Iranian New Year or Norooz... Why it is celebrated in March?

 We live in the world with full of traditions and festivals. Every country is beautiful with its culture and customs, and today I want to share this post about Iranian New Year or Norooz, which has been celebrated yesterday.

 Before starting I would like to say many thanks to my Iranian friend Nahal, who started this post in her Facebook page and I have finished it up here in my blog.

 Nowruz Persian  (نوروز‎) is the name of Iranian New Year in Iranian Calendar and corresponding traditional celebrations. Norooz is celebrated and observed by Iranian people and the related cultural continent and has spreads in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in Balkans.
Originally being Zoroastrian festival, and the holiest of them all, Norooz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiac sigh of the Aries, signifying the spring Equinox.

 The term Norooz in writing first appeared in Persian records in the 2nd century AD,but it was also and important day during the time of the Achaemenids (548-330 BC) where the kings from different nations under the Persian Empire used to bring gifts to the Emperor, also called King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Persian on Norooz.

 Significance of Norooz in Achaemenid empire was such that the great Persian King Cambyses II's appointment as a king of Babylon was legitimized only after his participation in the New Year festival.
Now lets come to the festival and see how Iranians celebrate it nowadays.
Few days prior to New Year, special cover spread on the table and this table is called cloth of seven dishes. The number seven has been sacred in Iran since ancient time, and seven dishes stay for the seven angelic heralds of life: rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience and beauty.
The symbolic dishes consist of:

1. Sabzeh or Sprouts, which are wheat or lentil representing rebirth,
2. Samanu, it's a pudding from wheat sprouts which are transformed into sweet creamy pudding, 
3. Seeb, which means an apple and that represents health and beauty,
4. Senjed, the sweet dry fruit of Lotus tree, represents love,
5. Seer, which is garlic in Persian and represents  medicine,
6. Somaq, Sumaq berries, represents the color of sunrise with the appearance of the Sun, Good conquers Evil,
7. Serkeh or vinegar, represents age and patience.

To reconfirm all hopes and wished expressed by the traditional foods, other elements and symbols are also in the table:

1. Few coins on the table represents prosperity and wealth, 
2. a basket of painted eggs represents fertility,
3. a Seville orange floating in a bowl of water represents the Earth floating in Space,
4. a goldfish in bowl represents life and the end of astral year-picas,
5. a flash of rose water knows for its magical cleansing power,
6. nearby is a brazier for burning wild rue, a sacred herb whose smoldering fumes ward of evil spirits,
7. a pot of flowering hyacinth or narcissus is also set,
8. a mirror which represents the images and reflections of Creation as they celebrate anew the ancient Persian traditions and beliefs that creation took place on the  first day of spring,
9. on other side of the mirror are two candlesticks, holding flickering candle for each child in the family. The candles represents enlightenment and happiness.  

The UN's General Assembly in 2010 recognized the International Day of Norooz, describing it as a Spring festival of Persian origin. which has been celebrated for over 3000 years. During the meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the ntengible Heritage of the United Nations, held between 28th September to 2nd October 2009 in Abu Dhabi, Norooz was officially registered on UNESCO List of the  Intangible cultural Heritage of the Humanity.

The only thing is left to say Iranians, is Norooz Mobarak, and let's it be year of prosperity and success.

How I became a blogger and why I continue blogging

Well, it's almost 7 month that I have started my blogging journey. And there are number of reasons why I still keep it alive. Lets start from beginning.

 When I got married, I was not allowed to work in India for two years, till I would get my citizenship. It was a time for me when I feel boring by sitting at home and doing same thing everyday.
I wanted to engage myself in some work, where I can develop my potential. 

  One of my friend has advised me to start blogging, but somehow I have felt I am not ready for it. Few month has passed and suddenly I got a chance to write article about my Fellowship journey in Thailand, in organizers website. Article was successful, many of my friends have read it, and everyone asked me why I am not starting my own blog. 

 There was always some fear of falling, I was scared, that I will not be accepted, and my thoughts my mentality, my writing skills and styles will not be accepted from society and people around me. I wanted to have a platform, where I can bring out my emotions, be moral and honest with myself, bring out the colors of my soul, show the hidden corners of my struggle, make a boundaries between people like me. I wanted something where I can rise a voice of my soul. 

No, I am not a depressive person, generally I am happy with my life, but sometimes we live situations where everything goes wrong and you just want to sit and be with yourself,  or give your emotions to the paper or the page you are having. Only  one thing, that I live far away from my country, from my motherland, from my parents and family, makes me very emotional and to think about life a lot, do my psychology researches. And on the way of searching the answers of my  questions, I slowly became "wised". And I understood: "it's time to start". 

 I don't have much technical knowledge, and when I decided to open a blog the first platform was wordpress, but for the person who does not have too much knowledge and experience in websites and blogging, it's kind of complicated ( but now I understand that wordpress is very good for professionals). 

 So I came across to blogger. This one I understood easily, and after one day I have  released my first post. 

 I can not explain with words how it feels, when you write a post and you get so many positive feedbacks from people, whom you don't even know. It's very exciting, it means a lot for me. I have been open also for negative comments, but fortunately or unfortunately I did not get any. 

Blogging has changed my life. 

I have became more creative. My day starts and ends with my blog. Even when I do some other works my mind is always creating changes, the way to improve my blog. 

 Let me say blogging is not an easy work, if you want to have a success  with your blog, you need to work everyday, explore, develop, try, change, read, watch, ask, connect. Sometimes you can just ruin your website and then restore it again. It's impossible to make it perfect just from begging. It needs a time and skills, but those skills are not coming automatically, you need to develop them one by one, 

 I realised, since the day I have opened this blog my writing skills has been improved a lot. I started to take attention on grammar and spellings of my writing, started to type faster than before. I started to read more English books, articles and just other blogger's posts, and this has increased my vocabulary, brought ideas of other topics. 

 With blogging I just started to develop my photographing skills, (but please dont be so critical, I take my photos with phone, so don't expect so much)  start to see beauty in small things. 

Blogging has brought a connection with communities where I found many friends, started to collaborate with other bloggers. 

 I don't say that I am a professional in this field, not at all. I still have lot of things to work on, and there are number of skills on which I am working now, and most probably there will be always something, which we will need to learn. 

But that power, when you sleep and someone from another corner of the word reading your article, or trying your recipe, and giving back a comment of gratefulness, that power is the infinity of my love, which keeps this blog alive. 

  

Wish You all Love and Peace, and stay connected with me...

Yashwant Place or Russian Bazaar

Hello people, welcome back to my blog. Today I am going to share my experience about one place in Delhi, which is famous like Russian Bazaar or Yashwant Place.
Yashwant Place is located in South Part of Delhi, near to Diplomatic Area. The easiest way to reach here is metro, You need to take the yellow line, reach to Race Course Metro Station, then take an auto rickshaw and within 7-8 minutes you will reach there.

This place is a kind of closed market where you can find gemstones, leather jackets, fur coats,also imported food and items. Actually its one of my favorite shopping place the time, when I plan to go my country, since here you can really find very nice coats and natural leather jackets, which are much more expensive in my country.

I think this is the reason why so many peoples are there from Post Soviet Countries, everytime I visit Yashwant. Fur coats are not useful for Delhi residence, since here we don't have too much cold temperature, so most of their customers comes from abroad, and specially from Russia, that is why once you enter there, all the workers start to welcome you with Russian language .

Here you can find also gemstones, earrings, necklaces.

I don't know how genuines are those stones, but frankly said those are really beautiful, and everytime, I go there I can't control myself for buying few necklaces or earrings for me. 

Here you can find also Russian food shop, and there are imported foods, and different goods. 

But of course I was more curious about foods, which I have missed a lot. 

Ohhh Raffaello, backweats, sausages, sour creams...I can't believe my eyes. 

Here is the shop guys, don't miss it  (yeah this is not a marketing, just want to advise you where you can find such tasty foods). 

Oh yeah, Yashwant is also famous with momos, there are number of small food boutiques, which are offering Chinese and Nepalese cuisine, but since I have not tried, can't say anything about foods, but I heard that those are very tasty.  

Overall Yashwant Place is nice shopping destination, for those who are planning  to send a gifts to abroad.  

Mashed Potatoes

Hello my reader , today I am back with one new recipe in my kitchen. Actually this is not a new recipe for me, however it can be new with many of you. The process of making this food, I have learned from my mom. Since I am a food lover and there are rare things which I don't really like.
So here we go, today we are cooking mashed potatoes.

For this we will need only few ingredients: 

1. 1kg potatoes
2. 1 cup of boiled milk 
3. 70 gram butter 
4. Spices if you want

We peel potatoes and put it into salted boiling water. Cook until tender but still firm.

When potatoes  are deep boiled, we drain it for sometime and then start to mash it (it can be done with electric beater or one for hand use).

In one cup of hot milk, put in it 70 grams of butter, and with little proportions pour blend mixture into mashed potatoes and keep mixing. 

By the time it becomes smooth and creamy, you can stop beating. Then you can add some spices by your taste. I love it without any flavors. So I will enjoy it just like this.

Best shopping destination for shopaholics in Delhi

When  I started to live in India, I understood  there are lot of things I gonna miss from my culture and country. India is country of diversity, and we can not speak about entire country with one word. Quality of life and services can be change by state and city.
If you live in rural areas, do not expect to see much. The advantage you can have, is clean ecology and beautiful nature, but from other side there are lot of things which will irritate you: there you can see broken roads, problems of water and electricity, absence of life necessary services.
 Even in my country those problems exist in villages, but still we have whole day electricity and water supplies. In India conditions are quite different.
But if we speak about cities, everything is entirely changes. Here we have huge alternatives in every field. The major problem stays air, water pollution and densely populated colonies.
 And this picture gets much more visibility, when you live in Delhi.
Even though Delhi is one of the most polluted city in the world, but it still stays my favorite city in  India. Delhi is a hub of the country, here it is located the Government of India, here are all foreign embassies. cultural centers, business centers, multinational companies and organizations, shopping centers, places for entertainment.
For one, who has a money and time to spend, Delhi has a lot to offer. From budget to luxury services, you can find one with your pocket and convenience. With 20 million of population, this is a metropolitan with all kind of lifestyle, from European to Asian, from slums to a lavish apartment, everything can be found in Delhi.
And here I can not forget about existing shopping choices: from old Asian bazaars to chic malls.
Many Indians think that if you are a foreigner living in Delhi, you might be shopping from malls, only, but its not exactly like this. Let me say there are many bazaars in Delhi, where you can find this or that products with very affordable price. But today I will not be writing about bazaars here ( it will be in my upcoming posts) but about one of the best  shopping destination in Delhi, where you can be lost in offering brands and services. Here it is Select City Walk.

SELECT CITYWALK is a huge complex of shopping and entertainment boutiques, food courts, beauty salons and many mores.
SELECT CITYWALK is located in south part of Delhi, between two metro stations: Saket and Malviya Nagar, which are in yellow line of Delhi Metro. The easiest way to reach here is to take a metro and come out in Malviya Nagar metro station, get out from exit number 3 and take a auto rickshaw,  (here there are number of sharing rickshaws, and you can sit with other girls, pay only 10 rupees and reach your destination within few minutes). Another option is to take auto alone, but here you will need to pay 50 rupees.
Once you reach the place it opens very beautiful and very well organized yard. As every place in India, here also, before entering, security guides will be checking you and your handbags.
It's  place which is always full of people, and specially with foreigners. As I mentioned above it has a nice and cosy yard, where people can sit and enjoy their time.

Once you enter the building, it opens an atmosphere of upcoming festivals.
Since I have been there just after Valentine's Day, you can see the beautiful red decoration dedicated to that day.

Here you can find every brand from local to international market, and  shops for everything: cosmetics, clothes, jewellery, home accessories, food, books.\

In top floor, there is a food court, where they have a variety of traditional indian or international cuisine.

Out of it, you can find also high ranked restaurants in other floors.

SELECT CITYWALK offers free monthly journal, where you can find everything regarding to their services, shops, new collections, also recipes, zodiac, offering travel packages, and many more.

Overall, it's a huge complex of few buildings, where you can spend your whole day without getting bored.

Zucchini Cutlets

Hello my reader.
Welcome back to the recipe section of my blog. Today I am going to share with you my favorite zucchini cutlets recipe. As I heard, zucchini cutlet originally comes from Greece. I dont know much how it tastes in Greece, but here in my kitchen it tastes and smells amazingly.

 This is my own way of making this delicious food, so some of the ingredients may be different from original one. Here I take:

1. 2 medium zucchinis 
2. 5-6 small cloves of garlic
3. one medium onion
4. salt (2/3 teaspoon)
5. coriander (by taste)
6. spring onion (by taste)
7. black pepper (by taste)
8. 2 tablespoon of flour
9. oregano (by taste)
10. 1 egg (for those who are vegetarians, you can avoid egg, instead you can add little more flour)

We start the process with peeling out the zucchinis  and shredding by grater. Once it grated, add the salt, because it will bring all the water out. Squeeze out all the excess water from the grated zucchini.

Season with black pepper, oregano, then add mashed garlic, chopped onion, spring onion, coriander, eggs and flour. Gently mix the mixture.

Make a  cutlets from mixture and,  fry it in oil, over medium heat for 10 minutes each side, till lightly browned. 

Remove extra oil by putting it on the napkin. 

Cutlets are ready, and today we will have it with macaronis. 

Hope you have liked this recipe and soon I will hear feedback from your own experience. 

Have a nice working days. 

LAKME, Absolute Make-up Remover- Review

(Dear friends, this post includes affiliate link).
Hi guys, welcome back to my blog. Since the date I have started to write posts on my beauty section so many people asked me about my skin care. I would like to say that yeah most of the time I do care about my skin with homemade natural products, which I am  making by my own. But of course I do use also cosmetic products, and it can be in any brand (from local to international) with any price. The most important is quality, if I like it, I will take it, that's it.

So today I want to share my opinion about LAKME Absolute BI-Phased Make-up 
This product comes with beautiful light blue plastic flacone.

It's a liquid with two layers, with different consistency.
Lets see what Lakme says about product.
"This Bi- phased make -up remover has a unique formula that gets activated on simple shaking the bottle. The oil helps in lifting off the make-up, while the water helps in deeply refreshing the skin. It gently, but thoroughly removes all kind of make-up, even longwearing and waterproof lip, eye and face make-up, leaving the skin feeling soft and smooth".
You need to shake it, then apply it on cotton pad and gently clean your face make-up zone.
Personally I never like waterproof cosmetic products, but  few weeks ago, by mistake I have bought a waterproof  mascara, and this make-up remover seriously saved me from problems. It has not given me any allergy reaction, when I used it for eye make-up removing. Frankly said it works so smoothly, that it feels very natural. After you clean up your make-up, you can wash your face with normal water and dry with soft napkin.
The flacone comes in 60 ml, and cost 230 rupees. Which is not really expensive for such product.

The written post is my personal opinion regarding to quality of this product.