The Future Of Research In India With Springer Nature...

What?
Springer Nature's Conclave on "Research and Innovation in Science for sustainable Development of India"

When?
Monday, October 10

Where?
ITC Maurya, New Delhi

"Art is I; science is We." - Claude Bernard said a lot across a span of six words, and it is with these words that Springer Nature's insightful panel discussion on the future of research in India, for India began.

Springer Nature, being  a leading global research, educational and professional publisher, could have only been trusted with the onus of presenting such a hard-hitting, brainstorming session with luminaries of the likes of Dr. Shiv Kumar Sarin of Institute Of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), Mr. Vipin Tyagi of C-DOT, Dr. V. Ramagopal Rao of IIT Delhi, and Mr. Derk Haank (CEO, Springer Nature) gracing the panel.

Mr. Derk Haank introduced the report - The Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars - to an audience comprising partners from the research, science and education communities, business leaders and government representatives. The conclave, organised by Springer Nature brought together this diverse audience for a thought-provoking discussion on the role of science and innovation in supporting sustainable development in India.

Mr. Haank spoke to the audience as thus:

“India’s emergence as one of the world’s largest economies is being reflected by its increasing contribution to the world’s high-quality research publications, as the Nature Index Rising Stars has shown. Springer Nature has enjoyed long historical ties with India and we are excited about the future of high-quality research here.  We look forward to deeper engagement with both the government and the science, research and education community” 

The Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars supplement identifies the countries and institutions showing the most significant growth in high-quality research publications over the four years between 2012 and 2015. These are the emerging research powers to watch.

Rising Stars uses the power of the Nature Index, which tracks the research of more than 8,000 global institutions published in a group of 68 high-quality natural science journals, which have been independently selected by scientists.

While India makes its mark, the index finds that it is Chinese institutions that are leading the world in rapidly increasing high-quality research outputs. 40 of the top 100 highest performers across the globe are from this scientific powerhouse, with 24 of those showing growth above 50% since 2012.

The United States – which remains the largest contributor to high-quality scientific papers overall – is second, with 11 entrants into the top 100 despite many starting from a high base. Nine institutions feature from the United Kingdom, eight from Germany and four from India.

The four institutions from India among the top 100 featured in the index are the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), the Indian Institute of Science (IIS) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Chemistry made up more than half (51%) of India's scientific contributions to the index in 2015. 36% was from physical sciences, 9% from life sciences and 4% from earth and environmental sciences.

China spent 1.4 trillion yuan (approximately $ 209 billion) on research and development (R&D) in 2015, or 2.1% of GDP. India, in comparison, currently spends around 1% of its GDP on R&D.

Also awarded at the Conclave, was Young Talent - a student from Amity International School - Vaishali Tikoo - for devising a tool for children with learning disabilities.

myDaily Meal - Nutrition In A Minute...

myDaily Meal is a perfectly engineered meal replacement shake. It is to save you from skipping meals and eating junk food. Usually we tend to rush for quick bites in our busy schedules. And most of the time it turns out to be junk food.

That is where myDaily Meal comes to play its useful role. The perfectly engineered meal replacement shake provides right amount of nutrients your body needs to function optimally. These nutrients include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fibers. It takes care of the proportions as required by your body in one meal. This provides exact nutrition to your body within one minute. The analysis study has been conducted by Four Fountains De-stress Spa team to arrive at this conclusion. The co-founders include Saurabh Gary, Anurag Kedia, and Sunil Rao.

I had a chance to try this product first hand, and I must say that it is as easy to relish and extract benefits from, as it is to prepare it.

“We believe that this is the real food-tech. While most of the players have been working around logistics and delivery, myDaily Meal is working on the real scientific aspect of food to make sure that you get perfect nutrition anytime, anywhere in few seconds. In our busy lives we end up either skipping a meal or eating junk food due to lack of time at least 10-15 times in a month. This positions myDaily as a perfect solution to this urban problem.” says Co-founder and Business Head Saurabh Garg. Saurabh is an IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad Graduate with almost a decade of experience in healthcare with Four Fountains De-stress Spa.

Saurabh explains the beginning of his journey in a very interesting manner. He says, “myDaily started as a project to solve the problem of quick, convenient and healthy meal in our busy urban schedules. As entrepreneurs, we as well as people around us, were struggling to get the right nutrition in our tight schedules. And very quickly we realized that it is a problem faced by people well beyond the start-up world. Almost any working professional in today’s fast paced life has to face this problem multiple times in a week.”

There is a perfect science behind myDaily Meal. The whole mechanism is run with the help of a team of formulators. And this team works under the expert guidance of Dr. Ezhil Arasan, an ex-Dr. Reddy’s Research Scientist. Dr. Ezhil is also a consultant with various nutraceutical and nutrition companies, myDaily was formulated.

“The single guiding principle was that it should be ‘The Healthiest Meal Possible’ and should replace any meal completely giving entire nutrition as required by the body. It makes you full for the next 4-5 hours till your next meal.”, says Sunil Rao, Co-founder, who is an SPJIMR Alumnus. Sunil has almost a decade of experience in healthcare marketing.

“It took more than a year to get the product right.  We started with looking at the entire 334 pages of Recommended Dietary Allowance by Indian Council of Medical Research and doing various analyses to get the nutrition requirements. Then came the lab samples and post tens of iterations and hundreds of tasting sessions we have a product that we are really proud of. Saurabh was very particular that the product should taste great while having perfect nutrition profile.”, says Dr. Ezhil Arasan, the scientific mind behind myDaily.

It is important to understand what does myDaily Meal contains. Each pack of myDaily is the Perfectly Engineered Meal Replacement Shake. It has ¼th of your daily nutrition requirements that includes energy, proteins, carbs, fats, fiber, twelve essential vitamins and thirteen important minerals. There are no added preservatives, artificial colors.

In addition, it is completely trans-fat free. myDaily is made using ingredients of absolutely natural origin. In fact, all the ingredients used in the formula are essential nutrients that our body needs on daily basis. These ingredients are declared safe by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). And these are free from any side effects.

“myDaily Meal comes in a pack of 115g that just needs to be mixed with 350 ml water and the perfect meal is ready in less than 1 min. It is a unique product with perfect nutrition and convenience coming together. It is manufactured at a 3P location in Himachal Pradesh. It meets all stringent quality standards as required for a food product.”, says Anurag Kedia, Co-founder. Anurag is also an IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad graduate.

“myDaily has immense growth potential. The market size for skipped meals itself is more than $10 bn in urban India. Apart from it being a business opportunity, we feel that skipping meals is a genuine problem as it leads to various health issues. In the short term we would focus on selling myDaily through all Four Fountains outlets, select modern trade outlets and online through our website and marketplace partners. We would also look at some strategic alliances. We have already started getting enquiries from markets like Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia etc. This is a problem that is a global problem and we feel that we can definitely look at a global brand with myDaily.”, concludes Saurabh.

There are firm plans in place as far as the future is concerned. The firm plans to grow aggressively in the near future in a very systematic manner. It aims to cater to a real problem that affects millions of people everyday across the globe. If you would like to give myDaily Meal a try as I did, please do so at the product's page on Amazon here. 

Feast As You Fast At The Barracks!

Just last month, I had been to 38 Barracks, Connaught Place. This time however, my visit came about as a consequence of their Modern Day Navratri Blogger's Luncheon.

If you haven't read about my great experience here in the past, please do so after you read about this one.

With the motivation to cook something up their sleeve that represents out-of-the-box, Ankur and Chef Gautam Chaudhary have come up with another twist to their progressive cuisine by presenting an exclusive range of cyclic Menu(s) catering to the believed-to-be auspicious time of Navratri.

I believe it to be a concept of 'Feast As You Fast' having savored dishes from one of the three Navratri Menu(s) proposed.

Catch is, they've modernized the concept of a Navratri's fasting meal by not proposing a Thali with minuscule portions of each dish/food item but by preparing and presenting each dish that is a burst of flavors on your palate altogether.

Coming across as a full-fledged four-course meal priced at ₹799++ pp, it is a bang for the buck. If all the courses do not form for your cup of tea, you could also go for the course of your choice or even particular dishes of your liking.

Arrived to the pleasant sight of a full-house and the pleasant sound of a talented artist performing classic melodies and newer tunes.

Begun the meal with their Welcome Drink which was a Virgin Pina Colada, imparting much needed chill in the sweltering heat. It had a pineapple slice topping on its side.

Among the Appetizers, savored Sabudana Aur Prunes Ki Tikki, prunes lending it a sweet touch and otherwise also, the Tikki was melt-in-mouth, and Kurkuri Kamal Kakdi, i.e. fried lotus stem crisps served on a fried Sabudana Poppadom platter.

Also, the Sabudana Aloo Crispies were true to their name and taste - crisp on the outside but soft on the inside.

Missed out on Sweet Potato Crisps, but in place of it, had the Harissa Upma with Cottage Cheese Steaks char-grilled to perfection.

For the Main Course,  the Cottage Cheese Parcels on a bed of Sago Risotto were an absolute delight and Singhaade Aur Aloo Ke Tikde with Chirojee Ki Dal were on point with their spice factor.

The Fresh Fruit Salad was presented with an array of Papaya, Pineapple, Green Apple and Watermelon slices.

Also tried their Watermelon and Orange-base mocktails, presented in a tall glass and bulb on a bed of fuming nitrogen respectively.

The Dessert came plated as Makhana Kheer with a surprise factor of Mango and Almond Crisps, relished to the end.

This experience at 38 Barracks was as good as the first one, and I hope that Ankur, Chef Gautam and Team 38 Barracks have many more Navratri(s) to look forward to, year after year, this being their successful first! :)

A Blast From The Past With #YaaronKiBaraat...

Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget. As far as the concept of friendship is concerned, I believe it to be a rocky path, for the core of a relationship between two individuals is always put to test through thick and thin and being friends with a person who comes across as a stranger at first is no easy task. More often than not, we end up befriending foes in the skin of friends, ultimately learning from bad or poor judgement of the multiple facets to an individual's personality.

As far my brain's blind spot takes me, the fondest and most cherished memories that I have of pleasant times with good friends dates back to two phases of my life - to my college days and to the early days of when I had joined the teaching profession - the latter being as early as stepping out of college and immediately stepping into the profession which has been with me since three decades. While I defy the popular notion of naivety by having befriended wolves concealed in sheepskin multiple times over, it is also true that I've kept it a low-key affair throughout, as far as friendship is concerned, by having a close-knit circle of the three of us.

When I navigate through the memory maze to recall, I am taken back to the times when we had to pen our dissertation for my M.Sc.(Anthropology), researching on the growth pattern and physical characteristics of Pahadi natives.

I have always been a well-read individual taking interest in and performing my best all through my academics. For me, it was never rote that worked, but my grasp on concepts in the subject of my liking.

While I may (and always have) come across a bookworm-like geeky nerd to all the fun-loving divas and hunks, devising pranks, gossiping and taking advantage of another person's humility have never been my cup of tea (or coffee) and it is the sole reason that I have taken pride in solitude, never loneliness.

My principle in life has been clear as a crystal - The lion(ess) walks alone while the sheep (wolves) flock together. I am of the opinion that it is not always necessary to be surrounded to be valued, and it is true that I had as many (or lesser) friends, enough to count on my fingers, for it was not easy for me to gel well with people whose point of view did not resonate with mine or whose ideals took an entirely different trajectory as opposed to mine.

My circle of friends was not a #YaaronKiBaraat in the true sense of the phrase. Neither do I believe that a #YaaronKiBaraat has to be pivotal to your survival in society. But, if you have been part of one, or pride in having maintained a #YaaronKiBaarat in your circle, I need to take tips from you on the art of pleasing everyone, for sure.

It was during my college years that I came across two ladies who I believe, mirrored my thought process, and it is then that we gelled well - getting to know each other, sharing similar experiences from the past, and reacting in a unanimous fashion to situations, being each others pillar of support, and as far as I can recall - never having faced a bone of contention. It is this commendable sync of ideologies that I miss, now that we have drifted apart - in distance and time - never in hearts, though.

The other anecdote of friendship from my life was with a colleague, who became a dear friend in the long run. From having joined the profession of teaching together at the age of 22, to mastering in the same discipline in academics, to sharing the same birthday month and even the same name, we had many things in common for this particular friendship to work.

Why I'm recalling these two episodes from my life is because I noticed that #YaaronKiBaraat - Celebrating Friendships, a new initiative by Zee TV, hosted by Sajid Khan and Riteish Deshmukh is going to air on weekends, beginning tomorrow with the iconic pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha gracing the stage together for their maiden episode.

I hope that this series turns out to be a roller-coaster ride of sorts, with celebs recalling their pleasant blast from the past as I have, through this post on my blog.

Chugging It With Good Food!

Chug It is located on Club Road, Punjabi Bagh and is a quaint place packing a big punch. The party never dies down here, and why should it given the most exceptional presentation and taste of food accompanied by impeccable hospitality?

My visit to Chug It came about as a consequence of a review opportunity. And I must say it is an unexplored gem in the heart of West Delhi. With #LoveToChug, my evening was made.

Quirky wall decor, minimalist lighting, social-media savvy ambiance reflected by their FB Wall and the first restaurant that I have seen being NFC enabled in India. Commendable fine details being taken care of. :)

Chug It is a term used in correlation with drinks and having them bottoms-up. Even though the name of the place leads one to believe that it is a whole and sole Bar/Drinks/Hukkah place, it is not so.

Being a teetotaler, I refrain from intoxicating beverages but other than such items, I can say for sure that Chug It knows their food and beverage game better than some of the other well-known, hyped places in the food circuit.

Even though the outlet is spread across just one floor with provisions for indoor and outdoor seating, with a pepped up DJ and Bar to rock those Friday Night Outs, this place is exceptional with its hospitality, preparation, presentation and taste of food.

Not one shortcoming could I find, to point out to the sole owner of the place, Ankit, when he asked us about our experience and feedback post our meal.

Went on a Thursday evening. No fuss, one or two other tables occupied when we arrived.

Begun with their mocktails, Kiwi Delight and Chug It Punch, which stood out in their distinct flavors.

For appetizers:

*Mayo Polo - Fried Chicken Strips cooked to perfection.

*Peshawari Chicken - Boneless Chicken Tikkas char-grilled to perfection.

*Peri-Peri Skewers - Chicken skewered and sauced.

*Bhatti Ka Murgh and *Bhatti Ka Paneer - Unique preparation with the distinct flavorful mustard which was pleasant.

*Mozzarella Biscuit - Melted pull-apart mozzarella cheese fried in a triangle.

*Dahi Ke Kebab and *Mushroom Ki Galouti - The Must-Must-Have Preparations at Chug It. Melt-in-mouth and just too good to be true with the creamy texture of the Dahi and mushroom bits in the perfect Galouti! :)

All the appetizers were accompanied by well-suited dips and salad portion plated alongside.

Also tried their shakes, Stairway To Heaven and Chug It Cold Coffee. Both were thick and had the right consistency.

For Mains, we proceeded with the following:

Half 'n' Half Pizza - Mad Veg and BBQ Chicken, unique combo and flavorful halves, each complementing the other.

Chicken Penne Arabiatta Pasta, served with Garlic Bread.

Veg Nachos, with an overload of melted cheese layered on it.

Amritsari Fish and Chips - Fusion dish, with Indian Fish Tikka and American Fries.

Wrapped up the flavorful meal with Walnut Brownie and Ice cream, generously topped with chocolate sauce.

Looking forward to a second visit at the soonest, because I had a wonderful time at Chug It and would like to congratulate the entire Team for keeping up their spirits and chugging it with their dedication! :)