The Madras Phenomenon

No it is not what happens to you or what you do after you sweat a bucket even in December.

After having traveled in MTC buses for years I have made a ground shattering observation with possible economic and philosophical repercussions !!!

Even in a relatively free bus, by that I mean buses which have enough places on them for people to stand comfortably, most of the people would be standing near the entrance/ exit door. It is not only because conductors usually sit near them collecting fares for tickets but also when conductors are not around.

Eliminating crazy college goers who compulsively foot board you get a small crowd who keep gathering near the doors. I have never understood this thing because you might rather stand comfortably in the middle of the bus than smell obnoxious fumes - a motley of pollution, sweat and deodorant.

Forgot about the similes, the point I am trying to make is ( :P ) it appears as if people are disconnected with reality . . . They know when their stop would come but still they wait near the entrance hoping against all hope that the bus would develop wings and take them to their destination ( they certainly are not big fans of harry potter either if they think that this bus has nothing to do with the mugle buses).

I have noticed a similar trait in many people who get into something just for the heck of it and then realize that it was not worth getting into ( lack of internal clarity ). When the "stop" comes literally they just run out like school children after the days over !!!

A lot of people take housing loans or any loans for that matter because they think they can stretch their own financial limits. Once they are in they cant come out but they wait in anticipation of something which they do not know themselves. Bailing out becomes difficult in cases like these ( the US financial markets for eg ).

Please do not blame me for this post, it is Insomnia which brings out such ideas !!!

A Movie, The Movie

Wall E is the name of the movie.
An invitation into the very headquarters of the creative head in Pixar studios.
Wall E is a story of a garbage collecting and assembling robot assisted by its man Friday - a cockroach. No one exists on the planet and New York city resembles a giant dump with holographic videos partly working on the sides of roads which is a usual futuristic concept . Amidst the costly plots in Manhattan, this robot is building his own garbage dump by packing all the waste that is left. The planet has become so polluted that it has become uninhabitable.

In comes EVE an evolved robot and certainly above WALL E in the robotic chain. WALL E over the years has accumulated a lot of things human and knows how to emote partly. EVEs mission is to retrieve any form of habitation. They meet and robotic romance happens before EVE finds a plant and goes back to the mother ship ( a la Noahs Ark ). What happens after that is a total roller coaster ride of adventures.

The creativity and graphics is not only spell bound but it also forces one to think of certain issues. The first being if humans keep wasting resources and may be end up in a nuclear confrontation, this is how the planet would up.

The second and the most important and immediate conclusion is one of frustration. The same sort of frustration is expressed when our country's medal tally in the Olympics is discussed. Why is it that our producers and directors spend hundreds of crores of ruppees in foreign locales shooting uneccessary song sequences and churning out duds .

The heroes of youtube !!

I have developed a passion for cooking quite recently after watching my parents (father and mother), aunts, grand parents dishing out delicious stuff like a food factory. So i thought that instead of asking them every time i wanted to make something i might as well get the videos on youtube.

I would like to praise these individuals who without any marketing have become quite a rage on you tube at least as far as the cooking section is concerned. I am sure there might be many other people who display their culinary skills. Keeping that in mind i am going to list some videos which are watched fairly frequently and the feel is extremely homely.

By the way i guess it would help a lot of beginners !!!

I guess if you feel like adding more you could in comments section.

The first dish is Aloo Palak.
The id of this cook is carpediem43 - The entire video is narrated in English. (btw there are other videos from the same person which at least appear del.icio.us !!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-csBdWwJM

I tried it and trust me it was yummy !!!

Because of my interest in South Indian (Tamil specifically) cuisine i decided to check out some videos regarding them.

I stumbled upon englishtamil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHTgfZzz__I&feature=related

This would take a little time but trust me it is good !!


And then for Rasam - oldernwiser0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXKc9EmXJ0c

I guess this is the easiest way of making it !!!!

I respect all the other cooks as well it is just that i stumbled upon these specific videos.

PS: It would be good if your actual names are revealed - not that your nom de plume's are not interesting !!


Ratatouille - Anybody can cook.