A few things new

This is going to hurt just a little bit

I was at the dentist's today for the first time in my life. The experience brought back to my memory a poem that I had read in primary school.  A little googling and I could find it again :) Here it is.

One thing I like less than most things
is sitting in a dentist's chair with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopen.

Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self-possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest.

So hard to retain your calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line
or love line or some other important line in your palm;

So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life
most lacking in dignity.

And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.
And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and
drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve in your head that
you aren't being irked on.

Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.
And the circumstance that adds most to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only
they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one
hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you
do when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget
that left is right and vice versa?

And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn't because he then
coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a
horse's hoof.

And you totter to your feet and think. Well it's all over now and after
all it was only this once.
And he says come back in three monce.
And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest, That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good
condition when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.


                               - Ogden Nash


Dear buddy Ogden Nash, I must say, I simply couldn't agree with you more.

GPRS with Nokia and Kubuntu

For the first time in years, my BSNL internet connection stopped working - for 4 days. So, I was forced to try out GPRS. Airtel has this nice plan which provides 50MB internet for Rs 5, valid for 1 day (midnight to midnight - dial *222*5#). Perfect for my situation!

I have Kubuntu on my home comp and have a Nokia 6300. I was wondering how difficult it would be to get my Nokia phone to work with it. But surprise surprise, configuration was a breeze, and I had internet working in about 4 clicks and 0 key strokes. KDE network manager rocks! \m/

Being used to a speed of 4mbps, well, GPRS felt SLOW. The connection was pretty stable. Gmail took 5 minutes to open (the basic HTML view). Google chat worked fine through pidgin and thunderbird managed to pull my office mail. All I could download in 5 hours was 11MB (so much for the 50MB per day offer).

In all, I learnt 3 things - Nokia modem works with Kubuntu, GPRS is a decent backup if the main internet connection breaks, and it is really really hard to use up 50MB!

Shopping in Bangalore, minus malls

I still haven't got used to malls. Having lived in Bangalore since the time there were no glitzy malls, having bought things in the places I mention in this post, I always get the feeling that the mall prices are a tad too high.

Alankar plaza

If you are looking for clothes at low prices, this is the place to go. A five minute walk from the majestic bus stand, this is one of the oldest shopping complexes in the city (I might have called it a mall 7-8 years ago). Though you have to bargain in most of the shops, these days I see quite a few shops with fixed prices too. The average price of a jeans pant is Rs 350, T-shirts start at Rs 125.

National Market

Located a block away from Alankar plaza, this place has many stalls selling cheap consumer electronics, cell phones and accessories, music systems, DVD players, speakers, pirated CDs, calculators etc. It is hard to find such low prices anywhere. Of course, you have to bargain. Since it is all grey, none of the shops will give you a bill, and the shop keeper is your warranty.

Avenue road

Located near Mysore Bank bus stop (once again, walk-able from majestic), this is THE place to buy and sell books. One side of the street is lined with book shops from one end to the other. Even the foot paths are stacked with books. Every kind of book for academic needs - be it engineering, science, architecture, philosophy - is available here. Most of the engineering books are available at a 20% discount at all shops. They buy old books at 60% of their selling price.

Bhendi Fry

Today, for the first time in my life, I cooked a curry (of course, under the watchful eye of my mother). If you don't mind handling gooeey stuff and washing a very stubbornly greasy kadai, I think Bhendi Fry is one of the easiest curries to cook. Below is the recipe :)

Ingredients:

Lady's finger - 0.5kg, serves 4

Garam masala - 1 Tb sp.

Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tb sp.

Turmeric - 1 tea spoon

Salt - 1 Tb spoon

Oil - Approx. 50 ml

Optional ingredients: My mum suggested Til and grated coconut. Add anything else that you feel like adding :)

Time:

Takes about 30 mins (assuming you have already chopped the bhendi)

Procedure:

Chop the bhendi into small pieces. Pour the oil in a kadai. Add a little salt (apparently, it prevents the bhendi from sticking to the kadai).

After the oil becomes a little hot, add the bhendi. Wait 5 minutes - mix well. Repeat this at 5 minute intervals until about 80% of the gooeey stuff vanishes. Then add salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, garam masala (and everything else that you want to add). Mix well. Turn off the stove after another 5 minutes. Bhendi fry is ready :)

It came out pretty well, dad said super (yay!)

That's all for now.

Suggestions, anyone?

-Prashanth

Update
Do not close the kadai with a lid throughout. Keep it open :)

Lost in translation

I saw this notice on Old Airport Road today. The kannada text reads "ಅತಿವೇಗವೇ ಅಪಘಾತಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ" meaning "High speed is the reason for accidents".

The honeymoon period

It's been 3 weeks since I joined Oracle and I have gone through 3 weeks of extreme joblessness. My manager calls it the honeymoon period.

Well, the honeymoon period officially came to an end last night with my first night-out at office. (It was actually fun working on a saturday night). This morning, I got a mail from my manager with my first assignment and deadline. All this while, I used to think that Prof. PB is the only person crazy enough to work on weekends and nights.

In conclusion, managers don't sleep. I finally have some work. Things look good :)