Punjabi "Chole"

Well thats an Indian Punjabi dish for those of you who did not know but i am assuming most of the people reading my blogs are Indians. so why i am discussing my "Chole" here? Well, for the simplest reason that i made chole last night and i think it was my best attempt so far. I have been making food sincerely since September 07 and this preparation was mouth watering. The smell of cholas was in the air. As i opened my pressure cooker, i knew i had a new feat under my belt. One of my friends came over and like it too. It was spicy which my American roommates wouldn't have relished, may be Sean would have. He likes Indian food a lot and i like cooking a lot. Punjabi cholo ki baat hi kuch aur hai (There is something special about Punjabi Chole). Try mine someday and you'll let your hair down. Am i stressing too much on my cooking abilities and fuming with overconfidence? Honestly, i wanted to be a cook some day and serve exotic food to my customers. Am doing the same right now but instead serving my friends !!!

LUCKY HOUSE GETTING SUBLEASED (FOR 1 OR 2)

This was my ad i posted on several housing groups in LA to get a roommate.
Read how desperate i was.....lol

***********
Hi,
I want to sublease my 2 room apt asap. I have my Summer Internship at GOLDMAN SACHS in NY, so have to vacate from 1st week of may. This house has been very LUCKY for me and others who moved in it. Students (CS && EE) staying here got their internship in big companies like CISCO, MCKENZIE, MICROSOFT, NCR, GOOGLE, EBAY , LEHMANN BROTHERS , MOTOROLA ETC. This may be the right one for you, believe me !!!!!!!! ( I HAD OFFER FROM 2 MORE)

Address is 1156 W 36th place LA CA 90007. 4 guys can easily live in the apartment and I want a person to replace me, 2 guys share each room. PEACEFUL LOCATION giving you the best conditions to study and making it to the above !

lease is till july 2007 which can be extended, rent is $400/head + about $15 in utilities. initial security amount is $422.5 . THIS RENT IS NOTHING when it comes to having a secured internship in above companies.

Secured entry and house has all basic facilities. 2 min walk from Gate 6 of USC. VERY CLOSE TO OHE, SAL BUILDINGS , thats what an ENGINEER DESIRES !!!!!

Please contact me at 1-213-361-1586 or email me back.

BESIDES HARD WORK, LUCK ALSO COUNTS MATE SO DONT WAIT, HURRY UP !!!!!

Thanks
Sidharth Kumar
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Tribute to Sunny

No one needs to testify his cherished brother. However, this comes a tribute for someone whom I have known now for the past 25 years. My lovely brother "Sidhant" or "Sunny" (as I have always called him) who is a year and a half elder to me. He lives up to his name, so "Sunny", bright and cheerful. A mamma's boy who will assuage your low feelings with just few minutes of his company. I feel his absence in every corner of my life ever since i came to US for my masters. Am sure he is a word of talk among all gals who would see him for the first time and mind you i rank my brother very high on this. I say this cuz some people are born with silver spoon but he was born with an eclectic personality. His looks just like a British Spy Agent, hair style like Salman Khan, airing height like one should have and so handsome that sometimes
even i envy him..;) This Sagittarian keeps a cool head over his shoulders, is jovial, sweet, simple-ton, down-to-earth, humorous, "bhola" (he knows what i mean by this...lol), a sanguine attitude that differentiates him from others and most importantly a father like figure to me. I have seen him go though lots of ups and downs in his life but he boldly faced them all and is
an inspiration to me. Not quite elder and so i share lot of my life with him. He never changed in his looks or nature since i know him. He bunked ;) his office to give me time on both my occasions to India which i really admire. I once remember my brother coming from Jaipur after a long time and as usual i was excited to meet him. When he entered house, all i did was to ask him how he was doing etc. Later, my father asked me why didnt we hug each other, which
i felt awkward initially as we had never done that before but reflected on this a lot later. I had lot of this oppurtunity before but now miss the feeling of warmth, closeness and bonding one gets in his brothers arms. Am very happy to see him settled this moment and with each year, i hope to know him better. An ardent request of mine to him would be to please, please buy a new Plasma TV for his room. I can no longer see TV in my dad's room for obvious reasons. Hope you fulfill this wish of mine when i return next time.

He was, is and always be precious to me. Am proud of ya, Sunnny ! Be what you are to me, mom, dad, sis and our families.

-- Sidharth Kumar ( Manu , 5th March 08)

Jodha Akbar

Amidst all controversies surrounding Jodha Akbar, i watched it couple of days back. Ashotosh Gowarikar's magnanimous movie finally hit the screens and i was excited for this moment. I have to admit this is one of his best movies after "Swades". That movie touched me as i am currently in US pursuing my Masters and feel like going back to my country someday. Coming back to Jodha Akbar, this movie has everything. The best mogul costumes adorned by superstars of today, Hrithik and Aishwarya. Superb cinematography, all stills captured splendidly may be at the battle scene or in the Emperor's residence. I dont think any other actor could give justice to the role of Akbar other than Hrithik himself. His transformation of thoughts as a kid till when he becomes an adult is an inspiration for his nobleness. A humble king who even marries a Rajput Princess and builds a temple for her are good traits of his personality as a king. Akbar had a good repute in his kingdom and his tale of success has passed on since generations to the ears of today. The Director needs a pat on his back who is also my best director. Music scores from A.R . Rehman are melodious and captivating. Songs such as "Khwaja mere Khwaja" is a spiritual one and i simple love it. Its so soothing, a song which is offering its prayers to the Saint "Khwaja". All songs have been sung beautifully especially "Jash-e-Baharaa" by Javed Ali.
I have to admit honestly that i should have seen this flick at theater and not at home online in parts. I couldn't stop watching the movie, it kept me glued till the end. There are lot of good scenes in the movie. My best one is from the song "Khwaja mere Khwaja" where Hrithik gets up in the end and joins the troupe singing and dancing to the tunes of Allah. At first i thought, he was up to something i did not want to see and i was wrong. Hrithik is also an excellent dancer and although his coordination with other people dancing looks easy, it isn't. He instantly gets into the mood, staring at the sky and almighty raising his hand in the air and performing exactly as others. He compliments them ! That scene is captured from all angles which adds to its beauty. You can see hrithik's attire floating in air as he rotates in small circles. His respect for almighty is visible in his eyes.

I will appreciate everyones hard work and effort that has gone into making of this movie right from spot boy till the Director.

As far as articulation is concerned, i feel hrithik was to practise a little more Urdu. He spoke well but at times i felt the fluency was missing. This movie has taken 3 yrs in making and in that time, we would have expected him to probably speak only in Urdu may be with himself, his peers, his colleagues, family members etc. There should have more fight sequences of Akbar. Even then, i have become a big fan of Hrithik, You ROCK man, you are my "Khwaja". He has done a splendid job and this will get him filmfare award for best actor. I am pretty sure about it ....lets wait and watch !

Time to Promise !

*** An old one from my GRE days (2 yrs back)

Hi,
My name is Sidharth Kumar and i belong to delhi. I recently gave my GRE (Graduate Record Examination) with the aim to persue my Masters from US next year. I'd like to express my concern over all that i have gone through during application process.

So finally through with GRE (thats Coaching + Exam) , i headed for the application process. Its good but not mandatory to join some consultants to help you carry out your admission process. After researching a lot about many consultants, i came to a conclusion that most of them were simply money minting institutes providing no quality work for students.
Candidates/Students/Aspirants invest heavily in them and are not satisfied with the overall performance of the consultants. For every bit of extra work, they are charging more from students. When i asked my dad for money to join their admission celll, he fired me sayin that wasnt 20k (thts for coaching) inclusive of everything. I just couldnt say anything, i knew thats the way it was.
He was terribly angry and said that every institution should take pride in sending their children abroad so almost everything shud be included in coachin feees or be free. Well, nothing is in my hand but I knew my dad (a retired Commander from the Indian Navy) was right and where i was wrong!

I went to my university in Jalandhar and needed 10 transcripts for universities i am applyingto.They charged me 300 for each, dats 3000 Rs. Even the institution which i owe to them for making in me a Computer Enginner is charging hell lot of money. They know that every year students would be sitting for GRE/GMAT and be needing official documents, so lets think of ammasing this booty. The attitude of officials in university also bothers me a lot, their way of handling notes (money) etc clearly gives a picture of some lala type people managing these educational institutions. Clearly everyone is busy in Bizness!

Then lately, i had to collect bank drafts from bank for application processes. The drafts range from 50-100 US $ depending on universities. I approached ABN AMRO bank and for each draft ( i needed 8), the bank charged 300 Rs + service tax. I requested the lady that these drafts were solely for education purpose and if the bank could give some concession to students like me, i and others would certainly be very obliged to them. She couldnt do anything saying it was bank policy but promised she would forward this suggestion to the concerned manager. Well who knows if someone really will work upon it or not!

I have spent more on applying than on coaching. All these miscellaneous expenses seem to trouble me a lot. Total cost of a single document package to each university comes out on an average Rs.5000-6000 (including courier charges). And most of the students are applying to 6 universities minimum. So one can get the idea of how much expenditure is involved. Seekin this, some even might drop the idea of US or UK and head for countries like Australia or New Zealand which are still much reasonable and cheaper on the world map. I applied to 8 universities and have got I-20 (eligibility packet from univ giving me the right to apply for visa) from all of them. I am nodoubt happy but confusion now surrounds me as to where should i leap forward.

Thats what happens, the more the complexity and not the more, the merrier. We all are just blindly following what others do. My so called experience to other aspirants would be not to apply in more than 5 -6 univs. THATS MORE THAN ENOUGH!!! (even on your pockets part)

It really is very difficult today to afford education outside becuz today we have made our own barriers so high that it wont be possible for every child of this country to climb it and reach the other side, thats US owing to all these hurdles. I feel pity for some people i came across and they couldnt afford this prime education. I remember once asking my senior in college about what he had planned for future. He was a topper and from a middle class family. He said slowly that education outside is very costly. He still teaches in the same college from where i graduated.

What is Government doing for us? When it knows that 95% of students going abroad wont return back to India and contributing much to US only, then why send students outside the country or why not get them back after completing education. May be thats why, these expenses compel students give up their dreams to study abroad. It was one of me who could afford but not many will be in this going-to-be expensive nation. I dont see any aid or help coming here but hear that our country will be the best supremo in next 10 yrs. But where? And for whom?

I dont want to hit directly at all consultancy firms/colleges/banks , after all they do offer us their services but just hope that they are reasonable and dont exploit everyone. 20k-30k is a very big amount for me or anybody else. Also surprised by the fact that when i asked one of my frends if his dad felt the money being charged for admission cell was justified or not, and he said, dad was ok with it. With times, people (who just go ahead and give money without giving thought in this bhedchaaal) have given up to raise their voices unlike me. We ofcourse cant do anything about private institutes but would request and urge government to do whtever it could for students like me.

Through this mail of mine, i have no intentions of mentioning how much money i spent or pleading government to recover any dues. I have discussed these feelings of mine with you and every other person who looks forward to goto US (cuz they too are sailing in the same boat as me) through various mail groups. I on behalf of all of them request justice! Please help us all.

Think i should signoff now.

Regards,
Sidharth

Valentines Day @ LA

So like every year, we have this one day reminding us that we really take care of our partner. The whole concept of Valentine and its response has always been tremendous in India. I used to think the same way for US as well. I was at home till 1 pm and then i headed for college.


"Day of Roses", "Love is in the air" are all one can hear this day. Unfortunately, for me i hardly witnessed any student expressing his love for their partner. Not even a blade of rose petal circulating in the campus. No flower bouquets and never felt there was a Valentine's day in school. I don't know the reason but am certainly intrigued by all that came near my eyes. I remember last year on same day, i was at home completing some assignments. As i finished with my class, i saw a guy with a bright red rose in his hand, thats all !!! This was it, nothing more than this. I did not have the chance to visit any shopping malls or downtown LA this time. The shops in mall would definitely be in some Valentine mood. There were some posters with Valentine slogans written, couple of couples getting cozy in each others arms in todays chilly LA day but still appearing dull and disappointing stuff to me. For those of you who don't know this, i have 3 American roommates. So my first question to my roommate Kyle was if he had or made any proposals. In the back of my mind laid the answer but as i am known for leg pulling, i didn't even spare him. He was amused of the fact if someone could or make any propositions on Valentines day in College. His argument was that most children find their partners in high school so needless to say, any efforts are made in college. And he smiled saying every day for them was a Valentine day so nothing official about 14th Feb !

Jab we Kritique Mountain

I just happened to see "Jab We Met" couple of hrs back. I am pleased i am not saying i wasted my time watching the 2 lead actors Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. Till now, there were few of the actors for which i would not burn my pocket in PVR or AMC (if that would be possible...lol). I had not seen not even a complete Shahid Kapoor movie. This isn't the case for Kareena. I have seen several movies of her in the past. Apparently, because of the huge selling star cast working with her in the same movie. This was the first complete movie of Shahid i watched. The movie is fun, hilarious and most importantly can be watched with family. It was promising and at the appeal of lot of my friends i decided to watch this flick. I am happy i wasn't disappointed as i had anticipated. The script for the movie is simple and easily connects with youngsters especially the conversation part between Shahid and Kareena. Lot of dialogues used by Kareena in partly Hindi and English is quite common in Delhi and Mumbai. The dialogues seemed coming on the spot and instantly. Shahid speaks with low pace and his patience which i liked the most. The Hindi Drama set in Punjabi household was fun too with lot of Nach Gana and masti. The model (shown as Kareena's Bf) is absolutely pathetic. His hindi is worse and needs to go back to School. Aint not all models can act. Overall, good performances by the lead cast and a decent one. The Director has framed all pieces well together and made the film captivating as at no point i felt the movie was long or getting dragged. I guess Shahid needs to be picky from now onwards. I look forward to see his next one !


I just cant believe i am watching this movie so late. Damnn....well almost after 3 years. Also, while Heath is no more. Honestly, i have to admit that i would not have watched this movie if "Ang Lee" had not won the Oscar for best director. I still remember that i was very excited to watch this as well as lot of other oscar nominated films. This was the time when i was seriously sick with Jaundice at my home in Delhi. Outside from my room window (7th floor), i could see the new PVR being constructed in Prashant Vihar in Rohini, Delhi. I waited anxiously for me to recover from my sickness and hopefully to grab a chance on this movie. Well, after i got back to my normal track, there were very few theaters showing this movie and the very few pals of me not interested in watching the film. Anyways, i drop the curtian today by watching this magnificent film. A gay cowboy relationship, thats what happens sometimes about we knowing something in our head but not realsing the truth untill we watch it. "BrokeBack Mountain" is one of the example. An honest, simple, superb and real to core film thats breaks mainstream boundary for the audiences. I cant stop commending acting skills of Heath Ledger (he simply pulled it off) and Jack Gyllenhall. Incredible performances by the 2 rodeos supported equally well by their fellow partners. The Direction is excellent and in spite of raised controversies against this film, i vouch for it. I somehow knew the movie story plot initially. And my initial reaction was like "A gay relationship" movie......"Dude, am not gonna watch it". But the 5 Oscar nominated film was pulling towards it. I regret not watching it earlier in India. There are several instances in the film where i felt Ennis was not speaking the correct grammatical English like when he speaks with Jack's wife he says "We was good friends". I sdont know why he speaks that way. Is that because Ennis ("Heath") is by birth an Australian or is it typical Texan or Wyoming accent from where he hailed. While i watched the movie, the sex and love making scenes between the 2 look very weird as i or may be you have never seen two guys making love on the big screen. Its only during the entire movie when you watch, you begin to understand closely and respect the relationship between the two just as between a girl and boy. But this affects the marriage of Ennis Del Mar when his wife comes to know about it. I feel Ennis should have continued staying with Jack twist but if that was so simple to think, we probably wont get to see a film like "Brokeback Mountain". Ennis taking Jacks shirt and jacket after his death was very touching. A good one indeed !