One Fleeting Moment

I have been so preoccupied with setting up my new apartment that I forgot to make a note about something very small and important that happened some time back. I had awesome mangoes after what seemed like ages and it made me very happy.

It brought back memories of hot tepid afternoons - very quiet except for the hum of the air cooler (this sudden suspension of the day's activities would somehow make the heat more bearable). Then as the evening descended and life came back to normal, we would wait eagerly for Baba to come home. On his way back home, Baba would always pick up the family favourites - green Langras for himself,slender yellow Dussehri's for Ma, big huge Bainganphalli's for my sister and me. In our innocent mind it seemed like we were getting more bang for the buck with the ugly eggplant shaped magoes than those slender flavourful ones favoured by Mom. Post dinner we would sit around and have mangoes and cold milk - hmmm heaven. Sunday's however were reserved for the Chuski...these are little mangoes that you squish with your hands, taking care not to puncture the skin. Once you have managed to get the pulp inside all goooey, you make a hole at the top and suck it out....voila the original, natural Frooti for you.

There are other memories too - from times not that far back in the past. The summer of 2001 was on its way out when we figured we had not tasted the season's best pick. I was to leave for the US soon, another friend was leaving for the UK in a forthnight...our group of friends was going to disperse and we had not had mangoes together - utter disgrace. We decided to set it right and marched to the nearest fruit market. At nine in the night everything was closed, except for this one seller who was packing to leave...we proceeded to haggle ( another highly missed activity) for 5 kgs of his leftovers...obviously there was no resistance!!!. The mangoes were promptly consumed as soon as we reached home - with bare hands in the most uncouth manner!!! And I would like to believe that those were really nice mangoes for it was the last time I had mangoes in India.

Labels: Food, Nostalgia

We finally assmebled the Fagelbo yesterday...looks rather nice...will upload some pictures sometime soon. There are still some minor things left, but my new place is mostly fixed up..atleast enough to allow me to make some eggs and coffee for breakfast.

Labels: Ikea

I was reading this article sometime back and it struck me that the two institutions men gaurd most zealously are those of the military and religion. Women in every part of the world are literally fighting for the right to fight alongside their male compatriots. In the same vein women of different faiths continue their struggle for greater participation in the business of God. Though nowehere is it more visible than in the Catholic world, but rest assured Muslim women are also equally vocal in their demands to pray along side their men (I am yet to see a Hindu women priestess though!). For women entry into these institutions is an issue of gender equality. So when some powerful men deny them the right women's rights groups throw a fit, bust a vien and go quite red in the face from anger. But is it possible that men don't want women in their army's or in their temples/churches/mosques etc. because women being smarter will figure out that for ages men have been using one to justify the other...that ultimately there might be peace and then no one would need either men of faith or men of strength!!!

This Friday evening Subhamoy and I were in one of our fine dining(nothing extra fancy here!!) in DC moods. This usually entails a Metro ride to some downtown location followed by a quick march to a predetermined restaurant (a lot of soul searching goes into this step). After a nice meal, we usually spend time wandering around looking for ice cream or we might just head home.
This time around we were headed to Nirvana...it had been touted as an Indian vegetarian restaurant with a difference, well known for its Gujarati thali. The decor was very 1940's wood and verdigris. In a previous birth that place must have been a bar. The colourful Gujarati table tops looked charming. Unfortunatley we were told that they make the whole Gujarati meal only on certain days. For appetizers, we shared a plate of khandvi - well made but the use of a fresh instead of the dessicated coconut garnish would have been more welcome. Their daily specials are thalis (more like all you can eat samplers) from differenn regions in Northern India. They also have the standard idli, dosa on the menu for the less adventurous. We were not sure whether we could do justice to 20$ thali (yeah the thali's are expensive) so we settled for a kadai paneer and hyderabadi biryani. The kadai paneer was very well made, the gravy flavourful with fresh tomatoes and garam masala( none of that generic greasy orangish goo you see in most resturants!!). The vegetables in the paneer were fresh and had the right amount of crunch, this was quite a change from the standard frozen vegetables. Now the hyderabadi biryani (this dish is traditionally very non vegetarian and spicy) - in this case they used tofu to substitute meat. I am still not completely satisfied that it was tofu and not Nutrella *. Our waiter assured us that it was the former but I still cannot figure out how they got tofu to be so chewy and full of flavour (don't say marination - I know what marinated tofu tastes like)...have to go there another time to figure it out. We were full by the time we got done and decided to walk to Georgetown for ice cream by the waterfront. The bill was 27 bucks including tips ( see I am so low maintenance). The only negative thing I can say is that I did not like their plates which were of the cheap steel variety. Steel plates have the oh-so-very-Indian charm about them but then they should nice and shiny, not dull.
The walk to the Georgetown turned out rather painful as I was not wearing the right shoes. After one Mocha Chiller( a concotion of espresso chip icecream, milk and heath bar) served by a cute boy with cute accent and shared with an even more cuter guy, I had forgotten all about my foot. Though it came back the moment we decided to head back.

For those interseted, Nirvana is situated very close to the corner of 18 and K streets in Northwest DC.

* Nutrella (100%vegetarian) for the uninitiated is a soy derivative which comes as dessicated meat balls (not to worry - it just looks like that) in a box. You soak them in hot water till they become soft and spongy and then add them to your curries etc. Sounds interesting -head for your local Indian grocery store.

After a long long time, we went out for ice cream. Supratik , Ayush, Theron, Subhamoy and myself walked all the way to our little downtown for it. Prior to this Ayush had been trying to force Theron to watch DDLJ ( it was supposed to be Assignment 3 of Familiarise Yourself With Indian Culture 101). We all sat around and watched it (rather tried to watch it) as we had nothing else to do...soon enough we had forgotten all about DDLJ and started a grand discussion about the lack of Shahrukh's acting skills. Theron kept mumbling random Indian phrases to impress us and probably to convince Ayush that he needed no more educating.I believe somewhere along the line he also developed an urge for ice cream. After declaring "DDLJ is an accquired taste" Ayush decided to go out for ice cream...and all of us just tagged along. The idea was to have Chef Lou's Icecream (a blog about him shall follow sometime later) but we were late by about 3 hours. So we settled for the Mini Mart Icecream which was relished under the open skies - very very Kodak momentsy. The not so great part was that Hixie did not come out...she sat inside her living room and gave us some really cute feline looks.

Two weeks back we watched “Cinderella Man”. Another awesome performance by Russell Crowe, he happens to be my favorite amongst the present crop of male character actors in Hollywood. His characters are so richly textured, their emotions so raw that they stay with you long after that first encounter in the darkened theatre. If they ever remade “Wuthering Heights” into a movie I would love to see Russell Crowe play Heathcliff. He would also make a very nice Mr. Darcy. Anyways the hero worship aside, the Cinderella Man like The Million Dollar Baby starts out as just another boxing movie but halfway through has a change of heart, stops peddling the game and starts telling us about the lives of its characters. So we get to meet the man with the girlish nickname, the family he is trying so hard to provide for and the hopelessness around him. I know it sounds very melodramatic but go ahead and watch it just for its gloomy portrayal of the Great Depression. I don’t think I have watched any other movie (apart from “The Grapes of Wrath”) that has captured the gloom of the economic slump so well- without a wee bit of romantic air brushing.

This weekend we watched “Crash”. It was one of those spur of the moment decisions (besides the other option was to watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith!!!). I would highly recommend this movie to everyone. Crash approaches racial stereotyping in a common sense manner…it accepts the fact that we are all fundamentally good and racial stereotyping is a reaction to circumstances – this is the basic premise of the movie and it takes this premise and turns it upside down so many times that the audience is left disoriented at the end. The lines between good and bad blur as the creepy racist transitions to a saviour and the good kid turns murderer. In the game of life, each character goes through his/her personal hell and makes choices. Like the game of Knights of the Old Republic each action pushes you that much closer to either the Light or the Dark Side. Besides the moral amibiguity, the movie keeps you on your seat’s edge with its tight, gripping story telling and star cast. Watch out for rapper “Ludacris”….some really good acting there.

Labels: Cinema

This is Better
Originally uploaded by anyesha.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Lee and Brenda's place in Joppatowne. Lee had organised a cookout for the entire traffic group as he does every year. I missed it last year as I was in India. The frozen samosas and the chutney I had taken disappeared quickly. I was pretty pleased with the results as I usually like making something myself for potlucks. Lee showed off his new grill...pretty impressive I must say. Also met the better halves of some of my colleagues.Infact this picture was clicked by Mark's lovely wife Kim. Also got to meet Pete after a long time.

We were planning on attending the Capital Pride Parade in the evening. By the time we got back the Parade was over so we went and watched "Crash " instead.
More on that later.

I started out with posting a comment to S’s (now S here is Sagnik) ramblings about the SD zoo, but the comment just took a life of its own and I decided to make a post out of it.

Well S, the situation at our (DC) Zoo isn’t any better. The main attraction is supposed to be this pair of Panda bears who were sent over from China (outsourced huh!!) to copulate and populate this zoo (I understand those cuddly bears are endangered and everything but couldn’t they do all this in China –judging by numbers the Chinese are at least more successful in the reproduction business than the people of the New World). But ever since they got here they have developed murderous tendencies towards each other and refuse to even sit next to each other!!! And it doesn’t really help that the zoo is next door to Adams Morgan which is where the residents DC (“Capital of the Free World”) go to indulge in some night time frolicking …please if your neighbors were keeping you awake night after night with their drunken yowling I am sure you would find it rather difficult to get into the procreating mood. Anyways the last time I saw them, the male Panda was enjoying his siesta in his air conditioned enclave, the female was sitting around and contently chewing some bamboo shoots and a bunch of dyspeptic scientists were hovering around a computer nearby (a sign told us that the scientists were busy taking measurements to predict “Will They or Won’t They!!!)..I should have probably suggested candles, soft music and dim lights.


All of this got me thinking of some really scary scenarios. What if the SD weather does not agree with S’s Bengal Bandar (BB) and he starts mopping around for his lady love who has been left behind on distant shores or even worse – the no smoking policy in the SD zoo induces withdrawal sysmptoms in our chain smoking BB. Then there is Rowdy Ragini – she might just get a stomach upset from all the meat that the SD zookeepers might insist on feeding her( Indian tigers I was once told are vegetarian as oppposed to the meat eating corrupt tigers of the West). In my experience a groaning and moaning tigress is incapable of inspiring awe among the ogling kids or of commanding the respect of fellow carnivores. Forget all about inspiring awe and commanding respect, a depressed tigress might actually induce depression in the males….so bottom line….outsourcing will not work…what these zoo animals need is a TV in their enclaves which has Oprah on it 24/7. Every time these antisocial animals even think about going inside to catch a quick nap, they will be confronted by the nightmare of the Mistress of the Eternal Glee coaxing them to get their lives together and then writing all about that experience for her Book Club . A few of these sessions will have them suddenly seeking human company and spending more time outdoors!!! I know it works..it worked for me…a couple of episodes of Oprah and her minions on daytime TV increased my motivation to find a job like the prospect of unemployment never could!!!

PS: The title was the result of my imagination taking a sudden detour and my mind savouring the prospect of some INS bloke in the belly of an enraged tigress whose visa application he denied!!!

PPS: For those who know me...I am on a Friday morning high and nothing else. I will return to blogging about stuff I normally blog about once this high wears off.

Amlan and Spirit
Originally uploaded by anyesha.

This is the perfect muahahwaaahhh picture and I had to post it. And in case you are wondering...this is my friend Amlan (soon to be Dr. Amlan Mukherjee) at his graduation cuddling up to his school mascot Spirit.