DesiReflections

We all are aware about the way political class fans regional, racial and sectarian sentiments for their own interest. With the result, the poor autowallahs or taxiwallahs are beaten by goons in the name of outsider threat, the youth from other states who comes for appearing in competitive examinations are not allowed . We have seen worst kind of tension recently during Andhra Pradesh bifurcation followed . Assam is also a divided house, Marwari businessmen and migrant labour is under constant threat by various local outfits. Similarly Punjabi vs Non Punjabi hate and divide in Punjab, total ban of buying property for other state citizens in J&K. Story of Sons of Soil vs Outsiders in so many other states are also written elsewhere. It appears that despite advancement of culture, spread of education we the Indians are back to ancient time when  tribes used to fight with other  tribes in the name of valor or pride. A very frustrating situation. Sometime I feel that whether t...

My first crush with freshly brewed beer was in Wilmington at a Sports Bar, which was a part of a micro brewery. The beer was on menu in so many flavors right from raspberry to blueberry. They serve it by the pitcher,we were a group of eight friends and believe me a decently large pitcher served for US $ 20 and was sufficient for eight of us, It also had complimentary starters also.The taste was so refreshing, far better than the bottled one. Micro breweriesare very common in US and easy to find almost in all major cities. After coming back to India, I longed for fresh beer from a micro brewery, now in many cities including Gurgaon, Banglore, Pune and Mumbai, you may find a micro brewery or two. Latest addition in Mumbai is Barking Deer at Parel. During a short span, it has became a very hip place for younger crowd. Then there is Navin Mittal in Mumbai, who started beer as a hobby, running a blog IndianBeerGeek for beer lovers from last 7 years. He had co-founded Gateway Brewi...

बंद कमरे से निकल के  देखो अपनी नज़रों  से जिंदगी देखो   एक दुनिया छुपी हुई तुममें  अपने अंदर भी  उतर के  देखो   कतरा क़तरा पिघल जाएगा वजूद  एक दिन भीड़ में ठहर के देखो  सिमट के वैठ गए तनहा तनहा  मेरी  सांसों   में बिखर के देखो  गुम क्यों हो गए किताबों में   चांदनी में  ज़रा नहा के देखो 

Our breakfast is incomplete without presence of bread. It used to be one of the most  favorite item  even on our Grand Pa and Grand Ma's  breakfast table,  they fondly  called  it dabal roti and in their time came only one shape and size. But with change of time it  has changed that too  in many ways. Now you have exotic varieties with titles such as ' multigrain', '5 grain' , '9 grain' , 'artisan' , 'crusty', 'stone ground' . These new variants are available in supermarkets, premium  bakery stores in upscale locales. Naturally price of these new avatars of bread  are much much higher than our good old   maida bread. good old maida bread  Let us just try to find out whether  these new avatars of bread are really as healthy and nutritious as claimed to be. If you read the ingredients then you can easily find out the malarkey behind this marketing gimmick . (healthy!) new variants of bread  Most of t...

I read  Thomas Friedman's 'World Is Flat' many times, very interesting account of how the world economic order will change in favour of under developed and developing economies.  He was the first person to predict opportunity and growth in the developing countries just because of outsourcing as well as an off shoot of Internet revolution. So whenever he writes any thing new I read it with lot of interest. Now he is talking about emergence of 'The Square People' in smaller size of countries. Before we talk about square people, I will take you back to 2004, when eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington wrote about an emerging global super of 'Davos Men' alluding to attendees of the Davos World Economic Forum - a cosmopolitan elite drawn from hitch, finance, multinationals, academics and NGOs. The Davos Men had little need for national loyalty and had more common with each other rather than the fellow citizens. The Davos Men also had the skills to...

उनकी इस बेरुखी का भी क्या कहिये  निगाहें इस कदर खामोश हैं क्या कहिये  जिंदगी इस तरह कहाँ चल पाएगी   या तो हाँ कहिये या फिर ना कहिये   इतना मशगूल रहता है वो अपने में  किसी की क्या सुनेगा भला क्या कहिये  इस जहाँ में अपनी ठिकाना कब तलक  जल में पत्ते की तरह बन कर रहिये  जिंदगी और भी खुशनुमा बन जाएगी  जब भी कहिये कुछ तो मीठा कहिये   

माँ में काबा माँ में काशी  सारे तीरथ माँ में समाये  दर्शन से कट जाते संकट  बच्चों के सब कष्ट हटाये   हर कोई चाहे पैसा रुपया  माँ को चाहिए केवल प्यार  कुछ क्षण साथ बिताना चाहे  तुम में वो देखे सब संसार  ईश्वर का  तो पता नहीं पर  माँ तो  हर क्षण साथ रहे  पूरी दुनिया की क्या परवाह   जब मन  में माँ का प्यार बसे 

I have written on number of occasions that what Indian entrepreneurs lacks is Garage Innovation. On the contrast all most all iconic gen. next companies in USA started in garages, be it Microsoft, Google or for that matter Facebook. Today, I want to correct myself, there is an Indian company, very innovative and far ahead of it's competitors not only in India but all over the globe. It is Prime Focus lead by Namit Malhotra. It is into visual entertainment service business and leaders in Global Entertainment business like Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, James Cameron are it's clients. the company has earned neat profit of Rs.265 Crore on revenues of Rs762 Crore last year. The company has 14 offices in six countries. Namit's father Naresh Malhotra started as Assistant to well known Film Director Asit Sen. Assistant to Production Controller to Film Producer, his journey was very struggleful, adventurous and exciting. So when in the year 1997 Namit started his company Prime F...

हवा में    नफ़रतें  ज्यादा हैं प्यार कम है न जाने क्यों आदमियत की रफ़्तार काम है सफर पर चल दिए बिना सोचे बिना जाने अजब   मंजर है हर इक   आँख पुर नम है चलो चल के ज़रा लोगों को  हंसाया जाय कितनी मायूसी है जिंदगी में कितना गम है पिला दे आँख से साकी जरा इस दीवाने को जेब खाली है  इसकी घर में ठर्रा  है न रम है नज़र के तीर से ही वो गिरा देते हैं लोगों को गज़ब यह है पास उनके  न छर्रा है न बम है --------------प्रदीप गुप्ता @pradeep gupta 07.05.2014.

Gin and Tonic is a cocktail which was introduced by the British Army officers stationed in India in eighteen century. The British never faced mosquitos in England, in India due to mosquito bite they were affected by Malaria, at that point of time quinine as a potent cure for the disease was available, but it used to be very bitter, so solution came in the form of tonic water. Tonic water was made by dissolving quinine tablet in water, adding sugar and lemon juice. to make this concoction more tempting gin was added, thus Gin and Tonic became popular. Gin is achieved by distilling alcohol with juniper berries. . Soldiers in India were already given a gin ration, and the sweet concoction inevitably made sense.Since it is no longer used as an antimalarial, tonic water today contains much less quinine, is usually sweetened, and is consequently much less bitter. I was invited at a Mixologist Conference organised by BBC Good Homes magazine at The Club, Andheri sometime in 2009, on ...