Saturday, November 30, 2013

My favorite Indian restaurants in Sunnyvale/Santa Clara area

In general Bay Area is pretty good in Indian food and thanks to a tough competition you will find decent Indian food in most places. But following are some and their some recipes that stands different and awesome:

Bikaner Sweets, Sunnyvale - Paneer Tikka Masala
Bengali Sweets, Sunnyvale - Chicken Biryani, Chhole Bhature
Dosa Place, Santa Clara - Uttappam
Chaat and Curry, Sunnyvale - Kadai Lamb
Kwality Sweets, Santa Clara - Sarson ka Saag
Shaalimar, Sunnyvale - Seekh Kabab
Madras Cafe, Sunnyvale - Masala Dosa
Appakadai, Santa Clara - Aappam

Friday, November 15, 2013

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Congratulations India on its Mars Mission

First my hearty congratulations to Indian scientific community specially ISRO to have achieved what many would have thought unimaginable just a few years ago. I would like to mention three very popular stigmas:

# Fix the Toilets Myth
  • Many would ask with a country still with no proper toilets for everyone why Mars and why now? Answer is they are totally unrelated. India has enough money and resources to fix the toilets and provide everyone of its citizen better sanitary services. Money comes and money goes. It is the inefficiency and corruption in States that are unable to provide such basic facility to all of its residents not because India can not achieve this goal. 
  • Second, like any Corporation you will find struggling divisions and the bread runners. You don't stop evolution and research in what you are totally good at just because some parts are non-functional and broken. Frankly ISRO has proven its capability to better utilize its resources and have championed what they are supposed to do. Broken toilet will and must not stop them.
  • May be with its success we would be able to send those who were supposed to fix the Toilets out to Mars someday.
# A Country of Snake Charmers
  • It is so surprising that even in 2013 you once in a while meet people who identify India a country of Elephants and Snake Charmers. Why would a country with such a backward outlook consider flying to Mars?
  • There is a popular belief in Hindu mythology that Earth stands on top of a Snake head. Charming a snake means having an ability to know and control Earth's movement but also to understand and control the support structure of the Earth. The support structure of Earth is not a real snake but a sequence of planets and satellites moving in elliptical movement as a Cobra moves. Charming the snake is to champion our Galaxy. The snake charmers were not some dirty dhoti clad serpentine owners they were the scientists whose work mixed with religious theologies got lost in poor interpretations by half cooked intelligentsia.
# Triggering an Arms Race
  • You can not create unless you have an ability to destroy - This what manifestation of Shiva says, a God of creation and destruction. You have to champion the tools and mechanism that can destroy to create an environment of peace.
  • More than anything else what protected Americans and Russians during the cold war period was their ability to produce weapons of mass destruction. They did not engage in house to house close quarter combats. There were far less killed then than today's much one sided security engagements. Once you realize your strength and get an appreciation of your enemy for your strength is when you start to become friends. 
  • Its not an armed race. It is a way to extend the ability of Humans to reach outer space and tell the world pity regional disputes are inconsequential. Collaboration will follow.