Perspectives | needstotalk

The Daily (B)Log- 1/10/20-Shiuli, Sachin Dev and Sultanpuri

Posted on October 2, 2020 by bioscopewalirachna

I chose a gentler day for myself today, despite the angst from yesterday remaining firmly in place ,worsening with the claim that the unfortunate 19 year old had infact not been raped at all! I hope karma is closing in on these brutes. She has a way with her, doesn’t she?

The angst is actually always there-hovering like a dementor, ready to suck the life and joy out of us. There is always one issue that not enough people are bothered about and a lot of non-issues that too many people are giving energy too. We have lost a sense of balance-santulan bigad gaya hai.

As all the nonsense gets bandied about, a numbness sets in, doesn’t it? Human cruelty or stupidity is unlikely to end, but some relief, a break from this continuous assault on our intelligence and our ideals is much needed.

The human spirit though needs to persevere through all the negativity to not merely survive, but thrive and achieve what it believes in. With love, kindness and seeking beauty in the small joys of life.

Which is what I found today.

During my morning walk,which took me past several “shiuli” trees. The small, white, orange stemmed flowers lie like a fragrant carpet on the ground in the mornings. Delightful. Also known as harsingar, I’ve always loved these flowers, since I was a teenager and we had a solitary tree in one of our homes. They get trampled over and and in any case wither away very quickly.But that doesn’t stop them from doing this bright, scented display daily……a lesson there.

Thereafter, from the radio, which said it was Sachin Dev Burman and Majrooh Sultanpuri’s birthday today. So playing their songs was the thing to do! And such a balm they remain.

SD Burman is of course a childhood memory-my dad used to sing “sun mere bandhu re” at family gatherings. And as I grew up, so many of his songs got added to the soundtrack of life. True melody.

Majrooh sahab , in the vast variety of emotions and expression he brought to life, wrote this :

maiñ akelā hī chalā thā jānib-e-manzil magar

log saath aate ga.e aur kārvāñ bantā gayā

A verse I used to describe a food distribution effort I was part of, during lockdown. The Janta Rasoi was just that- a journey started by two, where so many joined it and and it grew to distribute two lakh meals. https://www.facebook.com/jantarasoi.in will give you an idea of how.

I also started a new innings today. Spent the day soaking in the space I was in-physically and mentally and planning towards building something substantial. More in this later, but a picture of how some human beings add beauty to their lives, in every small way. Whoever drew these, brought a smile to my face for sure!

A Sunset and a Moon-rise added hope to the mix and the spirits took a definite upturn.

Oh- also, the cake from yesterday was well received so have got me a good recipe for eggless cake. Tell if you want, ok? Will bake and send.

On that culinary note, time to turn in and tune out…….good night people.

Jo Dar Gaya, Samjho Mar Gaya

Posted on June 15, 2020 by bioscopewalirachna

In the words of Salim Javed, immortalised by the one and only Gabbar Singh,

“Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya”

(Fear kills)

While Gabbar was a bullying bandit, he played this to his advantage.

That’s what fear does. Cripples logical thinking and reasoning and has us making deals with our maker, with a cold hand tightly clutching our hearts, so the heart and mind both stop functioning properly.

“Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgment, freeze reflexes, breed mistakes. Worse, it’s contagious.”― Jimmy Stewart

These days the Corona virus is doing just that. We don’t anyway live in balanced times, with measured views and news being shared. So public sentiment and emotions rage and rave like hot air , often with very little substance to them, sweeping away sanity and sense and more often than not, leaving a stink behind.

There is no doubt that the virus is dangerous and contagious. Nor that it is by far the biggest crisis the world has faced together. The authorities share information which is often at variance to what was earlier so confusion adds to the mess. In addition, our government has done an excellent job in worsening the situation by first locking down everyone and triggering a panicked, humanitarian and hunger crisis as well, and thereafter bettering their own in efficiencies with every move they made. First they instilled fear, then by indulging in sound and light effects which can be summarised as “nautanki, a spot of distraction was planned. And then suddenly, it was all Unleashed and Unlocked -taking the handwash advise a step further, they have now left all of us to our devices and washed their hands off the situation. There are no more sound and light effects. There is silence.

In fact another dialogue comes to mind

“Itna sannata kyun hai bhai?” Where are those verbose addresses to the nation?

Net net- we have to look out for ourselves because big brother sure isn’t.

But I digress.

As life re-opens because there is no choice really-the fear is palpable and paralysing and very few can to continue staying sheltered. So this dread and indeed any fear in life have to be looked in the eye and stared downand conquered. We have to live with this virus and get on with life.

You see, if we’re scared, half the battle is already lost. If we face it, deal with it, we have a fighting chance instead and opportunities to improve things for ourselves and others. It’s important for us to find our own balance and go from there.It’s time we stood up for and looked after ourselves.

Maybe you’d like to try this- acknowledge you’re scared, feel it and then resolve not to be cowed by it.

Don’t letting your thoughts overpower you by swirling like a whirlpool in the mind and cutting them off when they start overwhelming you-Get up, jump, do something different immediately.

For now live one day at a time. Take small steps, fight small battles. Don’t hesitate to ask for help. Soldier on.

Yes? Dar ke aage jeet hai?

There is of course, a difference between conquering the fear and being plain stupid here.

We have to be careful-yes. We will mask ourselves, sanitise, wash up. We will restrict movement. We wll be sane and sensible and not cause or be part of a crowd. We will go out and earn our bread and butter.Above all- we will be responsible, civic minded citizens.

And if we contract the virus , we will not panic. Help will be at hand and we will stay positive.

What we will NOT do is behave as if the virus took a flight back to China and party like before.

Mask, distance, hand wash.Yes. Moronic foolhardiness-No.

In a film called Dushman-1998, a retired, blind major tells a “terrified of her shadow girl “who stood up for someone-

Isi tarah joojhte rahiye apne darr se.Aur phir dekhiye, zindagi aap ka haanth thaam ke, aapko apni manzil ki taraf le jayegi.

Struggle to keep your fears at bay and life will help you carve the way to success.

And be sensible about it, ok.

Upstairs at Indian Accent with Chef Claude Bosi

Posted on January 15, 2018 by bioscopewalirachna

“Cooking is an art and patience a virtue… Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing – love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist – not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love.”
― Keith Floyd

This last Thursday found a friend and I enjoying just a lovingly crafted, beautifully presented and hospitably served meal Upstairs at Indian Accent by Chef Claud Bosi of the 2 Michelin Star restaurant, Bibendum in London.

Dressed to the nines and suitably excited about an evening away from homework, housework and such, we ate our way through six courses of sheer deliciousness.

Our meal began with a warm welcome from the lovely team which runs the restaurant. Pleasant smiles and just the right level of care. This was then followed by gougères-savoury choux pastry with parmesan cheese and a hint of caramelised onions. Served on a bed of moong dal namkeen. We made short work of these and soon followed the mushroom custard, coconut and curry. Cute roly poly roundness of a frothy coconut and curry topping and a suggestion to “dig right to the bottom” to taste and savour the mushrooms as well. An unusual combination of flavours but I therein lies the mastery of Chef.

Mushroom custard, coconut and curry.

The taste of things to come got steadily more interesting. French cuisine with a distinct Indian touch got along rather well!

The second course was a favourite combination of mine-beetroot and feta-albeit in terrine form and with the tang of passion fruit adding just the right tingle.It was so beautifully presented that it seemed a shame to spoil the painstaking work, but we succumbed.

Warm beetroot terrine, feta and passion fruit.

Course three looked like a painting and tasted divine. Kanyakumari crab with apple and nimbu-served khatta meetha and cold. Yum!

Kanyakumari crab, apple, nimbu

Courses 4 and 5 were the meats-River sole a la Grenobloise and Chicken with black lentils, coconut and coriander respectively. The river sole was delicate and the sauce tasted deliciously of butter and a distinct taste of “ghee” which indeed is clarified butter. Sinfully, delectably and healthily rich- ghee is good fat! The black lentils were inspired by dal makhni and complemented the chicken well.

The vegetarian options were a Vegetable Dumpling with Toasted Rice, Kashmiri Morels with Kaffir Lime and Sweet Potato Nosotto with Pomelo. A hint of ghee in the Kashmiri morels made it homely and the sweet potato nosotto-a risotto which does not use the rice but the sweet potato as the base, hit just the spot.

The meal was available with wine pairing but as good responsible citizens who were driving, we chose not to partake of those.( A tiny bit of mulled is fine…medicinal almost.Besides, the mulling causes the alcohol to evaporate……)

As a break before dessert, delightful confection of mango and sesame brought together two seasons of India in one scoopful-mango and sesame. Summer accompanied by the crispness of the winter harvest being celebrated just about now.

Mango, Black sesame

Replete with all these flavours and feeling slightly immovable, despite the thankful breaks between courses; we nevertheless applied ourselves with gusto to the chocolate tart as dessert. Accompanied (on request) with some excellent mulled wine (therapeutic strictly!), this last course was a perfect culmination to a dining experience full of flavours, textures colour and outstanding hospitality.

Chef Claud and his team will be presenting their tempting fare Upstairs at Indian Accent till the middle of February. That leaves you with many week days, 3 normal weekends and a long weekend coming up to enjoy the feast.

Book then swiftly….and have a mulled wine for me!