Raining Thoughts

  Guess life is never complete without rewriting a fairy tale. Scouring away cinders off the cold hearth at night, Ella wondered, ‘Will there ever be an end to this misery?’ As if negating her hopes, Ella heard her stepmother thunder from upstairs. "Ella, are you dreaming? If you have scrubbed the kitchen, come upstairs, make my bed and wash my feet." Ella lived with her stepmother and her two stepsisters who had always been mean to her. Days passed on in drudgery. Deep within, Ella knew she was meant for something better in life. “What is my true calling?”, Ella would ask her reflection in the water barrel, to the squeaking mice in the barn and to the scudding clouds in the sky. “What do I really really want?” One day, an envoy from the palace arrived with an invitation for the young ladies of the house. A royal ball at the palace! The crown prince was looking for a bride. Ella helped her sisters prepare for the ball. The ladies were particularly careful in keeping Ella

Happiness in a 'Chatti'! The Kerala (Kottayam) style kudampuli fish curry Intro '... Kudampuli ittu vecha nalla chemmeen curryundu ...' Ever listened to the lyrics from this evergreen Malayalam song of the 70's? The ultimate Malayali sea-food song! I am posting a ' Kudampuli ittu vecha nalla neymeen (not chemmeen) curry ' recipe today. After i posted the click of my latest Kerala style kudampuli fish curry on Insta and her kin this week, I received requests from quite a number of friends and my own kin to share this recipe - so dedicating this mouth-watering post to all of you. I've never posted a recipe in this space before. This is the first one & so it definitely had to be something really special. So, here's the recipe i follow to cook up 'happiness' in an earthern ' chatti', as I deem it. The hot 'n spicy Kerala fish curry. I must say that this one's a tad spicy and is definitely gonna strike a chord w

Sorry, I was talking on mute! Yes, this monologue thrived on, until one fine day the mute button on my phone decided to take a vacation during an office call – opening the floodgates of cacophony emanating from my household to the other side of the cosmos. Microcosms, rather! Each family, a little universe now – with its own chaos and controls.  The new normal is creating novel ways of doing everything – from launching the next big technology that can transform lives, to chopping onions. The world stands transformed. The world is working from home - as the only ‘home' we’ve cohabited in this universe takes a breather. A COVID-19 medical leave, maybe! Pigeons crossing the street, peacocks patrolling the alleys, lions snoozing on the tarmac and roosters out for a walk in the park giggle teasingly at us from our digital screens, as we gaze on wordlessly, mute buttons still on, juggling the chaos of an overwhelming shift in our day-to-day lives, devising new ways to numb the