“What keeps me motivated is not the food itself but all the bonds and memories the food represents.” ~ M.Chiarello

Running around with cousins from one terrace to another, attending family weddings and eating simple home cooked food on wood fire…childhood was so much fun at granny’s home.

Summer vacations were always welcomed, when extended families and cousins would all come over to our large joint family house for holidays in Bhilwara, Rajasthan.

I was immersed in a flurry of vivid memory the moment I stepped inside that large kitchen area at a photo shoot recently. The heady smell of sweets wafting out of the kitchen instantly transported me back into time, to the family weddings conducted at my granny’s place.

Long forgotten memories of my childhood came flooding back as I watched traditional Halwais work in the giant assembly line at Bombay Sweets in Thanjavur during a food photo-shoot last week.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~ Frederick Keonig

Reminiscing good old days, appreciating small things in life and connecting with beautiful people, keeps me happy…always.

Sunday lunches have been a big affair since childhood. Mom would decide the menu a day before and start prepping for the dishes early in the morning. Though the menu would be a simple Indian meal with a dessert to go with it, but eating together made us try new food without making fuss and helped creating a feeling of belonging.

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be, it’s the way it is. The way you cope is what makes the difference.”~Virginia Satir

“Packing..Checked, flight details..checked, just one more day to go and we will be having fun at your granny’s home” I looked at children and smiled, barely hiding my excitement of meeting mom and just being in Udaipur again.

But destiny has its own plans and sometimes unexpected things can happen. We went through tough times, the very thought of which makes me shudder. The trip was called off.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”~ Jim Rohn

It has been days since my last post on Lite Bite.

After the life-changing career shift through food blogging, time is one luxury I don’t have.

Finding a balance between the demands of family and fulfilling your dreams is tough when you are passionately inclined towards both.

You can find inspiration just about anywhere!

People use horses and bullock carts to travel and transport things, kids still play outdoors, and women light the firewood for every meal they cook.
Paved roads, electricity, cell phones and internet are luxury here, but life is beautiful and blissfully simple. There is a sense of peace here that can’t be replicated in the cities.

Yes, this is the heart & soul of India – a typical Indian village, I visited during my last trip to Udaipur.

The sky went from dark to almost black, followed by delicate drops of rain. Soon, the rain drops grew bigger & heavier and turned into furious storm.

It rained and rained and rained…till the city of Chennai and its suburbs were submerged under water. The devastation all across the city is far beyond the words to describe.

The evening on 1^st of December was when the nightmare started for everyone who were out for work. Torrential rains, power cut and neck deep water in most of the areas made the city traffic cripple and brought the entire city to standstill.

As far as I remember, Tea was the very first thing I learnt to prepare when I was in my middle school.

I was playing an important role in an English play at school and wanted to practice my lines when everyone at home were asleep.

Mom never introduced us to drinking tea or coffee during our school days, but I knew that a cup of hot tea is my best bet to keep awake for long. So ‘tea’ it was.

“Amma, could you believe that I made close to 140 perfect looking Kozhukattais (steamed rice dumplings) yesterday for the shoot… Iniya  the actress who acted in the commercial, rushed towards me after the shoot and asked if she could take a few of those brown coloured yummy Kozhukattais  home.” I paused for a while sipping the strong & frothy filter coffee and stretched my legs to sit comfortably on the large wooden swing in my mother-in-law’s living room.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~ Churchill

I don’t really like surprises, not the bad and big ones anyway. Whether in life or in my kitchen at home, I expect things to happen just the way they always have.

Hmm..if only wishes were horses…

The fact of the matter is that nothing is ever certain and life gives you strange surprise when you least expect from it.