Gray Smoke

While European and Japanese cuisines celebrate the pristine flavour of individual ingredients and limited seasons, Indian cooking follows a fundamentally different philosophy: transformation through technique. This approach creates an entirely different relationship with food – one where the magic happens not in sourcing the perfect ingredient, but in the alchemy of combining, cooking, and layering flavors. The Art of Amalgamation Indian cuisine operates on a revolutionary principle – that the whole can be infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. Unlike cuisines that aim to highlight a single star ingredient, Indian cooking embraces complexity through amalgamation. Every dish becomes an orchestra where individual instruments blend into something entirely new. Take the beloved sambar , a South Indian lentil soup that exemplifies this philosophy perfectly. Here, vegetables, lentils, tamarind, and spices merge into such a harmonious blend that it doesn't matter whether you use ...

The recent 'stopping of fire' between India and Pakistan, brokered by the United States, marks a significant shift in the region's geopolitical landscape. While President Trump has claimed credit for this diplomatic breakthrough, the underlying strategic calculations reveal a more complex reality. Pakistan's Dual Doctrines Pakistan has long recognized its conventional military disadvantage against India's superior size and resources. This recognition led to the development of two complementary doctrines: asymmetrical warfare (the strategy of "bleeding India by a thousand cuts" through proxy forces and terrorist activities) and nuclear deterrence. In the global geopolitical jungle, India has a very large forest compared to the small wooded area of Pakistan, with tigers, sharks, and eagles as conventional forces. Pakistan developed two additional security strategies: releasing annoying mosquitoes over the fence (asymmetrical warfare) and installing a comi...

On May 29th, our esteemed opposition leader attacked the govt and particularly PM Modi for the failed demonetization. [ India Today ] They were based on widely circulated report that the fake notes of 2000 and 500 had increase 50% and 100% respectively. Some of the headlines were eye catching ·        Cash you hold could be fake. ·        Banking Central | Counterfeit notes are back in full swing and that’s worrying ·        This denomination saw the highest increase in counterfeit notes in FY22 This could be bad news for the Indian economy and as I am interested in numbers, I decided to dig deeper.  One thing which struck me as I looked at other new reports was none of them reported about the magnitude of the problem. For example during demonetization in Nov 8 th 2016, the estimated amount of notes in circulation was Rs 15,44,000 Crs. [ PTI news ]. The top 5 pages of google...

Over the last few months things in India have gone from bad to worse. What started as a one-of-case has not become a floodgate. Scandals after scandals. With no one taking responsibility, no one in charge ... and not anyone held responsible. In a day where the PM says that he is not custodian of the files. - True but then he is the custodian of the country and the constitution. In a day where the FM says that he is not responsible for the mistakes made by the previous FM (who by the way is the President) - True... if you can no longer blame the opposition, blame the president. In a month when the the Food security bill gets pushed through, without any thought on how the hell the 30% middle class will pay for it. In a month when the anti-corruption bill that took months to pass, but getting the convicted to the parliament and assembly, got voted. - Shame on you Adwani. It just shows that you are sleeping with the enemy When there is no moral of character and it goes against t...

Couple of weeks back I was seeing the movie 'Mr. India'. It was a great favourtite of mine and I thought it would be a good idea for me to watch it with my son, Vidit. One thing that stuck me was the villians of the 80's were the merchants and the smugglers. Almost all the movies I can recall in the 80s were about the angry young man trying to fight for his survival and fight the villian. However today in the last few movies, the villians have now moved to strong  men who are now mafia, builders and politicians. With opening of the economy, merchants are no longer the villians. Almost all the items that used to be smuggled in the 80s (gold, video games, movies, and yes even coke cans) are now freely available in any market. Almost all the black-market that existed due to the government custom duties have now been removed. However the government now has license over the big tickets such as land, mines, telecoms, food, education etc and this is where the patronage and t...

When researching for the Indian market, I have been trying to find out how many urban household are there and the income level. On 13th September a very interesting article by Indicus Analytics was published in the Mint newspaper. Using data from that, we can see that there are 7 Million households above the income of Rs. 5L rupees out of which 2.1 Million households are there in the 5 Metros alone. Population Cities Notable city Households (M) Total Population (M) Households with > Rs 5L Income Metro >5 M  5 Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore 12.1 49.2 17.9% Mini-Metro > 3 M 5 Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, Pune, Coimbatore, Chandigarh 3.8 15.9 18.6% Tier I > 1 Million 33 Allahabad, Jodhpur, Vishakapatam 10.5 48.2 13.8% Tier II Between 0.6-1M 28 Bhuvaneshwar, Thiruvanantapuram, Ranc...

There has been a conspiracy theory floating that the Mumbai attack was stragic in nature so that Pakistan Army could find a excuse move it troops from the unpopular western from to the eastern front. I think Pakistan army has succeeded in this and has deployed to Indian border. Obama in his Presidential campaign has promised troop surge in Afghanistan. US must take a leaf out of the old British military books and ask for troops from India. I am sure they have requested this in the past and India had refused. George Bush has been unpopular and neither the left nor the Muslims in India would like that. However circumstances have changed. US has a new president and India can supply its troops under UN command. Pakistan has always been afraid of India making deep inroads in Afghan and hence the bombing of Kabul Embassy. India has every right to go into the country to protect is interest. Going to Kabul is not without its pitfall. In the long run, I do not think it is possible to occupy ...

As an Indian I was of the opinion that India should do a military strike. However as we have seen in case of Afghanistan and Iraq not even US is able to control these areas. India will only end up hurting itself, its soldiers and its economy The army's are equally balanced not to say about Nuclear weapons. In a short war, there will be equal losses and long war no one can afford with Nuclear weapons. Is there any logic fighting a mad dog with your bare hands ? Pakistan is fighting a low cost war by having Muslim fundamentalist. India is fighting back with expensive army in Kashmir. India cannot play the low cost game, it should force Pakistan to play the high stake game Solution: Economic war. 1. Army on Border: Make Indian Army on high alert on Border for next 2 years. Let Pakistan retaliate. What is a Billion Dollar a month from a Foreign reserve of $200B. Let Pakistan match this for a $7.5Billion loan from IMF 2. Unilateral Economic Tax Every business entity doing business in Pa...