Zaire, an unforgettable experience

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Zaire is in Central Africa.

Very frequently, we had parties. It was always pot luck where the women made their favorite dishes for the party.

One day it was my turn to make sambhar sadham, a south Indian delicacy.

Actually, I did not know the traditional method of making it and did not want to disclose my ignorance because I thought everyone would make fun of me since I lived in Chennai for a few years.

I took it up as a challenge and put in great efforts to make it in the way that I invented proving the saying- Necessity is the mother of invention.

I kept adding more spices, salt and tamirind to the mixed rice and sambhar, tasting it for some iota of taste and finally felt it was quite OK.

I took it to the party with mixed feelings thinking the ladies would surely ridicule me.

When all the different food was served and tasted, wonder of wonders, everyone proclaimed that the sambhar sadham was the best.

It was also heartening when my husband's friend told the ladies to ask the expert ( meaning me) to tell how the South Indian food made by an African couple was.

Linking this to A-Z challenge
Z is for Zaire

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.comZaire, an unforgettable experience

Yadon Ki Baraat

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Y for Yadon Ki Baarat

This movie was released in the mid 70's when I was doing my graduation.
Along with a few friends, I bunked classes to see the movie. It had a multi star cast and melodious songs and was a blockbuster  during that time. Amir Khan was a 4 year old boy who grew up to be Tahir Hussain,( Amir Khan's father and younger brother of director Nasir Hussain). Tahir Hussain  was handsome and dashing and swept my friends and me off our feet. My friends kept raving about him.One friend was so smitten that said she did not mind having an affair with him. Each had her own opinion. I was still grounded. May be because I was an ardent fan of Rajesh Khanna during those days. I saw one more of Tahir Hussain's movie- Hum Kissi se Kam Nahi. Wonder why he did not act in more movies?

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Xanadu

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Xanadu takes me down memory lane. I was an ardent fan of Indrajal comics as a child and would eagerly wait for my father to bring  a copy. Zanadu is the high-security mansion where Mandrake the Magician lived. He was the main character in the Indrajal Comics.  He was a master-illusionist, thanks to his incredible hypnotic powers.  These magical abilities stood 
 him in good stead as a crime-fighter - a career he chose after leaving the Collegium Magikos where he grew up and was trained in magic by the grandmaster Theron.  A wealthy man, Mandrake lived with his girlfriend Narda, sidekick Lothar and chef Hojo.. Usually dressed in his trade-mark magician's top-hat, coat and tails and cape, he frequently sallied out of Xanadu to solve crimes. 

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_the_Magician.

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Worth watching/ Wine Incident

                 
                 

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                                                                    What's that?

                                                   
                                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNK6h1dfy2o

      A very inspiring and thoughtful video about a father, son and a sparrow.

Linking this to A-Z challenge. W is for What's that?

If URL doesn't work, I have one more post on W

Wine is my weakness. The  incident took place in Kolkatta when I was newly married.( 1977) . 
Venu and I were invited to a friend's house for a dinner party. 
Upon going there, I saw that it was a lavish party with a large gathering.
We were ushered into the friend's stylish bar and offered drinks.
I was given a small goblet (I was seeing such a glass for the first time) and my husband was offered a bigger glass. 
The friend then poured whisky in the bigger glass and poured what he called a 'Lady's drink' into my goblet. Everything was new to me. 
It so happened that when the friend filled my goblet with wine, (I came to know that the drink was called wine) I gulped it down. 
He kept pouring and I kept gulping without knowing that it should be sipped little by little. Finally, the exasperated friend showed venu the empty bottle.
Venu looked shell-shocked. The friend then told Venu, "Either your wife is a drunkard or she does not know what this is". Luckily, I was in my senses throughout the party.
Maybe, that incident made me fall in love with wine. So at times, I whine for some wine!!

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Vaisnodevi trip

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Vasisno devi shrine is  located on the Trikuta Mountains.
In Hinduism, Vaishno Devi, also known as Mata Rani and Vaishnavi, is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess or Durga. The words "maa" and "mata" are commonly used in India for "mother", and thus are often used in connection with Vaishno Devi..Vaishno devi shrine is one of 108 shakti Peetha.

In the year 2003 on a very cold winter, I went on a trip with my nieces with a group of college students.
The itinerary was to Delhi, Agra, Amritsar and Vaisnodevi in Jammu. It was a wonderful trip by train to Delhi and then in a luxury bus with a very aged driver maticulously. manouvering the roads amidst dense fog.

On the way to Agra, we halted at Mathura Bridavan to offer our worship to Lord Krishna.
As I was walking on rocky terrain, I chanced to see a  monkey on the overhead wires and thought how dirty and ugly it looked. It seems that I annoyed Lord Hanuman because the next moment, I found myself hitting against a huge stone and being thrown to the ground in full force.

I lay stunned on the ground and was helped to my feet by my nieces. It was not as bad as I thought, but
gradually, my right knee started aching badly as there was a nasty bruise which started swelling. I found it painful to bend it while sitting cross legged on the floor in front of the idol of Lord Krishna and his consort Radha.

Somehow, I managed to get into the bus and reach the hotel in Agra where we were put up for the night.
As it was a bitter winter month, the cold took its toll on my left foot. I was unable to climb down from the bus because of the excruciating pain I felt when putting my leg down to get out from the bus.

Seeing my plight, everyone was worried. My nieces called an auto and took me to the nearest ortho clinic. I was helped up the steps by my nieces and the auto driver. There was a group of  rural people watching an English movie and their laughter filled the room. It was really funny, and I had to smile in spite of the unbearable pain.The doctor took sometime in coming as he was at an operation theatre.

As soon as he appeared, I was taken into his chamber. At the first glance itself,  the doctor said that I had a nasty fracture. I was heartbroken as I was to go to Vaishnodevi shrine the next day. I told the doctor, and he simply said that if  Mata wanted, I would surely visit her shrine.

Even with the pain, I did some toe exercises and prayed with my heart and soul for some miracle which would make me walk normally. In the morning, I was a bit satisfied to see that the pain  had slightly reduced, and I was able to walk. I got into the bus and went with everyone to see the famed Taj Mahal.
Though I had seen the Taj Mahal a few times, I did not want to sit in the bus and slowly walked to join the queue. Surprisingly, the pain had disappeared. Goddess Vaisnodevi did want me to visit her.

I climbed the hills without any difficulty and reached the shrine. I had a grand darshan and then it was time to go to Amritsar to see the golden temple and the heavily crowded Wagh border which were covered easily with my loving nieces forming a protective circle around me to avoid someone from stepping on my injured foot.

When we reached Chennai, my husband oblivious to everthing took me immediately to see the ortho when he came to know of everything. An xray was taken which showed a split bone on my left foot.
The doctor looked at me in wonder and said, " It is a miracle. I wonder how you walked"?.
Prayer that comes from the bottom of your heart is always heard by god.
It's true Prayer has the power to move mountains

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V is for Vaishnodevi trip.

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Vaisnodevi

Unity is strength

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Unity is strength is a very well known proverb.
It brings to mind the story from Aesop's Fables- The bundle of sticks.
A father had a family of sons who were perpetually quarreling among themselves. When he failed to heal their disputes by his exhortations, he determined to give them a practical illustration of the evils of disunion; and for this purpose he one day told them to bring him a bundle of sticks.
When they had done so, he placed the bundle into the hands of each of them in succession, and ordered them to break it in pieces. They tried with all their strength, and were not able to do it.
He next opened the bundle, took the sticks separately, one by one, and again put them into his sons' hands, upon which they broke them easily.
He then addressed them in these words: "My sons, if you are of one mind, and unite to assist each other, you will be as this bundle, uninjured by all the attempts of your enemies; but if you are divided among yourselves, you will be broken as easily as these sticks."
Downloaded from
http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=4&i=1
Unity establishes love, affection and  friendship.
As a saying goes- In olden days it was united family and in modern age it is attached bathrooms.
A united family brings forth responsible children.
I came across such a family in Jodhpur where the mother was the head of the family.
Her sons handed over their salary to her and she was the treasurer.
The daughters-in-law too were loving, affectionate and polite and were seen doing the household chores
as a team.
Hope modern age too realizes the importance of this saying - Unity is strength.

                                                                   My family

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Terrifying night

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Terrifying Night
The experience that I had as a child in Kolkatta is really unforgettable
One day as I was having dinner all alone, I felt something pulling my toe from under the table.
I couregously looked under and got a fright to see something big and dark moving to and fro.
I panicked, took to my heels with all the strength I had crying out, " A ghost", and ran to my parents room and collapsed.

My mother, a courageous woman, wanted to prove that ghosts did not exist. She carried me to the room and looked under the table and lo and behold!, it was a mosquito net freshly dried that had dropped off the chair and comfortably settled under the table. The rope had got entangled on my toe, so as I moved my leg, the net too had moved to and fro.
Even now, this incident is narrated to children and they have a good laugh.

An apt example for the proverb- Look before you leap.

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