Prabha Manda’s Blog

Some incidents in life make us think about other people in other respects. We are used to having a person behave in a certain way, but some incidents change that. Then we kind of find everything faulty. I have seen some people who are in their own worlds, in the sense that they are doing their own stuff, not minding about others in the same situation, now is that wrong? Sometimes it is when you don’t treat others the same as family. The vice versa is also true, its wrong to totally ignore family and get involved in the outside world. There should be a balance, but the balance maybe tilting a bit more on the family side. I tend to think more deeply about such things, maybe I have idle time? not really, when something bothers me , I have to talk it out or express it by writing and that is what this blog is for!!! Talking to an unknown entity- mostly maybe no one too, ! this helps! Then I don’t think about it. Sometimes I think I don’t need to weigh out things and then judge an incident. I can be critical but I do let things go too, else I would be having tiffs with everyone. Anyway that is the end of it. People don’t change much, I do try to at times when I think something is wrong- that is what growing older means, admitting mistakes, learning from mistakes and seeing things from a good perspective and maybe making one thing good, making someone or yourself happy. As you can see, I can wander from one topic to another too!
Now back to housework!
Bye bye!

Was watching a movie called, “Traffic Signal”, its funny in some respects , but not really in some. It is the truth, that people like us who are in comfortable positions try to avoid in everyday life. In the movie they show different people struggling in their own way, but thinking of how it would be if you were in that situation is hard. We are in such denial of reality. The only thing I can learn from it is to live life fully, try to do the right thing.  In the movie almost everyone is doing something illegal! The other movie was “SlumDog Millionaire”. It is the reality so many people live through, it is mind boggling.
People like us living through conveniences throughout life, complain about little things that don’t work, little things that don’t matter in the whole picture at all. There are times a teeny problem seems like its taking over life or like there is no life beyond that, but if you step out of that shell and take a look at yourself you see what exactly it is, and that it is nothing compared to harder things in life. If we only could admit mistakes, laugh at our own mistakes, what a different life it would be. Sometimes we try to look for happiness outside of our home, but looking within promises galore reside.
My best advice [for those who can take it!] would be to live life through the eyes of a child. If you have a child at home, do what they want. I have on many occasions, seen and done things through the eyes of my daughter and it is a refreshing look on life. They do things regardless of all the worries that we have in our head, it is the right outlook, that we fail to have as we grow up and clog our brains with. We live in a cushioned life, any bump seems like a huge one. Take life seriously, but happily, make your  family happy, live life one step at a time and enjoyyyyyyyyyyy.

Movies sometimes make sense!

Ever since a child, almost every summer we used to travel to my grandma’s place. It used to be a close to 24hr journey. We [my brothers and I ]used to look forward to it. Getting a seat near the window used to be a big thing. We used to press our faces against the windows and stare out or in front to take a look at the engine when the train went on a curve. I used to love reading comics on the way too, except that sometimes it used to give me a headache. I remember us trying to start a sometimes acting up fan by inserting a comb into the gap and trying to push the blades to spin, most of the time it used to work. That was the way it was [mostly ]. My parents [back in India] are now traveling on a train right now and while checking the status I was thrown into the thought of how it used to be. Once the train leaves a familiar station its just either mountains or uninhabited land, stones , trees , plants etc, and we are zooming past, sometimes or most of the times it makes you wonder where exactly you are traveling to. The feeling is sort of indescribable, zombie state . It used to be nice, but at the same time a little scary, thinking of what I’d do if left by myself somewhere along the path of the train . Just thoughts you have when you are a kid with imagination running wild. You hear the train making a rhythmic sound, sometimes it used to stop in the middle of nowhere , in the middle of the night, you could hear the noises of nature, see brilliant stars above, it used to be a thrill just to peek out of the window of the train at that hour, admiring the view outside.  Its a while since I wrote the above, but will be  publishing it today! I still yearn for train travel. In the US train travel is impractical unless you have lots and lots of time on hand. I am glad I travelled a lot in trains in the past. Here is a poem that my brother got my attention to today. I used to like it in school. It describes exactly how I used to feel.

Scottish Poetry Selection
– From a Railway Carriage

Here is a short poem by Robert Louis Stevenson about the excitement of a small child as he goes on a railway journey. Some readers may remember learning this poem at school!

From a Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows, the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away on the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

It was a dull day today. Was kind of exhausted just doing daily chores and trying to steal a 20 min nap! Daughter had to have a loose tooth pulled out cos it was hurting her and it had gotten loose by her trying to bite a sesame brittle.
If you go back in the morning like a movie… Its a Monday so I tried to have a second coffee in the morning and thought I’d experiment with some fat free milk- result – it wasn’t good at all- a little later I didn’t give up my attempt and tried to make another baby cup of coffee and it turned out worse cos it was from 2 day old decoction. Now for those who don’t know, the kind of coffee I drink is like a cappuccino, or espresso plus 2%milk, not the American kind that I distaste but have once in a while.

Now fast forward to the coffee shop scene. Daughter had tooth pulled out. Saw the new dentist. Seems OK. Luckily my daughter braved the pulling out with only a numbing gel that they put. Then I was yearning for coffee and so we went to the nearby Barnes and Noble. I must recommend their stuffed pretzel [will they pay me for mentioning it in my blog;-)]. So everyone which includes my 19mth old too ate some of it and we had another one- They have 2 types-one is called a pizza something, the other is spinach and feta cheese stuffed. So the coffee shop perked me up and the coffee helped too- Luckily we got a person who usually does a good job with the cappuccinos [we have had them redo the cappuccinos once - not more because it might be a bit embarrassing and we aren't people who want to make a scene so even a little task of going and saying oh this coffee is really not the way I want seems tedious]. Read a little bit and then got back home.

Now trying to make 3rd grader do homework. Getting back to evening situation, can do with more Barnes and Noble!

By the way made up a poem too
Nothing that coffee and books can cure
Whatever it is that you have to endure

Thats not the one I made up on the way. Forgot that!

A technology update. We got a 23 inch monitor that is an ASUS brand, it looks quite impressive- have to multi task with it, I just tend to maximise the screen I am on and switch between instead of having them side by side- out of habit of course!

Why do people have to pick up an alcohol related drink to celebrate the weekend or end of the day? I get this question when I see people in my subdivision enjoying an otherwise perfect evening. Why does it have to be something with alcohol- why can’t it be water for eg.? I find this terribly stupid. And then the same people will no doubt worry about their kids drinking when they are older. Why first of all start this- How come this kind of culture hasn’t subsided in an otherwise forward country? And then there are immigrants supposedly being ‘part of the country’ doing the same. Its plain disgusting. I hate the whole idea and will never ever be in terms with this. I am surprised at the thinking power [or the opposite] of otherwise sane people.

Last week I was to start my blog- according to who? of course me!!! Anyway I am here now saying good morning to those who read it here in US CST. It is a beautiful morning. A tiny bit sad because my 8 yr old who was stung by a wasp still has a big swelling on her leg and foot, and unable to wear her shoes. My little one is now busy using a dry erase to color her leg and some post-its that she has taken from my office drawer. My plans are to go and get some order into my vegetable garden and to pick some okra before they get too mature to eat! Read somewhere that you can make paper but people who know the number of things I intend to do would say “yah right, paper from okra!!!”

I will now be trying to update my blog everyday whenever I feel like- but the goal is to try once daily at least!
Bye bye for now and have a good day!

If you are freezing ridge gourd/peerkanga/beerakai, either blanch or cook it fully before you do so. My sister-in-law had told me that when she froze it and used it later it wasn’t good, so I experimented and found out that what she had said was right, it matures in the freezer too.
Refer to the following as a guide.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5333.html

A definition of religion [out of the web] : a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny. I wonder why people need ‘religion’ to lead a good life. In the 21st century at least I think there should be a change in our thinking. We cannot be stuck with beliefs to progress.

I  have heard people say, “God in his infinite wisdom created earth and heaven”- I am assuming earth includes life on it too, so my question is , if this article is to be believed

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9126079&source=NLT_AM

then who created life on mars!!!