India Newsletter: August-September 2007

Powering Ahead on a Wing and a Dream

India's power sector is surging ahead on the wings of change. Realising the necessity of power to fuel India's economic growth, the Indian government has introduced a slew of much-needed reforms in the sector and is planning several Ultra Mega Power Projects to resolve India's power problems. The sector now has close to a dozen small and large projects coming up. Recent reforms in the sector have increased the viability of power projects and made it an attractive investment destination for both domestic as well as foreign investors. Among the foreign power majors who want a piece of the action in the power sector are AES and Khanjee Holdings from the U.S.; Sumitomo, Itochu and Mitsui from Japan; Korea Electric Power Co; the U.K.'s Duncan Machneil and Electricte De France.

The interest in India is due to the opportunities available in the power sector given that the average energy deficit is 8.5percent and peak time deficit is 12.5 percent (2005-06). India's current installed power capacity is 128,750 MW (excluding captive capacities of around 30,000 MW) significantly lower than the demands of a nation of a billion people. Even major metros like Delhi - and now Mumbai - are facing power shortages. All that is set to change as the Central government has now embarked on a plan to provide "Power to All" by the end of 2012.This would mean a capacity addition of 68,000 MWs in the current 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012), besides large-scale investments. Currently, out of India's installed power capacity, the private sector contributes just10.9 percent. And this is what the government is intent on changing. The policy shift has led to renewed interest in the sector. At present the biggest players in power generation are public sector units like National Thermal Power Company(NTPC), National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd. and Neyveli Lignite Ltd., apart from private players like Tata Power and Reliance Energy.

The focus is now on both small and large projects to meet the growing demand for electricity. The Tatas now generate 2,323MWs with thermal power stations at Trombay in Mumbai, Jojobera in Jamshedpur and Belgaum in Karnataka. It also operates hydro stations located in Maharashtra's Raigad district and a Wind Farm in Ahmednagar (Maharashtra).Reliance Energy is another of India's leading integrated power utility companies in the private sector. It has a total capacity of 892 MW of power generating units at Dahanu near Mumbai, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

With the passing of the Electricity Act 2003 (notified in 2004), the power sector has seen significant changes. The Act eased licensing norms for entering power generation and thus leading to a rush among private sector players. The demand for coal, one of the raw materials for thermal power generation, is expected to reach 500 million tonnes in2012 from the 180 million tonnes required now. Currently, power generation through gas accounts for 10 percent of India's total generated capacity and 35 percent of this is produced by the private sector.

The 11^th Plan could also see policies that emphasise exploitation of India's hydro-power potential and nuclear capabilities. Increasingly, renewable energy such as wind power is also being looked at more seriously. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said his government would promote setting up of Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) and facilitate merchant power plants by private developers. Under the rural electrification programme, Bharat Nirman, the government has targeted providing electricity to all unelectrified villages (125,000 of them) and to connect 23 million households below the poverty line by 2009.

The nine UMPPs targeted by 2012 will attract the bulk of the investments into the sector. These large-sized power projects will each produce 4,000 MWs of power. Of the nine UMPPs, so far seven sites have already been selected. These are Sasanin Madhya Pradesh, Mundra in Gujarat, Girye in Maharashtra, Tadri in Karnataka, Krishnapatinam in Andhra Pradesh, Akaltara in Chhattisgarh and one in Orissa. Two, at Sasan and Mundra, have already been awarded to private players. The financial, engineering and operational flexibility that private players will make the business lucrative. At the competitive price the developers offer, there will be no dearth of buyers for the ever growing demand for power. A number of joint ventures between Indian and foreign companies are expected since UMPP developers are expected to have tie-ups with equipment companies too. Along with Indian companies like Tata Power, Ashok Leyland, Aditya Birla Power, Torrent, Essar Power and L & T Power, AES and Khanjee Holdings from the U.S., Sumitomo, Itochu and Mitsui from Japan, Korea Electric Power Co, and China Line Power are also involved in these projects.

Merchant Power Plants (capacity of up to1,000 MWs) are also being encouraged to generate competitively-priced power. The scheme allows any power developer to sell in part or full, the power generated by it as merchant power plant at market prices. In the earlier regime, power generators had to sign PPAs with SEBs whereby they were assured of a 14 percent Return on Equity (ROE) on an equity component of 30 percent of the total cost. There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. The good news is India is not just trying to reach the end of the tunnel, rather to light up the entire tunnel with its Mission of "Power to All".

(India Digest May 15' 07)

Knowledge Process Outsourcing: Up BPO value chain

Bangalore-based Paprikaas Animation Studio recently completed full length Italian feature film. It is now eagerly awaiting its European release. "What we are doing now is far superior to what we were doing a couple of years ago," says Veerendra Patil, creative director and one of the three founders of Paprikaas. Paprikaas -- chosen one of the Top 100 companies in Asia by Red Herring magazine -- is only one of the many Indian companies in the animation and design space that is doing work for some of the top studios and production companies in the world. And animation is only one of the many segments where Indian companies are increasingly proving their worth as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) partners on the global stage.

So what exactly is KPO? According to the Chennai-based Scope-Knowledge, one of the pioneers in KPO, in BPO (business process outsourcing), the focus is on executing standardised, routine processes. KPO, on the other hand, requires carrying out processes that demand advanced information searching, analytical, interpretation and technical skills, as well as decision- making. Says Chandu Nair, president and director of Scope: "BPO is typically seen as an activity that is rule-based. KPO is judgment based and requires knowledge of certain specific skills and domain expertise." Scope, established in 1987, started eyeing the global market in 2002. What Scope does is convert information to knowledge with activities ranging from developing global databases to preparing in-depth industry reports, and making news summaries and abstracts. Scope's strategy is to offer its clients greater value by building intellectual property in each area.

According to Ashish Gupta, chief operating officer of the Gurgaon-based Evalueserve, one of the largest pure KPO players in the world, KPO firms are more like professional services firms whereas BPO organisations are more akin to manufacturing. Says Gupta: "The global economy is becoming increasingly knowledge and information intensive. Creating, protecting and monetizing knowledge is becoming very critical. Unlike BPOs, KPOs are more knowledge driven. While BPO is more of process expertise, KPO is more of domain expertise." Evalueserve, founded in 2000, provides services in specialized business lines like business research, market research, intellectual property (IP) research, financial and data analytics, investment research and emerging markets research. Evalueserve analysts have completed more than 7,000 client engagements in over 150 countries and 65 languages till now. Its IP professionals have drafted over 500 patents and completed more than 1,000 patent prior art searches. Evalueserve at present has a team of 1,050 professionals at its Gurgaon and Shanghai research centres and both of them are growing at 5-6 percent every month.

According to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) study styled 'India in the New Knowledge Economy', the country is all set to emerge as the global KPO hub since KPO requires specialised knowledge in respective verticals and India's engineering and technical institutes are geared to address the manpower demand.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies(Nasscom) estimates that the KPO industry is poised for a 45 percent per annum growth till 2010.According to Nasscom, the current hotspots in KPO are engineering and design; basic data search, integration and management; and biotech and pharma. By 2010, other segments are expected to have a significant share. Of the $17 billion KPO pie in 2010, data search and integration and management is expected to account for the lion's share with $5 billion, followed by biotech and pharma with $3 billion. Engineering and design, remote education and publishing, and R&D are expected to account for $2 billion each, while animation and simulation services will stand at $1.4 billion. Other segments are expected to account for the remaining $1.6 billion.

According to the Nasscom Strategic Review for 2005, FPO(financial process outsourcing) is already witnessing explosive growth with most of the leading global financial institutions beginning to outsource high-end activities such as insurance underwriting, risk assessment and equity research, financial data mining and modelling, and corporate and market research. Other areas with significant latent potential for KPO include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, legal support, IP research, design and development for automotive and aerospace industries, and animation and graphics in the entertainment sector. It is also estimated that the number of KPO professionals in India, which at present is around 25,000, will increase to more than 250,000 by 2010. And, given the nature of work, KPO will yield higher revenue per person than BPO because, unlike the BPO sector where underemployed MBAs could well man help desks, in the KPO sectors professionals have the opportunity to fully utilize their skills and academic qualifications. Says Gupta of Evalueserve: "The India advantage is quite substantial and we have a great first-mover advantage. We are at least five-seven years ahead of other countries, who are doing only BPO. We need to sustain this advantage by beefing up our education system."

(India Now)

India On The Move...

India to be 5th largest market by 2025.
India will pole-vault into the premier league of the world's consumer markets by 2025, according to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), if it sustains and accelerates economic growth. From the current 12th rank, the study predicts that India's market will be the world's fifth-largest, surpassing Germany. By then, the middle class will have grown almost 12 times, from 50 million today to 583 million. Over 23 million Indians -- more than the population of Australia today -- will number among the country's wealthiest citizens. At the same time, overall economic growth will benefit India's poorest people, with the deprived segment dropping from 54 percent of the population in 2005 to 22 percent by 2025.The report says a further 291 million people will move out of poverty during a period when 322 million people will be added to the country's population. In effect, India will have 465 million fewer poor people by 2025 than if the poverty rate remains at 2005 levels. Titled The 'Bird of Gold': The rise of India's consumer market, the study, conducted over a year, says, "The combination of rapidly-rising household incomes and a robustly growing population will lead to a striking increase in overall consumer spending." The study forecasts that aggregate consumption in India will grow four fold in real terms, from Rs. 17 trillion at present to Rs. 70 trillion by 2025.The study is predicated on India's real GDP growth ranging between 6 and 9 percent a year over the next two decades. "Our base case assumes real compound annual growth of 7.3 percent in the 2005-2025 period, a marked acceleration from the 6 percent growth of the previous two decades," says the report. It adds, "This optimism is justified because of the substantial scope for continued productivity increases in Indian businesses, the growing openness and competitiveness of the Indian economy, and favourable demographic trends." As Indians graduate to a better lifestyle, the study predicts that expenditure on foods, beverage and tobacco (FB&T) will see a remarkable drop as a proportion to overall expenditure by 2025. Though FB&T will still be the biggest category, its share will have dropped from 42 percent to 25percent. Interestingly, communications, which accounts for only 2 percent of spending today, will be one of the fastest-expanding categories with growth of over 13 percent a year.
(India News May 15, 2007)

India to overtake U.S. by 2050
Productivity growth will help India sustain over 8 percent growth until 2020 and become the second-largest economy in the world, ahead of the U.S., by 2050, Goldman Sachs has said, scaling up estimates of the country's prospects in its October 2003 research paper widely known as the BRICs report.
The original report had projected that India's GDP would outstrip Japan's by 2032 and that, in 30 years, it would be the world's third largest economy after China and the U.S. The new report goes one step further by moving India up from No. 3 and No. 2 in the global sweepstakes of tomorrow.
Goldman Sachs' research arm said in a global research paper released recently that India's growth acceleration since 2003 represented a structural increase rather than simply a cyclical upturn. It said productivity growth drove nearly half of overall growth and expected it to continue for some years.

India Now Readies For A Mission To The Moon

Two events within a period of 11 days in April 2007 are significant pointers to the capabilities India has acquired in space technologies as it prepares for its first unmanned mission to the moon and moves to acquire a credible air defence capability.

On April 23, India joined an elite cub with capabilities to launch commercial satellites when it put an Italian astronomical satellite into orbit from the Sriharikota space centre in southern Andhra Pradesh. The white and magenta polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C8 lifted off into the clear blue sky from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 3.30 p.m. local time. Shortly thereafter, it placed the 352-kg AGILE satellite from Italy into orbit to catapult the country into the elite group of six nations.

What was also significant about the launch was that a European nation had picked the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the launch ahead of more experienced players like France and Russia that between them have launched over 800 space missions. The US, China and Japan are among the other nations with similar capabilities.

Eleven days earlier, on April 12, scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile they designed and developed, confidently declaring it could be inducted into service in two to three years - and said its range could be extended to that of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).

Agni-III, a 3,000-km range intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), was sent aloft from a defence base in the eastern coastal state of Orissa and impacted its intended target with clockwork precision.

Buoyed by these twin successes, India's space scientists are now eyeing their next - though not the final - frontier: the moon.

Planned for 2008, the Chandrayan-I mission envisages placing a 525-kg satellite in a polar orbit 100-km above the moon. The satellite will be launched using a modified version of India's indigenous PSLV. The spacecraft will initially be launched into a geo-synchronous transfer orbit, and subsequently manoeuvred into its final lunar orbit using its own propulsion system.

Once that happens, India will join an even more exclusive club of four nations - the US, Russia and China being the others - that have the capabilities to launch a moon mission.

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was the founding father of the Indian space programme and is considered a scientific visionary by many, as well as a national hero. After the then Soviet Union launched the Sputnik in 1957, he saw the potential that satellites provided. India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who saw scientific development as an essential part of India's future, placed space research under the jurisdiction of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1961.

DAE director Homi Bhabha, who was the father of India's atomic programme, then established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) with Sarabhai as director in 1962.

Unlike every other major space programme with the exception of Japan and Europe, India's capabilities were not born out of an existing military ballistic missile programme, but instead from the practical goal of eventually acquiring satellite launch capabilities.

From its inception in 1962, the Indian space programme began establishing itself with the launch of sounding rockets, which was complemented by India's geographical proximity to the equator. Since day one, the space programme had grand ambitions of developing indigenous technology and India soon began developing its own sounding rockets, using solid propellants - these were called the Rohini family of sounding rockets.

And, recognising the need for indigenous technology, and the possibility of future instability in the supply of parts and technology, the Indian space programme endeavoured to indigenise every material supply route, mechanism and technology.

Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO. was created in 1969 from the INCOSPAR programme. Since then, there have been a series of major milestones.

The experimental phase included the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), the Satellite Telcommunication Experiment (STEP), remote sensing application projects, satellites like Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Rohini and APPLE, and the development of launch vehicles SLV-3 and ASLV.

This led to the current operational space systems like Indian National Satellite (INSAT) series for telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and disaster warning and the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) for resource monitoring and management.

The next step was the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) used for launching the IRS satellites and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for launching the INSAT class of satellites.

In the last 28 years, ISRO has sent 22 rockets aloft, starting with the SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle), and moving on to the ASLV (Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle), the PSLV, and finally the GSLV. Of these launches, 16 have been successful - 12 on the trot - while six have failed.

Given all these capabilities, the moon is the next logical step to even more distant frontiers.

Indo-Asian News Service-May 2007

Tourism - India Calls
India - a fascinating tourist destination

The article is on separate page.

Heritage Hotels: Reviving romance and Mystique of India's past

Crumbling forts many hundred years old, forgotten palaces that tell a tale of grandeur that once was and still pervades in royal residences... for a glimpse of India's past, tourists just need to step into one of the many heritage hotels that have been painstakingly restored to become profit making businesses.

It could be the austere 700-year Kesroli Fort bang in the middle of mustard fields near Alwar or the palatial Umaid Bhavan in Jodhpur where the royal family still stays, heritage hotels, like these in Rajasthan, offer a whole new concept of tourism that revolves around the romance and mystique of the country's rich history and magnificent heritage.

From zero a decade ago to 50 such hotels in 2004 and almost 80 today, heritage tourism is growing like never before as domestic and foreign tourists eagerly lap up the hoary past that the hotels bring alive.

"What makes these heritage hotels unique is that no two properties are similar - unlike your typical five-star hotel. Thus, it becomes possible to reinvent oneself, to create unique spaces that linger in the memory long after the holiday is over," pointed out Francis Wacziarg, once known as the biggest importer of wine into India but better known today as the creator of the Neemrana chain of vintage hotels.

Wacziarg, who is French by birth teamed up with Indian businessman Aman Nath, to start the group that is known for its no-nonsense approach to tourism in all its properties - no television, no room service, just the basics like good food, good ambience and even sometimes a library to borrow a book from.

"What better way can there be to promote Indian culture than through what is available to us through our forts and palaces?" contended Gaj Singh, the former ruler of Jodhpur. He certainly should know - four of his palaces have been converted into heritage hotels and are booked solid for the bulk of the year.

Industry sources say that heritage hotels generated some Rs.700 million ($15 million) during 2005 and that some 10-12 additional properties will come on the market in the next few years. "These figures should serve as a wake-up call for the government. If heritage tourism is included in its loop, this will not only increase arrivals but also increase India's foreign exchange earnings," contended Rakesh Mathur, president of WelcomHeritage that operates 43 properties at 38 locations across the country and has now opened in the remote northeast - a hitherto neglected area as far as heritage tourism goes.

WelcomHeritage is an arm of ITC's Welcomgroup, India's second largest privately owned hotel chain. It was in fact ITC that coined the phrase heritage tourism a decade ago and every major player in the hospitality segment today - the Taj, Oberoi and Neemrana groups - has a finger in the ever growing pie.

The choice heritage hotels offer is phenomenal.

Beginning with the desert state of Rajasthan, there is the magnificent Hotel Umaid Bhavan Palace in Jodhpur, the Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur and the Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur. Then, there is Khimsar Fort perched on the edge of the Great Thar Desert, the Maharani Bagh retreat nestling in a delightful orchard on the Jodhpur-Jaipur highway and the Bassi Fort in Chittorgarh that offers a retreat into an aesthetic world of gates, domes, arches and corridors.

The hill state of Himachal Pradesh has Woodville Palace with a history dating back to 1865 when the commander-in-chief of the British Imperial Army occupied it, while the Judge's Court at Pragpur offers a magnificent view of snow-capped mountains.

In Punjab, there is the Kikar Lodge. This is perhaps the ultimate lap of nature as it rests in the midst of a 1,800 acre forest - India's largest private reserve.

Then there is the Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge in Madhya Pradesh where, in the peace and tranquillity of the night when the stars are shining bright, one can hear the call of the wild.

Jammu and Kashmir offers an eclectic choice ranging from 134-year-old houseboats on Srinagar's Dal Lake to the Shambala retreat in Leh, located at 11,000 feet in a grove of poplar trees - a silent, blissful place of thin air and magical geological shapes. In southern Karnataka is the magnificent Rajendra Vilas Palace, once the home of then Wodeyar rulers in Mysore.

Darjeeling in West Bengal boasts of the Windermere, which provides stunning views of Mount Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak. Windermere, in fact, typifies what the whole concept of heritage hotels is all about. It has two wings. In one there is a solitary telephone and not a single TV. In the other, both are there in every room.

ITC's northeast foray has also introduced a new concept to heritage tourism.

"We are calling it Tee Off in Tea Country," explained Mathur. "Along the Brahmaputra river in the northeast, there are 24 tea estates with 19 golf courses between them. Most of these tea estates have buildings that are over 150 years old. We are looking at restoring them and conducting golf circuits in the region.

"This will not only bring in extra income for the tea garden owners but will also open up the beautiful region to the rest of the world," Mathur added.

And the past continues to beckon - from every corner of India.

(IANS June 2006)

Indian dance - weaving diverse threads of divinity

Be it the classical Kathak or Kathakali, the folk Bhangra or Bihu, dance in all its varied forms is an intrinsic part of India's rich cultural tapestry. Dance, in all its formality and exuberance, free flowing styles and dramatic tenors, is a celebration of life and its multiple dimensions through a fine synthesis of music, movement, expression and rhythm.

While there are seven distinct styles of contemporary Indian classical dance, the numbers of folk forms are myriad, varying from region to region. If the state of Punjab has its Bhangra and Assam its Bihu, then Gujarat has its Garba and Rajasthan its Ghoomar... and so it is for every region and every mood in the country. Says renowned Kathak danseuse Shovana Narayan: "All dance forms have a spiritual beginning and another common factor they all have is textual interpretation."

The history of Indian classical dance goes back to the earliest known levels of civilisation in the region. Evidences of the vibrant traditions of the art form can be found right from the ancient Indus valley civilisation to the beautifully carved dance poses in the Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves of Orissa and the Khajuraho temples in Madhya Pradesh.

There are references to dance in the ancient Indian scriptures of Vedas and Puranas. There are also elaborate descriptions of dance performances in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. According to historians, by around 10^th-12^th century AD, temples and courts maintained a large number of dancers and dance was considered a ritualistic offering to the deity.

According to "Abhinayadarpan", a treatise on dance and drama written around 3^rd century AD, dance is divided into three categories - Natya, Nritya and Nritta. Natya corresponds to drama, Nritya to gesticulation when performed to musical melodies and Nritta corresponds to pure dance where the body movements do not convey any particular meaning.

Indian dance, in its totality, is often said to ultimately represent the infinity of the cosmos. In Vatsyayan's words, "Indian dance represents the unceasing rhythm of the cosmos." She says that the culmination of this art form is the image of the Hindu god Shiva dancing. "It symbolises cosmic rhythm in its endless movement of involution, evolution and devolution."

This holds true for almost all the seven contemporary classical Indian dance styles - Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri and Kathak.

One of the most popular dance forms today, Bharatanatyam originated in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This style conceives of movement in space mostly along straight lines or triangles. Epitomised by the cosmic dance postures of Lord Shiva, it is known for its complex rhythmic footwork patterns.

Kuchipudi, the dance style of south India's Andhra Pradesh, derives its name from the village of Kuchelapuram where it is said to have originated. Often confused with Bharatanatyam by laypersons, what sets kuchipudi apart is the use of speech during the performance. The most popular dance piece in this style is where the dancer performs on a brass plate.

The Kathakali style is not 'pure' dance at all. This dance-drama style from the southern state of Kerala is a culmination of a long process of evolution from various theatrical and classical folk forms of this southern state. The overwhelming dramatic quality of this style transports the audience into the ethereal world of mythological legends. Elaborate costumes and makeup are an intrinsic part of every dance style.

Diametrically opposite to Kathakali is Kerala's second classical dance style - Mohiniyattam, which transports one into a world of beauty and grace. Mohiniyattam literally means the "dance of the enchantment", and its characteristic circular and semi-circular movements are reminiscent of the gentle swaying of the palm trees in the lush southern state.

Odissi, another very graceful dance style, originates from the eastern state of Orissa and can be traced to the sculptures of the Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves of the 2nd century BC. Characteristics of Odissi are the statuesque poses created by deflections of the head, torso and hips.

The northeastern state of Manipur boasts of the delicate and lilting Manipuri dance. In technique and costumes, it is extremely different from the other styles and has a certain flow and fluidity which is unique. Intensely devotional in mood, Manipuri often depicts episodes in the life of Hindu god Krishna.

Kathak, the popular dance form of northern India, has been influenced to a great deal by the Mughal era in terms of style and costume. Distinctly different from other styles, it is characterised by the use of jumps, pirouettes and complex footwork patterns.

Indian Dance is also closely intertwined with music. The dance styles of southern India are performed to the Carnatic tradition of classical music, while the northern art forms are to the accompaniment of music based on the Hindustani system. Says Shovana Narayan: "Music gives colour to dance and enhances its emotional content."

A common thread that not only binds the various Indian dance styles together but also sets it apart from western styles is the element of spiritually involved. In Rama Vaidyanathan's words: "Indian dance has a soul attached to it. It celebrates the coordination between the body and the mind and spirituality is attained when the dancer and the dance become one."

While new themes and spaces are now being explored within the ambit of the dance styles, the ultimate aim of Indian classical dance, in any form, is to transport the audience to a state of aesthetic elevation and enable the dancer to become one with the divine.

Indo-Asian News Service (June 2006)

Popular Indian Recipes: Rice Kheer Recipe (Rice Pudding)

Ingredients:

• 1/4th cup long grain rice (washed and drained)
• 4-5 cups milk
• 2-3 cardamom seeds (crushed) (for flavor)
• 2 tbsp shredded blanched almonds
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 2-3 tbsp sugar or as desired

Method:
1. Put the rice and milk in a pan, bring to boil and simmer gently until the rice is soft and the mixture becomes thick. Stir occasionally at first and then constantly when the milk begins to thicken to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Simmer on low heat till rice is well blended and consistency is that of porridge.
2. Add the sugar, almonds, cardamom and raisins and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove the rice kheer from heat and serve either warm or chilled.

Gajar Ka Halwa (Carrot Dessert)

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Carrots
• 1 litre Milk (with high fat content)
• Pinch of crushed Cardamom seeds for flavour
• 3/4 cup Water
• 2 tablespoons Raisins
• 2 tablespoons Almonds
• 2 tablespoons cashew
• 200 grams Sugar or to taste

Method:
1. Wash and grate the carrots. Soak the raisins in water for 30 minutes. Blanch and shred the nuts.
2. Put the milk to boil, when it starts boiling add the grated carrots. Cook.
3. Cook on a low flame for 1 hour stirring occasionally. Add sugar, mix well and cook till the sugar has dissolved and all the milk has been absorbed.
4. Add the slightly crushed cardamoms and the raisins. Mix well.
5. Remove the gajar halwa from heat and arrange in a serving dish. Garnish with almonds and cashews.

Serve hot.