यह मेरी पहली हिन्दी ब्लोग पोस्ट है। मुझे नही पता कि अभी क्या लिखना चाहिऐ , परन्तु यह तो तय है कि यह मेरी आखरी हिन्दी पोस्ट नही होगी।
धन्यवाद।

What does India really need?

This question has been haunting me since quite a long time now. If you consider the potentials of the people, the vast geographic diversities, the inherent industrial opportunities, and above all, the historical inheritence, you see, no other country can rival India. But still something has been lacking in true essence.
I can still wish, there was a certain individual like Mohandas Gandhi, who could just get the Indians on their feet by a statement. I do know that he was just a mortal, and had committed quite serious errors, the price of which Indians are still paying and probably keep on paying for atleast half the next century.
Then suddenly one person comes to my thought, who can be just as charismatic and influential as he could be, and again he hails from the same land of Gujarat. No bonus marks for guessing his name, and that is Narendra Modi.
Just like Gandhi, he might have had an errorneous past, but then he does command a significant influence over the state of Gujarat, neighbour states, and to an extent even in the Parliament of India.
Talking about what India needs, I strongly believe India needs a leader like Modi, who with his eloquent speech, and charismatic personality, deliver what the upcoming generation wants. The next gen does not really care about hinduism or islam or christianity, but they want an environment in which they have opportunities and resources to prove their mattle. I remember those congress days when every election saw the motto of "Garibi Hatao", but no one dared to deliver.
India does not need reservations, or free seats, or bonuses; but what the people need is a true implementation of the natural law of selection. If you have the intuition, or calibre to succeed, there should be no bonds to prevent you from doing so. Reservation is one of those swords, which can cut by both the sides. Just because the upper cast in past did not leave a way for the others to prosper, it would be unfair to do the same to their present generation.
The ideal solution to the problem would be to encourage more educational institutions to open allowing access to more children. Instead making more victims, why not create more opportunities. Just because a section of society cannot get into main stream, why not broaden the horizon and expand the main stream to include those.
But again, as being known as a developing nation since past few decades, even though India has maintained one of the highest GDP ratio, throughout the world, we the Indians are used to the politics being played on us. But while my visit back home, I saw a completely different picture as compared to what the western media depicts.
I saw express highways, which lets you zoom at a speed of 80kmph, and cuts down the time and fuel consumption. I saw the new road development in Vadodara, and Ahmedabad, two of the biggest cities in Gujarat; and the efficiency of the beurocratic world was amazing. The banks have shed their usual lethargic image, and you can see everyone really busy, in the work and not over the phone! The railway station have become clean, safe, and more approachable.
This is just the tale of two cities, and I am confident, that the slogan given by the Gujarat government "Swarnim Gujarat" would prove what a person, with the support of his fellow citizens, can achieve.
But as Robert Frost said in the last century, Narendra Modi (can be applied to everyone to be honest), should believe in the following words:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep
and miles to go before I sleep.

Instant Icecreams for kids!

The following is the recipe to make a sugary caramel syrup. It takes about 20 minutes to make this, or alternatively you can buy this from any super store. Whenever you need to serve soft ice-cream, get the whipped cream out of the fridge, put it in a cup, and decorate with the caramel syrup. You can ask the kids to either mix it thoroughly or just have it like strawberry sauce on vanilla ice-cream.
This has been my one of the favourite dessert, especially at those times, when you dont have anything around apart from a lump of jaggery or a spoon full of sugar.

Caramel Syrup:
Ingredients:

Large Stainless Steel Pot

2 Cups White Sugar

2 Cups Water

1/4 cup Corn Syrup

1/4 cup Maltose (Optional)

1/4 cup light caramel (Optional)
Steps:

1. In a pot, combine 2 cups sugar, 1 cup of water, and 1/4 cup Corn
Syrup. Reserve the other cup of water for later. Turn your stove to
“medium high.”

2. Bring the mixture to boil and place a lid on the pot for two
minutes. This will allow the steam created during boiling to wash the
sides of the pot.

3. Remove the lid and continue cooking until the sugar turns dark
amber / red. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes. When the sugar goes
from a golden colour to dark amber/red, it will happen very quickly, so
don’t leave the pot unattended.

4. If you notice that areas of sugar are turning darker quicker than
others, this means your heat is uneven underneath the pot. You can
rotate the pot to balance this out, or very gently swirl the sugar.

5. As the temperature approaches 195°C (about 400°F) have the lid to
the pot, two oven mitts and the reserved cup of water ready.

6. Once sugar has reached the temperature, or proper colour, remove
the pot from the heat and add the cup of water quickly and place the
lid over the pot. CAUTION! Adding water to hot sugar results in a lot
of sputtering and steaming. The steam and flying blobs of hot sugar can
burn, so use your oven mitts and stay back once you add the water.

7. Once the volcanic reaction has subsided, you can start stirring
the mixture. This will help dissolve the clumps of undissolved caramel.
The temperature of this liquid is still very hot!

8. Upon cooling to about 65°C you can add 1/4 cup of Maltose Sugar
(Maltodextrin) and stir until dissolved. This will help give the syrup
a thicker consistency the results in a silky texture when added to
drink. You can get maltodextrin at any home brew or wine making shop.

9. The light caramel syrup can be added to give your dark caramel a
sweeter taste. If the caramel has been over cooked, this will help
balance out the flavour. If you find the dark caramel syrup to have an
adequate level of sweetness you can skip it. Light caramel syrup is
made the same way as the dark version but you only cook it until it’s a
medium amber colour.

10. Store caramel syrup in glass bottle

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Unfair rules from London Underground (tfl)

In the heat of mass promoting the oyster cards, Tfl forgot to iron out some serious issues which does hit them quite hard financially. One such issue is allowing to terminate the journey with negative balance on your oyster card.
I have seen lots of visitors in London who do not pay for the last journey in the city, and leave the city with negative balance on the card. I agree, that trains do not allow to commence a new journey, but if that is the last journey who cares. Same is true for monthly oyster cards. If you buy a monthly pass, you get an oyster for free, that is without any security deposit! So every month you accumulate oysters, and then have free journeys throughout london for once!
These are the losses if tfl can override, will save quite a handsome amount of money, and the honest commuters might be spared a fare rise next year! Because I am a software developer, I can say, it wont be that difficult to change the current system, to include this minor changes!

Mayor Ken, are you listening?

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