A mother needs to be protected.

I first offer my prayers to those innocents who were slain and to those braves who were martyred in the line of duty.

Mine is of the many voices that is being raised against this blatant form of brutality. From what I have seen happening from the 26th November, 2008 to the last of the attackers being dropped dead on national television has definitely shaken me. I was at Crawford Market that day and was supposed to go to Dockyard for work. Now sitting at home I wonder how closely I have managed to escape death without knowing it. Both of these locations were hit by the attackers and they surely could have spared a bullet for me if I had crossed them. That night I was frantically calling my friends, family and employees for their safety. Over a hundred people dead and lots more injured. Businessmen, families, train commuters, CEOs, foreigners and maybe some of the hotel too. All of them who have been killed have not yet been recognized by the authorities. We Indians and especially Mumbaites been living under the so called Unshakeable tag for too long now. And its time that others realize that we are resilient by force and not by choice.

Then who is to blame, The Government? But infiltraring the attackers network and preventing these attacks is also no mean feat. And the group that claims responsibility for this is supposedly a new group. Then who do WE, people like YOU & ME that get killed the most can do. Whom do we turn to? Do we keep faith in the system or do we take it to the streets and ask the government to defend us. The first thing that comes to my mind is that I will make sure that I vote for the most elidgible candidate this year in the elections. Because once in five years we get the power to shape our nation and henceforth I'll make sure that I give my stamp of approval after some thought. And we Mumbaites now realize that we are not the invincible breed some of us think we are. I am specially referring to those who are throwing people out of Maharashtra calling them OUTSIDERS. In these dire consequences we can reflect on some topics that wouldn't have come to light.

Firstly did the Thackerays realize that the 200 plus NSG commandos that flew in from New-Delhi to save our lives while they went without a thought to face death were OUTSIDERS too?? Why didn't they bring forward the Marathi Manoos or face the flak themselves as they call themselves soldiers of the soil. DUH? And where are Mr. Balasaheb, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray right now? Are the helping the centre in formulating new security policies? If they have a conscience they wouldn't utter another word regarding this territory rubbish again. And anyone who creates seperatist theories and conflicts within different groups of the nation is a TERRORIST, yes I said TERRORIST himelf. This is not the time to play politics for our national leaders and try and topple this government using these attacks as a spearhead. And neither am I being soft on the ruling side. If they cannot run this country then we will find someone better to do the job. And if you wish to stay in power then we the people of this country want to see some results. We do not wish to step out of our houses not knowing that we will return or not. WHO AM I KIDDING!?!? We are not safe inside our houses too if things keep going this way!!!

And if any one of our leaders are reading this then consider this as a wake-up call (read: wakeup kick in the @**.) And be kind to pass it on to your brethren :)

Stumped: They Weren't There!!!

An awesome post I saw on Bawa's blog couldn't resist from posting it here.....


An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.





A representative from India began: ‘Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named.
When Rishi Kashyap struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, ‘What a good opportunity to have a bath.’
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.
The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and in support of Pakistan , he shouted, ‘What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren’t there then.‘
The Indian representative smiled and said, ‘And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.’

UURGH!!!!!

Came across this particular brand of drinking mineral water while I was staying in Ahmedabad. I've had no problems with the hygiene in that city. But its the brand name I've found interesting and couldnt resist posting about it.

Thirst?? Just pop a BLISTER!! :p

Comments

I have been receiving quite compliments from people who meet me regularly about my blog and I am registering a good amount of hits on this page too. And I would really like to know your opinions for my posts and what would you like me to include. So please drop your comments and reactions the next time you visit. Dont forget.....
Jai Gurudev to all
Love
Jay

Stop IDLING. Its like an OVEN out there!!!

'Rain rain go away, come again some other day', surely Bobby Vinton had never visited India and especially Mumbai after the monsoons decide to end so abruptly. For one day it was raining heavily where I live in the suburbs and a couple of days later the sun is scorching on my head. Now being on the suffering end I also started thinking about things like Global Warming. (Not that I am not aware, my entire house runs on energy efficient appliances.) Getting back to the topic, the heat was unbearable at the signal and I was unfortunately (unwittingly) was right near the exhaust line of a BEST bus. I felt the way a cube of cottage cheese would in an oven. The bus driver was waiting for the signal to turn green and was merrily honking away, why I dont know. To top it all he was also revving his bus in neutral which is worse than idling. (Idling is a term used to describe when a vehicle's engine is running and not being used to move the vehicle. Revving or a more brutal form of idling is flooring the accelerator in neutral for god knows what reasons.)Now if all these guys would stop running their engines for the 2 minutes, then we would achieve the following:
Fuel savings and emission

For Large SUVs (CRV, Terracan etc): Min. 22 Liters saved per car/year and 60 KG lesser CO2 per year.

Regular Cars (Esteem, Logan etc): Min 15 Liters saved per car/year and 50-60 KG lesser CO2 per year.

2 Wheelers and Rickshaws: Min 5 Liters saved per bike/year and 10 KG lesser CO2 per year in our already molested atmosphere!!!!


Now branded petrols in India like Speed, Xtra Premium cost Rs. 58-59. For a large SUV the savings would be approximately Rs. 1298.00 and Rs. 295.00 for a bike. Where am I getting with all this? Imagine how many vehicles are stranded for 2 minutes or less at a signal in Mumbai without any congestion. And now imagine the number of vehicles in the entire city of Mumbai. A research conducted in 2007 in Pune showed that the city wastes Rs. 34 CRORE that is Rs. 340 MILLION for people living outside India just by fuel wasted in idling. These figures pertain only to vehicles caught in minor traffic waiting at a signal for 2 minutes.

See it for yourself, here's the link:
http://pune360.com/Editorial/2007/10/31/an-idle-threat/

Cars idling in Delhi burn around 1000 CRORES of fuel a year. That is One followed by TEN freaking zeros!!!!!! And that's just ONE metro in India. The amount of idling caused in traffic jams is unimaginable in a city like Mumbai. Now calculate all the three zones, Western, Central and Harbour. And how many metros are there in our entire nation? You can calculate the harm that is being done to both, our environment
and our economy.

You have the answer for yourself whether to idle away literally or be responsible person towards the society and turn off the keys. I'm literally getting 25 extra kilometers on my bike because I have chosen not to idle at signals or in traffic. You too can make a positive difference to the environment without any extra effort or without giving up on anything and save money while doing that too. So next time you are caught in a jam remember to turn off the engine.

People who think likewise:
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/ee/noidle.cfm
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/njef/campaigns-noidling.html
http://www.zerostart.com/power/no_idle_technology.asp
http://www.airwatchnorthwest.org/wa/NO_IDLE/index.asp

Delhi idling research article in the Times of India

The wonderful bliss of SURRENDER

After posting about everything from recipes and elephants, I am posting about THE MAN himself. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar or Guruji as we all know him is the most easy to love person on earth. And he is the sole reason that I am steady and balanced in life. Its easy to get lost and tongue tied when talking about him. Because a lot of experiences are subtler than words and have o be felt. Here he talks about Surrender with a master's ease.



That people wish to surrender their desire and it becomes another desire in itself, driving one away from his centre. Even the thirst for liberation or surrender should not be feverish. You have to let go of that too. Because letting go is not a process it is simply a state of mind that one experiences when all inhibitions and bondages drop. Then what you desire shall be brought to you in some way or the other by nature. But to surrender to the Divine you must first be in love with the Divine and know that the Divine too loves you immensely :)

PS: Comment on how did you like this post and make sure to read the article 'The four wheels of Sadhana' in this month's edition of Rishimukh.

Fast Food Ganesha

Yesterday was tuesday and the Parsi New Year so a half day at office, so I returned home early and on my way I found this elephant strolling on the lane in front of my house. I thought of giving him something to eat, so I got some bananas from the fruit vendor. Now this big guy had some other ideas. He hardly ate a couple out of the dozen bananas. They had not at all gone bad and when I asked the mahaut whether Ganesha (Name of the elephant) was ill. He surprisingly said that he simply likes bread & sugar cane better than bananas. So I got 2 packs of whole wheat bread and amazingly finished them up and was hungry for more. When he ate the small chocolate fudge brownie kept in my bag. He gave out a loud trumpet in return as thanks. I headed back home turning back for a look at him only to find him facing our area sandwich wala.....

Bachelor Party

Yesterday after having a good round of fast table tennis I returned home to find that the house was devoid of any freshly made food. And my family was out to see a movie. Though my parents had asked me to come for the movie (Jaane Tu...) I refused as I had already seen it.

Now was the chance to see if I can cook a meal rather than just the single odd dish. I got the ingredients from the vegetable vendor who was selling fresh vegetables thankfully on a late sunday evening. The two dishes I had set out to make were Roasted Tomato Soup and Paneer Bhurji (Fresh Cottage Cheese cooked in vegetables and Indian spices.) Amazingly while I was cooking these mouth watering treats I was called up by two people, both of whom were on a onion less, oil free, spice free in short a satvik diet for the Shravan month. Now I can never really figure out why where they grumbling that I told them what I was cooking :D......

All in all it was really fun cooking on my own. It also helped that now I can cook well. Here are the images, I'll post the recipes later.

This is the entire spread consisting of Roasted tomatoes soup, paneer bhurji, brown bread toast and lemonade with honey.....mouth watering isn't it??

Fun facts

1) Male Sea horses (Not Female) give birth to offspring.

2) Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizzas EVERYDAY!!!!

3) The Spanish word 'Esposa' means wife, the plural form 'Esposas' means Wives but also translates to 'handcuffs.'

4) In the middle ages knights in armour would raise their visors to identify themselves when they ride past their kings. This practice attributed to the modern day salute.

5) One liter of used Motor Oil can ruin upto One Million Liters of fresh water.

6) Ants never sleep.

7) Buttermilk does not contain any butter.

8) Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that can be made without destroying any form of life.

9) 40% of all indigestion remedies are consumed by americans.

10) If you add up the numbers 1-100 consecutively (1+2+3+4+5 etc) the answer would be 5050.

11) A Bus station is where a bus stops, a Train station is where trains stop then why are employee cubicles called 'WORK STATIONS'??

His and Her Jokes

Yesterday, scientists for Health Canada suggested that men should take a look at their beer consumption, considering the results of a recent analysis that revealed the presence of female hormones in beer.
The theory is that drinking beer makes men turn into women.To test the finding, 100 men were fed 6 pints of beer each. It was then observed that 100% of the men gained weight, talked excessively without making sense, became overly emotional, couldn't drive, failed to think rationally, argued over nothing and refused to apologize when wrong. No further testing is planned.

Smoked Paneer Tikka

Yesterday night it was a different gala at our house. My dad's out of station and my mom wanted a holiday from the kitchen. So instead of stuffing ourselves with junk food. Me and my younger sister Rutika made a treat of our own for her. Parathas with Palak (Spinach) gravy by Rutika. And Paneer Tikka Dry with Curd Sauted Tomatoes by Me. The preparation was a bit of chaos as me and my sister were together. She being the 2nd in Command Chief tried to boss me around and I ended up doing things exactly the way she told me not to. She made her own palak gravy to whose making I did not pay attention to as I was too engrossed myself. Now heres the recipe if you wish to take a print. You will need:

200 gms of fresh paneer.

250 gms of fresh dahi (strained yoghurt)

2 medium sized tomatoes.

Salt, Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and crushed garlic to taste.

And some olive oil (Approx. 2-3 table spoons)

1) First in the bowl pour the yoghurt and then add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and garlic (crush it to a paste before adding, however I dont prefer ready made garlic pastes.)

2) Whip the mixture to a consistent texture.

3) Cut the paneer to 1 1/2 inch cubes or smaller if you like and add them to the mixture in the bowl.

4) Let the ingredients sit for half an hour. In the meantime you can cut the tomatoes and capsicum in dices.

5) Now saute the mixture on a frying pan with some olive. This takes some practice as you dont have to burn this stuff. Also dip the veggies in the surplus yoghurt mixture before sauting them. Keep adding some of the surplus yoghurt mixture on the paneer if you want it extra crispy as the yoghurt will tend to sizzle and coat the paneer with a nicy spicy layer. There will be adequate left behind dont worry.

Paneer Tikka and Tomatoes

6) ENJOY!!!!

Breaking Coconuts

While writing my first post, I had mentioned the hindu ritual of breaking coconuts at the start of any hindu auspicious occassion. I asked dear bawa about it as I didnt know much. This is what bawa wrote back in his answer.

The act of breaking a coconut is supposed to stabilise the energy during the pooja. It also serves as an example of wholeness and how we should be. Every part of the coconut can be used and nothing is wasted. The way our every act must be fruitful and should bring joy to all the people around us. It is hard on the outside but its soft and nourishing on the inside. This also means that we need a bit of hardness on the outside in the form of discipline to keep the delicate joy on the inside cherished. And with that feeling we perform the ritual of pooja. Which literally means 'that which is born out of fulness of the heart.' WOW!!!!

Thanks bawa,

Jai Gurudev :)

Two Devils & a fresh Ramolo Mousse

(Ramolo Mousse is a chocolate cup filled with rich chocolate mousse with a wafer spoon which is also coated with chocolate.)
The twin devils

What happens when you unleash two little tyrants over a cup of freshly made Ramolo Chocolate Mousse (Chocolate Overdose)??

Ans. They become all the more tyrannizing and hard to control. Hardik & Hitarth (L to R in pic) are both twins and both equally chaotic once they are well fed and rested. Note: The term Well Fed does not apply if they are presented with chocolate. So after I brought a fresh piece of the mousse for them it was more than the regular masti and dhamaal. Was unable to take any pictures of them relishing the mousse though am posting a picture of the cake and the twins for you to see.

My over-postponed first post

After a long time of thinking 'Today is the day I WILL finally start posting on my blog' for 2 months continuously. I finally broke the coconut (Only symbolically though, in India every task is inititated by breaking a coconut.) I will also ask Bawa, our dear Khurshed Batliwala if you people dont know him then make sure that you visit his blog. Its really full of fun stuff and stories. The answer of this question will feature in the posts to come.