Reliving mera bachpan

     The rainy season, the most awaited season of the year. Everyone enjoys rain, from kids to adults and the elderly. Children and the elders enjoy it the most as both have time on their hand to revel in these pleasures of nature.When it rains it brings not only the rain but also a lot of memories (good and bad). The paper boats which we used to play with, the ragi vadas (kind of pakoras) we used eat, the rain coat we used make with gunny bags, the idlis we used make with sand, especially after the rain water recedes and not to forget the rain dance! Children of this generation may not know many things that we did in our times but playing in the rain is every child's dream even today.

     My little angels too love to play in the rain. They dance, play and make paper boats. After the rain they go out to play in the mud. They love to build their own mud house and garage for their cars. They have a small patch of garden where they can dig the mud to their hearts content. A few days ago, they made their house, a simple one : double storey house with roof top garden, mud table chairs and the toy cars parked neatly in the portico. I missed clicking some of their creations (particularly the one with garage and cars).

     The rainy season, the most awaited season of the year. Everyone enjoys rain, from kids to adults and the elderly. Children and the elders enjoy it the most as both have time on their hand to revel in these pleasures of nature.When it rains it brings not only the rain but also a lot of memories (good and bad). The paper boats which we used to play with, the ragi vadas (kind of pakoras) we used eat, the rain coat we used make with gunny bags, the idlis we used make with sand, especially after the rain water recedes and not to forget the rain dance! Children of this generation may not know many things that we did in our times but playing in the rain is every child's dream even today.

     My little angels too love to play in the rain. They dance, play and make paper boats. After the rain they go out to play in the mud. They love to build their own mud house and garage for their cars. They have a small patch of garden where they can dig the mud to their hearts content. A few days ago, they made their house, a simple one : double storey house with roof top garden, mud table chairs and the toy cars parked neatly in the portico. I missed clicking some of their creations (particularly the one with garage and cars).

     Children are at their best when left alone without any teaching. Left to themselves they are masters in whatever they do. Each one is a MF Hussain, Michelangelo, Laurie Baker.....

First day... First step.

The house was buzzing with activities. Waking up the little ones, packing their tiffin boxes, feeding and getting them ready in time for school....

   Today is the first day of school for our little Gannu. Yesterday, on Vijaydasami he was initiated to formal schooling/writing as it is considered to be a good beginning. After a small prayer, a plate of rice is placed in front of the child and he is made to write the first letter 'a'. 

   Unlike Abi, Gannu was as cool as a cucumber about going to school. His "anna" is going everyday, so will he. Abi had given us nightmares to go to school. Those days are clearly ingrained in our minds even now. So in anticipation of a similar backlash, instead of preparing him, we were preparing ourselves mentally to send him to school. Each member comforting the other rather than comforting the little one.

   We reached the school on time. Gannu carried his bag on his shoulder like anna. He took blessings from 'baaji' (Ganesh) and all the elders and happily waved his hand to everyone else. We were all simply standing and watching all this like it was all destined to happen.

   Instead of the tears and screaming we were preparing ourselves to cope with, Anna proudly took Gannu's hand and walked through the school gate. After anna left him with his teacher, Gannu wished the teacher and happily entered the class room with her. Watching him sit comfortably in his new class, I did not know what to do and came back home in a bewildered manner.

   This also brought in a lot old memories of us leaving our daughter in a boarding school. She had happily walked into her dormitory with her new friends without a complaint. 

Here I am, sitting and sharing this confused emotions with you all. On the one side I am happy that he is going to school happily and on the other side I am feeling so empty inside. My little Gannu is all grown up now and raring go.

First day... first step. What a way to start....

Adventure....unexpected.

   

      Game for adventure? Board Indian Railways...

     Travelling by train in India is no less than an adventure. This has been proved many times in my almost four decade old travelling experience.Armed with so much experience, we planned our trip meticulously to aurangabad from jaipur. Since there is no direct train, we had to catch the connecting train at nizammudin station. Keeping the punctuality of the railways in mind we booked the ticket with almost five hours gap. (Weather was good as it was first week of November). 

     Everything went off as per plan. We boarded the train and it started on time. Well settled in our seats, within a few minutes we dozed off to sleep. Most people were sleeping as it was an early morning train. We expected to reach Delhi by 10 am so we did not bother about our breakfast (nor did we carry anything with us). After about two hours of sleep, we woke up to see the train had halted but not at any station. We decided go back to sleep as there was nothing to worry about and we had so much time on hand. Slowly restlessness started and nobody knew why was the train not moving. After what seemed like an eternity, a kind salesman passed by saying 'engine karab hogaya hai aur doosri lagegi toh gaadi chalegi'.

     It took another one and half an hour to start the train. That was only the beginning of the problems. As the train was running at unscheduled time, it was not in the priority to get the green signal at other stations and nothing was available to eat on this train. By the time we reached our destination, we were late by two and a half hours and starving! But the connecting train's station was an hour's drive. We had a little time to catch the train.

     So we didn't stop for a meal and immediately booked an Ola and waited for the cab to pick us up. Now the clock was ticking faster. He kept saying' just reaching', but not before half an hour! Meanwhile we realised the gravity of the situation. It was diwali time, narrow roads, traffic of delhi and not to forget our traffic sense. I was certain that we are going to miss the train and my heart started working overtime the whole way. My hubby dear kept his cool, saying that in the worst case scenario we'll go back home. Throughout the journey, I saw all our detailed planning and hopes of a wonderful holiday crumble before the great Indian railways and Delhi traffic..

     Five minutes to spare, we reached the station and ran to our train (DDLJ style!!!) and threw ourselves in our seats, thanking all the known and unknown gods! When we started our journey, we had planned how we were going to spend our spare time enjoying biryani at one of the eateries at nizamudin. Here we are without a morsel in sight but glad that we managed to even start our journey!!  ...And the Adventure has just begun!

                             

Abi off to the Aravalis...!

How long is the route?

Will there be any thorns?

Are there any wild animals?

Is it tar road or mud?

Will I get chips?

Can we have a picnic there?

Who will carry the mat?

Can you wake me up on time?

Should I set the alarm in my watch?

....... So on and so forth came the ceaseless questions from Abi when we asked him if he would like to join us for a trek!

   Last Saturday we decided to go for a short trek of about 4 km. Since it was not a very difficult route we thought of taking Abi with us. He was very excited when his mother broke this news to him. But then, true to his nature, he couldn't simply simply say yes to the offer. He wanted to be thoroughly sure before venturing into this new adventure. Hence all those questions! But once he made up his mind to join us,  he simply couldn't wait for the D-day to come.

   Day of the trek arrived after what seemed like an eternity (for Abi)! He was up even before I could wake him up. Unbelievably, he got ready in no time without making a fuss about anything (what dress, shoes and cap to be worn, snacks to be packed, which water bottle to be carried, who will carry what etc etc  phew.... hope I've not left out any questions!) since these extremely important issues were decided the previous night itself.

   

   Armed with everything he wanted, we embarked on Abi's first trek. His enthusiasm caught on others as well. It was a beautiful day.. It had rained the previous night. Nature was at its most beautiful. Abi saw the mighty Aravali range, learned the names of some wild flowers, saw purple mushrooms popping out early in the morning. We reached our destination without any difficulties and surprisingly, he wasn't tired at all! Though we did not have a proper picnic there, with a mat and a food basket, we did spend some time playing near a lake and munched some peanuts and biscuits.

I can't believe that my little baby whom we used to carry in our lap so protectively has grown up now and raring to go and explore the big wide world out there....

   Pray God to give you strong wings to fly high baby.

Gannu... Our blessing

Ganesh chathurthi has been the beginning of my awakening in more than one way. With a gentle nudge from my daughter and some cleansing of my own thoughts, I am trying to bounce back to my blogging. Through this blog i want to celebrate life with my two little wonders that the god has bestowed upon us.

It's been almost two years since our own little Gannu came into our life. Abi is doing very well as a big bro. It gives us immense pleasure watching him dote on his younger brother (though he does have his mood swings also!).

With two hyperactive munchkins ( my kahna and gannu baba), life has become a roller coaster. As grandparents, I am observing that our interest in festivals increases many folds. We enjoyed all the festivals as kids but somehow as we grew older, celebrating every festival became difficult. Now as grandparents I want to celebrate all our festivals so that the kids enjoy them as much as we did and also learn about them. 

Festival season begins with Ganesh Chathurthi. For some reason, our preparations startded very late. But once it began, it went on with full swing. Abi enjoyed helping us during the preparations. Watching him riddhu (gannu) is  also picking up quickly. Despite living in a city I managed to collect most of the leaves (15 out of 21 different types) that are supposed to be auspicious and flowers for the pooja. That was the highlight of this year's Ganesh Chathurthi as I've done this for the first time. I could also show abi the different types of leaves and their names. 

Along with ganesha's favorite modhak and laddoos, I made abi & riddhu's favorite payasam and some other sweets and savory items. We completed the day with a small homely puja with my family. It would have been picture perfect, had Gaurav been there. 

Thengai burfi / Coconut burfi

    
 For the third and final day, I've selected yet another traditional sweet - yummy and chewy coconut burfi.  As children, this used to be our evening snacks when we came back from school. We could eat as much as we wanted without any guilty feeling of gaining weight like now. We loved them. The easily available ingredients and being easy to prepare, makes it possible to make it often. This, like sesame seeds laddoo, you will not find in sweet shops (different variety is available). My granny and mom used to make this very often but I learnt it from my sister when she visited our place. All thanks to my grandson, I'm learning how to make our traditional sweets so that he can also enjoy what we enjoyed as kids. Now for the recipe.

INGREDIENTS;

1. Sugar - 1/2 kg

2. Roasted gram - 2 tablespoons

3. Grated fresh coconut - 1no

4. Ghee - 100 ml

4. Cardamom - 4 nos

5. Water - as needed

METHOD:

1. Grease a tray with ghee and keep it ready.
2. Put the grated coconut in a blender and pulse it for a few seconds (should be coarse).
3. Take a heavy bottom pan/kadai add sugar and just enough water to cover the sugar and bring it to a boil.
4.Once it starts boiling, add a spoon of milk and keep simmering. Remove all the impurities floating on the top.
5. Add the grated coconut and cook for a few minutes on a medium heat. Then add half the ghee stirring all the while.

6. Keep adding the left over ghee little by little as you cook till the mixture starts foaming. 
7. Add the roasted gram and cook till it starts leaving the sides of the pan.
8.Remove from the heat, pour it into the greased tray and let it cool.
9.Once cooled, cut into desired shape and serve.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#69

BM 69 Indian sweets. Karai Kacchayam

Abi's li'l hands grabbing the goodies!

      

   Though we like sweets, we don't enjoy the market sweets that much. Traditional and homemade sweets are the most favorite ones. Of these, our traditional sweet called kachayam is a big family hit. We make two types of kachayam. One is made out of rice flour and sugar syrup. The process is more tedious. The second one is called karai kachayam. Karai means mixing. This is easier and instant and made by mixing all the ingredients nicely. Hence the name. Both taste fantastic. Here I'm making the second variety. 

     Every time I make this, time rewinds in my mind and brings some sweet memories. Once we visited my MIL 's sister's place, unannounced as newly married. She was too excited and anxious as it is believed the new bride has to be given sweets on her first visit and there was no sweet shop nearby. So she made this quick sweet with so much love and it tasted like heaven, something which I've not forgotten even after many decades. In fact, I learnt it that day. So I dedicate this to her.  Now to the recipe. 

                       

Ingredients:

Wheat flour   - 1 cup

Maida / All purpose flour -2 tablespoons

Ripe banana  - 1

Sugar   - 1/2 cup ( or to taste)

Grated fresh coconut - 3 tablespoons (optional)

Green cardamom   - 5 Nos

A pinch of cooking soda

Ghee/ oil for frying

Method:

1. Mash the banana well in a mixing bowl.

2. Add in all the other ingredients except oil.

3. Add water a little at a time to make a smooth batter. The batter should be of pouring consistency.

4. Make sure there are no lumps in it.

5. Heat ghee in a pan, bring to medium heat and pour a spoonful of batter into the hot oil. (You can pour 4 or 5 kachayam in one go depending upon the size of your pan).

6. Fry on both sides till they become golden brown.

7. Lift one at a time, press it in between two steel ladles to flatten them and also strain the excess ghee out. (Need to do this quickly so as to remove all of them without burning).

8. You can, of course, serve them hot or even cold (room temperature).

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#69