Hurray!!! CSK lost IPL5...

Hello Frenzzz....


I've been thinking to write a post on my adda since long, but was busy shuffling between home and office. Today I write  to share my happiness over the defeat of CSK in IPL. Yess I'm not happy because KKR won the match as I'm supporter of MI, but yes jubilant over the defeat of CSK!!!

I somehow was not glad about CSK making to the play offs and this feeling got even stronger when CSK defeated MI in the qualifiers. I felt Dhoni was just lucky to win all the games or the opposite teams were unlucky as they lost the matches even after performing very well. Let it be DD or MI they were performing consistently very good through out the series. These two teams loosing in qualifiers was very disappointing for me. I always wonder why Dhoni gets the whole credit irrespective the game is played by 11 players. 

 As Dhoni who comes in the last few overs of the innings takes away the whole credit of winning the match just by hitting a six or four. This is increasing his strike rate and the market rate from his brands. This is not fair, what about the openers and the middle order who play so well and try to keep less runs for the down order. What about the bowlers who bowl so very well in the whole game (oops... I take my words back.... I know how talented our Indian bowlers are!!)

My husband frequently argues with me saying that he made India win World Cup, but what about the games India lost after the WC. World champions consistently losing all the International matches is very shame!


Anyways I wanted CSK to loose the finals and they lost.... and from now on I'm going to post frequently.... keep visiting and shoot your valuable comments. 






Cheers,
Vrinda

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!!!

Hope this year brings lotsss and lotss of joy and happiness in your lives.


- Vrinda.

Karthika pournami

Karthika month is the most auspicious month in Telugu calender. In this month we offer prayers to both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. In this month we offer prayers to god by following shower with cold water, light lamps, charities and fasting. We do fasting on Mondays, ekadashi and on the most auspicious day of this month Karthika pournami. There are two significant festivals in this month,  one is ksheerabdhi dwadashi and the second one is Karthika pournami. Ksheerabdhi dwadashi is 12th lunar day, we offer prayers to Tulasi plant.

Karthika pournami is a full moon day , this is most auspicious, sacred and extremely powerful day (this year it was on Thursday, 10th Nov). On this day in the evening timings we lit lamps in Shiva and Vishnu temples. We make the small lamps with rice flour or wheat flour and pour cow ghee or sesame oil in that we place a wick  and light the lamps. After pooja we do donations to Brahmins or scholars. In this month it is good to donate clothes to poor people. This practice is considered as good one irrespective of day or month, but ancestors have told us to do in this month because this falls in November, it is when the winter season starts. So offering clothes to poor people will help them to have better clothing in winter season.

Karthika pournami is my fav day in the whole year. This year I celebrated this festival in Bangalore. My day started at 3:50 am, I cleaned home and took shower by 4:15 am. I meditated for more than an hour, later I went to Shiva temple. In temple priests performed rudrabhishekam to Lord shiva, Rudrabhishekam is nothing but a regular abhishekam where priests chant the sacred veda mantras (rudra namakam - Chamakam) while doing abhishekam. I returned home once the pooja in temple was over. I have beautiful idols of Shiva and Balaji (a form of god Vishnu). I performed abhishekam to those idols at my home.

In the evening I lit lamps, did pooja, read karthika puranam and offered mangala harathi to lord shiva and vishnu at home. Then I cooked coconut rice and Gulab-jamun, offered it to Lord Shiva in temple and later distributed to the devotees. In the mean I lit lamps in temple as well. I made those lamps using wheat flour, rice flour and rangoli color. To make them soft and easily mouldable, I added some oil to the flour. This way I made some 70 colored lamps and some 50 flour lamps.

Before I lit the Lamps

After I lit the lamps

SOOC 

In the temple Satyanarayan Swami vratham was going on, later we attended Shirdi Baba Shej Aarathi. Later we performed all the rituals and cam back home. Night after coming to home we had dinner. On karthika pournami there is ritual of floating lamps on pond. There were no ponds or lakes near my place so couldn't fulfill that custom.

Hope you guyz had a wonderful karthika pournami as well. I close this post with a small mantra

Shivaya Vishnu Roopaya

Shiva Roopaya Vishnave

Shivasya Hrudayam Vishnoh

Vishnoscha Hrudayam Shivaha

Om namah shivaya!

My all time favorite Ads

Camilin ad:
This is my all time Fav ad, I always wonder who would be the one who has got this amazing thought. WOW! This is not only my fav Ad... I guess it is Indian's fav ad. The beauty of this commercial is, it keeps the cultural sentiments along with the humor.

This 'Change' Ad is another wonderful one, simply out-of-the-box.

Polo add:
Polo is my fav mint, I always carry one in my bag. When I have it, sometimes I remember this ad. This is very funny.

Happy dent ad
This is amazing one, a chewing gum commercial. I've seen many ads which has a similar story where a girl gets attracted to boy who has a fresh breath. This one is completely different, the outstanding shot in this ad is the chandelier one.

Center shock
In this ad, I like the expression of the old man, he is so kool. This one was awarded as best ad of the year ( I don't remember the exact year though).

Naukri.com
S is for Shameless, wow I wish I could say something like that to my employer :D

Vodafone zoo zoo
This was my Grandmother's fav commercial, it used to bring smile on her face. Very creative, I take this opportunity to thank Ogilvy & Mather agency for providing such an entertaining ads for us. The producer Rajiv Rao and Directer Prakash Verma, hats off to you guyz.

Hutch
This is very popular ad in India, the beauty of this ad is its simplicity.The dog name is 'cheeka' and the boy name is 'Jayram'. This is again shot by the Nirvana Films of Bangalore. The caption 'Wherever you go, our network follows' and the song 'You and I' have become very popular among youth. After this ad the sale of pugs doubled in India.

Non smoking Ad
Indian Cancer Association's campaign against smoking is a must-watch. The tag line is kool.... check it out.

Airtel
'Har ek fren Zaroori hota hai' it is the ringtone of almost half of my frenz, and this song is dedicated to me by few. This is very kool and I have added it becoz it is my personal fav.

Mint o gol
You should see the girl's fren smile at the end, it is worth watching. And you will meet the boy 'Rocky' who is handsome, romantic, smart and intelligent.

Aamir khan Tata Sky ad
The ad is simply brilliant....the monologue played by dual characters portrayed by a Aamir khan  is simply outstanding. 'Tata Aur Sky ek saath' is tagline and this ad.

Maruthi suzuki
Maruthi has stormed the televisions yet again, this ad is not just for the particular car it is about the company. The advertisement lasts for some 30 seconds, even after watching the final tagline 'kitna deta hai' you will not realize it is a car Ad. It has changed my husband's view towards the cars,that's fuel consumption is more important than style of the car.

Imperial Blue
This is my husband's fav ad.....check it out. It's true Men will be Men!!

If you have any personal favorite please feel free to share, I will update to the list.

Cheers,
Vrinda.

Pav Bhaji

Hi frenz....

    Hope you had a blast on Diwali. This was my first Diwali in Bangalore and I enjoyed to the tee. This was the one of the best Diwalis in my life. Me and my husband were together and enjoyed the evening to the fullest. Now you might be wondering that, the title of the post is pav bhaji and I'm talking about Diwali.It is because, this Diwali I made Pav bhaji as a special evening dinner. Yes, I made it for the first time that is the reason why I'm excited as it turned out very well. Without wasting more time, I will come to the r

Ingredients:

Onions --> 1 cup (finely chopped)

Tomatoes --> 1 cup (finely chopped)
Cauliflower --> 1/4 cup (Clean it well in salted hot water)

Coriander leaves --> 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Beans --> 1/4 cup (chopped)

Capsicum --> 1/2 cup (chopped)

Potatoes --> 4 to 5 (peeled and chopped)

Carrots --> 5 (peeled and chopped)
Peas --> 1/4 cup

Green chilies --> 4

Oil --> 2 spoons

Butter --> 50 gms
Cumin seeds --> 10 gms
Cumin powder --> 1/2 tsp
Pav bhaji masala --> 3 tsp

Chilli powser --> 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder --> 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder --> 1 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste --> 1 tsp
Lemon juice --> 4 tsp

Salt --> 2 tsp
Pav buns

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook all the vegetables ( Cauliflower, Capsicum, Carrots, Potato, Beans and Peas).
2. Simultaneously, take a pan and add oil. Heat the oil, add cumin seeds, onions and green chillies. Fry the onions till they turn brown in color, now add Ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone. Then add Tomatoes to it and keep frying.
3. Meanwhile, take the cooked vegetables from Pressure pan and mash them.
4. To the onion and tomato, add salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilly powder, pav bhaji masala and mix well.
5. Now, add the mashed vegetables. Simmer the stove and allow the contents to cook for about 20 mins.
6. Add lemon juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
7. Slit open the buns, apply butter. Toast the buns over a skillet till golden brown.
8. Serve hot with bhaji, onions and lemon pieces.

The tempting pav bhaji is ready, serve it hot. Trust me it is very easy to cook.


Cheers,
Vrinda.

PS: The pic of Pav bhaji is taken from Google Images, I did not get time to take the snap. 

My Garden

Hi Frenz,

     Gardening has always been one of my hobbies, though I never mentioned it to my frenz. I always like flowers on the plant than plucked and made in to garland. I usually like spending some time in garden while I'm really stressed out, it's a great relaxation therapy. Presently I stay in an apartment which has a small  balcony. Luckily there is enough space to place few pots and I planted plants in them. I feel so happy when flowers bloom in my garden. I take snaps and share it with my frenz and family members. Today I thought of sharing them with all my Blog frenz.

Rose: This is the first plant I bought for my garden. This is the only flower it bloomed to that plant. It died after  1 month, as I was away from home for long time. My husband couldn't take care of it well (I don't blame him for that though)

Button Rose: This is one of my favorite plants. It was presented to me by my mom. She actually bought this for her garden, but again felt it's worth giving to me. Yes I've reached her expectations when she found 22 roses bloomed to that pretty small plant.

Gazania: This plant has a tendency to bloom in late spring or early summer. But in Bangalore it bloomed almost the whole summer. Right now I have 4  flowers in my garden, very beautiful flowers.  I especially like the color combination of the petals.

Lilly: I actually taken a root of this plant from my neighbors with out their consent. I planted it and by third day the bud rose up from the root with barely one leaf left to the plant. After long gap last week we found another flower. Pink is my favorite color and the combination of yellow and white is surely beauty.

Queen of Night: This is my favorite of all. This flower has a very short span compared to all the flowers I've seen till date. It starts blooming at evening at around 8 pm and shrivels by 5:00 am in the morning. The beauty of it can by enjoyed only at nights. There will be a very mild aroma at the surrounding area of this plant when flowers blossom. I really like this flower, it's so beautiful.

Apart from these I have plants of Jasminum Sambac ( famously known as Malle puvvu  in Telugu), Butterfly Gardenia (known as Nandhivardhanam in Telugu), Marigold (Banthi) and Chrysanthemum (Chamanthi) in my garden. I couldn't take snaps of these flowers, but I will upload them for sure in future. Hope you all enjoyed my garden. Posted under Macro flower Saturday and Flowers on Saturday.


Cheers,
Vrinda.

Creative trials....

Hi frenz,


I recently moved to Banlgore, I'm very bored staying at home alone thorugh out the day. Initially I was quiet busy, cleaning house, arranging things etc etc. I was always preoccupied by some work. Now after 2 month I hardly find anything to do at the day time. I finish my house hold work, browse for sometime, help my cousin in her project work, then.... nothing else to do. Today I came across empty bottles at my home, I have acrylic paints and brush too...what else???? I just started painting on the bottles.

Though I'm not very good at painting (to be frank I'm worst at it :( ). I just wanted to give a try, when I did this is what turned out.  

After looking at these paintings my husband has seriously decided to join me in  Art classes. It's not because he's impressed, but to encourage me, so that I can create more beautiful work ... hmmmm. 


Hope you guyz like them....shoot your comments on these.




Cheers,
Vrinda.