Disastrous Chicken Pot-Pie

It was a bright sunny afternoon when I decided to venture out to the local flea market. The only introduction that I had to the flea market was from the “FRIENDS” episode where Rachael talks about buying antique furniture from there. With that imprint in mind, coating myself with three layers of sun block i went out with two of my friends. The first look on my face said “you got to be kidding me”!, old telephone sets, ancient coins, old postage stamps, dusty lamps, broken key chain still ancient, 1965 magazines, Ronald Regan posters, puppies, rabbits, skunk, chicken, piles of books, junk, stuff that you wonder still exists. Basically it was a sight worth looking at, what I bought from there was a pack of 10 dish cleaners worth a dollar. Which after a few days I realized why was a dollar. Returning back with a sun tanned face and a plastic bag in hand and an empty stomach growling like the wolves from jungle book, I thought to myself I deserve a treat and headed to Bob Evans.

Being a Sunday evening the restrau was packed head to head and after a 10 min wait I was seated on a table of four, where I was the only one sitting with the sun shining on my face. Anyway after settling down and taking a very hard look at the menu and disappointing the waitress twice that I couldn’t make up my mind, I finally raised my head up as if I had tasted victory and smiled as a signal that I conquered your menu. I was tired of eating French fries and oily and greasy food so was fixated on healthier choices – Slow roasted Chicken Pot pie rang a bell in my mind and the description just melted my heart. It read

Slow roasted Chicken Pot Pie

Tender, slow-roasted chicken makes our classic pot pie the best! Full of sweet carrots, baby peas, celery, onion and chicken in a rich cream sauce covered with a flaky crust.

The description made it sound out of the world. The only goof up there wasn’t any picture accompanying the dish, I had never tasted it before neither had I ever seen anyone eating it. After a very short wait of 7 mins which passed in a jiffy as I was busy playing the maze game on my ipod and sipping hot coffee, the pot pie came. At first sight it was like oh cool!looks great and then I took the first bite, cutting through the flaky crust, royally making the way for the spoon to explore the unseen territory and scooping up a creamy chicken layer which burnt my tongue. Taking that first bite did not register my taste buds as it was so hot and I shoved it down my throat with water. Then I took the second bite it was gooey and creamy and hot for the next 15 mins it seemed the deep dish had a burner of some sought it never got cold or rather warm. The upper crest kept falling off outside the plate and it felt like cracking the apple pie only that it wasn’t cold but outright hot. Chicken pot pie might be the best dish in the world for some, but for me it was a creamy thick sauce, bland and tasteless which I am never ordering again for sure. Lesson well learnt, one dish scratched from the American menu forever till that is the last food on earth but wait that can’t be the last it has chicken and peas and carrots. I am saved this can never be the last dish on earth. A total waste of $10, I would have been better off diving into fried ham burger and cheese sandwich J

Sweet Nothings

Aren't there days in your life when you really don’t want to do anything? You know you have a task at hand an article that needs to be read, the room that needs to be cleaned, a resume that needs to be updated, that shirt that has been lying in that corner of the room for 10 days and needs to be picked up. But even the thought of work makes your fingers hurt and you shut the thought faster than the speed of light. I think I am in a perpetual phase of nothingness these days where the lamest of tasks feels like the best thing in the world. To name a few of those tasks, checking and rechecking the face book account, checking and rechecking the photo albums, watching the stupidest shows on the television, making numerous visits to the kitchen, grabbing something to eat even when I am not hungry. And to top it all it never ends there.

Every morning I make a pact to myself, I will be fully worthwhile today, make a list of all the work I want to accomplish and set it right in front of the desk on a bright yellow post it so I don’t miss it. But guess what the postponement list from yesterday and the day before and the day before is too long to finish in a single day. So rightly the saga continues till there is deadline at work or at school, or mom’s yelling which cannot be stalled anymore. These deadlines do something really weird, suddenly it seems like two cans of red bull have been pumped in and we start working like a machine swift and smooth. At that point the clock is on a battle field with us and rightly before the deadline all the work is done and then you wonder, what the hell? That was easy why didn’t I do it before. But somehow the brain has some screws missing which don’t find their correct spot till the time there is an emergency.

But these sweet nothings surely do something good; they make you realize the importance of lamest things in life. The solace you get when you lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling, the leftover food from the fridge which suddenly seems delicious, the crappiest TV show that you wondered why anyone would ever watch and those movies in your laptop that you didn’t touch for months seem so worthwhile. Oh! Nothingness makes every bit of these tasks enjoyable and an experience in itself. Guess this battle will never be won and nothingness will continue to haunt and charm my life. So ChEeRs to NoThInGnEsS

The fad about MBA

When I started writing this blog, I wondered to myself why would someone be interested in reading my blog, I did not score a 780 on my GMAT, I was not talking about the world politics or climate change, I was not going to write a perfect recipe for chocolate mousse or 5 ways to lose 10 pounds in 15 days, why would someone be interested in reading what I wrote. Then I thought everyone wants to know a story, and they like killing time reading random stuff so why not try my hand at it.

Ever thought why the world is crazy about pursuing MBA, earning a master degree in business is the most in thing today all across the world, with colleges offering the course mushrooming like wild flowers, graduates are churned in thousands across the globe. But the question boils down to why is the fad spreading like an epidemic, and why is the world going gaga over it.90% of the people who wish to enroll in the programs or are already enrolled in one have these sole reasons to pursue the course one to earn money, get a good job, a hefty pay package and the other get a good spouse (boyfriend or a girlfriend) or simply hot chicks or cute hunks, travel across the globe, own big homes, and be eyed by the world. Now think hard can all this be achieved otherwise? For the 90% of the world that follows the league that MBA is the answer everything no you cannot, in 50 % of the cases yes you can, invest in stock market, know your stock, start an online business, use your talent basically explore there are 1000 ways to make money in the world, for the rest who believe it cannot be done they prescribe to the view that MBA is the guiding light, they don’t know what they want out of life, and they believe that a masters degree would expose them to a variety of options, business opportunities, and would show them the calling of their lives. Apparently it does not do all that what the degree surely equips you with is knowledge, rather it bombards with you with readings and theories, you can choose to download it into your system or just swallow it in, puke it out on the day of the exam and then delete the cookies and off the knowledge goes. So yes it does provide you with choices, but then that creates a paradox of choice, as Barry Schwartz said the more choice you have the lesser satisfaction you get from achieving that thing, because all this while you struggled with what its best. Take it this way when you go out shopping you don’t stop at the fist shoes store and instantly buy the shoe, you go on to the next shop try a couple of pairs and then decide which one is the best out of those you saw, but is that the best pick, for the time being yes but then had you searched more you would have found a better one, so it’s just a compromise not a real choice in the same way MBA does open a lot of doors but does not crystallize which one to choose, it gives you choices but does not do the choosing. The two years are passed getting use to the crunch, sleeping less, drinking more coffee, rather partying every night just to get the assignment tension off the hook, chasing girls, running away from cocky boys, going for trips (if you want to go back to college life, after working your butt off as a software engineer for 2-3 years, or as a Delhi university grad tired of not getting promotion because a MBA got that job, these trips give you a good break). At the end of this comes the placement time and then it all comes down to the same question how much money do I get from this job, can I pay back my loan from that, and again the cycle begins, after two years you realize earning a hefty package or taking that holiday across the globe once a year is not what life is all about, it’s about enjoying every single day. So why MBA? Shouldn’t the fad be about following your heart and knowing what you really want to do, rather than getting a degree since my friend got it, or my neighbors’ son got it and he has a hell lot of money!

I am sure this would set many of you thinking, let me divide my reader category, One fourth of you who already have taken this step in life would relate to the boozing stories or may be the whole thing, other one fourth who are just about to take this step, would contemplate can this be right?? No..its bull shit if that was true wouldn’t the whole world know about it already, the other one fourth would be like this is not true MBA taught me everything and I am happy with my job (though you spent 12hrs a day at work, but you believe 10 years down the line it would all be worth the cause..I hope it is.. ) and the rest would be nodding and saying good take, who knows what’s it like anyway who cares, it still will remain a fad .