Boncconcini Salad

I have to make all salads spicy and indianized so to speak, or else they will go uneaten. Here is a salad that can very well serve as a complete meal, at least for lunch.

Ingredients:

* Mixed Salad Greens - 1 box 150 gms
* bocconcini cheese - 1 box ( I get the pearls, but any kind should do)
* Tomatoes - 2 cut in large slices.
* orange juice - 10 mL
* Hari Mirchi - 2
* Adrak - 1 " peice grated
* Olive oil - 2 tsp
* the following things add as per your taste:
*Caesar dressing - (any other kind should do well too)
* Salt pepper
* Lal Mirchi
* hing
* zeera
* kadi patta
* rai
* Croutons
* Fried cashews
*Hara dhaniya




Method:

You will need two different bowls to prep the salad. It is best served in individual plates or large bowls, so keep those ready too.

Bowl 1:

* to the salad greens add salt, pepper, orange juice, and dressing.
* Keep aside till plating.

You might want to buy pre-washed greens, or wash and dry yours completely before hand, as the dressing does not evenly coat wet leaves.

Bowl 2:

* Drain the bocconcini pearls and put in a metal or glass bowl
* In a small pan ( i use those small handle wali karahis for tadka) heat some olive oil
* Add jeera, rai, karhi patta, hing, hari mirchi and cook for a minute
* Add grated adrak and cook again
* Add Deghi mirch and pour on top of the bocconcini pearls.
* Mix well and keep aside.

You are now ready to plate the salad. I usually divide each component into equal parts with imaginary lines in my head based on the no of servings I am making, just to ensure that each serving has relatively the same concentration of each ingredient. I don't know why but for some reason it is important to me that all plates are relatively similar heterogeneous mixtures. ahhhh... If that is not a priority you can just keep adding stuff in the same bowl to begin with and serve it as it is.

here is my method, to each plate:

* Add one portion of the greens
* Add half the spiced cheese
* toss half the diced tomatoes
* Garnish with croutons, fried cashews and dhania.
* Voila!! you are done, dig in !

Butternut Squash Soup

Here's my version of the Butternut Squash Soup, and no, I am not going to bother to list the ingredients first that is way too much work for me, I am going to just write it out, and if you have been cooking for a while you know that that is how we cook as we go along we no longer line up everything before we start, those days are long gone :)

1. Cut the squash lengthwise, remove the seeds, place in a 425 C oven till its tender.

2. Scoop the flesh out and place one half in a zip lock freezer bag to use later, the other half to make the soup. (Personally I do my baking on one day and the other cooking on another so I would freeze both halves but, you get the idea.)

3. Heat 1tbs of extra vigin olive oil in a pressure cooker, add 1 small onion coarsely cut --> heat add 1 tsp zeera, 1 stick of cinnamon,5-6 whole black peppercorns, grated ginger per taste --> Heat --> 1 tsp dhaniya pwd, 1/4 tsp garam masala pwd, salt to taste, -->heat -->+ 1 apple peeled and diced, and some fresh green dhaniya leaves -->heat --> + 1 tomato -->heat --> 1/2 or 1/4 cup cashews --> heat --> the butternut squash and some water. Cook till one whistle.

4. When cool enough, use a hand blender to puree the soup in the cooker itself. Thin to desired consistency with milk or water per your taste.

5. Enjoy with fresh baked croissants.

taaron ki zuban par hai mohabbat ki kahani

I love this song, well that is sounding redundant now. after all why would i bother to put it on my blog if I did not like it. right!

anyways

तारों कि ज़बान पर है मोहब्बत कि कहानी
ऐ चाँद मुबारक हो तुझे रात सुहानी

कहते हैं जिसे चांदनी है नूर-ऐ-मोहब्बत
तारों से सुनहरी है हमेशा तेरी किस्मत
जा जा के पलट आती है फिर तेरी जवानी --> This here is my favourite line,because it is a beautiful idea, this concept of your youth coming back to you. Besides, इस बरस मुझ पर भी पलट कर आई है - जवानी. Yes, you are right, this just might be the euphoria that precedes a terrible mid life crisis, but if it is okay with you I would like to go ahead and enjoy it while it lasts. तो फिर मेरी तरफ़ से भी ऐ चाँद मुबारक हो तुझे रात सुहानी

I wrote this post a month back and here is the trouble, already ja chuki hai, I feel old again, must have been some euphoria when I wrote that part up there, it lasted a while too, for the past sometime i have been very happy and hopeful. Right now, not so much. नही नही ठीक है ठीक है, मुझे positive thinking वाला ज्ञान मत दो अभी, मुझे उसका इल्म है, पर, hard to think positive when you are churning your guts out all the time, and no, I am not complaining stating a fact here is all.



Movie: Nausherwan-E-Adil (1957)
Singers: Lata mangeshkar ,Mohammad Rafi
Music: C. Ramchandra
Lyrics:Parvez shamsi

ek vivah aisa bhi

I just watched this movie and well... I cried, like a baby in the end.

I mean it is a cliched and trite movie like nobody's business and yet l thought it was ronmantic like awww... yes I know how to spell romantic - itne bure din nahi aayen hain.

Parts of it were very irritating, but on the whole you fall in love with the characters, or at least I did. But you have to remember ki main to bhai hum aapke hain kaun, aur hum saath saath hain dekh kar bhi royi thi.

In case you do go and watch the movie and then wonder where did I fall apart? Well, the part that I actually cried about was the time when the barat finally comes in the end and and all those loons are singing 'lo ji hum aa gaye hain' It is the second time the song plays in the movie and the first time it was barely tolerable as in the lyrics are not what you might call brilliant, but the second time somehow something changed and it actually resonated with me, the whole scenario did.

I loved that line ' ye vo var hai jiske liye taras gayi thi varmala' That is beautiful, isn't it.

Deewana banana hai to

It is a very beautiful ghazal by Behzad Lakhnawi, I am trying to write the lyrics because a) they are eloquent and b) I can't see them on the web, at least not found on a rudimentary search. :) There, my contribution to the world, today's good act. ha ha, okay sorry am not doing it for altruistic motives this is purely for my own enjoyment.

Deewana banana hai to deewana bana de
Varna kahin taqdeer tamasha na bana de

Ai dekhne waalon mujhe has has ke na dekho
Tumko bhi kahin mohabbat mujh sa na bana de (Oh! that is ..... well, it has happened to me and i am sure to a lot of other ppl, when you make fun of someone, life shows you their side eventually doesn't it? ;) )

Main dhoond raha hoon jisko meri vo shamma kahan hai
Jo bajzm ki har cheez ko parwaana bana de ( Ahem ! hmm... biased opinion but, whatever)

Akhir koi soorat to ho khana-e-dil ki
Kaba nahi banta to butkhana bana de (Waah waah! my feelings exactly)

Behzad har ek gaam pe ek sajda-e-masti
Har zarre ko sang-e-dar-e-jana na bana de ( :D um hmm, sure, why not? )

Here a link to Begum Akhtar's rendition

when you are sick

When you are sick what you want more than anything else is health.When you get better, you forget how bad it was.

Not forget entirely but you put it out of your mind so to speak.

For the first two days you are very grateful for the return of your abilities, to be able to taste food, drink cold water, sit up without hurting, sleep without waking up fifty times and so on.... but slowly it wears off, and you start taking it all for granted again. Come to think of it that is how it should be too, if you keep thinking about your sickness what good is it to be well again?

I am sick right now. Have been for many days, and I am hating it.

My brain is addled up mush, I cannot think straight, I don't sleep - I drift in and out of consciousness, I have crazy dreams where people give me lectures on how to fertilize a rose bush and I wake up begging them to stop filling my head with data I really do not need, really I just buy the ready made rose fertilizer and hope the manufacturer knows what ratio the Nitrogen and Phosphorous need to be in, I do not need to worry about it, but in my dreams I do.

I keep telling myself that if I can get two good paragraphs of description out of this then that will be something. I can use that in a story where I can make someone fall sick.

What? Waste not want not...

And that is the worst of it, I cannot. I have not been able to put in words how horrible I am feeling right now, how desperate to feel like myself again, how frustrated at not being able to do anything about it.

I am actually missing not being able to do stuff like cooking and cleaning.  That tells you how bad it is.

These days I actually eat things based on the ease of throwing them up, like its easier to throw up roti than chawal, they stick in places, shoot am I grossing you out! sorry I am just all messed up. Its all twisted in my head.

Bade armaano se rakha hai balam

pyar ki duniya me ye pehla kadam

I capital L love this song, unfortunately the video is not too good, but I could not find a better one, besides I just listen to it. :) I think I posted another song from this movie long back, kahan ho tum zara aawaz do hum yaad katen hain. Like this one way better



Movie: Malhaar (1951)
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh

jab se tumhe dekha hai

aakhon me tumhi tum ho

:) Infectious happy song. I cannot stop smiling when I listen to it, or not sing along. they both look so young and full of life and of course this famous Brindavan Garden brings back a lot of memories. saari hindi filmon me mysore jaa kar ke ek gaana to yaahan shoot hota hi hoga nahi? I remember walking through this park as a little girl, and pretending to be a hindi film heroine, hopping along, and my dad yelling in the background you will fall in to the water, come back. ugh!

shoot did I just admit that? whatever...

dil ke naye naghmon ki taano mein tumhi tum ho. hum bhi yehi kehten hain saanson me tumhi tum ho.



Movie: Gharana (1961)
Singers: Mohd. Rafi Asha Bhosle

mere tumhare beech mein

ab to na parbat na saagar
nis din rahe khayalon mein tum
ab ho jaayo ujagar
ab aan milo sajna

Jhuk gaya aasman has to be my most favourite movie. Ever. I have seen it I do not know how many times and I can still watch it over and over again. I never get bored of it.

This particular song I think I like the audio better than the video, no reason, just generally, Lata Mangeshkar's voice is so beautiful, I would rather close my eyes and listen to it.



and then ofcourse, kaun hai jo sapno mein aaya.... is beautiful. My favourite part of that song is
jism ko maut aati hai, lekin rooh ko maut aati nahi hai. Ishq roshan hai roshan rahega, roshni iski jaati nahi hai.

and that one about bekhudi ka ye aalam na poocho, manzilon se bradha ja raha hoon. :) hmm... kaafi bevakoofi ki baat hai, but I can so relate to it.

yaad na jaaye beete dino ki

It is one of those songs you cannot listen to and not feel bad. *(too many negatives in that sentence ? argh!)

Mohd. Rafi's voice is unsurpassed. My favorite part is the way he sings:
तस्वीर उनकी छुपाके, रख दूँ जहां जी चाहे
मन में बसी ये मूरत
लेकिन मिटी न मिटाए
कहने को है वो पराए




Movie: Dil Ek mandir (1963)
Music: Shankar jai kishan
Singer: Mohd. Rafi
Lyrics: Shailendra

piya aiso jiya mein samayi gayo re

ki main tan man ki sudh budh gavan baithi

It is one of those rare songs that the video is as amazing as the audio. I cannot pick which I like better, Geeta Dutt's haunting voice or Meena Kumari's ethereal beauty. The cinematography is way over the top too. :) Love it.



Movie: Sahib Bibi aur Gulam (1962)
Singer: Geeta Dutt
Music: Hemant Kumar
Lyricist : Shakeel Badayuni

kisko naman karoon main bharat

- Ramdhaari Singh Ji Dinkar
This is one of my favourite poems of Dinkarji.

तुझको या तेरे नदीश, गिरि, वन को नमन करूँ, मैं ?
मेरे प्यारे देश ! देह या मन को नमन करूँ मैं ?
किसको नमन करूँ मैं भारत ! किसको नमन करूँ मैं ?

भू के मानचित्र पर अंकित त्रिभुज, यही क्या तू है ?
नर के नभश्चरण की दृढ़ कल्पना नहीं क्या तू है ?
भेदों का ज्ञाता, निगूढ़ताओं का चिर ज्ञानी है,
मेरे प्यारे देश !
नहीं तू पत्थर है, पानी है।
जड़ताओं में छिपे किसी चेतन को नमन करूँ मैं ?

भारत नहीं स्थान का वाचक, गुण विशेष नर का है,
एक देश का नहीं, शील यह भूमंडल भर का है ।
जहाँ कहीं एकता अखंडित, जहाँ प्रेम का स्वर है,
देश-देश में वहाँ खड़ा भारत जीवित भास्कर है ।
निखिल विश्व को जन्मभूमि-वंदन को नमन करूँ मैं ?

खंडित है यह मही शैल से, सरिता से सागर से,
पर, जब भी दो हाथ निकल मिलते आ द्वीपांतर से,
तब खाई को पाट शून्य में महामोद मचता है,
दो द्वीपों के बीच सेतु यह भारत ही रचता है।
मंगलमय यह महासेतु-बंधन को नमन करूँ मैं ?

दो हृदय के तार जहाँ भी जो जन जोड़ रहे हैं,
मित्र-भाव की ओर विश्व की गति को मोड़ रहे हैं,
घोल रहे हैं जो जीवन-सरिता में प्रेम-रसायन,
खोर रहे हैं देश-देश के बीच मुँदे वातायन।
आत्मबंधु कहकर ऐसे जन-जन को नमन करूँ मैं ?

उठे जहाँ भी घोष शांति का, भारत, स्वर तेरा है,
धर्म-दीप हो जिसके भी कर में वह नर तेरा है,
तेरा है वह वीर, सत्य पर जो अड़ने आता है,
किसी न्याय के लिए प्राण अर्पित करने जाता है।
मानवता के इस ललाट-वंदन को नमन करूँ मैं ?

pal - 2

This is the second one in the trilogy of Pal। I posted the first one some time back, I have not yet written the third one. The first is a happier poem, I hope so is the third one :) whenever I write it.

कुछ बीत गए, कुछ हैं बाकी
कुछ हँसते थे, कुछ गम के साथी
कितने लम्हे
सब मेरे साथी

इक पल में जीना मुश्किल था
इक पल में धरती अम्बर थी
इक पल मेरे साथ थे तुम
इक पल कैसी वीरानी थी

इक पल नदिया सागर थी
यूँ झूमती गाती आती थी
उसके एक छोर से दूसरे तक, अंतहीन कहानी थी
फिर इक दिन, ख़ुद सागर,
केवल घडों पानी।

इस पल जीवन समझ में आया
उस पल कैसी नादानी थी
भरी दोपहरी सोयी मैं
इक रात जाग कर काटी थी।

उस पल कितने फूल खिले
खुशबू को कितने रंग मिले
उसे जली घास में ढूँढ रही वो
कोई बसंत कि दीवानी थी

इक पल सपना देखा था
इक पल सब जग अपना था
फिर पल में सपना टूट गया
घर भी मुझसे छूट गया और
तू भी मुझसे रूठ गया
तो भी नहीं हैरानी थी।

इस पल जीवन समझ में आया
उस पल कैसी नादानी थी।

mohd rafi for kishore kumar

I like this video link, Mohd. Rafi singing for Kishore Kumar. Some people might hate it, purists who like either one of them too much that is. No, I am not one of them. I think it is possible to admire both. oh and there is still room for Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan :P

na jee bhar ke dekha

na kuch baat kii
badi aarzoo thi mulaqat kii

This from experience, always happens, the stuff you anticipate, disappoints you like no body's business. Moral of the story - do not get your hopes up, no matter what.

:)

Here are two versions, I like the words in the first one better

khuda ke liye kuch to irshad ho
duhaai ho shikwa ho fariyaad ho
koi tarjumani ho jazbaat ki
badi aarzoo thi mulaqat ki

and i am up again.

yep! but I did sleep. I am not feeling too well, and I dislike that. I am not the kind of person who makes a good invalid, it just gets to me.... I pity the people who have to take care of me.

The worst part of this recent bout is the taste in my mouth and what that does to the taste of coffee.

I actually had to throw away some very good coffee coz it tasted horrible. ugh!

Which brings me to the problem that I can no longer say I like coffee, I like the taste of coffee when I am feeling well, everything must be qualified.

 But that perhaps goes without saying, because there are no absolutes in life.

It is like saying I love you, I love you no matter what.

Well, not true. You will not love him so much if he turns out to be a chauvinistic, abusive, wife-beating kind of a man.

You might still stay with him - for your own reasons - but I don't think you would love him the way you did when you claimed you would love him no matter what.

There are no unconditional promises in life, or very few can make and keep them at the least.

There, I feel much better having to throw away my cup.

kaun kehta hai tujhe maine bhula rakhha hai?

- by Jan Nisaar Akhtar

I am looking for a link to upload Talat Mahmood's beautifully sung version too, haven't figured out how to put my own mp3's and haven't found one on the web yet. Will do that asap. I think it's a beautiful poem.

कौन कहता है तुझे मैंने भुला रखा है

तेरी यादों को कलेजे से लगा रखा है

लब पे आहें भी नहीं आँख में आंसू भी नहीं

दिल ने हर राज़ मुहब्बत का छुपा रखा है

तूने जो दिल के अँधेरे में जलाया थे कभी

वो दिया आज भी सीने में जला रखा है

देख जा आके महकते हुए ज़ख्मों कि बाह्रर

मैंने अब तक तेरे गुलशन को सजा रखा है

It's a very nice poem, I just have some issues with लब पे आहें भी नहीं आँख में आंसू भी नहीं दिल ने हर राज़ मुहब्बत का छुपा रखा है, no, I think it is a beautiful line, and to large degree it is true to a lot of people. It sounds hard but it is not. Most people I know do it without even thinking about it. Things they want from life, things they had hoped to have, they put it so deep inside themselves no one would be able to guess what their deepest desires are. We keep going through the rigmarole of everyday existence in some misplaced sense of upholding the sanctity of what must be done. So my question then is, to what purpose? छिपा ही लिया तो कौन सा तीर मार लिया, बता भी देते तो क्या आफत आ जाती साहब?

Life is only as simple or as complicated as you choose to make it. It is the simplest thing in life, to admit what you want and it is equally simple to fall into the rut of denial, of insisting nah, I don't care. Unfortunately, over time, we get emotionally invested in our positions, we consider it a loss of face to recant. The ego is a bad commander, it rakes up unnecessary casualties. If there is one thing I have learned in all my years, it is that putting things out in the open and talking about them is far saner than pushing them under the carpet. Have I digressed too far from the topic? I don't know. What I am trying to say is that people react surprising well, when you tell them how actually feel about a particular issue, in most cases the fears you have built up are in your head alone. Eventually people are people, and we are more alike than we are different, and we are more nicer than we are not, and we actually do understand each other more than we do not. It is my ego that wants me to think I am unique and different and you will just not understand what I am trying to tell you, because it is devastating to think that I am not, that you just might actually get it. But, where is the grandeur in that?

Actually i do think i am on track, because this love business, these movies, and poems, and books, have just blown it out of proportion, made it into the monster that it is not. It is a very simple thing falling in love, it should be equally simple admitting it. Liking you doesn't make me any less of a person, so what's the big deal here?

then again maybe that is not what the poem is saying. I am really confused here, the thing is I have been working on something that is very closely related to this poem and I have been going over its meaning over and over to the point where it has become meaningless, its like the same word repeatedly on a loop, mother, mother, mother, mother, till you wonder what mother means.

right! yeah, I think I should go to sleep.

Ender's game

I read Ender's game when a student of mine asked me how I could be a science teacher and not read science fiction? I really did not know what to say. You see, I could not figure out if it was a very smart question or a very stupid question to ask. What is the correlation? Is there one? Do all science teachers read science fiction? Should we not instead look down upon it, after all it's not real science now is it? Don't journalists look down upon paparazzi? They don't get the real news :)

okay, bad analogy. Kill me.

I have read a lot of science fiction since, thanks to some very dedicated students and a die hard science fiction junkie of a friend.

I think Ender's Game is high on the list. Though the second time round it was not that much fun, once you know the secret it is hard to be surprised, but then all thrillers suffer from that flaw. Personally i think it is a great book to read once at least, though in all honesty I must admit that none of my book club women liked it, which is very surprising to me and very disheartening because that book on their list was the reason I joined their club in the first place that and Sense and Sensibility. So I was disappointed in them, they keep reading all those sad, tear jerking, emotionally manipulative stories from the middle east, and they wrinkle up their noses at this. But consider the demographics, they are all white middle aged women in their early 30's to late 60's, if you donot belong to that group, you just might like the book. I do. And I am the only brown person in there. :) No, don't nobody go around construing that as racism, I am just stating a fact here, and yes, there probably is no correlation either, i am just .... making a rationalization, mostly because i really like my book club and i really wanted them to like Ender's Game, and it is very isolating to be the only person in the room who says I loved the book and every one else looks at you like you are from another planet, because they all hated it.

tumne mujhe dekha ho kar meherbaan

ruk gayi ye zameen, tham gaya aasmaan.

It's a beautiful song, I love his voice, I am not too crazy about the presentation in the movie, but I guess the movie is for storytelling. To me personally, this is a very happy song, vibrant, apart from the fact that I worry ki zameen kitni baar rukegi yaar, aur kis kis ke liye rukegi, aur baaz ek logon ke liye to baar baar rukti hogi na ;) some people just have all the luck in life.Don't you hate those people. :D

Here are both the videos, you decide for yourself which one you like better.





Movie: Teesri Manzil (1966)
Singer: Mohd. Rafi

jeet hi lenge baazi hum tum

On the whole I think this is a very hopeful song. These are my most favourite lines
१) प्यार का बंधन जनम का बंधन, जनम का बंधन टूटे न
२) मिलने कि खुशी न मिलने का गम ,ख़त्म ये झगडे हो जाये
एंड
३) मैं भी न छोडूँ पलभर दामन, तू भी पलभर रूठे न....

okay wait, I think I like all of it :)




Movie: Shola aur Shabnam (1961)
Singers: Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar
Music Director : Khaiyyaam