Rewind.... Recap.... Think forward

हत्ती गेला आणि शेपूट राहिल' is the saying in marathi which means majority of the work is done and only small part is pending.This perfectly suits my current situation 5 months of vacation is over and just few more days to go.Still remember myself 5 months back anxious to get into this new role of full time mother home maker and here i am post 5 months again anxious to step into coorporate world. Change is something we all resist so thrue it is!

When I had disclosed this vacation plan with my collegues there was a mix bag of reactions.one actually called me Brave to take this decision,one was putting himself in my shoe and worring how he would servive if there is no salary for few months:)it would have been fun to be on paid vacation for 6 months:) though few were happy that i had taken right decision to spend time with kid at his growing age.some sincere advice that do come back after whatever timeframe you decide as its very tempting to permanently get into the new role.one and all i had taken that all silently as getting into this role was not decision taken in haste.
when there was good news at bro in laws,it was sure that for few months we have to make alternate arrangement for kiddo as in laws would be out of town.enquiries for day care at good known place was not working out and then i was not ready to put my little ones in unknown hands.job doesnt end with finding good day care centre actually its just a start you have to see it to that child get adjusted there.you have to give him proper food milk clothes.drop him there on time.for that poor soul has to get into mad rush of life with us.you have to pick him up on time.There is constant worry whether he woulld get feed on time will he get good compony will he get adjusted to his so called new home.I feel it takes lot of courage and may be lot of love for your job to put your kid in day care
And u should be ready to take those extra efforts physical and emotional.or there could be extreme necessity as well in age of fat home loans and inflation i agree.
I had no inclination to change smooth routine of my little one for few months or to take that additional mental and physical stress and offcourse there was support from family.My mother in law was extremely happy with decision she rightly said that now she can peacefully be with her second grand son there when her first one is in safe hands of her mother.
A collegue of mine had said sarika your to do list would be as it is when you join post 6 months I had just smiled at that time not to the to do list thing but to the fact that i had no to do list for this vacation.Though this role change was there in air for long time actual getting into the role was almost overnight and till end i was busy completing work to do stuff that I had no time to think about what would I do in vacation.and may be what was at back of the mind 2 years old aryan going to be quite handful so lets take stuff as it comes.
Timing of vacation was perfect.Dasehara was just over and diwali at the corner then xmas, new year ,sankranti all festivals lined on after other.In span of 5 months many things I did.Some of them may be after 10 to 15 years some for the first time.

11 ukadiche modak first time i made all by myself for sankashti.It was truely gr8 moment.Offering your favourate god his favourate sweet on special day.Husband provided wonderful support by taking full care of aryan for couple of hours.
Diwali was special too with kandil making at home, making rangoli ,diwali faral, shopping, family get together and mainly doing everything by taking its own sweet time no hurry during weekends or worries about project deadlines.

After 5 long years celebrated new year with parents at my home.Cooked for them had relaxed time with them it was great start of the year.
Created tilgul for makar sankrati went to mavshi mama's place with these sweets.

Learnt so many new recipes from naral barfi,palak dal pakoda,matar pattice,coin pizza,tawa pulao and make my husband it that too!
Read some very good books and importantly got back into habit of reading.
Slept in the afternoon with aryan for hous, watched tv some daily soaps afternnon tv serials,cookery shows and got totally refreshed in 5 months break.
This was the time i reactivated my blog which had gone in hibernation.
one afternoon when aryan was taking his nap i tried hands on making clay ganesha.

Made friendship with aryan's friends mummies.
One thing I realised is I can definately do all these things which I did even if I work with more planning and strong desire and then scarcity of time would just be lame excuse,as all these things which I did were when aryan was sleeping so snatching couple of hours of a day on need basis.so even if i start working I would definately have that much time.
Best part of vacation was main cause of it.Time spent with aryan is something i would cherish lifelong.i just hope he has enjoyed it as much as i did.He wont remember it when he grows(I dont remember anything when I was 5:) post that may be some fading memories here and there.)but these moments spent now would always be with me in form of memories pictures blogposts:)
car racing,bat ball,ball hocky stick,time spent in balcony watching piegons clearing thier feathers,dogs stretching thier legs,cat cuddled in scooty seat,time spent watching nursary rhymes,singing them,playtime in garden,swinging on zhula,rides on slide...so many things which am going to miss..but then as they say am glad it happened.
So much I hv leant from this pint sized probably I would have to write it in separate post.Enthusiasm,innocence,simplicity,observation power,tenderness,softness,pure love and living in present moment all this that we all have as a child why it slowly vanishes with age?god send us in this world with all good qualities then why cant we stick to it as we grow?Going ahead i will try to search these inbuilt god given qualities within me.
Its not goodie goodie everytime.There were moments of frustration anger too running after aryan for food,potty training tending to his tantrum was madening at times but overall wonderful wonderful vacation to remember for lifetime.A unique one! 

Cooking food blogging and everything in between

Its been more than 4 month since I have taken break from proffessional life and time which I have spent in kitchen in these 4 months must be more than total time spent in kitchen in last 35 years.In age of nuclear familities I am fortunate enough to stay in along with my in laws and I have sweet mother in law who being working mother in her time understands challenges of busy proffessional life and helps me in every possible way in household stuff.We have maid to make roti so just need to take care of veggies,salads ,pack our tiffins and am sorted out.Special dishes on weekends like pavbhaji idali sambar vada sambar sandwitch are fun to make but cooking morning.. evening.. breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner oooff tiring ..


Once when i was discussing this with a friend of mine who started cooking in very young age not as a choice but sort of compulsion. She said look dont look at cooking as some mundane activity it actually stimulates 5 senses.Consiously try to figure it out and you would surely start enjoying it and indeed it worked for me.
Rainbow in kitchen is fun to observe. Yellow termeric, shades of yellow of different pulses, red chillies red tomatoes, green chillie,spinach, fresh corriander,white sugar salt spring onion,milk.you cant find cooking dull when so many colors are around.
I remember in school we use to go for coaching classes.It was home based tution and there guys in our class used to guess which vegetable teacher has made by its aroma and our teacher used to participate in this fun activity too!jokes apart but aroma that you get while roasting ground nuts or coriander seeds is something u can never forget.during diwali time u can makeout some one is making besan laddus or bhajani from the entrance itself.
Cracking of cummin seeds ,noice you hear when mustard seeds sputters or popping sound of popcorns,peculiar sound that you get when to put something for deep frying cant get unheard.
Taste is synonymn for food we can say else how would we describe something sweet salty tangy bitter spicy.
Softness of flour or stickiness of potato when u mash it,soft shiny skin of brinjol,crunchyness of fresh lady finger,rough jackfruit,thorns of bitterguard,tender leaves of corriander you have to touch and feel the texture.
You feel good about cooking when you get appreciated for it.i a friend of mine who is north indian now married to maharashtrian kokanastha brahmin wonders how her husband relish waran bhat something which is part of menu on every festive occassion. And same time complains that her in laws find lot of oil in her vegetable preparation and doesnt like paneer.
I can only smile as its better if we accept some facts of life as it is and not try changing it.
At 35 if you know cooking its really not a big deal.if you know how to make delicacies then you may get some points for it.in this fast pacebusy life when u get everything ready to it from upama dhokala to gulabjamun mix.We have 24 hours food channel so many sites on internet created by proffesionals chefs as well as housewives.we have n number of cookery  shows on all channels where we can learn cusines from different parts of world and enhance culnary skills
When i look back journey through kitchen started fairly late.dont think i ever had liking For cooking initially.
In a family where more importance was given to education ,cooking never got enforced.my mother always said you will do it when it comes:)so making maggie some bread recipes cakes dissolving rasana fancy stuff like haka noodles fried rice is what i remembered doing till i finish my engineering
I used to wonder how ladies easily distinguish between chanadal and turdal and how they remember when to use jad pohe/patal pohe,jad rawa/barik rawa.
How u know how much salt is enough by using finger pinch and how much water to put to get that perfect rice:)
I still have those papers with recipes written on it for pohe/upama/coconut chatani:)

 And then there was food blogging in air and whim of creating one by self which soon vanished after realising its not atall easy stuff and you really have to be cook by heart for that.i had actually collected english names of all food items then kind of grocery list.i had actually leant a lot then but dropped idea of food blogging and happy following food blogs on net but photos captured for that still scattered in random computer folders and i continue to take photos of my experiments afterall u dont make those ukadiche modak that often or something that you try out for first time is always special.Cant resist temptation to put some snaps here.

Now we just dont have Maharashtrian panjabi south indian recipes ..there is italian and thai stuff By the time my son grows of age of demanding his favourate stuff am sure few more things would land on platter.so still lot to learn,innovate,cook,bake and offcourse eat and feel:)