A detailed report on How to make Momos. Oops!! …How to ‘watch’ Momos being made :-)

[Disclaimer : Dev loves to eat; but that does not, in any way whatsoever, means that, he had a role to play in preparation of the Momos.]

Ladies & Gentle-ladies,

You have loved them, and you have hated them. But you can’t ignore them. I am talking about the delicious Tibetan Momos. And I swear, it is indeed an art (or I guess science) to prepare them.

So here is the complete recipe and a step by step guide to you know what -

 

Ingredients

1. 1Tbsp     – Blessings of Dalai Lama(!)
2. 5Tbsp     – Blessings of Tibetan Gods of Steamed Food
3. 1MB        – Google (for recipe)
4. Rs 500     – Financial stabilty (for purchase of consumable ingredients)
5. 67 Kg       – A patient guy like Dev
6. *** Kgs     – Two Friends as cooks (NK & AA)
7. 10 Mins    – Prayers

 

Procedure

Step 1 :

Once you have arranged all the above mentioned ingredients, it is time for step 1. This is the most critical of all steps, because it is here, that we procure our secret recipe. You really need to be careful to find an authentic source for the recipe (for general & primitive information, check here). Once you get hold of one good-enough recipe, you need to either get a print of the same or rub some pen on the paper to note down the recipe, as depicted below –

 

Step 2 :

As you can see in the picture given below, you need to take flour or something really similar, and add water to it. Then you need to punch it for quite some time (a helpful tip here would be to remember something, like office work), till it attains a form similar to the one shown below. This is known as the Dough

 

Step 3 :

Circular shapes, for thousands of years have intrigued scientists and novices alike. A circular shape, neither has a start, nor an end. So,since we need to make circular discs from the dough, you need to find a real pro. And the pro I found was so fast at work, that even my camera had trouble getting a nice stable shot. (Pro=AA here)

 

Step 4 :

According to a great book ‘Zen & The Art of Momo Stuffing’, you may use the stuffing prepared from vegetables, along with spices etc, to stuff the discs. And once you have put the adequate amount of stuffing, you need to seal them to form dumplings. Now, I would like to share an experience here. Never underestimate the importance of sealing the dumplings. Because if you don’t seal them properly, it would result in a mess, that even great cooks won’t be able to handle.

(Pro=NK here)

    

 

Step 5 :

As you can see, the dumplings have been made. They have been properly sealed with emotions and are ready to be given a hot steam bath.

   

 

Step 6 :

Before placing the dumplings on the tray with depressions, you need to oil the depressions. This is done (I guess) to prevent the dumplings getting stuck. So, once you have oiled the tray, slowly and with great care, place the dumplings onto it and cover the lid. After that, allow the dumplings to have their share of steam bath for around 10 minutes. Beware though : Some dumplings might decide that 10 minutes is a much longer time than they can comfortably handle. So you need to be careful. This is where the above mentioned 2 Pro friend’s experience came into play.

      

 

Step 7 :

After the stipulated 10 minutes, you can open the lid and if your prayers (check ingredient list) have been answered, you will witness something like this.

 

Step 8 :

Nothing happens without the blessing of the powers above. So thank the Tibetan Gods of Steamed Food and serve the Momos with hot red sauce and juices (if you have more time to waste, you can read my earlier Juicy Adventures)

 

[Credits for preparation of Momos : NK, AA]

[Credits for consumption of Momos : Dev]

An Autobiographical Audit (AAA) of my life in 2009

Since I am no organization but an organism and I don’t have the luxury of getting my life audited like the corporates like Satyam , and since I believe that a thing which cannot be measured is useless (unless it is love), I decided to audit myself. A year has gone by and there can be no better time to audit my life in the past one year. This auditing will be helpful in knowing whether what I have been doing this year, is aligned with the overall philosophy of my life or I am just being pushed around by life? This will also help me in creating a sort of road map for the next year – Though I won’t be getting into the specifics, I will try to outline (what I can approximately) call, my new year resolutions.

So why am I publicizing my private resolutions here? – Because men perform best when they have an audience.

[Caution: This can be boring and you can be tortured with the gory details of my life in the rest of this post. So if you're not interested, click the “small-cross-in-red-aura” button at the right top of the page.]

Travelling

2009 had been a year of travelling thousands of kilometres. And to add authenticity to my claim, I did a rough calculation. And I arrived at a figure of around 28,000 Kms (!) (excluding my daily commute to office, which individually would come to be around 7000 Kms)

I visited many new places in 2009 like Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Diu, Mandavi, Somnath, Mumbai, Mundra, Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Pokhran, Tanot (India-Pakistan Border), Beawar, Pushkar, Panipat, Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Bengaluru & Vadodara. I undertook a trip to the Thar Desert on bike, travelled endlessly on trains & at one time, almost died climbing on the Aravallis.

Places I did in 2009

Resolution for 2010

• I will visit atleast 5 new cities this year. (Past performance of doing more than 15 cannot be sustained in future. As it does take its toll…physically & financially)
• I will visit Ladakh or North East India or both (!) J Amen.
• I will visit Kolkata, as it is my last unvisited original metropolitan of India.
• Buy or get myself gifted with latest edition of Lonely Planet.

Online vs Offline Life

I confess that I spent a lot of time online in 2009. And when I was not online, I used to be in offline world of my laptop. Now that is not the best thing to do.

One of the major time wasters for me, has been a game called Mafia Wars. I have been addicted to it. Those who are themselves suffering with this disease, will understand the importance of a single Energy Pack. And I used to literally, give calls/SMSs to my friends to send me an energy pack!

I always knew that somewhere within me, was a bad guy!

I even tried Farmville, but Mafia Wars was more of my kind and with God (of Time)’s grace, I lost my interest in Farmville (otherwise you would not have been reading this post and I would have been on prolonged blogging break)

But I have experienced that, there have been times when instead of grabbing a piece of paper and pen to note down something, I used to start Notepad!! Now how bad is that. ‘Very’, I will say. And I seriously condemn this approach of mine. And being an avid gamer, I had some bloody gaming sessions, but my passion for gaming is still as alive as me.

My blog Lumuhuku won the award for Best Personal IndiBlog for 2008 too. You can read me being boastful or check the authentic source here.

Resolution for 2010

• I won’t be spending more than 2 hours per day being online and not more than 4 hours per day in front of the computer.
• Every alternate weekend will be completely offline.
• I will not get addicted to any new online addictions this year.
• I will nurture Lumuhuku. (Now, I have no idea about what I mean by this)

Work life / Education

As 2009 was the first full calendar year, when I was working, there was not much scope of education. But I did manage to do a certificate course in Intellectual Property Rights. And it was really enlightening and beneficial. Though it was not directly related to what I work on but, it’s fun to learn something new and different. Life has changed a lot from my college days and waking up in the morning and having a routine is quite an experience. I have learnt a lot on my work and have got involved in a really secret cult. It is a sacred cult and not all can be the member of the same. It is called the cult of Office Life. I consider all the books and magazines I read as my source of education and I have read a lot many books in 2009. Some of them, which I can remember are Eat That Frog, 2 States, Losing My Virginity, Babyji, The Lost Symbol, 48 Laws of Power, Kite Runner, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Godfather, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Screw This Screw That Screw Everything and a few more.

Resolution for 2010

• Innovate something new at work. (Because routine work is done by everyone. Great work is done by someone and innovative work is done by The One.)
• Do another interesting certificate course in an altogether different field.
• Read a book by Ayn Rand which is not Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. (Yes. Objectivism still rocks!!)

Relationships / Family / Friends

2009 was a really bad year for me as I lost 2 very close family members. And in another shocking loss, a really close friend.

Resolution for 2010

• None.

Health

2009 was a year when initially I did pay attention to my health, but later on, neglected it. I am even guilty of buying a cool Mountain Bike and not using it at all. It is gathering dust and though I see it daily, I have not eaten my frog.

Resolution for 2010

• I will join the gym and be regular for 5 days a week for atleast 30 weeks.
• I will use my bicycle (mountain bike) and clock atleast 60 Kms a month.
• I will make ‘running’, a part of my daily routine (if there is any such thing).
• In terms of fitness, I will look and feel better on 31^st December 2010 than what I was on 31^st December 2009.

Materialism

I have bought myself 3 gadgets in 2009 – laptop (Vaio), digital camera (Cybershot) (no I am not a die-hard Sony fan) & a cellphone (HTC Touch 3G). And as of now, I don’t think I would like to buy anything else in 2010.

Resolution for 2010

• 2010 Gadget Budget = Rs 0/-

There have been ‘n’ number of downtimes during 2009 and downtimes are never complete without the lessons learned. A few which I could gather last year were:

• There are alternatives.
• There should be no plan B. Because if it is there, Plan A gets screwed up.
• “कुछ भी अच्छा करने से डरना नही चाहिऐ ।” i.e. you should never be afraid of doing something good.  – This looks simple but is a really powerful lesson which I have learnt.
• When you are passionate about something and you focus on helping others, the universe conspires for you. J
• Fear is constant part of our lives. But if we accept it, we become stronger.
• Answer to 99 out of the 100 questions in this world is same – Money.

And I read it somewhere that – We usually overestimate what we can do in a day but underestimate what we can do over the year. So, I make a commitment to myself that I will do anything and everything to see that I work towards completing my resolutions. And hey, did anyone here me saying – When I commit to myself, then I don’t even listen to myself.

GodSpeed 2010.

Thank You

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Lumuhuku has won the Best Personal IndiBlog 2008 Awards.

It could not have been without you all.

And, to tell frankly, I never expected to win it. There were others who were better. Much better. But I would not complain.

I am really happy and cheers to Lumuhuku!!

You can get your own share of statistical orgasm by checking out the poll statistics.

And I would like to thank everyone who ever came to my blog, accidently or intentionally.  :-)

And how can I not thanks Indibloggies? Thank you guys (and gals) and the jury members.

Regards

Dev

Commitment & 2 Crazy episodes of my friends’ love lives

I recently came to know about 2 really crazy incidents in love lives of my friends.

A friend of mine was in a so called committed relationship with a girl for the last 6 years. Then just 3 months back, the couple had a fight over a pity matter. For the next one month, they didn’t talk to each other. Then one fine day, my friend received a wedding invitation! And can you guess who the wedding couple was? It was the girl my friend was in relation with & a rich guy she had met in a wedding, just a month back!!

As far as my friend is concerned, he is devastated. The girl got married and went to the US. And my friend still hasn’t been able to figure out about what has hit him.

The second incident is of a friend who was going out with a girl for the last couple of years. He was well off and both were in love with each other. Being a committed couple, they frequently used to discuss about their ‘combined’ future. Then one day, the boy’s family showed him a picture of a girl they wanted him to marry. My friend, though not whole heartedly, allowed his family to set up a meeting between the girl and himself. They met in a ‘wedding’[got the hint?] and my ‘dear’ friend decided that it was time to move on. Very soon he got married to the girl he met in the wedding and went to the US!!

His ex-girlfriend is as devastated as my first friend. Even she does not know about what hit her.

As you must have understood by now that the girlfriend of my first friend got married to my second friend; who dumped his long time sweetheart for someone, he met just a month back.

This entire episode leaves me with a blown head and one simple question –

What actually is Commitment (!!)?

2 friends and 3 questions

This post is about two of my close friends. [Disclosure: Both are awesome & both have a bright future. And, I myself look upto them for advice.]

Here I have decided to do a sort of personality post mortem. I am listing 5 of their traits which can be compared. But due to obvious reasons, I shall not disclose their identities. And to those, who eventually do realise who these guys are, it is my humble request to kindly refrain from making any disclosures.

If I say that I have never been judgemental about both of them, then that would be wrong. I have been.  But that is irrelevant. All I want from the readers is to think. To compare and if possible, give their views.

So why do I want to do this? It’s because, I want to know what others feel about these 2 guys. I know a lot about both of them and sometimes try to analyse where both of them are heading. It’s because of this that I have an urge to know what others feel about them. Or you can say that I want to test a new concept called crowd intelligence.

So let’s get to the point.

Let’s call my first friend as F1.

• Believes that he can do anything in life, if he wants. But does not ‘usually’ put in the required effort. But when he does, it’s magical.
• Believes in proper planning & preparation. But when it comes to the execution part, his interest or motivation starts going down.
• Has a good enough job, which he wants to be his last. Wants to start something of his own. But there are also times when he wants to join his dream company; which contradicts his vision of starting his own venture.
• Wants to do many things at a time. This sometimes leads to him doing nothing. But when he does something, it is really class apart.
• Is ready to go to any length to nurture a relationship, even if it is not being reciprocated from the other side. This sometimes leads to, you know what…pain.
• Passionate, different, unsatisfied & questioning [Words that are apt for F1]

Now here is my second friend F2.

• Believes that one can’t get everything in life. So, does not think king size. But he knows what to do in his limited capabilities.
• Knows the power of planning and preparation. But believes that its better to get into action straightaway and then change the plan as per existing circumstances. Is not a firm believer of the concept of detailed planning.
• Has a good enough job, which he wants to be his last. No, he does not want to start any company. He just wants to retire from his present organization when he reaches 60.
• Focuses on one thing at a time and completes it before touching anything else. Does not believe in doing things ‘awesome’ly. Just wants to complete things.
• Is not ready to put much effort into relationships. Believes that relationships grow as they ought to grow and are eventually decided by destiny (God).
• Result oriented, protocolish, satisfied & abiding [Words that are apt for F2]

__________

In the end, I have 3 questions to ask –

1. Is it better to be like my friend F1 or F2 and why?
2. Who is more likely to go higher in life? Assuming lady luck is equally favourable to both of them.
3. Why am I playing the God here? [OK, no need to answer this one]

Lumuhuku for President !! Yes We Can !!

Hello everyone, I have some news…

Lumuhuku has been nominated for Best Personal IndiBlog Category for the year 2008.

And I am delighted to be nominated alongwith bloggers, whom I look upto. So am I good enough to win? Not at all. Just check the blogs in the category Lumuhuku has been nominated, and you will know why. They are all so terribley awesome!!

But if you can vote for me, then I will be really very thankful to you.

Here is a step by step guide to vote for Lumuhuku –

1. Click here to go to IndiBlog voting page.
2. Go to the category “Best Personal IndiBlog” (Sr. No. 16) [its way down the end of the page].
3. Find & click on the radio button in front of “Lumuhuku”.
4. Click Submit.
5. You will be asked to fill up your e-mail ID.
6. Once you submit your email ID, you will receive a confirmation mail with a link. Click on the link and that’s it. You have voted in my favour. Thanks.

And if anyone is so sweet enough to further my cause, by posting on their own blogs, then the person shall receive a really big thanks from me.

 

 

 

 

And if you want to know more about the blog’s author, you can read it in About Me section. You may also find it interesting to read about the Things that Dev wants to do before he dies.

But that section has been written a while back and I would like to add here that Dev is a Lamborghini fan, a-guy-who-always-wanted-to-play-guitar-but-could-never-do-it-actually, bookeater(!) and stock market stalker by passion. You can read a few more of his posts to know him better (if you have time to waste ) like –

Poems – I am still waiting for you, Discrete Moonlight

Travel – Desert Biking Trip, Journey To Nowhere, Aravallis Trekking, South India & 48 Hours train journey

Fun – Curse of the alarm clock, Lewis Hamilton’s Letter to Obama, Paris Hilton on Fa(K)ebook, A letter to Fernando Alonso,  Shri Shri Rock On Akhtar Ji Maharaaj’s Holy Teachings, Dream Lunch with Warren Buffet

Emotions – Love, Sacrifice is disgusting, My shadow is the only one that walks besides me.

Theories – Orbit Theory of Life

Help my cause & ….

PS – Voting has started 25^th November and will end on 10^th December 2009. The results will be announced on 15th December 2009.

Real meaning of 48 hours & visuals from my trip to South India

What are 48 hours? Nothing much. Just 2 days. This is the obvious response that I expect from any normal person. And even I was such a normal person till now.

But thanks to a train journey to Chennai, I realized what 48 hours actually meant.

My organization decided to send me to Chennai for some work and I swear that the first things that came to my mind was coconuts & lungis(!) [Nothing personal here] I was excited at the prospect of going to Chennai as I had never gone so south in my life! Also, this shall help me add another city to the growing list. [Note – One of my aims of life is to visit 100 Indian cities. Read other such aims here]

And the train route which IRCTC’s site had allowed me to take, was about 2500 Kms, starting somewhere in Rajasthan, then passing through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & finally to Tamil Nadu. And though my decision of not taking my laptop with me was born out of sound reasoning like ‘why take a liability while travelling’ & ‘security’, I did realise about the graveness of my mistake, much later on.

It is very rightly said that when you don’t want to get bored, then the entire universe conspires to bore you. I had my reservation in II AC; which unluckily got upgraded to IAC. And that too in a coupe! Now, it was not me, but my fate that decided that, Dev will spend his entire journey talking to just one person who would him in the coupe, and not many like there are in IInd or IIIrdAC. And apart from Ahmedabad, there were no big stations in route to Chennai. Luckily, I grabbed this opportunity, and bought a fiction. Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States.

For those who have already read it, might recollect that a major chunk of the book is written with Chennai as the background. And this was indeed a great help to me, as I could make tentative plans about places to visit in Chennai. [Thanks Chetan...your book acted as a guide book for me].  And let me add a nano-book-review here – 2 States is much better than One Night @ Call Center & 3 Mistakes of my life. But still, not as magical as Five Point Someone. Though, I strongly recommend this book.

Only problem with the book was, that I devoured it in less than 4 hours. And I was left with nothing but magazines, some songs in mobile and an old person besides me to communicate. And I still had more than 1500 Kms still to go.

This was the point when I realised that sleep is also a means of entertainment in such a long journey. Though I don’t sleep much, I had no better options. So I slept. I slept whenever I had nothing else to do. And just imagine how frustrating it would be to have someone staring at you continuously? This act was performed by a Tamil Nadu Tourism’s poster depicting a tiger, which had huge eyes staring out of the poster all the time. It was terrible.

One night when I was about to doze off…it just came to my mind, that apart from a stupid update, I had not written a post for a long time. My blog was in a sort of dead state. Somehow, after my Desert Bike Trip post, I did not have any inspiration to write. But, as they say, out of desperation, courage is born, so is this post. In the middle of night, I started writing this post in ink and paper…

[Please don’t analyse my writing – Its universally known to be pathetic]

So, after travelling in train alone (effectively though), I did eventually realise that 48 hours is something huge. It is actually a lot of time. I don’t want to give a lecture here, but we can utilize our time in ways that are unimaginable. Time is power. Real power.

I finally did reach Chennai, after, you guessed it…48 hours on train. And frankly speaking, I have never before been so happy to see a railway station.

And after reaching the city, I travelled as much as I could. Went to Marina Beach, T. Nagar, another beach whose name I cant remember, Mahabalipuram, Kovalam beach and likes…

Below are some of the pictures which I shall share with the readers…

Marina Beach – Chennai

Mahabalipuram [Above & Below]

Mahabalipuram Beach

Kovalam (Not the one in Kerala )

And just to make it sure that I don’t have any lack of reading material, I bought some of these…

And once I finished my journey, I realized that I was not wrong in buying these

And by the way, Chennai is much more about Coconuts & lungis…its a beautiful place and a lovely city. Though language was a problem for me. But it had its own charm.

[P.S. – After Chennai, I went to Bengaluru & Ahmedabad...but I have no pictures to share from there due to reasons known to the virus which fell in love with Bengaluru & Ahmedabad pics.]