Of Aromas and ambience

Actually I had decided to blog about another topic altogether….. But then just a whiff of my toothpaste reminded me of my visit to my friend’s place in the US. Isn’t that absolutely hilarious? It’s true though that many a times when the aroma of coffee wafts to me I am transported to the trattoirs of Paris and the many petits bistros that line them. I would love to go there again and sit at a bistro, with une petite tasse du café (a cup of coffee) or with a glass of wine and watch the world go by.
The complete stillness of an evening reminds me of Switzerland… where you can hear the silence. It’s amazing that till you actually get to the Rhine falls you don’t even realize that they exist… such is the silence there. Even nature behaves :)
The brain is tuned to such nuances of smells and aromas. The heavier attars (fragrances/perfumes) brings a picture of the desert while the cooler perfumes brings to mind the snowy landscapes.
For me even the crayons have a distinctive smell….. and in my mind’s eye I can see my aju (my grandpa) drawing. My childhood memories are associated with him drawing either my portrait or drawing figures from the stories that he would tell. While the sandalwood reminds me of my grandma….. as her saris would be scented with sandalwood that she kept in her almirah.
All through life your brain keeps soaking in these trivial (?) things and whose importance you only get to know when memories get jogged by only a whiff of that long forgotten fragrance/aroma.

Itsy bitsy thingies.

A shoe-string budget ! I heard…. I was trying to figure out the meaning of that when I realized I shouldn’t look too far. The Bollywood (the film industry of Mumbai/Bombay) was the answer. Now you would ask me how this could possibly be when one hears that the film budget runs in crores! Oh well but the heroine’s budget is always hanging on a shoe string. Those itsy-bitsy thingies! The crores are spent on the lavish sets, the hero’s wardrobe and other technical matters and when it comes to our poor heroine….. whats left but a shoe-string.
It defies all reason how the heroine can prance in snowy locales in a mini skirt or in earlier times in gauzy chiffons and a barely there blouse when the hero was totally bundled in his designer woolies. In these computerized times one can say that they were not really there.. the scenes have been superimposed or something…. But what about in the non comp era. I don’t think superimposition of frames is the answer otherwise what would these lovely foreign locales do without Yash Chopra! So to keep their economy booming our heroines are back to shoestrings.
I remember a Marathi stand up comedian once commented that thank God there are no rag pickers on the sets otherwise they might just misunderstand the itsy-bitsies and then what would be the plight of the heroines?
But again theres a paradox in the shoestring budget. This I realized on watching a few Hindi movies. When they want to show that the heroine comes from a poor family she’s fully clothed ( in hindi movies it’s called being “ghar ki izzat”/ family honour ). So the father might not have money to eat but his daughter is fully clothed and when the heroine is shown to be from a rich family she gets to wear all these itsy-bitsies…. Why is that I might ask? Isn’t she “ghar ki izzat “? Or being rich means you have none of that what so ever. Or is it that the lavish houses shown to make us understand that they are rich cost so much that again the heroine’s budget hangs by a string. Just a thought here…which flashed through my mind…… don’t go by the lavish houses either…. It took me more than half of the movie Devdas (Bhansali’s… I had not seen the earlier ones and had not read the novel either…. So went to see the movie with no background about the plot) to understand that Paro came from a poor family and that was the hitch! The reason for their families not agreeing to the union. Looking at the sets I didn’t even have the faintest that Paro was from a poor family. It was only after three-quarters were over that theres a scene where the roof in her house is leaking and the mother saying something about not having the money for repairs….. this was the time when I actually came out of my seat and nearly yelled “Eureka”
Anyways sorry for digressing…. With women empowerment being at the fore front I do hope these heroines put there collective pretty feet firmly down and ask for more budget (substantially more) for their wardrobes or a medical insurance at the very least to save them the cost of treating Pneumonia.

The lip smacking Undiyo

The undiyo season is here. Since I absolutely love this gujarati dish, I was reminiscing about the first time ever that I tasted the Undiyo. My mind just took wings. I remembered my great uncle who was the collector of Surat and thats how my father and uncle spent time in Surat and learnt Gujarati and developed a taste for the gujarati food. My dad had lots of gujju friends and when I was a kid we visited Ahmedabad in december.... just during the undiyo season. We were invited for an undiyo party. There was this huge pit in which there was an earthen pot in which the undiyo was simmering. The guest were all sitting around this pit and helping themselves to Undiyo. As a kid i didn't much take to it. I think it's an acquired taste. Over the years though... not only have I developed a taste for it but have also learnt to cook it! Learning to cook it was a necessity as the undiyo sold in the shop was so oily that I would have guilt pangs after just tasting it.
My mom's friend was a good cook. She was a walking cook-book. All you needed to do was ask.." How do you make.......?" and the recipe would come pouring out her mouth. Thats where I got my undiyo recipes...which over the years I have fine tuned.... added to.... subtracted from... and which I am posting today..... Here goes:- Recipe for 12 servings
1/2Kg Surti papdi
1/2Kg papdi
1/2Kg papdi(only the beans to be taken from this one)... it's called danyachi papdi.
1/4Kg bringals (egg plants-small)
1/4Kg yam (the purple variety)
1/4Kg sweet potato
1/4Kg potatoes
3 bananas (ripe)
1 bunch fresh garlic
2 1/2" ginger
15-16 cloves garlic
10 green chillies
Method: Grind to a paste the fresh garlic/garlic/ginger/green chillies. Add to this turmeric, Dhania jeera powder, salt and sugar. Make 3 parts of this paste.
In a big pan, pour oil. Be generous :) you need about 5 big ladles of oil. When hot add ajwain seeds to it for tempering... you could also add a half spoon of sesame seeds too.... and then add turmeric powder for tempering. After this add surti papdi/papdi and the beans. Add one third of the green paste to this. Cover the vessel and cook till half done. Dont add any water. Then add the layer of the roots i.e the yam/potatoes/sweet potatoes.... to this add methi muthias.... this is a short cut I use. I get the packet from the shop....so these are hard and need to be cooked.... then add another 1/3rd of the paste..... when this layer is cooked.... then add the green bananas and add some grated fresh coconut and chopped fresh corriander to it. Add the last bit of the green paste. Add salt if required. Your undiyo is ready to be served.
Enjoy your meal (thats what my microwave says everytime it pings!!!) Bon-appetit!!