October 18, 2010

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Again another week passed within a wink. And again here I am with my sunday hunt collection. This week's themes are:
1.Side Lighting
2.Jack o'lantern
3.Faces Formed in Nature
4.Sunset
5.Warm
And here are my interpretations:
1.Side Lighting
2.Jack o'lantern
3.Faces Formed in Nature
4.Sunset

5.Warm

Click the below button to view more collections from other talented photographers:



I will be not active for a week or so. Have some guests at home. Will be back soon..Happy Blogging...

October 10, 2010

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Sunday comes too fast and passes away within a fraction of moment. Anyway again I am ready with my collection for the Scavenger Hunt Sunday event. This week's themes are:
1.Pink
2.Book
3.Fall Colours
4.Leaf
5.Orange
And here are my interpretations:
1.Pink
2.Book
3.Fall Colour

4.Leaf
5.Orange

Thanks to Ashley for conducting this wonderful weekly event. Click the button bellow to meet more talented photographers through their snaps they clicked for the event:

October 8, 2010

Photo Challenge- Reflection

This click is off to the Photo Challenge started by Jessi. The theme is Reflection. Click the link below to see more talented photographs-

October 7, 2010

A Day, A World......


Picture Courtesy :Googleimages.com
Being an ex-student of Visva-Bharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore, (located at Santiniketan, India), what I treasure most apart from the highly cultural and creative value oriented educational system, is the Anandamela/Anandabajar( Ananda in bengali means Happy and Mela/bajar means Fair).Though each and every festival of the university is worth to value, AnandaMela is exclusively different. It takes place on the auspicious day of Mahalaya , when each and every student would wake up early in the morning almost before the sunrise by themselves and rush to the university campus to gather the iron railings and Bamboo poles to build their own little shop. And the evening will be an out burst of crowd and creation. This little fair is the heart of all the functional activities which the students of Visva Bharati cherish most. This little fair is the effusion of the hidden originative potentialities and energies of the all ages students.

The biggest and most auspicious festival of the Bengalis is the Durga Puja or Durgotsov. It is widely celebrated in all over the world where ever you will see a bengali community is gathered up. Mahalaya, an auspicious occasion which is also know as Devi-bandana, is considered as the first day of Durga puja, heralds seven days prior to the main Puja.
"Mahalaya is a kind of invocation or invitation to the mother goddess to descend on earth. We bengali never can think Mahalya with out listening to the early morning radio program called “Mahisasura Mardini” or “The Annihilation of the Demon.” This All India Radio (AIR) program is a beautiful audio montage of recitation from the scriptural verses of “Chandi Kavya”, Bengali devotional songs, classical music and a dash of acoustic melodrama." (Ref: http://hinduism.about.com/cs/audiomusic/a/aa092003a.htm)

For the students of Visva- Bharati this auspicious day of Mahalaya is the most awaited cherishing moment prolonged with a planned project to be materialized on Mahalaya. This is a little fair where only students participate. The most glorious part of this little fair is that only homemade food and own handmade crafts will be sold. The students from the nursery to the college will be seen busy in selling their own hand made products. And all the fund comes out of this fair will be donated to the Poor Fund. It always takes place in the open area of Patha-Bhavan school campus, known as Gour Prangan.
Picture Courtesy: Googleimages.com
As the enchanting invocation of goddess durga gets over, the sun -rise starts to paint the morning sky, all the students will be seen running out of their home towards the school campus. A distant sound of Dhak(Click) will keep on spieling in the campus. The romance of the music will make the area spell bounded and every body will keep on forging in that rhythm. Each group will be first divided in to two groups, one group will go to collect the iron railings which are stood through the eternity holding each others hand and protecting the huge playground of the campus. This is the day those are departed from each other and travel for a while in the fair land. The other group will stand in the queue of a particular office of the university that will be supplying the bamboo poles. A spot is always reserved beforehand for each shop. So the next step is to build up the shop and decorate it. For each shop one teacher is always there to assist them. After the shop is built the shopkeepers will fly to their houses to borrow bed sheets or saris from their mother to cover and decorate their shops. And mothers are always ready in advance with all the handy material that will be called for. In decorating the shops the students will show their utmost art of creativity. They will make beautiful hoardings, price lists/menu cards, lovely crafts hanging from the top etc. After the shop is decorated then the turn comes to take some rest and have lunch. If it is a handicraft stall then it is quite relaxing. But if it is a Food stall then the mothers have lot of works to do. The moms will help the kids to prepare the dishes whatever have come to their part. In the late afternoon the stalls would start to shine bright with the creative foodie goodie crafts and the excited radiant shop keepers who are ready to trade. The  residents of Santiniketan will  all amalgamate in this fair to cheer up the new sellers. The romance of the evening is beyond explanations. The lights, the sound of the Dhak and the attractively dressed up people make the fair more gorgeous than ever. Food stalls are always very tempting that the crowd denotes. Mostly the crowd will bee around the food counters. But the handicraft stalls are more to be seen like an astounding exhibition. You will become amazed by seeing creative crafts mainly of the little brains. Small houses or cars or mini furniture made out of match boxes/card board, greetings cards, bags, dolls, wall hangings, etc . You will get endless ideas how many beautiful creative things can be made and out of wasted stuffs too. That day whatever crafts are made becomes too precious for everybody. All the shoppers would visit each stall and make the sellers face more bright by buying something. In the nursery stall the parents will buy their kids' hand made crafts and the teachers are amazing too who always remember which craft belongs to whom. The fair ends up counting the profit and giving the responsibility of the money to the teacher and return back to home after dismantling the shop and collecting their own stuffs to return safely to the mothers.

It will look like a simple fair organized by school and college students. But now I feel the truth hidden behind the purpose. It helps to work in a group and to make a united world. It helps to make strong bonding between the friends, with the teachers and also with the parents. Cooperation and coordination are hidden key tools of this fair. This fair diminishes the gender crises and show that both genders have the same capability to work. You will never feel forced to join this fair but your creative instinct will instigate you to build up a memory for you. Every year the fair will teach how to become more responsible and more creative. It infuses in the individual a kind of leadership quality to conduct a team and take decisions. A memory which in future you are going to share with the world.

I feel proud when I say I belong to this amazing world. Every year this day of Mahalaya makes me cry. I miss my friends, my teachers, my parents and the enchanting Anandamela. I am not sure when again I would be able to visit the fair. And I feel too sad that my daughter will never be the part of this world. But I also know this that my creative instinct will always try to show her the parts of this world everytime. A world where the self potentiality is always scooped out in an unusual manner with out knowing that ever existed within us. The world would infuse creativity in your blood and your education will be shown up not as a bookish knowledge but the noesis which you have learned from the nature. I have seen my husband how he misses those 4-5days of Durga Puja. He will always keep on telling me about the gorgeously decorated pandals of Kolkata, the huge Idols of the Gods and Goddesses, the extended rituals, the food etc. But I have only one day to treasure and would love to share that gives me all the spirits of Durga Puja. Durga Puja means to me Mahalaya and Mahalaya means Ananda Mela.

 Shubho Mahalaya & Happy Durga Puja to all of you...

Sending this to  Pree's Beyond Five Days of Durga Puja .

October 5, 2010

Simplicity Challenge-Flowers

This week's theme of the Simplicity Photo Challenge is Flowers. Here are my collections-
Click the below link to view more mindblowing Photographs-

Baked Crispy Tilapia Fillet

Now it's a Recipe time. In the recent weeks suddenly our car needed to visit the car service station due to some internal problem. Though it's quite annoying and frustrating if the check engine light starts to blink, for me it became a healthy boon. During the time the car got checked I confronted with a great recipe idea from one of the magazines lazily laid around the center table of the sitting area of the store. Nowadays I am proned towards making healthy recipes mainly where a wee bit of oil or no oil is added at all. I found a recipe of crispy chicken nuggets which is coated with cornflakes and more pleasingly it's Baked. I borrowed the idea, googled for more recipes alike after coming home. The next day I made this Baked Crispy Tilapia Fillet. I never thought even in my imagination that Fish Fry can also be made with out oil. To be true you will not get the exact pleasure and taste what a deep fried stuff enhances, but I bet too you will not regret after tasting it. More good is you will never suffer from the nightmare that next how much calories you have to shed. You can have it as a starter or as a  dinner  with some dips and salads. Following is the recipe:
Recipe adapted from Cooks.com


Ingredients:-

Marinade:

Tilapia Fillets- 3 large
Ranch/Salad dressings- 2 tbspoon
Vinegar/Lemon juice- 1 tbspoon
Mayonnaise- 1 tbspoon
Parmesan Cheese- 3 tbspoon
Salt+pepper+Italian herbs- According to taste


Coating:
Cornflakes- Approx 2 cups (crumbs) [Note: I will suggest to make extra crumbs and not to use all at same time. The extras can be saved and used later if stored in a airtight container.]
Bread Crumbs- 1/2 cup

Method:-
1. Pre-heat the oven at 350F degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients nicely with the fillets, listed under marinade and keep for 10-15mnts.
3. Put a silver foil on the baking tray and grease it nicely. (lining foils make easy to clean the tray.)
4. Mix the cornflakes and the bread crumbs and coat the fish gently. Lay them on the tray. Now spread some crumbs on the top of each fillet and press it little bit with your palm. Gently turn each fillet and do the same process.
5. Bake for 10-15mnts. Then turn the fillets and bake for 10 mnts more.Serve hot with bread, salads or dips.
Variation:
I also tired with chicken. I marinated the chicken breasts with Shan's tandoori Chicken masala and yoghurt and coated them with cornflakes and bread crumbs. Baked them at 375F degrees for 35-40mnts. This one also came out perfect and too tasty.

Note: I am not satisfy at all with the snaps. The snaps are taken in a hurry struggling a lot with the hungry tummies. Hope you can understand.

October 4, 2010

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's Themes are:
1.Golden
2. Smell
3. Fruit
4. Simple
5. Sport

Here are my collections:
1. Golden

2. Smell


3. Fruit
4. Simple

5.Sport

These clicks go to the Scavenger Hunt Saunday event. Please click the below button to view more collections:




October 2, 2010

Voice Against Plagiarism- The First step

Dear Friends, Thanks for the support and I am glad to see your enthusiasm. So inspired by you all I have created a site- Voice Against Plagiarism. I have just taken an initiative. But now we altogether have to start this journey and fight.

The site needs few Board Members who will internally work and help to improve the site. So if you are willing to join as a board member then please send your email-ID to voiceplg@gmail.com. The board members will have the authority to post in the site and take decisions about the site. Please read the About section of the site.

I have just temporarily designed the blog only to make a boat through which we can start our journey. Now it is up to you to make it a ship to sail on the sea. Come join the site and make it a powerful site to kill the crime. Pls free to give your opinions and ideas to improve the site.

October 1, 2010

Attention Please!!!!


Picture courtesy: knol.google.com
Today I thought of posting a recipe as it has become a long gap since I have posted any. I have so many to share and all are standing in a queue, shouting for an attention. But today it's more important to share something else with you all .

Recently two of our blogger friends raised the voice against plagiarism when they suffered terribly with this infection as their posts were been reposted without their concern in some other blogs. In simple language their Posts and Photographs were stolen. Jaya and Pree both are the victims of this awful crime. But in no time anybody can be the victim of this plague. Even we don't know whether our works are already been stolen or not!! Then why we still are sitting idle and waiting for to see more plagiarist victims !!

We blog because we love to be get connected with people through the works which we cherish in our lone and creative hours. We are blogging not to earn money through it or there is no obligation that we have to blog because of some grand fortune. This is a kind of blood and breath for us when we inhale a peace of breath through our blogs. It's like a baby for us whom we are nurturing so gently,  with so much care to feel a pacification mainly when you can not go out. It gives you a way to get connected with people. It gives you satisfaction when you get appreciated by any of your creative work. It is also a way where you can get a recognition which is earned entirely by your own hard work.

But when we see a scratch on these babies' body it's really a heartrending situation for us. It might be healed in no time when we will just sigh and this will be a pastime regretting story for us. But what about those thieves?? Isn't there any way to punish them or raise a unified voice against this atrocious act. Blogging is not a silly joke or a minute's play which we do with in a second. Each post is a hard planned project where you involve your creativity, sources of knowledge to work it best as a magnet to draw the attention of the reader.

It is not a question of taking any legal action and sue the copycats. But let us make a unified world to fight against these offenses. Let us make a Forum on "Fake Bloggers" and highlight those weirdoes. Let us spread our voice and make everybody attentive against this malady. At least we can make them think twice before they steal any hard work to fulfill their own purpose.

We can not stop plagiarism but we can at list fight for it. Let us start the fight right now……..Who are going to join ??

I want to know your views.

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