FMS Prompts: # 3...

Quick note: I won't be posting on weekends until I get my internet fixed. 

 Your favorite recipe, even if you are the worst cook in the world...

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Okay, so there is this thing I do when I’m down or when I need a quick pick-up or mostly when I settle down with a book. It’s not so much a recipe, its not even solid food but to me its tradition, it’s one of those things that tell me that all WILL be right with the world. 

So, next time you go to the supermarket, pick up five-six 5-buck packets of a regular chocolate drink - I prefer Bournvita but you can get Boost as well, I suppose. Take a big white (because white brings out the richness chocolaty color of the chocolate) mug, empty three packets into it, add one mountainously heaped spoon of milk powder and mix up the powders until its speckled chocolaty-types.

The next part is tricky. If you like a smooth consistency, add a bit of hot water and mix it up. If you’re like me and like it lumpy, go with cold water. BUT add VERY little water because the idea is to get a pasty, thick consistency and it is very easy for it to get runny, if you don’t pay attention. So once you get the right consistency, stick a spoon in it and take it with you to your reading nook or under the comforter.

I wish I could give you my own pictures of it but I instinctively dive in every time I put it together that I forget photography till I’ve licked it clean, so sorry.

Possible additions/garnish: crumbled English Marie, raisins, almonds, a small dollop of marmalade, a pinch of coconut shavings… well, go crazy. 

Warnings: Don’t let your mother catch you at it; if yours is anything like mine, you’ll get a good solid yelling for stealing the chocolate powder. Also, don’t try this with cocoa powder, not even the sweetened kind. Unless you want to walk around with a ‘yegh’ face for an hour or two.

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P.S: What is your food tradition/quick-fix for blues?

FMS Prompts: # 2...

...the worst movie you ever did see, and why.

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Damn, I have to relive it again?

Okay so, three days ago this friend suggested that we watch a Malayalam movie on the laptop instead of our usual Die Hard and Fast and Furious types. Why? Because it would be a ‘refreshing’ change. *insert the hindi G word in full capitals here which I don’t want to type out because I have a strong feeling one of my uncles reads my posts secretly* I don’t usually agree but it has Fahadh Fazal in it, who I think is one of the best actors in Indian cinema (courtesy 22, Female, Kottayam which, incidentally, all of you should watch, get subtitles) AND its a Lal Jose movie (all non-Malayalees, he is one of those we-expect-good-cinema-from-you types).

Turns out, WORST. IDEA. EVER.

We finished the movie only and only because we really wanted to know how the director would manage to wrap up the mess that was Diamond Necklace. Ah, even saying the name out loud is painful. 

Characters just appeared and disappered at will and the story meandered around all over the place (if you could call it a story). NOTHING made sense. I won’t elaborate on the plot and waste both of our times. Should suffice to say I’m cinematically traumatized, even more so than when I watched the Golmaal series, which is saying something. Pointless, pointless, POINTLESS waste of resources the movie was.

 

 So. Anyone willing to give it a try? I'll send the BR copy across :P

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P.S: What’s your worst movie mistake?

FMS Prompts: # 1...

...that thing that happened in high school that pretty much changed your life forever.

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I lost a friend.

In Grade 10, she sat next to me. She was a nice person, always smiling, always ready to help. But you know how high school kids can get, I was snooty about how much she talked to boys (trust me, I want to go back and slap myself too). But we still were good friends, we got through our first hurdle in the academic world, board exams, together. And in Grade 11, she shifted to another section but we still had lunch together, all of us. I loved the alu sabzi that her mom used to send with her lunch and she always put a little extra in my dabba while it was being passed around.

I think she had always liked me more than I liked her.

I remember the day clearly,  classes had been cancelled and three of us were sitting there in the last bench and laughing our heads off without any reason. You know, one of those times when you start laughing at ANYTHING and you can’t stop even though your stomach hurts - two straight hours at the end of the day we laughed.

That’s when three other friends came and said that this girl had passed away, nobody knew what happened and why. I sobered up like someone doused me with cold water but I didn’t believe it. I thought someone was playing a big, fat, sick prank. Then her Class In-Charge confirmed the news.

I won’t go into any more detail but to this day none of us know what happened to her, all we know was that she had asthma. I just never saw her after that, like she never existed except in my mind and memories.

The absolute worst part is that I didn’t remember the last time I spoke to her, the last conversation, exchange we had. I still can’t remember.

Her mom came to see us when we passed out of school and it was all I could do not to run away because I kept thinking how she would feel seeing all of us decked up and happy when her daughter wasn’t around.

I remember feeling incredibly guilty for being alive when she wasn’t.

And it subtly changed a 16 year old forever. From then on I have always kept a certain distance from people. I have made but one friend who is super close, everyone else was and is dispensable. I know it doesn’t say much for me as a friend but when I love, I love wholly without restraint, without any kind of self-preservation and if I lose that person, I know I won’t be strong enough to handle the devastation.

It took me a long time to work out why I never made the first move to make friends (because otherwise I am not antisocial and I love to horse around with everyone), I never keep in touch completely, I never put my all into keeping my friends together like everyone my age does. It might not be the lesson I should have learnt but yeah.

Dharani, I will always remember you for that million-watt genuinely happy smile that you were so ready with.

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P.S: Sorry about kicking off on a sad note.

P.P.S: Leave your prompt challenge post links in the comments, please.