The Evening

We had an awesome time on his birthday because he made it all about me and Sunshine. So typical of him. He let me do the things which I had planned for him, but he had planned so much more for us. He is always thinking of his family and friends and ways to make others happy. I guess that is what makes his soul even more beautiful than his physical self.

He put me ahead of himself that evening that changed my life forever. We had gone out with a bunch of friends to celebrate a birthday and were all returning home. Although we had a lot of fun as can be expected of a young bunch of friends who had just started working and were earning good money, we were all tired and eager to get back home. All of us were trying to hail auto rickshaws and it was a bit difficult as it was a busy time. Everybody managed to get into the couple of autos that finally stopped for us and I was the only one left behind. He had a motor bike, so he offered me a ride and I accepted happily. We were crossing the road to the place where his bike was parked and I was immersed in my conversation with him. The next second, everything went black. I do not know how long I stayed that way, but I felt someone pick me up from where I was lying. He was talking to somebody on the phone frantically. I felt my body giving away and my head collapsed on a warm chest and strong hands held me up by my waist so that I do not fall down. There was excruciating pain all over my body, but I felt safe and comfortable in his hold. I protested when I was gently eased to the backseat of a car. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my closest girlfriend sitting next to me. 

I turned left to see the mangled mess that once used to be my arm. I looked up to see his worried face and turned around to see my girlfriend almost in tears or maybe she had wiped away her tears. I said, "I think I broke my arm". All the friends in the car smiled - probably relieved to see that I am fully conscious and am talking again. They took me to a nearby hospital in the taxi and he followed us on his bike. 

I was rushed through x-rays and some other tests and finally they brought me out to the waiting area on a wheel chair. I saw my friends waiting for me and he was pacing behind their seats. He turned around, our eyes met and I couldn't help smiling. I looked at all my friends and continued smiling. Everyone remarked later on that they found it amazing that a person with a badly broken arm, a broken foot and bruises all over could smile like that. I am pretty sure they have all forgotten about it now. But he never forgot my smile that night. He has told me that he carried that image in his heart and it has helped him overcome the darkest moments of his life. 

How did I ever get so lucky to have him think of my one smile that way? I have no answers. But what really left me speechless is how he picked me up that night - for the first time.

His Big Day

His big day is coming up next week. He is the man of my dreams. He is the love of my life.

One day many many years back, in a conference room in a posh hotel, as I sat with a group of people working on our team building activity, I heard a voice dismissing all our ideas as downright childish. I looked up with barely hidden irritation to see someone leaning casually against a table next to the one we were all sitting at. He was tall with a lean but muscular build which was not yet in vogue at that point in time. He looked around the table with his piercing hazel green eyes and his smirk seemed to challenge us to disagree with him. He even had a couple of wing men on either side and looked every bit a playboy. His smirk transformed into an almost-smile when our eyes met and I looked away.

He dragged a chair and sat at our table and started speaking. Within minutes, everybody forgot his obvious display of arrogance and dived deep into discussions about his ideas because they were damned good and he had a way with words and a great sense of humour which made people like him instantly. Later in the day, my girlfriend and I were standing in the corridor outside my room when he saw us and walked towards us. He introduced himself and in a matter of minutes, we were all talking and laughing like old friends.

Our easy friendship continued for many months and we could talk to each other about anything under the sun. There was never any undercurrent or tension between us because despite my initial impression, he was no playboy. In fact, he was the exact opposite of that - a perfect gentleman. He was a charmer alright, but I have never seen him take advantage of anyone. We were like two guys hanging out together, mostly with a bunch of other friends. Until one fateful evening, we had that perfectly platonic friendship which did not require any label.

Back to earth - I am baking a tiramisu cake for him. Not just because he loves tiramisu, but also because tiramisu means 'pick me up'. He picked me up - not just that evening, but every time since, whenever I needed to be saved.

Oatmeal Cookies (Whole Wheat)

This recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

Walnuts - 1 cup
Butter at room temperature - 3/4 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Pear - 1 medium
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Oats - 3 cups
Raisins - 1 cup
Milk - as required

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Toast walnuts on a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Cool and chop coarsely.

Puree pear with milk, if required into a smooth paste. Beat butter and sugar in a stand mixer until pale. Add pureed pear and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Sift flour, bakind soda, salt and Cinnamon into the above mixture and beat at a slow speed.

Finally, add oats, walnuts and raisins.

Using an icecream scoop, place cookie batter on a parchment lined baking sheet with enough space between each cookie. Flatten the batter with a fork or your fingers.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown around the outer circumference.

Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Cookies, Grissini and Friends

The weekly play date that moms organised for Sunshine and his friends, which DH calls mom's gossip date, started again yesterday after a rather longish break. We had to take a break because of Ms Positive's loss. Since it was after a while and it was going to be a full house, I decided to do some baking. I made some oatmeal cookies adapted from, Joy of Baking recipe. I replaced the egg with a pureed pear and some milk to make it into a paste and the all purpose flour was replaced by whole wheat flour, except for a couple for tablespoons.

I also baked some whole wheat grissinis since everyone in the family seem to be addicted to them at the moment and has been munching on the store bought ones. I hope I can convince them to switch to the home baked ones instead.

It was so much fun to have all the kids running around in our apartment although I wished we had a bigger place with a garden so that they have more place to play their messy games. I generally don't stop Sunshine from messing up the living room since his grandparents are using his room at the moment.

Ms Positive and her family joined us for dinner later and it was a fun afternoon and evening. I went to bed feeling happy although I was tired.

Lotus Seed Pod Hoax

I had the misfortune of seeing the lotus seed pod hoax photo and had two excruciating days following it. A disgusting photo of an alleged skin disorder which is apparently caused by the use of some kind of soap or shampoo is doing the rounds. If anybody clicks on it, your computer gets infected by virus or malware. But for unfortunate souls like me who suffer from some sort of phobia, just looking at the snap downloads nightmares and disgusting images into the brain.

I was unaware that I had any kind of phobia until that fateful day that I set my eyes on that cursed snap. It is a lotus seed pod photoshopped onto the snap of a person's hand to make it look like a disturbing skin disorder. After watching it, the image started flashing in front of me wherever I looked. I couldn't sleep at night and felt suffocated and nauseated most of the day. My body would start itching all over at random times during the day. I could do most of my work and household chores on autopilot, but I was very disturbed. I thought it will go away after a while, but when I couldn't take it anymore, I decided to face it and overcome it. I searched google to find out that it is a hoax and no such condition actually exists. But even after I got this information, there was only mild relief.

I googled lotus seed pod images and looked at about a hundred of them. I tried pranayam and meditation and chanted  over and over again that it is just a flower, a beautiful creation of nature and nothing sinister. I feel much better now, but when I shared this incident with some friends yesterday and as I type this out today, I get mild itching and nausea, but atleast it is nowhere near as intense as it was.

I am trying to be positive about this and think that I just discovered a problem I had and I am still trying pranayam and positive suggestions to overcome it completely.

Feeling Sorry

I have joined the rest of the world, including the opponents Germany in feeling sorry for Brazil. I had sat down to watch the semi-final match of the 2014 football world cup and was supporting Germany, but after the third goal by Germany, I started feeling bad for the hosts, Brazil. I couldn't believe what was going on. Instead of a tough nail biting match that I had expected, it was a one sided match which was so completely dominated by Germany that they stopped celebrating their goals after a while.

I went to bed after 55 minutes because I did not want to see Brazil's humiliation any more. When I went to bed, the score was 5-0 and when I got up, it was 7-1. Poor poor Brazilians. I felt hardly any joy at Germany's victory although I was supporting them. Hope they don't let it get into their heads and play well in the finals.

Today was a back breaking day for me. I had to finish a training at work and pass some tests with 80% correct answers. Then I had to assist the maid in the weekly cleaning, clean the fridge, make jam from some strawberries and raspberries that were showing signs of going bad, stow away some stuff in the cellar, load the washing machine and hang the clothes, empty the dishwasher and load it again apart from making a warm lunch and a warm dinner. I even managed to call my mom and talk to her after many days. I guess I will pat myself on the back.

Home Remedy

Garlic is my magic pill. For cold, I grate garlic into some olive oil and apply it in the nose, ears, throat and chest and repeat it a few times every day until the cold is gone. A friend of mine told me that diluted apple cider vinegar can be used to bring down fever. A couple of days back, Sunshine started the day with a bit of temperature. So we decided to keep him at home although he wanted to go to his kindergarten. During the day, he seemed to get warmer and finally I decided to measure his temperature.

He wouldn't let me stick the thermometer in his mouth; so I decided to check the temperature of his armpit. But he wouldn't let me raise his shirt, so I had to measure over the cloth. Before the thermometer beeped, he pushed it away and the reading was 39.5. So, I assumed that the real temperature might be somewhere close to 41. His grandparents panicked, but I remembered that his doctor had once told us that 41 for kids is not the same as 41 for adults. So, I decided to try my friend's home remedy before taking him to a doctor.

I mixed 1 part apple cider vinegar with two parts water and dipped a face towel in the mixture and wiped down Sunshine's body and face. He complained about the smell and cried because the towel was too cold. However, I could feel his body temperature dropping already. Later, DH returned from work and measured his temperature and it stayed normal. Yesterday, we decided to keep him at home so that he gets some rest, but instead he was out playing in the sun and later in water, but his temperature stayed normal. He had a bit of running nose at night, but he went to the kindergarten today.

I always try to avoid taking medicines for small ailments and these days I am convinced this is the right way since I hear so much about drug resistant variants of diseases from my friends in the medical field. I am glad my friend told me about this very simple and effective in my experience remedy for fever. I hope it is of use to others as well. I am trying to spread the word over FB and Whatsapp and other social media.