Have a blast this diwali by not having a blast!

As again with other festivals diwali doesnt really figure in mallu's list of festivals......but what the hell, from the time I remember Diwali was one festival celebrated celebrated with greater pomp than our own vishu or onam!! Possibly as children it was our version of "keeping up with Jones"! N then once into late teens the magic of crackers kinda fizzled out causing tantrums n outbursts from my sis as there was nobody else to indulge her!!





Now now before I go n take a nostalgic trip down the memory lane here's a glimpse of our diwali together....actually post marriage this is kinda our first diwali together!! On previous occasions either we were at my place or my in-laws place so never got to indulge together in diya lighting - cracker bursting ritual!!! So heres a pictorial walk thru of our diwali:

The simple pooja thali

yeap yeap i made the payasam.....yeap again its tht ready made kheer mix :)

Yummy pooris n baaji for lunch

N u Mr.Div I made almost all of this(:-P) by myself

Also on menu was yummy bella payasam(jaggery payasam)

A collage of all Diyas I picked up

Folding hands diya, Om diya, Conch Diya, Sun Flower diya, Leaf Diya, Flower Diya

The Urli Diya

Diya at Sabi's Place

From the famous Sabi-Binoy duo who pop into my post
Simple yet elegant like her

Ho yeap!! thts our lit up apartment

N of course the crackers!!!

But whats diwali with no booze.....so me being the stickler to traditions ensured that we got drunk (I on ofcourse breezer :( ) and topped it up with a late night drive!!

As my hubbs Diwali SMS said "Have a blast this diwali by not having a blast" ...well that was indeed the essence of our diwali too :)

The Lost Symbol - Tick

Yeap the latest "Tick" in my "To-Do" reading list was against "The Lost Symbol"...Actually the tick mark was put a good 2 weeks back...But the lazy bum that I am decided to blog it now! Before I go onto the review on it....lets take a small detour on how I landed up with this book....

The book was a gift from a friend of mine...Actually friend should have been an exaggeration considering its the first time am meeting her up!! But isnt the ways of friendship funny.....u meet a few people for 'n' no. of times but never forge a friendship with them n then there are others whom u meet for the first time n click like u hv known each other since ages!! This friendship is one of those rare ones tht falls under latter category! N yeap as u must have guessed this book was a gift of hers....beautiful gift I say! Makes me realize tht books should fall right on top of Gifting options especially when u know tht the other party is a book lover! Here truth be tod, my hubbs is a bigger book enthusiast than me..n tht was some revelation considering pre-marriage I had these two horns on me thinking tht I must be the biggest book enthusiast around!

N now back to our book....... lemme tel u this! Read the book with no expectations...dont compare it with 'Da Vinci Code' and then you wouldnt be disappointed! I did the mistake of reading the book with big expectations only to realize tht while it doesnt really fall under the league of Da Vinci Code' n such its a good book worth reading! N as with other Dan Brown books a lot of research has gone into this - Noetic Science, Free masons n rituals and makes you wonder is there any hidden secrets right under my foot too :)

N now to the best part of the book......its cover page.......N for those of you(lemme make it all of u) for whom it doesnt make sense lemme explain...As u may know the surname tht we are known with is 'Menon'...but the Peter Pan of my hubbs likes to improvise on it and make it 'Pheno-Menon'.....N the sweet friends that they are, decided to indulge us!! Thank U guys - for the book n the great company!!

So are we really the 'pheno-menons'...lemme leave tht for u to guess!!

What's cooking doc??

No no no...the post isnt abt any doc trying his hands at cooking. Actually it has nothing to do with a doc at all!! The title is a cartoon from the Bugs Bunny series. Incase u r rolling ur eyes n thinking "Ofcourse I know wht the title is abt" lemme clarify I am one of these cartoon-ignorant mortals who still exist on earth and this title is courtesy my hubbs!! So the post is abt a cartoon review??? Ha sorry but u got it wrong!! Its but a simple post on wht was cooked in my kitchen today......now please stop rolling ur eyes again n thinking "All drama for nothing"!!

Whts so spl abt it u say?? U wouldnt believe it but I cooked 3 complete meals on saturday....dosa with chutney(nee leftover of friday's chutney), complete lunch n dinner!!! OMG!! Guess in my 25+ years of existence its the first time this unimaginable feat has been achieved!! Yeap yeap a round of applause for me please :)

So without any further deviations lemme get straight into the subject...wht was on lunch today... Chinese potato fry, tomato pachadi (google it in case u havent heard of it), pavvakya fry(dried karela bought from shop n all u gotta do is deep fry it) n ofcourse rice...A full fledged meal u agree!!(please stop rolling ur eyes...its more than full fledged in my standards)!!

So whts the big deal u ask...please go back to the first item in the menu....chinese potato fry!! No no no itsnt ur regular potato neither is it a exotic vegetable! Incase u r from some part of God's own country u'll know it as 'Koorka'!! Ho yeap yeap this is abt the simple - earthly(literally earthly cause its coated with mud when u buy it) koorka!! N for the non mallu readers am afraid I couldnt come up with any other colloquial term...but may be the below pic(courtesy google ofcourse)will help!!

The amazing(or not so amazing aspects) of these eartly - vegatebles are how they require you to go back to basics- ur vegtable processors, mocrowaves are no help here!! The basic cleaning of this in itself is a amusing(yeap yeap amusing is the word) - Bundle up the koorka into a cloth (or a sack...well sack is no option in ma home. so I restored to a almost tattered bedsheet) and hit it hard against a concrete surface....This helps in separating the mud out!! N if u think now ur vegetable is ready to be used u cant be more mistaken - U need to wash them under running water unteem number of times before the original colors of koorka show up(The pic comparisions of above n below talks for itslef)!!

Now u pressure cook, peel the skin(ala boiled potato) and at last its ready to be used into a stir fry ....Into basic tadka add red chutney(red chilly-onion chutney) n dump the boiled koorka...Cook it up n yummy koorka is ready to eat!!

So am I gonna try this again?? I doubt it cause getting my hubbs to do the cleaning part of it next time around is gonna be no joke!! This is the first time around we tried it n the peter pan tht he is, he was more than happy to oblige but the next time am not so sure!!!

Ha n with this comes the first ever cookery post of mine(one in 50+)...Ha did somebody rightly say tht blog is a true reflection of the blogger!!! So wht made me blog thisWell should be the 'amusing' cleaning!!!

Did I celebrate karwa chauth?

Ofcourse I didnt!!! In the part of India that am from Karwa Chauth is almost unknown...I would love to believe tht its cause my ancestors come from the proud Nair lineage who strongly believe in equality...Did u know tht Nairs are traditionally matrilineal! N before u think its a thing of past lemme clarify tht my official surname 'Mullath' comes from my mom's side of family (thou I sign as 'Meena Menon'...Menon after my hubb's surname n it does sound more stylish :-p) !!! Ho yeapam a proud matrilineal nair woman !!!

So why the hell am I blogging about karwa chauth? Caue am a feminist who is here to preach equality??? LOL!! Na re baba na re baba na...rather hats of to the women who religiously follow it !! N a double salute if u r happen to be a working women!! N why this generous salutes?? Here is the story...



I cut my hair short as its easier to manage. shhh...dont Tell anybody but the truth is few days as I rush to office I hardly brush it.....but nobody notices the diff thnx to the hardly shoulder length hair...n isnt it the 'In-Thingy' now??? Any day am happier in my jeans-tee attire cause its much more comfortable...replace the tee with a cotton-lycra material n am the happiest!! N on the rare occasion when i decide to wear a bindi.....its more possibly than not a tweeny dot tht u gotta strain ur eyes to see. So much so that now when am almost in my late 20's n after 2 good years of marriage I can hardly manage to drape a sari.......So what the big deal u ask......afterall arent u a woman of today?

Big deal is now-a-days I crave to dress up like a Indian woman.....In a crisp starched cotton sari with loads of bangles, chunky silver jewellery, a big bindi n hair adorned with chamelis!! So much more sexier than a off-shoulder dress...wouldnt u agree!! I dont remember the last time I had put mehendi in these hands!!


N other thing tht I seem to be recently craving of is celebrating our festivals without losing out the finer traditional nuances associated with it!! I hardly have the energy or the patience to prepare an elaborate meal so forget traditional nitti-gritties.



Wondering why this nostalgic walk all of a sudden?? Remember the title ...it supposedly was karwa chauth yesterday n the newspapers were full of pics of beautifully decked women making the effort to celebrate a beautiful sentiment (fasting for ur hubbs longevity is a beautiful thot dont u agree)!! Hats off ladies!!



Ending this post with this beautiful painting of Ravi Varma tht captures the beauty of a Nair women(dont miss the 'operational' word Nair :) )!! Pic courtesy Google

A petition for way of life!

This heading is a direct lift from a post of a blog tht I am a secret follower of! N the subject is something close to my heart.....

I hv a similar story with the twist being tht am at the receiving end.....ho yeah ladies n gentleman I work odd hours ~~ 12:30 pm to 9:30 pm which means leaving home at 11:30 in morn n reaching well after 10 in the night...sad dont u agree?? N this too is gonna look like luxury soon since my timings will change from 1:30 pm to 10:30 pm in the night which means I gonna reach home almost at midnight...sob sob sob! N does my misery end there.... no dear no! Thnx to my so called "lead" role...I would have to reach home n login for an hour at the minimum!!!

To be fair I know I shouldn't be complaining....I hv a job tht pays me well n thank my stars tht I need not work in night shifts or more odd hours! I console myself at times saying unlike a 9-6 time I dont hv rushed mornings........But I know at the bottom of my heart its just to console myself! N ofcourse the bigest lure of all..... the extra money tht u r paid for these odd hours (Should it have a happy or a sad ???)! But the things tht hits me the most...On most of the days u r too tired to think of even having s** (wondering why stars n why dont I spell out the word?? Just in interest of a few of my readers)

What wouldn't I give to get out of office when there is still light, reach home at sane hours n spend some quality time with my hubbs!!

So here I join Tharini in submitting a petition to God for thiss dream of mine to come true soon........N this requires nothing lesser than God to intervene considering am just months old in this role n organization! But again as with evrything els ein my life nithing has ever fallen into my lap directly whether be it my marraige, job...I crave for it n gotta submite multiple petitions to God before my prayers are answered! May be its his way to make me realize the worth of things in life :)