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Potential

It's not what you have, it's what you do with what you have.

Everyone is born with something. Some are born in money, some with good looks. Some are born in happy families while others go through their life in dysfunctional ones. Some are born fast, some excruciatingly slow. What sets them apart from others is not these things but what they are doing to improve, to scale peaks, to maximise their true potential.

It is what leads to true happiness and true contentment

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Jai Hind! http://ping.fm/nKEV4

Hot Toddy

With the changing weather, every other person seems to be coming down with bad throats and runny nose.

A traditional 'adult' remedy is the Hot Toddy. A concoction of epic proportions that people worldwide swear by.

Ingredients
------------
1) Lemon Wedge
2) 15ml Honey
3) 30ml Liquor of your choice (Scotch works the best for me)
4) 250ml hot water
4) 2 Cloves (Optional)
5) Cinnamon Stick (Optional)

Preparation
------------
1) Stick 2 cloves into a thick lemon wedge
2) Drop the wedge inside a whiskey glass
2) Pour the liquor followed by honey
3) Fill up the glass with hot water
4) Stir with Cinnamon Stick

Sit back with your legs thrown straight, take a sip and enjoy.

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Weight Loss

I am no stranger to weight issues. Being very skinny in my teens I wished nothing else but to bulk up and like most people I ended up with a paunch in my mid 20's. A recent road accident and the long period of inactivity that followed made me ring in 90 kg's on the scale and that served a good jolt to get back into shape. It's been 6 months since then and I am now much fitter and slimmer at 78. Though 12 kg's in 6 months is not a big achievement I know for sure that it's not a magic drop I achieved overnight and will gain back again the next day. A gradual weight loss is more permanent than an immediate one and without the vagaries of loose skin. This one is here to stay for life, to be maintained with a little bit of discipline and self control.

Daily compliments on the new me notwithstanding, I am constantly prodded for advice by those facing the same dilemma. And my advice to them is simple:

On a daily basis you need to burn more calories than you consume.

This is the magic mantra of them all. Every ab burner/cruncher, magic pill, diet program works on the same principle. Make the body dip into its fat reserves and burn them. Though this is a rule that only people wanting to lose weight need follow, everything else mentioned below can be imbibed by anyone wanting to lead a healthy active lifestyle. Any weight loss program can be divided into two sections, one on calorie intake and the other on burning them and here's my attempt:

Calorie Intake

Common sense dictates that lesser the calories consumed, lesser you'll have to burn to remain fit. A well balanced diet is recommended for everyone but what I want to touch upon is the things to avoid. Eliminating these items from your daily intake will immediately show results. One thing I do want to point out is that if you are used to consuming any items mentioned below on a daily basis, stopping them completely would be detrimental to what we are trying to achieve. Most of them are high on the "good for tongue" factor and if you starve yourself off them there's gonna be a taste bud mutiny and good chance for a complete relapse with vengeance. The best way to go about it is to slowly wean yourself off it by reducing the frequency of intake. Indulge in smaller portions of each listed item once every week or fortnight and you'll find it much easier to stick to the plan.

1) Refined flour (Maida): The bane of all things healthy. Avoid refined flour in all forms. It has almost nil nutritional value, be it naan, white bread, biscuits, pizza base or most Indian street food items made from it.

2) White Rice: Indian diet wouldn't be complete without this staple but when push comes to shove you gotta take the leap.

3) Deep fried: Items like samosa, vada pav, pakodas, papads. Fried potato in any form, chips, wafers. The farther you stay away from them the better.

4) Processed items with added sugar: Everyone has read those forward chain mails on the sugar content of colas but it's not just them. Most other cold drinks, fruit juices, snacks, cereals, chocolates, cakes and its variations in dessert have added sugar in varying forms that's just going to pile up useless calories on the body. Use your common sense and be sure to read the ingredient list before dropping an item into your super market shopping bag.

As mentioned before and I repeat again, an occasional indulgence needs to be there to maintain sanity and most of the items can be replaced by much healthier and equally well tasting options. Refined flour items with whole grain ones, fruit juices itself have much natural sugar that they can be consumed without any extra added, sugar free substitutes, soy milk products instead of dairy ones, fat free and low fat substitutes, margarine instead of butter and so on.

Burning Calories

At any given time while asleep or awake the body is burning calories. Just helping it catch up by reducing your calorie intake will help the cause but prodding it along by increasing the rate at which it does so is what will deliver those fantastic results. So, how does one do that? The most common and much ignored way is to exercise. It is imperative to sweat it out for half an hour daily. Be it brisk walking, jogging, swimming, active sports, lifting weights, incorporate whatever rocks your boat and you'll find yourself more energetic and upbeat for rest of the day.

A few other tips and tricks involve:

• Eating smaller portions more frequently (4-5 times a day). This will keep the digestion and metabolism process going on whole day ensuring more efficient calorie burn.
  
• Eating slowly to trick the body into feeling full. According to recent research by scientists at the University of Rhode Island, once you start eating a meal, a chemical signals the brain after 20 minutes that the stomach is full and it no longer has to feel hungry. The lesser quantity you eat before that full feeling the better.
  
• Drinking enough water to keep the body well hydrated. Water is the main element using which metabolism occurs and any lack of it will impact the process.
  
• Eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Not only will they substitute your meals as healthy alternatives they are rich in fiber. Fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate and the body will spend a lot of calories in an attempt to digest it.
• Consuming items like Green Tea and Fish that are known to boost the metabolism rate besides the other health benefits they afford.
  

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Egg Orgy

Photograph from Malias on flickr

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Politician's at it again! Nitish Kumar not in favour of a central federal agency

The politicians are at it again. Not surprising at the very least. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is not in favour of setting up a central federal agency.

WTF quotes by him as reported in The Indian Express, Pune, December 2nd 2008:

"As law and order is a state subject, any likely intervention by a Central Agency would create confusion and possible confrontation. Rather, there can be a specialized trained force in every state to counter terrorism."

"Maharashtra Government should have been more proactive on matters of regionalism. The terror attacks have brought regional issues to the fore and people have taken attack on Mumbai as attack on the nation."

So is he implying that had Maharashtra Government been more proactive on these matters, people would not have taken this as an attack on the nation and thought of it as a regional matter? Foreign terrorists invading the country by sea and killing Indian nationals is a regional matter?

No wonder he does not want a central agency. Since he won't have direct control over them, the goonda raj so painstakingly built by the politicians in Bihar would be at a risk.

This is first in a series of posts following the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. We will never forget!


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Penne Pasta - Indian Style

So, I tried making Pasta at home and it turned out to be a surprise hit. The family loved it and what do you know, I loved it as well. Here's what I did:

Penne Pasta Recipe

Ingredients
1. 250gms Penne Pasta
2. 1 Capsicum
3. 2 Tomatoes
4. 5 Button Mushrooms
5. 2 Green Chillies
6. 350gms of readymade Pasta Sauce (Tify is a good one)
7. 10 Green Olives (Optional)
8. 4 table spoon Olive Oil
9. 5 Jalapenos (Optional)
10. 4 table spoon Salt
11. Mozzarella Cheese

Preparation
1. Take two and a half litres of water, put in the salt and bring it to boil. Then put in the pasta for 12 minutes till al dente. Test it before you take them out, should be soft to chew but not stick to the teeth.
2. Chop the mushrooms, capsicum, tomatoes and green chillies.
3. Heat a pan with the olive oil and sauté the chopped vegetables. Mix with the readymade sauce on low flame.
4. Take out the pasta and mix with the sauce
5. Garnish with shredded cheese. If you are feeling exotic, top it up with chopped olives and jalapenos.
6. If you like your pasta hot and are using canned jalapenos, use 2 table spoon of the brine liquid it comes in to spice up the dish.


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James Bond - Bond no more (A quick critique on Quantum of Solace)

I am not going to descend into a lengthy tirade against the non-existent story but multiple action sequences stitched together, do not a movie make. I can watch any of those fantastic bombastic -tastic action sequence programmes on AXN for that. I entered the hall looking for a Bond I knew and loved. Suave, Charming, graceful and over the top even in the line of fire. One that knew how to walk the talk and talk the walk. What I got was another dose of Bourne, XXX and their likes. James is now Jason. Fill it, shut it, forget it.

I can't comment on Daniel Craig's acting because there is not a single scene that requires him to. He just walks fast, talks fast, runs fast, falls fast and flies fast turning his head like a robot all the time. He simply does not exude the charisma that made every single male exiting the hall think they are Bond for the next few days. That's a Blue Collar Bond for you. There is only one scene that evoked any emotion out of me and that had nothing to do with Bond. The villain dips one of James's lays in fossil fuel and leaves her dripping on the bed. Diabolical! If this is the new Bond who does not give a damn whether his martini is shaken or stirred, I say we nominate one of the villains to play bond next time. Best bond ever? Ha! Far from it.

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Windows 7 - Peek Feature

Windows 7 New Taskbar peek feature and free to roam widgets. For once, MS has outdone the competition. I want! And there better be a dirt cheap (read free) upgrade path from Vista.



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