Kshema's 7 Quick Takes Friday (Volume 12)

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A week full of ups and downs......... time is like a barcode, full of black and white stripes. One can even draw the analogy of a sine wave, perhaps. While one moment is ecstatic, the other is extremely depressing and demotivating.... sigh! This is life! Yet, we do not stop living and loving it too, isn't that true? Well, the weather is cooperative, though.

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"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." - Marcus Tullius Cicero 

Yes, I have a garden and a library too. Therefore, I can say, in principle, that I have everything I need. I attribute this reading habit in my family to my profession. Having a librarian as a wife and a mother will surely have its impact on the family. Over a period of time, we have collected good many books and the time demands a re-org for the home library. Last Sunday was a perfect day for the activity. Though we could not accommodate all our books, we could arrange the oft-read ones so that they are easily accessible.

 

   

Here are some pics :) The books were arranged into different sections as Generalia & Fiction; the Management & Leadership; Cook Books; Relationships, Self-help etc., and the Audio-Visuals.

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The much awaited guests 

My little sister and her dashing husband! The smart couple! After a good one-and-a-half years of their marriage finally they could find some time to come to Jodhpur. This Friday has been a comfortable but busy day with sumptuous breakfast at home with the smarties; then went out for lunch with them to Jodhpur famous Gypsy restaurant for authentic Rajasthani platter. Enjoyed the khaman dhokla, daal-baati-choorma, sogra, missa roti, marwadi kadhi, besan ki chakki etc. Then for the shopping part, it was fun! Evening chai with adrak (ginger) and elaichi (cardamom) was awesome; courtesy my darling husband; he has mastered the art of preparing wonderful tea. We are going to enjoy their stay for two more days and have loads of fun.

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A New Sub-section

As promised last week, let's start with a new sub-section that will have description of small incidents through my childhood until now, sometimes funny, witty, and sometimes random. Will suitably name this sub-section some time down the line. These incidents will not be chronological. I will write about them as I remember. Since my little sister is visiting me, I'll start with an incident related to the two of us.

My little sister came into my life when I was in my 8th grade. I was (I am now also) very fond of her. She was the centre of attraction to everyone in my family as she was born after a good 13 years of only me as a child of the family. Ours had been a joint family with grand mothers, uncles and aunts. Being my only sister, I was a little possessive of her. My mom used to take my baby sister to school along with her as she was a school teacher. One of my uncles used to live near to her school and he used to take my baby sister home on Mondays as it was his weekly off. My uncle and aunt used to keep her in their home and would return with her to our house either the same evening or the following day. Their son and my brother was not born yet. They used to pamper my baby sister so much with something new every week. The entire week my baby sister used to be pampered by me and used to listen to me. Come Monday and her attitude would change! She used to return home with my uncle and aunt in a new frock and a new hair-do. Upon her return she would not respond to me! She used to have this "airs" thing about her new status of being over pampered. I used to feel like slapping her hard and bring her to senses, after all I was also a child. Slowly in the following days she used to return to her normal self. That would last only until the next Monday or their next pick-up, whichever came sooner. On one such day when she returned home with them, suddenly out of the blue, God knows what prevailed on her, she brought a stainless steel tumbler from the kitchen and dropped it on my nose with a thud. I was lying a couch nearby and chatting with my uncle at that time. That tumbler drop has left a mark on my nose and it remained there for a long time. This is how siblings are. But as the external magic wanes off, they gel back again as if nothing had happened. Oh what a time it was!! I recall Marion Garretty -- "A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost."

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This week's recipe

Courtesy: tastyappetite.net

This week's recipe is dedicated to my little sister as the recipe is her courtesy. The daal-parathas and karonde ki subzi. For daal-ke-paranthe, mix wheat flour with the left over daal (lentils), along with some finely chopped onions and green chillies. Can also add a pinch of garam masala if you like. These parathas will be a little thick. Cook them on a griddle with some butter.

Karonde (Natal Plum)

As for the karonde (Natal Plum) ki subzi, wash and cut the karondas into two halves. In a pan add some oil and let it heat. Add some dhaniya (coriander) powder and finely chopped chillies. You can add a pinch of asafoetida (hing) if you like. Add the cut karondas and salt. Saute for while and check of it is done.


This is a hit combination of daal-ke-parathas, karonde ki subzi, achaar (pickle) and plain yogurt.

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This week's book

"Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom was the book I bought for my daughter a few days ago. She reported that she liked it very much. The books describes a beautiful time spent by a student with his teacher during his last days. The student narrates the life wisdom he received from his teacher Morrie, his attitude towards death and his outlook towards life. A must read. Her next read is "The Time Keeper" by Mitch Albom again.

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This week's song

"Himadri Tung Shring Se, Prabuddh Shuddh Bharati
Swayam Prabha Samujjwala, Swatantrata Pukarati"

A patriotic poem penned by Lt. Shri. Jaishankar Prasad, the famous Hindi poet, novelist and playwright. The poem was written in the wake of Indian Independence Movement and has won many accolades too. This poem was adopted as a song in the popular television serial "Chanakya" directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi. He also played the role of Chanakya in the serial. It was aired on the good old Doordarshan in the 1990s era. More on our good old Doordarshan and the nostalgic serials sometime again.

हिमाद्रि तुंग श्रृंग से प्रबुद्ध शुद्ध भारती

स्वयंप्रभा समुज्जवला स्वतंत्रता पुकारती

अमर्त्य वीर पुत्र हो, दृढ़-प्रतिज्ञ सोच लो

प्रशस्त पुण्य पंथ हैं - बढ़े चलो बढ़े चलो

असंख्य कीर्ति-रश्मियाँ विकीर्ण दिव्य दाह-सी

सपूत मातृभूमि के रुको न शूर साहसी

अराति सैन्य सिंधु में, सुबाड़वाग्नि से जलो

प्रवीर हो जयी बनो - बढ़े चलो बढ़े चलो

My daughter came up to me for helping her with her speech as the newly appointed Head Girl of her school, which she will be delivering on the 66th Independence Day of India, on the 15th of August. India is blessed with abundance of such literary gems. I advised her to start her speech with the above poem. What else could be a better way to start her speech of investiture!

Eid Mubarak to all my friends!! Have a great weekend and stay tuned :)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!