Lacchedaar Rabri

Rabri is a milk based preparation quite common in Northern India. Milk is warmed on very slow flame in an emormous almost flat pan.

Water keeps evaporating and the malai formed is constantly scraped to the edge of the pan. After a while themalai sort of half baked remains on the pan. It is called rabri.

Now the lacchedaar rabri. It’s a legacy. Whenever my grandfather used to buy rabri he was very particular. Only thick rabri needed to be packed. Salesman usually tried to pack in a bit of milk along with the thick base. A couple of expletives from my grandfather and rabri was unpacked. Only lacchas were packed this time.

It was a customary expletive and customary unpacking. There are a lot of memories. Small mango pieces mixed in rabri and served chilled was aam-rabri. Crused ice laced with rabri and rooh-afja was chuski. Rabri,the king of summers.

My parents are visting me this week. Father has brought the same old rabri. I enquired. There was the expletive and unpacking involved as usual. Yummy!

Aloo Paratha and Achaar

Whenever I travelled long, my Mom used to pack me Aloo Paratha and achaar. This custom has continued ever since. Aloo Paratha has become synonymous with my travel.

I could be seen muching away Paratha at airports, railway stations, in trains, planes, buses. Over last 5 years or so, I have travelled a lot and hence a lot of Aloo Paratha memories.

What is is about Aloo Paratha, I wonder. The taste? The longevity? The travel worthiness? Longevity not  so much as after a day or so during travel the aloo stuffing become stale and bad. Then what?
I think the key here is that no dish is required along with it. Just apply a touch of achaar, roll it up and voilà, the food is ready. Also its easy to pack, no curry. A dry food and yet aloo inside make it not so dry. Its cheap too. Just Aloo and flour.

Whatever it may be, Nothing makes my journey complete like a burp which smells of Aloo Paratha.

I wish

I wish I was a charming prince,
But my mother says I already am,
I wish I was a handsome dude,
But my wife says I already am,
I wish I was the bravest man,
But my daughter says I already am,
I wish I was the funniest guy,
But then my pals laugh at my jokes,
I wish I was the role model,
But then junior want to be me,
I wish I was the happiest person,
And yes I do sleep in peace,
I think all my wish come true,
N I am the luckiest of them all.

PK, Aamir and Controversy

I saw PK movie starring Aamir Khan and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, before any controversy erupted. It was quite clear from the trailers that movie was a satire on religious customs. I went to see the movie with an open mind.

Movie wise its a nice simple story without much drama or twists. A simple tale told with simplicity. Aamir’s acting was superb as always. I liked the message of the movie. About superstitions and wrong numbers and how easy it is to fool people in the name of religion.

But I will be frank here, I found few bits distasteful like the one in the climax involving a guy posed as Shiva, and the one where Tapasvi says that a person from particular religion do blasts…why should Tapasvi answer?

Then the controversy erupted. Hindu religious leaders objected, understandably so, as majorly they were the ones targetted. Then the political free for all.

My take is such movies tend to vitiate atmosphere in a multi religious society like ours. It would have been. difficult to target all religions equally in the movie and this is what caused issues. Right wing and appeasement politicians both made things worse.

My take is though in principle such movies should be celebrated but given the realities, they better not be made.

I find makers of the movie equally at fault as the religious traders. Both made money off religion. Some by celebrating it, others by denigrating it. Movie was made to make crores of rupees and this fact should not be forgetted. I would have liked if makers gave away the profits for social causes. Since their motive was to make money off public, they were always susceptible to attack and can’t take Holier than thou route.

Everyone alike. After all its money honey!

Samosa and Chai

Train journey is synonymous with samosa and chai. The harmonical calls of chai-chai and boasting of garma-garam samosa.

Nothing to kill time and getting totally bored. Let me describe my fellow passengers. Should keep me busy for sometime.

1. Mokey-man: He is sitting next to the door donning a monkey-cap. Wide eyed and dark skinned. Nothing standout. He keeps peeping over the shoulder to gaze at the lady sitting a few seats away. He makes gestures as if he is doing neck exercise. Whatta…playya!

2. Laugh Alone: He has earplugs and laptop is on. Some sitcom probably. He keeps laughing intermittently. Oblivious of his surroundings. Kinda Funny.

3. The Foodie: A middle aged man. With his wife. His wife keeps passing him food like every 10 mins and he seems more than happy to chew down every last bit of it.

4. Bollywood’s own man: Just listen to him. “Dutt sahab ke bete  ne naam kamaya. Aur Kapoor sahab ke bacchon ne. Dharam paaji ke bacche okay hain. Ab Sunny ka time gaya. Danny ka ladka toh bekaar lagta hai.” Sajid bhai ke mamu…se lekar Daud bhai tak. All are like his pals the way he speaks. Awesome.

4. The sleeper: This guy has been asleep all through. Not sure if he is on something.

5. The beauty: The lone good looking girl in specs. Everyone keeps looking at her making her a bit uncomfortable. Alas! when will we change.