Lunch Boxes At School/College

Many years I did not carry lunch box to school as I always felt it was wasting precious time...
Playing desk cricket was more important than eating...

Later with morning school, there was no option but to have your first meal at school...

Here are the favourite recipes I used to have for school/college recess...

1. Phodnichi Poli
2. Cutlets
3. Upma
4. Neeru Dosa ( I loved them the most. Made by my dear friend Shobha's mother)
5. Pithla Poli
6. Poli and Bhendi Bhaji
7. Tomato bhaji and Poli (Made by my dera friend Ruchira's mother) 
8. Murmuryacha Chivda (made by my sweet friend Reena's mother) 
9. khottu - Idli in Jackfruit leaves. (Made by my dear friend Shobha's mother)  
10. Sandwiches
11. Misal paav at Somaiya canteen.

Wow...

A morning to remember

It was quite a chilly Sunday morning... deep in the woods of Sanjay Gandhi National Park....

Trekked with my father...  worth it...
watched birds.... Observed trees... Admired the blissful lake...
Thanked the forest department for preserving the green patch...

Clicked photos... Loved the cottage with Warli painting....
Spoke to strangers and was happy to connect...

It was a morning which  was special to me...
It was a morning celebrated in a special way....
With mother in my heart and father besides me...

The woods lovely dark and deep made me realise....
I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep.... 

Happy Children's Day...

Things that I want to do....

• Laugh insanely...
• Recieve loads of wrapped gifts...
• Dance like a child...  with innocent movements...
• Be a part of a group dance..
• Act in Children's drama
• Be scard of rides and yell while being forced onto one...
• Be scolded by elders...
• Make drawings in the air with fingers while watching the sun set...
• Drink Rain Water...
• Play a mischief...
• Make a toothpaste moustache.... 
• Watch Home Alone on 24th Dec....
• Wait for the Stocking to be filled up...
• Be proud of Handmade greeting made by my friend on my B'day....
• Go to my Alma mater...  And sing School Anthem...
• Play Lagori with my friends...
• Watch Giant Robot and Spiderman animation
• Sleep while studying... or listening to songs with earphones on...
• Be kissed when sleeping...
• Throw Mobiles, laptops and Tabs in dustbin..

A life that was.. A life that is..

On this very important day of my life.. I take pride in celebrating life...
I promise to myself that I shall try to live it to the fullest...

I have always loved birthdays and know it is important to remember and celebrate them and make them special...

One extremely important reason for celebrating the day is because it is also the most special day in the life of your parents... not respecting it...  not loving it... not enjoying it, is humilating them....

So dear friends.. if you love your parents and the family that mean the most to you... always celebrate birthdays...
Make a birthday special for someone... hug the person who takes extra efforts to make your birthday extra special...
Be fortunate to have people around you who love you... It doesn't matter if your dearest ones are not with you... Always be sure their blessing are with you forever... 

facebook at 12:30 am

Yes that is the time when I have a last look of the day... or the first look of the next day...

just quick scan of all the goodnight posts from India and fresh morning posts from friends far away...
It gives me a feel of where they are and what they are doing.. It makes me feel CONNECTED with them..

The type of posts also help me understand them... 
And I enjoy it... I have a done a bit of my analysis and I am not going to post it.... 
But let me tell I enjoy the child in all these people....

I hate the "LIKES" on many of the sensitive posts...

I mean what make them like those... obviously the LIKE means they relate to the topic and empathise with the person/issue/situation.. but strongly I find them RUDE... 

Then there are few who like their own posts which makes me chuckle...

Let me tell you that in the times of WhatsApp and many more, from which I have deliberately refrained myself, a post on facebook seems outdated....

But I love it... I love the posts, the photos, the comments and everything about facebook... I'm grateful as not only I was able to connect with my friends and family who have been out-of-touch for a long long time, but also it gave my mother the opportunity to connect with her dear ones before she suddenly left us... 

I hope facebook goes strong and does not age the orkut way...

School Projects

School Projects:

Presently my daughter Aarya is loaded heavily with projects on all the possible subjects at school.

I am amazed by the enthusiasm with which she works on them.
I also feel guilty that I am unable to devote the time I should, to help her work on them.

She is so independent. Also the topics for the project are quite interesting and make me think...

There was one which asked to list the difference in her primary and high school... She has done a marvelous job and I loved it the most... It also taught her to appreciate both the schools and made me remember mine....

Another one was on Contribution towards betterment of the society... Few things she wrote were idealistic...
1. No Smoking
2. Respect Eleders
3. education
4. Garbage Management

But gave us points to discuss upon... we discussed how does she plan to implement those....
She realised that she has to respect elders... OK now mothers are exceptions... 
She had many-a-times prepared charts on "No Smoking" and posted them on trees outside our house...
She does not allow us to throw garbage out of the car windows, especially if it is not bio-degradable...
Education is one thing she needs to think upon.. as to how she can contribute...

There was one on Ancient Indian civilizations... Now that one was my favorite so I contributed a bit more...
Aarya loved it too... We have promised to read the Meluha together in one of the vacations to experience the civilization then.... 

One more project was on family tree... That was one on which we argued and argued hard...
She insisted on snaps of each relation .... mausi, mama, bua, phuphaji, etc... 
It was hard explaining her that it is okay if she does not paste a few snaps...
like she does not have a mausaji...
She insisted on one.... else the teacher shall give her less marks...
I wonder if that is the case... For I know of single parents who would find it difficult to get the entire branch listed...
I am sure the schools these days are sensitive towards these issues and would not insist on such things...





Then there was one in which they had to use palm cutouts of each family member and write 5 things which that family member likes and 5 things which are common in her and that family member... Again we enjoyed listing down the things... Taking prints of oviee's palm was the cutest of them all...

All said and done... school projects can be considered as a burden or used as an opportunity to interact with your child...
I generally am not good at these things... but enjoyed it this time....

I am back with one of my favourite song

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Manzil Muskil to kya,
Dhundla Sahil to kya,
Tanha Ye Dil to Kya
Ho Hooo

Raah Pe Kante Bikhre agar,
Uspe to phir bhi chalna hi hai,
Saam Chhupale Suraj magar,
Raat ko ek din Dhalana hi hai,

Rut ye tal jayegi,
Himmat rang layegi,
Subha phir aayegi
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Hogi hame to rehmat ada,
Dhup kategi saaye tale,
Apni khuda se hai ye Dua,
Manzil lagale humko gale

Zurrat so baar rahe,
Uncha Ikraar rahe,
Zinda har pyar rahe
Hoooo

Yeh Hosla Kaise Juke,
Yeh Aarzoo Kaise Ruke - 2

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara....

Life is beautiful.... Enjoy it to your fullest.... It is important to be strong... take efforts to be happy and never pity thyself....  Sorrows are a fact of life....  You need to overcome them.... It is challenging... Don't let memories weaken you... Fulfill dreams...  Yours... As well as others too... Be the pillar of your family... Laugh and laugh aloud...  Cry but control....  Love.... Admire... Don't be myopic....  Have faith... Not fear...  Communicate... Be In-touch... Be blessed.....

Aai.... I had two choices...
hope I chose the right one... love you

Happy Woman's Day DEAR MEN.

Thanks to all the fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, friends, colleagues who respect woman, her dignity, have transformed and adapted themselves to the fact that a woman is equal and many-a-times even better than her counter-parts.

In the world that we live in, it is important for the men to understand the definition of EQUALITY. They need to understand that they have no right to give freedom to women. They need to free themselves from the stinking thoughts of having a sense of pride in giving liberty to the women in their lives.

So HAPPY WOMAN's DAY to all those men who have liberated themselves from the conservative thoughts.  BANDE ACCHE HAIN.