Mom's Whistling Kettle and tea-time chats

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