World Food Day- What if there was no food!

Today is 16 October and World Food Day. We all know how significant is food for our survival. But what if there was no food in our lives?

1. People who live-to-eat would not be here.



2. The famous 'way' to a man's heart would not be through his stomach.

Photo: snarkecards.com

3. People had lesser tasks and world had been free from the national/worldwide issue of "What to cook in the next meal".

Photo: www.justcookit.ch

4. There would be less expenses and more disposable income for other needs and luxuries.

Photo: forums.uberent.com
Average US Citizen spends $302 and average Urban Indian Rs.2,630 per month on food: Source Google.

5. We had only four senses. No Food, No Taste!!!

Photo: dailypicksandflicks.com

6. There would not be any lunch/dinner/coffee dates.

Picture courtesy:Dumpaday.com

7. Earth had been over-burdened without food cycle, though there had been no mass killing for production of meat.


8. There would be absence of kitchen in homes which would mean some more space for other things you love except food.

Photo: www.quickmeme.com


9. Source of energy was from small regular naps throughout the day, sunlight or may be through electric-shocks- Ouch!!!

Photo: memecenter.com


10. No birthday cakes, no pies/chocolates/muffins in gifts i.e. no grand sumptuous celebrations!

Photo:cupcakesmakemepuke.blogspot.com

Since life had been colorless, odorless and tasteless without food, I am glad we are blessed with tastes, taste-buds and food.
Eat healthy and stay healthy and remember:
“We are what we eat'!!!

Photo: Favim.com

P.S. If you can think of more points please add on to the list!

Author's Note: There is plenty of food on earth for every being here yet many suffer with hunger badly. While some struggle with what they will choose to eat today, others suffer with what will they eat. Talking about India here, a vast population sleeps on hungry stomach. We all see beggars begging for food on streets and have heard the stories of people turning into criminals for one loaf of bread. We all internally feel miserable when we deny them for the money they ask for from us but we have been advised not to give them money, reason being mafia working behind them. If you see a beggar and want to give them something- give them things in kind. You see a hungry soul while walking and if you have money, buy him some food. You want to do charity- either donate in an institution or distribute packets of biscuits or something else to the needy. Though some beggars throw away the food you hand over to them but not all do so.

Let no body die of hunger. Spread the word. A very happy world foods day.

Ichneumon Wasp

Ichneumon wasp (pronunciation: ich-new-mon)

I clicked this picture in October, 2013 in Kausani, Uttarakhand. It looked very photogenic to me hence I decided not to miss this shot. Since I saw this insect for the first time, it became more important for me to take it back home in my camera and find more about it. Somewhere I was scared too thinking, 'what if it bites and is poisonous?'  I came back and started digging the internet to find it's name and more about it.

According to the information available online a typical Ichneumon is only interested if you’re an appropriate host for its eggs - and humans are not its target species. This wasp lays its eggs on or inside another insect species like flies, beetles etc. As these larvae grow and develop, they kill their hosts. Ichneumons are beneficial to humans as they are natural pest controls and save crops and provide economic assistance to us. Their stings are harmless, and if they bite, one can wash the area with plain water.

Probably next time if you see this insect you know that these heartless species are safe and beneficial for us humans.
P.S. This is an awesome time to plan the tours in India. If you are planning to visit Uttarakhand- I hope these posts help you!

GREEN DELHI- A Photo Story

PART I

IT DOES NOT END

The story is an old one; it plays repeatedly on self-loop, only thing that changes is the people and the environments that are affected. Despite numerous laws around the protection of trees, the rampage never ceases. The cause is as old as ages, and there is zero will to implement these laws by the law enforcers.

It all started last year when MCD was constructing cemented roads in our society in Pitampura, Delhi. These people forgetting their duties and feeling omnipotent with their machines of destruction started destroying everything that came in the way, setting a model, an example before the other phases of construction. Despite our repeated pleas and reminders of the laws governing tree felling, MCD upon insistence of one of our neighbours –Prem Lal Khanna and his family felled numerous trees, and when we said we would file complaint, they hid the trees, and then quickly towed them away:

Step 1: When you are MCD, you savagely destroy anything in your way

(Contract in the hands of some Mr. Khan)

 Step2:  Hide in the park until tow truck comes

Step 3: Load it up, hide under dry branches and tow away

We made repeated calls to forest department, to the chief conservation officer, two representatives from this department came and said that at least the trees in front of our house would be protected, and we were pacified with this assurance and forest department itself took no action against these people.

PART II

IT DOES END

A year passed, our neighbours forever unsettled, were waiting for any excuse to fell the trees in front of our own house, their youngest son even declared that “I’m not my father’s son if I don’t get this tree cut off”.  Few weeks before today, some branches of one of our tree, started drying up, these were towards the side of this neighbour’s house, so anyone can guess what might have happened. Under pretext of some renovations, one day in the quite of a hot and humid afternoon, these people cut down two of  the trees that forest department so assuredly vouched for only a year before and created a shameless scene, embellished with all the name calling and vulgar obscenities as is the character of such people. 

 Fell in a moment what took years to grow

 On lodging complaint, the police has forwarded the case to horticulture department as this case is their prerogative. Quoting chief conservation officer, forest department Mr. A. K. Shukla, “Since the trees were not on your property, I can do nothing about it”. We had high hopes in these guardians of trees, reading glorified reports in the newspapers, but today, I’m disappointed, slowly turning impassive regarding any good change, I agree with forest officer, we really can do nothing about it. Delhi is definitely going green and greener.

  

 About Author:

Rochana Chaturvedi is a Professor of Computer Science in Delhi University since past three years. In her free time, she enjoys arts, nature, traveling and reading amongst many other. Besides being a good singer, she enjoys writing poetry though seldom publishes them on her blog. However, she can be caught blogging sometimes at http://rochanachaturvedi.blogspot.in.

Confessions of a Social Media Stalker

He was going through Facebook updates on a friend's wall when he saw a pretty face in the comments section. It was his second love-at-the-first-sight this week. He had been religiously following the other pretty damsel he saw in his Gali 4 days back. But this time, this time this girl seemed fairest of all the loves-of-his-life. He went through her page. She seemed to be a Facebook queen. 'Ah! Over 500 followers, 400 likes on her photographs. 70 likes on her status even when she just 'yawns' in it. I can see she is popular on Twitter too! I should send her a message- probably a HI…’ and he did what he thought. She didn't respond and he waited patiently for a week. Post a week he sent her a message again. Meanwhile he read comments on her updates and by the method of random sampling checked out profiles of her friends and of their friends. He found out two things about her; one was that she had a cool group of friends, and she had a breakup few months back.  He checked his message box, there was a dense dark silence again. Finally with no hope in hell he decided to send her a friend request this time which eventually got rejected. ‘Probably she doesn't know what she is missing. She looks young and naive, unaware of worldly matters.’ He decided to take up the task to help this innocent creature who has hazel eyes, long hair to find her a knight in shining armor- that was him of course. He had fallen for her and it was the time for her to return this favor, to love him back, to make the right-selection. He never felt so strongly for anyone else before, which he thought always after falling in new love once or twice a year, sometimes even thrice. He called up his relationship adviser, his best buddy- "I think she is the one I was waiting for all my life, have I ever said same for anybody before? No, right? Help me dost, I need you!" His friend like always agreed to help him out. She was his current rage, his madness. There was some sort of stark connection between them
 
He decided to message her again. She replied promptly- "Hey, I am sorry but I am genuinely not interested in you.
Bye Take care!"

'We have common friends and probably she replied because she doesn’t want to be misjudged. Ladies ah! They are scared little rabbits always thinking about the reactions of their family, friends and society on their deeds. She needs a person like me, who doesn't care about the world.', he thought to himself. He gave her his reference and told her what he does (besides stalking). He asked her the reason behind declining his request without giving him a fair chance- the chance he believed he deserved because he had fallen for her. She said she doesn't accept friend-requests from unknown people, besides that she has a freedom of choice. At the end of every message she wrote bye, take care. She was caring, like a girl should be. He thought about her soft face again. 'Her first point is no more valid since he I had given his introduction and now he was not a total stranger to her. Besides they have a Common-Friend on Facebook.' He didn’t lack anywhere. He was handsome, probably the most good-looking man on earth as his mother claimed. After looking at the reactions of his friends, how they laugh even when he abuse people, he concurred he was a uber-cool and popular too. His father was a rich man, which had exempted him from the worries of earning, saving and investing money. What else a girl needs! He decided to message her again, 

"If you weren't interested, you would have blocked me. Can we meet and talk about things over a cup of coffee?" 

He could no longer see her profile. 'She blocked me? Really!!! My friend said I shouldn’t have talked about blocking, that was rude. She might be upset with me.' He thought about it for two days, and then about their interactions for past months, her eyes, her smile and 500 likes on her last display picture. A chill ran through his body. First love always made him nervous like hell. He realized he over said something. He Googled her name, dug her email address and got her twitter handle,  her phone number, and her Email-ID. He re-tweeted her Tweet and mentioned Her in another tweet- this was start of their new interaction. When she didn’t respond to his internet gifts, he inferred that she was extremely upset. 'Ever swinging moods of these ladies- blame it on their hormones. I never said anything that bad', he reasoned her rude-reactions with his understanding of human nature. He sent her a mail and got no reply. Thinking, probably she hadn't checked her email, he sent her another message on her Whatsapp.

"Hi,
I am  terribly sorry for saying block-thing on Facebook. I hope you liked my tweets about you. You are really very pretty. I respect you and understand that you are quite busy and may be that is the reason you couldn’t check the message I had sent you on Gmail two days back.  I promise you I will keep you very happy. Can we go out for a cup of coffee as an apology? Waiting eagerly for your reply."

'She lost her temper saying she will call the police if I further stalked her. 'Stalked' was a very rude word but I understand, these women loose their cool when PMSing. She is my true love and I will not let her go like that, I know I will keep her happy...'

Image Courtesy: Google

Blunders and wonders- #Food!

It was yesterday afternoon when in a mood to pamper my mother I asked her what did she want to eat, while munching on a snack myself.

"Samosa", her reply came a little carelessly though promptly. I know like any Indian lady, like me, she has a soft corner for Indian-chaat especially Golgappas (puchka), Samosa and Bhelpuri. I planned to get some samosas from neighboring market for evening snack time with tea. My dad under the influence of his healthy preferences suggested that we cook some at home instead or postpone them for next day, (having indulged a little too much in the last couple of days of festivals).

But adamant as I am sometimes and in full mood to coddle my mother, I decided to prepare them at home. I am not a professional chef, but being an enthusiast from an early age I normally don't leave my chance to romance with cooking. Since I have helped my mother twice before so I decided to do the task all by myself without any assistance. Post all preparations I couldn't find the plastic mold with which we used to give good shapes to this snack. But after one hour of hard-work I completed the task. When along with tea I served hand-made first time trials, my mother couldn't stop laughing.

"You made cutlets?" My mother asked.

"Taste them Ma." I was laughing in embarrassment too.

"These are sumptuous!" She exclaimed. My dad loved them even more. My sister gave some 'pat-on-my-back' compliments.

"But never make these, once you are married. I don't want anybody to blame me that I taught you these", referring to their shape, mother said teasingly.

"Ah! I will make them for sure in that case, so they will never ask me to make them again. It will solve the problem forever.",  I said laughing.

P.S. They tasted splendid, don't judge them by their deformations!!!

P.P.S. One of my friend told me how to shape them in absence of mold, which I think I did, but would love to try again sometime with more concentration.
P.P.P.S. After making blunder-samosas, today morning I decided to wash away my sins by preparing breakfast. This is what I made: 

Flat brown Potatoes  topped with Vegetable Salad, Toasts and my favorite Cold Coffee