The Beggar Kids

My Writing Does All The Talking

My heart melted at this miserable sight.. And my heart wouldn’t allow me to shift my gaze from them. And instantly i sent a ‘Hail Mary’ to heaven for those two lil beggar kids . With not even a shred of cloth to cover this girl’s body, this maybe 3-year-old was lying on a boy’s lap, who in turn was sitting on a road divider shirtless, with  a torn pant to cover his dignity. The boy was probably 6 or so. Where they on opium or something? Or how could they take in the summer heat so coolly?

Without any second thought, i parked my two-wheeler and went searching for few packets of biscuits. Once i had them, i moved towards them on the divider and shared the biscuit packets along with a 100 rupee note. Guilt satisfied. My miserable heart somewhat pacified with that act.

The kids stood up. The girl who was lying lifeless on the boy’s lap also stood up. No, no there was no joy on their faces.  It seemed more like they were done for their day.  The 100 rupee note would probably help them shut a few hungry mouths at home.

When i turned towards my two-wheeler to go home, i realized, my heart ache hadn’t entirely subsided.  So i took a u-turn and went towards the poor kids who were on their way home. I saw ugly boils, all over the body, on this small boy’s bare back. I volunteered to drop them at home, but at once they retorted. “No, no, we will go back on our own,” said the boy as they picked up their clothes lying far away from their workplace.  

P.S. Most of you may not agree with this way of kindness. Giving money to poor kids is a complete no no for many of you.  In hindsight, i also feel the same. I should have given more eatable stuff  to them.  Anyway, when i think back of those lil ones i still feel helpless. Will i be able do something that’s more meaningful and substantial for the poor and orphan kids than just dolling out a few biscuits now and then to them? This is a question i keep asking myself every other day.

The Apples of My Eyes

Kids are the apple of everyone’s eyes, not just for you and me. They add to the joys of our lives. So when these lovely god-made creatures are in pain, you too cannot stop yourself from getting carried away by their pain and sorrow. When my sons Aryan and Ayaansh are in pain, especially when the monster called 'cough invades their lives,' my life goes topsy-turvy.  Rosaries, prayers, abstinence, penance, fasting and so on, become my way of life for some time, not to mention the researches on the internet for home-made Ayurveda remedies for cough treatment.  What I found from all these browsing and researching is that apart from Ginger and Tulsi syrups, it’s really important to add honey in all your preparations. Besides honey, I also use jaggery in generous proportion, considering it’s cheaply available.  In fact, I have replaced sugar with jaggery and sugar candy in almost all the dishes I cook for them. My mom-in-law, in fact, gets panam kalkandam from Kerala to add them in their milk and other dishes. For the starters, Panam Kalkandam is a crystallized form of palm sugar having medicinal values. It’s believed to have the power to liquefy phelgm from the lungs and is widely used in curing sore throats and bringing down cholesterol levels. All these measures help keep cough in check for some time for my sons. But then this monster raises its ugly head every now and then.

Some of the recipes I use jaggery exclusively for my 11 month old Ayaansh are as follows:

Oat meal

Saute required quantity of oats in ghee. Add milk and water in equal proportions and pressure cook it. Once it’s done, add jaggery to it. If your kid can't have in this form, mix it in a blender.  

Suji halva

Saute suji in Ghee. Once it turns light in brown, add milk and water to it. Keep stirring. Once the mix comes to a semi-solid state, add jaggery to it.   

Wheat halva

Sauté required quantity of wheat in spoonfuls of ghee. Once the mixture turns light in brown and oozes aroma, add milk and water to it. Keep stirring. Once the mix comes to a semi-solid state, add jaggery to it.

These are quick recipes and, in fact, can be made in a couple of minutes. And the best part is, Ayaansh has it easily without any sort of fuzz. In fact, there are many other recipes, wherein jaggery, or for that matter sugar candy can be easily replaced for sugar. For the uninitiated, sugar adds to cough, so it’s advisable to stay away from it.  

And before I forget, I need to add that, both my sons have started having turmeric milk in the morning blended with sugar candy, given that winters are around the corner. Sometimes turmeric is replaced with Saffron (kesar).   Saffron is hot, they say. It also helps fight cough. If you know about any home-remedies that help fight cough, do let me know in the comment box below.

Indiaaaa India

There is India on everyone’s lips these days. Gone are those days when Indian’s were considered slaves, snake charmers, and second class citizens. Gone are those days when the color of the skin determined his/her social status. Gone are those days when Indians were considered pushovers.

It was not long before when David J Schwartz in his book “ The Magic Of Thinking Big” addressed Indians as second class citizens.   

This was author’s take on Indians at large

"If Thinking Big accomplishes so much, why doesn't everyone think that way?" I've been asked that question many times. Here I believe is the answer. All of us, more than we recognize, are products of the thinking around us. And much of this thinking is little, not big. All around you is an environment that is trying to tug you, trying to pull you down Second Class Street. You are told almost daily that there are "too many chiefs and not enough Indians." In other words, that opportunities to lead no longer exist, that there is a surplus of chiefs, so be content to be a little guy.

Hopefully, the author is still not struck with his standpoint and changed his opinion in the recent times. Today, Indian food, fashion, not least of which is language, are going places.

Fashion

Recently top-notch fashion designer and founder of lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger corporation, praised actress Sonam Kapoor for her exquisite taste in designer clothes. In fact, international fashionistas have always gone gaga over Indian attire and saree tops the list. 

A sneak peek on Saree-clad Hollywood Celebrities.  

Noami Campbell

Elizabeth Hurley

Julia Roberts in Eat, Love and Pray

Angelina Jolie

There is no denying that colourful Indian sarees, lehengas,salwar and churidar suits are favourite add-ons in their wardrobe.

  

Food

Not just fashion, even Indian food is receiving rave reviews across the globe. Not long back, chef Floyd Cardoz won the Top Chef Masters Contest for ‘semolina pudding'. Yes it’s our most -ignored upma. Today, Indian food items stand at par with Mexican, Thai and Italian flavors in terms of popularity. Indian spices, flavors and tastes are no longer branded as exotic but the most-sought after. In fact, there’s a greater demand for authentic Indian food and not their watered down versions.  

Krisitna Brown, a U.S. based consultant, had been staying with us for a month or two. And what we could gather from our top management level friend is that this female is fond of green chilies. And she has them in raw form. Are your eyeballs still there? Or has it popped out from the socket? Mine did, when I heard this.  

OMG!OMG! How could she? I said, Even a regular Indian finds chilies to be an antagonizing stuff, how she could have them raw? And not just chilies, she is in love with Indian food and has them often, though in moderation, for it may upset her tummy, my friend added.

Dialect

When I heard Mr. Prime Minister speak in Hindi during his visit to the United States, a muscle jumped in my jaw. Man, this man has the nerve, which none of former prime ministers had. I doff of my hat to you Mr.Modi. Not just fashion, food, dialect, in fact there are so many other fronts that the world is looking towards India to connect with. Hollywood for one, has been inspired my India significantly. The background settings of so many recent films are a testament to that fact.

I am participating in the 'More Indian than you think' contest being held @ Indiblogger. Check out http://bit.ly/MITYTIndiblogger
Images from Glamglaz.com

When My Two Hearts Go Walking Around

"Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ” 

― Elizabeth Stone

I couldn't agree more with Elizabeth Stone. I don’t know what the author of the ‘A Boy I Once Knew’ had in her mind when she came up with heart-tugging line. I've two boys. And both are down and out with cough and fever every now and then. I sometimes blame myself for their terrible state of affairs. I haven’t had enough breast milk to feed when my elder son was an infant. And the worst part of it was that I was too busy to feed him the little I had. And I don’t know whether his falling ill now and then could be directly related to this – weak immune system because of the absence of mother’s milk.

History repeated itself in case of my younger son as well. Ayaansh is 10 month old and I feel miserable sharing that I couldn't feed him as well. In fact, in his case I had no milk. Now considering that both my sons have weak immune systems (that’s what I assume) I feel wretched many a times, blaming myself for their plight.

Aryan has done both extensive Ayurveda and Allopathy courses to get rid of his chronic cough. And with God’s grace he’s recovering it seems. And i hope the upcoming winters doesn't throw up anything otherwise.

In case of both my sons, the first thing that I do when the demons of cough and cold strike are to try and diminish them with a series of age old, effective home-remedies, starting from Basil leaves to Ginger.

Some of the home-made remedies that I try often when my sons face difficult times:

Basil Leaves and Ginger Syrup – A few basil (tulsi) leaves and a piece of ginger is pounded well using a mortar and pestle. Squeeze the juice out using fingers. Mix a little honey in it. You can give this juice 4 to 5 times in a day.     

Pomegranate Juice – Boil the dried skin of pomegranate fruit. Keep it boiling till the water is reduced to half. This is effective when the kids are down with diarrhea.  

Ginger and Honey Syrup – Pound ginger and mix a spoon full of honey in it. This gives relief from cough and cold. You can even replace ginger with Tulsi leaves as well.

Dabur Honitus- Both syrup and cough drops are helpful.  

Pankajakasthuri – This ayurvedic powder is available at all ayurveda shops. Again this powder helps fight cough and cold.

I on a personal level try to avoid allopathy treatments as much as possible, for downing drugs is not good in the long run they say. For me Ayurveda is the go-to medicine to keep my hearts up and running all the time. 

Check out https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/ for more info on Ayurveda products to lead a better life. 

I am participating in Indi-happy hours hosted by Indiblogger. 

"WOW, WOW, I WON A FLIPKART VOUCHER FOR THIS."

Stephen King’s Writing Tips that I Admire The Most

I am no Stephen King fan. It’s mainly because I haven’t made any serious efforts so far to read his books. May be in the future. Whether we read him or not does not take away from his geniuses as a gifted writer. He churns bestsellers in bucket loads. In fact, if there’s any real university in creative writing, it has to be his. His book on writing is an eye-opener. That’s that. (I deeply desire to have a shred of his geniuses in me, if not more.) So it really makes sense for an amateur writer like me to ape his writing habits, and to pay rapt attention to his writing tips.      

 Some of his smart writing tips that I prefer to dump in my dumb brains:

1] Read, Read, Read, Write, Write , Write

2] If you don’t read, you don’t have the tools to write

3] Don’t overly get caught up in grammar.

4] Master the art of description

5] Take your writing seriously or don’t write

6] Write every single day.

Though all these quotes may sound easy, but we writers know that’s it’s a struggle to practically implement these habits on a regular basis. You need an iron will to put them into action. But then are writers like him who do it, come rain or shine. Little wonder they have become the stars in the literary realm.

A Goldmine of Books

I need two shots of energizing prose, early morning, everyday, to get that evasive blood coursing through my brains... and I am set for the day. For those additional kicks, I manage to steel some moments for more of those seductive shots during the office hours and then later in the night.  

And my go-to place for these adrenaline pumping shots are www.bestlibraryspot.net and www.ebook2u.org

No more shelling money on library registrations and flipkart for books

The site is a literally a goldmine of books, from romance to thrillers, from YA to sci-fi, from crime to chick-lit, you just name it. And more importantly, all the books are from very popular writers - right from Stephen King, John Green, John Grisham, Jeffery Archer to Suzanne Collins - can be easily found here.  

Currently I reading Gabriel’s inferno here by Sylvain Reynard. It falls under the romantic genre and I am lovin’ it. In fact, I am so consumed by it that I end up thinking of it day and night.  Some reviewers even consider its writing style better than Fifty Shades of Grey.(Now that's a hook for you to latch on.)

Coming back to where I started, both the sites are a Treasure Island for books. And it won’t be wrong to say that these sites are the best thing that happened to me this year. If it were not for these sites, I don’t know how much would i have missed on the literary front? I would never discovered Reynard and his works. And yes I am really excited to familiarize myself with other authors as well.  

Besides all these very no-nonsense points, the other important fact about these sites is that you don’t have to spend so much on books anymore. If you’re already spending thousands, a few hundreds would do from now on. Or that what’s I believe. In fact, when I found John Green’s ‘Fault in our stars’ here, my heart skipped a beat. In fact, it slowly leapt out from its place to shout “Eureka. Eureka, i’ve discovered something". 

A thousand thanks to all the authors who had the heart to give their books absolutely for free here.

Only meant for your ears: I steal every idle moment in the office to catch up on my reading here. (Books are not allowed here. I hate my office people for introducing such nonsensical dictum.)

Are there other sites for online reading? Do share them in the comment box.