Disturbing..:(

Its's so disturbing to read the news. I'm so sure everyone has this on their mind after the delhi gang rape took place. Every now and then , the media sensationalizes a murder or a scam or any violence crime cases. Not that they are not worthy of getting sensationalized.

But according to statistics, a woman is raped every 20 mins and our country India is the 3rd worst offender in rape. So imagine the no. of cases that go unnoticed, that goes unreported. Just becoz' this delhi case has got so much of media attention, there are so many people coming forward to report their's. Every day we see new reports of rape, so it doesn't mean, "Oh! people still dnt have a heart, one more case today!!". There are number of cases happening everyday. And still there will be happening.

I do not understand why do we have to blame the politicians soo much. Are they the one who are raping woman? I dn't mean to say they are not to be blamed, but the real one's to be blamed are our society. The society that we have created. Blame your own kids, blame your own neighbourhood. How many woman in your neighborhood get eve-tease, groped? How many men do you see following young women from their colleges or work places to their homes? How many men engage in verbally abusing girls and women on the roadsides for just fun? How many of us didn't face problem while traveling on public transport, let alone while walking in a crowded place? If the basic foundation itself is not good,these rape cases will not stop just by bringing stringent laws!

We need to teach our kids good morals, good behavior, discipline. keep all our ego's in check.Teach our fellow men to respect women. I dn't mean to blame all men. But there are so many out there to be blamed.  Take just in colleges, how many girls get eve teased or bullied? All these behavior in men becomes strong later on where they commit such crimes easily. Forget rape, what about dowry deaths, female foetacide, which happens even in educated families? All these things happen 'coz of the general attitude of society towards women.

Like our president mentioned in her speech, the whole attitude of society needs to be changed! one person on TV mentioned "charity begins at home" , yes true, teach kids the right morals.

I have a 3 year old son at home, I pledge today to teach him the right morals as best to my abilities.
Let all men respect women and so should all women respect men.

Seasons Greetings!

Amidst of all the heartbreak and anguish over incidents in Connecticut or Delhi or in many other places that go amiss, with the end of the world conspiracies rising high , take your time and have all these victims in our prayers. That is the only thing we can all possibly do at this point of time.
Hope there was less negative things going around. Looks like the world has already end, what more can it end?

Let's all do many as good things as possible to counterfeit the bad things.

And wishing you all Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Let's all keep the positive spirit going around.

Mustardy Egg Omelette Sandwich and the 3 R's

It's a really funny thing to see someone sleep with their mouth open. Picture it on someone, ..... someone funny and your gonna laugh. Well, I happened to sleep this for few days last week. OK , Don't laugh. I had a cold. A damn cold which made my nose stuffy.
                If you've experienced this then you know that your mouth gets really dry if you sleep with it open. The first night I slept this way I had dreamed that I was so intensely thirsty, my mouth kept feeling so dry and I kept drinking gallons of water and yet my mouth still felt so dry and thirsty. And I kept searching for more water and I kept drinking and the same thirsty feeling. Thank God, then the alarm ran!
                The second night I slept this way, I again had dreamed that my mouth felt very dry and thirsty , And I was looking for water everywhere and I couldn't find any. And then I wasn't able to speak. And I kept looking and looking and I couldn't find any water. Damn!!! and again thank God that the alarm ran!
                I could only come to one conclusion from all of this. That I dream only during the early hours of the morning before I am about to get up. Right?? I guess all of us do the same. Dreams are so weird. I dream every night. I sometimes pray that I sleep dreamless. Bcoz they are always weird.

OK so coming to the sandwich I'm about to write today.
Its more an omelette between 2 pieces of bread, but with a little twist in making the omelette. The omelette is good and different by itself .

Ingredients for omelette: (Serves 2)
2 Large eggs
Half a big tomato chopped finely
Half of a potato boiled and finely chopped
1 big bulb of garlic chopped
6 leaves of mint
2 green chilli cut half
2 tsps of spicy brown mustard (use 1 tsp for just eating the omelette by itself)
pinch of sugar
salt to taste

Put some oil on a heated pan, fry the garlic, green chilli first for a min or so. Then add the potato, tomato, pudina in that order, fry for few secs, then add the spicy brown mustard, salt and a pinch of sugar to taste fry until everything is incorporated. spread everything evenly on pan, then pour 2 beaten eggs onto pan to make the omelette. Cook till done. 

For the sandwich part:

Ingredients: (serves 2)

4 slices of bread of your choice (I used whole grain honey oatmeal bread),

2 slices of your favorite cheese

chopped lettuce

Any sauce of your choice( ketchup, tamarind sauce, mint chutney or you could even try my world famous cranberry sauce!! )

Spread 2 slices of bread on a pan after dropping a few drops of oil on the pan on med heat. Roughly break it into pieces and spread them on the bread. Use a whole 2 slices if you don't mind all the extra calories/fat. Now cover it with a lid so as to lightly melt the cheese. Remove bread once it is lightly browned so as to have a light crunch.

Now place a piece of omelette on the bread slice, then chopped lettuce(adding sliced tomatoes at this point would be good), then spread your choice of sauce on this which I completely forgot before I took the picture. Then place the other slice of bread over this.

And then bite into it for that mustardy feeling..

OK ,On a totally, totally , totally, different context, a context so different that is so outworldly. Yes , you got it. The same old husband and wife conversations, or jokes you may say. This silly talk between me and hubby the other day happened when some silly thing happened and I so  asked him in a silly way: "Are you mad? "

Guess what he replied??

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...


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Hubby : "No, I'm married"

hehehehhehe....


If there's any letter thats in fashion these days, its the letter 'R', that too not once, but thrice. ;))
It's the 3 R's - Recycle, Reuse, Reduce which just means that by recycling all our used stuff, reusing all the possible things for various purposes, and reducing our waste we do good for our planet, and in turn for our future generations.
All of us should keep these things in mind when we go out to shop. Agreed most people are spontaneous shoppers , with all the colorful, beautiful , attractive stuff we get in shops which exactly what the manufacturers target. We quite often end up buying stuff which we are hardly in need of. We either buy 'coz we either liked the look of it or just in case we might need it in future.
I have in recent months developed this habit of resisting this temptation. The moment I feel the need to buy anything, I pause. I pause and give myself a minute or two to consider ,which is pretty much enough to stall the need to buy or procrastinates my shopping which by then I loose the interest. Which is a good thing.
I was in need of a shoe stand to be placed in my closet. I kept delaying buying it until I got the idea to make one with all the diaper boxes I had. I made the below stand with just diaper boxes and duct tape.

Sneek peek of the process of making a cardboard box shoe stand.

See you can make use of so many of the waste stuff at home. I recently used milk cartons cut into half as pots for my gardening (I shall put up pics and tutorial in future). All the old clothes, boxes could generally be put to good use.
I am sure all you have ideas of your own to recycle and reuse stuff at home. Please do teach your kids to use less. For Eg: Instead of using a whole sheet of paper towel, you could teach them to use half of a sheet of paper towel at a time (which is actually the amount necessary if you observe). Don't worry, it's not being frugal, your just teaching them to be sensible towards the environment.

So always remember the 3 R's.
With that note , I could safely end my long post here .

Chao until next time.

Never Diminishing

All I am about to write is about Akshaya Tritiya. It means never diminishing. It is celebrated by both Hindus and Jains. But I kinda felt it is wrongly understood or celebrated. Or at least I felt most of us do not know the real meaning of this day other than buying gold on this day. Isn't it?

As per my search in google, I found that as per Hinduism ,this day is celebrated as the birthday of Sage Parashuram / sixth avatar of Vishnu. This is also the day River Ganga descended to earth from heaven as per the mythology. So it is believed that doing charity on this day is a blessing. So as in starting new ventures / deeds.

For Jains, it's a story about a king of Ayodhya who ended his year long fast today when he was offered sugarcane juice from his grandson. It took a year and his grandson to understand that all He wanted was food and not worldly materials which people kept offering him.

My Pessimism starts here.

Just  like Valentines day , friendships day, fathers day, mothers day and all other days being so over hyped just for marketing the retail products by business owners, I feel even Akshaya Tritiya is over hyped by jewellers/banks/finance companies in India in recent years. (No offense and not that I don't celebrate these special occasions, but I am just merely trying to understand the big picture). So people buy gold thinking that it multiplies if you buy on this day. Don't know what people will do with all the multiplied gold, if it ever multiplies and if it really makes sense.

People are actually supposed to do charity on this day. It is a blessing. On the contrary when our holy book Bhagavadhgeetha teaches us to forsake all worldly pleasures and desires , to give and not ask more, why do we some people do exactly the opposite. Why do we see buying gold on this day as auspicious? Why do we perform Lakshmi pooja for wealth and property? Does it make any sense? It doesn't , to me.

I know its practical in this age to have wealth enough to live comfortably. But isn't the real meaning of this day being masked by the gimmicks of business people. All we know is the picture projected by marketing companies than the religious side of it.

So I think all of us should understand the real meaning of this day and grab an opportunity to do some charity or good deeds on this day instead of dwelling on buying gold and it bringing wealth and getting multiplied and so on.

On the lighter side, here's what I baked for my friends on their anniversary.

Chocolate cupcakes which was more like chocolate brownies. Anyways it tasted chocolaty!!

Have a good day. If I buy a chocolate on this day. Will it multiply and will I keep getting more and more of it? All chocolate lovers, try it ;))

Disclaimer:

This thoughts in the article written above is mine and mine only and does not reflect any body elses's sentiments. Neither it refers to anyone in person.

Langar

It was our first visit to a Gurudwara last sunday. Although we had been planning to visit one for quite sometime, we didn't get an oppurtunity. Finally when our friends Ravi and Raji mentioned that they had volunteered to provide and prepare the langar and they needed us to help them, we very happily agreed.

Langar means the free food that is served in a Gurudwara to Sikhs and non-Sikhs. Basically in the Gurudwara near our place in florida, every sunday some family volunteers to sponser and prepare food for everyone. I was all very excited to take part in the process. Personally we were very happy to be a part of their experience. It gave us an oppurtunity to learn something about Sikh religion and culture.

This is the kitchen where the food was prepared in the Gurudwara.

The pantry was stocked.

We , A bunch of friends spent the saturday evening in preparing for the next day. The Veggies were chopped.



A lot of preperation was done on saturday evening. We had to cook food for around 200 to 250 people.

On Sunday few people start arriving early morning in Gurudwara.

People start the day with an exercise session in the morning.



The stoves were lit in the kitchen.

Breakfast is prepared for people present in the morning. It was Poha this sunday accompanied by fruits and rasgulla. All prepared by volunteers.

A lot of volunteers arrive to cook food for the langar.

Our friend Lehar's mom was very helpful in supervising the cooking. She is busy in making Dal Makhani.

Our friend Raji immersed in cooking Jeera Rice. 

Boondi Raita in the making.

A lot of other volunteers arrived to make Rotis.

The tradition of langar is all about sharing, community, inclusiveness and oneness of all humankind.

Langar upholds the principle of equality between all people regardless of religion, caste, colour, creed, age, gender or social status.

People selflessly do all the work.

The food was amazingly delicious which was served after the prayer session. It's not only during the preparation of food. Even serving the food,  washing-up, cleaning the dishes, cleaning the kitchen and the community hall are also done by volunteers. I was totally perplexed how people selflessly served. 

It is one place, where nobody is big or nobody is small. It only teaches us that 'All are equal in the eyes of God'.

Nothing but ...

"There is a little bit of dumbness and a little bit of intelligence in all people" 
                                           - My Husband

Isn't this so true? How much ever one is intelligent, one tends to do/think dumb occasionally. Apparantly,this is one of the many witty persistent remarks/quotes that my hubby proclaims every now and then. And each time I sarcastically tell him that I need to make a note of his 'dialogues' . His repertoire of quotes keeps me amazed each time. Although I do forget them eventually.

Coming  to what I a actually had in mind, It's about LOVE.

There is a growing inclination towards love marriages in India over the recent years. Our country has been traditionally following the arranged marriage system from old times. The younger generation is preferring to adopt the love marriage systems. The older generation have started to accept.

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While I'm writing this:

Hubby: "Are you done?" (Intentionally trying to disturb me)

Me: "Why do you have to be mean to me all the time?" (I'm kinda irritated by him interfering in my work)

Hubby: "I Love You" (Me Blusshhhhhhhh.., only in my mind, a stern face)

Oh God!! Love... It is.

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People-  fall in love. Fall apart in love. Some don't bother. Some keep it platonic. Some are faithful . Some are dishonest .Some hurt, fight, break in between. Some forget. Some cry and cry. Some get disinterested midway and back up. Some don't have the guts to continue because of the pressures from parents, society, work. Some don't even make an effort to ask/ fight for their love and give up before even trying. Some try and try , if nothing works out, do their own thing. Some try and try, and give up just for their parents. And there are some of these who relentlessly try, try and succeed. Get married. Have a beautiful Life together.

Parents only want to keep their children happy. And kids do not want to hurt their parents. People have started to contemplate the matter. At the end of the day most people have started to realize that , it's about staying happy together, keeping each other happy, keeping the family happy, it's about LOVE. True Love.  And not about their cast , religion or their status.

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Hubby: "How long are you going to take?" (with a wicked smile)

Me: "I don't know, Please be quiet" (mocking)

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It's no more about Romeo and Juliet , Laila and Majnu. It's now about You and him/her, Hubby and Me( ;) )

Nothing but Love....

And why am I writing all this?

Just B'coz my cousin sis is getting married to her love, And She inspired me to write.

And to celebrate love, Here's the Orange and Walnut cake I made for Valentine's Day.

And Finally Here's my gooddy boody chubby wubby chweetie pie, whom I luv choooooooooo much, that I cuth eath him up:)  Look at that tree top :))

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Me: "OK come here and see what I've written, Before I can Publish it" (Seriously)

Hubby Approaching.

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The Evil 'I'

It's March 27th, 1.04 AM and Im still so sleepless this night. Hundreds of thoughts crawling through my mind, not sure if these thoughts have kept me awake or me being awake have given way to these thoughts. Not knowing what to do, I just opened my laptop to blog down my mind.Hoping to fall asleep midway!!!

It's the concept of 'Evil eye ' or 'evil sight' or 'bad eyes' as everyone says, which I've been hearing a lot about these days especially since after my son was born. Anyone and everyone who comes to see my son has to leave an ending note saying "please ward off the evil eye" or "please put a big black spot on his face". To which I solemnly reply "OK" ,which I actually mean "I dont know what you mean" . Seriously what is it??? Does the big black spot act as a blackhole which absorbs all the bad energy in his vicinity?? Im really tired of everyone speaking about this so called 'drishti tegiyodu'(in kannada), 'Nazar utarna'(in hindi), or the 'warding off evil eye'.



Me ,being a totally non-superstitious person, Am trying to think for some logical explanation to all this and I've failed miserably. But I can surely have logical, obvious reasons why not to believe in this. My Doc says that a baby usually expresses his pain, laugh, hunger, touch, warmth, love, disgust, discomfort, comfort, uneasiness, happiness, etc., through cry. This is because they do not know to speak and they do not know how else to express what they feel. I totally agree to this. Whenever I take my baby out and return back home and if he cries, they say that "everyone's evil eye has fallen on him" , to be exact. I say that he's probably feeling overwhelmed with the diaper packing , the traffic, the heat, the noise, the new strange faces and thats why the baby cries...for godsake. Another instance is when I take him to a social gathering and if he cries, people start speaking about how everyone just have their bad eyes on him. Well, I say , my baby is probably tired of each one passing him around from hand to hand, hes tired of all the noise, hes deprived of his sleep, thats why the cry.

If only people could realise this!!! Not knowing the real reason actually does so much harm to the baby.Isn't it so? I am so sure at this point that many staunch believers would start already cursing me for being a non-believer of such things. Anyways nothing much matters to me as long as I know how to make my baby feel comfortable. Oh by the way ,its not the case just for babies, its for adults as well.

In case I have a headache and I lie down , someone at home surely comes and wards off the so called evil eye by clinching a handful of salt and swinging onto me chanting some mantras. Think I could give hundreds of such examples ,and so do you. If this concept of evil eye is actually true ,then this world is actually covered by a web of evil rays coz this world if filled with so many evil minds.Extend your arm and you can feel it. So we all should probably apply an anti-evil eye lotion before stepping out of the house. Hahhaha....what a stupid thought at this time of night.

Most of the believers who after performing rituals for taking off this bad energy on them , actually feel better. I've seen and heard people telling me that they feel better then. This is probably how their mind works. when anyone strongly believes that something truly works wonders on them, then it truly happens. Their sub-conscious mind starts to believe that after the ritual is performed the body is gonna feel better, giving way to a will power to recover from the illness. The mind starts thinking positively and his conscious tells him that he is all right and he automatically feels better. Its more work of the positive thinking than the rituals. Kudos to the positive mind!!! And I do think that its not the evil from others, its the evil in the I , me and you that should be removed to make us all feel better rather thinking about others.

Sentiments and emotions also play a huge role here. Im sure most of us whether we believe in these things or not , we do take part in these ,just in case if it relieves us from the problem. I must admit,though I do not believe in this, I dont stop anyone from performing these rituals on my son. Thats how the mind works:)) Isn't it? Logical mind says not to believe and the sentimental mind tells us to believe it. Thats how probably these rituals are passed on from one generation to another.

Gosh...It's 1.55 A.M and Im still not sleepy. But I feel satisfied at least after penning down my thoughts.

This blog is not written to hurt anyone's belief. It's just a reflection of my mind. Feel free to argue or comment about your thoughts. Or if anyone believes they have a logical reasoning, please enlighten the ignorant.

Hmmm...Im sure gonna shut down my laptop now.