Quick, Nutritious and Delicious Too - Dal Palak

Dal Palak

Toor dal (1 small cup) + Masoor Dal (1 small cup) - cook in a cooker for 2-3  whistles with lil exra water.

(dal should be well mashed..not kaal-kaalu, make sure u have masoor dal - the red coloured one)

Take 2 big onions - chop fine

1 big tomato- chop

4-6 - chillies- slit length wise

Palak - 2  small bunches …leaves + some stalk…wash and cut

Oggarne/tadka : Mustard, lot of jeera,  1 red chilli (broken into 2), curry leaves

Add onion and green chillies, ginger-garlic paste (optional, I actually add finelly chopped garlic and thin strips of ginger…u an avoid..if ppl don't like that taste at home), after its almost done,Add palak - cook on open fire(medium) for 2 mins, untill palak looks blanched

add tomato, add salt and turmeric now (tomato will cook faster)- palak should well fried by now

Add cooked Dal.

Check for salt and khara - u can add red chilli powder+ garam masala  if the dal seems bland. Add salt if needed.

Bring it boil

To it with corriander.

While serving, serve with raw onion slices, lime and maybe a hint of butter on hot dal.

If its left over, the next day …u can spice it up with one more tadka on top- this is dal double tadka !

Goes well with Phulkas or rice

Thailand - a dream trip

My trip to Thailand, thanks to Oracle who sponsors an employee and his family for an yearly trip to a pre-designated holiday place as a reward for reaching the sales target for an entire year (that's not an easy task, I have got to know in all these years of marriage to a sales guy . 1 Yr = 4 quarters and to be 100% on target is like a test century!) and thanks to Ashu for making his numbers :)
So in Oct 2008, we were all set for our Thailand trip.
I had a ball of a time making lists (shopping list, to do list, to see list, to take list) and generally thinking of the trip all the time . Ashu, JP - our other travel companion (Ashu's colleague and now a good friend of ours) and me were checking out hotels, places onsite to see etc etc long before the trip.

Our actual trip started on 6th October midnight -> flight to Bangkok and then to phuket.
When we started to our hotel from phuket airport ..the land was not at all looking foreign :) It was more like Kerala or Goa  ...beautiful but still Indian looking ;))

But later as we got into the town and realised ppl cant and don't want to speak or understand English, we realised we were in foreign land. Also the clean city and beaches made us realise that inspite of being so beautiful, India leaves a lot to be desired in terms of infrastructure and cleanliness in the tourist places.

We reached our Move'n'pick resort, a beautiful leisure resort stretched on the Karong beach. We had a cottage with a unique bath ...it had very high walls etc , but was basically open !! A very novel and liberating experience to take bath like that :))

we generally lazed around and went for a welcome dinner arranged by Oracle, that night.
Next day checked out the beach- clean, clear and turquoise blue beach ..with white sand ...Then we rented out a bike - a land cruiser and roamed around the island like nomads ...
it was fun ..we saw the entire island ..not what were the tourist spots ...but the actual township ..their schools, local markets, temples etc etc ..felt good

on 10th - a one day trip to a nearby island - phangnga bay was arranged ...we went in a speed boat ..to that place Its the island ...where they have shot Peirce Brosnan's James bond movie ...but who was looking at the place when we cud stare at the super sexy Brosnan ;)

Anyways ...this time around got a chance to look and play around in that beach.
Ashu had ordered for a small cake and we cut in our room and privately and  celebrated my b'day ...u see I was not keen on telling anyone that I'm 30 :(

The same night we had a gala dinner ...a huge affair where Oracle had arranged a lavish dinner for the employees and their partners ... no kids allowed...we put Abhi to sleep ..called in for a baby sitter ...dressed up in our ethnic wear ...and went ...it was a nice dinner ..enjoyed it ...felt nice in a saree amongst so many chinese and Australians ...and felt even better to find almost all foreigners flocking towards Indian food!

Next day ..we were all set to start our 'own' trip. I mean till now Oracle was paying for everything- 7 star resort and all that. From now on, we 4 - Abhi, Ashu, JP and myslef ...were on our own ... fully aware that it wont be so lavish ..but it was the actual trip for which we had been planning ! So we were all excited
I must say ..tourism is so organised in Thailand ..we booked thro an agency for the phi phi island ...it was so convenient ...a huge air conditioned vehicle picked us up from our hotel , took us to the pier ..on to another ac cruise ..drop us to phi phi island ...with an open ticket to rerurn any day in that week....cool na!

JP is a photography enthusiast and expert...he got some great shots during the trip and some very good snaps of ours also ...usually he clicks the dead fish, far away boat , etc etc :))

Phi phi island is a small place ..where ppl come to do snorkelling, scuba diving, canoing etc ...so that place has small streets with only cycles allowed and stalls on either side only for tourists. It look s like a quaint medivel town ..To imagine all these places were totally washed down during Tsunami and has been re-couped so well so soon ...

we did scuba diving ther ...awesome experience ....i can say that now ...
to begin with, it  was not so great ...am seriously clautrophobic ...i feel breathless...in a small room etc...Here i had to breathe thro my mouth , thro the pipe ...and instict told me to breathe thro nose...which wud not be useful ...so struggled for a while ..later on started looking around ..saw 100's of fish...coral reefs just at an arms length ...some ppl got to see an octopus also ..

well it was an experience ..i must say ! Ashu enjoyed it a lot ...
I went first with JP for the dive, while Ashu was baby sitting Abhi .. and then Ashu went for the second dive.

The fact the our guide was a sexy looking spanish with flowing golden hair and body like a greek God ... also helped ;))

From ther we went to Bangkok, thoroughly tanned and feeling a li'l bit tired of water and sand.
Civilisation was a welcome change ...but one day in the city and we wanted to go back to nature...
Did a li'l shopping ..as i had not much space or money left for that...
Abhi and Ashu went for a couple of zoos and under water aquarium as Abhi is very very fond of animals.
I must say Abhi enjoyed the trip maximim ...water and animals.. two of his faviourites and not to mention boats and aeroplanes..so this was his dream trip.

Thanksfully inspite of rains, hot sun, cold water baths etc etc ...and no proper meals ..his health ws intact ...a boon for all of us ..

We tried out Lebanese, Mexican, Thai and Italian food and some namma ready made MTR stuff ..to keep us going...
Soon it was time to board the bangkok- Bangalore flight.This trip had achieved the impossible, it had made me forget to talk to my mom for  2-3 days staright ...something I have never done in 5 Yrs of my maariage :))

One thing I fogot to mention ...the famous Thai massgae ...its abt 300-450  Rs per massage ..an hour of foot massage or entire body massage ...its pure heaven ...

We were very sad to come back ...Abhi kept telling he wants to go back to picnic mane :(( Well... anyways happy holidays had to end and we landed on 17th friday night.

P.S- pure vegeterians - food will be a problem.Shopping is slightly expensive...but still has lot of things to shop.
Moral of the story- Thailand -is not too expensive, all year round it has nice weather .
A super holiday spot !
JP, Ashu, Abhi and me are waiting to do this trip all over once again !

Top 5 Things

I like doing with my son:

- sleep hugging him on a Sunday afternoon
- eat pasta at Dominos with Abhi
- make list and pack for a picnic, travel with him
- share (or rather fight for ) a Cadbury Fruit 'n' Nut chocolate with Abhi
- Give him an oil massage and bath

I DON'T like doing with my son:

- wake him up in the morning for school - feels awful to wake him up early
- Feed him chapathi/dry palya - just not happening
- Make him do his home work - some times its fun, mostly tiring
Cant think of 2 more things

Best Holidays till date :

- Thailand with Abhi-Ashu-Jay -2008
- Goa with my parents and Anna - (maybe in 1988- my school days)
- Sangama group trip ot Mekedhaatu
- Neeli trip to Kemmanagundi (2008 ?)
- Office trip to Kemmanagundi (2001)

Answering Keys !

What do you think answering keys are  ?
Exactly that. When I call for them, I want my keys to answer back.
Just the way we search for a mobile. You always give a call to that number and you know where it is. Well, unless you have been really lazy and not charged it since last Monday and the poor thing has gone stone dead...or like me you are an 'irresponsible mobile user' (many ppl who know me will be be saying ...yes you are) who has no clue when the moble was last handled ...so it could be screaming its head off in the office pantry or the lakme parlour or  more often than not my moms house :)
So minus all thse complications, normal mobile users tend to find their mobiles by giving it a ring.
Now, I want to extend this technology to my keys.

Basically I want to 'page' them.

So i can think of 2 approaches :
-a device which is a little bigger than a sim card is needed. It should seat a sim inside it.
(am still a GSM person at heart ...cant get beyond the sim concept)
-this should be used a key holder - so i can call that number and it voila it rings, vibrates, shines etc etc ...
- the sim need not have all call processing capabilities, nor the sim holder is a real mobile, it should just be good enough to receive calls.
-May be an enhancement is to call a cell from the key ...an answering and calling key !

Second approach :
-enhance existing mobiles ot page a new device
-the device should be used as a key holder.

May be I should patent this idea.
May be it already exists and is not a great idea ...
Maybe I should not lose my keys :)

Can you get scared reading a book ???

I can !


And the book is : 'And then there were none' by Agatha Christie.
Well ..I always thought I was a moderately brave person - have watched the movie 'evil dead', been to crematory during nights and so I believed I was not timid.
This one book scared the hell out of me and I realised what ppl mean when they 'its all in
the mind'.

Ppl who have read it will have a knowing smile by now, as to what I'm saying.
For those who haven't read this one or any of Agatha Christie's novels, Let me tell you a little about her novels and her characters.
To begin with; her novels- mysteries might be a little slow when compared to the speed of Dan Brown's thrillers (Actually it’s a sin to compare both. Its like comparing Yoga and shopping, they are both pleasurable but just are not comparable)
Every detail about a character she gives out, is a clue to know the character, a step towards the mystery. So at the end when the mystery is revealed you feel like a stupid ..God I knew all this why the hell couldn't I deduce??
But that’s the greatness of Agatha Christie's novels. She tells you everything yet you never process the data (I guess being scared just muddles up the brain) unlike some of the mysteries where an unknown third person comes at the end and is the murderer.
Without spoiling the suspense for ppl who might read the novel after reading this blog, this novel is the among the first ones which inspired many Holly/Bolly wood movies that start off on a lonely island with an unknown killer ...may be the Hindi classic Gumnaam was one of them and not to mention many of RGV's terrifying (or terrible) terror tales
When I was reading this book, I was alone on the first floor at my parents place and my mom was in her room at the ground floor. By the time I was half way done through the book i was scared even to look outside the room, let alone go out and check if there was any killer lurking outside.
Needless to say, going down to the safety of my mom's bedroom was totally ruled out.
So there I was buried in my own miseries, only thing to do was to go on reading more and revealing more.

Mind you, madam Christi had achieved all this without shedding a drop of blood.
Some where towards the end of the book, I was nervous enough not to trust any-one.
Even my mom was a suspect now !!

And I was on that island battling for life ..left alone in the merciless hand of fate (or was it Christie’s ??)
God .. my only aim in life was to finish the novel and get to know the source of my fear ..
Uffff ...to say I was relieved when the book ended - is an understatement.

I am amazed, the way the author could play with my mind and get me to that state.Hats off, Mrs Christie is really the queen of mysteries.

So thats the time a book scared me !


I have purposefully not talked more of the book, for I don't want to unwittingly give out any details

Some more books of Agatha Christie that had me baffled were :

1. Murder of Roger Ackroyd
2. The crooked house
3. The Unexpected Guest
4. Murder on the Orient Express


And if you are more of the Dan Brown kind of books, check out author David Baldacci's thrillers.

Lesson learnt from my little man !

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. ~Soren Kierkegaard

Today I learnt this lesson from my son and thought there's no better time than now to write abt it.
Some introduction first - my five and a half year son Abhi, is mine and Ashu's greatest achievement till date :))

In his summer holidays we decided to put him to swimming coaching classes.
He is very fond of water …but this is his first attempt at formal training. Like me, he too has a phobia (no idea what's the term for this particular phobia- maybe something related to claustrophobia) of feeling breathless in water ..even during a head bath …he screams his head off …

The first day was a fiasco with Abhi running out of the pool screaming to be rescued and the attendant there pulling him back into the pool.
The coach was teaching all the kids to duck their heads and try to remain under water as long as possible. Poor Abhi dreads this very thing and screamed and cried the whole session. Second day, we lied that it would be different and lured him back.So the crying continued.
By now he had developed a strong mental block against the whole swimming class concept..he kept telling both of us that he does not want to go the third day ..he said it every 15 minutes of the day …and even in his sleep…On the third day ..he got up saying I don't want to go to the pool.
We tried all methods of convincing - and when I say all ..believe me I mean ALL …logic, sarcasm, more logic, examples, stories, promises of goodies, threats, scolding's -nothing worked.
This was the first time he was so stubborn about anything - usually my son is pretty easy going.
Ashu and me were shocked at his 'abnormal' stubbornness …By afternoon we lost hope- our worst fears coming true. We did not want to accept it,but there it was - our son was a quitter.
Still we almost dragged him to the pool not because we wanted him to learn swimming so badly, but we were scared that if we don't go today, this fear is just going to stay with him.
Today Ashu tried a little different tactic, we went sooner than the class, and dad and son got into the pool and were fooling around in the pool.This seemed to relax him a bit. Then the whistle sounded and the class began !
As usual we both hid out of his sight and waited to hear his first scream. Looked like my son had decided he had had enough of crying and walked (yeah .. he actually walked inside the pool) to his coach and said ..in a very firm voice …'Sir, today I just want to watch ..i don't want to put my head down.'
He was actually striking a deal with his tormentor!
The coach, relived that at least one of the problem kids was not crying said 'ok ok …just watch' .. this went on for a while …slowly Abhi was getting bored and when the coach said ..'come let's just try once'…he said…'last time, ok..after this I will not do' …and he went !
The coach ducked his head..asked him to keep his legs straight and gave him a push …Abhi was floating in water for a second ! Both the coach and Abhi were delighted with this development ( and we hiding in the bushes were actually on the 9th cloud!!!)
Encouraged by this …they both tried it some more times…though not enjoying it, Abhi was giving it a shot- obviously enjoying the attention, the coach was showering on him …( I must say .. guys at any age ..will do anything when their egos are massaged ;))
So finally he was promoted from the cry babies group to the regular group ..Here each kid would get a chance with the coach and they had do the whole exercise of staying underwater and float ..but this time they would be in a little deeper area ..and they had to do it for abt 4-5 feet distance (for ppl struggling with converting this ..lets say about 2-3 arms length..roughly).
Kids were standing in a queue for this activity..Excited about his new promotion, but scared nuts about the task ahead ,my son was also waiting for his turn..
There I saw a person …waiting for his chance for something he has dreaded ever since he was a baby…which he hates ..but still doing it ..so that he is not a lesser person than the others around him…I saw him from the place I was sitting …and I read all possible emotions in that tiny face…his rounded huge eyes..his rigid body posture ..Fear…grit, anxiety. As it is, am totally in love with this little man and that moment …in my tear filled eyes …this little man was braver than so many adults ..and yes ...most definitely me …I know how many times I have run away from things rather than face my fears .. I swear Ashu was crying too…but neither of us talked or looked at each other ..but waited for our son's ..final exam of the day …he got into the pool …and in his hurry to get over with the ordeal …just ducked his head and went over with legs bent…he lost his balance and went deep inside ..our hearts in our mouths we watched..sure of his screaming now…he came up shocked ..the coach who purpose-fully let him drown for a second ..asked him coolly …'see this is what happens if you don't keep your legs straight…so will you do it correctly now …let start' …and there he went …. bingo floated just like others …no he didn't start swimming in filmy style ..but he did just fine …his coach gave him a hi-fi and the proud 'swimmer' walked out of the pool ..done for the day !
We both ran ..hugged him … and all the way back …told him how brave he is and how proud we are of him. Not really sure, how much of our relief and pride he understood.
So that's the end of the episode..he still says he does not really enjoy the swimming classes…maybe we have to cajole him again for tomorrow's classes..but both of us know its never going to be as difficult as before…for, today Abhi has met his fear head-on and has it under control ..not yet won over it ..but he has decided to fight it …definitely a good beginning !