Sweet memoirs of my parents

All these days, it never occurred to me that I should write down something like this. Today however, I was reading a blog entry by someone that described sweetness of her mum led me to think what the heck, I never have penned down anything like this, shame on me.

While growing up, my mum used to be an extremely strict mum and I would lie if I say I used to love her then. However, as I reached around 18 - 19, I realized what is her love like. My mum will often be the one who will check our time tables and will get up well before the time and finish cooking, packing for us and then will wake us up from bed. She often brings me tea to the bed, and I always used to get irritated when she would wake me up. After tea when I leisurely go to brush my teeth, she would have already heated water in the kitchen, poured them in bathroom bucket and would have mixed them with cold water to make it bath-able. She will be the one to check if I have pressed clothes ready to wear, if not she would go press them and put them in the bathroom. Then I would go take bath as though I am doing a great favour to her. Then I would make face that it is getting late, but she would manage to run behind me with food and make me eat and put the bus fare as well as tiffin box inside my college bag. Oh mum how can I pay you back for all that you did for me? There are uncountable number of such things that she did for me that only bring tear to my eyes. Oh my great mum, hope I will be able to tell you how much I love you one day. I pray god to give my mum all the happiness and health in the world.

My dad on the contrary showered his love and affection in a different way. He would always be waiting for us if we are delayed by even 5 minutes from school/college. He would accompany me for all the exams/tests and will be waiting patiently till the exams are over. He will never buzz even little bit from his waiting place. He is the sweetest dad one can ever have. Recently 3 years back he came to visit us in California. We often use to take the trails to walk and when they were not around I always used to walk alone. But after they came, although my dad will not be able to keep pace with me when I walk up hill, but he will not stop and continue to walk till I am visible. I did not know he was doing this for a long time, when I discovered it one day, I realized what parents are and what their love is.. Please god bless my parents and give them all the happiness in the world that they truly deserve.

Who said Plants don't bite each other

As a passionate gardener my hobby is to watch garden plants. Last year we planted Cucumber, Ridge gourd and pumpkin together(Just 2 feet apart from each other). When I planted them I thought they will not come on each others way. But the fact is just the reverse. Pumpkin over grew other two and suppressed ridge gourd only partially and cucumber completely. Then I thought Cucumber is a docile plant and needs to be grown separately while Pumpkin and ridge gourd can be grown together.

This year, I planted cucumber, Bitter gourd and snake gourd together assuming that all of them are peace loving plants. What I see now is just so surprising. Cucumber now overtakes other two plants. What is amazing is, whenever the other two plants are trying to climb the support provided to them, cucumber successfully pulls them back putting the tendril around the apical part of the other 2 plants. It is not putting the tendril around the creeping low lying parts of the other 2 but only the branch that is climbing. I am not sure how it notices that this is the apical portion of the plant and found a support, so pull it back!!! I did not see the same tendency with other 2 plants however. They are just trying to escape rather than fighting back with cucumber. So, is there something called as relative aggressive - sism in plants? So I would scale the aggressive nature of the plants in the following order:

Pumpkin > ridge gourd > cucumber > Bitter gourd and snake gourd (Sorry I am yet to notice the relative aggressive sism with bitter gourd and snake gourd).

Another thing I have noticed is towards the side where the cucumber plant is in active aggression with the other 2 plants, there are full of small fruits, where as the other side although very healthy, has not got even a single fruit. Is it that Cucumber feels extremely threatened by the other two, so procreates faster? If somebody can answer how plants sense this types of things and how send messages to different parts of their body and which part of the plant acts as the decision maker will be really amazing.

Thanks for reading the article.

Preventing sun tan - naturally

It has become very hot here in this part of the world. We Indians are very concerned about suntan, so I thought to put in few beauty tips for those interested.

Tips for Brighter Skin

You can try out several packs for getting clearer skin. Gram flour is good for getting rid of suntan. Mix lemon juice, yogurt, and gram flour. Before taking a bath you should apply it all over your face and other exposed parts of the body, which get tanned. Leave it on for twenty minutes and then take a bath.

Cucumber Care

You can even prepare a nice and effective face pack with lemon juice and cucumber juice. You can also add some rose water to this face pack. Apply it on your neck, face, and arms. Wash it off after twenty minutes. If you want to get quicker results then you can apply it two times a day.

Tale of Turmeric

Turmeric has skin-lightening properties in it. You can make a pack by mixing half teaspoon turmeric powder, some drops of lemon juice, and milk. Smear your neck and face with a generous layer of this pack and leave it on for half an hour. Wash off with plain water.

Home Remedies for Fair Skin

You can mix milk powder with lemon juice, almond oil, and honey to make your face look brighter and get a healthy glow. Another home remedy is also very helpful. You can mix oats with buttermilk and use the mixture as a good face pack. This also exfoliates your skin and gets rid of dead cells.

Instant Fairness

You can look fair if you use this face pack. Mix one teaspoon of turmeric powder, half teaspoon of yogurt, one pinch of salt, and some drops of olive oil. Leave this pack on your face for fifteen minutes and then wash to find glowing skin.