The Power of Faith

"Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."  This was a quote by Augustine.

Friends,  that brings me to share with you all a short article on Einstein's theory of God.  It was a small and short debate with his Professor and which till date is well-known.

Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?

Student: Yes Sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD?

Student: Absolutely, Sir.

Professor: Is GOD good?

Student: Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all-powerful?

Student: Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student: Yes

Professor: Is Satan good?

Student: No

Professor: Where does Satan come from?

Student: From… GOD…

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.

Professor: So who created evil?

(Student did not answer)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student: Yes Sir.

Professor: So, who created them?

(Student had no answer)

Professor: Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student: No, Sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student: No, Sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student: No, Sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in HIM?

Student: Yes.

Professor: According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student: Professor is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student: No, Sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold.  We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.  We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, Sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: You’re wrong again, Sir.  Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called darkness isn’t it? If it were, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure.  Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.  To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: Just the absence of it.  Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, Sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor.  Are you not teaching your opinion, Sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so.  So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, Sir.  With all due respect, Sir, how do we then trust your lectures, Sir?

(The room was silent.  The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it Sir… Exactly! The link between man & GOD is FAITH.  That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

That Student was EINSTEIN

The story of Cucumber Stew

It was a cool breezy summer evening as I sat with my friends sharing a lot of good times.  A time that went so swiftly that none of us realized that dusk had gone a long time back and it was time for supper.  I was too lazy to cook an elaborate supper as we all had a very sumptuous late lunch and tea followed soon after.

So we decided to have a light supper and ended up making the most of the only vegetable in our sight - The ever loving Cucumber.  I am sure all of you would relish this the way my friends did, lapping up every trace of it.  So here we go.

Ingredients:

1 long tender cucumber weighing approximately half a kilo.

2 tablespoons ghee

3 green chilies, chopped

1 tablespoon Refined flour

3 tablespoons White Vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

A handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

Peel the cucumbers, halve it lengthwise into fours, de-seed it and cut into thin strips of three inches length.  Boil this in a little saline water for ten minutes.  Drain off the water by placing the cucumbers in a sieve, BUT retain the water in which the cucumbers were boiled.  

Heat a stainless steel wok on low fire with ghee.  When the ghee melts, add the green chilies and cucumber and sprinkle the refined flour.  Mix well, without browning.  Gradually, add one cup of water in which the cucumbers were boiled.   Stir well to avoid lumps and pour the vinegar.  Let it simmer for ten minutes.  Transfer to individual bowls. 

Garnish with pepper, salt and coriander leaves and serve hot with toasted garlic bread slices.  

QUICK WAY OF COOKING BREAD UPMA

Here’s to a beautiful quote by Vikrant Parsai – “ If you find bread and water in the desert, you are bound to find God somewhere too.”  There are so many people in this world that go so hungry, and God cannot appear to them in any other form except in the form of bread.

Bread is the type of food that has become the first necessity since ages.  So here we go for those who are too lazy to cook anything elaborate when they are dying of hunger or tired after a hard day’s work. A quick boost to your energy when you see some fresh loaf of bread in the kitchen and an iced cold drink on a warm sunny evening.

How is that for ideas? So let’s see what can be done. Here we go with the bread Upma that is nutritious, refreshing and takes hardly any time. 

When I began getting ready with my bread Upma, my two dogs were more excited than anybody else.  You can see from the picture, I have posted, the desire drooling from their eyes and the expectant hunger for that 'at least one piece' of bread as I am chopping the slices.

The ingredients listed here is for an average serving for two people.  You can add-on the quantity if there are more hungry mouths to be fed.   J

Ingredients:

10 slices of bread, either brown whole-grain bread or white bread

2 medium sized onions, chopped finely

3 green chilies, chopped finely

½ inch piece of ginger, grated finely

1-teaspoon (leveled) turmeric powders

½ teaspoon Red Chili powder

½ teaspoon dried mango powder (commonly known as Amchur in Indian Stores)

1 tablespoon of cashew nuts, halved

2 tablespoons of fresh Coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon of sugar

½ teaspoon of Garam masala powder

2 tablespoons ghee

Salt for taste

For the Tempering:

1-tablespoon oil or ghee

½ teaspoon Mustard seeds

½ teaspoon split black Gram Dal (commonly known as Urad dal)

1/2-teaspoon Cumin seeds

1 or 2 dry red chilies, halved

1 Sprig of Curry leaves

Method:

Cut the bread slices into small squares.  Heat a frying pan with ghee.  Fry the bread squares on a medium flame to a crisp golden color.  Remove when done and set it aside on a tray.

Now heat a wok with the oil and prepare the tempering.  First fry the mustard seeds and wait until it crackles.  Then add the black gram dal, followed by cumin seeds, dry red chilies and the curry leaves.  Sauté on a low flame and when the curry leaves shrivel, add the onions.  Fry till the onions are translucent. 

Now add the cashew nuts, green chilies, ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds.  Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, mango powder, and the garam masala powder.   Fry until all the spices are well blended.

Now add the fried bread squares and stir till all the spices are well blended with the bread.  Add sugar, salt and stir once more.  Now, transfer this to a serving bowl.  Garnish with the coriander leaves.  Serve warm. 

I hope you have enjoyed cooking this dish and while I go on to my next blog, I am reminded constantly of what I remember, James A. Baldwin has to say: “ People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.”

FRENCH TOAST - à la mon Style

MY IDEA OF A FRENCH TOAST

I don’t actually remember when I got this new idea of cooking something with a common name but which is not what it is supposed to be. So as I sat in my room as a teenager, busy with my books, my dad and brother come up to me and say, “Hey could you cook something in a jiffy for breakfast?”

My eyes rolled, as I had never cooked anything before, leave alone boil potatoes, which ended in roasted potatoes as I had forgotten what I had kept on the gas, and was busy dancing to my favorite song.  The smell of something burning in the kitchen ended with me getting a one-hour lecture from my mother, “Do this after your marriage and you will be roasted alive by your husband.” That was the saddest story of the crucified potato.

At this time, my mother had gone on a vacation to her parent’s place and my elder sister was too engrossed with her studies to even lift herself up to the kitchen.  That was I in the end to try my culinary skills.

So, backed with my courage and my nose high with self-esteem I nodded my head in affirmation and boldly announced, “Gentlemen, give me about half an hour to raid the kitchen.” The men were excited, as they wanted to see what would come out of the kitchen and from my extra skills.

I entered the kitchen with a fearful sigh.  I happened to see a pound of bread.  Hmm! Something can be done with this.  My small voice was screaming inside my head, “C’mon girl think, think!”   My time was short. So out came the milk, honey, sugar, Cardamoms, ghee, and last but most important the frying pan.

So folks this is how French toast was finally made  à la mon style!  No one was allowed to even peep into the kitchen when I was cooking for fear that if anything went wrong; it was on their heads.

Well, you need to take any number of bread slices that you wish (depends on how hungry you are!). Right? Then comes the sugar that was powdered. Next was the honey and Cardamom powder.  I mixed all these in a wide rimmed bowl.

As all this was getting prepared I got the frying pan on a medium flame with a little bit of ghee for roasting.  Deep inside, my prayers were getting frantic that all should go well. 

Well you need to take a flat plate or a saucer wherein you pour the milk mixture.  You dip each slice of bread on this and turn it over to the frying pan.  Wait for a few moments and then drizzle a little ghee at the edges.  Flip the bread slice to the other side for roasting. Once it gets a golden hue and slightly crisp, remove it from the pan and place it on a server.

Voila!!!  I jumped in joy and the next moment these men came barging to the kitchen thinking I was on fire. I politely admonished them, “Gentlemen, OUT you go.  It’s yet to be ready.”  By now their stomachs were giving the alarm signals.

But I finished a good count for them.  When I brought it to the table there was a questioning look on their faces – one looking at the other.

“B-r-e-a-d  T-o-a-s-t?????”  But the smell was too tempting.  The first bite revealed it all.  Amazing… was the joint chorus from them, so loud that my sis dropped her books to see what the commotion was.  By the time she could lay her hands on one simple bite all was over in a flash.  I became famous with my FRENCH TOAST – MY STYLE!!! Yippee.

So here’s the recipe for you guys.  Enjoy it and let me know.

Ingredients:

8 Bread slices (you may take as many as you like)

1 1/2 cups Milk (preferably cold)

2 tablespoons of honey

½ cup of powdered sugar

3 Cardamom pods, powdered

A little bit of ghee

Method:

Take a small mixing bowl and mix milk, sugar, and cardamom powder and honey well. Take a flat saucer or a plate and pour about ¼ cup of the milk mixture into it.  Keep it ready.

Heat a non-stick griddle and lightly grease it with ghee on a medium flame.  Take a slice of the bread and dip it in the milk. Now place it on the griddle and drizzle a little ghee all round the edges. Wait for a few moments and gently flip the slice to the other side.  Roast it to a crisp golden color on a medium flame.  When done, place it on Paper tissues for absorbing the excess ghee.  Now enjoy and let me know.

Hope you guys got it right!  Do wait for my next blog and a little more of my adventure on instant cooking ideas.