Perfect street food!

Pani Puri! Phuchka! Water balls!

Call it with whatever name, it is one of the best creation of humankind. 

For me the best part of evening is, walk back home and the way to home filled with hawkers of all shapes and size with amazing pani-puri thelas. 

Bags full of perfectly shaped crunchy puris hung from the thela seems calling on me. Really. I try to avoid or try to give a day's break from eating them, but these puris' always, let me repeat, always succeed. 

I am just pulled by the aroma of the tangy imli pani. Small pieces of fresh green coriander and mixed spices and the tamarind sourness, creates a perfect blend. 

I have a fixed pani-puri-bhaiya who makes the stuffing as per my taste. Boiled potato mixed with black salt, species, small pieces of onions, some boiled kala-chana, fresh coriander and a lot of green chillies, mixed properly to make a perfect filling. 

The pani-puri-bhaiya takes those small puris, fills them with the alu-masala-filling and the dip it in tangy water, fill it totally and slowly place it in my plate. 

I just pick it up without a fraction-of-seconds delay and place it my mouth. The puri melts in the mouth leaving behind the perfect blend of chilli-tanginess-other spices. The hotness of the chillies and the tanginess of tamarind can create such magic that I generally get lost in it. I forget the people watching me eat, forget how many plates I promised myself to eat and I even forget who I am. I just keep on eating till my soul is satisfied. 

Ummmmm!

Well, I take this opportunity to thank that one person who invented this amazingly delicious food. You did magic and it still has the same magical power. Thanks, a big big thanks. 

It is a sure shot item for kids party at my home. Of course, I get the puris from the vendor, but I make the alu-stuffing and the tamarind-water at home considering health reasons for my little one and her friends. 

The best part is the way I serve it. 

The puris in the deep DEEP ROUND CASSEROLE heaped up popping their faces out and calling for the little ones. 

I make the alu-masala by adding kala-channa and medium spice and a lot of lemon juice and mixed it well in the MIXING BOWL SETS. The appealing look of the filling and fresh and lemony aroma just excites the kids to the core. 

There is, of course, the sour and spicy tamarind water which is served in the DEEP ROUND CASSEROLE and the water just dances with the spices in it along with the mood of the kids. 

To add to the fun, there is always sweetened companion - sweet-sour dahi and sweet-sour tamarind chutney served in the SET OF 3 SQUARE DISH WITH LID. The lid is indeed closed but the air become so tangy that every kid just drools over the sight of pani-puri. They just look at the food and they go woooww! 

Well, of course, after they see the pani-puri served, it is impossible to control their craving for it. All of them just jumps to the pani-puri counter and they just get lost in the magnificent flavours of the pani -puri!

Hmmm...khilane vala bhi khush....khaane vala bhi khush :) 

All smiles!

This post is written for Indiblogger contest, Borosil - Mybeautiful food.

Home-made Food!

It was 2 'o' clock afternoon and I knew my parents would be sleeping at that time. I rang the bell with a BIG smile. It was an unexpected, unscheduled and a complete surprise visit back home. I was waiting to see my parents brightened face on seeing me right there without any notice. 

Ah, there someone was opening the door. 

I yelled seeing my mom, "Surprise! Surprise!" and threw myself in her arms. My mom, as expected, hugged me tight and started smiling-crying. Well, that's how moms are. Then I gave a big hug to my dad and everyone else. 

After all this milna-milana, I looked at my mom and told her, "Maa, I am very very very hungry. Please make something nice. Till then I'll freshen-up." 

I went to freshen-up and when I came back to the main hall, it was full of aroma of home-made food. Ahhhh! Mom's handmade food. After months of eating out at various restaurants/tapri/maid-hand-made-food, you can imagine what that smell of homemade food can do. My all time favourite home food is mom's-hand-made daal-chawal. 

On the table there was steaming hot basmati rice kept in stylish and classy Borosil dishes. The rice was covered but the aroma was not! It filled every corner of the room with its sweet smell. Along with it, there was hot daal with an aroma of amazing tadka of ghee, jeera, hing and a red chilli. Ummmmmm! To compliment the food there was homemade mango pickle which added the tanginess in the air and in my mouth ;).  I knew I was back home!

The food not only smelled charismatic, it was served in a magnificent Borosil glass dishes through which I could see long grains of basmati rice perfectly cooked and in a ready to eat state. I could see the red-chilli dancing the bright yellow daal with little fried jeera here and there. The small raw mango pieces were completely blended with the oil and masala and served in the small glass katories and it just made me drool over it. 

Well, I on purpose went ahead for mouth-watering lunch, without uttering a word ;). Haha!

Bon appetite!

Tummy full, soul at peace. Hmmmm...it's always good to be back home! :) Isn't it!

This post is written for Indiblogger contest, Borosil - My beautiful food. 

http://www.myborosil.com/

My Superhero!

I am writing about #MyRoleModel as a part of the activity by Gillette India in association with BlogAdda.com.

The Sangeet and the Cricket!

I belong to the - NON-CC Club, means Non-cricket-crazy club. But my husband is a loyal member or may be one of he crucial position holders of that group. Seeing his craze for cricket and urge to be updated for every ball/every run/out/not out/score......this and that, makes me feel sometimes that if he will not see/comment/read/listen/talk/think about cricket, the game wouldn't be played. 

But that's about it, I don't think I can do anything about it. But he does a lot of things for his crazy love for cricket.

It was sangeet of my own sister-in-law. My husband's own sister. 

The dances were prepared and the stage was set. The spirit was unmatched and it was a 'all smiles' time. Everyone was super-duper excited, aroma of food and flowers were adding to the ecstasy. Laughter, music and jokes were filling the ears. Kids were playing, ladies were not going off the mirror and gents, I really didn't care at that point where they were. 

Anyways, the grand show started, one after the other relatives were grooving to the music. So was I. When suddenly I realized that I have not seen my hubby dear for a very long time. We practiced well, none of us are stage-shy, then where is he? My mind had an answer, maybe he went to pick up someone or get something. But he should be back by now. Hmmm it was time for some inquiry. 

I called him from some distance, but still I could barely hear. He said, "He is about to reach....went to pick someone." As expected. 

I was getting to worried. We practiced soo much. We had to perform in some time. All our practice would go in vain. I was getting impatient and so I walked out of the door to check if he reached yet. The moment I stepped out, there he was sitting quietly with his earphones on, glued to his mobile device on the most obvious site -  StarSports.com. I went and stood behind him quietly. He was juggling between the scorecard and the zip-clips. Of course, on the StarSports.com. He raised his hand and jumped in pleasure shouting, "Yeyeye we wooo...Oh! Yaaaa, I ..aaaa...OOoo yaaaa Hey....you look soooo pretty lady!" He sat on his knees and continued, "You always manage to make me fall...you know! In your love. Will you marry me again!" 

My damn anger left me the moment I needed it the most. Here I was trying to hold my smile! AAGGRRRHHH! He got up on his feet and held my hand and continued, "You stunning lady, let's go dance! It's our song." 

I forgot everything. The match. The cricket-crazy husband. The anger, anxiety and absolute hatred for the game. We danced. On our song and on every other song which came after. It was a some night.

But I found out a certain thing, he knows what can make me smile in extreme conditions too! Haaa! Cricket can teach you a lot of things! Well, thanks StarSports.com ;)

This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

CCC - Cricket Crazy Club!!

India - the country of cricket-crazy people!

Leaving a few.

A few like me!

A complete no-cricket-talks-please person. Throughout my life, I have run from people who get desperate to watch-talk-listen-eat-sleep-smell this game and their mood are on a high and a low based on the game. Throughout my life, the closets people have been from the - CCC (cricket-crazy-club), my sister, brother, friends and my husband. 

As I grew up, just one source of watching cricket was TV. It was not very hard to find out as to what was going on in mind of brother, sister, friends. If they are super excited and happy, India won. If they are doing 'chidchid', means India lost. 

But today, the era of high-tech, online and all the gadgets, watching cricket is not restricted to a place, time or tv. You can watch it on phone anytime, anywhere on StarSports.com. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank StarSports.com, for utterly complicating my life! AAAHHH!!

Round the year there are matches, IPL, world cup, 20-20 and I don't know what not goes on and on. My husband a loyal member of CCC, takes this responsibility to never miss any game. But if at all, he does due to his office/tours or other reasons, its not something to bother, like before. Jeb mein StarSports.com hai na....tho ab cricket kahi bhi aur kabhi bhi.

I remember one incident when there was some final match of some tournament and obviously India was playing in the finals. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my hubby dear, we had to travel to Mumbai for some important work. I was thrilled. He was tensed, sad, irritated, angry and was behaving unreasonably stupid. Well, I was enjoying a lot. I was sure that I will just talk talk and talk and will not let him take out his phone also. Hahahaha. I was probably on highest cloud possible.
Jumping, dancing, singing, plotting. Hahahahaahah

We decided to travel by Volvo-bus. Hubby by my side and pune-mumbai highway, it really didn't bother me how we go. We reached the bus stand. My hubby dear excused himself to get something to eat. I was standing near the bus. All smiles. Broad one.

10 minutes passed.
15 minutes passed and the bus was about to leave and he was no where to be seen.
I was getting tensed. Both of us knew that our travel was inevitable and if we miss this bus, next would be in two hours or so. Oh God, where is he!

Aah...there he was!

He gave me a smile. STRANGE!
He had no food/chips/cold-drink in his hand. Hmm STRANGE!
He was looking fine, happy. STRANGE!
Why? Why? My mind was filled with many questions. I was not sure and then I thought may be he must have checked the scores so he is happy. Anyhow, we boarded the bus and were looking for the seats.

The conductor showed us our seats.

One at one front window seat and other right at the back, aisle seat. 

I saw my husband in surprise. He looked at me. His eyes were dancing and laughing. But man, he was trying hard to cover it.

He spoke to the conductor, "Bhaiya, hum sath hai."
Conductor spoke, "Arre Ladies seat mein ek khali hai and dusra ek dum piche. Lena hai tho bolo. Nahi tho waiting passanger bahut hai!"

I knew so well who had put these words in that conductors mouth. Now I knew why he was smiling and relieved.

I looked at my hubby dear and just said few words, "WELL PLANNED DEAR!"

Well, to my dismay, he didn't even try to explain or reason out. He watched the entire match on StarSports.com. Again, big thanks to you StarSports.com for making my hubby's trip worth while!!!!!!!! For me, I still hate him for that bad bad day but at least he arranged a window seat for me. At least!!!!


This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

Split-ends no More!

Do you remember those fairy tales with a beautiful, pleasant and dreamy ends which bring tears along with a broad smile?

The stories which started with a once upon a time and finished at - "they lived happily ever after!"

Since I don't know when but split ends have bothered me. I waited for the part when the prince would come and rescue the princess or somehow the lost would reach safely to the destination. I grew up with that in mind, that somehow and anyhow the end would be beautiful, else the end is yet to reach. 

But is real life like a fairy tale? Are split ends not a part of life? 

Broken hearts, tearful ends, anger, depression, resentment, hatred, bitterness or pain - all negatives. And guess what all these negatives have never made anything positive. I wonder if there is any cure for these split ends.

Wishful thinking that these stories are yet to complete and at the end, all the split ends will meet to make a stronger and healthier life and these people will live happily ever after. The typical "happy endings!" 

Hmmm well when split ends are in human beings, there is still a way out to sort it by talking, understanding and love. Have you imagined what must happen if these split ends are present in every strand of your hair!!

This is an era of extreme pollution, adulterated food, pesticides-infested vegetables and fruits and mind-boggling-hectic-balance-less life schedule are all responsible for these split-ends.  

But this leaves no place for talking/communicating or love.  The one and only way out was cut-cut-cut. Short hair or weak hair. Length or strength. It's all the calculations which I have done, after I found out various styles of split ends in my hair. 

Well, at least till now I was with no solution except for cut. But like I said, wishful thinking that these split ends will meet to make a stronger and healthier hair. There is a solution now. There is a way out to treat these split ends with a lot of love and little care. There is a way which can cure at least 96% of the split-ends. There is a way to have a beautiful long hair and no split ends.

And the way is....

Thanks for the wonder product TRESemme. At least we have a sure shot solution for this kind of split ends! Now its time for ....split-ends no more! Hail TRESemme!

This post is a part of the TRESemme. in association with indiblogger.com

Crime against woman - Is it ever going to stop!

Crime against woman is not a new thing. But what we see, read and hear today is just atrocious. Even after the extreme punishment given to the culprits of few case, these criminals are not taking any clue from it. Yet the crimes are happening. Day by day. Everyday.

With what I saw few days back, I am really scared to accept this fact but may be this crime will continue and will never stop.

Reason:

Every apartment has there own patent cats and dogs who don't leave the place and just hang around there. Well, in my apartment also, there is a cat who stroll around and is not at all scared of people and it is very gentle with kids. 

One fine evening, I noticed a boy, aged 5-6, was troubling the cat to the extent that he was pulling its tail harshly and literally throwing her away. That poor thing was not doing any thing in response and he was just not stopping. I couldn't control myself and rushed to save that cat from that misery. I started scolding the kid for his ill-manners and pathetic behavior and in response he told me, "I really don't like this cat. I like her this way." 

From others I found out that this boy jumps on that cat's tail every day. The heights situation is - his mother sits right there and sees her child behaving such atrociously. 

Just imagine, that boy doesn't like a helpless cat, so he is beating hell out of her. His mother, who is supposed to show her the right path at this very tender age, is happily ignoring his activities. This boy, who doesn't understand what is right and what is wrong, what kind of adult he will become? What values is he growing up with? Where is the basic - Empathy towards a helpless creature? The mother doesn't even takes the pain to make him understand that the cat would get hurt. He is wrong. Rather she stares at those who have yelled at that kid for his awful behavior.

I am certain, if his mother doesn't do something now, he would never know what empathy, love and care means. He will be among those who are cruel, ruthless and violent.

I wonder if crime would stop if people with wrong basics are present. I wonder if they will fear the verdict or punishments? 

Solution:

It will never stop unless we teach all our daughters to be a mother who can help their child to be a good human being at least and unless we teach our sons to be a father who can inculcate some values in their children. We need to make a our daughters strong and we need to make our sons more understanding. We need to nurture a child to be good. A well groomed kid will become a well-behaved human being. Don't you think so?

P.S.: That child has still not understood properly. When few of us are not around, he still continues his brutal actions. Is there any way I can stop it? Any solution! Please do help!