Jack fruit is one of the seasonal products in Kerala and it is available in different varieties. Jack fruit jam or Chakka varatti is one of the sweet delicacies of Kerala. Last week, i received a jack fruit from Kerala through courier. Since it is seasonal, it is always preserved in the form of jam called Chakka varatti to make it available through out the year. Usually, preparing this dish is time consuming as well as strenuous. Once it is ripen, it can be eaten as a fruit or preserved to prepare dishes like Chakka Pradhaman, Kumbilappam, Ela Adai, etc.. When it is tender, it can be used to prepare chips and variety of side dishes like chakka erissery, chakka aviyal, chakka thoran, chakka puzhukku, etc..

Usually Chakka varatti is prepared in bronze or copper vessel called Uruli. It should be cooked over simmer for long time, at least 4-5 hrs.

Ingredients:

• Chakka – 1/2 kg (chopped after removing seeds)
• Jaggery – 300 gm to 500 gms (according to the sweet requirement)
• Ghee – 200 gms
• Dried Ginger – 1” piece, powdered
• Cardamom – 10 no’s, powdered after removing the skin
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp (powdered, Optional)

Method of Preparation:

• Steam chopped jack fruit, grind to a paste once it is cooled to the room temperature
• Dissolve jaggery in a cup of water, strain to remove the dirt, if there is anything
• Boil jack fruit pulp along with jaggery and ghee over simmer, keep on stirring the paste until it form a ball
• Stir in powdered dried ginger, cardamom and cumin (optional) and remove from stove and let it cool to the room temperature
• Bottle it  and can be preserved for more than a year.

The most expensive political felicitation India ever witnessed in her political history. If any one is asked, Who can empty the public exchequer? The reply will be it is none other than Utter Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati. What are the other political gimmicks to be witnessed by the Indians  during her chief minister ship? Read more about her political extravaganza, click http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mayas-garland-worth-Rs-5-crore/articleshow/5688323.cms

Ugadi celebration is going on in full swing in Bangalore. Houses are decorated with mango leaves and drawn rangoli in front of the houses. Some houses have rangoli and topped with a pot which contains mango leaves and coconut. Sweet stalls are having special delicacies for the Ugadi festival. Most of the sweets have the ingredients of coconut and jaggery.

Ugadi is celebrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. While it is called Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, in Maharashtra it is known as "Gudipadava".

On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath after which they decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves. The significance of tying mango leaves relates to a legend. It is said that Kartik (or Subramanya or Kumara Swamy) and Ganesha, the two sons of Lord Siva and Parvathi were very fond of mangoes. As the legend goes Kartik exhorted people to tie green mango leaves to the doorway signifying a good crop and general well-being.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Ugadi.

The tech-driven age demands parents to create a virtual identity for our tiny tots and train them to use the social media safely but the ill effects of this rising trend cannot be ignored all together. In present day nuclear set up, parents often expose their kids to the virtual world at a very young age. Earlier children were hooked on to TV and now it is networking sites like Face book and My Space. One of my daughter’s friends is  now addicted to Farmville game and which can be played only if you join the Face book.

For many parents, including we, it’s a matter of pride knowing that their little ones are in sync with the e-world. A desire to archive for our daughter’s childhood memories, prompted my husband to design a blog for our daughter, ichu, and i started posting ichu’s photos, videos, apart from jotting down her interests, favourite foods, special events and some memorable episodes of her life and she enjoys sharing her photos with the rest of the world. Now she is 6 years old and never posted any blog herself yet. Now i am her mouthpiece.

These days, she chats online with her dad using Skype, browsing www.starfall.com , etc.. I am really scared because she is getting hooked on to something which is not real. These days how many kids say they love kickboxing, playing football, or cricket with their dads. The world is changing so is the younger generation. They cannot imagine a world without internet.

Experts say that too early an exposure to the internet can blunt a child’s social and emotional intelligence. On the other hand, parents sit satisfied thinking that their kids are by no means technologically deprived and ignoring the long-term implication of indulging in such behaviour. My daughter prefer to use internet or watch TV rather than playing with her friends. But i am managing somehow to make her to gel with her friends in the evenings rather than spending time in front of the TV or internet.

Even though i am scared, i want my kid to know how to use social media safely under my supervision. This is part of my job, just like i train her to cross the busy road safely.

You can now view all the IPL matches live on the move. This is good for people who need

Check out the IPL Channel on YouTube. The matches will be telecasted live on Set Max and this time its with some difference. You would be able to experience HD quality, Dolby audio and size of the screen with be 16:9 ratio.

Sun Direct has joined hands with Set Max, who will provide the HD feed of the DLF IPL matches from March 12, 2010 onwards. This telecast feed will not carry any advertisements giving viewers uninterrupted match experience. Combined with Dolby Digital for the audio and sound with 16:9 ratio this HD telecast will deliver in-stadia like experience to viewers.

Sun Direct is the only HD TV player in India and the second biggest DTH service provider in India.

Every night i have to read bed time stories for my daughter and in most of the stories the prince and the princess fall in love, at the end they marry and live happily ever after. Immediately my daughter says, like amma and kicho ( the name she has given to her dad when she was just 1+ years old). I really feel very proud at that moment because she is looking at the relationship through us only.

If you look at the present women, their attitude towards marriage is changed. For them, men, money and motherhood are easily attainable and for many of them marriage is not of any priority. If you go through the history of marriage, women would mate with several men and have children with all or any of them and the men who never new which child was theirs. I heard the same story even in my great grandmother’s family. So the men, the church, and the law got together and formed the institution of marriage.

In the present scenario, women are more career oriented .They don’t want to compromise their freedom and career for their husbands or for their in-laws.  But some women are smarter and they have their share of relationships. Some prefer live-in relation rather than marriage since no commitment is involved. Many  women don’t have the so called divine maternal instinct and if they have, they  prefer to be either a single mum by choice or don’t want to be biological mothers.

My doubt is whether every woman should enter the category of married?

The question is towards the educated, clear thinking, sensible professional women who prefer to be unmarried. Many don’t believe in the institution of marriage or they don’t want to go through a wedding or don’t want a marriage certificate to prove that they are committed to someone. For some women, through marriage they are eyeing on the legal and economic benefits. For some, they have a feeling that they never seen someone, they really couldn’t do without or compatible with their way of thinking.

There are situations, where the society is creating stories about an unmarried single women saying that you are hiding some dark secret in your life and that is you are not getting married. Another big issue behind you will be your sexuality. If you remain single choice, men will doubt about your sexuality because they cannot believe a woman is single by choice.

In the present day life, stability, security and other traditional reasons for which a women might want to get married no longer apply. If you are not married, you can do what you want to do or the way you want. Now a days, women don’t want to give much importance to sex and if asked, they will face you with a return question, what do sex and marriage have to do with each other?

When I was working in Maldives, one of colleges was a chronic spinster. I asked her why she never got married and she replied since her mother was depending on her, she never thought of getting married. Now she retired and settled in Srilanka, staying with her niece. Even though her decision to be single, i have seen her irritated most of the time. When asked about the loneliness, she simply said, she has seen the good and bad marriages and in both cases loneliness stares both partners equally and very few have compatibility in communication.

By considering many of the above discussed factors, many don’t believe in usual ending that they married and lived happily ever after but  happily never after…………

Related Articles

• Pros and Cons of Love Marriage and Arranged Marriages
• Interfaith Marriages

One of my favourites and it is very easy to prepare if the squid (squid thoran)  is prepared before hand.

One day my daughter asked me to prepare chicken lollipop and it was the first time i was hearing about that dish. On the next day, i saw the preparation in one of the TV channels and i decided to prepare it for my kid. I went many supermarkets here in Bangalore  to get the chicken lollipop pieces and search ended up at More. Supermarket. It was packed in 200 gms and had 11 pieces. It is a very tasty item and can be used as a starter. Try this, you will enjoy it definitely.

Ingredients:

• Chicken lollipop – 200 gms, 10-11 no’s
• Garlic paste – 1 tbsp (made of 10-15 no’s
• Kashmiri chilly – 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Lime juice – 2 tbsp
• Oil to fry

Ingredients for batter:

• Corn flour – 2 tbsp
• Egg – 1
• Salt to taste

Coating:

• White sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
• Black sesame seeds – 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

• Marinate chicken pieces with garlic paste, kashmiri chilly, limejuice and salt to taste, keep aside for 1/2 hr
• Prepare the batter
• Heat oil in a pan
• Dip chicken pieces in the batter and roll out in the sesame seeds and fry in oil
• Serve it with tea or any soft drinks or with white rice.

It is an ideal snack for the kids. While serving, wrap the bone with aluminum foil. It looks great as well as neat and attractive.

The Women’s Reservation Bill is going to be law in India on March 8, on International Women’s Day after a historic fight for 13 years in Parliament, which reserves 33 percent seats for women in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The UPA government will be introducing the bill to the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The biggest hurdle faced by the bill till date was the demand for quota within quota, which means within the 33% reservation, issue of sub-quota for OBC, SC and ST categories.

The empowerment of women has been one of the greatest social changes of our times and Indian women have proven themselves in every sphere of life and they are no longer a weaker sex and sometimes soon women won’t need a special day to be dedicated to them as women’s day and every day of the year will be a women’s day as much as it is a man’s day.

We are belonging to a country where the first person of the country is a lady (President Pratibha Patil) and we had a lady Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) who still remains the country’s toughest leader ever  in the history of Indian politics. The role of woman has been changed in every aspect of their life from bread bakers to bread earners, meal makers to deal makers, etc..  and they are proving  that the world is not enough for them. Women have won a number of big victories and if the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed, it could change the face of politics and gender discourse.

Even as the Indian women break new ground for success and moving ahead, the threat of violence remains a constant. By passing the Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha tomorrow, we women get a reservation but does it mean that we are free and move ahead without the shadow of fear.  Are we going to be treated equally in our male dominated society?

Lets wait and see!

Day before yesterday i received a call from the staff of country vacations saying that i am the lucky winner of a lucky draw and come and collect three gifts (one kitchen set of 6 glass bowls, a gift voucher worth Rs.25,000/- which can be utilized for getting the accommodation and pass to country club for one day) and come with my husband. Since my husband is abroad, i went with my neighboring couples to get the gifts and later realized that  it was not at all necessary to go with the spouse. It was held at the basement of the Country Club, in outer ring road, Bangalore. The staff said we have to attend a presentation for 1 hour and later the gifts can be collected. The so called presentation was a trap and i realized it only after reaching home. It is about country vacations and through that gaining a Country club life time membership. I fancied about the idea of getting a membership.

I spoke with my husband regarding this and he was not interested in this since the beginning. I thought of convincing him later on and made a small token of payment to block the offer. They offered me a set of lemonade as a compliment. After reading others experiences, i am bit confused.

I read the bitter experiences of of others in the web http://www.consumercourt.in/travel-agent/5733-country-vacation-cheated-us.html and realized that it is not wise to go ahead with the idea of joining the concept of country vacation. So be careful when you receive a call like this.

Wishing you all the best for not getting into the trap of Country Club’s Country Vacations.