Poor Pandu

One day,little Pandu and Gundu are walking down the street. Here is some history. Pandu was an average worker who did not have a sweet tooth where as Gundu, in spite of diabetes, just loved candies. Pandu liked to plan and execute whereas Gundu was a big time risk taker. Gundu was aching for sweets very badly on that day.On their walk, Gundu meets Mr.Seth , a nice broker ,who offers him $20 as an interest only loan ( ~ 7% APR)to buy some candies, duly getting the proper loan papers signed.

Now, our Seth is a shrewd man who likes instant money and sells these loan papers to a local money lender( Mr.Vangi) for $30, citing all the interests that Gundu would be generating every month.

But, the money lender , even wiser, pats himself in the back and sells the papers to a huge Investment Shark( Mr.Annamalai) for $40. Mr.Annamalai was like the local Dhadha and was relying on all the mamools from people like Gundu. But, he had to have insurance. And Mr.Mandu, a man who prides himself on doing the right thing with a keen eye, assures Mr. Annamalai that he guarantees the money. Gundu, Seth, Vangi, Annamalai and Mandu could all be seen ,hand in hand,singing “Happy, Indru Mudhal Happy”.

Unfortunately, Gundu’s diabetes became worse and he lost his job. There was no way he could pay the Seth that money. But, in the chain ,Annamalai is the party affected……Now, Mr. Annamalai is panicking and turns to Mr. Mandu…”Well….you gave your word”… Mandu realizes that he is actually a real fool and turns to the local arasanga association , where Pandu and others have donated their money. The Arasanga association decides to help Mandu by loaning him $30 , making sure he returns it back by March of 2010 , as it is the hard earned money of Pandu and others.

What does Mandu do? He knows he has to return the money but since he loves candies for himself, uses the $30 to get himself all kinds of chocolates, cakes and what not….. Poor Pandu …..Stupid Arasanga Association to have been so gullible… Idiot Gundu……. Mr.Mandu is the only guy who has profited so far……

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100203/ap_on_bi_ge/us_aig_bonuses_feinberg

AND ALL WE PANDUS FEEL OUTRAGED !

Ayirathil Oruvan(2010)

Since this movie was touted as a turning point in Tamil movies and a forerunner for the mystery genre, we decided to watch it with our neighbor. And, I am a sucker for dark mystery movies like Pirates of the Carribean, , 2000 BC etc.. Give me some savages, tribal people or pirates with booties, I am hooked even if it is a crappy movie. It is always an added bonus if Johnny Depp is the hero. And, thus, ladies and gentlemen, I watched Ayirathil Oruvan with limited expectations after reading all the reviews.

Storyline:
Three protagonists, one foul mouthed coolie (Karthik), one wannabe glamorous, try my best to show something archaeologist/officer (Reema Sen) and one reasonably good looking archaeologist(Andrea) are on a mission to find a missing archaeologist. Apparently, the guy was supposed to have gone in search of the location of the last Chola prince,one who escaped the Pandya’s wrath and gone into exile in 13th century. The first half of the movie has some great visual treats and lots of people with bows and arrows, talking some nonsense language like Hoohah, kam cho, bar larta ,so on so forth. Yes, happy me. After interval , once they find the archaeological site of the lost kingdom, the movie takes a totally different, dark turn and I mean literally dark too…you find people with faces darkened with coal , the whole second half. A very nice twist to the story happens right after the intermission , with the language changing to literary Tamil and some of the insane incidents in the first half fall into place. Our friend A, who barely manages spoken Tamil got totally lost in the second half and my friend L’s dad started snoring. It does get dragging though. If the second half had been cut by at least half an hour, this movie would have been excellent.

Strong points:
The novel story line. Though totally fictional , the concept is definitely worth applauding. Having seen Tamil movies that are getting crappier day by day with stereotypical angry heroes trying to woe girls, this one was a big break.

The Visuals. Kudos to the cinematographer. Some of the graphics like the snakes were really good.

The Cast. Karthik as the coolie has done an excellent job. This is the first time I am seeing his performance and should admit that he has a fruitful career ahead. Reema as usual shows off her sexuality,but the thighs…God save me.. Andrea does due justice to her role. Mediocre.Parthiban as the Chola king who aches to go back to his motherland sparkles in certain scenes.
The literary Tamil in the second half.. Nice on the ears. Hey, if one can get away with saying “En Linga Darisanam” for showing his organ, isn’t that something.
The songs are hummable. Un Mela Aasathan – neat. “Nelladia nillam enge” – by Vijay Jesudas has lot of emotions and gelled with the movie very well.

Weak Points :
The graphics. Though some were good, some were atrocious especially the jelly fish like thingys that come in the very first adventure.
The storyline… Cholas were supposedly an artistic,religious and well educated lot. My chola history comes from “Ponniyin Selvan” , which was a literary fiction based on some real events.Even assuming the guys shown in the movie are banished into caves, they should have been shown to be smart than as savages or cannibals. Doesn’t make sense. If they were good enough to create all those hurdles to protect themselves, they should also be smart to overcome them.

Obviously, the script writer or the director has been inspired by ancient Roman movies, where one gets to see barbarism. He copied even the gladiator arena, just making it visually far worse.

Length of the movie….Looks like the director wanted to capture as much as he can .The soldiers misbehaving with the cholas could have been easily cut. SNORE..

And the boobs..Even though it is a local lady with a kid, spurting blood from her breasts, wonder how the censor board let it go even for an A-rated movie.

Agreed Dravidians are dark skinned people, but when showing people who have not seen much sunlight for centuries, it is not wise to apply black paint all over their faces…..or..were they living in coal mines.. Beats me.

Well, I would say definitely a B-rate movie.As my FIL says,”Adhellam, C-center movie..ma”. The raw sexual tension between Karthik and the two girls was real. One might expect it in real times , but the coolie Karthik is no gentleman and be ready to hear lot of beeps in the movie( I guess the censor board cut it out) Not that I would have understood them anyway. The concept is original, but the movie could have been lot better. Worth a watch though.

Finger Millet Biscuits

When I was in my teens, a baking oven made its presence in our house for the first time. It was from delhi, on demand by mom. Mothers get light-headed on finding a new recipe or a new utensil. You would be forced to eat rice sevai, after lot of huffing and puffing ( the real deal) and pressing the sevai maker or you would be eating home made ice cream every week ( the new refrigerator , u see), not to mention the ice cream would be more like a sorbet with all the power outages..LOL.
Our craze for butter biscuits started with the entrance of the oven. Mouth watering, melting butter biscuits. The ones you would see in all Pottikadais( kiosks) all over India. Those in dirty old bottles , showcased right in front of the shop.Well, you get them in bakeries too. Also called Nankhatai.
When I visited home last summer, I chanced upon some yummy Ragi( Finger Millet) biscuits in a bakery.Seeing the JFI:Raagi at Eggless cooking triggered that memory and I decided to try it out at home.

Mom makes raagi dosa, raagi rotti, raagi kanji, raagi mudhe , raagi adai and I have eaten Ragi Puttu as well. A versatile grain and one that should be a must in every household.
Some interesting facts about Millets

Today millet ranks as the sixth most important grain in the world.Millet was introduced to the U.S. in 1875, was grown and consumed by the early colonists like corn, then fell into obscurity. At the present time the grain is widely known in the U.S. and other Western countries mainly as bird and cattle feed.

Millet is tasty, with a mildly sweet, nut-like flavor and contains a myriad of beneficial nutrients. It is nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber, B-complex vitamins including niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin, the essential amino acid methionine, lecithin, and some vitamin E. It is particularly high in the minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium.

Well, coming to the recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter( 1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar( I used raw unrefined sugar)
3/4 cup Ragi flour
1 tbsp Cocoa powder
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp cardamom

Preparation

1. Mix the butter and sugar , to a creamy consistency. Make sure the butter is at room temp. If you are in a hurry, take a stick from the fridge and melt it slightly in the microwave.
2. Mix the ragi flour, wheat flour,cocoa powder and cardamom with the creamy butter& sugar.
3. Make round balls of the mixtureand bake it.

Notes:
1. You can increase the cocoa and reduce the ragi slightly to get a more chocolaty flavour.
2. If you reduce the flour, you will get airy butter biscuits.
3. Feel free to substitute whole wheat pastry with all purpose( maida) flour.
4.You can add 1tsp vanilla extract to enhance the flavour.
5. My sugar crystals are pretty huge.I should have ideally powdered it before stirring in with the butter. If you look at the picture closely, you will see the sugar grains. The taste is still the same though.

Maus

What happens when one does yoga after a long time? The whole body revolts to stretch and fights by making itself sore at places one never realized existed. And so, self decided to take a break from work yesterday, with the revolting body as the excuse. How best to spend a day than watching TV and reading books? There was this book, “Maus” lying around the house for the past couple of months. Knowing it to be about WWII , I was avoiding it till yesterday.


To start with, the book is not just about WWII, though the war is chronicled by the author as dictated by his dad (a Jew). The book is about a father-son relationship, the guilt carried by the son on living in a fairer and nicer world, the parsimonious father who saves every single penny and preserves all junk having struggled through the holocaust. Brought tears at various phases.


There are lot of books about WWII. I think what characterizes this as different is that it is graphic. ( no , not in details, but in pictures) Having read “Winds of War”, this one is less affecting on learning about the ghettos and Auschwitz. But, still tugs at your heart as it is beyond one’s comprehension . The real heroes. The father dictates his story to the son in a very matter of fact way,with no sentiments except during one phase where he starts crying. That clearly shows human nature. After couple of decades, the emotions are far subdued.


In the second phase, when the book dwells more on the current, with the son staying in NY, the author has beautifully shown the father-son love-hate relationship, which one gets to see in many households. The son feels guilty that he is born after the war when the parents have already lost one during the war. There is a page where he says how he feels inferior to the photo of the dead son.


The one that made me cry was the father’s frugality. Having seen the war from the ghettos, fighting for food, starving for days, struggling to live and finally coming out of the inferno alive, morphs him into a human being who doesn’t want to let go of anything and who suspects almost everyone. I guess I saw a lot of fathers in him. My dad bargains for every rupee even now, whether it matters or not. Times have changed, we all have money , but having seen a lot in his 76 years, he just cannot let go of somethings. And, I am sure every family has a similar parent in some aspect or other.


Coming to the name, the book is called “Maus”, mouse in German as all the characters are portrayed as animals . Mouse for jews, Cats for Germans, Pigs for Poles, Dogs for Americans etc… This made me wonder what would suit Indians? ( Tigers, maybe ? ..no, that looks too royal, don’t u think?)

Mar Jaawan..

Sh R | Latest Music | Upload Music

Tomorrow being our 10th anniversary and all…….. from me..

I know it is definitely not perfect as I was trying to look at the lyrics and concentrating on the beats.. So,missed the beats and the raagam in quite a few places…LOL.. Sun TV judges would have said, “Feel..illa” But, hey, for a first and maybe, only recording…
This happened, eight months ago, after my constant pestering of Meera, an awesome singer with a beautiful voice,to help me record a song.

NOTE: You have to click on the play button twice to listen to the song. I don’t know why but it works.