Many years back, there was a time when my mom was transferred out of Mumbai and my dad was in-charge of the kitchen. We ate routine breakfast on weekday’s. Mom was home on the weekends to cook us something special or non-routine. If mom couldn't come on weekend, then it was troublesome for dad because he had to cook us something interesting now. One such weekend - I told him that I wanted to eat Uttapama since we had the batter. He made me one with chunks of raw tomato and on

Hello Dearest Ones, Here is a sweet treat for all of you. I don't know how or why I wasn't aware of this before but I was watching something on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVAQXdFza54) and found this. A recipe for homemade chocolate. I did a little research online and here is something <3 Homemade chocolate is very easy to make with these 5 simple and easily available ingredients and ... it is definitely yummy. Try it out. Here is a pic of my son after eating it

I couldn't get a more sensational title than this. Haha. "Don't buy books" I would like to add "Don't buy books if you really want to read them." In all honesty, I really mean it and here is what I would like to share. Firstly, this blog isn't about the fact that there is lack of space to keep books or that the books will spoil or that we won't read them again so why keep them. These are good points against buying books too but what I have to say is ... well... how can it be

We had a small vessel full of water kept on our window sill for our feathered friends. It had a green layer on the bottom. My mom never cleaned it. I normally refill the water when I water my plants. Recently I thought of cleaning it wondering if the water is fit for the bird’s consumption. I was afraid that birds would not come to drink if they found a new smell. I thought of taking my chances, at least I wouldn’t worry or wonder about it. I cleaned the vessel, filled it wi

A drop of water can be educational. I am sure that you must have seen a drop of water trickle down. There are some who go straight down and then there are some that go zigzag. Sometimes they stop and sometimes they get help from a drop from above. As far as I can understand, both have the same gravitational pull. What could be the reason for this variation? Why does one go directly down while the other one wanders here and there. Isn’t there something to learn from this? Ther

This week's Monday muse got a little delayed as I was in New Jersey to celebrate Heartfulness day. It was wonderful experience and I am so happy I could go there. About the post. 10 years back , I was at my aunt's place helping her find some pics which now, I have absolutely no memory but she wanted to show them to some relatives. After the slide show got over, I got my incentive. My aunt had made dhokla and Tang for everyone. The minute I got it - I finished eating it in 4-5

"Airplane" squealed my toddler as he pointed to the plane in the sky. Winter is finally waning and we were both happy to be outside. "Yes! The airplane" I confirmed and we walked towards the park. By the time we reached the park, another airplane roared by and he gleefully pointed it out too. Only, what he said brought me to realize something and hence this post. He said, "same-same airplane." I corrected "Second airplane." He said "same-same second airplane." I corrected

Life and family keeps one busy and it takes a cut in the finger to make one sit, breathe and write. So there I was, on early Tuesday morning, making parathas, and the ghee (that I got from India and kept in the refrigerator) was a little difficult to remove. So, using all my strength - I pulled the spoon and got a cut. It hurt a little but I didn't realize that it bled and thankfully it didn't touch the food but this is how it started - My index finger which is also my son's

Thanks to a very dear friend, I have been able to go to the gym regularly-ish. There I overheard the trainer say - "Don't say you can't do it. Say that you are trying!" Something instantly clicked in my mind and joined one of my heart strings. Don't say you can't do it. Say that you are trying! While the first one is a definite end, the second one has hope. Let's go with hope. The second lesson was taught to me by my critique friends. My writing has (and hopefully had) this o

There is this funny thing about human nature which I am sure you too must have noticed. When we are in one situation we feel that it will remain the same always. Summer was nice and exactly how it should be but a few days back - the weather changed dramatically and it had become cold. Since this will be our first experience with cold in DC, I asked around - Many people blamed global warming and said that winter must have come early. I removed all the jackets from their hibe

Having an intercaste marriage, I get this question a lot - what Language are you teaching your kid. My honest reply is that I talk normally in my Mumbaiya Hindi and decent American English. I have always believed in communicating from my heart rather than talking correctly. Having answered this, this post isn't really about the question on linguistics. The post is about the following. I love the gibberish my son says. I know it isn't gibberish to him so when he says something

With His grace, We have a sunday-meditation group, 5 mins walking from our house. It has made our life so very simple. What is like a cherry on the top is that most of the people there, join us for breakfast in our house. Hence, I am learning so many lovely things about cooking because of this. Recently I learned that breaking curry leaves helps enhance the aroma. Try it if you don't do it already. I never broke the leaves as my mom never broke it. I would wash it and simply