Goddess Durga

~Durga Puja  ~ 

O Mother !!You are  present everywhere , 

You are the embodiment of power & energy !

I bow to you !! I bow to you!! I bow to you!! 

The Goddess of power and strength , Durga 

commonly known as Durga maa or Mother Durga

 is the most important Goddess of Hindus . With a 

multidimensional persona she is the destroyer of 

evil and  carries a trident to slay down the demons.

 A nine day long festival called Navratri 

(or nine nights ) is celebrated twice a year to celebrate

 her nine divine qualities of strength, transformation, 

anger, beauty, compassion fear and power in various

 avatars (or incarnations). Sitting astride a lion, it is 

believed that the multi limbed Goddess battles

 the forces of evil  and makes the world a better place.  

Durga - The Mother Goddess  !!! 

Brown bread, Orange, Red bell pepper, guava, 

beans, babycorn,  olive, crispy snack-boondi, berries   

The auspicious festival of Durga Puja is an annual five day 
celebration to pay homage to the Goddess. Indians all 
over the world  decorate their houses and cook traditional
 meals and desserts  as it is believed that mother Durga visits 
her earthly abode during this time. 

Idols in temples and homes are  

decorated with beautiful flowers .  Orange

 stemmed night jasmine flowers called harsingar, 

shuili or parijat in local dialect bloom profusely during 

this season and are greatly used along with red

 hibiscus  for worshipping. With a nip of chill in the

 air and the advent of winters a lot of seasonal food stuffs 

start lining the local markets and Nolen Gur or Date 

Jaggery is one of those winter delights, a natural 

sweetener it is a power packed with health benefits. 

Nolen Gur Payesh aka rice pudding is speciality of this 

festival. This Bengali dessert is super easy to 

make and is perfect to add zing to your Navratra

 & pujo offering . 

Nolen Gur Payesh 

(Rice pudding with date palm jaggery)

Ingredients - 
1.5 l full cream milk 
1/2 cup Gobind bhog rice (or basmati rice)
200gms nolen gur 
1 bay leaf 
3-4 cardamom coarsely pounded 
2 tbsp  chopped nuts (cashew, almond, chironji)
1 tbsp ghee 

Method- 
1. Soak the rice for half hour. 
2. Grate the gur using a grater and keep aside. 
3.Heat ghee in a pan and lightly fry the nuts till golden. 
Strain n keep aside. 
4.In the remaining ghee add bay leaf , drain water
 from rice, add and lightly roast for a min . 
5. Add in milk and simmer for half an hour , keep stirring
 occasionally so that it does not burn. 
6. Once the milk has reduced to half , check a grain of rice ,
 once softened turn off the flame .
7. Add in cardamon, grated nolen gur & half 
of the fried nuts & stir well to dissolve the jaggery .
8. Pour in a bowl , garnish with nuts & 
serve warm (Or refrigerate to serve chilled ). 

 This year Durga Puja began on Monday, October 11

 (Maha Shasthi) and will end on Friday, October 15. 

The Devi has time and again been visualised in different 

forms, yet the Puranas speak of her as a formless 

supreme power. 

Wishing everybody a safe and 

happy Durga Puja, May the spirit of peace and

 brotherhood prevail. 

Gandhi

 

~Ode to Gandhi ~ 

The greatness of humanity is not in being 

human , but in being humane"

October 2nd is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti to 

commemorate the birthday of  Mahatma Gandhi -

the  civil rights activist who by his ardent philosophy 

of non violence , harmony and communal service 

set an example for others to walk on the path of 

non violence and passive resistance for the benefit

of oneself and humanity. 

Father of the Nation  !!! 

Mishti Doi (Jaggery sweetened yogurt) 

with banana spectacles and apple moustache   

Revered in India as Father of the Nation aka Bapu , 

Mahatma Gandhi is undoubtedly one of the most 

recognisable  leader worldwide. His ideologies have

 been ardently followed by Nelson Mandela , Martin

 Luther King Jr , PM Modi and several other 

great leaders. In 2007 UN declared, 2nd Oct to be 

observed as International Day of Non -Violence. 

Gandhi's image is an integral part of Indian 

currency and several Indian stamps . 

On the joyous occasion may the spirit of 

truth and peace prevail everywhere. Amen. 

Pirate Times

~Pirate Mania~ 

 Children all over the world are crazy about 

pirates and their outrageous sea adventures .

Right from story books to theme parties, 

movies to wonder park how and when these

 pirates quietly sneaked into our hearts n minds

 in their glorified avatars sometimes makes

me wonder about their uprise from shady pasts

 to magnanimous present...... Looks like stories 

of their treasure hunts and adventures 

allured people to give them a friendly 

makeover long after their tribes

 had actually vanished. 

Pirate on my plate  !!! 

Bread, bell pepper, cucumber, cheese, olive and spinach.  

Do you know that there's a special day

 designated for the pirates !! International 

Talk like a Pirate Day is a parodic holiday 

created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark 

Summers of Oregon who proclaimed 

Sep 19, each year as the day when people

 should actually talk like a pirate and

 greet their friends as Ahoy Maties !!

(source- wikipedia)

Ahoy Matey 

Watermelon, cheese, carrot, cucumber, olives.  

These food arts were created  for Children's

Day issue of Child magazine, the famous
parenting magazine of India sometime
 back. I still remember the fun we had
creating these food arts and the pirate
 dialogues that we actually mugged up 

to use off and on !!!  Enjoy the food art ...
or in the pirate language just Enjoy ye !!