Music for the soul!! :)

Pandit Ravishankar's Vedic Chants of India never fails to relax me when I am mentally exhausted.

Simple every day chants set to soothing music be it the Gayathri Mantra or Asathoma. Brings tranquility to mind in troubled times. :)

Here is Sarve Bhavanthu Sukhinaha :




Here is the entire set : http://www.rhapsody.com/ravi-shankar/chants-of-india

Maggi Maggi Maggi!!!

The other day i heard on radio that Maggi noodles is celebrating 25 years of its existence.25 years of comfort food for me :). It is almost as old as I am.
I am almost tempted to say that any child born in the Maggi era wouldn't have had a complete childhood without growing up on Maggi. Its almost like a cult.

I dont remember when i got hooked on to it. Even to this day, on the rare days that i come home early, Maggi has to be my evening snack.

There were so many variations that sis and me tried with Maggi. Adding vegetables would make it a "wholesome" meal. Mixing it with spoonfuls of tomato ketchup, am sure is a common practice. Or adding dollops of butter would make it yummmmmmy!!

Then there was the Indo-Chinese style Maggi, with veggies, soy sauce and chilli sauce. Perfect for a rainy day in Bangalore.

Maggi over the years tried to innovate with their product. They tried various flavours like chicken, tomato etc. They tried to sell it as health product with the atta noodles concept. Then came the rice mania concept ( Lemon, Pulao...yikes! ).
I guess its their original flavour that appeals to the masses!

Long live Maggi :D

Richard Bach

While i was blog hopping, i chanced upon this book review. Boy, i was glad i did that.

Richard back has been one of my favorite writers after having read Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and The bridge across forever. I discovered these wonderful books after digging through K's collections of books. Although he doesn't remember how he ended up with those books :).

Richard Bach's stories leave you astounded for the simplicity of the thoughts yet powerful living philosophies. Although I am never into reading philosophy, his books have had me wanting for more. Ordinary things which one wouldn't have thought about in daily life, get a new meaning. And reading them through Richard Bach's words is an experience in itself.

Illusions is about a Messiah, David Shimoda who is overwhelmed by people's demands for performing miracles, decides to quit being one. The very idea of Messiah quitting is something new and exciting. The book then talks about how he meets Richard, a barnstorming pilot and how he slowly makes him realise that everything is in the mind. One only has to think about it, for it come true. It is about how everyone of us is under an illusion regarding our abilities. We are only limited by our thoughts. He goes on to give Richard Bach,the "Hand book of Messiah" from which i leave behind some of my favourite quotes.

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it however.

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else is not only impossible but the mark of a fake messiah.

There is no such things as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.Rarely do members of one family grow under the same roof.

Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully.

Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is upto you.


190 pages of sheer brilliance!

The day after....

Its not worth spending time on people who bother you. It only saps all the energy out of .Not just that i wouldnt give people the satisfaction that the hurtful things they say is actually affecting me.
The previous post took away a lot of my time,energy and peace of mind. It just wasn't worth spoiling the nice things we have going on in our lives. :)
As the age-old saying goes "Dont worry be happy" is what i will be sticking to!!

RANT!!

I will probably laugh at this later...but right now I am very very mad.

The conversations with people in my family(?) revolves around the same topic all the time.Yes I married someone of my choice, WITH my parent's approval .So what????
You, yes the lady who is my mom's close pal and a relative, that doesn't give you the right to remind my parent's about it every time. They have accepted it and moved on. But what is your problem? Why do you deliberately bring up that topic every time and indirectly tell them that they failed to get me suitably married off to someone of the same caste! And stop gloating that your daughter is getting an arranged marriage. Its not like a trophy that you won in a race against my mother. That doesn't make you or your daughter saintly. And if you really have a problem, talk to me about it. It is me you have a problem with, don't bother my parents or hurt them. I am responsible for my life and not them.

And you, the cousin stop being miss-two-goody-shoes. There is no halo around your head simply because you chose to marry someone your parents picked for you. I am leading a happy life ,thank you very much. And please move on with your life. I can only wish you the very best ahead! :)

And you, the cousin No.2 . Dont give me a once over and tell me "you have lost weight after marriage". Are you trying to say they dont give me enough food? Stop trying to beat about the bush. I know you want to say it out loud :P I almost laugh at your stupidity.

And you, the aunt in the first circle of relatives, i dont care you if refuse to touch the food at my house. You and your holiness i care a damn about. We dont feed crap to our guests. I am almost tempted to not even offer you a drop of water the next time!

And all you people giving me condescending looks, how many more years before you stop that? How different am I form you except for a bunch of rituals that you cant explain about. I have never been mean to you guys, so why dont you treat me the same?
And why do you bother my parents about it. They are perfectly happy, why dont you just let them be!!

Thank god for this blog that i can speak my mind out. I would never say this to your faces , because i can never act mean like you guys. I am better mannered and cultured and i thank my parents for that. I have enough sense not to point fingers at others and mind my own business.

phew!!!

Up close and personal?

Conversation over the lunch table at office steered to job interviews. One of my colleagues wife attended an interview recently.In the HR round, after asking the usual set of questions, the HR asked her if she was married. When she answered in the affirmative, the HR wanted to know how long she had been married for. Later the interviewer wants to know if they plan to have kids any time soon. Thats none of his/her damn business if you ask me. My colleague's reasoning was they wouldnt want to hire someone who is likely to go away on maternity leave as soon as she joins the job.
But how far can one go when asking such personal questions? Are they even allowed to ask such questions?

Get well soon sweetheart!

Its been a long day for us in the family and yet the one person who is at the center of it all is serene and patient. K just got his eye surgery done this morning and it is a big deal to me! Its scary to think about someone poking around one's eyes.
Surprisingly i was calm throughout the hour long surgery. Thanks to K's parents who deal with situations with practiced calmness. Be it a happy occasion or a tough one, their emotions don't go beyond a certain threshold! My family is diametrically opposite. We like to get our emotions out in the open. We get very excited when happy and freak out easily at small things :D

After the surgery was done, the doctor called me in for instructions. K seemed to be doing fine except for the huge bandage on his eye. And he seems to be following the doctor's advise to the T! Poor thing has been sitting with his eyes closed all day just listening to us talk. And he seems to be in considerable pain once the medication starts to wear off! And not once has he complained about it. I feel even more sad for him. Its tough to see him like this when he isn't usual self. :(
I wonder how one can have so much patience to be sitting all day idle with eyes closed. I know i wouldn't have coped with it, i would have complained and driven everyone around me crazy because of all the pain and boredom.

And nothing can make him miss watching cricket especially when India is playing. He is "listening" to the T20 practice matches. Thank god its Harsha Bhogle's commentary :D

It hopefully gets better when the bandage comes off tomorrow. But its going to be a trying week for him.