A Big Mac or Borar-jhol?

Parenthood is fun. (yipppppeeeeeeeee!!)

..But it is definitely not simple.

The complexities are not in the process of feeding, caring, changing diapers, feeding (again), changing (again).....
Parents who are in this stage please do not be angry. You have no clue what is coming after this. Enjoy the feeding and the cleaning......
;-)
The complex part is how to 'react as a parent'? Nowadays, these little (or not so little) human beings called children, just know it ALL. There is almost nothing new to add to their immense exposure through google and hence their extreme confidence of 'knowing it all'. As a parent (who claims to be a friend as well), it becomes very difficult to come up with the correct reaction which is able to balance both roles properly. In some cases, when things are assumed to be too friendly, I have to remind him I am a mother first!!

Really not that simple anymore.

I am sure my parents struggled too, in their own way....but my parents were "only parents" when I was growing up. They became "friends" much later in life. I have no complains because I am extremely glad with the end product they created. Hi Hi Hi....

Problems were different. Reactions were different too. 'Simple' reactions like "the big eyes glare" from Ma just worked like a miracle. (Believe me, my mom has real big eyes!). Those reactions do not exist anymore. Neither do those problems. But like everything else in life, struggles are also relative. Times change, struggles change, reactions change. 
However, I feel that the  'delta'  stays the same.

All those years ago, my mom struggled to keep her calm when I was late coming home from school (No mobile phones those days). She paced back and forth in the garden with her eyes fixed on the road.

I struggle when my son is late in sending me the message " I am home" on Whatsapp. I am at work and keep checking my phone (under the table) during the team meeting.

The basic concern of both mothers, even though so many years apart is still the same. No matter where technology takes you, once a parent, always a parent (even with the 'friend' cap on!).

Going back to the 'reactions of a parent'.....

Yesterday I saw A-junior doing something on our home computer. This is a Mac computer (and we payed for it with a kidney and an arm) and he was not allowed to touch it till a few months back. By allowing him to use it, I have bestowed upon him a huge sense of responsibility and trust. I keep reminding him of that whenever I get the chance! So seeing him press the keyboard with unnecessary force and indifference was not a pleasant sight for me.

Me:  "ashte ! ashte!.... taka poyshar mormo bojho, Mac ta kharap hole? " 

[ Gently!! Gently! ..Try to understand the value of money..what if the Mac is broken?"]

A-junior: I have money in my Piggy bank!!

Me: Oi diye Mac kinte parbe na!! [ You cannot buy a Mac with that money!] 

A-junior (smiling wickedly): Of course, I can!!....A BIG MAC  is only 2.97 Euros!!

I laughed a lot ! It sounded hilarious in the context of things. But am not sure whether that was the right 'reaction of a parent' ! Maybe I had my "friend" cap on......

;-))

Borar Jhol: 
Long time back Ma used to make something similar but with mustard paste...not JHOL, but JHAL. (will share recipe later). These recipes are very difficult to make these days. Too time consuming and too patience consuming. But believe me, all the pain is worth the taste at the end.
Steaming white rice with Bora-r jhol! Give it a try.
Warning: Keep enough ingredients for frying some extra boras, if needed. Do not be upset if half of them already vanish into your stomach while frying.

Ingredients:

Bora: 
2 sliced onions
1 cup gram flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp Kalojeere (kalaunji)
1 tsp Ajwain
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt, turmeric
Oil to fry

Jhol (Curry):
2 chopped tomatoes
1 chopped onion
2 cubed potatoes
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp grated ginger

Ready steady cook:

• In a bowl mix all the ingredients from the 'Bora'.
• Heat oil in a pan. Deep fry the bora in groups.
• Keep aside on a kitchen tissue to soak the extra oil  (this step really helps making you guilt free). 
• In a separate pan add one table spoon oil.
• Add the mustard seeds and chopped chillis. Let them sizzle for a while.
• Add the onion. Fry for a while. Add the potatoes, grated ginger and the curry leaves.
• Cook till the potatoes become light brown in colour. Add chopped tomatoes.
• Add salt and turmeric. 
• Cover and cook on low heat till potatoes are cooked. 
• Add a cup of water and bring to a boil.
• Add the bora (pakoras) and switch off the heat. Cover it for a while.
• Add a small spoon of ghee before serving.(Optional) 
• Serve hot with rice.

The Sound of Music......lingers on....and on....and on....

No, A-junior has not stopped his cheeky comments and I have not stopped enjoying them either...

But I have been focusing a bit on "HijiBiji"--my first Bengali book....hence could not pen down my thoughts here.

On top of that there was the summer vacation.

......and on top of that, A-senior was traveling for work!

.........and on top of that.....let it be. 

I am back. I still appreciate "The Gift of Life", everyday.

;-)

Austria.

This country which I visited for the first time, definitely deserves a blog post. 

There are some places on Earth where the moment you set foot on, it brings back your faith on many things. This was the feeling I had when we reached our small village Kleinarl in Austria.

Snugly set between rugged mountains, gentle slopes, lively waterfalls, narrow roads and beautiful flowers...this village is a life size version of the painting we all made in our childhood. Mountains, river, birds, sun peeping out................restores faith in everything good, unpolluted, pristine!

I found it prettier than Switzerland. It is still left with lot of untouched freshness. Still very new to my eyes and not immediately recognizable (thanks to Bollywood) with "Ah , I know that fountain! Govinda danced around it in Jodi No. 1" or "That's the cow that Sharukh Khan and Kajol patted in Dilwale". Jokes apart, far less commercialized.

I would definitely want to go back again for another vacation to Austria.

The first day, after a very long drive of almost 12 hours, as we checked into our vacation house, we were informed that there is a "summer festival" in the village. Local people dressed in traditional Austrian dress gathered in the village center to celebrate with beer, music in the background, talking loudly, singing and some dancing as well. We sat down to enjoy with some beer as well. It is the ambience that creates the magic. Normally I do not like beer at all...but I had no clue how and when I ordered my second. The church bell in the distance took me away to some faraway land where I was also dressed in that traditional attire dancing to the tune of something that A-senior was playing on a guitar (ahem!). A-junior was trying to ....trying to...
'Ma, can I have another chocolate ice cream?'....brought me back to my senses...

'No you cannot!, you just had one!!'
'But it is vacation Ma!!'

The view from the balcony was the highlight. I really wondered if I should go anywhere else or just sit around and laze for the rest of the week, absorbing the beauty around me! Whether it was the long walks by the stream or the cycling paths or the garden chair...there was beauty all around. Even going to the supermarket around the corner of the street was like going for a sightseeing trip. It had a tiny waterfall, a wooden bridge, pine trees, wild flowers and a log cabin..all within those 100 m between the house and the super market.

Everything around me were perfectly synchronized with each other...and there was the sound of "peace" everywhere. I just cannot stop writing now.......bear with me.

One of the other highlights was Salzburg with its smell of " The Sound of Music".

Once upon a time this movie was shown in my school..one of the very first 'romantic' movies we were allowed to see, shortly followed by "The Roman holiday".Seeing these movies at an age when 'romance'  was THE thing to be curious about and THE thing which was not freely discussed--these movies are very special. These two movies are capable of triggering nostalgia at any point of time. So taking the "the sound of music" tour in Salzburg was so very special that I did not hesitate to sing the song Edelweiss or Do re mi full volume with our tour guide!! They were definitely "few of my favourite things"...Thanks to Whatsapp, I could even share this beautiful moment and experience with my classmates with whom I had shared the movie together in our school blue skirts all those years ago!

Remember this house??

Most of you know what a big foodie I am.( the word 'big' has no double meaning, by the way).

Food was fabulous. Schnitzel was the highlight of course, and the sausages and the ice cream and the cheese cake and the lamb and the....uff!

Yes, we did walk a lot and cycle a bit. This was not so much intentionally done to lose the calories from the above intakes (refer to photos above), but this is what you do in Austria. The land of mountains demand that you walk, run, cycle, ski, trek and climb.....so we did.

A-senior and A-junior

But in one specific case even though we had the energy we actually did not have the right shoes (I see that 'what an excuse' smirk on your face!)

The day went like this.

After some initial googling, we decided to visit this beautiful lake near our house -Jagersee. It was a very warm day and was the last day of our vacation. I put on this pretty skirt with a pair of light pump shoes, both A-junior and senior had short pants with strap shoes and we set off for the lake visit. The lake was stunningly beautiful complete with crystal blue water with a white swan swimming in it. I am sure the first photo of this blog captures a glimpse of the beauty I am talking about. However, after a few photo session clicks, we noticed a narrow dirt road on one side of the lake where many cars were going. A man was sitting there with what appeared to be tickets. The cars stopped by him, got a ticket and moved on into the mountains. The Bhattacharyas got excited too. A-senior immediately went to get the car from the normal parking lot while I waited close to that road with A-junior. Suddenly the man with the tickets came up to me..." well ..ahemm....actually ....are you planning to go up?"

I happily said "yes!!" assuming that he will be happier to sell another ticket.

He said , "Well...hmm...I think you are not suitably dressed for that!, it has a car drive of 4 kms and after that there is a trek of 2 hours to the other side of the mountain!"

I mumbled a 'thank you'. But by then the car was there and there was no turning back ...so we got the ticket and drove on. He smiled.

At the end of the 4 km drive through a very narrow muddy road, we came to a parking lot.

As soon as I stepped out of the car, my dress hit me like a shock wave. All around us were people fully geared up for the trek...shoes, walking stick, water bottle, rug sack--the whole package!

The Bhattacharyas looked so out of place..as if we were invited to a fancy evening party on the mountains!

These hikers also gave us the 'looks'!

Not to be snubbed, the Bhattacharyas decided to at least go a few steps on the hiking path. So we did.

Within a 100 meters we realized that the ticket -man was right! No way can we go further with our ballerinas and strap shoes. We posed around for a few more photos while a few of those fully geared hikers crossed us (totally zapped look in their eyes). Finally we traced our steps back,got into the car and came back the way we went. I waved at the ticket man. He smiled , his eyes clearly said 'I told you so!'.

A beautiful country. Definitely want to go back. With the right shoes this time.

;-)