Popping Corns

Popcorns.

Cut, pour, take off heat when popping stops.

Easy peasy.

Here's a heads up (do take notes): That doesn't work with an electric kettle. 

What you get is a device that automatically shuts off the moment things start getting a bit hot, leaving you with roughly 6 popcorns and about 60 unpopped kernels. What's more, you can't even reheat until the kettle has cooled down, which takes about 10 minutes.

Electric kettles: thwarting attempts at eating healthy. *

* Popcorn is healthy, right?

The Most Awesome Thing I Did This Semester

It might very well be the most amazing thing I did in all my three years (so far) in college.

Now, it's not as such as amazing as say, sky-diving, or backpacking all over the world for a year; it's not even that rare or once-in-a-lifetime kind of a deal.
To state it simply, in the January of this year, I went for a sports camp for 4 days.

A team of about 50 students from college went to ABV-IIITM Gwalior for Twaran 2013, an inter-IIIT Sports Festival.

What looked like baby pumpkins growing on a guava tree, in the Gwalior campus

Here's why it was so awesome:
1. In the middle of the semester, all of a sudden, I was free from the burden of deadlines and even more deadlines. I woke up every day with only two goals in mind: watch as many matches as you can, where people from IIIT Delhi are competing, and play as much as you physically can.
When there weren't teams to cheer for, there were practices, and then, real matches. I played volleyball, basketball, badminton, a bit of squash - pretty much everything I got the opportunity to play.
We ate when we got hungry and we slept when we finally returned to our beds at the end of a gloriously weary day.

2. I didn't know any of the girls who were going with me. I just knew one girl, who was from my batch, and she's quite lovely, but we just don't hang out that much. As many as 3 of the girls had strung along their boyfriends, and 3 more had very good friends among the 50. I didn't even know the guys that well. I expected to somehow just get along, and had prepared myself for a decent amount of getting bored.
Guess what? None of that happened.
From rebelling against their 10 PM in-time for the girls' hostel, to generally being high and laughing for no reason, from teaching some good Hindi gaalis to the first-year girl in our midst, to waking everyone up in the large dorm where we slept*, for a "dance party" at midnight, I had more fun than I've ever had with some of my close friends in college.

3. None of us were amazing basketball players, and in fact, we hadn't even practiced for more than a week prior to this, but I lasted a full game of basketball, and we won the tournament**.
Playing something physical, and surpassing your own expectations of yourself really gives you a high, doesn't it? I did it first in basketball (just by having enough stamina to play throughout the entire game, which is kind of a big deal for me) and then again in volleyball (just by actually getting the ball across the net a few times, even though before the practices, I had last played volleyball nearly 8 years ago, and as a result of the practices, I had developed a general ache all over my wrists and forearms, wherever I had hit the ball). Someone actually commended my volleyball playing (you know, for a beginner :P), even though I'd only agreed to play to complete the team.

4. I was in a new place, doing something I had never done before in my life, with people I just knew by their names and faces in college, and it was fucking exhilarating. When I look back at those 4-5 days in Gwalior, despite the fact that I was really unwell the first few days there, despite the fact that we had to bathe out of buckets that were shared by all the girls from all the different colleges (well, 4 different colleges) staying in the dorm ***, despite the fact that I never really felt clean after using the girls' hostel toilets because they were so dirty ****, despite the fact that we actually lost the volleyball tournament *****, when I think of Gwalior, I only remember how utterly magnificent the whole experience was. Are sports camps always so much fun? Or did it only seem like this to me because it was my first time?

I am sure as hell going to try hard to go next year as well. I'm a decent basketball player (compared to you know, other people who play only once a year :P) I would say, and I can actually get the volleyball across the net. So, yes, why not?

* The dorm was a large room with 30 mattresses and 30 pillows that looked/sounded like they were stuffed with polythene bags, and 30 fluffy quilts. About 15 girls from 4 colleges turned up for Twaran, and they were all put up in that dorm.
** There was only one other competing team: the Gwalior team. So the entire tournament was essentially just one match, and we won it.
*** I generally dislike bathing out of buckets, especially in the winters when it introduces a bit of a gap between each successive mug of water you pour on yourself, during which cold air meets your wet skin. And much much much more so, if the buckets are communal.
**** They had paint buckets for mugs in the Indian-style toilets. With dried paint in it. And a 2L Coke bottle sliced in half. Their washbasins were grimy and the mirrors were full of specks.
***** There was only one other competing team: the Gwalior team. So the entire tournament was essentially just one match, and we lost it. So we won Silver.

Strangely Awesome Dreams

I have Strangely Awesome Dreams (SADs in short).

The major genres include:

1. The Dream-ception:
Being aware that what I'm seeing is a dream, and also realizing that the awareness is part of a dream itself.
Or
Waking up from a dream, only to realize that I woke up from a dream, only to realize that Hey, I'm still Asleep, Hence this Stream of Consciousness must be part of a Dream too!

2. The Omnipresent:
Watching a narration unfold (consisting of persons completely unrelated to me in my waking life) as it takes place, as if it were real and I'm looking at them from above (or as an invisible part of the scene), while hearing an external narrator doing the narrating.

3. The Continuation:
Being part of a dream that I'm pretty sure had a prequel, because events that take place, only make sense given the context of the prequel.
Except that I have no idea when I dreamt the prequel, or what it was about.

4. The One in Which I Know What Will Happen in the Dream, but it Doesn't Happen that way no Matter How Much I try:
Well, this only ever happened once. I kept trying to manipulate the dream (and the dream-persons in the dream) to follow the original plot line, except that they kept getting distracted by Mattar Paneer, even though we had some friends to rescue from kidnappers (and we rescued them successfully in the original plot line), but they really couldn't care less.

I really enjoy my SADs. One time, a detective novel set in 18th Century England (Genre: #2) walked into my head, complete from start to end. I forgot all of it once I woke up, except for the part during the dream where I told myself to not forget the dream and to write it all down when I wake up. I also briefly debated with myself (while 'watching' the dream) whether it would amount to plagiarism to do so, but eventually decided that it won't be since it's My dream.

"Those Were The Days"

"The 80's and 90's were the days. Neural networks were being touted as the next big thing. Everybody was using neural networks. Every day a new application of them would come up."

- Nostalgic Pattern Recognition Prof

Hostel Stuff

It struck me last night that I never have to worry about scary people attacking me from behind, while I'm trying to sleep, when I'm in my hostel room.
I just - crash.

Maybe it's because my room is so small. Maybe it is because, even when I lie awake on my bed in the dark, my room feels like my room, a space that I don't share with scary people who are prone to attacking me from behind.

Is it odd that I feel safer in the hostel than in my own home?

Our hostel has no specific time by which we are supposed to be inside, unlike most hostels in India. In fact, we don't even have a warden. And, we have a common mess.
This means that the only time most people enter the hostel is to sleep.

This is a convenient model that I can't understand why other hostels don't follow. What do you think will happen if boys are allowed to mix with girls until the late hours of the night? What do you think will happen if students are allowed to enter and exit the campus any time they want? What do you think will happen if girls are allowed to go out (such as for a night out or a sleepover) without written permission from parents? What do you think will happen if girls stay outside till late and not be present for "attendance"? *

I went to ABV-IIITM Gwalior this January, and we were put up in the girls' hostel where there was a curfew, where they took attendance to check everyone was inside, and where they were extremely anal about those who entered the hostel late. **

We came to know from some students that until a few years back, they allowed girls to stay out as long as the guys did during sports fests. But then some girl got molested or sexually harassed, and of course, their solution was to curb the freedom the girls enjoyed.

I'm lucky that where I live, I am insulated from this bullshit. I'm glad I don't have to face this on a daily basis, to the extent that I begin accept it as part of my life. Pretty much what happens at every other girls' hostel in India.

* I don't know if that also happens at boys' hostels.
** Latecomers were made to stand outside, plead for forgiveness from the guards, and made to write a letter to the warden asking for forgiveness.

Zomato Foodie Meet

Much to my surprise, Zomato sent me an invite to a 'Top Foodies Meet with Rocky and Mayur' yesterday. I thought all reviewers at Zomato were being invited, since I'm still but a Foodie, an entry-level user according to Zomato's user rankings (Foodie < Big Foodie < Super Foodie < Connoisseur).

One cannot emphasize enough the importance of free lunches to students. I decided to take a friend (uninvited) along, and go.

I expected a slightly large gathering, with a lot of good food, where I could just sit by myself and stuff my face without the obligation to "mingle". I'm not good at mingling. Especially not when there's food to be eaten. I prefer to just focus on the eating. When food and mingling mix, I tend to become super conscious about how I'm eating, whether I'm paying equal attention to the food and the conversationist, whether I'm leaving anything on the plate for others, or whether I'm chewing while talking.

It was Not a slightly large gathering. When we told the guy at the entrance that we're here for the Zomato Foodie Meet, he directed us to the VIP section of the restaurant where about 20 people were already sitting around tables in small groups, chatting. I didn't know anyone, and I'm not very good at talking to strangers.

So, I made an effort. I stepped out of my comfort zone. It was greatly aided by the people there, some of whom were really chatty and interesting. I met Mayur of the Rocky and Mayur duo (who I did not recognize :P). I met the guy behind the restaurant Spice Market. I met some of the reviewers on Zomato who I follow and whose reviews I quite often read.

Compared to the food I've been eating at the hostel, I really enjoyed the lunch. But considering that some of the most influential food critics (oh yes, and the folks at Zomato thought I was one of them! ;)) were being invited for the event, the food could have been better. Also considering that the chef most probably Knew this fact, it just seems like even the best the restaurant could offer was not good enough. And this isn't just my opinion.

But free lunch, good company, and decent food and drinks? I'd do it all over again, and probably not be so conscious about my eating this time round ;)

I hope Zomato does many more of these!

P.S. Watermelon fizzy drinks! Why don't we see more of these in other places?! Also, the grilled fish (basa?) was Delicious! And this is coming from a person who dislikes fish.

Kangaroo Pockets and Puppies

I like kangaroo pockets.

You know, the pockets that sit over your belly and have two holes, one for each of your hands?

(They're great for hiding slightly bulging bellies.)
(It might be because of all the Glucon D that I sit around eating by the spoonful. Might be. Might.)

And now I present to you, our biggest waste of time nowadays:

Meet the browser family - there's Netscape, and there's Firefox on top of her

 Firefox. :D

Form L to R: Safari, Firefox

The black one's Chrome. They're all kind of lazy.

Very lazy.

Pfft. Spoilt rotten.

Let's Spread Some Sprinkle Love

Yesterday I had to go to Sadar Bazaar to buy *prizes* for Cadence 2013.

Somewhere in those cramped, congested alleys, in one of the crowded, wholesale-prize-only shops I found baking supplies' heaven.

It was relatively empty, there being only One other aunty who was curious to know whether silicon cups would work well in a convection oven*.

They had plastic cases for chocolate, moulds upon moulds for all kinds of things, a rotating cake table, even different coloured Foil! They had sprinkles (though they weren't too great), flavourings (not food colouring, unfortunately), spatulas, cake boxes and edible glitter!

I took my time around the place. I bought 20 butter paper sheets for Rs. 60, and 3 of the cutest cookie cutters I'd ever seen, for Rs. 30 apiece**. I wanted to buy more cupcake liners, because they were so pretty! But you can only buy a stack of something like 200 liners, not less.

Anyway, I was really eager to use my cookie cutters - one of them makes itty bitty bite-sized stars.

So I went on a huge bake-a-thon today. I made a basic dough using this recipe, but in double quantity. Then I decided that the consistency looked too crumbly and added two eggs***.

I divided the dough into three parts - one part was vanilla sugar cookies, one part had a good amount of coffee and cocoa powder kneaded into the dough, along with a fine distribution of chocolate chips, and the last part had ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Each had a different shape (I got to use all the cookie cutters :D), and each had a different sprinkle theme **** (Sprinkles, yay!).

There's something about these haphazard hearts that I really love.

Twinkle twinkle, little star.

Now these are hearts you certainly want to break ;)

* I don't know. Never used 'em. Have you? Leave a comment!

** It's Rs. 30 apiece for only the aluminium cutters. The steel ones cost Rs. 65. I had to leave behind Christmas tree cookie cutters, and sexy lips cookie cutters, because Why-are-they-so-much-more-expensive?

*** You see, I want to try eggless baking, but most of the time, I don't make experimental quantities. I wouldn't like to spend so much time and energy and turn out duds, now would I? Therefore, at the slightest hint of impending disaster, I quickly throw in a couple of eggs, cross my fingers, pray to the baking gods and hope that it's not too late.

**** Stars were the vanilla ones, and they had the cool coloured sprinkles. Hearts were the cinnamons and they had red. Circles were the coffee chocolate chips and they had some poop-like chocolate threads (wait, is that what they're called?). Et voila!