Are you Independent Woman

 

I  worked for IT company.Just after my marriage for this IT job, I used to travel for office, assignment five days a week.I was loaded with deadlines.My   salary was credited every month,and people called me” independent” woman.

After some time,I was blessed with child. Raising child was a big pleasure for me.I decided to leave my job for few years,to raise my child comfortably.

I used to stay at home.I Worked for the husband and family,cooked for family,I used to decide what they should eat, so that they could have control, over their health and happiness,took care of the children.I also  monitored their growth, behavior and their education, helped them with with their study and life, and tried my best to build their overall best personality,managed the expenses  of the house. I was happy with my selfless contribution to family,

Up to my surprise,people around called me now called me“dependent”  woman.I got impression that people consider, this path of woman,as something like act of  slavery.Being mother and home maker,I searched the dynamics of same.The fundamental problem here was,people measured ‘being independent’  woman with only money,

When I earned  money,  I was named as ” independent” woman.In my opinion  I was not. I was only financially” independent.After some soul searching I concluded,to start with, marriage is all about being inter-dependent, husband brings in some value,and wife brings in some value to make the, marriage beautiful experience for both of them. This ‘value’ need not be always money, It could be time, service, management, comfort etc,

There is nothing wrong in being a house-husband, Or house-wife as long as their partner is okay with it.Being” independent” is just one fancy imaginative term. A family, corporation, or any ecosystem sustains, because the people inside are inter-dependent,I wish society understands this basic philosophy,and stop labeling woman  as “independent” or “dependent” woman, and respect her for her selfless contribution to family,society and nation,and name her as “nation” pride.

Sukarma Thareja
alumnus IITK 1989
India

Are your kids Glued to Mobile Phones

Recently I visited# primary school kids in my village primary

 school.It was a pleasant experience.Children did not have

 smart  phones. 

In my city school I have met more children under the age of five

 than  I can count, where when I spoke to  them or ask them 

a question, they reply without making  #eye  contact

I read years ago that one of the major problems  with

#phones is that parents no longer make eye contact with their

 children. This is a big problem because learning# language,

 connecting with others, and attention spans are all super

 influenced by eye contact which is missing because of use

 of smart phones.

My sister is a teacher of third grade kids and she  said none 

of them make eye contact with her. Furthermore, after

 spending a whole year with their classmates,she noticed

 her class kids don’t know more than half of  the names of

 their classmates. That didn’t happen in our school days,

 We knew every kid of our class.

To correct this unpleasant situation, my sister now makes her

 third graders say hello to each other, every single student 

in the class, by name every morning  while making eye contact.

 

I’ve also noticed in cities hardly any  kid play outside.   When 

we were small  my #neighborhoods were filled with kids  outside.

We used to ride bikes or play  sports . Now  to my  surprise

 all outside places of playing are  empty everywhere .All these

 odd happening have strong reasons  and my submission

 why it is so is following.

 1.I know a lot of parents of little kids  use # iPads as a 

 babysitter. I see how tempting it is, it keeps children

 quiet at dinner or when they’re # bugging their parents.

 But, I think it’s not a right approach to do so.It is going

 to have some detrimental effects on  creativity or social

 interaction skills of small kids.

2.Another observation which made me think deeply is when

 kids  come  to middle and high school, I  noticed they’re all

 glued to  their phones. They take social media with them 

everywhere.  It’s like they never leave school talking to

 friends online.

3. First of all, that’s super distracting.  I myself wouldn’t 

have focused as  well in school  if I had a smart phone at

 that time. Second, phone indues # anxiety.

 High school was enough  hard for me, I distinctly remember 

when  I used to go home, home at  night I was a # uncool kid.

 I can’t imagine having my whole  life on display in #smart phone

 when my little #brain was  still developing and I had so much

 anxiety.

My observations written in this article might sound

 like I’m a very old woman who hates on technology.But friends 

these are my observations.Its high time we should think# positive for

about our next generation while using smart phone technology 

for  teaching. 

 Moral of story-I just feel that the current generation is

 a #science experiment  as being the first generations raised

 by technology, and  I think we’re starting to see the

 effects of it.Let us be# responsible citizen/parents and use

 technology  for making positive impact on# next generation.

Sukarma Thareja

Alumnus IITK

India 

Different Indian curries

 

 India is a vast country.It has many states.Each state is

 unique in its  traditions and very importantly in

 food curries.Food is still a very important activity

 of woman in India .Food diversity in India is absolutely

 mind-boggling so is Indian curries.

I am fond of cooking.Being chemistry teacher I enjoy making

 my own receipies and I also  do try them as and when I get

 time.  We Indian make different type of curries.We friends

 some time  do discuss  different curries,   gravies in

 our Indian  cooking and their methods of prepration.

My  friend Asha wanted me to write number  of different

 curries in form of little article so that she

 could send the same to her daughter living in USA.I wrote

 short summary of different Indian curries.My submission

 is following

 The Western and outside world thinks Indian curry is

 just one reddish oily one, either it is veg or nonveg.

But it is not so. We have the following types of curries,

 depending on the main ingredients.Few I am listing below.

1.Regular ground onion, red chillies, tomato curry..

 Like in chicken curry

2.Mashed lentils (dhals) chilly powder, tamarind gravy

.. Like in sambaar

3.Plain mashed dhal with red chillies and ghee…

as in dhal tadka

4.Onion, green chillies, tomato curry.. Tomato gravy

 for rice and chapathis

5.Onion, chilly powder, tomato curry..

 Like in potato - peas gravy

6.Onion, chilly powder, tamarind curry.. 

As in Chennai dish kara kuzhambu or Madras spicy red gravy

7.Onion, green chillies, coconut paste curry..

 Like in kurumas, Kerala gravies

8.Red chillies, tamarind, coconut curry..

 Like Mangalore gravies

9.Onion, chillies, cashew/almond paste,/cream curry..

 Like Lucknowy and Kashmiri curries

10.Bengal gram green chillies ground together with curd added

 last…Tamil butter milk gravy

11.Bengal gram powder, curd, green chillies curry…

 As in  Punjabi kadi

12.Onion, black pepper and tamarind curry..

 Milagu kozhambu..Tamilian pepper gravy,

Moral of Story-Friends We need one chilly/ pepper type,

 one base and one sour  balancer or sweet balancer.

The base can be onion,cooked dhal, bengal gram paste,

 ground coconut,tomato, curds, tamarind, 

fresh cream, almond or cashew or poppy seeds.

Sukarma Thareja

Alumnus IITK

India 

Web site-sukarma thareja

https://sites.google.com/site/drsukarmaranithareja/home

 e Mail-sukarma@iitk.ac.in

Her academic venture  as an artist and photographer has featured in the form of book(paper back)

science of Life and Nature(Paper Back): A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Thareja: 9781521260067: Amazon.com: Books(10 dollars)

Amazon US link :

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521260060

Amazon UK link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1521260060

Science of Life and Nature: A Photo Poetry Collection: Sukarma Rani Thareja:

Kindle e-book (2.98 dollar)

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B072Q3DDR7

 Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q3DDR7

Science-Delicious Fries

 

I love # crispy and tender fries, I boil my potatoes before frying them. This simple trick can make a big difference in the taste and texture of your fries. Since I am student f science I  am listing below some scientific facts involved in boiling of potatoes.

 

1. Boiling potatoes #deactivates an enzyme called# polyphenol oxidase, which causes potatoes to turn brown when exposed to air. This way, your fries will look more appetizing and won't have a bitter flavor.

 

2. Boiling potatoes removes some of the water content from the potatoes,which makes them less likely to stick together and more likely to crisp up in the oil. It also prevents them from #absorbing too much oil and becoming greasy.

 

3. Boiling potatoes closes the# cell walls on the surface of the potatoes,which creates a barrier that prevents the oil from penetrating too deep into the fries. This helps them retain their shape and texture, and also makes them more fluffy on the inside.

 

4. Boiling potatoes partially cooks them, which reduces the frying time and ensures that they are cooked evenly throughout. This way, you won't end up with # fries that are burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.

The glucose index (GI) is a measure that evaluates how quickly that particular food raises ones blood sugar levels. However, the GI of potatoes changes with different cooking techniques:

    Fried potato has a GI of 95
    Baked potato has a GI of 85
    Boiled potato has a GI of 50
    

This shows that a diabetic can consume boiled potatoes  as their GI is low and would not affect their blood sugar levels severely.

https://www.apollo247.com/blog/article/can-diabetics-eat-potatoes
 

 

Moral of story-Friends next time you want to make some # delicious fries, give boiling a try.You'll be surprised by how much it improves the # taste of your potatoes.

Sukarma Thareja

Alumnus IITK 1986

India