Angel Space

Our new Cookery Blog :)

angelspace — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:33:23 +0000

The girls and I have a started a new cookery blog for people like us who are exploring cooking .

Check us out here.

My lil drop in the Ocean

angelspace — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:50:13 +0000

We often forget how fortunate we are and how thankful we should be for everything we have and also for certain things we don’t have.

Patriotism drives a lot of things I do.

I also feel deeply for the young children on our streets, who do not have Roti-Kapda-Makaan and basic education.

Forever, I have felt responsible to do something for them and forever, I’ve been running away from it.

I have always strongly felt that guaranteeing education for children in our country will bring us one step closer to improving conditions of living and eventually make India one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Today, I took one lil step towards that responsibilty. And I feel so much better already. So very much better, that its made me blog again (all the love my blog has received from tweeple has also helped greatly).

From tomorrow, 17th of November, 2009 , I start classes for poor children and young women in the area, who live on the streets and work in houses in the locality for a living. English and Math. 2 hours a day, 2 days a week.

This is a part of something much bigger that I am working on at the moment and planning to implement soon(will keep you updated).And I know If all I do is plan, I wont get any where. So I start here.Baby steps

I know my classes aren’t going to change the world overnight, but its my little drop in the Ocean, and I believe, every drop counts.

Im telling myself its ok to feel detached, but it isnt.

angelspace — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:14:48 +0000

Love Thy Neighbour

angelspace — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:12:03 +0000

I studied for 2 years in an Indian school in Saudi Arabia and another 6 years in an Indian School in UAE, after which I moved to India.During the time I spent at school in the Middle East, I’ve played, studied,danced, and done everything else that kids do at school with other children who hail from our neighbouring country Pakistan. The only time I had anything against Pakistanis was during a India-Pakistan cricket match in Sharjah.

I dont know where the hatred grew.Maybe it was Kargil that hurt me.All those men who dedicated their lives so that we can goto bed in peace everynight. Maybe it is all the bollywood movies where a Pakistani is, in most cases, the bad guy.How many movies have a Paki guy as the good guy?It just doesnt sell.

I told myself, that there is no point in hating something so much for reasons I have no control over.Its just negative energy.And just when my hate level was decreasing, 26\11 happened.And this time I was deeply hurt.I cried.They raped my country.I cried.

Again, I had all those unanswered questions in my head.Why does Pakistan do it?Is this what the people of pakistan want?Is this hatred there somewhere deep down in the heart of every pakistani?I thought about it so much that eventually it reached saturation and the questions started fading.But I was hurt, and the hatred remained.

I came back to Dubai and joined my new office.Dubai is a spectacular city literally built up from nothing by Indians (Mallus in particular) and Pakistanis.Everytime I meet a Pakistani, there is an awkward pause in the conversation after the ‘Where are you from?’ question.My face gets the ‘hurt’ look and I go speechless.

After two such incident with people who have been really nice to me(A paki guy at work even helps me with my bags when I juggle with my camera , handbag and gym bag), I told myself , that its not the people of Pakistan and I told myself that I shouldnt keep such hatred.

I’ve improved in the last couple of days.I had some interesting converstaions with Paki taxi drivers on my way to and from work. About how similar Lahore and Delhi are and about holi celebrations in Lahore and projects coming up in Karachi.And the less hatred I accumulate, the more positive I feel.The more positive I feel, the happier I am.

I cannot hate every Pakistani because of the actions of its leaders.I wouldn’t want anyone to hate me for the things that the guys who run our country do.

Lets just follow what JC said, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ (even if he is a pain at times), because they are all not realy Bad people .

Live, let Live and Love.

Dubai…and my slice of it

angelspace — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:12:51 +0000

Dubai.I dont know what to think of this city.Is it messed up ?Or is it only the slice that Im being served that is messed up?I look around and see people who are either so busy making their careers that they dont value their relationships or people who put so much into relationships that even relationships themselves dont matter.(Confusing, I know!)

Makes me wonder if values and relationships are really that meaningless.Do people here literally live by the phrase ‘Business is the business of building relationships’ and build them for solely business?

I hope there is more to this city than what I see of it today.More of the Dubai I left years ago.

*(I apologise to people suffering from phobia of the word ‘relationship ‘for its excess use in this post )

The strangest connections….

angelspace — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:54:41 +0000

I was shocked to see my mother ,who usually socialises mostly with Indians,happily chatting away with an arabic looking female at the reception area of my brother’s bulding.What shocked me even more was that she had found the strangest connection with them.When I walked over, she introduced me.She then turned around and told me that they were Syrian Christians, like us(Nasrani)!The only difference being that they were actually ‘Syrian’ and we were Syrian coz our ancestors were either Syrians or Indian Namboodaris converted by the syrians who came on the same ship as St.Thomas. Appa insists thatour ancestors were syrians and that that explains his bald patch!When he was in Iraq, the Americans even called him Saddam’s brother (Coz of his Middle Eastern looks. I know Saddam was not Syrian!)

Back to the real syrians.They were suprisingly overjoyed to meet us and even invited us over.My Appa went on to discuss prayers in ‘Suriyani’, which was an indication that we were gonna be standing there and talking to them for a loooooooong time!

Amma even thinks lil ‘Lucas’ is cute and even mentioned he is a lil older than our lil Mary aka Kunjus!!!(Hope this doesnt turn out to be like the half a dozen guys my mom promised to get me married to when I was a baby) :D !

so where are you from…??

angelspace — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:37:13 +0000

I went for lunch the other day with 3 other Indians(2 Mallus and a Mumbaiker) , a Pakistani, 2 Iranians, and an Egyptian lady(Hey, does this sound like the beginning of a ‘people on a plane’ joke ??;) ).Somewhere during lunch, some one asked Fake Mallu 1, ‘So, where in India are you from ?’ and he said ‘Bangalore’. Fake Mallu 2 said ‘Im from Bangalore too .’ And when asked , I very honestly said Bangalore.

‘Hey, are we on a table filled with fake Mallus ??’ came a comment !!

Fake Mallu1 and Fake Mallu 2 have never been in Blore for more than 2 days !

Ive decided, ill just say Kerala next time, even though i just dread being called a Malabari !

Music for all kinda Souls

angelspace — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:14:41 +0000

Quick post to Introduce you to this Amaazzzzzzzzzzzzing set of Radio stations from the AOL Radio guide.Click Here.

Koramangala Bites

angelspace — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:42:05 +0000

I had terrible Pani Puri here today.The only good thing about it was that it inspired me to write this post.

I cannot let People keep having terrible Pani Puri and never know how good this stuff realy tastes.So,Im not only gonna tell you where you can get the best Pani Puri in the whole of Bangalore, but also wat I believe are the best places for Momos, Chinese, South Indian, Coffee and much more.

I know many of you might not agree with the list below, some like my dear friend Sandy may even say, ‘Hey, all this is in Koramangala and Koramangala is not in Bangalore’. To the first lot, all i’ll say is,give it a try.To the second lot,you cant disown the best part of the city.

Lemme start with my favourite.

1.Pani Puri : In front of Maharaja Hotel, 4th Block, Koramangala.For those of you who have never had roadside Pani Puri before, yes I said in front of Maharaja Hotel coz its usually at road side stalls with a bright red piece of cloth hung on a side.

The mouth watering Pani Puris served here will keep you coming back for more.

2.Momos : Popsies, A Tibetian place,near Jyothi Nivas College(Guys,stop pretending you dont know where that is coz which ever part of Bangalore you are from, I bet you know JNC).Popsies is situated next to Empire Hotel (yea, the mallu place) and in the lane right across the road from Chung Wah.

3.Anythin South Indian & Great Coffee : Sree Krishna Kafe, 1st Floor, above Kairali Restaurant,next to Anand sweets,Canara Bank Road, Koramangala.Their Idlis melt in your mouth and they serve the crispiest of Dosas along with a variety of yummy chutnies.A lot of coffee lovers I know have admitted that the coffee here is one of the best coffees they’ve had.SKK was also in the running for the Best Coffee in Town which was a competition held by TOI.

4.Chinese : China Pearl.Just a lil down the road from Sree Krishna.The Best chinese I’ve had till date.

Now you know where to head for Pet-Puja when ur in K-town!!

Thats all for now…Im just heading off to sleep now..Good night People….sweet dreams..and yep…stay away from those bed bugs

Mutiny in Print

angelspace — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:38:07 +0000

Oh…btw…Mutiny is out in Print now and you can subscribe to The Mutiny Magazine at www.mutiny.in. It’sjust 300 bucks for an annual subscription,if you are in India and 25 dollars, if you are else where.And you stand a chance to win an Apple Iphone.If you already have one, dont worry, you can give it to me if you win.

Good night , once again!!