I am towards the end of my 12 days off from work- official holidays starting from Oct1 -Ramzan Id to Oct12th -(includes Gandhi Jayanthi and Dassera festivals) . I enjoyed the extra hours of sleep in the mornings (on College days I am up at 5.15am as the bus arrives at 6.45am and cruises through the shuttered streets of Chennai for an hour and half before arriving at the college gates) and the leisure of reading. Unfortunately the library that was just outside my home was bulldozed down together with half dozen shops that was the barber's, grocery, tailor,xerox ,tea shop as they were part of unauthorized construction and the municipal authorities were looking to widen the road. I felt saddened by its absence as he was well stocked on PG Wodehouse books and Robin Cook's series. I met the owner the other day while he was cycling distributing magazines to housewives and he said they had moved into the opposite street. Well..where there is a will there is a way... Anyway I had a few books that I had bought a year ago and plunged into it. I read R.K.Narayan's Malgudi days - a compilation of short stories on routine life in South India. Enjoyed it. Mariamma ( of breaking chair fame ...refer older posts) insisted on me getting some Tamil movie CDs and I obliged. There is a CD shop closeby and it is home delivery ..so it is convenient. I watched the Tamil heroes jump buildings , climb into fastrains and cars that jumped like it was doomsday while Mariamma danced to the Tamil Numbers ( fortunately she didnt break anything in the process this time). Mariamma also made Dahi Vada - a snack that is a delicacy from North India. It is made from Black gram dal that is soaked overnight and then ground to thick paste. Salt and cut ginger pieces are added to it and balls are added to hot oil and fried till light brown and immediately put in cold water for 2-3 mins. It is then gently squeezed to remove the water and put into the yogurt sauce that is seasoned with roasted cumin powder, green chillies, sugar, little salt, and dash of red chilli powder. Actually Mariamma made it South Indian style which meant she added onions and red chilli to the vada and didnt add sugar to the yogurt sauce. It was tasty nonetheless.
4 comments:
I have never heard about the two festivals that you tell about....what are they????
Rebecca,Ramzan id is a festival celebrated by muslims to mark the end of their month long fast during which time it is believed their holy book the Koran was revealed.
The other festival is Dassera which is celebrated by hindus in honor of their goddess Durga who is supposed to have told king Ram the secret to destroy the monster Ravana who has abducted his wife sita to Sri Lanka.
Gandhi Jayanthi is not a festival but it is a holiday to commemorate the birth of Mahatma Gandhi who fought for independance of India.
Hi janet,
Yes, the taste of a really good ten-days off from office. Such a treat really! And yes, we keep hoarding books to read and this really is the best time to get into them. Loved your post, somehow it was racey and interesting read.
Julia
Great description of your holidays Janet.
Glad you enjoyed the books and Cds.
Maryma has a great 'personality '.
You can make dahi vads any way as long as they are soft and delicious.I love them.
I made some from a ready to make packet mix. its saves you all the extra work of soaking the dal and grinding it etc.
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