ALTER IDEM

Last month, as Alter Idem turned four, I realised that so far, I have not written anything about cooking. Maybe, I should count this one as a post with some cooking.... Actually, cooking is such an inexhaustible topic that I know what I'll do. Whenever I feel like writing a post, and can't think of something interesting, I'll share an indigenous recipe......  I'll begin with my all-time favourite dosa - the Tender Coconut Dosa. To serve about 2-3 people, you will need 3 cups of rice - washed and soaked for a couple of hours; 2 1/2 to 3 cups of tender coconut pieces - the kind that's too raw to be used in dishes and too fleshy to be eaten as it is; salt to taste. Grind all the ingredients to a fine batter. Add enough water to arrive at a paint-like consistency.    This batter shouldn't be allowed to ferment. In fact, the left-over batter should be immediately refridgerated.  Spread the batter evenly on a warm griddle. Cover with a li

Yes!! Alter idem is four today! As usual, to celebrate, I'll share a short story. You know, normally, I share the first story that comes to my mind as I begin to write the 'anniversary-post'. This time, I decided to rack my brains to remember something unusual and less known.......  After some serious thinking, one of my favourite writers, Oscar Wilde, came to my rescue!  I had read this story about 5 years ago in an anthology of short stories written in the 19th century. Since I have forgotten the names of the characters, I'll call them X, Y & Z ('Maths-style'!). X, an idle aristocrat is snacking in one of Paris' street cafes when his friend Y joins him - with the complaint that he does not understand women. The sagely X tells Y that women are meant to be loved and not understood, and offers to solve Y's 'love - problem'....  At this, Y shows X a picture of Z and asks for his opinion. The expert that he is, X concludes that there i

We have not yet seen the end of the monsoon here. Even though it has been raining everyday, there is some sunshine between showers. After a break of nearly four months, it is time for me to get back to gardening. Every year, after the heavy rains, the garden looks haggard and unkempt because of the lack of attention. With every passing year, it has been getting more and more difficult to find someone to pull out the weeds and do the other menial tasks. This year, as I was mulling over some  probable candidates, I thought of N . Though he looks to be about 15, N is 18 years old. I know that because about 2-3 years ago, I saw his date of birth on his marks card. Class 10 results were out and N was refusing to go to school to check his results. Someone told his dad that these days, one could check them online and he came to me with the register number, requesting me to check N 's 'pass-fail'. Of course, I wasn't expecting great marks, but I didn't think N wou

One summer afternoon, we were returning home via the Tirthahalli- Agumbe road. Suddenly, we saw a signpost that said 'Kundadri - 7 kms'. Wonder how we had missed it during our previous journeys on this road!  Kundadri was one of the local places on our 'must-see-sometime' list. And, we decided to check it out this time. Kundadri is a small mountain belonging to the Western Ghats range. Until a few years ago, trekking was the only way to reach the top. In order to make the Basadi (Jain temple) at the top  accessible to all, a businessman from Mumbai spent a few crores to build a narrow, motorable road. One still has to cover the last few metres  on foot. See the 'Welcome' arch somewhere near the centre of this pic? That is how the diversion from the main road looks like from the top! Since the sun was shining down brightly upon us, we decided to bide some time at the empty, shady parking zone. The others divided the newspaper and I reclined the seat to hav

Birds do not have ears .... but, I'm sure, they could hear each other.... the mother, and the baby-sunbird.... Let me explain.... Today, for the first time, I had to chase a bird from inside our home! I was cooking lunch and had to take a call at my home-office. On returning, I saw a tiny, panicky female sun-bird fluttering about in great confusion! It seemed like this little one had just learned how to fly... and, had somehow managed to give her mother the slip! It was quite disturbing to watch the confusion.... the cheeping bird inside and the cheeping bird outside. If only I could speak the bird language..... I was quite sure that the bird would be smart enough to catch wind movements, and opened all the windows. I was wrong!! Tired, after about twenty minutes of non-stop flying, she began to take tiny breaks on accessible (to me) ledges. That was when I decided to capture and release her.... You know, there is this plastic container in the kitchen that is a re

For ages and ages, all students of Kannada have had to mug up the Govina HaaDu in primary/ high school. For kids of my generation, it was no big deal. Because, this folk song was set to music in an award-winning Kannada film called Tabbaliyu neenaade magane (You are now an orphan,my son). The song was very popular and was played regularly on our main source of entertainment - the radio. For those of you who are ignorant, here's the Govina HaaDu.   The movie opens with this song. Some villagers are staging a dance-drama and if you watch carefully, you'll catch Naseeruddin Shah (in the role of a Hindu priest).... among the audience. A nice song, isn't it? The song tells us the story of a cow called PunyakoTi . One day, while grazing in the forest, a tiger confronts PunyakoTi and threatens to eat her up. The cow pleads for some time - to go home and bid farewell to her loved ones. Half-heartedly, the tiger grants her leave. When PunyakoTi comes back as promised, the

Traditionally, the rain that is counted as the first rain of the monsoon is the one that falls on the day of the Aardra Nakshatra. The nature of the rainfall during the span of the following couple of days serves as an indicator for the monsoon pattern. Very good rains during this period = heavy monsoon.... like the one this year. Of course, such rain-spells have no regard for man-made stuff like roads/ plantations! Well... we have not seen a clear, blue sky for more than two and a half months now.  'Pitter-patter  is the non-stop music/ cacophony that is being played. Everything is cold, wet and musty.  In short, I'm sick and tired of rains... Every time I begin to feel this way, I remind myself about some of the things I like during monsoon- things from my immediate surroundings that cheer me up and see me through these dull, drab days...... moments that happen only during the monsoon. Let me share a few of them with you....   I'll begin with something tha

You know, someone out there comes up with interesting names for common flowers. Names like 'Red-hot Cat's Tail', 'Queen's tears', 'Flaming Katy', 'Bleeding Heart',........ Most of you would have come across this flower. It is a very common border plant. But, did you know? It's called 'Bachelor's Button'!! Apparently, young men (in the west, of course!) wore these flowers on their shirts. If the flower faded quickly, it meant that the man's love was not returned. Very clever! Because, this flower does not fade quickly!! Think of THE woman... wear the flower... if it doesn't fade, approach her and confess.... is this how this is supposed to work?? Well... I'm unable to come up with any other logical explanation!! All along, I was under the impression that only giddy-headed young girls indulged in flowers & 'he-loves me, loves-me-not' sort of stuff! This flower here, is called 'B

During my school days, for a brief period, we had a dog and a cat - a pup & a kitten, actually! Bumpy, the dog, treated the whole world like his long-lost buddy. That's why, he was given away to the very first person who asked if she could have him! Chinky, the cat, had to be put to sleep thanks to some incurable illness. After that, we had neither the time nor the inclination for pets..... A couple of months ago, I had been toying with the idea of adopting a pet to keep me company -- not any more.  It is so important to make a unanimous decision about the choice of the animal because all of us have to live peacefully in the same house!! And, our problem was precisely that! The choice of the animal!! Dogs---NO! With dogs, we (my husband & the rest of us) have exactly opposite attitudes. My husband thinks that dogs should NEVER be allowed inside the house and should be tied up most of the time, preferably in some far-out corner. The rest of us feel that a

I'm unable to recollect when/ where I saw a hijra (transgender) for the first time. But, I do remember one incident that left me terrified of them for a long time. Sometime in my late-teens.... I had almost reached IB's (Iyengar's Bakery) for a quick snack. A hijra was harassing the maama @ IB 's for money. Simultaneously, she was also chasing the customers away by making obscene gestures....... Another time, I was on a train journey. Somewhere near N.K'taka, a group of hijras had entered the compartment and had harassed the men - quite successfully. Looking back, where was our guard? In cahoots with the hijras ? Probably..... To date, these two incidents remain my only real-life experiences with the hijras. The sole local transgender keeps to himself - when he is in town, i.e ....   In our films, of course, they are always portrayed in a crass manner - even when they are supposed to be blessing people during auspicious occasions. I have often wond

There was a time, not so long ago, when chapatis in South Indian homes was considered special. Not anymore - chapatis are now a part of everyday diet in a lot of South Indian homes. And, one of the 'Southies' has even ventured out into mechanised chapathi- making! Mr.E.B.Bhat, also known as Baala maama, has been in the food industry for 20-25 years now. By sheer diligence and hard work, he has expanded his range of products from milk bread to different types of bread, buns, cakes & biscuits. Also, other stuff like puffs, cutlets, samosas & pizza bases. Recently, Baala maama invited us to check out his new, mechanised chapati-making unit - an invitation that we readily accepted. On entering the industrial estate at Kamakshipalya, B'lore, our noses led us in the right direction :) - to 'Polykorp Food Industries', where Baala maama was waiting for us with thin, use-and-throw caps. Wearing them and leaving our footwear outside, we entered the tidy interiors

Not so recently, some of us bore my uncle's tirade - meant for the editor of  "The H...", the newspaper maamaaji reads. Apparently, there's this regular column, wherein, readers are invited to contribute pics showing gaffes in signboards, etc. - especially the gaffes in angrezi . "Why laugh at some poor, illiterate signboard painter for his mistakes? If he was as educated as those people at the news office, he wouldn't be painting boards. And, it's not like the newspaper wallahs don't make mistakes at all.........."  - the gist of my maama 's speech. Of course, I didn't quite agree with him. I think, the laugh is more for the end result than at the poor painter. At that moment, I didn't say so because I was in no mood to start a discussion. However, after that incident, I think of my uncle whenever I see a gaffe in angrezi .... and that is very often! Recently, there was this pamphlet with our newspaper, announcing some sale i

You will not find this place on the tourists' list of places to visit in Chikmaglur. However, you'll find it on my list of favourite places in Chikmaglur. Let me take you there..... A half-an-hour's drive from home will take us to the not-so-sleepy town of Koppa. From here, onto  the road to Kesave village.  About 3-4 kms on this road, to the right - a rusty arch and the mud track beyond welcome us. Blink, and we'll miss the place! We are now on private property. This part of the estate is open to all. Because, it is here that the river Braahmi has her origins. The Braahmi is a small tributary of the river Tunga. Infact, she joins the Tunga within 20 kms. from her place of birth. The presence of an idol of the elephant-headed God lends some piety to the place.    Someone has done a neat job -  making it seem like the water is gushing out of a water-pot. This, and the presence of God Ganesh... the place is locally known as 'KamanDala Ganapati'. Lik

In most Indian folk tales, the crow is portrayed as a cunning, thieving villain. And, when Uncle Pai created Kalia , he broke the tradition.  Kalia , the clever crow, was always doing good things like helping out creatures in distress -  NEVER the villain....  The crow is the vehicle of Shani (Saturn) - the planet that is supposed to cast evil on one's life.  Perhaps, for this reason, it is considered to be a symbol of bad omen.......  As with the colour black -  the colour of the crow and the colour associated with Shani . For the same reason, children who collect birds' feathers are forbidden from bringing the crow's feathers inside homes (especially if grandmas are around!). To add to its list of woes, the crow has such clumsy ways and an unpleasant cry. Even the nest it builds is shabby when compared to the nests of other birds.You know, many a time, I have felt quite sorry for the crow. Misplaced sympathies!! The crow is indeed a bad bird! Sometimes, it p

                     "The earth laughs in flowers".... so said Ralph Waldo Emerson. How true! Ma earth laughs so prettily....and, in so many different ways!  The Canna, is one of my husband's favourite flowers. Easy to grow, it asks for some sunshine & regular watering - that's all. Even so, I'm not sure why the canna isn't that popular in home gardens. Of course, they are very popular  in parks and landscaped gardens - usually as border plants or in the centre of a circular theme. Canna was one of my mother's favourite flowers. We have one here that has its origins in her garden. The flowers are smaller than the regular canna flowers. Quite recently, I read somewhere that the bulbs of this variety are edible. And, I have seen small birds visiting regularly - their 'juice shoppe',  I guess! This red canna here is S'man's favourite. S'man drops in sometimes to help us out with gardeni