There Are No Shortcuts to Success

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That’s the old adage, many of us may have heard from the generations above us saying these words. As we progress, we have gadgets and services which save us time but no matter how much time we save we still don’t have time for tried and tested ways or taking a more proper approach, today everything is about shortcuts in all spheres of life.

Cooking

Instant chapattis, ready made meals and frozen dinners may have made an entry into Indian markets but I haven't seen too many families using these products. I myself use shortcuts a lot during cooking though and the two tried and tested 'shortcuts' are listed below:

Spaghetti Bolognese
Mix packaged tomato soup with fried mince meat, add cheese and seasonings and ladle over boiled spaghetti. No one can tell the difference - I haven't tried this on Italians though.

Alu Posto (Potatoes with poppy seeds)
This is a low cal quick version. In a pressure cooker, pour about 2 tbsp oil, temper this oil with nigella (kalonji) seeds, split green chilies and some red chili powder. Add the poppy seed paste, fry it a bit, and add chopped raw potatoes, salt, turmeric and sufficient water and pressure cook it for 5 minutes.

Both have saved me about 30 minutes time each and the end result is the same. So shortcuts are better!

Love

The latest shortcut to find 'love' is speed dating, which happens to be quite a rage in Bombay. Each person talks to a person of the opposite sex for 3 minutes and makes a snap decision about that person. The couple now graduates to a first date after investing only a few minutes of their time. Imagine how much of time is saved avoiding the gradual build up, the shy glances, finding silly excuses to speak to a person, asking friends to intervene and deal with the fear of rejection and starting all over again.

I am not so convinced that shortcuts are better in this respect as one may also miss out on the euphoria of making a connection.

Career

Is it better to be smart, visible, well dressed and a smooth talker and good at your work or is it better to sit quietly in your corner and work with your heads down? The former is definitely the proven faster way up the corporate ladder with a bit of buttering on your way up.

So shortcuts or rather faster tracks are not so bad in the corporate environment either.

Roads

In a city like Bombay, there are no shortcuts; this is one place where a shortcut could land you in a complete mess. You can at most try to be a top rung movie star or an industrialist and then you can have your own helicopter but do keep in mind that there are only 3 helipads in the city!

Comments

Kausum said…
I come to your blog and feel hungry. You always do have some mouth watering food.

Alu posto is fabulous. It has been ages since I have eaten it ... will eat soon as soon as I reach Bombay.
9:53 PM
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