Prius and iPod

Prius and iPod--the two latest technology icons thats reshaping our daily life; and believe it or not I have both. However the problem started when I thought of hooking them together in an unceremonial knot. They just don't believe in peaceful coexistence.

The AM/FM 6-disc in-dash CD-changer (with nine speakers in seven locations) in Prius 2005 doesn't come with an auxiliary audio jack or MP3/WMA playback capability and that triggers the exploration to find tools/devices that can hook up the ubiquitous iPod to this hybrid car. The options are more than one (check them out) however as per the pundits the best is yet to come. So I believe the options now are to either a. wait and watch for the best or b. spend some good dough to keep these two in the same place.

Eazee Indian Cooking in USA: Chapter 3

Based on requests, we are going to cook some Daal. Before we embark on this great journey, let us understand what is daal. Daal is a kind of lentil and the soup made of this lentils/spilt pulsesis also called Daal in India. There are numerous types of Daals, you can find their variety at here. However, if you want to buy it, get it from an Indian grocery like this.

Chapter 3: Masoor Daal

Ingredients:
2 tea cup full of yellow Masoor Daal
1 Red Onion - finely chopped
2 spoons salt.
1 spoon turmeric, ground cumin
1 spoon of finely chopped garlic and green chilli
2 spoons garam masala
2 spoons ground coriander
2 spoons of tomato puree
1 big spoon of butter
2 large spoon fulls of any cooking oil (my preference Olive oil)
6 cups of water (approximate)
Process:
Wash the lentil seed (from now on daal) in fresh water and slow boil them in a deep pot (wok)
Add enough water to cover the daal. Boil the stuff till its mushy.
Fry all the spices with onions in olive oil in a deep skillet.
Add the fried and spiced onions and chillies to the mushy daal
Add some more water and slow boil the stuff with intermittent stirring.
Boil it till you a get a medium thick consistency ( lentils are soft and tender). Add the butter and boil it some more.
How to Serve and Eat:
Eat this daal with basmati rice.
Ahh!

Eazee Indian Cooking in USA: Chapter 2

Since the last one was Non-veg I thought of making this chapter vegetarian; I am just being lazee so the recipe stays the same as Chapter 1, where you replace the chicken with corn (frozen corn is available at Walmart) to make Alu-Chana Corn Mix.

The rest remains the same as Chapter 1.

Sorry if I disappointed you; I would make it up soon with chapter 3.
Happy cooking.

Eazee Indian Cooking in USA: Chapter 1

Indian cooking can be so easy if you know what to use and how to use; so I have taken upon myself the responsbility of satiating the appetite of young, single Indians (H1b holders or otherwise). The first item in our mission is Non Vegetarian (approx cooking time 25 minutes); however you can always avoide using the Chicken (that will save your cooking time too :)). And all the stuff is available at Walmart or at your big local grocery store.

Chapter 1: Alu-Chana Chicken Mix

Ingredients:
1 can of Diced Potato (Alu)
1 packet of fully cooked frozen Diced Chicken (you can use fresh chicken if you have time)
1 can of Chick Peas (Chana)
1 large Red onion (No white onions: they are not for Desis)
1 Green chilli
4 large spoon fulls of any cooking oil (my preference Olive oil)
2 large slices of tomato, 2 spoons of tomato puree, 1 spoon of minced garlic, 1 and half spoons of ginger paste.
Plus 1 spoon each of red chilli powder, garam/curry masala, turmeric powder,cumin seeds;
salt to taste.
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)
Process:
Cut the onions fine.Cut the green chilli into small pieces.
Fry the onions over red heat in a medium deep non stick skillet with olive oil (3 mins)
Add the cumin seeds and fry some more (2 mins)
Add the garlic, ginger and tomato puree.(1 min)
Add the diced potato. Add green chillies.(1 min)
Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, pinch of salt (1 min)
Add tomato slices (1 min)
Fry on low heat with the chicken pieces (5 mins)
Add all the Chick peas with the juice in the can slowly (2 mins)
Add a small cup of water if you need gravy (optional)
Add Garam Masala/ Curry Masala and cook thoroughly (6 mins)
How to Serve and Eat:
Serve medium hot in a elongated bowl with some coriander leaves for garnish.
Eat with Tortillas or Pita bread.

Let me know your feedback. Bon Appetit

Being 'Cool'

If being cool means having innovative desktops, then I am quite good at that. Below are few samples on my Windows XP desktop. So is this cool??

Technically E-Motional

This is the problem with my technical blog articles. No review comments on my last article. However if I write something about life, love, hate, women and other catchy topics the comments flow like confettis in parade. Are all my friends and foes technically challenged? Or may be they don't think me to be worth of writing any technical piece?! :(......anyways I think I am little bit okay with technology or atleast that whats my linkedin profile says. So guys before I write some more about rock climbing trips, or drink parties or office culture, please take time to write comments on my technical articles (technology pays for my bills.... )

Microsoft Motion Framework

Microsoft Motion Modeling Methodology (M*4) or Microsoft Motion Framework is a newest, coolest but patented knowledge released by Microsoft for its hi-value consulting arm (MCS). Check out this awesome 30 minutes presentation with the director of this program, Ric Merrifield. It is still in the incubation phase, but once you preview it you will know why Iam bullish about its popularity. Supply Chain Management. Customer Relationship Management. Financial Management all rolled into this one, a stunning methodology for building business solutions that can be more easily described, takes better advantage of existing investments in infrastructure, and use service-orientation. Way to Go.

Life and YOU

I took this great online quiz.....after a detailed questionnaire it spits out a more or less detail analysis of the salient points of your life....i scored average of 6.8 with very high percentage in body and finances, but unsurprisingly low on friends/family. H1B holders like me, who are away from their immediate family and have only colleagues to be called as friends, this is inevitable.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.8
Mind:	6.3
Body:	7.3
Spirit:	5.8
Friends/Family:	2.6
Love:	6.9
Finance:	7.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

They also have statistical data break up of your score. This data enables one to infer some interesting conclusions on our modern consumerist society. You can identify your strengths and weaknesses, and build on the strengths while trying to improve on the weak spots.

'Going' Wireless

Wireless is a method of communication that uses low-powered radio waves to transmit data between devices. The term refers to communication without cables or cords, chiefly using radio frequency and infrared waves. Present buzz in the media is about the future of wireless communication when anyone can communicate with anyone across the globe seamlessly without worrying about wires and connectivities. Nowadays there are softwares that let you access the Internet and send e-mail and instant messages with the omnipresent cell phones (or any device that supports wireless protocols). Jagadish C Bose and Marconi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless), the first successful scientists who transmitted radio waves wirelessly never would have dreamt of such an upsurge. However we are in for more wireless surprizes.
Surprize #1 MIT Media Lab students Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung have designed wireless-enabled wine glasses (actually, big tumblers) so couples can imbibe "together," even when they're geographically apart. When either person picks up a glass, red LEDs on their partner's glass glow gently. And when either puts the glass to their lips, sensors make white LEDs on the rim of the other glass glow brightly, so you can tell when your other half takes a sip (Read the details).
Surprize #2 The government of the world's most 'internet connected' country (if you dont know it, South Korea) is setting its goal to do the same with WiBro--wireless broadband--what it did with wired broadband in just 2 years. They are going the commercial high-speed wireless route in 2006 and hopefully it will fuel the fire in the belly for the most connected nation.
Surprize #3 And then there are companies who give the word wireless a literal perspective .....and force us to change the way we think about 'going' wireless...

India Vs Bharat

The Asian Tiger, India awakening...are few of the phrases I have read so many times in national and international business magazines and heard on prominent news channels . How many times I have listened to discussions on India's strengths of high-quality, low-cost human capital and her greatest constraints — a serious infrastructure deficiency and lagging foreign direct investment. Since the reforms of the early 1990s, India has progessed like anything on the macro-economic front and while India still suffers by comparison with China, it is in better shape with respect to its banking system, active capital markets, and a new generation of indigenous world-class companies and english speaking entrepreneurs and employees.
However what puzzles me is our complete ignorance of the concept of greater Bharat where everything is still the way it was. Illiteracy, poverty, starvation, malnutrition, lack of edible water are some of the lows that still persists amongst the highs of being a nuclear power nation with vast reserves of foreign currency. Dowry system, wife beating, killing of female foetus are signs of the fact that economic development and progress have failed to tame the feudal mentality of a greater chunk of the population; that IT and IT enabled services, that biogenetics and hi end research, that nukes and stealth submarines have not yet produced the dream country. We are 60 years into our independence, and theres definitely a long way to go to make Bharat happening.