I baked a soft and moist and yummmmmmmy banana bread to celebrate this come back. This is no recipe of mine, just followed the steps of this beautiful lady in you tube

In addition to above steps, I just threw in some chopped walnuts and dried blueberries in there and loved how the whole house was filled with the smell of banana and baking!

It’s been looong time since I posted something. I am having this syndrome – starts off everything with great enthu, but drops it after 2 or 3 weeks. I would have become enthu about something else by then…. There are lots of things in this list – cross stitching, reading, blogging , dance(its more of laziness than drift of interests!) , physiotherapy( I guess I was never soooo enthu about it), preparing a recipe book( Don’t misunderstand , it doesn’t have any innovative recipes by me!!!). It’s a mix of so many wonderful recipes I found while surfing so many wonderful blogs…. I know it sounds stupid. What is the need to note down all these recipes, when its all freely available in blogs and you can just access it in 2 minutes!...Ya , but I am a bit crazy and I love the idea of having all these wonderful recipes in my special recipe book . The latest hobby in that list is making Earrings ;)…. I don’t know how long this new found hobby of mine is going to last, even though I have already got special orders for my earrings business from my sister :) , my one and only customer!!!

This Christmas was a memorable one with a great trip to Florida with Mr & Mrs Dinup Kulangara :D. Hope you all had a great christmas and new year. Wishing each and every one a wonderful, happy, fun filled, exciting, peaceful & prosperous Year 2009…..May all your dreams come true!!!!

~Luv
Resh

Living close to San Diego we have tried to visit all possible places of entertainment there - Zoo , Wild Animal Park , Sea World. It is during one of these visits that I was stared up on by some as if I was an exhibit inside the zoo. It made me wonder whether I was looking awkward or simply beautiful ;). (i know..i know!!)The chances of second guess being almost impossible, I felt a bit uneasy!! I got to know their point of interest when some one came to me with the doubt. "Why are you having red color on your forehead??" Ohh…finally a relief to know that I am not looking that funny after all (or am I sad with the realization that I am not looking ‘simply’ beautiful?? :( )

Being a typical ‘nadan’(village) girl, Sindoor has always fascinated me. The special charm it brings to a newly married girl is wonderful. In fact I even adore a 60 yr old lady with Sindoor. I have loved it from a very young age and have always wondered how I would look in it when my time comes. As a young girl, I have also tried to analyze myself in imaginary sindoor (with whatever red color I can put my hands on!) in front of a mirror in all possible angles..(I know it sounds silly…but I am just a curious little girl..) . Now that I am married, I don’t restrict myself to a small dot or a single thin line. I don’t hesitate to make a good mark on my forehead even if I am wearing jeans. That might be the reason why people started staring!! But when all of a sudden, some body asked me the importance of Sindoor, I realized that I do not know what exactly it stood for. “In Indian culture it’s one of the symbols of a married woman”. That was all I could think about as an answer and i could tell from their face that they found it strange and i was left dissatisfied with my response. I really did not know how it became the symbol of a married woman (It’s a shame for a person who likes it so much!!!). Soon after I started the research to enlighten myself on the same. As usual I turned to Google -- now my ‘guru’ -- with my question... (he never hesitates to answer any of my questions…. be it silly or serious!).


Tradition of wearing Sindoor is said to have existed for more than 5,000 years in Hindu culture. Sindoor is vermilion, applied on the forehead in the parting of the hair by all married women. It is an expression of the desire for one's husbands’ longevity. It stands for power and good fortune and is a sign of "Soubhagya" in the case of married Hindu women. Traditionally therefore, widows do not wear vermilion. According to the scholars, red is the color of power and vermilion represents the female energy of Sati and Parvati. Hindus believe that Goddess Parvati grants "Akhand Soubhagya" (lifelong good fortune) to all the females who wear sindoor in their hair parting. Sindoor is applied for the first time to a woman during the marriage ceremony when the bridegroom himself adorns her with it. Traditional Vermilion/sindoor (or kumkum) is prepared by mixing turmeric, lime and mercury. Mercury controls blood pressure and activates sexual drive. Sindoor should be applied right up to the pituitary gland where all our feelings are centered. Having said all this, I would also like to remind you to be aware of the products now in market, as most of them have powdered lead compounds ,so be careful when you buy it!!!... So ladies, now you know what to say next time some body asks you about the red mark on your forhead :).

~Luv
Resh

In the past few days India has witnessed the most shocking terror attack in Mumbai. It really makes us wonder whether we can walk on the streets or be in a movie theatre or a restaurant or railway station or our home in India without being blown up into pieces or shot dead. My relatives are also there in Mumbai and by god’s grace they are safe. But it’s really horrifying to know that they are always living in a state of fear and uncertainty , where you cannot tell whether your loved one will come back home from work or school or college to share all that happened in a day and be with you..... Yes,I know life is always uncertain but this state of fear and uncertainty is unbearable. India is now listed among the 20 most dangerous places to visit, where the other countries in the list are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Thailand, Mexico, Lebanon etc. The most frustrating part of all this is the fact that State Government of Maharashtra was warned of these attacks from March onwards , but still no action was taken towards it. It sounds like a cliché if I say government didn’t do much to help. But now it’s high time they get up and do something to protect our beautiful India.

How can i stop myself from entering this attractive blogging world??? Today everyone is in a blogging spree. Yeah..why not? It lets you talk about anything you wish and it will be read by people whom you have never met from different parts of the world, that's quite interesting..isn't it? In fact, blogging for me, is a very nice platform to express our views and thoughts loud in front of a big audience. That sounds almost like public speaking. Most of us may not agree with this point of view.I am a person with lot of stage fear. It always intimidates me to go and speak loudly and confidently in front of a group of people be it 10 or 100.Hence i would like to think of blogging as a public speaking experience which inspires me more to enter into this intoxicating world.

Now coming back to this wish for blogging, initially it was an idea of blogging my dishes. I am not a great cook nor do i have a lot of experience in cooking. But people seem to enjoy some of the dishes prepared by me where as some are utter disasters.But still i love cooking, hence with my hubby's support i thought of starting a cooking blog. Feeling thrilled i started surfing for the cooking blogs to get some ideas. That's when i was taken aback by the vast number of blogs already in place, flourishing in every which way with beautiful skilled photographs captured with DSLRs (which made me wonder if having DSLR is one criteria for a cooking blog!!) and excellent recipes one can ever think of. That put an end to my desire to start the cooking blog. I know i am not being very sporty here. But to be frank,it kind of scared me. But still the wish to blog remained in some corner of my heart. Now that many of my friends started blogging ,my wish to blog which was comfortably hidden some where inside me has resurfaced again.But i dropped the idea of starting the cooking blog and thought of writing one which will open the doors into my little world.I enjoy this idea more. There is no limitation to the topics. But still i want to include cooking posts also to satisfy my love for cooking. With all these thoughts, I have decided to call this blog - My Little World. On that note, I welcome every one into my world and hope you enjoy every bit of it.

I would like to start this blog by devoting a prayer to Lord Ganesha. This is the Gayatri for Lord Vighneshwara,one who removes all vighnas or obstacles.

"OM Ekadantaya Vidmahe
Vakkratundaya Dheemahi
Tanno Danti Prachodayat"