Cauliflower in Coriander Sauce

Ingredients –

Cauliflower – 400 gm                     green chili – 3

Mustard seed – 2 teaspoon            sugar – 1 teaspoon

Coriander leaves fresh – 250 gm    salt – to taste

Mustard oil – 50 ml (to fry)            turmeric powder – a pinch

Method –

1.      Cut cauliflower into floweret’s and wash

2.      Grind mustard seed and green chili together into a fine paste. Keep aside covered (else the flavor will go)

3.      Wash coriander leaves and grind into fine paste

4.      Heat oil. When smoking, add cauliflower, salt, turmeric. Stir well, fry till light brown

5.      Add ground mustard seed and green chili, and keep on stirring on low flame

6.      Add sugar and sprinkle water while stirring

7.      Add coriander leave paste, keep on stirring

8.      When done and dried, remove from fire. Serve with rice or roti or poori 

Brazil Leaves

My son  recently got back from a longish tour of Brazil and got me bag full of leaves, some of them very rare and indigenous to the Amazons that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Here's a collection of the same, and if someone can give me the names of these leaves then that would be great. As always my son has absolutely no idea what these plants are called.

Typical rain forest leaves, thick, full of moisture

There leaves are all from the Atlantic shores

Lord Ganesha

The Hindu God of good fortune, Lord Ganesha is the child of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, and sports the head of an elephant. By Hindu custom, we are supposed to worship Lord Ganesha before starting anything new, and only after that should we pray to any other Gods. He is also supposed to be the quickest scribe in the universe and it is he who had  jotted down Mahabharata. So I created these two Lord Ganesha images with peepal tree leaves

Nature Collages

I have been inactive here for a while, mainly as my son has been traveling and he is the one who updates my blog. So while he was away, I created these collages..

Car on a highway through forests

Rail track that no one uses any more

Pathway to a music school

River Story

Botanical Collection

Presenting another set of my botanical album…

Collected from Coorg Jungles, Karnataka, India

The bark or rind of Bhojpatra tree and the leaf of the same tree. In ancient India, epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc were written on Bhojpatra barks. These were collected from Chirbasa, en route to the holy shrine of Gaumukh, Himalaya.

These are from tiny plants that grow right at the edge of Gangotri Glacier, where hard ice meets ground.

This is root of plant Koru. These are found between 9000 – 12000 feet, in the Himalayan Jungles of Kinnaur and have rare medicinal properties. These are widely used by shepherds and local villagers to ward of cold, cough and any stomach ailments. 

Collected from the coffee plantations of Coorg, Karnataka, India

Riddles & Rebuses

Riddles are defined as difficult problems, which are twisted so that you have to think out of the box to find the answers. Rebuses are puzzles where you decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words.

Here I present some of my riddles and rebuses combination. The answers are at the bottom. Enjoy...

1.     What we seek; & when we cross the end, we find an animal

x the end = which animal? 

2.     We disagree and add one letter, now we are scared

           + r =          

3.     Let’s fry some eggs in here and then turn it around for a nice siesta

               

          turn it around 

4.    Time of any event and a tasty fruit

    

5.     Seeking rights with a tiny insect makes you the beneficiary




6.     Utterly delicious on toast takes flight and flutters

        +

7.   With power enough to control nature, when flipped, gets totally beyond control

8.     Rabbits love it but take out the bad part and we can drive around

               minus 

9.     A fruit to die for, when separated is on the run

Answers:

1.   goal = goat

2.   fight + r = fright

3.   pan = nap

4.   dates

5.   claim + ant = claimant 

6.   butter + fly = butterfly

7.   dam = mad

8.   carrot - rot = car

9.   mango = man + go

Bread Pantua (dessert)

Ingredients for 10 people

Bread unsliced – 450 gm         Big cardamom – 10 in no

Milk – 2 litre                           Rose water – few drops

Refined oil – for frying            

For syrup – sugar 500 gm and water 250 ml

Method –

1.     Boil milk and reduce to 750 ml. Remove from fire

2.     Cut 40 thick square pieces from the bread

3.     Remove the skin of big cardamom and separate the seeds

4.     Insert two seeds into each bread piece

5.     Prepare sugar syrup of two thread consistency. Remove from fire, cool and add few drops of rose water to the syrup

6.     Heat refined oil, dip each bread square into the reduced milk and fry till brown

7.     Remove from fire and dip them in sugar syrup. The bread pantuas are ready to eat

Doi Begoon (Eggplant in Curd)

Ingredients for 4 people

Eggplant – 500 gm          Cumin seed – 1 tspn (for tempering)

Onion – 4 in number       Sugar – 2 tspn

Ginger – 1 inch piece       Salt to taste

Garlic – 4 flakes              Turmeric – a pinch

Curd – 400 gm                Red chilli powder – a pinch

Coriander seed – 1tspn    Coriander leaves fresh – 100 gm

Cardamom big – 2           Cooking oil – 40 ml

Method –

1.     Wash and cut eggplant into roundels and rub turmeric and salt; keep aside

2.     Grate onion

3.     Grind together garlic, ginger, coriander seed to fine paste

4.     Beat curd well adding salt and half of the sugar to it, keep aside

5.     Heat oil, add eggplant, fry till light brown and remove from fire

6.     In the remaining oil add cumin seed and crushed big cardamom

7.     Add grated onion and stir. When onion starts to turn light brown in colour add turmeric, red chilli powder and paste of garlic, ginger and coriander. Stir well on medium flame, sprinkling water from time to time

8.     Add remaining sugar and fried eggplant

9.     Add salt and little water. Cover with a lid and bring it to only one boil. Immediately remove from fire.

10.   In a deep serving bowl spread half of the beaten curd and on that layer keep one layer of prepared eggplant. Pour the rest of curd to cover the eggplants

11.   Finely chop the fresh green coriander leaves and spread over the curd. Serve with rice or chapatti. 

Plants from Port Blair

Fern 

I have always loved nature in all its manifestation, be it the mountains, water bodies or the forests. But among them, ever since I started my botanical collection, forests have held a unique appeal to my sense of curiosity.

In the winter of 2009, my son one day declared that we were bound for the Andaman Islands, Port Blair in particular. I had always dreamt of going to this remote group of islands, India’s eastern most outposts and a major naval base. My son being a naval officer, we would be staying in Navy premises, stone’s throw away from the shore. While I packed bags I also read about the islands and about their endemic flora and fauna. I was determined to collect as many plants I could lay my hand upon. I told my son that while in Port Blair, I would be left alone to my own designs, to do what I wanted and not go along with him all the time.

From the airport as we drove towards the naval officer’s guesthouse through the winding undulating roads lined with plants and thick forests, my eyes grew in anticipation. While my son disappeared doing whatever he does best, I walked on my own exploring the neighborhood and then one day I discovered the Botanical Survey of India office within walking distance of where we were staying. I met the director and learned a lot about botanical collection, plant preservation; I also saw their amazing library and many rare plants and herbs. Over the next few days I combed through many more forests and collected around score of leaves. Presenting here some of them, including that of Panchmukhi (five mouthed) Rudraksha… 

Panchmukhi Rudraksha

Limericks

I have been writing and creating limericks as far back as I can remember. Initially I coined them to educate and entertain my children and as they grew up, I recited my limericks to other kids. Everyone laughed at them, everyone enjoyed them and finally I started jotting them down. Over the years I lost many of them since my memory faded though few survived those I wrote down. Last year I decided to get my limericks published. The following image is of the book cover that my younger son designed and created. The title reads in phonetic Bengali ‘Hashte Hashte Goragori’ which in English means ‘Rolling in laughter’. The book consists of 52 limericks and I have many more as I continue to write. Since then the book has been received well by many of my friends and their families. I present two of the limericks from the book with images of the original Bengali script so that my Bengali readers can read them in original and an English translation (done by my son) for non Bengali readers. The way I write my limericks, it is very difficult to do literal or exact transliteration keeping the rhyme intact. More than the meaning of the words I like to play with the pronunciation, rhyming alphabets or expressions resulting in a nonsensical parody of everyday life. I hope you enjoy both – the original Bengali (if you can read) and the English translation.

Limerick 1 

 Syrup King

O rasogulla (a popular Indian sweet white in colour, dipped in syrup) let me ask you

            Who gave you this name?

How did you become so fair?

            Where do you live?

You are so soft rasogulla

            Swimming in the syrup

Seeing you our greedy mind

            Goes out of control

With big round eyes you keep staring

            Your tummy full of syrup

To appease someone angry

            I send you as gift

You may go anywhere

            Dipped in jars full of syrup

But never go, even absentminded

            In my maths paper

(In Bengali when someone gets a ‘zero’ in any subject (particularly in mathematics), we say ‘you have got a rasogulla in your paper since rasogulla is always shaped like a round sphere)

One of my friend’s granddaughter recited this poem for her school annual competition and won the first prize.

Limerick 2 

Passing Formula

Why are you crying Dashu? Listen to me

You got zero in maths? So you are gloomy!

            I know of an easy way

            Write it down now as I say

Plateful of rasogulla spread upon banana leave

Dry them up exactly at noon then pack them in sieve

            Sunburnt rasogulla, with Hilsa fish fry

            Stand on your head, legs up – eat it dry

Who can give you zero in maths now, no one will dare

Who can defy my formula; tell me the name of the mare

            Hey, why is your eyes moist again; why don’t you smile?

            You got two in history? That has been news for a while

Stop crying now; listen carefully, I will tell you what to do

Write it down in your diary; don’t reveal what I tell you

            Neem leaves and red soil, and handful of glue

            Mix them well and keep it on the roof beneath sky blue

Slice open tummy of ripe banana and fill it up with lime

Neem leaves and glue mix and a bit of salt worth dime

            Easily will you get eighty or ninety in history

            Seeing such a result we all will smile in glee

Caption Writing

Among my numerous hobbies I sometimes indulge in ‘caption’ writing. I look for interesting visuals from old magazines or books and then give them a suitable caption, the way I feel or see it. These captions are not always my original, few have been taken from Tagore’s song or poetry. I now have completed two albums of pictures with captions, here’s a smattering of the same. The captions are written in Bengali of course so my son suggested that I write the Bengali in phonetic so that anyone can read it and follow it up with English translation so that all of you may understand the meaning. Enjoy...

 In Phonetic Bengali – He nithur manab – na na na na aaghat heno na ore

                                    Hridoyer dhon oje, uhare rakhibo dhore

English translation – O cruel human – please don’t cut the tree down

                                    It’s the treasure of my heart, I will hold on to it

In Phonetic Bengali – chutir bansi bajlo je oi neel gogone

                                    Aami keno ekla boshe ei bijone

English translation – The yonder blue sky plays the flute of freedom

                                    Why am I sitting alone in this silent horizon?

Phonetic Bengali – Golper jhuli loye thandidi chole

                                    Hashi gane bhore dai jeeboner pole

English translation – Grandma goes with her bag full of stories

                                    Filling every moment with smiles, songs and happiness

Phonetic Bengali – Darogababur koto je kaaj sharati din dhore

                                    Betha tanhar shorbo onge, mathao betha kore

                                    Ektu aayesh korata ki emoni oporadh

                                    Jonogone to bojhe na ta shadhe kebol badh

English translation – Police chief does so much work whole day

                                    His whole body aches and so does his brain

                                    Is it a crime if he relaxes a bit between work?

                                    People don’t understand that, interfering every now and then

Phonetic Bengali – ukil badir bodo chhele shaymakanto dhor

                                    Ghore boshe behala bajay, tole shurer jhod

                                    Posha meni bidalta tar mosto bodo bhokto

                                    Shamne boshe table neeye bol bajay je shokto

                                    Trahi trahi rob padate ghum nai karu chokhe

                                    Beshur behala bondho hole banchbe sobhai shukhe

English translation – Advocate’s eldest son Shaymakanto Dhor

                                    Strums his behala (an Indian stringed instrument) in his room, raising                                                 stormy tunes

                                    His pet cat is his biggest fan

                                    Accompanies him on tabla (a percussion instrument)

                                    The neighbourhood cries for help as they can’t sleep at night

                                    Everyone will live happily when the ill-tuned behala would stop

Collages

Earlier this month, my son, once again disappeared into the mountains and I fell severely ill. Bed ridden, struggling to stand up on my feet, I created these four collages to keep my mind from feeling the solitude of loneliness, here they are

Autumn colors in a village at the foothills

Autumn ushers in stillness in the blue sky, crowded with scattered clouds. Palms ripen and drop from the trees of their own accord. Two young friends contemplate to pick up the palms and enjoy a lazy afternoon.

A boat down the river

A boat sails off into the unknown as villages and mountains, forests and dreams pass by

Spirit of the Ruins

Soul seeking solitude amidst ruins far from the maddening crowds

Health is wealth

Mother and kid enjoy clean air, green trees, blue sky and share laughter at a health resort

Botanical Album

Normally, whenever my son goes away from home, either for work or on expeditions, do I get new ideas and thoughts to keep my mind occupied. Since my childhood I have been fascinated by the plant world wondering at their seemingly infinite varieties, species, colors, forms, shapes and their almost universal presence all over the planet. I loved playing with trees and shrubs sang songs to them, caressed the leaves and treated them as my best pals. Since fresh leaves, flowers or any part of a plant, doesn’t stay green and fresh for long and soon wilt if plucked, I wanted to build up my own botanical album containing dried leaves, flowers, etc in order to showcase the immense variety of this unique world. This thought turned into action around the year 1995 when my son had been deputed abroad for a long duration and I had to keep myself gainfully occupied.

I was in Mumbai then and I begin my search within the public parks and roadside flowerbeds near my house. Gradually I widened my net and started visiting other areas, poking and peering through bushes and nooks in search of common and uncommon specimens. Steadily my collection grew. I had no idea how to process leaves and plants for preservation; neither did I know of ‘herbarium’ paper. I followed my own process; which to me seemed logical – clean the fresh specimen thoroughly with a dry cloth, prick any thick stem to squeeze out the fluid, place it in between two sheets of blotting paper (or thick layer of old newspaper) and then keep it underneath a bed mattress for 45 – 60 days.

Once the specimen was properly dry I would arrange it in a pattern on a thick paper using glue and at times stitch with needle and thread. Since then I never looked back or stopped adding to my botanical collection. Besides my limited reach, my son soon joined in my search and suddenly my collection boomed as he would get specimens from some of the remotest places on Earth. Today I have over 200 specimens in my collection representing over dozen countries and several continents. Many of these are extremely rare and exotic; while some are commonplace but each represent nature’s work at its finest. Even after a decade and half, I am as spellbound as I was at all the patterns, mosaics and drama my specimens offer.

I hope my botanical collection, of which I would be presenting periodically with more stories, would give you as much joy and amazement to behold as I experienced to create. To begin with, I am showcasing some of my earliest specimens; from in and around the concrete jungles of Mumbai: -