In the last century, there lived a sultan who waged war tirelessly and finally made himself master of a largish desert.
"Surely I'm the greatest monarch in the world," he said to his vizier, one day. "What do the people say about me?"
"They're all praise for you, Your Excellency," said the vizier, "all except one man, Ali, a camel-driver by profession. He's always running you down."
"How dare he!" roared the Sultan. "Bring him here at once. I'll cut out his tongue!!"
When Ali was brought to the palace, he threw himself at the Sultan's feet.
"At last my dearest wish to see you has come true," he said, obsequiously. "I used to say nasty things about you so that I might be brought into your august presence."
"Why?" boomed the Sultan.
"So that I might recite the poem I have written in your honour, O Merciful One."
"Recite!"
Ali began to recite a poem his grandfather had taught him in his childhood. It proclaimed the greatness of Alexander, the Great but Ali deftly substituted the Sultan's name for Alexander's whenever the need arose.
The Sultan was flattered.
"Good poem," he said, when Ali had finished. "Describes me exactly. You deserve a reward. Choose from one of these magnificent saddles," and he indicated a pile of saddles, lying nearby.
Ali chose a donkey's saddle, and thanking the Sultan, bowed himself out of the palace.
The people from his village who were sure he would be executed, and were waiting for news about it, outside the gate, were astounded to see him.
"The Sultan let you go?" they asked, bemused.
"And why not?" he asked. "I recited a poem in his honour and he rewarded me with one of his best robes."
"The sultan gave you his robe!" They gasped. "Where is it?"
He showed them the donkey's saddle.
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Finnair crew's Bollywood jig goes viral
This is something an air passenger will least expect on a flight even of an Indian carrier -- a Bollywood jig by a foreign crew, all dressed in dazzling salwar kameez and traditional Indian attires!
That's the surprise Finnair had in store for its passengers bound for New Delhi from its headquarters Helsinki on the Repubic Day Jan 26 when some 50 crew members danced to the tune of the title song of Bollywood film Om Shanti Om directed and choreographed by Farah Khan.
"Finnair congratulates India on Republic Day January 26 -- clap your hands", read the message on the in-flight video screens, followed by a stream of crew frolicking in, as the song Deewangi Deewangi started playing.
The crew shook its leg, waved hands and gyrated in that all-familiar style that people are used to seeing in Indian films.
The sequence lasted some 2:30 minutes, with passengers -- somewhat surprised, but seen enjoying every moment of it -- also joining in by clapping their hands, taking pictures and some even tapping their own feet. According to Finnair officials, the jig inside the aircraft was choreographed by one of the airline's flight attendants, Helena Kaartinen.
"Really wonderful and an awesome performance to honour Indian Republic Day. We have to appreciate the universal love and friendship that Finnair extended," wrote Rajendran Krishnan on the airline's blog.
"Just enjoy! Don't look for a meaning in everything," added V. Iyer, obviously referring to some other bloggers who were not quite impressed.
The crew also had something to say: "It is kind of adorable when blonde flight attendants sing and dance to Bollywood tunes. The brand not only wins some brownie points by way of cultural bonding but also positions itself as a fun brand."
The video of the jig on YouTube has over four lakh hits.
India becomes 6th nation to join elite nuclear submarine club
NEW DELHI: India's long hunt for a nuclear submarine is finally over. But it will take the country another 10-12 months to get an operational nuclear weapon triad - the capability to fire nukes from land, air and sea.
India on Monday became the world's sixth country after the US, Russia, France, the UK and China to operate nuclear-powered submarines when the Russian Akula-II class submarine `K-152 Nerpa' was commissioned into Indian Navy as INS Chakra on a 10-year lease under a secretive almost $1-billion contract inked in 2004.
The 8,140-tonne INS Chakra, however, is not armed with long-range nuclear missiles, like the Russian SS-N-21 cruise missiles with an over 2,500-km range due to international non-proliferation treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime.
The Indian nuclear triad's elusive underwater leg will only come when the homegrown nuclear submarine, the over 6,000-tonne INS Arihant equipped to carry a dozen K-15 (750-km) or four K-4 (3,500-km) ballistic missiles, becomes fully operational by early-2013. India has the land and air legs in the shape of the Agni series of missiles and fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Defence ministry sources said INS Chakra, commissioned at the Primorye region in far south-eastern Russia in a ceremony attended by top Indian and Russian officials, would soon set sail for India. It will be based at Visakhapatnam, next to where INS Arihant is slated to begin extensive sea trials in February-March after the ongoing harbour-acceptance trials.
Though it may not add to India's nuclear deterrence posture, INS Chakra will give some much-needed muscle to India's depleting underwater combat arm, which has only 14 ageing conventional submarines to brandish. India is in talks for the lease of another Akula-II class submarine from Russia, say sources.
Nuclear-powered submarines are stealthy since they can operate underwater at long ranges for months unlike diesel-electric submarines that need to surface every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries and have limited endurance due to fuel requirements.
INS Chakra will also be armed with the 300-km range Klub-S land-attack cruise missiles, which India deploys on its Kilo-class conventional submarines as well as other missiles and advanced torpedoes.
"It will be deadly `hunter-killer' of enemy submarines and warships, as also provide effective protection to a fleet at sea. It can also provide cover to the nuclear-armed INS Arihant if required. With a dived speed of 30-35 knots, INS Chakra will be able to outrun any current Pakistani or Chinese submarine," said a source.
The Navy will also use INS Chakra to train its sailors in the complex art of operating nuclear submarines. The `Charlie-I' class nuclear submarine India had leased from Russia from 1988 to 1991 was also named INS Chakra but the expertise gained on it was steadily lost since the Navy did not operate any other nuclear submarine thereafter.
The new 10-year lease flows from the January 2004 agreement, with India funding a major part of Nerpa's construction at Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard after Russia stopped it midway due to a fund crunch. It was slated for induction much earlier but technical glitches delayed the process, which included a toxic gas leak in November 2008 that killed 20 Russian sailors.
Dark protest: Wikipedia blacks out ‘free knowledge’ for a day
WASHINGTON: Users of popular, everyday websites such as Google, Wikipedia, and Craig's List ran into a virtual wall on Wednesday after these influential online titans enforced a 24-hour blackout on their home pages to protest against Internet regulations proposed by the US Congress.
Wikipedia blacked out access to its widely-used, user-generated, free-source content. Inserting a search term took users briefly to the relevant page before it was replaced by a protest page with the headline "Imagine a world without free knowledge."
"For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia," it explained.
(Smart net jocks though figured out escape routes to circumvent the blackout; for instance, hitting the escape key just as a Wikipedia page was loading could get the user to the requested site.)
Google had a black patch across its familiar logo, saying, "Tell Congress: Please Don't Censor the Web".
Protesting against internet regulations proposed by the US Congress, Google, Wikipedia and Craig's List on Wednesday enforced a 24-hour blackout on their home pages.
Clicking on the redacted logo took one to a petition beneath the slogan, "End piracy, not liberty", in which Google outlined its opposition to the proposed legislation.
"Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business," Google explained. "There's no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of US jobs."
The online behemoths got their message across, although some giants such as Facebook and Twitter did not join the blackout despite their opposition to the proposed legislation. They said they did not want to affect everyday user experience.
Most companies with big online presence say the proposed Congressional legislation aimed at curbing online piracy, which has the support of numerous Hollywood entertainment companies, constitutes regulatory overreach that will kill innovation and censor free speech. Under the proposed law, the justice department and copyright holders would be empowered to demand that search engines delete links to sites deemed to be "dedicated" to copyright infringement. Ad networks and payment processors would be prohibited from doing business with the sites.
Protesting companies say the legislation would impose an unreasonable burden on websites to police user-generated content. Lawmakers piloting the bills scoffed at the protests. "This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts," said Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of SOPA. "Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy."
Other lawmakers took a more reasoned stance. "Perhaps if these companies would participate constructively, they could point to what in the actual legislation they contend threatens their websites, and then we could dispel their misunderstandings," said Senator Patrick Leahy.
"That is what debate on legislation is intended to do, to fine-tune the bill to confront the problem of stealing while protecting against unintended consequences."
South India shivers as mercury dips below normal
Southern states are in the grip of cold wave-like conditions with plummeting mercury rewriting records in parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
In Karnataka, Mysore recorded the coldest ever day in the month of January with the minimum temperature dipping to 8 degrees Celsius eclipsing the previous lowest of 8.7 degrees Celsius recorded on January 13 last year.
The country’s IT capital and Chennai also witnessed coldest days in two and one decades respectively as the region came under an intense cold spell this week with temperatures dipping below the normal levels.
The citizens of Bangalore woke up to the coldest day in January in 19 years as the mercury dipped to 12 degrees Celsius while Chennai recorded a minimum of 17 degrees Celsius against the previous lowest of 17.5 for the month of January registered in 2010.
It has, however, been a pleasant week for Chennaiites, used to the city’s hot-hotter-hottest climate, as they enjoyed an extended winter with early morning walkers and office-goers protecting themselves with warm outfits.
The relief came days after temperatures started rising after the severe cyclonic storm Thane brought sharp showers before crossing the Tamil Nadu coast on December 30.
The hilly Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu saw near zero temperature early this week, resulting in frost covering the landscape.
Unusual intense cold conditions also prevailed over Madurai and Coimbatore.
Regional Weather office here forecast similar cold conditions for the next two nights. "Cold wave conditions would prevail over parts of North interior Tamil Nadu, parts of Coastal Andhra Pradesh, parts of Rayalaseema and parts of interior Karnataka during next two nights," it said.
"The sky conditions would be partly cloudy. Minimum temperature would be around 18 degree Celsius," the weather office said adding the mercury was "markedly to largely below normal" in many parts of the southern states.
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Ingredients: Dosa shell:
1 1/2 cups rice
1/2 cup urad dal
salt to taste
Oil
Masala Filling:
2 large potatoes
1 medium onion (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon yellow split peas
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1-2 green chili
1 tablespoon oil
salt to taste
Method: Dosa shell
Separately soak rice and urad dal at least 6 hour or overnight in water.
Grind to paste.
Mix together, add salt with water to make batter.
Leave in room temperature overnight.
Mix onion and chilies to the thin batter.
Heat pan or griddle with little ghee or oil.
Spread the mix on pan in circular motion to make thin Dosa.
Cook on both the sides, if desired.
Masala Filling (Spicy Filling):
Heat oil. Add mustard seed, peas, onions and spice.
Fry for about 5 minutes on medium heat or/until onions are turned into golden brown
Add potatoes and mix and cook some more Serve
Add filling inside Dosa and roll. Serve hot with Chutney.
Contributed by Rupa
Ingredients:
