Twenty- five Seven

Unpacking January #GratitudeCircle

January 30, 2019

January dawned fresh as a gift this year – a present waiting to be unwrapped.

I love receiving presents. Especially when they come nicely packed in silver boxes with a big bow!

What is behind the big bow?

Luckily, January didn’t disappoint. It had some pleasant surprises in store for me.

Food and friends in January

For me, friendship is synonymous with meeting and eating. There’s nothing quite as rewarding as meeting friends and chit chatting over a good meal. This month I managed to do this four times.

The first was dinner at home for 20 of us. This was in honour of a school friend who was visiting from Overseas. Since she is here for a bit, I was happy to have her and some of our friends over.

The second was a lunch for 12 for the family. I was a bit apprehensive about both as not only was I entertaining after a year, but I was also using my new, untrained, raw Staff. Luckily both went off well and if the flowing conversations were any indicator, they were a great success.

The third was the celebration of a friend’s wedding anniversary where I had the chance to feast on some amazing Mughlai cuisine.

The fourth dining experience was the Bohri Thaal . This unique experience was hosted by my friend F who is visiting from Zurich. And didn’t we get to enjoy the best of the best! Laal Raan or roast leg of mutton in a creamy tomato based gravy, chicken drumsticks fried to perfection, and the ever so fragrant chicken biryani. In true Bohri style, the savoury was followed by a sweet and we got to eat a scrumptious pineapple halwa and hand churned Sitaphal ice cream. Words don’t do justice to this meal and one can only appreciate it after eating it.

What made January really special was the fresh green mustard leaves, strawberries, and red Delhi carrots.

Books in January

The year began with the gift of two books. Both were heavy times of pure NON-Fiction. Sunder Advani’s story ‘Even Against all Odds’ as a hotelier was fascinating. I never imagined he led such a life. Heavy was Sunita Nair’s coffee table book on ‘Indigenous Artists’ was quite heavy too. But it is well researched and beautifully illustrated so definitely worth the weight.

In retrospect, January turned out to be non-fiction month, as the third book turned out to be the story of Vilayat Khan, the legendary sitar player. This book written by Namita Devidayal is a very easy and pleasant read which will appeal to non music lovers too!

Movies in January

Despite working around the hectic schedules of everyone at home, I managed to fit in two movies. ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ is worth seeing because it truly reveals the behind the scenes intrigues in Indian politics. I saw this with my movie friend Jo.

The other movie I wanted to watch this month was URI. And wonder of wonders, Hubby Dear accompanied me to see it! This was another enjoyable movie, well made with just the right amount of thrill factor and brilliant acting from all the cast.

Events in January

So it would seem that January had many opportunities for me beyond the household kitchen sink. Daughter No 1 persuaded me to attend a discussion Sense & Sensibility: Culture & the Conduct of Life. This event held on the lawns of the CSMVS by the Asia Society was a once in a lifetime experience. I was indeed lucky to hear the world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo MA speak and perform ( albeit briefly) with the well known Carnatic Vocalist TM Krishna. Add to this, the ideas of Nandita Das and Homi Bhabha and you definitely have the recipe for a magical. chilly winter evening.

Health in January

On the health front, all wasn’t too well. Both Wow Dinga and his brother became skin and bone in week 3 with a terrible stomach flu. It was pitiful to see my two little devils lie listlessly on the bed and I couldn’t have been happier when the pillows and cushions were strewn all over the floor once more.

As for me, the last two days of January saw me sneezing with a 24-hour flu.

Another hiccup in my life this month was the MAJOR issue with my iPhone, Vodafone and Airtel. For two weeks I was running between Apple and Vodafone till finally, I switched to Airtel. That too was not as smooth as it normally is but luckily that’s all behind me now.

So all in all, January has been a bountiful month.

Thank you, January.

What was your January like?

Ciao

Sharing this post with Vidya Sury’s #GratitudeCircle

p.s. Images for the movies and books have been taken from the net.
The Blissful Buddha #WordlessWednesday

January 30, 2019

Was it only last week that I attended the Asia Society’s panel discussion on how the Arts shape culture and civic life?

It was a once in a lifetime experience with Yo-Yo Ma and TM Krishna doing a jugalbandi at the end. And with the gorgeous and articulate Nandita Das adding her thoughts along with Homi K. Bhabha who anchored the discussion, it was indeed a great evening.

It was no wonder then that this Buddha head lying in the front lawns of the CSMVS ( where the event was held) was smiling in bliss.

This one’s especially for you Natasha as you co-host #WordlessWednesday with Esha.

Ciao
The Banana Graph, Differential pricing and the Indian Budget 2019

January 29, 2019
The Great Indian Budget

On 1st February, Mr. Jaitly is going to present the Union Budget. Many are predicting that this will be his last.

That, of course, needs to be seen but currently, Hubby Dear and his cronies have already started discussing what changes the new budget will bring. Will it bring grief or will it bring relief to the masses? Will it increase taxes for the rich? Will it continue to punish the good-tax-paying, salaried citizens of India who have no choice but to pay up?

All these questions come to mind as I tot up my expenses for the month of January.

As usual, at the end of 2018, we had drawn up our own plan for revenue and expenditure. Unlike the Govt of India, our simple household has no means of increasing revenue as we are a single income family. So what we can do is control our expenditure.

But sadly, controlling expenses is easier said than done. Year by year, I find that prices of simple commodities have steadily risen till the simple fruit like the Banana is now quite out of reach of the common man. And not only is it out of reach financially, but it is also out of reach physically since the Green Indian Banana has become almost extinct. In its place, we have the Yellow Cuban variety known as Golden Banana sold on every street cart.

So today, I would like to write an Open Letter to our Finance Minister to help him draw up his Budget for the Year 2019-2020.

The Banana Graph

Dear Mr. Jaitly
As a Citizen of India, I would like to give you an idea of how difficult it is for us ordinary folk to eat a banana a day. Once upon a time, the banana was considered the Common Man’s Fruit.

When I first set up house thirty years ago, I remember buying Bananas for Rs.1.50 per dozen.
I continued buying them despite the gradual price increase and my Uncle-in-law’s strong disapproval of this proletarian fruit that he’d scoff at, curling up his patrician nose and raising his eyebrows in disdain whenever he spotted the fruit.

Despite his diktat, I loved those tangy sweet and sour green Bananas. And so did my kids. Happily, we’d eat a banana each every single day and easily go through two dozen a week! But as our waistlines kept increasing, keeping pace with the price of bananas and the Green Indian banana gradually disappearing, this fruit was slowly eased out of my shopping list.

[bctt tweet=”However, with bananas now at around Rs 60 a dozen (and even more at times like Ramzan when the prices of fruit shoot up), I wonder which prole can really afford it. Is the banana still the common man’s fruit?” username=”viaunishta”]

Bananas are not the only commodity reeling under inflation. I remember my dad filling up the car with petrol at Rs. 3.50 a litre. Today with petrol prices the way they are, I will seriously have to start walking everywhere( roads permitting!)

Discussing rising prices and increasing taxes with my Dad, he came up with this argument.

Look, he told me, when the price hike in petrol was announced I could see 2 distinct messages for Citizen Indian :

The hike in the price is unavoidable because the Govt has to collect revenues to assist their ‘pro-poor schemes’

We, citizens who can afford to spend, have no cause to grumble as 4% of the country’s population – the taxpayer – should have some thought for the aam admi.

Now while I agree with the above argument, what about those who do not pay any taxes ( not the 40% are below poverty line) yet many of whom can buy their vehicles for over 10 lacs and change them every 2 years or so. Shouldn’t they also have to agree to the above?

The argument for differential pricing

Then having consented to assist the Govt’s pro-poor schemes,won’t it be a good idea to have differential prices for petrol? Any owner of any vehicle costing more than 10 lacs petrol should be willing to pay Rs 200 / litre? (as one caller on a TV programme admitted the other day “provided the money collected goes to the aam admi.)

Isn’t it also a good idea to charge higher rates for petrol to owners of luxury cars like Audis, Mercs, Ferraris? As well as large petrol guzzlers and traffic blockers like SUV’s?

In conclusion you can thus kill ‘3’ birds with one stone- corruption, the problem of black money , and in the bargain help the aam admi.

This will not only raise revenues, weed out corruption and black money but actually save the 4th bird’s (he who has to commute in his own vehicle for lack of efficient public transport) burden.
Hey! Why didn’t our policymakers think of that?

The answer, I told my Dad, is quite simple, the policymakers themselves have SUVs, BMWs and other luxury cars not to mention a huge stash of cash – both black & white. ( Despite de-monetization). Besides, as I proved with the help of my Banana Graph, we soon get used to the new threshold of pain and still eat bananas at Rs. 60 a dozen.

But, dear Mr. Jaitly, please do think of the Common Man and the soon to be extinct Green Indian Banana that is indigenous to our native land. While taxes have to rise, please tread carefully. Else, if we don’t watch it, we could very well end up a Banana Republic