events
Four Seasons Wine – A Live Cookout @ Royal Orchid
When I got the invite for a live cooking event organised by Four Seasons Wine, the foodie in me got excited. When you have live cooking, wine pairing and have some wonderful bloggers around on a Sunday noon, you know it is going to be a laid back and engaging noon and it turned out to be one king of good times! After all it has to be since Four Seasons Wine is part of UB group.
So last sunday myself and my partner-in-wine-and-dine, Sanjiv managed to push our lazybones to arrive at the venue at Royal Orchids Hotel. That the event was being held at the roof top with a good city view and a pool on the side cheered our senses much before the wines and food set in and the warm Bangalore weather was perfect for such lazy noon.
Shamita Singha, Ex-Miss India-Miss Earth and brand ambassador of Four Seasons Wine kickstarted the event with a brief wine talk that included introduction to Four Seasons Wine, various wines in their portfolio and briefly delving into food and wine pairing. Unlike some other celebrity brand ambassadors this lady sure knows what she talks and was quiet engaging in her informal talk.
The ‘chaiwala’ duo with Shamita…
Then it was time for Shamita to leave us with the Master chef to engage in live cooking. From Thai Veg curry based on pea aubergine to grills and chicken breast barbeques, the open air kitchen was engaging and fun activity. Few of us even got our hands on cooking under the chef’s hawk eyes and all was fun with wine, food and talk!
Overall it was a wonderful noon with loads of fun, food and wine amidst endless talks! And my pick of the wine? Four Seasons’s Sauvignon Blanc.
Check out some of the pictures shot during the event.
Festive Season Arrives
India is a land of celebration . Being a melting pot of various cultures , communities , religion, languages , regional variations we have festivals throughout the year.
The next season of festival is just around .I will post an exclusive post on each festivals as and when they arrive .
So what all queued up for the rest of the year ?
Raksha Bandhan – August 5 , 2009 Wednesday.
The celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters.
Sri Krishna Janmashtami – August 14 , 2009 Friday.
One of my favorite festival celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna.
Independence day – August 15 , 2009 Saturday.
Its equally important day for me as other religious celebration. The celebration of our freedom.
Ganesh Chaturthi – August 23 , 2009 Sunday.
The festival seeking the blessing of Lord Ganesh , the most creatively expressive God in my viewpoint. Will post an article soon on this artist’s favorite God.
Onam – September 2 , 2009 Wednesday.
The major festival of Malayali Hindus.
My native being on the border of Kerala state , we too celebrate the festival.
Navaratri – September 19 , 2009 Saturday.
The nine day festival begins.
Read >> Dussera celebrations
Dussera – September 28 , Monday
The end of the nine day grand celebration.
Karva Chauth – October 8 , 2009 Thursday.
My better half being a north India , I have a new addition to the festival list in our home !
Diwali – October 17 , 2009 Saturday.
The celebration of light and good vs bad .
Read >> Diwali Dhamaka memories
Bhai Duj – October 19 , Monday.
Again thanks to my better half , this south Indian is introduced to the north Indian celebration !
Guru Nanak Jayanthi – November 2 , 2009 Monday.
The birthday of Guru Nanak , the founder of Sikhism.
Well the list ends here for me. Of course , there are Ramzan , Christmas and also some festivals unique to certain parts of the country.
Let the festive season brings smile , joy , wellness and goodness in mind , thoughts and well being of everyone !
Poltergeist mystery haunts a girl
There was an interesting article in Deccan herald newspaper a couple of days ago that set my thoughts again on the mysteries of life .
The story reported the trials and tribulations that a 12 year old girl Julie Baitha faces almost every other day. The mystery in this case is over the past two and a half years , most of her shoes , books , clothes , slippers are torn into shreds under mysteriously circumstances. Who does it ? what does it ? Why it happens ? how it happens ? There is no answer to it but just to label it under the term supernatural occurrences.
Her family is puzzled and not to mention the trauma the girl goes through. Initially , the parents thought it was a mischief of the girl and they scolded her . When the girl pleaded her innocence , they had safely kept the clothes into a box only to find later that part of them had been torn into shreds . Since then the trauma and the mystery continues now and then , with her clothes , books , stationary items all been torn into shreds.
Talk about life , universe and its unexplained mysteries !
Apparently Julia Baitha is not an isolated case . There have been incidence of such mysterious supernatural stories from various parts of the world in various communities and cultures. Events we have no scientific answers to explain. Theist may attribute it to ghosts , Satan or God. Atheist may try their best to give a scientific reason to it but then deep inside i bet must be left scratching their head . Science is yet to catch up with lots of things in our life and universe ! Agree ?
Source > Deccan herald
Poltergeist :
Such supernatural events has been denoted by the term poltergeist. The term is derived from German poltern, meaning to rumble or make noise, and Geist, meaning "ghost” or "spirit" . As the derivations implies , people thought such phenomenon are the handiwork of “ghosts” .
While some section of people believe that this mysterious physical disturbances are caused unknowingly and unconsciously by the mental forces of the people involved in this phenomenon. ( like Julia Baitha in the story mentioned in the beginning ) The mental mechanism that allows the poltergeist agent to unconsciously cause these physical disturbances is called psychokinesis.
Some interesting patterns and points noted in the poltergeist studies are :
- Most phenomenon generally lasts few weeks and some as long as 18 months. There are instances of rare lengthy cases too.
- Most of the agents or the people associated with this phenomenon experience it during their adolescence stage. Age range being 12 or 13 to early 20’s . This gives a school of thought associating the occurrences to the mental disturbances or flare up of mental force during the confused and stressful period of growing life. The age pattern is only a general pattern and there are reported cases of people of older ages involved.
- Some analysts of the psychokinesis have the view point that the patterns found in the disturbances are generally symbolic and can be associated with the unresolved stress experienced by the agent or people associated with the phenomenon. They say , like dreams , the physical disturbances appear as the metaphors to the causes of the stress. For example , anger can be associated with the outbreak of mysterious fire in some cases or breaking objects , appearances of water mysteriously in some cases can be associated with grief (tears) , anger towards some people could be the reason for breaking of objects they like etc.
Whatever the reason it could be , the bottom line is there are many mysteries in this world that remains unexplained. Until we unravel them , world would be divided into theist and atheist camp. Till then it is a stalemate scenario.
So which camp are you in ?
TGIPB : Part 10 – The Fourth Battle
May 7 , 2009
The Great Indian Political Battle
4th phase of Indian General Election .
7 states and National Capital Territory ( Delhi )
85 seats
95 million voters
1,315 candidates
0.13 million polling station
0.6 million polling staffs
All the seats of Delhi , Rajasthan and Haryana and one seat in J & K and part of Punjab , UP , Bihar , and West Bengal goes to poll today.
Key Contestants :
Lalu Prasad Yadav , Mulayam Singh Yadav , Pranab Mukherjee, Rajnath Singh , Farooq Abdullah , Shatrugan sinha , Sachin Pilot .
Interesting battles :
- The fate of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s daughter-in-law , Harsimrat Kaur and son of former CM Amarinder Singh , Raninder Singh will be decided today on a direct fight for family honor in Bhatinda.
- BJP President Rajnath Singh is sweating it out in Ghaziabad , UP . Its important to note that Rajnath Singh has taken a risk by contesting in a constituency not highly favorable to him in caste equation .
Finally , I can Vote !
Reading the title , don’t be misled that I just got eligible to vote ! Though its been many donkey years that I had gone pass the legally eligible voting age of 18 , its only this year I got my name included in the electoral list ! well , better late than never , isn’t it ?
After wasting my right to vote for so many years , I finally decided to be a responsible citizen . So few months back , I went and collected the Form- 6 for including my name in the electoral list. The form was as good as Greek and German for me as it was typed in Kannada language. I kept it aside , hoping to fill it someday with the help of somebody. I totally forgot about it , with many other issues and sub issues and no issues but laziness to blame !
One day , Jaago Re guys woke me up ! Their campaign on net and TV reactivated the ‘responsibility’ gene in me. I logged in to their website and dutifully filled my details as well as my wife’s detail . Thanks to Jaago Re team , 5 minutes of keying in , my Form – 6 was ready and emailed to me ! They had even mentioned the office address where I have to submit it .
So armed with the printed copy of the Form – 6 , I went to the Voters Facilitation
Centre in our area. There were two queues . One long one and another short . I was told the short one is for submitting the new application. 5 minutes wait . My application was submitted. I was happy ! Things went smooth after all . I was told to come after 15 days to check if my name is included or not . Once included , I could get my EPIC ( Electors Photo Identity Card )
I was thrilled that am going to cast my first vote ! Recently in Rajasthan assembly election State PCC president , CP Joshi lost the seat by just one vote so who knows my one vote could be the decisive one too !
Exactly after 15 days , I went to the Voters Facilitation Centre to check if my name is included are not in the list . When I went there , there was one very long queue .. Instead of standing in queue , I went near the counter to see if there is any notice over there that could give me bit of some information . There was to be no information. I was in double mind , should I stand in queue or not . I asked one person , who walked down from the counter , what his submission date is . His was some date earlier to me. I talked to few others and came to know those who submitted before my date of submission only have not got their name included yet in their list . So people stood for many hours only to see , if their name is included or not !!! If only the election commission has made the process easy by putting a notice that applications received till so and so date has been included , things would have been easy and people would not have to wait hours just to be told to come on later date. It could in fact speed up matters for them too. Anyways , I walked back without standing in queue.
I went twice after that only to find still bigger queue. I decided to go on weekend. Two weekends , I slept off . By the time I woke up , there was double bigger queue waiting for me in the centre.
Finally , someone said April 8th is the last date , so I decided I would brave the crowd and check my status . Since they open the counter at 8 , I decided to go by 6:30 only , hoping to beat the queue. By the time I kicked my lazy ass and managed to reach there , it was 7:30 and i was greeted by some 200 people waiting ahead of me ! I cursed myself but then decided to join the patience club. It was one truly secular queue ! With people of all gender, caste , creed , religion and social strata waiting patiently , all for the sake of Indian democracy ! Some sensible ones had bought along newspapers , books , water cans and even tiffin ! Thank God , I carried my earphone so i got hooked to Illayaraja’s tunes stocked in my mobile!
India is the global back office when it comes to ITEs but our government agencies have their own way of providing ‘ prompt ’ services. There were two system to manage the huge queue and they took their own sweet time to process . Finally when my turn came , it was 12:40 noon ! 5 hours in queue ! I never had stood for so long in a queue till date but then I was happy to find out that my name was included in the electoral list and am eligible to cast my vote in this upcoming election !
Then the next issue was to get EPIC . I have to stand again for another 5 hours most probably and with only one more day left . I realized I will skip that anyways it is not mandatory to have EPIC to vote and if the name is included I can always furnish any one of other approved documents . So I decided to collect the EPIC later once the election is over and they restart the EPIC issuance .
I overhead many people complaining about how EC could have simplified the entire process of electoral process. Why others even I had my own share of advices for them to better the working process . But then later I realized , If EC has to be blamed , we public are also to be equally blamed. The whole process of Electoral name inclusion and EPIC is going on for many , many months much before the official election dates were announced. If we had cared to apply then , we could have avoided standing in huge queues ..
Anyways 5 hours of standing and now am armed with my vote power and looking forward to the next queue when I would be standing to cast my vote ! Am I thrilled ? Yes !!!
TGIPB – Part 6 : The Sho(e)cker !
The aim was wrong but the message was loud and clear. For the calm and polite Chidambaram , it was a press meet he would not forget and would be in public memory for a long period and for senior Journalist Jarnail Singh , it was a moment of
The smell of shoe was just a reaction and the original foul play smell started with CBI giving clean chit to Jagadish Tytler and Sajjan kumar in the Anti-Sikh riot of 1984 . What a timing ! With the election round the corner , probably Congress wanted to drive a point that they have untainted hands . It’s an unfortunate fact that CBI is reduced to a mere tool in the hands of ruling governments to twists and turn the facts for their convenience. Even if CBI gave a clean chit , Congress party who claims to be the guardian angel of secularism in India , should not have given LS tickets to Jagadish Tytler and Sajjan kumar , respecting the sentiments of the Sikh population. But does anyone listen ?
I heard some people say “ Pen is mightier than shoe " and what Jarnail Singh did was condemnable . Well , I agree that as a citizen of democratic nation , it was condemnable act but having said that let us also think from the other perspective. How effective would Jarnail Singh would have been , had he wrote an article in news paper condemning the CBI verdict and allowing the two person to contest election ? Few people would have read or even many but it would not have made any difference.
So it required an intentionally misaimed shoe missile to bring the issue to the mainstream and public conscience . Hope congress learnt its lesson and at least mend its mistakes and withdraw the candidature of Jagadish tytler and Sajjan Kumar.
- At the end of the episode , both Chidambaram and Jarnail Singh won my appreciation though . When I say Chidambaram , I meant Chidambaram as a person and not a congress man.
- I really appreciate the way PC regained his composure swiftly and asked the journalist to be evacuated gently. He did not file any complaint and the journalist was freed within one hour .
- Jarnail Singh for the calculated act knowing the risk involved . He did regret his act later saying the issue he raised was right but the method of doing was wrong but he did made his point loud and clear. He is a senior journalist and he did came out as a hero.
Minutes after the incident , I was telling couple of my friends that Akali Dal will grab this opportunity and would offer Jarnail Singh LS seat and they did offered ! Politicians !!
Lallu Dozer :
There was another story that developed few days back , when Lalu prasad yadav joined this election season’s elite “ foot in the mouth club " of politicians gone berserk with mindless talk .
If I were the country’s home minister , and if Varun had sait this , then I would have run a roller over his chest , and thought about the consequences later
- Lalu Pradad Yadav
Well , Mr. Yadav , is their any difference between you and Varun now ? Nah.
Amar Singh’s Googly :
Well , Amar Singh tested a googly on his own party chief Mulayam Singh , when he threatened to quit the party protesting Mulayam’s bias for his rival Azam khan. This outburst came as a surprise for me because I always thought Amar Singh had the remote of Mulayam Singh. That Amar Singh soon made a statement that he would rather leave the world than leave his party is another typical filmy dialogue so typical of our politicians !
Post Indian Idol Vacuum
So finally we have a new Indian Idol and unlike last year, I believe we got a worthy winner in Sourabhee.
I started my first post on Indian Idol series on October 4. It was my first attempt at covering a reality show and it was quiet an experience! It was not easy; believe me, to cover an event that stretches almost 4 months. Facially, it may sound easy that all it takes is to jot down the incidences but it’s not that easy. It takes your time, we have to schedule your activities, be for the show on time and much more things that affects the one’s routine. Anyways, I really enjoyed the coverage. The patronage I got from readers gave me an immense satisfaction. What else could make a writer’s heart fill with joy?!
Now that Indian Idol season is over, what next? Or as the Samsung tag line goes, what is next? The answer is I don’t know. As far as covering another show for couch potato category of my blog, I think will take time. Its not that there is no other show that attracts me now in the idiot box. There is this reality show called “Dance India Dance” in Zee channel. It is quiet an interesting show, with wonderful performers. The judges – Terrence Lewis, Gita kapur and Remo are amazing both as judges as well as trainers of their respective teams! I would have loved to cover the show but since it is mid way, I would not take it up half way through. May be next edition, if it is not clashing with Indian idol! Or may be I would definitely, if God willing, I turn to be one professional blogger!!!
Of course, meanwhile, I will be filling my posts in other categories as usual!!!! Do patronize me, criticize me, throw accolades or brickbats for all my view points but do read!
Take care!
Pub , Pub(lic) and Moral brigade
Their is storm in the peg ! All you pub-hoppers of bangalore beware !
Last one week had been a charged up , it all started with a group of 40 so people barging into a pub in Mangalore , India and thrashing the girls enjoying drinks ! The news and the visuals of the self styled Moral police beating up the young girls was aired to umpteen number by the over excited news hungry media guys . The right wing BJP government buckled under pressure and arrested those involved.
So far so good. Here comes the googly .
The Chief minister of Karnataka on a press meet has announced that pub culture is not our culture and should be banned.
Interesting ! Though am not regular to pubs for couple of years now , It was an intresting news to feed upon !
Someone wrote in a social network platform
PUB-lic might not like it …. BJP is going to lose all its seats from Bengaluru next elections
Elections are round the corner in few months and it will be a real test for Yeddiyurapa , The CM ! This for sure.
Another one quipped
..wonder if tomorrow ban is imposed on Coffee shops like CCD and food shops like KFC and Mc Donalds, saying those are promoting Western culture and the places of romance of young guys and girls
A good point to be noted Mr.CM ! Better decide what to do with this coffee shops and food joints !
Not to be outwitted , The Congress party CM of State of Rajasthan wants to put an end not only pub culture but also , hold your breathe , Mall Culture !!! Yes you read it right , he wants to put an end to Mall culture and says “An onlooker may enjoy watching young boys and girls moving around arm-in-arm but it is not the culture of Rajasthan.”
What is culture ?
Culture is always evolving. Culture changes in time. The culture of India or any part of the world for that matter has not been made in one fine day and remain static after that . Culture is a synthesis of various ideas , thoughts , changes that happen as the society thrives. If a culture is static with no changes , they would eventually die off. So what culture are this self styled moral brigades vouching for ?
Definitely its not the culture of Hindu to beat women. So who will teach this basic culture to the those guys who beat those girls in Mangalore Pub ?
If the CM thinks Pub culture is not our culture , why not he come with a whole list of what is acceptable culture and not in his poll plank and then seek the people’s mandate in the upcomming election ? Will he ?
Will the CM of Rajasthan dare to pull down all the malls ? Or will he appoint a moral police department to restrain PDA’s ? Will he ? Will he openly mention it in the party manifest in the upcomming election ? I bet he would be removed as CM by the party high command , if he dares to do so.
What we need is not someone to moral police us . We need regulatory authorities to see that no under aged is entertained inside Pubs . What we need is regulatory authorities to make sure no one drinks and drives and causes death under wheels. What we need is someone to guide and not dictate.
Kat Edmonson- Be The Change
As Obama becomes the 44th President of US there is so much of excitement , anticipation in air but the road is not going to be definitely smoother for the man who wants to involve "You" in the decission making.
I just stumbled upon this youtube video link of Kat Edmonson : Be the change that sums up what the common Americans look forward to their new president. Watch the video along with the song .
Will he live up to the expectation ? Time will say . It’s definitely not going to be easy as Bush Jr has left a huge baggage of cleaning to be done both within US and outside its boundaries.
[YouTube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=nrv3hteHglI]
P.S > For those wondering who is Kat Edmonson , Read about her here
Passing on Strength
Jan 2 , 2209
My wife and me started to my native , which is some 700 km from Bangalore. Since yesterday night , I felt my confidence , strength , faith all in tatters. We have not disclosed the fact that dad has been diagonised with multiple myeloma to parents. I was worried a lot particularly about my mother . It would come as a devastating news for her. My brother had told me that by noon , he along with uncle and aunt would disclose the news to them. Till date , I was never bothered about me living 700 kms away from my home town but today I rued being so far away . I called my brother in between to check if they have informed the parents. He said not yet but would being doing so shortly. Once in middle of conversation , I broke down and hearing that he too cracked .
Around 3 ‘ o clock noon . Mom called.
She asked me ” Have you started ? Are you on the way ? ”
Her voice was Strong. Clear . Positive. I cannot describe the current that went through that gave me an immense strength . Here I was who was wondering till a minute back wondering how to give strength to my mom but now getting strength from her . The brief talk awakened me from gloom. It prepared me to take the road ahead even if its a difficult course.
I called back immediately my brother asking him have they disclosed the information to them ? He said yes. I asked how did they react ? He said initially they both showed no reaction. When they left them alone in their room , they got little emotional. My aunt and uncle talked them again for a while. Since then , they appear to be facing the turn of events strongly.
I reached my native next day morning . When I met her , there was no sign of tragedy of the events in their face. They talked to me as usual. I went out of the hospital room for a while to check something . When I returned , I found mom in silent tears . I hugged her. She was composed again.
The strength back in her and passing the strength again to me.
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