As much as Rajasthan is famous for its beautiful palaces, majestic forts and colorful folk dances, the state is also a food lover’s paradise. As I write this post, my heart is longing for all the Rajasthani sweets I have grown up eating!

Rajasthani cuisine has a variety of delicious and lip smacking sweets and snacks. So, if you have a sweet tooth, try out “Makhaniya Lassi” or “Mawa ni Kachori“; if you are a brave heart and cannot resist spices, then go for either “Bikaneri Bhujiya” or “Mirchi Bada”.

If you are not aware of any of these, don’t worry. Just read on :-

Makhaniya Lassi

Made up of sweetened yogurt, with a dollop of cream, this is my personal favorite. A pinch of saffron here and butter there - the drink is ready.

Makhaniya Lassi is a cool drink to beat the extreme summer temperatures. For added flavor, a host of dried fruits are sprinkled on the top.

The Lassi is easy to prepare at home - takes a few minutes and is generally had after the meal. Photo credit

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This is the first in a new series where we explore different social situations from the point of view of our contributors around the world.

Today’s topic: how to greet people in different countries.

Credit

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See them together and they seem like any other ‘normal’, cross-cultural couple. Undergo a rapid change of opinion the moment you put them on stage with Sitar and Cello. Subhendra Rao from India and Saskia Rao-de Haas from Holland have not only married each other but have also succeeded in marrying Hindustani music with world classical music.

Shubhendra is a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar and plays the classical Indian sitar. Saskia Rao-de Haas on the other hand is credited with introducing the cello to north Indian classical music. She has trained under the renowned Hari Prasad Chaurasia.

When they play together the result is mesmerizing. This is a performance by both in London. It has perfect accord, resonance and harmony. Essential ingredients for creating uplifting music. And enduring relationships.

Video: RolfKillius

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So you have been in India for a little while. Learnt to do the namaste greeting, visited countless historical monuments, sampled fare at most of the ‘must eat’ places. You are now almost ready for the real deal: a meal at an Indian house.

Wrangling the invite

You would have made Indian friends by now. The trick is to lead the conversation to food, then to homemade food and then to the fact that his mother, wife or even the grandmother cooks like no one else you know.

At this crucial juncture, put on a suitably forlorn expression and declare: ‘Oh! I wish, I could have food like that, no restaurant food can compare to a mother’s/wife’s/grandmother’s cooking…’

There, it is done. From then on, matters follow a pre-determined chain of events and one fine day you are invited to lunch or dinner to your friend’s house.

Indian sweets come in a bewildering range of varieties. Enlist local help when buying.

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Not that I don’t like pasta- I simply love the traditional Italian serving. As it is, the Italian dishes are quite suitable to the Indian sensibilities because of the spicy flavor. But when we visited India last year, we got to try the “Indian” version of pasta in Mumbai.

For the uninitiated, Mumbai has a great roadside snacks culture and this is one of the things that I miss the most now I am living in The Netherlands. Coming back to the pasta - it was done with spices, tomatoes, and lots of veggies. It looked great and tasted delicious as well. Since then, I have replicated the success in my kitchen too!!

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Rajasthan - a local’s view

Rajasthan, India: the name evokes colorful images of delicious traditional cuisine, the Thar desert, camels, royals, music gharanas, Panihari style of singing, folk culture and above all - “Padharo Mhare Des” - the legendary Rajasthani folk song inviting guests to come and experience Rajasthan!

Rajasthan is truly an amalgamation of all this and much more. As someone who has lived her entire childhood here, it is like déjà vu when I write about my very own state. Here are some of the amazing things this state and its people stand for :-

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Which social network should you use if you want to keep up with friends from other countries? This map, developed by Vincenzo Cosenza from Italy, shows which networks are most popular in different countries around the world.

You probably guessed that the green colour dominating the Anglophone world as well as Europe and many other countries represents Facebook.

In fact Facebook has made impressive moves towards world domination in the last 8 months - compare with this map from November 2008 to see how much progress it has made since then.

Other areas are more divided, often along language lines:

- China prefers QQ

- Several other Asian countries are equally independent in their choices: Mixi is number one in Japan, Hi5 in Mongolia and Thailand and Friendster in the Philippines.

- Russian speakers in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan choose to use V Kontakte

- Indians and Brazilians like Orkut

- Most of the Arab world uses Facebook, apart from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman where Maktoob is the favourite. How long before Facebook dominates?

- Facebook is also popular in Latin America, although in some countries Hi5 has the number one spot

So what about Africa? According to this map, many sub-Saharan African countries do not yet have a favourite social networking site. Probably because many parts of Africa still do not have easy internet access. Let’s hope that projects such as this one will help to change that.

(Via ReadWriteWeb )

Where are you from and what social networks do you use?

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