Pencil Sketch 1

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Horse Painting

This is my painting. As I fee as per mentioned here, Hobbies keep you happy:). One doesn't have to be an expert painter to feel the joy of painting and sketching. Let the colors flow on canvas and you will realize how much more you can do than expected. And its never too let to indulge in new found hobby.

Pocket mein Rocket

Finally, Just few ,months away from Lok Sabha election, congress has shot its most powerful rocket(you can call it  Bramhastra) to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and to form a separate state of Telangana.

The Congress thinking is that the bifurcation will put it in a vantage position in Telangana that has 17 Lok Sabha seats. Moreover other state's regions Gorkha land and Vidarbha are also demanding separation from their mother states. Again congress will promise the formation of these states as one of the agenda for 2014 elections and will win some extra seats as a boon. Food security bill was other rocket congress has used to gain more points for the 2014 polling. May be they are thinking, public memory is short and they will forget Commonwealth, 2G and coal scam. The amount of these scams cannot be computed on digital calculator and common man cannot even read those numbers. They want us to forget it  and remember  their contribution to the development of India like Food security bills and formation of Telangana. After four ministers met PM and voiced their protest against formation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh CM stating it as a suicidal step, the wave of concern has raised through the Congress master minds. While concern about a backlash in Andhra region looms, reflected in the fears of Union ministers, Congress has done a cost-benefit analysis based on its condition in the state with 42 Lok Sabha seats.

                Congress is trying every bit of it to impress public opinion about their last term in the centre and trying to get more positive point in their kitty before striking to LS elections. We have to wait and watch what other rockets Mr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi has got in their pocket to shoot ahead of 2014 elections. But one thing for sure these rockets are destroying Congress and damaging our nation.

Sea Bream fish curry recipe without oil

Sea Bream is a black colored single throne fish. Very testy and good for both Dry cooking(Fish fry or for baked fish in microwave) and curry. Today I have prepared curry. It was awesome. But the best thing about this fish is you should cook it without oil and the flavors coming out are amazing. Below is the recipe of my fantastic cooking experiment.

Ingredients
Onions - 2 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium size
Coconut milk - half a cup
Tamarind pulp - small ball of tamarind soaked in water
Ginger - small piece for marination and 1 small piece for masala
Garlic - 3-5 petals for marination and 3 petals for masala.

For masala
Coriander seeds - 3 tablespoons
Cumin seeds - 1table spoon
Cloves - 3-4
Green cardamom - 2
Black cardamom - 1
Star anise -1
Bay leave -1
Cinnamon stick -1 small
Red chillies - 2

Recipe :
Wash the pieces of the fish and marinet the fish with ginger garlic paste, turmeric and salt. Keep aside till we prepare for curry masala.  Roast all the ingredients under "For masala" heading and grind to the fine dry powder. To this masala powde rwe will add onion and tomato paste. Cut onion in long slits. Heat the pan and saute onions in pan without oil. After onion turns brown add chopped tomato. saute till tamotos get soft and mix well with onion if needed add little water. Allow it to cool before we add this to masala paste  and grinde the mixture again. Make fine and smooth paste. If you think you need more chillies please add more chilli powder and garlic, ginger, turmeric, again grind for a fine paste. After all the ingredients form fine paste, transfer this paste to the pan, add 3 cups hot water to get watery curry once masala starts boiling add coconut milk, Now add marinated fish pieces. Add tamrind pulp and adjust salt. Cover and allow it to cook for 10-15 mins on low heat. After opening the lid you will notice fish has left lot of oil in the pan. This oil is healthy and contain Omega 3 and unsaturated fats which are required for the body. So enjoy healthy and tasty recipe.

If you try this recipe. Let me know your experince....I am listening:)

10 Must see/do things in Dubai

This is my list to help you plan your visit to Dubai.

1) Burj Khalifa and Dubai fountain

Burj Khalifa and Dubai mall  is the main attraction of Dubai. Red line metro station has direct stop to Dubai mall. Travelers are allowed to go 124th floor of Burj Khalifa. It is advised to book for the Burj Khalifa before a week of actuall date you are planning, as advance booking is much cheaper. The best time to visit Burj Khalifa is 5:30PM to 6:30PM in Nov-Mar and 6:30PM-7:30PM from Apr-Oct. So that you can enjoy the day view of Dubai and when sun disappears beyond horizon you can have stunning view of Dubai in night. The roads, cars and building look simply adorable from above. Also you can enjoy astonishing view of Dubai foutain from above. It is one of the best experiences to see fountains from the top.
At the ground floor of Dubai mall you can have look at the fountain show. DO NOT LEAVE DUBAI WITHOUT FOUNTAIN SHOW. It is one of its kind. The Dubai mall also has very good but expensive shops. But restaurants are very good  and offer authentic test, particularly the lebanese restaurants.

2) Desert Safari

Desert safari is a surprisingly good experience particularly if its your first visit to any desert. The Dune bashing or driving in desert is enjoyable. Here you get the true sense of UAE's nature. It is advisable to book with very good tours to get the real fun out of it. Dubai has golden sand desert, sunset is awesome and beyond your imagination of what fun desert can offer to you. You can also have camel ride, henna tatoo,etc. This is included in most of the tours. You can wear arabian cloths and get yourself clicked. The food served is Arabic food generally  Hommus, Kaboos(Arabic bread), Taboulah, Fatous, Kababs(delicious) are on the menu. Belly dancing is also enjoyable. 

3) Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah beach

Burj Al Arab. Yes, the only 7 star hotel in world. There is a photo point on the Jumeirah beach from where you can take photo with the Hotel building as a side view. And there is another photo point at the wild wadi water park to get the photos with the front view of the hotel building. Both the photo points are at walkable distance from each other. Jumeirah beacch is one of the famous beach in Dubai. You can relax and spend some time here.

4) Dubai Museum

Dubai Museum is very artistically desinged and is very informative of UAE's history. They have a shourt documentary film about Dubai's growth n past 80 Years. It also provides information about Dubai's heritage and ancient culture.

5) Dubai Creek

Dubai creek is salt water lake which divides Dubai in two main areas, Bur Dubai and Deira. Crossing the creek via Abra(small wooden boats carrying 10-15 passengers at a time) is a fun ride. Dubai creek is at its best in early morning. At night most of the tours offers Dhow cruise dinner but my experience is not good and will suggest not to waste time and money on dhow cruise dinner.

6) Dubai Gold Souq

Gold is famous in Dubai...naaahhh...Dubai is famous for Gold. And you will be convinced after visitig this market. Souq is arabic word meaning market. You will see tones of Gold in the market but no police(Here law and order is maintained strictly for the residents and travelers ). Desings are too good to resist the temptations to buy ornaments. Also Dubai's gold quality is also authentic and pure. If your country's custom department allows, its worth carrying some beatuful jwellary:)

7) Atlantis hotel by monorail

Hotel Atlantis is situated on Dubai Palms Island which is a man maid island. You can have a Helicopter ride to have an airial view of palms. But if you prefer to go to Atlantis by monorail even then you can see most of the palm fringes from the train. It is recomendade to go to Atlantis before sunset and enjoy Sunset on the front side of Atlantis and return after sunset via monorail. The view of the sun immersing in the sea is simply beatiful and the scattered colours add to the divine beauty. Also Atlantis has some awesome food serving restaurants but you needto book in advance for it to reserve your seat.

8) Dubai Dolphinarium

If you have never seen the Dolphine show visit to dolphinarium is must for you irrespective of your age. Dolphines and seals show is very entertauning and knowledgable. I promise you will fall in love with Dolphines after watching this show. I love that Dolphines are treated respectfully.

9) Dubai Marina

Dubai Marina is the perfect place to see the Dubai night life. Visit this beautiful place for a Dinner. The lighting and boats will steal your heart but don't forget to notice the twisted building. Dubai Marina is directly connected to Red line metro. You can get down at the Marina mall station to visit this beatifully streched road along Marina.

10) Dubai metro red line ride

It is a must do, as you get to see many stunning views of Dubai like Golf course, Emirates towers, DIFC, Dubai airport via red line metro ride. But on weekend evenings Metro is crowded and you can hardly find seat. So its good to go in the afternoon. On Friday mornings metro is closed till 1PM.

This is my list. These are very selective places to be covered if you are planning for 4 Days 5 nights kind of trip to Dubai, But Dubai offers much more than this also for sure.  Share your experience of Dubai with me.

Because you are a woman - Dubai Stories 3

Today, I asked my colleague to get me the iPad which he has borrowed from me for his project some days back. He handed over the iPad to me, I noticed iPad was dusty so I requested him to clean it. While he was cleaning one of my colleague(a lady) who belongs to ME was listening to our conversation, she interrupted saying "How can you ask him to clean that? You have to clean it!". Surprisingly I asked her "Why?". She replied "Because you are a woman. Men should not do cleaning and all. That is women's job". I was shocked to hear this. I have never came across such situation in my life earlier. In my family all males including my father, brother, husband and brother in law get actively involved in household chores. Why only my family? I know in India guys are helping their wife, mother or sister in daily chores. And even if people here are used to have women doing all the cleaning at home. Do we need to drag this attitude to office? I tried my best to convince her that what she thinks is not the way to look at ourselves. But all efforts were in vein. This strange but sadly true.

Dance Bar and Prostitution

After SC verdict, Will the Dance bars in Mumbai be reopened?  I was surprised to see a news on one of the Indian news channel showing how the life of bar dancers has turned miserable after the dance bars are closed. There were some 10-15 bar dancers grieving as there bars are closed and they are not employed yet. Also they are only bread winner in there family. But really in 8 long years these ladies are jobless and nothing good has happened them. Why didn't they ask for government or NGO’s help to get other  job. Are these ladies used to the easy money of dance bars. Are they used to lavish and luxurious lifestyle out of the money from dance bar customers and they are refusing to give up that. Do they want to work in other profession where they have more work and relatively lesser money like that of a household help or a beautician in the parlors or even in any supermarket as a cleaner or anything else which do not need any educational qualification or specific skills. Has that become too difficult for them to find any other respectable job in 8 long years. We cannot ignore the fact that human trafficking is increased because of Dance bars and prostitution.
                    Many unwilling teenage girls are pushed into sex business for money. Dance bars open the doors for prostitution. This happens in the darkest hours of the night in the shadow of society without the light of law and ray of Sun. Mr Patil has taken a bold step to ban Dance bars and was welcomed. But now is it the time to think on next level, Prostitution? Shall we take a bold step to legalize prostitution? Legalized and regularized prostitution can work in favor of society and women involved in the sex business. Blood test for STDs can be conducted periodically compulsorily. One cannot support to legalize prostitution and reduce STD infections like AIDS at the same time. As the women in sex industry are more prone to HIV and likewise they are able to spread the disease to their multiple partners. But regular check up and proper counseling to such women can work in favor. We can have some strict rules for the their customers for the protection to be used. We can have policies on prostitution, brothel ownership, and pimping so that the women get their fare dues and not the pimps and brothel owners. There can be ban on brothel and pimps so that call girls can deal with the customers directly to avoid the middle man. As they are trapped in illegal system, they don’t get their dues, the larger part of the income goes to pimps and brothel owners. It can be made legal, as long as it is limited by fair conditions and terms; a woman's body is HER body and no one else's, therefore she should be able to do with it what she pleases and ban pimp and brothels as they consume her income. If prostitution were decriminalized it would be fair to require that all prostitutes have frequent medical check-ups by sufficient doctors to prevent the spread of STIs. People forcing women and children into the trade could be decreased dramatically because the prostitutes that voluntarily worked could report it to authorities without having to worry about revealing themselves. Nowadays surrogate mothers are renting their womb to another couple then why is our society  not accepting prostitution as any other profession. Workers in the sex industry deserve the same rights as workers in any other trade, including the right to legal protection from crimes such as sexual harassment, sexual abuse and rape...There are some unscrupulous people in all walks of life -government, law, journalism, banking, law enforcement, the stock exchange, medicine, the clergy, prostitution, etc. If every profession were criminalized when some of its members broke the law, there would be few legally sanctioned professions. Unscrupulous people should be summarily dealt with by the law, regardless of which profession they corrupt. The illegal and forced prostitution violates the right to liberty and security, and the prohibition of slavery, of forced labor and of trafficking in persons because millions of women and girls all over the world are held in sexual slavery to meet the demand of even more millions of male buyers of sex, and to generate profits for the capitalists of sex. Studies show that prostitutes suffer high level of physical and mental abuse. Woman are literally sold and bought like property. Prostitution will happen anyway but legalization and regulation will help stem the abuses. We can take better care of women’s health and at least they will get their fare dues and they will not need the curtain of dance bar to hide behind.
                       They have to face Violence at every step. Legalization will lead to rehabilitation of their children and prostitutes who has been infected by STDs like HIV. Time is changing and so is India. We have accepted porn start Sunny Leony as a mainstream bollywood actress. Isn't it a time for us to accept prostitutes as a part of our society. Are we ready to give them the respect and dignity they deserve. 

Encounter with first white hair

This is relatively an older write up. I have written this five-six years back.

My grey cells are overflowing, so much so that they have started to appear on my head. And it’s worrying like anything. I mean I am just 22 and I have started to get grey hairs so soon. One fine day while getting ready for office I noticed one grey hair. I screamed, hey Bhagawan...nahi…yeh kya ho gaya(Ekdam  Bollywood IShtyle). My roommate Sapana rushed to me wondering what is making me so sad. I showed her my grey hair which was spoiling my neatly made office look. She offered to pluck it off. Which I agreed instantly. I am not married yet and don’t have even a boyfriend, I am just out of the collage and this injustice to me. Why God? Why? Sapana was laughing loud and said  “Kato, Gholo aur Lagalo” (This is a famous hair dye add on Indian TV). Hair dye.No…Not so early in my Lifetime. From this day I started to take advices from my mother and all aunties,grannies and started to read beauty magazines on How to avoid grey hairs in early age. Common feedback topping the list was“Tel lagaya karo”. But I regularly oiled my hairs once a week still I am getting grey hairs. May be once a week is not enough for my scalp.  Now it’s time to increase the frequency and I started to oil my hairs twice a week. I used to oil my hairs on Saturday night, leave it overnight  and shampoo my hairs on Sunday morning. Now I stared to oil hairs on Tuesday night as well and get a hair wash on Wednesday before going to office. But Now Wednesdays were getting hectic, had to get up early in the morning, wash my hair then blow dry so that they won’t be wet when I go office. But sometimes I got up late and rushed to Shampoo my hairs which resulted in not taking oil completely out of my hair and I was left with oily hairs like those yesteryears school boys having oiled and neatly combed hairs.  On top of it I didn’t get time to wash my hairs till Saturday as I was really busy on Thursday and Friday. In addition to this sometimes, I didn’t get time to blow dry my hairs so I was forced to walk into office with wet hairs which will take lot of time to dry due to AC. Soon after this experience I gave up the idea to wash hairs biweekly and started to explore better options.

Now the second most popular advise was “Apply Henna once or twice  a  month”. This sounded good to me as I heard Henna also works as a conditioner for hairs. I applied henna on Saturday. After washing my hairs were so dry, No matter how tight I tie them, even the slightest wind will make them come out of the Rubberband and frizzle over my face and head. This looked like I am carrying birds nest on my head. Then I was advised to oil my hair after washing henna. I did so, still situation wasn’t getting better for me. At last I gave up all the trials and accepted my grey hairs as a sign of maturity and intelligence(This is how I learned to be positiveJ). Now sometimes I color hairs with my favorite colour or I flaunt my intelligence boldly on my head.

Keep Moving

Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you have to keep moving!       

                                                                                   - Albert  Einestein

While browsing net I came across this true and inspirational quote from this great scientist. I was wondering what exactly Mr. Einestein mean by “Keep Moving”.  We are moving all time, When we are in school we moved to college, from college to Job. In personal life also we have a girlfriend or boyfriend we broke and we move on:).  We find that right person to spend our life with, get married again we have moved on. Have beautiful kids and then we are engaged in there upbringing. If we suffer any personal or career loss we try to forget and move on. We think we are moving on. But is this what Mr. Einestein meant? I thinks He wants us to move our spirit, to move thoughts, our thinking and stretch our limits  to keep the balance. Balnce between life,work, exercise and hobbies. Which can be achieved by giving away negative thoughts and move on. Ingnore those who don’t believe in you and move on. Keep learning. When we grow we stop learning. So don’t grow up just keep moving and keep learning.

Ramdan Kareem (Dubai Stories -2)

Ramdan. The holy month of charity and reflection will begin tomorrow. In office (Yeh, office is the only place I socialize with locals), everybody is excited. Today all the local girls ordered their favourite food as they will be fasting from tomorrow. Iftar(The evening meal served to break the fast is called Iftar) deals are bouncing around. The office timings are reduced by 3 hours for Muslims and by 2 hours for non-muslims. Yes! In the month of Ramdan I’ll be home by 4PM. This is one of the reasons I keep waiting for Ramdan every year. As Muslims are fasting during day, we are refrained to have food in office at public places. People are advised to have water and food only in pantry. This is in respect of the people who are fasting.  Also most of the restaurants are closed during the day time. And whichever are opened have to put curtain to cover the food and people eating  food  from the sight of those fasting. The Ramdan guideline are issues by office for both Muslims and non Muslims like how to keep energy up in the office during fasting time. If you are non muslim then you should be considerate your fasting Muslim colleagues. People have got their kitchen cleaned up for the Ramdan preparations. Everyone is very excited tohave delicious Iftar for whole month. Some prisoners are pardoned by UAE government on account of Ramdan. It’s a month of charity. People usually donate to those who are poor and needy , worship and thank Allah for his kindness. Dubai will now transform into night city. Restaurants and shops will be open for longer in the night. The supermarkets and malls are decorated in Ramdan theme. “Ramdan Kareem” is the phrase to wish Muslims happy Ramdan. This is similar to wishing somebody “Mary Christmas” or “Happy Diwali". This is my third Ramdan in Dubai, I love Ramdan for the sense of spirituality and calmness it brings along. The whole environment gets magically peaceful and soothing.  Though I am a non Muslim I can feel that. So its rightly said Almighty is one but in different forms. Wish you all Ramdan Kareem.

Momemts and Memories

Every moment we are living will be memory after few days or years. We do not realize the worth of a moment till it becomes memory. So many beautiful moments spent in childhood and during school, collage life which were irritating or sometimes bit painful(like completing assignments or workshop jobs) at that particular time are today's beautiful and funny memories. We never realize the zest of Mansoon like getting drenched and shivering in cold till we are placed in Dubai :) where rain is like "Eid ka Chand". When I look back to find the most cherished memories, it takes me to my childhood. I remember having everyday fights with my little brother, trying new recipes shown in "Khana Khazana by Sanjeev Kapoor" on ZEE TV when aai(mom) is not around and messing all kitchen. Getting hot oils Champi  by Aai. Granny making my favorite dishes after returning from school. And Baba(papa) cutting and cleaning our nails forthnightly.
                 Hostel days were the funny days where I lived my life to the fullest. I cannot forget those dances on bollywood songs. Having Maggi and Upama at 2AM. Washing clothes at 3AM. Waxing each others hand and legs. Also I fondly remember the magical days to prepare for campus interview and that restlessness till results are declared.
                 First day of office is a gem to treasure deep down in heart. We were all new to corporate office culture. First 3 months we had training. We used to address every person entering our training room as 'Sir' or 'Madam'. Today being away from my home country and family sometimes I miss them so terribly that I feel like flying to them. But when I ponder over the point, I feel, I will miss these Dubai days afterwards, so let me enjoy this moment before it becomes a memory. Yes! Yehi hai right choice baby. Ah ha!

Hobbies

Hobbies are so important for one's well being. They not only keep you occupied but also give you a confidence. It is an exclusive time you spend with yourself. We are always busy doing something or other or nothing. Sometimes hobbies become passion and you can get excellence in your hobby taking it beyond. I know people having different hobbies. Sometimes hobbies are periodical, like when I was a kid I had hobby to collect the cricketers photos and game records they have made. But I no longer find it interesting and it’s been couple of decades that I have left that hobby. My brother was having a hobby of colleting small toy cards. He has got nearly 200 cars with him. After we grew up, he gifted those toy cars to our younger  cousins. As we grew up things change largely. This is a phase of transformation from a teenager to Adult. We take charge of our own life. Then comes career, marriage, children, etc. We get too busy in our life we totally forget our hobbies. I know many people complaining they don’t get time for hobbies. Is it really the case or simply we are lazy to continue our hobbies. Or are we wasting our time in doing some other time consuming unproductive stuff like watching TV for hours and hours, spending lot of time on FB and twitter.  
I feel proud to continue my hobbies which excites me like reading, painting, dancing. I am a working women. Here comes my typical day, I get up at 6:30, prepare breakfast and lunch Tiffin for me and husband, pack Tiffin. Get dressed for the office. I reach office at 9 AM and get back to home at 6PM. I take some time to have a cup of tea then after that it’s me and by hobbies till 8:30. Either I paint, go for exercise, read, dance or put an extra effort to prepare and learn some new recipe for dinner. After 8:30 I cook and have dinner by 9:30. At 10 go to sleep. Weekends are also spend with my hobbies and house hold chores like clearing home, going to glossary shop and a nice dinner outside or preparing any special recipe at home or exploring Dubai’s unseen sites or vising or hosting a friend’s party. When my parents or brother come to visit me. They always question “Why do you need to be so hard working? Just Chill and Relax.” But that’s how I am. And the fun is I don’t feel tired. May be that is because I am changing my work and that gives me a rest. As it is rightly said “Change in work is rest”. And keeping away from TV and FB has added time for my hobbies for sure.

Dubai Stories -1

From past couple of months my office location is changed because of the project requirements. In my new office I got opportunity to work with some local girls. No matter what country you come from or what language you speak, girls mostly get connected to each other easily. No wonder in past one month I have become their good friend. All of them are unmarried and are of the same age as me (hhmmm...This does not mean I will let you know my age). We bond over many things like Indian food (particularly Chicken Biryani, Pani puri, Chhole bhature, etc.), shopping, make up etc. They watch Indian movies and ask me so many questions about India. They all love India.  After some days the bond grew stronger and we started to share so many thoughts with each other. They appreciate my cloths and fashion as they have to wear Abaya all the time. Also I could realize they feel bad that they are not married yet. they keep me asking about How do I feel being married. How marriage has changed my life and me.
One of my local friend told me her mother got married at the age of 11 and her father was then 38 years old. I thought she must be kidding but no she was serious and I was shocked to hear the life of her mother. She had six children by the time she was 25. At 25 her husband died and she got married to other man. From the second marriage she got three kids. All her 9 children are living with second husband.  My jaws dropped after listening her story as this was very new to me. I have read such story in one of my favorite book "Thousand splendid Suns" by Khalid Hussaini. I thought such things happen in books and novels only. At least this cannot happen in a place like Dubai. I am glad the things are changing slowly and girls are trying to be independent and trying to live there life.

Away from FB

Human nature is strange. We always count our happiness relatively. May be this thinking leads us to desire for more and more. Facebook makers have captured this thread of our thinking to make money for themselves. First I joined FB in Sept 2010. Initially it was more of a curiosity as by that time FB was talk of the town, city, country, world. I was uploading my photos, chatting with old friend,  but as days passed I was getting addicted to FB. Soon I realized I was using FB as a platform to peep into others lives. But here the fun is you can get to know only those things about people which they are willing to share with you. Everybody has ups and down in life. But Everyone is posting happy thoughts and jolly photos on FB. May it be international vacation or marriage or weekend outing. But slowly it was dragging away focus from my own life. Did following others activity helped me anywhere? I think no. I do not have internet on my phone, still I used to spend 20-30 minutes a day on FB. 30 minutes a day means 15 hours a month which I could have affectively used to learn new recipe, learn drawing. From Sept 2010 to June 2013 I have tried many times to be away from FB, I deactivated my profile but the temptation to be connected ( With whom? and for what? are the questions I ask myself now.) was restricting me.  Finally this time my conviction and my hobbies helped me to keep myself away from FB. Now it’s been 7 days I have quite FB. Really, life is so simple without hi fi electronic gadgets and FB. I am not against the electronics gadgets but one should draw boundary on where and when to use them. Believe me that saves lot of time which can be invested in other priority and important stuff like calling a friend instead of chatting on FB or making a nice recipe for dinner or clearing up you home or exercise. I am sure most of you would have also tried to keep away from FB. So Please share you stories of regular attempt to leave FB :).