Author Archives: Aravind Kumar

Mindless Woman

  March 8, 2013 - 11:55 pm | ,
6 Comments

She was in her usual place. The place in her head that she turned to when the world around her seemed to spin out of control. Dark, well oiled hair pulled back framed her dark face.

Kamini always wondered why the world around her acted so different. Was it because of her dark skin or the big round eyes which drooped? Her husband spoke about how pretty she was. But she refused to believe his words. He was a loser who still claimed that he loved her so he could pleasure himself in her. She hated him. The nerve of that bastard to go and talk about their intimate moments with his mother. She had considered leaving him and going back to her parents. But then a woman separated from her husband living in her parents house was not something her father would support. She would be far worse off at her parents than she was here with her husband. She gazed back into her past…

Her parents had arranged for her wedding with Shankzzz. He seemed like a nice guy though he was almost a year younger than her. She was hardly given anytime to decide if she wanted to work or study some more or just be home for a while. It was as if she was a burden for her parents. They said they loved her but she knew better. Her mom would persuade her dad to get her married off quickly. Her dad would just agree and act on what her mom said.

She wondered if her dad had always been like that. She remembered all the fun times they had when she was little. He used to call her his little princess but he had changed ever since her body changed. Her mother did not talk to her about the birds and the bees. She was very crude with her explanation of what went in where.

At 13 she was considered a big girl. She was growing to be tall and dark like her father. Her parents kept telling her how hard it would be to find a boy from their caste. Shankzz was who they decided their daughter would marry.

Someone was knocking on her bedroom door. She ran to open it. It was her mother-in-law. Mala, Shankzzz’s mother had come to talk to her about how much she wanted grand children and why Kamini was not making any. She hated it when Mala came to the bedroom she shared with Shankzzz and talk about her having failed to produce a grandchild even after a year of marriage. She knew the speech and had tuned out to think of Sid.

Sid, her guy in college. They would hangout together all the time. She understood the meaning of passion after all the time they spent. She had never known such feelings and emotions before. But she always knew that they would never get married and she had told him that. One New Year’s Eve she had told her parents she was going to a party with some friends from college and had ended up in a car with Sid and three of his friends. They had driven to a beach house near Mahabalipuram and that was the day she had experienced a multitude of pleasures. Heroin, multiple orgasms and multiple partners. She did not resist and she loved knowing that men and women desired her. That was the day she would never forget in her life.

2 months later she found out that she was pregnant and she could not even figure out who the father was. She had told Sid about the whole situation and he had been very supportive in arranging for an abortion. The only problem was that the doctor was a quack and he had been crude while performing the procedure. This had resulted in an infection and she had lost the ability to bear children. No one knew about this except for Sid.

Shankzzz refused to make any doctor visits with her and she was fine as long as no one figured this out. She had been young and reckless. Her priorities in life had been different and most of all no one talked to her about her body. Not her mother, not her teachers.NO ONE… But it was too late to blame anyone now. She did not mind anymore.

Wis wah Roopam – My Thoughts

  March 1, 2013 - 11:56 pm |
5 Comments

Enough has been talked, written and spoken about the movie. My Thoughts are definitely very late but still It’s a thought.

Vishwaroopam is about Vis a.k.a Vishwanathan a.k.a Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri a Tamil Muslim who claims he does not know Arabic and Urudu but gives a sly smile when Nasser asks him if he reads the Quran in English. So he does know Arabic. These are some silly jokes about parentage between Wis and Omar which provides the tamash in the movie. But seriously I don’t understand why Omar and Salim (his sidekick) should talk in Tamil which is not their mother tongue. Actually the Tamil people should have protested against this. Jihadis from Afghanistan talking among themselves in Tamil unheard of before.

Also dear Kamal what’s with Nirupama speaking Iyer tamil and overemphasizing it. I mean the language sounds alien in the given setting. Wish Nirupama was more than just a cleavage showing, iyer tamil speaking, nuclear oncologist who is in the film to tell us about Caesium and Fariday’s Shield. Pooja Kumar has some wonderful expressions and has done a pretty good job in the movie.

Ashmita of Mayavaram the latecomer at the Kathak class who has not had a bath since morning but still smells nice. I think she has about 10 lines in the entire film. A chicken tasting Paapathiamma.

What’s with Wiz, Ashmita and Jegannath telling Nirupama about the box in the closet where her bra is at? Were they trying to point that so much has been going on under Nirupamas nose and she could not see it?

Jegannath Mama, Dawkins, Deepak a.k.a Deep (Yes, he gets into Deep Shit, Well he is killed.) Farook, Salim, Nasser, Taufiq they have all done wonderful jobs. Just wish Dawkins did not have to die.

Two characters who occupy majority of the screen time are Omar and Wiz. Omar’s character is one of those really well developed characters in Cinema. He with his one eye and his bright plan to make New York un-inhabitable for the next 30 years with the “Dirty” Bomb. He claims to be a fighter and he wants his son to be a fighter too. But the only difference is He knows english but he does not like his son learning english.

Wisam Ahmed Kashmiri is a character with a bunch of contradictions. But his role as Nirupama’s husband Viswanathan is one of the best. I mean Kamal proved that he can play the role of a woman in Avvai Shanmughi but with this character he has truly topped it. He plays an effeminate man and he has done it so amazingly well. But just one question. Why put up an act infront of Jegannath, Dawkins and Ashmita who already know his identity. Well, I think he answers that question when he is being beaten up in the warehouse and he cries out “Krishna” even though he is a Muslim. Wisam was lost somewhere in Viswanath.

You cannot expect Ethan Hunt or Bond to be play an effeminate character in their respective movies and even if they played it I don’t think they could play it with such finesse.

I have already watched the movie twice. and I hope to watch it again. Brilliant camera work. Story line is OK. Screenplay could have been slightly better. Kamal the director could have done away with about 15-20 minutes of the movie because it sags slightly at points.

Vishwaroopam – 2 be continued.

 

Kapila Dasa @ Express Avenue

  February 9, 2013 - 11:25 pm | ,
3 Comments

crunchy-onion-rava-dosa.jpg

I had set very high expectations for this place especially with part of the Dasaprakash name attached to it. So I enter the restaurant and their guard gives you the biggest Salam. I mean it is huge. I was reminded of the old Parthiban joke in Pudhiya Padhai.

The restaurant is supposedly beach themed. But I realized that while wondering why all the waiters were dressed in hawaiian shirts. It was then that I looked at the place and there was a boat sticking out of the wall and all those wall posters with stuff like “What happens in the beach stays in the beach.” Wonder who comes up with such silly rip offs for a restaurant that promises fine dining.

The Dosas were brilliant it was made with ghee and I can still smell the buttery taste on my fingers after 2hours. I had a Crunchy Onion Rava Dosa which was not one of those huge ones that would leave no space in your stomach for anything else. This was followed by a Purely Butterly Mysore Masala Dosa that’s the one in the photo below.

mysore-masala-dosa.jpg

They put some butter on a small piece of plantain leaf and place it between the folds of the dosa. The taste and smells were heavenly. (I remember my dad saying how they used to serve something similar at Dasaprakash) The masala is served separately. I was not very happy with how the sambar tasted. The coconut chutney was of a texture and taste that I loved.

The food is a bit on the pricier side and the time it took them to serve us the dosas was also on the higher side, about 30minutes. The menu was a slight disappointment because the South Indian options they offered were few. I assumed it would be just like Dasaprakash which was a South Indian joint.  Here they serve North Indian and Continental too.

Nandini had the Corn and Spinach baked dish and she said it tasted brilliant. Not too creamy.

I overheard some people at the next table talking about how great their thali is. Will probably give it a shot the next time I am there.

They call it a Fine Dining restaurant. But I would not put it in that category. The waiters are not confident when they ask you something and there is a teeny weeny bit of sloppiness when they serve. I am sure Kapila Dasa can fix these minor issues.

Note: Ask for a place with a view and you would get a view of the traffic on General Patters Road.

Of Wedding Feasts – Scenario 2

  February 3, 2013 - 11:02 pm | ,
8 Comments

Weddings are awesome except for the Jumping Jacks and Jills, wedding feasts are not at least not any more.  I remember eating at a wedding feast in Kaaraikudi the wedding took place in one of those massive Chettiar houses. It is probably the best wedding feast I have ever been to. So many kinds of paniyarams, adai, potato, egg plant, okra and so many of those awesome dishes that chettinad has to offer. (In fact I hate these restaurants in Chennai which call themselves Chettinad when all they do is add a lot of chilly in the food) The persons serving would actually come to you and ask you if you would like a serving and if you refuse they would try and persuade you to give it a shot. This way it ensures that you eat what you really want and you don’t end up wasting food. All said and done let’s see what Scenario 2 has in store for us. If you have not read Scenario 1, please do so here.

Scenario 2

So the wedding is over and you have dodged all those tricky questions people asked you and you are on your way to the dining hall. There is a saying in Tamil “Pandhikku mundhanum” (Be first at the wedding feast) being there first will ensure that you don’t have to wait and that the items that have been prepared are still hot/warm, the payasam still thick and you get a nice clean place to sit and eat. If you did not rush to the dining hall after the thali tying has finished then you will have to wait for a while till probably a kind relative or friend joins you in the quest for a seat. So finally you have been seated (so what if there is payasam, water and random bits of food spilt on the floor or if the plantain leaf from the previous round has not been cleared you got a seat didn’t you? You are such a fighter!)

So there you are eating while you are trying to dodge all the random bits of food that is being thrown on your leaf and you suddenly realize that while you were concentrating on what was happening in front, a group of people have sneaked in behind you and they are watching your plantain leaf just like an eagle eyes a rat. No! they are not going to eat your food they are waiting for you to finish the food on your leaf. These guys/girls put you in an absolute pressure situation. But never let them do it to you. If there are people standing behind always ALWAYS ask for second helpings of all the items you liked. Maybe even a third helping. You can ask for a huge serving of rice make space in the middle for the sambar and dunk the potato pieces in the sambar and try to see if you can find it.

Well you can’t be sitting there for ever so you will want to leave sometime. But remember to go jostle with the crowd at the beeda stall and get betel stains on your clothes. Whatever you do Always remember to collect your thamboolam pai.

I did call it manjai pai in my last post but people are creative these days and you get so many colours but the items remain the same, Coconut to be used for next morning’s chutney (that is if you don’t have another wedding to attend) and betel leaf for the oldies in the house.

What is the most weird thing you have seen happen at a wedding feast? I think people rushing to be first at the dining hall is extremely weird it is like they were not there for the wedding but just for the wedding feast.

I have another wedding to attend this week so hopefully there will be an inspiration for scenario 3. :)

 

Spinach and Macaroni Pie

  February 3, 2013 - 1:21 am | , ,
1 Comment

OOps I don’t have a picture to go with this recipe because I have not tried it yet. But I have watched my mom make it and let me tell you it tastes real yummy.

Ingredients

  • Spinach – 3 bunches
  • Ginger – 2cm sized piece
  • Garlic – 3 pods minced
  • Tomato – 1 medium sized
  • Green Chillies – 3
  • Paneer – 100gms – (Cubed or sliced)
  • Macaroni – 100gms
  • Mushroom – 100gms – (Sliced)
  • Cauliflower – 100gms – (Sliced)
  • Onion – 1 large sized, Cut
  • Butter – 3tbsp
  • Milk – 1.5 cups
  • Salt and Pepper to Taste

Procedure

  1. Cook the Spinach with green chillies, ginger and half a teaspoon of salt and then blend to a smooth paste with a blender.
  2. Cook Macaroni then rinse and drain it before setting it aside
  3. Grind the Tomato and Onion in a mixer. – Set Aside
  4. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the garlic till brown, add the Tomato and Onion paste and fry well.
  5. Add the Mushroom, Cauliflower and fry for 3 minutes.
  6. Add the Spinach Mixture, milk, paneer, salt and pepper and let it simmer for 2 minutes before removing it from the fire.
  7. Add the Macaroni and Mix well before pouring it in a greased baking dish.

Ingredients for the topping

  • Boiled Potato – 250 gms
  • Cooked Carrot – 250 gms
  • Cheese – 3 cubes
  • Butter – 2 tablespoon
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

  1. Mash the potatoes and carrot mix with the cheese, butter salt and pepper and spread on top of the Spinach Mixture.
  2. Bake this in an oven (temp: 200 celsius) till the topping turns slightly brown.

Do give it a shot and let me know how it turns out. I will hopefully try this over the weekend and will let you know how it turned up with photos. :)

Of Wedding Feasts – Scenario 1

  January 27, 2013 - 12:54 am | , ,
16 Comments

Every once so often I get invited to a wedding where I simply can’t refuse to eat.

Weddings are complicated affairs so much is expected of you and there will be people whom you have never met in your life jumping out of nowhere calling you by name and then proceed to ask you if you recognize them. At this point if I’ve not figured out who the person is I blurt out some random name, most people get offended, correct me and then proceed to do this to another person.

But I will tell you what is more complicated than the wedding, it is the wedding feast.

Scenario 1

The wedding is between 9am and 10:30am and you have landed there at about 10am. You are recieved very warmly and then escorted directly to the dining area while you are asked “tiffin saaptingala?” You are seated in the dining hall and there are just a handful of people eating and you can’t escape once the escort has turned his/her back. You have to eat and they will send out everything possible from the kitchen. Idly, Vada, Pongal, Dosai, Oothapam, Poori, Parota (Dei, it is morning breakfast da how much variety can one eat.) If you as much as refuse something then someone will stand next to you while saying “Saar nalla sapudanga saar.” (Dei, I already had breakfast in my house).

Breakfast over and you are hurrying to catch the thali tying, you don’t want to miss that do  you? So the ceremony is over and then you meet all those Jumping Jacks and Jills who come at you with all kinds of questions. Next you have to stand in a queue to meet and greet the couple and you are finally through with everything by around 12 noon and you should be on your way to whatever it is you do when you are not attending weddings. You are leaving and the Chithappa or worse still the parents of the bride or groom catch you leaving without having lunch. OMG! now it is back to a crowded dining hall. Since it is crowded you can try and exit the building through the kitchen walk around and exit the compound without being detected. But remember if you are not carrying the yellow bag with coconut, betel leaves (Dying actually) and betel nuts you could get caught.

The other option is that you sit for lunch even though your 2nd jumbo breakfast is still in your body till nose level. If you thought the breakfast was jumbo well then you probably would not have words for the number of items they dump on your plantain leaf for lunch.

Here is a sample course…

Lay out plantain leaf

Pour water on plantain leaf to clean it – (I am sure capable of pouring water on my  plantain leaf and clean it well.)

  1. Rasamalai/rasagulla in small plastic cup
  2. Mysorepak – Why two sweets you may ask? A sweet should accompany a sweet according to vaasthu no wait i think it is in the kalacharam.
  3. Chappati with Mushroom Gravy and Paneer Butter Masala
  4. Vegetable Biriyani
  5. White Rice Dumped on the leaf.
  6. Paruppu for small portion of rice with 2 spoons of ghee
  7. Sambar poured on top of the mountain of rice.
  8. Kootu
  9. Cauliflower/Mushroom/Babycorn dish
  10. Poriyal
  11. Cutlet
  12. Thugayal
  13. Appalam
  14. Pappadam
  15. Rasam
  16. Buttermilk/Curd
  17. Payasam
  18. Ice Cream

The number of dishes that are served (18 in this case) should add up to 9. 9 is the sacred number. The more number of dishes served in multiples of 9 show the wealth and social standing of the person. – Raja the Caterer and Numerologist

And the best part about all this these dishes are served in quick succession. You hardly have time to say no to the dishes. Also you should eat quickly because there are other people standing behind you and staring at you eat while they are waiting their turn. Sometimes you might hear waterfalls behind you.

Most people eventually leave a lot of the food on the leaf because they just cannot eat it before the pandhi is up. What a waste!

So once you have finished all this you can leave after getting your manja pai (Yellow bag). Never, NEVER refuse the yellow bag it is considered as the ultimate insult to the host. You can even refuse to eat.

This is brings us to the end of Scenario 1. Hope you mentally enjoyed the feast. I will be back with more. Scenarios I mean. :)

 

Mixed Vegetable Parota Recipe

  January 16, 2013 - 5:24 pm | , ,
5 Comments

mixed vegetable parota

 

Parotas are part of a set of food items that I call joy food. They are wonderful to taste and give me immense joy.

Ingredients:

  1. Onions (chopped) – 3nos.
  2. Tomato – 2 medium sized
  3. Carrot – Chopped 1 cup
  4. Cabbage – A handful
  5. Beans (chopped) – 5nos.
  6. Green Peas – One Cup
  7. Capsicum (diced) – 1 cup
  8. Cauliflower – 5 flowerets
  9. White Channa(Boiled) – Half a Cup
  10. Green Chilly – 2 pieces
  11. Coriander Leaves (Finely Chopped)
  12. Parotas – 3 nos.,

Gingelly Oil, Salt to taste, Garam Masala – half tsp, ginger-garlic paste half tsp.

Method:

Heat the oil in the Kadai and add the onions and cook till the Onions turn a Golden Brown. Add the Tomato and Ginger-Garlic Paste and cook till the tomatoes are well cooked and have been puréed well. Add the green Chillies then add carrot, beans, cauliflower, green peas, along with the garam masala and let it cook for 2 minutes. Finally add cabbage and capsicum make sure they are not overcooked.

Chop the Parotas to 2 inches length pieces and add them to the cooked vegetables in the kadai and let it cook for about 3 minutes on a low flame (place a lid on top of the kadai)

Finally add Coriander Leaves and serve hot with Onion Raitha or simply Plain Curd.

I prefer the mixed vegetable Parota over normal Parotas because

  • I don’t have to battle with the Parotas to finish eating them.
  • The added Vegetables make the parota taste much better instead of the kurma taste that I prefer not to deal with.
  • They are very colourful and super tasty.

Do give it a shot and let me know how you liked it. If you don’t know how to make Parotas please do teach yourself they are pretty simple. I request you to not buy those packaged frozen Parotas they are a shame to the Parota Lovers of the world.

Nandini ( my wife ) urged me to write this recipe and also helped me with those cooking terms that I just can’t seem to remember.

Nandini has a twist to the Mixed Vegetable Parota will post the recipe soon. Stay tuned.

Pic: The Mixed Vegetable Parota at HSB where HSB stands for Hotel Saravana Bhavan and not Hong Kong Shanghai Bank. :) I am escape.