shalmali

This is the status of my cat after meeting the first rat of his life...

One fine day this fellow saw the rat near our house... he was wondering what it was supposed to do... He observed him from all sides... but the rat was intelligent enough no to make any move.... he tried tapping it... It moved a little.. & this fellow got scared & came inside...shouting at my mom asking food... brave fellow.....

Here are some photos of his hunting:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sharada.adiga/CatMeetsRat?authkey=zt8KmMG_CNo

Really... I must be shameless to write this...but this is also a new experience.. I just wanna jot it down so that in future.. when I look at it.. I can have good laugh :D

Last week was a week of burning things.... The week started with a bang...the frst "bali" was my poor cooker... I had kept for idli & was getting ready for office... & had completely forgotten about it... soo every thing got burnt...even the safety valve of cooker also was gone... my idli??.. it was blaaaaack... no breakfast that day :( ...

Now since I cannot anything in cooker.. cooking rice & daal was a tedious work... ok leme cook thru microwave oven...but in this oven.. the max time I can set is 6 mins.. I tried many options... but i didnt knw how to set a 2 digit time...huh!!... then too i tried to cook.. in the oven... no matter the level of water.. it used get spilled all over the place.. & within few mins.. water gets over & still food wnt be cooked....I think this oven had a to take major revenge against me.... now it was also making fun of me......God!! I didnt knw what to do...

Finally I could cook rice.. but daal... naaaaah...soo I thought to cook it on the stove.. I was stirring the daal.. so that it wnt get burnt... while I was doing that...the vessel was getting hot soo I had hold a piece of cloth.. Now this nice peice of cloth caught fire.....OOh God.. then finally I finished with the sambhar.. though I felt daal was not cooked properly...

Next day.. I thought lemme prepare puliogare.. I had put oil in the pan & some puligare mix.. making it just hot... I just turned to put some more mix.. as though it was waiting for that moment... the mixture had become black.... burnt again.... aaaahhhhh... again no breakfast...

Now I cook rice & daal in a vessel as ppl used to cook before the invention of cooker..... at least this is much better than to use that adamant oven..phew...

Now .. its just a week left... waiting desparately to come back to India...then I can have good food... :D

Dishes I prepared on Sankranti


This is my plate with all the dishes I prepared for festival. The dishes are (clockwise): Rava idli, Pickle, Mango paayasam, Greengrams salad.
Doodh peda in the middle.. though it does not look like that.... it tasted good :)

Although I didnt have a chance to celebrate the festival in the traditional way & with family members.. I thought atleast I will make some sweet dishes.... went through the net for some sweet dishes which i can make with the items I have.. first one I found was doodh peda...it required only milk & sugar...good I can try....

Saturday when I went for grocery shopping.. I brought mango...again searched the net for some mango sweet dishes...mango paayasam was easy one....hmmmm looks yummy tooo...

Soo today I tried those two today...paayasam came out good... well peda didnt look like what we get in shops... but tasted sweet.. probably I have to try again when I am back in India...

After a long time I liked what I prepared...good improvement ....

Still 5 more weeks to go.. yaaay....

Continuing from my previous journal ( Muirwoods)...

After one hour of pleasant stay in Muirwoods forest, we left for another beautiful city on the shore of the bay near Sanfrancisco called Sausalito.
We spent around one hour in Sausalito...... I liked the city..... It has got a beautiful seashore. If my house was there, probably I wuld spend my every evening there..... I wish(?)..........There are ferry services that goes from Sauasalito to SanFrancisco.

It was evening by the time we left from Sausalito. We came through the Golden Gate Bridge. I had a chance to see a beautiful sunset from the GGB. The sky was on fire.....& bcoz of its reflection, even the pacific ocean looked toooo good. ... a festive for eyes... Unfortunately could not take a snap of it.... Overall it was a good tour....

The photos are here

After that the driver dropped me to the Caltrain station...uppphhh... I missed my train at 6.....sooo have to wait till 7...then I might reach my home around 8.30... So called up home & said that I will calll back at 8.30...

After waiting for a hour, I boarded the train....I dozed off in the train.... I was awaken by the announcement that the train is stuck & may take few minutes to start......GOD save me!!!!.. first of all late.. & upon that this problem..

Finally the train reached my place at 8.35... I had to walk from there.... its pitch dark...there are no proper street lights in the area ( a residential area.. huh.. Bangalore is much better)..the street was tooo silent..

There was no other way.. I had to run from the station.... & reached apartments at 9 in the night..... phew.. finally i made it!!! .....yay.......but got proper scoldings.. frm all sides ( I knw...I might get some now.. I am closing my ears...).... & this weekend ?? strict instructions.... not to go anywhere....boooo

First of all, a very ....HAPPY NEW YEAR... to all of u....I wish u all the success & happiness all through the year....
I knw i knw.. its pretty late to wish... but i think one can wish this any time in the Jan month....

Well, last weekend I had been to the tour for Muir woods & Sausalito.... & this time also alone... &  I was not scared (yay!!!).... but the prolem was I culdnt take the morning tour as it was very early .... soo I took the afternoon tour.. & I wuld be reaching home pretty late in the night...

Okay... after all the initial formalities.. the tour started frm SanFrancisco at 2 PM.  First we went to Muir woods National Monument  thru Golden Gate Bridge ( we stopped at the bridge for some time... for photo session..)....

Before telling about my experience in the forest.... let me tell you about the National Monument. This is named after one of the earlest environmentalist John Muir. These redwood forests that is present in the northern California costal valleys... it seems... once belonged to a person called William Kent, who donated it Federal Govt . The President then, Roosevelt proclaimed it to be a national monument.... to protect these forests....

Comming back.... the day was really sunny  when we reached Mill valley....but its just the opposite inside the forest....its dark.... & cool... sun rays just hesitate to penetrate through those tall & dense trees...... The nature is too good....one has to experience by going there... nice plesant weather to trek too.... theres a stream flowing admist the forest.... I tried to take as many photos as possible... but none of these phots do any justice to the beauty of the nature... :(

We stopped at Muir Woods for one hour... I just didnt feel like comming out of the forest... its soo good...but I had to.... Next we went to a city called Sausalito... in next journal....



 

On Sunday... well I didn’t do much... got up late (common Sunday mornings)... I wanted to go for shopping.... So got ready & went to walmart with my colleague...shopped for long time & came home at 4.30...

On the evening my friend from LA said she’ll be coming home with her husband.... Soo I cleaned up the house which was kind of mess....I was soo happy that they came… else it is soo lonely & silent here... for once I felt I was in India.... house was noisy...I felt I met her after a long time... I really had a great evening with them... one of the beautiful evenings I ever had in US... didn’t know how the time went.... Thanks to them...

Now today on Christmas... I was soo busy at home.... uploaded all the photos... & writing the journals....arranging things.... & its already night....

Finally an adventerous, exciting weekend came to an end.....will plan something the next weekend....

On our way to Twin Towers.... we saw many reservoirs .. the guide was explaining that...these are constructed for their use during earth quakes.. it seems there was a major earthquake in1906 & due to that there was gas leak & fire everywhere.. these earth quakes damages the water lines also.. sooo there was no way to extinguish the fire... soo after that many reservoirs were constructed... to reduce the damage due to fire...

Okay.... coming back to the trip.. we reached the Twin towers around 11.45 in the morning…it was pretty sunny by that time... pleasant weather for a trip.....there are 2 towers here (donno for what purpose)... From this place you can view the whole city... it is a beautiful place & u get a beautiful view of the city.....other than that..... there are places where you can do a small trekking..... & go to top of the hill.....

Then we came down & the driver took a tour of the SFO down town.. the China town.. Japan town.. the Opera house.....Market places in SFO….a street where only banks are there.. donno the name.....some of the streets here are really steep.. it will like climbing a hill... donno who constructed these roads...

The guide kept on telling the place history.. but only little went to my head…. And after roaming around the city.. we came to the travels main office & from there we had a shuttle to the train station.. it was supposed to come by 1.30.. but it came at 2..( Standard timings here also)... I had next train at 3... I was hungry by that time.. had the bread which I had packed.....& came home by 4.30...

The photos are here

It was really wonderful experience for me..... an adventurous day....

I was waiting outside the SFO caltrain station...I was wondering if I stood in the correct place….I asked couple of persons... but they were also unsure… after some time I saw the bus which belongs to the travels.... It stood quite far…. I walked upto the bus.. Thank god.. it was the bus I was waiting for......I climbed & the driver went to few hotels to pick up the passengers... & we all went to their main office...... to pay for the tour.....

After the initial procedures.. we left for the tour of San Francisco. Now I was really excited... First we went to Golden Gate Bridge (GGB).... it was a red wonderful bridge.. very majestic in the pacific ocean & looks as though it separates the bay area & pacific ocean…I took many photographs of the bridge & garden near by.... we had stopped there for half an hour & left for pacific beach.. another exciting place.....

We came to Pacific beach..... My God!!!!.. the waves were really terrific..... the pacific beach is around 4 miles.. there were not many ppl in the beach as it was chilling...& windy.. probably that’s the reason for the waves to soo terrific… It was an exciting place & I took photos as many possible.. we stopped there only for 10 mins

Then we left for Golden gate park (GG Park).... It is really wonderful park.... a big one with large varities of plants & trees.... Unfortunately the guide didn’t stop anywhere in the park.. we had to take photos only from the bus.... There are many man made lakes in the park which adds to the beauty to the park….. this park must be visited in leisure time.....

Next we left for a place called Twin Towers.... continued in next journal....

I have decided to split my experiences of the Christmas weekend into few parts as I had a great weekend ever since I came to US...Great means... it was reallllly great....words are not enough....& I don’t want to finish it in one small post .....I had been to SFO city tour & one of my friends had come home from LA....

From one week I was thinking of taking the city tour in San Francisco but I was not sure if I will be going…finally on Friday I was searching thru the net & got the link to Super Sightseeing travels which arranges for many tours around SFO. I called them just to enquire about their services.... but landed in reserving a seat for me for the tour on Saturday. The lady at their desk asked me to come to the SFO Caltrain station at 9 AM & transportation was arranged from there.. cooool!!!

Okay...I am going next day to SFO...that too... ALONE???.... for a second I was scared (it is a diff issue that I always get scared for each thing & everything...)... I felt I shuldnt have made a reservation....but done is done.. let me go alone.. it might be a new experience...or adventurous :)

Before leaving.. there were many things that had to be done.. charge the battery of the camera.. pack some food & water... few warm clothes... I did the packing & slept.... had to get up very early.... to catch the train at 7.14 AM

Next day got ready …I went running to the station as I was late… as soon I reached station, train came...brought a ticket (didn’t even bother whether it was the correct one)..& boarded the train.... GOD!! I took a wrong ticket...got scared again... I was worrying.... what if they put fine.... but the TC was very sweet.. he just asked me to take a different ticket while coming back.. phew…what a relief..

Finally I reached SFO caltrain station at 8.40…. the weather was cold & drizzling...& I was standing alone outside the station..waiting for the bus....wondering how the tour might be.. hoping it to be a memorable event....

Is my camera!!!.. Yes.. I am in love with my new camera.... just cant leave that away even for a while....I brought this cute camera (canon powershot SD630) last week...till now it has been a good companion..I take this every where i go..all my weekend went on learning this new one... & was taking photos of nearby places... I just didnt know how the time went...it kept me busy always...
Some of the photos taken from this sweetie are here

My Sweet Heart

Got this one from shayari.net....thought of posting here...

Har baar kahte ho sath nibhaoge.
Fir is sath mein itna dard kyun hai,
Itne fassle kyun hain.

Jante ho sivaye tumhare koi aur
Nahi hai is dil mein hamare.
Fir bhi hum Kyun tadapte hain ek
Deedar pane ke liye.

Har baat dil ki khahi nahi jati.
Fir hum kyun umeed karte hain,
Jaan.ne ke liye.

Intazaar mein ankhe num toh kar lete hain
Ansoo fir bhi kyun choopa lete hain

Wada bhi karte ho aur nibhate bhi nahi.
Fir bhi aitbar hum kyun kar lete hain.
Hum tumse pyaar kyun karte hain

Namaskara, Vanakkam, Hi, Hello to All of you .. Its me again.....

Wellllllll.. from where shall I start...okay.. let me tell u about my first weekend in US... hmmmm I was worrying about what to do on a weekend... coz... I cannot think of staying alone in the house for whole two days...that too in the silence without talking to anyone....I knw u might be thinking.. "Sharada can live without food.... but without talking.. never!!".. anyways thats true....

Wokay.... I had some work on saturday.... We went to bank near by... as I wanted to create an account.. so that I can have the advantages of online shopping.......then we went to grocery shop.. I saw a.. ready to eat Udupi sambhar packet.. looking at the outside packet.. it was just mouth watering... I was just thinking of the dishes I had prepared.. it was just too boring.... so I bought thinking that atleast I can have some nice spicy food once in a while...but I prepared it today.. such an awful taste.. I prepare much better than this.... I had to throw some... :(

By the time we finished shopping... it was afternoon.. we were feeling hungry... soo we thought we'll go home & have lunch.... then we'll go to circuit city.. a shop where electronics items are there.. I wanted to have a look at some cameras...... but after lunch I was watching TV and dozed of on the sofa..... then got up suddenly it was 5.30... soooo no circuit city.. :(.. then I was chatting with some of my friends.. called up parents... then slept..saturday is over...

On sunday.. I got ready...I thought we'll go the temple near by (I hardly went to temple in India... now I am thinking of going.. weird)... but my colleague told we'll go to Sanfransico.... soooo first we went to the train station near by....checked out the rates to SFO... then took a ticket... here... no person will be standing to issue tickets... a vending machine will give u tickets.. the machine looks similar to the one where we pay our telephone/electricity bills in Bangalore...

We reached SFO by 11.30 am ( first time in train too...didnt travel in train in India...anyways.. nice train)... then we went to an Arts musuem.... good thing was.. we searched our way to the musuem... thats really nice... we bought tickets & went inside. It had 3 floors... the first floor was painting section... welll.. I donno what to tell about the paintings... some of them were nice.. & most of them were just not understandable.....aaahh.. I was trying to make out what it means... & there were many students who were making notes of the paintings.... I was an illiterate there.... second floor was photography section.... this is the one.. any layman can appreciate.. that was really good......felt happy after all my money didnt go waste.... then in the third floor.. they had kept.. some meteorites... (an intresting subject to me).. there was an aircraft model....... & thats it.. we came out...

It was already afternoon.. we were hungry.. there was this "Chaat cafe" an Indian restaurant.. good... soo we went there.. I had gobi stuffed naan.. thought it will be like gobi paratha.... but it was like gobi pizza.. phew!!... it was really big.... finally with great difficulty i finished with that.. it was nice... after a long week i was having some good food....

After lunch we went to a place called Fisher's Warf by bus .... I think once it was a ship harbour... now also there were ships.. but that has become a tourist place.. visitors can go have a look at the ships.... well anyways we were not intrested.. we watched the sea for some time... I felt really good... it was pacific ocean (i believe)..... some how.... i felt i was close to India.. ( u knw in map.... its soo close... I knw u must be laughing at my stupid thought.... but this thought makes me happy)...

Then we went to the shopping places near by... it just looks like the commercial street in Bangalore.... many sales.... we went to a shop...... I thought i'll buy some memorable thing.. I looked for some of the small ship models...it was very cute... ok.. whats the price... $5.. uppphhhh.. costly... when converted to rupees.... Finally I bought a small glass show piece which had this Golden gate bridge of SFO painting on this.... its good....

When we saw all the shops.. we had to the station.. next train to Sunnyvale was at 5.. sooo took a bus & came to the station when it was 5min to 5...by the time i reached home it was 6.45... i talked to my parents.. then to some colleagues in India.... then had rice & beans sambhar (finally it got over after 4 days :D ).. for dinner.. then slept..

The weekend was over.... this week also went .. pretty fast.... and another weekend is at the door... & this time I will go to Circuit City....

Let me start with my first day in the country of dreams (for most of them in India)...One of the person in the office took us to the nearest Indian Grocery stores. Even though I had bought most of the food items from India.. I had to buy some vegetables & stuff from the stores. I bought some vegetables, bread, jam. I also bought a calling card from there to call India. I was vey happy that it was just $4 & could talk for 55 mins to Bangalore.

After reaching the apartments... I thought I'll prepare some rasam.... oops...I forgot to buy salt and also vegetable oil...God!!! what can you do without salt... Thanks to MTR Ready to eat food packets which I had got... I had that... & went to sleep...the place is sooo damn silent... After comming frm the busiest place like Bangalore...one wuld feel like the place is haunting... I didnt get proper sleep that day.. I had switched on all the lights & tried to sleep.. even a small sound.. I am awake... talked to my family members almost 3 times that night.. Finally I got up at 4 in the morning...

I was lazy to prepare anything for breakfast.... reason... no salt..Well that was the excuse I gave to myself.. u knw.. when u have to cook for urself...u just dnt feel like eating...the same thing happened to me.. I just had bread & left for the office.....

Finally ystrday I managed to get some salt from my colleague. He had it in his aprtment.. so I prepared some rasam & rice... had it for the dinner..... well I was not happy with the rasam I prepared.. it was not like what mom used to prepare.. thers something missing... but didnt knw what it was. I just ate that & slept.. today.. one light off... I got sleep..

I had same thing for the breakfast....Today I asked mom... that there was something missing.. mom told me that I had done a simple mistake...uph...Today we went to Grocery shop & bought salt, vegetable oil.. & stuff... Finally I was happy I had salt ... I was arranging things.. in the kitchen... wait a sec.. theres one box here... just looked to whats that.. & it was Salt.... uppphhhh...forget it I will take this salt home... but this will be too costly salt... American Salt...

Today I prepared beans sambhar.... this was good ... after long time I ate nicely...I am getting sleep.....will sleep.. probably with one more light off...

Its been long time I have updated my journal....time for it now.... as i dnt have anything to do......
Well... Let me start frm the begining...I started... to take my first trip abroad on Sunday early morning from Bangalore to US via Franfurt. We were there in the Bangalore Airport by 12 in the morning...and flight was at...3.20 am....we passed thru all the security check by 1.20.. & waiting to board the flight.... In 2 hrs I'll be boarding the first flight of my life...going away frm my country... away frm my ppl.... donno how ppl are there.. good??... or bad!!... Wait a minute... am I little nervous??... anxious...aaahhh.. or scared....donno what to say...like as though .. butterflies flying in the stomach.....had to bear with that... Butterflies

After a long wait...the time came to get into the biiig aeroplane... I was quite excited...went to my seat number..but oops!!.. its not a window seat... thats ok.. but there are Indians other side... good.... I sat there & locked my seat belt... & this time I knw how to unlock it....then came the announcement that.. flight will not take off till 8 in the morning due to fog in the atmosphere.... Oh no... thats was bad...but there was no choice.... finally at 7 in the morning the aroplane took off..

We reached Frankfurt at 12 in the afternoon.. which means we had missed our connecting flight to Sanfransisco... I thought they might arrange other alternative... but a dissapointment there tooo... the flight was next morning.. airlines management culdnt arrange for a hotel as it required German Visa... we had to sleep in the airport... Thnk God they gave blanket & pillow..

So next day we took the flight to SFO... & reached there on monday morning....

This was my first flight & all things that culd go wrong had happened.. good experience..Soo thats the end of the long & terrible journey.... or rather another new journey begins.....

Now I'm in the apartment all alone....started counting days.....

I just wrote this long back..... thought I post it.....

Promises are broken,

Faiths are shaken,

Dreams are shattered,

Hearts are parted

Even then,

Life has to be lived.

No matter how bitter it is,

In the end always sweet it is.

Just know one thing,

If it’s not ok, it’s not the end,

But in the end everything is ok.

This Sunday was one of the memorable Sundays I ever had. We had gone for a team outing to a place called Doddamakali Nature Camp (http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_overview.asp?resort=Doddamakali). This place is on the banks of river Kaveri and is really a wonderful place. This place is around 150 kms from Bangalore and comes near Mysore.

We left Bangalore around 6 in the morning after picking up everyone in a tempo traveller. We had breakfast in "Kamat" hotel in Channapatna. The hotel was very good and even the food. When we were near Mandya, there were lots of sugarcane carts going. All of us wanted sugarcane, so we stopped the TT and got few sugarcanes. I had only a part of what I got and threw the rest, I could not eat anymore.. it was really hard.

We reached the camp around 10.30 and sat for a while and started for trekking. We were given big bamboo sticks which will be helpful for trekking. There will be a guide provided by the Jungle resorts for trekking. First we started walking on the banks of the river which was also a kind of trekking as there were big rocks on the banks. After walking for around 1hr, the guide asked few of us to return back, as rest of the trekking was to climb the steep hill. None of us listened to him and we all started to climb the hill. The trekking was really tiring; most of them were doubtful whether they'll reach home safely, thanks to glucose which helped all of us to complete it successfully. After 2hrs of tiresome trekking we found the road which will lead to the resorts. Oh God, I was soooo happy after seeing the road.

I was wondering we, equipped with trekking shoes, glucose and many things & got tired for just 2 hrs of trekking, how did Lord Rama spent 14 years of trekking in bare foot...... really great!!

We reached the camp around 2PM and had lunch. I donno if the food was really good or bcoz we were tired it tasted good, whatever it is the food was really tasty. We finished the lunch around 4PM.

There was coracle riding where they will take in a boat (kind of boat) in the river. The coracle riding was really pleasing after that tiresome trekking.

After that we played some games like throw ball, Chinese checker, dumbcharads and left the place around 6 in the evening.

We had the dinner in the same Kamat hotel in Channapatna and reached Bangalore around 10.30.


The day was really adventurous..... uph!!!

The photos are here

The chess competition which was going on in my company finally came to an end ..... at least for me...... and I'm in the first place.... when considered from last........ at least I can say I'm first among female participants.... as I'm the only female participant..... probably I can try next time....