Khichdi

Eating meat in the city

2005-11-25T09:28:00.000-05:00

We would quite often go into the inner city to a predominantly Muslim locality for the excellent roadside stalls selling all kinds of meat delacacies. Some of my favourites were mutton and goats liver. The meat is slow cooked on a large metal plate and when you place an order, the guy would pull some of the meat into the center of the cooking plate, the hottest part, add oil and spices and thus shallow fry the meat that way. Its then served with roti*, and a side of onions and green chillies. Loved it!

One time, when we were eating, one of the local shop owners there told me that the meat is not always mutton, but that of a larger animal. I was worried that it might be beef, I don't eat beef. On making furthur inquiries, I found out that though the guy might be sneaking in beef on account of it being cheaper than mutton, it was more likely buffalo meat.

Oh well, that was a little concerning but we were young and wild and the food was so good! We kept eathing there anyway.

Definations:

Roti: Flat Indian bread.

Sardi Joke

2005-11-23T11:09:00.000-05:00

gujaraticlub : Message: Sardar train driver

...One train which was going peacefully on the rail-tracks suddenly deviated from the tracks and went to the fields nearby and then came back on the tracks. The passengers were horrified. On the next Railway station the driver was caught : He was found to be a Sardar . He was questioned . He explained that there was a man standing on the tracks and he was not moving from there even after lots of honks etc . Then authorities questioned : Sardarji are you mad! just to save the life of one person you put the lives of so many passengers in danger. You should have run over that person . Sardar said : Exactly, that is what I also decided, but this idiot started running towards the field when the train came very close.... [Read]

Here’s a great joke I found on the Yahoo Gujarati Group, thanks Apurv!

Chinese Food Festival

2005-11-21T16:43:00.000-05:00

I remember once in Vadodara, a hotel was holding a “Chinese Food Festival” and of course every Gujju* is a great fan of Chinese food. So we went.

It turned out that we didn’t enjoy a single dish laid out in their really extravagant buffet table. In fact, most people there didn’t like it too much and later I heard that that particular festival was a great big flop show.

You see, the mistake that the organizers made was, it was authentic Chinese food. Dhat-teri-ki*! Gujjubhai* no like authentic Chinese! We wanted the bastardized lari*-type Chinese.

Even after coming to the US and living here for so long, I still haven’t really developed a sound liking for Chinese food. But give me Indo-Chinese and I am ready!

Defination :

Gujju : Gujarati

Dhat-teri-ki : And exclaimation, like Oh My God! This is more from Hindi than Gujarati, I think.

Gujjubhai : Male Gujju

lari : road-side or mobile shop or vendor, selling food as well as almost anything imaginable under the sun.

The Muslim threat

2005-11-15T19:33:00.000-05:00

Having lived in Gujarat, I have to make certain statements about Muslims.

A lot of my very good friends were (are) followers of Islam. In fact, my business partner was not only Muslim, but also one of my best friends. I would be over at his home on a regular basis, and he likewise at my place. And we went all over the place together.

Amongst our circle of friends, both Eid* and Diwali* was equally well celebrated; and during Raksha-Bhandan*, no distinction was made between Hindu brothers and Muslim brothers.

And some of the nicest and kindest people I knew where Muslims.

Having said all this, I have to state that they were good people, inspite of being Muslims, not because of being Muslims.

When I first moved back to Gujarat, I was not of this opinion. But as I lived there and assimilated into the culture, I began to see what the Muslim mentality is, and how it is such a threat to peace and harmony. Also, I would like to state that I in fact studied Islam as part of my Social Studies for over a year. So, I do have some insight and background about the Koran and the sayings and teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

I am not sure where to begin to describe this mentality. Maybe it might help, if over a series of posts, I try and trace my own experiences and how my views were slowly changed and formed.

But I can definitely point out two of the biggest factors that led me to take a negative view of Muslims.

The first was the inherent violence and willingness-to-harm in the Muslim culture. Though during our study of Islam, our (non-Muslim) teacher would interpret Jihad* as equally an internal struggle as an outward struggle. And I naively believed that up until I got my first taste of Muslims in India. I then understood that this is all bunk and that generally all Muslims, even the learned ones and the religious leaders basically think of Jihad as fighting and killing of non-believers.

The second factor was the whole hyprocasy of the people. I saw Muslims who, otherwise followed the dictates of the religion to the letter but fell short when it came to basic humanity. And not only on some kind of a lofty level, I saw it at all levels. Boys would happy go for garba, though the next day, in front of their Muslim peers they would generally be bad-mouthing the Hindu festival. Muslims who publicly frowned on alcohol but got pissed drunk on business trips. And Muslim businessmen who talked about kindness and charity but otherwise were the equivalent of the Mafia. At the root of most criminal enterprise, you would find Muslims. But the same people would dutifully go to the mosque, etc.

In fact, some of them actually believed that by selling drugs to non-believers, or by entrapping innocent Hindu girls, they were doing Allah's work. I personally saw the royal treatment given to converts and to Muslim boys who eloped with Hindu girls and converted them to Islam. In fact, Muslim boys are encouraged to do this.

I am saddened by all this. Like I said, some of my best friends and the nicest people I have met are Muslim. But I feel this is inspite of being Muslims, not because of.

Definitions:

Diwali: Hindu festival of lights
Eid: Muslim holy festival, occurs multiple times a year
Rakha-Bhandan: Hindu festival of significance to siblings (brothers and sisters)

The pleasures of a terraced roof

2005-11-15T00:36:00.000-05:00

Unlike what you see here in the United States, most houses in Gujarat ( and most of India ) will have a terraced roof, ie a flat roof with stairs leading up to it, either from inside the house or from the outside. The economy homes would proably just have a sloping roof with metal or cement sheets, but the better homes would have a proper roof.

Since land is at a dear premium, the roof serves as your backyard. You have parties there, wakes, dry your laundry, air your beddings and mattresses, and fry out various foods and spices. The roof also is used at night for sleeping. Durng the summer time, at the end of the day the homes are usually really hot. And most people back then did not have air conditioning. And even if they did have air conditioning or air cooling, they would prefer to conserve electricity and sleep in the open on the roof.

And that was really something else. You would take your mattress, a futon about a couple of inches thick and a sheet to cover up with, to keep the insects away, and set up in a nice spot on the roof. I would normally fall asleep almost instantly under the canopy of stars and get some of the soundest sleep ever.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night you might have to make a run for it in case it rained.

Unfortunately, the pratice of sleeping on the roof started to fade in the later years I was in India due to the increase in crime, pollution and incomes. Yes, increased incomes ment that you could afford to cool your home to comfortable level and then didn't feel the urge to schlep your bedding up to the roof each night and down each morning.

But someday, I would like to sleep under the open sky again; and hopefully show the kids what it feels like.

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The quality of liquor

2005-11-13T12:21:00.000-05:00

It is always an amazing experience when you are out of Gujarat and can for-real and legally go to a shop and buy alcohol. This is fun when, say you go down to Mumbai; but most liquor stores are (were when I was there many moons ago) designed such that you stand at a counter and ask for what you want and its sold to you over the counter.

So after coming to America and the first time I visited a liquore store, the amazement level was a a couple of notches higher than what I felt in Mumbai! You actually walked down isles with liquor of all types on either side. I could actually reach out and touch the stuff without first having to buy it! If you haven't lived in Gujarat you don't know what that is like! Wow!

So I was basically like a mosquito in a blood bank! Of course, the novelty of that soon wore away once you realized how little you could afford on your starter code-monkey H1-slave salary. Eventually the pay check got fatter (and fatter, praise Goddess Laxmi!) and the ability to buy the finer stuff got better. And now, the gang only drinks the good stuff. Sometimes, the liquor stores run by Indians stocks Indian whiskeys and rums, brands we could not afford on the black bootleg market back in Gujaratt, brands we only got to try if we were over at some rich businessman's party.

And now I have come full circle. Though I can afford the good stuff, I am at the point where I can't (or shouldn't, but do anyway) have too much. What with the anti-depression mediciation, the acidity problem and the high blood pressure and high colestrol, I should really be abstaining. But I don't, not yet at least.

Just moving in

2005-11-12T13:39:00.000-05:00

I am moving this blog over from Wordpress.com. Or maybe I will simul-blog (just made that word up) to both locations. No only don't I seem to get any hits over at the orginal Khichdi blog, also, it seems its difficult to find. Hopefully things will be better here at bogger.

Well, here is the original blog.

And these are the posts so far over at the original location.

What is Khichdi?
Well, its a Gujarati recipe for making a rice based dish. But this blog is not about food. Its about being Gujarati, or at least my particular state of Gujarati-ness. [Read]

Whiskey, papad and Jalota
This is back in Gujarat, where we have prohibition. Why? Because it is Mahatma Gandhi’s home state. No really, why? Because the politicians, the police and the criminals (sorry for repeating myself, I already said politicans) all make a lot more money with boot legged liquor than if it was legal. [Read]

Water
When I see how the family uses water, it reminds me about the water supply and usage back in Gujarat.. [Read]

Map of Gujarat

Another Map of Gujarat

Navratri - Nine Nights of Drinking
Sure Navratri* is a religious festival, but in the larger metros in Gujarat it has become somewhat of a night night mardi gras! [Read]

Each morsel of food counts

Varu* or was it pronounced vado?

Each neighbourhood would have a family or group who are in charge of cleaning the streets and taking away the garbage from each home to the big municipal dumpster. They can also be contracted to clean the gutters or sewers and deal with blockages, dead animals, etc. [Read]