• What can a dog do?

    This morning there was more activity than usual. There were balloons
    at the entrance and  there were tables with
    tea caddies and paper cups set up near the garages. Suddenly a whole load of
    people came rushing up the slope.
    It was the Mumbai Marathon  that
    brought  everyone out on the streets running
    for their lives. And for miles and miles too! I feel sorry for those poor bi-peds.
    What happens when one leg goes lame? Or they pull a muscle? Do they still
    hobble till the end?
    But I am beginning to digress like Kimi’s mistress– who goes back
    to the beginning of time when you ask her a question. Actually it was Kimi’s
    mistress who caused all the trouble today. You see, today the entire building
    had come down to watch the people run past. They stood on the side of the road
    and made such a racket with whistles and hooters but when I tried to open my
    mouth and bark, I was told shut up! I couldn’t even wag my tail! 
    “Stop Sasha, you’ll spill my tea!” or “You’ll
    frighten all the children. Don’t bark!” And she kept on talking to Kimi’s
    mistress blah blah blah and even more blah completely forgetting  that I needed to go to the loo. 
    “Stop whimpering,” she said shortly to me when I tried
    to remind her that I had a job to do. “Stop acting like a baby,
    shweetie..” she said blowing a kiss and Kimi’s mistress   smiled
    mid blah and said ” Oooh my chhooooo cuuuute” and went back to
    blabbing.
    That really did it! What could I do?  I lifted my leg and eased myself. 
    “EEEEEEEEEE” screamed Kimi’s mistress as the warm jet
    trickled down her leg. “You wicked, wicked dog!” and ran up the slope as
    fast as she could.  
     “Cheee! Shasha! BAD BOY”
    said my mistress with four sharp whacks on my rump. I pretended to be sad but was
    secretly pleased and relieved. After all a dog’s got to do what a dog’s got to
    do!

    This post is definitely not the view of the author who admires all those Marathoners who keep on running! Running is hard work and truly meant for those of strong will and stronger legs and heart!

    This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • The Hand of God

    In the 1986 FIFA  Quarter final World Cup match between Argentina and England, Diego Maradona scored a goal by using his hand – a goal made more famous by him calling it “The Hand of God”.

    Over the past seven years that I’ve been associated with St.Jude India ChildCare Centres, Mumbai, I’ve seen how the Hand of God actually works. Our founder Mr. NK has a deep abiding faith in the Hand of God which has always come to the rescue of our organisation. The very first time I heard of it was when our newly formed non-profit organisation was applying for some government permissions. As is the case with the government, it was a long drawn out process and we kept waiting for things to move. Suddenly out of the blue Mr. NK gets a call from one of his acquaintances who found the brochure of our organisation accidentally fall out of  from the pile of books kept below the telephone table. Picking it up, the gentleman remembered that he was asked to look into the matter regarding our permissions and he immediately did so!

    Similarly, two years ago when our website had crashed, Mr. NK received a phone call from out of the blue – it was his former IT guy who wanted to know if our organisation needed any help. And didn’t we need it! After months of looking for someone to revamp our website it was finally the Hand of God that sent Leon to volunteer for us .

    Last year when we were facing yet another manpower crisis, Sinhaar volunteered to help us with our Communications and ably stepped in to fill the breach created by the unexpected departure of our Communications manager.

    Helping out with St. Judes has reaffirmed my faith in having Faith. Faith can move mountains and there truly is someone out there, keeping an eye on all of us and extending a hand when things need to be d

    Enhanced by Zemanta
  • Green Masala Chops

    Green masala chops ready to be served
    Green masala chops ready to be served

    A name like Green Masala Chops doesn’t sound very exciting but that’s   a better name for it than what it is named in my personal cookbook.  You will find this recipe under the name – Gangubai’s Masala Chops which would seem that Gangubai was made into Masala Chops. Now Gangubai was one of the best cooks we’ve had even though she didn’t work as a “cook”  and I still remember very fondly her food that she could rustle up in literally minutes.

    Growing up in the Naval colony meant that we literally had a taste of India as all the people who lived there came from different parts of the country. While the officers were transferred around the country, the servants who stayed in the colony were relatively more permanent, either staying on in the flat and working with its different occupants or moving around from house to house  either because the officer was transferred out or because of differences with the Memsaab. But as they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poison and as the servants moved house, so did their repertoire of recipes and  one of the advantages of  having such a cook was that she could literally cook anything from souffles to dhoklas!

    So Gangubai would often dazzle us with something she had learnt from the various households she had worked with and soon enough it became part of our own kitchenlore.

    To make good masala chops make sure that you have  1/2 kilo double chops trimmed of fat and gristle.

    Marinate these in two tablespoons of curd+ 1/2 tspn turmeric+ 1/2 tspn garlic ginger paste + ground paste of 2 green chillies and green coriander. Also add 1 grated onion to the marinade. Leave in marinade for 30 minutes to an hour.

    Marinatin meat chops
    Marinating meat chops
    Frying onions
    Frying onions
     To cook the chops, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pressure pan. When the oil is hot add 1 large grated onion and saute till brown.
    Enhanced by Zemanta
    Then add the marinated chops and stir till the chops dry up. Add enough water to cover the chops, put the lid and the pressure and allow to cook for 6 whistles.
    When the pressure falls off by itself, uncover the pressure pan and dry out the chops till there is just enough gravy to cover the meat.
    Serve with garnish of chopped coriander and slice of lemon. Goes well with sliced bread or pao but best eaten with hot dripping with ghee parathas
Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started