Simplicity of Poha

In a complex and changing world, if you are seeking the comfort of the known, may I suggest tasting the Simplicity of Poha for breakfast? Is this something which gets lost in the wide array of curious fascinating and exotic dishes coming from all across the world? Does upama strike you as another such dish which may have been lauded by a few chefs earlier in televised and celebrated shows or channels. Well, poha is another tasty savoury alternative to it.

I am sharing this recipe in memory of childhood days when mothers, aunts and others were there with the sole purpose of feeding us hungry kids or hangry teenagers. It is perhaps also a nod to my connection with Indore and Mumbai where I lived and worked for a couple of years. Poha and jalebi was a strange combination which was very popular in Indore-Bhopal highways for breakfast.

Poha and Washington DC

Who would have thought that I would be eating poha near Washington DC? I met up with my uncle and aunt here who are now empty nesters and then my cousins with their younger daughter who also live close by.

They have full lives of their own and yet they made the time and poured in a whole lot of love when I asked if I could visit them. For my uncle and aunt, this was perhaps the first time I actually spent one on one quality time sharing much of our past days.

Similarly with my cousin and his wife (sister-in-law). The benefit for me was the sharing of their knowledge of the city, its people, the many places to visit, the things to try in terms of experiences and foods.

They drove me around to see the various places and familiarize me with the highlights of the city. Some of them grand with the weight of history and momentous occasions.

We had many discussions on health and food of course. All of them agreed that protein intakes are to be increased and carbs to be taken with a healthy dose of fats. Hence poha doesn’t actually qualify in that sense.

But are you still craving poha?

It is carb rich and very light. And it must be eaten freshly prepared-it doesn’t taste good when it is cold or had later after storing in the fridge. I can add one more point- it is very easy to digest.

Complex issues with simple people

If you are recovering from a difficult or trying event in life, part of the healing process is to give love and also to be open to accepting the love from others. I feel, many of us shy away from it. I definitely hesitated many a times before I asked them for a favour. And I was surprised by how much they did without me asking for it.

Are you held back or overwhelmed by your own inability to return those favours? Well, then like me, you need a harder lesson in humility. I heard that song, many times in life- “Money can’t buy you love“.

And I smile through tears often understanding the patterns woven in those simple lyrics.

Say you had bought the ingredients for making poha before and there is a happy memory associated with it. But now other members of the family no longer want poha. So, if someone helps you to make it or eat it, does that help you understand why the dish suddenly becomes special?

Ladybird, you are no flamingo,

And you despise every act of being seen as a Robin or Magpie

Which collects little shiny objects around

So shed those shiny teardrops

Let the heavens pour.

Perhaps I am inspired by the recent visit to places with many birds to use this analogy to describe how confusing it has been for me to keep on receiving. There is no accounting for the lack of accountability for some. And there are people like me who are constantly trying to balance the two sides of the ledger.

I fail miserably every time. Because the more I try to give, the more I get back. It is true for both what I perceive as the good things/moments and the bad things/moments.

Politicizing Poha is unnecessary

If you value people more than objects, funny how your life is showered with objects. And if you value time more over people, funny how the time just simply gets filled and stretched with people. Somewhere nobody is equating either objects or time with money.

Side question- when you are waiting for death; why would you be bothered about money? And as I see from iconic men and women you can easily get away with not being bothered about any people either. Is this a new theory of wonky relativity?

I am half joking, but somewhere a part of me is unable to relate with most people. And there is another part of me which relates so perfectly with others that it is scary. Some of them, I meet or interact with for just a few moments or days. Never is the experience at my end exactly the same as the others. And perhaps communicating this doesn’t really help. I try to listen or observe instead.

How special is the feeling of home for you?

I stick to basics now a days to explain a few other things which are to my mind significant for many.

Like food, clothing, shelter and some ideas which may spark creating something else which others may value. I value art for instance, and I find many others do that too. It’s just that the sense of aesthetics may differ and there are lengthy debates on the same. What if, I don’t like to debate. I like to create or consume. Then I must be a hedonist at some level. And yet I am so judgmental of blatant selfish consumerism. This is confusing- am I not accepting this same part of me that is perhaps suppressed.

Politically incorrect foodie sports

I am easily amused by the quirks of others. And I understand that somewhere that’s a reflection or recognition of parts of ourselves we see in those around.

Me being a passionate foodie, is not unique. I am reminded of that as I interact with these distant and not so distant relatives.

My aunt and uncle share their favourite meals in a Greek restaurant called Nostos. The food, drinks and ambience are outstanding. But their service is even better. I conclude later that the place has a special memory and bonding for their family – perhaps it was one of their happy holiday places.

One of my earliest dates in Singapore was to a Greek restaurant called Blou Kouzina. So, there’s a connection there for me too. Let’s not start on a shared love for spy thriller books like Guns of Navarone and films like Zorba the Greek. (That will reveal how ancient I am).

They also order some spicy Chinese takeout and like them, I have an association with that as well from my days in Kolkata. They have travelled all over the world and continue to do so. Perhaps staying healthy, fit and fine is important as they make future plans for themselves and their sons.

My critical finding- uncle makes a mean cup of coffee and a decent omelette for breakfast. He makes cottage cheese and eggs for my aunt every day for breakfast. She eats it with blueberries. Can I tell you how difficult it is to do so every day in the morning? Cook the same thing every day unerringly and eat the same thing every day devotedly.

Poha sounds boring to you?

Eating poha everyday may sound boring. Nobody wants to start the day with an argument. So, here’s me adding a note about celebrating similarities and celebrating differences at the same time.

My aunt who is an oncologist laughs when I tell her that I don’t want to live a very long life. She has seen many patients who said the same and then really fought hard to survive later when push came to shove. In most cases, there was a desire to see something good for their children, grandchildren or some other loved one.

My wishes are so scattered across the many connections I have in this universe, that I feel, my bodily existence is not important. I share this note as simply a desire to scatter them before the scattering of my ashes.

The exact time of our deaths is not within our control. But the death of me, myself and I is definitely within our control. I choose to define the word I as US or WE. But, how do I do that? So here goes my humble attempt.

Uncheesy Poha in Land of Lovers

I see a graffiti- Virginia is for lovers. Source of this self-proclaimed identity is unknown. But that makes me feel like meltinglemondrop has a place there.

This site is a repository of all the good and love that I have received. Anyone, anywhere can get something sometimes from it. I am incapable of making it sound more specific or more grandiose than that. That’s the simple recognition of limitations.

This simplicity of poha is hence a foolproof way of telling you, I don’t know if you (the reader) likes poha, wants to eat poha or needs poha. But if you are intrigued or it kindles a memory which you seek, read on and try it. In your own way.

Hidden in between these vague words is the memory of a few museums and monuments visited in Washington DC. These are memorials of men and women far greater than us. I doubt they ate poha or were worried about poha. If you feel embarrassed about all the fuss created over a plate of poha- perhaps you are on the wrong side of the table.

Poha cooked with love

I was told even a man like Jefferson was human enough and is associated with the humble Mac n Cheese of all the things. It wasn’t even original- came from France. But see- how you take an idea from another and get behind it wholeheartedly. Perhaps- that’s what they did as statesmen.

What they did was perhaps consequential to a large number of people- let’s not get into the controversial aspects of what they did in entirety. Let’s be selective about our memories.

What everyone around me tried to say in more ways than one is – you yourself as an individual are equally capable of being consequential. Why not give you the benefit of doubt with selective memory.

So, I declare with utmost overconfidence, that I have no confidence in being so important to others. I love poha but I also love non-poha items. 🙂 These kind of wishy-washy irrelevant filler statements may take away from the central theme of this sharing.

Machine beeping Reminder- what’s the theme? (Simplicity of Poha.)

Incidentally chidwa/chiwda/chide- other names for the main ingredient (flattened rice flakes) going into poha is one of the first things we ate as kids for breakfast in summer. We would have it mixed with yoghurt/milk and fruits much like modern Americans eat breakfast cereals.

Aha! So, there is a connection there. Simple food and a simple recipe.

Instructions for Poha lovers

Take a line from Firehouse Subs- make this cooking and eating exercise sound grander. Without the help of AI.

Poha can save a life. 🙂 And who is to say that one life, may be more consequential to another life. And so on…

It’s a ripple effect, much like the narrative of butterflies. Poha maybe described as a savoury breakfast dish. The recipe I share here was given by my sister-in-law who explained the balance of different tastes that goes into it. Not just savoury– it is sweet, salty, sour and spicy.

Don’t want to hard sell this dish- so let me share some other pieces of inconsequential conversation over meals and coffee breaks. Because I see a lot of time being unnecessarily wasted on global issues that are not affecting you or me directly.

Poha is too easy for you?

You wanted to make tea for others- with your own blend of spices? Well, then you are to be shown the door out for invoking the wrath of the mistress of the house. How can you assume the freedom to use the kitchen so freely. Each lady of the house will let you know that is what has crossed the line. They want productivity not creativity. 🙂

You get joy out of making tea slowly- then do it in a manner that is less obtrusive. Preferably in a dark corner- in a cellar where nobody can see you or care about what you want. It has to be about what they want you to care for or at least do a good job pretending.

You are a guest/visitor and if you are too comfortable to make your own meal, perhaps that is a transgression unspoken and unseen. You are not a single person living in a hostel/hotel. This is a family home, and the rules of the household needs to be understood well.

I pay my respect in my own way by saying, you make me feel very comfortable. But I don’t wish to impose further because your regular life is more important.

Poha may be eaten by non-humans

Does anybody remember a very old film called Butterflies Are Free. Poha is like that.

V old dish and has many different easy interpretations possible. That memory is triggered probably because the Butterfly Pavillion in Museum of Natural History was closed, and I felt a momentary pang of disappointment.

Anyways, seeing butterflies indoors in a museum is sad when I see so many of them outdoors. They are important to study. All insects are important in their own ways. Perhaps even cockroaches. I’m not a non-human. Let’s dig deeper why.

Roaches brings me to unnerving crisscross connections with biology lab memories and holocaust stories. I skipped that in the Smithsonian visits and instead focused on the National Gallery of Art. That’s one place I can see as a highlight of my visit to DC apart from the time spent with family. I could have spent more time actually on other art museums. But I get overwhelmed.

People get a bit weirded out when then see me staring at a work of art and suddenly bursting into tears or laughter. How do I explain what something conveys there is so personal. Most of the times, I don’t even have the proper words to describe if someone asks me how I feel.

Is there an all-encompassing Scandinavian term perhaps for “that sense of loss when you are unable to share something with someone who you remember suddenly when you come across a shared point of interest, a thought or a memory“.

Phew- this crosses the word limit for 1 sentence. Hence, I implore for a special term. If there is none, I vote for Moa-na-poha-na. My apologies- children these days are far more articulate and creative.

Poha endurance test

In fact, there is a list of words which mean different things to different people. I am educated by my cousin on this in a fun way.

For example, I learn that there are so many terms and words for shades of white for some Indian tribes because they see mostly snow all around. Are you unnerved by the number of words to describe different shades of purple nowadays? His daughter asks me- is Periwinkle a shade of blue or purple. I am nonplussed. How can I not have an opinion on this matter?

If there’s so much of time spent on useless facts and information, when will we actually get work done. Like, you know- cooking some breakfast. Alas, this is the battle again of translating knowledge into work and something of some value to others.

He has thoughtfully also shared a long list of 103 restaurants to try in New York. Perhaps I will die if I actually try to do so. Do you have a wish that someone you love or care about deeply gets to benefit from your experience?

Then share, because you care. Despite others misunderstanding your intentions.

This is my learning after an understanding of mortality and the lack of agency at various levels. Butterflies live only for 2 weeks or so I hear.

Dramatic sores for poha

Online routes are especially useful for those who feel their voice is stifled for various reasons. A feeling of inadequacy maybe a big hindrance for some. While for others it maybe a feeling of exasperation- why should I even bother to narrate something so obvious.

I don’t have the expertise to diagnose personality disorders in self or others. But in case, you have a touch of some neurotic affliction, I am eager to hear what you have to offer to this world. I heard a song on the radio called Anti-hero. Realized later that’s another Swiftie number. Should I share my thanks again to tailor birds?

After so much of eating, drinking and enjoying the fruits of your land, I have put on more weight and unable to fit into my old pair of jeans. That’s leading to many wardrobe malfunctions with hilarious side effects of being urged to do some more shopping.

Apart from clothes, now I have a list of healthcare gadgets which have become essential tools for modern living. If you are not stressed enough, these tools will help you.

If you don’t have children to help with your low blood pressure issues, monitoring the vitals with minute attention to details will enable some drama and quickening of the pulse.

Poha with or without peanuts

Jumping forward – we turn to pulses (legumes). Are peanuts legumes? It seems they are.

You can add peanuts to poha though we did not do so in this particular healthyish rendition. Pulses are not something that I make on a daily basis, so I have special thanks to my sister-in-law for making a very comforting bowl of dal which I love with the special chhunda mango pickle which she brings out of the shelves.

My brother (cousin) claims that he makes very good pineapple chhunda. I am yet to taste that. He has even promised to fire up the grill for my next visit. Perhaps, that will happen sometime in the future. Who knows.

More than anything, I have to lose some weight now to be ready for our next battle on the tables.

Both of us managed to eat 19 dishes from an all you can eat buffet at a Balkan restaurant around town. I don’t think I liked all the dishes, but it was a challenge that a foodie like me finds hard to resist.

Special mention for a few of the dishes- loved the different spreads, the pepper and cheese croquette, brussel sprouts, pan seared trout, the grilled shrimp and the forest mushroom crepe.

We still ended up with a questionable D for all our effort. I have to blame his wife and daughter for pulling down the team score. They eat like birds.

Roasting SIL instead of peanuts

My sister-in-law is crazy. Apart from cooking so many dishes for us, she even packed two mammoth sandwiches for my journey back from a famed deli in town- Call Your Mother. I think it was a cute hint. Calling my mother is one of the most stressful things for me that I have to do every week.

Why stressful?

Well, now I have to ask you to walk in my shoes. Incidentally, she and I wore almost identical pair of shoes. I had packed another pair or two but I wore these shoes almost everywhere. Especially good for a good footing in uneven hiking trails in the reserve forest area. That walk along the falls was lovely- though it was just a very quick visit due to unpredictable weather conditions. Funny how it rains wherever I go.

Another eerie coincidence. My other friend in CT also wears the same regular pair of shoes for walking around. When I returned from my trip to DC, I find that she has been exceptionally controlled in her diet and been regular in her exercises. She has lost weight while I have piled on the pounds. Revenge of the motherhood brigade for so much of conversation and work around food.

Why is this experience and sharing important

How can simple things be so complicated? It’s complicated because it is important to bring in other voices to share their own experiences with it. Perhaps that will enable the normalization of what seems to be a battle of epic proportions to some.

More than time spent on it, I implore the understanding of quality of time. For those who are able to discern the difference between quality of foods, have you thought about this important dimension?

I need to spend perhaps five minutes every day to remember everything that makes me grateful and yet, that five minutes seems overloaded with many other concerns. And then translating that thought into words that can impact change or get a suitable action, is a mammoth task of many hours perhaps.

With a few who get it, it doesn’t even need a few seconds and they seem impatient. Much like my friend here who perhaps has a special connection with chocolates. And then there are those who have that with ice-creams instead.

If someone says, I am willing to let go of many meals for one bowl of special ice-cream, I know that’s a tool someone else will use to manipulate your actions.

Part time lover of poha

Are you a willing party to manipulation or manipulative behaviors? Then pray, do not scream foul. At the same time, do not overly blame yourself for the duplicity in your own behaviors.

Being human, is perhaps sadly misunderstood by some of us who identify more closely with the animal world. Do you know people who have long conversations with trees, cats, dogs, stones and their inanimate mobile phones or laptops? I do.

They are not delusional, they are merely part time humans, and part time machines. Science fictional universe of humanoids, this is a new definition of a few people I know.

Being present to you 100% and second guessing what you may be thinking about is self-serving. So please help yourself to another serving of this conversational piece about simple foods and simple pleasures of life. No, I don’t wish to understand Alexa’s take on poha now.

I am busy savouring this delectable caramel flan.

Can you seed a story of greatness in others while successfully blocking attempts to destroy your own belief system? Then you are part of the wolf’s brigade.

And if you are observing and listening while going about your own ways later, then you are a cat who is curiously alive only when provoked.

Psst! Training a pack of wolves is not everybody’s cup of tea. Which is why, many of us prefer coffee to keep the fire burning.

Poha for Ship of Theseus galley workers

This rambling essay is also a singular attempt to build a memory palace for a few who maybe in a rut of everyday mundane tasks and seek a new mountain to climb.

This is my little piece for buddies who have a yearning for the greater unknowns. Getting out of your comfort zone is essential to learning and unlearning.

For example, this Year of the Snake, I learn about the difference between poisonous and venomous while trying to avoid snakes in a snake-pit. And as you twist and turn, you may try to burn a few bridges which seem to be hanging on like a thin protective thread on your wrist.

If nobody gains by what you try to do, you may in fact land your foot on a mine or a rabbit hole and end up being played by many players.

Did I tell you about this great man, I heard about who has 300 pairs of shoes? Figuratively and literally speaking, he was able to get away with it even without anyone noticing his quirk. Till someone pointed out what a waste considering he doesn’t outgrow them in any case.

If such a man asks you for your thumb, would you be Eklavya? Why is Imelda Marcos lampooned while this gentleman featured as a role model? Buying shoes is harmless enough. Better than say buying guns.

Did anybody else give an alternate suggestion for using that money? I’m hesitant to bring in suggestions now.

But how about 70 willing gladiators who can take on the task of freedom from slavery. Spartacus- are you with me, so far? (Spoiler alert- they all died in the end).

Monitoring a burning ship or a stove

Does it make him special or you an idiot for not understanding the mind that craves to collect something. What if I say, I collect memories instead. And stories of your memories. Each story is told and retold with a few layers added or deleted to enable the ancient technique of the narrative moving forward.

Is the ship the same or has it changed completely?

Do I need an organ donation now that some parts of my brain are blanking out.

It’s a very slow-paced narrative, as I see it. Unless something from the external world pushes, pulls or shoves it in one direction or the other.

Like I may pretend that I am easy to live with or deal with but then, who am I fooling. I remember little things and I may hold it in my brain for years.

For example, my cousin told me that apparently there’s a tasty fish called Shad. Shad tastes like Ilish and the rights for fishing is given to a specific Indian tribe. Is this true? I’m told the season for Shad fishing is April or May. Both the fish and the roe are prized.

The more I see the world, the more I find every idiosyncrasy in another a reflection of some part of my own world. So, we are perhaps only mimics externally. Some of us hide our thoughts only in a bid to preserve and protect.

If I am anyways trying not to live a very long life, what do I have left to hide? And if there is no mystery, why would anyone be curious about what we have left to offer in this universe.

The lost Poha and Loha

You asked for Poha and Loha. I gave that to you. Symbols of being a good girl in a bad world. Because nothing I did was ever good enough. You needed a proof that I was in fact worthy of this life that I worked and fought so hard for.

In the end you blamed me for the fight which was a good fight for what I saw was a good cause. Now you tell me nothing is good or bad- its all-personal judgment in an impersonal world.

Am I depressing the F out of you? Congratulations. You have reached the pinnacle of patience.

Reading so much of crap just to get to a 15minute recipe is worth putting down in your list of achievements in life. Most parents go through that at some point of their life when children start to blabber inane words stringed together.

Focusing on the words to decipher some meaningful output or task at the end of such sessions is really a mind-altering exercise.

Kabir’s Doha on Poha

So this is a revenge from my side for making me sit through hours and hours of endless debates in meetings which I saw as extremely useless. But that’s part and parcel of working with different kinds of people who have completely different objectives in life.

I had to play act through those meetings to give due deference to others who waxed eloquently (I had no choice). Then you might as well read this as well.

Every so-called consultant or expert is merely giving you their time as therapists to hear you rant. Granny, where are you?

Then they give you solutions which you yourself want to implement but nobody in the organization is listening to you. They will take the money; make you do the work and the credit for it is partly shared. I want no credit for this obvious understanding.

It is beyond my capacity to make you see your own black box when the reconstructed Ship or Plane has no radar whatsoever. Its value is as art -a collector’s item if that’s what gives you joy.

If you like a fight, strike a light

I gave you my time because I care. I not only heard but understood the vexing problems that you deal with on a daily basis. But my solution is to give you no solution.

I give you a button instead. Right on top to skip these unnecessary paragraphs straight to the menu down below.

Because apparently AI tools can help to generate more beautiful paragraphs, graphs and barfs. 5 points converted into 5 pages or 5 chapters.

What do you want?

I don’t know about you, but I want to talk about poha.

Made from rice flakes or chidwa. But you get many other options as well these days if you are newly converted into not eating carbs or limiting your rice consumption. Millets, wheat or corn flakes based pohas are possible- just saying. I’m sure you can find links from different lobbies which will give you the pros and cons from believers.

Freedom to religion but not freedom from religion.

This was a very over smart headline from someone somewhere. So, here’s my feedback- anything can be made into a religion with apostles of war or peace on either end. I am not important, distinguished or connected enough to make this obvious statement strike out singularly to you.

I say this instead- I don’t know about all of Virginia, poha is for poha lovers.

Eat what you love. Love what you eat.

Sounds like a very populist line taken from a cheap canister which contains a few biscuits/cookies. Throw in a few pop culture artists or influencers and that might become a new revolutionary song from a messiah. I am not making fun of you, though you might think more highly of me, if I am bold enough to actually say so.

Stating bland obvious boring things is the new way for moms and dads to provoke youngsters to be irritated enough to move their ass. Like say to use the dishwasher, the washing machine, the cooking range, the lawnmower or the vacuum cleaner. Oh, you are too rich to do it so yourself.

Ok, then you have to appear more knowledgeable to be able to find faults with what others do. Also give them helpful or unhelpful notes/instructions from time to time.

Wow, you don’t even notice these things. Voila, the universe will help you with a machine in the background giving automated messages from time to time.

Bottomline, this is how I becomes US or We. 🙂

Footnote

Tears of Joy or Sorrow

When you think about it deeply enough

Are you roasting me or are you roasting ME

If I say that I see you as a shard of a broken piece

Of the various pieces that were collected over time

And someone somewhere collected it all like a huge

Jigsaw or Lego puzzle- then you feel very naked and vulnerable

Because every part of you is still deep in your inner world

And refuses to be a part of the outer world that can

At any given moment, change who you are with the help

Of a new pair of eyes, ears, nose, mouth or brain

There could be a few who are helping you acquire

New hands, legs, liver, kidney or perhaps even

A stronger stomach that can withstand

The nausea that is caused by waves of assault

Are you able to block out everything still and survive

As a monk who depended on others to wage a silent war

Against humans because you believed the worst

And yet they called you out as a messenger of peace?

Can broken people fix things better than others?

You say no. And yet I say yes

A thousand times better.

I am not broken enough so I seek the hammer

That can wield with a decisive cruelty

Self-destruction is a privileged judgment

Because what I say makes no sense to humanity

Especially that part which has forgotten completely

About others who have no voice or choice.

Melting Lemon Drop 21.07.2025