My experiments with cooking

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well~Virginia Wolf

Home-made semolina cake

For the survival of human life on earth; food, shelter and clothing   are the utmost important requirements. Food is 'fuel' for the 'machinery' of our body.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food"~ G. Bernard Shah

People eat to live but I think I am among-st one of the people who live to eat and is always crazy for food. My mom told me that I got hungry as soon as I was born. I have tried many delicious dishes as my mom is a good cook. What I did in childhood was making chapatis, cakes and sweets of mud and decorating with flowers. I tried to make small real chapatis to serve in my toy plates but most of them were burnt. When it was time to make full fledged chapatis, I did not even want to make tea or go close to kitchen except to eat something.

ulta-pulta halwa burfi

Up to my intermediate, I was busy in my studies and did not even care to know how a simple vegetable is cooked. I did not even know the exact name of all the pulses and spices. But since it is said that passion is in the blood of family; my passion for cooking also developed like my mom during my holidays of graduation. I was free at home and mom often kept my saying that i should learn cooking now as I am old enough know to learn it and self-made food is essential for everyone even if one is working. No one can eat food from restaurants daily and the food made by servants is not a healthy practice. 

chocolate cake

One day my mom tried to make me learn making rice but I got so confused. I just forgot the recipe; got irritated and said it would be easy for me to solve engineering mathematics problems than cooking. Some other day, I again tried to make tempering for vegetables but every-time I got failed and either burnt onions or the onions were left partially cooked. Then mom asked me to try snacks and deserts if I can't learn making meals. 

She told me recipe for cake and I tried it the next day. I was so dumb in cooking at that time that I put butter directly in mold placed in pressure cooker than putting butter in container first before placing it on mold. I became laughing stock at home for this incident. I also started laughing for my act and this incident makes me laugh whenever I remember it. 

shahi tukra

I totally lost hope but my mom did not and she asked me to go for cooking classes with her where I could have demonstration from another person and then again mom would repeat it in the kitchen helping me to prepare dishes. Those cooking classes proved like a boon for me. I got inspired from other cooking learners who encouraged me to keep on trying dishes again and again and never lose hope. 

bread pudding

After my cooking classes were over, I started practicing for just tempering first and always kept on calling mom for help after few steps of cooking. After learning some basics of cooking, I tried making vegetable of lady finger first, then of potatoes and cauliflower. But all I did was under mom's guidance.Then, mom started asking me to prepare dishes myself without her guidance and help;but I often failed in her absence. 

magic cake with out bake

One day mom had to go out of town urgently and she could no get time to make breakfast for us. She asked me to prepare Upma(Indian salty dish of semolina) for breakfast. I was so copycat at that time that I copied the recipe from my dairy of cooking classes. I did not even care to check the quantity of the recipe written in my diary and the quantity I was going to prepare. I put two bowls of vegetable oil in tempering of upma instead of one and what I made was liquid soup with semolina floating in oil. I felt discouraged and though everyone would laugh at me but everyone appreciated my attempt to cook food in mom's absence. My dad removed extra oil form upma and everyone did breakfast with that little fatty upma. I think it was the best breakfast of my life. Everyone told mom about the incident when she came home. Mom got so happy, appreciated my attempt and asked me to keep trying dishes in her absence. 

dhokla

Now, whenever mom went out of town, I prepared dishes; sometimes potatoes were bit burnt; pulses were bit salty; cookies got over burnt; Dhokla was not spongy;  pasta and noodles were sticky; got splashing of hot oil over my skin; got my finger cut. I also faced difficulty in finding utensils and containers of pulses and made kitchen messy with peels and splattered spices. Then, I asked for tips from mom and even searched for tips from websites. After continuous practice, i started cooking food fine. Our guests 

also appreciated my dishes. I got inspired,  improved my skill of garnishing and often shared photos of my dishes on social sites. I even learned innovative food items from websites like 'Magic cake ' without bake', 'Ulta-Pulta halwa' and 'Bread Pizza'.

besan burfi

Today when I remember my cooking experience and my previous funny incidents; I could not even imagine I would make snacks and desserts other than meals. All this happens only if we have motivating family members, some faith in ourselves and determination to learn something. If we try, then only we can achieve something. May be I am not a chef but at least I am not dependent on anyone for my meals and express love for my family by cooking food myself.

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."~Abraham Lincoln

Fever of e-shopping

Sale Sale Sale! 

Ah! this word attracts majority of the people in this world especially women. This activity of 'shopping' changes the mood of people, driving them crazy . But in this era of rat race where everyone is busy developing career and making money, who has time to  spend long hours on shopping out of their busy schedule??. Well, thanks to the new era of technology; shopping can be done just from home through laptop or mobile phone.

A tremendous variety of stuff and discount is available online on websites. The customers can just relax at home and take their time to decide which product to buy. And thanks to the competition between the entrepreneurs; today there are more than hundreds of shopping websites available to the customers. The whole world is now on our finger tips. The products are just one click away from us.

People can compare the selling price of their desired product from different websites and choose the most profitable option. Even gifts can be sent easily to near and dear ones by just prepaying the order through banking and delivering the product at your dear one's address. The order is available just within a few days in front of our doors.

The retired people who can't walk much to the stores due to health issues can order their products and even medicines at home.

The frequent and mass shoppers have another advantage. If they shop for more than 1000 or 10000 currency, they get more discounts on their payments. Another bounce is that online stores don't hire any salesperson who forces you to buy products and you don't have to feel awkward  when you reject an item due to insufficient money or while buying an item for personal hygiene or while looking for the price tag of the product before even trying it. The 'cash on delivery' option is available for customers who don't trust online payment. The websites also  offer good customer service. 

Just as a coin is two faced, every facility has some negative effects too. Often the customers don't get the desired product by online shopping. The product varies in quality and design as against the picture of the product displayed on the website. Sometimes the product delivered is damaged. In worst cases, there also becomes payment problem or product replacement problem. We are also not sure about the quality of products especially food items. The food product can become stale during shipping and prove harmful. Some sites offer free shipping only if our purchase price is above some threshold price set by companies. So, customers are unable to get their product because they can't afford that much or are forced to buy some other items unnecessarily to increase their billing price. Sometimes, the customer wants the product urgently or may be he doesn't have patience to wait! Also, if the  internet connection is not good, there may be failure in transaction. Moreover, if a person lives in rural area, it may take more than a week to deliver the product.

Instead of creating pros and cons list, it is better if we adopt means to do shopping smartly. First have a close look on the website. Is the website trustworthy?! Is the brand of product a good one? Always check the reviews of product before buying it. Subscribe for newsletters of stores of brand to get last information about new stocks and offers. Search for your product in other sites also and check where the price is minimum. Check 'return and refund policy' of products. First try to get product from the nearby store. If product is not available, then only try it online. The unbranded products whose rate is much higher online can easily got through local shops. Don't buy expensive items like mobile, laptops, home appliances etc online. There are more chances of fraud in it.

   

                                    

There is rightly said- "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Always be a smart shopper!

Happy shopping!

Rakhi-the perpetual bond

Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister??!-Alice Walker.

India is a land of festivals. These festivals are celebrated in India with great zeal and enthusiasm from the dawn of human civilization. Every festival has its own roots and significance.

'Raksha Bandhan' is the festival of eternal bond of brother-sister affection. If we break the word 'Raksha Bandhan', we get two words- Raksha and Bandhan which means protection and tying the bond of love. It helps to protect against odds and troubles and reinforces family relationship among the siblings. It falls on the full moon day of Shravan month of Hindu calendar. Sisters prepare 'pooja thali' and worship Goddesses.

On this auspicious day, a thread is tied by the sister on the wrist of her brother and 'Tilak' and rice is marked on his forehead. Some girls even make handmade rakhis. They also prepare mouthwatering dishes and sweets for their brothers and wear new apparels. They pray for the health, wealth and prosperity of their beloved brothers. And in return of their sister's affection, the brothers give gifts to them and vow to protect their sisters. 

In this era of Rat race, where every individual has to flow his sweat to earn a good lifestyle; some of the youngsters have to go either abroad or distant cities in their own nation. In early days, it was very difficult to celebrate this eve for them. But with the blooming technology and development, everything has become controlled on our fingertips.Those siblings who can't visit each other send parcels of rakhis, rakhi cards or e-rakhis.

Well, this was the picture of the present scenario of how our festival is celebrated. If we revert back to past, then there lies a history behind this eve.

In the Vedic period, on a full moon day of 'Shravan' month of Hindus , the deities and demons were fighting a battle against each other. Unfortunately, the demons were in a stronger position as compared to deities. Lord Indra was very much anxious about the outcome of the battle. His wife Indrani could not bear his condition and prayed to almighty to help her husband. She had firm faith in God.. She prepared Talisman with her religious power and tied it around Indra's right wrist. She believed that her talisman will safeguard Indra from the attack of deities. Eventually, her faith bore fruit, and the demons lost the battle and Lord Indra was victorious.  As the talisman had  the power of shielding the person whosoever wore it, it came to be known as Raksha Sutra and the ceremony of tying it was called Raksha Bandhan.

Although this festival is celebrated with full vigor, there is a harsh reality behind this celebration. Though there is an abundant change in the commercialization and celebration field but the heart breaking truth is that there is little knowledge and more concentration on celebration of this pious festival among the present generation. 

Nowadays this festival is being celebrated just for the sake of fun and frolic. Children just tie cartoon rakhis like Chhota bheem, pokemon etc without performing any rituals and even use these as toys later on. Although rakhis of pictures of spirituality are also available but these are thrown away after few days. This offensive act of deterioration of deities must be avoided and rakhis should be immersed in water bodies.

Keeping in mind the social and cultural value of this festival, we must join hands to preserve the purity and sanctity of our rich culture. It's our sacred duty to make the present generation learn the social-religious, ethical and mythological value of festivals. We must vow to make the world, our brothers and sisters not only in theory, but also in practice. Let us use rakhi as a symbol of brotherhood.