Masti and more masti!

A Jr’s on a roll. Every new day seems like a day for new challenges and new pranks. I’ve to agree that it gets the better of my patience and tolerance many times but it’s simply cute the way he pulls off stuff I can’t even imagine. Sharing few of them with you.

I’d bundled up all the clothes to be given in the laundry but somehow one of my tops got left out. I couldn’t sight it but A Jr’s prying eyes caught it right away. He ran ahead of me to fetch it and simply refused to part with it. Curious as to what he’d do with it I let him have it. He directed me to help him put it on and danced away in it, happily and triumphantly!! :D

The other day he tried to climb atop a jar so he could reach onto the kitchen platform and pick up something from there. Worried that he might trip I asked him to get down, which he obviously did not listen to. I pretended to get angry and scold him on which my poor baby made a very bechara face and looked down. Feeling guilty, I started laughing to get him to smile. The prankster looked up and laughed louder than I did and gave me the fooled you expression. :(

I got a whole set of very cute toy cars for him to play with. Not the one to do what is meant to, he likes to do all kind of possible experiments with them; disintegrating all its parts and also reassembling them sometimes, throwing them with full strength to check if they break, and blah blah blah…

He’s learnt to climb on the couch and reach out to the balcony where we put the clothes out to dry. His favourite sport is to remove the clips used to hold the clothes in place and flinging them in the balcony. The washed clothes also land there many times. FYI, it is an extended balcony and doesn’t have a door, so fetching the items back includes climbing down it which is an unpleasant job. Nevertheless… got to do it! :P

I’d also like to add here that my dear friend rohini has given me two awards. Thanks dear…you’re so very sweet to find me worthy of them!! 

Mango and Mint Sorbet

Out of the many things I like and love about A one is his fondness of and encouragement to let me try out new recipes. It’s not infrequent to find him coaxing me to leave the regular sabzis aside and give him a grand treat with a recently read/seen/heard recipe. Since this is the only time of the year when we can really experiment with mangoes I tried and made lots of things for him. One of them happens to be the recipe I’m giving you. The original recipe is Sanjeev Kapoor’s. (I have a very slight change in mine)

Mango and Mint Sorbet

Ingredients: 

Alphonso mangoes- 2 no
Lemon juice- 1 tsp
Mint leaves- 3-4 leaves
Ginger- Half inch long piece
Sugar – as per requirement.

Procedure:

1.Cut the mangoes into cubes and keep them in the freezer for about 2 hours.
2.Blend all the ingredients together in a blender. If needed add few ice cubes.
3.The sorbet is ready to be served and finished! :)

The sorbet is a mix of spicy, sour and sweet flavours and the taste stays with you hours after you've had it. I'd prepared it in advance and stored it in the fridge. If you like you can store it in the freezer.
A very simple recipe but is simply superb! Try it out! :)

Tring Tring....Who's there??

When mobile phones were introduced in the market they were seen more of an improvised and modified version of a cordless phone with certain unseen and unheard of features. From being the ones adhering only to the basic purpose of their conception viz making and receiving calls, an address book for contacts and having an easily operable and usable technology, they’ve surely come a long way.

They now store images, songs and videos and have an ever increasing memory with the help of memory cards. They provide you with cameras, radio and voice recording facility. I can go on and on. But this post is not about the umpteen positive and/or negative effects and after-effects of mobiles. I intend to speak about the time when there was no such concept as a mobile.

The first memory of a telephone I have is that of a heavy black instrument (rotary) we had at our place. It had a dial in front of it, the typical sorts we had back then wherein one had to insert a finger/pen/pencil/spoon in the hollow above the desired number and roll it upto the end point. We kids were warned to be careful with it since the receiver too was not easy for us to handle. I remember the excitement of us kids when it went all trrriiing trrriiing and we ran to answer the phone.

Years went by and the form of the telephone evolved into sophisticated light-weighted sleek models which gave way to press-in buttons and redial, call waiting and address book facility. Not only this, they now give you choices for ringtones too. Answering machines are an added feature. The uses are plenty.

One thing however which has not and will not evolve is the way people talk and answer on phones. Phone etiquette surely has fewer buyers. Even now, at my Mom’s I had to answer to people who were ranging from pathetic to downright rude. Here go some of the conversations:

Tring Tring……. Tring Tring…. Tring Tring…
Me:  Hello
Some Aunty *sounding surprised* (why??): Who is it?
Me: You tell me
Aunty *Very stylishly brazen*: I'm Mrs. XYZ...can I talk to Mrs.ABC (my Mom)?
Me: She can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message?
Aunty *Uncertainly* : I'm not sure I can tell you. I'll call back.

Aunty hangs up. I’m bewildered. Can’t I take down a message properly or these people are discreet the Osama way??

Tring Tring……. Tring Tring…. Tring Tring…
Me: Hello
Some Aunty : Hello…is this Varsh?
Me *Happily* : Yes Aunty…How are you?
Some more banter on how, when, where about me and her.
Me: Mom’s not at home…is there some message for her?
Aunty: I wanted to invite her at my place for a party. *Accusingly* But you’re at home so probably she won’t come. Just tell her I called.

Aunty hangs up. I’m feeling incredibly insulted. Do I need her permission to come to my place???

And finally….

Tring Tring……. Tring Tring…. Tring Tring… Tring Tring……. Tring Tring…. Tring Tring… (the call gets cut before I can answer it)
Tring Tring……. Tring Tring…. Tring Tring…
Me (running to get to it) *Breathlessly* : Hello
A hoarse voice: Can’t you pick up the phone?
Me: Huh...Who is it?
XYZ: Now you don’t even recognize my voice?
Me *Uncertain* : I’m sorry I’m not getting you, who’s it?
XYZ: I’m the so and so of your so and so who live in Amravati.
Me: What? We don’t have anyone in Amravati…

No points for guessing it was a wrong number and I realized it only after my head had started spinning wildly ‘se of the family tree the man insisted I should consider. Needless to say, this time I hung up!

I know of many people (me included) who prefer mobiles over landlines. They are easy to carry and enable constant contact with anyone at all times. It comes with its baggage though. Its not a rare sight to find people screaming loudly into their phones in public places due to bad network or even going overtly mushy and embarrassing people around them. What more, even wrong numbers on mobiles are common now! Whatever the mode, I’d suggest people conduct themselves well and let others be too.

Back to where I belong :)

My vacation is over and I can’t be more thankful for it. Haven’t we heard that the grass is always greener on the other side? Until we go out there and find it out for ourselves there’s no way we’d know that from there our side looks greener too! Something similar happened to me. I couldn’t wait to leave the boring summer afternoons and humidity of Mumbai behind and have a blast with my family. Once there, it took me less than a week to realize just how much I’ve actually started to love and miss this place.

There was my parents and occasionally my brother with us but I had a long face at least once in a day since I missed A a lot! Not to mention that I worried endlessly about his eating habits since he’d had to eat out and sometimes confessed skipping his meals altogether because he was dreading eating alone. A Junior kept himself busy with breaking new glasses of Grandma, personally identifying and throwing out the contents of each drawer that he could reach out to and open, literally dragging Grandpa out to have a long drive in the car and howling loudly until he relented to his wishes, and on and on and on. The cutest thing was when he’d talk gibberish with A on phone no end and see his pictures and brightly smile and point him out.

At my in-laws’ place the story was different. A Junior had the greatest time with my nephew who’s all of 2 months! He’d pull his hands, pat him, kiss him and pamper him. Sometimes he was the protective elder brother who wouldn’t let any stranger touch him and sometimes he was a very possessive son who wouldn’t tolerate me even carrying the kid in my arms! He’d insist that we all treat him like we treated the baby. It was funny but very adorable. He’d shout and call out for us the moment the kid cried and make us attend to him, not realizing that it was his own violent love that disturbed his sleep.

I’d missed such family moments for a long time, but now that I’m back I don’t see myself leaving A and my home behind (which by the way was miraculously clean when I came. Kudos to A!) anytime soon. There are certain things we get habituated to and subconsciously start taking them for granted. We water our grass and take very good care of it, the other side however always appears greener. Isn’t this human nature? :)