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Rejuvenating massages, in-depth consultations, organic menus… domestic travellers are embracing wellness holidays to satiate their wanderlust, and counter the harrowing effects of 2020
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Category: Movies & Lifestyle News
Satiate your sweet tooth with this delicious choco lava pudding
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Had a hectic day today? Worry not, a chocolate-filled dessert is all you need to feel relaxed.
This easy recipe by chef Meghna Kamdar is full of delicious ingredients and requires no eggs or oven to prepare. So, try this easy recipe at home and satisfy your chocolate cravings today.
Ingredients
1 cup – Plain flour
5 tbsp -Unsweetened dark cocoa powder
½ cup – Powder sugar (grind in mixie/ icing or caster sugar – optional)
1.5 tsp – Baking powder
4 tbsp – Melted butter
½ cup – Milk
1 tsp – Instant coffee powder
½ cup – White sugar
½ cup – Brown sugar (optional – can be replaced with white sugar)
¾ cup – Hot water
Method
Take a mixing bowl, add 1 cup plain flour (maida/take half of atta and half of maida), 2 tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder, ½ cup powdered sugar (grind in mixie/ icing or caster sugar – optional), 1.5 tsp baking powder, 4 tbsp melted butter, ½ cup milk diluted with 1 tsp instant coffee powder and mix well with the help of spoon (avoid using hand/electric beater).
Place batter in a tray and spread it even.
To make lava, take a mixing bowl and add ½ cup white sugar, ½ cup brown sugar (optional – can be replaced with white sugar), 3 tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder, ¾ cup hot water and mix it.
Pour this mixture gently in the tray over the batter.
Keep the tray in a pan/vessel pre-heated for 20 minutes.
Place a stand in it (you can also make a salt layer).
Cover the lid and cook for 40-45 mins on low-medium flame. (After 35-40 mins, touch on the surface if it turns dry then it’s properly cooked).
Rest for a while and bring it to room temperature.
Then cut it into squares and place it on a serving plate.
Top with some ice cream, pour some lava, place strawberry and mint leaves.
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Meet the auto driver from Chennai whose passengers include dogs, birds and the occasional calf
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N Basker also has a Facebook page called Help Voiceless, which people reach out to in times of need
N Basker is an auto driver. But on most days, his passengers are furry four-legged creatures. The Chennai auto driver is an animal lover and comes to the rescue of pet parents, when autos and cabs refuse to carry animals.
“In such a situation the pet owner is often distressed. Especially in the case of an injured animal, there is bound to be blood and waste matter. I have no qualms about these issues or cleaning up and I gladly ferry them to and from their destination,” says the 42-year-old, who started the pet auto service in 2019.
Over the years, his service has picked up momentum, and aiding the process is Help Voiceless, his Facebook page which people reach out to in times of need.
There have been numerous instances where Basker has received SOS calls from people informing him about an injured puppy or cat. And no matter where he is, he says he always races to the spot — whether it is Mamallapuram or OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road) in peak traffic.
A resident of Mandaveli, Basker says the distance does not matter; what does is the animal. He is a regular at clinics, animal hospitals and organisations such as BMAD (Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary) where he is often seen rushing in with an injured or abandoned pet. “A friend taught me how to handle animals that are hurt and comfort them,” he adds. So far, more than 200 animals have been in his auto, including birds and the occasional clueless calf.
“I’m particularly attached to street dogs, as they do not have a family,” says Basker. “I’d love to have my own pets but I live in a rented house,” he adds. However, that does not stop him from fussing over the dogs around his locality. Every day he feeds around five dogs a meal of chicken and rice.
Even if he has not had a great day in terms of income, he does not let that affect their meal. “I get rice from the ration shop for ₹5 a kilogram and chicken legs for ₹10 for 10 pieces [the butcher shops give him a special rate],” he says, “It is not a big deal!”
Connect with Basker on 9445159587.
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Playback singer Nithya Mammen’s scores a hit with ‘Alaare Neeyenile…’ from the film ‘Member Rameshan 9aam Ward’
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Nithya Mammen is surprised by the response to her Malayalam song ‘Alaare Neeyenile…’
Singer Nithya Mammen is riding high on the success of her recently-released song, ‘Alaare Neeyenile…’ from Malayalam film Member Rameshan 9aam Ward. The film, due for release last year, is scheduled to hit theatres soon. “When the song was done, I liked it and I knew people would like it but not this much. My inbox is filled with covers of that song,” she says.
The song is her second outing with composer Kailas Menon; she made her debut as playback singer in Edakkad Battalion 06 (2019) for which he composed music. Another song of hers that did well is ‘Vathikkalu Vellaripravu…’ from Sufiyum Sujathayum. She has also sung the Tamil and Telugu versions of the song.
Nithya landed her first song rather serendipitously when Menon called her to sing the track (dummy version of the song) of ‘Hima Mazhayayi Varu…’ in Edakkad…
“His mother came across a video of me singing; she told him about me, and that’s how he asked me for voice demos, thus leading to my first break.”
Producer Sandra Thomas and Menon liked what they heard and retained Nithya’s version.
Though lockdown brought the film industry to a standstill, Nithya is happy about the chances she has had.
“I got to work with music director M Jayachandran (Sufiyum Sujathayum) and Ishaan Chabbra for Abrid Shine’s Kung Fu Master. Both were such wonderful opportunities; with Chabbra, the work was done remotely. I sang the song with Karthik and though we did not ‘sing together’, it is an experience I’m happy about.”
It is not all film music; she recently sang for music director Mejjo Joseph’s single, ‘Mayathe’, along with Harish Sivaramakrishnan.
She has been singing covers for her YouTube channel for a while, though she confesses that it did not have many viewers. All that changed post her playback debut. “‘Hima Mazhavayi Varu’ changed everything.”
Music is not new to her, she has always been singing and even has her own YouTube channel, which she started a few years ago. She sang covers on it and on which, she confesses, didn’t have too many people listening. But it blew up after her debut, “Until then not too many were listening, but ‘Hima Mazhayayi Varu…’ changed everything,” she says.
Nithya had been learning Hindustani music back home in Thiruvananthapuram; which she took up again on moving to Kochi, with Bernie of composer duo Bernie-Ignatius.
Singing, which started as a hobby, has taken a front seat for this architect. She says, “I have not quit architecture altogether; I take up freelance projects now.”
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Game of straws: eco variants to explore this Global Recycling Day
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Homegrown brands are now experimenting with everything from rice and wheat to tapioca and the castor plant
This won’t surprise anyone: plastic straws are one of the top 10 most commonly found items in coastal clean-ups the world over. But it is also the easiest pro-environment switch you can make in your personal life — either go without them or choose from the variety of eco-friendly, sustainable options out there.
There’s bamboo, steel, paper, and even edible variants. While each has its own advantages, none has garnered wide-scale appeal yet. Perhaps because some can’t hold warm liquids, while others require frequent cleaning.
Now with 170 nations, including India, pledging to significantly reduce using plastics by 2030, we are seeing a surge in eco straw alternatives. And homegrown brands aren’t far behind.
(clockwise from top left) the coconut palm leaf straws and Manigandan Kumarappan
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Coconut Palm Leaf straws at Evlogia Eco Care, Bengaluru
Coconut palm leaves turn into straws at this Bengaluru-based start-up founded by Manigandan Kumarappan in 2019. Employing women self-help groups and farmers, the company makes close to 10,000 straws a day with raw materials coming in from their collection centres in Madurai, Palani and Nagercoil. The patented straws are made only from fallen leaves and come in different varieties for thick shakes, cocktails and tetrapaks, too.
Mastering the process wasn’t easy, admits Kumarappan. “As the raw material doesn’t go through any chemical treatment, it is susceptible to fungus and mould growth. We tackled this by introducing a multi-step cleaning, drying and packaging process,” he says. They currently supply to restaurants and cafés in Bengaluru, such as Bohemians and Chai Days. Kumarappan adds that the non-uniformity of the leaves was another hurdle that they worked on for over a year. “We altered our machines to accommodate these variations and produce uniform straws.”
Coming up: wild grass straws, coffee cup lids, and takeaway containers made from fallen areca sheaths.
₹149 for a pack of 50, on amazon.in and evlogiaeco.com
Pros: Sturdy, and can be used for more than two hours in both hot and cold liquids
Cons: A whiff of coconut remains on the straws, which are costlier than its plastic and paper counterparts
Castor straws at Eco-Friendly Straws, Bengaluru
To give people a low-cost alternative to plastic straws, civil-engineer-turned-politico Shiva Manjesh and his two friends started an initiative to create straws from the castor plant. The first-of-its-kind creation was initially met with confused looks, as “no one understood our idea”, says Manjesh, who conferred with scientists, agricultural universities, and farmers to finalise the process. After several trials, the CFTRI-certified straws (available as fresh and dried) were launched in 2018 and have been distributed to several tender coconut vendors and juice shops in and around Bengaluru.
Taking me through the process, he explains that after they collect the stems of the castor plant, these are washed with hot water, disinfected with salt water (to get rid of insects), and then cut into various sizes and packed. “We have currently sent samples to the Northeast and countries like the UK and Australia, as I am looking at setting up franchises,” he adds.
₹1 each. Details: facebook.com/ecofriendlystraws
Pros: Reusable, sturdy, cost-effective
Cons: A faint aroma of castor
(clockwise from left) Shashank Gupta and snapshots of the edible straws
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Edible wheat/rice straws at Nom, Maharashtra
The plastic crisis, and the rise in the use of disposable cutlery, is what prompted Simran Rajput and Shashank Gupta to create edible straws. “Nom straws are to drinks what waffle cones are to the ice creams,” says Gupta, who launched the brand in November 2019, adding that they started off with experiments with a jelly-like substance derived from seaweed. But there were “issues with room temperature storage and its structural integrity, so we switched to ingredients such as wheat and rice flour, natural stevia, sugar, vegetable oil and cocoa powder, among others. The lack of funds and R&D facilities were the biggest challenges”, he says.
The plant-based straws — that remain crunchy for up to 20 minutes in your lukewarm beverage — come in six flavours: Strawberry Rose, Coffee Java, Crunchy Vanilla, Mint Blast, Lime Pinch and their latest launch, Choco Lust. “Flavours aside, the straws are also customisable in terms of size — for milkshakes, bubble tea, etc. We are also working on gluten-free versions.”
What sets Nom apart from other sustainable options in the market is that they add value to the consumer. “The straw becomes an add-on to the beverage, as a snack,” he says. Now in the final stages of a pilot with Marriott Hotels, Radisson and other hospitality brands, their upcoming launches include new flavours for children and ice cream spoons.
₹200 onwards, on thenom.in
Pros: No wastage, interesting flavours
Cons: Expensive, not gluten-free
Rice straws at Smaart Eats, Bengaluru
The latest entrant in the edible cutlery market is Vishal Ladha, who launched Smaart Eats last September with rice straws. “We wanted to start our production in March, but the pandemic hit. So we used the lockdown period to work on our ingredients and tried several combinations with wheat flour, corn flour and a 100% rice base. The best combination was rice with tapioca as the starch is a great binding agent,” he says. Edible and durable — they last for up to an hour in any drink (cold or at room temperature) — Ladha assures that they won’t change the flavour of any beverage. The straws are coloured with a range of plant-based extracts such as beetroot, carrot, and pumpkin. “Initially, we only made white straws, but after brands approached us to customise them, we launched the coloured variants,” says Ladha, who is supplying to restaurants across the country, including The Bar Stock Exchange and franchises of Mainland China in Mumbai. This month, he will launch a new range of products: honey, organic spices, Fine Bone China tea sets, etc., and looks forward to taking his straws to more restaurants.
₹2 onwards on smaarteats.com
Pros: Sturdy
Cons: Not suitable for hot beverages
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Hariharan Gets His First Dose of Covid Vaccine
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Veteran singer Hariharan on Wednesday got his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The 65-year-old singer took to Instagram in the afternoon to share a photograph of himself with the words “I am vaccinated” written in the background.
“Finally got my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and I feel great! Kudos to the doctors and scientists who have worked meticulously to strengthen our front in the fight against the pandemic. I urge all those eligible to get the vaccine as soon as possible and join the fight! #beatcovid19,” Hariharan wrote.
Recently, veteran actor Anupam Kher got his first dose of the vaccine and shared on Instagram: “Got my #COVID19 first dose vaccination!! Thank you all the doctors, medical staff, scientist and Govt. Of India for making it possible. India Rocks. Jai Ho!”
Several celebrities, who have got their first dose of the vaccine have posted about it on social media, in order to spread awareness.
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Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain Completes 1500 Episodes, Shubhangi Atre, Aasif Sheikh and Others Celebrate
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Television show Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain recently completed 1500 successful episodes. The cast of the show celebrated the occasion with cake-cutting. The cake had “1500 congratulations from &TV team” written on it.
Shubhangi Atre, Rohitashv Gour, Aasif Sheikh and the other cast members of the show were present during the cake-cutting. Nehha Pendse, who recently joined the show as Anita Bhabi, was missing from the celebrations.
Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai was launched in 2015 and since then both the lead actresses have been replaced. Subhangi took over Shilpa Shinde’s role, whereas Nehha is seen in the role played by Saumya Tandon. While Shilpa played Angoori Bhabi for one year, Saumya was part of the show for five years.
Meanwhile, on joining the show as Anita Bhabi, “Firstly, I am thrilled to be playing the role. I have made my contributions in the fresh look of Anita Bhabi. The idea was not to create an entirely new look but bring alive my personality with a tinge of freshness to the overall persona of Anita Bhabi. The Indo-western look continues, but the glam quotient and the oomph factor will be a notch higher. I am eagerly looking forward to the audience’s response,” said Nehha.
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Shriya Pilgaonkar: I don’t choose projects out of fear
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Soon to be seen in ‘Haathi Mere Saathi’, Shriya Pilgaonkar asserts that she has a long-term approach to her career in cinema
Director Prabhu Solomon’s Haathi Mere Saathi (Aranya in Telugu and Kaadan in Tamil), the trilingual that’s scheduled to release on March 26, narrates the story of a ‘jungle man’ fighting to save the elephants. The film headlined by Rana Daggubati stars Shriya Pilgaonkar as a news reporter who decides to walk the path of truth and do her bit in the fight for justice.
Also Read | Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. You can subscribe for free here
The film required her and Rana to shoot in all three languages, learning their lines so that the lip-sync wouldn’t be off in any of the languages. So far, Shriya has worked in a French film, Hindi and Marathi films, but this was her first brush with Tamil and Telugu: “I was particular that I won’t speak gibberish,” she says, referring to a shortcut that some film units and actors tend to take. “Dialogues are an important part of your performance and I would learn the lines from the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi writers,” she says, adding that she found the challenge exciting, rather than daunting.
The dense forests are familiar terrain for Prabhu Solomon. One of his earlier films, Kumki, was the story of a pet elephant being made to masquerade as a fighter/kumki elephant. Haathi Mere Saathi, Shriya explains, required the actors to surrender themselves to the director’s vision of narrating a story that talks about the need for humans to respect forest boundaries.
No mobile network
She joined the team when they had completed filming in Thailand and moved to Kerala: “The hotel was a good hour and a half away from the location. We travelled by road to reach the forest zone where there was no mobile network. Being one with Nature helped me get into character. I liked the character graph of Arundhati (her role in the film) who decides to stand her journalistic ground and not bow down to pressure.”
Letting go of urban comforts and roughing it out in the forest region, she says, was rewarding: “Prabhu sir was clear how he wanted to tell this story; he wanted actors who could take that leap of faith and do what was necessary for the film. Stepping into this film after Baahubali, Rana went through a transformation.”
Shriya Pilgaonkar
Haathi Mere Saathi was scheduled to release in April 2020 and got postponed owing to the pandemic. Shriya says the wait will be worth it since this will be an “audio-visual sensory experience where the audience will feel as though they are inside a forest, watching things unfold.”
Shriya got noticed in the mainstream cinema when she acted in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Fan. She then worked in both films and web series, including Mirzapur.
50-year career plan
In her growing years, she had observed her parents Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar straddling television, theatre and cinema. However, she asserts that she never took it for granted that she would be a performer some day. A competitive swimmer, she also began learning Kathak: “Performing in front of people came naturally to me. Then I took to theatre, documentaries and cinema. It happened organically.’
A look at her work so far and it’s obvious that it’s a diverse platter, not dictated by the need to be in a rat race: “Young actors are often told that their careers might last 10 years. I look at a long-term, say a 50-year career. So I don’t choose projects out of fear. I am open to working in films and series in different languages within India and internationally. The language-region divisions are blurring,” she says, signing off.
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Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ to star Sobhita Dhulipala in one of the lead roles
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The film, inspired by the Hindu myth of Hanuman, is set to release on Netflix in 2022
Dev Patel’s directorial debut Monkey Man will star Made in Heaven actress Sobhita Dhulipala, as well as Sharlto Copley and Sikandar Kher.
The film has been bagged by Netflix for a deal in the region of $30M for most worldwide rights, reported Deadline.
Also Read | Get ‘First Day First Show’, our weekly newsletter from the world of cinema, in your inbox. You can subscribe for free here
Monkey Man is partly-inspired by the Hindu myth about the deity Hanuman who is half man, half monkey, and will see Dev Patel play a man who comes out of prison into a world of corporate greed, and take revenge on everyone who wronged him before.
Dev Patel himself wrote the script with Paul Angunawela and his Hotel Mumbai collaborator John Collee, and Netflix is set to release the film in 2022.
The actor, who was most recently seen in The Personal History of David Copperfield, also has The Green Knight set for release next.
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Texas Man Has Donated 120 gallons of Platelets Over 37 Years After Blood Transfusion Saved His Life
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Years ago, an individual started helping people and saving lives by donating platelets. This man from Texas donated his platelets every two weeks for the last 37 years. It was a blood donation which saved Marcos Perez’s life, who was born prematurely. He was inspired tremendously by the transfusion and has been paying it forward ever since.
Perez was still in high school when he donated blood for the first time. He began donating plasma on a regular basis after serving four years in the Air Force. So far, he has paid the donation over 960 times and saved the lives of 3,000 people, according to the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center.
Speaking to CNN, Perez mentioned that it was one of his father’s friends who saved his life. There were no blood banks back then so his dad had to go ask his relatives and other close acquaintances to donate blood for him. Only one man stepped up in the 1960s and that was his father’s co-worker named Tony Aguilar. Perez started donating in 1984, when he was age-wise eligible for it and has been hooked since. He is celebrating his 962nd donation which marked his 120th gallon of blood given.
Instead of whole blood, Perez donates plasma and platelets because it allows him to donate up to 24 times per year. He said that he wishes to continue donating until “they say you can’t.” Perez only hopes others will follow his lead.
The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center plans to recognize Perez and two other 100-plus gallon donors, who have helped save thousands of lives, when they come in to give blood on the same day.
Perez and two others will be also be recognized for hitting another milestone by donating over 100 gallons of platelets to help save lives. “It makes me feel great because I am living proof that blood donations do save lives. If it wasn’t for that one donation I wouldn’t be here celebrating 962 donations,” said Perez. He had the honor of meeting the man who saved his life about seven years ago. Thanks to the blood bank for that. After seeing Perez thank his anonymous donor on television, Aguilar reached out to the blood bank.
Roger Ruiz, corporate communications specialist for nonprofit BioBridge Global told CNN, “One man can’t do it alone. We need to all work together. If we all work together and everybody goes to donate, those shelves will be fully stocked. We don’t all wear capes, but this is one way we can all be heroes for our community.”
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