The Bluest Eye

I wouldn’t be completely honest if I didn’t say what prompted me to pick up The Bluest Eye. First reason, of course, was the fabulous experience reading Song of Solomon where Toni Morrison took this external search for gold and turned it into something much more valuable and intrinsic, one’s own character, I wanted to experience that level of literature again.

But perhaps the most important reason was its description. The Bluest Eye is about a black girl who prays for beauty every day. She wants blue eyes and blond hair because she is mocked by other children for her dark skin and curly hair. I can relate to that. Growing up I was the darkest child and members of my extended family never missed a chance to tell my mother how dark I was and that I would grow up to be an ugly woman. Obviously, hurt I would ask my mother why I wasn’t pretty and she would tell me give yourself a few more years and you will be the prettiest girl in this family. Whether that came true or not is irrelevant but when my mother told me so, I was definitely excited and looking forward to growing up when I could shed this ugly duckling image and become a beautiful swan where no more could I be mocked but praised instead. Even at that age, I could see the overpowering love society has for light skin and light eyes. The conceitedness of my family was so extensive that they didn’t mind hurting the feelings of a small child simply because she wasn’t as light.

In the preface, the author talks about reasons for writing this book – one of them is her surprise admission of hatred for a young friend when she said she wanted blue eyes (she was black) and Toni Morrison couldn’t get it out of her head how ugly her friend would look with them. The biggest admission she makes in the preface is her disappointment of how the book didn’t do what she set out to do with it. When she started it in 1962, up until 1965, when she was done there was a profound “reclamation of beauty” and it was those thoughts that stirred her to think about the “necessity of this claim.” She set out to move the audience with the central character but was utterly disappointed when the reader was only touched but not moved.

I have to admit, so far I have been neither. The Bluest Eye has started very slowly and though I am not too far into it, so far Pecola has made no indication of wanting blue eyes and blond hair. But Toni Morrison did the same thing in Song of Solomon and half way through the real purpose of the book jumped out. So we’ll see how this shapes up.

Hilarious and educative

Kitchen Confidential is funny, really funny. But really, I expected no less from Tony. What I didn’t expect was for it to be educative. Not only does he give a very good insight in the restaurant business and how they function – the chapter a day in the life shows how chaotic, extremely busy and high on adrenaline, espressos and booze these chefs have to be in order to get through the day but also teaches the reader a thing or two about cooking. Most of his teachings don’t apply to me since I’m a vegetarian (he hates them – “vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction vegans, are a persistent irritation to any chef worth a damn”), but they are informative anyway.

For the first time now, if I look at a restaurant I think of more than the menu. I think of the kitchen, the countless cooks, the chaos, the dishwashing, the sous-chefs and all the effort that goes into preparing a meal for me. I would oh so guilty to return a dish or change an order thinking of the stress I’d put those guys through.

So what are some of things I learnt?

-          Don’t eat sea food at ANY restaurant on Monday. Why? It will not be fresh; 9 out of 10 times they are serving you leftovers from the weekend. Eeks! The best days for seafood are Tuesdays through Thursdays

-          Don’t eat mussels in restaurants. More often than not, mussels are left wallowing in their own piss. Yuck!

-          Cooks HATE brunch LOL!

-          Eating bread is fine in restaurants, although chances are during busy times you are eating untouched bread from someone else’s table

-          Don’t eat in restaurants with filthy bathrooms. Tony says you can’t see their kitchen but you can see the bathrooms and those usually are a pretty good indicator of how clean the kitchen is

-         Discount Sushi is usually made from fish sitting out in the open for hours, un-iced, leaking in crates. Oh no!

-          A decent chef knife is a must have! Global makes some good and cheap knives so one knife that cuts everything from shallots to watermelon is a must in any kitchen

-          Another must have object – plastic squeeze bottle, you know to squirt things like mayo, sauces, etc

-         Pots and pans, of course! Best place to buy them? In the classifieds section look for restaurants going out of business and then swoop down and collect your loot from them for dirt cheap. Ikea and other places are no good because the best pots and pans should be heavyweight

-         Never use anything other than a wooden/ceramic/nonmetallic spatula for your nonstick sauté pan. If you want to preserve your non-stick never let it make contact with any washing liquids. Simply wipe it clean after each use

-         Other food essentials – shallots, butter, garlic, parsley, stock, basil, mint, chives, you get the point

Surya Namaskar -- Part 2

Past few days I've been obsessing over the Surya Namaskar. This morning I went hunting for the other article I talked about yesterday (massaging the liver) and found it. So here is some more info on how beneficial this simple exercise is. This is probably the last on Surya Namaskars for a while (I promise!) but in the mean time, pay heed!

Internal massage
The benefits of doing the Surya Namaskar are deeper, compared to other forms of exercises. It aids overall well-being.  It massages the important glands -- the liver (in the ashtanga namaskar pose), stress glands and kidneys.

In the forward bend, it encourages blood flow to the brain, and therefore makes hair lush and keeps the face looking fresh and young, while tweaking master glands in the brain so that the body's thermostat is set at its healthy best.

Practice makes perfect
It is important to learn the technique well before you start pushing yourself to do more rounds. If wrongly done, it can cause cramps or pain in the back or spine. The number of namaskaras that should be done depends on an individual's current fitness level and flexibility.

Surya Namaskar is a great energy booster, and is therefore best done in the morning. Though, if one is pressed for time, it can be done any time of day. It is advisable not to do the Surya Namaskar close to bedtime, as it could interfere with one's sleep.

The Ideal workout
According to some hot-shot yoga instructors in India, the ideal routine (even when you're pressed for time) should include --

n  Six Surya Namaskars set (five minutes). Ideal set would be 12, covering right and left leg in one set so total of 24 rounds

n  Six asanas (including inversions, twists and arm balancers, which would take another five to ten minutes)

n  Pranayama practice (like anulom vilom, a few rounds of which would take ten minutes)

n  Final relaxation/meditation (five minutes with breath awareness) is best

OK, so how to do Surya Namaskar

1.       Stand erect feet together and palms joined in the centre of the chest in a namaskar and inhale. Next, exhale and push hands down straightening and lowering the arms until the elbows touch the sides.

2. Breathe in deeply and raise the arms above the head and extend the spine backwards arching the back from the waist. Let the eyes follow the hands while relaxing your neck and keeping hands straight.

3.       Exhale, bend forward from the waist and place the hands on the floor besides each foot.  Knees should remain straight. Relax with your head and neck in a bending pose. Breathe out completely. If you cannot touch the ground, then let your hands go only as far as they can.

4.       Inhale and put your weight on the hands, stretch the right leg behind and rest it on toes. Bend the knee and place it on the floor with your weight on the left foot and arch the spine backward. Lift the head and neck first up and then back. Roll the eyes up. The left foot does not move.

5.       Inhale and put your weight on the hands, stretch the right leg behind and rest it on toes. Bend the knee and place it on the floor with your weight on the left foot and arch the spine backward. Lift the head and neck first up and then back. Roll the eyes up. The left foot does not move.

6.       Exhale and bring the left foot back in line with the right. Lift the hips up high like a mountain (downward facing dog). Push the heels and head down and look at the toes with the head down between the arms.

7.       Put the knees down first and then bring the chest down. See that eight parts of the body are touching the floor including two feet, two knees, two hands, the chest and the chin or forehead. Make sure the hips are slightly raised above the ground. Inhale and exhale in this position. Keep the feet together.

8.       Lower the abdomen and pelvis to the floor. Inhale and stretch the toes on the floor. Raise your head slowly up, arch the spine and neck and look up. Keep your legs together and the elbows alongside the body slightly bent and keep the shoulders down.

9.       Exhale and wiggle your toes forward allowing your feet to rest on the soles while you raise the hips as you did in number 5.

10.   Inhale and bring the right foot forward and come into pose number 4 as earlier, but with the leg positions reversed.

11.   Exhale and bring the right foot forward (same as pose 3).

12.   Inhale and stretch up in a standing pose with your arms up and bend backwards (same as pose 2).

Exhale and stand erect bringing the hands back to the centre of the chest with palms together.

My salutations to you, oh Sun!

Yoga is a huge fad right now. Some of us understand what yoga is and how it can change your entire psyche. Others do it because it's so cool to say I'm doing yoga. Well, I 'm not really judging anyone. I'm sure the gods of yoga won't take offends that you serve them only because you think they're cool. To be honest, they should kinda like that since in the past the only people who cared enough to pay attention were sadhus with giant Amy Winehouse type bee-hives.

So yesterday I read some article on one of the countless Indian websites I visit during my busy day of work about the benefits of sun salutations. There was also some mention on how doing 50 of those a day would profoundly change your life. So when I got home, I pushed my dear hubby to cooking dinner and attempted as many salutations as possible within 15 minutes. Why 15 minutes? That's all the time I had before the pizza would be ready. I did 10.

The plan tonight is to do 50 but its past 6 pm and poor me is still sitting at my desk.

I found another article on the benefits of sun salutations today and figured two days in a row stumbling on the same info is a universe conspiracy that I must share with people who take time to read my crap. So here it goes-- (Btw, sun salutation's Hindi name is Surya Namaskar. Surya=Sun, Namaskar=saluation. Know Namaste? Namaskar is derived from that).

- You don't need to be doing yoga regularly in order to practice the Surya Namaskar. If performed correctly, this exercise does not strain or cause injury. If performed in the morning, it relieves stiffness, revitalises your body and refreshes the mind. Do it during the day and it will instantly boost you up, practice it after sundown and it helps you unwind.

- Not only does the Surya Namaskar give you a great stretch and keep you fit physically (it is extremely beneficial for your joints, ligaments and improves flexibility and posture), but is also does wonders for your mental and emotional health.

- Surya Namaskar stimulates almost every system in your body - the cardiovascular system because it keeps the heart strong and, the digestive system as well as the nervous system.

- It also makes endocrinal glands like the thyroid, parathyroid and pituitary glands, function normally.

- Practising the Surya Namaskar regularly is also known to ease stress and give you peace of mind besides increasing your levels of concentration.

One additional benefit I read yesterday was Surya Namaskar also massages the liver.

Bow and salute to the Sun and all shall be well!

Festivals galore

I don’t know how many of you are watching the new series “Outsourced” on NBC but if you are not, try and catch it. It’s actually quite funny. Set in India it’s a comedy about an all American white boy managing a call center and his experiences as he struggles to understand the language, food and culture. In the last episode, few of Todd’s employees convince him to take a half day for “Vindaloo day”, a concocted holiday. While I don’t intend to go into why they did this it did lead me to a different direction. Before I saw the episode, (I had DVR-ed it, which is a boon to my family! I don’t know how we survived without it) on the way to our hike I wished my husband a Happy Dasshera and he jokingly remarked (smart ass had already seen the “Happy Vindaloo day” episode), is this another one of your ridiculous holidays? Yes I do admit we have 864313132 holidays but really, why so mean? Anyway, I explained with a calm face what Dasshera was about, but afterward I could understand why he had a fit of laughter on knowing what Dasshera was about.

Dasshera is celebrated after 9 nights of dancing – and trust me it’s a LOT of fun! Young, old, big, small all sorts of people leave their homes to dance– in building courtyards, outdoor gyms converted into fancy mandaps – which can last until the wee hours of the morning. I too had participated in this madness for 9 nights leaving at 11 pm and sometimes not coming back home until 5 am the following morning. This 9 day dancing mania is called Navratri, which consists of garba (clapping hands and moving in a circle and dandiya, playing with sticks in a circle). “Nav” meaning 9 and “ratri” meaning nights. So the literal translation – 9 nights.

Durga Puja

On Dasshera, Ravana's effigy is burnt

During these 9 nights, the goddess Shakti/Durga is worshipped. Extremely elaborate statues of the Goddess are erected and her different forms are worshipped with intense fervor and devotion. At the end, on the 10^th day (called Dasshera) an effigy of Ravana – the ten headed monster who kidnapped Ram’s wife is burnt to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Now I know how ten headed monsters, elaborate Goddess statues, etc. can seem silly almost at the edge of ridiculous, but we must remember that whether or not these events actually took place the only intention was to tell a story using elaborate (yes extremely elaborate) imagination. The main purpose of these stories was to convey a message, prove a point and convince us that no matter what if we did the right thing, the right thing would happen to us. Satyamev Jayate in Sanskrit meaning the truth always wins wasn’t just a punch line in these stories but a motto, an abiding principle to live by.

It’s sad then how these stories are twisted and turned nowadays to serve a few people’s selfish ends. No wonder they sound ridiculous and funny!



Confidentiality et al

About 2 weeks ago my husband comes home very excited. Rupee I got you your next book! Turns out, someone he knows loaned him Kitchen Confidential and he thought I might be excited to read it. Honestly, I am not a big cook book reader but seriously, who can pass up Tony Bourdain? Still, I was hesitant. While KC sat on my bookshelf for a few weeks I finished Feast of the Goat (which is a definite read) and Adam & Eve (eh) the whole time pondering if I wanted to pick up Tony. I love Tony Bourdain but did I really want to read his book?

This past Friday I was searching for my next book but as fate had it nothing was appealing. Saturday was a beautiful day and so we took off hiking at Minnewaska state park. The leaves have all turned and the view from 1000 feet was simply awe-inspiring. Sunday rolled around and I still didn’t know what I wanted to read. By yesterday evening I knew I had to pick something up and KC seemed the only choice. So I waved the book at my husband who gave me 2 thumbs up! Alright, Kitchen Confidential it is.



View from Minnewaska state park



The preface was funny. Its started off in typical Tony Bourdain style. So there is a lot of obscenity already but as he said that’s the world of the cooks! He promises the book to be an honest representation of the life of his colleagues, nothing more nothing less. According to him it wasn’t a book he thought would propel him to stardom or enable him to have dinner with Eric Ripert. So imagine his surprise when both and many more of those things happened. Free food at the best restaurants was perhaps the biggest perk, in my opinion, he started enjoying. The best wine, cheese, gourmet meals, ahhh!! The stuff of heavens!

So for the week, I’m donning my chef hat and adventuring in the world of the culinary underbelly! Stick around for more on Kitchen Confidential.

Suprise

This book just took one of the biggest unanticipated turns! From the beginning I was wondering what was Uranita's (one of the main characters) problem with her father. So what if he supported a dictator? His income and position as President of the Senate did assure her a luxurios life. So why such abomination where she wants him to suffer a slow death? Well, now I know. And dare I say, she is justified. What an ass! Wow!

Like I said earlier, the book is about Trujillo and his dictatorship of Dominican Republic. As much as he was a tyrant after he was killed, things did fall apart for DR. So not sure if his governing was a good thing or bad. But yes, he did kill scores of people both Dominicans and Haitians.

The prose is simply beautiful -- one chapter in the past, the next in the present. Kinda like Russian Winter but this is about politics, ruling, killing and a daughter's hatred so its much more edge of the seat.

Seriously, read Feast of the Goat. (Goat is the code word the assasins had for Trujillo). Exemplary!