Wednesday, April 29, 2009

paapad - vadiyaalu

Summer season is at its peak... In villages and small towns most of them go for mango pickles, paapad... vadiyaalu( in telugu), appadaalu(in telugu). This is the best season for trying out those. Every year my mom puts mango pickle and vadiyaalu.
Most of the time my sister helps her. This time it was different, as I did most of the process of putting vadiyaalu.
Everyone likes paapad, mostly South Indians. It should be served with meal other wise meal would be incomplete. I havent tried explaining recipe to anyone till now. Here i m going to explain it. Try it folks, make yummy and crispy paapad which melt the moment you put in your mouth :D

Items required:
1. Rice powder ( 1 cup)
2. Cumin seeds ( a table tea spoon)
3. Sesame seeds ( a table tea spoon)
4. Salt ( for taste)
5. Ajwain ( vaamu in telugu... use a pinch of them)
5. Water

How to prepare:
Take 8 cups of water and boil them in a vessel. Take rice powder in a small container and add water to it. Mix it to make a fine paste. After water reaches boiling temperature, add the cumin seeds, sesame seeds, salt and ajwain. Also add the rice powder paste and keep stirring. This will help so that balls are not formed in the mixture and mixture will be smooth. Keep it on a sim flame untill the mixture becomes little thick enough. It should become sticky to be precise.

Spread a cotton cloth on the terrace. With a serving spoon take the rice powder paste and put it on the cloth in a round shape. Just make sure that they are dried in hot sun. After they are dried completely at sometime in the evening, turn the cloth to the other side and sprinkle water. This will ensure in removing the vadiyaalu easily. Remove all of them slowly and dry them in sun day so that they become crispy. Fry them in oil and enjoy :)

PS: I might have been little unclear in my explanation. Incase anyone has doubts, plz mail me or post a comment ;)

Monday, April 27, 2009

lucky and happy

Sunday being a leisure day, I have gone through the newspaper completely. While reading through the articles something struck in my mind. The thought is "I am very lucky to be born in India". Here are the various reasons for feeling so....

I am lucky to be born in a country where women are treated with respect compared to any African country. There women are pawned for money, used completely and have horrible life.
I am lucky to be born in a country where poverty denominations are low compared to any other country like somalia.
I am lucky to be born in a country where WAR is a very distant term unlike Israel and Lanka where war sounds like an eternal entity.
I am lucky to be born in a country where human rights are considered to most extent. There is freedom to do most of the things in this country.
I am lucky to be born in a country where human relations have value and are given utmost importance in a family.

Note: There are many other factors in India which are very new to the world itself like caste system and untouchability. Our country is still fighting with evil things like religious war, poverty,corruption and AIDS. Even after all these factors effecting our country, I am still proud of my country. Because change is inevitable and I am sure we are gonna overcome all our defects for a bright future.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Plastic bags

Recently I saw Abhishek Bachchan ad on TV where he is promoting Idea cellular.
The ad regarding "ban on plastic bags" caught my attention.
We say that we should ban use of plastic bags and still we go about using them.
Most of the time we are good at preaching than following.
Whenever I go to a grocery shop I take a jute bag with me.
I avoid taking plastic bag from the shop keeper. My sister goes erratic with my behavior.
I explained her many times the drastic effects of using plastic bag.
She would not understand.
Let me tell you folks, a plastic bag takes 100's of years to degrade. If you really want to know the side effects of garbage, watch the movie Wall-e.

Coming back to the topic I am about to discuss, there are many ways in which we can avoid usage of plastic bags.
a) Carry a jute bag whenever you go to vegetable market and grocery shop.
b) If the shopkeeper gives you more than one plastic bag for the same, deny it.
c) Don't use plastic bags for the garbage tins. Its unnecessary. Put some effort in cleaning the tin or ask the maid to clean it so that tin does not stink.

I have observed that most of the retailer chains use plastic bags heavily with their branded name. Some of them are Big Bazaar, Food world, Pantaloons, Lifestyle. These companies should think about the environment. They should be the first one to promote the disadvantages of plastic bags. In my opinion these shops should use jute or paper bags instead of plastic bags. If we are using Jute bags we are even helping an industry to grow better. I have seen that some of the famous handloom shops like FabIndia and Daaram use paper bags instead of plastic bags. Those paper bags are made of newspaper or recycled paper. Its good to see that these people think of environment. More responsibility is on "US" to protect our earth.
Lets take an oath to reduce the usage of plastic bags and keep our environment clean and green.

PS: If anyone can give me information on how to contact retailer chain shops and convince them to use jute or paper bags, it would be great. Is there any NGO that works towards this cause??

Monday, April 20, 2009

Elections

The hottest drama in Indian Democracy is elections.
I went to my native place to cast my vote. I came to know many bloody truths about politicians and their standards.
Assume XYZ is one of the important Congress candidates from my place.
In his speech he said something nasty. It goes like this
"If any one raises finger against minorities(muslims), I will cut down their both hands"

This statement has created ripples in the minds of Hindus living in my place .They have decided not to vote this candidate at any cost. His whole reputation is ruined with one statement.
The views of people began to change and most of them gave their valuable votes to BJP which is having very low profile in our constituency. Looks like for the first time in the history of my constituency BJP is going to win.
Ask any person whom did u vote, they would say obviously lotus :) and also they are ready to celebrate if congress loses the election.

Even if by gods grace Congress is going to win, it may win with less margin. Lets see what is going to happen.

I noticed some change in peoples views about religions and its party. People started to think like
" when a muslim gives his vote to a muslim candidate, why shouldn't I give my vote to a hindu candidate and its party". I have seen the same thing happening in Old city Hyderabad. Only MIM wins the election all the time where the majority of population is muslims.

Are we the only country where democracy is dependent on religions and caste??
Its so awful.
When are we going to change and think in broad way.
People are fed up with corruption and attractive promises by the next government. Youth below the age of 35 consititute about 35% of voters as of today. Every one should think about the bright future of india without bugs like corruption, poverty and population growth.
Also we should make sure that the maximum age for any politician should be only 55-60. There are so many veteran politicians in the race and young people have very little chance to make a difference. There should be freshness with new ideas, new moves and innovative thoughts. Only then a country can make progress.

I wish to see India as a better country in the next few years.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The much hyped media...

Today if we browse through TV channels we observe headings,breaking news,coverage stories. They virtually expose each and every bit of a family.Take an example of a rape of a minor or death of a college student or a sexually assault case or a murder, they try to blame the near ones as accomplice or even guilty. The same part of the news but is telecasted repeatedly to grab the attention of people. This topic becomes the chit-chat of neighbors, colleagues at offices,housewives in small towns.Recently there was the murder of a school girl Arushi in New Delhi.

A murder might have been the mistake of one person either known or unknown to family, but do we have any right to drag the whole family and relatives in this case. The family might be living a decent life in some part of the city.Now they become the centre of attraction . They cant walk down on the street without people gaping at them with their mouths wide open. They feel embarrased for such thing. Did we intend all this when we publish some news or show their naked faces in the television?

The murder/rape case now draws the attention of local politicians trying to get some fame and name out of it. They give false promises of showing immediate results in the case and nothing turns out by gods grace. In all this drama, the lives of family members is destroyed. If an incident happens in a family, its a trauma to them. Its better to leave the family members alone with their agony.

There are thousands of cases which need immediate attention of people, government. Why dont we focus on the actual case in court and try to get a immediate judgement instead of showing all the family crap.

I do say that cases like violation of rights agaisnt children and women needs attention. But it doesnt mean that we deviate from the actual factors driving it. There should be right people who can analyze the situation and drive it. Media is completely blind on these kind of cases. There are many NGOs who fight for human rights and justice. We should bring into light the efforts of those people and encourage them.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Aishu - little pup


Well... this is Aishu... my aunts new puppy... its just 2 months old and very naughty.
She is very cute...two of its ears are in different color... one is smaller than the other.
I am pretty scared of dogs... Since childhood I tried to stay away from pets and especially dogs. But this one changed me a bit... For the first time in my life... I took it in my hands... It was so small and I could sense its breathing and its warmth.
And for some bad reason, it started barking when I was holding it for the second time.
I got scared and thought of dropping it. My cousin came and took Aishu from me.
You wanna see the scared look on my face... I have the snap taken at correct timing by my cousin... I look awful in that snap.. I will save it for future.

What I learnt from my friends is that pets are the best companions and one can avoid loneliness by having them. One can talk to them and tell all our sad stories. They dont even crib and mumble. They would be our patient listeners in this case.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

travel by bus :)

Most of the times I used to commute to office by APSRTC buses.
One of the best means of transportation in hyderabad.
there are lot of problems though... lot of rush, no place to even spit :P, people stamping on your legs, guys touching all around, sometimes conductor taking advantage of the situation etc etc

After such tired journey one day, my sister told me an incident that happened in bus with her colleague at office. Assume that the lady name is Rinky.
Rinky was sitting in a aisle seat in the bus.
There was some crowd in the bus.
Some guys are standing near to ladies seat and just beside Rinky's seat.
One idiot was acting strange and leaning on to the rinky's seat.
He was touching her shoulders most of the time.
Rinky got irritated.
She took a safety pin from her purse.
And she pierced the pin into that guys thigh.
He gave a slight oomph!! :P
And moved away from her seat. That fellow couldn't even shout...
how can he shout after doing such filthy act!!!!
Next time that guy would think twice before acting in such way!!!

Such assholes also travel in buses and girls should be careful and brave.
We should never let them underestimate us.
Be brave and react at that instant instead of suffering and bearing such idiots.
We should teach nice lessons to such rogues.

I get a smile on my face whenever I think of this incident.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Centenary

In this year 2009, one of the greatest institution that is celebrating its centenary is IISc(Indian Institute of Science). Its founders are none other than TATAs. Those guys started a revolution in the educational system in India by starting such great institutions.

To know more about the details read 12th April 2009 "The hindu" newspaper. I was lucky enough to visit that institution because of my good friend. Thank you friend.
Though I am(was) not part of the insititute, I am proud of it for some reason.
The memories of my first visit to the insititute are very fresh although I happened to visit it 3 years back.

Ragging as a flagitious act

Sunday being a leisure day... I read the whole newspaper.
I came across this article about ragging in Coimbatore PSG college.
The guy is 19 year old studying Business management course.
College seniors entered his room and trashed him left and right, making him bleed like anything.
This guy lost his vision even after getting operated twice and best medication. Also he became mentally disabled.
How can guys be so brutal and cruel?? Animals do such things atleast to save themselves or for food... but why are these guys doing such acts?? for pleasure?? for their ego satisfaction?? or to show that they are seniors and have two horns on their heads??
F*** these bastards for spoiling innocent lives!!! Should be thrown into jails and given rigorous punishment.
There are so many laws to avoid such nasty ragging in colleges. Those doesnt work most of the times.
Most of the times colleges are worried about their reputation and try to close the matters by compensating the students. These kind of institutions should be ashamed of themselves for trying to save their reputation.

I remember incidents of ragging in my college. Some of the students were suspended and anti-ragging committees were formed. They were almost successful in controlling it.
There should be bit fun by knowing juniors and helping them in the institution... but they should not be used for satisfying their animal pleasure.

I hope every student realizes one simple fact of being a HUMAN and acting HUMANE.