Independence Day Special: Tri-colour Smoothie

August 15^th – the Independence Day… A day that has to be remembered by everyone but is now just a mere holiday - a holiday on which most people seem to stick to their couches watching telecasts of newly released films. This is a sad turn of events. Even schools don’t seem to be functioning on this day – there is no flag hoisting. The sad part is, many schools don’t even have a flag pole for flag hoisting.

Back in the days, the Independence Day was not a mere holiday. It was a day of national pride. We used to go to the school early in the morning for flag hoisting. For this one-day event, we would start preparing at least a month before. Our PT teacher was the leading lady of the day and she would organize everything, from the march past to the bands and drills. We had practice sessions every day, with two periods in the evening being exclusively allotted for this practice. The day before, our PT teacher would instruct everybody to come in neat uniform and on time. She would end it with a warning telling us that if we were absent that day, we had to bring 20 rupees as fine the next day ("எல்லாரும் நீட்டா யுனிபார்ம்ல கரெக்ட் டைமுக்கு வரணும். நாளைக்கு  எவள் எல்லாம் வரலையோ 20 ரூபாய் பைன் கொண்டு வரணும்"). This warning always had its intended effect and thus, on the Independence Day, one could expect 100% attendance.

Some of us on the student council team (scouts, guides and council members) who were given extra responsibilities like tethering the flag, flower arrangement, distribution of chocolates, etc., had to arrive earlier at the school than others. The tasks these volunteers had to perform sound simple on paper. You may even ask what is so great about tethering the flag to the pole. Well then, listen closely… there is a secret to tying knots so that when the rope is pulled, the flag gets released in the right position. This we knew, thanks to Guides training. I did not appreciate this ‘secret’ until I saw the flag hoisted upside-down on TV.

Once all the students had assembled neatly in straight files, we would be given a small flag to pin onto our uniform. We would then await the arrival of the Chief Guest with time dragging much more slowly due to our excitement. After this long wait came the main events - the March-past, and the flag hoisting event. Following the cry of ‘Flag Salute!’ we would look up to the flag and salute it with reverence. Then came the Chief Guest’s speech and my most favorite part of the day - chocolate distribution. The one single chocolate we received was something we treasured.

After returning home, we would watch the parade at Red Fort on DD Channel along with our dad. Viewing this enthused us and created in us a fire to make the next year’s celebration even better. We also came to know about the importance of independence. The Channel would then telecast the movie ‘Gandhi’.  I cannot count the many times I’ve watched that movie.

 I’m sure reading all this brought back memories for many of you, of the times when the Independence Day was celebrated in full glory. That said, it is sad to see that the importance of the Independence Day has been dethroned. I feel that it is our job to educate our kids about the importance of Independence and raise them with a spirit of patriotism.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Being a food blogger , I wanted to share a recipe on this special day. For morning breakfast , I wanted to make something simple with the ingredients available at home, so I made a healthy drink which I dubbed the 'Tri-colour smoothie'. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• Banana      - 1 No.
• Spinach            - 5 leaves
• Vanilla Ice cream -  2 scoops
• Carrot              - 2 Nos.
• Honey              - 1 tsp
• Milk as required

Method:

            Cut the banana and put it in a blender along with spinach and  whip it until both gets blended well by adding few drops of  milk. Peel the carrot and grate it in a fine grater. Mix the carrot gratings with honey. Take a glass, fill the bottom layer with green banana smoothie, middle layer with Vanilla ice cream and the top most layer with carrot.

            This tri colour smoothie will give you all the energy you want for the whole day. So this is an ideal breakfast for lazy holidays. Spinach when eaten raw gives all nutritional benefits from the greens.  Kids will love it because of this colourful combo , they won't identify that you have added greens in this smoothie. But this smoothie is big 'No… No….' for diabetics and those who are on diet.

Enjoy Independence Day with this Tri-colour Smoothie!!

Note:
            The sweetness of banana itself is enough for this, so i didn't add any extra sugar. If you want you can add little sugar while grinding banana and spinach.