Spaceman Spiff to the rescue
More details on Tim’s blog (Founder of Pandora), here, and here.
If you feel strongly about it, then please sign the petition also at:
http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541
Spread the word around with your friends. Use the link kit (from SaveNetRadio.org) do your part!
Save Online Radio. Save Music.
A rarity. 2 posts in one day. Both on music.
Yet another song which has captured my fancy in recent days. This is from a movie in my native language – Kannada – the movie is “Mungaru Male” which literally means The first rains of monsoon. The movie has been a big hit in a often-deprived-of-anything-sensible Kannada film industry, and much of film’s acclaim comes from the cinematic photography in and around Malnad, which is green, mountainous, and yes, gets a lot of rain (In fact, second only to Cherapunji, if you’d like to know!).
The song is Kunidu Kunidu Baare, which means, well umm, “Come to me dancing dancing jumping jumping”. OK, its not as funny as it sounds. The first time I heard it a week back, I was absolutely stuck to it. It has a very north Indian flavor in terms of tune and reminds you of those 90’s songs, but still very melodious and very hummable.
Trivia: The music director of the movie Mano Murthy is a network engineer who resides in California. He visits India to record the music, and then shifts back to his day job.
When I first heard this album I was shocked. How could A. R. Rahman produce such crap. Considering Shankar at helm, Rajnikanth as actor, how could Rahman produce such tripe. After 4 days however I am forced to change my opinion.
Now I can’t get enough of Sivaji 😀
Listen to this supposedly Rajni’s intro song – Balleilakkla. The raw energy in this song just amazing. SPB does an awesome job of bringing out intense energy in this very folky song. I can’t get enough of this song.
I am always amused by this.
Everyone has an opinion on which technology is better suited for cellphones: CDMA or GSM.
Depending on which type of phone they use, their adopted technology is obviously superior.
Of course they have no idea what GSM or CDMA mean though.
In completely un-related news, this so called Generation-Z Political Party founded by IITians has derailed even before it started chugging. What a waste. What pity.
The answer is: Nobody
Or at least Great Wall of China seems to think so. I came across this website today which tests whether your site / blog is blocked in China or not, thanks to their censorship. My first test was for Prime Minister’s Office, India, and surprisingly it came out positive, indicating that PM of India is indeed accessible in China 🙂
Then I started playing around with URLs, testing sites which I read daily to see if they were being blocked too. Funnily enough, I ran into quite a few sites that are blocked.
So it started with the Indiblog winner of the year, Greatbong, one of my favorite writers. I was surprised to see this:
Maybe Greatbong’s love for Mithunda prompted China to block him. Who knows. Or maybe his rants on Mamata did the trick. Either way, it seems strange that a mere blog should be blocked. Or maybe he is that popular… perhaps more than the PM himself eh? 🙂
I decided to query a few more urls – notably mine first. I was let off the block – apparently my site is not blocked. But some of the popular blogs are:
Amit Varma’s India Uncut:
And lastly the one that surprised me most was Patrix considering that he is relatively less popular than all the ones mentioned above:
The last result raised my doubts about the validity of this website as Desipundit seemed to be available. Sure enough they do mention in their disclaimer that due to “technical reasons” some sites may report as blocked, even though it may not be.
I re-ran the tests a couple of times – surprisingly, Desipundit and my own domain gave mixed results – at random tries both of the websites were available, and other times it said both URLs were blocked. However all the other results were consistent – they were blocked.
I am not surprised by this though. It is China after all. Though I would wait for Greatwallofchina.org to sort out their bugs. If you note on their homepage, they do list all the URLs that are blocked in China. Not surprisingly, the the Tianamen Square incident is blocked, but amusingly even facebook seems to be blocked!
Meanwhile Greatbong: Tsk! Tsk! No Chinese love for you.
Finally! After couple of months experimenting and playing around with my digital SLR, I am finally ready to present my work of the last few months. Its nothing special, but these are few of the photographs that I have taken in the past few weeks, and the ones that have made me really happy. Click on them to see a larger version. Go on, see them, and let me know how you like them in comments 🙂
First up: My walking shoes. There you have it. This is me, with my dirty jeans. I love this pic. Don’t ask me why I love this pic, but I do.
A bird on a tree looking elsewhere. Now, when I took this photo it was not exactly bright light and the bird came out umm… dark. I had to adjust exposure quite a bit to get to where I wanted it to be, and then of course I had to crop it a lot so that the bird looks closer than it was. The end result, I am quite pleased. Dunno if this bird has any copyright problems though!
I was intrigued about shooting the lone flower in the grass – when I positioned myself to take the pic, I noticed that my own shadow was blocking a lot of sun on the flower; however this in itself made it look better. After adjusting the vibrance levels I was able to create a fake filter – it amost looks as if the only thing in color is the flower, but there is green grass all around. Its all in the adjustment 🙂
And the cropped the above photo eliminating the shadow. It still retained its resolution.
And I just had to take a closeup of this flower. Now this flower is not as big as this picture depicts. I love the clarity the camera was able to bring out.
A chair in a park. What else? However I had to crop it to remove the obnoxious building behind. Once I removed the building, the picture attained a personality of its own. Nothing special about this pic, I just like it.
This was taken at a recent trip that we made to a chalet. I love the way the colors came out in this pic – especially the two overhead hanging lamps. Of course I took this photo without anybody posing for it, so I guess it was all the more natural.
My brother got new Oakleys. we decided to shoot some pics with him posing. The pic was taken as a reflection against the bathroom mirror. Of course I positioned myself in a way that I wouldnt be in the picture. There is lots of over-exposure, lots of brightness, and a whole lot of nonsense done through software – but the end result was simply stunning! The reflection of his goggles reveals the sink if you notice carefully.
And if you notice carefully here, you will actually see me holding the camera in the reflection on his sunglass lens 🙂
One of my absolute favorites. My friend got a bimmer a couple of months back and I wanted to click this photo without his knowledge. However he got it and almost instantly tried to make up a shot for this pic. I did not really expect this pic to come out this good – surprisingly the color version of this photo is nowhere near the expressive quality of the black and white.
We were playing tennis in winter here. It was quite warm that day. I was experimenting with speed function of the camera when I took his photo. I was clicking in quick successions – and out of 15 photos clicked between 5 seconds, this one came out best.
My brother looking through his rug. I like the expression in his eyes. Its almost mischievous – as if he is up to something naughty. All he was trying to do he was trying to sleep, and I was probably pulling his leg.
This was taken a full frame photograph of a stream passing through the park behind my apartment. Later I cropped the pic to make it look a little widescreen. Then I adjusted vibrance level to make the water look bluer than it normally is – this had a great effect on the photo. The water is not blue at all in fact, but the software was able to help me here.
Allright thats it – the first batch of the photographs. I will keep uploading good photos every now and then – hopefully I should get better with time.
PS: All images are copyrighted by me.
I almost wrote this four years ago when I had just entered United States. Had originally written it on a site I hate now. Anyways, reading Sudipta’s disasters in the kitchen reminded me of my own experience while trying to cook not only for myself, but my roommates too. Of course everything tasted the same for a few good months, but years down the line I can safely say I am not a bad cook :D. I am surprised I hadn’t put this one up on my blog for so long, but nonetheless, thanks Sudipta, now its up!
What’s Cooking?!
This review especially written for tormented souls like spooks and others for whom dho waqt ki roti is also huge pain in the stomach! Though I don’t know much about rotis, I can give you some “general†tips on cooking something very “generalâ€. What I mean is, if you have the same “general†background, any sabzee is as easy as making an ice-cream. All right, lets get to see what Mr. Not-more-than-20 Minutes Cook (that’s me) manages to teach you. All tips consider 4 people’s stomachs.
The Generic Gravy
Ingredients:
The Obvious Onion – 3 of them.
The Tasty Tomatoes – 5 of them.
The Good Garlic – 4 of them (not the whole piece – I mean just the piece as in singular)
The Gooder Ginger – 1 inch piece (don’t measure using a ruler – talking from experience!)
The Goodest Green Chilli – 3 in no. More adventurous spirits can tryfrom 10-30.
The Usual Suspects – Jeera, Mustard, Hing (asafetida)
The Mast Masalas – Masala powder, Haldi (Turmeric), Mirchi Powder (Red chilli powder), Dhania Masala (ground dried coriander) – Swaad anusar (according to taste – I put 2 spoons of everything except of course the Mirchi Powder!).
Method
Heat oil in a pan (what else?), Fry mustard, jeera, and hing. Oops before that…do grate the onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and masalas into a thick paste.Use water if necessary. Now add that paste into this already hot affair going on the pan. Fry. Wait. Wait. It takes patience Neo! Stop! You will burn it! Simply put, wait till the gravy cooks. How do you know if it is cooked – you should start seeing some oily padarth all around the pan to know it is getting cooked. Wait for another minute or two to make sure, and remove from heat.
Voila, your generic gravy is ready!
Extensions on the Generic Gravy
Listed below are recipes which I make based on the gravy above.
Channa Masala – Add 3 spoons of Badshah Channa Masala, 1 cup yoghurt to the gravy, Channa (of course) in a pressure cooker and let it blow for 2 whistles. Let the cooker cool, and voila chatpata channa masala is ready.
Paneer Tikka Masala – Again to the gravy add Paneer cubes with some yoghurt. Also add some more mirchi to spice it up.
Navratna Kurma – Add choicest vegetables of your liking. Cook till you feel that vegetables have gone soft. Add cheese (yeah baby), (ricotta cheese will do) in good amounts to the gravy. Cook again till the color fades and you can see cheese melting totally.
Pav Bhaji – A bit longer process. Boil Vegetables (as much as you want) and mash them partially in a mixer and keep aside. Boil 4 potatoes and mash them with some water to make a paste. Next cook the gravy with 5 spoons of Badshah Bhaji Pav masala (it’s the best one in town). Add mashed vegetables and cook. If you feel the color is light, add puree (not more than 2 spoons). Add mashed potatoes once vegetables are cooked. Cook for another ten minutes – your Bhaji is ready, all u need is pav. Note that this recipe does take lots of time to cook!
Dum Aloo, Vegetable Kadai – Simplest of all the things. Just Boiled potatoes or Vegetables to the kadai, put some water (not more than a glass) and cook.
Chicken Tikka Masala – In the gravy add boneless chicken and a cup of milk. (yes milk). Again use the pressure cooker and pakofy the chicken for 4 whistles. Cool the cooker. Hog. Not the cooker, but the chicken 🙂
Pulav – Strange isn’t it?! Okay, now to this gravy add any kind of pulav masala you have. If you haven’t got, its okay, it will do without it. Put some washed rice in gravy (Washed, not boiled). Cook the gravy with washed and drained rice for sometime. Then put ingredients in a cooker and cook rice normally.
Allright! By now you must have figured out what a boring cook I could be. Hold on folks, the generic gravy simplifies your life a lot. If you want to experiment with it, then here are some suggestions you can try –
For a more chatpata swad, add a little bit of lime juice or tamarind paste. (little bit would be 1 spoon. That’s all)
Don’t add any powder to gravy except haldi and generic masala powder. Some dishes taste lovely with it.
Don’t add tomatoes to gravy. Instead add Mint leaves (pudina) and Coriander leaves in good amounts to make greenish gravy. Mix boiled rice in the mixture to make fantastic green flavored rice. (note – don’t over do pudina and coriander – they can kill each other. A bunch of pudina and coriander should do the trick).
Khichdi – Heat oil. Put jeera. Put haldi and turn it off before turmeric turns black. Add it to a 2 cups rice and 1 cup tuver dal mixed. Cook rice normally. Experiments may vary with adding onions in it, garlic or even peas.
Poha / Avalekki – Take some poha. The thick ones mind you. Take as much as you want to eat. Drain them for about 40 seconds in water and remove all the water. Heat oil, fry some onions and chillis. Add Haldi. Add poha. Stir. Add lime juice when done.
Dahi Poha – Take poha. Put lots of yoghurt in it. Add salt – voila a simple dish is ready. Best enjoyed with pickles.
Pakodas – Take 3 cups of Besan. Add one huge glass of water and make it into a good paste. This requires practice. Add all the masalas mentioned above and mix again. Make pakodas of anything – Onion, peas, Potatoes or my favorite – spinach (palak) pakodas. One needs to have practice to get the consistency right, else your pakodas will be at one place and besan at other place!
Some General Tips
If the above recipes ain’t enough, Let me also share with you some basic art of cooking
Be clean. Wash utensils after and before you start cooking. That way you save post and pre cooking troubles.
Arrange your stuff to be cut in one place and cut all of them together. Don’t try to cut things on an on-demand basis!
Also remember friends, you can cook something out of nothing provided you know how. Also, cooking is an art. You really need to develop an interest in cooking and be brave enough to experiment. Guinea pigs can be got anywhere – just tell them you are cooking something out of the ordinary! Also don’t forget to garnish any of the recipes above with coriander. It’s a god gift to cooking!
Well then, that’s all I have the space for now. For more recipes, I bet people know where to catch me these days 🙂
Happy cooking!
I’ve succumbed to Reality TV.
…And that’s the truth. In all the 6 seasons American Idol has aired, I have not watched even one single episode. That was until this season. And week after week I keep coming back to American Idol, not to hear who sings the best, but to see if Sanjaya Malakar is still in the competition. And funnily enough, I am actually rooting for him, and he’s the only reason I see the show.
Yes, I have finally succumbed to the reality TV trap.
A part of this has also to do with the appalling comments the poor chap has got from day one. “My dog can sing better than him“, “My grandma can sing better than him“, “I could sing with a bad throat and still sound better than him” – are few of the comments have peeved me off. To all those smartypants out there. Well, if you think your grandma or your dog made a better competitor, maybe you should have applied to the auditions. I’m sure nobody would’ve minded it.
What many people don’t seem to understand is as bad as Sanjaya is, week after week he’s being supported and held by someone who sings worse than him. Brandon Rogers was horrific the first week. Sundance Kid was miserable the second week. This week it was Phil Stacey who was worse than Sanjaya; unfortunately it was Stephanie Edwards who left. Its not that Sanjaya is trying too hard to be on the show – he isn’t :). Its the people around him who are making his task simpler.
And then there is this crazed woman who’s gone on a hunger strike till Sanjaya leaves American Idol. How idiotic and pathetic. I looked at the Youtube video this lady as posted as a video blog, and sure enough, she’s just as I figured – an overweight hippo who really needs to lose weight. Perhaps more the reason she’s resorted to cheap melodrama. What’s worse she now has company!! (Read through her initial post to find another idiot called Matt who’s pipping to do the same).
I don’t get this obsession against Sanjaya Malakar. Exactly what has he done except being a bad singer? Is it his fault that he applied for the auditions and the producers let him through? Is it his fault that Simon, Randy and Paula, all three thought he was fit enough to be in top 24 after going through group vocals? Dear stupid starving woman and that stupid man – if you have to start a starvation fast, start it against the idiots sitting behind desk on American Idol, not the contestant himself.
Looking at both of their size (both J and Matt), I have another suggestion: Switch off your damned TV and get on a treadmill. It will work. Surely :). No – try it.
Meanwhile, Sanjaya: You go, kid. Ignore people who are looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Do what you have to.
Ever since everyone around me (who is remotely few inches wider than I am) have learn’t that I lost over 50 lbs (25 Kgs) over 2 years ago, I am barraged with questions which range to predictable to absolute surprise. “How did you lose so much weight?”, “Did you eat?”, and last of all “Why did you lose weight? You looked good chubby chubby!” – and this without taking into account the number of emails I get.
Hence to answer everyone’s questions, I have prepared a FAQ to make things simpler. Next time someone asks me questions, I am pointing them here.
Why did you lose weight?
I got tired of carrying my weight around.
No, seriously why did you lose weight?
Are you trying to justify why should lose weight versus why you should not? Good luck.
No, answer seriously, why did you lose weight?!
Because I wanted to feel good, feel healthy, and feel fresher. Good enough reason? No? Because I could re-eat all the bad things and get fat again 🙂
Did you have to exercise to lose weight?
Of course not! I just kept twiddling my thumbs over which American Idol would be kicked out next. It was intense, my heart was at optimum rate throughout the show and Paula Abdul made me sweat.
Dont ask a stupid question. Lack of exercise was one reason you got fat anyways. So doing it is only going help you cut your excess flab out. Try it.
Did you also have to eat less?
I did not have to eat less. I had to eat right. Which, did not necessarily mean cutting down on ice-creams, chocolates, fudges, butter chicken and the likes.
What do you mean?!
I just controlled my eating to 2200 calories a day. I didnt care how many times I ate, what I ate or how I ate it. I wouldn’t cross the limit.
How did you arrive at that magic figure? Is it the same for women?
Normal males require 2400 calories under normal day-to-day life. If you are fat, its likely you eat way more – simple isn’t it? 🙂 And no its not the same for women.
Do you know what is it for women?
No. If you’re motivated, Google will help you.
So how do you calculate that number everyday then?
Thank God to the USA :-). And its paranoia with labeling anything that remotely sounds as food with nutrition stickers.
That means I cannot lose weight in India is it?
No. That just means eat less!
But you just said you didn’t have to eat less!
Yes. I said eat right. Eating right will involve eating less. Sorry to dash your hopes :(.
Lets change the topic. I go to the gym regularly. I lift a lot of weights. I am still not able to lose weight. What must I do?
First off darling – lifting weight isn’t going to lift off weight off you. You see that treadmill in the corner – yes, the one in the dark dingy corner of the gym – the one you don’t necessarily like to look at? Yes. That one – now get your ASS on it, and start running! That’s about the only way you can even start thinking of losing weight.
I have never run in my life! I can’t run more than 10 seconds – I feel tired.
That is the idea :-). Keep working at it. Add 10% of your last running distance every week. One day if you are still alive, you will make it to 30 minutes of running. By that time you probably wouldn’t need to run that much. You may return back to your weights.
Will hot women/men swoon over me once I slim down?
Unlikely. Tsk! Tsk!
Can I stop exercising once I reach my goal?
You can. Only be prepared to start all over again very soon. Its not the losing part that is difficult, its keeping it there that is more difficult.
I heard that fat converts to muscle. I am very fat, so will I become very muscular?
That’s a wrong impression you have baby. Fat does not convert to muscle. Period.
But my gym instructor told me so!
He was trying to pep you up.
How many times should I exercise a week – I don’t want to miss American Idol, Kyonki Saas Bhi, Woh Chand Sitare Rimjhim, Dil Dariya Hain soaps.
As many times a week you want. Only thing, your results will be equally proportional to the number of times you do something in a week. Its very likely your gym has a TV. Try looking inside sometime 🙂
My wife is pregnant. She is getting fatter. Should I also get fat to give her company?
Excellent idea!
I’ve read that the best time to exercise is between 4.00 pm and 5.00 pm in the afternoon? Is that so?
The best time to exercise when you are fat is : Anytime. Whoever came up with such weird times was a bozo.
No. Seriously I heard exercising in the morning helps you lose more weight versus exercising at night?
Yes, the difference is 10 grams.
I like the way I am right now. If people don’t like the way I look, then its their problem! I am comfortable being who I am.
Actually people around you don’t really care.
No. They do. It reeks of cheapness when they cannot accept the way I am today. You either accept the way I am or you don’t!
Yes. They made their choice. So what’s your question again?
They saying losing weight builds your self esteem, builds confidence and makes you perform better (where-ever that is). I think its a load of crap.
Thats a good start. Though you will change your mind later on.
You are mean. I am sufficiently motivated to lose weight! When do I start?
Now.
*Notes: Always talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise and diet program. I did. And I followed his advice. The doctor’s advice was: eat less and exercise daily.
**Disclaimer: If for some unforeseen reason you actually start after reading this and something happens to you, good luck. Don’t sue me. I don’t earn much, certainly not enough to cover your medical costs. Instead visit a doctor. Read Notes above – talk to your doctor.
***Disclaimer2: I cannot tell you how much more happier I am today when I fit into size 32 jeans. You feel jealous? Sorry. You can do it though.
Its song time again!! This time its another song which caught my fancy a few days ago before Kitni Der Tak made its presence. I downloaded this song from my brother’s Ipod when he was around – I must say even after 2 months I am still attracted to the song like before.
Maybe its the tune. Maybe its Punjabi. Maybe its the voice. Maybe its the lyrics. I dunno, something about this song gets me into mood!
Here’s “Yaar Mera” by Micky Narula ( Jaswinder Narula’s brother mayhaps?) from the album Ranjhan Yaar. Sorry, no lyrics this time as I haven’t found them myself!
Enjaaaay!!
