Story of my fathers - survival

Karayal - north India pulses recipe

Karayal is a north Indian recipe with pulses (moong dal) as primary ingredient. My mom made it today - I had it today after 12+ years. Here is the recipe, both for my memory and your information. For 4 people, 2 cups moong dal pulses with green skin Haram masala Heing or asafoetida Green chillies - 2 chillies Ginger 1 inch piece Oil Turmeric Coriander powder Soak moong dal for a night. Grind the soaked moong dal with green chillies and ginger to fine paste. Add a little asafoetida during grinding. Take 1/3 of the paste out in a bowl. Airate this portion of the paste by stirring vigorousely. Once airated, the paste should float on water. Heat oil to the point it begins to smoke - put airated paste in small amount in the heated oil to fry it. Wait until it gets brown to take it out. Keep all the fried chunks of the paste. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and put half a spoon of turmeric and little asafoetida in it. Immediately pour rest of the paste into the pan and pour 4 times volume water. Add coriander 1 tablespoon and half tablespoon garam masala. Add salt to taste. Keep stirring until the solution turns a little green usually 10- 15 min. Add fried paste in the en and keep at very low temperature for 5 mins.

Some psyvhology into our everyday behavior

Today I went with my brother for a nature walk. My brother comes for a few weeks every few months away from the hustle bustle of his CEO existence to be with the family and enjoy the quiteness of USA. On our walt, I was constantly talking about one or other things. At the end of our small walk, we came to small cottage where my brother stopped me and commented that I have a rather restless existence these days. It is almost as I am not in the moment and somewhere else, solving issuees, worrying about things not done or bragging about new devices/knowledge etc. It was sharp insight in my state of being and thought process. Not pleasant but true. He further commented that he has gone through the same, and had some learnings from movie "dead poets society". In the movie, some poets meet in a cave to share poem among a tightly knit community and kept the poems within their group. He said that before telling everyone about new knowledge and stuff, we should keep it to ourselves for a certain period of time. Slowly we loose interest in most of that information, what remains is the true things we are interested in. When we restrain ourself from instantly sharing every worry or brag about every excitement to the person next to us, we do not victims of people expectations and drive our lives ourself. To illustrate the above point, he gave the example of one experiment by students of a psychology class. Students frowned when the teached wrote on the left side and looked pleased when teached wrote on the right side. In few days, the teacher was conducting most of the class writing right side of the blackboard. The feedback of the student has subconciousely changed the behavior of the teacher. This is how our behavior is changed by the feedback of people we surround ourselve with. We constantly seek feedback from others subconciousely and if we are not watchful of our thought process or define who weinteract with, we change ourselves.

Roller coaster day

Today was roller coaster ride but does not seem so. Woke up to find that son had a pink eye. I was worried. I used to be a carefree sort of person before I became father. All the events of last day passed in front of my eyes to see which one might have caused pink eyes. But later realized that it was conjectivitus virus. Only thing is we have to be careful that none of us adults get it otherwise the virus will make rounds in the family. Day was dull. It is sping vacation time in schools and thus, ideal time for parents to take week off for vacation from work. Same thing in Taiwan, so we end up with no meetings or low attendance in meeting. I came home to find that son's eyes are not so pink anymore - sign that everything is getting better. Thankfully none of us has got conjectivitus. But the good thing was yet to come. It was interview day for my wife, who is searching for work from home position. Today's interview went well, but another interview few days ago brought some good news. She got in. She was so happy after almost three months of no work. Work is amazing thing. It not only provides financial support but also imparts self-confidence and self-worth to a person. Some people with kids tell us that with two kids spending on day- care almost equals to one parents salary. So it makes more sense to not send kids days- care. Instead one of the parents take care of the kids. We do not agree with this logic because the monitory benefits is not the only benefit job provides. Besides there are other things such as kids with other kids in day care learn more than being with a parents alone at home.

Harvard business review and economist

For many days I am in search of insightful content in articles. In news, I am looking not so much for unbiased news, though it would be nice, as looking for a complete picture. News from all over the world and news from many different sources. This desire came into being when I watched Ahmadinejad speech on Singapore news channel in my recent visit to Taiwan. I have to admit that after so many years listening Ahmadinejad demonized in American media, I imagined him as a fanatic with no capacity of rational thinking. No wonder it was quite a surprise to see him talk logically. On my return to USA I opened a google reader account and added rss from news from different parts of world. I discovered some good news sources - al jazeera, Asia news network. Other than news, I also rediscovered other good sources. Economist is at the top of my list for being the most complete international and in-depth news, however, judging from it content from India (I am an Indian and so understand the content biasedness), I feel it is a little Americanized. Harvard business review is just amazing for its realistic content. In my brother's words "no bullshit" content. As an example, there are articles on such cliche and everyday questions "should one follow one's dream and money will follow?" but analysis and recommendation is not everyday and ordinary.

Actions cure fear

Karayal is a north Indian recipe with pulses (moong dal) as primary ingredient. My mom made it today - I had it today after 12+ years. Here is the recipe, both for my memory and your information. For 4 people, 2 cups moong dal pulses with green skin Haram masala Heing or asafoetida Green chillies - 2 chillies Ginger 1 inch piece Oil Turmeric Coriander powder Soak moong dal for a night. Grind the soaked moong dal with green chillies and ginger to fine paste. Add a little asafoetida during grinding. Take 1/3 of the paste out in a bowl. Airate this portion of the paste by stirring vigorousely. Once airated, the paste should float on water. Heat oil to the point it begins to smoke - put airated paste in small amount in the heated oil to fry it. Wait until it gets brown to take it out. Keep all the fried chunks of the paste. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and put half a spoon of turmeric and little asafoetida in it. Immediately pour rest of the paste into the pan and pour 4 times volume water. Add coriander 1 tablespoon and half tablespoon garam masala. Add salt to taste. Keep stirring until the solution turns a little green usually 10- 15 min. Add fried paste in the en and keep at very low temperature for 5 mins.

love is beautiful

I was listening to Kafi Azmi - father of Sabana Azmi but known in his own accord. A great urdu poet, many beautiful bollywood songs are written by Kafi Azmi in the year when songs were still meaningful.

Kafi Azmi is a muslim and understandably must have felt the pinch of Babri demolition. I will be honest that I was happy with the Babri Demolition at the time and can not pretend to make peace with it even now, though, my views are subdued. I think it would be foolish to correct all wrongs of the history and certainly, Babri demolition was such a stupidity in its extreme form.

Today I stumbled on one of Kafi's recitation on the Babri Demolition where he expressed his disappointment and bitterness. Two things that came to my mind - somehow, poets, painter, actors, sportsman in my mind are above and beyond the political nonsense (though they certainly might not be). And when a person of such a high standing speaks his/her bitterness about a petty political drama, it feels like king in a brawl in the street. Result is lowering of status of that person in my mind - sort of a feeling when you came to know that Obama is one of you. The respect is lowered and mystery and aura is diminished.





Second thing is about love. Love is beautiful to hear while complaint is not. It just makes it all unromantic. Even when it is about the real bitterness and frustation. Someone posted a video of a sardar who loved Urdu language in the comment section of Kaifi Azmi video. Maybe that guy wanted to point to absorb some love than looking for negativity in Kaifi's poem. Kaifi is a great poet but I loved the love of the Sardar.

इश्क हो जाये किसी से कोई चारा तो नहीं
सिर्फ मुस्लिम का मुहम्मद पे इजारा तो नहीं

Flying Cars

Slashdot is running a story on Flying Cars. By now, I have seen many different versions of these cars, the below one seems to be interesting and cheap but then do not know how practical it is for urban take off and landing. I am so curious to see a flying car suitable for 200 miles travel.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/meet-the-maverick-the-only-fully-legal-flying-car/5585

Nomad - Poem

On a trip to Taiwan, I had a strange euphoria. The feeling that no one knows me makes me very comfortable and free. In normal circumstances, a foreign place and new language would unsettle most of us. Perhaps, I find myself free since there are no expectations of being somewhere or doing something. In other words, I have no routine for me, no set pattern for the day. Or maybe, anonymity sets me free - I can do whatever i want to do and no one is watching me.

भटकता बंजारा सा मन
जब दुनिया देखकर, घर आता है,
दुनिया नहीं पाता ।
इस दौड़ भाग में, मैं समय तो भूल ही गया ।
भूल ही गया,
की मेरे गाँव की गलियां,
मेरा स्कूल,
मेरा बगीचा,
अब मेरे बस मन में बसता है ।

We go back to places we were born with expectation that we would find stuff of our memories. But everything has moved on. Our time and our stuff only lives in our memories.

रुके कहीं पर,
तो मर जायेंगे ।
चूंकि संसार का नियम नहीं है, रुकना ।
चले तो भी,
मर जायेंगे,
इस धरती के बिना।
जाये तो जाये कहाँ ?

Bati or Litti Chokha - a healthy bihari - indian recipe

Made Litti Chokha - very healthy food. This is a bihari recipe. During my bachelors, some of the weeks I used to have litti chokha everyday. There were a few bihari stalls that used to sell awesome litti chokha at BHU gate. Litti chokha is a very healthy food - no fried stuff, just boiled vegetables with small amount of oil. I remember my stomach used to be so much in order after litti chokha nights. Check out the video here, if interested -

Zaphyr - Paulo Cohelo and Books on iPad

Want to change inputs - books instead of ipad. I realize that reading paper books is more effective and fun than doing so on iPad because it is very easy switch to other activities on iPad such as watching youtube or reading magazine.

Discovered that I love management case studies. Case studies, to me, are small revelations. I see changes in the product offerings of companies but have no information on what triggered those change. Case studies are insight in these changes and are real stories that I love to hear. I have ordered a case studies compilation from Amazon.

Very impressed with Paulo Cohelo's Zaphyr. Book is a journey on self-discovery. Here are some random excerpts from the book -

1- The story we have been told is that all men can always get an erection. When he can't, the man fells useless, and the woman is convinced she is not attractive enough to arouse him. Its taboo and so man doesn't talk about it to his friend. And tell the woman the old lie "its never happened to me before"...... If he had trusted more in the love of his friends, if he had told the truth, he would have found out that he wasn't the only one. If he had trusted more in the love of the woman, he would not have felt humiliated. p81

2. The master had a buffalo. The animal's widespread horns made him think that if he could manage to sit between them, it would be like sitting on a throne. One day, when the animal was distracted, he climbed up between the horns and did just that. The buffalo, however, immediately lumbered to its feet and threw him off. When his wife saw this, she began to cry. "Don't cry" said the master, once he had recovered. "I may have suffered, but I also realized my dreams".p85

3. I went to the train station today and learned that the distance between the tracks is always 143.5 cm or 4 feet 81/2 inches. Why this absurd measurement? I asked my girlfriend to find out and this is what she discovered. When they build the first train carriage, they used the same tools as they had for building horse-drawn carriages. And why that distance between the wheels of the carriage? Because that was the width of the old road, the carriage had to travel. And who decided that roads should be that width? Well, it was decided by the war chariots width, that were pulled by two horses, placed side by side took 143.5 cm space.

So the distance of our state of the art tracks is determined by the war chariots used by Romans....

What this discussion has anything to do with marriage.... It has everything to do with marriage. At some point in history, someone turned up and said: when two people get married, they must stay frozen like that for the rest of their lives. You will move along side by side like two tracks, keeping always the same distance apart. Even if sometimes one of you needs to be a little farther away or a little closer, that is against the rules.p118

4. We chose to stay outside, outside a world that is fast collapsing, outside people who live in constant fear of losing something, who walk along the street as if everything was fine, when, in fact, everything is bad, very bad indeed! Don't you beg too?Don't you ask from your boss to pay the owner of your apartment? p167

5. Accumulated knowledge is useful when it comes to cooking or living within your means or....Do you believe that your past love has taught you to love better. No on the contrary, in order to surrender myself to him, I had to forget the scars left by other men. p178

6. The teacher of the archery says that no shots could be repeated, and there is no point trying to learn good shots or bad shots. What matters is repeating it hundreds and thousands of times, until we have freed ourselves from the idea of hitting the target and have ourselves become the arrow, the bow, the target. At that moment, the energy of "thing" guides our movements and then we begin to release the arrow not when we want to, but when the "thing" believes the moment has come. p205