Nuggets

2. Concept of egrevity coming from Iranian pastorialists

3. Creole vs pidgin

2. Day we beat St Joseph in school

Middlemarch

here that middle age is upon me
like the odd relative you hoped never to meet...
and dreaded the awkward pleasantaries...
the relative who wanted  to know you better
than you him...


it's actually a relief
that the lava has started settling in deeper
with far fewer  volcanos
sneaking up on you...
but when they do
still as woefully unprepared

some metaphors suddenly make sense
And cliches have gradually stopped sounding stale
a bit of failure
and the meaninglessness of it
knowing  science
all of it will go back to dust


be careful what you wish for
for sometimes it is fatal
and at other times absolutely futile

the finish line seems tantalizingly closer
but still the words will need to be said
and words will need to be typed
without a purpose
and without aspiration

you have now collided with that relative
and you must do what you need to...
to adjust



Middlehalt

no poetry comes through
as if someone has clamped a hand
everything done for you
technolgoy
a fufilling distraction
no time to feel the hurt, angst, heat, cold
the wind in your hair
afraid of the pollution

no material left
to emote
eveything is cling-film and disinfectant
a flushot and a air-mask

rationality has seeped in
rotted impulse and
lulled the hunger
I lay sated
unable to summon
the raw and the rage
impotent but content
comfortable in the middle




Time

ah the brutal comfort
has stalled poetry...
stopped it dead
freezing it in slow-mo
soaking it up
wasting not a drop
like a thirsty traveler

I read my younger self
marveling at the
epic primacy
visceral rawness
and the yellowed-paper
brittleness
of the heart
in it's prime
wishing it well
remembering
how it felt
the promise to the older self
of never forgetting
this desire
this pain
this moment


wish i had known
that blood does slow down
drop by drop
that desire will ultimately lose
despite the thousand small rebellions
it will age
despite the rage
long into the night

I catch catch the searing heat
in a flashback that
lasts lesser than the last time
reminding me of the distance
traversed
in what seems like
glacial
geological
galactic
time

• The people who will go mad first are the optimists. There is a difference between 'ultimate' optimism and those who fail to make a realistic assessment of their situation.

• The worst thing about an event is usually your own exaggerated sense of it's horror. Do the activity that you think will be "Terrible". Most times you will realize that it will not be so terrible after all.

• What you cannot control is the economy, the weather, the boss, your parents etc. What you can merely control are your 'beliefs'. This one thing is the narrow window to human autonomy, freedom and being 'captain of your soul'.

• Sometimes you need to just bide your time. 

• What works in the world are three things : Meditation, CBT & Prozac (Johnathan Haidt, the Happiness Hypothesis)

• Happiness = S + C + V. Set point. You cannot ignore the setpoint. Circumstances and Voluntary activities play a role. Try to change the last two.

• Fortune is fickle. It is nature. Do not try to be too happy or too sad. Your success was not a product of your efforts. Your failure is not a function your efforts either. Fundamental attribution error.

• You are different person from all that is happening around you.

• I wish that Billy Joel would update his song "We didn't start the fire..." upto now. The last strains on the song were "Cola Wars" in the late 1980s...

• I wish someone would crack the dilemma of the Aryan Invasion theory. Not sure why someone has not done a DNA analysis of a north-india vs south India. When we can have the 'seven daughters of eve' - this should be a  cinch. - done

• I wish there was an opportunity for summer schools where one could just dip-in and dip-out of subjects of interest.

• I wish that there was a Santa-Fe style interdisciplinary institute in India.
• I wish that I could work outside India once again in my career.
• I wish I can go to 10 bucket list places.
• There is no greater meaning in life. It is about consumption of books movies and music
• There is no point of needlessly networking. Just have a few close friends.
• Keep the windows of your mind open.

1. Pepper Chicken
2. Malai chicken bake
3. Pudina chicken soup
4. Keema matar
5. Murg musallam/Karhai chicken
6. Shami kabab
7. Honey chicken egg roll
8. Vegetable (a lot) fried rice
9. Bhate-bhat (using aloo, kadoo, egg boil)
10. Chole Bhature/Naan
11. Chilly chicken
12. Ham Grilled sandwich/Boiled Sandwich
13. Fruit cream/Dahi Fruit/Strawberry and Cream/Amrakhand
14. Mixed veg with paneer (with red/yellow pepper)
15. Mushroom salt and pepper (vinegar)
16. Paneer tawa tikka
17. Bok Choy stir fry
18. Russian gobhi/UP gobhi
19. Marble cake/Christmas Cake
20. Aloo paratha
21. Cheese omelette
22. Kosha mangsho
23. Nutri-nuggets subzi/arbi subzi
24. Yatra aloo/Aloo matar subzi (tomato)/Mamu Aloo/Aloo Pyaz aloo (lots of garlic)/Shimla Mirch Aloo/Khatta Aloo/Dahi Aloo/Assam style lahsun aloo/dubki aloo/shada  aloo/halwai aloo/green chutney aloo
25. Lauki with tamatar/Safed lauki
26. Tehri/Khichri (arhar)
27. Meat and Veggie Stew
28. Matar chaat
29. Dosa/पोहा
30. Begun/Kaddu bhaja/Beguni
31. Charchari
32. Eggs Bendict
33. Biryani
34. Prawn malai curry
35. Pan seared olive oil fish/Grilled fish
36. Oriental stir-fry veggies
37. Cherry tomato pasta
38. Punjabi chicken
39. Sticky Chicken Legs
40. Cashew & Peppers in Hoisin Sauce (Chicken)
41. Quesedila
42. Butter Prawns (Soy, Gur, Wine)/Prawns with Parsley-garlic-lemon-butter-salt pepper
43. Cha-han
44. Dahi Chilla/Moong Daal Chila with veggie filling/sooji utappam
45. Mustard Dahi Baigan
46. Cream of mushroom soup
47. Herbed chicken with baby spinach
48. Snow pea sausage cherry tomato sprout stir fry
49. Karage/Ebi Tempura
50. Chicken red/green thai curry
51. Egg and Chives omlette
52. Chicken and leek salad
53. Chutneys (Green Mago, Tomato, Karamcha, Date & Aam-papad)
54. Bolongaise Sauce
55. Chicken Sandwich (Sardarji)
56. Chicken Tagine
57. Fennel Chicken/Nigella chicken (Ginger Orange Marmalade)/Pesto chicken
58. Roast chicken with veggies
59. Bruschetta tomato basil garlic 
60. Thai Fried Noodles (Pad Thai)
61. Chipotle Chicken in Tacos
62. Pasta with Pesto
63. Lobia/Panch Ratan Dal/Mah ki Daal/Magic Dal/Moong Peas dal/khatti moong masoor
64. Homemade Dahi
65. Hellman Mayo with Capers
66. Daal Paratha/Palak Poori
67. Bhapa Doi
68. Saag Meat
69. Macher Jhol/Jhaal/Doi Mach
70. Khatti Bhindi/Patta Gobhi
71. Salt and pepper chicken
72. Lemon butter caper pan fried with maida fish
73. Home made mc-cain burgers
74. Pan-fried breaded chicken pan fried (Jamie Oliver) - best in Pita Bread
75. Coleslaw/ pita chicken
76. Kanji
77. Pakoras (Palak, Aloo, Gobhi, Pyaz mix)
78. Aloo-tikki chat homemade
79. Jeera-raita
80. Jamie Oliver chicken nuggets 
81. Chicken pan fried barbecue sauce
82. Rosemary Aloo Pan-fried/Pumpkin baked with rosemary
83. Phirni
84. Bamboo Bhoot jholakia pork
85. Hung curd dip with garlic and apitas
86. Christmas cake
87. Payesh 
88. Mashit potato cutlet
89. Gilki sabzi sour/ Gilki posto
90. Chocolate tart, vanilla fudge with mango
91. Rice paper rolls with keema
92. Hummus homemade
93. Kale salad with feta, sundried olive
94. Gongura Chicken
95. Spinach cheese omlette
96. Chorizo noodles
97. Chapli kabab
98. Stew
99. Egg curry
100. Yakhni 
101. Magaz of hyd
102. Karari bhindi air fryer
103. Haleem
104. Pizza
105. Butter chicken
106. Sourdough bread
107. Hot chocolate
108. Yakhni pull
109. Donne/Ambur  biryani
110. Pork mince in lettuce cups
111. Pork Vindaloo
112. Rogan josh
113. Coorg Pandi curry
114. Dindigul and parsee Biryani 
115. Chicken 65
116. Chettinad chicken