I visited this kick-ass south Indian restaurant called Tadka in Kyoto, Japan. Tadka is owned and run by Japanese people. They visit Chennai once every 6 months, learn new dishes, practice it to perfection and add it to their menu.
In Tadka, I had one of the best south Indian meals I’ve ever had, even after judging by the standards of my Chennai upbringings. The dosa and idli were unbelievably authentic.
Apparently Tadka has very very few Indians eating there. Its customers are mostly Japanese customers who have fallen in love with the food there. what a way to contribute to India's soft power!!!
In a country that uses chop-sticks to eat food, Tadka actively promotes eating by hand… in true south Indian style.
In the process, the two have truly embraced Indian culture from the bottom of their heart. They developed a deeper understanding of Hinduism and fell in love with it.
During all their visits to Chennai, they visit Tiruvanamalai (a temple town in Tamil Nadu) and spend time for meditation in the Ashram of Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi – a renowned Advaita Vedanta teacher and jivan mukta. Ramana's picture can be seen in the background.
I don’t have coffee or tea. But when I was leaving, they gave me a complimentary cup of south Indian filter coffee. Since I did not want to be rude, I accepted it. It turned out to be the best filter coffee I’ve ever had. These guys took Japanese precision to an all new level.
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With so much unpleasant news and shocking revelations around an incident involving an IIT educated Chief Minister, his official residence and a female member of his own party, I wish to share my experience with another IIT educated Chief Minister, his official residence and a female relative of his own staff (1/10).
Former Goa CM, late @manoharparrikar was India’s first IIT educated Chief Minister, and I had the good fortune of working as his Policy Advisor while he served as India’s Defence Minister and as his Officer on Special Duty, while he last served as Goa Chief Minister (2/10).
I did not know @manoharparrikar before I started working for him. But that did not stop him from allowing me to enter his inner circle. He was an open book, with a squeaky-clean persona and absolutely nothing to hide. Critical thinking skills, competence and commitment to clean governance, and progressive policy making were the only criteria that he demanded from his staff. He despised ‘yes’ men - the more someone disagreed with him, the more endearing such a person became to him (3/10).
I live in Gurgaon, and I spent the last week in Shenzhen. Here are some of my observations from the city and their implications for India. It would be accurate to say that we've missed many marks, and catching up with China in general, and its cities in particular, is not going to be easy… almost ever. (1/13)
Shenzhen, once a small fishing village adjacent to Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s, has undergone a remarkable transformation. Today, it stands as a major global economic and technological hub with a nominal GDP surpassing that of Hong Kong. Shenzhen is now counted among the cities with the ten largest economies in the world. Its unparalleled growth journey is a true reflection of China’s economic transformation. (2/13)
When Deng Xiaoping was China’s president, he declared Shenzhen as a Special Economic Zone to experiment with capitalism, aiming to undo the harm that Mao had inflicted on the nation. However, the Chinese government established a 5 km wide border between Shenzhen and the rest of mainland China to prevent any potential political fallout should the SEZ fail. (3/13)
Balakot is very important for Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azar, it has a very interesting history, connecting the Taliban, fanatical wahabi ideology, Rae-bareli, valiant sikh warriors. This is where today’s #SurgicalStrike2 was carried out by the #IndianAirForce (1/10).
Syed Ahmed Barelvi, a deeply religious man, was born in Rae-bareli in 1786. He was an ardent admirer of Aurangzeb, & was perturbed by decline of the Mughals & rise of the infidel rulers - Marathas & Sikhs in India (2/10).
Syed Barelvi wanted to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Indian sub-continent, & hence decided to wage a Jihad against the then rulers of our land who weren’t followers of Islam. He is India’s early home grown terrorist (3/10).