Sometime back we were given the name of Sinha Tours
and Travels by our long suffering friends. Mainly because of our inclination to plan a trip to death not just
for ourself but for those unfortunate enough to trust us with their trip
details. We have improved over the years..in the sense that we do not bore
others anymore with our planning. But like all good tour advising companies, we
do not mind a bit of PR. With that in mind we have been sharing our travel
experiences with friends in form of calendar. It combines two of our three loves..travel
and photography (in case you are wondering, third is food). The latter is still
a work in progress. This year I added some quotes to it, all related to passage
of time. The most insightful one was
Not enjoyment and not sorrow, is our destined end or way; but to act, that each tomorrow, finds us further than today.
It is a simple concept. All it asks for is to make sure that what we do today
has a positive impact on tomorrow. And if all our tomorrows turn out better
than yesterdays would we not have achieved ultimate happiness? But simple in
concept it is really difficult in practice! But does it mean that we should
always exist in a state of strife and unrest? I do not think so. One set of
people are always on the quest for more without really appreciating what they
have at hand. There is another set of people who are so complacent with what
they have that they do not strive for better. The path to steadfast sense of
well being is actually a very tightrope walk. The straddling of past, present
and future is probably why the religions came into existence to resolve.
One thing that strikes me as a shortcoming of our
society is that perusal of scriptures is relegated to the sunset of life. Our
vedas and upanishads transcend geography and religion in their wisdom. It is a
distillation of the experiences of people who worked to make sense of our
existence. They should be read and applied as we go through the daily churn of
life rather than realize too late what we did wrong.
On this eve of another year, let me set this as my goal. Hopefully a simple resolution to last a year. It feels good to set a
goal for that elusive happiness within for the coming year.
New year's eve and a party due in the evening calls
for some big recipes. But I just wrote couple of paragraphs about simple
concepts so I will try to keep this simple.Or as Aleksandr Orlov calls it Simples.
Poha is a simple and healthy snack. Anyone brought
up in central or western india could not have gorwn up without being familiar with it. In bengal it is called chirer pulao. In bhopal you can find cartful of
golden fluffy poha with amber succelent jalebis to start the day with. In
mumbai kanda poha, batata poha, masala poha are almost synonyms with the
snacks routine.
It was never on top of to eat list of things. When
AS and I, we were pursuing the usual correspondence that accompanies an
'arranged marriage', I was in the process of disillusioning him about my
non existent cooking skills. In our six months of courtship he put up a brave
face and had probably reconciled himself to a lifetime of drudgery in the
kitchen. He mentioned poha as his favourite thing to eat. It was also our first joint venture in the kitchen, with me in the role of something even below Souz chef. My first couple of trials met with exemplary failures. I learnt a few tricks from my mother-in-law on my next visit. Simple things which make a vast difference to the outcome.
Ingredients
4 cups medium flaked poha
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup peas
1 tbsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1 tbsp sugar
juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste
