Sad, lovely words

hild of the pure unclouded brow 
And dreaming eyes of wonder!
Though time be fleet, and I and thou
Are half a life asunder,
Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy-tale.

The preface to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice found There strikes this writer as being unbearably beautiful. It may be noted that I do not think of children as having 'pure unclouded' brows, 'dreaming eyes of wonder' or 'loving smiles'. Most children are mischievous, over-imaginative and supremely talkative. Nor am I of the opinion that fairy tale romances are the perfect endings.*

However, I do think these words are, as I said, unbearably beautiful. It makes me think of my parents and how much they have given me. I want to give them as much and more. It reminds me of my new-born niece and little cousins for whom I wish the best that this world has to offer. It reminds me of my friends and their hopes, which I hope will come to be. And it makes me sad when I realize that, with the steady and unstoppable flow of time, there will come a day when these shall no longer be. For death may be the leveler, but it is only a natural point in the stream of time. Surely, time is the ultimate  winner and ultimate master.

The concept of 'Kaal', the personification of time and the ruler of the material world, as found in Indian philosophy says the same. For anyone interested in such things, Kaal is sometimes said to be married to 'Maya'  or illusion. This is interpreted to mean that the flow of time gives rise to illusions. This writer understands this to mean that she should be prepared to accept change because soon enough, tomorrow will surely bring something different. And doesn't that make life more interesting?

* On that point, I direct anybody actually reading this to 'Just Ella', a 1999 novel by Margaret Pearson Haddix which picks up where Cinderella (or Aschenputtel in the book by the Brothers Grimm) left off. In this book, Ella finds Charming and life at the palace paradise but boring--if you think about it, paradise is boring--and runs away to find a much more fulfilling life. Its a little in the line of feminism and is definitely written for young girls, but not a bad read simply because the idea is interesting.
Please note that this does not mean I like drama in my life. I like it simple, straightforward and happy, but not boring.  

The Owl on the Sideboard

Because The Owl On The Sideboard is worth it.

And because I'm nowhere close to countering this almost-habit (See two posts below).

About the Owl:
Carved from wood, this hand-crafted owl is a fine example of the famous handicraft works of Shantiniketan. An inexpensive addition to your Sideboard, it will stand as an unwavering guard at your house every night.

While he (yes, it is a him) does not have a name, he is very much a part of the family. Therefore, he is NOT for sale.

Please direct any further enquirers on the subject of owls to Harry Potter, presumably somewhere in London, 19 years from now. 

Banana Fruit Toast

Source: http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=243

This morning Stella and I made breakfast for my family.

Result: Five Stars from the panda and me. The family hated it--one bite and the rest was rejected.

The quantities given below are for one serving:

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 1 large banana
• 10 almonds - chopped
• cinnamon 

Directions:

Toast bread to a light golden brown. Peel the banana, mash it and then spread on toast as if it were butter. Sprinkle chopped almonds on that and then dust with cinnamon. Put the toasts in the toaster oven for 2-3 minutes to bring the flavors together. Serve warm.

Please excuse the quality of the phone-pictures. Personally, I loved the toast. My family i.e. my parents probably didn't like it because their tastes are more 'Indian' than the panda's and my own (or far less not-Indian?). My mother, in particular, tends to dislike things without the usual masalas and can't do breakfast without parantha and hari chutney.

Also, I learnt yesterday that cinnamon is dalchini in Hindi. DALCHINI!!!! All the amazing recipes I ignored because I thought cinnamon was some expensive, exotic thing!  

Ok, so tips to make 'Banana Fruit Toast' better:

1. Add a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon. Its all banana without it.
2. I found the bread was crispier and warmer after being microwaved for 1-2 minutes. However, it is possible that the problem for this lies with my oven.
3. Fruit juice or a cold glass of milk tastes nice with the banana toast.
4. Don't bother with it if you like chili and dislike bland or banana.

I recommend both this recipe and mrbreakfast.com for a day when you wake up early in the morning, have time on your hands and like to experiment with your food.

Finally, a comment on the name of the recipe. In Calcutta, one often sees roadside stalls with 'Bread Tost' on the menu. 'Tost' can also be found at MJ da's canteen, provider of humongously unhealthy food at a certain prestigious university of law (Caveat Emptor!). Perhaps I should rename this post, 'Banana Fruit Tost' because after all, I do live in Calcutta and once you get used to this city, you will find that its charm lies in things like having tost on the pavements.  

This is becoming a habit...

... Six am in the morning, and I'm still opening this blog.

Wonder what people normally do in these situations. How does one stop a habit before it starts? I suppose one would proceed as follows:

1. Identify the almost-habit. 
2. Accept that it actually is becoming a habit. Denial will get you nowhere.
3. Take measures to lower the incidents of said almost-habit.
4. Fight temptation.
5. If you fail at step 4, repeat steps 2-4 immediately.
6. Try and try until you succeed i.e. stop the almost-habit completely.

(On second thought, I suppose this is how a determined person, with an unbeatable and enviable amount of will-power would proceed) 

Unfortunately, these steps do not work for me: I would like to reduce the time I spend on this page, but not stop altogether. On modifying the steps above, I must also calculate the amount of time I'd like to reduce to and work toward it (i.e. to somewhere in the middle of step 6). 

However, for a precise and accurate determination of the quantity of time I must cut from the time spent on this page, I have to first precisely and accurately determine how much time I do spend on this page. Alas! One day is not enough time to reach the required determination. Statistics tells us that, in order to draw a line on a graph (you know, the X-Y axis thing), we must have at least three points on it. Similarly, I postulate that I would need at least three days for my calculations. The more time I take to calculate, the more precise and accurate it will be. Three weeks, I think, will give me the most precise and accurate answer I can imagine--any longer and my patience and mental ability for calculations won't be able to take it.

So there it is. My self-help guide on countering an almost-habit. I only hope that Robin Sharma's (The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari) 21-day rule--It only takes 21 days to make a habit-- isn't true or else, instead of an almost-habit, I'll be stuck with a whole-habit by the time I finish step 3. 

On the other hand, it could be that I've mistakenly identified a beginner's enthusiasm for a new hobby as an almost-habit. In this case, only time will tell. Relying on this option, however, seems a little risky to me: What if time takes 3 weeks to tell that my identification above has indeed been mistaken? The end-result is a whole-habit, yet again.

And everybody knows a whole-habit is much harder to break.

The Walking Earth

I imagine any new blogger, in his or her (lets be politically correct) enthusiasm, comes up with lots of ideas for posts. Not quite unlike me. (Last post: this morning)

The title to this post may sound like an episode of 'Doctor Who', but is actually a reference to my tummy at this moment. Weight loss, the eternal problem. I guess this will drive away anybody who does not love me unconditionally. As a saving grace, this post is about Stella, temptation and my most recent attempts at fending it off.

Four months ago, the mother (aka the Home Minister) banned me from Kickboxing. The Ban has something to do with her belief that weightlifting is bad news for already weak eyes (the writer is myopic). The sudden end of the rigorous regimen brought in waves of fat deposits. The tummy ballooned as though it were being filled with hot air.

Perhaps if the company I keep was more cautious, I would be too. For good or for bad, my friends (God bless them!) eat with enviable abandon. Indeed, Stella James, Founder-Organizer of this blog, who is presently occupying a substantial space at my house (I love you!), whips up home-made desserts like a contestant on MasterChef. The picture below explains her creation this afternoon:

It consists of heated chocolate cookies, Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, vanilla and strawberry ice-cream and cashewnuts all thrown together, resulting in a spectacularly sinful delight. Trust me, it tastes better than it sounds or looks.

Temptation, thy name is Evil.

As an aside, dedicated to Kriti Bhatia, who is yet to see this view:

Can't wait to have you over again sometime.

A new beginning and my latest venture

Cheers to Stella James for helping me create this blog. To anybody who stumbles upon this much delayed  attempt at a blog: her's can be found at http://thebigpinkhat.blogspot.in/. She says it's personal. I'm advertising it nonetheless.

As for me, technologically illiterate, I decided to start this blog many years after blogging became the thing to do, on a whim this morning. This is in keeping with the trend (my trend) so far of joining popular, technology-related things just a little bit late (read: years after everyone else has already moved on to the latest rage and a kind friend takes the time to fill me in). First email ID, rather imaginatively and embarrassingly titled, 'rimi_darkchocolate', was created in 2006, at age 16. By then, everybody I knew had been chatting away online every night for at least a year already. Apparently, I had been missing out on a number of important developments taking place in that hidden world. The account no longer exists. Facebook account created at the insistence of Aastha Khurana in 2008, first year of college. I say, 'at her insistence...'. To be precise, she made it for me. Twitter--joined November 2011 during exams and have not visited since. Finally, a blog, today: October 2012. With the aid and assistance of Stella James.

It may be noted that the name of this blog is my homage to Bianca Castafiore, the 'Milanese Nightingale' of Tintin fame. On google-ing the name, I learnt that there actually exists an opera titled 'Faust' with a real 'Jewel Song' (Ah! My beauty!). Silly me.

Prayer to self: Be regular with this. It seems fun.