Chp 586. The Stomach Chronicles - Part 1.

To me, Movember doesn't mean "No Shave November", because of the obvious reason that I got no freaking facial hair to shave :(

And that ain't my fault. It's my gene's fault :P So in order to lift my spirits up and forget the fact that I will never get to grow one of those amazing manly butch beards or moustaches, here is me celebrating Movember in my own way. I call my version of Movember – "More food November"! :D

So now that November is coming to an end (and I didn't mention "November Rain" even once on any my November blog updates this year… urrghh ok I just did), I thought this is a good time to post about some of the awesome food I’ve had in Pune so far.

Like some people in the smartphone generation, I too have a habit of taking a pic of the food I’m about to eat. But unlike others, I don't post them on Instagram or Twitter etc. I just keep them on my phone, kinda like a documentation.

So here are some of the food I've had in Pune so far, hoping you might also want to try them out. I'll try posting them in different parts, as this post would be extremely lengthy if I post every single food photo I've taken so far here in Pune. :)

To begin with, here’s what I ordered today. A proper Kerala cuisine. Do click on all photos to enlarge to a new tab.



I ordered the above from "Chopsticks Spice Malabar", a very popular restaurant in Viman Nagar known for its seafood and Malayalee dishes. They also make good Chinese food, hence the reason why the name of the restaurant sounds like an SEO campaign :P

As usual, I over-ordered because I got carried away. What you see above are -

- Kuttanadan Chicken curry and Mutton Mulakittathu gravy
- Appam, which we used to call during college days as Kerala's dosa
- Puttu, the rolled up white cylinder, made from coconut & ground rice
- Kerala paratha, which some of us know as Malabar paratha
- Chettinad coconut rice, very finely roasted indeed.

Yep. For one person, that is an excessive order indeed :D



There was also this one time my friends and I hogged on appam and mutton keema along with "Smoked pork in Raja mirchi" pickle I ordered from giskaa.com. Ohhhh man that combination was Heavenly!

Though I love cooking (the very simple dishes that I know how to make), I love experimenting with different food too. Here in our office cafeteria, the food that we get does not have much variety, so I usually order or eat outside.

For example, the breakfast in our office cafeteria ranges from poha to upma, and they are pretty good. Simple but filling, and of course no Maharashtrian breakfast is complete without either of these two :)









I really love the Semiya upma above. Instead of the usual "suji" that normal upma is made from, semiya or seviyan upma is made from vermicelli instead.









And then at times when I want to feel a bit more healthy, I go for the fruit salad breakfast, which is also a good way to detox after a heavy night of… stuff :P



Most of my colleagues don't usually eat breakfast at our cafeteria because they have already eaten at home. My girlfriend calls this the "riang breakfast" where it would be just me having breakfast all by myself… :)





Our cafeteria would be packed during lunch, but since only veg meal is served, like I said earlier, I usually go outside to eat lunch. The only time I ate cafeteria lunch was this one time when they said the menu was Chinese, and so I decided to give it a try…



Urrmmm… it was ok. But since there wasn’t any non-veg, I still found it bland. Other than that, the only other times I eat lunch at our cafeteria is when we have special lunch provided by our organization, where food is catered from outside…



Sometimes we too can make our own arrangements, like this one time we all decided to order chicken biryani in bulk, meant for our entire team…





I think I’ll stop here for now, and collect all my other photos I’ve taken for other next parts of this "Stomach Chronicles" series :) I promise you, lots of delicious pics from different restaurants along with their review coming up soon…

So cheers until then.

Chp 585. Interview with boxer Jenny

#TBT otherwise known as #ThrowbackThursday is a weekly social media trend, where people post old photos or events to share their memories with others. This is particular common among Instagram users, though Facebook and Twitter too have seen their fair share of #TBT posts. As one social media analyst wrote, "There aren't really any limitations or rules as to what can be posted on a #TBT, but it can be fun to participate as it really just gives people an excuse to post more."

Lolz.

So today being a Thursday, here is my #TBT post. Now this is one of my old posts from misual.com, and in my earlier blog post "Interview with Zonuni" (who currently must be extremely nervous as hell since the Aizawl Munical Corporation election was held today and results to be announced later tonight!) Zonuni mentioned that she really liked the way I interviewed Jenny. I did receive a couple of messages from friends asking me for that interview link, but since misual.com is still down, here is me cross-posting that old interview excerpt from our site db.

Now do keep in mind that it was just a casual interview done in good fun. Also remember this took place in Jan 2007, so a lot of things happened after that. And as usual, my photos are of really low resolution because back then, size was a big deal while uploading so I used to resize all my photos before putting them online. :(

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Interview with Jenny!

January 3rd, 2007 10:35 am | Sports | Sandman | 6788 Views

Rushed back from the misual.com tea party yesterday for a dinner party hosted by my cousins. Also present at that dinner was none other than our much cherished and adored Jenny, World Boxing Champion. She happened to be my cousin's wife's cousin :-) That's what I love about our close knitted society - There is always a link somehow.

So I decided to interview her, exclusively for misual.com, with questions that no other newspaper or website would have asked her before: Some serious questions, some cheeky ones, and a few personal questions that made her blush like a budding red rose.

Me: Eng chawhmeh nge tui i tih ber?

Jenny: Thlaiah chuan samtawk hi tui ka ti ber. Sa chu… ka sawi thei mai lo. Tui ka ti vek. (giggles)

Me: Sikul i kal lai in mipa naupang ho in an hlau thin che em?

Jenny: Hlau ve bawk e.

Me: Mipa naupang engzah nge i velh tawh?

Jenny: Tumah ka vel ngai lo.

Me: Pawnfen nge kekawr hi hak nuam i tih zawk?

Jenny: Kekawr hi ka ha tam hrim hrim a, pawnfen chu a hma chuan Biakinah chauh ka ha thin a, tunah chuan function velah te pawh ka ha tawh.

Me: Pheikhawk sang i bun ngai em?

Jenny: Bun ngai eeee. Bun nuam ka ti, a hniam hi nuam ka ti lo zawk.

Me: Favorite band/singer?

Jenny: Han sawi duah thei pawh ka ni lo, ka duh hnem ve lutuk. A bik tak chuan Isaac leh LDP te hla sak hi nalh ka ti. Love songs ah chuan Teteii Ralte hi nalh ka ti. A dang pawh an awm ve nual tho.

Me: Push-up leh pull-up hi minute khatah engzah nge i tih theih?

Jenny: Push-up chuuu 25-30 vel a niang minute khatah chuan. Pull-up chu a tlem lutuk (laughs) ih… 5-10 vel chauh ka ti thei.

Me: Eng boxing movie nge hmuhnawm i tih ber?

Jenny: "Million dollar baby" kha hmuhnawm ka ti lutuk. Mahse, a thawnthu kal dan kha a hrehawm ka ti…

Me: Chhas i nei em?

Jenny: Nei lo (blushes)

Me: Star te i nei em?

Jenny: Nei lo (blushes again)

Me: Favorite color?

Jenny: A dum.

Me: Horoscope i chhiar ve ngai em? i awih em horoscope a in ziak te hi?

Jenny: Aw ka chhiar ve zeuh zeuh. Han awih bur chu ka ni chuang lo a, mahse a chang hi chuan thenkhat hi chu a lo dik ve thin tho a…

Me: i tet lai hian barbie lem i insual tir ngai em? Boxing gloves te hi an kut ah i vuah ngai em?

Jenny: Aih (laughs and then punches me on my arm. It really hurts!)

Me: Eng thawmhnaw nge hak nuam i tih ber?

Jenny: Baggy jeans leh cargo, chuan a chung lamah hi chuan cotton tee shirt.

Me: Eng tikah nge pasal neih i tum?

Jenny: Hre lo le (smiles). Tunah tak chuan ka la inkhel hrih a, idea a awm lo. Pathian in a hun a tih tih hunah a ni mai.

Me: i hlimni ber hi enge?

Jenny: Ka hun tawng zawng zawng hi chu a hlimawm vek. Pathian malsawmna ka dawng reng a, a hlimawm vek.

Me: i lungngaih ni ber, i thil tawn tawh ah?

Jenny: A ber bik chu ka nei lo, hei vanduaina te hi chu kan tawk ve tho a, mahse a bik taka lungngaih ni ber bik hi chu ka nei lo.

Me: Love songs ah i luangliam ve ngai em? In ti sek chungin em ni i luangliam thin?

Jenny: Luangliam lo (smiles and punches me again). Love songs hi chu nalh ka ti ve tho a, ka ngaithla ve thin, mahse luangliam tur em em chuan ka ngaithla ngai lo.

Me: Kei hi hmeltha min ti em?

Jenny: (laughs out loud, not a very good sign!) Ti teh reng mai.

Me: i kal kual vel tawhna ah khawilai nge nuam i tih ber?

Jenny: Italy kha nuam ka la ti ber. Khawi laiah pawh Biakin hmuh tur a awm reng a, Biakin dar hi a ri reng bawk a, a ropui khawp mai.

Me: Pangpar hi mawi i ti ve em?

Jenny: Aw ti ve eeeee.

Me: Mawi i tih ber enge?

Jenny: Rose.

Me: Eng rawng?

Jenny: A sen leh a eng.

Me: Gas bur engzah nge i put theih a rual in?

Jenny: Hrelo (laughs out and punches me again). Ka la pu chhin ngai lo.

Me: Mi i kut tum i hmuh hian an hlau thin che em?

Jenny: Kut tum ka hmuh ngai lo (smiles).

Me: Thla khi mawi i ti ve em?

Jenny: Ti e, mawi ka ti lutuk.

Me: Aw kan lawm khawp mai, kei leh misual.com ho chu, hetia i hun min lo hmang pui te hi.

Jenny: Keipawh le.

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Chp 584. The 3000

I'm a hardcore Gooner. I’ve been an Arsenal fan long before the Invincibles days. Back during engineering college days, it was really difficult getting to watch a match telecast on TV, mainly because we were hostellers and if we wanted to watch a weekend match at a friend’s place, that meant having to take a weekend pass. Even though my friends and I were divided in the Arsenal-ManUtd camp back then, we couldn’t always watch the games on TV.

But after college, I moved to Hyderabad for a year because of CAT coaching class, and that was during the Invincibles era of 2003-04. And yup, because of easy access to TV in my PG room and the fact that I wasn’t doing anything much in Hyderabad other than morning coaching classes and self mock tests for an entire year, I never missed a single match of that entire 49 games unbeaten run!

That is why I cherish my bond with Arsenal so deeply. Trust me, watching every match of those 49 unbeaten games really made me feel like being a part of that achievement :) Of course after 2004, I got into college again followed by work etc, and I couldn’t always watch a match on TV anymore. But truly, those Hyderabad days were the best.

[My PG room, Christmas 2003, with my neighbor Hyder from Iraq]

As you can see from above, those were some really corny X-mas decorations :D along with my only two (back then) Arsenal jerseys hanging at the back. The good ol' O2 days. And I would watch every single Arsenal match from that very same spot on my bed.

Today, year 2015, I am still a hardcore Arsenal fan, but due to internet connectivity and social networking, it is much easier now to discuss about football with other Arsenal fans or argue with rival club fans. And yup, that’s the best part about football I guess, getting into a heated argument with fans of other football clubs :)

If their team lost, we would mock them, and if our team lost, they would mock us. That is the rule of football fan fanaticism :) And everything is in good spirit. If you’re gonna make fun of other fans, then you should also be able to accept it when they make fun of you too.

Like for example, yesterday we saw a lot of shockers. First of all, Chelsea managed to win at home against Norwich City (OMG!). Secondly, Liverpool thrashed ManCity 4-1 at City’s home (whoah!). Thirdly, Leicester City is now currently on top of the table (holy mackerel!). Fourthly, over at La Liga's El Clasico, Barca humped Real Madrid 4-0 at Real’s home turf (dayyymmm!). Fifthly, back to the English league, ManUtd managed to win in extra time against Watford due to an own goal (so lucky!). And sixthly, Arsenal visited WBA and lost by an own goal in spite of a 75% possession (so unlucky!).

And of course, with Arsenal losing while ManUtd, Liverpool and Chelsea won, I was immediately tagged or mentioned in numerous comments and posts on Facebook :)

Aaaahhh… like I said before, this is all a part of football fan war, and this week, we shall take all the banters and insults and troll posts with open arms :D

But one thing I must point out is, whenever ManUtd wins and Arsenal loses in a particular Game Week, my friends always bring up the "3000" issue.

What is the "3000" issue?

The 3000 issue is a very infamous incident among online Mizo football fans. It was this landmark and momentous occasion when I challenged DigiMalt to a bet on Facebook, a bet that was witnessed by more than 10000 people.

The bet was for 3000 bucks.

Back in 2012, Arsenal had reached the "round of 16" at the Champions League. Unfortunately, Arsenal faced AC Milan in the first leg and lost 4-0. Now to beat AC Milan with more than 4 goals in the second leg was quite impossible, though there was still a small chance of doing that.

In the meantime, my dear friend DigiMalt who is also an admin of inkhel.com, one of the top Mizo websites for sports, published an article with the headline - "Arsenal knocked out of Champions League". This was condemned by many, especially Arsenal fans.

He even challenged people to a bet to prove him wrong. I of course jumped in immediately, accepting his bet on the basis of technicality. Yes, the chances of Arsenal beating AC Milan in the second leg by more than 4 goals was bleak, but technically, they weren’t still knocked out of the league yet. I carefully framed my sentence structure and DigiMalt who was all pumped up right then, accepted my bet!

A truly funny incident indeed. Read all the screenshots of that incident below and be the judge and tell me if you think Digi or I won that bet :D

Eventually, many days later, Arsenal did beat AC Milan 3-0 in the second leg, which was an amazing feat, but that wasn’t enough to move through, in terms of aggregate score. But as you can see from the bet above, the bet was about whether Arsenal was knocked out of the Champions League back then or not after the first leg, which as you can see, was apparently not so.

I am still waiting for my 3000 bucks to this day DigiMalt! :D

Whenever I meet people, they would ask me if Digi had paid up his end of the bargain. The other day I met the Chief Minister of Mizoram Pu Lal Thanhawla and the first thing he asked me was, "Digi a chuan i cheng 3000 chu a pe tawh che em?" And I meekly replied, "La pe nang"…

Ok just kidding about that last part… but seriously DigiMalt, where is my 3000? :) :D :P

Cheers :)

Chp 583. Interviewing an Interviewer

Back during the days when misual.com was a household name among the netizens of our Mizo community, we really used to have a great time reading insightful articles and opinionated pieces contributed by different users from all walks of life. It was a platform where people could spend their time discussing about various topics ranging from intellectual and pseudo-intellect ramblings to politics, religion, sports and humour.

This was much before Facebook took over the social networking world by storm, when people actually had to think twice before contributing a post, rather than posting drunken status messages at 2 in the morning only to regret about it the following day :) The more we discussed and shared our thoughts, the more we all grew closer, and to this day, I deeply cherish all the new friends I've found through misual.com.

Hence, in this blog update, I'd like to cross-post one of my old posts from misual.com here. This post is kinda relevant today because it is related to politics, which seems to be the only topic of discussion on Facebook these days, due to the upcoming MLA by-election tomorrow and Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) election next week. As most of you may know, Zonunsangi, more famously known as Zonet Zonuni, is one of the candidates standing for election. Soon after her announcement, social media was flooded with comments about her, some supporting her, others criticizing her etc. Now, politics is always dirty, so I will refrain from saying anything about her, but I do wish her, along with all the other candidates all the best in the upcoming election.

Now what I want to mention here instead, is that many people may be aware of the fact that Zonuni is a TV-celeb in Mizoram who had interviewed countless number of Mizos on TV. But what most people may not know is that I had the honour of interviewing her! :P Yes that's right, I interviewed the famous interviewer! :)

Below is my old post from misual.com, I am just copying-pasting the entire post here in one go. Those were indeed the good and fun times at misual. Also, do keep in mind that this incident happened way back in January 2007, so some of the things mentioned below may not be relevant today, and both photos below are of really low resolution (can't find the original pics).

Here you go -

Interview with an Interviewer!

January 16th, 2007 4:30 pm by Sandman

Her face is familiar to almost every household here in Mizoram. She’s not a gospel singer, a youth icon, a rap artist, a politician, a boxer, or an IAS officer. Yet she has appeared on TV with such Mizos. Yup, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me immense pleasure to present to you Zonunsangi, ZONET’s very own interview specialist.

Yesterday, dad called me while I was in my secret hideaway upstairs because we had guests. He usually calls me downstairs to the living room to meet the guests when he wants to introduce me to them. It was none other than Zonuni from ZONET, along with her camera-man. They had come over to interview my sister for their TV channel.

Upon meeting me, her first reaction was, "misual.com ti tupa kha i ni em?" I was completely shocked by her question. And then I replied, "Ni lo e. Ka thianpa Bena siam a nih kha. Mahse aw, misual.com admin zinga mi chu ka ni ve e".

"i nih ka ring deuh renga i thlalak atang khan. Hman ni a Jenny-i interview kha a tha ka ti lutuk a. Office ah pawh kan nui nasa hlawm lutuk".

 (A part of me was going “wow!!!“)

So I took that golden opportunity to do something radical, that nobody would have thought of doing before. Most people would want to be interviewed by her, but I decided to interview her instead! Opportunity knocks only once my friend. Grab it, and never let go of it.

At first she was reluctant to do the interview fully aware of the way I interviewed Jenny, but then, she was in my house, under my roof, with no place to hide, and my sister hadn't reached home yet. So here's the interview :-) (Thanx to J for the proof-reading)

Me: Tunge i interview tawh te zingah interview nuam i la tih ber?

Zonuni: Lalruotmawii. Khami ka interview kha chu mi in min hlut pui ka rin phak ai in.

Me: Eng kawr nge hak nuam i tih ber mi interview lai in?

Zonuni: (laughs) Tuna ka hak mek hi (Black striped formal pants, black high heeled boots smartly polished, brown netted scarf, black overcoat, yellow inner top, and the rest, as she puts it "Ka hmuh phal loh")

Me: Interview lai hian mi bawl nuam i ti em?

Zonuni: Ti lo. Mi ka bawl ngailo.

(She receives a phone call at this point. She tells the caller to call her later in the evening… ahemzzz)

Me: i chet chhiat lai ber interview lai in?

Zonuni: (thinking) ih… (laughs) an tam ve tawh lutuk a. Cici-a ka interview lai khan ka nui zel a, interview pawh ka ti bam tep a ni. Chuan Jenny ka interview lai khan ka hnunga mipui ho in min nek per vek a, zawhna pahnih chauh ka zawt hman (laughs out loudly). Mipui in min nek lai khan ka thi dawn emaw ka ti tawh a, ka bula mi Minister pakhat ka va tham dawrh a (laughs out loudly again) (At this point, one can easily come to a conclusion that she loves to laugh a lot. Interested suitors, please note this down!)

Me: i interview tawhah tunge hmeltha i la tih ber?

Zonuni: Hmmm… Hmeichhia ah chuan, C.Luri. Chuan mipa ah chuan, Steve em ni awwww army officer kha? Naupangte ni mah sela, hmeltha ka ti bawn tawp.

Me: i interview tawh ho ah tunge i star ber?

Zonuni: Star ka nei lo. Interview lai in star ka ngaihtuah hmanlo (smiles). Rilru in star a thleng pha lo.

Me: i lai ve tawh em mi i interview lai in?

Zonuni: Interview tan tirh te kha chuan lai ve bawk thin e. Chuanin, NgTv ka interview phei kha chuan ka lai bawn tawps (laughs again).

Me: i mumangah te mi i interview tawh em?

Zonuni: Aih. In ka thlen tawh chuan ka hna lampang chu ka ngaihtuah tawh ngailo.

Me: Favourite opening line?

Zonuni: ih… "pianna leh murna" a niang. Mahse mi ho hian murna tih hi an hrethiam vak lova. Hmana hmeichhe pakhat kha chuan (name withheld) "ka pianna chu Chanmari a nia, chuan Zarkawtah ka va mur ve zeuh zeuh thin a" a tia, ka nui hlum lo chauh (laughs).

Me: Ha sen chung hian mi i interview thin em?

Zonuni: Chutiang ka ti ngailo (I see a punch coming up soon). Office kal lai chuan kuhva ka ei ngailo.

Me: Interview dawn hian i prepare lawk thin nge, spontaneous in i zawt?

Zonuni: Prepare ngai vaklo. Thawhthut hi a tam zawk za mah.

Me: i luck phah viau em mi i interview vang hian?

Zonuni: Sawichi a nilo chu chu… Sawichi loh reng reng… Insawithei mi in min ti palh ang (laughs out again).

Me: Phone call engzah nge i dawn thin minute khatah hian?

Zonuni: (laughs) eeeeeee… a minute zawng chuan ka dawng ngailo… Phone call ka dawng ngai vaklo.

Me: Buhfai em put pah te hian mi i interview thiam em?

Zonuni: Ka la try chhin miahlo, mahse ka thei leh tho ang (laughs again)

Me: Interview "style" ah hian eng interview nge i hrat ber, chuan eng style nge i chak ber?

Zonuni: Interview style a ka hrat ber chu, thu chung hi a nia (laughs). Chuan style thar ka tih chak em em chu… NDTV a "Walk the Talk" ang style deuh hi a ni.

Me: Eng hmun nge mi i interview tawhna ah la hlauhawm ber?

Zonuni: Biate. Sawrkar leh mipui in ep lai kha a nia, boruak a sang sia, fimkhur deuhva interview a ngai. Chuan chaw ei ah te khan leh lam ve ve in min sawm sia, kal loh na zawk kha chu an thinrim dawn tih a chiang sia… a nuamlo duh khawp mai…

Me: i la nula reng a tiraw?

Zonuni: Aw (smiles)

Me: Kum engzah nge i nih tawh?

Zonuni: (smiles again) hmmm… 25 plus. A bak chu ka sawi duhlo.

Me: i naupan lai hian mi interview chakna te hi i nei tawh thin em?

Zonuni: Neilo. Ka dream a ni ngailo hrim hrim tiang lampang tih hi.

Me: Mutpui a tan teddy bear ang te hi i nei em? Han kuah mai mai turah.

Zonuni: Nei lo (@ Ben: Buy her a teddy bear on her birthday). Lukham pawh kuah chu sawi loh, ka kham ngailo. Ka mu tawp mai a ni (laughs).

Me: Sikul i kal lai ten, i thianten an ning fu lo che maw? Han interview sek i tum zel awm sia…

Zonuni: (laughs out again) Ti ngai lo e. Sikul luh lai te kha chuan ka zakzum tawp.

Me: Zu rui i interview dawn hian, i rui der ve thin em?

Zonuni: Hahaha. Rui der lo e. Rangva Mualah khan zu rui pakhat chu kan interview tawh a lawm. A nuihzathlak tawps.

Me: Interview hma hian darthlalang hmaah i practice thin em?

Zonuni: In en na hman ka neilo.

Me: Nih leh kawngsir a motor in park darthlalang talah hian interview i practice thin em?

Zonuni: (laughs) Practice lo. Mahse aw ka in en ve ziah motor darthlalangah hi chuan (smiles).

Me: Tunge khawvelah hian i interview chak ber?

Zonuni: Sonia Gandhi. A rilru a awm hi ka hre chak. Chuan, la dam se chu, Saddam Hussein-a pawh hi ka interview chak.

Me: Pasal i neih dawn in, i interview phawt dawn em ni?

Zonuni: Interview deuh hlek loh chuan… (laughs)

Me: Engzah nge interviewah chuan tling tawh lo?

Zonuni: Ka chhiar chiah lo va (laughs again)

Me: Chu, misual.com ah i regular viau a maw?

Zonuni: Regular e. Nitin chu ka check ngei ngei ziah.

Me: Ngatinge i comment ve ngai loh?

Zonuni: (smiles) Ka comment loh na chhan chu maw… (tells me the reason in private, which cannot be printed here. However, you can reach me in person if you really want to know :-) ).

Me: Enge tunlaiah i tih chak ber?

Zonuni: Nangmah anga mi interview thiam ve ka chak (My turn to blush :-P ). Jenny i interview kha ngaihnawm ka ti ber tun hnaiah chuan.

Me: Mi i interview zei bawk sia, sawi tur te hi i hre reng sia, mipa rawn rim tu te tan hian a buaithlak viau lo maw?

Zonuni: (laughs) Rimtu ka nei khat khawp mai.

Me: A challenging an ti em nangmah biak hi?

Zonuni: Kha kha chu min be tu a zir a ni mai a, ka sawi ve theih a awm lo (winks).

Me: Sas nen a han thut dun tawh hian, zan te a'n rei deuha, thisen te a lum tan a, a changtupa in rawn chet a tum chiaha han tawng leh char char te hi i ching em?

Zonuni: Chutiang tur chuan hun kan nei hlei nem a changtupa nen (laughs again).

Me: Pasal hi engtikah nge neih i tum?

Zonuni: Mister Right a rawn lan hun hunah a ni mai.

Me: Chuan a tawp ber a tan, zawhna serious deuh. Pathian hi lo interview dawn ta la, eng zawhna panga nge i zawh hmasak ber ang?

Zonuni: Hmmm… (thinking)… A hmasa berin, eng vangin nge mihringte hi a siam tih a nia nga, chuan, mitthi tawh te awm dan… chuan, engtikah nge a rawn kal leh ang (smiles). Chumi zawh chuan, ih.. Chatuan hi eng anga rei nge a nih… A tawp nan, Mi zawng zawng hi Vanramah min kai tir la? (laughs again)

Me: Mi zawng zawng hi Vanramaha kan kai dawn em nilovin "min kai tir la?" tih zawk maw i zawh dawn?

Zonuni: Aw (smiles)

Me: Ok. Ka lawm khawp mai, misual.com tan interview hun te min lo hmanpui te hi. Chuan i rawn tlawh reng kan beisei bawk.

Zonuni: Aw keipawh le. Teh reng mai, ka rawn tlawh ziah ang. Misual.com chu a nuam e lawm, article a that mai bakah, rawn comment tu ten an ziak thiam sia.

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End of the interview.

And that was a great and fun post. People also enjoyed commenting at the comment section. Sadly these days, misual.com is hardly active anymore mainly because none of the admins are around. All of us are busy with our own thang now. Secondly, misual.com is actually down! Other than the landing page, you cannot access anything else because there is a fatal error as the latest version of wp-ban breaks after the 4.3 update. This can be fixed via FTP access to overwrite the corrupt PHP files, but I guess none of us admins are even trying to do this till now, lolz.

But yeah, reading old posts such as this really made me miss the golden days of misual.com. Once again, I wish Zonuni all the very best in the upcoming election. Cheers.

Chp 582. The Bachelor’s potato

Nobody is born with knowledge. Or maybe they are? I'm not getting into a philosophical discussion about the doctrine of Innatism in this post, so to keep it simple, let's just say knowledge is acquired as we grow up, as we learn new things every day. 

And if you don't know something, it is never embarrassing to ask. For a long time, whenever I walk into a cake shop I’ve always wondered why "eggless" cakes/pastries are more expensive than the same cake or pastries with egg in them. I mean, shouldn’t the ones with egg be more expensive? But then I asked around and found out that eggs are used for leavening, toughening, binding, hydrating, moisturizing the fat and emulsifying the batter, so if there are no eggs in the ingredient, a more expensive substitute needs to be used to perform those important tasks. Hence the reason why they cost more.

See? Just ask.

Likewise, my close friends who know me well are aware of the fact that I cook the sickest awesomest bestest amazingest fried potatoes they have ever tasted :D :P

My former flatmate nicknamed it the "heart attack potatoes" because of the huge quantity of oil I would use. But then, that oil is a part of what gave it its trademark taste. As a bachelor, we always try to find the easiest way to cook things, and my fried potatoes are no stranger to simplicity. I use no such complicated garnishes and other fancy spices, all I use are oil, onions, turmeric powder, salt and thinly sliced potatoes, that’s it. But the trick to making it so awesome lies in the way I cook it, as I focus more on simmering it at low flame for a very long time. Trust me, the taste is so different from the ones cooked in haste at high temperature.

Below is one such "standard" meal I cooked one fine weekend here in Pune. Rice, dal, tomato with eggs, and fried potatoes. My favorite combo.

I really love the above combo. But then again, a part of me really wanted to try out something new too.

And so this weekend I decided to cook one of those potatoes with "gravy" or as some might call it "curry" for the first time. Since I’ve only made "dry" potatoes before, I didn’t know how to make the ones with gravy, and googling about it only showed very complicated results, you know, the recipes with all the fancy garnishes and usage of "tbsp" and amount of spices written in ounces. What I wanted was a really simple bachelor's potato recipe. And so I asked my sisters and girlfriend for help. 

My sister u Mazami from Malaysia sent me the ingredients required to make a simple curry potato through WhatsApp, while my girlfriend from Mizoram orally took me through how to make it over Skype. Technology can be so useful if used the right way :P 

And so here it is, my first ever curry potatoes! :)

First, peel the potatoes and slice them up into half and then half and then half and then half again (this was how my girlfriend instructed me :D )

So technically, a medium sized potato must be cut up into around 16 pieces. After that, heat the oil and throw in around two onions that had been finely chopped. And then add ready-made garnishes like turmeric powder and garlic paste. Once it is ready, throw in the chopped potatoes and stir.

Keep stirring until you get that golden burnt color. Add other ingredients like salt and chillies to spice it up.

After that, add "tomato puree". You can very well add chopped tomatoes too, but like I said, this is the lazy bachelor’s potato, so tomato puree it is. :P

Along with the tomato puree, add water.

Just cover it after that in low flame. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Thadaaaa! The simple potato gravy is ready! Now you can make this even tastier by adding chopped coriander etc, but hey, like I said, this is the bachelor’s potato. Keep it simple. You want to make it a bit fancy? Add boiled eggs to it!

So there you go. The very simple but extremely tasty gravy potatoes with eggs. Easy to make and proud of my first ever attempt. Also the best part about this is, I no longer need to make dal separately as the gravy from the potato served that purpose. Yay, I've just killed two buds with one stove :P