International Twist To Thanksgiving

We start the Thanksgiving dinner around 3:30-ish. There’s the sweet corn, mashed potato and gravy, yam, corn bread and cranberry sauce, the poor turkey with legs tied and cooked to perfection taking the center place (proud even in death), the stuffing and etc. It's impossible to sit down to dinner around the table because there are so many of us. Each year the number grows, as we include more families in our group. And for most of us, in the absence of relatives, who are in India, Thanksgiving dinner is shared with the friends we have made here, and each family brings in a dish.

Our friend circle has its own eccentricities. Before the turkey is carved, all the kids in the room are asked what they are thankful for, and their answers videotaped. The older kids are bashful, and the shy little ones just crawl under the table. The ritual is repeated every year, and then the adults say what they are thankful for. The answers range from the mundane to the witty to the bawdy or the sincere, and then the feast starts.

Once we are done, the table is cleared and ….. we start getting ready for a typical Bengali dinner. Much later though, around ten! In the mean time we will feast on snacks, lounge, watch a movie, enjoy adda....so on. (http://nina-theamericanbengali.blogspot.com/2008/09/adda-meals-and-leftovers.html )

How do we eat so much? I don’t really know, ……. the cheerful warmth indoors while it’s freezing outside…..the feeling of relaxation that comes with the end of the year…...guess it’s just the season! We have survived and done good in a foreign land, loved and made it our home.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Truly thankful for all my friends and of course my readers.

I Am Busy & You Are Not! I Work & You do Not!....Yes I am Hot!

Sipping coke in a quiet corner (I had managed to find this charming window-sill) of a raging party room (don’t get me wrong, I’m a party girl, but lately have been going through a phase of blues) I was ambushed by this lady..... She came and squeezed her well endowed posterior on my window sill, announced her name, popped a celery stick in her mouth and asked if I work…out of the blue. I had never spoken to her before, nor seen her till she forcefully entered the periphery of my vision, and blinking a couple of times as if to wish her away, I sighed and replied that I did.

That was it. She had found a common bond of "career" and proceeded to enthrall me with her musings. Qualifications, career, hour to hour activity.....And I realized how easy it was to nod off in a roomful of people.

From past experience when I was a mere (!!!) homemaker, I knew what her next line would be. Sure enough, very soon in came the “how busy I am” routine. Good lord, if you are busy - that's awesome. What do you think – the world is not busy? We are all suspended in a limbo? Of course you are busy chewing that piece of celery, and on a mission to bore me....going to work at eight....coming back from work at eight, cooking, stress, going to work at eight.......coming back from work at eight, cooking……Thank god I have this special knack of inner concentration.....

"Newspaper taxis appear on the shore,
Waiting to take you away.
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds,
And you're gone."

I’m lucky to be off from work on Fridays, and a couple of friends when they call on Friday, start with “were you sleeping?”.........at 12:00??? “Yeah I was, till the jingle of your call woke me up with a tingle”. Why would you assume so? Don’t I have work? Did I just press a switch and have babies, press a remote to have the food spread itself on the table, another switch and the kids grew up by themselves?

How I love the straight forwardness of the Americans. They are proud if they work and proud if they stay at home to take care of their kids. Till date I have not come across an American friend who bored me with talks of being busy!!!! It’s a part of life after all. Imagine sitting on your couch and staring into nothingness for days.

Some work for need, some for passion, some to crib and some can just afford to stay at home and spend time to do the stuff they love.

Romance of the Chai Shack

The original chai shop: A shack kind of structure with benches or ropey beds (khatiya) generously scattered under trees, where you can lounge with steaming cups of chai, samosas and other fried snacks. Often next to an expressway or anywhere (yep anywhere), you sip your chai and vaguely stare at nothing in particular, enjoying the ambiance as the traffic whizzes by or people stroll around you. An extreme rustic version of our rest areas. (I am not speaking about the modern or elitist tea places.)

Most rustic elements in the States have a delicate beauty. A restaurant in the mountains of Utah had glass windows facing the pasture where wild bison roamed. Fancy salad was served as you gazed out. Nothing like the harsh details of our shacky chai shops back home.

But then, why do I still remember the flavor of the chai? Chai, which no tea house over here is capable of brewing. The Leaves have been boiled since early morning in an iron kettle, giving the tea a strong bitter taste. Instant cure for headaches. The milk is generous, there is no option to mix your own cream, and the tea is served in small clay containers. Cups of chai, friends, and we were sure that the college days would last forever.

You are hooked on the chai when you remember the exact flavor and then the memories come pouring in. As I smile into my tea-cup, my daughter says, "sorry mom, no offense, but who would hang out in such a dump?" A twinge of sadness.... how can she possibly know the value of those cups of chai...

P.S. The picture is of an actual tea shack ("Kalor Dokan") taken by a journalist friend, Soumik Mukherjee. A popular spot to hang out.

Have been humming since morning "should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind......."

Yogurt-Rice And Fish-stew For The Bengali Pups

Our dogs came into the household, each at two months of age, and since then have built up their appreciation of Bengali food. Baked fish…..a light fish stew with tomatoes (no onions or garlic though)…the one I cook when my kids are recovering from any kind of ailment…… woof .…..leafy veggies like spinach and poi….. chick peas with a drop of olive oil….. a little bit of rice on Sundays….. roti for the rest of the week. They also love oven roasted cauliflower, chicken and potatoes.

Timmy Too and Lucy Lou delicately start sniffing the air when I cook….aroma therapy???? Definitely. Our future stars of Ratatouille, sorry Doggatouille!

Of American, European and Chinese parentage, our dogs have adapted to our Bengali lifestyle with a natural doggie zeal. A friend of mine even gives occasional chanachur (light spicy corn-flakes mix) treat to her dog. Once a week our dogs eat yogurt and rice to cleanse their systems. The yogurt and rice was recommended by a Bengali gastroenterologist of New York. Trust me, it works.

My vet shudders when I talk to him about their diet.

“Nina…it’s just not done in the U.S.”

Mrs. Banerjee’s dog Rosogolla has lived hale and hearty for the last twenty years… on a healthy dose of Bengali Karmic diet. Need more proof???????