A blender, or liquidiser in British English, is a kitchen appliance used to mix ingredients or puree food. The term typically refers to a stationary, upright electrical device, which is to be distinguished from a hand-powered or electric mixer that may be used for similar purposes. Blenders are also used in laboratory applications.
Can you think of something that did not exist in 2000 but you simply cannot exist without its existence now? For me, a thing like that would be Wikipedia. Life with and without Wiki is so different that it sounds impossible live without it. When there was no Wiki, some of us would buy the book version of encyclopedia britannica for ready references and instant enlightenment. Later on, some geeks started buying MS Encarta instead. The software looked nice, but it took too much shelf space and hard disk space. So no encyclopedia for me. Back then, if I needed to know about something, frantic google search was the best alternative. But now, for a simple definition and basic information, nothing can beat Wiki.
Before leaving KSA permanently, my mom bought a number of kitchen appliances and utensils for taking along. She thought electronic gadgets would make living in Bangladesh a bit easier. She brought a Moulinex blender. Thanks to Wiki again; I just came to know that the company got bankrupt in 2001, but was later resurrected by a consortium.
For those who are familiar with the device, you already know what a blender does. For those who don't know; please check the "Idiot's guide to Earthling" before landing (and intruding) in our precious planet. Alternately, you could have given a bit more concentration and read the definition I gave in the first paragraph of this article.
This event happened a long, long time ago, so I exactly don't remember how it happened. However, the inevitable became reality and the blender blade broke down. Hence the device became unusable. after giving faithful service for a respectable period My mother did not bring any spare, and there were no Moulinex service centres in our country for making things easy.
At that time, my sister was learning to paint. She used to go to a local painting school. My dad is an architect, and I think his creativity and drawing skills were passed on to me and my sis. to some extent However, it was more prevalent in sis because within a very small time, she started painting really nice pictures. My sketching and painting skills were confined in whatever I was required to draw for my drawing courses. Occasionally, I would also copy some Disney characters and paint them on huge hard papers.
I was really good at copying. Every year, during my, my cousin's and sister's birthday party, I would draw Mickey, Pluto, Minny, Donald and some others in to the hard paper and paint them using my Staedtler color pencils that I brought from KSA. Me and my sis both were crazy about the Staedtler color pencils. We had two boxes; one with 24 colors and a picture of a Kingfisher upon it. This box was brought from KSA. The other box was a gift for my sister on her birthday ; my dad b0ught it from New Market. It had a polar bear on the label and contained 36 pencils; as far as I remember. I still have a memorable photograph of my sister intently painting something whilst sitting on the bed with the color pencil box in opened state. The bed sheet is maroon colored, and everything looks very cute, nice and colorful in that photograph. And yes, she was tiny back then.
All these sketching and painting was less than a hobby to me. My real hobby was playing video games and later on, listening to music. So I wouldn't draw unless it was needed. However, even today when I see a pencil, pen and paper and I get some free time, I start drawing something. I wish I gave art a bit more time. Maybe I wouldn't have ended doing the boring and non-creative job I am doing now. I might have quit drawing, but drawing never deserted me. That is what happens with your best of friends. You may leave them, but they never leave you. Their wishes will always be with you. I have experienced a number of situations, where my drawing ability helped me remarkably. I was not betting on drawing to get 99 in my economics mid term, nor was I expecting to become part of the most creative team during a training. All I had to do was draw a cartoon character who held a vicious looking axe in his hand, but was brandishing a child's smile. I even forgot to give the character (affectionately called "Kopa Shamsu") enough hair.
My mom was kind of lost, now that the blender blade is gone. She ransacked the town but couldn't find a suitable replacement. To make things worse, no one was arriving from abroad in near future; so chances of "importing" a replacement was thin. At that time, Nana (my grandfather, father of my mother) decided to go for Hadj; which came as a blessing to us. During his pilgrimage trip, he could easily check some electronics shop and get the replacement blade.
But the real problem was to ensure that Nana is asking for the right thing. How to do that? We thought about different ways and means, but no feasibile solution came out. None of the ideas could be implemented with existing resources; even taking a pic would require 2-3 days as the picture would have to be developed in the studio. Of course, we didn't have digital cameras back then!
We didn't have much time, so I decided to take things in to my hand. I took the blade from my mother, and sat on the dining table with my sketchbook and a Staedtler HB and a 6B pencil. HB was for drawing, and 6B was for applying shades. Back then, most Staedtler pencils came in a yellow-black colored design, but the 6B pencil was blue with a few black areas.
I'd love a 4B, because 6B is too blunt, and it is very hard to work with. Still, I made good use of my tools and within an hour or so, I came up with a passable image of the blender blade.
I polished the image by applying shade and I also cleaned up some extra shades and outlines. I was really glad with my work, and I gave it to my mother. She was surprised, but did not ask any further questions.
My mom took the image and went to grandfather's. I did not go. My father went there from office, and finally came back home with mom. By then I almost forgot about my art. Seeing my dad, the day's event came back in to my mind, and I went up to him and asked "dad did you see my sketch of the blender blade? was it okay?".
My dad is very scrooge like, when it comes to giving compliments to his children. Maybe he thinks this as a good way of raising children--if children gets more compliments, they will become proud and they will no longer feel motivated to get better at what they are already good; fair enough....Now.
Anyway, as an extremely rare incident, dad gave me a whole hearted praising that day. He said "The sketch was really good. It looked just like the real blade".
If I would get compliments every day and night, I wouldn't have spent so much time writing about that day in my blog. So I guess my father's strategy was good, and it still is.
Okay, there were no blunders with the blender that time. But I stole the title from a friend of mine. Why? I don't know. Maybe it sounds nice, that is why. This blog is dedicated to her.
Can you think of something that did not exist in 2000 but you simply cannot exist without its existence now? For me, a thing like that would be Wikipedia. Life with and without Wiki is so different that it sounds impossible live without it. When there was no Wiki, some of us would buy the book version of encyclopedia britannica for ready references and instant enlightenment. Later on, some geeks started buying MS Encarta instead. The software looked nice, but it took too much shelf space and hard disk space. So no encyclopedia for me. Back then, if I needed to know about something, frantic google search was the best alternative. But now, for a simple definition and basic information, nothing can beat Wiki.
Before leaving KSA permanently, my mom bought a number of kitchen appliances and utensils for taking along. She thought electronic gadgets would make living in Bangladesh a bit easier. She brought a Moulinex blender. Thanks to Wiki again; I just came to know that the company got bankrupt in 2001, but was later resurrected by a consortium.
For those who are familiar with the device, you already know what a blender does. For those who don't know; please check the "Idiot's guide to Earthling" before landing (and intruding) in our precious planet. Alternately, you could have given a bit more concentration and read the definition I gave in the first paragraph of this article.
This event happened a long, long time ago, so I exactly don't remember how it happened. However, the inevitable became reality and the blender blade broke down. Hence the device became unusable. after giving faithful service for a respectable period My mother did not bring any spare, and there were no Moulinex service centres in our country for making things easy.
At that time, my sister was learning to paint. She used to go to a local painting school. My dad is an architect, and I think his creativity and drawing skills were passed on to me and my sis. to some extent However, it was more prevalent in sis because within a very small time, she started painting really nice pictures. My sketching and painting skills were confined in whatever I was required to draw for my drawing courses. Occasionally, I would also copy some Disney characters and paint them on huge hard papers.
I was really good at copying. Every year, during my, my cousin's and sister's birthday party, I would draw Mickey, Pluto, Minny, Donald and some others in to the hard paper and paint them using my Staedtler color pencils that I brought from KSA. Me and my sis both were crazy about the Staedtler color pencils. We had two boxes; one with 24 colors and a picture of a Kingfisher upon it. This box was brought from KSA. The other box was a gift for my sister on her birthday ; my dad b0ught it from New Market. It had a polar bear on the label and contained 36 pencils; as far as I remember. I still have a memorable photograph of my sister intently painting something whilst sitting on the bed with the color pencil box in opened state. The bed sheet is maroon colored, and everything looks very cute, nice and colorful in that photograph. And yes, she was tiny back then.
All these sketching and painting was less than a hobby to me. My real hobby was playing video games and later on, listening to music. So I wouldn't draw unless it was needed. However, even today when I see a pencil, pen and paper and I get some free time, I start drawing something. I wish I gave art a bit more time. Maybe I wouldn't have ended doing the boring and non-creative job I am doing now. I might have quit drawing, but drawing never deserted me. That is what happens with your best of friends. You may leave them, but they never leave you. Their wishes will always be with you. I have experienced a number of situations, where my drawing ability helped me remarkably. I was not betting on drawing to get 99 in my economics mid term, nor was I expecting to become part of the most creative team during a training. All I had to do was draw a cartoon character who held a vicious looking axe in his hand, but was brandishing a child's smile. I even forgot to give the character (affectionately called "Kopa Shamsu") enough hair.
My mom was kind of lost, now that the blender blade is gone. She ransacked the town but couldn't find a suitable replacement. To make things worse, no one was arriving from abroad in near future; so chances of "importing" a replacement was thin. At that time, Nana (my grandfather, father of my mother) decided to go for Hadj; which came as a blessing to us. During his pilgrimage trip, he could easily check some electronics shop and get the replacement blade.
But the real problem was to ensure that Nana is asking for the right thing. How to do that? We thought about different ways and means, but no feasibile solution came out. None of the ideas could be implemented with existing resources; even taking a pic would require 2-3 days as the picture would have to be developed in the studio. Of course, we didn't have digital cameras back then!
We didn't have much time, so I decided to take things in to my hand. I took the blade from my mother, and sat on the dining table with my sketchbook and a Staedtler HB and a 6B pencil. HB was for drawing, and 6B was for applying shades. Back then, most Staedtler pencils came in a yellow-black colored design, but the 6B pencil was blue with a few black areas.
I'd love a 4B, because 6B is too blunt, and it is very hard to work with. Still, I made good use of my tools and within an hour or so, I came up with a passable image of the blender blade.
I polished the image by applying shade and I also cleaned up some extra shades and outlines. I was really glad with my work, and I gave it to my mother. She was surprised, but did not ask any further questions.
My mom took the image and went to grandfather's. I did not go. My father went there from office, and finally came back home with mom. By then I almost forgot about my art. Seeing my dad, the day's event came back in to my mind, and I went up to him and asked "dad did you see my sketch of the blender blade? was it okay?".
My dad is very scrooge like, when it comes to giving compliments to his children. Maybe he thinks this as a good way of raising children--if children gets more compliments, they will become proud and they will no longer feel motivated to get better at what they are already good; fair enough....Now.
Anyway, as an extremely rare incident, dad gave me a whole hearted praising that day. He said "The sketch was really good. It looked just like the real blade".
If I would get compliments every day and night, I wouldn't have spent so much time writing about that day in my blog. So I guess my father's strategy was good, and it still is.
Okay, there were no blunders with the blender that time. But I stole the title from a friend of mine. Why? I don't know. Maybe it sounds nice, that is why. This blog is dedicated to her.
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