IDLYISM - a growing cult!

Idly- This round, white, fluffy and chubby rice cake has long been a staple diet of most south Indians over centuries and has won the hearts of millions of food lovers across the world. There are people (like madhu, my friend at college) who call themselves “idly fanatics” and are ready to have it “three times a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.” They also go around preaching the goodness of idlis and try to catch hold of innocent people, brainwash them and coerce them to join their idli lunatics oops sorry idli fanatics club! A few other people (like me) who aren’t great idly lovers still miss them if we don’t get to see them on our breakfast plates at least once a week. There are a few things in life which you may not like too much but still cannot ignore them and I think Idlis top the list!
Idlis, though branded as “Madrasi (south Indian) food” are available in almost every Indian eating joint across the world. They are becoming so popular that a few restaurants are inventing and including variations of idlis to their menu cards. I must say that this has paid of well resulting in a new class of people called “idli-tarians.” These are the people who look forward to a sumptuous breakfast/snack of a different variation of idli each day at a reasonable cost. I know a couple of restaurants that were on the verge of closing down and today they are really successful after they creatively came up with different kinds of idlis (most of them were invented to utilize the leftovers) . A few variations of Idlis are:

The Tandoori Idli : Leftover Idlis refrigerated, cut into cubes, deep fried and added to a thick spicy gravy of tomatoes, masala and onions.

The Fried Idli: Leftover idlis again in a new avatar. They are refrigerated, cut into cubes and deep fried and served along with the usual sidekicks chutney and sambhar.

Idli Upma: Leftover idlis crumpled and tossed in a kadhai with onions and chillis.

Vegetable Idli: made with vegetables spread on to the idly batter and steamed.

A few other variations derived from other cuisines are Idli Dhokla, Manchurian Idli, etc.

Now the question is, how exactly did the Idli come into existence and how did it get its name. We are all aware of the fact that Idlis are a part of the south Indian especially Tamilnadu cuisine.

There are several legends about the “invention” of idli. It is a very old food of the South Indian cuisine. One folk legend (this is really unique and never heard before) mentions that a lady in Poompuhar, one of the ancient tamil villages, accidentally dropped a measure of black lentils (urad dhal) into a pitcher of water. It was a time of water scarcity and she did not want to waste the water. Hence she let the lentils settle down in the pitcher and used the water for cooking. The lentils got soaked by the time the water in the pitcher was used. The lady did not want to waste the lentils either and so she decided to make a recipe from the soaked lentils. She did not want to add them to the usual vegetable as the lentils had a strong distinct flavor which she thought would not blend with the vegetable if the soaked lentils were used. Hence she ground them into a paste. Now that the paste was made she did not know what to do next. So she put it aside and forgot about the batter until the next day. The next day she was surprised to see that the batter had fermented. She immediately steamed the batter (steaming was the basic cooking technique as rice was steamed and was the main diet of south Indians). The taste of the steamed lentil cake was awesome and she felt glad that she had “invented” a new recipe. Now the recipe had to be named. She gave it the name “ittu-avi” which meant to lay and steam. We do not have much idea about how the modern name “idly” came into existence. However, legendary writings do indicate that black lentil was the only ingredient used in making idlis. However, it was discovered later that rice helped the batter to ferment faster and improved the taste and hence was added to the mixture.

One other legend mentions that Gujaratis and Sourashtra villagers migrated to Tamilnadu during a time of famine. It is said that the gujarati Dhokla was modified into the Idly as rice was easily available. However, we do not have enough proof to know if this legend is true or just a fake tale.

One other folk tale mentions that Lord Krishna himself prepared Idlis, Dosas and Jalebi to serve the Pandavas who were in exile! (well... i didnt know Lord Krishna was such an expert in cooking quick snacks!)

There are a number of interesting tales when it comes to the origin and history of Idlis. Whatever be the origin or whoever may be the “inventor” the indisputable fact remains that the idli reigns as the supreme star of the South Indian cuisine and idlyism is the fastest growing cult sensation in the modern world!

Potter-O-Pedia!

Harry Potter - the latest obsession of several readers, including me! Millions of the people across the world are suffering from this new "addiction."

What's so special about the series? What is actually behind the so-called "Harry Potter mania?" Have you ever wondered?

Is it an interesting plot? Is it because it has a good sequence of adventures or is it simple good quality writing? Is it the safe moral storyline of Good against Evil? I believe that there is something more. Readers get to explore a totally different world - an entirely different culture with people with "special powers".


The Harry Potter series talks about what each and every human being has secretly craved atleast once in his lifetime - a miracle/ a magical solution. It is not just magic talk but a combination of magic and a bit of LOGIC that made Harry Potter an instant success. A few people may want to debate about the "reality" of the core concept of the series - Wizarding, magic, dark arts, etc. They may call it a "mere fantasy." I agree wtih them. We may not have proof to the existence of Magic, wizards and witches. Yet, how many authors have been able to write about magic and wizards and successfully possess the minds of the readers?

According to me, Logic can be called as a study of inferences. The spells are not a mere babble of tongue twisters. An indepth analysis of the spells would reveal their inference from real words in languages like Latin, French and English. Having said this, can we deny the presence of Logic in JK Rowling's writing?

Still in doubt? Here's my analysis of a few names and spells used in the series:

Accio - A summoning Charm - in Latin the word means "I summon"

Mundungus Fletcher - A Shady character involved in stealing and illegal businesses and also a stinking alcoholic - derived from the word mundungus which is a kind of a stinking tobacco.

Anapneo - Apnea is the condition where the airways are blocked and the person struggles to breathe. An-apneo is the spell used to clear the airways.

Avis - the spell used to conjure birds from a wand - Avi in Latin means "bird."

Animagus - the term to describe a wizard who can transform into an animal - magus means a wizard or a magician and animagus means an animal wizard.

Engorgio - Makes things to swell or grow bigger - "engorge" means to stuff something to the point of congestion.

Levicorpus - to suspend a person in the air - "levi" as in levitate and corpus to denote a body hence "levicorpus" to make a body or a person float in the air. Means "raising a body" in Latin.

Liberacorpus - to release the floating person - "libera" means to free and in Latin Liberacorpus means releasing the body.

Beauxbatons - a wizarding school for women, located in France - beaux means beautiful and baton means a stick or a staff. Here beauxbtons may have been used to denote a wand.

Lumos - to emit light from a wand - Lumos may have been used to denote the english word "luminous" which means "illuminated" or from the Latin word "Lumen" which means light.

Ennervate - spell to revive unconscious people - means "to add strength"

Buckbeak - a creature that has the body of a horse and the head of a bird - beach is the mouth of a bird and buck could have been used to denote the bucking action of a horse.

Draco Malfoy - A wicked student, a person who believe in the Dark arts and one of the "bad guys" of the story - Draco may have been derived from the english word draconian which means "exceedingly harsh" and Malfoy may have been derived from the French word Mal Foi which means "malifide".

Crucio - A curse used to torture people - derived from the latin word Crucio which means "to torture"

Imperio - The imperius curse used to control people - derived from the latin word Imperio which means "to control"

Deletrius - a banishing spell - derived from the word "delete" which means to erase.

Nagini - Lord Voldemort's snake - refers to the word Naagin which means a snake.

Evanesco - to make an object disappear - From the latin word "evanesco (evanui)" which means "to disappear"

Finite Incantatem - to erase the effect of other spells - Finite is something that could end and Incantatem could denote the word Incantatem. Hence Finite Incantatem would mean something like "ending an incantation" or to make sense... cancelling the effect of an incantation.

Kreacher - a house elf - To denote a non human being: a creature.

Expecto Patronum - spell used to fight dementors - patronus is the latin word for protector and expecto could mean "to expect"

Wingardium Leviosa - to make objects fly - Could be derived from "wings" and "levitate" in English.

Sonorus - to amplify voice - derived from the Latin word "Sonorus" which means "loud"

Expelliarmus - to disarm an opponent - derived from the word "expel" and "arms (as in firearms or weapon").

Silencio - to silence a person - derived from the word "silence"

Protego - To nullify the effect of a curse/spell - Protego means "to protect"

Voldemort - A very evil wizard - Derived from the French words Vol de Mort which means "fighting death." Lord Voldemort fears death and goes to the extent of splitting and concealing his soul in order to escape death.

Incarcerous - to bind people with ropes - "incarcerate" means to "imprison or confine"

Confundus - the spell to confuse people - Confundo in Latin means "to confuse" could also denote the english word "confound"

Immobulus - to "immobilise" an object

Obliviate - to modify/erase a person's memory - Derived from "oblivious" which means "to forget or to be unaware of".

Reparo - To "repair" or mend broken objects.

Serpentsortia - The spell to conjure a snake from a wand - Serpent denotes a snake and the French verb "sortir" means to "draw out" or "come out with".

The above were a few spells and names that I have analyzed. If you are willing to contribute to this section please feel free to write to me.

Come back for more fun!!

All In The Name!

I have always been fascinated by cartoons and the "Asterix" series has been my all-time favorite. Renee Goscinny, the author, has very appropriately named the characters in the series. As I mentioned in my previous post, character analysis is one of my hobbies. Sometime back, roughly a year ago, I had a very strong urge to analyze cartoon characters. I wanted to start off with characters in the Asterix series. I was amazed when I found out that each and every character was named to describe the kind of role they played.

Sounds interesting?? Here are my observations about a few of the characters:

Asterix: An asterix, in normal english, is denoted by a star. The character "Asterix" is the star of the village. A tiny man with exceptional wit

Obelix: He is asterix's friend. A stout man, with little wisdom and amazing strength. I believe the name "obelix" was framed to denote "obesity." Obe-as in obesity and the suffix of lix gives us the name "Obelix".

Dogmatix - Obelix's dog.

Cacophonix - the village bard or singer. the word cacophony actually means "harsh, discordant or dissonant sound." The village bard has been portrayed as a very bad singer and hencce has been rightly named as "cacophonix"

Getafix - the village druid who brews magical potions for every ailment. Villagers "get-a-fix" for every problem from getafix!

Unhygenix - The fish vendor who sells stale and "unhygienic " fish.

Bacteria - She is unhygenix's wife.

Geriatrix - the oldest resident of the village. Geriatrics is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease in older people and the problems specific to aging.

Vitalstatistix - The village chief. I believe Goscinny wanted to imply that the chief had access to all the "vital statistics" of the village like population, births, property, etc and that is why he chose the name of "vitalstatistix." (this is just my guess.. if you know some other theory please feel free to mail it to me.)

Impedimenta: vitalstatix's wife. An impediment is an obstacle or a deterrant. Impedimenta believes that Vitalstatistix was not the right man for her and keeps coming up with wierd plans to irritate him.

Tremendelirious - A dipsomaniac. Dipsomania is an uncontrollable craving for alcoholic liquors. Does Goscinny mean to say that the charater becomes "extremely delirious" and hence the name "Tremendelirious?"

The above were just a few names that I could immediately think of. I intend to add more names and their possible origin shortly. Keep visiting this blog for more fun stuff!

Who Am I?

Hi! I am Abhirami Venkatesh, a 25 year old Scorpion, presently residing in Hyderabad, India.

I was born in a little city called Pondicherry in Southern India. I completed my schooling from one of the best schools in Pondicherry.... St. Joseph of Cluny. My family relocated to the capital city, New Delhi, sometime during 1998. I completed my grads and PG in Commerce in Delhi.

When I was young, I always dreamt of becoming a surgeon, later on I wanted to become a software pro... finally I took up Commerce along with Computers in college. I started my career as a faculty in Computer Science/ English Trainer. I moved on to become a technical writer and then a Tech Support Associate in a BPO. My present job is entirely different from my previous jobs and is purely non-technical and requires me to use my analytical and decision making skills. My "dream" of becoming a surgeon and proudly parading the hospital corridors and wards in a white coat with a stethoscope around my neck still remains a dream! Someday I hope to do my PhD so that I can satisy myself with the title of "Dr" against my name!

I am a person with varied interests. Music, books, computers, creative writing are a few to name. I also think a lot. Observing people and analyzing their character is something which I do almost everyday.

I intend to share my thoughts, observations and musings with you people by way of this blog. Keep checking it out! I promise to include a lot of interesting stuff!