Self-Deception

It is part of the human nature always to judge others very severely and, when the wind turns against us, always to find an excuse for our own misdeeds, or to blame someone else for our mistakes. The story that follows illustrates what I mean.

A messenger was sent on an urgent mission to a distant city. He saddled up his horse and set off at a gallop. After passing several inns where animals like him were normally fed, the horse thought: 'We're not stopping to eat at any stables, which means that I'm being treated, not like a horse, but like a human being. Like all other men, I will eat in the next big city we reach.'

But the big cities all passed by, one after the other, and his rider continued on his way. The horse began to think: 'Perhaps I haven't been changed into a human being after all, but into an angel, because angels have no need to eat.'

Finally, they reached their destination and the animal was led to the stable, where he greedily devoured the hay he found there.

'Why believe that things have changed simply because they do not happen quite as expected?' he said to himself. 'I'm not a man or an angel. I'm simply a hungry horse.'

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Pollution in Delhi during winter

It seems a nice weather in Delhi now to walk around or to do some outdoor activities. But when winter has started, the air which cover Delhi is also polluted then ever. From the satellite picture which has been taken last week, shown that Delhi is one of the polluted city in Asia.

The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds". When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, there are the newest threat to the global environment.

Soot levels in the air were reported to have risen alarmingly in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata. Brown clouds were also cited as dimming the light by as much as 25% in some places including New Delhi, Karachi, Shanghai and Beijing. The clouds have been found to be more than 2km thick around glaciers in Himalaya and Hindu Kush mountain ranges.

It's definately dangerous to health but we were really enjoying our tennis tournament last week. Even we have lost the tournament but we were happy to participate and myself, I just have a minor injury on my back.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

I can't get in

Acsa (American shop), in Delhi, there is a strange look that has been thrown to me everytime I visit the shop and today, I decide to go there again as I may need certain thing from the shop. As I am standing before it, a man at the door says:
'You can't come in.'
My intuition tells me that he is saying this purely for the pleasure of saying 'No'. I explain that I've come a long way; I try offering him a tip; I try being nice; I point out that this is, after all, a shop which I have an authorization to go in. Suddenly, going into that shop has become very important to me and I try to show him my authorization card but he just ignore me.
'You can't come in,' the man says again.
There is only one alternative: to carry on and see if he will physically prevent me from going in. I walk towards the door. He looks at me, but does nothing.
As I'm leaving, two other couples arrive and they, too, walk in. The old man does not try to stop them. I feel as if, thanks to my resistance, the old man has decided to stop inventing ridiculous rules. Sometimes the world asks us to fight for thing we do not understand and whose significance we will never discover.

Another day that I leave in Delhi.
Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Arabian cooking

BARKUK (Lambs with prunes sauce)

1kg Lamb leg or lamb shoulder
300g Prunes
100g Shelled almonds
1 Onion (sliced)
80g Butter
Cinnamon sticks
Sesame seeds
Honey
Olive oil

Soak the prunes in water for 30 minutes. Cut the lamb into 5 or 6 pieces. Put the meat in a saucepan with 2 - 3 sticks of cinnamon, the sliced onion, butter, a pinch of salt and 2 glasses of water. Cook slowly for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the lamb, set it aside and keep it warm.

Squeeze out the prunes, and put them in the pan along with 5 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, caramelize over a moderate flame.

Toast the almonds in a skillet with 3 tablespoon olive oil, and toast the sesame seeds in the oven. Serve the meat with the prune sauce, garnish with the almonds and sesame seeds.

Bon appetit.
Laurent et Meenz