Places re-visited

We visit places all the times & then on some occasions, we do revisit them. However, every time there is a fresh perspective, new outlook. Sanjay & me tool a memorable vacation in Canada during the summer of 2007. We visited Montreal & Ottawa for some 7 odd days & boy, it was so much fun. I had to visit Ottawa for some immigration related issues this winter, which after much deliberation I gave myself the extra push & landed in the much dreaded Canada winter. This time, I spent almost 5 days alone in Ottawa, which means lot of time for introspection in my world.

Ottawa was freezing, -33C to be precise! I was brave to walk almost 20 blocks the first night only to holler at a cab on my way back. The next afternoon, while taking a stroll through downtown, the canal where I took several pictures in 2007 was frozen & people were commuting on top of it with skates. The guard was missing; don't blame him! It took me back in time to realize that this place is still as interesting or boring, the way one would like to look at it, but minus my soulmate I was finding it cumbersome. This makes me think may be we should not revisit place where we have good memories from, just save them in some corner of our mind & move on. One may be disappointed the next time.

2011 Musings

Dear All,
I have been on a long hiatus from this blog. A lot has happened in these past 2 years while I was not writing anything. Not that I was not thinking, infact too much of it was going on. Just that was immensely confused about life in general, that part persists nevertheless. A good friend coaxed me into this & here I am. Thanks D for making me realize how this is such a big part of me :)
This is my space where I am who I am. Promise to keep; keep writing!

Idhar udhar ki baatein

Everybody around me tries to lose weight/stay fit & has much heartburn over 2 lbs gained over a lazy wknd. Now, yes one should be fit, period. But are we not worrying a lil tooo much over what we eat? I know so many people who drink soda with almost every meal, but won;t have a chapati with ghee or not willing to walk a few steps in a parking lot. I guess these damn celebrities are to be blamed to quite some extent! All that size zero show shaa! I think eating wholesome, working around the house (read exercising), walking, jogging should be enough to keep us going. Aur phir kabhi to ek ghee waalaa paratha banta hai na bhai!

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Bhaichung Butia won Jhalak 2009! way to go super cute guy!!!

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Subir has been blabbering a lot of gibberish these days ^"bubba"^"ananu"^& what not. Looks like he is going to start uttering words very soon. Can't wait for him to speak his first word! My dad says I spoke my first word when I was barely 10 months old. Whoops, like ma like beta. He also crawls around the house & I am exhausted keeping up with his histrionics! God bless my sweetheart!

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I am planning for a 3 month long India trip this year & would be the first time since 2002 when I would stay home for more than 3 weeks! Feeling blessed!!

Sense of Femina

Neera Chopra is one lady who must be on the 7th heaven now, and why shouldn't she be? She has well earned this after a lifetime of hardships. Usually I don't care much for the Miss India kinda beauty pageants, but this year Neera Chopra's heart wrenching story caught my attention. Yes she is the proud mother of Femina Miss India 2009 Pooja Chopra. By now I am sure everybody mmust have heard about her past & how she was kicked out of her husband's house because she had another daughter. Well too bad for the monster he doesn't have any claim whatsoever in Miss India's success. Yes this is our society who still discrimates between a boy & a girl. I always thought such stories were a thing of the past & now educated people don't care anymore if they have a girl or a boy. But, my sis-in-law who is a gynaecologist tells me an entirely different story. She had to say that some "good educated people" still feel bad if they don't have a boy. bhai ab kya kahe? kaise samjhaye?

Then we have another "feminist" brigade who think being a strong woman means being able to argue, party late night hours, celebrate woman's/mother's kinda days & wear skimpy clothes! Nope, gal pals! Neera Chopra is my hero, she is the true sense of the word "Femina". Someone who made all of us realize the power a woman can have to fight back for the goodness she believes in! I am sooooo very proud of Pooja Chopra to have kept her calm when the going might have gotten tough. Their story is definitely inspirational for me, I think & should be to all those who at any point of time felt weak because they were women. No girls, nothing to be afraid of, this family has put the words "every dark cloud has a silver lining" into life. Yes, whatever happens is for the best. My heart went out when I read Pooja's interview where she said,"All the girls worked hard, but my edge was my mother's Karma!". I wish you all the success in the world! Amen!!

April showers bring May flowers!

They say April showers bring May flowers! How true it is indeed!! At times I think how impossible it is to live life without such basic philosophy. We all pass through these ups & downs & when everything looks dark, we need someone to tell us there is gonna be a bright light at the end of this tunnel. Someone who keeps saying, "when winter is here, how far is spring?" Simple words like "it's all going to be fine" keep us going through the day. Atleast that's how I get through the day. As a kid I always liked the saying, "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" & it is today that I truely understand what it means. HOPE is a big word & gives us the chance to expect goodness, positivity from life. How I hope I would never turn 30!! ha ha, only if wishes were horses!

When I look at Subir, I envy him for his innocence, I feel so happy that all it takes to make him merry are some treats (bananas, a cool breeze, & his aai besides him). This is totally out of context here, but life's greatest treasures are also the simplest! I wish I had that majic wand where I could go back & live the life of a toddler, on second thought naaahh, I won't have Subir with me then!

Dance of democracy 2009

Times of India came up with an apt caption for election 2009 in India, Dance of democracy & what a competetion at that! Can give all the Jhalak's & other dance shows a run for their money. Results came out unpredictable. Analysts have dropped their jaws for that matter! I think all of us should stop underestimating our "junta" who elects a Government. Same was proved in US when Obama made it to presidency. In India it is proved again that BJP doesn;t have a national image or any following as such except beyond some regional exceptions. Also people are tired of Hindu jingoism, ditto ram mandir et. al kinda issues. I mean we want some economic policies, lets talk about some reforms, lets talk about how we will get out or survive this economy! I am personally glad it's Congress again & with majority.
In one of my previous posts I had criticized some things about India & an angry reader left me a comment saying how I have no right to say anything about India since I might never have donated, voted or done anything good for India. Well what i have done or not is not for me to publish in a public blog. But my blog are my opinions, & honestly speaking, do we stop having opinions about our family when we move out of our parent's home? does that mean we are too good for them & don't love them enough? Certainly not!

Back to food blog.

I am back to my food blog. Will try to stick around tight this time around.

Maa ka ladla, bigad gaya

I finally checked out Varun Gandhi's outrageous speech on youtube, i just love youtube for that matter. Youtube has everything, right from how to make rasmalai's to VG's hatred filled speech. Gosh, his mommy dearest is a PETA activist & son all set to cut human arms if necessary! OK, now I am a congress supporter have voted twice when I was in India & would always claim to be a secular person who doesn't care for religion or castes. Why the hell should Indira Gandhi's grandson go out of his way to vomit out this venom under the name of Hinduism/? You know what being a HIndu is to me; being tolerant! What was he thinking when he said he has no remorse for what he said? Probably his political career is dead for this election & we don't know if worse or better is yet to come. Dude, time to get a little diploamtic!