I AND MY WORDS

So I was looking for new recipes to cook the other day, since vegetarian food across India has many many variations and ingredients used in making them. One of the recipes pointed out Sweet Potatoes. Now the four of you may start giggling after reading sweet potato. A humble poor man's snack as a main course dish? Yes of course. In fact, follow the way I made it, and you'd like it a lot. There are many options in the way you can cook it. And now, this is a recipe for three. Hope you guys try it out and like it. INGREDIENTS 2 big sweet potatoes  2 big onions four cloves of garlic one-and-half inch piece of ginger 3 green chillies 3 medium tomatoes 3 sticks curry leaves 1 tsp fenugreek ( methi ) seeds 1 tsp coriander ( dhania ) powder 1 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp red chilli powder (preferably Kashmiri chillies) Salt to taste 2 tbsp oil (mustard/olive/canola) 1 1/2 cup coconut milk 1 cup water PREPARATION The way to use the sweet potatoes is up to you. You may wish...

आज  मन दर्पण में जो झाँका तो पाया के मेरी पहचान धुंधली हो चली है वो धुंधली आकृति कहीं प्रतिबिम्ब के कोने में उदास दुखी बैठी है  न जाने क्यों ऐसा है के वो कुछ बोलती ही नहीं है बस टकटकी लगाए द्वार की ओर देखती रहती है  न जाने किसकी प्रतीक्षा है मेरी पहचान को शायद मेरे अस्तित्व की    

चलते चलते जो आवाज़ लगाई मेरे माज़ी, मेरी तन्हाई ने  मुड़कर देखा तोह पाया के मील के पत्थर पर दोनों आराम पसर कर रहे थे  हैरां परेशां सा हुआ मैं, पुछा मैंने "क्यों पीछा कर रहे हो?" तन्हाई हंसकर बोली "मुझसे दामन कैसे छुडाओगे?" "तन्हाई तो सखी थी मेरी, पर अब नहीं" कहा मैंने  "जो साथ न चाहूँ तोह क्यों संग चलती हो?" माज़ी ने मेरे मुस्कुराकर कहा मुझसे "मैं तुम्हारा ही माज़ी हूँ, तन्हाई की रूह हूँ जो मुझसे दामन न छुड़ा सको तो तन्हाई से क्या पीछा छुडाओगे?" "है तू मेरा माज़ी, मगर मेरे दिल में तेरे लिए नहीं है कोई जगह नहीं चाहता काँटों का बिछौना  नहीं चाहता आँसूं भरी रात" बस इतना कहा और मैं चलता बना कुछ दिनों बाद खबर आई थी मेरा माज़ी और मेरी तन्हाई वहीँ खड़े हैं  वहीँ, उस मील के पत्थर पर, इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं यादों के उसी रास्ते पर मेरे लौटने की  

It has taken a while to come out, but the 2G spectrum scam has just cast a wider net. Puzzled as the four of us who read this blog may be about what has Paryavaran Bhavan, the office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) got to do with the 2G spectrum scandal, the truth is far deeper than most of us, including even those fighting cases for getting top ministers investigated (pointed reference Subramanian Swamy) have perhaps imagined. The whole scam actually started with Mr. Andimuthu Raja becoming Minister of Environment in 2004. The period between 2004-2007 should be marked as one of the darkest chapters in the history of environmental governance in India. A lot of companies got clearances in ways that could make Somalia look like it adheres to law and order. Cronyism was at its peak. Clearances, officers, project reports - name any item, and it was bought and sold. Most of the controversial mining that has since been brought to the public notice obtained clearances duri...

I love Kashmiri food. That is an open secret to all those who know me well. Heck, I love food in any style from India, period. In my quest to teach myself cooking new styles of cooking, I came across this wonderful book put across by S S Kaul Kilam and Shyam Rani Kilam called the Kashmiri Cookbook. The Kilams are Kashmiri Pandits settled in the United States for some time now, and they came out with this book a few years ago. They were in fact gracious enough to share this book with the world by putting it up online on this website and just demand reference in turn. Food secrets should be shared with the world. I strongly endorse this line of thought and ask people to go across this book, for it wonderfully details the nitty gritty of Kashmiri food and also lists out the differences in both the Pandit style and the Muslim style of cooking. I encourage everyone to cherish this treasure as long as you can, and read the book as well. This recipe today is shared from the bo...

So I love cooking as well, as some of my friends have figured out by now. I keep experimenting with styles of cooking to see what can we come up with. In the course, I certainly have come up with a recipe that is inspired by Kashmiri cooking. I hope you people try it and like it, though for people in India, it is advisable to cook the same during the bitter winters as the ingredients used are heat generating as per our traditional medicine system. I do not have a name for it, but I am searching for suggestions, so please be generous. INGREDIENTS: Paneer(cottage cheese)400 - 500 gm cut into small cubes Milk 2 glasses Onion 1 whole, paste Garlic 2 cloves, paste Turmeric 1 tsp Red chilli powder 1 tsp Dry ginger powder 1 tsp (alternatively, you can use fresh ginger) Fennel seeds powder 1 tsp Brown cardamom 1 Cloves 3-4 Salt 1 tsp Sugar 1/4 ts...

Is Lok Pal is necessary to fight corruption? Yes we need one. That the conduct of a large number of officials as per our Constitution is not governed by anyone at all, especially the elected government is appalling in itself. Every democratic set up has to ensure its people transparency in the governance process. The example of free economies with less government is fraught with serious flaws of thinking. The United States is perhaps the freest economy, and yet on the Transparency International's index why does it not sit on the top? To think that this country does not deserve what our founding fathers promised (remember Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1960s) is fallacy. Moreover, our Constitution, when it gave powers to a host of elected representatives, did not define the scope of their conduct and what would be considered Unparliamentary. Current criminal laws already allow investigations; however, they require sanction of prosecution. The requirement thus is of a body th...