MYSTICSPICE

                                       “I dream. Sometimes I think that's the only right thing to do.” I just finished reading Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart. I had been meaning to read Murakami for a VERY long time, but kept procrastinating it mostly because balancing academic reading with recreation reading is always a challenge. I was glad that I managed to keep everything at bay and decided to gobble the book down soon as I could and to be true, I have no regrets for doing that.  J A true page-turner the book is. I have never been a fan of fiction, but every now and then I feel tempted to give reading fictions a shot and end up appreciating it more. In fact, some of the fictions that I have read left me feeling way more inspired and influenced than non-fiction. The ability of the authors to create an engaging, interesting and unpredictable story has always bee...

Here's another food post.... Being completely swamped in my dissertation, I persuaded my brother and sister-in law to send me a care package. Since, I work all day in the library, I literally survive on coffee and bagels/muffins/scones. I knew if I got some food from my brother and sis-in law it will probably be the only 'good food' in my diet. The package arrived a couple of days ago and I was pleasantly surprised by all the goodies it contained. Although I am too excited about each and every content of that package, of all the great stuff, one of things that I wish to talk about here is.... SOBA.          Soba is Japanese noodles mostly made from buckwheat. I first heard about it when my brother and sister-in-law were preparing to leave for their trip to Japan and China. I was a bit concerned about what their food options, so I decided to met with one of my students who I knew was from Japan and shared my curiosity with him.   I told him ...

I have a lot of dreams...some small some big. I often think about my dreams just to cherish and relish them, it's like meditation, where I envision myself living that dream and in that process forget about everything else. Well, you can say that I am a day-dreamer, but what's the harm in that?! Going back to the dream, this one dream is about being a yoga instructor for kids. I love both yoga and kids and have some kind of inherent passion in both these things that motivates me to pursue this dream. The thought sparked when I was at my parent's house in India with my sister and my nieces. One of the days, I felt like doing some stretching as my muscles were stiff by sitting and staring at the computer screen the whole day. So, I'd put on some music on my laptop and started doing yoga exercises. My nieces were in the other room, after a minute or so they both entered my room and were looking curiously at what was going on. They both stood in one corner and watched m...

Recently came across this piece and realized how well I could relate to it. Clearly, I am a morning person:) Why 4 a.m. Is the Best Time to Work For me, the most precious commodity in business is time. And I find I am most productive when I balance time that I spend with others with blocks of time during which I can think, write and —my favorite — build earnings models. When I was in corporate America, I tried for awhile to schedule no meetings on a couple of Fridays every month, thereby giving myself the luxury of blocks of time to think. It worked ... sort of. But I had one significant problem: email. Some people can ignore email, but I have never formed the discipline of not checking email repeatedly and obsessively during the course of the day. It appears that I am addicted to the rush of endorphins that occurs when one receives a batch of emails, which I guess is better than being addicted to other things. So now I work when others sleep. I am never more productive tha...

           I am an ardent fan of Nagesh Kuknoor. He is one of the most talented directors in the Indian cinema industry. Unlike other mainstream bollywood movies, his movies are low budget and low key, they have a very strong social message but at the same time there is something about Kuknoor that makes his movies very impactful, it leaves a remarkable impression on the viewer's mind. One good thing about his movies is that although he picks on the most sensitive issues, his movies always end on a positive note which gives hope that there will be end to all evils. He is just incredible! We need more people like him in the Indian Cinema.            Here's  the trailer of his latest movie 'Lakshmi' which is based on prostitution and child trafficking, one of the ugliest issues in India. This is a very sensitive issue, it makes me angry every time I think about it,  here's  my blogpost that I wrote long time ...

Ladoos are round sweet balls; they are a popular Indian dessert. This weekend for my food experiment, I tried making sugar free and dairy free energy ladoos. Unlike any desi (slang for Indian) ladoos, they are inspired by protein/energy bites which is something very prevalent in the US. This experiment was way different from my past experiments where I'd been using authentic Indian recipes and ingredients. However, given that this recipe has ingredients with all sorts of goodness and the fact that it was super easy, it was hard to forego it. Also, it gave me a chance to learn about carob, something that I've always been curious about. For this recipe I used Suspire's Vegan Carobs Chips. Carob is basically similar to chocolate, just like chocolate it does not have any unsaturated or trans fats. However, its texture and flavor is a bit different from that of chocolate. Carobs are naturally sweeter or rather less bitter than chocolate which makes it sometimes a preferable s...