you want to meet someone but don't find time and then the person has gone leaving behind a gaping hole in your heart filled with nothing but emptiness and remorse
you want to say something but let it be and then the moment has gone you never capture the chance again and leave you wondering how things would be if you had uttered the words you didn't
you want to go somewhere, do something discover things experience life differently but you don't find the time or make the time and lose that one opportunity
time slips by and so do you. moments come sometimes again for you to grab tentatively, graciously, joyfully
but often times a moment lost is gone for all eternity
so should you fill your heart with grief? with regret? with thoughts of what could have, should have been?
the moment's gone.
what should have, could have was not meant to be.
As a dark pre-monsoon cloud fills up my sky,
these thoughts come to my mind. Another day, another season, a hundred moments fleeting by.
As a dark pre-monsoon cloud lurks in my sky these thoughts come to mind. Another day, another season, a hundred moments fleeting by.
On a hot, summer day in Mumbai you can’t see forever. In fact you can hardly see at all because of the glare and because of the pollution hovering over the city. Yet, summer has to be the best season to be in Mumbai.
This morning I woke up early to do my yoga. I’ve signed up for a three-month class with Saurabh Bothra, the latest online guru. He started during COVID and has picked up so much steam that almost everyone I know is following him. This isn’t really surprising because all his followers are encouraged to invite a friend, especially for the free classes he holds every now and then. Of course, purists scoff at his yoga because the actual poses are only for the last twenty minutes or so. But whatever it is, he has become very popular.
I start out early in the morning, almost at daybreak, because that is the best time to do any form of exercise. Mumbai has become beastly hot, and by midday, the sun is blazing and sweat is pouring out of every pore, even indoors. Air conditioning is an obvious option, but I prefer fresh air. Perversely, though, the wind tends to drop, and I have to resort to the lethargic movements of the ceiling fan.
escaping the heat
It is no wonder the city empties out as soon as the last pen is put down after the last school exam. Two months of holiday seem blissful for the children and their parents. Traditionally, children are packed off to their grandparents during the summer, leaving the parents with some well-deserved ‘we’ time. Dropping the children off at various after-school classes is time-consuming and draining, particularly in this hot weather, so everyone is thrilled to have this time off.
ways to enjoy a mumbai summer
And even though I’ve graduated into grandmother hood and will be hosting my grandchildren for some of the summer, I plan on several ways to beat the heat.
Begin my day before daybreak and finish off my exercises.
take the kids to the club to cool off in the pool.
fill my freezer with homemade ice-cream
fill my fridge with simple homemade drinks
take the kids for a movie once in a while so that they can cool off in the theatre
take the kids to the newest walkway in town the Malabar Hill suspended walkway.
If possible, go on a boat ride in Mumbai harbour.
make a few jars of pickles to gift to friends and family
have salad lunches
take a long, lazy siesta with a good book or a real shut-eye.
spend a vacation at a beachside hotel
plan a whole day visit to one of my favourite malls: Phoenix, Jio
A pickle for every season, a pickle for every taste
Pickles are an essential part of an Indian meal. No matter how spicy the meal may be, a little extra zing in the form of pickle just adds a new dimension.
Every region has its own pickles and ways of pickling the same seasonal fruit or vegetable. For instance, the Punjabi pickle is vastly different from its cousins elsewhere. Even the pickles themselves can be different in in the same culinary style.
For instance, Gujerat has a spicy mango pickle and two variants of a tangy sweet and sour and spicy pickled mango too!
My tryst with pickling
Growing up, pickles were taboo on our dining table because my father insisted that only bad cooks needed pickles and other condiments to spice things up.
My mother, being my mother, never kept a pickle on the table unless she was entertaining. Because no matter how tasty the food may be, some guest insist on having a pickle.
So, year after year and season after season, my mother would make jars of pickled mango, green chilli, lemon, tomato, and winter vegetables.
And predictably, my father being my father would sample them all and even eat them from time to time giving his expert comments and unwanted criticism.
I began making pickles only after marriage, when I realised that Hubby Dear loved a good pickle.
Pickle season for me begins after the first monsoon showers. That’s when the new crop of Rajapuri mangoes is at its best. This year, pickling season began early because last year’s pickles were over, and Ms Papaya had already gone for 5 months without them.
Of course, she did find a substitute in the original Hotchaa hot sauce, which she claims is the next best thing, but honestly, I couldn’t let that be a substitute for my original mango pickle.
So the minute Dwarka my mango supplier at Bhaji Gulley informed me that the new lot of Rajapuri were available, I went off hot footing and bought 3 kg of cut raw mango.
April has been unusually hot these days, the temperatures soaring up to 30 C by noon. Unfortunately, the market doesn’t open up early as it used to in the past so I had no option but to brave the sun and pick up 3 kg of raw mango.
Dwarka is a cheery woman with a good sense of humour and has been supplying me with mango for the past 20 years. The Rajapuri has a thick skin and I always get the mango cut into pieces. This time round, Dwarka didn’t have her husband around to do the cutting, but surprisingly didn’t grumble when I asked her to chop the fruit. She normally slips in a seed in the packed mango to prevent the fruit from darkening.
How to Pickle raw mango my style
I normally don’t put up recipes on this post but since I’ve written many posts on pickling mangoes, I thought I’d write it down for those who wish to make it.
Twenty- five Seven 