Khichuri and its companions .... for Durga puja 2020

 

Durga Puja came and went by.

Today is Nabami. Only one more day left.. 

The only festival Bengalis all over the world look forward to. 

The festive feelings, the enthusiasm, the excitement of wearing new clothes, meeting friends and families, spending time at the pujo pandals, the crowd, the reverberating dhaaks and the conch shells, the fragrance of incense and flowers, the rustle of new fabrics, silks and cotton, the aroma of bhog / prasad as well as the food being made at the stalls .... all spell Durga puja. 

All ended. All snuffed out. 

Just by one deadly pandemic. 

One life taking pandemic. 

So many people could not go home to be with their families. 

So many parents spent the days alone, at home. 

The whole world has been shut up at home. 

As if it has been covered with a dark, heavy blanket. 

As if rejoicing is banned. As if breathing is illegal. 

My heart went out especially to those Bengalis who craved just one chance to see the face of the goddess. Just one time. 
To offer pushpanjali / obeisance with flowers. 

To be able to live just for one moment the festive feel. 

Due to safety measures, most places have not organised the celebrations of Durga puja. 

And whichever few have, they have set restrictions and have not allowed anybody other than members to attend the functions. 

And the cry of despair on the social network pages has been heart rending ..... everybody asking for one place where they can get a glimpse of the goddess or offer puja. At least for a few moments. 

Having said that, I must mention the excellent arrangements the organisations have made for regular live streaming of all the activities for people to watch from the safety of their home. 

From Pushpanjali to aarti to cultural programs .... everything. 

And people have been most sensible in doing that .... staying at home and creating happiness for themselves in their own way. 

Memories of pujo in my childhood flood me today. 

Getting ready early, wearing the dress that has been the result of months of agonising on designs and fabric and discussions with Didi and the rest of the brood, going to the pujo mandap with Dadu with a trail of helpers carrying the pujor dali / offerings, while the rest of the ladies of the family and Thamma would come later. 

And then, lunch! 

Ashtami lunch would be Luchi, Cholar dal, labra and chaatni. And papor bhaja / papad.

And of course a sweet. 

We cousins would sit in the long verandah, in a line. Fresh banana leaves would be placed in front of us and Kakimas would serve the food. 

But the luchi was always served by Thamma. 

Carrying an open, oval shaped jhuri filled with hot, fluffy luchis, she would pick out each grandchild's favourite and place it on the leaf. 

I loved fluffy ones. Didi loved both the fluffy as well as the flat ones, the youngest one loved the crisp browned ones .... and so on. 
The Cholar dal would be thick, sweetish with generous bits of fried coconut in it. We kids loved to trouble whoever was serving to fish out more coconut pieces for us. 😀 
And we loved to break a piece of the papad and scoop up some chaatni with it and stuff our mouths. 

The savoury crisp crushing inside our mouths, mixed with the syrupy sweetness of the chaatni would make us go mmmmmmm. 

Days gone by a little too soon.

Sigh. 😞

I had orders for the traditional Khichuri plate for lunch. 

People who did not go to the pandals and wanted to enjoy the regular, traditional bhoger khichuri had placed  orders with me. 

I made the regular accompaniments that go with it. And offered it as prosad / bhog in our mandir at home. And then sent out the batches. 

Tried my best to give a festive feel to my loyal clients through my homecooked food. 

May the divine goddess give us the shakti / strength to fight every demon of ill intentions in the world. 

As well as within us. 

May Durga keep us and the whole world in her care. 

Happy Dussera!! 

Ps : I will declare the winner of my giveaway in my next post. 

Sorry for the delay. 

Subho Bijoya and happy Dussera 2018!

I was out of the country last year , vacationing in the US of A, so had huge plans for Durga puja this year. But as luck would have it, all my plans went up in the air as an accident rendered me immobile. Not only were the muscles of my hands, shoulder and upper back damaged, as well as the wrists, but also I ended up with a huge cut across my face, nose and chin.
Not to mention the swelling that came with it .... I couldn't recognise my own self in the mirror.

So the days passed by in a haze of pain killers and before I knew it, it was Navami already.
And since I don't like to be defeated, especially by life, I took this challenge too, just like I have the numerous times it has thrown me one and went to watch the Aarti in the evening. Yes bruised body and face notwithstanding.

The sound of the dhaaks, the conch blowing, the priest performing aarti and the ringing the bell, the smell of camphor and dhuno in the air, the crowd watching mesmerised ..... everything was like a balm on my pain and I came back home with a feeling of peace and the belief that all will be well soon.
Today dawned beautiful after last night's heavy rain and I craved the bhog or from the puja pandal that I missed this time.
And then decided to cook some as soon as the pain killer started to work.

So here is my plate of khichuri bhog. 
I made the dryish bhaja khichuri, cauliflower and potatoes cooked with white matar/chana/ legumes, tomato and khejur er chaatni , beguni / batter fried brinjal and batter fried green chillies.
B fried papad too but a little later,so not in the picture.

I plated everything together, trying to replicate the bhoger thala/plate, where everything is served in one plate.
I absolutely love the mix of flavours .... the dry khichuri, the gravy of the curry, the sweetness of the tomato chatni, along with the crunch of  the papad.

Savoured this meal and was glad I decided to do it.
Also, I am glad that I believe tomorrow never comes.

Live like you want to and you will have no regrets. Ever.
All you need is a little will and a lot of power.

Shubho Bijoya Dashami and happy Dusherra!! .
May your life be filled with light, love and everything good.

Time out but .... time please

Three months since my last, real post, I am sitting down with the laptop again.
To write a post.
Or, to try to write a post.
Wondering just how far will I be able to go.
I haven't done much for the blog in the past few months.
No recipes; no photographs.
Nothing to write in.
No ... I do have a lot to write. But that will not interest any of you, I know.
It will be just an emotional catharsis for me.

Dealing with two deaths in the family, over a span of two months, that last one barely a little over a fortnight  ago, I am on an emotional roller coaster ride.

Dealing with the deaths of two of my most favourite and dearest people on this earth, I am a nervous wreck right now. My emotions swing dangerously from subdued and quiet to suddenly angry and then collapse into tears.
I feel helpless; very helpless.

The whole world I can take on. But death?
How do I deal with death?
That one omnipresent and very real thing the whole world knows of but has no idea how absolutely life changing it actually is.

I am still trying.
To cope; to accept;  to be practical.
To go through the days as if nothing has changed in this world.

Well, nothing has.
The sun still rises. We got rain for a few days last week.
People are discussing the absence of winter this year .... and global warming.
Everybody celebrated Durga puja. And Diwali.

Only time has stood still for me.
I am still at the hospital, looking down at my father's calm face, with disbelief.
He was sleeping; only to never wake up again.

The days before that day, and those that followed were tremendously painful.
Too many people around; too much of noise; too much of sympathy. And too many rituals.
I went through them in a daze .... turning from hopefulness to helplessness to anger to disbelief.
And sometimes completely calmly.

After three difficult months, I return.
And try to get on with life and the mundane.
But that was not to be.

Just a fortnight later, I wake up one Sunday morning to a phone call that bore the news that my eldest cousin sister, who stayed in the same city, is no more.
"Passed away in her sleep last evening."
Just like that. She wasn't even fifty.
We had grown up together in a joint family, with a big brood of brothers and sisters.
She had always protected me and looked out for me all the life.


So it was a rerun of the same story for me .... again.

Right now, I am just trying to go with this flow called life.
It is futile fighting.
Whatever it deals out to us, we have to take.
Doesn't matter how much it hurts.
Today, when I look around me, every single thing seems frivolous.
Ill will, jealousy, ego fights, clamouring to reach to the the end of future .... everything seems so unreal.
So unnecessary.

I want to thank all of you who left lines in my last post, giving me courage and sharing my pain.
And all those who remembered me, missed me and wrote to me on FB and mail, thank you.
All your warm lines have given me a lot of strength.

My blog has been riddled with so many breaks that it is really a wonder to see you all come back to check on me every now and again.
And a relief too.
Thank you so much for being there.

Just give me some more time, please.
Thank you.
God bless.

Life is fragile ...

... and frivolous.

Now a happy, colourful bubble.
Now gone ... in a snap.

Now a shining droplet on a leaf.
Now nothing.

Today I am here to apologize to my readers, friends and followers, for staying quiet for so long.
With no explanation. Or reason.

But that is what this thing called life is.
Never gives a prelude to the coming days.
Nor a warning.

Just dumps whatever it has in its bag for us; on us.
With a bang.
Or a smile.
Your luck.

For me, it was luck too.
Just, bad luck.

But I have taken it with, if not a smile, a brave front.
I may have crumbled inside.
But the wall has not broken.
Not yet.

Dear friends, this is just to say that I will be away for some more time.
I am grappling with a loss in my life and am still to come to terms with it.
So, if you have been a good friend and reader, have come here and gone away disappointed, I am sorry for that.
I did not mean to stay quiet and away for so long .

But life has other plans for us.
Always.

Please do stay with Kichu Khonn.
While I go and learn how to take the loss of that strongest pillar in my life , with ease.
And hide my tears.

Thank you for all the love.
God bless you.