12 years...

...is called a 'Tapa' in Sanskrit literature. My little one, not so little anymore, turned twelve on the 18th this month, and I cannot let the month go by just like that.

So. We're currently big time into cooking. A little different from assisting mamma in the kitchen. Though, of course, it has to be a food item that she likes that she takes charge of. That, and the current interest in the ongoing Masterchef US, meant that the theme for a party was already decided.

Taking the DIY idea forward, I let her take charge of everything except deciding on and planning the actual contest, so that she could participate as a contestant in all fairness. She decided on the return gifts and the prizes, who to call, and the format of the contest. There were 9 girls, including her, so we decided on having 3 teams of 3 each, decided by drawing lots. The winning team from among these would then go on to round two, so that we would have three dishes again. The winner among these would be the masterchef, and there would be one runner-up.

Prizes? The winner would be presented with an apron on which we had hand-painted the masterchef logo in red. As also a copy of The Usborne Little Book of Chocolate. Lots of history and customs about chocolate, fun facts, and easily do-able recipes, and plenty of yum looking pictures.

pic courtesy usborne.co.uk

Runner-up would get a copy of The Deadly Royal Recipe, written by Ranjit Lal, published by Duckbill books.

pic courtesy saffrontree.org

The rest of the participants were to get a copy of Subhadra Sen Gupta's book, The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook. Wonderful book- historical fiction on the background of the Mughal period.

pic courtesy penguinbooksindia.com

Now, I am not sure about the comfort levels of the invitees' parents while working with knives, fire, etc. So I decided to keep it fairly simple, with an adult assisting.

Round 1: The best and yummiest class of food that could be prepared with a bit of planning were the chaats. I made the imli chutney and the green chutney at home. Got the veggies chopped up in the morning - onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, fresh coriander. Bought a few packets of murmura(puffed rice), sev, farsan, paani-puri puris, khara puris, etc., and was all set. I also kept a few bottles of unrelated stuff like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, chilli garlic sauce, etc. Of course, if they incorporated any of that in their recipe without messing it up, they could!

The judge was a neighbour, a friend who is a wonderful cook herself, and who is also wonderful with kids. Having a grandchild a little younger than A, she knows how they tick.

So there were the kids, having donned their aprons.  We told them the rules- about adult supervision, teamwork, and about cleaning up after getting their dish ready. And then the fun really began.

The winning chaat entry - tikki chaat. A's team made this, and went to the second round. The three children in the winning team went on to round two.

Second in the chaat round. Paani puri and sev puri.

Third in the chaat round. Bhel puri.

Round 2: The winning team went on to Round 2. Now they worked individually. The three of them had to put together three desserts from the ingredients given. There were sliced cakes, fruit of different kinds, ice-cream, waffle sticks and chips, sprinkles, jams, honey, dessert toppings, cooking chocolate, and then some.

The winning entry in the second, dessert round. I didn't get to taste this, but was told it was slices of cake topped with fruit, covered by strawberry ice-cream, and garnished with gems and chocolate sprinkles. Pic taken after all entries were judged, hence the messy, melted ice-cream.

A's entry for the dessert round. Two servings of banana split. Second place. Oh, and for those interested to know, since she already has a copy of The Deadly Royal Recipe by Duckbill books, we drew lots to give away the copy bought for the runner-up to one of the guest children!

Third place - Sponge cake slices stacked with layers of peanut butter, covered by chocolate icing, garnished with gems. coloured sprinkles and waffle sticks.

And the birthday cake. Red pumpkin cinnamon bundt cake baked by me, covered with vanilla icing by the kid!

Happy Birthday, my little one!

Of Ganesha, Sweets and a Story

pic courtesy redbag.in

Ganesh Chaturthi. The 4th day of the 1st half of the Bhadrapad month. The birthday of Ganesha, as A knows it. The benign elephant-headed god who is also the deity of learning and intellect, as also the deity who is believed to remove all obstacles from our path. The scribe who is supposed to have broken off one of his teeth to use as an instrument to write down Vyas' Mahabharata - as the only one who could keep pace with the great seer's pace of narration.

pic courtesy google images

Ganesha is a deity about whom children learn very early. His place in our mythology as the destroyer of all obstacles means that we invoke him as 'Shree'- the beginning of everything. In the olden days, a child's education would begin with making a slate of rice grains in which the word Shree is inscribed holding the child's hand. This word is written at the beginning of any good that is undertaken.

The form that has been given to this deity is symbolic of the place he has in our society. There are many stories about this symbolism, most of which are stories told to children from a very early age. There are many variations on many of these stories, as befitting tales that have been part of our great oral tradition. There are many new spin-offs on these stories too. In the time homoured tradition of storytelling.

Here's a lovely book that has one such story about a naughty Ganesha, who was outwitted by his mother. The book has two award-winning stories, which were selected in a contest by Unisun Publications in collaboration with Reliance Timeout.

The Story Lady
Written by Shruthi Rao

Meenu is a little girl who loves stories. She is annoyed that her mother cannot think of any new story. How could she? For the Story Lady's bag of stories is empty. The bag that has the wispy stories that she blows around.

'Whenever a story touched a person, it dissolved into his mind, and he said, "Hey, I just thought of a story!"
People who looked for stories attracted more stories. So a great number of stories found their way to storytellers and writers, and of course, to people who have small children to look after, because little ones are always hungry for new stories."

I agreed completely with this statement. If I have a rupee for every time the kid asked me for a new story, I would be a rich woman.

So how does the Story Lady get her bag full again? How does Meenu help her? And does Meenu's mother 'think of a new story' at the end of it?

Blanket of Stars
Written by Rachna Chhabria

This is our story about Ganesha. Little Ganesha and his older brother Kartikeya both had lovely warm, soft blankets that were studded with gems. As any mother of more than one child will recognise, the younger one was not happy with his blanket, and thought his older brother had the one with more gemstones.

So one night, the naughty little Ganesha summoned all the stars and the moon from the sky to his blanket, and locked it up so that Kartikeya would not be able to get them.

Now this was a very fine state of affairs indeed. Night after night there was no sign of the moon and the stars, and all people and gods began to get worried. They thought that a very powerful creature had attacked heaven, and went to Lord Shiva for help.

'"This powerful creature will not listen to us,' Lord Shiva said. 'But, it will definitely listen to its mother.'"

So what happens next? How does the powerful creature's mother manage to retrieve the moon and the stars?

Two lovely stories, by writers who are worth watching.

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And how did we celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi? I made Ukdiche Modak, or modak as they are commonly known, in the typical Marathi style.

And here is a video from Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana that demonstrates how to make this delectable sweet.


  
   

Enjoy! Ganapathi Bappa Morya!

Cross-posted at Saffrontree.

Friends, birthdays and gollus

The kid is safely back at school! So what did we do during these hols?

Attended in all 3 birthday parties. We were all invited as a family to all three, so they were family outings of a sort.

The first was at Gerry Martin Farm. Enjoyable as always. It was Gerry's mother-in-law's 60th birthday. She is a good friend in the complex, as is her daughter, Gerry's wife Yamini.

The next too was at a farmhouse we have been to earlier. Geese Haven is a wonderful farmhouse and homestay just an hour's drive from home, near the Art of Living centre on Kanakpura road. It was A's best friend in the complex, W's birthday. Her mother Jamie had arranged a fun treasure hunt for the kids, which is always a good idea at a place like this.

The third was at my dear friend P's home, her daughter's 11th birthday. We were 6-7 families, all close friends of P. Her cooking is yummy, and as usual we had a wonderful time.

It being Navratri time, there were of course the gollus to visit, as also many kanya-poojas. We were invited to a total of 8 gollus, of which we managed to make it to 6. Actually, I found it a bit unbelievable that this year was just the second time in all my years in Bangalore that I actually went for a gollu! Must thank the blogosphere for that.

Some gollus we visited.

Pic- Artnavy's album

Artnavy's. We had been invited here last year too, but could not make it. Made it a point to go there this year. 

Art had made some yummy payasam that we enjoyed. A and Anush hugged like long-lost sisters and promptly sat down to a spot of artwork- a picture of the Devi mask to be coloured. It had been Aditi's birthday just the week before, and we had not been able to be there for the party, so I had carried a book as a gift. Aditi was thrilled. She sat down cross-legged next to me with the book on her lap, and insisted that 'Aditi read.' I thought she wanted me to read aloud to her, but she demurred. 'Aditi read' meant exactly that. She sat there, turning pages, moving her finger down the text, making 'reading' sounds. It was so hilarious! 

Pic from Sangi's blog

The other notable gollu we visited was at Sangi's lovely home. Visiting Sangi, along with a visit to the famed kilo bookstore, has been long on the to-do list. The kilo book store has been postponed to another date (say when, Sangi. After diwali?) but the gollu was an iron-clad excuse to go over to her new place. It is a dream house, built at many levels, full of natural light, the woods peeping in - there is a wonderful wood-jasmine tree bending over the balcony, showering the balcony with its flowers, and bringing in the fragrance every time a breeze blows in. Went there with Choxbox and her brood (another reason to do this- what A wouldn't give to spend the day with her dear friend, Choxbox's FB, and of course, LB) and had a fab time. Great company, great conversation, lovely coffee, and of course, Loopy! Checked out the book shelf, but forgot the potter's wheel.

There were some gollus we couldn't make it to. Sorry Swapna. Next year! Also wanted to visit the gollu at Dhaatu, which Choxbox has been raving about. It is on till the 21st of October, 3-8pm, so we still have a chance of going. Should certainly try to make it.

Honorable mention under the gollus- the one put up by Choxbox's LB, and to which we were so lovingly invited.



Soft toy and doll gollu at Choxbox's

Pic from Google Images
Search "Diwali killa"

There were three more that we made it to- two in the complex, and one at another of A's friend's home. All of them transported me back to Diwali celebrations of my childhood, when we would make mud and rock forts (Killas- similar to complex sand castles). Work on these would start a week or so before diwali, and we would sow mustard and coriander seeds on it to depict the crops and plants. Toy soldiers on foot and horseback, farmer dolls, domestic and wild animal dolls would be placed at strategic points to complete a picture of the rural lands of Shivaji's time. The fort would be complete with a flag on the top, and would be lighted up by diwali lamps during the festival. Just like the navratri gollus, we would visit each other's houses to see the forts. We have these every diwali at my parents' place- now it is made by my nephew and niece!

Of course there were many play-dates through the holidays- either A had to go to a friend's place, or the gang would descend on our house.

We also watched some long-awaited movies-- something that we do not have much time for during school days. So we watched 'Gods must be Crazy 1 & 2,  'Born Free', 'Beautiful People', 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs', and re-runs of Harry Potter, all on DVD.

Books- of course, again. Any free time A had, she picked up a book. I've lost track of all those she devoured.

We also engaged in some mother-daughter cooking sessions, and every day she would decide what she wanted for dinner, and we would proceed to cook it together. A surprised her father one day with a breakfast of aloo paratha, nicely stuffed and rolled out round! I would, of course do all the work at the gas.

All this hectic activity was tempered by holiday homework, among which is a detective story written by her, inspired by a chapter in the curriculum from Emil and the Detectives. Needless to say, the book, too was read- at one sitting. (Thanks, Chox!)

And now, we look forward to a new term at school.

A samosa story- and a fab giveaway

Pic courtesy simzcorner

First-- do check this fabulous giveaway that Simran over at Simz Corner has for anyone who signs up for it- blogger or nonblogger. Do check it out! Two of my favourite things. A fair of book-ends (yes, that made me perk up!) and a lovely Ganesha. Courtesy The Orange Bicycle.






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My grandfather would say this. "There's many a slip...between cup and lip."

A had some after school activity at school for the past few days. Since the kids would be famished by the time they finished, they would be provided with a snack before they were picked up by parents. One day, she got a punjabi samosa, which she finds too spicy. She knows my fondness for them, so she saved it up for me.

So when she came out of school, she had the samosa wrapped in a tissue paper, which she gave me. "This is for you, Aai."

I, too, was feeling a bit peckish, but as we were pressed for time, I decide to eat it in the auto. Holding the parcel in my left hand, I ushered A into a waiting auto. As we moved away from there, I asked her if she wanted to eat something else. I always have a stash of dry-fruits/ apple/ biscuits/ juice tetrapack in my bag for such eventualities. A habit carried over from A's younger days.

Rummaging in the bag for the box of raisins I had put in earlier, I asked her about her day. It had been a busy one. As I spoke to her, I forgot all about the samosa I still held in my left hand.

The auto soon stopped at a signal. An old beggar woman approached us. Typically for A, she wanted to give her something.

Now, I feel sad for these people, but I'm often mindful of the cartels behind them, and am always hesitant to give money. So I asked A if I could give her the samosa that she had saved for me.

So the samosa was given to the old woman, who promptly sat down on the footpath and began to eat it.

Daane daane par hota hain, khanewale ka naam!

Translated--Each grain has its eater's name on it!

Coffee and me

I recently had an opportunity to meet up with an old friend C aunty who was our neighbour before we moved to our current residence. Was in her part of the town, and decided to just drop in. Which is how I happened to have an excellent cup of authentic South Indian coffee made the old-fashioned way after a long, long time.

Coffee berries
Image fromcoffeeresearch.org

Now I like my coffee as much as the next person, but am mostly a tea drinker. Could it be because I haven't really learnt or mastered the art of brewing it right? This particular cup was heavenly. What is it about coffee and South India?

Coffee is a native of Ethiopia. The earliest known accounts of the use of coffee as a beverage is from the 9th century AD in the Arabian peninsula in what was then Abyssinia. The cultivation of coffee by the Arab nations continued unassailed for many centuries, and they had a monopoly on it. It was, in fact a punishable offence to take viable coffee beans or cherries out of Arabia. This was managed somehow by the Dutch, and coffee cultivation reached Europe in the late 1600s, a full century after the beverage had become popular. From there, it spread to the rest of the world, including the newly discovered Americas.

There is also a story about how coffee reached India. According to it, in the 1600s,  Baba Budan, a pilgrim to Arabia, brought coffee cherries with him and planted them behind his hut in what is now Chikmagaluru.  The crop spread to the hills around, making the region the hub of coffee cultivation in India. Coffee at that time was used more for the colonists, and it was a long time before it was adopted by the Indians.

Coffee was adopted by middle class Indians only around the early 1900s. It wasn't really considered something really good to drink, as it is now, and was considered a decadent habit. The tradition of coffee drinking, the brewing of it, and the rituals around it in traditional southern homes is quite a turn-around from that scenario. I think India Coffee House has a lot to do with it.

I never really had an authentic cup of filter coffee until I moved here. Back in Mumbai we would sometimes go to a small restaurant in the Matunga area known for its South Indian population, but somehow it was a poor cousin to what I've had here. Even here, the best I've had by far was at Tam /Kannada friends' homes, not in any restaurant. Though I would put my money on the coffee at a certain restaurant I used to frequent in Gandhibazar when I stayed near there. In Cafe Coffee Day/ Barista, I prefer the hot espresso.

Coffee is drunk in copious amounts overseas too. It is, however, a completely different breed from the local variety. It begins the moment you step on the plane. There is a unique smell of that coffee that permeates every place there. Somehow I never got used to it even after a long overseas stint. Not even the one available at Starbucks!

I'm happy to be here, where I can get my hands on the real thing. In a steel tumbler. Even when it is cutting or by-two. It is ambrosial. Even if I'm a tea-drinker at heart, I am uplifted when I get it.

Anyone reccomend any special coffee anywhere? Remember, I cannot get it right, so it has to be ready to drink. No raw materials!:)

Our Great Mumbai Holiday plus

So the kid is off to school, and as Starry so succintly puts it: the chains are off! First time in 2 months that I have managed to sit down in front of my laptop without someone wanting my attention.

So what did we do in the holidays? Quite a list.

Attended a super Carpentry workshop at Hippocampus, our library, run by a dear friend. We have a working model of a sun-dial, and a toy aeroplane to show for it. Thoroughly enjoyed by A.

Went to Mumbai after a very long 2 years, visiting parents and in-laws.

Sisters-in-law (2 of them) and I carted the kids (4 boys aged 12-17 years and A) over to the over 200 year old Shree Siddhivinayak temple  in Prabhadevi, which is believed to grant wishes to devotees. It is a favoured place to visit for those who revere Ganesha/ Ganapati- the elephant headed god of learning, who is also believed to remove obstacles from one's life, and is invoked as 'Shree' before undertaking anything of importance.

Also visited the Mahalakshmi temple in Worli, which is built right next to the sea, with the waves breaking on its walls at high tide. The sea fascinated A more than anything else, as the last time we saw the sea was the North sea off Scotland when she was just 3, and she doesn't have any memory of it.

Went shopping with the entire gang (ladies and kids only) to Crawford Market built by the British in 1869 after travelling by the mumbai local trains. A was horrified by the crowd, the rush, and the chaos of both, but enjoyed the outing with her cousins.

Also checked out the extremely high end and absolutely unaffordable Palladium mall and the adjacent High Street Phoenix mall at the place where the famed Phoenix mills- cotton mills- were situated. The only place there that we could even think of buying something was the absolutely enormous Landmark, which had such a wide range of books that I could not do justice in terms of browsing. Picked up a few titles there- but of course. It was literally like getting into Alladin's cave for both A and I, and I plan to make a visit to just that one store on a later visit to Mumbai.

Made a family trip to the absolutely wonderful Tikuji-ni-wadi with brother and his family- A now had two cousins, my nephew aged 11 and niece aged 5 with her. It is very near the city, a few kilometers from my parents' house, but it is like stepping into another time zone. Of course there are the rides and the water parks that were fun for the kids, but the part I enjoyed most were that there was a sprawling chickoo orchard, with village style cots scattered around on which we could relax after a morning of activity and just chill. Which the sister-in-law and I did, as the brother took the kids off for rides. The food is very ordinary, though, just routine noodles-pizza-sandwich-chelpuri-other chaats stuff, not very inspiring. I was hoping for a homestyle gujju spread, and was much disappointed.

Immersed myself in many things marathi-

Typical food cooked by my mother- pithla bhakri, ambadichi bhaji, puraN poLi, kadhigoLe, waTli daL, waraNphaL, shrikand (home made) puri, and most of all, alphonso mango in many avataars. I even picked up aambawadi (a burfi like preparation from mango pulp), aambapoLi (alphonso pulp put out on plates and sundried), phaNaspoLi (made from jackfruit pulp), aambyacha satha (just a lump of dehydrated alphonso pulp).

I also picked up the all important Goda Masaala which is an important and indispensible ingredient of maharashtrian cuisine, and which is unfortunately not available anywhere. At least I have never found it. It is a difficult masaala to make at home, as it has many ingredients and is quite labour intensive. Something I have been too lazy to make at home, as my mother and grandmother always did.

pic courtesy lokvani.com

Took A to many Marathi theatre performances for children. The most notable of which was Durga Zali Gauri, a dance drama, which moves forward only in song and dance. A loved it, and we heard nothing but those songs for a few days. It is comparable to Agatha Christie's play "Mousetrap", in that it has been running to a full house for the last 29 years, and its popularity shows no sign of abating. Unfortunately, it has still not been released on DVD, but I picked up an audio CD at the time of the performance. Something I would recommend to any theatre lover visiting Mumbai during the summer vacations. Performances are only then, as the children acting in it are free at the time. I spoke to Arun Kakade, the person behind it all, about having shows in Bangalore. He was interested, and told me that he had spoken to some people here about it, but that the logistics of transporting a 50+ troupe of dancers, housing them, almost all children, was daunting. Our loss!

I went for a few Marathi theatre performances too- two of which were written by the noted playwright, Sai Paranjpye, better known outside of Maharashtra for her sensitively made movies like Katha, Chashhme Baddoor and Sparsh. Also saw a few Marathi movies- some on DVD and one in theatres- the newly released Bal Gandharva which is a biographical film based on the life of one of Marathi's greatest and pioneering singers, and actor Narayan Shripad Rajhans, better known by his alter-ego : Bal Gandharva.

On DVD, saw quite a few. Am convinced that regional movies have a lot more to offer on realistic and well made movies- of an extremely high calibre as compared to the staple bollywood fare. I can probably count those bollywood films that impressed me in the last five years on the fingers of my hand. I do not really know much about regional films in other Indian languages, but going by those that are aired on LokSabha channel, there are quite a few world-class movies being made. When will bollywood wake up and smell the celluloid?

Anyway, the ones I saw this time-

Rita, based on the book of the same name by renowned marathi writer Shanta Gokhale- it is the story of Rita Welingkar, the eldest of three daughters, who starts working at an early age when her no-good father loses his job, and pretty much becomes the parent for her sisters, inspite of having both her parents alive. On the way she gets into a relationship with her much older and much-married-with-kids boss. The movie captures very well Rita's struggle to make things more meaningful in her life- wonderfully played by Pallavi Joshi.

Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (I, Sindhutai Sakpal) based on her autobiography named Mee Vanvasi (I, the exiled), is the story of a poor woman born in rural Maharashtra- pulled out of school and married off at age 12 to a man more than twice her age, and her struggle for a life of dignity. She is thrown out by her husband, pregnant, near term, with her third child, on a false charge of infidelity. This is the story of how she stands up in dignity, not just for herself, but for the rights of many more of the downtrodden, establishing 5 orphanages in the process, and travelling to the US on invitation to raise funds. Sindhutai, or Mai as she is known, is a living legend, doing her work even today. Wonderful performances by the actors, the movie may be seen just for the underplayed performance of Tejaswini Pandit, who plays the protagonist in her youth, her real life mother, Jyoti Chandorkar playing the elderly Mai.

Went to a few book exihibitions exclusively for Marathi books. Found out that many of our favourite Tulika books are been published by Jyotsna Prakashan, a well known publishing house of Marathi children's books, at a fraction of the price, with full credits to Tulika's copyright.. Was thrilled on finding them. Picked up a lot of Marathi books for A and for myself. Now that she knows the Devanagari script, common to both Marathi and Hindi, A can read simple books on her own. Am really thrilled about it.

It goes without saying that both A and I read a lot of books including Harry Potter 6, which we will be finishing in a day or two. To be followed by book 7, so that we will be all set for the last movie due in mid-July.

Ate at a lot of interesting restaurants many times with family and friends, too many too enumerate. The high point was a small place where we ate home-style Malwani food. Yum!

Met a lot of my old friends after a loooooonnnngggg time.

Also met a new friend, Ugich Konitari, a wonderful blogger whose posts I love for the clear headed analysis of so many different things, done with a wry sense of humour. She has written a whole post here about our meeting. We met midway between our houses, and had lunch together at a mall where we even had icy cold gola for dessert. She was exactly as I had visualised her, and much more. It was lovely meeting you, Ugich.

Chilled out totally over our trip, and was back home with a few weeks to spare before school re-opened. Soon after we were back, A had her birthday party.

And we made mango pickle at home- A helped in lot in the process.

We also had a long awaited meet of Saffrontree members from Bangalore at Artnavy's lovely home.

Then there were the usual round of dentist, doctor, etc., shopping for school, and here we are. School has started!

A birthday-- we are now in double digits!

I can't let the month of May slip away without a post! I have been away all month, but all about that later. A had a birthday this month, and I can't let THAT go unrecorded.

It has been 10 years now since I first set eyes on a warm, wriggly bundle with a shaggy mop of hair which was considering me seriously (It was an emergency caesarian and I was sedated enough to have fallen into a deep sleep soon after I heard her cry and the obstetrician, who is a friend, told me that I had a beautiful girl baby. So I saw her after she was all cleaned and wrapped up!)  with the biggest black eyes I've yet to see on a baby.

It has been a wonderful decade of motherhood, and there have been good times and bad times, none of which I would exchange for anything in the world, all memorable. I would have loved to hold on to all the moments and feel sad that they have to grow up so soon. How time flies!

As usual, my preparations started well in advance, before school closed for the vacation. I asked A to make a list of guests she wanted to invite, and to get relevant phone numbers (I had quite a few as most mothers are good friends) and email IDs. That took a few days, considering her friends are spread over different classes, as also some who are not from school.

Next I checked with the mothers if they were here in the vacations, and got a tentative headcount, as I had to give my caterer a fair idea of the numbers. Then for a theme and place. A and I were sure of one thing, we wanted someplace outdoors. "Something like a picnic, Aai!"

Our first choice was the Martin Farm but it was not available on the date we wanted. Then I considered the the Birthday Nature Walk that Starry had had for her daughter's birthday, but she had hers in January, with a more friendly sun, something that could be troublesome in May. Then a friend from my complex suggested a place that was owned and run by another friend of hers.

Bang in the middle of the city, behind Manipal hospital, was a playschool called The Green Pocket which also holds summer camps, and rents it out for birthdays, with a list of activities that one could choose from. The lady who runs it, Anahita Cooper, is really sweet and helpful, and we hit it off from the word go. But what clinched it for me was that the moment I stepped in there, I heard cuckoos in the chickoo orchard and a rooster crowing loudly, transporting me back to summers of childhood spent at our native place playing in mango orchards by little brooks with the only sounds those of birds and monkeys in the trees, bullocks lowing in fields nearby and the chatter of all us children.

A clump of green

So 'The Green Pocket' was on, a tentative headcount was done, and I had a talk with Mallika, the caterer who has catered for all A's birthdays, except the one when she was 8, when I had a cooking party, and the children made their own pizzas, and we gave away aprons as return gifts.

After that, it was all long distance, as we shifted base to Mumbai for 5 weeks of the vacation (will soon do a post on all the fun we had there- kept seriously offline for most of the time) and we were due back just 2 days before the birthday. So phone calls to all guests were made from there.

Then followed last minute phone calls and mails to Mallika and Anahita, for all the details. Return gifts had been bought and packed before leaving for Mumbai. So all we had to do was bake the cake (She wanted me to bake it this year. Some of our guests do not eat egg. So we decided to make an eggless, maida-less wholewheat flour cake- satisfied my yearning for healthier options wherever possible.)



Kids on a treasure hunt

The kids ran riot. There was a treasure hunt organised and conducted by Anahita, and a visit to PetStepin, a pet care centre next doors, for those who loved animals. There were dogs, and rabbits to pick up and feed, and of course, the rooster. There were huge mango trees laden with raw and ripening mangoes, with tire swings hanging by sturdy ropes. There was a tree house to climb up onto. There were scores of chickoo, sitaphal and mango trees laden with fruit, and some of those delicious, mini gooseberries, what we call raiawala  in marathi. There were also squirrels, running around quite used to having children around them. The children were strictly told NOT to feed any animals, except for the rabbits, and even those were to be fed the leaves that were provided. They loved it all!

Petting animals at PetStepin

Then we had cucumber-and-cheese sandwiches, pizzas made on whole wheat bases, boiled corn with salt and butter, (the ubiquitous) chips from Hot Chips and cake. And of course, the ice lollies. These were unlimited, and I was proud of A for resisting them! (She had been a bit unwell for some days, and had been asked to keep off the ice lollies.)

Anahita had earlier asked me to send her a photo of A, and she had made a Happy Birthday banner using it, on which all the guests could write their message. That is going to be a prized possession. Especially as one of the girls who wrote on it (and drew horns on A's picture, which were later made into a tiara!) is a special friend, and is moving to another school, and will be sorely missed.

All friends who were invited came, except for one very close friend W, who is out of town, and was sorely missed. And the gifts- people have been very thoughtful while gifting, and we have a rope ladder from Sutradhar (no prizes for guessing who gave that!), a pair of adjustable skates, gift vouchers to book shops (but of course!) an architectural kit (from Artnavy) an amazing board game based on the Harry Potter series, called CLUE, and much more.

Return gifts? We picked up folders from Gurjari, embroidered beautifully in their characteristic style, with each child's name painted along the edge by A. And of course, folders couldn't be given empty- so each one contained a book that the particular child may enjoy- again picked by A. And just books for some younger kids.

Next year- she has already told me- she will be doing everything from the planning stage onwards. I need to only facilitate her plans.

Sure, sweetheart! And may you have many more!

Instant pav-bhaji and other food re-cycling tales.

Ok, so I have been feeling low for long enough. So I have problems. Who doesn't? For my own sanity, though, I need to bounce back, and go on. One always does.

As I had said in this post, "I am not much of a foodie. I do like to eat good food, but I'm more a person who eats to live rather than live to eat." Let me clarify immediately that I am not much of a cook either. My repertoire is quite limited, comprising typically Maharashtrian food, even where delicacies and festival foods are concerned. I cook this food by instinct, and by the grace of God, it does not usually go wrong.

Cooking by instinct entails cooking a bit absent-mindedly too. While reading a book standing in the kitchen. While talking on the phone. While trying to solve some homework problem of A's. While answering some query about Harry Potter again. While trying to get her to get ready for something, looking for something in the wardrobe for something the husband wants at the same time, with the iron man ringing the doorbell and requiring me to count out and hand over the clothes simultaneously. It's a madhouse. Most of the time.

So the inevitable sometimes happens. And I land up burning the milk, the rice, the veggies, whatever. Or overcooking / undercooking stuff. Or there's no salt / double the amount of salt, sugar, whatever.

No wonder the husband decided on his own that he would cook on weekends. At least we get well cooked, tasty stuff then. Not to mention food from various cuisines. a) He's the better cook. b) He uses recipe books.

Sometimes the food gets ruined through no such fault.

The day before yesterday I had made a cauliflower curry. The newly bought green chillies were not pungent enough, but I did not know that. I made the vegetable as usual, with an ordinary mustard-asafoetida-turmeric-green chillies tempering, and adding just salt for seasoning, cooking till tender but not mushy. Result, an absolutely tasteless curry, which the husband and daughter ate only out of politeness, refusing second servings.

So I had more left-overs than usual. Even my palate refused to eat that cauliflower. So I decided to make an impromptu pav-bhaji out of it. I put it to heat in a pan, with a little more water, added some garam masala and few tablespoons of beaten curd /yogurt to it, stirred it through, and let it steam till a bit mushy. Added fresh coriander garnish, toasted some sliced bread, and there was my piping hot pav-bhaji. Meal for one was served, with a sliced tomato and a bowl of curd on the side.

Yesterday's leftover veggies, dal, etc. are usually converted to today's breakfast. I mash them up roughly, add gram flour, maize flour, rice flour, jowar flour, wheat flour, whatever flour that is at hand, some more chilli power, salt, cumin seeds and make it into a soft dough using water as needed. I apply some oil to a pan, take a ball of the dough, and pat it down to make a flat thalipith. Cover and cook it till well done on both sides, and serve it with some pickle and curd. Nutritious and tasty breakfast.

I make ghee at home. The dregs left after the ghee has been strained out are rich in proteins and fat, and I hate to waste them. So I put sugar / jaggery in them, and make a stuffed sweet paratha out of them. A loves this sweet poLi with some chilled milk.

Leftover idli batter, make dosas. Not enough to make dosas for 3 people? Add some rava /sooji and some beaten curd, salt to taste, stand for some time, make instant rava dosas. Leftover sour curds /yogurt? Perfect for making some hot, tasty kaDhi with rice. Leftover rice after guests have gone? Make fried rice / lemon rice /curd rice etc. for breakfast the next day. Leftover rotis? A loves a laddoo I make out of them, crumbling them and adding ghee and jaggery. Taste like choorma laddoos!

So, are there any leftovers for me to finish today?

 

.....or not to...is the question!

What made me write this post? Well, for one, this post and this one, both by Sangi, this post by Monika, and a talk we attended at A's school.

The school has come across some children of middle school using social networking sites, for which they are clearly underage. There has also been some instances of inappropriate behaviour that has been noticed among students, which has been traced to unsupervised viewership of television programmes with age-inappropriate content, bad language, etc., as also unsupervised access to the internet, especially if both parents are working. According to the school, it is the responsibility of the parents to be aware of what their child is being exposed to, and take steps to correct any oversights. As for children of working parents, it was suggested that they install a password operated net connection, and speak to the children about what can or cannot be watched, reinforcing the message by repetition. For this was the time when the children are just beginning to take the first steps out of childhood, and are still influentiable. For the better or worse.

There was an interesting point raised. There are children, and then there are children. Of different kinds. For every child that is influenced by all this, and loses focus of what is right, there may be some who are not, who manage to take it in their stride, and come through unscathed. It was upto every parent to be aware of how their child is, educate the child accordingly and be available for the child at all times if need be. The school on its part would discourage anything age-inappropriate, and have a no-tolerance policy for anything inappropriate for school. This was something that was to be handled on a two-way-street.

So what does this have to do with the three posts I mentioned at the beginning? Quite a bit.

I come from Bram roots. My grandparents would not even partake of anything that contained onions or garlic, these been considered as tamasic foods. My parents, though, encouraged us to eat eggs, although my mother could never touch the stuff herself. We had a separate vessel and pan which was washed after use and put away separately. No eggs were allowed when my paternal grandparents were staying with us. My maternal grandmother lived with us for many years, and although she never tasted them, would cook the eggs for us.

We had quite a few friends who ate non-veg food, but never once do I remember wanting to try it. We were happy enough with our ghaas-phoos, as one friend once put it, except for the very occasional eggs.

When I got married, I did not expect to be eating any either, as the husband is from the same community, an arranged marriage. He had, however, tried it during his student days, and found that he liked it, though not extraordinarily so. I tried chicken tentatively in those early days, liked it enough to have some while eating out once in a while. We never tried cooking it at home though. Even on our travels overseas, I did not really become a regular eater.

Then A came along, and somewhere at 3-4 years of age, she realised she liked the non-veg that we occasionally tried while eating out. It was purely so that the finicky mother in me would be sure of the hygiene and of what has gone in it that I agreed to cook the stuff at home. Even then, cooking non-veg is more the husband's territory than mine, I help with getting the masalas ready and then sit twiddling my thumbs (or reading some book with A). I also do not like red meat or fish dishes overmuch. And I will be more than willing to give it all up if need be. At times when we haven't had any non-veg for a longish period of time, I've never felt the urge to eat some. I'll be fine without it in my life. Maybe a point will come when I no longer want to eat it. Already on days when I prepare eggs for breakfast I have only plain toast with cheese or jam, and avoid the eggs.

A loves the stuff, of couse, especially the way Dad makes it, and is a confirmed non-vegetarian. The only reason for which I see her leaving it is if at some point in her life the softie animal lover in her decides to surface. I'm fine with whatever she decides. The choice has to be hers.

As for alcohol, I grew up in a teetotaler household. No smoking either. I am sure my parents never thought that they needed to say anything to us about it. We never thought it was a done thing, and that was that. I really do not know about my brothers, who were students when I got married, but I was never tempted by the lure of either alcohol or nicotine or any other substance in my growing up years, and I thank God for that. Of course that does not mean that I was an exemplary teenager, with no rebellion in me. There were other things that my parents came down heavily upon, without, I regret, any real communication or education about them, and I contrarily chose to focus my rebellious energies on those. So I have made my mistakes in life like anyone else.

I have worked extensively with the AA in my post-grad days, and I have seen the devastation that the addiction can cause. The rehabilitation has to be done one day at a time- something that the ex-addict has to follow all his life. Along with the counselling for psychological factors, the person has to make a commitment to avoid alcohol on an everyday basis. There is no place here for the "I can handle it" (mis)confidence. I have seen long-term rehabilitated addicts relapsing after something as innocuous as a course of cough medicine with an alcohol content, and it is tough.

At the same time, not everyone who tastes alcohol in their life gets addicted to it. I have tried alcohol with my husband, on rare occasions, as I never really aquired a taste for it. I have got really drunk once or twice, but that was just to try it out, with different brands of alcohol, and as Sangi puts it  "being drunk SUCKS!" Even then I probably had a drink once in 2-3 months, that too with guests or on a holiday. And ever since daughter has started showing curiosity in the contents of mom's /dad's glass, I've stopped drinking, not even an occasional one. I don't think I miss it at all, and feel no urge to indulge myself for any reason whatsoever.

The husband has a drink or two on weekends, and is extremely responsible about his drinking, AND of the drinking of those who drink under our roof, and have to drive back to their homes. Of late, even this has decreased. Reason- A read about a character in Black Beauty (by Anne Sewell) who drank and rode a horse to its ruin and his death. (I always fall back on books if I want to say something. Maybe books are my addiction!) She had many questions about alcohol and its effects at the time, and since then, she gets upset if her father has a drink. He has had a talk with her about it, and I'm sure it will be all for the best.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that some things, though present elsewhere in the world, were absent in my environment, either in reality, or hypothetically as subjects of discussion. We just ignored those, and never considered trying them as an option. And when I did try them, I did not get over-much attached to them. Whereas I was wrongly influenced by those things that were strongly spoken against, especially under peer-pressure, without any education from my parents as to the consequences of a mis-step, and have suffered for it.

Moral of the story- Although my first reaction to anthing that A wants to do that is wrong in my eyes is an authoritarian one, I try to simmer down and talk to her about it, rather than talk at her. I agree with the school that we need to be available to the children when they are in a communicative mood, else they will take their communication to someone else, someone completely unsuitable. Also that each child may react differently to the same set of conditions, and take away something quite different from it.  

On my part, I hope to keep communication channels open with A, as it is very likely that she might find things she finds yuck not so yuck (again quoting Sangi!) in her terrible teens, and I would like to be with her on every step of the way, with reasonable (I hope! Sometimes the streaks of an authoritarian parent tends to get the better of me, and I have to tell myself to simmer down and GET REASONABLE!)  restrictions, handholding, educating and counselling. And I hope that she always trusts us, and finds it worth the while coming to me with anything that bothers her.

So help me God!

A multi-flavoured vacation

Went for a 10-day vacation to Mussoorie and Shimla in the western Himalayas. The travelling included two flights, three train journeys and two taxi journeys. Which changed to two train and three taxi journeys unexpectedly on the penultimate lap due to our train being delayed by 6 hours thanks to the Gujjar agitation! There was no way we could avoid that, as we HAD to be in New Delhi by evening for a late evening flight back home.

Avoided most crowded city areas (except when absolutely unavoidable) and took many long walks through forested areas. The woods were quiet and cool, with many wonderful views enroute. We saw many snow covered peaks in the far distance- names like Kedarnath Badrinath which have only been heard of earlier. Even A managed the long treks. The longest we walked in a day was well over 16 kms, all uphill-and-downhill. "Aai, why did the British have to build all their towns on hills with such winding roads?" Often when we would be winded by steep uphill gradients, we would pause, catch our breath, have a swig of water, and set a reachable goal in the distance-"We'll walk till that tree covered with red flowers." That was how the two of us covered quite a lot of territory. (I really need to get that exercise schedule going ASAP. It was enjoyable, nevertheless! The husband, of course, had no fitness issues, being a regular exerciser.) 

Of course, we talked a lot about the historical aspects of the places we passed through and visited, with a lot of input from the Outlook Traveller books that we kept refering to. These are wonderful for nuggets of local history and folklore. For these were places where many a war had been fought, with references in the Mahabharatha, Ramayana, Mughal history, and of course the Raj.

Santa delivered on Christmas day, much to A's delight. We missed snow, though, as we had wonderfully clear blue skies all throughout our stay, and there were just a few clouds to be seen on our last day there. Every day we would check the weather for chances of precipitation, and would be disappointed. As if to rub it in, it snowed heavily on the day we were back home, and it was all over the news channels and newspapers. The silver lining was that we didn't get stranded there, as were many tourists who were still there. All roads and trains were non-functional for the next few days.

We also missed meeting Ruskin Bond, something that both A and I were looking forward to at Mussoorie. He was in Bhubaneshwar at that time, and reached Mussoorie quite late in the evening on our last day there. A had made two handwritten and decorated copies of a couple of stories she had written, so that she could gift one to Ruskin Bond and get one autographed from him. Ah, well, some other time. I know Mr Bond was there at a Pratham book event at Mumbai last year and at the the Bookaroo at New Delhi, and will be at the forthcoming Jaipur Literary Festival. Hope we can have something at Bangalore so that we can catch him here. Are you guys at Pratham books, Tulika books, Penguin books, Rupa publications, etc, and the like reading this?

So vacations over, we are back to our normal routine. It was certainly a welcome break, one that I needed. The best aspect of the 'break' was that I did not have to worry about cleaning and cooking for a whole of 10 days, and had some fabulous stuff to eat everywhere we went. The dahi (yogurt) and paneer we had out there was to kill for. Although I'm now scared of getting on to the weighing scales and find out my net gain. I hope some got lost in all those uphill walks!

 

Of Halloween, Diwali and Injuries that are inconvenient!

That has been a veeeerrrryyy long break from blogging even by my standards! I have been kept otherwise busy- by the expected and the unexpected!

Every Diwali, I make a lot of traditional goodies like besan laddoo, chiwda, shankarpaLe, karanji, shev, etc. So shoping lists were made for the ingredients, and a visit to my regular grocer's carried out. Then came the long weekend, with a holiday on Monday. Now, weekends are a bad time to plan any extra work. There are so many other things to do with A and the husband at home, that sometimes I do not even have a longish stretch of free time in which I may read the newspaper. Not that I am complaining. I always love to have time with her, just to loll around and chill, catch up with our reading aloud sessions, or do some activity, something that we had put aside for 'later'.

Pic courtesy here 

This weekend there was the excitement over Halloween. Arrangements had been made so that all houses ready to trick-or-treat had a bat cut-out stuck on the door. The children were to go from house to house in groups led by teen volunteers, as some of them were as young as 3yrs.

A wanted to be a witch, but not just any witch. She had recently read a book on Russian Tales written by James Mayhew, and was most impressed by Baba Yaga, the fearful witch in Russian folklore, that ate children, lived in a house with chicken legs, flew around on a black broomstick, but was also revered for her knowledge, helping lost souls. 

So she planned her own costume, using pieces of clothing we had, as the one stipulation I had made was that we do not buy or hire anything, but make do with what we can find at home. So she decided on a European looking long skirt in stark checkered black-white-red, a full sleeved black t-shirt, two black dupattas for a cape and cloak, and a pointed black witch's hat she made with black paper. She also made a broomstick of rolled newspaper covered with black paper, with a tail made from black garbage bags. Scary makeup with black and red acrylic paint completed the outfit. We had a very scary looking witch ready for trick-or-treating, who joined a very excited group of ghouls, ghosts, skeletons, witches, devils, mummies, etc. for an evening of fun. And the witch came home after around 2 hours with a bag-full of goodies which she claimed would last her the whole year!

So the weekend over, I decided to get my Diwali cooking on track on Tuesday. There was something that I needed to get from the grocer nearby. It had rained in the morning, and I decided it was a fine day for the kilometer or so to the shop. Wrong decision- I should have just ordered in. On the way, I slipped over a wet patch on the uneven pavement, and the next thing I knew, I was performing a Sashtang Namaskar right there, the wind knocked out of me.

I got up gingerly and tried out all my joints to check that they were still functional. The husband had had a fracture with just such a fall last year. Fortunately my joints were all fine- but I had had a severe bruising and scraping on my knees and hands nevertheless. Getting up, I limped to the side and debated on what I should do next. I was too far from home to walk back in that condition, and there was no auto coming along for quite some time. I then called up a friend staying at my building, who, God bless her, came promptly in her car to take me home.

It was not a debilitating injury, but was enough to ensure that I slow down in my work, so that I could not do all that I wanted to do for Diwali. That put paid to my plans, also giving me not much time to go online. (You can imagine how that could have given me serious withdrawl symptoms, considering that we are just post-CROCUS.)

Technology did help, though, and with the help of the newly aquired microwave (Oh, yes, I'm quite backward that way. I didn't get one till now because I can manage quite well without it, thank you very much. Even this one came along when A voiced her grouse that I don't do any baking like her friends' mothers, and could I also begin baking at home, please?), my indispensible maid, (Amma has been a wonder at this time!), and a very enthusiastic kid at home (I'll help you roll the laddoos, Aai.), I managed to make besan laddoos and some very yum chiwda. Sent some freshly made to some friends too. And one of them got back saying she had made short work of them.

There was a laugh in the whole incident too. After her initial horrified reaction on hearing of my fall, and seeing the more obvious injuries, A asked me if anyone saw me fall. I was smiling at such a reaction so typical for her age! And all my mothballed salwar-kameezes got an airing as I couldn't- still cannot- bear the chafing by denims over my poor knees.

To their credit, both A and the husband have been very helpful around the house, putting their things away, helping in the kitchen and otherwise. A especially loved doing the round of putting out the diyas every evening with my supervision.

I was a bit better towards the Diwali weekend, and A and I spent a very enjoyable time one morning packing Diwali sweets and going to our friends' houses in the building with them, while the husband cooked lunch.

And went to a cousin's house for bhaubeej on Sunday where she, her daughter, A and I had a great time exclaiming over the gifts we got from our respective boy-cousins.

All in all, a good Diwali, though a bit inconvenienced by injury. Anyway, here's wishing you and your a belated Happy Diwali.

In the meantime, can anyone tell me how I can use an otherwise good but seriously torn on one knee pair of jeans? And no, it is not fashionable for me to walk around with a fancy patch on my knee. I'm at an age where 20yr olds call me aunty!
 

Saffron and Spice, and talk so nice!

Since many days now, we of the Bangalore members of Saffron Tree wanted to get together. After many days of deliberation, we decided to meet at Vibha's place, on Friday. One, Vibha was the first one who generously suggested her place. Two, the other compelling reason to meet there was a promised visit to the Pratham Books office.

Since A was at home due to her vacations, we decided to go there earlier in the afternoon. Choxbox was not sure of being able to make it, and couldn't. Artnavy  said that she would come minus her kids, as did Poppin's mom.   Ranjani was going to come around tea-time with her two, and Satish was to meet us when he would come to pick them up later in the evening.

So there we were, six of the Bangalore ST, hogging on some very yummy food made by Vibha, with a little something by all of the others. Vibha had made some very crisp and spicy alu-tikki with tamarind chutney, chole-puri, moong dal halwa (very labour intensive!), veg noodles, blackcurrent cheesecake and all of this washed down with piping hot ginger tea. The kids- Ranjani & Satish's two, Vibha's two and A- freaked out on the noodles. There were some goodies brought by the others too. Ranjani got some beet-root halwa which was a hit, Poppin's mom had brought some mithai and I had taken some saffron rice- what we call sakhar bhath/keshar bhath in Marathi. The Kashmiris have a version of it they call zafraani pulao, and in the south there is a version called sakrepongal. Call it what you will, it is yummy and I think everyone liked it.

Here is the recipe for anyone who wants to try making a quick, yet fairly rich dessert. These measurements will serve 8 if the rice is meant only for dessert.

1 cup raw rice (any indian variety will do)
1 cup sugar
1tbsp pure ghee
A few cloves and whole green elaichi pods
A big pinch of saffron
Juice of one lemon
1/4 tsp salt
Raisins, Almonds, cashew-nuts...to choice

Wash rice and drain for 10 mins. Heat ghee in a large (preferably non-stick) vessel, put elaichi pods and cloves. Then add rice and saute for some time. Add exactly double (in this case 2 cups) hot water, bring to boil, lower heat, add pinch of salt, cover and let rice cook for 10-15 mins. Switch off gas and let stand undisturbed for few mins.

Then take the rice out in a large pan, fluff it out, mix in juice of 1 lemon, and allow to cool a little.

In the meantime, take sugar in same vessel, add exactly half the amount-in this case 1/2 cup- water, boil to make sugar syrup. Add raisins, chopped nuts, saffron. When it boils well for 5-6 mins, add the rice. Saute till liquid gets absorbed, then cover and let steam for another 3-4 mins on sim. Let stand for a few mins. Done.

This dish actually tastes better on the next day. So I usually make it in advance and refrigerate it.

Vibha has also very kindly shared her recipe for the (EGGLESS!) cheesecake. With her permission I would like to include it here. It is super easy to make in a microwave, and very light too.

1 big packet Marie biscuits /plain crackers 
100 g butter ( salted )
1 tin sweet condensed milk (Amul Mithai Mate 400g used here)
Curd / Yogurt measured in the condensed milk tin
Topping - Blackcurrent crush, Strawberry crush, anything else of your choice

Grind Marie biscuits and mix with the butter in microwaveable bowl. After mixing well make a firm base by pressing down evenly. Keep it in refrigerator for 10 min. Whip condensed milk and curd (can use the mixie). Pour gently onto the base. Microwave for 5 mins on Medium High power. Cool in fridge and then add topping of your choice.. Serve and enjoy!

The kids had a ball. The two boys were out of the house and on the playground except when they were eating. The three girls too were out of the house and on the playground for a lot of time, except when they were eating or when the older two were trying to baby-sit Ranjani's younger one!

Since this was not a meeting for official purposes, the talk was more to get to know each other. There was some talk about books, of course. That was natural, as we all wrote for Saffron Tree, and it could not be otherwise. But it was more on the lines of our and our kids' experience of books. There was also a lot of talk (again inevitable) about food, especially since we were women with such a mouth-watering spread in front of us.

I had been to the Pratham books office earlier in the afternoon after Vibha had picked me up from a landmark near her house. It was the first time that I had seen such a large collection of their books in one place, although they could do with a better display. I picked up some books in Marathi for A, something that can be done only on Mumbai trips. At costs ranging from Rs 20-80, and topics from both fiction and non-fiction, they are a steal. Artnavy and Poppin's mom went later in the afternoon.

Satish was there later in the evening, after office. Choxbox was greatly missed. As also were her kids, and Artnavy's and Poppin's mom's kids. Hopefully we can have a full quorum at a future date.

Ranjani and Satish very kindly dropped us at our gate on their way home. The conversation in the car between her little one and A was hilarious, and kept us entertained all along the way.

I have made some very good friends. All these days, I knew Choxbox well, had met Artnavy, but corresponded with others only online. So here I have a set of friends who share my interest in kids' books. That feels good. Thanks, Vibha, for hosting this get-together!

Food! Glorious Food...

I am not much of a foodie. I do like to eat good food, but I'm more a person who eats to live rather than live to eat. I can survive on 'dahi-bhat' or 'metkut-bhat' or just 'tup-guL poLi' or even cheese/jam sandwiches for days if left to my own devices. I suppose it is a spin-off from not liking cooking very much. It doesn't come to me naturally. On a given day I can eat whatever is at hand without bothering about whether the individual components complement each other. Suits me fine. When hungry, I go to the fridge, look for leftovers if any, pick up a bowl of curds, a fruit or two, and my lunch is done. There is always something from yesterday's dinner, the morning's breakfast or the packed lunch. This way, I tell myself, the food doesn't go waste.

Let me think about the different meals in the day.

Breakfast is normally a very filling affair, and a must. I don't like any shortcuts there. It can be anything from idlis /dosas /parathas, stuffed or otherwise /thalipith /poha /upma / porridge /eggs-omlettete or scrambled /cornflakes. The last when we're reaaally rushed for time. But there is no ditching a good, heavy breakfast, with an addition of milk for A.

Lunch. On schooldays, I pack lunch for A and the husband. Myself? As I have said in the beginning of this post. On weekends? Ah, that is a very different matter altogether. As I had said in this post, the husband is a much better cook than I, and also more enthusiastic. As Emily Post has famously said, "woman accepted cooking as a chore but man has made of it a recreation."  We have a good collection of cookery books (what else do you expect?) so these are scoured every weekend for interesting recipes, the ingredients listed and bought, and the item cooked. I am usually the underchef at these times. Not complaining. I love the whole activity and we do get to eat some really tasty stuff. We sometimes have had to adapt the recipe to our liking by reducing the fat /chillies. We have experimented a lot in this, and found quite a few gems worth repeating. These days, we even google search for specific foods we would like to cook at home.

Dinner is again usually my turf. I prefer to cook wholesome Maharashtrian food for dinner. PoLi-bhaji-varan-bhat-dahi-fruit. Since lunch is a packed, cold affair, I like to make a hot, square meal for dinner. Sometimes, on weekends, when we have had a heavy haute cuisine lunch, we prefer to make just khichadi-kadhi-papad-salad or pithla-bhakri.

When the husband is travelling, I cook vegetables, dal, roti, etc.(read healthy food) only because of my guilt about feeding my daughter with junk food. Sometimes we eat dosas with curds and chutney with plenty of fruit and/or salads.

And junk food? Yes, we do have our pizza-pasta-noodles. Even those, when made at home, are with whole wheat products and plenty of veggies.

Eating out is once in a blue moon. A does not like Indian food at restaurants, and would much rather have fancy recipes tried at home. She does like kiddy food though, and a visit to Pizza Hut /Macdonalds /KFC is part of any mother-daughter outing, but only then.

Bonding over bondas--and a book for Mother's Day

Yesterday was a long anticipated day.

I am pretty new to the world of blogging, although I had been following some bloggers regularly. A friend blogs on Saffrontree, a blog where I could read about my own passion, books. Reading this blog had become a regular feature for me. As soon as A left for school and my husband for work, I would make myself a hot cup of tea, switch on the laptop and go online. Over a period of weeks, I followed not just ST, but also the individual blogs of some of the bloggers. It became an addiction, a must-do thing with my morning cuppa.

Like any other mom, a bulk of my reading was age-appropriate books for A, age-appropriate reading for myself often taking a backseat. I began to enjoy these books, and had occasion to re-visit some of my own childhood favourites. I had always read a lot, devoured is a better word, and soon got big-time into the world of children's books. Saffrontree was like an extension of that love, and I had a ball reading the posts and adding my bit to them. Slowly, I began to get to know the bloggers and their individual styles. Connected with some of them. I knew I would like to get to know them, get into their world.

Then Artnavy moved to town and invited all of us to her place. Now I do not usually make friends easily. I was not sure if I could go and meet a whole group of strangers. But then I chided myself. Told myself that we had already been introduced to each other and communicated through our blogs. I should go and meet these lovely ladies. They were not strangers, not by a long shot.

What about A? She had a birthday party to attend on the same day, around the same time. I had read quite a few posts to her, and when I showed her the pictures of Art's two girls on her blog, she was quite keen to meet them. So we arranged it so that we go to Art's place first, followed by her birthday party.

Found her place quite easily. A and I walked into the complex, not knowing exactly where to go. There was a lady standing on the way, with two kids, a welcoming smile on her face. As soon as she saw me, she knew who I was, and I knew who she was. A and I had recognised Anush and Aditi! Soon  Usha Vaidyanathan, Shubha, and Swapna, who does not blog, but is a participant in the comments on ST, were there too, Swapna with her little one, who took an immediate liking to A, and kept telling her that she should visit her home. Her home was very warm, welcoming, very tidy for someone who had moved in there so recently, and very tastefully decorated. I was especially impressed as I am a very sloppy person myself in these matters. We saw the famed "Kawad", too.

Art had some wonderful kairi-lassi for us to drink, followed by yum batata-wadas. (Actually I should do a post sometime on batata-wadas or aloo bondas as they are called here. They don't taste anywhere like they do on the streets of Mumbai. More about that some other time!) These were lovely. Hot, crisp, with the right spiciness of the filling. Swapna had got some home-made cake, which I am sorry to say I ate only one piece of. I shall have to ask her for the recipe on A's demand. It felt just like attending a birthday party of sorts with good company, good eats, good conversation, and of course the (return?) gifts. I came back with a goody bag filled with gifts and a box filled with Art's batata-wadas for my husband, which got demolished in no time at all on reaching home after finishing with the other, actual birthday party. The gifts were duly (A's work) opened, admired, and immediately put to use.

As I said, I was initially apprehensive about going, but I was made to feel so welcome, so much one of them, that I was overwhelmed. They all felt like kindred souls, and I am glad I went. I really have a lot to thank Saffrontree  for. I only wish that the other ladies could also had made it, but let's keep it for another place, another day.

Here's also a book- on occasion of Mother's day. For our motherland.

Picked up this new book in Landmark the other day:

WE, THE CHILDREN OF INDIA

THE PREAMBLE TO OUR CONSTITUTION

Written by Leila Seth. Illustrations by Bindia Thapar. Published by Puffin books. Ages: All.

Image: Courtesy Penguin books India.

Leila Seth was the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and the first woman Chief Justice of a state in India. Her credentials listed on the introductory page amply testify to her being the best person to have taken up this project. By her own admission, this book has been written with the help of her grandchildren, ages 5 and 8.

Leila Seth has beautifully deconstructed the heavy vocabulary of the preamble to make it comprehensible to all. She has gone word by word, giving succint examples and explanations with the help of speech bubbles--with a lot of help from the vivid illustrations by Bindia Thapar.

For example while discussing the word "Socialist" she explains:"socialism meant bettering the life of the people of India". Here the children in the illustrations explain to us:"so that
everyone should have enough food
everyone should be able to go to school
everyone should have a safe home
everyone should be able to lead a healthy life and be able to go to a doctor when they need to"
Clearly explained, with happy illustrations.

My favourite are the words used while explaining "Secular". To the names of all the religions prevalent in India, she has added other belief groups: "Agnosticism, Atheism, Rationalism, Humanism, Animism" There are these groups, too. They are part of "We, the people", and have to be included.

On each page, there are boxes where we are given the facts pertaining to those words. There is also a short account of the events leading up to and culminating in our constitution as well as an account of the people involved in writing it, with wonderful photographs.

The book ends with a simplified version of the Preamble with the word "people" replaced by "children", a short account of what needs to be done, and a short poem to help us remember the spirit of the preamble.

"Let's be equal, just and free-
Strong in our diversity:
Free in thought and free in prayer,
Free to dream and free to dare,
Free to love and free to care.
Let's be equal, just and free-
Strong in our diversity."

"Let's be equal, free and just,
Unified in love and trust:
Strong to lend the weak a hand,
Strong to help and understand,
Strong to build a happier land.
Let's be equal, free and just,
Unified in love and trust."

This poem is followed by a drawing by the writer's 8yr-old grand-daughter, Nandini.

A wonderful and timely book, making the preamble easy to understand for all, and more important, easy to remember and follow. A true gem, which should be recommended for all children and all schools.

Crossposted here.