GOW (Gangs of Wasseypur)and all the talk about the "changing grammar" of indian cinema is GOMN (Getting On My Nerves). Am a great fan of Anurag Kashyap AND Just watched it.. and what do i remember- Manoj Bajpai's performance and a couple of interesting tarantinoesque scenes. But arre bhai, story kiske g**** mein ghus gayi? (to borrow from the lexicon that the dialogue tries to popularise). Grammar has a purpose- it needs to convey something in a meaningful manner. If it does not, the entire work can dissolve into vomit -with food fragments-that seemed interesting at some point!! dirty analogy. but seems apt. These days, it has become a fashion to "wow" unconventional treatments- irrespective of whether the overall movie holds itself together well. . I side with the story though... and i am sure i am not the only one to do so. Hope Part 2 makes me salute Mr Kashyap the way "dev d", "gulal", "black friday" did

a finite loop

On the college street i stand
In 1992, cooking up a feast of the future
Of transitions to a time i wish to live,
Twenty years from now, it would be so different...

Twenty years of recipe making have gone by
Cracked picture it is, in the mind's eye
Of the college street where i wish i stood again
Instead of where the transition has brought me.

As time goes by...

If i have tomorrow
What i have not today
Will it make for a better life
Will it be more enduring, this stay?

I have today
What i had not the day before
Yet, i wake up
With a head heavy and sore

Why can't i be like that bird
Oblivious to everything but the moment
Or like that cheerful goat
Smiling its way to the final torment

Let your light shine-One Single Impression(Birdie)

As the last few rays
Dissolve into Dusk
Leaving behind
A wilting refrain

We pine for the one
The Glorious sun
That steals
The dark, the pain

When out of luck
Comes the birdie at dusk
Breaking out
Of the gloom behind

Setting alight with its chirps
The forests of night
Stirring hope again
Even if only in mind

Get it back into my fold

From green to brown

They lie on the pavement

And release swirls

Of memories they hold.

Well worn brown i may be

But i drop not hopes of green

The swirls make me want to get summer

Back into my fold

Streets of sepia in an evil winter mind

Turn crimson when they sting

And Gashes once far removed

Are resurrected from the old





Warm and living images in my minds eye

Looking for light

They spurt through the ice

And Make me want to get summer

Back into my fold

A saung for all seasons

Anything of immense value and goodness does, at times, run the risk of being taken for granted. Applies as much to ghar ka khana as it does to human beings. I talked about tambali and khicdi in my 3 week old posts. Here's a third candidate-something that is uniquely konkani, and a dish that loses its allure if made too regularly.! ROLL OUT THE CARPET. RING THE BELLS BLOW WHISTLES. FOR THE GRAND ENTRY

BATA SAUNG!
I remember being fed this even when i was 3. And now, 35 years later, i had it for lunch. After a long gap. This was staple fare all along-turned into an exotic culinary creation post marriage (neither sabiha nor i could ever get this right-we would always err on the side of caution and turn it into a very mellow sabji. we just gave up after 2 ill fated  attempts at making saung)
Mellow is a good descriptor for all that saung is not. Saung's like a Dabbang compared to lets say that movie where Rani Mukherjee walks in a funny way-Black!
Yesterday's attempt was a good re-start. Here's how it's made:

1. high cholestrol coconut oil-heat karo
2. add mustard seeds and karipatta
3. finely chopped onions -2 or 3-fry till they reach the tipping point-pink to brown
4. 8-9 kashmiri chillies-YES or 5-6 bedgi chillies-red ones of course. fry till they just abt change colour. and release that wonderful aroma
5. cool this concoction.add imli pulp to this. grind it to a coarse paste
6. add it to medium sized chunks of batatas
7. add water to subdue the teekhapan-at least momentarily
8. have it a few hours after you've cooked it. next day is even better

At your own risk, you can try having this regularly. Eno, Pudhin hara, Gasex etc will then be your bosom pals.

When food moments are good moments

There is a moment in the George Clooney starrer "Up in the air" when Clooney tries to "pep talk" his brother in law to be (who has just developed  committment phobia and chicken feet about marriage-a day before!) , in seeing the brighter side of a married life. While the rest of the movie is IMHO quite mediocre, this moment itself is worthy of 5 stars. "Think of the happiest moments in your life. Think of what you were doing then- were you alone or were you with somebody?"
As a market researcher who hunts for insights and hot buttons that make relationships (between brands and consumers) click, this one scene surely had depth! Real happiness dwells in a "we" world, however solitary or self centred the person might be.
And somehow, i don't know why- a lot of happy moments are linked to food -again in a collective sense.

When you prepare a meal for a loved one (like i did a few hours ago:-))
When you savour the simplest of meals with loved ones (i made khichdi !)
When a loved one intuitively prepares just the meal that you were craving
When banter over food makes the world look a lot warmer and kinder than it seems

Back to "happy moments linked to food", why are the two so closely connected?