O Zis Inglish Tung

I alvays vant to lern nu languages. No, my speling is not bad. Zis is European Inglish.  
Rid zis:

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

Sertainly sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also the hard "c" will be replased with "k." Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the second year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replased by "f." This will make words like "fotograf" 20 persent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expected to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will encourage the removal of double leters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful and they woud go.

By the fourth year peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v." During ze fifz yer, ze unesasary "o" kan be droped from vords containing "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinatins of leters.

Und after ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German lik zey vonted in ze first plas.

As part of the negotiations, the British and American government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement. Consequently, they have adopted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as European English (Euro for short). In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c."

I zot I alredy nu Inglish. But no, zey sayz I dont. I ned to learn Inglish agen. Sory stat of afairs. I never zot I vud hav to lern, sory relern a languag so lat in lif. 

But vot a woman has to do, a woman has to do. So I am lerning zis nu vershun of European Inglish al over agen. As if British Inglish vos not bad enuf. So I am lerning zis nu vershun of European Inglish al over agen. As if British Inglish vos not bad enuf. 

Zer is gud sid to al zis. Zis nu Inglish has German fazer and Inglish mozer. I no a litl German. So zis internashunal hibrid not very dificult. 

Olso, bing a member of varius sochul netvorking sit and also moderatorin on a popular ledis sit helped me lern zis nu vershun of “Gerlish” or “Ingman” (sum Inglish bard sed "Vot's in a nem"?) very esily. Becoz meny members rit in SMS/Chat languag vich is short cut. Zank u ILits.  U just mad my lif very esy.  So vot u say? Am I doing gud job of lerning European Inglish? Am I gud studentin?

A Conversation

• How is your health? 
• I'm doing well, tell me how are you?
• Have you had your lunch?
• Yes, what about you?
• No, we have to eat still. How is your health?
• Amma, I'm doing fine. Tell me what are you doing?
• I'm talking to you.
•  . (Well, was that not obvious? What a silly question to ask! Silly me!) What did you do today?
• What do I do everyday? I eat, I drink, I sit around and get fat. And I trouble everyone around me. What news at your place?
• Nothing much is happening here ma. You tell me something. What is happening there?
• Have you had your lunch?
• Yes ma, I have had my lunch. What is the menu there today?
• What is there today? (Thinks). There is vegetable, (struggles to remember).....
• What vegetable has Sister made?
• (Thinks). She has made some vegetable. How is your health?
• Amma I am OK.
• How is your pain?
• It is still there.
• Are you taking your medicines?
• Yes, I am taking all my medicines.
• Take care of your health. Eat well. Don't go and hit yourself somewhere. Don't go roaming around unnecessarily. Don't eat anything outside and upset your stomach. Don't forget to take your medicines.
• OK ma. Will do. Shall I put the phone down?
• OK. Take care of your health.

This is a typical telephonic conversation with my dear mother every 2-3 days. She is 83 afflicted by dementia, causing her to lose her memory and her ability to do anything for herself. Very often she does not remember whether she has any children or she thinks my sister is her older sister (who is no more), but till date she remembers that I am her daughter and keeps saying to my sis "Poor Satchi, she is not well". What I suffer from she does not remember. But she remembers that there is something that was not OK with me and she should remind me to take my medicines, eat my food and take care of my health. She forgets during the course of the conversation that she has already asked me the same question about 3 times. But.....she remembers that her child is not doing well and needs to be told to take her medicines and to eat well. My sister tells me, if I don't call for 3-4 days, she keeps fretting that I have not called, keeps touching the phone as if nudging it will make it ring and get me at the other end.

Need I say more?

A Mother's Song

This is a poem dedicated to all mothers of this world and their children on the occasion of Mother's Day.

Welcome my little one into this world

Hold onto my finger with your tiny hand curled

Hold onto it with all your might

Oh you little fairy, you're such a blessed sight

You are the very incarnation divine

You are the continuation of a line

Of daughters of our Mother Eve

You are the Mother Goddess's gift, I firmly believe

Those rosy cheeks, those inquisitive eyes

The wrinkled forehead shows you are wise

What are you looking for in my face

Can you read in it what my heart says?

You are the queen of your own fate

You will make with your destiny your own date

Go child, achieve whatever you will

Fly over every mountain, climb every hill

Do you want to be a doc, an engineer

An astronaut, painter or pilot dear

Would you like to make a career

For yourself or be content as a home maker

The choice is entirely yours my little star

I know, no matter what, you'll make a mark

On the sands of time you'll write your name

May success be yours, may you get a lot of fame

Be happy, be brave, my dearest one

My little sugary honey bun

You are my treasure, you are my joy

Who says you are less than any boy

Come, let me plant on your cheeks a kiss

This is my promise to my little miss

Darling should you have any fear

Know that your mom is ever near

I'll stand by you through thick and thin

No matter whether you lose or win

Losses and victory will come and go

Walk with your head held high even when you feel low

But for now my little bird rest

In your mother's arms, this is your nest

Sleep my child, you need to grow strong

You'll grow your wings and fly off 'ere long

A Mother's Plight

Today is mother's day.  There are many unfortunate mothers in India, whose daughters are deprived of the right to live even before they are born and who themselves are deprived of the right and joy to hold their little bundles of joy in their arms if they are daughters.  Unfortunately this practice of female foeticide  is very common even amongst highly educated families in big cities.

This poem is dedicated to these unfortunate women.

A loud plaintive scream rent the air

The pain was much more than she could bear

The life that within her had barely begun

Was not one that could be called "my son"

A daughter was growing inside her

A replica of herself as it were

This little angel she wished in her arms to hold

On this idea hubby and in-laws were not sold

Leave me alone, let my child be born

From begging and pleading she was utterly worn

Her job though was only children to bear

For her rights and opinions no one did care

A hasty appointment with the doctor was made

And so it was that on the table she was laid

In a room where little babies were born

Her little angel from her womb was torn

But who did for her screams ever care

Her pain was her own, alone to bear

She could rant, rave, scream or yell

Her life was one unending hell

She was obliged to give the family an heir

To fight for her rights, though, she did not dare

Did she even know her rights

If she did, why was she in this plight

Why is it that a son who worships his own mother

About the mother of his children does not bother

Why is his mother who is a woman

To her daughter in law so inhuman

This is a lady who was also once born

A girl child who was not of her right to live shorn

Where would this man be if she had been killed instead

Has this thought even entered their heads

The statistics are enough to scare

Girls as a population are growing ever rare

Wake up you ignoramuses, you better beware

Your race will be wiped out if you don't care

Women wake up, fight for your rights

Tolerating injustice, taking it light

Is just as wrong as being unjust

Protect your daughters is something you MUST.

Pirindai (bone setter) thokku (chutney)

I had mentioned a plant known as bone setter or "pirindai" in Tamil in a previous blog.  Here I shall be giving recipes for its use.

Pirindai can be used in many different ways e.g. it can be ground with the batter for adai (a South Indian dish made of fermented batter of rice, tur dal and whole black udad dal which is then made just like dosas).

It can be ground with spinach when making keerai molagutal or keerai mashyal (spinach mash).  It can also be used when making pappads, chutney or thokku.

I shall share my recipe for thokku here, which I made with a mish mash (quite literally :-)) of pirindai, corriander, pudina (mint), karavapillai (curry leaves) and kalpuravalli leaves (ajwain leaves).

Ingredients:

Pirindai (I used about 100 gms of it)

Corriander - 2 large bunches

Pudina (Mint) - 1 small bunch

Kalpuravalli (ajwain / bishop's weed leaves) - 6 to 8

Red chillies - 6-8 (add to taste)

Tamarind - a ball the size of a medium sized lemon

Ginger - 1 inch

Methi (fenugreek) seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetide (hing) 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 tablespoons  

Procedure: 

Wash the pirindai well and break it into bits at each node.  Wash the corriander, the pudina, curry leaves and ajwain leaves well, remove the thick stalks while keeping the tender ones intact.  Roast the methi seeds and red chillies in 1 teaspoon of oil till they are browned.  Let this cool.  Then grind with asafoetida and salt in your dry grinder to a coarse consistency.

Heat one tablespoon of oil and add the pirindai, corriander, pudina and ajwain along with the tamarind.  Roast till the leaves wilt.  Cool this.

Add this mixture to the coarsely ground paste along with the ginger and grind in the blender.  It should not be too finely ground. 

Now heat the remaining oil, add mustard seeds, allow them to pop and then add the ground paste to it.  Saute it for 5-6 minutes on a dry flame and allow it turn a dark green.

This can be preserved in a bottle in a refrigerator for quite long.  You can even keep some amount for immediate use in the refrigerator and store the rest in the freezer section till required.  This can then be thawed and used later.

This can be eaten with chappatis, dosas, to mix with rice or as a chutney for sandwiches.

Here Yesterday, Gone Today, Forgotten Tomorrow

From a forward.  Photographer unknown.

Isn't this a heart-warming picture?  It makes us wonder and marvel at Nature and other creatures who protect their young ones just "like us".  Or do they?  "Like us" I mean.  Hold on, I think I would like to drop out those two words - it would embarass and shame all the creatures in the animal kingdom to be compared with "us", some of whom selectively destroy their young ones - not based on  some physical defects, but only on the fact that they are females.  Yes same the very same females of the species who procreate and bring forth new members of the species and protect and nourish the young ones.

Last month Baby Falak, a 2 month old baby girl died after being battered by some inhuman adult.

It shocked the conscience of the nation.  If that was shocking, then what does one of a "FATHER" who battered his 3 month old to death?  Yes that is the tragic story of Baby Afreen born to a 19 year old mother.

This young mother was married off at the age of 17 to a divorcee whose parents promised her parents that they would take her on a Haj 1 week after the wedding.  The impoverished parents who could not afford to ever go on a Haj very happily agreed, thinking at least this daughter (of 3 daughters) would get to go and be ensured of her place in heaven.  The son-in-law it turned out was a drug addict and would harass their daughter.  Once the daughter was born, he asked her to get Rs. 1 lakh as compensation because the child was a female.  And then started the sordid tale of battering the baby girl.  When he tried to smother the baby about a week ago, she was brought to the hospital by the mother and was  in a coma till yesterday, when to her good fortune she went to a better place - away from the monsters of this world.  Had she survived, the chances that she might be challenged for the rest of her life might have been high.  Better she was spared that agony.  God decided she deserved better.

What do we say of a society where a daughter's life is decided based on criteria such as her chances of going on a pilgrimage?  What do we say of parents who get their daughter married off before the legal marriageable age, without checking out the credentials of the man whom they are entrusting with their daughter's happiness?  And sad to say I cannot write them off as the exceptions or as deviants from the normal.  They are probably the norm in our country, even if their reasons for getting minor daughters married may be different. 

What do we say of a mother who does not report the husband who batters her baby?  What do we say of parents who do not bring their married daughter back home despite knowing that she is being tortured every day?

What do we say of a society which claims to worship female deities and sees a mother as a Goddess, but chooses to destroy young female infants?

What do we say of parents who destroy female foetuses before they are born?  Or are they better than parents who give birth to them and then batter them?????

Should I consider myself as particularly privileged for having been allowed to live, learn and flourish?  For having had a particularly good set of parents who were extremely enlightened for their times?  Should I be grateful to God for this or should I be grateful to my society to have allowed me to be what I am today?  Or should I be grateful to have been born in better times, before a so-called "ancient civilization" fell inexorably sick and started moving at breakneck speed in reverse gear into the dark ages?

This is the society which has produced Indira Gandhi, Kiran Majumdar, Kiran Bedi, Indira Noorani whom we tout as our claim to our "liberal, forward looking society".  But then these are women we can count on our finger tips, while the Baby Falaks and Baby Afreens are part of an innumerable statistic - here yesterday, gone today, forgotten tomorrow.

Memories of Yercaud - 2003

Yercaud Lakeside

A pine branch bows to meet the lake

Rippling water 

Boating on Yercaud Lake

The clouds roll into the hills

Time to sit and stare

Coming closer

Closing in

Play of sun and shade

A sunlit valley in the centre

Monkey business

Human beings arrive to inhabit the hills

Yercaud Observatory

Humans worse than monkeys

Destructive nature of humans in full evidence - Mining in the hills

Chakka Pulincurry

Yippee, summer is here.  So what if it is too hot and vegetables are hard to get, not of great quality and expensive.  Summer brings its compensation.  Mango season is just round the corner.  Jackfruits are already here.  Time for raw jackfruits and all the delightful dishes that can be made of them.

My memories of my ancestral home in Kerala bring back images of an estate with rubber plantations, mangoes, coconuts (oh the bubbly coconut water!!!!! Slurp), jackfruits, tapioca, raw pepper climbers, grapefruit and nutmegs, and all the yum dishes made with these freshly grated coconuts.  Kerala cuisine is almost incomplete without the ubiquitous coconut.  

So friends, time for chakka pulincurry today.  Chakkai in Malayalam means jackfruit.  Puli is tamarind. 

Ingredients:

Tender raw jackfruit
Tamarind extract - from one medium sized ball
Red chilli - 1 to 2 (or add to taste)
Raw rice - 1 tablespoon
Freshly grated coconut - 1/2 a medium sized katori
Asafoetida (hing) - 1 small piece or a pinch of powdered hing
Turmeric - 1 small pinch
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 5 to 6

Procedure:

The toughest part of making any dish with jackfruit is cleaning it (but the results are more than worth the effort - you can take that as a personal guarantee).  To clean a jackfruit, you would need a fairly large, sharp knife, a bit of oil (to oil the knife as well as your grease your palms - pun unintended) and the husk of a coconut and a container with water.  OK, if you have all these things at hand, you are ready to go.  

WARNING:  Be very careful when cutting a jackfruit.  It is not very difficult to cut your hand.

Cut the jackfruit into half.  Clean all the latex that comes out of the core with the husk of the coconut.  Clean the knife (keep doing this as you go) with oil and coconut husk.  Once it stops dripping cut it further into 4 pieces.  Cut these further into halves (so you now have 8 pieces).  Then remove the core of the jackfruit as well as the outer rind.  Use the fleshy part to cut into fairly large chunks (as seen in the picture above).  Place these pieces in the bowl of water as you go, so they do not turn black.

Once you are done with that, cook the pieces in the tamarind extract with salt and turmeric.  Dry roast the coconut, red chillies, asafoetida and raw rice and then grind in a mixer.  Add to the cooked jackfruit.  Allow the mustard seeds to splutter in heated oil. Use these mustard seeds and curry leaves to temper the pulincurry.  

This is best eaten mixed with boiled red rice.  Beans curry and raita goes very well with this combination. Of course, add pappad and I promise you a trip to heaven where you can spend a good hour in the company of angels playing their harps.

So folks, enjoy.  And remember me as you do. :-)

P.S.  If you are animal lovers, you would do well to feed the rind and the core to any stray cows you see around.  They will bless you generously.

Colours of Summer - My Balcony Garden - April 2012

Much as I hate the summer heat in India, I certainly love the colours and joy that the month of April brings with it. Needless to say the joy of seeing some of those colours in my own balcony garden within the constraints of an urban apartment brings a sense of special satisfaction which I would love to share with you.

These are some of the plants which are edible and / or have medicinal properties.

 Bone setter / Hadjod (Hindi) / Pirandai  (Tamil)

Curry leaves / Kadipatta / Karvapillai

Bishop'w weed (carom seeds) / Ajwain / Karpuravalli (Omam)

Tomatoes

Here are some of my plants in bloom.

Hibiscus / Jaswanda (Marathi) / Gudhal (Hindi) / Chembarthi (Tamil)

Jasmine / Mogra / Malli

Asparagus (Sprengeri)

Some of my favourite pictures in black and white

Under the canopy of a coconut tree

A play of light and shade - my balcony at home

An exquisite display as viewed from close quarters

Reflected glory - Brooklyn Botanical Garden - NY

Organically home grown bananas

Home grown mangoes

The king of all he surveys

A lake near Richmond (Indiana)

Pristine beauty - untouched by the muck around

Shivasamudram - panoramic view

Shivasamudram - Majestic sight

Sculpted trees in the Sculpture Park near Princeton