The most 'beloved' word of English

Hey!!! After the time i spent with my Pune Bai ( ref my Gharonda blog) it was the turn of my Nagpur girl... she was sick and hospitalized i heard so i visited HER home too.

A neat little room it was, with all signs of one Mama Bear and two little ones inhabiting it; the two little ones being both sons. Their mama being in the hospital it was field day for them - an unexpected holiday and they were freaking out with galli cricket. Otherwise my Savita - their mom - is most particular about sending them off to school very regularly - I could see two school bags tucked neatly into one corner and the school books - all properly covered, lined up on one shelf. It hardly looked like the house of a domestic servant... but with one very common and tell tale sign - there was no sign of the MAN of the house....like so many other dwellings in such slums he is a non resident fella, living in his boozy stratospheres and only coming "home" to steal money that righfully belongs to his kids.

I met Savita's mom though - she told me that her 'little girl' works at 4 houses, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. so she can earn enough to put her kids thru school and give them a decent life. She denies herself in the process though and has thus landed in hospital with severe anemia.

This site and story behind it, reminded me of a news item I'd read in the papers some days ago....upon a survey done world wide among english speaking people, they found that the most 'loved' word of the English language was - MOTHER. It beat all other 9 contenders hollow by polling more votes that all the others put together. What were these words? Hope, Beauty, Charity etc. etc. Sorry guys - Father did not exist anywhere at all!!!

cooking a perfect dish

I had invited some people over for dinner the other day. Among other things, I had made 'Rajma'. To be perfectly truthful even if it means being boastful, guests raved about it.

" Even Punjabis don't make such Rajma!" one (obviously) Punjabi guy complimented me. " Tell me, what you put in it?" his wife insisted.

"Guess?" I asked her.

MDH RAjma masala? she asked. No, i replied...some home made garam masala? lots of ginger, garlic? Onions? Coconut?? Her list went on and on and her confusion increased when I replied negatively for everything.

Then WHAT?

Just Rajma, salt and tomatoes with one mirchi - she didn't believe it!

Well, neither would I have believed someone who said that, except that i've realized the true success of good cooking - AND it has nothing at all to do with the ingredients you put in.

Truly - just do it with confidence, follow your instincts and let whatever ingredients you do put in find their own space and jell with each other - be patient, give them time to get along and come into their own and they will never disappoint you.

Don't believe me? Try it out yourself once!!

Happy Cooking...