There are a few moments in life when you are truly & completely happy. My yearly visit to hometown in Udaipur, Rajasthan is one such occasion when I wish I could stop the time and live in those moments forever. Though many old familiar houses have given way to high rise apartments now and there are very few familiar faces to greet, but every visit is worth preserving the childhood experiences and keeping them afresh…..from authentic Daal Baatis to exotic Gatte ki subji filled with nuts and dried fruits…they leave no stone unturned to pamper me with their love and let me indulge in my favorite food.

‘Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy’. Yes, we decided to repaint the house after putting the long due project to back burner for years. The house is in total mess, but this exercise is a good lesson not to collect things which we may never use in life. There are sackful of such useless articles peeping errr..sleeping in the cupboards and overhead lofts, and I am on a disposing spree…finally.

On a positive note, painting your house is a good chance to do some spring cleaning as well. My old oven, box TV, stone age printer, bangle boxes, speakers, toasters, fluffy teddy bears, bagful of plastic kitchenware…looks like I have a real Pandora box…and believe me some of these have never seen the light of the day. Getting attached with these not so useful objects which were a part of my life some years back is inevitable, and I really feel sad to part with.

Home is where the heart is….my heart belongs to Chennai, the place where I got married and have been living since 1996. I have wholeheartedly accepted the city and have accustomed to the traditions, climatic conditions and the food here.

But even after spending a good 17 years in Chennai I feel that a part of my heart still lives in Udaipur. The place where I grew up, studied and spent the most beautiful years of my life with family and friends.

And why not, if one is the place of my birth than the other made me a complete woman! I take it as a special privilege of belonging to the two different cities at once.

“One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about.”  ~ Mindy Kaling. I have experienced the same during many of the regular family meets with hubby’s office-mates. When everyone else would be seriously involved in discussing Cinema, TV serials, fashion world, latest gadgets to who is the best dressed man/woman, the feeling of being left alone in crowd really scares me out.
And I was really surprised to know how much common ground we all share, true to this saying “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” 

You can take a girl out of desserts, but you can’t take desserts out of a girl. Oh yes, I was born with a dessert spoon! According to my nanny my mom was feasting on hot Malpuas dipped in creamy Rabdi a few minutes before she went into labour pains, much to the chagrin of my stressed out doctor father.

Desserts were an important part of our everyday meal during growing  up years in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Our family was certainly not an exception in a state where a day starts and ends with a sweet, what with people queuing up in food shops before the day breaks, fishing out hot Jalebis floating in warm milk for breakfast.

“So you are a housewife and you blog at your free time, lucky you” I am still trying to figure out what the young blogger wanted to convey when we met in a blogger meet recently. Am I lucky because I am a housewife, a blogger or because I have extra free time?

To me ‘Time’ is a luxury if you are bound with responsibilities and also have a passion to follow. I feel that only the achievers know the secrets of how to tame this elusive element of life called ‘Time’ and make the most out of both the worlds.

I was at loggerheads with time twenty years back when

I don’t know to roll a perfect Sushi and I get cold feet when I bake Macaroon and probably will never be able to appreciate a glass of wine alongside my dinner plate…but still, cooking to me is a way to unwind. I am in my most happiest of moods when in kitchen, cooking for family and friends.

Did I hear ‘Old school’?  I accept it with pleasure

I was added to this group by Charan Sarvanan a versatile blogger and a treasured friend now. Back then I ignored this group on the pretext of  just another FB group where bloggers drop in to give a shout out for their new blog posts or share the….

World is celebrating International Women’s day today. Hmm…Is a single day enough to celebrate womanhood? May be, who cares…
Though a little late but am glad that I came out of the veil of a daughter, a wife and a mother to appreciate in broader perspective, the most precious gift of God – womanhood!

‘It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.’ Paulo Coelho.  Life is harder when you complicate the simple things and my cooking follows suit to a greater extent. Most of the days I prefer dishes which need less time to cook, have fewer ingredients and still retain the freshness & nutrient quotient intact. These simple recipes are a perfect antidote for those busy days when you are hard pressed for time and need something healthy and filling which can be thrown in just minutes.

This warm Chickpea and Veggie Salad falls in the same category. I defer to call this recipe just a simple salad, with Olive oil, mixed veggies, bread croutons, herbs, spices and protein packed chickpeas, this recipe makes a complete meal in itself. I could happily start and end my breakfast, lunch and dinner with a bowl of this chickpea and veggie salad.

‘ If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere‘. ~ Van Gogh.  Early morning walk with my hubby is one activity I eagerly look forward to each day. Its a wonderful time I see some of the miracles of nature unfold as we walk along the narrow lanes and parks nearby.

The dim sky, the fresh morning air, quietness and the gentle pace of life is so enchanting.  The thumping of joggers zipping across, symphony of chirping birds, cling-cling of the milkman and the newspaper boys on cycle break the silence of nearly empty roads.

I have started appreciating these simple and small beauties of nature more and more after my new found love for photography. During one such walks I picked a few colorful leaves dressed in morning dew.