The 1 crore cake!

Yes.

That's what I did today.

I'm supposed to be on complete bed-rest, but I couldn't resist the challenge of the call I got yesterday.

Caller: "Hi, is this Cake Away?"
Me: "Yes, how can I help you"
Caller: "I need a 10kg cake that looks like a 1 crore rupee note"
Me: "Umm, you mean a note that says one crore on it instead of say 1000"
Caller: "Yes, exactly"
.
. (a few more minutes of conversation and negotiating rates)
.
Me: "Okay"

This is what I made for her. I think I did good.

That's 3 ft x 1.5 ft. Issa big pure chocolate mother!

The thin white coat of icing is just so that the print looks good

Quite a bitch to get that print on right! I could've shaved the cake around the image to make it just the note, but why waste so much delicious chocolate :)

Bye then.

I didn't know Johnny Depp was Edward Scissorhands...

And oh so much more.

I think you'll like this link :)

To sir, with love

When we first started class 11, high school, I was pissed. They'd put most of my friends, the ones I'd been growing up with in a new section and me and a few other in another.

I was pissed, but I got over it. I've always been pretty good adapting to situations.

We had new teachers, some impressive, some irritating and some, most memorable.

At the top of this list was our chemistry teacher, Mr D M Mehta. I don't know the full name. Never did bother to find out. Doesn't mean I had any less respect for him.

He had a catch phrase. "Hath mein paani le ke naak dubo le" (Take some water in your palm and drown your nose in it). Of course accompanied by the gesture. This was his way of telling you to get your shit in order.

Well on the first day after summer holidays, with a bunch of new students in class, I was clowning around and mimicking his mannerisms and catch phrase with my back to the door. And, obviously, he walked in right then. Gave me a stinker look and I thought, well, I'm never going to pass chemistry.

I grew to respect that man immensely. He didn't hold it against me and gave a me fair chance in class. He let it go as a child's foolishness and gave me respect, which I returned plenty-fold.

He was a harsh man, crude, loud, merciless. But he was a good man. One of the best I've met. He always tried his hardest. And his eyes were extraordinarily expressive. Something I only noticed years later, in 2008 at a school fete. Kind but sorrowful eyes.

I'm sad today, because after a year of being comatose he has passed on. This world has no place for good men, so I hope he is happy where ever he is, whichever religion got it right. The thing about good men is that they know there won't be a place for them in this world, but that doesn't change them.

I respect knowledge. He had it.

By the time I left school, I had a good relationship with him, and I'm pretty sure he was more fond of me than most students in my batch. But I didn't go for his Chautha. I didn't think it was appropriate for me to there, with his family whom I know not at all. Whenever I've met him after school we've always had a nice long chat in which he'd speak mostly about his kids, whom he's so proud of, studying outside the country and doing well.

He'd speak about the administrative changes in school which made it hard to be a good teacher. Slapping for one, a non aggressive tap on the back of the head, another one of the things he did and something to which we never took offense had suddenly become a complete nono because stupid little kids would threaten legal or aggressive retaliation.

They were slowly sucking the life out of this offbeat, vibrant man.

Rest peacefully sir, we shall meet again soon and chat about many things, man to man not man to child anymore.

(I was unable to find a picture of him to add here)

The perfect shave

The best time to blog is when you're down and out with a fever!

I've a bit more than the usual boyhood fascination of knives. And I've found the ultimate non homicidal out let for it! Shaving.

In school days, rather than the usual reading a comic behind school books whilst studying I'd be whittling pencils with a pocketknife, resulting in a bin full of little wooden chips and a shouting from my brother who'd be studying on the other side of the room.

Then I practiced thowing those pencils through a few sheets of a book working my way up to getting through a single gatta cover. All the while lost in day dreams of 007 fantasies :)

Well, I still have my sharpening skills - this was whittled from a new pencil in about a minute using an old partly dull thai bought flip knife

And throwing skills - 12 feet aiming for the Mercedes logo

Now, the real challenge is closer home, and its called shaving. I hate the user friendly multi-blade razors. Where's the art in it? Where's the finesse?

And so began my quest to find a straight razor, which, in Delhi, is surprisingly hard. I found this:

Which is similar to the DOVO shavettes, except the blades are smaller and well, its a bitch to use.

But you've got to keep at it. Try repeatedly and slowly. Cut your face again and again till the one shave (around no 7 for me) you manage the shave without a nick. Oh what a glorious feeling! And then you feel oh so happy about not giving up midway, because the end result is therapeutic.

Whats the key again? Try honestly and try hard, because nothing this good comes easy! At the very least give it a... *ahem* the first will never go well.... say 5 shots?

I must mention that I had asked a number of barbers where I could buy one and right until the last guy, they all said "I don't know", despite using these blades to shape fringes of hair around the ears. Also, they all (including the last one) told me not to try shaving on my own because its very dangerous with these little razors.

But baby I stuck to it and I'm-a happy!

And the actual process of the shave is an experience to be savored. For those few minutes, there is nothing else on your mind. And there better not be because you're holding a bloody sharp knife to your throat. Be sure to watch the right side of your face and your jawline and mustache, they take a lot of patient work.

But that's all there is to it. Some honest effort and work, and you wont regret it a bit! So come on, don't be a wuss and give it a shot!

Next step is to get a proper straight razor and strop, I've heard they're much easier to use and give a much better shave.

p.s. further reading:

1) 5 guys who died shaving (hence the need to focus, but really, its not all because of the blade)
2) THE guide for straight razor shaving online