Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani is cringe max

 There was so much chatter and all praise about this movie. I watched hoping to be entertained. It was plagiarised and cringe. It felt like watching tiktok movies or reels. Yes, the whole film is like 30 seconds video. The characters that make this compilation of reels a movie are Jaya Bachan, Shabana Azmi, and Tota Roy Chaudhary.  These 3 people hold the movie and stay true to their characters.

The background score when Alia Bhat comes, What is that. It is a request, please stop saying random Bangla words. Towards the climax, Rocky's family has come home. Alia said aami jaachi. What is even that? We have always said aami aschi while leaving home. 

There was a panel discussion by Sucharita Tyagi in which all of them were mesmerized by this movie. Yes, if you compare it to Student of the Year, Rocky aur Rani is better. Please don't tell me we are okay with people dramatizing a culture. I remember Sanjay Leela Bhansali was lynched in Devdas for his portrayal of Bengali culture. At least he was true to his aesthetics. Here, it is plagiarism at its peak, carefully hidden with the word Homage. Honestly, this is a bad movie with good marketing and PR.

Mapping for kids

Paneer Chilli

 Hello!!

Here we have a recipe. Yet again with Ching's Schezwan Chutney.

Ingredients: 

Paneer: 200 gm

Veggies: Onion (1) and capsicum (2)

Ching's Schezwan Chutney : 2 table spoon

Soya sauce: 1 tea spoon

Corn flour: 2 table spoon

salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar

1. In a bowl, mix 2 table spoon of corn flour with salt and pepper.

2. Coat panner in this dry mixture.

3. Fry the coated paneer, till it looks like this.

4. Cut onion and capsicum, and cloves of garlic.

5. In the same Kadai in which you have fried the paneer. Add garlic, fry at medium heat for 1 minute now add onion and capsicum and fry it at medium high heat.

6. Now to the bowl which has corn flour add half cup of water, soya sauce and give it a stir.

7. By this time the onion and capsicum are cooked, now add the paneer and give all of it a good stir.

8. Now add this mixture to the Kadai and keep stirring it.

9. Add some freshly crushed pepper and salt to taste and a pinch of sugar.

10. Last but not the least add Ching's Schezwan Chutney.

Enjoy your meal. We had the paneer chilli with Top Ramen Noodles .

Egg Schezwan Paratha

Hello!!

Today I cooked Egg Schezwan Paratha. Now, this was an experiment. I had boiled 4 eggs in the morning  and by evening I was too lazy to prepare egg curry and paratha.

 Hence this recipe was born out of sheer laziness.

Suffice for 2 adults

Ingredients:

Boiled eggs:4 

Flour/Aata: 2 cups

Turmeric: 1/2 tea spoon

Chaat Masala: 1/2 tea spoon

Ching's Schezwan Chutney: 1 table spoon

Fresh coriander/dhaniya and 4-5 cloves of garlic.

salt to taste

1. In a mixer, ; take eggs, salt, chaat masala and garlic and grind it to smooth paste. 

2. Now add coriander/dhaniya and Schezwan chutney and give it a mix with spoon.

3. Knead the dough and mix this egg mixture with the flour.

4. Now make paratha with oil and it is ready.

Chicken Chilli

 Hi guys!!

It  is the second phase of lockdown in Bangalore, India. I have decided to write down as many as 2 recipes in a week. These would be quick and recipes with few ingrediests.

Today I cooked chicken chilli.

It suffices for 2 adults 

Ingredients

Chicken: well of course you need chicken; 

Onion:1 medium size

Capsicum: 1 medium size

Garlic: 4-5 cloves

Refined flour or Maida: 2 tablespoon

Schezwan sauce: 1 table spoon (I am using Ching's Schezwan sauce)

Tomato ketchup: 1 table spoon

Soya sauce: 1 tea spoon

Pepper: 1 tea spoon

Refind oil : 2 tea cup for deep frying

Salt and sugar

1. I had ordered 250 grams of chicken from big basket. wash it properly. 

2. In a flat plate take maida/ flour. Add salt and pepper to it. Mix it well.

3. Now add chicken piece to it and coat it well.

4. Heat refined oil in a  kadai. When the oil is hot. Add the chicken pieces to the oil. Drop the pieces one by one. Cook at high heat for 5 minutes. Then cook at medium heat for another 15 minutes. Keep it aside.

5. In the mean time, cut onion and capsium. Peel the garlic cloves.

6.After removing the chicken. there would be oil left in kadai. Now you dont need all this oil. Remove the oil carefully in another container for later use. Leaf around 2 spoon oil in Kadai. 

7. Now add garlic to the Kadai. Stir it at medium heat for 1 minutes. Add onion (fry for 4 minute) then add capsium and cook it for 5 minutes on high heat. Add salt (as per taste) and a pinch of sugar.

8. In a container add all the sauces (tomato, soya, schezwan), flour, salt and pepper and add around quarter cup of water. Stir this mixture.

9. You will observe that the onion and capsium are cooked. Now add the mixture prepared in step 8 to the Kadai. Stir it at medium heat for 2-3 minutes. You will observe that the sauces have nicely coated the veggies. To this add the fried chicken and stir it well. Cook for another 5-7 minutes at medium heat and cover the Kadai with the lid.

10. After 5 minutes, if you want chicken chilli dry you and switch off the gas and have it as it is . If you want some gravy add some water to it (2-3 cups).

Georeferencing

 Hi,

I am going to explain georeferencing in  simple terms.

Sounds fun!!

What is georeferencing?

Lets say that you are working on this archaeological site called "A". You start by researching, reading books, reports watching videos. Now you may come across maps made for site "A".  You identity features such as fortwall, moat, waterbodies and built heritage. Some of the features may still exist on ground while some may be in dilapidated condition or completely overgrown by land use change. Now this old map of "A" is an important information, it holds clue to the landscape. To use your clue effectively you need to assign coordinates to it. What you have now is a scan copy of a map and you would like to bring it to GIS environment. For which you need to give the scan copy(features) the same coordinates as on ground and this my friend is georeferencing.

What you can georeference?

Ok, so I have many maps/plans of site "A". Can I georeference all. No you can't. You can only georeference map with scale. In your research you will come across maps that are actually drawings of the landscape. One example of such drawings are by Francis Buchanan. He draws a rough sketch of Nalanda. 

To summarize: I have come across many maps. You can georeference a map with accuracy which has a scale but you cant georeference a plan 

What you can't georeference?

You can't georeference plans. For example plan of Patna. 

Recipes from my kitchen I MURI GHONTO

In this series "Recipes from my kitchen", I am going to share recipes that I make. These are tested over time and easy to cook. I must say that none of them are authentic preparation. All the recipes have been tweaked to prepare it fast and easy.

Here it is

My favorite, MURI GHONTO

MURI GHONTO is a Bengali dish. It is made from fish head (Rohu, Katla) with lentil or rice. I am going to share a recipe with rice.

Lets Begin!!

Ingredients:

The measurements suffice for 2 adults.

Fish head (Rohu, katla): 500gms

Rice, it tastes better with Goinbhog rice but here I am using normal Sona masuri, you can also use Basmati.

Spices: Caradamon , clove, pepper, bay leaf and one stick of Cinnamon

Ground spices: Cumin powder, jeera powder, garam masala, 

Turmeric

Mustard oil

Roasted groundnuts (15-16)

Cashew and raisins  (a handfull mix of both)

Ghee and a pinch of sugar

Green chilli

OPTIONAL: You may add potatoes, I don't like potatoes so I avoid using them

1. We start by marinating the fish in salt and turmeric. (half tea spoon of each)

2. Heat mustard oil (round 4 tablespoon) and fry the fish over medium to high heat for a total of 5-6 minutes till they start looking brown and crispy. 

3. Keep it aside.

4. Soak rice in water. I have taken 1 cup of rice and soaked it for 15 minutes.

4. In a pressure cooker, I add the same oil that I use to fry the fish and add Caradamon, clove, pepper and bay leaf. 3-4 cardamon, clove and pepper and one bay leaf. Saute it on medium heat for 2 minutes till you can spell the spices. Add green chilli.

5. Now drain water from the rice. Ensure there is little to no water and put the rice in pressure cooker and mix it around. At this point add turmeric and salt to taste. Add Cumin powder, jeera powder and cook it on low flame for about 2 minutes.

6. Now add the fish head, give it to good mix. Add cashew, raisins and groundnuts. Add 3 cups of water. Use the same cup used for measuring rice. 

7. Let it cook on medium heat for around 10-12 minutes (3 whistles). Let the pressure cooker cool down.

8. Open the pressure cooker when it is completely depressurized and put the gas on low flame. Stir the rice around once and add 1 table spoon of ghee, teaspoon of garam masala and a pinch of sugar.

Enjoy your meal. I like eating Murir Ghonto just like that, it is a complete meal in itself.

Note: The measuring cup (yellow) and the serving plate are from Artisans of Banjara. Go check them out for ceramics and handcrafted cloths.