My favourite food - Panipuri
What it is : Here is a street food that is wildly popular all over India although it might be called by different names; gol-gappa in Northen India, puchka in Bengal, and pani-puri in Maharashtra. Pani-puri literally translates as "water-puri" which in itself does not sound too appetizing, but here is what it is. A firm semolina dough is rolled into little "puris" and deep fried into plump tiny hollow balls. You take one of these puris, press your thumb into one side (one side of the puri is always more fragile than the other, and a little experience will tell you which is which, so you can pierce the right side) to make a little opening, and then proceed to stuff the puri with one of several fillings. Then you ceremoniously dunk the puri into a spicy watery chutney and stuff the dripping puri into your mouth, where it explodes into a crispy-spicy treat.Golgappa, or Pani Puri, is a snack synonymous with the beaches of Bombay. However, it is also very popular in all other parts of India. It is a part of the chaat family along with Bhelpuri. It is also known by many names like golgappa or GolGuppe in North India, Foochka (Puchka) in West Bengal, Gupchup in some central parts of India, and PaniPatashe.Its really yummy. Unlike other places in India where they pour peas or channa inside each puri, in Mumbai, we pour a aalu mixuture. This aalu mixture is simply like a trip to heaven. Here we mix all the tikha and khatta masalas as well as channa and dhaniya. How to serve : Take a crispy puri, make a hole in the middle with your thumb, pour in a bit of aloo mixture. Then dip the puri into the water mixture and serve it immediately.Eat it atleast once to taste the scrumptious, khatta, chatpata pani, to savour the crispiness of the puri, to experience the fireworks in the mouth - it's almost sinful :) but those who know the art of eating panipuri relish every morsel, every bite and relive the taste again and again!!!
Navratri and Dasara
The festival of Navratri lasts for nine nights.According to the Hindu calendar Navratri celebration begins from the first day of the bright fortnight of Ashwin.This festival is fully dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga Mata and her nine forms. These nine days are celebrated in all over the country with an ardent zeal and enthusiasm. The devotees all over India celebrated the last three days with much solemnity, calm and joy. But in the tenth day, Dussehra or Vijayadashmi is celebrated to commemorate the victory of Goddess Durga over Deamon Mhaisasur and also Lord Rama over Ravana.
Before the Navratri festival starts, all house is cleaned, because Goddess Lakshmi...Goddess of prosperity, which is one of nine forms of Durga likes cleanness. So, to invite her to house, the house must be clean. Also one Nanda-deep is lighted and kept lighted till whole 9 days without fail. On tenth day, dasara is celebrated. In Maharashtra, we give leaves of a tree called 'apta' to the elders and also cross the border of the city as a symbol of victory, cause dasara is also called VijayaDashami laso.This starts the festive season in India!
My First Love - A NewsReader !
When I was 10 years old, I used to like one girl. She used to come to my house daily, talk with me for 15-20 minutes and leave after that, without listening a single word from me. I always thought about, why she does that? , why she doesn't listen to me? etc. Then, my brother told me that she is a news-reader on TV and she can't listen to you...! But my love remains as it was before.After few days, some guests came to my place to meet my father. So, dad came to turn off the TV, so that he could talk with guests clearly. That time, I didn't realize that guests are standing behind me and I shouted, "Dad, don't turn off the TV, I like her !!!"... Dad looked at me, then told me to go to my room. After that guest went out for some work, so dad came to my room and asked me, " What did you say that time about that news-reader?" I was very afraid of him, but still I told him, "I like her and when I'll grow up, I will marry her." He saw at me with a smile, then told me that she was 30 years older than me. But I replied that I could wait. Then he told me that she is married. So, that broke my heart.After 2-3 years I went to Delhi with my parents. I asked dad, "She lives in Delhi only, right?". Dad exclaimed, "Are you still in love with her???". I replied, "No dad...I was just asking for curiosity. Actually, I've realized what was my mistake." Dad asked me, "What?" I said, "I shouldn't concentrate on Doordarshan, when there are many other 'attractive' news channels!"
History of Solapur..read once at least!
The history of solapur is really amezing and since I was born & lived there for 20 years, it has much more importance in my life.
Solapur is a city of 'Hutatmas'. A hutatma means a freedom fighter who lost their lives while fighting with British government.
Solapur have 4 hutatmas...Shri.Mallappa Dhanshetti, Shri.Kurban Hussain, Shri.Jagnnath Shinde and Shri.Kisan Sarda.
The importance of Solapur is unique in the history of India in the sense that this district enjoyed the freedom even before independence. The citizens of Solapur enjoyed the Independence for three days from 9th to 11th May 1930. After the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi in May 1930, protests and demonstrations against the British Rule were held throughout the India. Large scale rallies and protests were done at Solapur also. Many citizens lost their lives in the Police firings. Due to this the irate mob attacked the Police Stations. Out of fear the Police and other officers ran out of Solapur.
Secondly, the Solapur Municipal Council was the first Municipal Council of India to host the National Flag on the Municipal Council building (Now Municipal Corporation) Solapur in 1930. The brief history runs like this. Taking the spirit of Dandi March from Mahatma Gandhi, the freedom fighters of Solapur decided to host the National Flag on the Solapur Municipal Council. Accordingly, senior freedom fighter from Pune Shri.Annasaheb Bhopatkar hosted the National Flag on 6th April 1930 on Municipal Council. This was the first and the unique incidence of such kind throughout the country. The British rulers, due to irritation declared the Marshall Law at Solapur and arrested many leaders and innocent citizens on false charges. The freedom fighters Shri.Mallappa Dhanshetti, Shri.Kurban Hussain, Shri.Jagnnath Shinde and Shri.Kisan Sarda were arrested on charges of killing two Policemen of Mangalwar Police Station.The lower court sentenced the punishment of hanging till death for these freedom fighters. The High Court also confirmed the same decision and these four freedom fighters were hanged till death on 12th January 1931, in the prison of Pune. This resulted in the city becoming recognized as "The City of Hutatmas".

As a mark of respect to these freedom fighters, the statues of them have been installed in the heart of the city and the location has been named as Hutatma Chowk !!!
My HomeTown...Solapur
My hometown is a town called Solapur. It is situated at the sothern east of Maharashtra state. It is a very nice place to live coz, people here are never in a hurry for work...cute peace is maintained here since long time.
Solapur contains two parts, south and north solapur, but both have central administration at Solapur city itself. Solapur district contains many religious places like Pandharpur, which is often called 'southern Kashi', then Akkalkoat which has a big temple for lingayat people. Also Tuljapur is very near to Solapur.
Solapur is famous for cotton mills, there was a time when Solapur was called as texttile capital of Asia. Also it was a Labour's city due to so many mills. But bcoz of careless owners it lost it's popularity and mills got closed. It is said that sari made by Solapur's mills was so soft that it could be accomodated in a match-box.
Now also, chaddars, bedsheets, napkins and towels of Solapur are exported. It is also famous for cigrate factories.
Solapur has a religious importance bcoz of Siddheshwar mandir here, which is a lord of the city. In makar-sankranti, the celebrations are like must see.
Solapur is transport hub connecting Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is well connected by Road and Rail to major districts and cities.The national highways 9, 13 and 211 pass through Solapur city.
It is a beautiful place in it's own manner, and that's why I like it.
Life Beyond Earth ???
Since many years, we are haunted with a question that, whether there is a life outside this planet?
Some Scientists think that it is there, and some thiiknk it is not. We are trying hard to get answere to this question but still we are nowhere near to it.The recent discovery of numerous planets around stars other than the Sun confirms that our solar system is not unique. Indeed, these "extrasolar planets" appear to be common in our neighborhood in galaxy. Some of them are giant made up of gases like saturn and jupiter, so no life can be there, but some of them are like mars and earth.
These are the asrea of interest for scientists. They may have some living creatures.Over the next 15 years, scientists is embarking on a bold series of missions to find and characterize new worlds. These will be the most sensitive instruments ever built, capable of reaching beyond the bounds of our own solar system.
There will be instruments that will combine the light of the world's largest optical telescopes, extending our vision to new distances.Using new techniques, these will study dust clouds around stars where planets may be forming. It may also provide the first direct images of giant planets outside our solar system. Within the next decade,scientists are planning to measure the distances and positions of stars with quite good accuracy. It will give information about planets just slightly larger than Earth.
With an imaging power 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope, it will send back the first photographs of nearby planetary systems.We will analyze the atmospheres of these distant worlds. The substantial presence of all neccessary gasses would suggest that life is present.Such a discovery would at last provide convincing evidence that we are not alone.
We will have found another Earth.
