Archive for December, 2010
Claiming My Blog
It is again time to claim my blog with my 12 digit blog claim number EFHNTMCGKCC7. Claiming my blog, this time sandeepvarma.com at Technorati is turning out to be a life long affair. Earlier I used to blog at Sandeepnvarma.blogspot.com and I had claimed the blog at Technorati. Once I changed my blog url to sandeepvarma.com I had to repeat the same steps
So I had to login to Technorati and get my 12 digit blog claim number EFHNTMCGKCC7 and post it on my blog
Now I have completed the step, eagerly waiting for the result
Johnny Sokko and His Flying’Giant’ Robot
I am at present narrating the adventurous encounters of Giant Robot to my 6 year old niece and 5 year old nephew. This is like going back to my childhood, during 1980s, where the only TV entertainment was our great Doordarshan. After the Krishi Darshan I used to wait for Giant Robot’s “saving-the-earth-from-many-monsters“ action . I believe this was the first sci-fi series on Doordarshan.
After almost 25 years, thanks to youtube, am again enjoying this great series “ Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot”( originaly made in Japanese, Jaianto Robo) along with my niece and nephew. And the best part is that they have become great fans of Giant Robot and Johnny Sokko. Even after half a dozen, 24 hours kids channels with enumerable characters, Johnny Sokko and his Giant robot could excite them.
Most thrilling moment of the episode, when Johnny Sokko opens his watch and say ” C ‘ mon Giant Robot”!
There is one website created for Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot fans http://www.johnnysokko.com/
You have the detailed plot
Some episodes for free viewing
Facebook fan page for Giant Robot
Now we are discussing on how to make Giant Robot and the debate is whether to make three Giant Robots and one watch or one Giant Robot and three watches
The Curious Case of Wonderful Wednesday Workouts (F4): Part V
F4 Clubs
Since its start from 6 members in 9 June 2010, F4 has grown into one of the most happening networking meetup in Chennai. As per the latest estimate, close to 1000 people have attended F4 meetups. F4’s tagline is “ A meet without an agenda” and this is what makes F4 meets so successful and unique. At F4 one get a chance to meet people from different walks of life. Recently formed F4 clubs stand testimony for this fact. Almost a dozen clubs have been formed as part of F4. These clubs, fomed purely on a voluntarly basis, form a platform for people having similar likes and skills to come together and explore their passion.
Some of the clubs that are functional now are F4 Book club, F4 Movie club (planning to organise a roof top film festival), F4 Photography club (recently had their inaugural outing to Vedanthangal for shooting migratory birds), F4 Green initiative club, F4 Cycling club, F4 Two wheeler club, F4 Bloggers ( already started covering events), F4 Tweeters, F4 Podcasters, F4 Pet club, F4 Tours and F4 compliments.
By the pace in which F4 is growing, we can expect many more exclusive clubs emerging from this wonderful meetups
Image of the Year
After the historic 50th century by Sachin Tendulkar, now it is the turn for Onion prices in India. Onion price for a kg reached Rs 100 in Chennai on Dec 22
The Akshaya Patra Foundation: Modern Day Miracle
Akshayapatra, meaning inexhaustible vessel, as per the mythology, was a wonderful vessel given to Yudhishthira by the Lord Surya, which held a never-failing supply of food to the Pandavas. But the modern day Akshayapatra is a “mid day meal” initiative started for the noble cause of feeding millions of children in India. The thought that guided the initiative was that “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.”
Birth of The Akshaya Patra Foundation
The history of our Foundation starts with a story of compassion.
Looking out of a window one day in Mayapur, a village near Calcutta, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada saw a group of children fighting with street dogs over scraps of food. From this simple, yet heart breaking incident, came the determination that: No one within a ten mile radius of our center should go hungry.
It is his inspiration which helped to create The Akshaya Patra Foundation as it is today.
Some milestones
In June 2000, the foundation started the mid-day meal program in Bangalore by feeding 1500 children in 5 schools.
In November 28, 2001 the Supreme Court of India passed an order which mandated that: “Cooked mid-day meal is to be provided in all the government and government-aided primary schools in all the states.” Akshaya Patra was called in to give testimonies to the Supreme Court in order to implement the mandate.
Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of School Health and Education) extended its support to this noble cause in 2003,
By 2003 Akshaya Patra was reaching out to 23,000 underprivileged children through the support of donors.
Now 1.2 million children are benefitted by Akshara Patra program, everyday.
Akshara Patra is truly a modern day miracle, made possible from the efforts and donations made by so many people. You can also contribute to this great cause. Please visit Online payment link and be part of this modern Akshara Patra
Kryptos by Willi: Place for Authentic Greek Food
‘Kryptos’ in Greek means ‘hidden’, true to the name Kyrptos by willi is a hidden treasure, located at No.24 Khadar Nawaz Road , Nungambakkam.we, around 10 bloggers met at Kyrptos to try some authentic greek food.
Mezze, a collective name for a variety of small dishes with Pita Bread
All the restaurants of Tuscana Kryptos Restaurants Pvt. Ltd, whether its the Subways , Tuscana or Kryptos by willi, have this concept of open kitchen, the idea is simple, ‘guests should see what’s cooking’
Vipin Sachdev , Managing Director of the restaurant joined after a short while, he is a great conversationalist, telling stories of how he switched from printing business to restaurants, How its an advantage to be a person “who has not undergone formal training in restaurant business, you always look at a situation from a different perspective, and bring fresh thoughts in to the business. His philosophy is simple ‘ follow the processes’ and the rest will fall in place.
Orektika, kebabs, Gyro and the baklava. I was surprised to know that almost 60 percent of the dishes are veg. That’s a great news for people like me. I was under the impression that Greek food means mainly Non Veg.
Chief Chef at Kryptos by willi
Other highlights of the place is the ambience, with wood and metal art works adorning the walls and excellent hospitality. Now Vipin is coming out with Tuscana on Chamiers by Willi & in MRC Nagar 3 F&B outlets named “Burgundys” which is a 24 hours all day dining restaurant, “The Jade Wok” which serves authentic Chinese cuisine & “The B Bar” which is a social music bar. He is really redefining the dining experience of Chennaites
TED Tuesday
Anupam Mishra is talking about the ancient ingenuity of water harvesting in India.
Akshara: The Best of Indian calligraphy on Crafts, Textiles and Art
There is this interesting Exhibition happening at Kalakshetra Foundation, Thiruvanmiyur. The event is named Akshara, unique exposition of regional calligraphy on crafts, textiles and arts
The event is on from 4th December to 13th December 11am to 9pm
Objectives of Akshara is
To promote appreciation and interest in the diverse regional scripts of India by bringing their beauty into public consciousness
To showcase the beauty of India’s regional scripts in varied media and through products
You can see hand block printed textiles with Devnagri script from Rajasthan
Terracotta with Malayalam calligraphy from Kerala
Ajrak printed fabric with Gujarati and Urdu calligraphy from Kutch
Leatherwork from Shantiniketan
Madhubani art , Crafts from Punjab with the Gurmukhi script and lot more
This exhibition gives the beauty of India’s regional scripts with graphic arts, metals, wood, clay, embroidered and woven textiles and traditional art.
Royal Mail Gallery in Chennai
Great news for stamp and coin collectors in Chennai, especially if you love British stamps and coins.
Global Mitchell Covers, UK, the representative of Royal Mail in South Asia, has tied up with the Kolkata-based XI Technologies have opened Royal Mail Galleries selling stamps, coins, stamp silver ingots, philatelic materials and related accessories in Chennai
Now there is an interesting room inside the gallery, It is a recreation of the stamp selling counters in Great Briton in 1950s
So this Royal Mail Gallery at C P Ramaswamy road has a good collection of British stamps
You get limited edition Silver stamps ingots also
These are good investments also and recently read that this trend on buying rare stamps as an investment is picking up in India
They have commemorate stamps like ” Delhi CWG ” and “Rabindranath Tagore at 150″
Limited edition British coins
There are books on History of British stamps
Heard from the Manager of the store that they have plans to tie-up with leading retail chains to offer the collectors items. Already second store has come up at Music World
So if you are an avid stamp / coin collector you should visit this place
