DEMAND

The world needs better systems where MEN/GUYS/BOYS can understand that 'women/girls/females also work'. On weekdays/weekends.

I think I have been programmed to assume not to disturb/lower my expectations any 'boy(s)' around me when they declare they are working. Why are these programs absent (taken for granted) in the guy psyche ? Not because I am being a feminist here, but because simply if you demand to have a working girl for a wife, I demand for you to understand this.

ok ? OK.

Nightflier

Silence that heals

I spent one day with Upasna (from Someplace Else) and Pradnya (nature's baby) at a forest lodge. We ate, we hiked, we soaked ourselves in the lake water, we followed the lake trail, we chatted (a lot!), we played cards, we shared experiences, we dare deviled the trek to duke's nose and came back alive and a bit tired on friday the 13th.

During all this in a rare moment of calm, we were listening to the nature speak to us, when I exclaimed, 'I think I can bear this silence. But not the city silence.'

Of course the talking did not stop :D

The view from the hill

inside our gorgeous homestay

How fun is the warli painted wall!

~nightflier

Earned distinction!

On a family reunion sunday afternoon, after hogging tons of amazing vegetarian food (kheer!), we sat in front of the tv, watching 'kati patang' anticipating siesta. Who will 'repose' or 'manufacture zzzz' sooner than the others was the topic of chatter over 'how much one ate beyond one's capacity'.  Until I noticed the carrom board lurking in the corner of the hall. No discussion was needed. Within minutes the setup was ready. Boric powder was thrown on the board, magic tricks of distracting the opponent were performed. I teamed up with uncle, whereas father and cousin, both champions in their 'hay' college days, formed the other team.


More magic tricks involving shadowing the board pockets, deliberately talking loudly when the opponent was concentrating, were performed. During all this I was kind of having trouble getting the right finger position to hit the striker. The pain of playing a childhood game after 12 years! I drove my uncle crazy, when he would advise me to hit a particular coin and I would by default do something equally random and particularly useless.


Uncle : beta, try to take that coin (pointing at it) from the corner circle.
nightflier : Yes trying.
(after few seconds of forced concentration and hitting the shot)
uncle : But, we are playing with black coins, not white!!!
everyone around : #facepalm


Then while surfing channels, and stumbling across Vishwatma on TV, waiting for Divya Bharti to start crooning 'saat samundar' I found the finger hold. I am the straight shot types. Baba having observed this, suddenly told everyone, 'that's how my father used to hold/hit the striker too!' There! I am the girl who holds/hits the striker like her grandfather. And grandfather passed away long time back. I don't really have any tangible memory of him.


So I am extremely happy and proud to have earned this 'distinction' with him! Next time I play carrom, will make sure to remember this, lest I forget.


~nightflier

'An overture to illumination'

(Important things first. I want everyone coming to this post to watch the trailer and not miss this gem of a movie. Of course with subtitles. The book by Jonathan Safran Foer is equally read-worthy. Of course, despite the experiments in narration. The characters in the book are so much more than they seem and so beautiful. But the movie is equally quirky.)

Being part of world war II europe must have felt very human. It is during very trying times that we as humans shine or act more human i.e. do things which we never thought we would do. 

Alex does a very human thing by reinventing the past. Safran crosses seas for his coming generations. Jonathan wants to connect the dots. And Sasha would like to 'illuminate' (read find/search) this journey as a job, for his grandfather. In the turn of events they meet Lista, a collector. Of memories, people gone by, places forgotten. Jonathan, does that too. He fears he might forget. Their search for trachimbrod and a past so murky, brings them to 'illumination'. 

Nazi Germany or the anti-semite times and the sufferings of people, have always made me wonder about how those people overcame the terrible pasts and got where they got. 

'You have to begin where you begin, in order to get where you are going'

There is a recurring theme in the book 'One day you will do things that you hate (don't really want to do) for your family'.

May be sometimes in order to save yourself, literally and otherwise, you say you are doing it for others. May be that is utmost human-ness. May be in those trying times it was easier to do stuff, for the future, thinking if you took that terrible but human step, you could reinvent the past.

Lista tells Jonathan in a rather poignant climactic dialogue while giving away Augustine's wedding ring which she buried 'The ring is not here because of us. We are here because of the ring.' 

~nightflier

P.S. A name of the chapter from the book, in the title.

cruising through the western ghats

The role reversals in the family are getting funner. Brother planned all the transport and logistics details, while I fussed over waking up on time, packing enough food/supplies for emergencies etc. While parents watched.
(ok, aai helped pack the picnic box and knead the puri dough, while I deep fried them!)

the temple of wai!

On a certain level calling a day's outing 'a picnic' sounds even more fun! Remember the anxiety with which one used to sleep before a school picnic day and wake up all full of 'picnic energy' ? No ? OK. then you were not the *hyper excited about picnics kid* that I was. Anywho, the point is we went on a picnic with the parents. Wheeeeeee!!!


Starting off with the village of Wai, we took our first halt at the table top of pachgani. <inserts bollywood movies boarding school reference>.  Moved onto eat to our stomach's content at Mapro gardens. <ate the most awesome pizza, better than any 'traditional' pizza outlets> 

<3
from google

Then baba started telling his tales of 'being a roadie' in the 1980s.  He along with like minded friends toured various parts of India on their scooters/bikes. Starting point of all journeys central part of India.
1988 - Jabalpur, Bedaghat on his LML Vespa. 
1989 - Aurangabad, Mahabaleshwar, Goa on his LML Vespa.
1990 - Kanyakumari via Mysore, and other southern cities on his LML Vespa.
Petrol prices were between Rs. 20 to 25 during that time FYI. Also how they would decide on where to halt and the difference between things back then and now, was most fun to hear! Also I think must have been romantic for aai to wait for father, to come home after his myriad adventures! <she would, of course, shy away from these speculations and tell how difficult it got not having the 'husband' around>

picturesque valleys around
mahabaleshwar

Dhananjay, the most exciting and quite experienced driver to have on these ghats, joined in with his tales. To the cult music from the 80/90s playing in the background. 

the entrance to the fort

Aai and baba were really excited to visit Pratapgad. The place where Shivaji killed Afzal Khan using ganimi kawa (guerilla tactics). We hired a guide, Jadhav, who along with some exaggerating insights told us the most fascinating story of the 'kill' and the battle that ensued. 

posing outside a more than
100 years old school
in the hills!

There are still some 84 families living inside the fort. Life full of adventure and mystic!


And if you visit these places and don't eat the typical Maharashtrian food of 'pithla-bhakri' 'kanda-bhaji' 'thalipith' with a light drizzle in the background, then you are missing one of the most *worth it* and *cliched* experience in the world. Every visit to such places and not eating any of those feels almost like a crime!


And the journey wound up, with visits to two more Ganpati temples in Pali and Mahad. With sore legs from climbing the fort and a rejuvenated mind after breathing in the fresh air of the hills, last night was the longest and most peaceful I have slept in days! 


How was your weekend ? :-)


~nightflier

cooking with constraints

So today around 12 PM baba declared that there would be no routine menu for lunch, but instead we will eat chicken Biryani. Of course I was to make, considering aai is not well and I have become the official non-veg cook of the house given the fact that aai is a vegetarian. 


So we had 2 big constraints today. 
1. Time. It needed to be done in 2 hours, given the tempers/annoyance at home which rise with the level of empty stomach-ness.
2. No mixer/blender. The one we had which was a family relic from 1984* broke down last Sunday. And now its not worth the repair/maintenance cost. So until I make a decision to buy one, the house will be without any mixer.


As I was racking my brain as to what my POA should be, that I remembered this recipe, a friend had shared long time back! I distinctly remembered it being a Keralite preparation sans any coconut or coconut milk (an ingredient which was not in my kitchen).

Thalassery style dum biryani!

So I took that recipe and only changed 2 things. I did not marinate the chicken. Instead put some cuts in the pieces after cleaning them, so that the spices could infuse better. Also did not have mint leaves, so added curry leaves to give a nice aroma.


Here is the instagrammed pic! 
Tasted yum!!! I guess I am ready to try more south Indian preparations.


~nightflier


* I first brought it with me from home, when I started living with friends. When I moved to the US it got transferred to bro's house. Now that we are living together, it was good to have a machine we grew up with in the house! :D

of books and reading challenge

Last year I kept track of what books I read. Considering I was jobless for a whole quarter, whatever I read played a huge role in keeping me motivated about a tangible goal i.e. finishing the book. Also by the end of the year I had read a good 35 books. And I maintain numbers do not matter. But I had become a regular sincere reader and I did not rather do not want to lose that.


Hence I took up a challenge of reading 60 books this year. Why 60 because 50 is boring and 70 too much :P
Anyway so the plan was, rather is to read 5 books per month, spread over 12 months. Which makes it a pretty comfortable journey. But I have fallen behind by 5 books already. And its only halfway! hmmpf!


So to motivate myself to get rid of the lethargy, I am doing a review of the stuff I read/am reading over the past 6 (almost!) months!


* I have become a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. Finished reading American Gods. Loved how it made me think about America from a totally quirky perspective. Love his writing and imagination overall. Period.
* I read Milan Kundera's 'the unbearable lightness of being'. Philosophy cannot get any more trickier. Also a friend says he is the only Indian sounding guy in the writing world! ;-)
* I read Jaya by Devdutt Pattanik! And I loved it!
* I also read Stephen Hawking's 'A brief history of time'. Felt like a wide eyed little girl who was learning about the fascinating cosmos.
* Ernesto Che Guevera's 'Motorcycle diaries'. I have a totally different perspective about South America now. And I want to travel there!
* I also read Kathryn Stockett's 'The help', Emma Donoghue's 'Room' and Margaret Atwood's 'Bodily Harm'. Got introduced to a few Atwood fans and on their recommendation am going to read more of her work.
* Read Meenaxi Madhavan Reddy's 'You are here'. Learnt the most awesome recipe for achari potato and some kickass cocktails. ;-)
* Apart from Asimov I have not read much serious science fiction. So started reading Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Red Mars'. Astounding details. Much better than many sci-fi movies I have watched.
* Last year I also got drawn to Rumi and his poetry. So after gifting KT one poetry book, I could hardly resist the temptation. So bought myself a copy of Essential Rumi. Have not managed to assimilate a lot, but whatever I have read has been very evocative!
* And have ordered Ashok Banker's 'Prince of Ayodhya' from library. So with some good old Indian mythology hopefully the reading pace will be back.


Also read a few crappy books which I will not mention here.
I very badly want to read Teju Cole's 'Open City', Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Everything is illuminated', Patrick Rothfuss's 'Kingkiller Chronicles' and Haruki Murakami's '1Q84'.


To improve on the serious reading time, I have decided to let go of some clutter in the form of random links I end up clicking on twitter. Though most are knowledgeable, after serious consideration I am going to dedicate 30-45 minutes everyday to go through zite or flipboard. And not fall for anything outside that.
Also I have stopped reading on bus journey to and from work. I am going to try to dedicate one hour before sleep everyday. Lets see how that works.


Wow doing such self assessment is a feel good and motivation booster!
So even if I may not finish 60 books by the year end, I will know how much I tried.


What are you reading btw ?
Recommendations welcome :)


~nightflier