I apologise for the encyclopaedic nature of this post, but not for the nation that it might inspire at least one person to go and seek out even one of these word-y wonders. The ability of a Thoroughly Good Book to transport, influence and inform cannot be underestimated- taking you from the hill stations of Simla to the seasides of Sri Lanka between its covers, engaging you entirely in the deliciously intimate coupling of You and Book.

From memoirs to muscle-building tomes, all have the ability to conjure images of a land whose food heritage travels far beyond the lifetime knowledge of a single individual, indeed, beyond the living history of a nation of individuals. Even Cyrus Todiwala, one of the chefs often held up as an authority on Indian cuisine, claims he could live into quadruple digits, eating and cooking every single day, and still only scratch the surface. And reading is a most pleasurable way to make a scratch into a fascinating culinary world.

First up, book by ‘celebrities’, or, as I prefer, ‘culinary authorities’.  Atul Kochhar’s ‘Indian Essence’ is a treat, packed with esoteric regional food information, whilst Vivek Singh’s newest ‘Cinnamon Kitchen: The Cookbook’ is a showcase of fine modern ‘Brit-Indian’ cuisine. For something more steeped in tradition yet firmly foward-facing, ‘Reza’s Indian Spice’ offers the kind of noble dishes that earned Reza Mahammad the title of ‘Spice Prince of India’. And, for bringing Bangladeshi food to the fore, I must salute good King Rick Stein and his ‘Far Eastern Odyssey’.

And, years back, Pat Chapman with his ‘Bangladeshi Restaurant Curries’. In fact, Pat’s entire catalogue brought an untold awareness of the traditions and fundamentals underpinning the Brits’ favourite restaurant-style fodder.  Chef Cyrus Todiwala’s catering manual-style ‘International Cuisine: India’ offers definitive recipes for everything from daal to dhansak, whilst Chrissie Walker parcels up all the best restaurant dishes in London for your delectation between two covers in her enlightening ‘Capital Spice’.

For the real celebrity fans, ‘The Bollywood Cookbook’ is a frivolous frippery that delivers dishes as tasty as the featured stars. But often it’s the unsung heroes of the cookbook world that shine the brightest. Monisha Bharawaj, Dharamjit Singh, Michael Pandya and Mridula Balkejar have all penned a library of stellar volumes that introduce regional, festive and traditional food to a Western audience. Faced with decoding an unfamiliar ingredient, Monisha’s ‘The Indian Kitchen’ is utterly indispensible- and for cooking them up (or propping a door), turn to Yamuna Devi’s weighty ‘The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking’.

Lots of my favourite books have a vegetarian focus- not surprising for a country where the majority either follow a veggie diet or enjoy a bit of plant-based roughage nonetheless. Jack Santa Maria’s ‘Indian Vegetarian Cookery’ is both lip-smacking and revealing- as is the same author’s seminal work, ‘Indian Sweet Cookery’. Funny little Indian-published soft-back titles like Jyoti Parekh’s ‘Easy-to-make South Indian Dishes’, Vijaya Hiremath’s ‘South Indian Tiffin’ and  the ‘Masterchefs of India’ series have a lot to offer in this vein, too.

Regional recommendations? Vimla Patil’s ‘Food Heritage of India’ is a decent starting point, and Chitrita Banerji’s ‘Eating India’ offers intensely personal, country-wide discovery. For specifics, try Chitrita’s divine musings in ‘Bengali Cooking- Seasons & Festivals’; the joyful ‘Kitchens of Kerala’ by Nimmy Paul; or, for Sri Lankan cuisine, ‘Ceylon Cookery’ and ‘A Ceylon Cookbook’ by Chandra Dissanayake and Doreen Peiris respectively. Or perhaps the lush ‘Serendip’ by Aussie super-chef Peter Kuruvita. Sabiha Khokar’s ‘Baltistan’ is a rare exploration of the much-loved dish’s true origins, and Cass Abraham’s ‘The Cuisine & Culture of the Cape Malays’ is a good introduction to the South African-Indian diaspora.

For better, for worse, the Raj yielded the original fusion cuisine, summarised beautifully by the late Jennifer Brennan in ‘Curries and Bugles’, whilst the Indian-published ‘Much Depends on Dinner’ by Satarupa Banerjee demonstrates the style remains in evidence today. Veterans were understandably captivated by Indian cuisine during their tenure, inspiring Harvey Day’s wonderfully archaic and superbly sentient ‘The Complete Book of Curries’. Latterly, actor Terence Cooper was no less enamoured, penning the rambunctious ‘Trouper Cooper’s Curry Cookbook’.

Memoirs use food to illustrate complex, transitionary political climates and render relationships, events, and even the most mundane  daily occurrences in glorious technicolour, coaxing you from sofa to stove-top in a single, singularly enticing paragraph. Madhur Jaffrey’s wistful ‘Climbing the Mango Trees’, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s blazingly impassioned ‘The Settler’s Cookbook’, and Shoba Naruyan’s engrossing ‘Monsoon Diary’ are a tasty triumvirate destined for dog-ears, oil splatters and many a fond re-visit.

Author Monisha Bharadwaj

Lastly, we come to those titles which defy categorisation- those curious geegaws that make you glad to have shuffled through a box of odds and sods at a jumble sale. I’d hate to be without Zuleikha Mayat’s ‘Indian Delights’- a staple text of the Women’s Cultural Group in Durban, or the eccentric mithai-and-namkeen recipes in ‘Aneri: My Favourite Recipes’ by Nayana Shah. And how would I cope without practical housewifery advice from Savitri Chowdhary, Laxmi Khurana or the esteemable Mrs Balbir Singh- or, for that matter, Nilam Vadera’s thoughts on ‘Creative Table Decor’?

Of course, this is an entirely subjective selection. You may have been nodding furiously, furiously fidgeting, or simply scratching your head throughout. But that’s the beauty of books- they’re divisive, thought-provoking, uniting…sometimes all at once, and many other things beside. In a world where we can only experience so much first-hand, books are a vicarious and welcome pleasure, expanding horizons- and even, with many of these Indian delights, waistbands. So, sorry for the extended reading list. But it’s going to be a long, dark winter. Immerse yourself.

For many of the listed titles, visit Amazon

Reza Mahammad’s ‘Reza’s Indian Spice’ is published by Quadrille, RRP £17.99

Vivek Singh’s ‘Cinnamon Kitchen: The Cookbook’ is published by Absolute Press, RRP £25

Orphan hood is the extreme of helplessness and our hero’s life upon this earth began with it. Kingship is the height of material power and His life ended with it. From an orphan harassed refugee, to an overlord. Spiritual as well as worldly, was a trendsetter of its destinies. With all trials and temptation, all lights and shades, ups and downs, terror and splendor, he, has stood the fire of the world and came out unmarked, to serve as a model in every phase of life. His achievements are not limited to one aspect of life, but cover the whole field of human conditions.  

Reverend Bosworth Smith remarks: “Head of the State as well the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was the Pope without the Pope’s claims and Caesar without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without fixed income. He had all power without its instruments and without its support. He ruled by a right divine.

The Hero of all times, mended his own shoes and coarse woolen garments, milked the goats, swept and kindled the fireplace along with other work of the family. His food was dates and water.

He was human to the marrow of his bones. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his soul. To serve man, to elevate man, to humanize was the object of his mission.

“He was the Messenger of the One True God: and never to his life’s end did he forget for a moment who he was! He was one of those happy few, who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring.” (Stanley Lane Poole. Memoirs)

“Those who believe Islam was spread by force are fools, who neither know the ways of Islam not the ways of the world.

(Balbir Singh, Navan Hindustan 1947.)

“Under his influence people became united in one bond which they knew not. The bond of true monotheism.” (L. E. Brown, the Eclipse of Christianity in Islam.)

“Muhammad saved the human civilization from extinction.” (J.H.Denison, Emotions as the Basis of Civilization.)

OAK CREEK, Wis. — A Sikh priest has not regained consciousness since the shooting rampage at a Wisconsin temple earlier this month that wounded him and three others and left six victims dead, his family says.

In their first public comments since the Aug. 5 attack, Punjab Singh’s sons described how they rushed from India to be with their father after the shooting, and now spend most of their waking hours at the Milwaukee hospital where he remains in a coma.

“It’s hard, but we are just trusting in God now,” his older son, Raghuvinder Singh, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Wednesday at the temple where the shooting happened.

Punjab Singh was critically wounded by a gunshot to the head and needs a machine to help him breathe. His son declined to discuss his father’s current condition, deferring to hospital officials to release information at the appropriate time. A hospital spokeswoman said she couldn’t immediately comment, citing confidentiality laws.

The elder Singh was wounded when a gunman opened fire at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. The motive of the gunman, who killed himself, is unknown.

Singh was in a bedroom at the temple that morning. When he heard gunfire he tried to barricade himself, but the gunman apparently forced the door open far enough to reach his handgun inside and shoot Singh once in the face as he hid behind the door.

The bullet caused facial fractures and damaged a major neck artery.

Raghuvinder Singh, 44, his mother and 29-year-old brother, Jaspreet Singh, heard about the shooting at their homes in India and rushed to be by Punjab Singh’s side. They arrived in the U.S. on Aug. 11, Punjab Singh’s 65th birthday.

The soft-spoken brothers perked up as they shared stories about their father, smiling as they described his deeply religious ways and passion for educating and clothing poor children in India.

“He was always sending us to buy books, uniforms and shoes for poor children,” Raghuvinder Singh said. “Any money he made from preaching, he would spend on donations. He wasn’t interested in a bigger house for himself or a new car. He just wanted to help poor people.”

After he retired from the Indian army, Punjab Singh began preaching in India and also accepted speaking invitations from Sikh leaders in California, New York and New Jersey.

“He was able to relate to people well,” family friend Mandeep Kaur said, explaining why Singh’s services were in such demand. “He was able to preach at a level normal people could understand.”

Singh was born to a family of farmers in 1947, four days before India gained its independence. He joined the Indian army, where he was both a track athlete and a religious teacher. He fought in two wars and received a number of medals.

But his true love was preaching. Friends said his messages were especially compelling because he led by example.

“He’s a preacher who actually practices what he preaches,” family friend Balbir Singh said. “He’s a man of his word, a very disciplined man, very structured.”

Punjab Singh had been to Milwaukee three previous times. His fourth trip was on Aug. 1, four days before the attack.

Singh doesn’t have medical insurance. He might qualify for financial assistance through government programs or Wisconsin’s Crime Victim Compensation Program, in which victims can receive up to $40,000 in federal funds.

His family and friends said they’re too focused on his health right now to worry about bills.

The three other people wounded in the rampage have all been released from the hospital.

Singh’s sons recalled their father’s constant willingness to help others, even if it meant putting himself at risk.

Raghuvinder Singh recalled an incident in which his father watched a boat capsize in a raging Indian river. He said his father quickly strung a rope over the rapids and pulled himself, hand over hand, until he reached the boat and turned it upright. Unfortunately, the boat’s occupants had already been swept down the river, the son said.

“He said, ‘I tried my best. That’s what God wanted,”‘ Raghuvinder Singh said.

The mood of the sons turned sombre as they reflected on what their father has endured as a result of the shooting. They spoke to the AP from inside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, just steps away from the bedroom where their father was shot.

They said they took comfort in knowing Punjab Singh was in a holy place at the time of the attack.

“This is our God’s home,” Raghuvinder Singh said. “We’re never going to forget what happened here, but we know this is God’s house.”

Related articles

• Sikh temple victim remains in coma (kfwbam.com)
• AP Exclusive: Sikh temple victim remains in coma (ktvb.com)
• AP Exclusive: Sikh temple victim remains in coma (heraldonline.com)

OAK CREEK, Wis. (CBS) — People of all faiths, and from all over, paid their respects Friday for the six victims who were killed at a massacre at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., this past Sunday.

As CBS 2’s Roseanne Tellez reports, the funeral was at the Oak Creek High School gymnasium, at 340 E. Puetz Rd. in Oak Creek, and huge crowds turned out.

[worldnow id=7600475 width=385 height=255 type=video]

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports

One mourner observed that the shooter tried to divide people, but accomplished the exact opposite. Instead, Roman Catholics, Jews and Sikhs all pulled together.

They filled the parking lot of the high school, and many other lots, and were also dropped off by the busload to honor innocent victims.

Mourners were greeted by the sound of traditional Sikh hymns. Six coffins were lined up, with six photographs of those taken by the gunman, as people file past to pay respects.

“We’ve got buses coming in from Phoenix, from Chicago, from all over the country; people from London, Canada, California, you name it,” said spokesman Darian Rodriguez-Heyman.

Relatives of one of the victims described the tremendous outpouring of support.

“The cooperation we’re getting is 98 percent of people are with us, and 2 percent, I just don’t get,” said Jagjit Singh Kaleka, the older brother of slain temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka. “They are not going to go away. They’ll stick around. You and I have to deal with it, one way or another. That’s why we are together. That gives us the courage to deal with the problems we are facing.”

Even police officers at the service appeared moved. One was seen one comforting another at the combination visitation and memorial.

Relatives of the victims, Sikh leaders and even U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder were to make remarks at the funeral. After that, victims’ families will gather privately for cremations.

One family member said it warms his heart to see the news media and the public learning more about Sikhs, such as how to pronounce the name of the faith correctly, and the traditional Rumala, or headdress, that women are asked to wear during services.

He says the gunman may have had hate on his agenda. But on Friday, the atmosphere was one of love and understanding.

On Sunday morning, gunman Wade Michael Page, 38, opened fire on worshipers at the temple, or gurdwara, with a 9mm handgun, without saying a word.

[worldnow id=7601711 width=385 height=255 type=video]

Six of his victims died, and three others were critically wounded, including a police officer who responded to the shooting.

Police returned fire and wounded Page, and he shot and killed himself afterward.

In addition to Kaleka, killed in the massacre were Bhai Seeta Singh and Bhai Parkash Singh – both granthis, or priests; Bhai Ranjit Singh – a raagee, or cantor; and Subegh Singh, a member of the sangat; and Parmjit Kaur Toor, also a member of the sangat and the only woman who was slain.

Six of his victims died, and three others were critically wounded, including a police officer who responded to the shooting.

Police returned fire and wounded Page, and he shot and killed himself afterward.

The motive for the shooting has not been revealed, but in the wake of the massacre, it was learned that gunman Page had ties to white supremacist groups. He headed what’s being called a white-power band called “End Apathy,” and, in 2005, Page gave an interview to the white supremacist record company Label56, in which he described his band as being inspired by “trying to figure out what it would take to actually accomplish positive results in society and what is holding us back.”

He also applied to become a member of the Ku Klux Klan at one point, according to published reports.

Balbir Singh lives in Carpentersville, but attends church one night a week at the Oak Creek temple – or gurdwara.

WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports Singh works in Milwaukee on weekdays, and attends Thursday night services at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek.

[worldnow id=7580695 width=385 height=288 type=video]

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports

He said he’s been in touch with friends who are there and escaped the shooting, and are now trying to make sense of it all.

“They don’t understand it. It’s unreal,” he said.

Singh said a musical program was scheduled for Sunday at the temple, featuring a man playing the tabla, or drums.

One woman he spoke with was able to escape, but hadn’t been able to find her husband outside the temple. Others have been unable to find their children amid the chaos.

“Some of the parents that I’ve contacted – they cannot locate their kids,” Singh said.

Singh says a woman he knows had not been able to locate her husband.

“They’re all panicked. They’re in different situations. Some are more panicked than the others. The kids are, of course, all worried.”

For most of the day, members of Palatine’s Sikh temple – the oldest in the Midwest — have been keeping a close eye on the news, looking for updates about their friends from this Sikh Temple, or gurdwara, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

“It was dreadful — very, very shocking day. The news actually broke our hearts,” Sukhdev Ghumen, president of the Sikh Religious Society of Palatine, tells CBS 2’s Courtney Gousman.

Ghumen says Sunday’s news created an uncomfortable feeling throughout her temple during service.

“People were afraid, feeling what should we do next? I did make a call to Palatine police,” said Ghumen.

Palatine Police agreed to step-up patrols Sunday surrounding the temple, and members say they are now working on changing some of their security policies.

Sikhs tell CBS 2, they are commonly confused with Muslims, and in the wake of 9/11, their temple has been vandalized several times.

[worldnow id=7581144 width=385 height=255 type=video]

“Our policy is all open door policy,” Ghumen says. “We greet and treat everybody, no matter who they are. We will be thinking twice to ask those to invite people over.”

The Sikh temple in Palatine will have a prayer service for the victims on Saturday. That service will begin at 3:00 p.m. and will be open to public.

This is one of my favourite thoughts and sums up my message, my “little” life…in trying in some small way to break down barriers between people.

“I had a good chance to meet a yogi who was so spiritual and happy all the time. I wondered how he managed his thinking and I learned a lot from him. I saw him and I thought, ‘This is the way.’ You believe in a God, but not in a religious way. We human beings like to give him names, whether that is Jesus or whatever else. But my view is that God is ONE, whether it is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, almost anything, and that he is everywhere. He (or she) has (no gender), colour, no religion, no race, nothing. It’s incredible how close he is to you and to everybody. You just call him (her/It) and he’s there. That’s it, simple.

And this is the reality we so often forget.”

- Balbir Singh, former physio-therapist and confidanteto Michael Schumacher (and student of psychology). (With my little additional few words in brackets)

from a great book by Clyde Brolin ‘Overdrive: Formula One in the Zone’

www.overdrivef1.com

“For me, God is a Creative Presence (far greater and deeper than my own consciousness). A Presence that I can experience on earth and allows me to be all that I am able to become.”

- craig

from http://breakdownwalls.wordpress.com/

You are cordially invited to the Awards Night to be held on Sunday, 13 March 2011 to honour
HSC students of NSW of Indian Origin on their achievements in HSC 2010 exams.

Sunday, 13 March 2011 at 5.00 p.m. for 5.30.p.m.
Pioneer Hall, Cnr Pennant & Castle Streets, Castle Hill Library (near Castle Towers)

Her Excellency Mrs. Sujatha Singh, High Commissioner of India to Australia
has very kindly consented to be the Chief Guest.

Awards recognised at the ceremony include:
a) Academic – Students who achieved ATAR 99 and above in 2010 HSC exam.
b) Highest marks obtained in HSC 2010 in Indian languages, dance, drama, music, photography & visual arts.
c) State or National level achievement in sports by youth under 20 years of age.
Awards will be decided on merit by a selection committee.
Dinner will be served after the award ceremony.
Entry ticket: $30.00 per person & $100 per family of four.

RSVP
GOPIO Area Coordinator, Sydney– Harmohan (Harry) Walia (0402 842 375)
GOPIO Sydney – Lucky Singh (0434 631 379)
GOPIO Parramatta – Amit Pall (0431 389 413)
GOPIO Sydney North West – Neeru Singh (0430 959 921)
GOPIO Ryde – Balbir Singh (0414 262 830)
GOPIO Glenwood – Aayush Sharma (0412 019 303)
Please visit: http://www.gopioaustralia.com.au

The culture of the common man is more honest to the Indian origin. As the billboard outside a wedding band shop in a small town in Uttar Pradesh will be nearly the same as it was about fifty years ago.

Street graphics in marriage Band vehicle, Studio B ,2009

Through the ages there has always been a difference between the art of the masses and that of the nobles and kings. For example the masses could hardly relate to miniature painting which is considered a true reflection of Indian Art.
Today art is sold in galleries and decorated in the houses of the rich. The common man does not understand and buy this art. However, there is art in the everyday life of the common man in the painted billboards of juice shops, rangolis and torans, colourful cycle rickshaws and decorated trucks, beautiful decorative architecture of the temples, churches, etc., artworks on washing powder packaging, rice bags, matchbox and bidi covers, etc.

Fruit Juice vendor graphics,Flickr, Meena Kadri

On the highway every truck symbolises the state from where it is from. The typography and sayings on truck from Punjab are very different from the truck from Rajasthan. The visual of one of the most commonly used imagery, i.e. the lotus is so different in a truck from Karnataka as compared to Haryana. The list of details and differentiation including things like hanging decorations, jaali work, the fonts used, the colours, etc. is endless.

Truck from Delhi, Flickr, Rob Hoey

Truck from Gujarat, Studio B ,2010

Truck from Gujarat, Studio B ,2010

Truck from Rajasthan, Flickr, Jo Mclure

And the three people I have mentioned are actually former players of the Indian Men’s Hockey team. They created history in a game which is supposed to be a country’s national game, but which is ignored by 90% of the country’s own population. The country I am talking about, as is obvious, is none other than glorious India. All this ignorance is because of a game called Cricket. I personally hate cricket. Just because of the publicity it gets. I feel it doesn’t deserve all this popularity it is gaining. In fact, the game gets so much publicity by the media that it has entirely eclipsed all other games and sports.

I wanted to write about this since a very long time. And now I am taking the initiative to put it into words. But before I wrote this article, I wanted to make sure how much other games have suffered. What better place to start than Wikipedia? And so I began with our national game, Hockey. Field Hockey to be exact. Did anyone know that the Indian Hockey Team remained unbeaten champions for six years in a row in the Olympics? And it has not even finished in the podium after 1980(Olympics)? This doesn’t end here. The same condition exists even in the World Cup. The statistics were disturbing. You can find out more about them here.

Courtesy: http://pinastro.wordpress.com/

One good thing is that Tennis is gaining more popularity and so is Formula One racing. It is high time that the people realized the tricks the media is playing on them and they start thinking for themselves. Having said that, as a closing note I would like to dedicate a poem which I wrote to the Indian Hockey team and the various other sports that have lost their value in India because of Cricket.

How fare thee Indian?
Do you remember me?
Or are you caught up in the tricks the media plays?
Forget me not oh diversified media; for I sway to the tunes that you play.
Steeping the people in ignorance and misinformation,
Is the most reliable source of the entire nation.
Why, oh why do you choose to obliterate;
what you claim is not worth to iterate?
Wake up, oh ignorant Indian!
For the time is nigh that you think like one.

I sign off today hoping that this small post which contains long suppressed emotions of a true Indian makes a change in at least ten others. Proud to be an Indian, Pavan a.k.a AnniYan.