Navratra Special -( I)

Navaratra's holds a special place in my heart since the age of 15.  I kept my first Navratra Fast when I was 15 Years old before that nobody used to fast for Navratra in my family. I belong to Sindhi family and my grandma used to tell me that they used to worship only Jhulelal ( lord Varuna) in Pakistan ( Before Partition) it is when they came to India in 1947 they started worshiping the different form of goddesses but they never kept fast for it , its not that they never wanted to but some how it did not click to their minds. but when i grew up one of our neighbor they were the followers of goddess Shera wali ( One of the 9 avatar of goddess Parvati) I also got attracted to the rituals and puja and all . one day all of sudden when Navratras were about to come I announced that I want to keep complete 9 days fast and my mother and grandmother both were shocked , my mother directly said no whereas my grandmother was politely trying to convince me that its too hard you want be able to do , you will get weak and other stuff .... but I was not ready to listen because the excitement of keeping 9 days long fast was much more then that. and When in the evening my grandfather came he was informed about my wish and he was the one who supported me .. He was a very religious man everyday going to temple no matter what its raining heavily or its too cold , get up in the morning at 4 and take a bath ,fill the water in all the utensils in bathroom for other people.. fill drinking water because at that time the water at our house use to come for a very little time in the morning , then helping my mother to get us ready for the school because we were three sisters at that time so it was not easy for my mother to do all things single handedly  because in the morning there was so much stuff to do ,, then dropping us to school  then coming back and going to temple and after that having his glass of milk with little bit of tea in it along with a piece of bread.. So when he came to knew about my wish he supported me and when he said yes no body could say anything because his word was the final word in our house but he took promise from me that if in case i feel that i am not able to continue or i am feeling weak I will not continue just for the sake what god will think or I will be cursed.My grandfather told me one thing that we all are gods child and he is our parent and no parent can see their kid in pain so if I wont be able to do that will also be ok with the god he will be happy that i at least tried... today when i think about those moments I realize what a big lesson for life my grandfather taught me in a very simple manner ... no matter what we should never runaway from the any kind of situation at-least you should give it a try .. and i started  keeping fast i was so happy that initial 3 days nothing happen much and my mother was giving me boiled potatoes with little bit of ghee , black-pepper powder and salt over it along with milk and fruits some times she was making buckwheat puris for me but after three day i was fed up eating only potato and buckwheat i told my mom to make something else but she did not knew about much things because nobody used to keep fast for navarats at our house. then my mother asked our neighbor and they told her about few dishes which one can eat during fasting one of the dishes which i till date relish and enjoy is Sabudana khichdi ,,  whenever i think about it I feel that the first bite which i took around 20 years back is still in my mouth, so now on this special occasion of Navrats i will share the recipe of Sabudana khichadi with you all but I will share the two versions one which you can make during Navratras without onion and garlic and other is with onion and garlic which you can make any time of the year when you are not in mood to eat proper food like daal,chapati , veggies or rice you can opt for this handy recipe very filling on stomach and light on heart... For the Sabudana Recipe click on the link given below

 https://foodpathik.blogspot.com/2018/10/navratra-special-ii-sabudana-khichdi.html