Shutterbug in me!

Christmas day afternoon, I was working from home.. n (un)fortunately..not even a single case got logged..I was bored as hell..n feeling very sleepy..had nothing to do but to stare at the laptop..

Then I saw my pretty pink camera lying on the desk in front of me..I was dressed in my PJs..so thought of having a lil photo-shoot of my feet..in few of my fav shoes..

2011 : The year of getting this done!!

Heyya,

Are you all planning big things for the 'New years eve'? Well, I'm not..reason 1, Mr. Hubby is not around..so I'm not at all in any mood to celebrate anything...n reason 2, I'm spending all these days planning 'things-to-do' in 2011..

I've named 2011 as "The year of getting things done". Of course the things which are not making any progress since past few (?) months..

So this new year..i'm not going to make list of 'resolutions' ..but this time it will be like a long to-do list..n I'm gonna keep a diary where i'll keep track of progress that I make..n yeah..this time i'm going to concentrate on working on things that to talk about them..

So let 2011 be my year..
the year of finishing long-stuck things
the year of taking out the best in me
the year of working hard n harder
the year of talking less n lesser
the year full of new places n new adventure
the year full of love n laughter
the year jam packed with never seen fun
n yeah the year of getting things done!

Missing life.. :(

Mr.Husband has gone to USA for onsite project assignment. And I'm alone this holiday season. Christmas is not "Merry" n new year won't be "Happy"..I miss him more than I thought I would..

Baby, promise me that you'll come back soon..promise me that you'll never ever leave me alone..I'm lonely..I'm sad..I'm missing you my love...I'm missing the fun we had..

Kothimbir vadi / Coriander cutlets

Mr.Husband is not so good at guessing quantity of our daily vegetable needs yet :) So naturally we have lots of spare veggies lying around in the refrigerator.

Today we had a bowl full of coriander leaves to spare. So heres my 20 minutes Coriander cutlets (Kothimbir vadi in marathi).

Ingredients:

Coriander leaves - Clean, dry, freshly chopped - 1 cup

Green chillies - finely chopped or crushed - 4 to 5

Garlic - crushed - 5 to 6 cloves

Gram floor - 1 cup

Red chilly powder - 1 table spoon

Garam masala - 1 tea spoon

Oil - 2 table spoons

Salt - To taste

Water - 2 cups

Cooking steps:

- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustered seeds and cumin seeds to it.

- When the seeds start to pop, put in crushed chillies and garlic.

- Sauté for minute then add chopped coriander to it. Add in red chilly powder, garam masala and salt.

- Pour water in the pan and let the mixture boil nicely for 5-7 minutes.

- Carefully add gram floor to it while constantly stirring to avoid lumps.

- Cover it and let it cook/steam for 5 minutes on medium heat.

- Greece a plate or tray with oil and put the cooked mixture on it.

- Spread the mixture uniformly by patting with wooden spatula. Use oil + water if using hand instead of spatula.

- Garnish with freshly grated coconut. Slice with the help of knife.

While serving:

Serve hot with roti.

The cutlets can also be shallow fried and served with curd or ketchup.

Do try this at home. Happy eating!

Ganpati Bappa....Moryaaa!!!

Undoubtedly, Ganesh Festival is my most favorite festival of all. Not just because I get to meet my whole family and relish awesome modak treats, but also because Ganpati bappa is my favorite of all Gods! (Yes..being a Hindu, you get to choose your favorite god amongst 33 billions of them..cool isn't it??)



What is Ganpati festival without my dad's awesome decoration?! Pappa..you are a sweetheart! We love these decorations! We promise that we keep this tradition ongoing!



Aai, Rasika, Tupa, Omkar and Gopi..We are a Ganpati Mandal in ourselves!! Loved the gauri Pujan this year as my in laws visited us on the day of Satyanarayan Puja. Spiritual environment with loved ones..can this get any better?



Like all yesteryear's Ganpati days, this year's Ganeshotsav was also full of prayers and sweets and more prayers and more sweets! But waht made this Ganpati more special was my darling husbands company during all these holy days! Mr.Husband was very enthusiastic all the time and participated in all the Aartis actively.



Saddest part of the season...the immersion. We'll miss you bappa. Please keep your blessings on all of us and give us strength to worship you every year with all our hearts!

Universal acceptance...hummm

Heyya!!

Remember I told you that I attended "Art of Living" workshop few months back? Was going through a pile of documents on the shelf the other day and found my booklet of AOL class. I don't know how I find things just when I badly need them. These coincidences or lets say omens make my belief of the "One unexplained source of life" stronger!!

So yeah..I found this booklet and started reading it. And I couldn't believe that I myself wrote it. The tiny booklet had answers to all my questions. Past month was very hectic. Not just at the work but also with our new married life. Mr.Husband has got new job and will be joining it next month. The idea of him not being there with me for 24 hours made me first sad n then cranky n finally angry with him. I couldn't tolerate the work pressure and increasing misunderstandings. And just when I thought enough is enough..I found key to the chest of happiness!! My AOL booklet!

The very first thing the Guru taught us in AOL is "Universal Acceptance". Like every other human being, my mood changes with respect to time, place, situation and company. Many times I get annoyed or even sad with people or circumstances which I know I can not change. So what should we do when we get into such situation? The question might be hard for us, however Guruji has very simple answer to all such problems - Accept everything around you!!

So what happens when you accept everything which could bother you? You don't be sad anymore. Your mind becomes calm and you get power to think about making the situation better. Accept people around you and you wont be jealous or unnecessarily competitive or feel less of yourself. Accept situations around you so that you wont feel helpless and clueless or lack of options. Accept whatever comes your way and find yourself peaceful all the time.

What if you are size 8? Accept it. Wear the cloths that suit you and be happy at THIS moment. Dont fool yourself by dreaming about being size 4 again and wearing that stunning LBD. Don't forget that you are missing the present in pursuit of false future. Accept who you are and be happy.

What if your loved ones don't act the way you want? Accept it. Only this way you will be closer to their hearts and see the pure love behind their actions. Don't let yourself get blind by the superficial behavior of people. Accept everyone and try to find out the reason behind their nature. You may get surprised to find how unique everyone is and how you can learn from their unique characteristics.

I have accepted everything around me now. Right from my weight to my nature and from my husband's nature to my family. Now I know that I look pretty being curvey and it's good to be little lazy. I also know that Mr.Husband is switching job just to give me better living and yes I know that theres nothing as special in the world as family!!

So accept everything that comes your way and let yourself be happy all the time!!

Jai Gurudev!!!

Don't lose your mind..lose your weight.. :)

Its the title of a book by famous dietitian Rujuta Diwekar. Don't ring any bells? She is the magician behind Kareena kapoor's sexy size zero figure, Anil Ambani's marathon spirit and Saif ali khan's hot in his 50s look.

Don't be under impression that i'm reading this cause I want to be size zero...but lets face it...i wont mind loosing few pounds (who would actually?!!). So I'm reading this book not just because I want to shed some pounds but because I want to regain my complete health.

Call it professional hazards (??) or my laziness, but I know I don't feel as young and healthy as a 24 yr old should. I am a software professional. So I'm stuck at one place for the whole day. When I'm at home, all social I can get is through facebook. So again sitting in front of a laptop. Cooking for husband and I and cleaning our one bedroom apartment is not called exercise. I had to take it seriously when I huffed and puffed up the stairs, talking on phone for more than 20-30 minutes made me feel tired and 3 hours shopping made my legs tremble.

So like an ideal IT professional I googled these things out. I knew that there is no pill or a syrup which will make me fit as a fiddle in just one day. So I started surfing about diets and exercise regimen and yoga etc. While all these things were on my mind, I found this book at my usual book retailer. And I must say that this is one of the books that have changed my life.

Rujuta knows what she is talking when she tells you about nutrition or diet or exercise. Being a science student I can validate the theory she has written. Her fundas are simple and clear. No fad diets no extreme workouts. I know that if I stick to her principles I am going to get good results. So from today, I'm going to do what Rujuta says.

1. Never wake up to tea or coffee. Eat something ( a fruit or cup of milk) within 20 minutes after you get up.

2. Eat every 2-3 hours. Break ur meals in 6-7 small meals and keep eating the whole day. Dont stay hungry (and dont stay foolish..right Ru?)

3. Eat according to the activities you do. More active - eat more. Sitting at one place - lock ur mouth.

4. Eat at least 2 hours before your bedtime.

Sounds simple right? Let me follow this for for next few days and tell you all the result. I am adding one more principle to the above 4 as I know this 5th one is most necessary for me.

5. Drink water - whenever wherever however you can!

I think I've already got my b'day resolution for this b'day (which is just 5 days away..yippie). I am going to stick to these principles no matter what..coz I know they are going to help me.. thanks Ru for writing such wonderful book right when I needed it!

Congratulations Stranger friend!

I travel to work by company bus. I think I saw her a year an a half ago.

Thin..fair..short..long black hair..sparkling eyes..n innocent look. She wore a beautiful green n orange salwaar kameez..handful of red n white bangles..thick sindoor ..n bight shiny gold mangal-sutra...From her appearance anyone would easily guess that she was newly married.

She used to board the bus 3 stops later than mine..I used to observe her getting in..I knew that she was new to the company...she had a nervous yet very cute look when she used to search for place to sit.. I used to offer her one sometimes..she used to smile back n whisper thank u..I used to nod in welcome tone..this was all the relationship we had..

I used to see her at work...sometimes in the canteen..sometimes across the lobby...she had made new friends now..the initial nervous look had taken a place of confidence n happiness...dont know why but i felt happy for she being adjusted in new place..

whenever my girl pals used to discuss about good Indian dresses or jewellerys...dont know why but I started giving her examples.."U know that punjabi girl from B block..she has this dress in white..looks much better than red"..or something like.."U the girl who gets down in Ghansoli? She has a similar bangle"..Now I have started observing her without realizing it..

n then I went to US..for good three months..of course I had forgotten about this friend-not-so-friend. When I returned, I got busy with wedding plans..n then wedding..honeymoon..settling in new place...

n today after almost 8 months I saw her again in the bus...in totally different look...she was wearing black leggings n a long red tunic...had a tiny mangalsutra...no sindoor today..but trendy bindi...no bangles..only a delicate wrist watch...hair tied in pony-tail..I was observing her more to make sure if she's the same newly-wed-newly-joined girl...n then I saw her little bump as she sat uncomfortably ..she is pregnant..

And I'm very very happy for her..just like I would be if I hear that my best frnd or my sister is pregnant.. I'm very happy for you my stranger friend..I wish you and your baby all the happiness in the world!

Hey..remember me.. :)

Heyya,

Its me..again after a long time..but this time I have solid excuse..now i'm married ya..I have so many responsibilities..A whole 5'11'' person to take care of..balancing my home and work..meeting up deadlines..being faithful to my old buddy - GMAT..n yeah..on top of all this..looking happy!!

Huff..let me tell u..all this years i though that getting married is really a big deal..but now i would confidently say..IT IS REALLY A BIG DEAL!

So now I owe you a complete wedding report, a detailed honeymoon report :) and a brief life-after-I-do report..

But let me tell you dahlings..these days i'm completely in my GMAT prep mode. Back to Experts Global coaching..back to my beloved SCs..n my enemy RCs..Again full-on active on GMAT club..again going through B-school rankings (and fundings of course!!). Hope this time I stand upto my own expectations. Mr.Husband is also expecting a good score from me..so the pressure has doubled this time....lets see if I can pull it through..

Wish me luck friends!!

Planning season!

So what comes next after the engagement? You’ll say ..."The wedding ofcourse..silly!"..well no no no no no my friends, let me educate you..

What comes after engagement is - wedding preparations ..ta da!!!

There are zillions of things to do when you plan a wedding, but if you are planning a big fat Indian wedding...OMG..they are zillion raised to zillion (don’t do the math. its just an expression).

I thought from the start, that I will give my mom all the rights to choose sarees and jewelry for me (I cant tell you how happy she is to do all this!!), my dear sister Rasika will be my manager..like she approves (and rejects) what mom chooses. And then my dad will handle all the invitations and decorations and rest of the things. So in this plan, all I needed to do was to show up on the big day..wearing most pretty saree and looking at my best of course..

But looks like I was not thinking of the wedding ceremony as big (read humongous) as it actually is. After sneaking out of all the weddingy tasks mentioned above, I was still left with pile of things to do.

1. Help my beloved would-be hubby with his wedding shopping

2. Look for new place for us to live after the wedding

3. Plan our honeymoon.

And let me tell you, that there are tens of sub tasks and again sub-sub tasks to each of these bullets. If I'll start writing about everything in detail...well..lets just say..I won't.

So long story short...Let me just tell you the status of these action items..

On 27th June 2010, We are

1. Done with Vishal's shopping

2. Planned to look for new house when we return from our vacation

3. Finalized yatra.com's Maldives package!

Happy Happy!!

I'm back. Again after really very long time. Days have been busy ..as always.. :) but this time..They were full of exciting things! So major events of past month - 1. I attended Art of living workshop (planning to write a detailed post about this later) and 2. I got engaged!!! :)

This is happening so fast that sometimes I have to make myself realize that this is not a dream. So as you all know that I've known Vishal from past one and a half year and last month we decided to share our feelings with our folks and how everything went well..so now guys, I'm officially engaged to him!

The ceremony was on 6th of June at my hometown - kolhapur. Theres no need of telling that I spend prior two weeks in shopping for the event. The whole ceremony was per maharashrtian tradition. I never knew that I would so enjoy wearing traditional sarees and jewelery! Vishal was looking so cute in the brown kurta that I selected for him. Don't we look nice together?

The ceremony was supposed to start at 4:30 in the eve..but my beautician came late so my darling fiancée had to wait! Finally the event started at 6:00 (yeah I know..she took almost one and half hour to make me this pretty!) with a puja. Vishal's and my parents performed a little puja as we were about to make a new relation between two families.

Then of course there was ring ceremony. Vishal had picked this most beautiful ring for me. Finally the ceremony ended with sharing gifts between families and awesome dinner.

Did I mention that I got all sorts of gifts too?!! Vishal is such a sweetheart..he went to my shopping with his guyz n got me 3 beautiful dresses.. i didn't know he has such a good choice..well..can't say that I didn't know..after all he chose me!! :)

The day ended with smiles on our face and dreams of happily-ever-after in our eyes. Could this have been better? Definitely not!!!

Vishal - Thanks for making my life so wonderful..I love you!

Latest read

Finished reading 'Witness the Night' by Kishwar Desai last week. Its about a 14 yr old girl who is accused of killing 13 of her family members in one night and a 45 yr old spinster social worker trying her very best to save this innocent child...

Sounds heavy right? It definitely was.. considering the controversial topics it covered, the book was beautifully written...the arrangement of scenes and the flow of story was awesome.. Kishwar definitely is a great story-teller...I couldn't help myself reading the book whenever I got shortest possible time..It spell-binds you till you finish it...but yes..its not a book, you will feel happy or peaceful after reading...your mind cant stop tinking about the problems the small child faced and keeps cursing the whole community and yourself (for no reason) for not doing anything about it...

It covers deep and thought-provoking topics like - girl foetus abortion, child pregnancy, girl child abuse, gender discrimination, and an uncontrollable anger generated from this..

Per the satisfaction of nice book reading I would rate it as 3 outa 5. However the storm of thoughts that follows after you finish it...is un-measurable...

Here I am...after a long break :)

See I told you, I am not a kind of person who will start writing a blog and religiously continue it. So here I am after a long gap. again, telling some new news and refreshing some old stories!

What happened with me in these 2-3 months? Well, I would day, last 2-3 months were the most happening months of my life. Long story short.. I'm getting married!! :) This is one of the most sweet thing in my life. I'm getting married to man of my dreams. Very sweet, very caring and cent percent perfect match for me!

When we say that we love a person, what do we mean by that? Do we love his/her looks? the personality? the way he/she talks? the way he/she behaves with other people? his/her thoughts? ummm..i think its the whole package.. isn't it? When I say I love Vishal (thats his name by the way), i dont think of any particular thing about him at that very moment..he is just a feeling for me..a feeling of warmth..a feeling of peace..a feeling of positivity...a feeling of Love.. of course :)

Means we can not define love in words known to man kind...isn't it same for other divine feelings? like faith or honesty or respect..you can not completely define these feelings..as well as you can not measure these feelings.. they either exist or no... you cant say that I'm 99% honest..means you are 1% dishonest... would you trust a person who is 1% dishonest? no..you wont.. so you cant measure these things..

and probably this is the reason..these things are priceless..you cant buy them..and definitely cant sell them....is this the reason that these things are much more values that the materialistic things? probably.. but yes...you will not enjoy a single comfort of life if you dont have one of these divine feelings...

Someone to respect

someone to care for

something to dream about

and definitely

someone to Love!!

This is dedicated to Vishal!! Thanks Vishoo for coming into my world...n showing me the true meaning of Love!!!

I Do!!

Why do we hesitate doing some things when we know that they are very good for us? For example..Exercise! Everybody knows that regular workout keeps you healthy and fresh, then why don't we do that? I am trying to find this answer since like forever (and also trying to start working out ;)) but I've still not found it.

Exercise is just one single things of my humongous "things-to-do-regularly" list. I honestly tell you that every year I carry a same list of "new-year-resolutions" and I have never followed even a single of them. The list keeps growing on and on. The same 'wont-bite-my-nails-ever-again' and 'drink-4-liters-of-water-every-day' and 'call-up-my-folks-every-day' things are there on my resolution list every year.

And on the contrary, why do we do some things religiously when we know that there’s nothing good coming out of it? Like watching TV like crazy.. or keep eating chocolate chip cookies one after the other? or find different ways to simply waste your time...

There’s very powerful thing called 'mind' which controls this! yeah yeah..we all know if-you-can-dream-it-you-can-do-it and mind-power fundas.. but lets just think..why cant we control our own mind? why do we need to push so hard to do a small thing against our will? If we can control all our actions (and many a times those of others too!), then why cant our own minds?

Probably because we spend more time thinking about the world than ourselves...or probably because we have lost the power to listen to our own voice in all the chaos..(or probably we are just lazy..true for me at least :S) We know that those who can control their minds are called saints and sages..but are they really different from us? Can’t a normal person like you and me control their own mind? when we think of changing the world and bringing a revolution..cant we start from changing ourselves?

We have to start some time..and for me..let the time be now!! (I had read in some self motivation or blah blah book..that if you make a public commitment, you tend to be honest with what you say and try with all your best to achieve it) So here I go...

I promise to myself that I am going to spend at least 2 hours of the day just with myself!

I promise that I'm going to do exercise every single day.

I promise that I'm going to take good care of my health.

I promise that I'm going to utilize my time in productive things.

I promise that I'm going to prepare for my GMAT everyday.

huff...feels light... (Or may be too heavy..that I need to do all these things everyday..than to recline on a sofa..watching 'friends' episodes n'th time.)

But yess..I'm going to do it!! And I'll definitely keep you posted about my progress!!

So till next time - Take care and have fun!!

My first blog post..finally!

It’s been a year since I've been thinking of writing down things that I see, feel and think J . Now the obvious question will be – why didn’t I do it? The answer is, My friends, “that my last year was so full of excitements and new things and great experiences and overwhelming incidents...that it’s hard to pen everything down!!”

He He.. Do you believe me? Then I guess you don’t know me so well..The only reason is laziness. This whole year, I’ve been too lazy to sit down and concentrate on my thoughts! But as some wise person has said “It’s never late to start a good thing”; here I am. Sharing some new happenings and some old stories!

I guess this is enough of prologue. Henceforth I’ll definitely (try to J ) be more prompt to share some exciting topics with you all.

Till next time – take care and have fun!