Love or Infatuation??????????

Whenever I come across anyone who says he or she is in love, I feel happy for them 'cos being in love is such a beautiful feeling and everyone should experience it.

At a certain age, there is a natural tendency to get attracted to the opposite sex which we call it infactuation which starts with eyes and ends with eyes. The feeling that touches the heart is love, no matter where it starts and how it starts. Now I'm not a Love Guru but this is my take on love and infactuation.

I don't believe in " Love at first sight ". I might be getting into bad books of some people who read me. For me, love starts with interaction and knowing the person better. I have a little confession here. When I first saw my husband in the Orthopedic outpatient department, I thought he was very handsome. When I got to know him better, that is when I realised he is a very nice person too. That made me fall for him.

It is natural to get into and out of relationships as we grow up. I think its different with guys and gals. What I have observed with few of the people around me is that they are falling into something which they are not sure of to get out if things don't work out for them. They think they are in love when, in reality, they are infactuated with the person they just saw.

Some just blindly think that they are in love with whoever they are with, whether its the circumstances that bring them together or the people around them. They are not ready to accept the fact that the person they want to live with might not be the right one for them.

Well, some say love is blind and it is love and not infactuation when they feel the way i just described in the previous sentence. When they go ahead and start their new life with that person, they realise that they did a mistake.

It is different in other countries where the guys and gals of teen-age are vocal, about their feelings, to their parents. Also, parents don't feel embarrased to discuss these things with kids. More importantly, the kids are not scared of their parents to express themselves. It is quite different here in India. Though we see a lot of love marriages happening in this generation, we hardly see any parents who accept things with a smile and a hug.

The kids think that their parents wouldn't understand when they tell them that they are in love. After a certain age, parents need to be friendly with their kids so that the kids feel free to share everything with the parents and the parents can advice them to take the right path and chose the right person to be " happy ever after " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are always hiccups in every relationship but at the end of the day what matters is that you and the one who loves you stay together and learn from experiences and both are happy to go through the ups and downs together and treat eachother as not "me" or "you" but as "us".

Till the next post, keep falling in love !!!!!!!!!!

R

Cryotherapy

It was 5:30 in the morning and the alarm rang on my husband's mobile. Having got a call a month ago at the same time in the morning, saying that my mom was ill and she has been hospitalized, I got up thinking that it was a call again of similar kind and not the alarm that woke me up. I turned my head up and back, together, suddenly and pulled a muscle or two in the neck. Being a physical therapist, I knew exactly what to do and applied ice on the neck for 10 minutes, since i was in the acute stage. This happened 2 days back and few hours after I applied ice, I could move my neck to the same side as that of the injury and I was unable to that before. I applied ice again at night and the next day I could move my neck even better.

In this post, I would like to share my knowledge on crotherapy and the logic behind its application. Cryotherapy is the application of ice for treatment of soft tissue injuries, mainly. The soft tissues I am talking about here are muscles, ligaments, menisci, so on and so forth. Bone is not a soft tissue. Whenever there is a soft tissue injury, we see there is swelling around that region. When ice is applied to the swolled part, the swelling comes down and so does the pain and muscle spasm.

How is the swelling reduced?

The logic behind the application of ice is that the blood vessels constrict when ice is applied and then dilate later. By this, when the blood vessels are dilated, a gush of blood flows out and clears the fluid which creates the swelling from the site of injury.

How is the pain reduced?

Application of ice also reduces pain. The application of ice after sometime causes a sensation of burning or pain on the skin and this pain is perceived more than that of the pain caused due to injury and thus the pain due to injury is reduced. This process is called counter-iritant effect which is also the logic behind topical applications like balms and pain relieving ointments. Another theory says that when there is injury, pain producing substances are also released at the site of injury and by application of ice, the vasodilatation which clears the swelling, also washes out the pain producing substances.

How does ice relieve spasm?

Ice application also reduces muscle spasm. Spasm is a defensive mechanism to protect the body parts from further injury. The muscles around the site of injury undergo spasm to prevent that particular part form further injury.Application of ice alleviates pain and swelling. The pain producing substances and the swelling are the reminders for the muscle to remain in the state of spasm as they are the indicators of injury. So when these substances are washed out through application of ice, the spasm is also reduced.

There are different methods of application of ice. You find ice packs in the market. Those of you who can't find or afford to buy those or when injury occurs to soft tissues in the region which is not flat, you can go for ice bags, ice towels. The best method to apply ice at home is crush the ice and put it in a plastic bag or a dry cloth and apply it over the site of injury for 10 minutes or less but not more than that as it might lead to skin injury.

Uses of ice clinically are many. I would not recommend using ice for other forms of injury at home, as it is used for in the clinic.

Till the next post, stay healthy folks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R

The Chiken or the Egg?

You must be familiar with the argument, what came first, the chicken or the egg? I find something similar to this - the media and entertainment and the real life. I can't put it better, forgive me for the simpleton I am. Everytime I watch someone, killed or molested or kidnapped or abused or acid thrown on someone by their own peers ,on the news or in a movie or in a soap, I wonder if these mediums are spreading awareness among people to be wary of the these situations around them and warning them to not fall into these traps or are these mediums giving ideas to those who are in need of it to create situations like that and make others go through this misery?

When asked, those who work for these mediums, say that they are bringing the real life stories to everyone's notice but by doing so are they not bringing it to the notice of those people too who are in need of those ideas in this matter? Not everyone is bad by birth. Situations make a person what he / she is. By showing something like that through a popular medium, don't you think the person who is in need of such an idea, is actually showed a path which he / she might not otherwise take it?

I also believe that these mediums are not encouraging the people to take up the wrong path. What a person turns into also depends on his / her own desire to become that. People around him / her should interfere and show the right path. But what about those who don't have anyone around them? When these people are asked why did they have to do it, they say, " Is it not how the world is?" That is when I feel that if only they knew that it is not how the world is and it is how only few people are.

Worst part is that there is not justice done to the victim and this gives the stubborn strength to the one who dares of attempting such a thing. We see that there are many pending cases in the courts, justice delayed to some victims and others even deprived of it. People who commit the crime roam around on the streets like they haven't done anything wrong.

I believe that when the media, in all forms, not only shows the incident and the detailed description of it but also arranges for a public court or discussions with not just the elite crowd but also the regular middle class and low class crowd to participate in it and make them a part of being right, something can be done to stop the crime. Also, the courts have to speed up the system of justice being done.

Tickets for contesting the elections should not be given to those who have already committed offense in any form. Unfortunately, that is not how it happens in this country but I think it's high time we did something about it too. Whoever in authority, commits crime, should be sacked. I mean, come on, we are among the top countries in terms of population. Can't we find a replacement in this ocean of people? Finally, who is going to put this through someone's head, someone who is willing for a change like this?

Signed

" R ".

The Horse Boy

I read this on the CNN website this morning and I found it very interesting. There are so many things around us which we hardly pay attention to. I'm not talking about the CNN website or my computer here. The article talked about a child who was autistic and how his father followed what his child showed him that led the path to his recovery. Want to know how he did it? Click here for the CNN article. Fine out more about The Horse Boy here.

Signed
R

Secret of attraction...

She laughed at me when I told that, I felt the person to be very arrogant.She then simply said that whatever you attract comes to you.

What??

You mean I attract arrogance??

You mean I attract negativity??

I immediately retorted back.

After listening to all my counter questions she silently smiled at me and advised me to read "The Secret"and said that she has that book and is more that happy to give me that book to read. (May be she is fed up of all my counter questions).

Lazily turning the pages, my eyes fell on these lines.

"Everything that's coming into your life you are attracting into your life.
And it's attracted to you by virtue of the images you're holding in your mind.
It's what you're thinking.Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you."
"Every thought of yours is a real thing—a force."

And that's it,I went on to complete the book.

I could recollect why my friend gave me a silent smile when i complained.I could also recollect few things that I attracted into my life.

For instance,In my graduation everyone told me that it was very difficult to complete graduation without failing at least in one subject.This pre-occupied my mind.One fine day came the results and i failed.What I attracted came back to me with a bang.
I never knew that thoughts are so powerful that they tend to change our lives.

I was always attracted to writing and blogging and had a desire to start a blog.I attracted it..here it is...

I will leave the post with these words....

The law of attraction doesn't care whether you perceive something to be good or bad, or whether you don't want it or whether you do want it. It's responding to your thoughts. So if you're looking at a mountain of debt, feeling terrible about it, that's the signal you're putting out into the Universe. "I feel really bad because of all this debt I've got." You're just affirming it to yourself. You feel it on every level of your being. That's what you're going to get more of.

Love
T

Did you know ????

The other day, I was going through an article in newspaper which talked about aging. I have read this in my medical physiology books too that our body produces some " free radicals " which are responsible for aging. Now have you ever wondered why our forefathers or the people from previous generation had a different deadline for aging from us despite their body producing the same amount of free radicals as our body does? Why are we getting older at an earlier age than they did? I"m talking about the premature greying of hair, wrinkles in the skin, so on and so forth...............

Here is the answer to all your questions. It is in our eating habits purely. Today we are used to eating junk food more often than the nutritious food our people from previous generations had. Now you must be thinking " come on! we all know that ! " . Have you ever thought how food is related to aging? Well here's the logic. The healthy and nutritious food which I'm talking about, has something called " anti oxidants " which fight against the free radicals and their effects on aging. These anti oxidants are richly found in foods like greeny leafy vegetables ( spinach particularly ), tomatoes, all kinds of nuts.

Here is some good news for the tea lovers. Tea is supposed to be abundant in anti oxidants. So invite over your friends for a cup of tea and help them deccelerate their aging process !!!!!!!!!!!!!. Eat healthy and live healthy !!!!!!!!!!

Signed

" R "

Bonds of love

This morning my husband went to the airport to catch a plane to Mumbai, along with a friend of ours, who is my husband's colleague. Well she's more a family member now than just a colleague or friend. Despite the age gap of 20 years between her and us ( me and my husband), we got along very well and considering the fact that she's from a different country, I think we gel very well despite the differences in every aspect. Anyway, my husband called me this morning from the airport saying that our friend's father had a fall, back in her country ( she's from USA ) and because she's here in India and can't reach their place soon, she's busy on the phone finding out about his condition. She's a very strong woman and put up with the situation very bravely.

This reminded me of a similar situation a month ago when I got a call from my grandmother early one morning saying that my mom was unable to speak and she's breathing heavily. My mom and granny stay in my home town, which is a 5 hour drive from where I live, all by themselves. They refused to come and stay with me for some reasons. Anyway, I had to call my cousin who lives at my home town and they took her to the hospital. I was worried all along till I got to see her. This has happened before when I was in college. My mom's a heart patient and she has undergone open heart surgery for mitral valve replacement almost 16 years back and she's on a life long medication for the proper functioning of her artificial valve.

I couldn't sleep for a week after that, juggling with the hospital shifts and also the thought that this could happen yet again kept me worrying about her. This made me wonder how we just can't accept the fact that the one we love can face a fatal situation and could not be with us forever. I think we should let go off some things after a certain time and accept everything that comes in future as a part of life. Situations like these give us the strength to deal with a lot of things in life. I believe that nothing's more important than life but it is also true that it's beginning or end is not in our hands. All we can do is live the life given to us in a way that God feels proud of giving it to us.

I pray that our friend's father gets back on his feet soon, considering he is an old man in his late 80's, he'll take some time but I really wish everything turns out well.

Signed

" R "

Free Advice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing you get free always and from everyone - advice. You find many who are willing to give advice without anyone asking them. I don't know if this is the way it is in other countries as well, but this is how it works here in India. Some people think that they have all the rights to just rush into some person's personal space. By giving unwanted and unasked advice, people think that they are helping the other person out and the one who is supposed to take it should be more than happy to have this person there.

I have few people around me, both inside and outside my family, who think they are being very nice and supportive and helping me out by giving an advice I don't need and I haven't asked for. The other day, there was this woman in my apartment building who happened to have some one home who came saying that he was a carpenter and he was there asking for someone's address. She didn't know any one by that name, the name this capenter guy gave her. Despite that, she went ahead and asked him to get some door fixed in her flat, for which he said it would cost around 125, just to fix the door hinges and she readily gave him the money and didn't think of delegating the job of looking over the whole thing to the watchman. Not just that. The carpenter guy went and checked all the rooms at this woman's home. Didn't know what he was looking for. The lady herself didn't ask or stop him from checking out the house. The carpenter guy took the money and left and never turned up again. She came to my home and instead of feeling stupid for what she did, she started giving me advice to not allow any unknown person inside my home. I just got so angry and irritated at her behaviour. I just didn't know what to say.

I guess this one example is more than enough to explain how stupid and irritating some people are. I always wish I never come across people like this as I just can't handle myself from expressing the irritation I go through.

Signed

" R "

What's the hurry ??? !!!!!!!!!

I tell you its tough being a girl first and then a woman. Why is it that way? I have always asked this to myself and never found an answer. First it is the pressure to behave properly as we grow up and then there's pressure to study and then there's presure to get married. While going through that, the alliances we get are a mixed variety. Some want the girl to stay home and take care of the family while others want the girl to work out and share the finances with her husband and there's other kind of people who want the girl to be capable enough to take care of both.

There are people who want to see so many things in the bride but they forget that there's groom too who needs little attention atleast. Then there is pressure to take things and not revert back at in-laws place, no matter how bad they are. I have been lucky here. I'm married into a lovely family though. My husband has a younger brother and me being the only girl in the family, they treat me like their third kid and pamper me a lot. Here I'm talking about those people who are pressurised from both the in-laws' and the parent's side to behave well though they have nothing wrong on their side.

Then comes the actual thing which nobody escapes, whether it be love marriage or arranged, good in-laws or bad - the pressure to have BABIES. I dont understand why is it so important to have kids at the specified time? I mean is it so important to have kids just when you are one year or two years into marriage? Is it not for the wud be parents to decide as to when they would want to have kids? Are they ready for the responsibility or not?

I understand that parents want us to have babies so that they can see them and spend time with them. But is it necessary for us to go by the same norms as they did? Once the kids are out, the grand parents dont want to take care of them, not even for an hour. Then they start saying " the parents are so irresponsible, they want to leave the kids on us and go out." And if the kids are left at a day care, they start saying, " is it so important for you to work? What's more important for you, the baby or work?" They expect us to leave everything aside, forget about our life and just be with the kids all the time, while they get to play with them whenever they want.

Now, I don't want to sound too much like I'm against the idea of having kids. All I'm trying to say here is that it is for the couple to decide when they want to have kids and not the couple's parents. Parents should understand and let them live their life their way.

Worst part is that, every woman has been there some time but never does she understand that she is putting her daughter or daughter-in-law through the same pressure. May be because she has seen much in her life and doesn't want the experience to repeat in her daughter's or daughter-in-law's life. But this is ridiculous. On the pretext of being cautious, we can't put someone we love through the misery we think is better than what we have already faced.

Posted by

" R "

The 50th Post

On the occasion of 50th post we would like to thank everyone who's been supportive and encouraging us with all the advice and the sweet comments. You must be wondering why I'm using the word " We " instead of " I "? Here's the secret. Its not one but two people writing the posts in this blog. We wanted to reveal it in our 50th post. Actually we have been thinking about writing a bit about ourselves since a long time but wanted to do it on a special occasion. Well what more special than a 50th post on our blog?

We are two best friends librans to the core(one week difference,born in the same hospital) who are just lucky for each other, who have been through thick and thin together from the childhood, been separated during college as we took different subjects but never lost touch and kept contact through mails and letters and now we are still together through this blog though we live in different cities. When the idea of blogging popped in one of our minds, we thought we'll start it together since we both were new to it.

We put in every little part of us and that's how this blog is now publishing its 50th post. We have always been proud of our little brain child and it wouldn't have been possible with out the readers of our blog.

About T:

• Born libran, Engineer by profession, Indian to the core.
• Expressive, talkative, emotional, artistic, impulsive, romantic.
• Loves nature a lot, I always get inspired from it.
• Interested in learning languages. I know Telugu (my mother tongue), English, Hindi, now can understand a little bit of Marathi as I had move to Maharashtra, planning to learn french.
• Ardent follower of H.H.Sri Sri Ravi Shankar My guru who transformed me totally.
• Love to go places, meet people and know their culture, enjoy reading.
• Intelligence turns me on, Dirty-politics, hypocrisy, arrogance is a BIG NO.
• Married for 4 and half years to a wonderful person on the earth who is my support in many ways. Waiting to see how life surprises me.
• I have a funny bone. My words tickle people and make them laugh.
• Few things that give me pleasure like food (would like to taste every cuisine in the world - only veg)), Music, Dance and any indoor or outdoor sport, long drives, trekking, long walks into the nature, I want to try cycling as well.
• Desire to grow professionally, personally and spiritually. I will achieve everything with my guruji's grace.
• In future I would want to learn Photography, Swimming, Yoga, Meditation.
• Always ready to experiment new things in life.
• I believe that Life we lead is directly proportional to the way we think.
• I am pretty conservative in some issues.
• Love herbal, natural, home remedies rather than anything chemical and artificial.
• I am afraid of hair coloring, hair straightening. I go to beauty parlor only to get basic things done.
• I hate going to pubs, discos.
• Simplicity is my Mantra.
• I am totally a family-lady. Love to spend time with my family.

About R :

• Best friend to T, I'm also born Libran, I guess we were destined to be friends. We have so much in common. You could apply most of the above lines to me.
• I'm a Physiotherapist with a Masters in Neurology - many a times the thought occurred if I could be someone else but eventually I always loved what I am.
• Been married for 2 years and I feel that I have been blessed with more than I wished for. Thank you God.
• I had a desire to be recognised, although now I just want to help and earn my ticket to be with God. I don't want to sound like I have lost interest in life. My belief is that eventually only good deeds matter at the end of the day.
• After all the heavy stuff above, my hobbies - blogging is my newly developed hobby. Others being cooking, reading, sewing, gardening, inviting people over and hosting parties.
• My mom is both my weakness and my strength. Guess the preferences change as new people coming into life but there's always this one person who never stops loving you and caring for you no matter how your priorities change. Love you Mom.

From now on the posts would be on our pen names " T " and " R " .

Telugu Wedding

I wanted to post on Telugu wedding and have been looking for the right words and I couldn't gather enough to post it. Recently I stumbled upon this website which had all the description about the typical Telugu wedding. So here is the post.

Telugu weddings are the weddings of the people of Andhra Pradesh. The wife is considered to be ardhangini, a part of her husband, literally meaning 'half of the body'. No religious ritual can be performed by a man without his wife. While fixing the weddings, the months of Aashad, Bhadrapad and Shunya are avoided. These months are considered inauspicious.

Pre-wedding Rituals

Once the marriage is finalized between the two families, an auspicious time and date is chosen, called Muhurtham.

Pendlikoothuru

A day or two prior to the wedding day, Pendlikoothuru is performed, wherein the boy and the girl are smeared with oil and turmeric. They take bath and each wears new clothes. The girl wears flowers and bangles. The married women are presented with the betel leaves, sweets, flowers and bangles. This gifting is done to ensure the married ladies bless the to-be married girl and wishes her to become a part of their group.

Snathakam takes place before few hours of the Muhurtham wherein the bridegroom wears a silver thread on his body. It is an important ritual of Telugu wedding.

Kashi Yatra

At the end of the thread ceremony, the groom says he is going to Kashi discarding the worldly pleasures. Then the bride's brother requests him to stay on and offers his sister in marriage.

Mangala Snaanam and Aarti

The bride and the groom take the auspicious oil bath on the wedding day in their respective houses. Their families perform aarti to them in their respective homes.

Gauri Pooja and Ganesh Pooja

In a Telugu wedding, after the bath, the bride worships the goddess Gauri. Gauri is the Mother Durga who symbolizes divine power, energy, woman power, fertility, etc. The boy performs Ganesh Pooja which ensures the success of the work at hand.

Wedding Rituals of a Telugu Wedding

Kanyadanam

The bride's uncle carries her in a bamboo basket to the mandapam. The well decked bride carries some betel leaves,betel nuts, a coconut, a sandalwood stick and a red pumpkin. curtain is placed between the bride and groom, so that they do not see each other till the wedding is completed. At the end of the marriage, the parents of the bride wash the groom's feet with water that symbolises their belief that he is a form of God to whom they now offer their daughter's hand.

Jeerakalla-Bellamu

After the priest recites the wedding shlokas from the Vedas, the bride and groom apply a paste of cumin seeds and jaggery on each other's hands, which symbolises their belief that they must go through the sweet and bitter timings together in life.

Madhuparkam

The bride wears a white cotton sari with a red border, and the groom wears white cotton dhoti, also with a red border. The white colour signifies purity and chastity and the red strength.
The married women accompany the girl holding plates of rice mixed with turmeric powder. The other ladies hold plates with small lamps. The lit lamps represent sweetness and light, two qualities that the bride brings with her to this new phase of life.

The curtain between the two is removed, and prayers are offered, the groom ties the two strings each with a golden disc representing the Mangalsutra separately around the bride's neck with three knots to represent the strength of their union physical, mental and spiritual.

The groom holds the bride's hand and gazes at the pole star or Dhruva, and then other stars like Vasishta and Arundhati which symbolise an inseparable couple.

Kanyadanam

The couple now exchange garlands when the people present at the wedding shower their blessings on them by sprinkling flowers and turmeric-coloured rice. Then the bride's saree and the groom's dhoti are tied together at one end in a knot,and they take seven steps together around the sacred fire. This ritual is called Saptapadi. During this ceremony, saris, ornaments and other gifts are offered to the couple and to other family members.
Sthaalipaakam wherein the groom slips silver toe rings on the bride's feet. To ward off the evil eye, she is asked to wear a string of black beads.

A grand feast is offered on the occasion.

Post Wedding Ritual

Grihapravesha

The bride is escorted to her marital home with her groom and his people. She is given a warm welcome by the groom's parents to her new home.
It is customary in a Telugu wedding, the two mangalsutras are united on a common thread 16 days after the wedding.

Love

R

You are What You Eat!!!!

Do you think Fat is Fit? Do you think Counting Calories is good thing? Do you think eating cow ghee or banana chips or upma or parathas makes you fat?? or do you think starving means dieting?? or loosing weight is measured only through the weighing scales??

Yesterday when I popped into a book shop to get some books, my eyes fell on a book named "Don't loose your mind loose your weight" by Rujuta Diwekar. I Immediately grabbed the book and looked into the contents. It was quiet impressive and the price is affordable Rs 199 ( this is my First time going through a book which contains information on diet and how to eat ).

The book gave right definition of dieting. Dieting is not starving but eating food at right time. Author provided some real time examples how people ate? What they ate? How did they starve to loose weight? In many examples I could see myself, as I too happened to carry those myths in my mind regarding getting into shape some time back. The examples portrayed typical Indian minds.

Author beautifully said that eating local food will help us remain fit and healthy. The foods include upma, idli, poha, momos, parathas etc.. (these should be home cooked and eaten in small quantities). She also explained how we should relish the food, by touching the food (only hands not by spoon or fork), by seeing the colour of food. She insists that while eating we should sit cross-legged keeping our body, mind at one place unlike having your food watching T.V or talking to someone on phone. She says this is an absolute no-no.

The book explained beautifully how to control our intake by reading our stomach, importantly where to draw a line between eating and over-eating. How to say no to junk food when our best friends insists us to have. She also gives ideas how to fake a tummy ache during late night parties. Author ended the book by breaking all our myths on exercise and saying that eating right should make us look good, toned and healthy not skinny, unhealthy.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I am almost following the words of the author.

Love

T

Rangoli at Sankranthi - Telugu festival

You must be wondering what am I doing writing a post on Sankranthi in the month of April when the festival was celebrated in the month of January? Here's my story. I took pictures of the rangoli we ( me and my little cousins) made on the night before Sankranthi and stored them but everytime I found a new topic to write about and so I didnt find time to write about the festival. When I was going through the pictures today, I found these rangoli pictures staring at me as though they were enquiring when they would be published in my blog? So here they are.

This rangoli was made by us right in front of our apartment building and this is how it looked like basically. We didnt like the way it turned out completely as it looked incomplete, not that the colours are missing but we wanted it to look complete with everything in it. You can see the Diyas / lamps and the clay pots with balls in it and bananas ( which dont look like bananas but we gave them that name, they were supposed to look like sugarcane sticks but never mind ).

So we filled in the boundaries with, what we called, sugarcanes and this is how it looked like after the final touch to the ground work.

After filling in the colours, we were so proud of the final outcome which looked like this. Did the basic dots and drawing with chalk and then filled in colours and outlined with the white powder you use to make rangoli. Can't forget the proud expression on the girls' faces. Loved it !!!!!!!!!

Finally I'll leave you guys with pictures of few more rangolis made by our neighbours who let us take pictures of their proud art.

This rangoli was made by my cousins at the other entrance / gate of our apartment building.

Love
R

Number Tag

Tagged by my new blogger friend Patty, I'm doing this and I apologise to my new friend for the late response. Anyway, hope you guys know more about me through this.

• 1 Blog I write.
• 2 Years of marriage and still trying to figure out where the 2 years went? Guess a lifetime is not enough to spend with the loved ones.
• 3 Siblings I adore - Krishna, Karthik and Tanuja.
• 4 Things I started doing this year - making candles, sewing, gardening, writing my blog.
• 5 Things I can't live without or stop doing - cooking, blogging, giving advice, talking, reading.
• 6 People with whom I share everything with - My mom, Nani, Hubby, Brothers, Mother - in- law, my Best Friend.
• 7 Years since I have been living in this apartment and plan to live on in the same apartment for ever, if possible.
• 8 Years since I have been associated with the field of medicine - for those of you who don't know, I'm a Physiotherapist with Masters in Neurology.
• 9 Occasions / Festivals our family celebrates - New year, Sankranthi, Holi, Ugadi, Sriramanavami, Rakhi, Sravanasukravaram, Diwali, Dussera.
• 10 O'clock at night is the time I call it a day.

I would love to tag my old friend " T " and my new blogger friend Rose.

Love
R

Tangy Vadiyala pulusu.

Do you remember which was your favorite recipe when you were a child.? Which recipe you enjoyed the most? My favorite recipes change according to the season.

In summer I enjoy recipes made of Mango like Mango Dal, Mango rasam, Mango pulihora (made with rice), vadiyalu www.sandadesandadi.com/vadiyalu.html, majjiga charu (made of yogurt) , pacchi pulusu

sampoorna-themantra.blogspot.com/2009/02/pachchi-pulusu.html to name a few.

One of the recipes I love is vadiyala charu. It is very easy to make. I have seen only my parent-generation making this dish. May be our tastes changed due to globalisation. We tend to forget our good old recipes which our parents, grand-parents used to make. These have less calories as compared to the ones which we are eating and good for health.

For Vadiyala pulusu:

• 2 onions.
• One tomato.
• Tamarid size of a small lemon (Soak it in water for 10mins).
• Vadiyalu (Fry them in oil).
• Jaggery or sugar (I prefer Jaggery)
  

For seasoning:

• Cumin seeds ( Jeera ) : half teaspoon
• Mustard seeds ( Rai ) : half teaspoon
• Asafoetida ( Hing ) : half teaspoon
• Red chillies : 2 broken into half
• Curry leaves
• Dry Red chillies.
• Oil for making tadka.
• Salt to taste.
• Turmeric powder.
  

Procedure:

• Cut onions into very small pieces.Fry them in Oil.Wait until they turn light brown/golden yellow.
• Cut tomato into small pieces.
• Add tomato pieces to fried onions.let tomato get soft.
• Now add tamarind water to it.Let it simmer for few minutes.
• Add Jaggery,salt,pinch of turmeric powder to the boiling liquid with low flame.
• Now add Fried vadiyalu to it.

For tadka / seasoning :

• Now for tadka heat some oil (spoon) add cummin seeds,mustard seeds.
• Add curry leaves and dry Chillies to it and later add some asafoetida to it.

Pour this tadka / seasoning into the simmering liquid. Serve the recipe with rice.

Getting nostalgic!!!!!.

P.S:I will learn how to prepare vadiyalu and post it.Till then i have the picture for you.

Love

T

The Buddha Statue - Hyderabad

There is lake, the Hussain Sagar Lake, in the middle of the city of Hyderabad. History has it that the then Nizam got this built in the middle of the city to drive the heat away and for recreation. Now, there stands a huge Buddha statue in the middle of the lake. The statue was inside water, I mean the lake, for some months when it accidentally fell into it as it lacked it strong foundation. This happened almost 10 years back and then the Govt. got a strong foundation for it after it was removed from the lake.

There is more history to it. Wish I had good memory to remember everything I read on the display board there. But, never mind. I shall visit the statue again and get more information next time. For now, I'll leave you guys with this picture.

Love

R

VOTE...

The hot topics of the season are either ELECTIONS or Terrorism. These two topics are taking a toll on our lives. Whichever channel I switch to, I find either a campaign by party leaders or terrorism building its roots on our soil (INDIA) . Frankly, these two topics make me sick and at the same time, I fear that people get allured by wrong party and vote for them.

I had a serious discussion with my dad on elections (what could I do was on my mind). Through his words I understood that URBAN crowd are not in the front line of voting as they think that their one vote will not change the future of nation. Ironically, URBAN crowd should be more willing to VOTE. Infact, Urban crowd should come and vote as the politicians cannot allure them with a cutlery set or cricket set.

I was so much impressed by the campaign run by "LEAD INDIA". I told myself, " why should we people sit and discuss about who will vote and who will not? Why not we take responsibility of giving awareness on voting.

Incidentally,I got a call from one of my friends requesting me to attend a campaign on " USE YOUR VOTE " . I jumped to the idea immediately and was ready carrying a placard written " USE YOUR VOTE " near a traffic signal.

I grabbed the attention of every person near the traffic signal ( this is the first time i got sooooo much attention that I literally blushed). Of course, I got the privilege to do this as I am part of " Art Of Living " family. People were very eager to read what was written on the placard and some people expressed their appreciation in the form of thumbs up. I did not notice the time until a gentleman came to me asking whether I am okay carrying a placard for such a long time. Then i noticed that i was carrying it for the past one and half hour. We even distributed pamphlets which spread awareness on voting. I had great time doing this as I was looking forward to do this.

P.S :I came across some hilarious captions on T.V and radio like "DOT hai to HOT hai" and "VOTE ya VAAT".

I hope at least a couple of people got inspired by our campaign and will take time to cast their vote.

Love

T

Colours of Life

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the collection of bangles I have and recently when I was taking out few bangles out of my bangle box, I realised I have 2 full boxes of bangles of different colours and I'm proud of my collection. Thought I would show you my proud collection.

These are the bangles my Mother-in-law got me from Kolkata. These are the bangles worn by the newly-wed girls in bengali community. Ain't they beautiful ?!!!!!!!!!

Love

R

Few things...

I have met some beautiful people recently and one of the ladies in the group mentioned that she is interested to learn new things in life. She is an advocate by profession. She did her M.B.A and knows reiki, graphology, numerology. She even shared some interesting things in her life. I was amazed by her enthusiasm and will to learn new things. She decided to try past life therapy as well. Infact, she is searching for people who are interested to take past life therapy or who or already taking it. She said that she spends her money, which she earns, only on learning new things which she is interested in.

I thought very few people have time and inclination towards their life and that she is living her life to the fullest. To satisfy myself, I thought that may be since she is single, she is able to perceive many things, but later I realized that these are the things she is passionate about and nothing can stop her from learning.

She then asked me my interests in life and I opened my list of things which I would love to learn. We had a great time together sharing our interests.

These activities gives us immense pleasure and we can be with our true self. What say?? Am I right??

Love

T

Goa

My second visit to goa was quite different from the first one, except for the fact that we have been to Palolem again. This time we travelled towards North Goa to Morjim. I was not impressed by the beach as it was a bit shabby, no sand and some hippies partying here and there. The sight itself got me scared as I did not find good crowd. It seemed to me like we were the only one staying at the resort. But to say, the resort was wonderful.

View from our resort

After staying for a day in Morjim, we decided to move to Baga. Baga is much happening place in Goa. Water sporting is the main event there and you can also find rides near by beach Anjuna via sea. We took a ride on the speed boat and My God!!!!! it was a terrible experience. I was literally petrified by the sight of huge water body and the speed of the boat. People seemed to be having great time but I found it hard by the sight of huge sea around.

I had a chance to visit a flee market called Ingos Bazaar which is generally on wednesdays and saturdays. This bazaar opens at 8 at night and closes at around 2 a.m. People around the world come here to sell their goods. There were many stalls selling handmade jewellery, beautiful fabrics, hammocks, ethnic jewellery, Tibetian stuff..etc. We came across budding musicians playing music on the stage.

There were many stalls selling great North Indian, South Indian and English food, you name it they have it. It was like fusion of the world.

People listening to music at Ingos.

I really had a great time at Ingos. The creativity is at its edge there. I have never seen such a market which had great creative stuff from all around the world.
We have been to a spice farm http://www.sahakarifarms.com/home.html near Ponda. We were welcomed by a garland and flowers. The guide took us on a tour into the spice farm explaining about the spices in the farm and their medicinal values. The farm even sell concentrated herbal oils which have medicinal values. The spice farm tour was very informative and interesting as we came to know about different types of spices and their uses.

This spice farm takes care of Elephants as well. You get a chance to spend time with Elephants as well. I have taken a snap of a lady giving nice wash to Elephant. Elephant splashed water on this lady whenever the gentleman instructed the Elephant to do so. It was worth watching.

At the end of the tour, farm provides us a good buffet with traditional delicacies.

Love

T

Alternative medicine-Ayurveda

I have always been intrigued by alternative medicine.Ever since I heard about nadi pariksha ( checking the pulse ), I was dying to get it done.In nadi pariksha,doctor checks our pulse and analyzes Vata,Pitta and kapha levels in our body and prescribes medicine accordingly. In fact, this alternative medicine has been practiced since a long time in India. Not many have knowledge about this in this time, may be due to the slow results yet permanent as the problem is removed from the root level. People think that this is an obsolete medical treatment to follow. Nadi pariksha is a part of ayurvedic treatment. They detect the problem and give Ayurvedic medicines which I feel have no side effects.

I heard many interesting stories about nadi pariksha and thought of giving it a try. One of the stories is that the Nizam of Hyderabad, once thought of getting nadi pariksha done to his wife. As we know, there was "purdah system", where in women were not allowed to be seen and touched by any man other than her husband/family. So nizam tied a small thread to her hand (where the pulse is felt ) and passed the thread to nadi vaidya ( the doctor) . He checked the pulse of the queen through the thread and prescribed the medicine.

The other interesting fact about nadi pariksha is that if you want to know the health condition of any of your family members, say your mother/brother/sister or any other person in your family, and for some reason they can't make it to the doctor, you can still find out about their health. The doctor would ask you to think about the person, who's health you would want to enquire about, and would tell you about the concerned's health and would also prescribe the medicines.

Today my Mom-in-law and I went to get nadi pariksha done. The doc checked my pulse for few seconds and said that my pitta levels are high. She also said that everyone by birth has some nature (vata,pitta,kapha). By her examination, I found out that my nature is pitta. She described that people having pitta nature have very sharp features, are intelligent, have leadership qualities (hmmm felt very nice listening to these) and also are short-tempered, lethargic..etc. They even forecast our health problems and suggest us to take certain foods which pacifies our imbalance.

My mom-in-law wanted to know about my husband's health and it's issues. The doctor just told her to think about her son (my husband) and she told about his nature (hmm quiet interesting). Now I started using ayurvedic medicine which she prescribed..will let you know the results...may be in a month's time.

Love

T

Today's Kitchen Tip

Aubergines or Brinjals, as they are called in India, change colour soon after they are cut and kept aside before they are cooked. To prevent them from changing colour add half a teaspoon of salt to the water and put the cut aubergines in that water. It will stay up to more than 15 minutes to half an hour with out changing colour. The water would get coloured though.

Love

R