Nuances

A common question that I am often asked is, how am I able to cook simple fare, leave alone sumptuous meals and tasty nick knacks, when I used to never enter the kitchen in Bangalore? Honestly, even I am stumped!!! The first day I picked up the knife to cut the onions, an eternal doubt lingered in my mind - will I be even able to chop it even half way through??? Lo, behold, not only was I able to successfully pulverize it but was able to prepare a descent, edible and optically affable Baby corn peas masala with not so plump Pooris. Some credit should definitely be given to me for cooking in a 'nearly bachelor-paddish' kitchen. I even managed to deep fry things in vegetable oil which was meant only for dressing. I kept wondering why my pooris were not ready to bloat at all. It was only later that I realised that it was the oil that was playing the havoc!!! Hats off to Adarsh for putting up with such alienish dishes and not complaining even a bit. Anyway, it was good...

Diwali may be a week away but we got to celebrate and enjoy the festival on this weekend itself. We got to know about the get-together from one of the lunch time Indian friends of Adarsh. It was organised by the employees of the office where this friend worked. Since it is a Chennai based company, as expected, it was organised by a couple of Tamilians. So for one thing, both Adarsh and I did not feel out of place since we could easily understand all the conversations going on around us. Luckily Adarsh knew some of them too. I had fun looking around the animated faces, kids and chatty ladies (something that you don't get to see often here). I got on really well with the friend's wife and struck up a lively chat with her. Luckily for me, I decided to wear one of my Chudidhars for the function. Every lady in the hall except for the British was decked up in a colourful saree. The only British lady was the wife of the supervisor of the employees. It was funny to watch the shock, ...