I constantly move to deserts and valleys
Climbing mountains, passing from cities
Exploring the woods, meeting the locals
Learning tribal culture, enjoy their fests
Having a bag full of memories to cherish
That don’t get faded with time, stay fresh
Love going back to the memory lane
Calling old friends, close they remain
The nostalgia lingers on forever
Nothing can replace the sheer joy
Looking at the pictures, smiles and tears
Sweet memories can never fade away.
Recently we shifted to a new house. As luck would have been we entered the house on the most auspicious day of Hindu calendar…. it was Diwali festival on that day. You can see the rangoli, diyas and my temple where I made my idols sit so that they can bless us. 
My house looked so good in blue lights and what a beginning in the new city! My boys enjoyed and are ready to learn their culture and traditions. 
Looking forward to culture all around the world. Right now I am going to watch ‘Dr. Strange’ in a mall. See you all after the show. Have a good day. Yes, The famous Winston Churchill House is our den now !
As you all know by now that I have shifted recently and very proudly I want to share that we have been alloted the famous heritage bunglow called “THE RETREAT”.
History says Sir Winston Churchill as a young sub altern stayed in this house ” The Retreat” while on a visit to India. It is rumoured that when he went back to England and later become one of the most famous prime ministers of Britain, he gave a ‘royal’ pension of 1 pound to the orderly who served him here, and the orderly, though not named received this pension till his death.
The day my husband broke this news to me I was thrilled with joy. I grabbed my phone and surfed Google to dig into the history. I felt so fortunate to get a chance to live in such a historical bunglow. I was waiting for the day when I would be stepping in the house and finally when I did I fell in love with it at the first sight…..A liminal phase started thereafter…. in terms of settling down since it is entirely different from the previous houses we were alloted. Not that this was the first time we have got a bunglow in services but this one is really old and huge. Not many renovations have been done and the original walls and architecture is still intact. I am doing it step by step. 
The heritage building was constructed in 1856. This is what I read on official website:
“Though many in the city are familiar with a some examples of built heritage within the cantonment limits, few are aware about the existence of structures like Deccan House, The Abbey and numerous other monumental buildings which have survived despite the passing of two centuries. Amongst buildings with high associational value is ‘The Retreat’, one of several quaint colonial bungalows, which served as Sir Winston Churchill’s residence in 1896. It was during his sojourn at Secunderabad that the redoubtable statesman first met his early flame Pamela Chichele-Plowden, daughter of the then British Resident at Hyderabad, at a polo match. Churchill, then a subaltern in the British army was the star performer of the meet and is said to have swept the lady off her feet. Their courtship, which lasted till 1902, was amicably terminated in England.”
Hoping to have a great tenure here. I AM LOVING IT. More pictures in next post.
Really we received countless blessings and wishes for our younger son Pratyush who by God’s grace has scored 87% in his ICSE higher secondary boards. His result was out two days before and from that day onwards there has been celebration time in our home.
We took him to nearby water park for party. I cooked his favorite pepper grilled fish, egg bacon pie and stuffed veg cheese garlic bread. 
We watched two movies- Captain America and X-Men Apocalypse back to back, did shopping for both the sons. Luckily my elder son also came home last month to spend his summer vacations.
I know I couldn’t read and write blogs but last two days were dedicated to my son no. 2. All relatives and friends congratulated him for his bright future ahead. He has to now focus on his intermediate. Also he has to take the big decision of chosing a right stream. As of now he is going strongly on Commerce stream. Science is totally out.
I hope he takes the right decision and moves ahead with confidence. I will be visiting you all soon. Right now very tired and off to bed. Good night.
A picture says more than 100 words. Today my pictures will say few more words. I need not to elaborate on this. Have a look on the wealth inherited by generations of Sir Umaid Singh Rao of Jodhpur. Who was he? I have already published a post on family history. Read here.
Now some pictures of the museum which is part of their present palace, Umaid Bhawan. 
The flourished palace
The man himself
My both the sons are my best buddies.Who else? They make me laugh like crazy, they wipe my tears, give me immense joy and moreover share their fears and secrets with me.
They both never dissappoint me when it comes to have fun. I feel young in their company. Tarun pampers them both whereas I do the dirty stuff of lecturing and putting restrictions in the name of grooming them. Does it make any difference to them?
Times have changed. What was right for us might be outdated for them. Our food, music, fashion, values and even social behavior used to be so different from the present generation stuff. Now you can’t behave like parents with your grown ups. If you dictate terms they will go away. But then why should we do it anyway?
They want to be treated as independent individuals and I have observed one thing, pardon me if I am wrong, that the present generation is smarter and has ability to take practical decisions. We were emotional fools, they aren’t. They know the power of money and spend selfishly ( I mean mostly on them). They start saving at early age and very good at financial management.
I had started working when I was eighteen. Today when I look back I wonder what have I done with all that money I earned over the years? Only collected articrafts, house items, clothes, shoes, jewelry or in other words “junk”. No solid saving for old age. No, I am not cribbing nor I regret because I was doing what I felt right. Perhaps I never earned so much. I am learning from my buddy, my son who has shared some fantastic investment ideas.
All said and done my sons give immense happiness to us. Tarun is my soulmate but my brats are real buddies who are there for me always.
Today everyone seems to avoid traditional foods and insist to have fruits, cereals to kick start the day. Perhaps health conscious people are made to think that way by so called dietitians and doctors who get good commissions from companies for promoting their wellness/ healthcare packages.
I understand the benifits of fruits and protein shakes but don’t you think they are overestimated whereas local breads, parathas, traditional dishes are highly underestimated.
I have seen my grandmother relishing everything right from fried snacks to puddings and pakoras till she died at 87. In fact she used to love pizza ! Mind you she was hale and hearty when she died. She didn’t had high/ low blood pressure, diabetes or cholesterol issues.
She never had corn flakes or oats in the morning. Instead she used to have rawa( broken wheat) daila etc. for breakfast. When fresh, unpolished rice/wheat is available then why to go for pacaked Kellog’s products like musli, oats or corn flakes.
Same in the case of my grandfather and maternal grandparents. They all lived above 85, enjoyed a healthy life and had natural death because of aging and not because of diseases or heart attack.
I firmly believe that we must not underestimate the advantage of consuming local food available in the region rather than buying cold storage fruits and vegetables. The farm fresh has got more nutrients than canned or packed products.
So next time when you go around your neighborhood food joints, enjoy a crispy pakora or indulge in stuffed paratha topped with fresh butter or litti chokha without any guilt.
This is the kind of food our earlier generations ate and remained active. At the same time we have to do physical work also, not in the gym but at home like our grandparents. Walk and climb. Bend and squat to burn calories.
Do not become slaves of technology. Consume farm fresh to extract maximum nutrition and forget about those expensive supplements.
