Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Tale of Two Nations

Recently, elections were held  within few months apart of each other  in two countries of which I am a proud citizen  Australia and India. After following both the elections closely, I couldn't help but compare the outcomes, the subsequent leaders & parties who have come to power, and what this change in guard means for both the countries. After reading the uncanny similarities and stark differences below you will know why I love one election result and, to put it mildly, dislike the other.

Similarities: 
  • Both parties  LNP in Australia and BJP in India  were relegated to opposition for two terms before the recent elections. 
  • Both parties won handsomely with a big majority and left the opposite parties  ALP in Aus and Congress in India  to lick their wound. 
  • Both party leaders  Tony Abbott in Australia and Narendra Modi in India — are pro-business. 
  • Major parties in both nations were worried about an entry of new dark horse in the contest  PUP in Australia and AAP in India. 
  • People of both nation voted for change. Change for better. Change for hope. 
Differences: 
  • One party campaigned for change for better and hope, other party was building their case on set of lies, deceit and scaring the bejesus out of people. 
  • Even though pro-business, one party has put betterment of poor at the forefront and other party is thinking only about the rich and how to screw poorest of the society. 
  • One party's motto is सबका साथसबका विकास (Collective Effort, Inclusive Growth) and other party is playing us vs. them  rich vs. poor, employers vs. employees  game. 
  • One party thinks education is a basic right, other one thinks it's a business, students are consumers and should pay for their education whatever the cost may be. 
  • Both parties are ignoring climate change issues but for different reasons. One for economic growth and other one thinks climate change is "crap". 
  • Both believe in small government but have totally different ideas when it comes to what it means. Here is Abbott's views and here is Modi's views. 
  • Indian cabinet has seven women as Australian cabinet has only one.
  • The leader of one party is dynamic, articulate, optimist and has a proven record of working for betterment of people. Other one cannot front people without prepared scriptis gaffe prone, negative and has near to no track record of any sort to be leading a nation. 
  • One leader extends his hand of friendship to his neighbouring countries - even to the bitterest of the foes - other one pulls away and avoids meeting the friendliest of the neighbours and in turn inflames tensions between the nations.
  • One is against corruption of any sorts and other one looks like is ok with benefiting from soft corruption.
There might be many more similarities and difference and will update the list as I think of them. Feel free to contribute to the list in the comment section below.

I'm afraid with Abbott government at the helm, Australia as a country will suffer and regress when it comes to fair go and equality.

Even though these are early days in Narendra Modi's government (only sworn in y'day) but based on the track record of Modi and the positive vibe around him, I hope and wish his government will work for betterment of everyone and not just the elite class.  सबका साथसबका विकास! 

Have two nations taken completely different and opposite path? Only time will tell.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Those were the days...

Food. It has this amazing ability to transport and take you back in time. One such situation related to food which played out today took me right back to my initial uni days in Australia. You know what they say, "the more things change, the more they stay the same". If you have come to Oz as a student and stayed with few others in shared accommodation then this situation might sound familiar.

THE SITUATION
I come home from not so hard day's work and realise I cannot relax yet. It's dinner time and my partner who cooks better than me won't be home due to work commitment. Other two who stay with us don't know anything about cooking. They don't mind helping around so it's up to me to step up. So I cook the dish I know the best which is quick and easy too. The result is below.

THE DISH 
A humble curry - Dhal Makkhani (Kidney Bean and Black Lenthil Dhal) - with Rice.
I have cooked this dish several times since uni and every time I do, it reminds me of those days of humble beginning. The days when simple pleasures of life were much treasured! 

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Aaj Khane Me Kya Banao? [What should I cook for dinner today?]


Aaj Khane Me Kya Banao? [What should I cook for dinner today?]

The eternal question in one's married life! It's one question we as a couple used to spend unusual amount of time every day mulling (and sometimes arguing) over.  It used to go something like this (not exactly but you will get the drift).

Tring...Tring...

Dear Wife: So, aaj khane me kya banao?

Me: Aalo ke Parathe? [Stuff Potato Paratha?]
DW: Parso to Aalu ki sabji banayi thi! [We ate Potato curry just a day before!]

Me: How about Muli [Radish] ke Parathe then?
DW: Muli Nahin hai! [We do not have Radish]

Me: Roti aur Bhindi ki sabji [Okra Curry]?
DW: Kya boring si dish bolte ho..tumhe to bus jab dekho bhindi chahiye. [What a boring dish, you can eat Okra anytime.]

Me: Uff ho! To phir tum hi kuch soch ke bana lo. Mujhe meeting me jana hai!
       [Oh! Cook whatever you think...I need to go to meeting]
DW: Ok, soch thi hoon, kuch nahin soojha to baad me phone
 karungi!
        [Ok..will think about it, otherwise I'll give you call again.]

After couple of hours....tring tring!!

And soon, more often than not, the discussion ended with me saying in frustration, "Jo bana na hai banalo yaar please! [Cook whatever you want dear please!]". Frustration on both sides.

It reached a point where I could sense if we didn't do something about it, it would start effecting our married life, especially after my better half joined the workforce full time. Now, after a long day back from work, we didn't have luxury of time or any energy arguing over what to cook! So we sat down, talked about it and came up with a solution. A solution which initially she was sceptical about, but eventually warmed up to the whole idea.

So what's the solution you ask? It's very simple and I wondered why we never thought about it before. They don't say Necessity is mother of invention for nothing.

Solution:

To start with, we listed all the dishes we can cook at dinner in an excel document. Once we compiled the list we divided it into 5 day weekly menu. We made sure we grouped the dishes in the menu so we can have good variety in a given week. To our surprise, we came up with a list long enough that we didn't have to repeat the same dish for at least 2.5 months.

Another nice side effect of implementing this solution was that we knew exactly what veggies to buy when we went for our fortnightly shopping on the weekends. No more shopping uninformed.

Pretty soon we stopped arguing over what to cook due to the preset menu. Also excitement returned at the dinner table because we knew we are not going to repeat a dish for next 2.5 months. No more wasting time arguing or standing in front of the fridge mulling and no more inadvertent repeating of the just few of our most fav dishes every week.

We cooked (alright, she cooked ;-)) first dish off the menu on Sunday, 30th March 2008. And it's been exactly 6 years and funnily enough as I write this, it's Sunday, 30th March 2014.

And after 6 years, I can say the solution we have is a success! :-)

Happy days!




Monday, August 5, 2013

Oz Federal Election - Twitter Feed

Now that federal election has been announced, I have created a twitter roll to check out the latest news on the subject. I figure this is the best way to keep in touch with the latest hot topics in election campaign.
So below is the twitter roll of feed with #auspol hashtag.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Telegram - तार

I just read on the news roll that Telegram service in India was shut down on 14th July 2013 after 163 years of service. This got me thinking of all those scenes from Hindi movies where Telegram was used, almost always, as a bearer of bad news.

Below are some of the samples I could find on youtube. Feel free to share if you know or find any more of these.

Scene from movie Mahasangram:



Scene from Munnabhai MBBS:

Friday, September 24, 2010

लेकिन...(Lekin...)


बड़ी मुद्दत के बाद पोहचे है यहाँ...लेकिन
तेरा साथ नहीं तो ये मंजिल क्या है।

जहा भी देखू , ख़ुशी का आलम है...लेकिन
जिस मे तू नहीं वो मेहफिल क्या है।

पाया हमने बोहुत इस जहान में...लेकिन
तुझे जो खोया तो किया हासिल क्या है।

सांस तो लेते है लेने के लिए अब हम...लेकिन
जिस मे तू नहीं, वो ज़िन्दगी क्या है।


Badi muddat ke baad pohache hai yaha...lekin
Ab tera saath nahin, to yeh manzil kya hai.

Jaha bhi dekhu, khushi ka aalam hai...lekin
Jis me TU nahin, woh mehfil kya hai.

Paya humne bohot is jahan mein...lekin
Tujhe jo khoya, to kiya haasil kya hai.

Saans to lete hai lene ke liye ab hum...lekin
Jis me tu nahin, who zindagi kya hai.

Friday, July 23, 2010

New York --> Naya Ghad

It’s interesting to see let’s-change-the-name-of-an-Indian-city craze which is going on for years now. Be it Madras to Chennai, Bombay to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkotta, and recently Bangalore to Bengaluru. I also wonder why some politician hasn’t yet suggested changing Delhi to Indraprasth or go even further and changing India to Hindusthan [nah!! That will not get him so called minority votes then, will it? ;)].

Anyways, while thinking about this, I had this crazy thought. What if NRIs/OCIs living overseas had a similar urge to change the name of the suburb, city, state or country they live in to something more Indian? What they would be called? Let’s see some example:

New York = Naya Ghad (we already have Junaghad, don't we :-p)

Valley View = V V Puram

Washington = Dhobi Ghat [Courtesy: MBCA :)]
Sydney = Sitapore

Maribyrnong = Mylapur

Adelaide = Anand Nagar

Port Adelaide = Anand Bandar :) or Anandapatanam

Brisbane = Bana(na)ras

Gold Coast = Sonpuri

Kensington Garden = Kishan Bagh


Now let's see what can we change London, California etc into. Go ahead and go wild with your imagination.