Creative Musings

" Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always."  I just finished reading Khaled Hosseini's second novel, ' A Thousand Splendid Suns'  published in the year 2007. After reading " The Kite Runner,"  author Khalid Hosseini's  first international best seller -a beautiful, compelling story,  I was hoping  ' A Thousand Splendid Suns' would not be a let down which is mostly the case with successive novels of nouveau best-selling authors. Fortunately, ' A Thousand Splendid Suns'  strengthened my faith in Khalid Hosseini as a master story-teller, an author who touched human emotions and struck a chord with them.  What I was not prepared for were these cascading emotions that enveloped me in their fold- sometimes in the form of despondency, sometimes anger, sometimes empathy but mostly hope - hope that also nurtured and sustained the 2 female protaginists of the novel- Mariam and...

The Massive Electronic Billboard in Suntec The last weekend of September saw excited parents thrronging to the Suntec Covention Center, the venue of the most anticipated parenting expo of the year in Singapore- the Rise & Shine-Expo! There seemed to be something for everyone... pregnant mums to-be to mums with 3 kids in tow; cute babies to spirited toddlers and bright enthusiastic preschoolers. There were contests, workshops, seminars, products, brands, stage performaces and a lot more. The expo was touted to be fun, informative, educative and useful (in terms of shopping experience). Spread over 3 days, the Rise & Shine -expo proved to be all of this and much more. Crowds were better managed than in most expositions I have attended in Singapore and though Saturday was the most rushed, by way of simply spacing out the contests, calling particpants to register at least half an hour before the events by way of email reminders and arranging keynote seminars and workshop...

Hello everyone...today my blog post is very different...its neither parenting oriented, nor is it a book review or a recipe...its rather about women empowerment and about my very recent association with a wonderful organisation called the Dreams Infinite Foundation. Read on.... A couple of weeks back, I was approached by the founder of a volunteer-run, non profit organisation called Dreams Infinite Foundation to provide content for their website and blog. The lady very graciously wrote in her mail that due to the organisation's structure and size, they could not compensate me monetarily but it would be personally satisfying as it was for a very good cause.  Intrigued and still a bit sceptical I visited their website and Facebook page and read about the organisation's ethos, its mission, its team and its efforts. I found out that in their own small but spirited way the Dreams Infinite Foundation was paving the way for Women Empowerment in the small towns and villages o...

My 3rd culinary post is a healthy vegetarian dish. This recipe of lemon rice is inspired by the recipe on 'Manjula's kitchen' website. Back in Delhi when I was working, one of my South Indian colleagues used to often bring lemon rice for lunch - till this day I remember the delicious lemony aroma and flavour of the dish. What is most appealing to me is that the lemon rice is simple to prepare and easy on the stomach. It is perfect both as a packed lunch as well as a simple dinner dish to go well with sambhar and raita or even some grilled veggies. It can be made in a jiffy with ingredients that are readily available in any kitchen. ( in fact I even read that leftover rice can also be used to prepare the dish.) My son really enjoyed the dish because it contained "no visible veggies!'' Of course the fact that it is a very healthy dish containing lemon which is good for the stomach and rich in Vitamin C, energy food -rice, peanuts that provide good fat an...

Last week, my elder son gave me the 'bestest' compliment ever (yes, yes I know there is no word such as bestest but I can't resist using it today, so kindly excuse)  - "Mama!" he exclaimed, "your honey chicken wings taste even better than Pizza Hut's. They are the bestest !!!"  My husband seconded this though not in so many words! I was thrilled as my elder son is an extremely fussy eater and the dining table more often than not resembles a warzone. Moreover, he has just recently taken to relishing home delivery's from Pizza hut and Dominos ( which I wish to discourage as far as possible).  So here I present to you the recipe of the 'Honeylicious Chicken Wings' as my second culinary post. The recipe is vaguely based on one I read in a cookbook years back and from then on I have been improvising and it is now my very own signature recipe! I am painfully aware that my  presentation of the dish or rather the lack of presentation i...

An  article in Huffington Post that I accidentally stumbled upon drove me into writing this post. This article showcased a shocking, controversial health ad by the State of Milwaukee in the US that warns parents on the dangers on co-sleeping. In the advert, the baby is showing sleeping next to a big knife and it says," Your Baby Sleeping with You Can Just be as Dangerous."  I could not believe my eyes and read and re-read the article and the ad to make sure that I had understood them correctly. Both my children have slept with us on the family bed so I was curious to know - can it really be that bad? I researched some more and realised it was all about taking a few simple common-sense precautions. Click here to read my article on Co-sleeping pros and cons published on the Rise& Shine website. My Personal Experience with Co-sleeping The article and the advertisement also brought back memories of when I had a brush with this Western concept or rather stigma ...

3 times a week, when I enter the condominium gym and climb the treadmill, my eyes instinctively find the many rule boards dutifully pasted on all the walls- " Gym users must be properly attired at all times", announces one board , "No entering the gym in sandals or swimsuits." The other states the obvious, " Gym users are advised to carry their own towels. " A third asks users to be considerate and limit the use of the treadmill to 30 mins to allow those waiting to have a chance. Then I look around and wonder about the unwritten rules, the so called gym etiquettes-how many of us bother ourselves with these?  When you enter the gym how do you acknowledge the people inside? - with a curt nod of the head ( hmmm you are a fitness freak like me, are you? ) or a know-it-all smile followed by a smirk ( you come here once a month isn't it - and you had to make today that day) ?  What must be done of those people who stroll on the treadmill or worse ...

This is my first culinary post folks and I am hoping all of you will encourage my maiden effort.! I have been inspired to dish out this post by a few of my friends and fellow bloggers who post recipes on a regular basis. And whenever I happen to view their blog posts, I plan to pen down my own culinary escapades (which are a plenty as I love cooking) . But usually in my house, the dish is consumed and burped down before it can be arranged and photographed!!!  And my blog post is forgotten till the next time I read another interesting recipe. I am even more thrilled about this post as it is a fish- recipe. Seafood including fish is not my strong point in either cooking or eating.  I belong to North India where non-vegetarian food is limited mainly to chicken and lamb. But my husband, an Oriya relishes fish and my kids also love the texture and simple flavours of fish such as salmon, cod and pomfret. So I decided to give this dish a try. I was also inspired by a similar ...

A Cheetah Mom with her Cub I have always been quite a clumsy oaf! As a helpful kid at home, I always volunteered to set the dinner table. My mother and my sister thanked me profusely but declined my offer of help. The reason being that on those occasions where they had unknowingly sought my help- I had broken many a plate and glasses. I had ruined my mother's Chinaware and on 2 fateful nights, I had even dropped the whole serving bowl - once filled with daal (lentil soup) and the other time with a vegetable my mother had taken a painstaking half an hour to cook!!! At school, I was a literary champ but a sports disaster. Once in school, I tripped on a basketball and broke my arm without ever having played the sport! I avoided PE lessons feigning a tummy ache whenever I could (an excuse that cannot be dismissed in girls who have just hit puberty) , while my friends jumped with joy at a whole hour of fun on the fields away from studies.  The house (flat) where I spent m...

Book Review -   I trapped a DOLPHIN but it REALLY wasn't my fault! Written by Singapore's best-selling author Neil Humphreys and co-authored by his four year old daughter Abbie Rose, the book,   " I trapped a DOLPHIN but it really wasn't my fault"   is the second book in the children's book series " ABBIE ROSE & the magic suitcase."  I actually bought this book for my 6 year old son and bought the author's other best-seller, Return to a Sexy Island for myself. However, I ended up reading the children's book first ( the cover page seemed more attractive and I could finish the book easily in the cab ride home).  And while my 'action hero' son liked the story but rejected the book because it's central character was a girl (he is at an age when his world is full of macho, super human boys and girls sadly figure nowhere on his horizon), I enjoyed the read thoroughly! As a parent who buys a lot of children...

I Deserve the Gallows, Readers! Yes, dear blog I know I have been absent for too long.  I confess I am guilty and I won't even ask for forgiveness this time. If the blogosphere envisaged a punishment for absenteeism - I would surely deserve the gallows!! So what happened, you may well ask??- Plenty actually! All this while I had loads of news and views to share but I got side-tracked and (yes I admit) lazy. Recap -April 2012 to March 2013  Is it even possible to recap one whole year in one single post? Well we live to try, isn't it? So here is my attempt to recap the events in my life in the past one year that occupied me, touched me, inspired me, changed my life for the better or for worse. April  to June 2012-  Welcoming the Baby and the Guests; 23rd April, 2012, Monday, 10.47 p.m - was when we welcomed our second son Akshit into the world. Since it was to be a planned C-section (the gyne was reluctant to do a VBAC for me), we had decided to have t...