This morning I woke up to a sweet surprise – Prima Donna came back late last night with this delightful Sondesh from Kolkata.
Bengali sweets are unparalleled in their delicacy and are always welcome no matter what. While Odisha and Bengal are fighting for proprietary rights over the Rossagulla ( both claiming to have invented it first ) Sondesh is undoubtedly of Bengali origin .
This sweet is not so sweet and it simply melts in your mouth. But the Sondesh I had this morning was really special: Nolen Gurer Sandesh made with date palm jaggery and typically available only in Winter.
So this was the perfect Sondesh to have. Especially the baked version that had a special ‘smoky’ kind of flavour to it. At first bite, it has a hint of sweetness but as it dissolves in your mouth, its magic hits the right spot.
14th January is one of those strange days when the Hindu calendar follows the Solar one to celebrate Makar Sankrant or the beginning of the northward journey of the Sun ( Uttarayan). In my part of India it is called Sankranti and celebrated by flying kites and distributing a sweet made of Jaggery and Sesame seeds. And for those feasting at home, one can indulge in the Tilachi Poli, a flatbread stuffed with jaggery and sesame seed mixture.
At this time of year, kite flying is very popular but thought the tiny shops are busy selling kites and the manja (string coated with fine powdered glass), I can’t see any kites in my sky.
Nor have I been invited to any Haldi-Kumku so perhaps this will be another ordinary day for me.
Our Municipal Elections are coming up this week. On the 15th we will vote. On the 16th the votes will be counted. And then the real battle for who will govern us will really begin.
Ever since I can remember, I have voted for every election be it local or national. And while things have improved since I was little, paradoxically they have gotten worse. Of course many things can’t be blamed on politicians such as unbridled population growth, unplanned urban sprawl, climate change but somethings definitely can .
Footpaths
For instance, footpaths. Gradually they are getting narrower with more hawkers occupying space and selling all kinds of stuff from clothes to pots and pans. Surely, these commodities are not essentials that need to be accessed just at one’s doorstep ?
And footpaths also become dormitories, garbage dumps or just plain unusable. They are made of paver blocks that wobble or are at random heights that require stair climbing skills. Footpaths that double up as special lanes for two-wheelers . Footpaths that are used to park cars.
Then cars are parked on the left lane so that the road is further trimmed down to just two ( if you’re lucky) or a single lane that needs policing to regulate two way traffic. So when the pavements are inaccessible, the lane closest to the pavement inaccessible, pedestrians have no option but to walk on the roads and risk being run over by cars, buses and two-wheelers.
Public transport
Obviously the BMC doesn’t care about pedestrians.
But obviously they don’t care about motorists either. With inadequate parking facilities in private buildings and public spaces, car owners have no option but to employ drivers or valets to take their cars round and round till the job gets done.
Why not take the public transport ? Well , that is not really an option for older people or those who don’t live close to the bus stop or train station. Besides, boarding the bus/train is well nigh impossible with crowds surging to get in and get out. All at the same time.
General infrastructure
Apart from the roads which are pot-holed, the pavements that are unusable, public transport meant for the brave, our Municipality ensures that every year there city comes to a halt because of flooded roads. Of course, it is easy to blame the climate, the tides, the encroachers and a whole host of causes but surely after so many years our innovative city engineers could have come up with some solution ?
Air quality
All along we could take comfort in the fact that our city’s air was breathable thanks to the RTO’s strict monitoring of vehicular exhaust.
But of late, the air is slowly becoming unbreathable. Now this is purely due to the indiscriminate construction of buildings and roads. I cannot think of a single road in Mumbai that is free of debris, a single road that is not dug up, a single neighbourhood without any construction work.
The candidates
Which brings me to the moot point – when most of our corporators are barely educated and largely on the make, how can I rest my faith in them ? Can they be relied uponto provide the basic facilities?
If not, why should I vote for them ?
Ciao
Of course I will vote because it is my right to do so. But with the choice being limited to incompetent, corrupt corporators, I can only take comfort in the fact that I have exercised my fundamental right.
December’s social activity spilled over into January. Fresh visitors from colder climes meant a get together. A wedding reception was next in line and an art show brought in the rear.
I have a tonne of friends and varied interests. However, my social activities are largely restricted to grocery shopping. They also include mundane chores.
However, three back-to-back events over the last three days literally had me falling flat on my face on my way back from the Art show last evening. It had nothing to do with the hectic activities. It was due to the poor street lighting and uneven road surfaces in Mumbai. Save a few roads which are safe to use, Mumbai’s streets are fraught with danger.
If you don’t fall into a pot hole or trip on uneven paver blocks, you are bound to be knocked over by speeding delivery boys driving on the wrong side of the road or buses and humongous trucks masquerading as automobiles pummeling into you as they try to get ahead in traffic that is jammed.
But I digress.
Starting mid-week, I had a delightful time catching up with college friends meet-up at a private dinner. Small and cozy, with good food and good company, time literally flew. We walked home happy and content.
This feeling of bliss carried over to Thursday where I met up with another group of school friends at a wedding reception. Held on the beautifully decorated lawns of a club, it was an honour to be part of a joyous celebration. Wedding receptions these days are few and far between as many of my friends’ children are reluctant to tie the knot. So this was another social evening that I cherished. Once again, old friends, good food, golden oldies playing in the background, cool breezes and pleasant conversation made this an enjoyable evening.
A Social Event with a difference
But last evening was the first time ever that we were invited to the opening of an art show. I was particularly keen on seeing how this played out having finished ‘Anita de Monte has the last laugh’ last month.
It was the first time the artist Dr. Dnyanesh Lad was exhibiting though he has already been painting for over a decade.
We started out from home at 4:45 pm because the GPS told us that it would take an hour. And the time taken to reach our destination would increase as the evening progressed. All was well till we hit the traffic at Mahim from where it became a slow crawl to Floor One.
The gallery was quite difficult to spot because there was no indication at all that it was in the corner building at the start of NS Road No 6. Additionally, it was marked as Juhu on the invite. But the driver insisted on calling it Santa Cruz and Hubby Dear insisted on calling it Khar. However, we managed to find the gallery.
The small trickle of people schlepping it from South Bombay to North soon became an avalanche. And within an hour, the champagne flutes gave way to plastic disposables. The trays of sandwiches soon vanished. The Gallerist had totally underestimated the response of the South Bombaywallahs who are known for their reluctance to go beyond a few kilometres from their comfort zone.
The eclectic crowd included individuals with replaced knees and childhood friends. After the initial “oohs” and “aahs,” it became a regular cocktail party. This did not detract from the stunning artworks on display. Dnyanesh Lad’s works, in particular, completely stole the show.
The hard work of twelve months definitely paid off. Colour was used brilliantly. Movement added a dynamic element. This altered the normal gloomy and dark urban scape of narrow gulleys and hungry people. The drab and desperate streets of Mumbai could very well represent the squalor that lurks pan-India.
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. In the artist’s eye, the mundane is transformed into a magical reality. This transformation is reflected in the wet roads of the gulley. This recurrent theme of people waiting on the sidelines is captured in charcoal and pen and ink works. Each medium brings out different aspects of gulley life. The works in acrylic jump out at you with their bright, vibrant colors. The charcoal with its nude man conveys despair. Meanwhile, the pen and inks strangely bring a sense of calm in the otherwise frenetic urban scape.
This first public show had a good response with a couple of paintings snapped up before the evening was over. Clearly, colour and form have found a new voice in the art of Dnyanesh Lad.
Even though I fell flat on my face as we went towards the car, I was lucky. My sari didn’t tear, and my watch didn’t crack. My teeth didn’t fall. My knees weren’t grazed, and my shoulders didn’t dislocate.
It was not exactly the way I’d have liked to round off a spell of delightful social evenings.
Twenty- five Seven 