Everyone is going gaga over the new movie “Jaane tu ya jaane na”. One of my friends asked me if I have seen it yet. I said I haven’t and don’t have any plans to see it either. “Don’t you like to see good movies?” he asked me. I resisted the temptation to tell him that teenage romance movies don’t interest me. He would have shot back “first sign you are getting old!” Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut. (In case of George Bush, you can safely change “Sometimes” to “Always”:-))

I seriously believe that Aamir Khan looked cuter than his nephew in his boy-next-door avatar in his debut movie QSQT about 20 years back. I know I will be beaten black and blue if any of the college going junta (from planet Venus) chances upon this blog entry. :-) So I would tag on the politically correct statement that this is an opinion of poor humble me!

But I love the song “Kabhi kabhi Aditi”. Maybe I am not that old, huh? :-)

String beans - a chinese recipe

For the first time I am posting a recipe on this blog. And what I am about to post isn’t very spectacular either. It’s just that I have always loved string beans cooked the Chinese way. So I tried my hand at the dish and the result was palatable enough for me to post the recipe here. But if you don’t want to take my word for it, try it on a smaller scale. J

I must confess that I get pretty annoyed when the recipes don’t come with the exact measures and proportions. But this dish is so simple that there is little chance of anyone going wrong with it and hence I am not giving any measures. So without further ado, here it is.

Cut the string beans in medium pieces. Wash and dry thoroughly. Then deep fry them in oil. Drain them off on a tissue paper and drain out all the oil from the pan.

Put the fried beans back into the pan (without oil), add a bit of vinegar and then little soya sauce – enough so that the beans will continue to cook gently. Then add some sugar. The reason sugar is added after vinegar and soya sauce is because otherwise it will burn in the pan.

When the beans start getting caramelized, remove them from the pan. Usually the salt in the soya sauce is enough but if you need more you can always add it.

Sprinkle little pepper on top and the dish is ready to be served hot.

Let’s teach India!

Do you have some free time on hand?
Would you be interested in putting it to good use?
Are you passionate about education?

And do you believe that education should be brought to those who haven’t been fortunate enough to go to it?

Then check out http://teach.timesofindia.com. Let’s teach India!

A poster of some local politician graces every wall in the village. A villager is standing in front of one such picture and is gleefully doodling an eye-patch and a beard on to it when he turns and notices the same politician standing right behind him along with his goons. The villager tries to smile helplessly.

We are wondering what product this ad could be selling when the words “SBI Life” appear and we burst out laughing and admiring the person who thought of this cool ad! :-)

Thank God the government won the trust vote! Make no mistake - I am not a fan of SoniyaJi Mayo or the “prince” charming RahulBaba. But I am not a fan of “Babri Masjid” fame “Advani” either. And I am still trying to figure out if the Left has been at anytime involved in something constructive – they always seem to be throwing spanners in what others are doing. The Finance Minister was right to point out that some people don’t want India to overtake China!

I also don’t understand all the brouhaha that the Left and the BJP are kicking up over the bribe offered to 3 of the BJP MPs. I agree it’s wrong to indulge in horse trading (or donkey-trading in this case!) but do these parties really think that the Indian populace is naïve enough to believe that if the situation was reverse both these parties wouldn’t have resorted to similar tactics? C’mon guys! You really don’t belong to the high moral ground which you are preaching from. It’s just the case of the pot calling the kettle black!

The BJP should be thankful that the government gave its little-known 3 MPs their 15 minutes of fame and a chance to bask in the limelight as they stood about comically waiving the wads of money in the face of the cameras. :-)

Oh and Mr. Karat, I have to try hard not to laugh when you talk of “Saving the democracy”. Be careful, I am sure our red neighbor is listening. :-)

All said and done, this saga has just proved that politics is the last refuge of the scoundrels. So let’s look at the brighter side of the picture, shall we? Hopefully, the Bush government will be able to push the deal through before November. And we didn’t lose our face at the WTO talks.

However, I am sure India will have to work harder at her diplomatic efforts in winning over the nations in NSG. We haven’t exactly come up smelling like roses out of this whole episode, have we now? :-(

I find it very hard to read the inspirational books – leave alone trying to change my life according to them. So I picked up “The monk who sold his Ferrari” as well as “Seven habits of highly successful people” and kept them back on the shelf. I have finally come home with Lee Child’s “Bad luck and trouble”. I want to read a bit of Wodehouse too – maybe next time.

I am done with Archer’s “A matter of honour”! There was no doubt from the beginning as to who is gonna win this race against time but the way the Russian Romanov tries to trap Adam Scott at every turn and the tricks that Scott in turn uses to get out each time make it hard to keep the book down. If you haven’t read this one yet, go for it!