It is Diwali time folks once again thanks to sugar free natura.. but this time without the guilt of sugar and its calories!
Presented here is an all time favourite from my stable....the delicious fried gram ladoo. Nothing can beat this simple but awesome delight and we shall make it with sugar free natura.
Ingredients:
1) Fried gram - 1 cup
2) Sugar free natura - 1 cup or 3/4 cup
3) Cashew - a handful chopped
4) Raisins - a handful
5) Almonds - a few chopped
6) Ghee - 1 cup
Method:
Fry the fried gram on low flame till the raw smell disappears
Melt the ghee and fry the cashews, raisins and almonds in the ghee
Powder the fried gram
Mix all ingredients and add ghee
Make ladoos in a jiffy
So...simple and delicious and have the added advantage of sugar free dessert. The hassle of powdering sugar is also not there as we are substituting with sugar free natura!
Tastes like heaven and try it whenever the urge of eating sweets happen!!!
Several weighty issues were
bogging my mind, a cauldron of concerns haunting me- will the inflation come
down, I mean the prices of the veggies and groceries, after the deluge, will sanity return in the
world after the Paris and Mali carnage and the extremists are hounded out, will
the boys do well in the ensuing exams, will my kith and kin appreciate me for
what I am ???
Amidst the question and answer
session in my brain, the telephone rang and was glad to hear the voice of my
dad...”Suni saaptacha?(eaten in Tamil), he began in is usual peerless style and
I answered in the affirmative looking at the clock to check on the time since I
had my dinner, one and half hours to be precise and ready for the next one and
I realized that it was his usual start to breaking the ice.
The conversation veered around
cabs and his new found love for the Uber and his incredible enthusiasm to share
his enlightenment, knowhow and proficiency among his coffee and vodka drinking
comrades who lap it up much to his triumphant gladness! With the exuberance of
a teenager who has a new I phone, he exclaimed “ Suni, we have purchased a new
dish washer”, the chat had digressed and deviated to a new fangled, in vogue
appliance that had indeed taken the kitchens of India by storm. I was not surprised at this sudden urbanism of
my dear parents after all they had the privilege of an NRI son to fund their
whims and fancies. But all the same I could not suppress my expression at the dramatic
declaration and my tone and pitch matched his animation.
He went on “we opted for Bosch as
it was cheaper by a mile plus it has the features suitable for Indian vessels
and the shopkeeper said that it is real value for money and the after sales
service is good , the power and water consumption is minimal ...”
As he
swaggered on, I fancied my folks in the appliance store, decorated for the
festival with lights and balloons, the quintessential mallu salesman shrugging
his shoulders with the symbolic nod of the head, compelled to answer in
monosyllables, trying to wield himself at the volley of questions from the
prospective buyers. Meanwhile my mom
would be admiring the possible colours and the freebies accompanying the
implement and looking around more curiously at its competitors and thinking of
ways and means to impress upon her envying neighbours! This brought a smile on
my face and went back into the lively telephone prattle and he said”over to
amma for more on the mean machine”!
Amma sure was stimulated but did
well to masquerade her excitement in a smoke screen and articulated, “it is the
same as the one in London you know, but then I did not operate it there for
fear of damaging it due to my lack of acquaintance. “ I interrupted her “yes
amma, has to be the same, as Bosch is a multinational brand and the elements
have to be ditto”. She went on, turning a deaf ear to my interference, and now
her talk had the eclectic mix of pride, joy and the accomplished wisdom of
knowing the inside story, like a mechanic under the hood of an automobile and
emphatically exclaimed that the buy was a worthy one! At that moment, I could fathom that she had
scant regard for the maid, as her tone suggested a feeling of one-upmanship and
outsmarting the artful dodgers, the smart class of domestic helps!
“Though it takes long to wash, it
does do it cleanly and of course I put it in the normal mode, regardless of the
fact that two other modes are also available, and you know Suni, I could wash
all the utensils of a marriage party in that time”, that had a touch of
cynicism, I thought, as she chattered on and I listened like one curious star
stuck child! She further elaborated on the nuances with intermittent indications
to microscopic imperfections and I knew my amma would never allow any gadget to
surpass or catch up with her skills, talent and cleverness!
Appa grabbed the phone to fill me
in further on the unavailability of the vital constituent, the soap combo and
the next ten minutes was spent in graphically revealing the adventures of
searching for the same from malls to hypermarket to departmental store to the
small retailer, eventually ordering it online with Amazon! I hasten to add
here, he is up to the minute and new fashioned!
As the tete a tete ended after a
good one hour, making the BSNL service provider poorer due to their free talk
time in the night, I took pleasure in their attitude and envied them on their
adaptability, versatility, being abreast with the modern day era and above all
at the domestic device because I am still at the mercy of the wielder of the
broom!!!
The large black and white portrait of a man
in a Nehru jacket with stern eyes and a slight smile welcomed me into the grand
Chettinad like home in Madurai, a temple town in the state of Tamil Nadu in
India. A floodgate of memories opened up like a torrent as I kept my eyes riveted
to the photograph and the bespectacled man mesmerized me to an extent that I
found my paternal grandfather in flesh and blood, right before me as serious
and stern as ever!
Carbon
dating my memories I heard the baritone of my Thatha “common tell, if ten
bananas cost 50 rupees, what is the price of one”? The 7 year old curly haired
girl trembled in fear and looked at the iron man in a ironed veshti with a
spotlessly clean cream coloured shirt to get some clue for the question. The
mind was a blank, more so due to the fear of the hard task master than the math
itself and bananas seemed never an inviting fruit at that nightmarish moment! “Kittu,”
shouted my Thatha, “this girl of yours is not at all alert , I don’t know how
she is going to study!”The Q&A session ended even before it started and I
heaved a sigh of relief and rushed out to play hopscotch with my buddies.
Every morning I stealthily watched my
Thatha meticulously polishing his burgundy shoes and getting ready for the
morning walk, the crisp shirt and pants looking new as ever and the walking
stick firmly hung by the elbow. In the one hour of his absence, I would rummage
his spic and span room delighted by the artefacts. The “Eiffeel tower” paper
weight was always an attraction and I would caress it to my heart’s content
eager to own it but never risked that temptation for fear of the aftermath. The
radio would be next, tampering, twisting and turning all the knobs till a
cacophony of signals and waves buzzzeddd...across. The “Hindu” daily paper
neatly folded on the “easy chair” was an easy target but for the shrill cry of
my mom “Suni....out of Thatha’s room now” and like a scaredy cat I saved the
rest of sabotage and vandalism for the next day. Thatha reclined in his easy
chair and the cryptic crossword was done in a jiffy looking at his watch to
find out whether he had bettered his timings. The flute and violin recital from
the radio enthralled him and words of “shabhaash” in appreciation added, to
evoke my curiosity. I tried my best to recognize the worth of the music, the
musician and the avid listener, but failed miserably on all the three counts!
I peeped bravely at the fully filled black
and white squares of the crossword and squeaked in absolute delight and awe at
his alacrity much to his exasperation and promptly ticked me off! He had his breakfast
at eight in the morning, a meagre meal of two idlis with chutney and washed it
down with a hot cup of coffee. He was a slave to the clock and all his
activities were ruled by the hour hand! His waking up, bath, meals, radio time,
read hours all were timed to perfection.
A strange kind of rapport grew between us,
two divergent poles, one, a tyrant and a dictator, and the other a wide eyed snooping
meddler! Years rolled by and I graduated from a headstrong fiend to a mellowed
desirable teenager imbibing his qualities of straightforwardness, honesty, discipline
, determination, punctuality and of course the love for the cryptic and the
math but never to come anywhere close to his prowess! In my growing up, I learnt
a lot about the grandsire from my dad and the fondness for this paternal
forebear grew in leaps and bounds and he became an icon, an unmatched noble
character. He lost his wife, my grandmother at a very young age and single handed
brought up five children in an impartial manner that started from the same type
clothes they wore to the same harsh upbringing with the same quantum of
punishment, eventually making them successful individuals. A civil engineer by
profession, he worked in the public works department of the government, an
upright equitable officer dreaded by those working under him. Nothing could
allure him and any attempt to grease his palms was dealt with mercilessly. Many
roads and bridges have his trademark style of perfection and the most notable
one is the bridge across periyar river in Aluva which stands as a testimony to
his greatness.
The iconic bridge built by Thatha in Aluva, near Kochi
His name 'T S Narayanaswamy' etched in the plaque
He nurtured, cared and lived life in his
true inimitable fashion that is nonpareil. He rarely laughed, mingled, watched
TV or partook in festivals and rituals and kept to himself and his routine.
When I got married, he had a natural affinity for my husband primarily due to
the fact that he was an engineer, a non smoker and a teetotaller, the basic
requirements to get the passing grades from him. My hubby was drawn to him like
a magnet for his discipline and meticulousness and both were in awe of each
other. When my Thatha fell sick, Sriram nursed him to good health and
maintained the same sense of perfection in keeping the medicines and other
essentials. And then the Patriarch changed, it was like the Sun rising from the
west, he cared to crack a joke or two, woke up Sriram early in the morning and
both watched cricket much to my amusement. But his tryst with time continued
unabated and his stature as a grand dad grew taller in my eyes.
I was filled with pride at his fair non
discriminate virtue and even though I have never sat on his lap, ruffled his
hair or hugged him or listened to a fairy tale and enjoyed the warmth and
affection of a grandfather, he was made of greatness that left a lasting
impression. And when the big banyan tree fell, I wept alone for a Thatha who
was unique, rare, exclusive, solitary and one and only one!
So dear readers, what do you think about this
glorious association? Tell me the answer and you could be the winner!
The #madeofgreat campaign is the first time Tata Motors is undertaking an overall brand association campaign with a brand ambassador. It rides on a strong consumer motivation of ‘Seeking Excellence’ and ‘Self Belief’ which is showcased by the confluence of two global brands-Tata Motors and Lionel Messi. The campaign builds upon Tata Motors’ DNA of trust, authenticity, reliability, simplicity, as well as its commitment to innovation.
Lionel Messi is talent galore with conviction and is an icon for today’s youth. He is a winner who is trustworthy, reliable, pioneering, simple and driven by self-belief, which is what is at the core of Tata Motors as well. Thus, proving to be an ideal fit for the role of Global Brand Ambassador.
