first sem.

I've developed a few new habits. I've discarded my old addiction to tea and switched to Kuppa Guru filter coffee. I have to have at least one small cup a day to keep me going.

Sometimes I feel homesick, sometimes I feel like packing everything and going home to people I love. But most of the time, I love it. I love the feel of a new city, which after 4 months seems not so new anymore.

I've settled in. I found good friends, I've had crushes, I've studied, given internals and EXTERNALS and still survived. And there's more to go. So here's to the first semester of college. Cheers.

city with a hole.

It has been SO long. Three months, I guess, since my last post.

Because honestly, I just didn't have the time! :S

I guess this is the part where I update the blog on my current life situation, whats going on with me, with my friends, and college, and my love life(non-existent?) and academics and blah blah. But I'd rather not. I'd rather tell you about this amazing place I went just last week (during Diwali) to eat breakfast. Yeah, I know that sounds weird.. You went out to eat BREAKFAST? Whats that about?.. But seriously, although I was doubtful at first, I came back lusting for more. :3

Its called The Hole In The Wall.

Every city needs one. And Bangalore is one of the lucky few to have one.

Located in a quaint little corner in Koramangala, straight ahead and left from Maharaja place, this cute little cafe literally is just a hole in the wall. Its less of a cafe and more of somebody's private kitchen turned into a public eating joint. Drawings, sketches, pictures on the wall.. handicrafts, paintings, remarks scribbled on napkins..you name it, they got it. Put one of your own on the wall too, if you want!

The entire cafe is about the size of a single bedroom, with three tables inside, and one on the outside. The menus are animated and inviting.

The best part? The prices. Experience the pocket-friendly yummy delicious goodness of a wholesome and traditional English breakfast.

On a rainy day, four of us girls decided to make the most of the weekend and treat ourselves to a breakfast-cum-lunch mega feast.. and hell, it was worth it.

Waffles with honey.. Hot cocoa.. toasted bread with butter and jam.. kachhe aam ka juice.. and finally, the most magnificent omelette I have ever had (with melted cheddar cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes and the softest yellowest eggs in the world (sigh).

Must try: Waffles with honey. Buttermilk pancakes. Do-it-yourself omelettes!

Trust me.

You won't regret it.

oh, calcutta.

The best thing about Cal is that its probably the cheapest city in India.

I will MISS waiting in line to catch a 7 rupee auto. I will miss braving lethal office time crowds to catch a ride on the Metro. I'll miss clinging to the sides of an auto jam-packed with 6 people EXCLUDING the driver, hanging on for dear life; not to mention, fighting inertia in a moving bus to keep from tumbling into some poor old lady.

Not Bombay, Not Delhi, nor even Bangalore can match how pocket friendly my city is.

A bus will take you miles for under ten bucks. Autos are always swarming like bees on every route known. And my favorite, the Metro Rail, oh. I guarantee it won't cost you more than TEN rupees to go from the extreme North of Calcutta to the extreme South. A cycle rickshaw in Saltlake will probably cheat you but its still under 20 rupees, most of the time. And for those who prefer a little luxury, the minimum fare for a taxi will amount to 22 rupees, and shoot up drastically hence forth.

I will miss the bad, diluted kind of tea at 2 rs. and the decent kind at 4. I'll miss bargaining like crazy at Lindsay street as if I didn't have even 1p to spare. I'll miss pitying the gora chitta "phoreners" getting looted by our faithful team of ever-cheating hawkers. I'll miss the DELICIOUS street food that could fill you up so well and at so little that KFC and Mc'Donalds would hang their heads in shame.

The inexpensive nature of all things makes me feel so at home here it'll kill me to leave, the inborn kanjoos that I am.

I'll miss how even in the thickest and rowdiest of crowds you'll find a touch of Bengali class. I'll never forget Nandan, Shishir mancha, Rabindra Sadan and all the high class Bengali intellectuals (or Aantels, as we like to call them) swarming there, drinking tea, wearing kurtas, carrying jholas and chatting about politics, art and Satyajit Ray. I'll miss dirty, dingy Olypub, the night life at Park Street, Oxford bookstore, chocolate brownies at Flurys.

I will miss the Bengali mishtis, even though I'm not a huge fan. The rosogollas which every celebrity simply has to mention when they're in Calcutta even though they might not have even tasted one in their life.

I'll miss crossing the Laketown footbridge just to avoid the evening traffic snarl at Ultadanga.

I might even kind of miss Mamata Banerjee and her weekly Bandhs, which used to be useful during school days as a window to mid-week holidays.

And most of all, most of all I will miss Calcutta in October, the sight, smell and taste of Durga Pujo. The women in "lal paar shada saree", all-night adda at Maddox Square, the shopping, the dressing up, the dhunuchi naach, pandals and paras competing for first prize, "theme" pujas, and OH! The Dhaak! Oh, the Dhaak, how will I ever survive a Pujo without listening to a Dhaaki?

Ah, Durga Pujo. There's nothing like it. If you're a Bengali and you're not in Calcutta at the time, then get your ass back here this instant!

Because you just can't compare, and you certainly can NOT replicate the feel of the festival anywhere out of Bengal. They might try, it might be.. "fun" sometimes, but it can never come close to being the same.

Why is it that you can hate a place and take it for granted for a long, long time but when its finally time to leave, you feel like ripping your heart out? And you start thinking, Is it really that important for me to leave? Whats the point of so much studying anyway? Why not skip a year and take admission right here? And it has only been a year or two since I've truly begun to discover the flavor of this city, from knowing nothing about it other than the little during the daily ride to school in a car.

Well, leave I must. But that doesn't mean I won't be back for every single Puja. :P And when 4 years fly by in a flash, I'll be back home. Permanently. And this is where I'll stay put forever, true to my lazy Bengali blood.

people.

"people are just nosy loudmouth interferers

whose own lives are boring as hell

so they judge others to pass the time"

Hell yes, they are.

meltdown day.

There are days when EVERYTHING goes wrong.

It started after the morning show of Aisha. The movie went smoothly, but the real chaos began when we decided to explore uncharted territory i.e. when Ifra suggested we leave City Centre.

• We walk to Mani Square in the oppressive, sultry heat.
• Ifra slips thrice on the escalator.
• The ketchup packets at McD's refuse to open. Ifra's first coke glass is leaky.
• The bus to ultadanga DOES NOT stop for us, and we are forced to jump of it while it is still in motion.
• The auto to Shovabajar almost hits a car.
• In the metro, we buy tickets for Park Street, and then get on the wrong train. After one stop, we get off at Shyambajar. From Shyambajar we get on the right train, except we don't know which stop is which since they don't announce it. Somehow we manage to get off at Park Street.
• On resurfacing from the underground station, we go the wrong way and end up near Victoria Memorial. Then we turn around and walk back to Park Street.
• I almost trip and fall in front of the Park.
• I almost trip again in Oxford.
• We drink warm, dilute Cold Coffee with big chunks of ice. The ice melts later, and it gets chilled.

At this point I'm left with 10 rupees. I had left home with 500.]

Both now tired and nervous wrecks, we walk back to New market for a while, and then disperse.

I don't know about Ifra after that, but my luck continued, as after coming back I had to go to my sir's house to give him something, and my car dropped me off at Laketown. Thus I had to walk to Bangur.. and on returning I thought since I was so tired I'd take a rickshaw. THEN I realized i had LEFT MY WALLET AT HOME. And so I had to walk back again.

P.S. My pudding didn't set either. KILL ME.

chocolate pudding.

Since we don't have an oven in the house, I have had to resort to using drastic measures to create every possible kind of non-oven-requiring dessert available. First there was fudge, and now this.

I snagged this off a Youtube video and improvised on it.

You'll need:

1/4 cup - sugar

2/5 cup - cocoa powder

2 tbsp - cornstarch (cornflour)

2 cups - milk

chocolate chips (optional)

1 egg

a whisk

and a medium saucepan.

1. Add the sugar, cocoa powder and cornstarch to a medium saucepan. Whisk in the milk slowly. Dont allow the cornflour to clump.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, and temper it [tempering prevents the raw egg from turning into an omelette on exposure to quick heat]. Here's what ya do.. pour a little bit of the hot mixture into the egg and stir REALLY quick, till the entire thing is warm enough.

3. Pour the egg into the saucepan while constantly stirring.

4. Boil and whisk till thick.

5. Add the chocolate chips or pieces. After they've melted, take it off the heat and pour into small cups or ramekins.

6. Refrigerate. Voila! Delicious pudding :D

distraction.

When I need to cry but don't want to, I bite my fingers hard. It works well most of the time. And people never notice, either. I think I know the logic behind it - the hurt from my finger distracts me. Thats all I need to be to stop myself from crying - distracted. I suppose its just another method of self preservation.