rOsOgOlO

One favourite sweet dish of mine is the Bengali Rosogola. Its a milk sweet which cant let your mouth go unwatered . You do not be a culinary expert to know abt this dish. The first time I had tasted this was when Banerjee aunty gave us the dish for Durga Pooja . I was just 4 then . Aunty had come back from Calcutta ( now Kolkotta ), she gave us a tin of Rosogollas . Aunty had a tough time convincing Young Madhu that this was not made of egg and I could eat it which would not make me a Non Vegetarian. Amma too had a great part in making me eat this .
The first golla went into my mouth then amma's challenged polled across . She could not let me stop eating the remaining of the gollas. it was just amrit ...Aunty promised me that she would get me a tin everytime she came back from Kolkotta. But I am not sure if she ever kept her promise . My tryst with Rosogolla had just begun .
Scene 2 , Calcutta to Sindri , Black Diamond express , morning 6:00 Am . We were travelling to Sindri . I was just spell bound to see the bengali babus taking Rosogullas for breakfast . Sweets for Breakfast was just not acceptable to me . It could only be a Dessert. It started to sink in only then why the dish is more a Bengali dish .
SOmetimes I used to ponder why bengali people's accent had a lot of O's . For example , "Chakravarthy" was "chokroborty", etc . Could it because of eating of the O shaped Rosogollas . The bengali girls are sweet girls probably for same reason of eating rosogollas in the morning . I should start advising my Tamil girl friends to do the same thing for them to get sweeter .
Recently I read an article in TOI , saying this is an Oriya dish and not a bengali dish. This I would say is patent violation. All these years Rosogollas have gone synonymous to bengalis . One fine day a guy does some arbit research and publishes some article on which falsifies the the birth of Rosogolla.
Who cares about the birth of Rosogollas as long as its a sweet dish and keeps people happy . Would you care ?

Madhu
- Mouth watered thinking abt Roshogollas

Madame Prez

As I write this post India should be proud to have its first woman president , Madame Prathibha singh Patil . Its such a great development in India that even developed countries like US cant boast about .
I have been seeing people talk about equality in gender, caste ,creed etc . Having been born and brought up in a cosmopolitan place like kalpakkam, i have seen that educated ( Not literates ) people are always broad minded . They dont care all these . They just care for good humanity .
I should also bring to a point that as we got our Prathibha singhji , we also see a tug of War between another able police office Crane Bedi and the system. Here the system has won over her and she couldnt get to the post of Delhi Police Commisioner even after being the senior most .
I just remember a small incident even in my life . In my 12 th Std , we had a school election where my (she) class mate won over my ( he ) classmate . We ( the Hez) couldnt just accept that we lost to a She. We did a lot of pranks to digest the loss . if i think backof it I feel ,How silly of us .
Though we fight for reservations for ladies , the system( including me) is just hypocratic . Are we ?


Cheers,
Madhu

Kalyani---

Kalyani if I remember correctly is of 65 th Mela. The arohanam and avarohanam goes as
S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S
S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S
Obviously the speciality of Kalyani is the Madhyamam. We wouldnt have missed kalyani and we cant afford to miss this sampoorna ragam. This is one ragam any singer would prefer to do a Ragam Thanam Pallavi (RTP) in his concert . If you have even learnt a few geethams or varnams, I challenge that you would have learnt " Vanajakshi"..
Ilayaraja, one of the greatest musicians of our era has been the best exponent of this raagam in film songs. If a listener has not listened to "Amma endru azhaikadha" - ( Mannan) the I am sure he has not listened to Tamil songs at all . Illayaraja has composed innumerable songs in Kalyani .
Some of them are "Sundari Kannal oru seithi - Dalapathi" ," Janani Janani - Thaye Mookambika" a small piece in Sethu , I think it starts as "Sharanam bhava", "Nirpathuvae nadapathuvae "These are some of the gems I could remember just like that. There are many more . I just have question raja ...Why do you like Kal + Aani ?

Madhu

Con "Fusion"

We must be aware of the recent G8 summits, the nuke deals, world environment days . Instead of planning and discussing on what we shdnt be doing to pollute , we can think constructively. Why don't we think of alternate sources of energy instead of the age old petrol , diesel oil sources. There are a lot of benefits if we could find such sources .
Have you ever thought how Sun gives us so much of energy ? The process of energy production in Sun is Nuclear Fusion . This is the sister of the very well known nuclear fission which is used in Atom bombs and nuclear reactors . As the name suggests, Fusion is just combining a few lightweight isotopes into a heavier atom . Scientists have identified that Deuterium , Tritium ( H2 and H3 isotopes of Hydrogen) combine to form Helium and a neutron. In this process of combining a lot of energy .

"So trivial isnt it ". Why are scientists not doing this then ? The catch here is this whole process of this combination can be achieved only at very high temperatures at the order of 100 million degrees . Sustenance of these high temperatures is just not easy . There are special designed devices/machines for these called Tokamaks. Recent developments have been able to sustain this state of plasma only for a few 1000 seconds . But for fusion to become viable and a source of energy we need to sustain these temperatures for long periods of time. Hope scientists come out with a path breaking discovery as soon as possible.
Now FYI , 30 mg of deuterium produces about energy equivalent to 300 liters of Oil. Come on guys we need to achieve this process of fusion as soon as possible.
Having said all these, I was just thinking on a lighter note , construction on any day is a tougher task than destruction as is fission which is much more easily achievable than Fusion . What say ?

Madhu
- Fishing the fusion .

Grandmaster

Vishy as he is called,is one of my favourite sports icon . I like the icon obviously for his performance. Other reason ofcourse for his style of play. He is one of the fastest players in chess. Recently I saw his interview in NDTV. I was amazed when he said he could listen to harmony when he played the chess and when the pieces when the pieces were in place. Amazing how gr8 player are passionate . I also saw him talk on chess just by alphabets like E4, E5.....Probably this come by practice.
Officially hez the world champion. Kudos Vishy. Another important thing abt him he is one of 3 players who has crossed an ELO rating of 2800 which is more than amaznig.

Recently he seems to have started an academy in association with NIIT . All the best in your new venture. Hope you acheiver greater heights and bring laurels to India.

Madhu

Wish y's fan.

Maitreem Bhajata

This song is also one of the pieces very close to my heart . The essence of the song revolves around Universal Peace . . MS has the distinction has first Indian Artist to perform in the UN. This song was composed by Sri HH Chandrasekara Saraswati Swamigal for this special occasion. The song is known for its poetic and literary excellence as well . We see the use of "Da" deftly by the poet from the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad. ( Mail me to know the exact story )
Like my previous song list , Let me try to put its meaning along with the words ,etc.


The Song is rendered in Ragamalika . Meaning Pallavi is song in a particular raaga , anupallavi in another while the charanams in others.
Now to the Song :

maitrIm bhajata, akhila hrit jaitrIm |
Atmavad Eva parAnn api pashyata |
yudhham tyajata, smardhAm tyajata |
tyajata parEShu akrama-AkramaNam ||

jananI prithivI kAma-dukhArtE |
janako dEvah sakala dayALuh |
'dAmyata, datta, dayadhvam' janatA |
shrEyO bhUyAt sakala janAnAnAm ||

Its Meaning :
Maithreem - Friendship , Bhajata - Pray ,
Akhila - Whole world , Hrit - heart Jaitreem - Conquer
Atmavath = Self , Paraath- Others - Api - Also , Pashyatha - See
Yudham - War , Tyjata - Leave,refrain
Smardan - Competition
Pareshu - others , Akramam - Agresssion


Janani , Prithvi - Mother Earth , Kama - Desires , Dukarte -Satisdfy
Janako Devaha - King Janaka ( Father ), Sakala - Among all , Dayalu - compassionate
Damyata - Self Control , Datta - Give , Dayadvam - Kind
Shreyo - Happy , well being , Bhooya - be , Sakala - All , Jananam - Beings .

The coherent meaning is

``Cultivate friendship which will conquer all hearts.

Look upon others as thyself.

Renounce war; forswear competition.

Give up aggression on others which is wrong.

Wide Mother Earth, our Mother is here ready to give us all our desires.

We have the Lord, our Father, compassionate to all.

Ye peoples of the World!

Restrain yourselves, Give, Be kind.

May all people be happy and prosperous".

Madhu

- one who believes in Maitreem Bhajata .. probably the modern day terrorists need this song .



NB: I was just thinking shd a particular raaga be sung for a particular mood. Isnt this is general conception.Mukhari is supposed to be a sad raaga . But to my surprise , " Anandam Anandam ..." is in Mukhari

Puzzling Pirates...

Its Puzzle time again . I was planning to post puzzles as often a spossible . Thought this is an interesting and a simple puzzle too.. If you get the answer, please post the answer with ur name.

Five pirates discover a chest full of 100 gold coins. The pirates are ranked by their ages. Pirate 5 is 50 years old, Pirate 4 is 49, and so on down to Pirate 1. To divide up the loot, they agree on the following:
The most senior pirate will propose a distribution of the booty. All pirates will then vote, including the most senior pirate, and if at least 50% of the pirates on board accept the proposal, the gold is divided as proposed. If not, the most senior pirate is murdered. Then the process starts over with the next most senior pirate until a plan is approved.
All Pirates are equally intelligent and selfish. Their preference is first to remain alive, and next to get as much gold as possible and finally, if given a choice between otherwise equal outcomes, to have fewer pirates on the boat.
Assume you are the senior most pirate in the group. Come up with a plan that maximizes your gold, and others will accept. How will you divide the coins? Can you generalise ..

Madhu
Captain of Pirates

MMTS Timings again

Ppl have been asking MMTS timings. SO I thought let me upload this jpg file and increase the traffice to my page ..

Mergers and Acquistions

Recently we come across the major deals happening ... India Inc. has been going great guns thanks to huge deals taking place recently . 2006 had mergers worth close to a few million dollars. Come 2007 , the feather of India Inc , TATAs made a giant leap in Indian acquistions . Worth Over 19 billion dollars, they took over CORUS over a stiff competion. They had increased the offer price close to 60 Percent over their initial bid to come through the bid successfully . This certainly is one of the major milestones in Indian history. Not that its because of the TATA brand. Its about the size of the deal and the sector of the acquistion. Prior to this India was more considered to be the back office support of the service industry . Come in the acquistion, India Inc is in the foray among the best in world manufacturing . It catapulted Tatas frm abt 50s in steel sector to No.5 which is quite a huge jump. All this has been happening with with so much hue and media attention, here comes another man by name Kumaramangalam Birla , silently took over Novelis.
Novelis is an aluminium company based out of Canada and Hindalco is the flagship of the famous Aditya Birla group. The deal is valued at abt 6 Billion dollars and is an all Cash deal .Kumaramangalam envisaged that his flagship should enter the fortune 500 by 2010. This deal has made the group to sail through the fortune list easily. Seems kumar's hunger is not satisfied . Reports say he is set to prowl on acquiring foreign cement companies.
This acquistions and mergers is not over. Suzlon is hawking at a few energy companies in Europe. Great guys , Indians fighting gloablly and making mark . A couple of years back when Oracle took over Peoplesoft its closest competitor amongst a lot of hue cry and litigations, we knew it was consolidation time for industries .
Now I see the the big Indian guns, Tatas and Birlas not afraid of hunting in foreign grounds and making a mark globally and making Indians proud.

Some time back I happened to see a movie by name "We are not Tata Birlas " ..I think I would make a movie.." We should be Tatas Birla"...
Think Big guys ..We should atleast dream big even if we dont acheive it .

Madhu

2 Extra dosais

This happened to me when I was in the first semester of MCA. We just finished what I would call the toughest practical examinations in my life. Ask my MCA classmates, they would agree that the first semester electronics lab exam was more a theory exam than a practical exam. Myself , Maha and Kums were the 3 lucky people who got the kind of qn which one would have never expected. All the 3 of us were fuming when the exam was finally over. It was not that the qn was tuf but it was monotonous and it cudnt have been completed in 3 hrs by anyone and there were not enuf chips in our labs to execute the circuit.
I was dead tired and frustrated with the exam and walked after a long 3 hour exam . I was hungry . I wanted to eat as much as possible and walked to one of the best restraunts in TPK . As I was walking towards the restraunt, KK another calssmate joined me . He wanted to know how the exam was and I had to narrate him the whole story and that I was going to have my fill. He wanted to join me and we started walking.
We were close to the bus stop as Muthu another of my classmate was walking and he was also interested to join us for the snack. We were all hungry and went to a small restraunt near the TPK temple to have our fill.
Each one of us were hungry and were ordering gulping the snacks as if we hadnt seen those food items at all. Each finished our idlies and next came the set dosais , gulped a few chapatis and finally the coffee to refresh ourselves.. Each of were full and could not have anything more for the rest of the day.
"Bill Please", said Muthu. The waiter gave the bill and the bill was Rs.82 .I was having Rs 50 and asked KK to pay the rest.I was always of the opinion that as my classmates joined me one by one they would be having enuf cash with them. Now KK didnt have money nor did Muthu. KK and Muthu were thinking that others wud be having enuf cash to pay out the bill. Each of us were looking at each other's face not knowing know this embarassing situation. The waiter was walking up and down around us with accusing look.
Luckily for us Muthu's house was close to the restraunt and he said that he would get the money. 5 mins passed after Muthu left , myself andKK were in unknown waters. KK hit an idea . He called up the waiter and ordered for another 2 dosais for each of us.I was confused and got his idea. KKs idea was simple. By the time Muthu came back, we would slowly munch the extra dosais so that the owner didnt think bad of us . But then we were already full . Still , we slowly munched the extra dosais and thank God by the time we finished the extra dosais, Muthu came back with enuf cash frm his house.
If Muthu had not been in time this blog would have been 10 extra dosais . Myself and KK would have gone in an infinite loop for sure. What say KK ?

Madhu
- Dosai eater