Shyam's Blog

Vegetable vendor (courtesy: web) "Ammaaavreeeee.., soppuuuuuuuuuuu" (Madam..., Do you need 'soppu'?) - was the usual question from the gate by our Soppamma. Before I move ahead with the story, what is 'soppu' called in English? Category of leaves which are edible is called 'soppu' in Kannada - coriander, spinach, mint, etc. This Soppamma is the lady who sold 'edible leaves' to us every week. Till date, I don't know her real name! She was so reliable that we used to wait for her and not buy these leaves elsewhere. She being poor, mom always treated her for any illness. Mom finally became Soppamma's family doctor after taking care of Soppamma's daughter during her pregnancy. I really appreciate the bonding that exists between such people in India. Customer-seller bonding grows much deeper than usually thought. This blog is to all those street sellers who used to sell us good stuff. Vegetable vendor: This was way back in 1988 when ou...

Remember "Pythagoras Theorem"? At midnight, my wife and I started recollecting the theorem and started proving it! Can you prove it without looking at google or doing any searches? For answers, look here

In India, there is a tradition of making curd at home. I was just thinking, can we determine the age of that culture? It may be that atleast one curd-culture in one of the homes could be as old as 20 years! It is always a usual task at homes everyday to put a pinch of old curd to new milk to allow for fermentation. Next day, that new milk would have been converted to new, wonderful, and delicious curd. Why am I talking about curd? That is because, my wife doesn't like the so called 'yogurt' available in stores. She prefers to make curd at home and she has continued doing that for a month or so now by adding that process into her cooking agenda daily. Few minutes ago, we finished our lunch with a wonderful 'seeme-badhnekai majjige huLi'. You can read recipe of 'majjige huLi' here .

There are so many things 'typical' of an Indian guy that it is just like creating an Abstract class "guy" and then adding more features to it! That was in Java sense. Guy who is Indian outside India will typically be a Software Engineer in his early 20s. He will think that landing outside India was his most important dream in life. With a typical Indian accent, he will manage his first few days trying to grasp the accent which he is not used to. Let me give this guy a name - Rahul? Ravi? no no. This is too much of real names! Let me keep, Babu - Something like "Babuji... " or "brother". Here starts the story of Babu who is 23 landed in US in the grand place of California. As I told already, his first dream of life is achieved. Now, more dreams on his way! His next plans will be to work hard and hard, and, roam around places with rented cars and sharing that with all his friends. Parents would have said, "Don't spend too much... save and co...