Modern day fad - vegetables cut and packaged, ready to cook

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention and, therefore, it has come to pass that today we can get vegetables cut, packed and ready to cook. These are available off the shelf and have come as a boon to those who do not want to be bothered about the dull routine of peeling and cutting the vegetables for cooking.
I first saw it in a number of shopping outlets in Bangalore – the packets were nicely stacked on air-conditioned shelves and the customers were young couples, most of them being from the IT industry. They had just started getting used to a family life and, probably, were not that confident about the process of getting the veggies into proper shape. Moreover, such peeling and cutting required necessary cutting equipment apart from some sort of expertise.

Well – if these were readily available off the shelf, why should worry about cutting equipment and expertise. As to the cooking, there are any number of websites that can provide step by step guidance on preparing the most typical of mouthwatering dishes.
Later, I saw such ready-made packets of cut vegetables in shopping outlets in Nashik as well as in Pune – obviously, the fad has caught on.
When I last visited Kolkata, I found such cut vegetables sold in the markets. In some shops, the shopkeeper will peel and cut the vegetable that you have purchased. As they do for the fish – they descale and cut the fish because the modern day nuclear families do not have any elder women in the house to undertake such dull, boring chores like those of yore who used to be entrusted with these activities.
And, in Nashik, I have seen fruits being sold cut and packaged during festivals like Ganesh Puja and Divali. It is customary to offer at least five different types of fruits to the Gods. But, due to the high cost, a solution has been found. Packets containing one piece of each fruit is sold. For those who cannot afford full fruits, the solution is to offer cut pieces like one pod of an orange, one slice of guava, one grape etcetera – the cost is much less!! (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Fishy tales about Bengali fish lovers

Bengalis love fish – it is immaterial whether the fish are tiny kucho chingri or huge rohu or katla meant for marriage celebrations. The fact is that the menu of Bengalis are incomplete unless there is at least one item related to fish in it. Given the scarcity of this all important food item and sky rocketing price of whatever is available, Bengalis have to not just innovate but also go in for economy measures to the extent possible.
Of course, when one hears about Ilish festivals and when the cooking reality shows on TV make it a point to showcase different preparations of this wonder fish called Ilish, one wonders how many Bengalis can really afford to go in for such luxurious food items – it was rumored that Ilish from Bangladesh was selling for up to Rs 1500 per Kg and the fish on show weighed at least 2-Kg which translates into Rs 3000 for one fish!!

Obviously, there are Bengalis who can afford such luxuries and that the cry about unemployment and poor Bengalis are far removed from reality.
I stay in Nashik and there are fish but, not the wide variety that is available in Bengal. I get rui, katla, pabda, tangra and, of course, prawns that come from the Arabian Sea. Of late, lobsters are also seen – these are being cultivated locally in the Gangapur Dam that supplies water to the city. Ilish does come once in a while but these are again the Arabian Sea variety and size is never more than one Kg. Hence, the taste of Ilish of Bengal never comes through.
However, in Bangalore or in Pune, the varieties of fish are much more and, in fact, the fishmongers arrange to airlift the fish directly from Kolkata – the fish are fresh but the cost is more due to the air freight charges.
One thing I have noticed – nowadays, the fishmongers have a system to descale and cut the fish to size as per your requirements. The reason is that the housewives of today do not know just how to go about this work. They just store the fish in separate packets and put in the freezer – to be removed and cooked on as and when required basis. (to be continued …)
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The power of tulsi leaves – it keeps at bay the pacemaker

The clinic sent their assistant to install the Holter Monitor on my wife and informed that she could carry on her normal activities and he would come next day to remove the equipment – the report would be given subsequently. This Holter monitor was a new concept in cardiac therapy – it recorded the condition and functioning of the heart on a continuous basis for 24 hours and helped the cardiologist to take a decision. In this case, the decision was ‘install a pacemaker’.

However, my wife was not willing to undergo the procedure right then in Kolkata – she wanted to return to Nashik and discuss the pros and cons with my son and with the doctors who treated her regularly. The doctors in Kolkata reluctantly agreed to let us go but, there were problems of another kind in store for us. And, that was to arrange return rail reservations. I made four trips on four successive days to the city booking office of the railways and did not succeed to get Tatkal tickets. There used to be a separate queue for senior citizens and women but, invariably, by the time I reached the counter, there was no vacancy!
Ultimately, I had to request a distant relative to arrange tickets. He was an employee of the railways and had necessary contacts and he arranged Tatkal tickets by the Howrah-Pune Duronto Express.
We reached Pune and from there our son drove us down to Nashik where we discussed the line of action based on the test results of Kolkata. My wife underwent another Holter monitoring and the hospital recommended ‘install pacemaker’.
Incidentally, the hospital had a huge display board at the entrance that read – ‘Pacemaker available on EMI basis’.
It was then that I decided to carry out the tulsi experiment on my wife. We decided to go for a walk in the morning for an hour or so and, on return, take the tulsi medication. I also began to maintain a record of the BP and Heart beat on a daily basis. And, gradually, the heart beat began to pick up.
I had succeeded in keeping at bay the pacemaker, thanks to tulsi leaves. (to be continued …),br>
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‘Papri’ and ‘Barood’ - collection of Bengali short stories published from Nashik

Encouraged by the success of the first issue of Naba Nalanda and the feedback we received through the feedback forms, we took a couple of important steps to boost our presence. One of these was to identify individuals in areas like Bangalore, Bhilai, Raipur, Pune and Jabalpur and request them to be our local representatives. We were fortunate to induct such persons into our fold.
Another project we undertook was to print a collection of short stories. Since we wanted to make a start, we decided to feature our own short stories in the first volume. We named it ‘Papri’ (Petals) and the book, with five stories, ran into around 100 pages.

In the case of books, data entry was smoother as compared to the magazine. There was no question of inserting ads or images or change the layout to accommodate poems.
However, once the data entry was completed, the next problem was funds – the revenue we generated through ads and from subscription of members went towards printing of the magazine. That was a continuous and repetitive process. Therefore, in order to finance the books, we decided to contribute our own funds.
Our publisher friend agreed to get the paper through his sources, the printing of the pages would be by photo offset method and the covers would be printed by screen printing.
By the time our first book ‘Papri’ was ready, our magazine was already into its 3rd issue. It was late 1991 and, we suddenly decided to participate in the Kolkata Book Fair. So, we wrote to the Publishers and Booksellers Guild for the necessary forms.
And, took up data entry on topmost priority of our second book ‘Barood’ (Explosive) to get it published before the Book Fair to be held in January 1992. It would be a collection of crime stories.
We were confident of getting a stall allotted to us because we would be showcasing magazines and books printed outside West Bengal to the Bengalis of Kolkata who love anything out of the ordinary. (to be continued …)

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Printing Bengali magazine and books from Nashik

The procurement of the four-language DTP software by the ad agency took a few months and, we had already decided to go ahead with the printing of Bengali magazines and books from Nashik. We wanted the magazine to be registered with the Registrar of Newspapers so we could collect ads for the same.
Since one of our friends was into the printing business, he gave us estimates of the amount of funds we would require to print the magazines. We wanted to print four issues every year to start with and the print order would be a few hundreds. We also had to have a base of subscribers and, hence, we drew a list of Bengalis from all over India. Our sources were the matrimonial ads that appeared on Sundays in Bengali newspapers. Other source were telephone directories of Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune from where we selected Bengali names.

We knew that we would have to invest to get the first couple of issues printed and circulate them. In order to build our subscriber base, we decided to dispatch complimentary copies by Book Post and hoped that the recipients would reciprocate our gesture by becoming members.
Therefore, with all our activities set in motion, we had to go around to collect ads.
The printing of Bengali magazine from Nashik was a totally new and revolutionary concept and, we decided to approach Bengali industrialists. They encouraged us and, through them, we got introductions to some non-Bengali well-wishers who were owners of hotels.
And, this exercise was time consuming.
We would program it for Sundays. My friend and I stayed in township and we would go by scooter to the industrial area in Nashik which was nearly 25-Km away from township to collect the ads and the cheques. We would leave in the morning after breakfast, have lunch in some wayside hotel and return home by evening. (to be continued …)

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Playing duplicate bridge in Nashik at the state level

Obtaining sponsorship of HAL meant we got two days off to participate and free transport to and from the venue which was in Nashik City.
Once we arrived and got our names registered, we met the players who had come from different corners of Maharashtra. They played bridge regularly and belonged to various clubs. Some of them had played in international tournaments while others played for national teams and were champions within the country.

There were men and women in their 70s and 80s alongside young men and women who were the junior levels of renowned teams of Mumbai and Pune. A couple of the old-timers had remarkable memory and, that was important for bridge players – they had to remember the bids, and proceed with the game based on what they had learned from the bidding.
They had to, also, keep count of how many cards of each suit had been played and which cards still remained. In short, contract bridge was in their blood and they did a lot of study and research on the subject.
The event was an annual one in order to select the best from the state who would represent at the national level and, from there, go to the international level. It was just like any other game and, in the open room, there would be fans hovering around them. Since many of them attended the event every year, they were acquainted with the local authorities as well as the local press.
Our team of HAL appeared to be in an unknown territory – and, in the initial stages of the games, we had the opportunity to sit at the same table and play with well-known names of the Indian bridge world.
However, as the games progressed, there was an automatic filtration because, the teams with high IMPs moved towards the elite end of the open room while the teams with low IMPs remained at the other extreme. (to be continued …)

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