I just hope my father in law also enjoys the experience,and , remembers it as one of the nice things he saw here.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Diamondbacks Game vs Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
God knows why they picked such a long title, not that I have any interest in it. This evening, we are going for our first game of this 2009 season of the Diamondbacks. Its the first ever baseball game for my father-in-law, who is here from India., I hope he likes it,and the post game fireworks. Neither my husband, nor I, know much about the game, or other teams. However, we go just for the fun of watching it in Chase Field. We are in awe of the huge stadium, its huge HD tv screen(my husband secretly dreams of owning such a gigantic TV), and how the roof opens up in 2 , for the fireworks display.
Death of the King of Pop
I was very sad to know that Michael Jackson died yesterday. He was THE icon of music, after the Beatles, to me. Very few have come up in the world of music, like he did. Even though he was famous, he still was not happy with the way he looked, and went in for plastic surgery. However, apart from all scandals, he was still such an inspiration and had his trademark moon walk on stage, that many kids in school tried to imitate him, to be cool.
I remember listening to his songs, as my elder sister borrowed tapes from her friends, and listened to them at home. His music was what we listened to, on weekends, while cleaning our rooms etc. The beats, the rhythm, just did not make us feel tired in doing all that work. Perhaps, its an after effect of that childhood memory, that even today, I hum some song, as I go about my daily chores.
I know the media is giving a lot of attention to his demise,and other aspects, how he lived like a king, and died as a pauper, in a debt of $400 million. I just wanted to pen down my own thoughts on this.
Amish Friendship Bread
I am disenchanted with the Amish Friendship bread. I was given the starter by a friend, and religiously followed instructions on first and second rounds. After that, I found my freezer was getting loaded with Amish bread starters, every time I baked. I gave it away to friends, neighbors, and even strangers(after advertising on craigslist(free) section). Even after all that donation, I am still stuck with 4-5 bags in the freezer. Most online discussion groups on this topic, tell you to again divide the starter, or use half the quantity of milk, flour and sugar, to feed the bag. However, none of them answer my question.
Can I use all the batter, on the 10th day, after having fed it on the 6th day, and not have to divide it anymore? which obviously means, I will have more than 2 loaves(that comes with one cup starter), but I am quite ok with more loaves. Not more starters to give away, PLEEEEEEASE HELP.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fathers and daughers -in-law
This story again, is based on my experience of one morning, breakfast time.
My father in law was preparing Idli uppuma, which my husband had liked a lot, the last time we gave it for lunch. So today again, was uppuma day. I was noting down the recipe, exact ingredients he put in, and quantity. So, we started discussing how he made sambar too, because my husband had gone ga-ga over the sambar prepared by his dad. Till now, sambar preparation was my responsibility,and i put in what I usually did. Sambar podi, coriander , cumin etc. Turns out, my father in law, does not put any of the above listed podis, but only, salt, turmeric,and red chilly powder. Adding red chilly powder is something i had done before, but only in addition to sambar podi. Adding only red chilly powder was new to me, and I said so.
My father-in-law's favorite refrain is that I make everything "North Indian style". So when He said I made my sambar too, north Indian style, I replied that there was nothing north Indian about making Sambar. as it was a south Indian dish. I said the difference is you make it the non brahmin style ,and I make it the brahmin style, by adding sambar podi.
Now this apparently, rankled him,, and he chided me by saying, "No. Its not that. you always need to come out on top in any discussion,. "
I was hurt. I asked him what ingredients he put in sambar podi, Turns out , his list added and subtracted quantities from the ingredients which I used to make sambar podi. Essentially, it was the same.
On reflection, it was clear that he has a fatherly prejudice against anything his son, does wrong.and insists its the way to be done,"Anything my son does wrong, it is because he does not know any better". On th other hand, if I challenged his notions, I am the one" who always wants to win the argument".
Incident in point: When he arrived here, I generally told him I did not like onions with every vegetable. I was making vegetables in 2 ways- with onions, for him and my husband, and without, the way I liked. So cooking one day, I told him how my husband had insisted , the previous year navaratri, that I make sundal with onion, for giving to guests. i was against the idea, since onion is not supposed to be used while preparing neivedhyam on festival days. My husband however, tells me, not to impose my " brahmin" ways on everyone. I knew his fondness for onion dishes,and so gave in, making 2 varieties of sundal. One for neivedhyam, and one with onion and garlic, just to give guests to eat. (On the phone, my father-in-law had also supported my husband, saying" What is the big problem? its okay if you make it with onion, even for Goddess". )
In my household, the mere mention of garlic and onion in the preparation of sundal for neivedhyam, would draw a series of scoldings and lectures from my mother and grandmother. Here, in their household, onion was OK. So I relented. The whole point of Navaratri was in being happy. It wasn't until one of the guests commented, "How is it, that you have used onion in sundal, on navaratri day?" i explained to them how I had been outvoted by my fatter in law and my husband. And for clarification, that guy was not a Brahmin, neither was his wife. They however, knew, that onion should not be used for festivals.
So, the lack of knowledge on my husband's part, in respect to onions and neivedhyam, was alright. Why? My father in law justified it thus- The town he was brought up in, had a lot of Naidus, Chettiars and so, there was very little Brahmin influence in my husband's life, for him to know about these intricacies of religious functions. However, when I mention, that sambar was made in non-brahmin style, I get chided for expressing what I thought. (What is Aachi milaga podi, if not catering to the taste buds of non brahmins?)
Since my wedding day, I have always tried to avoid mention of "iyer aathu" or brahmin/ non brahmin references. I strongly believed, if it wasn't stopped then, it would affect our kids later on in life. I told my husband, lets just distinguish between being vegetarians and non-vegetarians"
After this incident, I am just waiting for the time when I will have support. That will happen when my parents visit us,and they start chiding my husband, for all his ways- because " its not how it is supposed to be done" and " you always want to prove that you are right" references.
Misuse of medical care
The following incident is narrated only on personal experience, and is based on personal opinion. There is no attempt to generalize anything or anyone's health condition,.
Over the course of past 10 days, I have had to walk the dog of one of my neighbors. We know he falls ill frequently, has a heart condition he is battling with, that leads his heart rate to skyrocket, makes him breathless and faint. I knew his dog was left alone and untended to, until he came back from the hospital. Therefore, I gave him my number, and told him to get in touch with me anytime he is hospitalized and needs someone to walk his dog.
So keeping this in mind, he called me one Saturday morning, saying that he had been rushed to hospital the previous night. He wanted me to walk his dog until his return. I did so. The poor thing, was quite lonely, starved for affection,and I spent extra time, petting her, scratching her ears etc. A few days later, he calls me again, saying that he was taken to hospital again, and the doctors were keeping him overnight to check what was wrong. Again, i told him not to worry about his dog,and that I would walk her until he got back,. Until now, he had not paid me a single penny, claiming that he would pay me when he got some money in hand. He didn't have money because he was unemployed, on disability insurance,and had not found any job yet. So his dues to me had come up to twenty five dollars.
Now, my observation against this person, is that, in spite of a heart condition, he smokes regularly. He walks around , going to check his mail, in the peak afternoon sun, instead of taking rest. He is sweating profusely, by the time he is near his house. He has been told to take it easy,
and not exert himself. In fact, I have seen him become breathless after one such visit to the mailbox,at 2:30 in the afternoon. The people at the sales office called 911 for him.
I do not see how summoning the emergency response vehicles twice a week is going to help keep his heart in shape, if this guy smokes so much. Its a gross disrespect of other people;s time, money and effort. Since one cannot be denied medical attention here, he is rushed to the nearest hospital every time. The expense of all this is going to fall on the head of the wage earner, the tax payer.
A pack of Marlboro's costs around 6 dollars,and this guy has money to blow up in smoke, but not pay me 5 dollars for walking his dog.
The good thing in all this, is that he at least does not pinch pennies in taking care of his dog. She has her food, treats, toys etc. And , he told me that after his most recent visit to the ER, the doctors found out what was wrong., His regular physician had mixed up his medication, and given him 2 medicines that worked against each other. So, the doctors in the ER were going to contact his physician and let him know of the error., In the meantime, he has been told to stop taking whatever counteracted against his system.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Retirement and playing card games on the computer
There seems to be a strange link between retirees and playing card games like solitaire, free cell, on the computer. My father did it, in the months following his retirement,and now i see my father in law do it. They both play these card games for hours on end.When I say hours, i mean spending entire afternoons playing the games.
I often wonder what pleasure they find in seeing a deck of cards fall in place, and the muisic rings, at the end. Well, if i need to spend time, give me a good book any day.
Anyway, this is just my observation, not any kind of comment on this state of post retirement bliss.
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