Bobby Farrell (Boney M )

Boney M's "lead" male "singer" passed away yesterday. Boney M was and still is my most favorite music band. Something I won't be ashamed to admit even when I am 90. The music I listened to during childhood was defined by Boney M. I still remember listening to Boonoonoonoonoos along with my cousin in the gramophone player. Boney M made the sexiest album covers in those days. And the given that the gramophone record album was like a 20 X 20 picture in itself, the cool factor of owning a Boney M record was way up there.

I had wanted to do a post on Boney M for a long time. But kept postponing it. Bobby Farrell news makes me want to renew that attempt again. There are several reasons why I put the "lead" and "singer" in the first sentence of this post in quotes. I don't want to get into the history of Boney M and the controversy around who really sang the male voice. But for whatever role Bobby played in Boney M he deserves to be remembered for providing many our favorite childhood memories. The thick masculine voice of Boney M provided a dimension that was a perfect match for Liz Mitchell's golden voice. [Note: It was later revealed that Frank Farian (the creator of Boney M) was the one who sang that male voice with Bobby just providing lip syncing.]

Here are some of my favorite songs that featured Bobby Farrell. Note that these aren't my favorite Boney M songs overall. Just picking songs that featured Bobby prominently. I deliberately omitted some of the popular Boney M songs such as Ma Baker, Daddy Cool or Brown Girl in the Ring. the purpose was to focus on some of the other great Boney M songs that gets left out because of the over-emphasis on a few selected songs. Only 1 truly 'popular' song is included in the below list because I simply could not resist including it. My actual list of Boney M favorite songs can wait for another day.

8. Gloria can you Waddle

His cool way of saying 'can you waddle ah aah' got me hooked on to this song. I loved the way this song fed into "Baby Do you want to bump".

7. Ride To Agadir

A highly under-rated song from Boonoonoonoonoos. Really one of the best songs of the album. I loved the feeling you get when the drums begin. Just fantastic.

6. Gadada Vida

The electronic voice features again in Boney M's version of Gadada Vida. And the thundering Masculine voice follows.

5. Boonoonoonoos

What a great song. And what a fantastic album. Known for its awesome album cover photograph. But I'll post another version of the video that shows Bobby's dance moves better.

4. Bye Bye Blue Bird

I love it purely for the feel-good effect that this song created. At some point in time I listened to this song everyday for 6-7 months until the cassette died on me.

3. No More Chain Gang

One of the greatest rhythm & percussion combo you will ever hear. And when Bobby does the "looking on the chain gang" part - it just lifts the song to a different level. Listen to a better recording of this song loud volume in a good speaker system. The experience is pure joy.

2. Bahama Mama

One of Boney M's best songs. No other way to put it.

1. Night Flight To Venus/Rasputin

I couldn't resist including a 'popular' Boney M song. This is one of the best songs that Boney M made. usually only the Rasputin part of the song is very popular. Many dont know that Boney M had a loosely followed tradition where their first two songs of the album continued seamlessly without a gap. the beats of Nightflight/Rasputin stays in memory until a person dies.



Special thanks to Arvindh for reviving my Boney M fever in Higher-Secondary School days.

Music in Divya Prabhandhams

Continuing with my the Margazhi tradition of posting on religion/Prabhandhams, here is a fantastic report by Sriram on the topic Music in Divyaprabandhams. Do follow Sriram's blog as that provides the best coverage of both the December Music Season and Madras culture and history in general.

This was the subject of the presentation by Uma Maheshwari on 27th December 2010. Presented in beautiful Tamil, it was a pleasure to hear. Her topic dealt with the fact that though we do not know as to what music the Azhwars had set their compositions to, it cannot be doubted that these were intended as musical pieces and were sung by the composers themselves. It is accepted that the Azhwars lived between the 5th and 10th centuries AD and that their works were rescued from oblivion by Nathamuni who arranged them musically at around the 10th century. 11 of the 12 Azhwars sang of Vishnu while Madurakavi sang of Nammazhwar.

Both Nammazhwar and Tirumangai Azhwar sing of the Lord in musical terms. The 1000 verses of Nammazhwar are known as paNNAr pADal inkavigal and Tirumangai speaks of innisaiyil sonna sengonmAlaigaL. There are similar phrases in the works of Kulashekhara Azhwar and Periyazhwar. There are references to musical terms in 161 places in the divyaprabandams.

The names of paNNs occur in nine places. Those included are kurinji, kAmaram, pAlai and pancamam. The speaker sang verses in kAmaram (which she said was the same as sIkAmaram) and said that these were essentially lullabies. (Several heads in the Experts Committee were nodding in sleep for good measure). She also sang verses in kurinji (same as the raga we know today) and pancamam (similar to Ahiri). The presence of these names has enabled latter day musicians to set the verses to music in the same paNNs.

The 1st publication of the divyaprabandam was in 1865 by Appavu Mudaliar and this gives paNN names. In 1956, 610 pAsurams of Tirumangai were set to music by MM Dandapani Desigar and Dr S Ramanathan and published with swaras. Embar Vijayaraghavachariar has suggested that the paNNs used in the tEvArams could be used for the divya prabandams too as they belong to the same time period.

BM Sundaram asked a number of questions:

- Did Nathamuni set the prabandams to music? (The speaker said that this is gleaned from the works of Melyagaththazhwar and Kizhayagaththazhwar)

- Is kAmaram same as sIkAmaram? (Yes, as gleaned from the ETTutOkai)

- Is the paNN same as raga? (The speaker said yes but Dr SAK Durga intervened and said that we can at best say they are equivalents. paNNs are more melodic progressions and therefore the raga being a later concept, absorbed paNNs into itself. Thus Ahiri contains pancamam paNN but the vice-versa is not true).

I said that Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar should be remembered for his setting the Tiruppavai to music. BM Sundaram said that Namakkal Narasimha Iyengar also should be remembered for the same reason.

Man Madhan Ambu

This was the most boring movie I have seen in several years. It was almost as if the people involved in the movie didn't even want to make this movie. The genre of the movie is confusing even when one walks in with no expectations whatsoever on whether this was a comedy, action, romance, serious drama or slapstick. While a movie need not be slotted in a specific genre and can have a little bit of everything this is not a good example of hw to make such a movie. A movie fundamentally has to entertain. For that it has to be at a minimum interesting. Or at least coherent.

On coherence. Trisha, who plays the role of a movie actress, finds out that her fiance, business tycoon Madhavan, constantly suspects her of infidelity. Madhavan's suspicion causes her to ask that they take a break for a while to cool things off. And then she is shown to be going on this vacation which is what all of this movie is about. You would naturally assume based on the way they present the incidents to us that such a 'break for vacation' happens immediately or 2 months after they decide to take a break. Or maybe after 6 months. Or maybe after 1 year. But we find out that the aforementioned 'taking a break' was done a good 3-years after the incident. I wonder what the two did in the ensuing 3 years. Fight more and propose taking a break repeatedly?

Enter Kamalagasan. Who is employed by Madhavan to spy on Trisha and to verify if she is 'doin it' with someone else on this so called vacation. Now Kamal who plays the same character in every movie he acts as usual portrays a self-righteous and the most flawless person imaginable. He is the most selfless person who takes on this assignment to save a friend (mustafa sentiment check). The friend is suffering from - what else - cancer (dangerous disease - check). Ramesh Arvindh is the friend (Same drama troupe cast check). Urvasi is Ramesh Arvindh's sobbing wife (Thali sentiment check). Kamal is a military man who fought Kashmir Terrorist and he adores Magathma Gandhi (Desa patru check). He writes poems and spits out arbit philosophy (most intelligent man in the world check). One thing leads to another and we are told that Trisha is responsible for Kamal's great loss in the past and he goes like "(shrug) cool I love you too"

Madhavan. Nothing in Madhavan's behavior during the entire course of this movie suggests that he is capable of being loved by anybody. The characterization of Trisha and Madhavan are so poles apart that it is hard to believe this so-called profound thamizh poem writing actress (who can't talk proper tamil to save her life) can fall in love with a conveniently and poorly written mama's boy 1-dimensional character. On top of it there is a mind numbingly stupid scene where Madhavan refuses to pay a person who can, on a whim, destroy his life within seconds. What sort of a businessman is this idiot. I have no clue how Madhavan accepted the role of this Janakaraj'ish character. What a shame.

Lastly, the movie after meandering aimlessly finding out whose or what story it should tell suddenly declares Kamal and Trisha to be already in love. With no advance notice. It at least caught me by surprise. And after all the high-senti "deep" stories and pretentiousness the movie suddenly shows all the characters to be silly idiots who indulge in toilet humor. Jokes on 'aai poradhu', urinals, 1-bathroom, 2-bathroom fill the last act of the movie. And like some 3rd standard school drama the hero ends up happily ever after with heroine. Hero's thozhan conveniently loves heroine's thozhi and so on.

I am slowly discovering that Kamalhasan is not as intelligent as he wants us to believe he is. And is neither a profound thinker nor person who understands things very well. His thamizh and philosophical nonsense are probably attractive to stupid fan-boy people who don't know basic thamizh or literature etc. And on the "greatly picturized" return to innocence type song. So much for Kamal's originality (see below). And that was the only good moment of the movie. If someone puts in the effort we will find out that many of his good ideas were lifts from French, Japanese or other country movies. He is turning out to be a great cut and paste job.

Videos shot in reverse but mouth moving forward - 1



Videos shot in reverse but mouth moving forward - 2



Videos shot in reverse but mouth moving forward - 3



Videos shot in reverse but mouth moving forward - 4

Day 18 Adhyayana Utsavam : கறந்த பாலுள் நெய்யேபோல்

NammAzhwar has a gem hidden in the the keezh-padi (second-half) of below pasuram that appears in the 8th decad.

பிறந்த மாயா! பாரதம்
பொருத மாயா* நீயின்னே*
சிறந்த கால் தீ நீர் வான்* மண்
பிறவு மாய பெருமானே*
கறந்த பாலுள் நெய்யே போல்*
இவற்று ளெங்கும் கண்டுகொள்*
இறந்து நின்ற பெரு மாயா!*
உன்னை எங்கே காண்கேனே?

Michael

Finally got around to listening Michael Jackson's latest album 'Michael'. It is a tragedy that instead of waiting in line the night before to get his CD, one orders it in Amazon 2 weeks after release and listens to the CD a week after it arrives. Dangerous will always be his most definitive album in my eyes. An album where he was at his creative best. Much kann-drishti is the reason why his decline started 2 years after Dangerous. 'Michael' is a collection of his private un-released recordings that his estate fine-tuned/produced and released last month. A recurring comment in all the reviews that this album got has been "would Michael have wanted us to listen to these songs and would he have presented it this way ". One thing is sure - he would have lost the 'first single to be released' battle like he usually does. And would not have changed the fact that the worst song of the album (in this case 'Hold My Hand') would be the first single the producers released. It is his curse that this is happening to him for the second consecutive time.

I neither liked Michael's ballads nor his soft slow songs. For example 'Heal the World' is not on my top 5 songs within Dangerous. And this album is littered with slow songs. There is no rhythmic Smooth Criminal, 3-D, They don't care about Us, Ghosts, Jam, Beat-it equivalent in this album. and that is what I'd pick as an aspect that I missed the most as far as this album not having the MJ's touch goes. The variety in the album could have been better.

Now to the songs - my top 2 songs of the album are 'Hollywood' and ' Another Day'. Hollywood is a pacy song that has a fantastic chorus piece. It is a song about a woman lusting after a Hollywood career and how she'd sell herself to get there. The traditional notebook accompanying the CD case has MJ's handwriting that tells us that 'This is based on a true story'. Another Day - is a combined effort with Lenny Kravitz. And this song surprised me. As the prophetic opening lines "My Life has taken me beyond the planets and the stars" plays out - I had no idea it would turn into a beautiful chorus "I walked away but I was wrong..". This should have been the first single of the album. Another impressive song was "The way you Love Me". Which has a splendid opening and a cool tune. My fourth Favorite song was 'Monster' - which is Michael's go at the paparazzi (One of the two media bashing songs in the album - and that aspect alone makes it worth a buy). There were a few moments in that song that made me nostalgic.

Outside of the four mentioned above there aren't many 'chart buster' type of songs that can be classified as good ol' pop music. People who like his slow songs may like this album more. It does feature the several different voices of MJ which is a usual feature in most of his albums. And one of the most endearing aspects of his albums. The last page of the notebook has this in his own handwriting "We only live once. Since we are given the gift of life it should be our persistent endeavour to immortalize ourselves. No matter what field of endeavour we choose. M.J"

சூடி கொடுத்த சுடர்கொடி

மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்

நீராடப் போதுவீர் போதுமினோ நேரிழையீர்

சீர்மல்கும் ஆய்ப்பாடிச் செல்வச் சிறுமீர்காள்

கூர்வேல் கொடுந்தொழிலன் நந்தகோ பன்குமரன்

ஏரார்ந்த கண்ணி யசோதை இளம்சிங்கம்

கார்மேனி செங்கண் கதிர்மதியம் போல்முகத்தான்

நாரா யணனே நமக்கே பறை தருவான்

பாரோர் புகழப் படிந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

Sky Kisses the Earth

Good Hindustani fusion music is hard to come by. And this song is one of those beautiful exceptions. It has been a few years since Prem Joshua's song got released and at one point it used be a day long loop in my car. It has now come back to being on loop. One of those instances where the beauty of music just comes out and consumes you. What a song!

Btw - Sitar is such a wonderful instrument.

Bharathi's Angst

Was doing some Bharathi's birthday browsing and decided to post my favorite poem of his.

நல்லதோர் வீணைசெய்தே - அதை
நலங்கெடப் புழுதியில் எறிவதுண்டோ
சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி - எனைச்
சுடர்மிகும் அறிவுடன் படைத்துவிட்டாய்
வல்லமை தாராயோ - இந்த
மாநிலம் பயனுற வாழ்வதற்கே?
சொல்லடி சிவசக்தி? - நிலச்
சுமையென வாழ்ந்திடப் புரிகுவையோ?
விசையுறு பந்தினைப்போல் - உள்ளம்
வேண்டிய படிசெலும் உடல்கேட்டேன்
நசையறு மனங்கேட்டேன் -நித்தம்
நவமெனச் சுடர்தரும் உயிர்கேட்டேன்
தசையினத் தீசுடினும் - சிவ
சக்தியைப் பாடும்நல் அகங்கேட்டேன்
அசைவறு மதிகேட்டேன் - இவை
அருள்வதில் உனக்கெதுந் தடையுளதோ?

The 4th Innings Hype

Reading Gaurav's analysis on Lara Vs Sachin during the 4th innings of a test match confirms my belief that "Lara is an awesome 4th innings player" is one of those hypes that can spread without any data support. It also opens an avenue to discuss my pet peeves with test cricket analysis. The theory that batting well in the 4th innings is somehow associated with not just greatness but also proves that the said batsman is a good player under 'pressure' or a good 'crunch moment' player. This is much broader than a Lara Vs Sachin or a Anyone Vs Laxman discussion. This is a discussion on how the mechanics of the game works based on the rules and the logic inherent to the game.

Here is my hypothesis on measuring the value of good innings in test cricket based on 'when' it is played. This hypothesis is based on an intuition that 4th innings century makers have been unjustly glorified as 'match winners' as opposed to more deserving first innings century makers. Ideally I wanted to pull some data from "stats-guru" database to back the hypothesis. But time constraints and inability to pull the data the way I want to has left me with the cop-out option of just stating the hypothesis and have a kind soul prove or disprove the hypothesis. This hypothesis is not earth shattering or by any means new. It is in fact very obvious to most and in general used as an axiom by most test cricket captains. I state this only to counter-point a new trend in cricket analysis that seems to glorify 4th innings centuries. So here goes

1. Team that bats well in their first innings of the test match is less likely to lose the test match. (Note that this is very different from saying "...more likely to win the test match").

2. The above point can be proven by analyzing data of all test matches played so far. We should find that the team with the higher first innings score would have a greater likelihood of *not* losing the match. As a corollary we should also find that the greater the gap between first innings scores the lesser the instance of team scoring higher having lost the match. For e.g. In instances where delta between first innings scores of two teams is 50 (lets call this variable 'X') or less - let us hypothetically say that the percentage of instances where team scoring higher in first innings loses the test match only 8% of the time (let us call this percentage 'B'). The assertion I am going after is that B is super inversely proportional to X. This data is hard to get and holds the key to whether my theory has any merit or not.

3. Restating 2 to narrow down to the point I want to make - As X (per definition above) increases - the ability of each subsequent innings of that test match to change/reverse the course of that test match decreases. For example When X = 100 let us say that the probability of 3rd innings of the match changing the course of the match is N. Hypothesis here is that the probability of 4th innings changing the course of the test match is actually N/2 or worse. Further hypothesis is that as X increases 3rd innings becomes more and more irrelevant and 4th innings a mere formality to be closed out.

Now up until now #1, #2 and # 3 above are bleeding obvious. Now lets get down to the merely obvious.

4. Following from #1 above - teams should look to maximize the first innings score as much as possible in order to give them the best shot of winning a test match.

5. Following from #2 if a team is faced with a choice of picking Player-1 who will reliably perform well in the first innings of a match Vs Player-2 who will reliably perform in the second innings of a match. The team should always pick Player 1 to firstly maximize there chances of not losing the match and secondly to set themselves up for a win.

6. Following from #3 it is true that in those very rare instances where a player's 4th innings score manages to change the course of the match they have a higher probability of being noticed purely because the event is a low-probability one and so happens very rarely. However, it can be argued (not always) that the player is "curing" a situation as opposed to "preventing" the situation. And if he had batted well in the first innings things would actually have been much better (statement is based on assumption that the said player isn't hitting a century in both innings but 'woke up' in the 4th innings to play well). Sort of analogous to doing well in your arrears exam as opposed to the actual exam. Yes arrears has infinitely more pressure but you shouldn't be writing one in the first place. And you can't be regarded as a good student just because you do consistently well in arrears.

But the direction we are trying to get to is that the most important phase of the test match is the team's first innings. That is what should be called as the "crunch time". And a player who consistently plays well under those circumstances should be regarded as a player who is more effective in winning the match for the team by playing well "when it matters". This is the player who should be regarded as a match-winner

Needless to say - I am stating this as hypothesis based on casual and random filtering and sorting of cricinfo data. I do realize that this may be completely wrong.

P.S: In support of the hypothesis some of the types of data I wanted to pull outside of what was mentioned in #2 are as follows:

a. what % of the matches won by a team had centuries scored by some batsman in the first innings of the match? (knowing fully well that 'century isnt the only definition of good innings but merely a decent indicator)

b. what % of the matches not lost by a team had centuries scored by some batsman in the first innings of the match?

c. what % of the matches lost by a team had centuries scored by some batsman in the first innings of the match?

Thayir Saadham & Friends

Thayir Saadham, thacchi mammum, bagela bath, dhadhyonniyam, morunjjaam, or thayir soru, (derogatorily referred to as curd rice or yogurt rice, by people who are less cultured) is probably one of the most satisfying concoction mankind has put together. Who would have thought of mixing thayir and saadham? More importantly why did they think of mixing the two? It must have happened by accident. Such brilliance rarely happens by design. Although I wonder if it wasn't made for thayir saadham, why was curd made at all?

Thayirunjjaaaam.

Ah! Stuff poems are made of. It is filling. It provides immense satisfaction. It is certainly very very tasty. Plus it is good food in warm conditions. Importantly, it makes you sleep for several hours after the food is consumed. My best memories of thayir saadham is when a child has graduated to "kai'la saadham' stage. This is right after 'ooti vidu' stage. And right before the stage where middle class families get confident enough to take the bold step from kozhachu-vitta buttermilk to pure thick thayir (the phase where you ask your mom to reserve a big cube of surface curd for you). The stage I am referring to is the one where 4-5 'mooku ozhugi' 'arai drowser' children sit around grandma during summer vacation. Grandma, in a single stroke, completes the difficult job of making children eat. Here is a look at the glorious facets of thayir saadham and its best friends. Note that qualification to be a friend of thayir saadham means it has to have good 'thottuka' abilities. In that the friend must mix well with Thayir Saadham and should be consumable along with the said 'saadham'.

Thayir Saadham and Mango Variants

Mango is the best known and most popular friend of Thayir saadham. There is probably no buddy or pal that Thayir saadham gets along with with better. They are so close that one suspects them of being in a relationship. Since both Mango and Thayir Saadham are natives of Thamizh country there is no wonder both get along so fine. Stuff perfect arranged marriages are made of. That is because Mango is capable of taking more avatharams than Maha Vishnu himself. A simple thayir saadham in kallu uppu and basic Maavadu is enough to satiate an army. Maavadu is the more popular of Mango avatars to befriend thayir saadham. however, it not my favorite. It is a good friend, I agree. Right up there in the best friend category. My favorite best friend is clearly the Maangai Thokku. I don't care if its a home made thokku or Ruchi/Priya brand thokku. Maangai thokku rocks the thayir saadham world. There is no more better combination than these two. Tintin and Haddock, Laurel & Hardy, Goundamani & Senthil, Asterix and Obelix, Thomson & ThomPson can all take the back seat. There is no sight better than mixing maangai thokku with thayir saadham and making everyone wonder if thokku is the side dish or thayir sadham. This is where the correct etiquette for eating thayir saadham must be strictly followed. The curd must drip between your fingers as you transport it from plate to mouth.

Have you ever thought of thottufying a fully ripe mango with thayir saadham? Really you should try it. Take a good banganapalli, peel it off or rip it off in a barbaric fashion and take pieces of mango and mix it with thayir saadham and eat. Its splendid. Maangai paachadi is another rare delicacy that goes very well with thayir saadham. But a gem among Mango friends is super unripe mango that is cut into pieces, mixed with chilli powder and consumed along with thayir saadham. This mango must not be just unripe. It must be super unripe. It must be the extreme opposite of ripe. It should be so unripe that it should just be called 'un' as mixing it with 'ripe' would be an anaethma. Avakkai pickle is another unsung hero among thayir saadham friends. But care must be taken to put more 'saaru' in the avakkai oorgai. Because more than the avakkai, the saaru is where the magic is.

Thayir Saadham and Kazhangus

We have had our ponderings on the king kizhangu before. Not surprisingly, the three kinds of urulai kizhangu are simply awesome with thayir saadham. Especially the kutti-kutti'ya narukkina urulai kizhangu. Seppan-kizhangu, specifically the unroasted variety, also gels well with thayir saadham. Every time I have mentioned in public that potato gels well with thayir saadham, I get a 'I am so offended' looks from the aforementioned public. A look that conveys that I have committed blasphemy. And I am frankly surprised. I also think appalam goes well with thayir saadham. And I always knew that would not be a popular vote thing. However, I always thought potato would win votes in the thayir saadham competition. In the exit poll type survey that I commonly conduct this does not seem to be the case.. People abhor the notion that these two could be mixed. And I never get how anyone could miss this ultimate combo.

Thayir Saadham and "More" Molagai

Now 'more' molagai deserves a separate poem. In fact several poems. As the name goes this molagai goes well with thachi mammu's poorer cousin "more" saadham. The saadham must be watery with 4x more buttermilk than rice. And then molagai is dropped in like a dollop of vannila ice cream falling into a cup filled with 4 gulab jamuns. And there you go. On a hot May afternoon there is nothing better to eat than this combination. In fact if you are on study holidays for college exams and decide to take that crucial 30 minute lunch break, there is nothing else you want to spend time on other than this (of course getting back to studies and staying awake is a different proposition altogether).

One of the best variants of thayir saadham I have eaten is the "dhadhyonniyam". This is the esoteric term for the rice that is handed out hot and smoldering in a "Perumal kovil". It is a distant cousin of 'bagela bath'. But the dhadhyonniyam I am referring to here is not the one that is usually handed out in temples. This is a richer variant of dhadhyonnyam that is made at home. In this version, thick thayir saadham is mixed with more molagai, raisins, cashew nuts, and cut red chilli (all of which are probably thalicchu kottified). And it is the ultimate 'attagasa' version of thayir saadham you will ever eat.

Thayir Saadham and Mixture

Have you tried this. If not this is a must-not-miss combination. The mixture must not be a 'kaaramaana' mixture. It must also have raisins, nuts and other exotic stuff in it. Going beyond the world of mixture, thayir saadham goes well with ompodi, murukku, vetthal, vadaam, - essentially anything that is 'karakku murakku' goes well with thayirunnjaam.

Thayir Saadham and Mysore Paak

Crazy isn't it? But it does taste very well. In the 'sweet' variety I mentioned that Maanga pacchadi goes well with thayir saadham. And so does coconut burfi. If you want to try something that is really 'out there' try honey and thayir saadham. It will tickle your bones. I have seen people it pineapple, apple, orange, and "suppota" with thayir saadham. And they all vouch that combo to be the best ever.

So there you go ladies and gentlemen. Thayir saadham. You just cannot ignore it. It is the friendliest dish around that will happily buddy up with anything you bring in. It is the middle class marvel. Costs nothing. Satisfying. Puts you to sleep for hours together. What more do you want on a good hot afternoon during summer holidays?