Foooooooooooooooooooood....

I am a self-confessed foodie.. I mean, whats there to go wrong with it? It tastes good, it satisfies your hunger... now if only I could coax my body into metabolizing it quicker...

Came across this link and it fills me with nostalgia... the in-numerous trips with amma to Sadguru's pav-bhaji (where she thought me how to hold the pav in the right hand, a spoonful of bhaji in the left and put them in your mouth together... thus making sure I dont dip the pav in a small quantity of bhaji and feel satisfied with my two pavs..), daabeli and vadapav with friends... kulfi late into the night...its not even a list but it goes on and on...

So when I came across this link, I just had to share it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8470603.stm


Nothing, squat nothing outside India has come even remotely close to the food on the streets back home.

Yet another reason why I can't wait to return...

Bon Apetit...

Music sans borders

I always had a difference of opinion with a couple of my real good music-knowledge buddies (http://twitter.com/ajitonline and http://abinavk.blogspot.com/) that I don't share the same passion as them for music whose lyrics I can't fathom. They always insisted that true music crosses barriers of language.. but for me, it always sounded better when I understood the meaning of the lyrics.. Of course there have been the occasional barrier-breakers like Shankarabharanam but the latest one to catch my ear, so to speak is Coke Studio. Its a pretty novel concept by a Pakistani to bring different artistes and do a jam-session fusing their different styles of presenting music.

Here's an interesting write-up on Coke Studio's effect on Indo-Pak discussion which happen on Youtube, and are not always polite...

A couple of good tracks I like thus far..

A picture can speak a thousand words

Courtesy Mid-Day Mumbai...

http://www.mid-day.com/gallery/image-of-the-day/archives/25coco/

The future of Bikes

I can almost feel it saying.. "Rishte mein hum tumhare baap lagte hain.. nam hai BlackTrail"

In a world which started with Rs.16/min for a cell phone call in mid 90s ti Re. 0.01/min (Cant wait for the new Rupee symbol to be integrated into keyboards), who knows what these babies would cost a few years from now..

Friendship....

I know its been some time,
and in your friendship line,
many have overtaken me.
Yet I can clearly see,
in my heart,close or apart,
my friendship begins with you,
and for yours, I will always be the start.

Letter to the Mid-day editor

This is the letter I shot off to the editor of the mid-day newspaper after seeing a pic of a dead foetus on their homepage online.

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN:

This is to inform you that I find it extremely extremely offensive that a reputed print-media organization like Mid-day had the blatant audacity to print the picture of a dead foetus found on the roadside on their homepage on the web edition of your newspaper.

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUSLY UNACCEPTABLE.

The freedom of press and how it is being 'used' in India is very well noticed by the common man. But what this incident goes to show is how callous the attitude has become when it comes to any sort of censorship towards what is shown to the public at large. If in case you do not know, let me reiterate that the reader demographic of your 'newspaper' includes young children. And be it whatever age, seeing something like this without a disclaimer notice is simply not done.

As a common man reading your articles, and one voice in a billion, I may not even create a blip on your radar, but as a citizen, and a concerned one at that, I demand a full apology from your publishers for this insensitive piece of photo-journalism.

Shame on you Mid-day!!

- Karthik Neelakantan, an Indian.


I would be surprised to get any response.. but this was the only way for me to vent my true feelings...

Waaah....

They say great things come in small packages...


Short piece, but the interlude when the violinist enters at 3:19 and the addition of the percussionists at the end make this one of my post favourite carnatic cpieces ever to listen to...

The power of nature

Just listen to it... sometimes, silence can speak louder than words.... I let the wind do the talking.

At 282 feet below sea-level, you are where you let nature be itself.. you do not mess around with it...

Let us take care of our Earth, lest she unleashes her fury on us for not giving the required respect..

Back.... but maybe a little different?

I may have been inactive in terms of ranting about various issues that strike a chord within me, but rest assured, there was no dearth of things for me to observe, assimilate, cherish and share. In these times of tweets and 150 character micro-blogs, I realized I don't need a full-blown 500 word blog everytime I want to put something out there.. So I have decided to use this existing forum that I have into a medium of sharing... something quick, something not-too-loud, just a pic, or a clip, or a line I might have read somewhere...

So here goes, I start off with my favourite subject... home - India.. For all the lumps it forms in my throat, I enjoy reading and listening to every minute details that grabs my attention. This link was forwarded to me by a friend, one that I am just too grateful for. TED is a wonderful medium of inspiration, personally.

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge | Video on TED.com