I always use notebooks while studying. I mean i don't study much, but the number of notebooks i use makes up for the notion. I find it useful or atleast aiding my concentration to scribble down or jot down stuff while reading any study material. Also it provides a good passtime to maybe keep drawing things, shading stuff or writing random text alongside. It makes up for the boredom. Anyway so ya, while writing or taking notes, I keep this side work going on too. So over the past few years I have a collection of such books of varying sizes. A few days back, while clearing up the mess I made, I found a lot of these books. And just out of curiosity, I went through some of them, to just check back what I did these years. And suddenly I was filled with awe and respect for myself :-) to know I wrote so much and some of it so well. It really is a treasure, and some of the scribblings or art forms you made during that time draws you back to those days. And you can then clearly visualize yourself doing those scribings. Many poems, some classic one-liners, on the spur of the moment drawn images, some stuff you spent a lot of time on to generate, drawings of teachers and students and the likes, jokes and so much more. Its lovely to feel all these things coming on to you so quickly, as and how you turn each page. Shows you how much you were paying attention when doing a certain work. I never knew myself so much, and i feel this is the feeling you get on maintaining a diary. But the one difference is that in a diary, you write things so that you remember things later on. Its with a purpose. Here, you never know if you are ever going to lay your hands on this book. So, this is more impromptu and honest. It shows you your best, worst, happiest, saddest moments without a mark of dishonesty. It shows you in your most innocent form, your most crazy hour. Its the best diary ever. And I feel proud and lucky to have discovered the treasure they hold..
The other day, I got this sudden inspiration to fly kites. We used to do that a lot(not lots, but ya, there were these times when we were crazy about them)as kids. And since I am pretty much jobless now-a-days, i felt that well, I want to fly kites now. So I went through my old stuff, found the 'firki', got the 'manja' too. So all I needed was a kite. We used to have two tapris(or what you ll call extremely small lane-side shops) nearby from where we got kites. I went there only to find that they had closed down in the time that went by. So well, I started hunting for more shops that sell kites. To my wonder, I didnt find a single one. Not one shop sold kite in the areas I searched.
Now this is really bad, to know that not one shop sells kites. The big bazaars and the likes boast of keeping every small thing, right from a pin to furniture to I dunno, maybe a locomotive too. But they cant keep a single simple thing like a kite, which costs between Re.1 to Rs.5 max.
And then I realized that well, if I found out a thing like this, there must be so many things which have become a thing of the past in the time between. And someone somewhere must be missing it.
And now, coming to think of it, its not just the availability stuff that's lost in between. We as people have changed a lot too. The skills that once many people manned are now a rare sight. Atleast in our generation, and here I am speaking of my peers, very rarely does anyone know how to fly kites. For that matter, none of the old games are in vogue nowadays, like bhovra(top), gotya(marbles) etc. People have moved on and these things have lost themselves on their way. Is it for the good, is it for the bad, one can never say. But as a person, I certainly wish that these things aren't totally lost, cause that will really be a major cultural loss. Something must be done to revive them. And I am happy that I can safely say that I can play all these games and can pass them on. Can you? If yes, please do.. Else these skills will really be lost in translation...
Now this is really bad, to know that not one shop sells kites. The big bazaars and the likes boast of keeping every small thing, right from a pin to furniture to I dunno, maybe a locomotive too. But they cant keep a single simple thing like a kite, which costs between Re.1 to Rs.5 max.
And then I realized that well, if I found out a thing like this, there must be so many things which have become a thing of the past in the time between. And someone somewhere must be missing it.
And now, coming to think of it, its not just the availability stuff that's lost in between. We as people have changed a lot too. The skills that once many people manned are now a rare sight. Atleast in our generation, and here I am speaking of my peers, very rarely does anyone know how to fly kites. For that matter, none of the old games are in vogue nowadays, like bhovra(top), gotya(marbles) etc. People have moved on and these things have lost themselves on their way. Is it for the good, is it for the bad, one can never say. But as a person, I certainly wish that these things aren't totally lost, cause that will really be a major cultural loss. Something must be done to revive them. And I am happy that I can safely say that I can play all these games and can pass them on. Can you? If yes, please do.. Else these skills will really be lost in translation...
Ok, the title makes no sense. It was just because its a follow up of the earlier one...
Anyways, continuing with the usual trend of the in holiday stuff to do, I am doing my bit with the cooking thing which I always enjoy. Just today, I tried Chocolate chip muffins. And wow, they turned lovely. A little too sweet maybe for the likings of the people at home, but well, it was no problem to get them going down my throat with the sweet tooth I have....
I thought of some extra stuff which maybe I could have done, which was making the muffins of a chocolate base too, and not just the chips in it. But well, that will be when I try it the next time...
Ingredients:
*2 cups flour
*1/2 cup sugar
*2/3 cup milk
*Maybe 3 teaspoons of drinking chocolate (this is not tried, this I intend to use next time)
*2 teaspoons of baking powder
*1/2 cup butter (if salted, don't add salt later on)
*2 eggs
*vanilla essence
*chocolate chips (this I thought would be available at ease in any store. But apparently they weren't. So I just got a bar of Cadbury, and cut them into pieces. A Rs.20 bar is enough for the above)
Method is fairly self explanatory. Beat the eggs, add butter, milk, essence and whip up again. On another side, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder. Add the ultimate moment, mix these two together. While mixing, take care you only stir in one direction, and don't over mix it, else the eggs lose their bloating stuff as I hear. Add some chips in the dough. The rest, decorate on top. Add in small muffin trays, and put into a preheated oven at 180 C for around 20-25 mins. Eat with anything..!!! They are tasty anyway... :)
Enjoy
