PS: I love you

I sleep in my cereal bowl

And walk the length of mirrors.

My eye-lashes wilt in Spring

And I drink spoonsful of cake.

I talk to flowers

In the potpourri bowl.

I see stars by the sun

And sweat under the blazing moon.

These distances I walk

To quiet my chattering nose.

On your birthday

I wish little puppies and get bitten

But unlike yours.

The pirouetting flowers in their descent

Sigh like you did after we made love.

The names that endeared you

I have given to doors of my house

Which I hug on my way out.

The global itch of wanting you

I feel on my thumb and a little

On my little toe.

What Time had given me

I lost amongst the broken

Clocks in my world.

And this sepia tinted present 

Envies colourful memories

Of you and me

And our two cats

Whose tails I would grab.

Today as I think of you

And feed my dog, newspaper

While reading the growing ice

In the refrigerator,

I smile at the curtains around my waist

And how you righted

My once topsy-turvy world.

Management PhD Ranking 2010

I know this is really late in the day with FT.com about to come out with their ranking for 2011. Nevertheless, here is a summary that might help. This is an annual feature I do (at least in 2008 and 2009) for the same clueless reasons as mentioned in those posts. I still think that there is no reliable and good ranking of PhD programs out there. You would need to click on the image below or ruin your eyes!

Tweet Recipes - Part 2

1. Sundried tomatoes wrapped in potato slices, brushed with herb oil & baked. Add half an olive to the toothpick that runs through this & serve
2. Brush cauliflowerlets with ginger-honey & char/grill. Mix salt+lemon juice+tabasco sauce+balsamic vin. & spray on each flower while hot.
3. Pressure cook small colacasia till tender, marinate in tamarind water+chili pow., dust with gram flour & deep fry with curry leaves+mustard
4. Mildly blanched spinach leaves (whole) fried crisp (please be attentive to the leaves) and tossed with roasted white sesame seeds
5. One ripe guava, peeled/de-seeded, processed with green chilis+rock salt+oil. Add finely chopped tomatoes if you like. Dip for nachos/grissini
6. Hollow tomatoes rubbed(in&out) with oil, stuffed with cooked parsley rice+blanched peas+harissa. Bake till crinkled and done.
7. Char grilled zucchini wedges (balsamic vin. braised) tossed in sour cream+finely chopped caramelised onions+finely cut green chili+parsley
8. Halve potatoes, scoop to make a cup, deep fry & (when cooled) stuff with mix of cooked corn+liquid cheese+chili flakes+chopped tomatoes
9. Soften rice paper (in hot water). Place basil leaf+seared crumbled tofu+peanut pow.+julienned sauteed red bell pepp+basil leaf. Roll n wrap.
10. Blanche shallot and marinate in lemon juice+tamari ;-). Pat dry and sautee with cumin seeds. Top with fresh grated ginger. Use a toothpick.
11. In thin rice-flour dough circles place a little chopped sundried tomatoes+steamed corn+mozzarella cheese, fold like a garlic bulb & steam.
12. Marinate long thin strips of cucumber in plain vinegar+lemon juice (2 hrs). Spread paste of black pepper pow.+spring-onion greens+oil. Roll.
13. Finely dice gooseberries, saute with whole garlic till tender. Add oily harissa+capers+crushed walnuts/pine nuts(optional). Dip or spread

Tweet Recipes - Part 1

This weekend I had this sudden whim to create recipes within 140 characters. I had nevertheless, stated a few things which would need to be taken for granted: Wherever I mention rice I mean Basmati, GM is garam masala. Oil - olive oil & salt will never be mentioned.

Given that, it still was a challenge to create them recipes! I enjoyed it thoroughly as it was a departure from my usual poetry/philosophy/etc. The result was 25 recipes in 1.5 days.

Most of these were created only for tweeting. Couple of them are variants to known recipes. So enjoy! As I also tweeted, I think it is my dream to distill all cooking to N vital techniques beyond which all will be pure imagination.

Each recipe below is intended to be complete assuming the basic and standard stuff are taken care of. How much to bake? How much to sautee? How much salt? Should I do this before or after stir-frying? These are things you should ask the veggies in the pan.

1. Thin yam slices, stir-fried in garlic-butter and oil, tossed with rosemary. Brushing a ginger-sherry glaze would also work fine.


2. Mashed sweet potato balls with an embedded jalapeno slice, dusted with flour, a little butter & again flour before deep frying.


3. Cooked mint rice wrapped in lettuce leaves (tied with tender chives) & steamed (like dim-sums). Mild sauteeing after steaming is also ok.


4. Marinate small, tender slit okra in chili powder mixed with tamarind water. Stir-fry okra with white sesame, basting with remaining liquid.


5. Conchiglie, cooked and tossed in balsamic-braised babycorn and charred tomato wedges with extra oil. Rosemary, basil & parmesan


6. Char oiled red bell peppers,de-vein/seed & chop fine. Add to sauteed garlic+balsamic vin.+chili pow. Cool & add sour cream+basil.Nachos dip


7. But where will you find a banana stem? :-) Sliced & diced banana stem marinated(min. 3 hrs) in lemon juice+sauteed mustard+green chili.


8. Blanched broccoli+steamed corn+sundried tomatoes+pine nuts+roasted white sesame+Feta+kalamata olives tossed in lemon+oil+balsamic vinegar.


9. Button mushrooms,stems removed,stuffed with mix of grated mozzarella+sauteed whole garlic+harissa(cheese on top).Dusted with thyme and baked


10. Tender eggplant/brinjal wedges cooked till near dry in ambotik masala+water added to caramelised onions.


11. Batter of gram(3 cups)& rice(1/4 c)flour+chili pow+asafoetida pow+salt. Slices of potato/eggplant/carrot/onion dipped in this & deep fried.


12. Diced red pumpkin+sauteed julienned red bell peppers cooked near-dry in coconut milk+sauteed onions+veg broth+curry paste.Season accordingly