Matrimony packages for Pakistanis...

Could not pass up the opportunity to blog about this. The International section of a prominent and serious Indian news papers, The Hindu, had an article about how online Indian matrimony sites are putting together "packages" for our neighbours across the border in Pakistan.

It was also interesting to diverse set of Google ads all around the article. The users have three ads targeted at Muslim. One for Iyengars, if that's who you are looking for. Either way, you could also get on to a cruise to Europe. :)

Assam Road Trip 2008 Map

I created a custom map with the locations we visited as a part of the road trip in Assam. The locations indicated with the blue markers are places we visited. We are also using this map to add locations associated with the family in Assam. For example, Ishani's grandparents on her mom's side live in Moran (green marker).

• Guwahati
• Tezpur
• Kaziranga National Park
• Jorhat
• Sibsagar
  

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Fish for Lunch!

An advantage of living close to the ocean is that you get fresh fish closeby. We got some King Fish (locally known as Vajram) from the market and then recorded amma cooking fish curry and fry.

I put together a video of that below. The ingredients of the paste were not very clear in the video. I have listed them below:

• Paste for the fish curry - coconut, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, shallots and curry leaves
• Paste for the fish fry - pepper, fennel seeds, shallots, chilli powder.

Visit to a construction site

This morning we stopped by a home construction site as Mike and Bernie were interested in observing how buildings are constucted here. Mike was true to his reputation, climbing up the rickety ladder to check out the top of the building.

Here are a couple of pictures shot on my G1.

Pimli's Birthday

hmmm cake!

Three Too Many!

Q. How do you work on 4 computers at the same time? 

A. This is how!

Q. Why do you work on 4 computers at the same time? 

A. Well, because you can!

Arrival

Mike and Bernie arrived at Chennai last night. But you never truly arrive till you've had something to eat!

Its been 3 years - let us feast!

This is the first time we have been back home for our wedding anniversary. Is there ever a better excuse for stuffing our bellies with food. Here is a traditional Kerala lunch being laid out on banana leaves.

Corn Roasted Over a Flame

Walking by the Bay of Bengal, strong sea wind, great time for some corn roasted on a vivid flame and rubbed with lime juice and spices! 

An embedded Google Map for those who are curious where this place - Elliot's Beach - is located.

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Bird Feed - Freshly Served

Turns out that Ishani and I are not the only people who flew in to get some food from my mom. This crow has been a regular companion ouside my mom's kitchen (across a screen) since it was little. It follows my mom, jumping from one side of the window to the other as she moves around the kitchen. When it was little, the crow used to caw till my mom put some food out there. But now, it is well behaved and just waits the turn. 

My mom explains in the video that the crow does not like rice as much as the thick layer of milk fat (left behind when milk is boiled and cooled, as seen in video) and egg yolk. Also, she is visited by 4 pigeons later in the day for more food.