Eggplant Fry or Potato Fry!!

 

This time when I went to Canada, I prepared some vegetarian dishes and one of them was Eggplant fry and Potato fry. To my surprise people liked it and asked me for a recipe. It was long pending and now here is a simple vegetarian recipe of Eggplant fry or Potato Fry!

I learned it in Assam. Usually it is a Bengali recipe. I had a colleague who was Bengali when I used to work in Assam. Some times she used to make this. I liked this simple recipe. The same recipe can be applied for any fruit vegetable fry. It is very simple but delicious.

 Contents: Eggplants, Potatoes, Turmeric, Salt, Mustered Oil (Whatever Oil you use daily).

Recipe: Take fresh eggplants or big potatoes. Cut the eggplant or potato into circular pieces. Take turmeric (1 tea spoon) and salt (1/2 tea spoon) and create a mixture of turmeric and salt.

 Roll the circular pieces of eggplant or potato in the mixture one by one so that the pieces would get covered with the turmeric and salt mixture. After rolling all the pieces in the mixture take a frying pan and put 1 tea spoon oil in it and keep it for heating on the stove.

 Slowly put the eggplant or potato pieces into the frying pan. Put the stove at low flame and do not allow the oil to be overheated. Just shallow fry the pieces and put lid onto the frying pan. After 3-4 mins take out the lead and turn the eggplant or potato pieces.

 You will observe the change in color of the pieces and they get cooked. One can see the softness by putting a pointed tip of a knife into the pieces. The fries will be ready to serve.

One can serve these fries as a starter or one can eat it as a main dish with white rice.This can also be fried in the grill with less oil.

Meeting with a Musician!

With Eileen and Steve (Curtsy: David Ernest)

During our this time's visit to New Liskeard I met some interesting people to whom I did not meet in my first visit. Eileen is one of them. I was introduced to Eileen by my father-in-law for learning auto-harp an musical instrument I have never seen or heard about in India. When Eileen was trying to teach me auto-harp, she noticed my interest in musical instruments. So suggested visiting a voluntary musician, Mr Steve Smyth, staying in the nearby town Cobalt.

Steve talking about Sitar (Curtsy: David Ernest)

She also mentioned about his shop with nature's gift articles but main attraction was to see him playing Sitar, an Indian musical instrument. So, I, Eileen and my father-in-law we visited Steve. The interesting thing about him is that he can play many string instruments and compose music by using electronic tracks of various instruments. Basically he is a businessman but his interest for music goes back to his childhood. He learned most of the instruments on his own. He used to collect nature articles like various jewellery items created out of stones, clothing from various countries, gift articles and used to sell them in Canada.

Steve Symth playing Guitar (Curtsy: David Ernest)

He had been to various east Asian countries like Tibet, Taiwan, China as well as European countries and South American countries like Bali.

Curtsy: David Ernest

During his visits he also got interested in mining. He not only brought the natural articles but also made himself familiar with the culture, philosophy and of course musical instruments. Incidentally, he has never been to India but has got one Sitar and he plays it very well. When we entered in his shop "Nature's Gift" we saw variety of stone Jewellery, gift articles and clothing from Bali.  He showed us various kinds of stones and artifacts he has brought from different countries. This shop is open only for summer. When we entered into his music studio room we were mesmerized by seeing the variety of instruments he has. He has Sitar, Banjo, some Tibetian instruments, various kinds of Guitars, Dulcimer etc. He also had an electronic music synthesizer. His main passion is music, which he has developed since his childhood. He said that he hardly got any formal training of these instruments. He got his Sitar from one of his friends in Toronto. Not a single corner of his house/studio/shop wall was uncovered. Everywhere you could see either an instrument or wall hangings especially of Tibetian designs or gift articles or cloths.

Me trying hands on Dulcimer (Curtsy: David Ernest)

He learned Sitar only for a few days and then developed the skill on his own. He always preferred to learn a piece of music and then use it for improvisations. He always use his creativity when he learns any instruments and create a new piece of art. He also offers lessons in these musical instruments. At present some students are learning different instruments from him by taking one-to-one lessons. He explained us how various music pieces can be created. It is clearly a game of patterns, loops and their effective use.

Curtsy: David Ernest

He always teaches his students to improvise and create their own music pieces by using the available ones. He has a YouTube Chanel named GlobeTone, where he has uploaded many of his creations.
His first wife was a music therapist. So, another reason he was interested in various instruments and exploring them was to use them for music therapy. He showed us Tibetian music instruments such as "Tal (Zanja)" and  vessels of different circular sizes and different weights. He mentioned that the vessels were brought from India and were made in Assam. It was told to him that the metal used in these vessels were taken from canon shells. I used to work in Assam and I know that it is very common in Assam to use vessels made by mixture of some metals. The mixture is called Kans and it certainly contains metals like Bronze, Copper, small portion of iron etc. The experts may be able to provide accurate information. These instruments mostly are used by religious and spiritual people.

Tibetian Music Instrument (Curtsy: The Web)

He added that it is believed that the sound of Zanja is used for chasing away the ghosts and spirits. In north eastern India and probably in Tibet the belief about ghosts and spirits is more. It is quiet possible that these instruments must be used for that purpose. However, being an Indian when I saw these instruments it reminded me the bells in our temples which certainly has a different sound than church bells and the use of Zanja in Bhajan singing.

Steve demonstrating the Bell playing (Curtsy: David Ernest)

It certainly has a soothing effect on our mind. He uses all these instruments for Music Therapy, Reki and Pranik healing techniques. Although he is born Christian, he likes Buddhism and Confucianism. Rarely we get to see such people who live for their passion, I feel much appreciation for such people who truly explore their life in various directions. Best wishes Steve.   

Beautiful Faces!!

For my non-Marathi friends I am trying to write the meaning of this beautiful poem composed by a well known Marathi poet Mr B. B. Borkar. My English is not that great but it is my small attempt to share a very good poetry!! The parts of Marathi poems are also given together with English meaning.



देखणे ते चेहरे -बा. भ. बोरकर.
Beautiful Faces (Poet: Mr B. B. Borkar)


देखणे ते चेहरे
जे प्रांजळाचे आरसे ।
गोरटे की सावळे
या मोल नाही फारसे ॥
The faces, which are genuine, despite of their color, are the beautiful faces!

तेच डोळे देखणे
जे कोंडीती सार्‍या नभा ।
वोळिती दुःखे जनांच्या
सांडिती नेत्रप्रभा ॥
The eyes, which are visionary and feel sorry by seeing others’ misery, are the beautiful eyes!


देखणे ते ओठ की जे
ओविती मुक्ताफळॆ ।
आणि ज्यांच्या लाघवाने
सत्य होते कोवळे ॥
The lips, which speak well and by whose sweetness truth becomes tender, are the beautiful lips!

देखणे ते हात ज्यांना
निर्मितीचे डोहळे ।
मंगलाने गंधलेले
सुंदराचे सोहळॆ ॥
The hands, which are creative and are engaged in activities exhibiting fragrance of purity, are the beautiful hands!

देखणी ती पाऊले
जी ध्यासपंथे चालती ।
वाळवंटातूनसुद्धा
स्वस्तिपद्मे रेखिती ॥
The foot-steps, which are walking the path of a mission and even if walking through desert, they leave good footprints, are the beautiful foot-steps!

देखणे ते स्कंध ज्या ये
सूळ नेता स्वेच्छया ।
लाभला आदेश प्राणां
निश्चये पाळावया ॥
The arms, which carry the burden willingly and follow the order with conviction, are the beautiful arms!


देखणी ती जीवने
जी तॄप्तीची तीर्थोदके ।
चांदणॆ ज्यातुन वाहे
शुभ्र पार्‍यासारखे ॥
The lives, which are content and are full of light, are the beautiful lives!

देखणा देहान्त तो
जो सागरी सुर्यास्तसा ।
अग्निचा पेरुन जातो
रात्रगर्भी वारसा ॥
The death, which is like a sunset and which leaves the light of motivation in the darkness, is the beautiful death!

Free Online Courses: An Experiment with Quality Education!!

The creation of online courses and content for e-learning has become a big industry, but good education is becoming more and more expensive. Hence, universities like MIT undertook to create OCW (Open Courseware) in order to make their high-quality education available to students all over the world who are unable to study at these universities. This was the beginning of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. In India, we have the National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), through which video lectures by well known IIT professors are made available freely over the Web. In this article, I give information about a bold experiment in distributed learning by well known professors from Stanford University, and also share some of the opinions I have formed on the basis of my own experience with these courses.

        From October to December 2011, Stanford professors offered free online courses on three topics: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (basic and advanced track) https://www.ai-class.com/, Introduction to Machine Learning (basic and advanced track) http://www.ml-class.org/course/auth/welcome , and Introduction to Databases http://www.db-class.org/course/auth/welcome . All the course content was offered through small video clips uploaded on the course website. By using a login ID and password, participants could assess the content together with assessment exercises, programming assignments, and exams. More than 1,00,000 students enrolled from all over the world for the AI course, and around 70,000 students for the Machine Learning course. There was no restriction on participation based on educational qualification; however, some pre-requisite video links were given as a reference for those who wanted to prepare themselves for the class. In the Machine Learning course, the required mathematical concepts were covered in separate videos, but their study was optional rather than mandatory. Ages of participants ranged from 18 to 72 years.

     Watching only video lectures, without interaction with instructors or assessment of work, is a passive kind of learning. Many students have a very short attention span; watching an hour-long video to learn one concept has been found to be not very useful. For getting a certificate through online courses, there needs to be a rigorous formative and summative assessment. The Stanford courses were designed according to teaching methods suggested by educational psychologists. For example, in the Artificial Intelligence class every module contained 2 to 3 units, and each unit was divided into 25 to 30 small video clips, each from 30 seconds to 3 minutes long (one week was given for completing a module). The clips introduced the concept by asking questions based on previous knowledge, then taught the concept, and finally assessed the student's performance. For basic track, participants needed to view the video clips and do review exercises; for advanced track, participants were expected to complete homework as well as mid-term and final exams. Formative assessment during the content video clips was supported by immediate feedback designed to improve the student's understanding of the material. At the end of each unit (there were 2-3 units per week), there was a summative assessment, each containing 6-9 questions. Interaction of participants with the course website was tracked. There were several forums available for discussing the course's concepts and participants' difficulties. Although assessment was for objective questions, explanatory videos (feedback) were also available for formative and summative assessments. A large team of assistants from the relevant departments of Stanford University was supporting the entire process round the clock during the 16 weeks of the course schedule, to make this experiment successful. Mistakes found in the videos were rectified, once brought to the attention of the team. Sufficient time was given for learning the content and completing the homework assignments. Sometimes the server crashed, but it would be quickly repaired, and submission dates accordingly extended. For AI, 23% of participants made it through and acquired a certificate of accomplishment from the Stanford professors who were involved in conducting the courses. The mark distribution for the advanced track was 30% for homework, 30% for the midterm exam, and 40% for the final exam. A total of 72 hours were given for completing the midterm and final exams. Participants could submit their solutions to the system many times before the deadline. For the Machine Learning advanced track, participants needed to do programming exercises in order to implement the taught algorithms. During this formative assessment, detailed feedback was provided so that students could learn from their mistakes. Review exercises were designed to check the student's understanding, and the student had a hundred chances to complete them. Participants were encouraged to get a 100% score in each review exercise; a certificate of accomplishment was given to those participants who scored above 80%.

      Excellent as these courses were, I personally felt that there were two inadequacies. Firstly, I sometimes had difficulty understanding the accent of some of the professors. Secondly, some of the examples and games that were used may be said to be culture specific (I was unfamiliar with some of the games), but I was able to overcome this problem by searching the Internet. In preparing these online courses, the possibilities of information technology were used to the full: in the AI course, there used to be weekly live office hours during which professors could meet participants online and interact with them. It was not exactly a real-time synchronous learning experience, but it represented a good combination of synchronous and asynchronous e-learning. Some participants complained that in the forum of the Machine Learning course only questions which had high ratings received answers, which limited the interaction. There are various reasons why not all of the enrolled participants were able to finish, but there can be no doubt that anyone who managed to complete the course was hugely benefited by it. One needs commitment and self-motivation to complete such online courses with rigor. Other than actually studying with them in their regular university courses, this is the best way to learn from these experts in their fields. The exercises were quite original, and answers were not found on the Web, which is a key factor in maintaining the quality and objectivity of the assessment.

      An introductory course on programming a Web search engine and a course on programming a self-driving car are going to be offered by Prof. Sebastian Thrun over about seven weeks beginning on 20^th February 2012. For the search engine programming course, no prior knowledge of programming is needed. The website for enrolling in the courses is: http://www.udacity.com/ . The plan, in due course, is to create a virtual university which will exploit the full capacities of information technology and the World Wide Web to offer high quality education in an inexpensive way. Lecturers and teachers will also benefit from these courses, since they will offer them another arena in which to hone their own skills.