The Open letter collection

It seems to be all the rage to be writing "Open Letters" these days in India. Social networks (and email systems) across the planet seem to be buzzing with all the letters flying left and right. (or is it North-South/East-West ?)

I got to hear about so many of these that I initially pondered writing one of my own. Alas, I cannot write as eloquently as some of the writers, so I decided against it. Here instead, is a collection of the various open letters that are (to my knowledge) buzzing around everywhere.

The oldest and perhaps the most well read until  recently was the 2004 open letter quoted below

"The Travails of Single South Indian men of conservative upbringing" or "Why we don't get any..."

http://www.whatay.com/2004/05/17/the-travails-of-single-south-indian-men-of-conser/(Edit: Updated April 2012 for new URL)

More recently, we got the rant against men from the city of Delhi:

OPEN LETTER TO A DELHI BOY
http://raagshahana.blogspot.com/2011/09/open-letter-to-delhi-boy.html

This one set of a firestorm! Twitter, Facebook, Google+ ... take the pick of your favorite social network and I'm pretty sure you've seen it being quoted and forwarded and posted and #hastagged all over the place.

A Delhi boy wrote back in protest

Bhaiyya... Palika Bazaar ka kitna? 
(translates to "How much (does it cost) to get to Palika Bazaar" - a shopping center in Delhi)
http://disgruntledmob.blogspot.com/2011/09/bhaiyya-palika-bazaar-ka-kitna.html

There was another lady who didn't particulary care for the "Open letter to a Delhi boy" either.

'Tis the season for open letters
http://www.lavanyad.com/madmomma/?p=6298

Somewhere along the line, another open letter came up, this one ranting against the language skills of people from the Indian state of West Bengal.

Dear Bengali boy, what's with the accent?
http://theblackrosegal.blogspot.com/2011/09/dear-bengali-boy-whats-with-accent.html

(I haven't seen a response to this one yet, if you do, please let me know in the comments and I'll link it up)

The latest one I've seen is the one below, where she tries to analyze this North-South divide.

THE NAARTH-SAUTH WAR - a Madrasi take
http://www.sify.com/news/the-naarth-sauth-war-a-madrasi-s-take-news-columns-ljwkWphgcfd.html

There are so many open letters flying around, that it prompted one person to write an "Open Rant"

An Open Rant
http://unpredictableblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/an-open-rant/

Have I missed some? please let me know!

Cherry cobbler

How to make Cherry Cobbler:

This is amongst the fastest desserts I've ever seen made. Recipe by the Awesome Kym.

You will need:

a) A can of cherries (the type you use for making pie filling, NOT maraschino cherries) (ask me how I know)
b) A box of Yellow cake mix.
d) A stick of butter.
c) A baking pan/dish - (9x11 or 8x8 are the ideal sizes, but for this dish, size of the dish doesn't matter. It all depends on how much of the dish you want and how thick you want it).

Make it:
a.1) Wash the pan/dish. (duh!)
a.2) Start preheating the oven to 375F 350F. (Updated based on feedback from the Awesome Kym)

b) Dump in the entire can of cherries.
c) Cover the cherries with the cake mix - (we made it about an inch thick)
d) Now cut up the butter into small strips (about an inch long by 1/8th of an inch wide) and place it all over the cake mix - Basically cover the cake mix with strips of butter.

e.1) Place this into the oven and let it sit for 30 minutes.
e.2) " the cherries are precooked, so you just want it hot and the butter to melt nicely into the powder"[1]

f) When done, take it out, let it cool, then eat!

g) There is no step (g).

[1] Unti(tl)ed