नवीन वर्षाच्या शुभेच्छा!

आंब्याचं तोरण आणि श्रीखंडाचा गोडवा
चैत्राची चाहूल घेऊन आला गुडीपाडवा
गुढीचा मान, लिंबाचं पान
नववर्ष जावो आपल्याला खूप खूप छान

As I mentioned in my earlier post on this blog, I am reading Dev Anand's 'Romancing With Life' presently. He has described his visit to Norway. I liked some of the lines he has written to describe the trip:

The road was snowbound at places, trees denuded of leaves for the winter was right ahead, lonely isolated villages with dim lights eyeing you through the mist shrouding the wooden houses and sideway inns.

They make you think about dropping everything to take the road by yourself, don't they? :-)

Keoti Daal (Sanjeev Kapoor's Kitchen)

When I saw chef Sanjeev Kapoor making this daal in the cookery show 'Sanjeev Kapoor's Kitchen' on Food Food Channel, I was a bit skeptical at first. A daal with only garlic and dried red chillies for spice? Won't it taste a bit bland? But over the years, I have realized that almost 99.9% of the times the dishes turn out to be tasty if you follow his recipes to the tee. So I decided to give it a try. And this recipe was no exception to the rule. :-)

Here's the recipe if you are looking for something to eat with rice or chapati!

I just finished reading the 6th Chapter of 'Bhagwad Geeta - As It Is'. My takeaway is a little bit confusing. Krishna says that he is the Supreme Being who everyone should strive to ultimately reach. The chapter also mentions that there are various other demigods that people worship in order to fulfill a variety of earthly desires. Being an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha, I am not sure if He too comes in the category of the demigods. If yes, then is it possible to keep worshiping Him while trying to follow the principles laid down in the Geeta to bring about Krishna consciousness?

I have been keenly following seasons 1-5 of 'Supernatural' aired on Star World. So Dean Winchester has been to hell and back - literally. And now he is on a mission to find out who had the guts and the gumption to yank him out. Turns out it's an angel who spreads his wings when Dean asks him for some Authentication (or ID) :-) What's more, the angel has told Dean that he was brought back on God's command because He has some special plan devised for him. Now, knowing Dean, you cannot expect him to get all misty-eyed after being informed not only that God does exist but also that He is interested in recruiting him. But surely some surprise would have been definitely in order. :-)

Predictably, he asks the angel, Castiel, why God himself doesn't intervene when so many innocent people are being killed. And then gets frustrated when he senses that the angel is about to give the same old answer 'God works in mysterious ways'. A tip for you Dean, do a net search on 'Karma' :-)

I have a question of my own to put to Castiel. He sends Dean back to the '70s but Dean is unable to stop his mom from making a deal with the yellow-eyed demon. When Dean gets back to the present, he is heartbroken at that and Castiel tells him that Destiny cannot be changed. But in the same breath he asks Dean to stop Sam from whatever he has been doing or the angels will have to intervene. Now, if no one can change destiny then Dean will be unable to change Sam's destiny anyways, isn't it?

I came across references to the following books in Dev Anand's autobiography:

Lust For Life by Irving Stone
The Naked God by Howard Fast
The Arrangement by Elia Kazan

Justice With Michael Sandel

http://www.justiceharvard.org/watch/