BIRDS AT THE KARANJI LAKE, MYSORE

I never knew that there was one place in India where we could get so close to birds and that too in a huge cage left open for us. A beautiful lake nearby for us to sit and spend time was another great thing here.

I have heard that peacocks can give us a tough time if we got close. But we took the risk and it paid off well.

THE ROAD TO MYSORE

PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK WITH THE KINGFISHER

I believe this stint of photography has been the most successful attempt that both me and my daughter have made in taking a picture of the kingfisher in our digicam. This kingfisher visits our garden frequently.

Very much like me, my daughter also tends to take everything seriously. I am yet to come out of that lock fully, but lots of training of my mind, I have managed to come out a little.

When we were trying to take a snap of this bird, I saw my daughter getting desperate with every miss that happened, or every mistake she made. The kingfisher hopped and flew from one tree to the other. Many times it just flew away and came back after sometime.She was on the point of giving up, very much like a mathematics problem that never gave in.

Although it was like one blind leading the other, I still spent some time with her explaining that everything in life should not be treated like a school subject or a school exam. I told her that it was important to have some hobbies where we could just enjoy making mistakes and explore without conditions or boundaries.

I believe that that instilled more self belief in her, and relieved her from the burden of having to achieve accuracy, each time she attempted anything.

It is more important to keep getting up and walking tall after every fall, than to just keep winning always without taking any risks.

FROM MY GARDEN

THREE EVENINGS OF MUSIC WITH FR.JOHN SAMUEL

This snap was taken after all the recording sessions on the last day of the BASS group. This was the last part of the whole project at Chennai that Fr.John had planned. The whole project involved the separate recording of the SUPRANO, TENOR, ALTO and BASS groups singing the Holy Sacrament songs of our church and then mixing it together to get the right harmony.

We all know the inaccurate rumour in history that Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. I believe my situation was also of almost the same kind. I could not make it to one practice session before the recording as my sister had been admitted to the hospital. And during the actual recording for three evenings, my father had also been admitted.

From one perspective, it looked pretty odd to go out and sing when there was so much happening at home. But my father while on the hospital bed, told me that I should go as I had committed for the same. Besides there was a time when I was pretty young and was battling for life, when my father had promised that I would render my service for the church in some form. He reminded me about this atleast thrice.

Otherwise I felt real happy singing for this compilation. It was challenging as one had to remember a lot of tunes in a short span of time and so a knowledge of reading the music notes was vital.I was really lucky that I was in the company of Elias and Deepu(standing to my right), who were much better BASS singers and who were also much familiar in reading the music notes. It was nice to be a part of a professional recording while my singing was mostly home grown.

Fr.John is an inspiration. Blessed with an amazing voice, it was great to see him get the best out of all of us. He was able to spot even the smallest discord. I felt blessed standing beside him for singing one of the difficult and deep bass numbers. When I left our church on the night of the final day, I felt immensely satisfied.

SCRIBBLES ON DUST

SHREDDED MUSHROOM CURRY

This Sunday I got the opportunity to get back to cooking after a long time and I tried out mushroom curry. It was lip smacking and believe me you are going to like it too. This was the first time I was trying out making a mushroom curry with this approach and I think it came out well by sheer accident. I believe you also should try it out especially when you have the time to relax and enjoy a cooking experiment.

One funny thing that happened in the middle of the cooking was that the mixer's opening gave way and a part of the puree found its way to the bottom of the kitchen's shelf and some on to my head. Otherwise it was real fun. I normally get into a wild singing mode while am cooking and that good mood reflects in the results too.

Here is the recipe. Give it a shot.

Slice 2 big onions and 3 tomatoes into medium pieces.
Slice a small piece of ginger and 3 pods of garlic
Seperate peas from about 10 green peas pods
Keep 1/4 kg of oyster mushroom shredded. It is this shredding of the button mushrooms that brings a big difference to the curry. Putting the mushrooms inside as buttons gives a totally different taste.

Pour 4 teaspoons of oil into a shallow open pan and keep it on a medium flame. 
Add a small quantity of mustard and once the bursting starts, add the onions and saute, till the onions get a shade brown.
Add ginger and saute and then garlic and continue the sauteing.
Add the tomato pieces and saute. Add some water so that the tomato gets a little cooked.
Take the pan off the flame and transfer the contents into the mixer's jar. Whip the contents for about 2 to 3 minutes and keep the puree ready.
Pour 4 teaspoons of oil into a shallow open pan and keep it on a medium flame.
Add a small quantity of mustard and once the bursting starts, add the puree carefully using a large spoon.
Add the mushroom and peas into this mix and pour sufficient quantity of water so as to spread around the mushroom.
Add one teaspoon of chilli powder, one and half teaspoons of coriander powder, a pinch of turmeric and 3/4 teaspoon of gharam masala.
Add salt in small pinches and keep checking the taste slowly to spot the minute differences in taste till you get the final right one.
Leave the contents to boil for about 15 minutes so that the curry gets a little thick and then switch of the flame.
The mushroom curry is now ready for you.
A few chappatis and rice can form a hit combo with this curry. Go for it!!!