One of the Best dish of Bread...Rock Toast

Whenever I come to my hometown Indore, the dish on top of my menu list is "Rock Toast".

It is one of the best Bread dish I have ever tasted. Easy to make and serve, Rock Toast readily rocks our taste buds...

Here I have mentioned a recipe for 3 person, accordingly we can make it for less or more..

Lets quickly move on to the ingredients required

• 3 big size Tomatoes
• 6 medium size Onions
• 6 Tea spoon Semolina (Suji)
• 6 Tea spoon Malai
• 3 Tea spoon Del Monte Tomato Chili Sauce
• 1/2 Tea spoon Red Chilli powder
• 3/4 Tea spoon Salt
• 1/4 Tea spoon Sugar
• 50 gm Kothmir
• 1/4 Tea spoon Cumin seed( Jeera)

Preparation :

• Cut the tomatoes and onions into small fine pieces.
• Mix them with the ingredients as per the required quantity mentioned above.
• Stir them for 5 minutes with a spoon so that they get mixed properly.

Procedure :

• Take a bread piece and apply the mixture evenly on it with help of spoon or fingers.
• Take a non stick Pan and heat groundnut oil on low burner
• Put the mixture applied bread piece upside down on the Pan.
• Move it slowly on the pan till it gets brown and becomes like a toast.
• Now its time to bake the other side of the bread.

The Dish is ready,serve it with  Del Monte Tomato Ketchup and Salad..:)

                                  

This post is part of contest The Del Monte Blogger Recipe Carnival on Indiblogger

When Cricket takes me to Melbourne..!!!

I have always fancied about visiting Australia specially it’s capital and the most populous city in
the state of Victoria, Melbourne.

But I didn’t know that my wish will come true so early.

Australian cricket team had come to India for Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Being a huge fan of cricket I didn’t wanted to miss a chance to watch the two biggies of Cricket Fraternity, fight hard to win one of the most prestigious series in cricket world.

Though it was in Mumbai unfortunately I was not able to watch it live in stadium because of my office.
But I decided to watch it live on TV whenever I got time.

There was a contest running online in which we had to predict the man of match, result of each test and finally the man of series.
Top prize was 4D/5N stay in Melbourne for two persons inclusive of all expenses.

Though luck never favored me in such contests, but I thought to give it a chance, as it was free…:P

Next few days till the tournament continued, the first thing I did was to make an analysis of the players performance and accordingly make my next prediction.
Finally the tournament ended with India winning the series 1-0.

I had mixed feelings, though I was happy for the Indian win but I was also nervous as results for the contest were going to be declared the next day.
I had done well with my predictions and had a chance to win atleast the consolation price.

Next day I woke up early to check the website for results, but to my dismay they were not available.
In office too I was busy pressing the F5 key N no of times, until I got stares from people around.

Finally in the evening when I was about to leave for home, I refreshed the page last time and EUREKA..!!!, the link for winner list was flashing right in front of my eyes.

Without wasting any time, I clicked it twice, thrice and kept on clicking till it didn’t open on one go..:P
Amazed, Astonished, Surprised are the words which could explain my emotions at that moment of time.
My name was flashing at the top of the list, Wow.!! I was on cloud 9.

This was the moment I was waiting for years; quickly I called my mother to tell her this gr88 news.
Mom we are going to Melbourne, pack your bags..:)

Soon we flew to Melbourne on 16^th July and had an experience of lifetime there.

I am not going to bore you guys by narrating the complete story of Melbourne trip but will tell you some of the most interesting places that I visited and the experience that I had there which I would love to cherish again.

First thing we did was to board the free tram which is the most convenient way of traveling to all the popular locations of Melbourne. Here goes the list.

1       MCG ground

Though Lords is the most popular cricket venue in world, Melbourne cricket ground charm is no less.As I am a big cricket fan, I was damn excited to visit MCG. It is full of memorabilia, a treasure trove of artifacts. I loved exploring the ground and buildings. If I get a chance, I would definitely like to watch a match here.

                      

Once we were done with my cricket craziness, we headed towards the 2nd most exciting place in Melbourne…The Melbourne Zoo.

2       Melbourne Zoo
Australia is known to be the home of some of the most strange and amazing creatures in the world and what can be a better place than a zoo to find all of them under a single roof.

                            

Melbourne zoo has all the animals you can think of right from jumping Kangaroos, Cute Koala bears to the 2nd largest bird in the world Emus. 

                       

I was really amazed to find all of them just at a distance of 10m.

Now it was time to explore the culture and history of Melbourne so our next stop was Melbourne Museum.

3       Melbourne Museum
This place is full of interactive displays. There are lot of interesting things to see and learn such as rain forest, dinosaurs, mind and body gallery and the aboriginal culture. We really enjoyed the experience and would love to explore more.

                                

Now Mom insisted on going to some park or garden where she can find lots of natural beauty, so we headed to Royal Botanic Garden.

4       Royal Botanic Gardens
There are some beautiful gardens and immaculate lawns to visit here. It’s a relaxing experience strolling through acres of native and exotic plants and flowers.

                                 

Local’s say, just wear your runners, take a book, take photos, lie on the grass and relax.

I agree with each word said above, truly an amazing place to visit and relax.

After the relaxation mode, we again became active. Let’s go shopping mom ordered. So Block Arcade became our next destination. As I was also feeling hungry I didn’t protested, anyways I didn’t have an option.

5       Block Arcade

Block Arcade was what locals suggested us for shopping and I bet they were right.

It is full of Winding Laneways, lovely little cafes and nice quaint shops. We had the best of cakes, chocolates and coffee here. 

Mom did some shopping, donno what, as I was busy eating chocolates. In all we had a great experience.

                                      

After the shopping spree now it was time for the next spot, Melbourne Aquarium.

6       Melbourne Aquarium
Marine life has always fascinated me and what better place can be to watch them live than an Aquarium. There were many beautiful creatures here including sharks, sting rays, giant jelly fish and the main attraction Penguins. 

                           

     The staff there was also very helpful and explained everything especially to mom. I loved everything there and had an incredible experience.

Australia is known to be the home of many athletes, who have excelled in all sorts of sport competitions specially Olympics. I was really excited to visit the National Sports Museum which has world class exhibitions of famous sporting artifacts, so next in line was National Sports Museum.

7       National Sports Museum

The museum covers Australia sporting history through pictures, videos, memorabilia and interactive displays. The highlight is the range of interactive activities which test your sporting abilities. 

                       

As I am damn crazy about cricket, it was really thrilling to find the description of complete Australian Cricket era there. It was really a life time experience for me.

                       

I was specially advised by my friends to visit this place called Eureka Skydeck 88.

The awe inspiring view of Melbourne from this highest vintage point can never be missed by any tourist. So our next spot was Eureka Skydeck 88

8       Eureka Skydeck 88

Visit to this skyscraper can be called the highlight of our trip. As it is located on the 88 storey of the building, hence the name Eureka Skydeck 88. It was night time and the panoramic view of Melbourne from this point was breathtaking. 

We took some fab pics and finally made our way to the last our destination.. St. Kilda Beach.

9       St. Kilda Beach
There were many reasons for which I preferred this place. Firstly it was time for dinner and we had some gr88 cafes and eateries here. Secondly I was really dying to go to a beach and have a sand walk. 

                              

     And thirdly there were lot of penguins to see on the rocks at the night time.

Finally we took off to our hotel and boarded the flight in the morning for India. The overall experience of Melbourne was superb…I would definitely want to visit this place again and again. 

Melbourne, an incredible place indeed.

This post is part of contest 

it's your time to visit Melbourne NOW! on Indiblogger.

5 Artists, one topic, Love Marriage VS Arrange Marriage

Fortunately 15th August was on Wednesday,so I took 2 days vacations before that and went home after a long time.

It was Friday and I was waiting at Borivali station(Mumbai) for Avantika express, one of the very few trains to Indore.
Train was right on time. My Seat no was 29 in S6 compartment. There were 3 guys and 2 gals , all looking young,in their 20's.

As the journey started we had a brief introduction and I was surprised and the same time excited to find a pool of artists around me.
Among the 2 gals one was a painter and other a poet
Boys had a variety too with one a school teacher from village.
Other was a software developer from TCS and last one was a Cartoonist.

I took out my mobile and started browsing net. When I opened Indiblogger site, a new contest was flashing on the home page. Love Marriage VS Arrange Marriage.
A very interesting and common topic indeed. My grey cells starting working and I came up with an idea. Lets have a contest guys. I have a topic, a very common one, which is Love Marriage VS Arrange Marriage. You have to express your opinion on it in ur own artistic way. I have a surprise gift for the person who comes out to be the most creative and artistic in his approach.

After 1 hour everyone was ready and it was time to start.
Girls insisted to start first so I decided to go with the younger of the two, the Poet.

She was a die hard supporter of Love Marriages and always dreamed of one.
Her poem strongly supported her take on the topic


Love marriage is the way,
To enjoy the the life all way long..
It gives the music,
to our life's boring song..

It gives color to life's painting..
And if you are lucky to have love marriage,
life will definitely have happy ending..

The pair know each other well,
before they are going to be husband and wife..
It gives bonding,it gives affection,
and gives understanding,throughout their life..

Whenever we will be besiege by problems of life..
Only the true love will be our saver..
So if u find true love in someone's eyes..
Make that one as your life partner..forever..:))


The painter being an arranged marriage supporter wasted no time to give her opponent "The Poet"
a strong reply with her creations.
She portrayed 2 scenarios
1. Before Love Marriage only Love
2. After Love Marriage where is Love

Scenario 1

                                                   Before Love Marriage

 

 After Love Marriage

Scenario 2

                                                   Before Love Marriage

                                   After Love Marriage

Scenario 3

                                    Before Love Marriage

                                After Love Marriage
     Mickey to Minnie- Where is my tea it's already 7..


So from her pictures it was clear that in love marriages there were 2 scenarios BEFORE and AFTER. Before one shows that couples are really happy but problem comes when they are married i.e. the AFTER part. In after part you are always compared to the person you were before marriage in-spite of the fact that now you not only have new responsibilities but you also need to give equal time to your family.You are burdened with all those expectations which your partner had from you before marriage without considering the fact that now priorities are been changed.

Seeing the pics poet got angry and started arguing with the painter. Atmosphere got heated up quickly and everyone could feel it.
Feeling a chance of a cat fight, I quickly intervened and asked the opposite sex to keep up with
their views..

As Cartoonist was the most enthusiastic of the lot, I asked him to lead the boy's front with his humorous cartoons..

His cartoons depicted that neither he was standing in favour of Love Marriages nor Arrange Marriages.
According to him Marriage was a three ring circus..engagement ring, wedding ring and suffering.
After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can’t face each other, but still they stay together.Even there are lot of problems between the girl and her in-laws.
Single is the best status anyone can have on Facebook, he declared...:P


Seeing the talks getting a bit on the heavier side, with eyebrows raising and fists been clenched, Software developer came up with his witty Technical Description of both the marriages to stop the bickering ,drive away the clouds of animosity and make the atmosphere a bit lighter..

Love Marriage	Arranged Marriage
1. Resembles procedural programming.	1. It resembles object oriented
We have some set of functions like	programming.
Flirting, going to movies together and	We first fix the candidate and
making long conversations on phone and	than try to implement functions
we try to fit all functions on candidate	on her.
we like.	Functions are added to supplement
	the main program
2. Family system hangs as the hardware (parents)is	2. Compatible with hardware(parents)
not supportive
3. You are the project leader and hence responsbile	3. You are just a team member under
for the successful execution of the project.	project leader(parents) so they are responsible
Married Life.	for successful execution of project.Married Life.
4. Client(Boy Parents) expectations includes spouse	4. All this requirements are mentioned in the SRS
cooking food, washing clothes etc	itself
	All this requirements are mentioned in the SRS
5. Love marriage is like windows, beautiful and seductive	5. Arrange Marriage is like UNIX…
Yet not relaible and can crash anytime.	Boring and colorless, but is extremely reliable and
If crashes that’s the end.	robust.If crashes,easy to recover
6. Testing is possible before implementation	6. No testing direct implementation, cant revert
	if bugs are found..:P
7. Antivirus(parents) is expired or uninstalled	7. Antivirus(parents) protects the software( Wife)
	from any virus which can affect the System(Family)

Finally it was turn of the village school teacher, who was not considered a competition by anyone.
He raised the following points

There are cases where young couples leave their homes and flee evading villainous parents in their quest to find true love. There are cases when parents oversee their children married off to well-off families, thus assured of a comfortable and stable life.
What is marriage? An institution of love and trust or a settlement between two families?

Let find out grass is greener on which end ..

If we take the stand of Arranged Marriages following points creates the foundation for the same.

1. Looking back into human history, arranged marriages have predominated the times. Arrange marriages are the 'real marriages' unlike love marriages which is borne out of a whim or fancy. Our ancestors were wise and pious, and the experience of generations wouldn't stick to something unproductive.

2. Looking into the available statistics, we find that only a small number of arrange marriages end in divorces. As the initial fantasy period of marriage ends, the differences emerge. In love marriages, usually couples can't handle this phase in its seriousness, whereas arranged couples understand each other better.

3. Arrange marriages most often refrain from matching couples belonging to different societal status, or different caste/tribe/religion etc. The argument that the unification of two souls finds its source only in love is not a practical one. When made to return to reality, right from naming their child to the language and rituals performed at home to behavioral traits and thinking patterns, the differences accumulate which eventually ends sourly.

4. What culminates in love marriage is the bonding between two individuals to a level where they feel they shouldn't be separated from each other. An argument goes this way : "If he can fall for me, couldn't he fall for any other woman?". The seed of doubt and the sin of infidelity are so rampant in love marriages. Arranged marriages, on the other hand, has its root firmly based on reason and practicality without denying importance to mutual love.

5. Love marriages, in many cases, happen at an inoportune moment of the lives of the couples. There are cases, when couples have to run away leaving behind a good societal life. They gamble a respectful life for a life of fantasy. And when their children grow up, can they stop them from doing what they did themselves?

6. The parents have fed their children emotionally, physically and intellectually all these years. Marriage is an important decision in everyone's lives. Hence, parents should have a say in it. No parent would want their children to be in wrong hands.


Now if we consider Love marriages better than arranged Marriages following points support our opinion.


1. Marriage is an institution which demands love. No marriage is worth the effort and money if there is no love between the couple. Love is one of man's most important unheralded needs. And a life partner is one who is the source of this love for his/her entire life. Hence, love marriages is not only emotionally rewarding but also logical.

2. A conveyor belt is moving. Someone placed a stone, As it continues to move, the stone is enriched by sharpening, polishing, mixing, covering etc. and finally an end product is formed. Man's life is not a stone on a conveyor belt. You cannot "fix" or "match" two hearts unless they pull each other on their own.

3. The system of dowry is a part of this "arranged marriage ritual". There is no need to put forward the statistics of the number of women who have either been killed, molested or abused (physically and emotionally) by their in-laws for this reason. No matter how much research is put into forming the new family, there is always an artificiality to it. The plight of such women cuts a sad figure.

4. The practice of arranged marriage separates communities, helping to stop integration and encourage distrust between communities. This applies largely where it occurs among immigrant populations and helps to maintain a language barrier and an associated cultural ghettoisation.



Conclusion:
Marriage is not just a function or tradition but its more in to Understanding, Compromising, Forgiving, Respecting, Loving, Being together forever and always Be Connected.

No marriage, arranged or love, would be successful in the absence of love, trust and mutual understanding.
All the other factors are mere details in the portrait.

A soft answer, A listening ear, A forgiving & loving Heart, A mind which accepts our mistakes, An understanding Heart/Mind, will always keep the relationship alive in any situation.

Everyone was amazed to hear the points kept by the little Village School Teacher which were accurate and seemed like coming from an astute person.
Conclusion was bang on..!!!

Decision was taken by the other 4 artists, School Teacher was declared the winner.
I was finally happy so see talent was appreciated without any discrimination on lines of financial, or social status.

I had promised to give him the prize on the same day when I get mines from Indiblogger..:P

As I was a blogger so they also asked my views on it
I kept the below points-:
Marriage is a broad context but it is actually the individuals who decide the fate. It is very important for the individuals to understand the stakes involved and not behave like kids or immature people. Therefore anyone who is planning to get married. My suggestion is IT IS NOT LOVE OR ARRANGE WHICH NEEDS TO BE DECIDED. IT IS ACTUALLY ASKING THE QUESTION AM I READY FOR THIS COMMITMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY YET?and if there is any second thought then it is better to defer the plan of getting married till you are mentally ready.


This post is part of contest Love Marriage ya Arranged Marriage by Sony on Indiblogger.

Tale of Keshvati with Raven hair...

I am Keshvati from a village called Keshevghad..

I was born as  a normal child but as I grew older,I became the most beautiful girl of my village and the most extraordinary thing about me were my shiny dark strands which were prefect in every sense...:)

My brother CharanKumar was a worker in a chemical factory in the city. I always wanted to see the city life, its people and its culture, so I used to urge him to also take me along.

One fine day brother told me to get ready as we were going to visit the city. It was a special day for him as he was going to be awarded the best worker of the factory.So he also wanted me to accompany him.

I was overwhelmed with joy after listening to this. Quickly I teased the top portion of my hair to create a bump at the front and let my tresses fall on the sides to create a look something similar to this.

                                           


As the award function was in the evening he decided to take me to the mall as it was the most happening place of the city. He also wanted me to know how different brands existed under a single roof and you can get all household items from there..:)


Dove have organised "The most beautiful Hair of the City" contest in the mall and fortunately there was no restriction on the entry of the contest.
I was very eager to take part in it,so I asked brother to fill the registration form for me.
When my turn came I slowly went on the stage and was very happy to see that not only judges, dove officials but audience too were surprised to see the beauty of my locks.


I was crowned the "The most beautiful Hair of the City" and got 10k in cash.

It was the moment I was waiting for, a feeling of being at top of the world and to add to it there were calls coming for interview from different local newspapers. CharanKumar was also a proud brother.He thanked god for all the happiness that was coming to our doorstep.
Both of us decided to have a dinner in a 5 star hotel to celebrate our success after the award function.

It was evening and we have reached the factory on time for the function.
The Chief Guest was Mayor of the city and as usual he had some personal work so the  function was delayed by an hour.
In the meanwhile CharanKumar decided to show me the factory. There were lot of machines and toxic chemicals all around so he told me to take special care.

I was surprised to see huge containers filled with toxic material and machines working flawlessly to get the right amount of each chemical mixed together.
He showed me the hall where he worked. As we were inspecting the machines suddenly alarms started roaring everywhere. Till the time we could have known the cause of alarm, there was fire all around the room.

Toxic gases filled the room making it difficult to breathe and even see. CharanKumar soon lost consciousness and fell down. I cried for help but there was none to help us. The fire was closing in so without wasting any time I tried my best to drag him out of the room. In doing so I banged into a container and was about to fall into it but was saved my a security guard.

I thanked the guard for saving my life but instead of receiving the gratitude he ran away from there.
I was surprised by his behavior but than saving life of brother was the top most priority.

Somehow I took him out of the room but within moments I too became unconscious.
When I came to senses, I found myself lying on a hospital bed. The doctor sat alongside me and asked how all this happened ?
When I asked about my brother they told me that he was dead.
I was in deep pain and sorrow and slowly as I moved my hand to the head( I normally do this when I am perturbed ) , I was shocked. Quickly I went infront of the mirror to find what had happened to my hair and almost fell dead on the sight of seeing myself.

I was almost bold from back with only few patches of hair distributed randomly on my head.
I looked more like a witch from a horror movie.

Somehow I tried to recall what would have happened and could only remember that when I was about to fall in the container and was saved by the security guard, I felt something hot on back of my head, might be my hair got in contact with the virulent chemical kept in the container.

Doctor told that it could take years for my hair to grow and the treatment would atleast cost me 200k bucks..It was nearly impossible for me to manage such a big amount.

So I decided to go back to the village and get my treatment done from the babas there..
When I came back, people of the village asked me about my identity. I told them that I was their Keshvati and explained what all happened..
Some people consoled me but most of the villagers were jealous of my beauty from the time I was born, so they wanted me to suffer.
My house and land were taken away and I was made to live a life of beggar.
Trauma of my brother's death and unbearable agony made me a dead soul.
I started behaving abnormally and was soon declared mad.

Unfortunately plague crept in the village killing around 200 people.
Superstitious villagers thought that this was due to curse of some witch which was present in my body. Without giving any second thought they decided to tie me to the Banyan tree and burn me alive.

When Parvati who was my best friend came to know about this plan of inhumanity ,she took the courage to take me away from the village into the city, so that my life could be saved.
I had a small bag which I took with me when I was thrown out of my house.
It had my crown which I got from dove, my brother's photo and some clothes. Fortunately it also had a visiting card which read
Priya Sharma
Marketing Manager 
Dove Mumbai
Mob: 9920846744

Parvati saw a small light of hope when she took that card and as there was no other option left she decided to call Priya.
After listening to what all had happened with me,Priya was in tears.She asked Parvati to have courage and promised to help me by all the possible means.

Soon I was admitted to a renowned hospital where my hair treatment was gonna be done.
Within 2 months doctors could see a miracle happen. Hair started to grow from all parts of my scalp. There was something extraordinary with me and it was proved yet again.
Within few weeks hair grew till my shoulder. I was super excited like a little kiddo and called everyone to my room. When all were there I shouted on top of my voice "and that was the end of my hair problems", as if I was relieved from tons of burden , soon tears started rolling down from my eyes. I hugged Priya tightly and thanked her for what all she has done.

Priya told me that she has done everything for the sake of humanity and still something was left to be taken care of. Though my hair had grown full length but they were very dry, thin and rough.
Lets try out our new product on your hair, she told me.
It is the Dove damage therapy which include an Intensive repair Shampoo and a Conditioner.

                                                     

It has Serum and Fiber which will internally reconstruct hair and prevents split ends and breakage.
Within 2-3 months your hair will become smooth, shinny and beautiful.
The damage therapy worked like a miracle. It not only made my hair soft and smooth but also brought the original shine which I used to have in them.

"And that was the end of my hair problems",not only hair problem but all other problems too.
I was given the most amazing and life changing opportunity to work as the Dove model. I could see myself on the huge banners standing tall at all corners of the city.

Together with dove I also started two NGOs KESH KRANTI and Save Hair India.


The main motive behind Kesh Kranti was to make people aware about various hair problems, their remedies, preventive measures to be taken to avoid them in future , how to make hair strong and smooth and a healthy diet that would also keep their hairs healthy..

Under Save Hair India we pledged to help 10 hair burn victims every year, right from the surgery to all other medical expense will be taken care by us.

It was a new beginning..My life has just started..:)



This is a fictional story which is part of a contest  by Dove Damage Therapy on Indiblogger.


Have a look at dove wonderful products at 

MOHABBAT KARLI..:)

Naa jaane kab itni chahat krli..
Naa jaane kab humne itni mohabbat krli...

Unhone pilaaya jo muskuraa kr jaam..
Humne us jaam se mohabbat krli..
Jabse unhone pukaara hai humara naam..
HHumne khud ke naam se mohabbat krli..

Unkaa saath nhi..lekin judaai hai abhi kismat me..
Humne us judaai se mohabbat krli..
Unke dur rehne se jo mili hai tanhaai..
Humne us tanhaai se mohabbat krli..

Jo binaa kahe sab kuch keh gyi..
Humne un aankho se mohabbat krli..
Jo fizaa me ghulkar dil ko mehkaa gyi..
Humne un saanso se mohabbat krli..

Naa jaane kab itni chahat krli..
Naa jaane kab humne itni mohabbat krli..:))

LONELINESS

 

 

MONSOON LOVE