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 :)

Chitthi Aayi He.....

On a recent visit to my in-laws place, my FIL had bought down a file in which he had religiously stored the letters sent by his mother decades ago. My hubbs grandmother(from his father's side) had expired long before we got married...so thou I have heard people singing praises of her generosity, intelligence I could never relate to her. But this time as I read those letters I discovered a selfless, brave, practical woman....... a firm mother who advices her son to mend his ways so that he is no trouble to his wife (Her DIL), a warm n affectionate MIL who doesn’t differentiate between her Daughter n Daughter-in-Law, who believes that the maids should be given a weekly off (like any other profession)! N the thing tht impressed me the most??? The pride with which she signed each of her letter as "Mrs.P.N.Menon"..... A simple act but doesnt it show how proud she was of her husband...This is saying something considering her husbad was dead decades ago!!


But \ this post isn’t abt her...its abt the beauty of letters! The emotions that a letter brings about can it be bought out in am email?? Coming to that when was the last time we wrote down a lengthy email to your family\friend ...isnt it much easier to pick up your mobile or hop onto skype n talk for ages!! Yeap it makes the communication easier...we need not wait for ages to pass a news around! Can a email replace the good old inland letter? Well for all practical purposes it has but wht abt emotional purposes..... How many of us would preserve these emails?? Once read n replied staright they go into trash box..... n with it goes the memmories!! My mom still has the first letter tht dad had written to her.....A wonderful n invaluable relic isnt it!! Do I have the first email hubbs has written to me????


Today when my dad is no more all the memories tht I hv is all in my mind n may be a few pics! Isn’t it sad tht my child will never have a chance of knowing him better! Sad considering what a beautiful writer my dad was!


The best find in the lot of letters my FIL preserved...A letter written to my FIL on the eve of his marriage by his mother.......!!Imagine 40 years down the line when am well into my 60's...what bliss it would be to sit down n read a letter tht my dad had written to me on my graduation or wedding eve........ooph tht would be some trip down the memory line! Sad isn’t it tht we are depriving ourselves of these small pleasures in life!!



Here is bidding a sad good bye to our very beloved Inland Letter

N as with all things our own bollywood songs - Chitti Aayi He, sandesha aate hai capture the spirit of chitti beautifully.....

PS: The smart husband of mine reads the blog n here is his comment "Gmail is gonna replace your inalnd letter soon"......hmph Mr.Hubbs I dont think so......lets imagine the remotest of possibilities tht u dont delete mails(like tht is possible) would u share ur password with gen-next for them to read n relish the mails(Fat chance tht considering he doesnt share it even with me)!!

Happy Duserra All!

Here is wishing you all a v happy Dussera!

This pic is of a small statue tht I picked up 2 years back on a trip to Kolakatta....isnt she a beauty :)

Onam Visheshangal.....Onam 2009!

As promised in previous posts here I come to flood this space....Lemme start off with the easiest of the ones to capture...... Onam at our new home!

Onam was just one day after we landed at new home....so any before hand preperation was completely ruled out! The day before was spent in makinbg the house hospitable\livable......thou it seems mundane, today as I look back it has left me with a few sweet memmories of the time spent my mom...who else can u shout at just cause u r felling cranky n expect the person to take it in stride....who else but your own pyaari maa!!

The onam day started with poor m having to wake up at 4!! Ho yeah I was awake n kicking at tht time of the day.........Wht all things do parents make their litlle girls do....sob sob! But having a hot cup of tea sitting put on your bed this early in the morning is just pure bliss....hmmmmmmmmmmmm !Thnx to mom ofcourse....its again after 2 years tht am being pampered with a bed tea(save for the occasional short trips to hyd)! The other enticing propspect to waking up tht early was the early morning drive....the joy of having pleasent cold air blowing on your face as you zip along traffic free roads is just uncomaprable! N after reading the above few linesif u think am gonna get converted to an early bird...sorry no luck there! Am much happier sleeping away cosying up to my hubbs :-D

After this long sojourn a quick recap of the day...woke up early morn to a cup of hote tea(yeah tht is all we hv read uptill now in this long sriteup) n yeap yeap I had mentioned of a long romantic drive.....so now lemme break the bubble n confess that the drive was no romantic long drive....we were headed to the vegetable market.....ho ho ho!!! But again there is something soothing about the site of a buzzing market of fresh vegetables, fruits n flowers after being subjected day in n out to the neon-lit shopping malls!!

So after this vegetable-fruits-flowers-shopping we head back home after picking up my little niece n her mom!! Ho yeah nothing like a small girl to make ur celebration complete.....N drive u mad too especially in the chaos tht the house was :)

After this so-very-ordinary things of everyday we now get into the 'onam-mode',...of putting up a pookalam (Coutesy my cousin....much better than the amateurish work of last time hey).... n getting a yummy sadhya ready....My conributiond to Sadhya?? Made a yummy kheer couurtesy 'Ready-to-Cook' MTR kheer mix....hmm n for all of u laughing at this come on now its the spirit tht matters......

So this in a gist is wht Onam this year was abt......simple but warm n loving symobilc of the life we gonna start at our new home(hopefully)!!

The pookalam!

The yummy Sadhya

N the best part of Onam!!

Onam 2008...A quick Recap!!

Ho yeap u read the subject line rt.....This post is a recap of the last Onam...a good one year gone by now! But the magic of the first onam we spent together is so special (n so silly) tht it gotta be captured for posterity sakes :)

Before we dive into the subject a brief decko of us an year back(not that we are any better now)......We were this still-newly-married :-p couple both with no sense of responsibility or a Trace of domesticity.....cooking(at least the kerala.....not tht am good at any kinda cooking), traditions, poojas were all geek n Latin to us...But wht the hell we wernt gonna accet defeat for such a small hurdle!

Onam started the day before with us going flower-vegetable shopping. A word(or rather line) of praise for my hubbs here....In those days I was working in electronic city while my hubbs office was on banergatta road n poor fella drove all the way to my office to pick me upn then we drove back all the way to banergatta road n beyond for the shopping......those of u who know the distance n the chaos during peak hours will know wht am speaking of!! Now before u go "So sweet" I guess it was the prospect of my tantrums tht made him do it...Ho yeap it seems like am being this one big bully of a wife....huh huh!

So back to the subject we reach back home loaded with kilos of vegetables(ho ho didnt i tell u we were clueless). N then of course the hubbs of mine had to drive me around to different shops before I picked up a dress well after 10 in the night(after coaxing the shop keeper to keep it open for just a few more mins)......

Back at home it was time for pookalam......huh huh confession time again! Its the first time both of us were getting a hands on in putting up pookalam!! But of course the enthusiast in us start it up with lots of gesto n energy n after a lot of error n trial we came up with this! Pretty amateurish hey!!

N now comes the D-day...but D-day or not we wake up at our own Sweet time..... N before we realize its temple time which meant dressing up in 'Kasuvu-Sari'....n those of u who know me must be wondering 'Kausuvu Sari N u'...ho yeah the same thot ran thru mine!! But thank heavens I did a cover-up job which stood the test of time(referring to a period of 1 hour to visit the temple n get back :))

Ha tht accomplished it was time for some kerala cooking......ha ha h!! N tht meant frantic calls to mummies back home n of course recipes courtesy good old google! The end result...we came up with a full fledged menu starting from sambar, olan, erisheri, cabbage thoran, poolinji, payam, ooperi.....but was it palatable........lemme leave tht to u to guess!! N dont miss the beer mugs in the pic.....now tht made sadhya complete :)

So tht was was our first onam together.....clueless, amateur but complete...in a sense tht is exactly wht we are :)

PS: The bakras for the day were good old sabs-bins! But I gotta confess again...after this flurry of activity we were so drained tht we had no energy to play good hosts :)

The 'Great August Rush'

Ha n there goes the month of August.....N what a month it has been!! Starting off with the hubbs birthday, chasing against time to get our new flat ready , the hoard of relatives n guests, the much -looked forward to house warming, the anniversary and what better way to end it but with moving in into the new abode.....ho yeap thts some month!

N not to be left behind comes the month of September...Our first Onam together at the new home - pookalam, sadhya, Birthday of my sis(sad thing being she couldn't make it here thnx ????) and the short but beautiful trip to Nandi hills (N for those of u from B'lore wondering wht could be so gr8 about a trip to Nandi hills of all the places plz watch this space)!!

N the best of all is tht after 2 good long years of marriage I got to spend some quality time with my mom...well doesnt distance make your heart go fonder...

N but of course each of these deserve a blog in themselves...at least for posterity sake...so hopefully u gonna c a flutter of activity in this space....... The other thing tht strikes me as I writ this post is the fact tht when u hv so many things cramped into such a short frame of time the result is chaos...you cannot afford to sit back n relish each momment...its but a mad rush from one event to other!!

PS1: N for those who spoilt these beautiful moments in my life...just remember wht goes around comes around too (Did I get the line rt :) )

PS2: I know the post would have been complete if it had been sprinkled with a pic or two but the lazy buggers tht we are, we havent yet got around to do it!