WeChat with Nirbhaya

I finished my household work and was planning to go outside. But due to heavy rainfall, I was feeling a bit lazy, so  just started browsing the television channels. An interesting advertisement of new application was running on the Television. It was about ‘WeChat’ an application where we can connect with our friends or anyone from all over the globe instantly. I was quite excited to learn about its various features like voice messages, video calls, sharing pictures, and instant messaging within a group and immediately viewed its features on WeChat’sYoutube Channel.

I was very much fascinated by the App as it was totally free and hence immediately started downloading it on my Android Phone. While the downloading of the App was in process, I was watching the News Channel. A talk show was being telecasted on ‘Nirbhaya’s case, a girl who was raped in a bus in Delhi. All the participants were giving all kind of Gyaan to the media. It was very disturbing me.

And suddenly I heard a beep on my mobile phone. Oh, the WeChat was being downloaded completely on my mobile. And immediately after the download, I got a message from some unknown number.

“Hi, Did you recognize me?’

No, I didn’t , whose number is this?, I said.

Then suddenly I got a voice message and we started Chat on ‘WeChat’.

‘Hi, I am Nirbhaya. You forgot me so early.  I was in news since last few months and you forgot me so early?”  Said Nirbhaya.

I was quite shocked to see Nirbhaya on WeChat. “Hey, how are you? People are giving news about you on television that you are no more, and how come you are on Chat with me?

She replied, “Who said I am dead? I am still alive in this world. I live in India, I am still alive and struggling in all the small parts of villages and cities. Till a suitable law is passed, I will still be alive and will be part of such talk shows’. And then I heard noise of a cry.

"Don’t Cry Nirbhaya," I replied, "everything will be alright. We all are with you.” But I didn’t not get any answer.  

I started shaking my phone to find out where is ‘Nirbhaya’ and suddenly I found ‘Bahar Datta’ a News Channel Reporter. She joined the chat with me on ‘WeChat’. Bahar Datta asked me , Where is Nirbhaya? I wanted to take an exclusive interview on my Channel. I will give her lot of publicity on my news channel. She will be popular all over the world. Her photo will be published in all the leading newspapers in India and internationally. I have contacts with all the higher authorities of Media”

I replied,’ Bahar, Nirbhaya has already left the chat, even I am searching her.’ 

She replied, ‘Its okay, I will find some other for my News channel.’ She left the conversation.

Then ‘Bapu Maharaj’ pinged me. ‘Namaste, I am Bapu Maharaj. I have heard that you were chatting with Nirbhaya. I wanted to give some advice to her.

I said, ‘Nirbahaya has already left the conversation, even Bahar Datta is searching her.”

Bapu Maharaj replied,’ Bahar is very selfish. She only wants news for her channel’. Anyways, please pass on my message to Nirbhaya and all such girls. My advice to them is whenever they go out, they should carry a ‘Rakhi’ with them.  ‘Rakhi’ is the best weapon to save themselves from any critical situation. Whenever they come across any such situation, they should immediately tie ‘Rakhi’ to the man and make him brother. There will be no rapes in this country.

I replied,’ Definitely, Bapu Maharaj, You are really great. where were you since so many days?

Bapu Maharaj thanked me and merrily left the conversation.

Then I found two people calling me for a Group Chat one was  a film Producer ‘Ram Kumar Verma’ and an actress ‘Rekha Sawant’. Both invited me for a Group Chat on WeChat.

Ram Kumar Verma,  "Hi, I have heard that you know Nirbhaya. Please tell me something about her. I am going to make a realistic film on her life. And don’t worry for the compensation, it will be in millions".

Then Rekha Sawant also sent an instant message,’ Hey I am the main heroine of this film. I have suggested some changes in the film, where the girl will be shown from a poor family and gets job in a Bar as Dancer. There will be few item numbers in our movie.” She then also shared some of her ‘hot’ pictures from that movie by using the feature of sharing pictures on WeChat.

I screamed,’What??? Item number in the film  based on life of Nirbhaya???

Ram Kumar Verma replied, ‘Yes, we had to make some changes in the story of Nirbhaya’s life for some commercial aspects and success of the film. Hence, we have added few item numbers. But don’t worry, the rape scenes would be shot intensely and will definitely get an award for this film’.

I left the conversation this time.

I was thinking of Nirbhaya and again got a message ‘You are thinking about me. I am here.’  Nirbhaya was back on the Chat.

I sent her the history of our chat to her and in response, she just forwarded a smiley face from WeChat to me.

I replied, "Don’t worry, Nirbhaya, I will definitely represent your case as a common person to the highest authorities. You will get justice at the earliest."

I then sent an message to Mr. Madan Mohan Singh to seek justice for Nirbhaya and to my surprise he joined the chat. He replied to my message.

But it was a blank message. I re-forwarded my message to him. But in response I got a blank reply.

I sent him a voice message on WeChat, but in response I got a blank or silent reply.

I was very much annoyed and started shaking my phone and suddenly …………

My son woke me up. He was asking me, Mom, what are you doing? Why are you shaking your mobile in the sleep and why the TV is on.?

I woke up and realized that I was in dream.

My prayer to the almighty to get justice to Nirbhaya as soon as possible....

  

Disclaimer: The above blog post is totally fictional and  does not express the views of any person, living or dead. Further, the contents of this post are not meant to offence of any person.

This post is part of Indiblogger's WeChat Contest. 

Please click here to get the link of WeChat's youtube channel.

Retro Party for Retro People

There was no one at home. While cleaning my cupboard I found an old photo album that had photographs of my college friends from J.J. School of Arts. I suddenly had a wild thought in my mind, why not arrange a small get together or a party. Since we all have already crossed 60, I thought of arranging a Retro party. Then I immediately called my friend and got a positive response from her and the chain started. We managed to contact majority of our group and majority of them were very much enthu for this party. 

Being the initiator, I have been entrusted with the responsibility of the party.

Theme:

We all being 60 plus, I decided to keep Retro theme for this party. 

Venue: 

Since the number of people were more, I decided to scrap the idea of using my Hall and instead decided to host the party at my Society Club House.

Decorations:

We decided to have Disco lighting for the entire hall. Also, we decided to hang photographs of our favorite actors and actresses on the wall. We decided to use bright and florescent colors.

Dress Code:

We decided to keep Retro Bollywood dress code for the party.  I was suggested to mimic the costumes worn by Bollywood actors and actresses. I was decided to use bright and vibrant colors to create a feeling of energy and a mood of excitement.

Entertainment Program:

Being Senior Citizens, considering our age, we decided to skip dancing program and instead decided to play Antakshari, which will involve majority of the crowd. We also decided to keep the entertainment simple by playing popular music from the era of Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Kishor Kumar etc. The old music will add authenticity of the party's theme. My friend said that she will bring her Home Theater for the party. 

Other Activity:

Each one of us has to bring at least one old photograph from our college days. We decided to make a collage of it. 

Food Food:

Last, but not the least is the food. Most of us being vegetarian and non-alcoholic, it was decided to keep ethnic vegetarian menu.

Welcome  Drink : Fruit Punch

Starters : Cheese Corn Balls, Cocktail Samosa

Main Course : In the main course, we decided to rely only on Kitchens of India. The following menu was decided :

Paneer Darbari

Paneer Malai

Paneer Mughlai

Dal Bukhara

Mirchi Ka Salan

Vegetable Biryani by using Kitchen of India's Veg. Biryani Mix.

Mix Indian Bread

By using main course from Kitchens of India, we were going to save lot of time and energy for rocking the party.

Accompaniments : The chutneys and conserves from Kitchens of India are just mouth-watering. 

Shredded Mango Chutney

Tomato Chilly Chutney

Desserts : Even for Desserts, we decided to buy from Kitchens of India.

Hazoori Petha Halwa

Jodhpuri Moong Dal Halwa

Icecream

Return Gifts:

How can I forget to give return gifts to my beloved friends. I decided to give 2 Packs of Halwas to each of my friend along with a CD of timeless collection of authentic Indian recipes, which I am going to get free from ITC Kitchens of India, on purchase of 2 packs.

I am sure this is going to be a Rocking Party!!!

This post is an entry to a Indibloggers  Kitchens of India contest.

Secret of Beautiful Smile

When it comes to smile, the first and last choice stops to none other than Madhuri Dixit. Most of us are fans of Madhuri's smile. Many of us wants to have a beautiful smile and for that healthy teeth is very important. 

During the early 1960s when we were kids, we never had these fancy toothpastes. Our mother use to give us Dantamanjans and Tooth powders. But believe me we rarely use to face such a problem of gum bleeding and trust me we rarely faced to teeth and gum problems. 

Gums play a major role not only in your dental health, but in your overall well-being. I remember a college friend who had habit of chewing tobacco. Inspite of we all telling him to leave this bad habit, he continued and gradually developed gum problems. After undergoing lot of treatments, he could overcome the problem. But then never touched tobacco again. 

The main reason for increasing gum problems today is also due to change in lifestyle. One of the reasons for development of gum disease is smoking. The medication of diseases like Diabetes, Cancer etc. also have negative impact on the health of gums.

In olden days, we use to cure the gum problems with home remedies. For eg. for swollen gums, sea salt was the remedy. By dissolving a small amount of sea salt in a lukewarm water and gargling reduces the problem of swollen gums. Also, eating fruits like Oranges, grapes, papaya, strawberry etc. that are rich in vitamin C also helps in curing gum problems. For curing infection lemon and salt is also the best remedy. 

Today, we are well equipped with modern solutions for dental and gum problems. We may also seek help from professional dentists for our problems. But what I feel is that prevention is better than cure. The best thing to avoid these problem is to follow some simple steps like :

A. Maintaining oral hygiene by brushing your teeth twice a day with good toothpaste like Colgate. 

B. By including lot of fruits containing Vitamin C and Vitamin D

C. By gargling daily with Salt water or Lysterine. 

D. Avoid smoking, chewing tobacco.

Trust me, even these small little precautions do make a lot of difference in your personality and give you Smile like Madhuri Dixit. So take care and keep Smiling!!!

I am sending this entry to Colgate Total PRO- GUM HEALTH, Indiblogger Contest

  

Traditional Ambe Dal

During the month of Chaitra, there is a traditiona of celebrating Haldi-kunku in Maharashtrian homes. And during this Haldi kunku, Ambe Dal and Panhe is served.  My diary features this traditional recipe of Ambe Dal. I do not have any photograph of this currently, however will upload soon.

To make Ambe dal, you need

1 cup Chana Dal

Hashes of one raw mango

A cup of grated fresh coconut

Green Chilies paste to taste

Chopped Coriander leaves

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

For tempering you need,

3-4 tablespoons of Oil

mustard Seeds

Hing,

Turmeric Powder

You have to soak chana dal overnight in water before you start making Ambe Dal.

Grind Chana Dal coarsely and add the balance ingredients except tempering. Mix everything.

For tempering heat oil in a kadai and add tempering ingredients. Pour it on the Ambe Dal and mix.

Ambe Dal is ready to serve.

Serve it with Mango Panhe.

Bael fruit Moramba (Jam)

Moramba means Indian jam . ‘Mor’ means ‘murane’  in Marathi and which in English means ‘Soaked’.  Generally in Maharashtrians it is made of raw mangoes. However, my diary has a unqiue recipe of Moramba made from Baelfal or ‘Bael’

The main Ingredients required include :

One Kg ripe Bael

One Kg. Sugar

Lemon juice to taste

2 tspns Cardmom powder

1 teaspoon Salt

To make the Jam, open the Bael fruit. Grease your hand with oil and remove all seeds and stringy part of fruit. Separate the fruit from the outer shell, cut into small pieces. Then make sugar syrup of one-thread consistency. Once done add lemon juice. salt and Bael and continue cooking till the syrup thickens. At the end add Cardamom powder and mix. Cool it and store it in an airtight jar.

To know more benefits of Baelfruit, visit Wikipedia.

Image Source : Wikipedia.

Sandalwood Sharbat

Sandalwood or Chandan is considered as sacred and holy in Hindu mythology. However, it has various other medicinal benefit. It gives cooling effect to body, , boosts memory and improves the concentration. It also improves blood circulation and is somewhat useful in controlling diabetes also.

Visit Wikipedia for the benfits of Sandalwood

My diary features this Sandalwood Sharbat, which is made from sandalwood powder. It is readily available in the market.

To make this Sharbat you need

50 gm sandalwood powder

2 kg sugar

1 and half litre water

1 tspn rose water

How to make chandan ka sharbat :

Soak sandalwood powder in water for 24 hours. Heat it for 20-30minutes. Then strain the water. Now add Sugar into the Sandalwood water and again cook it.  When the syrup gets one thread consistency add rose water. Cool it and store it in bottle.

While Serving add some chilled water.

This will be a great Summer cooler during this season.

Mango Pickle

During Summer season, you get good mangoes and this is one of the finest recipe of making pickle I found in my diary.

To make Mango pickle you need 
1 Kg. raw mangoes
100 gm red chilly powder
1 cup mustard powder
2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 cup fenugreek seeds
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
1 1/2 cup salt (Dry roasted)
1 tablespoon Hing 
2 cups Vegetable oil

To start with, cut  mangoes in small square blocks. Heat 2 tablespooon of Oil in a pan and add
fenugreek seeds. Saute it for 10-15 minute and make fine powder. 

Then heat 2 cups oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and turmeric to it. Keep it aside for cooling

Mix together red chilly powder, methi powder and mustard powder in a bowl. Pour cool oil tempering on it and again mix it. Add raw mango pieces to the masala. At the end add salt to it and mix.

Transfer the pickle into glass bottle. Pour thin layer of salt over it.  This will last for almost a year. 



Image Source : Wikipedia