My grandpa's recipe travels around the world.

I know I am a blessed person but the above video made me feel my blessings more, I realized how much the men in my life involved themselves in the household chores and I had been taking all those for granted.

I take pride in saying  I have an husband when not on office work,  involves himself in the household work. He works in the kitchen not just by chopping veggies, grating coconut or that solid piece of jaggery or cutting that hard chunk of hing into pieces with a nutcutter but makes a meal too, infact his creation ‘Rasambar’ is my children’s favorite . He works not to keep the spouse happy or to save a nasty day but he gets involved as a part of family work and does not consider household work degrading or a woman’s domain. On weekends, he puts the dirty laundry in the machine , and he is the one who lathers soap on the dirty collars of my son’s school uniform( white pant and white shirt). Infact he taught my son and daughter how to wash clothes without brushing hard ( scrubbing soap on dirty areas and letting it rest for a while loosens the dirt rather than scrubbing hard with the bristles of a brush which damages the fabric) and today my daughter washes her clothes in the hostel sans washing machine, while my son applies soap on the soccer ball marks on his dirty white dress before putting them in the machine.

Not just my husband, my dad a man of the yester generation had never allowed his growing daughters into the kitchen. When my mom was away to attend family functions, appa would quadruple as a chef, a washing machine , a dishwasher and even sweep or mop the home. No work to him was gender specific, even today as a retired man,  he and my mom #ShareTheLoad of household work.

With such role models, needless for me to say what my children would have learnt.

Alright,  let them be, after all they are from the generation of emancipated women who work outside home, We know that many men of this generation share the load of household work and are more involved in the family affairs as a father/husband or son.

I will talk about my role model from a much older generation whom I often remember, especially more, when I make the kitchen spice powders.

I never buy the readymade spice powders for cooking like the sambar powder, rasam powder, gun powder etc….Everytime, I lay down the ingredients like chillies, coriander seeds, pepper etc..to make the spice powder, i send a silent prayer to a man above - my paternal grandpa, a humble and philanthrophic man who never compartmentalized jobs as gender specific. His passion was to create food with love  and all those traditional dishes like paal kootu, pirandai thogaiyal, poriccha kootu  that I make,  I learnt from him. 

I would observe the way he would chop the vegetables finely, No food processer can match the art of chopping vegetables with hands.  Today when  i chop the vegetables single mindedly, it is more like meditation. He never taught me, but I learnt by watching him. Apart from the traditional dishes and chopping vegetables finely,  I learnt the art of making sambar podi.  He would measure the ingredients approximately  with eyes  and hands ( kai thittam) and lay them on a newspaper before dry roasting. His speciality was to add even mustard seeds and roasted curry leaf to the sambar powder.

His work at home was not restricted to kitchen alone where his passion lay, he would even wash his own clothes when he had time, would buy groceries and make the tastiest inji sorasam( herbal ginger tea) when he was not working as India’s leading traction battery expert ……..yes not one of the experts he was the only expert who had learnt from Germany during his times and instrumental in the making of elektrona 24 a battery operated eco friendly moped in the 80’s which was much ahead of its times.

Today, during the times of readymade foods, i still make it a practice of making homemade spice powders and i only have this role model of my mine to thank for teaching this art. I have even stored this recipe for this  sambar powder in my cookery blog here and this is now popularized by another cookery blog here and travels around the world.

 “I am joining the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign at BlogAdda and blogging about the prejudice related to household chores being passed on to the next generation.”

Need of the hour - # Responsible tourism

One of the greatest destressor is travel. It helps people handle stress of various kinds. Change in climate, change in place of stay, meeting new people, the journey ,the destination all these allows you to explore new energies. The whole idea of travelling is allowing yourself to experience something you haven’t done before.

Today, no matter what age, more and more of us are traveling for work and leisure compared to a few decades back. Needless to say our mode of traveling, our stay in hotels, resorts have all contributed to increase in Carbon foot prints.

While on a holiday or work, most of us think less about environmental degradation or unaware of the carbon foot prints we leave. But , When we think as a conscious global citizen , we share the world with over more than 6 billion people, our space and our resources are finite. How can we guarantee that there’s enough food, water, land and energy for the future gen. To promote tourism, many fancy resorts and hotels are built to meet the tourist demands. More and more trees are cut and lot of natural resources like sand, water are used for constructing them.  While it is necessary to boost tourism, it is also an equal responsibility to minimize the use of our natural resources and to decrease our carbon foot prints, It is now time for us to act responsibly when we travel, follow and promote “ responsible tourism”. 

Here are a few ideas to promote #responsible tourism.

1) we must promote and encourage hotels built and designed with minimal environmental impact. 

2)  promote, encourage and stay in hotels which reduce “food miles” and use “ farm to plate” or locally grown food.

3) Hotels or resorts can use biodegradable toiletries like soaps, shampoos, detergents and tell the tourists the benefits of this on the environment

4) Encourage the hotels to use solar heating and lighting or use CFC or energy saving bulbs

5) Ideally most hotels or resorts have a landscape. We can encourage them to grow more native and plants local to the region and reap their health benefits while the greenery around can offset the carbon foot prints.

6 )As a responsible tourist, While we travel we should ensure we plan and travel short routes and use that mode of transport where we leave less green gas emissions.

7) It is best to forego bottled water which travels miles to reach the users destination, instead it would be ideal to carry our own personal bottle and refill RO water at the hotel or during our journey. This way we can avoid the usage of use and throw plastic bottles. On an another note, it would be better to buy and always carry a personal copper bottle whose  copper charged water is a health benefit we reap.

8) instead of cold storage food which are refridgerated and reheated with microwave, we can opt for the “Pan to plate” freshly cooked food by minimizing the energy used by the appliances.

9) Plastics in the form of carry bags,cups, bottles, plates, spoons are the major contributors of pollution. As tourists/travelers,we avoid using disposables as far as possible and use reusables.

10)  We have to leave zero or minimal waste.  We  must dispose wastes like wrappers of biscuits, snacks, chocolates, fruit peels responsibly. We must avoid food wastes. Even the wasted food, we ensure it reaches the nearest bio gas plant and suggest the hotel, the  food excesses can be sent to the needy (incase, it is not a practice).

11) When we buy souvenirs, we buy from local artisans and promote local handicrafts as tourists which will augment the income of the local people.

12) we visit local areas of interest like museums, places of worship, handicraft centers and promote them during our conversations or through blogs or on social media.

13) hire and use services of the local workers and local transport .

14)  promote and encourage hotels which use the 3 R’s “ reduce, reuse and recycle” while we too practice the same.

While these are some of the ideas that can be promoted, I must say that I do practice most of what is written above and I dare to rewrite this famous quote on traveling

             “Take only memories, leave only footprints.”  Chief Seattle
as " Take only memories, leave only footprints, lessen the carbon footprints"

                   
“I am blogging for #ResponsibleTourism activity by Outlook Traveller in association with BlogAdda”

Some of my memorable stays have been in such homestays/resorts

1) at a place called Peechi near Guruvayoor. This place was on the sholayur range of westernghats and close to the famous Athirapally falls. We stayed at a guest house which was designed and built by the famous Laurie baker who was famous for building with sustainable and local raw materials with focus on natural ventilation. This region is a total plastic free zone


2) at a resort in Farahabad near Srisailam. This resort has cottages built with mud, thatched roof and the lighting in the whole resort is solar powered. 

@ the TATA Bolt arena

Last evening,  It was purely by chance that I landed at GVK One,  a world class mall known for homing international brands .  I went through the security check and was about to ascend to G+1 floor, when  a gleaming red Ferrari color road machine arrested me on the ground floor under the banner “GET. SET. BOLT”.

I immediately  descended the  few steps to reach the  BOLT arena, where many curious  machine lovers were engaged  in  running their hands and feeling the machine and listening to the promoters. I , for the first time followed my machine crazy family in listening to the technical and design details. I sat in the comfortable back seat and listened to, the emerging markets manager of TATA Motors who patiently and fluently  explained the features of the car.

Pics from the Bolt arena @GVK one

                                           A compliment from TATA motors- a friendship band

To begin with he said this is a first time ever multi-drive mode car: Sport/Eco/city…. One can choose sport mode when one wants to feel the burst of the power, eco mode for excellent fuel efficiency or city mode when one wants a perfect balance for the two.

Second this is built with First in class,  Revotron 1.2 turbocharged MPFi petrol engine (also quadrajet  diesel version) to give an exceptionally powerful driving experience.

Third it has Gennext safe with ABS by BOSCH, corner stability control and dual airbags. Which puts the stay in control at all times and one can drive safely with advanced safety features.

Fourth it has spacious interiors which I could feel with ample leg space and relatively high roof compared to other cars. The seats called body hugging  premium rugby shoulder seats which fits you snugly and does not dislodge or shake you from your position  during swerves or turns.  He also demonstrated the 60;40 split foldable rear seats.

Fifth  he played the touchscreen infotainment by HARMAN, which he said was  first in class. one can access an array of entertainment and connectivity  features like smartphone enabled navigation from MapmyIndia and advanced voice command recognition. One can even adjust the speakers to rear end, front end etc., by just touching the speaker location on the screen.

Then he showed us the external design features.

 He pointed to a Black matte pillar on the rear door side which he said gave a floating roof appearance and forward pouncing stance.

He pointed to the wheels which he said was 15” sporty alloy wheels to give a sturdy grip, it also had a dual tone rear bumper with scratch resistant material which avoids rear end damage to the vehicle.

He opened the boot to show the space which could comfortably fit in a cabin and hand luggage and more.

Finally he opened the bonnet to show the engine and the ample free space for dissipation of heat, for the first time, I think even I felt I was seeing such a clutter free bonnet.

After all this, I was curious to know if this was totally indigenous and he said this was made at their Tata motors (nano) facility at Pune with design philosophy created across their Tata motors studio at UK, Italy and Pune design centres.

 Bolt  is the the new road machine from TATA stable to be launched by Tata motors on 22^nd Jan 2015 in diesel and petrol variants.   

                      “This post is a part of the Get. Set. Bolt. activity at BlogAdda.”

Of stories,storytellers and storytelling

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.

—Robert McKee

Many people will remember the time when they were told a story, not read to, but told- the oral art of story telling.  

From my early memories, I recall my  Grandmom’s elder  sister who would lie beside me and tell stories of mythology, tales of royalty, of common man, wisdom tales, folk tales and animal tales etc. She would gesticulate with her wrinkly hands and modulate her voice as the story changed the settings from a forest to a Kingdom to a faraway land. The First story that I remember told to was a”  Kozhakattai”(modak) story in tamil.

 Later, it was my  grand parents, parents, aunts and uncles who would narrate family stories. Especially the moments spent with my Grandmom on the terrace of her home, with my cousins under the starspangled sky are my emotional cushions now.  These family stories are like the blueprint for our family identities. One such  famous family story is the Dhanushkodi story which I have already blogged about.

My Story tellers must have had a profound influence on me that even today wherever I see the word “Storytelling” in print or in e-media my eyes stop there and throw me back in time.

Then it was at school I wandered again into fairy land along with Thumbelina, Goldilocks, Tom-thumb, Red Riding hood etc. These listening and reading of stories some where left such a deep influence  in me that many years later my passion for stories lured me to take up  a profession of story teller.  For a couple of years between 2009-2011 my job was that of a life-skill facilitator(visiting faculty) which involved teaching life skills through story telling for children of class I through Class X and I even conducted a small Winter workshop in theatre through Helen-O-Grady style of story-telling.

The stories we told not just put ideas and moulded  the young minds but also enchanted and delighted the young ones so much that the children of the various schools where we went waited for us than their own school teachers. Infact, This was a pet complaint of many regular faculty when we interacted with them. Some children would even follow us after class hours for autograph.

I believe stories have that power. Apart from teaching moral values, life skills, they enchant, delight, teach, inspire, excite and take us to  unexplored lands .

 During my early school days we had an exclusive story telling period. One such story that I have heard during my young days  is that of “The thirsty crow”. This story was hung up as a chart and was divided into 6 pictures . The moral or values did not sink into our little brains then, we were more besotted with the art of storytelling. I am sure this story is widely heard and read for its lovely moral of "Where there is a will, there is a way". Even recently, one of my friend sent me a message on our Whatsapp group asking how many of us remembered this story. This is one of the evergreen story. Today's children of course, I am sure will apply the moral by seeing them in video formats like this. 

The other story  that is clear in my memory is that “Goldilocks and 3 bears”. This was a pictorial pop-up book and the baskets, tables, bowls and beds that popped up enchanted me more than any moral. I even remember seeing the dramatization of this story in a TV program called “Wonder Balloon”.

Some stories and story tellers leave an impression on our young minds that they are unerasable for a life time. Apart from the power to enrich us with language skills in the form of vocabulary, expression and communication, they inspire us with their morals too which are applicable in our day to day life. Today's kids have wide exposure and access to such stories like in the above video formats. 

This post is a part of Kids Hutactivity at BlogAdda.com

Blog to feed a child

The right to nourished food and education  is a vital right for all children. Healthy educated children build an economic, social and culturally developed society.

Our government and many NGO’s actively participate in providing the  vital rights and in improving the  quality of health and education of the poor children in India. Some NGO’s like Akshaya patra foundation  headquartered in Bangalore, India strive to fight issues like hunger and malnutrition by implementing the mid-day meal scheme in the government  schools and aided schools. They also aim to bring children to school and educate them. The NGO is constantly leveraging technology to cater to millions of children through its state-of-the art kitchens.  Many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, business houses contribute to such NGO’s to build a healthy and educated society.

We still need to bump our resources  for this  mammoth task. Apart from donations used for meals,  inititatives can be taken  to eliminate the classroom hunger by growing food. NGO’s can co-ordinate with schools to grow their own food.  Each and every school can utilize the space in the ground or use container gardening in terraces and little sunny spaces  to grow organic food. The kitchen trash generated  in community kitchens of mid-day meals can be utilized for composting . The organic food can be grown by the children themselves as part of outdoor learning. The produce reaped from outdoor learning can be utilized for the mid-day meals thus saving substantial amount on raw materials.

By doing this, not only are we meeting the food demands and food security ,we are also educating the children on environmental sustainability,reducing the carbon foot prints  and saving our precious resources . It is usually a small group of people who bring about a change  and with little hands growing their own food  and getting educated,  there is hope….of a better tomorrow.

This post in response to Bloggers Social Responsibility.

                    I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.