Belle Fille

I designed the attire for this pretty girl and since then she is caught my eye! 

(The image is not able to exhibit the ruffled look of the gown but that's the best I could capture.)  

Canoeing

Melbourne's Yarra river offers great opportunities for hitting the water and venturing out in the snaking river to enjoy a scenic water sport on nice and sunny days! There are rowing ramps at frequent intervals where you could start/end the water adventure. We often come across this sight where batches of kayaking professionals are instructed by their trainer who generally leads them in a motor boat. It feels wonderful to even be a distant spectator to experience the coordination in their hand movements and see the kayak make its way quietly through the calm waters! 

The odd in the lot

For today's badminton session we found a unusual shuttle lying on one of the courts!

It was the first time for us to see this black color shuttlecock. We did our warm-up with this one and later left it aside.
After digging deeper to know why this one was different, I found an interesting fact that all badminton shuttlecocks are made by overlapping Black Goose/Duck feathers. They are whitened by some special methods for better appearance. Some players use the black ones so that they stand out quickly over lighter backgrounds.
This know-how made me realise that this was the usual one in the lot...the rest(white ones) were the unusual's!!!   

Quality time

My parents keep reminding me almost everyday that the free time I have now, is the best anyone could desire and that I should make the most of it. I know it is true, but still not as convincing as to have a job!! Even though my unconscious mind is lost in the thoughts of when I would land up on a job, I try to follow their advice and utilize the quality time effectively. Here's one of the outcomes of my 100% effort and a daylong hard-work.

A much awaited visit

Since long we had heard that hotel Saravana Bhavan (a very popular veg restaurant chain) is coming up in Melbourne and were eagerly waiting for its inauguration. The wait was over today with we paying a visit late evening. The brand is popularly known for the dishes: 14 mini idlies, dry fruit rava dosa, poori and rava kesari. All the preparations are made in pure ghee and it was clearly evident with the sattvic aroma lingering in the air as we entered! We too ordered a dry fruit rava dosa which was delicious and colorful!

As the restaurant was recently operational the service was slow and still settling down. But that didn't make a slightest difference on the response that they received. People were pouring in till the last minute! Finally its the 'BRAND' that matters!   

Psychological Test

For the past two days I was busy recording a one way video for a pre-recruitment test. There were generic questions that were to be answered in one minute. It was my first attempt for this kind of a test and it really checked how proficient I am on thinking and presenting a given topic/situation!

Each question was a scenario where they wanted to know our way of resolution to the problem.
E.g: "If you were to empty Airbus 480 filled with jelly beans, how would you do it?"
The scenario was easily understandable but nothing struck spontaneously as a well-structured and well-thought answer! I obviously had in mind that they were keen to see how: I make assumptions, think of re-usability, use right technology, frame my answer, etc.

Upon completing the test me and Praveen were discussing why we find such testing approaches difficult to appear and it clearly reflected the study pattern that we were bought up in! Never till we graduated were we given case studies to solve. Every question had to be addressed exactly the same way by each student which never nurtured the ability to think logically to solve something. If there was a different approach to the written answer it would either not comply with the taught theory or was made fun of among friends (saying that its too silly!!). Lack of importance to the methodology and confidence that your say can be right, was the main reason I found this test slightly absurd to respond quickly!

I genuinely feel its high time to restructure the approach of judging and marking students in India at graduate level. 

Shiny Apples

The 'Red Delicious' variety of apples have a gleaming blood red tender peel and are equally delicious as they look!

It was the first time that we added them to our shopping cart and it was indeed a good call to do so. Their bright and glossy red color is seeking our attention now and then reminding us to bite into them!

Caribbean Park

The Caribbean park was a fun place which had something for everyone to explore and enjoy! There were plentiful kids rides and entertainment which crazily made them wander all around, a huge market area offering varieties of stuff for ladies to shop, lush green lawn and picnic spots surrounding the lakeside for families to spend together. A toy train and boat ride were also operational adding more excitement for all age groups!

We also got a chance to meet our Uni friend Abdul, who was at the park along with family. It was a nice place at the countryside to visit often!

That small difference!

We went to vacuum our car at a different wash station today and were happy to see an arrangement which was nothing great but made our cleaning much faster and easier!

The peg bolted on the pillar held the mat firmly allowing us to dust it unlike the other stations where we keep brushing the mats placing them on the floor at the end of which more rubbish clings to the mat making it more untidy! Small addition which made the station unique. Excellent fixture and considerate reform to beat the competition.  

Walk by the field

Just for fun, I captured this panoramic view of the playground which is located close to our house. Its maintenance for sports all round the year is totally appreciable! As I passed by, there was a footy match being played and the sporty atmosphere pumped me up to exercise a little more!

Birthday Card

In the gobs of surprises that were given on my birthday, I forgot to mention about the thoughtful card that Praveen gifted!

The messages printed made me feel that I really secure a special place in his heart! 

We shared a sweet moment on the style of lettering that Praveen wrote my name in : Manasi1

Looking at the lettering, I spontaneously told him that it looks like Formula1 to me!!! And he replied "Yes, you are the best Manasi whom I know till date. Hence the 1!"

Ganpati Bappa Morya!

After a long break, I did a painting of lord Ganpati today. It was good to get back into the drawing mood and concentrate in completing the art work.  

Fall Season

Our lane looks soo very picturesque with the beautiful maple trees. The fall colors are exceptionally attractive!

Witty Remark

Few of my graduate friends wore hats with similar waggish messages to mark the big event of their student phase. Sailing in the same boat as theirs, I know the genuineness, feelings and difficulties deep held behind those quotes!

Birthday Bash

This year's birthday celebration was day long with loads of excitement. Praveen had already booked a Blackforest cake at Brunetti and had planned for lovely home decor! He managed to hold on the surprise until midnight without giving me a hint of what was lined up for the night.

Being a holiday coupled with a beautiful weather, we drove to the Dandenong National Park and exploited some nature treks and parks. I felt, it was worth to pay a fall season visit to these places as the trees had turned butter yellow, orange and red!

We just dint know when it was evening and we were heading back home. Kudos to Praveen for making the day noteworthy and action-packed!  

Pleasant surprise

We all are pretty much used to viewing the group reminders for occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and so on. But when the reminder pops up with your name in it, that moment feels surprisingly special even though you are aware of it and its been repeating since ages! I experienced the same today!! Teensy-weensy things which add more sweetness to life!

Happiness

Our Pune family had a luncheon planned at my aunt's place today. Its satisfying to see pics of the clan enjoying together especially the siblings! Needless to say, the food would have been amazing and I am sure everyone would have had a fun time.

In the suburbs of Australia....

In Australia, the city councils permit its residents to get rid of any household stuff by placing it on the nature strip outside their house. This stuff could be cutlery, furniture, electronic appliances, etc. anything which might/might not be in the working/good condition. The surrounding residents can pick up anything out of that lot if its useful for them else the council picks it up after two days!

I really appreciate this idea as its of great use to temporary residents and students in that suburb who are not sure about their whereabouts in the near future. Its a better option than to buy the same object for a short duration.  

Baking Queen

One of my friend in Pune who is an engineering graduate by profession has recently mastered her hand at baking cakes. She made a scrumptious vanilla icing cake topped with fresh mango pieces and an attractive design of mogra petals on the sides for my aunt's birthday last week!

I truly appreciate her hard-work and wish her luck in this new venture! 

Water Painting

One of the paintings done by me:

Doodhi Muthia

I know its been two cooking posts back to back but that's the only new thing I have tried! We have switched on the gujrati kitchen mode to be honest!

I made these muthia today moreover with an intention to finish off the white gourd we had purchased. But it tasted really well! We also exploited a new combo: muthia tastes delicious with a side dish of hot piping kadhi. Try it out!

Khaman Dhokla

Khaman Dhokla is a traditional Gujrati breakfast dish which I thought could be cooked to perfection only by a native of Gujrat. Rather the soft, spongy and light dhoklas could never be prepared in our house. After scanning through a few videos, I got an excellent recipe of this dish which turned out great today!

                                 

On the eve of mother's day we wished our moms and thought of celebrating it by munching on garam homemade dhoklas!One more mouth watering preparation has added in my current list in which I am sure I wont go wrong anytime I make it!

Welcome to Bengaluru!

With the mercury levels rising in India, the only thing we hear when we ring anyone back there is "We are burning in the hot sun! Maybe you could pass on some rains here from Australia!(Wish I could)". Finally few states have received the first showers and cooled down the weather a bit. My friends and family were overjoyed and shared photos and videos of the first rain (as if this is something unusual and they dont get to see it often!)

I hope it pours down heavily in this rainy season restoring the water levels back to normal.

Choco Roman

One of Praveen's classmate shared Choco Roman wafer cookies at their Bring a Plate event last week. What makes me write about them here, is their super-light wafer covering and the delicious chocolate cream filling. They were really yummy and I enjoyed every bite of them!  

At Peace

The picture speaks for itself on the serenity in the surrounding and the calmness around. The rains have restored back the greenery and coolness abating the harsh heat. Its the perfect time to ramble over the city!

Maple Rose

The other day I read a tutorial on Pinterest which gave stepwise instructions to make a maple rose. It was in my 'To be tried list' especially for the Fall season since then. Finally today, I managed to collect some fallen leaves before they are swept off the roads!  Though not to perfection, my rose still looks pretty with the natural blend of red and yellow shades of the leaves!

JimJam

JimJam has a very special place in my heart! I still recall how crazy we were to have it when it was first introduced. The attractive packet wrapping, flower shaped outer round biscuit, thick vanilla cream, royal red strawberry jelly at the centre, everything looked immensely catchy in its first sight!

Every biscuit used to melt in the mouth and I always wondered why that pack couldn't fit in some more!!
All these memories of school time flew rapidly when I saw it kept in the store and finally got one to enjoy the same feeling that I would experience then!     

Adorable Anvitha

I decided to make yesterday special by spending an entire day with Anvitha. She is just two n half months but her development and responses are way more than anyone would expect! She's healthy and energetic and constantly likes to observe things around her. She coos looking at pictures in the book and enjoys storytime a lot. Anusha shared a recent big change of her's with me : while she narrates her a story, she doesn't blink her eyes even once! She's also started to imitate her mom by a slight tongue movement indicating she wants to talk as well! That is really so sweet!

Another exciting part was to see her facial expressions change rapidly while she was in deep sleep! She smiled, giggled, yawned which made us take her pics at each moment! She's turns partially and shows a great effort to roll on her tummy. Her mom and dad are just waiting for that milestone to be achieved!

It was a fun-filled day to experience all her activities which keeps Anusha and her mom constantly on their toes. But the baby's smile and touch is indeed a divine feeling which vents out their tiredness in no time and they are ready for the next day!