India on the corner

I stopped by a place in town yesterday called Taj Mahal.

Yes, I'm very much still in Virginia, USA. This was a grocery store, not the overly-famous masoleum from all the postcards. I wonder if it irritates Indians to have that rather johnny-come-lately building, lovely as it is, be all that most people picture when they think India.

When I stepped inside, a tall man in a turban strode towards me, a Sikh, I am sure. A wave of fragrant spices filled my senses. I told him I had come for chana flour. He swiftly took me to its place of honor upon the shelf.

How I longed to linger, to pick up the boxes and bags of mysterious things that were emanating these delicious odors, and to read the labels and just wander around. But as usual, I was due home and could not.

As I cradled the bag of chana flour in my hands, for a moment I listened to the chatter in Hindi of the other customers, wishing as I so often have for the superpower of understanding every world language.

The chana helped me complete a delicious recipe for deep-fried string beans. As I sifted together cumin, carom, ginger and the other ingredients, home in my own kitchen that night, the sweet, spicy fragrances filled the air and gave me a peek into the pleasures of that faraway place.

Of India

Lone Grey Squirrel has expressed in beautiful words, in his blog today, what so many of us thought when we heard of the horror in Mumbai.

India is a beautiful country, working so hard to become a 21st century success story.

India did not deserve this.

"Curry," continued

I am really enjoying this book -- so glad it caught my eye in an airport bookstore a few weeks ago. I didn't buy it there, just scribbled down the title, because everything in airports always costs much more than anywhere else. Bought the book at B&N a few days later.

So I have learned from the first chapter what I sort of knew already, but in greater detail: that speaking of India is like speaking of South America. Not a homogenous, stereotype-able bloc but a patchwork of languages and peoples, each cherishing their own customs and culture.

What was historic India is today several independent nations: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. Scattered across this vast swath of geography are people of widely differing religious practices -- Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Christians, etc, each with their own cultural practices. And within these groups are subgroups with their own differences. And in some cases, groups have mixed to create new groups, such as the fusion of Hinduism and Islam that gave rise to the Sikhs.

India's caste system also determines who eats what and how: a Brahmin and an untouchable theoretically have different diets based on concepts of ritual purity.

Of course, "Curry'"s theme is food and author Collingham points out that despite the huge differences in cuisine from region to region, and the overlay and adaptions from India's various conquerors, all true Indian cuisine is inspired by ancient Ayurvedic principles:

"The idea of mixing hot and cold foods to achieve a sublime blend of the six essential tastes (pungent, acidic, salty, sweet, astringent and bitter) still lies at the heart of Indian cookery today."

India makes history

Perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention to the news this week. In fact, if my eyes hadn't caught the small paragraph on some back page of the metro paper, I wouldn' t have known that India has inaugurated its first Female president this week, Pratibha Patil.

The article states that Her post is largely ceremonial and that Her election "has elicited only a lukewarm response from many women who ... don't feel that she represents them."

Still, it's history and it's something to celebrate. How many Women did this reporter query to come up with that line?

Pres. Patil vows to empower Women and to end the practice of aborting Female fetuses.