Happy Vishu...

umm a new year has dawned and with it another year that seems full of hope and cheer. its been a hectic week and with that the final nuts and bolts that determine my next step were firmly being put in place.

yep, its packing time. time for me to fly, fly across the seven seas where I would be testing the turbid waters once again. That's my life you see just when I seem to settle down the monotony of things gets to me and I spread my wings and fly once again in search of better pastures. Aaah if ONLY I had the power to reign in my mind, I guess I would have asked "What exactly do you need in the first place?".

That’s enough as I write this I see adnan sami's new song "Teri Yaad". well apart from the fact that he has a rich voice, I am sick of his love stuck songs. He looks quite old and he always tries to serenade someone half his age which reminds me of those malayalam/tamil movies where the hero is usually the herione's fathers age and still ( I mean it) still plays the college guy running around trees.

Wonder of wonders, he is accepted in this role too and as usual the movie rakes in the moolah. clap !! clap !! clap !!. Producers happy, the actors are happy and so are the good entertainment deprived public. Therein lies the greatness of my home country. We are so used to being pushed around that eventually we begin to accept everything as a ritual rather than question it.

So coming to the point of this post. I decided to spend this new year a bit differently. Yep I decided to celebrate rather than rue the fact that I am once again all alone. The place where I am headed too, no one cares for anyone else and I guess at the later stages its only this skill that will allow me to keep my sanity alive.

So late evening I made a dash to the market and bought in all the veggies, spices and the works. Got down to business after the usual early morning rituals and ended up preparing a small sadya (feast) consisting of 2 curries, 2 accompaniments, rice and of course the sweet dish. At the end I was definitely pleased with my effort to such an extent that when I finally finished the decoration, I only had the energy to take a picture of them to show my mom which too ultimately conked out since there were only 2 shots left on the roll.

anyways just in case someone comes looking this is what the sambhar (spicy indian curry pronounced as "saaa-aam-bar") looked like....

and this the more koottan ( indian curry made using yoghurt pronounced as "more-koo-taan").

Finally I concluded:

• I can never be anywhere close to the league of my mom and sisters when it comes to cooking. Not that I don't know how to cook or something like that. I can whip up a decent meal in quick time and No you wont run around for a laxative to ease the matter either.

• Some people are born with the skill. Just like the kids I too believe that my mom is the worlds best cook and even at this age I stand by my belief.

• Gender equality matters aside WOMEN ARE BETTER COOKS. Call it skill or call it a belief doens't matter. I am yet to come across a MALE cook who can given women a run for their money and no I don't care to know the reason either.

Yeah don’t come and tell me about Jamie Oliver, sure he makes a billion bucks each day but ask a kid who he thinks is a better cook and he would yell out aloud "For christ sake, just listen and drill it into your ears, its my mom, my mom and my mom.." If my prudence serves me right, Jamie would probably be nodding his head at this point of time in agreement to the above statement.

A typical lad, I never ventured anywhere beyond the kitchen door as a kid and now as I whip up a meal I can sense my mom and the ladies I care for watching me, smiling at me, laughing and cheering me on.

sure they were disasters in disguise at the initial stages but neverthless they are proud of my effort and they know I would never let them down. That night as I sat down to eat, deep down in my thoughts I said a silent prayer. A prayer that came from my heart and I know god must have heard....

happy new year amma, ms Canada, laks, vids, tom, baby, michi, pa, sari, saji, rahna, nithya and many more. May the new year bring in all the happiness you so rightly deserve......