I love to experiments with food. Here is one of my
successful experiments, which turn out to be tasty as well as healthy.
For making moringa puri we need moringa powdered
made from dried moringa leaves. You can purchase it from the market or from me.
:) Moringa is rich in Calcium and Iron. It helps in removing malnourishment in
children and helps in relieving joint pain in elders.
Ingredients
Wheat flour – 1 cup
Suji / Semolina – ¼ cup
Ajwain / Carom – ¼ teaspoon
Moringa powder – ¼ teaspoon
Ghee – ½ teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil/ Ghee for frying
Method
1.Take
wheat flour and semolina in a bowl and mix them well.
2.Mix
salt, ajwain and moringa powder in it.
3.Pour
warm ghee in it and rub it well.
4.Knead
the dough with warm water and left it for 15 minutes.
5.Make
small balls and roll them with a help of rolling pin.
6.Deep
fry them on medium fire.
7.Serve
them hot with channa or potato tomato veg.
Meswak, a medicinal tree is disappearing fast from
Haryana because of industrialisation and its medicinal value. Its roots are
used as local toothbrush or are used in industries for making toothpastes. Its
twisted barks are the homes of many poisonous animals like gauhwera (poisonous lizard),
snakes and goha, a huge lizard. Even biju (honey bedger) loves to live in them.
Therefore, people in fear chopped this tree mercilessly. I want to plant this
tree in my garden as most of the birds love to eat its berries. They are
delicious and are available in attractive colours like pink, white, red and
purple.
I searched various nurseries for this tree. And
Alas! Most of them had never heard of such a tree though it is native tree of
this region. Surprisingly I tried near about 100 nurseries both private as well
as officially hold by government. I hunt for it not only in Haryana but also
across the length and breadth of the country. I explored Google for it but all
in vain. As this tree grows well by its seed dispersed by birds or by humans.
There is no tree near my garden therefore, this method was not feasible.
When I told my mother about my problem that I was
not able to find nursery of Meswak tree. She asked about its local name. I told
her it is also known as Peel, Pelu or Jaal and its botanical name is Salvadora
persica. She recalled that when we used to travel by rail about 30 years back from
Hisar to Rewari then on Jatusana railway station that fruits used to be sold by
local vendons in leaf donas. She suggested that there must be a forest
of this tree near that railway station and you might find some trees there but
preferably go there in monsoon season as baby plants will be easily visible.
Following her guidance, today I went to Jatusana and
found some trees growing here and there. Baby trees were not much there. But
found a few. I noticed some kikar trees, teent bushes and monsoon mushrooms.
The scenic beauty was awesome. Gigantic rocks were standing in
pride ready to tolerate the simmering heat of sun and waiting patiently to
gently kiss the clouds. It was mesmerising to watch nature’s creation. Although
rocks were cut in different shapes and sizes even then they were holding oneness
and unity. It was peaceful and calm view.
While returning home, I saw many purple moorhens
feeding in a paddy field. A day spent well! A fruitful day!! :)
“In hot summers like this, we should drink more water as we
perspire a lot.” He gave a philosophical dose to me. And signalled me to drink
some water.
“No, thanks.” I repeated.
Even on his repeated requests when I didn’t have
water then he said, “Ma’am, do you have taste buds like Gurgaonites....................?
That you drink only beer and nothing else.”
While
travelling through a public transport I never get down in the middle of the journey.
When I have to then I get into the trouble. How? I boarded in a bus from Sawai
Madhopur for back home. The way was long, the driver was driving the bus too
rashly, and I found it more adventurous than a fictional ride in 7D theatres. I
was exhausted and feeling tired. My legs were paining as I was sitting for long
hours moreover there was not enough space to stretch my legs. There was a
strong urge in me to walk a bit to relax my legs. I was hungry too.
The
bus stopped at Alwar station. Before getting down the bus, I asked the
conductor, “How long will be the halt?”
He
replied, “40 minutes!”
Thinking
that there was ample of time I got down the bus. I bought katchori chole, a
famous dish of Alwar from the vendor. As I started eating it I realised my bus
was not there where I left it. I was bit worried as the station was big and to
search my bus was a tedious job. I took a big morsel and started thinking while
chewing.
“What
is the colour of bus - steel grey or blue?”
I
can’t remember.
“Is
it a new bus or an old one?”
I
can’t remember.
“Is
it a Rajasthan roadways or Delhi?”
I
can’t remember.
“Where
it is coming from?”
I
can’t remember.
Then,
what do you remember?
It
is going towards Delhi.
By
the time I was done with the spicy katchori, I began moving around in search of
buses going towards Delhi by looking at the display boards in the front of the
vehicle. To my surprise, near about half of the buses were going to Delhi. I
asked conductors and passengers to help me in finding some clue about my bus
but all in vain. I tried to convince myself not to worry even if you didn’t
find that bus, you could catch another to home and could leave the luggage in
missing bus as it didn’t contain any thing that precious to trouble yourself.
As
I was passing in front of the buses to check the display boards, I found that
the front pane of a bus has a crack, a crack of very small size. Now, I
recalled that my bus has a huge crack in the front pane on driver side. Now, I
started my search for a broken pane. And I found it so easily. I boarded in the
bus with a smile on my face.
When
I sit in padmasana and closed my eyes to meditate, I visualise fast flowing
holy river Ganga (Bhagirathi), Sivananda Ashram, my teachers (Guru) and
sometimes batch-mates. I slowly try to drag my mind to my object of meditation
but surprisingly it jumps back to the serenity of river Ganga. My mind remains
calm while meditating on the river Ganga and the ashram situated near it, may
be the time I spent there was the most peaceful time of my life!
Spending
one month with the persons of different cultures, age groups, professions and
countries was an experience of its own kind. But we all had one thing in common-
a very strong desire to learn yoga which might be the reason that we stayed
together for 30 days.
The
yoga teacher was nice and caring. She explained everything in detail and tried
to clear all our doubts. While practicing difficult asanas she encouraged the
student to do it in its best possible way, only gave the required support and
never let the student fall off even if the student’s weight is too much and the
body is too rigid. I was impressed with her on the day we practiced 108 Om
Surya Namaskar, she spoke continuously without making a single mistake of left
and right side. As I yoga teacher myself, I found it difficult to do.
The
teacher who taught Bhagwat Gita always told stories, shared experiences and
solved life’s complicated problems in a very simple way. He always encouraged
the students to ask more questions. One day a student asked, “If a person moves
while doing meditation, does it means his Kundalini is awakened?” He replied, “It
means the person is going through a mental or emotional cleaning process and
you should help that person.”
The
food was sattvik without onion and garlic. Mostly they give south Indian food
like idli, appam, idiyapam, rice and sambhar. Sometimes they give north Indian
food like rajma rice, chickpea rice and parathas with pea potato veg. On the last
day of the course, delicious treat was given which include samosa, gulab jamun,
palak paneer, fried papad, ice cream, kheer and rice.
I
was proud of my knowledge about yoga and Indian philosophy before joining the
course. One of my batch-mates, a foreigner guy could perform much better yoga
asanas than me. Not only that, he knew Indian philosophy much more than me. May
be God sent him in my life to annihilate my ego!
The air was clean and
environment was serene. The mountains, waterfalls, clouds, stars, moon, sun,
rains, rainbow were mesmerising. The silent walk in the nature helped me in
understanding myself better. The desire to eat delicious food and to surf on
internet brought me back in this materialistic world otherwise I would have
stayed there forever.
Dear readers, you can read my experience of Sadhana Intensive course here.
On
the last day of Teacher Training Course, Netala one of my roommates gave me a
handmade card. I kept it in my bag and decided to write a blog post about it
after I returned home. I was registered for the next course, which was to start
after 5-6 days. As I had some free days, I decided to go for trekking to Dayara
Bugyal and Gaumukh.
I divided my belongings in two parts. One I took with me
and the other I left in the ashram. After I returned to the ashram, I became
busy with the tight schedule of studying and practicing yoga and sadhana. On the
completion of course, when I returned home, I unpacked my things but could not
find that card. I searched my notes, clothes and other items thoroughly. I even
searched different pockets of my bag but could not locate it. I undoubtedly
remembered that I did not throw that card but safely placed in my bag. Even on
repeated searches, there was no success. At last, I dropped the idea of
searching it and thought that it might be lost somewhere in the journey.
Today,
I finished Samadhi Yoga by Swami Sivananda. I placed that book in my book self
and took out another book for reading. As I opened it, to my surprise I found
that card lying in between page no. 28 and 29. How it reached, there is still a
mystery for me!
Swami
Sivananda’s sayings were creatively scribbled on the front of that yellow
coloured card. Inside it was written beautiful messages and some nice words
about me. Although I am not that good as she had mentioned but it is polite of
her to say so. I thank her sincerely. It wasn’t a card but a hug folded in it!
During
winter season, most of us have visited Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary which is near Gurgaon.
It is popular because of its easy accessibility, nice restaurant and good connectivity
with roads. There is one more bird sanctuary lesser known because of not that
good roads, non-availability of food and water. In Jhajjar district near about
fifteen kilometres from the Jhajjar city, Bhindawas Bird Sanctuary is one of
the most wonderful bird sanctuaries of North India. It is located near Delhi
and Gurgaon just an hour or so run by car. It is a great picnic spot!
One
can reach Bhindawas by following Google maps to some extent but there is no
need to take a long round about as Google maps shows. When one is close to the
sanctuary, one can follow road maps or can ask villagers for short and good
roads leading to Bhindawas Bird Sanctuary. It is man-made wetland. It was
constructed to store excess water from JNL Feeder and its channals at the time
of power failure of Lift Canal System. It spreads over 1074 acres. Around the
lake, it has 12 kilometer long vehicle track. The road is kachcha at few
places. There are small islands, which enhances its beauty.
While
travelling through the nearby villages, one can spot quite good number of birds
like jungle babbler, black drongo, Indian roller, woodpecker, white throated
kingfisher, parakeets, common hoopoe, shikra, laughing dove, greater coucal, blue
peafowl and spot billed duck.
The migratory birds one can spot there is
flamingo, great egret, comb duck, northern shoveler, ruddy shelduck, whiskered
tern, Earasian marsh harrier, Palla’s gull and common teal. Along with birds
one can also spot neelgai, jackals, jungle cats, monkeys, cows, buffaloes,
goats and sheep. There are two watch-towers with great view. There are many
picnic spots with the beautiful view of lake and islands in it.
This
year there are many attractive birds there. If you are planning to visit then
take the food and water with you. And do not forget to take binoculars for
better view!
