A Desi's Desh Vs The Videsh!

I.N.D.I.A

I Love my India. Nah I'm not promoting the movie 'Pardes', nor its songs. I am saying this from my heart! :) I truly madly deeply love my India!

A.M.E.R.I.C.A

I Love it too! But not as much as I love my India! America is beautiful and New York is electrifying! I love everything about NY, Then why is it that I love my India more?

''The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of traditions, whose yesterday's bear date with the modering antiquities for the rest of nations-the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined.''

I wish I had described India so beautifully. That was by Mark Twain.

I lived in India for 25 years. That's a lot! I am living in NY from the last 5 months. That's very less. But one thing I can assure myself is that my love for India will grow irrespective of how many more years I am gonna live in NY, Insha'Allah! I say this with due respect to both the countries.

India is where I lived, where I grew up, where I learnt everything about life, people and everything surrounding me. America, Insha'Allah, will be the place where my kids will grow up, learn everything about life, people and everything surrounding them. It was definitely the best place for me to grow up, but for my kids.. I will just have to wait and watch!

My life in India was F.U.N! My family, my friends, my neighbors, my school, college, hang out's, everything was so special to me. I have to say, it was not as organized as how my life is now, because of the surroundings, but whatever it was, I loved it! And that is important! American life on the other hand is sooo lively, organized, gives us so many options to have fun, hang out, hog, explore, travel and what not! Then why is it that I love my India more?

Indian roads are bad, Indian government is a mess, India is not clean, Indian schools, hospitals are more commercial than service oriented whereas American roads are awesome, Government is less messier, Definitely CLEAN, schools are actually schools but hospitals are more commercialized than Indian hospitals, thanks to Insurance companies! Then why is it that I love my India more?

Indian movies are so entertaining, doesn't matter if the script has more songs than dialogues, co-stars have father-daughter age gaps, makes us cry more than laugh, whereas Hollywood is sensible, rational, true and so perfect that it makes you actually believe that Godzilla, Harry Potter actually existed! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me Big bazaar, Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, M.G road shopping, Hampankatta shopping, Dadar waali shopping and NY gives me Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, Macy's and so many other ''Quality'' clothing! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me South Indian food, north Indian food, this Indian food and that Indian food! It gives me all that I LOVE to eat! NY gives me American breakfast, Indian lunch, Pakistani snacks, Afghani dinner and any world cuisine, anytime I want! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me cricket, Kho-Kho, Lagori, Jubilee, Antakshari, Dumb charades and other games, NY gives me Baseball, Basketball, Ice Hockey, Arcade games and other truly awesome games to play! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me the Dhoom style auto rickshaw rides, the Gaali filled taxi rides, the never on time bus rides and no-place-to-breathe train rides. NY gives me the on-time metro train rides, the comfortable taxi rides, the posh bus rides! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me a Kannada speaking neighbor on the left, an Urdu speaking neighbor on the right, a Malayalam speaking neighbor on the opposite and Tulu, Navaiti, Tamil, Guajarati speaking neighbors in the building! NY gives me a Punjabi family on the right, a Spanish family on the left, a Chinese on the opposite, a Paki family on the far left, a Mexican family on the far right, a Bangla family downstairs, a Japanese, Korean, Guyanese families in the building! Then why is it that I love my India more?

India gave me Summer all the 12 months with special appearances of Rain and very rare visits of Winter. NY gives me Winter, Snow, Summer, Rain, Spring and fall. Then why is it that I love my India more?

The Answer lies in the question itself!

Because India was always mine and will always be & No matter how long I live in America , It will never be able to make me hers.

Hello From New York! :)

Alhumdulillah! I have reached NY.

I came here on the 23rd of February and it was such a longggggggggg flight. Mangalore - Bangalore - Dubai - NY. Total travelling time - around 25 hours! But thanks to Emirates, i LOVED the journey :) I had so many options to pass my time that i simply did not feel like i was having such a long flight! The food.. Aaaahh.. So yumm..Movies, flight cameras, tv shows, news, gorgeous air hostesses all kept me occupied. And i guess i was a little xtra lucky coz the other two seats in my row wernt booked and so i had the ENTIRE row to myself. Yawnnnnnn.. what a peaceful sleep i had! Hehe!

The best part was yet to come. The reception i got at the JFK airport was mind blowing! I ofcourse knew my hubby and my in-laws would come to receive me and i was looking forward to see only them. But when i got out of the airport, what do i get to see!! Zuhair - My hubby with a beautiful bouquet, my in-laws, Zuhair's uncles, aunts, cousins, Grandma! Around 15-20 people to receive me at the airport! And each one had a bouquet! My face was burried with the bouquets and all the hugs , kisses and love i was receiving, all of it made me  feel soooooooooo happy! Trust me i did not feel so important even on my wedding day! LMAO! :D

Thanks to the winter here, everyone were packed with sweaters and jackets and i was just in my abaaya ( burqa).  Though i had my sweaters and jackets with me i decided not to wear them cuz i wanted to 'feel' the cold! Hehe. Staying in Mangalore you never know what winters are, so i wanted to feel this. I got out of the airport lounge and Oh my! It was seriously real cold. All kept asking me if i wanted a sweater but i kept on saying no just enjoying the weather. But the car ws parked a little far and as i reached the car i started to shiver cuz of the cool breeze. I quickly got in to the car and sat next to Zuhair. What better warmth can i ever get ;)

I reached home and to my surprise there was another young reception committee waiting for me! Snow sprays, paper crackers, wishes, sweets and gorgeous girls (Zuhair's cousins) with a banner saying - 'Welcome to the Family Mehnaz Bhabhi ' )! I will never forget that day as i was welcomed by each and every member of the family with so much of love and open arms! Maasha'Allah! Let the love remain forever and ever! Aameen!

And since that beautiful day to this day - a week later i have been enjoying every bit of my life here. Ofcourse i do miss India and my family - Nothing can match that - But here is a different country with different people, different lifestyles, food, weather etc etc. Alhumdulillah i am loving every moment here. I pray to Allah (swt) to bless me with good health and patience to help me live a life filled with love, care, happiness and success in this world and the herafter. Aameen! :)

Best of Year 2010

The Year 2010 will remain the most special year of my life FOREVER, Alhumdulillah! :)

I say so because some of the most important developments in and around me and the best of the things happened to me this year. Waise i am a person who would love to live life in the best way possible and would never miss a chance to celebrate each moment! But this year has been exceptionally great and i loooooooooved every bit of it! Now lemme take a recap of the year 2010 and say what was so great about this year that i regard it ' The Best year' of my life till date.

January : I got married! :D So you know the main reason for me to love this year. * wink wink*  The month was spent in shopping, shopping and more shopping! My wedding was on January 31st, so i had this whole month to indulge myself in the best. A south Indian family girl going to be a part of a North Indian family!! Such awesome times i had.

February : My honeymoon trip to Malaysia and Singapore! No doubt it was my best holiday ever. My hubby dearest showered me with everything that i wished and dreamt of! How can i NOT be happy then ;) Thank you soo much darling! :)

March : My hubby left to New York and my visa processing started - The only pain i experienced this year which is still going on!! But all is well and i would be leaving to NY soon, Insha'Allah :)

April : Tra la laaaaaaaa!! My hubby comes back to India to stay with me for one whole month! :D More reasons to celebrate! We enjoyed in my hometown - Mangalore for a week. We spent a week in his hometown - Gujarat for a week. We went on a fun trip with my family to Munnar, kerala for a week. The rest of the days were spent in post wedding parties ! ;) A fun filled month!

May: My birthday AND my hubby's birthday too! Since it was our first birthdays after marriage, we wanted to make it more special. We did celebrate it in the best ways possible showering each other with love, care and a whole lot of gifts! But unfortunately we could not be together for my birthday because he had to leave at the start of the month and my birthday was at the end of May! But nonetheless, he made sure he made my birthday reely special :) And now the tragic part of the month! :( I lost my dear friend in the Mangalore Plane crash :( She used to live next door and i had the keys of her apartment which i was waiting to give her on that fateful day. I will never forget that day :( May her soul rest in peace, that is all i can pray for now.

June : My visa processing was going on and i started my experiences in the kitchen full time! Yeah, till now i was busy with college and friends so i used to just be the assistant cook in my kitchen. But now i started taking the main jobs ;) I have a passion for writing and i wanted a platform to record events of my life and my thoughts! So yeah, started blogging - http://naazuk.blogspot.com/.

July : This month was spent in missing my hubby and my in-laws but i was enjoying being with my family even after my wedding ;) I know i was one of the lucky few who gets the opportunity to live with parents and siblings even after marriage, so i was making the most of it ;) My cooking sessions were going full on and my blogging too.My cousins flew down from Dubai and we had some of the most memorable weekends ;) 

August : I started baking cakes! One thing which i always wanted to do. I baked so many cakes in August and September that i got tired of baking them but my siblings were not tired of eating! So i went on and on!

September : Weddings, parties and get togethers. Caught up with school friends, college friends, MBA friends!

October : A very important month for me this year! My parents left for the 40 day pilgrimage to Mecca also called Hajj. So i was handed over the position of the 'Top chef' at home as my mum was on the 40 day leave from the kitchen! I knew it was a big responsibility for me as i had two working brothers and 3 college going siblings, an aunt and my grandma! I had to please their taste buds throughout the 40 days! And Alhumdulillah, it turned out one super splendid month for all of at home! We all gained weight! LOL! Not that while my parents were around we were skinny creatures, but the amount of chicken, paneer, cheese, cakes, desserts,  sandwiches and chaats that went into our tummies this month, we all bloated up! :p And not to forget my elder bro's birthday meal preparations! Just fabulous!

November : My younger bro's birthday! Again a special menu for all of us. I had such a good time cooking these 40 days! And guess what, i started this food blog ;) Chef Naaz - The Mistress of Spices!. My parents got back on Nov 21st and i prepared a special meal on their return which everybody feasted on! :)

December : My visa processing is in the last stage and once all is well, Insha'allah i would be leaving to NY asap. My blog turned one month old and i hosted the 'Trifle Event' on my blog :) I participated in various events in this month and i got to know so many amazing bloggers and their delicious recipes. I was so very happy to be getting followers, awards and such  lovely comments from fellow bloggers! It was such a good motivation. I also had a reunion with my MBA friends and we had a gala time.The year ended on a superb note with a family outing! :)

I would love to thank my hubby, my family, friends - both on and off the blogging world, for giving me so much of love, care and motivation everyday, to help me do the things that i love the most! :) Hope you all had a good time reading this post just like how i had a good time doing the recap! I wish you all a very happy New year 2011. May all your wishes, dreams and aspirations come true. May all that we cook be loved by all and may all of us stay good friends, help one another and spread peace and happiness around :)

My 40 days as the Top chef!

Top chef - The title itself makes one proud, Doesn't  it?

Since i am no exception in the list i too felt proud when i got to know that i would be the top chef at my place in my parents absence. They were leaving to the Holy pilgrimage - Hajj. Being a top chef anywhere is a great honor according to me, be it your own house, a restaurant or a reality show!! For me at this point of time, my own house was my target market, my kitchen was my playground and my siblings, my granny and my aunt were the target audience! And trust me that was no joke!

Having my grandma at home and making her love my cooking was the biggest challenge to me, considering her own experiences in this wide area of cooking! Plus she knows how exactly her daughter, i.e my mum excels in the kitchen. So i had this BIG BIG responsibility of pleasing her taste buds. Next comes ' The gang' - Yeah, my siblings! My motivators, my critics. Every child, including myself thinks their own mothers are the worlds best cook. So you see how difficult a task it would be for me to make these 'mom-cooking-freaks' to love my cooking. But i took up the challenge. Yes, it was a Challenge for me! A tuff one!

My parents left for Hajj on Oct 14th, the same day my sis was to be back from her school excursion. So my first task was to make this ' mummy's pet' be comfortable in my mum's absence.  It was not as difficult as i thought it would be. Alhumdulillah! :) Staying away from parents is so hard for every child but its such a good feeling to know that your younger siblings don't mind being away from parents when their elder sister is around! :) And to me it was the vice versa. Alhumdulillah, the 40 days went by smoothly just because i had my granny and my siblings around.

Although i had several other responsibilities, cooking was my top priority. Until two years back i was not as much a  great fan of cooking like how i am now. Alhumdulillah! I used to be occupied with college, friends, studies etc etc. But once i was out of college AND that i got married this year, the chef in me began to rise. Since then i used to always assist Ammi in the kitchen but never got an opportunity to do it solely. But now i did get one such opportunity and i wanted to use it optimally ( yeah yeah MBA effect) :p

So once i started my 40 days journey into cooking, i had to start with waking up early!! A thing which i wouldn't normally do. My sis used to leave to school early in the morn so i had to get up to give her breakfast and pack her off to school along with her tiffin. Next it would be the college going bro and sis's turn to get ready. By 9 a.m they both would be off too. And then i would think of having a short nap. But.. my hubby lives in NY!! It would be night for him and yippeee time to chat. Sleep can take a backseat :p Once he would be off to sleep, i would start my daily chores and then off to the kitchen.

Like every muslim family, we too literally live on non-veg food. :p Chicken, mutton, beef, fish, prawns,clams! And a veg side dish too ;) Friday and sunday specials would always be there. I got so involved in cooking and i developed real interest in it. Now i can proudly say i looooooooooooove cooking. :D And guess what, i started a recipe blog too :) Cook and post! Cook and post! LOL! That is what i started doing. Hehe

I sometimes would cook the dishes ammi used to cook but mostly i tried new ones! In these 40 days both my brothers had their birthdays and so i had to cook some extra special dishes on their days. And it turned out exceptionally well :D Alhumdulillah! Everyone loved the food that i made and i used to get so happy each time anyone would compliment my food. Quite normal rite? :p

Oh yeah the link to my food blog - http://chefnaaz.blogspot.com/

Its just in the starting phase but i am enjoying it already. Cooking has become a passion to me now and i would love to keep it as one of my top priority. The only person complaining about this is my hubby! Everyone other than him has tasted the dishes i have made. And he is soooooo badly waiting me to join him in NY. Alhumdulillah, it'l happen soon Insha'Allah! I will be moving to NY insha'Allah in the month of December or Jan. :)

It was the first Eid we celebrated without our parents being around and we missed them terribly! And to top the boredom , it rained on Eid, so we could not go out too! But now its all fine.My parents are back from hajj :D They had a marvelous time during their pilgrimage, Alhumdulillah! :) I pray to Allah (s.w.t) to give all of us a chance to do hajj soon too, Aameen.

So at the end of 40 days, i can say i have fulfilled my responsibility well because yesterday  i heard  my siblings telling my parents about how i cooked and how they all feasted on it. My happiness knew no bounds! LOL! I am elated to know my cooking has been highly appreciated and i look forward to making more people and their stomachs happy!

And to you my darling hubby- Insha'Allah soon :)

A shopaholic's trip to Mumbai!

It was a beautiful evening in November ’09 when my Ammi, Abba and I were talking, while relishing on Chai and ‘garma garam’ pakodas. And ‘The’ topic sprang up. Again.“Where are we going to shop for Mehnaz’s wedding?”Needless to say, my mood sprang up too! :D  Shopping!! Wow! And that too MY wedding shopping! Soooooooper!

We had talks on this topic many times before.But they were like just two-three minutes conversations like how we decide when we need to buy daily groceries. And this was my WEDDING!!Come on people, we need to actually DISCUSS! So NOW we got talking. 

Ammi’s choice- Mumbai. Abba’s choice – Bangalore. Beti’s ‘choices’ : BOTH! You know, the beti dint want to annoy neither mum nor dad. LOL! Beti gave all the possible reasons on why we should be going to both the places and my darling parents agreed. Buhahaha! I can MADLY shop! My excitements levels reached the clouds. :D 

I began preparing my shopping list. Well, LISTS. If anyone had a look at the lists, they would have definitely thought I had been robbed of ALL my belongings. The list included every other thing a girl needs. LOL! And then the angel in me spoke – “Why do you want to buy all these stuffs AGAIN? You already have like a dozen of each of the things written down. Now be a good girl and edit (read reduce) your lists”. The devil in me ‘counter-striked’: “Naaz! You are going to be a bride soon. And a bride is supposed to have EVERYTHING new in her wardrobe! Expand your list gurl”.

Now the ‘good-shopaholic-girl’ was in a dilemma. The Angelic Naaz and the Devilish Naaz were right on their part. But what should Mehnaz do now? I decided to listen to both. I brought my lists under my sister’s eyes. In other words, I got it under a scanner and within minutes it was reduced to half. Mummmyy!! But it was a good decision. It would be wastage to buy these ‘already-have’ stuffs again. Thank you Sista :D  Angelic Naaz tapped on my back. Devilish Naaz looked at me fiercely. I said ‘Hold on buddy, have a look at the list. The bride is still going to get new clothes, jewelry, accessories, sandals, cosmetics etc. Now smile’!! I was successful in emotionally blackmailing myself too!! Wow! I must be awesome. LOL!

Chhatrapathi Shivaji Intl Airport

The tickets were booked and we left to Mumbai on December 3^rd.My lovely friend Devyani – A Mumbaikar, who was our Guide for shopping in Mumbai, had confirmed our stay at a hotel in Dadar. And we would not have got a better stay in Mumbai. Thank you so much Devu! :) We headed to the hotel straight from the airport and freshened up ourselves and started the shopping spree. What excitement! Devyani had told us over the phone where to roam in Dadar until we meet her in the evening. So as directed, we explored Dadar- The Shoppers Paradise.  We went to a store named ‘Bharatkshetra’, which is exclusively for bridal shopping. My! My! What a splendid collection they had. Imagine a shopaholic’s state when such beautiful clothes were being displayed and marketed. It was just WOW! And before we could even meet Devu, I had chosen my wedding Sharara. :D  A magenta pink sharara with golden zardosi work. I tried it out and it looked so very beautiful and at that very moment I knew i was going to wear this for the wedding. :D

My Magenta Pink Sharara ( M trying it out on the top left) Hehe

Bharatkshetra, Dadar, East Mumbai

Once the main outfit was decided, we moved on to the ‘Bharatiya Naari’s symbol’ – The Saree. My fascination for sarees would reduce my dad’s wallet’s weight by almost fifty percent. But it got the nod from the financer coz it was worth it ;) So here I was, with my wedding outfit and sarees. Devyani joined us at the store too and once she saw all my dresses, we moved to a restaurant to plan out the activities for the next day. 

After the meeting at the restaurant, we roamed around with Devyani to some more shopping streets around Dadar and picked up few dresses for me and for my cousins. By then we all were tired and called it a day. We decided that we would be meeting after a day since Devyani had to go to Delhi the next day. So the next day Abba, Ammi, Bhayya and me got ready for some heavy shopping. :D Our guide for the day was Farhan- our relative. Mumbaikars have got this amazing knowledge of every shopping area and the places where we can get the best deals. ;) Farhan took us to ALOT of stores and since I had the freedom to buy anything, I laid my hands on everything that pleased my eyes and Lo! It was mine. Alhumdulillah! :D The shopping spree was followed by a delicious lunch at Delhi Darbar. 

Mumbai is a HUGE city and I had never visited it earlier to explore it. I used to be in Mumbai only to catch connecting flights and so I never got the chance to roam around. And this time too, we had come with a purpose and all our time was spent in it. But there was one place where I reeely reely wanted to go. The Chowpatty Beach. I had heard about it so much that I was keen to visit it. But, we had no time! :( The rest of the day was spent entirely in shopping and at the end of the day we all had a yummilicious dinner and thanked Farhan for helping us with all the shopping. We got back to the hotel and had a good night’s sleep. 

Devyani came back from Delhi the next day and we planned to meet in the afternoon at Amarsons. It was a real big store and we reached on time. Devyani was on her way, so we thought of going around the shop until she comes. Minutes later I got a call from Devyani saying she is outside the shop and that  she needed change to give the auto rickshaw guy. I went out to meet her and then my mouth fell open! I saw my friend Gaurav standing with Devyani and I was so very happy to see him there. And then I realized Devyani’s plan. She and Gaurav made this plan to surprise me and they were totally successful in their plan. But bechara Gaurav, It was his first visit to Mumbai and Devyani made him wait for her outside Amitabh Bachan’s house for a good one hour and we all burst out laughing when he was telling about his experience. Hehe! Since I live in Mangalore, Devyani in Mumbai and Gaurav in Bhopal, we used to always plan to meet but our schedules never allowed us to. Now this was one time when we three got to meet and it was fantastic! So after Gaurav met my parents, we all set out again- For Shopping!!!  

Needless to say, we girls had a good time but Gaurav and my bro were getting a lil bored. Obviously. We went to Bandra and roamed around for sometime and we made plans to go for a movie. But my parents were tired so we dropped the plan. We were contemplating where to go and then I said ‘ Chowpatty’!!! And we were there. I was so glad to be at Chowpatty Beach. Walked on the Beach, clicked pics, tried the Gola’s and ate Pav Bhaji! Slurp!  A beautiful day came to an end and we bid goodbye to each other as we were leaving back to Mangalore the next day. 

This post is dedicated to my awesome friends- Devyani Jagdale and Gaurav Joshi. Thank you so much for making my Mumbai trip a memorable one. :)

The next day we woke up early and packed our bags and set out. Nah! Nah! Not to the airport. For shopping again! Lmaoo!! :D Our flight was in the evening and we dint want to waste any time. ;) Optimum utilization of time you see ;) After our shopping spree ended, We had to buy extra bags to keep the shopped stuffs in. Later in the evening we left to the airport and headed back to Mangalore with happier hearts, smiling faces, excess luggage and lighter wallets. Alhumdulillah! :)

The Cake Story!

A cake symbolizes a party, a gathering of friends, family, neighbors. At least for me it defines itself that way. Every time a cake is being offered to me, i being a 'not-so-great-fan' of cakes, usually smile and pass the cake to the 'greatest-fan-of-the-cake-on-earth' soul-- My younger sister. I do take it, of course, just to avoid the bickering of my sister and make herself gorge on the extra piece of cake! What a sight it is to see when she gets that extra piece! :p

A cake reminds me of my sis, EVERY TIME! Its not that i do no eat it anytime, but i usually prefer spicy over sweet! I respect people who love to gobble up cakes, but i do not understand how anyone would love to eat a chocolate cake! I will NEVER eat that! I always get the ' OMG, you do not eat a chocolate cake??' kinda look every time i say no to a choc cake piece, but i just smile and say no. Its very difficult to explain people who love certain things about our non-liking towards it! So i do not even try. And it always ends up with the 'God knows how you cannot like this' look and in my mind i say ' God knows how u CAN like it'!

Once i was browsing over some sweet dish recipes and the recipe for choc cake popped up. I HAD to open the page, no prize for guessing, my sis was sitting next to me. Reluctantly, i went through it and without a second thought closed it and went over to another page. And i heard my sis yell. I was like 'What?!?'. She said ' Didi, Please bake a cake.. For me'! Now the latter part of the line melted me. You can imagine her with that ' You are not gonna say no to me right?' face. I HAD to give in. It was my sister.

The next day before leaving to school, she reminded me again and in my sleep i said ' Yeah Yeah'! :p I woke up later and was planning about the activities of the day, not even giving the slightest importance to the cake! I logged in to the internet and to my surprise i see my sis's status message on her IM window which read ' Yaaaay, today my didi's gonna make a choc cake for meeeeeeeeee'! I was like ' Oh so sweet'! and then immediately i said ' Damn'! I am her didi and i am the one who has to bake it! Baking a cake? And Me? ME?? God knows how, I wondered.

The next half an hour was spent in going through ' Easy Choc cake recipes'! :p And i finally found a good one. A normal choc cake recipe. Now i dint know what was easy and what was not! Forget baking, i had not EATEN one!! But then i HAD to do this. So i gathered the ingredients, some confidence, little interest and started! OMG! I was baking a cake! Hard to believe!

Trust me, it is not difficult. :D Yes, I am saying this! All you need is electricity - To beat the eggs, to powder sugar, to bake! And you need a motivating person! :p AND of course the basic ingredients. Whola! The cake was ready to be baked. The microwave looked at me with a surprised look and i replied back - ' Yeah, for my sister' ;) Ten minutes later, the microwave called out to me. I looked at the cake. Heavenly feeling!! I made a cake! Yaaaaaay! :D

So here it was resting on the dining table with my eyes stuck to it. It looked yummy, but i needed to know how it tasted. Before the main critic would be back home, i wanted somebody to give me the review. Unfortunately couldn't get hold of anyone for my experiment. :p And the door bell rang. "Damn, the cake-eater is at d door"!! I quickly hid the cake in the oven and opened the door. She came in and went straight to the kitchen, scanned the refrigerator and looked at me! I thought lemme kid with the kid. I said i was really sorry but i could not prepare it. She got a doubt coz she knew i would never do such a thing. But i made her believe in me ;)

She went to her room obviously with a sad face. When she went to freshen up, i went to the kitchen, took the cake out and wrote her name on the cake with fresh cream. It now looked yummier. But again, How did it taste?? She was at the comp when i brought the cake to her with a 'tan-tanaaaaa' background music. It was a moment to remember. She was very very happy! And i was happy to see her happy! :D So we ended up being the Happy Sisters! Alhumdulillah! :)

Now the tasting part ;) The most important one! My sis and my cousin sis, both fans of the choc cake tried it and showed me a thumbs up. No doubt, i was GLADDDDD!! Proud of myself ;) And then it was shared by every one in the house and all LOVED it. Seriously, i was very happy that day. :) It gave me the confidence to prepare more cakes. And within a week i made four cakes :D A cousin bro emotionally blackmailed me to bake a cake for him and i fell in the trap ;) But i loved the outcome coz he loved the cake! :D

All these compliments made me realise that nothing is difficult. If we have the will we can accomplish anything but of course with God's help. After a week one of my friend called me up and told me he was leaving to Bangalore that night. I said Okay kool and thought to myself ' Why not bake a cake and give it to him so that my friends can taste it there in Bangalore?' I told him about the 'Parcel' that he needs to take with him, not telling him what exactly i was giving him. I baked a cake and packed it well and wrote notes for my friends on the parcel and sent it.

Meanwhile i sent a message to my friend to collect the parcel Asap! I was a little worried coz my friend couldn't collect it on time and i thought it must have gone bad. I got a text in the evening saying the parcel was collected, but i wasnt happy coz i was very sure that it would have definitely gone bad by that time. So i replied back and told them that its not gonna be good, with a sad face. I was feeling bad coz i had made it with so much of love and care, but it would not be serving the purpose coz they would not be able to eat it! And then i got the following texts.

"If bad tastes so yummy, i wonder how would it taste when its fresh!! Its Awesome!!"

"Hey Naaz, the cake is awesome. Even next time when i come down , prepare this and give us"

Needless to say, i was elated. And from then on the cake stories went on and on and Insha'Allah i would want to continue it forever, of course with a happy ending. :)

The WeekEND that never came to an end!

Mangalore is beautiful. I do not say this because i belong here, its the fact. Its a city which has made my life so damn beautiful. Being born and brought up in Mangalore, it is obvious that everything revolving my life has happened here or it was linked to Mangalore in some way or the other. And I am glad about it.

I love almost everything about Mangalore (Of course, there are exceptions whenever we say we we love something) :p  The people, the places, the streets, the restaurants, the schools/ colleges, the malls, THE BEACH! Take a survey about Mangaloreans and ask them 'When did u visit 'Panambur or Tannirbavi' last?' 90.. umm.. 95% would answer ' Last sunday'! That's the kind of human traffic these two beaches attract every weekend.

Panambur Beach

It was a Sunday and as usual, all roads were leading to the Beach. We were among them too. 'We' were a group of 5. A crazy group of 5, to be precise. A black Scorpio, Elder bro steering our ship, oops.. our Scorpio, Cousin bro clicking pics and we three girls laughing on our cousin bro's jokes. (Yeah u imagined it right, the typical 'hehehehe' laugh) LOL! We zoomed our way through the city traffic and reached the outskirts leading to the beach.

We go to the beach every weekend, yet enjoy every single time and this time we were sure it would be an awesome trip, because of the magic our '5' member gang would create when we would get together. And this time 'We' were hanging out together after years. We reached the beach. The dark clouds reached too. And yes, it started drizzling. Our excitement levels rose higher. We were elated to be at the beach amidst the rains. We enjoyed every bit there. Spoke, laughed, clicked pics, teased each other and carved memorable moments together. And then it poured.

Rain Rain, Come again

Crazy Five

We stayed on for some time enjoying the rain and then, we were back in the car. Cousin bro asked ' Where to next?'. We all screamed for ice cream! :D The wish was granted. We stopped at 'Pabbas', the yummmmmmmmmiest ice cream serving parlour!  But then, there were many more people who had the same wish fulfilled! LOL! It was insanely crowded. We just parked the car and kept watching at the ice cream joint. People looked as if they haven't eaten ice creams for decades! We included.

Having contacts in ice cream parlors helps! LOL! We were in after ten minutes. The order was ready in our minds at the beach itself. The waiter came and we told him the names of our favorite ice creams. I said ' Parfait'! :D The chocolate gals ' farmaaished'! The boys- 'Gadbad'! And soon we were lost.. lost in the world of rains, ice creams, instrumental music and air conditioners.

Parfait

American Choconut

    

 

Tiramisu

 

A voice interrupted us, 'Sir, innu yen beku?' ( Sir,What else do u want to order?) and we were back to the real world. Cousin bro asked ' Second round of ice cream?' . We said yes, but lets do it tomorrow!! The thought of our extended weekend made our minds, hearts and stomach jump with joy! After roaming in and around the city, we were back in our nests, with a thought that we would meet again tomorrow ;)

And we did.This time in the afternoon on the pretext of picking up my younger sis from school! :p We picked her up from school, picked up few stuffs from the supermarket and waited for cousin sis's classes to get over. We kept calling her up to check if she was done with classes but the girl never picked the call! You should never make an 'ice cream crazy' person wait, That's what my cousin sis learnt that day! LOL! By the time she FINALLY checked her cell, she had reached home! And here we were waiting to take her along for the ice cream trip! 'Your loss', We said in consensus. She pleaded guilty like she had been accused for some major crime! LOL! And in few minutes we were back home, only to pick her up to go and gobble up the ice cream! But it was not that easy. Ammi dearest called up and gave me an earful because her darling younger daughter was supposedly ' tired' after her day of school and i had 'zabardasti' taken her on the ice cream eating session. Little did she knew how much this girl had bribed me emotionally to take her along. :p Like always, i was successful in 'maskafying' my mum and before she knew, her little girl had gone upstairs, changed her dress and was back in the car! LOL! 

This time we were in Ideals Ice cream parlor. Heaven. Slight changes in our order but the Chocolate girls dint even want to think of a replacement. This time we had ice creams in the second round! So what was the order in the first round, u ask? Hehe..Chatni cheese sandwich! :D Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! After that came the Ice creams. SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP! We were having a real good time and someone joked that we would come tomorrow too, to which my sis replied ' Crazy or what??'!.
 
She had forgotten what our group name was. It was Tuesday evening and we were out again!! This time at a different place.'Royal Treat'. And the treat lived up to its name. :D I guess someone put an eye on my 'maskafying skills' because this time Ammi dearest did not allow the younger one to join our gang. :p But the number remained the same. Five. How? There is no shortage of crazy people here!! LOL! A cousin joined us this time. And it was his treat. Buhahahhaha! :p We certainly knew this was our last 'day-out', because Ammi dearest would put us on curfew if we continued this further. And this new entrant swore not to join us again!! *Chuckles*

But.. Luck! Luck! Luck! Wednesday came and we were again spotted taking rounds of the school and college waiting for the two girls to get out of their classes. Yea Get out!! LOL! Once they both hopped in, we all burst out laughing! I am sure you all can imagine the scene. ;) Ideals Ice Cream Parlor was the venue again. The order transformed. I was with a ' Lychee with ice cream' request, the bro's with 'Dil khush' and the girls, Nah, they did not change, they exchanged! So yet again they ended up with their FAV flavoured ice cream. Now this time we were DAMN SURE that our ice cream spree would come to a complete halt.

Until.. Tring tring... A Cousin sis called up and invited the five of us to her place for dinner on Thursday!! God really loves us. Masha'Allah! :D We laughed real hard and waved at each other with an evil ' See You tomorrow Insha'Allah' grin. Who would not?!? ;) Thursday came and the crazy gang was back with many additions to it. Awesome dinner and desserts! Dil really khush! LOL! Finally it was Friday and our gang member cousin bro was leaving to Dubai, so we now knew for sure that our trips came to an end. Sad!

Friday. Cousin bro's flight was at 6.30 P.M and he came to meet us before he left. Yeah you are right. LOL! We went to Ideals again!!!!! This was the craziest ice cream trip because we had no time and were in a hurry but yet we added up to the ice creams parlor's revenue for the day! And it was my treat! ;) We laughed recalling the days from Sunday to the present day and each one expressed how much fun, joy, happiness it brought to them. We were surely a happy lot that week.

And yes, Cousin bro actually flew to Dubai that evening. LOL! There was never a week like this which either of us had experienced before. But as we bid goodbye to cousin bro, we promised each other that Insha'Allah, we would create a better week in the future when we would all meet again. :) Insha'Allah! :)