Manas Garg Speaks

If you are/were fond of eating at the gate of NIT Trichy, at Rajni Anna’s or Raju Anna’s or at Motel Bamboos, you must have eaten the world’s best egg dish - kalakki. After passing out, I missed it so much, that one day I decided to make it on my own. Smart as I am, I was able to reproduce the exact same taste as the annas at the gate do.

To benefit all the people who want to make their own kalakkis, here is how to do it - in straightforward terms - no confusing statements like ‘cook till its done’ or ‘add salt to taste’, which are scary for newbie cooks like me.

Required Inputs:

1 whole egg, salt, powered pepper.
A non stick pan and spatula
A spoon
A small bowl - will server both to break the egg and as the serving dish
A hot plate / heater / stove

Algorithm:

1. Break the egg, and empty the contents into the small bowl. Shell not required anymore.
2. Beat the egg with the spoon, add 2 pinch salt and 1 pinch powered pepper, mix thoroughly.
3. Put the pan on fire / hot plate
4. Unit Test if the pan is hot enough. Put a drop of water - it should evaporate immediately
5. Pour the contents of the bowl into the hot pan
6. Wait for 7 seconds
7. Use the spatula to remove the kalakki from the pan and put it into the bowl - Easier is to lift the pan with the handle and tilt it over the bowl and scrape everything out of it with the spatula. Careful - The pan is hot
8. Its ready to eat!!

Caution: When I say non-stick pan, I mean it. If you’re using a non non-stick pan (or a stick pan, as we should say), better oil/butter the surface properly before pouring the stuff into the pan to avoid smelly results.

Enjoy your kalakkis as I do every Saturday for breakfast :)

I feel at home at only two places in the world - one is Ghaziabad, where I have spent my formative years of my life and one in the campus of NIT Trichy - my alma mater. I don’t feel at home in Hyderabad where I stay currently or in Ahmedabad, where my parents stay.

I was in the bus from my campus to the railway station - and I was very uneasy. And suddenly, before I could do anything about it, hot tears rolled down my cheeks. I don’t want to go back. I’m sitting in the waiting room at the railway station typing this, and how I wish I could stay just one more day.

Its my friends - Hari, Preeti, Suren, Lavanya, Isli, Maruti… - I love you guys so much! It is so much fun hanging out with you guys, and I look forward to this happen again. You guys mean the world to me!

Oh NIT Trichy - you’re a piece of my heart. A thousand salutes to you!

Just as a great poet is known by the poems he writes, a great institue if known by the students that come out of it.

NIT Trichy is blessed to have some of the most enthusiastic and energetic young minds, who are not scared to do difficult things. RECTians and NITTians are to be found in every great company around the globe. Still, NIT Trichy does not have the brand recall that IITs have.

Why?

We have been unsuccessful to keep our alumni interested. We have not been able to keep them attached to NITT. RECAL, the official alumni association is a red tape association, sending out emails only when they require donations for yet another project. This is not the way you involve alumni. Alumni are a way to get more money for the institute agreed, but the real power of alumni is in the knowledge and experience they have gained outside of NIT Trichy. They would love to share this knowledge, experience, tips and tricks with the students still studying.

The best way to involve alumni would be to have to common platform where they and the current students can interact. NITTians.com is a big step towards this goal. As of now a blog aggregator, NITTians.com picks up blog posts written by fellow NITTians from around the globe and puts them together at a common place. What an amazing way to make one feel attached to NITT! I congratulate students who have taken this initiative, spent their own money, and put up this website.

The next step would be to involve alumni in mentoring programs, forums, sending out newsletters from the campus, arranging visits for alumni and for students to alumni’s organizations, and so on. I’m so excited. This is an opportunity to change the face of our institute as the world knows it.

Come, join NITTians.com and offer whatever support you can. Its all yours.