Sharda @ Ganesh Puja

'Rangoli' by ShrushTi  at the lobby...

 So, Sharda invited me to her place in Mulund... It's like going to another city from where I stay in Malad. So, she wanted to make it worth my while by calling me for a stay-over and enjoy the festivities. This was during the Ganesh Puja in her building, as, she's relatively free during the holidays.












(I cannot help but admire all married women who look after family and kids). I took a bus and reached in time for lovely lunch and colourful cake that was made by her daughter for the cooking competition the evening before that.

This evening they had the dance contest with wonderful Marathi songs. The manDap was painted by the boys.

Sharda helped me dress up...

With Sharda and her little sister Pushpa...

Her little sister has kids of her own now...

 I thoroughly enjoyed myself; and love the fact that this year there was a definite surge in charity instead of the general splurge... I hope next year onwards the 'Dhol's and music systems would also have a decibel cut-off limit.

Sindhi thadRi, Janmashtami, Rituals & Faith

Pic Courtesy: Barkha, my unbelievably talented sister (touch wood)- The thadRi platter... miTThi Tikki (like biscuits), 'SooRhi', 'Aaloo takk', 'Bhindi', Onion pickle, 'dahi baRa', 'Roat', daal ka paraTha and 'achaar'.

We used to love having all the items that our mother made for ‘thadRi’... I had gradually stopped believing in rituals and started receiving this reply, “असां त कडी कोन पुछो से!”/ “We never questioned!”... From being a person who never spoke, to a child who put effort into devising all sorts of logic to refute acts of blind faith, I had begun making inroads into her belief system... Slowly, she must have understood I am lazy too, but more than that we came to a mutual respect zone, where she knew I would help her cook it all and she had become broad-minded enough to allow me in the kitchen after simply a bath even on the first day of the period.

Sindhis are known to be smart, (euphemistically speaking) but our elders were wise too. Apart from the scientific reasons for fasting and such, these people had made ”नयाणी”/ “कन्या”/’girl child’ an important deal, a pillar of the common man’s day-to-day ‘dhaarmik’ life... There is a process called ‘handay’/ हंदय .... On various occasions, my mother (as the ‘bahu’ of the household) would take out food and fruits in the name of the ancestors and give it to us the daughters (the role of the Brahmin was reduced as much as possible)... And the boys of the house were not supposed to touch this food or any sacred gifts! My mother was a stickler for these practices. When we were in joint family, they would never have heard her voice, but later, even Papa was jolted by an urgent shout as he picked up any fruit accidentally from our ‘thaal’... My little brother, the apple of her eye, would almost invariably get asked, “kahaan se liya?”/ “Where did you take that from?”

Vivek, till date, asks before eating anything... I have to remind him what is in the fridge, before leaving home, so he has an idea that he can help himself to food when he’s hungry...

But I digress, another thing with ‘handay’ was that it is not to be wasted and my mom generally operated out of abundance and immense respect for rituals so she took a lot of food out for ‘handay’ and Barkha and I could not finish it, especially during a few consecutive days of ‘shraadh’ when the Brahmin was not invited, so the extra food was either given out to the help for their daughters, if they too were not available then it was sent for the cow.

On one such occasion, I happened to accompany Mommy, in Lucknow. The car had just turned from the building’s exit and I spotted a cow at the side and pointed out, ‘wohi toh hai! Yahin de dein!’/ There it is! Let’s give it here only!” Mother said, “Chari aa’n chha!/ are you crazy?” I said “Ghar ke paas ki gaay ko nahin khila sakte hain?”/“Why what’s wrong? Just because it’s close to our house we won’t feed it?” Mommy said, again, while the driver resumed driving after a beat...  “Chari aa chaa! Eehya gaany lagayi ti?”/ Are you mad? Does that look like a cow to you?” I still could not understand... She continued in a softer tone, “alaay kiyan tahaan khe patoyi na paindo tav”/ God knows how, you guys can’t understand”. Just then as we waited at the signal, the animal crossed the road in front of us. It was a bull.

So, I am very thankful for my upbringing. 

Here’s an old photo of how mainly Barkha would help decorate the ‘jhaanki’ and Mommy would celebrate the birthing of Lord Krishna every year. Happy Janmashtami, everyone.

How Do People Make 'Kochu Paata'

Arbi patta/ Kochu Paata/PaathroDe Paan/ Taro Leaf. Pic. Courtesy: Dinesh Dhenoy, who has no idea what I'm using it for

(Sharing an old note)

I recently saw ‘arbi paata’ being sold at Hyper city.
It reminded me of – ‘Lokkhon, Lokkhon! Kotha chhile eto khon? ’
‘Giya chilaam kochu bone, H____baar jonne’ 
‘Ta H___ P___ niye eshe chho Raamer doaare!!??’

‘na na, ghoshe eshe chhee kochu paata diye’
‘Kochu paata diye! P___ choolkaacchhe na?’
‘na, mekhe eshe chhee Boroline Antiseptic cream’

I let the kochu paata be, and bought Kochu instead. We boil, cut, deep fry kochu with salt and turmeric. After it becomes crisp, sprinkle red chilli as per taste. It is a rare indulgence, so this time around I got a bit more than required and let a little bit remain uncooked. Thinking of making the process simpler, I decided to make this in a rarely used process, by not boiling, simply peeling, cutting and frying in little oil with a lid.

Soon enough though, I realized why I had made it in this manner only once when I was very young. My hands began choolkaaoing (itching & burning) so bad!! And I did not have boroline!! Applying Shorshe tel (Mustard oil) and washing hands aplenty, calmed the irritation after a while. Thank God!

The point is, one must remember ‘The Law of Attraction’… Forget about what you do not want; instead, focus on what you do want! :)

Cheers!:)

Dreams and their Manifestations

It is supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be fun. But the mind would not allow it because struggle is ‘noble’. The ego consistently forgets that the individual is a part of the whole- the source.

We should have done this with our mother- a cookery show, a book… Anyway, I recently became friends a friend’s mom… You have to meet her; she would wish to feed youJ I have had many tasty and healthy treats at her place. We sometimes meet to play Chinese-checkers or she treats me to a movie. One day while having lunch, I suggested that she should have her own cookery show. And then I toned it down a little bit and asked if she would like to shoot one day and be a guest on my channel. She agreed. 

So did my brother Vivek, who would direct, shoot and edit the video. Aunty asked, “What kind of dishes should I keep ready?” I told her she had perfect dishes, the ones that they regularly use. When we reached her place, aunty was so thoroughly prepared! All the ingredients were readied beforehand.

The shoot actually happened a few weeks ago at Aunty’s beautiful place. While Aunty kept asking, “How have I done?” My brother had to be coaxed into editing it simply on humble software. It is finally up on youtube.  Hope you like itJ

Click here to watch Jyotsna Aunty's Spinach Cutlets' Video now

The Workspace @ Kamshet

I would like to begin by thanking people who share beautiful photos of green mountains. Law of Attraction saw to it that I reach there within a month of noticing some nice pictures on facebook.

It is called The Workspace, in a village called Uksan, at Kamshet a hill station in district Pune, Maharashtra… This dedicated space for theatre rehearsals and workshops is dream of every theatre practitioner… They refuse point-blank at even the suggestion of giving the place for shoots.

Pic. by Gaurav Kunwar Singh

Anyway, a place and hard work such as this is worth applauding. I got the pleasure of being there by registering for this two day workshop by Tram Arts’ Trainers. Seven of us participants, had the good fortune to travel together and discover that it takes 4 hrs to reach, not 2 as advertised everywhere on the internet.

Clicked by Prasad Dhend

You have to see the focus of the founders… Seen here, are the children of the school nearby who performed for us what they learned at the workshop organized especially for them under expert guidance.

Afterwards, we had lunch, some people swam also and then began our workshop. We walked outside to collect materials that caught our eye with their distinct colours. In the next session, it was about texture and pattern and observing with our paper lens. It was fascinating! 

The third session was mainly about collecting rocks; and keeping an eye out for any touching image…

Then finally the installation- A group activity, categorizing the different materials and setting them according to their sizes and ages…

The next day, brought more of theatrical exercises- speed walking, playing/imagining/creating narratives out of our favourite rocks and responding when new pieces of rocks were added to the first piece and then again when another participant and their pieces were grouped together.

Picture Courtesy: Manisha Korde

Lastly, it was a partner exercise of ‘play with sand’. After a while of reacting, responding and getting involved we were asked to remember five acts that interested us and string them together for a performance for everyone else to see. Later, we were asked to objectively describe only the striking images created by all other performers.

When describing about the immediate feelings or observations during each of the above sessions, the findings were very personal. A training of observing our own response to surroundings- it was more like meditation than anything else. Kudos to the team! We need to remind ourselves to seek out the child in us by reconnecting with nature and playing.

Words, Hindi Songs and Family

When our older niece Manya says, 'she does not want to wake up now', Vivek sings to the younger one also still in bed, “Aye pagli tu kyun ro rahi hai” (Altaf Raja’s) and the little one laughs silently with her face covered by her long hair that she’s growing- 8 yr old Diva… This was after I had called out to Manya by the name Vivek had given her at birth, ‘Strawberry’ and he corrected me, “Strawberry gaay ka naam hota hai”…

One morning, Vivek sang the second line also, “ke daag chhoRna hai mere muqaddar mein”… I pointed out that there has to be some other word, let’s listen to that song; this does not make any sense… My brother explained, ‘May be, it’s like the Bill Clinton thing’…

Another day he admitted, it must be “Ke gaanv chhoRna hai mere muqaddar mein”… Yes, it makes absolute sense. He also pointed out that when his friend (they were quite young at the time) Gaurav Tondon used to

listen to “tum toh Thehre pardesi, saath kya nibhaaoge”, Vivek used to find it very strange. Gaurav, perhaps, this will bring back memories… I don’t know… I hope my beautiful bhabhi teases you tooJ

Of course, Diva and my favourite song is “Let’s Nacho” from Kapoor & Sons.

At one point, to pressure her into resuming Sudoku for her holiday homework, Vivek used all the difficult Urdu words at Diva (we had learnt those while studying "Oedipus" back in Lucknow), like “tumko behboodi

ho rahi hai” and “belaus”. 


When Barkha, our elder sister asked what they meant after we had burst out laughing, bhai, (I suspect, must have forgotten the meanings) instead of explaining, with a sombre expression, turns to the other side, as if to rest and says, “Itni urdu sabko aati hai, didi”.

When we were dropping them off at the airport, since, Manya had announced she does not wish to hear about studies anymore...


 Vivek asked Diva to promise (to repeat after him, like ‘shapath-grahan’) that she would allow her sister to study without disturbance for the next three years. Diva did not promise any such thing.

Now, when I miss Barkha, Manya and Diva, can you blame me? I’m making sling bags for Diva and myself, just saying… will share photos… 
What started as a way to document the kids' sayings turned out to be that of my baby brother's, which has been long pending, a dream to share our good fortune:) 

Holi & Easter in Germany! Back in Time...

It was quite a surprise when one of my room-mates, Nils asked if there was a traditional Indian Festival that we could celebrate… I answered that there is Holi during this time. Then I asked my mother over the phone and she replied, “Yes, it is close by, on the 22^nd of March!’ That was in the year 2000. Since my hosts (for internship), the AIESECERs in Darmstadt, Germany were scheduled to meet at the University on the 20^th, we decided to celebrate in advance… Carnival colours were used to colour each other’s faces and as a treat I had carried black-eyed beans and ‘chaawal ki kheer’ which they knew as ‘Milch Reis’!

Soon, they were all about to go for the weekend to their parents’ house, and as was the tradition, they decided to give a taste of the festival to the interns also. So, ‘chinophile’ Mike took me to his parents’ house in Donnstadt for Easter. Yes, he was totally in love with all things Chinese then and is also married to a lovely Chinese woman now! Actually, it is not just about Mike’s ‘punar-janam’/ past-life, his parents used to live in Taiwan when he was young, so that sort of, explains the bond. I find it a bit scary because I lost friendship of a Chinese woman but I am sure, discipline and wisdom come easily to Germans, and he operates out of love, so, they must be very happy. I cannot see myself married to a Chinese person ever, unless it is Meiyang Chang, of course…

Anyway, it was great being there and also visiting Shwetzingen Park with Mike and Rupa.  Spring was awesome.

This peacock danced for five minutes straight, for a couple in love… They were showing affection to each other and even Rupa (a staunch traditional girl who used to describe PDA as 'infection') smiled at them. I was going crazy clicking photos as I had seen so much greenery after ages! Well, it had been four months since I had been away from Tropical Calcutta… And naturally, both my friends got irritated… But it was so beautiful!

This was also a pretty state of the weather when I had reached at the end of November 1999. Later, just when the Spring began, these trees had purple blossoms for a few weeks! We can see Mike here, with a broom he had borrowed from my room-mates. The apartment was close by, as I walked up with Nils from Jahnstrasse tram stop that day admiring the snow and Nils suggested we must take a picture of Mike with the broom. My room-mates used the broom to clean up the cellar for the Christmas party. I had made ‘pakoRas'... which thankfully came out well and people loved, especially Frank. BTW, I wanted to put better pictures and make some changes when all the text on Frank's blog vanished. I shall share that again with better pictures. For photos on this blog, I must give credit to my brother who took great 'pics' of 'pics'. Thank you :)