Strawberry farm n jamming session

In my first weekend in US, all of the friends decided to go to strawberry farm.We collected a basket and bellyful for each. My kurta still has sweet stains of strawberry kisses.
After all euphoria I wondered how am I going to exhaust so many berries..with  my better (?) half not that keen and my monster (?) ready to just make a wine session with crushing berries, I had to make use of them. After a bit of research I decided to make a jam. of course minus the preservatives. I remembered my mother make jam of Alphonso mangoes for my nephew. she had seen the recipe on the TV. it had worked well minus the preservatives and the jam just needed to be kept in the fridge.
"Are you sure of this? or you can just eat them up" my better(?) retorted when he understood of my intention. but filled to the brim the earlier day, my mind and stomach couldn't handle another berry. so when my kiddo and he went for the afternoon siesta I began. I knew the proportion 1:2. (1 part of strawberry to 2 parts of sugar) luckily the pantry had confectioner's sugar. I made strawberry puree and added sugar in it and kept the whole stuff on low flame of the coil (electrical stove top), stirring intermittently. First the mix became very liquid. my heart sank. "I should have followed him" I thought. I almost emptied the whole mess in the sink, just then I saw. the edges had thickened. they were showing a semi solid rim. "its working" I thought excitedly., emboldened, I kept stirring. after what seemed to be an eternity, I took a few drops and put it in cold water, they became semi solid. "Done" I thought. "its still a bit liquidy..." my better (?) but his eyes held excitement too. I filled semi liquid mass in a container with lid. and almost forgot about it. at night a new of our friends turned up. a casual remark and all wanted to see the jam. "it has set" my better (?) half retorted in appreciation. "wow its good" the friends said and immediately asked for the recipe. I caught my better (?) half's eyes on me. His protegee was finally learning cooking.

A totally forgotten song of R.D Burman

“hmmm…hmmm..hmm..hm” the song went in my head. Now that is weird but when such a song goes in my head, usually the picturization comes in my head, if I have seen it. There was young Urmila matondkar and Nagarjyna in the song. “he doghe kontya pic madhe hote” I wondered. Nagarjuna esp is not that common name in bollywood. Though the rangeela gal is. Then the lyrics slowly dawned from my harassed brain “tum jo mile to laga hai…mil gai mujhe zindagi”…n I guess Suresh wadkar is the singer. Somewhere, Drohi was labeled as the movie. Promptly the song, actor and actress and movie went the reminder. For prompt search on google once in office. Who will switch on the system only for the search. The moment in office, and wiki to my rescue, I searched the movie. And on google. Which confirmed the song and movie. Now came a shock to me. the music director was none other than RD burman.  “iska music director RD burman hai” I told my better(?) half on communicator with a shocked smiley, who was busy searching the song. He just smiled. Then was a big pause. “tum gaana sun rahe ho na…shaane …bhej do…” I typed. In a few minutes I received his usual “delete after downloading” mail, blame it on limited mailbox space.

The song starts with a bit of music which was the typical of the musicians then and which was just so good. Kind of creating environment for the song. And then the song started. “tum jo mile to laga hai….jaise mili hai zindagi…” Simple lyrics of Javed Akhtar and equally simplified music of the maestro “the RD burman” sung by Suresh Wadkar, this is a just so forgotten but somewhere in the memory song. It takes you in that phase when music was not noise and pictuarization was not exotic locales and skimpy outfits. It was more of understanding the thoughts the soul. The essence of the song. An ideal song to be dedicated to that someone whose worth at times we end up forgetting in life J

 tum jo mile toh laga hai, jaise milee jindagee

jatee kaha hain yeh rahe, jin peh chalee jindagee

itna mujhko kab tha pata, aisa bhee ik ganw hain

rasta takatee mera jaha, inn palako kee chhaw hain

meree toh thee dhup me hee, abb tak palee jindagee

tum ko pake aisa laga, jitne the ghum kho gaye

sadiyo sey ham patthar ke the, abb mom ke ho gaye

itane hansee rup me hai, dekho dhalee jindagee

jine ko jite the magar, itnee khabar thee kise

dil me aisee galiya bhee hai, jin me hain sapne base

sapne mile toh khilee hai, ban ke kalee jindagee

My earphones back in my ears I started working, subconsciously in the lanes of memory, the fingers typing away words deciphered, putting sense in them.

Diwali for me

Its Diwali time again. A normal and irritatingly busy lane somehow looks beautified by the akash kandils/paper  lanterns that adorn so many minuscule stalls throughout the lane. The always crowded lane somehow looks that with a purpose. Antsy small and large flickering lights just seem to make the atmosphere a bit more wondrous. Every sweet and confectionary store looks superabundant with fresh and dry sweets, the namkeens and the take away and gift boxes. The simple mithai /indian sweet and dry fruit boxes and all the glitz and glam hampers of brands known and unknown. Diyas (lamps), the ubiquitous traditional brown ones and modern avatars that have been painted in brighter tones adorned with gold and silver and ones with mirrors, stones and lace. The “china” lanterns shimmy along with “Indian” akash kandils. And the stores dazzle with offers and discounts. From food items to electrical appliances, everything is just ready to be taken with discounts. The jewelry stores flourished with gold, silver and diamond, all set for the “dhan te ras”. Small shops and large are full to the brim with clothes ready to be worn, accessories ready to be matched. Something new and in trend always makes an appearance be it in something to decorate or something to adorn yourself with. The fireworks ready to dazzle and go with a bang all towering, small and large…just ready to go off.

For me it’s only at such times that I don’t get annoyed with the jams, the traffics, my face agape with wonder reveling the beauty and that makes a shoddy overcrowded lane a fantasy land…and that is the season of magic…the festival of magic…that is Diwali.