My secret indulgence

 Today I got a task from my secret Santa to write about my favourite food.

My favourite food.. I pondered and pondered.. Picking my favourite food was not the challenge. I think I know the dish all too well. But I pondered on how to tell it to this world. Wondering what this universe going to perceive of me?? 

I love all kinds of food. Trust me.. The biriyanis, the continental delights like steaks and sizzlers, the pastas, the momos, and the tandoori tikkas and kebabs..my native cuisine of idiyappams and appams.. the masala dosas and pongals of the south and also the chole and sarson ka saag.. almost everything. I am a foodie you see. But today I am gonna spell out my all time favourite food.., Annnndd ittttt isssss the 2 min Maggi noodles! Eeeeeks.. I said it!😳😳😳

Maybe it is the nostalgia. And also the taboo of it being a junk food. But it is a food that I keep craving when things get stressful.. and when things go great.. also when I get some 'me' time.. when I watch my favourite show.. when I want to finish up a pile of pending work.. when I have finished up an important late night call well.. You must have got the picture now. Almost all the time. 😕

The way I have been eating this is something that you need to know. Inorder to not misguide my children away from healthy eating habits, I have to do this in stealth mode. And also note that my husbands scorns if he finds me eating Maggi. Why don't you eat a banana if you are feeling hungry, he says. Yeah, right. Banana. Now you know why it is important to get into stealth mode.

I do 'it' late at night.. I do 'it' if husband and kids have gone out of the house for a short while. I do 'it' listening out for their footsteps.. sharpening my time management skills leaving enough time to hide the evidence before they come back.. praying that my kids don't sniff out my secret. 

So yes.. this remains my guilty pleasure.. my comfort food.. my favourite food.

Being a woman..

Another women's day passed by, throwing at me a variety of emotions.

I saw pretty posts in pink in facebook celebrating womanhood. I saw deals for women all over the place.  We women even got treats from our friends in office. :)  I was happy.

I wished all the important women in my life. But at the same time my mind was questioning me on what I was wishing them for. For being a woman? I was perplexed.

A gruesome incident of a 3 year old girl's rape also came up that day. I was horrified.

I was asking myself a very basic question. What is the status of a woman in this day and time? On one hand I see women growing everywhere. They are highly educated, financially independent, socially powerful. But at the same time they are as vulnerable as always to physical and mental humiliation by the male dominated world. Every minute that a lady lives here, she has to protect herself from being a victim to some crazy man passing by who may be in the 'mood' to get his hands on her. So pathetic!

Okay, leave the crazy guys. We'll talk about the gentlemen around. How many of the educated nice men we know really believe that their wives are their 'equal' counterparts in life. Isn't there a belief somewhere that their wives maybe pretty, smart and also earning well; but still they should be under their 'control'. I have noticed that women also mostly enjoy being under someone's control. Is this nature's design? Is it destined that women are better off in a man's shade than fighting for herself out there in this dirty world? Maybe it is!

I have realized over time that there is no point fighting against men for the liberation of women. It does not make sense in the bigger picture of things. Let the women live the way they want to. If she finds bliss at her husband's feet, then so be it. But ONLY if she wishes to. My wish on women's day is that all the women out there should get their share of 'respect' from everyone in this world. That I think is the most important thing that a woman can ask for.

Happy Diwali!

Diwali.. a very spirited festival of India! Perhaps Kerala is the only state of India which does not celebrate Diwali. I wonder why..

Sitting in an isolated office floor, hearing the distant booms of fireworks,  I was tempted to find an answer. Whom do I ask? Who else than the big G who is omnipresent, omniscient & omnipotent? Yes, I prayed to 'Google.com' and lo, I was heard and answered immediately.

I read someone's opinion on this. It reminded me that Kerala thrives on the peaceful and prosperous rule of Mahabali, the king of Asuras. He was strong and righteous ruler and a true devotee of Vishnu. When he defeated the Devas in battle and became the leader of the entire realm i.e. the bhoomi, swarga and pathala, the Devas ran to Vishnu for help. To help them,  Vishnu, adopted the avatar of Vamana, a small Brahmin boy, and approached Bali with a request for grant of land – only as much land as he could cover with three paces.

Despite the warnings of his advisor, Bali granted this boon. Vamana then grew to an immense size, and, with his first pace, traversed the all of the earth and the underworld. With his second pace, he covered Heaven in its entirety. Seeing that Vamana has no more room for his last step, Bali offered his own head as a stepping-stone. At this time asuras led a war. Bali blocked them and told these all living and non living things are of Vishnu's creation. He Himself gave all this to us and He, Lord Vishnu, now came to take this back. Seeing Bali's strong devotion Lord Vishnu blessed him and raised to Suthala, the supreme position than Indra's heaven. Bali was thus banished to the underworld. Due to his selfless devotion and unwavering dharma he was granted permission to visit his subjects once every year and that is the grandest festival of Kerala.. Onam!

Now coming back to Diwali.. It is actually a celebration of victory of Devas over the Asuras. And keralites are still not very happy with the way our dearest Asura king was cheated by the Devas and we were deprived of his golden rule. Hence it seems Kerala does not celebrate Diwali along with the rest of India.

I don't know how true the mythologies are, but the answer seems reasonable to me. ;) Having said that, its still difficult to stay away from the spirit of Diwali since I love celebrations of every kind. So I will celebrate Diwali.. I will light Diyas along with everyone.. I will burst crackers along with everyone.. I will make and eat sweets along with everyone.. But I will do it all for our great king Mahabali. He'll be happy, I hope. I will celebrate two festivals for him.. And I am sure he also loves celebrations like me! :D

For a change

It is vacation time. During my school days, my maternal grandparents were in Chennai. Every year when my vacation started, they came down to Kerala and took me with them to Chennai. I used to spend atleast a couple of weeks with them there. It was happiness unleashed. As everyone knows, grandparents know only to love and grandchildren almost always know how to make use of that weakness. ;) I used to get away with all my whims and fancies with them. I made them take me to all the beaches and amusement parks I loved. I made sure that I got all my favourite food to eat and anything I wanted to play with. That used to be the royal days of the year.. :)

For a change, it was my grandparents' turn for a small summer vacation. They came down to Bangalore last weekend. I cooked for them, took them around and made them as comfortable as I could. It was nothing compared to the happiness they have given me, but still, it was something.. At the end of their short stay, they were happy like little children, happiness well deserved.

Ellavarkkum Vishu Aashamsakal

Vishu is the festival that is closest to my heart. I have very fond memories of so many Vishu's as a child. All of us in the family; aunts, uncles, cousins.. all used to sleep side by side in a room waiting for the dawn. I used to be so excited that I hardly used to sleep. By 3 in the morning, elders would start going one by one to see the 'kani'. I used to eagerly wait for my turn holding my eyes tight. Then finally when I got my chance, I beamed with joy seeing the golden hue of the 'vishu kani'. Then came the part of getting all that 'kaineetam' from elders which used to be my money reserve for the next year. How can I forget the fireworks part.. Lots of sparklers, flower pots, the more dangerous bombs. And of course there would be a grand 'sadya' at noon. All in all, it used to be a day which was full of fun & prosperity.. And it brought hope that the full year would be the same.


This year it was different. We celebrated it in Bangalore and it was just the two of us. I did miss the fun of old-times, but it was a different kind of joy this time. We took a day off and spent the day at home. I prepared the 'Vishu kani' myself. This time also, I was eagerly waiting for the dawn.. Not to see the 'kani' myself.. but to see the expression on my husband's face. And that was priceless!



We went to the temple. We also had a small sadya including sambhar, avial, koottu-kari, thoran, pappadam & payasam. This was also the first sadya that I prepared myself which made it special.

Thus ends Vishu on a beautiful note and hopefully the whole year ahead will be like that too. :)

And it rained today...

I am not a classic rain lover.. I never dream of curling up under a blanket with rain flowing down my window. Instead I am the kind who loves a warm bright day when I can get out of my house and have some fun.

But today I realised what a scorching summer can do to people. Today, as I heard rain pouring outside, a wide smile came right out of my heart to my face. I ran along with many others to the nearest window. All of us just stood there for a good ten minutes till we saw the rain and heard the thunder to our heart's fill. The little more adventurous of our lot ventured out into the rain. Must say, that was tempting. :)

Anyways, I hope it rains more to bring down the heat & bring up the water level, to bring down the power cuts and bring a little joy in our parched hearts!

Looong time...

Such a long time that I have been thinking of penning down a few words here. I have a colleague who keeps pushing me to write. And I give a standard answer, 'This weekend, definitely!" And that never happened until today. Better late, than never. Ain't it? ;)

So, lets see.. Quite a lot happened in my life after my last post..

I got back to Bangalore, got married, we booked a flat, I flew to US 3 months after my marriage, spent a never-ending 6 months there, my hubby flew to Switzerland, I came back, then he came back just in time to celebrate our first anniversary together, we set up our home and are now living happily & hopefully ever-after too. :)

Wow, that was such a quick recap! Now I feel that I am update with my blog & I am going to genuinely try not to give up this time. I owe this to myself.