Foodulture!

I’m a typical ‘Amdavadi’ and alike most of them, I whole heartedly follow this one chant we believe in “Khavanu, Peevanu.. Majja ni life!” You can call me a hedonist who believes in savouring and hogging over food; anytime, any day and in every mood. We might be surprised to know that there are some people who love food to such an extent that their survival, their heart and soul ends and begins in the name of food. It is about how crucial food has become in our life or at least some of us, who don’t live to eat but eat to live.

 I feel so sorry for all the skinny people who choose to starve over relishing such amazing delicacies. I mean do you see the variety people are coming in terms of taste, flavour, colour (yes, that too!); and with the widening of our rich Indian culture and acceptance of different food culture around the globe, we’ve opened arms towards becoming a cosmopolitan. Look at the weirdest and the craziest inventions in terms of food, how taste has become the most important factor and somewhere like Gujarat, a dry state with no night life, Sundays are meant for gourmands.

Keeping business in mind, any venture with even a pretty average ambiance and service quality but better in terms of taste and exquisite snacks to choose from, works! The same lane might have vendors selling similar Maggi but the choices you can pick from plus the extra Butter and Cheese, oh don’t you love hogging over it? You might love to stay in a five-star hotel but given a choice, won’t you prefer the street food with the Desi Tadka despite the large Buffet but with a bland taste? In fact, not just vendors; I see websites, cookery magazines, competitions and shows with really eccentric people ready to eat just any animal, insects or herb doing extremely well!

Some might disagree on the point that women can’t eat much and they tend to diet or waste more than eat but those days are gone when women would eat less to save a pound. Well, at least I can proudly say that I would rather gain a few pounds rather than denying myself the chance to devour something cheesy, chocolaty or fattening. Diet might seem an easy way to punish the ones who appreciate a really good sense of taste but Mayo and Thousand Island sauces can change your perception (Subway salads!). Chicken, Barbeque, Sausages, Sea Food, there seems to be no end to food. You could go off for a vacation to relish amazing delicacies miles away or you could take a break from work and experiment having new street food.

Food has become a part of our culture, we connect food with the people we meet and in fact come closer with the variety and spices in it. I’ve seen people coming together when they share their favourite dish, people trying to relate themselves and their moms with their homemade food and friends and families embracing occasions and memories over prolonged get-togethers. You could very well spend hours with your cousins and enjoy midnight munching or you would be someone who would sneak into the kitchen to relieve yourself from stomach pangs. Couldn’t we all relate ourselves to all the times when coffee became an excuse to meet someone and catch-up? Through generations, we’ve carried with ourselves our food legacy and today, it has become the most integral part our lives!

With so many things to choose from, we appreciate, admire and have accepted all sorts in trofology but we have failed to accept the love for food. Even though we all share the same love, the amount varies from skinny to obese and somehow; we fail to accept the obese. I being an ardent food fan have never let people kill my love for food and we connoisseurs should carry immense pride in doing things we love. For me, food is the cure to everything, to rejoice or distress and its deprivation can make me turn into a monster! So today, I would like to raise a toast to food; for all the times the little munching that came to my rescue when people couldn’t, the chocolates I had to better my mood and the fun I have while cooking in experimenting with food because to you, there’s no substitute! Cheers to food J

Beneath the Blue Umbrella

Have you ever had butterflies looking at someone, when you look at that person every day with the same zeal and the happiness he brings to you just by being around? The way you silently stare at him for just one moment when you could look at each other right in the eyes at the very moment and then giggle shying away. The first day of college and when you looked in the crowd, you never noticed him. It wasn't a fairy tale where you could only see him, you hated his guts or found him a complete nerd and now; you’re so mad about him that you want him around all the time. You wish you could get a cute picture with him and treasure it in your diary. You want him to text you first and that’s why you let him miss you. The moment he says he missed you in class, oh dint you wish he would say that more often?

When he asks you about your crush, you avoid the answer because you know you’re secretly crushing on him. Every time you have good news, you wish you could just call him up first. And when you’re hiding in your blanket crying, you wish you could go hug him and cry on his shoulder instead. He finds those cute ways to make you smile, he has his own bunch of friends but he still saves a seat to sit with you. He comes to you and talks about things he hardly shares with anybody else. You wish he plays the guitar and sings to you on your birthday and when it’s raining, you wish you could share your blue umbrella with him! But you promise never to tell anyone ‘cause you know you could never have a chance with him.

Two years have passed and he hasn’t a clue about what you feel about him. You just wanna know him better and he thinks you already have fallen for someone else. If he could only know what you feel inside from the moment he started talking to you! But things seem so different now. Suddenly, he has his own share of people to be with and even when you are right there, he fails to notice how much you want him to come to you. You still wish to share the seat and scribble behind your notebook and call each other with those cute nicknames. The last year you are together and tomorrow, you might end up in a different continent. How you wish he sees the love in your eyes and this crushing turns into love; like the love story you dreamt of! 

For a moment when you see him coming and wave hello, you realize that’s his lady love he is going to. Your heart is a little hurt but you somehow smile through the tears. He still sees you as a friend he had before, he still remembers that nick name but to call that to his girlfriend. You indulge yourself in reading a book when he passes by, you hide in library when he fiddles to find you but you manage to make an excuse every time. All you wish that it could be the same but you know at the bottom of your heart that everything has changed.  

Its farewell and you hug him goodbye; a goodbye to your first crush and the last chance you could have to tell him how you feel but that chance is long gone with him. Never did you turn back and never did you get a chance to stay in touch for long. But life had a different story written for both of you. Years later, the same city, same country; you’re in a coffee shop relishing your solitude. The new customer with the old voice you recognize, still the same butterflies and you’re beaming to see him again! A cold cup of coffee with nostalgia and divulged secrets with something you never would have thought. The same guy saw you in the crowd and thought you would never be his. Alike you, he managed to hide his feelings all this while. All you know its pouring rain, you are sharing your umbrella with him; miles away with the same person you wish you could someday. And all you know is everything is about to change! 

Little things that carved you!

Today, I’m swirling with nostalgia and intense retrospection. Once in a while, you might go back in the flashback, analyzing your entire life and you could either relish or guiltily regret those moments or maybe carry yourself up with pride calling all those regrets a new lesson you learnt! Teenage is the toughest time with everything changing and all the weird things happening around. We keep trying to understand the complexity we face, the way we are changing- our body and mind, our parents overreacting and suddenly becoming over possessed and dealing with these absurd changes, it’s insane!

But the teenage is well gone; it’s like a battle that ended with nobody winning or losing, just crucial lessons that altered you or left you permanent impressions. All this might seem boring philosophical stuff but it’s indeed what all of us feel inside and lose out on words when we really wish to speak out. Speak is a subtle version to explain the screams. We met new people and everybody we met has made us who we are today, shaping the amorphous us! The state we are in today is never what we would have thought; I never imagined life to get this crazy unlike the smooth track it seemed before ‘people’.

Yes. I think major credit goes to your childhood best friends, crushes, lovers, teachers, siblings, cousins or even strangers who gave you a totally different perspective, who warned you beforehand and who guided you in this journey. (I didn’t mention parents because it would be stating the obvious.) So today, things are pretty outside, ugly inside or whatever but we’re completely different than what we had been or for that matter, what we always wanted to be. We chose different streams, we dint really live our childhood dreams and the things we loved are lost in time. Like sand slipping from hands, we couldn't keep anything to ourselves; not even who we used to be.

In the past two decades of your life, you might have made several mistakes; regretted some, learnt something and you are never going to forget the wrongs. For moments which made it tougher to even drag yourselves down this long, you might have felt of giving up and some weak hearts might have succumbed to these little bumps. You might have thought that you’re watching the sunset of your life but you opened your eyes for a new day and here you are today! Honestly, these little lurches make us who we are, the people who left us made us who we are, the people who guided us and who trusted in us when we lost everything we had are the ones who led us to our destiny.

They might have left you long back and let you fall for once or twice till you could walk without tripping. They are the ones who gave you the happiest moments and the harshest lessons; they were indeed the coconuts of your life. So live it up, for those little moments and the people who are around. Failure might put you in deep distress but it isn’t the end. Maybe it’s the new beginning! An old saying says ‘Everything happens for a reason’ but it has been qualified to ‘Everything that doesn't happen is for a better reason!’ Moreover, love yourself with these little evolutionary changes that have given you a beautiful avatar inside! After all, it’s the beauty within that matters the most.

Marching towards the dream!

There are certain things that we love and are dearer than most of the things, we never share those things or even let the ones closest to our heart know about those. We own it and if it ever goes out of our sight, we are scared as shit. It might be a small trinket, a good luck charm, a really old coin, watch or maybe our diary. Our little possessions that we wish we could take along to heaven but all we take with us are memories. Funny isn’t it, How we spend our entire lives finding that one purpose, saving every penny now so we could live the rest of our life extravagantly and abandon friends, food, sleep, vacations and to put all other obsessions to rest for that one dream- That one dream.

How that one talent might take us to our destiny and how we make every drop of sweat count to make it to the summit, swinging by all the hardships. Even when everybody else lost hope in us, we craved for the crest and failure only made us hungrier. We have tried wishbones, dandelions, shooting stars and birthday candles with our sincere perseverance and with every stride; our patience is being tested. For a moment, some of us might just give up undermining oneself and end up cursing our fate for the rest of our lives. And if you are among them; Well, that’s where you went wrong- You gave up before even trying while others were still fighting.

Our lives have gone through several transitions with the changing time and increasing importance of education. The fact that standing on your feet is the first step to make your name in this world where another billion are striving pours in more pressure. And then there are pondering responsibilities, changing environment, compromises and all the things you can blame on but is that it? Is that how passionate you were when you said you would happily make incessant efforts while you were busy building your castle in the air? Laugh at yourself if you thought it was going to be that easy!

While some pursue their dreams, there are few who keep searching for that one dream. They are born but they are so busy cribbing about this life that they fail to see the beauty. More than them, it’s the castigating people around them that end up making them morose. The world takes time to adapt to human discrepancies and find that behaviour eccentric. So when you finally try to bring a change, someone might try bursting that bubble. So what? Just because you might lack a little substance, doesn’t mean you are doing a gruesome job; you’re still trying! Routine is lethal but you, you’re experimenting with yourself.

I’ve been among the critics, in fact a self-critic because I never felt complacent. I always had an urge to be so good at something that I would end up becoming the epitome! Well, if you’re going to dream anyway, why not dream big? Like the rest of visionaries, I’ve my share too. I haven’t found the purpose of my life but I’ve started taking the baby steps towards my aim. I don’t know how far I shall go and how fair I shall turn out to be in the test but that won’t make me give up. No way. I’m going to lift myself up every time I fall and you too should try. Try tumbling upon a few things and who knows, you might discover what you had been looking for forever.

Quoting P!nk, “Where there is desire, there is gonna be flame and where there is a flame, someone’s bound to get burnt. But just because it burns doesn’t mean you’ll die, you gotta get up and try, try, try!” Keep marching.  

IPL: Another Scam Story!

With the one sport which brings our massive population come together, I haven’t been different not to be an ardent cricket fan. I’ve screamed louder for the fours and sixes and been heartbroken for the matches India lost. It wasn’t just the effort of eleven players on the battlefield but the faith of other 1.24 billion praying for just one win! Sportspersons have always whined about the fact that India has favouritism towards cricket and with BCCI being the richest cricket board in the world, cricketers are favoured financially devouring the highest fame compared to any other sport. 

With the format being modified to make it shorter and more entertaining, the world of cricket was in a state of upheaval when Lalit Modi came up with one of the shortest leagues with different players being auctioned for various teams participating in the Indian Premier League. So with all the cricketers globally coming together and playing for one team or maybe a different team another year; some fans were disheartened for they were used to showcase their patriotism towards the country instead of a unit constituting disparate players every year.

For the past six years, I’ve followed the IPL with all my heart and have been equally zealous even with immense criticism and vilifying comments as to naming this league as the bought up battle where not just a match, every ball is fixed. It wasn’t my innocence but the faith I had in cricket that never let me believe the plausibility of match-fixing to this extent. So even when I heard several rumours and controversies regarding tax exemption, financial irregularities and criminal activities as well as the hype about the game being only a mode of entertainment and money, because of the exorbitant ticket rates; spot fixing- the lead this season compelled me to believe all of it.

And this year, Ho Ho Ipl! You’ve heartily opened the chamber of your fixing tactics and revealed all the cricketers involved as well as the CEO of the team that participated in the finals for five years and managed to win for two years. Its sad how the game just ended and how every team played in a peculiar way to deceive us. With Chennai always making to the finals, Mumbai always making to the quarterfinals, RCB always failing to perform in quarterfinals and teams like KKR, Deccan and Rajasthan surprisingly winning was the fun indeed. Even with disappointment, this game became the sole source of our cricket entertainment during vacations.

We all have been aware and yet avoided the fact of the spot-fixed matches and still indulged ourselves in the wasteful event taking place every year. We came together to enjoy even the most hilarious final for every over seemed fixed. I mean they made the win of Mumbai a little obvious with the owner of opposing team willing to resign on the day of finals, with Shilpa Shetty trying to hide her smile when Rajasthan lost the playoffs to Mumbai after the team’s three batsmen were caught in the spot-fixing scandal, taking down their entire career!

I wish they tried a better strategy in an attempt to fool us. Its sheer sadness to see how everything can be bought in India! As they say, “Yeh India hai, yaha sab bikta hai.” Therefore, at least for now, there’s going to be no more tweets, shares and statuses and maybe the last criticized posts you’ll be reading for the most sold out and money making league has finally come to an end till all the agitations and allegations come to rest. Cheers to another scam of the fraudulent sport India unfolded!

The death of humanity

A week back, few men crossed the heights of brutality when a girl was raped in a moving bus on the posh streets of Delhi and was left on the outskirts of the city in a ruthless condition. She was raped by six men and when she protested, they inserted an iron rod in her and damaged her intestines. She was suffering, crying for help and nobody stepped ahead. The world dint end but humanity surely died that day.

How cruel can a human be and how filthy could those men be to do such a horrible deed? They are vicious creatures and dreadful demons, a disgrace to humanity. Why would anybody do something so irrevocably cruel to an innocent girl? What if she was their sister, daughter or mother and somebody did something to her? A woman gave birth to you and that’s how you pay her back? Silence and shame is all those rapists can have because they killed the life in a woman; now she’s nothing but a lifeless soul. 

We’ve been marching with candles, screaming out slogans and spreading the word around just to make sure that the Delhi girl gets justice, but what about those women who chose to remain silent? Who, in the fear of their society and losing their dignity; couldn’t come up to confess that they too underwent the same torture! There are incidents taking place every day, in the city and villages and those girls could never say something ‘cause deep down they knew that they would only be embarrassed and never be able to live a normal life.

Salute to those who step forward and stand up for the ugly truth; who without any fear, seek justice in a hope that tomorrow- nobody else suffers like they did. Even after taking this step, what do they gain? The rapists are bailed out and move freely in our country because not the government, but money and contacts change the laws for an individual. The casualty survive in spite of the humiliation and degraded life they are left with and cry for justice but the cases take so long for a judgment; that either the victim or the culprit is already dead till then.

Even after all this chaos and rebellious marches in our country, the number of rapes is still continuing. For them, age is no bar; because they even abused toddlers aging 2-3 years. That little girl must have been terrorized, she has already lost herself! Rapists should better off resort to prostitutes instead of spoiling a life that has just begun. Soon there shall come a time where no parent would even think of having a girl child because they shall only live in the fear of protecting her everywhere! Earlier, there was a decrease in male-female ratio, but now; women would end up killing themselves for their life shall become a nightmare.

The problem lies in our system and yes, we have to change it. It’s time we get a fast moving court that makes sure actions are taken immediately for petty issues and such matters that create a havoc in the society. But till then, we can’t let these men be unchained. These psychotic devils deserve harsher punishments so that, no man dares to look at another woman with an evil eye. Capital punishment is not the solution; these deathly monsters should be whipped in public so that they fear the mere thought of hurting a woman! Chemical castration is still being easy on the Delhi culprits; they should be surgically castrated so that they lose their one sign of manliness and get the slight hint of the pain, shame and humility the victim shall carry all her life!

Today, the helpless woman has died. We may pray for her soul but her death shouldn’t go in vain. We have stood up against those who harmed her, against the system who failed to give her justice but we are one. We were one against corruption, politics and every issue just to make our country a better place to live in. Now, that we have woken up; its time not to sit down till women are safer and the government realizes how hard it can get for the survival of women if no strict action is taken. Even when the nation moans for her death, we see the inclusive growth in humanity for we have come together not for some selfish motive; but to make sure that no woman is scared to step outside her house even at midnight!

To the ‘not so stereotypical'

It’s been a long time since I sat down to write something really concrete and inspiring in spite of just anything under the sun that pops into my head. Well sometimes; life gets a little complex. It moves at a pace we can’t match and before you know, it’s tomorrow with a new sun shining of a new beginning. I’m almost done with my teenage and busy clearing things with the pondering responsibilities, having a constant quest in my head of what I really want to do with this life I’m living; to try making these dreams come true and to be a somebody in this land of nomads.

Many of us are fighting with ourselves and the sheer confusion in our heads of what we should actually do according to our calibre; also considering money, fame, luxuries and all those innumerable wistful things. The immense pressure we are undergoing to fight with another million students facing peer pressure and competence to make it to the top colleges for the best placements. How lucky old generations would have been, for they sure dint have to give a variety exams all round the year! Sigh.

On one side, there are some who have everything figured out, who shall pursue all they wanted to do since they were 5. Damn, I don’t think I even started speaking till then. While on the other, we have a major lot of us- who have no strategy but are still surviving, who dream big with small efforts but major creativity lies in them; as they say that laziest people can do things the easiest way. We are damned by most hardworking people for we come in the category of averagely rated brains only till we start using them to our best.

We still have a long way to go but the problem I’m trying to state here is breathing the no giving up attitude. The gizmos and freakishly scary lot of rankers figure things out and end up working for top MNC’s; but little do we realize that this average rated population is the one behind innovation. No, I’m not disparaging the nerds- I am one; but just because we couldn’t score well doesn’t mean the world gets a reason to let us down! Maybe you didn’t have an impressive handwriting or maybe your ideas were better than the text.

We might still be confused, most of the time in a mess, decipher everything a little late than most of our peers and spend the entire day partying just before our exams; but we shall discover what’s in store for us. We shall savour the little moments and treasure memories for long, learn things only after making mistakes and learn it the hard way. So cheers to Us, who shall prove to be slightly different than the stereotyped stereotypes and make a difference by the incredible things we shall do! So remember, those accolades won’t tell you about your success because the real battle of life is yet to begin and we- we have been preparing ourselves for that battle. Bring it on!