Long Standing, Yet Outstanding

Usually when I come back from Bombay, I get along something to eat for people here. And that something always used to be some specialty from Bombay like Dhoklas, Kachoris or Chaklis. But the last time, I got two boxes of Dharwad Pedhas(Dharwad is in Karnataka). There are lots of hungry beasts in my team who are just waiting to pounce once the 'Sweets At My Desk' mail is sent to the group. So, in order that everyone gets a fair share, I had to put up the notice asking them not to have more than half a pedha. The pedha box was funny. The brand name Babusingh Thakur was written prominently on the gold shiny background. And the box had proud proclamations about the awards that his pedhas had won. Although, I do not know whether any such awards have really been showered on the pedhas, I will list them down here(the photograph is not very clear).
--> Winner of Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award 2002.
--> Provincial Co-op Conference Certificate 1925.
--> Winner of Priyadarshini Indira Gandhi Award 2001.
--> Awarded by Govt of Karnataka 1999.
--> Winner of Lord Wellington Medal in 1913.

This was not all. The box also claims 'The Name Of Traditional Quality Over The Last 150 Years'. And this line takes the cake..oh sorry takes the Babusinghs Pedha. Long Standing, Yet Outstanding(not in the picture). This refers to the long queue that you have to stand in the morning to be lucky enough to get the pedhas. Whatever...the pedhas did taste good.

My Cooking Exploits

I have started cooking(read boiling stuff) at home. To start with I have purchased an LPG stove with a 2 kg cylinder, four small containers for salt, pepper, chilli powder and chat masala, spoons, a steel vessel and a steel dish. I already had a knife at home. And I have made a few dishes at home. The list includes roasted corn, Independence Day Special, boiled potatoes with salt, chilli, chat masala and lemon, Maggi:-) and sprouted beans with a tinge of lemon, chilli, salt and chat masala(tastes good). I love the fresh lime juice so much that I have tried making it in a restaurant when the waiter was not around and for the past two days I have been preparing it at my work desk in office. But then cooking is not always fun. Firstly, I cut my finger while chopping the vegetables. Then, I found a worm hiding under a cauliflower lobe and am not sure how many of them I could not find. Boiling eggs was a disappointment. My steel vessel was small and when the water boiled it overflowed on the burner and I could not find any way to prevent that from happening. The eggs were raw when I broke open the shells. I am looking forward for my October trip to home. The menu card is sure going to grow after that and I will learn dishes that are more difficult. But in the mean time, you can post your easy to make recipes in the comments section or mail them to me.

Time To Slap

I selected this title not only because it rhymes with my previous post but also because I got an appropriate gif that matches with it. Incidentally, I got this gif from the same blog from where I got the gif for my previous post. This incident dates back to Wednesday afternoon, when I heard a knock on my door. There was this guy waiting at the door with two letters. One of them stated that he was deaf and dumb and the other requested a donation. This donation, the latter letter said was going to be spent towards the payment of his college fees. People who had donated had written their names and the amounts they donated on this letter. This sheet had sums in the range of Rs 100 to Rs 500. When I made actions that suggested that I could not pay this amount, he wrote on the paper that even Rs 10 would be okay. I was suspecting foul play all throughout. I penned on his sheet "college name?" to which he scribbled something that did not seem to be a name. Then I asked for his I-Card. He ran away(slowly though). If indeed he was a fake, then it is the time to slap.

Time To Clap

On Sunday, I went to Pratibha Poshak's scholarship distribution program. Their initiative aims to provide scholarship to the needy but meritorious students across Karnataka. The program is funded by the Infosys Foundation. A few of the students who got scholarships also spoke at the event. This is what one of them had to say.
" Last year when I got the scholarship from the hands of Mrs Sudha Murthy..that night I had a dream. That when I graduate, I have to join Infosys. And today, I am happy to tell you that I have been placed in the company. I have refused offers from companies like IBM and Accenture, so that I can realise my dream". Time to clap. Another speaker at the event was a Padmashri award winner and director of the IISc, Dr Balaram, who also gave an inspiring speech about how a generation breaks away from poverty. Time to clap. But not everyone spoke in English. There were a few who spoke in Kannada, a language that I find difficult to understand. But then, from the loud uproar of claps, I guess their speeches were inspiring too. And whenever, I heard such a loud applause, I understood that it was the time to clap.