Just a thot_are we really celebrating Ganesha or making a mockery of HIM?

So finally, Ganesha is arriving, after a year long wait! It is such a rich festival for us hindus..and i literally mean the word "RICH" here..

In a few days, we will be reading in newspapers, so and so affluent person had offered so many thousands of rupees as offerings, sometimes even running in to lacs and some take a step ahead and offer Gold and even diamonds and we read all about them in the paper. What i do not understand is what are this people trying to prove? are they trying to show their love towards HIM by doing this? do they really think, god will be please with all the money and gold they offered? are they humanising HIM?

corruption had influenced us in such an extent that is has formed a new DNA sequence in our system and become a part of our genes.. so what other justifiable explanation can be given than this that whatever material things pleases us will please God too. We also will be reading about many other people and how their wishes were granted by HIM and to thank him they are offering these wealth...seriously, do you feel HE requires your money and Gold in return of HIS blessings and do you think HE does not have it so you are giving it to him..

Can anyone explain me why we need to give money to GOD! why you forget He has only given you this and you thank him by offering him HIS money back? Sometimes my thinking runs a little wild (ok, fine, many times), now me thinking, If God were human and he had blessed you with all the money and you thank him with same money he had offered you, HE would have laughed and said "If i wanted this, i would have kept it with myself" and after more laughs (remember HE does not get angry, even in his human form) "meri cheez mujhe hi wapas karte ho". lolz...what is it with us?

Why cant we donate these money who actually requires them like the orphanages, old age institutions or even the poor destitute sitting outside in the rains if you really want to thank HIM? Pass his blessings forward with your deeds and help towards others and not backward and please do not make a mockery of HIM...and did i mention, even few make money garlands and make HIM wear it throughout...Ridiculous, Ridiculous, Ridiculous! my god what are you thinking? when there is so much of misery, should HE smile for your garlands?...

Wonder now as anna has won, will there be no more corruption? so what about VIP passes for these little peek of the GOD, are these not a type of corruption? or are we just looking at the bigger pictures and invariably ignore the little one's....since they are no more corruption but our culture itself..

  

Weekly Menu Plan

Its Sunday again! The week seems to have passed really very quickly...Its the Menu plan day of the week and i have yet to write down the menu's for this week's dinner..

My office has started working on Sunday's and now we are having our weekly off's on Friday (I hope this is kind of temp arrangement due to some power shut don on Friday's), so now gone are the days when i could grab a pen and a paper and sit on the couch planning my menu in my own sweet time thinking if any of the recipes are repeating too much and even sometimes asking Hubby if he would prefer any specific food which i can fit in the busy week.

Now i have to be quick and just note down and finalize the list in few minutes flat...(I am planning to do the Fortnightly Menu plan now, so i don't have to sit and think over it every Sunday!)

So chk out what for dinner this week at home.. (This will be had with Rice or either Wheat Chapati in addition to Salad and Yoghurt as an accompaniment)


Sunday : Neer Dosa (Thin soft rice pancakes) and Chicken curry in coconut milk (Yummy, south Indian delicacy) (I make these in the morning itself for lunch and leftover for dinner, so Sunday evening can be free for me to relax and have an evening out with Hubby and my 4yo)

Monday:  Sambhar + Boiled chickpeas

Tuesday: Dal Palak Khichdi (Yellow Lentil and spinach rice) + Alu wadi (Indian snack made from taro leaves)

Wednesday: spring onion Noodles

Thursday (Yippe, it is Ganesh festival here) : South Indian veg delicacies eating on Banana leaf. Mostly Chana masala + green moong curry + payasam + some few more if time permits..(i am Looking forward to this day as will have a continuous three day week off from work. No Nonveg this day as it is an auspicious day for us Hindus)

Friday: Dried Prawns curry in coconut milk  with grilled potatoes (i have a stock of coconut milk cans which i want to finish off)

Saturday: Dal fry + kothimbir wadi (Little spicy Pancakes made from Cilantro and Chickpea flour)


I only make recipes which i can churn out in a span of few minutes to not more than an hour. so they all are invariably in my own quick style. Honestly, I try to stick to these recipes as far i can, unless something other priority comes up wherein i have to be out in the evening for long, so in these cases we end up ordering food from outside or its just plain Dal (Lentil soup) and Rice, if i feel like it, which i get get on the table with in half an hour flat. These are few of my cooker recipes i love for their quick turnout. Also I do not follow the old tried or the elaborate methods chalked out on Internets, yet they taste great!. As they say, cooking is no rocket science..

What is with us women?

 Yes, precisely i want ask this...to all the Indian women, more appropriately the Indian Wife ....why, why we have to take all these ...

why we have get up early much before our husbands and feel good about it?

why do we drudge in the kitchen getting food ready  while our husband gets up only to get ready, have breakdaft and zoom and not even giving a second thot that we too have to get ready for office too and we are completely o.k with it?

why do we feel so proud about knowing how to cook?

why we take the bashing and hitting by our husband and the next moment we serve him dinner as if nothing happened?

why if someone shows concern, we refuse to acknowledge it in the name of family matter?

why we are the ones who are responsible for saving family grace and name?

why we take crap from Mother in law and then say it happens everywhere, so no big deal?

why do we get upset when our husbands compares us to his mother and you try to please him by becoming like her?

why we are supposed to like or care for our in-laws even if they talk and behave like bitches and dogs?

why is serving hot rotis to your husband  for lunch/dinner more important than your own breathing that you gasp for breath running to and fro the kitchen getting the hot rotis from the tawa and you get immense pleasure when he burps even of he doesn't care u had ur lunch or not or would never imagine to do this to you.

why we are most happy when we have sons and never ever teach them cooking unlike daughters?

why we get so upset when someone points to us that we cannot cook good?

why a comment on how good you cook and clean the house makes you more happy than getting a raise in your office for your good work?

Why we do not mind sister-in-laws visiting un invited and uninformed?

why we always keep quiet when we ought to speak up?

why we always talk in low voice?

why we give virginity so much importance and never mind if our husbands were not?

why we always have to be ready for our husbands?

....

....

Have you ever thought why our advertisements are all filled with families with wives running in the kitchen and husband reading newspapers?... i have to stop here....My question to all the Indian wives...(yes, i am too an Indian wife and do many of the things above). Why we do it? is is because we have been told to, we have seen our mothers do it, our husband want us to or we do not want to offend our husband or any of in laws?


Many would be mentally bashing me while reading this, some name calling me..and some even saying this is crap and not an Indian thinking ...But i just want all women to give it a serious thot, do in the name of love, family, tradition and sacrifice, do we all have to endure this?

Now you may say that if women don't follow these, this may lead to a rift and differences and can lead to fights, separations and divorces. So women have to sacrifice many things and be tolerant.. Just thinks, is it really worth it? I understand many women in India are dependent on their husband earnings so have no choice but what about others? and moreover, the thinking your husband has, who has imbibed it?

when it comes to money and earning, we all want our children to go to US, UK and other western countries and work but what about imbibing few good things from the west like sharing responsibilities, household chores . Seriously, eating out once a week is not a crime..

Dear women, just give it a thought.. tomorrow your lil daughters and sons will become the wives and husbands and it is up to you how you would want them to be..

and please Indian men, i too agree that all men are not same and many respect and care for their wives. I am too blessed with such a husband. Sayonara!

A New haircut

Once again i got myself a new haircut (within three months of earlier cut!). Its not a drastic change though from the previous one, just a little layering and trimming. I am sooo impatient. I was just not able to manage my frizzy locks for  too long.

Just before the cut in the salon

Just before the cut in the salon

My new cut

Side view 

My hair's always been very frizzy and wavy, so one cannot experiment much with it. I most often end up having a bad hair day so i never let it grow for more than three to four months from the last cut. I am definitely not a "long hair tied back in a ponytail" person. I mean, whats the use of your growing your hair when u want to tie it up. I really envy ladies with straight hair and how they manage to look perfect 9 to 5 without even having to run fingers through their hairs. Mine with my frizzy curly locks, even 10 min past my combing, it seems as if i just got up fom sleep or more worse had a terrible hair pulling fight with someone and i am literally not Joking!

I have been experimenting with different cuts to manage my frizzy locks. Just chk out the snaps taken sporting various haircuts..Sorry for the pic quality, it was all clicked long back from the mobile vga cam available with me earlier.

The first straightening i did , few years back, probably year 2003

All hair grown up and tied back. Na, I did not like this look much though..

My second straightening (with wavy hair growing back) in 2008

Just look at all those waves back, year 2010

Menu Planning day of the week!

So, its Sunday Menu Planning day of the week again! Check out whats cooking for dinner this week at my home..

Sunday: Neer Dosa (South Indian thin rice pancake) +sweetened coconut milk + black peas curry (Its Krishna janmashtami today which is the birth of Lord Krishna today at midnight which is celebrated a one of Indian festival so we abstain from having non veg food on two adjacent days which will be Sunday and Monday of this week)

Monday: Snake gourd bhaaji + green peas/potato curry + rice + salad + sweet moong dal (yellow lentil) kheer (All these will be prepared in traditional South Indian way + followed by eating on banana leaf during all festive seasons)

Tuesday: Chicken masala

Wednesday : Egg curry

Thursday: Prawn masala + scrambled eggs

Friday: Chicken noodles

Saturday: Rajma chawal (red beans curry with rice)



So i am off to do my grocery shopping today for the week..Happy meal planning to you.

Little Indian Naming ceremony

Am back from Mom's place. Had been there for my nephew's naming ceremony. We, Indians do have these little functions like this at home to celebrate. These small little functions are kind of family reunion. It was organized on a Friday which is a week day (in Mumbai!). Coincidentally it was a work off for me and hubby and kids from school due to Pateti which is Parsi New Year. In order to avoid traffic (Traffics cans be really bad on a weekday and only few offices remain closed on Pateti), we got up at 6.30 a.m and got ready by 6.35 a.m (we didn't brush, bath or changed the night clothes). I had packed the carry bag night before, hence managed to get ready in 5 mins flat. My mom stays quite far away from my place and usual busy day would take almost 2 hours drive.  When the roads are clear and no morning signals here (signal works after 7.00 a.m), we can manage to drive in an hour there. I was driving and was happy that now i was having a  good control over the vehicle as i am still not a very pro in driving and had my shares of minor bumps and scratches on my lovey dovey car.

Felt so relieved and tired after reaching as i am not a morning person at all. I just cant get up early and somehow during weekdays i force myself to get up to go to work. So with all those driving, staying alert over those potholed roads and yawning all the way in between finally reached. The Mumbai roads have gone from bad to worse during rains. I thot of counting the potholes on the way, but somewhere in between i lost the count, it were so many. I should have counted plain roads instead, it would have been easier. O.K so me and my hubby were given the task of decorating the cradle (which i had got it as a present) and the house. Hey, even the name was suggested by me for lil baby. We have named him "Ridhaan". Doesn't that sound cute?..I love my little baby!.

I have clicked so many pics with my N8. whenever there are any such family functions, i only end up clicking pics and hence remain outside from most of the pics. So this time i gave my hubby to click the pics and i must say he did a good job. I am just posting these picture as such without editing or improvising on it. It is just too time consuming and i am too lazy for it.sorry!

DIY_Wall Art painting

Lately, i had come across many blogs on wall art. I really love reading these blogs and various other handmade crafts blog. They are so inspirational and it is amazing to know how one can do so many wonderful things on own and that too at a fraction of a cost. Danielle is one of my favorite bloggers. You can find her blog here. On reading her amazing blogs, i then chanced upon the Expression wall art pics she had posted.

This is the pic posted on her blog from expression wall art using vinyl decals. Isn't it just awesome?

As generally Indian homes are, i too stay in a small tiny apartment with plain walls surrounding me! Me and Hubby purchased this sweet home together more than a year back. It is not a very spacious one but quite comfortable for us three and well within our budget considering Mumbai is one of the highly populated cities and property prices are sky rocketing. I feel very very lucky to have found this house given the budget we had and the architecture was perfect. We did few interior changes but everything was just perfect about it. I do try to decorate my tiny little home in my own little way. After seeing these various wall art pictures, i so much wanted to try these on our walls too. I found out that these are generally vinyl decal stickers which you can stick on to your walls and are easily peelable whenever you want them removed. How simple stickers can transform your whole house is amazing! Actually i never thought, i could decorate the walls too with these (Am having the"why didn't i think of it earlier" moment again!). I was only aware of the decorative wall papers to do this and they don't come cheap here. We had recently got our house painted and within month of it, my little kiddo had his arty little hands all over it. But still we didn't want to spend on repainting it again so soon given the budget constraint and many other priorities.

After seeing those amazing  (yes, i know, i'm repeating this word so many times, but can't help it) pics, it was constantly flashing in my mind and i so much wanted to do something to these plain boring walls as soon as possible. The ready vinyl decal stickers can be quite expensive if you are looking for an elaborate complete wall art. Many sites offer you with making your own vinyl decal stickers but the problem with me was the vinyl decals were not easily available her in Mumbai local shops and shipping them from outside was out of question given the shipping costs involved which would definitely not justify the buying. I read somewhere that many office stationery supply stores stock it and i went to the most famous stationary shop outlet here "Staples" and they didn't stock it either citing there are not many takers here for this. So very disappointing but they were true, i hadn't seen many wall art in any of the suburban homes here either but not to give up on that, i decided to paint the walls. Ya that i can do and wont cost much either, right? I shared this idea with my hubby and he was like "We just painted these walls and you want to ruin it" (Hubby was well aware of my non arty skills and i too was not sure how this will turn out but badly wanted to do this just like a kid when given a toy gift will not sit quiet until he opens and plays with it, lolz ). So finally after seeing my enthusiasm (and some sad face, this trick always works, lolz) he agreed and we decided to have a small trial on our Temple wall facing outside (we have a small custom made temple in our house, like most indian homes with one wall open rest all attached to other rooms). The outside wall was pale creamish and boring like all the other walls and it faced our bedroom. So one one entering the house could not see it and even if i ruined it, we could easily repaint that single wall was the logic to finally decide upon this. I did not have to buy many  materials as i already had the stock of most wall colors i needed from "asian paints" and few brushes of varying sizes (We generally do the repainting ourselves, saves a lot of money and kinda fun activity during weekends). I finalised the Tree branch design with different colored flowers (main reason was, it was ok, if the branches come out crooked, if ever i am not able to hold the bruch straight). I have taken few pics during the process for you all to see along with the end result.

Before pics: The Plain wall initially and the transformation process pics

The tree is bearing flowers now transforming from autumn to spring. I could not give white color to the flowers (as in the reference art pic) as my wall color was too light. so added up few colors

So what do you think? It may not have a professional touch with the perfect finishing but its not turned out bad either! And beleive me, i have got a thumbs up from my hubby too for my next wall ruining painting (could not be more happier). Please do leave your comments. Your tips are welcome too. I will be so happy of anyone tries this. Please share your pics if you have any wall done and do not forget to click the follow button.

Cost of the project:

Asian paints 100 ml paint in diffetent colours (Yellow, Black, Blue, red ): 200 INR

Pink andblack acrylic paint: 30 INR

Total cost: 230 INR (6 USD)

Time taken: 6 hours (With frequent short and long breaks. This was to cook and clean home and not relax, if you might think so! could not give up on that daily routine. ofcourse hubby helped too.)

love, shilpa

Add a Facebook button to your blog

Hi! Fffinally i did it! Iam soooooo happy.  It has really taken me a long time to figure out to add the Facebook link to my blog. I have managed to place this icon now on the top right side on my blog. I am such an avid FB user that i rarely remeber a day i do not come on it. Since now i have started blogging, wanted it to connect it to my FB account and share my blogs. Browsing the NET got me various sites of how it can be done but i was still not able to figure it out. Maybe i am not to net savvy and could not make of many of terms used. Than i chanced upon a blog by Kellybot and it just got me hooked. Apart from amazing blogs, it also had what i was looking for and she too faced the similar problem like me initially and hence she posted it in her blog to help if anyone with similar problem comes across to her blog (Oh my god! just felt the blog knew what i exactly wanted and was waiting for me come and get the answer). She has simplified so much of this process that i feel a first timer can too get it correctly. So i thot of sharing this post of hers with you and re-post it here, for the same reason, if anyone comes looking out for it.


"Finding the badge

First of all, you need a Facebook (FB) page for your business. When you're logged into FB and on your business page, click on "Edit Page." It's located right below your profile pic, top of the left column. Then look for the Communication section, towards the bottom of the righthand column. Click on "Promotion Guidelines." This page gives you all the information about how your can reference FB and link to them. About halfway down is the actual badge, including a hi-res version. If you're posting it on your blog, you don't need the hi-res one... just right-click on the badge and save it somewhere on your computer. 

Adding the badge to your blog
(For blogger) If you're looking at your actual blog and you're signed in, click "Customize" at the top. If you're on the Dashboard, click "Layout." Then click "Add a Gadget" and select "Picture." You can enter a title and/or caption, or just leave it blank (mine says "Become a fan on Facebook!"). Copy and paste the link to your FB business page into the "link" section. Upload the badge picture from wherever you saved it on your computer. Click "save" and rearrange the gadgets so the badge is where you want it in your layout. "

If anyone has found my blog useful and have liked it, i really want you to click the follow button and the FB button.

Love, Shilpa 

Weekly Menu Plan

Hi! Happy Independence Day to all!

The one thing that keep me organised in the kitchen is the weekly menu planning. Planning of the menu well in advance for the week has really saved me a lot of time and the last minute rush i always had to do. I happened to get this idea from few of my favorite organisational blogs and followed it and really it worked wonders in getting Kitchen activities under control. I had intended to post it yesterday (Monday) but since it was an work off day (India Independence day) just felt lazy enough to sit and post it . I have a white board placed in my Kitchen where i write down my weekly menu and always do the grocery shopping on weekend as per the next week menu plan in advance, so no more last minute rushing as i have everything to get the meal ready in hand. Its the "Why i didn't think of it earlier moment"again! (But there's a saying right, better late than never, lol). So back to my Menu plan of this week (No elaborate cooking, easily prepared Indian meals most of the time works for me)

Weekly Dinner Menu Plan:

Sunday: Dinner out

Monday: Black Dal + grilled chicken

Tuesday: Palak (Spinach) Khichdi + potatoes wedges +scrambled eggs

Wednesday: Rajma (red beans) curry + fried chicken

Thursday: Veg soup + Egg Noodles

Friday & Saturday:  At mom’s place

Happy cooking to all!

Love

shilpa

The Purging week

hi! i am feeling so bad i could not participate in so many of the ongoing  organizing challenges in few of my fav blogs. It is only me to blame for my so disoriented time management. To add to it was down with acute gastritis (did i mention that earlier?) two weeks back just and this tossed away all my organizing plans. Now since feeling much better, i am so overwhelmed with all the things around me as to what to start with? So i finally decided upon to purge all the unwanted and unused things as quickly as possible before i start to organize anything.

The last week of my organizing theme was dedicated solely to purging..and God, u will not beleive (i too didn't) , the amount of unused things lying in my house. It was just about everything like the hubby's old clothes which he no longer wore (not that they were in bad shape, but he just outgrew it), my old clothes which no longer fitted me (was just holding on to it reluctant to throw away, hoping one day i will be able to fit in, now really seems distant dream), my kiddo's clothes and toys which he never played with or were dysfunctional (most of his toys collection are gadgets operating on battery, so they go bad very soon as he keeps fiddling and handles them rough, what can we expect from a 4 yo right?) and to add to it lots and lots of papers (news papers, courier papers, mails, school papers, just every kind of paper trash u can imagine!). This had occupied almost 50% of my storage space.. and i was amazed and so glad when i had so much of empty spaces and moreover, i donated few of the stuff which were still in good condition which i was holding on to, feeling happy that it will be atleast used. Few stuff i gave here and there (i feel so bad, we donot have this garage sale kinda thing here!) and to the poor beggars. Even beggars were hard to locate for this..i get to see them every where usually and so when i just took up my stuff like old toys and few clothes to distribute, i didn't find a single beggar on road as if they were hiding from me sort of.. (Hey, i stay in India, u just cannot have no beggars on street ok..) Finally located few urchins and gave my kids old shoes, toys, raincoats and they were happy as it seemed to me.. felt a kinda of satisfaction with a smile on their faces (and also felt bad i waste so much money to get new toys to my kid when the old toys are still so good that now he does not value them anymore!)

O.k, fine i will not stuffle you with more of my writings but these empty spaces somehow boosted my creativity and i really ended up with few more DIY projects .. will blog about them soon.. see ya then!

(hey see, finally writing something on organisations, right?)

love, shilpa

Shravan + No Fish + No meat = Good health (for me!)

Hello! So it's Monday again! omg! the week seems to have breezed by so fast and i did not even could finish half the things i had planned. Last Tuesday was my kiddo's b'day. he is 4yo now. God! children grow up so quick (well, every mom thinks so, right?). so the week started with lot of running around and getting things organised for the celebration. Indeed it turned out to be a wonderful event for kids as well as the parents who dropped by (I thank them so much for taking their time out being a weekday). I had so many wonderful things in my mind to blog about and definitely the custom t-shirt i have made as a gift that i wanted to write so much (i will blog about it next) post the event..But unfortunately, the next day, post lunch i was feeling quite uneasy and was throwing up everything i was eating (YUCKS! i know). So went to the nearby hospital for the diagnosis and was detected with Acute Gastritis (the inflammation of the stomach and the intestinal lining!) God, the stomach cramps were so terrible! They made me stay awake the whole night plus the constant vomit. The culprit was the home made fried fish (Pomfret) which i had eaten during lunch as what the doc said to me..but i still don't get it as my hubby and my son had the same fried Pomfret (in fact one whole piece each) whereas i made with only half during lunch, still i wasn't able to digest it..(yes, i am a regular fish eater and just can gorge on it unlimited without any problems but had not had it since last few months but was a regular meat eater)..

Ouch!the stomach cramps and the nausea...god, was just intolerable. The medications were quite comforting and took away almost 80% of my pain. By the way did i tell you i had taken off from the office for the whole week for some other personal reason and i suffered from this (well, ok , i will tell you, it was to visit my Mom.). Also i was not able to digest the fact that the very fish (Pomfret) which i have frequently in too much quantity sometimes never gave me a problem then why now? and why only me?

Somewhere during conversation with one of my Maharashtrian friend she had casually mentioned to me that this is the month of "Shravan" (Holy month as per the Hindu calender year) which is the month of Lord Shiva so they abstain from meat, fish and drinks. Not the one easily convinced with this reason for just giving up eating meat and fish for a whole month {no, i am not a nastik (agnostic), i believe in GOD but not the beliefs which comes attached to it, unless there is some logical backing, i took my laptop and searched for the various Hindiusm articles and scriptures written on this. (Here is the abstract of what i came across various written and documented articles. This is completely based on the net searches i have done and i have pieced together the information which seemed relevant to my present condition). As per Hinduism, this is the month wherein atmospheric changes take place due to nearby monsoon which gives rise/increase in microbes in food and atmosphere. This affects body too as the body enzymes required for digestion are cut down. Hence body cannot take the burden of digesting heavy food which give rise to different ailments. In earlier times, food was not that properly processed and medical needs were not easily available, hence the Ayurvedic scholars or pandits /brahmins in the name of God made people abstain from these foods which are considered heavy for body so that they can follow and maintain their health. This belief is been carried on for centuries with many  knowing the actual reason while many blindly following it in the name of God! whichever reason may be, this ensured good health and rid of body toxins.Hats off to all the Great Indian Ayurvedic scholars who knew this fact long before anything was ever invented or discovered or probably any research available..

The Ayurvedic scholars had all the remedies for all the ailments during that period along with their precautions whatever required to be taken, but the only sad part is it was not handed over to the disciples completely. Always the guru used to keep some part of it from the pupil and imparting only 90% of the knowledge and this went on (yes, insecurity was rampant at that era too!) until we lost most of the Ayurvedic healing treasures.

Yes, I will to be abstaining myself from eating heavy during this period as far as possible and not fiddle with my health!

tc, bye

shilpa

Oh so slobby me again!

Hi! seriously i am just in no mood and just completely bored to even type these words.. My slobbiness has started taking over me...i am just not able to gather myself to sit and write few posts since some time. I do really have some wonderful post which i really need to sit and write but oh so me! The LAZY BUM! i want to do it , i reeeeeeeeeaaally  want to do it, i just want to get of this slobby behaviour. Do i hear any help?

wait for me to get back..

shilpa