Monday, September 07, 2020

Confused-Advice t-shirt on Qwertee.com

I designed this t-shirt to highlight the confusing advice comping from various governments across the world during this difficult times. Please vote for the t-shirt or feel free to print it on your own. I can give high-res images if needed.

you can vote here. if the link does not work just go to qwertee.com and look for the design confused-advice

https://www.qwertee.com/product/confused-advice






Sunday, November 08, 2015

Galakeet paneer

This is my new recipe which I tried with my wife. It is a modified version of palak paneer. So this is what you need.

Carrot (Gajar) -  200gms
Beet - 200gms
Spinach (Palak) - 200gms
Paneer - 100gms
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium
Ginger and Garlic paste - 2tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Bay leaves - 1 or 2
Garam masala - 1tsp

The name Galakeet comes from Gajar-palak-beet after removing a few alphabets. Anyway to start with take the three vegetables and wash them thoroughly. Put them in a pan or pressure cooker after peeling and boil them till they are almost cooked. Put the all the boiled vegetables in a food processor and make a fine paste. Cut small cubes of the paneer and fry them till they have a light brown colour. Put some oil in a frying pan. Add the cumin seeds and the bay leaves. Once the cumin starts to splutter put the onion and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté the onion for a few minutes and then add the tomato. Cook for a few minutes and once the tomato becomes soft add the paste from the food processor. Bring the whole mixture to a boil and then add the paneer cubes. Add salt to taste. Cook for few minutes and finally add garam masala. Mix everything in the pan and it is ready. Serve with rice.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

12 of the finest (unintentional) double-entendres ever aired on British TV and radio

12 of the finest (unintentional) double-entendres ever aired on British TV and radio:


1. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator - 'This is really a lovely horse. I once rode her mother.'

2. New Zealand Rugby Commentator - 'Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him.'

3. Pat Glenn, weightlifting commentator - 'And this is Gregoriava from Bulgaria . I saw her snatch this morning and it was amazing!'

4. Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - 'Ah, isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the Cox of the Oxford crew.'

5. US PGA Commentator - 'One of the reasons Arnie (Arnold Palmer) is playing so well is that, before each tee shot, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them. Oh my god !! What have I just said??'
6. Carenza Lewis about finding food in the Middle Ages on 'Time Team Live' said: 'You'd eat beaver if you could get it.'
7. A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked, 'So Bob, where's that eight inches you promised me last night?'
Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, because they were laughing so hard!

8. Steve Ryder covering the US Masters: 'Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69 yesterday.'

9. Clair Frisby talking about a jumbo hot dog on 'Look North' said: 'There's nothing like a big hot sausage inside you on a cold night like this.'

10 Mike Hallett discussing missed snooker shots on 'Sky Sports': 'Stephen Hendry jumps on Steve Davis's misses every chance he gets.'

11. Michael Buerk on watching Philippa Forrester cuddle up to a male astronomer for warmth during BBC1's UK eclipse coverage remarked: 'They seem cold out there. They're rubbing each other and he's only come in his shorts.'

12.. Ken Brown commentating on golfer Nick Faldo and his caddie Fanny Sunneson lining-up shots at the Scottish Open: 'Some weeks Nick likes to use Fanny; other weeks he prefers to do it by himself.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Thursday, December 19, 2013

A thought for electoral reforms in India

Something came to my mind looking at the results of last few elections. The last few elections we have seen that the country is ruled by a joint venture which has polled only say 42% of the votes. That means it was not elected by the majority. And this scenario also leads to the situation where parties are playing religion or caste based politics. The aim being somehow get support of any religion or caste having close to 20% population base and then the rest can be evenly distributed. What I say is India needs to rethink how it elects its representatives. India should have elections in two rounds close to each other or vote counting should be by transferable votes in order of preference. 
In the two round process, the process would be the same for first round as it is but for second round only 1 and 2 position holders will contest in second round. The places where one candidate gets more than 50% votes need not go to second round. The cost and the logistics will be an argument against this but seeing the monumental scams that congress has done the price will be small. The benefits of this system will be many fold. I am listing two that comes to my mind.
1. Just appeasing one section of society will not ensure your win
2. Chances of hung verdict like in Delhi may be reduced since people will then see that newcomers like AAP can make a difference.
In the transferable vote policy voters will be asked to mark the order of preference. In the first count only the first preference will be taken. The ballots belonging to candidate coming last will be taken and they will be allotted to remaining candidates in fray based on second choice. And this will go on till one candidate get more than 50% votes. This way everyone will have to look towards the whole constituency rather than just apleasing one section.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Bread crumbs fry

Ingredients
Bread Slices (Large): 6
Eggs: 2
Meat masala: 2 Table spoon
Jeera powder: 1 Tea spoon
Flour: 3 Table spoon
Salt: to taste
Oil for frying

Procedure:
Soak the slices in a cup of water for 5-10 minutes. Once the bread is soft press the breads hard and get as much water out as possible. Knead the soaked breads in large bowl. Once the bread forms like a paste add the eggs, masalas and flour and need to get an uniform dough. Add a bit a water if the dough becomes too dry. The texture after kneading should not be too dry or too wet. Make small or medium sized patties for frying. Take a frying pan with little oil in it. Once the oil is hot release the patties and fry under low heat so that the inside of the patty is also cooked. Cook till both the sides of the patty have a deep brown colour. One can do many variations by adding other masalas or minced meat. Serve it hot with onions and lemon.


Friday, November 22, 2013

The strange case of advertisements and trailers

It has been almost six months that I have come to UK and took up my temporary position. As day goes by I learn new things, new rules and strange practices. I will write about one strange practice which I found excessive and bordering the limits of greediness. Just day before yesterday I went to watch a movie in the theater. Here the movie is not important but what went on before the movie is. The movie was around 90 mins like any standard Hollywood movie. The torturous part were the advertisements that went on for 35 minutes before the movie started making it over 120 mins affair. It made me wonder, if there are any rules and regulations in this country regarding the amount of advertisements and trailers they can show before the movie. It would be stranger if the theater was not breaking the rules by giving the viewers such a long display of advertisements. It feels like as if I am paying few times over to see theses ads. First in the cinema where I paid to get in and then when I buy the product as and when if ever I decide to do so. The things that seems funny is that they pride in rules and regulations but I guess there is non when it comes to capitalist advantage and greed. In that 35 mins saga of mine the most interesting part was the trailer of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Ben Stiller came with is long monologue and then the trailer and in the end thanked us all for watching as if we had a choice. I felt like Alex DeLarge from Clockwork Orange forced to watch something though in my case I could shut my eyes and go to sleep if I could somehow ignore the loud sounds. There was another such trailer where Martin Freeman came to promote his movie Hobbits 2 but well he did not have a long monologue and the movie will be released in 3D so I guess he did not need a monologue. Finally I will end this short write up with the strangest part, that is, on the one hand the politicians are crying loud shedding crocodile tears over high rate of unemployment on the other hand places like this cinema gives you discount if you buy tickets online and so that they can hire less number of ticket vendors and maximize profit. What a strange practice Sir ji!!!