Gastronomical Ponderings

I've wanted to start a food blog but I always retract. Some blogs like this one and this seem like food pornography to me. You may have some better examples, but these are what I found..they are just seemingly cataloging gluttony. Anything that does not fill-up your senses is just incomplete and artificial.  Most experiences do not go all the way, but then, I am partial to complete experiences.

What I enjoy more than the taste of the food, is what comes with it. Food is incomplete without the company, conversations, surroundings and novelty. So yes coming back to the main point, I haven't gotten around getting my own food place on the cyberspace yet. Even if I have a food blog, I will not paste pictures of food in variety of tempting ways. No, it is not worth staring at loads of food you will never get to taste. With me you will get stories, an occasional recipe, and critiques you never asked for: complete experience I say.  

So enough talking, and food reminds me what happened last week in Bihar. And this sobered me. Maybe something in our collective consciousness tells us that it is morally wrong in parading food when we have such a conditions prevailing not far from us. The problems must be tackled and honestly I am still in limbo to figure out what must be done.
And while I am talking about bad food experiences and the online media,  you may have heard about the Lemp case. And from here I am going to move to  the topic of how dining out seems to have changed in Delhi. I left it at point where new places where just cropping-up. Moving from Nirula's ice-creams and Moti Mahal's butter chicken, Delhiites were discovering Russian, Italian, Greek cuisines. To confess I am the kind of person who could have fallen for the Hawaiian brunch offer just to have a good idea of how FAR away it was from the real experience. Always one up for the closest-to- genuine experience. I have this one-eyebrow-raised expression when it comes to fusion.
Not this time, we (my Brady bunch) went to Indian Accent. Getting there was truly, brilliantly and genuinely Indian experience. Braving the close to 50 degrees summers, the gaadi gave up in the middle of the road, its fan crashed. And next to us on the red- light pause, on a humble cycle, we found a mechanic! What are the chances? Nevertheless, Gaadi became Jugaadi and we postponed our reservations thrice. We reached there sweating, huffing and puffing, relieved to know we still had junta to serve us.
The interiors were simple and elegant. I liked the lamps.

We were very hungry and had a long look at the menu. We decided against wine because we had to drive back the Jugaadi late at night and drop off the Brady bunch.  We had corn ka shorba to begin with. This was a nice starter: small bite sized naans with blue cheese. You thought you can pop a few of them but the cheese made them heavy on the stomach and palate. You can try this at home.

Since we could not decide on the menu, we had a long and interesting chat with the chef. The Brady bunch is very adept at talking gastronomy, and I am usually the fence sitter or/and photographer. Fence-sitting has advantages which suit me: I get involved when people are confused and share my verdict.

Forewarning about the Prawnagraphic material ahead. I love prawns especially the nicely skewered once because I think its such an art to get them right. Here you see some with wasabi cream. 

And one on my plate: 

Then a very authentic Indian lamb kebab dish, boti kebab in dollops of ghee served with pancake rotis and absolutely delightful mango, imli and mint chutneys. Winners all. And you can also see the morsel of the prawn kebab on my plate. One of my friends moments later showed me how excellent the is tail too. 

Then we had this palate cleanser. Anardana sorbet. It is served in this cute little cooker and makes you think: why did I not think of this earlier. Maybe because I did not have a great freezer like these guys at the restaurant. We made a round of jokes on this one, which cannot be mentioned here. Also I should have taken better pictures. 

For mains we settled on Rice Crusted John Dory moilee and Dal Gosht which were both very well composed dishes. The Indianness was intact. 

I thought the presentation of Dal gosht was very continental. An Indian version would have served gosht with bones. Here they made them into meat balls and decorated it with flattened rice papad like things as fans. 

We chose various kinds of kulchas with bacon, duck and chicken tikka filling. Totally filling. 

The chef was happy with our Brady bunch and sent us gratis dal makhani ( I found it too tomatoey, while the Brady bunch sided with the chef) and raita (you can see a square dish above).

We were too full to consider desert. But then there was this which took us back to childhood: chikki, aam papad, phataphat, and hingolis, on a charpai!

We had a quick feedback session with the chef, complimenting mostly. He shared ideas for a desert: Chawanprash Cheesecake, and we were like..we just wish. But not today. He said the whole point was to get people nostalgic about food, which we were terribly after these nuances. I suggested a dish with Parle- G. I think I am on board with the chef with these crazy food ideas and he even complimented me. I hope to see that dish on the menu soon!

Till then, I think it was about food, it was about culture. The place does not lose its Indian-ness, just mixes it with global influences. It felt very much familiar not intimidating and exotic. I should be going to this place back, sooner.

Readings: Ralph Waldo Emerson

After reading John Updike 's autobiography, I picked up a book from another New England writing institution and author from Harvard (but I go rather backwards in time, Updike is fairly contemporary). Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings hint at an extraordinary lifetime of journal-keeping. You may have read his witticisms here and there (for example, “Build a better mouse trap and the world will find a path to your door”), but few know he inspired an entire thought revolution of his own, called Transcendentalism.  To cut a long story short, his theories will appeal to secularists, idealists, individualists and to all those who believe in the inherent goodness of human beings. Emerson opines that souls act (or "transcend the material world") as vessels of god.  Transcendentalists regard spiritual power as the core content of human capacity. You can summarize that Transcendentalists are sort of romantics; they mix this romanticism with ample religious seasonings. Importantly, they are staunch believers in the will in power of humans which overcomes any incidences of fate, which makes them closer to the pragmatists.

A word about his writing style prevalent in the nineteenth century: Emerson (hereon mentioned as RWE) sounds like a clergyman. He places himself high above the 'hoi polloi', to justify, sermonize and preach. Indeed the control over his words is so superior to the mortals that you want to read his sentences twice, thrice and once more to understand his powerful proclamations. But in all fairness, RWE is hardly a fan of logical flow; he meanders, often from one exaggeration to another. You can miss an entire page and leap on to the next only to find several more of his magnificent wordy-ornamentations extended to one brilliant sentence.

I usually do not 'dog - ear' my books, but Emerson is so full of wisdom, literally entire pages are written magically.  In this post, I will share excerpts from various readings which struck me most. [In square brackets, you will find my ponderings.] Overall, he is so inspirational that even a born cynic will question himself/herself after reading RWE. 

On Power of Individuals / Essay “Self Reliance”

The man must be so much, that he must make all circumstances indifferent.

[Now, he will induce a new line of thought to the powerful provocation above]

Every true man is a cause, a country, and an age; requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his design; and posterity seem to follow his steps as a train of clients.

[There is point after which you stop to question this extreme idealism. To think or assume anyone will have infinite time and space to accomplish their grand design? And have you met anyone short of an insane genius who knows their grand design? But, you will still find several nods in agreement over RWE’s rhetorical rhyme.]

A man Caesar is born, and for ages after we have a Roman Empire. Christ is born, and millions of minds so grow and cleave to his genius, that he is confounded with virtue and the possible of man. An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man; as, Monachism, of the Hermit Antony; the Reformation, of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism, of Wesley; Abolition, of Clarkson. Scipio, Milton called "the height of Rome"; and all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons.

[Hence proved! Hail RWE!]

On Permanence and Fluidity / Essay “Circles” 

There are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile.

[Powerful provocation introduced]

Permanence is but a word of degrees. Our globe seen by God is a transparent law, not a mass of facts. The law dissolves the fact and holds it fluid.

[He quotes a quasi- religio-scientific factoid to support his assertion above]

Our culture is the predominance of an idea which draws after it this train of cities and institutions. Let us rise into another idea: they will disappear. The Greek sculpture is all melted away, as if it had been statues of ice; here and there a solitary figure or fragment remaining, as we see flecks and scraps of snow left in cold dells and mountain clefts, in June and July.

[Hence proved again, RWE is so beautifully convincing!]

On Poets and the Rest of ‘Them’ / Essay: “Poets” 

[The point where I agree (I find myself bit of pragmatist than swaying in idealism) with RWE is his sense of classifying people, and his allergy to superficiality in them. In this essay his major objective is to glorify poets and sort of make them seem heroic in contrast. I mean, I agree with him, in my opinion, there is something extraordinarily under-rated about being a poet: in general, we have no concerts, no applauses, and no photo shoots…all we maintain is a silent thought in our head of being “different” and “sensitive” than the rest of the junta. And then there are the “rest” which seem to us like shallow showoffs, and who obviously do not read what we write. ]

“Those who are esteemed umpires of taste are often persons who have acquired some knowledge of admired pictures or sculptures, and have an inclination for whatever is elegant; but if you inquire whether they are beautiful souls, and whether their own acts are like fair pictures, you learn that they are selfish and sensual. Their cultivation is local, as if you should rub a log of dry wood in one spot to produce fire, all the rest remaining cold.”

[He contrasts the “rest” now with poets and great thinkers]

“But the highest minds of the world have never ceased to explore the double meaning, or shall I say the quadruple or the centuple or much more manifold meaning, of every sensuous fact; Orpheus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Plato, Plutarch, Dante, Swedenborg, and the masters of sculpture, picture, and poetry.

For we are not pans and barrows, nor even porters of the fire and torch-bearers, but children of the fire, made of it and only the same divinity transmuted and at two or three removes, when we know least about it”

[Poets are children of fire, a portion of divinity! Such hyperbolic imagery! But then don’t you agree with the fella?]

RWE on Politics/ Essay “Politics” 

[You would think that an idealist would desist to provide his two pence worth on matters like politics. But RWE is no shy idealist. He has an opinion on all matters material to the ways of the world. That’s where the pragmatist in me, gulps his essay down with keen interest]

“We live in a very low state of the world and pay unwilling tribute to governments founded on force”

[How terrible it is that the natures of governments have not changed since more than two centuries.  This statement could still hold valid. Do I want to fund wars? Do I want to fund corruption and inefficiency? But I am an unwilling participant in the evils through the nexus of the governments that force me to participate in the entire process. On a related note, transcendentalists are noted tax avoiders, look up Thoreau.]

“What satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the world “politic”, which is now for ages have signified cunning, intimating that state is a trick?”

[Again this is so true and accurate for contemporary times! We, the people, associate politics with savage social interactions meant exclusively for a few foxes, not knowing that even if we sit on the fence, we are very much part of the game . So, we are satisfied alluding ourselves, only the trick is still playing on us!]

[And now moving on to RWE’s recommendations on politics]

“The power of love , the basis for the State have never been tried”

[Duh!]

Other mentionables: 

[RWE has some gurus, Thoreau being the most revered one. RWE devotes an entire essay on the eccentricities. On his ideological opponent, Montaigne  he casts a pointed and verbose attack in an another essay, placing idealism above Montaigne’s preferred skeptical realm.]  

 “Our America has a bad name for superficialness. Great men, great nations, have not been boasters and buffoons, but perceivers of terror of life and have manned themselves to face it”

[A classic take on America, again targeting superficiality and purposefully romanticizing Sparta, Greece and the classical republics.]

There are several of such gems that gave me food for thought, and I mulled over this book for the past month. And I must devote two different posts, one on his essay on “fate”, and one exclusively on his poems. I must say, to me he is better poet than an essayist. His language style and ruminating persona echoes well in his poetry.  I will cover that in upcoming posts.

Quizzing and Competing!

It was a wonderful experience, being one of the teams at the Tata Crucible Quiz's stage! Out of 120 teams that participated in the Mumbai regional rounds , and we girls managed to crack the finals. The questions were all based on lateral thinking and business awareness (a lot of them were about Tatas though!). We got more than 50% of the questions right in the prelims and were confident of qualifying. In the next rounds, we did try our best but lost out with just a question in the buzzer round. Learning: Not only the correct answers get counted but the speediest ones.Only one team moved to the National finals, and indeed they deserved the win. We came back with a renewed vigour for contesting next year and a couple of great prizes!

Quiz master Pickbrain's quizzing is fast paced and witty and I enjoyed the questions thoroughly. Another satisfying thing was that I found an excellent quizzing partner in my class, Chika, she is very bright and is as interested in quizzing as I am. I 've been part of Delhi University quizzing circuit and Brand equity quiz and have continued being part of quizzes since school (used to be the only girl competing in sports quiz then!), but I think 2010-11 is my only good chance of taking on some serious wins. Quest begins, and this is something I would surely enjoy!

Music and Memories

Photo: Long back, Garry and I won 2nd prize at a collage making competition, the nerds that we were (are), finding (some strange?) infinite joy in Trigonometry .. we called it "Dreams Unlimited"

On an afternoon just like the one today..oh no, I don't think I 'd be feeling the same like the one I am talking about. Today I 've got the time and space to think about the many that went by. Then, I was different. Everything around me was well, different. I was in a different space, but somewhere it feels deja vu. I get it, its the track that's playing in the background. Music evokes feelings and I love the emotional experience, the power it has to change your mood, thinking and actions! 

And I think about the days I used to dance to MTV playing in the TV room whenever my favourite track came, and those when I had a walkman, and that felt like the greatest gift from God. I just downloaded some songs of the "era", and I feel I am back there: a teenager, singing about feelings I didn't know then but know now. Maybe I 'll understand some songs better a few years down the line. 

I don't think I' ve spent a single day without listening or singing something. I 've lived in a musically inspired family and that helped alot. I love muzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaaaak ! 

Golden Baritones: My Favorite Male Vocalists

Scott Stapp: 


Lead singer of Creed, now gone solo. Love his deep voice, meaningful lyrics and the ability of his songs to powerfully believe in them. He can inspire a calm rebellion in the head.  


Image from: Jordan White's blog 






Eddie Vedder: 


Lead singer of Pearl Jam. The altern-god. Can you imagine "Jeremy", "Green Disease" without him? Recently got introduced to his song "Hard Sun". Love his song's lyrics and the rough yet velvety quality of the voice.

Image from babble.com

            

Bruce Springsteen 

He ain't the Boss for nothing. There is something reassuring and comforting about his voice. Powerfully nostalgic, evoking deep-seated memories. He could be a vocal shaman.

Image from: Friends of Music, wordpress

Chris Martin:

Lead singer of Coldplay. Messiah of anemic rock. He has a mysteriously smooth vocal quality, not a baritone exactly but a versatile and pleasant voice.

Image from zimbio.

                                                     Hariharan
Ever since he sang "Krishna" as part of Colonial Cousins, I have been his fan.       "Ay Hairathe" is made for him. Bless him and AR Rehman!

Chad Kroeger

Lead singer and co-guitarist of Nickelback. True rock-star, Perfect baritone. To die for! Just sing my name once !

Image from: mysticgames.com 

Coldplay - The Hardest Part / Postcards From Far Away

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