Cupcake Frenzy

I cant seem to get over baking cupcakes.. They are these tiny little messengers of happiness that can spruce up even the most sullen of moods!
Amazingly simple to make (seriously). These little babies are bound to bring you your daily dose of joy (and sugar high) 

Since I had just one egg at home, decided to make eggless ones and boy, did they rise to the occasion!


Here's what you need..


Plain Flour: 1 1/2 cups
Sugar: 1 cup
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Baking Powder: 1/2 tbsp
Milk: 1 cup
Vegetable Oil: 1/2 cup
A generous splash of the best vanilla essence you can lay your hands on!












Sift and mix the dry ingredients together. Follow by adding milk, oil, vanilla essence and mix together well till you get a smooth, creamy mixture. You could add walnuts or chocolate chips at this stage.. I chose not to, since I was going plain vanilla..


Line up cupcake liners in a tray and pour in the mixture to about half of each cup .. (trust me, they will rise). 

Pop them in a pre-heated oven (200 degree centigrade) for around 18-20 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean.. and let these beauties cool off on a wire rack.

A Woman's Guide to Survival in the City

I'm 27. Married. I work.. often for long hours. I drive around. Shop. Cook. Take pictures. Hang out with my friends. Drink. Frequently. Love my family and friends.
And I don't want to be raped. Just like every other woman I know (or don't know).


So I do as they say. Wear 'decent' clothes that cover elbows and ankles. Travel escorted by male family members. Lock car doors as soon as I climb in.


Interestingly, oh powers that be. I never feel safe. Not at 8:00 PM. Not at 8:00 AM.


Because rape happens irrespective of time. 
There is no clock that indicates the immeasurable levels of insanity that makes some men violate a woman's dignity, her physicality for no understandable reason.


No matter what you do, who you're with, where you are, you're always asking for rape in a country where rape seems to be an 'understandable' crime and where women seem to 'ask' for it.


Wearing a short dress? You're giving a 'wrong signal'. Drinking, out with friends? Are you out of your mind? 'Alone at night' - That's it, you're paying for it now! 


Ok, for a moment, let's leave aside these immoral women.What about the nice ones who are always covered up, cook, clean, take care of the kids? What about the little young girls who're brutally assaulted? Why do they have to pay for it? Why do they get raped? 


The only logical conclusion I can come to is, that women in India, clearly dig the idea of rape. Oh they want it bad.. so bad that they even dare to get out of their homes all the time sending out all the wrong signals to innocent men who are left with absolutely no choice at all but to rape them!


What is a man to do but to rape, if he sees a woman.You surely must be out of your mind if you want to blame him for wanting to do this!! 


Why, he would've obviously not done it if the woman was covered, not drinking, not smoking, surrounded by male family members, not walking, not seen, just invisible.


That's just it. That's the way for a woman to survive in today's city. Be Invisible. 
How can you be hurt, if you aren't seen....

Home Made Bliss!

Here's my attempt at dark chocolate muffins I tried out at home. Just getting started on baking so got them right after 2 tries, but all the mess was so totally worth it!
Will post the recipe soon!

Source: Uploaded by user via Priyanka on Pinterest

A room with a view

Gurgaon's hardly every been more pleasant than the last two days. There's a cool wind blowing and occasional showers that calm the ever so restless dust. I can think of nothing better to do right now than sit in my balcony with a cup of hot tea and write away.
There's a garden in our building where kids usually pretend to be Dhoni, Sachin and Saina and give the performances of their lives. It's great fun watching their antics ...and being on the 8th floor I get a pretty good view of the behind the scenes stuff as well..
For instance right now, there's a karate class going on in the garden. The kids in the first two rows are working hard at getting the actions right, while the last row has kids trying hard to ape the kids in front. One girl is just swaying left to right and glad she's got that fat guy covering her from the teacher's view.
On the other side a bunch of kids are playing cricket.. the kid on the crease is a bully.. he's twice the size of the bowlers and fielders and booing them everytime he hits a boundary!
Some teen girls take an isolated spot behind the trees and are clearly eyeing the cute guy who just walked by, all the while 'BBM-ing' so that the world gets to know what they just saw!
And it's not just the garden, the way they make flats around here.. it's extremely easy to peep into someone's house .. so if you're a voyeur this is the place to be!
But even without the intention of peeping, you often get to see incredible stuff .. like the 50 year old guy who practices golf .. albeit without a golf stick in his balcony every Sunday morning.. or the lady who we saw praying at 11:30 in the night of India's victory over Pakistan this World Cup!
Sometimes it's almost like seeing many movies at the same time.. all with a different star cast, different story line, but screening together in one theatre..
The tea has gotten cold now and the kids are winding up the day's play.. time for me to head back inside and resume playing the role of the lead actress of my own life.. ;)

Back Again..

So here I am again, same me, with a new look...

Loads and loads has happened since I last wrote. Met someone interesting, decided he was interesting enough to live with forever, so decided to get married. Spent 4 years at a job I thought I wouldn't even last for 1. Was marketing coffee for a while.. hard work.. was roasted and finely ground by the time I set foot in Sales 2 years later.. sold coffee machines out of home and found myself out of home in some of the most beautiful locales of Northern India (more on that later). Back to marketing now, trying very well to improve the wellness of our consumers through the products we develop.

Fell out of touch with writing.. just as I did with most of my hobbies.. but beware.. I'm swinging back into action and nothing can save you now!

Meanwhile.. heard a song recently.. really really beautiful.. It's a cover of Hallelujah by Arooj Aftab (original by Leonard Cohen). Posting it for you all to hear and let me know what you think. 

Delhi Undone - Quote

Quote for the Day-lhi:

Delhi is the only place I've seen where people find it necessary to express opinions. It's not really a desire but more like an itch, they just need to do it and when they do, they just dont know where they're scratching.

Ode to Delhi

I love Delhi - It's violent, rude, crude and disrespectful, but there's nothing quite anywhere else which matches the character of the place.

Picture this:
Glittering aunties in all their flouroscence, flutter up the malls and markets showing off latest D&G imitations, pan chewing traders scratch their bellies with disinterest even as customers patiently await their attention, young college couples sit on bikes and listen to music on their mobile phone (sharing one speaker each) while a Tavera bangs into a Skoda behind them -loud honks from other cars drowning out all expletives with ease...

Fine, maybe love is too strong a word, but fascinated I surely am.

It's genuinely temperamental, temperamentally critical and critcally relevant for sustaining the brand equity of India and all I can do is dedicate the next few posts to the life in this fabulous city.

Read on :)