A day trip to New York

This is my first self guided trip in US with my colleague. I would have asked opinions of at least 10 of my friends on what to visit in New york and done some research in web before starting. We reached New York at 9AM from our place by train and had breakfast in New York Penn station. Understood, how difficult it is to get good veg food :) 

We planned to cover Statue of liberty, Empire state building, Madam Thussads museum, New york stock exchange  Wall street Bull, WTC towers(9/11 memorial) and last but not the least 'Times Square'. I have downloaded New york map and sub way route map applications in my smart phone, which are very useful :) Using my sony xperia at the best :p

We started to 'South ferry' station from 'New York penn station' by subway train route 1 and walked to Battery park to get tickets for ferry to Statue of liberty and Ellis island. Ellis island is not that great, but statue of liberty is good. 

View of Manhattan from 86th floor

We walked through WTC towers site to see 9/11 memorial from battery park and then visited New york stock exchange and the famous wall street bull. We took sub way train from Wallstreet station to New York Penn station (route 2) after completing lunch in a good North and South Indian restaurant 'Ruchi' near WTC towers (120 CEDAR street). Empire state building is just 2 blocks away from New york Penn station, we got the tickets for Sky ride and observatory. Sky ride has too much hype, but it is basically a simple motion ride. It simulates a helicopter tour of New york. Came out of sky ride by humming the tune of 'I love New york', which is very nice. Observatory is on 86th floor of Empire state building, where we can have a 360 degree view of whole city. 

Sky scrappers - no place for light to peep in

Empire state building

Busy streets of Times square

We were dead tired by this time, but still walked to 42nd street from 34th street to reach Times square by 6 PM. Times square is fantastic in the evening lights. We did street shopping too on the way. Took some more photos and took a sub way train to New york penn station from 42nd street even though it is a walkable distance. Our trip ended with Nj transit train back to our place from New york Penn station.
It was an excellent trip just because we were exploring the streets of Manhattan on our own, by following maps and roaming and shopping at a convenient pace, without taking any tour packages.
We missed Madam Thussads museum as we were tired by the evening, but overall, every thing went as per plan without any problem. Thanks to my colleagues for guiding and helping us with all sorts of suggestions :)

Until next time,

Barfi - Touching movie and as pure as dew drop

Movie: Barfi
Cast: Ranbir kappor, Ileana DCruz, Priyanka Chopra
Director : Anurag Basu

Watched hindi movie Barfi on weekend as we didn't have anything else to do :) Iam not a movie buff and after reading something on Barfi in web, i thought it is an art movie like 'Black' or 'Sawariyan' which might be boring to the core. I became a fan of Ranbir kapoor after watching 'Rocket singh' and so, thought Barfi might be watchable for Ranbir at least :)

Unlike many other commercial bollywood movies, this seemed to be very different. Hero being a deaf and mute guy, you should be feeling sorry for him if it is any other movie. But, i never felt that way in the whole movie except for one scene where police tries to fix him in some case as he cannot talk and prove his innocence. I never like acting of Ileana in telugu movies, but i felt she did justice to her role in this movie. Priyanka chopra is good too. There are many common/ simple scenes which were taken extraordinarily well. Director Anurag basu to be appreciated for that. Music is part of the film and mostly all songs are based on situation. Movie has good humorous touch throughout. 

There are no specific negative points about the movie, but i felt it is emotional and intense to some extent. Characters and story may stay in your heart for some days at least. Since it is an emotional movie and so we cannot watch movie again and again, i don't think it may become commercially successful. But it is a very good movie for one-time watch.

So, try to watch it, it's worth a watch :)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: Google images for non commercial reuse

A Simple formula for a tasty Veg recipe

This is not a food blog and I am not an excellent cook. That is the reason which made me write this blog post. :) Confused??!@#

Do you hate cooking? Do you feel cooking is a big work and want to come out of the kitchen as quickly as possible? Are you always scared about trying new recipes and fail most of the times? Do you always think that it will be nice to have a simple formula for all types of recipes so that there will not be any need to memorize procedures of cooking? Then, this blog post is just for you :)

I love algebra very much in my school days. I used to solve many problems and puzzles using algebra and equations. So, once i thought, can we have a formula in cooking too..
like
                 (a+b)^2=a^2+2ab+b^2
and we can change parameters (vegetables) and get the final output which is a tasty dish. Voila! how nice it would be if it is that easy!

So, this is my formula for a tasty simple veg curry:

Parameters:
1/4 kg vegetables - cut accordingly
1/2 medium onion - chopped
2 green chillies - sliced
turmeric - 1/4th spoon
salt - 1 spoon or as required
red chilly powder - 1/2 spoon or as required
oil - 1 or 2 spoons
Corriander powder - 1 spoon (optional)

Formula steps:
1. Add one spoon oil to the pan. Fry onions and green chillies until they turn light red
2. Add vegetables.
3. Add salt and turmeric. Fry vegetables with closed lid in less heat. This may take around 5 to 10 mins.
4. After vegetables become soft and half cooked, add chilli powder. Mix well and let it fry without lid for sometime
5. After it is fried very well, add 1/2 cup water, close the lid and keep it for few minutes with less heat until all water goes out and curry becomes thick.
6. Now, you can add coriander powder before removing from stove. Add coriander leaves at the end before serving.

Output:
A manageable or edible curry :) taste improves on experience.

Note:
1. Step 3 is very important and how much ever we can fry with proper salt and turmeric(without sticking to the pan, of course :)), curry will be that tasty.
2. Vegetables that suit for this recipe are - cauliflower, tomato, cabbage, capsicum, potato, Tindoora/Gherkins or Coccinia (dondakaya in telugu), lady fingers, bottle gaurd, ridge guard, beans, brinjal(egg plant), beetroot and carrot
3. Some vegetables need more time for cooking like potato, cabbage, beans, beetroot and carrot, which can be boiled for sometime before following the recipe.

So, how did you like this? let me know your opinion in comments :)

Until next time,

Image courtesy: google images for non commercial reuse

Online shopping - convenient and time saving

 

I was introduced to online shopping just 2 years ago and now I feel it very convenient to shop apparel, accessories, electronics, books etc, online. Basically, it is both time pass and time saving. You may ask, How? When I feel bored, I just browse across all collections and of course, will end up buying on :) this way, it is a time pass. When I don't have time to roam different malls, I prefer online shopping instead of waiting for another free weekend to go to malls. 

It all started with colleagues in the office looking at different nice collections of apparel online. The first sites that attracted us were fashionandyou.com and myntra.com. The first one seemed expensive, whereas myntra.com seemed economical and has good offers. There was an extra discount for the first time users. I placed an order but apprehensive about the quality of the item. The quality of the product was good and the kurta that I ordered fitted me well. For every new site that I try, I first place an order for an amount less than Rs. 500 or so, check the quality and then continue shopping. Another good one for ladies apparel is jabong.com from where ordered many tops and kurtas. For apparel, the major risk is quality and fitment. Usually, many sites give you measurement charts to compare and select the proper size. Also, it is important to understand the return policy. If size doesn't fit or quality doesn't match, we have the option to return it and get a refund in many sites. 

For accessories, we should be very careful. The size of the item is very important and sometimes we cannot predict the size by looking at the photo displayed in the website. Pendants, ear rings, home decors like candles etc., might look bigger because of zoomed high clarity picture posted in the site, but we will get disappointed after receiving the product. For jewelry, we cannot be sure of the quality of stones they mention. So, usually I avoid shopping this kind of things online. 

When it comes to electronics, I check 'deal of the day' in snapdeal.com. Once, I received a memory card reader for a very low price and it is working very well. In the US, I prefer amazon.com and recently I ordered a smart phone which I received in excellent condition. When it comes to books, which I love to shop online, my first and best option in India is flipkart.com. I like the look and feel of the website, their excellent deals, simple packaging and fast delivery. In the US, ebay.com has great deals on used books. For photo prints, photo mugs, photo calendars etc., we have many sites now, but zoom.in and picsquare.com are good ones.

So, these are the sites which gave an excellent online shopping experience for me. Please do share any other good websites like these in comments :)

Until next time,

This post is a part of the contest at BlogAdda.com in association with Snapdeal.com
Image courtesy: Google images labeled for commercial reuse

Found Missing - [Book Review]

Book Details:
Title : Found Missing
Author : Linda Slavin
Source: A free publisher copy for review from BookCrash
My Rating: 2/5

When i started reading this book, first thought that crossed my mind is that women face same kind of problems all around the world. This book is about domestic violence and abuse faced by a married woman with 2 kids. The lead character Lisa marries Vincent, who is very possessive in relationship and abuses and beats her often. Even though she doesn't want the relationship, she couldn't leave the marriage and go off in the middle as she doesn't want to abandon her children. Vincent threatens her that he will kill anyone who supports her, if she leaves him. Story is about how her attitude towards life changes after going to church and experiencing God's power. 

Sometimes i feel, the assumption that there is some one supreme who will protect us from problems will itself gives us strength. We may not believe in God, but just the thought that there is some power behind the Universe may give confidence. Here, Iam talking about people who lost hopes of improvement in their life, who lost their whole confidence, who need inner strength or emotional support. The character of Lisa seems to me like that. She lost hopes, happiness in her life, isolated from her parents/ relatives and there is no one to support or guide her correctly. At this stage of life, she believes in God and could transform her life happy with positive attitude.

This book is neither a thriller nor a page turner. I rated it 2, because there is no strange element or different story line that excites you. It is just a plain story with a message. Sometimes, i didn't feel the behavior of Vincent as realistic. Book seems to be boring in the middle, but this is a nice read. I wouldn't say you will enjoy, but you will close the book realizing the power of faith.

Until next time,

Image courtesy: www.bookcrash.com
I received this book free from the publisher through the BookCrash.com
book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily
positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own

My friendship story

Good friends are like natural pearls, very rare to find and valuable. Here goes my friendship story :)

I saw her in my hostel room as one of my roommates, who is reserved and always in her own world listening to music. Initially, I didn’t like her as it is not easy to talk to her, there was a starting problem. What to talk, even if I talk how she will react, is she good to try a friendship etc., many doubts cropped up. There was a language problem too, she doesn’t know my mother tongue at all and her mother tongue is completely alien to me. Only communication channel available is English.

We slowly started talking to each other, sharing our views, interests etc.. One interest that we had in common was reading books. We used to go to library together, read books, exchange, discuss books etc., Iam more extrovert and outspoken than her, I used to talk a lot. She seemed to be matured in her behavior, always balanced and never let out her emotions so easily. Slowly friendship blossomed, she taught me her language, I used to learn and practice talking to her. She always encouraged me to speak only in her language so that I can learn fast and used to correct my mistakes with more patience. We used to watch movies together, roam places and share personal secrets as well. Once she went to some place for her office trip and then realization hit us harder. I could understand how much I miss her. It was horrible. I messaged her and disturbed her on her complete trip and even cried too. Then, we both realized our bond is strong. We are special to each other.

After 7 years from the day I saw her, we are still continuing the same bond, sharing happy moments and worst days and I cannot say in words how important she is to me in my life.  We crossed distance and language barriers and our friendship too is matured in all these years. May God bless her with happiness always, which is the only wish I can ask for.

This is my story :) Do you have any such friendship story about your best friend? Please do share your opinion in comments. 

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. -- Henry David Thoreau

Until next time,

Image courtesy: zerotips.com, 

Washington DC tour

Princeton, NJ to Washington, DC - 182 miles, 3 hrs 40 mins

Journey to US capital started in the morning 7'o clock, thanks to our colleague for his safe driving :) Entered the GPS address to National mall, Washington DC and started through Route 1 of US highway. It was a fantastic drive with hot hot discussions and debates. Stopped for food for half an hour hour in Maryland and reached Washington DC by 12 o clock.
A tunnel before entering the city.. zoom..

Could reach Union station (Metro train and Bus station), after travelling through number of signals and testing all possible ways to enter parking area. It is very difficult to get parking in any place in the city, so we decided to park car in Union station and start the tour in a bus. Had nice Veg pizza.. Veg to be highlighted, as it is very difficult to get a pure veg pizza without egg. 

Took a tour package by bus(Hop on - Hop off buses). It was a pleasant trip as we were able to get an open air seat on the top of the bus to visit places and take photos. But, don't ask about heat, sun was on the top of the head, horrible! :) I liked this concept of hop-on, hop off bus as we can hop off wherever we like, visit the place and get the next bus to go to next stop. Bus frequency was very good and this way we have more freedom to visit our favorite place for more time and spend less time in other places. Audio commentary inside the bus about the places to visit was also good. Here are some snaps..

 

 

Loved this quote!

I thought it was my duty to risk my life to learn aviating, and to encourage men and women of the Race... Did you know you have never lived until you have flown?

- BESSIE COLEMAN

Last, but not least - The White house

Hope you enjoyed the virtual tour :)

Until next time,

What does freedom mean to you?

Freedom is the condition of being free; the power to act, speak or think without externally imposed restraints as per word web. Then, we are all free, have the power to act, speak and think without constraints in our country. 

Wait.. did I say all? It may not be for all right? We see cases of women forcibly getting married at a young age, taking away their right to education and burdening them with family and health problems. We also see cases of gang rapes, eve teasing which is increasing in numbers year by year. We also see child laborers who don’t have the freedom to choose to study. So, many people don't have the freedom to realize their dreams due to many reasons.

Leaving behind the nation’s problems, what freedom actually mean to you? For me, it’s the power to act without any restrictions imposed like the freedom to pursue my hobbies, freedom to roam wherever I want to, freedom to take decisions of my life on my own.

But, with freedom, comes responsibility. Our responsibility for our nation can be voting in general elections and contributing something to improve living conditions of poor people around us. We can start with helping our servants/ maids to let their children study and help them financially to the extent we can. My maid told me one day that we are so lucky to get everything that we need whereas, it is very difficult for them to make their ends meet with their meager income. I told her - if she makes her children study well, they will also earn good jobs and increase their standard of living. She is making her children study well with that ray of hope. Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom. What do you say?

Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.   – Patricia Sampson

A very happy Independence day to one and all  :) 

Until next time,

Image courtesy: Free images from pixabay.com 

Linking this to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne. 

Inspector Singh investigates A curious Indian Cadaver - [Book Review]

Book Details:

Title : Inspector Singh investigates: A curious Indian Cadaver 

Author: Shamini Flint

Publishers: Hachette India, Piaktus
Source: Book lovers book review program

Price: Rs.350

Reading the title you may think that it might be an interesting detective story in India. But, this book is not as curious as the title. For the first few pages, we feel boring and the last half of the book will be fast paced contrary to the first half.  If we have already read famous detective stories like Sherlock holme’s or Agatha Christie’s etc., we may not like this plain detective story much. But if we don’t go with any comparison, second half of the book is somewhat gripping and narration is interesting.  

Plot:

An young scientist ‘Ashu Kaur’ disappears from house suddenly before few days of her marriage. Inspector Singh who is visiting India to attend her marriage agrees to solve the mystery. A dead body is found which is confirmed as Ashu’s by her brother and Mr. Singh investigates the murder case. Mr. Singh finds that the factory in which Ashu is working is responsible for a serious disease in slums and since Ashu knew about that dangerous chemical, she informed her boss on the same day she disappeared. He also finds that Ashu has a lover who is a colleague in her factory ‘Sameer’ who is a muslim, but still Ashu is ready to marry an MBA boy selected by the family as their family cannot accept her to marry a Muslim. Now, what might be the reason for Ashu’s disappearance? Did she she elope with Sameer? OR someone murdered her to suppress the truth that she knows about the factory? OR she suicides to avoid marriage with the boy selected by family?

Writing style:

Shamini’s writing style is simple, but sometimes it gets boring. As she was a lawyer by profession, the investigation discussions seem to be very well written with her experience. Pace of the story becomes very fast at the end with story unfolding layer by layer.

My Rating:

A journey pass time read. I can give 2/5.

Until next time,

Love Ya arranged marriage?

Really, it's the best topic for debate na... No one can say which is better. Even if a person has tried and experienced both these ways of marriage, he/ she cannot give a general opinion on this. Because, it varies for each and every individual. A marriage can work or fail depending on many things, it's not a simple formula, but a complex algorithm to understand :)



A successful marriage needs 3 things - Love, trust and understanding. Forgiving, caring and adjusting are required too. Ignoring misunderstandings, egos and selfishness may help.

Basic difference i see between Love and arranged marriage is - In love marriage, you are solely responsible for choosing your partner and in arranged, your parents may help in this. Whatever is the case, you are part of the process and you are responsible for your decision, right? When someone says, if something goes wrong in arranged marriage you can blame parents, i just can't accept. You are not blind folded while choosing your partner even if it is arranged. It is your responsibility to know, understand her/him and try  to make it a long lasting relationship.

Love Marriage:
Pros: 

• More chance to get to know each other before marriage
• freedom of choice

Cons:

• No guarantee of family support, which might arise problems in future
• Expectations set before marriage which are difficult to meet after marriage due to work/ other stress

Arranged marriage:

Pros:

• Family support
• Since partner is unknown, not much expectations set before marriage

Cons:

• A possibility of incompatible partner
• family/ parents interference, less freedom

At last, it doesn't matter if it is love or arranged, only thing that matters is the person whom you are marrying :) right?
Sharing a funny saying that i found in web, before i end this post :) 

In a love marriage you marry your boyfriend/girlfriend and in an arranged marriage you marry somebody else's boyfriend/girlfriend.  

Please do share your opinion on love and arranged marriage in comments section. 


Until next time,

Image courtesy: 99 likes.com and jmdias.blogspot.com
This post is written for the contest www.facebook.com/LoveYaArrange.

Princeton University photos

I hope you heard about Princeton University.. It is 4th oldest college in USA and ranks 7th position in the world. It has wonderful 500 acre campus.. 
Here are some pics from my camera :)

Albert Einstien - Ex student of university

Liked this very much!

Until next time,

Mahashweta - [Book review]

Book Details
Title : Mahashwetha
Author : Sudha Murthy
Publishers: Penguin books
Price: Rs.175

This is my third book of Sudha Murthy. Other reviews can be found here - Dollar Bahu and Wise and otherwise

Purchase Link: Amazon India

Story
 Anupama is a middle class beautiful looking girl with excellence in both academics and extra curricular activities like acting in plays. A young, handsome and rich doctor Anand loves her on first sight and persuades his mother 'Radhakka' to arrange for marriage, even though her mother gives preference to a rich family bride with status. Anand and Anupama live happily for sometime before he goes to England to pursue higher studies and Anupama is supposed to join him after a few months as Radhakka convinces him that their daughter in law should be in their home for auspicious puja on Deewali. One unfortunate day, Anupama finds a white patch on her foot and finds that she has leukoderma. Her life completely changes after this. Even though that skin disease is not contagious or dangerous, it slowly spreads to other areas even while taking medication. Society around her doesn't understand this and everyone avoids her. Her in laws, her step mother, people in her village humiliate her and at last her husband also stops sending letters to her and cut the relationship. Anupama couldn't bear this as there is no fault of hers, but still she lost her family and everything. She comes out of depression and suicidal tendency and decides to own her life. She leaves to Mumbai, earns a job with the help of her friend Sunitha. The remaining story is about how she gets her dream job of lecturer in a college and starts directing Sanskrit plays and getting awards for them. Will Anand realize his mistake? Did he ever love Anupama or only her beauty? Will Anupama re-marry anyone? You need to read the book to know answers to all these questions.
Leukoderma starts with a white patch and spreads to other areas making Anupama a white woman, a real Mahaswetha. That's how title is very apt and story makes you think about the society we live in and people's attitudes.

What i liked
Story shows how Anupama becomes matured with circumstances and realizes her dreams without losing patience or confidence. I liked the way she thinks and analyzes the outcomes to avoid suicidal tendency even though society ostracizes her.

One excerpt from book

"Of the thousands of flowers that blossom on a tree only a few will bear fruit. And out of those few fruits, insects and squirrels will eat some. The tree does not keep anything for itself. Does that mean that the life of the tree is wasted?"

What i didn't like
There is nothing as such which i didn't like. Just that the story is plain, without any twists. It is much realistic and practical. So, it is not a book which you cannot leave until you finish. 

My Rating
3/5

Until next time,

Image courtesy: Indiaclub.com

Dollar Bahu by Sudha Murthy - [Book review]

This post may contain affiliate links, clicking on those links may earn some commission to us without any additional cost to you.

Book Details:

Name: Dollar Bahu
Author: Sudha Murthy
Price: Rs. 150
Publishers: Penguin India
My rating: 4/5

This is my second book of Sudha Murthy, first one being 'Wise and otherwise', which is a collection of realistic short stories. Read the review here.

Purchase Link:

Amazon India

Amazon 

Writing style of Sudha Murthy's:

Sudha Murthy's writing style is simple and very easy to follow. Her stories may not have big twists or interesting turning points, but still they keep you glued to the book till the end. While we read, we will be transferred to the place mentioned in the book and feel like we are present in that scene as a witness and able to understand the feelings of characters in the story.

Storyline:

Story is about an ideal working woman 'Vinuta' who marries a clerk Girish and starts living in a middle class family in Bangalore. She works as a school teacher and is very satisfied with her life. She becomes an ideal daughter in law  and takes up family responsibilities easily. 

But her mother in law Gouramma and siter in law Surabhi are very greedy and always give importance to the elder son of the family Chandru and his wife Jamuna who is from a rich family. They always sing praises of Jamuna and Chandru who stay in US with green card and send money to the family whenever required. They never understand the importance of Vinuta and always humuliate her by comparing with Jamuna. 

Gauramma dreams of visiting US and stays for an year with Jamuna to take care of her grand child. Her perspective on life and money changes after observing many people's lives in US. She realizes the importance of love over dollars, hates herself for loving the dollar bahu Jamuna and ignoring her good daughter in law Vinuta.

Some excerpts from book:

About US: Though these lines are applicable only many years ago. Now, standards of living improved here too.

this is a funny country. Like a colorful web spun by a spider, an insect walks in and gets trapped. At first we are drawn by the best technology and handsome renumeration. But once we stay here for sometime, it is difficult to go back. We get used to the easy living conditions and the professional work atmosphere. The conditions in our country are far below what we expect. Sometimes I feel there are many good reasons to leave India, and it is much more difficult to go back and settle there after so many years.

When Gouramma returns from US:

She realized that the grass was always greener on the other side. America was no longer a fantasy land for her. There was pain, misery and happiness there, as in any other country. It was no longer the land of mighty dollar, which made magic.

 So, do read the book if possible and share your opinion.


Until next time,

Image courtesy: libraryindia.in