The Bitter Gourd Creeper

Last year around this time saw me busy with major repairs to our flats' common areas. I asked the workers to leave a narrow patch of land intact for me to attempt some gardening on our side of the compound. My husband is very good at growing a patch of garden. He worked along side his father who retired as the director of agriculture in Orissa some 40 years back.

His interest and knowledge is great in the subject.

Both of us planned to coax the hard and unresponsive soil to allow growth of some plants. We had put up a wire mesh fence above the compound wall to obstruct view from the neighbour's house with creepers like jasmine and money plant. Nothing seemed to work for almost 10 months. We had decided to dump our fruits and vegetables waste into a small pit and covered with soil. This was our green attempt not to load the local garbage bin besides manuring our tiny garden. I would keep aside all the water which I would use to wash vegetables and rice, etc. instead of letting it go down the drain (recycling waste). That water would go into the small patch. Every morning at cooking time we both would do this with such joy and commitment.

Last month I had got some bitter gourds from the market. It was good and the seeds looked sturdy and healthy. So my husband prepared a nice place to plant them in. He also planted the jasmine which creeper came up well. Some spinach varieties. Some tomato plants, some pumpkin seeds. All in a small patch of 8ft X 2ft soil.
All of them came up to say hi and gladdened our hearts. But alas many din't make it as other plants dwarfed them out of their fair share of sunlight and rats too were nibbling away at the tomato plants which would appear shredded the next morning after they peeped out so expectantly from the soil.

Then it was as if the jasmine creeper was struggling to compete with the bitter gourd. My husband tied a criss cross of wires and thin coir ropes. The creepers spread their tentacles so beautifully and a few weeks later we could see yellow flowers with baby bitter gourds hanging. The first batch of 250 gms was harvested last week and another this week. They were so tender and juicy and not at all bitter!

Some have green fingers and thanks to their efforts we all enjoy the fruits of labour. I share a picture which my son took and framed the vegetable in red.

We shall keep at it forever and leave as little carbon print as possible.

Mahalakshmi.

Project Completion At Last!

For weeks I was tied up with the nitty gritty of tying loose ends of a 2 year long project report for a hotel here.

I am glad it is over and done with except for some finishing touches here and there.

I recommend each undertake a project once in their lifetime. Its such a powerful feeling to acquire in-depth knowledge about systems and procedures of an entirely new department as far as I am concerned.

I was thrilled to bits to search the net for information, write from my own experiences if it is relevant to the subject, adapt it to a hotel requirement, cross check with my boss whether it was ok and finally write it crisply.

There is no greater joy than having seen through the finish of a project. Despite so many obstacles and my being on the verge of giving it all up, I din't let it go. I wanted to stay there until it was submitted to the concerned people and that is being done today by my boss. I hope she has a successful test run today.
I am heaving a sigh of relief but I am already on to planning 4 projects in my mind.

It's been quite a long time since I sat down with a few hours to spare for writing my thoughts what with the maid servant being away for a fortnight now. She has come back and taken charge. Bless her for being such a great support to me otherwise I would be cleaning house instead of writing this blog.

Mahalakshmi

Summer Vacation for my Maid

I know I can't work peacefully without her help with housework. I like my house help because she does not talk much. Does all agreed chores in 45 minutes flat which might take me all day and yet I might leave some work for the next day!

I look for opportunities to give her things.

Work load was too much and I could not fish out 2 good sarees to give her, in lieu of the Solar and Lunar eclipses towards the beginning of this year. But yesterday I did that before she left on her summer vacations!

She never absents herself. But does take long leave during summer and pongal holidays to go to her mother's which I never grudge. Anyway what is the use of grudging her the long leave, when she comes regularly for the whole year.

This time too she told me last week she wanted to take leave for 15 days off starting from today and I just smiled! After 15 days I will have my angel back so I will manage without her with a smile.

I gave her the salary for this month so that she can spend it at her village. I could find two good polyester sarees with bright borders and gave her. She was so happy. I have decided to send her with a smile whenever she goes on vacation. Its better this way for both of us to feel pleasant and not make her vacation a nightmare because I don't like to struggle with house work!

I am lucky that all of us at home pitch in whenever the maid is absent.
I feel good that she keeps me informed of her long leave and always returns back on the date she says she will come.

The only drawback with her is she will come to do the chores anytime between 11.30 and 4pm!! I have not been able to correct this in her. I think we have to live with that as long as she works for me.
At least I can feel comfort in leaving the kitchen in a mess and not worry whether she will come for the day or not like most servants nearby.

Mahalakshmi.

Cats And Roosters

Our next door neighbour has taken a sudden interest in sprucing up her garden (they are blessed as they live in an independent house) and raising some fowl like hens and roosters. Three of them roam around, fly over walls, escape into our compound or roam on the road freely, looking for worms, insects or grains thrown as waste from the opposite grocer's shop.

What a racket they raise all the time, yet their early morning call at the crack of dawn is so sweet and so welcome. Our neighbours are muslims. In urdu the early morning call for prayers is known as 'Azaan'

As usual, there are a few roadside cats looking for a free and tasty meal. They are more of rowdy tomcats. I have written about them in my earlier blog too. The roosters are pretty careful not to get too near them and manage to scare them away by cackling loudly. So far nothing has happened. Yet at times I can see the expression on the cat's face which may read like "What an interesting meal this one will make me, slurp, slurp".

Maybe the cat is letting the fowl fatten some more!
Once or twice, I saw the neighbour shooing away the cat. What irony indeed. She too is waiting until the right time to enjoy its meat. For whom it is destined, only God knows because - 'Daane daane pe likha hai, khaane wale kaa naam' which loosely translates as 'on each grain is engraved the eater's name'. Only in this case, it's not about grains. Indeed.

Cheers.
Mahalakshmi

Vegetable Preservation - Old Practices

Though I am aware I have to finish off my list of favourite Hindi, Telugu and Tamil movies but can do that when I have more time than I have today.
It's state elections. Have to cast my vote and rush off to attend a ceremony elsewhere.

Instead I thought I should share with you a short one on something which struct me as I was buying the raw banana for tomorrow's curry or whatever, at the grocer's.
They were a bright green and very healthy looking ones. I had to buy them even as thoughts of many recipes with them raced through my mind.

In my childhood it was a common sight to see a bunch of raw bananas (which are meant only for cooking and not ripening into fruits) floating in a container filled with water. That too for days on end (even for as long as 15 days) before it could be cut to be used in simple curries and other dishes like koottu, chips, podi, etc. They would remain fresh. Only this vegetable was put in the water.

I asked my mom the reason for putting them in the water instead of in the fridge. She told me it was to prevent it from turning ripe. A raw banana is treated as a vegetable. Even if it were to ripen we don't prefer to eat it. The fruit variety is different from this vegetable variety both in shape and size. I have noticed how they turn blackish and tasteless when stored in the fridge.

We have a lot to learn from our previous generation on naturally available preservation techniques. As an after thought, in these days of Dengue is it good to keep water surface open? Inviting mosquitoes in to lay their eggs in fresh water and cause ailments to us?
Food for thought!
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi

My Favorite English Movies

I have always loved good stories. Not too sad and melancholic nor too racy and artificial.

These are my all time favorites which I enjoy each time I had watched it (not more than a couple of times each!). Watching movies has been very far and in-between. During our Hyderabad days (till age 25) we really saw many movies and enjoyed them so much. In all languages - English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Afterwards movies were far and few yet we did enjoy them now and then.

English:
(Pardon me if I get some names of the titles, heroes and heroines wrong).

Gone With The Wind - Clarke Gable was the most handsome man ever, with the looks one could die for. And that soft-spoken cousin of Scarlett who knew about Scarlett's crush on her husband, yet remained ever dignified till her very end. The best punch line which I use even now, in my daily life, "Tomorrow is another day".

The Sound of Music - Though it was through and through, a musical and what beautiful music they made! The film kept me enraptured for its story for a long, long time. I used to play all the songs on the harmonium, sitar and veena especially, the 'Do Re Mee...' tune. My favorite song remains the farewell song - 'Eidelwise, you look happy to meet me...'. I loved those good-hearted nuns who helped Maria leave the nunnery free from any guilt feelings. And the bumbling villi (read vamp) who was so good and true to her character, and I was so eager for her to go away and make way for our heroine, for how could the hero be so blind. It was almost like the typical Mills and Boon type story yet so powerful and so musical.

To Sir With Love A story line with a difference. I liked the bold theme. I thought it was much ahead of its times.

Krammer Vs Krammer
This was a very thought-provoking movie and I loved it so much. I became a Hoffman fan forever. The child star stole many a hearts, I am sure. I was too young to realize yet it was strange to know that even men cared and had feelings for their family and their young! It was quite a revelation to me at that time.
I din't miss seeing Mrs.Doubtfire for Hoffman's sake and he din't let me down either. I loved Hoffman in yet another family drama in Mrs.Doubtfire.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A different story with a different ending which disturbed my mind for a very long time. I could not forget it even after deliberately seeing different genres of movies. The story kept coming back to my mind again and again.

Pretty Woman
What a lovely movie. I had a new hero to die for :D
Until then, it was Clarke Gable whose place none else could take and after this I knew I was wrong. This hero (whose name I am unable to recollect right now but who is into Dalai Lama and things now) was too good to be true. Julia Roberts was at her acting best. Though it resembles our Hindi story lines, yet I simply loved this spin. It had a happy ending to it.

The Jurassic Park
Fantasy through and through and how realistic it all looked. The best any day in all departments of movie making. Its an original and very thought-provoking. The message is clear - never meddle with nature with some scenes in-your-face and quite scary.

The Schindler's List
I could not stop crying. The power of one man who did all he could for so many people who had no hope being alive the next day. This was too good. It brought out the goodness of human nature at its best. Even now, I love reading such true life stories in the Reader's Digest, yet to see something similar on screen, made such a huge impact. A very well directed movie. The hero, the most handsome man ever. Or is it that goodness makes men look handsome?!

The Titanic
A giant of a movie. What scale, what magnificent settings. It all seemed like a dream during all those hours I was glued to my seat in the movie theatre. Kate, I thought was the most beautiful girl in the whole world after this movie. A Beautiful face-cut she has. The solo song by the Canadian singer (Celina?) stole my heart. What a divine tune it was and such soulful singing. Very few English songs have managed to touch my heart and this is definitely one of them.

All Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy movies
Laughter is the best medicine anytime. Yet there were some which brought tears to my eyes. It's all about happy-sad-funny kind of movies touching real life incidents. I still remain Charlie Chaplin's fan for the wealth he left behind without speaking a word as dialogue. The Laurel & Hardy pair had never failed to give me my fair share of stomach aches from laughing until tears rolled down my eyes for long while watching their silent antics.
'Heard sweet, unheard sweeter!'

All Lucile Ball episodes on the TV in those days
A laughter riot. Lucile had the most innocent looking eyes I have ever seen. She was the best where comedy 'timing' was concerned and who can forget all those antics. Wonder why no one screens these evergreens anymore on TV channels these days.

I was too small when Ben Hur was released and all of us cousins, went to see the movie in a local theatre near my uncle's house in Kurnool in the scorching sun when all others were snoring right royally at home with us kids not knowing what to do next! Perhaps we wanted to escape the heat as well as the sound!
Since the town was small someone known to the family saw our gang and reported seeing us at the theatre unaccompanied, at home. My eldest cousin who is quite aged came to get us and how! He shouted for us all to come out of the theatre standing at the main door. Each head in the theatre turned to look at us as if we had committed some crime and were being punished. The projector came to a halt (the theatre manager knew the family well) so that we could all come out without the public raising a hue and cry over such a disturbance during the show.
I still remember nothing of the movie except the clash and fireworks when two chariot wheels came too close to each other. We never saw anything beyond this scene.
All of us kids came out with very angry and sad expressions at being caught seeing a movie, that too an English movie, which we had no right to see, unaccompanied (by at least one male elder!!).

Me and my sister were left unharmed while all my uncles' kids were beaten black and blue that day. We both were petrified at the wild punishment meted out to all other kids and we were literally shuddering at the thought of when our turn would come. It never came, much to our relief. Perhaps we were city breds, were convent educated and had come for vacations or may be for some other reason but the very thought of those brutes touching us to beat, gave us so much tension and we were cringing with fear throughout our stay after that sorry episode. We wanted to get back to our beloved Hyderabad at the earliest. This was a lesson for us too. We could hear them commenting not to imitate city people! While we knew that all these cousins made it to the movies, on the sly, all the time and especially during summer vacations as a past time - city or no city upbringing!! Yet they managed to hurt us with words.
I am yet to watch Ben Hur till date.

After that, we never went to Kurnool again for our summer vacations ever. It taught us sisters never again to see a movie without informing our people at home ahead of time. Later while in college, we never went to movies with friends either, after college hours. This one incident had that kind of impact on our minds for a very long time indeed.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi

Always Wanting More For Less!

Yesterday the scent of cut jack fruit stopped me in my tracks.
Push carts on the roads sell fruits, vegetables, etc.
Had to buy the over powering jack.
Asked the seller how many pieces for Rs.10? He said 5 pieces for 10 and commented that actually he wanted to sell only 4 pieces but thought 5 will sell better as it was a better number! Sure.
Thought it was strange but a beneficial logic for buyers.
I bought 10 pieces for Rs.20 and was tempted to jokingly tell him to sell 11 pieces instead of an even number like 10!!
But resisted that joke, as driving poor people against the wall is bad.
He may gain only a few rupees from us to eke out a meagre living.

Today had to prepare the jack fruit payasam as the cut fruit will get sour if left for too many days, besides odorizing the entire fridge.
It was yummy and all of us enjoyed it so much.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi