Qutub Ki Laat

This weekend started very badly. My fourball called to cancel the games on sat and sunday when I had slogged through Friday to be on the good books of the wife to ensure that I will not be castigated for being out of her hair for two whole days. Women never know what is good and what is bad.
To get more brownie points which I can encash later I agreed to not follow Jeev in Jeju and take everyone to see the Qutub Minar. Everyone means friend, friends daughter, both my sons, wife and your truly ( the driver ). March in Delhi is one of the best times, though this year is slightly hotter than usual but still it is nice and ideal for a trip to a historical monument.
This last year has got me to more Delhi monuments than the last 20 years of my life thanks mainly to people coming and me showing them the sights and sounds of my city. Qutub holds the pride of place. Somehow I find Qutub to be more awe inspiring than even Taj. Taj is for me something like a picture postcard not enough emtion slightly cold, whereas Qutub is raw and the age of the place is palpably felt at the monumnet.
Thanks to the ASI the area is lush, there are less empty Lays packs around the lawns and surprise of surpriseloos are reasonably ok. The only discordant note was the eunuchs troubling young couples. The ASI should do something about this.
Once a month this kind of a trip is also great to get the bonding going again and I for one was quite happy.
Now if only the Golf could have been played post lunch!!!!!

भैया कि भाषा में ब्लाग

Golf, Ernie and Indian Masters

I try to play Golf. Before anyone thinks I am being my modest self let me announce that I AM NOT BEING MODEST!!
Golf is the most capricious game that I have ever played or attempted to play. There are so many variables that I am forever unsure of what I did wrong. And the rare times that I am able to send the ball where I wanted it to go I am unable to replicate that. All this above, is when the conditions are perfect, there is hardly any wind or if there is any it is always the one with a tail. On windy days it is a game of chance and you would not be blamed if you think this is as close to Vegas as you will get in your lifetime.
Anyways last week was the Indian Masters in Delhi and thanks to my friend 'Wanshu I got a chance to watch Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn, Shiv Kapur, Arjun Atwal, Jeev, Jyoti and Digvijay Singh in action live. The funniest part was that none of us followed the eventual winner SSP Chowrasia ( one more example of the capriciosness of this game ).
Like all other star stuck fans we followed Ernie on his walk around DGC post a sumptous lunch thanks again to the fact that 'Wanshu is cute yaa ( pronounced with a d instead of t) and women just love him naturally. The 5 odd holes that we followed Ernie was a lesson on hope and the fact that no one can claim to have mastered this game. We saw Jeev going OB, Ernie going to the Bunker more than once, Atwal missing a three feet putt which in Lado we would have said 'given' and Kjeldsen doing a three putt after a glorious second shot. In between we also saw Jeev nearly doing a hole in one and two near perfect lobs from a sand and grass dunker by Ernie which was as beautiful a shot as you could possibly see.
A perfect day of Golf and the hope that if these greats can go OB or miss putts I should put my ideas and thought of how much my set s worth at bay.

2008 and Nursery Admissions

The New Year has come in and it is already 15 days old and life is back to its usual humdrum existence of work, family and a little bit golf. The only new part of this year is the Nursery Admission process in Delhi. This year we are also amongst the many who are trying and praying that their progeny get into a 'good' school.

We are trying in most of the south Delhi school and with the confusion created by Mr Ganguly still not clear it is a recipe made in hell.

All schools have their own method of doing their Eenie, Meenie, Myna, Mo and we have gone through three of them. They range from interaction ( interview ) with parents to group discussions. Internet has created new groups where people suffering from post Ganguly depression and confusion can get succor by reading the travails of fellow sufferers.

Taare Zameen par was the ideal movie in these times as all parents have suddenly decided that what they want to do is allow the child to flower without putting undue pressure etc etc. Suddenly 'Pressure' is a bad word not to be used in front of kids.

Speaking of movies I promised to thank the Bijlis for single handedly changing the bollywood movie scene. From the days of one screen halls to multiplexes the movies today have changed from One size fits all to different movies for different audiences. Can you imagine movies like KKG, Bheja Fry, Life in a Metro, Cheeni Kum, TZP coming 10 years back and getting commercial release. Ten years back Dharmedra was still doing his Dog vampire bit. Now at least we have movies which target the ricksaw walah to the mercedes guy.
And Amen to that.

P.S. : My sons learning from TZP - Hostels are not good and if you sent me there ergo you dont love me

A day at the Circus

'The Royal Circus is in your town till Dec 3rd only, so please tell all your friends and relatives to come and visit'. This was an attempt at Viral marketing by the Royal circus marketing department. Since I am not sure how the traditional virus is working so I am using this blog shamelessly as a marketing tool for Royal Circus.

Yesterday I took my kids and some friends of theirs with the mothers to see this circus. It was happening in East Delhi which to all South Delhi people is back of beyond and then some distance. The idea was that kids see the circus and attempt to understand what outdoor live entertainment was for their parents.

The first thing that my son was kicked about was the Elephants munching their food in their enclosures and the camels and horses tied nearby.

The show had trapeze, cycling, Dog and elephant tricks and some russian women doing gymnastics with props. I am sure some of them would have been ex Olympic gymnasts the way their bodies contorted and did impossible tricks.

It was a 3 hour show which I thought was long by 1.5 hrs. I think Circus as an art/entertainment form is slowly dying and in this fast paced and multi entertainment world of ours they face a losing battle to appeal to the minds and senses of the children.

If I ask my kids where would they like to go for a movie or circus they might still say circus but the attached parapheranalia of popcorns, burgers and other stuff was not available in the dusty circus tent. Smarter marketing would also need more color and more show, whether the quality of the audio or the fact that the seating ensured that everyone was not able to view the show , all these need to be checked and acted on.

But my children enjoyed for 2 hrs plus and I would seriously encourage every person to take their kds and show these artistes wh do all these deth defying stunts which we will not be able to do on flat earth.

So folks reading it, the show is on till Dec 3rd only and so go and show your kids what it was to live in the seventies and eighties, OSO be damned.

Festivities never end

If you are an Indian in India you would have noticed how every month has some holiday or other due to our being a secular state. So in addition to the Diwalis, Ids and Christmas we have our Valmiki Diwas also. The only major religion whose festivals are not holidays is Judaism. Why I have no clue! If I was a jew it might make a good case of calling up some TV News channels, gather some goons and proceed to burn some buses. For good measure call this an exercise in Secularism and presto you will give us another holiday on Hanukkah perhaps.
But Come September the Holiday mood grips this vast country of ours as from all corners of India there is something or the other. I am counting Onam also in Sept as the lovely Mallus keep shifting the dates from Sept to August. Then the gujjus do Navratris when the best place in the world to be is in Ahmedabad ( this is true for condom makers and pvt investigators too ). Navratri is followed by Durga Pujo where all Bengalis, the resident and non resident, all go out to buy their annual quota of new clothes and come out wearing the same without ironing them. Ironing means the creases go and then how will people know that the clothes are new. Ak-dom un intelligent - I tell you.
Diwali follows soon after and that signifies the binging on sweets and getting upset stomach to breathing foul polluted air with more NO2 then O2 and becoming unwell.
In Delhi, the city I live, Diwali also means card parties. Till a decade or two back these were friendly events where a group of friends got together and played a bit of card to usher in the goddess of wealth. Now these are bonafide events which have budget of several thousand dollars and where the winner can take home some serious money. There are urban legends where people bet their cars and houses. Draupadi is just waiting in the wing to happen.
I unfortunately dont play card and also dont hknow enough whos who to get invited to such parties but the scale and size baffles me and also brings introspection.

Rains and food

I am a foodie, it is an honest confession. Unfortunately, for me, I am not Kunal Vijaykar that I travel the length and breadth of India and have food all over but I am still a foodie. It also helps that I am blessed with a constitution that doesnt allow me to get seriously fat. I mean I have a paunch but thats it.
I have memories of best food ever from different phases of my life. for breakfast nothing could beat my grandmothers 'Bhaat bhaja' which is bong for Fried rice. the only difference was that this fried rice had the most minute size aloo, parwal, gobhi and shrimps and with dollops of cows milk ghee it was Yum. I am salivating right now.
The most delicious meal I ever had was in an Army mess in Pune. This was when I was going to attend the NDA passing out parade of my brother. It was simple meal of rice, chicken curry and yellow daal but after surviving on biscuits and tea for two days this was nothing less than manna from heaven. Why starving for two days is for another blog!
Mom made the best food possible but her signature dish was the dessert. And the payesh she made was something that she was justly famous for. It was just the right sweetness so that everyone could enjoy it. And the funny part was that unlike most recipes that daughters learn from their mothers this one she learnt from her mother in law. Says something about our Saas Bahu tradition.
The reason I am writing today is the sharp rains that lashed our city today. Rain for a bengali is a happy occasion. My childhood vacation memory is of 'Kal Baisakhis' thunderstorms which used to turn the day into night and wind speeds which could hurl me all across the football ground. and when these came the meal was always 'Khichudi'.
The bengali Khichudi comes in different shapes, when one is unwell then it is dal and rice boiled together till they are like the same complexion. The other is the dish cooked in all the zillions of Pujas that happen in a Bengali household. I think this khiichudi gets a special flavor due to the community nature of the cooking and it is something that is unique to the bengalis.
The last and foremost is when it rains nay pours and you cook Khichudi and have it. this is a different form of art where you need just the right proportion of Dal and rice, big chunks of vegetables like Aloo, Gobhi, peas etc. The onion should be fried to just the right color and then all of the stuff is cooked before adding the water. And this meal, though complete in itself, needs the accompaniment of ideally 'mach bhaja' i.e. fried fish or for the vegetarians baigun bhaja ' Fried Brinjals' for variety you can add omlette etc also. there should be lots of achar/chutney and the meal is complete and you have paid your obeisance to the rain gods.
Now if I could just have some Khichudi tonight.