Virodhi naama Samvathsaram

Hey!

A very Happy Ugadi to you all :)

I remember way back in school days, how Ugadi was celebrated. We used to wake up to the song "yuga yugaadi kaledharu Ugadi marali baruthidhe" on Doordarshan. After a detailed head bath, Mom used to deck us up like little dolls with new clothes and matching bangles, earrings, bindi and what not. Dad used to perform puja in his usual manner after cleaning all the idols and photoframes. By then, inviting smells from the kitchen would have already started and we would make rounds to the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the delicacies! Of course, mom would not let us even touch the food and insist on waiting until naivedhyam.
Meanwhile, Dad used to serve the most- awaited "Ugadi pacchadi", a combination of sweet(jaggery), salty(salt), sour(raw mango pieces), bitter(neem flowers),and hot(chilli powder)tastes. I used to love it so much and I still do...:D

The combination of all the tastes in "Ugadi pacchadi" represents the different emotions/phases in life that we come across and signifies the acceptance of all situations with the same spirit :)

After naivedhyam, we used to have this lavish feast with wide variety of eatables. Besides the food part, it was the "Panchanga Sravanam" which was more exciting. Dad and mom would delve into the new panchangam and read out the famous "aadhayam, vyayam, rajapujyam and avamanam" for each of our birth stars and also the yearly predictions. I still can't figure out how the predictions are so normalized across different age groups, genders etc but for the star sign. No two people have the same destiny. Talking about astrology takes up a new dimension and a different post. We'll do it some other time :D

For now, let's hope that this Ugadi brings in happiness and good luck to all of us...much needed especially during this recession!

The child in you

I totally believe the saying that there is a child within all of us, irrespective of the age. While I ponder over to re-discover the child in me, I just realized that I have never grown – up! Really, I feel haplessly childish when:

• I am Eveready to watch re-runs of Tom and Jerry/ Popeye / PoGo, basically anything that appears colorful

• I run to the swing in a park, just at the sight of it

• Quite often, I oblige for gifts such as chocolates, cakes, muffins, brownies, donuts, Danishes and what not

• I am habitually seen in the Children’s section of the Library, trying to grab a sneak peek of fairy tale books

• I pride about the collection of DVDs on the likes of Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more.

• I can never share my 3D Fairy tale book containing beautiful castles, horses, chariot, parties, princess in her huge dress etc. I am completely possessive of it. Remember, it’s 3D!

• Water colors, crayons, color pencils, sketch pens….these have been my fantasies and are always on my wish list.

• I effortlessly walk into any Toy stores and treat myself with the sights of Barbie or Dora or the soft toys.

• I feed my nose while I eat an ice cream and it feels utterly incomplete if I don’t drop it on my dress.

• I believe that every toy deserves a name. I call my dog Snoopy.

• You have to agree that Angel is my Best Friend and it can listen to all the crap that I say (btw, Angel is my huge white adorable teddy!)

• I don’t know what table manners are!

• I make my way in a crowd shoving, without even saying ‘excuse me’! Honestly, who cares?

• I drop and break things with ease. I master in making a puppy dog face and getting away with it.

• It takes forever for S to feed me everyday with all the pampering and bullying.

• I assume that I deserve a treat everyday, just for nothing

By the way, I should treat myself today because it’s children’s day! What say?

I am sure you are all sailing in the same boat as me. Go get yourself, a heavily layered double chocolate cherry sundae with nuts and get blessed…A veRy HaPpY ChiLDrEn'S DaY!


Image Courtesy: Flickr

Good times

I very well remember the way me and Sum were having a ball around the same time last year at Seoul. Things have changed drastically in the past one year. After all that’s what is life all about :) I really wonder how it would be the next year and the next and the next…….! Am really looking forward for that…..
Now coming out of the nostalgic mood, it was a really pleasant week for me. Especially when the thought of visiting home tingles my mind and soul, it’s an awesome feeling. I just can’t wait to meet my loved ones. It’s the countdown time!

Things that made my week cherishing:

One of my dear friends took pain to post his wedding card all the way to Seoul. I hadn’t received any posts since a year or so. This one made me happy!

My close friend revealed that she is going to have a baby soon. Just couldn’t resist having a small party at home with my roomies! Isn’t that a cute moment?

And I was not ready to let go off the opportunity to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi this time as it fell on a weekend especially. I am totally surprised the way things fall into place when we want to celebrate this festival. On Saturday evening I just remembered that I had some clay with me. And that triggered the idea of making the Ganesh idol. We weren’t sure as to how it would turn up. But definitely wanted to give it a try. As we proceeded making it, it slowly started shaping up in a lovely way. Then, I got more eager to apply colors to the idol. Finally we had spent a good 6 hrs to make it and it indeed was nice! The next day morning we set off on the flowers and leaves hunt just as we had done the previous time. Later on, we performed the puja in a truly traditional manner with all mantras and songs.
After the puja it was the food preparation. We managed to cook quite a few dishes. In the evening few of our colleagues joined us and we had a small tea-party at home. Haldiram’s Bhujia Pav, Pudina Tea and a bunch of mouth-watering hot mirchi bujjies added to the fun of the party. The most interesting part was the Ganesh Nimarjan. We performed it in cooker as that was the biggest vessel we had at home and that too with lid! Check out the snaps below to find out more….. :)

Peek-a-boo !

The tricolor tends to rejuvenate the spirit of patriotism no matter where we are. I was mesmerized by the same feeling when I recently paid a visit to our Indian embassy on the occasion of Independence day. I had a great time there as I watched many Indians flock to the embassy as a small tribute to their passion for nationalism. I was much more surprised when a middle aged woman beside me was asking her 10 yr old son if he remembered the national anthem. Well, no comments about that :) People did make mistakes when they sang “Jana Gana Mana” but the sense of devotion towards India that persisted in the Hall was strong enough to overcome all such minor flaws. I was keenly attracted by a few Indo-Korean couples…it’s cute to watch the way they gelled amazingly. The Korean ladies were seen in Indian outfits which added to the cuteness!

The Indian Ambassador addressed the gathering and read out a few excerpts from President Mr. Abdul Kalam’s speech to the nation. Our president has framed a seven point Oath for the youth of India in a beautiful way. We took the Oath as the Ambassador read out to us. Here I am quoting the points again which are definitely worth a glance.

1. I realize, I have to set a goal in my life. To achieve the goal, I will acquire the knowledge, I will work hard, and when the problem occurs, I have to defeat the problem and succeed.

2. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my tasks and enjoy the success of others.

3. I shall always keep myself, my home, my surroundings, neighborhood and environment clean and tidy.

4. I realize righteousness in the heart leads to beauty in the character, beauty in the character brings harmony in the home, harmony in the home leads to order in the nation and order in the nation leads to peace in the world.

5. I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a righteous way of life.

6. I will light the lamp of knowledge in the nation and ensure that it remains lit for ever.

7. I realize, whatever work I do if I do the best, I am contributing towards realizing the vision of developed India 2020.

These points do sound simple but have much greater impact when put to use by each one of us. An excellent proposition from our President.

Ok…coming back to the my sweet little world, there haven’t been many adventures of late...I wonder why! Oh yeah…we are on an experimenting spree in the culinary section these days at our apartment. I should tell you about our Gulab Jamoon Saga (why a Saga…you will know now). It was the first time we were actually making it. And obviously the output…:P. Particularly, it was the sugar syrup that created the trouble. We started making the sugar syrup with some water and considerable amount of sugar. The sugar melted away easily, but we couldn’t figure the thickness in the liquid. So, we went on and on adding the sugar. It was too late before we realized that we had emptied about a KG of sugar in the process of preparing the syrup. Ahem….well, after that we fried the jamoons and put them in the semi-solid sugar paste which became hard (as hard as a rock) after cooling down. I must mention that the jamoons tasted real good except for the digging part to bring them out.
As part of fixing-the-bug procedure, we diluted the syrup again and shared the jamoons with our fellow Indians (yes….they are pretty much alive :D). The remaining syrup lasted till yesterday and was used to prepare coffee/tea/juice and yet jamoons again every weekend. Thanks to the microwave for helping us melt the rock down everytime!

To be precise, we elevated from the “how not to make jamoons” stage to “how to make mouth melting delicious jamoons” stage over a period of 2-3 weeks. Isn’t that a smart way of learning?