Julie, Julia and Me...

Julia & Julia - released in 2009, directed by Norah Ephron, based on a book written by Julie Powell, starring the actress extraordinaire Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I absolutely love this movie and I can never seem to get bored of watching it. It is no soul-stirring, emotion-packed movie, it has no 'deep' message. It is a simple story, simply told, about two women who derive great joy from their respective culinary adventures and how their lives are somehow connected. I wont reveal too much about the movie here. I urge all my lady friends who know they border on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) to please watch this one.

You might think the movie appeals to me because of its connection to cooking (owing to my previous post), and I wont completely deny your logic - I do feel like cooking up an elaborate 7 course meal everytime I watch the movie. But that is not all. I like the movie for the 2 characters, Julie and Julia. I can completely connect with the on-screen portrayal of Julie and I am in awe of Julia Child for her personality and determination.

I like it more because somewhere within me I seek a Juile/Julia relationship too. I don't necessarily need a person to pull me out of the horrid depths of boredom and hopelessness I tend to fall into. I just need something that I can do for atleast 1 whole year with passion and conviction. I wish I could put my finger on that one thing, pursue it and feel like the purpose of my existence has been fulfilled. I wish I didn't feel like doing 10000 disconnected things all at the same time and end up doing none of them  because I'm terribly confused trying to decide which 1 thing I want to do. If there was someone or something that gave me enough inspiration, Oh! How happy I would be! (I am not proud of my state-of-affairs, but I just can't help it).

Until then I shall wait, watch the movie over and over again, and lie dreaming of the moment of said enlightenment - with all of heaven shining its divine light on me, angels singing in celebration, birds happily twittering.................... 

*Puff!*

There goes my happy dream.... I envy you Julie, for finding your thing...

More later. Back to my chores for now.

It runs in the blood !

(Disclaimer: Longish post. But I just can't cut out the details...)

To give you some background....

When we had people over for lunch/dinner, I would always look with wonderment at my Mom (& Grand-mom)... HOW did they cook up such delectable 3 course meals to such perfection? I was amazed at their dedication to the task at hand and their untiring efforts to see that everything was just perfect. 

I always considered it a wasted effort. People would come... eat.... say "Oh! Excellent food! Its was delicious..." and leave. What remains is a sink with a mountain-load of soiled vessels and a very messy kitchen to clean up. And, my Mom and her borderline case of obsessive-compulsion for cleaning had to clean it all up then and there. At this point I will admit that I used to secretly be of the opinion that there was no need to struggle so much to make sure everything is 200% OK... These ladies were never satisfied with 100% !

Coming to the point...

Owing to my recent culinary experiments and their modest success (of which I am mighty proud ;) ) a bunch of my friends decided to come over to my place for dinner. I was anyway going to cook for me, so a couple of people more wouldn't make a great deal of difference... right?

WRONG.

The plan for the evening was:

1. Coke/Sprite with Lays chips and some gup-shup

2. Main course meal - Palak Paneer, Rotis, Vegetable Pulao &Cucumber Raita - Simple.

3. Dessert - Ice-cream and lots more gup-shup

It looked good. All I had to worry about was buying (1) and (3) and cooking (2). My friends were expected at 8:00pm. The buying was done. I set out to cook at about 6:45pm so that I could finish cooking and spend time with them (or so I thought). Honestly, I do not know what came over me, but here is what I did.

I had no idea cleaning and cutting 15 bunches of Palak would take 25 minutes! This may be because I was obsessed with taking out every single "not-so-green" leaf. It was all going to get pureed into a uniform green mass anyway right?!

I did not want the onions or tomatoes to form lumps or even grains in the gravy. So I obsessed over mincing them as finely as I could. The onions were especially painful - what with my eyes welling up and rendering me blind! That's when I had a brain wave (although our mothers' wouldn't think so) and decided to run them in a mixer - Onions first, wash mixer, and then tomatoes. I could have just whirred them both together, but I HAD TO follow the recipe to the T because I was having people over for dinner- "Saute onions till translucent and then add finely chopped tomatoes". Not that it would have made a world of a difference if I put them both in together! Anyway........

I'll cut to the Rotis now. I obsessed over their shape and size. I wasn't achieving uniformity of shape and size, so I rolled up all the dough again and carefully cut equal balls of dough so that I get uniform chapatis. A couple of them did not roll out into perfect rounds. They were slightly oblong, so I cut them out into perfect rounds with a lid. How could I possibly serve "non-round", uneven sized chapatis??! 

That done, I had to dice vegetables for the Vegetable Pulao & Cucumber Raita. I put in quite an effort to make sure I had pretty 1 sq.cm pieces of potatoes, carrots and cucumber. If I could I would have obsessed over the size and shape of peas too.

Finally, I asked my flat-mate and another friend to run a taste check and by the time it was all ready, I had missed all the coke and chips gup-shup! Nevertheless, we sat down to eat. Everyone said the food was yummy. They tucked in quite generously to my extreme satisfaction, finished dessert and then finally parted ways with "Thanks, that was one of the best dinners ever" etc...compliments (yes, I am beaming with joy and pride even as I type).

Left to myself, I sat down and evaluated the whole affair. I was delighted no doubt with the compliments I received. But I wondered - had anyone noticed how round the chapatis were? or how evenly cut the paneer or vegetables were? I didn't think so. Would it have mattered to my friends if the rotis weren't as round or if the vegetables were roughly diced? I didn't think so. Would it have mattered to me? YES. 

I could not think of doing it any other way. Was I happy or did I think I wasted my time? I was happy. Very very happy. That's when I realized why my Mom and Grand-mom made sure things were 200% OK. It made them happy. It made them happy to make an effort and see it pay off well. It was more than just giving your guests a tasty meal. It was a matter of personal joy & pride. I smiled as I thought of the happiness they would have felt after cooking a grand 3 course meal, and I couldn't help drawing parallels between them and me. (I know I will NEVER be as good as them, but indulge me - for now :) )

I went to my kitchen telling my self that parallels between us ended there, because I would clean up tomorrow, unlike my Mom. I took just one peek at the mess and the mountain-load of soiled vessels and cringed. I was wrong again. I cleaned up - just like my Mom does...

Well, what do I say now? I guess it runs in the blood and at some point it just shows up!

(Dedicating this to the 2 perfection freaks - My Mom and her Mom <3 )

Latest Addition :)

I have finally settled upon this beauty... Meet 'Scat'ter / 'Scat'woman / 'Scat'man, whichever of the three names you like :) I've never seen anyone else flaunt the leopard print with such allure! My little bronze-green Scat Fish is the latest addition to my life. For the sake of convenience I am just going to assume that my fish is a girl too (there is no clear way to tell with this species). If you get too close to her for comfort, she will warn you with a flared top fin that looks like she's brandishing a sword or something! I also read somewhere that she is capable of inflicting a mildly venomous sting with her said weapon...! Come to think of it, she does look kinda intimidating no?................. Anyway, I think she's cute :) <3 <3 <3

One of those many awkward instances...

My friend tells me that I have an uncanny ability of getting into the most bizarre situations. I really don't know, but one incident about a year and a half ago does her claim some justice. It involves me, an STD call, Begumpet Railway Station (in Hyderabad) and BSNL.

I was at the station waiting for the 1:30pm local train to attend my 3:00pm "Writing for Media" class one hot Saturday afternoon. The train was as usual late, so to kill my boredom I decided to call an old friend in Bangalore and so, pulled out my much abused mobile phone. Unfortunately due to its said condition, it was on the verge of dying. So I  looked around and saw to my rescue a slightly decaying STD phone booth. I called my friend, spoke to her for 5minutes and 20 secs and hung up as I heard my train being announced to arrive shortly. I went to the pan chewing middle aged woman sitting at the counter to pay for my call. She ripped out the computerized bill and handed it to me. My save-every-penny college going self was stunned to see Rs.18:00 written on it. Naturally I asked the woman, "I made a call for 5mins 20 secs, round it off to 6 mins. How can it possibly cost me 18 bucks? STD calls cost only Rs.2 per minute!!!" Her snubbing reply roughly translated to "What is your problem in paying 5 - 6 rupees more?" I was furious. Following a heated argument that entertained some bored passengers,  much to my disgust and embarrassment, I decided to walk to the station masters' room and tell him about the lewd woman and her unfair business. My intention here was just to "tell" so that he would do something about it LATER. But the overly helpful man decided to take up the issue that very moment and stormed out of his room. 

My train let out a loud hoot, warning me of its arrival. I had to get on that train, and I gradually tried to pull myself away from the scene. Just then... "Aye Madam, is this the phone booth? Please come here!". "Yes" I said, "but the train is....." Then followed an exchange of words between the S.M. and the woman in Telugu that drowned my plea. Even my limited comprehension of the language was enough for me to figure out what was said. He had just told her, and with a dozen entertained passengers as witness that I was.. now here is where I completely lost him.... that I was an "employee of BSNL", that I was on "inspection rounds" and that I had found her "indulging in malpractice"!!! What in the name of God?!!!

The world did a 360 deg. spin around me. It took me a good 30 seconds to regain my composure, only to find a dozen curious eyes fixed on me with an "Oh! BSNL inspection" look. I also helplessly saw that infernal train...now slowly pulling out of the station. I decided... the best thing for me to do was to shut up as long as the S.M and the woman were talking. She was telling him that she did not know anything about the billing system, so she will call her son. Let the son explain to the S.M and me. I cursed my fate, and the 5 - 6 rupees I was trying to save! Now I have to face her son??? At this point I must admit that I was very close to running with whatever dignity I had left. But I did not. After what seemed like a century, a big burly man, with a bushy black mustache and a very red face came hurrying towards us. His voice thundered above the general chatter of waiting passengers as he called out to his mother. "What is the problem here Amma?!" 

I was done for! I knew it for certain! 

I was spared the horror of speaking to him first as the S.M (puny - almost insignificant in comparison to the bulk he was addressing) stepped up and explained the situation to him. The big, burly man took the bill and came up to me. I was groping in my head for something to say or do. All I got was blankness. So I blankly looked up at him and then down at the bill. After that brief silence, he decided to talk. Thank God he did!!!

"Madam, see... the first 2 minutes are charged at a default rate of.....................blah blah..................." It took me a few seconds to realize - he was not yelling or thundering. He was speaking very politely in fact. "Yet it should not come to this much. I will immediately look into the matter. Please don't file any complaint. You can check tomorrow...Please?" Another loud train hooting its arrival on my platform gave me back my voice. I considered the train as my savior knight! I seized the opportunity and said "Ok ok... I'll come and see tomorrow. I have to go now, my train has come. Get your machine fixed. We can avoid all this mess..." and I bounded into the protection of the train as if it was holding out its arms for me - saving me from all evil that was lurking around me! In no time the train chugged out of the railway station and I did not turn to look back at what I had just left behind me. I was trying to digest the fact that I had in fact managed to escape unscathed from a situation that could have definitely gone all wrong. 

To this day I wonder why that Station Master thought I was an employee of BSNL, and why I did not open my mouth and protest when he burdened me with that claim, or why I even went to him in the first place. It was very uncharacteristic of me to get involved in such matters, but I guess all those lectures and essays about rights (in both senses of the word) and asserting the self and revolution etc. in college took their toll on me, and this was how I manifested their effect!

BTW: If you were wondering what happened to the phone booth; a friend of mine told me that ever since some BSNL inspection that booth has been closed. As for me, I took to traveling by bus for the next couple of weeks :P 

Language confusion O_o

I found myself in a strange situation when I came back to Bangalore this time on a vacation. Bangalore - my home. Though my roots go down south to the state of coconuts and a 100% literacy rate I feel more at home in Bangalore owing to the fact that I spent 18 crucial years of my life in this city. I am as much a Bangalorean as any native and hence Kannada comes to me as easily as my mother tongue. I could haggle about prices of onions to vendors, argue with annoying auto drivers about their faulty meters, read bus boards, and understand every word in a Kannada movie with ease.

About 3 years ago, I moved to Hyderabad for my post graduation, following which I happened to get  employment in a dream organization's Hyderabad branch. It is only now that I am back in Bangalore that I realize how Hyderabad's Hindi has replaced Kannada in my mind. I was never fluent with spoken Hindi - my friends will vouch for that - as I never had the need to speak Hindi in Bangalore. I know practically no Telugu but in Hyderabad Hindi works just fine. Owing to that, my Hindi is now much better. So coming to the point, in Bangalore this time, I was surprised to see myself feeling more comfortable with Hindi! It was only when a heated argument with an auto driver pushed me to the limits of my Hindi that I realized..."What the....??!! Why am I not giving him a piece of my mind in Kannada??!!". So I started in Kannada and the guy had to just shut up. I'm sure he was quite taken aback, but that is beside the point :) 

I have been making a conscious effort to speak in Kannada now and it is getting a little better. I still start off in Hindi sometimes, but I quickly move to Kannada and get my work done. What is to wait and watch is if I will go back to Hyderabad and talk in Kannada... Sigh!