MellowDrama

That I am a happy person with a cheerful disposition That listening to music always uplifts my spirit That sky gazing and deciphering the shapes of clouds is a favourite activity That I love waking up early and enjoy solitude and the house That I consider kindness as the biggest quality and honesty follows soon after That I can cry at the mere mention of certain things but that is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about That I believe in life, resilience, hard work and laughter. Ah! also hugs. That I may need to have some more self confidence in my abilities from time to time but I often know better than what I give myself credit for. That I believe that no relationship is a waste of time and utna hi upkaar samajh, koi jitna saath nibha de. That going the extra mile is fun because it is not crowded and you get some time to be on your own. That I believe in holding my head and standards high. That I believe in the power of prayer. That I also believe tha...

When KFC opened an outlet in Chandigarh, it must have dreamt of cash registers ringing almost instantly; after all,  Punjabis are known to relish their chicken. Unfortunately though, the outlet found it a wee bit hard to attract customers, owing to the very typical taste of American fast food. Eventually things — rather ingredients — had to be toned to suit the Punjabi palate and now if you go into the same branch located in the Sector 8 market, you will hardly find a place to sit. This is a case in point that in India we know our taste buds very well. A huge range of fast food coming from various countries has had to be adapted to suit us. Look at the innovative pizzas that are available right, left and centre. Pizza Hut recently came up with as many as 15 variants of the Italian dish where flavours were derived from regional preferences. The names of these offerings were as sumptuous as the dishes themselves. You got to pick between Chettinad Paneer, Nimbu Mirchi, Sev Pu...

Visited my first blog at Sulekha. I feared that it might not be possible to track those entries but lo and behold, they are very much there. These entries were a delight in themselves as they revealed a person who has now been missing for a while. They also brought back memories of people who at a junction were my world. None of them were present physically around me and I think I ever met only one guy from the whole gang, yet the love, the warmth and the innocence of those days has added a shade of mellow to this warm afternoon in Kolkata. Pradzie, my first internet friend, Nimmi, Adra, Atracus, La Louve, IBL, Unni, Perpetually Perplexed.....people or identities, who gave me much needed love, appreciation and helped gain confidence in my voice. To day I have left messages for them on their blogs though I saw that many have not visited the blog since years. Yet I am hopeful milegi baharon ki manzil raahi. Some of the ancient entries: Coming full circle was where it all s...

Thanks to this one dear girl, Prerna Uppal , I got an opportunity to do a couple of articles for a magazine called Prismma. One of the articles is out in the July-August issue of the magazine. The main character of this story is Black Garlic. If you have always liked the garlicky taste in your Indian or Italian dishes, you will love it all the more in the length and breadth your Japanese and Korean cuisines. Or maybe you would like to applaud the dessert for the taste lent to it by the black garlic. Yes, you read it right- black garlic- is here and is making place for itself in kitchens all over the world. The Culinary Gene: Black Garlic

You cannot escape its tantalising aroma as you cross the street and the mere mention of some of these preparations is sure to get your mouth watering. Yes! You guessed it right. I am talking about the rich variety of our yummy street food. Earlier on, no mohalla (neighbourhood), worth its name was complete without these street hawkers who would come to sell their preparation, especially to the women folk during afternoons. Street food today ranges from simple snacks like chaat, paani puri, sev, chuskis, jalebis to full meals like aloo puri, fried rice, chowmein, aloo matar kulcha for the working masses. Every Indian city has a special trademark ‘street food’ where it is a part of everyday life to take a snack break while catching up with the day’s gossip. Let us dig a bit deeper from one end of the country to the other. Delhi, the nation’s capital, could well be called the street food capital of the country. Dilliwallas, I think would like to take credit for the one-of-its...

One of the most important festivals in Hindu tradition, Rakhi, has just gone by. This festival symbolising the great love between sister and brother is synonymous with yummy mithais being made in almost every household. We are two sisters but our mother made sure that we did not feel left out of the celebrations and so we were involved ceremoniously in making motichoor laddoos. Oh! What an indescribable pleasure it was. The whole process of making those yellow balls of delight would get us excited days before the actual event. As we grew up we came to love other variants of this versatile sweet. My sister, who is a much better cook than me, has gained proficiency in making modaks. Modaks are a popular form of sweet from western and southeren India. The mention of modaks brings to mind the colourful and vibrant celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi. The sweet filling is generally made up of freshly grated coconut and jaggery while the outer shell is made of rice or wheat flour mixed ...

As a child I was totally taken in by the beauty of these small, white pearls called sabudana, which I thought were made of soap. I don’t really remember where I gathered that impression but my interest in sabudana led me to find out more about it. According to an urban legend, a European settler in Kerala once saw a local man sitting and digging under a rather tall and a thin plant. The European gentleman asked him what he was doing. The busy man answered in Malayalam, “Thappiyoka” which means ‘I am searching...’ The poor European thought that he had been told the name of the plant and gradually it came to be known as tapioca. Sabudana or sago is basically starch. It is extracted from the tuberous root of the cassava plant. Tapioca or shakarkandi’s root is processed to gain a white starchy liquid which is then factory-processed into desired shapes. The white pearls are the most popular one though I am sure you must have savoured it as roasted papad, or as fried sticks as well. ...

I was so busy That I forgot to look at you And appreciate the strength your muscles have acquired I forgot to smile at you And extend to you the warmth that my heart feels for you I forgot to reach out to plant kisses on the scrapped knee And let you know that I am around I forgot to hold you tight before you left home And convey that I will be waiting for you to come back To see that you were waiting for me to get on with myself So that I could come back to you I was so busy But now I wonder what else I might have missed While I was too busy Did I sign the notes that your teachers sent? Did I get a hug for baking a cake for you? Did I read stories to you and sing songs? Did I win you friends with craft-work? Did I take you for the walks? I now wonder what do I have to show for all that time that I spent being busy I dread if you ever ask me to show something for being busy always I wouldn’t have anything Because I was so busy Doing nothing

Dear Sub I googled the distance from New Delhi to Columbus and I am told it is: 7562.9 Miles or 12171.3 Kilometers / 6567.6 Nautical Miles Approximate flight duration time from New Delhi to Columbus is 15 hrs, 42 mins but I know you have a longer flight. You must have been on a plane for more than half the time, as I sit down to write this. Initially I had wanted to write about how I felt about your leaving yesterday night but then thought that maybe I was too overwhelmed to do it straight away. I got up unusually early with the task on my mind but I spent my those early morning hours doing routine stuff. Then when Netra was out of the house in the evening, the usual time, we would have a chat, I again sat down with my laptop and I googled. Yet again something came up and I had to rush away. All in all it is almost exactly a day after you have left that I am putting how I feel about your going away down. First of all, and I should have told you this before you left, ...