Canning red cherry

To prepare the 'red cherry' for canning freshly collected fruits are cleaned and cut open by vertical incision to de-seed.

These are then kept in two per cent clear lime solution with 10 per cent common salt for about five to six hours to remove the acid content.

The fruits are then taken in a cotton cloth bag and immersed in boiling water for five minutes followed by immersing them in cold water to bring down the temperature.

The fruits are then spread on a clean cotton cloth to remove the excess water.

After this they are transferred into sugary syrup; prepared with a kg of table sugar in 500ml of water (for 1kg of fruits).

Red or orange food dye can also be added to the syrup for imparting colour to the fruits (10ml of colour for the above preparation), if needed.

Fruits are kept in this syrup for a day, during which water is forced out of the fruits into the syrup.

After a day, the fruits are taken out of the syrup and the syrup is concentrated by boiling. This removes the excess water in it.

Partially canned fruits are again transferred into this syrup and this procedure is repeated thrice.

After this, the fruits are boiled in the syrup for a few minutes and are taken out of the boiled syrup and allowed to cool.

Fresh syrup is prepared for the long time preservation of the canned fruits with one kg of table sugar in one litre of water.

The fruits are transferred into this syrup and one gm of sodium benzoate and five gm of citric acid are added as preservatives.

The canned 'karanda' or cherry fruits can be kept for many months in this syrup.

God - The Two Faces

Though I have not got around to reading the bible in its entirety, I did make a few attempts. I was quite confused with the total change in the ways adopted by God in the Old and New Testaments. In the former, he is a strict enforcer willing to annihilate all who don't comply. Sodom, Gomorrah & The Great Flood are examples. He also categorically states that he is the God of the Israelite. When the Israelite are extracted out of Egypt, no consideration is given to the fact that they survived the famine because Joseph was in the good books of the Pharaoh.

The God of the New  Testament is compassionate and loving. He will forgive and take all (not just the Israelite) into his fold. One can repent as late as the moment before his death and still be absolved like the three workers in the vineyard, each of whom was paid a full day's wage despite having arrived at different times of the day.

I have always wondered why God's behaviour changed. Sifting through the Internet, I discovered that this has been a point pondered by many a thinker through out history. Marcion is one such early thinker who though got considerably carried away.  At a point of time, he progressed almost as rapidly as the Catholic Church.

Puppets in the Hands of Jokers

Had a nice time at Singapore last month. Among the usual tourist destinations I too visited the Universal Studios theme park. A theme exists for the 90's movie "Water World". I distinctly remember the Kevin Costner starrer that failed at the box-office at that time. Probably it was well before its' time. Anyways the show at Universal Studio Park is quite impressive. The stunt-men and the lone stunt-woman together with the special effects create an unbelievable spectacle.

Well before the real show begins, three comic characters go around the crowd entertaining with their pranks. The crowd is seated in a large amphitheater in three areas. Within no time, these guys manage to polarise the unsuspecting crowd into three distinct groups. Each starts playing to the whims and fancies of its' leader, taking the others as enemies and willing to hoot them down on command. Yes, three sets of zombies!

This reminds me of the plight of the common man. Somehow, a pack of jokers take control of their faculties and make them act and behave as they want them to.

Homosexuality

Modern society seems to have "matured" to become very tolerant of homosexuality. It is now accepted that it is the way some people are born. The society is lately giving a lot of protection to their well being too.

So, accepted that one's sexuality is something he/she is born with. The problem with this line of thinking is that people who are sexually attracted to children too, if measured on the same yard-stick, are born that way! Here, society labels them as perverts needing corrective therapy.

Acquired homosexuality too is prevalent. Especially among people who are celibate by choice or by situation. So, "being born so" does not hold water always.

I have read somewhere that it is a thin line between super intelligence and madness. Madmen live in in a world that is theirs and are mostly are unaware of what others perceive as normal. But, the normal world to ensure its "normalcy" deems that these men be treated. So where do we draw a line?

Modern homosexual couples also tend to have babies through surrogacy or artificial insemination as the case may be. Someone needs to empathize with these children. I for one wouldn't want to be born to a same sex couple, all said and done it is not normal!

I am not taking sides here. I am confused though..

St. Thomas Christians - A Conspiracy Theory

Well not a theory but a few questions all St. Thomas Christians should ponder and answer truthfully..

1) Did St. Thomas come to India?
2) Why is it that he converted only Brahmins. Is that in line with the teachings of Christ?
3) Were there Brahmins in Kerala in 52 AD?
4) Have you traced your family tree. How deep does the Christian lineage go uninterrupted?
5) Does anyone know even a small portion of the Liturgy as taught by St. Thomas?
6) Said Christ:" Amen, I say to you, you who have followed me, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory in the rebirth (palingenesia) , you yourselves shall also sit upon twelve thrones (epidoleka thronois) ruling the twelve tribes of Israel." Are you a part of the twelve tribes of Israel?

To Point a Finger

A great man once said that when we point a finger at somebody, three from the remaining fingers point back at us. Two ways to approach the problem. One, do an introspection and decide whether we are qualified to point the finger. Great many supporters of Anna will then fail. The second is a radical action, remove those offending digits!

The three fingers pointing back refer to our conscience. Living without conscience is like living with just the thumb & index finger, yeah it is ugly and impractical.

My punishment of many years

Wonder how I have managed to put up with this for so long. Absolutely lacking in common sense, unwilling to take resposibility, always retorting to a question with a counter question and the list continues. Nothing comes through nothing registers. But abundantly endowed with ego. I would have understood if he said that he did not hear me but time and again he insists that I did not say it! God bless his soul and pray I get more patient to tolerate this. Patient, I must be, because it has been at least 15 years of this!