Before I say anything else, I've got to make one thing clear. I'm not a christian and I haven't really celebrated Christmas since I moved out of Bombay, but let's just say the spirit lives on. We used to do a play before the midnight mass at the church and I used to be one of the angels (wings and all) and then we spent Christmas day eating good food and re-enacting the play at these orphanages- it was awesome. I love the colors of the season, I love the hope and joy it brings, and hence the decor on my blog.

More closer to home, we've celebrated the coming up of Christmas with the bestest hot chocolate fudge ice cream. Since I can't bake any cake or cookies because my microwave died on me, we have had to make do with the wonders of chocolate cooked on a flame. Salted nuts, hot chocolate sauce and glazed red cherries on vanilla ice cream.

Dad's playing Santa on our behalf to the family up north. Being unemployed is advantageous in the sense that you can get away with hand made gifts. Luckily for the family, my work is not so shabby. I'm quite proud of the way this one came out and hence, here it is for you- gush away.




Shopping, which I enjoy only when it's for other people, has been pretty much all I've been doing all week. The perfect this for this person and the perfect that for that person. Sister dear was treated to one of those tie up hair bands, that she'd wear to sleep if she could have her way. There's just something about surprising people with stuff they've always wanted to have but just haven't been able to buy for themselves, things they've thought went unnoticed. Try it out some time. It's really fun.

Hoping you've been just the right amounts of naughty and nice- where's the fun in being nice all the time? Naughty is good, NOT being nasty. Wishing you happiness, and peace, I leave you with We Wish you a merry christmas,

All my love.

For the first time in roughly four years, I've spent an hour and a half a day actually LEARNING. There's been this international conference going on in college- I'd usually get involved with the organizing and that'd be the extent of my involvement, but since this one the staff wanted to handle, they just made attendance compulsory to make the auditoriums look more full. Not one to even attend such things, I went with my ipod loaded with two new movies and some Full House episodes. Only, to my surprise there were actually people from abroad- proper universities like Rutgers and all, even profs from IIT Bombay! I loved listening to their speeches even though ALOT of it had little to do with my course work.

So, that's reason one of the lightheartedness that I've been experiencing. Learning, I find, always make me happy. Specially after the early deaths my brain cells have been sentenced to these past four years.

Reason number two is because soon approaching is the end of this road. And the last stretch looks infinitely tolerable now that the staff allotted for my subjects and project work will be lecturers who wouldn't be bothered to even take classes. It's the least they can do.

Reason number three is that I am now officially an Accenture employee, thank you very much. The job offer has been signed sealed and delivered. I have a very nice t-shirt that came along with the offer letter- one my mom had to literally force off my back to wash :D I love the company already and I hope I won't be too disappointed.

Reason number four is that Pride and Prejudice (BBC series) that I now have the pleasure of watching thanks to Zee Studio. I would like to go on record to state that both the movies (Bollywood and Hollywood) were abominable compared to this one and the book, at the same time asking you to put previous acclaims down to temporary insanity.

Reason number five is that my birthday is coming up. And for once in my life, I've got a whole list of things I DO want, and am actually saying it out aloud instead of worrying about if I deserve them or not. Mom, dad, sis- if you're reading this, just to remind you of the decision we arrived at after today's discussion- you are to ditch the search for a perfect phone, and work on buying me the perfect car instead.

Reason number six is all the wonderful people in my life. Sis, you may leave me breathless but you're like those just perfect rays of sunshine that warm you and leave you smiling. Dish and Simrat, you guys are the like the smell after the first rains that leaves you happy and satisfied. Mom, we bug the hell out of you but then again, you leave no stone unturned in returning the favor. And you, the people of the blogging world who STILL visit, muah! You make me smile.

Reason number seven is well, there's nothing else I can put this unencumbered feeling down to. There's a right time for everything. For letting go, holding on. For wanting to just hide under the covers and not want to face the day, for liking what you see in the mirror and actually looking forward to the day. For worrying about every tiny smile you feel you have to hide, for every spontaneous hug you let yourself enjoy. You get the general idea. What I'm trying to say is, have faith. When the time is right, you'll be free and ready to believe again. Until then, eat chocolate cake and enjoy your girl friends. Don't be in a hurry to get to the other side, you'll get there when you are ready.

I leave you with Mary's Boy Child Jesus Christ- really helps singing it.

All my love!

P.S. Check out the human calendar in my side bar! Me loves.

'Twas a rainy day. Sis and me had spent the day lazing around and all we needed to top off a perfect day was a perfectly gooey chocolate cake. So, I put on my chef's hat and came up with what is my best cake recipe ever.

For those of you who have never baked a normal chocolate cake before, here's the ingredients. For those of you who know the drill skip to the last two magic ingredients.

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup superfine sugar or just sugar.
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* About 100 gm butter- salted works just fine.
* 2 large eggs
* Vanilla extract for flavor.
* 1/2 cup of curd/ milk (for if you use one egg)
* Cocoa AND drinking chocolate
* Secret (Not so secret after this, but whatever) Ingredient No1. Marie gold biscuits or (any other biscuits- I use these because they have a very mild flavor and don't complement the chocolate).
* Secret (ditto) Ingredient No2. Jam. Preferably grape/strawberry. Natural. Not Kissan and all ok?

Now, first add the butter and sugar into a food processor and beat until smooth. Next add flour in half cups interspersed by an egg- or you could just put it all in together. You could use one egg and the half cup of curd/ milk. Else, two eggs should do it.

Add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract and the baking powder.

Next, you need to add only about one large spoon of cocoa and about three-four spoons of drinking chocolate- mix the entire thing. If you want more chocolate, add more drinking chocolate, NOT cocoa, unless you like your cake bitter.

The magic bit- to about two teaspoons of the jam add about a teaspoon of milk/hot water, and whisk it into a smooth paste. Add this to your cake batter and give it one last shake.

Grease your baking dish with butter, and dust with a little bit of flour. Put the biscuits (around ten-fifteen) into a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin. Crush the slightly larger pieces into finer dust/ smaller pieces using your hand. Layer the baking dish with an even layer of this.

Pour your batter into this. And bake. If you use a microwave oven, bake at 160 using the forced air option for about 10- 11 mins. Bake for an extra 1-2 mins depending on how "gooey" you want it to be.

When done, dust with a little icing sugar, and serve!! Alternatively, take a fork and dig in.

I've spent the entire day sitting in front of the T.V. as probably has the rest of India. And I am emotionally drained and paralyzed. And helpless.

I do NOT understand how Mr. Advani, head of the opposition, has not failed to turn today's dastardly and horrific acts of terrorism into "how this is worse than what happened during our regime".

Actually, I can. WHICH is what upsets me more than anything.

What kind of a country is this? This country which so proudly beats its chest and asks for the world to notice her coming out, can allow for it's policemen to go into a combat situation without ANY sort of specialized equipment. THIS when the terrorists are carrying on them not only AK-47s and rocket launchers but also hi tech satellite equipment.

ATS Chief Hemant Karkare and more than fifteen other policemen lost their lives today. It is the ATT and the NSG and the local Mumbai police force along with the media who have spent the entire twenty four odd hours since the first blasts AT the site. Not a single member of the state government was found anywhere around these places. Not at the hospitals, not at the hotels. Tomorrow however they will come out to applaud the "spirit of Mumbai" and continue to question why the army men are giving the ration they are given and why they are paid so much.

Over 150 people would have lost their lives before the day ends. Scores others are lying in hospitals across the city, hurt. Each of the 1.1 billion people of this country are not only hurt too, but also angry.

I HATE that we have become a country that is run by politicians who are only worried about the "next election". I HATE that we do not have the decency and caliber to honor and immortalize these soldiers of ours. I HATE that twenty odd "boys" can hold a nation as large as ours at gun point.

I HATE that everyone will forget this happened and how ill prepared we are as a country, until something like this happens again in four months time.

I do NOT know what I can do to change things as yet. But I swear, I'm going to figure it out.

I just noticed. I go "sad sad" and "nice nice". How weird is that?

I suck at writing in active voice, so if I ever do start writing a book, it's never getting done.

The new song here, "All I want for christmas"- me loves it. It's super cheesy and all that. But I do.

Whose Line Is It Anyway is back on TV!!! All hail Star World.

It's tough to decide whether I like photos of people better or nature. Black and whites or color. People, on most days.

I'm an aunt six times over. Or actually according to Joey, three times an uncle and three times an aunt.

India is SO going to win the match.

It's really weird introducing myself by my name. I've been "pk" for half my life.

How come we Indian kids don't get "find yourself" time?

How is it possible to go from being deliriously happy one minute to being terribly depressed the next? Ugh.

I'm out of things to say.

"Peace".

I was just recalling how the exam I wrote on Friday went.

It was so hilarious.

Half the class went to the bathroom, one after the other, in the first forty five minutes after starting the exam.

More than half the class (thus including people who visited the loo and those who didn't) got up and went to get themselves a drink of water during the exam.

Almost everyone sharpened each pencil that was in their pencil boxes at least 4 times- it was a programming paper, did I mention?

Some people also ended up punching numbers into the calculators they were carrying to verify if the multiplication tables they'd been taught were right.

And yes, I spent the little time left, cataloging this information.

On a totally different note, sometimes all you need to right your world are your bestest friends in the whole wide world on the phone with you.

Oh and for those of you who are wondering, I am NOT christian. I love Christmas time though. And thanks to my stay in Mumbai, I've even been an actual angel in the midnight mass plays. Yes, an angel. Will wonders ever cease, eh?

I absolutely loved working on this template. Adobe Photoshop rocks. The base template isn't mine, but I've tweaked with it alot to get what I liked best. There's also an option that allows you to stop the carols from playing near the Santa who is strumming his guitar- for you Scrooges. If you have a special request, make it, I'll see what I can do.

Until then, be good and be happy.

All my love.

If you were to ever pick up Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I'd recommend that you don't do so when you were in the middle of exams. I FINALLY read the book. And I gotta say, I liked it.

I can't say if I'd have liked the book had I not seen Bride and Prejudice (which this is based on). Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn't have. I think I would have, except I'd have read it more slowly. I didn't know that the movie was actually the book, so I actually couldn't put the book down until I'd finished it and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen on the next page.

Austen starts the book with, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" and it'd be really really hard to contradict her, even in today's world.

Each of the five sisters has her own "thing". The eldest sister Jane is the beauty but more of the quite and gracious type and yet emotionally strong as you come to learn. Elizabeth the female protagonist is her fathers favorite, lively and full of wit. The famous Mr. Darcy is disgustingly rich, intelligent and an introvert. The fact that his role was played by Martin Henderson in the movie, only helped imagine his "handsomeness" more vividly. I love the father's laconic style which only brings to light the flair for drama that his wife has.

It's almost a typical love story. What made me read on were the characters. First you wanted to know how the two met, then there's the whole falling in love that is to happen which is to catch them unawares and lastly you want to know who makes the first move and how. If Lizzy actually apologies. How Darcy reacts to her playfulness even after they've married. William Collins ( a cousin who wanted to marry Elizabeth but was turned down and married her best friend instead), Lady Catherine (Darcy's widowed aunt who has her own plans for Darcy) Charles Bingley (Darcy's best friend and Jane's love) and his evil sisters, only add liveliness to the book and make it more interesting.

Anyway, if you haven't read it, do so now. If you aren't too found of English Lit you mightn't enjoy the writing style too much, so I'd suggest you watch the movie first (Bollywood or Hollywood, they're both good)- that way you can just skip through some descriptive pages and not loose the plot.

And if you HAVE read it, do so again!

All my love.

There was this huge massive big part of me that wanted to get into an IIM. NOT because of the name and the money and all that, but because I wanted to be motivated, inspired and taught. Three things that I can get from other places too- yes, Stanford and all are just waiting for me :D

With CAT out of the way, I'm just relieved. Instead of having worked for it and denying myself a lot things along the way just so I could get this, I would have done a whole lot better if I'd just walked in and written the exam. It was THAT weird. Math sucked, as I knew it would. English and DI were good. The IIMs sadly want you to have brilliantly in everything.

I know I should be sad, but all I can think of right now is how much more lighter I feel. There wasn't pressure at home, there was only pressure I'd put on myself. Anyhoo, with that out of the way, I'm all energized to work on my other options. I actually went and celebrated by stuffing myself with the best sizzlers on ze planet.

Hope you guys have been good because guess whose coming to town!! *hiccup*

Yes, a little drunk.

All my love.