Category: Columns

Finish your Maggi packs in style

Post author By The Metrognome
Post date June 9, 2015
No Comments on Finish your Maggi packs in style

We give you three quick, yummy ways in which you can dispose off your leftover Maggi noodles packets. Tuck in!

by Anurita Gupta

The whole point of cooking Maggi noodles is that they are so easy to make – and hence, they’ve made cooks out of most of us! But alas! Our lovely 2 minutes of joy have come to a halt.

There’s no comfort food more delightful than our bowl of instant Maggi noodles. Whoever is a regular Maggi noodles eater in this country buys more than one pack at a time. But with this commotion over lead poisoning and high levels of MSG in each pack, we are left wondering what to do with the extra packs we’ve purchased.

Let me present three ways to finish off your Maggi noodles packs in style. May be with these, you will feel a little less guilty enjoying them!

Maggi ki bhajiya

The rains are arriving in the city, and what better way to welcome them than with crisp Maggi bhajiyas? At our home, this used to be the recipe to follow for some leftover, mushed down Maggi sitting in the fridge.

Simply make the bhajiya batter with besan (chickpea flour), water, season with salt, pepper, ajwain, heeng and of course, some nicely chopped onion, green chilly, and coriander. To this batter, add the cooked Maggi and fry in hot oil. You would be surprised to see how much more delicious Maggi bhajiyas taste in comparison to the usual onion and potato ones.

Maggi masala omelette

This is my original recipe that came into being with just an egg remaining in the fridge and half a packet of Maggi in the kitchen on a hungry afternoon. Masala omelette with Maggi? Ho sakta hai!

Simply whisk the egg and add the Maggi tastemaker to taste. Try not to put all of it in at one go. In a wok, heat up some oil and fry the uncooked Maggi noodles to a crisp. Once done, in a pan make a bed of this crispy Maggi and pour the egg on top. Leave it on medium heat so that the base doesn’t burn while the egg cooks. Once the egg is done, take it off the heat and enjoy this crispy crackly omelette!

Maggi ka Chinese pulav

Instead of fried rice, enjoy Chinese Maggi instead. For this dish, fry up some chillies, chopped onion and capsicum along with some finely cut boiled potatoes, green peas and French beans. To this, add some soya sauce and vinegar. Now boil Maggi as per instructions and add to the mixture. Lastly add the tastemaker as per taste. Mix everything very lightly so as to not make a mush out of the noodles. Serve in a bowl and enjoy with chopsticks.

While the above are some interesting twists to Maggi, one cannot deny that we all have some wonderful memories attached to this bowl full of happiness. My most cherished memory is from one of our trips to the hills. My cousins and I were on our way to Manali from Delhi and on the way it started raining. The rain brought with it sudden hunger pangs, and we started looking for a place to eat on the road. Finally, we found a small shack with a Himachali lady making Maggi in a dented aluminium pan. I found out that day that Maggi noodles with elaichi chai is a brilliant combination. The combined aromas wafting around us instantly put us all in a super happy mood and ensured that every speck of the noodle was cleaned off the plate.

While we bid adieu to that wonderful taste, let’s hope the memories it has created over the years would make up for it! So long, Maggi!

Anurita Gupta is a media professional who is passionate about two things – food and radio. Her love for all things food makes her a foodie with a cause.

(Pictures courtesy greatermalaysia.com, khanakhazana-1.blogspot.com, foodfactory.amit4u.com. Images are used for representational purposes only)

Tags anurita gupta, maggi, swaad anuswaar, ways to cook maggi noodles

Enough said

It happened in Atali…

The Modi Government needs to take note and action against those perpetuating the several attacks on minorities in the country.

by Humra Quraishi

I am disheartened by the continuous discrimination and displacement of Muslims in the country. The very latest in this strings of incidents was last week’s violent attacks against Muslims living in Atali village in Ballabhgarh, Haryana. Though this village is located barely 20 km from the national capital, there was no end to the plight of the Muslims here, whose homes, shops and vehicles were torched by militant mobs.

No arrests have yet been made, and the affected families are sitting in the police station premises, scared of moving elsewhere. The names of the attackers have been put in the FIR, but nobody has been arrested yet. Are these attackers from the Right wing brigades and protected by the State?

The making of Atali

Muslims comprise 10 per cent population with about 600 votes and are mostly landless labourers with some being well off. Hindus comprise all castes.

They too are underprivileged, however, a significant number of them have good land holdings and are well placed. There are seven temples in the village, including a madiya (a tiny one room temple) that has large open space. About 100 feet away from the madiya stands an uncompleted mosque with erected pillars but no roof. In 2009, Hindus raised objections to the building of the mosque saying it was the Panchayat land, while Muslim said it was Waqf land. The dispute went to court.

In March 2015, the Court gave a judgment in favour of Muslims (The Hindu, May 30, 2015). As Muslims planned to start the work on the incomplete mosque, Hindus aggressively opposed the idea.

I quote Delhi-based social activist Khadeejah Farooqui and Professor VK Tripathi who visited this village. “May 25, 2015 was a nightmare for the people of Atali, a village 12 km from Ballabgarh in Faridabad district of Haryana when sectarian violence drove 400 Muslims to Ballabgarh Police Station for shelter.

“On May 25 evening, a mob attacked the Muslims, injuring many seriously, and ransacking and burning many homes. Two hours later, police arrived and took a few hundred of Muslim men and women to Ballabgarh police station for safety…On May 30, both of us visited the area. We reached Ballabgarh police station at 1.00 pm. About 150 people from Atali were sitting under the trees and a similar number of women underneath a shamiana in sweltering heat.

“Their faces reflected pain and dejection. Some were still in hospitals. Women were particularly shocked and worried about their belongings and animals. People narrated their tales of horror but showed anxiety to return to their homes. They wanted the attackers to be arrested and a compensation to be paid. Some said that Central Government Minority Minister Najma Heptullah or her nominee visited them and promised help but nothing happened. We learnt that a meeting was being held to bring peace in the village. We talked to the police but they could not provide details of the incident.

“At 2 PM we left for Atali. We walked through the village and talked to a cross section of people. There were police men stationed all over. As we reached Tali temple, we met a group of people playing cards while many elderly people watching them and talking. We talked to them for half an hour. They said there was no court judgement on the mosque. Muslims were forcibly building a mosque on panchayat property in the vicinity of temple which they could not allow. One old man said, ‘Only two poor Muslim families came in the village in 1947. We gave them shelter as workers. Then they called their relatives and settled them in the village, thus increasing their population.”

We enquired how much land holdings they had. They said, “Nothing. We give them work.” Some listened to our appeal for sanity and respect for working classes while most others looked indifferent.

“Wherever we went we were struck by the dominant thought that the Hindus actually believed that the village belonged to them and the Muslims must accede to their wishes. A working class man or woman has the foremost right to live in the village irrespective of his or her religion or caste. Hating them, terrorising them and killing them is deep injustice. Six days after the incident, there was still hardly any repentance in the village. Fear of survival looms large on the victims. Unless we find a solution to this mindset, Indian villages can not survive the corporate onslaught that is bent to ruin them.”

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy indianexpress.com, sikhsiyasat.net)

Tags enough said, humra quraishi, muslims attacked in atali

Overdose

We live in Waste Age

What gives us the right to pollute the environment and show scant regard for natural resources? What’s with the disrespect?

by Jatin Sharma | @jatiin_sharma on Twitter

I have had an epiphany. Courtesy of my dad.

We human beings have this tendency to name the era we are living in. And why not, since our history textbooks taught us to follow nomenclatures? We had the Dark Ages, Industrial Age, Jet Age, and several others, and so I would like to add another one to the list with Waste Age.

How did I arrive at this name? This name was not self-realised but rather, it came about because of my father.

My father has always taught us sustainability. His mantra in life has always been to optimise usage of the things that we purchase. Whether it has been the TV , his scooter and even his cupboard. He is the one who also instilled values in us about walking home to save money and getting valuable exercise at the same time.

I am sure that most of us have had such experiences and looked at our parents’ generation through a faintly critical lens. Our generation believes in and appreciates the boon of abundance. Why should we repair a TV when repairing will cost Rs 5,000 and you can buy a brand new TV for Rs 10,000? I should buy a new phone because my phone is outdated – it is two years old!

But now I wonder – do things really become old in two years? When we were children, ‘two years’ was a healthy amount of time for our possessions – they were just about new if they were two years old, and far from old.

With our possessions becoming old in just six months, we are living in the Waste Age. We like to discard more and save less. We make no effort to repair something broken, or tune something that needs a helping hand. Since new replacements are so cheap, we choose to throw away our stuff rather than reinvest in it.

It’s not just about our personal possessions, but about the natural resources we use so carelessly. We might see a million ads that talk about saving water but we are the first ones to go skipping to a rain dance for a Holi party. Every year, we Mumbaikars are told horror stories of how the lakes have water for just one more month and that there will be water cuts. And even as we read these news reports, we leave the taps running for no reason at all. We think nothing of leaving the lights on in vacant rooms, or our computers running all night. We are quick to preach about cleanliness, safe biodisposal and immediate clearing away of garbage, but how prompt are we to conserve our environment and keep it healthy and usable for ourselves and our children?

We do not believe in repairing things and using them for a little more time because advertising and marketing have made us believe that we should live with the times. Since we can find replacements for all our possessions easily, we have stopped loving the things we own and we are not as attached to them as we should be.

My father still loves the watch that was gifted to him on his wedding day 33 years ago. And how’s this for a fun fact – that watch still works! It’s not just down to the care and affection he has showered on his watch all along, it is also because the watch is made of superior materials. These days, I am hearing stories of how companies are making items with inferior materials so that they conk off sooner, necessitating a new purchase. One of my friends was telling me about how airconditioner companies make cooler condensers using aluminium instead of copper, so that their durability decreases. Companies and marketing gimmicks have contributed a lot to our inherent wasteful tendencies.

Somehow, we have become more informed but we are less aware. And this is what is worrying. We spare no thought to anything we do these days – the simplest example is discarding your old phone. Either we sell them at cheaper rates or just toss them in the garbage. Did you know that mobile phones are the largest contributors to e-waste? The developing nations are tottering under the weight of locally-generated e-waste and that which is dumped on them by developed nations. And this is hazardous and toxic waste that poisons everything in its immediate environment.

Enjoy the Waste Age, everybody. We’re not going to be alive too long because of it.

Jatin Sharma is a media professional who doesn’t believe in growing up, because if he grows up he will be like everybody else. ‘Overdose’ is his take on Mumbai’s quirks and quibbles.

(Pictures courtesy nswai.com, shybuzz.blogspot.com. Images are used for representational purpose only)

Tags e-waste, jatin sharma, overdose, waste age, wasteful use of resources

Enough said

What makes JNU special?

A new book on the making of JNU details its history, inception and the campus life of a bygone era.

by Humra Quraishi

Every time I visit the sprawling campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, I have wondered why people have ever moved outside it. It is a wonderful place, and is well-connected, too. There is less chaos and more greenery, complete with well-defined roads that lead you to your destination without confusion.

To a casual visitor, the JNU campus is an extension of a dreamy academic getaway, set in calm environs. Sure, the calm is somewhat shattered by stray dogs holding forth at every corner and road crossing, but otherwise, the place is heavenly.

Many like me have often wondered what it is about JNU that makes it stand out from others. If you’ve wondered the same thing, it might be a good time to pick up this new book, JNU: The Making of A University, by JNU academic Dr Rakesh Batabyal (in pic on right). It carries a new insight into the very inception of this university and shines a light on lesser-known truths.

I ask Dr Batabyal why he decided to put together this book. He says, “I do not know at what point of time I began writing this book. It was most probably the words of a dear colleague, Richa Malhotra that motivated me to look deeper into the university whose air I breathed every day.”

He adds that he realised that the university required a “special historiographical treatment” as his research progressed. “A historian’s account, I realised, needed to be approximate to that larger canvas of the institution and at the same time, not allowing little histories to be treated merely as reflections of real big entities.”

Last week, at a discussion on this volume at the India International Centre, many unknown facts about JNU came to the fore. We learnt about the first vice chancellor, to the then political ideologies, the campus life of those times. However, the history of the university is captured only till about 1989. Since that is the year that Dr Batabyal had joined JNU, he probably did not want his personal views to trickle into the text.

(Pictures courtesy admissions.jnu.ac.in, www.thehindu.com. Images are file pictures.)

Tags delhi, Dr Rakesh Batabyal, enough said, humra quraishi, JNU

Patrakar types

Swaminarayan Temple authorities always treat women this way

Post author By The Metrognome
Post date May 1, 2015
8 Comments on Swaminarayan Temple authorities always treat women this way

Yogi auditorium next to Dadar’s Swaminarayan Temple always asks women to sit a few rows behind men. A personal account.

by Vrushali Lad | editor@themetrognome.in

I learnt with dismay, but not with surprise, of a woman journalist being asked to vacate her front row seat at the auditorium adjoining the Swaminarayan Temple at Dadar. She was there as an invited mediaperson to cover a religious function to honour Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the wake of the beef ban in the State.

I know the journalist for years now, and first learnt of the incident on her Twitter feed. She was understandably furious over being asked to sit ‘three rows behind’ – women are not allowed to sit in these rows and must take a seat in the rows behind. After arguing with the authorities and even speaking about it to a senior BJP leader, she finally left the auditorium.

The same thing happened a couple of years ago.

An awards function to honour Gujarati achievers

It was at the same venue a couple of years ago that I first learnt of this practice. My husband, a Gujarati by birth, was to be awarded for his services to journalism. He was part of a group of other Gujarati awardees from various fields – entertainment, education, law, civil rights. I had accompanied my husband and some of our family members to the event, and I remember looking through the invite which had pictures of the other awardees. Only one of them was a woman – a young pilot with a commercial airline, possibly the first from the community.

When we got there, the function had already started but the auditorium was not full. When we made our way to the front seats, I was promptly stopped by two young men, who told me to sit anywhere provided it was 10 rows away from the stage. Perplexed, I assumed that the front rows were reserved for families of the organisers, which normally happens. We sat behind and awaited the prize distribution.

At one point, all the awardees were asked to take their seats on the stage, and my husband joined the others. But there was no sign of the woman pilot. I wondered if she was going to show up at all, then decided she must be at work and somebody else would take her award for her.

Then the chief guests for the awards function, two sadhu brahmachari types, were brought on the stage and a lot of feet-touching and speech-making followed. Finally, the awardees’ names began to be called out. When the pilot’s name was announced, there was a flurry of activity at the far end of one of the middle rows of the auditorium – everyone kept craning their necks and looking at a smiling woman who had just stood up. With horror, I saw that it was the woman pilot.

A little questioning finally helped me understand – the woman had not been allowed to take her place on the stage with the other male awardees, had not been allowed to sit in any seat in the first 10 rows, and what was worse, she was given her award at her seat in the audience by two other men from the organising committee, not by the sadhu chief guests. All of this because ‘women cannot be in physical proximity of a brahmachari‘.

On the stage, I saw my husband looking mutinous. When his name was called, he took his award and left without acknowledging the chief guests. Later he kicked himself for accepting the award in the first place.

I just looked across at the woman pilot – the young achiever for whom the sky was literally not the limit, was completely okay with being treated this way by a bunch of religious nobodies who, in this day and age, hold on to some archaic views on women in the guise of religious sanctity. What would compel an independent, successful woman to accept an award at a venue that routinely makes women sit in the back rows because ‘that is the rule here’? Didn’t she feel the slightest humiliation at being the only one to not be seated on stage with her contemporaries, on account of her gender?

I still wonder at her. And I’m never going back to that auditorium again.

What do you think of yesterday’s incident with the woman journalist at the CM’s function? Tell us in the comments section below.

(Pictures courtesy www.mapsofindia.com. Image is a file picture)

Tags dadar, patrakar types, swaminarayan temple, vrushali lad, woman journalist

Enough said

Starving farmers, and children being sold

Post author By The Metrognome
Post date April 25, 2015
No Comments on Starving farmers, and children being sold

We’re reaching an impasse as far as solving the problem of ruined farmlands and dying farmers goes – and nobody cares.

by Humra Quraishi

Murders, killings and riots over rotis…all of these have taken place in our country in the past, but at the moment, considering the condition of the affected farmlands all over the country, there are signs of even worse things to happen in the days ahead.

It is estimated that 94 lakh hectares of crop area across 14 States over the past three months have been affected. In Uttar Pradesh, 29.64 lakh hectares of crop area was affected last year. In Haryana, it was 22.24 lakh hectares, while Rajasthan fared slightly better at 16.89 lakh hectares. Figures for other States (in lakh hectares) are 9.89 for Maharashtra, 5.70 for Madhya Pradesh, 2.94 for Punjab, 1.75 for Gujarat, 1.33 for J&K, 0.67 for Himachal Pradesh, 0.49 for West Bengal, 0.39 for Uttarakhand and 0.1 for Telangana and Kerala.

There are two points to consider. One, the condition of India’s farmers has reached pathetic levels. Hundreds have already died and many more could be dying – some of suicides, the rest of starvation. There are talks of compensation for these farmers, but the promised money never comes. A serious Government would have distributed the relief money cheques ages ago. Going by television news report, the compensation money does not even match the gravity of the loss. There are pictures on social media of Rs 2 cheques issued to distressed farmers – where crops worth lakhs of rupees perished overnight…

The other point is this: rising inflation, scarcity of grain and talks of inadequate monsoon this year is likely to kill thousands in the country this year. But have you noticed how immune we are to the news reports of parched lands and starving people? Are we soon reaching a stage where we will sell our own children to buy food? Recently, I watched a chilling news report about baby girls being bought from a Government-run orphanage in rural Telangana. Are we heading towards a time when we will willingly trade and traffic our newborns to fill our stomachs?

The poverty beaters

It seems that the only way out is to survive on one’s skills. A recently released book Breaking Through – India’s Stories Of Beating The Odds on Poverty, authored by Kolkata-based sociologist Meera Mitra (in pic on right), suggests that those who have fought poverty are able to get through any crisis in life.

I asked Meera if we were actually ‘developed’ as a nation, to which she replied that the present time is a mixed bag as far as social indicators are concerned. “ Indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) are down from previous times, but there is the damning sex ratio which has fallen to a dramatic low of 918 in 2011. Other indicators are also hopelessly off track for the Millenium Development Goals,” she says.

“The important thing is, with deepening democracy, no party or Government can afford to ignore issues of food security and environment. There is a traditional trade-off between environment and industrialisation but with a greater consciousness and commitment to global dialogue. With the possibility of new technology, that schism can hopefully be offset somewhat while offering a better standard of life,” she adds.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy m.thehindu.com, www.gg2.net. Featured image used for representational purpose only)

Tags distressed farmers in india, enough said, humra quraishi, poverty beaters