My experiments with cooking

I am a foodie to the core . But many years back though on an occasional basis i started venturing into the kitchen . It started with the nescafe shake which was made famous with the advertisements in TV long back with a shaker given free with nescafe . And though theres nothing to go wrong with a cold coffee the final taste depends on how well you shake and the proportions . The more passionately you shake it the tastier it became . And i realised later that the difference between the average cook and the best cook is "passion " .

I never envied rabbits for eating the carrots . Afterall carrot is not a great vegetable but i think the milkmaid free recipe book started me when i was in school to borrow moms grater and started grating the carrots and adding ghee and milk and of course milkmaid to make my first proper dish ghajar ka halwa .. As they say if people eat it without complaining you get passmark . It was passed .

Years passed and i spent only 1 percent of the time in kitchen and that time was used mainly to eat from moms preparations while they were being made . Then i had a eureka moment . I still think i made that recipe myself . (to the best of my knowledge ) . I named it too called prawns nariyalwaala .. (prawns with masala cooked in coconut milk )  . Prawns recipe was followed by crab curry and i made sure that i cleaned it myself .

While these high end non veg dishes was going on i one day made the "simple " vegeterian dish called sambar . In cooking if one p stands for passion the other p is proportion .  I learned it the hard way by making the "simple " sambar . First time i added so much water that finally the entire dish was thrown as it was like a vegetable soup and few people pour soup on rice .  Later i realised the proportions after asking around ( guys are bad at asking not only directions )  and from then on my sambar became edible .

Again without going to aviyal ( i still dont know it ) graduated to the great biriyani . But this time no experiments i learnt it from the veterans . From my father and mother separately because both had their distinct style of cooking .  To sum up ... i am still experimenting and all are welcome to try it (at their on risk )

Mammootty and the rat snake --- my teachers

Many of my teachers had nicknames . Both when i was in college and when i was in school . None were put by me and i never called them nicknames . As i grew older i realised that just because some of my friends gave some of my teachers nicknames didnt mean they were disrespectful to them .Nicknames like petnames could be due to love also . Anyways coming to some of my teachers .

Rat snake (or chera ) was obviously our biology teacher . I dont know why he wasnt called a cobra or any other name . But when i think of him i remember one day when he asked all of us to draw the picture of a rabbit . Whats there in a picture drawing ?  It was fun . The fun part was however hard we tried the pictures drawn by us (even by the bookworms :) )  resembled other animals than a rabbit . Some resembled a rat . I stared at the picture i drew and i think it remotely resembled a rabbit .  What we were not prepared for was our biology teacher checking each of my friends pictures and many of the poor souls getting a muscle squeeze punishment if it resembled any other animal . And when he reached me he stared twice once at me and then at the picture . It was a just pass as i didnt get the punishment . But it was a narrow escape . Was he called rat snake because he was looking for rats in the picture . I dont know . Anyway he was called chera (malayalam for rat snake ).

Then there was mammootty (not the film star ) and frankly we were jealous of him :)  . Because in our mixed college while we guys were trying all our tricks to impress the girls the girls were getting impressed not by us but our chemistry teacher . He looked like mammootty the film star and he taught well . I used to like his class and i loved organic chemistry . Mammooty had a good class presence too as even the naughtiest of boys behaved well in his class .

Then there was" small" teacher a lady teacher whose name rhymed with small and also was of small built and also she was new to the teaching field . She was my friend . But in the class the poor teacher was the target of as many paper rockets than were put on by the space centre in trivandrum . She was nice but could not control the class .

Then there was "anki " the name of the dress worn by missionaries . Unfortunately our spoken english teacher was nicknamed anki .  He was a nice teacher but again he was particular that the english was spoken just like the britishers did . And the world famous malayali students (including me ) used to mangleesh never rose up to his expectations . And the punishment was a muscle squeeze .  If you wonder what this muscle squeeze was it was a pinching without injury by compressing the muscle in the back of the arm . In those days when our teachers punished us corporally we didnt go to court suing them or even hating them . They were committed and the love -hate relationship came out in the form of nicknames ..,.

I am in teaching field for last 13 years and dont know whether i am called which animal or villain character . But most of my students give me respect and is friends with me . As long as that is the case i dont care whatever i am called .. As they say whats in a name ... is Mammootty listening :)

nostalgia ---baths

                                  Nothing is as refreshing as a hot water bath . Today also did it as usual (proves that i take a bath everyday :) )  . But today was nostalgic about my baths of my childhood ..

                                                             Just like varieties of food (oh God when will i stop this food comparison ) each bath was unique in itself . First there was the simple bath where for hours you start playing with the large metal bucket as big as yourself (these traditional vessels were 6 times the size of our present day plastic buckets ) . Hot water if you wanted was made by using firewood under these huge metal vessels . And the merriment increased when the cousins (all kids of nearby ages ) had a group bath with playing with the water and mock fighting .

Then there were baths which were in the open . If you think we were exhibitionists you are partially right . It was on the side of the family well and the touch of cold water from the well was more refreshing than any pipe water . And the exhibitionism was purely unintentional as the open air bath was just that ... open air ... and we were children :)

Then there was the bath in the pond . It was more exciting as some swimming was involved alongside the fishes and the occasional tortoise . But personally though i was not afraid even of snakes there was one unknown creature we were all afraid of .. "crocodiles " .. No , our pond was never infested with crocodiles . But it was a fear instilled by our mother and aunts to prevent the kids (really a naughty bunch ) from going near the pond unsupervised . And the swim was only when the pond was less full as when it was full it was 3 person depth and scary .

Coming to crocodiles i was lucky enough to swim in the place where sankaracharya had his leg bitten by a real crocodile . That was kalady . When not in rainy season we used to go there to have a swim in the river periyar . Its a beautiful river and has inspired countless malayalam songs too .

And last but not the least the beautiful kovalam beach and swimming in the sea . Every weekend when i was a bigger kid and in early teens used to go there and had a swim . Taste of the salt and an occasional tumbling with the waves makes this bath unique as you need another bath at home to clear the sand which sticks to your body after . But in the excitement who cares ...

And the bath in the sea with my girlfriend :)  ( sorry thats seriously a joke ... only phantom did it with diana ) ...I was a child remember  ...

Three inaugrations and some little thoughts

                                                                      Todays newspaper had a photo of a leading dress showroom in kochi getting inaugrated . It was the latest in a series of large showrooms of them which is led by a successful kerala businesswoman . I just looked to see which big politician or filmstar was inaugrating the huge showroom worth crores in investment . And i was surprised to find that it was she herself and an elderly family member who was lighting the lamp and inaugrating it .

                                                                   Having always admired this lady entrepreneur for her people skills (its not easy to manage a large workforce in the great Gods won country )  as well as her brand building skills this inaugration without inviting a big shot was a lesson in itself .

This is in sharp contrast with the inaugration i attended six months back of a  bottling plant in kochi area . Two politicians were invited for the inaugration and one of them from the beginning to the end was having mobile phone attached to his ear (no exaggeration ) . The bigger politician was repeatedly exhorting the workers about workers rights . People familiar with the work climate of kerala knows that most major industries have shutdown here because of "hyperawareness " of workers rights at the expense of work . and this guy during inaugration invited by the management was trying to leverage his political clout by pointing out repeatedly to workers rights . As an audience i was left thinking how this private firm should have at least invited a filmstar who at least would not have caused them harm by the speech . And as predicted within six months there were three strikes in the factory and hopefully it will get shutdown soon .

Another leading shop one of its biggest kind in south india opened a large showroom in kochi . This time since all our kerala filmstars were not enough so they downloaded a megastar from bollywood paying almost a crore for his visit . The inaugration was a gala event one of the best inaugrations in the state like the big fat indian wedding .  A few months passed by , the bollywood star became richer by a crore , the people had nice memories of the event but what happened to the main thing . The huge showroom which spent a significant chunk of their potential turnover on this over the top expenditure . Within just a few months the huge showroom became bankrupt and now the absent lights and the huge building gives a grim reminder of extravagant expenses causing downfall which was to a large extent preventable .

                                                              A good beginning need not have a politician or a filmstar . Let them do their jobs be it in politics or films . Spend that extra money on your business .Comments welcome as always and share it if you like ..

my goli soda days

                I am getting old :)  Dont give me advice or make fun of me . I am still 17 years young :)

What i meant is i am thinking backwards often especially about the good old days in food .Not that i dont like any of the food these days but some of the items i do miss nostalgically .

One of them is the goli soda . The soda which was in a green bottle and which you had a marble in it which you squeezed with your finger to open it . Not that current sodas are filled with anything else at least that had "pure carbon dioxide " and the sherbets with lime had a special taste when made with it . And that gave you good company in good as well as bad days ..In good days i used to have it from the corner tea shop and on bad days ( i mean the stomach upset days ) this soda with lime and salt with ginger calmed my angry stomach .

And then there were the green and red parrys muttais(toffees ) . Maybe the hard caramel it was hard work to crush it with your teeth and savour the taste unlike the readymade toffees which melt in your mouth . Of course the poppins which was its friend is still available but these green and red parrys muttais disappeared long back .

There was a short period when i was studying in a good private school but 10 minutes in lunch hour i was literally begging . In those days we didnt get pocket money and we were not allowed to buy the fruits which were salted and sold near the school for a few paise . So many of us used to go and literally beg her for a piece of fruit and they used to give us a piece more out of pestering . Nowadays also we get those fruits like mangoes but fruits like lanthapazham etc i hardly see these days . And the taste of a fruit got after intense begging/pestering is different . Even more sweet was the ice mittai not the company made but delivered in bicycles with boiled semiya topping . Thought to be "unhygeinic " they were totally banned by our uncle who studied in same school years back . But occasionally i tasted this heavenly ice stick keeping an eye faraway whether my uncle was around .

Naranga mittai , gas mittai etc in the big bottles of  the ubiquitous teashops made our day . But still when my aunt from america long ago asked what i wanted from there i was about to tell " Coca Cola " because that was not available in india then . Now we have Coca Cola but i miss all those which i got in my childhood . Not with a sense of loss as we have lots of tasty things these days but i want at least the green parrys mittai . Is it greed ?  Tell me what you think :)  

medical moments 7---the two sides of pain

                                                             He didnt protest . He didnt even  wince . But he gave me a sad look which i still remember .  Though 99 percent of the sadness was at the world and himself as he was just out of a failed suicidal attempt the remaining 1 percent was because of me .  A well built youngster of around 18-20 years that didnt help because i was trying to take his blood sample for the third time . And being my first  attempt in the procedure i failed . But that day i decided i will not contribute to pain of a patient to the best of my ability .

Though never interested in invasive procedures blood sample taking including that made me keenly interested in taking a deep interest in skill development just to avoid paining the patient . And maybe that failed first attempt helped me to do the procedures assigned to me including lumbar puncture and suturing with as much patient comfort as possible . My skill improved tremendously at these minor procedures by the end of housesurgeoncy .

Fast backward many decades . I was a small boy eating as much chocolates as any other . And soon the time came to get a tooth pulled out . I still remember the day because i saw heaven on that day . It took me years later to realise that the anaesthetic hadnt fully taken effect on that day and the dentist was a little early in pulling the tooth . He was a nice man but didnt check whether the anaesthetic had fully taken effect . And like many i too developed a dentist phobia after that . But years later i realised that some doctors are more tuned to patients pain than others .   And like i wrote yesterday on choosing a doctor its important that you should choose a doctor/dentist who is as interested in curing you as in doing the procedure with minimal pain .
"Please lift your finger if you have pain " shows the ability to empathise with you in addition to the medical knowledge .

Though these days the public often quote Hippocratic oath without even reading about it when questioning doctors ethics,  in one aspect i think Hippocrates can be quoted

One of his sayings : "Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.".   And though as discussed in medical moments 6 , this comforting by words depends on patients expectations also which can vary , the comfort by minimising pain to the least is a realistic expectation in these days of good anaesthesia . And yes , if your doctor or dentist is insensitive to your pain , dont complain that ALL doctors are bad but look for another good doctor .  (there are many out there these days ... )  

Comments welcome and share it if you like ...

medical moments 6---choosing a doctor

Decades ago when i was a medical student i used to accompany one of my elder relatives to her doctor . He was a nice doctor but i didnt like him . The reason being he wont talk . Buzzling with curiosity i wanted him to discuss how he arrived at his diagnosis , why he treated the way he did etc . I was not to blame because inspite of the private visit (he was a retired senior physician ) i wanted him to discuss my relatives case in detail . I would have told my elder relative not to go to him but there was a big problem . She liked him so much and also his treatment was working very much . And jokingly we used to tell that she was in love with him .... One day i asked her why she liked him (as a doctor of course ) so much  ... And the answer shocked me ....,HE DOESNT TALK MUCH . I like it that way .

Medical practice has changed so much in recent years and following it very closely i find theres so much change in the doctor patient relationship . Actually its inevitable because of many reasons a few prominent ones ....
1. Inspite of tremendous advancement in all fields of science including healthcare it still hasnt progressed as much as the "demand " . As a brief example most of the tests have an accuracy less than  100 percent while even educated people  expect 100 percent accuracy in diagnosis .

2 . cost of healthcare has gone up at least in part due to costly healthcare equipment . And while the average person wants to enjoy all the benefits of these fascinating technologies few are ready to pay for it . I have personally seen people who spent 10000 rs for a dress who cry spending 40 rs for medicine .  The same goes for lifesaving surgeries which are often available even now in india cheaper than many home appliances ..
3. I have also witnessed the same people who wants doctors to be ethical and humane but sitting around a table and discussing multicrore project of hospital and discussing ONLY the business aspect of it . ( And none of them where doctors  )  ..Most healthcare is owned by businessmen who have the same ideals as soceity .

                                                                  I mentioned these points because the "trust " in the doctor patient relationship has definitely lessened ( I will not say its gone as im optimistically pessimistic in most things )  and the "fault " is on both sides of the equation . Now all this lack of trust and the loud voiced discussions about the "bad doctors "  gives way to confusion when the time to find a doctor for any of your illness comes near .Because here discussions turn into panic .
Some suggestions :
1. Get a referral from a family friend doctor . In that way he/she will have your best interests in mind when choosing a specialist . Also he will have a good idea about specialists expertise and experience .

2. Trust your instincts when assessing a new doctor . In medicine call it the "placebo effect(refer wiki )  " the doctor patient relationship is also important for cure . But instead of complaining that all or most doctors are bad its important that you choose one depending on your personality  . Just like i told in first para i have seen many patients who want a brief explanation not all the possible complications and others who want to hear everything .

3. If you are not comfortable and for life changing therapies get a second opinion . This doesnt mean keep on shopping around for doctors too much (i mean going around more than 2-3 doctors ) .

4. In healthcare a doctor is expected to have ultimate knowledge , the ultimate communication skills  and the ultimate ethical behaviour . But practically this ideal can never be reached because doctors are representatives of the soceity they represent . So when choosing a doctor also have reasonable expectations .
5 . Read up on the internet from good sites about your health and illnesses . And use it as an aid in your understanding of the illness to make informed choices . All too often i have seen on one extreme educated people who have zero knowledge on their illness and on the other extreme so much partial knowledge only to question  the doctor (not question about the illness )  . Yes , why i mention this is if you are in current generation choose a doctor who talks logically and friendly to you about the illness and answer your questions (not questioning ..). But always remember the time limitations of a consultation which the poor doctor is helpless about . So ask the most important questions and forgive him/her for not being too talkative because of the big queue outside

                                                  So in this era  the onus is on the patients to make informed choices , take more active part in their illness including taking some  responsibility for the bad outcomes . And exercise your choice wisely so that you yourself can collectively weed out the unethical ones from the real good ones ( there are many )  . And above all have realistic expectations especially since even today diseases dont respect neither the doctors nor their patients and doctors should be blamed only for their mistakes and not blame when the real culprit (the disease ) does its job .  


"Reflecting on his career in medicine years later, Dr  Michael Crichton  concluded that patients too often shunned responsibility for their own health, relying on doctors as miracle workers rather than advisors . "...... And luckily we got the Jurassic Park novel and lots of others because of this decision . But we want a few of the good ones in the field to fight the deadly diseases . 

Comments welcome