Review: Where's My Water?

The whole of last week I’ve been playing ‘Where’s My Water?’ every spare minute I got. I don’t usually get hooked to games so this was a pleasant surprise. I first played ‘Where’s My Water?’ on a friends tablet and enjoyed it so much that I got the free version for my Android Nexus One. I finished the free version in no time at all and paid for the full version.

So what’s the game about? The game requires getting Swampy the alligator enough water to have a shower. Each level has obstacles of different kinds (algae, purple poison, green ooze, etc.) and you have to figure out the best way to guide the water across to Swampy in the least amount of time. Each level also has three rubber ducks to be got that unlock new levels and some levels have collectibles that unlock bonus games.

Before I go into all I liked about the game, here are a few things I didn’t like –
My Nexus One has a small screen (well, smaller than the new phones coming out) and some levels are really tough to play on it. I’m yet to finish level 18 in the ‘Boiling Point’ chapter. It requires some precision and on a small screen its difficult to get it right. The other thing is that playing for extended periods gave me a headache. Also the game seems to eat up battery like crazy even with the sound and music off.

I like challenging games and this one challenges in two ways. One its logical, I had to think and plan each level out to get it right. The other is that playing requires precision work and even multiple finger movement. The graphics of the game are great with little stories at the start of each chapter. The game is all about movement of fluids and the physics of that has been dealt with really well – it does move like water. :) This is one addictive game!

Currently there are 10 chapters with 20 levels each.
Meet Swampy
Troubled Waters
Under Pressure
Sink or Swim
Change is Good
Boiling Point
Stretched Thin
Caution to the Wind
Rising Tide
Out to Dry

Each chapter has 6 collectibles that unlock two bonus levels per chapter. These bonus levels use the motion of the phone to move the water and complete the level. There are also 86 achievements to be won. Most of them are fairly easy and can be got as you play the game. Here are the ones I found tricky to find and finish.

Embarrassed - Make Swampy hide behind the shower curtain. (Click on Swampy during the levels to make him do different action. One of them is hiding behind the curtain.)
Quick Finish – Finish Level 3-17 with at least 430 Time Bonus Points.
Confidence – Finish Level 2-7 with a single, uninterrupted cut.
Good to the Last Drop – Complete Level 2-9 without losing any water.
Tri-Duck Dash – Tri-Duck Level 5-17 with at least 430 Time Bonus points.
Out of this World – Find the Planetarium. (In the Achievements section pull down on the screen so the frames move towards the bottom. Tap on the Saturn doodle with your other finger.)
Quick Finish 2 – Finish Level C1-5 with at least 500 Time Bonus Points.
Taste for Destruction – Find the Mining Laser.
Tri-Ducked “10 Days of Swampy” – Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “10 Days of Swampy”.
Tri-Ducked “Hearts and Crafts” – Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “Hearts and Crafts”.
Played for 10 Days – Play the game on 10 consecutive days.
Tri-Ducked “Days of Summer” - Complete all levels with 3-ducks in “Days of Summer”.

Read more about the game here.
You can find tips, tricks and cheats to the game here.

Since I’ve finished all chapters as of now, the challenge remaining is to complete all achievements. Then of course there are more games to be played from Disney – The Lost Levels, Cranky’s Story, Mystery Duck and Where’s My Perry.

Have you played Where’s my Water? If you haven’t you should try it out, its fun. Way more fun than Angry Birds :D What are you playing on your Android?

Photo Credits: Wikipedia and Disney

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8 Yash Chopra Films You Should Not Miss

Yash Chopra an icon of Indian Cinema passed away on Sunday and there have been eulogies and articles galore written about him since then. Not wanting to do the standard biography but yet appreciate his work, I thought I’d make a list of my favourite YRC films through the 50+ years of his work.

You can read more about Yash Chopra and his career here.

Waqt (1965) – Waqt was one of the first multi-starrers in cinema with Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Sadhana, Balraj Sahni, Madan Puri, Sharmila Tagore, Achala Sachdev and Rehman – That’s a lot of big names!
The story is about how time can change situations. Sahni plays a well-to-do businessman with three sons. He does not believe in fate and mocks it at a birthday party. Soon after the family gets split up in an earthquake. The movie is about what each character goes through over the years before they unite again.
Famous Dialogues: Jinke apne ghar sheeshay ke hon, woh dusron par pathar nahi phenka karte (Those whose own houses made of glass do not throw stones at others) and Jani, Yeh bachon ke khelne ki cheez nahi, haath kat jaye toh khoon nikal aata hai (This is not a child's plaything. If the hand is slashed, blood oozes out)
Popular Songs: Aage Bhi Jaane Na Tu sung by Asha Bhosle, and Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen, sung by Manna Dey

Kabhi Kabhie (1976) – This is a story of estranged lovers Amit and Pooja who fall in love in college but go on to marry other people. Amit marries Anjali and Pooja marries Vijay. Years later Pooja’s son Vicky falls in love with Pinky – Anjali’s illegitimate daughter from a pre-marital relationship. Pinky gets to know about her birth mother from her adoptive parents and tries to get close to her. This sets off a chain of events that brings the old flames back together as friends.
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Waheeda Rehman, Raakhee, Neetu Singh, Rishi Kapoor
Popular Songs: Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar sung by Mukesh, Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein sung by Mukesh and composed by Khayyam, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi

Silsila (1981) – Two brothers Shekhar and Amit lead independent lives with Shekhar in the Air Force and Amit a struggling writer. Shekhar falls in love with Shobha while Amit woos Chandni. Both brothers plan to marry together but disaster strikes and Shekhar is killed in a plane crash, leaving poor pregnant Shobha devastated. Amit takes pity on Shobha and marries her, and writes to Chandni to forget him. A heart broken Chandni marries Dr. Anand. Shobha loses her child in an accident and with no child in the picture Amit and Shobha drift apart. Then Amit and Chandni happen to meet and they rekindle their romance secretly. They decide to go away together and live happily ever after but destiny has one more play in store for them and Dr. Anand’s plane crashes making them go back to the crash site and face their spouses.
Aside: By the time of this movie there were rumours about an affair between Rekha and Amitabh. The triangle of Jaya, Rekha and Amitabh in Silsila fueled the rumours even more.
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Sanjeev Kumar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Popular Songs: Rang Barse Bhige Chunar wali lyrics by poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan sung by Amitabh Bachchan, Dekha Ek Kwaab sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar, and Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum sung by Amitabh Bachchan and Lata Mangeshkar

Chandni (1989) – A woman centric film Chandni is the story of a girl Chandni who is wooed by Rohit. For Rohit it is love at first sight and he relentlessly woos Chandni to date him and finally they get engaged to be married against Rohit’s family’s wishes. One day while trying to impress Chandni by throwing rose petals at her from a helicopter, Rohit falls and is hospitalized. His family blames Chandni for the accident but when Rohit also blames her she cannot bear it and leaves to start a new life in Mumbai. In Mumbai she gets a job with a travel agency. Over time the head of the agency Lalit falls in love with her and Chandni agrees to marry him. Rohit in the meantime has undergone treatment and regained use of his limbs. One evening he turns up at her doorstep. Chandni now has to choose from two men.
Cast: Sridevi, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna
Popular Songs: Mere Haathon Mein by Lata Mangeshkar, Main Sasural Nahi Jaaungi by Pamela Chopra, Chandni O Meri Chandni by Sridevi, Jolly Mukherjee and Lagi Aaj Sawan Ki by Suresh Wadkar

Lamhe (1991) – Viren travels to Rajasthan where he meets Pallavi and falls in love with her. However she is older than him and loves another man Siddharth. Viren is hear-broken but when Pallavi’s father dies he arranges their wedding to fulfill the dying man’s wishes and leaves for London. A year later Pallavi and Siddharth die in an accident leaving behind a baby girl Pooja. Pooja is brought up by Dai Jaa, Viren’s governess in Rajasthan. Viren visits India for Pallavi’s death anniversary and brings Pooja gifts but doesn’t pay her any more attention. Years later he meets her and is shocked to see that she is a splitting image of her mother. Pooja falls in love with Viren who she calls ‘Kuwarji’. As the movie progresses Viren has to come to grips with his loss of Pallavi and Pooja’s love for him.
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Waheeda Rehman, Anupam Kher
Popular Songs: Churiyan Kanak Gayee sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Ila Arun, Kabhi Main Kahoon sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Hariharan, Mhaare Rajasthan Ma sung by Moinuddin

Darr (1993) – Darr is a romantic psychological thriller about an obsessed lover and all he will do to get the girl he loves who is already engaged to another man. What makes this movie stand out is the levels of obsession, Shah Rukh Khan’s portrayal of an obsessed lover and how he is not a villain but a revisionist hero.
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher
Popular Songs: Tu Mere Saamne by Udit Narayan and Lata Mangeshkar, Jaadu Teri Nazar and Udit Narayan

Dil Toh Pagal Hai (1997) – Is a story about three dancers in a musical dance troupe. Rahul who does not believe in love, Nisha who believes that love is friendship and Pooja who believes that some somewhere is made for her. Rahul and Nisha are best friends and Nisha secretly loves Rahul but doesn’t manage to tell him. When Nisha hurts her leg, Rahul is forced to find another lead dancer and stumbles upon Pooja dancing. Pooja agrees to join his troupe and over time they fall in love. But Pooja is promised to Ajay who is in London. Ajay returns to India and Rahul is heartbroken when he learns that Ajay is Pooja’s fiancé. He changes the end of his play to match his devastation. However things change on the night of the play.
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Akshay Kumar
Popular Songs: ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Are Re Are’ and ‘Koi Ladki Hai’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Udit Narayan, and ‘Le Gayi’ by Asha Bhosle and Udit Narayan

Veer-Zaara (2004) – The story is set against the backdrop of conflict between India and Pakistan, the unfortunate love story of a Squadron Leader Veer and a Pakistani girl Zaara from a rich political family of Lahore, who are separated for over twenty years. Saamiya, a Pakistani lawyer, finds Veer in prison, and on listening to his story, tries to get him freed.
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji
Popular Songs: Tere Liye sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Roop Kumar Rathod, Main Yahan Hoon by Udit Narayan, Do Pal sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Sonu Nigam

How many of these have you seen? Do you recommend any other Yash Chopra films to me?

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Book Review: Delirious Delhi by Dave Prager

Title: Delirious Delhi
Author: Dave Prager
Paperback: 390 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins India(December 15th 2011)
Genre: Travel
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
Summary: (Amazon)
Delhi exists in a kind of quantum state: in Delhi, all things are true at once. When the Big Apple no longer felt big enough, Dave and Jenny moved to a city of sixteen million people and, seemingly, twice that many horns honking at once. Delirious Delhi depicts India s capital as the two experienced it, from office life in the rising tech hubs to the traffic jam philosophy that keeps people sane in the gridlock leading to them. With only their sense of humour as their guide, Dave and Jenny set out to explore a city in which ancient stone monuments compete with glass-clad shopping malls to define the landscape. What follows is a top-to-bottom snapshot of a city in the thick of loud and accelerating change. Anyone new to Delhi will have their understanding of it magnified by this book. And anyone who already knows Delhi will appreciate this candid tribute to a city that s everything to everyone at the same time.

My Review:

It's very easy for a non-Indian to either pan or highly praise India. Most books I've read or even people I've met either love India or hate India. But India isn't a country of extremes, its not black or white but many shades of grey. It is a love-hate relationship - you love some, you hate some.

Dave and Jenny spent 18 months working out of Delhi. While in Delhi they seem to have explored the city in its various hues and tastes. The book is filled with anecdotes of Dave and Jenny's time in Delhi. Their experiences with auto-rickshaws, vegetable vendors, maids, shopping, eating, and much more made me nod and smile with understanding.

Dave starts his stay in India enamored but with time the rose tint descends and Jenny and Dave get to see India in its true colours. They get cheated and conned initially but with time they have the last laugh. The city layout makes no sense initially, but by the time they leave they know their way around. The country of chaos with time unfolds to reveal a pattern and method to the madness.

India is a country of many hues, of opposites existing together, of both extremes being possible. It is a country you both love and hate at the same time and here its possible to do that. And Dave understands this; his book is all the shades of grey. I enjoyed reading Delirious Delhi and smiling and nodding along-side it. It was refreshing to read a book by a non-Indian who actually experienced the 'real' India.

Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart

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How to Set-up a Sponsored Story on Facebook

After making the post on Sponsored Stories yesterday I realized Facebook has two different types of ad screens they show users. I seem to be on the old one. So here are instructions for the second (new) screen set. (For the first set click here)

How to Set-up a Sponsored Story?

1. Got to https://www.facebook.com/ads/create/
   



2. Choose your page, app or event.
   
   
   


3. Select 'See Advanced Options'.


4. Click on Remove to delete the 'Your Ad' option.





5. In the Stories about your Page post section - Select Stories about your page posts and choose the post.


6. Make sure all three sharing options are ticked.
   
   
   



7. Choose you audience based on country, city, age, gender, interests and connections (select the ‘not connected’ option).


8. Make sure your page shows in the Friends of Connections field.
   
   
   



9. Ad your account details, campaign name, campaign budget per day or lifetime and optimise for CPC or CPM.


10. Review your ad.


11. Place the order.

You can monitor and manage you ad from the Ads Manager option in the left column of your Facebook Home page.

Note: Due to Facebook’s Privacy Settings only the friends of the people who are already sharing their activity ‘on your page’ with their friends on Facebook can see Sponsored Stories about you.

More about Sponsored Stories – https://www.facebook.com/help?page=154500071282557
More about Promoted Posts – https://www.facebook.com/help/promote

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How To Use Facebook Post Promotion If You have Less Than 400 Likes

Currently one of the best ways to virally promote your business is promote posts. Promoting posts makes the post show up more times in your friends and friends of friends news streams.

Increased Viral Effect: The promotion causes more interaction and increases virality of the post. The initial boost helps kick-start the viral ball - the more people who interact through Likes and Comments the more people see the post.
Genuine Likes: The new Likes on your page are from your target audience (as they are the friends of those who already Like your page) hence they are more likely to interact in future on your page and do business with you.

However Facebook doesn’t allow pages that have less than 400 Likes to promote posts, also promotion has to start within about 3 days after posting. So then how can you use ads to get more Likes and post promotion? One option is Sponsored Stories that Facebook offers along side regular ads.

What are Sponsored Stories?
Here’s how Facebook describes it –

“A sponsored story is different from an ad because it’s a story you can already see about activity from people you’re connected to, Pages you like or apps you use. A business pays to sponsor these regular stories to increase the chances that you’ll notice it.“

“Sponsored stories are messages coming from friends about them engaging with your Page, app or event that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight so there’s a better chance people see them.

People are influenced by what their friends like and connect to. When someone interacts with your Page, app, or event it creates a story that their friends may see in the news feed. You can pay to sponsor these stories so more people will see it when their friends have engaged with you on Facebook.

For example, if someone likes your Page they’re saying they’re interested in being connected to you and it can be interpreted as an endorsement of your brand or service. People may see when their friends like your Page, but because there’s a lot of activity in news feed, they may miss it. When you create sponsored stories, you’re increasing the number of people who will learn about you through the actions of their friends.”

That means it works quite like post promotion or at least can be used until you cross that magic number of 400.

What Do Sponsored Stories Do?
Now unlike promoted posts that makes the post show higher in news streams of friends and friends of friends. Sponsored Stories shows activities in the news feed. You can choose what activities should be shown to friends of friends.
E.g. If Ravi ‘Likes’ your page, his friends will see this activity higher up in their news feeds or in the right side column.

I personally prefer sponsored stories to regular ads because

1. The stories are genuine social proof of people interacting with your page


2. You are targeting the right market by reaching out to friends of friends

Sponsored Stories get created when someone

• Likes your Page


• Likes or comments on your Page’s post


• RSVPs to your Page’s event


• Votes on your Page’s question


• Checks in to your place


• Uses an app or plays your game


• Likes or shares your website

How to Set-up a Sponsored Story?
Facebook seems to be showing different people different types of ad creation screens. If you are not seeing the same screen as below, Click Here to see instructions for the second set of screens.

1. Got to https://www.facebook.com/ads/create/



2. Choose your page, app or event.


3. Click on the option to promote a specific post.


4. Choose the post to be promoted.


5. Select the option for people to see stories about their friends.



6. Choose you audience based on country, city, age, gender, interests and connections (select the ‘not connected’ option).


7. Make sure your page shows in the Friends of Connections field.



8. In the Objective section select people who are most likely to click on my ad or sponsored story.


9. Ad your account details, campaign name, campaign budget per day or lifetime.


10. Review your ad.


11. Place the order.

You can monitor and manage you ad from the Ads Manager option in the left column of your Facebook Home page.

Note: Due to Facebook’s Privacy Settings only the friends of the people who are already sharing their activity ‘on your page’ with their friends on Facebook can see Sponsored Stories about you.

More about Sponsored Stories - https://www.facebook.com/help?page=154500071282557
More about Promoted Posts - https://www.facebook.com/help/promote

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Random Reading Roaming Online - 1.0

Last week I managed to keep up with my RSS reading on feedly and came across some neat articles. If you didn't see these last week, here's a chance to check them out :)

On Books

Nat on Reading Romance - (Blogging Outside the US) International Guide: Where to buy books?
One of the pain points of not living in the US is that getting books isn't easy. For that matter so many giveaways are just for US citizens. This list helps those of us who don't live in the US.

LitStack has a list of Six Writers Who Loved Weed
Here are the ones I know from the list - Stephen King, Alexandre Dumas and Shakespeare :D

Kim Ukura on BookRiot - Pay-What-You-Want Ebook Service Curates Book Bundles for Readers - recommends Story Bundle
The concept of Story Buddle sounds great and I'd be happy to give back to indie authors by paying for curated books. They are currently featuring The Second Degree Bundle. I don't really want to read crime and thriller right now but have subscribed for future bundles.

Dianna Dilworth on AppNewser - BookShout! Lets You Centralize eBook Libraries
If you are a reader on multiple platforms - Kindle, iBooks, Nook, Kobo, etc. "Enter BookShout!, a free tool that lets you legally import and aggregate all of your eBooks into one central portal." I'm yet to get to multiple platforms, (its paper and Kindle for me now) but I'm bookmarking this app for the future.

Dianna Dilworth on AppNewser - Rovio Enters eBook Business With Angry Birds Cookbook App
The idea of an interactive cook book sounds like fun and I've bought it on the app store but sadly can't use it for a while since Che's iPad has gone in for repairs and it doesn't run on the Mac :(

Craft (DIY)

Licia Politis's Quilled Babushkas on All Things Paper
I've always loved nesting dolls but the set Licia has made from paper with quilled embellishments is way cool!

Household Tips

Thorin Klosowski on LifeHacker says Layer Wax Paper On Top of Hard-to-Reach Shelves to Make Dusting a Breeze

Whitson Gordon on LifeHacker has shared a neat Cooking Methods Infographic. I'm going to up this up in the kitchen soon.
The Cooking Methods Cheat Sheet Clears Up All Those Confusing Cooking Terms

Dogs

LifeHacker shared this cool idea to train dogs to keep off the couch. The Monkey Couch Guardian Keeps Pets Off Furniture When You’re Not Home But if you're like me and have given over the divan to the dogs, then don't bother :P

NOVA has made an insightful video on dogs - Dogs Decoded. I'd shared the video along with my thoughts last week. See it here - My Dogs Decoded.

Blogging

Heidi Cohen on Actionable Marketing Expert - 7 Steve Jobs Quotes Guaranteed To Make Your Blog Excel
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”

Social Media

Jeff on jeffbullas.com - 6 Tips for Marketing your Business with the Social Media Mobile App Instagram
I use instagram on the Nexus One but I haven't really understood it well. The other I guess is that I have an older phone that means the camera is not so great. Instagram doesn't manage to make my picture 'way better' or at least so it seems to me on my screen. This one's for those who have phones that take great pictures. :)

Heidi Cohen offers some useful tips on using Twitter to its best potential. Twitter: 12 Guidelines to Engage & Build Your Following

Articles for Authors

Carol Costello shares 5 book marketing tips for self-published authors on The Book Designer. The 5 Keys to Pain-Free Book Promotion

Joanna Penn answers 10 questions for authors that will help us readers find better books :D Help! My Book Isn’t Selling. 10 Questions You Need To Answer Honestly If You Want To Sell More Books

Mac Tips

Obscurity Hides Files in OS X in Plain Sight on Lifehacker by Thorin Klosowski

Amelita Puts Useful Commands and Actions in Your Mac’s Menubar on Lifehacker by Alan Henry

Did you come across anything interesting last week? Any posts you'd recommend for me?

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Revenge and Green Fingers

Last week was a blur of activity. We started the week with Pascal coming to Bangalore. - In our family we have six dogs. Three with us, one with my Mom and Bro and two with my in-laws. Our long term plan is to keep all the dogs with us in a big place and this was our first step in this direction. Pascal came to Bangalore, got groomed thoroughly and got neutered too! He's now being homed at Windward Kennels while going through re-hab and training to settle down in a all new place. As a child I loved the Golden my neighbour had - he was amazing. It's going to be fun getting to know Pascal and having him around.

I've never really tried gardening and don't know if I have green fingers. My Mom does, she always has a flourishing garden. So, I decided to give it a go and bought three plants for my balcony (until now I've only had the money-plant in a bottle). One looks like a mini Christmas tree, the other is an ornamental plant with green and white mixed leaves and the last is a herb I guess since its supposed to keep snakes away. I bought them from a little boy who came by home last week but since he only spoke Kannada I don't know what these plans are called. That's this weeks project - identify the plants :D

Our latest TV hook is Revenge on StarWorld. We watched the first episode this Saturday and liked it. And as always with serials that we like, we don't have patience to wait week on week so we downloaded and watched 6 episodes in a row. More to go today... Revenge is a story set in the Hamptons in the 'upper class'. Amanda's father had been wrongfully charged and punished when she was a child. She is now back as Emily Thorne to take revenge on all those involved and each episode is a new plot.

In other news - I spent a lot of time browsing my feeds on Feedly this week. Should have a list of articles you may have missed for you to read tomorrow. :)

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All I Want To Know About Cycling

Now that I’ve announced that I’m an official blogger at TfN I need to start getting my act together. What will I write about when it comes to TfN? TfN's in December, that means two months of learning before I get there so I don't look like an ass :D

Considering that I don’t know much about cycling, here’s the check-list of what I’d like to know. (I'll keep adding)

1. What is TfN all about?


2. What types of cycles are there? How are they different?


3. What are the different types of cycling?


4. What does touring on cycles entail?


5. How to choose a cycle?


6. What do cycle riders need to know?


7. How to eat for cycling?


8. How to plan and prepare for touring?


9. Cycling terminology?

What else do you think I should know? Any tips for me? :)

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I'm an Official Blogger at TfN 2012 :)

It all started with Chenthil, like a lot of things do :)

Che cycles and I find it amazing to see him come back all exhilarated. He cycles maybe a maximum of 50 km, that's 50 km! It should be tiring with all the undulations and bad roads, it should be exhausting with legs groaning but he seems invigorated. To me its a paradox. I've been into sports all my life so I understand the exhilaration he feels, I've felt it too. But now well over 30 do I really want to do that to myself?

Then last year Che went along with TfN as official photographer. The conversations we had over the 8 days of tour were, simply put 'wierd'. He talked about carbon frames, fixies, bonking and more. And he came back gushing! For days after he wouldn't stop talking about the scenic routes, the curves and climbs, the riders and their endurance, their ages, the cycles, the food,... Oh! I can go on :)

My curiosity piqued, I wanted to know more about why people push themselves. Its a high no doubt but what makes people want that high, why do people want to cycle up a mountain, why do people want to cycle?

I wanted to experience TfN, see the high with my own eyes. So this year when Che started talking about TfN 2012 I asked if I could travel along and blog about it. The guys at TfN graciously said yes. I'm going to TfN this year and I'm not cycling it! Yay! :D

Ok, I'm all set to travel but what do I know about cycling? Last I cycled was in school, agreed it was the coolest bike with both front and back shock absorbers and a boy's cycle at that, still back then I was 16 and in my prime :P A few years back I thought to try it again and borrowed a friends cycle. Day 1 saw me cycle across the city in one gear fearing for my life and Day 2 had me throwing in the spade at the Windsor Manor climb. So what do I know about cycling?

Being an official blogger isn't easy, you have to do justice to the event. When its a sport, its tougher. You have to cover so much. I needed a voice, a story. I've been wondering about this for a while now. I read up on cycling, TfN, articles about TfN, cyclists blogs,... and still I don't seem to know it. Ah, don't mistake, I know about it just don't know know it, you know. Its the experiential that missing.

That's my voice - my story. I'm an outsider and my story's from this side of the fence as I watch TfN 2012 unfold. Along the journey I hope to learn more about cycles, touring, TfN, cycling terminology, what cyclists eat, what makes them tick and much more.

Hope you join me as I watch them ride | suffer | brag :)

8 days of TfN through three states and national parks this years starts December 16th. Sadly its full. But this year the TfN guys have a special - Entrée. So if you can't/didn't make it to the full tour you can join us for a 3 nights 2 days ride through the Nilgiris. You can know more and register here.



Video Courtesy - Venky | Video Shot by - Chenthil (ChePhoto)

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My Dogs Decoded

Yesterday I came across this video by NOVA - 'Dogs Decoded' on one of the doggy groups I follow on facebook. Had some time on hand so I sat down to watch. It was a very interesting video and if you have a dog you should watch it.



As I watched the video a lot of things about my three dogs became clearer. A lot of things that I know about my dogs is not unique to me any more. Che and I have always said Cuckoo speaks and she's not the only one in the world, most dogs do. So as I watched the video I made a list of things I learned about my dogs.

1. The expressions on both sides of our faces in any situation are not identical. We tend to see more of the right of a persons face then left when talking to them (left gaze bias). This is because the right side of our face shows more of the emotion we are feeling than the left. Dogs understand this too and tend to focus more on the emotion on the right of our face. Its helps them read our emotion and respond to it. This explains why I can't con Cuckoo with fake anger, there's too many parameters. :)

Our dogs understand us. Thats a very simple statement but holds a lot of meaning. Dogs understand our social ques, they understand gesturing - our pointing with fingers or eyes. Combine that with their reading of our facial emotions and you have mans best friend. :D

2. Out of the three dogs I have, Cuckoo is the most communicative. She almost talks - each bark is different and means different things. You could almost have a conversation with her.
Dogs use barking as a language. Frequency, tonality and interval between barks vary to form a wide variety of meaning. A research facility in Budapest recorded the sounds dogs make in various situations and played the sounds clips to test base of dog owners. Dog owners almost always identified the dogs situation and behaviour correctly. So the bark of a dog is not just noise but a package of information to help us communicate. Then why do we debark dogs? :(

3. Spending time with my dogs always is an upper, it makes me feel better. The rottenest day gets better when I'm with them. Senti's my special in this area. I have a need to nuture and Oh how I enjoy mothering him :D

In Sweden a doctor has poven that Occitocin is reponsible for the bonding of babies with mothers. When we are petting dogs we release occitocin and so do dogs. This peptide causes a feeling of well being and bonds us to our dogs. Occitocin is good for us - it reduces the heart rate and blood pressure and can lead to lower levels of stress.

4. There's always been this debate about dogs being decended from wolves. Research finally proves dogs are tamed domesticated wolves.

Soviet scientists over the last 50 years have run an experiment with silver foxes. They took the tamest foxes in each litter and bred them with other tame ones. They also did the same with the most aggressive ones. 8 generations later the tame foxes had started looking forward to human contact. 50 generations later they are starting to show characteristics of dogs. On the other side the agressive ones got more aggressive with each generation. A good reason to always ask to see the mother and father when getting a pup, it'll say a lot about the dog we get.

And here's some interesting trivia from the video.

There are more pet dogs in the world than babies, nearly 1/2 a billion.

Research proves that dogs can extend our life. People who have dogs are less likely to have a heart attack. If they have a heart attack they are three or four times more likely to survive it.

A border collie in Austria near Vienne understands over 340 words. That means she can correctly identify 340 items in a pile! She can also recognise new objects from just images shown.

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What is the Assamese Mekhla Chadar?

I bought a Mekhla Chadar yesterday. A friend has opened an Ethnic Wear store (Ankh Creations) and I stopped by to wish them luck. While Pallavi showed me all the various types of sarees she had (Sambampur Silk, Bhagalpur Silk, Muga Silk and more), a red piece kept catching my eye. To satisfy my curiosity I asked to see it. It turned out to be a very pretty mekhla. All I knew about a mehkla is that its a traditional Assamese dress.

So what is a Mekhla Chadar?

Mekhla Chadar is the traditional attire of Assamese women and is made up of three pieces (like the South-Indian half saree) - a skirt like a sarong, a blouse and an additional piece of cloth draped over the shoulder. The mekhla skirt is a thicker garment whereas the chadar is lighter to make management easier.

The skirt is a wide cylinder of cloth that is folded into pleats to fit the waist. In the usual 6 yard saree the pleats are folded to the left but in a mekhla the pleats fold to the right. One end of the chaddar is tucked at the pleats, the rest is taken around the waist and thrown over the left shoulder.

The mekhla (or the skirt) is known for its shine that comes from the muga silk unique to Assam. In the good old days these were woven at home by the women. Girls were taught how to weave on a loom and handlooms were found in every household. It was a part of their training along with growing rice and vegetables. When you think about it, it makes sense - if you can grow your own food and make your own cloth, you are independent, you can take on the world :)

The mekhla has beautiful wide borders, the designs inspired by nature and is made in all colours. Red is a particular favourite for weddings. Traditionally it was made of cotton, muga silk or pat silk but today you also get it in synthetic mixes. In the old days each house wove its own unique designs on the mekla and gamcha (a towel-like garment), quite like the Scottish tweed.

The famous silks of Assam are grown at Sualkuchi 32km. from Guwahati. The entire village is engaged in weaving silks and it is often called the Manchester of the East. Apart from the Muga, other silks like Eri and Pat are also grown here.

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12 Things You May Not Know About Grey's Anatomy

I hate waiting for new season when I like a series so when Grey's Anatomy started a few years ago and I run out of seasons to watch I gave up on it. But now that its in its 9th season and I have a lot of seasons to watch, I've started rewatching it from the beginning again.

I like medical drama, to me medicine is fun and if it wasn't for having to study for almost 10 years I might just have become a surgeon. While I'm watching the series, I've been doing some reading. Here's some interesting trivia I found.

1. The name of each episode is the title of a song by a popular artist. Quite a few are named after songs by the Beatles and R.E.M.

2. The series title is a reference not only to Meredith Grey but also the anatomy book by Henry Gray - "Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body". Before the show was aired it was supposed to be called "Complications".

3. When I saw the pilot I didn't see Karev and wondered about why he was missing in the five assigned to Bailey. Karev was not originally a part of the pilot script. He was added later as an afterthought to be a companion to Dr. O'Malley hence his scenes for the pilot are re-shoots and digital alterations.

4. Sandra Oh who plays Dr. Cristina Yang was initially looking to audition for the part of Dr. Bailey.

5. Isaiah Washington (Dr. Burke) had originally auditioned to play the role of Dr. Shepherd. Glad the casting crew saw otherwise coz he's so not Shepherd.

6. The poster Meredith puts up asking for a roommate says "Bush supporters need not apply".

7. Dr. Christina Yang is an MD-PhD, she graduated first in her class at Standford University.

8. The first person to call Dr. Shepherd "McDreamy" was Christina and Meredith was the first to call Dr. Sloan "McSteamy".

9. Izzie's full name is Isobel Catherine Stevens and Karev's full name is Alexander Michael Karev.

10. Katherine Heigl was supposed to come back for the season's finale after she took time off during season 6. But she didn't and her last episode was: I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked.

11. The five original interns get married through the series. Meredith Grey to Derek Shepherd, Christina Yang to Owen Hunt, Gerorge O'Malley to Calliope Torres and Izzie Stevens to Alex Karev.

12. Bailey's original five also go through surgery at some point in the series. Meredith for appendicitis and liver donation to her father, Christina for an ectopic pregnancy, Alex for a gun shot, Izzie for cancer and George after he got hit by a bus.

If you're a fan of Grey's Anatomy and think you know all about it, here's some GA quizzes you can try. :)

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My First Ever Sponge Cake - A Coffee Sponge Cake: Recipe

A few days ago I tried to make my first sponge cake. It turned out fairly well though I’d want it spongier so I guess I’ll keep experimenting until I get it right.

Here’s the steps I followed for my Coffee Sponge Cake

Ingredients –

175gms – flour
125gms – sugar
125gms – butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp – instant coffee power
½ tsp – vanilla essence

Method -

1. Heat the oven to 180deg. C.


2. In a bowl mix the butter and sugar. I used granulated sugar (a baker told me that works better than icing sugar). Beat it intermittently until the sugar melts. This may take a little time so you could leave the mix standing and beat it every 5 minutes until its done.


3. Add the eggs to the mix and beat it again until it all mixes well and looks a little fluffy.


4. Add the flour into the mix in portions while continuing to beat.


5. Add the coffee powder and vanilla essence.


6. Beat the mix until is has a drop consistency. To check the consistency either use the beater or a spoon. The batter should fall off the spoon in blobs, it should not drip and neither should it stick to the spoon. If it drips add more flour. If it sticks add a couple of teaspoons of milk.


7. Prep your baking tin. To do this rub the inside of the tin with butter and then add flour and shake the tin until you have a fine layer of flour sticking to the butter. Shake off any excess flour.


8. Pour or ladle the cake mix into the mold and gentle tap the mold to level the batter.


9. Bake the cake for 25 minutes at 180deg. C.


10. Check if the cake is cooked by inserting a knife into the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is cooked, else bake for a few more minutes. Baking time changes from place to place so it takes a few attempts to find the perfect time needed.


11. Remove the cake mold and let it rest for 10 minutes.


12. Invert the cake mold and gently tap to remove the cake and let it cool for another 10-15 minutes.


13. Now eat and enjoy! :)

I did a few other experiments –

1. After lining the mold with butter and flour I added a bit of sugar at the bottom before adding the cake mix so I got a cake with sugar on top.


2. After removing the cake from the mold I added more sugar at the top and put it back in the oven. This gave the cake a caramalised top and a slightly crunchy crust with a soft center.


3. I wanted a chocolate center so I poured half the batter in the mold, then placed a strip of dark chocolate in the center keeping away from the walls of the mold and added the remaining batter on top. Note though that when checking to see if the cake is cooked you need to insert the knife slightly off center so you don’t come away with a knife covered in chocolate.

Here are three recipes I referred to while making my cake –

Really Easy Sponge Cake - allrecipes.co.in
Sponge cake - BBC Food Recipes
Simple Sponge - BBC GoodFood

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Movie Review: Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1 & 2

Gangs of Wasseypur part 1 released on 22nd June 2012 but Che and I were busy winding up and packing to leave for Thailand so it was almost impossible for us to see the movie. Now imagine our delight when we got back a month later and found that one of the multiplexes was running part 1 along with part 2. This was not to be missed so off we went to a back to back screening of the two parts of Gangs of Wasseypur.

These are hindi movies so as it is they are long but with two parts they are beyond longer. That said there is no part of the two that you will not enjoy. Anuragh Kashyap delivers again with a set of movies that are not to be missed.

There is a lot of violence in the movie but even that was fun to watch. Jeez did I just say I enjoyed violence? Well, yes I did. It was tastefully done and went with the story.

The story is set in Wasseypur near Dhanbad in North India. This part of India has got tossed around between states and that has had an impact on its people. Wasseypur has a large population of Muslims of two different castes and the story is about a vendetta between the two with a third benefiting from it all.

The actors have done a good job in portraying the characters. The women in the movie are shown as strong women and have a role to play. They are not just there for scenic purposes. I loved watching Nagma played by Richa Chadda as she berated her husband and stood by him too. There is a domestic scene between Sardar and Nagma as she vacuums the house that is just adorable. Then there was Moshina played by Huma Qureshi who has character and style.

Don’t miss these this set of movies and preferably watch them back to back as there is a lot of detail in part one that helps you understand part two.

Aside – Overheard in the toilet during interval – ‘Kya bakwas film banate hai aaj kal’ ‘What rubbish movies they make these days’. This has kinda become my test for movies. If people think its rubbish it might just be good. After all people want to watch mindless movies these days where you can come to the theater leaving you intelligence behind at home. Not necessarily a bad thing, I watch mindless movies too but then I wouldn’t watch an A. Kashyap movie on a mindless day!

Read more about the movies here -
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2

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A Week of Lovin'

Last week was a wonderful week. Sitting down to blog was just difficult with all that was happening around me. My Mom-In-Law was to visit and that had me up-in-arms initially with an entire plan to clean the house. Well, clean I did but not completely to plan. I let a lot slip through after the realisation hit that she was my Mom; I clean when my own Mom visits but I definitely don't do a Monica so why now?

And she was Mom, oh so Mom; she didn't point out all that was not done and even offered to help me clean the fans. I have a fear of ledges so ladders freak me out. My fear doesn't stop me from climbing ladders but I do need a little help; someone has to stand down there and hold the ladder :P

Spending time with parents has become important in my life lately. Life is too short to miss out on family and love. I don't know if I'll be around tomorrow or if they will so I want them in my today. Every moment with them is precious. There is so much I have to learn from them - making Sambar from one Mom and Biryani from the other. They have stories galore to tell; there are more stories than time available to us it seems.

Mom was here for four days and the days flew. When she left it felt as if she had just arrived. Saying good-bye was more about saying come back soon. Mom do you hear me? Please come back soon.

Other highlights of last week were book review requests. I've been reviewing the books I've read on the blog. I have a huge back log as of now and need to catch up fast. My goal this year was to read a 100 books. I've read 65 books until now but reviewed only 16 books. Shame on me! I need to bridge that gap soon. But anyway, here are the two books I have got review requests for -

Tendrils of Life by Owen Choi
Roll Of Honour by Amandeep Sandhu

And I'm excited! This was the first time an author wrote in asking for a review and I'm honoured. It takes a lot to write a book (I know I've been trying for a while now) and it takes even more to ask for a truthful review. Being critical of someone else's work is easy, but accepting that criticism is difficult. Like Ego in Ratatouille says "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
Both the books deal with some very painful subjects and I'm looking forward to reading them soon.

The other latest news is that BBMP in Bangalore has made garbage segregation compulsory. That means a lot of new learning. Until now everything went into trash from veggies to dog poop. Now I have a lot of questions - how do I dispose my fallen hair and dog hair for starters. I'll do a post on my learning here soon :)

Do you have any tips on garbage segregation and disposal?

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