Diwali --A festival of lights

I started writing this note some days back..but somehow managed to be late...will not go into the list of excuses I have...that needs a separate blog..but adding these two lines on top was definitely a good idea...then the rest can stay as it is...and it is never too late to send best wishes .....right?

Happy Diwali to all..............

It is such a fantastic occassion to be in touch with all the people you know. You may not be physically close to your loved ones but the moment you light a candle and the flame grows from a tiny speck to a full flame with a tiny glow around it..you feel as is you have somehow communicated with your loved ones. I am not a big fan of the fireworks on Diwali but I strongly feel  that a festival which comes with lights can only help one think positive, look positive and behave positive...

  

                                                            A tiny light, however small

                                                            still fights the dark away..
                                                            just like the mighty sun, lovely and bright
                                                            brings in a fresh new day!

 I  was trying to explain Diwali to Arno today as he was preparing for school. Just recently he had seen Durga Puja here in Holland....so I thought its good to come to the subject from that angle. so I started off by saying ,

Me:  " You know Arno, like Durga Puja we also have something called Kali Puja/Diwali where we worship another goddess called Kali.....

Arno: Does this LADY also come WITH FAMILY like Durga thakur?

On showing him the picture of Goddess Kali he went into difficult questions like "Why is Ganeshas papa sleeping under the feet of this lady?"

Valid question. Need to come up with a valid answer. Honestly quite a difficult one to tackle early morning before leaving for work. Actually it does not get easier in the evening.

So much so for trying to explain the festivities....................

Having said that, I still feel it is our responsibility to give our children a "flavour" of how we did things back home...I also think that they can in a way "relate" to all this if the flavour is "presented " in a way that makes it interesting and fun.

As a child, Kali pujo/Diwali was a favourite occassion no doubt, but it also marked the end of puja vacation. It was the final day of fun and frolic and then back to the books. But ..what a wonderful final day it was! The weather during this time of the year was fantastic.The morning started with blaring music from the street puja pandals...we were not so decibel conscious at that time....my brother would be busy checking his fireworks and trying to expose them to the right amount of sunlight so that their performance would be the best at night.....I would be carefully counting and recounting the candles that needed to go on the roof and gate....mom would be busy in the kitchen cooking and trying to finish her daily chores as soon as possible as a preparation for the evening when the whole family would be going out to visit the different pandals in the neighbourhood. My father would be at work with promises to return  "early".

Here, in Holland the day passed off without any events...at times I did not even remember its DIWALI today. However, as I left for home in the evening, I decided to do  something "different"  to make us all  "feel" a bit different, a bit more "diwali-like" . I picked Arno from the creche and told him that he has a very important thing to do today evening.  Arno was thrilled. I did put extra stress on the word IMPORTANT...

We reached home, he quickly took his shower still curious about this important thing to do...

I gave him the gas lighter (first time for him to take the lighter on his own...he felt very IMPORTANT already..) ...asked him to light 14 candles very carefully..because its Diwali today..reminded him of the morning conversation about this LADY...I also explained to him how it is important to wish good for the family and friends while he is lighting the candles...oh..you should have seen the look of IMPORTANCE in his eyes..its like finally FINALLY mom has considered him better suited for important jobs like this rather than cleaning up toys, arranging the books  etc, etc.

(The number 14 stuck in my mind from early memories of Ma lighting 14 candles on the day before diwali..we called it "choddo prodeep" . On this day she also cooked "choddo shaak"- a mix of 14 different leafy vegetables) 

About 300 kms from our house, in another household in Germany my best friend Bee was trying to do similar things with her twin daughters Ruhia. The IMPORTANT job here was to make a rangoli with flowers. What a lovely way to be creative and also expose them to the beautiful rituals.

In both cases, the final result was wonderful. Our living rooms glittered with the Diwali lights and colourful rangolis giving us a good feeling about our Diwali celebrations away from India, took us back in time to spend some thoughts on our childhood and the rituals handed down to us by our parents, our kids were exposed to Diwali and very happy with the IMPORTANT jobs they did and best wishes were made for our family and friends. What more do we want ?

Yes , I also made some Kebabs....recipe coming up.....

;-)

How could I miss the lovely colours?

Add caption

Durga pujo..khawa dawa....

Durga puja celebrations and any discussions related to the pujas is not complete without food and food related discussions. I read in a book somewhere that Indians and Italians are the only people in the world who can talk about dinner WHILE eating lunch!! On behalf of the Indians, I can vouch for the truth of this statement. We are foodies by birth. We eat food, sleep food, think food, imagine food, dream food......

The good news is that our Gods love food as well.
So offcourse we had wonderful food during the pujas.

We had wonderful menus each day ..planned according to the day of puja...tested and tasted by experts. The idea was to bring back memories of  puja back home through the taste buds as well. On one hand, we had veg menu comprising of khichuri and labra to recreate the religious ambience of Mahastami. On the other hand, we celebrated Nobomi (the last day of puja) with a rich mutton curry.

According to the puja rituals , the Goddess and her family is served lunch (Bhog) everyday. Even though its "regular" food that is served like rice, daal etc, "Bhog" , somehow ends up tasting DIFFERENT. Is it a different recipe? or the ambience? or the incense sticks? or the offerings? What exactly makes it so tasty?

I do not have the answer...but what I have is the recipe of "Bhog and Labra"..

[This recipe is from Soma , published in Kallol magazine 2011. The photo is of the real Bhog cooked by Satarupa and Satya on Mahastami,]

Bhog Khichuri 

Serves 4
Ingredients
•50 gm. ghee
•200gm. basmati rice
•250 gm. dhuli mung ki daal (skinless, split yellow Mung dal)
•100 gm. green/frozen peas + also add few florets of cauliflower, new whole small potatoes
•2 tsp. ginger paste 
•1 tsp. cumin seeds
•1 tsp. cumin powder
•1/2 tsp. chilli powder
•1-2 bay leaves,
•2 green chillies, slit lengthways
•1-2 red dry chilli
•2 small-medium tomatoes chopped
•Salt to taste
•1 tsp. sugar
•1 level tsp. turmeric
•A sprinkling of Bengali Garam masala powder, made of 4-5 green cardamom, 4-5 cloves and 1" stick of cinnamon
What to do:
1.In a dry pan or wok, dry roast mung dal. You will get an aroma of bhuni/roasting dal. When the colour becomes dark yellow, turn heat off. Add to the rice and wash together in cold water.
2.In a sauce pan, put rice and dal and enough boiled water to cover and be about 2 inches or 5 centimetre above the rice-dal mix. Now put on a high flame and bring to boil.
3.Turn heat down to simmer and add salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally. When it is nearly half cooked, turn heat off and take it off the cooker. You can check and adjust salt at this stage.
4.Heat ghee in another, large pan. Throw in cumin seeds, bay leaves, green chillies, whole red chillies and sugar. When seeds splutter, add ginger and cumin powder and stir fry for a few seconds.
5.Add chopped tomatoes and stir fry until mushy
6.Add peas and the other vegetables and stir fry for few more seconds.
7.Now add the semi cooked rice and dal mix and stir well.
8.Add boiling water and cook on low heat for another 7-8 minutes or until the dal, rice and the vegetables are cooked,  stirring off and on. When khichuri is ready, it should be like porridge, not too dry.
9.Turn heat off. Sprinkle garam masala and cover.

LAABRA – Traditional Bengali Mixed Vegetables
Ingredients:
• 200 gms Red pumpkin
• 200 gms Cabbage
• 200 gms Cauliflower stem
• 200 gms Raddish (Muli)
• 200 gms Egg plant (Baingan)
• 200 gms Potatoes
• 200 gms Sweet potatoes (Red)
• 5 gms Panch phoran
• 6 Green chillies
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Ginger paste
• 1 cup Mustard oil
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Salt to taste

What to do:
•Wash the vegetables and cut into medium sizes pieces.
•Heat oil and put panch phoran and red chilies.
•Fry till they turn brown.
•Add the vegetables.
•Put it over medium heat and cook it.
•Mix salt, sugar and green chillies
•Add a little water and Cook it for more 5 minutes until the water almost dries and the vegetables are fully cooked.

Shubho Bijoyar priti o shubhecha....kichu elo melo moner kotha...nostalgia..

সবাইকে জানাই শুভ বিজয়ার প্রীতি ও শুভেচ্ছা .....

What a wonderful experience! Durgapuja in The Netherlands!

We are the proud organizers of Durga Puja in TheNetherlands. I have to admit that starting the pujas last year was no small feat. This is a huge thing to arrange...four days complete with decoration, puja, food and cultural program. And we were SUPER SUCCESSFUL last year..

and AGAIN this year...........

Joy ma!



Arno with Kasor ghonta



1986: Puja vacation for me was the "best" time of the year. The day school vacation started, we were off to Jamshedpur (my parents home town) to spend puja with extended family. Back then we did not have mobile phones to inform about our latitude and longitude throughout our journey. Neither did we have Facebook to update status "leaving for vacation". I remember vividly how my cousins would be waiting for us to reach home.Even after so many years , I can clearly see our auto stop by the gate and they would come running down the stairs. I would get down from the auto only to be engulfed in the loving embrace of my grandmother and my cousins. We would rush to the pandal immediately where the artist would be giving his finishing touches to the Durga idol. I can still hear my grand mother shouting from far, "kichu kheye ja,,etota journey kore eli [please eat something , you must be hungry after such a long journey]".

Small things like hunger, thirst, tiredness did not matter anymore....actually NOTHING mattered!!

The season of unlimited happiness had just begun..............

2011: Yesterday, at our Puja hall, when Arno came to  me to ask for a pack of chips , I gave him five euros and asked him to spend it on "WHATEVER" he wants to buy. It took me back to my childhood days when during the four days of pujas we used to get pocket money from relatives. Small amounts to spend during the day on icecreams, fuchkas, jhal muri, cutlet, chop. moghlai porota.....ooo...it was like treasure...to take it out from the purse, buy something, count the change before carefully putting it back...was pure bliss!

I saw the same happy gleam in Arnos eyes...as he and his friend Piya rushed off to the small  shop in the hall. They came back with a pack of chips, munching away to glory....chatting away about some thing ...as the two of them passed by me, I heard Pia ask," is Durga ma going back to India or she is going to stay in Italy?"

..Kids.... innocence at its best!!

..to be contd....

I am back....

I am back.!!!

I am back from a very long vacation of five weeks in India.
Yes,  Five weeks.

After such a long vacation, one does have issues adapting to things like the crazy alarm clock, the crazier vacuum cleaner , the heavy jackets,  the deadly silence , the early dinners,  the..the..the, isnt it? To summarize,  its difficult settling down.

It is a culture shock!!!

Your eyes tell me that you do not believe me!! Try this...
One very simple example:

Everyday,around 1:30 p.m, I have developed this new habit of having a full fledged warm lunch (special emphasis on Bhapa Ilish, Parsher Jhal, Chingrir Malakari, Kosha Mangsho, Polao..none of which I needed to cook).
This was followed by relaxing on the sofa infront of the TV with the remote in hand, drifting in and out of a "sleep-like" thing, only to be brought back to this world with a cup of steaming Darjeeling tea 3-4 hours later.

The day after I land here, I am back at work...lost in 326 emails.

This is accompanied by lunch comprising of  a cold dead SANDWICH  (emphasis here on one slice of cheese and one slice of meat)...

Forget the remote, the TV, the sleep-like thing and  the Darjeeling tea!!!
Definitely some kind of culture shock, right?

So guys, please bear with me..
I promise I will be back to NORMAL very soon...
I have loads of story with me to tell you...I just need some time to
get over this jet-lag-like thing and fall into my original groove..
Then stories will start flowing........God Promise....Cross my heart!

Cheers!

 

Vacation Vacation.....

The time of the year has come.

First the sun shines more, then the schools close, the boss is in a good mood, the suitcases are taken out from the attic, taxi booked, flight checked,...............

We are ready to fly to India, summer vacation is about to start.

Arno, till last year, was not "super excited" about summer vacation.
I thought its the age (at five, vacations did not make sense because daily routine at school is nothing less than a vacation, THATS WHAT I THOUGHT)
...till he explained why it was so. His exact words were,
"Mama, vacation is not DIFFERENT for me. I have to get up from bed ANYWAY to go to the creche"
Thats true baby, with working parents, what else can be done?
However, this time we decide to go to India for summer vacation. That definitely changed the whole story. We are excited and so is Arno. 

SUPER EXCITED!!

He is really looking forward to the trip.
He packed his own suitcase (which has lights on the wheels, exciting , isnt it?).
If I am not careful, there is a big chance of us being stopped at immigration for all the wrong reasons.
He is packing in EVERYTHING!! [have to admit its real fun seeing him pack , though]

Fulko fulko luchi

"So Arno, what will you do in India?"

" Ami onek onek luchi khabo [ I will eat lots and lots of puris* ]"

" and....?"

"Ami sharadin TV dekhbo  [ I will watch TV the whole day]"

" and....?"

" Ami luchi khete khete TV dekhbo [I will watch TV WHILE eating puris]"

.....so now I know what this excitement is all about........

why not? Its vacation after all........

Dear readers, I hope you can feel MY excitement too , by now.

I will be away for sometime....so my blog goes "to sleep" as well.

But I promise to come back with lots of interesting stories..

Till then.........................

Have a wonderful summer vacation, all of you.

*a type of deep fried indian bread

Tea - her first love.

One spoon of memory, stirred well with two spoons of imagination and three spoons of  nostalgia..........

A cup of tea has always been her weakness.

Anyone can win her heart with a cup.

She loves to take the first few sips quick and hot, then the cup becomes her companion as she takes it along from room to room doing her daily chores. Few more sips. She places it on the corner table and completely forgets about it for a while.After some time she suddenly misses her cup, looks around and her face beams as she locates it. Last few sips. (yeah, cold and tasteless).

She hates to throw away a single drop of that liquid she loves!

This love has its roots in the saying, "Forbidden fruit is sweetest".

Ma did not allow her tea when she was young. Asking for it, crying for it, begging for it--nothing helped.

Ma was very strict about it. "Choto chele meyera cha khaye na (small children do not drink tea)". Full stop.

She did not lose hope. She started planning her mission, carefully looking for the loose ends in the daily home routine. There has to be a gap, somewhere...

She found one.

Ma woke up very early, went to the kitchen, made the tea , left it to brew and went to brush her teeth. She came out, sieved it, served it hot and steaming to Baba. This was really the daily routine. EVERYDAY, the same. "Mission Impossible" started. Careful monitoring of Mas routine, keeping track of the EXACT time that she spent in brushing, planning each single move of her next steps..it was not so easy but it was four whole minutes!

She woke up when Ma's alarm went off but stayed still and pretended to be asleep. As soon as the toilet door closed behind Ma, she jumped from her bed, ran to the kitchen , took a small bowl, poured out some tea, drank it steaming hot (sieving the leaves with her teeth), washed the bowl, placed it back on the utensils rack, ran back to the bed and just pretended to be asleep again. Yes, in four minutes. First few days were tense, will Ma recognize "some" thing funny?[Mothers have some super skills, as we all know ]

Gradually the confidence level went up, time management became almost perfect. She could even manage to stir in some sugar in her tea....

She did this for YEARS.....was never caught!

[Thankfully, My Ma is not a computer person and hence my blog is safe for such confessions]

The other opportunity came later. Actually, it was always there but she never recognized it as an opportunity. Back home , evening guests were quite common. Friends stopped by for a cup of tea , some snacks and some "adda (chatting)" anytime. We did not have agendas or fancy mobiles or microsoft outlooks to make appointments for simple things like a "cup of tea".

When they left, it was a custom to see them out not only till the door but till the gate (most houses had a front garden with a gate). Somehow (thankfully), even at the gate there were still some last minute topics to discuss. There were a few minutes at the gate before the final bye was said.

She grabbed this opportunity. She rushed to the living room, looked at the "almost" empty tea cups left by the guests, poured the tea from each of them into one cup and gulped it down.

I know, you all think "Uggggggghhhhh"...but she is  not ashamed at all....these memories make life worth living......
[this story is a from a  fellow tea lover]

This article is written for this month's edition of  "Of Chalks and Chopsticks" started by Aqua., this time hosted  at "http://www.bongcookbook.com/2011/06/have-ha-tea-weekend.html".

Ambitions..........

Arno wants to be a window cleaner when he grows up.

WHAT? SAY IT AGAIN!!! 

Boy, what a shock! Where did WE, as parents go wrong? How on earth did we not manage to fill his young mind with golden ambitions? Did I not read him the correct bed time stories? Did we not buy him the LEGO where you make a dentists office or a police station? Did I not graduate him from a 100 piece to a 200 piece jigsaw in time?Did I not try to explain the meaning of a volcano "from the Encyclopedia" when the Iceland volcano erupted?

I know, times have changed. I understand the dignity of labour. I appreciate all people who work for a living. I know that no work is big or small. I know, I know, I know.
But still................
Why am I shocked when my 6-yr old says this?

Thankfully, his 10-yr old and 11-yr old cousins (A & C) were also quite shocked with this ambition. They, at this age have graduated into the "want-to-be-scientist" mode.[One of them DID want to sit at the supermarket cash, but thats some years back!!!!]  

Anyway, they generously offered me a deal. Arno was planning to spend some vacation days with them. During that time they promised to do a bit of brainwashing and put several "good" ambitions on his plate.

"A" asked me "which profession do YOU want him to choose?"

After some negotiations we decided on a "race car driver".  

[It needed to be "cool" , you see?]

So Arno goes on vacation to his cousins place. We go to pick him up after a few days. "A" comes to me and whispers, "Mamoli, tumi jeta bolle sheta hoyni kintu ekta bhalo hoyeche (The thing you decided on did not happen but we have landed on good grounds)".

I gather all my curiousity and the question is asked.

"So Arno, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

" I want to work at the Police station"

WOW..I was already feeling proud...father smiled, mother smiled, family peace returned.

I smiled proudly at Arno first and then at A & C, silently thanking them for their "successful" brainwashing.

It may not be as cool as the "race car driver" but it was SO MUCH better than the window cleaner!! 

I should have left it at that.

But you know how mothers are....their is no limit to their expectations and there is no end to their questions.

"So , would you want to be a police inspector or a detective in the police station?"

" Oh, I would clean the windows of the police station."