Upcycling Story-Guava Pumpkin Salad & Chai

For Salad and Chai Lovers

I had invited my friend Richa over for tea and she’s a salad lover. I thought a Guava Pumpkin Salad would be a good choice with some Chai.

She is a good cook herself and is a single mother raising her lovely foodie daughter in Bangalore. Richa and I go a long way! We were colleagues in a small brand strategy consulting outfit called “Momentum Strategy Consultants” back in 2005 (I think). I was terrified of the project deadlines working under our extremely demanding boss. If I remember, we used to love bitching about him and other senior partners back then. We learnt a lot under him so there’s always that to take home later when we look back in life. 🙂

For Art Lovers and Bargain Hunters

I was slogging over a small art project earlier while trying to build my little nest and needed a break. Slogging is a harsh word. I do enjoy it but get restless to finish multiple pending tasks. I had relocated to Bangalore after being thrown out of my home by my husband and in-laws. Do read more about it in my Migration Story Part 1.

My art project was upcycling a little piece of wood lying in someone’s garage. She had an online sale of old belongings of her deceased in-laws. It helped to clear out the death in the air. I couldn’t make out what it was, but it captivated my imagination as I thought it had more potential.

I wish I knew the story behind it and how it was created or purchased originally. It inspired me to take up a small recycling project to make a tiny garden stool.

For Story-tellers and telling characters

I have a fond anecdote with her of working till our brains were fried in a guesthouse in Mumbai for some project deadline. We would sing “Doom Doom Doom” – I think we imagined ourselves as the “It” girls back then. Perhaps, we still do! 😀 The movie “Dhoom” with its catchy “Dhoom Machale” song was doing the rounds. Even after so many years, I don’t think we have aged all that much- though we appear to be older and wiser!

For Memories and Memorials

We didn’t work together very long but we kept in touch as she has really helped me many times in life. She is definitely the more practical of the two of us. Whenever I have been left stranded by multiple men and women who felt it easier to leave after using and abusing me- she stood by helping me to pick up the pieces.

Some of them were people I trusted at work and others were so-called friends or lovers. In the latest chapter of my life, it was a whole family of husband, in-laws, neighbors, friends, colleagues and so-called helpers who I trained and nurtured. Of course, they all gained through my loss. That’s how life goes sometimes- a little upside down. 🙂

It took me a while to move on in life from each of those episodes and she has had her own ups and downs. That is the truth with many of us who are often called “losers with sentimental attachments” or “blinkered vision“. We have seen and heard enough not to take these words at face value. Is life fair- that’s a silly question for people with no judgment for loved ones. And it is a trickier one to ask someone who feels like an orphaned child suddenly out of the blue! 🙂

For celebrating, sharing and caring

This is a celebration of a common love for art, creativity, storytelling and cooking with a simple recipe of fresh greens, vegetables and fruits. The recipe owes a lot to inspiration from fresh seasonal ingredients available, a history of having learnt or tasted something similar and some inspiration from the visit of a dear friend.

Do check out the video link below of my art project, the recipe development and our fun catchup about real life’s tragicomedy. I call it “Nare Nare Guava Pumpkin Salad“. 😉

Footnote

Richa complimented me on using pumpkins in the salad. So, I share a little footnote. It is an ode to “kumror chhakka” a favourite dish of many in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand or Bengal for that matter. Often had with puri, chapati or other flatbreads popular in many parts of India.

I heard stories of how this was made for breakfast/lunch for large wedding parties in UP where my father grew up. My mother’s side of the family from urban Kolkata screwed up their noses at such “desifood“. But later she made lots of it- almost every other day. Honestly, I hated it growing up because it was made so often and had a squishy texture. I found it weird as a child. But tastes change, and people do too as they grow up and age. Adulting is all about adjusting, accepting and enhancing your palate.

Some people do resist change though. I leave them with a thought- the same thing eaten everyday maybe perhaps super boring. And some things are definitely acquired tastes through further exploring. A little more love helps to be more giving and forgiving. 🙂

Ode to “Kumror Chhakka”

Use me, abuse me to feel better about yourselves

I cannot speak out or complain to others.

I have everything today that I could ask for, and it seems

There are others too with multiple broken dreams.

If you could not move past 1, I could let you go

How do you move past several arrows and spikes.

Of people who refuse to listen or hear

Anything of my side of the story.

Leaders who wish to build other leaders-

I was just another moth burning other feeders.

I cry loudly or silently it doesn’t really matter

It’s an empty space and an empty place.

I have to wash it all off with that makeup to embody grace

As you wish to define for others of your kind

I have nothing left to protect or mind.

It’s only words as they say. And words don’t really cut through, they say.

Or is it?

-Penned in memory of multiple divas and domestic queens – 25 Jun 2024.