Of this and that

** Have you tried out Paper Boat’s Jal Jeera and Aamras? I did. I didn’t like the Aamras much, but I fell for the Jal Jeera totally. It reminded me of Ahmedabad and brought back a lot of fond memories. Highly recommended. Also, you should visit Paper Boat’s Facebook page. I am sure it will take you to Nostalgia Land.

** It was cloudy when I woke up today morning. Please note that I slept late last night and woke up with the aid of an alarm, specially to go for a morning walk. I was in no mood to go, and all I wanted to do was curl up again in my warm bed and go back to sleep. Instead of doing that, though, I pushed myself to go for a walk, only to get caught in a torrent of rain. The OH had to come and get me back home from under a tree where I was all drenched, shivering, trying to shelter from the rain, near the park a 12-minute walk away from our house that I usually go to. I came home and was just beginning to enjoy some aimless Internet surfing when the sun began shining brightly. Gah! Is the Universe conspiring against my morning walks? 😉

** I have been reading Karen Harper’s Mistress Shakespeare, which has proved to be riveting so far. It is about why famous author and playwright William Shakespeare went on to marry an Anne Hathaway and have children with her, instead of the Anne Whateley he was engaged to, according to government records that survive till date. The author has beautifully spun this little historical fact into an enchanting and much believable tale, and I can’t get my hands and eyes off the book. It makes me realise how little we actually know about the real lives of celebrities. We wouldn’t see their writing/acting the same way if we knew all the sordid details of their personal lives, would we? That said, I am all for viewing a person’s art as separate from his/her personal life.

** There has been no luck in finding a suitable house for my parents in Bangalore, yet. Property rates in certain areas are astronomical, making it impossible for us to even think of buying a house there. Most small builders, whose houses are affordable, have deviated from the original government-approved plan of construction, as a consequence of which the residents cannot get an Occupancy Certificate, a crucial document for future governmental purposes. The big, renowned builders have no such deviations and all their documents are in order, but their prices and maintenance costs are high enough to put off anyone who is not a millionaire. How is a middle-class person to buy a house legally, without any gol-maal in the documents, I ask?

** While we are on the subject of houses, what is with the disappearance of good balconies? Most houses by small builders we visited have no balconies at all, or a balcony that looks into the neighbour’s bathroom or laundry room or whatever, or at the adjacent apartment’s drainage pipes. So not a view you would want to gaze at with a cup of coffee in your hands every morning, right? I am the kind of person who needs proper windows and balconies with a decent view, if not a great one, and am appalled to see houses that have none at all. In other cases, the houses are so tiny that a family of four would have to struggle not to bump into each other as they went about their daily chores, but have clubhouses and gyms running into thousands of square feet? Am I missing something here? Am I the only person who thinks this way?

** One of my cousins had a baby boy yesterday, after 9 years of marriage and several disappointments later. We haven’t known a couple who have wanted a child as badly as this one. Needless to say, they are incredibly happy. It feels good to know they are finally holding their son in their hands, nursing him and singing lullabies to him. 🙂

** Zucchinis would probably start committing suicide when they come to know of what my Amma calls them – ‘vezhumoona peerkangai’ or ‘smooth ridge gourds’ or ‘that variety of ridge gourds without the ridges’. We had a couple of zucchini lying around unused in our refrigerator, in sore danger of wasting away, with no idea of what to do with them. So, we Tam-Brahmized them and converted them into zucchini thair kootu. It tasted good, but I am guessing we should now call those zucchinis Zucchini Iyer, like Nandini does. 🙂