Organ Donation

August is marked as the “Organ Donor Month”.


Organs that can be donated are: Kidney, Eye, Lungs, Heart, Liver, Pancreas, Cornea, Small Intestine, Skin tissues, Bone tissues, Heart valves and Veins. Wow! to think so many parts of ourselves can be used after we leave this world. Since we cannot take them with us, why not donate them, so that others can benefit from them : “Don’t take your organs to heaven with you. Heaven knows we need them here.”


Anyone can register as a donor: young, old, large or small, ill or healthy. We are never too old to donate; there is always a chance that we can donate an organ or tissue, whatever our age.


Our recycling goals must not end by just recycling old things, clothes, or some junk like coke cans etc., instead we must seriously think of recycling our organs after our death. None of us are perfect human beings, but we sure can become perfect by willing our organs to be used to save many lives.


Here is a nice poem to inspire us:



To Remember Me Robert Noel Test (1926-1994)


To Remember Me


At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.


When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my "deathbed." Call it my "bed of life," and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.


Give my sight to a man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.


Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.


Give my blood to the teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.


Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.


Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.


Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her windows.


Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.


If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all my prejudice against my fellow man.


Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

To my Dear Sister.... and her Husband Narayan

Radha  Narayan: my lovely sister  and her husband Narayan

Good Morning to you!

Today, years ago (45 years) you met Narayan,  a very handsome man, who literally swept you off your  feet and married you. You had a very adventurous life with him, however,  he also taught you so many things, so that you could be independent, and self reliant. 

 Imagine you were not used to going anywhere without him, while you were in Delhi and
Madras. You would have never even imagined the life, that was waiting for you, in the US.
Before you could even blink your eyelids, he made you learn car driving, banking and so many things which you were first very reluctant to learn, but being pushed by him you had to do all those things, which worked out well for you. For not only you learnt all
those things, they also came in handy, later in your life. You had to take care of so many things, you had so many responsibilities, you had to be Narayan's Chauffeur. Although he could no longer drive, he was constantly there beside you guiding you, making you feel very confident.

You too, helped him in his various business ventures, learning from him all the time.

We could never believe, that you were almost the 'Man' of the family there in the US.

You went with dreams in your eyes to the US, only to  find challenges thrown your way at every step. You had a good  Day Care Center there, you were a very good hostess, you helped  young people , who had come to do their higher studies, by offering them free stay in your house. You were a good mother, a good care giver,  a good loving wife, and you led your life with a big smile always on your face.

How thankful you must have been to Narayan,  for leading you  gently, yet firmly by his hand and encouraging you to do all those things and many others too.

You turned to be the smartest in our family. We are
all so proud of your efforts in doing things which initially you
never liked. You took life as it came by, changing to suit the
circumstances, and facing the challenges that life threw randomly at you.

Everyday you must be thinking of all the good and bad times you spent
with him happily, and this day must be all the more special to you,
for this day would always remind you of the beautiful lotus that you
have bloomed into, having the independence to lead life as you
want without having to be dependent on anyone.

 Both, you and Narayan are the perfect example of the saying,"If life gives you a
lemon, make lemonade out of it" Both of you never gave up dreaming, and leading life with dignity. Many people would have packed their bags and come back to India, but you both stood firmly and lived  beautifully, always inspiring people to do the same.

It is indeed sad to lose someone who was so close to you, a friend, a guide , a mentor, and a loving husband. But as he said, "someone has to leave first, and it is not always in our hands, but to be prepared is always in our hands". Although today he is no longer present, beside you, yet, you have the feeling that he is still watching you and guiding you, protecting you.

                                             Narayan dancing at his daughter's wedding 

See everything went off well with you even after he left, your eye
surgeries went off well, and also the knee surgeries went off well
without any hassle, and you have reached your road to recovery.

 Radha with her son and her grand children, she looks too young to be a grand mother

Her two loving Grand kids

I am sure there are many things to be happy, and to look at life from
a new perspective.

Be always happy, cheerful and blessed!
Love you both so much,
Rama

I am sure these are the words you would like to convey to Narayan, as
he looks at you with love and affection:

Here comes the sun And I say It's alright.

We went for a short break to Yelagiri, a hill station on Tamil Nadu.

There is not much to see there, and our resort was near the quite famous Vel Murugan Temple.

So we went there to have a look at the temple, in the early morning hours.The temple is quite beautiful situated on top of a hill with beautiful views all around.

There was a statue resembling Gatothgacha at the entrance, and I wanted to take a picture in front of him, and I was excitedly pointing the spot to my husband, when this candid picture was shot, without my knowledge.

And look, a whole group of people are enjoying it from behind me!

It is indeed a crazy picture of mine, a perfect proof of how candid pictures are shot without the person being aware of it. It is funny, at the same time natural, for otherwise the person would be posing with a artificial smile.

Here it is : Looks like I am singing a line from the famous song, "Here comes the Sun and I say it's all right"......

Yeh, here's comes the sun!

Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo Here comes the sun, and I say It's alright. 

Little darling It's been a long, cold, lonely winter Little darling It seems like years since it's been here. 

Here comes the sun Here comes the sun And I say It's alright.

 Little darling The smile's returning to the faces Little darling It seems like years since it's been here. 

Here comes the sun Here comes the sun And I say it's alright. Sun, sun, sun, here it comes x4 

Little darling I see the ice is slowly melting Little darling It seems like years since it's been clear. 

Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's alright. 
Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's alright.

And finally my picture with the Gatothgacha (look alike) statue!!

Chocolate and Coffee Banana Loaf/ Cake

I found this recipe in a Vegan Site. The lady has simple recipes explained  and she also has videos of most of the recipes in her site.
I am slowly turning into a Vegan though  I am still not 100% Vegan, for it takes time. However as much as possible I cook only Vegan food.
Here are the pictures of my recent cake, I only added some Walnuts and some instant coffee  to the recipe, as I like the crunchy taste of Walnuts, which are also very good for brain health.

Just out of the Oven

 For the recipe go to:http://www.mrishtanna.com/2017/…/chocolate-banana-loaf-cake/

Enjoy the cake with Hot Coffee or

Halwa Poori and what not.......

Pooris come with many yummy combinations. In some states in India it is served with Geela/ rasdar Potato bahji with tomatoes and peas in, some places they serve it with semi dry potato bahji like in West Bengal or they are even crazy about potato Posto and Allo dhum and they serve poories or luchies, as t is known in Bengal, with these combinations. Below is the picture of Allo Posto a poppy seed paste slightly dry gravy curry of Bengal

Come to Maharashtra, you would find people loving it with different kinds of Srikands, mango, cardamom, saffron, pista you name it you have it. (No  pictures)

Come down south, in states like Karnataka, you would find it being served with Pallaya, a kind of mild kurma kind of concoction, and also it would come with some green mint or coriander chutney as extras. (I don't have pictures of the Karnataka style Poori Bhaji)

 Further down, when you come to Tamil Nadu, you would find the best Poori Masala, the aroma wafting through the packet (if you plan to pack it) which is made of Banana leaves, oofh, you won't even have the patience to wait to get home to gobble it down, it is that yummy!
The masala is nothing but the potato masala filling  of Masala Dosa, if you ask me which is best combination, I would give Poori Masala of TN the number 1 position.
Our very own Poori Masala of TN

Okay , now there  is another version also, which Halwa Poori, which is usually made in North Indian for some Pooja, and this is given as a prasad to young girls. This combo too is quite yummy.
It is not just poori and halwa it is also comes along with some yummy dry channa baaji.
I read this somewhere in FB, "Nani ke ghar jayenge! Halwa poori khayenge!! Mote hoke aayenge!!!", and immediately I was reminded of the days long ago, when I was young, our North Indian neighbors used to call me for their special pooja and serve me and my other friends this as prasad.
Sadly, now neither do I have any Nannies (grandmas) alive, nor can I afford to be more moti, but since I had to relive those moments from the past, I decided to make this combo today.
Of course, past is past one cannot recreate it however much we try, but still......no harm in trying to recreate as much as possible.

The Punjabi's also love the combo of  Kadhu Wala Poori, (yellow pumpkin) here is the picture:

And their favorite is also Channa with Poori:

BTW all these dishes were made by me sometime or other.

Seeing all these pictures I am sure many of you are feeling really crazy with hunger, my choice as stated above  is Poori Masala anytime, what is your choice?

Mother's Day Special!

Today, again, I am left with only memories of my mother. It has been almost 24 years since my mother passed away. Last year in December, I lost my father too at the ripe age of 94. Two lovely people, who loved us unconditionally. If you have been following my blogs I am sure you must have read many stories and anecdotes, about my mother and my father. I don't want to repeat myself again. Memories are always there, but during such special days, they come out as if some dam has been broken, and they just tumble out relentlessly.

Keeping my thoughts to myself, I just share this with all of you











My mother wore this beautiful saree for my wedding. It was actually a nine yard saree. She always loved green and red combination, she even had a beautiful green and red Mysore silk saree too. After she passed away, each of us took a few sarees of hers. I took this saree as I knew she loved it very much. It had worn out in some places so I made it into a 6 yards saree.

How I wish there was a clear picture of this saree worn by her during my wedding.

Whenever I wear it, I feel as if I am enveloped with her extraordinary love for life, and her zest of enjoying every bit of life. She didn't have great desires, only small ones, and little things were enough to make her feel very happy and blessed. Despite going through many ups and downs in her life she was never grumpy, for her cheerful nature and her beautiful smile never left her.

Mother's Day Special!!

Some Good Hindi, and Tamil Short Films

Recently while I was watching some cookery shows in Youtube, I happened to accidently  come  across, some really interesting Short stories filmed with some known as well as some unknown actors, with good directors, with the duration of each film being from 8 mins. to 15 to 30 mins.
Some were from well known authors too. I have become totally hooked to these short, very profound movies.
I really missed the old Hindi serials which were aired in DD years ago.  In those days they didn't have such crazy Saas Bahu  serials with every character being very wicked and scheming, with everybody wearing designer blouses and sarees with heavy costume jewellery etc.
The stories used to be very simple and with lot of food for thought, we would be led to ponder over the story in depth for a long time. Mostly they were stories written by famous Hindi novelists. The actors were dressed in a simple manner, and they also acted very well. Some short stories of Tolstoy and other Russian authors too were made into short films. They were so good, intellectually stimulating.
 Then came the invasion of our television,  with serials made by the likes of people like Ekta Kapoor, and others followed her style : they were called Soap Operas likes the ones that had people hooked to them all over America.  I too was a big fan of Bold and The Beautiful and Santa Barbara.The B&B  is still running and Santa Barbara ended years ago. They had stopped airing B&B, and though one can still watch it in the net,  it has become very boring, with the actors becoming quite old, and their children continuing in the same path.
My TV watching has been cut down to just some travel, cookery, and some repeats of comedy serials like, Friends, Seinfeld, and Frasier. Somehow I never get tired of watching these comedies, and now they have stopped Frasier, and Seinfeld, really sad.  

Coming back to the present, I was thrilled to see some sensible type of films that didn't all of your time: it was such a relief!
I am posting some links to two short film which  I am sure you all would really love watch: they are short Hindi movie, but you can watch also many Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu movies too, most of them come with sub-titles in English. All of them are award winning short movies.

Here are the links for you:https://youtu.be/ZmVPCnxN-1A

https://youtu.be/N1R6Fyf5V6M

Everyday, I watch a few of them in all languages, and I am very happy to share them with all of you.

Message In A Bottle: a beautiful movie

I happened to see this movie once again when it was today on TV.
It is such a feel good movie, although the ending was really sad and very moving.
It  is a very simple story : A woman finds a bottle washed ashore with a message in it and it interests her so much, that she decides to find the man, and finds him too.
She goes to the place where he lives and finds out that he is ship builder who had lost his wife under very tragic circumstances. He loves his wife, who is no more so much that,he cannot think of moving on in his life. He is stuck with her memories.
When this lady from Chicago comes to meet him, there is mutual spark between them, and they both fall in love with each other. However, when taking a decision, he backs to because his love for his wife pulls him away.
The lady from Chicago goes away, for she could understand his feelings for his dead wife.
Few months later, he decides to tear himself from the past, and sails into the future with lots of hope and love. He sails in his new boat to windy Chicago to start a new life with his new love, but unfortunately, he dies saving somebody from drowning.
The actors Kevin Costner, Robin Wright, and Paul Newman, did their job brilliantly. What I like about these English movies is that there is no high pitched drama, one can feel each of the character's emotion fully.  One can feel it as if one is actually going through the pain, the love, the helplessness, the dilemma. It was really a very touching movie.
Most stories  written by Nicholas Sparks, have such sad endings, at least the ones I have seen.
The Notebook, Nights In Rodanthe,  and many others written by him are really heart wrenching

Sometimes it is so difficult to let go the past, some people do get over their past and move on to new happiness, but there are those for whom it  is simply not possible.
I have an aunt (actually she is my husband's aunt), who lost her husband after being married to him for 44 years. They had 3 children and were very happy together. My uncle had lots of health issues as he grew older, but still he asked her to lead her life the way she always did, and never bugged her to stay constantly looking after him. He told her that it is enough  for one person to be sick, it is necessary for both of them to be sick. He was a wonderful person.
One day he died, and our aunt felt totally alone with no one to share her thoughts  with. Two years passed by, when one day she met a man who was a retired Naval Commodore, and a widower. They met through common friends regarding some transactions. Slowly they started communicating with each  other more often, till one day he proposed and really shocked her.
He  also had two married daughters with children, and he was also lonely  without his wife, whom he had lost when he was very young. With some persuasion, my aunt finally said  yes to him, not without lot of hiccups from her children and some narrow minded relatives.
To make a long story short , she did marry him, and found love again in her life, and he too found happiness after many years of living alone.
Our aunt was a trend setter. She was 67 years old when she got married again, to a man of the same age.
They are happily married and it is going  to be almost 8 years now. The children also came around and everybody is happy, that two good people had found love again.
How many people can find true love twice in their lives : these people found it and surely, we all feel so happy for them.
And I am sure their respective spouses too feel happy watching the loves of their lives happy again.
In this new year (for many it is new year now in India), let us let go of the past, every aspect of it, and open our arms to new happiness and new life with new meaning.