Big, Bigger, Biggest

The other day I was reading an article, in which a particular bar in Cuba had made a huge Daiquiri in the memory Ernest Hemmingway the Daiquiri amounted to 71 Gallons (almost 250 lts) and was poured in a specially made fiber composite 6.5ft tall cocktail glass.. 

That led me to search for more of such big, bigger and biggest feats in the drinks and food world. I have noted a few feats that interested me hope it interests you as well.

Largest Cocktail

To celebrate over 30 years in business, Ricardo’s Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA created a giant margarita cocktail measuring a whopping 28,871 litres that included a mind numbing 4600 lts of tequila & 710 lts of triple sec along with other ingredients 

The solution was made in a giant tank measuring 4.5 m (14 ft 10 in) tall and 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, and covering the outside to make it appear as much as possible like a glass of margarita. To make it simple to understand, the tank held around 80,000 servings of margarita. They hold the Guinness record for the largest cocktail.

 Largest Wine Glass

A Lebanese company holds the record for the world’s largest wine glass that measures just over 7 ft in height and can hold up to 1557 lts of wine that’s over 2100 regular bottles of wine in one glass. Phew..

 

Largest Wine Bottle

      The 1,850 litre bottle from Wang Chen Wines in Liaoning, Northern China is 15 feet high and contains nearly 1850-liters of wine - setting the new world record for the world’s largest wine bottle.

Largest Whisky Bottle

The record for largest whisky bottle is held by UK’s Tomintoul Distillery that produced a bottle of whisky weighing in at 164kg and stands some 144cm tall (just under 5ft), filled by hand with 105 litres (the equivalent of 150 standard bottles) of 14-year-old Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Scotch.

Something to eat with such Giant drinks

World’s largest Sandwich

This sandwich from Mexico holds the Guinness record for being the world’s largest weighing just over 3178 kgs. It took almost eight workers just to lift one slice of bread.  

Finally we come to India with   Largest tea party-world record set by Indore

More than 32,000 people sipped their way into a new world record as India hosted the world's largest tea party in Indore.

For making the ‘Largest Tea Party’ a success, almost 980 volunteers made 5000 litres of tea with 2500 litres of milk and water. About 250 kilograms of tea dust and sugar was used in making the tea. 

Hope you found the read interesting. The data and the pictures are from the internet and from Guinness blogs if anybody finds them inappropriate, write to me & I would remove them.

Cheers!!

Planning for a Holiday!!

   The thought of “going on a holiday” is such a happy thought that it can put a smile on almost everyone’s face. Actually, the fun starts with planning the holiday, the hours, days & weeks of planning for that weeklong holiday or just that weekend getaway is equally exciting as going on the holiday itself. Nowadays it’s very easy to research on a new destination and feels like a breeze if compared to about a decade back.

I still remember spending hours together at those long booking queues at the railway counter exactly two months prior to the date of the journey trying to get confirmed tickets. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes not. The times we were able to get tickets we felt like God and other times when we couldn’t, we used to look up to the “devils”, the booking agents for their divine intervention. Most of the time they “managed” to get us tickets. 

After tickets it was the turn of hotel bookings, transportation etc. again we were at the mercy of the tour operators for advance bookings, payments and confirmations. Even after taking all the necessary precautions there was no guarantee that the holiday would go as planned. In short there was always an element of uncertainty, a risk… no a “huge” risk according to many… therefore these people never travelled to new destinations and limited their visits to their respective native places or religious tours. In fact it was difficult for them to understand the concept of leisure holidaying. 

The biggest advantage of travel according to me is the learning that you receive, the better understanding of people, their life, their ways and why they are as they are.  

In the recent past this outlook has changed though, stable economy, advancements in web media, online bookings & online travel agents has been a major factor in this new wave of change. People today are looking to travel further. They love to experiment & explore new destinations, understand new culture and meet new people.

A major part of this shift should be credited to travel websites wherein one can plan their holidays up to the last detail. With a wide choice of travel options ranging from airlines to trains to buses and even local cabs, one can decide the options based on their travel plans. Here you are the boss & don’t have to depend on what the tour operator is offering.  You can fully customize your holiday according to your wish.

Hotels are another section where these websites excel, they are armed with photos, videos and information of almost all the hotels listed on their sites, so much so that when you actually visit that hotel you get a feeling of déjà vu. Some hotel deals come with sightseeing and meal options, giving the user an option to suit his plan & pocket.

Then there are websites like tripadvisor that give you information, reviews & ratings by the people who have actually visited those places, so that you may plan accordingly and decide whether to visit a place or give it a miss.

Some of the major players in India are

make my trip

expedia

cleartrip

irctc.co.in

Many of these websites fight for the same pie of the cake so don’t hesitate to call them up to customize your holiday and ask for better deals, you may even end up paying much less than you actually budgeted for. 

So go ahead and have a sooper holiday!  

A Day with Mr. Perfectionist: Aamir Khan

           My wife looked at me, I could see a hint of a smile on her face as she stood staring at me indicating that I was spending way too much time in front of the mirror today. I understood the look on her face, as if trying to tell me hello…. People are not going to watch you, so you better hurry up and leave. I shrugged off and thought she was just being jealous because I was invited to the studio and not her. An hour later I was standing in the lobby of Yash Raj studios with my colleagues, still pinching each other and trying to believe the fact that we were about to meet the ever so illusive, Mr. Perfectionist - Aamir Khan.

             It all started with a simple phone call that went somewhat like this Hello I am calling from Aamir Khan Productions and we are shooting for his TV show, as the topic of the show is very relevant to your industry would your students like to be a part of the show. Without asking too many details we jumped at the offer, a chance to meet the bollywood icon was reason enough to accept it. 

             We were given not many details of the topic but a few vague guidelines, like the name of the show was Satyamev Jayate and that it was based on social causes and knowing how Aamir  likes to keep the details close to his heart we did not ask for any further info. At the studio we were seated at the swanky set, with our cell phones safe deposited at the entrance all plans of clicking pictures were washed off. The production team were going about their chores, then suddenly at sharp 10.30 am as promised  Aamir appeared out of nowhere from behind the set. It took almost a minute or so for everybody to realize that it was actually him. Then a section of audience stood up and started clapping, we too joined in, he just stood there smiling in acknowledgement. Somebody in the audience whispered “arre ekdum same dikhta hai”… & I still thought I was watching him on a big screen TV.

               He was very graceful in his approach. He was meeting & greeting all the guests and putting everyone at ease starting from his production team to the audience & even his make-up man. We had read and heard a lot about his habit of doing re-takes for each and every shot and we braced ourselves as the shooting started, sitting straight, laughing at the light-hearted comments…. cringing and feeling angry at the atrocities by a few powerful people…..  Clapping at the heroics of a few brave hearts. The whole experience was an emotional roller coaster and the driver of this ride was Aamir himself. The transition from one topic to another seemed like a synchronized orchestra in spite of it being a live reality talk show. Never even for a moment was he disoriented from the topic and moderated the discussions like a pro. Of course there were re-takes, but they were far few and genuine.

                           The myth surrounding the bollywood icon was slowly collapsing and a common man with a unique & uncommon will power to showcase something so important & meaningful was emerging. That day I understood why he is referred to as  Mr. Perfectionist. It’s not because he pokes his nose in small nitty-gritty’s of everyday production work but because he works his heart out and does his job with complete honesty and integrity. The fact that for each episode he had a separate team working on the various issues for the past two years itself showcases his commitment toward his tasks at hand.  

                          The day ended with a heartwarming number by composer Ram Sampath.  We left the studio with a happy feeling of having achieved something good and fruitful. Next morning while sipping coffee from the souvenir mug of Satyamev Jayate I thought  that  although we were just an audience to his show, we all were full of hope of the positives that could come out of this noble initiative.

Satyamev Jayate !.

Disclaimer:

 I am in no way related with the businesses or interests of Aamir Khan Productions. The above experience is true as stated as we were invited to be the audience of the talk show.

The tentative telecast date of the above episode dealing with harmful pesticides used in growing food grains, vegetables and fruits is 24^th June 2012. 

A Biker & his Bikes

       I start with a quote by U.S. president John F. Kennedy, “Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.” That is so true about biking, it sure is a pleasure enjoyed by a lucky lot who ride their beloved machines. In the wee years of my life I don’t exactly remember when this love, this craze, this fever for bikes took over & captured my imagination, the earliest memories I have was of these collages which me and my brother used to make during our summer vacations and the topic of our interest was bikes, with pictures cuttings from various magazines and newspapers we used to adore at our own creations for months at length. I used to save my pocket money to buy those international cars & bikes magazine (second hand) and was quite popular in the group because of them.

      My first bike ride (well sort of) was courtesy my friend who, after a lot of cajoling… reluctantly handed over his bike keys to me, but refused to sit behind. I had learnt to ride bikes a lot of times…. In my head that is…for hours I used to imagine  my bike rides, used to observe bikes on road and used to mentally plan my moves….  But this was the real thing… the first actual physical ride. After confirming the gear position I set off.. only to come to a standstill after about 10 meters…thud… the bike went dead and all my confidence and hours of planning went down the drain. The most relieved person was my friend who promptly took the keys back and hurriedly took control of his bike, giving me no chance to explain.

      I got so nervous about the whole gear and clutch combination that couple of months later when the time came to buy my first own two wheeler I opted for the, then nation’s most loved non geared scooter ‘The Kinetic Honda zx’ (kinee), I loved the high revving auto gear engine, flat footboard,  it was complete freedom the in mind as well as on the roads… I was always first off any red light leaving behind all the other bikes and scooters and I just loved the small races to the next red light… on the open highway well it was no match to the bikes but yeah in the city where there are more red lights than trees, this little kinee was the king. About 3 years & 37000 kms later I parted with it but the memories of those days are so fresh that even today I remember the petrol bunk guys used to fill half litre petrol for 10 bucks and that I used to squirm if anybody called my kinee a scooter.

      My next bike was a Hero Honda Passion.. the fill it-shut it-forget it tagline company was becoming popular as people were now more concerned about rising petrol prices and ‘kitna deti hai’ was the probably the first question on everybody’s mind. The trusted 100 cc motor, improved handling and better looks were the plus points of Passion over its older sibling ‘Splendor’. With this bike I could go further on the same quantity of fuel than my kinee.. it was a no-nonsense bike, it never once let me down mechanically and I loved the go anywhere attitude of this bike. I even changed the colour scheme and gave it a complete makeover in its mid-life. It was my true companion in my job struggle years & its frugal nature only helped. It gave an ultimate final sacrifice when we parted as the money helped me buy a plane ticket for my first international job assignment, for this reason and many others it will always be a long lost true friend.

     As some bike lover has rightly said “Only Bikers understand why dogs love to stick their heads out car windows”, therefore when I came back to motherland, the search for a two wheeler started again, for a few months I relied on a friend’s Hero Honda CBZ, the bike was faster compared to my earlier one and the increased cc only gave me more confidence to look out for a bigger bike as my next companion.

    The Royal Enfield… the name gives me goose bumps even today as it used to when I was a kid collecting pictures for my collages. The company had come out with a new twin spark engine and many reviews suggested it to be a vast improvement over its previous editions. I went to the showroom with the intention to have a look at the lineup as I was aware that the prices were steep and out of my budget. 1 hour and 10 minutes later I walked out of the showroom after having signed the dotted line, I was smiling all the way back home and my face shined as bright as a well lit marine drive…. and all of this was even before I got my bike home.

     The Royal Enfield Thunderbird twin spark came home in late 2009 & since then it is living with me. The moment you start the bike you realize rich legacy of the bike and you are overwhelmed the fact that the company has been churning out heart thumping bikes for over half a century with the same passion. My relation with this bike has been getting stronger by the day. I have been on many solo and group rides and every time I have come back with a greater respect for this legend.

    Today I don’t aspire to be off the red light first (though I know this bike is very much capable of doing that), I don’t engage in those red light races. This bike has taught me to be a more mature human being, but still even today every time somebody gives a second look at this fabulous machine, I have the same hint of grin I had when I first booked this bike.   

I finish with a quote from another biker “Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.”

  

This post has been written for 'Castrol Power 1 Blogging contest' 

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Cool Summer Cocktails

The mercury is rising by the day and in these sweltering temperatures what one requires after a long day in the sun is a dip in the pool and some refreshing drinks to sip and cool down. Now it’s very easy to open the fridge and gulp down that oh so inviting can of chilled beer… but think how exciting it would be if you were able to mix a few simple and easy to source homemade mixed drinks. 

These mixed drinks either alcoholic or non alcoholic would give a different dimension to your choice and would surely increase the range of drinks that you can serve your guests or enjoy on your own. Let’s look at some simple yet very refreshing summer drinks.

Beer Shandy

For this you require is a pint of lager beer, some lime juice, limca/sprite/7UP (any one), sugar & rock salt.

In two pint glasses add in juice of 1 lime each add a tea spoon of sugar and a pinch of ground rock salt in each of the glasses, add in the limca/sprite/7UP whatever you have to about half of the glass and then top them up with the lager. This you will find is cooler to taste than just the beer and it also helps to replenish the requisite body salts lost in the sun.

Bee Tea

Now this is your usual Iced tea with a unusual twist, I have substituted the sugar syrup with a more healthier option, honey & to spice it up you may want to add in your citrus vodka, if you have just a regular vodka don’t worry just squeeze in half a lime to the drink. So there you have your cool & energizing Bee Tea.

Watermelon wave

For this refreshing drink all you need is some watermelon juice, honey, ginger juice, rock salt and white rum or vodka. Now in a tall glass add in few cubes of ice add in the spirit, honey, rock salt and ginger juice about a tea spoon of it should be enough, fill the glass with watermelon juice and garnish with watermelon chunks & strips of ginger.

Mojito (pronounced as Mo-hi-toh)

This is the ever so popular cool summer cocktail. For the Mojito you require White rum about 30 ml, fresh mint leaves 6-8 no. , lime wedges about 3, sugar & soda (or instead of sugar and soda you can use just sprite).

In the glass place mint leaves with sugar and lime juice muddle it enough to dissolve the sugar and extract oils from the mint. Do not muddle to crush the leaves and make a paste. Add rum, ice cubes & top it up with either soda or sprite garnish and serve with a straw.

Cheers!!

Enjoy Responsibly 

Burning the midnight oil

This is that time of the year when students all across the globe get a particular fever… yeah right the deadly Exam fever. The symptoms start in this way….

(Whole year we try to study or try and get near our books to start reading and understanding them but always there are lot of important and unavoidable circumstances C’mon how can we miss the  canteen chit chat, movies, internet, games, going out, chilling etc. and suddenly at the end of the semester , we come face to face to 10-20 days of study leave with the exams staring at us from the other end. 

We panic! We start searching for those books, we open them, read two - three paragraphs but can’t make any sense, we don’t understand a word from those books, we feel breathless, we start to sweat and finally give up…. Behold we have the deadly exam fever! ).

Don’t worry although it’s true that’s it’s never too late to start but it’s also true that the earlier we start the better it is

 We always end up spending long hours in front of the books the previous night studying for the next day’s paper. This eleventh hour preparation, where we have to finish revising the whole syllabus in three-to four hours is very similar to playing in a T20 match where one is expected to score maximum runs in a very short time.  

Seems difficult but it’s not, with a little bit of warm up practice & preparation (i.e. in your study leave) before this eleventh hour, one would be good to go & ready to face all the difficult deliveries with smashing success. 

 So let’s have a look at this warm up practice & preparation first.

1. First and foremost it is very necessary to organize our study area, keep all the notes of one subject together in proper order so that valuable time is saved during that crucial moment
2. Divide the available days of the study leave and make a time table for each subject. For this you may want to look at the portion of each subject and allocate days accordingly.
3. Make sure when you actually start studying, you are fresh, you are not hungry and mentally at peace.
4. Start with highlighting important points (this comes in handy during the night before exams).  After each chapter/section try and solve questions based on the topic. When you feel confident move on to the next topic.
5. Get hold of previous year’s/semester’s question papers. They help you understand the pattern of the questions plus you get an idea about the length of the paper to be solved.
6. Once you have completed a subject, try and solve 2-3 question papers with allotted time limit. If you get stuck with any particular question, do not worry move on to the next question. After you finish, go back to the unsolved questions, look up for the answers in the book and write them down. This will help you remember the answer next time you write.
7. Evaluate the paper yourself or even better get it done from your teachers (believe me they will be more than happy to see you actually studying and taking the right efforts), This will give you a rough idea about how well prepared you are.
8. Snack on brain food. Keep away from junk food and opt for a bowl of nuts instead. They're much better for the waistline and for the brain. You need to fuel your body while you study so make sure you eat nutritious food that has been proven to help your brain focus such as fish, nuts, yoghurt and blueberries

Now the night before the exam always remember to be calm and not to get over stressed with the pressure. Remember these points.

1. You have done the preparation so there is nothing to worry.
2. Get all the notes and just run through the highlighted points.
3. Check the stationary, you should have good stock of quality pens, pencil etc.
4. Do not stretch yourself with long hours at the desk. Ideally you should finish your studies before your regular sleeping time.
5. Eat well & sleep peacefully. Get up fresh and reach the exam hall well before time. If you are new to the place or if the exam hall location is new to you then it makes sense to visit the place a week before so that you are well accustomed to the route and the time required for travel.
6. While writing the paper keep checking on the time, draw margins and underline the important points.
7. Finish the paper little before the allotted time so that you get time to re-check the answers.

All the best!  And remember what David Bly (USA) said “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”

Travel blog: Dapoli

A view of Dapoli Hills

Coastal Maharashtra has many hidden, enthralling locales that can put to shame some of the famous tourist destinations. One of those many hidden jewels is Dapoli. 

Nestled between the Sahyadri range and the coastal belt is this beautiful town that has an unusual gift of being a small and cozy hill station at the same time a gifted beach destination, I say gifted because one can explore as many as 5 major beaches along its coastline.

I was introduced to this beautiful coastal town by a cousin, since then i have visited this place 4 times.

Apart from the beaches and hills, Dapoli is also famous for mango orchards, beetle nut plantation and coconut gardens. One can find the famous Alphanso variety of mango here and the Agriculture Institutre of Dapoli grows some of the best export quality mangoes (Check out their sale during the peak mango season, ideally April onwards till about first half of June).

There I found a very unusual coconut tree which had three trunks of the tree coming from the same coconut I call this The Triplets tree.

Talking of beaches the best beach is the murud harne beach (not the Murud Janjira) It is safe, flat and has a long beach with a lot of shade just before the beach

Pears Beach Resort

There are many resorts one can stay, plus there are homestays where one could experience the warm hospitality of konkani family. I stayed in a new resort 'Pears beach resort' that was right on the ladghar beach. They had nice individual cottages for couples and bigger cottages for families

Apart from great location, comfortable rooms they had the best fried fish and alphanso aamras ( fresh mango pulp)  I had ever tasted. The fish was fresh, the aamras was tasty, the food was great overall.

Atypical Konkani Thali

One can laze on these beaches or can go dolphin spotting arranged by the local fishermen. Ideally the best time to spot these friendly mammals is early morning. The boast services start by 6.15am and the earlier you book, better are  the chances  to spot dolphins in huge numbers. 

The boat ride is safe and lasts for about an hour. we saw many dolphins coming on to the surface and jumping out of water. they were so swift that it was very difficult to catch them on camera.

Once you visit Dapoli it becomes like a addiction. It is a place to relax rejuvenate and re energize oneself. Dapoli truly deserves a visit. As I said before It is one of the many underrated destination on the coastal Maharashtra.

Dapoli Fact Sheet: 

By Road from Mumbai via NH-17 : 220Kms
By Road From Pune its 185 kms
By Railway one can take Konakan Railway from Mumbai till Khed from Khed its about 40 kms, one can take bus or autorickshaw till Dapoli.

Nearest Airpot is Pune