Tried out this Chicken Chettinad Recipe today. Turned out pretty good! Definitely worth a shot if you like cooking and have the patience to look up the recipe.
If you are wondering where Chettinad is, it is a region in southern India in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Sunday, 27 March 2005
India-Pak Third Test at Bangalore
The final day is excitingly poised. Hats of to Pak. This team has played exceptionally in this match thus far. Younis Khan is super player with a lot of character (now it make sense as to why Imran was pitching his case for captaincy). Its hard to imagine, that India won the previous test because Pak has held the psychological upper hand pretty much throughout this test. India on the other hand has a golden opportunity to prove that they are a winning, fighting, capable unit as opposed to a bunch of high net worth, yet talented celebrities.
Laxman's knock on Day 4:
Was batting so difficult? Why was VVS batting like he had 10 more batsmen to follow after Kumble. He scored a total of 28 runs on day 4. The other tailenders combined made almost as much! Has this guy lost his form for good? Given the way Pak batted immediately after India's first innings, its an indication that there weren't exactly any major challenges posed by the pitch.
Sehwag holds the key:
The TOI headlines read "Can Viru win the test for India?" Its an indication of how much has changed in the India batting order. Dravid is solid, Sachin is still good but never considered a match winner anymore, Ganguly is in a permanent state of struggle, VVS form is a figment of imagination. But Viru is the man who can make a difference to a victory. All the others can contribute significantly to save the test, but none can contribute to a victory more than Viru can. On the downside Viru has a dismal second innings average. Moreover he has already scored a double in the first innings. All in all a tall score from him is not going to be easy. But if he does get one India will be in the race atleast until he is at the crease. Its a different story that after his departure from the crease India might simply switch to a save test mode. What a shame if it came down to it. Anyway, should be an exciting day ahead!
The Result tomorrow
If Pak wins, hats of to Pak once again. The team has played superbly and it will be a deserving win. For India it means a huge loss of the psychological advantage prior to the one-day series challenges, especially, given that Pak are a better one-day team. On the other hand, if India wins, then India deserves to be rated the number 2 or 3 test side in the world. Its an awesome opportunity for Team India to prove itself and steal the limelight from their arch rivals on the final day of the test and go into the one-day series with a lot of confidence.
Lastly, its great to see so much interest and excitement being generated by Test cricket.
Laxman's knock on Day 4:
Was batting so difficult? Why was VVS batting like he had 10 more batsmen to follow after Kumble. He scored a total of 28 runs on day 4. The other tailenders combined made almost as much! Has this guy lost his form for good? Given the way Pak batted immediately after India's first innings, its an indication that there weren't exactly any major challenges posed by the pitch.
Sehwag holds the key:
The TOI headlines read "Can Viru win the test for India?" Its an indication of how much has changed in the India batting order. Dravid is solid, Sachin is still good but never considered a match winner anymore, Ganguly is in a permanent state of struggle, VVS form is a figment of imagination. But Viru is the man who can make a difference to a victory. All the others can contribute significantly to save the test, but none can contribute to a victory more than Viru can. On the downside Viru has a dismal second innings average. Moreover he has already scored a double in the first innings. All in all a tall score from him is not going to be easy. But if he does get one India will be in the race atleast until he is at the crease. Its a different story that after his departure from the crease India might simply switch to a save test mode. What a shame if it came down to it. Anyway, should be an exciting day ahead!
The Result tomorrow
If Pak wins, hats of to Pak once again. The team has played superbly and it will be a deserving win. For India it means a huge loss of the psychological advantage prior to the one-day series challenges, especially, given that Pak are a better one-day team. On the other hand, if India wins, then India deserves to be rated the number 2 or 3 test side in the world. Its an awesome opportunity for Team India to prove itself and steal the limelight from their arch rivals on the final day of the test and go into the one-day series with a lot of confidence.
Lastly, its great to see so much interest and excitement being generated by Test cricket.
Monday, 21 March 2005
Movie Review: Bride and Prejudice
Saw this movie on DVD. After all the buzz created with Ash on Letterman, CBS etc and Gurinder Chhadha, the director of Bend it like Beckham fame (which was an excellent film) all over the press, we decided to watch the movie at home on DVD.
Man, what a disaster, a complete boat load of trash!
Gurinder Chaddha clearly has been watching a lot of bollywood films, particularly the Yash Chopra type -- lush green fields, romantic couples, colorful dances etc. Besides, she appears to be overwhelmed by Ash (umpteen needless close-ups!). Cashing in on her recent success Gurinder possibly aspired to make a blend of hollywood and bollywood. Unfortunately, she has ended up neither here nor there. I won't bother getting to the story. There are simply too many flaws to even appreciate anything positive, if at all, in the film. Ash speaks too fast, her character was unnecessarily "bit...y", out of shape punjabi women singing songs in english with a British accent on the streets of Punjab is the most senseless portrayal one can imagine, Anupam Kher hardly has a role etc. etc. the list is endless.
The movie is not even worth watching on DVD, let alone a trip to the theatre. All the praise she earned with all her previous films (What's cooking, another of her films was wonderful) combined has been more than wiped out by this complete piece of trash. A couple of junk releases like this and Ash might have to giggle her way back to bollywood.
Man, what a disaster, a complete boat load of trash!
Gurinder Chaddha clearly has been watching a lot of bollywood films, particularly the Yash Chopra type -- lush green fields, romantic couples, colorful dances etc. Besides, she appears to be overwhelmed by Ash (umpteen needless close-ups!). Cashing in on her recent success Gurinder possibly aspired to make a blend of hollywood and bollywood. Unfortunately, she has ended up neither here nor there. I won't bother getting to the story. There are simply too many flaws to even appreciate anything positive, if at all, in the film. Ash speaks too fast, her character was unnecessarily "bit...y", out of shape punjabi women singing songs in english with a British accent on the streets of Punjab is the most senseless portrayal one can imagine, Anupam Kher hardly has a role etc. etc. the list is endless.
The movie is not even worth watching on DVD, let alone a trip to the theatre. All the praise she earned with all her previous films (What's cooking, another of her films was wonderful) combined has been more than wiped out by this complete piece of trash. A couple of junk releases like this and Ash might have to giggle her way back to bollywood.
Sunday, 20 February 2005
Alumni event in the bay area
Attended a get together of IIT Kharagpur alumni in the bay area yeterday (I forgot to post this earlier). It was a fun filled evening with on stage live entertainment ranging from classical dances, live band, vocals with karoake, bollywood dancing etc. The Director in his short and sweet speech stole the show, especially with his joke on heaven and hell. There were a number of alumni heavy weights attending the event.
Saturday, 19 February 2005
Tuesday, 15 February 2005
Post office
Been to the US post office lately? You go to the post office most often to mail something. This often means you want to send something fast and of course, cheapest. Unfortunately, these two don't go together (in case you didn't already know this!). On the other hand, you are flooded with options -- Sir, would you like to send this by priority mail? Would you like a receipt? Would like delivery confirmation? Or would you just like to track it online? Btw, you can also send this by certified mail? Just when you think this might be your magic formula, the next question comes along -- Sir, certified ok, but priority also? Receipt also? Deliver confirmation? How about express mail? I'll give you an envelope for free! Would you like to buy some stamps today? (this is straight from the "ask about fries" McDonald's school of customer training) Finally, an easy one, but no thank you!
The guy in front of me in the line was hilarious. He told the service agent, "Send this package the cheapest way, lose it if you can, I just want some proof that I mailed it!".
The guy in front of me in the line was hilarious. He told the service agent, "Send this package the cheapest way, lose it if you can, I just want some proof that I mailed it!".
Monday, 14 February 2005
Lost bookmarks, email folders!
I was shutting down my computer. Yahoo IM was on. And then it happened...my computer frooze. I was in a hurry, so I had to forcefully shut it down. Then, later I turned on my computer, and guess what. All my email folders in Outlook Express have disaapeared, my bookmarks in both IE and Firefox have disappeared. I did some web searches to find out about fixes, nothing has helped (getting bookmarks.bak from the application data folder didn't help). My email folders are not much of an issue, since I use IMAP. But my bookmarks are a big source of grief. I had just cleaned it up, re-organized it etc. Btw, I did install the latest Windows update before this happened.
Any ideas will be hugely appreciated.
Any ideas will be hugely appreciated.
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