It's Just As Your Mamma Told You...

The traffic in Chennai is getting worse everyday. The past couple of days it took me an hour and a half to come from Mount Road/Anna Salai to Anna Nagar. The number of cars have increased multi-fold. This isn't anything new, but NO ONE OBSERVES THE TRAFFIC RULES! In bumper to bumper traffic today at Nungambakkam High Road the foolish person behind the wheel on the left most side of the road turned on his right indicator and took a deep turn! People honestly need to know where they want to go!

I use the brake more than the accelerator. I think my speedometer showed like 20km/Ph or so. Anyways, while I was stuck in this signal, there stood next to me the ever threatening MTC bus. If there is one thing I'm scared of while driving its the MTC buses. They are the Rajas of the road. I respect them a lot 'cause no way do I want to die in front of one.

So ya, in the aforementioned bus which was spilling with people there stood a row of pakka rowdy type boys behind some pavum girls. Theses guys were singing and playing beats on the roof of the bus and basically making a public menace of themselves.

That's when I saw the look on the girls' faces. FEAR with a capital F.

The guys were standing SO close to the girls. I felt extremely sad that these girls were not able to afford any other kind of transportation and had to undergo this kind of unruly behavior. Women are always targeted. You can wave your women's lib bras saying we're equal to menfolk but it is stupid to ignore the obvious fact staring right at you.

How many times have you been felt up in a crowd or have been on the receiving side of lewd glares? You may be the bravest most smartest woman around but once you've had a bad experience where you've been molested or harassed then your perception on life changes in an instant. I don't mean to say that women have to shut themselves at home and never set foot outside. I am totally for the independence of women financially or otherwise.

But we need to be aware of what lines not to cross. I've seen girls literally throw themselves at guys and make such fools of themselves. There a girls whose first aim while entering a room is to scrounge for good looking guys and make sure that they catch the their attention. They flip their hair, flatter their eyelashes and talk decibels louder just so that everyone knows that she is in the room. There are some people who naturally exude confidence and grace and they attract a different set of eyes but there are a select few who specialize in grabbing eyeballs.

Islam commands women to cover their modesty or hyyah. We are taught how to act and behave in public places. Basically we are taught not to make fools of ourselves. But this, as all things are, is not practiced by every Muslim. In fact Muslim girls are the ones who practice a high degree of immodesty.

Being modest does not mean immediately wearing a burkha, a niqab, covering the face and being anti-social. Modesty is knowing your limits and protecting your hyyah.

There are girls who, Astagfirullah, wear their hijabs in the most provocative way. There are also girls who do not wear hijab but dress so modestly.

It's easy to say "I can do whatever I want but men have to learn to keep their hands off me ". But girlfriend, once you have a bad experience all that goes right out the window.

Basically it's just like your Mamma told you - Better safe than sorry.

Benjarong

There is no sincerer love than the love of food. -George Bernard Shaw

While on a holiday in Bangkok a few years ago I had the opportunity to tase the most amazingly fragnant and delicious tom yam soup.I don't know the exact ingredients that go in but it looked like a mess and tasted like heaven. A few things that went into the soup were mushrooms, lemon grass, prawns and lots of different Thai herbs and vegetables. Due to the lack of halal food we had to make do with drinking this alomost everyday. No complaints there.

So, this weekend we visited Benjarong, a Thai resataurant in Alwarpet. Yes, I know its been there for a long time but I never got to go.

The decor is very subtle with a lot of Thai influences. There was a sleeping Buddha here and a dragon there. Lots of whiny Thai music too. Near the entrance one chinky looking girl in a traditional kimono type dress was sitting on a little dais peeling and carving carrots.

For all the scene they put I thought the food would be bad. How wrong I was! Samma yummy it was! I wanted to take pictures but the glutton inside me didn't want to wait. I did manage to overcome that and click three photos.

For starters we had tom yam soup. Super yummy it was. But thanks to all the kaaram, full nasal leakage only. We also had kimono wrapped prawns. Cute, I know. It tasted even better. The lamb something crispy was to die for! It was fried oh-so-gently with peppercorns and was crispy and soft at the same time.










Main course was rice noodles, Thai red curry and white rice. Thai cuisine is mainly know for the aromatic herbs and spices used. It is also known to incorporate the balance of the five fundamental tastes in each dish : kaaram, pulippu, inipu, upu and kasappu.





Benjarong amalgamates all this perfectly and forms one beautifully presented meal that is sure to leave your taste buds begging for more, although your stomach will burst from the excess food.

Location : TTK Road, Alwarpet, Chennai. It is right opposite the road that leads to Samco Malaysian restaurant. It is a one way road. Do not go in the opposite and direction and get stuck like my brother did.

WOOOHOOO! Not.

It doesn't FEEL like a new year. Few years ago new year was a HUUGE thing. My family and I we used to go out for dinner every year. People used to go crazy on the roads and everybody would be all "HAPPY NEW YEAR! WOOOHOOO!!!".

Ya, that doesn't happen anymore.

When I look back at 2010 I'm mad at myself for having done nothing substantial. I feel like going back in time and doing everything better than the last time. Three hundred and sixty five (sixty six if it was a leap year) days seem to have gone by so fast. The past year did give me a few life changing experiences. I did make a some life altering decisions and for that I'm happy.

I know it's not wise to look back and wonder why I wasted time. This year, God willing, will be much different. I will take each day as it comes and make optimum use of it.

I do not have resolutions per se but just certain goals that need to be accomplished. And oh, I also want to be a better person 'cause the last year yeah, not so much improvement in that department.

Also, I will blog regularly. I'm such an embarrassment to myself. I've had this blog for three years and I've just had over a hundred posts. That is how committed I am. How depressing!

But yes, this year all that will change Insha Allah.

Starting with loosing all the oodels of weight I've gained eating pasta and Toblerone.


Starting now.
Right after I finish this piece of Toblerone.

Final semester of college.



Four years are gone. Just like that.

I was nine years old when Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone released. Everybody were raving about this book and all the magic it contained. I scoffed at the fact that people were reading a book that was about wizards and magic. It seemed all too trivial. But boy, was I wrong.

I started reading it first out of boredom. But as I read chapter after chapter I realized that all the fuss that surrounded this book was well worth it. Rowling continued to release the subsequent books and I pre-booked my copy every time for the measly 10% discount that Odyssey gave. I read the books in express time. I read them at dinner and at lunch tables. My eyes got redder and I'm sure my eyesight grew worse leading to the soda buddi glasses that were increasing in size. I loved Ronald Weasely's wit. I wanted to drink Butterbeer and visit Hogsmeade. I wanted an owl. I wanted a wand. I wanted to see Rita Skeeter. I was in shock when Sirius Black died. I cried when Dumbledore fell from the tower. I basically lived a few years oblivious to everything else but Harry Potter.

As a child I read a lot. I did the usual ascending in reading children's literature. The farthest I remember reading is Enid Blyton. I've read every Famous Five, every Secret Seven, Mallory Towers, St.Clare's, Mr.Meddle, Amelia Jane, The Faraway Tree, etc, etc. But after that there was a void. There was nothing in between, connecting children's literature to the those of teenagers. My mother deemed it quite scandalous for me to read the Sweet Valley series at that precocious age (but I did read it behind her back). Harry Potter was that missing link.

Harry Potter is more than just magic, wizards and wands. It's a book that has more morals and character than most of the other books I've read. Harry Potter taught me to be brave, to choose good over bad. It taught me that it is okay to take the wrong path but it is important to come back to the right one. It taught me never to let down the people we love. It taught me never to misuse the power or authority that we've been given. Harry Potter taught me to stand up for what I believed in, that it doesn't matter where you come from but it does matter who you grow up to become.

I've always liked books and authors that have an underlying moral. Enid Blyton taught me that it was okay to dream. Wuthering Heights taught me about passion. Jane Eyre instilled in me the concept of unyielding self-worth.

The story of J.K.Rowling is an example enough. The idea for Harry Potter came to her when she had nothing. Literally. It is quite obvious that she wrote this book from her heart. It was the only thing that could either make or break her life and that devotion is seen so clearly in the book.

There are critics who find Rowling entirely laughable. The Vatican banned the book because it promoted 'magic'. There were rumors doing rounds that Dumbledore was gay! But Harry Potter is beyond all that. It is beyond magic. It is one woman's dream and hows she achieved it. It is a way of getting children to read again. It is revolutionizing children's literature. It is about failing tirelessly but experiencing success in the end. It is about the joy of taking the journey with Harry and enjoying every bit of it. It is about waiting for months for the book to be released. It is about that anticpation for something wonderful.

It is about adventure, the joy of reading and the happiness it brings.