Act of kindness!

It has been exactly 1 year, 5 months, 3 days of my existence in Pune and I had never come across anything like this! While my opinion is going to raise quite a few heckles and objections, what the heck! India’s a free country and I’m going to express my view.
So, as I was saying, Pune and ‘courtesy’ do not go hand in hand. Nobody cares for your time here. Pune and Mumbai have been called sister cities, but they are as different as chalk and cheese. Though I agree I might be a bit biased about Mumbai considering I have been born and brought up there, I have to make this point: Mumbai might be mercilessly materialistic, but somewhere within that exterior, it has a heart. It’s a survivor and a city that never sleeps. More than all this: time is money here. On the other hand, Pune seems to be welcoming, but is not. It’s materialistic too, but has no heart. But I’m adjusting to this ‘newness’ and putting down roots here because I’m thankful to this city for giving me a husband and a whole new family, a good job and cool colleagues, and of course, my cherished house.
Coming back to today, I was pleasantly surprised to experience courtesy from the most unexpected quarter. Here, I have to travel to work, like all others, by a PMPML bus (like the BEST in Mumbai). But unlike the BEST buses that have 3-4 seats reserved for women, these buses have an entire row! But that’s only on paper, or shall we say wood? I have never ever seen men vacating these seats for women in PMPML buses on their own. However, today, I boarded the PMC-bound bus hoping to get a seat, but had to keep standing. A man occupying a ladies’ seat, after some deliberation with his friend who was occupying the window seat, got up and vacated his seat for me. I muttered a thank you and sat down. After alighting from the bus, I wanted to share this experience with everybody, so here it is.
This courtesy has, dare I say, brought me a few more inches closer to the city which I married into.
(pic courtesy: theladiesseat.blogspot.com)

Young leader's nefarious 'idol'

Raj admires Hitler for the 'way he shook up the society'
Mumbai:
Raj Thackeray is an admirer of German dictator Adolf Hitler. The reason why Raj Thackeray admires both Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi is ‘the way they shook up societies and created uproar’, according to the official website of MNS.
However, on Monday, it was the admiration for the Fuehrer which was on display in the Maharashtra Assembly as MNS MLAs bashed up another Legislator in the House. The MNS website has an interesting conversation with the enfant terrible of Maharashtra politics. Excerpts: "Question: You say you admire Gandhi, who preached non-violence. Then why do your followers heed to violence? The answer: You need to communicate with your opponent in a language they understand, a language they can comprehend."
Beating up SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi for not taking oath in Marathi as he could only understand the language of violence was the message given by Raj and his men, who were mute spectators when some other MLAs did not take oath in the language and instead opted for English.
Hitler's stormtroopers persecuted Jews and people who opposed the Fuehrer. Raj and Azmi have been at loggerheads since the MNS chief launched his anti-north Indian stir. Raj said in 2005, "when it comes to organizational skills, there are few who can rival Hitler. Leave aside his negative aspects like the barbaric annihilation of millions of Jews. There are several other things about Hitler, which any leader would envy."
(INDIAN EXPRESS)

By bringing together the names of Hitler and Gandhi itself, Raj Thackeray has committed heresy. Has he forgotten that Hitler killed hundreds of thousands of jews in a systematic massacre? It’s been over 70 years now, and the average German still feels ashamed of this fact. The World War II, the Berlin Wall, the Cold War — everything had its roots in Nazism and Fascism.
I’m not condoning the credentials of people like Abu Azmi, but to rein them in, Constitutional means can be used too. Hooliganism in the Assembly is not the answer. The entire world was watching and laughing at our stupid representatives, for God’s sake!

Gun-man Kalashnikov turns 90

His invention has resulted in bloodbaths across the globe (especially by the Taliban and the Mumbai underworld. A certain well-known actor has been convicted for its possession), but Mikhail Kalashnikov is a happy man with a few regrets. The maker of this Russian weapon of mass destruction turned 90 today!
He is considered a hero in Russia for designing the AK-47. Also called the ‘Kalashnikov’, the rifle and its variants are the weapons of choice for dozens of armies and guerrilla groups around the world.
More than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have now been sold worldwide, but their inventor, a World War II veteran, claims he has not profited financially from them and continues to live modestly in Izhevsk.

Sweet something!

After venturing into baking two weeks ago, thanks to my new Samsung microwave-convection oven, I was itching to do something new. I had read up on loads of microwave recipes and set out to prepare a chocolate-banana brownie. The recipe was actually for chocolate-banana muffins, but I made some modifications of my own and baked a brownie instead.

Here’s the recipe, courtesy bigoven.com
2 small Bananas; very ripe
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Nonfat buttermilk
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder; sifted
3/4 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
Butter to glaze the pan
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray every other muffin cup with cooking spray, and set aside. Place the bananas and vanilla in a food processor, and process until pureed. Transfer the puree to a medium mixing bowl, and whisk in the eggs and buttermilk until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter, or the muffins will become too tough . Set aside. In another medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a large spoon, stir in the banana-vanilla mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, until its almost to the top. Transfer muffins to the oven to bake until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Place muffins on wire rack to cool. Serve warm. Makes 10.

Here’s what I did:
Since I was baking a brownie, I did away with the muffin cup and cooking spray. I mixed all the stuff as instructed. Since I didn’t have buttermilk, I mixed some water with curd and whisked it in the mixer.
I glazed a shallow glass pan with home-made butter and put the mixture in it, decorating it on top with chopped chocolate (Toblerone), apricots and raisins.
I then microwaved it on HIGH for 3 minutes. Reducing the temperature to 70%, I baked it for 1 more minute. Then I took the pan out. Set the microwave on preheat mode (with microwave+grill option) and baked it for 5 more minutes. Voila! The yummy brownie was ready!

We need action, not drama

MNS MLAs on Monday created a ruckus in the Maharashtra Assembly after SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi took oath in Hindi despite their call that all legislators take the pledge in Marathi with one of the members from Raj Thackeray’s party slapping him.
Soon after Azmi began taking oath in Hindi, the 13 member-strong MNS contingent rushed towards Azmi, snatching the mike placed for taking oath at the podium.
MNS members shouted slogans, demanding that Azmi should take oath in Marathi.
The House was adjourned for 30 minutes as the pandemonium continued and soon after that MNS MLA Ram Kadam slapped Azmi.
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Energy Minister Ajit Pawar tried to restore calm in the House. MNS Chief Raj Thackeray had last month announced that his party legislators would ensure that all MLAs took oath in Marathi. (Indian Express report)

Incidents like these often make me wonder about what exactly is an MLA’s job. Is he/she a lawmaker or a law breaker? The latter option seems to be more realistic now. While I’m not commenting on the credentials of Abu Azmi, it’s a fact that he is a democratically-elected member of the Vidhan Sabha. This only means that he has been elected by people knowing fully well that he does not converse in Marathi. Besides, Hindi is a national language and he is entitled to taking an oath in that language.
I’m a Maharashtrian myself and I totally believe that this incident could have been avoided. More than ‘forcing’ people to speak in Marathi, I’m sure there are other pressing issues for MNS to pay its misplaced attention to. I wonder what are they planning to do about the poor farmers in the state, people who have become jobless in the state due to the recession, the swine flu pandemic and the threat of dengue? These are just some issues, but there would be many more at the grassroots level. What are they planning to do about that? Ideology does not fill an empty stomach.
Besides, if proficiency in speaking in Marathi was the only criteria, why not subject these politicians to examinations and elect them on that basis, rather than wasting resources on elections?
Just getting 13 of its MLAs into the Assembly and then going on the roads shouting ‘we’ll tell you how to rule Maharashtra’ is plain bravado, nothing else. What the common man needs is action, not action drama... like the shameful one that took place in the Assembly today.