White Zorro

Yesterday night Aasim got very bored, we were watching some movie on TV and he was playing in his room.

After a while he comes to our bedroom galloping a white paper mask covering his eyes, a white scarf on his head, white gloves in hand and announces, “here comes the white Zorro!”

Sitting in balcony looking at the lake

We spent about 45 mins sitting in the balcony of my parents bedroom of the new house and totally loved it. The view of the lake, cool breeze blowing on a hot day and loads of birds to watch. We also saw a Besra on the way to the site, and spotted an Osprey early morning at Telenkhedi lake (futala talao)

My asthma seems to be better today, Homeopathy works, but it takes its own time. Otherwise the day was busy and I still have several things that need to be looked into.

Allergies

My cough/throat/sneezes/breathlessness/restlessness are back with a vengeance. Thankfully Wheezing is a little less but constant coughing is irritating the throat making me cough more.

Called my homeopath and she says give rest to the throat but no such luck am loaded with all kinds of stuff that need my vocal cords to be used all the time. With vendors continuously coming in with updates etc, absent house staff and Aasim’s fourth assessment going on, I just cant keep quiet. And now since I am not speaking since about 30 mins, all this keeping quiet is getting me depressed.

Return of the asthmatic attack

Day before y’day I was speaking with my neighbour yogeshpatel about my rarely having problems sleeping at night, and that very night I could not take a wink after 0030 hrs thanks to the “Return of the Asthamatic Attack” after almost three years. I did not have my inhaler handy, and the homeopathy SOS did not work. It was perhaps the worst of my asthama attack, I was wheezing for almost 12 hours and just could not lie down.

Today seems much better, I still have cough, itchy nose and rhinitis, but all of it seems under control.

In another news, Aasim scored extremely well in his first ASSET exam He is over 90% in the subjects he took the tests in (English, Maths and Science) which is good, however he still needs to work a lot the silly mistakes he makes.

Aasim

On 8th Of February, 2007, Aasim gave an exam for his Karate Orange belt and passed it.

The very next day, on 9th February, he had to appear for an entrance test for class IV at “The Jain International School (TJIS) Nagpur, which he passed in flying colours scoring 85% in the written test. He even gave an impressive one to one interview to the School Principal who asked him questions like ”Tell me about yourself“ and ” what are the criterion’s on which you decide who is your friend“ The boy spoke of things we did not know he could understand, let alone make his judgments on them – one of the things he listed as an answer to the second question by the principal was -”personality“ and even went on to explain it. The interview was tough, but Aasim came out of it impressively resulting into his getting admission at TJIS, Nagpur.

On 10th February, he did his first Karate Camp -a three day camp at Fun and Food Village, about 30 kms from the city, A first overnight camp for Aasim and a tough camp for all karatekas -it was meant to teach the basic tenets of Karate, discipline and self control. The boy came back stronger but extremely tired and totally tanned (thanks to the water park where they enjoyed during their off time from training).

Life since then has been been back to normal, he keeps talking of things like ” I have my rights too“ but then those are perhaps his pre-teen harmones kicking in.

Chicken – swatistyle

I had no recipe today, so I made up this one, and it came out pretty ok and this is going to be our dinner tonight.

Chicken – 750gms
Cream – 150gms
Yogurt – 100 gms
Saffron – a little
Kewra essense – 1/4 tsp.
Ginger -Garlic paste
Garam masala
Whole Red chillies
Salt
Oil

Marinate chicken in yogurt, cream, gingergarlic paste, garammasala and saffron – keep it for 5 hours.

Heat oil, remove chicken pieces and fry them to seal the juices inside. Add chillies, add the rest of marinade and salt. Cook till tender

Switch off the gas, add kewra essence and a little cream as dressing.

Serve with hot phulkas.