Sarika | Plants, Balcony Gardening & Simple Living

In this pandemic situation ,Ganesha festival has managed to bring some cheer and joy to otherwise mundane routine.Last two weeks we all were super busy trying make decorations for Bappa, home clean up and other preparations.Days with him flew like blink of eye.After saying Goodbye to Bappa yesterday, suddenly morning felt so empty today and then I escaped into my balcony garden where peace is guaranteed. For two weeks these babies were kind of neglected.*But I could feel they were happy to see me back.Or was it other way round ?I was the one who was super delighted to be amongst them and that joy was getting reflected on my babies like a mirror? Indeed I was surprised to see how many things can happen in two weeks. * *There is this a baby plant sprouting in my Gulbakshi Pot. * *I took one abundant pot to plant something new.This pot was may be neglected for months.To my surprise there were these tiny stems of apple mint still hanging there.They must have survived for months without pro...

Aam Panne or "Kairiche Panhe" is a traditional maharashtrian drink. Every family usually have its own version of this recipe. If you have not tried it you must give it a shot this summer. It is super easy to make and super refreshing and healthy too. Ingredients 2 medium size raw mangoes (Kairi) which approximately makes 1 bowl of pulp 1 bowl sugar 1 tsp cardamom powder 1 tsp cumin powder 1 tsp black salt Steps Rinse raw mangoes well. Remove small section near the top. Put in a bowl, pressure cook with some water added. After 4 whistles turn off the gas. Scrap the pulp of these boiled mangoes. Add sugar, elaichi powder, cumin power and salt to this pulp. (1 cup of sugar for 1 cup of pulp .You can adjust sugar proportion as per your taste but Aam Panna real taste is slightly sour.   You can also replace sugar with jaggery in equal amount.) Blend it in a mixture and your Kairi Panhe mix is ready. Refrigerate for some time. Add 3 table spoon of this mixture in...

"Mumma are you happy?" I overheard innocent voice while crossing the road and could not help turning back. Little one was holding her mumma's hand and crossing the road too. She was not looking at me so couldn't catch her expressions. Sayomi was in same class as Aryan.So knew her mother.There was smile on her mother's face.Was it for me or for in reply to Sayomi's question? I was not sure.I smiled too. But was mumma happy? Smile on her face couldn't revealed the answer. Sayomi was too curious to know.She kept repeating "Mumma tell na." We crossed the road. Sayomi got into car from one side.Her mumma took driver's seat and then vanished in few seconds. I was lucky enough to get auto. But "Mumma are you happy?" the unanswered question kept buzzing in my mind. How much marks she must have got? For third grader ,marks that he/she scored .. does that really matter. Good marks bad marks aren't these relative terms.Goo...

Its Day 1 of #21Day lockdown First time something like this happening and its scary. More you follow whatz app and social media more nervous and fearful you get. So probably social distancing should include social media distancing as well When people all over the world are fearing Corona virus , staying home to fight it, this is right time to sit back and introspect and identify fears that we have gathered over time. This one was more difficult than I thought it would be. When I can list 10 secrets , 9 loves ,fears are just 8 so it must be easier. But it was not so and I realised this challenge is going to get tougher as I reach to number one. As we get older some fears that we had as kids just vanish and we unknowingly develop new ones which make us wonder if innocence of childhood makes us bolder. Over weekends watching fear factor makes me ponder how many faces fear can have. Fear of cars, fear of speed, fear of water, fear of reptiles, animals, cockroaches ,height ,elec...

Day १ मम्मा तुला माहितेय स्पृहाच्या क्लास मध्ये ना आज पावभाजी दिली            Really? wow ! असेल काही त्यांची क्लास अक्टिव्हिटी           तुम्ही नव्हती का sprout भेळ बनवली होती   हा पण पावभाजी ? He was not convinced with my answer  Die hard fan of Pavbhaji can smell pavbhaji from any corner in his vicinity. Day २ अरे ममा तुला माहितेय का ..काल ना farewell Party होती ४th ची Thats why school ने पावभाजी दिलेली           Wow so next yearतुम्हाला पण मिळणार तर पावभाजी स्कूल कडून   Looks like we had this conversation yesterday It’s already a year gone and today is his farewell party and Pav-bhaji time  A week back he gushed in and exclaimed  "Mumma finally day has arrived No tiffin on Friday for long break .....पावभाजी देणार आम्हाला " Wait was over and he was beaming :) Today morning hour was smooth. Additional update was along w...