The Girl who looked for Rainbows

Catchy title, isn't it? Well...I didn't think of it, but someone enticing did. The Girl who looked for Rainbows is Medha Kapoor's blog which I am reviewing as a part of Secret Santa organised by our own girl gang  - IndiBlogeshwaris. So what if I am staying away from family and friends, this group makes me feel completely at home, even if it is only virtually that I interact with the gang! Love you girls..you make the sun shine even in this cold Beaverton weather. <3

Uff..now I am getting emotional. The task was to review a blog, Secret Santa isthyle. So I was snooping around Medha's blog so that I can do a review of her blog. Here is my bit about Medha's blog - The Girl who looked for Rainbows. Meanwhile, grab on to some cookies and brownies and also remember me while doing so! :)

It was the first time I had hopped onto Medha's blog. Strangely, I hadn't come across her blog before. Sic sic..I missed out on some good writing.  When I first saw the blog title, it let me into dreams of my own - dreams that we weave in broad daylight. The title is mesmerising, intriguing to an extent, and her writings do justice to the same.  

There are a few blogs that resonate with the way one feels, at different emotional junctures of life and Medha brings out the essence of these emotions very well. I couldn't stop at just one post when I started reading her blog. It stirred in emotions so strong that I dug her archives till I could have a hold on my quenching thirst for emotions she explores. Be it the way she handles poems, prose or the reviews, I can see a bit of her in everything. Though I do not know her personally, I know that her writings are a bit of her and to me, that is what makes it more enjoyable and thought provoking. Also, a subtle humour here and there in some of the posts take it to a new level altogether.

I love the way she plays with words, with emotions, toying around with the thoughts on her mind that reflect so well on the paper. When we write, it gets difficult sometimes to put down everything that is there in our heads. I might be wrong, but I feel Medha is able to do it. If I have to put it mathematically, for most of us, Thoughts on our mind > Thoughts on the blog post. Whereas, when I read Medha's posts, I felt Thoughts on her mind = Thoughts on the blog post. 

I do not want to pick any post of hers labeling it my favourite, not because I don't want to, but because I cannot. I cannot pick only one post of hers that I liked. I can never decide which I liked the best when there are so many good ones that moved me. All in all, a must read! I have only one tiny bit of an advice, maybe the layout could be made more reader friendly and a little "About me" section could be added to get a glimpse of  the girl who writes so wonderfully.

So, hop on to the sleigh and lets go on an emotional journey with The Girl who looked for Rainbows!!

To all my readers, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. May these holidays bring in a lot of cheer in your life!

Continue

Brownie learns a lesson!

Brownie!!

"Mamma, get me some biscuits", shouted Brownie, the little dog with light brown fur and a small ever-wagging tail. "Why do you always want everyone else to do your job? Why can't you get up and get it for yourself?", yelled his mom. "Mamma, I am sitting and watching my friends play", replied Brownie. His mother brought him some biscuits and said, "Brownie, you should learn to do your work all by yourself. You are growing up fast now. You are strong enough to do these little things all by yourself." Brownie looked at his mom, wagged his tail and started eating his biscuits with joy.

Days passed and Brownie grew bigger and became more lazy. He never went out to play nor did he move around his house to do his work. All he did was tell his parents or his sister to do his work. Everyone at home was very irritated with his behaviour and decided to teach him a lesson. 

Continue

Crushing candies and the like!

Does it happen to you that you see candies everywhere? Simple plain ones, striped ones, the chocolaty ones and the like? Well, it happens to me, all the time nowadays.

Candy Crush is addictive to say the least. But, let me tell you, I wasn't a fan initially. I preferred the candies in the fridge over the candies on my tablet or my phone or my laptop. But, with so much time on hand and so many gadgets to play with, I succumbed, like many others, to the addiction called "Candy Crush Saga". 

The addiction shows - the other day I went to Walmart and saw so many candies in different shapes and sizes and colours and instead of buying them, all I did was ponder about what candies could be mixed so that I can get higher points and move on to the next level. The addiction is so much that I, now, have stopped looking at the candies in the fridge because I can, neither create, nor mix nor destroy them. Sigh!

P.S. Till I find a rehabilitation centre to cure me of my addiction, can you guys help me by sending in some virtual lives and loads of candy luck my way this holiday season? :D

Continue

Platinum Day Of Love: The day we cut an onion together!

18 days from now, we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary. When I sit back and think of the year gone by, one quote runs in my mind time and again. It is the content from my wedding invite which had these lines - “I cannot fix on the day, or the time, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. I was in middle of it before I knew I was in love with Abhay...Time to exchange vows and seal the love forever…”. The lines were inspired by the quote from my favourite book Pride and Prejudice - “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

Ours was an arranged marriage. We got engaged on 29th June, 2012, 20 days after we first met each other. We got married on 29th November, 2012, 5 months after we got engaged and maintained a long distance relationship because Abhay was in the US and I was in India. We had met just seven times in person before we tied the knot. We talked everyday over the phone, but it never could replicate the feeling of being with each other in person. Like in the quote above, I cannot decide exactly when I fell in love with him. Was it the first time we met after we decided to get married or was it on the day of our engagement or was it the day when he surprised me when he flew down to India before the scheduled date or was it the day of our marriage? I am still not sure. But, I do not worry much about it now because I know I love him, and have loved him all along.

Being in a relationship is one thing and living together after marriage as husband and wife is a different ball game altogether which I realized only after marriage. We live in such close proximities with the other person that we begin to see them in a new light. We witness their positives, negatives, interactions, day in and out which influence our state of happiness, sadness, fears, insecurities and other unfathomable emotions. In arranged marriages, these emotions are accentuated because the only time you actually get to know your partner is when you get married to them and start living with them and start observing them carefully. I went through the jitters that marriage and a new home brings along initially. Though my new family took all the pains to make me feel comfortable, it took me sometime to get adjusted to my new home. I had created a wall of my fears that were tying me down until one day.

Back at mom’s place, I would cook only when my mom would go to our native. Dad was never particular about what I cooked and I seriously didn’t have much cooking experience if you can call it that. When I got married, my mom-in-law always cooked all of us a wonderful meal while I only helped her a wee bit. But, when my mom-in-law had to go for her Shirdi trip a month after we got married, I knew I was in knee deep trouble.

The next day after my mom-in-law left for Shirdi, I woke up and went to the kitchen so that I could prepare breakfast for the 4 of us and pack lunch for the 3 of them - my dad-in-law, sister-in-law and the husband. I thought it would be an easy task. Well, the moment I entered the kitchen, my legs were shivering. I had to cook a meal for my family in a matter of few hours and I realized I was so unprepared for it. Though my mom-in-law had made a few preparations before she left and the others insisted that they could manage by themselves, I didn’t want to disappoint myself by letting them down or so I thought.

As I stood motionless in the kitchen at 6:00 in the morning thinking what I would do and how I would finish cooking and packing their lunch in another two hours, I saw my husband enter the kitchen. I knew my husband cooked well and he loved cooking, but, I was still surprised to see him in the kitchen at 6:00 in the morning because I had never seen him wake up before 8:00 in the morning and that also would be after a lot of nudging and fidgeting around with him. He smiled like he understood my predicament. As I stood there with a knife in my hand and a half unshapely cut onion on the cutting board, he gave me a reassuring look and took the knife into his own hands and cut the onion into thin slices. I was crying, well, it might have been the onion, but I would like to believe that it was the tears of joy for having discovered our “Platinum Day of Love”. It might not sound like a heroic gesture on his part but for me, this was when we discovered our real love that is everlasting. It was the moment he beat his prolonged sleeping habit to be with me during my crisis time to restore the fact that he would be with me for eternity, supporting me and pulling me out of my difficulties whereas I stood there facing my wall of fears head on so that I could integrate into the family and keep them happy.

As silly as it may sound, we found our everlasting love cutting an onion in the kitchen that day. Today, when we look back, we wish that we had something eternal like platinum rings with us that day that would etch this day in our memories forever. But, all we had that day were some onion rings and tears of joy.

Note: This post is a part of a contest conducted by Platinum Day Of Love hosted by Indiblogger.

Continue

Tring-tring!

38 missed calls in 10 mins! 

He wondered what was going on.

Rubbing his eyes with a stifling yawn,

He peered outside and saw a beautiful breaking dawn.

He dialed the number and called his best-friend Ron,

Hoping and praying that nothing was terribly wrong.

But, all he heard was a beautiful song,

Which said “Happy Birthday, you moron!"

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Continue

Oh yes, I finally did fly!

Up above in the sky,

Amidst the clouds that sometimes cry,

Like a tiny angel with a sigh,

Oh yes, I finally did fly!

My heart missed a nervous beat,

My mouth let out a very loud bleat,

Yet, I soared very high,

Oh yes, I finally did fly!

Down I came with a smile,

Posed for a shot with some filmi style,

Loved my first ever tandem sky-dive,

Oh yes, I finally did fly!

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Continue

Be Smart, Stay Safe with Smart Suraksha!

I still remember the day very clearly. It was around 7:30 in the morning when I left home for college. I was pursuing my Masters back then. Bangalore weather was at its best - a foggy morning with a slight breeze. As I started from home that morning, I didn’t have the slightest idea that what was about to happen would leave me so emotionally distraught for a long time.

As I left home, I saw the sun coming out of its horizon and the beautiful sun-rays kissing the ground. I was ready for a wonderful day ahead. But, it was not to be. I used to take public transport back then and I had to walk for around 10 minutes to reach the nearest bus stop. As I climbed the steep roads of our colony, I saw that most people were still inside their houses. Bangalore weather can do that to you sometimes. As I walked on, listening to the chirping of the birds, the hymns coming from the houses and the air being filled with the aroma of the incense sticks, I realized how I loved my everyday walk to the bus stop.

I was halfway through when I saw a man on a luna rode past me. Before I knew it, he took a U-turn and strode past me trying to grab me. My instinct was to move and I did. But, by then, he had speedened up and when I turned back to see what had just happened, I saw him making some lewd gestures. It all happened in a matter of few seconds and I stood numb without knowing what had just happened. There was no one on the road and I felt stranded. I felt helpless. I continued for the bus stop and reached college without any other incident, fearing all the time that the man would come back. I still don’t know why I didn’t go back home even though I had just faced danger. I guess I had totally blanked out to think anything by myself.

I spent that whole day in college thinking about that incident. When I reached home in the evening, I burst out crying, because, that is when I fully realised in how dire a situation I was in the morning. At the time, it was more than 20 years since I was residing in the colony. I had played on the same road, walked to the bus stop on the same road for past 10 years and yet I was not safe in a place I grew up in. After that day, my dad dropped me everyday to the bus stop because I was left scared and scarred emotionally.

I still remember the man on the luna. He looked to be in his late 20s, wearing a check shirt and grey pants. I can still see the lewd gestures he was making, so clearly before my eyes. I wish I had done something about the situation back then. I had my phone, I could have called my parents, I could have called the police, but, it would take more time in explaining the situation to them. But, I regret not calling them. I wish I had Smart Suraksha with me then so that I could just press a button and let my folks and the police know that I was in danger, and also where I was even without my GPS being switched on. It would save a lot of time.

Thankfully, we now have the technology at our hands, though I wish no one is in such a situation wherein they will have to use this app but I know in this big, not-so-good world, it always pays to be cautious. So, download the “Smart Suraksha” app and be safe!

P.S. This is a true incident and the views presented here are solely mine.

I am participating in the Seeking Smart Suraksha contest at BlogAdda.com in association with Smart Suraksha App.

Continue

A Corny Meal !!!

What do you do when you have been out the whole evening and return home at 11:00 in the night all hungry? You search for your favourite restaurant or a to-go place, isn't it? Well, that is what we decided to do that fateful day. But, here in Beaverton, almost all Indian restaurants close by 10:00 PM and we didn't want to eat "phoren ka khana" that night. :( 

We returned home hoping to eat some junk food and sleep. Alas, there was no junk food at home, thanks to our newly adopted "healthy living mantra". As our stomachs grumbled and our hearts craved for some yummy Indian food, I knew it was upto me to cook something in a jiffy and tend to my husband's growling and my grumbling tummy.

Thankfully, I had some leftover rice and sweet corn in the fridge. I knew I could make something delightful to soothe our taste buds So, I decided I should make some Corn Rice which is both tasty and filling.( It takes hardly 15-20 minutes if you have boiled rice ready at home.) After I made Corn Rice, I decided to surprise the husband with a 3 course meal and made Corn Bhel as a starter and Corn Halwa as a dessert, both in a time range of 10 minutes. It took just 30 minutes to cook this 3 course meal and at the end of it, we were two very happy souls. :)

The recipe is as below:

Please click on the image for it to enlarge.

CORN RICE

1.)Take a deep bottomed vessel and put it on a medium flame.

2.)Add approximately 2tbsps of ghee or oil.

3.)Add 1tsp of cumin seeds and let it splutter.

4.)Add 1tsp of ginger-garlic paste and saute it till the raw smell disappears.

5.)Chop a medium sized onion and saute it till it changes its colour. 

6.)Chop a medium sized tomato and saute it till it becomes soft. *You can add a little salt at this stage to quicken the process.

7.)Now, add around a cup of boiled sweet corn to the above mixture and mix well.

8.)Add 1tsp garam masala, 1tsp chilli powder and salt to taste and give it a good stir and let it stay for 5 minutes.

9.)Now, add 2 cups of boiled rice and mix well. Check if salt and other masalas are in the right amount or adjust to your liking.

10.)Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

*Now, with the remaining half of the corn, you can make a quick version of CORN BHEL as a starter by adding chopped onions and tomatoes to the boiled corn. Add salt, chaat masala and chilli powder to your taste. 

*Also, make a dessert CORN HALWA by adding blended boiled sweet corn in 1tsp of ghee at medium heat and 2tsps of sugar. Mix till you get a halwa consistency.

Enjoy a 3-course meal prepared in less than 30 minutes in the comfort of your home.

My Doodle recipe is a part of Easy Doodle Recipe contest at BlogAdda.com in association with TastyKhana.com .

Continue

Season Of Fall...

I see the red coloured leaves fall,

From the trees that stand really tall.

I wonder why they have to wither,

When they can happily quiver.

But, life is about letting go,

The past that makes us a little woe.

Green leaves will be born,

It is life that goes on.

Continue

Alone but not lonely!

I  stand in the midst of nowhere and yet I stand amidst beauty. ~ Wizard Island

This is the beautiful Crater Lake (Southern Oregon) in black and white, with Wizard Island in the centre.

P.S. This post is written for That Tuesday Thingy, an *IndiBlogeshwaris* initiative. 

Continue

Flashback...

Digging through my memories,

A little bitter and a little sweet.

I find my worn-out diaries,

A little yellow and a little neat.

I run my hand over the pages,

A little bump and a little sleek.

To find my life through passages,

A little strong  and a little weak.

P.S. This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Continue

Life: Under Construction!

When “Mr. I Heard You” aka “Abhishek Singhal” aka “Chhotu” asked me to write a guest post for his blog, I readily agreed. I had to, I had no choice. Even if I paid someone and asked them to post my article on their blogs, I am sure they would have turned me down with a smirk and this guy here was jumping into the well readily, without me having to push him into it. :D With a huge smile on my face, I did say a yes, but, I now faced a bigger problem. What do I write about? I had a lot of options namely – a book review, a self-help post, my signature styled thoughtless posts, and other rants about my newly married status, but, I didn’t want to write anything on any of these. I wanted to write something about quarter life crisis, but I decided to call it “Life: Under Construction.”

For more, read my first guest post ever on I HEARD YOU. Do visit his archives, this guy writes what comes to his mind and I enjoy his ramblings. Here is a 19 year old guy who rambles as much as I did when I was his age and yet, there is something that attracts me to his posts. I like this guy, he speaks his mind!

Continue

Hurray!!

Finally, done with the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It has been good since I have tried to bring variety in my posts which, though, hasn't got me much audience, it has helped me learn more about myself.

There was a surprise waiting for me when I visited SuKu's Sukupedia today. She had an award for me. :):) Love you SuKu!

Continue

BowTie :) - Balloon !

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

BowTie :) - Confusions

More choices bring with them more confusions.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part VII

Today, I have no place to talk about.  There are other places that we have visited in Oregon, but, they will again be a repetition of the landscapes we have seen. 

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part VI

As I was thinking of the post to write for today, I realized it is Saturday today and hence decided to write about Portland. Portland is the city we landed in when we reached the state of Oregon. I was misled initially that Portland is the capital city of Oregon due to its popularity, but, I now know that Salem is the capital city of Oregon.

Street of Saturday Market 

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part V

Today is my hubby's birthday (India Time), ie, 27th of July, and I am thinking what to post. I was busy baking a cake for him, so didn't have much time in the morning. Now, sitting and thinking what to write, I decided I should talk about the "Tulip Fest" that happens in Woodburn every year. 

Let me tell you upfront that I hate flowers. I absolutely hate flowers, the normal ones, even more than the weird ones. But, I like flowers that are misshapen or wild. So, when we decided to go to the Tulip Fest, I was all agitated. But, my photographyphilic husband wanted to go there and capture a few photos. So, we did go there and let me tell you the scene was beautiful with all Tulip flowers blooming in different colours. But, I did get bored after sometime and my husband enjoyed being there. So, today's post will have more photos from that trip. Not a trip actually, Woodburn is just 45 minutes from home. So, do enjoy the photos.

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part IV

If you ask me the definition of skiing, I definitely will tell you that it is a sport where you pay money to fall and hurt yourself on slippery snow. Well, atleast that is what happened with me. 

So, today I will talk about our skiing experience here in Oregon.

I am not a big fan of adventure sports. I cringe when someone even mentions it. But, my dear husband was born to be just opposite of what I am. He loves his adventure sports. So, we decide that we are going to Mt.Hood for skiing. Now, Mt.Hood is about one hour drive from Beaverton. The route is very scenic with many waterfalls that can be seen enroute. And thankfully, for us, it was sunny that day.

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part III

Oregon has a lot of hiking trails. We have been to quite a few places for hiking. One Saturday, as we were thinking of places where we could go hiking, we decided to check a few places closer home. And eureka, we had a hiking trail considerably close by - Tryon Creek State Park which is the only state park in Oregon within the metropolitan area, being only a few minutes from Portland downtown.

Continue

Royalty Redefined - Chhotu Pooju :p

Yes, this is the royal "me" :)

When I was born, I had a demure look on my face that had "royalty" written all over. I had chubby cheeks and gorgeous silky hair that made me the perfect princess . I kept my tryst with "royalty" intact by never wailing beyond the recommended decibels. I never made any noise when I was being breastfed; there was always an absolute silence in the room. I maintained utmost decency during my bathing routine and also, most of the times, was dressed in royal elegance. I slept with absolutely no waking up in the middle of the night, keeping my dignity intact. Ok stop, now whom am I kidding? I am sure you must have realised by now that I did nothing as mentioned above. 

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part II

We usually wake up very late on Sundays. On one of the Sundays this June, as usual, we got up very late and as we finished our brunch, we sat down thinking what we ought to do for the rest of the day. We fiddled with our options and then settled on the option that we should, probably, go berry picking.

Beaverton has a lot of "U-pick" berry farms. I was excited as usual because picking berries with my own hands was something I hadn't done before. I got ready in minutes and by then, Abhay had settled on Hoffman Farm for our first time "Berry picking" adventure. We checked with them and confirmed that they were open for Raspberry and Strawberry picking. I was a little sad that they didn't have Cherry picking at the time. But, something was better than nothing. So, we decided to get to the place.

Continue

The Perfect Road Trip: Our not-so-perfect yet perfect honeymoon!

Abhay and I got married on November 29^th, 2012. Before marriage, like all couples very much in love, we also discussed our honeymoon plans. But, nothing materialized because sweet-nothings would always cloud the so called serious “honeymoon” discussions. So, even on the day of our marriage, we hadn’t decided where we ought to head for our honeymoon.

Like in case of most marriages, our marriage was also followed by a series of functions that continued till December first week with a few breaks here and there. During this time, we had to visit both our natives to finish off every ritualistic commitment we had, which we finished quite successfully, barring the fact that we travelled back to Bangalore with me suffering from a bout of food poisoning.

Abhay had applied for leave till December 17^th and it was already December 11^th and we hadn’t planned our honeymoon yet. To top it, he was super skeptical about travelling to far off places because of the food poisoning his new wife, yours truly “me” had suffered earlier. So, we dropped our initial plans of going to either Maldives or Andaman or Kerala (these weren’t planned actually, we only mentioned these in bits and pieces whenever we found time from our sweet-nothings and decided to get some serious talking done about our honeymoon plan).

Continue

Rediscovering Oregon - Part I

It was in March this year that my husband, Abhay and I moved to Beaverton from Bangalore. For all of you who haven’t heard about Beaverton, here is a quick dossier: Beaverton is a city in Washington County in Oregon, USA. Oregon is a beautiful state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon boasts of a diverse landscape. It has deserts, lakes, mountains, rivers, beaches, hot springs, forests, waterfalls, volcanoes and everything else you can think of.

A long weekend (25^th May-27^th May) is what we were waiting for – a long weekend so we could rediscover a few places in Oregon. So, everything was planned. We drove in our Toyota Camry with our friends Karthik and Suhas.

Continue

Road less travelled...

The road less travelled is the one that is filled with beauty!

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Food gyaan...

Food teaches us one thing - we can be sweet, salty, spicy, sour and bitter. But, only when these are in the right proportion, we appear more appealing.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Stand tall !

Sometimes, you need to stand tall even if there is a mountain in front of you!

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Blinded...

Sometimes, it is there right in front of our eyes and we cannot see it. Can you see the sleeping elephant here?

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Distance...

You are closer to a few things than I am. But, I get to see much more than you can. 

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

The sun and the black clouds...

The golden sun blends well with the black clouds to give a magnificent view. That is how life is - a mix of happiness and sorrow blended well to give us a worthy living.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

Now you see me and now you don't !

The mountain may appear green to you and the same might appear brown to me. What I see might not be the same as what you see, because, we might be viewing it from different angles, and sometimes that makes a hell lot of difference. In such cases, there is nothing right nor is there anything wrong. It is all about perception, my friend, it is all about perception.

P.S. They say "A picture is worth a thousand words". So, this week, I am going to speak the language of a few pictures clicked by me.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue

ಉತ್ತರವಿಲ್ಲದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು(Unanswered questions)...

ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು,
ಇವು ಉತ್ತರವಿಲ್ಲದ  ಬಿರುಸಿನ ಅಲೆಗಳು.

Translation:

A number of questions in mind,
Which are nothing but unanswered stormy tides.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

Continue