Physical Separation. I understand.

Mental Separation. Defies me.

Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of emperors look ridiculous.

---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Us baat ko jaane hi do...
Jiska nishaan
Kal ho naa ho

Har pal yaha jee bar jeeyo
Jo hai sama
Kal Ho Naa Ho

Second Chance

"You don’t throw a whole life away just because it’s banged up a little bit."

--The trainer in the movie "Seabiscuit" .

I read today that this movie is all about how people emerge victorious inspite of their previous futile attempts.

Maybe life is like a wild horse. It shall throw you up and down and rough you up a little. Are you ready to tame it and enjoy the ride that the horse has to offer ?

Please write...

Sometimes I have certain feelings but not the words. I think that maybe my feelings are beyond words.But then, once in a while, you see somebody craft your feelings so beautifully in words and you feel 'Ah ! This is a good writer and did this writer put his hand into my heart to churn the feelings out ? '.

This was exactly what I felt when I read your words in last week's email. They sure did lift my spirits up .You write well and so please do write.

You have the words ! And I am a junkie for the printed word !

HOPE, FOND HOPE

What keeps me going ?

Maybe the soft voice inside me that says that if I wait and try a little more, a little bit more and not lose hope, good things shall happen.

Just when I am listening to this inner voice, I cannot help but notice that whilst I have been patiently waiting in the queue for a while, the person who just walks in, reaches out to the counter with a smile. Luck, huh ?

I feel he should have been behind me in the queue. Maybe God doesn't think so ! Maybe LUCK is beyond HIM. Well, who is HE anyway ?

Fear

Lurking in the nooks and corners of the web has its advantages. I found this somewhere written by a good soul called James Redfield. I don't know how practical it is but there is definitely some truth in it .

"The problem with fear is that it can be very subtle and sneak up on us very quickly. You see, a fear image is always about some outcome we don’t want to occur. We fear failing, embarrassing ourselves or our families, losing our freedom or someone we love, or our own lives. The difficult part is that when we begin to feel such fear, it often turns quickly into anger, and we use this anger to martial our forces, and fight back against whomever we feel is the threat.

"Whether we are feeling fear or anger, we have to realize that these emotions come from one source: those aspects of our lives we want to hold on to.
"The legends say that since fear and anger come from being concerned that we are going to lose something, the way to avoid these emotions is to be detached from all outcomes."

"How can we detach completely. This idea often sounds like an ivory tower theory to me. It may be a matter of life and death. How can we not care about that?

"I didn’t say not to care," he continued. "I said not to be attached to any particular outcome. What we get in life is always slightly different from what we want anyway. To be detached is to realize that there is always a higher purpose that can be found in any event, in any outcome. We can always find a silver lining, a positive meaning, that we can build on"

Google Search box is a Calculator !

Google is amazing ! The search box even does mathematical calculations ! I typed in something 11/11/2000 and it gave me the result of dividing 11 by 11 and then by 2000 . It can even do fundoo stuff like sqrt(4) , sin(20). It even recognizes the imaginary part i . Amazing !

I like people who write about general things in a blog. Like the girl who writes about how it pains inside of her to see young children being abused. Or the boy who writes about how Indians are pitted against each other in the never ending North vs South strife. Some people write about what jewellery/clothes they wore at a wedding and where they are dining these days and the times they have spent with the Bollywood heroes.Or maybe that's what one is supposed to write in a diary-the day's happenings. Why make somebody sad or feel incompetent by writing about your wealth and flamboyance ?

Tujhse Naaraz nahi Zindagi Hairaan hoon main from Masoom is a beautiful song. Reminded of the time when there was a tear in my eye on reading Erich Segal's 'Man Woman and Child'.

How To Season a Wok

With the vast selection of cooking devices out there, none comes close to the sheer simplicity of the wok. Its curved shape enables all the cooking surface to heat evenly, and means that you can scramble eggs in one bit whilst cooking fried rice in the other parts.

Despite its simplicity, cooking device manufacturers have somewhat complicated the wok by giving it non-stick surfaces, and for some strange reason, a flat bottom1.

So why not go back to basics with the original iron or steel wok? In which case, you must season it before you use it2. This will make it non-stick, and ensure its longevity.

Equipment

An iron or steel wok
A pair of cooking tongs
Kitchen towels
Vegetable oil
Cooker
Preparing the Wok

When you first get your basic iron or steel wok, it will have a protective coating on it to prevent it from rusting in the shop. So give it a good scrub to remove the coating. Then dry it thoroughly.

Step One

Open the windows, as it may get a tad smoky in the kitchen. Put the cooker ring on the highest temperature you have, and place the wok on it. Now sit back, and enjoy the lightshow as the previously metallic wok goes from silver, to blue, purple, red and then brown. Do not be disturbed by this, as it is meant to happen.

Step Two

The wok should now be fiery hot, and perhaps smoking a little. Now is the time to apply the oil. Grease a folded up kitchen towel in a little vegetable oil, mount it on the end of the tongs, and wipe it around the inside of the wok. Do not pour the oil in as it will catch fire - remember, the wok is incredibly hot at this point. Now turn the heat right down to the lowest setting, and let the oil sink into the wok for 15-20 minutes. If the wok dries out a bit during this time, give it a quick wipe with the towel. The wok should now be going a deep shiny black.

After the time is up, turn off the heat, and let it cool. Once the wok is cool, run it under the tap, and gently wipe the inside with a sponge. Dry, and then wipe the inside with a little oil to protect it when it is stored.

Wok Aftercare

The blackness of the wok is what protects it, so after using it - do not use a scourer or iron wool on it! The black stuff does no harm - it is merely carbon and nothing else. Plastic scourers or bamboo brushes are the best cleaning utensils to use for your wok as they will not remove the black coating.

If needs must, and a cooking extravaganza requires the wok to be cleaned, do what the professionals do - don't resort to washing up liquid. The detergent will sink into the wok like the oil did when you first seasoned it, giving subsequent dishes the unique flavour of soap. So, instead - after removing the food from the wok, whilst it is still smoking hot, plunge it into a stream of hot running water, whilst rapidly brushing around with the aforementioned bamboo brush or plastic scourer. This removes food adequately without destroying the protective seasoning.

However, you do end up with some rust or accidently take a metal scourer to it, just give the wok a good scrub, and season it again using the steps above.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/onthefuture/A782741

"My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah my foes, and oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light! "

Exploding Seems Like A Definite Possibility .

The other day I saw simmering volcanoes of Hawaii on TV .

Today I read about Globus Hystericus. Strange thing but this is what it is .

Globus hystericus is a sensation of a lump in the throat which is not associated with any specific disease state
It is generally associated with sadness, anxiety or stress
There is no pain or weight loss associated with the condition
Treatment is by reassurance and sympathy concerning the symptom
Any underlying depression or anxiety should be treated.

There was a lady on Joe Millionaire yesterday who wanted to quit because she didn't have the courage to stand up to all the jealousy in the group. Even though I felt that Joe should respect her wish to be eliminated another part of my heart wanted her to stay. The world is very rude to people who cannot fight . Only the strong survive. Weaklings go extinct sooner or later only to be identified as fossils some millions of years later. Some don't even leave a proof of the fact that they existed !

Yesterday I read about a music by Incubus titled "Pardon Me"

"I need you to hear....
....I need you to see....
....That I have had all I can take....
....And exploding seems like a definite possibility to me...."

Today I tell myself 'Quit that self-pity thing' .

Why do Indian marriages have so much pomp and show ? Can't two people simply get married without all the jazz ? Is it because in itself the institution called marriage ...

I understand that one day the atheists are going to sue the government because they do not believe in 'In God We Trust'

There are so many crimes in India in the name of religion . Maybe we should think about becoming atheists if the root cause of all these crimes is religion. What is religion anyways ? Somebody told me that it is the path to God and that paths don't matter because we all are walking towards the same goal. I don't see a goal in sight . For many religion is just a matter of convenience. It is like one of those masks. Whenever the situation warrants they go and hide behind one of those masks. A long time back I met a person in Y ! Literati chatrooms and he was telling me about how chemical reactions made the world and that everything is science. I couldn't disagree with that. He was at peace with himself . He does not believe. That's it ! No struggles, no confusion, no pain.

If there be a religion called 'Humanitarianism' I want to adopt it . Will these crimes stop if all of us become atheists ? Naah .. not a chance. I don't think so. If not religion there will be something else. People always want to fight . It is probably the human ego . So much hypocrisy.

'We worship women. They are sacred' .

Makes me laugh .