Category: Leisure

Being from a family of obsessive compulsive Sambar drinkers, I have some deep insights to share with the rest of the world.

A good Sambar has a well rounded personality.

Its enviable body is made of smoothly mashed cooked toor lentils (துவரம் பருப்பு / तुवर दाल). The key is ‘smoothly mashed’.

Its mind arises from the delicate blend of spcices and flavors – Coriander dominates, but not too much. Sambar is where red chilli reached enlightenment – what a pilgrimage from Central America to South India ! Fenugreek may be hardly noticeable in Sambar, but is inevitable. Tamarind / tomato for tanginess completes the mix.

Have you discovered your soul ? Till you do, lets stay with Sambar. The soul of Sambar is some fresh, slow cooked vegetables that have absorbed the flavors and spices – s l o w is the key ! Sorry, pressure cooking is not slow cooking. The way the essence of vegetables enrich the Sambar is a separate topic in itself.

When organic, these individual ingredients take Sambar to the next level – Something that the current chemical generation may not be familiar with.

Try out on a Sunday.

After a long gap, I rediscovered the joy of walking in the rain with an umbrella today. I avoided main roads as much as possible, but had to deal with stretches of streets that were water logged. Despite the strain of navigating such streets, I felt good. The temporary relief from air pollution coupled with the sound of rain drops hitting my umbrella was very relaxing to the mind.

I think anything that takes us closer to nature tends to be relaxing. And healing. We have come too too far from nature. Think about it.

I hope for more such rain-walks in my life.

2011. Another year to be grateful that we:

Wish you a new year filled with peace and love !

Please. Please change one thing in your life today that will make the environment less stressed. Write your ideas for going green (as comments on this page), so you can share it with all readers of this Blog.

When I was in College, I listened to Sonu Nigam for the first time. To his early album – Deewana. I was instantly dissolved by the joy of his singing. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to rule the world of Indian playback singing. He did soon afterwards.

A R Rahman. Should I say anything more ?

My wife has started blogging her cooking inventions and improvisations. She is too excited about her new blog that she cooks up interesting recipes more frequently these days. (Good for me !).

Frankly speaking, you will not be disappointed if you sincerely try these recipes.

So, Cook it up with love  for dinner tonight !

A R Rahman has just bagged 2 Oscars. The song “Jai Ho” for which he got the “Best Original Song” sounds “below average” when compared to hundreds of gems that he has produced over last 2 decades for Indian films. He has the potential to rule Hollywood’s music scene in the coming years.

Indian Music as a global commodity is irresistible. The world can finally listen to some real melodies now.

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5 Idlies

A dash of sesame oil

A shower of Sambar

Toppings of Keerai Koottu

Some fresh curd

Invention of this millennium

One of my crazy experiments….

Please don’t take this as a prescription. Just a direction.
Please experiment on your own. Break the routine !

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>I get very irritated when I get unsolicited calls from Credit Card / Insurance companies offering their products.

The bad part is that they will not let you speak, but keep telling you how wonderful their product is.

The worse part is that they will not be able to answer basic questions in a sensible manner, and will conveniently hide the fine-print stuff.

The worst part is, the moment you agree to try their product, you are trapped. Then on, YOU have to call them ‘n’ times for simple things such as mispelt name on the card, unexpected charges etc.

“La La La…Please continue to hold the line. Our customer executives are having coffee. They will be with you in an hour…La La La…“

“Sir, You say that you have placed this request last week, but my computer screen does not show anything like that. It shows ‘Flying Objects’ screensaver now. I will take a fresh request now and make it high priority. Please call us again after a week. We will tell you the same story again. Is there anything else I can assist you with ? …”

In software teminology, every rainy day test case will fail multiple times. It will pass after weeks/months, but by then you will be fully drenched.

I am going to collect the phone numbers of these free-credit-card-people and call them one by one. I will tell them this:

“ Hello Ma’am,
I am calling from the Bangalore Electricity Board. Based on your excellant electricity usage, you have been chosen for a special gift from us.

The gift is a premium cat-mark-candle. You can use it for urgent light requirements when our services are temparorily down.

Please come to our office in Shivajinagar on 1st Sep 2006 between 10.00 am and 10.15 am to collect the same. Carry your PAN card, Passport and Voter’s ID for our verification purposes.

Thank you. Have a nice day ! “

My friend, Gopi Chinnasamy triggered this idea in my mind. In fact, his ideas are far more explosive ! He has posted some nice photographs in his Flickr page.