Is Ramdev a real fraud?

Baba Ramdev is a well known Yoga guru in India and abroad. Millions of Indians and global citizens  have greatly benefited from his yoga and pranayama teachings including me. Yoga is a 5000 years old science founded by many sages and most prominent of which is Patanjali. It was there in texts but no one really tried to oversimplify it and spread it the way Ramdev did. He is a savvy businessman also;  who created a proliferring  business  empire worth 20 K crore without any seed money!  His own Patanjali yoga pitha along with the medicine factory in incredible and has been serving people who have lost all hope s from modern medicine. I decided to write on this topic after hearing 2 of my very close friends criticizing Ramdev. While, I did not agree with them, I did not get into an argument either for fear of turning the situation into a hostile one.

My friends retorted Ramdev is a fraud very  adamantly. Then I gently asked why so? Then comes the reply, he killed many people with his medicines. I said how do you know? They said he killed one of his close friend’s son with his medicine.  Then I asked, when the ruling party is so much against him, why can’t they prove anything against him? Then they said Vrinda Karat proved something against him and he sucked into congress and got away and now he is turning against them(read congress). Now the next question I should have asked is why the ruling party is not using that event against him, but I kept quiet because I knew they were so convinced that Ramdev is a fraud, no matter how much ever I say in support of him, will not actually change anything.

Now, I have several follow up questions:

Which medicine does not kill people? Do people go against all of them saying the doctors are fraud or the pharmaceuticals are fraud? According to me, chemotherapy and surgeries alone have killed many more people than any other drug. It has never been the case, where people turn to Ayurveda as first line of treatment. They go to traditional therapies and when everything fails, then they reluctantly turn towards alternatives. In many case, it would have been already terminal or the patient is already damaged beyond repair. Then why blame Ayurveda.

 The second thing is why Vrinda Karat could not prove her allegations that Ramdev uses human skulls? Many others also say he uses heavy metals for treatment. While I am not aware of this particular allegation, I know in Ayurveda, people do use lot of “Bhasma” and they could be of gold, silver or any other origin. My understanding tells that we still need trace amounts of heavy metals in our body. Not all heavy metals are toxic to our body. So, why hue and cry against Ramdev?  I think there is a particular section of the society very scared about Ramdev’s popularity and simplicity. They think, he may gain momentum and people will start getting better and they may lose business.  I wish those people should focus their campaign against coke, junk food instead;  it will bring about some good to the society…

Mumbai attacked again!!

As sad as it sounds, Mumbai is attacked again... How long can we tolerate this? Does life has no value? Whoever is behind these blasts, does really believe that by killing innocent people will solve their problem?? At this moment I don't want to sound politically correct. A particular community is so venomous and intolerant that they can continue killing innocent in the name of their god or to take revenge on a simple actions such as a cartoon or a broken old dilapidated mosque. Deep inside, I can only see the desire of this community to control the minds of people by creating fear psychosis. This is against the very principle the earth exists. People or humans are not born to do things out of fear, rather out of their own good will. By inciting fear we may be able to get things done by some people, but we don't really create a civil society.
I once again appeal people to dump the ideas that preaches hatred and fear in the name of religion. May all be free sooner from the clutches of faith.

Here is the chronology of terror attacks on Mumbai:
12 March 1993 - Series of 13 bombs go off, killing 257 6 December 2002 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar, killing 2 27 January 2003 - Bomb goes off on a bicycle in Vile Parle, killing 1 14 March 2003 - Bomb goes off in a train in Mulund, killing 10 28 July 2003 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar, killing 4 25 August 2003 - Two Bombs go off in cars near the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar, killing 50 11 July 2006 - Series of seven bombs go off in trains, killing 209 26 November 2008 to 29 November 2008 - Coordinated series of attacks, killing at least 172. 13 July 2011 - 13 July 2011 Mumbai bombings

Growing wheat grass

Wheat grass is known as a super food, some say rather "touted as super food" - but I would not agree with them ... I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and I took some medications, but it did not seem to work out well. I started my intake of wheat grass and it proved to be as beneficial as the medicine otherwise would. However, growing wheat grass is not a very easy deal, but once you standardize how to grow them, then it is a piece of cake. You have to remember to take care of them twice a day, else, you loose it to mold and other natural/unnatural predators. Recently I bought a kit from amazon, that works wonders growing these. I will post the photographs in a while.
The wheat grass kit consist of trays and on the top of the tray there is a flat sieve like structure and on top of that there is a plastic sheet. All can be independent of each other and stack very well.

This is 3 days after germination. You can start washing the culture at this stage. Notice, the culture is on the sieve and the thin plastic sheet.

You can keep covering with this green house cover till day 5 or till you see any mold growth. Once mold growth is detected, take the cover off.

5-6 days growth

Almost ready for harvest

You can roll off the roots after harvest. Notice how the roots form a massive sheath like structure. This is the structure that holds water for the wheat grass culture.

This is when you keep it under sun and water twice a day or you are away from home:((

First soak the wheat seeds overnight and the next day spread them uniformly over the plastic sheet of the  kits. The plastic sheet stack over the sieve and the sieve sits on the tray. Spray water and cover the tray with the black specified cover. Everyday, spray some water twice a day, so that the seeds are adequately moisturized. In about 24-36 hours after getting transferred to the trays, the seeds will germinate and you can see the green epicotyl. Once you see the epicotyl, take off the black cover and replace this with the white green house cover. Keep spraying water twice a day. In about 2-3 days after germination, the root growth will be strong enough, so that the trays can be washed under running water. This prevents mold or bacterial growth. After about 4 days of sowing the seeds, you can take off the green house cover and start washing the trays twice a day. Make sure, you don't keep the trays under direct sunlight or in a windy place. This way, the seeds itwll dry quicker and you will need to water them more frequently. The best place to keep them is inside the house.

I Tried growing mustard green un-successfully on the tray!!

Same fate with methi seeds - did not come out well at all!!

Making Aloo Parval(Potal) Rasa

Today I made mouth watering aloo-parval rasa. This is  a east Indian delight mostly prepared by Oriyas and Bengalis. A very delicious dish served during wedding parties and so on. You can savor this with roti or rice...

Ingredients:

1 KG Parval
2 Big potatoes
1 and half onions
1 and half big tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
2 cube inch sized ginger
Dhania(corriander) powder.
1 table spoon corriander cumin seeds
1 table spoon turmeric
1 table spoon red chillies
salt for your taste
2 table spoons oil
cook time: 45 mins in slow flame.

Process:

Cut onions and tomatoes into small pieces. Heat one big pan and pour 1/2 table spoon oil in it. After oil gets heated, add cumin seeds and wait till it bursts. Then add onion and tomatoes followed by turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. Keep stirring and cover it till onion and tomatoes start melting with each other(approx. 5-7 minutes). Meanwhile wash your parval (potal in oriya) and potatoes nicely and then start cutting parval into 2 from the center. Remove the ends of parval. Cut potatoes also into the same size as that of parval. Heat another pan and put the remaining 1 and half spoon oil into it. After oil is hot, put all the vegetables into it and start frying them in slow flame. Take care that it does not get burnt.
Meanwhile, once the onion and tomatoes are cooked(approx. 7 minutes) grate the garlic and ginger into it and stir it for 2 minutes. After it is little bit cooked, pour enough water and cover it, so that onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes are thoroughly cooked inside. Meanwhile, keep stirring the potato and parval on the other pan, till they all look golden brown(approximately 10-15 minutes). Check water on the ginger-garlic onion mix, so that it is not burnt. Once all the water is evaporated, add some more. After 20 minutes of cooking ginger garlic mix, add the half cooked potato and parval into it and cover. Cook in slow flame, and stir it in between, so that every side gets cooked. In about 45 minutes, you will have yummy aloo parval dish ready.

This recipe requires very little oil, so good for health. Enjoy!!