3 of the finnest Innings

That also in the same test, sehwag buchered , master rose , and yuvi matured.. what more we want ..

Balm to wounded nation..

The Great Debaters- Don't miss this movie.

Tricolor Raised on Taj

Emotional moment when the staff raised the Tricolor on the Taj this morning . And Ratan Tata mentioned on the Farred Zakria GPS that when he approched the Taj GM whose family was killed in the Taj , said " sir we will rebuild this hotel and make it the best hotel for next 100 years like it was far past century, this people can't defeat us "

Kuch Kar Gujarne to Khoon Kehta hai

"Kuch Kar Guzarne ko Khoon Chala
Aaankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon Chala
badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
Naye Rang Bharne ko Yeh Khoon Chala"

Kab tak yun he Khamosh rahe hum , kab tak yun he sehte rahe hum , kab tak ?

What i am reading currently

Game Changer -Ram Charan

Thinking Strategicaly : Avinash Dixit

Engaging India : Strobe Talbot

Agnipath, Agnipath

Vriksh ho bhale khade,
Ho ghane, ho bade,
Ek patra chaa bhi,
Mang maat, mang maat, mang maat
Agnipath, Agnipath, Agnipath
Tu na thakega kabhi,
Tu na thamega kabhi,
Tu na mudega kabhi,
Kar shapath, kar shapath, kar shapath
Agnipath, Agnipath, Agnipath
Yeh maahan drishya hai,
Chal raha manushya hai,
Ashru, shwet, rakth se,
Lathpat, lathpat, lathpat
Agnipath, Agnipath, Agnipath
.
- Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Take a Bow to :MSD

A unifier for a fragmented nation , a lion heart . Do we need to look beyond MSD for a true leader for a country also called Bharat .?

His gesture of asking Ganguly to lead india to victory in greatest moment of indian cricket history is one for the legends.

salute MSD , we look forward to our humble climb to the peak of world cricket under you.

Tribute to two builders of Fortress INDIA

Emotional but proud moment for India , two of the india's best ever cricketer and the pillar of fortress india- which indian cricket team was called in 90's and today , have called it a day. We can criticize them , we can rile them , but one things we can't deny they were the true champions who along with the other fab 4 made india the formidable cricket india has become. And they are leaving at peak at time of there own choosing.

Salute to Kumble and Ganguly , we are going to miss the offside play of saurav and the annihilation of opponents by kumble , also got termed as brownwash !!

Happy Diwali

Wish you all a Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali !

"Warsh Nav, Harsh Nav, Jeevan Utkarsh Nav" - Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Some of Eric Clapton's classic collaborations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkrWqpymXLY&feature=related - Sultans of Swing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ae2uidckqE&feature=related- Layla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kInoeTycY60&feature=related- Cocaine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-2ThFddglk&feature=related - money for nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ubRaUm2J0&feature=related - Stairway to heaven


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpYL1ZTSnSA&feature=related- Favorite Mistake with Sheryl Crow ( This song Sheryl Crow wrote when she was in love with Mr Eric Clapton, this performance is much after there breakup)

Indian Heavy Metal Music

Was browsing through Indian Heavy Metal music groups after long time.Found some interesting compositions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVFgCjJm44&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADD7ga9Bs_k&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xf2EJ1BnSs&feature=related

Clarity of thought , fearless decision making

Reproduction from Cricinfo


A tale of two captains
Dhoni thought clearly and led from the front; Ponting was powerless and unsure of both himself and his players
October 22, 2008
Dhoni marshalled his players expertly and batted superbly © AFP
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ricky Ponting might as well come from the same street, the same school, the same suburb. They emerged from the backwaters and arrived on the cricket scene with sharp minds and hardened games. As time passed, both learnt to use the right words and sometimes to think the right things, and in Mohali both led their teams onto the field. Already both had far surpassed the expectations of youth. Hereafter their fortunes took different courses.
By the end of an extraordinary Test match in the Punjab, Dhoni was praising his players for securing an overwhelming victory, and was also accepting the award as Man of the Match. His counterpart was left nursing bruised egos and lost souls. It was not so long ago that the Tasmanian had been comparing the new-age cricket played by his side against the tired old efforts of his opponents. Seldom has complacency co comprehensively been shattered. As a rule a man gets his desserts, and the same applies to cricket teams. Nor is it wise to tempt fate.
Besides winning the toss Dhoni made two telling moves in the match. Neither affected the course of the contest but both told a tale about India's new leader, a man whose clarity of thought had already impressed senior players. His first intervention came when India were pursuing quick runs in the second innings. Ordinarily a new captain might be expected to treat India's phalanx of famous batsmen with kid gloves. After all, an entire nation was in thrall to them. But Dhoni knows no such deference. To him they are just a bunch of cricketers he has been asked to lead. He respects them, likes them, admires them, but does not live in fear of them. He has driven fiery motorbikes in his time and that prepares a man for all eventualities. So he strapped the pads on himself.
As ever, his reasoning was straightforward. His team needed to push the score along and he was the right man for the job. This ability to make objective judgments, especially about oneself, is rare at any stage of a career, let alone at its outset. Nor did he allow notions of wounded pride to hold him back. Instead he told astute Dravid, mighty Tendulkar and dazzling Laxman to wait a while. Instead he instructed Sourav Ganguly to follow him to the crease. After all they had batted fluently in the first dig. Ganguly had contributed a smooth and composed hundred, while the acting captain had broken his duck with another statement of intent, a hook off his eyebrows that sped away to the boundary.
At once Dhoni's action conveyed a message to his players: the team came first, and the captain was going to lead from the front. And it worked. Bold decisions are almost always rewarded. Probably because they instill confidence in the team, give it priorities and a sense of direction.
Dhoni's other significant action in his second outing as Test captain came at the fall of the last Australian wicket. He did not punch the air with glee or charge towards his players or otherwise display any of the ecstasy detected in the Australians at the end of the travesty in Sydney. Rather, he picked up one of the stumps, walked quietly across to Gautam Gambhir, whose batting had been so important, and gave it to him. Gambhir was not surprised. Apparently stumps were also given to Amit Mishra, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly. It was a considerate gesture from a captain towards one of his young players. Doubtless it was appreciated. Here was a man in charge of himself and his team, a man capable of giving and inspiring loyalty.


Ordinarily a new captain might be expected to treat India's phalanx of famous batsmen with kid gloves. Dhoni knows no such deference. To him they are just a bunch of cricketers he has been asked to lead. He respects them, likes them, admires them, but does not live in fear of them

Dhoni had every right to be pleased with himself but he did not show it. Nor did he say anything about captaining the team in the next match. He does not get carried away. Afterwards India was ablaze with debate about the rights and wrongs of playing Anil Kumble or Amit Mishra in Delhi. At such times the choice between newcomer and proven performer, worn-wicket specialist and hard-track tweaker, fit and sore, is especially painful because it is final. But Australia yearns to face such a predicament. At least India has found Kumble's replacement: in a roly poly character who went to Haryana to advance his career and was able to learn his trade away from the spotlight without the pressures and distractions that attend city slickers and youthful prodigies.
India could also be delighted with the performances of its new-ball pairs. It has been a long time since Australia was given such a trouncing, even longer since its opening batsmen and bowlers were so decisively outplayed. Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan were far more effective than their counterparts. Gambhir and Sehwag, his pal from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Delhi, Delhi Daredevils and India, ran superbly between wickets as they built two damaging partnerships. Only one of the four played in the Boxing Day Test ten months ago. India has come a long way in a short time.
They even had the cheek to steal a page from Australia's book, naming the side for the next two matches towards the end of the fourth day and crowding the bat with Zaheerb on a hat-trick. Hereabouts a voice in the press box gasped, " I thought Australia was supposed to be the aggressive side."
By the end of the match the Indian camp seemed confident and content. No longer was anyone fretting about the supposed Fab Four. They had taken care of that. No longer did the Australians seem as formidable. Previously it has taken astonishing contributions from exceptional players to bring them down. Always it had been an upset that provoked shock and celebration. Now India had done a professional job and it was enough. Australia had been massacred. Only two of the visitors could command a place in the home side, both of them middle-order batsmen.
Ricky Ponting finished the match in an entirely different state of mind. His bowlers had been flogged and there was no respite in sight. His team's fielding had been patchy, with throws missing stumps and overthrows given away, both long regarded as tell-tale signs of a team falling apart. His bowlers had been unable to control, let alone disconcert, their opponents. Worse, the batting had lacked any sense of rhythm. In the first innings the batsmen had been cautious as they dutifully tried to build a wall around their wickets the better to resist the Indian onslaught. Anxious to make amends in their second outing, they had lurched too far in the opposite direction, slashing away in a manner bringing to mind Macbeth at Banquo's ghost. It had been a lamentable, lacklustre display. Despite Michael Clarke's game innings, it was a defeat wrapped in darkness
To add insult to injury, Ponting had himself failed twice, and on both occasions had been uprooted by his nemesis, Ishant Sharma, whose pace and inswing has exposed a chink in technique. No wonder that at the end of the match Ponting looked as miserable as he did. His team was in trouble and his own game was not working. Already it was bad enough, but even that was not the end of it.
Ponting failed with the bat and showed that he was rattled on the field © AFP
Ponting's argument with Brett Lee touched a nerve. It is not uncommon for fast bowlers and captains to fall out from time to time. Indeed it is not unknown for captains deliberately to instigate a row on the grounds that the paceman probably will not thump his leader, not in public anyhow, and might instead take it out on the batsmen. Such tempests are usually temporary, and easily settled with a well-timed peace offering that often bears a stark resemblance to a glass of beer.
But this stoush was different because it was between two friends and hurting players. Lee has been having a rough time on and off the field. To his frustration he has not been able to swing the ball or bowl fast or accurately enough to pin the batsmen down. Accordingly he was sensitive to any slight and was dismayed that he was at the back of the bowling queue on the fourth morning - a sentiment he expressed to his nearby leader.
Far from taking the protest in his stride, Ponting overreacted, a response that showed he was rattled. Never before can he have felt so powerless on a cricket field. He might as well have been trying to solve a quadratic equation. Captaining strong teams is relatively easy. Leaders of losing outfits require degrees in psychology, medicine, law, labour relations, mathematics and much else. Yet it was not Lee that was the problem. It was the other experienced campaigners he relied on in tough times, Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. One of them had gone AWOL and the other was not scoring any runs. Ponting was not on top of himself or his senior players.
Despite their similarities, the contrast with his counterpart could not have been greater. As so often, the story of the cricket match was the tale of two captains.
Peter Roebuck is a former captain of Somerset and the author, most recently, of In It to Win It

When other's are fearful ,we need to be greedy

A classic Warren Buffet investment strategy, is applicable to IT too. The current spending cut will give rise to two sets of people , one who will take the risk averse path of cutting down on what they can do due to reduced budgetary allocations, the other group will see this as an opportunity to grab new opportunities which others will be fearful of taking up. The second group of people will be leaders of future and they will do that by delivering SAME-FOR-LESS by optimizing the various aspects of the PLCM .

Downturn provides once in a decade opportunity to break away. Lets grab it with both hands :)

Pandit Jasraj @ICC Milpitas

http://www.indiacc.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5824

Genius of Harivansh Rai Bachaan

Simple yet most powerful . A poem from one of the most romantic and revolutionary poet of modern Hindi Poetry.



रीढ़ की हड्डी / हरिवंशराय बच्चन विकिपीडिया, एक मुक्त ज्ञानकोष से यहां जाईयें: नेविगेशन, ख़ोज ' रचनाकार: हरिवंशराय बच्चन





मैं हूँ उनके साथ,खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ कभी नही जो तज सकते हैं, अपना न्यायोचित अधिकारकभी नही जो सह सकते हैं, शीश नवाकर अत्याचारएक अकेले हों, या उनके साथ खड़ी हो भारी भीड़मैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ निर्भय होकर घोषित करते, जो अपने उदगार विचारजिनकी जिह्वा पर होता है, उनके अंतर का अंगारनहीं जिन्हें, चुप कर सकती है, आतताइयों की शमशीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ नहीं झुका करते जो दुनिया से करने को समझौताऊँचे से ऊँचे सपनो को देते रहते जो न्यौतादूर देखती जिनकी पैनी आँख, भविष्यत का तम चीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ जो अपने कन्धों से पर्वत से बढ़ टक्कर लेते हैंपथ की बाधाओं को जिनके पाँव चुनौती देते हैंजिनको बाँध नही सकती है लोहे की बेड़ी जंजीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ जो चलते हैं अपने छप्पर के ऊपर लूका धर करहर जीत का सौदा करते जो प्राणों की बाजी परकूद उदधि में नही पलट कर जो फिर ताका करते तीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ जिनको यह अवकाश नही है, देखें कब तारे अनुकूलजिनको यह परवाह नहीं है कब तक भद्रा, कब दिक्शूलजिनके हाथों की चाबुक से चलती हें उनकी तकदीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़ तुम हो कौन, कहो जो मुझसे सही ग़लत पथ लो तो जानसोच सोच कर, पूछ पूछ कर बोलो, कब चलता तूफ़ानसत्पथ वह है, जिसपर अपनी छाती ताने जाते वीरमैं हूँ उनके साथ, खड़ी जो सीधी रखते अपनी रीढ़

The next Dinasaur - Revisited

Could't help but revisit the article which i wrote sometime back. Its getting more and more relevant to any IT organization in the current economy . As the clients expect more from less , its becoming more and more important for the companies to drive efficiency in the processes , reduce redundant layers(THIN) , and hire and retain multi skilled talent. Needless to say only the most multi skilled and nimble survive this 100 years floods :)

--------------------------------------------------------



Is the Indian IT Industry the next dinosaur? . Or unlike the dinosaurs they will be nimble and adoptive enough to adjust to new business scenario and will evolve in a efficient and long lasting companies ? Will the basic strength of the Indian IT companies will become there weakness .. i .e low cost human resources ? These are some of the thoughts which will be explored on this blog as i think indian IT industry is at a cross road and is going to go through a paradigm shift which will weed out the lead footed IT companies .How is today's business scenario different from Year Y2 K when the real Indian IT boom started ?



Key per me are listed below .1. Cost benefit on pure head count basis : This was 1:4 in 2000, now its close to 1:2 due to increase increase in salary in india and depreciation in $ value

2. IT was the only high paying area in 2000 : Now with a booming economy there are many other areas which are more high paying at lower stress.. Like mfg, telecoms, aviation. IT is not the only neither the first choice

3. "World is Flat " : It has become more flatter in last 7 years . Event in one part of globe directly affects another part. In other words if india becomes less beneficial to client , they will move to other countries.

4. Indian Companies in 2000 were small hence the pyramid was balanced, today the Base is very big, which means more people at less experience level, leading to inability to go up the value chain , hence not able to demand higher billing to overcome the increase in cost.

5. In 2000 IT industry hired from the Best and mostly engineers, in past 2-3 years to increase headcount they have added non -engineers from other colleges also. These resources will help increase the base of the pyramid , not help go up the value chain.

6. In 2000 the within India IT market was next to zero, now with economy booming , and increased IT'ization from within india, there is a requirement for IT industry to divert there resources. Otherwise some other outside companies will take this.These are are key drivers which are driving the paradigm shift.



Need of the hour for indian companies are



1. Increase in resource utilization efficiency so that they can demand better billing at lower head count

2. Rationalize the Hiring : In today's environment Head Count Increase does't directly add's to revenue

3. Retain the experience people even at higher cost : These people will drive the billing.

4. More focus on within India IT projects to reduce dependence on external projects.There are few companies which have started thinking on above line , Infosys is one, otherwise this shakeout is going to wipe out a few companies.

Rabbi Shergil- the thinking poet

He has picked up all the nationaly important events as lyrics of this song. Whom did he mention when the Highway Signboard is displayed and why.. ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FunznAFCQI

Dhooan (Smoke ) wala Gosht

This one is a tribute to proud and independent place in Rajputana called Mewar , the first princely state to join the Indian state at the time of partition , and about which sardar ballabh bhai patel , our first home minister said " If any state has the right to stay independent(from india ) , its Mewar" , btw this was a repartee to the prime minister of Hyderabad state which was vacillating about its choice. Mewar the land of rana pratap, rana sanga which never accepted the suzerainty of moguls on there land .A fiercely and truly independent state.
This recipe is very popular in the land of rajputana.

Mutton cubes 500 gram ( leg or shoulder chopped )
onion 2 cups chopped
ginger - garlic crushed 2 table spoon
yogurt - 1 cup whisked
garam masala- make it fresh
khada masala (whole masala ) : whole black pepper, cardamom, laung , whole red chille
red chillie powder - 1 tsp
oil for cooking
salt per taste

Side prep : light a piece of coal and let it burn till it turns white, there should not be any shoot coming out. Wrap this in a aluminum foil with space for smoke to come out .

Put mutton in a steel container put the coal wrapped in aluminum foil in the mutton and seal the container with a heavy plate . let it smoke for 30 mins.

Heat oil in a container, put the khada masala , let it crackle , put onion and ginger-garlic paste. fry till it turns brown, add smoked mutton pieces. and fry together for 10 mins . add garam masala , red chille powder , salt, add yougurt. let it cook at low heat for 25-20 mins . ( add water if getting dry )

enjoy with naan , rice

Pink Floyd -After Syd its Wright

Richard Wright the keyboardist of Pink floyd passed away . I was always hoping i would be able to attend a reunion concert of the original Pink floyd line up. Not possible any more.

"Us and them, after all we are just ordinary men" - Wright

Rock On - The movie to watch

All those fan's of Dil Chahta Hai, this one is for you , one in the same Genre. Very sure it will be a cult.

Cisco vs Microsoft

Cisco Challenges Microsoft in E-Mail With PostPath Acquisition

28 August 2008 Matthew W. Cain
Buying e-mail vendor PostPath will put Cisco in competition with Microsoft for leadership of the burgeoning unified communications and collaboration market.
News Analysis
Event
On 27 August 2008, Cisco Systems announced a definitive agreement to acquire PostPath, a small, privately held e-mail vendor, for $215 million. Cisco expects to close the deal in October 2008.
Return to Top
Analysis
This deal demonstrates the growth of the unified communication and collaboration (UCC) market, where tools such as instant messaging (IM), voice, e-mail and conferencing merge into a suite with a high degree of interoperability. Microsoft has aggressively used its strong position in e-mail to move into adjacent markets. Most recently, it has invested heavily in the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) market, thereby threatening one of Cisco's core businesses.
Conversely, Cisco has attempted to use its position as VoIP market leader to move into other communication markets. In 2007, it acquired Web conferencing leader WebEx for $3.3 billion, and it has slowly built out its IM and presence capabilities. But no vendor can succeed in the UCC market without a strong e-mail presence. PostPath has a Linux-based e-mail system that it has marketed as a replacement for Exchange: It can work natively with Active Directory and supports the Outlook client. PostPath's small size made larger companies hesitant to buy the e-mail system, a problem solved by Cisco's ownership. The Cisco/PostPath partnership will threaten the Exchange franchise.
But Cisco faces substantial challenges in cracking the e-mail market. No new e-mail vendor has successfully penetrated the commercial space in a decade. Cisco plans to attack the e-mail market via a change in the provisioning model from on-premises deployment to software as a service (SaaS) — just as Google is doing. Cisco will offer PostPath e-mail services alongside WebEx, which has expanded beyond conferencing to include IM and voice services. Cisco is moving into SaaS to maintain its high growth rate (and to be valued as growth company by Wall Street), but success requires a retrained sales force, new customer relationships, deep knowledge of cloud technology and billions of dollars in investment.
If properly integrated, the acquisition of PostPath makes Cisco a more formidable competitor to Microsoft, both of which join Google and IBM in the struggle for a share of the future UCC market. We also expect telco gear suppliers such as Avaya to make e-mail acquisitions, and Yahoo will likely offer a commercial e-mail service by 2H09. By 2010, the UCC market will be radically different compared to just two years ago.

Indian Ocean - The folk balladere

Just came back from the soul cleansing concert of the India Ocean, this has been my 4 th concert since i started knowing them , music was refreshing and powerful as ever. Ma Rewa, Bandeh, Kandisa, Bhor, Jhini are some of the songs they played.

Watch out for there new album for the movie "Bhumi" , they played couple of songs from this album too and they sounded amazing.

Nalanda University - The Rebuilding

This one should rank one of the best project taken up by any Indian goverment post Independence,the rebuilding of the worlds oldest, the biggest and best residential university for 2000 + years before it was burnt by one of the Muslim Invader in 1100's . Legend has it that the library burnt for months and it led to fading of edge which india carried in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, and anatomy for thousands of years.

A world university is getting built on the ruins of the old Nalanda University , with APJ Abdul Kalam as visiting professor and Amarty Sen as the VC. What was lost in terms of thousands of books and manuscripts can't be recovered but salute to the Bihar goverment and all the great people who has got involved to connect with india's ancient glory .

Some more links

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ancient-nalanda-university-beckons-archaeologists/71296-3.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda

Interesting Rendition of National Anthem

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/71279/watch-nokia-mtv-jazz-up-jana-gana-mana.html

Happy Independence to All

Rang De Basanti

Abhinav Bindra Win's first ever individual gold medel for india at Olympics

Proud moment, in 10 meter rifle event.

Murg Shashi :)

This one is for my restaurant if and when i start one :)

Chicken peices , 1 inch with bone - 2 pound
Tomatoes : 4 medium , chops or puree
Green Mint Leaves : 1/2 cup
Cilantro : 1/2 cup , chopped
Onion : 1 cup, fine chopped along the length
Ginger fine chop or paste : 2 table spoon
Garlic , fine chopped or paste : 1 table spoon
Green Chile : 5 -6 , cut along the length
red chille paste : 1 tea spoon
Garam masala : 2 tea spoon
oil for cooking
Salt per taste
Ginger 1 table spoon for garnish ( 1 inch long , very fine slices )

Heat oil in the cooking pan and add onion, fry for 2-3 mins , add ginger -garlic paste , fry for another 2-3 mins, add chicken pieces mix and let it cook for 10 mins , add finely chopped tomatoes, mint , cilantro and salt per taste. let this cook till tomatoes is completely cooked , add garam masala, green chille and finely chopped ginger. Let this cook for another 10 mins. It should be a thick gravy when finaly cooked.

You can try the same with Panner for Vegi Option.

Enjoy with roti or rice :)

Seems like SL spineers have been sorted out :)

Sehwag and Gambhir going hammer and tong and that too on backfoot :) right way to play

Master Madan- A Rare Genious

I Got Introduced to the Genius of Master Madan by Shripad.

Master Madan was a Child Prodigy who passed away at the age of 14 but not before recording 8 rare gems which has withstood test of time. I did some more research on web and found this link about his life.

http://www.punjabheritage.org/catagories/cultural-heritage/forgotten-voice--master-madan.html

Some of his rare songs, do check the " Yun Hi Reh Reh Ke' for sure, has been stolen by one of today's so called music director :)

http://www.musicplug.in/songs.php?movieid=1851

Hara Chicken Kaboob

On popular demand posting this from BBQ party :)

Boneless Chicken Cubes : 1 Pound

Make Paste of the following
(
Cilantro : 1 Cup
Dill : 1 stem ( very strong so use as per taste)
Green Chile : 3
Ginger : 1 inch
Garlic : 4 Cloves
)


Yogurt : 1 Cup , whipped
Red Chill Powder : 1 table spoon
Coriander Powder : 1 Table spoon
Salt : Per taste

Mix the green paste with chicken cubes, yogurt, Red Chile powder, coriander powder and salt. Keep the masala stronger then usual as chicken looses masala during grilling. Keep the mix in Refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

suggested way of grilling is on skewers, will be easy to manipulate and keep the juices inside. While grilling baste with salted butter.

Enjoy !

Indian Ocean Concert in Bay Area

http://acrossarts.org/poster.html

Sam Bahadur

Probably Modern India's best Military Commander Field Marshal "Sam" Manekshaw passed away recently. A great leader of people , ability to stand his ground to anyone and a gentelman to the core.

I could't resist posting this link about his life and heroics .

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/03sam.htm

Mustard Chicken

This has strong pungent mustard flavour to it, i love it , i am sure many other's too :)

Ingredients

Chicken with bone 500 grams
Onion - 1 Cup, fine Chopped
Garlic - 6-8 cloves, fine Chopped
Ginger - 1 Inch, peeled, fine chopped
Coriander Powder - 1 Table Spoon
Mustard Powder - Coarse Ground - 1 table Spoon
Green Chile - 3 , slit along the length
Red Chile powder - 1 tsp
Oil for cooking
Salt per taste
Turmeric powder- a pinch

Heat oil in a deep vessel, add red Chile , coriander and turmeric powder stir for 10 sec, add ginger paste , garlic paste and Onion chops, stirr fry till brown. Add chicken pieces and cook for 6-7 minutes, add mustard powder , salt and green Chile, stir fry for another 3-4 minutes. add 2-3 cups of water and cook till chicken is done on low heat with lid on. Maintain gravy thickness as per your need.

enjoy :)

Yousuf Pathan- The new match winner?

This guys is cool as ice in crunch situation.. big match player He is the MVP with bat and ball for the IPL.

Finaly he will be out of the shadow of his younger brother, time is not far off when Irafan will be called as younger brother of Yousuf and not other way out :)

On a different note, so many young talents discoverd for india , future looks great for indian cricket. Time for the elder's in the team to retire gracefuly :)

Gas Stockout coming?

First time since i came to US i saw gas stations temporarily closed and at one place when i finaly found gas, it was only 87 grade and that also at $4.30 a gallon.

Are we heading into gas stockouts? Man the very thought scares me.

Overall seems like in world economy there is huge supply shortage of all commodities, other day we could't find rice in costco , and there was a notice put there that one can buy rice only on past buying pattern, so if someone has not bought rice in past can't buy rice any more from costco..?

too funny but scary..

Some Upcoming Musical Events in Bay Area

I am definately going to atleast one, if not both :) Just in case anyone else is interested.

Ghulam Ali Event

Shaam-E-Gazal with Ghulam Ali and Munni Begum
Day/Date - Saturday, June 7th 2008 8 PM to 11 PM
Location - Sunnyvale Temple Community Center, 420-450 Persian Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Ustad Sujat Ali Khan Event

http://bayarea.sulekha.com/events/Show/2008/04/bay-area-performing-arts.htm

Interesting comment

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_eats_5_times_more_than_India_per_capita/articleshow/3008449.cms

But why are political parties are complaining , they should treat this as opportunity to make india the food basket of world. A very good opportunity to upgrade india's aggriculture but seems like focus is somewhere else.

Some Pics of our Rose Plants

We had some old rose bushes in our front yard, i first thought of removing them, later changed my mind and trimmed them. Seems like the later decision was correct and they are in full bloom. Some pics :)

Good Article

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/18franc.htm

Morgan Hill Cricket Ground Coverage on BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7346385.stm

California Cow - Annual Meeting

After long winter, finally sun is shining bright on the green pastures of California , and the envy of all bovine species in the whole of universe California cow's are getting ready for there annual meeting . The meeting is scheduled to happen at Cow Palace, SF on the weekend of May 17th. The Mayor SF has declared that week as no milk week so that all the cows can prepare for the meetings. All the roads leading upto the Cow palace will be closed for all automated vehicles. Only self driven ,4 legged species will be allowed and no pillion driving please!!!. It will be a formal event with strict business dress code, though keeping in mind the heat, sunglasses and suncream is allowed. There will be some international invitees too and most prominently from India, where cow is considered sacred. Though in India a fight is going on who will represent the cow sorority from india. As usual there is issue of who represent actual india , and the division based on all possible reasons is also visible among the cows. There is alternate proposal to send a parliamentary delegation . Parliamentarian's don't miss a chance for foreign visit even if they have to disguise and behave as cows!!! .

Stay hooked for more updates on Exploites of California Cow's !

Interesting Observation by a Itinerent Chef :)

I was reading about celebrity chef, Anthony Bourdain and this is what he has to say about the Vegetarians , please don't get offended :)

”Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It’s healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I’ve worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I’ll accommodate them, I’ll rummage around for something to feed them, for a ‘vegetarian plate’, if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.” From Kitchen Confidential, p. 70.

Cricket Academy in Bay Area

For all those parents who want to relive there cricketing dreams through there kids , this one is for you :) . This academy is fully integrated with USCA and very well funded and staffed. Going by the BCCI plans to make it big in US, this academy provided the right platform for the kids to learn and train for competetive cricket.

http://www.calcricket.org/

Mayhem in Motera

Is this the T20 version of test cricket or what? 2nd lowest total in India by india.Lets see how much shame we end with.. Can't belive first innings over in 2 hours on day 1.

Grass is for Bovine species

Its only half hour into the 2nd test and india are 4 down for nothing much on the board, and culprit seems to be a little bit of grass on the pitch. seems like indian's follow the dictum "grass is for cow's" very seriously.

This test is heading for a result.

Blackberry Pearl vs iPhone

Freinds, if anyone has experiance with these 2 handsets , please share. Thanks in Advance.:)

Final Course :)

Butcher of Najafgadh is serving choicest of meat steaks, dry roasted in chennai heat, starters have been too tempting ,waiting for the final course tonight. :)

What batting !!!

Meaningfull Cinema

Today when Cinema's only purpose is turning out to be entertainment, there are still few people who use it as a medium for social service . The movie "Angels for the Dead" is one such effort which is produced by Shlokaa , Inc (http://www.shlokaa.com) It deals with not so pleasent but a fact that many people in India don't even get a proper burial after death . Its a true story of one such Individual based out of Delhi who has taken it as a purpose of his life and touchingly told by the Shlokaa team. Shlokaa is company started by Kartik Subrmanian, with focus in advertisement and movie making.

Some of his body of work.

http://www.orkut.com/FavoriteVideoView.aspx?uid=2698342393320851470&ad=1171626138

http://www.orkut.com/FavoriteVideoView.aspx?uid=2698342393320851470&ad=1195717769

Recent Coverage in National Media

http://www.orkut.com/FavoriteVideoView.aspx?uid=2698342393320851470&ad=1205651533

http://www.orkut.com/FavoriteVideoView.aspx?uid=2698342393320851470&ad=1205651539

Simple Gameplan

Joel Garner was Bardados captain, and this was his simple game plan . too hilarious .Comment from Derek Pringle.

When you were as good as him there was no need to worry about the small details, as his masterplan when captaining Barbados in 1986 revealed. "It's quite simple. Me and Macko [Marshall] open the bowling and nip out the top order. We have a rest and the other bowlers come on and keep it tight. Then me and Macko come on and blast out the tail. We have a bat, get a hundred lead and bowl them out again."

Upcoming Book

This will be interesting . My Country, My Life - Lk Advani

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/282858.html

Excellent Book

Art of Captaincy - by Mike Brearly. I have a copy in case anyone wants to read :)

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/340856.html

Power of simplicity

Great Article. also posted on cricinfo.

http://tehelka.com/story_main38.asp?filename=Ne220308the_triumph.asp

Starting a new blog for recipe's

Freinds,

I will be doing some cleaning up of my blogsite and will be moving all recipe's to
http://jaayka.blogspot.com/

Shashi

Chaar Panktiyan

Presenting to you some lines. Did not use Devanagri script deliberately, as I guess English is considered more Indian than our national language Hindi . Tragic !!but it's true .We indian's accept everything which doesn't orginate in India , but descrimate whatever has been passed on from aeon by our great Civilization.

These four lines are part of poem tittled - Kyon ? Its question to all of us .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hazaron Saal ki Ghulami, Fir bhi na kuch seekhe Itihas se , Kyon ?

Kabhi Bhasha, Kabhi Jaat, Kabhi Prant aur kuch bhi na mile to agdapan aur pichdapan par ek dusre se bhed bhao, Kyoon ?

"Baanto Aur Raj Karo " , Angrezoon ne jo beej boya, usko hum apnoon ke khun se seeche ja rahe hain, kyon ?

Ananant kaal se chale aa rahi sabhyata, par aaj usko apne Astitva ki Talash hai kyon ?

Is there hope beyond hope?

Very Recently a Indian POW got released from Pakistan Jail after 35 years in Jail and getting close to executed couple of times. While we may treat this as any other news , it will be worth remembering what this person must have gone through in last 35 years and what must be going on in his mind at the time of release ? will his family will recognise him, will he recognise his family , what if no one owns him ? What if no one from his family is even there. This may be some of the few questions. A very tragic but interesting case .

Salute to those POW and there families who are still in foreign Jails for aeon's but are still hoping everyday that some day they will be free and able to see there husband , kids, wife ,parents and all near and dear one.

On a different note, how easy will be for these released POW to adjust to new life ? . A similar scene was well captured in the movie on " Shwasank Redemption" where the old librarian got released from prison after 30+ year but he was so used to prison life that he couldn't adjust in outside world and committed suicide.

Hope someday some one makes a "Shwasank " equivalent for these Indian POW . There has been many try by Indian movie maker's but none has been as well researched and made like the original.

Singh is King

Seems like Sikh Guru Govind Singh's words has come true " One sikh is enough for all enemies " . Amazing display under pressure and provocation by Harbhjan singh, i don't remember when was the last time an individual has stood against entire cricketing establishment against Australia on there own soil and come out flying colours. The more they went after him more determined he became,, and the bowling in the two finals has been of the highest level. Salute to Harbhajan for never bending , never compromising , he truly represented the sprit of new Indian Cricket Team and more genericaly a new India, which fears no one and is proud of itself.

At the time when politicians are trying to divide the country for there personal gains on every little bias possible , its refreshing to see a united Indian Team standing behind each other in toughest of time. This is the true face of modern India . A ideal blend of pride , self respect and fearlessness


This is India's century in every field, only if we remain united, and look no further then cricket team for inspiration.

I truly belive Australia's days as megalomaniac superpower is gone and new world order comes out in which a billion people find there respectful place.

Lets celebrate a new begining :)

Have we Learned Lessons from our painful History ?

A brilliant Article, I have just copied and pasted from the original author , Retd General from Indian Army.

I have been thinking of putting words to my thoughts but have been delaying for long, and then i found this article which made it easier.


A great article which illustrate how we have't learned from history and why because of our internal divisions we have been ruled by external foreces for 1000 years. Are we "Just" Indian or a representative of a cast, place or race.

Something to ponder on..
--------------------------------------------------------

By and large Indians have always lacked an understanding of the concept of sovereignty. Therein lie the roots of our slavery by foreign rulers for over 1,000 years. These foreigners all came for plunder or trade, but stayed on to rule and earned the right to call themselves Indians. All the while the local kingdoms squabbled between themselves and myopically called for foreign help to overcome their adversaries.
The concept of sovereignty calls for a thorough understanding of national interests and goals; developing means (especially economic strength) and infrastructure to achieve them; fair and just rule of law; and military muscle along with a willingness to use it when necessary. Care also has to be taken to ensure that pragmatism and practicality prevail in all national policies, or else sovereignty can never be sustained.
The great Shivaji understood the concept of sovereignty perfectly well and was therefore able to create an empire out of nothing, surrounded by enemies on all sides. The British creation of 'protectorates' and 'buffer states' for the defence of India too developed because of this concept, and the lack of resources, especially manpower, with Great Britain to conquer, control, and administer every small or big state bordering India. Economically and administratively, it was not viable to expand the borders of the empire thoughtlessly over unproductive terrain.
The India-China-Tibet treaties of the British days were thus created according to the British defence concept to guard and expand their empire, and deliberately kept vague. The British had the military muscle to remain flexible in philosophy and enforce whatever they thought was best in their interests at any given time.
But after Independence, in spite of the British understanding with Tibet and the willingness of the Tibetan authorities to expand that understanding to let India help them keep their country safe from external aggression (they only had China to fear), we did nothing.
On the other hand, a year after the People's Republic of China was declared in 1949, the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet and made it a province of their country.
That is foresight and quick action. They acted when the time was ripe and before anyone else could react. They knew exactly what their country's goal was and secured it. Sadly, Tibet has become an abandoned land since, and its well-developed, proud culture is on the wane in full sight of the world due to deliberate design and effort, often accompanied with brutal repression.
Sardar Patel was constrained to state in writing to Nehru that the Tibetans had reposed their trust in and looked up to us to protect them, but we had let them down. India could have entered into a treaty with Tibet and taken over the defence - and, perhaps, foreign affairs -- of Tibet in return for expenses while the Communists under Mao Zedong were busy fighting the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek, whose defeat appeared imminent. The US of those days would have given any amount of military aid to contain the Russia-China Communist axis, so obsessive with pathological hatred for Communism were they at the time.
That would certainly have created conditions for a serious confrontation with the Chinese in future, but with American help we could have prepared for that eventuality.
As for our leaders then, only Sardar Patel had some understanding of the concept of sovereignty. Nehru always displayed an abject lack of it. Examples are galore, right from the time of Partition.
His refusal to accept the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir on September 19, 1947, when it was originally offered by Maharaja Hari Singh, a good five weeks before the invasion of his state by Pakistan. Had the accession been accepted then, the entire state would have been ours. The Pakistan of those days would never have dared attack India, so superior was our military strength on account of the division of the armed forces on religious lines.
Later, Nehru practically surrendered our sovereignty when he invited Lord Louis Mountbatten, the governor general, to preside over and chair the meetings of his own Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Defence on matters regarding the accession and the military action after Pakistan invaded Jammu and Kashmir. Mountbatten, basically a servant of the British Crown, did his best to delay the decisions.
Worse, as India started winning the war and liberating parts of north Kashmir, Nehru inexplicably (most likely under the strong influence of Mountbatten and his wife, who shaped much of his thinking in those days) declared a 'ceasefire' and stopped our victorious army dead in its tracks before it could liberate the entire state. He declared the ceasefire arbitrarily, without consulting his full Cabinet, the Constituent Assembly (as Parliament was then known), his military commanders, or the maharaja/prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Nehru was the architect of Article 370, with which he burdened India to placate a hurt Sheikh Abdullah.
The Chinese occupation of Tibet should have forced a reassessment of the threat to India. After they enforced their suzerainty on Tibet in 1951, the threat deserved greater attention. But when General K M Cariappa met Nehru to discuss the defence of the North East Frontier Agency, he was bluntly told to mind only Kashmir and Pakistan as his concerns for defence and leave China to the politicians and the diplomats.
As Lieutenant General S P P Thorat recounts in his autobiography 'From Reveille to Retreat', "When [in 1959] I, as GoC-in-C Eastern Command, met Menon in Delhi, I opened the subject [of defence against the Chinese] with him. In his usually sarcastic style he said that there would be no war between India and China and [if there was] he was quite capable of fighting it himself at the diplomatic level."
Nehru learnt no lessons from the war in Kashmir. Practicality always took a back seat in his mind, which was dominated by idealism. He went on emotionally in his rhetoric of 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai', all the while considering himself a superior international statesman and India an elder brother of China.
He was proudly going around as the unchallenged leader of the Third World. He failed to realise that the Chinese leaders had begun to resent his approach and his manner of dealing with them, that as per them China was the natural leader of the Third World, that the initial bond of personal friendship he had formed with the Chinese leaders was not strong enough to withstand this strain, and that personal relations can never score over vital national interests in any case. Countries fight wars when their vital interests are threatened. Nehru and Krishna Menon failed to understand this.
Nehru's rigidity on the border issue, his insistence on Chinese withdrawal before border talks could begin, his grant of political asylum to the Dalai Lama and permission to him to establish a Tibetan government-in-exile (an act that created conditions for a future invasion of Tibet by India or outside powers through India to restore the Dalai Lama's rule, if desired), the hostile Indian press on the question of the occupation of Tibet, and Nehru's increasingly aggressive statements on the border made the Chinese believe he had become a tool in the hands of the Anglo-American imperialists.
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was maintaining a friendly posture, but he had practically begun to hate Nehru, as is clear from the text of his conversations with US President Richard Nixon in 1972, now made public. There were possibly some outward signs of this and some hints were dropped, but Nehru was blind to them. The Chinese, basically secretive in nature, were also not very open about their ill feelings.
The Chinese also knew that India was unprepared for a high-altitude war, and there was no imperial power behind her with any ready plan to enter Tibet. Since the Indian threat was unreal, punishing Nehru must have been the only, or a major, motive for their attacks.
Nehru continued with his blind love for socialism and an oppressed sister nation. Zhou and his generals were invited for many military functions like the passing out parade of the National Defence Academy, firepower demonstration/exercises by the army, and even visits to the various military establishments like the Defence Services Staff College and the College of Combat, Mhow. Zhou embraced the young cadets passing out then with affection, but had no qualms in butchering them when they were guarding our borders in 1962 as young officers.
The Chinese premier and his generals went all round India visiting our industrial and military establishments, observing, learning and preparing for an eventuality (or planning for a showdown?), while we enjoyed our reverie. The example of one firepower demonstration in 1956 arranged by none other than General B M Kaul stands out.
"The firepower demonstration went off admirably well. It had to; we had practised it for months. A Chinese general who was sitting next to General B M Kaul found it a bit too difficult to swallow and asked General Kaul whether it would be possible to achieve in actual battle conditions, the kind of concentration of fire then observed during the demonstration.
"Instead of answering that question directly, General Kaul went into the mechanics of strategy and tactics vis-à-vis firepower concentration. The Chinese military delegation on their return journey said to the Burmese in Rangoon that the senior officers of the Indian Army were 'chair-borne' soldiers," says Captain C L Datta, who was ADC to Presidents Rajendra Prasad and S Radhakrishnan, in his book With Two Presidents.
When Gen Kaul evacuated his forces from NEFA in 1962, the opposing Chinese general was the same one who had sat next to him during the demonstration and asked him that question!
Nehru took it upon himself to prop up China and take up their cause at every possible international forum, at times without even any specific request from them. But that earned him little or no gratitude.

If China was a friendly country and its claim on Tibet was acceptable to us, where was the question of granting the Dalai Lama and his entourage asylum in India to establish and run a parallel government? We even posted a foreign ministry officer to Dharamsala to represent India in the durbar of the Dalai Lama. If we believed in the justness of the Chinese claim over Tibet, then the maximum we should have done was granted asylum to the Dalai Lama with a small entourage (not thousands of followers) on humanitarian grounds, but permitted no political activities.
Alternatively, we could have objected to the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1950, albeit in soft, diplomatic language, insisted on retaining our mission in Lhasa as per the 1906 convention with Tibet and agreed to and ratified by China; protested when they forced Tibet to surrender its sovereignty and permitted it to maintain only regional self-governance in 1951, and in 1956 when they began to deny them self-governance, eventually forcing the Dalai Lama to flee. Granting political asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 would then have been justified. As a result, the Chinese would have certainly remained hostile to us on this point, but respected us for what we are.
Instead, in 1955, while relinquishing the rights and privileges India had enjoyed in Tibet from the times of Colonel Younghusband's expedition in 1904, Nehru declared: "Free India has no wish to continue with any imperialistic rights or privileges."
India as a nation itself was an imperialistic creation. India's borders, including the addition of the state of Greater Assam to the Union, were a British creation. If we rejected our rights in Tibet as an imperialistic creation, what rightful claim had we on the borders fixed in accordance with British expansionism? But without the military might to back it up, Nehru did exactly that.
India, under Nehru, was an antithesis of most of the theories he applied in governance. Taking advantage of the British imperial legacy when it suited us while otherwise denouncing it roundly, we managed to lose all the respect China had for us, to be replaced by contempt. Which made it easier for them to ambush and capture or kill our patrols and take punitive action against us in 1962.
In retrospect, it can be said that Nehru's greatness and his many sterling qualities eventually came to naught on account of his lack of understanding of the concept of sovereignty in general and national interest in particular. He failed to fix the national goal. His hatred of imperialism and love for democracy mixed with socialist leanings and the prime ministerial responsibility that demanded pragmatism and cold national interest left him confused and irresolute.
Nehru, therefore, knew not where our borders should be fixed, or why. Yet, after Independence, he went on to fix India's northern and northeastern borders, left undemarcated by the British, on his own, without consulting China, leave alone getting them to agree.
The principle he followed was arbitrary, perhaps not always unjustified or unfair, but possibly wrong in places, and certainly disputable in many places. That often led to vague and irrational diplomatic arguments during talks with China or postponement of negotiations. His vacillating mind didn't stand him well against energetic and radical leaders like Mao and Zhou, both of whom were very clear about the concept of sovereignty.