Saturday, March 28, 2009

Watchmen !

This HYD trip has been with lot of runs and some quick catch up with pals. We went in for this movie called "Watchmen" and before I review it:


Movie Trailer Above

The movie is from the director of the movie "300". It is very stylishly made and the opening credits with Bob Dylan in the background makes for a perfect start. The first one hour is very good and since this movie is an adaptation of a comic book series you might want to read about its characters before you watch the movie.

Wiki will be a good starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

More about the Dylan song in here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_They_Are_a-Changin%27


Must Listen to the song below:


There is one more song in between which also worth listening to. Guess it is Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sounds of Silence" (see below youtube)



You'll hear the same soundtrack in the movie "Graduate" as well !

But after first half I failed to understand some stuff and the movie wraps things in pretty bad shape.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sandalwood ?

Do you know what is the Kannada movie Industry is refereed as in the popular "wood" style ?

At least if you by the Times of India's Bangalore Times it is called as "Sandalwood" !
That begs for creativity !

Happy Ugadi To all my readers !

Monday, March 23, 2009

Baap of Rajanikanth

If you have been thinking that only Rajanikanth or Mithun Chakroborthy can dodge bullets, then dodge that !

I saw a pathetic movie over this weekend, "Wanted" starring Angeline Jolie and the climax looked like a tribute to Rajani.

The below mentioned click will take you to the youtube (as the embedding is disabled I couldn't find any better video).

http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=8qj8mLv9um8

Situation: Must see and try to understand. All of them are standing in a circle. How would you kill all of them standing in a circle using one bullet ?


Who says Indian movies lack science !

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bajra Roti: Simple and Easy

Here is how you can make soft Bajra rotis without actually breaking them. This is going to be a part of the millet roti series in my blog taking a cue from a Team Asha Runner, Anita. I'm going to Illustrate with lot of pics and step-by-step process.

Bajra Roti: Preparation:

Ingredients:
2 cups of bajra floor (available in Nilgiris, Namdharis etc in Bangalore)
2 cups of water

Serving: Makes 8 Bajra rotis

Method:

1. Take 2 cups of water and bring it to boil. The moment the water starts to simmer pour the the 2 cups of Bajra in the boiling water.
2. Adjust the stove to "sim" and do not mix the Bajra with the water. Just leave it like that.

3. Now After 2 minutes turn off your gas and get then mix the floor thoroughly.
(If you feel you need to add some more Bajra floor you can add it. But if you want to add more water then you need add hot water.)

4. Now allow the dough to cool down (10 minutes)

5. Then roll them into small balls

6. When rolling them out into circular shapes puff/dust them with try Bajra floor

7. Now place it on the hot pan.

8. Use a cloth to press it on all sides and then keep changing the sides of the chapati.

(You can use your hand, but cloth is a better option)

9. Optionally you can also add/spread some oil on the chapati to get the Paratha effect.


Similarly you can make jawar (jonna/jolada), ragi rotis as well.

Aside: Lot of people also mix equal quantities of Bajra floor and wheat floor so that the Gluten in wheat holds them together. Millets are gluten free and thats the reason you need to add hot water if you want to hold them together (instead of wheat floor).

You can also add onions and other dressing but I guess just kept them simple here.

Thanks to my chef, Sashikant for his tips and tricks !

From now on I'm going to add some new exciting and simple recipes. My mom will come up with some new stuff and I guess "Oats Dosa" will be the next one.

Read more on Millets and their benefits at Anita's Millet blog: Must read. Check out http://millets.wordpress.com/

Bon Appetite !

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

All about Millets

I'm a big fan of millets and I generally make sure that it is also part of my diet.

Anita a dear friend and a Team Asha runner has come up with this wonderful blog on millets ranging from their types, health benefits and even recipes.

Must read. Check out http://millets.wordpress.com/

The bean family is my next unexplored area !

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Udupi Krishna Bhavan - The Unlimited Masala Dosa Meal

Udupi Kirshna Bhavan is located near JNC (Jyothi Nivas College) in Koramangla (Bangalore). It is on the road where Cafe Arogya, Purple Haze are located.


This restaurant is famous for its tiffin items and also for its meals. Generally people have south indian thali priced at 50 bucks which is a limited version with two rotis and a small bowl of rice with accompaniments (you can as well get addtional chapatis if you opt out of rice). The north Indian thali priced at 75 comes with soup, roti or kulcha, some veg pulav and an ice cream to wrap it up (see the pic above).

The Unlimited Masala Dosa Meal: South Indian Special

But the thing that you must try for sure is "South Indian Special" priced at 90 bucks. It starts generally with a juice (most often than not it would be Papaya) and the giant thali which you see below.



The baby masala dosas that are served are unlimited. If you are conscious of oil then you can ask him to make the Dosa "without oil". (Aside: Never say "oil-less" as it is interpreted as "less oil"). The Thali has upma (khara bath), a mixed rice (Bise-bele bath as in pic), a kesari bath and other accompaniments.

Added to this you can have chapatis and rice unlimited. After you feel you've been fed a tad more then arrives the ice cream and a sweet.

Do try this place for the south special. There is north Indian cousin which has unlimited north Indian items called the "North Deluxe" just in case if you want to fancy. Akki Roti and Neeru Dosa are some of their other specialties.

Bon Apetite !

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Interesting Flyer from Pizza Corner

The other day I was reading a Pizza corner flier and something that stuck to my eyes. Have a look at the image below.



That was an interesting one, just in case if we had thought of things otherwise. These days my blog entries are just getting much broader.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Small Steps - Polythene Free Initiative

At the Auroville Marathon last February all the participants were given a small pouch. It was a nice bag packaged into a small portable pouch. The idea was from folks at Upasana in Auroville who are promoting a polythene free shopping (or for that fact polythene-less lives) !

I liked their concept of packaging and carrying this wonderful bag which is part of their "small steps" initiative.




You can order for these bags online or by mailing them.

Small steps website: http://smallsteps.in/
Email them at : Small Steps


They also have ambassadors in many cities from whom you can get these bags. Check out their website for more details.

The idea is that you "gift" these bags and not sell them ! They have both shoulder-style or backpack style. Do support their initiatives.

Tsunamika and Varanasi Weavers are other projects that are part of Upasana !

Website for Upasana: http://upasana.in/

Friday, March 6, 2009

Aukaad !



Do you have any words ? do you ?

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Lok Satta - Campaigning !



My pal who is canvassing for Lok Satta elaborates:
Lok Satta founded by Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan as an NGO which successfully brought in various electoral reforms and helped in the creation of other important laws like RTI. Now it has turned into a political party and it is planning to contest all the assembly seats in AP. It has recently opened branches in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Website:
www.loksatta.org

Lok Satta agenda briefly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri7Qf7AKQRA&feature=PlayList&p=40A8827667D5DD12&playnext=1&index=5

About Dr. JP:
http://www.loksatta.org/jaiprakash.php

One of the best speeches. Given at Mumbai University Must listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4xFCdOYTv4 (part 1) listen to part2 and part 3 for sure.





I was totally amazed by JP's speech last year when I saw this video. Tell you what, you must read their FAQs as well.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Critical Mass - Bangalore


Kanishka from Team Asha once told me about this once a month meet-up of cyclists.

Check out their blog and I hope to join them soon.
http://criticalmassbangalore.blogspot.com/

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Speed Runs Begin

Seems like Hyderabad, my home town, always gets the best out of me and I'm sure it is just the beginning. Called up Sidd for a run but looks like he didn't make it and thankfully the Hyderabad runners were planing a 10K loop around KBR park and Banjara Hills. Caught with with Satish, Vasu and Prasad. It was a great run at least by my standards and the last 3KM were done at a pretty decent pace and I locked into Satish's pace.

I've been pacing around 10KMPH al this while and today was the day to break the 60 minute barrier and we completed around 10.5KM in about 55 minutes. Good start for my speed runs and the idea is to do a half marathon sub 2 hours by middle of this year. A 50 (~49) minute 10K is what I'll be looking at Sunfeast 10K this May in Bangalore.

May be I should just go for the Tibet Marathon this year (just too tempted!). Good start to a new running season ! Shumit has been another force behind speed runs !

Keep Miling !