Signing off as usual with a forwarded sher:

गमोने बाट लिया है यु मुझको आपसमे
के जैसे मै कोई लुटा हुआ खजाना था

As they say when you get off an evening flight - Have a pleasant evening, folks! :-)

Sachin supporting Men in Blue?

I had vowed to myself that I will put this whole Twenty20 World Cup debacle behind me and not write even a word more on it as it brings back painful memories of a humiliating defeat. But I am mightily surprised that Sachin chose to defend the Dhoni Brigade.

What worries me is that he is saying they tried their best. We are the only team that lost all 3 matches in the Super 8, for God's sake! And this is called the team's best effort? I am sure there would have been many amongst us who would have risen in support of the team if our guys had gone down fighting. But playing poorly and calling it the team's best effort is simply unpalatable.

I am sorry Sachin but I don't agree with you on this one because if what you are saying is the truth then we would have to be certifiably insane to expect any sterling performances from this team in the coming tournaments. :-(

Rawa (semolina)Onion Utthapa with chutney

I saw this recipe on a marathi TV program, tried it over a weekend and it turned out to be good. No one at home fell sick. :-) So here it is:

Mix 1 cup of semolina (Rawa), 3/4th cup of sour buttermilk (this has to be sour), 1/4th cup of milk, finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped coriander, finely chopped onion, grated ginger, a pinch of soda, bit of water and salt.

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds (jira), mustard seeds (rai) and curry leaves. Then put a dollop of the above mixture on it and spread evenly. Cook with the lid closed till crispy on both sides.

For the chutney:

Heat oil. Add asafotida (hing), cumin seeds (jira), mustard seeds (rai) and Urad daal to it. Then add chopped red chillies, finely chopped onion and finely chopped tomato. Add salt to taste and chili powder if needed. Finally add finely chopped coriander.

Serve with the Utthapa.

What's with our politicians? Come summer and many of them seem to be afflicted with severe bout of "foot-in-the-mouth" disease. First it was Tharoor, then Jairam Ramesh and now it's BJP's Gadkari calling Lalu and Mulayam 'dogs'.

Wonder what PETA and WSD have to say about this latest episode ;-)

A friend in Dubai was telling me how even an extra inch of rain floods the streets and causes traffic jams there. But she confessed to having realized the value of rain since she shifted there. I narrated my own experience in the city of Golkonda. I was so taken aback by the scanty rainfall that I finally asked a friend - "Where does all the water in Hussain Sagar Lake come from?" ;-)

Congrats Anand!

I must confess that I don't understand a thing about chess. But that is not going to stop me from jumping in the air and doing a high-five for Viswanathan Anand has won the World Chess Championship! Way to go Anand :-)

Oh, I almost forgot to post the answer to yesterday's puzzle. If your answer is 22, then Congratulations! You are part of the 10%. :-)

Well, it goes like this:

15 chocolates for Rs 15.
These 15 wrappers will get 5 chocolates. So total is 15 + 5 = 20.
Out of these 5 wrappers, 3 can be exchanged for 1 chocolate. So total is 20 + 1 = 21.
The wrapper of this chocolate with 2 remaining wrappers gives one more chocolate. So total is 21 + 1 = 22.

I will say this for MS Dhoni. The guy has got guts - to say that they will try to win their match against Sri Lanka and sign off on a winning note. He even calls it a Consolation Prize. Consolation Prize? Had the team gone on to the Caribbeans to win a Consolation Prize?

The only Consolation Prize that I could have settled for would have been if the team had gone down fighting in the Finals. But then I am not MS Dhoni, am I?

The Chinese have rebuked the Dalai Lama for watching IPL matches calling the game "India's favorite pastime". Someone needs to tell them that it is infinitely better than China's favorite pastime - hacking :-)

I will sign off for now with a forwarded sher:

इससे बढ़कर दोस्त कोई दूसरा होता नहीं
सब जुदा हो जाए लेकिन गम जुदा होता नहीं

Have a nice week ahead, folks!

Personal Finance blogs worth watching

An article in The Mint has suggested the following Personal Finance blogs as worth watching. I am yet to check any one of them. But maybe you can take a look:

http://www.themoneyquest.com/
http://ranjanvarma.com/
http://www.jagoinvestor.com/

I must have sighed at least 10 times while watching the episode of chef Jamie Oliver's "Jamie At Home" series yesterday afternoon. The reason? His fabulous herb garden! I went green with envy as I watched him swing his wire mesh basket and fill it up to the brim with the choicest herbs plucked from his very own backyard. Gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "From farm to plate". Some people have all the luck :-)

So we crashed out before the semis in Twenty20 World Cup! I never had any grand illusions that our boys will bring home the cup. But I was hoping that they will make it to the semis at least. Maybe they are not that talented and we are expecting too much from them. :-(

But MS Dhoni better not run into me anywhere or there is no telling what I will do to him!

A Puzzle

Wanna drive away the mid-noon post-lunch lethargy and the Monday-morning blues? Try this puzzle:

A shop sells one chocolate for one Rupee each.
You can exchange 3 wrappers for 1 chocolate.
If you have Rs. 15, how many chocolates can you get?

Oh, and BTW, I am told that 90% people answer it wrong.

So give it a try. I will post the answer tomorrow.