Karama- A culinary connoisseur’s delight

Some of Chennaites like us should be happy and privileged to be in and around Karama in Dubai. It's a great place to be in and is a perfect amalgamation and confluence of Mathunga, Chembur, Mylapore and T. Nagar. As some friends used to say except Parents and their love from back home everything else is available in Karama and you are spoiled for choice and that too at your doorsteps. Supermarkets, groceries, Vegetable markets, Laundries, Saloons, beauty parlors, cassette shops, Dance schools, Music classes, professional entrance classes, etc, etc abound in plenty and this blog space is not just enough to write about each of them in detail. But more than anything else Karama is stunning just for the variety of food you get and the specialties they serve. It's incredible with a spread of around 50 restaurants or so spread around a 2 km stretch and if you are a 'Sappatu Raman' or 'Rami' with an eye for that special unique item then you are going to end up every third day in any of these joints throwing caution to the winds as soon as you enter with total dis- regard to the so called diet regimen imposed in most of the diet conscious households by the wifes with huge dry salad spreads and tasteless soups( by the way must be easy for them to prepare-isn't it!)

Just a recap of some of them and their specialties. May be I have missed out some and our friends, I am sure would come up with some surprise add ons

South Indian

Saravana Bhavan- Of course the filter coffee and the vatha kuzhambu which comes as part of the madras Thali- But I have to admit in recent days after their coffee maker was shifted to Sharjah branch the standards have down a wee bit

Sangeetha - Hot Masala vadai/Keera vadai and the different flavors of Chutney and the super sambar- Their red chutney is too good as well as the combo of Naan and Dhall/Palak/Channa which again is a favorite of many of our friends - Chettinad mini tiifin and the Paal kozhakattai on specific days are again delights

Simran's Appa kadai- As the name suggests hot appams with different delicacies to add up and some good non veg spread curries can really force you to go for 3-4 appams at one go

Balaji Bhavan - Some ex Sangeetha old faces can be seen here- fast picking up with a friendly service though car park was a real problem -Looks like that has also become a parking place now with meters on

Venus 'normal' and Venus 'Deluxe' - Old is gold as they say and Venus still stands out in the corner facing the beautiful park though many restaurants have mushroomed over the years - The buffet for 10 bucks on week end is value for money and still nobody can imitate their special brand of sambar . Deluxe is a nice and calm place to relax with the family- Their Manchurian starter is too good for words

Woodlands - It's again a old timer recently given a new look and feel with a new Management but the Adai-Avial combination is truly amazing

Arya's Veg- Started with a bang with a delightful buffet but seems to have less takers as new hotels close in on the established ones

Madras Veg Rest - Economical as compared to others though service is yet to catch up to expected levels- Pretty decent Thali -

Akshya - has been around for some time and has some fixed monthly clients who keep it going-Long time since I had been to the place since we are spoiled for choice

Bombay Woodlands- New comer to the town catching up on the 'Mumabites ' around Karama- Their north Indian main courses are quiet decent

Keerthi and Sun rise- ' frequented joints for our friends from Kerala with Puttu, Appam, Fish Curry etc and going by what they say seems to be quiet tasty

Gujarati

Ajanta - Ajanta stands out for their morning breakfast Poori -Baji with little bit of small chilly and carrot to spice up and the chappati's and parathas are 2 good - More than any thing else the hospitality is amazing- You feel at home

Adarsh- For shoppers in and around Kalvin Karama it's a welcome sight- Excellent Pani Puri and Pav Bhajji and the thali on some days can really make you go to sleep in minutes

Chettinad

Anjappar - I am not that good at non veg- but Friends say that Chicken lollypop for starters and the chicken 65 special masala/Meen Kuzhambu and stuff like 'kadai(some form of small bird-of course may not be now with the bird fever scare around!)' are favorites

Ponnu Sami - Kara Kuzhambu with Thair Sadam from Ponnu Sami along with some spicy chicken stuff is an any day delight

There are plenty more like Royal Garden, Kamath, Chutney( almost 100 varieties of Dosa and 20+ odd types of chutneys) Sugh sagar, Amaravati, Nandhini ( Andhra special) MTR, Gazebo ( famous for Dhum Briyani in a sizzling pot) Karachi Darbar, Sive Star Bhavan, etc etc . On top of this you have all the western branded stuff like KFC, Pizza, Hardy's, Mac Donald to name a few. Heard some more like Murugan idli Kadai, Anna Poorna, Komala's are around the corner. May their tribe increase!

Has any one come across more variety of Indian & Western food spread over a small stretch of 2 Kms. I love Karama and all it's famous eating joints. What a place to be in if only you choose to ignore the chaos and traffic around Lulu and instead concentrate on what's speical for the day in any of these hotels!!

RK

Radio Cricket Commentary - Is it a thing of the past!

Yesterday's Cricket controversy on NDTV featuring Suresh Sarayya, Irrepressible Harsha Bhogle, Ravi Chatruvedi and of course Sherry/Sonali covered the captioned subject and the deteriorating standards of AIR coverage. Those days when TV was a luxury and unheard of except few posh villas, AIR Radio commentary was the only source of getting updated scores and commentators like Suresh Sarayya, Balu Alagannan, Anant Settlewad( not sure whether I have got his name right) Tony Cozier etc ruled the roost. But pick of them was in the international arena and BBC sports with the legendary Brian Johnston, John Arlott and then great voice of Christopher Martin Jenkins to recap a few. Radio commentary had its charm since you had to innovate and keep the audience glued to their sets and there was no picture unlike TV to back up the commentary. If you had a long pause the listeners won't know what's happening and start cursing you. My pick of expert commentators those days was the great Lala Amaranth who used the opportunity to bring up his son's names at will whether or not the occasion demanded such a reference. One of his oft repeated famous quotes when India did not have proper opening pair' India needs a very good left hand opening batsmen who is already well set in domestic cricket'( It didn't need a cricketing pundit to figure out that he was talking about Surindar Amarnath)

Those days I never used to miss even Ranji commentary on the Radio (No wonder I made no appreciable progress in my studies or career) and the most memorable and funny moment was that of great Mr. RT Parthasarathy when he got carried away after Tamil Nadu lost 4-5 wickets for cheap runs and in the excitement shouted' Iyyayyo TE Srinivasanum run outu' and the co commentators burst into laughter! All said and done Radio commentary still has its charm and if you can privatize and allow the FM stations to have a go I am sure that the masses would get back to this medium. Imagine the thousands of Auto, taxi lorry drivers and laborers spread across sub continent for whom this sport is the only hobby in an otherwise monotonous routine and a refreshing voice in the local vernacular languages like Hindi, Tamil and Urdu with a little bit of humor added up can do the job!

RK

Indian Fast bowling - the meteoric rise and a force to reckon with in world Cricket

If I had mentioned in late 70's or even early 80's that one day a touring International cricket team would be defeated by a local Indian XI and that too with the help of fast bowlers with in 3 days people would have thought that I had gone nuts and laughed at me. Those were the days when an Abid Ali or Govindaraj or Gavaskar used to open the bowling for 2-3 overs and Bishen Bedi would be rolling the new ball on the ground all the way to the bowlers so that the shine goes off by 3rd or 4th over and we would never see any sort of medium pace bowling again from Indians in the match. We used to watch the great WI and Australian fast bowlers terrorizing world class batsman with sheer pace in awe just dreaming whether at all India would get one bowler who can at least beat the bat one day. In came Kapil Dev Nikahnj and he was the perfect inspiration for the millions and millions of youngsters in India to emulate his legendary deeds

Now at last it's true and not a dream. The Board Presidents XI comprising future hopes like Munaf Patel, SS Paul and VRV Singh in a 3 day match routed the English text XI in less than 3 days with sheer pace and movement and to me this is one of the best things ever to have happened to Indian cricket in the last 10 years or so after Kapil left the scene. Irfan, Zaheer, Nehra, RP Singh, Sree santh, Balaji, Patel, Paul and there are many more knocking the door. All credit for this pace revolution goes to to the late visionary of MRF Mr. Mameen and the MRF pace foundation stalwarts Dennis Lillie and TA Sekhar. If at all there were two people who deserved the best award for coaches we can recommend these guys without battling an eyelid.
Common the future pace guns of India! We are proud of you and may be the torch bearers for many more such generations of fast bowlers to come!

RK

NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST- Good breakfast can prevent potential heart attacks

Seems to be a good one for those of us who rush in the mornings to office since we get up late/browse paper in wash room and invariably end up skipping the breakfast. Let's also kick this habit and start with a healthy BF


Breakfast can help prevent strokes, heart attack and sudden death.
Advice on not to skip breakfast!
Tips for healthy living...
For those who always skip breakfast, you should start kicking that habit
now!!

You've heard many times that "Breakfast is the most important meal of
the day." Now, recent research confirms that one of the worst practices you
can develop may be avoiding breakfast.
Why?
Because the frequency of heart attacks, sudden death, and stroke peaks
between 6:00 a.m. and noon, with the highest incidence being between
8:00a.m. and 10:00am. What mechanism within the body could account for
this significant jump in sudden death in the early morning hours?
We may have an answer.
Platelet, tiny elements in the blood that keep us from bleeding to Death
if we get a cut, can clump together inside our arteries due to cholesterol
or plaque build up in the artery lining. It is in the morning hours
that platelets become the most activated and tend to form these
internal blood clots at the greatest frequency.
However, eating even a very light breakfast prevents the morning
platelet activation that is associated with heart attacks and strokes.
Studies performed at MemorialUniversityin St.Johns, Newfoundlandfound
that eating a light, very low-fat breakfast was critical in modifying
the morning platelet activation. Subjects in the study consumed either
low-fat or fat-free yogurt, orange juice, fruit, and a source of protein coming
from yogurt or fat-free milk.
So if you skip breakfast, it's important that you change this practice
immediately in light of this research. Develop a simple plan to eat
cereal, such as oatmeal or Bran Flakes, along with six ounces of grape juice or
orange juice, and perhaps a piece of fruit.
This simple plan will keep your platelets from sticking together, keep
blood clots from forming, and perhaps head off a potential heart attack
or stroke.
So never ever skip breakfast

RK

Apology of a Movie- ' Idhaya Thirudan'

Yesterday we had the unfortunate agony of watching the movie' Idhaya Thirudan' along with groups of friends and families in Galleria, Dubai. We had gone in with some expectations and was our first movie outing almost after 3 months since it was from Director 'Charan' and from KB'S home production 'Kavithalaya'

Some of the scenes and dialogues were outright vulgar and cheap in taste and the heroine Kamna had nothing to show except parts of her body in some lousy costumes and the Hero Jeyam Ravi who had given some better movies earlier was nothing short of disaster. The songs kept coming in to our discomfort at regular intervals and on top of these endless songs was one in 'Deva ' style which was irritating to say the least. The story was based on the familiar ego clash of the hero and heroine as to who will propose first and as usual finally all is well that ends well scene where the Heroine proposes to the Hero by signing his love for him in the wedding register when her wedding is about to be solemnized with Prakash Raj who as usual is the only saving grace in the film. Vani Viswanath, the Malayalam actress tries to make a comeback in a character role and her funny 'Mallu' accent and the deep voice just simply adds to the chaos.

Wake up Charan. You are a much better Director than all this crap! Think twice even before watching on CD

RK

From Karuthu Kumar- 'Thathuvams of the week'-Thanks to KK and friends

Paaku marathula paaku irukum,
Thaeku marathula thaeku irukum,
Aana panamarathula panam irukaadhu..!!!!!
Ennadhan aeroplane maela parandhaalum...
Petrol poda keelathaan varanum.

Mechanical Engineer Mechanic aagalam
Aanaa Software Engineer Software aaga mudiyaathu......

Tea cupla tea irukkalam....ana....
World Cupla World irukka mudiyaathu.....
Evvaloo kaasu kuduthu planela ponaalum,
Jannala thiranthu vedikkaa paakka mudiyaathu.....
Key boardla key irrukkum
Aanaa Mother boardla Mother irruka mudiyaathu.....
Brush vachu pallu clean pannalam...............
Aanaa palla vachu brush clean panna mudiyathu!!!!
Pant Pottu Mutti poda mudiyum
Aanaa mutti pottu pant poda mudiyaathu.....!!!!

Quarter Adichittu Kuppura padukkalaam!
Aana kupura paduthuttu quarter adikka mudiyathu...!!


Naai Vaalai Aattalaam!
Aana Vaal Naaya aatta mudiyathu!!


Trainkku ticket vaangi platformla ukkaaralaam!
Aana platformku ticket vangi trainla ukkara mudiyathu!!


Kaakka ennadhaan karuppa irundhaalum adhu podara muttai vellai!
Muttai ennadhaan vellaiya irundhaalum adhukulla irukka kaakka karuppudhaan!!


Vaazhkai Thaththuvam:
Nee evalo periya dancer aa irundhaalum
Un saavukku unnaala aada mudiyuma???

Panam Varum Pogum!
Padhavi Varum Pogum!
Kavalai Varum Pogum!
Kaadhal Varum Pogum!
Aana AIDS varum... pogathu!!!

Our Sing-Mal Cruise 

A typical interview for an entry level position with a cricket freak-Hope IT and Cricket crazy folks like me would enjoy this one


Interviewer: Tell me about yourself.
Candidate: I am Rameshwar Kulkarni. I did my Tele Communication Engineering from BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology.
Interviewer: BabanRao Dhole-Patil Institute of Technology? I had never heard of this college before !
Candidate: Great! Even I had not heard of it before getting an admission into it. What happened is - due to cricket world cup I scored badly in 12th. I was getting a paid seat in a good college. But my father said (I prefer to call him 'baap') - "I can not invest so much of money". (The baap actually said - " I will never waste so much of money on you"). So I had to join this college. Frankly speaking this name - BabanRao Dhole-Patil, can at the most be related to a Shetaki Mahavidyalaya he he he...
Interviewer: ok, ok. It seems you have taken 6 years to complete your
engineering.
Cand: Actually I tried my best to finish it in 4 years. But you know, these cricket matches and world cup, and ODI tournaments. It is difficult to concentrate. So I flunked in 2nd and 3rd year. So in all I took 4 + 2 = 7 years.And any way I was awaiting Sachin's 35th century to complete my exams. Last one year the Chappel-Ganguly controversy also affected my studies a lot you see-
Int: But 4+2 is 6.
Cand: Oh, is it? You know I always had KT in maths except the cricket scores. But I will try to keep this in mind. 4+2 is 6, good, thanks. But I know for sure that an over is 6 balls unless there are wides and no balls These cricket matches really affect exams a lot. I think they should ban it.
Int: Good to know that you want cricket matches to be banned.
Cand: No, no. I am talking about Exams!!
Int: Ok, What is your biggest achievement in life?
Cand: Obviously, completing my Engineering and also watching all the world cup matches live till date. My mom never thought I would complete it.I mean matches! In fact, when I flunked in 3rd year, she was looking for a job for me in BEST (Bus corporation in Mumbai) through some relative but I was unable to attend the interview since it was the final of the Asia cup between India and Srilanka
Int: Do you have any plans of higher study?
Cand: he he he... Are you kidding? Completing 'lower' education itself was so much of pain and with the kind of International cricket schedule no way
Int: Let's talk about technical stuff! . On which platforms have you worked?
Cand: Well, I work at SEEPZ, so you can say Andheri is my current platform.
Earlier I was at Vashi center. So Vashi was my platform then. As you can see I have experience of different platforms! (Vashi and Andheri are different locations in Mumbai)
Int: And which languages have you used?
Cand: Marathi, Hindi, English. By the way, I can keep quiet in
German,French, Russian and many other languages he he he...But I like English the best because of Richie Benaud's commentary and style
Int: Why is VC better than VB?
Cand: It is a common sense - C comes after B. So VC is a higher version than VB. I heard very soon they are coming up with a new language VD!
Int: Do you know anything about Assembly Language?
Cand: Well, I have not heard of it. But I guess, this is the language our
ministers and MPs use in assembly. I am only used to the assembly and huddle which takes place with the Indian team after every wicket falls
Int: What is your general project experience?
Cand: My general experience about projects is - most of the times they are in pipeline!
Int: Can you tell me about your current job?
Cand: Sure, Currently I am working for Bata InfoTech ltd. Since joining BIL, I am on Bench. Before joining BIL, I used to think that Bench was another software like Windows he he he..
Int: Do you have any project management or sales experience?
Cand: No, but I guess it shouldn't be difficult. I know Word and Excel and little bit of PPT. I
can talk a lot. I know how to dial for International phone call and use
speaker facility,blue tooth and mobiles a lot. And very important - I know few words like -
'Showstoppers', 'hotfixes', 'SEI-CMM', 'quality', 'version control',
'deadlines' , 'Customer Satisfaction' sorry, I am in meeting' etc. Also I can blame others for my
mistakes since anyway most projects are bound to fail! more than anything else I know that I can spend most of the time in meetings and seminars where nothing happens most of the time except a good lunch and some coffees and teas under the pretext of networking and being away from office and least but not last I excel in telling 'LIES' talking about business and prospects and targets which anyway are never going to happen in life time
Int: What are your expectations from our company?
Cand: Not much.
1. I should at least get 100,000 in hand+ project bonus and annual passage for the select ODI and the World Cups
2. I would like to work on a live EJB project. But it should not have
deadlines. I personally feel that pressure affects natural talent.These targets should never clash with international cricket schedule of important matches.
3. I believe in flexi-timings and more importantly optional holidays during ODI tournaments of my choice
4. Dress code is against basic freedom, so I would like to wear t-shirt and jeans and blue colour whenever India plays ODI
5. We must have sat-sun off. I will suggest Wednesday off also, so as to avoid breakdown due to overwork.
6. I would like to go abroad 3 times a year on short term (preferably 1-2
months) assignments. Personally I prefer US, Australia and Europe. But considering the fact that there is a world cup in WestIndies in Feb 2007, I don't mind going there in that period. As you can see I am modest and don't have many expectations. So can I assume my selection?
Int: he he he ha ha ha. Thanks for your interest in our organization. In
fact I was never entertained so much before. Welcome to Our Company!!! We look forward to working with you..............
and Hope our company would be one of the sponsor's for the next world cup!