Yes, my review can be condensed into three words: READ THIS BOOK!!!

Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

Thats 1 HEAVY BOOK given to me by one of my friend!..
the cover attracted me very much so my as my blog entry i want to share my views on this book..

"The book picks up not too far after Genesis left off." And this fictitious chronicle of the Buendia household in the etherial town of Macondo somewhere in Latin America does just that. Rightly hailed as a masterpiece of the 20th century, Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" will remain on the reading list of every affected college kid, every under-employed author, every field-worker, and indeed should be "required reading for the entire human race," as one reviewer put it a few decades back.

I can only hint at a few of the striking features of the work that are so novel, so insightful, and which make it such a success in my opinion.

By far and away the most inspiring element of the work is the author's tone. He reportedly self-conscioulsy wrote in the style that his grandmother back in Columbia used to tell him stories. Thus there is a conversational, meandering, but indeed succinct and perfect narrative voice to whisk the reader through the years of Macondo's fantastical history.

Not unrelatedly, the tone has ample visual imagery, with superb attention to detail (and just the right quantity and nature of the detail that surrounds everyday life) to help prod the story along. The dolls of the child-bride treasured by the mother-in-law and heroine Ursula. The paranormal and mundane contrivences of the gypsies that are celebrated in the opening pages and which close the book. The tree to which the mad genius who founded the town and Buendia line is tied and dies in. The pretentious suitcases of the returning emigre. The goldfishes that are the relicts of a disillusioned but celebrated warrior. And the ubiquitous ants. All these objects have their proper place among the daily going abouts of the Buendia family, and serve to weave into the story a sense of BOTH the ordinary and the surreal.

There is ample space in this world of Macondo and the Buendias for a sad commentary on that world South of the Rio Grande. Incessant, pointless civil wars. A rigid political and ecclesiastical hierarchy shoved down the throats of decent folk. The rampant exploitation of the tropics by outsiders, both foreign and domesitc. And perhaps most significantly, the strangely marginal and uncomfortable space occupied by technology in daily life in the Latino world. I am surely not alone in uncovering some facet of the work that speaks so boldly and loudly to me. This rich yet surprisingly elegant novel has, it seems, on every page the germinating seeds of an exciting conversation that speaks directly to an observation and experience everybody, and especially those coming to or from Latin America (or any underdeveloped nation), has had.

And of course there are the brilliant characters, and the sense one gets of how they are affected by, and in turn affect, their setting. The story is aided by a pedigree one keeps referring to in the beginning of the book, as its immense scope (yes, 100 years) and maddening array of characters demand of the reader to conjure up visualizations of what exactly is going on. It is no wonder that this work is celebrated for being almost in accord with the Bible in scope.

One night with this book @ my home

This book was gifted to me on my birthday! 1 night @ call center; here are my views... 


One thing strikingly remarkable about this book is that it keeps the reader hooked till the end. Maybe the reason for this is its small size but more importantly, it is realistic. One can relate with each of the characters. Their problems depicted are certainly not worth being in the news but these are common problems we common people often come across, maybe in our own lives or in the lives of people around us.


Of course, the ’call from God’ is impractical, but isn’t this fiction? The author undoubtedly has the right to present his imagination in his own creation. On the contrary, ’the call’ can also be interpreted as ’the inner voice’ which called out when the characters were on the verge of death asking them to analyse what all they have done in life.I liked the story the author built up about the train journey and the beautiful lady pestering him to make her story his next book. It makes the readers feel that it is a true story and the author is simply relating it. Only in the epilogue, it is evident that even this incident is a figment of his imagination.   


This is a better attempt than his previous book atleast in aiming at the youth and their issues. However, the language used is too simple which is why, this book may not be counted among the best ones in a bookworm’s library. But who cares anyway. His work appeals to the masses and therefore it ends up as a bestseller.

Media a bane

Media a Boon

How media intervention helped solve impending criminal cases- Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Matto

Citizen journalism

Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic",^[1] "guerrilla"^[2] or "street journalism"^[3]) is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information.^[4] Authors Bowman and Willis say: "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires."

Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, which are practiced by professional journalists, or collaborative journalism, which is practiced by professional and non-professional journalists working together. Citizen journalism is a specific form of citizen media as well as user generated content.

Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, said in 2006:^[5]

The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube.

In What is Participatory Journalism?,^[6] J. D. Lasica classifies media for citizen journalism into the following types:

1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, DigitalJournal.com, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).

New media theorist Terry Flew states that there are three elements "critical to the rise of citizen journalism and citizen media": open publishing, collaborative editing and distributed content.^[7]

Mohammed Rafi-my favorite singer

Mohammed Rafi (Hindi: मोहम्मद रफ़ी, Urdu: محمد رفیع; December 24, 1924 – July 31, 1980), was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades.^[1] He won a National Award and 6 Filmfare Awards. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.^[2]

In a career spanning about 40 years, Rafi sang over 26,000 film songs.^[3] His songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans, and from slow melancholic tunes to fast and melodious fun filled songs. He had a strong command of Hindi and Urdu and a powerful range that could accommodate this variety.^[4] He sang in many Indian languages including Hindi, Konkani, Urdu, Bhojpuri,Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Maghi, Maithili and Assamese. He also recorded a few English, Persian, Spanish andDutch songs.

An article in Times of India, published on July 24, 2010 sums up his voice as, "If there are 101 ways of saying "I love you" in a song, Mohammed Rafi knew them all. The awkwardness of puppy love, the friskiness of teen romance, the philosophy of unrequited love and the anguish of heartbreak - he could explore every crevice of ardour. It wasn't just love, his voice could capture the navras of life - a failed poet's melancholy, a fiery unionist's vim, a debt-ridden farmer's despair, really anybody at all. Rafi, whose career spanned nearly four decades, was a singer for every season and every reason."^[5]

YOUR INGREDIENTS OUR METHOD

HOW TO MAKE A LITTI CHOWKA
Ingredients

For Covering2 cups wheat (gehun) flour
1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
2 tbsp refined oil
3/4tsp salt
2 tbsp of ghee

For Stuffing1 cup roasted bengal gram flour
2 to 4 green chillies , finely chopped
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds (jeera)
ginger (adrak) , finely chopped
1/2tsp finely chopped garlic (lehsun)
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
1 tsp stuffed red chilly pickle masala
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1 tbsp finely chopped onions (optional)
2 tsp mustard (rai / sarson) oil
water
salt to taste

For Chokha2 medium sized boiled potatoes
1 medium sized brinjal (baingan / eggplant)
3 medium sized tomatoes
2-4 finely chopped green chillies
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tsp mustard (rai / sarson) oil
salt to taste

For Littirefined oil for frying

Method

For covering

1. Sieve the flour and add salt,ajwain,kalonji,refined oil
2. Knead the dough properly with water and make a stiff dough.
3. Cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.

For stuffing

1. Take sattu or roasted gram flour in a bowl.
2. Add all the ingredients and mix well. In case the stuffing is bit dry, you can add little water.
3. Make sure the stuffing is not too dry and not to soft.

For litti

1. Take the dough.
2. Make 6-7 medium equal sized balls.
3. Take each ball and flatten the ball a bit with your palm and make depression.
4. Fill a portion of the stuffing and close the balls by lifting the sides by hand and flatten the litti a bit by pressing your palm.
5. Keep it aside.
6. Heat oil in a non-stick kadhai.
7. Fry the litti till golden brown*

For chokha

1. Boil the tomatoes and keep aside.
2. Half-cut the brinjal and roast on the fire from both the sides untill it becomes soft.
3. Take a bowl of cold water and put the roasted brinjal in it.
4. Peel of the burnt skin of the brinjal.
5. Mash boiled potatoes,brinjal and tomatoes together.
6. Add finely chopped onion,coriander leaves,salt,green chillies and oil.
7. Add all the ingredients.
8. Chokha is ready

For serving

1. Cut the litti in equal halves and put 1 tsp hot ghee in between
2. Serve hot with chokha.