Monday, February 26, 2007

Idli to Upma in 5 Mins ;-)

Off late cooking has become an important past time in my life. I have been trying out new dishes, not doing them from scratch but something like a remake, i.e taking a dish which has come bad and doing some repair work and churning out something which is new and very tasty to eat.One such experiment on few stone like idli's made by me, led to Idli Upma.

Steps:

Initially we would have to keep one utensil ( kadai ) ready.We need to finely cut onions and tomatoes and keep.

1) Make stone like idli's into very small pieces and sprinkle water on it's top.

2) Take an utensil ( kadai ) and put oil.Fry mustard , jeera , red chilly , urad dal , bengal gram dal till it becomes golden color.

3) Add green chilly, coriander and curry leaves as needed for taste.

4) Add and fry the onions and tomatoes which you have cut and kept.

5) Put the cut idli's into the kadai and fry them for a minute.

Wow..... Your delicious Idly Upma is ready to eat !

Next week i will teach you how to make Basmati Upma. ;-)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Salaam - e - Junk

I had recently been to Hampi and my friend had a thought provoking post about a racism of a different kind happening there.Dammy and I decided to make it more interesting for the readers as we tried to add more and more junk as comments.Find below the post and the junk which followed.

Disclaimer: Dammy and Vasu are not responsible if people became insane after reading the comments.


Racism


It’s not because it’s the hottest topic now that I am writing this blog. It’s because of an incident that happened very recently to me on a trip to Hampi that left me so shaken.Hampi, a place so amazing that the whole town is listed as a national heritage site. Indians as well as Foreigners throng the place to visit the engineering excellence of the era that once was. Musical pillars, pin hole cameras, secret passages, are a few of the wonders of the town that was built a few centuries back.The Hampi Bazar is a place where lots of local people sell their wares. From stone carvings to Rajasthani bags, you have it all. A friend of mine went over to one of the many hand carts which sold assorted chuky jewellery like bangles, ear rings, belts etc. etc. and started looking around. The woman in charge got angry and told her that she could only touch or look around if she has an intention of buying something. Her attitude made us all angry, and we moved away, but near enough to see that when a foreigner came by, she was all in smiles and she herself came forward which a shell belt and tied it round the lady’s waist. We were appalled by her behavior and thoroughly pissed…. The only satisfaction was that the white lady in question did not buy the belt…..Here, the whole country is screaming their heads off for people making racist comments at Shilpa Shetty and here we were being discriminated racially in our own country. In our own country we discriminate amongst our own people on the basis of religion, sex, caste, colour of skin, accent and so many more things…. Can we expect nething better from some other country?

Dammy said...
Bina .. yeh kya ho gaya ..Anyways .. it is just business re .. doest look ike racism ..Maybe she was fed up of all the indians who wud daily clutter her shop and eventualy buy notihng .. in the process not alowing the foreigners to even see what's on sale..Even if u buy .. wud u pay 10 times the price assome foreigners wud ..If she was rude .. maybe u can crib .. but if u imagine her as an illiterate woman trying to feed her 4 hungry childeren .. then maybe u wud feel like going back to humpy and donating her some money .. ;)But then that wud hurt her .. make her ashamed of herself .. I am sure u dont wanna do that .. So, what shud Bina do .. ??What will solve this problem and save blogger from such crap comments..
9:11 AM
Bina said...
Dammy I am not as good a person as you are. If someone is bad to me, I can't be good to her :-)))
7:05 PM
Vasudev Udhatya said...
Dammy, yes may be it's business.But she should treat everyone as her potential customers.Do you think Bina doesn't have money to pay 10 times as to what the foreigner would have paid? she should have been more courteous.In business it's only courteous and being poilite that sells.If you are rude no one would bother to look at you.Even in our very own IT industry , would we respect managers who are rude ? She may be a mother of 4 children , then in the eyes of every customer she should see the hunger of her children and try to sell it to them at any cost.Even in the might walmarts you are allowed to touch and feel the product and then buy.The have so much money and then can be 1000 times more rude than this lady , but then what matters is customer relationship.At the end of the day , the money in the lady's purse depends on how she respects her customers.
9:03 PM
Dammy said...
okay . lets debug this junk ..Please dont compare this woman with Walmart .. she does nto have the skill neither the volume in sales to behave like a walmart salesperson ... She is just trying to maximise her profits with whatever little she can sell ..Anyways, i dont think any of us wud pay 10 times the price even if we have the money .. I am not really defending her hear .. just trying to figure out why she had to be rude .. maybe she doesn't have any specific reason .. in which case I wud just congratulate myself on "another junk in the blog" .. hehe .. sounds like just another brick in the wall ..And the real question here is .. what shud be done ?sarcastic idea - make it a must for all vendors there to be "not-rude to Indians" certified. Only then can they sell something in Hampi .. And urge the foreigners to buy only from such vendors... Ofcourse we wud be the ones giving out those certifications after a thorough check by Bina with her rudeness meter. Maybe then, they wud build a temple for her..May "Dammy" save u all from further junk .. unless a devil comes up and decides to delete ths comment ..
12:12 AM
Vasudev Udhatya said...
Let me also join debugging this junk. Well i accept the fact that the lady can't be compared to a walmart sales person.May be she has more reasons and the sole reason is not mere hunger of her 4 children.Lets first analyze the reasons in depth the reason and then decide what corrective actions can be taken.Reasons for her rudenes:1) Probably her drunken husband would have beat her and asked for me.2) Probably she has a sick mom and the frustration at her home is showing at us.3) Probably she did not get ration that day as a result she is rude.4) May be they are bringing some licensing policy in hampi and as a result the police are asking for bribe and thats the reason she's got pissed off.5) May be we look like the people who tried to kidnap one of her children as a result she shoo'd us away.6) May be her grandmother was the personal assistant of the foriegner's mother when she was in india.
1:10 AM
Dammy said...
hmmm.. she is in the wrong family .. pity her .. she is the only developer there!! .. rest are all damagers ..Acid Test for wud be damagers :he/she shud be sent to Hampi and asked to get us something from that shop .. ;)
1:48 AM
Bina said...
looks like both of u don't have ne work... WHY MY BLOG?????@Vasu : u are going to be assgned lots of work...start debugging deferral@Dammy : Where are the chocolates? No work after coming down to India? Help Vasu with deferral then.... :-P
1:54 AM
Vasudev Udhatya said...
no no.. all damagers should be sent to hampi.. so when they get shoo'd away by this lady , they'll learn a new management lesson.
1:54 AM
Me said...
Looks like ur blog was easy to read but the comments is taking time. Will read through this later :((
2:34 AM
Bina said...
@Meera: Thanks a lot... don't read through all their junk comments
2:40 AM
Dammy said...
Some junk found in a travel book from 2500 AD which found it's way back to 2007 via "junk finder" algorithm proposed by the Father of multi-dimension travel .. World heritage sights in Karnataka - Belur, halebid, hampi and BINAMPI .. Binampi is a small village near Hampi .. built by the local vendors during the period when "Bina's non-rude" certificates were valued more than degree certificates ...Inside this temple is the idol of Binadevi .. u need to present chocs as prashad .. german chocs are preferred.. On the walls u can find sculptures of her friends ..There is a lot of hstory behind this temple which reflects Indian culture and practices during the 21st century ... a must visit for all foreigners ..PS : Make purchases only from vendors with valid cerficates .. recently there was a "duplicate bina non-rude certificate" scam .. which is being investigated by CBI ...
2:51 AM
Me said...
@dammy: Please visit Manipal's mental health ward immediately. Your condition is critical. Psst: I thoroughly enjoyed the bina devi part though :D
3:06 AM
Bina said...
I completely agree with Meera that Dammy mental condition is unstable. Maybe the winter in Germany had some adverse effects on him....We have to watch out for Alex also when he comes back...PS: Much as I hate to admit it, I enjoyed the post Dammy...especially "On the walls u can find sculptures of her friends .."
3:14 AM
Vasudev Udhatya said...
Next to BINAMPI we found another small village , it was called MEBAAAG. It seems there existed a 5 star international hotel over there sometime around year 2005 -2007. The name MEBAAAAG was given to that place by all the indian tourists who visited that international hotel during that time.The hotel was supposed to provide the best of services like giving tea/coffee in unwashed cups, providing accomodation in an AC room without power , well that was not it .. people who would stay there never even bothered to visit the bar and restaurant at that five star hotel.Our dear friend ME visited the hotel when she was a developer, but later on when she became ME I.A.S batch of 2008 , she took action against this five star hotel.The owner of this hotel was bribed by a local politician by giving a five star and as a result the owner of this five star hotel was arrested in a five star scam and was hanged. After the hanging of the owner of this five star hotel , ME I.A.S decided to build another world heritage site and titled it as MEbag. But to everyone's surprise the place came to be knows as MEBaaaaag as people seemed to run here and there because of the Bhoot of the hotel owner.Bhoot Unkill - 3's shooting took place in this 8th modern blunder of the world. Now ME I.A.S is the role model of many youngsters who wanna clean up the corrupt society.As a result in 2500 , the government is planning to promote 'Lets restart corruption again' as they feel the standard of living of government employees have gone down.But the main opposition party MERESS is against this and as a result the plan might be deferred to a later year!
3:48 AM
Dammy said...
Looks like not just vendors .. all people in Hampi need to be certified .. whoever fails can be made a damager .. I read this somewhere..twinkle twinkle little star ..u shud know what u r ..once u know what u r ..mental hospital is not so far ..and then it dawned upon me .. I am a doctor who is supposed to cure mentals ..Right now I am experimenting on converting a normal human to a mental .. that way I can remove the word mental from dictionary .. if at all by that time .. people still happen to us dictionaries ..I hate only word in english dictionary .. and that's Mental .. echo in the background .. mental . mental .. ramana .. ramana ..
4:39 AM
Vasudev Udhatya said...
This blog seems to be really motivating... or is the comments.. saturday morning at six and am writting a comment.. he he. :-)@ ME - The centre of focus is the sales lady and not our dammy.So lets speak about the lady's mental condition and then come over to investigate whether german winter causes mental fatigue.Was the lady correct in driving away bina and her friends from the shop is the one crore rupees worth question. If you feel the answer is YES then type HBC Y or if feel NO then type HBC N and send it to 0000.
7:06 PM
Dammy said...
HBC N 0000 .. bad lady ..May be this is the oppurtunity life wants to give u all - the tourism industry seems to be in a pathetic state in Hampi .. go there .. open a good hotel and a tourist shop .. create a brand name .. give it publicity .. build a chain of your shops in all world heritage sites in India .. then maybe after 10yrs .. u can even open 1 at eiffel tower .. ;)So, when r u 4 moving to hampi .. office mein kitna kaam karogey .. try something diff .. ;)
2:55 AM
Me said...
@dammy: You shd def read Veronika decides to die. What makes you less mad than those in the asylum is relative. I think you shd be locked up, its dangerous to have you sitting four cubicles away :D@Vasu: IAS batch of 2008 and a corruption free society. Yeah RIGHT!!@Bina: am so sorry that your blogspot is in such bad hands.
10:30 PM

Monday, February 19, 2007

Chennai Rediscovered !



My Mom had been asking me to read this book by S.Muttiah since my childhood. Madras Rediscovered speaks about the history of Chennai ( madras ). When i managed to qualify for the mastermind semifinals at my office i decided to take up this book as my specialization so that i could have a look at it. Now 3 months after the semifinals i read the book and it was really worthwhile. The book starts with the discovery of madras city by Francis Day after East India company obtained a small strip of land from king Venkata-3 and it's divided in many chapters including business houses , sports , education etc. There is a mention of my maternal grandfather's name in this book as he was one of the founding members of the Madras Cricket Club (MCC).This book is a must for all those people who were born and brought up in Chennai. This book is available at Landmark for Rs 320.

Terror strikes again !

What is happening in my motherland ? Blasts in Samjauhta Express have killed over 66 people and left more than 100 people injured. The big question is "Is innocent killings the solution for Kashmir" ? I don't know who is responsible and who are all to be blamed but no one will ever forgive people who are behind these horrendous acts.

Photo Courtesy - CNN-IBN

























Labels:

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Valentine's Day


Wiki on Valentine's Day -

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards or candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. The holiday is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
In the United States, the marketing of Valentine's Day has tagged it as a "Hallmark holiday." A recent trend has been to refer to February 14 as Singles Awareness Day.

This Valentine's Day is very special for me and most of my friends as it's their first Valentine's Day after getting married.


I would like to wish all of you a Very Happy Valentine's Day !

Monday, February 12, 2007

Police .. Is it only for the rich and the elite ?

Noida has been in the center of all controversies for the past few months now. It all started with the high profile kidnapping of Adobe chief's son and then the brutal Nitahari killings.

The UP Police acted really fast in the kidnapping case but the same police acted indifferent when poor people complained about their missing children in Nitahari.Every life is equally precious and probably if the police had taken swift action it could have saved many innocent lives in Nitahari. Is Police there for the safety of common man ? THINK !

Labels:

Men In Blue ! Can they bring back the Glory?

Leaving all the controversies behind and laying to rest all the speculations , Team India for World Cup Cricket 2007 was announced today. These 15 men will have to bring back the world cup last won by Kapil Dev and team in 1983. The biggest question is do they have it in them to bring it back ? Lets just sit and pray for their success.

The Squad:
1. R Dravid (captain)
2. SR Tendulkar (vice-captain)
3. AB Agarkar
4. MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper)
5. SC Ganguly
6. Harbhajan Singh
7. KD Karthik (wicketkeeper)
8. Z Khan
9. A Kumble
10. MM Patel
11. IK Pathan
12. V Sehwag
13. S Sreesanth
14. AR Uthappa
15. Yuvraj Singh

Labels: , ,

Match Fixing resurfaces!


Match Fixing scandals have been haunting many players in various teams of the past. Just prior to the biggest event in the history of cricket , The World Cup 2007 it has again resurfaced in the form of Marlon Samuels. The West Indies team have always known for their integrity on and off the field always.Will this be the first taint in their cricketing history? Lets wait and find out...


Labels: ,

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Postcards from Hampi














The above picture depicts chinese travellers.





















Wow.. whats this?



The Ruins !

Labels: ,

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Old Wine in a new Bottle ;-)

Welcome once again to Thalai's Thatuvam !

A virtual reopening was done yesterday evening in presence of my friends Scene , Rags , Nammu, Dammy, Bina and of course my dear wife Rammoo.

Thalai's Thatuvam is now 45 posts old and slowly marching towards the first landmark of 50 posts. The irony of this blog is neither am i 'Thalai' nor there are any 'Thatuvam's ' from my side , But still i am so fascinated by this name that i wish to keep it for some more time.I will try my best to provide good contents in times to come and if not then I'll at least try to change the look of my blog. ;-)

Many Thanks to all readers !

Justice for Professor

Mata Pita Guru Deivam !

In a country where 'Guru' or Teacher comes before God, it is disheartening to know that Prof. H.S.Sabharwal was killed by students at the instigation of petty politicians for not conducting student elections on time. Prof H.S.Sabharwal was assaulted by few members of ABVP and was announced dead when he was taken to hospital. Prof. Sabharwal was supervising students elections at Madhav College Ujjain.

The Madhya Pradesh government which is run by RSS-BJP is said to have been shielding the ABVP activists as ABVP which is the students wing of RSS-BJP. Prof Sabharwal's son has moved to the supreme court for impartial hearing of the case as justice would not be got if the case is conducted in Madhya Pradesh. Already 4 witnesses in the case have turned hostile and more are expected to turn hostile as influential politicians are involved in protecting the killers.

A professor is a ladder who doesn't mind his students climb over him to reach the glory.A professor is always a professor and remains as one who tries to impart values and knowledge but his student go on to become world leaders , businessmen and professionals , thanks to his professor's teaching. Don't you think we should fight for the justice of prof. Sabharwal. THINK!

Labels: , ,

Postcard from Belur and Halabedu

Belur and Halabedu Temples - Karnataka


















Labels: ,