American Shaolin

American Shaolin - The title was enough to arouse interest.

After reading the subtitle - Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, I knew I HAD to read this book!

Even though its been more than three months since I read this book, every teeny-meeny aspect of the book is fresh in my mind. No. This should not be attributed to my good memory, but to the amazing writing in the book.

Mathew Polly(the author) travels all the way to China, to learn Kung-fu. Leaves his home, his parents and his stable life, to go to a place where he knows no one.
This book is about Polly's journey from being a geek to being a kickboxing champion.

From flying kicks, cat style kung-fu and iron-crotch kung-fu, to stuff about Chinese women and Chinese drinking games, this book, is marvellous.

Personally, the various Chinese words used in the book, brought back a lot of memories of my Karate practicing days. I could relate to a lot of moves mentioned in the book, and that excited me all the more.

Even if you have zero knowledge about martial arts, this book is a must read.

I bet you would not want to put the book down, until you have finished it!

Happy reading! :)

Umerkot.

UmerKot.
The name sounds, fabulous, and the pictures on their website look delicious!
Umerkot, is one of the many restaurants that line Kormangala.
The pictures on their website are yuuuuummmy and irresistable.
So off I went to try out the Rajasthani Food festival that has been going on for a while now.
I wanted more than myself for company, and so pushed a few mortals around here, in Sjp to join me on my expedition. All of us, took the very convenient inter-office shuttle, and landed there sharp at 12:30 PM. Just the right time for lunch :)

The first shock, was with the ambience. Although it was not that bad, the photographs had raised my expectations!
The next was the soup. It was a normal watery tomato soup with a complex name.
Chris even admitted, that it tasted exactly like the tomato curry she makes! Yup! You got it right.. both taste horrible.

Next in line, were the starters. They were not all that bad; but those pictures on the internet were really deceptive!
One of the starters was my good old Onion Pakoda. This is one thing I will never get tired of eating. I remember going in search of these, even in London.
And, take my word for it, Londonised Indian chefs make better Onion pakodas! :)

Anyway, coming back to Umerkot. Everything following the Pakodas, were nothing extra ordinary. Sadly, nothing was typical Rajasthani. The same, roti, dal makhni, alu gobi.
Would want to try out authentic Rajasthani someday.

Then came the most important dish for the afternoon. The dessert. We ordered, "Raj Ladoo".
All of us, almost fell to the floor laughing, when we saw it!
The perverts that we are, we just could not view the ladoos as ladoos. All of us seemed to think on the same lines, when it came to the ladoo decoration.
Two ladoos, with cream(shaped like what you get on a softee cone)in between... and red syrup all over the place.
What was the chef thinking!?

I know all this sounds disgusting. Maybe I should just delete this post of mine. And be the decent dreamer I have been all these days.
But, I just cant help it. How can I not publish something so interesting!
Mayb I'll just edit this part of the post, after a while, when I assume a more mature me.

But seriously, please dont miss the Raj ladoo! when you go to UmerKot..
Atleast go there, to look at what Im talking about. No! Im not gonna upload the million pics we clicked of that masterpiece and spoil all the fun. :) Go check it out urself!

Or maybe, they donot do such decorations for everyone afterall.They must have found us gurls, very attractive and charming, and they wanted to make us laugh.
Hmm... one of the most memorable incidents that I am going to remember for a long long time!

For the records: (This is only for the dreamer, so she can test her memory, after 30-40 years from now :P)
What was the name that the Gang of gurls gave the Raj Ladoo?

The transparent wall.

Around two weeks back, I came to realize that I am good at any relationship, as far as I don't get too close.
I am good at maintaining relationships where I have the liberty to have a transparent wall between myself and the other person.
I am good at being best friends with a million people in the world, as long as I don't have to get too close to anyone.

All these days, I preferred to ignore this thought and move on. I am happy, with such relationships in my life.
But then, when I am lonely, the very thought that I have a million friends, but none of them close enough to share my thoughts with, make me more lonely.

Lately, I have been working on this. Been trying to push myself to break that barrier. The transparent wall, was built with no conscious reason. There exists no reason for me to hold on to it, and take it with me into the future.
Unfortunately, this wall is not made of glass, which would shatter, if something is thrown at it.
Looks like, slow erosion is the way to break it.
I have made a resolution, to get this out of my life. It sure is going to take some time.
But I will walk past the eroded wall soon. :)

GMAT.

Long time, since I filled up this space.
No excuses. I have been busy, yes. But I still have enough time in my day, to type crap around here.
Just plain lazy, I guess.

GMAT preparation has been in full swing. I have realized a lot about myself while preparing. I once thought, I suck at problem solving. I have come to realize, that I can rate myself higher at problem solving, when compared to the critical reasoning and reading comprehensions.
Man, the world, seems such a simple place, with uncomplicated problems, after I go through a section of reading comprehension! Reading line after line, of how Anneles' book, describes Augustus, made me pull out my hair. The next time I see a passage talking about "comaprable worth" and pay equity for men and women, Im going to run to no-man's land!

On the whole, I am having a nice time(Other than while reading the afore mentioned reading comprehension passages).
Life is good :)