The Delectable Palate-1

Foodie! 

A tag adorned by anyone and everyone who relishes a good meal.

No one can deny the ambrosia that a hearty good meal provides. 

Not even me!

Well, how do I put myself to the haters side?

I would put myself in a violent strife between the heart and the mind if I were to say so. 

Let me ask you a question!

How would it feel for you to go through the same mundane combination of rice-sambhar-thoran or roti-daal-subzi every day?

We would often put up with an answer saying that 'No, I was brought up like this. I wouldnt mind this everyday for the rest of my lifetime.'

And then you would start cursing who ever makes this same boring uninteresting menu every day. Be it your mom, wife, cook, the smile coated outers  would be accompanied with under-the-breath-muttering-curses. 

Come some special day, cometh some special dish. Put a mirror in front of you while eating/record you in action, thou shall see a horrendous glee while the pot is opened, followed by a miraculous escapade of saliva forming channels down the mouth. The digging in to the severely tasty dish would be accompanied with some smearing of the gravy around the face. 

With a tinge of boredom that crept up on a day when I was subjected to the usual rice-sambhar-no thoran-only pickle and pappadam menu for the night, it started!

The Delectable Palate embarked a new journey of and for taste!

Our Linguistic Slurs!!

India is a country of vast cultural and traditional differences. The transitions between every 5 kilometers has a change of dialect and renders the same language in a different voice modulation.

We, Indians, the descendants of the Indus valley civilization whose forerunners have been myriad combinations of Aryans, Afros and Whites, have in them one common element, English.

We have over 1500 languages and over 5000 dialects that reflects on our ethnic variance, we have tried in making the same amount of variance to the universal language.

How much do we degrade the language? It is a paradigm of how much jugaad people like you and me practice in our wonderful nation. 

Just as a Brit would buy a pack of chips and biscuits at the petrol pump after filling petrol, the Americans would grab a pack of crisps and cookies at the fuel pump after filling gasoline. Wait! Cookies have got eggs in it.

Fine, she is an eggitarian. She'll have it.

It seems it is in India that we coined this term that refers to the ovo-lacto vegetarians. How nice of us to flex the language according to our wish and will!

We have non-veg for dinner. Not specific at all. Means we could even eat the fluttering flies that accidentally goes on the plate and becomes the palate's appetizer.

The differences what we Indians have brought about in the language is immense.

What if we get to have a dinner date on Saturday with your eggitarian girl friend? With an important match on TV? You ask her to prepone our date to an earlier time so you can accommodate both.

The Americans or Brits never 'prepone' a meeting, but we do. They just schedule it prior to time.

While we play with our words, the language itself is a master of deceit. 

The word 'laid' says it all. The hen laid her eggs on a heap of straw stacked as her nest. The guy got laid off from work, went for a swig to forget the misery, met a girl and got laid. 

Funny language it is!!

Well, me and my Paagalpanti!!

Bangalore Days!

What's in a movie that makes it worth watching it more than once?

You will know the answer when you watch Bangalore Days for the first time.  

The second time in the theatre is a revelation that there are movies worth a second time. 

It is also a proof because the movie is still fresh despite you have sat through the entire 172 minutes once.

Bangalore Days is just another story which has nothing new to boast about. Well, if you stop here, you do not know that you have just lost the most beautiful 172 minutes that you would be spending in a theatre ever!  

The chemistry that Anjali Menon has made to work out is an act of sheer brilliance. The ensemble cast comprising of young stars Dulquer, Fahad and Nivin with the bubbly presence of Nazriya and an out-of-the-world performance by Parvathy has made extraordinary out of the ordinary. 

The movie has all its negatives put to rest by the classiness of on-screen combinations of the cousin trio and the rest of the reel held up by the powerful performances of Parvathy and Fahad. 

Dulquer is a treat to watch. Nazriya brings out a matured performance intertwined with her cheery girl image. Parvathy, despite wheelchair bound leaves the viewers spellbound. Fahad, as usual delivers his best despite less screen time. 

But the star of the show is Nivin who proved that versatility is his foothold. Comical timings with subtle and sublime facial expressions put up with ease has made Nivin the best of the lot, proving that the actor's diverse repertoire. The senior cast comprising of Vijayaraghavan and Kalpana has given their career best performances yet.  

Bangalore Days is the golden feather in the hat of not only the National Award winning writer-director Anjali Menon, but is a fresh breath of life for the Malayalam film industry, which is finding difficulty in accepting rustic youthfulness in movies.

Must watch! Theatres awaiting! Packed houses still!

Rating: 4/5

I Dreamt!

If dreaming was a crime

For a man in his prime

If loving is a sin,

The world would never win

Bantering around the crevices

We have created

Blinded with distraught devices

That we have accumulated

Have we lost the charm?

In a way that means only harm

To hover in the feeling called love

The question remains how

On seeing her eyes

I fell flat on the pyre

That burned me in the flames of love

To get her, it still remains how

On seeing the smile

Captivated me to that mile

Beads that fell astray

I fell prey

She made my life an ecstasy 

An ode to the love

I wanted her to be mine

Dreamt of her being mine

The question still remains

The question remains how!

Empty Chair Technique

In this technique, two chairs are placed facing each other: one represents the patient or one aspect of the patient’s personality, and the other represents another person or the opposing part of the personality.

Narrator

He loved her.

She loved him.

More than anything in this world. She felt that he was her man and he was irreplaceable and priceless. Slowly he started pacing out steps to end the relation. She was distraught with anguish. She was so inconsolable and here she is…..

Counselor- What has brought you here, my dear?

Gal (Stammering)- I… I…. I am heartbroken, crestfallen with grief. He, who I thought was the light of my life, left me.

C- I know it is hard to cope up. Did you try to speak with him?

Gal- No. I can’t face him. I’ll feel like burning into cinders.

C- I think you should talk to him. What did he tell as the reason for the break-up?

Narrator

She thought she was his bonnie may. Until she started getting hints of him being unfaithful. He was seeing another girl who worked in the same office as he was. His phone calling intensity had dropped down. Whenever she messages him, she gets delayed responses. He would take ages to reply messages on Whatsapp despite being shown online. Jealousy had sparked upon her.

It felt it would go smooth until that fateful Facebook status update came. The war was waged and they broke up. The more the lovers become involved in a romantic relationship, the more attached they are and the stronger feeling of sharing fate between them. At times, it becomes difficult for them to detach from each other.

C- How are you feeling right now? (Counselee fidgeting with fingers)

Gal- I am feeling bad. Frustrated at the moment (Looking down, eyes were moist)

C- What is the frustration like… for you?

Gal- Its just.. I can’t explain. It has been pricking my heart for a long. I can’t just come out of him.

C- Can you just tell me where the epicentre of the feeling is?

Gal: I just feel like a weight being carried on my chest, day in and out and it is burrowing in into my heart with agony.

C- Dear, Let me initiate a mechanism where I am going to make you introspect on your past life. I want you to focus on that empty chair and visualize seeing him here. I want you to talk to him. Tell him that you want to throw him out of your life.

Gal- With you out of my life, I feel lost. You just did not know how much I loved you. You took me for granted and took me out of your life. I must tell you that I am throwing you out of my life.

C- Now I want you to take his place and then have a conversation with the girl. The responses that you actually got from him.

Gal-(shifting to the opposite chair and composing her into a manly demeanour) 

I must say that you have been nagging me all along. You have been interfering too much in my life. Expecting me to call and message you all day without having my personal space. I need some air in my life. I cannot be with you, a person so intrusive into another person’s life.

C- This is an opportunity. (pause) You can vent all of your anger on him

Gal- (With a glitter in the eye)   With you out of my life, I feel lost. You just did not know how much I loved you. You took me for granted and took me out of your life. I must tell you that…..(pause) I AM THROWING YOU OUT OF MY LIFE.

C- How are you feeling?

Gal- I am feeling better.

C- Can you explain the feeling of ‘being better’?

Gal- I feel like I have heaved off some burden off my chest. I think I will be at peace now.  

Ajaya- Book Review

Everything is based on perspective. I might see the good in him, while you might see the bad in him. 

In fact, the whole world saw him in that angle. 

Ajaya- The Roll of the dice breathes fresh air into the great Indian epic, Mahabharata. The author, Anand Neelakantan has created a wisp of new aura around the first born Kaurava prince, Suyodhana who is renowed to the whole world by his evil name, Duryodhana.  

With every passing line and every page turned, Anand creates a halo of goodness around Suyodhana and portrays the ever-loved comely Pandavas as tracherous or evil. 

In the turn of events, the vicious cycle of life takes turn to pit against Kauravas and Pandavas which led to the hostility between the cousins. 

It was indeed the hatred of Shakuni towards Bhisma and the arch nemeses sisters-in-law Gandhari and Kunti made the plot of Mahabharata more sinistrous.

The fresh perspective is enticing and Anand had made a wonderful effort to make Ajaya a cheerful read. 

Kudos to Anand and his upcoming endeavours. 

The Evolution of Life (Mobile Phones, Ahem! & .....)

Our great grandparents would have never thought that at the push of a protuberance on the wall, a storage area would be filled with water. And the very thought of spinning a round (sometimes other shapes too) something, the water would come out of a hollow something-else would have been amusing. The flow being controlled at will and put to stop when wanted would have made them stand in bewilderment. 

Life is being made easy day by day. The small plastic-metal combination that are held in our hands was once upon a time giant massive blocks that could be used only for calls and texting. Dropping it from a height would create a hole on the ground, the height of the fall causing an isomorphic depth. The massiveness reduced with time and the packaging became more and more complex. Calls gave way to video calls, SMS became via the web. Integrating into them, were cameras, music players and video players making a person carrying 3 different gadgets for serving these purposes look like a Stone Age time traveller. 

As complexity gave its best to us, the directions to any place, understanding our voice, reading our biometrics etc became the need of the hour and found its place on the phone. 

We are being that dependent on technology where meeting friends is a time where we are 50% involved with them and remaining with our phone. Texts, Whatsapp, Facebook, and Twitter are indispensable. Like toilet paper (sorry for the sophistication, mug, bucket and water), iPad is the most essential tool to aid potty. 

We are slaves to technology. Loving and living the slavery shall be cursed and put on blamed one day.  

The future: A phone that would tap into the minds and be a companion. Who would want a wife or a girlfriend when there is a pal who has no mood swings irrespective of which part of the month it is?

But beware, it shall tap in so much that we shall be nothing more than zombies approaching an apocalypse.  

As I was thinking of this, another crept in to push this to the back of the mind. More room to proliferate.

The thought of how we came about the evolution of vehicles.

Remember we used to roll down the windows to come in contact with fresh air. Remember the struggle to turn the steering when the car was stay put. Remember how we prayed when we had to push a sudden brake. 

I am sure it is always there as a fresh memory in the minds of our parents who now drive in the lap of luxury. Not meaning that everyone drives a Merc or Beemer. Even a normal Maruti Swift now has all the necessary gadgetry as a part of its standard equipment. A push and the window goes down. 2 fingers is all what is needed to turn the steering. ABS, hopefully would take care of the braking. 

The yesteryear's driving had a wisp of fun involved- a feeling that you drive the car by yourself. Fidgeting with the bunch of keys to find the right one, to open the car, when rolling down the windows was quite an exercise, driving with all your might on the steering, gear, accelerator, clutch and brake and then reversing the same initial exercise to close and get out of the car. 

The life has changed when machines have taken over. Key in your pocket. The smart switch on the door knob senses it and you open the door and enter. Inside the car, is a myriad of buttons and screens making you confounded. Push of a button and the vehicle starts. Key still in the pocket. The rolling down of windows gave way to power windows which then came with an auto touch up/down feature. Drive the route, the GPS in the centre console will alert if any wrong route is taken. The AC adjusts to our wish of temperature. The seats are auto reclining, massaging and stores who likes what angle of recline in its memory. The car gives its share of entertainment, movies, music and radio and sets the theme with a mood lighting. Get down the car and your ride has its own way of saying goodbye with its follow me home headlamps.

Drat, you forgot to roll up the windows. The car can take care of her, it automatically rolls it up and hey presto, and the car is locked and safe.

The future is going to go somewhere beyond imagination. 

But aren't we being shackled to this dominion of technology? Getting lazy in the course of action. 

As I put you to thought, let me sign off.