Pinku-Enchanted Life

A three day weekend, nothing much to do, a hubby who thinks the only vegetable worth putting in his mouth is a potato and my weekly challenge of feeding him some veggies culminated in a Chinese style dish...whose highlight was the amount of vegetables that went into it. It went pretty well with rice and with bread and did its jobs of putting some veggies in the hubby’s tummy, so thought I should share it here as well. I usually do these food experiments and then forget what exactly I had done and then am at a loss when asked to repeat any of it – so am using the blog as a self note as well. Ingredients: For marination: Boneless chicken half kg,   Ginger paste 2 tbsp, vinegar 2 tbsp, soya sauce 2 tbsp and Tabasco 1 tbsp. Mixed all these well and let it rest for   4 hours. 3 medium size onions chopped into big chunks, 1 tbsp garlic, 250 gms each of tomato, capsicum, French beans and carrots, had fine cut the beans and carrots while the capsicum was cut into bigger slices. The tomatoes w

Faith, trust, believe…all old fashioned words that mean nothing in today’s world unless of course you participate in those five yearly races called elections. In which case these words just mean one thing – the vote bank. But that’s not the meaning I was talking about. I was talking about the kind on which forever after relationships are based. The kind which wise people know is far more important than love for love is fickle while faith stays true. That’s its nature. But then again I am talking of things past. Things that are obsolete and do not mean anything anymore.  Why do I say so you ask? I say this because around me I see the wreckage of human relationships; I see greed, lust and selfish interest guide people into higher and still higher levels of oblivion from the pain of those around them. How is it possible for people to negate everything that’s been done for them, whether by parents, friends, and siblings or spouses for something which even in their

The thrill of creating a new blog is something quite unique. What to call it, what will the content be like and what will people have to say about this attempt are all questions that make the creative juices flow.   The idea for this latest blog stemmed from the fact that a friend mentioned leaving a well paying job to start a eatery of his own. The realization that food has become a subject that interests almost everyone and that dal roti is no longer what food is about led to the thought of chronicling my food experiences. So this blog is going to be all about food. However mind you food never is alone, it’s accompanied with some adventure, some gossip, some light moments and some never to be forgotten memories. So while food remains our hero my attempt would also be to touch upon that little extra that made a meal much more than a biological process. I come from a family where food was always the central feature of all planning, whether travel, wedding or holiday…the first thing to

I finished reading a book called Rani by Jaishree Mishra today. It was based on the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi...a figure of courage and strength for me from as back as I can remember. I had always been bad at Hindi as a subject and had special difficulty in understanding and grasping poetry in the language. However in class IV when the really long Har bolo ke muh humne sunni kahani thi ...poem became a part of the curriculum I had no difficulty in memorizing the whole thing by heart. I still get goose bumps when I hear it read out. I had never doubted the Rani's bravery and courage and had set out to read her story convinced that I would read about a person who was so strong that I could only gather strength from the book. But having finished the book I am left in a state of despair. For the author entered her heart and mind and showed up the doubts and fears. Showed up Laxmi Bai's desire to have the simple things of life ...time with her child and husband, a fe

Dreams those wispy things much like our souls that run everything and yet you can’t put a finger on them. Touch them you can’t, forget them you can’t, hold them you can’t and yet they form and they also shatter. I know this sounds melodramatic but every time I have dared to dream, fate has had other plans. I can tell you I have worked really hard to ensure that my dreams are guarded against strong winds and the hot sun…that they have a cool and comfortable place to stay in, grow in and yet, yet each time they have got bruised and then broken. My last dream was one made of music, soft candle lights, cakes, coffee, red roses & tube roses and the nargis in winters. It was made of port wine, sea shells, mountain air, rhymes, films, books and long conversations that lasted through the night. That dream lies shattered now. I don’t have the luxury of sitting with the bits and crying so I move on. But as I walk the shards enter my feet and scratch my heart. This last dream

December has been a busy month for me. Training session in Ahmedabad, business trip to Kolkata, work pressures and home in a bit of chaos thanks to the regular maid being on leave and mom in law not doing too well. In the midst of this came our 5th year anniversary and also the partner's birthday. Each trip, each occasion made me want to write a few words on the blog.....mark it for posterity so to speak. And yet it didn't happen. There was a time when the blog used to be my bestest friend, my confidante . Now I dont have the time to come back to it even when I want to. Things change, not always for the better but we have to accept that change and we have to move on. This is life. I had made it a practice to always at an year end jot down a list of things I would want to do in the coming year. This year even that inclination is not there. I am planning to take each day as it comes. I am planning to enjoy the small joys. I am planning to blog less, FB less, t

I told my Mom that she need not worry while I went out for a three day trip with college mates and she replied “wait till you are a mom” I objected to her objecting about my late night partying and she said “wait till you are a mom” On the basis of a good interview I decide to move to Bombay and tell her that she need not worry for me, she replied “wait till you are a mom” And then finally on 24 th Feb 2011 I became a Mom. The tiny little red bundle with big eyes and a crop of shockingly black curly hair was all mine. My home production as I fondly called her. I was half proud, half awed and half intrigued by this thing that came out of me and yet was a complete thing in its own right. My pact with my Mom had been that I would carry the baby for nine months and then go back to my job and career while she was responsible for the baby. She had agreed and we had planned the baby. I went back to work within two months of the baby being born. She was too youn