Darling

"Ma'am, do you know what my father called my mother?" A three year old girl too innocently asked her class teacher.
"I do not know." The teacher replied.
"He called her 'Darling'." She innocently revealed the secret.
"He didn't called her by her name."
"No. He called her 'Darling' only."

ATM line?

Are they in ATM line after demonetisation? ;)

Nutritive samosa

On my birthday, I tried a new recipe 'Nutritive samosa' which neither contained maida (refined floor) nor potatoes in filling. It was healthy, nutritive and delicious. Everybody liked it very much so I decided to share this recipe with my readers.
Ingredients
For dough
Wheat floor - 100g
Grinded Bengal gram floor/ Besan - 50g
Mustard oil - 2 table spoon
Salt to taste
For filling
Grated cheese - 100g
Grated cauliflower - 100g
Boiled peas - 40g
Boiled chopped beans - 20g
Boiled chopped carrot - 30g
Boiled sweet corn - 50g
Grated ginger - 1 teaspoon
Chopped green chilly - 1 or 2
Mustard oil - 1 table spoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
For garnishing
Chopped green coriander - 1 tablespoon

Method
1. Sieve wheat floor and besan. Mix them well. Add salt and warm mustard oil to it.
2. Kneed the dough with warm water. Keep the dough on one side and cover it with a wet piece of cloth.
3. For preparing filling, take a pan and put it on fire.
4. Add oil. When it is heated add cumin seeds and grated ginger.
5. Add grated cheese and cauliflower to it.
6. Stir it. Add turmeric powder, black pepper and coriander powder to it.
7. Add boiled vegetables to it.
8. Add salt and stir it gently.
9. Remove from fire and allow it to cool down. Garnish it with coriander.

10. Make small balls out of the dough.
11. Roll them with the help of rolling pin.
12. Make them thin and cut them in half.
13. Apply the water with a help of finger on one side which is cut.
14. Fold it to make a cup and join the wet side of the layer.
15. Fill the cup with vegetable fillings.
16. Apply the water on the edge of cup and closed the lid gently.
17. Make all the samosas.
18. Apply oil on the tray as well as brush the samosas with oil.

19. Grilled them for 10 minutes.
20. Turn them and grilled them on the other side as well.
21. Serve them hot with green chutney or ketchup.

You can even try this recipe in air fryer. :)

A selfie with cow

"The cow is not coming in the screen." A school girl said who was holding a selfie stick to click a selfie with a cow. She came there with her batch-mates on an educational school trip. She moved the stick a bit and said, "Oh no! Now cow can be seen but not me."

A really found the idea to have a selfie with cow ridiculous! :D

Snow leopard

“What are you planning to do after this course is finished?” A batch-mate asked me.
“I am thinking of going on trekking expeditions and visiting nearby national parks.” I said.“You are born and brought up in this area. Do you know in general which animals can be spotted during expeditions?”
“Black bear, brown bear, musk deer, blue sheep and Himalayan tahr. Rarely one sees snow leopard.”
“That sounds interesting!”
“It is a saying that if you ever see snow leopard then run faster than the rest of the group!"

When main gate was locked....

I was travelling from Gangorti to Netala in a shared taxi. I was about to reach Netala in 15 minutes. They closed the door of ashram at 5:30 p.m. My watch was showing 5:09 p.m. I was relaxed, as I would reach there on time, as the taxi was moving with a decent speed on hills.

The taxi slowed down, I could see buffalo herd in front of it. The herd was quite big. The taxi driver blew horn but the buffaloes kept moving with their pace without giving way to the taxi. The taxi owner blew horn continuously, moved his head out of the taxi window and shouted on his high pitch to buffalo owner to goad the buffaloes to one side of road and to make way for the vehicle. Very slowly, the owner goaded them that consumed about 7- 10 minutes of my precious time. The vehicle moved ahead and took its speed. I was calculating the time that I might not be able to reach early but would manage sharply at 5:30 p.m.

The taxi slowed down again and this time an ocean of sheep was ahead of us. The herd owner goaded the animals but they were jumping here and there, making almost impossible for the vehicle to move. Taking all the precautions, the taxt driver moved the vehicle very slowly without hurting innocent little creatures. This also consumed another 10 golden minutes of my life.

The taxi halted on the spot where I had to get down. The taxi owner climbed the roof of taxi to untie the rope and handed the heavy and bulky baggage to me. I was carrying a jacket in my hand and a polythene bag containing apples in another. All of a sudden, it started raining heavily. I took out the umbrella from my bag and opened it. I gave the money to taxi owner and ran downhill towards the ashram, carrying all the things in my hand and bag on my back. The polythene bag was not of good quality, could not hold the weight of apples, tore apart in the mid of road, apples scattered all over the way and a few rolled down far away. A villager saw this, came forward to help me. He gathered all the apples, gave them to me and I stuffed them in my bag which was already full. I walked rather almost ran towards the main gate of ashram. Alas! The gate was locked. What should I do now? I could easily jump that small gate but with the bulky luggage I found it difficult. I could not see anyone nearby whom I could request to open it. If I didn’t get in the ashram where I would spend the night, was the biggest question that was haunting my mind. There were many cheap hotels in Netala but which one was good and safe; I didn’t have an iota of knowledge about that. It was raining and I was sweating!

My presence of mind guided me that there was one more gate to enter the ashram, might be that was open or I could request someone there. I ran hurriedly towards that door, my jacket fell from my hand. I quickly picked it up and ran again. I reached in the front of that back gate. I felt relieved there was no lock on it. I moved the latch of the gate silently, taking every caution not to make noise. A student was sitting on the stairs saw me, he shouted and asked me to come from the main gate. Without wasting a second I was in the ashram premises, I ignored him, walked a couple of steps, threw my baggage, jacket and shoes near the dustbin in the veranda of ashram and ran towards the Director’s office to get myself registered for the course.

Eco-friendly pots in Uttarkashi

One thing that attracted me the most in Uttarkashi was that almost every home had eco-friendly pots in which they have planted tulsi, aloe vera, mint or seasonal flowers.

Some had painted them and some haven't. Clay pots were very rarely seen there.

Mostly people grow plants in empty tins and canes of ghee, mustard oil or other food stuffs.