The Parathas Story

Cruises Antarctica Cochin London and Parathas

I often went to Cochin to rustle business for the Cruises to Antartica... yes Antarctica... 

Strangely  Kerala contributed  80 percent of the passengers.. I had painstakingly grown this business from 10 passengers from India to 900 . That’s a lot.

Considering, you couldn’t Tavel to Antartica unless one was in the defence, geography or oceanography from India  a few years ago.

Also the Travelling spirit of Keralites I realised along with Bengalis , Gujaratis , Marwari and Jains is abnormally high.

Antartica the final frontier and cannot be reached by commercial aircraft either.

So my partner travel agents whom I met over Beef Chilli and Malabari Parothas..toddy, beer and lively Kerala meals of Meen Moillee and prawns...floated packages an year in advance ...

One of them was Viceroy travels ... owned by Sindhis..

But this story is not about Kerala, Antartica or Cruises or even Sindhis.. it’s about a humble aloo paratha I had today ..

So Viceroy travels also had a food packaging division which traditionally dealt with prawns and frozen food...

When I visited them as a good friend, (I had taken them for a cruise to Europe gratis), they would invite me for food tastings to their packaged food called something else earlier now called Buffet.

I was impressed with freshness and quality and back to Delhi I hunted and found some products, like the often ordered breaded fish fingers etc.

So one day talking to my Uncle in London in our weekly calls (he is undoubtedly my favorite Uncke), he said whenever my daughters come in to look them up during the Pandemic, I offer them Aloo , Gobhi parathas with Greek yogurt, they love it, ( the Greek yoghurt I can vouch for, when daughter and I visited last we loved it, we may have had the Parathas too).

So he winked (imaginary wink) and told me, he cheated and bought the Parathas off the Indian shelf in a large store at Greenford ( it wasn’t Tescos must have been some other). I said Ahaaann.

I kept thinking about it and one day I called my neighborhood store Greenchick (weird name but that’s another story) and asked for frozen stuffed Parathas, he said yes Buffet brand, ₹110 for 4 , I called for them as part of my list of other goodies.

Tried them this morning with regular yougurt preserves and paraphernalia... they hit the spot we liked them ... decent stuffing flavoring and crispness.

So here it is from Cruises , Antartica, Travel agents , to London to Parathas... an interesting slice okay bite of my life.

Silence is Golden

 I learnt this later in my career about a decade and half ago .. by default.. I learnt it was very useful, I was more respected and taken more seriously.. I actually did it as I was disenchanted with the corporate world .. was shirking.. but it had a counter indicative effect.

Earlier when I was knowledgeable hands on and vocal .. I felt victorious and appreciated within my inner circle and coterie.. the larger group or people resented it.

Inaction sometimes is also an action. I learnt, atleast in meetings...especially in the Corporate world ..

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/its-okay-to-be-quiet-in-meetings-5057956

Veranda Vantage

 Sitting in the Veranda 

The rain came but the water at home didn’t 

The gardener came and dropped a vine of Giloy herb

The newspaper brought more news of mismanagement, dismay and  grief

The aircrafts sound like a thunderstorm and brake as they get to their destination sooner

The crows coo caw and rattle with different sounds

No need to water the plants as it has rained

A skinny young delivery boy rides a bycycle with  a deflated tyre

Amidst sips of ginger tea I glint at the floor to make sense of things I see hear and feel

Things have to be bought, menus have to be planned, problems have to be solved.

Souls have to be assuaged including mine 

Morales have to be built but first  mine...

Till then I enjoy the pre pre monsoon breeze and coolness on the skin...

Coleslaw Connection

 Coleslaw Connection:Story of the Coleslaw Sandwich...

For a few days Coleslaw has been in the back of my mind .. 

A few days ago made Cabbage an I saved a portion of raw cabbage for later.. so today the craving came back and I crept into the kitchen in afternoon and started to prepare from scratch .. grated the cabbage finely... added mayonnaise ( thought of getting Hellman’s ) added salt, pepper, mustard .. was ready .. let it rest.

Later in Afternoon My Brother Sanjiv called from Dubai and talking of Kings and Cabbages... I told him , I have been craving for a coleslaw sandwich, yes a lowly coleslaw sandwich.

Memories went went back to Clubs, Cinemas and Coffee-shops back in the yonder where we had eaten them many many moons ago..

And I had as a travelling salesman grabbed at many a ready grab and go places .. also many years ago.. masquerading as veg sandwich or even a chicken sandwich with a hint of chicken in them 

He said it’s uncanny I just bought Coleslaw from Spinneys yesterday and was planning on one myself.. talk about telepathy and combined cravings across countries..

So here I am settling to my Sandwich and he was heading to have his and I am posting my pictures and hope to have his pictures soon for the Coleslaw Connection to be Completed..

Summer of 72

 Once during the summer holidays.. visiting Delhi as a young boy .. visited my Paternal Aunt .. in Pratap Bagh near Delhi University..

Her son who later was ordained to become a granthi (priest) in a gurudwara .

He was then an unemployed youth and he had set up an ice cream stall/ shop in the market .

So all afternoon on a summer day we toiled in churning ice cream out of fresh cream,  milk, fresh fruit, tutti-frutti and cherries to make this wonderful ice cream ..

Then loaded it to to the market and vended them all evening and late into the night ... with nothing to eat or drink and counting our earnings and feeling good about it ..

Many  lessons learnt in enterprise, hard labor, rewards in selling the fruits of your labor at a very young age .. besides memories are invaluable..

Boys to Men

 My First Flight Day : Boys to Men

Coimbatore... to Bangalore in a Dakota... felt like a grown up all of 13... accompanying my mother ... we made friends with other passengers at the lounge in Bangalore..

I got them snacks and and drinks in the lounge..

We were then routed to Hyderabad in a Fokker-Friendship.. oh I saw the billowing cotton fields of clouds .. felt like a dream...

Reached Hyderabad.. parted with our new friends...

Left from Hyderabad to Delhi in a massive Airbus ... remember the full elegant service .. soup , salad main course.. and coffee.. and yes sweets and most importantly collecting eau de cologne laden hand and face freshners..

With that one day , escorting my mom and new experiences made me grow up in a day ..

Landed at the airfield of Palam airport of Delhi .. at midnight on one of the coldest nights of 13 January 1979 ..wearing beige denim flares and a single front buttoned rust colored cardigan ... it was the coldest night ever.

Cheerfully received by my father .. who was  warm and friendly and very smartly announced .. WBG 8920 driver Kanhaiyalal ..on the PA system to call his driver ... I was so impressed with the moment and the day ... 

That day and the bunch of flights on a first flight day will forever be etched in my mind ...as an everlasting memory

Life’s Doorbell

 We have been in from 

Spring to Autumn

From Cool Warm Hot Humid to Cool Nights

From Unsure scepticism shared pessimism to green shoots of optimism to despair

From self dependent to independent to deeply dependent 

From financial and professional uncertainty to stable comatose to attempts to stay afloat to glide and gasp

Emotionally dependent to distraught to fearfully apart to semblance of satisfaction to apart

From seeing 120 films in 180 days to teaching A Film Marketing course

Cooking over 500 meals to procure prepare present

Through Birthdays and Anniversaries through Celebrations to Sadness..

From Prayers Meditations to Healing to Superlative Superstition 

From tracking numbers to being scared of being a number 

From Communications to long silences 

From thanksgivings to admonished from pedestal to pavement to podium 

From Fun smiles to loosing temper to ones In close proximity 

From make do hair cuts and hair colors and walking miles within the house

From peaceful to worried nights

From repetitive news to reading depleted newsprint 

From adjusting investment portfolio to selling and contemplation a newer car a few dreamy days

From paying bills and begging people for help and helping people we can 

From online purchases to online entertainment to online meetings to online classes to a seldom online drink with a friend 

A few sorrows fewer joys a induced living with dreams of living in the mountains by a brook side cottage...

Suddenly the Bell rings ...

Life’s doorbell has to be answered