I make a choice for my haircut, one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose my eating habits and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose the music I listen to, and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose the clothes I wear, which are decent, and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose to spend my earnings, the way I wish to and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

We have become answerable, more to society than to our own conscience. Suppressing the desire to chase dreams, making sacrifices, remaining in shackles, being part of the continuum, of the rinse-repeat cycle.

To not answer the question, “What would others think?”

Getting so far wasn’t easy. It, however, didn’t involve answering that question.

Before all this happened, I was trying to bring the orderly into my life. I started reading about how to proceed with that on reddit. Read success stories, motivated a few people and things seemed rosy. And all of a sudden, the severity of the Delhi pollution got to me and Boom! I was back to square -1000. It’s going to take a while coming back to what I enjoyed doing.

Amidst all this, I realised how easy it is for me to get distracted. Another lesson I learnt is how I’m a good beginner, but a very pathetic finisher. I seek to rectify that as well.

I hope that writing this here keeps me to my word.

PS : I may end up using that domain to set up something interesting later. My initial focus is on getting back to what I enjoyed doing.

Anyway, we also had Paalak (spinach for the Popeye lovers) at home and decided to cook Paalak Dal (the second word means lentils, if it was difficult to figure out from the last paragraph) after he consulted his mom about the recipe and the only information I registered was garlic based seasoning and no onion.

What was meant to be an experiment ended up being an excellent dish which went really well with steamed rice.

Ingredients

• Toor Dal(Yellow Pigeon Peas, is what wikipedia is calling it) : 3/4 cup
• Paalak(spinach, doh!) : 1 handful, chopped
• Garlic : 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
• Red chilli powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Jeera(cumin seeds) : 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil : 3 teaspoon
• Salt : to taste

Cooking Instructions

• Pressure cook dal and paalak along with 3 cups of water for about 20 minutes(pressure cooker will give 3-4 whistles). Ensure that the dal has attained a thick, mashed consistency.
• Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and wait for them to pop.
• Add garlic and ginger. Allow the garlic to attain a light brown colour.
• Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Allow it to cook for the raw smell of the powders to disappear.
• Pour the seasoning into the boiled lentils.
• Serve hot with steamed rice.

It started with joining a roommate on his daily walks. 10 rounds of walking along the pavement inside the park. That would roughly be about 2.5-3km. We would do it intermittently, going one day and skipping another 2-3 days. However, the important part was that we were getting more workout than usual. I also cut down on my snacking habits. Going down from 250g of moong daal a day to 100g a day. The progress started showing in the way I started feeling healthier. Very soon, I was doing an extra 1.5km every day in the form of walking back from the shared auto drop point to my apartment. In the next 3-4 months, I shed 8 kgs, felt slimmer and fitter.

Somewhere in between, I also started mixing up my morning walks with some light runs as well. I would usually do 4-5 rounds of running in the 10 rounds that I used to do around the park. I started getting bored of the same trail and same faces at the same time every day. That is when I decided that I needed to hit the road. This happened only a year and a half back because I was still very irregular and would probably have been doing 12km a week, including the walks back in the evening.

All in all, I was getting some activity done, even though it was sporadic. In the meantime, my workplace got a gym in place and I happened to read a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers about the Couch 2 5k plan. Doing a bit of research showed me that it’s a hugely successful concept.

The story didn’t end there. Since I was running regularly by now, I decided to start from week 4 of the plan. I was stuck on week 4 forever though. I just didn’t have the mental strength to do week 5 where the 3rd run is a full 20 minutes without any walking breaks.

I went to Sweden in between. I also got engaged and took a pretty long break from work which meant that I was simply hogging away and not moving my ass.

I gained 4 kg in 2 weeks due to all the beef and pork and I was afraid of the downward spiral again.

Once I got back from vacation, I resumed with week 4 for a week. This week, I did all the 3 runs of week 5, including that dreaded 20 minute mini marathon. I felt really proud after that. I would like to take this journey all the way to the finish and further.

To track my progress, I have also come up with a new hashtag #treadmilcom because I started doing the program on the treadmill and then started hitting the road, once I got a decent pair of running shoes. I intend to keep everyone updated about the progress through this hashtag and who knows, it could even become a movement of sorts to convince my friends to take up running(by friends, I mean everyone interested).

PS : I slyly added two important events in my life

PPS : I also received a new Android phone as a gift which has helped me track my pace.

PPPS : Please cheer me up on this journey, no?

Two groups of people will be delighted to snap this up: anyone with an N3315 from before 2002 and anyone who wants to get superfast mobile snake gaming and is vendor neutral. The first group will be delighted to get a new phone; the second, to get a really pleasurable experience on the gaming scheme of things.The screen isn’t bigger than the N3315, and only a side-by-side comparison with the (as yet unreleased) N1110 will tell how their torches match up.

Lolsung users considering a switch will probably enjoy features such as T9 (the equivalent of T7, but already bigger because N3310 has a larger user base than  SGH E700).

And the software that runs T9 works on every N phone since 2002. There’s nothing as good as the T9 text input on any other system. And the simplicity of use is something people clearly like. But if you leave Lolsung or Carbonator, you’ll have to abandon your ringtones — although the equivalents are almost certain to be available on the Composer. The only difference? You might have to compose your own tunes. N3310 users also like keypad shortcuts built into the system, which they won’t find on the the Lolsung.

Carbonator users meanwhile will miss the two separate green and red buttons for connect/disconnect — but they’ll like the new turn off button which is concave and really pleasing to hold. And they’ll like all the ringtones. The messages software will have to be closely compared against Lolsung’s; but the addition of detail on delivery reports means that even though N is cutting more its ties to the mobile giant, the messages look great: during the demonstration N showed off a delivery center editing feature. Early UK users of the software already say it’s great.

The new “thin pin” charger, which makes about a billion existing ones obsolete in a flash, isn’t going to ruin your life – you’ll be able to get adaptors.

If you don’t have a phone, the cost will look daunting. (Though the prices of the older N phones have come down substantially.) Lolsung’s SGH E700 is becoming cheaper, and Carbonator may be able to compete — once we know the prices. But the key difference there is that neither company designs the software that runs the phone. Lolsung uses G’s Ancioid; Carbonator, MS’s Symbiotic parasite OS. That limits both in subtle ways. N offers a walled garden, it’s true – and it’s hard to break out once you’re inside. Lolsung has the advantage that it offers many different brands, while Parasite is borne up almost entirely by Carbonator. But with any of these you’ll only buy once every couple of years. If the time and the price is right, the N1100 is definitely the most integrated phone out there.

NOTE : This is a spoof on a very vague review of the new Apple Phone here.

Got me thinking about the way I have managed to do things all this while, leaving the important sweeter, happier, tastier(ahem ahem, NOT A TWSS bait) things to the end. I usually leave the meat pieces for the last because I just love having them without any bread or rice. Or tapioca. I do the same with pickles too, but that’s because I’ve never figured out how they enhance the flavour of a meal. In my not so humble opinion, they simply push every other flavour into obscurity. Except the Cut Mango Pickle that my mom makes.

Anyway, leaving it to the end. It not only keeps you worried about whether your friend, or in the case of food, foe will steal snatch it away.

So much for saving for the future. Also, enough food for thought. For now.

I cannot stand these phonies who say they are very careful about improving their vocabulary and all, but do nothing about writing basic words with the right spelling. They chew the fat about English being a foreign language and how it is not natural to write the words with the correct letters in place, but boy they also say about improving their command over it. And what they do, they go and make the silliest mistake possible. If you point it out, they go all self righteous on you and say that anyone can commit mistakes. I would have strangled them if I wasn’t a peace loving guy to tell you the truth. It depresses me more when they indulge in corny word play. Anyone can come up with a “You two”, “Me three” joke if you really want to know.

I can go on and on about how it kills me, but it depresses me in the morning. It really does. So, I’ll get lost with a request to all the phonies. Don’t think that spelling is for nothing. If you do, you’ll end up regretting my posts about nothing.

PS : There is a Holden Caulfield in all of us.

Talking of death, I have been affected by that word lately. In a funny way. In a sad way. In a who gives two hoots way. In a numb way. In a what is wrong with the world way. In a feeling helpless way. In a things could have been different way.

What affected me very much is the funny way. All thanks to Terry Pratchett and book 4 of the Discworld Series called Mort. Funny because Death is everywhere and you just cannot defeat him. In a combat or a shootout. You cannot even cheat your way to victory because sooner or later, he is going to come back with more vigour. And whatever it is, no fun living forever like the Elves. I mean, Elrond lived for 3000(or was it 10000) years and what did he achieve? Nothing, if you discount Arwen(which he procreated when he was some 2000 odd years). So basically, he lived a meaningless life in the hills for about 4000 years just waiting for Frodo and party to turn up one fine morning. And then, waiting for something else. What was that? To leave in a frigging ship! To live for ever. But why? Tolkien isn’t immortal so we cannot ask him.

I cannot even believe that I digressed from Mort and went to LoTR, which isn’t really ridiculous because I have a tattoo inspired by the Elvish script in the epic. I have been asked many times whether it is a permanent or temporary tattoo. I would say it isn’t temporary, but I wouldn’t say it is permanent because it comes with the shelf life spanning my life. Also, nothing is permanent according to some wisecrack who decided to name himself Anonymous. Smart huh?

In a way, all of us phonies are employees of death as well. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are pushing people around us to it. Just take that instance when that favourite band you loved decided to disband. You died a little, didn’t you? I didn’t lose any second of my life when a band that I loved took a different path with their style because that’s what artists are supposed to do. Innovate their way to immortality. Let’s ask 2000 generations later about what or who Opeth was. Ha! Anyway, all of us are dying a little with each passing second. Like Pink Floyd sang, one day closer to death. But it’s more like 86400 or 84600 seconds closer(I don’t want to waste my time doing stupid Maths).

When I talk about employees of death, the employers and work are a major cause of death as well, if you know what I mean. Forgetting to live kills you little by little till you completely forget how to live. Or breath. And die.(I didn’t put brackets around the Ors and Ands so decide which language you are using and do the priority computation yourself) While at that, it isn’t really good to continue living just the way you are doing everyday. It’s nice to mix things up. Why would you do the same thing repeatedly for 40 years, retire, do the new thing for 30 years and just disappear? Employers become a cause of death only if you choose to, though. If you do different things instead of just work, work and more work, you might just live a better life, who knows. But that is in your hands. Don’t say things like I was helpless etc when you are gone. Which I am sure you won’t because you aren’t alive then. Haha.

I can go on and on about how to live better instead of dying, but I am not immortal so I’ll go and live when I can. K Bai.

Ingredients

For Stuffing

• Cocktail Sausage : 5-6 pieces
•  Onion : 1 small (I used 4-5 shallots for because it gives that extra punch)
• Black Pepper : 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt : According to taste
• Soya Sauce : According to taste

For Dough

• Flour : 1 cup
• Rice flour : 3-4 table spoon
• Salt : According to taste

Cooking Instructions

• Take the sausages and let it thaw a little. Split each piece into 3-4 pieces.
• Saute the onions and garlic in just enough oil.
• When they are translucent, add the pepper and the sausage pieces.
• Add some soya sauce as well as salt(keep in mind that the soya sauce is salty)
• Shred the sausage pieces further with the ladle so that they are the size of egg chunks in Egg Bhurji.
• Keep on a medium flame till the sausage chunks are sufficiently cooked.
• Mix the flour, rice flour and salt well.
• Add enough water to make it into a flat bread style dough.
• Make small balls of 3/4 in to 1in diameter and roll them into small very thin circles.
• Keep a tablespoon each of the sausage mixture into these circles and fold them, sealing them at the edges.
• Cook in a steamer for 15 minutes or until done.

That was simple, wasn’t it? For the fiery accompaniment, I pureed a tomato and made it into a paste with 2 green chillis and salt.

PS: Try at your own risk.

PPS : I liked it.

PPPS : It was delicious.