I went for my usual morning run today. Usually, I am a bit tired after the run. For some reason, today was different. During the run, I felt a bout of irrational exuberance come upon me and ran sub-10-minute miles for the first time in a long time. More importantly, after the run, I felt less tired and more energized. What gives?
I think I will go back to sleep and wait for this feeling to wear off!
Sharmila, Jay Jay, and I were strolling through the Farmers Market in Alpharetta yesterday when a gentleman materialized out of nowhere and handed me a piece of paper — designed to look like a currency bill — and asked:
“I have a fake million dollars for you, for a real million-dollar question.”
That caught me off guard. But I thought, why not play along?
“What’s your million-dollar question?” I asked, neatly folding the bill and tucking it into my shirt pocket with the gravity of a man finishing up a financial transaction.
“Do you think you will go to Heaven?”
Ah. Religious angle. Classic Farmers Market ambush.
Unfazed, I said, “No.”
He was clearly prepared for this. “Do you want to go to Heaven?”
I did the math quickly. Say “Yes,” and he pounces on exactly what I need to do to get there. Lengthy conversation. Cold samosas.
So I smiled and said, “No.”
This one he wasn’t ready for.
“No??? …Why not???” he stammered.
Honestly, I wasn’t ready for it either. But I made the best of it.
“All my friends are in the other place.”
Even he couldn’t stop laughing. Which gave me the exact cover I needed to laugh along, politely excuse myself, and rejoin Sharmila — million dollars richer, and with my eternal destination firmly sorted out.
Built on a base of Smirnoff Spicy Tamarind Vodka and topped with refreshing Aam Panna, this cocktail is a bold celebration of classic Indian summer flavors. Not the best fit for this rainy Atlanta Memorial Day weekend but, that is what caught my fancy today.
Aam Panna is a beloved North Indian drink made from raw green mangoes, known for its sweet, tangy, and lightly spiced flavor profile. Traditionally prepared using boiled or roasted raw mango pulp, it’s blended with sugar or jaggery, cooling mint, roasted cumin, and black salt to create an intensely refreshing summer cooler.
For garnish, I added tangy tamarind concentrate cubes to amplify the sweet-sour depth of the drink.
The result is a flavorful cocktail — the sharpness of raw mango, the rich tang of tamarind, and the warm burst of Indian spices in the palate.
I was sitting in the Courtyard lobby taking an office video call. Noticed the gentleman sitting a bit ahead of me – also on a video call. What got my attention was his T-shirt.
He got done with his call first. As he was walking by me, I asked the folkd on my call to hold on and started talking to the gentleman.
Turns out he had gone for the 2016 Original Marathon – in Greece. It retraces the path of Phidipiddes from the beaches of Marathon up the mountains for 32 km and then 10 km down into the valley and finish off in the first Olympic stadium in Athens. The race bills itself as the “Authentic Marathon!”
I told him that I was there too – except it was the previous year. We talked for some time about running in general before I got back to my call.
