Gluttony is NOT a sin- sometimes it can lead you straight to the doors of Heaven

Before I write another word, let me tell you this. If you are a foodie like me who loves his/her appetizers, soups, main course, desserts and anything that can be eaten; then this blog post is dedicated to you. I've been on a one dame mission here trying to convince people that gluttony is anything but a sin. For starters, how can it be wrong to love? Or indulge? And in this case we're talking something that won't bite you back, hurt you, make rude comments or laugh at you- F O O D. Exactly what were people thinking of when some priest who probably had a case of diarrhea on the one particular day, declared that gluttony was to be one of seven deadly sins that humans should stay away from? I can think of at least four other ' sins' that should have made the final cut. How about  hypocrisy, manipulation, pervert-ism and bitching for starters? Seems to me that they all do much more harm than a plate of enticing food.  How come they were deemed ok by society and all things edible had to pick up the slack instead???

Now back to food. I don't know about you, but I simply cannot stand cookery shows or chefs who sample one spoon of a dish and then proceed to explain it in a minimum of 500 words. Cookery shows make me feel hungry and make my senses misbehave. As my eyes take in the dish, I start hearing imaginary things, can almost taste the dish in my mouth, am even touching the plate and inhaling its wonderful imaginary aroma. See I told you I'm a glutton, I mean foodie.

I have a natural resistance to the very thought of trying out recipes that's somebody else's original idea. I don't know why. Part of me says that my stubborn streak and inability to listen to other people's views have simply spilled onto cooking as well. I'm a good cook. I know that for sure because unlike other thin chefs who could do with some fattening ( other than Jamie Oliver. Now there's a dude who seriously loves food. It shows!!!), I'm plump, I LIKE my cooking and so did my husband till yesterday. My sister raves about my dishes especially my lasagne which is unlike anything she has eaten ( simply because as pointed above its not made like a regular lasagne) and other impromptu specialties of mine like an omelette pancake. There have been times when my experiments have gone wrong and what I had in mind did not translate onto the dish. However other than the one time when I dumped a whole lot of burnt pasta which both hubby and baby refused to be force fed, I stand up for each and every cooking experiment of mine gone wrong or turned out right.

As with everything else that's good in life ( think love, marriage, parenthood, a job), you can always expect some strings to be attached. For every chocolate ice cream lavished with fresh cream, there are the calories that keep ticking. Worse- somebody is always waiting to remind you about those unwanted enemies like the thought hadn't dashed across your mind already. In my case, its always my husband and father. However, selective hearing is a skill I recommend everybody learn. You never know when it comes in handy!
It reminds me of what I once told my friend when we were passing by a bakery. Bakers are people who appreciate food  and know just how to entice poorly will powered foodies like me. They place the best pies, the creamiest pastries and the yummiest treats in a glass display all waiting to be bought, mostly right beside the door. How many times as a child, as a broke student, as an employee with a low bank balance and even as a mother I have shamelessly stood outside bakeries and just thought. I may seem like a slob with no money and with even less self control to the world, but what you can't hear is the battle that goes on inside-

Good Angel- C'mon Sanju. Stop Staring. Get away. Remember your New Year's Resolution to lose weight.

Bad Angel- So what's new? She's been keeping the same resolution for the past 7 years. Sanju, just look at those pastries. Too good to pass up.

Good Angel- Will you for once show some restraint and walk away?

( and here comes the killer statement that decides it all)

Bad Angel- You know Sanju. Those pastries are just WAITING to be eaten and enjoyed.

Before you know it, my legs are walking in a different direction and in no time I have a pack of pastries with a huge smile on my lips. Good Angel shakes her head and gives up whereas Bad Angel has won this round.

But that's my story. I can't tell you how secretly proud I was to find that my 2 year old has inherited my foodie genes. He knows good food when he sees it and stuffs his mouth before it disappears down somebody else's tummy. With all the fuss about healthy eating, getting slim and what not; I was worried that the love for food ended with me. No worries any more!

Gluttony doesn't deserve to be called a sin. If you're in the right place with the right meal in front of you and great company for added fun; believe me heaven couldn't be any closer. :-)

As a Writer

Ever so often, I meet people who ask me what I do for a living. You should see the way their eyebrows go up whenever I say I'm a freelance writer. I can almost hear the thoughts that are being processed by their respective brains. ' Oh, so you don't have a real job. You're just a writer.' Now I know why such great writers like Jane Austen and almost everybody we are told to write like these days, were often scorned publicly when they said they were writers. I once thought that saying I was a poet would get me an ounce of respect. And what a mistake that was. ' A poet? So you sit and dream all day?' I was once asked. I honestly wanted to punch the great personality who asked me that. However I would like to set the record straight once and for all. I'm honestly fed up of justifying my stand as a freelance writer, why I chose to become one and everything else that follows. So here goes.

- A freelance writer is not someone who failed to get a 9-5 job. Instead it is someone who chose to make writing a profession- the hard way.

- Yes, I could have worked at a day job but prefer working in my pyjamas and cooking at the same time.

- What I earn isn't called pocket money. It's called a salary.

- Yes, there's plenty of competition. In fact, my competitors aren't confined to one country. I compete with writers on a global scale.

- Yes, writing is really a profession. And just because I'm my own boss doesn't mean that it isn't a full time job , so to speak.

- And no. Being a freelance writer doesn't mean I'm on a permanent holiday. It simply means that just like you I too have deadlines and cranky clients, perks and lots of over time as well.

The biggest drawback I would point out of a freelance writer's life is that you can never say where your next assignment is going to come from. Or WHEN. There were times when I would become really depressed at the lack of work. And then from somewhere would come around 5 different projects all at once, sweeping me in a flurry of work. There are other times when my brain refuses to dream or conjure up the kind of creativity a client expects from me. And there are others when my head wants to write but doesn't know what to. However, I've learnt to ride the wave, if I can say that. I realized that not having many projects at once wasn't such a bad thing after all. I usually don't have much time for writing poetry these days, which always plagues me with guilt because it was through poetry that I experienced the first joys of writing. I have a dozen ideas swarming in my head, and the best time to put them down is when I don't have other people's projects to work on. I also want to explore writing a few more stories for kids. Having one of my own means that I dream of becoming a better story teller for him as he grows older. And best of all, not having much work also means that I get to write this blog of mine. Which was started because somebody told me I was funny; another pal pepped me up by telling me I always had funny things to write about; so on and so forth. Honestly, I just wanted my little space on the web to spill out my thoughts and make sense of them as well as keep this outlet alive and kicking. Till next time..cheers

Anita & Me

By now, everybody who is dear to me knows only too well how much I love books. As a kid I used to tell my mom that I wanted to either marry a book store owner or a guy who had his own chicken farm ( yes I love my chickens too).. needless to say, I am now married to a man who has nothing in common with either of my childhood Prince Charmings! However, very rarely for me does a writer strike up something in my heart and mind, which makes me want to know more about the writer and read the particular book over and over again. It happened with Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, and with regard to writers; it happened when I read Anita Nair.

I first read Anita's 'The Better Man' when I was in college. I enjoyed the book and eagerly delved into Ladies Coupe. A few years back I chanced upon a masterpiece that she wrote called 'Mistress'. I loved the way she took the seven emotions ( if I recall it right) that are prevalent in Kathakali and weaved each chapter of the book around them. Soon, you forget that the characters themselves are all in the book; they become so realistic that they could very well have been your next door neighbours! I was a bit hesitant to pick up her book ' Good night and God Bless' because I assumed it would be a collection of essays. However, not having read Anita in a while, I picked up the book come what may. And how glad I am I did! The book turned out to be a series of blog entries like essays from Anita's everyday life, which were a delight to read. I loved a line in the book which states that Jeffrey Archer may be the only person who set methodically about becoming a writer- most other writers just stumble into it and dont wake up one fine day deciding they are going to become one. I completely agree. That one line made me remember how I used to pen poetry in my class, because I was bored listening to the teacher. Silly rhymes, nonsensical lines and childish topics eventually metamorphosed into a  reflective collection of poems; one that I am most proud of. I'm also glad that just like me Anita too eagerly waits to see and yap with her mother; the latter who will then within 5 minutes say something out of the way and tick Anita off- just like my own mom unfailingly does! Usually no trip of mine to India is complete without at least a 2 day altercation with my mom where we both wish we hadn't known each other at all!! Yes the women in my house at the ages of 27 and 50 are highly mature.

It was wonderful to get a peek into the inspirations behind Anita's books and especially how she did her research for 'Mistress'. I'm also delighted that she has suggested a whole list of books that are highly recommended by her and which I'm certain come with unforgettable lines that have all been inspired by real life itself. Something like Philip Larkin maybe? ' Parents, they fuck you up'. Or maybe Oscar Wilde- ' All women end up like their rmothers. That is their tragedy. No man ends up like his. That is his tragedy.' The really great writers have already written what you often thought about but never took the time to reflect upon.

Now that I'm done with ' Good night and God Bless', I'm wondering which book to pick up next. Charlie Chaplin's autobio, or Benazir Bhutto's? Or maybe Jhumpa Lahiri's ' Interpreter of Maladies' or maybe just maybe the last book in the Millenium trilogy? Aaah... such a delicious feeling to know that you have all the time in the world and so many books waiting to be read and devoured by you. By the way, Sudha Murthy's ' Wise & Otherwise' is highly recommended. Easy to digest language but more importantly, true stories that touch your heart. All along I assumed that the lady's ticket to fame was being the wife of Narayana Murthy, and imagine how stupid I felt when I found out that she had nine novels to her name and a few collections of short stories as well??

On a lighter note, I like the new look of the blog. The pink cheers me up just by looking at it. I dont know why the colour pink has to be looked down upon by most men. Its airy, light, summery and makes ANY woman look good!!

E-Books and Me?

This time on my trip to India, I picked up around 15 new books ranging from biographies to non fiction and fiction. Seeing me struggle while packing my luggage ( although an allowance of 20 kg may seem a lot, trust me it really isn't) , dad asked me ' Do you know that they have this new concept called an e-book? You really don't have to keep buying so many books like this.' That made me stop and think. Me and E-Books? That's like saying Bipasha and Katrina have become great friends, or that Tom Hanks cant act at all, or even that Godzilla and King Kong are now best friends. The comparisons may be a tad too much, but that's just how strongly I feel about e-books. Or how strongly I DON'T feel about them.

Besides being an old fashioned writer who isn't in favour of too many high tech gizmos around, I love the feel of a book. The pages between your fingers, the smell of a fresh new book or the slightly old feel of an aged book are a few things you just cannot have with an e-book reader. Its great to fall asleep with a book on your tummy and its a wonderful companion on any journey. It doesn't even need any batteries or charging and can last generations if looked after properly. Sometimes, I think that I would like to leave back a wonderful bookcase filled with all sorts of books for my children and grand children. Chancing upon books that belonged to an older member of the family and enjoying them at your own pace is a really good feeling. When I came across some books on Osho and an entire Brittanica encyclopedia collection that belonged to my dad's father; I remember being so astonished. Who even knew that papa had such eclectic and different taste in reading? Now whenever I am accused of reading books that half of mankind has never heard of, I smile thinking that I may have gotten these genes from my grand father. Likewise, on my mothers side; I have my grandpa who I fondly called Bigdaddy to thank for my interest in thrillers and westerns. The point I'm trying to make is that, I could sample a bit of their reading tastes simply because they invested in books which could last generations. I doubt if an e-book reader will have that kind of shelf life.

In a nutshell, I'm one of the few who aren't going to swoon when they see a Kindle or an I Pad. It won't make any difference whatsoever. But a bookstore full of promising books that are just waiting to be purchased and read? Now that's something which can always make my heart skip a beat and leave me with an empty wallet! :-)

Getting back on my Feet

The only catch about spending so much time with my family back there in Cochin is dealing with the severe mood swings I go through- in the first two weeks, I get so itchy that there's no work to do, and by the time its the last one week I have become so lazy that the thought of going back to Singapore and doing housework makes me just want to sob.

And SOB is what I did when I reached home after a long tiring flight. I must make a mention here of a 50 year old man on the same flight as me, who pounced on a student and an air hostess, making both listen to his long tales of smart investments, real estate deals and huge bank balance mid air. The poor student after listening to everything had just one question to ask- ' Where did you say you worked Sir?' To which the know it all guru replied ' That's a very rude question to ask. That means you weren't listening to anything I said.' Poor student figured that silence was better. To top it all, the guru had the gall to ask the student to take down a bag from the overhead compartment, citing an injured arm as the reason why he couldn't do it himself.  While an air hostess offered him some water, he wanted to know if it was spring water and where it was from. When the lady replied that the water was from the springs of Malaysia,  he refused to drink it at all!! Once we were all at the immigration counter, he snapped a chance to share his wisdom with the two pilots- one who giggled just spotting him and another smart looking Indian who had a huge smirk of boredom on his face. Once the two joined the rest of the cabin crew, the ladies giggled away to glory- the protocol of having to be nice to passengers means having to listen to long stories as well.

Anyways....back to my saga of opening the fridge at my place and finding it stuffed to the max. The house was in a mess too with my kids toys in the same position that they were in one month back. It struck me. A guy sees a messy place as relatively clean, whereas my discerning eyes can pick up every speck of dust. In spite of being so tired, I got down to doing some basic vacuuming and cleaning. Imagine my horror when hubby tells me he hasn't changed the bedsheets in a month!! I can  believe stories of the cave man behavior being predominant in men even now.

Monday's cooking saga being a blot on my otherwise good cooking record; I promised sis that I would make up for it during the week. I was as good as my word. I cooked up a yummy, dripping mozzarella cheese non veg lasagna for my sis ( I swore I wouldn't taste more than a spoon. Am I to blame for the fabulous cuisine the Italians created  which makes it very hard for me to keep my word?), banana pancakes( a great way to make use of over ripe bananas), blueberry pancakes this morning with butter and a trifle pudding with my signature blueberry compote. I simply love cooking and feeding people. I miss having my oven which offers greater flexibility to experiment with food.

Today is a Saturday and its raining.  Today is a no cooking day and tomorrow is good old appam and chicken stew. More next time...