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.
