Special Days...

           Mother’s day is always celebrated on 2^nd Sunday in month of May…

Valentine’s Day on 14^th Feb, women’s day 8^th march etc etc…

But whenever these days like mother’s day, father’s day, valentine’s day, daughter’s day, rose day, women’s day, friendship day, grandparents day etc etc comes a thought always crosses my mind…”why do we need these days?”

          Previously we didn't have all these specific days, but still we loved our parents, grandparents, lovers & spouse… then why only on these specific days do we need to  tell them that we love  them or care for them… Children’s day is celebrated to mark birthday of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Teacher’s day for Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan’s birthday. These days are celebrated as a respect to these great men…

          Why only on these specific days should we make them feel that they are special… why not all 365 days can we make them feel we love them & we care for them??

          Making them feel special doesn't mean spending money & buying expensive gifts… we can make them feel special by just finding some time from our busy life, & spending with them…

          Or just giving them a hug, or cooking for them or just spending some time with them or by just telling them that how much we love them… aren’t these small things which we miss doing it for them…

          Previously when we didn’t have these all specific days, & the idiot box demanding our attention, nor the workload or stress, these small things were normally done… But with this advanced technology in our life, work load & stress sometime we tend to neglect our families & feelings…

          These days were made popular by western countries wherein kids are made to leave house & earn as soon as they become 18 & on these days the family comes together… But in India wherein we live in a close knit family, do we need specific days (except birthdays & anniversaries) to make them feel special???

          Only people who are benefited are Cards Company, chocolate company & florist who makes a profit business on these days…

          Whole year we treat them as if they are not important, & on that specific day treat them as a VIP, again to be forgotten till next year…

          Can’t we treat our people, people whom we love, people we care about, as special all year round…If not year round at least once a month, week or day…

          Come on, we all love our parents, spouse, kids, grandparents & friends…then why only on a specific day we should express our love…

          I feel each day as special day for one we love J

 I know many of them are going to hate me for this post!!!

Mangoes ...

“MANGOES”, those golden words & everyone, from toddler to teenagers to old people go weak in their knees….

          Yes, today’s blog is about king of fruits, fruit of summer Mango…

We wait for an entire year, for summer only for arrival of this fruit…And once it arrives all hell breaks loose…the sight of it in those neatly arranged rows, tempt you, the aroma, drives you crazy & when you bite into its sweet golden juicy flesh…ohhh… you go mad…

 

Housewives think of all the recipes that can be made, aamras, ice creams, milk shakes, smoothies, aam papad, jams, juice, sweets you name it… their brains work overtime so that she & her family can savour the fruit till the season ends.

Kids go crazy by just seeing their parents bring the fruit home.

I don’t remember when exactly I feel in love with this fruit, maybe when I was a kid…

My Aayi, made an unspoken rule, that on each one’s birthday, their favorite will be cooked… so on my birthday (I am born in month of May) its “Aamras poori”…hmmm I can imagine many drooling…J

Maybe that’s when I feel in love with this magical fruit… no wonder mango is called king of fruits… its colour yellowish with orange tinge, the sweet aroma, the sweet tingling taste…

With so many varieties available, the king of them Alphonso rules the no 1 position. You can’t match the taste of this naturally ripened fruit with anything in world…

But due to its high sugar content people with diabetics can’t eat it… Also excess eating of mangoes results in outbreak of acne…L. One way of reducing its heat is that before eating a mango its better if you soak it in cold water for ½ hour & then relish the fruit. Soaking reduces its heat…Also some say drinking in form of milkshakes reduces its heat.

I remember when we were kids, every summer we used to go to our native place Udupi, at my cousin’s place, who had many mango & cashew trees. The sweet aroma of the blooming mango & cashew flowers, small tender mangoes hanging on the overloaded branches, threatening to fall off, if wind blows… Competing with cousins, who climbs the tree first to get to those ripe cashew or mango, who collects maximum number of mangoes, who’s stone hits the target… Those were our childhood memories which sadly kids of this generation miss.

Mango can be used either raw or ripe. Raw mango or kairi when cut into wedges, sprinkled with salt & red chilli powder…hmmm…mouth starts watering just by thinking about it… it is also used in making of chats, chutneys, salads, curries & subjis… 

 

Mango leaves are considered to be auspicious. Any functions or any pooja ritual is incomplete without its leaves…

Really, mango, be it fruit or leaves has such vast use…

So am off to relish my aamras made by my Aayi & enjoy the ice cream I made…

Enjoy the King of fruits till it returns next year J