Aloo Poshto

Theres a famous Calcutta Roll joint close to my place in Pimple Saudagar, Pune, named CPlus Calcutta. You get some real great chicken roll and also some cheap and delicious food out there.

The LPG in my room being empty, these days i have my dinner at this place. Yesterday, thought of trying the veg thali after a long time (usually i have fish thalis here). The waiter guy is a cordial and familiar face to me. He suggested i try aloo poshto, and so did i. It was simply amazing; very simple looking but wholesome texture and taste. Potatoes cooked in khus khus (poppy seeds known as poshto in Bengali), turmeric, greenchilles and salt. There were other components i know, but this is what i could make out.

Wanted to run a google search on the same and found some real nice recipes online. Gonna surely try them soon...:)

But one site gave a very interesting piece of information - in the Gulf countries, if you are caught posessing khus khus, which you may have carried for cooking or as part of some food item (khus khus laddoos for eg.), you will face imprisonment and even death. This comes into rule since poppy seeds are used to make narcotics.
What is worth pondering on is the seriousness with which the cases are handled. For eg, there was this foreign national, who had a poppy bun at Heathrow, before reaching the Gulf. He was arrested when the official found 3 poppy seeds(yeah 3) on his shirt, and he was imprisoned. And guess what, the minimum term is 2 years!!

I think that the people in Gulf need to tone down their stance on this; i dont mean lift the ban from khus khus, but be more culturally open and acceptable. But i am sure they will never change till the end of their race, for their culture makes them so strong headed. But what is admirable in some ways is their adherence to the laws of the land. 2 years in jail for 3 poppy seeds which fell accidentally on your shirt, thousands of miles away, only coz poppy seeds are banned in your nation! And look at us, we dont even hang the people who are responsible for so many deaths of so many hardworking individuals who could have enjoyed deliciously made aloo poshto in some Bengali restaurant.

Instead, we keep them alive and spend lakhs of rupees on their welfare. Our media considers the possibility of having them on shows like Big Boss. Our Humanitarian NHRC goes mad when one of their brethren immolates himself. We are such a bunch of hypocrites; no wonder we had the biggest one being called as the Father of the Nation. For that matter our Chacha was a bigger hypocrite (I think the biggest Desh Drohi we had here).

In hindsight, one good thing is coz of our laxness, i can write this blog and get away with it. So that I can prepare poshto and enjoy it too...:)

Short videos - New thingy

New things keep coming on my plate when the days are boring. And then life takes a turn for the good. Expressions opened up a new chapter in my life..new people, new perspectives, new passions, new insights. And a realisation that one should expect everything life throws - be it failure, disappointment or big futures enclosed in insignificant looking opportunities.

Now the thing is we have to make a video on campus courtesies, we ourselves dont follow. Sitting down with my fellows from Abhivyakti, Infy Pune, the brain works in a straight line, as usual. The thought of my creativelessness always lurks (although in ILI i had 'written' and directed 2 good short plays...hehe..lemme be proud of them...:P), i need a constant reminder that creativity is there though dormant. We should not focus on negatives.

Lemme come to the point for which i am writing this in the first place. I need an idea for the bus courtesy scenario. The issues are queue, seat reservation and loud speaker fones. How to make an interesting thing out of these is a problem. The memory searches for something insane, but only the cliche stuff drops out, for thats how i have always been trained. Though, when a number of people sit, some creativity does seep in from nowhere but in this case, i guess we were just done.

Ok, lets think now. List the scenes that come in mind

1. A guy has a bad day ride. No seat in bus due to reservation. He has an argument but to no avail. People play songs loudly, and no one complains. People are just passively listening to mp3s on their fone.

2. End of day scene, a tiring day at work, and people bugging you at the end.

3. One friend reserves seat for other. A guy not able to sit coz of this. The two friends are having a nice time. Behind them people play music loudly, disturbing these two. The standing guy gives his earphones to the ones behind and tells them its wrong. The two friends realise what they did earlier was wrong and give him the seat, as reservation is also wrong.

Good. Seems me got a nice idea now...Sugoi!