Thursday, November 21, 2013

All play ,no work.

A survey report  stated "Indians choose money over holidays".The Times of India reported this in their newspaper dated today ! Well,the TOI did this, as Indians ditching holidays for work is news to all of us especially, to those, who were surveyed !

The survey states, that, a whopping 85 % Indians were pleased with their jobs even though their jobs allowed them no  time for leisure or holidays.The survey omitted to state that work, for a majority of the Indians is one big holiday ! So who takes holidays or breaks in a holidays ? Well ,when one is enjoying leisure & that too a paid one ,why take a vacation & lighten  the pocket /s  ?

In any workplace in our nation,employees are on extended  breaks,...tea,lunch,nap to name a few.If indeed Indians worked without breaks ,all work would have got done many times over ! Reality check : anybody & everybody will tell you ,how many times they have to go repeatedly  for every single task like aadhar card,passport,bank account details,insurance policy etc.Mind you ,this is not just the public sector.The private sector's forays into insurance & banking etc has made us realise that private sector is one up or maybe many steps above  the public sector in terms of discourtesy,customer dissatisfaction,complaints & many more things !


In offices around our country,employees  opt for power naps to get set for overtime .Why over time ? Because salary is paid for office attendance  & therefore to get work done ,overtime needs to be paid ! All work gets piled up as all are busy with innumerable tea breaks,lunch breaks,etc.Why should  any employee enjoy vacation when he can earn double or three times salary, by doing overtime ? Indians are willing to exchange paid leave for money ! That is the reason for a corrupt India.Not only are we corrupt in terms of money,we are corrupt all over...our mind set /s,  which makes it all the more difficult nah impossible , to imbibe or even appreciate any new idea/ s.

Offices send employees for training to places away from their work places.These are another type of paid holidays ! During training ,the persons trained get up ,eat breakfasts spreads & take naps as they attend training sessions. The trainers get paid handsomely for tolerating sorry wisthstanding the slumber of the class ! After the employees are back from training sessions,they are thrilled to put up inflated bills for payments ! Even though many times,many employees may have travelled in a group,all will put up separate bills thus overcharging their employer ! The work which has got piled up due to absence of employess who were attending training supposedly ,will be completed by doing overtime ! New methods of modus operadis are discovered as many people get trained .After all ,team work pays rich dividends in the form /s  of inflated Travelling Allowance  bills !

Moreover, how can we Indians ,take vacations from work when we are enjoying work nah office ambiance ? The workplace has so much to offer....free electricity which runs the air conditioners,the fans,the lights,the laptops,computers etal. In some offices ,some sites are blocked.Hence, employees seek such workplaces which allows free unlimited access to all sites on the net ! At our home/s,we choose to install, the most efficient power saving devices be it the air conditioner,the fan etc,In office ,since we are simply enjoying ,we care a damn ! So we misuse it, to the maximum.Not only, will the air conditioner be on ,the fans will on full speed, to keep our heads cool ! Employees undertime by using office phones for long chats regarding everything but work ! The net is used to chat up friends,relatives & rarely   for mundane office work ! Some people type question paper sets for testing their kids.Some women are busy knitting sweaters in winter to keeps fingers nimble .Then they get so nimble that they refuse to do work in office.Some cut & clean vegetables.Still, others are exchanging recipes,tips & so many other things .Please do not be under the impression, that this is indulged in, by the ladies only  .The amount of undertiming by men, will lead to interesting revelations about cooking ,knitting & amp; other skills of Indian men ! Whoever said ,Indian men do not like housework....they love it .Men will undertime by arguing,discussing  housework, so that the undone work has to be done by getting paid for overtime ! So undertime & overtime are complimentary & supplement incomes !

The survey also revealed that Indians refuse to take vacations as they want to be part of every major decision taken in their workplaces ! Now ,that is so, that  decisions can be attacked,argued against  ,etal so that it gets nullified ultimately  &  that too immediately !If they went on leave ,how will they ever know which   decision /s to protest against ?  Indians are extremely  argumentative & hence,  there is no need to do any work as  decisions( if any )  have been discarded  !

We take vacations provided it is funded by LTC( Leave Travel Concession ) & how ! Senior executives were recently caught in LTC scam which came to light as someone had the ingenuity to travel Delhi to Jaipur via Sao Paulo ( in Brazil ).As the scam unfolded,it was clear that MPS were involved as well ! Just goes to show, that we are a dissatisfied lot, as we want to claim LTC for a world tour/s nothing less  .Next time on ,we will demand LTC  on our Mars mission & other intra planetary travels !


It has often been said that in  IT industry &  call centers ,all are extremely busy working through nights etal.If this is so ,why are so many employees on the bench ? Or maybe,they are  nocturnal species who work only at nights !

When employment is all play ,who needs  vacations  in India ? ! This  happens only in  India !

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Baked passions !



I had always been interested in baking.It looked glamorous with all icing & toppings ! It was exotic ! I looked on baking with awe.My office colleagues presented me with an electric oven when I was transferred to another office.I had no time to learn baking those days  & this when I had asked for an oven hoping to learn to bake .The oven just lay unused.After some years,I donated it to an old age home as I presumed that there are others who are waiting to bake  but for want of an oven !

Then the Microwave oven hit the markets.I brought one, imagining  that I will cook exotic dishes in minutes if not seconds.And yet, hours,days ,months & years passed before I even touched the microwave !  I was working full time &  had a baby.When my kid was about eight  years old, suddenly my interest in baking rekindled.I came across a recipe of cake & tried it.It was a date cake.It turned out fine.I had made an eggless cake with dates,maida & milk among many ingredients.Then I repeated the recipe.It turned out fabulous.Still,I never made any more cakes till two  more years went   by.I still can't understand why my baking spree ended abruptly.

Time passed.I gave up my job.I started blogging.I had to take care of my kid & so on.Slowly, as I felt more energised by my writing, to explore new avenues,I felt drawn to baking.I searched for recipes online.My initial attempts were complete  disasters as I was paying hardly any attention to details of the recipe- the measurements perhaps.Moreover,the wastage was very high as I would use the same amount of flour & other ingredients as used by experts.It  never entered my head that I could  halve the ingredients & try it.Now,when I think of the wasted ingredients,I feel ,a  whole village could have have been fed .But of course, all would have ended up with stomach upsets after eating my caked bakes !

Painstakingly,I kept trying & finally my cakes started getting better.They became fluffier.They became more healthier.I bake eggless cakes & have even made vegan cakes.I use healthy ingredients like yoghurt,buttermilk,flaxseed powder,vinegar,fruit juice,apple sauce as egg replacers.I have a microwave to bake cakes & that remains the same.I have daringly experimented.I made a cake using Sapota or chikoo fruit.I have started using multigrain atta which has a mixture of different flours like wheat,ragi,oats,corn,jowar etc.I have used jaggery in mycake recipes.I made a pineapple upside down cake using ragi or fingermillet flour ! I have used leftover flavored milk in one of my cake recipes.I brought a brown coloured powdered sugar from a local shop & used it many cakes as it is a healthier sugar.I have made chocolate cakes by using Bournvita powder ! My cake recipes make use of veggies like carrots,beetroots,& fruits like apples,bananas,,dates,pears,peaches,strawberries etc.I have even tried a banana bread which turned out awesome with a superb texture ! This is my passion -to bake from ingredients which can be commonly found at home & which are health boosters.

The best cake baked by me so far has been a cake using apple sauce -I made the apple  sauce myself, by pressure cooking the apples & pureeing the apple pulp.

baked methi muthias for oondhiyon.I must try more savoury & salty bakes apart from sweets like cakes & breads.I made a corn bread once & it turned out  nice & crumbly.

I love baking as I feel that no other cakes can be as healthy as made by me.In the microwave,it just takes ten minutes to bake a cake which uses one cup of flour.So my cakes use less energy to get baked.So it helps me be green as well . Baking is a passion  -as the cake rises, it inflates my ego. This is so, as I don't have any assistants & junior colleagues at home ,who boosted me while  in office.Moreover, so far my cakes have not split at the top as they rose & rose.So, my ego boost is within limits !I want to slowly & surely learn to bake breads & buns.I am sure ,I will in days to come.I even intend buying an electric oven to get cakes & breads with brown crusts which is missing from my microwave bakes ! 

Just looking at pictures of cakes ,breads,buns makes me drool.I hope my bakes will make many behave the same way !

This was written for the "Baking story "contest on Magical Homes I won the first prize ...a large red heart shaped silicone cake baking dish !
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