New Year Dilemma

In the world of jungles, only the fittest can survive. The human life is no different from it. Soon after passing your 2^nd year at college, you are asked by everyone about the uncertain future at front. You try to decipher the unconquerable riddle, but you fail with each try. When you look at others you start to see them as living their dreams and focusing on their future destination.

Future deciphering is never easy. It takes a lot of time (at least it took for me). The smart and sincere ones get there fast. On the other hand, people with a bit confused mind get to lose their track every other minute. There are some people, who find almost every stream interesting and thus, lead to more confusion. 

The winter always bring deadness into the surroundings. The cold and shivering winds of the dawn chills the very being of yours. Suddenly you feel that your bones have frozen and death has overpowered your ability to live. However, you cannot lose your hope for the ray of sun, which will eventually glimmer through the cloudless sky in the afternoons. 

We all feel scared to lose to life and to the people, who don’t believe in us and in our potentiality. Even our loved ones join that list. You cannot expect everyone to trust you and your instincts…you will need to prove yourself at the end that it matters to the world if you are not there.

PIZZA On A Platter

My 2 and a half year old nephew, PRITHHI love pizzas and this post is dedicated to him.

"I don't like food...I love it...If I don't love it...I don't Swallow"....the famous dialogue of EGO from the animated movie "Ratatouille" is the motto of many food critics. I also abide by this rule...I can hardly eat anything, which I don't happen to love with the very first bite. According to me, my sister is the best Cook in the world. She is just like the “little chef”, who cooks by smelling the flavors of spices and vegetables.

Today, I am going to share my sister’s recipe of a great peasant style home made PiZZa. I hope you all will love it and give it a try at home. The ingredients are easily available in any grocery store. However, you might be required to visit a retail market for the cheese. In this recipe, I have used Britannia Cheeza( cheese for pizza with mozzarella). It is the best available ready to use cheese available in the market.

To make a pizza for 3 people:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of plain flour (better to use atta if you prefer soft pizzas)
• 1 and a half cup of warm milk
• ¼ cup of vegetable Oil
• 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon of yeast
• 2 table spoon of water
• 1 teaspoon of melted better to brush the surface of pizza base
• 1 tablespoon Tomato sauce ( use plain kissan tomato sauce)
• 1 cup of grated cheese
• ½ cup of thinly sliced onions, chopped green capsicums and tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon of Dry pizza spices(available in market)

To prepare the dough:

At first, you will need to mix the plain water, sugar and yeast together. And keep the mixture aside for 10 minutes. In the mean time you can whisk the flour. After 10 minutes, you will need to mix the flour, the yeast mixture, warm milk and vegetable oil together to make soft dough. You can add more oil and flour to make the dough soft. 

The next step is pretty easy, as you will be required to cover the mixture and wrap it under a damp cotton cloth. Here, you can see I have used a blue cloth, but it is better to use a white piece of cloth. 

Keep the covered dough aside for at least 2 hours. After 2 hours, you will find the dough to have doubled in size. Cut the dough in two pieces. Take one of the halves and roll it on a flat surface with the aid of your hands or a rolling pin. When the dough is rolled enough, you can use a fork to make designs on its surface.

 The Toppings:

Place the pizza base on a greased non-stick, flat, micro-wave safe dish. Smear the tomato sauce on the surface of the pizza base. Place the vegetables on top of it. Then you can add the grated cheese. Sprinkle the dry pizza spices on top. You can either cook it in grill mode on a high rack for 7 minutes or you can bake it for 11 to 15 minutes on a low rack in convection mode at a temperature of 180 degree Celsius. I prefer the grill mode, since it consumes less time!! 

After placing the sauce and vegetables

Cheese!!!

YUMM!!!

Now…just sit back and enjoy the PIZZA!!!

Silent Night Conversation With Myself

Sometimes I wonder if time could just stop for days or even months and years. The passing of time, the wind, and the seasons make you realize that nothing is going to stay the same way forever. Seasons change and people also change. We grow and start to complicate our lives. There are many people in the world like me, who don’t know what they really want from life. We become jealous and frustrated, when we see people living their dreams. The search for the right vision is truly difficult.

Before, I never felt the need for looking at a future…my future. I was very optimistic you see…But now, (its not that I have become a pessimist), I know that a person becomes terribly lonely at one point of life. Loneliness is quite scary. You don’t want to be alone or left out in a crowd full of strangers. Earlier, it was so easy to make friends. Now, one searches and analyzes the benefits of befriending someone.

Some people say and believe Social networking has made life more terrible than usual. Now, people leave messages and interact through facebook chats.  New posts and “likes”... have become the morning breakfast for this generation. My friend once told that I will become very lonely when at one point…I don’t know why she said that, but I am beginning to feel its effect. You will need to understand that the person most dear to you wont stay with you for the rest of your life. You will have to let go for yourself to find peace… at last. 

Friends...Always

Friends are always there for you…at least for some people. We all know how friends have turned foe and again they bounce back to your good old buddies. However, there are some friends in your life, who love to stay at a distance and still mean a lot in your life. They never turn in to your foes, but sometimes their silence drive you crazy. While watching the movie “Hum Tum”, I came across a scene, where it was said that a boy and a girl can never become friends, as love always comes in between. However, I don’t find it entirely true.

 

Love is quite complicated and I prefer to separate this complexion from the refreshing bond, which is known to me by the name “friendship”. I have many guy friends, childhood friends and I have been fortunate enough to have them in my life. My sign is Aries and (although many people don’t believe zodiac and all that stuff) we Aries people  have a tendency to recollect only the happy times of our life. It’s very hard to have a good and reliable friend in your life and so, I don’t bother myself to get in fights with my dear friends over silly and petty issues.

But that did not stopped my faith and if I may say…my temper and poor sense of understanding to have a cold war with my best friend. She is and always has been the best friend of my life. Although she was the only one with whom I was able to share my feelings, both of us never branded ourselves as “BEST FRIENDS”. From boyfriends to first kiss and mindless love triangles, we shared everything. Soon, a time came, when both of us began to part. I thought it was because of her relationship and may be she thought that it was because of my rudeness or may be because of my tremendous love for a certain “dark, handsome” guy. Even today, I really can’t bring out the reason behind it.

 

Our common friends tried to patch things between us, but all that was done in vain, as I was determined never to speak a word with her again. Time passed and board exams started to knock at the door and all I could do was take a glimpse of her through the mirror or while she lay in her bed asleep (like a cat...all curled up). Sometimes I felt that I should walk up to her bed and say “Hi”, but there was always a “but”. At the end of the last exam, a friend handed me a letter, which I started to read after passing the gates of my school. It was her hand writing and there was a sea of emotion in that letter. I realized that she was hurt…very much, but I was hurt too.

 After two years…there was a phone call and it was her voice from the other end. She was talking as if these two years never existed. However, I felt the chronic pain of the distance that has emerged in between us. I never dared to ask about her friends or if she has a new best friend, as I didn't want to be acknowledged of the fact that my place has been taken by someone else. We are still friends and I am glad that we are. I know that if I am ever hurt, she will be always there to answer my call.

What Is Love...Part 1

We all fall in love. Some girls fall for the cute and notoriously famous school delinquent guy, while all most all the guys drool over the cute and sexy chick in college. Love has no boundaries, as it does not care for religion, caste, and race…after all it just happens without any prior notice. It remains innocent as long as we can hear the tingling ring of the bell at the back of our head whenever we catch the glimpse of our imaginary love. As we grow, our love complicates and eventually, it complicates our life.  Almost all of us find to be part with our first love, which is a very troubling, hard and suffering process. First love always bring the best feelings in us. They are like the first rain in the year, fresh and enlightening. 

When a girl named Flora first fell in love…it was like a bang from nowhere. There was this guy, who was standing in her school hallway and one of her friends was talking to him (actually he was asking her something, which she couldn’t really remember through the years). He was smiling and gently gesturing towards her. She heard the ring at the back of her head and at the very instant her ears were numb, and she was dumbstruck, she could not even understand what was happening. It was like the air stood still…She didn’t even notice that some of her male classmates were calling her names-”Pokémon” (and also harry potter. However, that time they missed that...I think). It was simply magical. It’s not like that he was the most handsome guy in school, but there was definitely something about him, which transpired her into numbness, where she could only sense him, herself and unfortunately her friend.  

There was a time, when her ears used to get red even with a slight glimpse of his hand, or shirt, or voice. That was a magical era for her. Time never used to pass and she kept day dreaming about them together. 

He often used to wear black shirts, which he looked extremely good in. Within a few weeks, all of her girlfriends knew the fact that she has a crush on him. But soon she got to know that he loves somebody else and that he also got dumped by that mystery girl. She was very sure that she would be rejected and never dared to express her feelings. In fact she was happy the way things were going…slowly and steady. He used to give chocolates to her female friends in his class and whenever she paid a visit to them at recess, he always approached her with candies…he was a true gentleman…I must say. She kept the chocolate and candy wrappers inside a book and never forgot to look upon them once every day. The romance between her and her imagination kept growing. In the meantime, she also had numerous crushes over other guys. She used to celebrate the birthdays of her favorite boy bands, which almost every girl does in their teenage. To her love was something beyond senses. She even started to provide love solutions to her friends. However, it was her best friend’s love affair which made her a bit sad, as she was now left alone. However, she did not have the courage to express her feelings on her own. Many boys of her class never even imagined her to be one of those normal girls who would fall for someone during their teenage. However, something miraculous happened...and at last she knew how it feels to be in a relationship.

Flora, a simple, a bit crazy, bookish and imaginative girl fell for the most aloof guy in her class (separate section). While having crush on him, she also came across numerous other guys, who were successful in sweeping her off her feet. Love is very complicated. It has many forms, and many names and they all remain in your small and tiny heart all at the same time…forever.