Heat oil, add 1tsp cumin, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, black pepper, cloves, star anise, dried mace
Add chopped chillies (3), chopped garlic (3 cloves), ginger paste (1/2 tsp)
Add 1 small chopped onion, salt, saute until golden
Add 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp red chilli pd, 1/4tsp garam masala, 2 tbsp coriander pd
Add 2 tomato pureed, saute until oil separates
Add 2 medium potatoes peeled and chopped, 5 min
Add whole cauliflower, separated into medium sized florets
Mix well, add water, chopped fresh coriander, few drops of lime juice, bring to boil
Cook on low flame until potatoes are cooked [or pressure cook].

Should be enough for 10 servings :D

物是人非事事休
Her possessions are here, but her essence is gone: everything has ceased.

- Li Qingzhao

There is no such thing as an uninteresting life.

--Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

The book affected me so deeply, I want to say so much about it. But I'll limit myself to repeating that line.

There is really no such thing as an uninteresting life. Just because somebody doesn't have brain tumor does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody did not win an Oscar or a Booker does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody did not lose their family tragically does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody chooses not have kids does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody does not travel for fun does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody is not training for a marathon does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody does not watch foriegn movies does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody does not do voluntary work does not make their life uninteresting. Just because somebody does not take up a new activity every week to while away their personal time does not make their life uninteresting. So who are YOU to tell anybody to get a life?

The internets and the search engines have failed me. Can somebody remember who is the male model playing Shibani's LI in the 90's song "Ho Gayi Hai Mohabbat"? You know this one?

The one message that I heard again and again at Grace Hopper was: Get a PHD, if only for the instant credibility it gives you. I thought this was good advice. Most people I work with have PHDs and I admit to subconsciously treating like they know what they're talking about [until they prove otherwise but that's rare - not because they have a PHD per se - but perhaps because they wouldn't have been hired if they weren't smart]. On the other hand the MS (and BS) folks need to earn their credibility. And what about the numerous times I've felt so small, not knowing what to talk about an obscure topic?

But after I came back, I got thinking. Do we ever feel comfortable with our achievements? Or do we ever stop looking up, at one level higher, to compare, to downplay oneself? Like a co-worker (with a PHD) told me once - "I applied to universities and was rejected everywhere, I had to join the industry". And what about those that do get into academia? Do they go - "I got into Tufts all right but wish I was smart enough to have MIT or Berkeley after me, like that other guy I know"? And does the MIT prof think - "I showed such promise in school - and I'm still stuck here doing mediocre research. I thought I was a genius but would I ever get a Turing ..."?

But the biggest take away for me from GHC was: it's OK to feel small sometimes. OK to have the butterflies when you start something new. And hearing women who've been in this field for as long as they've been say this was huge! I mean, one thing about this industry is that it's hard to find many people (forget just women) who've been here long enough to have a "career" and be a role model young women could aspire to. To see these 40+ aged women CTOs and VPs sharing their journeys, the paths they took, the hurdles they faced was truly inspirational.

Lookee what I found digging through photo archives:

( Read more... )

One benefit of living in an area with seasons is that you get to see them change - literally! I love the change of seasons. Watching the first snowflakes fall down, coating trees and rooftops white. Small green buds sprout on barren trees heralding spring. Deluge of activities at the beginning of summer - pool openings, bbq invitations. And then fall - the slight nip in the air and the sound of dry leaves crunching under your feet on the sidewalk.

One thing that I don't like about changing seasons is the clothing changes they necessitate (and the associated rude awakenings). I've been eating like a pig ever since I came back from India. And because it's summer, I've been flouncing about wearing skirts and cotton capris. It's getting chillier by the day, so I dug out all my jeans only to find that none of my size 4s fit :( :( Now, I have two choices - (a) accept and move one size up or (b) hit the gym and get back in shape. Sigh, why must one choice be so much more easier than the other ...

I need some advice regarding online photo storage options. Disclaimer: I'm just a casual photographer - my albums are either touristy or capture some social events. There are no artistic themes nor any changes done to what the camera thought fit to record. I'm not looking for some fancy editing options etc. Just a way to put the photos up somewhere.

So far I had been using my own album generator (JAlbum) and putting them on my personal webpage. This solution had the great advantage that it is kind of semi-public because anybody who knows my webpage URL can view the photos (if and when they want - so no need to send any invites sharing the album). It is also private in the sense that this URL is published only on my facebook and orkut profile. So, only people who are listed as friends on those two can view the photos. And I don't have any people I don't know in real life as listed as friends (except two exceptions). Also, this webpage is not linked anywhere and does not show up anywhere as a search engine result. So the only way somebody would actually view the photos is if they pro-actively went to the website every now and then to check for updates. And since few people have the time or energy or interest to do this, it felt like I had a weird kind of privacy.

But the disadvantage of using JAlbum was that I could not make ongoing albums. There have been times when I captured people in social situations and had to end up making albums with 1 or 2 photos in them just so I could share them. So not worth the effort (plus I'm getting a little fed up of all that html editing). Also mildly unintuitive to non-tech users (for commenting etc), if only because it's different. Enter Picassa, where it's so much more easier to upload photos to existing albums and share. But Picassa has it's own set of problems. For one, anybody who knows my gmail id can access the public albums (And I'm not completely confident that my gmail id is that private). Of course, I could make the albums "unlisted" but then I would have to spam people with the authkey for them to view these albums, which I find a bit too obtrusive. Currently, I'm undecided and still unconvinced about anything out there.

So what do you use to share photos? What's your rationale for choosing it?

If, after reading my previous post you thought sexism in the industry was limited to the American scene (because after all we are a minority here), read this guy's funny take on females in the Indian IT industry, where there is equality at least in numbers:

An Open Letter From a Male Project Manager to Women In IT

It's weird that he reiterates lot of rants I've heard from friends before - meaning that women know what is going on - and yet they do nothing about it! Like this gem --

".. you are probably married and have kids and cannot make 1-month trips abroad or stay back in office till 1 am in the night, and therefore even if you are perfectly capable of being smart and productive in the 8 hours you work in a day, I don’t need to promote you. I thank you for letting me encourage a culture of “Work more, not work smart”. It’s simpler you know. Promote anybody who sends me emails at 1 am in the night."

LOL!! Or this one --

".. Your chances of becoming a project leader entirely hinge on how the men in your group will receive your promotion. If there are male peers in your group, you stand no chance, unless there are an equal number of opportunities. Promoting a girl when an (albeit less qualified) male peer is available could cause the guy to threaten to resign and therefore why risk that, eh? .. I thank you for letting me consider your promotion only when the men in your group are substantially younger to you.

So much for cramming the computer science and IT sections of engineering colleges with women :P