Bonchi anyone?

This is the ultimate thirst quencher for dapper Mallu in the capital of God's Own Country, a state where the majority sex is scared to step out after dusk.
Any guesses as to what this is? Dude, it is nothing other than your lime soda. Even outside the capital of lechers of the world no one understands the name.
In the other parts of the state it is called soda naranga!
Amco Enameled Aluminum Lime Squeezer, Light Green
The only other drink that can beat Bonchi is the Campa cola (they call it Kampa cola in Dilli) mixed with a special concotion added to it that is available opposite erstwhile Fleet Street of India, Bhadurshah Zafar Marg in New Delhi.
All the pan shops in the city provide Bonchi with an option of sweet, salt and also chilled soda. The sound of opening the old soda bottle as the marble pops into the bottle resembles a small cracker going off. The new caps are nothing compared to this.
Even these pan shops are slowly disappering from the city to be replaced with coffee shops. CCD has one outlet in Kaudiar and the two others are near where the techies rule the roost. The first coffee lounge to set shop in the city was a huge success until it had to find a new franchise and then it ceased to exist. Coffee Beanz was my favourite hangout.
But ask anyone what Mallu's favourite drink is and it would be gold old rum (Old Monk)that would come up top.
And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails
I would always vote for toddy, but good old toddy is a rarity in coconut country today. Toddy Brewing Container with Handle

Eco-friendly toys

Snake
It was an e-mail from a friend that brought memories of childhood holidays flooding back. The simple toys we used to make with coconut palm fronds was fun. Although it lasted only a day or two it was quite eco-friendly and we had no regrets throwing it away and make new ones later.
Watch
Are the net savy kids hooked on Pogo and Cartoon network even aware of the existence of such toys. The simple craft of making these toys may even die out for want of practise. My mother used to say that she could easily turn the palm fronds into the simplest roofing material or the "medanja ola'. But she has forgotten how to do it now. People could easily make a small basked of wicker or bigger ones using various eco-friendly material. In early days such baskets were used to carry stuff bought from the market be it vegetables or fish.
Spectacles
If the fishmongers used wicker baskets earlier, they have switched to aluminium vessels to carry their wares today. Change, when it comes, should it not be always for the better and not just convenience?
Flute

A Shah Rukh fan in the Andes

Who cares about Thackerays? Who recognise them beyond the Indian shores?
IANS correspondent Viral Shah reports from La Paz in Bolivia that a cab driver there is a great fan of Shah Ruk Khan. Jorge Ramirez, who might be meeting an Indian for the first time in his life, said on seeing the correspondent,"From India?" "Shah Rukh Khan?" Before he ould answer even that, he popped in a CD in his cab's player that belted out "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham."
To be asked about Shah Rukh in the midst of the Andes at the elevation of over 12,000 feet was surprising enough. What added to it was Jorge's excitement at meeting someone who was from the same country and, therefore, by implication his favourite star's representative.
Without understanding a word of the song Jorge was occasionally humming along songs from Shah Ruk Khan's movies.
"I love Shah Rukh Khan and I have seen many of his movies," Ramirez told IANS. As if to prove his knowledge of the actor's body of work he mentioned "Karan Arjun", "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Chalte Chalte", "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham", "Kal Ho Na Ho" and "Main Hoon Na".
"I found 'Kal Ho Na Ho' very touching, with Shah Rukh Khan's heart problem. I remember 'Karan Arjun' was about two brothers and a mother. I also loved 'Main Hoon Na'," Ramirez said as he seemed to process the complicated names of movies.
Ramirez said his CDs and DVDs of Shah Rukh movies came from Lima, the capital of neighbouring Peru. When told about the actor's new movie "My Name Is Khan", which Ramirez did not know of, he promised to get it from Lima on his next trip there.
It is hard to gauge how popular Hindi movies are in this part of the world, but if a visit to a corporate office the next day is any indication, their popularity certainly stretches beyond Ramirez. An office worker was playing a Shah Rukh song on her PC!

What is the meaning of interlocutor?

Has the media misquoted him again? Shashi Tharoor is in the habit of shooting his mouth off quite often, rather tweeting too often about things that he felt is not quite right. And as always he has got somebody's goat. Sadly, the former Under-Secretary-General in the United Nations often forget that being Minister of State for External Affairs is a tough job. Even if he is right on some of the issues, there are too many who hates his guts for speaking his mind be it regarding travelling cattle class or on Nehru's policies.
See what his latest tweet is: see MEA website (http://mea.gov.in/) for official statement of denial of remarks wrongly attributed to me by some sections of media.
And there are many even from the ruling party baying for his blood.
In fact, it was a major achivement for the Stephanite from Palghat that, as an outsider, he won from Thiruvananthapuram in the very first election that he voted. After his illustrious career in the UN, few thought he would win from this Lok Sabha constituency. Many had betted on Neelalohithadasan Nadar of the BSP. Even though Tharoor was given the option of coming into the Union council through the Rajya Sabha route, he declined it seeking the people's mandate.
In the event, Tharoor won a thumping victory, defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair by a margin of around 100,000 votes (the biggest victory by any candidate in Thiruvananthapuram in over 30 years).
Is it the Minister's fault that the media would not understand him, a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Massachusetts?
One only hopes that this Minister would not trip over a controversy that would see his exit from the Ministry

Lay Off the Layoffs

I always supported the free market economy. That was until they started laying off employees in the West. they were killing off people's purchasing power that is key to a good economy. How stupid that could be.
The companies that were laying off employees made huge profits is the apt word and were paying some of the top CEOs dream salaries. This was going for many years. And, at the slightest hint of profits falling (not going in the red, yet) they began sacking employees. The IT companies thought it safe.
They made a few costly mistakes when they did that.
First, they lost good, loyal hands. Secondly some of them could possibly go to a competitor taking along with them secrets and possibly skills that a rival lacked. And imagine the money they had invested in the employee during their trainning. It was actually foolhardy to sack people, often destroying lifes, families, careers and future. Even as there are no figures on the actual number of former employees who ended up in the streets in the United States, there were quite a few.
Thirdly, they were extingushing their own life line by sacking trusted employees.
Now, an article in the Newsweek says what I all along believed.
Lay Off the Layoffs

Small plane crashes into office in Texas

A disgruntled software engineer, Joseph Andrew Stack crashed a small, single-engined private plane into a seven-storey office building in Austin, Texas on Thursday morning.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the building, which houses offices of the federal tax agency. Most employees have been evacuated but one person is unaccounted for, a spokesman for the Austin fire department said.
The building is next door to FBI field offices, but the bureau said there was no indication the crash was deliberate.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said that there was no reason to believe there is terrorist angle to the crash.
The official said they were also investigating the possibility that the crash might have been intentional act by the pilot.
A spokesman for the Austin fire department said the plane hit the building at 1556 GMT. He said two people had been taken to hospital, but it was not clear if they were seriously injured. The fire department has cut power to the area to help it tackle a blaze at the scene.

Four wives, 30 kids, another on way

Hats off to 80 year old Hussain Ali, for managing to live with four wives and 30 kids. One realy wonders how he has managed to feed so many mouths. Even with one wife and a kid life is quite a challenge for many in India.
Maybe being in a village in Assam would mean little demands on the man. But I am still wondering how he met the demands of four wives, who are living in separates huts in the same compound. And Ali, who reportedly looks frail and emaciated, says: "Don't judge someone by his weight or height. I am young at heart although I am not going to marry any more and am happy with my 30 children and another that one of my wives is expecting."
Ali lives in Mohkhuli village in Lakhimpur district, about 370 km east of Assam's main city Guwahati.
"It is all god's gift and wish that I have a large family of four wives and 30 children," Ali says.
But the octogenarian cannot remember the names of all his children but claims that he knows each one by their face.
"At times it was hard to maintain the family, but now with some of my sons working, they help us financially," Ali said.