And they came....

With thunderous drum-rolls,
With lightening as fire-works,
With howling wind accompaniments,
The big, fat raindrops,
Descended from the clouds.

Of women empowerment

This post by Solilo and the comments received prompted me to pen down my own thoughts on this subject.
I entirely agree that the life of working, career-oriented women in general is a lot more tougher than their male colleagues. That glass ceilings and gender biases definitely do exist and women need to fight these. The joke - "Women have to work twice as hard as men to be considered half as good" holds very very true.
Yet, women empowerment is not only about being able to work and climb the corporate ladder. It is also about women being in a position to make a choice of whether they want to work, or stay at home or do both. It is also about women getting the support from their families and work-places to do what they choose, in terms of help from the husband in sharing household chores, flexibility at the work-place such as flexi-timing, creche at the work place and work-from-home facilities.
Just as there are instances where women are not allowed to work by their in-laws and/or husbands, I have also seen the reverse cases where women are forced to keep working inspite of not wanting to, because of the financial benefits.
Is it fair to look down on women who are happy and content taking care of the house , husband and children? After all, most of our mothers would belong to this category.
Is it fair to dismiss women with great careers who spend 12-14 hours working as bad home makers and/or mothers? A lot of women today are striving to achieve a balance and are succeeding.
So at the end of the day, it is all about having a say and getting the support for whatever a woman has decided. Be it from the family or the work-place. That would be real women-empowerment.

The Wait

Black soil, upturned
thirsty, waiting.
tall mountains, brown
burnt, yearning.
clear skies, blue
still, unyielding.

come soon, monsoon...

Summer

Mirages on the roads

Sweat dripping from foreheads

Mango juice dripping down hands

Stiffling stillness in the air

Gulmohars blossoms spewing fire

A Haiku

Now that I am four and thirty,
Remember the days I was seventeen.

The dreams that I dreamt...
The amount of energies spent...


That was half a lifetime away.....

Batter nostalgia

These posts by DotThoughts, took me back to the days when I was trying my hand at the batter routine for the first time. Married to a mallu and at the time staying abroad where there were no udipi restaurants meant that I had to pick up batter making skills. My husband P kept telling me how sorely he missed those soft fluffy idlis and golden crisp dosas his mom made.
My mom used idli-rava and urad dal and I tried that route once only to be told that the idlis were good, but they weren't the real idlis.
Phone calls were made back to India and precise amounts of rice, par-boiled rice and dal were obtained from the m-i-l and the batter made. But no, it did not ferment properly although I placed it right next to the heater all night long. With baking soda to the rescue the batter was somehow finished.
Another phone call and we were told that "uluva" methi seeds were the most important ingredient and those would do the trick.
Off we went to the indian shop in the city center and bought a packet of methi seeds. The other ingredients were all measured out and a spoon ful of methi seeds added. Ah, we are going to have great dosas I said to myself, before going off to bed. The methi seeds packet was lying there right next to the soaked dal.
Woke up in the morning and sauntered to the kitchen and to my horror found that the methi seeds packet was half empty and the vessel with dal seemed to have a layer of methi seeds on top. I shrieked. The hubby came running in and confessed to have added the seeds. The methi seeds are the ones that will get the batter to ferment he reasoned so the more the seeds the better the fermentation.
"Do you know that methi seeds taste bitter?" I asked.
"No" he replied...
The next half an hour went in removing as many seeds as we could followed by grinding the batter. After another 10 hours the batter was fermented very nicely and with fingers crossed I made the first dosa.
Hubby was waiting anxiously. The Dosa looked good, nice golden brown and crispy. He took the first bite with me watching out for his reaction. "Not bad" he said," just a little bitter".
I took a bite. Eew, bitter definitely bitter!

Tried all sorts of things after that, added rava, maida, more ground dal but the batter remained bitter and we had to throw some of it away.
Sigh! Those were good days.Now of course the batter is never a problem and hence there are no stories to tell................................

And it happens again...

We were at Odyssey last night roaming the aisles , well stuck to the "Bargain corner" to be more precise. Picking books at random, dropping some in the shopping basket and some back. When under a load of books, I noticed a Tarla Dalal book peeping out. I immediately pulled it out.
Now she has written hordes of books, with every conceivable cuisine, in addition to sub topics such as cooking with children, for children and what have you. But will any of these be available to me? No, the only one to land up in the bargain corner when I am around is the one on "Idlis and Dosas".
First the blogs, now even the books!!!

The 3 mistakes of my life

..is a very easy read, as Chetan Bhagat intends it to be.
This is the story of 3 friends, Govind, Ishaan and Om from Ahmedabad who set up a cricket shop in the premises of a temple. How the business fares when Gujarat is first shaken up by an earthquake and later by the Hindu-Muslim riots form the back drop for the novel. A love-angel and Ishaan's determination for nurturing Ali-a gifted batsmen (and a Muslim to boot) add interesting dimensions to the story. The characters are well etched out and one can easily relate to them.

One of the reasons why this is such a smooth read is the story feels very much like a fast-paced hindi film complete with action, romance, adventure and even a foreign locale. The end with the heroes taking on the villains and a Hindu staking his life to save that of a Muslim, (In most films though it is the Muslim characters that die for the country/friend) cannot be more Hindi-filmish.
One thing I have noted, especially of Chetan Bhagat novels, is that all the female lead characters (heroines?) be it Vidya in this one, or Neha in Five point Someone or Priyanka in One Night at the Call Center, they are always assertive, always take the initiative in their relationships and don't think pre-marital sex is a sin. Quite the 21st centure women these are.

So does this book get you to introspect, philosophize, ask existential questions? Umm..no.
Does this book entertain, bring a smile and an occasional tear? That it most definitely does.

Picking up the challenge....

....to read 20 books in 2009.

This is hosted by Lynn here.

If you intend to participate, leave a comment on the main entry stating so. You will then be added to the participants list.

Considering that I read almost a book a fortnight, some a week and that I have a subscription to www.librarywala.com this should be no big deal. Lets hope it also helps me blog about the books I read.

So this is where I keep track of the books I read for this challenge.

1. Against all odds.
Author: Kishor Shantabai Kale.
Started reading 20 Jan 2009. Finished reading 25 Jan 2009.
Read about it here.

2. The 3 mistakes of my life.
Author: Chetan Bhagat.
Started reading 14 Bef 2009. Finished Reading 16 Feb 2009.

Against All Odds

Once in a while you come across a book that makes you look at your own life and be thankful for everything that you have, almost ashamed of yourself for being dissatisfied with a normal, secure life.
Against all Odds is one such book. Originally written in Marathi as Kolhatyache Por by Kishore Shantabai Kale (yes, Shantabai is his mother) tells the story of the Kishor; a son of a tamasha dancer of the kolhati community. The book was later written in english by the author himself.
An illegitimate child born in a community where literacy is very rare, where men either become dhol players or pimps, Kishor suffers abuse, starvation, humiliation and yet through sheer persevarance and tenacity not only attends school but goes on to become a doctor. What grit, what determination.
This is Kishor's story told simply, straight from the heart. Your heart goes out to this young boy whose mother, due to circumstances had to leave him with his grand parents and the boy's longing for his mother.
You feel disgust for the way the men in this community treat their daughters. You feel rage for the women for quietly accepting their fate and not fight back.
Most of all you feel sheer admiration for the boys hard-work and passion to study.Every once in a while he gets help from some relatives, but mostly it is only hard work that sees him achieve his goal. From cooking, cleaning and other household chores to selling clothes and at times even pimping his aunts, Kishor's is a story of never ending struggles to get the few rupees needed to buy books.
A worthy read that essentially tells us never to give up.

Food blogs.....

Some women are addicted to food shows, some buy cookery books and quite a few like me read food blogs. Mind you, just read. I do not necessarily cook. Oh, I do get some cooking attacks once in a while when I venture into the kitchen and make something....different(its another story that it turns out totally different than what it was meant to be).
Otherwise there is a cook that comes in who is quite good and over the past few years has been trained by my m-i-l in mallu cuisine. Yes, the in-laws are malayalis. And considering that I get all the kalans, olans, avials at home every other day , I find it very amusing that every other random food blog I visit happens to be by a mallu, with recipes for the said dishes.
Is it that there are more mallu food bloggers out there than any other community or is it some law of karma that every other random click takes me to a mallu food blog?