Final Transit

I was on the lakefront earlier today for my regularly irregular morning run and the weather was windy and warm. Before I knew what was happening, dark clouds gathered and it started pouring wildly. Large heavy drops that drenched me in no time. I reached my bike and pedaled as fast as I could. I was worried about my ipod, I was worried I’d catch a cold, my bike would get wet, I’d have to walk in wet underwear and soggy shoes, and… the list of worries continued.

↑ Queen st. West. View from my apartment.

“Wait a minute”, I said to myself, “What’s happening!?” I used to be a kid who loved playing in the rain, and the mud, and not worrying about getting drenched and dirty, and make fun of people who ran away from the rain. When did I become one of them?

- – -
Mumbai has a distinct rainy season and it rains only between mid-June and mid-September. Rest of the year was dry. There was a special, almost a ritual-ish, significance attached to “first rain” (around mid-June). My mother encouraged me to go out when it rained for the first time, she said, “This is how you welcome rain! Smell the air, feel the wind, feel the nature!”

Oh, ha ha, rain is not dangerous, its just like taking a big shower!I was a little boy, playing in the dirt outdoors one day when it began pouring. My friend’s mother started screaming at the top of her screeching voice from the window of their house, “Stop playing! Come home! It’s dangerous!” My buddy (who was terrified of his parents because they hit him) ran away, while I was left puzzled. “Mom says its okay to play in the rain, so it must be okay!”, I thought, and continued what I was doing (probably digging a trench and replanting grass – I liked to pretend I was a farmer).

The rain grew stronger and washed away everything. I was upset that my ‘farm’ was destroyed, so I went home. I took a warm shower, clean up thoroughly and I changed into fresh clothes. It felt so good. My dad made me a cup of hot ginger tea and I told them about my friend. My mother said, “Oh, ha ha, rain is not dangerous, its just like taking a big shower! Too bad for your friend, his mother is overprotecting him.”

Later, rainy season meant only one thing – trekking in the Sahyadris. Every other weekend, a bunch of us gathered and went into the mountains. Geographically, western coast of India is similar to western coast of North America – there is a coastal strip, followed by a mountain range called the Sahyadris. Shivaji, our beloved king, built several forts on peaks of the Sahyadri range and hiking to those fortresses was our objective. We usually started before sunrise, or sometimes even on the previous night. At the end of the day, we were completely exhausted, dirty and wet with rain and sweat for hours. Next day was full of body aches and a hangover from yesterday’s thrills and exhilaration.

↑ Mahuli, ~850m (2785ft) above MSL

My ’sheltered’ friend once asked me, “What do you do all day in the rain?”
Me: We climb a mountain, go to the top!
He: And then?
Me: We come back.
He: So why go in the first place? You get all wet and dirty, eww…
How could I explain to him the blissful feeling of being close to the nature, walking through the woods, in the dirt, around wonderful insects, bright flowers, foggy, wet weather and then reaching the peak, being on top of the world?
- – -

With all those sweet memories flashing in front of me, I decided to dismount and walk my bike home, getting fully drenched in the rain on the way. After a nice hot shower, I made some ginger tea, exactly like my dad made it.

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¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte

Misal (Marathi: मिसळ), meaning “mixture”, is a delicacy in my home state of Maharashtra, western India. Misal is eaten for breakfast or as a midday snack or even a meal depending on how you make it. It remains a very popular snack since it is easy to make, is relatively cheap and has good nutritional value. The taste of Misal ranges from mildly to extremely spicy. Misal is often classified as street food.

Misal consists of 3-4 layers of different foods. In the picture, the bottom layer of beans is almost invisible.

I often make misal when I am in a mood for spicy food, especially when I want my nose and eyes to freely flow and my mouth to produce fire like a dragon. It happens every once in a while. Misal is like a comfort food that reminds me of home.

How to make misal?

Every region and everyone has a unique style and here’s mine customised for my needs.

Layer one (the bed): Consists of beans cooked Indian style. The beans are usually a combination of Moth Beans (मटकी) and dried Peas (वाटाणे), but due to limited availability here, I sometimes use a mix of Black-eyed beans (चवळी), or Red/Kidney beans (राजमा) or even Chick Peas (छोले).

Layer two (topping): Consists of a spicy, crunchy mixture of nuts, puffed rice and other stuff I don’t know how to describe (फरसाण, चिवडा). But the closest ready-made thing you could get in an Indian grocery store is called ‘bhel mix’ or ’spiced crunchy mix’ or simply ask for Haldiram’s Bhelpuri mix. Adding small pieces of boiled potato will make your food less spicier.

Layer three (garnish): Tomatoes, liberal amounts of coriander, green chilies, raw mango (if available). Drench it with tamarind sauce (chutney), mint chutney and my mom-made chaat masala (a common spicy mix to give it a spicier punch).

Bread (optional): Traditional way is to eat the misal with a pav/pao bread (पाव) but since I make it dry-type, I usually skip the grain.

That’s it. Enjoy the food!

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¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte

I couldn’t have gotten an over sized penis or married a model with big boobs or become a multi-millionaire even if I answered all the spam mails I got over these years. But the fact that spammers still send the same kinds of emails or blog comments shows that people do fall for these frauds.

Here is a new kind of comment I got on my About me page yesterday.

- – -

DOSED

Tired of a competitor’s site? Hinder the enemy? Fed pioneers or copywriters?

Kill their sites! How? We will help you in this!
Obstructions of any site, portal, shop!

Different types of attacks: Date-attack, Trash, Attack, Attack, etc. Intellectual
You can work on schedule, as well as the simultaneous attack of several sites.

On average the data, ordered the site falls within 5 minutes after the start. As a demonstration of our capabilities, allows screening.

Our prices
24 hours of attack – $ 70
12 hours of the attack – $ 50
1 hour attack – $ 25

Contact via ICQ: XXXXXXX
- – -

I was both disturbed and surprised. The title of the message is called DoS’ed. DoS stands for Denial of Service, an attack that makes websites non responsive temporarily or permanently. Crackers routinely DoS attack several countries’ important websites. But so far, all the enlargement, lottery etc. spam I got was targeted at me, the reader. This DoS message, however, is pure evil. While phishing and attack websites or tools existed for as long as I remember, someone making it a business – that’s a news.

“Winning by sabotaging others” is a common attitude. Why not improve your own website or brand instead? Lets terrorise India so that we (Pakis) can win – Look where this attitude has landed that country today.

I’m sure that the authenticity of this spam is no stronger than those penis enlargers or millionaires from Africa. It’s the mindset is bothering me.

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
- H.H. The Dalai Lama

Question to the reader:
There are several paths to victory – strengthening one’s position or sabotaging others’. While everything is fair in love and war, I find it disgustingly unethical to choose a path that damages others. Any thoughts?

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¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte