Slumdog Millionaire

The music mesmerizes you and the clever story by an indian author  takes you through the underbelly of resurgent India, a country where hundreds of millions still live on less than $2/day: through the eyes of a young muslim boy from the city which has the largest slum in Asia, Mumbai.

It hits me right where it hurts and it entertains me and in the end I am left thinking about the power of love, the dreams of millions, the life and energy in the squalor of the city that is New York+L.A.+London combined and how much further my country of origin has to go before it can truly call itself a superpower.

It also tells me one other thing: India is in its people.

Shrimp recipe

This is my Mom's recipe for shrimp curry. Sharing it with the world.

For roughly 2 pounds of shrimp,
Take 2 big red onions, 4 standard size tomato, 5-6 green chillies and one big potato.
Cut the potato into small eyeball sized square cubes.
Cut the onions finely and chop the green chillies into small pieces. Cut the tomato into small pieces.

Marinate the shrimp using 1 tablespoon ginger paster and 1 tablespoon garlic paste.
Keep for 1 hour.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to wok/frying pan.
Stir fry shrimps for a few minutes.
Remove from pan.

Add 2 tablespoon oil and add salt(as needed) and fry potatoes in slow fire and soften them up.
Remove from pan.

Add some more oil to cover surface of pan and fry chopped onions in them.
After a few minutes, add small pieces of tomato.
Add salt (as needed) and keep frying till the tomato melts slightly.
Add prawns, potatoes, a teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder.
After stirring for 3-4 minutes add green chillies and homemade garam masala powder. This is the secret weapon...the curry will taste good without it too...but this gives it a killer taste.

Taste the curry and when everything is satisfactory, switch off fire.

Castles and Clouds

I've lived in clouds and castles in the air,
I've lived on earth sometimes,
Every fairytale has it's unhappy ending,
Every real story has it's happy ending.

Tears and hurt and make believe love,
Old flames and new fires,
I've seen some and still some more.

Caught in the maelstrom of life,
Its infinite flows,
So many things got in my way,
So many clouds to float on,
And dreams and ice-creams,
I've lived life that way.

66

Something crawls inside of me
This unrest, these worries.
Jobless Neurons, caress and cloud my brain.
Pain in any other form would be endured.
Life is but a moment:
Now.
Never did I live in a moment:
This moment.
Crying out loud to stay alive,
And living till I live no more.
I will.