With the Olympic Games in Beijing scheduled to begin at 8 am on the 8th day of the 8th year, Foreign Policy magazine lists the “The World’s Worst Olympians“.
On top of the pile: India with 17 medals from 108 years of trying.
“Think of India as the Washington Nationals of Olympic sport. India is by far the worst-performing Olympic country—no matter how you slice it. It’s not for lack of trying. A games participant since 1900, India still ranks behind Nigeria, a country with an economy one-twentieth India’s size, in total medals. The country’s athletic ineptitude is so profound that a parliamentarian called for two minutes of silence to “lament the demise of Indian sports” after the squad failed to win any medals in Barcelona in 1992.
“What’s wrong? Few sports venues (roughly 33 stadiums and sports complexes for 1.1 billion people), a lack of school sports programs, stingy government funding, and a narrow talent base. The result? A country whose most celebrated claim to Olympic greatness is “The Flying Sikh,” a track-and-field star who broke hearts by placing fourth at the 1960 Rome Games. It’s not that Indians can’t excel at athletics. Since 1933, the state of Punjab has hosted its own “rural Olympics,” where competitors vie for glory in tug of war, mule-cart racing, sack lifting, tent pegging, and various feats of strength. And there’s hope in the air. Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has established a trust to fund athletes’ training and medical care and “put India firmly on the medal grid” for 2012.”
Read about the other four worst Olympic countries here
Link via Anamika
churumuri 
Compared to India, there are countries with much much lower GDP, worse sports infrastructure, acute lack of quality coches, apalling standard of living and poor nutrition – but they still manage to do better at Olympics than India.
What ails Indian sports people then?
If you care to put on your anlaytical spectacles, you will realise this medal draught doesn’t infect just india, it infects Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq, and other Middle East countries.
Reason is simple:
1. Genetically, this part of the world is very different.
We cannot match the strength of Afro-americans in the sprint race, nor can we match the endurance of Africans in the long distance races, nor the sheer power and strength of Europeans and Americans, nor the dexterity, agility and skill of the Eastern nations like China and Japan.
Genetically we are primed to do relatively well (and not even completely dominate, mind you) in non contact sports which are slow paced and relaxed like Golf, Billiards, Chess, Archery, Shooting and yes, Cricket.
In cricket too, never in the history of ICC rankings have we ever been number 1 in either test or one day internationals. If you take the average of the last ten years, you will find India always at a position of four or five among ten countries! Certainly not worth applauding!!!!!!!!!!
2. In countries where religion dominates (completely and overwhelmingly) the lives of people, such countries fall back in the medal tally. India has the maximum number of festivals,and therefore the maximum number of holidays in the world.
Of course, the rest of the stale reasons like involvement of politicians, lack of proper sports infrastructure and all that jazz is marginal.
Indian cricket lacks no money. Our cricketers get the worlds best sports gear, they get the worlds best coaches, the worlds best training, the worlds best money, yet today, if you look at the rankings, figure right at the bottom:
We have just two people in the top fourty rankings (top ten batsmen and bowlers in test and one dayers). Every other country, except Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have more players than India in the top fourty list.
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@ Simple
Nice response..wish you had articulated more on Indians doing reasonably better in non contact sports topic..
Leave cricket aside, we had world champs in Chess, Badminton, Shooting, Archery..we did very well in Ten Pin Bowling too. Ofcourse, we could done better..but its imp to count these Champs each time this topic is discussed
So, perhaps its time to identify our strength areas and build on them. It helps to playto our strengths
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10 reasons why…
1. Blaming caste, race, class, sex, anything but the following 9.
2. Indian Sports associations have been run with the professionalism and efficiency of a… well Indian Sports Association. Riddled with corruption, nepotism, politics and maladministration, the sport is the last focus in any of these organizations. (BCCI included, except that it has had people who knew how to make money).
3. How many schools and parents seriously encourage students to take up sports professionally? Even in cities?.
4. Malnutrition (among the poor) and obesity (among the not-so-poor) are not exactly conducive to turning out quality sportspersons.
5. In between a pure capitalism that allowed for the private promotion of sports and a pure communism that demanded State effort in promotion of sports, we were left with a system where the private sector had little incentive to invest in sports and the Government couldn’t have cared less either way.
6. BLAMING CRICKET (at least for the last 18 years). Still doesn’t explain why we stank for the 50 years before that.
7. Our constant national insecurity (we are an old and proud culture and the largest democracy: it’s not our fault) and inabilty to think beyond 1 gold medal and 1 Olympic game (mostly hockey).
8. Drug abuse at the national and junior levels that is casually ignored in the hope that if we don’t worry about it, it will probably go away.
9. No infrastructure to speak of beyond metros (where the grounds mostly play host to exhibitions, concerts and political rallies, sometimes all at once).
10. Commemorating athletes for about 2 days after an achievement, forgetting they exist for the rest of their lives till a journalist digs up a pathetic, starving example of a forgotten Olympian when this post is dug up again and the discussion starts all over again…
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Good post,Churumuri. After ‘Biggest. Largest. Highest. Mostest. Anywhere’ this sure brings us back to earth!
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BTW, in the physics olympiad our kids got 4 golds and a silver. one of the highest. not cool-a? india didn’t do too well in math olympiad, even if it was on the roster.
i wonder what opportunities would math whizs and cycling champs from Bijapur need. anybody here even heard of these guys? random kids on hercules cycles peddling furiously.
more importantly what more do you expect from a field manned by a politician that too of the congress kind? given the circumstances, 50 to 60 kids they are sending. that itself is great.
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Mr. Simple.
As per your comparing criteria Mongolic Races (read Chinese) fall behind the Indians, and they are only second to the mighty USA in medal hunt !!!
Alok, Nice reply.
” Indian Sports associations have been run with the professionalism and efficiency of a… well Indian Sports Association. Riddled with corruption, nepotism, politics and maladministration, the sport is the last focus in any of these organizations ”
did you guys ever think why Suresh Kalmadi still heads our sports council after all the allegations he faced. That’s Indian political sports.
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Was it India Today or Outlook which had published a while back that Mr. Kalmadi’s spending on his tobacco(must be cigars) was more than the laundry allowance given to athletes.
Athletes who should have been practising were seen hand-washing their clothes with toilet soaps in the dawn!
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Then Why 58 officials with their wives are travelling with a olympic contigent of 48 to beijing Olympics?
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For some reason, people keep missing names,
Norman Pritchard won the first silver medals in 1900 Olympics.
more on him @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Pritchard
K D Jadhav, Leander Paes, Karnam Malleshwari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and many Hockey team medals.
We get chided by young age “aatakkuntu lekkakkilla”, Yes for Games, No for Maths {implied}…..kutkondu odu katte……
So, we’ve been excellent in our academics, lesser in sports.
For ages, Olympics has been playground of superpowers to show-off their soft-power.
US accepted Niggers for Gold-Medals.
Maa Junren too aimed at projecting himself.
India did not aim at it & did not get results.
What’s the fuss ?
Milkhaa Singh never tires of saying “NIS Patiala has produced 22,000 coaches, not a single medal winner”.
Why not Prakash padukone be our idol here?
Till Nazir Ahmed was handling badminton affairs, we were not great power.
Cometh the hour, Cometh Prakash and his band, [Vimal Kumar mainly].
We’re in a better shape these days.
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Becoz we are very good at playing politics, not sports!!
Our committees for selection are full of politics.
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Notice one thing? Indian junior sportsmen have won most world medals, like in Tennis, Cricket, etc. They have lost most medals when they grow old and become senior! That means our stamina quickly dies with age. It may be a racial problem.
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As one of the readers pointed out – this is not entirely due to the lack of money or support or politics or corruption.
Look at Cricket – they get entire nation’s attention. Can’t comlpain about the money, coverage and support. Even after worshipping only cricket for decades, what’s our ranking?
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@Simple
What crap man ? how dare you say we are weakest genetically ? Its not in the genes dodo !
Real reason: We neither have motivation nor get proper nutrition. We oppose eating eggs, what crap man …. we can never compete and win medals with our way of eating habits. Coming back to motivation, our system is so tuned to education and education only …. hence we produce more SPELL BEES than olympic gold medal winners. Simple!
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Who says we can’t win medals at Olympics. Ask Mayawati & Co. to have reservation in Olympic Games, we will walk away with all the medals for being slowest, lowest and nearest.
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The first Indian to win an individual medal – a bronze was the wrestler KD Jhadav (Norman Pritchard was British).
In fact his was the only individual medal for decades until Leander, Karnan and Rajvardhan won much later.
And how was this hero treated by us?
http://www.rediff.com/sports/2000/sep/13jhadha.htm
”
There were ceremonies and functions held to celebrate the feat of this lone Indian who stood up to the challenges of stiff international competition and emerged glorious.
Although there were numerous functions, no financial bonanza awaited Khashaba. Except for pride and recognition, the bronze medal brought little joy to the Jhadhav family.
Slowly, but surely, all talk of his feat faded and he was but another name in Karad’s voters’s list.
Khashaba, however, was a very competitive coach and his son Ranjit believes that had his services been used, wrestling would have still retained its raw appeal in the country.
In 1955, Jhadhav was enlisted as a police sub-inspector. The next 22 years of his career went unrewarded, without a promotion.Khashaba Jhadhav Despite several letters and requests, he was never given his due and the injustice meted out to him was in his own words ‘unparalleled.’
On the insistence of his colleagues he was finally appointed as assistant commissioner of police in June 1982, for a brief period of six months, until he retired.
Two years later, on a quiet August morning, Khashaba died in a motorcycle accident on the highway leading to Karad. The vehicle slipped and over-ran both him and his friend. It was a ghastly end. “
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We need a reality check. In a ranking of countries based on the global hunger index (GHI) India ranked 96 out of 119. All our subcontinental neighbors were ranked higher. To put it in better perspective by comparing countries of a similar scale the other BRIC countries such as Brazil (28), Russia (13) and China (47) are way above us. It is not only a question of diverting resources but also having a large enough pool of healthy bodies to select from. Of course sceptics might mention that there are poor countries that also win medals regularly. Here I feel the population and form of government come into play.
Even if we make marginal progress on this list, our performance in sports can leapfrog.
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First of all, how some individual athletes have been mistreated in past is not going to affect chances of upcoming youth. Most of today’s children don’t know don’t care about say Milka Singh or KD Jadhav or whoever died in penury. Past is past senthil. ShahRukh did not study about Saigal before deciding to become actor. For youth, every decision is clean slate.
Why don’t we do well at sports ? 3 things – food, infrastructure & attitude.
a. Food: Food is everything. We are biological creature, no amount of motivation ambition etc can compensate for food. First food, then only motivation. So where do I begin ? As I qualified nutritionist, let me be very frank and brutal. India has no chance. Unless you radically change every Indian’s food intake, no chance at all.
A good rule of thumb is 1 gram protein per kg. Which Indian eats like that ? Hrithik Roshan, Surya, some of our actresses from north. In fact our filmstars ( not steroid stars like Salman & Sanjay Dutt ) are some of the healthiest eating people. Hrithik weighs 75 kg, he eats 75 gram protein minimum per day. Some of our army navy commando forces especially NSG commando eat protein at 1 gram per kg level.
About Protein:
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=92&utm_source=rss_reader&utm_medium=rss&utm_name=rss_feed
India is primarily vegetarian country. If I talk about protein, people will tell me crap like, I can get protein from eating bengal grams, or kidney beans, or worse, soybeans.
Soybeans gives boobies. If you regularly eat soybeans, as a man, you will guarantee develop hanging male boobs, large nipples and gynecomastia. You will have to buy a bra or borrow it from your wife.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53507
You will lower your metabolism & become fat & get triple chin. Studies have shown that male rats on diet of soybean actually come close to a sex change! So be very careful of soybeans. Ofcourse if you are female, no problem, eat lot of soybean, your boyfriend will love your breasts. Ofcourse if you are already married, husband will love it also.
Bengal gram, kidney beans etc. are fibrous foods. You will have a long time in toilet excreting these fibers if you want to get 75 grams of protein from beans & grams.
If you don’t eat 1 gram protein per kg body weight, forget about sports. Also, no protein means you will slowly lose hair, become bald. Your body will start storing fat deposits. Finally you will look like our south heroes ie. moon face. When I watch kannada picture sometimes my American friends will drop in, they will look at hero and say why does he look like pregnant woman, with moonface. Moonface is because of eating rice, rice, rice. In fact if you eat any rice at all, you will get moon face. Cutting out all rice is not an option for Indians, but what to do, sometimes hard choices must be made. Only people who don’t have moonface are people like our north film actors, because they eat very little rice, mostly roti. For long time even Madhavan had moonface before we advised him to stop eating rice completely.
Remember, male face must be triangular, not circular. If your face starts looking like circle, then you can buy protractor divider ruler & open geometry factory just kidding. But seriously, moon face people of south india, stop eating rice completely. Eat roti, or eat raagi mudde like villagers of Karnataka state. Even barley is ok. But don’t eat rice.
Coming back to protein, you will have to eat sardines ( only Kerala & Calcutta people do it right now ). And eggs. And chicken breast. And lean beef. Combination of all this is essential, not just 1 source, because amino acids profile will be incomplete if you just eat 1 thing. If you don’t have money to buy these things, I am sorry, you go win one lottery or write some code in infosys and make money, or sell real estate etc. Make the money, buy the protein. Remember, No money, no protein, no sports. Soybeans, boobies. Rice, moonface. Eat the sardine. Follow your film stars cookbook.
b. Infrastructure: If you keep building houses and IT companies where there used to be playgrounds, you can forget about sports. You don’t need giant stadiums, but you definitely need playgrounds in every locality. If kids cannot play, then they will just go to Global Education Center & do IT work and make money, buy some playground land and build house. No playground, no play.
c. Attitude: This is very big topic I don’t want to say anything because all of you know what I will say. Basically Indians take shortcuts. We want things but we will not work for it. So Russian child German child American child learning swimming at age 2, skiing at age 4, our Indian child wakes up & starts working on Microsoft Excel and doing IT work from morning to evening, burning mp3 song, talking on mobile phone, not playing outside because no playground. Our elders tolerate all this. Why ? Wrong attitude. How to fix ? I don’t know, you tell me. Unlike food, there is no solution to fixing people’s attitude. I have spoken personally to many MNC CEOs, their attitude is, first let us do IT work & make money, later on we will play sports. What to do ? Whole nation wants to do IT, fine you will have an IT Olympics and win all the medals, but only you will play, because that will be such a boring olympics no nation will participate.
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talking of olympics our boy anup sridhar
http://anupsridhar.blogspot.com/
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Suddenly waking up a week prior to the Olympics does NOT help the nation. Sports needs a long term, systemetic planning, sustained approach, involvement of professionals, funding (thankfully now we have big corp coffers available) at all level.
Politicians control Indian sports bodies – THIS IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALL PROBLEM. Whether its Cricket, or Hockey, or Football, or archery……you name it. And its done by Cong as well as BJP, NCP……everybody.
Cleanse the system from top to bottom, give it 20 years time. It will be world class. But that’s no easy in India.
(the beginning shd be done by banning Cricket in India, and making football, or hockey as national soprts).
Its a shame that we are unable to play in Football worldcup till date. Though in 1950s, we were in much better shape than Korea, Japan, China or couple of Arab countries who are now playing WC final regularly. SHAME ON OUR POLITICIANS WHO SCHREWED UP EVERYTHING.
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This is of no wonder that we are one of the worst performers in Olympics. Just take the case of our sports bodies – the archery fella has been sitting in his position for the last 40 years, Das munshi the footballista has been clinging on to his position in AIFF for the last 27 years and the list goes on and on. Unless we manage to break these structures we should be happy in gulping down quotes from pricks like Kalmadi that “dont expect miracles in Olympics” – It is as if, lot of u expected miracles!
And for all of you to know, Mani Iyer in his short stint as the sports minister is the only man who tried bring these associations liable for the plight of sports in India and the repercussions were too strong. these association alleged that he is violating the Olympic charter, intruding in their area of work and so on. Needless to say, he dint retain the portfolio for a long time!
http://tushizap.wordpress.com/2007/10/06/sports-in-india-the-debate-is-on/
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Can we have our sport associations run by sportsmen rather than by politicians/opportunists?
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How can India win a medal in the Beijing Olympics [or for that matter even in the London Olympics in 2012] when half the people here dream to pursue a career in IT and the other half criticize them for doing so and waste their time ?
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We did not get our independence till 1947…. a lot after the olympic games began…. our country was in a real bad situation and people did not have enough to eat for a long time…. i guess we are better than nigeria or any other country now is because our priorities were food and education and not sports. Poverty and education is still a challenge and I gess we should focus on those instead of wasting our precious time on olympic medals which mean nothing to the nation… shame on those politicians who mourn for reasons like these.
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@ Simple: Great points! Sometimes truth hurts but….it’s the truth! :) I don’t buy this arguement of ‘resources’, ‘money’, ‘politician’ and all the crap.
If so, how do you explain our (lack of) performance in cricket? By those standards, we should be totally dominating the sport. Well…
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@Simple:
While your reason #1 was well written, I’ll have to disagree with that — totally, on the basis that it is totally unfounded.
I feel that the magic words are “motivation” and “inspiration”.
1. Motivation: In most middle class Indian families, if a son or a daughter wants to become a sports-person, they’d be demotivated and steered away from it rather than being encouraged to do so.
2. Inspiration: Clearly, due to the lack of the above and seeing most of our sports heroes of the past suffering/struggling with their lives, its easy for most of the aspiring sports-persons to lose their way. We haven’t seen many sports-persons leading a reasonable life like those of our European/American counterparts.
Now, go set an example with your kids, let them try out different sports — if they like it, let them take it seriously.
And, if at all your “gene-theory” is right — lets fix it, lets make sure that the generations to come will have better genes by our efforts at sports and fitness.
PS: The only genetic tendency that I see in us is to step over and demotivate each other — probably I’m wrong…
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I’d like to add some more to my post.
Social acceptance plays a major role too. In America, high-school and college (American) football and baseball is revered to such an extent that they are big events and every sports enthusiast (who are many in number) would know their local high-school/college sports hero — In fact good athletes get to go to prestigious schools based on their sports abilities alone, their peers hold them in respect too.
This is not true in India, ever heard of somebody get into our prestigious IITs on a sports quota? — in fact, it is quite the opposite; I’ve known people look down upon people who have obtained admission through a sports quota, and also, some of these sports-quota entrees discontinue their sport after obtaining admission — most colleges who accept these athletes through the sports quota don’t even have the necessary facilities to support the athlete.
While I’ve invented/discovered another reason for our poor performance :) — I think that we love finding reasons where we can’t do anything about it (the genetics theory).
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Actually people of Indian origin born abroad tend to do well:
In recent years (Indians went to the US in numbers only recently), 2 Indian-Americans have won Olympic medals – one in gymnastics and one in cycling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohini_Bhardwaj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexi_Grewal
Note that both have one Indian parent, the other side is not.
Another has just managed to get into this years US Olympic Gymnastic team after a tough fight:
http://www.indiajournal.com/pages/event.php?id=3700
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“There Is No Gene For The Human Spirit.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/
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Simple solution is to get athletes from African countries to represent India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Lagat
Anyway African students come here to study, why not get good athletic students (instead of the drug runners), pay them to stay here and get medals :)
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I have attended a few previous Olympics, the last time in Athens. In every one of them, ministers and Indian officials, not necessarily those connected with the Indian Olympics Team, but the central government ministers and officials officials of all sorts and their spouses outnumbered the number of Olympic athletes. Indeed, India sent by far the largest number of officials to Athens and theconsidering the number of medals won there by Indian athletes, the cost incurred by these ‘hangers on ‘ was scandalous. These officials had good trips around Europe thanks to their
expense accounts.
Indian sports as a whole is so much underperforming, one wonders whether there is any purpose in sending an Olympic Team to Beijing.
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As a rule, certain reaces excel in particular events.Our physique doesn’t really allow us to excel in sprint, decathalon type of events.We don’t have stamina , endurance which Africans and Finns possess for long distance running.Even if we were to try a lot improving diet, coaching etc , the improvements would be marginal.This is true for most of Asian Countries
Instead ,if we make lot more efforts in chess we can have 3 to 4 champions in top10. In between there will be a praksah Padukone, Leander & Bhupathy in doubles,a Milka Singh etc. spread over many years.But thta’s because of exceptional talent who come up despite the efforts of Sports governing bodies in India!
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karihaida,
Africans or chinese or americans or anyone – if they are capable of winning medals, they will do it for their own country or adopted country of their choice, not the highest bidder.
If it was so easy to buy olympic medallists – Saudi Arabia would be number 1 in the medals tally.
Anyway keep up the typical desi wishful + racist thinking :)
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Lekkakkuntu Aatakkilla,
Just noticed your post.
You are a legend!
Please post more, and more often!
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Fred Foobar,
You have a right to disagree with me, but you have not given any objective facts to support your argument.
1. One Sania Mirza among 500 million Indian women makes it somewhere to the top 35 in the world. After which she has struggled to maintain her ranking. I am sure she has no dearth of financial power, world class coaches or any other infrastructure she needs. She herself earns in millions..remember she is a brand ambassador for many prodcuts….so this crap about politicking, no resources, no coaches, no latest sports gear is all flaky excuses.
2. Somehow nobody seems to realise the objective fact that the top sporting nations in the world are not very religious or ritualistic in their everyday life. Americans, Europeans and Chinese dominate the Olympic scene because they spend more time on sports, and less on rituals than any other countries in the world.
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Whew, another Olympics and another round of articles bemoaning our situation (of dismal performance; no medals).
In another two weeks, we’ll bemoan about being independant for xx years and still being nowhere on the world map.
The problems are complex and it is almost impossible for an individual to correct things.
What can we do?
Perhaps when our child(ren) or ones close to us do well in sports, let us encourage them. A change in attitude would be the first step. We cannot change things overnight, but we can make a beginning.
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Simple,
I don’t understand what sort of objective facts that I needed to provide to bolster my argument. What I’m trying to say is that motivation is key and that many of our sports heroes are struggling to make a living (yes, I know I should point you to some examples — I’m sure you’ll find several of them); clearly, this doesn’t paint a good picture to our youth does it?
I strongly believe in the theory that upbringing is the key to shaping ones personality (physical and mental) and how one leads their life.
When you mention that “Genetically, this part of the world is very different.” and make statements like “We cannot match the strength of Afro-americans… “. I don’t see any of your objectiveness here, how did you come to this conclusion? you seem to be talking with great command over genetics of this part of the world.
Sania Mirza: Top 35 isn’t all that bad as you are making it look :).
Our energies are focused on something else right from the beginning, invariably we are pushed into the track of making money and ‘having a good life’ and ‘settle down in life’ — with women, its even worse, I’m sure that many Indian families wouldn’t even bother allowing their daughters to take part in sports, let alone excel. There has to be significant changes in the way our society views sports people.
I’m sure nobody is talking the “crap” you are accusing them of. We’re up against developed nations who start training at a very young age, peer pressure does rest of the work in getting them to where they are.
Religion: That’s just hilarious, if you say that America is not very religious, you must be joking. Oh, and I’ve know of an athlete who turned atheist after he retired from sports. He did mention that religion helped him focus on his sport (I’m sorry, I don’t recall his name). Religion doesn’t enter into it.
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I still can’t understand why people are bringing “race” into the question…
One would think that all that it takes for an Olympic sprinter or runner is to be born into the right “race” and voila, a Gold Medal.
It takes years of training, preparation, coaching and guidance before one becomes an Olympic Champion. This includes right facilities, right diet and right advice to an athlete… and of course constant support and encouragement from a support structure for that purpose.
We haven’t got that in the first place for reasons I mentioned above, yet we keep blaming ridiculously stupid things like “race” and “religion” for athletic ineptitude.
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@ Lekkakkuntu Aatakkilla,
I enzoyed reading your post man …. gracias !
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lekkakuntu – may be you can turn your kids into Olympic champions… or into a raving maniac like your good self.
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~~~”Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life…BUT why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin? “~~~
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF HEROIN ADDICTS! YOU’VE JUST READ THEIR “ANTHEM”.
–Courtesy: Boyle/ Irvine Welsh in Trainspotting
I believe an anthem like this is what is missing in most people in India, in almost all profession.
ADDICTION, be it heroin or sports, is not such a bad thing. Extremers are adventurers be it for wrong or right reasons. One should choose to be an addict as long as you know what you think it can give you and what you can get out of it–and of course when to get out of it coz men are not machines!
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LA,
i have a queshne.
namm oor bislige, shakege, namm girO life style-ge ashTella protien naav jeerNa maaDko bahuda? carbs only not able to digest, how will we break down proteins?
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I think he has a solution for that the second point in his magnus opus:
Playground.
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Olympics…. hmm .. who cares!
Tinnakke gati illa…. olympics bere keDu ….
irodralli cricket parvagilla.. yavaglo ommomme enadru geltare.. ashtu saaku bidri.
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Lekkak,
Whether your write-up is a recipe for us to win Olympic medals, I dont know, but it has definitely influenced me to cut down on rice intake. I had replaced white rice by brown, but looks from what you say, that is no enough.
I dont want moonface like South India hero. Yochne maadudhre bhayaa aaguthe.
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Talking of bringing in african athletes reminded me of the ‘siddhis’ who are already here. 10-15 years back there was a program to identify talent among the siddhi younger lot and to groom them for field and track events for future olympics. I personaly did see a few of them at SAI(sports Authority of India) in Bengaluru practicing early in the morning. Any news about what happened to them or where are they all now?
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The siddhis are already ‘indianized’ and hence I dont see much hope of them winning anything.. we need unadulaterated africans
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LA anna,
your soya phobia is sounding like US republican talk. For them its
Vegetarian => liberal => left => commie. Sad but true, in the US even food is being politicized and you seem to be have fallen for it. In the rural south drinking lattes is frowned upon coz that makes you a ‘latte liberal’ :) So go easy on the desi diet.
Rice => Moon face, thats just deadly ;)
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Lekkakkuntu ataakilla,
i too don’t want a moon face, and believe myself to have that propensity. how do you feel about kempakki/kuchlakki as a substitute(in moderation of course)?
….btw, i know iranians who eat white rice on a daily basis, but dont get moon face, is their high protein intake helping keep their metabolic rate up?
i hope you start a blog of your own or at least comment more here, really enjoyed the way you made some of your points..
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Thank you anon, poli, ashtakashtu, 2nd anon.
Karihaida, I am a trained nutritionist, I don’t have to succumb to phobia, whether soy or rice, some foods are just bad in today’s lifestyle. Maybe in our grandfather’s time they were ok, but now now.
2nd Anon, If you are going to cut rice, let me narrate you one incident for your safety.
True story – Kannadiga IT guy working here in USA. His wife hired me for image makeover of husband, because her husband has moonface, moon stomach, everywhere he looks like moon, all round round like govinda. In hindi we will say gol matol. So he was a gol matol man. I drove to their house. The husband just came back from work in huge Ford minivan, he dropped out from front seat like a sack of iruli. I looked at him. He reminded me of that woman tun-tun who did comedy in old hindi movie. Sir, I ask, where you work ? He tells me office address. It is only 3 miles away. I said Sir, you can walk 3 miles, or atleast walk 1 mile & take a bus. He says I am IT executive, how I will walk, people will laugh at me. Bus and all I cannot take, it is full of nigger! He was so ignorant, he did not know you should not be racist like that in USA & say nigger for black people. Anyway I have given my first suggestion ie. walk, it has been rejected.
Then I went to the kitchen with them. It is full of rice products. One big 50kg basmati rice bag, then various rice based products like puliyogre, idli mix, curd for the curdrice, sambar for sambar rice etc. I told the woman, madam, throw this all out right in front of me, then come with me to market & I will buy healthy food. She is full of josh, brave lady, she emptied all that rice & idli & sambar into dumpster. Then they came to market. I purchased 100 tins of sardine, 20 chicken breast in water cans, dozen eggs, some goat cheese, Healthnut bread packs, fibre bread packs, lots of spinach & lettuce ( all very commonly available in any USA supermarket). Then we went home. I showed them how to make omelet with 4 egg whites & 1 yolk and no oil, instead of 5 yolk & butter like Indian family. Then I said everyday you eat this omelet early morning. For lunch you eat fiber bread with sardine or chicken breast, some goatcheese. Dinner you have spinach salad with goatcheese & sardine. Do this for 2 weeks. Then you call me, I will come & collect my fees.
So 1st week they call. They are full of josh. Sir, everybody asking about my husband, he is becoming lean Sir, face also becoming like triangle ! Woman is very happy. I talk to her husband, he sounds somewhat weak over the phone, but he was happy.
Second week middle I get phone call. It seems husband has fainted on keyboard! The call came from IT company. So I went there, picked him up & took him home. At home, his wife full panic, what hapnd what hapnd to my husband ?! I tell them, don’t worry madam just bring 1 glass cold water with pinch of salt, pinch of sugar. Then we revive husband. After he feels ok, I tell them frankly. Sir, you are not following my diet , tell me the truth, what did you really do for past two weeks ?
Then truth comes out slowly. Husband confesses in front of his wife.
See in morning, that woman made him eat the egg omelet in front of her, so he had no choice. Then she gave him bread & sardine in tiffinbox. After nicely eating sambar rice, hot curry & curdrice for past 30 years, he does not like taste of fiber bread & sardine. But he cannot tell wife also – question of his pride!! So he goes to office & empties tiffinbox in garbage! Then he just drinks water & survives on the omelet he has eaten. That’s why he lost weight so fast, that’s why he fainted also.
Then he breaks down. He says, we are from Karnataka. We are all eating like this only, rice morning noon night. Naavu heege ne irodu. Suddenly how we can switch ? I said then why you waste my time. I left.
Last year September I got call from woman. Her husband has cardiac arrest. Once again she wants to hire me. Again I visit their house. By this time he has become a giant, 195 lbs, 5’7″, round man with puffy balloon face like south Indian hero. I said, Sir, you have no chance. In few months you will have 2nd heart attack, you will be dead. Please follow my advice, stop eating rice, sambar etc. I will put you on diet again. He protested, but wife started crying so he had to agree. Again same diet. Same omelet, bread, sardine.
One month later that bastard fainted again on keyboard!
Man, some people such big liars, no matter how much you try to change them. Yenoo madak agalla. So I said to his wife, madam, you please spare me, you hire somebody else. She had already checked with other dieticians, & they had also said my diet was what they will also recommend. But her husband, he has no will power. He is very attracted by rice & sambar & curd. So they went back to rice.
This April he had 2nd heart attack. This time it was quite severe. I went again after lot of pleading. Now man is 207lbs! So I said, Sir you write a will, leave everything to wife & kids, you are dying, I cannot do anything for you. He was in lot of pain, after seeing his crying family & feeling so much pain in chest, he finally decided to change permanently.
Again same ceremony. They threw out all the basmati rice, purchased sardine tin, eggs, bread etc just like before. But this time he swore on his child’s head in the puja room that he will follow my diet.
Currently he is 186 lbs, becoming lean and strong every day. His goal is 170s by year end, then 150s by next year, thereafter just maintain ballpark 145-150 range. But see, this is what it takes to quit bad habits like rice eating. 2 heart attacks.
So good luck Sir. Put some discipline in your life Sir. Again and again I will say this, follow your film stars diet. Your film stars are the biggest hypocrites. In front of camera, your filmstar will promote rice, desi ghee , idli mix, cold beer etc. But in real life, they will not touch rice. Ghee and all they have not seen since childhood! I have visited their kitchens, me and my colleagues plan their menus. It is totally western – egg white omelet, fiber bread, chicken breast, sardines, spinach lettuce salad. This is what they eat. See the whole nation full of fat ugly people with double chin, triple chin, woman wearing sari and salvar kameez to hide the fat in tummy areas, thigh areas, men wearing 38-42″ loose pants and 38″ shirts at work & lungis so that all that fat can be covered up, executive wearing black formal suit in 100 degree heat of Bangalore so that when Americans meet them they will atleast look presentable. Then if you point out all this, they will give topnotch Hindu philosophy ie. Beauty eye of beholder, Purpose of life to make money be secure etc.
You first Be honest. How can such fat ugly people win Olympics ? They don’t even have discipline to play kabbadi in playground, because they are building apartments on that playground. Where they will play kabbadi ? Only in the bedroom. That’s why population also going to 2 billion. First respect your body. It is gift from God. Whether you believe God or not is different. But have discipline. Eat like a north film star. Eat protein, fiber, salad, very simple, you will automatically look good. Look at Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Surya.
http://www.extramirchi.com/actors/suryas-six-pack-abs-in-vaaranam-aayiram/
Surya is no different from you people. Same country, same environment, same genes. Just few years ago he was a fat bastard. Today ? See the difference good nutrition can make. Aa pictures Nodi. But bari nod bedi. Nodbittu kalthkoli. Just some discipline.
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Wonder how many vegetarian (+ rice) eating athletes have won Olympics medals. Phurre vegetarians not ones who call chicken and fish veg.
Lekkak has facts on his side, even about eating too much soya to supplement protein shortage causing boobies in men.
South Indian desi veggie diet => moonface => loser at sport.
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“Soy is making kids gay”.. another article by LA’s reference on soya manboobs ;)
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AG,
south indian or Indian desi ‘lazy ass’ and not the diet is the reason for ‘moonface’. Your reasoning sounds more cartmanish.. ” i’m not fat, i’m big boned “
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Those posts on ‘Soy’ sounded like direct talking points of conservative-right here in US! Those guys and their obsession with ‘protein’ ……Man, by those standards, all the vegitarians should be missing a limb or something!!
It’s a total BS. You can get enough proteins from vegitarian diet. You don’t need animal protein to survive. (No – I am not peddling veg diet here – alright?)
Soy making your kids gay? I am sure you know about ‘Gay-Bomb’ too, right? By mistake, one of them exploded in San Franscisco area!! LOL What a crap!
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Guys defending south indian veg diet, nija heli neevella pakka vegetarians allva? Max fried chicken or maybe some fish once in the while? Deviating too much and eating meat doesn’t sit well with your mental conditioning? Ondh vaara anna thinlilla andhre yeno hasive.
You can talk about conservative/liberal views etc. Aadhella Americans heludhre chennagiruthe, dont sit well when we desis use them for their convenience.
Facts are facts. Protein is protein, carb is carb.
Since you are all in the US, maybe you shouldn’t force a gay diet on your kids. Otherwise the law of Lekkakuntu Aatakkilla will catch up and they will also end up with moonface. Maybe even with some good man boobs.
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Once in four years we have to face this shame. Olympics time is shame-time for India!
We have to put up with this, as long as we as a nation worship our cricketing buffoons!
Recently “Soy” is also found to be anti-male fertility. So it is a strict no-no for us as we are born to procreate.
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Fred Foobar
While i always give facts, you go by your own perception based on zero facts.
1. Why do Indians do better in lazy sports like golf, billiards, chess, archery, shooting and cricket which requires less physical effort than other games? If ‘upbringing’ and ‘motivation’ is the key, how come Indians do better in laidback sports only? like golf, billiards, chess, shooting and even cricket to an extent.
Do you mean to say that Indians are motivated and attracted towards slow games only?
This has zero objective basis. In bengal goa and kerala specifically and the whole nation in general, football lovers outnumber those who pursue shooting. People are passionate about football, rather than shooting. People play football with zealous excitement. Compared to shooting, there is better infrastructure for football.
Yet, we produce world class shooters but not world class footballers.!!!!!!!!! strange isn’t it?
3. For Sania Mirza, Being ranked 35 in the world, is a mega first for India. yes, a superlative effort. But when you see it holistically, its not a big deal at all, when time and again smaller countries with smaller population have won hundreds of tennis tournaments.
FOr your information : SANIA MIRZA IS ON RECORD SAYING THAT AFRO AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN GIRLS ARE PHYSICALLY TALLER AND STRONGER THAN people from our part of the world. SHE HAS GONE ON RECORD TO SAY, THAT THESE GENETIC TRAITS GIVE THEM A NATURAL ADVANTAGE OVER OTHERS…..
Surely, you could not know better than the number 1 sportswomen of India?
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Countable–Out Played!
Thank you for some superb insights on the ‘miracles’ of Soy protein. It is quite obvious. Just take a look at our oriental bretheren…Soy has made most Asian men (China, Japan and SE Asia) look and act effiminate to a degree…
I will start working on the dietary methods you have suggested from now on!
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DB,
Amen to that brother!
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Nutrition guru,
that was an amusing story of the fat bastard. Can you post the types of food one can have. the same omelet bread and sardines routine over time tumba bore abiDth alva guru, to break the monotony yava yava changes maaDbeku antha swalpa thilisi Shiva!
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Lekkak,
Second post even better than first one! Maja sikthu guru.
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LA,
desi and FORD minivan ?????
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1. 13.9 percent of children two to five years of age, 18.8 percent of children six to 11 years of age, and 17.4 percent of adolescents 12 to 19 years of age in America are obese. ( American Family Physicia July 2008.
2. In Germany 22.9% of adults are obese, while the figure is 6.3% for children and adolescents ( Der Chirug- Journal of Operational medicine, July 2008)
3. In a study in China About 45% of adults had a body mass index (BMI) of > or =25.0. ( Obesity Reviews, 2003)
Obesity is a wide spread problem in the three countries with the greatest Olympic achievement/ anticipation. Russia, Australia, UK, France, Canada and even Cuba have the same difficulties.
Why has Italy won over 300 medals in all its Summer Olympics while a country comparable in every way ( Genetics, Socio-economic factors etc) like Spain has less than 100 medals and a country with barely the poulation of Bombay wins nearly 400 medals (Australia) and Cuba has 170 medals.
Is it focus on some sports like Boxing and Fencing or is it the attitude of society at large or is it DIET. I am sure evry sensible person would say the reasons are likely to be more sophisticated than just these individually or in interaction.
BTW I personally find LAs stories tasteless and stupid- just my opinion.
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Gaby,
BORRRRINGGGGG.
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63 responses and ‘brahmin’ angle has not come up… surprising :)
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GABY must be a moonface …. ROFL !
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karihaida,
Yeah surprising, considering how hard you must be trying to inject that boring angle into the conversation…
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Yesterday I went to one of those normal desi potlucks, hmm not exactly since after the food people went clubbing. Most ppl who met yesterday were vegetarians and hence the idea of having a potluck before going out partying (!)
I noticed, the South Indians ate rice, rice and more rice. The veg northies were no better, they ate parathas laced with butter. The veggies were all overcooked and smothered in oil and spices. Non-veg was no better.
And when I mentioned that white rice is not good for us, they gave me shit about burning it off in the gym and eating more rice (rice being complex carbohydrate etc. – even white rice etc.).
I must say most either had or were on the way to getting moon-faces or ugly little pot bellies, even the girls.
Lekkak,
I for one am taking your advice seriously. I exercise, play sport, cycle to work/grocery store etc., but I hadn’t realized the importance of a good diet for long term well being.
Thanks for your informative and witty posts.
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Hmm… what’s all this soy-protein digression? Apart from lack of nutrition (as I gather from the comments above), lack of genes, motivation, inspiration etc etc… what prevents India from winning a few medals despite sending mammoth contingents every olypmics?
Somehow, I don’t foresee India winning big in olympics even in 2025 (or later)…
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Thank you VP, DB & all the anons.
See nutritionist is like any other important person in your family. You have family doctor, family dentist, some of you rich people even have family lawyer, then why don’t you have a family nutritionist ? Check your yellow pages & make an appointment
VP, here is a good list –
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
From that list some suggestions that are easy to follow
a. Always sprinkle black pepper in everything. Whether bread, salad, raagi, oatmeal, coffee tea etc.
b. Eat barley, millet ( raagi ), granola and oats everyday. It is very filling and very healthy. In USA, go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe, you can buy real unprocessed Whole Wheat, Rye bread ( jewish people’s staple food ) , surprisingly millet also! So you can actually sit in Michigan & eat Mandya raagi it is modern day miracle.
c. Add turmeric, cloves, ginger, some garlic, basil & chilli pepper spices to most dishes. They suit our Indian taste buds but mainly they prevent cancer. In fact Americans are adding these Indian spices to their foods because of anti-carcinogenic effect and making these things costly. Turmeric and all used to be so cheap earlier, now Americans buy all turmeric bottles & raise the price. Tell your wife to make everything a little bit hot & spicy ( not oily, just spicy ), it is good for your libido & it will control appetite too.
d. Talking of price, be willing to spend atleast 40% of your monthly income on food. If not, that’s ok, you can become sick & then your doctor will take 100% of your income by force.
e. buy “old fashioned oatmeal”, or buy Irish Oatmeal in tins.
http://www.mccanns.ie/
f. Granola & cereal – I recommend Ezekiel 4:9, it is a famous ( expensive ) brand for “highly active people”. In fact foodforlife is a famous hollywood brand for our rich actors, you can purchase it here
http://foodforlife.com/our-products.html
You see Ezekiel 4:9 on that page, go to stores or order by mail.
g. please search your kitchen closets & collect all the sugar & throw it in gutter right now. Nothing more destructive to body than white sugar. 100s of studies, they all demonstrate same thing. If you want to poison & kill your enemy, just feed them 1 cocacola or pepsi or any sugar drink everyday, that is what all coke companies doing here also . Avoid sugar completely in all forms. Don’t be fooled by your film actors, Shah Rukh Preity & Aamir have not had 1 drop of coke, it is only for ad purposes they pretend to like it. In real life they drink imported pure mineral water.
instead of sugar you buy raw honey. It is natural, unprocessed, yes expensive, $12 for 12oz but it is full of nutrients & calorie dense, so you will need to use very little for sweetness. Drinking honey coffee & honey tea is hard initially, but in 3-4 months you will start liking it. Raw honey is somewhat dark in color not bright yellow. Best source is our villages in north karnataka. For city people, try reallyrawhoney or other organic honey sources especially from canada.
http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/
For information purpose, especially if you want to convince your wife inlaws etc http://www.google.com/search?q=honey+vs+sugar
100s of research papers & medical literature say the same thing, sugar bad honey good. But money needed for good honey. That’s why govinda also singing on top of his voice. Money bhi hai, honey bhi hai. It should be India’s national anthem, so much health benefit in that song.
Finally don’t buy sugar substitutes like Equal, Sweet and Low, Nocal, zerocal etc. They have been implicated in several studies now, the artificial chemicals they use are carcinogenic & unsafe, so please stay away. Good science experiment if you have kids in the family – you ask your son to feed Equal to a rat in a box everyday for 1 month. At end of 1 month, you will get dead rat. Guarantee. Aspartame kills.
h. Yogurt. Drink plenty of yogurt. Not curd, but yogurt. Ask your wife to prepare it at home with milk & bacteria. If you are going to buy it in store, buy yogurt with probiotic active cultures ( ie. alive active bacteria )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotic
http://www.healthcastle.com/yogurt-probiotics-benefits.shtml
India has always had probiotic yogurt because housewife makes it in kitchen from milk by adding yesterday’s yogurt. In USA it has been widely available since only past year. Don’t buy cheapo white yogurt with no probiotics, it has no benefit, you will simply put on weight. It should clearly say Probiotic. It is expensive, sorry. But you lose weight fast on probiotic yogurt, plus as Indians we already like its taste.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20050317/yogurt-may-help-burn-fat-promote-weight-loss
i. Eat lots of green leafy vegetables especially palak, lettuce etc, in large quantities. It is very filling. As usual add honey & spices for taste. You can eat these while watching TV. Don’t unnecessarily cook these things. Just wash & eat raw. Carrots, sliced mushrooms are very good, low calorie filling foods.
j. Eat breakfast as early as possible, definitely before 8am. Most people eating first meal at 11am, 12pm etc. Very bad habit, even God can’t make you thin if you skip your breakfast.
h. Speaking of God, please don’t bother your nutritionist with religion details. Your religion is your personal business. As nutritionist, we model human body as a chemical factory. You add chemicals from top (mouth), you get chemicals in bottom(anus). Rest is organic chemistry. So we have no opinion if your religion allows you to eat egg or doesn’t allow beef or whatever, it is not our business. Knowledge should come from all directions, says the Gita. So don’t reject certain foods simply because it is not from your caste religion etc. Food is food, it is all chemicals only.
Now some people reject nonveg because of smell and taste issues, but you see, most nonveg especially in US is tasteless & odorless. In India the fish will smell fishy, & chicken will have a cut head full of blood etc, it is repulsive & turns people off. But in USA you buy a sardine tin, it is odorless tasteless 4 slices of fish. You only have to add salt spices for taste. Similarly white chicken cans see here eg.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=190044
these are just odorless tasteless white gobs, think of it like paneer & add it to your salad & eat, don’t make big ragale over it.
If you just can’t eat because of ethics and beliefs, fine just tell your nutritionist & move on.
i. Food is a family decision. See I have been involved in some very nasty husband-wife conflicts.. Sometimes husband sees that he is getting fat, his colleagues will tell him, so he will feel hurt, then he go full josh, cut out all sugar & rice & start eating healthy food. Then his newly married wife, she is poor girl from traditional kannada family, she feels husband is rejecting her anna, palya, hot coffee with sugar etc, so maybe he is falling in love with some other girl! Then she complains to her in-laws, then they bother the husband, he tells them to talk to me & suddenly I am in middle of family dispute! So tell your whole family beginning itself. Don’t make surprise changes in your food , they will be shocked.
Indian women also have some strange belief that route to man’s heart is through stomach, so within first 3 months of marriage, some 90% of Indian couples will put on serious weight. Please don’t think you can keep husband happy by constantly feeding him day & night, he is not your baby.
Husbands, please tell your wife & in-laws in beginning itself that you want to eat healthy, show them your fitness menu, then they will make only those items & then whole family will eat healthy. Don’t go it alone.
j. In general, walking is better than running.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567717
Walk everywhere. Best place to walk these days is office. Take the stairs. In fact in big IT companies everything laid out like a campus, you can easily walk 5 miles just going from one place to another. For lunch, walk to a different cafeteria every day. Did you know that nurses walk an average 15-20 miles per DAY ?! Yes, that’s right, just because you are in a closed space does not mean you can’t walk. Don’t sit in chair all day, just make some excuse to walk to drink water, chitchat etc.
k. Lastly, avoid fat people.
Yes it is little bit cruel, what to do, but life is like that.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1229625929
Fat people will surely make you fat. Obesity is contagious. In our profession we have known this for a very long time, but we can’t say these things out loud. But thankfully, these days media is becoming more proactive & doing useful things like actually making these health facts public. Also media people especially reporters TV journalists etc, stop bothering your actors with useless junk questions like Sir how you played this character, Sir what do you feel about that role etc. Instead, ask your actors useful questions. Sir, what toothpaste do you use ? Majority actors use things like Tom’s ( http://www.tomsofmaine.com/ ) because it has absolutely no chemicals, it is tasteless and good for teeth, not sugar fluoride toothpaste like colgate etc which our dumb Indian consumers are using. Ask Hema what hair oil she uses. Ask John Abraham about his deltoid exercises, ask Surya about abs. Actually lot of good exercise infomation has become public thanks to 2 people ShahRukh and Surya openly talking about sixpacks. This is very useful to our youth. See there is an underground subculture of really healthy active goodlooking fit people, you too can be part of it. Just follow your fit actors. Otherwise you will soon start looking like this –
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AG,
Since LA brought up the issue of manboobs, I feel its only natural that brahmins should come into the conversation.
If Victoria’s secret folks visit some of the bigger south indian temples I bet they would seriously consider starting Victor’s secret ;)
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Karihaida,
Brahmins and man boobs? Is there a connection? If there is, I doubt if it is a Brahmin thing per se. Must be the diet of rice and water.
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LA,
All said and done, I agree with most of it & some which I don’t.
1.) Argument that Indian Rice culture is bad. It has evolved over a period of time for different reasons,
– South Indian weather hot, highly humid & tiring. Rice gives you lot of energy, generally carbs are naturally appealing in such an environment.
– I presume Brahminic food is more centered around rice because of socio-economic reasons and fundamentalist proscription on several foods.
This Rice culture is something which we cannot do away with once! And believe me rice is not the real culprit here its the Fat foods like:Butter, ghee, white sugar & Overeating/gluttony!
Eg: Our farmers (economically down), He/She eats Ragi mudde/rotti, varieties of soppina saaru (rarely some chicken/mutton) in addition a lot of logging in farm. They are the ones who live the longest & sleep easily at night :)
2.) Obsession with Six pack abs. Six pack abs doesn’t necessarily indicate that one is healthy or not. Six pack abs is more to do with diet than exercise/fitness levels. A person without six pack abs could be more healthy/fit compared to a person with six pack abs. It could only be used as a psychological/motivational tool for lazy people.
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what nonsense!!! half my family works for the railways. other half works in fields and temples. none in my family is obese. in my entire family there is not one fat joe or joe-thi.
my grampa’s bro has eaten rice and only for as long he has lived. he’s lean and mean. he walks and works hard in the fields much to the chagrin of people he employs. my own grampa worked the kitchens. he was tall and could prolly take a guy or two down.
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adE… I have heard when Maharaja’s college was headed by a certain Englishman known for his discipline and love for sports(whose name I’ve forgot); his college’s teams were always the favourites and they feared only one team — Maharaja’s Sanskrit Pathashale! This guy couldn’t fathom how could these scrawny, pony-tailed Brahmin lads could be so agile and swift!
Yes, this is the institution where the great Krishnamacharya once taught Yoga!
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Lekkakhila Atankuntu:
Thanks for your Hilarious posts. Although it is humorous, I am sorry to say being a nutritionist in the US you have been brought over by hype and propoganda by vested food lobbies. You seriously lack critical thinking and sound reasoning. And the only thing you have in your defence is that your are some kind of wacko nutritionist.
My forefathers have eaten rice all their lives and thankfully our family has been blessed with Longevity genes (average age of 80+), triangular faces (what about it), long and slim physiques. My grand uncle a famous writer in Kannda died at the age of 103 a couple of years ago. He was always a rice eater and even on his short trips to US/UK where he stayed with us, he insisted on Rice (with copious quantities of Thuppa), Saru, Huli, Gatti Mosaru, uppinakayi and he inisisted on eating one sweet like mysooru paku, shavige payasa, basundi every day. He never ever touched wheat, non vegetarian food etc and was physically and intellectually active till almost the very end even after he reached 102. He even hated chinese, italian, north indian vegetarian food.
Coming to Rice and Soya, the chinese and the far eastern people are predominantly rice and soya eating (along with their other sea food and snakes) and they are the slimmest race with round faces. In fact in Japan most people started dying early and getting heart attacks after they switched over from their staple of Rice and fish to american foods and red meat.
So Mr Nutritionist your anti Rice and Soya campaign lacks substance. It is just shows the level of indoctrination you have undergone from the several meat processing lobbies and propogators of fad diets like Atkins diet. Your role model Shah rukh khan also followed this atkins diet. Incidentally he smokes 40 cigrattes per day. Why not add that as a prescription for the six pack abs.
Comparing film stars to sedantary workers like software engineers is ridicoulous. The film stars spend lots of time in Gyms and spas everyday as they need to maintain their main investment – their looks and figures. A software engineer or knowledge worker does not have the luxury of spending so much of time. Also for your kind information many of the bollywood hunks and babes are vegetarians and swear by it – Akshay Kumar, Shilpa Shetty, Milind soman, karishma Kapoor (size zero girl), Rekha .
You seem to have a strait jacket view about nutrition and the kind of people one should eat. A high protien diet has its pitfalls. Protiens in excess creates toxins in your blood stream and can even result in kidney damage. The round faces and obesity you can find in the US as a result of consumption of meat is no match in front of the rice eating south indians. Haven’t you seen those huge massive Dadiyas and dummis. Many of them are afro americans who eat what they call soul food.
Coming back to the topic of Olympics. Why do people blame vegetarians for the lack of medals in olympics. It is a religious and ethical choice of a micro minority population of India to be vegetarians. I don’t think sporstsmen and women think about such choices. Majority of our sportsmen and women are non vegetarians and have no hang ups about it. They would do anything for winning including taking drugs which while giving them their six packs and triceps also screw up their hormonal systems in the long run. Most of the wrestlers have their share of lean meat and eggs and whatever. Just visit the mess of SAI near kengeri and you will know. Why do people blame a small section of the population for Indias bad performance in olympics. Afterall this brahmin angle has to come in picture always and they are just 4% of Indias population. What are the other 96% doing.
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all that crap aside,
I have made a bet of sizeable amount that we will win a boxing medal. Anybody up for more?
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Where I have said eat high protein diet ? So many people harping on this one issue. What is high protein ? You think you can actually eat high protein diet ? In India ?? Please. It is like a villager telling cityman that 5 lakh rupee salary is high income. High income means millions of dollars, not 5 lakh 10 lakh etc. Similarly high protein is 1 gram per lb, which is what our body builders eat. I am asking you to eat 1 gram per KG.
1 kg is 2.2 lb. So I am asking you to eat only half of what fit people are eating. Only half. That you call high ?! People in India are undernourished in protein , overnourished in carb. I’m just helping you balance the ratio.
If you want to be pure veg fine, eat eggs, raagi, oats, some grams, you can get 1 gram per kg like that also. See I weigh 75kg, I eat 75gram protein. 75 gram protein is not high. High means 150-200 grams, that is what bodybuilder will eat.
Some of you have good genetics, so you are able to eat only rice and work in railways, airways etc. My advice is for middle of bell curve, not the tail end. You are in tail, thank your stars and forefathers. For most overweight Indians I have seen, rice is invariably the culprit. BTW Poli, – “South Indian weather hot, highly humid & tiring. Rice gives you lot of energy, generally carbs are naturally appealing in such an environment.” Very true Sir, but then you are not sitting in hot humid weather cutting wood with axe like your forefather. You are sitting in nice AC cubicle doing sedentary job. Then why you need lot of energy from rice ?
Rice is appealing because of conditioning, not climate. We have all grown up eating copious amount of rice. Suddenly stopping it is not an option for many. But Sir what is the hurry ? Go slow, cut down on your intake over a period of few months. You are not getting chance to work on Rathnam picture right ? I am telling because when Madhavan got Guru offer, he took flight to London for 1 month, so that he can play tennis everyday, eat protein rich food and lose 20kgs fast. If he just stayed in Chennai, everywhere you look rice, rice, rice, so many tasty rice dishes, you are also human, you feel like eating it, how you can deny that pleasure ? So for him such problems. Even Ajay Devgan and Surya have said main problem is everywhere you look in India, nice tasty foods, how you can deprive yourself just for 1 film. But they have dedication, so they are doing it. For you people, you are getting salaried job, no pressure to drop 20kg, you do it slowly at your own pace.
Filmstars etc. is for motivation purposes. If you are entrepreneur you will have some Narayana Murthy or Bill Gates to motivate you, similarly I am suggesting filmstar to motivate you towards fitness. Don’t read too much into it.
Soy and legumes in general have been solidly implicated in lower sperm count, male boobs and increase in feminine traits. Use google or go to a medical site & do your own research, please don’t accuse me of indoctrination just because some emerging factoids are unpleasant. And for the record, please stay far far away from Atkins, steroids and 40 cigarettes per day. Nothing will kill you faster than those 3 things.
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Guru lekkak,
Rajanamma neenu.
Third post – best of all. Good advice! Never mind the comments from people telling how their great rice/sweet laden diets is. Or how it has helped their/friends’/familys’ super physiques.
What you have said are facts. And it is obvious from the number of Olympic medals we have won.
Thanks for the detailed write up on how to eat healthy.
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Nutrition guru, Thanks for all the input.
and for those who were desperate for a brahmin angle. Check out the one and only Prof K.V. Iyer
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/India/Iyer/iyer-index.htm
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Vitlan,
Only you and karihaida are desperate to prove some point about Brahmins and post old black and white photos :)
We just want India to win medals in the Olympics.
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AG,
..and you r desperate to comment the contrary the moment the word brahmin appears. I wonder who it was who whipped you so badly was it a he or a she? :-)
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Mari vitlan,
saakappa nin braahmanke :)
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Le pudi ag,
saaku nin anti-brahmanke :-)
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VP,
Nimantharudhavaru nilsudhre, antinu automaticagi nithhoguththe.
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LA,
I bow to you, our resident ‘trained’ nutritionist.
http://www.manboobs.co.uk/
The dude abides
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Lekkakkuntu Aatakkilla
I am eager to see your reply to Subba Shastri. There are plenty of vegetarians who eat copious quantity of rice, yet love up to 80s and 90s..wonder how.
By the way, your quirky and rather ungrammitical (is it deliberate?) way of writing is rip roriously funny. I love your blogs. Honestly, i mean what i say.
But i still believe food apart, it is genetics which play a major role…like gaby pointed out..even western countries which have done really well at olympics have got a huge obestity problem on hand.
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The rediff message boards are a treasure trove of knowledge on this topic
http://ia.rediff.com/sports/2008/aug/04rajeev.htm
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Lekkakkuntu Aatakkil
Sorry, i missed your reply on high protein and low carb. What you say makes a lot of sense laced with dollops of humour!!!!!!
But somethings still don’t make sense:
My Doddappa is 75, drinks copious quantities of whisky everyday, smokes two packs of ciggies every day, for the past fifty years, yet has managed to survive with only one debility: Psoriasis.
Of course, you can explain it away as good genetics…..
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Is this “debate” about longevity/survival or being fit enough to excel in sports?
FWIW, India’s oldest athlete is a rice eating Brahmin and a Mysorean.
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Vitlan Potli,
Thanks for pointing to those booklets of KV Iyer!
H. Ananta Rao, featured in http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/India/Iyer/perfectphysique/perf02.htm was also a very popular teacher in Mahajana High School and he is still in great health even in his advanced age.
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Countable–Out Played
You are a genius! Please continue with the good work and post some of your witty advice for all of us ‘Rice Retards’. Don’t worry about the Rice backlash—an exception does not prove the Rule!
I am now wondering Porthos Sardines or some economical Moroccan ones?:) BTW please post some tips on Kosambari (Churumuri’s food blog) for wannabe Fish Eaters who may want experiment in stealth to recover their health. If these Rice Retards do not wake up pretty soon it will be Dad wears the ‘bra’ in the house as it were to handle the pendulus frontend:) Some tips on desifying (how to spice up these) Sardines or even Kippers…I think you should warn the Rice Brigade that Kippers smell to high heaven and might kill even when the fragrant rice kills slowly slowly saar!
BTW Millets are our Kannada ‘Nawane’ right? How do we cook this grain? I am quite an expert with Ragi though…
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abbaba
janarige eenu taleede.
Veggies also have to have certain intake of animal proteins. They generally consume in the form mosaru, thuppa, benne, haalu.
In India, non vegetarians do not consume meat everyday. However it could be different in case of fish eating non veggies or coastal communities.
Wondering whether that ‘ flag bearer of brahmins’ is displaying his janiwaara (holy thread) in his office. (May be he doesn’t wear a shirt)
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Doddi buddi
Just boil it and eat :)
I am not very sure. Try your luck!.
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Doddi Buddi… navaNe dOse is almost like ragi dOse(making process should be same) but tastes better! :-)
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DB, pls stealth alli experiment maad bedi. This is what I’ve been warning about. Num generation males ie. people in late 30s 40s 50 tumba reserved about weight problems, so they trying all these stealth experiments. Recently friend circle nalli obba tumba twitching & nervousness feel maadtha iddane. Why ? In stealth, he had started taking one capsule, hydroxycut antha, that he saw advertisement on late night tv for instant weight loss! Nodi, Instant weight loss is a fiction. It is meant for providing steady income to tv stars so that they can show off their bodies and con you people into putting industrial sludge into your body. For few days you might experience some positive effect, but downside tumba severe – you will get arrythmia ie. irregular heartbeat , and die. Literally hundreds of athletes in USA have dropped dead in prime of their health because of taking ephedra pills. People have died in stadium in middle of football game on live TV!
http://www.google.com/search?q=steve+bechler+death&btnG=Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra
We banned ephedra pill in 2006 in USA, after so many young people died because of wanting instant weight loss. But nodi, recently I went to India, they are selling the same ephedra openly, because there is no ban in India! Pls pills togo bedi. Beda idella. Stop stealth experiment. Tell your wife. She will not bite you. You just be open and honest. Fortunately the upcoming generation in the 20s, they are growing up watching Katrina, Bipasha, John, I have lot of hope from them.
Regarding fish, USA nalli I eat Beach Cliff mustard sardine, Bumble Bee tuna, Reese crabmeat, Redhead salmon. All very commonly available in any walmart. None of them have any smell. Odorless tasteless substances, you only have to add whatever taste you want. I eat them straight out of the can onto a slice of Kavli. Kavli means, it is Rye bread from Norway, available in any market in USA. Very thin, very crisp bread, it will break in your mouth when you bite, very good taste especially for us Indians, because they use garlic spice.
http://www.beachcliff.info/beachcliff/usaenglish/health_nutrition/health.asp
http://www.internaturalfoods.com/Kavli/Kavli.html
Sardine is only $2 per tin. Just try one for breakfast. I like the mustard sauce version because I have Indian taste buds.
Raagi cooking, see I must confess I am not much of a cook. I get Raagi from Ezekiel cereal, it is made of raagi and barley, I just add hot water & salt. Looks tastes exactly like what our villagers eat.
I think I am inadvertently giving the impression that I am a rice basher. Nodi, I too had a grandfather who lived into his late 80s. Pure rice eater. Lean and strong. I have stayed with him in the village in childhood. This is my true memory. At 4am, entire village without exception would get up & walk to the riverside, some 5 miles away. It is a stunning experience, like a movie perhaps. Whole village some 200 people walking on a narrow mud path to the river! Then males would separately go to toilet near fields, females separate, then everybody would jointly descend into the river, take early morning cold bath in flowing water with first class breeze. Many times I have even seen peacocks there. Then with wet clothes on, we would walk back to the house, but because of early sunrise & long distance, automatically clothes would dry up on the way itself! Then I went with grandfather to take milk from the cows. You have to separate the calf & then you get few litres of pure unadulterated milk. Then we would have terrific breakfast with idli chutney, rice sambar. Hot coffee. Then grandfather would go to the fields. Everything was manual labour, one tractor but not much use. Mostly they would use their hands only, to dig canals, plant seeds, cut crops with sickle. Very hard work. At noon, I would go with grandmother to the field, carrying one large tiffinbox full of curdrice. Grandfather would be covered in sweat and grime. We would sit under tree in shade & eat lunch, then he would get back to work for rest of the day. By the time he came back home, he must have burnt 6000 calories! Even grandmother would do all kinds of labour at home, no mixer grinder, no laundry machine, no dishwasher, no microwave, so crush the grains, wash clothes, cook food for big family, it was a lot of work. So that is how they lived, hence they ate pure rice for high energy.
These days you tell me who is burning 6000 calorie ? Only our filmstars,army commandoes, athletes. Rest of them waking up going in auto volvobus tata indica car to work, then just sedentary job all day, but our eating habits haven’t changed alva ? That’s why so much weight gain. That’s why even though my grandfather was in perfect health, same cannot be said about his sons and grandsons, they moved to cities & continued eating rice & became obese, with my exception. Times have changed, we also have to change. Ashte naan hailthairodu.
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DB,
I used to think millet was English for ragi. Turns out ragi is actually called Finger Millet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragi
So it is a variety of millet.
About sardines, I found three types of tinned ones in the grocery near where I live:
1. In Olive oil
2. In tomato sauce
3. In slight salted water
I bought the ones in water:
http://www.beachcliff.info/beachcliff/usaenglish/product_mainpage.asp
Was wondering if I should heat it a little etc. Turns out not necessary at all:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080414095825AA2RCG1
As some guy says there:
sardines are canned through a heat process so they are already cooked… all canned products are… how old are you?
:)
So the canned sardines where all cleaned and ready to eat – so I just spread them on some multigrain bread, mashed them, added some lettuce leaves and chomped ’em down. Yummy!
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……….the ‘flag bearers of anti-brahmins’ are running around only in their shirts and nothing else :-)
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@ Dr Sree Reddy
“Wondering whether that ‘ flag bearer of brahmins’ is displaying his janiwaara (holy thread) in his office. (May be he doesn’t wear a shirt)”
I have seen that not by one brahmin but many @ my office, its very aggressive marketing/signaling of ones own kind. They make such idiots out of themselves, instead of using their capabilities … use their something else to make up for everything else and blame poor dalit for all wrong doing.
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Throw together one charlatan – countable – and two cheerleaders – AG and DB, I feel like I’m watching Lion King – Scar and his two hyenas…
“Be Prepared”
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Simple,
the alcohol killed the germs in the digestive tract and the smoke killed germs in the lungs, hence your doddappa is hale and healthy :)
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ashtakkashtu,
Enjoy the show :)
Karihaida,
Sariyage heludhri.
And the manboobs site makes one shudder!
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I think if there was a lancha giving and taking category, naavu bharatiyaru will sweep the leaderboard.
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.Um. vitty remark. hardly!
……We are always properly dressed and we dont wear such “threads” and therefore no need to run around without shirts/blouses unlike “flag-bearer of brahmins”. (That means somebody wear nothing to office :)
I pity the fellow coworkers. )
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Rice is eaten even in north. The states like Punjab, Harayana, parts of Rajatshan, parts of UP/MP staple diet is wheat. Otherwise rest eat rice mainly. The migrants from rice-eating North to urban areas in the north have adapted and switched to wheat as their staple diet. I do not the reasons. Could be a part of the “process of modernization/urbanization”.
Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttarnchal, parts of UP/Bihar, Himachal, entire North-east, Orissa are main eaters of rice.
Northies generally say”North is cold. If we eat rice, we feel cold. Therefore, we eat wheat.”. Coldest regions Kashmir, Himachal eat rice.
East Asia’s staple food is rice. The temperature is minus 30 in winters in some parts.
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NAWN
Thank you. I will try this one out.
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Guys you are missing the point. India can’t win the medals in Olympics because we are backward in sport. There is no way we can compete with China, America and russia because we are a country which has been oppressed. We need to first formulate an internal and external policy for sports taking into account the most contemplative thoughts of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
First we need to suggest and impress upon the olympic comitte that India is a ‘Scheduled Nation’. And being 20% of world population we are not winning any medals so we and a few countries like – Pakisthan, Saudi arabia, Bangladesh etc should be termed as ‘scheduled nations’. The qualifying entrance criteria should be removed for us and we should be able to qualify for participation in all sports. There should be separate rules framed for us in all the events. For example the 100 meters sprint should be changed to 80 metres for us and the rest of the nations should run 100 metres. Apart from this there should be certain reserved sports (like our reserved constituencies) where only the scheduled nations can compete. Maybe Kabbadi, Guli Danda etc should be introduced as reserved sports. Atleast by this we will be guarenteed minimum medals.
Next the Internal policy within the country. This is simple. We are past masters in this. Adopt the SC/ST, OBC reservation, Mandal comission, Sachar commission and also get in the services of experts like Karunanidhi to introduce the most advanced form of resrvation in the team selection.
This is the only and most effective way for us to be the champions.
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Forgot to add. Lets also tell the olympic comitte that this Scheduled Nation policy should be in force for the next ten olympics (40 years). After this time when equality is established we remove the policy as we all will be on a level playing field.
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LA thanks for all the ‘nutritious’ information..
BTW our angadi fellows must introduce mud cakes in their cafeteria for their sedentary work force..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul29food.internationalaidanddevelopment
Totally filling 0 calories
For starters they could brand it as some ‘Ezekiel 4:20’ :)
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LA thanks for all the ‘nutritious’ information..
BTW our angadi fellows must introduce mud cakes in their cafeteria for their sedentary work force..
For starters they could brand it as ‘Ezekiel 4:20’
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@Lekkakuntu Atakklilla
Man what you’re saying is complete bullshit and complete propaganda preached by your white masters in USA ,you must be one of those crazy people who also claim Soy milk is better than Cow Milk.Nobody cares about those research papers published these days which are mostly madeup.
The people here are sheeps believing your lame joke like rice eaters having moon face to be real,and think they can become sundarangas just denouncing rice.
So whats your next take, your stereotype of rice eaters having small willy’s.?
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why people don oppose reservations for the rich(capitation fees)?
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we nepalese brahmin eat everythinghs since the history i know look at our brahmin leader everyone is feet fp koirala still feet at 80 and others too so ok no need of brahminism for preserving the life
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The reason is simple. The writing is on the wall.
Culture. Indian culture has no sports. It doesnt glorify sports.
1. Lets start with school. We have P.T. in school. If any other school in the world looks at it, they will laugh at physical training we get. No hard running, no climbing ropes, no strength training, nothing.
2. Food is extremely devoid of proteins, vitamins (overcooked in oil and spices), and just plain carbs. No way we can get energy to perform.
3. We never see our PARENTS PLAY any sport. Other sporting nations have parents atleast doing jogging, swimming, trekking, lifting weights etc. Indians just cannot drive any inspiration in homes.
4. Obsessed with preparing for jobs right from birth. Parents train people for bookish knowledge right from childbirth. No sports. Just studies.
5. Since we grow up this way, we are the same ones, who feel apathetic to sports. So no wonder Indian Sports Authorities and Govt have similar thinking individuals to run sports.
6. How many women do you see in India aged 40 running with shorts on the streets. All they have been trained to do is prepare dal, roti, get pregnant, get fat and get emotional in life. Thats it. Poor culture.
All in all – our MIXED culture of 800 languages doesnt have its own identity. Its time to throw away religion, start a new culture, new diets, new way of life.
Shun “indianness” and you’ll see winning in sport and life.
Otherwise we’ll always remain in shadow of some other culture like Mughals, Arabs, Aryans, and British.
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This comparison will keep happening we act like stereotypes . Well we surely can make it it take determination and practice . 1 gold and the government pay a person 1.82 cores well Bindra is been appreciated and personally i am proud of him investing all this money in local sport . For instance take Kerala they have promotion for more athletics . We should step off our comfort zone and act and think as a country instead of comparing things with other .
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whoever says india is doing bad
lets see you take care of 1.3 billion ppl
and the olympics
if ANYONE has a problem reply me
then watch
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@simple
Also it is a known fact that you have to come from a very wealthy country like USA or from the Communist bloc to do well in Olympics as they invest a lot in their atheletes through state subsidies. I think more than brute strength it has a lot to do with adequate training–this requires a lot of $$$$. India simply does not invest a lot in sports. I recall the little Chinese gymnast was forced to practise for hours and the training given by the communist party is very rigid.
To say that Indians are “genetically” incapable of sports is absurd. Indians have a variety of “genes” and are very much capable of being athletes if given the right training and diet. This requires a lot of $$$.
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I think the question is also why Indian produces nothing worth exporting besides good sportsmen. It has nothing that is associated with it as a brand which is popular world wide–such as cars and computers or electronics–. I think something has gone terrible wrong in India in the last 70 years…The educational system is to blame and it is only getting worse….It is to blame for why there are no sportsmen and no brands associated with India.
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Winning the olympics is about the right training and the $$$ to obtain that training….These days training in sports is a very scientific affair.
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Culture. Indian culture has no sports. It doesnt glorify sports.
This is not true. How did Indians then come up with yoga which is like gymnastics? What about the Buddhist monks who were very into martial arts? What about the glorification of strength in our epics such as in battle and in archery? Or have all heroic people died out in India? It has to do with the fact that something has gone wrong with the culture, it has become sickly and it has to do with the country being impoverished….Everything is made a caste issue these days and standards are lowered and importance is not given to merit…
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DB
The Japanes have gained 4 inches in height because of a switch to a meat based diet from a rice based one. You just read the description of the Japanese by Europeans (short, puny etc. etc.) a about more than a century ago…Also Panjabis are tall because they eat a wheat based died and not rice, although they do not necessarily eat a lot of meat….
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