It was there.....Than gone !!!

Alok may be you should have planned your new trip to India a bit earlier or for that matter maybe i should have gone to doon few days earlier maybe i could have still savored the Faluda Kulfi or Rasmalai of Kumar sweet shop, it was there and than was gone.As i entered the Chakrata road in evening driving down from Gurgaon( It was trip i was making last week to drop Joshita at Welhams after winter vacation and also to attend the reconstruction and aftermath Puja of our family temple in Belonwala) i thought for a moment maybe i had taking a wrong turn and reached Iraq and than i realised the bottleneck or chicken neck as Mayank is fond of saying the ever bane of doon traffic, the narrow lane near Kumar sweet shop and entire Chakrata road is wide again.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111219/dplus.htm#1

Although this sweet shop is shifted still old nostalgia will hit doonies for time to come ,still its good for doon traffic henceforth.

Remembering 'Silk'- Rehashed version of earlier entry

I am re-releasing one of my earlier entry which came as ‘Sheela ki Jawani’, with ‘Dirty picture’ hitting the silver screen today and memories of ‘Silk Smitha’ ( I knew you all thurkis read as mammaries) revisited,I have made minor changes from earlier one trying to add few more details of the era :-

Rejogging the memory after seeing buxom Vidya Balan on posters of ‘Dirty Picture’ it went back to timeframe of 1988-1995 and this was the time when out of teens, unshackled by parents we were absorbing all things new like a curious child, together we friends tried the goodies which were on offer in our small town of Dehradun.
Alok,me and other pals although were inhibited by our middle class taboos but still had unrestricted hormones which were overflowing like a dam bursting at seams with overflowing ooze ready to submerge anything under its way,lack of outlets and strong morality usually meant for us ‘God helps those who help themselves’ or a putting in chaste hindi ‘Apna haath Jagan Nath’ but then born creatives as we were, without props it all seemed quite dull, having exhausted IIIrd grade hindi pulps, we moved to ‘anonymous’ authors in English(Mendi had full mine of it) simultaneously rare dekko @ ‘Hustler’ or rather spuriously printed rehashed versions generally found on pavements outside bus stands and railway stations prolonged the ecstatic creativity for weeks. Lack of much needed solitude and fiscal support meant VCPs and much used video cassettes was option exercised only at max annually but then it had its own issues which I plan to recap later on…………And than we stumbled upon art house Cinema morning shows of French, english movies which were devoured to derive the much needed roughage, our creativity peaked with ‘Sirroco’ an all time favorite of all the ‘frustates’ I have been tracking career of ‘ Mr Roman Polanski ’ since then.Again something was missing as desi appetite can only be whetted with Roti, dal, sambhar, rice, pickle similarly creativity needed much sought after Indianness to it and than we discovered ‘ Digvijay’ and ‘New Empire’ two cinema halls in our beloved Doon, Different permutation and combinations of words like ladki, Jawani,Kam,Pyaas,Junglee,Aag,Badan,jism,padosan,darinda did all the magic, December winters made for pitch dark entry on a 1800 hrs show for us in the cinema hall and here we also noticed aged males coming helmeted in the cinema hall and we understood meaning of repressions and frustrations of provincial India.2-3 minutes of add on reels were the highlight for which IVth grade 2.5 hrs Malyalam/Tamil movie had to be endured, stock characters of impotant householder, young mistress, buxom servant lady and lecherous politician speaking in offnote sound track made miserable with Vth grade dubbing,it was almost addictive as a gambling forcing us to waste on a meaningless venture repeatedly without anyone of us getting any better creative inputs.
Now years hence suddenly song ‘Chutki jo tune maari’ of ‘Dirty picture’ made me situp and recap the misadventures, I have noticed atleast one of the above mentioned cinema hall in Dehradun on my recent visit still exhibiting similar fare I am not sure in today’s age who could be the audience ….but for sure Silk Smitha will remain immortal in reams of reels in these kind of movies.

Highway on my plate aka Thallapakatti Briyani aka Dindigul Biryani alongwith Chettinad liver fry and Lamb brains.

Guys recently I have been entrusted with south business in our feed grains and this is additional to my existing north/Nepal/B’desh portfolio so this makes it whole south Asia now and while this new responsibility takes me to metros like Bangalore/Hyderabad or mid tier cities like Coimbatore but than moffusil towns like Chikmanglur/ Hassan/ Dindigul/Karimnanagar are also on menu and whilst driving ofcourse I come across usuals like Dosas/Uutthapams/South Thalis but am also discovering exotic tastes of mangalorean cookery and Chettinad non veg style as well
Thallapakatti variety of briyani is quite popular in south India particularly in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.There are quite a number of eateries serving this type of briyani. Thallapakatti literally means turban in Tamil,Originating around Dindigul in Tamil Nadu is prepared using a small rice called seeraga samba and with special ingredients.
While Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The Chettiar community, who are a majority in this region, are a very successful trading community. The Chettinad people through their mercantile contacts with Burma, learnt to prepare a type of rice pudding made with sticky red rice.
Chettinad cuisine is famous for its use of a variety of spices used in preparing mainly non-vegetarian food. Chettinad food is less spicy, less oily and harmless to the stomach. Minimum quantity of oil, spice, tamarind and coconut is used in the real Chettinad food and topped with a boiled egg that is usually considered essential part of a meal. They also use a variety of sun dried meats and salted vegetables, reflecting the dry environment of the region. The meat is restricted to fish, prawn, lobster, crab, chicken and lamb.
Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosais, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis.

Recipe for Thopa

In late eighties, Gulati & I tried many different recipes to gain some weight and make our bodies a bit more attractive to the girls. Also, during these times, Sonu and Anil, all of a sudden starting gaining weight for unknown reasons, making me really curious( Dinu, of course, had no trouble gaining weight; he had trouble maintaining it and did a decent job of it). Turned out that they had been regularly visiting the Tibetan shanties near the local bus stand right next to the bhotiya market. Having been frustrated, I too decided to check out this place and joined them on one hot afternoon.

This was my first close encounter with Tibetan culture, the humble tibetan men, and the hot Tibetan girls. Sonu and Anil ordered Thopa and Mommo and ate them like animals while I struggled with the menu and also how I was gonna eat the meat as I had never eaten non-veg before. However, the 2 fatsos in front of me inspired me to the fullest and I took the plunge. After serious consideration I ordered Thopa as well. That was the love at first sight with Thopa and meat. I continued going back there every chance I got. I didn't gain a gram of weight -- while Sonu and Anil became Saands (bull) -- but picked up eating non-veg on the quest.

25 years later, however, when gaining weight is no longer a secret, I have finally decided to give up non-veg and get closer to my Jain roots, finding solace in compassion for other beings. Thopa and Momo became increasingly popular since then, slowly creeping out of the Tibetan territory and becoming mainstream. Now stalls are all over the city and the delicacies are being enjoyed by the masses.

Thopa Recipe: http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/YaBB.pl?num=1229042531

Learning ropes : My Nani's(P.B.U.H.) guide to making sun hemp rope

…………………Mahatma Gandhi strongly pleaded for decentralization of economic and political power through the organization of Village Panchayats. He was of the definite view that Panchayat system in India, if worked on scientific lines, could not only build up the social and economic strength of the countryside but also strengthen the forces of national defence against the risk of foreign invasion.He always wanted the villages to be a self sufficient units and enterprise such as below made it so


(Swarna bed in dusk and iron bridge on Swarna)

(Dry Swarna bed and Swarna in full aftermath of rains)

Place : Beautiful Swarna river near Belonwala :( 30°25’6”N 77°56’33”E)
Live Demonstration : A.D.1982 or so, it was time when Asiad happened and we shifted to Parkash nagar.
Participants : 1)Mighty Nani and 2)skinny me.
Raw material description :
Hemp is a versatile plant that has been cultivated for a variety of uses. Hemp fiber is known for its strength and natural resistance, hemp is most commonly used for making shoes, canvas, bags and rope.
Process Description:
- Dip the green branches of sun hemp during summers in the Swarna river bed during peak of summers when water remains a trickle.
- Secure them tightly by boulders and stones so they do not rush away during monsoon gut slought, This is to be secured as it is for 3-6 months till the time outer coating is pulped , rotten and ready to be peeled off with smallest of nudge.
- Take out the branches one fine summer afternoon with its warmth and before the sunlight starts fading and you start shivering under thin cotton dress you are wearing.
- With all your might and like a expert washer man beat continuously the pulpy, gooey outer coating on some nearby rock around the river bed till time sun fiber comes out all bright and shining.
- Separate the hemp fibers or unwind the hemp yarn and cut into lengths approximately twice as long as the desired length of the rope. Divide the bundle in two, holding half the fibers in your left hand and half the fibers in your right. Twist each bundle clockwise until the cord you are creating begins to kink and loop. Twist the two cords together, wrapping one over the other in a counterclockwise motion, to form a rope.

My Nani was one strong lady and as befalls all rural women apart from farm work most of all other chores were their domain and she made decent job of everything running the rural household efficiently, era was of saving and getting value out of last penny and thus old folks lived in Belonwala and other parts of India.They toiled so our future be made..hats off to them!!!

Recommended author : Amitav Ghosh

Just yesterday finished ‘River of smoke’ second novel in triology as put out by Amitav Ghosh first one was ‘Sea of poppies’.I started appreciating Ghosh when by chance at Bag dogra airport I happened to lay hand on ‘The Glass palace’ and was hooked to the novel of epic proportions, another flight another day and caught hold of ‘The Hungary tide’ and bond was sealed.

I was just wondering why and how this fixation for Ghosh’s novels is coming about and as I read further I can deciper…. the well researched works are generally spanning generations includes geographies I can identify with be it opium factory of Hazipur or boatmen of sunderbans and geograhies which hold mysteries for me like Burma(Myanmar) or for that matter Mauritius, it takes me back second world war also further down to opium wars. It gives a peep how history might have been shaped by incidences as innocent as child’s laugh and languages shaped by tower of babel the new lands of hope places like Mauritius or Canton became.seamless flow, mastery of language makes Ghosh celebrated award winning author, novels are never taxing to anypart of body including the brain novels are like Golden era of epic movies and Ghosh is masterful like directors of yore..gurudutt and Mehboob revisited.

I look forward to concluding part of IBIS triology now and few others so far not added…………. you guys know now what to gift me on my birthday!!!

Once in a Blue Moon

While drinking in a bar with friends has its own zing, the burden on the wallet is another thing. Finally, Patio has come to our rescue. Located right next to my office, it's perfect not only on the money but also on the time. If we leave at 4ish from the office, we are able to be done in an hour and be home on time as well. You can buy 2 glasses of beer and one plate of french fries for $6. That's unbeatable. So we are visiting it frequently.


Lately, we have also been indulging in the Belgian style beer, Blue Moon. With orange slices adding sweet taste to it, it has changed my perception of beer and I am finally off whiskey.




Baby preferring blue moon to milk


Blue moon also keeping white house running
[Images copied from various sources]