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Andhra Delicacies - Pappula Podi & Gongura Chutney

Pappula Podi

Ingredients:-

1. Putnala Pappu( Fried Gram) - 150 gms
2. Dry Red Chillies - 6
3. Garlic Cloves - 6 ( Optional)
4. Grated Coconut - 4-5 tbps
5. Cumin Seeds - 1-2 tbsps
6. Salt to taste

Preperation:-

1. Fry cumin seeds and red chillies on low flame for 5 mins.
2. Grind all the ingredients in a mixer and voila the podi is ready.
3. Serve with rice and ghee. Goes well with Gongura Chutney.

 

Gongura Chutney

Ingredients:-

1. Gongura leaves - 1 bunch
2. Dry Red Chillies - 4
   
3. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Ural Dal & Chana Dal - 1-2 tbsp
5. Onions
6. Curry Leaves
7. Mustard Seeds
8. Garlic Cloves - 6 (Optional)
9. Oil & Salt as required

Preperation:-

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add gongura leaves.  Saute them for 5 mins.
2. Fry cumin and dry red chillies on low flame for 5 mins.
3. Cool them and grin gongura, red chillies, salt and cumin seeds. 
4. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds. Add urad and chana dal and fry them.
5. Add split/ cut garlic cloves and when they turn light brown add curry leaves and onions.
6. Fry for 3 mins and add the ground paste.
7. Keep adding oil so that the paste does not stick to the pan( unless you are using a non-stick pan).
8. Fry this mixture for 5-10 mins. This can be stored as pickle as well.
9. Can be served with rice and ghee or with curd rice.

Pasta

Ingredients:-

1. Sphegatti ( 1 pack )
2. Paneer ( 150 gms)
3. Capsicum
4. Onion
5. Chillies
6. Ginger-garlic paste ( Optional )
7. Soya Sauce
8. Salt to Taste

Preperation:-

1. Boil water till it starts bubbling. This is when you should add sphegatti to it. Add salt and few drops of oil to keep sphegatti from being sticky.

2. Drain the sphegatti with cold water.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add chillies, onions to it. Add ginger-garlic paste.

4. Add capsicum and paneer, and fry in sufficient oil till the paneer gets cooked.

5. Add soya sauce and sphegatti and cook for 5 mins till the sphegatti gets the flavors.

6. Serve hot with garlic bread. 

Chicken Fry

Ingredients:-

1. 750 or 1 kg Real Good Chicken
2. Chillies(4)
3. Chopped Onions(1)
4. Coriander
5. Pudina
6. Cashews
7. Garam Masala (1 tbsp)
8. Chillie Powder ( 2 tbsp)
9. Lemon Juice (2 tbsp)
10. Curds( optional)
11. Garlic-Ginger Paste (2 tbsp)
12. Turmeric Powder
13. Dhania Powder ( 1tbsp)
14. Salt to taste
15. Oil

Preperation :-

1. For marinating - Add  lemon juice,  ginger-garlic paste, chillie powder, dhania powder, garam masala to the chicken. Add chopped coriander and pudina leaves. Add turmeric and slit chillies into half and marinate all of these for 30-45 mins.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Fry cashews. Add onions and fry them too.
3. Add the marinated chicken to this and cook with a lid on till the chicken cooks.
4. If the chicken is taking too long to cook add 2-3 tbsps of curds to this. This will make chicken soft too.
5. Once the chicken is cooked fry them without the lid. Fry till chicken is roasted and turns dark brown.
6. Add coriander, pudina for garnishing at the end.

Stuffed Karela

Ingredients:-

1. Bitter Gourd  (6) - small sized
2. Chopped Onions
3. Chopped Tomatoes
4. Chopped Green Chillies( Optional )
5. Groundnuts
6. Urad Dal
7. Chana Dal
8. Tamarind
9. Jaggery or Sugar
10. Coriander Seeds or Coriander Powder

Preperation:-

1. For the stuffing - Fry groundnuts, urad dal, chana dal and coriander seeds. Grind them along with them onion, tamarind( that was soaked in water for 5-10 mins). This paste should be thick and dry as much as possible. 
2. Slit bitter gourds length wise and remove the insides. I like seeds inside and so I add them back to the fry later.  Boil these in water. Add turmeric, salt and curds. Curds takes away the bitterness. Be careful as to not boil these too much that the outer layer breaks off during stuffing.
3. In a pan heat oil. Add chopped green chillies and onions. Add Tomatoes to the same and fry them till tomatoes are completely mashed.
4. Stuff the gourds with the filling and add them to the pan. 
5. If the gourds are very bitter, add jaggery or sugar at the end( around a spoon) and fry them for 5 mins.

Home Loan - SBI Max Gain Product

Also posted on MouthShut.

I had a tough time understanding Home Loan to start with. All I knew was that a bank was ready to lend me money based on my income and it would take 10-20 years to clear the loan off and own a home on MY name. But the good news is, no you don’t have to wait so long. At least with SBI Max Gain Home Loan Product.

What is SBI Max Gain?

This a product by SBI Bank which lets providing home loan with these features:
1. Provides Home Loan as an OD account.
2. Reduce monthly interest out-go’s
3. Maximum liquidity of funds
4. Earn interest on surplus parked amount
5. Flexibility of operating Home Loan account as Savings/ Current account

How does this work?

SBI opens an OD for you where in the credit limit is same as the loan amount sanctioned. An OD account is similar to a savings account but based on security, like property, FD’s, Policies and such. Based on this assurance/ market value of these securities bank allots a credit limit to this account. And the amount can go from positive to zero to negative. When you withdraw money from this account it goes from zero to negative and when you pay vice-versa. So in case of home loan, the house you purchased is the security. And the loan amount is the credit limit.

In a savings account the interest is paid by bank to you for the amount you put in the account, in OD its the other way. You pay interest to the bank for the amount you withdraw.

With SBI Max Gain, if you park more money in this OD, the bank will pay you the interest for the additional money you parked apart from Monthly EMI.

So, your monthly interest comes down by the amount of interest bank owes you on the surplus funds parked.

Suppose you took a loan of 20 lakhs at an interest rate of 10% for 180 months. Your monthly EMI calculates to ~21500.

Total Loan Amount = 20,00,000
Tenure = 15 * 12 = 180 months
Interest Rate = 10%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monthly Interest =  (Total Loan Amount * Interest Rate ) / 12 =  ( 2000000 * 0.10 ) /12 = 16666.66

Monthly EMI =  21492 ( Calculated using Excel PMT function or use SBI EMI calculator)

Monthly credit to Prinicipal = Monthly EMI - Monthly Interest = 21492 - 16666.66 = 4825.33

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And say you parked 2 lakhs in the OD account. SBI Max Gain treats this amount as repayment of loan and so now the outstanding loan amount is treated as,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outstanding Amount = ( Total Loan Amount -  Parked Surplus Amount ) - ( Principal payed in the previous month) = 2000000 - 200000 - 4825.33 = 1795175

Interest for the current Month = ( Outstanding Amount *  Interest Rate ) / 12 = (1795175 * 0.10 ) /12 =  14959.79

Current Month credit to Principal = Monthly EMI - Current Month Interest = 21492 - 14959.79 = 6532.20
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you see, credit towards principal for the current month is increased by 1706.87. This way you can clear off the loan faster.

Also, SBI calculates interest on a daily basis. The amount of interest the bank owes you on the surplus money parked is calculated daily and then summed up for a month. The same is deducted from the interest you owe to the bank on the total outstanding.

Andhra Recipe - Pala Puri (Milk Puri)

Ingredients:-

1. All purpose flour or wheat flour
2. Almonds (5)
3. Cashew  (10)
4. Poppy Seeds
5. Grated coconut ( fresh )
6. Sugar
7. Milk
8. Salt to Taste
9. Oil

Preperation Time - 40 mins

Preperation:-

1. Fry poppy seeds on low flame for few mins.
2. Soak cashews, almonds, poppy seeds and coconut in milk for half an hour
3. Peel off almonds skin and grind all of these to make a paste
4. Heat milk and add sugar and above mix
5. Cook for 15 mins
6. For puris, mix flour with sufficient water and salt. Make marble sized balls and knead them into puris. Fry them in oil
7. Dip or soal these puris in the boiled milk and refrigerate them
8. Best served when cool

Pala Puri

Featured Blog

I have been writing online since 2003. Never did I want to make money of my writing. It was just for my own happiness or satisfaction. Never did I even want an audience for it. I was just throwing my thoughts, frustrations out into the void of internet in the form of words. In fact having an audience made me uncomfortable. Conscious. I shared my writings with only few selected trusted set of friends. I have been blogging under a different name a few years back.

But well, what the heck? Who cares about me? Who would follow me or my life? So I thought I would go public and so I did.  Around 5 years back. Few of my posts have been featured, had great audience, and have been reviewed. To be honest, one of the reasons for not going public was that I did not like critics. I hated any comments - good or bad. It was as if I was writing to meet some one's expectations. And the need for my writing was exactly the opposite. Something that I did for myself. Yeah I for sure cannot explain this complicated reasoning. I know!

Anyways, today is the first time my writing earned me money. My post - How Much Of Your Life Is By Chance got featured and MouthShut paid me 1000/-. Well, my post on Chance did give me a lucky Chance to pursue writing. Now am dreaming about writing and lately I realized am good in non-fiction than fiction. But I like fiction. Lets see! Party Time.

Life Of Pi - Movie Review

Which story do you prefer?

Also posted on MouthShut.

I picked this novel few years back, more for my book collection rather with intentions of reading it actually.This book fell in the list of "some other day". Till date I have not read the book. I heard all the reviews talking about religion and philosophy and in my life then I had least interest in these.

Last year when this movie was released, I did wanted to watch it. Just because I love movies made from books. But surprisingly I read bad reviews about this film and eventually this fell of my list of movies to watch.This year it got back on my list, simply cause I have been reading a lot about the director Ang Lee which are floating around the social networks and I decided to see his work.

I really loved the movie( I would have loved the book even more if I had gotten myself to read it).

A story of survival, religion, imagination, beliefs and most importantly how much a human wants to stay connected to something, anything a living or non-living. If you were to compare the movie with "Cast Away" I would say they two are unique in their own ways. I loved the ordeals of surviving a ship wreck, and stranded alone in the Cast Away movie more than Life of Pi. In both the movies protagonists connect with something they think is their own reflection. Something that keeps them alive. In Cast Away its a football and in Life of Pi, its a Bengal Tiger. They have conversations with these, they bond with these. Thinking of which, how much a human needs to be connected? How much a conversation with the other keeps you sane? I myself at times( ah who am I kidding
with, most of the times), talk with my pet or with myself when am alone. These very "HUMAN" aspects are brilliantly portrayed in this movie.

"***Words are all I have left to hang onto. Everything's all mixed up, fragmented, can't tell daydreams, night dreams from reality anymore***."


And does a human stop there. They form a relationship. They show their emotions, tantrums, just to feel alive. And then goes way beyond to expectations. At the end of their journey when the protagonist and tiger survive and reach an island, he cries out loud not cause he is alive, but cause the tiger left him without saying a goodbye. The entire movie runs on this theme of "never getting a chance to goodbye". This scene is the best of all.

"***I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.***"

The ending is what makes the movie stand apart. Pi narrates two stories of what actually happened. One is what we see in the movie and the other is a more realistic story that everybody especially people who are way too logical can believe in. This puts both the stories in question as to which is true. Director/ author did not leave the choice to us to decide which story is true. Rather the question is which story do you prefer to believe in? Both are stories of survival, and at the end Pi survives, after losing his entire family and past in a ship wreckage.

"***Without Richard Parker, I would have died by now. My fear of him keeps me alert. Tending to his needs gives my life purpose.***"


At the end our belief system, religion are all stories. Stories that came out of imagination or mostly from real-life experiences. How you narrate it to yourself or others, is what makes the story or the experience interesting, the trauma(if any) bearable and most importantly having all of this memorable. I need to dig my collection to read the book now!



My Ratings: 4 Star

How much of your life is by Chance?

Also posted on MouthShut.

 Who does not like everything to be under control? Not left for chance or luck? Okay, I hear you. Let me rephrase that, I am not a person who like things left for chance, I like almost everything to be under control. Not necessarily under my control. But knowing that something can be controlled is what keeps me calm, sane and wise. The moment I know that its not in my hands nor in anyones hands( which I can reach) and is left to fate, destiny, luck and blah blah blah I loose my cool. And I am the most unpredictable person that can be. Now that can be dangerous, for all I know dangerous to myself.

Does that make me boring? Not taking any risks at all? No. As long as I can avoid risk I like my life to be on a steady boat( is there such a thing? For the boat to be steady it has to be on the ground not on the water). But when there is really nothing I can do about it, there cannot be a better fighter than I am. Bold to face anything and ready to make lemonades. And I believe almost all of us are born survivors. We somehow figure out a way. Humans are the most adaptive species of all, I believe. Then why is that whenever we have to face a real situation that decides the rest of your life solely based on your luck we freak out?

Today in our apartments there was a parking lot draw. All of us were asked to meet in the basement to pick their parking slots. And this was based on a draw. And first time I was way too worried about what slot I might get with which I will have to live woth for the rest of my life( yeah that may not be totally correct). In fact they had taken off 7 slots which were not good slots. And rest of all were equally good or equally bad. And the allotment was block wise. So what was there to be worried? I could see almost all other people there were also tensed. Few had loser faces already, as if they know their luck better and were already grateful to even get a parking slot. And few were hyper that they were constantly jibber-jabbering to overcome it.

Once each of us got our slots almost everyone was happy. At least I did not hear anyone whining about their pick. So what was all the hungama before the draw? I guess what everyone wanted was to get the BEST slot. Especially in my apartment there is no BEST slot. What is BEST for someone was not the same for other. Eventually everyone was happy with what they got. If one was asked which slot in particular they wanted no one could pinpoint one single slot. All of them said "one of those slots". So choice. Power to choose. We all had the power to choose but what is chosen is left to luck.

This is just an instance, but each day everything actually happens by chance. No matter how much I fool myself thinking I have it under control. From the moment you step out of your bed to the moment when you can go back to sleep hoping for another new day, everything is run by many things that are not under your control. Yet, as long as everything goes well, we think all is under control.

So, I am trying to give up on my compulsion to know everything, to be sure of everything and to be assured of everything. But I would not give up totally, that "Chance" gets to be the star of my life. It has to be me. Of course always thankful to Chance for her role in my life!

Stuffed Capsicum

Ingredients :-

1. 4 capsicum
2. curry leaves
3. mustard seeds
4. chopped onion (1)
5. chopped green chillies (3)
6. turmeric
7. coriander leaves
8. salt to taste

For the Stuffing :-

1. 4 Potatoes
2. 6-8 dry red chillies
3. Coriander seeds ( 1tbsp )
4. Chana Dal ( 1 tbsp)
5. Cumin seeds ( 1 tbsp )
6. Urad Dal ( 1 tbsp)
7. Grated dry cocounut ( 1 tbsp )
8. Tamaraind pulp ( 1 tbsp )
9. Groundnuts ( 4 tbsp )

Preperation :-

1. Pressure cook potatoes with salt. Cool them off, and mash them.

2. Fry dry red chillie, corainder seeds, chana dal, urad dal, cumin seeds and grind all of them to powder

3. Fry groundnuts and grind them to powder as well.

4. Mix all the powders with coconut powder and tamarind pulp.

5. Add turmeric and the above mix to mashed potatoe. 

6. Heat 2-3 tbsps of oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, greeen chillies, onions and fry them. Add turmeric before you take it off the heat.
Add coriander leaves to this mix. Now the stuffing is ready.

7. Cut capsicum at the top horizontally. Remove the seeds inside and fill these with the stuffing. Sprinkle little salt on top of the
capsicums. Apply oil and microwave these for 4-5 mins.

An Year Or Less

Travelling with family( Vinod, Leo and Me) for the first time. And driving. Got to be exciting. I did not believe that this would really materialize till now, though we have been planning this for a long long time now. Tomorrow we are driving to Coorg. And plan to spend all the 5 days over there in absolute laziness. And ofcourse celebrating our first anniversary. Oh yeah its already an year. Or an year or less?

 I have been putting off my travels plans to bucket list. But why wait till the time when I am ready to kick the bucket and have no energy to actually do stuff? There really is no point in saving, and living a routine life doing the same thing everyday. We do need such trips.

Starting our journey with Coorg...lets see how it goes!

PS: May be I will start writing on my travelling experience too. May be!

 

Unfair

Here I am with around 10 years of experience, using a blogger to vent out my frustrations. I guess today's "Gen Y" janta would have twittered or facebooked or do they really have bothered about a thing in the world?

I see freshers today, and if I look back at myself when I was a fresher I see a hell lot of difference in attitude. We were so hard-working, willing to learn, explore, ambitious, and what not! Full of adrenaline to take on the world! But this person is so bindaas to say. Why? Cause nowadays its so easy to get a job? Just pass with minimum grades, and boom you are in a top MNC with a handsome package, which they have no clue of how to use or even spend. Or has the recruitment process gone so wrong that you see the college s/he comes from, hire these herd of sheeps blindly?

I think people should be tested for their focus, commitment and most importantly keeping their feathery brains in the job. For an example, I know a person to whom javascript is the only universal language, and all he is good at is patch work. If you ask him to put a teeny weeny logic(business use case) in there, boy this where his talent of escapism comes into picture. This person thinks he is so smart and that he is too good to be working on a technology of his current project. So why the hell are you here? Get lost and find a job that suits you. Why lurk around and be a burden to the rest? My question - how do these people even enjoy the salary that they get every month?

Especially this week, I have to juggle between a job, training, sick dog with almost everyday visits to Vet, and my so called personal life. When I look at these people who are supposed to be  "team members", who does not even care to attend a meeting, forget doing their job, it just feels so unfair. And I really hate them when they think everybody except them are fools, that they can lie and get away with anything. Seriously?

Well, what am I angry at? At myself? At this person? At the entire system? Or simply the irony of being the Gen X?

Best Birthday Gift Ever!

Got this as one of my last Birthday Gifts. From Leo. You can see his foot print, he signed it! Well this was one of your best gestures that I fell flat for you Vinnu

What is my EQ?

I have yelled at people. Big time. Family members, friends and even people at work. At work although it was not actually yelling but arguing logically in a raised voice. Till it happened to me I did not realize how bad it felt. Being yelled at. That too a person from work? On what earth does he even think he has that edge on me to yell at me? School was the only place I got yelled at. As far as I remember.

In normal cases my reaction is anger. I get angry, I yell back and the chain continues. But why the hell did I cry? I never cry in front of others( unless they are close to me). I did not realize the tears till the other person started consoling me. Gawd, am losing my composure, my strength. Is this me?

Anyways, lessons to learn. Yelling at people is bad. There is nothing that cannot be done with a sweet talk. With a pleasant smile and kind words. I should really admire people whom I yelled at in the past and who still put up with me. I do admire them whole-hearted today. I really do. Wish there was a way to tell them so[ May be they don't even remember. So why bother is what my wicked side says!].

From internet on why people cry?

We have tear ducts to lubricate and protect our eyes from dust and other particles.

The ducts are under the upper eyelids and produce a salty liquid—a tear-–-that gets

spread throughout the eye after each blink. Animals too have the ability to produce

tears, but not necessarily for the same reasons that we humans produce them.

Three types of tears are generated by the human eye. Basal tears protect the eye and keep

it moist. Reflex tears flush out the eye when it becomes irritated. And emotional tears

flow in response to sadness, distress, or physical pain.

Studies have shown that emotional tears contain more manganese, an element that affects

temperament, and more prolactin, a hormone that regulates milk production. Sobbing out

manganese and prolactin is thought to relieve tension by balancing the body’s stress

levels and eliminating build ups of the chemicals, making the crier feel better.

But this minor physiological benefit aside, the most likely reason we produce emotional

tears is because it’s a means of communication. Before babies can speak, they can cry.

The only way for infants to express frustration, pain, fear, or need is to cry. Adults

may use crying to bond with other humans. Expressing sadness can prompt comfort and

support from peers. Different languages can provide barriers to spoken communication,

but emotions are universal. There are also culturally acceptable reasons for crying

that bring people together, such as at funerals or weddings.

It can also be a survival mechanism, notes Jodi DeLuca, PhD, a neuropsychologist at

Tampa General Hospital in Florida. ''When you cry," she says, "it's a signal you need

to address something." Among other things, it may mean you are frustrated, overwhelmed

or even just trying to get someone's attention, which DeLuca and other researchers call

a ''secondary gain'' cry.

On top of that, crying may have a biochemical purpose. It's believed to release stress

hormones or toxins from the body, says Lauren Bylsma, a PhD student at the University

of South Florida in Tampa, who has focused on crying in her research.

Lastly, crying has a purely social function, Bylsma says. It often wins support from

those who watch you cry. Sometimes, crying may be manipulative -- a way to get what

you want, whether you're asking a friend to go shopping with you, your spouse to

agree to a luxurious vacation, or your child to get their math homework done.

Locked Up

I am not lost, I am home in a 3 BHK apartment which is MINE. All MINE.

I am not all alone, I have a pet for my company. A pet that sleeps all the time due to the medication that he is on. Who is bored of me, he is more excited when the maid or some stranger is at the door rather when I am home from work.

I am not bored. I have other animate things ...television, a laptop, and a mobile, for an occasional laugh, talk. Or for whiling away my time...but for how long?

I am not scared, as its not dark or silent in here. Thanks for all the noises I hear around all the time, to keep me awake. Firstly, thanks cause these are not the noises in my mind...rather by the workers in other apartments busy with their jobs. I wish I had such a job that makes noise to tell me that am still alive. That am awake and not sleeping. Actually, my dreams are more action filled than my days alone at home. Wish I could be drugged like my dog and sleep all the time.

I don't feel trapped or choking. I always wanted this freedom, time, all for myself. But now I wonder what to do with all this, all by myself?

I am not sad or depressed. I am very hopeful. How much I wish for my phone to ring, or for a ping or a calling bell. But even when they do, is it for real and forever? At the end of it all, I am back to me, myself and Leo.

On the verge to insanity...Leo and I are desperately waiting for you to come home...Vinnu

PS: No more WFHs. As always work is something that comes to my rescue in need.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Got this from one of my friends at work...


Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of all purpose floar( Maida)
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 2 tea spoons of baking powder
• 1 cup of drinking chocolate powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of curdled milk
• 2 tea spoons of vanilla essence
• 200 gms of melted butter

Preparation:

1. Mix first 4 ingredients and keep them aside
2. Bring milk to medium heat and add vinegar or lemon juice. Once the water separates from milk cool it off and keep it aside
3. Beat eggs, vanilla essence, butter and milk together
4. Add the floar mix gardually and make a paste
5. Grease the pan and pour this mix into it
6. Use auto-cook menu for Chocolate cake or use Cook + Bake Combination at 110 c.

Multiplying Happiness

Some one today, when I wished them happy weekend replied back saying "multiply your happiness". I did not know what he meant, but usually they mean kids when they say that. Being a mother is something that I always wanted to be. My strong maternal instincts is what pushed me to get a pet. But lately I have been thinking that I have built too many boundaries around me without my knowledge. For almost an year we did not travel anywhere cause of my pet.

He is like a kid who constantly needs my attention, care and most importantly my time. He at times becomes too much for me. All these days I was able to manage him cause of my Mom. But NOW, I do not think I can manage all of this AND my job the same time.

I seriously think and have been hearing from people that kids may multiply your happiness but they also divide it, not both operations by the same amount though. I was in an illusion that am a good multi-tasker, but not really. I can only focus on one thing at a time. And when am on something am 200% on it that rest of the world seems oblivion to me. And kids into my life? Wow, the thought scares me! I used to love kids, but unruly kids just irritate me. Now I do not even touch those mean little things. I should be the meanest person to say this, I know ;-(.

Its not even an year and everyone around me is expecting the next big thing to happen to me. Why are all of them always on deadlines? I know the biological clock is ticking, but why should life be on a run?  We both surely have a long way to reach there. I wonder how people are having their second kids and all.

I just need a breather, I just need to ease off from these expectations, peer-pressure, milestones and what not. I want to be just happy, not happiness multi-fold. I am already feeling old. I want to be young talking absolute nonsense, irresponsible and dreamy, lost in a world of imagination than reality.

Demeanor

Should your behavior change based on situations, environment, people? Or you should be the same person with your so called attitude everywhere you go no matter what the situation is? Obviously no one is same as they used to be in their childhood. I am not the same person I used to be few years back forget childhood days. So why do people forget demeanor is an important aspect of how much they are respected or admired for?

"Don't confuse my personality and my attitude because my personality is ME and my attitude depends on YOU"
 
Situation 1 - I was with a friend A of mine in a common meeting. And this person A is not from engineering background. But whenever there is a question or competition A was participating 100% and was bent upon winning the chocolate. It did not matter to A how big or small the gift was. It did not matter if A's answers were right or way too stupid. All that mattered was the chocolate. That is how a kid behaves. And I find it quite amusing. Being a kid, with no inhibitions, I think in situations like this is a good to have behavior.  In the same situation I did not care for those chocolate nor did I care to compete. I wrote the answers and I had 99% of them correct but did not try to show it off. Why? Probably I thought chocolate is not a big enough thing to win or I cared less. At times I fall short of few things and this was one.

Situation 2 - I was talking about FUN at work with my college friends. And one of them is managing a team, and she old me that fun means different things to different people. FUN at work is mainly meant for team building activity and not to entertain and keep the engineers rejuvenated. If given a chance each individual would like to get rejuvenated in their own way with their own preferred set of people( or family). I was on an outing the other day and I totally do not get why people force me to do something which I am scared of or which I do not want to do it. Is that fun to me? These people have no special bonding with me other than hi-bye relationship, but in the outing they behave as though am their best buddy and they want me to go with them. Why? Are they guilty of doing something themselves? Or are they scared themselves and want people like them also to be on board? I seriously think going to places like Wonder La with scary rides is not a good idea for a team fun. How should one behave in such situations? Should one be a team player and go on rides that scare the life out of them? Should one just stick to what suits them best? If the answer is former, why should one suffer their opinion of FUN for the sake of team? If the answer is later how do you enjoy events like those?

Situation 3 - My friend in the above situation manages a team which has good number of women. She said, "I do not want women in my team to be a source of entertainment for the rest, and as a manager I need to take care of those subtle team dynamics". Dictating how women in her team should behave in front of  rest of the team is part of her job? I do not know. I know that my friend has right intentions, being a conservative lady. And I do believe there SHOULD be limitations on women's behavior but each individual is responsible and be sensible of their own behaviors than someone telling them.

I guess mostly Women always face more of these behavioral questions than men. Somehow what a man does, gets unnoticed. But what a woman does becomes talk of the town. Till the narrow minds of men change there are going to be comments on how a woman behaves in public or socially, from the same men who enjoy the jolly good times in their company. Such hypocrites they are! So I guess my friend is right that one should guard themselves and not be a source of gossip or entertainment.

Women - the days that Gandhi dreamt of have not come yet in India. So be on check, be on guard and be protective of yourselves. Happy Women's Day!