My Diwali this year

 

 

 
 Amidst the glittering and shimmering lights, I too light a small "Maati Saaki" ( Earthen lamp /diya) and I pray as this small diya lighten up the darkness near the windowsill; this festival of lights to chases away the darkness from my mind, my home and from my loved ones.

 

 

 

 

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I am not bursting any crackers this year. Not even a simple "phool jhari". I wish to keep this Diwali simple only with lights.

The smell of mustard oil burning  in an earthen light is so soothing. It is the smell of those many diwalis of my childhood. I have written about that here

Yesterday while coming from work I found a stray dog sitting ; rather hiding from all the noise; in the stairs of our building. This has never happened. Even though there are many stray dogs in the neighbourhood , I have not found one coming inside the building in my last 2 diwalis spent here. It looked so scared as it looked up to me as if to plead not to chase him away. I felt guilty! Many are bursting crackers everywhere. I cant stop them. But there is something I can definitely do; I myself am not bursting any crackers.
 

 

 
I look out of my window and see those flickers of lights everywhere.  I revel in this festival of lights.

May this light spreads to all the corners of the world.

Diwali of Love, Light and Life

Have you seen the wonderful film made by Pepsi ?

#GharWaliDiwali ..Yeah Ghar Wali, the one spent at home, with family.

I came across this last night. The daughter who is now a wife and a mother, her parents who are now left with the memories of many diwalis of her growing up years; who now see , "touch and feel" their daughter's presence through video calls! This lovely film brought back so many memories. Memories of a childhood spent in a quiet sleepy little town tucked in the North Eastern part of the country, Dibrugarh. Of course Dibrugarh is no longer the little town it used to be; but my and my siblings childhood were spent here. Dibrugarh plays an important part in our lives and will always remain.

Our dad was not good at showing or expressing his emotions. Busy with his work, he would often forget our birthdays and at times which standard we were in! We ; I and my younger sister and brother. Ma would make it up. Being the wonderful cook she is, she would cook up a storm in all festivals, birthdays or just impromptu girls gang get-togethers in our teen years. In an Assamese family Diwali was not celebrated like the way it was celebrated in Northern or North Western part of India. No special sweets or laddoos were made. We did that during Bihu, the mail festival of Assam. In fact in Eastern India, during Diwali Goddess Kali is worshipped; not Goddess Lakshmi ! For us Diwali was more of a festival of lights and crackers and having fun with neighbours.

In Dibrugarh, we had a big house with a big kitchen garden. During Diwali dad would ask Madhu, our house help those days, to get a Banana tree ( which is actually a stem) cleaned and decorate it with bamboo hollows cut into 2. That decorated Banana tree/stem would be placed near our gate. In the evening Ma would get the diyas ready on the dining table. We used to light small earthen diyas ;  maati saaki as they are called in Assamese. I and my siblings would get busy in rolling cotton and then filling up the diyas with mustard oil. In big plates we would get the diyas and place them one by one on those bamboo hollows which were embedded into the banana tree. And then as darkness would fall, we would start lighting the diyas one by one. Madhu would help in lighting the diyas placed on top. The gate would be thrown open. Every house in the neighbourhood would light the same earthen diyas.  All our friends would go from one house to another to see the lights.Our small neighbourhood would lit up like a star.

Then came the fun part. Bursting crackers. Dad always maintained that too much of noise and air pollution must be avoided. He would get us very basic stuffs like phool jharis , flower pots , chakras, twinkling wires etc. He would get us those small red phataka which in Assamese we referred to as "Jolokia bomb". Jolokia meaning chilli as they resembled long thin red chillis! No big sky rockets or those fancy sparklers which burst into a big bouquet in the air; as he would say that those sky sparkles might fall on  someone's thatched roof and it might lead to disaster. Not that it never happened. There was a colony of people near our area, who mostly had thatched roofs. In one such case, a family had lost all their belongings. And guess what; almost every neighbor uncle would say the same thing to his children and we all would end up with similar crackers. Talk of being dad!

I and my sister were scared of bursting those jolokia bomb or red chilli phatakas. Our brother was even smaller. Again Dad to rescue; he asked Madhu to cut a bamboo piece into 4 sticks. Then there would be a small cut in one end of the stick. You were supposed to hold the stick from one end and fix a Red Chilli Bomb in between the small cut in the other end and then light it. Simple. Its safe ,far from you and you also had the fun of bursting a bomb! Much like the way these days people carry those fancy sticks ( sorry but I don't know what they are called) to place their mobile phones or small cameras to click selfies.

Spread the Light...!

Our family albums are full of Diwali photographs. Over the years, we moved to a bigger city; eventually sold off that place and settled in Guwahati. Then slowly we; I, my sister and my brother, all started moving out. First for higher studies, then job and then finally marriage. As dad would say " leaving the nest to fly into the horizon". The cities got bigger; but the houses got smaller. While studying in Gwalior, I celebrated hostel Diwali. While working in Delhi,I celebrated Diwali with room mates and friends. Now in Mumbai its with husband. In Diwali, we try to be at home together. I still light up few maati saaki / earthen diyas. I try to make sure they do not get lost in the glittering, shimmering lights pouring in from all over. And then of course the Kandil. Every year for last 3 years, we both would go and get a Kandil for our home. That's now a part of my #GharWaliDiwali.

Dad left us 9 years ago. Thank you PepsiCo for this wonderful little film for taking me back to those many diwalis from my childhood.

May this festival of light spread love and togetherness everywhere.

https://www.gharwalidiwali.com/

 

My Quick Fix Dinner of Super Simple Pasta Salad

Whenever I am home alone; my dinner becomes a quick affair. It's not that our dinner is an elaborate 3 course meal everyday. But being alone doesn't make me want to spend much time in the kitchen. Hence tonight its my real quick fix Pasta Salad for dinner.

How I  made it :

Boil the fusilli pasta in salt water for 7-8 minutes. ( Any pasta can be used. I had fusilli so I used that) Don't over boil or else the pasta will be soggy.

Let it cool completely.

Cut one Red bell pepper, One tomato and One cucumber into cubes.

Mix with the Fusilli. Sprinkle some freshly chopped coriander over it.

The Dressing :

This I consider to be the real game changer in this super simple pasta salad.

Mix one tea spoon of sugar into 3 table spoons of white vinegar.
Once the sugar gets dissolved completely, add a pinch of salt.  Salt can be adjusted as per your taste.

Now add 3 table spoons of Olive oil, dry oregano and black pepper powder / or freshly crushed black pepper. Mix everything thoroughly.

Pour this dressing into the salad and toss well.

Taaa daaa simple quick pasta salad is ready.

It is the sweetness of sugar against the sourness of Vinegar and a pinch of salt that I love in this salad dressing.


 

A Fragrance to remember

It was a sudden decision like many of our trips and we decided on Kochi; Fort Kochi to be precise. Kerala in Monsoon; officially "off season". Got out tickets booked, applied for a day's off and reached the airport. A quick search in the ever dependable tripadvisor showed so many options of bed and breakfast in Fort Kochi. We zeroed upon Walton's homestay. There was something about the place which clicked. Yes even in the small screen of the phone. P made a call to the place to check availability and also to ask was it ok if we took a pre paid taxi from airport to Fort Kochi. A very cordial but firm voice said, rooms were available and advised us to opt for the AC bus from Airport to Fort Kochi rather than paying Rs.800 to the taxi.The voice also informed that since he didn't have commission paying policy to autowalas and cabbies, they would not know his place. If you ask us honestly, that made us confident of our choice as it showed the owners faith on what he offers to his visitors.
We landed in Kochi at 1pm. There it was, the AC bus waiting to carry passengers to Fort Kochi through the city of Ernakulam. Fare - Rs.70 per head.The bus takes about an hour to reach Fort Kochi from Kochi International airport which is about 45 KM. The Bus dropped us at the Kochi bus stand which is merely 5minutes walking distance from Princess Street.It is on Princess Street, Walton's homestay is located.
At the reception we were greeted by the man behind the voice we spoke in the morning ; Mr. Walton himself. He assured us that he was giving us the best room. Out of the 9 rooms, only 2 - 3 rooms were occupied as it was not the Tourist season.We got a room on ground floor which opened directly to a very well kept garden. Because of the rains, everything around was green and fresh. We entered the room and a very striking and sweet aroma of Lemon grass welcomed us. It was such a pleasant surprise! In our previous experiences, we had been to Inn or hotel rooms with all sorts of smells; mostly the strong room freshner and sometimes even the damp smell of carpets and walls.The room's flooring was wooden and the house keeper informed that they used Lemon grass oil while mopping the floor to keep the mosquitoes at bay.The room was big, airy and very very well kept. We stayed there for 3 nights. Every day they would clean with the same oil.

The town of Fort Kochi was under Portuguese, Dutch and British rule in different points of time. The whole town still has the remnants all over. We decided to discover the city on foot.Heard that during tourist period, one can hire bicycles too. One day we went to see the Jew Town and Mattancherry palace. Mattancherry palace or the Dutch palace. The Dutch palace was originally built by the Portuguese and was gifted to ruler of Kerala. Later it fell into the hands of the Dutch and they revamped it. The walls inside the palace are adorned by some superb murals. in the Jew town, there is the Jewish Synagogue which is now considered to be the oldest among all the synagogues in the commonwealth of nations.

Chinese Fishing Nets

We never wanted to hurry and go everywhere the tourism brochure mentions just to strike off the place. We walked, sat in the cafes, sat by the beach,enjoyed the fishing sessions in the evenings and mornings. After 3 wonderful days, we took the bus to airport again.

It remains one of our memorable trips. That sweet aroma of Lemon grass still lingers whenever we remember this lovely little unplanned trip. Some memories are forever. This is one of them.

A host of fragrances

#InspireAFrangrance

For the love of Food- Potluck at Prims

There is no sincerer love than the love of food..Said GB Shaw and I being a food lover, cant agree more. This love becomes even intense and interesting when you have like minded friends. For our love of food, we decided to meet for a Potluck lunch on a weekend. The potluck was planned a month ago. Only condition, everything has to be home cooked. A whatsapp group was created, date chosen,menu decided, venue fixed. We 4 girls were to meet at Prim's place at Wadala. 

This year Mumbai Monsoon arrived a month late. Entire June went without rains and on almost everyday in July, it poured and poured. On the D day which was yesterday 12th July it was no different. To confess honestly looking at the non stop rains, for once I thought of ditching it. But then we all had decided a month ago, I was infact the initiator, how could I back out at the last moment! Not done and aren't I glad that I didnot do that. 

The moment we entered Prim's home, the dining table was set for the grand spread. The mood for fun and food was set with this colorful table.

The menu was continental. Prim made the starter, Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup. Shob made garlic bread. No she did not bake it. But to turn a regular brown bread to garlic bread, you need to work on that. She did and did that wonderfully. 

Garlic bread with Cream of chicken & Mushroom soup

With the rains pouring outside, we gorged on an awesome spread talking about a dozen things. The main course comprised of a whole chicken roasted and baked basa fish with potato wedges and sauteed beans. The roast chicken was by Gits who is a super duper food enthusiast and an upcoming chef who specialises in delicacies from North East India. The Roasted chicken with onions and herbs was the show stopper for sure.

Roast Chicken

 By the time we finished gorging on the soup, garlic bread and the chicken we were full. So we took 15 minutes break before hitting the dining table for the fish. Yes, I prepared the fish. Its simple quick and easy. Fillet Basa in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and dill with a hint of butter. I used the oil only to grease the baking dish.

Baked Basa and Potato wedges with sauteed Beans

As per my regular weekend ritual, I even took a small afternoon siesta too. Come on, now this is one luxury people like me could afford only in weekends and holidays. It was time to wind up the fun get together. The gracious hostess made us Kashmiri Kahwas. Shob had got some brownies too. A fitting end to a wonderful Saturday potluck. 

Kahwa and Brownies. Pic by Prim.

Food brings people closer and I so strongly believe that. Here's to many more get togethers; potlucks or otherwise....Cheers!