The Ménage

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Good times are over, good times have started. Back to full fledged classes, back to meeting friends more often. So ‘good times over’ crossed out ‘good time’s start’ and now I feel neutral. I won’t lie this neutral feeling has a lot to do with few other things. Few other things that if didn’t happen I would be a little better than neutral. I won’t write about it today, I have a habit of living in denial, I don’t talk about the bad units of my life, it has no voice, I never acknowledge it, and gradually persuade myself that it never happened. I won’t say it’s the healthiest technique out there but hell it has worked wonders in my case. So let’s make this post about my university. I like my university, but I was never one of those people who would stay all day and night in uni out of choice, who’d join in every single club and actively participate in any sort of interactions or the shows or carnivals that keep on running. I am not a social person, and I have a fabulous life outside NSU, that is my university, and the few genuine friends I made in my years here are never subjugated to NSU in any way. We never needed bound times to bind us together. They know I vanish every now and then, and they are not only aware of my hibernation but are as well compliant with it, they have complied with my bad units.
Here are some photos of the little place many call home and I call a ménage J















Eat alfresco

Thursday, September 15, 2011
Our little picnic in the greens... was an amazing day. 
















Sunday Scribblings: Sensation

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Five senses. Sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of touch, sense of taste and sense of hearing. Aristotle did this wonderful traditional classification of our sensory organs. That man was a true genius. But today we are not going to talk about him. Today we are going to talk about a thing we call ‘sensation’. One word, which could mean so many different things. But in different forms, sensation is all we seek in life. Some seek it through the taste of a sensational exotic drink, some may be through watching beautiful women, some through a sensational touch that reaches deep beneath your skin to the veins and flows to your heart, some through sensationalized words coming in the form of gossip to fill your inner hollowness, and for some like me, through a sensational smell that flirts with your mind and teases you in a way that no sight word taste or touch can. So in one way or other we all seek sensation, we seek all five, but some dig you more than the other. Like sense of smell is the one which I dig (take a look at my blog name for instance!), it’s my turn on, my turn off, my meditation and tranquility, it’s my way of defining beauty and the beast. But there are always exceptions, because human beings are weird creatures. And it is possible that there are people residing right among us whose biggest apprehension is about controlling their sensation and strangely enough there are also the kind who’d eye the ones that seek any sensation as though the seekers have committed the biggest crime of the century. But who listens to whom, life doesn’t stop. Within reason your attitude towards life is your own deal, seek all five or develop a sixth one. Human beings are weird creatures after all, anything can happen.

I scored 14 in the test below. What does that make me? I am not telling! Finish yours and find out.


Are You a Sensation Seeker?
A Self-Test

Answer each question according to the way you feel. Answer true if it is at least somewhat true for you. Answer false if it is not very true or not at all true for you.

T     F    If it were safe, I would like to take a drug that would cause me to have strange new experiences.


T     F    I can become almost painfully bored in some conversations.

T     F    I would rather go to a new place I may not like than go back again to a place I know I like.

T     F    I would like to try a sport that creates a physical thrill, like skiing, rock climbing, or surfing.

T     F    I get restless if I stay home for long.

T     F    I don't like waiting with nothing to do.

T     F    I rarely watch a movie more than once.

T     F    I enjoy the unfamiliar.

T     F    If I see something unusual, I will go out of my way to check it out.

T     F    I get bored spending time with the same people everyday.

T     F    My friends say it is hard to predict what I will want to do.

T     F    I like to explore a new area.

T     F    I avoid having a daily routine.

T     F    I am drawn to art that gives me an intense experience.

T     F    I like substances that make me feel "high."

T     F    I prefer friends who are unpredictable.

T     F    I look forward to being in a place that is new and strange to me.

T     F    To me, if I am spending the money to travel, the more foreign the country the better.

T     F    I would like to be an explorer.

T    F I enjoy it when someone makes an unexpected sexual joke or comment that starts everyone laughing a little nervously.




Scoring the Sensation Seeker Self Test



FOR WOMEN

        If you answered true to 11 or more of the questions, you're probably a sensation seeker. If you answered true to 7 or less of the questions, you are probably not a sensation seeker. If you answered true to 8, 9, or 10 of the questions, you are probably somewhere in between on sensation seeking.


FOR MEN

      If you answered true to 13 or more of the questions, you're probably a sensation seeker. If you answered true to 9 or less of the questions, you are probably not a sensation seeker. If you answered true to 10, 11, or 12 of the questions, you are probably somewhere in between on sensation seeking.


©  Copyright 2006 by Elaine Aron, Ph.D.


 This post is a response to prompt # 284 at Sunday Scribblings

A pomegranate a day keeps the doctors away!

Monday, September 5, 2011

 Nar dana, anar dana
Asaa rumi topi waale naal jaana 


A song of my past. Whenever I see an anar (Pomegranate) the lyrics keep hovering through my head. It’s the season of pomegranate here in Dhaka.  No other fruit comes with sparkling red gems that as much as soothes the eyes coming about as edible soothes the tastebuds to two times the degree. And this fruit takes me to my happy place, my childhood, all the more reason to love it. Though most of us associate the 'forbidden fruit' from the garden of Eden to be an apple, Iranians believe that Eve was tempted with a pomegranate, and comparing the fleshiness of apple to my red gems, I sort of second that. Today I will be giving a pomegranate smoothie recipe I found on the internet along with my own rendition on it. Most of the smoothie recipes come with berries which is not available here so I have substituted the berries with bananas. Pomegranate is rich in vitamin C, B5, potassium, fiber and antioxidants and has numerous health benefits from inhibiting viral infections to slowing down the aging process, fighting breast cancer, preventing Alzheimer's disease, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure etc. A cupful of pomegranate smoothie leaves me refreshed and it takes care of my glucose level since I have a diet that runs too low on glucose (God didn’t give me a sweet tooth, He gave me an aversion to sweets on the contrary). So here goes the recipe,

Pomegranate smoothie recipe.  

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

You will need:

1 pomegranate

1 banana

2 cups of water

5 tablespoons of non fat yogurt

Half cup sugar


First take out the pomegranate seeds from the pomegranate and blend on high until the juice is thoroughly extracted.

In the blender, combine the chilled nonfat yogurt with the pomegranate juice. Add the sliced banana, water and sugar. Blend. Pour the smoothie into tall, chilled glasses and serve at once with just ice or ice cream on top.

Happy drinking! :) and please let me know how you like it!


A question to you sir

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Once upon a time there was an ancient Indian King who had been obsessed with the desire to find the meaning of peace. Three questions haunted his mind day in and day out, three questions- what is peace, how do we find it and once found what should we do with it? Intellectuals in his kingdom were invited to answer the King's questions for a handsome reward. Many tried, but none could truly explain the answers to the questions. At last someone said to the King that there’s only one person who could know the rightful answers to his questions, and the person was a sage who lived just outside the borders of his Kingdom.


"He is an old man and very wise," the King was told. "If anyone can answer your questions he can."


And hence, the King went to the sage and posed the eternal question. Without a word the sage went into the kitchen, and brought a grain of wheat to the King. "In this you will find the answer to your question," the Sage said as he placed the grain of wheat in the King's outstretched palm.

Puzzled but unwilling to admit his ignorance the King clutched the grain of wheat and returned to his palace. He locked the precious grain in a tiny gold box and placed the box in his safe. Each morning, upon waking, the King would open the box and look at the grain to seek an answer but could find nothing.


Weeks later, not being able to hold his angst any longer the King called upon the sage to his palace to resolve his dilemma. The sage came to the palace. The King said to the sage,


"Every morning when I wake up I would open my gold box and watch the grain of wheat, all the while looking for an answer. But to my surprise till date I have found nothing."

The Sage smiled.


"It is quite simple, your honour. Just as this grain represents nourishment for the body, peace represents nourishment for the soul. Now, if you keep this grain locked up in a gold box it will eventually perish, without providing nourishment or multiplying. However, if it is allowed to interact with the elements - light, water, air, soil - it will flourish, multiply, and soon you would have a whole field of wheat which will nourish not only you but so many others. This is the meaning of peace your honour. It must nourish your soul and the souls of others, and thus it must multiply by interacting with the elements."


Now my question is, do you know your elements? Alas I don’t have a sage to ask this.