Memories of my Dad with a Biscuits Brand

 My evening snack has tons of History for me and my family and of the brand…firstly Cheeseling first introduced to us by my Dad in the late 60s or early 70s… I am sure he knew of it before..

He had it as a teatime light snack or even with a drink which was usually a whisky…I think it worked wit both and still does.

Light was the key word it still is. Dad in his later years continued to like it … and had it due to lightness and did sit heavy on the stomach.

He introduced it to us … a few days ago I thought of him and chased to order it through our man Friday at the local Kiran’s store.. out of stock everywhere… finally ordered it online…

Don’t know lots of brands aren’t available in the stores and  available online..and for some brands vice versa…

1. Perhaps starve the stores and urge customers to go online 

2. ⁠Have separate set of merchandise for offline and and online 

Enough of our family and it’s history with Cheeselings now for the real History 

The origins of Cheeselings trace back to 1956, when they were introduced by the Parle Products company in India 

Parle Products

While often compared to Western cheese crackers, Cheeselings are officially classified as a "peculiar indigenous preparation" and an Indian namkeen 

Historical Timeline

1929: The Parle Products factory was founded by the Chauhan family in Vile Parle, Mumbai, initially producing confectionery 

1942: Parle launched Monaco, India's first salted cracker, which laid the brand foundation for future savory snacks 

1956: Cheeselings were officially launched as a new way for Indian consumers to enjoy cheese

Although the name sounds international, Cheeselings are considered uniquely Indian. 

Childhood Staple: Over the decades, Cheeselings became a nostalgic staple in Indian households, often served during tea time or packed in school tiffins

Etymology: The name likely follows the naming convention of adding "-ling" to denote something small or a derivative, similar to how "duckling" is a small duck.

Beverages unite us and Divide us

 Beverages are a generational thing … there are some beverages popular with a certain segment of people both demographically and psychographically… .

Beverages are also a brand extension of one’s personality and it’s also important to be instagramable to qualify as a good beverage..

A good example is yesterday’s coffee is today’s macha. 

Rustic beverages aren’t cool and fashionable but for the artistic and Indian Ocean Band inclined Kulhad Chai has made such a comeback and a rage as tandoori chai…

Nimboo Pani, Satu, Bael Sherbet, Thandai etc our ethnic powerhouse are great at , at home consumption but seldom ordered by a select generational group out of home.

The new coffee and Korean, Japaneseand other Asian Beverage Bar are cool hangouts.. often referred to as to as the third place ( between home and work/institute)

Quite similar to clubs were for the boxwallahs and Chai addaas and Choupals and Halwais and Coffee Homes were in the good old days..

It was more about the place people and conversations than the beverage 

However, in Pubs and bars it was also the beverage..

However, todays generation bury themselves into themselves even in a social hangout place unless with company… 

The more we evolve more similar we continue to be …

Bars & Warfare today

 On a very quiet night at a very quiet bar on the Western Front… Signalman Manohar educated me on Godawan 01 and 02 .. At the Electronic Warfare Mess. Yes, on another note warfare and the ethos of the defence services have changed so much in the the last three wars…I question do we need such large standing armies… as battle lines and warfare has changed so much

Do we really need 

thousands of of tanks

millions in the infantry 

large gunships

5 th and 6th generation fighter aircraft 

While the job can be by missile or a drone which are much much cheaper adroitly and effectively…

 More of this and the future of warfare and the decline of the Institution of The Officers Mess….

More coming up soon…

Life’s Doorbell Has to be answered

 The Tourist and even the The Purist will have to go through this life… largely alone…. Some legs of the journey there will be companions and some none … there will be places of rest food and play … and some will be work work and more work… some will live free … and some imprisoned in their own thought… there will be phases of good health and some  phases will bring ill health… some phases of scarcity and some of wealth…. 

Some will grow spiritual and then turn agnostic and become non believers and believers again… some parts will modify your faith… bring in new trust new…. Friends and then No friends…. Some friends…. Lots of friends…

Sometimes very little to do … sometimes so much to do and then nothingness …. Cruise along … and sometimes your plate will be full…

Surrounded by friends and family spoiled for choice and then suddenly none

The cellar and larder are overflowing with fine liquor and food… the tables groan under the weight of the food and sometimes there is hardly a morsel or two..

There could be Wealth, the coffers so full you could pay a king’s ransom and sometimes so little a little treat may mean the world…

Spiritually so full sometimes and disenchanted and empty…

It’s reality one will have to go through this …

The Life’s doorbell has to  be answered….

The Bags of Life

 The Green Teal Bag

The bag you carry, the shoes you wear, the car you drive, the cigarettes you smoke, the scotch you drink and ofcourse the clothes you wear. 

Even the food and drinks you order, say a lot about about you as a person.

It’s often said clothes maketh a man of course amongst many other things…

However, in recent times Gautam Singhania the fraudulent owner of the famous Raymond’s brand has let down the company logo and tag line - the complete man. Who is a complete man is a discussion and debate we will leave for another time or take up in another post.

Accoutrements and Accessories say a lot about the person you are.. like hats … that even defined the person you are and perhaps the profession and ofcourse the story of the seven hats…wearing different hats is also a proverb.

But why are we meandering, let’s talk about bags… waiting at the Berlin airport… my friend Kamal Lamba remarked… 

yaar ye gorey koi bhi bag le len to acche lagte hain

Aur hum Hindustani mahenga se mahenga bag le kar bhi evaiyen dikhte hain ( the best impact is in chaste punjabi)…

Also Indians dress for comfort rather than style at the airport… which makes them look like the ugliest race at the airport… old parents travelling to baby sit their grandchildren in USA and Canada often carry… plastic shopping bags… the dark fat guy in a round neck tshirt and Capris should be summarily shot on sight…

Yes, the Indians do not dress up for travel and definitely do not consider their body type and sometimes get carried away… like wearing sleeve less T-shirts while traveling to Goa or Thailand..

My God the flights to Goa have such specimens… aunties and young behnjis in saare bandhan tod do in  exhibiting tons of  jelly like cellulite…dressing for travel is another post.

I have always believed that the immigration of a country treats you the way you are dressed… hence I always throw a smart dark  jacket or light linen one… the job is done..

Talking of bags I have had interesting bags like my growing up and professions I have had.

The very small aluminum briefcase in early school

A green backpack also called basta while my brother Sanjiv had a khaki one albeit more robust.. in later school

In college doing History ( Hons) I was a true blooded Marxist smoking non filter cigarettes a jhola for a bag jeans and khaki kurtas with Quo Vadis sandals

That gave way to a small pack 08 and FSM0 big pack in training for the Indian Army training for combat with the full kit weighing 21 kgs and 5.5 kg rifle… those were some days

Back to business school I for some reason carried a briefcase with black leather trimmings and black and white silk ikkat print..I slowly converted to a more conventional sling bag seeing my contemporaries who were much younger to mix in the melee..

A smart ad sales executive days got me back into a smart leather satchels (the wife had something to with the theme) paired with Oscar dela renta hand my down suits from my dear brother..Sanjiv

Cut to TV Days .. Discovery Channel we became the bag experts of the TV industry we made 5000 gym bags three times over for cable networks… everyone wanted one.. they were great useful for daily use , gym and urgent travel..

The Story going around was I was always packed and could get onto an airplane any time…which wasn’t far from the truth. Similar style days at StarTv

There was an era of an unsettled life … between Bombay Delhi Chandigarh…I succumbed to a back pack or a small shoulder bag from Kumho tires or Glenlivet or any promotion at the duty free..shops.

Then I got into an era of hands free a small folder wallet had everything I needed.. cards, cash, toothpick, urgent medicine pill, prayer mantras and condoms ( okay okay an exaggeration). late tv days..

Hotel… Senior Executive saw me only in suits and jackets… my suit jacket or sports jacket became by bag … worked very well with  wallet charger, blackberry, a book and a lot more…sometimes a bar of chocolate too. I did buy bags too in this era… for family and self… learnt about Hermes, Feragamo etc … bought but used the humble Kipling.

With Askme.com  I was back with a small over shoulder bag and sometimes hands free with the hold everything wallet often persuaded by my dear friend to carry a satchel .. I succumbed to one.. which was gifted by the friend…

A lot of the crinkly tan soft leather bag and a matching gym bag my Mom Got me and stood me well when I carried a lunch and was scurrying and meeting the mass affluent in the Luxury Liner Cruise Business… Celebrity Cruises in India..

Now for nearly five years I was work from home consultant at large was totally hands free combined with a sports jacket became if travelled and went for meetings… which I did quite a lot especially the year consulting for Hinduja’s…

Finally, the penny dropped when I took a professorial role and had to carry lunch among other things… the same crinkle leather shoulder bag and sometimes my friend’s satchel got me through  a  year or two…

Now my Mom insisted she’d like to replace the Dulichand&sons bag by yet another… I was reticent, not more of the same she went hobbling thrice once with me .. I was reluctant to… finally today eyed this green- teal leather bag and  I wanted .. here I am gathering a rush of memories of bags of life and my life both virtually and metaphorically…

My Tribute and Accolades,

My Friend Moncho’s NGO  RDT

Which is such a small word for a gentle people’s organisation that has uplifted the lives of 4 million people or more and making it the second largest district that produces ground nut which competes with a District in Gujarat..

Sunk over 500 wells, educated and equipped for sport and provided health care and also nutrition to a few millions.

Every IAS , every Banker , Policeman, Teacher, Cab driver and Business owner has been nurtured by RDT

As a cab driver told be once in Bangalore once

When I said Mein Moncho ka Dost Hoon…

Saab hum RDT ka naam leke sotey hain aur RDT ka  naam lekar jagte hain… that says it all..

Congratulations Visha and Moncho and the team of RDT for bringing us Utopia and equanimity in this unequal world.

Dolma - Dr Dolkar’s- Bonding in the clinic-

Bonding in Adversity 

The Divided over years for the lack of communication and several situations and with a bubble of a decade of quiet and solitude… how a Tibetan Doctor and her clinic was instrumental in binding us in adversity.

She, the younger one was just  back from America…the older one distant for years was diagnosed by Barrett’s we were worried…though we were in the hands of a very senior and sensitive gastroenterologist by far, after the initial help with allopathy the situation wasn’t getting better. 

Then like divine providence I heard the words …Dolma … by Priyam Ghosh a colleague in the College Staff Room as I talked of my woes…of illness in the fam..I said that’s very far perhaps Dharamshala… no in your neighborhood in Kalkaji…..she said.I was superbly delighted..

On a Sunday on a July Morning at the crack of dawn I got the token number one… and there we were at 8.30 am again talking to the Doctor… then medicine… followed by a essentially South Indian breakfast… we did Dosa & Coffee ( name of a restaurant), Yamuna Canteen, Chidambaram, Naivedhyam with an occasional A2B or so thrown in. Or even a The Paris Coffee House or Pour Over..It became a jovial family gathering the Sunday morning ritual…

More importantly it was Dr Dolkar who developed a relationship with each one of us ..her jovial disposition brought back sanity, good cheer and a semblance of a family. So much so we would look forward to the weekly visits to the Doctor’s Clinic….

We had a choice of meeting her once a month but we chose once week, It helped with better monitoring, more importantly it was bonding time.

It was for the bubble of a decade and a half the daughter had missed.. it was for the complete family the Dad craved for at airports, when he saw families take vacations… mom was happy for the little one and support mechanism of love and care and more importantly a feeling of being wanted…which in return helped us all.

After three holidays and 50 outings… the dark clouds began to appear, the self doubts of the efficacy of the  Tibetan medicine… the travels of the Doctor to Bombay and Bangalore.. the travels of the mother patient.. to several places, brought back the clouds of distress disbelief and dismay…again.

Bad health bad tempers and bad outcomes..

With the the Ides of March came strangely better fortunes.., better health better elevation of moods and spirits..Medicine was working.. and so was the festooned jovial succour of Dr Dolkar … for better communication her drawing room .., okay waiting room became our planning board for vacations, purchases and outings… 

We were back amidst and despite all the back stories and odds to meet and bond Dr Dolkar respectfully called Dolma’s Clinic.

We have had more than seven months of Tibet in our lives…,bodies, minds and souls… the kindred spirit of Tibet.