Medley of Many Things

This is one of those interesting stories, I came across couple of years ago. This is about two Tibetan monks & a young lady. Out of the two monks, one was " old and enlightened " and the other was " young and naive ". They were walking together to their monastery, which is a 3 hours journey by walk. They came towards a wooden bridge, which would take them to the other side of the river. Due to recent rains, the wooden bridge was badly damaged & it would be quite a task to cross the bridge. When they were about to climb the bridge, they saw a young lady stuck in between 2 wooden blocks clinging  from the bridge & she was crying for help. They both ran towards her. They rescued her & the 'old monk' offered to carry her across the river on his back since her legs were badly damaged. But the 'naive monk' was shocked to hear his superior's offer to the lady, but since he is old & superior he did not utter a word. The old monk carri...

I'm gonna be talking about a concept which cannot be ignored even if you are not part of the Technology Industry. Of course, I will simplify the terms and technical stuffs involved. But trust me, the topic i'm talking about is the future, so continue reading if you are not short of time. :-) Although it is an erstwhile concept , it is the current in-technology called " Cloud Computing ". Before I get into details, here is a fact:  Each one of you would have ( used or using ) this technology already! How come? If you are reading this blog, then you definitely have access to web-based e-mails. And if you are using email services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail....etc, then where do you think you are storing your mails, attachments, drafts, pictures...etc? Yes, you guessed it right! It is not stored in your system but in the cloud. Also the software required to run the web-based email service and the storage of your account does not exist in your system. It is located ...

Importance of "Plus One" : If you have been thinking that the G+ feature " Plus One(+1) " is nothing but Google's avatar of " Like " button in Facebook, with not much of an importance attached to it, other than showing the person who posted the content that you like the content - Then my buddies, you got it all wrong!!!!!! Any idea, what is the market share of  Google Search Engine ( Oh, I call it "God of Internet" )??? - Nearly 70%. Which ideally means, any content that you are sharing in the Internet space by utilizing any social media, should go via Google's purview to target maximum audience . Google's " Search Algorithm " is very sophisticated and trying to crack the pattern of ranking content is a big deal. That said, the "+1" that you do in Google Plus has much more significance, because it gets counted in Google's search algorithm to rank the content. So go ahead and keep "+1ing" and "Sha...

“What happens in 'Vegas' stays in 'Vegas'; what happens on 'Twitter' stays on 'Google' forever!” -  Jure Klepic Ever heard this quote before? Although, the quote is sarcastic, isn't it scary? For the past one week, we have been hearing news about NSA( National Security Agency ), PRISM( A Govt. program, where corporates are supposed to provide user's data shared in social media and call records to Govt. ) & several other Govt. agencies gathering personal data out of social media et al. Here comes the question: Why do NSA or Govt. spy on our personal information? What do they achieve, by doing this? A brief overview -> According to me, Govt. and the National Security agencies have always spied on the shared information available online. Only now, we are getting to know that our data is being monitored, thanks to a Whistle Blower named " Edward Snowden ". Why is this freaking people out?  Mainly because of over-sharing of personal ...

Google showcased the concept of  " Google Glass " in 2012, but for the past couple of months people( 500 to 600 so far ) started using the Glass and have come up with mixed reviews, with the feedback slightly tilting towards the negative side. Well, it is just a beta version(a test version)! The good thing about Google is that, they have sold Glasses only to app developers, testers and couple more and not to general public. Google is open to feedback and ready to fix problems and make them fool proof, before selling them to general public. I have been following this topic for quite sometime now and have read nearly 100 articles on this. Hence, I'm more or less capable of imparting some knowledge gained theoretically and sharing the same here. Is it a computer, a tablet, a phone or what on earth is ' Google Glass' ? Google Glass is a head-mounted wearable technology(or a computer) that easily rests on your nose and ears very similar to a pair of glasses, only that ...

Although we have been hearing a lot of news recently about medical negligence, the news I read today morning made me pen down something related to this topic. Having experienced a not-so-fatal medical negligence myself( Click here to read -> Swine Flu Vaccine Goof up ), I have a good hold on this topic. And yes, Bangalore has some of the horrendous and most lethargic medical staffs( of course, not all ) in India. The Incident : Yesterday, a 25-year-old woman died after being transfused wrong blood group in KC General Hospital , Bangalore. Her blood group was ' O ' positive, but she was given ' B ' positive instead, causing fatal complications, ultimately resulting in her death. Yes, it is not a mistake made by the Doctor nor the Manager of the Hospital, but because of their lethargic staffs/nurses. But do you think the doctor and the Manager will be spared? Nope. I'm sure the hospital will be sealed in no time. But can we get back the life? Ultimately who is ge...

We all know ' Google Reader ' would shut it's service down on the 1st of July this year. If you are not aware, then try logging into Reader, you get a popup reminder like the one shown in the picture below. There are so many people, who logs into Reader as the first thing in the morning than logging into their own blogs, for them this shut down means letting go of a helping hand. And the worst thing is, there are umpteen number of alternatives available in the market for free, so which one to choose? To be honest with you, there are pluses and minuses in each and every product. But there are 2 Reader alternatives which come close to Google Reader and that is Feedly and Digg ! I'm somehow inclined to try  Feedly , so here I have jotted down some basic information to get started. If you already are using some other alternative, good for you! - You don't have to read further, coz this post is only about Feedly! Ok, So why do you think Google is shutting down the Reade...

Months back, I went to this bookshop " Crossword ". Usually, I go through their display ,  to get to know the current favorite among the readers! And guess what I stumbled on to - " F?@K Knows "! These bookshop chains usually arrange their favorites like a huge  house of cards , which ideally means the book is selling like hot cakes (or) the author of the book has shelled out enough money to sell them by hook or by crook, utilizing some marketing strategy. See, some don't need money, all they need is fame! Did I buy the book from the shop? Nope. The title and the foreword did not intrigue me too much to buy the book, but it intrigued me to a level that I went home and read online reviews on the book. And satisfied that, this book is gonna be a good one, I placed an order via " Flipkart ". They are always on time, I got the book in just 2 days. This book costs 195 bucks. It is a motivation-cum-self-help-cum-preachy-cum-bio-cum-weird book, yes - it clea...

How many times a day do we use some form of technology in life? Pretty much every minute: be it the usage of smart phones, laptops, tablets, phablets,...etc. We got so much used to it that sometimes we do not see the answer to a simple problem lying right in front of us. As much as I love technology and anything to do with it, I do believe in the fact that - " Technology made us all lazy, to an extent ". To get back to our humanness, we have to use only those entities which are necessary and let go off the rest. If that is not possible, then take a " technology break " once a month - see how beautiful the day turns out to be! I did one complete day, and I was so peaceful, Zen like! If somebody asks me to tell them the current-local-time , although I wear my watch all the time, I go straight to my phone, it is not that I cannot read time, it is just that my phone displays it for me. What can I say? Laziness personified! I'm sure many of you would have come across...

This is one of my favorite short stories. I got this story as a forwarded mail long back. There are only 2 lines in the story but the take away is worth spending couple of minutes. Not everyday we come across intense yet thought provoking stories( whoever that wrote the story, kudos to you boss! ). The Story: A grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one." The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?" The grandfather answered: " The one I feed." My Analogy: What a powerful reply from the Grandfather! Isn't it? This is a very important scenario, mainly because it states no matter what the circumstance is - it is always "we" who decide as to which path to follow, which decision to take, which mountain to climb! Have you ever acted in ways that were u...

We Indians are very much aware of the basic concept of Mumbai's Dabbawalas . For those who are not aware of this concept, here is an introduction: Note : If you do not have time to read the entire post, just see the Youtube clip(below) - that summarizes everything! Introduction : The word " dabba " literally means " box ", in specific " a box containing a meal " and the suffix " walla " means " the person who carries the box ". Colloquially " Dabbawala " is a " lunch box distributing man ". The men in the household leave for work as early as 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, hence the women in the household prepare the lunch and send them away with Dabbawalas to be delivered to their husband's workplace every day. And this service is unique to Mumbai's suburbs and the concept is existing for more than 100 years now. They manage to deliver tens of thousands of meals to workplaces all over the city with nearly 1...

If you are one of those, who is bored of the regular coconut chutney day-in-day-out, then this chutney will be a life saver. It is a good mix of onion, tomato and coconut sauteed with spices and ground to perfection. This goes very well with Idli, Dosa and also as a side to Curd Rice. I have seen people mix this chutney directly with plain rice and have them(something like a pachadi), so it kinda works that way too!! Ingredients : 1)Onion - 1(chopped) 2)Tomato - 2(chopped) 3)Green Chillies - 3(slit) 4)Grated Coconut - 4 tsp 5)Garlic - 3 pods(crushed) 6)Oil - 1 tsp 7)Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp 8)Whole Red Chilli - 1 9)Urad Dal - 1 tsp 10)Asafetida - a pinch 11)Turmeric Powder - a pinch 12)Salt - to taste 13)Coriander leaves - 5 sprigs Preparation : 1)Heat oil in a pan and add asafetida, cumin seeds, whole red chilli and urad dal. Let it splutter. 2)Add garlic and slit green chilli, saute for couple of seconds. 3)Add onion and salt, saute until they turn translucent. 4)Add chopped tomatoes, tur...

A simple one pot meal with protein rich dal, combined with no over-the-top seasoning and some veggies. Tada... you got yourself a lovely kichdi! Have this with papad, pickle and curd. Kichdi is always light on the tummy and that is what makes me stick to this recipe at least once every two weeks. You can add any combination of veggies in the kichdi! Ingredients : 1)Rice - 3/4 cup 2)Yellow Moong dal - 1/2 cup 3)Onion - 1(medium, chopped) 4)Tomato - 1(medium, chopped) 5)Green chilli - 2(slit) 6)Broad Beans - 5(chopped) 7)Carrot - 1(small, chopped) 8)Garlic - 5 pods(chopped) 9)Asafoetida - a pinch 10)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 11)Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp 12)Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 13)Ghee - 1.5 tsp 14)Salt -  to taste 15)Water - as required Preparation : 1)Soak rice and dal in water for 30 minutes. 2)Heat 1 tsp of ghee in a pan and add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds, let it splutter. 3)Add chopped garlic and slit green chilli, saute for couple of seconds. 4)Add chopped onions and sa...

One of those fries which tastes perfect with any form of rice. You can change the spices as per your taste. I usually have this with curd rice or rasam rice. But why the hell did I add mustard? Well, what can I say, without the black pearls any fry kinda looks bland to me, hence the unnecessary addition - you may choose to ignore!! :-) Ingredients : 1)Taro Root(Arbi) - 6 2)Oil - 2 tsp 3)Red Chilli Powder - 3/4 tsp 4)Amchur Powder(Mango Powder) - 1/2 tsp 5)Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp 6)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 7)Salt - to taste Preparation : 1)Clean and peel the skin of Arbi. Cut Arbi into desired shape and size. 2)Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. 3)Add the chopped Arbis into the pan and stir well. 4)Add salt. Let it cook, do give it a stir now and then. Make sure the Arbis are tender yet crunchy. 5)Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder and mix well. 6)Let it cook for couple of minutes and switch off the flame.

Sometimes, it is all about taste and flavor of the food, and the other times - it is just about the look of it! So yesterday, I felt like adding some color to my food, well - what better way can one add color to their food than adding beet? So here is a simple Pulao with vibrant color! Ingredients : 1)Beet Root(Beet) – 1 (grated) 2)Onion – 1 (chopped) 3)Green Chilli - 1(slit) 4)Long grained Rice – 1 cup 5)Water – as required 6)Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp 7)Cinnamon, Cardamon, Bay Leaves – a little 8)Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp 9)Coriander Powder – 1 tsp 10)Oil - 1 tsp 11)Salt -  to taste Preparation : 1)Soak rice in Water for 30 minutes. 2)Heat oil in a pan(or pan cooker) and add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamon and bay leaves. Saute well. 3)Add slit green chilli, chopped onions, salt and saute until onion turns translucent. 4)Add Chilli and Coriander powder and let it cook for couple of minutes. 5)Add grated beet and stir well.  6)Add soaked rice, water and mix well. Let it cook for 2 m...

The climate in Bangalore is much acceptable for the past one week, thanks to the recent rains! For those, who are still experiencing the pestering hot and sweaty climate, here is a recipe(Well, for the Coffee Lovers)!! I can handle a strong decoction of coffee, hence the color of Panna Cotta is towards the darker side. If you wish the Panna Cotta to have slightly subtle coffee taste, adjust your coffee powder mix accordingly. Either ways, it tastes just right!! Ingredients : 1)Instant Coffee Powder - 2 tsp( I used " Bru ", please make sure you add less, If you do not like super strong coffee ) 2)Cream ( Low Fat ) - 2 cups 3)Powdered Sugar - ( I added nearly 3/4 of a cup - Please do adjust as per your taste ) 4)Gelatin( Unflavored ) - 2 tsp 5)Cold Water - a little 6)Whipped Cream - a spoonful 7)Cashew nut - 1 ( Not necessary, at all! ) Preparation : 1)Take a pan - add the cream, coffee powder, sugar and mix well, so that the coffee powder blends with the cream and the sugar ...

A simple, refreshing and tangy rasam. No specific ingredients required and no need to grind anything, you don't even need Dal extract to make this rasam, can make this with whatever is lying around in kitchen :-)! Simply put, you are gonna spend hardly 5 minutes in making this rasam and it definitely tastes good with hot plain rice. Fryums or Pappad goes very well with this humble rasam. Ingredients : 1)Lemon - 1  2)Tomato - 1(chopped) 3)Green Chilli - 2 4)Garlic - 5 to 6 cloves 5)Water - 3 cups 6)Chilli Powder - 1 tsp 7)Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp 8)Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp 9)Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp 10)Salt - to taste 11)Sugar - 1 tsp 12)Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp 13)Cumin Seeds -  1 tsp 14)Asafoetida  - a little 15)Whole Red Chilli - 2(small, crushed) 16)Ghee - 1.5 tsp 17)Coriander leaves - good amount Preparation : 1)Crush Green Chilli and Garlic cloves. Keep aside. 2)Heat ghee in a pan and add Asafoetida, Mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Red Chilli and l...

Who doesn't like Poori Masala? Although, good amount of oil goes into making pooris, once in a while this is a great breakfast for sure! Here, I got my version. Ingredients : For making Poori : 1)Wheat Flour - 2 cups 2)Rava (with fine texture) - 1 tsp 3)Oil - 1 tsp 4)Salt - a little 5)Water - as required To deep fry pooris : 1)Oil - 1 cup For making Masala : 1)Potato - 2 2)Onion - 1(chopped) 3)Tomato - 1(chopped) 4)Oil - 1 tsp 5)Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp 6)Split Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp 7)Channa dhal - 1/2 tsp 8)Green Chili - 2 9)Besan or Gram Flour - 1 tsp 10)Curry Leaves - 2 to 3 sprigs 11)Asefoetida - a pinch 12)Ginger - 1/2 inch(grated) 13)Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 14)Salt - to taste 15)Coriander Leaves - 2 to 3 sprigs Preparation : Poori : 1) Mix Wheat flour, Rava, Oil and Salt together in a bowl. Add enough water and make the dough. Make small ball sized rolls. 2)Flatten the dough balls with a rolling pin. Use oil inst...

" Vatha Kulambu " is one of those tangy gravies, which tastes perfect with plain rice! Although, this is not a staple at home, I end up cooking pretty often. Mind you, this gravy can stay for a week when refrigerated. You just need a spoon full of gravy for a good amount of rice, but do not forget to sprinkle a little ghee on to your rice - Oh! just divine! Ingredients : 1)Sunda Vathal - 2 tsp (Okie, what on earth is this? :-) It is called as "Dried Turkey Berry", you can get this in small sachet from super markets. If not available, you can make this gravy using just shallots or loads of garlic or okra!) 2)Shallots or small onions - 3(chopped) 3)Garlic - 7(chopped) 4)Tamarind pulp - a lemon sized ball, soaked in luke warm water(2.5 cups) for 15 minutes. 5)Gingelly oil - 3 tsp 6)Sambar Powder - 2 tsp(I used Shakti Sambar Powder) 7)Curry Leaves - 3 sprigs 8)Salt - to taste 9)Jaggery - a pinch 10)Asafetida - a pinch 11)Mustard seeds - 1 tsp 12)Split Urad dal - 1 tsp 1...

After an IT Industry bashing session with a dear friend, we changed the topic to ads. She asked me, if I had seen the latest " Idea cellular " ad - but, I had no clue. When I was heading back to my apartment, I youtubed to see, what the ad is all about. And trust me, it is an interesting commercial. Take a look. Every time we encounter ads in between a match or a movie or a TV show, all we do is frown, but why? Because advertisements are mundane, boring and not cool. Not to forget, ads are the primary source of revenue for any program that is being aired in TV. So the broadcasters are never gonna spare us from telecasting ads in between our favorite shows. Hence, the obvious question which comes to anybody's mind is - Why are they not making ads that are cooler or at least watchable? Well, there are quite a few good ones available. But yes - not many, just a handful. So here, I'm trying to dissect the perception, what works and what doesn't in advertisement. No ...