Cooking as a ‘man – hobby’

Cooking as a ‘man – hobby’

Hobby is something you enjoy. I do not do it for money….. just for the sheer fun of it. 

Cooking by a man, least of all by someone doing surgery is not the ‘done thing’ in India!

I used to make deserts for my boys when they were little as my wife had an evening clinic. I had plenty of time in the evenings… so the boys not only enjoyed the bread pudding, making chocolates with nuts, jellys, but also learnt table manners at home.

We had a book of table etiquette for the armed forces. Pravin, Mervyn and I used to read this together… we learnt how to lay the table, which spoon goes where,who sits where, etc.

Now my boys have grown up to fine men and we still talk about those times. I nearly choked when my son Mervyn now abroad wanted the phone to be passed from my wife so that he could get my bread pudding recipie for a guest!

So cooking improves family ties first of all. My boys are game for washing up after a meal- so the manners are easy.

When I resided in Chennai for a few years, away from my family, my resolve, as a novice, was to cook all on my own and that I would never venture out for food as a necessity.

So armed with cook book donated by the author Renuka Rajkumar my cousin, I ventured into the unknown.

My wife Neena donated an entire kitchen. My sister in law Lalitha donated her mixie. My close friends chipped in with bits and bobs whenever needed.

Cooking can be traditional sticking to the rules and regulations. But once you get the hang of the usual stuff, you tend to delve deeper.

 Like for instance, making dosas from the ready made flour was not good enough for me. I started grind the dough for idlies and dosa on twice a week basis.. which most housewives abhor.

Then graduated to Appams starting from the making the doughs as ingredients, different types of murukkus; then from Tamilian to Kerala Cooking!- to Goan Cooking; from Biriyani ( fresh made ingredients) to Chinese cooking. Google and hours of desperate  phone calls to my sister, cook friends, old classmates  helped!

From the regular to high protein, low calorie cooking…. From frying to grilling fish, chicken . And this helped my patients who understood me better while talking of food in obesity. After all obesity surgery is close to my heart, and food with exercise forms  the main chunk of advice before and after obesity ( bariatric ) surgery.

Once I returned to Coimbatore and got involved with our own hospital, there has not been much spare time. But we have an excellent maid who would cook as you tell her. 

Though those who know me well accept my interest in cooking. It creates a controversial curiosity  in those who  do not know me well.

The average Tamilian woman thinks it is below the dignity of a man to cook on his own! Most Tamilian men believe this!!

I have learnt plenty  in cooking, which I apply in life

• ·         Patience
• ·        Breaking tradition
• ·        Learn to ask for help or advice
• ·        Everyone can teach you something you do not know
• ·        Staying healthy
• ·        Never anyone tell you what you can and what you cannot do!
• ·        All of us have a good cook in us trying to get out!
• ·        Most important of all, – First ask’ “Why?” and then, “Why not?”..... This makes life and cooking   a great combination!

Why do we wait till someone passes away before appreciating the good things?

Why do we wait till someone passes away before appreciating the good things?

“Making one person smile can change the world – 

maybe not the whole world, 

but their world."

I hear about relatives, friends or close college mates who pass away … sometimes suddenly; only good things come to my mind...special things which I took for granted and never said to them.

And then you hear people say how good so and so has been, how talented he or she has been or how much useful he has been to the community.

It got me thinking- what is the point in anyone saying good things about anyone after demise as in my eulogy, except to be just formal.

It serves no one any  positive purpose when good things are said when they are gone...at least to the person who died. Certainly he or she won’t be there to hear it.

It is definitely good to tell people who are alive and kicking … how much you appreciate them, how well they are doing and that really makes the latter person perform better.

A friend of mine posted in FB how her colleague gave money unexpectedly for charity all of sudden, when it was badly needed… this surprised her. She thanked him profusely. This will indeed make the donor a better person and continue to carry on his good deeds. 

Certainly, when someone passes away, we should say good things about them…it is expected of us. It is a good time to remember and celebrate in memory of the deceased person. I am not denying this good habit and by all means it should continue!

But taking this further, all I am saying is that we must appreciate openly good things about the people close to us when they are still living (friends, neighbors, colleagues, for instance). This will bear fruit for the giver and the receiver. It cements a healthy relationship between people and makes others look up to both of them.

And I mean appreciating without expecting anything in return. Appreciation of any deed expecting a reward is plain flattery and this is not what I refer to.

A select group of people who actually practice this all the time are the musicians … who openly admire the other - singers or players. They congratulate each other; this certainly improves the team performance and good will.

After all, Christmas season is here- season of good will!

ALUMNI - WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

“Alumni - What does it mean?”

Alumni associations are common in vintage schools or colleges.

I belong to ‘St Joseph’s College and School Alumni Association’ as well as ‘CMC Alumni Association’. The former is a boys’ school where as the latter is a co education college.

Little did I realize when I searched for the origin of the word that 'alumni' was one of the misused words.

Male Sex

The singular ‘alumnus’ refers to one male graduate.

‘Alumni’ is the pleural noun which refers to a group of male graduates.

Female Sex

‘Alumna’ refers to one female graduate.

‘Alumnae’ refers to a group of female graduates.

So what do you call a group of old graduates consisting of men and women?

If you want to avoid confusion ‘Alum, alums’ would be the easier modern version to refer to a mixed group of males and female graduates. ‘Alumni’ is also used to refer to a group of mixed sexes      (though it is also used for a group of males).

What is erroneous to utter?

NEVER ever say, “I am an alumni of ….….” That ain’t good English! 

You hear this often enough!

Origin

Latin noun alumnus means ‘foster son or pupil’ and originates from the verb alere ‘to nourish’.

IS DECENCY STILL AROUND?

Is Decency Still Around?

Decency is defined as the behavior that conforms to accepted standards of morality or respectability. It also means modesty and propriety.

A recent incident to a close friend made me wonder if decency is still around. If not why not?

Air travel is where one meets the affluent. Everyone is in a rush to get into the airline bus though the seating in aircraft is assured. There is a scramble to stand up as soon as the aircraft has halted even before the ladders are fixed to the craft. And this is the cream of the society.

While boarding trains and buses, we never form queues to stand in line. ‘Survival of the fittest’ appears to be rule. A lot of elbowing goes on and a new comer would head up before anyone else. The NRIs who return to India become like the rest of us the moment they land , and break lines to mob counters in airport.

If one is polite and stands around, you have to wait till the end of the day.

To prevent this, we have to teach our children AT HOME, how to be polite. My mother used to make me walk an old lady home after she used to visit us. Beatrice Pattiamma used to visit us at our house and I had to walk her back…. I still routinely help the elderly across as this is part of my training.

Respect to the elderly, not staring at others in the face, saying please and thank you are all things one learns at home. Unless we teach this in earnest to our children at home, and practice it in our day to day life, all advice will be in vain.

Yet another way of teaching our youth morality and propriety is to inculcate compulsory military ( or community) training at an age of 18 years or so; every youth who is fit should serve in army , navy or air force for a year. If not fit physically, should serve as volunteer in a hospital or home guards for a year before continuing education, similar to the Israelis. I am not sure if this will ever materialize in our country.

‘Be the change you want to see’ is what Mahatma Gandhi said. 

Children are like plants. They need our good behavior to follow and the more we feed them with good manner at home, the better they will be.

At dinner, I used to read the manual for good manners meant for Air Force personnel to my two boys. I do hope all that has paid off; and they teach their children too!

In UK, teachers used to say, "Child should study at home, come to school to play". 

How true in life! They should learn manners at home, come to the real world to practice the manners!

A VISIT TO THE LARGEST COAL MINE IN THE WORLD.

A VISIT TO THE LARGEST COAL MINE IN THE WORLD.

‘Be careful’ is the last advice from Mervyn  my son over the mobile,when I was about to enter the coal mine.

Wearing the Wellington shoes made with wooden protection for the feet, helmet and the miners lamp with battery life of 8 hours looked like a hype . It looked like the props where you dress up to act for a stage play!

Wellingtons compared to regular size shoes

Then a walk up to the pit where there are large construction metal girders. The steel girders , near an old lift with large metal wagons on rails forcibly bring to the reality that this was no play! An old carriage like structure with rugged metal walls….. and six of us were packed in with a safety officer with the instruction, never put out your hands, keep lamps on all the time and stick together. The security officer pats you for mobiles, cameras and verifies your lights are on medium or full beam and you are  ready to go.

     Helmet, Miners lights

The lift  takes a long time to go down all the 500 metres ( there is still 450 metres down where the real miners are working). The surface lights initially dim and then everything becomes black and silent ...except the rackety noise of the lift. You can hear the water seeping down the sides, but cannot see it. There are some gaps which you can sense by the noise of the lift on the sides where different levels of coal have been removed. For once, you hope that the lift will not get stuck… there is no red button to summon for help!

                    Dhada and the coal wagon!

At last we reach the acceptable level  for the visitors…500metres. Workers who actually work go down to  950 to 1000 metres below. At the bottom, a lone guard, rings a bell and checks all your safety equipment. ..The tour begins.

There are pictures of gods of all faiths painted on the walls.A fish tank with gold fish, a small man - made pond with eel and some other fish are displayed by the side. There are built areas with tiled walls deceptively looking normal. As you make your way through them, you are aware of a nice draught reaching you . It is apparently blown down by huge fans down the shaft to supply fresh air with several exhaust fans below sucking out the air from below (very similar to the laminar flow we deploy in high tech operation theatres).This keeps the mine free of high temperatures, keeps the air cool and keeps the toxic gases low.

Battery operated locomotive ( not a steam engine with coal!) takes you on rails with 4 coaches through the coal black darkness. One realizes for the first time the importance of the miner’s lights. It will be only beacon to show you where you are in case you are lost!Naturally you cannot move an inch if  your light is off!

As the train chugs along, the walls are covered with layers of coal  alternating with rock.These have formed over millions of years due to the intense heat produced with organic and inorganic matter forming hydrocarbons and thus black coal. The rocky hard areas have iron rods measuring 1.5 metres with screws inserted into them on top and sides to prevent caving in. The areas of coal do not have them. Coal walls to touch are shiny and they crumble. The coal here is 99.9% pure and is used in steel industries to make the steel less brittle.Walls are protected with all sorts of other  padding as well. But the sheer knowledge of 500 metres of land over and above it makes your heart flutter.

Final Coal Product in its purity & beauty!

By the side of the rails, there is a steam of running water and this is the only noise you hear in the dark tunnel. I have never seen so many tunnels criss crossing such as this. At one point having got off the train to walk, there was an explosive noise by the side… and suddenly a geyser of water and steam appeared. Such is the pressure of water, and gasses that this  happens often. A motor immediately kicked in automatically and the water was sucked by the pumps. The excess water suddenly filled up the small stream which now ran upto the brim! These safety features are the ones which prevent the mine from flooding.

This makes one realize that though everything looks safe, all of a sudden nature can unfurl its fury at the humans.The realization dawns on you that you are 500 metres down ( some workers even 650 meters below us!) the ground level. In other words, we are at the bottom of a deep well and the water is constantly pumped out at the rate of 180,00,000 gallons of water per day. If this were to theoretically fail, then the mine is flooded!

There were at least 2 first aid stations at our level; there are totally 12 levels!

There were facilities for enriched oxygen inhalation flasks which can be ripped only in the case of emergency fire. Fire with coal sucks out the oxygen and also produces the killer carbon monoxide gas. In such an emergency, the oxygen from these flasks can keep men alive till help arrives to put out the fire. There are fire services to put out normal fire, electrical fire as well as oil fire. There are many electrical machines down – each working automatically without need for any human help.

Moonidhi coal mine of BCCL in Dhabad is the largest coal mine in the world. It produces 500 tons of coal everyday and it can make 3000 tons of coal daily. The coal mining is done at a much lower level and coal is transported rapidly by conveyer belt up. Coal is collected in storages which are transported to the surface in special lifts of 10 tons  at a time .The coal is very pure ( and soft) and hence used only in steel production.

I had read ‘Citadel’ the book by A J Cronin on the mining communities of South Wales coal mines- ranging over three generations as early as in 1937. Andrew Manson newly qualified doctor, arrives from Scotland to work as assistant to Doctor Page in the small Welsh mining town of Blaenelly. He realizes that Page is an invalid and that he has to do all the work for a meagre wage. Shocked by the unsanitary conditions he finds, he works to improve matters and receives the support of Dr Philip Denny, a cynical semi-alcoholic. And the story describes how the situation of the poor miner improves.

I could well imagine how the old miners used to work with lanterns, spades and poisonous gases ( carbon monoxide) with their own fears of sudden noises, buried under the caving in and the flooding of water .  But for their sacrifice and selfless service, one could not imagine such a successful mining industry.

The positives of the life below were quiet, peaceful, breezy atmosphere without any noise, pollution, dust, plastics or even mosquitoes! On other hand, the  dangers of water floods, poisonous gases, long hours in the dark, maybe areas of increased heat, caving in of the mine,explosions, fire hazard and constant exposure to coal dust were real.

After an hour of walking around and exit via the same lift, one cannot but wonder at the marvel of nature, in all its glory, richness, history, uncontrolled fury and power to protect us or destroy us. One also wonders at the selfishness of man as one steps out onto the roads filled with traffic fumes, noisy horns, spitting, plastics, rubbish everywhere…


Where is the smile gone now,eh? 1 hour down the shaft.. relieved to be back on surface!!

If only we can keep this earth anywhere half as beautiful and uncorrupted on its surface as it is 500 metres below, we would have given humanity and all our children the greatest of gifts of life!

Many undertake pilgrimages to hills and other countries; a pilgrimage trip to meet mother earth down by half kilometer immensely increases your faith in nature and a superhuman presence!

Acknowledgements:

To the BCCL staff and doctors who arranged a special trip for us down the mines.

Mrs and Dr Satish Midha for enabling this trip to materialize
Special mention to Dr Agarwal the gynecologist and who gave us so much information on the mines and the wonderful medical work which BCCL is doing.

Dr Sayandev Dasgupta for the transport.

With Dr Dasgupta

             With Staff of BCCL,Mrs Drs Midha, Dasgupta,Ramesh, John &Garg