Chennai Chronicles 2 | Post 20

Tags

chennai chronicles, food, highway travels, memories, NaBloPoMo

Continued from here

So after we reached to aunt’s place after battling with the Chennai traffic we indulged in some delicious home cooked lunch, I wish I had pictures to show you how yummy it was but really we were so hungry that we attacked the food without giving much thought to anything else… there was veg briyani, sambhar, rasam, papadam, pickle and rice and yes the most important part of meal in chennai thayir sadam…. After pigging out totally we decided to take a small nap and what a bliss it was in a AC room on a summer afternoon after a good and filling rice meal.

Unfortunately I had to get up in the middle of the nap and it was a torture specially because N and ojas were still sleeping as I had promised to meet some lovely ladies around 4 at The Zha Cafe, I entered the place around 4:10 or so thinking as usual I will the first one going By Namma Bengaluru standards but I was super shocked to see everyone already present…. hugs and hello’s were exchanged with the lovely blogging pals – Meera, Lavs and Laks…. and when all that was done I observed what a pretty place we sat in…  Our table was designed on the snakes and ladder theme, the cafe is basically an old house converted, each room done up with a different theme, there was one based on bollywood and had cute chairs marked as director, actor etc, the walls line with posters and film reels.  There was one which was based on Kerala and the table was modelled on the kerala boat, all in all a lovely place where we had loads of fun talking over bhajis and bondas, sandwiches and garlic toasts and sukku coffee the best thing on the menu there.

Post this lovely time I was picked up by N along with P and Ojas and we headed out to meet N’s aunt in the other part of the city. The drive was about an hour long and me drained out from Chennai heat though the weather was actually pleasant and raining now and then u see I had finally managed to get the rains of Bangalore to Chennai too along with me and I took a nice nap in the car atleast as much I could with Ojas fresh from his long afternoon nap would allow me too

The plan was to finish meeting the aunt quickly and head to Fisherman’s Cove for dinner about which we had heard so much but unfortunately when we finished meeting the aunt it was pretty late and it was raining they had closed the outside sitting we were told and had no table for that day Sulking a little and after discussing many options cousin P suggested to us a place where u get good sizzlers, since sizzlers are one of the most favourite foods of N it was promptly approved. We ordered chicken and prawn sizzlers and prawn fried for the child and the child totally proved that he is my son as polished off the plate of prawns all by himself

After a hearty meal and a seeing good chennai rains we decided to have an early night and wake up at 5am in the morning and visit the beach before the sun rises and it becomes unbearably hot to enjoy the beach….

TO BE CONTINUED…

Dilli Ki Sardi

Tags

bangalore, Delhi, dilli ki sardi, memories, personal, winter food, winters

Some memories are just deep encrusted in ones minds and hearts and one of those memories or a set of memories for me is Delhi Winter. Though its been a little more than 9 years I have moved to Bangalore and started calling it home and slowly loving the city too I sorely miss the Delhi Winters, every December I go into a sad mode when I hear about the winters in Delhi from friends and family.

It reminds me of those early school morning where we would just not be able to get up and dad would be shouting and we just murmring 2 more mins from the warmth of the rajai (quilt)

It reminds me of those lazy lazy afternoons we would spend a dari (rug) spread on the terrace soaking in sun, pretending to study with a book in hand sometimes alone and sometimes chatting with a friend

It reminds me of those times in the winter vacations and sometimes otherwise in the early evenings too when all the aunties of the street will sit together in a corner on a charpai (cot) knitting and exchanging colony gossip and we kids will get a chance to do whatever we wanted to 😉

It reminds me of those lovely evenings and nights when we will all get inside the biggest rajai in the house and eat moongfali (peanuts) endlessly and than we would push each other to get out if anything is needed

It reminds me of those fights we would have when we get into a rajai which has been already warmed by someone else 😉

It reminds of those morning paranthas and pickle breakfasts and steaming hot besan ka seera to end the day with

It reminds me of that yummy gajar ka halwa and the yummier sarsoon ka saag and the pinni made by mom, those gajaks and gur after every meal

It reminds of my of those morning where you would get up on the terrace to see nothing yeah the fog would have created the zero visibility and it reminds me of that hot cup of boost that dad used to make for us on those days

So last week when we in Bangalore woke up to see a fog similar to what used to be DilliKiSardi… ofcourse we were very happy 😀

And seeing Ojas as excited about the fog and enjoying his cup of boost watching it, made me even more nostalgic… I guess its true… memories are for a lifetime

Do You Stand Up?

Tags

book, bullying, childhood, jodi picoult, me me me, memories, nineteen minuutes, Ojas, parenting

PS: I must give the long post ahead warning here…

As I have repeatedly mentioned on this blog I have never ever been a thin person… never been as fat as I am right now too but never ever thin not even in school…. And as far as I remember as long as I can remember I have been called moti… in school, in college, by friends and unknown people alike… ofcourse the friends called it with love and affection and just a little bit of teasing that’s it…. But can I say that for everyone who called me the same…. naah… and then there was my stupid name which by default made people call me “Monika, oh my darling” (oh how I hate that song but that’s a separate post)… All in all I grew up being bullied a lot in school and the people who knew me in school refuse to believe that I am same Monika….in school I was not the girl I am right now… never knew how to stand up for myself… and the life of party which is used for me now that could certainly not be used than….

But why am I telling you all this today, because I read a book that made me remember it all… I recently finished reading Nineteen Minutes by Judi Picoult (this is not a review though it does discuss the book to some extent, if you want to read a review of this book go here to Bond With Books where it has been done very well by Titaxy) Its a book about a child named Peter who shoots down 10 of his school mates because he really couldn’t tolerate the bullying he had been subjected to all his life. The book as all Judi books is very well written but is deeply disturbing, at times it made me so depressed that I actually had to keep down the book for a while and do something else to distract my mind… I cried a lot in the book… I could almost feel for Peter so many times… a elder brother who is a school hero… does everything right, excellent in sports and he a weak small boy who can hardly about manage things and the thing he is good at (how predictably computers) no one wants to bother about…. How will it feel to be like Peter to be bullied every single day for 17 years of your life and that made me repeatedly go back to my school time… the bullying ofcourse was not so bad, I had some nice friends too and I guess I was a little sane to dealt with it too and hence I didnt end up killing people 😉 but think of a person who is not strong enough, who doesn’t have support…

Somewhere in the book there is a statement made by a psychologist

Did you know that a single incident of bullying in childhood can be as traumatic to a person, over time, as a single incident of sexual abuse

Shocking? It was to me too… may be the statement is a little exaggerated yes but it does hold some truth, the childhood memories do have the deepest effect on us…. It goes ahead to state

Ask ten people, and half of them won’t be able to remember something concrete from high school – they’ve blocked it out. The other half will recall an incredibly painful or embarrassing moment… They stick like glue

Most of us grow up and realize that in the grand scheme of life, these incidents are a tiny part of the puzzle….

And the ones who don’t?

They turn out like Peter

How very depressing and this made me think of this situation from a mothers perspective… What would I do if my child is bullied in school or anywhere for that matter, how would I deal with it? In what way would I stand by my child, how will I teach him that bullying happens, how will I teach him how to face and not let it eat him….

The more I thought about it the more it made me uneasy of the current circumstances around me… Now the people who know Ojas, know that he is extremely soft guy… I have never seen him shout on anyone (apart from me that is 😉 )… if there are guests coming over at home and they have kids, he lets the kids play with his toys even if they don’t let him play with his own. I have never ever seen him snatching a toy from anyone’s hand and I am not saying because he is my child… I am saying this because its the truth… He takes his sand toys to park every evening and I see kids coming and snatching it from his hands and he coming up to me and saying mumma I want my toys… at times I tell him go ask and at times when the child is too big I ask them to handover it back to him… A part of me wants him to learn to deal with this on his own, in his own way and a part of me shouts “Are u mad, he is your child stand up for him”

Even this is fine as I am sure somewhere he will learn to deal with this… but than there are aggressive kids, kids who are naturally aggressive… there have been atleast 3-4 times I can recall when a child has tried to hit him without him doing anything or may be just wanting something… and he doesn’t say anything back to them just comes back to me. What has surprised me in these situations is the reaction of the parents, none of them said anything to their child when this happened and that shocked me. One of them was very sweet and called me back later saying that she didn’t want to say anything in front of others as she would have throwed a tantrum…. though I was glad that she atleast noticed but does it help my child…not really……. There was this one time when the mother saw that kid has hit Ojas… acknowledged “oh maar diya” and then went on with her usual tasks….

As a rule I never say anything to anyone else’s kid… but if situation like this arise what choice do we have as parents here?

I am not complaining about the parents here, they might be giving a good lecture or explaining to their kids later that this is not good… They have their own parenting methods that work for them…. but does it help my child? Does it help him seeing that when he is being hit we are all just standing and doing nothing? What does it really teach him that this kind of behaviour is ok to tolerate? that bullying should be taken silently Or may be slowly learn to hit too because no seems to mind it?

But what do I teach him here, to hit back? That’s not right too?

What do you do in situations like this? Do you stand up for yourself when you are getting bullied (there is a diff in mild teasing and bullying and yes I understand that)…. Do you stand up for ypour child? How do you teach your child to stand up for himself….The more I think of it the more confused I become… I hope somewhere I am able to find a solution that will make him realise that yes he has to stand up for himself without really losing his own self.

PS: friends if you are reading this post and thinking that you have been talked about as parents… please be assured that I have no shikayat from you… this is not a post to crib about you and your child… I love him as much as I love Ojas and I do understand that they are just different… this post is just to find answers for me… For a long long time I had deliberated posting this or not and had the drafts even ready for the longest time ever but than reading that book made me realise that  I HAVE TO DO IT… hope you would understand

Rim Jhim Rim Jhim Rum Jhum Rum Jhum – Post 29

Tags

Delhi, food, ghaziabad, memories, music, NaBloPoMo, papdi chat, personal, rain, upsc

Rains make me happy…

Rains sometimes make me sad too…

Rains make me nostalgic…

Rains make me musical…

Rains bring out the romantic in me like no other times…

Rains also bring out the foodie in me like no other times…

Rains makes me love the smells that are around…

Rains make me want to dance…

Rains make me want to love…

I love rains…

They make me myself….

So when I saw this post my Pixie, I couldn’t help but whisking it away 😉

The earliest of my rain memory is not really a memory but a collection of the rain times when we were really small in school and if u were in Delhi than you would know that when it used to rain it use to rain like crazy… sometimes days all together… and we used to wait for that because that would mean no school and endless time making boats and letting them float in the endless water streams that would have come up in ever y corner…. because that would be mean the yummiest of pakoras and halwas made by granny… the freshly roasted bhutas but lots of lemon and masala we would eat…. endless getting wet in rain and then catching a cold and later in the night getting a scolding from mom along with the yummy besan seera served in bed to cure the cold… those were the days

We grew old, school turned into college and with that started our regular travel in DTC buses… gosh anyone in delhi would agree to how horrible they are… but ok I am digressing once again… so on the way from our college was a chat-wallah a very famous chat wallah… the one who sits outside UPSC… yes I see all delihities nodding here 😉 so one afternoon it was raining and some 5 of us decided to get down from a direct bus to eat that chat… and there we stood getting drenched in rain and eating papdi-chat, gol-gappas and what not and then we decided to walk upto India Gate all the while getting wet in the rain…What fun was had and when we finished admiring India Gate and chatting we were so soaked that even auto wallah’s refused to take us home 😉

Then when I went ahead to do my PG from a college in Ghaziabad, we were located outside the city and I used to daily up-down from delhi to Ghaziabad in those ALT buses… and then take those 8-wheeler fatfatatis if anyone knows what I am taking about and just when u were reaching the outskirts of the city was our college with nothing but a small shack selling tea, bread pakoras and samosas to us every hungry souls and like all shacks it had a tin roof… and every time I would rain our gang would bunk class and have tea and bread pakoras endlessly there… the soft splutter of the rain on tin would be visible… with a high tea we would keep on playing some stupid game or the other or just chat away… what fun college days are….

Phew I don’t know whether I should put this one up here, its a memory I have with ex but than just because they have become ex now doesn’t make the memory any less dearer isn’t it? or just because they have become an ex the memory doesn’t get wiped away from the brain… So the ex and me used to work in same office and one day he had brought his bike to work, and we were going back home together and it started raining most unexpectedly… and raining really heavy, we were drenched in like 2-3 minutes and then we took refuge in one road side dhabha and hot cup of steaming chai all the time lost in that butterflies in the stomach feeling… the feeling that only a person in love can understand, we were there in that place for abour 45 minutes till the rain slowed down, we drank some 4 cups of tea and by the time we went to pay the bill… the dhabha owner in very filmi style told us “are bachon sahi hai romance chalo rakho… tum logon ko dhekh ke hamein meri jawani yaad gayee… tumse main paise nahin loonga”… we had to really force him to take money for those cup of teas really…

And after some time I moved to blore and rains became a regular affair but still so dear… I remember me and N had just started going around and I was going to meet some of his friends for the first time and that evening it was raining really heavily just as it does in june-july in bangalore…. N had come to pick me up in his car but it was parked a little far away and I had just one umbrella at home… I still remember the way we walked together under one umbrella…N’s arm around me tightly to give me a hold and make me feel better… lovers under one umbrella is not over-rated trust me on that 😉

Another rainy day which is going to stay with me for a long long time now is the wet sunday we had recently… introducing Ojas to paper boats was so much fun…

Gosh I have so many memories with rain I could go on and on and on… like the one with Iya recently where we had calcutta rolls in a rain, or with a friend P when we had ice cream in rain, or here when we had besan chillas on a lovely evening after rains… so what are your favorite rain memories? and did u notice that every memory of me has the mention of some food in it 😉

PS: u need proof of my love on rains see I did a post on rain songs last time I did NaBloPoMo too… and search rain on my blog to see how many posts come up 😉

Jai Ho or Please forgive me : Post 14

Tags

A R rahman, bryan adams, jagjit singh, memories, NaBloPoMo, pink flyod, prompt, shakti, shankar mahadevan, shivmani, zakir hussain

When I saw this post by Shilpa sometime back about JaiHo concert and Rahman, I was taken back to memories when the time when I saw him live and then I went and saw the prompt for today at NaBloPoMo and guess what it is

What are the five best bands you’ve seen play live?

A coincidence? Must be God wanting me to write abt it 😉

Everything I do I do it for u….  What an awesome song that is… And just imagine the man himself, the awesome Bryan Adams singing it for you and to top it all if its the first concert you are going to together as a couple… Its bound to make it in the top 5 list… 😉 I have seen Bryan Adams live twice but the second time was truly divine with N and me holding hands and dancing oblivious to the world around us…. those were the days of early romance and courtship… to our defence most couple around us were behaving the same 😀  sigh those were the days, one of my mostest favorite concert ever

What happens when Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan and Shivmani come together… there is Shakti all around… The band was not truly fully shakti but it was the extended form and what evening that was… If I close my eyes and focus I can still almost hear the symphony that all of them created together… it was nothing less that a musical bonanza

Yeh Daulat bhi le lo, yeh shauhrat bhi le lo mujhko luata do bachpan ka sawan… anyone is his 30’s knows how damn true this is 😉 and almost everyone who knows me, knows how big a Jagjit Singh fan I am (atleast of what a great person he used to be till sometime back)… I have been lucky to seem him live 3 times but its the last time thats most special to me because I took mom along to probably her only concert of life… We bought the second best tickets (the best ones had got over by then) and made her sit in the third row right in front… I saw how much she enjoyed and my enjoyment almost doubled 😀

Comfortably Numb…. one of my most favorite numbers in the whole world…. And Pink Floyd a band I almost worship… I have every album of theirs right on my laptop and in my car and in my CD’s at home… so that if I want to hear them suddenly I always always always have access to them…. So when the band was coming to Bangalore how could I miss it ok to be more precise it was Roger Waters only that came but still it was electrifying to hear Just Another Brick in the wall playing right in front of you….

And that brings us to the man with whom we started the post the God of music himself…. the genius A R Rahman… I think it was 2 may be 3 yrs back when there was a Rahman concert happening in the city, for some stupid reason we ignored it last minute and in the last minute all we could get is the junta Rs 500 tickets and we were quite in number… a big gang of about 10 people I think and to make matters worst it rained like nobodys business that day… The concert as most other concerts in Bangalore was supposed to happen in Palace Grounds and everyone knows how slushy it becomes after a little rain… Very sad we reached there thinking may be the concert will be cancelled but it was on…. There was water all around…. But little did we know the rain will actually turn into our advantage that day… Only about 25% of the people who were supposed to turn up came… and the barricades for the higher value tickets were slowly opened and soon we found ourselves in the Rs 5000 stand… watching the legend himself face to face… Truly Jai Ho 😀

Its gotta be done… Post 13

Tags

16 yr old, fun, fundas, life, memories, NaBloPoMo, tag

so its gotta be done 😉 Sunday afternoons are certainly not a good time to write posts but when one has committed themselves to NaBloPoMo and forgotten to schedule a post for Sunday there hardly seems any other option…

The house right now is quite, very quite…. All are sleeping after a delicious brunch of beer and home made chole bhatures… (I must tell u guys I resisted both.. had chole and roti instead of bhatura and had a vodka with tender coconut water instead of beer… so calories saved at both friends)…. And I am flying in air because the friends I had and N told me that these are probably one of the best chola bhaturas they ever had in Bangalore 😉 thats something isn’t 😀

So all of them are sleeping and I am sitting here thinking what in the post… but then isn’t this a post in itself 😉 lol i am blaberring under the effect of vodka I guess 😉

So let me reply to the prompt that I liked at NaBloPoMo site…

If you could go back in time and meet your 16-year-old self, what three things would you tell yourself?

• Parents are not always wrong… I mean seriously at 16 I think I was a rebel, I would like to think all 16 yr old are and at that particular time whatever parents say without even giving it a second thought is labelled as wrong  but now when I am 33 I look back and realise that probably they were right sometimes 😉 ok ok I know I am still not admitting always
• Respect and take care of your body…. keep in shape, dont abuse it too much… A little care at that age will go a long long long way, the physical body is something that will be with till you die and you would not want your dreams to fall apart because your physical condition doesn’t allow it
• Don’t be afraid to love… ofcourse you might get hurt but later in life I am sure it will one of the fondest memories you will have

So go on tell me what are the three things you will say to your 16 yr old… leave a comment do a post…

Ok I have a brainwave… since all of us are struggling with posts let me tag you guys… all u guys doing NaBloPoMo are tagged… do take this up and anyone else who wants to is most welcome too 😀

Tanned and Back

Tags

cousin, family, fun, memories, Ojas, summer vacations

Back from the small disapperaing act I did on the blog courtsey the lappy not working well and being busy at home… not that anyone noticed and missed me 😦 Warning to self *Update your blog more regularly else people will totally forget u and that is the biggest nightmare of a blogger*

And tanned yeah that is how I look right now… Tanned…Before you guys also ask me “what u went to Goa? ” let me tell you I hate that question right now… No I didnt and getting that question asked by some many people is not at all fun I tell u 😦 I want to go to GOA now

So how the tan u ask, its a result of 3 mad kids that dragged me to the pool everyday at 12 noon in blaring sun for the past 5 days and refused to come out of the water before an hour…

and yeah any recommendations for tan removing creams are most welcome 😉

My sil’s kids were with us for the past 5 days spending some part of their summer vacations with us and needless to say we all had lots of fun… The days were filled with swimming, making block towers longer than our own height, moudling clay and making burgers with them, finding hanuman in  “”Where is Hanuman” book, fighting and yeah cooking dish after dish on demand 🙂 and the evenings spent playing monopoly with the main motive being that the other person should not win… if we lose its ok 😉

Anything with kids is fun isn’t it… we also took them bowling and go karting one day and it was bindaas fun… Ojas also enjoyed their stay so much that since yesterday night he has been asking where is didi? where is bhaiya?

These 5 days just took me back in time to my summer vacations when I was kid, how we used to be parked in badi mummy’s (my nani) house permanently with lots of cousins… no sun used to bother us and how much we used to play… those were the days… the days where games were endless and food cooked by badi mummy in abudance…

It was so heart warming to see ojas enjoy with his cousins as much as we did with ours… Whoever said that seeing ur kid grow up is like living a second childhood was indeed right… 🙂

But gosh in all that excitment I really forgot that I am not a 11 yr old anymore and I do get tired 😉 right now my state is like a zoombie with every part of my body aching who just needs to sleep and rest and needless of say its khicdi for lunch today

So how are your summer vacations going? Wanna share some memory from your childhood?

A mother of three daughters : God save her

Tags

boy child, childhood, children, daughters, Feminism, girl child, memories, mother, son

We are three sisters and its a fact that I am proud of… a thing I would probably change for nothing… I remember my childhood as a total fun time, all three of us getting together and doing all kind of girly things… pretending to cook, taking care of our barbies, combing the neighbor didi’s hair endlessly (that was the youngest one though)… whenever I think of my childhood the bond with my sisters and also the lovely mother daughter is the strongest memory I have and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world… And over time I have come to realize that the bond between mother and daughters just keeps growing with time whereas the bond with mother and son keeps going down… I then wonder why is that we keep wishing for boys all the time? What is that special thing they give us?

This yet another brilliant post by IHM took me down the memory lane at the time when we three sisters were enjoying the childhood in full masti and mom was bearing the brunt of it all… I am eldest and the difference between me and the youngest sis is about 9 yrs or so and so at the time when she was growing up I was big enough to feel the undercurrents flowing around when people used to visit the house… When she was born people almost sad that yet another girl is born and dad became so furious against this argument that he poured out all the love he could possibly have on her and we still tease him that u spoilt her… 😉

Mom had to listen to all kind of things that what will she do when we get married? How will she get us married? Poor them will have to probably go in a ashram in old age… who will take care of them? My uncle with a son came forward behaving that he is a god for them as his son will act as a son for my mom-dad too and help them in their time of need…

My mom and dad stood through it all all the time and kept telling us and instilling in us an amazing strength and power for independence which I personally thing is the greatest gift any parent can give their kid… a power of self confidence and independence… I am proud of my parents because they gave my greatest strength my confidence and the ability to take the world head on… which I think is one of the reasons atleast two of us have turned out to be such strong feminits

Though mom took all the taunts and pity that she was given throughout with grace and ignoring them and proudly announcing to the world that her daughters are better educated and very well settled than most of the sons of the people who troubled her…Once we started settling in our career after taking best of the education she starting getting certain amount of respect by the same people who were taunting here and the memories (I think) of those days started to fade away slowly

And then there was one incident that kinda broke her down… I still remember that evening very very clearly…

I had finished my education and was working in a good company earning a very good salary ‘for a girl’… and people around mom started to sych her up how will u ever find a boy for her… anyways so the rishtas started coming in (and lets not go into the kind of rishats that were send, it was as if they wanted to show my mom and us that daughters are indeed a pain) and we would quietly ignore most of them as I wanted more time to work etc… but then after about 2-3 years of working when I was ready for marriage and unfortunately still single, my parents started looking out for guys and giving a serious look at the rishtas that came in… they liked a boy and thought it would be a good idea to let us meet and discuss figure out if we like each other… and a mesage was sent to the parents of the boy and guess what the response came

we dont want to take this talk forward, when we sent the rishta to you we were only aware of the daughter’s education etc and we didn’t know that you have three daughters, if you haven’t got any sons than its most likely that you daughter will also produce only daughters and hence we are sorry

can u beat that???? and that came out of a very well educated family. The mother of the boy was a principal in some school. gosh if we have principals with this attitude what will the children of that school grow up to be??? That day my mom cried a lot and I just stood by her wanting to kick the world in the face not knowing how to react… I was angry with the world very angry.

And just when my anger was going away being married to the most awesome guy I could find who has never ever made a thing that he is the man and I am the wife in the relation… out relation is truly equal with some things he taking the lead and in some me… whichever way balances our skills… but not even once we have felt that one is better than the other….  yeah going back to the point just when my anger was going away I became pregnant and people started again aah I hope u have boy atleast your mom could see a grandson if not a son, me and mom would quietly reply we would be happy with a healthy baby thats it… (though I know secretly wished for a boy 😉 but was that because she wanted to see how are boys when they grow up and not because of the standard reasons)

And then when he was born and I took him to Delhi the first time… of my  aunts commented saying that

chalo acha hai beta ho gaya agli baar ab tension nahin hogi, beti bhi ho gayee tou koi baat nahin… ab sab chalta hai

Imagine that statement in this time…. I got wild and replied to her that I would have been happier if it was a girl and would have been happier to make that girl a only child of mine… and what drama was created I tell u 😉 and I secretly enjoyed that

I have never really understood the obsession people have with a boy… why? I won’t say any one is better than the other… a boy or a girl… they are just children… a little human being waiting to be transformed into a big person by the parents… both need equal amount of love and affection and both present to you equal amount of charm in their own sense..

I wonder when will we as a society stop give them rules to live their childhood in a certain manner… when we will allow a boy to play with cooking toys and when we will allow a girl to go play cricket in the park… when?

PS: yesterday was Girl Child Day I wish I could do this post yesterday but nonetheless, this post is my tribute to every girl child that is about to come… this post is my tribute to every Chutki…

Delicious Tag

Tags

food, memories, tag

D sent my way a deliciously different tag… and here is my take on it…

But first the rules

Five memorable meals ever eaten: It could be anything that makes the meal memorable – the food, the place, the place you were in your life when you ate, the company, the weather, the ambiance – heck, the guy who served the food!”.

Considering the fact that food is a major part of my life both eating and cooking it was a delightful tag to do, the only difficulty was to choose which ones come here… but here is my attempt

Maa ke haath ka khaana: Like I mentioned in my previous post nothing beats maa ke haath ka khaana… specially when u are coming home… ever since I have moved to Bangalore about 8 years back (yes I know I wrongly mentioned 6 yrs in my last post, thanks Puneet for correcting that)… every time I come back home I am maha excited about the food that mom is going to make for me when I reach home… in my mind there is always a list of things ready that I want mom to cook and me hog them but most of all which I remember is that kadhi chawal that has almost become like a tradition for me… everytime I come home from the airport mom has steaming hot and spicy kadhi chawal ready for me and as soon as I enter home I start eating that 🙂 aaah its bliss…. kadhi chawal are always the best then

Badi mummy and samosa-jalebi: and if anything can ever imagine to beat ma ke haath ka khaana its the one made by maa ki maa… naani or badi mummy as I used to call her… the aloo parathans she used to make… thin but full with stuffing, the keralas yumm… stuffed keralas… never eaten the way she used to cook them, even the simple dal tadka she used to make used to be heavenly… but if one has to ask the most loved food memory with badi mummy strangely its not associated with her cooked food… its of samosas and jalebis bought from the nearby shop… when I was very small we used to live very close to our nani’s house and I virtually used to live there, including us sisters and my uncle’s children we were about 5 kids and every evening badi mummy used to give us rs 2 to eat something and that used to be bliss… in summers they were often spent eating the thappa walla kulfi… do u guys remember it… and how crazy we used to be on how many kulfis we get and in the other times it always used to be samosas and jalebis… gosh I am addicted to those still… if I see a samosa my mind starts plottting how to get a jalebi 😀

Way to a man eerrr a woman’s heart is through food: now N always helps me in the kitchen… always but he is no great cook, his cooking is limited to making eggs, maggi and tea :D… and every sunday breakfast well almost his dedicated to eggs made by him but its one meal made by him which blew me away… It was the first time after marriage that I had gone to delhi alone  for a week or so and it was also the first time after marriage we were away for so long 😉 I was supposed to come back by a flight which was landing at 8:30 pm and the low cost airlines had just started so there was no food served on the flight… before boarding the flight I was chatting with him saying ok though I dont feel like eating out we will step and eat somewhere near by and he told me ok what we’ll do is that we’ll dump the luggage home and then go eat… I sulked a little thinking… gosh who will feel like coming out again once I reach home but didnt want to fight 😉 but when I reached home I was in for such a pleasant surprise… allo gobhi and dal tadka and chapathi’s too… ofcourse the kitchen was dirty like hell but food amazing….

Its all about food : About 3 years back we had gone to a Himalaya trip with a group of friends… friends that are a great group… the trip was fantastic and was full of food apart from the scenic beauty 😀 the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about that trip is food and tea 😀 but there are two particular meals probably I can never forget…. the first was the simplest of all meals we had at a small dhabha just when we started climbing after rishikesh… the most yummiest food I have had… dal tadka, karela fry and aalo jeera…. simple fresh and yummy… we all eat like pigs and the bill at a small roadside dhabha came to be some Rs 6000 🙂 and then we went to Auli… because it was not skiing season it was practically empty and there was just a small tent where the guy was selling maggi, omelletes and tea…. what a meal was that… nanda devi as a view, oak trees all around… as much place as u want to run, bright and nice sunny day and great group of friends and yes maggi and omellete too 😀

Jab beta khilaye tou dil bhar aaye: last but not the least and the most recent…. a couple of days back we had come back late from one of our usual delhi shopping trips 😉 yes loads of it is happening and both me and mom were very tired so we decided to just order from outside…. we got some idli dosa’s and after I finished feeding Ojas I was so tired that I sat down on the floor and told him baby mumma very tired and what he did post that just brought tears to my eyes… he went to the table… picked up a idly kept in my plate… took the spoon from my hand and started feeding me… 🙂 cut a piece of idly, dip it in sambhar and put it in my mouth and then take some more sambhar and put it in my mouth… just as I was feeding him…God bless u my darling

And then there are the numerous memories of chats at UPSC where we used to get down from the direct bus for the chat, mid might maggies and chiwda with my bestest friend S, the bhutta and the boiled spicy challi…. the endless chai and pakoras at the tapri outside the college… the gol gappa eating competitions….  the yummy yummy melting in mouth murgan idlies of chennai that I was crave for… hot chocolate fudge from nirulas (and yes nirulas makes it the best and not corner house 🙂 )….the late night food in the RTO dhabha after the pub…. the mid night coffee at Taj…. life is all about food and its memories… so come tell me urs 😉

Everyone who comes here should take the tag but there are some people I want to specifically hear the stories from… so here goes

Hitchy : because if a foodie wont have food tales who will, besides I love hearing about gujarti thalis and drooling

Solio : because we share the love for eggs and cocktails 😀

IHM : with two grown up kids I am sure she will have enough tales

Munchkin Mom’s : the person who bakes so well will surely have some tales to tell… (I know u are busy dear take ur time)

Swaram : think about food and go revive your food blog girl

Tara : the food pics she puts up are drool worthy now come tell us the story behind them