Monsoon magic

The rolling Sahyadri foothills are heavenly in the monsoons. The lush green, the low dark heavy clouds and the cool drops of water falling on your face...

Valache bhirde (वालाचे भीर्डे)

Ingredients:
2 cups Vaal (Field Beans) (soaked and peeled)
1/2 cup ole khobre (fresh grated coconut)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon lal tikhat (red chilli powder)
1/4 teaspoon halad (Turmeric)
4-8 amsul (Kolum)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
2-3 teaspoon gul (Jaggery)
salt
fodni (tempering) material: jeera, mohori, hing, kadipatta
1 table spoon oil

Procedure:
Heat oil
Add mohori and let it crackle
Add hing, jeera kadipatta and stir
Add finely chopped onion and stir till slightly translucent (do not let it get brown)
Add vaal, lal tikhat, halad and garam masala. saute for a couple of minutes
Add warm water to fully cover the vaal (and a bit more) and bring to boil
Add ole khobre, gul and kokam and cook till vaal are cooked
Add salt to taste.


Based on recipe by Viraj's mom. Thanks Aunty.

Love

Happiness

The new babe

The Royal Enfield Himalayan.

Finally I went for an RE.  Because this is unlike any previous RE. Because they designed for a purpose.

My mother's hand

I miss you Aai.

why ...

On the road

Back to the blog. After a long while. Talking to myself. For the benefit of my reading in the future. What's the point of a diary which is public ?? Trying to reduce my insignificance in this world ? To go unheard and unseen would be so much less than to have the a hope of a chance of some random travelers seeing this. Or an even remoter hope of them understanding. But I digress ...

Does one really fall in love just like that ? Why do we do it ? Does it just happen ? I dont know, really... I think maybe one meets someone and there is some 'connection' ... some reason to warm to the person. That is just the ingredients there. You need a vessel too. The frame of mind to want to let the other person under your skin (like Jude was advised)... And then there needs to be the fire. The process of actually cooking. I think love only happens if you are willing to cook. It takes time to know someone. To trust someone. To let someone in your life. ....

Maybe. Maybe not.


Duh. 'nuff of this now.

The invitation

Wildflowers, by quasi


The Invitation:

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/
(via Madhu Reddy)

Beware the Rhino

Finally the Rhino is here.  I named the jeep Rhino because that is what it is like - ungaily, unstoppable, difficult to control, heavy.  ..and it comes on to you. :)

My trusty old ride, the Esteem.  I have travelled far and wide with her.

Poem: Pushkin

ring waterfall

"I loved you..."

I loved you, and I probably still do,
And for a while the feeling may remain...
But let my love no longer trouble you,
I do not wish to cause you any pain.
I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew,
The jealousy, the shyness - though in vain -
Made up a love so tender and so true
As may God grant you to be loved again.

~Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

magic flower

wildflowers


the rain that we chased
on the distant horizon
the water thundering around
my mind confused, my senses crashed down
I just wait
I just wait for you

the cold blast of the winter wind
takes my breath away
the mystic smile on your face
takes my heart away
I just wait
I just wait for you

that mad dash southwards
to the room with the silent face
your whispers in my ear
and that magic flower
I just wait
I just wait for you


hehe, silly old stuff. but I did have that magic flower, for a long time ... but then the one who had given it to me asked it back silently, so I gave it ...

Wildflowers

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, find you a lover
Go away somewhere all bright and new
I have seen no other
Who compares with you

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, go find a lover
Run away, let your heart be your guide
You deserve the deepest of cover
You belong in that home by and by

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong somewhere close to me
Far away from your trouble and worries
You belong somewhere you feel free
You belong somewhere you feel free

~Tom Petty

x

Sanket has a voice which goes to my heart. Once, sitting on the steps of closed shops on the naka he sang my fav song of his for me. It was an old gazal... I recorded on my phone .. Then later I devised this video around that song .. from arbitrary clips I had shot with my k750 phone camera over the year. Those where the days of a lot of questions.

This is the story of a guy and a girl - but mostly the guy. He has questions ... he is unsuccessful in love, then dark side tempts him and he goes awry ... but his luck is in ... finally he finds peace ....

Vasu plays the hero.

life@29

in the evening the city moans
a cesspool of emotions gone dry
fleeting connections all around
too fickle to give time to try

in the simmering crowd
on the bustling street
the allusion of a thousand souls
there is no one to meet

fighting the daily battles
burnt and scarred every time
I fall into a wakeful sleep
as a solitary watch I have to keep

in the privacy of my hell
I make war with my daemons
like the moth with his wings burning
no glory, no escape to the summons

but soon the rain brings
new moths and new flowers
the ghosts and daemons
washed away by the showers

the cycle continues
distilling me every time
as I make my way
through the ancient doorway

the temple falls silent
the priest has fled
who is there, now that we are free
but you and me