#BlackLivesMatter

Land of the free, home of the Brave

Or so, I was told

This Nation had, plenty a Slave

On the next block, they was Sold.

Chasing green, working in the corporate world

Ain’t seen no Black Man, Young or Old.

Living in Northern suburbs, a swanky home and a good school

Faraway from a bus or train for no Black fool.

Long ago, MLK proclaimed “I had a dream”

Buried under prejudice and ream.

Every day, is shot, a George Floyd and a Trevor Martin

No known vaccine, for America’s Original Sin.

Immigrant and Naturalised, Am no son of this Soil

But Alas, Amongst the Natural ones, some are born Soiled.

Every other street and square is named Lee.

Oh Say! Can’t you see?

Summer in DC

Twas early march, blooming buds and a beautiful spring

New goals, new promises and hopes of an upswing

Driving in my car into a new city,

was packed my rucksack and some anxiety

From the highway roads into the inner reticulation

A maze of thoughts and a little apprehension.

The more I seem to aim

The more it stays the same.

Cherry blossoms and the local farmer markets

And at museums, concerts and all the art places

Warmth of new friends and smiling faces

Welcoming a beautiful  summer.

A Beautiful Morning

A Beautiful Morning (2016)

Six oras top of the hour,chimes the clock
The sun gods and his chariots dawn on a cruise
Another day, and life, snuck on me, I balk
The mystic rays are goading me out of my snooze

On my foot the shoe reads Brooks,  I tie my lace
for a long jog, with some poise some grace
Rise up! No more procrastination I vow
for some sweet sweat on my brow.

One foot out the door, I go west.
I seek pride with every stride and give my best.
Sailing forward, whatever may come.
while my head-phones hum "Tava Suprabhatam".

Also, here is a little bit of context to explain a few things. First even though, the poem talks about me waking up in the morning and going for a jog at another level it talks about life in general. For eg: Just like Nike and Reebok, I mention my brand of running shoes as Brooks, Brooks also means calling, beckoning or enduring. The phrase tying ones laces can also mean picking up after a fall and pretending everything is alright.  In the first line, while Hindus believe the Sun god travels on a chariot the Egyptians believe He travels in a boat, hence the use of the word Cruise in tandem with chariots. The phrase "Go West", need not need any explanation.

Chai (2015)

( When my nieces challenged me to write a poem on Chai , the Telugu colloquial word for which is "Theneru", Silly or not, I came up with this that day).

A ton of bricks, weighing on my eyelids

And the morning drowsiness, I cannot get rid

Trying to colligate the last of the fading dreams

Another day of drudgery in bounds and reams.

Wake up! Wake up! I could hear by Mom clepe

the din of utensils and the shrill of the morning help.

Son, I am making you some fresh Tea.

A sliver of ginger, a cube of sugar: perfect to the “T”.

Like a doe, I spring out of my bed.

To face the day without a dread.

“Theneeru”, chai or what the Italians call a latte.

With every sip,  into an other beautiful day.

Few of my favorite things.

One of my favorite holiday songs is "Few of my favorite things". Who doesn't love that song? Some of us friends were planning a holiday party and that weekend, I was in a real festive mood, thanks to all the talk about food, drinks and dessert. While in that mood, humming my favorite song, I happen to pen down a parody of the song. Here it goes:

Wine drops in whiskeys, Rum and Gin

Dark local beers, that make my head spin

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Deep fried pakoras and biryani rice.

Cheesecakes flavored with pumpkin spice

Sriratcha sauce on chicken wings

These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Drunk and flirt, and bat their eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream of wheat and His Glory

This past weekend a friend of mine invited me to attend a Bhajan (Indian version of choir music) organized by one of her friends.

Faith wise, I am not really fanatical about my religion but since I cannot afford to have even one of the million Hindu Gods' on my bad side, I have learnt to fear them. So, when the need arises to say a prayer I just stand with my hands folded, pretending to be an obedient child who hasn't been caught yet for not doing his homework.

I was already running late when I got to the prayer hall. After removing my shoes at the entrance I walked in bare-foot and realized the group was already into the third or fourth song of the evening. I resisted a strong urge to tow through the crowd while stepping on people’s toes with the aim of finding a vacant seat near my friends. Instead, I sat back and waited for the reason I was here in the first place – socializing and the food(after paying my obeisances to god, ofcourse!!)

I sneaked into a corner where I found a spot and sat in a half-lotus posture, looking at the deity and the prettier of the devotees. When I heard the sound of bells ringing added by some frantic high-pitched singing, I knew the worship for the evening had come to an end – and soon it would be time for the true reason of my visit. Then, I heard the phrase I had been waiting for all along “dinner is served".

I queued up with my friends behind the food counter, chatting casually and controlling my urge to rush the table. I helped myself with some rice, couple of flat-breads, two curries made of cottage cheese and eggplant. I also got a scoop of what looked like some sweet pudding made of cream of wheat ("sooji-halwa"). Yes, it definitely was Sooji Halwa but, looked strange as it was devoid of any raisins and cashews.

And this got me thinking. Let me explain:

First of all, unlike Tiramisu or the closer to home Indian rasmalai, I have never considered wheat-pudding as a real dessert. So did they not have a real dessert?

They did! They did have rasmalai and mango-custard. So what was wrong with the wheat-pudding? Unlike the two other desserts, wheat-pudding was the "blessed" dessert of the evening. As part of the bhajan, it was offered to the Gods first and then the humans. If there is a Christian wedding, there is a wedding cake. The brown people have their own wedding dessert, which is a barrel full of sweets call laddus. Naming ceremonies of infants have puddings made of condensed milks. Even memorial services and death anniversaries have specific sweets like sweet lentil cakes, served on those occasions. So why does an event like Bhajan not have its own signature dessert?

Wheat pudding and Bhajan are very similar in their own way. Just the way a Bhajan is half way between chanting scriptures’ and being agnostic, so does a wheat pudding rank somewhere between tiramisu and cane sugar. Somewhere in the distant past, saints born from lotus leaves failed to identify this simple similarity between the two. Hence I have decided to strongly lobby with my match making aunts to pronounce that relishing a wheat pudding any place other than a bhajan should henceforth be a taboo, with the raisins and cashews, of course.

Why Chai is CHAI and Latte never is...

I have tried "chai-latte" a few times at different places and with regret. I cringe whenever I hear the words "chai" and "latte" being put together. The word "chai" is probably persian or urdu and "latte" is milk in a european language. If by definition chai already has milk in it then wouldn't naming a beverage "chai-latte" be redundant? But then again, history and Logic have nothing to do with what my taste buds say and what kind of drink really gets me.

Every tea drinker knows that chai is made traditionally by following a sequence of steps of which one or two can me modified to suit one's tastes but the fundamentals are the same. Water is first boiled to medium temperature in a kettle or saucepan and then tea dust is added to the boiling water. You then pour the right amount of milk into it and sugar can be added at any stage. The tea dust has to be of the right grain size, cannot be thick and leaf size or fine grained. The milk has to boil just enough so that the "raw" taste of the milk disappears and the tea does not get "burnt" either. One can add ginger, cardomom or even cinnamon for that extra taste. Agree that the Latte also comes in different flavors but the overall texture of a Latte does not even come close to a well made pot boiled chai.

Besides a chai can be had with pretty much anything dipped into it. Not just a biscotti but a regular tea biscuit,rusk, slice of bread or even a left over piece of Roti(YES). Imagine dipping a piece of roti in a latte.Hhhgg!! Enuf said.

Chao,

Time for me to have a Cup of Chai.