Recipe of a healthy Bhel Puri

Many of us are fond of Chaat items. They are a very good snacks. It also comes with high calories, depending upon the ingredients you use. As a general rule, most food items that are tasty are high in calories. I recently learnt how to make a very tasty and nutritious Bhel Puri. I am sure you will feel the taste and sense how nutritious it is as you read through

What all you need?
1. Small portion of Cauliflower
2. One big carrot
3. One big onion
4. One big Cucumber
5. Small portion of Pine apple
6. Salt, Chilly powder and sugar cyrup for taste
7. 4 to 5 handfulls of puffed rice
8. One lemon
9. Small tomato

How to make it?
Grate Cauliflower, Carrot and Pineapple. Cut Cucumber, tomato and onion into very small pieces. Mix generous amounts of all the vegetables in a big vessel. Mix well and then add salt, chilly powder as required and mix again. Then add lemon juice and sugar or dates cyrup, mix again. Then add 4 to 5 handfuls of puffed rice and mix the contents well. The veggies forms 75% of the dish and the puffed rice should form 25% of the dish. Serve in a plate, top with a handful of peanuts. Bhel puri is ready. Preparation time is 20 mins and it can serve 3 to 4 people. A healthy snack in the evening and a very good replacement for fat filled Bhajis and Bondas

My friend is worried! - Help him

I have a long time friend who I know from the first day I entered school. He studied with me till 12th standard and later went to a different college. He is getting married in 3 months time. It is a love marriage accepted by both sides. He is lucky.

He has a small problem now. The parents of the girl are so good that they want to buy them a car for marriage. Good news, but here is the problem. They are discussing to buy them a Maruthi 800 or Alto. My friend was a over sized kid from age of 3. He may be now close to 100kg (may be a 2 or 3 kg less). He is sure that he cant enter the driver seat in a Alto or Maruthi 800. Atleast Alto is fine. 800 is too bad. He feels he wants a bigger car. But he is too reluctant to tell them as he is worried whether they will think bad about him.

He dont have money to tell them I will pay the rest of money for a bigger car. Pavam he is. Please send your suggestions for my friend. Put it in comments column

First experience is always special

First experiences - First time when you went to school, rode a bicycle, then a bike, first day of college, the new job you joined are always special. It is always the experience of the first time stays in your memory for long. I travelled in flight for the first time this week. It is sure a memorable experience.

I had to go to Delhi to organise a training program. I took a private airline flight that took off from Chennai at 7.30 AM. I reached the airport 2 hours earlier as I wanted to be as early as possible as it is the first time. Luckily I never found any difficulty. The baggage Check in and the security check are over in 15 minutes and I had to wait for more than 1.5 hours t0 board the flight. I was bit thrilled when I entered the flight. I would have loved to get a window seat but I did not get. I got the third seat in the row. The flight was safe and I enjoyed it. The sensation I got while taking off and landing was thrilling. The sandwich they served for breakfast was 'WOW'. The fair and slim air hostess' dressed in red always had a smile in their face. I felt that the smile did not look genuine

My return flight from Delhi was Air India flight and I got a window seat this time. The flight took off at 8pm and I really did not have any use with the window seat. I could see the busy delhi with all its lights from the sky. When we are about to land at Chennai, the flight flew over the sea ad took a 180 degree turn to enter into the City. I could spot a lot of ships, the beach road, LIC building and finally the Kathipara Bridge that looked amazing from above. Unlike the all female air hostess in the private airlines, here there were 3 male and 1 female hosts in the flight. They hardly smiled but polite. I would say I prefer Air India flight from now on. They provided free meals and juice bottles for the same flight fare like the private airlines, where except water every thing is paid service.



I am back in Chennai.

He likes, She Likes

As the title suggested, I really wanted to start with, what he likes. But you know rules are rules. A quote says, "Ladies first and pretty ladies sooner". So first...

What she likes:

1. Tell her that she is beautiful. Ofcourse she is beautiful. Otherwise you would not have fell in love with her. What is the harm in telling the truth? Tell her atleast 10 times a day. It will make her more beautiful.

2. She wants you to have sharper mind. Very important that you remember important dates. You forget her birthday, you'll see angry face for weeks and she'll never forget it for life. You probably have to drink 3-roses tea for sharp brain.

3. Surprises are essentially part of her life. Surprise visit, surprise gift and she won't mind surprises every day. But the good part is that you don't need to spend a fortune. Simple surprises are enough.

4. Punctuality. If you told you ill be there by 8, you be there by 7.50. Of course, she wont mind if you come by 8.01. The tricky part is, for an appointment at 8, she'll reach there by 7.50 and expect you by 7.51. The general rule is, Guys can wait. Girls cannot because they should not.

5. Accept that she is always right. This makes her feel proud of you.

6. Respect her space. She always wants you to have a say on everything concerning her. She'll ask you suggestions and let you decide on everything from her dress to career. But she always expects you to say,"Its all your wish honey".

7. Be sincere. She probably won't mind if you chat with other girls. But always be sincere to her

8. Be Romantic. You will probably find yourself offering her roses and holding her hands in a restaurant. Never look around. Your girl will love that.



What He likes:

1. Admire him for what he is. Never mention to him that Arya or Surya looks handsome. He always wants you to think that he is the most handsome and manly guy in the earth. He will flirt with other girls. But he will say that its just for fun. But you wont have the same freedom.

2. His gifts are WOW. Whatever he buys for you are simply great. Never tell him that he could have chosen a different colour saree for you.

3. Ask his suggestions. If you ask everytime, he will be very happy and probably tell you "Its all your wish honey". It is a win-win for both. Trust his abilities. Never try to give him too many suggestions. He will be offended.

4. Make him proud infront of his friends. Make him feel that he is in control of everything.

5. Tell him once in a while how much you love him and how much he means to you. He will always be there for you.

6. Tell him that you want to meet him before he asks you out. That makes him proud

7. Understand that he is very possessive than you.

8. Understand his shortcomings. He may not be perfect, Some days he may be late, He may hurt you for silly reasons, try to dominate you. But you can forget that. After all you love him so much

The Beauty of Dakshina Chitra

I visited Dakshina Chitra last weekend. It is a very beautiful place. Located in the ECR road, very near to MGM, it is one of the good places at Chennai which everyone has to visit. It is less than 30 minutes drive from Thiruvanmiyur. Also you have excellent bus services, so you wont have any problem reaching there. The entrance ticket is also very cheap, 75 Rs for adult and 30 Rs for students.

It is a heritage site developed to show people the culture of south India. When you buy tickets, you will be provided with a map of the entire location. The map definitely comes in handy as the place is so vast. The place is divided into states namely Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhrapradesh and Karnataka. In each state, you can find different type of houses and exhibits that depicts the cultural background of these states. Tamilnadu and Kerala are completely built while Andhrapradesh and Karnataka are incomplete as of now.

In Tamilnadu, the notable features are the exhibits that belong to 5 types of land (Neidhal, Marudham, Paalai, Kurinji and Mullai), the different musical instruments which originated in Tamilnadu and the Chettinadu house. The puppet show which is held only on weekends has a few scenes from Ramayana played is a must watch.

You can also find interactive events like Kili josiyam and Kairehai josiyam. You can learn the art of pottery and weaving clothes from people there. I bought a cute Kitchen set. I have photographed it.

The kerala part has many art works and paintings. The houses are built beautifully. Andhra and Karnataka part are small and not complete yet. This is one of the excellent paintings in Kerala

Kerala Houses:
Here are the kerala architecture you can find at Dakshina Chitra. The Mandabam in the right is the place where some marriages take place inside Dakshina Chitra.

Dakshina Chitra is a good place where you can spend 4 to 5 hours easily and have a really good time.

The mystery of unmatched garments

Warning: I think this post is going to be a little lengthy post.

A few years back when my uncle got married, he purchased dresses for all the relatives. He took most of the relatives to dress showrooms and let them select the dress. Even then, as always, a few relatives are not satisfied with their own selection. One of my grandma asked another grandma (both distant relatives) whether they can exchange their sarees. The latter refused saying she liked the green saree and cant exchange. The funny part is, on the marriage day the green saree actually turned out to be gray saree. She was shocked to see that she had actually took a gray saree thinking that it is green. We all made fun of her saying that she is wearing the uniform of sanitory workers (No offence). So how does green turned to gray?

Have you ever wondered why an apple looks red? Does it emits red light? The skin of the apple has some natural pigments that has a character to absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect certain other wavelengths. So a red apple absorbs wavelengths corresponding to blue and green and reflects wavelength corresponding to red when white light falls on it. You would have learnt in school that white light is a mixture of Red, Green and Blue. An apple will look red only in white light. Assume a situation, a tray of apple in your bed room with a blue night lamp. Will the apple look red or blue? It will appear gray or black as the pigment in the skin of the apple absorbs blue and reflect nothing. Be careful while wearing socks in your bedroom under night lamp. You can wear a blue sock and a black sock under red lamp thinking that you are wearing a pair of black socks.

Next time when you go to a textile showroom watch the lights. In most places there wont be white lights. Just like a jewellery shop where all the lights will be yellow to make the gold jewels more attractive. Shop owners use slightly coloured lamps to make the dress materials shining. When you select matching blouse, two garments match under that light but when you go home you will see variations. It is similar to the sock example where two colours that are no where near match in a particular light. However the variation here will be only minimal; but large enough for you to visit the shop again.

In my grandma's case, I assume that she took the gray saree under a greenish light. So Girls, next time when you go to select matching blouse take more care. It may spoil your mood before a function and Boys, it may spoil the surprise gift to your girlfriend.

A Living out of Garbage Bins

Every street in Chennai has a huge garbage bin, courtesy Neel metal fanalca. The garbage bin is where we throw all the rotten waste of our home. But do you know some people live out of these garbage bins? Yes, there are a lot of people.

Some gypsies who earned their living by selling chains made with tiger nails or Bear's hair (they claim that) are no longer able to do that as no one is showing interest in these products nowadays. So some of these people have started to make a living by collecting waste papers and polythene bags. These papers and bags will then reach waste paper shops. You can find these people exploring the garbage bins and collecting the wastes. They also use some good tools. They carry a stick with a long nail in the top and they use it to pick the papers. I recently found a man using an iron rod with a thick magnet at the tip. He used it in garbage bins and in roads to collect metal pieces. I guess they can make more money from metals.

So how they grow in this? here is a man who visits all the garbage bins in my locality. He rides a fish cart (A cycle with three wheels which is used to carry small load). He brings gunny bags with him every day. He explores all the garbage bins, ransack them and collect all that will be useful to him. He fills all his bags, throw it in the cart and leave the place. Best of all, he comes early in the morning before the Neel metal fanalcans plunder all the garbage in the bins. I have photographed him along with his fish cart for you.




In a few months, he can buy a motor powered fishing cart and in a few more years he can buy a truck on his own and collect the garbages and he can grow. I am not making fun or joking here. Anything is possible with hard work.

So, bottom line: If you think anything is waste, think again.

The tale of Neyveli Anjaneyar

We visit temples more often. But have you ever wondered about the history of a temple? Two days back when I went to my native, my sister called me to drop her at the Anjaneyar temple. I was surprised to hear that as I was not aware of any Anjaneyar temple in my locality. Then she told me that it is a small (very small) temple in the Mandarakuppam-Township main road. Then I remembered the temple. It is a temple that originated 12years back.

12 years back (I was studying 7th then and we used to travel in school bus in that main road), a speeding lorry crushed a group of monkeys that tried to cross the main road. It was ofcourse an accident. The monkeys crossed suddenly and the driver of the lorry could not do anything. The guilt of killing a monkey, related to Lord Hanuman, can be terrible even though it is an accident. So this lorry driver burried the bodies of all the dead monkeys in the vacant space near the main road, placed a small statue of Lord Anjaneyar, lighted a lamp, prayed and left the place. This picture shows the first statue placed by the lorry driver and you can also see lot of lamps which people light everyday.During my school days I occasionally used to see one or two people praying at the temple.

The temple remained as it is till I completed school and joined college. I never noticed the temple when I went to my native during all these years and I went to the temple with my sister two days back. As I heard, a slightly bigger temple was built adjacent to the previous temple with a bigger statue. I have photographed the new statue here.

Now, there is a separate pujari for the temple. He is living just behind the temple. Every day there is a half an hour pooja at 6 p.m and the temple door is never closed. When we went for the evening pooja, there was atleast 40 people in all ages were present there. Small kids to age old people. The pujari told me that every day someone comes with pongal, sundal or vada and offer to the god and later distribute to all the devotees. Moreover, they offer special pujas on all the auspicious days and 'Moola Natchathram' days every month. They also have this tradition, the pujari has two laminated sheets with songs praising the lord. He randomly selects two people, one male and one female and give it to them to sing or recite the slogams and songs printed in the sheets. Luckily for me, I got the sheet. I joined with a few old people there and recited the slogans. My sister later told me that she is visiting the temple every saturday for the past 4 months and she tries to get that sheet every week; she had got only once and that I am very lucky.

I believe that this small temple will grow into a big place of worship in the next few years. If you ever happen to visit neyveli, please visit the temple. It is located near the Mandarakuppam bus stand in the main road to Neyveli Township.

The quest for sour idlies

Today, 23 April 2009, the ruling party of Tamilnadu had called for a strike till 6 pm. Strike or no strike, the day dawned as usual. I had a busy schedule at my office. So I woke up at 6.30 am, half an hour earlier than usual. I felt bit hungry as I woke up. I got ready and just when I was about to start from my room, my room mate warned me, "Today is strike. We are going to struggle for food". I told him that small hotels will be opened, so he need not worry.

My office is just 2km away from my room. I usually walk the distance so that I need not wake up early in the morning for jogging. I used to have breakfast in a small mess on the way. Today I went to the mess and found that the mess was closed. Other hotels nearby were also closed. Thats when I remembered what my room mate told. I had no one to blame. Without scolding anyone, I started walking. Then I decided to save my energy and started looking for share auto. All the share auto drivers had a very good time today; packed autos as no bus on the road. No one showed interest when I waved my hand at all passing autos. I finally crossed the distance by walk. I entered my office covered in sweat, tired with hunger and a load of work to complete.

As I entered, I was greeted by my office attender. Suddenly a spark, I asked him whether he can buy breakfast for me from somewhere. He was very happy to help me and asked whether I want idly, poori, pongal or dosa. I was happy to hear the menu but told him to buy whatever that was available. He returned back half an hour later with a parcel of 6 idlies. He told me that he went from this end to other end, visited so many hotels and finally got them from a shop after standing in queue for 10 minutes (It was like a prince crossing 7 hills and 7 oceans to rescue the princess).

I opened the parcel eagerly and started eating. The idly was so sour that normally I wont eat. As sour as a 2 day old curd. But hunger does not know taste, a common saying here. When I finished my breakfast and started my work, I thought, the strike is indeed a great success.

Mobile Singers

Every day when I travel from my office to my home, I see a truck with blind people singing old tamil songs. The truck, usually parked in a vacant space near the railway station, has 5 to 6 performers who sing for hours together. You can also find 4 people standing about 50 metres away from the truck in different directions, collecting money from the people passing that area.

Every day when I pass that area, I used to donate whatever coins I have. Sometimes when there is no one to collece money in the pathway where I walk, I used to cross the road and reach out to one of them and donate. The singers, the collectors, the musicians are all blind. I wonder, what they will make at the end of the day. Most people donate coins; how many people donate? I don't know. Unlike people who knock every house for donations for so many reasons, these people have an operating cost. The rent for the truck, fuel for the truck and power generator and food for atleast 10 people, it could cross over thousand rupees easily. Since I am seeing them everyday, I assume that they are collecting money more than the operating cost. But how much more? Few hundreds for whole day? I don't know.

All I could do for them now is donate whatever money I can and donate my eyes after my life. Whoever read this post, please donate them with whatever you can. They are brave, determined and self confident people.