A contract for life?

With a good amount of luck,
A freelance project I'd land
To make a few bucks
Concepts I created for a new brand

"Oh! This is not what I had in mind."
said the client for the contract he signed!
"Can you work on a few more,
Only now five for the price of four?"

A few weeks later, a bit discontent,
Designed what he tweaked to a great extent
Months passed by, and all was normal
Until one fine day, he pinged acting all formal.

From topic to topic, it changed direction
Finally he asked about my ancestral connection
Oh, No! What's with all the weird questions?
Politely I logged off, as it seemed only unprofessional.

Almost a year and a few months passed by
A random email I received from the same guy
This time with very little to do with his company update
And more in line with - " How about we go on a date?"

Why oh! Why, will this never end?
It's a new sitcom for all my dear friends!
Who will it be, among these strange men?
Cos I am no Barbie to find her own Ken! 

A Galumphing We Go!

This Sunday, I got to watch the movie I've been waiting nearly a year for! It was everything I'd hoped it would be. Alice in Wonderland has always been one of my favourite books, and I spent a number of years in the fantasy that I'd one day find my own looking-glass to go through, or my own rabbit-hole to fall into. Though, in India..it would more than likely have been a manhole. Doubt anything pretty would have come out of that!

I was transported back to the time I first read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, completely mesmerized by the imagination and whimsy in something so innocuous as a book. To this day, it remains one of my favourites, and I've decided I will buy myself a copy to re-read. I wanted to share this verse from the sequel to the book. A friend of mine used the same poem for a typographic project. Sometimes, words speak a thousand pictures..

The Jabberwocky

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

*The illustration is by Sir John Tenniel and first published in 'Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There' by Lewis Carroll, 1871.
* Lewis Carroll is a Nom De Plume. The author's real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

My Italian epiphany

Everyone has had Masala Dosa with Sambar..but little is known of the superhero persona these 3 take on when served with some Italian flair. I give to you - DOSAGNA! Formidable though it may sound, it is really simpler than simple. I'm not going to write the recipes for Masala Dosa or Sambar here, since they are prolifically available on the internet, or on the phone with your mother/aunt/grandmother/periappa/mama/kozhandai/Kamakshi chitti's Pug. If you're not on talking terms with your relatives, no problem..just ask the Pakkathaathu Mami. She will gladly oblige, if only to prove her recipe is superior!

In a round baking dish, put a layer of foil at the bottom. Start with a layer of dosa, top with a thin layer of potato masala. (A note on the masala here..mildly chunky will work best, or it will get on too thick and overpower the dish.) Repeat this until you have about 6-7 dosas. The top most layer should be a dosa. Then, once you're ready to serve, cut a wedge down to the last layer, plate and pour a ladle (or two!) of hot, spicy sambar over it. There you have it.

You could vary this up by smearing some coconut/tomato chutney on the dosa before you put the layer of masala on, or once the whole thing is built, sprinkle some Molagapodi on top of it and skip the Sambar. Whatever your preference, Dosagna will be there to save the day! Of course, you'll be pretty much passed out from a Doma (Dosa-Coma) for the rest of the day!

Zakir who? Where are my vadais?

This has been a bloody exhilarating, but exhausting weekend. It's taught me a couple of things about life and people. One is that truly great people are never obvious about the fact that they're great and the other that it is possible to have a grossly disproportionate idea of your own importance.

Saturday saw Masters of Percussion in Austin, led by Ustad Zakir Hussain and featuring Violin maestros Ganesh and Kumaresh. By a massive stroke of good fortune, the spouse I actually had the honour of being able to spend time with all three. I cannot say that I have ever met people as nice, friendly and chilled out as them. The Ustad has had a huge fan in me ever since I heard him as a young child and watched his delivery of 'Wah Taj Boliye' on TV hundreds of times. To be able to meet and speak with him was surreal, and I was totally starstruck. To me though, the stars of the show were Vidwans G + K. I have heard them many a time, but they were shining especially bright this Saturday evening. I'm still recovering from the stellar quality of the show.

Having seen my mother coordinate music concerts for many years, I have a fair idea just how much work it involves, so I am not without appreciation for those who put out a great effort to support and propagate Indian Classical Arts in other countries. But, and this is a very heartfelt but..spending the first 15 minutes of such a show honouring yourself for doing this negates the effort a little. It could just as easily have been a private celebration or done at the end of the show. When you have artistes of that calibre waiting behind the screen to perform..you do not try to steal their thunder. I also loved the fake surprise at being lauded.."I had no idea this was coming!!"..Really? Didn't you organize this show? Also unacceptable is telling your member base one thing and doing something else entirely. If you promised them good seats at the show in exchange for signing up, do not stick them in the upper balcony. If you do, it's safe to assume that that's probably the first and last time they want to be on your mailing list.

And to come to my favourite part of that evening, How much anxiety and distress does a lost plastic box of home made vadais call for? So much so that you ask everyone, including your star line up if they saw it. Admittedly, they're home-made and hard to come by in the Yoo Ess, so I'd be first in line trying to help you find them, so I can get some of the reward..namely that whole box. BUT, when I'm in the same room as Zakir Hussain, you've got a hope if you're sending me on a vadai hunt. Made or paid for.

Just when I was getting off the high from Saturday, I floated right back up. Sunday was tremendously inspiring. I saw my guru dancing her traditional repertoire for the first time. It made me even more proud to be her student. She was far and away the star of the show - this is my sincere opinion without bias, and let me add that I found the other performers wonderful as well. In fact, one of them is close to 80! I'd give an arm and a leg...ermm..I probably won't be able to dance much without an arm and a leg, so maybe a lot of vadais to have that kind of spirit when I'm 60..let alone 80!!

Here's to many weekends in the future filled with great art, the company of living legends, indomitable spirit and vadais out of the plastic dabba and in my stomach!