how true!

Heart is such a thing that goes behind things that hurt it the most! 

My first ever running experience!

Yes, I completed a half marathon well within the time limit.. 13.1 miles!!

Repeating this twice I still can't remember how i convinced myself to train for running. Forget the fact that I had no other choice :P I didn't want my dear husband to get upset with me!apart from these reasons there was also one adventurous woman inside me that really wanted to do something different in life - to try out something new, to do something totally different than what i used to. More than all I wanted to break the stereotypical me. Though all these were nice to listen running does not come without a price. Training meant spending 90 minutes +60 minutes of getting ready & commuting four times a week. Weekend runs involved more than that. All this when your MIL stays with you - my husband's mom was quite understanding that way! The most important twist comes when you are hunting for houses, mortgages & finalizing a deal, shifting places, setting up your new home, arranging a house warming party ..phew it was tiring! Oh remember work can be hard on you at times... there are always the peaks that happen in work criticality especially when you feel you need to be at home more. I thought i was making a big sacrifice & hardest investment of my time in going for the training.

Only when I entered the training did i notice that there were ppl of all age groups there. moms with strollers trained as well as those first timers at 60+ ages!! the funny part was when I couldn't run better than any of them.. I was panting & almost at the end of the group. There were hardly anyone in front or behind me. I felt quite embarrassed & even thought i should  not continue this until I develop the basic strength necessary. but everything starts somewhere! I tried to face the fact that I am not good...I hardly spoke to anyone in the group as i was feeling very low & incompetent. There were ppl who were much thinner & more fat than me...some where first timers & many were running a repeat season. Worst case I wouldn't run the marathon but atleast I would train myself to get little physical fitness was what convinced me to stick to the course. Above all the fact that my husband stuck to the training as he had someone to accompany him  & was totally enjoying every bit of the run.

I injured my knees during the long runs & limped walking - my muscles tightened! Learning to live past the injuries I did improve a lot & when I finished the training there were hardly a third of the ppl who started training with me. I was happy i didn't stop training in-spite of missing a few sessions.

Sports or physical training was never my kind of thing was my idea...It took me 3 months of hard training, dedicated coaches & a loving husband's support to realize that physical activity is something your body requires just like eating & sleeping everyday.

I do have some other stuff lined up for the rest of the year but looking forward to run the next season :)

brocolli stuffed chapathi

Hi

Am back to the blogging world after a long break & with a new cooking idea :) 

Making chapathis from the scratch have always been a taboo for me & on top of it having something stuffed inside sounds like a scary idea! THis was my first thought when my MIL decided to make cauliflower stuffed chapathis for dinner. The idea sounded good because instead of spending some time on cooking the sabji you just need to have the vegetable chopped & make rotis as usual. Raita is the best side dish along with pickle! 

So here's what I wanted to try since we almost emptied our refrigerator - brocolli stuffed chapathis. Brocollis look similar to cauliflower right ;)

Make the dough for chapathi as usual(add lesser salt say 50%) & keep it aside. For the stuffing, grate the brocollis & add salt (remanining 50%), chilli powder, garam masala(less). You can saute these if in a hurry or let the mixture undisturbed for 3-4 hrs. 

Now flatten the roti, stuff some portion of the vegetable & wrap the dough around it & flatten it again. Cook it on the stove & hot brocolli rotis are all ready!

My husband really liked it with cucumber raita & andhra mango pickles :) 

5 min pulao :)

I have been posting back to back cooking recipes in my blog now! This is something that my husband initiated but I have taken credit  by posting it :) The origin of the idea is that we ran out of fresh vegetables & forgot to buy groceries but we didn't end up eating at a restaurant atleast! ;)

Pressure cook rice & mixed vegetables. At the end add salt & pepper...your pulao is ready. Pickle or raita is a great combination :)

Brocolli carrot curry

This is the first time I tried to cook something new & it happened to be a great dish :)

Ingredients:
Brocolli, carrot, moong dhal - 1:2:1 proportion
salt
coriander/cuimin powder
Chillies as much as you need
optional: I added mizhaga bajjji chillies(the big chillies) to make it even more hot :)

To grind:
coconut
chillies
jeera

Tadka:
mustard seeds
split urad dhal
hing

Pressure cook brocolli, carrot & moong dhal along with some salt. You can add a portion of the chillies here to get the hot flavor.
Meanwhile, grind the coconut, jeera & chillies & keep aside.
Then, do the tadka with the above ingredients in oil in a kadai. Now, add the cooked vegetables & ground paste & coriander cuimin powder. After 10 minutes, once everything seems well cooked  remove it from the flame.

The curry goes well with rice or roti. Enjoy :)

The unforgettable Navrathri of 2010

It's been 4 years since I missed  Golu/Navrathri. Having been in Mylapore, this festival is something that is dear to my heart for various seasons. I remember those days when I used to put kolam everyday for the Golu, take arati, plaiting my hair long & visiting ppl around. The fun part was to see what were the newly added dolls for the year & more importantly what was the spl gift given.

Once I came to U.S, I really missed this festival. This year after marriage I was given all the freedom to keep my own golu :) Thanks to my husband, we got considerably good amt of clay dolls.

It was a crazy week with lots of work at office, lots of ppl visiting us during the evening, making sundal everyday. I remember I had to make 3 times as there were more & more ppl coming :)

It was a day before the Saraswathi puja - and to add the icing to the cake was born my nephew. Those tiny hands & tiny legs - that's the first time am seeing a  new-born. I was too afraid to carry him. But, it was a really really eventful Navrathri for me with too many firsts :)

the best cake ever!

This was the cake my friends aka roomies had baked for my engagement :) One of the most delicious chocolates cake I had ever had! Ofcourse I was pretty touched by what they did! Thank you ash & pavi for that. :)

Best B'day gift ever!

Between the last time I wrote a blog & now there have been quite a bit of changes happening with/around me! My sudden decision to get engaged after falling for this guy who I met for hardly a couple of hours..lol!
Come the new year & then my birthday! I really wished I was with my fiance on my birthday. I knew I missed him. Unfortunately, it was on that day that he had to attend a conference call early in the morning & I could not talk to him for more than a few mins - a birthday wish & love you messages!
It was yet another day to work despite the fact that I started late from home! I was trying to wear my rain jacket when somebody knowcked at the door. I was wondering if it was lovely neighbor downstairs who wanted who specially wish for my b'day with his us usual - " you are creatng a lot of noise"! But no it was this guy with a boquet of red roses wishing me "happy b'day"! :) Totally surprised, the first thing I asked was why he was there when he was sick & had loads of work! The best birthday gift is to be with your beloved & I realized it that day :) He definitely made my day & I owe him one for that!

do what you think is right!

i am really at loss of words today..i feel like i really want to write a lot but don't know what 2 write about! Well, then why did I even start blogging - the reason is because i feel like saying a whole lot of new things but am not able to convey any of them in words:(
sometimes you never know what is right/wrong & sometimes the differentiating line b/w both is so less that you tend to not perceive the right thing. Everything is relative in the world. what is right to someone is wrong to another. But whatever be it, you can never satisfy all the people in the world. So just listen to your conscience & do what you think is right :)

tring tring...............!!

Woooooooooooh....i wud have never dreamt abt it..From 14 hrs of non -stop talking, its now less than an hr of talking each day..is that what is vcalled gettng to be a professional means! okay am just talking abt the non-professional talking!! whatever be it, i am just wondering what in the world I had to talk the whole day! When my sis & her friends usually ask how that was possible , i used to wonder how silly they were. OMG what's been happening these days..i talk for less than an hr - that's incredible!!

oh plz stop gibbering! ok now i know what I was talking then ! :D

Stop! Shut down!

Almost every time I hit the shut down button on my laptop, I remember that I need to look at some of my scrap in one-note or check that mail for something really important. I have always been wondering if this is just my problem (of absent-mindedness) or if anyone else in the world does face the same too!
Anyways , how nice would it be if I could just stop those shut down scripts with just one click of a button! Something like the hand brake in a car or the stop button in treadmill. I have no idea if its really possible. sounds really silly, isn't it?! Yeah, it takes another absent-minded person to understand someone like him/her! :P

Guru Vandanam

I might not be doing real justice in writing about this great person who has made a lasting impression in my life. The biography of DKP can be read from many sources but this is about DKP amma as a Guru from a student’s perspective. Words cannot suffice everything that can be told about her. But I will still try to make an attempt to the extent possible!

I was never interested in learning to sing when I was young, though I liked singing! It was little spontaneous but nothing I felt made me really passionate about improving my music skills. I've always had great teachers who really believed I was a good student! I used to hang around their place, eat food & learn music. Music was an indispensable part of my family though no one was a pro @ it. My mom always wanted to make the sisters (me & my sis) pro. Everyday started with the AIR (All India Radio) showcasing a concert of one of the maestros of the carnatic world. Having never taken music seriously, I never realized the fact that it was near impossible for me to be without singing or listening to music. For certain reasons, I could not continue my music lessons with my old music teacher & searching for a new one was not easy. I have no clue how my mom ended up with such an idea. She approached DKP amma to teach music for me & my sis. That was not going to be really easy but my mom was determined about this. Perhaps she realized, I would become more serious about music at least then. After all, she was my mom & would could judge better than her!

After a year, we were invited to sing before her so that she could get an idea about our way of singing. I believe we sang a Dikshitar composition in front of someone who had learnt from Dikshitar's descendant herself! I was little nervous on seeing her but it was a great experience to have just sung before her. We were sure she was gonna say its tough for her to manage more students at her old age or say some reason to evade us. But no! That did not happen..she liked something in our singing & accepted to teach us.

Music lessons became no more a past-time activity. DKP amma would never like her students sing with their books open after learning a composition. The variations were perfectly structured. DKP amma would expect her students to sing the same way she sang her variations for any composition. Any student of hers could sing with any other student & yet they would sing the similar way because the variations would always sync! It was not easy for everyone to sing those complex compositions satisfying her expectations. But she would make life so easy for her students. She would simplify those so that her students could easily grasp them. Not many of those great artists could be great teachers. But DKP amma was a perfectionist & she knew how to bring out that perfection from her students. Music was not just about singing a song. But it was about bringing out the essence of the song. The words were as important as the tune – be it in whatever language. Most people have the opinion that Carnatic music is all about singing a song whose meaning was understood neither by the singer nor the listener. That’s totally wrong. When a musician sings a song, they need to understand the song to bring out the best in it & also make the listener experience the joy of listening to the song. I don’t think my guru would ever tolerate a word mispronounced or like it if the song was not sung the way it was supposed to be.

Music filled every breath of hers & she lived because of it. She was too old when I started learning from her. Yet her enthusiasm for teaching something new every class was never less. Her physical condition was challenging but she broke all those challenges with her passion for music. An ever-lasting source of inspiration, a woman with immense grit, only those who knew her personally knew how humble she was & how kiddish she was at heart. There were days when I used to eat at her home & then learn the songs.

My mom would make sweets & savorites at home for every festival. Ishwaran maama(her husband) would eat the sweets and DKP amma would just eat the savorites. But just because it was hand-made, she would quietly eat a mustard-size of those sweets & say how good it was to eat! After every class we would touch her feet & she would bless us. Those blessings were sincere & she would never stop with saying “nanna iru”(may you be fine), she would bless for staying healthy, without suffering from a disease, for singing well, for studying well & being a good kid to the parents. She would not only teach music but also certain essential moral values & stories of the saints & composers, not to forget the importance to be given for a mother and father. For a person of her caliber & with her frail health at that old age, people would hardly imagine to even sit & even entertain guests. There were many days when we regretted for having started to take the music lessons so late with her. But those days were the most memorable days of my life. All my weekends would just go for the music lessons. Sometimes I have even felt bad that I did not get to spend my weekends like other people going to college. But it was only after coming to U.S, did I realize how much I missed those weekend lessons!

And yeah, she never had the habit of looking at the clock to count the time she had been teaching. All that counts was whether the student learned that part of the song or not! With an ever smiling face, she was humility personified. She was the one who instilled confidence to sing in concerts. At the same time she was there to see that concerts did not pull us away from learning more songs. She knew what was best for every student & also how to bring out the best in every student. Every person who has had an opportunity to learn from her, I am sure, would acknowledge whatever I said.

An amazing source of inspiration, a perfect role-model, she has left a great legacy behind & I think it is the responsibility of us - as her students all over the world, to just carry over this treasure to the future. Though I will never get to learn another song from her in person, I think I have those moments of learning from her to treasure & for this I feel really fortunate about myself. It was a great experience to learn from her & blessed am I for knowing her personally. Thanks to my mother who made this possible & my sister without whom I would not have even dared to learn music & my father who was there supporting us.