Finding myself while I Dance

“Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their Passion”

Dance does not only mean to move your body when you hear some tune, it is much more than that. Dance is an art. People worship it. For some its life, their passion, their source of income and for some it’s just a source of entertainment. Dance is a part of everyone’s life.

Gone are the days when dance was looked down upon, when dancers were considered cheap. Things have changed now. People worship God through their dance. Nowadays in schools, children perform prayer dance at the beginning of their assemblies or special functions.

I can feel it as I’m myself a trained classical dancer. I started learning Kathak dance when I was 6 years old i.e. in First standard. I used to learn Kathak and participate in solo dance competitions held in my school. I love to dance. Learning Kathak also made me learn many other things in life. Kathak is a dance form from North India. Kathak was performed as a ritual dance or in temples.

Performing on stage in front of everyone helped me gain confidence. I participated in various school and inter-school competitions. When I was in 4^th standard I bagged the Best Dancer of the Year’s award. That was like the happiest day of my life. I made my parents proud. I gave exams of Kathak: 1^st year and 2^nd year and got 1^st Division in both the years. I could not continue my exams further due to my higher education, that I regret now. I wish I could have given all my exams.

Dance is such an important part of my life. I can express myself through dance because Dance is the hidden language of soul. It has made me into a better person who is calm and composed, mature enough to take her decisions. I feel free when I dance. There is no fear in my mind while I’m dancing. For me Dance is a whole world. When I’m dancing, I get lost in that world and forget all my worries and pain. I enjoy what I to do. I dance like no one is watching. For me Dance is like dreaming from my feet.

It is through Dance that I get some time with my own self. I find myself in it because I know it is the only thing that cannot do any harm to the World. It is harmless. I dance because there is no greater feeling in the world than moving to a piece of music and letting the rest of the world to disappear.

White Sauce Pasta

INGREDIENTS:

·         1 cup penne pasta

·         ½ cup green peas

·         1 medium potato

·         1 small to medium carrot

·         1 capsicum

·         4-5 baby corns

·         1 onion chopped

·         2-3 small garlic finely chopped

·         2 cups full fat milk

·         2 tbsp maida

·         Butter

·         Salt, black pepper and oregano seasonings as required.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.     Boil the potato, carrot, baby corns and peas. Drain and chop them. Keep aside.

2.     In a pan heat enough water and add some salt. Add pasta when water comes to boil. Now boil the pasta till it is completely cooked.

3.     Now strain the past and rinse it with cold water. Keep aside.

4.     Now take a pan, melt butter. Add onions and garlics and saute them.

5.     Then add the chopped capsicum and saute for 10-12 minutes.

6.     Then add the boiled vegetables and sprinkle salt and black pepper according to taste and saute them for a minute.

7.     Now add the white sauce that you made side by side to the saute vegetables and stir. Now add the boiled pasta.

8.     Stir well so that it mixes properly and the sauce coats the pasta. Switch off the flame.

9.     Add some grated cheese and sprinkle oregano seasoning if required.
Now your White Sauce Pasta is ready to serve.

To prepare the white sauce:

1. Take a bowl, pour 2 cups full fat milk and add 2 tbsp maida to it. Mix thoroughly.

2. Now take a pan, melt butter in it. Add ginger garlic paste and ½ tbsp. salt to it. Saute for a minute.

3. Now pour the mixture of milk and maida from the bowl in this pan. Cook it on medium flame.

4. Stir occasionally and you will see the sauce getting thickened slowly.

5. When the sauce thickens and reaches to your desired consistency, switch off the flame.

Your White sauce is now complete.

#Tip: If the sauce becomes too thick or lumpy, add some milk or hot water and thin the sauce.

Monfortian n Proud!!

Isn’t it funny, how day to day nothing changes, but when I look back everything is different. Mondays would become Fridays, Months to Years, and in a blink of an eye, school got over.

The precious memories I made, and the moments spent have been engraved in my heart. The days of happiness and the days of tears, have not gone waste. Teachers, friends and every person who I ever met at school, has left foot prints on my path of memories. A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart. I have learnt more about the lessons of life, rather than lessons from a book, Thanks to my Incredible Teachers!

Morning assemblies, prayers, national anthem, school anthem,  exercises, PT periods, swimming classes, kho-kho, boardworks,  those gossip sessions in the field, inter-class competitions, dance competitions, school uniform, being a uniform defaulter and those punsihments, Inter-school competitions, staybacks, practices, copying notes, hobby clubs, parades, Cultural programmes, Sports Day, Exhibitions, Mega Event and the best of all Christmas Carnivals. There is so much that’s left behind now. Now I can relate to the fact “Time Flies” very clearly. I miss it. If anyday I get a chance to relive my school life, I would love to.

There are sooooooo many memories with each and every corner of the school. If I come to listing all of my memorable days, I might just end up publishing a book altogether, listing my most favourite ones also might be too difficult. But the fact is, “School ka har ek din, har ek class was kinda fun in its own way.  Our classrooms: collecting gifts, packing cartons, making chits for games, discussions about the class stall, deciding games and while doing all that sitting and chatting with friends (sometimes munching too) all for our favourite Christmas Carnival. The Canteen: that place was like heaven on Earth. The whole school lined up on Tuesdays for cholle bhathoore. We were all such hoggers, just one plate shared by 7-8 people..such “bhukkhads” Oh God! Everything comes with a price, and the prices of the dishes in canteen were the gravy that painted our white shirts and skirts.

Great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget. The friendships made in school are the most precious and innocent ones. We expected nothing but happiness on the first day of school. I cried out of fear of being alone on the first day of school, leaving my parents behind and even after 14 years I cried again out of fear but this time it was the fear of loosing the precious Monfortian family that I got in my school life because then had I realised on the last day of school that it was time for me to say goodbye to Montfort. “Joined school in tears, left it with tears in my eyes.”

None of us wanted to leave our class that day, those back benches but someday, we all have to. It’s hard to put in words all that I feel but when I look back to those days I feel Blessed. Those were the days….The Best days of life!

C@kealicious!

INGREDIENTS

1.     One big and one small packet of hide n seek biscuits

2.     One small Cadbury dairy milk Silk (plain) chocolate

3.     Milk

4.     Baking Soda

5.     Hershey’s syrup (not necessary)

6.     Sugar

7.     Gems for decorating or as topping if you like

METHOD

1.     Put the Hide n Seek biscuits (one big pack and one small pack) and half cup sugar in a mixer grinder and grind till it turns into a fine powder.

2.     Now stop the grinder and add one spoon baking soda, 6 cubes of Cadbury silk, apprx 3 spoons of Hershey’s Syrup and half cup luke warm milk. Grind again.

3.     Grind till it becomes a fine paste.

4.     When its done, take a bowl, grease it with butter so that the cake does not stick with the bowl.

5.     Now pour that paste into the bowl and put it in the microwave.

6.     Bake it for 6-7 minutes or until just set.

7.     Allow it to cool.

8.     Now crush gems and sprinkle on the cake. Now make a heart shape with Hershey’s syrup on the sprinkled gems.

9.     Delicious chocolate cake is now ready to be served.

#Tip: If desired, you can also sprinkle some mixed nuts on top or in the paste before baking the cake.

Time For Some Italian!

Home-Made Pizza!

INGREDIENTS:

1.     Pizza base

2.     Pizza Sauce

3.     Tomato Ketchup

4.     Mozzarella cheese, grated

5.     Sliced bell peppers (red, yellow)

6.     Capsicum

7.     Thinly chopped tomato

8.     Steamed Corns

9.     Chopped onions

10.                        Butter

11.                        Salt

12.                        Black Pepper

13.                        Green Chilies

14.                         Small pieces of paneer

15.                        Oregano Seasonings

METHOD:

1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and sauté green chillies and ginger julienne for few seconds.

2. Add onion, capsicum, bell peppers and thinly chopped tomato.

3. Toss the vegetables with salt as per the taste.

4. Cook on medium high flame until vegetables tenders.

5. Now add boiled sweet corns and cubes of paneer.

6. Mix gently and cook only for 2 more minutes.

7. Switch off the gas, remove the mixture from the flame
8. Take the pizza base, apply little amount of butter and spread the pizza sauce along with tomato sauce evenly on pizza bases.

9. Spread the equal amount of pizza topping/mixture on each pizza base.

10. Finally top with lots of mozzarella cheese.

11. Now bake in the oven for minutes until the crust is browned and the cheese starts melting or put in the microwave for 5-6 minutes.

12. Check in between. When the cheese starts melting, take out the pizza from the oven or microwave.

13. Cut into desired slices, sprinkle some oregano and chilli flakes and serve it hot and crispy!

#You can garnish the pizza with the grated or shredded cheese at the time of serving.

Costumes of Ancient Rome

Clothing is a very important element in the human history. It reflects the culture and traditions of the Place. Roman clothing is very similar to that of ancient Greece, although it had different forms of its own. During the ancient period the clothes needed to be simple. One reason for it was also the limited cloth material. There was only Wool and to some extent linen. No other cloth material was available at that time. The Toga, the Stola, the Tunic and brooches were worn by the people in Ancient Rome.

UNDERWEAR

A simple loin cloth knotted on each side was used by men as undergarment. They were available in different shapes due to which they had different names. Some of the names were subligar, subligaculum, cintus, campestre and licium.

The women used to tightly tie brassiere in the form of a band around the body, either across the bust or under the bust. The under clothing is known as fascia and over clothing as strophium, cingulum, mammillare. The undergarments were generally made of linen.

THE TUNIC

     

                                                                            

The tunic was the most basic garment in the Roman clothing. For most Romans and slaves it would be the entire clothing they dressed in before stepping foot outdoors.

The length of the tunics form male would generally reach to the knees and for women it would be longer. Females also had long sleeves often.

During the cold weather, they would generally wear 2 or 3 tunics to keep them warm. So, the tunic nearest their body functioned like a vest and was called subucula and then the next layer would be intusium or supparus.

THE TOGA

               

                                

Only the free Roman citizens were allowed to wear a Toga. No one else could appear in the public wearing a Toga, not even the Foreigners or exiled citizens.

The Toga was like a large blanket, draped over the body leaving one arm free. Few historians after their research have stated that the cloth for a Toga took the form of a semi-circle. It usually spanned between 2 ½ and 3 meters long and at its widest point upto 2 meters wide. Sometimes lead weights were sewn into the hem to keep the Toga in place.

It was generally made of wool. The rich had a choice of what type of wool they wanted to wear. 

WOMEN’S CLOTHING

                                                                           

There were few restrictions on women’s for clothing by laws, traditions and customs. The female garment was known as the Stola. It could be of any colour. It was a long tunic reaching to the ground with long or short sleeves or could also be sleeveless.

It was generally worn over another long tunic called the tunica interior.

CHILDREN

Children used to wear simple belted tunics specially those not borne to rich families. They also wore an amulet called the bulla. Boys would wear it until they reach their manhood (generally around the age of 16) and girls would wear it until they got married.

FOOTWEAR

 

There was not much difference between male and female footwear. There were different types of footwear:

Sandals also called soleae, crepidae or sandalia. These were usually indoor footwear. It was considered improper to be seen in public wearing these sandals outdoors.

A pair of slippers called the socci. These were also meant for indoor use.

The Pero was a simple piece of leather wrapped around the foot.

The Caliga was the hob-nailed military boot/sandal.

The Sculponea was a wooden clog which was worn only by poor peasants and slaves.