So long summer.

I hear the wind shrill sometimes, and sing beautiful notes another instant. I watch the leaves dancing to this music playfully and turn into beautiful colors as if someone cast a magic spell on them. I feel the cold but not so cold breeze dandle me. Intermittent showers burst from the sky painting everything gray. The sun parts these clouds pouring a golden glow on everything around. I could watch the leaves dancing and falling whole day while the wind changes its course every few minutes.

Welcome Fall..

Yoga - Path to rejuvenation

As a kid, we use to have a yoga class once every week in school. It used to be fun for two reasons. Firstly, it was an hour's break from regular academic classes and secondly all the girls could wear jeans for the duration of the class (instead of the school uniform which used to be a skirt). We had a very diligent yoga teacher, who used to try real hard to make the students reckon the benefits of this ancient Indian practice.
After middle school was over, i never practiced yoga seriously. About 3 weeks back, i was motivated enough after meeting a friend to commence yoga practice. I signed up for a monthly trial package at a yoga center. Since then, its been a wonderful journey.

I was probably the sloppiest student in the class when i started, and maybe I still am, but i am amazed by the progress i have made. Additionally i am stumped by the class turnout every time, most students being non -Indian and practicing effortlessly as masters in the class. Yoga has acquired a lot of popularity throughout the world, i am delighted that so many people around the world take it so seriously.

Its the only practice by which you can stretch each and every muscle of your body, which you may have never realized could even be stretched. It builds endurance, strength and flexibility. The balance that you feel physically and mentally after some serious practice is the cherry on the top. I am thoroughly enjoying it as its a challenging physical activity and needs a lot of mental focus too. Yoga has the power to obliterate most of the aches and discomfort we experience in our day to day life.

So, to all of you who are looking for something physically challenging and mentally rewarding, i encourage you to try or reinstate your yoga practice.

Layers within us

A chocolate shell with a delicious filling inside looks like a regular chocolate shell till you bite it and taste what lies beneath it. It could also be the other way, a colorful candy looks innocuous and you bite it, just when you realize it had a bitter liquid housed inside it.
We humans are even more intricate. Not just one or two, we are made of several layers, which are beyond our own comprehension. Most of the times, when we see ourselves, we look at the outermost shell. We live with this shell day after day, without exploring what lies beneath. Sometimes, a certain situation unique in its own way, acts as a catalyst for us to talk to our layer underneath the outer shell. On these occasions we might feel discontent, overjoyed, depressed , bitter or peaceful after a perfectly normal disposition depending on the nature of the filling which could be the sweet chocolate or a bitter gel. Its good to communicate with the layers below regularly for the overall harmony of yourself. There could be many means through which this could be consummated. Meditation could be one, music, wine and anything that makes you talk to yourself depending on what perpetrates the act for you.

Take a vacation...

I realized its been a while since I wrote. I usually pick up the pen, when there is something that takes me through a roller coster of contemplation. It could be something joyful, or something regretful or something forlorn. I did have a joyful time, about a month back when i went for about a week long vacation. Traveling always makes me happy, i like the whole package that come with it, like bookings, planning, packing, photography, walking, hiking. It makes me so happy that maybe i should consider starting some Vacation packages company after retirement ;-). Not just that, following our trip, we usually talk about it, share pictures, again talk about it, and that keeps the memories fresh for another couple of months after the trip. And trust me, a good vacation goes a long way in alleviating your stress, anxieties, and makes you come back all charged up and refreshed. So those of you who havnt traveled in a while, do consider doing a trip sometime.

Always Busy Syndrome..

Sometimes it gets me thinking, why is everybody so busy all the time(including myself), that we dont even have time to enjoy some simple things. Five days of the week (no wonder they are called the working days), most people I know (including myself most of the time), end up just working, and doing the basic diurnal activities. Barely managing to get some time to cook, or sneak in any other activity in the packed 24 hour day. Crazy as it might seem, i am starting to think, that this is actually a syndrome with the current generation, the being always busy syndrome. We want a lot from ourselves, we want to excel and grow at work, we want to travel , we want to workout and stay in the best possible shape, we want time to read books, play with our electronic gadgets, we also want to pursue a few hobbies. The laundry list of things keeps growing. Its not that we should not have any goals and just sit and do nothing, but I think , many of us are converting ourselves to high efficiency machines, aiming for even higher efficiency. We expect a lot from ourselves, and sometimes we get extremely involved in achieving that, that we forget the simple pleasures and human interaction.When do we spend time to just sit and talk, or get involved in some human interaction? Well, its just an observation and I could be wrong, but maybe we are evolving towards becoming self fueled egoistic machines, with more of efficiency and less of human traits :-) .

Brain Body Infinite Loop

I just finished reading an extremely brilliant book "Phantoms in the brain" written by Dr VS Ramachandran. As the title suggests its all about the human brain, but some strikingly astonishing experiments and cases described in this book make it outstanding. I learnt tremendously from this read. Apart from the staggering symptoms that manifest from different kinds of brain pathologies, i found the thought of the holistic view of the brain and the body extremely exciting. I am sure all of us would be able to relate to it in some way.

On a broader perspective, how many times do we suffer the dilemma between the brain controlling the body (you as such) or vice versa. Its hard, almost impossible to separate the two. When i say i feel like eating a mango today, is it my brain which is generating the craving towards the mango or is it me trying to tell my brain to find a mango today. Doesnt make much sense right? Let me attempt to explain it better. Sometimes, we have some particular doctor whom we deeply trust. Lets say i have an acute headache with some other symptoms and i visit a replacement of my regular doctor whom i deeply trust since he is not in town. The replacement doctor does nothing but gives me an over the counter analgesic. I dont feel better and wonder if the replacement doctor did a thorough diagnosis. Figments of my imagination, i see myself having some serious issue since my symptoms do not improve, infact continue to worsen. 2 weeks later my regular doctor comes back. I go visit him in a hope that he would find the real issue and fix me. He does a thorough exam ( now since i look up to this doctor, whatever he does is extremely thorough according to my standards). He concludes that its just a stress triggered headache and should get alleviated with some pain-killers and easy going on my part. I trust him, i go back home relaxed, take a repose. I start feeling better in a day, and before I know my symptoms disappear. You see how the social impact ( of me trusting my regular physician completely), affects my mind which in turn affects my body relieving the symtoms, which inturn again affects my mind relieving the stress. This forms a continuous feedback between my relaxed mind and improving body symptoms.

In a nutshell, its an ambiguous boundary , its in vain to try and explain where the brain starts controlling the body and where it ceases the control. Our body can get influenced by a lot that goes inside our brain, our doubts, fears, confidence, trust. There are many interesting investigations that can be done in medical science to explain this phenomenon better and use it in some way for healing.

Mastering the art of making Kadhi

Kadhi-Chawal, does that word elicit your appetite or summon your mind to go to an Indian restaurant? This very popular food combination in North India is one of my favorites. Ofcourse, i also love the lip-smacking Rajma Chawal & Chole Chawal combinations. I have been trying for a couple of years now (well, i cook Kadhi once in 2-3 months on an average, thats why my progress has been sluggish in nailing the right flavors :-) ) , to get the right flavor in my Kadhi, that special flavor that puts it in the extraordinary category. Yesterday, i got really close, still not perfect though. Here is my recipe:
Ingredients:
1.Besan
2.Yogurt
3.Cumin seeds
4.Fenugreek (methi seeds)
5.Onion
6.Turmeric powder
7.Dried red chillies
8.Cumin powder
9.Coriander Powder
10.Curry leaves

1. Mix besan & Yogurt in 1:1 ratio, blend them smoothly with some turmeric powder.
2. In a Kadhai (preferably iron Kadhai), add some oil. Once its hot enough, add cumin seeds and fenugreek (methi seeds) and let them crackle.
3. If you have the time to make Pakoras to add to the Kadhi, you are lucky! I usually dont make Pakodas, instead fry onions in the oil & seed mixture.
4. Once the onions are fried, add some broken red chillies (2-3) to the onions and fry them for a couple of minutes.
5. Now add the besan yogurt mix to the Kadhai and add lots of water, since initially while the besan is cooking it will absorb water very quickly. You will have to continuously add water and keep stirring till the besan cooks completely (you will know when its no longer absorbing water). Mix some salt, cumin powder and coriander powder to this. If its not spicy enough from the dried red chillies add some red chili powder, also add curry leaves when the besan is still absorbing water and not cooked yet. That way you will get a nice curry leaf flavor.
6. Getting the right consistency is very important, make sure its thick enough and not dilute.

Darjeeling to Napa

This weekend was quite delightful, with a welcome break from the rain and storm. The sun was bright, with patches of white clouds painting the blue sky. Although the temperature was on the colder side, still couldn't ask for a better or brighter weekend. To grab what the weather gods had to offer, B & I drove to Napa on Saturday to indulge into our favorite hobby, photography. Unlike our usual long drives, we did not turn on the music in the car. We commenced the 1.5 hour drive by digging out some really old memories and sharing them with each other. During the conversation, i drifted and plunged into one such sweet travel memory with my parents.

The travel destination was Darjeeling, which is the highest hill station in India, and extremely picturesque. The year was 1997 I think. The four of us ( my parents, brother and me) were staying in a beautiful cottage. I still remember the breathtaking views of the lush green hills, the widespread tea gardens, the clouds looming over the valley below us! Everything around was so beautiful. Not sure, if you have felt it while traveling to a hill station, but your metabolism becomes really aggressive at higher altitudes, since the oxygen levels are not extremely high. The result is , the insatiable hunger :-), which gets further aggravated by climbing the slopes up and down to get around the hill station. I remember being hungry all the time. That time, there were not very many North Indian restaurants in Darjeeling especially within walking distance of our cottage. However, we finally stumbled upon this place called Hasty tasty (almost 90% sure about the name, since its been so many years can't trust my memory completely :-) ). They used to have chole bathure. All 4 of us used to eat 1 plate each every day in lunch, and it used to cost 25 Rs per plate. The amusing part was, we all used to be hungry even after finishing it, but used to tell each other that we are full. Since the food was so expensive (100 Rs for a meal in those days was a lot of money! ), we all used to repeat the act of lying (to our stomachs :-) )every afternoon. Now, if i look back it seems so amusing. We even visited the Pashupati market (again 90% sure of the name) on the Nepal border on this trip. The views were amazing. Dad & I used to get ready at 4am, that would have happened couple of times, to go for sunrise to Tiger Hill. However, the funny part was that it used to start raining even before we would hop on to the jeep to get there, and we would end up going back to bed. I guess my mom and brother were smart enough, to not even attempt waking at 4am , only to go back to sleep half an hour later. They used to ridicule us every time. This whole trip has many precious little memory associated to it.

So, just sharing some fun stories like this, 1.5 hrs dissolved into nowhere, and we were in Napa amidst the green vineyards.

Getting back to routine

After almost 6 weeks in India, i am having a hard time adapting back to my life here. 6 weeks sounds like a long vacation, although the last 2 weeks were ruined by some anxieties due to some visa issues. However, all is well that ends well, after each testing situation, we come out a little stronger than before. So getting back to life here has been made challenging due to homesickness, contributed by the memories formed with parents and sibling over 6 weeks. I wish there was a way i could always have them around!
I havnt cooked in like 2 months now, since around mom & dad thats never needed. This might have been my longest hiatus from cooking in the last 5 years, when i started cooking for the first time in my life. Ofcourse, i could prepare excellent maggi noodles since i was practically a kid. Now i need quite some motivation to stir the ladles and get back to the old days when i used to cook to get some refreshment and enjoy it as a creative activity. Other than the cooking woes, jet lag has been another misery keeping me away from getting into my routine. Social life here is composed of some friends, however its nowhere close to India, where you have your family sticking out for you all the time. So it seems, i again have lot of time for myself, and should start indulging into my old hobbies of reading, cooking, playing guitar...
An India trip always has some soul awakening elements to it. Every time there is something new discovered in your own soil, around your own people. I hope i can implement my learnings from this trip without letting them get tarnished with time.

She

She is the one who worries about me relentlessly. She takes care of me so well, that around her i find myself in an utterly surreal place. I never find an opportunity to ask her for anything, since she knows it all and gets me the right things at the right time. In her world, there is nothing about her and all about me. She still thinks that i can get lost in the crowd, or get robbed at the airport.

She comes from work early for me, and calls me many times a day if she has left me alone at home. She is amusing, innocent, selfless and very cute. She is someone who hasn't changed over the years. If i look at her, i find myself an extremely selfish person. Time with her passes in the blink of an eye.

She
May be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day...
(Notting Hill song , ofcourse in a completely different context)

You should have guessed by now, who else could it be ...
Adorable Mom..This one is for you..

In your old town

Your thoughts sing in my mind,
of the good old days,
when the weather was kind.

When we walked the streets,
and bought fresh flowers,
and watched the sun go down,
in your old town.

When we saw the minars,
and ambled down the beach,
When the clocks ran fast,
The next day appeared before the past.

And now i stand miles away,
watching the sun go down,
in my old town,
The time crawls like a snail,
while i compose this song of bale.

Your sweet words reverberate my ears,
when you called me your moon,
and i hope to be on your side soon.