Food Festival

A couple of weeks back Prerna’s school decided to hold a food festival at their premises, wherein parents have to cook and bring a dish representing their culture and the kids have to dress according to their culture and present the dish…

The main intention of this food festival was for the kids to understand various cultures and food related to that region.

Being a foodie myself, how could I miss the chance to display my culinary skill … So my mind started to work, thinking of all the dishes which represents Udupi-Manglorean culture…?

After coming home I consulted my food experts (My parents), who gave me a big list of recipes, which send my head reeling…Finally I decided to do “Manni” which is sweet prepared using rice, moongdal, coconut and jaggery.

Since this was my 1^st food event, I was pretty excited… But two days before event, my BP dropped and I decided to give the event a miss…  But then, previous day I told myself, “Being a foodie how can you miss a food event?” So next day I got up and made the dish and took it to school hoping the kids will love it (fingers crossed)…

When I reached the school, the place was abuzz with excitement of kids, staff and parents alike. We were given a table which had to be shared by 2 kids. My table mate was Yash and his mom who being a Sindhi had made “Dal pakwan”. 

Me n Peru with our dish

Junior MasterChefs

Welcoming Judges

Finally the judges came. The judges, 3 ladies worked for an NGO “Inner Wheel Club of Borivali” who with help of Rotary Club work for betterment of mentally retarded people, kids in orphanage and slums. The Judges were Ms. Meena Kaku (present secretary), Ms. Harsha Desai and Ms. Smitha Parekh (both ex-presidents).

They went on tasting all 15 dishes prepared by kid’s mothers asking how is it prepared, what are ingredients etc etc… 

They did like my dish and were surprised when I told it’s made from rice and moongdal …

Me presenting my dish

Dishes By Teachers

Finally when the time came to announce the winner, they told they were confused as all dishes looked and tasted good… So finally based on best dressed kid, best presented dish and best tastes dish they gave 1^st prize to Ajit who was dressed as a Tamilian and made Idli and chutney, 2^nd prize went to Harshal whose mother had made patholi and chattambado ( dal wada) and 3^rd to Rushikesh whose mom had made Misal pav…

Confused!!!

Declaring Winners

1st Prize

2nd Prize

3rd Prize

They also gave other kids consolation prizes …

Well I was happy as all kids, their parents, teachers and judges liked my dish… My hardwork paid off (phew)… Only regret was, I was not able to give 100% attention to that event, as my dear daughter who always plays spoilsport in functions kept crying and demanding my attention… but still I was a happy mom… couldn’t stop smiling, recollecting people’s reactions when told about ingredients of my dish…

Waiting for many more events to attend and participate…

Thank you Sol’s ARC.

Tommy- Our Watch dog...

Pets, when they enter your life, they occupy a large space in your heart…

            No matter how strong you are, how stubborn you are, they keep you twisted around their curly tails and around their small paws …

            Since  I was a child I always longed to have a pet, cat or dog… but living in city like Mumbai (Bombay, at that time), and with both parents working, my Mom made strict rule “NO PETS” at home… Also because she hated cats for leaving their fur and dirtying house…

            Then we shifted to our native place where we had an independent house with huge garden area… After 6 months of my marriage when I went to my parents’ house, I was bit surprised to be greeted by a cute black puppy, barking ferociously at me… I was surprised, as I knew my Mom’s aversion towards pets…

            Papa told he is “Tommy” their new companion…

When one of our relative came to know that my parents are on lookout for a dog, (obviously for security and time pass reasons), he handed them a 10 day old black puppy, whose mother was killed in a road accident immediately after giving birth to her litter and his siblings had died due to lack of milk… he was the lone survivor…

My dad bought him home… he was too sick and weak. He was so weak that he could hardly open his eyes or walk or drink milk… they used to feed him milk with spoons… slowly he started to feed on his own…he was taken care by  them as a small kid is taken care…

Their efforts did pay… after nearly 15-20 days he tried to get on to his feet and move around… he used to follow my Dad around the garden… Even he bought a change in my Mom’s dislike for pets…

His bonding with my Dad grew… wherever my dad went; he used to follow him… If he went to terrace Tommy would follow him. When dad used to go to market he would whimper and beg to be taken along… He used to wait near the gate till my dad returned… Tommy could hear my Dad’s Kinetic coming from ½ km distance… he used to inform my mom, about his arrival long before Dad reached the gate 

Whenever I went home along with hubby, he played with him… but whenever it was our time to leave, he would come to us and stretch his legs in front of us and lay down…Not allowing us to pass… 

When I went for my delivery, he would come and sit beside me in garden watching my tummy… he used to walk alongside while I used to do my evening walk… but all hell broke loose for him after arrival of my daughter…

My Dad who got his first grandchild and was busy, so Tommy didn’t take this distraction or division of my dad’s attention or love mutely… He used to keep on whimpering or barking below my window at night, giving all sleepless nights…

Whenever Dad used to carry Prerna in his arms, in garden he used to bark intensely and try to jump on him… poor thing got scolded and beaten for 1^st time by my dad…

But as days passed, he got to know that Prerna is also a family member. His insecurity faded and he became normal… he used to look at her with those deep brown eyes, smell her…

But as days of my departure neared he grew restless… Mom told the day I left for in-laws place he sat near gate whole night hoping for our return…

Dad had bought a big black basket for him. He grew so attached to that basket that no matter what, he never slept outside that basket…

His companion in his initial months was a black cat, whose mother used to come in our backyard for her delivery every 4-5 months… My parents used to have a very tough time, because these kittens used to play and destroy their plants in garden…

Tired of this kitten menace Mom and Dad decided to take and leave the kittens and their mother far far away from their place… But in that litter there was a cute black kitten. They decided to keep it.

When Tommy arrived, the kitten used to play with Tommy it was a scene to watch, pulling each other’s tails, running behind each other…

Slowly as Tommy grew, he started to hate the idea of sharing food with the cat… So when parents started to put his food in front yard and cat’s in backyard, he would finish his food at lightning speed and dash to drive the cat and eat her share... Until, finally the cat left the house for good…

Tommy became an inseparable part of our house… Whenever Dad went out of town, inspite of serving his favorite food, fish, he would go on hunger strike for a day or two… He was a child in a dog’s body…

He barked at every person who passed by our gate, killed any neighbor’s poultry, or wild monkeys or garden snakes…

He was our security, watch dog…

The saddest day came, when my parents decided to sell the house and move back to Mumbai… When a family from our vicinity decided to take him, no matter what they did, he didn’t leave dad… With a heavy heart Dad then picked him with his basket and left him in their car…

Even after a year when Dad visited that person, Tommy first ignored him in anger… but when Dad went near him and patted him he forgot his anger and jumped on Dad……

That’s Tommy, our one and only Favorite pet.

Humanity and Police callousness…

A real life incident which took place yesterday in our vicinity, made me believe that humanity does exist even today.

          My hubby has a routine of going for a walk in evening. Yesterday evening, while on his routine walk, just few meters away from our house, there is a bus stop. Few people had gathered around a young girl. He thought, maybe she has met with an accident or had fainted… she looked like an average, college going girl from a decent family.

          Further enquiry revealed that, the girl was under influence of drugs… a college boy from the group told he saw the girl chatting with some boy, who then walked away & she consumed some powder… she was asking the passers-by to give her 10rs…

          She was also acting weird… so the gathered people started asking her “who are you?”, “what happened?”, “do you need any help??” etc. etc… But she screamed “leave me alone …”

          Then suddenly she got up and she started to walk, briskly…

          So all the people who had gathered there, of them, there was a couple with a kid on their bike, their main concerns were that anyone might take advantage of her in this state. So few exchanged their cell numbers and they formed two groups. One group started to follow that girl while others started to call up police or went to look up for them…

          On calling Kashmira police station, they told it falls under Shrushti Police chowky and vice versa… On calling again and again they were told to look up for police patrol van. Finally when they succeeded on finding one, the police told to hold on the girl till they come…

          Meanwhile the girl here was trying to give the people following her, a slip and finally she did manage…

          Still all the people tried to find her…The entire incident took nearly 30-45 minutes… but still in this busy life people looked into this matter… Why??? Just because for them their main concern was nobody takes her undue advantage of the girl in this inebriated stage…

          But Police “the law” as usual showed their callousness by passing their responsibility here and there. They were least bothered to what was happening or to the fact that a girl’s life (maybe) was at risk…

          But at least this incident reinstated my belief that humanity does exist… In recent years my experiences off life had made me lose my belief in humanity…

          And to all parents, please keep an eye on your kids…Only giving them money or buying in their demands is not enough… All they need is your time, attention and lots of LOVE…

Royal Princess...

         On arrival of Royal Prince George, Indiblogeshwaris decided to blog about “why you'd deserve to be Royal Baby”…

        Well…does being born in a royal family decides whether you are royal or acting like one decides you are royal or being treated like one decides you are royal???

       The last two options apply to my daughter, who behaves and is treated like a Royal princess by her Father and her maternal grandparents…

     Her Father likes to dress his princess only in branded clothes, whereas her grandparents being their only grandchild treat her like a rare Gem…According to them she shouldn't be scolded, she shouldn’t be spoken in higher tone/ voice, before she asks for she should be fed etc etc…

     And well, she behaves like one Princess…She doesn’t want to take in any effort, she likes to eat cheese, muesli, burgers and pasta, rather than our regular Indian healthy food…When we try to feed her something, first she’ll smell it, then will decide to eat or not… After first bite if she doesn’t like the flavor and smell, no matter what we do you just can’t make her eat it…

    We should be there at her beck and call, but when we call her she’ll reply at her own leisure…When we tell her to do something she’ll give us that look “how dare you talk to me like that???”

    Even in therapy sessions when her therapist asks her to pick up something or point out a card, she’ll look at me and my hands, and expect, me to lift her hands and assist her…

   But her smile is the killer one…According to her grandfather “it’s a million dollar smile” J

    Yes that’s my daughter Prerna, “Peru” as she is loving called by all, darling of all, does belong to a Royal family due to her behavior and who was by mistake born in a common man’s house…

The Perfect Road Trip...

         When IndiBlogger and Ambipur told to blog about our road trip it set me thinking… Where it will be and with whom???

        My Husband replied “I know it would be your favorite hero Hrithik Roshan”…

        Yes my dream road trip, with my dream travel companion, my favorite hero Hrithik Roshan, with his to die for looks and smile, I would love to go with him to any corner of the world…

        Next part was where??? Hmmm…May be to some exotic location abroad or (since he is a busy man and now he is recuperating from a surgery) maybe some place in and around Mumbai, which has nice, breathtaking views while travelling by road…

        Like roads to Pune, Lonavala, Khandala are the best roads, to travel in this monsoon season… Curvy hill roads, with green lush trees and grass on both sides of the roads, monsoon water spring flowing in between the hills, springing from the rocks…

       

        And the cherry on top would be slight drizzle outside, with soft romantic music playing on car stereo and sweet, mild flowery Lavender fragrance of Ambipur lingering in the car…

        What more can I dream of??? Which car??? Doesn’t matter as long as there is good company…

        On second thoughts, maybe (Since Suzanne won’t allow Hrithik) my companion on this road trip will be my husband…with all the same planning and background music and fragrance… Since Ambipur’s Lavender Mist is our Favorite…

Lavender is used in medicine and aromatherapy, as it’s widely known to sooth mind and induces relaxation. So it is widely used in room and car fresheners.

On way, we may stop at roadside teastall and enjoy hot piping pakoras with aromatic ginger elachi tea enjoying the drizzle on our face, in this romantic weather…

        Going on a long drive, enjoying scenic beauty, with soft music playing on stereo, rain falling on windshield, soothing fragrance and your favorite companion, away from all tensions and hectic lifestyle, getting some time to spend with each other is always the perfect road trip one can always wish and experience for…

What more you can ask for now-a-days in one’s hectic life…  

P.S. If you don't believe, google for images and information about hilly roads, I am sure you'll love it...