Rawa Cake

 

I am from Gujarat and I simple love all the Gujarati snacks right from dhokla to thepla and fafda to khamani.

So when I came across this recipe, it immediately got me interested. I think it’s a cross between dhokla and handwa.  The best part is you can add veggies to your heart's content, making is very nutritious and yet keeping the taste intact. I have used onions, capsicum, carrots, corn, broccoli, peas and beans. Its loved by J* and Angel alike and thus this has found its place as a regular in my kitchen!

The recipe is adapted from here and modified according to taste.

 

Please try it and indulge your taste buds!

Nazar Proofing

If you have delivered your baby in India, chances are that you have been through the 40 days of confinement period. The tradition arose from the need to protect both mum and baby from infection and help the mother recover from the exhaustion of child birth. One of the many restrictions is that the mum and baby can’t go out of the house. Though I was not having post-partum depression, there were blues nonetheless. I was tired and frustrated sitting at home with my days (and nights) doing nothing but managing or thinking about Angel’s feed, burp, massage, bath, pee and poop. Thankfully, my MIL noticed and understood this. She is one of the rare kind in the previous generation who doesn’t believe that traditions come before individuals and thus we went for a short drive along with Angel even though the 40 days were not over yet. I came back refreshed and definitely feeling better however Angel cried a lot and we were not able to comfort her. After trying everything, MIL suggested to utaaro her nazar (warding off the evil eye) and she did that. And guess what, Angel still continued to cry! She was a colic baby and not knowing any other way to express herself at that age she used to cry. We later sat and discussed that if she has a problem she will cry whether or not she has been out or seen by anyone.

That day I decided that I will never do this ritual again for my daughter! I have heard phrases like “nazar lag gai” or “nazar utaro iski” n number of times from well-wishers, friends and even my mother but I have stood my ground. I have convinced some of my friends to let go of this practice while some of my friends think that this definitley help their children. I most certainly want them to discard it but I don’t judge them as there is nothing call “bad parenting”. All parents want the best for their children and they do certain things as they believe that is the best for their child.

Now I have utmost respect for our ancestors and genuinely believe that they were way more knowledgeable than we give them credit for. Take for example our age old home remedies, they are much better than any medicines and antibiotics. Whatever rules they had, made great sense at their time, like not cutting the nails in dark. At that time there was no electricity and it made sense to not cut the nails in dark lest they find their way in food, however it doesn’t hold water now when we can see clearly during the night time as well. Similarly, this confinement practice must have been made to ensure that the mother is well rested and gets enough bonding time with the baby.

However, our generation has to take some initiative to stop the age old rituals if it doesn’t agree with that little thing called “logic” and make sure that we don’t pass them on to our future generations and instead take care of their health and immunity, help them learn the life skills and make them independent and confident!

A Perfect Breakfast

A consecutive food post from my end. Shocking, I know, but gradually I have started enjoying cooking so you can expect more of these.

I love "sooji ke dhokle" . It is a Gujarat dish made by soaking semolina or sooji in curd and its steamed followed by tempering of musturd seeds, seseme seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. Its served with pudina chutney. Its tasty and healthy too, so it has found its way to our breakfast menu once in a week. I tried to make it healthier by adding vegetables like beet root(I don't cannot eat it in raw/boiled form as salad and like this you don't even realize its taste :)), carrot and onions. And boy, I was mighty pleased with the results. Check out the pic.

We can even add spinach juice to it and get green colured dhoklas, beet root juice for red ones and plain white ones and decorate the three together. The color co-ordinated dhoklas look lovely. No pic for that as of now, will definitely click it the next time I make it. Do try it and leave a comment telling me how it came out, if you haven't already!

Baking

Recently, I discovered that I love baking. And I have been on a baking spree for a while. I have baked a number of different cakes and I realized that I am good at it. Well the main advantage of baking is that its easy and it gives you a lot of credit ;) I am not patient enough to click pics after every step so here are some pics of the final products for visual pleasure. The finishing is raw but come on, I am still learning. I will definitely learn cake decoration. It is in my to-do list. 

Chocolate Sponge Cake. I baked this for Angel's 7th month birthday. Yes, its 7 and not L :P

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Date, Walnut and Banana Cake. A very healthy cake made from wheat flour

White Forest

Black Forest

Ragi Cake- for Angel's 9th month. Again a very healthy cake

Tried my hands at cupcakes as well!

Parlour Woes

I HATE going to the parlours. No, I am not talking about the ice cream or the Internet parlours, I am talking about the beauty parlours. I think this is one of the things that makes me unfit for the typical gender stereotypes. I always procrastinate my parlour visits until I can procrastinate it no more.

When I was young, parlour visits meant only the haircuts.  Did I ever mention that I had blunt cut , i.e. very short hair until I was in 9^th standard. Ah, the good old days! Mom used to take me to the friendly-neighbourhood-parlour-didi.

After a few years, the number of visits increased and so did the questions accusations from the no-longer-friendly-parlour-didi. Sample this: Your hair is so unruly. Which shampoo do you apply? Why don’t you use the shampoo which I gave you? Look at your skin. Why don’t you use the products which I give you and the list goes on while I looked sheepishly as she was right. I never applied the shampoo/creams which she gave me.  

I went to a different city for my graduation, but still I continued going to her whenever I could, as a known devil is better than an unknown one. I again relocated to another city for work after my graduation which forced me to look beyond the neighbourhood-parlour-didi. After marriage I moved to Bangalore and in last 3 years, I have changed 3 houses and hence 3 areas, thus I am yet to find a consistent parlour to visit. So these parlours offer a number of different things. Top few being:

1.  Waxing: This is sheer torture. What else will you call the pouring to hot wax over your skin and hair is removed from the roots?

2. Getting your eyebrows shaped: I am yet to meet a girl who does not visit the parlour for this. They pluck your eyebrows using a thread (and hence the name threading) to shape the eyebrows. Although the after-effect is great and instant,  I wish there was a less painful option for this.

3. Facial/Clean up: There are a number of these available in the market like Shehnaz, Fruit, Gold, Bridal and the list goes on. The more exotic the name, the more money they charge. It includes a number of steps :

a.       They apply a number of sweet smelling lotions and massage your face as if kneading the dough. Sometimes it also includes a neck and back massages which is very relaxing though.

b.      Your face is subjected to hot steam for about a minute or two and which seems like ages

c.       A needle is plucked repeatedly on the pretext of removing black heads. I always tell them to skip this part. I love myself to the extent of not minding a few black heads. And I don’t even want to start on the sterilization of those needles

d.      A cooling pack is applied on your face and eyes are covered with wet cotton or cucumber slices and you lie down and ponder on the meaning of life or people like me think about their next blog post and no points for guessing where did the idea of this blog post came from.

e.      After this, the pack is removed, some more fragrant lotions are applied and you are released.

         

             4. Pedicure: I love it. This is my favourite. They massage and rub your feet and put your feet in warm water in the vibrator thingy which feels heavenly and you are treated like a princess.  You are then presented with a number of nail colours and they apply your chosen colour on your toe nails with utmost concentration

I have  also ventured into hair rebonding. Well it’s just a fancy name for permanent hair straightening.  Since the time I can remember, I always loved straight hair and hence the decision and I don’t regret it as it resulted into the kind of hair I always wanted – straight and silky which lasted for a full 1.5 years. Mine are unruly and rough.  Although the process is long and time consuming, I loved the outcome.

One of my friends says that, the parlour visits relax her. Well, to each her own. The idea of getting my eyebrows plucked or the application of burning wax over my tender skin does NOT relax me. Well, not unless I am going for a pedicure. The last time it happened was during my pregnancy. Haven’t got a chance after that. Sigh.

So I have accepted these visits as necessary evils. Although after going through this ordeal, when I go back home expecting some compliments, J* greets me saying “What happened? Was the parlour closed?” :/

Tid Bits

***I read somewhere that "Mausam continues to sink..." (Sheesh), well it refers to the movie "Mausam" :)
No matter what  the box office reviews say, personally I liked the concept of the movie, I liked the acting of Shahid Kapoor, he has put a lot of hard work in this movie and it shows. Sonam Kapoor also looked good and does not have many dialogues which is another plus point :P It may be a bit stretched but I still liked it!

***I am nostalgic again. I recently read a blog of my classmate (my ex-classmate). How strange it is that the people and things we take for granted, the people whom we used to see everyday, become blurred with time, but one note about one person brings back all the memories as if ye kal hi ki baat hai..


***We recently had an amazing trip to Wayanad in Kerela with friends. Details/Pics in another post soon.

***RIP Steve Jobs. You continue to be an inspiration to many...

***"God made man and then He said 'I can do better than that' and made women."
This is what I received as an SMS. I got carried away and forwarded it to a few of my gal pals.
Then it struck me Is it true?
I who never believed this. I who believed in the equality of genders. How can I do this??
I dont think either man or woman is superior. They are just different.
Then I thought that it can be taken in fun, but that is just my escape route. When someone cracks a generalized joke on women, I don't appreciate it, so maybe I shouldn't have made/enjoyed/forwarded this statement.!

Feeling Good..

I went to Freedom Park yesterday. Its where the protests are going on and people are supporting Mr. Anna Hazare in Bangalore. Its such a nice feeling to be a part of a revolution!!!

I really hope this fast and protests bring some fruits!

Jai Hind!!!

So that I remember…

28^th July, 2011

5:55PM

This is for my personal record, so you can skip this post.

I am writing this from Hyderabad Airport, waiting for my flight which is 1.5 hours from now and desperately trying to connect to Wi-Fi. Sadly, I have not succeeded in connecting so far. I am here for some official work. The reason why I want to remember this is because this is for the first time I am on a completely paid trip from office and also this is my first official trip, although I hoped and wished that my first official trip would be abroad, only if wishes were horses!

I used to think that it must be great fun to be on a fully paid trip, but now my thinking has definitely changed. Of course, it was a great learning experience, but it was hectic and tiring. I am here along with my manager. We started yesterday at 6:15 in the morning from my place for an 8:30 flight, went directly to the client office from the airport which by the way is a good 70kms from the airport. Had a long, long day, could touch the guest house only by 8:30pm. The room was a very spacious one with all the facilities, I was tired, but was not able to sleep, I don’t know maybe because of the anxiety. I have never seen a hotel room all for myself and I had forgotten when did I sleep alone in a room, was watching mindless television soaps till 11 pm, I think I slept by midnight. In the morning, again after ages, I woke up before my alarm buzzed! I was amazed at myself, as I love sleeping and I always snooze my alarm at least thrice before I get up. I got up at 6 and did nothing for another one and a half hours which is again very unlike me :O

Then got ready, left for the client office at 8:30, spent another day in trainings, etc. and left it at 4 and now I am here. This week had been insanely hectic for me. We had gone to J*’s native last Friday and returned on Monday late in the night, left for office on Tuesday on the usual time, that is, 7:30 AM, I have already written my schedule for yesterday and today with elaborate details and since I have got a lot of inputs from the customer, I am sure, I will be immensely busy tomorrow. Its good that MIL came along with us this time, and J* is not alone at home, he is not feeling well today.  I have never waited for a weekend so desperately as I am doing now!

Why am I writing about it in such a detailed manner, because now if I see someone on an official trip, I will come back and read this and would know that its not fun always.  :P

Double Standards? Not Really!!

Recently, I was talking to someone who commented that “Women are too easily impressed by chivalry”

He further accused us for double standards and went on to say that on one hand we talk about gender equality and on the other hand we expect the little favours to come our way due to our genders.

Now I would beg to differ. I don’t want to get into the debate on gender equality, because women are superior anyways! :) I will save the proofs probably for some another post.

Anyways, I will be able to prove my point better with some examples. Just ponder over the below scenarios:

Situation 1 – When I am a little late for a meeting/training and all the chairs are occupied, I don’t expect anyone to get up and offer me their seat, but when I am struggling to bring a chair through a self closing door, I just want someone to help me do this and not just sit there like statues watching me struggle!

Situation 2 – When I get into an over crowded bus, I don’t expect someone to get up and offer me their seat, but I do want them to leave their seats when they see an elderly person or a pregnant lady who is finding it difficult to manage!

Situation 3 – I don’t expect someone to hold the door for me every time, I have hands, I can do it myself,  but when I am right behind someone who just passed by the self closing door, I expect him to pause and hold the door a few seconds longer so that it won’t bang right into my face! I do the same for men/women behind me.

Now its basic courtesy and etiquettes that everyone should follow regardless of their genders without a second thought, but sadly, very few practice it.

So in today’s world which is so intolerant, these little signs of kindness always feel good and we are drawn towards that thoughtful person, and if this is what you call double standards, its time for a vocabulary check! 

Reading

I am an avid reader. I can read anytime, anywhere. I read anything and everything which is readable, be it the hoardings on the road or the piece of paper in which the thelewala gives moongfalli :P. Sometimes, I so wish that I could read Kannada, as in Bangalore, there is so much Kannada everywhere. There has never been a time in my life when I have not read anything (except when I didn't know how to read :P) Exam time, holiday time, night, day. I was never a night person. I prefer getting up early in the morning, but I remember, once I stayed up till very late in the night, just because I HAD TO finish a novel. In fact, apart from sleeping, I must have spent more hours of my life in reading rather than any other activity.

I have never read a self help or a non-fiction book. I tried but I couldn’t. It’s just that I don’t enjoy them. And for me, reading is my happy thing to do. I look forward to reading everyday. So I just can’t read anything, which might be good for me, but do not interest me. So I end up reading fiction. And reading fiction has changed my life in so many ways. I have come to know about people whom I may never meet, the places I may never visit, the emotions I may never experience­­ and just tiny, tiny things which I would never even know about. If I had all the money and all the time in the world, I would do nothing but READ. I can forget anything when I am reading.

The credit for my love of reading goes to my parents, who are ardent readers themselves. When we were kids, Papa had subscribed to a number of weekly, fortnightly and monthly magazines for us which we looked forward to. We used to finish them in one and wait for more.. Some of them included Champak, Chandamama, Children’s Digest, Children’s Magazine, India Today, Outlook, Traveller, even Filmfare (this explains my love for Bollywood J ) and a lot more. My mother being a school teacher would get a number of books and magazines for us from her school library. I was lucky that I got such teachers in my formative years in school who always encouraged me to read.

And reading is what differentiates me from the rest. I don’t have any talent to speak of – can’t dance, sing, draw, paint or write. Nor do I have any particular interest in any kind of sports. What I can do is – read. And honestly speaking, personally, I don’t know anyone who reads more than me. There are people who read a wider variety of books and are more knowledgeable, but when you talk about quantity or the number of books, you can’t beat me J Also, there is the speed at which I read. Again, I don’t know anyone who reads faster than me. Reading faster has many advantages and disadvantages for me. Advantage is I can read so much more in a limited period of time. Disadvantage being often I am left with nothing to read. Also, I don’t completely enjoy the book as I am in so much of a rush to know what happened next, that I many a times miss the subtleties which makes a book a classic. One bright thing of this is that I can re-read the book multiple times. Also, in the subsequent reads I am more relaxed and pay more attention to the minute details which I missed earlier because I already know what is coming up.

 I have been reading a lot lately. The reason being, my office has shifted and it’s a good one hour ride from my place, so I have ample time to read. In fact, I have finished five novels in the month of May alone J  So don’t be surprised, if you get a series of book reviews from me :P

If there is one thing that I seriously and truly want to pass on to my future generation, it would be books.

Here’s to a lifetime of reading, learning and enjoying!

Fitness!

I am creaking and paining all over..

Wondering what I am talking about?

Well, I have finally joined gym from today!!! (am doing a mental dance over it J)

I am on a mission weight loss these days. Its not that I am fat. But I have gained some extra kilos which I HAVE TO lose. So I have joined this gym in the mornings right before office.

So all the best to me not just to complete my mission but also to walk properly  :P

My God

It was a bad day. Work was monotonous in office. There were awful traffic jams and I had to walk for a good distance and was getting really irritated with the whole thing. I had an urge to get home ASAP. That’s when I thought that I might start thinking about my next blog post and it occurred to me that I can blog about the traffic of Bangalore(which, by the way, is awful) and also prepared a draft of it mentally. That’s when I stumbled and almost fell. I sent a silent complaint to heaven “O God, why such a terrible day ?!”

It then striked that hey, I can write about my God!

My belief in God is rather strange (others say so, while I find it quite logical). I am always reminded of the words of my moral science teacher in school. She had once said that “Life is too short to understand God, so try to be closer to Him every moment. God is omnipresent and limitless.”

This is the crux of my belief in God.

I am not a temple freak, I can connect with Him better in my own room. And as luck (or rather God) would have it, I am married in a family who belongs to Arya Samaj, which does not believe in idol worship and it helps me to understand God in a better way. However, even before my marriage, my conversations with Him have been very casual. When I was in Pune, on my way to office, there was a small temple on the corner of a road, and India being a land of temples was occupied for a good part of the day.  And I made it a point to greet Him. But some days, the journey to office was very frustrating with traffic jams and buses running late. One such day, I was not feeling too well, I shot a prayer to Him “Give me a comfortable ride to office” and I traveled like a queen that day! I then made a point to say this to Him every day. Not that everyday I got a seat or the bus was never delayed. But then when I couldn't get a seat, the weather would be so nice that I would forget all about it. A few days later, one of my roommates shifted to my project and I got a company to travel to office everyday. So each day, He answered my prayer in His own sweet way.

Some days, He answers my prayers in the nick of time. I can see “His involvement” when the electricity is back when I ask. Or He sends a bus within 10 minutes that I have waited as He knows that my patience level is a bit low. Or He stops the rains when we had to go for a movie. Or I suddenly recall the exact location of a particular thing, which I had kept and forgot all about it and was getting mad searching for it everywhere. I can think of a zillion things where He had done the right thing at a right time.

I don’t believe in fasting and performing pujas to please Gods. When my friends tell me keep some money when I take the arti. I do it, because I don’t want to get into debates there, but in the bottom of my heart, I know that God does not need these change coins. I feel that its like we give money in return of His blessings.

I believe in Him in my own way, and for some, it borders on being irreligious.

But one of my friends says that my belief in God makes her believe in Him J

An Eventful Evening

Yesterday, one of my friend reminded me that I have not blogged in a while. (I was glad that at least some one is reading and missing my posts :P) I told him that I am thinking of a topic to blog about (Well, actually few days have been absolutely insane at work) and forgot all about it. Never had I thought that I will get a topic so soon.

So yesterday, we had some meetings at the client place. So I, along with my manager went there to attend the meeting and freeze some issues. To our surprise, there were some other issues they were facing which in turn will impact the date of project delivery. Somehow, we arose from this fact and finished the meeting. 

He dropped me at some place from where he had to go to a different route and I was supposed to catch a Volvo.(For the uninitiated, I am talking about the Volvo bus services started by the government) I didn’t have wait long and I boarded a Volvo. I got a shock of my life when I found that I was not carrying my wallet. Now I am a kind of person who has some amount of money in each and every pocket of my bag, however, I recalled that I had religiously collected money from all these pockets and tucked it in my wallet a day before! On top of it my mobile battery was dead. Usually I carry the charger with me, but since a day before was a weekend I took it out of my bag to charge my cell and forgot to put it back. Truly said, tragedy strikes from all directions simultaneously (and I thought that something like that can never happen to me :-/ ) So I got down at the next stop. Yes I am guilty of travelling one stop in the Volvo without ticket :P When I narrated this incident to Ma, she was giggling and asked what if there were ticket checkers at that stop, but God was kind and there were no more surprises for me at that stop. I managed to switch on my cell for a moment, called J* and told him that I have no money and I don’t know the exact name of the place where I was standing but I know the aas paas ke areas, as I proceeded to tell him the details and my phone was dead again. I gathered all my senses and tried to think about the probable solutions to the problem. I even considered walking to my place but dropped the idea(thankfully) as it was not feasible :P  Finally I decided to hire an auto that will drop me till my place. After some walking I found one auto. He asked triple fare and would not budge from that amount. Devoid of any other option, I got into it. I called J* from the autowallah’s cell (Sheesh) as I knew he would be thoda tensed. Somehow I reached home and my first words to J* were “No more discussions on this as I am home safe and sound! :P “

TRANSFORMATION

Here, I am talking about my transformation from a girl to a woman, that is, my life pre and post marriage!

I was the first among my friends to get married and I loved all the attention and Ahhhhs and Ohhhhs that I got  

Many of them got married within six months after my marriage but that’s a different story altogether.

Below are the few differences that are popping into my mind right now, not in any particular order:

1.  Previously, I was a “Didi”, now, the moment they see my sindoor/mangalsutra (sacred symbols of Hindu marriage) I become an “Aunty” (which I find very funny) , especially with the maids, doesn’t matter if they are the age of my mother, I am still an “Aunty” .

2.     I was working in Pune before, which is closer to my parents’ place, so I used to run home whenever I wanted. Now, I’ve moved to Bangalore. The distance has increased which has decreased my frequency of going to my native. (I haven’t been there since March ) This is the only major difference.


3. My cooking skills have improved greatly  and when someone compliments me for it, my day is made!

4.  My relatives have doubled and so have my friends and I am loving this change. Earlier, I had one set of parents, now I have two and so goes for other relations as well! Apart from it, I am somebody’s daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, bhabhi, mami and what not.  J*'s friends are in my list of friends as well. In fact, they were the people who made me comfortable in this city which was new for me then.

 5.       A lot many aunties have started harassing teasing simply asking that “When’s the good news? *Wink*”.  For the uninitiated, it means that when am I going to bring a new member into our family, which at times is very irritating.  With time, I have become used to it and I feel its harmless, its just their way of starting/continuing the conversation (or probably they too were harassed asked the same way and they are just continuing the trend )

6.      Previously, life was carefree and responsibility-free.  (Things like cooking, cleaning, maids were never on my list) Now, I have responsibilities, which of course I share. I am blessed with a husband who understands that even I get tired (and when I am tired I tend to be cranky), who bears my mood swings and cranky behaviour. He helps me with my chores and since he has a great sense of humour, everything becomes fun.

PS : None of my friends can bear my mood swings, so I guess, post marital life is better since I can be as cranky as I want

7.       No major transformation in either mine or J*’s weight which is met with a lot of exclamations. Many people tell us “You have not gained weight” or “You are looking slimmer” stressing “AFTER MARRIAGE” and we are given sympathies (I can feel that!) Come on, I was a bunch of lazy bones and J* is a lot more conscious about fitness and he makes a point that we eat healthy, go for walks and do Yoga/Pranayama in our day to day life and it shows. I like a fitter me and J*

8. I always used to ponder that why do people get married, because of love, family pressure, society pressure, frustration or whatever. I guess I now know that why the married people want the unmarried ones to get hooked. At least I want some of my single friends to get married. Its BEAUTIFUL and fun!

Apart from it, nothing much has changed. I am still in contact with old friends, I still love sleeping and Sun still rises from the East!

Do I miss my earlier life, well, sometimes I do.. but isn’t it human tendency? When in college, we miss our school life, when in corporate world, we miss the college days and so on.. So I believe it to be natural and harmless!

However, on a calm evening and with a calm mind, if I look back, I conclude that I was happy then and I am happier now!!

A Warm Hello to One and All !!

Hello Everyone.. Since this is my first post, I thought to introduce myself.

My name is Sneha. I am a Computer Engineer and working as a software professional. I am married and I live with my husband whom I'll refer to as J* in the subsequent posts.

I love reading and given a chance, I can go on reading whole day, all my life :) Apart from that, I like listening to music, travelling and sleeping.  I am also getting an inclination towards cooking these days. Being an Indian, I am a complete movie buff. If a movie appeals me even 1%, I make it a point that I watch it! I can watch a sadi hui movie (in my friends' terminology) and still like it. :P

Why I started blogging?
One, because everyone seems to have a blog these days and two, to wake up the writer inside me and of course to hone my writing skills.

I can go on and on about myself, but better I stop here as I am in office, pretending to work ;)

Will continue to be updated.

Till then, ciao!