"The Prophet" Whay I cant stop reading...

The passage on Children is one of my favourites. "Your children are not your children./ They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself./ They come through you, but not from you./ And though they are with you yet they belong not to you./ You may give them your love, but not your thoughts./ For they have their own thoughts/ You may house their bodies but not their souls./ For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams./ You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you./ For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday./ You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth."

Pic-torial!

Until I save enough and make up my mind about an SLR, I am going to put up the few shots I capture every now and then with my primitive one to keep the artist in me going...

Vision of Forever !!!

Watching Ramlil Ibrahim and Sutra Dance Company perform live at NCPA,Mumbai was a dream come true for me. When I took to learning odissi dance I scoured the internet for information and inspiration. I was awestruck by one particular video by Sutra dance company, available on youtube(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsopAXJATUo)and played on repeat mode until I was afraid I may be destroying the beauty of it.
So u can imagine my delight when I saw in the papers that Sutra Dance Company was performing in town. The sight of beautiful Indian Women teaming up gorgeous silk sarees with burberry handbags and sindoor was as much a delight as the heightened anticipation of what was to come.The dance was beautifully choreographed opening with all the dancers as damsels and Ramlil and his partner as Shiva and Parvathi.A perfect scene in heaven. I was thrilled to see the dancers come together in position to perform my favourite piece(youtube).Its the journey of a devotee through the gates of Heaven, welcomed by apsaras and met by Shiva and Parvathi. Just brilliant! Their movements, the costumes , the jwellery, the lighting. For a minute I was like, I wish I was pure within, meaning non materialistic and free of canal pleasures to really be a part of this performance. While I doddled on that thought for a bit, the sight of a navel piercing on the dancer playing Parvathi and colored locks on the male dancer made me come back on earth saying..we are all earthly indeed. Another piece that really struck me was this piece depicting the various forms of the godess kali.I wanted to remember the names and significance of each of the ten forms, each being terrifying, fierce and dispelling fear. The godess in her many forms punishes the devotee for his sins mercilessly and is eventually accepted in heaven, dancing with Shiva Parvati and the beautiful damsels!!! I walked out wanting a slim waist and dancer hips and a teacher in Mumbai to sound those bells and move to the rythm that was now slowly receeding in me. The dance was for a cause: VIDYA, an NGO providing education for the less privileged. An electryfying performance by beautiful people for a noble cause and an awe-struck audience.

Life is a gift from God!!!

The above proverb means more than to prevent the weak from suicide. It just occurred to me that, I can mold my Life the way I want. Explore different paths,learn,live. Our society is structured today as school, degree, 9 to 5 job, financial security, happiness. And like me millions follow the set path. Yes we obviously have millions of people stirring discontent within. What are we searching for? Did we search at all? Why are we blind when we have eyes. I believe its the fear of moving away from the heard.The fear of risk. I'm no expert on human behaviour but just letting my thoughts flow and thus hope to observe why we make the choices we make.I am 25 years old, single, financially unstable, away from home, insecure and lacking. Lacking in .... i could fill these dots with umpteen adjectives. Motivation, direction, opportunity to name a few. Lets pick opportunity which I mentioned last. I again ask myself, really? If it did not knock on my door that does not mean it does not exist. Maybe I just have nt reached for it. Have I tried? Yes, I am in the process but I am restricting myself to a single path. Environmental Engineering. What am I looking for in this path, what do I want to experience and am I going to enjoy the journey if not the destination. I am not sure, I hope to find a few coins of gold that ll give me comfortable ride on this bumpy road called life. I am not expecting the best ride, just a comfortable one. Looking for a ride right now and not sure if I am knocking the right door. I stop to think, "you can do whatever you want with your life". If I did nt feel tied down by societal pressure, or fear of tomorrow what would I do or want to do? I am single, so not weighed down by the burden of commitment or responsibilities. I want to dance. I want to volunteer. I want to go away to a foreign land. I want to go to Europe, France / Italy / Tuscany . I want to live on a farm, work in the fields, learn their culture. Maybe go to South America, to a coffee growing country, work on a estate, learn their way of cultivating coffee , share some tips. Maybe go back to India, travel in India, go see Taj Mahal, Ajanta Ellora,Konark Temple in Orissa, buy some orissa sarees, join Nrityagram for a few months of training in odissi dance.But I dont have the courage to explore and Where is the dough? It all ends there...

Supratim's Mom recipe

Im hoping this simple recipe passed on to me by Supratim and his wife Ajanta will make everyone love Dal more than they do!!!;) Its simple and tastes wicked awesome!!! We live in Mass, trying to sound Mass. Anyway here it is..I add label" Mom's recipe" so if there are others like me in web space who look up recipe's when they miss home...may not be ur home u ll find but Supratim's!!

Ingredients:
- 1 cup dal
- Mustard seeds- 1/2 tspn
- Cumin seeds- 1/2 tspn
- 1/2 onio(chopped)
- 1 tspn ginger
- 1 tspn garlic
- pinch of turmeric
- 2 red chillies
- 1 tspn sugar ;)

Step
1. 1 tbspn Oil( Mong/ green and beige mix small stuff)
2. Add cumin+mustard+
3. Add chopped onions, cook till golden brown
4. Add chopped tomatoes, cook for 5 minutes
5. Add garlic+ ginger
6. Add washed dal and 6 cups of water
7. follow with pinch of turmeric, salt, red chilli
8. Add 1 tspn sugar( wht makes the recipe wht it is!)
9. Let cook until Dal is well done.
Enjoy!!!

Its the first time I ve written a recipe down. Forgive the ambiguity....Hope u guys like it!!! thanks Supratim's mom, who actually does nt remember this recipe her son took from her very well!!!

Ladies Coupe!!!

Just finished reading "Ladies Coupe' by Anita Nair. I stumbled on her website the other day and read a few essays on her website which made me want to reach out for a book written by her. I loved the story line. Its like the many movies I love to watch, many stories, one theme kinda thing. Every aspect she describes is familiar and something you grew up around. I suppose that's the reason it dint latch on to me that much. It dint get my imagination racing or creating scenes that were unfamiliar. I read on the back cover that the book has been published in 23 countries! Wow...! Do women read more than men? Anyway, it makes me wonder if its like me reaching for a Spanish or french movie to be awed by the culture, giving it that adventurous beat to it. I bet it would be a good read for those from other cultures.Its filled with cultural details. It was good read and took me just a few days to be done with it. I would nt mind reading Prabha Devi's story over and over again because I guess all the humor was concentrated there. May not be one of my favorites but loved it. Here are a few paragraphs which I wanna remember from the book.

"Prabha devi stared at the corner of the sheet. For the first time, she missed wearing a sari. There was much to be said for its pallu. An ill fitting blouse or a missing button was camouflaged by simply pulling the pallu over one's shoulder like a shawl. It served as a scarf for the head when the sun burned. A hood when caught in a drizzle. A fringe of decorum when one wanted to avoid someone's penetrating gaze. Then there were its ends. To wipe tears; to mop the sweat off one's brow; to pleat and gather or crumple into a ball, something for the hands to cling to in awkward moments. All that she had now were the ends of the sheet. She pleated and gathered them as she tried to frame an answer to her husbands question."

The following summarizes lives of many married women in India caught up in their title "house Wife". I wonder how many might ask the same or feel the same way....

"Prabha Devi , Prabha Devi where have you been?
I became a woman, neither heard nor seen
Prabha Devi, Prabha Devi, what did you do there?
I waited and waited till ash speckled my hair"

and this is my favourite...
How women set the tone of a marriage,
"Daughter I ll have to say,
show him you are incapable of doing anything beyond the periphery of your home and he will manage your life, from sending postal orders to balancing cheque books to booking railway tickets to managing household expenses. he will pet you and cosset you at first, for after all, you are appealing to the male in him to protect and safeguard. But it will be only a matter of days before he turns into a tyrant who will want to control your every thought"
" There is an alternative. you could chose to demonstrate how independent you are and show him how well you manage yourself. Except that when you need a pair of arms around you , someone to hold you and cherish you , he might not be there because you have always let him know that you don't need him. Where is the middle path, the golden mean? Daughter I wish I knew. I wish my mother had told me what was the right thing to do. Or perhaps the truth is she does'nt know either."

Curly Hair must know!!!

I'm probably one of the millions sharing what I learn on handling curly hair. While most people advising out there are hair professionals, I'm one of those who has had too many bad hair days (damn the curls!) n here's how I cope....

1. If u ve curly hair and have trouble managing it, grow it long!!! Not only do people notice you have gorgeous curls, it's not a pain anymore!There is not much u can experiment though;(. Like u did anyway!

2. Growing you hair long comes with increased hair fall. I warm olive or coconut hair oil or a mix of the two and apply on my scalp, working my way through the length of the hair. Keep it overnight and wash in the morning.

3. U have to scrunch your hair with ur hands for the curls to get into its natural shape. Also, you either comb your hair when wet using a wide toothed comb or u never do it!

4. You have to use hair products to manage the frizz. If u can get away without it, thats great! I use tressme '-------"(only thing i can afford). Once I apply I tie my hair tight in a pony tail, so the top part is manageable when I open and the bottom curls are at their best behavior.

5. Swimming damages your hair. I try to wear a cap, but when its hard to make it stay where it should , I don't. So I apply very little olive oil, very sparse and tie it in a bun. I believe It protects against chlorine damage. Its my own theory. So ur free to take it or leave it!

And there are the many often suggested basic tips on you tube and professional blogs.
Hope this helps! Rock those curls!;)