Lonka

Interesting title isn't it? Lonka in Bangla means - chilli. When I first heard it I found it oddly rhymed with our last name (surname) - Lanka. This got me thinking on a tangent... see this is how it is - I know more than 4 languages properly and I normally like to interchange the meaning of one word, in say Hindi, to another meaning of the same word in - Telugu or English. A few examples are given below.

1. Bengali - Kabji means wrist
    In Pahadi (Himachal Pradesh) or Punjabi Kabji means Constipation

2. In Pahadi - "Kuti hai tu" (means where are are you)
    In Hindi it means - "You are a dog"

3. Halli in Kannada means Village
    Halli in Marathi means Now!
4. Balli in Telugu means Lizard
                                                    The similar word in Hindi means sacrifice

Some more research is being done on this topic. It just brings out the inherent fun and also the spice and variety in languages. Interestingly Sanskrit is the mother of all these languages! To know more about sanskrit and our scriptures you can visit this site - http://www.srisrigurukul.org/

Just Connect - Bloggers' Conference

Calling all bloggers of the world to join in on this fantastic journey @ Bangalore. Kindly log on to
http://justconnect.artofliving.org/

There are more than 170 million blogs on the net!!! Just mind blowing!

And many people do not know what to do with their blogs (me included at times). Right from choosing which blog site is useful for you to making money and much more - there will be talks by eminent bloggers as well and an added attraction - an interactive session with H H Sri Sri Ravishankar

There will be also a number of case studies to seek inspiration as well. The conference is on January 6th, 2013. You can join online as well on - The Art of Living website
On the right hand side of the site there is a link for Live webcast link
Hope this helps.

Malda Musings

How many sweets can you eat at a time?

In a marriage (in Malda, WB) I have heard that people eat 20 to 30 each Rasgullas at a time!!! Now that's some record; yes, and a record number diabetes patients as well.

Here in Malda, you get the best quality sweets. Currently I am in Gazole (27km from Malda). Mahanto sweets is the most popular sweet shop, and he makes the best sweets.

Travel by bus frm Gazole to Malda is about one hour - and what crowd. Someone farts and (mind you its strong) you cannot do anything other than bear it.

The behavior of people here is very gentle (could be because of the sweets they eat). So people are very rajasic. During satsang - after a bhajan we normally sit in silence for some time. But here people start chatting among themselves!

Where we stay, the lady of the house once gave us some coconut laddoos - and they were delicious. We praised her for the preparation. She asked "Would you like to have lots more?" We said "yes" - and her reply was "Get half kg sugar from the market and I will make it for you!!!"

Away From Dosaland III (Dhosa in Malda, West Bengal)

Reached Malda by Farakka Express (16 hours late) from Delhi  Well the quest for dosa was on, alongside house hunting. Met an interesting teacher, who shared his experiences in the jungles of Bihar and West Bengal. By the way Darjeeling is just 4 hours away from Malda. 

There is this place called "Indians" near Malda bus stand. You get (surprise, surprise) Dhosas (as the board and menu card say it) and Idlis. And its pure veg. I feel 95% hotels serve only non-veg. A pure brahmin actually eats non-veg (without onion and garlic - bcos they are brahmins!!). The masalas simply hit your olfactory nerves and stay there. Now for the dosa - it was actually cheap (35 bucks butter masala dosa) and did taste a lot like a dosa. This is surprising. Though I won't be going there regularly. 

The other day I had been to a supposedly decent restaurant. Along with the mostly non-veg items I saw some veggies too. So i ordered Paneer butter masala - the waiter said its not there. I asked for all the other items in the menu - and got a no. Finally I asked for Roti - again no! So what was there? Rice, dal and some sabji (and papad - fully veg - phew!!). The sabji was aloo gobi (the cauliflower looked like it belonged to the appendages of a goat!!). Fortunately it was not spicy. 

The river Mahananda flows along the city

I visited the "begetable" (in Bangla) market and found so much of variety of vegetables and fruits - I began wondering how come people eat so much non-veg when so many vegetables are available.

Will be sending more posts on our stay in Malda...