Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil - A product review

Rice Bran oil is the new buzzword in Indian markets and advertisements touting its healthy value are in plenty. When blogadda sent me an email asking if I would like to review Fortune's Rice Bran Health oil, I decided to jump on the bandwagon too and see for myself what the benefits of using this oil were.
I am reviewing this healthy heart oil as a part of the BlogAdda's Product Review Program for Indian Bloggers.'

A 2 litre can of the oil arrived, neatly packed in a recycled box and I have been using it for my regular cooking since then. Here's a look at the use that Fortune's Rice Bran Health oil has been put to in my kitchen.
It has been used to make a simple stir fry with methi leaves (recipe coming up soon)

Mixed vegetable kuzhi paniyaram for an evening snack (recipe here)
 
to fry up some perfectly delicious puris and pappadams

and to make the best and easiest murukku ever (recipe here).

Now, after doing all this, I sat wondering how I was going to "review" this oil? I couldn't just say that I made all this and that the oil worked just fine, could I? So, I've compared this oil, on certain parameters, to the two oils that I use regularly in my kitchen - refined oil and coconut oil.
Odour - While coconut oil has a distinct odour that I absolutely love, though not everybody shares that love, Fortune's rice bran oil is almost odourless. I say almost because there is a very, very light sweetish odour which you can discern if you sniff hard enough :-)
Colour - While the refined oil I use and coconut oil are colourless, the rice bran oil has a light yellowish shade, which, however does not detract from its uses.
Viscocity - Found almost no difference on this count, except that it seems to be a runnier  and hence lighter oil when compared to olive oil.
Fortune also claims that Rice Bran oil has the following health benefits:

• Heart friendly as it a cholesterol lowering oil
• One of the key ingredients in this oil is Oryzanol which is said to improve HDL/LDL ratios.
• The balance of Poly unsaturated Fatty acids and Mono unsaturated fatty acids in this oil is stated to be ideal for cleaner blood vessels.
• The presence of Tocotrienols and phytosterols gives it anti-cancer properties.
• Squalene - an ingredient in the oil helps improve skin tone and delays wrinkle formation.
• Vitamin E helps maintain balance of nervous system.
• Natural antioxidants protect against various diseases.
• Ferulic acid stimulates hormonal secretion and rejuvenates health.

When I used this oil for deep frying, one of the things that I really liked is that the food did not seem to "drink" oil. The oil absorption was quite low. All in all, I would say that at an MRP of Rs 115 per litre, which is only slightly higher than most refined oils, this is something you should try out at least once.

The Bankster - A book review

The Bankster is the first book of Ravi Subramanian's that I have read. Despite the fact that I had not read the author before, I was quite thrilled to receive an autographed copy of the book.
The excerpt on blogadda sounded interesting and so, I decided to sign up to do a review. However, once I got the book, I somehow lost interest and didn't touch it for a few days. For some reason, I felt that it would not be interesting....and honestly, I am never a person to judge a book without reading at least a few pages first. Having signed up to do the review, I couldn't put the book away for too long.....and once I started reading, I realized just how wrong I had been about it. The fact that I finished reading the entire book in a night should tell you something about it.

Ravi Subramanian has been described by The Wall Street Journal as the John Grisham of banking, and the cover of the book does look quite Grisham-esque and maybe that's what made me postpone reading the book. Talk about judging a book by its cover!
The story starts in Angola and then moves on to Kerala, Mumbai and Vienna. In the beginning, it looks as if there are different stories being played out in the book, but towards the end, the author manages to bring it all together beautifully The characters are well etched.and the plot, interesting and taut.

Money laundering is a reality and something that we've all read about in the news papers for the last few years. The author, through this story, shows us how even innocent sounding NGOs and top bankers could fall prey to the desire to make a quick buck.

Indrani - the CEO of the bank, Vikram the ruthless go-getter who is constantly looking for new ways to make money, Raymond - the brainy but lonely chap from the Fraud department, Harshita - a hardworking sales person whose importance in the organization diminishes when a sexy siren who is not afraid of using her assets to her best advantage are characters that you will find echoes of in the people around you.

I liked the parts that happen in the Corporate office in Mumbai the best and the ones that happen in Kerala the least - because what happens in Mumbai is fast paced and keeps you wanting to read more. In fact, I impatiently turned over the pages to find the next chapter that told me more of the happenings in the Corporate office.

I guessed who the "villain" was - a few chapter down the line.....don't ask me how....I just did. The end is a little too dramatic and just a tad filmy - with all the figuring out happening in the board room. However, with the leaps and bounds in technology, it is not entirely unbelievable. There is huge Bollywood element though, in the way in which the "villain" is finally found. Can't help saying that and I hope I haven't given too much away and spoiled the punchline for other readers.
All in all, The Bankster is a good read - interesting and fast paced. It is published by Rupa Publications and retails for Rs 250.
This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. 
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Book Review - The Krishna Key

I am a huge fans of books that deal with Indian mythology. Ashwin Sanghi, the author of Rozabal Line and Chanakya's Chant, both popular books in their own right, has now come out with a new book called The Krishna Key. I loved Sanghi's Rozabal line......liked his Chanakya's Chant and am a little ambivalent about this one.
The book is evidently extremely well researched. There is a lot of information, which in the beginning, though captivating and interesting, after a little while, starts to get overwhelming. To quote one of the characters in the story, there is so much information that it makes one's head reel.
This genre of stories became popular with Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and in the Indian context, there are so many mysteries.....so many myths that could be beautifully woven together to make a story which leaves one wondering if everything we've been taught to believe of as the truth is, in reality, true or not.
Sanghi's novel uses the story of Krishna as the background. It particularly deals with the final avatar of Krishna - the Kalki avatar, the story of which generations of Indians have listened to while growing up. The Kalki avatar is believed to arise when dark forces are on the rise and is believed to be the annihilator of all evil. A young man, believed to be the final avatar, kills people in a particular manner, each time leaving behind one of the sacred symbols of Vishnu.
What is the purpose of these killings? Is this young man truly the Kalki avatar or is he merely someone who is a pawn in the hands of a much more powerful entity?

A book written by an author who went by the pseudonym Shawn Haigins while publishing his first book, cannot be complete without word play – and there is, expectedly, a lot of that. Anagrams,word puzzles, coding and decoding of letters - all these are there in plenty in various parts of the book. 

Initially, the book is fast paced and keeps you wanting to read more. However, like I said in the beginning, in a while, you are bombarded with so much information, that a part of it is not even processed by the brain.

The author takes the reader on a journey to several places that are famous for their connection to Krishna and Shiva- Dwaraka, Vrindavan, Kalibangan, Kailash & Somnath, in an attempt to find a priceless treasure that is believed to have been left behind by Krishna. 

Is Krishna a real being that lived in India several centuries back or is he merely a figment of the collective over imagination of a people who idolized their Gods? Could India truly have been the forerunner in several fields including medicine, science, architecture and mathematics? Is it possible that ancient Indians new much more than all the best brains of the developed world put together? These are some of the questions that came to my mind as I was reading "The Krishna Key".

The Krishna Key is published by Westland and is available in shops for Rs 250/-
While the price makes it an attractive buy, I do not think that it is as good as Sanghi's Rozabal Line. That doesn't mean that it is a bad read. It is definitely something that you should read atleast once, especially if you are interested in this kind of fiction.
This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books! 

Urban Shots:Crossroads - Book Review

A collection of 30 urban stories by 26 authors, this, like the Mumbai DNA says, has the right ingredients for a breezy read. The stories, though written by different people, have a common thread - they are all set against an urban backdrop, and they are about common folks - people that you and I might run into while walking across the road, boarding a bus, waiting for a train or while in the grocery store. In fact, the book is all about stories in which the common man plays the hero. The title of the first story in the collection - 'Everyone Has a Story' says it all.
The characters, ranging from the ordinary and mundane to the fantastic, are all described in great detail, making it very easy to visualize them. Minu Bai who always ties her hair in a neat bun to ensure that no loose strand escape the discipline she enforces on it with bob-pins, Hako- the quiet boy who had the funniest laugh you would have ever heard, the mob in the Virar fast, Maharajji who loved to eat, the mother who is struggling with her single mom status, Chanda - a sex worker in Kamatipura, the red light area of Mumbai, a star couple who are adored and hailed as national heroes, the temptations that a man living away from his wife and kids struggles to keep at bay, a manager who has the unenviable task of handing out pink slips, and a father who is divorced from his wife, but yearns to build a stronger bond with his son are some of the characters and themes that grace the pages of this book in endearing and sometimes heart rending tales.
The language used throughout the book is very simple. The characters are people that can be related to and easily visualized, and this makes the book that much more enjoyable.
The stories that I liked the best are :
The Gap which talks about the relationship between a single mom and her daughter, and a series of crank calls that makes their bond stronger.
Wrong Strokes - a story that shows the difference in the amount of adulation that a cricketer gets in our country and that which a defense personnel gets. The ugly truth is that we don't admire or respect our jawans enough. We hardly see people queuing around jawans, waiting for their autographs. This story, to me, is one of the most touching in the entire collection.
Baba Premanand's Yoga Class - a light hearted story that still carries a powerful message. It tells us how we must think not once or twice, but many times, before we accuse someone of doing something. It also takes a dig at TV channels that will telecast anything if it will increase their viewership. They are not concerned with how it might affect the lives of the people concerned.
I also liked Rajasthan Summer for the twist at the end, which though predictable, proved to be enjoyable.
Overall, this book is a good read. Time will fly once you start reading this book, and it will be hard not to read it all at one go.
This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!