Home Provision master list

I: Lentils

1. Toor/Arhar  Dal
2. Bengal Gram
3. Roasted gram
4. Green gram 
5. Yellow split dal
6. Rajma
7. Kabuli Chana
8. Black Chana
9. Black eyed lentil(Karamani)
10. Raw peanuts(kadalai)
11. Urad dal

II: Rice

1. Raw rice
2. Boiled rice
3. Brown rice
4. Basmati rice(white or brown)
5. Idli rice

III: Tempering items/Masalas

1. Mustard
2. Fenugreek
3. Red chillies
4. Pepper
5. Turmeric
6. Coriander seeds/Coriander powder
7. Cumin seeds(Jeera) /Jeera powder
8. Garam masala
9. Kasuri methi
10. Biryani items(Bayleak, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cardamom, Black cardamom, Royal jeera, Mace, star anise)

IV: Oils

1.  Oil of choice
   ( I buy groundnut oil for frying, Gingelly oil and coconut oil for cooking from local "Chekku" oil mill. I also have Olive oil for sauteing, salads, continental cooking)

V: Flours

1. Rice flour
2. Whole wheat/Multigrain flour
3. Gram flour
4. Ragi flour
5.  Maida(I do not buy this)

VI: Beverages/Bakery/Other items:

1. Tamarind
2. Health drinks
3. Tea
4. Coffee powder
5. Green tea/ Herbal tea
6. Honey
7. Butter
8. Cheese
9. Ketchup, Sauces of your chocie (Soya sauce, chilli sauce, Pasta sauce etc)
10. Pickle
11. Jams
12. Papads /fries
13. Muesli/Oats/ cornflakes
14. Biscuits / Snacks/ Namkeen etc. ( I mostly avoid wheat/Maida biscuits. I try to buy mostly whole wheat or multigrain biscuits)

VII: Toiletries

1. Bathroom cleaner of your choice
2. Toilet cleaner of your choice
3. Utensils bar (Vim, Axiom, Patanjali etc), Liquid utensil detergent
4.  Scrubbing bar, steel scrub
5. Bleach liquid
6. Dettol
7. Detergent
8. Fabric softener
9. Vanish or Fabric whitener
10. Detergent bar
11. Moisturizer
12. Hair oil

VIII: Perishables:

1. Paneer/Tofu
2. Mushrooms
3. Eggs
4. Frozen food
5. Vegetables
6. Fruits
7. Nuts(Almonds, Walnuts, Seeds, Pistachios etc.)
8. Bread (I mostly buy Multigrain or whole wheat bread)

 

Get up my little one!!

A fresh experience of suddenly being a SAHM is exciting and at the same time overwhelming for me. On one side the excitement of being with children, on the other hand the anxiety of bringing them up to be better human beings, sensitive to others feelings and needs makes me feel anxious. Reading the newspaper in India is like taking a glance at a police station register, you can find only and only crimes. Of all the crimes sexual exploitation is the clear winner! We all have been brought up by busy parents, but the rate at which we get to know of these crimes now a days is  outrageous.. And when you start seeing few episodes around you, it is time you wake up and take action!!

As a parent/guardian, what are the things to keep in mind to avoid such incidents? We can not monitor our kids 24/7, but we can have some stern habits to protect our vulnerable kids from such monsters. 

1. At any cost never ever leave a girl child(even boys sometimes) with anyone alone except parents and grandparents. 

Specially small families in cities. You may say that the Uncles, aunts, Cha-cha, Bua, taus, phoopha, all are here as family but it is not their primary responsibility to take care of your child. No blame game later! If you are anxious better be present. 

2. Never let your child change clothes in presence of anyone, be it a relative, friend, helper except they are the main caretakers.

3. Ensure your child is dropped and picked up by parents/grandparents. We see that many people exploit the lonely status of the child. So being dropped by drivers, maids, neighborhood uncles, friends sons, etc. can be avoided till the child is at least of an age to comprehend the surrounding. 

4. Going to parks-- kids like going to parks and play areas. Ensure there are no funny strangers people loitering. If you are a regular in the park, ensure other parents or grandparents present recognize you and your child together. That ways if someone is luring your child away, others will be on guard and raise a voice. Talk to other parents and be on a good books.

5. If you are of the type who doesn't want unwanted infections and influence from parks, let your child play outside the house with kids. Physical play is must but ensure you know what your child is playing. 

6. NEVER EVER allow your kid to eat  any eatable from anyone except you. They can accept toffee or chocolates of friends but let them eat at home. NEVER in your absence. 

7. If you send your kid to any class, ensure either parents/grandparent be with them or at least drop/pick them till the door. Always ask the child about the behaviour of the teacher and judge accordingly. You need not sit with the child always, that will reduce their confidence fully.

Learning new skills is important, but not at the cost of safety and sanity of the child. 

8. Always get to know the both point of views as far as possible. Tell your child to be surrounded with friends as much as possible.

9. When going to birthday parties, always try to accompany. Avoid night stays. Even if best friends, and friendly parents, unknown factors are more.

10. Last but the most important point. While watching TV or any gadget, knowing the content is of utmost importance. As part of a game, some advertisements and content can be heavily misleading and force the child to commit certain actions. 

Finally incase alone, the child should know how to retaliate if cornered. Teach few tips like biting, screaming, pinching hard, soft spots in a gentle way(not to scare them but to be alert). 

As Tamil port Subramania Bharathi says 

பாதகஞ் செய்பவரைக் கண்டால் – நாம்
பயங்கொள்ள லாகாது பாப்பா,
மோதி மிதித்துவிடு பாப்பா – அவர்
முகத்தில் உமிழ்ந்துவிடு பாப்பா.

Meaning-

We should never be afraid, my little one,
Of  bad ,ones who do cruel deeds, my little one,
Dash and trample them , my little one,
And spit at their face, my little one.

Note : This is applicable to smaller kids till the age of 15. Of course every parent is different and you might choose to be more or less lenient. These are general precautions and totally my opinion as a parent

Let's eat, drink and sleep as tomorrow we may diet

It all started many years back when people all around us started discovering that they have diabetes, hypertension, thyroid,cholesterol etc at young age. Colleagues, neighbours, relatives, friends of friends all started telling horrid stories of heart attacks and blockages. It started sounding scarier everyday. So the chapatis for dinner slowly creeped in and we came out with this regime of having wheat in the night.  Then there were rounds of the news that the four whites are the killers namely maida, salt, rice and sugar( did I get them right??)

The Maida boycott !
 Maida means no pizzas and no bread, so occasionally when we wanted to make sandwiches we bought wheat/oats/ multigrain bread and thin crust pizzas. In the process most of the junk food/ snacks were abolished from the household except the ones that shouted out "wheat flour" in the ingredients.. See people in India are not yet gluten phobic so wheat is ok as of today. Many people are not aware of the difference between refined wheat flour and wheat flour till date. But not us..we had Google in hand and we utilised our wifi bills to research the possible flours available in the planet earth. So after much researching our flours got sorted. We chose wheat grains, soya, black lentils and some more hand picked grains and made our own flour to have a healthier and stronger chapati( not strong as in to chew). But the chapati making process still keeps changing..with oil, without oil, with ghee after making chapati, just one drop of ghee while making it, so on and so forth. Pooris have Been tagged as a luxury. Potatoes are for kids and for guests. Greens, yellow and browns,  orange and white (to an extent) vegetables are only given a gate pass easily in our kitchen.

Coming to the next white monster- Rice.
Instead of the monstrous mill processed rice, the broken wheat, hand pounded rice, brown rice, couscous, quinoa and some more things took over like a rapid fire all over the city. No one made white raw rice and some who cooked went for boiled rice. The world around us was changing and every single person whom we met was more food consious and was reporting weight loss of 10s and 20s of kgs! People stopped putting those 5 kg/10 kg in provision list.

Then came the time of millets. The millets hit like a tsunami. People and news said that the millets were most nutritious grains grown for generations which our ancestors grew and ate. They costed double than the rice but were more filling and didn't cause drowsiness ..even food blogs of the 5-6 females whom I used to follow, rapidly started posting millet recipes like a termite attack. We stocked all kinds of millets, mixed them, made idli/dosa and even Adai with them. All went fine when there was this millets blog that said thyroid gets high with millets and it aggravated the thyroid...so millets are on a hold temporarily.

Meanwhile even a 5th white character namely milk was under the lens after some milk providers scandal. Milk cannot go out of Indian diet but yes cow's milk can replace the most staple brand of Chennai, the Aavin's 3 coloured packet milk! So we hunted down a milkman who could race down to our house every morning harping his scooter horn all over the neighborhood waking up all school children(and us too). No full cream, half cream and toned fooling ...only cow's pure milk. Then automatically (as if someone saw us buying cow's milk) the information flowed from forwards about how people can inject even cow's without calves to give milk and that we need to boil cow's milk for 15 minutes to destroy all the known germs . We asked the milkman how is the cow and the calf..he told the calf is better after a recent illness..ok so assured that this is a "good" cow. And we just boil the milk once which apparently takes around 15 minutes..so check.

Then the method of cooking came under microscope. Pressure cooker, rice cooker, steam cooker, boil water in normal vessel and "put the rice and switch of the flame " method, soak rice as soon as you get up and pressure cook for only 2 whistles method. New methods keep life interesting. It doesn't get monotonous. Non stick is bad, aluminium is bad, hindoleum is bad, pressure cooker is bad, any cooker is bad, even cooking for long is bad.

Organic stores have opened and all over the country there is this online grocery concept that has spread like a wild fire. Sugar has been replaced by palm sugar. Salt is going behind to give way to rock salt. Millets instead of rice. Tea and green tea have tulsi, ginger, pepper, Brahmi, and so many things that when you have your tea you feel you are having an Ayurvedic concoction. We have Khadi, 24 mantra, Fresho, pure 4 sure, KP namboodiri, patanjali, and 1000 more organic shops in India alone. Everything has a non arsenic, non toxic non paraben, non SLS counterparts. Honestly it is good to know that we have more exposure to healthy options as opposed to the times before when only unhealthy limited options were available and our parents just had to stop buying some things because they did not get an healthier option. Even an instant noodles has at least 10 more options.

I remember Mohun's cornflakes in my school days. That was the only cornflakes. Porridges had only Bonny mix. Otherwise at home Sattu maavu ganji with milk (and sugar) or buttermilk ( with salt). Above average household had the luxury of milk with Boost, Bournvita, Maltova, Viva, Horlicks, Complan. But simpler days...welcome to the complicated era of innumerable choices. Ultimately toddlers still chew their shoes, throw the apple pieces on floor and eat the fallen apple pieces, mop their food all over their face, legs and lick them..children get their immunity with nature and they'll all grow to be individuals with their own set of health issues blaming their parents for not bringing them up as their grandparents did...so I'm going to chill for a while before I get my herbal tea with cardamom, organic pepper and ginger ;-)

The writing itch

Its been a really long wait for my writing itch to get satisfied. When you have an itch and you ignore it, it goes off naturally in some time, but if you start scratching it, it increases and it is difficult to satisfy it...(looks like I've been a regular scratcher..:-)). I have been having a stomach ache, itch and nausea...all perfect symptoms (not for a family ways again) to transfer my wandering thoughts to a post.

The writing itch is a burning desire to transfer your peeping  mixed up thoughts out of your head and capture them the moment they appear, else they get diluted leaving a heaviness in the mind. I have been ignoring my desire more often than once since little A came to our lives. Although he has brought more reasons to smile and joy for us, this one compromise has been made. When I sit to type he comes from no where and starts imitating me and I have to rush the laptop to hibernation. My laptop time is only 10-12 (typical time for tea when I went to office :-() is a less productive time for me...but motherhood makes your system super efficient since you can't choose your efficiency and energy level. You just HAVE to deliver the work to a near perfection(wonder how companies would work if moms were to work for their kids...maybe. Zillion times better?)

I am currently in my mother's house which is a heaven when it comes to my priorities. I can hide in the computer room and he is playing there happily with my parents and I remain forgotten for a while (a short while at least). Since I told that, now he bangs the door calling and pleading.."Ämma, Amma..."It sounds so pitiable that I cannot ignore it. I take back my stupid words and postpone the desire to scratch this itch for later....

The case of mysterious shiny white balls

It has been some time since I have been using  this project laptop and although second hand(or third), I have been able to associate a certain level of personal liking to it with more time. Since I spend the whole day with it and have been spending quite some effort to clean it up(the disk I mean) initially and make it workable, I am not finding much issues with it although it is an old Dell D520.

Yesterday while I was working on it, suddenly the ‘Tab’ button was giving some issues. I was not able to press the ‘Tab’ button. After some continuous ignore, I had to look into the issue since ‘Tab’ is not a less frequented button. I saw a small white translucent ball under the button and was wondering where it came from. After a tiring and worthless effort of removing the ball out of the button, I finally inverted the laptop. I was a bit apprehensive about the laptop because I cannot afford to hurt it much. In case anything happens, I was not sure how much soup I would be into. So with repeated attempts, I was finally successful in removing the tiny ball after 20 minutes. I just kept it safe, not sure where it came from. But in the process I had to almost remove the key and put it back in place( very risky task, I tell you). The whole day I was wondering where it came from? Either from any of my earrings? Any bracelet? A white shiny ball it was quite beautiful and it was making me crazy. It rolled and fell into the ‘Ctrl’ button and you have no idea how miserable I was until I managed to remove it again almost breaking the button. Then I left for the day keeping the ball safely near my desk just in case tomorrow someone tells me some light is lost from the laptop. I was almost sure it was some green glowing light which has fallen from the laptop.

Today morning I came and first thing I saw was my ‘Home’ button was not working. L I was a bit scared knowing very well what to expect. I tilted the laptop and peeped inside the button and guess what? My worst fear came true. A similar shiny white ball.. I immediately asked my colleague if she knew what it was. Her reply came “ its very bizarre..i have never seen this before”. No showstopper, but was’nt it weird? I can’t risk all my important keys like this! Then I saw the ‘Backspace’ under attack. That was enough to get me on my feet. I desperately started checking all the keys available on the laptop. And 4-5 keys were under attack. I was really getting worried. I then calmed myself and thought. Then suddenly it struck me. I checked the laptop bag and behold!!! The mystery was solved. J it was after all an opened silica gel packet. Phew!!! And it had almost made me miserable for an hour. I forgot all my work and was solving this mystery but thanks to my luck today, I thought of checking in the bag.

A tiny silica gel would have so easily paralyzed the laptop!!

(G)Olden days!!

Old age should be happy!!! For people who think old people are vulnerable and are only worth sitting in bed and watching TV, WRONG!! Elders are indeed our strength and NOT weakness.

I have been blessed to have a good fortune of living with elderly and highly talented people all my life. At every point I had the chance to see highly talented elders and have wondered when I will become like that. But after I saw few gifted elders today I must say that I am still not out of the shock...It looks unbelievable and convincing that talent has no age.

Chandro tomar and Prakasho Tomar are nearing 80 and are world class shooters! Yes, you read correct..Shooters...

At the age when people cannot read properly and loose faith on their physical capability, these 2 grandmothers have not only broken the old belief and 'AndhaVishwaas' of the society but also opened a new gate of opportunity for their grand daughter Neetu Solanki who is also an international shooter. The villagers are speechless and proud of the ladies today and must be wondering what to do with the superstitions and old beliefs..

The story is so so interesting that I cannot write enough. The grannys' coach Mr. Farooq says, he had asked them to do "Chori chori practice"(hehe) without the knowledge of the villagers. They used to stand with a jug filled with water all night for good balance..

Another great achiever, a 90 year old person had trekked his way up to Lonavla and made a record in Limca book of records..(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do0XuVSuU_0). His advice was in old age you should eat half of what you ate in your younger age, drink water 2 times, do more physical activities and laugh 4 times more :) He was really superb and I could not believe my eyes!

You must watch Satyamev Jayate for more such achievements..I am so happy such a good show also exists between idiotic so called reality shows showing bad and sad stories... like Gumrah and emotional atyachaar.. When children cry, we try to distract them to something different and good.. and not show them "how children cry" videos.. Then why do we have such shows that show how crimes were planned and on the name of truth all the filth of the society is repeatedly displayed...The concept of having shows which show so called 'Reality' is so sad. I dont want my child to watch such sad shows. I would love to make her see such beautiful shows like Satyamev Jayate, Lakhon me ek and so many more good shows....They are so inspiring and motivating.

Looking forward to better shows that showcase talented elders and leaders who have brought India and the society in general to such new and good heights.

One of those stupid terrible travel days.

Today I left on time to catch the 9 o clock direct bus to my office but still somehow I missed it . No problem! I took a share auto (that new white Tata Magic…really superb and comfy) till Tambaram. Fine, then I realized I don’t have change. So after collecting change  from a nearby restaurant, I took a M55 bus which had a board saying Tambaram - Vandaloor. Since my office is in Perungalathur(apparently New Perungalathur which I just realized today) I happily chose a “good” seat. People knowing Vandaloor  would definitely know that Perungalathur comes before Vandaloor. After say a long time, I was wondering why the bus is going in some other route. Probably a roundabout route. So I was OK because I was in no mood to get down and take another bus since it was so hot and tiring. I thought a delay of 15 mins or so would not really matter. After some 15 stops the conductor comes to me and says rudely “why are you sitting here? And what are you playing in your cell?”(enna panra? cella enna nOndindrukka?"). I was not doing anything with my cell. Just replying to an SMS and Hello! It was none of his business. Then came " Why dint you get down in Perungalathur?" I was really surprised by the way he was talking loudly and rudely. I looked around and I could not find any similarity to the place I know as Perungalathur. And I have been knowing that place for around 3 years now! After a bit quarrel and everyone trying to throw me out of the bus, I got down and crossed the road still trying to figure out where I was. I was upset by the way I was thrown out but I decided to "feel" normal. Then another white Tata magic came and I enquired. He said he can drop me back in Tambaram(where I started). Then again I went to Tambaram and from there took an auto rickshaw since even an A/C bus or a good share auto would mean walking from bus stop till inside my office which would easily be 1 ½ kms in the hot sun and I was terribly late. I reached at 11 and here I am lamenting my story to you after working on important mails.

OK now getting back to work. Hope the day treats me well…. Just one more experience which taught me that I work in New Perungalathur...not in Perungalathur :)

Aditi's Birthday

Last Saturday was Aditi's second birthday and I had invited his relatives just to catch up with them...Living in the same city none of us get much chance to see each other. We had a quite day and in the evenig we just went out to my parents' house.

The day went well and after a long time, we had a peaceful weekend. Although there are 2 days for us in the weekend, they just swoosh away every week. Then the another long wait for the two golden days follows. And if we dont make use of the TWO days, especially working females and more especially working moms, then gone...The whole week is screwed up. Washing, sorting clothes, sorting baby's clothes, buying vegetables, fruits for the week and getting ourselves organised so that the week goes smoothly, it looks as if we have nothing better to do!!! For example, for Aditi in a day, we have to plan a breakfast, 10 o clock snack, lunch, juice, milk, 4 snack and then (thankfully they give somethign at 5:45). Then for dinner she eats on her own, whatever we eat for dinner and then rice as staple since we want her to have a deep sleep. Any toddler would need that but in her case we have to pack all this and send to the day care. So we have to plan well in advance of her likes and dislikes, and since its so hot, the food should not get spoilt.... So jam sandwiches, mini idli, mini dosas, bananas, apples, mashed veggies, puffed rice, curd, milk etc is planned well in advance.

So the need for a change was desperately needed by all of us. So I collected all her unused but good toys, collected some from her day care friends' parents and we donated them to an organisation called AID INDIA. AID INDIA deals with issues in Education, health and livelihood.  Their primary goal and mission is quality Education for Every child.You can refer their website www.eurekachild.org  and  www.aidindia.in for more details. I feel thrilled to have done my part... of a noble deed on her special day. Probably she doesnt realize but the blessings of the children who were benefitted reached her. And also I had paid for breakfast for children in an orphanage. They called us early in the morning on Aditi''s birthday and informed us that the children enjoyed the breakfast and they prayed for Adit's long life. I got a tear in my eyes... Orphan children, who are left alone in this big bad world praying for my child who is growing up in a cosy environment. Im sure God will listen to them for sure, but dear God, please give them everything they deserve and make them happy always. That's my only prayer today...on Aditi's Star Birthday!!