Thursday Photo Challenge

Tags

bhangra, bihu, dance, punjabi, rajisthani, thursday photo challenge

Every week I see the Thursday photo challenge at Uma and Tiku, I feel I should do it but somehow every week I miss it… But this week when I saw the theme (music and dance) I knew I had to do it… A theme so close to my heart, I thought I will be able to do it in a jiffy but damn I was wrong. I have spent the past 2 hours going through pics (though I really enjoyed myself 😉 ) deciding which ones to post… And how much ever I try I can’t seem to narrow down at one… So here are few of my fav photos surrounding the theme 😀

One of the most graceful Indian Dances I have seen - Bihu, sure wanna learn it one day

Providing the beat for the dance....

Trying my hand at rajisthani folk dance at Jaipur and BTW N had given this pic the tittle of "mona mimicing the dancer and being better" 🙂

This one is one of my fav, my grand-dad dancing on my mehendi function

How can a post by me on dance over without dance by a roitous punjabi family 😉 *spot me if u can*

Chole Bhature : Post 18

Tags

bhatura, breakfast, chole, chole-bhature, food, Friday Feast, indian, indian main course, NaBloPoMo, punjabi, recipe, sinful food

chole bhature is my second most favorite food in the whole world… ofcourse nothing can beat kadhi-chawal, but I like this one too a lot but everything about this one qualifies as sinful… fully sinful so its made very very rarely at our household… The chole is made pretty often and I have been thinking of posting them for a long time but somehow chole without the bhature seemed incomplete, so last sunday the sin was done when guests were over, so this post had to be this Friday… it couldn’t wait any longer 😉

Now that you have drooled at the above picture, here is the recipe

Ingredients

For the chole

• 1 1/2 chick peas soaked overnight
• 5-6 dry gooseberries (dry black amla)
• 1 medium onion grated
• 1 large tomato pureed
• 1″ cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves
• 4-5 peppercons
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 big black cardamom
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder
• 2-4 tsp channa masala (depending on how spicy and masaledar u like ur channa)
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp oil

for garnishing chole

• 2 onions cut in thin rings
• 1 tomato cut in thin rings
• a handful of coriander

For the side aalo

• 3 large potatoes
• 3 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp channa masala
• 1 tsp tava fry masala (this is optional skip if u dont have)
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

for the side mirchi

• 5-6 green chillies slit
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp dry mango powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder

for the bhatura

• 2 cups maida
• 1 cup curd
• 1/2 tsp ajwain
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• salt to taste
• water to knead

Method

the chole

• Boil the soaked cholas with some salt, dry gooseberries and a pinch of turmeric in pressure cooker. After one whistle lower the flame and let it cook for about 15 minutes
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add cumin seeds to it
• After they turn brown add all the sabut masala (bay leaves, cloves, crushed black cardamom, cinnamon, peppercons). Fry for 2 minutes
• Add the green chillies and fry for 1 min
• Add grated onion and fry till golden brown
• Add the tomato puree and fry for about 5 minutes
• Add all the dry masalas and fry for another minute or so
• Take out some of the boiled channas and mash them well and roast for about 2 minutes or so
• Add the rest of the boiled channas (don’t add the water yet) and mash very little and roast for another 5 mins.
• Now add water and cook for another 5 mins
• Garnish with cut onion and tomato rings and top with some fresh corrainder

the aalu

• Boil the potatoes in pressure cooker
• Peel and cut them in cubes
• Heat oil in pan, add all dry masalas.Roast for 1 min
• Add potatoes and mix well
• Fry for 5 minutes or so

the chillies

• Slit the green chillies from the center, dont remove the stalk, If u dont like it very spicy remove the seeds else leave them.
• Mix all the dry masalas together and roll the green chillies in that
• Deep fry to 2 minutes in hot oil

bhature

• Mix all the ingredients together and using water and knead to form a soft dough.
• Cover with a damp cloth and leave aside for atleast 1 hour or so
• Make round balls and roll like chapatis and deep fry in hot oil

And now put them all together in a plate, add some green chutney and attack 😀

Also now that I have your full attention please read this too… Apu of the brilliant blog Apu’s World started a online magazine and online community called womensweb sometime back which I am sure you all are aware of. She is having this lovely contest out there on Mommy Guilt something which I am sure all of us mom’s relate to and those who are not mom’s and those lovely fathers that read my blog yet have seen their mom’s and spouse’s guilt…. have u got a story to share? some motivation or words for others dealing with mommy guilt… please go ahead and do the post… U might end up winning Rs 500/- gift voucher of another lovely site Flipkart.

So what are you waiting for? Go write your entry now… details here

Rhymes Galore – Post 10

Tags

hindi, NaBloPoMo, punjabi, rhymes, telegu, tulika blog-a-thon

Thanks to Tulika’s Blog-a-thon the blog world is abuzz of rhymes of all languages… And I am loving it 😀

Now tulika says

Tulika is looking for rhythmic songs, playground rhymes, clapping chants and just-for-fun rhymes in your mother tongue.

And that brings me back to my question of life what is my mother tongue, ideally it should be Punjabi but we hardly spoke it while growing up… hindi is what comes to my mind when I think of mother tongue and that is the language in which I remember all my rhymes

So here we go… there were so many hindi rhymes that we use to sing as a child its going to be really difficult to jot down all but I will try and put down some favorites

Titli Rani Titli Rani itne sunder pankh kahan se layee ho

Kya tum koi shahzadi ho Parilok se aaye ho

Phool tumhe bhi ache lagte phool hamein bhi bhaate hain

Woh tumko kaise lagtein jo phool todne jaatein hain

Translation

Butterfly Queen Butterfly queen where did u get such lovely wings

Are you a princess? Have you come from the land of fairies

U like flowers and so do we

But what do you have to say about the people who pluck them

Another one on butterflies

Titlu udi bas main chadi

driver ne kaha aaja mere pass

titli kahe hat badmaash

Translation

butterfly started flying and went to a bus

Driver called and asked her to sit beside him

She told go away u naughty fellow

:rollseyes: this is for kids 😉

Another one which is very common but I used to love it and still do

Chanda mamma door ke dahi pakore boor ke

aap khaye thaali main mune ko de pyaali main

pyaali gayee toot munna gaya rooth

munne ko manayenge nayee pyaali laayenge

Translation

Uncle moon you are far away, eating curd wada

You eat in a big plate where give to the baby in small cup

The cup is broken and the baby sad and angry

Lets buy a new cup to make the baby happy

There is however one punjabi rhyme which I clearly remember and sing to ojas too

Ghum ghum chaati cha meri ghaati

makhan mera patla khaan walla mera nonu ghapla

Translation broadly it means that the we are making butter from milk and the baby will eat it all

And then I used to love this song and luckily so does ojas

Naani teri morni ko mor le gaye

baaki jo bacha tha kaale chor le gaye

khaake peekhe mote hoke chor baithe rail me

choron waala dabaa kat ke pahunchaa seedha jail me

khaake peekhe mote hoke chor baithe rail me

choron waala dabaa kat ke pahunchaa seedha jail me

un choron ki khoob khabar li mote thaanedaar ne

moron ko bhi khoob nachaaya jungle ki sarkaar ne

un choron ki khoob khabar li mote thaanedaar ne

moron ko bhi khoob nachaaya jungle ki sarkaar ne

achchi naani pyaari naani roosa roosi chhod de

jaldi se ek paisa de de tu kanjoosi chhod de

achchi naani pyaari naani rootha roothi chhod de

jaldi se ek paisa de de tu kanjoosi chhod de

Translation

Oh granny the peacocks took away your peahen

And whatever was left was taken away by the black thives

after eating a lot and becoming fat the theives sat in the train

but the carraige in which they were sitting went directly to jail

The fat policeman gave them a nice lesson

And the king of jungle made the peacocks also dance a lot

Lovely granny, nice granny. Now dont be angry

Give me a penny and stop being miser

And then the one Ojas has been in love with since he was born and he now sings it fully…

Uper pankha chalta hai

neeche baby sota hai

sote sote bhook lagi

ek narangi tod liya

maali ke bete ne dhekh liya

phool jhadi se maar diya

Translation

The fan is running up

The baby is sleeping down

he got hungry while sleeping

and went and plucked an orange

The gardener’s son saw him

and hit him with a flower stick

And here is one in Telegu which N’s granny i.e Ojas’s great grand mom sings to him and he really enjoys

Chandamaama raave, jaabilli raave

Kondekki raave, koti poolu theve

Bandekki raave, banti poolu theve

Theru meeda raave, thene pattu theve

Pallaki lo raave paalu perugu theve

Parugetti raave, panasa pandu theve

Naa maata vinave, nattinta pettave

Annee theve abbayiki iyyave!

And here is the translation(as explained by mil)

Come moon, come sweet moon

Come over the hill, bring a million flowers

Come on a chariot, bring a bunch of Marigolds

Come over the brook, bring a comb of honey

Come on a palanquin, bring milk and curd

Come on running, bring a Jackfruit

Now listen to me and keep them here right

Bring them all for baby’s joy

Phew this translation business is tough… Also I am wondering if Ojas does this 30 yrs from now, what will be the rhymes… Chai Chai Coffee Coffee 😉

2 States

Tags

bangalore, book, Delhi, Ojas, punjabi, review

both the book and in reality 😀

I recently read Chetan Bhagat’s 2 states, frankly I am not a his fan apart from his Five Point Somehow I haven’t really liked any book of his and I think five point someone was also good because it was a refreshing change coming out of India on life in Indian university, but I have read all of them may be because the pricing is so right… 95 bucks doesnt really matter if u dont like the book does it 😀

So when 2 states was released I picked it up and specially because the plot seems so close to my real life 😉 and I must say this is probably his best book… Its not a literary masterpiece but then I dont think he even attempts to make one…

There is a fresh feel to the book which I think is very important for any writer because the last two of his books almost felt like the previous ones but the freshness is back here…

The humor in the book is brilliant ofcourse he has over done a little at times but probably that is needed to bring the masala in…

Its a topic on which enough movies have been made and enough books written yet Bhagat’s novel’s brings in some novelty to it and the way he has brought out the characteristics of both the communities is just wow!!!

There were so many times when I was laughing out aloud and nodding my head 😉 the loud boisterous punju’s and the always pretending to be intellectual tams 😀 and the climax the last 50 pages of the book… they are the best and frankly that is so rare because most of the time the writer is confused at the climax… ofcourse its the usual marriage boy meets girl but the way its done… if u have ever been to a cross cultural marriage u will know it!!! It could almost recall my wedding when my relatives were complaining what a boring set of people sitting quietly and doing pooja and N’s relative were shocked when all we needed is a DJ and drinks

All in all I think its worth a read specially at Rs. 95….I finished in about 4 hrs flat…

And I am delhi and a all of us having a blast…This was Ojas’s first flight with a single parent infact this is his first trip with single parent… I was scared as hell damn its so difficult to make him sit for 2.5 mins forget about 2.5 hours 😉 but the kingfisher air hostess were darlings and their inflight entertainments Pingu show a boon 😀 the flight was a breeze

One incident that happened on the flight

There was a girl of almost the same age as Ojas and she was crying a lot in the flight, some 2 times Ojas said baby crying and I told him dont worry she will be fine and then he suddenly got down from my lap walked upto the girl and said “What happened baby no cry” and gave her a kiss… 😉

and did I tell u there is nothing better than ma ke haath ka khaana 😀

So whats up with u guys?