Vanilla, the flavouring agent 29 September 2007

Vanilla, the flavouring agent….. 29 September 2007

Growing vanilla is a highly labour-intensive process. It has to be hand-pollinated (that is, manually). Vanilla flowers last just for a day or even less. Farmers have to keep on the lookout everyday for the flowers. Then they have to do the pollination using a pin or a toothpick to give birth to a bean.

The green beans have to be cured and this process takes about six months. About 5 kilogrammes of green beans yield just one kilogramme of cured beans. Finally, vanilla is extracted from the beans using a process, which is closely guarded secret.

Because of the difficulty in making vanilla from natural sources, humans have invented `synthetic’ vanilla. Synthetic vanilla is extracted, believe it or not, from either effulent waste of a paper miill or coal tar components in petrochemicals.

The synthetic variety is cheaper than the natural type. Both these contain the same chemical `vanillin’ which gives the flavour of vanilla.

When you eat a vanilla ice cream next time, keep wondering whether it contains the natural flavour or the synthetic one!

Gopal

…..keyingin is better than idling

China-India matters…. 28 September 2007

India is a democratic country with freedom of speech, and dissent. `But China is a state-controlled nation with no freedom of speech, and dissent’, we boast.

Read the following statement put out by an official agency in China and decide: China has witnessed 87 000 (eighty seven thousand) protests, riots, and other mass incidents in almost every province. This probably is the biggest surge of rural violence since the cultural revolution. What are the simple lessons to be learnt from this?:

• Facts are different from perceptions.
• However long the arm of the government be, people will speak loudly despite the consequences they might have to face.
• As in India, so in China the urban-rural divide is growing; rich are becoming richer and the poor, poorer; the haves are not showing any concern towards the have-nots. The mindset of the urbanites has to change, sooner rather than later.
• One has to very quickly review the definition of sustainable development, whether it is Nandigram, Singur, or Sethusamudram. Who is going to bell the cat?

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

If India had lost the T20… 26 Sepetmber 2007

(special edition…longer than 200 words)

If India had lost the Twenty20 World Cup cricket….

Lalu Yadav: Pahle se Rabri aur hum kah raha hoon (Rabri Devi and I have been saying from the beginning) that cricket should be under relbays (railways), and not under minstry af khetibadi (agriculture); I mean, wohi, Sharad Pawar. See na, I turn around relbays; harvard bhi hum se seek raha hai na !

L K Advani: In 1992 we demolished the Babri Masjid. After that no constructive thing has happened in India. Now you can see in cricket as well. At least now you learn: Take four boys each from RSS, Bajrangdal, VHP, and Shivsena and train them in Nagpur (han baba, in RSS headquarters) and see the result in future.

Amar Singh: Congress is sure to face defeat soon. Sharad Pawar made an inexperienced boy Dhoni as the cricket captain; you can see the result. Now we are happy that Rahul baba has become the general secretary of Congress.

Acharya Ramdev: When I was in Durban, I sent an invitation to the Indian team to particiapte in the yoga shibir (camp). BCCI did not sanction ten thousand rupees for that. If the boys had learnt kapaal baati for a week, they would have defeated the world. I think it is all because of the influence of Brinda Karat on the government.

Faceless joint communique of left parties released simulataneously from CPM offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkatta, New Dellhi, and Beijing: Our position has all along been clear. This strategic alliance with the US must end. Nothing in India must be operationalised, everything should wait for six months. We will withdraw support to the government, if Manmohan singh wants it that way. (Note: this communique is issued without change everyday for any question posed to the CPM).

Mohandas Pai (Infosys): As part of our corporate social responsibility, we are prepared to train for free 100 bright engineers (who are otherwise unfit for coding or patching) at our Global Centre at Mysore. Narayna Murthy had already made this offer when he made that famous statement about singing of national anthem in the presence of the then-president Abdul Kalaam.

NASSCOM (Karnik and Lakshmi Narayan): We have always been crying hoarse about the poor infrastructure in the country, insufficient bandwith, lack of world-class airports, coaching being not upto the standard in our engineering colleges, the rising rupee etc. We want all interference from the government to stop. We are considering getting one thousand engineers during this quarter from the banks of the Mekong river in China. We can lend 16 chinks to the BCCI to develop the Twenty20 cricket team.

Anonymous chief excecutive of a BPO from the bottom of a pothole located at the famous Hosur Road in the silican valley of India, Bangalore: Outsourcing is the only option. We will train the boys and girls to speak good English; good English is the only answer to win in the world; we will arrange for free pickup and drop at their homes or paying guest accommodation. Names must be changed. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for example, should become Murry John.

Thanks for your patience.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Snippets (continued) …… 27 September 2007

I didn’t know till a few days ago that as many as 7 000 (seven thousand) languages are spoken in the world. According to an expert in this field, half of these languages will disappear before the end of this century. The ones that will become extinct are the ones spoken by the native people (also known as indigenous people). With that will also vanish local knowledge pertaiing to environment, mathematics, and time. Don’t you think that this is sad ?

What is Green GDP? Whether we clearly understand what GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is, we know for sure that it is a measure of prosperity of a nation. For example, a country having a GDP of 10 percent is more prosperous than a country with GDP of 7 percent. Green GDP is a sensible extension of GDP. Green GDP is calculated by deducting the cost of depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation from the traditional GDP. Its time that we ask our governments to provide us the figures of Green GDP.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Reality show of Realty… 25 September 2007

An advertisement that appeared in the Deccan Herald newspaper dated 22 September 2007 is reproduced below:

Your options:

1. Fantastic proposal; Book at once.
2. Wait for six months; you will get a still-better offer.
3. Don’t book; there is some catch in it.

SMS your option to

- Allah at mobile number 00000

- Jesus at 11111

- Raama or Krishnaa at 22222

If you are in Australia prefix 0

Britain 1

Timbaktoo 2

Lines open 24 hours; will be kept open till

- the validity of currency, if you are in a pre-paid mode

- you stop paying your mobile bills, if you are in post-paid mode

This offer is subject to market risks; even if you read the offer document carefully, you will never be able to understand our fine print.

God Bless !!!

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Special Edition 24 September 2007

India should win today.

Left to SONY Television, they would decide the winner on the basis of an SMS poll. With Indian population being much higher than that of Pakistan, India will hands down (Let me make a slight change in the phrase – let’s call it fingers down; afterall one uses fingers to send SMSs); Mobile service providers like Airtel, BSNL, Spice, and now Vodofone will laugh away to the bank. SONY’s ratings will go up. They will air 30 minutes of commercials and 20 minutes of dance by `well-dressed’ pom-pom holding cheergirls in 60 minutes. Advertising and related companies will hire a BPO to count the currency notes that have earned. More BPOs will open up. Good for all. A Win-Win situation. Good for the country. People will not have to see or hear for atleast one hour about the nuclear deal, Prakash Karat, Karunanidhi, Ram and wicked swamijis…

Cheers

Gopal

Snippets (continued) …… 24 September 2007

Breaking News: Prashant Tamang is the Indian Idol (Singing Sensation)

The people of Karnataka and Kerala are predominantly rice-eaters. Right? Sorry, the statistics pertaining to people, who are not covered by the public distribution system (the so-called ration shops), show otherwise. 74 percent of rural and 81 percent of urban population in Karantaka consume wheat, not rice. The corresponding figures for Kerala are 60 and 72. For Tamizh Nadu the figures are: 29 and 61. Urban Tamizh Nadu consumes more wheat than rice !!! (Penumbrans of Coimbatore origin, please make a special note !)

Eighty percent of the world’s poorest nations have suffered a major war in the last 15 years. Because of this, the poor nations are never able to develop. For the governments of the western world, war is a big business; they will never allow peace to reign in the world. Since the United Nations is a toothless body, mass of people of the world must unite together and wage an `emotional’ war against war. The best god-given tools are the internet and the world wide web; use them to forge a strong peace brigade.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Snippets…… 23 September 2007

India has 22 central-government-controlled universities and more than 280 state-government-controlled universities. Experts have suggested that India must have at least 1 500 universities by year 2015 to be a successful nation.

Any one (even if she or he is an Indian citizen) wanting to enter the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh must possess an `inland land permit’. No outsider can purchase land in Arunachal Pradesh.

What do you think of Doctor Akash Rose? Decide yourself after reading this. He

· is an MBBS from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,

· has a diploma in tropical pulmonology,

· has a scholarship in physiology,

· has certificates in photoshop master and photography,

· is a consultant in

o robotics, electronics, and information technology,

o retail design,

o advertising,

o biomedical engineering,

· is the director of Academics at the National Institute of Creative Communication.

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Some thoughts…… 22 September 2007

Better be a sincere agnostic or a sincere atheist, rather than be a fake believer! (An agnostic is one who thinks that existence of god is unknown; an atheist is one who affirms that god just does not exist).

Don’t at all be impressed by anything that only money can buy.

To succeed (in an ethical manner), more important than education are two qualities that a person must possess:

o A photographic memory

o Excellent gift of the gab

[(some of the people with the above qualities whom I have listened to or met are: Dr. M. S. Swaminathan (agricultural scientist), Professor Roddam Narasimha (former director of National Aerospace Laboratories), Shri M. N. Venkatachaliah (former chief justice of India), Shri Soundararajan (former chairman of Scooters India)]

Say once, twice, thrice…..indifference? or no compliance? I tell myself: Gopal, just keep shut and let things role by.

If you do not know the subject, better keep shut; don’t make an exhibition of your ignorance.

Let the experts do their job. Don’t poke your nose; it is dirty!

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling

Indian Patriot; characteristics of….…… 20 September 2007

Recently I read an article in the Deccan Herald newspaper published from Bangalore. It details the characteristics of an Indian Patriot. A gist of it is given below:

• has a sense of belonging for the country
• abides by the rules and regulations of the country
• speaks positively about India wherever she or he is, despite knowing that India lacks in many areas
• who tries to improve the position of India in her or his own small way
• puts in just a little effort – economically, socially, and intellectually, for example
  • teaches the child of a maid servant
  • works towards improving the economy of the country
  • opts and buys Indian products, all other features being equal
  • conserves natural resources, electricity, water and fuel
  • shows tolerance towards other religions and cultures
  • promotes Indian handicrafts, embroidery etc.
  • learns more about the rights and duties of an Indian citizen and exercises them
  • shows compassion towards the weaker and disadvantaged sections of the society
  • shows respect towards the environment

Gopal

…..keying in is better than idling