sukku

Looks yummy right. It's very simple. I had my sardine sambal with an omelette and some cut cucumbers as can be seen below. The sambal is very simple to make: Soak about 20 red dried chillies after deseeding in hot water and then blend in a blender with tomato, onion, 2 pod of garlic and a dash of soya sauce with some salt to taste with 2 teaspoon of oil. In a wok with some oil, add green chillies, tomato(like in the pic) and fry the sambal paste until it is fragrant and then empty the sardine and then put in the onions which is cut into wedges. Don't forget to add salt. Cook for sometime on high flame and after that simmer until the oil comes out. Garnish with corriander. Voila and it's ready. Simple right, food for the God's or lazy humans like us. Serve it with steamed rice and the omelette( see my blog on steamed omelette). I love basmati, the aromatic rice from India. It is heavenly and words just can't describe it...it melts in your mouth..... Like they say, c...

Well my boy has turned 18 today and I spoke to him this morning and what a sad feeling as I couldn't be there with him. He would be cutting his cake in the church this evening and I wonder what would be going through his mind. Daddy has always been away from home because of his work (for his well being). I hope he understands that he is always in my heart especially on this special day for him. I told him that he is no more a "boy" now but a man and this little man would leave for Moscow in September 2008 to pursue his studies to become a Doctor. How I remember him from the time he was born, he was a C-section birth and what a little bundle of joy,who was very inquisitive and loving, oh how time flies. Happy Birthday Son with lots of love from your dad.

5 Annoying things + 8 Habits + 6 Quirks Well I was tagged by Jean on 23 rd June 2008 and I was contemplating on when to do it and I thought to myself I might as well get over with it even though I don’t really have that many people to tag. So here it goes: 5 Annoying things 1. Waiting for someone who is never punctual. 2. Inconsiderate drivers on Hyderabad roads who stop anywhere they want. 3. When someone can’t say no on my face but say yes and does the opposite or never fulfil his/her promise. 4. Getting calls from tele-marketers at odd time and especially on a Sunday afternoon when I am having my nap. 5. Frequent power cuts in Hyderabad 8 Habits 1. Reaching for the cigarette when I am tensed. 2. Having a drink to kill boredom (only in Hyderabad). 3. Checking on the emails by the minute. 4. I like to stick to routine. 5. I trust people easily and empathize easily later get hurt. 6. I like...

The price of oil has touched the USD 140/barrel mark and what is next in store for us? Do you think that speculators are up to their tricks again? I guess most of the countries which had subsidised petrol has decided not to do so and this definetly has a spiralling effect on the cost of consumer goods which in turn has brought inflation to an all time high in most of the countries. Strikes and agitations are organised everywhere instead of focussing their energy on other important issues (not to say that this is not an issue). Maybe this effect is irreversible but what does it mean for ordinary citizens like you and me? Can we really make ends meet now or tomorrow? We know for a fact that developing economies from China and India are consuming a lot of oil but wasn't this anticipated by the major oil producing nations as this didn't happen overnight. Why can't we be prudent in our requirements for oil? With the increase in oil prices, even electricity goes up and I believe ...

Yes such a sport span of time and I had to go for another haircut, the last was in Kuala Lumpur and the barber was from India and here in India I got the real deal with the full package, the barber with the bad B.O but I can't complain as he is a very good barber. He skillfully searched for my hair and also suggested that I should dye my hair with natural colour so that the volume increases maybe to give an illusion that I have a full crop of hair. I turned him down as I am happy with whatever I am having now, it's thinning on the top and back and maybe give that wise look. The reason why I go to the barber is to actually get my grey hairs reduced, as you see I am getting my greys only at the sideburns and when they grow, they seem to be having an unruly growth. Then there are a few strands of grey in my moustache which I would also like to remove and trim my moustache otherwise I would look like the fiery Hyderabad constable. I tried shaving it 5 months back and I have taken a...

It just started to rain for 10 minutes and there goes the power at 10.31 p.m, what the hell do they expect us to do... sit in the dark...it really cheeses me off. I not only hear the raindrops but also the buzzing of the mosquitoes...even typing this blog is so difficult. Lucky for me I had just finished my dinner otherwise I would have to share my food along with the mosquitoes who succk on my blood. Well this blog is written under protest.

Thought I was leaving by 04.07.2008 from Hyderabad but I guess that has to change now. Now I have to be in Hyderabad to conduct some interview on the potential candidates for our overseas project and also interviews of some potential lawyers as my company boss is making his trip here. So looks like I am going to spend maybe another extra week here and that really upset my other plans. I am going to be in Hyderabad right smack in the monsoon rains because so far it has not arrived yet. Monsoon in Hyderabad means many things but the most significant one is that there would be frequent power cuts, pre-emptive cuts so that the electrical cables do not get short circuits because of the way the electrical wires are hanging on the poles, you would get scared if it happens to touch you (the dangling cables). I hope my buddy, the rat snake don't get flushed out by the rains as their homes will be flooded and they would look for food in my kitchen,like the 6 footer did last time. I hope the ...

I would like to share what I wrote on 22.10.2006, which was my journal entry and I was feeling nostalgic about it. Infact this was my last entry in my journal after I had gone through a spell of rather difficult times here in Hyderabad. I just wanted to share it with you what I felt then after clearing my problems. I am not altering anything from my entry and God only knows what I had gone through. Dear Journal, Ah! the number 22 that is 2 + 2 will always ring a bell. Maybe the bell of awakening. I am sitting here in my room in Hyderabad (from yesterday evening the cable went off - cut off from the external world, no TV, no internet). What is running in my mind - greatness(it's because I'm reading Robin Sharma's book). How long will I have this leisure of being with myself. No phone calls and no one to disturb me - not even my loved ones. Loneliness is sometimes a blessing in disguise. I was sitting on the balcony watching nature from 5.00 p.m to 6.00 p.m. It was getting d...

I guess being in Hyderabad and not displaying it's iconic image would be a sin. I know it is an old structure, that's why upto now I haven't taken the stairs up to the gallery (don't get me wrong). Anyway it is located in the old city and the place is like a huge market with I guess from bangles to pearls are being sold dirt cheap and maybe a lot more of other stuffs too. I have been here only a couple of times and that also to show my friends what "Charminar" looks like and below is an extract of what Charminar is from the net, however the photo was taken by me: Hyderabad's most popular landmark Charminar is located at the center of the old city and surround by lively bazaars. It was built by Sultan Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 in honour of his wife Bhagmati, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golconda to what now is known as Hyderabad. It is popular as the Arc de Triomphe of the Ea...

Well it's one of those Sundays where things don't move at all. I had to clean the dishes in the sink today as my servant didn't turn up and boy how I hate doing that. After that I made my lunch and had some beer to cheer me up but I guess it didn't as I was watching Euro2008 game between Holland and Russia and that disappointed me. My favourite team Holland lost, how could they torture me this way on Sunday when I am drinking beer. I slept in the afternoon and I got up at 4 p.m. but my body just didn't want to get up and so I slept until 5.30 p.m. and it was too late to make it to the evening mass (Did I sin?) And so I am sitting on my computer and reading the blogs that I frequent and dutifully commented on them and now I am writing a blog on what I did on this Sunday which was pretty depressing anyway. I have a book next to me by PG Wodehouse, maybe I will read that for the night and laugh a little.

Doesn't it look yummy but it is really potent (pungent). The redness is due to the chillies but as they say, chillies makes you lose weight, so the more the merrier. Seriously, it was yummy what I cooked, chicken sambal and I was sweating profusely from my head and that is an indicator that it was hot. If you want the recipe, please let me know and I will post it in my next posting as it is one of the simplest recipe there is.

Lovely tank right? Well I stay near the Indian Army base at Sainikpuri in Secunderabad cantonment and I always wanted to pose next to the tank. But since it is an Army base I really don't feel like doing it as I don't want to be shot in the process. So what I did was the next best thing, I took the snap shot from my car. I guess the tank must be a stripped down version of the real thing otherwise God only knows what would happen, if someone decides to take the tank for a joy ride(just a thought). I hope you like the picture and don't worry I am not in a war zone. There are actually a couple of tanks and each time I pass this area, I can feel the discipline that surrounds this location and how things are kept spick and span.

Look at the ancient dumb bell and it looks pretty heavy right? I tried lifting it and it didn't budge an inch. This is what you see in Golconda Fort in Hyderabad which was built in the 13th century by the Kakatiya Kings and the existing structure was built by Qutub Shahi Kings into a massive fort with granite walls having eight gates and 87 bastions spread upto 7 kms, in circumference over a span of 62 years. Golconda Fort, popularly known in Telugu as "Golla Konda", which means "Shepherd's Hill", has an exotic story behind it. What I was impressed with was when the guide told me regarding the criteria those days in joining the guards or sentry, you have to lift the dumb bells and I hope you don't have to run with it too (they would die of hernia). If only they had this same kind of qualifying exercise now I guess the Hyderabad police force would really be a super fit crime fighting force to rec...

Being familiar with a place for quite some time I am sure we would get attached to it. I have been in India for fairly a good of life, it started off when I came to this country in 1979 for my pre-university with ideas of doing medical studies but things didn’t work the way I wanted and after my higher secondary exams and based on that results I was nominated by the Central Government of India under the Foreigners quota to do my Engineering at a place called Warangal in Andhra Pradesh at Regional Engineering College. During my year admission to IIT’s was through our Government and I was very reluctant to do Civil Engineering and thought of joining the college and maybe try for medicine. But things don’t work out that way and I ended up graduating with a B.Tech degree in Civil Engineering. So I had spent a great deal of time in India then, say 7 years (2 in Chennai and 5 in Warangal) and I was happy to head home but with a sad heart as the best part of life was in campus and I was worri...

Yesterday I was at the Food World chain of supermarkets near the place where in live. I saw they had Alfonso mangoes and I took 2 mangoes and some tomatoes and I was standing in line to get the items weighed and a lady was doing that, she writes the weight on the plastic bag with a permanent marker and in front of me was a guy with quite a lot of stuff. I was waiting patiently for my turn. Out of nowhere an elderly person butts in with his stuff and wanted the lady to weigh it and his excuse was “I have only one item”. I am sick of this line used by people here, I had two items and I was waiting patiently and I told him whether it is one or more item, please stand in line but he just ignored me and he looked educated. What is education if it can’t instill simple civic sense in you? I told the lady who was weighing that she should not have entertained him but she had a dumb look on her face as I guess the managed hadn’t trained her. This is not the first time I had encountered this,...