Rang Barse.....

Lal, gulabi, neela, pila hathon me liya samet,
Holi ke din rangenge sajni, kar ke meethi bhent......




Holi.. the festival of colors knocks at my door as I sit far very far away from home , remembering and missing my land once again.
Holi also called "Dhulendi" or "Dol Jatra" is a festival to celebrate unity, a festival to resolve differences , a festival to flirt as well. Celebrated on Phagun poornima it celebrates the victory of good over evil. We all know the story of Bhakt Prahlad.
Legends also say that once Lord Krishna had asked Yashoda why he was dark while his beloved Radha was fair. Yashoda facetiously told him to apply some color on Radha's face to make her dark. Krishna applied color on Radha's  face. Since then holi is celebrated as the remembrance of the divine love of Sreemati (Radha's another name) for her beloved Krishna.

Length and breadth of the country celebrates holi with much vigour. Some where like in Mathura its celebrated for 16 days, somewher its named the Lath Maar holi (in Barsana). Temples of Radha Krishna are decorated all over the country and holika dahan happens the night before holi. It is also celebrated in Nepal Srilanka.

Holi is celebrated as Vasanta Utsav (Spring festival) at shantiniketan. The great Nobel laureate  Tagore was so overwhelmed with the festival that it was started as an annual festival.  It is celebrated with a musical flavor. Students teachers all dress in yellow to greet spring. Colors made from palash flowers are used, there is music and dance and fiesta in the air.




As I see another holi pass through, I wait for the day, when we both will be back on our land getting drenched in colors of holi with our loved ones.


Wish U all a very happy holi..

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Koraishutir kochuri

Koraishutir kochuri or matar ki kachuri.. come winters and this fellow would elegantly march from Ma's kitchen to our dining table. Koraishutir kochuri was and still is a must for every winters. We three basking in the winter sun , shelling green peas and chitchatting .. gone are those days.. staying at US I am deprived of this pleasure. I mollify myself by making and then devouring the kachuries.
I start with a cup of frozen peas. Once defrosted coarsely grind them with some green chillies and a little peeled ginger. Do not make the paste too smooth, keep it coarse. Now in a kadhai heat a spoon of oil. Add a pinch of hing to it. Now add the grounded peas. Add a little dry roasted cumin powder. Keep stirring till water from the mixture evaporates and it becomes dry. Remove from flame.
For the kachouri.. knead maida with a pinch of salt , a pinch of sugar and little of oil or ghee and water of course. Make a smooth dough. Make small balls of the maida dough. Fill a ball with the peas stuffing and seal it. Roll into puris. Ma's trick: do not roll the puris too big as the stuffing may come out, keep them small and cute. I used a plastic sheet to roll them into puris. Now comes my hubby's scientific idea(he being a physicists). You do not have to roll the stuffed balls. Just keep it inside the plastic sheet and press with your palm. They would be perfectly round and not even a little stuffing would come out.Now fry the puris on medium flame, my hubby did the honor for me.. Enjoy with pickle or chatni.

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The common man's uncommon rail budget

The third rail budget given by our very own Mamta Di .. the budget she and our PM claim to be a common man's budget.. is it really a good one.. or is it just a voter friendly budget. With the Bengal assembly election at the door step, what could be more luring for voters then promising for 14 new trains to the state. This is completely a Bengal oriented budget. Forum and blogs reflect the wrath of people from other states. Shouldn't  there have been trains which would have covered the length and breadth of the country rather then just her (and my) state. And the so called "DURONTO" trains .. will they not help only by delaying the other train? Cant our ministers just think of improving the existing logistics and infrastructure instead of making hopeless promises? I mean what good is it to start new Durontos and Shatabdis when at the first place night trains at maoist areas are not possible, when train travel is a complete nightmare , when trains get delayed by hours and sometimes days , where Sleeper class is the last place you will find neat and clean, where the railway pantry serves the worst food and where long or short distance express trains the bathrooms are pathetic and most unhygienic.
No hike in fares is ofcourse a welcome in this inflation market, but with the current deficit ever increasing how are we going to come off it. Even a nominal increase in fare would have amounted a lot viewing the traffic on the rails.And it would have not harmed at all if the fare of AC and luxury trains increased by a small percent.Promises like "Housing to all railway employees in the next 10 years." isnt it ludicrous? And what about the pending projects
I dont understand how our PM could approve such a budget.
It agonizing to say .. but sometimes I feel our country should be under president's rule.. a president with no political background but with a vision for India.. a president like may be APJ.. a President who can show the world what we can do when we think much above the boundaries of our states.

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