It’s The Time To Dandiya

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Kishor

Navratri is a festival of worship, dance and music celebrated over a period of nine nights. Gujaratis perform their traditional dances Garba and Dandiya-Raas during Navratri. The women-folk dance in a circle, singing ‘Garbas‘ or traditional songs, while Dandiya-Raas is played with wooden sticks (dandiyas).

Upon recommendation, I landed up in one of the Dandiya and Garbha venues in Muscat on Tuesday night. The atmosphere was very festive with a lot of family crowd turning up to play Dandiya with colourful dresses. On the whole, it was a new experience for me.

‘Rang De Basanti’ Enters Oscars Race

Posted on September 26, 2006 by Kishor

It’s official. Rang De Basanti will represent India in Oscars. After Lagaan, this time around we have a good chance of winning the coveted trophy. Except for its idiotic end, everything else is superb in Rang De.

With master lobbyists like Laxmi Mittal around, we can definitely hope for some good news in March next year. Meanwhile, I am wondering how Jeans made it to Oscars way back in 1998. Quite Ash-tonishing!

‘Kailpoldh’ Celebration

Posted on September 23, 2006 by Kishor

The Kodava community of Muscat joined hands for a get together on the occasion of ‘Kailpoldh’ yesterday. ‘Kailpoldh’ or ‘Kail Muhurtha’ is a festival celebrated by Kodavas in the first week of September every year. The event marks the end of transplanting in the paddy fields. Worship, use of arms and rededication to the cause of the land are the important aspects of the festival.

The function that began at 11 am went on till 6 pm. Like always, there was enough fun and frolic for the young and old alike. Following are some snapshots of the event.

The function began with an invocation by ladies.

Women performing “Ummathat”, a dance mixture of folklore with a

dainty touch of medieval and modernity.

A cross-section of the audience.

An action packed scene from ‘Tenge Porr’.

‘Kodava Aat’ in full flow.

My daughter had a blast dancing to KANK tunes.

Word unscrambling game in progress.

Sumptuous lunch comprised of sannas, pandi curry, chicken tikka masala, fish curry, etc, etc.

Post your comments below, or e-mail me at kishorcariappa[at]yahoo[dotcom]

UPDATE: Click here for more pics

Daijiworld Report

Oman’s Icon

Posted on September 19, 2006 by Kishor

Ali Al Habsi is the most popular sportsperson in Oman. Presently, the No. 2 goalkeeper at the English premiership club, Bolton, Al Habsi endorses successful brands like Oman Oil and Nawras. Somehow, I find some similarities between him and India’s sports icon, Sachin Tendulkar. The major one being ‘down-to-earth’ looks.

Weekend Shift

Posted on September 18, 2006 by Kishor

While UAE and Bahrain have adopted a new weekend structure (Friday-Saturday), Qatar has gone one step further by contemplating a Saturday-Sunday weekend. Meanwhile, there are rumours abound of a change in Oman too. Personally, I would prefer a Saturday-Sunday weekend. Old habits die-hard!

Press Release Generator

Posted on September 14, 2006 by Kishor

It is that time of the year again. Ramadan is fast approaching, and so is the shopping season. From cars to consumer electronics to household products, every company tries to woo buyers by offering discounted prices, freebies, lucky coupons, etc.

Joining in the mad rush are PR companies who dump the e-mail boxes of media houses with tons and tons of Press Releases. For the benefit of PR personnel, SD has designed a Press Release generator. Worth trying out!

Lage Raho Rocks

Posted on September 13, 2006 by Kishor

Stressed out? Wanting to have a hearty laugh? The remedy is here — watch Lage Raho Munnabhai. Yesterday night we went to Ruwi cinema for the 9pm show, and believe me, I didn’t check my watch even for once from 9pm till 11.30pm. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, which I would say will go on to create history in 2006. Lage Raho Munnabhai is a combination of a simple script, great acting, lovely screenplay and huge doses of decent comedy.

Sanjay Dutt is simply outstanding, and so are Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani. Vidya Balan looks impressive in whatever little she had to do. Having watched Munna Bhai MBBS almost half-a-dozen times, I’ve become a great fan of director Rajkumar Hirani. May his tribe increase.

Golden Oryx: Truly Classic

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Kishor

I have been in Oman for almost 20 months old now, and Golden Oryx has been my favourite restaurant till date in Muscat. The place serves excellent Chinese, Thai and other Fat-East Asian cuisines. The staff is very courteous and quite knowledgeable of the food they serve. Ambience is perfect. I was told that the restaurant would complete 25 years in 2007. That is quite an achievement.

Yesterday we landed up in the restaurant for dinner along with our relative from Dubai. We had a combo of veg. and non-veg. dishes since my wife and myself turn pure vegetarians on Mondays and Saturdays.

We started off with Golden Fried Prawns and Mang Kut (a Thai potato dish). Later we had Thai Yellow Soup, which had a very strong aroma of lemon grass. I felt like having a medicinal concoction!

For the main course, we ordered Veg. Fried Rice, Pepper Chicken and Gobi Manchurian with gravy.

Finally, we squared off with a round of fried ice-cream.

Verdict