Wednesday

Progressed?? Really? Sincere letter to fellow Indians

Hello Fellow Indians,
How are you all doing? It's been 10 long years that I left my homeland to pursue the dream that I along with my husband saw for a better life, enriched life and quality family time when we set up our temporary home in USA. Temporary coz we still had and have our roots strong back home in India. We came here with a plan of staying for few years, saving enough for  a comfortable life back home, to pursue our passions, do what we might want to and give our kids  a financial stability. Is it such a big deal/wish that you all taunted us, laughed at us, mocked us and made fun of us that each time we returned to USA our new home, with a feeling of loneliness, emptiness and a feeling of abandonment within our hearts. With each trip, our love and hope for our dream kind of died  a slow death. We read about how great life was back home, how people had found new rays of financial freedom, and how return to India was fast flourishing, professionals who had returned were making a huge deal of how great their life had become, their wives were raving about how they lived king size and did no work as they had  a fleet of maids and etc etc.Ideally they were living our dream. Part of us thought of dropping all we had here and going back, to our glorious careers and  giving up the dogs life working for someone 9-5 Monday to Friday.  The progress in the newspapers and revenue figures were doing the talk that India the new age formula for success was what all about. The issues of political instability, terror attacks and the day to day corruption to get smallest work done did not make any space in our mind, Common Man making rally's Anna Hazare's Lok Pal bill agenda were showing promises, The RTI/Right to Information started making sense to us. We kept trying to strike a balance between our Indian roots and American lifestyle, trying to make our kids more Indian than kids in India. Regular rounds of Hindi School, shloka classes, Indian dance forms were kept alive in our hearts and homes.

But then instances that happened tore our conscious and made us question , is this the India that we left behind? is this the same set of people who throw their old parents and fight with siblings over petty property maters? is it the same India where class and caste discrimination had gone leaps and bounds? where neighborhood love and watch has lost its identity in the huge high rise towers? IS this new age Indian really progressed? Has the Indian mindset really Progressed? Female Infanticide is still existent in great numbers even in Metro cities, Girls are not safe from eve-teasing, Women of all shapes and sizes are also not spared from un-needful touching, being in public places stirs a caution in the mind of a girl's father, Girls are still Girls in this progressive India....News flashes that I saw on TV last few days and then the entire weekend about the poor girl who dared t o live her dream and do what she liked, faced the consequences of dreaming the dream in Progressed India?

TO think about it, there were about 30 guys who abused her and the media and the cameraman with his crew simply took coverage and publicized the NEWS. The entire neighborhood watched and gasped, not one lady/women came to her rescue, there would have been a minimum of 100 women in that neighborhood, each having at least 2 hands and 5 sets of slippers at their disposal, but they were too lame to come ahead jointly and save the poor girl from the beasts, these citizens of progressed India have no right to be called Humans as their deeds are no less than the beasts, The Concept of "To each his own" is shining in the new progressing India, what my father goes, mere baap ka kya jaata hain, uska hain woh hi dekhe, is so prominent that it scares us to return home. The guys were no doubt at fault, but they just raped her body, the media and the people who watched the whole tamasha raped her mind and conscious as well. Who is at fault, the perpetrators who committed the crimes, the girl or the media who publicized the matter by showing the clips again and again to keep the fire burning?



Hence, I am writing to you all;
1. who mocked us and made fun of us apparently to hide your jealousy and lack of ability to have worked hard to achieve and try live your life;
2. who call themselves proud Indian, but do nothing to make India proud of you;
3. who say what can a Common Man do, after all he is too common;
4. who forget India's Independence day but start planning for Valentine's day a month ahead;
5. who forget to give is to get;
and lastly to all Indians who have forgotten the values of Humanity and Humbleness, who line up from 4AM on the stairs of the temple to worship the goddess, but treat their wives, and women folk like a piece of dirt;

Kindly make an effort today, to rejoin the lost human emotions that made us different than the animals around us, IT was god's wish that we be Humans and not the animals, he blessed us with the gift of brain to think and language to use it wisely. Cannot bear to see the Cherished heritage of Glorified India going to the dogs.

Yours Truly;
 An (NRI) Non Resident or Not Required (is for you to decide)Indian


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Tuesday

Herbed Croutons

Hello dearies... how is the summer heat and sun treating you all. Our summer has been the usual kind so far, weekends getting busier than the regular weekdays. June was a birthday month where I had been to a minimum of 3 birthdays so far...June is again special for me as My birthday and wedding anniversary is also in this month.

I am trying to get my kids in the kitchen to learn the basics of food and getting used to the idea that even if something fails, it need not see the garbage can, you can still try to save it and make something new from it. Since my idea of making home made pav/rools failed and flopped big time, I had a full batch of rolls/pav on hand which had baked well and tasted even better, but the whole softness and  the melt in your mouth was missing. I followed the recipe to the T, yet it sank my ship. so out of that disaster, these croutons were born. Here in Ashland , we enjoy croutons like  a snack, topped with melted cheese, on salads, or in soups. The recipe as such is very simple, either use store brought bread slices, stale or day old bread works better than soft fresh ones. I made these croutons with  my failed recipe of whole wheat pav/rolls.
 
You will need;
any amount of leftover bread, diced into big cubes
oil enough to coat them
Herbs like black pepper, rosemary, sage and Salt to taste

** YAY!!. the herbs are from my kitchen garden.

***You can  use the garlic rolls, instead of the bread.

I went ahead with simple, dicing the bread, coating with oil, salt and herbs. Spread it on a cookie sheet. Crank the oven to a good 400 degree F, and roast the croutons. Watch them like a hawk as they burn so easily. Turn off the oven just when they change color to a pale brown( I used wheat flour for my bread). IF using any white bread, turn off when it starts getting toasted. Let it stay in the oven for 2-3 mins more and then remove and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled enjoy them in salads, or soups. or if are like us, snack on them.



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