Jalebiiii

Yes I made these. And they tasted as good as they look, at least as per me who was having them after more than a year. Though I have a sweet tooth for all “mithai” but Jalebi is my all time favorite. My sweet memories of Jalebi’s date back to my mom’s home where we all used to go in the summer vacations. My granny would get up early and walk down to the market to get these freshly made in front of her eyes. The shopkeeper would pack these in a wooden basket and by the time we kids got up its smell was all around the kitchen. All of us would sit around her, each with a bowl full of hot saffron milk and then she would dip Jalebi’s in our bowls. She is gone now and that special treatment too but that taste is still missed by all of us.

For a long time my favorite advertisement on TV used to be - the Jalebi ad of “Dhara Oil” – any bells ringing!! I used to love the expression on that kids face when he would say Jalebiiiiiii….. if you still don’t remember watch it again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8Z0WbSWV0&feature=related Courtesy - you tube.

Back at my home, I share this sweet tooth characteristic with my Dad so always had a good company to have the yummy Jalebi’s. Rest all in the family would just taste them and not relish as we both did. My frequency of eating Jalebi’s increased when I went to hostel. Not that these were tastier or better made there but I missed them more in the hostel. So each time I was back, Dad would bring these without me even asking for it. At times I would accompany him to the shop as I enjoy watching the way they are made. Its the first sweet made in the shops and crazy people like me do get up early even on weekends to savor them hot & crispy. In my hometown it is considered as a rich breakfast, served to guests and in family get togethers, especially in the chilling winters. So each time an out of town guest or a distant relative came it would be a treat for me too... :)

My Jalebi attraction continued when I started working in Pune. There was a shop near my flat, where nice Jalebi’s were made. My friends would take the nearby natural’s ice-cream and I would grab the Jalebi’s always.

When I first came to US, a friend asked my favorite sweet – pop came the answer “Jalebi” but this joy was gone the moment I tasted it. They were the worst I had ever had! and I never dared to try them again fearing I might forget the original mouth watering taste. But missed them each time I saw these in the shops. All my Jalebi memories were refreshed a few days back after watching Delhi-6. Now I wanted to have these more but still won’t be able to eat the crap stuff available in the Indian Sweet Stores here. So finally, I decided to try it myself. Got up lazily on a saturday to make breakfast(bread+omlette) but then the Jalebi idea came again, with all the zeal to make an effort this time and here I began. The biggest issue was I don’t have a Jalebi maker to get that spiral shape. First option came to my mind was to use a cloth with a hole, I have seen shopkeepers doing that in India - but this didn’t work well for me. Next option – Make a cone of plastic sheet, difficult but I remembered the output and gave it a try :). And it worked fine or should say I made it work fine. The result is what you see in the snap above. So this weekend I did have a rich breakfast mmmmm…….

"Lost"

It’s been almost four yrs that I am working in this so called “Corporate World” but have never felt so helpless. I remember someone had told me in my initial few months that in professional life there are no friends; I was never convinced by this statement. Later on I concluded that I was correct because it was here that I got the best of friends, had loads of fun and above all learnt a lot. All those people are no longer around me, they are scattered all over but just not near me. So now I am in an alien world, where I just know the correct names of the people around me and I guess that’s all!!

From past few days I am getting more and more lost and misplaced in this crowd. Can’t judge who’s genuine and who’s fake. Don’t know what to speak and what not to in front of each of them. Seems like everyone around is wearing a beautiful mask so then how am I supposed to judge whose the smiling devil here!!. I believe they all might have been straight some day and some or the other experience made them this way, but I am still in no mood to compromise. So having a literally rocking time these days :)

For more than two decades I was taught – to be polite and a good listener to your elders; actions speak louder than words so do your work; always put in your 100% and never step on anyone else to move ahead. And now on the contrary I am being taught - the baby who cries the most gets the most, so yell; project your work even if it’s meaningless; never trust anyone and stab one another whenever you get a chance.

I guess I learnt the former lesson too hard so overwriting is difficult and as a result I am confused, irritated and definitely lost! And all this is visible in my behavior because I still haven’t learnt the art of pretending :(.

Perception.....

Right from the moment I had seen a glimpse of this movie, I wanted to see it. Finally yesterday we planned for today as it won’t be in the theatres from this Friday. I read no reviews even after two weeks of its release and avoided the expert opinion of almost everyone around me, they had hated the movie and tagged it as "Crap". Seriously some of them are so much into there negativity shell that now I am deaf when they open their mouth. In their words "all movies can be either of these types - irritating, frustrating, ok or time pass. Somehow I can never be satisfied with this categorization and perhaps don’t even want to :)

So I start my day to finish off the work by 4:30pm to head for the 5:15 show. Outlook opens and here comes a meeting invite to lead a requirement elicitation session scheduled from 4-5pm today!! Still hopeful I plan the runaway to the theatre straight from the meeting room. Packed my stuff... gave to a friend in advance...asked them to start from their desks when I give them a missed call and pick me up from right outside the office building ( in order to save 10 mins of the parking lot walk). With everything set I enter the conference room to find no one there!! Oops everyone is late, why today??? We finally start and continue till 5:15pm :(. Last 20 mins for me were like oh god please stop stop stop !!! But we went on and on........ So change of plan again, we will go for a later show today itself.

Finally in the theatre but directed to a wrong room..... sat and a few mins later realized that we are not watching any trailer, its altogether a different movie :) . I peeped into each screen to find the correct one at last. With zero expectations and just the three of us in the theatre we started watching the movie.

Disclaimer: Before I explain my perspective I would state this is totally as per my perception and not any expert verdict, so everyone is free to disagree.
By intermission my colleagues were all fed up and they started complaining , of these the best one was "Is this a movie or a daily sequence of events, what is this story all about??” Being asked again and again I opened my mouth - "I am not judging the whole movie but just enjoying the bits & pieces of these everyday activities". Yes a realistic movie which I could relate to in a lot of things - the red chili pickle which mom makes (in US you don’t even get to see these fresh red chilies), the neighbors getting overjoyed when a kid returns hometown, the namaz when everyone bows in gratitude to Allah, the saffron milk served in Jagran. In my granny's place, there are a few temples and a mosque near our house. We all used to sleep on terrace, hearing prayer jingles all night, counting stars and enjoying pillow fights till a final scream from Dad. Early morning the mosque prayer used to wake us. I miss the ash smell of wood coming from the mud stove and my granny sitting besides it. We all kids, along with my Dad used to sit in a semicircle around her and have breakfast. She always had a content smile while serving us. The background music used to be peacocks, pigeons and koel hummings.

Oops I am getting off track so right back to the movie – I liked the prayer that was sung, the good old Indian bargaining style (my mom does it this way with the shopkeeper– neither yours nor mine, lets settle in between :) ), the hot & crisp jalebis, the beautiful Taj (I’ll go here again on my next trip to India), the crazy kite flying sessions when the whole neighborhood gets together on terrace, the yummy pani puris and the cycle rickshaw ride - till date I enjoy this a lot in the walled city market of my hometown. Moreover the liveliness, crowds, congested streets and some or the other activity going on in each and every corner made me nostalgic.

Each time the Ram Leela session came on screen I could sense the crap feeling of my colleagues around but here also I liked the special effects and the way director had linked the screenplay dialogues to real life. Last but not the least was the 'black monkey saga'. This was actually a moral science lesson which we all had crammed theoretically but don’t realize when we are doing the same - Save oneself first, demean the weak, the person not available/invisible is always the culprit, follow the rat race blindly etc etc…

When the hero dies, I was cursing you Shanks and literally intended to come over at your place & hit you because this was what you had told me. Somehow I need a happy ending in the movie :) and yes the heroine looked good.

Here and there were some good dialogues too and my favorite is:

Zarre Zarre Mein Usi Ka Noor Hai
Jhak Khud Mein Woh Na Tujhse Door Hai
Ishq Hai Usse To Sab Se Ishq Kar
Is Ibadat Ka Yehi Dastoor Hai
Is Mein Us Mein Aur Us Mein Hai Wohi
Yaar Mera Har Taraf Bharpur Hai…..

And the best song was Rehna tu. I heard this song many times before and visualized it to be a romantic song but it was a patriotic sentimental number pictured in a beautiful way –a hustling bustling city, sleeping quietly in the night to take a break,rest and gather energy to stand back again the next day.

By now everyone might have thought that I can go on and on like this with more praises so I’ll pen down for now and categorize it as a "Feel Good Movie” in my list :) and hats off to the director for beautifully presenting these bits & pieces . Just to add – Thank you Dad for giving me this perception to find the best in everything, appreciate the good stuff and ignore the crap !!