Saturday, March 28, 2009

Spirit of Kerala

Nehru Trophy Boat Race Venue:Punnamadakayal, Alappuzha

Nehru Trophy Boat Race, held on 14 August this year, is one of the most important boat races in Kerala. It is an annual event conducted on the second Saturday of August every year, in the afternoon. The main event consists of a stiff competition between the magnificent snake boats known as 'chundanvallams' for the coveted trophy. These boats stretch about 100 feet in length, with a raised prow, resembling the raised hood of a snake. They are manned by some 100 rowers who row vigorously to the accompaniment of the 'vanchipattu' to lend vocal support to their physical efforts. The race commences with a ceremonial water procession comprising of floats and a variety of craft. 

Getting there:
Nearest Railway Station: Alappuzha

Nearest Airport: Cochin International Airport, about 85 km away.

Taste of Kerala

King of snacks: Komban Ada
Macrooni, Komban Ada, Appichi, Kaboolikkadala...dishes that were inevitable in Muslim homesteads in North Malabar known for their celebrations of taste. With time these ethnic dishes too moved into the glass shelves of memory. The City Star restaurant in Taliparambu has now brought back this lost empire of taste through their menu. "Most of these snacks were made during Ramzan. Many in the new generations have not even heard of these dishes," says Mohammed Kunji Haji and son Shanavas. "But there has not been any compromise on taste and the old names," adds the father-son duo.

Komban Ada
Shanavas calls Komban Ada a distant cousin of the Sandwich. On a first look the snack seems easy enough to make. Rice flour batter is spread on plantain leaf and filled with meat and masala. This is steamed and later fried in oil. The dough should be similar to that of Pathiri or it would be difficult to spread it in the plantain leaf.

Kaipola is another sweet delicacy. The ingredients are banana, sugar, milk powder and egg. Egg, sugar and milk powder are blended together to make a thick batter. Add finely shredded ripe banana to this mixture. This mixture is cooked in steam till done.

Recipe for Komban Ada (Serves 30)
Rice - 600 gm, Beef - 500 gm, Onion- 3 nos, Green chillies - 04 Nos, Ginger - 1 small piece, Tomato - 2 Nos, Biriyani Masala Powder – ½ table spoon, Pepper- 1 table spoon, Chili Powder- 1 table spoon, coriander leaves, salt- to taste, trumeric powder - to taste

First Phase
Soak par-boiled rice (Kuthari). Grind this into a batter suitable for Pathiri(rice pancake). Cook minced beef. Season Onion, Tomato, Green chilies, Ginger together by mixing them with condiments. Add salt to taste. Spread the batter in plantain leaf. Add the minced beef fillings. Fold the plantain leaf like ada and cook in steam. Take the ada from the platain leaf and keep aside to drain.

Second Phase
Chili powder-100 gms, Turmeric powder-1 table spoon, Pepper-1/2 table spoon, Egg-01 no, Salt – to taste, Ginger-01 piece, Green chilies-02 nos. Grind ginger, green chili into paste and mix into little water. Saute chili powder and turmeric powder with eggs. Dip the ada into this mixture and fry in coconut oil.

Excellent article on cancer

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY . 
Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime. 
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours. 
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental,food and lifestyle factors. 
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system. 
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow,gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc. 
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs. 
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction. 
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites. 
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply. 

WHAT CANCER CELLS FEED ON: 

a. 
Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very sma ll amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with 
unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells are being starved. 
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer. 
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to no urish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C). 
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties.Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it. 
12. 
Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup. 
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By 
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of  cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells. 
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the  body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells. 
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life. 
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India, and head of the Council of Ministers, appointed by the President to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive in India. The Prime Minister is responsible for the discharge of the functions and power vested in the President in terms of the Constitution of India. He is appointed by the President, being recognized as the leader of the majority party in the two Houses of the Parliament of India.

To View Detail List of Prime Minister's  Click Here

Prime Minister's of India


Tuesday, March 10, 2009

भारत...............

भारत माता,प्रणाम
पथ में मेरा जीवार्प्पनतू ही,
मानव की मातातेरी उन्नती ,
मेरा इच्छा तेरी रक्षा है मेरा कर्म.

In Tribute...

His words never ends...
"Now i am in my world...full of words...! i am satisfied...do you remember me?today is my birthday..."
Vaikom Muhammad Basheer at Thalayolaparambu in Vaikom, 21 January 1908;at Beypore in Calicut,was a Malayalam fiction writer. He was a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. The Indian government recognized his contributions by awarding him the prestigious Padma Sri in 1982.Basheer, born in the village of Thalayolapparampu in northern Travancore, was the eldest child of devout Muslim parents. His father was in the timber business as a contractor, but the business did not do well enough for his large family to live in anything approaching luxury. After beginning his education at the local Malayalam medium school, he was sent to the English medium school in Vaikom, five miles away. While at school he fell under the spell of Mahatma Gandhi. He started wearing Khadar, inspired by the swadesi ideals. When Gandhi came to Vaikom to participate in the Vaikom Satyagraham (1924) Basheer went to see him. He managed to climb on to the car in which Gandhi travelled and touch his hand, a fond memory Basheer mentioned in many of his writings. He used to visit Gandhi's satyagrahashramam at Vaikom daily. He got punished for going late to school for thisBasheer is known for his unconventional style of language. He did not differentiate between literary language and the language spoken by the commons and did not care about the grammatical correctness of his sentences.His literary career started off with the novel Premalekhanam, a humorous love story between Keshavan Nair – a young bank employee and an upper caste Hindu (Nair) – and Saramma – an unemployed Christian woman. Hidden underneath the hilarious dialogues we can see a sharp criticism of religious conservatism, dowry and similar conventions existing in society. This was followed by the novel Baalyakaalasakhi – a tragic love story between Majeed and Suhra – which is among the most important novels in Malayalam literature in spite of its relatively small size (75 pages), and is commonly agreed upon as his magnum opus work. In his foreword to Baalyakaalasakhi, Jeevithathil Ninnum Oru Aedu (A Page From Life), M. P. Paul brings out the beauty of this novel, and how it is different from run-of-the-mill love stories.The autobiographical Janmadinam ("Birthday", 1945) is about a writer struggling to feed himself on his birthday. While many of the stories present situations to which the average reader can easily relate, the darker, seamier side of human existence also finds a major place, as in the novel Shabdangal ("Voices", 1947), which faced heavy criticism for violence and vulgarity.
In' Premalekhanam'...
"Priyapetta Saramayk,
jeevitham yawana theeshnavum,hridayam prema surabhilavumayirikkunna ee asulabhanimishathaye ente priya suhruthu egane viniyogikkunnu?njananengil...
"SWEET MEMORIES STILL ALIVE"

KERALA- BASIC FACTS


Area - 38,863 sq.km
Highest Peak - Anamudi
No of District - 14
No of Municipal corporation - 5
No of Block panchayathu - 152
No of Assembly seat - 140
No of Lokshaba seat - 20
No of Rajyasabha seat - 9
State tree - Coconut
State Flower - Kanikkonna
State Animal - Elephant
State Bird - Hornbill
First Library - Thiruvananthapuram Library
First Bank - Nedungadi
Longest River - Bharathapuzha
Biggest Dam - Malampuzha
Most Densely Populated District - Alappuzha
Least Populated District - Idukki
Literary % of Kerala - 89.81%