My name is

Khan

or Lights Action Music (and background dancers) ~ ~ ~  Sheeeela, Sheela Ki Jawaani ~ ~ ~

or you could flamboyantly state - The name is Bond, James Bond

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet."
Sweet or not, let us ignore these words when in the world of cinema and food - as it would be really nice to see the name behind the comment. When I see an anonymous comment, my brain switches to overwork mode and I go nuts trying to figure out who it is (early stages of blogging escapades I suppose). Don't get me wrong, I am truly happy that you read my post (a big feat in itself) and had the patience to leave a comment - thank you very much. I do appreciate it but

                                       if you leave your name
                                      I promise you a place in the wall of fame
                                      in the kingdom of thoughts, disjoint and lame.

Even Rui knows a trade-off is the best weapon in this time and world.

In case you haven't noticed I have added a poll. Here, OK not exactly here, at the very top in this direction.

Do take part and test your sensibilities. Also please let me know if there is any fancy widget that I can add (if possible with step by step instruction along with screenshots)  - I am no gizmo person and I don't even aspire to be one, all the more reason why your suggestions are ever so welcome.

Mixed bag in March

Last weekend we had guests/family visiting and I single handedly cooked for 7 people (ok it includes Rui also, nevertheless). I decided on this at around 5 in the evening on Saturday. Went straight to M K Retail on CMH Road - am always looking for reasons to go there - it is a great supermarket where you get everything under one roof without having to traverse long distances within the shop as it is not too big. And managed a meal of (let me count) 5 dishes apart from papad and rice on Sunday.

I will write down in a bit
the recipe for the chicken roast which was a hit
(or people were just kind or in holiday spirit)

And so while they were here at my place, Jayan uncle (who I hear is a very talented artist when he is not doing 007 feats in hmm - not a good idea to name this particular establishment in my blog - let us say it is not the bureau for dummies, but quite the opposite) taught Rui how to draw a squirrel, which she drew again yesterday and as someone who can't even sketch a decent 2 circles cat, let alone a squirrel, I was totally awed (omg-ed) by this. She draws convoluted geometric shapes, sometimes with numbers - Da Vinci code 2011?! and colours all the time, I don't know if all 3 year olds do this but I feel it is quite an achievement for someone who has an art-less mom.

I wanted to click a pic and put it up here, as soon as I keep the camera battery for charging which is not going to happen in a very long time - im scaling new heights in lethargy!

I know very few things in life gets as boring as moms(unless you become one and join the club) yapping about their kids, pardon me but I had to share this squirrel moment with the world.

And now about the chicken Roast, it is really quite basic. Get about 1 Kg of chicken - big pieces. Lightly marinate with - pinch of turmeric powder, heap of ground black pepper, salt and chilli powder along with some vinegar. Keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.

Slice about 15 small onions, 5 to 6 cloves of garlic and an inch of ginger into small pieces. Heat the oil, add some whole spices of your choice such as cardomom, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon. Once they start to splutter, put in the garlic and ginger - fry this a bit and then add the onions along with some turmeric powder. Keep adding curry leaves if you like the taste in small quantities at short intervals.

When the onion is fried well, add the chicken pieces, enough salt, about 2 tablespoons of chilli powder, 1 table spoon of coriander powder, 1 tablespoon of mutton masala and most important ingredient - a good dash of vinegar, it gives a unique flavour, typical of south Kerala non-veg cuisine. Close the lid and let the chicken cook for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, dice a slice of coconut (I used dry coconut - Kopra) to squarish pieces and fry it in a little bit of oil along with some curry leaves.

Once the chicken is cooked, open the lid, increase the flame to the highest and roast it by constant stirring until completely dry. Mix in the fried coconut and serve hot.

KWK - Get real.

I watched Koffee with Karan yesterday with a constant frown on my face adding years to my age (damn)  -  The Anushka and Ranveer charade. Nothing gets as boring as trying hard to be funny and cool. None of it came off well. Just lame. Dude was SO not dude.

Why did I watch it in the first place? - KWK is entertaining for the most part, though season 3 was a bit dismal so far. Change the format, get better writers, do something. For example: most abused question - You wake up one morning and have turned into Rakhee Savant/Mallika Sherawat - how many times. And the reply - go back to sleep. Once - clever, but stop - no more.

Why do women (and men too!) giggle so much in this show? Aiswarya was a national humiliation. Why didn't her hubby take her to a corner and explain (perhaps in the breaks between shoot assuming it is there)  -  Darling,  remember elegance - what you are doing now is not your part in the scheme of things.

Kareena seemed to have learned a lesson or two from this episode and overdid coyness. If you google and watch the different seasons of KWK, you will be shocked at how people have changed, it is quite a talent. Check out Shahid - shy modest guy next door turns to quick-witted nonchalent Mr. uber cool - in my opinion - creepy, bordering multiple personality disorder. Same is the case with Rani Mukherjee.

Whether you are an introvert or a party animal is an inherent character trait, can it really change so much? Ask your stars.

We could have all lived happily without watching the one hour of therapy that Shah Rukh underwent on that couch. It felt more like an extension of My name is Khan (behind the scenes perhaps ? ) - extending an idea beyond human tolerance.  

But the most amusing of them all is Karan Johar's expressions - the intense ones specially (check out all the pics if you don't believe me).

At this moment I recollect an interview with Waheeda Rahman, she was elegant, down to earth and talked without being pretentious - It is possible to say something interesting in a normal way - even for movie actors.

Cinema and no Julia?

High treason. I am the biggest fan of Ms. Roberts. I am yet to see an outright boring Julia Roberts movie. I Love Trouble was bad, I accept, or maybe it's just me, I don't like Nick Nolte. Okay focus.

For me JR is equivalent to a box of chocolates, instantly lifts your spirit. Her smile and energy is absolutely contagious. I have seen almost all of her movies. I even have a greatest hits of JR DVD, which I have seen umpteen times, mainly because we had a short cable TV less period at home and there was nothing much else to keep us entertained but I could still watch all those movies again, many times over. 

Probably due to the large number of easy on eyes and brain (alongside Richard Gere, it's rather a treat) type of movies she has done, also the fact that most of her movies were huge box office hits, critics have always been quite harsh to her. To the extent that if you like Julia Roberts, you are judged not a serious movie person, I really don't care - she was great in Stepmom, Erin Brockovich besides all of the other movies.

Pretty Woman tagline : She walked off the street, into his life and stole his heart.
Well, what do I say, she really did.

Monalisa Smile, apparently coproduced by her production company Red Om Films, is quite rejuvenating for any (pseudo) forward thinker (me).

My pick of Roberts movie would be The Mexican. Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts did seem an unlikely pair, the chemistry was infact nothing to write home about. But it somehow worked for me, completely. Must be the dialogs -

~ I have to ask you a question. It's a good one so think about it. If two people love each other, but they just can't seem to get it together, when do you get to that point of enough is enough?
~  Never.

~ A lot of people are under the impression that you get to choose who you love.

 The best one - she tries to escape through the window of the loo but her kidnapper is standing right outside to which she reacts:

~ I'm sensing you have trust issues.

Classic.

obtuse obsessions

I don't seem to get time for anything these days. Life is one big rush.

Few updates - my diet was a flop after the fourth day, have started eating again with a vengeance. Excess food makes me a workaholic, the kind of work where I need to do everything within this little box in front of me without moving a muscle.

In some ways it's back to childhood for me, I borrow Rui's pink clips on my way to office, wear her green nail polish, watch cartoons and love Kinder.

I have an inherent problem of obsessing about things. It is usually work (was Vyas right before we got married!) I dream of lines of code, not the green 1s and 0s of matrix fame, but just normal code, I have cracked quite a few problems in my incoherent early morning sleep.

Last month it was this blog that kept me awake late into the night; thankfully I have gotten over that now. I am now on a mission to exorcise my obsessive ways. That is one other thing I obsess about, as you would have guessed by now - new ventures in life.

More later. Back to work.