Music like other innumerable art forms is regarded as one of mankind greatest triumphs. But why does music have so much power over us? It’s a question worth asking, since music has increasingly become a part of the modern-day workplace. Music has a strange temporal permanence; as art decorates space, so does music decorate time.

Music, apart from its artistic greatness is also a science. Not every note is compatible with other notes. There is a science behind all of this. Not a lot of people know this about me but apart from being able to play multiple instruments, I am a musical analyst. I analyze musical patterns, predict the type of music that could follow, improvise or improve on current and existing music, suggest instruments…….you get the idea. This took me years of understanding the history and various concepts and patterns of music. It was like a whole new language. But in spite of having such a vast knowledge of music I haven’t been able to answer one simple question: Why does music have so much power over us?

We have been pondering over this question for centuries. 2400 years ago Aristotle asked: “Why music being just sounds remind states of human soul?” Darwin wrote that music is “the greatest mystery.” Music existed in all human societies, but its function in cognition is not known.

The ‘Power of Music’ can be a very broad and a wide topic to discuss and debate on. Music is an art which can touch anyone. It has so much power because people can relate with it. There are innumerable advantages to music like making you happier, reducing stress and depression, etc…..but why? I was very curious with what aspect of music meddles with our mental state? A very interesting, yet mind boggling topic to write on.

I did a detailed research on how music affects our emotions. Keeping me as a test subject, we analyzed the various effects different music has on my emotions.

We started with a jumpy and upbeat rhythm. This forced me off my chair and tap my feet to the music. I did enjoy this since at the end of this part of the experiment I was really chatty with a lot of people. We then moved on to a little bit of a calmer rhythm and found that I was still in a pleasant mood but not as chatty. We then moved on to a little bit of blues which sort of made me sway with the rhythm. I was sort of lethargic after that.  For the next part we chose a rhythm from the romantic era. Not my favorite part of the experiment since i started reminiscing about a great person who had quite an impact in my life, who also used to be very close to me but due to certain differences we had to drift apart  The final part of the experiment included loud and heavy music like Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. It stirred up certain feelings of annoyance, nothing extreme.

One aspect was common in all of the types of music. I enjoyed each and every one of the rhythms. We concluded that every song in this world has certain emotions connected to it. Like Pride, Love, Lust, Hatred, Happiness, Sorrow, Comedy, to name a few. The main aim of fine arts and arts is to express emotions and communicate it to the other person. Therefore, those who listen to music with a lot of emotions (Eg: Break Up Songs, Songs about Infidelity, which usually have strong lyrics, Rap Songs, Inspiration) feel the emotions and their power which the musician has put into making the song. Every time you listen to a piece of music, your brain actually moulds into a different shape. It reinterprets its own shape.

Did you know, music can also have an effect on your fashion sense and your overall look? Like Rap/ Hip Hop Music and Psychedelic music involves drug usage, Punk music involves colored hair and tattooed arms. Us listeners adapt to these musical genres and follow a look that matches with the type of music we listen to.

So why is music so powerful? How could the ancient masters (like Mozart and Beethoven) tap into the true potential of music?

Scientifically speaking, there are basically fives types of wavelengths that our mind works in: The Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta and Delta waves. Alpha waves occur when a person is relaxed, but alert, having a frequency of 8–13 Hz. During this state, a person is awake but resting. During sleep, alpha waves are replaced by beta waves. The state of being focused, alert, or engaged in any form of activity are related to beta waves and they have a frequency of 14–30 Hz. After a really long day, all a person desires is to fall into a deep sleep. Delta waves are associated with deep sleep. Their frequencies range from 0.5–4 Hz. Delta waves are known for triggering the release of growth hormone, which provides healing, hence the reason why sleep is so important during the healing process. Theta waves have a frequency of 4–8 Hz and they occur mainly in children during the early stages of sleep, or in adults when they are emotionally stressed (credit for this research goes to Samantha Charles     -> https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/SamanthaCharles.shtml). Music is a combination of all these different types of waves. Hence the effect of each one of these waves have a corresponding effect on the body as mentioned earlier. This would result in various outputs of emotions while listening to the different types of music. Another interesting observation is when any of the types of waves resonate with what we are feeling, we tend to get obsessed with the song.

To conclude, the power of music can come from its ability to simulate the brain and its wavelengths, which can have varied effects like the ones mentioned in my experiment.

Getting old is not all that bad after all, at least that’s what I realized when I visited Delhi this time since I hardly could remember my previous 2 trips (when I was just few years old) to this marvelous city! Visit to Delhi was part of our 3 week family vacation to our home-country and I want to focus on this leg of our travel in this blog simply because it was indeed a memorable experience and also, including the entire trip will make this blog too lengthy. For this blog, for the sake of simplicity, I am going to call it as Delhi, although Delhi has a new Delhi part and an old Delhi part to it. I guess it’s more for administrative purpose and really doesn’t matter from a tourist stand point.

Delhi is very well connected – by air, rail and road (last 2 options for domestic travelers only). We flew from Amritsar (our last destination before arriving into Delhi) for a 6 day stay in Delhi and my sister and I were looking forward for our stay in the capital city. The main reason is that we were the ones who planned the entire itinerary for Delhi visit and it’s like we becoming the tour guides of our parents and it was quite ‘fulfilling’ to be on the other side of the table! Both of us had a quick trip to Delhi through our school which was really whirlwind and both of us had the feeling of not having enough of Delhi and through this trip, not only we wanted to ‘flaunt’ our knowledge about Delhi to our parents but also wanted to explore the city in detail, something that we couldn’t do through the school trip.

Delhi airport is one of the nicest airports that I have seen. It is one of the busiest in the region with modern amenities, friendly staff and many awards under its belt. We were warned about the potential traffic jams and hence, took a Metro right from the airport to go to Connaught Place where our hotel was booked and believe me, it was super convenient. Again, very impressed with the Metro – cleanliness, travel etiquettes of the passengers and of course, the convenience.

Our hotel was on Ashoka Road, very close to Connaught Place, the heart of Delhi and I think it is  one of the best areas to live in. Very green and gave the feeling of staying in the middle of a garden, literally! It was so beautiful. In fact, I could only see lush greenery whenever I peeped out of our hotel room which was on the 12th floor, except of course, few skyscrapers popping out amidst those lush green trees, as a silent testimony of urbanization. Although, the hotel reception was crowded with a lot of guests checking in & out, but the guys were very efficient and friendly and the check in was a breeze!

Visit to Janpath Market & Tibetan Market

It was early evening by the time we checked into the hotel and settled down and hence, it was too early to retire for the day and too late to do anything serious that day. Just wanted to do something quick and retire for the day after a good dinner and get charged for the following day. When the suggestion came from the parents for a stroll on the famous Janpath Road as a filler, my sister and I half-heartedly (no prize for guessing it right – shopping is not our cup of tea!) had to agree since we didn’t have any better alternatives to suggest! It was very close to the hotel and when we got there, we were quite stunned to see such a vibrant place. The street is full of small shops and street vendors selling everything from garments, souvenirs, handicrafts to antiques and of course, restaurants and street food stalls! It also had a segment for Tibetan products which is called Tibetan Market. What was also interesting was that we could find vendors from many parts of India selling stuff from their region – ‘everything under one roof’ – literally! The place is so colourful and energetic that it gave us a festive feeling just by being there and I was glad that we visited that place. What we thought would be a filler, turned to be a full-fledged trip to a lovely market place! It was late in the night and we were knackered by the time we got back to the hotel after a delicious meal (and we totally deserved it) in one of the restaurants nearby.

Visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan

It is not an exaggeration if I said visit to the Rashrapati Bhavan was one of the main purposes of our trip to Delhi and it indeed was quite an experience. Rashtrapati Bhavan, the palace of the President of India, the largest democracy in the world, is a majestic architectural marvel standing on a 330 acre estate in the heat of the city surrounded by breathtaking lush green beautiful gardens. Designed by the famous architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, it was built in 1929 as a residence of the British viceroys. The main building has an area of about 5 acres with 340 rooms speared over 4 levels and the total length of its corridors adds up to an incredible 2.5 km!

Once at the reception area, the visitors are split into smaller groups and the visits are a guided tour by the in-house scholar guides (our scholar guide was very knowledgeable and was simply superb!). The interiors and the historic facts are quite a revelation! The décor, the paintings, the architecture are all beyond words. I couldn’t believe that actually saw the Darbal Hall, Ashoka Hall, the Banquet Hall etc which otherwise are seen only in pictures to common people like us. It was indeed a privilege and honour to visit such a revered place and I feel fortunate that I had this opportunity since Rashtrapati Bhavan was opened for public only few years ago.

Prior online booking is required to visit the Rashtrapati Bhavan (grateful to a family friend of ours who did all that for us!) and despite being a (quite understandably) a high security area, visitors with the valid bookings can drive up to the last security post which is just before the reception area. However, thinking that the vehicles may not be allowed inside, we let go the vehicle that we had hired and walked all the way to the reception and believe me, no regrets for doing that since, it was quite an experience walking through that prestigious presidential estate. It was certainly memorable experience and a ‘must do’ thing to all who visit Delhi. Bit disappointed that we couldn’t see the famous Mughal Gardens which opens for public only during February each year. But there is always next time, as they say!

Visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Complex

This is another must do things while in Delhi which showcases the glorious history of India. Located within the President’s estate, the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Complex, apart from a huge collection of rare artefacts relating to the Indian History, has a vast display of official gifts received by the Presidents from across the world and also some of their personal belongings. We can also get a sneak peek at the President’s office and the kitchen through the replicas on display! Spread over 3 floors, the museum holds a lot of interesting historical information like making of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (erstwhile Viceroy House), freedom movement, transfer of power, formation of the Republic, life of the Presidents etc. There are story telling corners with the use of latest technologies like VR and holographs.

Prior online booking is required to visit the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Complex and highly recommend allocating 3 to 5 hours depending level of interest one has in history.

Visit to the India Gate

India Gate, another creation by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect who designed the Rashtrapati Bhavan, is a war memorial dedicated to the memory of the soldiers who lost their lives in wars during the 1^st word war. Very similar looking to the Arc-de Triomphe in Paris, this beautiful monument with a height of 42 meters was completed in 1931 and was built using mainly the yellow and red sandstone and granites. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti, in the memory of the martyrs of the 1971 Indo-Pak, was later added in the complex where the eternal flame burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who laid down their lives in that war.

India Gate stands tall on Rajpath (where the famous republic day parades take place every year) at the opposite end of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (guide told us that it is in a straight line from the main dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which is above the Darbar Hall). Surrounded by large lush green lawns and fountains, India Gate gets lit up is beautifully at nights. Open to public on all the days (and night) of the year.

Visit to the Swaminarayan Akshardham Complex

‘Seeing is believing’ – aptly applies to this breathtaking traditional Hindu temple complex which consists of a main shrine, exhibition halls, fountain, lake and a beautiful garden. I was dumbstruck looking at the intricate carvings of deities, flora & fauna and dancers depicting the essence of India’s ancient architecture, traditions and spiritual messages that was used everywhere in complex and it is certainly beyond words to express – something one must see to experience! No wonder, according to some statistics, 3 out of every 4 tourists who visit Delhi, visit Swaminarayan Akshardham Complex.

Located in the outskirts of the main city, on the banks of river Yamuna, this beautiful temple complex was built using Rajasthan pink sand stone and Italian marble and I was told that neither the concrete nor the ferrous metal like steel. It took almost 5 years to complete this architectural marvel and opened its doors to the visitors in 2005. This has been recognized by the Guinness World Record as the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple.

Entry to the temple complex is free of charge, but other attractions like the musical fountain and the exhibition are subject to nominal entry fee. Mobile phones and other electronics are not allowed inside the complex (and so is the photography) and all the visitors go thru a strict security check. Staff are friendly and helpful and it makes the trip truly memorable one. Another addition to the ‘must do’ list while in Delhi (I know the list is growing!).

Visit to the Red Fort and Jama Masjid

Red Fort is a very well-known monument in Delhi (it is in the old part of Delhi) built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 17^th century. This magnificent structure derived its name from the red sandstone enclosing walls and this was the residence of the Mughal emperors for about 2 centuries. Typical Mughal architecture is evident in this complex which consists of palaces, meeting places, royal baths, mosque, gardens and water canals. Once considered as a Mughal architectural masterpiece, the Red Fort today has sadly lost much of its glory because of the plundered artworks, jewels and precious structures that took place during several invasions after the fall of Mughal Dynasty and also during the British era. Restoration efforts are on and despite the damages caused to this beautiful monument, it is definitely a must visit to have a look at this glorious monument standing tall even after several invasions and destructions.

Every year, the Prime Minister of India hoists the national flag and addresses the nation on its Independence Day from the Red Fort. UNESCO has accorded the World Heritage Site status to the Red Fort in 2007. Security around the Red Fort is very strict and the entry is subject to a nominal entry fee. Certainly a ‘must see’ place while in Delhi.

Very close to the Red Fort is another important monument, Jama Masjid, a mosque built by Shah Jahan around the same time during which Red Fort was built for the Mughal royals. This monument, built with red sandstones and white marbles is another reminder of the glorious Mughal architecture and is prominent in the old Delhi skyline. This, one of the largest mosques in India today which can accommodate about 25,000 worshippers, has been built on an elevated platform and has 3 main gates, 4 towers, 3 marble domes and 2 minarets. Panoramic view of new Delhi side of the city from one of the minarets which is open for public is breathtaking and worth the climb!  The mosque has several relics of Islamic religious significance, e.g., an old transcript of the Quran printed on deer skin etc.

It is very close to the Red Fort and one can reach by walk from the Red Fort or hire an auto rickshaw or a cycle rickshaw which are easily available there (a word of caution – too much of traffic around this place).  Best option is (I am glad, we did) is to hire a cycle rickshaw and ask the guys to go via the narrow and busy lanes of Chandni Chowk, the original Delhi wholesale market selling everything from spices, garments, stationeries to traditional Indian sweets. I was told that people still prefer to go Chandni Chowk for big shopping trips despite availability of plenty of shopping places elsewhere in the city.  Photography is not permitted inside Jama Masjid and dress code is applicable for both men and women. Appropriate clothing as per the prescribed dress code is available at the mosque entrance which can be borrowed, in case of need.

Visit to the Humayun Tomb

Delhi has been a place of political significance since medieval period and has served as a capital for many dynasties. As a result of this rich heritage, Delhi has numerous monuments of historical significance reminding us of the glorious past, surviving (to some extent) subsequent invasions and plunder. The tomb of the well known Mughal Emperor, Humayun is yet another such significant monuments. This spectacular complex, another beautiful example of Mughal architecture built with red sandstone and white marble, includes the tombs of Humayun, his wife and a number of other Mughal emperors and is surrounded by beautiful Persian style garden.

Another UNESCO World Heritage site in Delhi and a visit to Delhi is definitely incomplete without seeing this spectacular piece of architecture.

Visit to the Lotus Temple

Another attraction in Delhi is the Lotus Temple (name because of its lotus shape), place of worship of Bahá’í Faith. This spectacular building which has 27 free standing petal shaped marble clad structures, has won several awards for its architecture and design so far and according to CNN, it is the most visited building in the world. This architectural master piece has 9 entrances and is surrounded by 9 pools (number 9 reelects the Bahāʾī belief in the mystical properties of the number 9) and stands on a 26 acre landscaped beautiful garden.

Entry to the Lotus Temple is free and is open to all. The main prayer all can accommodate almost 2500 prayers at a time. It is very quiet and peaceful inside and one must visit to experience the tranquility.

Visit to the Qutb Minar Complex

The list of things that we did in Delhi seems endless! Although I wish it was the case, this was the last thing that we could manage to do within the time that we had in Delhi.

A gift from the Delhi Sultanate, a Muslim dynasty which ruled Delhi over 3 centuries from the 13^th century, the Qutb Minar Complex is believed to have been built on the ruins of the other unknown (no credible records available in this regard) monuments of non-Muslim dynasties. This argument is based on the architectural features that can be seen in these monuments which are not typically found in the ancient Muslim architecture. However, it is not that important in this context. The complex consist of several monuments like tombs, mosques etc. But the most important of them of all (or should I say, famous!) are the Qutb Minar & the Iron Pillar.

Qutb Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world with a height of 72.5 meters which was built as a victory tower in the 12^th century. This splendid structure has been built with sandstone and white marble and has intricate carvings of the verses from the Quran. The entry into the minaret is closed for public for the past several years keeping in mind the safety of the visitors. I am sure, it would have been a spectacular panoramic view of Delhi from the top of this minaret!

Next to that is the Iron Pillar that referred earlier which certainly is not as outstanding as the Qutb Minar when you look at it. But this approx. 24 feet tall pillar believed to have been forged about 1600 years ago, still stands tall in a perfect condition defying its age without any sign of rust or other erosion. Is it a mystery or testimony of the technical knowledge our ancestors had?

One of the most visited monuments in Delhi and because of this reason, be prepared to wait for about 15-30 minutes to buy the entry tickets. The foreign nationals, like in almost all the tourist attractions in Delhi, have a separate ticketing counter and it isn’t as busy. But it is certainly another ‘must visit’ place in Delhi and according to me, this is located in one of the greenest leafy part of Delhi & it is very pretty!

It was almost the end of our stay in Delhi (our vacation was over and the school was calling!!) and it was not possible to squeeze in anything more in this stay. However, we wanted to do a quick tour of the city on wheels before we pack our luggage! Although there are standard city tour packages available, we decided to hire a cab for a couple of hours (didn’t cost us too much) and see the places that we wanted to see since we knew our preferences. The taxi guy, who is another fantastic person that we met in Delhi, seemed like knowing the city in and out and took us around the Parliament House, showed the residences of the VIPs including the PM (with the President’s residence already seen, with this, we have now seen the residences of the 2 top most VIPs of India!), Supreme Court, High Court, Ministries, Embassy Area (called Chanakyapuri, the whole area looks like a huge garden, very pretty) and also some of the nicest locations of Delhi before dropping us back to the hotel.

I am glad we did that quick city tour since after this tour, I fell more in love with the city for its greenery, beauty and of course, the people! We came across some very nice people while in Delhi whether the cab drivers who were extremely polite, well mannered and helpful (some of them were very knowledgeable with whom we could have lengthy conversations on many topics including current affairs, world politics & you name it!) or the common people. We never felt unsafe even in the late ours of the night for any reason. In fact, on one of the nights, it was past midnight by the time we finished our dinner with one of our family friends in a restaurant and we were surprised to see that the place was still buzzing with people of all age at that hour of the night. During our stay in Delhi, we never felt a bit that it was unsafe to stay out late at nights. We didn’t come across any incidence of scams or cheating during our stay and talking about the people, we always had great experience. I must mention about the cycle rickshaw pullers who we hired to take us to the Jama Masjid from the Red Fort, didn’t even bargain or quote for fare except to say, ‘please pay as you feel ok, looking at the our efforts’. We were pleasantly surprised with such gestures of the people everywhere we went. Another incident that I must mention about is the one when we got down from the taxi to visit the Humayun Tomb, my sister’s sandal strap snapped and there were neither footwear shops nearby nor anyone to fix it (she is not small to carry on our shoulders as well) and we had no choice but to take a cab again and buy some footwear for her wear. But looking at our dire straits situation, a passerby (he must have been watching us) walks to us with a screw driver in his hand and says ‘Bhai Saab, woh sandal dikhhiye'(means, brother, please show me those sandals) and with is creative mind, quick fixed the snapped strap and we were just floored by his kind gesture. Believe it or not, the sandal survived our rest of the trip and she didn’t have to use new ones till we got back. These were only few of the pleasant experiences that we had in Delhi during our stay.

It is quite true that this travel blog of mine gives an impression that we were on an archeological expedition to Delhi, but it is not correct. We did other things as well, like shopping & eating…Delhi is a good place for shopping as well and my blog would be incomplete without mentioning about a few must visit places from the shopping perspective. Top of the list of course, is Connaught Place, a beautiful upscale commercial and business hub centered on a ring of Georgian-style buildings which was part of the Luteyan’s city planning. This place is always buzzing with activities and people and also great place to wander about, if not for shopping! Most of the well-known brands, local as well as international, are available here and also some of the finest restaurants, but the prices are steep. Famous underground shopping place, Palika Bazar, is also situated in Connaught Place. Sarojini Nagar Market, Delhi Haat @ INA Market and Karol Bagh are some of the other well-known places for some lovely Indian as well as western stuff. Delhi is also a great place for eating out and there are plenty of nice restaurants (casual, fine dining and street food) in these shopping places serving diverse Indian and international delicacies.

As I said earlier, Delhi has a long history and has been the center of political activities of many dynasties and hence, there are so many historical sites to explore in and around Delhi. What we managed to explore was only a small part of what we wanted to see and there are so many things that we couldn’t manage to do in this trip like Jantar Matar, Raj Ghat, Gandhi Smruti, Purana Quila and the list is long! At the end of it all, we left Delhi with the feeling of not having enough of it once again since there are a lot more treasures to explore there. Next time for sure!

Given a choice, I would order Italian food every other day – I just simply love it, although I am a bit nervous about the amount of cheese that is used in some of the Italian dishes! Contrary to the common perception, preparation of Italian dishes vary depending upon the region (which, I guess is true in case of every food) and I understand that in some parts of Italy, believe it or not, some of the traditional pizzas are made without cheese! (hard to believe since I always thought we eat Italian because of it’s this very delicious content!).

Because of its popularity globally, Italian food is widely modified to suite the taste buds of the people depending upon the region they belong to and I am also going to do just that, i.e., imitate a very famous Italian dish (and my favourite too), Vegetable Cannelloni, to suit Indian taste buds, who are known for eating spicy food! 

Cannelloni are tube-shaped type of pasta which are large in size, (unlike the penne) approximately 4 inches long and about 1 inch wide, cut open on both ends with a smooth surface. These are generally stuffed with spinach and ricotta or minced beef and covered with tomato and béchamel sauce at the top. But I am going to play around a bit with the stuffing and the sauces and come out with a ‘my version’ (or should I call it Indianised?) of Vegetable Cannelloni!

Ingredients:

• 1 Packet cannelloni pasta (20 pieces)
• 50 gms parmesan cheese
• 250 gms mozzarella cheese
• 3 small peppers (different colors ) chopped (in size of approx. 1 square cm)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• For preparing white sauce (Béchamel Sauce)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ cups of hot milk
• ½  tsp white pepper powder
• ½ tsp nutmeg powder
• 1 small tin cream cheese
• Salt
• For preparing tomato sauce
  • 1 cup fresh tomato paste
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp red chili powder
  • 1 tsp Italian mixed dried herbs
  • Salt
• For preparing stuffing
  • 250 gms  grated cottage cheese
  • 6 mushrooms (big ones)
  • 1 carrot (big size) – grated
  • 1 onion (medium size) – finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • Salt
• For preparing spinach layer
  • 1 bunch of Spinach
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • ½ tsp pepper powder
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Salt

Directions:

First let’s make the white sauce. For that, take butter in a pan, heat it and once it melts add the all-purpose flour and keep stirring. Once the raw smell of the flour disappears (approx. 3 to 4 min minutes of cooking on low flame), add hot milk and heat it till it starts boiling. It is important to continue to stir the sauce while it is being made to avoid formation of lumps. When it starts boiling, add a small tin of cooking cream cheese (this will give a rich creamy- cheese texture to the sauce), white pepper powder, salt and nutmeg powder and the white sauce is ready.

We also need some tomato sauce for which take the fresh tomato paste in a pan, add coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix it well and cook for about 3 minutes. Once cooked, add the Italian mixed dried herbs and the tomato sauce is also ready.

Now, let’s make the stuffing ready. For that, take olive oil in a pan, heat it and once it is hot, add chopped onion and sauté. Once the chopped onion becomes soft, add mushroom and grated carrot and cook for about 3 minutes. Then add cottage cheese, pepper and salt and stir well. Keep it aside to cool down. Once it cools, add 4 tbsp of white sauce, 2 tbsp of tomato sauce and the breadcrumbs to it and mix well. The stuffing is now ready. Fill it in the cannelloni tubes and keep them aside.

Next step is to prepare the spinach layer to be put on the cannelloni while banking.  For that take the olive oil in pan and heat it. Once it is hot, add crushed garlic and sauté till the garlic becomes light brown. Now take the spinach (make sure they are washed and cleaned), tear them roughly by hand and add them in the pan with the sautéed garlic and stir it. Add pepper powder and salt to taste and cook it for approx. 2 minutes. Make sure it is not overcooked; otherwise, water will start leaving the spinach. Once it cools, chop the preparation roughly again to avoid long pieces of spinach. This helps to spread the preparation on the cannelloni later on.  

Now it’s the time to bake. Preheat the oven at 190°C.  Take a rectangular shape baking dish (which is big enough to take all the contents that we have so far prepared) and spread some white sauce as the first layer in the baking dish. Then spread the tomato sauce on top of that as the second layer and on top of that red sauce layer spread the chopped spinach layer already prepared.  Now sprinkle some powdered parmesan cheese over it. On top of this, place the filled cannelloni tubes next to each other. On top of this, now again spread the white sauce followed by red sauce and then sprinkle some parmesan cheese over it. At the top of all this, spread generously mozzarella cheese. Keep the dish in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to bake.

While the baking is in progress, take 2 tsp of olive oil in a pan and heat it and once it is hot, add chopped coloured peppers and sauté for about 2 mins & keep it aside.

Once baking is done, take the tray out & spread sautéed pepper over it and cut it and serve it hot.

Preparation for this dish is quite lengthy and hence, requires patience. But at the end of it, you will feel that it was worth the effort since it really tastes yummy!

As always, if you like it and end up making this, do email me, I would love to hear how you liked the Cannelloni Pasta modified in my way!           

Bon Appetit!

One of today’s most trending topics that can be heard about literally everywhere is the Facebook scandal. To those who don’t know about this, Facebook is facing investigations on multiple fronts after revelations that data on 50 million users were improperly harvested by an analytics firm used by Donald Trump’s campaign. 

Let’s face it! Facebook is a mess and so is the group of people trying to persuade you to delete or move over from Facebook as they did to Myspace.  That’s the easy take and, honestly, we’ve experienced this mob response before. Did you #DeleteFacebook then? Me neither.

Now I am not for the actions of Facebook but let us not disregard the number of advantages such a social networking site has brought to us. A majority of the online population use Facebook, which means switching over to a new social networking domain would require us to start from scratch. I think it’s worth considering a more measured approach. The sky might be falling, but you can still be a lot smarter about social media—what data you share with it and what data you let third-party apps and services see—without opting out of social networking entirely. There’s still some good left in Facebook. Let’s consider all our options before doing anything rash.

Should you really delete Facebook this time? Maybe. If you’re overly concerned about Facebook’s data-collection practices (or how the data you thought you entrusted to Facebook suddenly ends up in the hands of entities you’ve never heard of), you’ll probably feel a lot better if you start distancing yourself from the social network. It’s healthier, too. You could stop using the social media domain altogether, or deactivate your account altogether. (of course, after backing up your pictures and (memories)

BUT WAIT!!

Before you nuke your account, or even try to reduce your reliance on Facebook, there are a number of steps you also can take to retain the benefits of social networking with a lot more data privacy. Besides, even deleting your account isn’t going to retract the data you already let other sites and services have access to. To those who are also adamant to hate on Facebook’s actions (which can be completely justified), you can both be irritated by Facebook and also be a regular user. But Howwww?

1) LIMIT THE DATA FACEBOOK KNOWS ABOUT YOU

I hate putting my birthday on Facebook because I find it annoying to get “happy birthdayyyyy!!!!!!” messages from people I never interact with the other 364 days of the year. The same principle can easily apply to data security. Are you gaining anything by telling Facebook your birthday? If not, remove it. Does Facebook really need to know your work email? Probably not. Your address? Nope. The location of every place you visit? Doubtful. Consider your life’s details need-to-know; while Facebook is great for sharing pictures of your cats, maybe it doesn’t need a dossier on you—at least not one you deliver it yourself. 

2) DISCONNECT APPS ACCESS TO FACEBOOK WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THEM

Facebook wants as much information as it can get about you, your friends, and everyone you know. This allows the service to more effectively serve you advertising. You won’t win this cat-and-mouse game, but you can at least offer a little resistance to Facebook’s efforts.

On the same page where you pruned Facebook apps from being able to access your data, click “Edit” under Apps, Websites and Plugins to turn off Facebook’s ability to integrate with all third-party apps and websites—the nuclear bomb of approaches. You’ll lose the ability to log into other entities using Facebook, and any data you’ve already shared with other apps and websites is still theirs to do with as they please, but you’ll at least put a slightly larger lock around your data.

3) LIMIT THE INFORMATION THIRD-PARTY SITES AND SERVICES CAN ACCESS

If you still want to be able to use Facebook on some other applications you trust, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has some excellent advice:

 “…there is another setting that can help: limiting the personal information accessible by apps that others use. By default, other people who can see your info can bring it with them when they use apps, and your info becomes available to those apps. You can limit this as follows.”

On the same page as before, look for the “Apps Others Use” section. Click “Edit,” and you can then be a lot picker about what information your friends can pull into their apps. I would advice to uncheck everything.

4) STOP SIGNING IN WITH FACEBOOK

It’s convenient to press a blue button and log into various sites and services with your Facebook credentials. But when you give other companies access to your Facebook data—which can be quite comprehensive—you’re surrendering control of that information to entities that probably don’t care very much about you or your privacy. Stop doing that. Use a handy password manager to create and keep track of your logins and passwords instead. And if an app demands you sign into Facebook to use it, find an alternative.

5) ENHANCE YOUR BROWSER SECURITY 

To keep Facebook from tracking your activities around the web, all you have to do is grab a simple browser add-on that you should really be using anyway to cut down on annoying advertisements. Install uBlock Origin for Firefox or Chrome and pull up its options menu. Go to the “3rd-party filters” tab and search for “Fanboy’s Social Blocking list.” Activate that.

So, in conclusion don’t give Facebook any other real details about your life unless they’re absolutely necessary for your enjoyment of the service. Basically, treat Facebook like a fancier RSS reader (if that). Extract every bit of usefulness from the service that you can get and give it nothing it can use against you in return. Fair is fair, right?

Fossil fuel or commonly called as Oil is surely nature’s another gift to mankind. As a child, I didn’t realize the significance (like many other things!) of oil and always thought it is just another ‘thing’ that we need in our day-to-day life, like to run our automobiles. Its only when, thanks to my introduction to the Economics subject, I realized that oil, which I thought is ‘just another thing’, is in fact, the lifeline of many economies on this planet. According to some statistics, almost half of the world’s oil reserves are concentrated in the Middle Eastern region which made me wonder if there is a connection between the desert and the oil reserves since most parts of the Middle Eastern region comprise of deserts. According to experts, it takes millions of years for the oil to form and hence, the oil reserves that we see today would have started forming millions of years ago. Therefore, the climatic conditions of the regions where we find the oil today millions of years ago are important than it’s climatic condition today. Also, a substantial amount of oil reserves ae are found in locations which are not deserts, like Venezuela or Canada. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that the desert is as random a location to find oil as it is elsewhere! Well, that’s not the intent of this article of mine; just wanted to write about oil price and dependency of the Middle Eastern economy on the oil price. Looks like I am getting a bit carried away with too much of geology stuff! Now back on track! The Middle East region consists of several countries and there is some ambiguity around the definition and the countries included in the region. I am not getting myself dragged into that, instead of focusing only on those major oil-producing countries of the region and whose economies are predominantly oil revenue dependent, viz., Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar & Oman. Although, in the last few years a lot of emphases is given on diversification of the economy and become less reliant on oil, still on a substantial part of their revenue comes from oil (and hence, risky as well!). Therefore, it’s no brainer that currently, the economic strength of these counties still largely dependent upon the ‘right’ oil prices. I deliberately used the term right oil price with an intention to say that it should be RIGHT both for oil-producing as well as oil-importing countries & will talk about this in the later part of the blog. When we look at the recent history, the oil prices were generally on the upward trend from the early 2002 until mid-2008 (ignoring the minor spikes during this period) when the price reached over USD 150 per Bbl followed by steep downward trend from mid-2008 to early 2009 with the price reaching below USD 50 at the beginning of 2009. Oil prices quickly recovered to reach around USD 80 by mid-2009 and although didn’t reach the peak of mid-2008 level, stayed within a price range of USD 80 – USD 120 until later part 2014 (around USD 100 most part of this period). Then comes the most recent oil price crash reaching as low as USD 30 per Bbl at the beginning of 2016. As of now, although, the oil prices are on the recovery mode since mid-2016, they we are far away from the historical level (I am not, even for a moment, saying that oil prices should stay at that peak!)

Now let’s correlate these changes in the oil prices to some economic indicators of these countries during these periods of change. To avoid a large amount of data crunching, I will narrow down to some basic economic indicators, i.e., GDP growth, Public Spending and Government Budget Balance of these countries to see the direct impact of the oil prices on these economies. As per the data provided some international agencies like the CIA World Book or the word Bank, GDP of most of these countries grew during the period corresponding to the period during which the oil prices were in the higher bracket and slowed down during the period of lower oil process with the exceptions to this trend from Iraq & Iran. The main reason for the exception in case of Iraq is the prevailing political situation of that country whereas in case of Iran, it is the impact of international sanctions and also Iran’s reduced dependency on oil revenue, ie., about 23% of the GDP, in comparison to the other middle eastern countries where it is in the range of 30% to 50% in case of others. Similar trends can also be seen in case of Public Spending and Budget Balance which show increased spending and budget surpluses during the period of higher oil prices and reduced spending and lower budget surpluses or budget deficits during the lower oil prices which, substantiates the correlation between the oil price and these indicators. Further, the higher overall economic growth rate of over 5% seen in this region has slumped to about 1% in recent years where the prices are lower. But I am not trying to say that everything is doom and gloom here. In the past few years, these countries have been working hard on diversifying their economies to reduce their reliance on oil and move towards a knowledge-based economy. Some of them have achieved substantial success in this direction (for example Iran whose 80% of GDP was from oil in early 2000 which is brought down to about 23% now. Similarly, UAE from 80% to 30% now) and some are countries are slowly but surely getting there (in case of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar & Oman, 42 50% of the GDP is from Oil). These countries are focusing on the development of other sectors like services (example: banking), trading, agriculture, minerals, manufacturing, tourism, free trade zones, renewable energy, etc. and these efforts are certainly yielding the desired results. Most of the Middle Eastern countries with the exception of Iran had no taxations until recently and some of these countries have introduced taxation of different types. Oman has already introduced corporate taxation a few years ago and Kuwait levies taxes on foreign-owned corporates. Introduction of Excise duties on tobacco & liquor, agreement on the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) by the GCC member countries are efforts in shoring up the government revenues to reduce the reliance on oil. Government subsidies predominantly for energy, housing, healthcare, education & other essentials, as a social welfare measure, are common in the Middle Eastern countries. These subsidies obviously form a substantial part of the government budget outlay (about 10% of GDP according to some estimates) and these governments have already taken steps to reduce and/or abolish some of these subsidies to reduce the burden on the exchequer. All these steps in the right direction are already yielding the desired results and reducing the oil dependency of these countries gradually. Dubai (an emirate in the United Arab Emirate) is a classic example of this success story. Oil revenue which used to contribute almost half Dubai’s GDP now contributes only a mere 5%. Dubai’s economy now largely depends upon banking, hospitality, shipping, and retail & real estate sectors. In the near term, however, it is expected that these countries, in general, will continue to depend on oil to support their budgets. Does this mean that from the point of view of these countries ‘higher oil price’ is the solution? Certainly not, it may help in the short term but in the long run, it is likely to impact the oil prices negatively. Higher oil prices hurt the global economy as a whole since, it negatively impacts the economies of the major oil-importing countries like United States of America, China, India, Japan, etc., leading to the possible reduction in demand and thereby price crash among other things. All the oil-producing countries including the Middle Eastern countries are aware of this fact and hence, they only advocate for a fair oil price rather than a high oil price. But the fundamental question that bothers me is the reason for the oil price volatility that we have been seeing historically. I am not really convinced that it is only the economic factors that drive oil prices. While I understand that the market forces like the demand and supply do impact the price of any commodity including oil, somehow, I am not fully convinced that it is always and only the case, unless I am missing something (quite possible). For example, I am trying to understand what economic factors that changed substantially in the 2H of 2014 when the price dropped from USD 110 Bbl to USD 50 Bbl! Obviously, there are factors like geopolitical situations, heavy trading in futures, potential risks associated with production and supply, etc. But I am sure there is something more that I am not aware at this stage and hence, I will keep it for ‘another day’!

Thought of sharing the recipe for a dish I made and loved! 

Jalapeno poppers are without a doubt one of the most delicious finger foods known to man! These glossy green chili peppers are renowned worldwide for their mild heat and tasty flavor. They are wonderful when deep-fried, full of cheese. Paired with that stalwart of burger joints, the onion ring, we are reaching dizzying new heights of deliciousness.

 Ingredients:

• 2/3 medium white onions
• 2 cups cream cheese
• 2 cups grated cheddar
• 3 jalapenos, finely diced
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 cups plain flour
• 4 eggs, beaten with a little milk
• 2 cups seasoned panko breadcrumbs

 Directions:

1. Peel the outer skin off the onions and trim both ends. Cut into 3/4 rings and separate into chunks.
2. In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese, cheddar, jalapenos, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
3. Lay the onion rings on a lined baking sheet and spoon the jalapenos popper mix into them, smoothing it down with a spoon. Pop them in the freezer for around 2 to 3 hours until they feel solid to the touch.
4. Heat the oil until it reaches 170°C/340°F.
5. Take them out and cover them completely in flour, then egg (shaking off excess) then finally the seasoned breadcrumbs.
6. Fry them in batches of three for around 3 – 4 minutes until crispy and cooked through.

I hope you found this helpful. If you do end up making this, do email me, I would love to see how things turned out.                                           

Bon Appetit!