Unadulterated Valour....

hi all,


Indian air force is one of the biggest in the world. I stay in Vaishali a satellite town near Delhi....not far from Vaishali is the Hindon Air Force Base....so we often see the monsterous machines flying over our head.
It gives me great pleasure to see these jets sailing in the sky....espcially after the republic day parade held every year on the 26th of January.

Well....26th January is also the occasion when gallantry awards are awarded to the various defense personnel. The highest award in India for gallantry is the Param Vir Chakra (PVC), (परम वीर चक्र). So after this year's flypast I got thinking about the PVC winner's from the air force. I searched the net and will like to share what I found with you......

THE STORY OF FLYING OFFICER N.S.SEKHON

well we all know about the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971....the main thrust of the war was in present day Bangladesh then called East Pakistan. However Pakistani forces carried out several failed attempts to attack our northen frontiers also....It was one such day on 14th December in 1971...in fact Pakistan surrendered on the 16th Dec. Anyways....that day Sekhon and his fellow air warriors were surrounded by Pakistni Sabre's (it is said that these planes were much superior to the Indian Folland Gnat). Despite the odds against the Indians....the brave young Sikh destroyed two enemy crafts before he attained martydom. It is said that if the enemy aircraft were not offered any resistance they could have bombarded the city of Srinagar at will and could have caused heavy loss to life and property. It is for this gallant act that was nothing but pure courage and valour....backed by the call of duty that Flying Officer N.S. Sekhon was awarded the PVC....the fact that only 21 people have been awarded this medal only underlines his heroism....and incidentally he is the only one from the airforce to have achieved this honour.

It might have been close to 27 years that this incident took place but reading it made my eyes moist and my heart full of pride.....

I would like to take this oppertunity to salute all the ranks of the Indian Defense Forces....we all must remember that it is because of these men and women...that we can live our lives in peace.

(The Folland Gnat)
I have found the photo of flying officer N.S. Sekhon on the web....Let me tell you that the photo belonged to some other website and I am just pasting it here....so that people can get to see a brave hero..... also take a look at the Folland Gnat and the Sabre's. Sabre is towards your right.



till the next post
Jai Hind!!!
Siddharth Tewari

Jalebi...oh so yum!!

An Ode to the Jalebi!

Her thoughts bring water to my mouth,
her smell reminds me of good days I spent down south.

the roundabout golden alleys,
dripping with nectar..melting in mouth..oh so divine!!

It's not a snack....not a sweet....it is nothing less than a masterpiece!!
the good ol' jalebi!!!
(by Siddharth Tewari)
Jalebi....written as जलेबी in hindi is a popular sweetmeat in the Indian subcontinent.It is basically a pretzel shaped prepration that is soaked in a sugary syrup called chashni (चाशनी).
Jalebi is considered to have somewhat humbler origins than most of the sweets made in India like barfi (बर्फी) ,gulabjamun (गुलाबजामुन) , rabri (रबरी ), balushahi (बालुशाही) sohan papri (सोहन पप्री ) etc...because jalebi can be made easily and with much less expensive ingredients.

Well one can have jalebi's anytime you want but mostly they are prepared in the evening. You can be sure to find jalebi...at any halwai shop in India.

Most north Indians like to have jalebi in the evening along with another popular snack called the samosa.....will talk about the smashing samosa in another post!!
A lot of people also cherish eating jalebi with yogurt in the morning...I have tried it but didn't like the taste much....eating day old jalebi's dipped in milk is also a popular way to cherish this sweet.
Jalebi's are usually bright orange or yellow in colour. In South India jalebi is called jangiri, but in middle east jalebi is known as zangoola.....

A similar sweet to jalebi is emarti (इमारती). In fact I call one of my closest friend as jalebi....anyways let me share with you how can you make jalebi at your home....

All that you need is

1. 2 cups maida or all purpose flour
2. 1/4 tablespoon(tsp) baking powder
3. 2 tsp yogurt
4. 2 1/2 of warm water
5. 3 cups of sugar
6. 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
7. 5 large tsp ghee or clarified butter

Method:

mix the flour, baking powder, yogurt and cardamom powder in water and then let it ferment. In the mean time make the syrup by dissolving sugar in water and heating it.

Now heat oil in a kadai or a deep fry pan....and put the batter in in circles. Deep fry the batter till it is golden. Then dip the fried piece in the syrup....let it soak.....just a little bit more.....close your eyes now and take a deep breath... if you are lucky enough you can smell it if you cant it's ok....you just need to master the art....dont worry it will come with time....but anyways.....open your eyes to see the bueaty in all its glory...and enjoy!!

till the next time take care....

Siddharth Tewari

Want to know your Chinese name??

I was surfing the net today when I came across this site where you could find out what would be your name in chinese....I found it to be pretty cool....all that you need to do is enter your first and last name along with your desired essence of the name ( I entered mind and intelligence), gender and your date of birth...click enter and Voila!! you have your brand new chinese name!!

According to this site my name in chinese would be: TAI SHU TOU!

The URL to site is : http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

So go on and get a name!!!
Till the next post take care...
Tai Shu Tou!!

What's in a name??

What's in a name wrote Shakespear but I would like to disagree.

A name to me represents an identity, a personality. It brings to us an image of the person, whenever we comes across a particular name....and that is why we love some names, are indifferent towards others or simply abhor some of them ...As far as I'm concerned I simply love my name no matter in what language -then be it SIDDHARTH (english) or सिद्धार्थ (hindi) or ಸಿದ್ಧಾರ್ಥ್ (kannada) or സിദ്ധാര്ത് (malayam) or சித்தர்த் (tamil) or సిద్ధార్థ్ (telgu) ....well Siddharth is sanskrit word that is made up of two words सिद्ध (having found out) and अर्थ (the definition) thus Siddharth means somebody who has discovered all the meanings of this world.

Some people also spell Siddharth as Siddhartha...

Well interestingly Siddharth was also the name of Lord Buddha.....the founder of Buddhism.

I must add that until a few years ago Siddharth used to be a rare name i.e. one did not come across a lot of people named Siddharth but now I regularly meet people who are my namesakes....probably it is because people named Siddharth are uber cool.....hehe.. sorry for the bad joke!!

Anyways....A Name is a Name is a Name..... with due apologies to Mr. Shakespear and all of those to support him on this!!!

anyways take care and god bless!!
Siddharth

Zafar's last poem

Most of us would have heard about the first war of india's independence....at the very forefront of this momentous war was the last mugahl emperor- Bhadur Shah Zafar (बहादुर शाह ' ज़फर') । In fact zafar was the king's sobriquet, for he was an accomplished poet. I have also uploaded Zafar's photo ( towards your right).

The indians lost the war and most of the rebels ( that's exactly what the britons called them!!!) were executed and the old and weak Bhadur Shah was deported to Rangoon (now called Yangon)।It is said that the king very dissapointed and his spirit- crushed when he was told that he would never be able to return to his beloved city of Delhi (दिल्ली) । It was then that he penned down a poem or a ghazal (ग़ज़ल).
The poem goes:

लगता नही जी मेरा उजड़े दयार में ,
किस की बनी है आलम -ऐ - पाएदार में।
कह दो इन हसरतों से कहीं जा बसें,
इतनी जगह कहाँ है दिल-ऐ-दागदार में।
उम्र-ऐ- दराज़ मांग के लिए थे चार दिन,
दो आरजू में कट गए , दो इंतज़ार में।
है कितना बदनसीब ज़फर दफ़न के लिए,
दो गज़ ज़मीं भी न मिली कु-ऐ-यार में।

I am also giving the english translation for those who do not understand hindustani.

The poem says:
My heart is not happy, In this barren land
Who has has ever fulfilled his desires in this temporary world.
Please tell my emotions to go somewhere else,
for there is not enough space in my sad heart.
I had requested a long life- a life of four days,
two were spent in praying and two in waiting.
How unlucky Zafar is,
because he can't even get two yards of earth for his burial in his beloved nation.

Friends please note that Zafar is buried in Yangon. However I am not very sure if this tomb has withstood cyclone nargis that has claimed several lives and killed thousands in Burma.

Anyways...till the next time take good care of yourself and may god bless you all!!!!

Siddharth

Munching away in monastery.....

hi all,

The land of Tibet may be known around the world because of his holiness the Dalai Lama. the Potala Palace and the recent olympic torch controversy......all of these have been succesful in making waves and grabbing headlines around the world with varying degrees of success....but in a corner of Delhi lies a small colony of Tibetian refugees that has bowled me over.

The colony is poularly called monastery....the board outside the gate says it is a laddakh baudh vihar ( लद्दाख बौद्ध विहार) but it is tibetian refugees that make up the numbers here.

The place has a small but thriving market for t-shirts, shoes, jeans etc.....let me clarify that this is not original stuff but is usually dirt cheap and a shoppers paradise.... for- if you really know the art and science of bargaining you could get a discount of up to 40-50%

It is here that I have discovered a restraunt that has become my favorite joint for authentic tibetian food. The place is called Star Restraunt and is managed by an elderly gentleman....the ambience is...well....ironically chinese or maybe I am not able to distinguish tibetian culture from the chinese one.....nevertheless the focus is not on the ambience but the yum food that's served there.

It's not about chowmein (चाऊमीन- that's how several restraunts spell it!!) and momo's but several tibetian preprations like thupka, tingmo, shaplak.....etc .

The restraunt has both vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes on the menu. I can't comment on the non veg. one's (am a vegetarian), but the vegetarian one's often elicit the response - that's is so yum!!!

The fact that food is hygenic and economically priced adds to the brownie points.

After the meal you could also visit the nearby monastery, that houses a bueatiful buddha statue (I'm his namesake!!), or wander in the market.

So people if you have some time on your hand's and happen to be near Kashmere Gate bus terminus in Delhi do spend couple of hours and enjoy a meal at the monastery. Bon Appetit!!!!

King for a day....

Hmmm...it has been some time since I last blogged. But I think I will make it a regular habit now...At times one bumps into things that are so unexpected yet amazing.

Like the other day I was driving down NH(National Highway)-24. The road is fantastic and the drive smooth. The mild rays of the sun and the pleasent weather was a welcome break from the hot and humid Indian summers. It was then that I noticed a monument just off the road near Indirapuram. As I was in no hurry and am generally interested in history- I decided to check it out.

The monument turned out to a be a silent witness of one of the stories that most of us would have heard when young- The Story of the Bhisti (भिश्ती) King.
Story has it that when Mughal King Humayun was defeated by the Afghan king Sher Shah Suri and was running for his life, he fell in a river and was about to drown when a waterman saved his life. The desolate king asked him to choose a reward for himself. The waterman replied he would tak the reward when he felt the need. Days passed into months and months into years Sher Shah died at Sasaram in a gunpowder explosion and Humayun was able to recapture the throne at Delhi. It was then that the Bhisti came to the imperial cort and asked the mughal (mogul) for his reward. What he asked for left everybody stunned and shocked. The waterman wanted to be The King Of India!!- thankfully only for a day.

More shocking was Humayun's response- a nonchalant yes!!!

Hence, Humayun stepped down and the waterman formally ascended the throne and the writ of a waterman ran across the breadth and length of the country for 24 hours. It is rumored that the waterman also issued coins made from leather to signify his rather short lived reign!!

It is this waterman's grave that I saw on NH-24. The tomb has a canopy charetceristic of the mughal period and is made of redstone. It has not been preserved at all and the signs of decay are evident. The locals refer to the grave as the resting place of pir baba ( godman, colloquial hindi).

It is nice place to visit ...given the trivia....so go on if you happen to pass that way pull over to take a look at the tomb of the One day King!!