After a very long break I am posting a Daring Bakers’ Challenge. And even though I am posting for it, I actually took an easy way out and did not dare myself too much with this month’s challenge.
Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!
Initially when I had seen the challenge I had plans to make a beets red velvet cake and try out a black bean brownie recipe I had been eying for a long time. But as you can see those plans did not pan out.
Instead I tried this recipe my mom uses to make whole wheat cupcakes. My sister-in-law loves these cupcakes and always requests my mom to make them. So since she is over I thought would make them for her and that ways I would be able to post for DB as well. Killing two birds with one stone! Pretty smart, aren’t I!
And with Easter this weekend, the recipe did seem apt. 🙂
It’s the festival of Holi, the festival of colors, in India today and I wish everyone a very happy and colorful holi! 🙂
Even though Holi is a pretty messy festival, and each year I swear I won’t play it, I end up playing and I end up having the time of my life.
When we were young, a day before Holi my mom would rummage through our old clothes, since the clothes we wore on Holi would end up in no condition to be worn again.
Growing up, Holi in the Air Force stations used to be really dirty. As kids we were saved from being thrown in the mud pit, but I remember seeing my parents being picked up and thrown in. It was absolutely brutal. I also remember grown ups pouring entire beer bottles on each other.
We children though saved from all the above still would be covered in colour from head to toe, dripping paint all over the place. I really don’t know how my mom cleaned the house after Holi party, because I remember the house and the bathrooms would get so dirty. My mom would give us a wash with the hose outside but still the bathroom would get dirty, with colored finger prints on the sink, the toilet seat, the faucets, the tiles, etc. It was never a pretty sight.
We meet so many people in our lifetime. Why is it that some people stick, others don’t?
Even after repeated encounters with some people, you just don’t feel inclined to know them any further but with some it just takes a brief conversation to build an interest in you for them. I always wonder why that happens. I mean for certain people it’s obvious why you don’t want to know them more. They behave like jerks. Or they are just full of themselves. But then there are others who appear nice, who you talk to and don’t mind their company as such but then when you leave, you forget about them. You might keep meeting these people and still find that even though they are friendly, smart, funny, you wouldn’t want them to be a permanent part of your life. There is nothing wrong with them per se, but you don’t feel any need for them to mean any more than acquaintances. But then there are some who stick.
Then there are these other connections you make. The ones that are momentary but their effect stays with you forever. These are the people who you will meet, and without their ever knowing (since you will never meet them in your life again) help you in some way. They would never know how they helped you with their one word of encouragement or that smile they passed you. But they did.
When I visited the Kumbh Mela this year in Allahabad, I met one such person. This girl.
This girl and her friends came to me when they saw that I had a camera in my hand. They politely asked me “didi, humari photo logey?” (Will you take our pictures). Of course I couldn’t refuse. You should have seen the joy in their eyes. Each pushing the other to be in the frame of the photograph. Because, well, they were just that excited.
I don’t know why but this girl (above) has stayed with me ever since. Probably because of the joy she found in the simple fact that somebody was taking her photograph. A photograph that she would never see. Never wanted to see. They weren’t well off kids. Didn’t look like they had much money-wise, but a simple thing like being photographed brought such joy to their faces. Sometimes the most joyful smiles come from those who have nothing. Or maybe they are the ones who actually have everything.
It puts things in perspective, doesn’t it. It did for me. If this girl whose life might not be perfect can smile so brightly, find joy in such a small thing as being photographed, shouldn’t I learn to do the same. Happiness lies within us. That point really drove home during Vipassana and then when I met her. Its upto us to make most of it. And even though I am being all philosophical here, most likely I will still crib about certain things, still get low from time to time, but I have this girl to remind me that happiness is all in the mind. You really don’t need the perfect set of situations to be happy. You just need a moment. And you can find that moment in the smallest of things. You just need to be looking.
Anywhoooo….heavy stuff aside, I also got the opportunity to click a few more snaps and thought I will share them with you. I think these faces speak for themselves, so I will shut up now and be happy 🙂 🙂 !
