Why I Stopped Blogging and How I Restarted in 2016?

When I started blogging, it was a new concept to me, I had never written anything before, but I tried writing a diary when I was in school but threw it away, it was a written emotional roller coaster ride in there.

I started in 2012, when I had joined an online business and I was asked to write about the latest trends, Bollywood celebrities, what they wore at events, what we are offering to our customers, look book articles for their business website.

I enjoyed it at that time and decided that I will start a blog where I can share things that interest me and what I like to share with others. It was then when Kirti.mathur came into existence. I loved writing but only when I had time, I was not at all consistent with my posts, not that I am now, but still. After a few months I quit that job and I joined Fabindia in Delhi, which made my life busier. I travelled some parts of the country as part of my job profile, so hardly had any time to write, though a lot of ideas came to my mind and I wanted to share but just couldn’t.

Life changed when we got to know that I’m expecting a baby soon and we are moving to Abu Dhabi soon. I enjoyed my pregnancy, I’ve written a post about my experience. Then we both got busy with settling down in a new place with our infant. Never did someone tell me that life can be so busy with a child. We were exhausted most of the times and blogging was nowhere in my mind.

Slowly things got better and we got used to the life with a child and we learnt how to handle things. It is the time when I started to read a lot of articles online and I was wiling to come back to my old blog which by the way was 2 years old and was untouched. So, I started sharing my organizing ideas and “how-to” articles on my blog.

But still I was not able to give 100% to my page. In 201 itself I got a job and I started working full time again. I had some spare time at work, which I utilized reading blogs by other bloggers some marketing ideas and so on.

This is when I realized that this is a perfect time for a comeback. I started blogging again in 2017, once a month at least. I wanted to take it seriously, which I did. I created an Instagram account and started posting there.

The only reason I came back to my old blog and restart it was the feel that I get after writing. I wanted to write, I wanted to share my ideas. Till that time, I was just sharing things with few friends over a chat or a phone call.

My old friends also helped me in boosting my confidence and bringing me back to writing, I’m unable to find words to explain how thankful I am to Aruna, Charu and Ruchika, who have shown so much of confidence in me. I love these three girls.

So, I;m back with my blogs and I’m extremely happy to write, it takes my tensions away for some time. And let me tell you I’m enjoying more than ever and from here I am not going back.

How is it like to be a tourist in your hometown?

Hi all,

I’m from Jaipur, Rajasthan. After my wedding I had to leave Jaipur with a very heavy heart. It was not easy for me to leave a city where I’ve grown up, did my school, college, had friends, people knew me... basically, was the don of the place.

Jaipur has changed a lot from when I remember it from. The infrastructure is different, the youth looks different from our time, the prices of things have gone up drastically. Mostly everything had changed except for the heritage and tourist places. Of course, these places are now much more clean and attractive and as per the tourists standards. But there is not a major change. At least that’s what I thought. But wait. We have also changed a lot.

Living in Dubai for almost 4 years has changed us so much, the appearance, way we talk, body language, everything has changed.

For the first time ever, this time in Jaipur I felt like a tourist. For this visit my husband chose to take a few pictures of the historical monuments, the lakes, elephants, camels and all other major attractions we have in Jaipur.

So here we are, woke up early morning and got ready for Nahargarh fort to see the famous sun rise. On our way we stopped by Jal Mahal,we reached there with two of our cousins. Took some amazing stills there.

And then later we headed towards Nahargarh. Jaipur looked the same from the top of the hill where Nahargarh is located. 

The place reminds us of our college days when we used to bunk and hide, have chai (I’m not a beer fan) and samosa. I just could not stop smiling and recalling and sharing the stories with my husband. Little he knew about my college life and the gang.

While returning we stopped at the Amber fort and visited the Amba Mata temple.

 Amber fort is beautiful. All the jharokhas, windows and balconies are beautifully maintained. We could hear nagadas and shehnaayi from one of the balconies, which added to the look and overall feel of the fort. My daughter saw elephants for the first time from that close. The beauty of the fort is its elephants. They are decorated with designs on their bodies with different colors, walking one behind the other, picking up two at a time and dropping them at the other station. All the tourists who come here climb the fort on the backs of elephants as it is built on a mountain we took our car from the back-side entry.  The fort was freshly painted and very well maintained.

After we finished, while returning to our car, a group of local vendors approached us and started pitching us the handmade paintings, carved elephants, puppets and handmade umbrellas. Oh! they were so beautiful. Let me be very frank with you all, I’ve grown up seeing all this and still it fascinated me so much so that I ended up buying 5 handmade paintings, but I had not forgotten to bargain, so got a decent deal. For the first time ever, I felt like a tourist in my own city.

Hungry by then we had breakfast a local snack shop, Jaipur is famous for kadhi-kachori, so we ordered that along with jalebi, samosas and chai. After a long time, we enjoyed road side food actually standing on the footpath.

Jaipur has a lot to offer to the tourists, what I shared is just 10 percent of it. Over all it was beautiful and amazing to go to the memory lane after more than 7 years. It was also funny to experience the feel of being a tourist in my own city and the expressions of the vendors when we told them that we belong here were priceless.

Friday Special Chicken Schezwan !!

Hello ladies,

What should I cook today is one of the most irritating question we face every day. Am I right?

We have to keep in mind the choice of all the family members. My husband is a very picky eater, he like things that are either traditional dishes or very fancy ones.

So, I thought of making something that everyone loves in our family, the Indian style Chinese food.

I made schezwan sauce at home and served it with veggies and chicken.

I’m sharing one of my favorite recipes today with you, hope you find it worth a try.

For Schezwan sauce:

• 7-8 fresh red chilies (paste)
• 2-3 medium sized tomatoes (not sweet ones and make in paste form)
• 1.5 tea spoon soy sauce
• 1.5 tea spoon white vinegar
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 5-6 garlic clove (paste)
• 2 table spoon olive oil 

For Veggies / Chicken:

• Carrots
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Baby corn
• Corn
• Broccoli
• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Capsicum
• Green Beans
• Chicken breast ( cut into small pieces )

For Cooking the sauce:

Heat oil in a pan, add the garlic paste. Sauté it for a minute and then add the red chilly paste, tomato paste, salt and pepper. After the oil separates add soy sauce and vinegar. Keep stirring it till it is cooked. You may add red color to add some more color to it (totally optional, I did not).

For Veggies / chicken:

I steamed carrots, baby corn, corns, broccoli and chicken breast and in little oil sautéed the remaining veggies. Do not completely cook, just sauté them for 3-4 minutes.

Once the veggies are steamed and sautéed, mix the schezwan sauce and stir well.

This can be served with steamed rice or noodles.

You may add peri-peri sauce to increase the spice level. Also, do not over steam the chicken breast, we need to keep it juicy and tender.

Hope you found it easy and a solution to one day. So, give it a try this Friday and share your and your family views on the same.