Aam Doi

Mango, the king of the seasonal fruits during summer is also one of my favorites. And the best part of it, Raw or ripe, it furnishes well one's creativity in culinary to experiment in vast ranges of different dishes. In Bengali cuisine mango is not only used in the sweets or desserts but in the main courses too, as raw mangos are used in Daal, fish etc. My recent visit to some eminent swanky Bengali Cuisine Restaurants in Kolkata, enamored my attention to the dessert section. Aam Doi  (Mango Flavoured Sweet Yoghurt) is mostly common in the dessert sections during this searing summer. I often make Mishti Doi (Sweet Yoghurt) at home but never tried Aam Doi. So this time I tried my hand to experiment Aam Doi in my kitchen. And no need to say, everybody in my family savoured it in no time. Of course on the same run, I would like to refer Bong Mom' s CookBook where she gave a nice recipe of Aam Doi. Following is the recipe, how I made it:

Ingredients:

Mango - 1 (medium sized, I made a pulp out of it.)

Thick curd - 1 cup (I used Amul's Masti doi)

Condensed Milk - 1 can (400g pack)

Pistachio - for garnishing

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 130 degree C.
2. Beat the curd in a smooth paste so that no lump can be seen.
3. Add all the other ingredients except the pistachio and blend together nicely.
4. Take ramekins or an oven proof bowl. Pour the mixture in it and bake it for 10 -25mnts. If you are using ramekins it will take 10-15 mnts. If you are using a single bowl for the given measurement it will take 20-25mnts. Pls keep on checking pricking a toothpick until it comes out smooth.
5. Take out from the oven cool it. Then refrigerate for an hour and serve with garnished pistachio.

Note: If you want to make Mishti Doi at home, don’t add mango and do the rest.

Another Chance by Ahmed Faiyaz (Book Review)

Title: Another Chance

Author: Ahmed Faiyaz

 First Published on: 2010 in India by Grey Oak Publishers

ISBN: 978-93-81626-02-3

Pages: 210

Price: 195/-

Rating: 2.5/5

Love has been the true hidden agonist in the novels from the decades, which amalgamates the theme and the characters to develop and to give a form of a successful storyline. My recent read Another Chance is a novel where the protagonist's love-life keeps on giving another chance to several relationships in search of true love.

The story is about Ruheen Oberoi, a nubile gorgeous girl, lives life in a carefree way and the love affairs she confronts with as time progresses. There are Varun Shetty, Vishal Chaturvedi, Aditya Sharma and Rohan Aluwalia with whom Ruheen had relationships and all these characters keep on popping out in intervals throughout the novel. Though apart from all the ups and downs, Ruheen’s relationship with Aditya Sharma ultimately announces the dictum that true love does exist.

Aditya Sharma and Ruheen met in college in Mumbai. Then they got separated. Then again they bumped into each after few years when Aditya had a good career and Ruheen was concealing from her first marriage with Rohan in Amsterdam. They started to cohabite life together again. They gave the relationship another chance to make it successful which was weaved only with the language of love. But again dark clouds shattered their life when they lost their first unborn child. Misunderstanding and emotional imbalances create a distance in their life when Ruheen decided to estrange again. But Aditya's faith in Love ended the novel by convincing Ruheen to give another chance to their relationship.  

It is a fully passionate love story of the modern age where marriage is not the true bonding but the heart that bonds two souls. It’s a 'roller coaster' ride of emotions that upheaves the novel till end. The relationships showed here are very easy to get in to and very fragile to break in a moment too. There is one crazy guy Vishal Chaturvedi, ex-boyfriend of Ruheen, for whose deadly threaten Ruheen gets to get separated from Aditya. There is Rohan who has married Ruheen only for her fortunes. There is one Malika who has almost taken Aditya in her seducement when Aditya is deep into relationship with Ruheen. Then there is Varun Shetty, Ruheen's frist adulterous boyfriend whom she meets after 11 years and almost ready to tie up knots when her relationship With Aditya is resulting very low in rate. But it is Varun who incited Ruheen’s thought to give Aditya another Chance. And as always happens - everybody lives happily ever after, Including Varun the shattered heart, got a girl at the end. 

This novel is getting filmed in June 2012. And I bet, What an entertainer movie script needs it has all the elements in it, like- actions, love letters, passionate love story, several picturesque spots like Simla, Amsterdam, Mumbai, etc. To be honest I didn't have the tenacity to read the novel line by line as I found it quiet boring and nagging with the same sequel emotions. Though to praise the author, the author has a well narrated storyline and portraits the characters with a very skilled and minute detail.  I would like mention one more thing that raised confusion in my mind. The author has used few Bengali words. Among them I am not able to find out the meaning of – “Subho Aprohano” (Page: 182). Does he want to mean “Shubho Aporanho”(Good Afternoon)!!!

This novel is Ahmed Faiyaz's second novel. His first novel is Love, Life and all that Jazz. He was born in Bangalore. He is a management consultant by profession and works for Health Authority of the Government of Dubai in a Strategic Planning and Execution role. He lives in Dubai with his wife. He acquired a Chartered Accountant's Degree and also an MBA degree. He writes about his writing:"Writing is not about making money for me nor am I considering a career switch. It's much more than that. It's something that is self- fulfilling. I aim and hope to write the kind of stories I enjoy reading and hopefully what you enjoy too. "

 
This review can be read HERE too.

Chocolate Titbit

Arguments do hold the truth, mainly if it’s about migration. My 5 years of USA stay did spoil my cooking habit, the shopping habit and of course the conveniences of getting and making things done in a second.  After coming to India my biggest project started to interior my home. That took almost 9 months to complete it. In between I had to venture out for those fashion foods that used to give a tinge to our taste buds in USA. Though to my surprise, most of the ingredients are available now a day in Indian markets. The hyperlink markets are accumulating a good collection of foreign goods and foods. Only the difference is, you can indulge on buying them once in a month or so, as the prices are too high to coddle. But again if there is will, there is way. Many Indian food companies are now producing the products that is not only easily available in the markets but at an affordable price too. Anyway it took a long time to get the acquaintances of the manifested upholds of the habitant.

After settling in India one major change I face in my life that I step in the kitchen occasionally. Life without maids and cooks are unimaginable here, mainly in Kolkata. And I took the full advantage of pampering myself with this indulgence. Therefore my cooking habit becomes more fashionable with those fancy dishes that the cook can't provide. As my daughter is growing, her tastes are changing too. I have to offer her new kind of food every time. Her full of vigor and energy to learn and see how mummy is cooking a dish makes me more energetic to step more often in the kitchen recently. So again "Mummy ka Magic" starts to offer new recipes to boost the appetite of the family in a nouveau way.

This Chocolate Titbit is very easy and takes very little time to make. It is a very tempting and tasty quick bite; a best devouring dish to indulge oneself in a chocolaty pungent snack.

Ingredients:

Chocolate: 1 cup (grated)

Cream: 1 cup

Thin Arrowroot  Biscuits: 1 cup (powdered)

Butter: ¼ cup (melted)

Method:

1. Mix the powdered biscuits with butter well. Take a small muffin cake pan. Grease it with light butter or you can use small foil cups also. Put the biscuit mixture and make bowl shape by pressing your finger in it.

2. You can refrigerate it for an hour or bake it for 5mnts on 170 degree C.

3. Heat the cream on gas and put the chocolates in it. Stir continuously till the chocolate gets melted. Make the ganache semi thick. Then pour it, into the muffin cups slowly.

4. Refrigerate for an hour or so. Serve and enjoy.

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Book Review)

Title: One Amazing Thing

Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

First Published on: 2009 in Voice by Hyperion in USA

ISBN: 9780670084524

Pages: 208

Price:  450/-

Rating: 4/5

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, surely needs no introduction, as she is one of those Indian-English writers who provokes the Diasporic Literature to reach its zenith. Every time I read her novels, I delve deep in the ocean of her amazing story selections - simple, common but unique in true sense; which keeps one mesmerized with its ravishing writing skills. She blooms the sentiments of the off-shore Indians and their diasporic emotional values. Every time she lands up with a new thought, a new set of characters, with a new story. But among all facts, her novels have one common touch of the very Indianness.

My recent read, One Amazing Thing, is in the true sense a novel which recollects and brings out the amazing part of the characters life or rather I should say - a confrontation with the inner 'I'.  

The outline of the story is too simple to tell - 9 people got stuck in an Indian Visa office in America after a severe earthquake took place. The suffering and confinement in between the debris, where water leakage is taking everything under water by inches and insufficient food and water, have created a suffocated mental suffering for the victims who are also engaged in self infringement. In this deadening situation, Uma Sinha and Cameron played the roles of the catalysts to set a light in the victims’ life to get rid of their fear of death for the time being. It was Uma's idea to engage the characters in the amazing story telling assiduity. In this dreadful moment, the characters get a relief by telling each other the amazing stories of their lives. The 9 characters are as follows -

1. Uma Sinha an Indian young college going student in America.

2. Cameron- an African-American ex-soldier in his fifties.

3 & 4. V.K.S. Mangalam and Malathi Ramaswamy, the two visa officers.

5 & 6. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchett .

7. Tariq, a young Muslim galvanized his heart against the Americans.

8 & 9. Jiang a Chinese grandmother and her granddaughter Lily.

All the characters have transmigrated to America from the different parts of the world, but they have one destination to travel that is to India. Their Stories also tell the reasons of their India visit apart from Mr.Mangalam and Malathi. Apart from the turbulence of the earthquake and the survival strategies that the people are trying every moment to be safe, the novel mainly holds the 9 stories from the characters' which help the novel to develop. At the first glance the stories seem the simple incident of their life. But those stories mainly are the hidden achievements or their self confessions that the truth of their consciousness really focus on. What I felt the stories are simply nothing but the confrontation with their Inner ‘I’, at the moment of facing death so close, they were able to see their heart also, that they like to share or confess before their death. Each story of one’s life tells the whole life story of the person. It’s a confession that they want to get relieved of the burden. The darkness of the fear of death opens the gates of their heart to the unknown people whom they never know whether they will meet again in future or not.

I loved reading the novel, but all the nine stories didn't hold the same likeness to me. I liked Jiang’s and Malathi's stories most. Tarique's story focuses on the racial conflict what the American based Muslims really face. The other stories are simple realizations in the attire of incidents. I found the novel little bit boring, but a nice read though.

 This review is also published HERE.

A Monsoon Of Music by Mitra Phukan (Book Review)

Title: A Monsoon Of Music

Author: Mitra Phukan

ISBN : 978-9-381-01700-5

Price: 450/-

"A Monsoon Of Music" made my mind refreshed, after the couple of books what I read before. My first read on 'Musical Fiction', what I shall call it, as the novel is entirely based on the world of music mainly highlighting the Hindustan Classical music tradition. The minute detail of the musical heritage and the keen observance of how the musical world may look from inside, are literarily appreciated and a good read for the novices like me, who have a very little knowledge about how a musical professional world might look like. With the backdrop of the classical music, the writer skillfully develops the main story which can be defined as a twofold triangle love story. A generation gap has been highlighted but love doesn't know the language of age. Love is evergreen from generation to generation, from decade after decade.

What always looks perfect is not perfect at all. And that the story unfolds when the darker secrets of the life of the characters reveal slowly. Nomita the main protagonist, is a Hindustani vocal artist who lives in small town named Tamulbari and aspires very little to get famed over the top. Her Guruma is a renowned Hindustani classical vocalist and married to another famous Hindustani classical vocalist. Both look like their pair is made in heaven. Both look gorgeous and serene. The simplicity in them never blows the air of their illustriousness. On the other hand Nomita who dwells in the life between the two world one through her guruma, what she entirely wants to believe to be meant for her and the other world what she sees through her childhood best friend Rahul's eyes where Hindustan classical music is replaced by the contemporary light weighted music. When she is in rahul's world she loves to taste the new rhythm and to tap her feet with it, the jovial life of her friend makes her to feel a new kind of ecstatic amalgamation which leaves her aspiring classical world far behind. Nomita's two world dilemmas became more constrict when her alliance suddenly get fixed with ambitious sitarist Kaushik Kashyapa, a globe-trotting superstar in the Hindustani Classical music world. The thought that two people with same ambition and from same field, makes life more easy to live like, confronted with the famous notion that two opposite poles attract more than anything and make things better than ever. Nomita tried utmost to accept the world of Kaushik Kashyapa where she also belongs to. But Rahul's world and Rahul's thought always comes in front as a path blocker. Still she is totally unaware of the fact that she is in love with Rahul. She tries hard to love Kaushik Kashyap. On the other hand Rahul the IT guy also never showed in his sense that he is madly love with Nomita. His maturity and respect to the family make him a perfect human being and the most admiring character of the novel.

Here the two fold triangle relationships start where Guruma reveals the truth to Nomita that she is deeply in love with her friend Deepak Rathor, an Industrialist, before her marriage whose world is totally different from her world. And the relationship what she is keeping with her husband is the most non perfect relationship hovering around. There is no love in the relationship but a kind of respect that they have for each other. The rumor about her and Deepak Rathor is true. She finds the solace of love in Deepak Rathor. This revelation of the truth of Guruma put a light on the second fold of triangle relationship, which is also telling the same story more or less of the Guruma's. Nomita's heart opens where she finds only one name is written that is of Rahul.

Let me keep the rest untold to hold back the suspense of the novel.

This is a good read for me as I told earlier. One will get a thorough knowledge of what a classical musical world may look like. On the same stream it also shows the darker side of this world what often we the people from the common world are missing out. Mitra Phukan being an Assamese vocalist of the Hindustani classical music tradition, a writer, music critic and also a columnist , has given circumstantially the accurate detail of the ragas, the musical instruments, the musicians gestures during the performance, everything what is really knowledgeable to the people belongs to the nonmusical world. At the same time the story set up and the character portrayals need to be apprised.

[This review has been published HERE & HERE.]

The Vague Woman's Handbook by Devapriya Roy (Book Review)

Title:The Vague Woman's Handbook
Author: Devapriya Roy
ISBN: 978-93-5029-032-3
Price: 199/-
Pages:343

Published recently The vague woman's handbook by Devapriya Roy, didn't take much time to take a place in the favourite place of my bookshelf. Story of two women, intertwined by the bonding of friendship and sisterhood, portrayed in simple terms the daily flares of live and the struggles of living.  The debut novel of Devapriya just won the heart and kept a mesmerizing trance as you start the book and couldn't leave  till it gets end. The language subtly woven in the beautiful imageries. The novel surely proved to be ranked with highest points.

The novel carries no extraordinary or very interesting story but the two simple outlines of how two love birds married in the mid of their academic session , seeking solace to live life with comfort and the bonding between two women who find a breathing space in the form of sisterhood  who come together in their professional world.
As the title suggests the novel reflects the two vague women Sharmila Chatterjee aka mil, ages 22 and Indrani sen in her fifties. The book portraits  a perfect companionship where the two complements each other. The age of Indrani sometimes nod down its head in front of the confidence and boldness of mil where as the mother like indrani never forgot to support mil in her low time and to console her with experienced guidance. Apart  from these two women characters, one character that is worth to mention is  Abhimanyu, mil's husband. The balanced, idealistic, caring  romantic guy is  the gem of the novel, whose character portrayal will definitely win the heart of the readers.

[Note: This review can also be read HERE and HERE]

Tea for Two and a piece of Cake by Preeti Shenoy (Book Review)

"Tea for Two and a piece of Cake", written by Preeti Shenoy, is a kind of novel that can't be left in between. The simple language and the continuity of the plot simply marveled the reader to dig deep in the story and get mingled with the characters.

Nisha, a common plumpish girl doomed by her fate from her childhood when her mother died and father became an island, though stays with her, hard to reach. Her father allotted a nanny for her but she also left her forever when she was just 13. She brought up herself in a lone world without any friends, until she got a job in a travel agency and tasted a world where you can laugh and cry with her friends. Circumstances changed when suddenly her fate smiled on her and she met her prince charming from the suave world, just like what happens in the fairytales. Time kept on moving, dragging her to the life what she aspired only in her dreams. She got married, become blessed with two kids, but suddenly the black clouds started to darken her life when her husband seeks for a divorce and Nisha to live life with self respect and dignity, left her husband's home at once with her kids. Battle starts then when she started to face the scarcity of money. And then only like an angel, her old friend turned out and showed her the path to earn money. Nisha got a self identity, a financial independence and love again knocked her door in the attire of her friend. The novel ends with the common note - all's well, end's well.

It is a story of a common girl, how she faces the ups and downs in her life. It is a story of lust for life, lust for love and lust for sex. It is a story of a woman's search for an identity when fate closes all the doors of life. Though after finishing the book, one could feel that it is a fairytale like story where the only difference is, the sins of life are projected thoroughly. The sins, what the society would name it, when we have sex before marriage, extra marital affairs, woman falling for a boy younger than her, divorce etc. The writer very skillfully focused on the human relationships, a relationship between husband and wife how breakups often created without anybodies knowledge. Preeti Shenoy has successfully achieved to create a wonderful passionate common story where she unfolded the common human desires and dreams.

[Note: Recently I have started a separate blog to store my reviews and articles as for handy reference to the professional world. So now onwards both blogs will deliver the same article with a link together.]

Hello Friends.....

Hi friends, Remember me…..May be not as it’s an enough span of  gap to forget a name or a person. But a hearty thanks in advance to those still remember me…First let me wish you all a Happy New Year,  though its late, not so late to wish . Last year was so hectic and busy for me that still the busy schedule of those days trembles me with a feel of exhaustion. I got shifted form USA. Then got fully heads into decorating my small dwelling place. Working with various kind of workers here, is the most tedious job I understood, as time is not so important for them. Syncing each of the worker with the other and fit them into my schedule was really the hardest job I have ever  faced. My hubby was then out of the country. All  responsibilities were on my head. My daughter's school, the interior work progression  and on  the other hand, the  preparation of my own sister's marriage in the same town, made me a machine to work like a maniac. But touch wood everything went nicely and I give some credit to myself as all alone I completed two big projects of my life yet - Decorating my home and arranging my sis's marriage.

So, Friends here I am back again. I can't assure about my regularity. But hopefully you are going to see me again in intervals.

 Wish all happy Blogging.