Thursday, September 20, 2007

A relaxing Dessert !


Would you like to have your favorite creamy ice cream that tickles your taste buds and swims down your esophagus ?
or,
Would your like to have aromatic and glistening gajar ka halwa with the intoxicating smell of ghee ?
Why not try the thick sweetness of palada payasam , enriched with the flavors of condensed milk ?.......
Do not mistake this for a food blog, though I have dreamt of starting one....

These are a few of my favorite desserts though the list can get longer in a jiffy. I was notorious for being a picky and fussy eater during my childhood. Though my affinity for food has deepened as I grew up , there is something that has remained constant ....my temptation for a nice dessert. You can put a full stop to your meal only with an exotic dessert! It cools down , relaxes and also rejuvenates your tired digestive system after it has to assimilate , grind and digest the heavy inputs.

The same calming and soothing effect is met when you get a good assertive foot massage at the end of long hectic day. I am fortunate to enjoy this daily doze of dessert at the end of each day, which is like a balm , and which has all the properties of a sleeping pill. And my daily therapist is none other than my husband PP.

When we were in Taiwan I grabbed the opportunity of offering my feet to a professional foot massager. The board " FOOT MASSAGE" used to be so inviting , and I always suppressed my temptation of peering into the road side massage rooms. But I finally gave in ; and on one of my usual walks to bargain for fresh vegetables from farmers , who displayed their crops in the congested and noisy streets, I stopped at one of those boards ...and found few people in a queue awaiting their turn for the massage. I too joined the group. I could also hear pleading and yelling voices from the customers who were already tasting the efficacy of the massage .It was finally my turn ... and soon realized the secrets behind the pleading and yelling voices.The half an hour massage that followed was an experience that I find difficult to put to words. You have to experience it.


The person who massaged my foot kept on talking to me in Chinese , but I was not in a state to explain that I did not follow their language .. If I opened my mouth to speak I knew I would not speak , but only scream. After the massage I was given one and a half liter of warm water , which I was supposed to drink . Even though my bladder could no longer endure the pressures from within, by the time I rushed back home .....I went back every week for more of those massages.

Though the massages were painful, it promised energizing each and every cell by removing the blocks that have piled in our body!

Here is a small video of a Taiwanese foot massage, which brought back memories.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Power of Prayer!




Its only a few months since we came to US . A month after we arrived, we visited a temple 15 miles from our place. It was not like the temples I have gone to in India . It was an ordinary brick building, which never gave one a clue that it was a temple. But my impression changed as I stepped into the building which housed beautiful icons of various Hindu Gods.There was a large hall for meditation and the atmosphere was calming. I enjoyed the silent vibrations that penetrated the surroundings. I found a huge accommodating auditorium at the basement of the temple. A function was about to commence in the auditorium. A deep desire to perform at this temple sprouted in me.The splendid auditorium was so beckoning! I made a silent prayer .....It was a genuine and intense prayer......! To me prayer has been a communication ...for when ever I communicated clearly my prayer has always been answered....!

Even with very little exposure and limited by the fact that I am a total stranger ....My prayer was answered!
I danced in the Bharatiya temple last week and I enjoyed every moment ! Things have materialized in a very short span of time ...which have confirmed my faith in prayer !