To Dear Mother

The day I opened my eyes you were the first i saw,

The day i started speaking you were the person i called first,

The day i started writing you were the one to hold my hand,

Yes Mum, you were my first teacher.

You taught me to be disciplined , you taught me to be wise.

You praised me for my small victories in school,

You scolded me for every wrong i did.

You taught me love, compassion and you, only taught me tolerance.

Yes Mum, you were my first Philosopher.

You told me how beautiful i am,

You called me 'My pretty girl' whenever i felt awful,

You told me beauty lies inside the heart, you made me impeccable.

You taught me to appreciate almighty's creations

And find beauty in most worse looking things.

Yes Mum, you are the most beautiful as you make me feel beautiful.

You guided me to be myself,

You taught me to love myself and others,

You taught me giving and feeling satisfied with, little i have.

You inspired me to live my dreams,

You encouraged me to take family along with,

And to be with them through thick and thin.

Yes Mum, you are the best Team Leader in the world.

You felicitated me with rewards when i scored enormously.

With your love i improved notches by notches throughout life.

With your strong faith, i came out unharmed from every problem.

With your strong will, which runs in my blood i will never stop.

Yes, Mum you are my backbone.

My Non-Vegetarian Foray

So, here i come with one more experience. Before i start, it is pertinent to mention that i am a vegetarian. I don't touch non-vegetarian food items. But thanks to the modern and contemporary environment my parents gave me. I never acted weird as mostly all other vegetarians do. I never have any objections with friends having their non-vegetarian delicacies on my table. I don't mind until someone touches my plate with those hands stuffed in mutton keema or that chicken gravy.

Well, Mr. Cheema like mutton occasionally and he loves keema made by my 'Masi' and i have mentioned it many times in my posts that i love to cook for him. Being a possessive wife or you may call me greedy that i don't want to share any of the praises and appreciations he shower.

Lately, i have been thinking to learn and cook a mutton dish for him but could not take out time. From last two days i was at my in-laws place and it has always been a fun to be here with family and when i expressed my desire for cooking the encouragement came instantly from my ma-in-law and father in-law. My little nephew was excited with idea and at once offered his assistance to help me in the kitchen. He even volunteered to go to the Mutton Shop and this was the first time he was visiting the shop. So, when he saw the butcher cut the big meat loafs into small pieces, he got so horrified that he was about to faint.

Anyways the brave boy did not left his courage alone and collected himself and came back home with the desired quantity.So, finally i had at hand the recipe 'Punjabi Style Mutton Curry' jotted down from the www.foodfood.com, the one which was particularly provided by the super chef Sanjay Kapoor.All the ingredients well placed on the kitchen shelf and now i needed some one to wash the mutton pieces as i did not had the least desire to touch the flesh. For this i called Mr. Cheema to do this for me. He was not very happy with my idea to cook it and was finding it awful to see a vegetarian cook something which she can not even touch. But i was loving this even with my limitations. Here, i loved him helping me in the kitchen because this was the first time he was working in the kitchen other than have provided me with a glass full of milk once or twice in 3 and a 1/2 year of marriage.

I marinated the mutton in curd, turmeric powder, pepper, salt and some Coriander Powder and left it for 10 minutes till the oil in the other utensil heated up.The child was excited to learn and was asking frequent questions and after i replied him and convinced that he is not at all convinced, i explained that i am also the first timer like him in cooking this stuff. I need to concentrate so i gave the paper with the recipe to him to read. As cooking is something i have started taking interest recently and am really enjoying it. My mother and my masi are great cooks and i could never solve the puzzle why i never had the interest in cooking. But may be its all in the genes that whenever i cook, i do cook well and it is never like the first timer. I was crossing my fingers for the results to be same this too. I did not wanted my foray to be the last time.

Anyhow, the oil was hot and after heating the cloves, Dalchini, for their perfect flavour i put the marinated mutton in it and let it cook it self for about 15 minutes. The child was curious to know the results and i was even more but i never knew how to find, whether the flesh is as soft as it required because i did not wished it to be left uncooked or too soft to be eaten. I could not touch it and check so i requested my Dad-in-law to check it for me. He was very happy with my initiative and encouraged me a lot.He was so nice to check it for me umpteen times.

Well, after half an hour it was cooked in it's own juices and the marinated curd.It was the time to pour some water after and leave it on slow burner for another 15-20 minutes. After that salt to taste was added and i put the fresh Coriander to it and it was ready to to be served. The kid helped to set the table with me for Mr. Cheema. My Dad- in-law too joined the feast and i got numerous praises for my cooking from Mr. Cheema and Dad. The kid shared the praise and was too excited to taste the preparation made by his Chachi and himself offcource.Well, i was happy with the results and gain confidence to try my hand again on the non- vegetarian delicacies.

Have a look above ,it looked like this...