Dowry system

I just read a blog which was kind of a satire joke on dowry. That kind of made me write a blog on it.

This is one of the biggest evil in our society and thanks to my Dad who taught me always to fight against it even when I was a kid. I remember giving an extempore in eighth standard on it and my teacher was very impressed with the passion I spoke on this subject not to mention when I stopped there was pindrop silence for few seconds followed by big applause.

But that's not the point here, point is that by just having debates or speeches nothing much is achieved until now. We have to take some concrete steps to eradicate this evil from our society. And just one person can not do it we all have to do it. I know it's difficult to change our mindset but we have to do it. We have to stop thinking that if we can give then we should give, No...this mentality has to change to bring in the change. Even the girls are fine with taking things from their parents ..not their fault...they are brought up that way.

Once I was having a discussion with three Ph.D students of physics stream in Delhi University and I was shocked to hear what they think and feel. They think taking gifts from their parents is not bad and they have to take things with them when they go to their in-laws only then they will be respected. They said if their parents don't spend 5-7 lakhs (in 2003) minimum in the marriage, nobody will marry them and one ahd a list of things she was going to ask her parents to give to her in marriage. How pathetic! I felt very sad.. this is our youth and not ordinary but highly educated and intellectual youth. Well... I couldn't convince them for not taking dowry from their parents  and not getting married but I asked them to promise me that when they will have kids whether a boy or girl they will bring them up in a way that the kids will think dowry is evil and another promise these girls did to me was that they won't take or give dowry in their kids marriage. I am hoping they will remember and stick to their promises. This way atleast the next generation will be against this dowry system and maybe after 10-20 yrs we don't have to read in the newspaper that somewhere a bride is burnt alive or beaten by the husband or the in-laws.

I find it funny in our society we say Naari (female) is a Devi (Goddess) but she is the one who is most suppressed, neglected and tortured in our society. Let's join our hands and again give her the place she enjoyed in Satyuga in our culture. Let's give her respect she deserves, equal rights and freedom to do whatever she wants. And I hope women will respect their freedom and won't exploit it.

If we couldn't change ourselves for the right, then let's instill the good values in our kids so that atleast our coming generation won't have these vices and our society will become a progressive one. Like my father taught me to fight against dowry system and any disrespect I am sure we all can do it.

I request you all readers to think over what I said and if you couldn't do it in your life atleast make our next generation free of these vices. Any views on this are welcome.
Also, I want to request you all reading this to take a pledge of never taking or giving dowry even if you can. And if you are already married and have done the mistake take the pledge of not taking or giving dowry in your kids marriage.
Please take the pledge here and now only and leave a comment, I will feel good that atleast a movement is picking up and please tell it to everyone.
A written pledge matters because you can't go back on that, so if you agree and think what I said above is correct, take a pledge now only.
I am hoping for the comments to grow exponentially which will show me how many of you have taken pledge and are with me on this to root out this evil of dowry from our society.

Simple things about life 2 (Pakora - Indian Snack)

One Delhi evening in monsoon (rainy) season, sitting in verandah with a cup of chai in one hand and garam-a-garam pakora (hot pakora) in the other, watching the rain fall ....feels like you are in heaven. I guess most of the Delhites who stay out of city now will feel nostalgic and I can see them going down the memory lane with a sweet smile on their face. The whole family sitting together, doing gup-shup (chatting), eating pakoras with chai and enjoying the rainfall.

So here I am with another great Indian snack Pakora and some people call it bhajji too, especailly in south. I will tell you quickly how to make a pakora so that people who don't know what exactly is a pakora can have some idea about it. You need to make a batter of besan (Black gram flour), with water, salt, turmeric, cumin seeds and their powder, coriander powder and leaves, bakind soda, chopped green chillies, red chilli powder, amchoor (Mango powder), Garam masala well...long list of ingredients, you can add some or skip some depending on your taste. Now, you can chop onions to make onion pakora or chop the things of which you want to make pakora and then dip them in the batter and deep fry them. Once they turn golden brown then take them out and serve them with either green chutney or tamarind chutney or just simply with chai.

You can make pakoras of many things. Usually, they are made of onions, potatoes, cauliflower, spinach, green chillies, brinjal, mixed vegetable, Paneer (Indian cottage cheese, something like tofu) and then there are bread pakoras.

Bread pakora can be made by cutting two slices of bread diagonally and then stuffing boiled and mashed potatoes with masala in between two half slices and then dipping them in besan batter and then deep frying them. You can also make a simple bread pakora by cutting the bread slice diagonally and then dipping it in batter and then finally deep frying it in oil until it turns golden brown.. Enjoy the pakora with any chutney and chai.

Well, actually you can make non veg pakora too. Machhi (Fish) pakora is very popular. But it's eaten with sliced onions, cabbage, radish and lemon juice with some chaat podwer or chilli powder sprinkled on fish pakora.

Here again we talked about another great and tasty Indian snack.

Again a word of caution, it's high in calories so watch while you are eating it or just eat as much as you want but don't forget to sweat it out the next day :)