Maha Katha- Mahabharata - Ethics in an epic

Karna is one among the interesting and complicated characters in Mahabharata. 

I started with this line as a story to my now 7yr old LO, a month back while telling bedtime stories. I have told about many personalities, epics, space, Bharathiyar stories and songs. None of the topic exceeds more than 2 days. Sometimes the whole epic cut short to 30 mins or 45 mins, Silapathigaram- another epic in tamil, was told in 2 days. Like every kid, my kid is fond of Hanuman, so Ramayana stories went on board for 3 days.

 I knew Mahabharata is not one of this kind, that can be finished in short. Not because this epic is so vast and has several stories interleaved with many characters. It is because Mahabharata is a story for life. The world even now, after so many thousands of years finds the problems we face and the dharma to be followed on every situation of life in Mahabharata. And everyone of us can relate to a character in Mahabharata and our day to day struggles, pain and emotions.

But I knew that was too much for kids to think or carry in their mind for days. And discussing for many days they might lose interest. So I decided to tell my kids or should I say, introduce them to the characters of Mahabharata. 

Unexpectedly, starting off with Karna, we went a little overboard for a week. What could it be, to talk about Karna for a week? 

Yes! We read, discussed and did learn more about Karna. 

My favorite characters in epics or novels usually will be a strong headed, optimistic women Characters. I mostly never fall for any heroic or stunning male. ( I think the scarlet Pimpernel is a big exception,😊 because of the way we read it or because of the lovely teacher who inspired when reading, may be.. exceptional) 

Talking about Mahabharata, no character in the epic can be termed as ‘perfect’ or the so called real optimistic character any fictional story usually has. 

Initially I thought I loved Draupadi, then it moved to Arjuna, then to Krishna and finally, not the least Karna. 

And now reading lot about Karna I give up. Yes Mahabharata is not about a flawless hero, all bad antihero and a female lead to make it a fiction. But it’s a lesson all along. And every character in the epic teaches something for life!

And the reason for this post. Having read a lot about Karna, and as I start to explore on more about other characters, I thought why not to write about it. As discussions, and as stories, you can find some articles henceforth on my blog about Mahabharata.

Power packed Sandwich

Sandwich is the one dish which can be made with lot of variations. Just fill whatever you like or want in-between two breads and Sandwich gets a life!!

My family likes Sandwich a lot lately. Kids version of sandwich is quite simple with their favorite veggies a little( Yes ! a little) and lot of cheese.

My husband and I prefer to make it a power packed breakfast simply adding all the veggies and an egg goes in too!

Weekends mostly starts with this breakfast and we don't feel hungry for next few hours definitely. 😉

Many prefer to have it light and you can get 'n' number of variations and style it or design it, be creative and still call it Sandwich.😃

My recipe, which we enjoying having for our breakfast, here it goes.

Ingredients
-------------
Whole wheat bread - as required
Potato - 1 (Boiled, peeled and cut to thin slices)
Big onion - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Tomato - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Egg - 1
Lettuce or Baby spinach - few leaves
Cucumber - 1 (Cut to thin slices)
Green chutney - Blend coriander with chilly and salt along with cashew/almonds
Tomato Ketchup - as required
salt - as required
pepper - as required
cheese - thin slices
Tofu slices - optional
Any veggies of your choice. In this recipe, in addition to usual veggies, I have used Capsicum/peppers.

Directions
-------------
1. Boil potato and cut to thin slices after peeling the skin.
2. Slice all the veggies and sprinkle little pepper and salt all over and keep them ready.

3. Grind the coriander and green chilly along with salt. To make it smooth and spreadable, grind with few cashews/almonds.

4. Break the egg in a pan and add salt along with pepper. Toss it when cooked and keep the omlette ready. Or use a boiled egg sliced into thin pieces as in picture.

5. Heat a pan. Take a bread slice and apply the green chutney generously and layer it with the veggies, cheese and egg. We are not a big fan of cheese hence a quarter from a slice of cheese. And have added few drops of spicy sauce. We love heat!

6. Cover the spread with the other bread after applying ketchup all over. 



7. Apply butter around and toss it after the corners turns crisp.

8. Serve hot.

Tips:

1. Toasting the bread in low flame and applying butter from all sides, makes it evenly crispy. 

2. Sandwich doesn't need any specific recipes to be followed. If any ingredient is not available skip and replace with something else. Imagination is the key.

3. When you have any leftover gravies or subzi's, use them in your sandwich for a different and native Indian style flavored sandwich.

Patio garden 2020

Gardening was never my interest until I got married. Though my house always had a wonderful garden or we lived in houses with wonderful trees all along my childhood, I didn't find interest until I set up one post marriage. 

My parents made a bed of soil, compost and planted many fruit yielding trees and flower plants after we moved to our home in 2002. My garden was not that big, it was always a balcony garden where I had the most needed few herbal plants and a couple of flowering plants. This was my usual take. 

Since we moved to US, I always wanted to experiment growing plants here. But gardening is always a challenge here since its difficult to maintain plants in winter. 

In US, as every year pass by, the plants and pots have increased. For our small balcony garden, we don't maintain greenhouse effect still try to keep few annual plants indoor. Most of them being perennial, we enjoy the season with good amount of flowering plants. It all started with flowering plants, of course to create a lively and colorful ambience and also I love to offer to God almost all through spring and summer. Sometimes it extends to Fall too. 

This year I tried few microgreens, tomato from scratch, coriander from seeds and few more roses. Have made my children to check at them first thing in the morning and they share the bond with them as well. 

Watching them grow itself  is a very good meditation  and calms our mind positively.