Garlic and appa

This one is purely for appa. There is an article in the New York Times extolling the virtues of garlic. Appa will, of course, say that it is better to be ill than to be eating garlic. What do you think, appa?

Bread, Butter, and Jam

Mala and I have been discussing food blogs. Both of us love to try out new recipes and the food blogs are perfect place to find them. There are many Indians out there. 90% of the Indian food bloggers are women who take great pride in making it for their "hubby" and children. It is little nauseating for me to read that. The point of fact is that though amma is a wonderful cook, she does not like being in the kitchen. No sentiments about feeding "hubby" and children ever moves her. She will cook if she wants to. If you are hungry, get into the kitchen and cook. Which is why I got into the kitchen.
So today I decided to try my hand at apple jam. I buy fruits but hardly ever eat them. So bananas are turned into banana milk shake or banana bread for consumption. And apples...I decided on apple jam.
Of course it was Lata's fault that I ended up making butter. She persuaded me to save the cream from milk and promised that she will make the butter. But yesterday she said that her eldest sister-in-law is coming and she is more scared of her than of her mother-in-law. So this morning I decided to convert all the saved up cream into butter.
And thus lunch was bread, butter, and jam. The only thing lacking was homemade bread but I have always failed in my attempt. Yeast is an organism to do experiments with not use in cooking.
Speaking of food blogs, there is a wonderful site called arabic bites. It is by two sisters who post recipes from the arabic world. I plan to try out their semolina coconut cake. But appa will be glad to know that there are two nice recipes out there: Cucumber mint yogurt salad and Coriander-mint salad.

Climate injustice

The Sunday section of Hindu has a front page article on how India's rich are contributing 4.5 times more carbon emissions than the poor.
I thought about the article as I walked down to Periappa's house in Vasant Kunj. At a brisk pace the distance is about 30 minutes max from my house inside the University. On a pleasant winter day it is a pleasure to walk down. Though with the rampant felling of trees inside the campus makes me want to howl like Dogmatix. Just outside the gate, we can see the eyesore: The biggest Mall in Delhi.
As this is the ridge area, the last bit of the Arvalli Mountains, about a year back there was a massive protest against bulldozing this area to build a mall. (As an aside why would people want to purchase in the mall when they can go to their friendly neighbourhood shop, have a chat, and get what they want. I am in the minority here). Anyway, the developers won and the mall is slated to open some time soon. I watched the workers for some time and realized that none of these people are ever going to be able to buy or even enter these malls. The mall is going to escalate the electricity and the water problem but none of these made any impact on the Judges.
Inside the campus it is another story. Every time trees are cut and another building comes up we are told that if we don't build the government will move in. There is pressure on the land. But why can't we declare this as protected land because we have plenty of wildlife and provide the green space for the city?
As for the faculty the less said the better. All of them need the car to walk down to the academic buildings or even to the shopping centre within the campus. As the maximum walking distance from anywhere to anywhere within the campus (except for a section called Proovanchal)is just about 15 minutes, I fail to understand why they need the car inside the campus.
This time Rohan has ensured a space for himself in the Campus Development committee. His one-point agenda: to shoot down all requests for car parking space.

Protests are our birthright

14th November is a big day for JNU: Founder's day.
Some 4 years back Poonam (PRO) persuaded the administration to celebrate it in a big way. The idea took root in the form of Nehru Memorial Lecture. One year we had Manmohan Singh. DSU (Democratic Student's Union) and PSU (Progressive Student Union), both part of extreme left-wing, spent days in organizing the protest. AISA was also part of that nonsense. All the rector and VC could do was to stand by helplessly. There was a massive protest. NSUI took offense and all the factions beat each other up. I am assuming lots of frustrations were vented out.
This year we invited Somnath Chatterjee to talk about the role of Parliament in Democracy.
DSU and PSU showed up at the venue with lots of banners and slogans. Their problem: Nandigram. It was the best occasion to indulge in CPI vs CPI(M) fight.
The administration is as usual clueless how to deal with this.

Broadband connection

This month I have been trying to get periappa a broadband connection. He has decided preferences. Only Sify because that is what he has in Trichy, his other home. So I have been calling Sify incessantly. And have decided that I definitely dislike those Press 1 for blah..blah...Press 2 for another set of blah...blah...All I want is actually to talk to a human being.
Anyway, after pressing through star and 1 and 2, I finally ended up with a human voice. I would like a broadband connection to be established at my Periappa's residence. I give his phone number and address. They give me a confirmation number. And assured me that within 2 days it will be all established.
Two days come and go and nothing happens. I call again. This time the human voice laughs sheepishly and says it was Diwali, you see but don't worry within 24 hours.
24 hours come and go and again I call. This time they tell me that all the survey has been done and the cable has been put in and within 48 hours it will be done.
48 hours come and go and again I call. This time all I want to know is what is their definition of 24, 48,72 hours. The human voice is soothing. Let me find out the problem . The problem turns out was that they did not have connection in that area. So when the request poured in, they had to do a survey and lay the cable.
"Shouldn't we have been informed?"
The voice soothes me:
"You will have the connection by 20th."
NOTE: They have not said which 20th.
Meantime, I have a tough job in hand: to soothe periappa.
I really think it is time appa purchased a small plane. Then he can hop across the country soothing his various relatives.

Amla ka Murabba

Vibha has been extolling the virtues of amla (Indian gooseberry) during our daily walks. She claims it can take care of all the throat problems. As I am willing to try anything (except allopathic medicines) for my nasal problem, I put this on the list of the things to try.
So when I saw amla at the stall where I purchase coriander leaves, I fell to the temptation and brought them. The problem with amla is it is sour. The remedy is Murabba, a sweet concoction.
My periamma and I do not see eye to eye on many matters. But when it comes to recipes and knitting patterns we often turn to each other. So I sounded her out. How does one make murabba?
On Diwali day (the north Indian one, so sensible really as they postpone their festivities to evening unlike us south Indians who get up before day break to take an oil bath), I decided to try my hand at it.
The amla was pierced and steamed. And a sugar syrup was made. I could not resist. I added bay leaf, cinnamon, and cloves. When the syrup was thick, I added the juice that the amla had extruded while getting steamed. And a pinch of saffron.
And then I poured the hot mix onto a plastic container. It took me several minutes to realize that the plastic container did not appreciate the hot mix. Oops.
So I transferred it into two glass jar, added the steamed amla, and closed the container.
Periamma says that the amla will absorb the syrup and turn almost black. I am waiting. So far it has not turned any color. On the other hand, the syrup is tasty with a tangy sweet taste.
Appa should be happy. I hope so. It is one recipe that does not contain mint or garlic.

To sue or not to sue

I found this amusing piece in The New York Times. Apparently MIT is going to sue architect Frank Gehry. Amongst the many reasons cited, MIT says that the newly constructed center has persistent seepage problem.
Now CPWD has been at the service of our nation for 150 years. Every construction has the mandatory seepage problem. When I moved into the transit house three years ago, I discovered it for myself. The first showers resulted in massive seepage and yes, mold too, as MIT asserts.
Letters went to the chief engineer. Finally, last year they decided to mend the problem. They got the materials, cleaned the roof, and declared proudly that it was completely done. As a proof they poured water over the roof. Does it leak now, they asked? As a matter of fact, when they poured water over the roof, it poured down into the house too. I put a bucket underneath the leak and wrote nasty letters to the chief Engineer because nothing can be done without written complaint. Ultimately, I got some respite.
My favorite story though is that of the New Transit House. It was built some years back and the folks living in the ground floor noticed seepage. Funny, because the floors above were perfectly okay. The CPWD was called in. They poked and prodded and then finally diagnosed the problem. The pipe from up and the pipe from the side were not joined.
"We forgot, Madam," they said apologetically to the occupant.

Election results

AISA won. So we(?) can all heave a sigh of relief. The university continues to be the bastion of communists. Unlike last time, all the Student Union seats (president, vice-president, secretary) have been won by AISA.
The YFE won as expected the councillor seats in all the science schools. Surprisingly, and this should give Rohan some sleepless nights, ABVP won 4 councillor seats.
My friend Vibha, who is at the German Center, and I discussed the elections in great detail as we took our customary walk yesterday night. She wondered if YFE might be the answer to the Congress and BJP. I do not know. YFE seems to be running on a single point agenda at present: No reservations. I am pretty ambivalent about the entire issue. At one point there is no use of discussing reservations at higher education level unless we ensure good schooling at primary level. But, on the other hand, discriminations exist. Not only at primary school level but even at job level as Surinder Jodhka's research has shown.

Election mayhem

Today we made it to the front page. In The Hindu there is an article about the mayhem created at yesterday's President's debate. The Student Union President, in case anyone is wondering.
It is that time of the year. The student's vote for their representatives today. Some time later it will be the turn of the teachers. Only we are more sophisticated. We make it so that the representatives are elected unanimously. But more about that later.
To get back to the student's election, there is a genuine fear that this time YFE(Youth for Equality) might win, ending the communist monopoly. Last year, there was a fractured mandate with two posts going to SFI-AISA and two posts going to AISF. They kept fighting amongst themselves, wasting away the mandate given to them. It had been a close fight last year with YFE garnering all the votes from the Science schools. For some time it had appeared as though they had won but the Social Science schools ensured that the communists won. This year it appears as though YFE has made tremendous inroads into the Social Science schools too. All the posters from SFI-AISA are targetted towards YFE. Amusingly, considering almost all the YFE students are from science school and I know many of them, the YFE posters are all about drawing tables and pointing out the differences between them and the rest of the parties. It all appears so logical and thoughtful. I just wish they would apply little of that logicality when they are asked analyze their results. Maybe we need to change their Ph.D. topics.
My friend, Rohan, expressed relief that at least the ABVP threat has been nullified. I wanted to tell him that ABVP is capable of decimating themselves without any outside help. Just reading the Hindu article will explain why. Someone should explain to them that Lord Ram can defend himself, thank you.