December 30, 2008

Horlicks or Complan

TV channels are raking in the moolah!...come on.. who else will benefit from this no-holds barred slug fest ad campaigns of Horlicks and Complan health drinks. Now, two similar looking ads [responsible looking moms, enthu kids , shopping bags, Horlicks/Complan boxes] are running. All along, they were claiming to be superior but have changed tracks and now directly say the other is inferior. Last heard both the companies (GSK, Heinz) are battling it out in the court too.

December 29, 2008

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Ever since I remember, the first rhyme is 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'...just dug into the wikipedia to know more..
** The poem was published in 1806!!! in Rhymes for Nursery, a collection of poems, by Jane Taylor and her sister Ann
** The tune is based on the French song ‘Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman’
** There are three more para-s to the popular song - Full Song

Rosy Picture

Amidst all the concrete & chaos....

December 19, 2008

Spouse - Shobha De

Read Spouse - By shobha de. Nice book.
Marriage is an interesting topic for a never ending discussion. The way Shobha De has approached the topic is too good. Has split the idea, on relevant topics giving a nice hindi song as title for the chapters. There is a certain clarity in her thought [ I'm talking abt this book alone ;-)]. The book is more for the upmarket- couples but there is something for everybody. She has gone into the nitty gritty of the matter- I was surprised to find her mentioning abt blowing the fuse when toothpaste is pressed in the middle. [I for one get irritated to find the toothpaste in that structure!!]. But I was wondering how all her friends, contacts keep pouring their marriage woes to her!!To her credit, the book doesn't get too preachy..Overall a good read.

Free Pongal

Already - the gas is free, Now the ingredients for making sweet pongal (a traditional dish that is made on pongal day in TN) - raw rice (500 gm), sugar candy (500 gm), moong dhal (paasiparuppu — 100 gm), cashew, dry grapes and cardamom (20 gm), would be given for free, through ration shops between January 1 and 14.
Simply amazing..Wonder how they get such ideas? Now, what abt the utensils for making sweet pongal????

Kizhaku - O pages

Kizhaku Padhipagam is the 'latest star' in tamilnadu's the publishing world. I actually liked the corporate-kind-of way they operated. But somehow felt let down after reading that Gnani's O-Pakkam-gal - part 3 would be published by them. Never had a good opinion abt O-Pakkam-gal - a weekly writeup on current affairs. I found it to be too sensational and it was more of a publicity gimmick. Initially it was on Ananda Vikatan, after an article abt the CM, there was lot of brickbats. AV withdrew the article and the author!. After that Gnani shifted to Kumudam. But sure O-Pakkam-gal would sell like hotcakes. [I think AV started this trend of publishing the weekly articles as books - good marketing move. ]