Mom's Whistling Kettle and tea-time chats

Independence Day celebrations have come of age I think. Today's kids are not psyched up to get up early and rush to school on this day to queue up in files and do the march past for the school Principal and some esteemed guests for the occasion. They are pretty cooool about these days and do not feel 'pride' in being the chosen one for the independence day. In such an age of indifference, and lack of sensitivity, my teenage boy R is still sensitive to a large extent and is sensitised about all these issues(What else can he do since Mom is always working on too many projects that require to sensitise masses etc etc...) Since we are stuck at home today by choice, and have loads of home work, assignments, unit tests to take care of, unanimously decided to celebrate by staying @ home only. But, in all Bong homes, holidays and celebrations always culminate into good food. We could not be any different. As always my chef guru Sanjeev Kapoor's E newsletter gave the final idea

Independence Day celebrations have come of age I think. Today's kids are not psyched up to get up early and rush to school on this day to queue up in files and do the march past for the school Principal and some esteemed guests for the occasion. They are pretty cooool about these days and do not feel 'pride' in being the chosen one for the independence day. In such an age of indifference, and lack of sensitivity, my teenage boy R is still sensitive to a large extent and is sensitised about all these issues(What else can he do since Mom is always working on too many projects that require to sensitise masses etc etc...) Since we are stuck at home today by choice, and have loads of home work, assignments, unit tests to take care of, unanimously decided to celebrate by staying @ home only. But, in all Bong homes, holidays and celebrations always culminate into good food. We could not be any different. As always my chef guru Sanjeev Kapoor's E newsletter gave the f

Ask Lalita ji..... or, say my Mom, Grand Mom or any one from your family. Th quest for the detergent that washes the best and costs the least is never-ending. In my childhood, many housewives( no one thought of calling them Home-makers, then)like my Mom used to feel proud of their choice. The battle therefore very much there... Surf vs Det vs Rin and so on The pride in making the right and of course the wisest choice in detergent came with iconised with Lalitaji. Armed with expansion of the TV footprint in Indian homes, Lalita ji's charisma was unmatched for years. Years passed by, with globalisation, Indian households started using and patronising the global giant brands, Ariel, Henko, Tide, Surf and their endless variants. Today's home-maker is no longer proud of her choice. In fact she no longer cares. She is insensitive,of course not loyal to any manufacturer, marketer, brand, or variant. Today's wise home-maker is a deal-seeker.What is coming @ what deal? Who is offeri

When my Grandmother was active, and of course, undoubtedly,the in-charge of kitchen, Dhokar Dalna, Chhanaar dalna(Please note it was not Paneer, those days, enchorer dalna or mochaar ghanto etc etc were part of the regular veg. (niramish) menu planner. Even though we drool over the names of the above dishes, the effort and pain behind those dishes have made them very special, part of a traditional meal cooked with love and care. But, life is always about 'customisation', and 'improvisation'. For today's generation of homemakers, there are many many solutions to realisation of gluttonic dreams of a true Bong family, living away from Kolkata. Thanks to the enterpreneural skills of spice Giants in Kolkata, we have the liberty of deciding to have Dhokaar Dalna for dinner at 8pm after a nasty frustrating day in office. Among many known and unknown packets and brands available in Kolkata, one is available in my Supermarket in Gurgaon as well. This is a staple in my pantry

I am ashamed. I am guilty of not touching on my blog for months. My daily interaction with internet got badly truncated to surfing, emails, chats, and work and work. But, never mind, as the saying goes, Better late than Never.... so here I am at my confession box. All the above were just because of my technical incompetence and laziness.With a job switch, I changed my laptop. So all my old stock of photographs etc took six long months and a trip to Ranthambhor, to get transferred to the new laptop. But finally I am done, ready to get going. This year, the winter was very different in Delhi NCR. It did not touch the magic numbers of 0 or 1 degrees, but tormented everyone with a prolonged presence and a very low maximum temperature. Every morning, as we wake up, a curtain of white fog waits outside the glass window panes. On one of the clearer days, I managed to click the next apartment complex as in this photo. Good news now... as winter finally seems ready to bid a good bye for this ye