Patiently listening to the doc as he lets out steam on a particularly frustrating matter when he cribs, "Just tell me, what's the way into a closed room????"

So this being the world after 2nd May, I quip " Well, the answer today is a stealth Black Hawk helicopter!!!" :))

The moon is our constant companion,

as we trudge along a lonely, straight road;

Eyes enveloped in the silhouette shadows of the teaks and the palashs,

tall and barren as they stand,

I am captivated by the unrealised beauty in their barrenness;

As if whispering in my ears "shorn of all splendour, I still stand in full glory and splendour"

and making me feel at that particular moment,

a complete sense of contentment and peace.

yeh dilli hai meri jaan...

Seems like yesterday when I set foot at the Delhi tarmac on a chilly grey morning in January and almost by the blink of an eyelid, its one month now...And no, I have neither visited Agra nor done the usual touristy things in full measure, though definitely I can be held guilty of visiting Dilli Haat couple of times and hogging momos, dhabeli and misal pav at the food stalls there.

Huh! I could n't resist, after all!

To think I started writing with the noble intention of penning down my experiences in Delhi and not speak of food, but hey, hold on a second...How can one be in Delhi and not speak, think, wonder, talk, smell, listen to or (finally!) eat the food in Delhi? Not unless one is totally indifferent to food in the overall plate of life!

Delhi is truly not just our national capital but our street food capital as well. Life of the common man revolves around food. There is potato and panneer in almost everything. Sample this: Morning starts off with aalu parantha for breakfast, and typically it is served with some dal/gravy which has some pieces of boiled potatoes floating in it. For lunch, the menu is for your asking - rotis (made of wheat flour with a drop of ghee, thankfully!) And along with that is always one of the above in the combination as below :

A) aalu gobi/ aalu capsicum/ aalu matar/methi aalu/aalu jeera ...or

B) matar panneer/ panneer capsicum/ panneer butter masala/ palak panneer...

On some lucky days, I get vegetable korma which is sinfully rich, being made in cashew paste and having a generous portion of aalu and panneer besides carrots, beans and cauliflower.

I got frustrated by this overdose of aalu and panneer and ordered chana bathura one afternoon only to stunningly discover that the bathura had some small pieces of panneer stuffed in it and the yummy chana masala had couple of big pieces of boiled potatoes in it (which of course got the cold shoulder treatment from me)!

Oh, by the way, if you do get bored with aalu and panneer, there is always chole masala, dal makhani and rajma masala. And over and above all this, there is the delectable world of chaat! Samosa, Papdi chat (ok, that also has boiled potatoes in it), bhel puri, sev puri, dahi bhalla, kachori....

Having not one sweet tooth but many, how can I not bring up the gala array of desserts available - the hot moong dal halwa or the gaajar ka halwa, the hot, juicy and succulent gulab jamun or the crisp jalebis, just out of the kadai! My tongue just swirls around the malai and milk based sweets (I can't even recollect their names any more, just their taste lingers in me). Not to even utter a word about the creamy kulfis and the rabri falooda....

If a way to a woman's heart is through her stomach, Dilli sure has captured my heart!

With temptations galore and my succumbing to them with full gusto, am on the fast track to becoming an aalu or a shapeless block of panneer!

Ce n'est pas juste, mais c'est la vie! :(
- 1st March 2009

Saffron attack!

No, I did not think of/read/speak about the BJP even once during the day! But it will go down in my mind , veritably so, as how saffron spiced my day this Christmas! ;) [pun intended]

So it started during a phone conversation this morning, when a friend mentioned how he went to this restaurant called “Zafrani” at 4 AM and had Zafrani Lassi! Well, that knocked off the sleepy part in me as I was instantly transported to the fragrance and aroma of saffron, which along with cinnamon and cardamom, happens to be one of my favourite spices/flavours. Images of the zafrani lassi loomed before me and brought out long forgotten memories of the waft of a hot cuppa saffron tea, among many others .....

Conjuring up sights and smells of saffron tea, saffron lassi, saffron in the milk and saffron in what not, I go to meet my grandmom, who tells me that I should remember to buy saffron for her sometime during the day as we are out of stock. I am saved a response by the ringing of the door-bell. An uncle from Vienna is here, he hugs my grandmom [his aunt] and gives her a box of saffron, leaving my grandmom and I to exchange some furtive smiles!

Close to 5 in the evening, Saucy Sardonix comes back after shopping and produces a box of saffron and says “How about pulao for dinner?”
I quip sarcastically “Zafrani?”
“Why not?”

And that is how my maiden attempt at making Zafrani Pulao came about - Over 2 hours of preparation and 1 hour of actual cooking [that should speak a lot about my great cooking skills]. I followed the recipe posted here with decent success. And we were all scrapping the vessel for more, so perhaps the time and effort made up for it!
Just to add, this was done in the 'asli hyderabadi style', no cheeni at all which I am sure would gladden Tabu!

Oh, by the way, the other dish I set out to cook - Vegetable Jalfrezi - finally turned out like some mashed vegetable pulp cooked in some masala base!

Ah, well, no links to this dish as I followed the recipe in my mind and one needs to do all she can to prevent such disasters from recurring.

on a HIGH!

The HIGH without The High continues......

I am on a high!

What could this be due to ? Life's as normal as it was... there 's something so endearing in routine :) Yet....

The dewdrops on the rose early in the morning ?
The early morning chill and the sun lazily coming out by late morning?
The sea, sea and more sea ?
the raging torrents dashing against the rocks,
the waters rushing to the shore and wetting my naked feet…

My mind draws blank.

I have no specific reason or logic or person to attribute it to. Except YT. Its just a high. And its just my state of mind.

Like the notes on a guitar stringing a lilting melody.
I am making it a high note one. :)

She is one of the sweetest and innocent girls I have come across. Very pretty, charming and graceful, we call her the babydoll of our office... it was her fiance’s birthday today…She is a traditionalist and conservative to the core and has met her fiancé only once (that too after her engagement)!

The day before, two of us in the office (another colleague and yours truly) give her ideas – basically a list of things she should do with “Him” (now – I already mentioned she is innocent, ok? ), places she should take “Him” (think straight again, folks) and gifts she should buy for “Him”.

Our lady is worried about her parents, her relatives, his parents, his uncles and aunts… no point going on, the list is endless!

She gives a shy smile and almost whispers, like a true bollywood heroine, “kisi ne dekhliya tho”?

I groan impatiently “ Come on! Its just one day! You are anyway going to be wearing your burqa! Who’s going to spot you?” And then we actually try to convince her to go without wearing her burqa!!! Bad strategy, so we revert back to the earlier path.


Covered in her Burqa and holding me by the arm, we march across to the Titan showroom in the crowded Brigade road at 6 PM and end up buying a beautiful silver colour watch for “Him”.

By this time, our lady is all smiles, blushing like a young bride, her eyes radiant with happiness. She is waiting for tomorrow…. We tell her to call “Him” at 12 in the night to be the first one to wish “him”. Her eyes light up even more! She candidly admits she never thought of this…. We tell her to bunk office the next day and spend the whole day with “Him” but no, the same problem… kisi ne dekhliya tho?

She comes to office on the next day, oops.. The DAY .. so beautifully dressed – big earrings, bangles, a bright yellow salwar kameez and high heels – the guys just cant help staring!

She tells me in an excited tone that she is planning to meet him in the evening and is all so excited!!

In the evening, she leaves for her big moment of the day and after a short while, I get a message with a smiley saying she met him and wished Him, gave the gift and went home with her brother!

Worse than 2 minutes noodles! (I would take more time cooking that too…)

To think those 2 minutes would bring a person so much joy and happiness!!!

Ah! The small things in life indeed brings us so much pleasure and joy! :-)