Happy Fifty fifth Anniversary!

Today is grandma and grandpa's fifty fifth wedding anniversary, you heard it right 55th!!! Wow, in today's world when I hear couples separating in first year of marriage, here is an example of a couple who have lived 55 years together. I love them!!! :)

Well we have seen them love, fight, bear,enjoy and grin with each other and they are amazingly amazing (touch wood!). When they have a serious fight, boy its very serious, it seems like one of them will leave the place now, I always used to wonder how did they solve their tiffs when they were young. But their love is amazing, you can see their respect and love towards each other shining in their eyes.
To me, they are my idol couple on earth.

So here's wishing them loads and loads of love, life and happiness and hope to celebrate more anniversaries of theirs in future!!! 

Love you Ammamma and Ammachan :)

Thank you!

I am in my thankful senses and so here’s the list of people, things without whom I would not have had a great live till date!

Thank you God for this wonderful world and life, you have provided me with!

Thank you for my wonderful wonderful parents who have supported me in all major decisions of my life. Without them I am nothing. Without their love, encouragement, support and also scolding’s, I would have never understood the value of life!

Though we never had a car, while I was growing, or a telephone, when all my friends were yapping to each other, or was taken to the movies, as education was my priority, or had any vacation, the only vacation we used to have was our visit to hometown, which always depleted our finances completely, I still think that that I had a great childhood. Yes, during growing years, I used to look at my friend’s lifestyle and think as to why I didn’t have that sort of life! That was my immaturity, today as I look back, I have no regrets of my childhood, in-fact I love it, I love it from my heart. I did have loads of friends, I did play a lot, I met people from all parts of India! And that exposure helped me to stay grounded and also helped my vocabulary, both Hindi and English. Even today when people listen to me speaking Hindi, the first question they ask is, your Hindi is so beautiful, how can a South Indian speak such shudh Hindi…I love that comment :)

And because of that exposure, I am able to adjust and survive today, no matter what the condition or situation is, and yes with a smile :)

There were days in the month, I remember, when Mom used to shell out paises from various purses to buy a biscuit packet and sometimes we did not even have that. But God always visited us, in the form of my grandparents and in the form of my Aunt (U). How much ever I say Thanks to them, it would, always be less. He also came in form of my Uncle (M), without whom, I would have not thought of doing B.Pharm. Thanks “M” mama, you are the best! Your confidence in me helped me to complete B.Pharm and then go for M.Pharm in one of the best institutes of India.

Thank you God for giving me such a wonderful and wise son. All I know is that he gave birth to a mother; I love him so very much and hope to be a good parent to him always :). Now how would one define Good, well to each its own. To me, I hope he turns out to be a good and genuine human being, who would help people unconditionally and be passionate of whatever he does in life. He should be independent, confident and should live completely at the present moment, well If he turns out to be like this, then I would consider myself a good parent :)
Thank you God for giving me a wonderful hubby, he's wonderful, I could not have asked for more,thank you :)

Thank you God for my wonderful office. My friends in office are absolutely nice and have always been kind to me. Thank you so much for making me a part of this wonderful and intelligent team.

Thanks you God for great in-laws. Yes my thoughts and theirs are so different but yes at times being ignorant helps…Ignorance is bliss during those times :) Thank you God for making me part of their wonderful life! Thanks a lot God for my wonderful extended family!

Thank you God for always supporting me emotionally, financially and spiritually. Thank you so much!

Thank you God for this wonderful blog, it’s more like a friend to me, a friend who would not question my thoughts, who just quietly accepts me the way I am. Thanks a lot Indi Chabber, thanks for reading my posts and commenting then and there…I know you are doing lot of good stuff for the society, would love to meet you someday :)

Thanks to all other bloggers and my dear friends, who once in a while pass my blog, stop there and read one or two thoughts penned by me. Do give me your feedback, as that will help me improve my thoughts

And yes thank you God for me being me, may not be perfect but I yes I like myself, eventhough I am so inconsistent, I think I am still a nice person! Thank you :)

Dance in the rain!!!

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

- Unknown

All time successful Veggie Pulao

So couple of days back, I chatted with my favorite cousin, when I say favorite,it doesn't mean that we speak or are in touch with each other, every now and then...nah...thats sooo not us...we tend to speak once in 6/7 months, we are so used to being like this...but the best part of our friendship is that even if we have nothing to say to each other, we aren't bored of each other...atleast I am not...we are so different in our thoughts, still we manage to bear each other :), and we never forget each others b'day...that is something which baffles me!!!
One thing which is common is our struggle to live life the way we want!And now I have found out one more thing and thats our love towards cooking...well as he said, "thats in our genes"!
Again I am sure we will have load of differences in cooking, I am sure he will be trying out all exotic dishes, so unlike me :)
Anyways, now let me jot down my new recipe, which is dedicated to my talented cousin :

Its a simple recipe but whenever I make it, I get loads of praise(ahem, who doesn't love getting compliments!)...recently my grandpa and grandma had visited us and they completely loved it...its simple, easy and yummy!
It doesn't require ghee and suits health conscious group also

So here's my version of Mushroom-Veggie Pulao
The only thing I make sure is all veggies are fresh...I don't store veggies in my refrigerator, I love buying and making them on a daily basis.
Its my perception, but I genuinely feel that anything made with fresh veggies and fresh oil is good for health and absolutely yummy!

Fresh Mushroom Veggie Pulao

Cooking time: 25 mins
If you have the paste ready, then its a lot lesser!

Ingredients
1cup basmati rice...I have made this with normal rice as well, and even that turns out to be good
1 cup carrot grated
1 cup fresh beans
1 cup chopped fresh capsicum
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
Jeera/Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Garlic: 4-5
Ginger: 1 inch
2 green chillies
1 cup pudina/mint leaves
1 cup coriander leaves
1 cup finely chopped spring onion leaves and stems
(Never throw the stems!)
1 medium sized onion: sliced
Garam Masala-4 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil as required (I use olive oil for this recipe...one can also use Sunflower oil)

I make Garam Masala at home: Once in a week, usually on Sundays, I grind 3 tbsp of fennel seeds, 3 anises, 7 to 8 cloves, 2 to 3 sticks cinnamon and 8 to 9 cardamoms to powder, in a mixer. I store it in an airtight container and use it for the week.


Take 1 cup of rice in a bowl, add 1 drop of oil and required water to it. I usually add 2cup water and microwave rice in the oven for 12 mins, at 320 degrees centigrade. This makes the rice almost cooked
Since you have added oil, once the rice is cool, you will see that it doesn't stick


Step 1: Marinate mushroom with salt, pepper, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste, 1 tsp of curd, 1tsp garam masala and 3 drops of lemon juice
Step 2 : Make a paste of ginger and garlic
Step 3: Make a paste of coriander, mint and green chillies with a little amount of water
Step 4:
Take the cooking vessel. Place it in the stove and switch on the gas. Add 2 tsp of olive oil, Once it heats, add cumin seeds. As they crackle, add sliced onion, capsicum and ginger-garlic paste. Fry the above till onion turns transparent. Now add chopped carrot and beans and cook them for five to seven minutes
Add spring onion stems, leaves and mushrooms. Mix them well until veggies are almost cooked
Add salt and pepper as required and  1tsp of Garam Masala.  Mix them well
Add the almost cooked rice and mix it well with all the veggies
Add coriander-mint-chilly paste and again mix them well.You willl get a nice aroma once you mix them
Add 1 cup of water, 2 drops of lemon juice and sprinkle 1tsp of garam masala
Close the vessel with a tight lid and keep the gas in minimum
Once the water has evaporated completely (it would take 15 mins), switch off the stove but let the rice remain closed in the vessel for atleast 1 hour

There you go...fresh mushrooms and veggie pulao is ready to be served with a nice simple raitha
For raitha, I grate cucumber and onions. Add curd with a dash of salt and pepper...
Hmm...how simple could that be :)

You can also replace mushrooms with eggs...you need to boil eggs, once boiled, remove the shell and slice it into two...the marination remains the same, but make sure that the eggs are marinated for a longer time, Roast them in oil and they are mixed at the end, while serving.

Go ahead and please try out and do let me know your feedback

P.S-You could add 2 drops of soya sauce after adding chilly-mint-coriander paste, it gives a tangy twist! :)

Keep it Simple! Who believes in it?

How many of us believe in simplicity?
We shifted couple of months to a nice place, it does not have a brand but yes its wonderful. Its apt for us
Earlier we used to stay in a plush apartments, I never felt home there, I could never accept the place as mine
But this place...I just belong here
Yes there are differences in both places, as the earlier place was crowded with upper middle class, the middle aged segment with one child,who had lived in US and UK for years and were back to India for good!
This place again has upper middle class families, however there is a difference, they are people from the defence sector, who always belonged to India and have come up through hard work. I always wanted my son to be brought up in such an environment.
While growing up, me and hubby have seen our parents struggle and hence understood the value of education and money earlier in life. Do we regret those times?Not at all, as today because of those values, we are able to differentiate between right and wrong, we are able to mingle with people from all classes in an equal manner!

In my earlier apartments, as I interacted with more parents, there was something common about them
All of them said that they never wanted their child to struggle and hence succumbed to their demands. Kids were demanding play-stations at the age of 4, their b'days had themes and parents paid a bomb to fulfil all their wishes. Cant blame them, they had been living in wonderful US and UK and now they had moved so that their children do not imbibe the videshi culture and hence were always feeling guilty about it!

I guess, "To each their own" :)

Me and hubby are weird. We don't believe in fulfilling all wishes of my son. We want little "k" to understand what hard work means not when he grows up, but as he grows. Well we are not bad, whenever he has asked for a toy we have got him one, but when he had asked for an expensive car, we would say that getting him to school took our money, so he will have to wait for atleast a year. He has always agreed to it, which makes me emotional at times. Are we doing something wrong?Are we setting examples of bad parents...no clue
I guess its rightly said, Parenting is a life long commitment!!! :) 
We could have lived in our earlier place, but I kept thinking that little "K" would be influenced as he grows and how long could we make excuses
Isn't it easier to live with like-minded people than making excuses to little ones as they grow!!!
But many of our friends and family members have questioned this decision of ours and that makes me think...well.kya kare in today's world there are very few who believe in keeping it simple :)

One state many differences : Gods own country

Please note that these are my perceptions and any resemblance to fictitious person is purely coincidental :)


Kerala-God's own country is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India...to me its a country on its own. Each part of Kerala behaves and thinks absolutely differently!

Kerala has three major regions : North Kerala, Central Kerala and South Kerala
North Kerala is the malabar area, Central Kerala comprises of Thrissur and South Kerala is from Allapuzha onwards
North and South Kerala are like India and Pakistan...they cant see eye to eye...Central Kerala love themselves so much that they do not like to support either part...most of the characters of Central Kerala would be inclined to North or South Kerala...however North and South Kerala's characters are distinct

There are things which are common through out but the objective of each is different, such as importance of education, traveling out of Kerala for work purpose and celebration of festivals which exists from North to South Kerala. Thnakfully objective of celeberating festivals are similar throughout, thanks to one God :)

Below are some facts and yes there may be exceptions to each but I am representing the major chunk of middle class Nair families

North Kerala men are considered to be spineless : Well I will never call them spineless, but let me tell you why this perception is made:-
In North Kerala, custom of Dowry is not practiced. Hence women are respected here..when she gets married, she is not supposed to bring anything from her place and has equal rights in a relation,hence even the man of a family treats her very well and hence she has the right to voice her opinion during any family discussions
In North Kerala, the objective of education is to gain knowledge and hence become self sufficient and run a family smoothly
Objective of traveling is for better career prospects

South Kerala : Money,money and money is what defines them...its the only priority of this region, objective of education over here is to make money!Objective of travelling out is to make money!
Dowry is practiced in a huge manner and you will see grooms working in TCS/IBM, flaunting the brand to make more moolah out of a marriage....the boy would be having high degrees to his credit, but that education does not make him wise at all, infact he uses those degrees to get a richer bride.
Its a normal custom here to boast the kind of car which a bride brings in. So you see a girl is always considered a burden in all class of this society, as after marriage one needs to send her, all draped in gold alongwith materialistic stuffs...She is the money spinner for the groom and hence is expected to keep quiet in front of others
By the way, gold is yesterdays terminology, today in South Kerala, diamond is what rules!

Some serious facts :
In a typical family discussion :
In North Kerala, though women are able to voice their opinion during family discussions, men usually make their own decisions after consulting the women. In South Kerala, even though you will not see women giving any opinion during discussions, at the end of the say its the women's decision which a man makes :)...some use of the dowry brought!

If you borrow money from a North Keralite and South Keralite, say Rs 11.50, when you give them back, NK will not bother about 50 paise but SK will make sure to get it back, if you have forgotten,he/she will remind you about that :)

When you go to a temple, NK will give money without looking at the value...but SK will surely see how much he/she is spending on God :)
Again I am sure this may vary by their class (low/middle/high), but in NK, the custom is give to God with all your heart
In SK the value is considered and if someone donates a lump sum, then he/she is considered to be great, even if he is a criminal
I have seen lot of NK's make huge donations, but they do not like to hog the limelight because of that donation

In NK, once you have a job, in the family as well, except for the elders, no one will ask you your exact salary : that is considered to be a personal thing but in SK, even an acquaintance will ask you your exact salary to the last digit

In NK, if a lady is travelling by train/bus;you will see men getting up to give her the seat, in SK, if a lady is travelling by train/bus;you will rarely see men getting up to give her the seat.
The attitude in SK is, I have paid money for this seat, why should I ever give it to someone else

Its funny, when a typical SK family has a girl child, they will try their best to marry off her to North Kerala, so that they don't have to give dowry and when the family has a boy child, they make sure that he is married off to a SK family, so that they receive good dowry :)

Language: Again there is so much of difference in one language of Malayalam...North Kerala malayalam is very polite, its like Lucknawi Hindi, Malayalam of South Kerala is completely opposite..its like Mumbai hindi, full of slangs!Again districtwise language differs.

Guess I am placing SK in poor light, but there are good sides to them also : for e.g.: they save loads of money, they follow rituals better than NK in terms of religion.The food culture is better in South Kerala, as there are loads of varieties in their cuisine.

Again when you look at North Kerala, there are different districts like Palakkad, Calicut, Kannur etc
By the way, for a Calicut person, Palakkad is a strict No-No...they consider Palakkad people to be very stingy and attitude wise similar to SK, and Palakkad people are brainy and hence consider themselves superior!
In South Kerala, you have districts like Kottayam, Ernakulum, Trivandrum etc...each one considers them to be superior.Central Kerala considers themselves most superior as they have the best temples and jewellers...hehehe

Imagine one state has so many differences, what would be the case of others....hats off to India to remain United!!!