पुणं सोडता सोडता ....

हे शहर सोडवत नाही

मी विसरू जाता उरते

मज झाकोळून उगवत राही

हे घडी बिघडले रस्ते

गर्दीने विस्कटलेले

अंथरल्या ऊनचुकांवर

पांघरूण रात्रीची शाई

ही रुतून बसली झाडे

सन्यस्त ढोंगी बैरागी

मोहोर पाहूनी माझे

परतवून पानोपानी

मी नदीविनाही फिरले

देऊळघंटेच्या काठी

आसवआठवांची यमुना

पुलाखालूनी वाही

वर्तूळ बशीशी भिडते

वर्तूळ पुरीचे आणि किती

मोजमापले तरि ओघळती

थेंब जास्तीचे काही

हे शहर सोडवत नाही

मी विसरू जाता उरते

मज झाकोळून उगवत राही

I am Moved !

Yes, we are moving out of our beloved town. We are shifting northwards.
Process of packing and moving your worldly belongings is made really easy these days with ‘packers & movers’.
They did a good job. In less than 4 hours we were packed. All stuff was loaded onto a vehicle and was ready to move.
That moment was difficult for me to handle. Suddenly, as if in a dream, a shower came. The sky was blue and the day was clear but still the rain came to bless me.
I am blessed and assured.

जागतिक टपाल दिवस

दरवर्षी ९ ऑक्टोबरला जागतिक टपाल दिवस साजरा केला जातो. माझं पोस्टाशी खूप जिव्हाळ्याचं नातं आहे. अनेक वर्षे न चुकता मी पोस्ट्मनच्या येण्याची वाट पाहिली आहे. पत्र येण्यातलं सुख, पाठवण्यातली हूरहूर पुरेपुर अनुभवली आहे. माझे हॉस्टेल वरचे दिवस, परदेशातलं वास्तव्य या पत्रांनीच सुसह्य केलं आहे.

आजकाल खुप कमी लोक पत्र लिहितात अशी तक्रार वारंवार ऐकायला मिळते. पण माझ्या नशिबाने मला सुंदर पत्र लिहिणारा प्रियकर मिळाला. जाईल तिथून (कधी मद्रास, कधी अहमदाबाद, कधी, जर्मनी) न चुकता पत्र लिहिणारी एक हुशार मैत्रीण, आवर्जून पत्र लिहिणारे प्रेमळ सर यानी वेळोवेळी पाठवलेली पत्र माझ्यासाठी अनमोल आहेत. आणि ही सगळी पत्र माझ्यापर्यंत पोचवणार्‍या टपाल खात्याची मी ऋणी आहे.

माझ्या अडिच वर्षाच्या लेकालाही पत्र पाठवण्यातली गंमत कळली आहे. जागतिक टपाल दिवसासाठी खास त्याने लिहिलेल हे पत्र. आणि सोबत आमच्या गुंडीबाईंच्या पुस्तकातली एक कविता (थोडासा बदल करून)

कितीतरी दिवसात बाबा नाही भेटला
बाबासाठी मनू फुरंगटून बसला
शेवटी घेतले त्याने पत्र लिहायला
शब्दासाठी कोण बसणार अडायला ?
बाबा, तुझी मला आठवण येते फार
उभ्या आडव्या रेषा त्याने मारल्या चार
आईने लिहिला पत्ता, पत्र पोस्टात गेले
रेषांचे वळण नेमके बाबालाही कळले !
बाबा आला धावत, मनूला मारली मिठी
आगळ्या वेगळ्या पत्राचं, त्याला कौतुक किती !

Insha'Allah

This year I decided to blog about 9 colors of Navratri. But I was unable to do justice to the theme because of n number of reasons. I had to work extra in the office and had some domestic duties that needed urgent attention and so on. For whatever reasons, I failed.
Wise people always say, first do, then tell. I think I should have blogged first and then bragged about it. A lesson is learnt.
While I was browsing the Net, an expression caught my attention. “Insha'Allah” is a phrase which is used when we are saying something that we will do in the future. It means “God willing”. This simple expression has a deep meaning. We should never say I will do this, I will do that. We must say Insha'Allah before that. If we boast we will not be able to it. I think the English proverb ‘Man proposes; God disposes’ means a similar thing.
I was unsuccessful this year. But I am not giving up. Insha'Allah I will attempt this project again next year.

Read more about Insha'Allah here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insha

Navratri ....part 3

Today's color Sky blue .
It is father’s favorite color. I have this old lakhanavi salwar-kurta. It is now too old to wear, still I am so attached to it that I am keeping it. It is associated with many fond memories of good old college days.

Navratri ...part 2

On Sunday the color was Orange

And on Monday it was White

Today it is Red. I bought this dress from kolhapur.

Nine colors of Navratri

Navratri begins today. Navratri is a festival of Goddess celebrated for nine days. Recently I came to know about the color codes observed during these nine days. I got this from a marathi Newspaper Maharashtra Times.
I like the idea of wearing clothes of given color on the given date. Though I am not much religious I find this idea fascinating. So I have decided to follow this calendar. It is just for fun.
I will be taking a picture of a dress or saree of the given color on each day and I am going to blog about it.
Here are the dates and colors:
Saturday -19 September – Green
Sunday - 20 September – Orange
Monday - 21 September – White
Tuesday - 22 September – Red
Wednesday - 23 September – Sky Blue
Thursday 24 - September – Yellow
Friday - 25 September – Peacock Green
Saturday - 26 September – Parrot Green
Sunday - 27 September – Purple

So today it is Green.
When I think of green, I remember meadow, trees, grass. If word nature has to have a color it will be green I guess. Some cultures believe that green is the color of envy. I can’t relate myself to that.
Today I have photographed border of a saree. This is one of my favorite sarees. I wore it on my wedding day.

I know, photo is not that good. I am trying hard to improve my photographing skills. :)

Contrasting colors of Kanpur

Last week I visited Kanpur, a city in Uttar Pradesh. I got to see very less of the city itself though. I mostly resided in IIT campus.
I was traveling along my toddler aged two and a half. We rarely get to spend so much time together. We enjoyed our peace on the move. I was excited and tensed to begin with then I slowly relaxed and started enjoying my journey. My most occupying task on the tour was to keep my son entertained. We managed fairly well with the help of a puzzle, three story books, a pack of animal shaped biscuits, few crayons and a blank notebook.
A long journey 24 hours took me to Kanpur. I must admit, I was not impressed by the first pictures of the city. It looked clumsy, dirty and crowded. Any railway station in India, for that matter, can be labeled with these three adjectives- clumsy, dirty and crowded. Kanpur was no exception.
In another half an hour, I was inside the campus. It was opposite of the city. It was free from pollution, noise and grime.
Here are some of the photos I took on the Campus. Bicycle is the main mode of transport here.

Or you can hire a cycle-rickshaw.

Or simply walk.

This is the Visitor’s Hostel, where I stayed.

And one more of VH

And this was the view from my room

Like every Indian I was thrilled at the thought of visiting Ganga, the most sacred river of India. My visit to Kanpur gave me this opportunity. We visited Ganga near Bithoor. To the much of my disappointment Ganga was not the Ganga of my dreams. It was imprisoned by the so-called devotees of Ganga. For me, Ganga symbolized Enormity, Purity and Abundance. But it lacked all. A very filthy narrow road took us to one of the Ghats. Road was lined up with small shops selling plastic cans for devotees to take back Ganga-Jal (water from the holy river Ganga). Ghat was beset with Sadhus and Pujaris, who offered us to do Ganga Mayya ki Puja. Ignoring them we moved forward. And finally saw the Ganga.

I was disenchanted by the first Darshan of Gnaga. Photographs are so deceptive!
Then our guide took us to Valmiki Ashram, birthplace of Luv and Kush.

This place was relatively clean. But it lacked the authenticity and old charm. It represented a sort of fabricated history for pilgrims. I disliked it entirely.

We also visited Seeta ki Rasoi (Seeta’s kitchen). This place looked ancient. Pujari was cleaning the temple. He guided us by pointing the broom in his hand towards the temple. Hypocrisy in all its forms was manifested there.

My journey ended well though. I got these beautiful flowers from a roadside vendor.

These flowers were meant for Puja. I just took them away. That was my way of protest.

Baby Corn Fingures

About 6-7 years back a chain of restaurants were launched in Pune called Corn Club. It served dishes made of corn. The chain was very popular then. One of the outlets is still working I guess. All others were eventually closed down. It was the time when American sweet corn was a rarity in Pune. And baby corns were not so frequently seen in the market. Now we get all these and many other so called foreign vegetables like colored capsicums, mushrooms, broccoli, etc. in the Mandai as well.
Corn clubs used to serve many novel dishes like corn kabab, corn patties, corn pizza along with usual corn bhel and corn on cob. They also used to sell corn oil and corn seeds for growing sweet corns at home. Read More about them here: http://www.cornclub.com/
Once we ordered Baby Corn Fingures in one of these Corn Club outlets. We really liked them and thought if only we could get hold of baby corns we can make them at home. In time we tried making them and with success.

Here is my recipe:
10 Baby corns
½ Cup Corn flour
2 table spoons Besan
Salt
2 Green chilies (crushed)
Oil for frying

Heat oil in a kadhai. Cut the baby corns lengthwise into 2 or 4 sections depending on their width. Mix Corn flour and Besan, add salt and crushed chilies. Make a batter using water. Dip a section of a corn in the batter deep fry in oil.
Serve with ketchup.

Rushi-Panchami

A day after Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated as Rushi-panchami.
On this day one is supposed to eat the food which does not involve bull’s labor. In old days bulls were used to till the land. This day is to remember its importance to us.

Many farmers across the district bring vegetable, fruits and other products grown in their backyards for sell in the city. We city dwellers get a rare opportunity to taste this homegrown harvest.

Here I made ragi roti and a leafy vegetable for lunch. Also a quick chutney and served it along with a cucumber and a guava. I bought all these ingredients from these vendors.

Khoya Modak : A Quick and Easy Prasad

Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi. I made a simple Prasad for Bappa. Khoya Modak.
Ingredients :
250 gms Khoya
50 gms Powdered Sugar
Food Colour - Orange - half a pinch
Powdered Cardamom - 1/2 spoon
Fry khoya in a non-stick pan for about 5 mins. Remove from fire. Blend in a mixer. Let is be cool enough to knead. Then add sugar, color and cardamom powder. Mold in modak shapes. We get these molds readymade in market.

Peanut Ladu – a primitive recipe

Bhatukali is a game played by children where they run a house, mostly kitchen, of their own using toy versions of the utensils and other kitchen equipments. In some ways it is similar to playing with a Doll’s House. They cook, clean and do various other activities that they see their parents doing around the house.
Cooking is a major part of playing Bhatukali. Many a times they cook virtual meals and enjoy with other playmates. We get many kitchen toy utensils and equipments in the market for playing this game. We used to have mostly metal ones. Now a days, we get more and more plastic made things. I grew up playing this game a lot. My son likes it too. I have been observing him playing this game with his friends quite a lot. And I was surprised to see a few new additions to the game. Once they decided not to cook for that day and visit a restaurant instead. We never did this simply because we never saw our parents doing this. One day they were arranging a birthday party. And all of them were busy talking on their toy mobile phones. They were consulting each other on phone about the menu and the gifts. Then they gave instructing, again on phone, each other about how to reach the venue. I was amazed by the way things have changed.
When we used to play the person coming in the house used to ring a bell by saying “Ding-Dong” now they give miss-calls.
Yesterday my son, aged two and a half, was playing all alone in the house. All his friends were busy. So he invited me to join in. I happily obliged. We decided to play Bhatukali. He was constantly giving me instructions about what to do. He was enjoying bossing me around. Then he asked for some “Khau”. Khau is a term difficult to describe, but I shall try. It can be anything, a sweetmeat or a fruit or any edible item given to children. The word khau has lots of meaning associated with it. Khau is given by elders, as a sign of love, to younger ones. My grandmother still sends me Khau. We used to get peanuts and jaggery. I gave my son the same thing yesterday. He was puzzled by this combination and asked me what to do with it. Eating peanuts and jaggery together is such a pleasure. I wanted him to know that. So I taught him a recipe which was our favorite Bhatukali recipe.
It will hardly qualify as a recipe. But still I told him step by step. Take a peanut divide it in two equal parts, it can be easily done. Then take a small amount of jaggery put it in between the two parts and that’s it. Your ladus are ready to eat. He liked them so much. I remembered Indira Sant’s poem साधासुधा माझा हात, बाळजीभ अमृताची …

Patolya – Aromatic leaf cakes.

From my Konkan visit I brought back a few turmeric leaves and recipe for Patolya. Yesterday was Sankashti Chaturthi so I decided to make Patolya for Prasad.
I used turmeric leaves in cooking for the first time in my life. And I just fell in love with the aroma it releases while steaming.
Next, I am going to try steaming fish in these leaves.
Recipe -
For filling:
½ cup of fresh grated coconut
1/3 cup of jaggery
Put both in kadai and stir till jaggery is desolved and whole thing becomes dry.

For cover:
Soak rice for 2 hours. Grind with some salt.

Arranging Patolya:
Open the leaf then spread the dough made for cover and then spread the filling.
It will look like this.

Then fold them in the middle. And steam for 15 mins.


Enjoy the aroma in the kitchen. After steaming they will look like this.

Now remove the leaves and enjoy Patolya with ghee.

Postcards from Burambad (Kokan)

Last week i visited my aunt. She stays in a small village near Chiplun called Burambad. I clicked some snaps during my visit.