My relationship with the news paper was earlier developed by my Mom, who came from a vernacular medium and did her graduation and post graduation in English, as she would make her son read the news paper in order to improve his english… lil did she know that in the years to come she would be screaming her sanity out telling the son to take a bath first and never mind the news paper !!!! I used to read that much more in those days… 
Over the years I have developed a sort of hatred towards the news paper as it would only give bad news or worse… slowly with time I started turning straight to the sports page coz that was the only place the good news was likely to come.. !! Other than that I would look at the Stock market but since the last year and half even that had only grief… 
Over the past few years the Indian cricket team gave us a lot to cheer about… 
!!! Now that they have faltered… I was worrying how and where to look… in the paper and then I saw this piece of news on the front page… which is really hard to believe.. !!!!!!!
sighted in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
Not only that, the survival rate of the cubs has also increased, they said.
“At least 15 tiger cubs have been sighted at various spots of the park,” Shailesh Prasad, field director of the Dudhwa reserve in Kheri district, said.
He said a tigress with three cubs was sighted in Madraicha while Chhota Palia, Chaltua, Kakraha, Puraina and Jhadi Tal areas of the national park and Sadar beat of Katarniaghat wildlife sanctuary (KWS) were reported to have tigresses with two cubs respectively.
He also said, “a tigress with one cub was reported to be staying in Trans-Gerua area of KWS.”
“All the cubs were hale and hearty, which indicated a sustained growth of tiger family in Dudhwa despite several odds,” he added.
However, if the arrival of new members in the tiger families has rejuvenated the wildlife lovers, this has also left them seriously concerned as Dudhwa with an area of nearly 1400 sq kms is nearly saturated with tiger population.
The joy this wildlife enthusiast felt is hard to describe… I was & am so crazy about tiger watching that even on my honeymoon I convinced my wife to go to Corbett… (the fact that she is a nature enthusiast too, is a different matter 
)
The tiger is fighting hard for survival… this is its own effort to survive its own kin… now its upto us to help the tiger survive from being wiped out !!!!!
I sincerely and deeply wish to God… let us have more of such great news pieces…!!!! We really need more of them… !!!!
p.s. – I m exercising some self control so away from blogs and commenting… but this was just too good to resist !!!!!
Birthday wishes for a special special girl..
Happy Birthday Ranu !!! 
I didnt forget !!!!!
Can you believe it ?? !!!! 
Now I got the candles… where is the cake ????
On a brighter note…
May this year bring lots of cheer to you…
May God give the joy of meeting Hitchy himself to you… !!!
May you win all SCRABBLE Games against all !!!! BUT ME !!!
God bless you girl !!! no broken legs this year… !!! lets break some legs this year !!!!!
When I first read this tag on Shilpa’s I felt bad she didnt tag me… not that I love tags but this tag was about FOOD !!!!! I thought of taking up the tag anyway… tagging myself.. but before I could get around doing the tag I was officially tagged by Monu… and I was happy… !! (listening Shilpa ?? ) infact in my comment on Monu’s post I even wrote just 5 memorable meals are no way enough I need to list more… but lets see if I can actually list 5… it doesnt seem to be as easy as it sounds….
1.) We used to live in Bharuch as kids alone with my Mom.. and Mom was kinda insecure about us going out so she would encourage all friends to play in our garden… the old Bharuch house we lived in as kids was 10000 sq ft compound and there was enough place to play pakda-pakdi or Nargol (sattodiyu) or Aais pais or King or Cricket breaking windows galore.. but Mom never had any problems with it.. !!! (God bless you Mom) :D as long as we were playing in the compound…. and thanks to so many friends coming home… a lot of them would eat with us… coz as per Mom’s theory we ate well when friends were around… otherwise we would have our tantrums…
I still remember how Mom would make Sookhi Bhel for all of us with onion, coriander and lemon garnishing… or how she would make us eat fruits which we would only eat when friends were around… how she would put a chulla out with coals and we all friends would have a whale of a time lighting it up with kerosene and then fanning the coals to roast Bhutta’s (maize) and bake potatoes in them eventually Mom would also roast Roti’s on them and let me tell you the roti’s made on coals (they are called devta’s in Gujarati) are the sweetest in the world.. !!!! When Mom made rasawala potato subzji, with our gujarati meethi daal and roti’s on coal… they were bliss… !!!!! We three bro’s would gobble so many roti’s sigh… !!!! and some times there would be hungry friends too.. to increase Mom’s load !!!!!
On one instance I remember Mom was acting as Paani Poori wala Bhaiya.. and we 3 bro’s and 5 friends had a competition of eating maximum panipuri’s !!!! yours truly won that day after eating 108 panipoori’s after defeating my friend who ate 107 !!! He threw up… I didnt !!! :mrgreen:
Wonder if those days could ever come back… sigh… suddenly I am so much more nostalgic.
2.) We friends made a sudden trip to Gir once.. the trip was decided at 10 in the night and left at 11… in the morning we reached the forest at 6 after a whole night of me doing conductorgiri and another friend driving while 3 others merrily sleeping. We were put up in forest rest house due to some contacts.. but food was a problem.. We had to drive some 50 odd kms to Una for restaurants, one evening we were lazy to go to Una for a proper meal so we went to a few people who who lived in the jungle to asked them if they would make some proper Kathiawadi food.. we were ready to pay…
Some people live inside the core zone of Gir Forest their habitation area is called ‘Nesdo’ which has only thorn walls to protect them from Lions… neways… this guy I forgot his name unfortunately got his wife to make some Bajre ka Rotla’s with Sev Tamatar and Rasawala Potatoes along with Gud (jaggery) and Makkhan with Chaas (Buttermilk, its also called Kutchi beer) and Papad’s which my friend Jay always carries with himself (he is one crazy papad lover) also aided with Onions which I must mention we did not get chopped but broke by our fists and ate away as if there was no tomorrow… among the 5 of us we ate not less than 25 Bajri ka Rotla’s and that is a lot !!!!! they were really big rotla’s and boy… !!!!! the whole meal came free… not only did that guy not take any money… he also let us stay the night in their Nesdo… and the night was terrifying with the sounds of the big cat just around..!!!!!!!!
We tried to pass on as many biscuit packs and chocolates we could to the kids in that dwelling!!!!!! Finally we left Jay’s most precious packet of Papad’s with them!!!!!! As the saying goes.. generosity aint in bank balances or houses.. it lies in the hearts… !!!!
3.) One such meal I remember was on train, returning from our honeymoon we boarded the Augustkranti from Nizammuddin… the meal started at 7.30 with soup… after my portion I asked if I could have another.. and he said sure… so I had one more… in lunch I had the most wonderful Aloo Mutter with 3 really thick and big paratha’s and 2 from wife’s portion as she is a very poor eater… !!!! I had my part of rice with Raita and half of hers… this was followed by ice cream… I had one and loved the butterscoth flavour of vadilal and asked for another… and I asked if I can have one more… and the attendant said sure again with a smile… !!!!! After that started the indigestion part… as I had already had two huge Chole Bhature’s before boarding the train at 5.30 !!!!! Eventually yours truly walked across the train corridor to try and walk and kinda while away the extra calories… sigh… but it was a wonderful meal !!!
Seriously 5 meals is a lil too many it seems… its two days I have been writing this post… the added work doesnt help… lets still think a lil more..
4.) I always have loved my Nani’s cooking… I can vouch that she made the worlds best Mawa, Mohanthaal, Gajar ka halwa and Udadiya… sorry I cant explain that in english… guys do lend me a helping hand… they are sweets… she would make them with so much care and patience that it would be sooper, we would be roaming around in the kitchen waiting as she would go about her job with Mom assisting her… till day my Mom and even my wife try to emulate that but no one has reached the flavour that she used to make… I remember growing up eating those garnished with almonds !!! Winters were so much more fun then… !!!!!
5.) Have to mention the best days of life were spent eating Samosa’s from Rajasthan sweet market opposite of our school.. no one made samosa’s like that sweet shop.. even today when I go to Bharuch I make it a point to go and eat there… it doesnt sell like the old days but they still make the most lovely samosa’s garnished with Khajur ki chutney and Dahi… !!!! In those days Rs. 5 a plate was heaven for us… after school those samosa’s were the best… taking the girls out for samosa’s in groups was our idea of dates back then… !!!!!! Geee… those were the days…
Okies these are my favourite 5 apart from that I think I should mention the buffet I had in Grand Maratha, outside the airport which was priced at Rs. 1600 was good too… but apart from it being the most extensive and being most expensive buffet I had nothing much to make it memorable… !!!!! Plus due to some one accompanying me… I couldnt even take a bit of the non-veg being served in that buffet… sigh
