Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bad start...

I have been looking forward to Diwali, cause I would be home for the Holidays; unfortunately even after trying hard, praying relentlessly & waiting desperately I couldn't get a confirmed berth in any train. My wait listed ticket could only ascend at last to W/L 5, giving me a heart burn. By this time air tickets were also sold out (my last resort) and there are no other alternate methods of commute left. So, I will be spending Diwali away from home, but what disappoints me most is, dad will be alone for Diwali. I can't blame the railways for not having enough trains for the busiest route in festive season. Neither can I blame them for their interesting Tatkal (emergency) service which opens 5 days in advance to the journey and gets full the moment it opens. It's interesting because you also get waiting list tickets for Tatkal reservation. How convenient as any cancellation puts the Tatkal charges (Rs. 200/300) + half of the ticket price into railway's kitty. So, I have to blame myself. I should have known better and planned well before hand for it. Not that I was in a last minute rush, but it seems that booking a ticket 2 months in advance now is equivalent. I will have to get comfortable to the idea of planning-3-months-in-advance.


For me it was bad enough but I was in for further misfortune. My brother forgot my favorite & only camera Canon S3 IS in an auto and I know I will not see it again. Again only I am to blame here as well. Only if I had also bought a usual sleek fit-in-hip-pocket point & shoot camera; he wouldn't have to carry it in a bag, causing urge to rest it on the first place you get to relax a bit. So, there are a few important lessons learnt.
  • Don't plan without retrieving all the current & relevant information. Only If I had checked that I could book tickets 3 months in advance as opposed the then rule of 2 months.
  • Don't just buy things you love, think of the practicability, applicability & usability as well. A bulky super-zoom camera is not something you would carry to a small birthday party.
I am hoping this is all the bad news I am gonna get this festive season now.

Happy Diwali !!

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Framed Egg Recipe

Having breakfast in the morning is important and I can't live without it. Unfortunately quick breakfast options are very limited, hence I get bored easily, so I keep looking for quick and easy to make breakfast options. When I found out the recipe of Framed Egg on "Wiki How" it sounded very interesting. So, I tried it (adding my own deviations) and immediately fell in love with it. If you love egg & bread, then you must try this one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Bread slice
  • 1 Egg
  • Salt
  • Pepper powder
  • Cinnamon (dalchini) powder
  • Honey / Maple syrup
  • Butter

Preparation:

  • First cut a hole int the center of bread.
  • Apply butter on both sides of bread.
  • Heat the pan; when the pan in hot, put the bread on it.
  • Put some butter in the hole of bread and break the egg shell carefully and pour the egg exactly in the middle of the bread, in the hole.
  • Now sprinkle salt, pepper & cinnamon powder on it according to the taste.
  • Let it cook for a minute or so. Then apply some butter on the pan and flip.
  • Let the other side cook for another minute and it's done.
  • You can add some honey or maple syrup on top before serving.

I hope you enjoy the delicious Framed Egg & If you have other interesting breakfast ideas do let me know :)

TIP: Cinnamon goes well with egg or bread dishes.

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Another Bad Example !!

Jet airways announced today that it will reinstate all of the 1900 employees it laid off 2 days back. A victory for people?? Sure many political parties share that opinion and are lining up to take the credit for making this happen. Of course, chairman Naresh Goyal claimed that this decision of his, is not forced by anyone but his empathy but after 3 days of high drama going on every TV channel & news paper, the damage is already done. Let's just revisit the sequence of events and ponder for a while, what does it mean for us.

Aviation industry is going through the crisis having huge losses. Jet announces an alliance with Kingfisher to help them cut their operational cost to stay in business. The next day they decide to lay off about 1900 employee from their 10000+ workforce; in a cost cutting exercise. The employees are shattered & turn to local politicians for solace. So, the most emphatic one (read Raj Thackeray) decides to do something about it and the best way to do it is to threaten Jet Airways of holding their flights in & out of Mumbai unless they reinstate the employees. For two days media has a field day sensationalizing every aspect of this drama. Civil aviation minister Mr. Prafful Patel analyzes the situation with Jet Airways and then surprisingly chairman Mr. Naresh Goyal announces reinstatement for all those were laid off. Political parties make a beeline to clog the limelight & claiming to the saviour of mankind.

So, now what does it tell us. It tells to those poor employees & their family members that God and our politicians are very kind and Jet Airways (or any industry) is evil to have put them in a bad situation in the first place. It tells to the general public that our generous political leaders will go to any length to get them out of their troubles, provided they get their fair share of lime light. Finally and most importantly, it tells to the industries and investors, planning to invest in India, that it's really difficult to do business in this country.

Every industry has to lay off their employees at some point for cost cutting, consolidation or mere restructuring of their business if things are not going as they should. Most obvious case in India is with IT companies. Last year had been very difficult for them and they had to let go thousands of their employees to remain in the business. Interestingly the s/w industry, away from any union culture, took it well and no body seemed to have faced extinction. But now after this episode will it be the same again? Just imagine that after so many US banking giants shutting shops, thousands of employees in the BPO sector might just be waiting to be axed anytime. If that happens, won't they be in deep trouble as well. Then what better than repeating the Jet exercise again. All it takes to gather a few people, big enough to get the attention & then approach our new age leaders. Who will be more than happy to help them as it earns them a populist image, but forgetting that they are sacrificing larger interest of nation here.

Companies who have the right to fire their employees if they feel it's necessary, providing the compensation according the employment contract, can't fire them anymore. In this case there are high chances they will become incompetent, loose a lot of money & may go out of business. So, this episode creates a whole new threat to corporate India, especially after the lynching of Lalit K Choudhary in a lay off dispute and the whole world is watching carefully. If these kinds of behavior become prevalent or acceptable, I am afraid this will be a major setback for the growth of our country, because we will lack a conductive business atmosphere.

So, I just wish that this episode becomes just a chapter in our black book and doesn't become a trend. Another bad example well set by our leaders & us.

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Monday, October 6, 2008

Walking Plaza & The Charcoal Pit

This time my birthday coincided with Navratri and so, I was abstaining from non-veg & alcohol during the festival. Although, disappointed at the prospect of a birthday party without alcohol & non-veg, I chose to visit The Charcoal Pit on MG road. It was a Sunday and hence the day for Walking plaza. So, we reached MG road a little early and decided to take a stroll before we go for dinner. Walking plaza was completely buzzing with excitement and Navratri mood was painted all over it. I am talking about the festive activities only, leaving the usual kid attractions aside.



As we entered MG road from east-street, a mandal had setup a platform for Tulja devi & in front their members were performing with traditional instruments. It was a great mix of music & performance, which rightly set the Dassera mood for us. At some distance, there was a band playing the usual Shaadi numbers in their trademark style. Many people would stop to tap a foot with them, I resisted the temptation though.



After completing the round we reached The Charcoal Pit only to find a nice Dandiya arrangement in front of it. So many people were dancing on The Dandiya music, but interestingly the singers were singing any song on the same music. The female singer seemed good at this, but the male singer was really irritable. We had to rush to the restaurant now, so that we didn't miss our table booking. It's a roof top restaurant, on a sixth storey building. After reaching the top a garden decor & open sky welcomes you and bound to catch your attention. I wished the seating arrangement was right here under open sky but seating was on the other side of roof and was covered, with enough ventilation to feel the breeze.



While entering the eating area you can see the open kitchen and the smell of the tandoori dishes sets your appetite right. Since all of us were vegetarian for the day, so I can't tell you about their non-veg dishes. But after trying their veg food I am just waiting to visit them again to test their Non-veg expertise. We ordered, for starter, Paneer Tikka Hariyali, Tandoori Aloo & baby corn, Veg seekh kabab and Mushroom Tikka. Paneer was fresh & the spinach coating had given it a nice & different taste. Tandoori Aloo & baby corn was amazing, the marination & spices applied to it added a unique flavour to it. This was the best Allo & Baby corn dish I have had and so the Veg seekh kabab. It's USP was its spicy taste, the spices were mixed thoroughly with minced vegetables. Mushrooms were done perfectly with no trace of burning and quite juicy.

For maincourse, we ordered Khumbha Matar Dhaniya (Mushroom, green peas with coriander based gravy) and Gobi Lababdar (Tandoori Cauliflower with a curd based gravy) and Missi roti to go with it. Mushroom mutter was the favorite Missi roti was very tasty as well. For dessert we had hot Gulab Jamuns which were really tasty and Malai Kulfi (nice combination). My opinion is that the restaurant is a good place to visit for the ambience, great tandoori dishes, good food and affordable price.

Overall my birthday evening was great with fun on walking plaza, sumptuous dinner at Charcoal Pit and my family & friends with me to make it all worth. The Charcoal Pit is located on MG road, next to Marzorin, on the top floor of building/hotel Tej Residency. Ph: 020-26131573/020-26131572.

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Bring back Bihar - A film by Nitin Chandra

This is the trailer of "Bring back Bihar - Moment of Awakening", a documentary film by director Nitin Chandra; highlighting the fate of the people of Bihar, who bore the burnt of politically influenced violence against them in many parts of the country over time. This movie also explores prevailing conditions in Bihar and possibilities of improving it.


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Saturday, October 4, 2008

Don't blame the victim

The editorial article in Times of India "Blaming the Victim" clearly points to the sorry attitude of our politicians. Blaming the victim's lifestyle or attitude for inviting crime is outrageous and when it is done by the leaders of our country, on whom we depend to make things right, it is scandalous. At one hand we are signing N-deal to establish us a significant international figure and at another we are puting up with the disgraceful acts of our political class. Only recently we have seen, it in Soumya Vishwa-nathan case, Union minister Oscar Fernandes case and the most recent Singur case. All of it projects discreditable image of India as a country. 
Its time that we as individuals and as leaders stop adjusting to what the prevalent conditions are and act now to stand above it and make things right. 

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Friday, October 3, 2008

Another feather in the cap of the Wall Street crisis

Naked Shorting had been used to manipulate stocks & a lot of efforts were done to keep it from public.

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