Friday, August 17, 2012

Poking one's Nose ...


My young FB friend  Sudev Sarkar was a neighbor more than 25 years ago, when he was a student.

Technology allows you to meet so many folks , virtually, that you haven't seen for years.

 He recently went on a Safari to the Amboseli National Park  in Kenya, and posted some amazing photos here.

One,  portraying the giraffes, sort of reminded me of something. 

 (photo by Sudev Sarkar)
So many
tall upright leaders
aware of the environment,
minding their own
life and work,

an example to their young

It takes one
stray
disobedient,
interfering,
pseudo powerful,
physically imposing
but empty minded
insecure type
to
poke his nose in
and cause problems.

Politics of the jungle ?


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Ek Tha Sizzler......


Sometimes the headers of blogs look so delicious, you forget to read the posts.  My blogger friend Magiceye posted one such , of a sizzler , he enjoyed at one of Mumbai's original sizzler places , Yoko Sizzlers, in the western Mumbai suburb of Santa Cruz, where it first started.  There are many branches, but they often do not measure up to the standards of the original.

The entire ethos of fire, flavours, sauces, smoke, steam, participating meats and vegetables,  and the flourishing presentation reminded one, of the movies and Bollywood.


So many edible folks
with Bollywood pretensions.

Pert Preity Zinta green peas
with the cute factor;

Conservative Rima Lagoo
Cabbage Moms,
keeping base,
with pale green sarees,
largely wrapped;

Assorted roasted vamp onions,
unaware
of being transparent;

A chorus of
squished singed tomatoes,
bright shining carrots,
some out-of-place
unwilling cut-up beans,
and a bunch
of flamenco spinach dancers,
flashing their dark green skirts;

All watched
by the elderly Thakoor Cutlet,
and his Cheesy Chamchaas,
while the
law enforcement
French Fries Patrol
keeps asking the whereabouts
of the missing Monsieur Rice-Pasta;

The tempo heats up,
as they prepare
for the
arrival and repose
of the  Hero;
Powerful Top folks,
Sometimes Fowl,
Sometimes Communist Red,
and sometimes
a Slippery and Fishy
slightly better white...

Unbearable tempers,
heat,
the fat's in the fire,
the angry Hero smokes,
and sizzles,
as he is presented at the table.

And the man
looks at his friend,
blows the smoke away,
picks up his fork,
and says,
"Wonderful film !
Kya sizzler hai !"



Freedom to explore


Young photoblogger  Pankaja Date likes to go exploring amidst the green, more so on monsoon mornings.  She did so, on this Independence Day mid morning, and amongst butterflies, and caterpillars , also chanced upon a ladybug teetering at the edge of the leaf. 

As she mobilized to click it, an ant simply made its way importantly into the frame.

This was the result.  

Like they say, nature reflects what it sees around itself.....

(photo by Pankaja Date Photography)
In the
same undulating green,
two worlds
of the
haves and have-nots

separated by
a self defined line.

On one side,
prosperous black coated
red top-hatted types,
bursting at the seams,
blithely traipsing around,
the smooth life,
unaware that
blind ambition
and overconfidence
sometimes leads to a sheer fall.

And the hardy
have-nots,
of the uneven
unpredictable,
occasionally damaged
terrain,
with potholes ,
testing out the dangers
with their tentative feet,
trying to smell
which way the wind blows,
and what lies below.

A heavy blast
of a monsoon wind,
and the green terrain
sweeps itself
taking the citizenry along.

Do they fall,
do they hold on
to each other together,
or do they
hold on desperately
for their own dear life,
is a telling commentary
on the society
we call our own.....

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Life and Times of the Coconut Paneer Barfi


My blogger and FB friend Shruti Nargundkar of Melbourne,  has a wonderful food related blog, where she often intertwines her childhood memories and ethos  of the cooking , and creates wonderful pictures .

She recently posted  something about a coconut paneer barfi , something to be made on the Rakhi Poornima/Coconut Day celebrations, when sisters tie Rakhis to brothers (see foreground of the plate), and fishermen offer coconuts to the Sea , in gratitude and worship.

It is often fun to attribute a life to all the ingredients.

I tried. Originally in Marathi, the King'(Shivaji)'s Language .  Then , an effort in what is called, the Queen's.


पोर्णिमेच समुद्रस्नान चकवून
घरी आलेला तो नारळ ,
स्वताहाच्या अश्रूंमध्ये बुडलेली
त्याची बहीण साखर ,
 राखीचा सोहळा
बघायला आलेल्या पनीरला
आग्रहाने बोलावतात ,
आणि
इलायची इलायची  खूप खेळल्यावर ,
ओलसर उबेत चिंब भिजल्यावर,
दुधाच्या कोरड्या पंचाने
पिठी साखरेच्यासह पुसून
एका मउ गुळगुळीत ठिकाणी
सगळे आरामात  पहुडतात .....

आणि कधीतरी
सोनेरी क्षणात ,
निरांजानासाम्वेत ,
ताम्हनात बसून
कोणा एका हसर्या चेहर्या समोर
शेवटची गिरकी मारून
आत्मसमर्पण .......

तसे क्षणभंगुर ,
पण किती परोपकारी  हे
बर्फीचे आयुष्य  !


A run-away coconut,
playing truant
from the
Fishermens' Full Moon Festival
offering to the sea;
Lady Sugar,
immersed
in her own syrupy happy tears,
and they invite
Paneer Kumar
to join in the celebrations....

Wild games of Cardamom-Cardamon,
all stirred up
and warmly entangled
in excitement,
they rest,
tired,
in a cool place
after
a wrap and scrub of
some tough dry
no nonsense
milk and sugar....

And then
in one golden moment,
of the puja thali,
the final flare
of a glowing sweet life,
as they
slowly circle
around a happy brother's face,
only
to offer their lives,
to see joyful faces
around them.

A short life this,
but what a giving one .....




Bozoical cheesy dreams


Bozo, our famous Mumbai dog-with-his-own-blog   is back in his element, after a week of being on his own.  His mentor Magiceye, was out of town, and there is always just so much you can enjoy looking out of the balcony , as it drizzles.

Magiceye is back, after a long driving trip, and Bozo has heard folks ordering  pizza on the phone.  At one time, he might have bounded up and down the house in anticipation.  But like Mufasa , the Lion King, he always lives his life in the balance. 

He will probably nibble on some chicken and stuff, but he doesnt really think too highly about the yeasty crusts, and the "kaphakaarak (=mucus generating)" cheese. Unlike some folks we know who diet to look size zero and beautiful , Bozo listens to those who worry about his health.

But he always  dreams on......

Today
has been a
festival of smells
and sounds,
after a week
of Maun Vrat
and staring out of the balcony.

The smell of rain
and wet earth,
the sound of
a car stopping
and footsteps
on the stairs.
A whiff of shoes and
automotive luggage smells
and
the house
is full again....

We chaps
have a such
a keen sense of smell,
that sometimes
we even smell things
that are not there yet.

Like they say,
folks are tired from travel
it is late
and
pizzas have been ordered.

And so I dream
of cheese
and oregano
and pepper
and tomatoes
and chicken,
as I mostly avoid the crust.

No, I am not
on a size zero diet
a la Kareena Kapoor,
nor am I selected
as Hero
of the film
"BozoKumar Pizza le Jayenge"...

Those doctors in Parel
have put me on a diet,
and I can only dream on .....

Monday, August 6, 2012

Bozoical Declarations


Each week,Bozo, Mumbai's only-dog-with-his-own-blog  has so much  interesting stuff to tell !  He may not give speeches at the drop of a hat, or vociferously protest   like some folks we all know, but he has been an observer of our society, the family set up, and the environment, and now that he doesn't gallivant around so much with his friends, he has time to deeply reflect.

His mentor and life chronicler , Magiceye, clicked him recently  in such a pose, as he was relaxing on the floor, not just thinking about lunch and garden walks, but some other stuff as well.

Read on ...



Nature or nurture?

And sometimes,
when I am by myself
in the quiet house
I reflect on it.

Abandoned at birth
I ran helplessly with a pack
due to sheer peer pressure,
till a little girl
gathered me up
and took me home.

And there,
I learned little things...

Just like
you didnt play
very loud music,
that disturbed,
you didnt keep wilfully barking
simply because you were
upset , protesting
or telling off another dog...

You  didnt jump on
little children
you met for the first time
because they got
initially frightened...

And you didnt
strain at the leash
as you went for a walk
simply because you wanted to chase
a butterfly.....

You didnt pick a fight
with the neighborhood dog
simply because he growled
a challenge....

Of course
i made mistakes,
but I learned from them.

I think
about how
nature gave us this country,
and how we've failed
to really nurture
the simple citizen,
by our infighting,
runnning after votes and money,
lying to get power,
and destroying
those who think differently.

Nature created me,
but
this wonderful family
nurtured me,
and taught me
to think
and live differently.

I have thought long
and
I have thought deep,
and must say
that if ever,
Nature and Nurture
fought an election,
Nurture would win by a landslide....

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Mahimwalla Fashion Week...


I am convinced that random highly publicised events, happening in your city, influence the appearance of certain photographs, like this one posted by friend Magiceye, as part of the Mumbai Daily : Camera Critters....

There is a huge hype in the papers about the Lakme India Fashion Week , happening in Mumbai right now.

Just across the marsh from Bandra, the fashion-queen of the suburbs, in Mahim, there is of course, a perennial "fashion-year" happening at the Mahim Nature Park


Green ramps
Floral beauties
sitting cheek by jowl
escorted by
budding
stiff
suited stems,
music by
the Buzzing Crickets,
and then
for all other
clickers
and
cool green hangers-on,
standing room only
at the Mahimwalla Fashion Week...

Chyrsallis Makkhanpakshi,
show stopper
from Dharavi,
stepping out,
traipsing daintily,
golden wing palloo
on both sides
held wide,
a defiant face
eye straight ahead
proboscis up.

End of the ramp
and she takes off
fluttering
muttering ,
about what she has not found.

Searching
and still waiting for that
pot of honey....

Friday, August 3, 2012

BIG faces, small minds.....


My blogger and FB friend Slogan Murugan, has a wonderful photoblog about a Mumbai we take for granted but never "see";  "Mumbai Paused : Photographs and stories from the city that's always on the move"

This is something he has captured in South Mumbai, on the road which earlier housed the Strand Theatre,  before the Mall-ification happened. 


Fancy new facades showing how small the big is :-))

 (photo by Slogan Murugan aka M. S. Gopal)
Some
feel big
simply by being
great within and by themselves.

Some feel big,
only when
they succeed in making
others in front of them
look small....

Questions in Black....


Well known photoblogger and my FB friend  Joshi Daniel recently completed an awesome 4 years of photoblogging with, hold your breath,  198 images, 884,308 views and 17,323 comments!!!

And then he went and clicked this amazing monsoon picture on an I-phone, in Trivandrum, Kerala.. 

The blackness spoke volumes.  As the states clamour for the monsoon to revive....


So many
gathered and crowded,
nudging,
sometimes each other
and sometimes the

pristine pure
white fluff.

Like one said to another,
"I wonder why "black"
has such
negative connotations...."

Black thoughts,
Black minds,
Black Money
Black tikka
Black Cat......

And now
despite us
being "loaded" in black,
suddenly
they want
all our goods
to to be off loaded
in their state......

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The case of the magical Doodhi .....


In a world where eating out is acceptable and even routine, you will never find this proletarian, light vegetable being served in restaurants. Bottle Gourd, or Lauki/Doodhi, as it is called in various parts on India, and my blogger friend Shruti Nargundkar of Melbourne writes a wonderful blogpost  ,  describing this vegetable preparation of her childhood.

 Which incidentally is exactly the way it was made in my childhood and still is.

It probably will not make it to Masterchef anywhere (India, Australia and so on);  but no amount of fancy "plating", presentations, and secret ingredients can beat a simple doodhi sabji with chana dal and peanuts, garnished with coriander and shredded coconut, and eaten with a piping hot phulka, which sheds its tears of happiness as melted golden ghee.....

(Photo by Shruti Nargundkar)

The paneerized Mercedes man
zipping
rough shod
on smooth table tops,
changing gears
on sighting
tandoorized chicken
spicily grooving amidst
red sizzling
tamasi forests,
moves on
to emerge
out of the ghat tunnel
and takes the Right Turn.

An old cottage,
an older Mom,
an even older lap
to lay his tired head on,
and he stops,
switches off, and
lunches on
hot phulkas with
Chanadal Doodhi Bhaji,
with a glass of chhaas,
watched indulgently by the
approving Kothimbir,
and Mirchi ladies
and dashing Kadhipatta,
who helped with it all.

Yes, they serve best
who only stand and wait.....