Coloured...

I've been thinking about getting my hair coloured for a while now and my friend A finally decided it for me by saying "I am going to Nalini &Yasim to get my hair done, should I get you an appointment as well ?" A is posh that way, what with getting her hair styled every two months, she almost never has bad-hair-days. I on the other hand seem to have an occasional good-hair-day, where my hair and I don't look like we have been in a cat fight, if you know what I mean. So I decided to tag along and accordingly we booked our appointments well in advance (with the one that I have been visiting all these years, all I need to do is present myself at her door step and she accomodates me). The receptionist at Nalini &Yasim asked if I would like anyone in particular (I was like WOW, not only do I get a proper stylist I get to choose who does my hair) and when I told her it was my first visit, she put me on to Nicole who is a senior stylist.

On the glad day I arrived at the salon with an army of butterflies fluttering in my stomach. First, I have NEVER coloured my hair (OK I occasionally do apply henna but thats about it), second I've never seen the insides of a professional salon (OK been to Enrich a couple of times) and thirdly I was scared I would stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the glamorous Bandra ladies (we went to the Bandra branch). I've nothing against Bandra, infact I share an emotional bond with it, for some reason when ever I am at Bandra I feel like I've come home, it is the only place other than Andheri where I get this feeling. OK I'm digressing, so coming back to the point, I told A about my pre-salon visit jitters and she brushed them aside with a "Once they are done with you, just see, you'll be looking like one of them".

I was presented to Nicole and I knew I was in good hands the minute I saw her. I told her what I was looking for and she heard me out patiently and then explained what she was going to do with my hair.

Nicole: First I'll give you a cut, give it a few layers, so there will be some movement happening (till then the only movement happenning with my hair was the frizz that set in after each wash) and then we colour it a deep red with hints of brown. I know you won't want a bright red, so on the whole the finished look will be very muted with just a hint of colour.

My faith in Nicole just got a stronger from that point on. In the next fifteen minutes she gave me a haircut in which to be honest I couldn't recognise myself. I always wanted a layer cut, but was always told "it won't look good on your hair", Nicole not only gave my hair layers, she gave it a new lease of life. Post the haircut I was dispatched to get my hair washed and shampooed. Then it was blow dry time and really funny as a guy was blow drying my hair and running his hands through my hair with gay abandon, now to be honest the only guys who have touched my hair are my dad and possibly my brother when as kids we must have had one of our tear-each-others-hair-out fight.

Then the colouring began, she applied a bright red colour goo on to hair and looking at the apprehensive look on my face burst into laughter saying "Don't worry your hair won't be this bright, when we are finished". On alternate strands she applied a white colour creme and stuck the whole thing into bits of foil, by the time she was finished with me, I looked like an alien out of a George Lucas film. Then I was dispatched to get a complimentary back and hand massage while I waited for the colour to set. After forty five minutes the foil was removed and my hair washed, blow dried and set. The result a brand new me with soft manageable hair that swishes as sways at each flick and a colour that is so rich but muted...I'm never going back to my boring black again :)

Now I just can't resist mirrors...:-p

End of an E(l)ra !!!

Hi El,

It truly is an "end of an ERA" for me... for as Monica says...."An era is a significant period of time...", I want to let you know that the time spent with you is indeed a significant period of time and I will always miss your sunny smile and positive disposition.

I am going to miss you big time for now...
who will irritate me till I want to punch the living daylights out of the next person who happens to innocently ask a question...
who will walk around telling me "you are so much OLDER than me :p"
who will give me a hug when I'm looking low,
who will update me with the latest gossip floating around the floor...

I'm sure you will do well and it goes without saying that you will always remain a part of my life... hope we are able to meet as often as possible in the years to come and heres to many more years of the friendship we share...

Cheers
Sen
 
My colleague and friend EL leaves the company after close to five years, we started off hating each others guts, but over the years we have become the best of friends...will truly miss her when she isn't around :(

Mutter Paneer

Simple dish with great flavours...

Ingredients:
250 gms Mutter (green peas)
250 gms Paneer ( Cottage Cheese)
2 large Onions (grind to a paste)
3 medium sized Tomatoes (pureed)
3 big cloves of garlic (grated)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
1 tbsp Garam Masala powder
4 tsp Cooking Oil
Salt to taste

Method:1) Defrost the green peas and keeps aside, I prefer to use the frozen variety as you can use them straight after defrosting and need not boil them seperately.
2) Cut the paneer into small pieces and shallow fry on tawa, ensuring that they get slightly brown all over and keep aside.
3) Heat the oil and add the onion paste, fry till it is half cooked.
4) Add the grated garlic and cook till the raw smell disappears.
5) Add the tomato puree, chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt.
6) Once the moisture evaporated (about 10 mins) add the peas and a glass of water and cook for a further 15 mins till the peas are well (you can add more water if you want a more gravy like consistency).
7) Add the fried paneer and bring to a boil then let it simmer for a few mins.
8) Serve hot with chappaties or bread.

Chole a la Sen...

This is a very simple way to make Chole, it is delicately spiced and tastes just great.


Ingredients:
250 gms chickpeas (soaked overnight and boiled, retain the water used to boil the chick peas)
2 medium sized onions (grind to a paste)
3 medium sized tomatoes (pureed)
3 large cloves of garlic (grated)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Chole Masala
4 tsp Oil

Method:
1) Heat the oil and add the onion paste and fry till about half cooked.
2) Add the grated garlic and fry till the raw smell dissappears.
3) Add the tomato puree and turmeric powder and cook well.
4) Once all the tomato is well cooked add the Chole masala and mix well.
5) Fry for another couple of minutes and add the boiled chickpeas and water used to boil the chickpeas.
6) Incase you feel the Chole is turning dry, add a cup of water.
7) Check for seasoning, add salt of required(I put salt while boiling the chickpeas).
8) Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.
9) Garnish with corriander leaves and serve hot with chapatties or bread.

I love Westside!!!

As it happens I shopped at Westside last July for something suitable to wear on my birthday and purchased a light pista coloured dress which had rubber prints on the kurta with silver embroidery down the front and matching dupatta with silver buttis, I fell in love with the dress the minute I saw it. Since it was a special dress I wore it once on my birthday and then packed it with me when I left for Singapore in October.

In Singapore once in a while I would wear Indian clothes instead of the normal western stuff and as I neared the end of my stint in Singapore, I decided to wear my beautiful green dress to work, accordingly I fetched it from the suitcase and wore it. I just happened to sit down to pick a clip that I dropped on the floor and there was loud RRRRRIIIIIPPPPP, to my horror I found the churidar had ripped in at least a dozen places. To say that I was shocked is an understatement, I had worn the dress just once in July, second it was from Westside, a Tata enterprise and you don't expect Tata products to rip like paper the second time you wear it and to be honest it had cost me a fair bit of money !!! I just about had ten minutes to pull my myself together and organise something else to wear to office.

After that the suit just languished in my suitcase and when I returned from Singapore in December, since there was no space in my luggage (thanks to the mad shopping that I did) I asked a colleague who was also travelling to India later that month to bring some stuff back for me, the suit was part of that package. I finally got my hands on the package and in turn the suit in January and kept procrastinating the task of going to Westside to get it either exchanged or at worst just leave it with them in case they refuse to exchange it.

Finally today I forced myself to go Westside and I was pleasantly surprised that they accepted the suit  - no questions asked whatsoever, even though it was about nine months since I had purchased it and did not have the bill on me (they traced the bill through my membership number). The Customer Service Associate simply stated "Madam, since this is a quality issue we will exchange it, please select some other merchandise and we will issue you a credit note for the value of suit that you have returned". At that moment I became a die hard Westside fan, the customer service has just floored me!!!

Language Skills - Gujarati

Off late I've taken up learning Gujarati, before you go off on a tangent let me clarify that there is no Gujarati guy that I'm trying to impress (empraeess as the Gujju will pronounce it) or patau as it were, so hold on to your horses.

Its just that I have too many gujarati speaking colleagues and friends and believe that a language is best picked up by hearing and speaking it, so have enlisted my colleague as my Guru and she on her part has taken her task rather seriously.

These are the first two important sentences that I've learnt, which according to her will help me sail through most conversations.

1) one is to be used when anyone ask how are you -

Conversation

Question : Tame Kem Cho ?? (meaning-how are you?)

Reply: Badha Majjama... (meaning-I'm fine or the popular 'All is well')

2) The other to be used when everything seems to be going the wrong way, she is of the opinion that we should not console ourselves with the dialogue made popular by 3 Idiots ..viz. All is Well...

Instead declare to all and sundry...Tel leva gayu badhu...meaning the world can go take a hike...

I intend to keep updating this post with sentences that I learn...

3) 14/04/2011 - Su Khadu ? - Meaning what did you have for lunch ?

4) 15/04/2011 - A ane hu ghar jaaoo chu, tu besine kaam kar... meaning A and I are going home, you sit and complete the work (we are nearly drowning under all the reporting deliverables that need to be sent out by EOD today, hence this dialogue thrown at me :-p).

5) 18/04/2011 - Mane katala aveche - Meaning - I'm bored

6) 19/04/2011 - Chal farava jaeye - Meaning - lets go out
                        Jamva mate chalo - meaning - let go for lunch
                        Su thayu ?? - Meaning - what happenned ?

7) 20/04/2011 - Hu nikadu chu - Meaning - I am leaving
                        Mane Vaar lagse - Meaning - I will take some time

8) 21/04/2011 - Tu taru sambhad, hu maru sambhadish - meaning - You look after yourself & I will look after myself

9) 25/04/2011 - Sau boghi che... - You are a lost case - total duffer

10) 28/04/2011 - Mane koi vando nathi/ Koi Vando nathi - I've no problem with this/ No Problem
                        - Anu matlab aa che / Anu matlab aam thaiche - This means this/ I meant this                  
                        - Aje hu tane be vakya sikhwadish - I'll teach you two sentences today.

11) 29/04/2011 - Mara ghare ravivare, ghana badha mehemaan aavana che - I have lots of guests coming home on Sunday.
                        - Mate mare ghani badhi taiyari karvani che - I've to do a lot of preparation for them.

12) 12/05/2011 - Mara bhai bimar che, atle hu ghare ekli jaish - My brother is ill, hence I will go home alone. (I normally get a free ride to anf back from office as my brother and I work in the same area).

13) 13/05/2011 - Mane kai padi nathi, jane je karnanu hoi te kare – I don’t care, everyone can do what they want…

14) 16/05/2011 - Biju kai kahevu che ? – Do you want to say/ add anything else ?
                         - Aa bija mate che – This is for others                        
                         - Aa mara mate che – this is for me
                         - Bau saras che – This is very beautiful                     
                         - Peli chokri bau sundar che – She is very beautiful
                        - Pelo bahu chikno lage che – He is very handsome

15) 17/05/2011 - Mare vual odva che – I want to comb my hair
                       - Hu vual odu chu – I’m combing my hair
                       -Tame mara vual odi aapsho – Will you please help comb my hair ?

16) 18/05/2011 - Main aje jamva ma idli sambhar banavya che – I have made idli sambhar for lunch today
                        - Chal bahar jamva jaieye – Lets eat out today
                       - Chal aje baharti jamvanu mangaviye - Lets order takeaway for lunch today...

17) 23/05/2011 - Tara vakyanu mara upar bau asar thai – Your sentence had a profound impact on me
                        -  Aje vadadiyu hatu – It was cloudy today
                        - Varsaad aavyo – It is raining
                        - Hu bheeni thaiyu – I got wet

                        - Hu varsaad ma bheeni thaiyu – I got wet in the rain

18) 26/05/2011 - White color na dhokla sara che, tran colour na dhokla nathi madta – The white colour Dhokla is quite nice, however the three colour Dhokla (Sandwich Dhokla) isn’t available…

19) After a long haitus... 01/09/2011  - Hu aaiya rahu chu - I live here

                                                         - Hu Andherima rahu chu - I live in Andheri.

                                                         - Tame kya raho cho ? - Where do you live ? (this is to be used   

                                                            when  addressing elders)

                                                         - Tu kya rahe che ? - Where do you live ? (this is to be used

                                                            when addressing someone younger to you)

Why I shouldn't shop for jeans with J...

Its party time at home as my sister is getting engaged tomorrow and I am having a nightmare getting myself organised for the function. First there was this fiasco with my blouse, I have now developed a phobia of tailors, come on these guys cut things for a living, they are very very dangerous people and  the one I had the misfortune of meeting has affirmed my worst suspicion. To add to it the mehendi applied to my hands looked hell bent of spreading all over the place as it dried, I have attached a photo of how it looked when the mehendi was applied, I really have no heart to inflict the photo of the finished product i.e. how my hands now look post the mehendi being removed... hideous comes to mind... Now I'm thinking of ways to hide the damn thing tomorrow, probably will have to wear a couple of dozen of bangles on each hand by the look of it!!!

First things first, let me tell you the story of how I learnt that I shouldn't shop for jeans with J. Every time there is an occasion that demands for a saree I land up at my tailor and beg, plead and threaten him to please make me a decent blouse (by which I mean something that I can wear in functions teeming with assorted aunties, uncles, grannies, grandpas, without giving any of the aforementioned a coronary, you get my drift), because my tailor feels "If you have it, flaunt it" and he is the kind that just won't listen to what I have to say, he will make the blouse the way he wants to. Also this time I went a little OTT and bought myself a really exquisite saree and decided that I needed to go to a really good tailor who would do justice to my saree by stitching a blouse that would complement it perfectly. Accordingly I spoke to P, she lives at Ghatkopar which is teeming with gujjus who are connoisseurs where sarees and blouses are concerned. She enthusiastically agreed to bring me to a couple of tailors in her locality. Accordingly I arrived at the tailor and told her what I wanted, since my saree is made of Georgette, I decided to have transparent cap sleeves, decent length in front and a good fitting (as the Princess Cut is a tricky piece of work)  if you aren't very careful the thingies that were burnt by the liberated woman in the 60's would show like no body's business. The allowance I made was that she could keep it a little deep at the back, but since I wasn't going for a very deep back I wouldn't need a doori (I'm very allergic to anything too girlie) and made it abundantly clear that under no circumstance was she to put a doori at the back. A doori is nothing but strings attached to either sides of the blouse at the back, which are tied once worn and it helps to keep the blouse in place where the neck is too deep, thereby avoiding chances of costume malfunction with the blouse falling off your shoulders. She charged me a bomb to stitch the blouse Rs.775 plus Rs.30 for the lining cloth and asked for an advance of Rs.500 which I promptly paid her. This is where I made the first mistake, she looked dodgy and she pocketed the money but didn't mention anything on the receipt about the advance paid. Instead of getting her to rectify the mistake I told P about it, but she also said I needn't worry too much, this was my second mistake I should have listened to my gut feel and got the amount updated on the receipt. P offered to collect the blouse for me as Ghatkopar is on the other side of town and would be a huge hassle if I had to travel all the way just to collect a blouse. As it is I had spent over Rs.300 to and fro get to Ghatkopar for stitching, so the blouse was actually costing me Rs.1,000 already. Then the ordeal began...

P went to the shop to collect the blouse on the agreed day and was told that the blouse was just on it way, she could settle the bill while she waited for it. She agreed and accordingly fished out Rs.305, the lady demanded Rs.500 more, to which P told her of the advance, the lady's demeanour underwent a drastic change and she flatly refused to acknowledge the advance, no amount explanation worked and at that point she said the blouse was not ready, P could come in the evening to collect it. A teary P called and narrated this incident to me...given the situation it was now of utmost importance to get the blouse, whatever condition it was in, from the tailor. I called the lady and tried to reason, finally when it was abundantly clear that she would not budge, I told her to keep the blouse ready and that I would pay her the full amount. I left work a little early and after spending half an hour somehow managed to find a rickshaw willing to go to Ghatkopar (the round trip to Ghatkopar cost me Rs.250). The blouse now costs Rs.1,750 plus mental stress that I cannot put a price on. When I arrived at the shop the blouse wasn't ready, I waited patiently and after a good 30 minutes...the grand piece of work arrived, she had ignore each and every one of my instructions. I now have a blouse that had lining in the sleeves, the neck is so deep that it went any deeper it would be a backless, the hooks that are needed to keep the blouse in place at the shoulders are missing, it is so short that it looks more like a bikini top with sleeves and the piece de resistance....she put a DOORI at the back. When I pointed out that I had specifically asked for a blouse without a doori, she pulled out a scissor and snipped the doori OFF...more like "off with your head".That's when I lost it... I paid her the money, gave her a piece of my mind and told her that she had lost business of close to Rs.50,000 thanks to her behaviour (I planned to bring my sister here and refer her to other relatives for the wedding clothes) on hearing this bit of info, she seemed to have something of an epiphany with regards to the Rs.500, but it was too late...

I narrated my sorry tale to my colleagues at office and said I learnt that it is better to stick to the known devil, at least I know what to expect, A shot it down with "Don't be an Ass, the lesson to be learnt is that you need to learn from the experiences of others, go to tried and tested places and better still use the experts, who asked you to go blouse stitching with P, would you go shopping for jeans with J ?". A little background, my friend P is mostly in jeans and the only blouse she has owned in her entire life is the one she stitched for her wedding and J doesn't like jeans very much and is almost always in salwar suits or the most exquisite sarees.