“I have many layers over me! Remove one and another remains you see! You can treat me like King or like garbage! Am green am the humble cabbage!”
The fate of the cabbage is to be the seat! With so many layers and options, cabbage is a gatherer of crowd! Like how you need to fill a room with some guests in a short notice, cabbage does the same in a meal!
Cabbage is one food which can take the flavour of anything and complement it! Also giving weight and content!
I still remember how cooks in places where they serve sizzlers make them on a bed of cabbage! After a while when it does get roasted or cooked, you even eat that!
Another great role of cabbage is how it can make any dish oriental! Just add a little cabbage to fine and dry rice and you have fried rice!
Of course it is associated with thyroid issues so it is advisable not to eat too much of cabbage but then in moderation it is ok!
In fact Cabbage is a very old vegetable! So much so that it is the grandfather of many vegetables like broccoli, collard greens, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and sprouting broccoli. All of these developed from the wild cabbage B. oleracea var. oleracea, also called colewort or field cabbage!
Cabbage, known botanically as “Brassica Oleracea,” is one of the oldest vegetables in human history. It originated in the Mediterranean and has been cultivated for over 4,000 years. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were already enjoying the many varieties of cabbage. The Romans, in particular, were renowned for their vast culinary knowledge and helped popularize cabbage throughout Europe.
In France in the Middle Ages, cabbage was a staple food, particularly for the working classes. Often eaten in soups or stews, its ability to preserve made it an essential food during the long winter months!
In the south cabbage is a frequent vegetable as a side with carrot or as an accompaniment to rice. Since it is known to be flatulent, it is always mixed with fennel! That dish with fennel and some coconut is called the Mulaguttal or Molagootal!
So from being just the bed of a dish to the main dish, Cabbage is a versatile bloke! Versatile and talented also is birthday celebrity Manoj Nelliyattu “M. Night” Shyamalan!
Now avoid cabbage in the night though! Shubh ratri!
“Milk goes good with em Soak a lot would soften them! Some fruitz and some sugar so real For kids the breakfast cereal!”
Previously when we or I alone used to go to any international travel these little things usually used to save me from hunger! They were always available and for vegetarians they were really God send!
To think that the invention of one of the most popular breakfast dish of the world was actually an accident!
read on!
In the army we used to get rations of corn flakes especially during the field or remote postings and they used to be a little salted. I never knew that they were salted after processing but the taste was nice!
Now for many folks like me who never used to have a proper breakfast till after the age of 30 years (Now I have to have all the three meals on time especially breakfast!); having cornflakes as breakfast was never done!
When we used to go to army tours with dad, then most of the times the mess would serve these flakes as a breakfast option which then either my dad or my brother would use! Mom and me would still stick to the classic dosa or idly or our favourite Vada! I feel that one vada is the gift or reward you get for eating two idlis!
So if the standard options were not available we would still take some alternatives like bread toast with jam or even pan cakes with syrup! Corn flakes was never in the list even if it was available!
For many of us at the time, corn flakes was a snack! We used to mix it with other stuff and make a mixture and eat! Even after oats caught on the breakfast menu for some in India, corn flakes was not that widely accepted!
It could be that the combination of milk without any modifications with corn flakes was a bad choice or the fact that even if you eat the corn flakes, you will feel hungry in a couple of hours!
So in trips to places like Munich, the presence of Corn flakes in different ways like chocolate coated and plain would at least give us a satisfaction that we can eat something! That was the only time I have willingly eaten corn flakes as breakfast! Occasionally I like to have some muesli and some flakes but it is very rare.
Now of course corn flakes have come in so many types and flavours that it is difficult to choose which one to give to the kids! Not to mention the high sugar and salt content and their effect on them! Luckily even they have not developed any special interest in them so for now flakes are only a reserve option both in or out of our house!
How these flakes came to our breakfast table!?
Kellogg was born in Tyrone Township, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan Medical School and graduated from Bellvue Hospital Medical College. In 1876 he became superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. There, he promoted wellness through a healthy, vegetarian diet, and routinely experimented with new food products.
Kellogg was working with his brother Will on a new kind of wheat meal for patients at the sanitarium when the process that resulted in Corn Flakes was accidentally discovered. Rolling out wheat dough that had been forgotten overnight, the brothers discovered that instead of loaves of bread they got thin flakes. Kellogg’s patients liked the new food, and he sold over 100,000 pounds of the cereal in the first year.
John Kellogg also invented other popular food products, including peanut butter, granola, and a grain-based coffee substitute. He continued to run the sanitarium and to experiment with new foods, while Will left the hospital and founded the Kellogg Toasted Flake Company, the predecessor to today’s Kellogg Company! Now that’s legacy! Legacy also is the work of birthday celebrity Thalaivaasal Vijay!
Now keep some flakes for breakfast or better yet soak some rice and dal! Your choice! Shubh ratri!
It may break your heart without the parting of lips!
It’s not a gun, but the sound of silence!”
The sound of silence is a great song by Simon and Garfunkel but it’s much more than that!
This is a common thing we face during any conversation!
The sound of silence!
Read on!
So you meet your friends or family after some time and you get to talking!
Then after some time and some routine questions you suddenly run out of stuffs to talk about! You try to cover all grounds like past present and future!
And then it comes! You have nothing to say! What’s to be said is done and dusted! Then you enter that awkward silence!
An awkward silence is an uncomfortable pause in a conversation or presentation. The unpleasant nature of such silences is associated with feelings of anxiety as the participants feel pressure to speak but are unsure of what to say next. In conversation, average pause length varies by language, culture and context! That is the offical definition but of course it is different for many!
There is also a difference between genders in the pause but we will not go into that!
Many people have different ways to get off the awkward silence especially when the talk is formal! It’s never comfortable to any one and there are many tricks to avoid them!
It’s advisable to not to blurt out all questions or information fast! It’s always better to pace yourself! Many use humour as a coping mechanism to avoid awkward silence! You must also understand that it’s awkward to the other person or persons also!
Conversation going smoothly is an art! It’s like music with a rhythm! There are proper pauses and fillers! If you use them then you may not have such pauses! Music and awkward silence and pacing reminds me of birthday celebrity Vishal Bhardwaj!
One of the best games to play when you are alone and free is the Rubik’s cube! It improves your coordination and skill and also keeps you sharp and focussed!
The speed is just a bonus though you must be able to do it faster once you get the drift!
The common notion is that games, specially computer games do not require any skill or intelligence but in the modern world they are a skill set! Of course in no way they are better than proper outdoor games and reading! But did you know that there are some games which require your full attention and your brain to work really well?
read on!
One of the most irritating and difficult game to me was the Prince of Persia first version which used to come with the earlier Windows! That Prince had only one skill! Getting killed! There were some levels which were so difficult that you can only count the time it takes for you to make him jump on a hole with spikes!
In fact the older versions of many such games have always been more difficult than the newer version. The Prince of Persia 3d version and Prince 2 and finally the ones which including and following Prince of Persia Sands of time were actually much easier to finish than the first version! There may be some difficult levels but if you do again and again you can still finish the game.
Some levels and games though can frustrate even the most serious gamer! In between a full time clinical practice you can take a break and play some levels of these games like Prince of Persia or Even Far Cry or my personal favourite Half life 2! But if you are stuck in the same level for a long time you used to have those geeks who used to spend their life playing these games make a guide for people who play them once in a while. These are called Walkthroughs! We will come to them soon!
So many games are simply a computer programme so it can be programmed to act the way you want! These work in couple of ways as I know! One is that you can have cheat codes which are again two types! Now these are my limited knowledge as a non tech guy! The first one is usually given or leaked by the developer himself or a hacker who would have cracked the game file! In this you have to use an app like the notepad which in those days was a really cool app and the most important app in the cd which allowed it to be auto run! So the basic instruction in the game was changed and certain commands and keywords are added which you can access in between the game! These can be things like giving you extra life or making you less amenable to hits!
Another way was that you have another programme which you need to run parallel to the game and when both of them run together, you need to pause the game and use TAB with ALT to access the cheats like God mode or more health!
Now these are basically ways to CHEAT! Which is why I seldom used them as if you win by using them then it is not really winning! But in games such as Serious Sam, I had accidentally accessed the hard mode. Most games had such a selection and once you make this selection you cannot go back! If you select the easier mode then some games like Wolfenstein may even ridicule you! The easy mode in that is something in the lines of “DADDY I AM SCARED!”
So by and large as a good and ethical gamer; I used to use the Walkthroughs! Now these were like the guide or refresher course of the game! They used to tell you the best weapons to use and the best way to complete the game! If you are stuck in a game then they will definitely help you! It is still good because you are do not get any extra lives or easy way out! With all the help and coaching the walkthroughs give you, the game has to be still played and won by you!
Even otherwise, every game levels requires countless calculations and measurements and trials. The amount of research which goes into some games is mind boggling! In a recent study by Psych Daily, they released the average Iqs of the biggest games. The games with the 3 lowest Iqs were Rocket League, assassin’s Creed in GTA, and those Iqs are about average for most humans. The 3 highest IQ games are Minecraft. among us and Rainbow 6!
I have played only rainbow 6 and I can vouch for the list!
In no way though this post encourages gaming which is still a time pass and bad distraction for kids but (this is the most dangerous word in the world! Whenever there is a BUT which follows anything good then rest assured whatever comes after that BUT will kick your…!); still video games need brains to develop and to play! Not to mention good hand eye coordination and fast reflexes! Which means you need good skills! Skilled also was birthday celebrity Jaidev!
“The temple bells ring with a zing! The chanting of mantras make you sing! The lights a little dull and little bright! The village temple is a delight!”
I am just back from a visit to my father and mother’s vilage and visit to our family goddess called the Chittur Bhagavathy and the constant Kerala rain bought back memories like the flood held weakly by emotions which suddenly gives way…
Now in many ways, the village roads and the Old houses of dad’s village made my kid’s eyes wide open in wonder!
I have actually gone to those places when we were young and stayed a couple of days! That used to be fun! Not the iPad or tablet fun but real outdoor fun!
Seeing and trying to milk the cow! Or going to the nearby small river stream for a bath with elder cousins! Or the sitting on the courtyard and listening to the temple bells!
How everyone used to switch off the lights and close the doors and gates by 7 or 8! And now we finish our work by 9 if lucky! During the days of visit to our village the dinner was done and finished at 7! It was usually what was made for lunch and we all kids were promptly sent to sleep!
I still remember my old uncle who would have his own room and get food there itself! He would not come out much and though young I understood that he was old and unwell. He was the one who taught me how to play patience with a deck of cards!
Now my kids may not have patience for that! The beauty of the whole setting was that the village was still more or less the same! Of course some roads have got some make up and some new houses are there where previously you used to have open fields but the feel and the nostalgia is there!
With every corner and every street my dad would scream in enthusiasm and delight and a memory association with that place would come!
While visiting some old house or place if he finds an acquaintance then it’s lottery! The whole sequence of nostalgia starts again!
I especially like the Chittur temple since it looks so old! The smell of the oil lamps and a little rain outside is simply amazing to me! The main centre of the temple is usually in the centre and in most Kerala temple it’s not really visible! That makes its even more challenging and nice!
I actually don’t want the village or the temple to change much! The sanctity which triggers the nostalgia must remain! The sanctity and legacy of birthday celebrity Pingali Venkayya who designed the Indian flag also will remain for a long time!
One of the things we all do after some time of sitting and not doing anything much for a long time is to make this sound!
Now don’t worry!
It’s not what you thought before though even that’s normal!
Read on!
Driving on a highway is fun! Music in full blast and family singing and playing together!
Of course if you are an average Bangalorean most of your time and energy on a big highway journey would actually be spent on reaching the highway!
It took me close to two hours to just reach the highway on a total journey which was for 8 hours or so!
Of course snacking on the way and having all that junk food is an added advantage or disadvantage!
Make sure your neck is well protected and the back rest is ok! On top of that frequent breaks are part and parcel of Highway driving!
Then after driving for a while when you get down to stretch, one of the first things you do is crack your joints!
That is the sound I mentioned above!
The felling of a nice crack and sound is really cool! You like it so much!
There was a myth that if you crack you joints too much then it would lead to arthritis! Of course it’s not true!
So why do they make the sound!?
The “popping” or “cracking” sound that happens when we crack your knuckles is caused by popping bubbles in your synovial fluid, which is responsible for lubricating your joints. When you pull your bones apart, there is a buildup of negative pressure, causing these bubbles to burst!
Of course do not over do it since there is a limit for everything! Of course birthday celebrity Bhagwan Dada broke many limits with his dance moves!
“The door was locked from inside The key was lost as you would dread The house was huge and far away! Of course t’was all in your head!”
A personal tragedy leading to a great invention which leads to greater destruction! Intrigued? read on!
In this novel the author has a personal loss of a dear and near person which leads him to get bust with his research and his bizarre invention!
The whole premise of this very famous novel can be thought as a call for help of a lonely man child who tries then to find the same or similar company in his invention!
The description can be the screenplay of a soap opera or the storyline of a bollywood movie!
But this is actually the theme of one of the most famous novels! The Frankenstein by Mark Shelley!
In fact in many notions the creation of a zombie like creature who later on starts to hate even his own creator is a common theme! A freudian analysis of the novel would actually yield some classic psychological issues!
Also the most common mistake made by many is that the name of the monster is not Frankenstein! Shelley’s original novel does not give the character a specific name. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein variously refers to his creation as the “creature”, “fiend”, “spectre”, “dæmon”, “wretch”, “devil”, “thing”, “being”, and “ogre”!
In fact it was called the Frankenstein’s Monster in many retelling and depictions but later on the apostrophe ‘s’ was dropped and the name became linked to the Monster! Then again even if you did have this doubt there have been so many analysis of the plot and many have concluded that in spite of his being a big giant with rage, the actual Monster was Frankenstein! This is because in creating the Monster, Frankenstein made a big error and that makes him evil!
Of course this is just an interpretation and maybe the author was simply bored and wanted to create a memorable character and that is exactly what was done! Another author who had made such complex emotions in his works was birthday celebrity Dhanpat Rai Srivastava! You may know him as Munshi Premchand!
Now pause your imaginations and sleep! Shubh Ratri!
“He was just behind me the hand so strong With dirty nail and fingers so long! He choked me so hard that I couldn’t even weep! T’was at that time I woke up from my sleep!”
What is the common link between The theory of relativity, the structure of atom, the song by the The Beatles called Yesterday and this actually has a big list but to end it; the movie terminator!
A simple answer is what you seek with your eyes closed is what you get!
read on!
The above list is complemented by Google! Yes literally!
Even the structure of Benzene and the idea of Frankenstein has this common link!
Now do not lose your sanity! The common link in all these is that these ideas all came to the people who had them in their dreams! They are among the numerous discoveries and inventions that are said to have been inspired through the act of dreaming.
For decades sleep scientists have tried to find out the link between dreaming and creative inspiration. They have long thought these insights came from the rapid eye movement stage of sleep, which is rich with dreams and begins an hour or more into the sleep cycle. But new evidence puts the spotlight on a much earlier sleep phase—the twilight zone that separates sleep and wakefulness—as fertile ground for a creative burst!
Remember how we used to be told that some dreams which come in certain parts of the night may or may not come true!
It apparently may be true! Not in the prediction of future though! More than one famous thinker has capitalized on the first transitional phase into sleep, called non-rapid eye movement sleep stage 1, or N1, to generate creative insights. The painter Salvador Dalí would deliberately doze while holding a set of keys above a metal plate when mulling over an idea for a painting. As he nodded off, the muscles in his hand would relax. He’d drop the keys, which would hit the plate and wake him up, and he’d hold onto the image from his dream.
Thomas Edison is said to have used a similar technique with metal balls instead of keys to gain insights to be incorporated into his inventions. Now since I am a big Tesla fan, dream or not, Edison is no Tesla!
It has also been suggested that if you get some great ideas in your dreams you must immediately write the dream or the idea lest you forget! Even you would have noticed that you remember some dreams so well just immediately after you get up! So that is the best time to just get up and write the idea or even the dream if you want to get any advantage of the dream!
Forget about the science of it all, a great dream can be the idea of a great movie or storybook and make you famous or even happy or (rarely) both!
Now listen to this narration by a famous director produced verbatim…
“This idea came from a dream that I had while I was sick with a fever in a cheap pension in Rome in 1981. It was the image of a chrome skeleton emerging from a fire. When I woke up, I began sketching on the hotel stationery”
“The first sketch I did showed a metal skeleton cut in half at the waist, crawling over a tile floor, using a large kitchen knife to pull itself forward while reaching out with the other hand. In a second drawing, the character is threatening a crawling woman. Minus the kitchen knife, these images became the finale of The movie almost exactly.”
So did you understand this movie? Metal skeleton?!
Well, it is The terminator! Sketching the one who inspired many to muscle up and be macho during the 90s on his birthday!
Praying for the poor souls at Wayanad… God bless… Shubh Ratri…
Birthdays everywhere are traditional and have some traditions!
But did you know that the famous birthday song which everyone knows and sings and is maybe one of the most recognized song in the world had origins and lyrics which was completely different from what you hear now?
read on!
Growing up for us birthday was the day when no one would scold us the whole day and we get sweets! If lucky some nice gifts which was usually new clothes! If very lucky we would eat outside! Mom would bake a nice cake and we would all eat with relish!
If it is a school day then we could wear neat and new color dress which may or may not be new and look better than the uniform!
We would give those small chocolates and there always would be some kid or teacher who will not get it!
Going to temple was the norm and getting up early in the morning to do that was the rule! In fact the place I did my graduation, if someone had got up early in the morning and gone to temple then you can be sure that he or she has his or her birthday that day!
Now of course birthday has become a mad race of crazy stuff so much so that I am scared of any birthday! I still remember the birthday ‘bumps’ which we used to give to kids who we did not like and give some extra force in the bump! It was crazy and now it has become a violent tradition and must be opposed to the core!
The bumps”, or “the dumps” in Scotland, is a birthday torment common in countries such as the UK, Ireland, Canada, and India! The number of “bumps” given equals the age of the person in years plus one “for luck”.
Sometimes bumps are also referred to as kicks where the person celebrating their birthday is held by their arms and legs and their friends kick them.
Apparently In French-speaking Canada, the U.S. and Australia, “birthday punches” are given in a similar fashion, with the person whose birthday it is being punched a number of times equal to his/her age, often with one additional punch “for luck”!
In some places, instead of a punch “for luck”, the recipient is pinched “to grow an inch”. In Brazil, Hungary, Argentina, Italy, and other countries, the person has his/her earlobes pulled!
The Hungarian tradition also involves at the same time as pulling the earlobes wishing the person a happy birthday or reciting a rhyme whose English translation is “God bless you, live so long so your ears reach your ankles.”!
Another crazy tradition which I hate is the plastering the cake on the face! It is such a waste of cake and really stupid! Especially seeing horrible videos of people getting injured during these crazy stunt! Or the crazy Hydrogen balloons and the fire show! Birthday has become the day when the danger to your life is the most now!
Finally the song which is so popular now had this as the original lyrics;
Good morning to you
Good morning to you
Good morning dear teacher,
Good morning to all
The sisters from Kentucky published “Good Morning to All” in 1893 but didn’t copyright numerous alternative versions in subsequent decades. When “Happy Birthday to You” appeared in books and in the Broadway production of As Thousands Cheer, the Mill family went to court and received rights to the song!
In 2015, “Happy Birthday to You” was placed in the public domain. Warner Music appealed, and in 2016, a judge ruled Warner Music had an invalid claim to the song. The company was ordered to pay out $14 million to “thousands of people and entities” charged for using the song.
While restaurants had long ago developed their own tunes wishing customers “Happy Birthday” and a lot of movies and television shows simply avoided the song entirely, it became possible to hear “Happy Birthday to You” much more often as a result of the decision!
Now of course it is one of the most famous songs sung during birthday all over the world!
I guess birthday should be a time to celebrate life and happiness so it is better to celebrate it in a way which makes the person who is celebrating one more year of his or her life feel good! Wishing a good wish to the day’s birthday celebrity Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata whose contribution to the development of India is unparalleled!
“So when we wake up and get invited to a birthday party lets not do this stupid mistakes” This statement typed by my son after we stopped a birthday bump during his birthday celebration today!
Now have a great day! Celebrate life by being wise and safe!
You’d think it was an April Fool’s Day prank if someone told you something designed to help the alcohol industry saved lives, wouldn’t you? Or for that matter the history of alcohol and the history of commercial milk are related to each other!
Intrigued!?
Read on!
Now people who drink milk may not see eye to eye to people who enjoy their glass of beer at least in the morning! But it is understood that milk is a routine morning drink and alcohol a typical night or evening! Unless of course there is a special occasion is what the normal reason is!
Then again people like me like only milk but even a teetotaler like me cannot take milk in its true form! I actually can drink Milk only in the form of coffee or tea or when I was young, Rose milk was my favorite! Even now I don’t mind gulping some rose milk here and there but can’t because of the high sugar level in it and the fact that it really does a number on my throat!
Now of course you have a range of milk which do not even taste or feel like the cow milk we all grew up with! Personally though in spite of the fact that my choice of milk is narrow, I would prefer a black tea to any other ‘Milk’ tea!
Now imagine you have a group of people who drink only one of these two then you may think that they have little in common! Well, they might and to help them you have the history!
Back in the nineteenth century, French scientist Louis Pasteur was commissioned by a local alcohol manufacturer to figure out why their beer and wine were turning sour!
He discovered the blame lay with organisms such as bacteria! He decontaminated the alcohol and helped that industry!
Later he used the same process to keep milk safe and fresh for some time! The method which involves heating and rapid cooling!– the same bacteria that could be destroyed by boiling then cooling liquids, a process now known as pasteurisation! The process which is used to this day for preparing and preserving milk!
All because of alcohol! Now that’s a link which produces great dividends! Thinking of produce reminds me of birthday celebrity Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar!
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