Google celebrates Anant Pai’s birthday

Google celebrates Anant Pai’s birthday

अर्ज है.....

किसीना किसीपे किसीको ऐतबार हो जाता है
अजनबी कोई शख्सभी यार हो जाता है
खुबीयोंसेही नही होती मोहोबत सदा
खामियोंसेभी अक्सर प्यार हो जाता है

(From the internet)

I have long since lost track of one of my friends who was Kannada. If I were still in touch with him, I would have surely asked him what he thought of the whole episode of the Kannada Film Producers Association first banning actress Nikita and then revoking it. Don't know what I am talking about? Check the dope here. I just wonder how the actress alone was blamed for this apparent marital discord while the actor concerned escaped without any consequences. Ah, but then we have always been a patriarchal society, haven't we?

I like the Flipcart ads that are being aired these days on TV. But, I hate the one promoting Pediasure from the bottom of my heart. If a child isn't eating normal food, shoving Pediasure in his face isn't going to take care of his nutrition needs. Such drinks can, at best, be a good supplement to food. But these ads are, very callously in my opinion, projecting them as food substitute :-(

Sick of the same old way of preparing vegetables? I was too. Scanning the net for quick recipes that could be made from ingredients easily found in the kitchen, I came across many versions of the good old stew. I decided to mix and match the recipes and ended up with the following yummy one:

Put chopped french beans, finely chopped onions, finely chopped carrots, potato cubes, sliced green chillies as well as cauliflower florets in water mixed with salt and turmeric in a pressure cooker. After one whistle, open up the cooker and add whole garam masala - cardamom, cinnamon sticks, 1-2 cloves, lightly crushed fenugreek seeds and lightly crushed pepper. Let the water evaporate. Then add thick coconut milk and stir. Heat oil, add mustard, curry leaves and dry red chillies to it. Pour this tempering on the stew and stir. Adjust salt, if needed. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve hot with rice or chapati.

I guess, you can add cashew paste for added flavor and creaminess. But I gave it a pass. :-)

पुढल्या वर्षी लवकर या!

आज बाप्पा गावाला चाललेत। ऑफिसच्या जवळ गेले १० दिवस सतत दिसत असलेला गणपती उद्या दिसणार नाही ही कल्पनाच असह्य होतेय। १० दिवस कसे गेले कळलच नाही। दरवर्षी आमचं असंच होतं हो बाप्पा। तुम्ही येता, दहा दिवस राहता आणि मग तुम्ही निघून गेलात की सगळं ओकंबोकं वाटायला लागतं। तुमची साजिरी मूर्ति डॉळयासमोरून हालत नाही, कानात आरतीचे सुर घुमत रहातात, उदाधुपाचा मंडपातला सुवास जाणवत रहातो, कश्याकश्यात लक्ष लागत नाही।

आता पुढल्या वर्षीची वाट पहायची। लवकर याल ना?

Now here's a gem from Karan Johar ""It doesn't bother me when people talk about my bisexual orientation. Obviously if I am 39 and single people will question me."

Hello, Karan? Whatever were you thinking when you said "Obviously if I am 39 and single people will question me."? What is 'obvious' about that? Nothing, I say. Straight people can remain single because either they don't want to get married or they haven't found someone who they might want to settle down with.

People have no right to question you, or anyone else for that matter, even if he/she is 60 and single!

So the word is out! John Abraham has been declared India's Sexiest Bachelor :-) I am over the moon because I had voted for him. Way to go John!

I quite enjoyed reading the inaugural issue of Mint's Indulge. I guess I must have read almost all the articles except for the ones on cars and watches. Wonder why the Mint team thought that this was exclusively for males. :-) And that leads to another thought - when are they going to bring out a similar publication meant exclusively for women? I hope that when, and if, they do, they would have something more than the usual cliched sections on makeup and jewelery.

Sites for a rainy day

Here are the links to the treasure trove that I came across in the recent issue of BBC's Knowledge:

http://www.old-picture.com/crimean-war-index-001.htm
http://inadiscover.com/
http://bbc.in/sdacollection
http://archive.cyark.org
http://arkive.org
http://Mariuscoetzeeafricanphotography.blogspot.com/
http://oryxphotography.com/

In these days of communal strife, news like this comes like a breath of fresh air:

दादरच्या ‘बाटलीवाला’ कुटुंबाचा! गणपतीला उकडीच्या मोदकांचा प्रसाद
धारावीतील अनोखी हिंदू-मुस्लिम एकात्मता!

May we get to hear more such news in the years to come!