Cricket is back with a bang in the Indian subcontinent! India and Pakistan are finally going ahead with their battle on the cricket field. This series has already generated its fair share of controversies, thanks to the confusion over match venues and telecasting rights.

Another debate doing the rounds amongst cricket fans all over the world is on the availability of Tendulkar, 'the God of Indian cricket', for the forthcoming series, which is being billed as the Mother of all series. If one may recall, Tendulkar debuted against Pakistan exactly 16 years ago in Pakistan, under the captaincy of Krish Srikkanth and has since then gone on to carve out a singular cricketing career- 71 international hundreds and 107 fifties, both tests and ODIs put together. He is still recovering from the tennis elbow injury on his left hand, which has given rise to a lot of speculation on his availability for the Indo-Pak series.

Another dampening news from across the border is that, the Rawalpindi Express- Shoaib Akhtar is not going to tour India, owing to injury and discipline-related reasons. The controversial fast bowler was expected to make inroads into the Indian batting line up and this series was being projected as a Tendulkar vs Akhtar battle, which unfortunately is not going to be the case. Nevertheless, an India-Pakistan encounter has always been a memorable experience for cricket lovers of both the countries and they can look forward to some awesome cricket in the forthcoming series. The series is scheduled to start on March 8, 2005 and will end with an ODI at Delhi on April 17, 2005.

The 2004 Indo-Pak series held in Pakistan was a sell-out with Indian cricketers and fans being welcomed with open hearts, both on and off the field. Thousands of fans turned out to witness the historic Indian feat of a first ever series win over the Pakistanis on their home ground. The highlight of the series was the triple century scored by Virendra Sehwag -an achievement that has surpassed all other achievements by the other stalwarts of Indian cricket, namely, Sunny Gavaskar, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman!

The 2005 series is eagerly awaited by fans from both the countries. It remains to be seen whether the Indian cricket board and the cricket fans in India will be able to reciprocate the hospitality and warm welcome to the Pakistani cricketers and their fans, on this tour, which is being touted as "The Asian Ashes".

Festivals are essential threads woven in the fabric of Indian society. Holi, one such festival celebrated with immense joy and grandeur comes on March 25th this year. What's Holi without mouth watering Gujhias? Here's the recipe to this North Indian dessert for all those who have been missing their motherland and its variety of sweets and savouries.

The ingredients required to prepare GUJHIA: -
500 gms maida (flour)
1kg khoya
3 tbsps kismis (raisins)
200 gms almonds (cut into thin strips)
6 tbsps cooking oil (keep some more aside for deep frying)
200 ml water
500 gms sugar

First mix 6 tablespoons of oil with maida and add water as per the requirement. Knead it into soft dough. Cover it with a damp cloth and leave it aside for sometime. Fry khoya in a deep frying pan till it becomes light brown in color. Add sugar, kismis, almonds and mix well. Remove from fire and let it cool. Now roll out the kneaded dough into a small and thick chapatti. Fill half the chapatti with the khoya mixture and seal the round, twisting the edges inwards. Deep-fry these gujhias to a deep golden brown color on slow flame. Take them out with a sieve type ladle and drain the oil completely.

NOTE - Makes about 40 gujhias.

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