Mom's Whistling Kettle and tea-time chats

While I struggle to eat down the refrigerator, or fix a menu for the week, the mini-God of my universe, my 'would be teenager' decides otherwise. Off late he relishes a 'thali', the Indian platter, North Indian or South Indian, preference slightly in favour of the North Indian one. Hence, we ended up treating ourselves to the 'Rajdhani Mahabhoj' to our stomach, sorry sorry heart's content. At the end we felt satiated, he was overthrilled for being charged half for all the goodies he got to lay his hands on. Could not control myself from clicking the huge spread/ thali. Hope you too salivate at the sight of the Mahabhoj

In an otherwise coccooned life on a highrise in Gurgaon, the only contact we enjoy with outside air is in the morning these days till the Sun decides to shine too bright, right over our head. Braving the sun, heat and dust, day in and day out, the sudden exposure to the somewhat cooled down air or a look at the setting sun or a sudden overcast sky makes you choke with emotion, fleeting memories, incidents, moments of life. A look at the sky on a quiet Sunday evening does a prompt overchurn of emotions. Nothing more apt to describe the feelings than the famous Sumon Chattopadhyay song...." Mon kharap koraa bikel maanei megh korechhe. Durey kothao du ek poshla brishti hochchhe....." While I enjoyed the sky over a tall cup of lemon tea and Sumon's songs pouring from my ipod, I dedicate this post to all Calcuttans missing the afternoon shower and Kalbaishakhi.

It is weeknight once again and once again I am dog tired as I drag my feet home, late into the evening. While I do the long forgotten 10-20-30-40,... or Ina Mina ....to decide whatz to have for the most important meal of our day, the last lap of the office work and concalls keep my ears and mouth busy. Yap-yap-yap.... I continue. My little sonny is already irritated with my ongoing calls as well as the 'mime show' of series of instructions to stand by. Hence the need to spike up the ' shadaa mataa' home-cooked dinner with a magic wand. The pre-boiled eggs in my refrigerator are too inviting in this moment of hurry. So, I decide, it is going to be a simple spread of bhaat(rice), dim er malaikari(Egg Curry with coconut milk) and roasted punjabi papad. And my almost 12 yrs old son finds the menu inviting enough to finally force an ear-to-ear grin. OK, while the 'almost teenager' finally settles down to complete his 'homework', I concentrate on the 'dime

Delhi weather is still beautiful, tolerable and we can do without AC. But for a silly mistake of mine spent the whole weekend sneezing, coughing, red rubbed nose and itchy eyes.....I ate two bites of a Chicken crepe, which had a handsome portion of mushrooms as well. I was callous and spared the waiter of my regular speech of "No Mushroom, No Crabs". Hence Sunday onwards I am busy with " allergic effects" Funnily, There are too many school holidays cluttering this week. Kid's school was off on 3rd for Ram Navami, will remain closed on 7th for Mahavira Jayanthi and 10th for Good Friday. Too many holidays means, too much junk food goes in, which is irritating. Since weekends are the only time I think and cook rather than handle it in firefighting mode during the week. While I am trying to be more conscious of the 'grocery purchased' and 'food wastage', I was quite touched with some blogs working on 'Eating out of refrigerator and cleaning up r