Cake Messing…

Cake Messing…
Come Christmas and  they are at it.. The ‘Rich and the Idle’ who haunt the five-stars and above,  flock  together at some  famous expensive, unaffordable , land mark hotel..

For what?…  Messing up with the ‘cake mixture’ , an activity which they have fondly nicknamed as ‘Cake Mixing’..
Back home these ‘hi-so’ folks won’t  even flip a fallen leaf over, instead asking  one from  their ‘ servant battalion’  to do the dirty task. But when they cross the portals of these ‘cake messing’ citadels, there takes place a metamorphosis that would shame a butterfly’s caterpillar !

The caterpillar may well exclaim…wow!

They hitch up their branded trousers and shirt sleeves,  or their designer  chooridar bottoms, or their  scanty,  reveal-all dress bottoms ( the latter  may not give enough purchase for their dainty fingers is another matter 🙂   or whatever designer wear they sport …they cluster around  a large table with  a ‘Himalayan –sized’ Mix-Mountain. There is an expectant glint in their eyes …and the camera flash–like smiles that are triggered  can blind a conveniently positioned ‘photoman’ and spoil his capturing act…

They are all set now for the final act  !

Christmas or not,  bakeries all over the country bake cakes with no fan-fare and they all taste equally good or even better and are much cheaper to make and buy . Then why this disgusting show of obscene wealth ?

Soaking kilos and kilos of dry fruits ( at a time of depression and price shoot-ups when the average man on the street cannot even afford a packet of fried peanuts from the street-side vendor ! ) spices, barrel full of fruit juices, wines and liqueur – the latter of some expensive  brands like ‘ Johnny Walker’ or  ‘Paramasivam’ ( Shivas Regal for you;-) -and they crowd around the ‘mount of mixture’ to get to work…

Ugh!

If news paper reports are anything to go by, one 5 –starer has put together an awe-inspiring 650 kilos of the stuff. Apart from the ingredients listed above, it has  , for good measure,  loads and loads of sweet resins , glazed red cherries,orange peel ( well, that seems to be out this league )  tuttu-fruitti, black currants..phew,  but not over yet….brown dates,  dried apricots, figs and prunes… please let me catch up with my breadth…oooph !…. walnuts, cashew, almond flakes , pistachio, ground cardamom, cinnamon and cloves , syrups and honey…

wow!…wow wow..!  now I am one upon the caterpillar mentioned above…

I suppose  this is all part of the 5 –star culture !  If they did anything less perhaps the cakes might… just might…taste   a little better and so cannot be branded as 5- star stuff 😉 Well,  we can’t let that happen , can we?
Anyway let us laugh a bit on the antics of this gang…

Click here>>>cake-messing2

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The ‘Band-Pass Age Filter’…

This time I am banking on my blog to live up to its name:  ‘LOST LOFF’…well almost.

A few days ago I received  a communication from the Kerala Cartoon Academy which among other things, contained a Press Release from the British Council regarding a forthcoming Kar2n competition on ‘Climatic changes’.

It said:

“If you are concerned about climate change and feel that through humour you can sensitise and bring better awareness about climate change, here’s your opportunity! “

Oh, Yes,  I am  concerned, I said to myself , …and I do feel…Yeah,Yeah Yeah…!

I took a hard look at the themes suggested and  they were quite challenging…Trust the Brits to go for the best…

 drought and water shortage
 deforestation and rain forest destruction
 melting of the ice caps
 role of industry in polluting the atmosphere
 devastation of our seas and disappearance of marine life
 climate change in an urban environment

I was elated  because for one thing it was ‘Brit’  affair ,   in partnership with some  Ken Sprague Fund,  UK ( never heard of it, ha ! ) The aroma of a possible international exposure was too compelling to brush away.  For  a second thing , the themes had immense possibilities even for a start-up green-horn like me…
I rubbed my hands in glee, drew up a piece of  paper , grabbed a pencil by its scruff and got to work with a new-found fervor…

It took me two solid days of biting  my tongue into a fine pulp and  screwing up my eyes into mere slits,  to produce a kar2n of sorts on the Business of Ice Melting at the poles… I thought it will shake the World at large into its senses…. I sat back and viewed my handiwork like an anxious  father inspecting his new- born..and like every anxious father I felt at first a little uncertain , wondering whether , after all,  the new -born had delivered a well-aimed kick at my bottom! All the same, I muttered, ‘ World, Oh World, here I come!’

That was when my eyes stubbed their toes ( if you can imagine that! ) on a line in the Press Release that I had totally missed out in my first reading…

It stated  in no unequivocal and in somewhat terse terms that the contest is a no-no for guys like me who are waiting for the clearance form the Tower for the Take-off to Heavens. In fact , the contest had a band-pass filter attached to it, saying that it is exclusively for ‘guys and gals’ of age between 18 and 35!

I have heard of Age-Bars …Oh, Yeah…

There is one that disqualifies people of age below 18 from getting married because they might do something rash and foolish…especially in these days of increasing population;-) Then there is this one that disqualifies people of age below 18 from voting , for much the same reason ( leave the population part out , though )… There is yet another that says people below 18 cannot apply for a driving license , well, again for the same reason…

There is even one that bars people of ripe old age from applying and getting loans from  Banks, unless they can prove that they are capable of holding on to their plastic buckets without kicking them,  long enough to repay the loan! Insurance people hate the  very sight of oldies like the  mother-in-law and  look askance when   one  wanders  in for touching them for a bit of policy. Then there is this age bar for   contest for kids which  stipulates  that kids above 10 years of age are not considered children and so cannot participate in the contest .

All very fair, indeed…

But an upper age bar for drawing kar2ns is something that is quite a different kettle of fish.  The ‘Brits’   apparently had gone overboard , and chances are they may get   a mention in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for their efforts…

I kept asking : Does anyone  really think that a person aged 35 years , Zero Months and 1 day is  unfit  to draw anything, let alone  a kar2n?

Jokes aside,  I felt that instead of this kind of age bar they could  very well  have imposed  one  saying , for example,  “Professionals are barred from taking part in the Contest” , or words to that

effect . That  would have been a very sensible thing to do ( and would have made me happier .. I ain’t a professional, y’know! 😉

But this? Oh! No! …Not this,  for chrissake!

Any way, I consoled myself saying thank God,  I have a blog of my own  where ‘Brit’ blokes  have no jurisdiction   … it  has also  no  age bar, band-pass or otherwise! So I decided to upload my abortive attempt for this ‘kar2n contest’ to my blog…

After  deciding to do that I felt defiant and said to myself,  “ In for a penny , in for a pound ‘.   Just for the heck of it, I thought I should flout one more of the ‘ Brit’ dictums  which demanded that you  limit your ‘kar2nic’ tendencies ‘  to just one! ..

( Worse than those  Family Planning blokes, y’know ! .. they  at least  permitted us  two…remember the catchy phrase “We two ….Ours two ” ? )

So for good measure I have uploaded two  more of my stuff on the other themes…

And I call all them all my LOST LOFFs… !

If you wanna see them, go ahead and

Click here>>>shifting-prioroties

Die Hard…

And Here>>>a-melting-story

Die Hard Again…

And Click Here>>>pollution-control

Read Full Post »

The 'Band-Pass Age Filter’…

This time I am banking on my blog to live up to its name:  ‘LOST LOFF’…well almost.

A few days ago I received  a communication from the Kerala Cartoon Academy which among other things, contained a Press Release from the British Council regarding a forthcoming Kar2n competition on ‘Climatic changes’.

It said:

“If you are concerned about climate change and feel that through humour you can sensitise and bring better awareness about climate change, here’s your opportunity! “

Oh, Yes,  I am  concerned, I said to myself , …and I do feel…Yeah,Yeah Yeah…!

I took a hard look at the themes suggested and  they were quite challenging…Trust the Brits to go for the best…

 drought and water shortage
 deforestation and rain forest destruction
 melting of the ice caps
 role of industry in polluting the atmosphere
 devastation of our seas and disappearance of marine life
 climate change in an urban environment

I was elated  because for one thing it was ‘Brit’  affair ,   in partnership with some  Ken Sprague Fund,  UK ( never heard of it, ha ! ) The aroma of a possible international exposure was too compelling to brush away.  For  a second thing , the themes had immense possibilities even for a start-up green-horn like me…
I rubbed my hands in glee, drew up a piece of  paper , grabbed a pencil by its scruff and got to work with a new-found fervor…

It took me two solid days of biting  my tongue into a fine pulp and  screwing up my eyes into mere slits,  to produce a kar2n of sorts on the Business of Ice Melting at the poles… I thought it will shake the World at large into its senses…. I sat back and viewed my handiwork like an anxious  father inspecting his new- born..and like every anxious father I felt at first a little uncertain , wondering whether , after all,  the new -born had delivered a well-aimed kick at my bottom! All the same, I muttered, ‘ World, Oh World, here I come!’

That was when my eyes stubbed their toes ( if you can imagine that! ) on a line in the Press Release that I had totally missed out in my first reading…

It stated  in no unequivocal and in somewhat terse terms that the contest is a no-no for guys like me who are waiting for the clearance form the Tower for the Take-off to Heavens. In fact , the contest had a band-pass filter attached to it, saying that it is exclusively for ‘guys and gals’ of age between 18 and 35!

I have heard of Age-Bars …Oh, Yeah…

There is one that disqualifies people of age below 18 from getting married because they might do something rash and foolish…especially in these days of increasing population;-) Then there is this one that disqualifies people of age below 18 from voting , for much the same reason ( leave the population part out , though )… There is yet another that says people below 18 cannot apply for a driving license , well, again for the same reason…

There is even one that bars people of ripe old age from applying and getting loans from  Banks, unless they can prove that they are capable of holding on to their plastic buckets without kicking them,  long enough to repay the loan! Insurance people hate the  very sight of oldies like the  mother-in-law and  look askance when   one  wanders  in for touching them for a bit of policy. Then there is this age bar for   contest for kids which  stipulates  that kids above 10 years of age are not considered children and so cannot participate in the contest .

All very fair, indeed…

But an upper age bar for drawing kar2ns is something that is quite a different kettle of fish.  The ‘Brits’   apparently had gone overboard , and chances are they may get   a mention in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for their efforts…

I kept asking : Does anyone  really think that a person aged 35 years , Zero Months and 1 day is  unfit  to draw anything, let alone  a kar2n?

Jokes aside,  I felt that instead of this kind of age bar they could  very well  have imposed  one  saying , for example,  “Professionals are barred from taking part in the Contest” , or words to that

effect . That  would have been a very sensible thing to do ( and would have made me happier .. I ain’t a professional, y’know! 😉

But this? Oh! No! …Not this,  for chrissake!

Any way, I consoled myself saying thank God,  I have a blog of my own  where ‘Brit’ blokes  have no jurisdiction   … it  has also  no  age bar, band-pass or otherwise! So I decided to upload my abortive attempt for this ‘kar2n contest’ to my blog…

After  deciding to do that I felt defiant and said to myself,  “ In for a penny , in for a pound ‘.   Just for the heck of it, I thought I should flout one more of the ‘ Brit’ dictums  which demanded that you  limit your ‘kar2nic’ tendencies ‘  to just one! ..

( Worse than those  Family Planning blokes, y’know ! .. they  at least  permitted us  two…remember the catchy phrase “We two ….Ours two ” ? )

So for good measure I have uploaded two  more of my stuff on the other themes…

And I call all them all my LOST LOFFs… !

If you wanna see them, go ahead and

Click here>>>shifting-prioroties

Die Hard…

And Here>>>a-melting-story

Die Hard Again…

And Click Here>>>pollution-control

Read Full Post »