Dropping your smartphone too many times is hazardous to health

So my phone conked off today. And I realised that the phrase-" I can't live without my phone" applies to me too! I depend on my phone, a lot. For people so used to smartphones and internet access on their fingertips, living without a phone for a day or two is next to impossible. I am trying and trying but it's increasingly difficult.

Day 1

5.15 am. The reason I can wake up at 6 am is my multiple alarms. One at 5.15, one at 5.40 and another at 6. I will have to set multiple alarms on the feature phone I am using. I guess this is not a major problem

6.30 am. I track my exercising routine on my Endomondo app. No phone, no app.

I don't wear a watch and use my phone to see the time.


7. am I check my whatsapp. Send a quick hi to A. That can't be done today.
9. am I want to make a note of something on my phone memo but I cant.
9.30 am. A quick google search to verify news about Nelson Mandela's death is also not possible. I have to wait till I switch on my laptop, but then I will be caught up with work.

10. am One of my friends is very ill, I want to be updated about his condition. And all my numbers are saved on my phone. So now I can't contact anyone. I am worrying about him.

11 am. I  give a status about it, asking for help. I also do a google search. Many threads have suggestions but none of them work.

12. 15 pm I give up on my phone. It's sort of liberating.

1pm. Mom wants to whatsapp me but can't. No phone checking, no notifications.

2 pm.Someone wanted to talk to me and had to call my mom. I run a business and can't afford to be un-contactable.

3 pm. I am wondering how to contact people I urgently need to . I try reviving my phone again. It doesn't work.

5.20 pm. I find a spare set and put my sim in.

9. pm I want to do a quick search for a recipe but well I cant! This is really difficult!

11.pm, No phone, no music. 

Day 2

10 am. Gave my phone for repairs.
7pm Repair guy says he wasn't able to do anything. (Is it time for a new phone?)

Day 3

Zilch. 

Day 4.

Gave my phone for repairs at a different place. Using a Nokia feature phone. My first phone.  It's been little less than 2 years but I am so used a smartphone, that I am feeling lost without it. I so want a smartphone(mine or a new one) within this week. I am not some vagrant or sanyasi!

*fingers crossed*

Yummy cuteness in a mug

Today I baked a cake.

 In under 5 minutes. 

In a mug. 

In my microwave. 

I used one of those Internet recipes. 

To my surprise it turned out to be delicious. I had expected it to be less than mediocre. I know that many people have always known the joys  of microwave cooking but for me this was a novel discovery. I have always been apprehensive of cooking things in the micro, always dismissing it as   something people who can't cook or are too lazy do. I mean, it's a quick fix. The cake was easy and hassle free. 

I would have clicked a pic if I wasn't busy gobbling it up

And I was wrong. Sometimes, even people who enjoy cooking don't want to spend hours in the kitchen(Not that I am implying that I spent all my time in the kitchen. I don't) So it's not laziness. Okay, maybe sometimes it is laziness. And tremendous hunger. And less time. Whatever the reason be, the food turns out  to be great. For me it won't replace conventional cooking methods but once in a while it could be fun.

I tried it today because I came across an article listing things that can be made in a mug. I love lists. Mugs are pretty good too. And the pictures looked great. I wanted to try it. It would take only 5 minutes of my time. And the instructions were easy. So I made a cake. And it turned out great. Then I got excited. This was a great quick fix. When you're craving cake and don't want a store bought one and certainly don't want to spend an hour, measuring, beating, greasing, baking, de-moulding; this is the thing to do. Find a recipe you like. (There are plenty online). I added my own variations to the one I found by the way. And it was egg less. Just imagine: A dessert for one in a mug. Ready in 5 minutes. I saw the time. The actual cooking took only 3 minutes. Prep time was two.

After I made and ate the cake I found a french toast recipe. Ya, french toast in a mug. How cute is that? I got back to work but at around four when my sister came home I made french toast. In the micro. In a cute little mug. With very less fat. And it was yum. 


I tried an omelet too. My own recipe. Nice and fluffy.

So I am pretty excited now. I am going to try countless  microwave recipes. I plan to make a nutella cake soon. And this time I will remember to take pictures. So that I can show off on facebook.


P.S : I have never blogged about food but this is my second post in a row about food. What has gotten into me? 

Burnt expectatons

It happens to all of us. We try to do something new in the kitchen with loads of grand expectations. And then we fail. Something goes wrong, so wrong that we start doubting our abilities.

In  some cases you can still re-use the what you think "inedible mess". It's like resurrection. And it takes a lot of creativity. And guts. If you don't try something with it, it will anyway go into a dustbin so you might as well as try to make it edible.

So what do you do when you decide to make chocolate at home and end up burning it? You DON'T throw it. That's sacrilege. And cruel.

Chocolate does get burnt you know? You are always supposed to and I repeat always supposed to melt chocolate slabs on a double boiler. Do not ever take a short cut and put in in the microwave or even worse the stove! If you think of doing that then you should just buy yourself chocolate and not try to make it. Remember making chocolate requires patience. It's not something you do in a hurry.

You don't want this to happen to your chocolate

So back to what I was talking about-how to redeem burnt chocolate. Here are the few different ways

1. Mash it with a spoon and spread it on a biscuit. Then put another biscuit on top to make a biscuit sandwich. 

2. Mash the chocolate and mix it with a plain sponge cake crumbs. You now have a mixture of sponge and chocolate. Make sure you mix it well. Spread this mixture in a glass bowl and a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. I promise you, it will taste yum. 

3. Let it harden and then crush it into very small pieces of nougat like consistency. You can use this chocolate "nougat" to sprinkle on top of ice cream or mousse or any frozen dessert. In fact, why just frozen desserts? Try your own combinations. 

4. Whatever you do, do not re-heat the burnt chocolate. This will spoil it further and you won't be able to do anything about it. 


Were these tips useful? I guess you will only find out if you ever burn chocolate. I hope that you never do.

Anyway, I was experimenting with chocolate today and here's what I made

Quite pretty, I think

What do you think? :P

Attention everyone!

The deed is done. I have gone and nominated myself for IndiBlogger awards. More precisely The IB Indian Blogger awards.

Not that I am going to win or anything. Just saying. 

Dear whoever is reading this

I have been thinking of writing letters. Not your everyday kind. These will be special letters. To be written and sealed and opened after a long long time.

I wrote one in 2011. To myself. To the me of 2015.

I want to write some more. To the past me. To the me of 2003. My teenage self. To the me of 2006. My not so sweet sixteen. To tell them that I am fine. I am okay. 

You know, I am glad I wasn't always confident. I am glad I did experience low self esteem. For I know now how it feels to gain confidence. How it feels to give yourself worth. I have known it and I don't want to forget. But this is something you don't set reminders for. This is personal. This is you. So the next best thing is writing to yourself.

I want to write to my daughters too. To tell them they are beautiful. To teach them what I know, now. As a twenty something. 

I want to write to A. And make him read it 10 years later. 10 years is a long time. It's long enough to forget. And some things will be remembered and relived.

And I want to write another letter. To my family and friends. To be opened after I die. I don't know want I want to write in that. But I do know that I will write that letter, someday.

There are so many letters I could write and seal. Some for a purpose. Some for the sake of writing. Some to remind everyone years and years later that long ago people used to write letters. 


I will have letters for the future. I just wish someone would write me letters to read now. 


With loads of love
as Always
me

To weigh or not. That is the question

After years of body issues I looked myself at the mirror today and exclaimed "I am thin!". Not that I was fat before but I always fell under the 'slim" category  A category made by popular media to categorise  people who were not fat and  were neither thin as a stick. I always had a thin waist but because of my  heavy upper body I could never call myself 'thin'. Even if I looked at myself in the mirror and thought for a moment that maybe, just maybe I am thin I would be reminded by the media that I have curves which prevented me from being called 'thin'. 

I realise that I am thinner than most people I thought were thinner than me. I have been delusional about my weight for so many years. 

Because of street harassers and because of  the media I was subjugated to I was ashamed of my body. Ashamed of how I looked. Today I can look into the mirror and be happy about my figure.  It's true that I have somehow lost a few inches in the last year but that surely is not my biggest achievement. 

No matter how much weight I lose my body type won't change. There was a time when I wanted it to. Now I don't. I have accepted myself the way I am. I don't care if the popular social culture hasn't. Yes, I want to exercise and yes I want to avoid junk food and have a healthier lifestyle. But that has nothing to do with me losing weight. I have discovered the joys of walking and I don't want any heart problems in the future. 

Another "it's been ages since I have written" post.

I haven't blogged for a while because there has been nothing new to blog about. I have shifted back to Calcutta but that news is not what I consider blog worthy.

There has been quite a lot of stuff I have been dealing with but the problem is that I can't bitch about it here. For starters the people I want to bitch about read my blog and I certainly don't want my life to be hell. 

So much as I want to I really cant bitch about THAT stuff here. 

Shucks.

And well a word of advice. Don't add relatives on facebook. You end up offending some of them and censoring the stuff you write. And they tend to comment on your posts when all you want to do is avoid them. 

There should be a family book or atleast a different account for family where you can be all sweet and non-scandalous. I can dream, can't i?

I check fb just to share feminist media. Mainstream media has no place for feminism and show no signs of changing. Social networking sites .do help to an extent but they too have weird policies which most of the time are anti-feminist. 

Anyway. Once again, I am rambling. 

Just a small thought before I shut up and do other stuff. I want to be honest. It's sad that these days most people are shocked by honestly and less by deceit. I guess I like shocking people. 

Stood up

She was dressed up. Her favourite red dress. And her mother’s pearls. She had even curled her hair.

Waiting wasn't tough. She was used to it.

She looked at her watch for the 10^th time. Hours passed by. At midnight she got up and went inside her room. And went to sleep in the dress

My own commandments

Most of the commandments are for me. You may relate with some of them. I am not trying to be preachy, though I may sound like it. Fair warning. 

#1  Thou shall not feel stupid if thou is clumsy


Thou art not the only one. Some people are clumsy. Some people trip over stuff. Some people bump themselves several times a day. It's okay to be a klutz. You will have days when things will not fall. When you will not accidentally cut yourself while you absently played with scissors. Feel blessed. 

Note to self: Not to be forgotten.

I read something today. It has inspired me to lead life on my own terms.  It was a list of 25 things you don't need to justify to others. Many times we feel the need to justify our life to others. But do you really need to? It was a wake up call. I need to be happy. And therefore I need to do stuff that makes me happy.

Unless I take a step towards my dream it won't get fulfilled on it's own. I can't sit around waiting for it to happen.

So there. Lesson learnt. I hope I don't forget it. Someone please keep reminding me. I am forgetful. 

On the terrace

 She could see the cars drive by. It was a long way down. She felt dizzy. But was determined. No one would come up at this hour. She would do it now. Her phone rang. Nina was  calling.

“Where are you? I have been waiting  here for ages.”

She  sighed and stepped down the ledge.

Too much happening

What is the bloody answer?

Too my questions in my head, right now. I feel as if I am interrogating myself. Can't all the questions stop for a while? Let me live, will you?  

Too much going on right now. And it doesn't make sense, 





I feel whateverish. And very very tired.