Security men,accountants,cooks,maids and sundry others.There seems to be a common DNA to all of these.Why for instance does a security guard watch with great interest while you struggle to squeeze your car into the only available space,only to pop up and tell you that you cant park in that place.Didn't he see you struggle with all that wrestling with the wheel or was it some pleasure he got out of it.
Why for instance do maids insist on bunking work on Sunday when that's the one day you want to do nothing.I have stoped looking forward to weekends.The maid will not turn up the washing will pile up and when its time for a hot cup of tea the cook would have also done the bunk so there you are ,cooking and cleaning till the cows come home.Isn't it perfect how guests also decide to turn up just then.
Why for instance does the plumber,carpenter and electrician swear to come at ten in the morning and then turn up when they feel like it ,if at all.Why for instance do we have to bunk work and wait patiently for these people when they have scant regard for your time.
Why for instance does the water tanker and the state transport bus believe they own the road,and that the small guy on the bike or car is meant to be run down.
Why for instance do courier boys always ask for identity when they deliver mail addressed to you at your home.They also ask for your relationship to other members of the household.I have taken to claiming to be the housekeeper and considering most of the boys haven't a clue if this means wife,mistress or general dogsbody,the conversation ends right there.
Why for instance am I agonising over all this when I know for sure that if all of them behaved differently I may feel lost and out of place in this world.I just wonder
tea gardens
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
my affair with mallu food
Almost all the ingredients in my kitchen are imported (OK not trying to sound snobbish and its not imported from some fancy country).Since childhood its been a done thing to get all our spices from Kerala.School holidays were spent in remote places on Keralas backwaters and with the sun beating down on us we would collect fresh ripe peppers straight from the plant,help spread them out on mats to dry in the sun and watch them turn to good black peppers in a few days.The aroma of peppers always brings back childhood memories.The thinks we dried were cocoa pods,coffee beans besides peppers.Then we pealed the bark of the cinnamon tree and plucked cloves from the tress,crawled on all fours in mud to pluck fresh cardamom.This was the spice of life.
We also learnt to make fresh butter.I was always up early to catch my aunts churn the milk and skim the fresh butter with jack fruit leaves turned to spoons.Everything was magically fresh.That done the pots were hung up from the roof.Cows had to be milked,brown eggs had to be fetched.I learnt to wait at the chicken coup for the swak of the hen and knew the right moment to get at the eggs.
My uncle now 90 and doing well for himself,figured that I was ever ready to learn.He took me fishing to the river.No fancy fishing tackle.He made me dig up earthworms,string
them on to some wire (nylon I think) and fasten all this to some thin sticks I could find.(plenty by the river side).He would insist that I keep very still and not talk,fish he said will be disturbed.I did manage to haul in a few but had to throw them right back.Small fish would deplete the stock so we were not allowed to take them home.
When we were done with fishing it would get cooked in a nice earthen pot over a freshly made fire and while the pot with its fish simmered and boiled,we threw cashew nuts into the fire,pulled them out with our bare hands and cracked them up to get at the nuts.We turned black with the effort but nothing that some good coconut oil couldn't cure.
The lessons learnt in childhood were so impressive that to this day I import all my spices from Kerala preferably garden fresh.Not for me the spices from the supermarket.My earthen pots come from Kerala too and if it breaks we don't get fish curry, but nothing will make me use a metal vessel for fish.Kokum is still couriered from Kerala.Its funny that not living in that state,hasnt dimed the allure of mallu food. My malayalam is far from great,I hardly ever go back but for me the trill of shopping in a Kerala village is the highlight of my short trips that happen once in a whilel Coconut oil,coconuts,peppers,spices,these are my favourite things,this is what my kitchen is full of this is what is cooking for me.The aroma wafting from a cooking pot brings back a thousand memories.No words can explain my love affair with food.
We also learnt to make fresh butter.I was always up early to catch my aunts churn the milk and skim the fresh butter with jack fruit leaves turned to spoons.Everything was magically fresh.That done the pots were hung up from the roof.Cows had to be milked,brown eggs had to be fetched.I learnt to wait at the chicken coup for the swak of the hen and knew the right moment to get at the eggs.
My uncle now 90 and doing well for himself,figured that I was ever ready to learn.He took me fishing to the river.No fancy fishing tackle.He made me dig up earthworms,string
them on to some wire (nylon I think) and fasten all this to some thin sticks I could find.(plenty by the river side).He would insist that I keep very still and not talk,fish he said will be disturbed.I did manage to haul in a few but had to throw them right back.Small fish would deplete the stock so we were not allowed to take them home.
When we were done with fishing it would get cooked in a nice earthen pot over a freshly made fire and while the pot with its fish simmered and boiled,we threw cashew nuts into the fire,pulled them out with our bare hands and cracked them up to get at the nuts.We turned black with the effort but nothing that some good coconut oil couldn't cure.
The lessons learnt in childhood were so impressive that to this day I import all my spices from Kerala preferably garden fresh.Not for me the spices from the supermarket.My earthen pots come from Kerala too and if it breaks we don't get fish curry, but nothing will make me use a metal vessel for fish.Kokum is still couriered from Kerala.Its funny that not living in that state,hasnt dimed the allure of mallu food. My malayalam is far from great,I hardly ever go back but for me the trill of shopping in a Kerala village is the highlight of my short trips that happen once in a whilel Coconut oil,coconuts,peppers,spices,these are my favourite things,this is what my kitchen is full of this is what is cooking for me.The aroma wafting from a cooking pot brings back a thousand memories.No words can explain my love affair with food.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
ball games,husbands and me
Cricket is one game I dislike.Actually I am no great sports person so game playing of any kind is alien territory.Nevertheless its cricket that affects my life.Its the world cup season and suddenly my days are filled with only me.The husband has been lost to cricket.All conversations start with "hey I am hungry,is dinner ready yet?"",switch off the light","hush talk to me after this over."Excuse me I need to talk now.What I have to say is important.Hey this is a question of life and death.No response.For almost close to a month this has been the extent of conversation in our house so the parents are called...."anything important?,we are watching an exciting cricket match".So much for that....turn to friends...no luck there either.
Some things have benefited from my plight.The library has been making a lot of money out of me,my plants are looking a lot healthier(i have been talking to them).Our dining table groans with food.(i have been cooking till I am tired)
Some people have not had it so good...my office for instance.If your top dog then there are thing one can do and get away with like non stop talking about any subject,the poor staff haven't a choice but to listen and nod....hey I like being the boss.
Some things have benefited from my plight.The library has been making a lot of money out of me,my plants are looking a lot healthier(i have been talking to them).Our dining table groans with food.(i have been cooking till I am tired)
Some people have not had it so good...my office for instance.If your top dog then there are thing one can do and get away with like non stop talking about any subject,the poor staff haven't a choice but to listen and nod....hey I like being the boss.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
running
I have been running.Actually if that was true in the physical sense it may have done me a world of good,unfortunately I am restless and need to be part of everything that goes on around me.My first project was to take my 86 year old dad for a haircut.For some reason (I suspect it had something to do with style) he turned down my offer to cut his hair.Considering he hardly ever goes out I cannot understand the need to be fashionable now.Well it turns out to be a production.On goes his hat from England that the eldest daughter got for him and which he never fails to wear and his outdoor clothes and we are ready to roll.He hates the fact that I want to hold his hand because I am terrified that he will fall but then that's my dad.
When I have finally got him home its the turn of my mother.She loves her chicken puffs and sundry other snacks and her method of getting them all is to assign responsibilities.So while I get the puffs,my sister will get her tea from the estates,my nephew will get her chocolates.(hes the grandson so cant refuse this forbidden fruit despite knowing that she is diabetic)
That's the story of the parents.The next agenda is to get another nephew into college.Not my responsibility at all but like I said earlier,nosy Parker me cant sit still.Been planting ideas in his head on career plans though I have no clue myself as to what young people do with themselves nowadays.
The last but not the least is my little effort to save the environment so I walk to buy bread and have expanded my balcony garden and now the plant have taken over and there is no place for us to stand and watch the world go by but I hope this saves the planet.After all it takes small steps to get the big picture.
Till I think up the next thing to keep running perhaps I should pour myself a stiff Johnny walker and think about keeping on walking....
When I have finally got him home its the turn of my mother.She loves her chicken puffs and sundry other snacks and her method of getting them all is to assign responsibilities.So while I get the puffs,my sister will get her tea from the estates,my nephew will get her chocolates.(hes the grandson so cant refuse this forbidden fruit despite knowing that she is diabetic)
That's the story of the parents.The next agenda is to get another nephew into college.Not my responsibility at all but like I said earlier,nosy Parker me cant sit still.Been planting ideas in his head on career plans though I have no clue myself as to what young people do with themselves nowadays.
The last but not the least is my little effort to save the environment so I walk to buy bread and have expanded my balcony garden and now the plant have taken over and there is no place for us to stand and watch the world go by but I hope this saves the planet.After all it takes small steps to get the big picture.
Till I think up the next thing to keep running perhaps I should pour myself a stiff Johnny walker and think about keeping on walking....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
