We all Dream..... why?

We all dream. Every night - as we dim the light of perception - we enter the realm of the dream. In this dream state our imagination runs free with little or no interference from our conscious mind. In the morning, when we awaken and return to consciousness, we may bring with us a recollection of the wanderings of our imagination - we remember the dream. To dream is natural, it is a universal experience. As sleep research has shown even animal dreams. How we regard the dream, however, varies from culture to culture and from person to person.

Unfortunately most of us remain blissfully unaware of our dreams - we fail to remember them. Even if we do remember a dream it is typically dismissed as meaningless and unimportant. For those of us who do place an importance on dream it still remains a mystery. So what is a dream?

Originally the dream was held to be the voice of God. Most aboriginal cultures hold that the dream is sent by the Great Spirit and serves to offer advice and instruction.
This idea of the divinity of the dream can also to be found in ancient Egyptian and Greek society. The ancient Greeks constructed temples they called Asclepieions, where sick people were sent to be cured. It was believed that cures would be effected through divine grace by incubating dreams within the confines of the temple.

In the early part of this century, however, the dream was championed by two great psychologists, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. For Freud the dream revealed that which the dreamer would rather keep hidden. By exploring the dream one was forced to face that which was suppressed and rejected within oneself.

Jung had another theory. Jung felt that the dream acted as a mirror for the ego - revealing that which was missing within the consciousness of the dreamer. For Jung the dream acted as a teacher and guide on the road toward wholeness.

The psyche, or mind, is made up of two distinct fields- the conscious and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is also referred to as the ego. The ego, or conscious mind, represents our awareness and capacity for thought and self-reflection, whilst the unconscious houses our instinctive wisdom and patterns of behavior.

Active within the unconscious is a creative force which seeks consciousness - the unconscious seeks to be made known. This drive toward consciousness is the force of individuation - the force by which we come to realise our greater potential…. What is generally known as Dream!

The way of the dream offers an alternative. For the dream belongs to the twilight zone of consciousness - where the ego and the unconscious meet.The conscious element of the dream lies in its remembrance, the unconscious element lies in its mystery and perplexity. Half conscious, half unconscious, the dream acts as a bridge between the known and the unknown. To listen to the dream is to listen to the unconscious. Through doing so one relieves the need for the unconscious to force itself upon you.

Dreaming is one of the most fascinating experiences of the mind. At the same time it is one of the most perplexing. So often we know that a dream is trying to tell us something but still its meaning eludes us. Its language appears strange yet familiar. If our unconscious mind is trying to tell us something why doesn't it just come right out and say it? Why the puzzle instead of the picture?

Dreams are riddles rather than proclamations. They ask us a question hoping that we search and find the answer to ourselves. Dreams aim to broaden our mind, to teach us what is beyond our comprehension. If a dream were to speak directly to our present state of consciousness then all would be easily understood … yet nothing would be discovered. A dream is by necessity… a mystery.

To interpret your dreams is to travel this splendidly majestic road. Dreams offer us a passage into the unconscious; they give us a place to start. And it is damn useful because we can not sit and think… ok... So what is it that am not aware of?!

So how does one answer the riddle which the dream is? First of all it is not the obvious. With any dream, you admit that you’re vexed up. This is what signals to you that you’re in the right state to begin. The dream teaches us most when the mind is empty and free of preconceptions. Each dream is unique and must be approached in its own way. Dictionaries of symbols, dream books and various psychological theories offer us very little when it comes to the actual dream.

Next list all the components of the dream, be they people, places or circumstances. The third lap is most important. Next to each of the dream components write down all your associations to the dream elements. After this you may also amplify the dream. The verbatorical interpretation of dream is just the size of your palm.

Dream interpretation was taken up as part of psychoanalysis at the end of the 19th century; the perceived, manifest content of a dream is analyzed to reveal its latent meaning to the psyche of the dreamer.

A person, supposedly my friend had a very weird dream. She found herself being chased by a dog and then she fell from a cliff. This dream repeated itself for over a month. When after a month, she couldn’t handle the situation, she went to this psychologist. After reviewing her activities in the recent days, he came to a conclusion. Due to official problems she was facing from her manager, she was losing control and had tried to break away from the trauma by attempting suicide. After thorough counseling, she stopped getting such dreams.

The above condition was not a whole lot complex. Dr. Bharathi, Dream counselor with a private hospital narrates a case file where her patient was the key spectator of an act of unintended crime committed in her deep slumber. The patient was constantly dreaming about a dark alley where she sits and draws a sketch of a boy over and over again.She was suffering from part memory loss. After going through treatment for a period of about six months, she was able to get over with it. It so happened that during her visit to Shimla, with her gang of friends, in a skiing accident, her boyfriend accidentally fell down the mountain slope and in the process cut himself in a silver lining that was hung for electrical purpose. After she regained her consciousness, she had been in a state of shock and underwent treatment for another two months.

To quote a personal experience, I always had this feeling that I speak to an old lady in the dark in a room painted of stumps with red paint. She constantly babbles about a door which has to be opened using a silver key. Till date, I couldn’t figure out what it means. I have gone through my entire family lineage… hoping to find the lady’s portrait… just in case she was giving me a clue about a hidden treasure!!!

Well, you know when you have interpreted a dream correctly when you get an 'Aha!' reaction. Just like a riddle, all of a sudden you 'get it' and everything makes sense.
If you penetrate only part of the issue which the dream presents or slip up in your interpretation, then the unconscious will send a follow up dream. If you fail to interpret the dream entirely then it will often come again. This is the phenomenon of repetitive dreaming; since you didn't really listen the first time, the unconscious sends out the same message again… unless you find out what the heck it means!

One last but a very important point. Dreams aim to rebalance a partial or lopsided attitude. They serve to teach you a lesson. Externalize the internal by applying the dream to your everyday life. It is only in this way that you truly honor your dream.

Coffee to Cappuccino...

There are many ways to jumpstart a day. You can go and stand under a cold shower, have someone yell at you as if they were asking someone to send breakfast from a country which is millions of miles away….or you can walk like a zombie, doing your work with half baked concentration… mistaking your shaving cream for a tooth paste… or you could drink a cup of strong coffee.

However, these days coffee is not simply something that clears the mental cobwebs and gives people a bright eye and the courage to face another day. Coffee has become more than an emergency standby. It is now the beverage to be consumed many times in the course of a day.

Coffee when you wake up, coffee when you arrive to work, coffee during the first break, and another cup with lunch. And on and on it goes. Coffee all the time!!! Sometimes, it is justified too. If you have attended meetings, you know what it means. If you are in the speaker's position you need to be alert and not start yawning halfway through the presentation, coffee helps. If you are the audience and you sit there wishing you were a hundred miles away, fishing perhaps, and then coffee can provide that facade of alertness that makes everyone think you are really paying attention. In short, no matter what the occasion or need is, coffee has become a good old standby.

Over the last decade, you may have noticed something a little bit different. Your favorite coffee shop is now referring to itself as a café and the person serving you coffee is now referred to as a barista. Also, your simple order of a medium double has now become far more complicated. Between learning some basic Italian to order a drink that was once known as large, medium, or small, and between having to pick through a number of different coffee drinks with funny names, it can be a bit tough buying coffee.

Drinks like the cappuccino have become all the rage among coffee lovers and for good reason – the cappuccino is a sweet drink. Originating from Italy, the cappuccino has a sweet, smooth taste that is irresistible. A European staple, the cappuccino has burned itself into the Indian consciousness in the late 1990s due to its availability in specialty coffee bar chains like Barista or Café Coffee Day. Now, even McDonald’s is serving this delicious confection.

The trendy ‘Coffee-world’ has probably been a real long evolution process but something which didn’t take that long to be recognized. Do you remember a time when coffee was served black with sugar on the side, no cream, flavors or any other such fancy alterations? Coffee was meant to give you with a good dose of energy and nothing else. Those small cups are still used to serve black coffee which is called espresso. Over the years a desire to enjoy the magic drink of coffee evolved into a desire for more than just the small espresso cup. People began to use larger cups and mugs to desire the quantity they desired.

Well… that was not the only thing that changed. In order to add color to that magic cup of coffee in our lives people started experimenting with different ingredients. This was the beginning of a whole new specialty coffee… a trendsetter.

Cappuccino, cafe latte, mochas, macchiato and all other coffee drinks that are different than the original black coffee are specialty coffee types. There are many different types of coffee creations like cinnamon, chocolate, hazelnut, caramel and vanilla flavored coffee… all this only to name a few. Only your imagination limits what you can invent as your own specialty coffee. You can put in anything you desire your coffee to taste like.

Does the experience of specialty coffee diminish over time? Not at all and if anything, it enhances the coffee experience by adding the extra spice or flavor for your enjoyment. Many people simply cannot have coffee just by itself. They find it too strong and overpowering thus, a bit of flavor helps them to enjoy a cup of coffee as well.

Regardless of how you take your coffee, black or with cream, flavored or plain, a cappuccino or a cafe latte, you have to admit that this wonderful drink has only improved our lives with its rich aromas and taste… morning, evening and night, whenever you desire. You do not have to have a day without coffee.

Eating the Indian Way….

India is not only famous of its multi-cultural and lingual phenomena but also for its mouth-watering multi-cuisines which are always a treat to the taste bud of every living human! The cuisines vary indifferently throughout the demography… reflecting the ethnic diversity… some of them playing with the sour buds, while some elusively pamper that part of your tongue which savors the sweet relics. Some have a totally indistinguishable taste… what we call as Khatta-meetha spicy punch!

Food is integral to any culture and, as a land that has experienced extensive immigration and intermingling through many millennia, the Indian subcontinent has benefited from numerous food influences. The diverse climate in the region, ranging from deep tropical to alpine, has also helped considerably broaden the set of ingredients readily available to the many schools of cookery in India. In many cases, food has become an indication of religious and social identity, with varying taboos and preferences which has also driven these groups to innovate extensively with the food sources that are deemed acceptable.
One strong influence over Indian foods is the longstanding vegetarianism within sections of India's Hindu and Jain communities. At 31%, slightly less than a third of Indians are vegetarians.

The most outstanding feature of the Indian way of food is that it uses almost everything it can find to garnish the plate and make it tasty. The staples of Indian cuisine are rice, atta and a variety of pulses, the most important of which are chana (Bengal gram), toor (yellow gram), urad (black gram) and mung (green gram).

Most Indian curries (gravy) are fried in vegetable oil. In North and West India, groundnut oil is traditionally been most popular for frying, while in Eastern India, Mustard oil is more commonly used. In South India, coconut oil is common. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, known as Vanaspati ghee, is also a popular cooking medium that replaces Desi ghee.

The most frequently used spices in Indian cuisine are chilli pepper, black mustard seed, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida, ginger, and garlic. Popular spice mixes are garam masala which is usually a powder of five or more dried spices, commonly comprised of cardamom, cinnamon and clove; and Goda Masala, a popular spice mix in Maharashtra. Some leaves are commonly used like tejpat (malabathrum), bay leaf, coriander leaf, fenugreek leaf and mint leaf for usually garnishing. The common use of curry leaves is typical of South Indian cuisine. In sweet dishes, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron, and rose petal essence are used to bring the typical flavor.

North Indian cuisine is distinguished by the proportionally high use of dairy products; milk, paneer, ghee and yoghurt are all common ingredients. Gravies are typically dairy-based. Other common ingredients include chilies, saffron, and nuts.

North Indian cooking features the use of the tawa (griddle) for baking flat breads like roti and paratha, and tandoor for baking breads such as naan, kulcha and khakhra. Puri and bahtoora, which are deep fried in oil, are also common. Goat and lamb meats are favored ingredients of many northern Indian recipes.The samosa is a popular North Indian snack, and now commonly found in other parts of India, Central Asia and the Middle East.

The staple food of most of North India is a variety of lentils, vegetables, and roti. Popular dishes include gujiya, chaat, daal ki kachauri, jalebi, imarti, several types of pickles, murabba, sharbat, pana and aam papad. Popular sweets include gulab jamun, peda, rewdi, gajak, milk cake, bal mithai, kulfi, falooda, khaja, ras malai, and several varieties of laddu, barfi and halwa.

Some common North Indian foods such as the various kebabs and most of the meat dishes originated with Muslims advent into the country. Pakistan was part of North India prior to the partition of India. As a result, Pakistani cuisine is very similar to northern Indian cuisine.

East Indian cuisines make use of thickening agents such as cashew or poppy seed paste. Milk-based sweets are also very popular fare, being a particular specialty in Bengal and Orissa. Bangladeshi cuisine is very similar to East Indian cuisine. Fish and seafood are very popular in the coastal states of Orissa and West Bengal. Many of the sweet dishes now popular in Northern India initially originated in the Bengal region.

The South Indian staple breakfast item of Idly, Sambhar and Vada served on a banana leaf is a very famous delicacy. South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on rice as the staple grain, the liberal use of coconut and particularly coconut oil and curry leaves, and the ubiquity of sambar and rasam.

South Indian cooking is more vegetarian-friendly. The dosa, idli, vada, bonda, and bajji are typical South Indian snacks. Andhra, Chettinad, Hyderabadi cuisine, Mangalorean, and Kerala cuisines each have distinct tastes and methods of cooking. In fact each of the South Indian states has a different way of preparing sambar; a connoisseur of South Indian food will very easily tell the difference between sambar from Kerala and sambar from Tamilnadu and 'pappu pulusu' in Andhra cuisine.

Saraswat cuisine forms an important part of coastal Konkani Indian cuisine. Poha is an important food item made from rice that originates in Western India.

Indian Cuisine in the West Britain has a particularly strong tradition of Indian cuisine that originates from the British Raj. At this time there were a few Indian restaurants in the richer parts of London that catered to British officers returning from their duties in India.
In the start of the 20th century there was a second phase in the development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh migrated to London to look for work. Some of the earliest such restaurants were opened in Brick Lane in the East End of London, a place that is still famous for this type of cuisine.

In the late twentieth century Birmingham was the centre of growth of Balti houses, serving a newly developed style of cooking in a large, wok-like, pan, with a name sometimes attributed to the territory of Baltistan,. Indian food is now integral to the British diet. Chicken tikka massala is thought to be Britain's most popular dish.

Due to the large Indian community in South Africa, the cuisine of South Africa includes several Indian-origin dishes; some have evolved to become unique to South Africa, such as the bunny chow.

Beverages have become an integral part of the cuisines. Tea is a staple beverage throughout India; the finest varieties are grown in Darjeeling and Assam. It is generally prepared as masala chai, tea with a mixture of spices boiled in milk. The less popular coffee is largely served in South India. One of the finest varieties of Coffea arabica is grown around Mysore, Karnataka, and is marketed under the trade name "Mysore Nuggets". nimbu pani (lemonade), lassi, badam dood (milk with nuts and cardamom) & Chaach (made from curd/yogurt ) , sharbat and coconut water also have their a special place in the itenary. India also has many indigenous alcoholic beverages, including palm wine, fenny, bhang and Indian beer. Having Paan after you savor the dishes is a customary.

With every part of the lip smacking fare up to the mark and with completely filled stomach… it’s the Indian cuisine one has to turn to… to feel the elation of the taste bud and the contended heart.