Travel is one experience that can be reminisced and enjoyed time and again. Every time we reminisce our travel experience we see a new information that we would have missed the previous time. I travelled to two different continents within a year to be with my  loving sons and their wives . Pacific Ocean is one common line of connection to both the cities I visited . Sydney first in my itinerary is a coastal city and Berkeley the second one in San Francisco is a Bay Area.  Different facets of the majestic ocean I could see and enjoy. In the coast it was an endless vast expanse of water. And the walk along the coast endlessly meandering presented varied moods of the pacific and also its magnificence marine lives like the humpbacks , sea gulls and other birds I know not. In the Bay Area the same ocean was a cool enchanting lady with her cool fog passing by me everyday. In the coast I had to go seeking her and in the bay she came to touch me everyday in the form of fog. It’s water water everywhere in the bay, she so close yet so huge and larger than life.

Sydney is a city of universities. Wherever you’re in the city you are sure to spot a university or a college. The city full of milling crowd of students engrossed in their own world , always plugged on to their phones. Weekends buses are full of young people in beach wear going to the beaches for their sports activities. Water skiing, surfing is a major activity in Sydney. For outdoor activity there are many walking trails. A well connected city with pretty good public transport system we could explore the suburbs and even a little further on like blue mountain. 

Berkeley is more of relaxed laid back experience. People on streets had time to smile acknowledge and engage in exchanging pleasantries. Not plugged on to their phones, no definitely not. Soccer, cycling, sailing are some of the sports played here. A little travel  interior one can see the majestic sequoias, also called red wood trees. So majestic standing tall 300 to 500ft high for thousands of years. The resilient warriors facing the storms and raging forest fire with grit and grace have a lot to tell us about hope and life. Not great public transport system but well  connected road network allows one to explore the city and suburbs. Trip to Joshua tree and Yosemite national park is a memorable experience. 

Both the cities had their own charm for me mainly because my sons and daughters in law live there. Also I met long lost friends and relatives, made new friends. My horizon expanded a little more, really grateful to people who made this possible. Without the flying bird that I hopped on to I couldn’t have traveled this far. It’s more than a lifetime experience. 🌊

New Friend

 Many a times , a moment or an experience passes by and we hardly notice it. But later on we are hit by the richness of that moment leaving us mesmerized by the sheer unique experience.  I recently had such an experience.  A few days back,  on my regular walk in the park, I sensed somebody trailing me after some ten minutes into my walking. I turned around to look , and noticed a well grown dog with a collar around his neck. He also looked back at me. I thought maybe I had mistook the dog as my trailer and that he would go his way. To my amusement he continued to walk behind me. The park keeper tried to shoo him out, but he resolutely followed me. Now we both got into comfortable pace in our rounds. Other walkers were looking on amusedly and they too accepted him as one among them. After sometime I sat down to cool my feet and my friend also came and slouched down near my bench. He put his head on his paws and rested but ever alert , lest he didn't want to miss me. I got up to do some more walking,  my friend also joined. Time to go home, I met my hubby at the exit . When we stepped on to the road my friend also jauntily joined us. I told hubby about the doggy and we both thought he'd go on his way to wherever his place is. But no, he followed us right upto our house, sometimes running ahead of us, sometimes walking by our side. We opened our gate and entered, our friend stood near the gate. I kept the gate open,  he entered , smelled around, then turned back , went out head high his ears cocked up and then shot across and ran off into oblivion. 

Who was he, where did he come from, I have no clue. Why did he choose me that day out of so many people in the park . But the unique experience that he gave and the trust he had in me is cherishable. He taught me that total strangers can also share peaceful harmonious time. What experience he carried,  I wonder. If it's one of trust and companionship I would be happy. 

upcycling old glass bottle

there was this glass bottle lying around in my house for quite a long time. Then one fine day it dawned on me to upcycle this bottle and so I painted it with water-proof fabric colours and turned it into a vase. It looks pretty cool now.

Recipe for Kesari (sweet)

Rava ( Sooji) Kesari

Ingredients:

Rava - 1cup

Sugar - 1 and a half cups

water - 1 and a half cups

ghee - 2 table spoonful

Cashew - 10 numbers

Elachi(Powder) - 1/4 teaspoon

Saffron Food colour. - optional

In a thick bottomed vessel roast rava for just 5 minutes. See to it that the rava does not change colour. Add water to it slowly, mix thoroughly and then cover the vessel. Keep stirring intermittently. The rava gets cooked quickly and so the boiling process should take only 5 to 7 minutes. Check the mix for smooth- boiled consistency. ( by this time rava would have absorbed all the water that was added). Add sugar little by little to the mix , all the while stirring . After the sugar gets mixed thoroughly add ghee slowly while stirring. Allow the dish to cook for 5 minutes. Check the mix for round ball consistency i.e the dish should fall easily from the ladle. If the dish is still gooey add some more ghee and stir. Remove the dish from fire. Season the dish with a little ghee and cashew nuts and elachi powder.

If you want to add colour to the dish mix the food colour to one teaspoonful of water or milk and then add to the dish after adding the sugar.

Recipe for dhideer puliyogere

Recipe for 'Dhideer Puliyogere'

Ingredients:

Tamarind - a lemon size

Red Chillies - 5

Jaggery(powdered) - one spoon

Salt to taste

Gram dal - 1 table spoon

Udin dal - 1 tea spoon

Pepper - 1 tea spoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Ground nuts - 1 table spoon

Gingilly Oin - 2 table spoon

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Curry leaves for seasoning.

Method:

In a thick bottomed pan roast half of the gram dal, udin dal, pepper, fenugreek seeds, pepper without oil. Remove the ingredients. In the same pan dry roast tamarind and salt. Remove the ingredients and keep separately. Now roast 2 red chillies in little oil. Allow all the prepared ingredients to cool. In a mixer bowl first powder the tamarind and salt, then add the other roasted ingredients along with jaggery and make a coarse powder. Now in the pan heat the gingilly oil for seasoning. Add mustard, then add gram dal and groundnuts, asafoetida and finally curry leaves. Allow the seasoning to cool and then add the powdered ingredients and blend all the ingredients together. Mix this puliyogere powder with cooked rice to make puliyogere rice.

The Hindu : Cities / Bangalore : Metro payback

The Hindu : Cities / Bangalore : Metro payback

Chapter - 7

It was study time for the children and both Adu and Ajju were learning new words. Grandpa had bought new erasers for them and the children were fighting over the same eraser for both liked its colour. Grandpa tried to bring in some semblance of order but the siblings were not in good mood to listen. Hence grandpa dangled the carrot in the form of a story and the children who were waiting to evade studies settled near their grandpa for the story.

Grandpa began thus: This story happened many thousands of years back. It's about great grandfather of SriRama. His name was Raghu , and he was a great king ruling over a vast region. Raghu was highly respected and loved by his citizens. He was also very virtuous and simple. He adhered to all the rules laid down in the dharma Shastras and ruled for a long period. Rama is also called Raghavan after his great grandfather Raghu. Raghu's fame lived that long and that is the reason Rama's rule was compared to that of his great Grandfather's.

A poor brahmin in Raghu's kingdom wanted to perform a vedic ritual called Soma Yagyam. It was a fire sacrifice ritual which demanded lots of money. The Brahmin approached a Rishi (so called since they possessed special powers) for help and the Rishi advised him to meet Raghu, since only a king is wealthy enough to spend on such rituals. The Brahmin had heard about Raghu - his mightiness and his benevolent nature. He set forth to the capital city of Raghu's kingdom. After reaching the capital the Brahmin went to the palace and sought audience with the king. The guards standing outside the palace directed the brahmin to the edge of the city. The brahmin was taken by surprise for he did'nt expect a king of that stature to be living outside the city.

After reaching the outskirts of the city he found a lone hut and a man standing outside filling a mud pot with water. The Brahmin went near and inquired the man about the whereabouts of the king. The man with the mud pot queried the brahmin as to why he was looking for the king. When the brahmin told him about the reason of his visit the man revealed that he was indeed the king and that he would help the brahmin. On hearing this the Brahmin was sceptical about the king's claim. The king had just performed a huge sacrificial ritual called Rajasuya Yagam in which he had given away all his wealth to the citizens of his kingdom and was now living in the hut. He asked the Brahmin to hold out his hand , poured water from the pot, and said, "I hereby sacrifice all the credits I've earned by doing good deeds. Please God accept my sacrifice and bless this Brahmin with money". The next instant gold coins rained down. The King requested the Brahmin to take all the gold. The speechless Brahmin with tears in his eyes prayed to the king, " Oh Raghu great king! Not knowing what a great soul you are I suspected your ability to help me. Please forgive me. I have no use for so much gold. I need only hundred coins for the ritual". The king said, "Neither have I any use for this money. I anyway requested money to help you and so please take all the gold".

Grandpa said, " See, children, how honest and simple were people of those bygone days. A king used to kingly lifestyle sacrificed all his comforts and lived a life of a commoner and a poor man refused to accept money beyond his need. So stop fighting , next time before buying anything for you I'll find out your preferences, okay?" and the children said, " It's alright Gramps we are happy with what ever you got and we'll exchange stuff whenever we wanted a particular thing."