His Jasmine

Today Siddhant was the happiest man on earth. Jasmine had toped UPSC and she was selected for the Indian Foreign Service. Happiness crossed all bounds for Siddhant. The path till here was paved of perseverance , dedication and his and Jasmine's sacrifices and Aliya's wishes and blessings.
Aliya's favorite flower was jasmine. A quarter century back this very day, she had told him about their love coming into this world. Their marriage was not excepted by any body, but nothing mattered to them. And with the news of the new member, Siddhant could not ask for more. Life was so beautiful. But god had other plans. Aliya had just few breadths to hold her new born and whisper into Siddhant's ears her last words " Let her conquer her world", and the next moment she was gone. Life came to a standstill that moment for him, but he had to come out off it bravely only for the sake of their love.
Friends relatives all asked him to remarry, they all said "a girl needs a mom the most". But he proved them wrong. It was not easy bringing up the baby girl. Sleepless nights, tiring days , but he made it. It was joyous to watch her take her first step, and ecstatic to hear her first "PA", sometimes irritating when she made the same mistake in maths a 100 times, and embarrassing  to tell her how to deal with her monthly best friend. He was not successful at professional life, but he never felt sorry for that.Today she was the most beautiful successful woman of his world. Oh , how earnestly he wished Aliya to be at his side now, at this happiest moment.
For Jasmine, Pa was her life. She had grown up telling Pa everything ..her mischiefs, her fights, her applauds, her crushes. But when Arun came into her life, things changed. She started lying to Pa, to go out with Arun she gave excuses of friends. Somehow she did not dare tell him about Arun. With Arun everything was the best. It was as if she was a new person. They were the handsomest of couple in the university. But Arun did not have the courage or heart which her Pa had. He was too frail to stand up to his parents. As destined he dumped her. That night she cried her heart out on Pa's lap.And Pa didn't question. Somehow he knew all without telling. He just stroked her hair with the softest affection . If love hadn't given her such a blow, she would never have realized Pa's unconditional and selfless love. And probably she would never have fulfilled her, Pa's and Ma's dreams... dream to conquer her world. As she got up today to a beautiful day, she made a promise to herself that she would never marry, and a promise to build an abode for those Jasmines who are not fortunate to have a PAs and MAs.

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Bread Uttpam

I am a great fan of South Indian dishes. During my childhood we(Ma Baba n myself) religiously went to this "Coffee House" a stone's throw distant from my house and devoured the humongous dosa. The dosas were as crispy as paper and the aloo masala inside was divinely tasty and full of kaju kishmish. I have never ever tasted any dosa to compete with the "Coffee House" one's. Dosas , uttapams, idlies , vadas .. are all my favorite.
So instant south indian recipes are always a treat.I had once tasted this bread uttapam somewhere. Today for the Sunday breakfast I thought of trying it out.

What you need:

Few slices of bread, 1/2 cup sooji , 1 cup curd, a pinch of hing, a pinch of baking soda, salt to taste, 

chopped onions, ginger, chillies, coriander.

Mix the sooji, curd, hing , baking soda and salt in a bowl. Keep for an hour. 

After an hour, add the chopped onions, ginger, chillies, coriander to the mixture. Spread the mixture on one side of the bread slices. Heat a non-stick tava , add little butter or oil. Fry the bread slices with the mixture side down. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Flip and fry the other side. Serve hot with sauce.

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Pyaz posto (Onion poppy seed)

Again back to square one after about 4 weeks of holiday at home, deciding what to cook daily has become a puzzle. At Kolkata it was a feast daily with all favorite recipes cooked by Ma and Sasu Ma.. from Bhapa Ilish, Koraishutir kochuri, Mangsho,Mochar Ghonto,Lal Shak (oh its an infinite list) to desserts of Gulab Jamun, payesh , Pithe.. ah I am missing Kolkata.. :( ..
We had decided not to indulge in non veg for a little time after our return so this saturday I decided to go for a            simple meal with a posto recipe.
We Bengalies are a great fan of posto, the most favorite of all is the aloo posto. Then we have potol(parval) posto, posto r bora, dherosh(bhindi) posto. But I (rather I should say "WE") kept it more simple.. Pyaz posto. This is one of my hubby's recipe and he really makes it devastatingly delicious.
So here goes the recipe.
3-4 tablespoon Posto (Poppy seed) soaked in water for 2-3 hour. Make a thick paste of 3-4 green chillies and soaked posto.
Slice a medium onion. Heat oil in a kadai. Add sliced onions and 2-3 slitted chilies (depends on how hot you prefer). Fry for a few minutes. Add salt and a pinch of turmeric. Now add the posto paste. Keep frying. You can simply remove it from the fire once the paste is dry.. but my hubby makes it more amazing.. He adds a little mustard oil in the middle of the posto in the kadai and keeps frying the posto in small amounts from the sides.. he fries it till the pyaz posto changes color to light brown.
A simple n very tasty recipe goes great with rice n daal.

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Egg rolls

With my exams over and few days left before flying to India, I decided to try out something different from the usual sabzi roti for dinner. Since my hubby loves eggs I decided to make every bong's favorite snack egg roll. Oh we bongs love to devour egg roll. Every lane of every colony in Kolkata has a stall of these mouthwatering egg rolls. And they are too easy to make at home. 

So I started with 4 parts of maida , 2 parts aata, you can change the ratios as needed, more or all of maida will make it more tasty while more of atta would make the roll more healthy). Add a little of melted butter for moyan and a pinch of salt. Kneed the dough as you would for paratha. Adding a little of buttermilk or milk would make the roll crisper. Keep it aside for an hour or so covered with a muslin cloth. Make roti balls and roll the individual balls into round parathas. Beat eggs (I used 5 eggs for 7 parathas) in a bowl. Add green chilies, corinader , chopped onion. Now what I did was, I cooked the paratha a little without any oil. Then adding a few drops of oil in a non stick pan, poured 2-3 spoons of egg batter in the same shape as the parathas(actually my hubby did this part for me). Then I kept the half cooked paratha over the egg. Flipped it around when the egg side was done. You can directly put the paratha over the egg without cooking the paratha before. Or you can first put the paratha on the pan with a little oil, while the lower side is being done pour 2-3 spoons of egg batter on the upper side. Once done place roll on a flat surface with the egg side up. Add julians of cucumber,onion chilies in the center and pour some tomato sauce. Roll the paratha and cover half of it with kitchen paper. Your mouthwatering egg roll is ready to be served and hogged.

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Life is beautiful

There she sat in the park watching her daughter Ananya play with Deep. Suddenly her eyes were flooded with tears. Today Payal was the happiest woman in the world, a sweet daughter , a loving and caring husband and a respectable vocation what else can one need in life. But ten years back she would have never dream t of such a life.

Born to a very orthodox family, Payal was the fifth daughter in a row. Because all were expecting a boy atleast this time, she was welcomed only by her mother. Within a year of her birth, her mother was again rushed to the maternity ward , but this time it was boy. Being the youngest daughter didnt help her much. Her mother was always occupied by the tantrums of her baby brother. The elder sisters were responsible for cleaning and feeding her and yes they showered all their love on her. But somewhere something was missing. At the age of two she got her first polio attack, no one would have a guessed what a meager fever would turn into. Three months later she landed up with a crippled leg. Things changed much after that.Her name became the irony of her life. She was confined indoors , could not run and play with her friends. Her only friends were her books. Thanks to her mother who fought for her to get her admitted in the same school as her brother, she surpassed all in studies. At the tender age of ten she wrote her first poem and never looked back after that. Payal dedicated her first novel to her mother.

And then one fine day, she had gone to one of her colleague's birthday party. Shy and introvert Payal sat at one corner admiring people laughing chatting dancing. And there in another corner sat Deep sketching the shy girl. For a flick of a second their eyes met and Payal felt her heart leap. The next second he was gone. Two days later they again met, this time in a local train. Accidently or intentionally they took the same train to their office. Friendship bloomed between the two. But Payal started drifting apart when she felt they were getting emotionally bonded. No she did not want to blemish his life. He was the only son. How could she mar the dream of his parents' .. the dream of a perfectly fit daughter in law. Neither did she want any pathos from Deep. She was resolute to live life on her terms with her head held high. But it was agonizing to keep away from him, to decline his requests to meet, to not pick up his calls. Days passed and the affliction of separation bore a mark on her. She had deeply loved him. Then one day Deep stood at her door knocking. He looked lean and tired. She could not help but beckon him inside. Payal's heart skipped a beat. She felt like hugging him tight, crying her soul out with her head on his broad shoulders. But no she could not afford to be weak. She stood there tight lipped waiting for Deep to speak out. And Deep spoke with a voice as wet as his eyes , "Payal.. accept me as a part of your life. May be you can live without me but I can not.". Somehow she could no more restrain herself. She dropped her head on Deep's lap and started weeping like a baby. She could never believe someone so good and adept like Deep would want her as his wife. Really love knows no bounds. And to her surprise Deep's parents accepted her with all their hearts. Perhaps they knew more than anybody else what would give Deep true happiness.
Ten years had passed since then. Payal gave a deep sigh. "Life is really beautiful" she murmured to herself. "Ananya would rise to the peak. She would carve a niche for herself ".. as Payal's mother had always dreamt for her, she dreamt the same for her daughter.

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To her with love

Today is 3rd of June. Two years back , this day Aru was with Meenal. It was her birthday and just 2 days later was Aru's birthday. Since last few years they had been celebrating both of their birthdays together on the same day. They had outed the whole day, had a beautiful candlelit homemade dinner. But today Aru is all alone. He has just returned from the Village hospital. Tired and exhausted he lies on the cot of his small quarter. He tries to dose off, but thoughts keep propping up. They had loved each other so much , rather he still loves her. But he is not destined to be married. He has more important aspirations. and he never blamed Meenal for leaving him. On the contrary he is very happy for her. Ma told him two days back that Meenal is getting married by the end of the year. The boy is an architect by profession settled in Pune. Good for Meenal , she does not have to leave her job.
Meenal and Aru were neighbors. They had grown up together. Although Aru was 3 yrs elder to Meenal, they were friends. They had never proposed each other but they and their families knew about their unfathomable love. Nothing could have gone wrong between the two, and nothing actually did. Meenal just after completing her engineering got a job in IT at Pune. She was waiting for the day when Aru would finish up with his medical studies. Love although unspoken was dreaming big in her eyes. But for Aru, life was moulding a different shape. With the complete of internship in a rural area, the truth dawned on him , the truth of how badly he is needed in these rurals. The plight of villagers suffering and dying because no doctor would come to a village , brought tears into his eyes. He decided to give up all his riches and luxuries of urban life for these poor souls. He was sure his parents would understand, and yes they did. But to tell Meenal was an agonizing pain. And she cried and shouted and yelled, but nothing could make Aru stay back. He never wanted her to come with him. Why should she sacrifice all for him to get nothing? No , he was happy that she parted ways. Two years have passed since then. Remembering all the nostalgias , Aru doses off.

The next day he wakes up to rural fresh air and chirping of birds. Suddenly last nights' thoughts make him sad. But then he rememberes he is here for a cause, he loves this village, its people their innocence. He loves it when he heals and cures them.This is a transcendental happiness.
After getting ready he reaches the small 2 room hospital.There is a hue and cry. The only nurse of the hospital is carrying tiny bundle in her arm. As Aru approaches the nurse, he is taken aback. It is an infant hardly a week old. Someone had left her on the door of the hospital. The moment Aru takes the baby in his arm, she smiles.Oh the moment is so divine. Aru gives a peck on the forehead and whispers "You are my Meenal"..

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Pomfret in tomato gravy

My husband simply loves fish and thanks to him after marriage I have started devouring fish like never before. previously it was mostly him cooking fish, but recently I have started trying my hand in all possible fish recipes. We bengalies are fanatic about fish(except me.. I never liked fish atleast before marriage) and only fresh water fish is preferred.So we usually get Rohu and Hilsa (every bong's favourite.. we call it ilish), and have tried various concoctions with these. A day back we bought lovely looking pomfret. Now hubby and myself both have tasted pomfret but never have known how to make it. So the sunday was dedicated to the lovely pomfret and my cuisine unbelievably turned out very tasty. So heres the recipes for all those pisces lovers.
You need to have:
4-5 pieces of pomfret
2-3 gloves garlic and a little ginger, grate and pound them.
tomato puree
2 tablespoons curd,
chopped chillies , coriander.
Smear the fish with turmeric, salt a drop or two of oil and a drop or two of lemon jiuce. Keep it aside for half n hr or so(you can keep it for less time). Fry the marinated fish pieces till golden on both sides. Now for the gravy, heat oil in a kadhai. Add cumin seeds and small stick of cinnamon. Let it crackle , then add the pounded ginger garlic. Fry for 2 minutes now add chopped tomato or tomato puree, chillies, salt turmeric. Fry til oil separates add the curd. Fry for a few more minutes. Add jeera powder and if you want really hot then red chili powder, a pinch of sugar. Fry a few more minutes , making sure that the masala doesnt burn off. Now add a cup of water.Let it simmer for 5-8 minutes. Add the fish pieces after 8 minutes keep it on simmer for another 5 minutes and switch off the oven. You can restrict the water amount as per thickness of the gravy. garnish with chopped coriander and serve with steaming rice. Enjoy!!

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