Stress is a big challenge in life nowadays.
The sources of stress are many and the helpful ways to reduce stress are also plentiful.
Common symptoms of stress include skin problems, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, fatigue, insomnia and frustration.
We don't need to set a time to reduce stress, we need to incorporate some strategies in our daily life routine to prevent stress and reduce its effect on the body.
Here are 11 simple steps we can easily take to reduce stress:
1. Define your goals: we must define our life goals and begin to achieve these goals; this action will support us against stress because we will feel that we know what our life purpose is and why, and that we control our own lives.
2. Take control of your diet: we can use simple ways in our diet plans to reduce stress by avoiding some stimulants such as coffee, alcohol, tea and sugar and we can use chamomile tea as an alternative because of its calming and relaxing effect.
We need to eat slowly in a calm environment to allow our digestive system to work well.
We can use honey as an alternative to sugar but in small amounts (one or two spoonfuls per day).
3. Take hot baths regularly: after a very busy day or when we feel that we need to relax (I do this three times a week).
You can take a hot bath by sitting in warm to hot water and the water level should be above the waist, using lavender oil can also enhance this relaxing experience.
4. Aromatherapy: in the office you can use aromatherapy to relax and avoid stress.
One of the best ways is to use lavender oil on a source of heat and take in the scent; this is a great way to relax during the day when you need it the most.
5. Exercise: This is one of the important things you can do which will reduce stress and bring happiness.
When we exercise, our brains release substances which bring feelings of happiness and relaxation; we need engage in some exercise regularly such as walking, dancing or swimming.
6. Breathing techniques: Yoga, meditation and Tai Chi all use deep breathing techniques.
To meditate, simply sit with closed eyes and concentrate on your breathing.
Breathing deeply regularly is great for health and from there, you can learn various other breathing techniques to gain enhanced benefits.
7. Relaxation techniques and self hypnotherapy: we can easily do this after the hot bath to relax even more, simply sit or lie down in a comfortable place with your eyes closed, imagine there is a spot light above your head and concentrate on it, then concentrate on your body part by part and try to relax the body and feel the relaxation deepening -- you can also use a self hypnotherapy audio tape to help in this process.
8. Massage: this is a great way to reduce stress, I do this when other ways fail, I feel better after receiving a massage.
You can get a professional massage or you can simply ask your partner to massage you.
9. Spiritual healing: prayers and the act of helping others are very important components for happiness and stress reduction.
You will feel calmer and have a sense of inner peace.
10. Talking through your problems: talking about your feelings acts as a releasing mechanism and you will soon find that talking about your problems with your partner or best friend may help the solution to the problem come to light and will help to release blocked emotions.
11. Multivitamins: I take a Vitamin B complex regularly to decrease stress and this has been a great help in my stress reduction.
I hope that you find these suggestions helpful, my hope in sharing this information with you is that you can benefit from it.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Happy MAHASHIVARATRI
Shiva rathri is one of the most auspicious vratas for the devotees of Lord shiva. The purANas explain the grand significance of this vrata.
History of shivaratri
History of shivaratri
Once when everything in all the worlds got reduced into Lord shiva, in that darkness of nothing present, the mother pArvati worshipped Lord shiva in the Agamic way with great devotion. The parameshwar pleased by Her prayer blessed Her. She asked for the benefit of all the creatures that in future whoever worships the Lord on the shiva rAtri day with devotion, they should be blessed and should be given the ultimate liberation. The pashupati granted that showing way for all of us to get blessed easily.
When Brahma and Vishnu fought between themselves as "who is the greatest", Lord Shiva appeared before them as a pillar of fire. They were not able to find the starting and end of that pillar. This day is Thirukkaarthikai.(1)
Then Brahma and Mahavishnu repented for their mistake and prayed to Lord Shiva for forgiving their sin worshiping the shiva li.ngam which is the form of the flame. In the night of Shiva rathri Lord Shiva appeared before them and blessed them. Devotees pray the God throughout the night of Shiva rathri by performing Abisheka, chanting and other holy deeds.
Every month in Krishna paksha chathurdhasi (fourteenth moonday) is called masa Shiva rathri. The one that comes in the month of "Masi" (mid February to mid March) is called Maha Shiva rathri. This is considered as the most important vrata by the devotees.
There are many incidents told about the greatness of this day. Once a hunter in a jungle after searching throughout the jungle, was quite tired and could not get any animal. In the nightfall a tiger started chasing him. to escape from that he climbed a tree. That was a Bilva tree. The tiger sat under the tree waiting for him to come down. The hunter who sat on a branch of the tree was quite tense and didn't want to sleep. He was plucking the leaves and putting down as he was not able to be idle. Below the tree there was a Shiva lingam. The whole night went on like this. God was pleased with the Upavasa (hunger) and the Pooja the hunter and the tiger did even without knowledge. He is the peak of the grace. He gave the hunter and the tiger "Moksha".
In a Shiva temple on a Maha Shiva rathri day the lamp kept in the altar was very dim. That time a mouse which came take its prey touched the flame. Due to the heat it moved its head immediately. In the process it kindled the lamp and the altar was illuminated well. Lord Shiva, pleased by this deed made the mouse Mahabali, the renowned asura king.
There are many incidents like this told in our Puraanas. If we do the vrata with pure devotion and love there can be no doubt about getting the Grace of the Almighty.
When is shivaratri observed
ska.ndha purANam describes about four shiva rAtris. The first one is nitya shivarAtri (daily shivarAtri - every night). The second one is the mAsa shivarAtri which is observed on the kR^iShNa paxa chaturdasi (fourteenth moonday on the moons diminishing phase). The third one is the mAga prathamAdi shivarAtri which is observed for the thirteen days starting from prathama titi in the month mAga (mAsi) and on the chaturdasi night the Lord is worshiped throughout the night.
The fourth one is observed on the mAsi (mAga) month kR^iShNa paxa chaturdasi. This is the one observed in a widespread manner. It is also called mahA shivarAtri.
Way of observing shivaratri
Getting up early in the morning one meditates on the Infinitely Auspicious, ornated with thousands of splendid garlands, Who is in the form of the holy symbol of shiva(mahA li.ngam). Bathing and staying clean the worship of Lord shiva in the form of shiva li.ngam is done in the four jamas of the night (four equal time intervals of the night). (Note that the li.nga worship is explicitly mentioned for this vratam as this is the time the God out of Its grace for the benefit of pashus appeared in a formless-form that is a symbol (li.ngam) from Its true nature of formlessness.)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Proud to be an INDIAN
Our ability to adapt other cuisines to our tastes: Hot and Sour Chinese soup has desi tadka. Sandwiches aren't thinly sliced and lightly buttered slices of bread with slivers of cucumber. We add green chutney and sliced aloo and beetroot. We invented Chicken and Veg Manchurian, developed Udipi pizzas, concocted onion omelettes, created veg kheema, de-Japanesed Japanese food by cooking up gajjar-ka-sushi, and now are well on the way to Indianising the seafood diet of penguins in Antarctica just in case that becomes the hot new phoren cuisine of 2010.
Faith and spirituality: Tell someone you don't believe in God. Go on. You'll find yourself arguing so vehemently to make your case that you could well be accused of having a severe case of faith - faith in no God in this case. Because that's what we do - believe. Hard. With passion. In anything we want to believe. Which is why practically every faith known to God is right here in India, and we're not above inventing several more if we think we haven't enough.
The way we are so flexible: Checked anyone's filofax lately? Know anyone who has a filofax? We may set off in the morning expecting to follow a strict schedule of assignments and appointments, but we are always happy to chuck all our plans at a moment's notice, particularly if the alternative involves partying.
Our many and varied stories: Our history goes back 5,000 years - and so do our epics that contain every emotion, possibility and philosophy that humans have ever managed to come up with. Not to mention a frightening amount of maths, if we're considering the ages that make up the four yugas. Add to that the epics of Islam and Christianity, local folk traditions and tales that simply emerge from our fertile brains, and we're wondering why our TV channels need to import bad reality shows from phoren and inflict them on us. Chai: It's raining. We need chai. It's cold. We need chai. It's hot and sweaty and miserable. We need chai. Yes chai, not tea. The over-boiled, over-milked and over-sweetened stuff that could rot our teeth and turn our insides into shoe leather, yet never fails to put life back into our tired frames. Then there's also tea. Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri, Kangra... Mmmm, the fragrance. Monsoon mania: Who needs marijuana or Ecstasy? The monsoon is what we get high on. After a long summer spent gazing up at the sky through a magnifying glass looking for the merest hint of a cloud (and in imminent danger of setting our eyebrows on fire), we see the sky begin to darken, then the first drops of rain hit the earth, then we breathe deep and our nostrils fill with the delicious scent of wet earth... and then we complain bitterly about floods.
Weddings and family occasions: Our weddings are attended by family, relatives, friends, past and present neighbours, people who invited you to their or their siblings' weddings, past and present colleagues, random strangers because we had 300 wedding cards extra and didn't want to waste them, plus gatecrashers - a guestlist so long it rivals the population of the whole of Africa. If however, our homes are filled with the population of only one small country, like Bangladesh, we're just having a family dinner. Bollywood jhatkas: Hips swirl in one direction while the torso twists in another and the shoulders go somewhere else entirely even as the head moves so violently, it could spin off the neck entirely. We'd make excellent weather vanes, only no one would know where the wind was actually coming from.
Autos: Germany had its cute little Volkswagen Beetle, we have our cute little autos - three-wheelers packed with hi-tech music systems and disco lights that would put nightclubs to shame, which trundle up and down roads as their drivers overcharge everyone in sight, including themselves by mistake.
Bargaining: Worry about being cheated, who us? It's the people we're buying from who are tense. That's because we don't see bargaining only as a legitimate means of lowering prices. We see it as a sport. So we will not move an inch from the thelawalla even if the sun is blazing down at 53 degrees. We want that 30 paise off our kilo of apples and that is that. Desi hospitality:Atithi devo bhava. and we will be devo-ed till our stomachs burst. (Perhaps because our hosts bargained so hard with the thelawalla that the apples were practically free?) When we step into anyone's house we are fed, watered and pampered so much, we'd never believe there was a single nasty person on this planet. The only difficulty is getting away - if they could, our hosts would adopt us on the spot.
Tel maalish: Even as we read the stories by our lifestyle journalists on the joys of spa massages, we are getting our hair cut in full anticipation of the head massage that will follow. It's hard to fathom why the phoren people get so excited about massages. Haven't we been tel-maalished from the second we were born?
We're child-friendly: Aside from the fact that we love children so much that we're soon going to produce enough to populate the entire world, everything in our lives is geared towards their happiness. So much so that our parents never want us to leave home.
So many newspapers and magazines: Whatever the rest of the world may think about reading, we have so much respect for knowledge that many of us literally worship our books (i.e., take them to temples to be blessed, instead of actually opening them). This may explain why new newspapers and magazines are constantly being launched even as marketing people complain that nobody reads any more.
We survived the recession: That's because even though we are clambering up the conspicuous consumption ladder just like those phoren people who drove their economies to the brink of extinction, unlike them we have a culture of caution and saving that pulled us through when entire countries had to declare bankruptcy. That's why. Our stash of black money certainly had nothing to do with it.
We're a democracy, thank God!: You say, I say, she says. we all can say. And many of us do say - very, very loudly. Ideas and arguments are alive and though some of us (call them Party A) feel a great desire to clonk some others (call them Party B) over the head for having foolish opinions, we're lucky because still others (call them Party C) are just as thrilled by the idea of clonking some of us (Party A) over the head for their ideas, as meanwhile, Party D lurks about, thinking hard thoughts about Party C. So a balance is maintained at all times. We're miserly and extravagant at the same time: We spend approximately the amount required for a new house on a new handbag, but we turn purple with rage and start throwing things about (though not our new handbag) when the auto driver suggests Rs 25 as a fair fare.
Raddiwalas: When those phoren people start making noises about our carbon credits - ours, for heaven's sake, when we are the most frugal people on this planet always trying to save 10 paise here and 20 paise there, never mind that there are actually no coins in those denominations any more - we can tell them that we are green without even trying because ours is a country where recycling has always been a business, thanks to the raddiwalla.
Jugaad: Nothing in India need only be what it was originally meant to be. A motorcycle can be attached to a cart and become a bael-gaadi, a tangle of wires could become a satellite dish, and when prissy parents refuse to serve alcohol at weddings, the boot of a car is a bar.
The sheer number of holidays: There's a New Year's Day practically every month, not to mention some festival or the other one community or the other. And if we don't take the holiday, we are nasty exclusionists who do not believe in unity in diversity. So there is a minimum of three holidays every month not counting weekends and if we live in Kolkata, we also have bandhs. Our values are still (mostly) intact: Family - check (see the millions who turn up for our weddings). Friends - check (see movies like 3 Idiots). Frugality - check (ask the thelawalla if you need proof). Hospitality - check (look at the size of our stomachs and we haven't been home for weeks). Modesty - uh oh. What's that we keep telling ourselves about Asian tigers?
Our patriotic songs: They can be truly heart-rending. Just the first few bars of Saare Jahaan Se Achcha can make us weep - and not only because our neighbour sings it so badly that we're convinced she's a Pakistani terrorist. And they are also so rousing that it takes just one hearing of Hum Hindustani to make us grab anything at home that might serve as a weapon and queue up at the Defence HQ, ready to sign up for the Army.
Amazing diversity of food taboos: We have vegetarians who won't touch anything that once had the potential to move (though we don't understand this too well - don't palak leaves flutter in the breeze?), we have vegetarians who will eat all vegetables but won't touch garlic or onion, we have eggetarians who will only eat vegetables and eggs, we have chickenatarians who only eat vegetables and chicken but not eggs, we have fishitarians who will not touch dairy with a bargepole and non-vegetarians who think green veggies are a form of mould. We have so many people with so many dietary problems that it's a wonder we get to eat anything at all.
Amazing diversity of food: Food taboos, shood taboos! When we set off for school or the office clutching our tiffin boxes, we know very well we're not going to eat anything that's in them. Because the second it's time for lunch, tiffins are exchanged for what our classmates or colleagues have brought. Which is why, in one day, we could find we have eaten anything from akoori (Parsi) to aloo poshto (Bengal), to sai bhaji (Sindh), to bisi bele bhaath (Karnataka), to aloo-bhaji (UP), to tandoori chicken (Punjabi), to biryani (Muslim) to de-Japanesed Japanese like gajjar-ka-sushi (wholly Indian, mera Bharat mahaan). Amazing diversity of us!: For a people who have so much in common, we come from a wide variety of races. Across the world, we are mistaken for Chinese (anyone from the North-East), Caucasian (Parsis and Sindhis), Italian and Spanish (Goan people, especially with curly hair)... You name it, we've got the gene. Amazing belief that anything worthwhile could have originated only in india: We don't care what anyone says about Africa being the cradle of civilisation, we know for a fact that we invented everything in the world - including the world's genes, so there! We're responsible for shampoo (champi), bungalow (bangla), thug (thugee), chicken tikka masala... Err... Well, we're responsible for the chicken tikka and the masala and since the combination is so ghastly, we're fine if the Brits take the credit for that.
We're a nation of ideas: Tired of the sheer boringness of branded shoes? Someone will paint your keds for you. Want a poem for a loved one but can't rhyme anything but moon and loon? Call the poet-for-hire. Ordered 3,00,000 wedding cards and find you actually know only 2,50,000 potential invitees for the wedding (oh, the shame of it)? Call the rent-a-baraati company in Ambala. We are short of many things in our lives, but we'll never run out of ideas. Our wealth of healing plants: If there's one tree we cannot do without, it's neem - and it's here. It takes care of almost every ailment known to human and animal kind - and it gets rid of pests. Then there's haldi, there's cloves, we even have soap growing on trees, there are a host of plants that are ours - and if phoren people use their convoluted legal language to patent these and take them away from us, we're going to sing Hum Hindustani, pick up our frying pans and clonk them over their heads. Singing: What do you get when two of us, even if we're perfect strangers or deadly enemies, are hanging around with nothing to do? A sing-song, that's what. Because we luuurrrve singing. We sing everywhere and anywhere, we have contests for bathroom singers and enormous national-level singing contests called antakshari - whether we can actually sing or not. Indian English: So here we are, writing in the phoren language our one-time colonisers bequeathed to us, and here you are, reading it. But let's not get all chauvinistic about this. Because just as we have de-Japanesed Japanese food and come up with gajjar-ka-sushi, we have de-Englished the English language and now only speak Indian. Indian is only superficially English. That's because we translate phrases directly from our local languages into Indian so it's no wonder that at times we feel there's someone eating our heads. And if we're in too much of a hurry to translate anything, we just bung in words from all over the place, so there are five separate languages in a single sentence. And come to think of it, do we really need that poet-for-hire? Don't we rhyme-shyme everything in sight-shight all the time-shime? Yoga: While the phoren people are doing horrible things to their abs with sit-ups and crunches, we are standing on one hand with one leg wrapped around our heads, experiencing an inner, spiritual glow, because - aha! Yoga isn't just a workout for the body, it's also a workout for the mind and soul. We're a hardworking bunch: (Except at our government offices.) Out there in the West, everything shuts at 7 pm, so if you need bread or a life, you have to go to an Indian shop. Here, you lose your key at 2 am and the chabiwalla is by your side at 2.03 am.
Mahatma Gandhi: One frail old man took on an entire imperial empire. And he did it in such an inspired manner - non-violent non-cooperation, brilliant! - that we're still seen as the most moral country on the planet. Thelawallas selling cut cucumber, peanuts, chuski, bhel etc: Because as we all know, food provides fuel and without fuel we can't function, so never mind the tiffin boxes from home, if we don't have a small snack every 20 minutes or so, we will simply collapse in a heap.
Mangoes: Mumbaikars will kill for Alphonso. Northerners swear by Dussheri and Langda. The ones down Vindhya way will die for Begum Palli. Goans will eat any mangoes that ripen in their backyards. There are also Rajapuri, Kesar and a hundred other varieties of this best of our summer fruits. If, after all that, you don't like mangoes, we might consider you anti-national. Indian stretchable time: What time do we need to report for work? 9.30 am? Ah, that explains why we phone the trade union when we arrive at the office at 1.30 pm and learn we've been docked half a day's pay. Indian Stretchable Time is in a zone of its own - and no one can understand it but Indians. Our child-like enthusiasm: The Nano finally hits the roads? You can be sure that everyone on the road - including the world-traveller in his BMW will be tailing the Nano, just to look at it. We win the T-20 World Cup? Everyone will abandon work to line the streets to look at the team - everyone including the bosses. Drinking water: Everywhere else in the world, we've got to pay roughly the sum of a two-bedroom flat in Mumbai for a bottle of water, but in Indian restaurants, waiters will swoop down on you and refill your glass even if you take so much as a sip.
Domestic help: By which we mean servants. One to cook the food. One to wash the dishes. One to sweep and swab the floor. One to dust. One to wash the clothes. One to clean the toilet. One to make chappatis. One to watch each baby. One to man the gate and run the errands. One driver per car. One to wash the cars. One to cut vegetables. One to massage the baby. One to water the plants. Why do we have so many? Since we obviously can't complain about household chores, we've got to complain about something, no? Indian Railways: From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Jhansi to Jhumritalaya, there are only a few places in the country we can't reach by train. And while the journey is not always what we might call comfortable, we can't deny that it presents us with a magnificent tableau of everything that makes India India.
The way mobiles have taken over everything: Need veggies? Phone the veggie man. Burning desire for panipuri? Phone the chaatwalla. Practically no one in the country doesn't have a mobile phone any more - even the beggars on the streets (and we do want to know how their phones are so much fancier than ours). Superb scenery: We've got ice deserts in Ladakh and actual deserts in Rajasthan. We've got the Himalayas - the highest mountains in the world! We have the Ghats on either side of our peninsula, islands, stunning beaches, the seas, the lakes, the jungles, the wildlife, the rivers, the waterfalls. we've got the whole planet, right here. Who needs a passport, for heaven's sake? (Though, because it says Republic of India, we're very proud of ours.) BPO power: We are not concerned ourselves about minor things like getting to work on time, but if people around the world need traffic movements for their commutes, they have to phone us. We've become so good at fixing their things from a distance, doing their homework from a distance and even reminding them about their anniversaries from a distance, we're wondering how the world turns without us. The riot of activity in every household every morning: It's chaos till 11 am - even if there are only two people in the house. People being dragged out of bed, people queuing for the loo, people rushing about looking for shoes, people eating breakfast on the run, the domestic help switching off fans and sweeping us literally off our feet - you'd imagine no one had ever woken up in the morning before. Nothing is beyond repair: When your computer man tells you that your machine has died, call the raddiwalla - if he can't tell you how to fix it, he'll certainly show you how to convert it to another purpose altogether. This is India. Nothing is ever so broken that it'll never work again.
The way we have a name for every single person we may be even remotely related to:Ma, baap, dada, dadi, nana, nani, taya, tayi, chacha, chachi, bua, phupha, mama, mami, beta, beti, potaa, naati, poti, naatin, behan, jija, bhanja, bhanji, bhai, bhabhi, bhatija, bhatiji, pati, patni, saas, sasur, damaad, bahu, jeth, jethani, nanad, nandoii, devar, devarani, saali, salaa, samdhan. And that's only in Hindi. Need we say more? Indian movies: Bollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood, any wood - but the films that we make are definitely not Hollywood. Our films are our films - wherever in the country they're made, in whatever language, there will be laughter, tears, songs, dances, action, family values, principles (and even principals) - all in three hours. Talk about paisa vasool.
The way we force MNCs to Indianise: McDonald's had to invent the McAloo Tikki, the Paneer Wrap and the chicken burger. Pepsi came up with Masala Lays. Coke never used celebrities in their ads abroad till they came here. Whatever the MNCs are famous for in phoren, when they're here, they've got be us.
Our need for heroes: We love people who achieve things - even if what they achieve is notoriety. Hey, as all PR people know, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Galli sports: Sports arenas, sphrorts arenas, who needs them when we have gallis, bits of crate and an aged tennis ball? While we hate it that our kids have little opportunity for organised sport, our kids calmly play on the streets - and then walk straight into international arenas.
Every occasion is a celebration: Complete with cards, clothing, eating out opportunities, gifting options, holiday options - nothing is safe from this relentless need to party - including this. Happy Republic Day! Mukhwaas: You wouldn't notice it in public, given how we have to skip lightly from garbage heap to garbage heap, but we like everything about us to be fresh. Which is why we're such big fans of supari. We can't avoid body odour, but we can eliminate bad breath. Pet names: In Bangkok, Tuk-Tuk is an autorickshaw. In Bengal, it is the name of a person. Or in Punjab, we could be called Sweety, Cutey, Happy, Jolly, Pinky or Frooti (just add Sneezy or Dopey and we've got the seven dwarves). Our parents take great pains to name us in such a way that we are ensured safe and happy lives - and the second our names are registered, they call us Goldie or Pappu. We can stay with our parents for life: Indian parents never, ever want their kids to leave home. So it doesn't matter how old we are, we are at liberty to sail through the door at all hours every night, expect to be served, have our chores taken care of, pay almost no bills, and enjoy all the comforts of home. Because Indian parents never, ever want their kids to grow up.
Saris: What's sexy, modest, graceful, classic, cool, hot, well-ventilated and gorgeous all at the same time? One word: the sari. The Republic Day parade: It is the biggest national PR exercise ever, but we either long to be there or tune in on TV to see everything that makes our Bharat mahaan - our Armed forces, the different cultures of all our states, even cultural events that normally have us running screaming into the nearest cinema for a pop-culture fix. And at the end, we sing the national anthem and burst into tears. The tiger and the peacock: And the lion and the crocodile and the Ganges dolphin and the elephant and the rhino and the hornbill and every single creature of the natural world that makes our country so special. Paanwallas: Because it doesn't matter what household need we run out of and when - need a toothbrush at 3 am? Go to the paanwalla.
Our wacky record holders: We aim to have the longest hair, be the person who wrote the most letters to the editor, the man who can take the most kicks in the crotch (really). We are determined to be the first at anything wacko - and if we can't achieve that, we are the nation that tried its hardest to be No. 1 in the Guinness Book of Records.
Faith and spirituality: Tell someone you don't believe in God. Go on. You'll find yourself arguing so vehemently to make your case that you could well be accused of having a severe case of faith - faith in no God in this case. Because that's what we do - believe. Hard. With passion. In anything we want to believe. Which is why practically every faith known to God is right here in India, and we're not above inventing several more if we think we haven't enough.
The way we are so flexible: Checked anyone's filofax lately? Know anyone who has a filofax? We may set off in the morning expecting to follow a strict schedule of assignments and appointments, but we are always happy to chuck all our plans at a moment's notice, particularly if the alternative involves partying.
Our many and varied stories: Our history goes back 5,000 years - and so do our epics that contain every emotion, possibility and philosophy that humans have ever managed to come up with. Not to mention a frightening amount of maths, if we're considering the ages that make up the four yugas. Add to that the epics of Islam and Christianity, local folk traditions and tales that simply emerge from our fertile brains, and we're wondering why our TV channels need to import bad reality shows from phoren and inflict them on us. Chai: It's raining. We need chai. It's cold. We need chai. It's hot and sweaty and miserable. We need chai. Yes chai, not tea. The over-boiled, over-milked and over-sweetened stuff that could rot our teeth and turn our insides into shoe leather, yet never fails to put life back into our tired frames. Then there's also tea. Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri, Kangra... Mmmm, the fragrance. Monsoon mania: Who needs marijuana or Ecstasy? The monsoon is what we get high on. After a long summer spent gazing up at the sky through a magnifying glass looking for the merest hint of a cloud (and in imminent danger of setting our eyebrows on fire), we see the sky begin to darken, then the first drops of rain hit the earth, then we breathe deep and our nostrils fill with the delicious scent of wet earth... and then we complain bitterly about floods.
Weddings and family occasions: Our weddings are attended by family, relatives, friends, past and present neighbours, people who invited you to their or their siblings' weddings, past and present colleagues, random strangers because we had 300 wedding cards extra and didn't want to waste them, plus gatecrashers - a guestlist so long it rivals the population of the whole of Africa. If however, our homes are filled with the population of only one small country, like Bangladesh, we're just having a family dinner. Bollywood jhatkas: Hips swirl in one direction while the torso twists in another and the shoulders go somewhere else entirely even as the head moves so violently, it could spin off the neck entirely. We'd make excellent weather vanes, only no one would know where the wind was actually coming from.
Autos: Germany had its cute little Volkswagen Beetle, we have our cute little autos - three-wheelers packed with hi-tech music systems and disco lights that would put nightclubs to shame, which trundle up and down roads as their drivers overcharge everyone in sight, including themselves by mistake.
Bargaining: Worry about being cheated, who us? It's the people we're buying from who are tense. That's because we don't see bargaining only as a legitimate means of lowering prices. We see it as a sport. So we will not move an inch from the thelawalla even if the sun is blazing down at 53 degrees. We want that 30 paise off our kilo of apples and that is that. Desi hospitality:Atithi devo bhava. and we will be devo-ed till our stomachs burst. (Perhaps because our hosts bargained so hard with the thelawalla that the apples were practically free?) When we step into anyone's house we are fed, watered and pampered so much, we'd never believe there was a single nasty person on this planet. The only difficulty is getting away - if they could, our hosts would adopt us on the spot.
Tel maalish: Even as we read the stories by our lifestyle journalists on the joys of spa massages, we are getting our hair cut in full anticipation of the head massage that will follow. It's hard to fathom why the phoren people get so excited about massages. Haven't we been tel-maalished from the second we were born?
We're child-friendly: Aside from the fact that we love children so much that we're soon going to produce enough to populate the entire world, everything in our lives is geared towards their happiness. So much so that our parents never want us to leave home.
So many newspapers and magazines: Whatever the rest of the world may think about reading, we have so much respect for knowledge that many of us literally worship our books (i.e., take them to temples to be blessed, instead of actually opening them). This may explain why new newspapers and magazines are constantly being launched even as marketing people complain that nobody reads any more.
We survived the recession: That's because even though we are clambering up the conspicuous consumption ladder just like those phoren people who drove their economies to the brink of extinction, unlike them we have a culture of caution and saving that pulled us through when entire countries had to declare bankruptcy. That's why. Our stash of black money certainly had nothing to do with it.
We're a democracy, thank God!: You say, I say, she says. we all can say. And many of us do say - very, very loudly. Ideas and arguments are alive and though some of us (call them Party A) feel a great desire to clonk some others (call them Party B) over the head for having foolish opinions, we're lucky because still others (call them Party C) are just as thrilled by the idea of clonking some of us (Party A) over the head for their ideas, as meanwhile, Party D lurks about, thinking hard thoughts about Party C. So a balance is maintained at all times. We're miserly and extravagant at the same time: We spend approximately the amount required for a new house on a new handbag, but we turn purple with rage and start throwing things about (though not our new handbag) when the auto driver suggests Rs 25 as a fair fare.
Raddiwalas: When those phoren people start making noises about our carbon credits - ours, for heaven's sake, when we are the most frugal people on this planet always trying to save 10 paise here and 20 paise there, never mind that there are actually no coins in those denominations any more - we can tell them that we are green without even trying because ours is a country where recycling has always been a business, thanks to the raddiwalla.
Jugaad: Nothing in India need only be what it was originally meant to be. A motorcycle can be attached to a cart and become a bael-gaadi, a tangle of wires could become a satellite dish, and when prissy parents refuse to serve alcohol at weddings, the boot of a car is a bar.
The sheer number of holidays: There's a New Year's Day practically every month, not to mention some festival or the other one community or the other. And if we don't take the holiday, we are nasty exclusionists who do not believe in unity in diversity. So there is a minimum of three holidays every month not counting weekends and if we live in Kolkata, we also have bandhs. Our values are still (mostly) intact: Family - check (see the millions who turn up for our weddings). Friends - check (see movies like 3 Idiots). Frugality - check (ask the thelawalla if you need proof). Hospitality - check (look at the size of our stomachs and we haven't been home for weeks). Modesty - uh oh. What's that we keep telling ourselves about Asian tigers?
Our patriotic songs: They can be truly heart-rending. Just the first few bars of Saare Jahaan Se Achcha can make us weep - and not only because our neighbour sings it so badly that we're convinced she's a Pakistani terrorist. And they are also so rousing that it takes just one hearing of Hum Hindustani to make us grab anything at home that might serve as a weapon and queue up at the Defence HQ, ready to sign up for the Army.
Amazing diversity of food taboos: We have vegetarians who won't touch anything that once had the potential to move (though we don't understand this too well - don't palak leaves flutter in the breeze?), we have vegetarians who will eat all vegetables but won't touch garlic or onion, we have eggetarians who will only eat vegetables and eggs, we have chickenatarians who only eat vegetables and chicken but not eggs, we have fishitarians who will not touch dairy with a bargepole and non-vegetarians who think green veggies are a form of mould. We have so many people with so many dietary problems that it's a wonder we get to eat anything at all.
Amazing diversity of food: Food taboos, shood taboos! When we set off for school or the office clutching our tiffin boxes, we know very well we're not going to eat anything that's in them. Because the second it's time for lunch, tiffins are exchanged for what our classmates or colleagues have brought. Which is why, in one day, we could find we have eaten anything from akoori (Parsi) to aloo poshto (Bengal), to sai bhaji (Sindh), to bisi bele bhaath (Karnataka), to aloo-bhaji (UP), to tandoori chicken (Punjabi), to biryani (Muslim) to de-Japanesed Japanese like gajjar-ka-sushi (wholly Indian, mera Bharat mahaan). Amazing diversity of us!: For a people who have so much in common, we come from a wide variety of races. Across the world, we are mistaken for Chinese (anyone from the North-East), Caucasian (Parsis and Sindhis), Italian and Spanish (Goan people, especially with curly hair)... You name it, we've got the gene. Amazing belief that anything worthwhile could have originated only in india: We don't care what anyone says about Africa being the cradle of civilisation, we know for a fact that we invented everything in the world - including the world's genes, so there! We're responsible for shampoo (champi), bungalow (bangla), thug (thugee), chicken tikka masala... Err... Well, we're responsible for the chicken tikka and the masala and since the combination is so ghastly, we're fine if the Brits take the credit for that.
We're a nation of ideas: Tired of the sheer boringness of branded shoes? Someone will paint your keds for you. Want a poem for a loved one but can't rhyme anything but moon and loon? Call the poet-for-hire. Ordered 3,00,000 wedding cards and find you actually know only 2,50,000 potential invitees for the wedding (oh, the shame of it)? Call the rent-a-baraati company in Ambala. We are short of many things in our lives, but we'll never run out of ideas. Our wealth of healing plants: If there's one tree we cannot do without, it's neem - and it's here. It takes care of almost every ailment known to human and animal kind - and it gets rid of pests. Then there's haldi, there's cloves, we even have soap growing on trees, there are a host of plants that are ours - and if phoren people use their convoluted legal language to patent these and take them away from us, we're going to sing Hum Hindustani, pick up our frying pans and clonk them over their heads. Singing: What do you get when two of us, even if we're perfect strangers or deadly enemies, are hanging around with nothing to do? A sing-song, that's what. Because we luuurrrve singing. We sing everywhere and anywhere, we have contests for bathroom singers and enormous national-level singing contests called antakshari - whether we can actually sing or not. Indian English: So here we are, writing in the phoren language our one-time colonisers bequeathed to us, and here you are, reading it. But let's not get all chauvinistic about this. Because just as we have de-Japanesed Japanese food and come up with gajjar-ka-sushi, we have de-Englished the English language and now only speak Indian. Indian is only superficially English. That's because we translate phrases directly from our local languages into Indian so it's no wonder that at times we feel there's someone eating our heads. And if we're in too much of a hurry to translate anything, we just bung in words from all over the place, so there are five separate languages in a single sentence. And come to think of it, do we really need that poet-for-hire? Don't we rhyme-shyme everything in sight-shight all the time-shime? Yoga: While the phoren people are doing horrible things to their abs with sit-ups and crunches, we are standing on one hand with one leg wrapped around our heads, experiencing an inner, spiritual glow, because - aha! Yoga isn't just a workout for the body, it's also a workout for the mind and soul. We're a hardworking bunch: (Except at our government offices.) Out there in the West, everything shuts at 7 pm, so if you need bread or a life, you have to go to an Indian shop. Here, you lose your key at 2 am and the chabiwalla is by your side at 2.03 am.
Mahatma Gandhi: One frail old man took on an entire imperial empire. And he did it in such an inspired manner - non-violent non-cooperation, brilliant! - that we're still seen as the most moral country on the planet. Thelawallas selling cut cucumber, peanuts, chuski, bhel etc: Because as we all know, food provides fuel and without fuel we can't function, so never mind the tiffin boxes from home, if we don't have a small snack every 20 minutes or so, we will simply collapse in a heap.
Mangoes: Mumbaikars will kill for Alphonso. Northerners swear by Dussheri and Langda. The ones down Vindhya way will die for Begum Palli. Goans will eat any mangoes that ripen in their backyards. There are also Rajapuri, Kesar and a hundred other varieties of this best of our summer fruits. If, after all that, you don't like mangoes, we might consider you anti-national. Indian stretchable time: What time do we need to report for work? 9.30 am? Ah, that explains why we phone the trade union when we arrive at the office at 1.30 pm and learn we've been docked half a day's pay. Indian Stretchable Time is in a zone of its own - and no one can understand it but Indians. Our child-like enthusiasm: The Nano finally hits the roads? You can be sure that everyone on the road - including the world-traveller in his BMW will be tailing the Nano, just to look at it. We win the T-20 World Cup? Everyone will abandon work to line the streets to look at the team - everyone including the bosses. Drinking water: Everywhere else in the world, we've got to pay roughly the sum of a two-bedroom flat in Mumbai for a bottle of water, but in Indian restaurants, waiters will swoop down on you and refill your glass even if you take so much as a sip.
Domestic help: By which we mean servants. One to cook the food. One to wash the dishes. One to sweep and swab the floor. One to dust. One to wash the clothes. One to clean the toilet. One to make chappatis. One to watch each baby. One to man the gate and run the errands. One driver per car. One to wash the cars. One to cut vegetables. One to massage the baby. One to water the plants. Why do we have so many? Since we obviously can't complain about household chores, we've got to complain about something, no? Indian Railways: From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Jhansi to Jhumritalaya, there are only a few places in the country we can't reach by train. And while the journey is not always what we might call comfortable, we can't deny that it presents us with a magnificent tableau of everything that makes India India.
The way mobiles have taken over everything: Need veggies? Phone the veggie man. Burning desire for panipuri? Phone the chaatwalla. Practically no one in the country doesn't have a mobile phone any more - even the beggars on the streets (and we do want to know how their phones are so much fancier than ours). Superb scenery: We've got ice deserts in Ladakh and actual deserts in Rajasthan. We've got the Himalayas - the highest mountains in the world! We have the Ghats on either side of our peninsula, islands, stunning beaches, the seas, the lakes, the jungles, the wildlife, the rivers, the waterfalls. we've got the whole planet, right here. Who needs a passport, for heaven's sake? (Though, because it says Republic of India, we're very proud of ours.) BPO power: We are not concerned ourselves about minor things like getting to work on time, but if people around the world need traffic movements for their commutes, they have to phone us. We've become so good at fixing their things from a distance, doing their homework from a distance and even reminding them about their anniversaries from a distance, we're wondering how the world turns without us. The riot of activity in every household every morning: It's chaos till 11 am - even if there are only two people in the house. People being dragged out of bed, people queuing for the loo, people rushing about looking for shoes, people eating breakfast on the run, the domestic help switching off fans and sweeping us literally off our feet - you'd imagine no one had ever woken up in the morning before. Nothing is beyond repair: When your computer man tells you that your machine has died, call the raddiwalla - if he can't tell you how to fix it, he'll certainly show you how to convert it to another purpose altogether. This is India. Nothing is ever so broken that it'll never work again.
The way we have a name for every single person we may be even remotely related to:Ma, baap, dada, dadi, nana, nani, taya, tayi, chacha, chachi, bua, phupha, mama, mami, beta, beti, potaa, naati, poti, naatin, behan, jija, bhanja, bhanji, bhai, bhabhi, bhatija, bhatiji, pati, patni, saas, sasur, damaad, bahu, jeth, jethani, nanad, nandoii, devar, devarani, saali, salaa, samdhan. And that's only in Hindi. Need we say more? Indian movies: Bollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood, any wood - but the films that we make are definitely not Hollywood. Our films are our films - wherever in the country they're made, in whatever language, there will be laughter, tears, songs, dances, action, family values, principles (and even principals) - all in three hours. Talk about paisa vasool.
The way we force MNCs to Indianise: McDonald's had to invent the McAloo Tikki, the Paneer Wrap and the chicken burger. Pepsi came up with Masala Lays. Coke never used celebrities in their ads abroad till they came here. Whatever the MNCs are famous for in phoren, when they're here, they've got be us.
Our need for heroes: We love people who achieve things - even if what they achieve is notoriety. Hey, as all PR people know, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Galli sports: Sports arenas, sphrorts arenas, who needs them when we have gallis, bits of crate and an aged tennis ball? While we hate it that our kids have little opportunity for organised sport, our kids calmly play on the streets - and then walk straight into international arenas.
Every occasion is a celebration: Complete with cards, clothing, eating out opportunities, gifting options, holiday options - nothing is safe from this relentless need to party - including this. Happy Republic Day! Mukhwaas: You wouldn't notice it in public, given how we have to skip lightly from garbage heap to garbage heap, but we like everything about us to be fresh. Which is why we're such big fans of supari. We can't avoid body odour, but we can eliminate bad breath. Pet names: In Bangkok, Tuk-Tuk is an autorickshaw. In Bengal, it is the name of a person. Or in Punjab, we could be called Sweety, Cutey, Happy, Jolly, Pinky or Frooti (just add Sneezy or Dopey and we've got the seven dwarves). Our parents take great pains to name us in such a way that we are ensured safe and happy lives - and the second our names are registered, they call us Goldie or Pappu. We can stay with our parents for life: Indian parents never, ever want their kids to leave home. So it doesn't matter how old we are, we are at liberty to sail through the door at all hours every night, expect to be served, have our chores taken care of, pay almost no bills, and enjoy all the comforts of home. Because Indian parents never, ever want their kids to grow up.
Saris: What's sexy, modest, graceful, classic, cool, hot, well-ventilated and gorgeous all at the same time? One word: the sari. The Republic Day parade: It is the biggest national PR exercise ever, but we either long to be there or tune in on TV to see everything that makes our Bharat mahaan - our Armed forces, the different cultures of all our states, even cultural events that normally have us running screaming into the nearest cinema for a pop-culture fix. And at the end, we sing the national anthem and burst into tears. The tiger and the peacock: And the lion and the crocodile and the Ganges dolphin and the elephant and the rhino and the hornbill and every single creature of the natural world that makes our country so special. Paanwallas: Because it doesn't matter what household need we run out of and when - need a toothbrush at 3 am? Go to the paanwalla.
Our wacky record holders: We aim to have the longest hair, be the person who wrote the most letters to the editor, the man who can take the most kicks in the crotch (really). We are determined to be the first at anything wacko - and if we can't achieve that, we are the nation that tried its hardest to be No. 1 in the Guinness Book of Records.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Supernatural Power ( Cool Jokes )
There was this case in this hospital's Intensive Care ward where patients always died in the same bed on Friday mornings around 9am regardless of their age, gender, medical history or medical condition.This puzzled the doctors and some even thought that it had to do with the supernatural: Why did death occur at that same bed around the same time every Friday?
So the doctors decided to go down to that particular ward to investigate the cause of the deaths.
Come Friday morning, everyone at the hospital ward nervously waited for the terrible phenomenon to occur again. The new (unknowing) patient laid there.
Some doctors held wooden crosses, prayer books and other holy objects to ward off evil...and they waited.
8am, the patient was still alive...
8.30am...still breathing...
Just before the 'cursed' time, the door to the ward swung open...
Then At Exact 9.00 Am, the part-time Friday cleaner, comes in and unplugs the life support system so that she can use the vacuum cleaner!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Dining Out: Top 5 restaurants in India
The Miele Guide to Asia's finest restaurants is written by food experts who know and love the region . 
This is a list of the top 5 restaurants in India, where the cuisine is as varied and rich as the nation's history. It is not endorsed by Reuters.
1. Bukhara, New Delhi
Bukhara is, without a doubt, the most famous restaurant in India, and it has been visited by an untold number of celebrities and heads of state. Until recently, London-based Restaurant magazine considered it Asia's very best restaurant. Set up in 1977, the restaurant serves food from the North West Frontier province, a region known for its rugged terrain and simple but delicious cuisine. The food is mostly grilled and cooked with minimal spices. You are expected to eat with your fingers, though you can always ask for cutlery, and the restaurant will provide you with a lovely red-and-white apron to ensure that you don't mess up your clothes. Die-hard Bukhara fans return time and again for the Bukhara dahl, lentils cooked lovingly with tomatoes, spices and butter, and sikandari raan, a whole leg of baby lamb that has been marinated for hours with spices such as cumin and cinnamon before being grilled in the tandoor to perfection.
ITC Maurya, New Delhi Diplomatic Enclave
Sardar Patel Marg
New Delhi
mwww.itcwelcomgroup.in/itcmaurya/
2. Indigo, Mumbai
A host of international celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, have walked through the doors of Indigo, making it one of the hottest restaurants in the city. Housed in a lovely colonial bungalow, the restaurant and bar are as chic as its clientele, and the food is excellent. Owned by renowned restaurateur-chef Rahul Akerkar, Indigo serves creative modern European cuisine infused with Indian influences. Dishes to try include the celebrated lobster risotto with black olive tapenade, fenugreek-spiced tuna loin with shiraz and clove reduction, and the juniper berry-cured tandoori chicken with burnt garlic oyster sauce. Dinner reservations are essential.
4 Mandlik Road, Colaba
Mumbai
www.foodindigo.com
3. Thai Pavilion, Mumbai
Its quietly plush and soothing decor topped by consistently impeccable service and food are all part of Thai Pavilion's draw. What this restaurant excels in are the staples like phad Thai, tom yum soup, raw papaya salad, and steamed fish. The pla rad prik (fish in chilli) is also a winner. Besides its list of classic Thai dishes, there is also a wide selection of vegetarian options to choose from. Reservations are recommended if you're angling for a table, but not necessary for the bar counter area.
Taj President Hotel
90 Cuffe Parade
mwww.tajhotels.com
4. Oh! Calcutta, Mumbai
With branches in Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore, Oh! Calcutta is all about reintroducing the nostalgic cuisine of Kolkata to diners. The Mumbai outlet is easy to spot, with an iconic hand-pulled rickshaw displayed outside the restaurant. Fresh seafood from Cochin and Mumbai, as well as river fish and crustaceans from Kolkata, are the main highlight here. Zoom in on the hilsa marinated in a robust mustard and green chilli paste then steamed in a banana leaf. Other stellar offerings include spiced crab cakes steamed in banana leaf, the coconut-based prawn malai curry, or any of the fried fish dishes.
Hotel Rosewood
Tulsiwadi Lane, Tardeo
mwww.speciality.co.in/calcutta.php
5. Swagath, New Delhi
Its decor and ambience are unremarkable, but Swagath dishes up some of the best seafood in the city. It's certainly worth braving the grungy Defence Colony Market area for a taste of its speciality squid in butter pepper garlic or fish marinated in Mangalorian spices and cooked in a tamarind chilli paste. The tender pesawari barrah kebabs (tandoor lamb chops), spicy South Indian Chettinad curries and deep fried pomfret are good too. There is a Chinese menu as well, with chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetable dishes, as well as fried rice and noodles. But it's the Indian cuisine you'll want to wait in line for.
New Delhi
14 Defence Colony Market
www.swagath.in
This is a list of the top 5 restaurants in India, where the cuisine is as varied and rich as the nation's history. It is not endorsed by Reuters.
1. Bukhara, New Delhi
Bukhara is, without a doubt, the most famous restaurant in India, and it has been visited by an untold number of celebrities and heads of state. Until recently, London-based Restaurant magazine considered it Asia's very best restaurant. Set up in 1977, the restaurant serves food from the North West Frontier province, a region known for its rugged terrain and simple but delicious cuisine. The food is mostly grilled and cooked with minimal spices. You are expected to eat with your fingers, though you can always ask for cutlery, and the restaurant will provide you with a lovely red-and-white apron to ensure that you don't mess up your clothes. Die-hard Bukhara fans return time and again for the Bukhara dahl, lentils cooked lovingly with tomatoes, spices and butter, and sikandari raan, a whole leg of baby lamb that has been marinated for hours with spices such as cumin and cinnamon before being grilled in the tandoor to perfection.
ITC Maurya, New Delhi Diplomatic Enclave
Sardar Patel Marg
New Delhi
mwww.itcwelcomgroup.in/itcmaurya/
2. Indigo, Mumbai
A host of international celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, have walked through the doors of Indigo, making it one of the hottest restaurants in the city. Housed in a lovely colonial bungalow, the restaurant and bar are as chic as its clientele, and the food is excellent. Owned by renowned restaurateur-chef Rahul Akerkar, Indigo serves creative modern European cuisine infused with Indian influences. Dishes to try include the celebrated lobster risotto with black olive tapenade, fenugreek-spiced tuna loin with shiraz and clove reduction, and the juniper berry-cured tandoori chicken with burnt garlic oyster sauce. Dinner reservations are essential.
4 Mandlik Road, Colaba
Mumbai
www.foodindigo.com
3. Thai Pavilion, Mumbai
Its quietly plush and soothing decor topped by consistently impeccable service and food are all part of Thai Pavilion's draw. What this restaurant excels in are the staples like phad Thai, tom yum soup, raw papaya salad, and steamed fish. The pla rad prik (fish in chilli) is also a winner. Besides its list of classic Thai dishes, there is also a wide selection of vegetarian options to choose from. Reservations are recommended if you're angling for a table, but not necessary for the bar counter area.
Taj President Hotel
90 Cuffe Parade
mwww.tajhotels.com
4. Oh! Calcutta, Mumbai
With branches in Kolkata, New Delhi, Pune and Bangalore, Oh! Calcutta is all about reintroducing the nostalgic cuisine of Kolkata to diners. The Mumbai outlet is easy to spot, with an iconic hand-pulled rickshaw displayed outside the restaurant. Fresh seafood from Cochin and Mumbai, as well as river fish and crustaceans from Kolkata, are the main highlight here. Zoom in on the hilsa marinated in a robust mustard and green chilli paste then steamed in a banana leaf. Other stellar offerings include spiced crab cakes steamed in banana leaf, the coconut-based prawn malai curry, or any of the fried fish dishes.
Hotel Rosewood
Tulsiwadi Lane, Tardeo
mwww.speciality.co.in/calcutta.php
5. Swagath, New Delhi
Its decor and ambience are unremarkable, but Swagath dishes up some of the best seafood in the city. It's certainly worth braving the grungy Defence Colony Market area for a taste of its speciality squid in butter pepper garlic or fish marinated in Mangalorian spices and cooked in a tamarind chilli paste. The tender pesawari barrah kebabs (tandoor lamb chops), spicy South Indian Chettinad curries and deep fried pomfret are good too. There is a Chinese menu as well, with chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetable dishes, as well as fried rice and noodles. But it's the Indian cuisine you'll want to wait in line for.
New Delhi
14 Defence Colony Market
www.swagath.in
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Prof. Stephen Hawking's BIOGRAPHY
Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 (300 years after the death of Galileo) in Oxford, England. His parents' house was in north London, but during the second world war, Oxford was considered a safer place to have babies. When he was eight, his family moved to St. Albans, a town about 20 miles north of London. At the age of eleven, Stephen went to St. Albans School and then on to University College, Oxford; his father's old college. Stephen wanted to study Mathematics, although his father would have preferred medicine. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he pursued Physics instead. After three years and not very much work, he was awarded a first class honours degree in Natural Science.
Stephen then went on to Cambridge to do research in Cosmology, there being no one working in that area in Oxford at the time. His supervisor was Denis Sciama, although he had hoped to get Fred Hoyle who was working in Cambridge. After gaining his Ph.D. he became first a Research Fellow and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College. After leaving the Institute of Astronomy in 1973, Stephen came to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and since 1979, has held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. The chair was founded in 1663 with money left in the will of the Reverend Henry Lucas who had been the Member of Parliament for the University. It was first held by Isaac Barrow and then in 1669 by Isaac Newton.
Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated that it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory, the other great Scientific development of the first half of the 20th Century. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but rather should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science.
His many publications include The Large Scale Structure of Spacetime with G F R Ellis, General Relativity: An Einstein Centenary Survey, with W Israel, and 300 Years of Gravity, with W Israel. Stephen Hawking has three popular books published; his best seller A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, and most recently in 2001, The Universe in a Nutshell. There are .pdf and .ps versions of his full publication list.
Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees. He was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and one grandchild), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive programme of travel and public lectures.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Little-known facts about Bill Gates
Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, he is the founder of the world's largest software company Microsoft, these are the facts that very few people may not actually know. However, there's more to the man who is said to have led the third wave of computing than this.
Like, Gates is a college dropout, he scored an almost 95% in his SAT, and much more. Read on for some little-known facts about the tech czar.
Childhood
Born on October 28, 1955 to lawyer father and teacher mother in Seattle, Bill Gates got initiated into the computing world right in his childhood. At the age of 13, while studying at private Lakeside School, Gates discovered his interest in software and started writing his own computer programs. According to some reports, Bill Gates sold his first computer program at the age of 17, a time-tabling system for his high school for $4,200.
Turning point
Interestingly, Gates and three other high school students were banned from computer usage by Seattle-based CCC (Computer Center Corporation) after they were caught exploiting its operating system bugs to steal computer time.
Shocking Aspect
Few people know that Gates is actually a Harvard university dropout. Gates who scored 1590 on his SAT test out of 1600 got admission in Harvard University in the year 1973, after completing his high school.
At Harvard University, Gates and his high school friend Paul Allen worked on a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer -- MITS Altair. Two years later in 1975, he decided to opt out of college to start Microsoft, what eventually went on to become the world's largest software company.
However, in 2007 Bill Gates finally got a degree from Harvard, when the university conferred him with a honorary degree. At Harvard, Gates met Steve Ballmer who joined Microsoft in 1980. CEO Ballmer was Microsoft’s 24th employee.
Great Aspect
1975, Gates started Microsoft with friend Paul Allen from a rented accommodation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1977, Gates and Allen officially registered a partnership, and Micro-soft became Microsoft.
The biggest breakthrough came in 1980 when Microsoft won a contract from IBM to provide operating system MS-DOS for IBM's new personal computers
Like, Gates is a college dropout, he scored an almost 95% in his SAT, and much more. Read on for some little-known facts about the tech czar.
Childhood
Born on October 28, 1955 to lawyer father and teacher mother in Seattle, Bill Gates got initiated into the computing world right in his childhood. At the age of 13, while studying at private Lakeside School, Gates discovered his interest in software and started writing his own computer programs. According to some reports, Bill Gates sold his first computer program at the age of 17, a time-tabling system for his high school for $4,200.
Turning point
Interestingly, Gates and three other high school students were banned from computer usage by Seattle-based CCC (Computer Center Corporation) after they were caught exploiting its operating system bugs to steal computer time.
Shocking Aspect
Few people know that Gates is actually a Harvard university dropout. Gates who scored 1590 on his SAT test out of 1600 got admission in Harvard University in the year 1973, after completing his high school.
At Harvard University, Gates and his high school friend Paul Allen worked on a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer -- MITS Altair. Two years later in 1975, he decided to opt out of college to start Microsoft, what eventually went on to become the world's largest software company.
However, in 2007 Bill Gates finally got a degree from Harvard, when the university conferred him with a honorary degree. At Harvard, Gates met Steve Ballmer who joined Microsoft in 1980. CEO Ballmer was Microsoft’s 24th employee.
Great Aspect
1975, Gates started Microsoft with friend Paul Allen from a rented accommodation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1977, Gates and Allen officially registered a partnership, and Micro-soft became Microsoft.
The biggest breakthrough came in 1980 when Microsoft won a contract from IBM to provide operating system MS-DOS for IBM's new personal computers
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