My 2010!!

January

Was full of snow and more snow! I was in the US n was very busy with work. Plus I was not well at all..The year started in very non-happening way. I was thousands of miles away from Mr.Boyfriend (Who is Mr.Husband now ). The only good thing about 2010 then was that I had declared in front of my parents that I want to get Married to Boyfriend. My dad took it pretty well, while mom was worried about matching our Janma-Patrikas.

February and March

I would say, more snow, more work, more tension, more health problems and of course as it was not enough more drama at home about my wedding. Our Janma-Patrikas.were not matching. So everyone was trying to come up with best possible solutions to make us apart. Three people stood strong as rocks. My dad - who always believed in me n my love, who knew that Boyfriend is the best guy for me, My darling Sister - who controlled my panicky mom all this while and kept me informed about every tiniest discussions my folks had about my marriage and last but not least Mr.Boyfriend - who was calm and quite n supportive as always, who handled parents from both sides, who understood me when i was the crankiest, n yes..who made me believe that i've chosen the best guy!!

April

I was back to India. No more snow (Finally..) but too much heat..n pollution..n crowd..n mess..(Give me the snow back plz..) At home, the-clash-of-the-titans was terminated.Everyone was in very happy mood. Wedding bells had started ringing. I was very happy to be back to my love. Days were not enough for us to plan our wedding and the honeymoon and the new place we were planning to call Home!

May

In-laws visited my folks. Did formal discussing about the wedding. We (I n him) couldn't be happier than that. We were planning the wedding somewhere in end of 2010. However our parents were more excited that us. Fixed the date of Engagement ceremony : 6th July 2010. My happy times had started.

June

Actually June 6th. We got engaged (yeyy). Couldn't stop smiling the whole day. People said both of us were looking very beautiful, n we looked made-for-each-other, n we were the happiest-would-be-bride'n'groom they've ever seen..but nobody knew what we were feeling..we were feeling relieved..yess u read it right..we were relieved that what we started has finally got a name now..that our relationship was now respected by everyone. Love marriage in India is still not that easy..though we show us forward n global in our movies. That night I slept like a baby.. after very long.

July

July started just like we spent entire June after our Engagement. Shopping, planning, saving, house-hunting and again, shopping! :) We tried very hard to search a decent place for us somewhere near work. We wanted our new-home to be ready before our wedding. But house-hunting in Mumbai is a serious business. Plus we had this huge best-place-for-honeymoon searching on going. Finally the big day came. 9th July. We got married. Now when I look at the pictures, I don't believe that it was me who looked so pretty :) All that decoration, the arrangements, the jewellery's, the fireworks ..they all seem so unreal...the time was so magical..the functions and the rituals, the teasing cousins and emotional relatives..I can give anything for that all to happen again..trust me..Mr.Boyfriend was finally Mr.Husband!!

Then one more awesome thing happened in July and that was our honeymoon to Maldives. This was my "the best" overseas trip so far. Mr.Husband is excellent travel companion. Everyone is very sweet n romantic during their honeymoon days. But I was especially happy coz I knew, that with him, its gonna last forever. We were two friends together on a break, we were two kids out on a field trip, two grown-ups relaxing themselves and of course two people ..madly in love..celebrating their love together... :)

August and September

Ahh..God..what a time..two 2 in our cozy house, hot coffee n lots of love! this was pretty much everyday scene..Mr.Husband celebrated my b'day in a fancy 5 star hotel..gifted me most beautiful ring ever. I'm jealous of myself..Then came Ganpati festival n Diwali. I never knew that festivals with him will be so much fun..Why didn't you meet me like 20 years ago?

November

God knows why, but November was not so sweet for us. We fought over stupid reasons, had sleepless nights n finally he had to go to US for work. Did God punish us for not being good to each other? If thats true, then I promise dear Lord, I'm gonna love him more than I can. But please please never ever make us apart...never..never ever..

December

Missed MR.Husband like anything. Thanks to my sisters who visited me for 10-12 days to cheer me up. Holydays are very hard without him around. Christmas was not merry n New Year was not happy..Thank God for letting us know at such early stage of our marriage that we can not live without each other. I miss you honeykins!

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!!!