Azeez about the books he read and movies and his daily experiences in the corporate world. As the clientele of the restaurant was generally poor, Azeez would always have time to spend with Siddharth. It was a Friday and Siddharth had eaten his food and they both had settled down in the front porch of the restaurant for their usual chat. The frequent visits Siddharth made had made Azeez think whether Siddharth had any friends...

Siddharth had developed a taste for authentic Chinese cuisine after he had spent around two years in China on an onsite assignment. Consequentially, he used to frequent the various Chinese food outlets in the city every Fridays - a new restaurant every week. The “Chinese” food that is usually served across India is not authentic chinese..but an “Indianised” version of it. Though most of the style of cooking like high fires, use of ajino-moto and the various Chinese sauces were adhered to, more of the traditional Indian spices were used as well. Siddharth found that he liked this desi version better. But of late he had started getting tired of the monotonous taste and was yearning for some authentic Chinese food…just for old times sake. He had exhausted all other options for a restaurant when he chanced to see the “Azeez Chinese Restaurant” , travelling on his bike near the city suburbs. He had not heard much about the place. The name itself had sounded rather unappealing. He asked t...

I am a sucker for good rasam. I love the way they prepare it in Tamil Nadu. Give me white rice and rasam for lunch any day and I'll eat it up with relish savouring every morsel. I went to the floating restaurant yesterday and guess what? I found out what they call Rasam in Italy...its Italian Minestrone Soup!!! It tasted exactly like the best Rasam I have ever tasted :) And guess what was the accompaniment for the white rice in the menu? It was Rasam!!! Now thats what I call killing two birds with the same stone :P