Daily Post OPED Article

Daily Post OPED Article

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Being local guardian of US boys

 http://dailypostindia.com/news/30507-being-local-guardian-of-us-boys.html                               

• 8/25/2012 5:23:33 PM

Not that the US-born-and-brought-up boys were coming to India for the first time, but that this visit was endearing and special one besides being a challenge of sorts. It had me have a mixed feeling—of taking the responsibility-at-home in India and making their trip enjoyable. Now as the date of my nephews’ flying back came close, I recall how excited we and them were about their visit. This was the first time when 11-year and 14 -year old Rohan and Varun respectively were travelling all by themselves from New Jersey to New Delhi. Add to this the Airline’s courtesy. Their mother was bit worried, as all mothers would be, the younger duo was super excited about their a month and half of wholesome unadulterated vacation, and on the sheer thought of enjoying freedom—a byword Americans live with.

We three had spent lot of time together earlier too during my US visits, but for the first time they were going to stay away from their parents for so long. We had decided to make their holidays a memorable experience. So that they did not feel homesick, did not get bored, and had a gala time here. On their arrival here what followed was a guarded week by extra cautious me. Above everything what I was worried most about was that they might not get sick because of any ‘unsuitable’ edible stuff. After this chary week of acclimatization, started the real fun with spicy Indian food, chaat-golgappas, movies, outings, visits to relatives and friends, shopping, excursions, and what not!

Every time they visit India, we try to show them different places to make them familiar with glorious history and vast spectrum of India’s varied culture. This time I decided to take them to Indian hills and so we went to the Queen of Hills–Shimla. With a splendid salubrious weather, breathtaking views, clouds floating around, narrow and steep uphill drive to Tara Devi and Jakhu temple, the huge Hanumanji’s statue, mischievous monkeys, horse-riding at Ridge, trekking to Glen-all this kept the boys action-packed and cheerful. And when they rated Shimla visit at eight and nine on a one to ten point scale, the effort seemed to be rewarding and well attended to with minute details. The short trips to other places in between maintained the entertainment quotient high and evaded boredom, which teenagers start grumbling about very soon if they do not find any pursuit to keep them occupied. Back in their India home what ensued was their Hindi learning classes with their Hindi professor turned principal maternal grand aunt. These were more of fun than the learning as they practiced Hindi hardly ten minutes out of the two hours stay at her place. Rest of the time was spent in her persuading them to study with lot of pampering in the form of candies, chocolates, mango shake, kheer, pakodas, and tandoori chicken. Time just flew with them. Now that their holidays are coming to an end what I dread is missing their fun-filled fulsome masti with massi!

A Much Spiced Nation

http://dailypostindia.com/news/18120-a-much-spiced-nation.html
 

4/17/2012 12:32:04 PM

 

Spices have always been an integral part of our food culture and commerce

Spices spruce up taste. In fact people in the Indian sub-continent have taste-buds different from those elsewhere in the world. Ours is a ‘spiced nation’ in all the nuances of the word. The traditional therapeutic systems of medicine proscribe consumption of what is called ‘Tamsik’—that which gives the body unwanted hot elements that trigger undue excitement and negative stimulation—food .

And so we like to add extra tinge of flavour in whatever we eat. Be it McDonald’s burger or Pizza Hut’s pizza, we have customised them to suit our taste buds. We like masala fries, masala noodles, masala corns, masala Maggie, masala dosa and so on. And to add this masaledaar aroma to various delicacies, we have a wide range of different masalas like –chat masala, garam masala, chana masala, chicken masala and so on. Even the tea is not spared and we add chai masala to that. Recently I found garam masala tea in the menu of a famous Coffee outlet.

Not that it’s something new; spices have always been an integral part of our culture and commerce. It were these spices only which brought Portuguese sailors and traders from many part of the world here who established their own empires in the southern region much before the East India Company invaded us. But seeing the highly spiced state of affairs, I feel, Vasco da Gama needs to visit India again—even if he has to rise from his grave! And I am sure this Vasco will find better business prospects in the vast variety of spices other than those coming from herbs.

Since we eat and drink so much of masala, it has become an integral part of our disposition and endurance. We are just not satisfied with seasoning in our food; rather need it in every facet of life. Leave apart the political, social, historical, mythological, demographic scenarios, our inter-personal relationship is hinted with spicy flavour giving a fillip, unique variety and ready acceptability to our gossip topics in particular.

One must not forget George Leonard’s words, ‘if you make spice the whole meal, you’ll be sick.’

Masala news is one such big indulgence, where gossips spice up the conversations and take over the real news. This is rather a national craze. The boost it gives to the TRPs of these channels making them hunt for such masaledaar khabar all the time. In the cut-throat competition, maybe the channels themselves serve their stuff with overly marinated spicy toppings and icings.

Politics also could not help being influenced by this masala fad, and so there are shoegates, slapgates, inkgates with sped up frequency. Seeing the swaying power of such scandalous incidences, film stars too joined the wagon. A SRK allegedly slaps Farah Khan’s husband, grabs the spotlight on all channels making them relegate all important issues for another day. Such incidents sets a trend to be followed by others—the ‘Khans’ lapping them up more than any other not-so-popular lesser mortals. And it becomes even more essential if it ‘times’ before their film’s release.

That’s not all. Films are major souk of masala feed, hence sizzling item numbers from Munni to Sheela, to Jalebi to Chameli stay as the mainstay for a box-office jackpot for the makers of the movies. Taking a cue from the masala-marinated sequences, even the TV channels have started adding besides pulp, some steam to their plots—yes you guessed it right—‘Bade ache lagte hain’ takes the cake, cooked by the redoubtable Ekta Kapoor.

With so much of masala floating around, everyone wants to have a taste of it turning out to being more salted, pickled and thus, sought after. Of course a bit of spice adds variety to the life, but one must not forget George Leonard’s words, ‘if you make spice the whole meal, you’ll be sick.’