1 Misal, 12 Pav

I was reading and watching some You Tube videos about Misal Pav recently. I was surprised to find out that this item is more than 150 years old.

Where did it start is not clear but most folks think Nashik is the origin. In older days, folks used to make "bhakri", a form of bread made of Jawar/Bajra and used to take misal, which used to provide a good source of protein as it was made of moong dal "usal". For taste, they started putting sev, mixture, onion, lemon etc to that. Some misal also has potato as source of carb.

Pav was not originally associated with misal. Misal in itself was almost a complete meal but folks wanted something with it, so it bhakri they made was not sufficient, then they started adding pav to it.

In Nashik, one can take unlimited tari with misal and so, the idea was to keep taking tari, and keep eating pav with that, thats where the "1 misal, 12 pav" came to being.

Another important consideration with misal is that it has to be "zanzanat", means after eating it, people should start perspiring because of spiciness. There is of course taste of the "usal" in there somewhere, but the typically misal is heavily spiked with mirch, spice. One can round off the taste with yogurt and lemon. That helps for a few not so bold ones.

Misal par has overtime become a staple food for folks in Maharashtra. Other than Nashik, misal pav is available and famous in Nagpur, Kolhapur, Mumbai/Thane and Pune also.

So, whether you are the bold one or not so bold one, go and eat misal-pav as it is a healthy, hearty food.

Enjoy !!!

Skipping 1000 reps in 12 mins

This is amazing feeling. Never thought that I would be able to reach this point. But I can actually do a 1000 reps of skipping in around 12 mins :).

And it feels great !!!

तपस्या

मैं विश्मामित्र की तरह तपस्या करता रहा, तिल तिल गलता रहा,दिन में रात में सर्दी में बरसात में, तपस्या चलती रही,
मन में आश्वस्त था, फल गई तो फल गई, वरना मेनका तो कहीं नहीं गई।

तपस्या करते करते बाल बढ़ गए, दाढ़ी बढ़ गई, जटा में जोएं पड़ गई।मन घबराया, मेनका इस रूप में देखेगी तो क्या सोचेगी,
मन को समझाया, अरे सोचेगी क्या, उसने बहोतोन की तपस्या भंग की है वोह खूब खेली खायी है,
उसे पता है की यह जटा जूट दाढ़ी मूंछ ही तो हम ऋषि मुनियों की कमाई है।

तभी कहीं पायल की झंकार सुनाई दी, वातावरण में मस्ती छायी,मैंने कहा अब के मेनका आई।

दूर कहीं बासुरी के स्वर सुनाई पड़े, मेरे कान हुए खड़े,
मैंने कहा यह क्या गड़बड़ घोटाला है,
दाल में ज़रूर कुछ काला है, आँखें खोली तो झटका लगा,
सामने खड़े थे साक्षात् भगवन कृष्ण कनाही।

बोले वत्स, तेरी तपस्या पूर्ण हुई बधाई, तू भवसागर तर गया,
मैंने कहा की मर गया, यह क्या हो गया, यह तो भगवान् जी आ गए,
मैंने डरते हुए पूंचा भगवन, वो मेनका वाला सीन कहाँ छूट गया।

प्रभु बोले, जब भी तेरे जैसा कोई भला आदमी तपस्या करने लगता है,
तो दुष्ट इन्द्र उसकी तपस्या भंग करने के लिए मेनका इनका भेजता है,
मेनका करती तप का हरण, उससे पहले मैंने कर लिया तेरा वरण।

मैंने कहा बॉस यह आपने आछा नही किया,
बॉस यह आपने अच्छा नही किया, पता नही किस जनम, का बदला लिया।अब भगवान् हैरान, बोले अगर तुझे मेरी चाह नही थी, तो तू तपस्या करने क्यों लगा?
मैंने कहा मेरे साथ हुआ है दगा.. 

मेरे साथ हुआ है दगा, बात यौं निकली की मैंने TV पे विश्वामित्र की कहानी देखी, 
उसमे मेनका वाला एपिसोड मुझे भा गया, और इस चक्कर में यहाँ आ गया |
... . 
... 
... 

I think the poem is by Shri Om Prakash 'Aditya'. I dont remember the rest and cannot find it anywhere on web. Will complete it if i remenber more.

Swimming...

I have been swimming quite consistently in the past few days. Around 400-600 m per day. And that takes me like 40 mins to do that.

Michael Phelps' world records is at 4:03 secs for 400 m. I am just 10 times slower.

But thats not important, what is important is that I am swimming everyday for the past 4-5 days. 400-600 m.

Bahubali - Beginning to the Conclusion

The most awaited films ever I guess - Bahubali - The conclusion. 

The chime of "Why did Kattappa kill Bahubali?". It's quite all-pervasive across India. People have taken day off from office to watch this movie. And I am like WOW. 

I think it's so age related. When I was younger, I have stood in line for Amitabh Bachchan movies. Specifically remember Hum when I stood in line since mid night to get the 6 AM show tickets. 

The question is, will I watch the movie? Absolutely, I will. Not he first day first show, but will watch. 

What do I expect from the movie? Well, the same as you expect from such a movie. No story, muscular men, half naked women, non-existent acting. And with the great graphics this movie promises, this already takes it in exceeds expectations category for me. 

So, why did Kattapaa kill Bahubali? How does it matter? And who the hell cares...

And, the Cube...

Well, yes I started cubing again. Don't think that's a word, this "cubing". But why not. :)

Got my Moyu AoLong and tried to solve it. It does take some time when you are not used to it. My that I was ever the fastest, but used to be able to do under a minute. Now it's more 3 minutes.

Anyways, happy that I am doing it again. Speed will come :). 

Enjoy "cubing". 

Motivation

"I want to do today, what you don't want to do. So that I can do tomorrow, what you can't."

Sairat - movie review

 I just started watching this movie called Sairat. It's a Marathi movie set in one of the many sugarcane producing villages in Maharashtra. 

If you look at the movie at 30,000 feet view, it's nothing different than the usual movie with upper and lower class divide. But as you go closer, you realise that the treatment is very different in this movie. 

The main characters of Prashant (Prasha) and Archana (Archi) and characters are set right in the day and age of a modern village with smart phones and 3G. Even the supporting characters of friends and family of the two is meticulously done. The accent used to speak Marathi is outstanding and seems to be coming right from the area. Each character has been given time to develop and establish their role for the movie. This helps as then the director doesn't have to come back to characters again and again. 

Another way to look at maturity or movie is how different it is pre and post intervals, some movies like Khosla ka Ghosla, My cousin Vinnie and Kapoor and sons (since 1921) does this amazingly. Sairat is not like that, but that is probably because it had to find an ending which was earth-shattering, with an element of surprise. So there would be a build out to that ending over the course. When the movie is over, you still find yourself just sitting at the place not willing to get up as if there will be a Ctrl+Z on the end. It's an unbelievable ending. 

Very good screenplay and music. One very interesting thing is the use of subtitles. The makes of the movie have paid a lot of attention to this and have put the subtitles in an extremely contextual manner. Very unique way of doing things. 

Overall, a very watchable movie.

Interval Timer

Got this great app called Interval Timer. You can set up custom exercise timer and rest times based on what you want to do. 

So if I am jumping rope, I will put a timer for 1 minute of jumping and 1 min of rest. I can repeat the cycles as many times I like. So for example, If I say repeat 10 times then the whole process of jump rope time and rest timers repeats 10 times. 

I can add more custom timers and name them separately based on the exercise I was to do. 

Pretty cool eh?