panaecea

A Series Of Soul Bytes Just For You

January 10, 2024

An Easy Recipe

What’s Cooking ???

Answer is dhaniya chicken or coriander chicken.

It’s easy to cook and the ingredients are the usual ones found mostly in Indian kitchens.

Disclaimer: I seldom cook non-vegetarian dishes. As I tend to lose patience preparing them I try to make them as less time consuming as possible.

Ingredients

Chicken – 600 – 700 grams

Mustard Oil – 4 – 6 tablespoons

Onion – 2 medium size sliced

Garlic – 6 – 7 pieces

Ginger – 2 inches

Coriander Leaves – 100- 200 grams

Green Chilli (Optional) – 2

Curd – 2 tablespoons

Turmeric Powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Degi Mirch Powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander Powder – 2 teaspoons

Salt – To taste

Garam Masala Powder – 1 teaspoon

Cardamom – 1 inch

Green Cinnamon – 2

Bay Leaf – 1

For garnishing :

Flaxseed – 1/2 teaspoon

Sesame seed (white) – 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel seed – 1/2 teaspoon

Wash and clean the chicken well.

Marinate it with turmeric and degi Mirch (it’s less hot and only for colour) powders and salt. I did it in the morning and cooked in the evening.

Heat four tablespoon full of oil in a pan. Put the cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and let them change colour. Put in the sliced onions and fry well. Add the chicken when onion turns light brown. Toss and turn till the chicken is evenly mixed with the fried onions.

Wash the coriander leaves well and make a paste with ginger, garlic and chilli. Put the paste and mix well with the chicken.

Make a paste of all the powdered masalas with the curd. Take care that there is no lump in it. Add it to the chicken. Cover it.

Note : No need to put water because the paste will bring out the water in which the chicken will simmer and get cooked. Put the flame to low and let the chicken soften slowly till the water dries up and the gravy turns to a medium consistency.

Warm two tablespoons of oil separately put the seeds for garnishing and fry them well in low heat till the flavours fill the kitchen.

Add the garnish to the juicy chicken.

The colour of the dish will be a combination of dark green and brown.

You can have it with rice, pulao, roti or paranthas.

Cooking time is 45 minutes to one hour if you have all the ingredients washed, sliced, diced and blended before it may take lesser.

This is a typically Bengali way of cooking chicken with a little bit of fusion garnish. The USP of the dish is the flavour of mustard oil while cooking and garnishing. Do not burn the oil at any stage. The smokiness of the oil should be retained.

Try it out and let me know how you like it.

The oil quotient in the dish was slightly on the higher side given the crippling cold of the Capital. In summer the oil used is much less letting the flavour of the coriander leaves doing the trick.

Now I guess I should clamp up and let you cook.

Just one secret : The veggies can substitute the chicken with deep fried potatoes. It tastes so yum. And don’t forget to add a bunch of Pudina paste to it.

Bye Bye…

Have a Great Evening!!

Posted by gc1963 on January 10, 2024 in Foodie Speaks and tagged Chicken, Cooking, Coriander, Winter Dish.

10 Comments

January 8, 2024

Longer Or Healthier?

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

The well received book Ikigai says that there are certain blue zones in this world where the average mortality rate is ninety nine and even hundred. The nanogenarians live healthy, eat healthy, do moderate exercise, are into community bonding and most importantly have their Ikigai in place, that is, the purpose for which one gets up in the morning. Interesting, isn’t it?

Japanese philosophy of life is intriguingly beautiful!

If you are able to lead that kind of life even a century is desirable. But in tropical climate, like ours, aging is faster courtesy stressful and unhealthy lifestyle. Lack of community bonding leads to social ostracisation. Dementia is very common which does not get treated because oldies are supposed to be cranky and forgetful.

In this scenario, living healthy is much more desirable than living longer.

I see my mother. She is ninety one. She has a complex medical history. Suffering from profound dementia, she cannot communicate or express her feelings properly. Her treatment is totally symptomatic. But by the time we come to observe the external manifestations of her ailment it’s pretty late.

She is now on BIPAP which prevents retention of carbon-di-oxide in her body. BIPAP machine works with Oxygen Concentrator. Incidentally, you can still retain the poisonous gas even if your saturation level is perfect. Since she is unable to spit out if her chest gets congested a Suction Machine is required to suck out the phlegm.

When she was last hospitalized doctor said since she had an infected body medically only limited relief was possible. Their exact words were, “You have prolonged her life by care medically it would not have been possible.” A statement which put me in a quandary. Have I prolonged her life or sufferings since she is never stable?

Mother had a very active social life. She was a powerhouse of talent. She was into cycling, badminton, swimming, amateur theatre, music et al. A very social person. An amazing cook. She had a towering personality now shrivelled up, immobile and incoherent.

Do we want a life like that?

I belong to the old school. I consider taking care of mother as my prime responsibility. The next generation is migratory post globalization. So, even if they want they will not be able to devote that much time to their ailing parents. I don’t blame them but I definitely want to underscore the need of a healthy life which means not only a fit body but an agile mind as well, least dependent on others (and machines), being part of a positively sportive community who helps infuse purpose and good vibes in every member’s heart, mind and soul.

And of course! Ikigai ….

Which you have to find for your own self. That stimulant which makes you get up in the morning with hope, zeal and zest.

Rest is in the hands of God.

I did not add a prayerful life full of gratitude and thankfulness for what we have or have not got.

It just came to my mind while writing this post that even seeing the sun rise and set every day , the moon shine and stars twinkling every night in themselves are divine blessings.

We take these for granted.

Should we….?

Mother in a play. In those days cultured Bengali families encouraged their children to participate in dance dramas written by Rabindranath Tagore or classical plays in Sanskrit, English or Bengali. Mother in the role of a queen.

Mother when she was sweet sixteen. The photograph is very old.

Posted by gc1963 on January 8, 2024 in A SHORT ESSAY, Learning, MUSINGS, OPINION, Spreading Awareness and tagged bloganuary, bloganuary-2024-08, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1811.

5 Comments

January 7, 2024

Only One Answer

What could you do differently?

This prompt really has a singular reply

My whole life…

Who wouldn’t like to?

Who could actually?

That’s the million dollar question…

Can we really start with a clean slate?

That too at the fag end of my/our life/lives?

Or any point of time in life’s journey.

Is there anything called clean slate or a repeat version?

I think I am repeating myself but I will again reiterate that whatever has happened in our lives, though may not be to our liking or wish, has happened for our own good. What has not happened has also not happened for our own good. Sadly, we do not or refuse to realize it.

I didn’t want a nine to five job. The first eight years of my career I wanted to run away. It was stifling. But I had nowhere to run away to. Honestly, I did not have any inkling where I wished to run away to? But I just wanted to…

I wanted to acquire an on job professional degree because I thought it will help in my career progression. Although I was not very keen on getting one. I just wanted a tag of being a professional as it was considered important, useful and required. But the syllabus did not interest me. So, I did not get one. Fact remains, throughout life I resented being the black sheep of my family.

My nasty boss made me work overtime without any additional incentive. But during appraisal time he compared me with the so called professionally qualified peers and denied me my due. I can say that over and over, with due respect to all professionals worldwide, paper degree has nothing to do with attitude towards work. I am afraid professionals do not always handle issues with a holistic approach. Their thinking is confined to their own field of proficiency which at times reflects a microscopic mindset.

The funniest part was when at the fag end of my work life I was requested quite a number of times to agree to take an extension as a consultant. Remember the unprofessional me who was demeaned by her boss was now being touted as a domain expert. I laughed to myself and politely declined the offer. Of course! There were various other reasons for saying no that I don’t want to get into.

Coming to the prompt – what about my lifetime regret of being less educated than my sibling?

If this prompt was given to me a decade back I would have cried hoarse about not being able to acquire my Masters, not having the requisite skill sets for my job, not able to opt for the career I wished for and above all stuck in the rut of a stereotypical office job.

Today I thank my lucky star that I had the job I once detested, a routine income and a bunch of perks associated with it which facilitated my mother’s astronomically expensive treatment. Being associated with a fortune five hundred company puts you in an enviable slot in society. I actually got to do the type of work which, without my knowing, I was fit for. I realized quite late that I was not meant for the profession I once thought was just for me.

Life is extraordinarily strange. I had limited resources, opportunities and qualifications. I did not possess the eagerness to please my superiors. That was my undoing. There was a time when the Head of the Unit publicly stated that he would have to think twice before deploying me to other than the desk I was working on. A few years later, a tough task master of a boss wrote in my appraisal that I had the ability to do any kind of job given to me to perfection. I took it as a great compliment.

If I were born with a golden spoon life would surely have been a bed of roses. But one never knows. With roses thorns come free.

There were innumerable hateful bad patches in the journey which made me what I am today. They were perhaps required to strengthen me. Though I could have done without them. That’s what I could have different in life. Even now when it becomes insufferably depressing I have only one question: God what next ?

Going by the prompt, my humble submission is there is no point looking back because time is linear. There is no U turn. History may repeat itself but it’s contours are never the same and how you will react to a repeat situation may not be the same as you have done before or thought would do if there was a second chance. Simply because you have moved on, wizened and however much you feel that had it been that way it would have been different, in reality it never is.

The karmic conundrum is too complex. We humans are too complex. What could I do differently? Nothing I suppose because had it been some other way it might not occur to me to do it differently. As simple or stupid as that. If that makes any sense to you all.

The pic has nothing to do with the prompt but I am quite taken in by reflections. The reflection here is hazy. I guess the crux is : What is with us is what we truly have or deserve; what we don’t have is like the reflection – a kind of mirage- we think it’s adorable, aspirable and could have been achievable but it is not. It is as unattainable as the reflection – a foggy image of what could have been but not a concrete manifestation of really what it was or could have been.

Well that does not mean one should not try hard enough to change or modify one’s circumstances but the efforts are for a better today or tomorrow and not a resentful brooding over the past. I hope I have made my point home.

Thanks for patiently reading me out.

I can be quite opinionated at times….no…most of the times.

🤫🤫🤫

Posted by gc1963 on January 7, 2024 in A SHORT ESSAY, Confession, DOWN MEMORY LANE, Learning, MUSINGS, OF HUMAN QUEST, OPINION, REVELATION and tagged bloganuary, bloganuary-2024-07, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1810.

8 Comments

January 6, 2024

Retirement

The concept of relaxation can be modified with changing times or states of mind. What say you? 😂😂😂

Posted by gc1963 on January 6, 2024 in Celebrations, Confession, Entertainment, I ME & MYSELF, Learning, Leisure, MUSINGS, OF HUMAN QUEST, Photo Blog, REVELATION and tagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2007.

9 Comments

January 3, 2024

Hei Hei Happy New Year !!!

Hya to all!

Wishing all my friends and readers very Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, Peaceful years ahead.

New Years are all about making fresh resolutions.

Have you made one?

I keep on making and breaking them.

And it’s not always in the beginning but anytime of the year.

I break them as well or they get broken by themselves.

I don’t know which one is true.

Am I too lazy or incompetent or the resolutions are too unfulfillable?

Last year I kept a very realistic resolve of picking up on my reading habit, at least twelve books – one book a month – not very irresolvable. But I could only finish reading six. 😪😪 That’s just half the number.

However, that has not kept me off resolutions this year.

This time I have decided to be creative – whichever way it be.

So, I have started with doodling…

One who can make out or impute any meaning to this will be considered very very intellectual!! 🤔🤔

I have named it Beauty Of Broken Things inspired by the Japanese philosophy of kintsugi.

Broken in its extreme sense can be connoted as destruction or devastation. Is there any beauty in death and decay?

Can broken metamorphose into creativity or an exquisite piece of craftsmanship?

Can a broken heart or a debilitated mind create something which is ethereally beautiful?

Well you have to find the answers and let me know by way of comments.

Does the doodle mean anything more to you?

Or pretty much discardable ?

I don’t mind an honest reply.

Whether or not I will still overexhaust you with more of my “creativity”.

Am I not perseverant enough??

Try me. I am a Capricorn for nothing.

So, on that jubilant note 🎵🎶 once again a very very Happy New Year!!!

Traalaalaa….

Posted by gc1963 on January 3, 2024 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Funny and Weird, HUMOUR, OPINION.

5 Comments

December 30, 2023

Apolitically Political

How have your political views changed over time?

When our professor told us that politics encompassed all aspects of our lives we were sceptical. Four decades later I accept it as a truism. Politics seen as struggle for power is all pervasive. However, power craving is not equivalent to being politically knowledgeable.

I have never been into politics though I understood it’s existence and interplay. Perhaps I suffered in my career because my peers and colleagues indulged in it. But I did not. However, I have refused to believe in and be influenced by it. Till very recently I have maintained that politics is not for me and my journey in life can still follow a route of its own being neutral, apolitical and non-controversial.

Over a period of time, I have realized the importance of good governance and it’s all encompassing contribution to the welfare of the society at large. I have become more conscious of the fact that the subaltern occupy a major cross section of the populace. Their development needs to be channelized through organized modes. But there are vested interests who may not be in favour of focussing the flood light on the voiceless because the deaf and dumb are weak opponents or no opponent at all. So, it may be appealing to include an attractive mandate for their well being without any compulsion to fullfil it in all earnestness..

When I refer to the voiceless, I do not mean a particular class who are less aware, have less or no means to stand tall in society or those who are ignorable because they are not adequately organised to pose a challenge. But I call all those voiceless who by choice opt to be so. The choice may be out of fear, apathy, dejection, comfort in status quo or just blissful ignorance.

I am apolitical because being part of an ism is the beginning of choicelessness. I am free to vocalise my thoughts because I do not subscribe to ideological bondages. I may not have an overall vision which may or may not be politically correct but I now believe in certain tenets which are for the betterment of people.

I conclude I have matured as a political being. I now weigh situations and events from the standpoint of justice if not equity. I also agree that bringing in systemic improvements is the toughest job. But I have come to believe in the compelling impact of protest. If we witness a wrongful act and/or seen to be propagated, at least we should raise our voice against it. Whether it will initiate any concrete action or overnight reform is inconsequential. More significant is the just use of our fundamental rights which allows us freedom of speech and expression. Speaking out is the first act which makes the wrong doers aware that they are not free to coerce.

Exercising our rights means we are motivated to rectify a condition which is not beneficial or not good for the greater number. Again greater number does not preclude any section of society who may feel left out. When I say greater number I refer to the overall impact and outreach of a deed.

Yes, from indifference I have graduated to being vocal. I do not know whether that implies a greater political sense or understanding. I distinctly feel that in our lifetime we must devote and orient ourselves to contributing to society without any selfish motive. Just to do good to others who are in need of it should be the motto.

It may seem impractical because altruism does not come easy.

Have my political views changed over a period of time? From a novice without any definite political agenda I have become rather self opinionated and a staunch believer of social reform and welfare. If that can be called political awareness or maturity.

Posted by gc1963 on December 30, 2023 in A SHORT ESSAY, Confession, OF HUMAN QUEST, OPINION and tagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2166.

3 Comments

December 27, 2023

Room Of Requirement

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

J K Rowling created a Room Of Requirement which appeared only when you required it. Since then I too craved for a room just like the one described in the book.

Yesterday I saw the most insta Library with stairs spiralling up to rows and rows of books. Who wouldn’t like such a space?

But my Room Of Requirement will be a little different. It will definitely have rows and rows of my favourite books. Alongside a big window opening out to an azure sky and a lush green meadow. My writing table will be near the window so that when I look up from reading or writing my eyes will rest either upon the blue sky or the verdant meadow. And of course! I will wander away to wonderland.

Along with the dream room a reader/writer needs companionable silence. A tranquil atmosphere which will fan the flight of fancy.

In summer a cool fragrancefull breeze shall serenade in. A quiet drizzle shall wet the sills of the window in the rainy season. The droplets of rain shall plonk on the leaves like nimble fingers caressing a harp. The autumn will flaunt the remembrances of yester years. Memories shall fuel the memoirs. A bright fire shall keep the imagination warm, perhaps wild, in winter. Spring, the queen of seasons, will fill a riot of colours into the quill to spill and splash on the virgin pages.

A dream room of requirement available readily whenever one wants it to be there.

Oh dear! Such a room of one’s own to chill and cheer!

A room where words flow and heart inks thoughts without fear…

A burrow where one can hide from this world’s frenzied affairs

A room which will let one churn tales of love and lovers

A room which will take us to the land of bizarre fair

Whenever wherever we wish the room of requirement shall appear

To make us feel at home …to make the gloom from life disappear

Pic from Pexel

Posted by gc1963 on December 27, 2023 in Books, Celebrations, Entertainment, Learning, MUSINGS, OPINION, Uncategorized, Words and tagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2165.

9 Comments

December 25, 2023

Back To Christie-ism

How will you nab a spy midst a bunch of residents putting up in a guest house ?

A few posts back I had written about a Failed Christie Mystery – Postern Of Fate. A novel written by the dame, Agatha Christie, in her later years grappling with old age and failing memory. The book had enough allusions to another of her novel penned earlier – N Or M ? Both were Tommy Tuppence mysteries.

But I made a big mistake by reading Postern Of Fate before N Or M. It had to be the other way round as the former gave away a lot about the latter. A sign of an aging author???

Surprisingly, I had not read both the books and I thought I was a Christie Connoisseur!🤦🤦

The narrative goes thus….

Tommy and Tuppence are bored as they have no adventure left in life. The war is on. Their children are serving the country in the Forces and/or Intelligence. The middle aged couple, confined to their flat, are itching to do something exciting. And lo! Arrives Mr. Grant with “work” for Tommy in the Ministry of Requirements. No, Tuppence is not recruited.

Tommy has to be a boarder in a guest house in Leahampton to keep an eye on the other boarders and to nab “The Cat Among The Pigeons”. A double crossing spy who is an insider, serving the country, but secretly bearing sympathies towards the Nazis in his or her heart of hearts. The only clue that Tommy is given is the code name: N or M?

Tommy jumps to the bait, arrives at Sans Souci – the guest house in Leahampton – and is dumbfounded to find one Mrs. Blenkensop, comfortably ensconced there, who is a “transformed version” of none other than Tuppence. Now they (Tommy and Tuppence) are both into “the work”.

However, all the boarders seem enigmatic. From the retired Army Officer, Bletchley, to the formidable oldie Mrs O’Rourke, the hypochondriac Mr. Calay (who nurtures admiration for the Germans) and his over caring wife Mrs. Calay, the observant spinster Ms. Minton and the owner of Sans Souci itself, Mrs Perena and her breathtakingly beautiful daughter Shiela. Above all, Carl Von Deinim, the German refugee, employed in a chemical factory, who is apparently anti-Nazi… yet…

N Or M has thrill, chill, action and lots of Christie moments. Like when Mrs Blenkensop is caught snooping by Mrs Perena… When she is barricaded on the staircase on one end by the satanic Mrs. O’Rourke and on the other end by the Wolverine Mrs. Perena…Or when Mrs. Sprot, the devoted mother (also a boarder of the guest house), blindly shooting the kidnapper of her two years old daughter, Betty, at the edge of the cliff – a narrow escape for her only daughter. These are the typical Agatha-ish bone chilling twists in the plot.

It’s rather funny when the sleuth duo’s grown up daughter Deborah underestimates her parents and considers their past adventures overhyped!!

When I told my sister that I am surprised not to have read these two books earlier, I was in for another surprise as my sister appeared to remember minute details of both the books. And she is seven years older to me!!

N Or M is a page turner. I finished the book in no time. Now I am wondering what to read next as my Kindle is full of unread or half read books.

Christie fans can go ahead and pick this up. I am sure others too will enjoy the book.

You need not be young and a go getter to be adventurous. Age is just a number. The salivation for suspense, thrill and adventure has to be in your bones or rather genes. Middle or old age has nothing to do with it.

So go ahead with your snooping if you are like Ms. Marple or the older version of Tommy and Tuppence.

In contrast, Poirot has always been portrayed as old and rather clumsy with his fashionable three piece suits, shining patent leather shoes and super waxed moustache belying a razor sharp brain.

Ms. Marple is wooly and a little too inquisitive as old spinsters tend to be. With her fuddled way of explaining things she gets on the nerves of those who have not yet come across her astute deduction abilities.

Tommy, on the other hand, has a quiet, hound-ish quality systematically following a trail to it’s logical completion. Tuppence, like most women, is intuitive, an unconventional risk taker and amazingly resourceful to the extreme in the vortex of danger.

All foursome created by a genius who knew how to keep her readers enthralled, amused by the English sense of humour, on edge of the seat with her powerful and unputdownable storytelling and spellbound when the culprit turned out to be the one least expected.

The Queen of Detective Stories must have created history in her times when women were not as empowered as the modern connotation of the term goes. When I first started reading Christie her books were just adrenaline rushing. But now as I read or re-read her I find her writings multi-layered.

As a woman she comes forth as independent minded, politically aware, keen judge of human psychology, very much into the intricacies of international espionage and much ahead of her times.

Her writings are, therefore, timeless classics – a genre (murder mysteries/suspense thrillers) until then dominated by men. I am curious to know how she would have been to interact with. But I have to satiate that thirst now just by reading her…gauging how her mind worked.

So off to another Christie then….

Shared with Goodreads and Mouthshut.com

Posted by gc1963 on December 25, 2023 in Books, Mystery, OPINION, REVIEW, TALKING ABOUT BOOKS and tagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2004.

3 Comments

December 21, 2023

In Search Of Happiness

When are you most happy?

The Wise say one should always look for happiness within. Your core should be a fount of joy. Joyous nature exudes positive vibes to which the Universe too relents happily and all your wishes get fulfilled as the angels around you promptly say yes to whatever you desire that moment.

But are we that positive? No, because we look for happiness outside in external factors. What we search we never get. The eagerness to possess disrupts the very purpose. So we are left empty handed and morose.

There is another line of thinking which says find happiness in myriad day to day things. I am that person.

Now how do we define happiness? When a day goes as per routine without any hindrance I feel satisfied. Can that be equated with happiness?

When a sudden surprising or unexpected news I receive – a news which was long awaited but not happening – yes, I am really happy.

At times you wake up with a happy feeling without any rhyme or reason I guess that’s really what pure, pristine happiness is all about.

But that happens rarely. That serendipity without any cause. Can I be called a person of generally happy disposition?

If there is an uncalled for detour in my day’s planning I am disgruntled! Angry! Peevish!

That’s why I’d prefer to be stoic – not too overwhelmed by jubilance and not to cowered by grief or obstruction. Stoicism allows a space of continuing your day to day work in a systematic way without infusing any unnecessary emotions into it. It also makes you sensibly accountable to others. Your happiness should not be a cause of disturbance to them.

Happiness should not be licentious. It should be contained in its own realm. Understated. And if I may use the phrase expressed with a dash of elegance. Continue living …working without any perturbing thoughts….find meaning in the most menial job of the day…and life may appear fulfilling.

Our problem is we tend to look for BIG achievements to be happy. The big thing comes to fruition with baby steps. Those little little efforts are more important. One by one. One at a time. It’s like playing with building blocks. We forget to extract joy from the journey of placing each block on top of the other. We want the castle readymade.

Let’s not hurry things. Nothing happens overnight. See Nature! The changes take place so imperceptibly. And one fine morning the mountains melt into the ocean or the oceans give way to the peaks. But did that earth shattering shift take place in minutes? No! It took aeons. Only we were not aware of those miniscule movements. And when the transformation is visible….tangible….we exclaim WOW!!! How did that happen?

As I write I tell these words to my own impatient self. Wait! Stand still! Stare! There is so much to look at! Slow down! Feel the peace around and within! Do not make happiness into something Utopian! Feel it! Touch it! Contain it within!

There, aren’t you happy?

All pics from Pexel

Posted by gc1963 on December 21, 2023 in Celebrations, Confession, Learning, MUSINGS, OF HUMAN QUEST, OPINION, REVELATION and tagged dailyprompt, dailyprompt-2159.

12 Comments

December 20, 2023

Life As Is

List your top 5 grocery store items.

Pre-COVID days visiting grocery shops would take up most of my week days. Browsing through rows and rows of items meant checking and comparing the price, quality and variety of stuffs before making an informed decision what to buy. It was more than need. It was availability and novelty of things.

COVID changed all that. Overnight we became online shoppers. For Indians, I think, it was a drastic manoeuvre because shopping in India is more of a social activity than just buying necessities.

Even after the historical pandemic online shopping continues because it seems to be less time consuming and one job less in the day’s routine. Earlier in days of physical shopping, the weekend was ideal. Now, any day grocery can be replenished because everything is available at the click of the mouse or tap on the mobile.

Life has, though, become easy the personal touch is gone.

Much before departmental stores took over the local bazaars, the shop in the corner of the gully used to be the hub of gossip mongers, news readers and makers, opinion builders and loud debaters. In a departmental store the shoppers are bedazzled by the offers and engrossed in filling their baskets. Far removed from interacting they are more into hording.

When it comes to favourites, as Indians, we are habituated to cook twice or thrice and even four times a day. So our grocery list is dominated by the staples – rice, wheat, pulses, lentils, spices and herbs.

We have specialities for every season. Winters are for maize and corn flour and leaves of all kinds, specially, mustard leaves. Mustard leaves cooked with lots of love, garnished with ginger paste and flavourfull ghee with corn flour rotis are a winter delicacy.

Again, we don’t prefer to buy vegetables from stores. It is usually from open market where vegetable sellers throng. Store bought veggies are generally from cold storage, are not fresh and don’t last long. We also have vegetable sellers coming to our doorstep with cart full of fresh vegetables which they bring straight from the Mandi or the wholesellers.

My vegetable seller has gone to his village for a month. So nowadays I have to go to the market to buy veggies which is again a more personalized service oriented customer dealing based on your rapport with the individual seller.

The last time I went Parsuram greeted me with a namaskar. 🙏. I asked him whether he accepted online payment to which he retorted, “Who is asking for money auntie? You take your choice of vegetables.”

I know it is his business to sell vegetables for money. He knows that I will not take anything from him without paying. But with the opening lines of the conversation the tone is set for an informal sale-purchase transaction.

This is India where every day to day activity has a layer of camaraderie attached to it.

I asked why the bun tikki seller was not seen in the usual corner near the big gate of the Society. He sold lovely crispy buns with well fried potato chop or tikki as big as the bun sandwiched inbetween with sauces and salads. Almost like a burger. But it was not MacD type. It was locally made, less expensive and whole lot tastier. It had the flavour of his nimble fingers.

To my dismay he had shifted base because of the Metro construction. His cart was not visible behind the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation)’s hoardings which adversely impacted his sale.

The fruit seller is a whimsical fellow. Loud and lewd. I caught his mischief once when he sold me sour mangoes swearing they were as sweet as sugar candies. I shared the incident with all the other sellers who had a good laugh and the bugger learnt his lesson not to be oversmart with me.

This is India. Like tamarind sauce. Tangy and sweet at the same time. Sometimes with layer of bitter taste too. Yet hugely entertaining like a potboiler. Enjoyable. Humorous. Even sensational.

Welcome on board….