Division of society

Growing up I’d often felt how unfair it was that the society in India was divided into classes; with the lower ones being treated condescendingly by the higher echelons. So while reading the Gita when I came upon the chapter that talks about class division it touched a nerve. It enlightened me on why it’s necessary and the way it is today is how the mankind evolved it. It was not designed by God to be this way.

We need brains to solve an issue, muscle power for protection, food and money to nourish the brains and body; and hard work to produce the food. Society is like our body. The brahmins are the brain of the body, kshatriyas the arms, vaishyas the thighs and shudras the feet. Thus each and every class is important for the smooth functioning of the society. They’ve all been born off the body of God and hence all are equal. There’s no question of one superseding the other.

Each class has it’s own qualities but these qualities are neither to be used for personal gains nor to rule over the other classes.

The position of the brahmin is the highest. He’s the one who makes the rules of the society. He’s the teacher and the enlightened one; but he’s not the one who earns money or punishes anyone. Nor does he indulge. Selfishness is completely absent from his life. He eats simple food and gains as well as disburses knowledge. He uses whatever the society gives him.

Kshatriya is the ruler – he punishes the sinner and rewards the Samaritan. It’s his duty to protect the society and religion. Even though he punishes, he is not the creator of the rules. He just follows the rules made by the brahmins. According to the rules, he collects the taxes from the public and spends it for public benefit.

Vaishya is the one who possesses money, farms and animals. He earns money and finds way to increase it. His life is made easy by the rule of the kshatriyas and the knowledge of the brahmins. He happily pays his taxes, serves the brahmins and donates clothes etc. to shudras.

Shudras by nature are more in number as compared to other classes. They’re more physically skilled than mentally. Hence they perform the physical work of the society. Just like the body can walk because of the feet, the society can function because of the physical work of the shudras. In return for his services, the vasihya gives him money, kshatriya protects his money and brahmin shows him the righteous way.

Hence each class has its own function. Just like a factory. A factory has workers, engineers and managers. They all have their work cut out for them based on their skills. If any one category stops working then the factory can’t do production. So they’re all equally important.

After reading this it made so much sense that our society was divided into classes.

Tweet-a-pot

Make coffee through your tweets! Isn’t that cool?!?!?!

Bye bye a happy year and welcome a happier year!

That does sound like an odd title, doesn’t it? Well I wanted to show my gratitude for the year that’s gone by and express my hope for the year that’s on the threshold. And with hope I’m reminded of a saying on my calendar this month, by Vaclav Havel

It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

Isn’t that  a beautiful quote? Anyway I digress. Come new year and we can see the word “resolutions” everywhere – on blogs, minds, conversations and what have you. I’m not much of a resolution person; there was a time when I would make resolutions very excitedly and lock them up until next year when it was time to make new ones. Then one year I felt bad when I realized that they didn’t mean much to me. So last year I made some goals for myself – primarily related to my hobby; I would take an account of how I was doing on them every month and now when I look back I think I “exceeded expectations” on my goals (I must admit that it is so good to get that rating in some review ). So I think I’ll continue with that trend – make some goals for myself and take a checkpoint on my progress every month.

Coming back to the happy year gone by, this has been on my mind for quite some time and I think now is an appropriate time to do it. I would like to post my gratitude to God for His blessings in the year that was:

• I’m grateful to Him for the wonderful jobs we have. In this economy when people are facing hard times I can’t thank him enough for blessing us with great jobs! I will not deny that there are moments when I feel “This is too boring!” or “How wonderful it would be if all I could do was stay at home”; but deep inside I am grateful to Him. Whatever I might whine about my job, there’s no denying that I feel very proud of it!
• I’m grateful to Him for blessing me with a wonderful family. It feels good to know that there are so many people who care about you. Of course there are moments when you have a hard time with one more people in the family but that’s what a family is all about. You can fight all you want and still know that whatever happens they’ll always be there for you and you for them. And I know that’s the kind I have. With that I would also like to say that it’s OK to fight in a family. Many people have this notion that you have a “bad” family if you have people fighting. I don’t think so. It’s like the more you talk, the more there are chances of an argument. Sure you can avoid any arguments by not talking at all; but then that’s not a family.
• I’m grateful to him for blessing me with the most beautiful home. Yes we bought our first home last year! It is a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. My mom knows that I always wanted a home of my own since I was a kid. So the day we got the key to our very own house was one of the happiest days of my life! And as I always tell my DH it’s the best house in the whole wide world! Not that it has no blemishes but in the grand scheme of things they do not matter. It’s when I see a homeless that I realize how blessed I am to be able to come back to a warm home. That does not mean I’m underestimating my home in any sense – all I want to say if that first I would like to thank God for the fact that I have a house and then for the wonderful house.
• I’m grateful to him for blessing me with me. We’re unable to appreciate what we have till we either lose it or see others around us who don’t have it. We take it for granted that we eyes to see the beautiful world, ears to hear the sweet sound of everyday life, legs to walk to the bus and hands to do the odd jobs around the house. Have you ever seen a handicapped person? Next time you’re feeling deprived, just think of one handicapped person you’d seen and put yourself in his/her shoes. I’m sure you’ll find your spirits lifted up!
• I’m grateful to him that I could do not one, not two but three crafts fairs – the first time in my life! Having done them I know it’s not easy to do them and you need a lot of things to work for you!

You must be wondering why with every “up” I’d posted a “down”. I did that to let people know that my life also has its down moments and there might be many more that I’ve not listed here nor do I want to recall them.

1. Because your life is as happy as you think it is.
2. Because your life is as good as you think it is.
3. Because your life is as blessed you think it is.

It’s all in the mind. I feel so good now, so blessed. How do you feel?

The best dinner rolls!

This thanksgiving I made the best dinner rolls from KAF recipes along with green bean casserole and fruit cake. The others weren’t much to write home about but I was so impressed with the dinner rolls that I had to brag here

When I took them out of the oven, the shell was hard to touch but after brushing it with melted butter as suggested in the recipe they were so soft! And to think about it I accidentally doubled the quantity of the potato flakes and they were still so good. The recipe listed below is half of the original and it makes 8 rolls.

Here’s the recipe:

• 1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/8 cup instant potato flakes
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons soft butter
• 1/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup lukewarm milk

Topping

• 1 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1) Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl, and mix and knead to make a soft, smooth dough. I’d to add some extra water probably because I accidentally added some extra potato flakes!

2) Place the dough in a lightly greased container and allow the dough to rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's just about doubled in bulk.

3) Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.

4) Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Round each piece into a smooth ball.

5) Lightly grease one 8" round cake pans. The buns will be close together and when they bake will eventually bind together this will ensure right baking of their sides.

6) Cover the pan, and allow the buns to rise till they're crowded against one another and quite puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. When I put the buns for baking they hadn’t risen so much that they were touching each other, even then my rolls came out perfect!

7) Uncover the buns, and bake them for 22 to 24 minutes, until they're golden brown on top and the edges of the center bun spring back lightly when you touch it.

8) Remove the buns from the oven, and brush with the melted butter. After a couple of minutes, turn them out of the pan onto a cooling rack.

9) Serve warm. Store leftovers well-wrapped, at room temperature.

First snow of the season

Tuesday morning we woke up to the most beautiful sight…here’s a view of our backyard

and the front

I love this photo…the fresh snow glistening under the rays of the morning sun.

My first craft fair

I haven’t been posting much as I’m busy preparing for my craft fair. You can read more about it here. My first craft fair is on Nov 6th and here’s the info:

Woodinville Holiday Craft Fair

Woodmore Elementary School

12225 NE 160th St Bothell WA 98011

Nov 6, 2010 9AM-4PM

Where do I start? How about getting a real estate agent?

I’ve been gone so long and there’s so much to say that I don’t know where to start. Even though it sounds like a trite movie dialog, it quite sums up my feelings at this moment :-).

Primary reason for my absence has been our moving into our first house and all through the buying process I made a mental note to write about all the big and small things/tips that would help a first-time buyer. Though they’re coming back to me, they’re rushing from different directions.

The first and the foremost task at hand for a first time buyer is to get yourself a good real estate agent. By good I mean:

• He/She should be very experienced in the specific area you’re buying the house in.
• You should be comfortable talking to him/her.
• Don’t hesitate to talk to her references.
• He/She should not be pushy.
• He/she should be very patient. They should let you take your time.
• Available for you when you need them. If you want to look at the house on weekends, then make sure he/she is available on weekends.
• Make sure he/she deals in real estate in your price range.

You should interview at least 3 real estate agents and then finalize on one. Whenever you’re selecting any servicemen, three is your magic number. Most of the above qualities you’ll come to know when you interview. If you find yourself not compatible with your agent during the house hunting process, don’t hesitate to switch. A real estate agent can make a huge difference in what kind of house you get and what price you pay.

Since I’m on this topic, I would like to post a recommendation for our realtor, Paula Sanford, for those in the Puget Sound area. She’s absolutely the best realtor one can find! Her experience in this area is simply astounding – which was a huge help. She knew what kind of architecture was prevalent in what decade and what was code then is not code now. The latter is immensely important. One visit to the house and she could tell why a decent house in a perfect neighborhood would not sell easily. Her knowledge of what sells and what doesn’t was very impressive and worked like a prediction during our house hunting process. We know that she always tried to get us the best deal and never hesitated to ask for anything on our behalf however small it maybe. Her philosophy “it never hurts to ask” is what you need in a good realtor. When we wrote an offer, she only gave us advice and left the final word on us and we know how right her advice was all through out. Once our offer was accepted, we never had to worry about the paperwork. She always had everything ready and if we’d to send something she would promptly send us a reminder. Paperwork seemed a breeze with her.Oh and she was so patient with our hunting. Being first time buyers, our requirements changed so much over the period; the house we bought is so different from the specifications we gave her.when we first met. She was always ready to take us to show a house and once she knew what we were looking for she would preview a house to screen it – isn’t that wonderful?!?! Ok, so now you know whom to contact if you want to buy a house here :-)