Cuisine paradox

Its been FOUR whole days since I landed in Kuwait and it has been a typical vacation. When I say typical, I have been relaxed yet active, haven't thought about work at all (for which I will have to pay next week), been a constructive contributor to household work, argued with my sister about the lifestyle of me and my dad in Chennai, followed a perfect three meal-snacks-juice diet and not thought about any of the usual crap that keeps me preoccupied (except for the certain someone dream all the three nights). To top it all, the bonanza of happiness that my cute little niece adds, has kept me busy and smiling all along. I haven't seen enough of her yet to write about it.

Well, no prizes for guessing, the title and the italicized, hyphenated phrase in the last paragraph has very well given away the intent of this post. I'm keeping it as simple as possible.

My typical menu in Chennai

Coffee (which I can't live without)

Bread toast/sandwich/poriyal

Dosai (with packeted Idli Molaga Podi)

Maggi noodles (the Chinese Chef in every poor man)

Corn Flakes

McDonalds/KFC (when I don't mind a drive to Velachery)

Subway (the weekly tester of the life of taste buds)

Pizza (the salary celebrator)

Noodle King (Home service of course)

If you take a look closely, I live on a so called western diet almost all the time. Basically, I love food. I enjoy my eating and I stop eating or don't eat when I feel I won't enjoy it. If I had as much as 5% of the passion I have for food, on any other thing, I'd be the master of that. Having said that, I was a big fan of all the above mentioned food, or at least I thought I was.

Menu in Kuwait (for the past four days)

Saturday

Breakfast - Idli (with onion chutney and homemade Idli molaga podi)

Lunch - Molagootal with kothamalli thogayal, curd rice, Morukootaan (from the previous day)

Dinner - Kuboos with Hamoos and Philaphel (Kuwait special) :P

Sunday

Breakfast - Dosai (with homemade molaga podi)

Lunch - Rasam with Podalangaa Kootu and curd rice.

Dinner - Repeat of the breakfast (we were out that evening and came home late)

Monday

Breakfast - Ravaa Upmaa

Lunch - Avial (with yam, carrot, potato and other vegetables), curd rice

Dinner - Vegetable soup and Sphagetti (Brother-in-Law Special)

Tuesday

Breakfast - Bread toast with a chocolate cream stuffed croissant

Lunch - Radish Sambar, Kovakkai Poriyal, curd rice

Dinner - Aappam and Green peas curry

Add to the above, a cup of coffee every morning and evening, some juice between breakfast and lunch, flaovured yogurt after lunch and some snacks with the evening coffee.

I know its just FOUR days, yet, somehow I have enjoyed my food more than forever. When I eat lunch at someone's house and they offer me a second yelping of rice, I'd always give my clichéd "I don't eat so much rice" dialog. It surprised me today that I am indeed serving myself an unusually large second yelping of rice to have with curd.

No matter how much I argue with my sister that me and my dad are indeed leading a satisfactory life in Chennai, when it comes to food, I can't but agree with her that we need to step up and bring about a big transformation.

I recollected what my mom used to say about how my uncles from the Gulf used to come to India craving for that one meal of hot homemade Sambar or Molagootal. It ironical that I had to travel all the way from India to enjoy the same. Only disadvantage here is that they are compelled to use Basmati rice for all kinds of cooking, the quality of which I should say is amazing.

Now that I realize what I have been doing wrong regarding my food, hopefully, I'll put it into perspective after getting back to Chennai.

Anyways, signing off on that note. Off and away to sleep with a clear mind (like always after writing in this space) and a properly filled stomach (now, that unusual). Oh! There will be that dream again. Hmmm. More on that later.

The Moon ride

A fun filled end to 2009, I should say. Overlooking half a dozen people who left us behind, the family has something to look forward to in 2010, which will see two wedlocks and thats good to keep us going for a long time. Further, I'm a would-be uncle to two kids (twins) from April '10. Brushing aside all mourning and sadness, we danced to the fastest tunes possible on New year's eve. New year in Cbe was back with a bang.

After all the celebration, some real estate research, routine work and a very special catching up, I got into for what I'm going to demand season tickets in future - ABT travels (Coimbatore/Chennai). The bus was not as good as always; the seat was smaller, space between the front seat lesser and so on. I was definitely not comfortable. The AC hadn't started to bite me yet, it was pleasant than it would be when I get up in the morning. Known for the perfect timing, the bus started sharp half past nine.

I did not have my headsets, which ruled out listening to songs. Hence, I decided to catch up with some old friends and started calling one by one. After a couple of calls, that lasted altogether for half hour, my dad couldn't take anymore (sitting next to a person catching up on the PJs cracked in college is not as easy as it sounds). When I hung up on the second call, he asked, "Do you need my mp3 player?" and I accepted it with gratitude.

I plugged in the headsets and tried to tune in Radio Mirchi or any other FM channel, but none of them had anything that I wanted, so I switched to my Dad's Harris Jeyraj collection and sank into the comfort of my pushback. As I rested my head, I was looking straight out of the black, transparent, sealed window, right up to the sky.

The moon, white with distorted black marks, a diameter of 5-8 cms (from my view) was travelling with me. I couldn't appreciate it at first, well, I would say, except for a couple of times in the past, never have I. I was reminded of a movie where a guy says that he looks at the moon when he missed someone and he could see that person there. At that time, I thought, well, the script writer had tried to break the laws of video conferencing. :P

I was just looking at it with my mind all blank, eyes open to the occasional texting. It was literally following the bus, well, it could have actually been inside the bus as a co-traveler. I kept looking at it, and it slowly started to sink in what a beautiful sight it was. A small ball of light kept me company, like a ray of hope amidst pitch silence. The player went into playing "Azhiyilae" from Dhaam Dhoom. The plucking sound in the background and the soothing vocals blended with the scene. It was definitely romantic and I had agreement on that.

I played the song over and over again and kept staring out. At times, it would go out of the sight, as the bus followed the highway and I would have to either adjust the curtains or wait for the bus to come back on track. This happened for a long time and I never knew I fell asleep, until around 4AM when I woke up and found my mobile still on my lap and a void where my companion shone bright till I remembered.

Oh fellow traveler!

I see in you,

Maybe what I missed.

Or what I may have now.

For time should say,

What I would retain?

Hope is all I carry,

Worries are all put to bury!

The silence, the light,

The happiness, the love.

Tonight's moon ride,

Would stay forever with pride!

Once again, Happy New year everyone! Lets together wish for the coming true of all that one hopes for and that one goes places in 2010.