Honey and Caramel Semifreddo

We Indians are obsessed with skin colour, everyone knows that. We have tried everything to look fair, from Fair & Lovely creams to grandma's dried orange peel remedy, to saffron infused milk for the unborn baby. In our country, a light skin tone translates to drop dead gorgeous while a dark one invokes the sympathy of family and friends. "Is she ever going to find a suitable husband?", "She is such a kind hearted darling, but who is going to marry her? Look at the poor thing's colour!” they whisper to one another. What the hell, even the boys want to look fair today. Maybe they always did, but now they are more vocal about this strange desire of theirs. And to cater to their needs, there is a flood of "Fairness Creams for Men" in the market, creams that are capable of penetrating through their thick skin. (I never thought anything would). Gone are the days when they had to steal their sister's fairness remedies or try turmeric paste (which did nothing more than drastically affect their facial hair growth and give them a light yellow sheen) in their efforts to look Fair and Handsome.

Tweet

Beef Ularthiyathu - Kerala Style Beef Fry

India is a free country, they say. But many a time, I seriously doubt it. For eg, in Kerala, whenever a politician or one of his minions feels things are getting too quite, he declares a state wide hartal. The rest of us have to participate in the strike even if we have absolutely no idea what particular ailment of the politician prompted this declaration. Don't get me wrong, I always love a strike, irrespective of whether the UDF or LDF declares it, and irrespective of whether it is a protest against the increase in petrol prices or fall in onion prices. Nothing beats an unexpected holiday in the middle of the week. But the point is that I have to stay at home just because someone else says so. I am not against the staying at home part either, but just in case I have a sudden urge to drive to the middle of the town and do a few Jhamak Challo dance steps on the street, I wouldn't be able to, not unless I am OK with a broken windshield and a few broken bones. 

Tweet

Strange...

I remember a cold rainy day, walking with a friend under a bright red umbrella after school; spotting a pool of water, and jumping into it; squealing like only two mindlessly happy girls ever possibly could; people staring at us, people whose problems could not be washed away by these drops of water; my cousin walking ahead of us frowning disapprovingly at our loud jubilation.

It feels like moments from someone else's life. When all that was needed to make me happy was some muddy water. When an orange mittai made my day. How I wish to go back, to grab on to every missed opportunity for a laugh, and make the best of it.

Life has in store so many strange twists and turns. You never know what comes next.

Tweet

Tomato Soup

 

A few of weeks back when I did not have access to home cooked food, I ate more North Indian Executive Thalis than I care to remember. FYI: A thali is a meal served on a round steel plate and it usually includes some kind of flat bread (roti, naan, or puris), rice, pappad, a selection of vegetarian curries, lentils and a sweet to round off the meal. In a normal thali, you can have additional/unlimited servings of rice and curries, but in the executive thali, you have to pay for extra. In every restaurant that I went to, the soup that came with my North Indian thali was tomato soup.(North India, is that the only soup you make ?? ;)) While the soup was quite  flavourful at one of restaurants I frequented, it tasted like dish water at another (not that I have tasted dish water, but you get the idea, don't you?). The soup was so tasteless that I satisfied myself with the masala pappad and croutons the soup came with. Anyway, within a few days, tomato soup kind of grew on me, and while I get to enjoy delicious home cooked food three (sometimes four) times a day now, I sometimes do miss the tomato soup.

Tweet