Rations for Comfort and Discomfort

For Sunday dinner
there is nothing like fast and easy

comfort food

So I made Zeera Aloo ( Cumin Potato)

Thinly slice potatoes.

Heat oil in a non stick pan.

Tip in a teaspoon of cumin seeds.

When they splutter

Add the potatoes.

Put in some salt

and you if - like turmeric powder

and pepper powder.

Mix well.

And cook till potatoes are done.

I like them crispy brown.

My sister Anju, emailed me that she was making zeera aloo

the way Aunt Sybil used to make.

That motivated me to cook them too.

You have them as a side dish

or with rice or any kind of bread.

Commencing last week,

there will be a religious fair,

street carnival and procession

every Sunday evening
in a different part of town,

culminating in the last week of September.

The street a brightly decorated as

crowds throng the mela.

Street stalls are set up selling food,

toys, religious and decorative artifacts,

ornaments, bangles, cheap jewellery etc.

There are games and rides too.

And of course loud music on the P.A. system.

Religious floats are taken out in a procession

depicting scenes from

Hindu mythology.

People worship the gods and goddesses

on these floats.

The flip side of this is that

extra electricity has to be supplied to the area where

the fair or mela is taking place.

And in order to do that

the rest of the city is put on electricity rations.

So we had additional power cuts

yesterday and today

and who knows what the

future may hold.