To rice or not rice

 To Rice or not Rice 

Old age creeps in slowly and surely and all of us are on a cusp where we start getting our tests done and figuring out what is going wrong where and how to fix it . All the blood test start to come out wrong and one starts googling symptoms and finding out the right food and diet to take . 

This just happened with me after delaying my tests for a long  time and then everything came out in the red with levels hay wire . I started frantic googling to correct myself and I was sure I could do it all . Because anyways I am Houdini and wear so many hats like a mother ,grandmother  mother in law,sister,wife ,friend , daughter and had forgotten who the real Ravneet was ..it was decided with a vengeance and a lot of self control that my favorite rice, cheese and chocolate and coffee would go.

It was so easy I could just eat ragi roti and my besan  cheelas and cut down on bread , up my protein intake and well life would be balanced once again . Trust me from my two rotis , I went to one and half and then none. It was as if I was eating cement and my body just craved the simple no fuss , fancy free rice that would just go with everything and smoothly food would be perfect . Every bit of joy and happiness was sucked out just like the Dementors and I couldn’t even eat the chocolate to control the sadness. Any ounce of happiness that I got from happiness was going and the salad portions meant I was becoming a cow/ goat ; whoever said that eating grass never made you thin was absolutely right .

It kept on spiralling and actual weight loss was happening just becauseI stopped eating ! Instagram and its algorithms kept on sending me rice substitutes and along with this rice masks to make me look younger and have Korean glass skin sitting in the middle of Punjab.Then it went a step further , use fermented rice water to grow my hair . 

Was it actually spying on me ? Was it playing on my insecurities so much ? We have forgotten in our lives to be normal , everything is hyped up so much , creeping into our complexities , and our weaknesses . Slowly and slowly this bombardment on our subconscious plays on us and we are motivated to buy one of those masks to look fairer , whiter and to be spot less . Even with our blood tests even if one is borderline just like  me , I went into combat mode losing out all my happiness which could have been done by moderation ; but no I went into complete war mode .

It’s more expensive to follow a diet that makes you lose weight and fixes you , than having a normal one just like in the old days . The key was to move and exercise but what to do the rice mask kept on falling and dripping and the fermented rice spray was just too smelly in this heat 

In hindsight it’s better to eat in moderation with the rice and cheese and my butter ! I think my Punjabi genes went into regression and it was rice all the way to rise .

Happy woman’s day with a discount

 My inbox is inundated with offers for Women’s day and mind you all I get is a 10percent off and also a very lucrative buy one get one free offer ! This offer is always for some weird cream which will miraculously on this woman’s day make me look lovely , charming and white and all my skin problems will go and they cherry on top is that they will give me a free one ! 

I don’t understand every year like sheep we are swayed into the clever marketing that plays on our insecurities and we end up buying creams clothes , fancy sandals and just about every ayurvedic cream to lighten , clean , exfoliate the skin where ghee has been used ( 100 times washed ) that is the key word! We all get duped , me too. It plays subtlely on our psyche and seeps deep that all this if not bought would make us less attractive! Every year , the day comes and we all dress in our Indian finery , wear badges , eat a brownie or drink a cocktail specially made for us and think that we have won the world . Fancy speeches are made on empowerment panels , plans and strategy is made but does this stop the heckling , eve teasing for the fact that girls are beaten , raped and chopped and all that continues on this day also .

How about a 10 percent off on this day ? How about a vanishing cream to wipe these dreaded criminals ? How about you focus on the woman the identity , the stature than the body that is prey to be defiled and assaulted? Society judges , divides and cuts so brutally and you know the pathetic answer that they give is sorry , we wont do that again. 

Movies  like Pink , Mrs , The Great Indian Kitchen show are made , they impact and they fade into obscurity. I will have the maximum shares on quotes for nari , nari Shakti and how we the giver , nurturer of life is important and the scriptures are quoted but all I see is skewed growth more than ever. How about this woman’s day you make the women who have sons promise that we will raise better sons ? We will work on their complexities and psyche and make them better human beings who understand the influence of alcohol not beat up women , or make them work as maids , not make them small , and treat them as equal . Try this , this year and not give us lip service .. I sincerely hope this year the politician at the helm instead of bulldozing home spaces, and doing an eye wash rises to the occasion and stops the rot . 

Real empowerment for me is not a day but everyday where we are treated as human biengs and not subjugated , assaulted , raped and not made to feel good with roses for a day , try it every day ! Try giving us the way on the road , not honking or whistling or touching every single part , or shoving yourself on us. Why does the male angle only rise for one’s sister ? Try giving us freedom to be , and not judge on basis of color , or physical attributes , imagine you being rejected because your skin was dark or your nose was funny ! I could go on and on but I think you get the gist and this discriminatory messaging should stop , WhatsApp has gon bonkers for me ! Till then Happy Day and happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light - Albus Dumbleore 

The age of innocence

It’s beautiful to have grandchildren and to be a child with them and to see the world through their un-jaded eyes . It’s what is happening in this phase of my life . My grandson who is a 4 year old wonder kid amazes me every single day and it’s like reliving my life with boys . When my boys were around 4 years Swiss Kinder egg chocolates were the biggest gift to them and to eat the chocolate and then to make the little toy that came with them . I still have the entire collection to be gifted .So when this particular one opened now , it had these glow in the dark chameleon and the coincidentally the next one was also a chameleon 

I made up a story that they both needed to climb the plant kept inside , and they were parents and were climbing the plant. He went a step ahead and started putting them to bed by throwing them in the pot at night . Every single day we do this and every morning we wake them up.

I just love this imagination ! We have discussions on Avengers and Justice League and Black Panther and today he  wanted to open the Captain America shield to check the vibranium ! This is a 4 year old !! I introduced him to what else Harry Potter and he loves his swish of the wand and Wingardium Leviosa ! This is what childhood should be before we burden them with books and competitions. We need to let them be and let them walk and find out about ladybirds, mushrooms that grow at night and have magical fairies in them . 

The fact that he is learning punjabi and english and Hindi and knows that the help is bhai and is now called Pankaj  Singh ! and the milk help is a Bhaji and he is worried about the new born calves and kids . He’s named one Oreo! We as society should let children be children and not discipline them  to be  little robots who know everything or can recite and impress the guests . Let them be , they have the world to face slowly and slowly , everyone has their pace ,let’s not be quick to judge them and their parents . Social media confuses us by giving us tools and flip cards and these new tablets and laptops . 

How much fun is it when they can embrace and accept everything with purity and innocence and aren’t jaded or made to confirm? Everything will come naturally , and from using it in his sentences he has figured out that it’s a he /she . He didn’t Trump to pass an official statement! The sweetest was last month we finished a big fat punjabi wedding and one of our close relatives was wearing a saree and she wore a sleeveless blouse , so this babe in the woods with all his seriousness remarked that why was she wearing banyan ( vest ) to the wedding ? I guess this little punjabi boy hadn’t ever seen one!! But it was so sweet and had us all laughing!!