Friday, January 8, 2016

The Gilded beginning!



#Colgate360GoldMornings  The Gilded Beginning






The start to a glorious and blissful brand new day begins with the drawing of the curtains and blinds to let in the golden rays of the rising sun. The yellow hues bring freshness laced with new hopes, aspirations, dreams and happenings. It is a visual treat to see the darkness of the night being broken by the brightest star of our universe. The rise of the sun above the horizon with the cocks crowing in the distant background gives a perfect rustic start to the day, a verdant picturesque view of the fields, a contrast of blue, green and orange and the sky becomes a canvas with brilliant shades and this picture paints a thousand words!   
A promising start to the day is made with the brushing of teeth and rinsing of the mouth to clean off the germs and bacteria. The sparkling and fresh result of this activity makes us rejuvenated and ready to face the heat and dust of the day! A positive and favourable kick off to the day brings cheer all around us.
Adding extra vigour and vitality to our body and souls is the golden ------ from sunrise to sunset, this brush gives a flying start to face the hustle and bustle of life, leaving inertia and laziness aside, and we are full of the joys of spring! The freshness tickles us pink and the pleasant breath blows away one’s blues!


The gold brush is an ace up one’s sleeve and we feel fine and dandy and full of beans ready to take on the world! A flying start to the day happens when we are clean, sparkling and shining, brimming with confidence and glistening with self belief!
Now with the all new Colgate 360 gold tooth brush, one can turn good mornings into gold mornings and it not only cleans the teeth but also the mouth, gums, tongue and cheek giving a fresh experience to last from dawn to dusk. It is a complete oral care product with charcoal that bestows best mouth protection. It is second to none and unrivalled in the market of toothbrushes at the moment. The bristles are neither too harsh on the mouth nor too soft and therefore aids in the immaculate cleaning of the mouth leaving us neat as a pin. The radiant look after the hygienic and thorough brushing makes heads turn!
The zeal and zest to face a brand new today is ours even if we cannot recover yesterday. By keeping the face towards the sunshine, a shadow is never cast and we could be winners leading to the gates of eternity! It is a miracle to be alive each morning to see a new day full of expectations and how we spend our mornings more often than not tell us how the day is going to span out! With a new day come new thoughts and new strengths. So wake up each morning with a smile and turn the good morning into a gold morning!!!


    
To know more on Colgate and its products log on to :


Picture courtesy:
http://www.clipartpanda.com/
http://www.colgate.co.in
http://www.thefreshquotes.com/

Thursday, January 7, 2016

My Interstellar Voyage

My odyssey to blogosphere began in 2007,a lift off with a external thrust from a buddy who was always abreast with the latest and trending stuff. The usual chat revolved around everything; from the humdrum to buzz to scandals and slander and the word weblog was briefly referred to somewhere in the course of the jabbering, maybe like a footnote which went like this...”Suni, that is the trend these days with people globally, becoming interactive through their blog posts, I have started my page with blogspot and so could you as you have a passion to write.” My thoughts were channelized to the last few words that she uttered about the zest part and that ignited my curiosity! All other chores were put on the back burner and I jumped on the bandwagon and soon I was in the saddle raring to go. And that was the genesis of http://www.specs-buffy.blogspot.com in 2011 after a four year period of glorious uncertainties.
no big bang explosions but the birth of a tiny star( unabashedly call myself a star!) in a galaxy. The first few months were a revelation, well only to me, with the pages in my blog going back in time. For the next couple of years, the sojourn lost steam and the enthusiasm died down; it was now a saunter and a stroll like a lazy walk in the park, more precisely prosaic as a tame game of golf.  The posts became few and far between and the blogger in me lay in a state of comatose with the reader fraternity ready to pull the ventilator off and do euthanasia a world of good! But miracles do happen and Indiblogger resuscitated me and rekindled the dying fire. I was enamoured by a news item with a photo graph (thank God there are no pop up blocks in newspapers!) of indibloggers making merry in Windsor Manor in Bengaluru, in the autumn of 2011.  
 My blog expedition renewed like NASA’s Interstellar voyager mission, slow but steady, exploring the cornucopia of Wordsmiths!
Look at what I unearthed from a heap of distinguished directory of writers- http://specs-buffy.blogspot.in/2012/02/of-blogs-and-titles-whats-in-name.html
A few in this inventory have become red giants but many have tirelessly worked their way to become Supernovas!!!  The appealing indiblogger belvedere has had me spellbound with its hodgepodge of activities such as meets, contests and for sure the indivine. The jingles “Indian by birth and bloggers by choice” and “We blog, therefore we are” sound more like war cries with a  vengeance to engross and enslave you, bringing in its way friends, philosophers, guides, well wishers, benefactors, backers and patrons. The chance encounters with a few have been symbolic and meaningful with a rich experience that is exhilarating and inspiring, rip roaring in fact! I am deeply honoured and privileged to introduce to my readers these doyens and stalwarts who have held me in sway!
? K Parthasarathi, a maverick story teller whose fables are a hybrid with the charm of R K Narayan’s and twists of O Henry, leave us in absolute awe and suspense, always yearning for more. He has to his credit over 1000 short stories, (maybe more as I have lost count!)and each one of them is a sparkling gem. Armed with a brilliant and powerful narrative skill along with a keen sense of observation and a wide repertoire of words, his stories reflect the common place with good morals and ethics as the corner stones.  The readers will be infatuated by the “random thoughts” and “reflections” that has grown over the years by leaps and bounds and the author has aged with grace and the wine just got better and better. For the vernacular, he has the tamil blog that has a valuable set of admirers. Being a Cost Accountant by profession, he has the added reputation of writing articles for the Business line newspaper in his heydays apart from contributing to dime a dozen online magazines and papers which he still does with a flourish.
 For me personally, he is an icon I look up to, for his remarkable attitude, his frank, forthright and constructive views on my posts which have been very motivating and highly self rewarding, and above all, for his extraordinary talent at writing with consummate ease and proficiency. I have embraced him as my grandfather and fervently hope that I imbibe his stupendous qualities! May the Almighty give him a long life so that he can hold many more readers as ransom to his random thoughts flowering as stories!  I am sure you all are thirsting to get into the magical world of this phenomenal story teller, you can at:
? Mir Fleur, who blogs at http://www.tsps-of-mir.com/ with the title “The somewhat peculiar story of Mir” is an embodiment and powerhouse of talent. I am dumbfounded by her creativity despite the perplexities of life that abound her. She may have never counted her problems but the thorns have been blissfully converted to her strengths and she has risen like a phoenix.  A Scholar in Mathematics and Control systems, Dr. Fleur has the uncanny ability of writing memoirs and nostalgic posts of her childhood that strike a chord with me and she reminds me many a time of Enid Blyton, whom we all have grown up with! I understand that many of her fictional works have been published in national dailies and also is the author of three full length novels that she is itching to publish as a book. This proves her credentials as a versatile writer with the ingredients of subtle humour, imagination and ingenuity.
For me personally, she is a belligerent lady who has taken life in her stride, living through her miseries but still smiling, enchanting me with her artistry. She exudes in her personality an extreme degree of positivity and remains an enigma. For a life beseeched with hardships and predicaments and whose second name is adversity, I pray to the Lord to be more merciful and kind to this wonderful human being.
 My dear friends, you may soak in her writings by visiting her domain.
? Somali K Chakrabarti, who “Scribbles and Scrawls“ at https://prepforum.wordpress.com/ is a bountiful writer with fertile imagination and creativity that stimulates, emboldens and sets our thought process in hyper active mode. She arouses a sense of curiosity with her haikus and tankas. She has taken the blogging world by storm with her book called “Lei: A wreath for your soul” that has all the celebrations of nature and reflections of life with a wonderful and unique collection of poems. She is the Tzar of fantasy and has the power to transport us to a new realm that has the promised milk and honey! An engineer by profession with the Sloan Fellow tag from the prestigious London School of Business, writing comes naturally to her and her posts leave us craving for more!
For me personally, she is the quintessential manifestation of all things nice and lovely and an avatar of creativity. She impresses and invigorates me to such an extent that I keep going back to her posts like bees to a flower! I am certain that my followers would also flock to her blog page! The awards that are bestowed on her speaks volumes about her skills that are unmatched and non pareil!
? Maniparna Sengupta Majumdar, an exemplar of imaginativeness and originality oozing with flair. Her blog page titled “scattered thoughts” is a perpetual ocean of thoughts that sets us to reflect, speculate, ponder and appreciate. She is at ease with any topic ranging from poems to fiction to travel to book reviews to photography and so there is something for everyone. The choice of words and phrases are vivid and scintillating and little wonder that Maniparna has a huge fan following.
For me personally, in the first place I was enchanted with her name that led me to explore her blog and I was amply rewarded with an abundance of beautifully penned poems and haikus! Folks, you too can get drenched in the rain of haikus by visiting her page at https://maniparna5002.wordpress.com/
My interstellar voyage continues, delving deep into the unknown galaxy, exploring new stars and supernovas.....
    



Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Open Dosa, Bengaluru Adiga’s style

Open Dose, Bengaluru Adiga’s style





Indian food is a blend of cultures and tastes of different states like its wonderful people and each recipe is distinct, distinguishing itself in its unique flavour. I enjoy all types of food but beyond doubt very much partial to the dosa , the staple dish of the southern states now borrowed worldwide. The fermented batter of rice and lentil when ladled onto the tava or griddle in a round shape with a rich dollop of ghee to give the crisp version is indeed mouth watering. The influence of the province has made the dosa to change, departing from the traditional to innovative novel versions that have made it more yummy and delectable.
Over the weekend, I had some guests from north of the Vindyas and they became my guinea pigs on my food exploits! Here, I am recreating the special delicacy fittingly called the Open Dos which is a trademark of Bengaluru’s chain of restaurants Vasudev Adiga’s. However, try as I might, I am unable to re-enact the expressions on the faces before and after the eating event!!!
Ingredients required to make approximately 20 numbers
Dosa batter fermented – 4 cups
Potatoes – ¾ kilo
Tomatoes – 1
Onion – 1
Carrot grated- 2 medium numbers
Coconut grated – ¼ cup
Coriander leaves – a small bunch cut into small pieces
Curry leaves – a few leaves
Gram dal – 1tsp
Mustard seeds – 1tsp
Ghee – to ladle the dosas
Butter – 4 tsp
Oil for tempering
Turmeric powder – 1tsp
Green chillies – 4 slit
Salt to taste
Chutney powder –  4 tbsp-available in the stores or one can make it at home
Method
Cook the potatoes well and mash them while still hot. Cut the tomato and onion into small pieces. Slit the chillies.
Heat the oil in a kadai and allow the mustard seeds to splutter, then add the onions and sauté them well till the raw smell disappears.  Add the chillies, curry leaves and tomatoes and continue to sauté for some time. Add very little quantity of water( ensure that it does not become watery) and turmeric powder and allow it to get cooked on low flame. Add the smashed potatoes to the gravy and cook for some time. The basic masala or sagu is ready.
Pour the batter on the hot tava, shape into a round and grease it with ghee. Put the flame on low and close the tava with a lid and allow it cook. Open the lid and sprinkle the chutney powder.
Spread the grated carrot evenly and then place a small quantity of the sagu or potato masala in the centre.
Spread a very small quantity of coconut around.
Top it up with freshly cut coriander leaves and a dollop of butter, close the lid for a fleeting second.

Tempting Open Dosa is ready to be savoured with hot steaming sambar and chutney.







Sunday, January 3, 2016

Chivalrous Combatant

Guns booming in the background
Salutations to my combatant warrior
Aloha turned into an adieu in a flash
Do I cry or weep or lament for my beloved
snuffed out like an extinguished candle
Anguish of the nation on the beat with mine
Assassins blown up in ire at the deed
A downpour of emotions obscuring sanity
Where is my valour? Died out by the dastard
Life cast away in obscurity and fathoms deep
Adrift and disoriented,
As I find my moorings, reclaiming fragments
Clarion call, halt not, proceed
Chivalrous like the cavalry, march with the bugle
Massacre the foe, be an armament to protect
My nation, my motherland.