Dariba Diaries, Adrushya – 26th January Episodes

Lately, I seem to have got hooked on to this channel. The programs that are aired are very different than the stuff dished out on rest of the Hindi channels. If I find myself in front of the TV with some time to kill, I invariably reach out to this channel in hopes of finding something edutaining.

The latest episode of Dariba Diaries had a plot that must be as ancient as humanity – an old person marrying a younger woman, disgruntled sons and a violent death. I was also keeping in mind the fundamental tenet of crime stories – the most innocent-looking person is usually the culprit! And yet, there surely was a twist in the tale. :)

6 episodes of Adrushya were aired back-to-back on 26th morning but I could watch only the first one in its entirety. It featured Maratha king ShivajiMaharaj’s head of espionage – Bahirjee Naik. The episode covered all events right from how the King came to know of Bahirjee, killing of the Bijapuri knight Afzal Khan, defeat of Shahistekhan to take back Lal Mahal and the looting of the city of Surat. In the afternoon I managed to catch the 2nd half of the episode on the Bangala Desh war. Retired officials from RAW narrated a lot of interesting facts – like e.g. how the armed forces already knew that Pakistan was planning a surprise (!) attack on Indian Air Force bases. A lot of original footage was also shown. I wished I had watched the episode right from the beginning.

My personal favorites so far are – Dariba Diaries, Adrushya, Ekaant and Raja, Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniya. Hope to catch an episode or two of Sanrachana – from the promos it looks like the program tells us about the architectural aspects of our old monuments. If you are yet to tune in to this channel, do take a look. I am sure you will find a host of interesting programs to choose from.

These days walking back home in the evening has become a hazard. Nope, I am not referring to the unruly vehicles that seem to ply on the roads with the sole aim of bumping off as many pedestrians as they can so as to do their bit in controlling India’s population. Let me tell you what happened yesterday.

I was hurrying along the footpath when I noticed a family of 3 standing in front of a shop – a man, his wife and a kid sleeping with his head on the wife’s shoulders. At first, I thought that they have just walked out the shop or perhaps are waiting for someone until the man called out to the guy walking in front of me. Then the realization dawned upon me. I have met their kind before. They will accost you in the street and tell you a sad story of how they have landed in the city from some village, have run out of the money and now need some either to feed the kid or to return back home. My mom, on being accosted by one such lady with a sad story, had offered to pay her in exchange for some household work. Needless to say, the lady had promptly walked off.

In the past I have stopped and listened to them just to figure out if theirs is a genuine case. But it is hard to judge and I, for one, am not willing to part with my money just to give them a benefit of doubt. Moreover, I don’t even feel like spending two minutes to stop and listen to them. This might sound callous but I guess it is needed because the sad truth is that begging has become a profession in this country.

So I walked on, shaking my head as the man called out to me.

A few meters down the lane, I saw a group of 2-3 girls waiting to pounce on unsuspecting pedestrians. They had leaflets of some kind with them. A new shop has opened up close by – a sort of diagnostic center or something like that. During first half of December I was called out 2-3 times by one of their representatives asking me if I had two minutes to spare. I am not sure why they chose evening time to do this because that’s the time when all that most of those returning from their offices can think of is reaching home. Then a college-going girl standing right outside the center had told me that they have free medical checkup over the weekend. I politely said that I was not interested. ‘But it is free’ she said with a note of astonishment as if it was a gift from the heavens. I fought off the urge to tell her that there are no free lunches (or health checkups for that matter!) in this world. And finally, sometime in the last week of December, a lady had forced her business card in my hands and asked me to attend the checkup. For the next few days, I had walked past the center half expecting two bouncers to physically lift the pedestrians and carry them inside – for a free medical checkup!

The girls I saw yesterday seemed to belong to this center. But since I had spotted them from a distance I walked off the footpath, walked along the road and then got on to the footpath when I had safely cleared their area. The point is that I could do so yesterday because I had seen them already. If I fail to do that today, I am destined to walk right in the trap.

Oh well, if nothing else they would teach me to be more ‘mindful’ of my surroundings :)

अर्ज किया है.....

ये कफन, ये जनाझे, ये कब्र सिर्फ बाते है मेरे दोस्त
वर्ना मर तो इंसान तभी जाता है जब याद करनेवाला कोई ना हो

(Forwarded)

Bizarre Signboards #7

Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes - by Maria Konnikova

Masala Lemonade

I am not one of those who after tasting a dish goes about deconstructing and trying it in their own kitchen. Some things are best left to the chefs!

But the Masala Lemonade served at the Pizza Hut seemed simple enough – and tasty enough – to make me want to try my hand at making it. There surely cannot be more than 4-5 ingredients – soda, sugar, lemon juice and jaljira powder, right? So on my way home, I purchased a bottle of soda and a pack of and jaljira powder, tinkered about in the kitchen for a while and then eagerly tasted the end product. Similar but not quite like it. Time to hit the internet. Most of the recipes had listed the same ingredients until I chanced upon one which mentioned the use of 7Up. Aha! This could be the ‘secret’ ingredient. Plus it would save me from the tedious task of dissolving sugar in water.

The next day I mixed a bit of lemon juice with a pinch of jaljira powder and poured in 7Up. Yeah! That’s more like it. Probably a drop of sugar syrup would bring it closer to what I had in Pizza Hut. This one is surely going to be one of my all-time favorite poisons! :-)

Supernatural – The Hunter Games

This episode was aired after such a long gap that I am afraid I have forgotten most of this season’s storyline. But then there isn’t much to remember, is there? Right from the first episode I have this sinking feeling that the latest season isn’t going to match up to a few earlier seasons. At the risk of sounding repetitive, I would say that it ‘still’ feels as if the writers are looking for the story’s central idea. It probably would have been better to keep Dean on the darker side for more episodes.

To my intense annoyance, Metatron is back. I hate his knowing smile, I hate his plotting and moreover, I hate that Dean, Sam and Castiel are somewhat at his mercy. Though I am worried about Dean becoming demon again I am relieved that Castiel is finally free of his insistence on setting things right for Claire.

And I hope and pray that Crawley is not as thick as he appears to be when it comes to his mommy dearest. Would hate to see Rowena spoil the game for the Winchesters – though I am sure that’s exactly what’s going to happen. :-(