Happy Birthday to Little Buddha

Its special, its 25, Wish you a very special wonderful happy 25th Birthday. May you live a healthy, wealthy, trouble free, stress free, backstabbers free life wherever you are !! P.S : I only wish i could wish like this, From wishing birthday every single day to not even able to wish on the 25th birthday, how fucked up I've made my life to be !!

Dexter Season 7 - The Wait...

I just managed to catch a 2 min sneak peek into Season 7 of Dexter. If you had been watching Dexter, you'd know that season 6 ended with a bang, Deb watching Dex make a kill. So the entire fan world wanted to know how Deb would react and How Dex would get himself out of this mess. Well, this sneak peak just ups the ante for us fans, even if it was for 2 mins, the chills you get on watching this is incredible. Check it out yourself !! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzzwNUBc2Z0

The Magic of the Marriage Mug !!

This past week i attended a marriage ceremony of one Mr. Prakash who is the brother of my close friend Nivash. It was not a normal big fat Indian wedding rather it was a very small ceremony with close family and friends. He had invited a few of us, his close friends from college to the wedding at The Trident Hotel, Chennai. So the 10 of us decided to meet and then proceed to the marriage hall but as usual plans changed, and it was just 3 of us from my place and rest joined us directly at the wedding. We all had a gala time at the wedding talking and teasing ( Venky being the butt of most jokes ). Once the marriage ceremony was over, there were elders who wished the lovely couple with thoughtful speeches and then the gift giving ritual started. Now this is where the Nivash family surprised us. We noticed that they were giving out gifts to people who came up the stage to wish them. It was a very new gesture and we were all so eager to get ours, Venky even wanted to go and wish them early since he noticed that the gift count was going down pretty quick, but we still went late and were among the last set of people on the stage. We found out they were giving out coffee mugs, hence our interest waned a little. Once we wished the couple and posed for the photos, we were subjected to a new surprise, we were told that each gift had the name of the person it was intended to be given to, and so we had to take our gifts accordingly. Once we opened our gifts, we were in for the best surprise, all coffee mugs had pictures of its respective owner. Obviously now everyone was so excited to see what picture of theirs adorned their mugs. Some praised nivash for this lovely thoughtful gesture, but glee in everyone's face after seeing their pictures on the mug was priceless. Nivash made sure now noone would forget this wedding that easy. Now, what would nivash do for his wedding is the big question ? :P Below i have posted a picture of the mugs, enjoy :)

Plate and Pixels - The Hindu

This article is entirely sourced from the newspaper "The Hindu - MetroPlus". How can food be styled and shot? Experts talk about the growing interest in food photography They are ideal photo models. They come in endless varieties, stay put through the shoots, throw no tantrums, and are happy to pose on tables. Sure, they suffer meltdowns in the heat and excitement, and sometimes wilt. That's okay, say their photographers. There is nothing we can't fix with a little make-up. Too far gone? Replace them! We “prepare our subjects well,” says K.L. Raja Ponsing, founder-director, Ambitions4 Photography Academy. “We make them look good on brochures, cookbooks, restaurant boards, hoardings, menu cards and newspapers.” Food photography (FP) is huge business now. Raja's Academy has FP in its curriculum. Well-known photographers boast of expertise in FP. Our new-found love for international cuisine has launched a tribe of specialists in food photography. One of them, Arun Natarajan, says, “In FP you have one goal: create the temptation to grab and eat.” “Photography is a special aspect in promoting food,” says G. Venket Ram. “The incentive to taste the food is dictated largely by its sight. So make the food visually appealing. I think of the most effective possible lighting to bring out the true character of the dish, without compromising on its authenticity.” You have to love food (that's bad?) to bring that appetising look, adds Raja. “Subjects such as beverages, ice-cream and steaming hot food demand fast work,” says Arun. Gather a team, says Raja. Chefs for specialised cooking, food-stylists to enhance colour/shape and arrange food, someone to clean up. “We set-up a kitchen next to a studio or go to a hotel or create a studio and shoot.” “Quantity of food and presentation are crucial. Get a lot of reference about the food before you start. Decide the final design, collect material props (plate, cutlery, tablecloth/top, bowls, mats, flowers/statues),” suggests Raja. Try different compositions, different angles. He takes five shots of the same food for different ads. “Feels like variety for viewers!” I've heard about “masking” food for appeal. Shoe polish for roasted effect, mashed potatoes for ice-cream cones… “We do use undercooked food,” agrees Venket Ram. They lose texture, colour, when under harsh lights for a couple of hours. “But we try to stick to the original ingredients. The most we do is brush some oil to make the vegetables or the main ingredients glossy.” The fresh look Sprinkle raw carrots, tomatoes, spring onions, curry leaves on rice varieties for colour, says Raja. Start with dummies, bring fresh food later. Veggies/fruits/ leaves/flowers get a coat of glycerine for that “glistening, fresh look. Cold drinks and juices are misted with a spray-gun for the frosting effect. Dry ice or burning joss sticks go behind ‘steaming' tea or coffee. For rice, it's from under the colander. Containers are packed 80 per cent with dough (in plastic wrappers), pulao, sambar, soup fill the rest. Only 20 per cent is real stuff. Cooked meat isn't photogenic, so it's raw meat.” Mallika Badrinath, whose cookbooks are used by a cross-section of grateful home-makers isn't all gaga about these made-up models. “My pictures show how varieties can be made — of murukku, rice, juices, they match the everyday, practical recipes meant for young first-time kitchen goers,” she says. “My books go to kitchens not drawing rooms/libraries.” For international audiences, maybe she'll get exotic pictures, but “I don't want pictures far removed from real food. What use are they if the food doesn't come out tasty? Both taste and looks must be given equal importance.” Lesson for you consumers! Photographed food is often inedible. You can't get in restaurants what you see in brochures. You can't get that cook-book “look” at home. Those “artificial elements” are for ads. Appreciate the photograph, and order the real stuff. Capture the Flavour : Shoot from a lower angle. A fork's eye-view leaves food looking taller, majestic. Try minimum-focus pictures. The one butterfly pasta in front of the plate tells the story of the entire meal. Brush food with some vegetable oil. It makes the food look hot, and wet too. FP specialists use pieces of coloured paper, upside down glasses, or even bottles of coloured cleaning liquids. Use only the best examples of food. A blemish can ruin an entire photo shoot.

Lonely !!

Its a Lonely world out here
Only the soul remains
A tainted one though...

Love Marriage - Path of Self Discovery

The opinions are solely mine and please don’t take it too personal. I don’t want to be bombarded with questions. And don’t blame me if I am having an arranged marriage J

This is for every man and woman who understood/understands/will understand the simplicity of words and genuine love. I am writing this for the love that lead/will lead turn to marriage.

Why would I want a love marriage?

Because you would know a person in prior and can have an understanding? Cheesy. Put two boys in a hostel room for three years and they would be ready for marriage. It is not about the “prior” knowledge that sets a love marriage apart but something more and not thought of.

Arranged marriage has thousand benefits of its own and I could put it in words much better than for love marriage.

Which of the men do you want to be in the court of law? The judge or the lawyer? Arranged marriage is where you are the judge while in love marriage, you are the lawyer. Why do you say so? If people at home were to arrange the marriage for you, your highest responsibility would be to accept or reject an offer. You look for the compatibles and much more before you can proceed into the offer. Love marriage is not that way. Love finds you; it is an age old secret of how it is done but it does find you. Compatibility is learnt on the go and then, you convince for the marriage to happen.

In an arranged marriage, you discover one another and try to attach all the strings together leaving behind the differences. Beautiful, is it not? But in a love marriage, you discover yourself. You would not know why you wait for the special person for 2 hours; you just wait. There would be no reason to most of the actions but it happens. Traits like selfish and possessive don’t disappear but you know they exist which you never understood for years.

Sacrifices and adjustment happen in both types of marriages but what is the stake is important. In an arranged marriage, there is a guarantee of things that wait. This is not true in love marriages. When you sacrifice something for another person without even knowing what is at the other end of the tunnel, does it make you a blind fool? Maybe it does and it is for the same unknown magical reason love marriages exist in our country today. Selfless motives behind every action and probably, no right results yet you are willing to take that stride.

Have you understood friendship ever in your life? Why is that sometimes, they are as important as the family or even more? Friendships play an important role in love marriages. No, I am not going into that bollywood and kollywood kind of fantasies. You will understand that friends are there just for you and nothing more or less. They are there for support and are your spine; they exist yet unseen. They would never ask the unnecessary questions are willing to hear to anything you say. You want them. Like never before.

What is being in a relationship mean? An elated feeling of not being alone and someone is there for you? Someone you can cuddle in cold nights and pamper in sunny mornings? Have a pet; it will serve the same purpose. Being in a commitment means you will think twice or more than usual. You will think for yourself and the other. You would know what is to take decisions through heart and not mind. Maybe you got into the relationship through mind, looking at the favorable things but when it comes being in it, you would just not think for yourself alone. Can anything in life teach you to make decisions as good as this? Has your life ever been planned like this?

I often consider that it is the duty of the people in a relationship to convince everyone, including parents. Maybe this is the first time you would have known what you want; so would your parents. There may be clashes or smooth handling depending on the family and beliefs but the first step is to approach the parents. They understand you and you understand yourself better. Among all the chaos, the bond just becomes a bit too tight.

Faith is a good thing. Faith is something that keeps you going. It helps you work towards something that you want so badly. Faith is why human exist and it is found in love. You do everything letting yourself believe that the other person will become yours some day. With love comes a package of emotions that don’t even have names.

Finally, it is the accomplishment that makes a love marriage altogether superior. The efforts that were taken to get that one person into your life will make memories. You went beyond all the conflicts, misunderstandings, no confidence and highest level of persuasion to get what you believed in. Whether this ‘love’ will exist for a long time, I do not know. Love is a beautiful journey.

The Fire Crew !!

A fire starts inside a chemical plant and the alarm goes out to fire departments miles around. After crews have been fighting the fire for over an hour, the chemical company president approached the fire chief and said, "All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved! I will give $100,000 to the engine company that brings them out safely!"

The crews try, but no one can get through. Then another fire truck, filled with a volunteer fire company of men over 65, comes roaring down the road and drives straight into the middle of the inferno. The other men watch unbelieving as the old timers hop off of their rig and heroically extinguish the fire, saving the secret formulas.

The company president walks over to reward the volunteers.

"What do you guys plan to do with the money?" the president asks the group.

The firetruck driver looks him right in the eye and answers, "Well, the first thing we're going to do is fix the fucking brakes on that truck."