Sizzling South Indian Mela(m)

It is always tricky to plan weekends here, thanks to the lovely British weather (by the way, I do like cold n grey weather!). The last weekend was thankfully sunny, though a little chill. That didn’t deter us from making a quick trip to see what the South Indian Melam (an initiative by ‘INDIA NOW’) was all about. Actually, blame the TV adverts for luring us to it! All those pictures of steaming hot dosais/vadai, and ofcourse the cultural events 🙂 (lest I sound too shallow ;-)) were so inviting!

We reached the Mela venue by around 2 pm, and had originally planned to leave in a couple of hours, but ended staying till the very last show, which was a completely dhamakedaar performance by Shiamak Davar‘s team in London. (Will come to that later, as one sentence in passing simply doesn’t do justice to the amazing performance that it was!)

We were greeted with a mellifluous rendition of ‘Vaishnava Janato‘. Sadly, there was no encore 🙂 The compère Ms.Ambika, conducted a lovely little music exercise with all the children. There must have been atleast 20-30 participants, who sang along to Sa-Re-Ga-Ma with gusto.

It was a delight to hear, and an eye-opener too, about an art that we must not let die, but instead try to pass on to the future generations.

There were more performances – vocal, Bharatnatyam, etc. (I can’t review those as I’m not much of an art connoisseur) and an impressive ‘Kalari Payattu‘ performance too, that the boys were particularly interested in!

There weren’t as many ‘stalls’ as one expected. However, there was a great little massage offered at very reasonable prices. Another hot-dog/fries/coffee booth, that served awesome french-fries at delightful prices 😉

The stall for the ‘Save the Tiger‘ campaign, in my opinion, could have benefited with more prominence. The Diabetes UK team was strategically placed a few stalls away from the one with the droolworthy hot South Indian food 🙂

State Bank of India who were one of the Sponsors, held an exciting Raffle contest, with the prize being an iPad!!! Sadly, the winner of the raffle wasn’t around. Sigh!!! I wish…er.. never mind!)

Hot Dosai in the making… and different varieties of chutney to go with it… yummm…

Needless to say, the ‘food’ staff, hosted by Turmeric Spice (I hope I got the name right!), saw an endless queue 🙂 And it was well worth the wait. We ordered hot dosais and simple yet delicious lemon rice!

As they say, the best things in life come to those who wait! The last event was a Bollywood dance performance. I wasn’t expecting much, and the delay was putting me off.

However, when the troupe finally arrived, they took us by storm!!! The Shiamak Davar team in London pulled off a spectacular performance, making even the audience dance to the tunes of Chikni Chameli and Chammak Challo!

The compère /host, Rohan, did an OUTSTANDING job of drawing the audience into the performance.

Even the man behind the show, Mr.Manish Tiwari (Managing Director, Here&Now365) couldn’t escape grooving to the tunes of Chammak Challo 🙂

The audience learnt some easy steps, particularly some Shahrukh Khan motions, and the delightfully funny ‘nodding Indian head‘ 🙂 Team Shiamak had the entire audience spell-bound, and hungry for an encore (which again, they delivered beautifully).

We truly believed their quote – ‘Have Feet – Will Dance’. Add to that, they gave a gift voucher (‘free dance session’) for all the participants.

So, that was a truly scintillating finale to an exciting event.

Well done Team South Indian Melam 🙂 I think this was a good start, and do hope we see many more such events, that bring us closer to ‘home’ and help showcase our arts and culture.

Hot Pants – Hot or Not??

The battle of the Bulge is something most of us are always fighting – and more often than not, losing! When I first read about the Zaggora Hotpants on a couple of blogs, I was sure this was a mere marketing gimmick. I discussed this with my favourite virtual ‘fitness pals’ and the general consensus was that nothing works but working out! Fair enough.

However, I still had that nagging doubt.. What If? What if the claims made by Zaggora were true? (Click here or on the Image to your left, to head over to their website). What if the ‘hot pants’ really worked?

I decided to give it a shot. I got in touch with the wonderful people at Zaggora, who immediately sent a pair of ‘Capri flares’, along with a personalised hand-written note from Ms.Lucy about how/when I could use the hotpants (which was practically any time!)

The very first time I worked out (treadmill) while wearing the Hotpants/Capri flares, I sweated so much that I needed to open out the windows on a cold January morning, to help me cool down. As I wore them more often, they got more comfortable. Two weeks down the line, I clearly felt some of the weight had fallen away. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken any measurements, so I couldn’t be specific.

Then I pencilled in lots of structured work-outs like Zumba fitness, and realised that wearing the Hotpants very clearly made me sweat much more than I normally would. I didn’t want the weight loss to be a ‘water loss’ trick. So I made sure I drank lots of water post work-outs.

And guess what? The Hotpants actually worked!!! Over the last two months, I have lost just over 6 lbs, and have nearly dropped a dress size. I don’t hide behind baggy jeans anymore!

The Hotpants do tend to make your skin sweat a little even when you are simply wearing them on and not actually working out. Unlike some other people, I don’t actually wear the hotpants all day, as I don’t find it comfortable that way. I absolutely ensure that I use them during my workouts (be it treadmill/stepper/Zumba/aerobics).

The only drawback with the hotpants is that they need to be hand-washed and dried atleast overnight! So you really can’t afford to be lazy. Unless ofcourse you have two pairs, then you can alternate using them.

Now, I am not sure if there are any side-effects. I have not noticed any till date, and I hope there aren’t any in the future either.

Needless to say, there is no substitute for working out! But I find that the Hotpants maximise the impact of the workout!

So it definitely is a Thumbs-Up from me!! If you are considering investing in a pair of Hotpants, I’d say ‘Go for it’!!! It makes a considerable difference to your weight-loss and fitness program. These Hotpants are definitely Hot.

Thank you Zaggora!! Here’s to many more such Hot inventions!!

(PS: I received a pair of Capri Flares from Zaggora for the purpose of this trial, no other consideration was received for this review. The review is entirely personal and not influenced by Zaggora in any way).

Awfully Awesome Parathas

If you are wondering about how silly the title is, wait until you see the pictures. They are self-explanatory 🙂

I received an email from dear Swaram, about recipe exchange. The crux was that it should be a simple and easy-to-make recipe. And this is what I ingeniously came up with:

1- Take any left-over steamed or cooked veggies from the previous day, or the day-before 😉 as long as there is no mould/fungus on it, that should be fine 😈 To this, add, a pinch of Salt, Turmeric, Jeera Powder, Aamchur, Pepper powder (I use this instead of Chilli powder, so that even Kids can eat it. Psst: By kids I mean moi 😉 I hate spice ;-)), Ginger-garlic paste.

2- Now mash it up really well, or even better, just quick grind it in the mixie without any water. You should end up with an AWFUL looking gooey paste.

Btw, I used a little bowl of freshly steamed Beans, Carrot and Peas and another little cup of left-over aloo-gobi sabzi. No, I didn’t mix the two, now even I cannot stand such a disgusting concoction 😉 I made two different types of parathas 🙂

3- Take a small lemon-sized ball of dough, and divide it into two. Roll it out into little circles. Drop a lump of the awful mixture into one circle, place the other circle on top, and press the edges together to seal them. Now roll them out into a big paratha, but don’t let the goo get out through the edges.

4- Cook this on a hot Tava, and remember, wherever the goo has indeed squeezed itself out, just add a few drops of ghee and let it roast.

Trust me on this folks, the left-over-mixed-veggies-parathas taste AWESOME. Needless to say, they are extremely nutritious too.

Try it out for yourself…

(P.S: Warned you in the beginning : These look awful, but taste awesome. Do try!!)