Guldasta

A long time ago I had tried my hand at cooking. Things were going fine, until one day I burnt the food so bad the cooking dish had to be cleaned over a week! And then a few days ago I tried making an omelette. Well, it was not a failure, but I would hesitate to call it a success either. I singed my fingers, but more than that, my omelette resembled scrambled eggs. Anyway, this and the encouragement from friends had me going for the omelette again. Only this time, it was a certain disaster.

So, yesterday, I set the pan and added oil. I was using a flexible synthetic spatula and thought to myself that this could melt. Or maybe not? Isn’t it meant for cooking? Moving on, I let the oil heat while I poured the egg mix into a cup. I avoided buying whole eggs because that is too much trouble. Instead I bought this ready to cook egg thingy. I poured the eggs into the pan and tried moving the spatula. It would not! It had melted and was stuck to the bottom of my pan. The eggs were already in there, mixing with the melting plastic. I cursed and yanked the spatula away. That spilt some egg all over the kitchen counter. I was undeterred for today I was ready to fight for my omelette and so I decided to eat whatever I cook – plastic or no plastic.

I trashed the stupid plastic spatula and pulled out a metal one. Like a warrior pulling out his second sword in the battlefield after the first is shattered. And I attacked the eggs trying to separate them from the plastic. Bad idea. The plastic came off, but it pulled along some of the non-stick Teflon coating from the pan. I cursed, again. This must be the most nutritious omelette ever – man made plastic and teflon.

After a few more minutes of heroic efforts, I did have something edible. Now, not by a far margin did it resemble eggs, but then no was looking, right? I finally did consume my “omelette”.

But the million dollar question staring in my face is – should I continue to try cooking or just accept my failure? My neighbour’s comment upon hearing this tale were “I think you should not try cooking. You could set the house on fire.”

I could hardly live without my Worldspace Satellite Radio in India. While I do not claim to be a music aficionado, music has been a love of sorts. And a odd one too, because I never carried it around with me. That is, I was never an ear buds kind of person. I would very often have music playing at home in the morning and evening as I went about my daily chores. I would almost always have music playing in my car. But I rarely have music when I am out in the open. In short, I like studio music when I am in closed spaces where other natural sounds have been shut out. But otherwise, I am easily entertained by the music of the world around us – sounds of vehicles, trains, hawkers, people, birds, what have you.

And while there are many songs that I have come to love, I also happily accept whatever the radio would send over the air. Not all radio stations are good, and obviously I am talking of the select few which I found to my taste. Some of this changed when I moved to the US last year. I realised all the recorded English music I brought along was old collection – the radio had both freed and bankrupted me! However, thanks to my friend Deepanjan, my music is riding piggy back on internet radio. Of all the people I know, Deepanjan is miles ahead in his appreciation of Western music – from Country to Jazz to Rock to Blues, he covers it all. Add to that an excellent understanding of how music is distributed and shared over the internet, and you can see what a treasure this guy is!

My current favourite genre is Country music, and though I have never ridden a horse, or played the guitar, the river sure flows in me. I listen to CMT more often than any other station.

And if you would like to know what tracks I am listening to, I have put up a dedicated page on the top right that says “humming along with …”. I will post my most played tracks of the week here. And if there is one you’d like to recommend, please leave a comment.

I was starting to miss my home in India with its good acoustics and choicest music, but less now because my music is back.