A cooking basic - late in my life!

I have seen people cooking vegetables, without water. It cooks so well and it so tasty. My husband is one of them and my mother in law.. My grandmother too.. I have seen them cooking and tried many times. Every time, I used to get some hint and try. But never really worked well. This time, I took another hint 'Fry onions well', until they become soft and translucent. FINALLY WORKED. This was the secret behind those delicious recipes. Instead of 'learning by seeing', I should have done the other way 'learning by questioning'. Probably, I would have learned it many years back.

Dreams

Do dreams come true? May or may not.. It doesn't matter... 

Many times they are weird.. Sometimes in real life, we feel that we have encountered such things before and when we think, we can link it to a previous dream we had. So dreams do come true!

Dreams belong to the individual and its theirs.. No one can take it away from anyone, unlike in real life.

Dreams take you through different emotions, happiness, sadness, love, friendship, fear, anger, etc.

People say it is an amalgamation of our own thoughts.. But what I went through in my dreams were very different.. It is something out of our normal thought process.. Most of the dreams, we forget; Very few we remember..

A lady appeared in my dreams, who I have met a year back, and I had never thought about her.. How and why such things happen? Sometimes we even get answers to our problems in our dreams. I have woken up in the morning happily with answers to my problems. 

Can you force something in your dream? Never. That's what my experience was.. I read somewhere that we can manipulate our dreams. But it has never happened to me.. May be there are techniques! 

But dreams happen out of the blue and they are never connected to what we go through the day, was my experience.. I heard from my daughter she had dreams since she was 3 years old.. She was even able to narrate what she saw in her dream.. Probably she even had dreams before 3, but was unable to communicate.. I was surprised. I don't remember when I started getting dreams and when I was able to narrate them..

Dreams have given me experiences, answers, which I would not have got from people around me in real life.. I think dreams make you stronger and wiser. Dreams are mine, whether they come true or not.. I need not get IPR for it.. They can never be taken away from anyone...

Shopping in Beijing

There are lots of shopping malls in Beijing. Visited 3 of them, i) Yashow market ii) Silk and Pearl Market iii) Tianyi wholesale supermarket. The third one was the best. The only issue in shopping at these markets are they quote very high prices, and you have to bargain to bring it down. The final price you settle, may also not be the best price. I am making a list of some of the things I bought and the prices I paid. I am not sure if I bargained better or got cheated??! This might be useful for people when they go shopping. This should be the starting price for bargaining… General rule is to start at 20% to 30% of what they quote..

A Play Date!

On a very busy day at office, I suddenly get an invite from someone I don’t know for a ‘play date’! Oh, the invite was not for me, but for my daughter from her friend’s mother. First reach of me – “What is a play date?” Where else to go, other than ‘Google’. Here are some few lines from Wikipedia for people who are ignorant like me.

“A play date or playdate is an arranged appointment for children to get together for a few hours to play. Playdates have become the standard for children of many western cultures because the work schedules for busy parents, along with media warnings about leaving children unattended, prevent the kind of play that children of other generations participated in. The intention of a playdate is to give children time to interact freely in a less structured environment than other planned activities might provide. Playdates are different from organized activities or scheduled sports, because they are not usually structured."

I even read through different sites to understand how it is arranged, what do the host do, what do we do, what should we carry? Finally called her friend's mother and fixed the day. Got a small gift for her friend, discussed the "Do's and Don't" with my kid. ALL SET TO GO! I was more excited in the 'play date' than my daughter. Finally we couldn't go, on the fixed date. 

Three weeks later, I called up her friend's mother again, and got the 'play date' fixed. The schedule of the D-day got aligned to accommodate the playdate time, "waking up-breakfast-lunch-sleep-snack". Me and my daughter reached her friend's home at the right time. I was happy to make new friends, with her friend's Mom and her aunt. We began with a light conversation, in getting to know each other. The kids (My daughter, her friend and her little cousin) started to play with the toys. There was 'sharing', 'grabbing' , 'complaining' between them. After a while, we were served some snacks and tea. They reached to point of getting bored in their games. So I called for my free car pick-up (by my husband). By the time, my husband could reach, their games started getting interesting again. My daughter was not willing to part with her friend and toys when her father called from the gate. Finally, managed to come out. 

On the kids's opinion on coming back together for playing,

My kid - " I don't want to come again. She is not sharing her toys"

Her Friend - "I don't want her to come. She is taking my toys"

Me and her friend's mother probably became good friends than these kids!

Got a feeling of completing a big ordeal - "PLAY DATE"

When I travel back in time, me and my brother would jump the compound and go to our friend's house to play. Our friends would also do the same. There was no formal invitation, and never felt embarrassing to go and disturb our friends as well as their families, at any time of the day. I also come from a small town, and this makes me realise that I am many generations behind!

Being Second!

Is being second a better option?

• Second rank in school
• Second position in industry
• Second best to your husband/wife after your kid
• and so many 'second's...

There are so many advantages in being second. You always want to improve, either move to first or lessen the gap to being first. There are the elements of strategy, politics, tactics in the second position, compared to any other positions. 

Contrary to the old school of thought, 'Be Number One' and 'Be the Leader', everybody wants to be the 'SECOND' nowadays. In this position, you enjoy all the benefits, similar to the first position, leaving out the troubles of the first position (constantly under watch, pressure to maintain the first position, ...)

Rain Cloud and the Small Bird!

Peacocks dance and cry seeing the rain clouds. Farmers also look for the rain clouds to appear. Each student looks for a rain cloud so that he can float paper boats, get a rain holiday, eat mother's garam pakodas. People in arid regions look upon the sky for a rain cloud. 

Like all, a small bird was expecting a rain cloud for a while. The rain cloud appeared a little far. The bird could see the cloud, but could not witness the rain. She felt very sad, that the rain cloud was near, but still far to touch. The bird flew away over the mountains, rivers, to a new place. The bird was happy here, that it need not feel that pain for the rain cloud, rather pretending that  there is no rain cloud.

Again on a bright and sunny day, the bird on its routine search for food, could see the rain cloud at a farther distance. The bird tried not to have any hopes that it would come closer, as it didn't want to feel that pain again. But this time, the rain cloud came and showered beautiful water drops on the bird. The bird has never ever felt such love, and it was wonderful. The bird felt that the rain cloud travelled so much for her.

The rain cloud disappeared from the place with a powerful pull of his dark grey robes. Poor bird couldn't understand that there are millions of people looking forward for the rain cloud and he didn't come for her alone. She understood that a little late, erased her memories of the rain cloud and began to live her life.

The rain cloud came again! She saw him and she flew fast to get rid of him, though her heart told her to stop. The rain cloud moved faster and came over her.

She could see that the rain cloud was just above her. He had pulled himself, his robes over to become like a small umbrella over the bird. The bird understood that he was here only for her, and the bird danced with her feathers in joy. Rain cloud was so happy to see her in joy and once again poured on her, his love in the form of beautiful rain drops.

The bird realised that the rain cloud was for her, but he had a more higher responsibility of taking care of so many people. She promised that she would wait for him to return, after he completes his responsibilities. But she doesn't know how long she should wait, it could be for days, months and years! She even enjoyed waiting, for she would think of the happy moments she had with him in the past. These moments would have got lost if he was always with her. The bird enjoyed waiting and enjoyed more on his return. The rain cloud would tell her the stories from different land, with her in his arms. She would stay for days in his arms, with just love and fresh air!

Its all about "Stealing"

"Stealing the moment"
"The stolen boat ride"

So many! but not considered as a theft..
I read somewhere that 'what' stealing is for people. It is only about stealing 'Money'.
The other things are ok with us... And everybody 'STEALS'

'The stolen boat ride' poem of William Wordsworth remains fresh in my mind, after 13 years of learning. I did a similar act, drove the car, without my husband knowing it.

'Stealing somebody else's moment' is one thing I would never do. But it kind of happened without me knowing, in a treat hosted by somebody else. And I still regret attending the treat till today.

How does it feel after the act of stealth? William Wordsworth describes it all in his autobiographical poem,

There in her mooring-place I left my bark,-- 

And through the meadows homeward went, in grave 

And serious mood; but after I had seen 

That spectacle, for many days, my brain 

Worked with a dim and undetermined sense 

Of unknown modes of being; o'er my thoughts 

There hung a darkness, call it solitude 

Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes 

Remained, no pleasant images of trees, 

Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields; 

But huge and mighty forms, that do not live 

Like living men, moved slowly through the mind 

By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.