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Director            Rituparno Ghosh Cast                  Raima Sen, Riya Sen, Jisshu Sengupta, Prosenjit Chatterjee Year                 2011 Genre               Drama I am thoroughly convinced that Rabindranath Tagore was awarded his nobel prize for literature not just because of his quality of writing but because of his immense capability to think about situations that mere mortals like us cannot.   He then make us feel even closer to being just “mere” by weaving a story that is a myriad of complicated emotions way beyond our comprehension. And what probably makes us feel so regular is that we understand what he writes and are able to relate to it in a manner that no one else can probably get us to.   Noukad...

VERMICELLI UPPUMA (SEMIA UPPUMA) Its vacation time here in Singapore . Here is a special snack that kids and adults will enjoy. It is nutritious too. Vermicelli is made from semolina, It’s a much healthier option compared to the All purpose flour noodles that kids like to eat these days. Because it appears like noodles, kids absolutely love this dish. You can add vegetables and make it too. I have just showcased the traditional south Indian style of preparation that I learnt from my friend’s mother which was so delightful that it remained etched in my memory forever. Ingredients Vermicelli – 2 cups Onions – 1 Green chillies – 2 Ginger – a small piece Curry Leaves – A sprig Oil - 1 tbsp Mustard seeds – ½ tsp Cumin seeds – ½ tsp Chana dal ( Bengal Gram) – 1tsp Curry leaves – A sprig Asafetida (hing) - a pinch Freshly grated coconut – 2 tbsps Salt as per taste Method In a wok, add 2 tablespoons of oil, Now add the mustard, cumin and Bengal gram, when the mustard starts to crackle and t...

Is lack of time making you go crazy in your attempt to plan your finance? Balaji is working for an MNC. Today he has got a deadline for a particular assignment. His day is fully packed. First thing in the morning, he receives a mail from his HR Dept stating that today is the last date for producing proofs for tax saving investments; otherwise a huge amount will be deducted from his salary as tax. He wanted to do some tax saving investments urgently and submit the proof on or before end of the day. Mahesh is an NRI, working for a software company in US. He has got a couple of crores in his overseas fixed deposits giving a return of 1.50% p.a. Returns are taxable. At times, he thinks that the return what he getting is very low. He wanted to check up with a professional financial planner in India. He thinks he will contact as soon as his present project gets completed. Like this he has not contacted any financial consultant for the last 3years because of some reason or the other. Most of...

Director            Luv Ranjan Cast                  Raayo Bakhirta, Nushrat Bharucha, Sonalli Sehgal, Divyendu Sharma, Ishitta Sharma, Kartikeya Tiwari Year                 2011 Genre               RomCom Now this one is going to be really difficult to write for the likes of me.   Not because it is borderline case between a good and a bad movie but more so because this is the story of the mish mashed love lives of the likes of me in around 2.5 hours.   So I cannot help but relate to the concept in entirety and also vouch for the genuinity of the sequence of events shown – I have embarrassingly experienced the same :P :$.   I will, however, keep my critics hat on for the final ratings and that’s a promise....

Director            Prawal Raman Cast                  Rajvvir Aroraa, Tisca Chopra, Nishikant Kamat, Immaduddin Shah, Satish Kaushik Year                 2011 Genre               Drama To what lengths would you go, to prove a point? Is proving to the world that your theory is right, only thing that matters to you? Do you believe in something so much that you would not care who comes in the way to ensure that the objective is met? Do you live by the adage – The ends justifies the means? One of two people who embody this spirit are Dr. Anirudh Kaushal (Nishikant Kamat) aka Charles to the dean of Dehradun Institute of Medical Sciences (DIMS) one of the leading institutes of medicine in the country.   The other one is ...

3R Garments Shop, at Meenakshi Chowk in Bijapur city is owned by Ram Singh Rajput. He has eight employees, and for the past eight years, they have been using the language for business. Ram Singh says there is no difficulty in using the language. "After we started using Sanskrit, our customers increased. Most of the customers first want to talk and learn some Sanskrit, then they buy clothes." Inadvertently, it has worked as an advertising gimmick. Ram Singh is an active member of the Sanskrit Bharati organization. He had learnt Sanskrit at a 10-day camp, and then started using it at home. After that, he introduced it for the first time in his business. He has now done his MA in Sanskrit. His inspiration is North Karnataka's most powerful seer, Siddeshwar swamiji. On many occasions, the seer has introduced Ram Singh to his followers as the "Sanskrit man and his family", which inspired Singh to learn more. His younger brothers, Mohan Singh and Vitthal Singh...

MORU APPAM / KUZHI PANIYARAM (BUTTERMILK FRITTERS) This is a snack I absolutely adore, soft and spongy on the inside and crisp and crusty on the outside. This dish gets its name because sour buttermilk (moru) is used in the batter. It is known as Moru Appam in Kerala but in Tamilnadu it is known as Kuzhi Paniyaaram. One evening when I was pondering over what to make for tiffin (evening snack), I raided my fridge and found a big bowlful of Dosa batter, the batter was slightly sour. Sometimes inspite of refrigerating the dosa batter, it becomes sour. Once, the batter becomes sour the dosa doesn’t taste so good. I thought of putting it to good use by making moru appams. It’s like making the best out of something that would go waste. Traditionally Moru Appam is made by soaking raw rice and Udad dal in the 3:1 consistency (3cups of raw rice and 1cup Udad dal) just as we do for the dosa batter and then adding on the other ingredients as mentioned below. I made the Moru Appams with...

Director            Vikram Bhatt Cast                  Mimoh Chakraborty, Krishna Bhatt, Tia Bajpai, Achint Kaur, Arif Zakaria   Year                 2011 Genre               Attempted Horror, Comedy I am at no point of time even considering that I could write anything close to our good friend Niren ( onokonomos@gmail.com – refer mail sent last week which had most you in splits) and especially after the trauma that he went through watching Haunted 3D for the first time.   Needless to say, yours truly, did not learn from him but thanks Niren from the bottom of his heart.   Had it not been for Niren, I would definitely have been in some kind of rehabilitation facility in the deepest darkest recesses of Koti...

In most of the Indian families, the personal finance is something which is not managed by the couples together. It is only one person who manages the personal finance and money management of the whole family. In most of the cases the male partners and in a very few cases the female partners mange personal finance. Only very rarely both of the partners together manage their personal finance aspects. What would be the outcome in an organisation where the purchase department works totally independent and without any understanding with the finance department of the organisation? Purchase dept may overspend; finance dept will lose control; misunderstanding and conflicts between both the depts; the result is the organization’s growth gets destroyed. Similarly, if the personal finance is handled by only one partner, then there could be a lot of mismatch between you and your partner in saving and spending pattern. This will lead to misunderstanding and marital stress. Instead of having indepen...

Director            Amol Gupte Cast                  Partho Numaan, Amole Gupte, Divya Dutta, Divya Jagdale, Rahul Singh, Raj Zutshi, Year                 2011 Genre               Drama Before all you folks go ahead and read this review, I would like you guys to first SMS “Stanley” to 57827 (India only) to pledge your support against child labour.   Will an insignificant SMS like this make a difference to some child’s life somewhere? I sure hope so.   I would hope that instances have reduced over time but we are far from a level of complete eradication and I can only believe that this small gesture from each one of us may just about impact someone’s life. Amole Gupte’s official directorial debut (he hasn’t bee...

A blood test that can show how fast someone is ageing – and offers the tantalising possibility of estimating how long they have left to live – is to go on sale to the general public in Britain later this year. Graphic: How the test works The controversial test measures vital structures on the tips of a person's chromosomes, called telomeres, which scientists believe are one of the most important and accurate indicators of the speed at which a person is ageing.   Scientists behind the €500 (£435) test said it will be possible to tell whether a person's "biological age", as measured by the length of their telomeres, is older or younger than their actual chronological age. Medical researchers believe that telomere testing will become widespread within the next five or 10 years, but there are already some scientists who question its value and whether there should be stronger ethical controls over its wider use. In addition to concerns about how people will re...

Director            Bumpy Cast                  Shraddha Kapoor, Sreejita De, Riya Bamniyal, Pushtii Shakti, Errol Marks, Meherzan Mazda, Taaha Shah, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, Rahul Pardasany, Jannat Rubair Rahmani, Archana Puran Singh, Shenaz Treasurywala, Micky Makhija Year                 2011 Genre               RomCom About 20 minutes into the movie, I thought (actually I was convinced) that Luv Ka The End is a rip off of the Jesse Metcalfe, Ashanti starrer from 2006 – John Tucker Must Die.   However, I am as of now not too sure if it is a copy of JTMD or some other movie.   But the plot seems all too familiar for me to ignore the aspect of “inspiration” from Hollywood and sadly – once again.   When will...

Director            Pawan Kripalani Cast                  Kainaz Motivala, Raj Kumar Yadav, Mangala Ahire, Year                 2011 Genre               Horror OK now I seriously need to have something different when it comes to horror movies.   And something with at least a little bit of originality.   And a tribute to Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch project presented with a disclaimer that the movie is based on a true story which happened in India doesn’t amount to originality.   It would seem, as the writers claim, that the story is based on what a south Indian girl experienced in the year 2009 somewhere close to Mumbai.   But the stark similarities to the movies mentioned earlier cannot be ign...

Isn’t it great that you can learn all modes of SLR camera online and be the expert when you are on the field. Yst you can practice it now at http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator.html         Experiment with the lighting, ISO, aperture, shutter, and distance settings while observing the readings in the camera viewfinder   Click the "Snap photo!" button   Review your photo!

URULAKAZHANGU KAARA CURRY (MASHED SPICY POTATO CURRY(DRY) This is absolutely on the top of my “Comfort foods” list. This curry can never stop exciting me to have my grub. Hot rice, a small dollop of ghee (thanks to weight watching) mixed with rasam and the hot and spicy urulakazhangu kaara curry, simply lip smackingly awesome. Urulakazhangu means potato in Tamil, Kaaram means spicy, Curry means a dry curry(it can also mean something with gravy), but this recipe is a dry curry recipe. On a boring day when you have run out of ideas as to what to cook and feel totally uninspired and feel like nothing could be as laborious and cumbersome like cooking, this would be the dish that would totally cheer you up. Simple, yet delicious. Hardly takes any time to cook. Ready in a jiffy. You can even have this with Yogurt and rice. Ingredients Potatoes – 5-6 Red chillies - 1 Red chilly powder – 1 tsp Coriander powder – 1 tsp Cumin powder – 1 tsp Sambhar powder – 1tsp Pickle Masala(Achar Masala) – 1...