Live, Love, EAT!!!!

Hey Guys!! Welcome to my second Blog! Hope you people had cherished your childhood memories through my previous blog and here is the second one, where I wanted to share my thoughts about FOOD which is something one can never resist from and something which I absolutely love cooking and of course, EATING!

So, Food as we all know, is what people and animals eat to survive, but have you ever thought of its taste!? Ok! Let me explain, what is the commonality between food and music!? 

You create diversified tunes through distinct notes, resulting in millions of songs across different genres and indistinguishably, when we talk about food, zillion of varieties can be created from various constituents to stimulate our taste!! Unity in Diversity is best defined here where different ingredients with different taste come together to produce something that is irresistible!!

Besides being a basic need we become emotionally attached to food. Think of your birthday where you always feed the first piece of your cake to someone whom you love the most, or share popcorn with a gang of friends in a movie theater, mom preparing food only to convince your mood or when you go out on a mission and mom feeding you with curd and sugar. In all these instances, there is love that's associated with food , thereby establishing memories and an everlasting strong bond. 

As a matter of fact, people say that India is a country where festivals are celebrated with each passing day and we celebrate our festival through traditional delicacies like Puran poli, Gujiyas, Kachori, Malai kofta, Sakkarai pongal, Pulissery and what not! A truly special feeling that we Indians can relate to, Ain't it?? 

             

A healthy food which goes into our stomach always supports us in getting nutrients and antioxidants. 

If you are able to work till 1:00 pm in the afternoon is only because of the Sandwich or the bread omelette that you had in the morning. Given the current scenario, where our work schedule is usually from 9 to 5, we always tend to gobble up our lunch and get back to work. But the food which helps us in many ways, deserves some amount of respect and a compliment right?? It can only be possible when you enjoy every bite of it.

 

Eating hot fritters (pakora) and sipping hot coffee in a cool rainy weather or eating ice cream in a hot summer defines the reason of our existence!!!                    

As we saw earlier, Food also represents our culture and pride of what we actually stand for, which ultimately represents our identity. Whenever you hear the word "Aloo Paratha", which state or culture comes to your mind??? Similarly for food items like "Vada Pav", "Idly Sambar" or "Puttu", I'm sure the corresponding states of these strikes your mind immediately!!    

And trust me, there is no better feeling than making a dish of your own, tasting it and feeling so proud that you have made it!! It does make life really interesting, people  showcase their talent out of it and of course there are loads of people out there who serve their love and care through food.

                     

How many of you get their mouth watered when you hear the word "Roasted Chicken". I'm sure you can picturize that in front of your eyes!! No offense to Vegans and yes "Aloo Gobi" is equally delicious!!! 😜

Whenever you have food, try enjoying its color and aroma along with it's taste, as it really deserves that importance and it's never really too late to try out something new.

The taste of food differs from place to place. Whenever we explore a new location, one of the most challenging thing is to adjust with the food habits over there and trust me, I have experienced it a lot of times. Personally I believe that the best food we can find in India is from Hyderabad where I actually belong, and we get the best food here especially non-veg. The Nizami one and also paradise biryani is the most famous here and I recommend each and every one of you to try it if you get the chance to visit Hyderabad. The food here is the perfect example of something that is enticing. Hyderabadi food is my personal favorite,and in the same way, I'm sure that you guys would also be proud of your place and the food you find there.

Despite knowing the importance of food, some people still do waste it and not think of the fact that there are people who don't get any!! These are worrying signs and It's high time we save food and step up to show our cause towards humanity!! 

There is a saying that "one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. 

Food connects us in many ways and I believe everyone in their lifetime has one such dish, that neither you nor your taste-buds would ever forget. 

So guys, do start pouring in your comments below about your favourite dish!

Relive your Childhood Memories - By Manasa

Childhood is something which everyone goes through in their lives where some memories bring smile to your face, be comical, be unforgettable and some might be emotionally connected which defines a part of your past. This is my first shot at blogging and I totally wanted to revisit my Childhood which I hope would bring back some of your memories from your earlier days as well! :)

Everything used to be so different when we were kids, the trees used to be taller, the colors used to be brighter and the moon used to travel alongside us whether we walk or run or travel!

Those lovely instant moments of sheer happiness when our taste buds get to experience every bite of the chocolate we eat, getting balloons on our way back home from school, buying chewing gums only to get those tattoos/stickers and the most important thing of all,where we used to enjoy each and every small things that come in our way which gets etched in our memories for a long long time.

  

When I was a kid, I always had this habit of falling somewhere and getting wounded and I guess most of you would've had some unforgettable memories experiencing a pain when an antiseptic is applied. I still remember an incident where I actually met with a "Cycle Accident". Sounds crazy right? And the next moment I opened my eyes, I was lying in my bed at home with my mom sitting right beside me. And the funniest part of all these was that , every time when such an incident happens, my sister always used to be in the receiving end from my mom.

My mom was not the only person whom my sis used to get bashing because of me. During the school assembly lines, I always used to stand with my sister in her class row and because of that my sister used to get "scoldings" from her teacher as well!!

I would also like to recollect one more of this "injury" incident where I tried to jump and cross a drainage canal as a part of a self-challenge and of course you guys can guess what would've happened next. I was inside the canal with teary eyes and yes, the first aid pattern from my mom followed after that and not to forget, my sister was the scapegoat again. And further I believe that I contributed a lot to the business of antiseptic sales those days!! 

 

Now,like all the other kids, I've always had a doubt in my childhood that while walking, why does the sun/moon follow me wherever I go. And yes, on one fine day, when i was looking up at the big ball of fire, I slipped and got injured! Duhhhh!!!!

As a 90's kid on Sundays I use to watch "Panchathantram" (the favourite puppet show of many during those days) and I also used to love and watch every series of "Power Rangers" for which I'm still a huge fan! And as most of the siblings do, I always used to have these physical fights for TV Remote which always ended up in me hiding it in a secured place and the rest of the day would go with my sis desperately trying her best to find it :P

 

During most of these fights, she would chase me inside the house and knowing that I have a fear of dark rooms (which I still do unfortunately), she would chase me to a room and lock me up till I scream out in tears which would annoy my mom even further. 😂

There was also an instance when I was in my 3rd Grade, where I realized that I cant stand at hearing negative things about a person whom I really care about. Once,a boy who was my classmate back then, had fought with my sister had resulted in my sis getting hurt and ending up crying. I couldn't hold back my anger and I just walked straight up to the guy and gave him a huge kick to his belly. Ever since then, the guy did not even dare to come near my sis. 

And now, I'm sure most of you had done this. I used to have this habit of sticking tattoos/stickers almost in every place around me especially households and cupboards which my mom totally hates!!I've been crazy about it such that I used to stick it up in higher places in the cupboards in such a way that it ain't easily visible.

Who doesn't love weekends? Although there used to be this happiness that we don't have to wake up early and go to school, there still lies a tinge of disappointment as most of the day goes off in scribbling all those so called "homework" stuffs. When I think of Sundays, the first thing that I remember is the fragrance of "Clinic Plus Shampoo" where usually that's the only day of the week where I go in for a head bath!! :P

Now how can I forget the delicious butter chicken that my mom cooks. Apart from Chocolates, the childhood food that instantly hits my mind is Butter Chicken . During Summer Holidays, the other thing which I can remember is my Mom giving me a bowl of green grapes while watching TV. That feeling of having grapes under a breezy fan at home during a hot summer was truly a relief from the heat wave.

 

I used to be always in awe of my sister when she used to help my mom in the kitchen. One such instance was when she was cutting tomatoes and I always used to wonder how she was able to cut it so fast in a specific position without getting a cut on her hand. Although I know now that its a normal thing, but whenever I cut something, I always remember my sister. 

During my times in Abhyasa International Residential School where me and sis studied, my mom used to visit us during every alternate sundays which used to be a Parent's visit. I still remember my times where we used to wait for her at the entrance where a security guard used to be there with a Scooby Doo kind of a dog. My Mom always carries that huge handbag where she used to bring some yummy Non Veg food and we would sit under a Mango Tree at School and there was no better feeling those times than my mom feeding me food. On one instance, she got me and my sis a new pair of traditional dress (a pink top and a dark green bottom) which we call "PattuPavada" in South India.

During Childhood, I'm sure most of us wouldn't have been content with what we have and we always used to envy what other kids have in their belongings. One such thing that I remember was a pair of skating shoes which everyone used to have at school and ultimately I shed huge amount of tears to persuade my mom to get me one as well. But when days passed, I forgot about that.

There used to be two groups in our school - Red (Shakthi) and Blue (Shiva). I was drafted into red house and coincidentally my favorite color at that time was red whereas my sister landed up at blue house.Any guesses on her favorite color!!!?? You won't believe, her favorite was "pear green". She always used to select that color as a choice for her outfits wherever she goes as she was extremely crazy for that color. 

Coming back to academics at school, I was not a smart child at all and I was always at the receiving end from my teachers and there always used to be red inks on my books and answer papers whereas my close friends used to get 10/10 always. But anyways since red was my favorite color, I never really bothered about them. I never understood Math, never maintained proper notes for any subject and I always had this problem of understanding a particular question during exams. And you won't believe what I'm gonna say now, My teacher once locked me in a dark room coz i didn't study well!! Like Seriously!!???

 

One fine day, my teacher taught me how to calculate time by looking at a clock and ever since that incident, I always used to stand outside the office room and just stare at the clock closely monitoring the minutes and hours needles to calculate time!!

Every morning, we used to wake up at 4 30 am and go out for jogging where I always had a trouble of tying my shoelaces and always used to take help of my friends. The best part of returning from jogging is that they always used to offer us "Sabudhana Java" which was totally my favourite (and still is..). The Yoga classes back then used to be so much fun and at the same time used to bring peace.

We had this campfire thing every Saturday where we had an opportunity to showcase our talent. And just like anyone, I used to have a crush on a guy whom I always used to stalk and when I think of that now, the blush still doesn't leave my face. And as stated earlier, injuries were always a part of my routine where when i tried to ignite a spark. I guess I'm just another synonym of injuries and wounds.

As months passed on, I studied in Kerala and yet I found it really tough to learn and write Malayalam and when I moved to Hyderabad, it was like Unlearning and Learning where I had to totally start from the scratch. I started learning Telugu after coming here, but unlike malayalam, I really didn't find it tough to learn. And my studies too improved as i started getting good grades which resulted in me getting a grade of 9.2/10 in my Class 10 boards.

But throughout my Childhood, I was never clear in life what I exactly wanted in my life or which path I had to take. I still believe that I haven't found my path yet and on the course of finding it. But I do know which path I must take and how I really would want everything to be.

I felt really happy while writing all these as this brought in a lot of happy memories and gave me a chance to revisit Childhood. Now that we are in our late twenties, I always feel that no matter how much old we grow, some of our childhood habits should always remain with us in order to carry that happy momentum forward. 

This is my first blog and hope you guys liked and evoked some of your childhood memories. Amidst this fast moving world, this definitely brought me a much needed relief to think about my Childhood.