Mango - The King of fruits

When I hear this word ‘amba’ (Mango), it takes me to my childhood days, where my mother’s grandmother (in Maldoli village) used to open the room to me where mangoes were stored and she used to tell me, have as much as you want! We visited her mostly in summer vacations and that was the time when the whole house and everything in it smelled of mangoes. There were different types, the best one called Alphonso, which is considered the king of mangoes!! Mango itself is the king of all fruits and the king in mango kingdom means you can imagine the taste and the texture and the sweetness of it! We had mangoes for breakfast, when panji (my great grandmother) sliced the mangoes and put them in front of us. Then for lunch it was aamras (mango pulp) which was prepared by selecting the best of the ripe and fragrant mangoes and removing the pulp from it, by hands! And then the program of cleaning (licking every bit of mango) from the seed was a great event in itself. After a sumptuous lunch of aamras and puri or poli (roti), sleep was inevitable. After getting up by mid-afternoon, there was aam panna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aam_panna) waiting for us. And then after having it, we were off to the mangroves to see the trees laden with mangoes. The mangoes were sold in Mumbai, but only after the inmates had enough to last for the season.

My mother tells me a story, she has a younger brother and as a child, she thought that her grandfather loved her kid brother more, because he was an heir to their family and was his eldest son’s son. He kept the best mangoes for him and often took him maadi (upstairs) to eat the mangoes. We all laugh it out now, but childhood is such bliss and many of my summer vacations have the sweet memories of mango! I got to eat the mango of this season on Saturday, when we bought the type ‘badami’ of mango from the Indian stores and I laid my hands on it, just like I did as a kid. The mango got smeared on my mouth and I licked the seed clean and felt like I achieved something. I haven’t eaten Mango since 2011. And this year I let go of all the fear and inhibitions associated with the mango related to weight gain. I just couldn’t let this year also pass with mango drought. 

The export of Alphonso mango to Europe is banned. I read an article about the artificial ripening of mangoes in India and its health hazards. I was wondering, why people chose to risk the lives of people who will buy mangoes and eat it with great relish, just for the sake of quick money, people are not bothered about the side-effects of using chemicals on this highly in demand fruit. That is indeed very sad.  I had to settle with a lesser known and savored type here in Germany, but that is ok. And I look forward to eat the different varieties next year in India. I will definitely relish the delicacies made from mango: mango rice, mango milkshake, mango ice-cream and mango muffins (will be my creation ;). 

Namo Namo

Narendra Modi, (christened as NaMo) the messiah, the saviour, the future PM finally emerged as winner and his party, the Bhartiya Janata Party won a majority of seats in the Loksabha Elections held in different states in April and May 2014. Friday, the 16th of May was the day when the results were announced and the whole country was rejoicing and had come out in streets to celebrate this victory. The youth of India, who mostly shy away from the country's politics also was keeping a tab on the happenings over the passing day. I missed the vibrant atmosphere in India on this particular day and I am sure it was no less than celebrating a festival together.

I feel very bad for not being able to vote in the Elections, though I was entitled to. As I was away from my country, on a deputation, I lost the chance of choosing the right and person in my constituency. Not only me, there are so many like me who were not able to cast their vote. There should be some system in which the NRI or the NRE people should be able to exercise their vote in the elections. There are so many people, who are abroad, for education, for job etc. If their votes are combined too, the picture would have been much stronger than the one today. Anyways, this is not bad either. The people have clearly voiced out their decision. They no longer want incumbency, they want to see results, they want to see things progressing and moving forward, not only for the elite and the educated, but for the common man too.

But I wonder, can this man alone bring a radical change in our day to day life? Aren’t we as citizens of India also equally responsible for contributing to our country’s progress? Shouldn’t we also start working at the grass root level and help curb corruption? Shouldn’t we be alert and look after the depleting natural resources and help conserve energy? Shouldn’t we as responsible citizens of the city, in which we live, start segregating the waste in different bags so that it can be recycled and put to use again for a fruitful purpose? Shouldn’t we stop honking at the signals when we see it as Red and that there is no place to move ahead? Shouldn’t we stop littering and spitting on the roads? Shouldn’t we in our own ways contribute to the needy people by educating them and making them independent?

So, I feel rather than expecting everything from Mr. Modi, we all should come together and work for a better cause and give India her due and make her the biggest and richest democracy in the world by propagating peace and harmony and tapping the talent of the country for further economical development.

Acche din aane waale hain, but we all should work towards it rather than expecting only our political leaders to do so.

Gharonda (The Nest)

The word home has so many synonyms -  abode, diggings, domicile, dwelling, firseide, habitation, hearth, hearthstone, house, lodging, pad, place, quarters, residence, roof in the English language and in Hindi, it is synonymous to ghar, gharonda, basera, makaan, sadan and so on..

 

Ye Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar Kisi Ko Dekhna Ho Gar
To Pehle Aake Maang Le Meri Nazar Teri Nazar
Ye Tera Ghar Ye Mera Ghar Ye Ghar Bahut Haseen Hai
Ye Ghar Bahut Haseen Hai Ye Ghar Bahut Haseen Hai

This song from the movie Saath Saath exactly depicts my mood today when my dad just called me up to tell that he has collected the property documents from the bank (after we cleared the home loan 2 months back) and the house, our dream home in Bangalore is finally ours! Oh! What a feeling! We are the proud owners now, the house is finally ours. The moments just flashed before my eyes. How we booked this particular flat in a single day and how we liked it very much and how we saw it getting its shape and size and how we got it adorned it with furniture and loveable colors and how we decorated it with nice, beautiful things, how we moved in and more good things happened to us! How we loved sitting in the balcony on the sit-out sipping our tea and listening to the birds chirping and seeing the parrots flying. How the rain drops trickled down to the balcony and wet the floor.  How Tanay arrive in our lives after moving here, his first steps, his first mischief etc. The list is endless. I can’t thank the Vastupurush enough. And of course our parents, grandparents and friends and well wishers also should be thanked who showered their blessings and good wishes on us.

I got this reference from google http://vastusecrets.com/vastu-purush-vastu-man.html for the people who might be new to this term:

Vastu purush is a concept of Indian vastu shastra which is very very powerful and appealing too. According to Matysa Puran,   (sacred scriptures of Hinduism) when Lord Shiva was fighting a war with asuras, a weird personality was created from a drop of his sweat. He was cruel, horrifying and devoured everything on his way. Terrified Deities went to Lord Shiva and prayed for protection. Lord Shiva pressed the weird man under his foot till the war was over.

The weird man surrendered himself to Lord Shiva and begged for his forgiveness. Lord Shiva named him as Vastu Purush and ordered him that he would go on the Earth and give Health, Wealth and Happiness to the people residing there. He blessed him that the occupants there will always worship him. Then 45 Deities including Lord Bramha collectively caught hold of Vastu Purush and threw him on the Earth with the face downwards, head in the North East and his feet in the south west. Each  body part of the Vastu Purush was given the name of the Deity who touched it. E.g. Lord Bramha touched the navel of the Vastu Purush so it was given the name of Bramha. So the centre of the house where Vastu Purusha’s navel comes is called as "Bramhasthan".

I am on Cloud Nine today and will definitely celebrate this moment with dear hubby and sonny.

There is great importance attached to having an own house in India even today. It is considered as a great asset and usually comes handy in the fallback times. The budget of the people buying property varies and so do the prices when it comes to different areas in a particular city. Everybody wishes 4 walls of his/her own, where one can come back, relax, chill and spend time and just hit the bed at night,

Have you seen the advertisements of Asian Paints on Television? I love its tagline ‘har ghar kuch kehta hai’. Watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdzRjvdK67w.  Houses have moods and colors too, exactly like the people they house, is what I believe! Why is that you go to somebody’s house and get uncomfortable and panicky and feel like getting out immediately and on the other hand to a house where you think you have always been staying for years, very quiet and relaxing? There may be houses which have the best of furniture and valuables, but there is no peace in that house and there might be also a case where people are pauper, but satisfaction and peace prevails. 

I am waiting to get back to my home sweet home next year, where I can be myself and enjoy the warmth and peace!

City on Water -Venice

I had heard a lot about the city Venice, from my friends and also my mother-in-law who happened to visit it last year when she was in Germany. The simplest and most economical way of getting there was with a travel company called IKARUS Reisen. They took care of the bus journey till Venice and after one day of sight-seeing there, brought people back to Stuttgart. I checked out with my colleagues and after a lot of speculation, four of us decided to go to Venice on the long weekend of 2-3-4^th May.

Booking was done by me and I had the tickets in my hand for all of us. We were picked up at about 9 pm from the Echterdingen railway station on 2^nd May. It was a double decker bus, very huge and we had seats on the upper deck. There were people who had come from other cities too. They were already inside and after we all settled down, we started the journey. We stopped at 2-3 places for different pick-ups and breaks and finally reached a station called Mira Mirano at about 9 am. From there we had to travel by train and the journey was for about 20 minutes. Then after reaching the St. Lucia train station, our bus guide told us the time and spot to be back in the evening and then we all dispersed in different directions. Finally, we were in Venice. There was just water wherever we saw and the daily business was carried on usually using boats, sorry water-bus. We bought a day pass for travelling in the water-bus there and I was highly amused to the hustle and bustle in the city, the parts of which was either linked by water-buses or could be reached by foot. We first went to an area called Sankt Marco. It is that very place, where the famous song 'Do lafzon ki hai dil ki kahani', picturized on Zeenat Aman and Amitabh Bachchan riding on Gondola.

It was the typical city center with 1000’s of tourists. The main attractions there were the Gondola rides, St. Basilica church, Dulce Palace and the Bell tower. We just saw the palace and church from outside as there was a heavy rush and people were standing in queues for a long time. We had some snacks there and then went inside the small lanes to explore the interiors. There were many branded shops inside and a plethora of Italian restaurants serving pasta, pizza and other Italian delicacies. We went around window shopping; my friend bought a few things. I was interested in picking up only the fridge magnets depicting the Canals and water and Gondolas, typical of Venice. We then went to a place called Murano. It was an island, little away from the St. Marco area.

Murano is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking. I was amazed to see the different articles made out of colored glass and wished to pick up something to take back home, but then it would have been very cumbersome to take such delicate items back to India. So, I was just satisfied watching them in the showroom and we also went to a glass factory where we actually saw how items are made out of colorful glass. It was very hot in there and in no time, the person made a delicate, colorful and beautiful horse out of the molten glass and we all cheered him and clapped in glee. He had an experience of 20 years in this field and it showed in his confidence and ease in literally playing with the molten glass. I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy at least a memento of such lovely craft. I bought 3 sets of pendant and ear rings for my friends. And I bought a ring for myself. Then after a nice lunch, we headed to our last destination, the Lido beach.

Beaches and waters generally have a therapeutic effect on me. The sleepless night in the bus, the whole day sight-seeing, walking for long distances had tired us out completely. But as soon as I saw the waters and the white sand, the little child in me peeped out and I sat in the sand looking at the waters and the cloudy sky. Silence prevailed, there were not many people around, maybe it was already 5 pm and the sun was not shining. We clicked some pictures there, the others had a little walk along the beachside and I sat there exhaling fresh and pure and salty breeze of the water. It was time to head back as we had to reach the spot on time and we had to again take water-bus to reach there. Got back to the train station and met everybody there and headed back to Mira Mirano and then got into the bus at about 7:30. The bus was relatively empty while coming back, hence all of us got window seats and we tried to catch on some sleep. We reached Echterdingen about 7:00 in the morning and I reached home by 8:15 am.

The trip was overall good, I had good company of friends. Found Italy very similar to India, when it came to crowds and people. People were friendly, cheerful and they all spoke and understood good English. The water-buses were extremely crowded at times and my colleague Deepu felt that we would topple in the water and die, because there was no amount of check kept on number of people and they just took everybody who wanted to get into the water-bus of that particular route. Life jackets were there, but for 300 people, how would a few jackets suffice? But, with god’s grace, nothing happened and we returned safe and sound. I was also surprised to see that literally the whole city resides in and on water and still the buildings are the construction has not decayed or dilapidated due to water. Every building was unique and different and well maintained. We also saw a huge number of ice-cream parlors in every place we went and I tried out 2 completely different flavors of the same. And yes, I bought the fridge magnets, after a lot of searching. I somehow had not liked the finishing of the magnets I saw in other places and liked them at one place and immediately bought them. 

But, everything said and done, the trip was hectic and I realized that I am not comfortable traveling in an over-night journey. This would be probably the first and last time that I travelled like this with 2 sleepless nights, back to back! 

But Venice was worth it!