A tribute to working Moms :)...

I wonder whether MBA case studies include stories of house management. I think one of the best places to learn the tricks of management is at home something that our Moms have been mastering day in and day out especially if they are working Moms.

There are different forms of management displayed at home, the simplest being managing your own house and the most difficult being managing a house where you are actually sharing the roof with different individuals.

If you are a house wife then that is the simplest form of house management, the house is run at your own wish and command and you are your own boss and you are the person you need to manage, with maybe a little help from your spouse and kids and maybe your in-laws and so on.

But with the nuclear family scenario being the new fad, its mostly you, and your little nuclear family.

The next is being a working Mom, I really wonder how working Moms manage their house. Its so much simpler here as most of the things are pre processed and buying, stocking, cleaning etc are really easy tasks.

But back home things are not this simple, so its really a challenge to manage your house, take care of your kids, manage your work environment and handle your family life in general. Its really marvelous how they manage it.

Kudos to you guys for having been through all that trouble and for having done such a wonderful job of getting where you are today despite the troubles and hurdles life poses. A special thanks to my Mom and what better day could I have chosen.

The third is the scenario I am in right now, living away from home. After having been pampered at home, after having played the kiddo role at home, with Mom/Dad being there to do everything, I am standing in this place far away from home, where I have to do all these mundane routine house management tasks alone.

The challenge is in getting the groove going when you are actually sharing the place with different individuals. Each person has their own way of doing things, each person has a different upbringing, each person has their own priorities and each person has a different way of managing things at home.

It is especially difficult when people are new to the 'do it your self' life style. For some reason unkown to me, back home every household has a servant so every child is so used to having the servant take care of most of these day to day chores that it is very difficul for them to adapt to the 'do it your self' life style.

So well how do you actually work on the 'keep the house you stay in tidy' moto when your dealing with people who have hardly done all this back home. Challenging isnt it? Pretty much a scenario where you are in charge of a team and the people under you are reluctant to work.

Now you dont want to boss around anyone and break anyone's heart and at the same time it doesnt seem fair that you do all the work, does it? So how do you get people to do the work they are supposed to do? That is what managing people is all about isnt it ?

So well there you go, I proved my point that one of the best places for learning how to manage people is right here at home :).

Smorgasbord

Apparently a new word I learnt from non other than Ms. Penelope, whatever you say people she's gotta rocking vocab amidst all the 'towny lingo' ;).

Now this was with regards to our Dinner with Gulab Jamoons, Ice Cream, Daal Makhani, Aloo Jeera fry, Jeera Rice and Aloo tikki. Yummmmm. I know, sorry Harshu, cant find another word to substitute yum.

I made the jamoons, which was no big deal actually, with the mix we got from Patels. We decided we'd finally get down to making jamoons.

So just knead the dough with a little bit of oil and hot water. Roll it into small dumplings and deep fry the dumplings until golden brown. Have some sugar syrup made with water and sugar and a little bit of 'elachi' or cardamom for flavouring.

Let the dumplings soak in the sugar syrup for sometime and voila you'll have yummy gulab jamoons ready to be feasted on. Try eating hot jamoons with cold vanilla ice-cream mouthwatering aint the word. :)

Cup Noodles..

Dinner was cup noodles, actually had a fish sandwich for lunch it was far too heavy so wanted something light and decided to try out the shrimp noodles, with real shrimp in it. Not all that great but manageable.

Reminds me of those days release time, late nights, hosur road at night, cool wind blowing through my hair :) wondering when all this was going to end. The big tower across M2, BOSCH that seems so far away. A nearly empty bus, scantilly filled with people.

A melancholy feeling, something was missing...

Downtown Bangalore

I was reading this article titled 'India's Fast Lane' by Don Belt in the October 2008 edition of National Geographic and stumbled on the "downtown Bangalore" phrase and I couldnt help laughing, thought of "downtown Mumbai" and "towny lingo" and "Miss Penelope" of course.

Part of the perks guys :) life is a give and take relationship and so I've learnt, you want something you should be ready to lose something in return, hard truth. Never seems so to the guy across the street I know.

So for all you photographers, there is a National Geographic Photo contest more details at http://www.ngphotocontest.com/ the 3 categories are -

• People
• Places
• Nature

I know you guys have a good collection so send them in. I saw this picture of a shooting of some movie at bollywood framed at their office. Some oldie goldie Bollywood movie, a wedding scene, looked lovely.

If you havent already visited NG, please do so someday, its awesome, to just walk by the potraits and read through their descriptions.

Fire drill...

Its official, I finally do not have to bother my supervisor for a visitor pass, I have my entry to the Society. I finally feel like I have achieved something in life! Always wanted to be different and do something that I really wanted to do and here I am, living my dream to the fullest, the feeling is so enriching...

First day and a fire drill, I was for a change trying to work and there goes the buzzer... I get a chance to see the behind the scenes brains :)...

As I walk through the streets of D.C, I see this poster outside the Society,

A young mother putting her baby to sleep, I guess its shot in Somalia, a fragile little thing his head resting on a piece of cloth and the barren parched earth beneath, all cracked and not a drop of water in sight to even bind it together.He seemed to be enjoying his nap, despite the fact that he has no shelter what so ever to protect him from the blazing sun.

Some of us are so lucky in life...

there are so many people world over who do not have a place to live, a roof to shelter them from the sun or the rain or for whom a days meal may just be what we threw away. Wish there was some way I could direct all that food to the millions in dire need of it...

Kudos to the guys who bring out the truth as it is...

Newspaper

So I have to take the train to D.C early in the morning and this is going to be a regular routine for the next few weeks. The good thing about doing that is you get your hands on a newspaper. Its been a while since I have spent time with my morning paper.


Back home it used to be a routine, grab hold of the paper and read through the articles. The gossip in and around, the political fiascos, the letters to the editor and so on. My mornings always began with my newspaper.


But I've never been able to do that here as we dont have newspapers dropped to your doorstep, had to go online to check the news and trust me it felt so good to hold that paper in my hand and glance through the happenings and to hear the paper ruffle in your hands...


Well, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was sold for $50 billion to Bank of America, 5900 P.G.County employees asked to go on a furlough and the University budget is going to be cut again... doesnt look good does it.... :(

Sabudana Vada & Palak paneer...

So the second week of school goes by, I blinked my eyes and mondays back here. What a tumultuous week phew...

A GBM that went of fine, amidst the running around I did like a chipmuck, being tossed from building to building, hounding people for approvals a jamming session that I missed due to lack of energy, my first live soccer match at UMD, a NASA open house a chance to walk through the clean rooms of where the Mars mission began...and the second sunday school class this time with 1st graders too one hell of a week.

Rock on that takes you back to those good old days, I miss the mavericks too.. and I realize I miss many more people and maybe someday i'll walk into them....

But the farewells have begun and we've been inviting ourselves to Sabudana Vada and Palak paneer parties, kudos to the chefs Nao & Harshu and its wonderful to have you put up with us. I enjoyed every bit of it and I'm gonna miss all of you guys....

Vada..

More bad news, apparently the unemployment rate has jumped from 5.7% in July to 6.1% in August, the trend doesn’t look very pleasing.

So well I was trying my best to teach Sunday school to these 2nd graders, what a challenge that is, sweet little things with attention that wanders over 5 times around the world every second. I can hardly keep them captivated to what I say for like 2 minutes. Need to figure a way to beat the wandering mind of a 6 year old and race up far ahead of it.

Thanks to Aunty, my roomies and me had a good feast of vada today. The occasion was Roshi’s birthday, belated happy b’day to you Roshi, so aunty made these lovely vadas. Idli-Vada is a typical South Indian breakfast and I love hogging steaming hot idlis and vadas with sambhar and coconut chutney in the local darshinis, especially Adiga’s.

Adiga’s, a chain of fast food joints in Bangalore brings back memories of undergrad days. The good old days, when we were so naïve and life was so much more simpler. I like the concept of darshinis something very unique to Bangalore, sometime I’ll go over it in detail.

So here is how you make urad vada, the ingredients being urad dal, pepper corns, green chilies, onions, ginger, salt and oil to fry the vadas. So you let urad dal soak for about 4 hours, then grind it to a paste with onions, green chillies, ginger and pepper corns. Add enough salt to taste and then deep fry the vadas in the hot oil in that typical vada shape (doughnut shaped). Then serve the hot vadas with coconut chutney or sambhar.

Best Friends

I think it is the weather, the Hurricane Hanna effects that we experiencing in CP or whatever is in the air now, I decided to write about Best Friends in general. I remember Vikas, one of my best friends, with a heart that was so pure, wherever you are Vikas I hope you read this sometime, (I never let my hopes drop down).


I have these fond memories, of having lunch with you, I loved the chappathi's and allu sabbjji that you used to get and it took me days maybe even weeks to realize that you would never come back to occupy the first place in that line for Class 1C, but there are still times when I remember you, and wonder how the world would be if you were here, maybe you would be a doctor like Munni, or maybe you would be like me or maybe you would have taken a different path, but this is just to reach out to you.


I still remember that day during assembly when your sister was wailing and Bhatia Ma'am was consoling her and I didnt have the faintest idea why you would never be there to play with me again. But when I think of that today my eyes well and I really wish you would be there here by my side!


I have many best friends, all along the way, every new stop I make in life I end up having atleast one best friend but as life rolls on we kind off lose touch with our best friends, not our fault not theirs, its just destiny's little crime, maybe an excuse may be not even. We lose some of them to time and some of them to ego but life still goes on.


We still remember them in those moments of reminiscence and we know that no matter what, we still have that special place reserved for them, but trust me it makes a world of a difference if you pick up the phone now and speak to one of those many best friends, time would have flown by, too much water would have flown over the bridge but still the warmth that it brings is far too valuable to be weighed with anything.


One of my friends', friends' recently asked me to watch out for her, I do not know if it is the fear of straying on the wrong path or if it is because she senses that my friend seems to be lost and needs someone but I found that so touching, we maybe at our points of highs or lows but still our best friends are always there to care for us, miles away, minutes away, sometimes even eons away. The feeling is in itself truly refreshing, so here is to Best Friends and in particular to Vikas, I know you will be there high above in heaven smiling down at me right now.

Jobless and eating chutney podi..

Read this article on Job Market recession and the trend right now, scary! The only consolation being it isnt as bad at 2001's recession or the 1990-1991 recession, but they say that is attributed to the fact that not many jobs were added to be cut down as compared to those periods hmm. Anyways when it hits you it hits you hard.

All this because I was cribbing about not having money to enjoy, which is the truth, not just for me but for anyone in my plight. The statistical figures relating to disposable income and joblessness is really interesting, read on at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057362716301721.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_money_and_investing

When times are bad they really are, its like one of those Murphy's laws.

On the cooking front, I feasted on rice and chutney podi yesterday, my mouth was so watering while I was taking the chutney podi dabbas out to eat with the hot rice. I still dont know how to make chutney podi, but apparently I discovered that there are a thousand varieties of chutney podi. People at home will be like, I cant believe your eating chutney podi with rice, but well you need to experience the 'away from home' feeling to determine the true worth of chutney podi.

Selling a concept - The Brew HaHa way..

Now this is a games bar located in good old garden city. Met up with my dearest pals there and had a ball of a time when I was in India last. Basically they'll loan you games like pictionary, scrabble and so on, along with the food. So you can order food and you can like play something while waiting/dining. There is an hourly rate for the game boards and the charges for the food is separate. Eventually you will be engrossed in the game and kind off pull it, you end up having more food or something to drink and they do good business. Well the concept sells well, the fact that it is strategically placed behind JNC gives business a run for itself. Nice nah!

It reminds me of Dave&Busters, just that its a bar and a restaurant in addition to a games parlor, http://www.daveandbusters.com/. You get to play snooker and games of that sort here.

Selling a concept - the Melting Pot way

This is something I am yet to experience, heard that there is this restaurant called The Melting Pot, http://www.meltingpot.com/ that sells by its fondue experience. Pretty neat huh! Imagine going through picking your meal and letting it cook before you, while you enjoy some small talk with maybe (not necessarily) your better half. I knid of like the concept but people who are averse to cooking wouldnt think too great of it. Be sure to read through the history at their site, cant believe its something thats been there for the past 30 years, ding dong, why doesnt something like that flash through my brain once in a while ?

Selling a concept - the bd way...

So well the management bug has bitten me too, now I tend to see everything the marketting way, so here is an insight to selling a concept centered around culinary skills. Went to this restaurant called bd's Mongolian Grill,

http://www.gomongo.com/index.php

Check out the video, savagely wild nah! :)

There is one at Bethesda and I loved the concept, basically you grab a bowl, and fill it with the meat of your choice and whatever you want to compliment it with, the pasta, the veggies and the likes and then you hand your bowl to the chefs who'll grill it for you in front of you and serve it in a plate. You can then have this assorted mix of grilled veggies and meat that you created with either tortillas or rice. Compliment it with the sauce of your choice and there you go, a wonderful meal for yourself. They have some good martini's too that go with the meals. The dessert section is also just as wonderful. Just remember to strike the gong as a token of your appreciation for the food and try not to look up at the ceiling :).

Barbecue & S'mores

Apparently it was Hot Sauk's birthday and we decided to celebrate it the barbecue way, trust me it is an altogether different experience. So we had this lovely chicken marinade that Aappy made and the paneer with veggie marinade that was equally sumptuous. We went to this State Park near Germantown and got the grills started. Layered the veggies on the skewers and let them barbecue and let the chicken barbecue to glory. Then we feasted on it all, amidst the woods, what a royal feeling. By the way barbecuing is not all that easy, you need to constantly watch the coal, so that it maintains the red hot environment, good for us that Sauk was around, (giggles).

But the best part of the barbecue was the S'mores, basically you barbecue marshmallows and sandwich them with Graham crackers and dark chocolate, simply divine, it just melts in your mouth. So well thanks to Sauk, I got to eat some lovely S'mores courtsey my dearest fellow TA, Mona!

Panera Bread

On our way back from Ocean City, we stopped over at Panera Bread to grab something to bite. Heard these great reviews for this restaurant and so we decided to check it out and you bet it was good. So for people new to the US here is one of the foodie stops you wouldnt want to miss,

http://www.panerabread.com/

I went for the Broccoli Cheddar soup which was amazing, the bread that goes with it is also far too fabulous. For the veggie people, I have heard that the Panera Bread Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich is a must eat and there is nothing like a Caramel Pecan Brownie to go with it, mmmm.... mouth watering I know!