A Cooked up Story

 Hello Folks!!! “There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them”. It is soon going to be a year since I went to dance class and met my teacher and all my friends. The impact of the global pandemic in my little life! It was so blissful, wearing my salangai (anklets), tapping my feet and dancing to the beautiful swaraas and keerthanas sung by my guru. Nowadays when I miss my dance class, I go and watch a movie. You might wonder what’s wrong with me. I’ll tell you, I don’t watch any movie, just one particular movie, the Oscar-winning ‘Life of Pi’. Pi Patel, surviving in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, in the company of a fierce tiger, catching and eating the only food available in plenty- fish, fish, and only fish. What a sad life. It was not Pi Patel and his adventures that glued me to this movie. There was someone else. I watch the movie to feel that magical presence of this person. The vibrant voice, enigmatic smile and invincible energy instils so much...

Hello Folks!!! “I’m starving, thought Horrid Henry. I’ll just eat a few biscuits really, really, really quietly”. Last afternoon, my sister wanted me to watch her cartoon shows with her. Before we settle down to watch TV, we always make sure we have some really good munchies.   She quickly switched on the television and we made ourselves cosy on the sofa. This time, she wanted to watch “Horrid Henry” and both of us agreed to watch it for some time, after which we would watch a show of my choice. A few minutes into the programe, Henry said “I’m starving. I’ll just eat a few biscuits really, really, really quietly”.   As soon as I heard it, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. It reminded me of a similar incident that took place just a year ago, but it was not just one girl, there were three hungry girls who planned a master plan to nick a snack from the kitchen. It was a normal week day, when everyone was hungry at 5pm; the time we expect to munch on 2 thin biscuits a...

  Hello Folks!!! Happy Dussehra to you. Dussehra is a festival celebrated all over India to mark the victory of   Lord Ram over Ravana, the ten-headed demon king. The word Dussehra is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘dasha-hara’, literally meaning removal of ten. The festival is celebrated after the nine day long festival of Navaratri, and is also known as Vijayadashami.These are days filled with celebration and festive dishes. Since there aren’t any fixed recipes to be followed while preparing the gala titbits, you are free to make anything you love to enjoy with your family and friends. My most favourite part of the festivities is the dance my friends and I perform – Dandia. It is always our much awaited time to go on stage and enjoy ourselves and our joy only keeps increasing with more dancers joining us from the crowd. The lovely patterns, formations and the huge circles we form while dancing to those melodious tunes along with the graceful movements using the dand...

Hello folks!!! Hostel life is very different from being at home. You learn to become independent and have lots of fun-group studies, parties for no reason, group dances and midnight chit-chattering. We always wait for tea time once our classes get over and rush to our rooms to get our mugs and go to the canteen to fill our hungry stomachs. But whenever we find that everything got over before we arrived, we are not that heart-broken because that gives us an excuse to go out for a long evening walk with our friends and eat golden brown pakodas!!! Today, mom made some crispy, golden-brown pakodas, whose aroma reminded me of those fun-filled days when we used to go for the evening walks on the busy roads of Bangalore overflowing with its variety of street food. We  never pay attention to such small things in life that give us great joy. This wonderful memory makes me want to share with you the recipe to make the finest pakodas that will also be easy to prepare when you have a sud...