Author: bindugopinath

Hello There , I started writing on Facebook out of sheer passion , a passion that was harboured within me from the time I learnt to write . I started with poems which rhymes :) , i made a journal and hid it with me over years until I reached my teens to only destroy them for I felt they were silly .. I still penned down all my dark secrets, my pain , my happiness from the terrace of my home . I loved to scribble despite the fact that I had the worst handwriting on this planet(in my opinion).. I will always say thank you for technology else how will I have communicated to the world what I wanted to? I finally created a hashtag #randomthoughts and started writing , later changed it to #mystory and realised people started liking them and began requesting me to write more .. So here I am only because of your love ,creating a blog to pen my thoughts .. I have been told by the super power that it is my purpose to keep others happy and that I have to do my bit to bring change and good. It is my personal responsibility and I hope I help one soul if not all and that will be happiness for me. Here on this blog you will find stories that pop up in my little brain , some reviews of food as I believe food is us as we are made of food and few random thoughts :) , that word doesn't go away from me however I try . While I am not writing or procrastinating to write I love to meditate, Enjoy learning about our body, cooking ,fitness and reading. I am a hopeless dreamer , love to eat and travel , believe music is life and love to laugh(giggle is appropriate) ..

Why to stop judging?

I have been noticing one trait with lot of us from the time I have known myself . We are conditioned in a  way that we judge and we are constantly judging people around us , people in our lives without the knowledge that we have all become seasoned judges . How sad isn’t it? Do we even realise the kind of impact that will leave on another’s mind? especially a kids? No! we don’t. Why? because we are not even aware of the blunder we are busy committing day in and out . Thankfully we don’t go behind bars for being not so nice in our thoughts or behaviours with our family and friends and the best part is at most times the victim doesn’t even know he is suffering until a certain stage. All this because we judge . Our spouses, friends , families , kids , colleagues , etc etc etc I am not even going a little far and discussing politics or current affairs , thats unbearable 🙂

While all these thoughts have been juggling in my head for a while now , today I decided to put them here . What if one of us stop judging and stop accepting being judged ?

Just because I don’t think like you, I don’t become any lesser than you .

Just because I don’t do all that you like ,I don’t become a bad soul.

Just because I don’t do all that you want me to, I don’t become a fool.

Just because I don’t dream all that you do, my dreams don’t become void.

just because I am not like you ,I don’t become a nobody.

Just because you don’t see me for what I am , I don’t cease to exist.

Just because I am not a part of your world ,I don’t become an alien.

Just because you think you are right, I don’t become wrong!

Just because you don’t see the good in me , I don’t become bad.

Just because you think you are smart, I don’t become dumb.

Just because you want me to be you , I won’t become a clone.

We are all unique and no two people are same on this planet  . Lets please stop judging , categorising folks around us and accept them for what they are and who they are. Just because we don’t see the good , they don’t become bad

 

 

 

 

How not to be “happy”!

Why don’t we wonder why the Doctor doesn’t put the band aid without cleansing the wound .

Why don’t we ask questions when we are told we need a clean face to apply make up?

 Why do we clean the utensils before we cook or eat on them again with no questioning ?
and many more questions popped on my mind . Just that my mind said its because they are things we are aware of ? isnt that common sense ? Come on Bindu! dont ask stupid questions it says.
Then I have another question if thats the case then why don’t we vent out what troubles us ? why do we pretend to be happy and all ok? In the last few days I have had the privilege to meet many strong people and realised that most of us don’t want to confront the truth and all we want to do is go with the flow and live under the presumption that all will be ok . we have always been told and made to believe that crying is for the weaker ones, especially the men (i feel sorry for them). So obviously why would anyone share , vent it out, avoid a volcano from bursting? Its the unaware mode where the mind is dictating what one should do next and with no after taught we operate like robots listening to all the commands we receive at all times . It took a while for me to realise what was happening , the best tool of course is meditation which makes things clearer. When I see most living in a oblivion I thought I should write about this because I am of the belief that life is not long enough for us to learn from our own mistakes so why not learn from others . If there is a problem, its important to choose a person with whom we can share our thoughts and of course one who doesn’t judge . It helps immensely if the thoughts are penned down and read out  , what I am trying to convey is , if the thought has been penned down or voiced out how many times will it occur again? All that the mind wants is importance for what it is saying and the moment we are aware about the thought, it will fade away . Its like we telling someone to stop doing something we can say once , twice , thrice may be innumerable times to someone who isnt listening to us . What if the person listen to us and say I understood , will we repeat the same thing again for a 100th time ? I think may be not(if you said may be yes, then that needs help ;))
I learnt that being vulnerable is not a sign of weakness but its strength to show others that I am vulnerable and its only human. We never know what we get to learn in the process of sharing and how that might change our lives . Ofcourse too much of anything is too bad so if we keep whining then God save us!
Listening helps immensely . Listening to the gut, intuition , people around , soul inside us . All that is happening around may have a message but we need to listen .
I believe happiness is a state of mind , but being genuinely happy and not running away from the reality is the sign of real happiness . not cleaning a wound will only aggravate it no?

Besan Laddoo

Its Diwali time and mithai tho banta hai time .. I wanted to make something for Diwali and thought why not start with some Besan Laddoos as they are easy to make and tastes yum too . So here is a simple recipe trust me this is super easy and delicious too. When we make  them at home we have the control of everything , I mean environment, sugar , ghee quantity/quality etc ;). So without more blah blah let me get straight to the recipe .

fullsizerender-12

Ingredients :

Besan/Chickpea Flour : 2 cups

Powdered Sugar : 3/4 to 1 cup (basis your liking for sweetness)

Ghee : 1/2 cup (check notes below)

Elaichi /Cardamom – 4

Method :

Take a wok and dry roast the besan for about roughly 14 mins . You need to keep stirring as it might burn and trust me this is a good exercise too 🙂 . Then add the ghee and again keep mixing for about 7 mins stirring continuously  . By this time you will know how heaven smells 😛 . Now put the stove off and add the sugar and mix well. Finally add the elaichi powder and let the mixture cool for about 30 mins and then you can roll the laddoos . If you are unable to roll them keep them in the fridge for a while for the ghee to solidify and then roll them . Voila! Yummy Besan Laddoo ready!

 

Notes : More ghee can be added as mine is with less ghee say a little over 1/2 cup for more laddoo consistency and of course flavour

Dry fruits like raisins and cashew can be added , I simply didn’t feel like

Happy Diwali 🙂

 

 

“Gratitude” Universe

And I always thought my problems are bigger ..

We at R SQUARE are handling India Inclusion Summit 2016 in November and Rohit is curating the speakers . During one such event he was to meet Priyanka one of the speakers and asked me to tag along . I wasn’t sure why I was going yet happily went with no expectations. We were to meet her near the Ganesha temple inside embassy golf links and thanks to Ms. Google we reached the venue correctly . I see a smiling face walk out of the building and Rohit call her name out and that was when I realized she was priyanka and was partially blind. Now my senses were all alert and watching her as I felt responsible , she said we could go to the cafeteria and lead us without the stick and I was amazed until she almost walked through a barricade and I abruptly stopped her . She then asked me if she could hold my hands and I readily agreed and of course reached the cafeteria and settled there . While they were speaking about her life I was watching them and listening with rapt attention , I clicked a pic too. I thought we had so much stress in our day to day life until I met her . I always believed as humans, until we loose what we have we wont value it and until we see bad we don’t understand what is good .

She spoke about her childhood in a Marwari family , the upbringing . Her losing her eye sight and still leaving home to pursue her career, her struggle in the corporate sea like IBM , her commuting , her passion for dance etc

img_7634

It made me think what problems do I really have ? In fact we create problems that we don’t have with all the time we have with us . I couldn’t go for a holiday , I missed buying something , I fought with someone , the traffic jam, no network etc. I was so ashamed at the fact that we live to create problems and people like priyanka to fight the real problems that exists . Who is more capable here ? Need I answer ?

We will at most times have a ready list of what we don’t have. Well who appreciates what is there ? Isn’t our purpose to chase what we don’t have ? Isn’t that how it has worked from years now ? Hasn’t that become our way of living ? I snapped back from all the thoughts towards the “now” and she said she wanted to take a selfie and I happily jumped at the thought of it 🙂

fullsizerender-7

what we always miss is to thank the universe for the life we have , to thank the five senses without which the world wouldn’t have been the same . The ability to talk, walk, eat , drink , touch when we want is the freedom we own and should be happy about . She said bye and cheerfully went back to her life not before she made me think so much . I have a feeling that IIS is going to change my life with so many stories told and untold .. I can only say Gratitude to the universe for I was again reminded to appreciate what I have ..

Vishnu Thatte Idli

Another morning workout at Cubbon park and then decided to settle for Vishnu thatte idli located on old airport road, Domlur. I went there once before this however couldn’t write as the experience  didn’t manage to stay with me or was it the taste.

img_7668

It is a small outlet with mostly people picking their parcels and I seldom saw anyone eat there . It has one table in case you want to eat at the outlet. No varieties , its only idli and chutney and serve on plantain leaf on a news paper . People queued up for their orders and I saw lot of parcels being carried away . I settled for one thatte idli . The idli is thicker than any other place I have eaten so far, if you know me you do know that I love idlis . I have eaten softer, fluffier ones and the chutney is very simple and nothing to rave about in my opinion. I have tasted nicer ones and hence it is difficult to please me*facepalm*. This place has some ardent fans and I think everyone has their own likings so why not? I will revisit sometimes for sure, for no fancy breakfast , its an AYE from me . The picture above is to die for now? 🙂

img_7669

Address : HAL Old Airport Rd, Domlur, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560071

Timings : 7 am to 11 am

Carrot Chutney

Coconut is full of calories and should be used sparingly I am told repeatedly that pushed me to find alternate options with steaming idlis or hot crispy dosas . I love carrots and wanted to try making carrot chutney and it was not a disappointment . This has become an alternate now 😉

img_7303

Ingredients :

1 cup grated carrot

1 onion chopped

3 dried red chillies

1 spoon channa dal

1 tsp Ginger

2 tspoon oil

Small piece of tamarind

Salt to taste

 

Method :

Take a wok and heat a spoon of oil. Add the grated carrot and sauté until the raw smell leaves

Take another wok heat oil add channa dal , onions , red chillies, ginger and sauté until it turns golden brown.

Cool all ingredients and grind them along with tamarind and salt . Add water as required .

Notes : We can also add tadka/temper to the chutney with oil, mustard , urad dal, hing , curry leaves

Taaza Thindi

I have been told to visit Taaza Thindi by a few of you and I thought why not . We reached the place around 7.40 am this morning and it was bustling with a lot of food activities. People in beelines for their orders . A few things I noticed was the hygiene , the masks . This place has a limited menu of Chow Chow bath , idli, vada and Dosa . We ordered one plate of each and stood in the queue. Before I forget to mention they had an offer which was a coffee free 🙂

fullsizerender-3

The idlis were soaked in chutney like the other of my favourite joints. The idli’s were soft , chutney very nicely flavoured and mildly spiced . The Kharabath was delicious , a little watery but thats how I like it . The kesari bath was very sweet for my palette yet nice. The queue for Dosa was too long and the least I wanted to do was stand in a queue for over 20 mins . I got the token exchanged for idlis so didn’t try their dosas. They looked very crispy though .

fullsizerender-4

In short this place has some good breakfast and an AYE from me. Please be prepared for standing in queues . Even the dosa counter apparently belts out 30 dosas at one shot. I like these kind of joints which has a simple menu and puts all their energy in ensuring their food is good. However I would prefer a friendly staff on the other side than robots looking boys who points fingers for any question .

Try and let me know how you liked it .

Address: 1004, 26th Main road, Jayanagar 4T Block, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560041
Phone: 076762 08899

If we don’t take care of it, it will be gone

If we don’t take care of it , it will be gone is a dialogue that was repeated twice in the movie, Inferno .

 The line stuck to me , I have been brooding over it . No it isn’t rocket science , oh yes! All of us know about it . But the fact that we are so driven by this “movie” called life that we are on an auto pilot mode oblivious to most things .Oblivious to the food we eat , the road we take , the tasks we do , et al . We are not humans but robots who do things for the heck of it 🙂 . We eat because we have to . We socialise because it’s cool to do it , we dance because our peers do . We smoke / drink to impress others around and this is what I have been observing  . 
 
In this state how can we take care of anything? If it sustains it’s because it ought to or it will until it can . I was wondering what will happen if all of us snap out of the auto mode and nurture what we have . The world will become such a beautiful place to live in and will be filled with prosperity and happiness . All we have to do is be aware and take care of what we have . Everything ends , we end one day which we don’t realise and chase things which may not even remain with us , chase things we can’t take to our grave . We hurt , we fight without realising we are doing it . Can we actually take care of what we have ? Can we save what we have ? Can we be aware ? Can we be humans ? These questions run on my mind . My hope is we do . I hope we live every minute , every day like a new day . Love the one who matters the way we loved the day one we fell in love , talk to our family /friends like they matter the most , eat food like it is the best meal of the day , take care of ourselves and mostly create memories we can always cherish . For if we don’t take care of it , it will be gone 

Cheela

A healthy breakfast option anytime makes me happy . One of the regular brekkie option i retort to is cheela. Its simple, its healthy and its delicious , isn’t that a match made in heaven ?

The above pics are from my insta story , I forgot to click pics because of insta stories :/

Ingredients :

Besan/ Chickpea flour/Gram Flour- 1 cup

Onion , finely chopped -1

Green chilly , finely chopped – 1

turmeric power – half tea spoon

salt – to taste

Garam Masala – about a pinch

Water – 1 to 1.5 cups

Method :

Mix all the above said ingredients with a cup of water and make sure its of a right consistency ,not very watery and not too thick . Keep it aside for 5 mins .

Heat a non stick pan and pour the batter like we do for dosa and wait for it to cook. Put a lid over it so the same cooks in steam and I prefer slow cooking at any time . The taste one can get from slow cooking can never be obtained by cooking on high flame . These cheelas are delicious and can be eaten with chutney too. I prefer it plain like this and is one of my favourite of all time .

Note 

We can add curry leaves or coriander leaves and it will only taste nicer .

Happy Cooking!