The World needs more Love Letters!

It’s easy to proclaim declarations: “I hate you” “Life is cruel” “How can life be so cruel?” “Why am I the unfortunate one?”

It’s easy to give all the above dramatic declarations but hard to take time and contemplate on them. Think for some time! When life gives us the best of things, we never for once think, Life is Cruel! During those happy moments, Life becomes our best buddy! But, the next day, if something bad happens, we curse Life. 

Whereas we know that failures and triumphs are the two sides of the same coin.

All the above  hurtful declarations, the anger, the wrath, which we feel, because of a stupid fight, an unexpected failure, all boils down to our Ego, the destroyer, the taker, the arrogant fool.

There are two sides to our personality, one side ruled by our conscience and the other ruled by our ego. Whenever, there is a fight or a failure, the Ego always feels defeated and craves vengeance. During a misfortune, it’s not we who get hurt but our Ego, the sadistic dog, which then propels us to do silly histrionics. The wars that are raging all over the world, the fight for a piece of land, for power, for money, it’s all because of our ego. Because he has taken my land, I have to get it back, by all means. Oh my god, he scored more than me, I have to defeat him in the next test. You hit me, man! I am going to hit you too! Recognize this! Well! These stupid ramblings are Ego talking.

All that world craves now is money and power: One country fights another for a piece of land, a son leaves his parents in an old age home to live his own dream, the abnormal increase in the number of divorce cases, the unnecessary estrangements. These are all indications, signs of the unfulfilled life we all are living, a life devoid of love, friendship and warmth. When once the companionship of a friend was important, now Ego has taken preference.

There are so many existing problems in this world. Do we really want to add some more? I know forgiving is one of the hardest things but it’s also one of the easiest thing. It’s all about the courage, it’s all about the love that we had for those people who broke our heart. The truth is we still love them. The hatred that we feel is the living evidence.

We all have love in our heart, then why aren’t we making an effort to show that. Why do we always have to fight, to struggle for things that are there today but may not be there tomorrow? We hardly pay attention to the things that we have, the beautiful relationships, nature, we as an individual. It’s time to love, to build and to make time for the things that matters. Some things will remain with us forever, the love we have for each other, the lasting relationship we have been gifted. These things were our past, these things are our present, these things will be our future.

It’s very easy to hate, to feel anger. I had my share of experience. But it takes courage, real courage to forgive and to move on. And I think it’s worth fighting! Otherwise, it will be an insult to all those wonderful memories we had with those people.

Bhetki Macher Paturi Recipe

Bhetki Macher Paturi or Sea Bass cooked in mustard paste

It has been quite some time since I made a Bengali dish. Both I and my brother were bored with the chicken dishes I usually made. I have never experimented with fish. Frankly, I suck at fish recipes. I am scared as in how to cook the fish pieces perfectly? But this time, to hell with fear! I was determined to master it. 

I sat in front of my laptop for two full days, I did some research. How long the fish should be baked? What marinade to use? How to know whether the fish is rightly cooked?

It was hard. But, nothing is that hard if we do it with a smile and with the right purpose. Right!?

My “Fish Adventure” started with this beautiful, tiring, aromatic dish. Bhetki Macher Paturi or Sea Bass (in English) is a Bengali dish made by marinating the Bhetki fillets in Mustard paste. Mustard is the dominant flavour of this dish. Though the process is a bit tiring, first the marinade, then the wrapping (took around 45 minutes), lastly the baking, the end result is simply amazing. My family loved it. I couldn't be any less prouder. My efforts did pay off!! *Awesome me* LOL JJJJ

~~The Recipe~~

Ingredients:

10 Bhetki fillets

6 tbsp Mustard (yellow) Paste
1.5 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Ginger paste
3 tbsp Coconut (grated)

4 tbsp Mustard oil

6 Green Chillies paste (as per preference)

2 tbsp Onion Paste

1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Banana leaves or plaintiff leaves (as per required)

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1) Soak the mustard seeds in water for about 15 minutes. Drain the water. Add some salt to the mustard seeds and grind to a fine paste.

2) Now, mix the mustard paste, half the mustard oil, the green chilli paste, the onion paste, the ginger paste, the garlic paste, turmeric powder, coconut paste, lemon juice and salt. Make a fine smooth paste.

3) Thoroughly, rub the mustard paste all over the fish fillets. Keep aside the marinated fish for about an hour or more.

4) Meanwhile, heat water in a huge bowl. For few seconds, soak the banana leaves in the hot water. This is to ensure that the leaf does not break while wrapping the fish fillets.

5) After about an hour or more, place the marinated fish fillet on a banana leaf and fold the leaf properly into an envelope or a packet. Tie the packet with a thread. Repeat the same procedure for the other fillets.

6) Take a kadhai and grease it with some mustard oil and place one or two large banana leaves over it so as to cover the base of the kadhai. Place all the fish packets side by side on the banana leaves. Drizzle some mustard oil over the fish packets. Cover the kadhai with a tight lid (to avoid the passage of steam) and cook for 10 minutes each on both sides.

Garnish with Green chillies and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Hyderabadi Fish Curry (Fish Korma) Recipe

Hyderabadi cuisine is greatly influenced by the Nizams of Hyderabad. The cuisine is famous for its eclectic combination of spices, which are carefully chosen and cooked to the right degree and time. 

For this dish, I used Rohu. If Rohu is not available, then you can use any firm fleshed fish. This dish is extremely flavorful and aromatic because of the wide array of spices used. An ideal dish for a party.

~The Recipe~

For the gravy:
500 grams Rohu, washed and cut into medium sized pieces

1 cup yogurt

1.5 tsp saffron, crushed and soaked in water

4 tbsp hot milk

1 cup hot water

white oil or ghee

Finely chopped coriander

Two boiled eggs

Grind to paste:

2 dry red chillies

2 onions finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

2 tsp pepper powder

2.5 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp Garam masala (Hot spice mix)

2 tbsp Cashew (chopped)

1 tbsp lemon juice

Procedure:
1) Rub the washed fish pieces with some salt, some turmeric powder and little lemon juice. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil or ghee on it. Gently fry the fish pieces until they are light golden brown in color. Remove the fish pieces from the oil and soak them dry on tissue papers.

      2) Heat some oil or ghee in the pan and fry the ground paste on medium heat till it is brown in color or till you get a pleasant aroma. Now, slowly add the yogurt while stirring the ground paste on low heat. Keep stirring till the oil comes out of the mixture. Add some hot water and bring to boil. After around 5 to 7 minutes, add some salt and sugar to taste. Then add the fish pieces. Stir gently. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes or till the fish is done.

3) Take a bowl and make a fine paste of the boiled egg yolk (optional). After 10 minutes, add the egg yolk paste, the saffron milk over the curry and stir gently. Sprinkle some fresh coriander over the curry and cover and cook on low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. 

Garnish with fresh coriander and egg white.

Serve hot with steamed rice or Indian roti.

Notes:
1) Instead of Cashews, you can use Almonds. Before grinding the cashews or the almonds, soak them in water for 30 minutes.

2) Soak the poppy seeds in water before grinding.

P.S:- Dear readers, this recipe is worth a try. Please leave you thoughtful comments. Thank You!

Estranged!

The loneliness persists and slowly eats away my determination to live peacefully. Sometimes, the pain can be avoided by doing the easiest things. But then, taking the easiest step needs courage, which presently, I am lacking. 

I have stopped talking to her. It hurts, it feels as if a part, a vital part is missing, but I welcome the pain. The pain is the reality and I am not afraid to face it. But confrontation I hate and I am dreading the outcome.

I don’t know what came in between us, why I am angry with her, why I have started hating her. I don’t want that. I never would. She is the dose I crave, I desire and I hunger for. Without her I am incomplete.

Then why, when I picked up my cell to call her, I could not? I dialed her number only to erase it and bask in my loneliness.

Sparks...!

Few weeks back, I had a huge fight with my Mama (Uncle). He openly insulted me and I did not think twice before hitting him back with my bitter words. Since then, we don’t talk.

In my post Give me a break!, I mentioned about my grandmother’s opinions about me. But I did not mention the reasons for her disappointments. She wants me to apologise to my uncle. In her words “Your uncle has done so much for you all! Is this how you pay him back?”

I clearly remember his words, they were like a knife cutting against my skin, the scars not only deep but permanent.

I don’t know whether I can ever forgive him. In time, even if I do, I won’t be able to trust him, my conscience will never allow.

How can she? When all she wanted him to do is support her, to see her through her eyes, he deliberately ignored her and made her feel small and crazy.

Durga Puja 2012 (Part 3)

The two things I love about Kolkata are her vibrancy and her diversity of culture. To me, there is no other festival, in which year after year, artists experiment and play with their imagination to come up with unique themes.

I don't exactly remember the day when I fell in love with pandal hopping, could be during the happy days between my adolescence and adulthood. This year, it was extra special because of my blog. I wanted my visitors to get a glimpse of the place where I grew up, where I learnt to dream.
These pictures are for you, my darling readers! Enjoy!

Telenga Bagan
Theme: Usage of 25 tons of Iron to capture the rich artistic heritage of Kolkata
The images of Goddess Durga, Saraswati, Lakhsmi and God Ganesh, kartik
were sculpted on metal plates

Maa Durga

Lord Ganesh and Devi Saraswati

Devi Saraswati And Lord Kartik

The following textures are taken from scripts from the puranas

The confluence of the feminine (calm)
and the masculine (ferocious)

Dumdum Prabhat Sangha
Theme: Beach 

Pillar made with coloured coke bottle caps

Dumdum Park
Theme: The amalgamation of all the colors

Devi Durga

Her Children

Ekdalia
Famous for: The huge light hanging which is brought 
every year from Rajasthan

Hindusthan Park
Theme: After the journey through the hell comes the
light, the illumination.

Maa Durga's Third Eye (Tri Nayan)

If looked carefully, the four colored Tri Nayans, depict
the various moods of Devi Durga

Maa with her Children

Jodhpur Park, 95 Pally
Theme: Devi Durga is in the books (knowledge)
The more knowledge we gain, the more stronger we 
become to fight the evil and eradicating
it from the society.

Maa Durga

Maa Durga with her children

P.S: For more pictures, visit the following links:
Kolkata at her best (part 3)
Kolkata at her Best (part 2)

Mother...&...Durga Puja!!

Every year, as the year starts, I ardently wish for autumn, the season that brings the Durga puja. There is a special connection between me and the Durga puja: it binds me and my mother together and makes us a team, which seldom happens throughout the year (she can be a bit (not really) highly dogmatic at times! Sigh!).

My mother, in all sense, is a culture freak. During my childhood days, she put me into a culture school, where I had to learn music, recitation, art and dance. Those classes were quite a burden for me because I had no clue why my mother (all of a sudden) was forcing me to take those classes.

But as time passed, as I got to know myself, I figured out that those classes were my mother’s legacies, her gift to me. She wanted me to have a part of herself, to learn the values she has gathered over the years.

After all these years, as I stand in my early years of adulthood, I know with certainty that no matter where I stay, no matter where I go, her gift will give me the strength to fight, to endure and, after all is over, to come back home, to her.

Durga Puja 2012 (Part 2)

The promised pictures. Enjoy!

Mudiali Shib Mandir
Theme: Adivashi (tribal culture)

Suruchi Sangha
The theme: create awareness about Goa's water pollution
and beach pollution due to fishing and tourism

Dead fish carcass (Not real but a work of art)

An Octopus hanging from the ceiling

Mohammad Ali Park
Theme: Replica of the Johannesburg stadium.

Mohammad Ali Park is famous of it's "Ek Chalai Thakur"
which means "All the Gods and Goddesses on the same frame"

Nalin Sarkar Street (I loved this pandal)

The entrance to the pandal
Did you notice the unique goemetry of the gates?

Charkha (Used for weaving Cotton clothes)

On entering this pandal, I noticed that there were
no idols of Ganesh, Saraswati , Lakshmi and kartik.
 Then my mother brought my attention towards
 The Stick that Devi Durga was holding in her right hand.
 The idols of Ganesh, Saraswati , Lakshmi and kartik were sculpted on the stick
The reason being that Devi Durga's strength is in her children. Her children are her source of power. And every year she comes accompanied by her children's to destroy the evil forces.

Devi Durga's feets

Kumartuli

Idol of Baba Loknath imparting an atmosphere of peace
and serenity

                                           
Stay tune for more pictures!
P.S:- This pictures are taken by me. For more pictures, visit: Kolkata at its Best (part-2)