Sambar made in India, vegetables from Israel

I was really lonely for almost most of the past month. Really alone, did not know what to do and whom to get to. It was getting a little cranky, I was slowly but surely loosing it. My job was boring, so doing something nice and worthwhile was the order of the day. Obviously, it had to make me feel good from within.

I could read a book, see some movies, but all this was not getting that inside bliss I was looking for. I was in an alien country, with no one to look for, doing things on my own. I tried cooking for a change, it did some wonders to my attitude and soothing my cranky mind. It was a totally different subject for me. I never thought cooking could relieve my pressures. It surely did.

Now I was back home, but was still alone. As parents were on vacation, I had to do something to keep me going, as I was loosing it fast for the last week or two. I did call friends, but it did not make me feel great. I fell back to cooking like I was doing in Israel. I had bought some onions and potatoes when I was there, which I never used. I could not throw them away when I was packing to come back. So brought it with me.

Vegetables from Israel:


Potato cutting, This is hardwork !!


Now I remembered the vegetables and included them for my sambar. Some potato cut into pieces and cooked with oil, chilli powder, pepper, garlic-paste, jeera, some masala powder and lastly haldi powder with salt. And like magic, Aloo-jeera is done. (Microwave cooking only, do try this at home)


The attention now turns towards dal and rice, which is so easy if you have a cooker. So for dal it is 4 whistles and for rice 2 whistles. This is pretty easy. Cooker 1 for Dal, Cooker 2 for rice. Put exact amount of water, otherwise the dal cooker will over-flow and form a yellow water deposit on the cover of the cooker like you see in the picture.

Now, tamrid water preparation for the sambar. It is tricky to clean tamrid. After that, cut onions I don't have a picture of onions as I was crying (when you cut onions you have to cry). Frying pan to fry the onions till they turn brownish. Now take a big vessel add the onions and tamrid water. You will have to squeeze the tamrid to get the juice. Then the dal, then the magic mom prepared Sambar powder. When you put it, the smell of the whole atmosphere changes.

It is a fairly simple procedure, but something to get my mind into away from the things happening around me. Finally I bought some curd to finish my small lunch. The sambar and the Aloo jeera subji tasted like bliss. It was cooked just fine, just perfect. My stomach is full and it feels great to get that drowsy feeling after you had your lunch on a sunday.

Diwali Muted

I was on a vacation to Rajasthan, the place of colours I would say. So many bright colours. I enjoyed my stay there. It was a real awesome tour. I was really unhappy that it came to an end. Diwali celebrations at Jaipur and Udaipur were going on in a way I could not explain. The markets were open till late nights. There was a mela at Udaipur were I went on a swing ride, which made my stomach muscles feel the acute pull. The zero-gravity feeling, made me release how the astronauts would have tackled such a pull. It was my first time with these rides.

Unlike this swing, the other ride I went was really cool. It felt like turning with my bike. It was fast though, very fast. Udaipur is a very small town, and is very quiet. The taxi driver (later) here in Israel I met, liked udaipur more than the buzzing streets of Jaipur. I liked Jaipur more than Udaipur though. The people here and the jalebi I tasted here is the best of its kind.

Celebrations at Jaipur:

Celebrations at Udaipur:


At home, it was like bombs every second. Diwali had come by then. I could not listen to the TV, which was set at more than the normal volume. The fire crackers bursting in random haphazard manner was not a welcome sound to the ears. But it was Diwali and that is how it should be. No other festival in the Indian calender gives such an outright delight when you just hear the name. I made it for Diwali to be with my parents from my vacation to Rajasthan.

I had to do some shopping for the day. Nothing brings joy more than buying new clothes, especially when you like them. It was just one day for me as I had to go abroad to Israel the next day. It was not great feeling; having to leave Diwali celebrations with family and friends and go to a destination where Diwali is so much at a distance like India.

Having finished it, I went off packing my bag and preparing things for the travel. I had a transit at Istanbul. The connecting flight at Istanbul was delayed(less sleep and delays like this makes you cranky). I finally reached my apartment at Tel Aviv. I put my bags down and just fell on my bed. I was dead exhausted. But I could feel the silence there in that apartment. Like nothing moved in life, nothing existed. It was dead silent, the only sound was me adjusting my body on the bed. Not a soul moved. Now that was totally different to my ears as it was nothing like Diwali. I just felt, I have just got the remote control of my life from somewhere and pressed the mute button. :) :)

Thats the bed I am talking about!! :) :)

I jog on

I am really not great at poetry, but I thought I should write this for sometime to come. I went jogging.

Inspired by the movie 300. Here goes.

"Into the narrow corridor of road I jog;
The traffic meets a bottleneck, where the horns sound like grunting hog;

I think about how good I did my job today; I jog;
I think about the girl who did not reply my sms; I still jog;

I look at the wet slippery roads, without slipping I jog......
I think about my next vacation, I jog;

I see a wide smile on the face of a guy who just crossed the road and almost cheated death; I jog;
I laugh at myself, of how stupid I have been in giving so much importance to people who took me for granted; I jog on;

I ponder, what next, what is going to hit me, I jog without an answer;
The pounding heart and suffocating breath stops my progress, I halt to gather my thoughts back;

Not bad for a start, very simple. I know it is not be termed as poetry. :) :)