Let's Take a Fresh Start...

Things have not really looked good in the last few weeks. Politically, economically, financially... in every sense, our country, our fellow citizens have faced hardships. With deaf authorities and mute spectators, we haven't really got a chance to do anything substantial. However, now its a New Year, a brand new time wheel is going to roll and we all have an opportunity to bring a change. A Change in ourselves, a change in our mindsets, a change in how we look around.

However, a laugh is always appreciated! Enter the new year of 2-0-1-3 with a big smile on your face and hope swelling in your hearts. Here is what you could do this year (and probably not do) -

1. Pledge to be a Human - This is for all males who don't miss out on an opportunity to treat women below them, subsidiary to themselves and to torture them in every possible mental and physical manner. It is actually the time you could stop doing it. Be a human, and prior to that, Be a MAN.

2. Procrastinate More - It is always good to start doing new things from tomorrow. So come back to my blog tomorrow, read the rest of the post tomorrow, and take your New Year Resolution on Ney Year 2014.

3. Don't jump off the cliff because everyone did - This is a personal advice. Especially for start-up ventures. Be original. Please! Yes, originality means a lot of risk taking, but then the more the risk, the higher the profits. Dare to do something new, even if people laugh it off. Because if they don't, then probably your idea isn't new! :D

4. Don't LOL - If you hear something super funny... even if its so funny that it made you fall off your chair and roll over the floor or made the water come out through your nose, even then...Please don't LOL. A 'Hahaha' is still more appreciated.

5. Back-up - Once in a while... err.. Once in a year... or please at least ONCE, back up your hard drive. Its not cool to lose all your stuff in a jiffy of technical snag. Ouch, it hurts!

6. Fall in Love and make someone fall in love with you - Its more of my wish for everyone rather than an advice. May someone fall in love with your faults, is blind to your blemishes and tells the world about your fortitude. Be sensible in love.

7. Be happy with what you have - Sometimes the lights might not work, water faucets may not work, a bulb might flicker, you might miss a bus... But that is not the end of the world (neither was 21st December 2012), so stop freaking out, be thankful for the life you have and dare to change your life and live on your own terms. There is much more destitution in world than low speed internet.

8. Delight yourself with yourself - Make a fact clear in your mind - you are beautiful. Delight yourself with what you see in the mirror and delight others with what they see in you. Be confident. Be Optimistic. A great saying goes "Pessimism leads to weakness, Optimism leads to POWER".

9. Say 'I Love You' - This is very important. Express yourself and say the three powerful magical words to your parents, your family, your best friends and everyone who means a lot. Do not miss that chance ever. Umm.. But this does not apply to your secretary, your neighbour, the girl at your coaching, or your gym instructor.

10. Go Offline - Once in a while, do your offline chores too as there is quite a lot of world beyond this laptop screen and beyond the Google Chrome window. :)

Be Crazy, Make Mistakes, Fall in Love, Be Clumsy, Take Risks... This Age is not going to come back! Wishing a Happy 2013 for everyone... :)

The Way it is Meant to Be..

Over the years and decades, Diwali has become a very behemothic festival of our country. However, over the time ways and perspectives of people have changed. It has become more of a shopping oriented festival and the celebrations have become subdued and understated. Not that it is bad, of course, it is always good when businesses flourish in a country, but the allurement and charm of the celebrations have dwindled. Why is that so? Of course, now people are more "eco friendly" and they decide to celebrate a "cracker free" diwali. But mind you, these are the same environment loving people, who otherwise will use elevators for even a single floor, never use a public transport or their feet to go to closer areas, will never care to plant a single tree, will throw trash on road and spit on walls, use plastic with pride and obstinately, and never care to turn off an electric appliance that is not in use!

Obviously I will give one disclaimer here - Not that I support pollution or I hate environment friendliness, this post just highlights my personal thoughts. But just to look "cool" or just because we want to go with the flow, it is really not in the right spirit to abate the delight and beauty of a festival, which since centuries, has been the pride of our culture. What would it look like to see up in the sky on a Diwali night and not find a single colour up there? Let us preserve the charm of a festival that is celebrated by crores of people across the world. We can do all the things listed above all round the year too, to make this world a better place! And above all, if we keep in mind the legal decibels of noise, we can definitely make crackers a better experience for everyone! After all, just because mobiles have  now become a cause of road accidents, it does not mean, we stop using them altogether!

What I am trying to do here is preserve the culture of fire crackers of this beautiful and colourful festival which offers something for all age groups. Personally, I am in love with this festival for everything about it. After everything is over, and I stand quietly in the balcony at 1 a.m. and look around, I find my face reflecting the brightness of the lights around me, which makes me ecstatic, a distant sound of crackers delight me, and suddenly, a beautiful firework far away in the sky enlightens me. There is that pungent and acrid smell of explosives in the air. I see the left overs of the crackers on the road, and I imagine those cheerful kids who must have had the time of their life bursting them. A Few last diyas are still spreading light in dark corners of the world as the most amazing festival of Diwali attempts to spread the strong message of good over evil and happiness among one and all.

I wish everyone an awesome week and a great holiday season! Let us celebrate the way it is meant to be! :)

The Food Fetish

If the title of this blog post, made you smile with delight and glee, then you are totally a food connoisseur (high-five!). With a festival as bright and ablaze as Diwali now round the corner, it was time to write something for my favourite time of the year. Festivals in India are almost synonymous with food and delicacies. No festival is complete unless kids of the house (and I include myself in this) raid the food items kept exclusively for the guests, only to hear a mouthful from their mothers.

With whole of the nation, now getting into the festive feel and already done with the cleaning part, people are now busy in preparation of suitable festive dishes. From alluring and appetizing gulab jamun to the fresh, soft and luring kaaju barfis, which I usually consume in scary quantities, Diwali definitely brings a lot for me. While our Southern counterparts indulged in the tasty Mysore Pak and Coconut Cake, along with the sweet Groundnut Barfi, the Northern India finds solace in sinfully ghee dipped sweets like Besan Laddu, Neelam Barfi, Kesar Pak, Poran Poli and many more.

Sometimes I feel that foreign travellers like Marco polo, Duarte Barbose, Captain William Hawkins, and Thomas Coryat should have exclusively explored the Indian delicacies and carried out research on the food here, after all, we are the reason behind the “Delhi belly”! However, people like me have made up for what those guys missed out. I believe, India has always been a food loving land, only our expressions have changed over time. From the verbal scream of "I am feeling hungry, mom...", we have now moved on to "Give me food @Mom... #Hungry" (Updated 2 seconds ago). 

 With types of kachoris being one of the most entertaining topics in parties and meetings in Rajasthan, the best street vendors of vada pao is a much awaited discussion in parts of Maharashtra, especially Mumbai. Almost half of our food loving population wakes up to South Indian dishes in breakfast and moves up towards north as Sun moves from east to west, ending up with Dal Makhani, Aaloo Amritsari and Shahi Paneer in dinner. That is how we enjoy the diversity of our cultures in India!

As Diwali approaches, let us pledge to be prepared to launch an attack on our kitchens and dry fruit boxes in the house, with lots of aggression and bound by duty (Also with a tablet of dygiene in our secret closets). I wish everyone a great Pre-Diwali week and hope that everyone has a food filled Diwali, as smell of freshly fried kachori enters my room performing an imaginary crazy dance. I Rush!

J  

Why We Need 'Kalki'?

Beni Prasad, a Central Minister, goes on record to say that Rs. 71 Lakhs is a very small amount for a scam and absolutely, I do agree with him. In a country with more than half of the population merely surviving below the poverty line, 71 lakhs is indeed a very small amount. And this is just a minuscule example of what our leaders actually are. Whom have we elected through our 'valuable' votes? This is just a mere initiation to my article because this was what woke me up this morning in the newspapers. 

However, I would like to talk a little mythological here. So, welcome to the 'Kaliyug'  - The age of 'Kali': The wrong-doers, the evil, the crooks, the violators and the devils. Maybe its about belief, or a particular school of thought, but to me, it’s about the deeper meaning, the underlying warning and the symbolic message hidden in all our Vedic texts and epics. Let’s have a deeper look –

 Lord Vishu is supposed to be incarnating for the tenth and the final time in Kaliyug as the Ultimate Saviour - Kalki. Supposedly, Kalki is going to arrive on a white horse with a shining sword and is going to slay all the wrong doers and barbarians to death. (If a ray of hope has begun to rise in your hearts, let me make it clear that Kaliyug is said to exist for 432000 years and we have merely survived some 5000 odd years so far... so, still 427000 years to go!) 

The Vishnu Purana says that Kalki will arrive when "practices taught in the Vedas and institutes of law have nearly ceased", there will arrive the final incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Practically, the institutes of law have ceased completely long back. With scams of Rs. 1000 crores now becoming an everyday affair and with the common man being oppressed and mauled at the very peak, I hardly see any justice finding its way in this dark grotto of crime and power.

As per the Agni Purana, when “when the evil men who pose as kings begin to feed on human beings and try to destroy the righteous”, at that moment will arrive Lord Kalki to destroy the evil men. Déjà vu, indeed? We have had enough “evil men posing as kings” who have been continuously looting the people off their money and plundering our resources for their own benefit. In fact, the Kaliyug has probably reached its peak with eminent politicians ransacking the handicapped and poor for their personal pleasures and satisfaction. Feeding on human beings, are they?

Finally, I quote the most apt of all in the current times, the Bhagavata Purana, which goes on to say, “when there exist no topics on the subject of God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen, and when the power of government is transferred to the hands of ministers elected from the evil men, and when nothing is known of the techniques of sacrifice, even by word, at that time the Lord will appear as the supreme chastiser.”

Nothing can be more indicative towards the current state of things. The so-called God-men, in the disguise of yogis, spiritual leaders, the “protectors” of religion, have been found to be involved in some of the most hideous crimes and scandals of all times. The name of God has been used to conduct all types of blackmailed loots and pillages on the common people. The morning starts with a few dreadful cases of rapes and molestations across the nation, with most of the cases going unnoticed or unregistered. With no respect for women, crime at its peak, greed at its maximum, lack of strict laws and more so, the law-abiders, we have definitely transferred the power of government in hands of ministers elected from evil men, who play with the emotions of people in the name of religion, caste, creed, gender etc. and will continue doing so for many years to come.

  

Somewhere, everything definitely fits and no one can rule out the significance of these texts and epics written thousands of years back. These might just be prophecies but living through these times, they do hold a lot of truth, undoubtedly. We are living in the worst times of all, am sure. Or no, maybe worse times are yet to come. Corrupt politicians, greed for power, lust for money and the intoxication of being at the very top has led to the downfall of our righteousness.

Previously, I had always found out ways and solutions for ourselves – vote the right person, raise a voice, speak your heart out etc. But not, looking at the circumstances, I definitely feel, nothing but divine intervention can protect us from further degradation now. May Lord Kalki arrive on the face of the Earth soon!

MEANWHILE, FROM HERE, I WOULD REQUEST MY READERS TO RE-DIRECT TO THIS LINK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India#2000s

(I am the Chief Editor of SpringTide Youth Magazine - www.springtide.co.in 

Reach me at www.facebook.com/pawas.jain)

Love, Thy Name is Spoiled

How important it is to be best friends with someone you love? It must be a blessing to experience those weird, amazing and regretful moments in life of being in love with a best friend, where you think “OMG! What an ass I am?” and yet, “Oh dear, mom would be so happy to meet her someday!”

Those moments when she must have left 10 urgent messages on your cell phone and when you called back, she spent two hours painstakingly dissecting those few hurting sentences her boyfriend said to her over their date. And even though you knew her boyfriend was a bloody lunkhead and jerk, you assured her that it was all okay and they were meant for each other. How tough could it be to say these words to a girl you love with all your heart, to the girl you feel is everything to you?

Those moments when she was low with her health, or down because of a fight with her room-mate and you were supposed to be there cheering her up and saying stupid, illogical things to make her laugh. From those play stations to girl problems, sharing everything from top to bottom and still feeling that the conversation could have stretched for the whole night if it wasn't for her college next morning, although not acknowledging a kind of important fact, that you had given up a large chunk of your family/studying/work time for those hours of her ‘cheering up’.

Those moments when she had a boyfriend, who did not like you and yet she met you. Feeling of being obliged by her gesture of meeting you for a few hours without letting he boyfriend know, those secret meetings, those beautiful hangout places you never imagined could exist and  some stupid places which would not have been any fun had she not been there by your side. And when she would unknowingly or unintentionally, put her hand around your shoulder or her hair would touch your face in the auto-rickshaw, she would continue with her talks and you would be lost in the thoughts of spending the rest of the life like that.

Those moments when she would take you to a shady cafe, and though there is nothing “serious” between you two, she flirts with you naughtily and shamelessly which somehow you happen to love beyond levels. You don’t like the beer there, you hate the music, the food ordered is now cold because of the complete ignorance by its buyers, but still you love the whole setting, because she makes it complete. And you punch your fist in the air in your heart and feel “Oh god, I am on top of the world, she has come out with ME!”

Those moments when she is rude and you take it in a stride, when she lets out her anger of others on you and you accept it with a smile, when she abuses you or lets you down, when she makes you feel neglected in a group of few people, when she doesn't acknowledge you in front of her other friends, when she doesn't want people to know about being superbly close to you, when she chooses not to talk to you just because “she doesn't feel like”, when she wants an answer to everything and never consider her duty to answer to your questions ever, when she replies with a “Not possible right now”, to your “Can we talk? I really need to...”, although she doesn't realize that it was because you felt lonely, and then you cried all night long. Yet, you love her...

Those moments when you were sitting on a comfortable couch with her and she was telling a long boring story about some classmate of hers and then you realize that you two were very close. You have your hand around her shoulder and she is resting her head on your arm, you move back her hair and smell them with amazement and caution of not being intoxicated.  She suddenly realises the same and looks up at you... your eyes meet, you can feel her hot, nervous breath on your neck... her heartbeat is almost pounding and then... you touch her lips with yours. It’s a comfortable 5 second long kiss, and you feel you have touched a soul. A moment which made you feel that you have lived a few lives already. A moment you know you will cherish all life long... yet, there is nothing “serious” between you two...

You love her and she loves you back. You have expressed it and so she has. You have been best friends without the care of the world around since ages. But nothing can happen at the moment considering the shackles and obstacles of life. You both are mature, you both are individuals and yet, you know that someday, some time in future, you will be together...

The Educational Drawback

India, as a nation, still lacks behind the rest of the world due to a lot of reasons. Yes, I say this despite the government statistics of high growth rates, the world organizations claiming us to be the next superpower, we being the self proclaimed “culturally rich” country and our billion-year old history. India is still trapped in a number of stereotypes, conventions and thought process which had been developed by politically-motivated or regressive portion of the population.

Karan came back home from school one day and asked his mom about condoms – a word he had come across on FM Radio. His mom slapped him with anger and asked him to concentrate on his studies. Karan went back to his room and opened up his school bag to start his homework. But the question stayed in his mind...

Sex education in schools for teens and young adults has been branded as a tabooed topic in our country because every time any such thing is discussed or comes out in public, either we shun it away like an adult joke or have those cynical cheap smiles on our faces. The government authorities and officials have, for long, avoided the implementation of sex education as a part of regular curricula citing reasons such as “cultural and social values” or because they feel that the content of sex education course created by the WHO is unacceptable to the Indian sensibilities. However, no steps have been taken in this regard and they have not cared to formulate their own course of study or teaching. The apathy of the government can be clearly sensed as since ages, there have been no effective programmes to rein this problem.

The statistics such as these, that 12% of Indian girls aged between 15 and 19 become mothers, increasing cases of teenage abortions, young pregnancies, unprotected pre marital sex and many such health and emotional exertions. The age of rejuvenation and high speed internet connections have opened a Pandora box of opportunities and teenagers are exposed to all types of data, knowledge and information. Television, books, media, friends and the discussions termed as “sexual arena” create that risk taking drive among teenagers and increase the chances of them taking steps in this direction. Sex education becomes all the more vital in such an era of revolution and media, more so, because Indian parents and families are ever hesitant in discussing such topics with their kids.

Proper sex education and training to teenagers regarding safer sex, human anatomy, sexual intercourse, measures of birth control, sexual orientation and STDs is very necessary and may help in avoiding the increased cases of teenage miscarriages and repercussions of unprotected sex at a young age. This may also help prevent STDs and control or decrease the cases of HIV AIDS in a country with a population of 120 crores. In fact psychologists also believe that it may teach the young adults about self restraint, and prevent them from becoming perverts.

Despite all these reasons, Indian education system has not accepted sex education as part of their regular curricula. Also, while the implementation of this path breaking course, it should be kept in mind, that ill informed teachers and trainers can do more harm than good and hence, staff training is also mandatory. Besides, it should not be treated as an extracurricular course and should be made a part of the mainstream education.

India needs to open up. It is time to shed the inhibitions and spurn the hesitation. The ice needs to be broken and there has to be a friendly and open environment where students are free to ‘ask’, at the schools. Education needs to be redefined to avoid the scary cases of forced sex, increasing pornography and STDs among young adults in India. Gathering information from unauthorized sources is not the advisable way to collect knowledge. Knowledge needs to find the right channel in our country. After all, Wikipedia is not the answer to everything!   

(THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN SPRINGTIDE DIGITAL MAGAZINE's SEPTEMBER 2012 ISSUE. Direct Link to the September Issue of the magazine - http://issuu.com/springtide/docs/september_2012?mode=window&viewMode=singlePage

For Checking out what SPRINGTIDE is all about, check www.springtide.in)

Free of 'Cost'...

Sahil woke up stretching his body. He knew it was 3 in the afternoon and he still had no mood of getting out of the bed. After all, you rarely take a 7 day off from work and he knew this one was important. He had to disclose the fairly colossal fact that he was in love, to his parents, before they started looking for a girl for him. He loved being in a second tier city of the country – they were comfortably eased out about daily routines, still there were branded showrooms, there was a perfect blend of history and future and there was less traffic above all. But there were certain things that also disturbed him about these cities – the conventional and middle-of-the-road thinking of people, which pulled India back every now and then.

He dragged himself to the washroom and washed himself up. He wore the stupidest clothes he could lay hands upon. It was still time for his dad to return home so he could probably wile away this time in Playstation games or some other stuff which he rarely got to do during his working days back in Mumbai.

 He was about to barge into the living room to meet his mom, when he heard voices from other side of the door.

“Sarita, your son is such a grown up now... It is time you get a daughter-in-law now...”

Sahil immediately knew it was one of the aunties from the colony. The aunties who criticized each other behind backs and became extra sugary in front of each other, they could actually play the diplomatic official between India and Pakistan. But he realized, there was more than one. He could count 4 aunties other than his mom, from the voices that came from the living room.

“Of course! She is right, Sarita. What are you doing, sitting at home all day at such a crucial time? It is time you make a free account on shaadi.com ...” Sahil knew it was the auntie from the red house, 4^th from the left end of the colony. She always bargained for free tomatoes from the vegetable vendor.

“And oh! Our Sahil is an IIT-ian, Sarita...” And here went the “our” Sahil. “You should charge at least Rs. 50 lakhs this time.”

This sentence woke him up all of a sudden and all his loaf and laze flew away in a jiffy. His ears almost stood up in attention. After all not every day you are charged in the marketplace of Indian marriages!

“You have only one son... you should definitely not miss this opportunity. It is time you take a trip abroad...” One of the two horribly fat aunties said and they all guffawed like it was the best joke ever.

“C’mon Gauri ji, 50 lakhs is not the right price for our Sahil... It should rather be 50 lakhs and a car at least, I would say. If I had a daughter, I would give that without a second thought for a man like Sahil.” Another one said with pride and smugness in her voice.  Sahil could not contain any longer. He banged open the door and barged into the living room obstinately in embarrassingly low shorts and a black vest.

“Sorry Auntie, but I couldn’t help overhearing your remark about my dowry...”

“Dowry? What dowry?” The auntie he had addressed interrupted him looking aghast as if he had insulted her character. “We are not such kind of people.”

“Oh, then I must have heard wrong... your remark about me deserving to get Rs. 50 lakhs and a car...”

“That is not dowry, my son... That is what you are worth... We are not asking for a car. The girl’s father will give it himself if he is not a shameless person, we can just tell him our preference of the brand...”

“Excuse me!” Now it was Sahil’s turn to interrupt. “You really think that is what, I cleared IIT for... FYI, oh sorry, for you information, I earn 45 lakhs per annum and I can pretty much buy my own car.”

All the aunties now looked at him. He had suddenly gained everybody’ attention with his lack of guile and forthrightness. “I have had close friends who are girls and I have sisters in my family... I would kill that ass ... umm... whatever... huh!”

His anger had no boundaries. He knew this evil was deep rooted in the country, but he never knew he would witness it ever. He felt disoriented suddenly. Looking at his heavy breathing and uncivilized attire, the aunties got up and bid farewell. His mother looked at him after everyone was gone and thankfully not with anger.

“Mom, I love a girl...” He said as she was clearing the table. She suddenly stopped and looked at him as if she had expected this already.

“Who is she?”

“Garima S**** ... works with me in Mumbai. Her father is an executive director in an MNC and her mother works with an investment bank. She is an MBA from Australia.” He tried giving the maximum details in one sentence.

“So, she is a...”

“Yes mom... she is not of the same surname, same caste, same gotra, same familial roots... But she is exactly who I want to be with all my life, and I don’t think anything else should matter.”

“I don’t know... this will never be accepted in your father’s family. There will be an outrage; I never wanted to lower my eyes because of you...”

“Do you really care?” Sahil said holding his mom lovingly and looking into her eyes. “I will be happy all my life... I would not have cared even if the same girl was from a different religion”

“Yeah, this is the problem with your generation. Is this the result of your high-fi education? Is this for what we spent so much money on your education?”  She sounded close to tears.

“Look mom...”

“No... Just ask your dad... You will know his reaction...”

“I will mom... I love you guys... and I am sure he will understand...”

“What? That you are going against the family tradition... that you will be destroying the respect and image that we built in all these years. You are just disillusioned by the shine of a metropolitan.”

“No mom... what are you talking about? I really want to do this and not just for myself, but for the good that I will be doing as a youngster of this country. Do you realize, mom, that how deep rooted this problem of dowry is? Did you look at what those aunties were saying? I will never be demanding a single penny from the girl’s parents. I will prefer having a marriage with 50 people rather than spending someone else’s money for my marriage. I will never hesitate in raising a daughter. I will be a proud father of a princess, by God’s grace. I will never be making my wife feel guilty for not having extracted money from her parents or not having demanded n number of sarees from her parents for my extended family. I will be ashamed to drive a car which I will get by exploiting a father. Think about it, mom. Please. This is my chance of playing my part in building of a stronger nation, free of these evils.”

Sahil’s mom looked at him. She had a feeling that her son was on his way to join politics. She just nodded and went back to her task of clearing the table.  Sahil, however, did not give up. He continued with convincing his mom for the rest of the evening. He felt tired with the discussion and conferred the task of disclosing the ‘news’ to his dad, to his mother. He had his dinner mostly in silence, where his mom kept thinking about the fury and insult she will have to face and he kept pondering over the reaction of his father. He had imagined everything ranging from a slap to being thrown out of the house.

He went off to his bed with the hope of meeting his dad in the morning at the breakfast table. He dozed off with the thoughts of his future life and a simple smile on his face.

Next morning, he woke up to an eerie silence. He went to the dining table almost shivering where he knew his dad would already know about the news and will be ready with his reaction. Although Sahil was very confident about his feelings and absolutely clear about his thoughts. His dad looked over his newspaper at his son and continued with his cereal cynically. This scared him even more. He sat down on the chair opposite to him, out of the reach of his hands. Nervously he said, “Morning dad!”

His dad folded his newspaper and looked straight into his eyes.

“So, Am I invited to the bachelor’s party, dude? After all you are doing your part for the country; give me a chance to do mine...” His dad said with a smile and a wink.

***

Supreme Court of India says that inter caste 

marriages will 

remove the difference of our society.

The Plausible Solution...

I am an Indian... and although I don't believe in geographical boundaries, but a Rajasthani at that. I say that because we are a blessed race. We have awesome things selling at every nook and corner of our state, called by the name kachori. Most of my food connoisseur friends will vouch for that and so will my aching stomach. This amazing, mouth watering snack is supposed to have originated in the state of Rajasthan and so we make it best! :D ... Yeah, I am bragging a little here but who won't, when he has seen people almost fighting their lives away to get hold of a piece at the halwaai stores. These stores promote a healthy and unbiased environment where people getting down from a Mercedes behave in the same way as the people on bicycles - it is heart touching to see the cultural, social, economical biases going away in a flash! 

I just contributed towards our economic growth by stuffing myself with 2 onion kachoris. I paid for them, and increased the money flow in our nation.

Maybe someone never thought of it, but this amazing snack is a solution to all the world problems, but sadly, only if we could have kachoris made in every street around the globe. The world would be such a better place. First things first, it will promote vegetarianism, and thus solve many of the equilibrium problems. Also, as soon as the fried kachori comes in the hands of the achiever, they start gorging on it immediately. So, no paper/plastic plates are used and thus it promotes a healthy environment, at the most old newspaper cut outs are used which again encourage recycling. Moreover, the white and black, rich and poor, wealthy and humble, everyone stands in the same queue to get their hold on these gram flour/moong daal manifestations. Thus, it helps solve the problem of racism, discrimination and cultural biases. 

Also, too much of deep fried food causes impotency and thus more kachoris in the world can help us curb the evil of population explosion. Instead of useless and bulky schemes that government devises, it should work on distribution of kachoris across the nation to each and every living soul. Maybe Anna Hazare should have opted to send a packet of kachoris to 10 Janpath, and the magic of this enslaving snack could have helped passing Lokpal Bill. Also, terrorists across the globe should be sent huge amounts of kachoris as a peace message and this scrumptious meal would have helped us get rid of terror forever.

On advantages of kachori, I could write volumes... but it is better to close it now. However, the need of the hour for the governments around the world is definitely to open more and more halwai stores in every area, which will also solve the problem of unemployment. May peace and kachoris prevail! May we have a healthier world!

I close with the recipe of this amazing snack – ... :)

 (http://www.tarladalal.com/Khasta-Kachori-(-Rajasthani-)-3862r)

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

For The Dough (crust)
2 cups plain flour (maida)
1/4 cup melted ghee
1/2 tsp salt

For The Filling
1/2 cup yellow moong dal (split yellow gram),
soaked for 4 hours
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp dried mango powder (amchur)
2 tbsp besan (bengal gram flour)
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Other Ingredients
oil for deep-frying

Method 
For the dough (crust)

1.    Combine all the ingredients and knead into a semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead very well for 5 to 7 minutes.

2.    Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet muslin cloth.

For the filling

1.    Drain the soaked moong dal. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida.

2.    When the seeds crackle, add the drained moong dal and sauté for a few seconds.

3.    Add the ginger-green chilli paste, chilli powder, garam masala, amchur powder, gram flour and salt and stir for 5 to 7 minutes till the masalas are cooked.

4.    Cool and divide into 12 equal portions. Shape each portion into an even sized round and keep aside.

How to proceed

1.    Roll out each portion of the dough into a 50 mm. (2") diameter circle.

2.    Place one portion of the filling mixture in the centre of the rolled dough circle.

3.    Surround the filling mixture with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling mixture.

4.    Seal the ends tightly and remove any excess dough.

5.    Roll each filled portion into a 62 mm. (2½") diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.

6.    Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.

7.    Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachoris.

8.    Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown on both sides. The kachoris should puff up like puris. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked on the inside also.

9.    Cool and keep aside or store in an air-tight container.

The 'Drops' of Nostalgia

Its been raining for a couple of days now... And when you live in a desert area like Rajasthan, that statement means a lot. When you get up early in the morning and unlike usual sunny days with sun rays obstinately peeping into your room through the window, there is darkness... a beautiful serenity and there is sound of raindrops pit-patting on the windows. You get up lazily and look outside the window. The roads are being washed clean, little streams of water are flowing down the narrow colony lanes, not a single person in sight except for romantic-natured people in their balconies sipping a cup of hot tea with fresh crispy pakodas. You might hear cheery cries of a few little kids on their small tricycles and bicycles that once decorated your porch too. You take a deep breath only to get your nostrils filled with the amazing tar-damp smell of wet sand and rain, which you want to lick. You see above almost in a conversation with God, and see the thunders and lightening pummelling the embrittled clouds... Stretching yourself, you move into your own balcony for a little stroll. Its drizzling beautifully. Fresh. Pure. Divine.

You look down at the road. Puddles here and there. And you see yourself, actually... an 8-year yourself, jumping wildly into those puddles splashing water all around. Sometimes, playing that marble game with your group of young friends, competing together as to whose marble will tip on the water more than once. Maybe, bicycle riding, cutting across the small water screams on the sides of the road, to see the water beautifully splashing and raising your feet high above. Or probably, a game of wet-cricket (of course, It's India!) with risky chances of slipping while taking a run. Or maybe, going to school in a bus, when rain is pounding the window panes, and you would dim the window with your breath and write your name... When you would paddle across the school ground with your friends like a flotilla of little ducks...
Sometimes, returning home, with feet all dirty with mud and dirt, and for a change, not getting scolded at all. After all, its monsoon!

A Season everyone looks forward to...  a season that cheers up everyone... a season that encourages moms to cook delightfully "different" fancy meals...  a season that makes the dads come back home earlier than usual... a season when siblings adorn the house terraces with self invented games... a season when groups of youngsters are found at the most happening places...

Its a monsoon evening... darker than it should be at 4 p.m. ... an evening when work might take a back seat... an evening that inspires you to do something that YOU like... an evening which brings me back to writing a blog post... :)

It couldn't be better... Happy Monsoons! :)

Truth NEVER Prevails...

I, usually avoid blogging on controversial and polemical issues which create a stir or may hurt the general public sentiments. My aim is to place a smile on the face of my readers or at least spread awareness and raise issues which need immediate attention. However, when the water level rises above the comfort levels and I have a feeling of drowning in narrow mindedness and dogmatism surrounding me, I can't control myself from penning things down.

Yes, Friends, Indians, Countrymen, If you have tears, prepare to shed them now, every Sunday!
Recently, much has been said and discussed about the new show being aired on TV - Satyamev Jayate. There have been closed room discussions and public portal debates all around the nation. First time when I watched the show, maybe my intentions were too good that I never thought that an opposing view could exist to the show. However, criticism always flows when someone sets out to do something good. A lot of things have come up since then. The argument which has totally shaken me is that Aamir Khan is getting Rs. 3 crore per episode for the show! I mean, so what? How does it even matter? Why didn't anyone raise an objection to Salman Khan getting Rs. 5 crore for a vile, repulsive, abusive and obscene show like Big Boss? Why can't we as a nation, look at the broader picture of the issues being discussed and the truths being presented.

Yes, Aamir Khan is at fault - he has hurt all those who have, or plan to, demand dowry, who are intolerant towards love and believe in the draconian tradition of Honour killing, who treat a girl child like an object of the house or those who believe that a child enjoys the experience of being sexually abused. Yes, Aamir Khan has hurt all those states and regions which have been highlighted in his episodes and where such disgusting crimes exist. Yes, Aamir Khan has hurt all those organizations and groups who have supported and in fact galvanized such hideous crimes. Oh yes, he is at fault and he should be punished!

In fact, people have been so naive and callow that they do not watch the show because all that being discussed is what they already know! Youngsters, elders and everyone feels they know too much! We have a;ways faced this problem of over confidence since ages and we have always suffered as such crimes have existed since times immemorial. It hurts me to see people being indifferent towards such shows and TRPs of reality shows soaring every day.

I say, don't watch this show please! And if you do, please watch it with an open mind and broader mindsets. Try looking beyond the petty things like the host's remuneration or his personal life... look at what he says, look at what he presents and just think... for once... WHY he does that?

Today, I really feel this poem holds true to every single bit, and I salute Rabindranath Tagore for such a far sighted and amazing poem... I wish the same -

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high 
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments 
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way 
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee 
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake..."

Getting beaten by the Heat...

Yes, its Summers... the "famous" hot summers of North India... when you wake up drenched in sweat in the morning and go to bed at midnight in the same condition. It does not matter how much Air conditioners you have, but there will be a moment when you will have to leave the comforts of that amazing zone and come out and face the heat. When the temperature is soaring at 44-45 degrees throughout the day and a boiling hot "loo" blowing from morning to evening, you don't feel very upbeat. Worse in such cases is to stand in queues anywhere... with people stinking around you and with sweat dripping from the corners of your forehead and the back of your ears slowly and gradually.

The heat becomes worse when you have to travel on a two wheeler... your head experiences a kind of suffocation in the helmet and hot wind hits you straight in the face. During the afternoon, the empty roads  give you a feeling of post-apocalyptic world and you envy those who are in the car with mirrors closed... Also, any type of "waiting" in such a weather makes you want to hit someone bad. May it be for the billing at a shop or for your order to arrive at a restaurant... you just want to get it done with and rush back in the assuagement of your AC rooms. Although I am away from this discomfort, but still I truly pity all those ladies and girls (and a few men) who have to work in the kitchen in this weather. I salute them for their perseverance and determination.

Although its the season of ice creams, cold drinks, and all other calorie filled food... but who cares! I would give away anything to get this time period done away with! I somehow pass my days in the eager  wait for the moment when the sun will hide behind the clouds on one lucky day and the first few drops of bliss will fall over me... maybe my blog post that day would be much more optimistic and romantic... :) ;)