The new year started with all it’s zeal and Dinky Mind didn’t write any post. Please blame my studies and my ever tied-up schedule. The avid readers of this blog know how much crazy this Dinky Mind is for cooking/ baking/ eating! And when I’m studying I need something to eat; most preferably something sweet.

For me, the sweets category only includes ice-creams, cakes, chocolates, pies, cookies, mousses, desi mithais, only halwa-puri wala halwa, vermicelli and kheer etc. I am, please don’t kill me, Not a fan of gaajar/mooli/kaddoo ka halwa! My question: Why do you put sugar in veggies? Please eat veggies the way they are. What if I make spinach halwa, would you volunteer to taste it? Now don't go all 'Eeek' at the sound of it. There are people like me who don't like the traditional sabzioun ke halway, and there are also people who try to make almost everything sweet. My mom once told me people eat meethay samosay!!! Now that’s a bit strange for me, but IMO this is no way to innovate food.

Now coming to the zarda story. Why, oh why, do you put sugar in rice?!? For a long time I had been zarda-phobic. But now I just have no choice when people look daggers at me. So, just to let them know I'm sometimes one of them, I take a tiny morsel or two of that colorful zarda thing. Oh, and you might argue why do I then regard kheer as a sweet dish which also has rice in it. Then, my dear readers, it has milk in it too, and sugar as well, so it doesn't harm much to add in a few, like really few, rice in it. So, in short, kheer qualifies!

My terribly horrible exams ended two days back, so I hopped outside into the Ice-cream world to have some wholesome scoops of my favorite Blueberry ice-cream. I was highly disappointed cuz the standard of that ice-cream parlor had gone awfully down. It was not ice-cream, it was ice-frost :/ And he had drizzled such a tiny amount of blueberry sauce on it, it made me hate the ice-frost even more :( Anyway, the pineapple ice-frost was the same. So later at night, I went out to a different place to try some other flavor. And upon my Momma's recommendation, I bought peach ice-cream. OMG!!! It was a super delicious thing to have! I had never tried that flavor before, though I love love love peach-flavored milk. So, next time I'm gonna pair up my peach ice-cream with some other cool flavor and have the most content 30 minutes of my life again :) That day, in short, I tried 5 different flavors of ice-creams and rated Peach to be the best one!

Hmm, so the point remains, I can't appreciate veggie halwas, no matter how crazy the whole world might be for them. I'm simply not a halwa person at all. Mithaies: yes, Ice-creams: Yes, Cakes: YES, Chocolates: Yahoo! 

So, 

Mein meetha kaisay boloun

Jab chocolate mithaie mein ne khai nahi.

Cheerio folks =)

PS: Try a new flavor of ice-cream today :)

|

Disclaimer: This tag game is meant for girls only. The reason for having this magic wand tag is that guys only work from 9 to 5 a day, whereas the girls work from 9 to 9 and another 9 to 9, so we need magic wands to help reduce some work load.

_________________________________________

Wish # 1: If I had a magic wand, I’d instantly swoosh it and make my room tidier. I’m so bored of always seeing my room in a mess that I want to give it a new look – a sparkling, neat and tidy one maybe. And is there any way I can plastic coat everything so I don’t see any tiny stain on them, is there?!

Wish # 2: Oh and also to have a solution to this overflowing closet of mine. I wonder where did all these clothes and socks come from. Maybe I need to hire a person to somehow manage this thing – like the one who could make pairs (or triplaires) of them and hang them neatly inside. (No, I won’t provide extra hangers). Cuz you know it sprains my muscles every time I try to push that truckload back in its place. And then it all comes back falling on me. God, is there a spring inside or what?!

Wish # 3: For the past couple of days I’ve been desperately wanting to have a violin (and of course knowing how to play it). Imagine how cool it would be if I had an occultist wand and I’d magically twirl it in the air and have the finest of violins right on my shoulder and a brain all tuned to play it! Wow. [Not to forget some cool breeze to help sway my long, straightened hair – only if they don’t get stuck in the violin strings.] Sheesh! That’s scary now!

Wish # 4: Okay. So this thing is bugging me the most! I’ve been reading the last book of the Shopaholic Series and I really want to track down darn Luke and bash him for being such a treacherous husband! I mean look at Becky, she’s so nice and understanding and he’s taking advantage of her! Stupid meanie jerk! So what if he’s so smart and handsome and such a successful businessman, I still want to tell him what a moron he is! I just wonder why all these men (excluding my fiancé) are such jerks?!  Grrr.

Okay, enough with this Luke-Brandon bashing session before I totally lose control and forget my other important wishes.

Wish # 5: I so wish to own a chocolate factory :( A few years back I made this tiny little wish to have atleast a single box of chocos in the fridge ‘at all times’. And it has always been granted – be it in the form of cooking chocolate or in the form of Hershey’s, or Ferreros, or Dairy Milk, or Snickers, (no, not Bounty) or Galaxy, or Dove, or…okay I stop! Getting back to the wish, I just realized that I can’t have so many refrigerators in my home, so why not go for just a single little chocolate factory. No harm in it, right?

Wish # 6: Right now I’m so madly badly craving for…for nothing else but mangoes! I mean why can’t we have mangoes all round the year? I so want to have frangrant, neatly cut squared pieces of mangoes right now. Or even a mango milkshake. Or a mango mousse maybe. Or anything mango! And no, I don’t want to have mango icecream! Icecreams should only be made of chocolates and of course Blueberries, but not of mangoes or strawberries. Eeek!

Wish # 7: Okay, so here comes the real wish. To cut the above-mentioned mangoes in neat square pieces, I’d be needing a huge, stylish, state-of-the-art kitchen, with all the gadgets one can dream of! I’d practically love to have a kitchen that has things ranging from an Eiffel-Tower cookie cutter to a huge, stuffed pantry – the kind Nigella Lawson owns. *Droooooooooools*  Oh, and there should be this exclusive, glossy, round table where I could put my iPad and scroll through all the yummy recipes I’d be trying. Wow! [Shh, the little iPad is just a tiny wish I need to get fulfilled with a bigger one. I hope I do get it]

Wish # 8: Like yesterday I was passing by a home and I saw this nice little aquarium with the most darling fish in it. [For me, the plural of fish is fish. You may go calling them fishes, but I like fish! Like sheep; sheep and hair; hair, so fish; fish! End of story!] Okay, so I want this aquarium of mine to be the size of Indian Ocean with a small island in the middle. After all, I’d be needing a place to view my fish from!

Wish # 9: God, before these 10 golden wishes of mine end, I just want to swivel my wand for a DSLR. Yes, DSLR is one thing I’ve been craving since birth. I mean, not exactly, but … you do get the point, right?  So, a DSLR please?

Wish # 10: NOW WOULD SOMEBODY GET ME THIS DARN MAGIC WAND BEFORE I COMPLETELY FREAK OUT?!

I tag:

Huda

Atiya

Asma

Qurrat

Sania

Sana

=)

|

Since childhood I craved to wear specs. I remember when at the age of 6 I first went to our Eye Specialist's office. After my parents' and siblings' eyes were tested, I was called. So I sat on the revolving stool and in a confident and triumphant manner read the whole board in the mirror. The Doctor uncle was shocked as I was reading the last 2 lines faintly visible (to him).

Doctor Uncle: "Did you memorize the board while waiting?"
Me: *wondering I could've* "Nopes" :(

He then exclaimed to my dad, "Your daughter has a perfect 6x6 eyesight. She might never need glasses". The innocent Dinky Mind didn't understand this compliment and felt very dejected cuz she always wanted to wear specs :( I spent 6 years of my early life watching TV from a distance of 1.5 feet, reading books in dim lights, wearing my sista's specs and daddy's reading glasses to somehow weaken my eyesight, and even at times pretending to be partially blind! And that's what I got??? Imagine my feelings when I saw all my plans going straight down the drain *sniffs sniffs* Later when I got home I wished I had misread the board - reading W as M or V as A *sigh*

Anyway, time passed by and I gave up my desire of being specsified till day before yesterday :) Yes, I went to get my bro's eyes checked and got mine tested as well. So then the optician uncle asked me to read the last 2-3 (English alphabet) lines, which were divided in 3 columns

ف ر ک و ق............ m q d e y t ............ h w p r i
ل ر پ چ ب............ h y w e d s ............ i k o v r t

Me: "m. q. d...."
Him: "Tsk tsk... You've got a verrrrry weak eyesight"
Me: "Noooo! It really is 'm. q. d'. Honestly, I'm not making it up!"
Him: *pointing at the third column* "Read from here"
Me: *grrr* "h. w. p. r. i"
Him: *changing a glass on one of my eyes* "Now read the last line"
Me: *making up the alphabets this time* "1. b. a..."
Him: *changing the glass again to a higher sensitivity one*
Me: *head spinning* "Noooo... Remove it please. I'm not that blind!!!"

So after shuffling the glasses and making me read the whole darn A-B-C board, he finally declared my eyesight to be slightly weak! And yours truly finally got a number of 0.75, :) which, according to my Mommy, can be improved with a few kilos of carrots. Carrots, *sigh* :o(  Specsies, *yay* :o)

Now I can't keep these glasses on my nosey for long. They're limiting my view and it's a bit irritating. No, don't think I'm complaining. No. Never. My childhood desire got fulfilled now. I'm not at all complaining. It's just that these specs don't suit my golu face anymore :(

Lol. But Dinky Mind is happily specsified! Yohoo!!! :)

Cheerio folks =)

PS: Shh... Don't tell this to my mom! I can perfectly see without these specs! ;)

|

 ...کڑوا سچ

جب "الف" سے انار اور "ب" سے بلی ھوتی ھے تو "پ" سے پہاڑ کیوں نہیں ھوتا? "ڑ" سے پہاڑ کیوں ھوتا ھے?
  دنیا بھر میں آپ کو کوئی "ڑ" سے پہاڑ نہیں نظر آئے گا۔ آخر کتابوں میں یہ لوگ ایسا کیوں لکھتے ھیں?
آخر کیوں زبردستی "ڑ" سے پہاڑ اور "ڑ" سے جھاڑو بنا دیتے ھیں? صرف یہ کیوں نہیں لکھ دیتے کہ "ڑ" سے کوئی لفظ شروع نہیں ھوتا اس لیے زیادہ دماغ لگانے کی ضرورت نہیں۔


بچپن سے اب تک یہی بات سمجھ نہیں آئی۔آخر صرف "ڑ" کے ساتھ ھی یہ ظلم کیوں? میرے خیال میں اب ھمیں "ڑ" سے کوئی لفظ ایجاد کر ھی لینا چاھئے ھے تاکہ آئندہ نسلوں کو آسانی ھو اور وہ میری طرح "ڑ" سے شروع ھونے والا پہاڑ نہ ڈھونڈتی پھریں۔

?کیا پشتو زبان میں کوئی لفظ "ڑ" سے شروع ھوتا ھے

|

PROLOGUE:

The younger male population of our country is traumatized by job hunt, and their moms are worried about finding the perfect girl for them. In short, there's a lot of emotional commotion around us.

The general definition of a "perfect girl" includes traits such as "... smart (not fatty AT ALL), young, pretty, has long hair, tall, well-educated, perfect in all household chores, friendly and on top of all, FAIR!" The perfect girl is one having all these attributes. All the other girls can go to ... wherever they like!

CHAPTER 1:

While running down the stairs after class, Sammy and I were hoping to find the Xerox shop a bit less crowded. After a few more steps, I realized I was striding alone without my accomplice. So I turned around and found her having a chat with an aunty and a girl (apparently her daughter). I headed back to find the cause of delay and what happened next is as follows:

Aunty *in a well-composed manner*: "My son has done CA and is very intelligent. And we are looking for a girl for him."
Sammy and I took a half step back and tried to wave our left hands and get them notice our engagement rings. Thankfully they did.
The Daughter: "We are looking for a very pretty girl and of course IBA produces intelligent girls."
Sammy and I *forcing a smile*: "Indeed"
The Daughter *all excited*: "So how's that brown culottes wali girl? You guys know her?"
I scanned the area for the brown culottes wali girl but she was to be seen nowhere.
Me: "Umm, where exactly?"  [Yeah, yeah, I was starting to enjoy it all :P]
The Daughter: "Oh, she's gone actually!"
Me *mumbles* : "Very well. And you expect us to recognize girls by their colored culottes and not by their faces?"
The Daughter: "So, you know her? We want a pretty one actually"
Me: "Well, there's a truckload of girls here. And sadly we don't know each one of them" :)
Sammy: "Yeah, we've actually got more boys than girls here"
Aunty: "So you're in 1st year of studies?"
Sammy: "No, no, no... In the last one actually and it's the 2nd one as well" :)
Aunty: "So you know any pretty girl here... someone you can suggest?"
[Aunty free hoing now. So we tried to cut short the story and Sammy came up with something out of nowhere]
Sammy: "Aunty, actually I'm also looking for girls"
I quickly turned sideways to hide my laughter. Who is she looking girls for????

Somehow we managed to end the convo right there and move on, giving them a polite gesture that we can't help them :) And all this time I wondering how did they manage to get into the premises? I mean what did they say to the guards, 'We're here to find a pretty girl for my CA son?' :)

EPILOGUE: 

Stop haunting girls that way. Please!

|

Abeer: "Have you seen that ad, 'Kis ne kaha tha Pepsi per 5 Rupay kamm ker do?'"
Me: "Jes, jes. So, do you know kis ne kaha tha ke 5 Rupay kamm karo?"
Abeer *thinking for a while*: "Larki ne" =)

Case Dismissed!

|

"I also believe that parents, if they love you, will hold you up safely, above their swirling waters, and sometimes that means you'll never know what they endured, and you may treat them unkindly, in a way you otherwise wouldn't."

In the book, "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom, the writer had written short incidents between chapters which were titled as "Times My Mother Stood Up For Me" and "Times I Did Not Stand Up For My Mother". Pretty tragic and heart-wrenching stories were these. The kind of selfless love a mother showers on her children has never been described so beautifully before. So, while reading the book I was analyzing that there are a quart million times when my Mother stood up for me, and not even a quart time when I stood up for her!

I feel like a little child again who wants her mother back by any way! I can hardly wait for these 8 days for her to return home.

"Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back."

|

I hold a world record for sleeping before anyone else even thinks of yawning. And when it comes to putting the kids to sleep, I put my hand on their eyes and start snoring - first jhoot moot ka, and then sach much ka! But sadly it never works.

Since we're living in 21st century, we've got extra smarty, modern bachay. They don't sleep that easily. Or maybe I'm transferring my blame on them :$ I remember once putting Ashoo to sleep and before she could sleep, I was already sound asleep :) And after a while when she woke up and started crying and screaming at the top of her lungs, mum came upstairs to rescue her, and even then I was still sleeping like ... a baby? :)

A few days back I was charged with the most difficult responsibility to put Ashoo and Umer to sleep. I mean, imagine... TWO kids! The best thing about them is when one goes to sleep, the other one automatically sleeps within the next 15-20 minutes :) How sweet and easy. But you never know which one of them should you sing lullabies to first! :) So that day I decided to put both kids on each side. I made up a trillion and three stories - ranging from princess to lions and stars to jin bhoots. And then I was asked to sing all the poems of the world. And luckily or unluckily I have memorized quite a lot of poems, thanks to our Music Teacher. The kids were apparently in no mood to sleep and I, as usual, was at the peak of it! So instead of repeating the painful history, I came up with an idea. Umer has a habit of pinching his mamma's neck while sleeping, so I hollered which cutie baby is going to sleep that way. And both the kids attacked my tiny neck. Yikes! That was a bad option! They slapped, pinched and tickled it. And all three of us were laughing madly! :D And after 15 minutes my dearie momma entered the room and stared and I had to hush both of them down. Finally Umer slept! *phew*

And what about Ashoo? Well, I was happily dreaming by then :)

|