Happy New Year

NEW YEAR.. time for celebrations, merry dine and wine, new resolutions made and probably forgotten within a week, sms's, mails, phone calls and scraps/writing on walls/tweeting on the social networking sites and the good old network jams around midnight.. each passing year, same old excitment for the new year... whats happening for the new year, what are you wearing, where is the most happening party for the new year, and before you even know it, mid night is just come and gone!

People see new year as the milestone, for evaluating what they have achieved in the last year, what they have lost, what they have gained, the balance for happiness and sadness, the joy of achiving something, the frustration of not getting something or something not happening as per expected, the level fulfillment of the expectations of others on you and your expectations on others.

The hope of the new year, on people, is to give them something that they dint get the last year, the hope that the new year would give them same or new happiness of the last year. Some make new resolutions like loosing weight, continuing an old hobby, go on trips(the list goes on..), but many just loose interest in a couple of days.

For some, its a reason to celebrate.. time for dine and wine with family and friends. For some, its just another day, like all other days: all depends on the person perspective.

New Year is the time to unfold new horizons & realize new dreams, to rediscover the strength & faith within you, to rejoice in simple pleasures & gear up for new challenges. Wish every one a truly fulfilling new year!!

True meaning of Independence

As every Indian knows today is Independence Day of India. As a child I used to hate the history of freedom struggle mainly for the names of the people, the dates, the events and most important the co-relation between all. As soon as August month would start, there would be march-past practice which used to be hell. I used to make all sorts of excuses from headache to stomach-ache. But then on the D-day, used to feel great to see the flag hoist and the flowers fall down and singing the national anthem and definitely go home early :)

But then thats all past of the childhood. As years pass and we move on with different stages of life, one really wonders what does the meaning of independence really mean? how many of us really get up early and watch the DD for the live broadcast of the flag hoist in the Red Fort? how many of us really remember Gandhi ji and other freedom fighters apart from 15th aug and 26th jan? Seeing the number of scams and the thousands of crores rupees of amount that an average Indian cant even count the numbers of zeros in it really makes one wonder where does the sense of Independence go?

Leaving past the political part and thinking only about individual person's life, how many people really feel "The Independence" in their lives? There are various amount of chains that a person is tied to. As the number of years pass, we realize how much we are trapped in the chains of life and society and various other bonds which chains us to the extend that we dont really want to be freed. A hard working employee may be in a wrong job with financial difficulties and may be trapped in for life, a good and loving person may be trapped in a difficult and bad marriage, married to a wrong partner, a person may be craving for peace of mind where are the people around him/her may be selfish not bother about others feelings. There are so many aspects that a human being faces that makes us think, ARE WE REALLY INDEPENDENT?

Anyways, with that note I wish every Indian a Happy Independence Day

Joys of being a mother

Its been like ages now that I jotted down on my blog... but then I had been pretty busy... In between the last blog and now, there is a vast difference in my life... I am mother now... :) Now thats a HUGE responsibility... Today my son turns 7 months old, and suddenly I wonder how time flies....

Aryan(thats my boy's name) is a darling!!! gotta say motherhood has changed me a lot...

Each stage of motherhood is unique and wonderful on its own... and I have enjoyed it the best... The initial stage of pregnancy, with the morning sickness, not something that I really enjoyed.. but did surely enjoy the pampering of hubby dear!!! It feels soo special when the baby's father pampers u and would expect the baby to give kicks from tummy in return!! :) The second trimester being the best where I loved walking proudly on the roads flaunting the little bump to people... It used to be fun waiting patiently outside the ultrasound room, in the hospital, for my turn to come to see the the baby whom Raghu and I had named as poppy... wondering whether poppy will be awake and moving around or asleep with no activity.. Those 10 minutes being able to watch poppy's hands and limbs... tiny heart beats... tiny lil head... dancing in my tummy... we used to be so dumbstruck seeing our lil poppy growing inside me... In the last trimester, with my tummy grown soo big.. wondering what position poppy was sitting... when there would be a bulge we would wonder what part of poppy it is.. is it a foot, or a hand... its shoulder.. sometimes its back... the painful was its head... I still remember poppy would scratch me on the right side of my pelvic bone.. its favorite spot...

The night I got my pains was filled with so much of tension.. Had heard of so many stories of the delivery pains... The stories of how hospitals prefer C section more than normal... How after 5 hours of labor and stuff, with Raghu besides me, Aryan was born.. The most amazing moment in any woman's life... When my gyn placed the newly born baby on my tummy and said.. "its a boy"... I dont remember any moment of my life being so complete... felt like heaven... It was like the time had frozen... Like I was living in dream... It was like nothing existed.. All the pains had vanished.. All tiredness gone.. Experienced pure joy... Felt so proud to be a parent... Being a mother... experienced becoming a complete woman..

And then days just flew.... with Aryan being few days' baby... few weeks... now few months... All the sleepness nights... the full day taking care of his tiny little requirements from feeding to cleaning his bum.. watching him grow day by day... watching his little activities... How that little helpless baby which my gyn placed on my tummy grow...

It gives so much pleasure to watch Aryan grow.. how he learned to fix his eyes on our face.. how his tiny hands reach out to my face when I lean on him.. how he cries and his eyes search for me and that relief look when I cuddle him... how he enjoys his oil massage and bath.. how he loves getting dressed up to go out with powder and nice dress to go tata.. how he has learned to turn over over his tummy and back.. how he grasps his toys and recognizes which toy does what sound and pick his favorite toy..

Yes, I do miss working as a sr. s/w engg, but I feel each of Aryan's smiles and giggles compensates that... I feel its more than justified that I quit my job to take care of my darling son.. he so much completes my life...

And at the end all that I say is thanks to God for giving me this great job and responsibility.. and mostly my Aryan... :)

Raghu's special-karela fry

Yesterday when Raghu said he wants to eat Karela fry, I was thinking of ways to escape!! Karela is not one of my favorite veggies, but Raghu is a Karela lover. But since we had picked up Karela last week, I had to make something out of that. And then Raghu said the golden words, "dont cook till I come home". I did a quick research for Karela fry on the net and found some recipes.

Well for people who dont know me, I never was a full time cook before I got married or even afterwards. Only after landing in Frankfurt, I dipped my hands in cooking and since then whenever I cook something new, I make sure I search for a recipe which had some positive comments on.

When he came home, he told that he wants to make the Karela fry, I was so delighted!! he went thru the sites with the Karela dish and as usual, we settled on a dish made by our favorite online cook, vahchef. Now I need another blog to write about our favorite vahchef which I will do soon; for the time being, all that I can say about vahchef is that he is God and his cookery shows are heaven for Indians staying outside.

So Raghu started his cooking and when it was done, I was not sure to eat Karela as I know how bitter Karela tastes. But since my hubby made it, I very much wanted to taste it.

I got rice, dal and the Karela fry one piece in my plate and made a face to eat it and .... lo and behold! it tasted GOOD!! hats off to vahchef and my chef(I know what face Raghu will make when he will read this ;) .... )

I will still say that Karela is not one of one favorite veggie but then def this dish is very tasty.

Anyways, here is the link for vahchef's karela fry and hope even you will like it!! :)

karela fry (bitter melon)

2012: Is it a truth or a scare? The hype of 2012 has been on for a couple of months and all the predictions have their say and in the end they all say 'all that we can do is wait and watch'. But the million dollar question is that really going to happen?

After the special effects from the movie 2012, a person who dint believe in any nonsense and would think all that scare about 2012 is bulls*** then that person would at least give a thought ‘what if this will really happen?’

Frankly speaking, I am no astrologer or I have no idea on the Mayans Calendar or Nostradamus prediction, or comets/planets hitting earth or the poles shifting concept or whatever other natural calamity which will cause the earth to end. But then, the recent happenings cannot be ignored. In the last one year the earth has experienced the largest three earthquakes in the last two hundred years. The underwater volcanoes and earthquakes have gone up 88% over the last three years. We are experiencing hurricanes and storms like never seen before in recorded history. This information has been quoted by Patrick Geryl in his website. There have been reports that the major earthquakes have caused in the shortening of the day of earth. The 8.8 Chile earthquake, have shortened Earth's days by 1.26 milliseconds and shifted its axis by 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds). The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds) Source . Does this mean the doomsday effect has already started? Are all these the signs that our end is near? Are we all gonna die?

There have been many books written by various scientists saying about what will happen in 2012 and there are also many books which say how to survive the 2012 effects. Just Google the word '2012' and you will go crazy reading about so many facts and figures and so many assumptions and after effects of 2012.

But then, staying in a country which has a huge portion as a Peninsula, and the rate we get hit by storms and tsunamis and excess rains, where do we stand against the doomsday? According to some blogs on doomsday according to Hinduism, it marks the end of the kali yuga and start of the Satya Yuga or the golden era. But then even there we find lots of references to many natural disasters. The widely accepted belief of Hindus is that Kali Yuga will see total annihilation. Creation will once again begin after total destruction. This will be Satya Yuga. But then the main point that’s not answered any where is will humans survive? Do we have any chance to fight for our survival?

All that I can say is I don’t know whether the predictions will come true or not. All that I know is that if the world is really going to end, then we have very little time with us. Why people don’t take this as a final chance to mend their ways or do things that they always wanted to do. I don’t know about others but there are definitely lots and lots of things that I do want to do if the world is really ending or rather if I won’t survive whatever is happening after 21st dec 2012. I have always dreamed of visiting lots of new places, meeting people of different cultures, countries and beliefs and I am doing that. I always live for the moment as yesterday is over with no point of regret and tomorrow is yet to come and I don’t have a pint of idea what’s gonna happen. All that I know is this moment is all that I have and I want to live to the fullest.

All that I want to express here is that wish all the people would just take this opportunity in a positive way and listen to your heart for a while and take a break from the boring monotonous life, not worrying about future too much or thinking about what others will think if I do this or whatever other reason that could be hindering their way.

So let me finish this blog on a happy thought. Wish everyone a happy stay on earth till … as long as u have life… J

Its really been very long time that I created this blog space and have kept it empty without any blog.. so now I have just decided I am going to create blogs as often as possible.. let me see how much I will be doing that... :)

So here is my first blog. but I must say I am not a professional blogger with any topics to discuss on, or dont have any exquisite recipes to post on..

So I am all set for the next blog now...