There’s a little bit of a conflict around Seabass & Rendang. I was aware of it but pretended not to notice much. Someone was trying their best to help deflect the attention elsewhere.
It so happened that in the process of my helping in the peace-keeping mission, the conflict landed right on my doorsteps.
Unfortunately, that’s the reality of life everywhere now. Even our home has become a landmine of war mongering horrible Martians. I am kind of a little outnumbered here with every frustrated middle-aged man and woman here trying to take it out on the next innocent victim.
Seabass & Rendang- Heads get Chewed
Some have problems at work, with banks, with their in laws, helpers/maids, with their children, with their other relatives, friends or coworkers. And of course, with their spouses or partners. Some like me may have problems with some gadgets, tools and equipment too. 🙂
Unfortunately, there are some deluded old men and women here trying to give Gyaan about life lessons to preserve sanity.
Here’s my life lesson to them and their children.
- You want to get peace by inflicting war upon others- that war will land right on your head, sooner or later.
- If you are asking everyone to become a monk or nun here who sold his Ferrari or Safari or whatever, it’s unlikely.
- Inner strength, outer strength or any other strength notwithstanding, if you did badly by someone who actually did good to you- it will bite you and cause you enough and more sleepless nights.
- Everybody who has tried to laugh at other’s miseries, pl know that the misery returns with interest tomorrow.
This is the simple truth about people who want to escape with heartfelt messages around cars, education, housing, healthcare, technology, AI, EI or any other kind of so-called intelligence.
So, I made this Seabass head curry as a reminder about how some people with Big Heads might be treated in return later in life. Murighonto is another old classic dish made with Big Fish Heads- Catla or Rohu heads can also be used.
My helper in Delhi, Sandhya, used to make such good Murighonto. I hope to make that again someday. It’s a bit loaded with carbs and doesn’t have too many veggies. So, this Fish head curry, made more sense to me as a one-pot meal.
Seabass & Rendang – Odd Couple
If you are trying to pursue music, dance, drama or any other form of your chosen passion of the sciences or the arts, you will still end up with a lot of misery. Why?
Because you were so inconsiderate and had zero compassion for others in your life.
This is the unfortunate story of children who were brought up in a world full of people who praised them till the cows come home to think that they are God’s gift to mankind.
Every success of theirs lauded- every failure dismissed to the point that they are unable to perceive what’s the good word or good deed when push comes to shove.
You think you are the boss today- tomorrow you will be the beggar. Everywhere I am only a passenger helping others ferry across.
I will leave this planet as soon as I can. I don’t need help from people who think Mars is a place for kids to be brought up.
Do understand the workings of your devious minds that will land others with so much of pain and misery while you are safe in your own little cocoon.
Raw foods are not good for those dealing with acid reflux from such “brotherhood” or “sisterhood”. Each of the members have their own version of some kind of reformed priesthood in their minds. I am unfortunately unable to commiserate entirely.
Say for instance, I may think peaches are great because I had them in a can with sugar syrup. Or as a nice little addition on a dessert, drink or a fruit salad. Try them by themselves.
I found black plums or jamun as we call them locally better during this particular season.
Seabass & Rendang – Need the Conflict
This is a note for cheaters, liars and every other kind of disrespectful man and woman bloated in their ego of whatever is troubling them to think that they are above the laws which govern the simple rules of do good to others.
You will find that your own mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and aunts will suffer with such furious repercussions that you will forget to laugh about fate or date.
You think that you are a landlord or you are a tenant today?
You are a temporary visitor anyways everywhere you walk on this planet. Hence, this is my warning to those who are so motivated to inflict pain upon others- look at yourself in the mirror first.
Every line on your face and body tells about the conflict that you have come with in this lifetime and will carry forward. Unfortunately, in the process of managing that conflict- you will inflict more pain and harm to others.
You wish to enhance or replace with surgery or other tricks- it will still come back to you in some other form of poisoning. Say for example you were told that steaming is better for your gut- avoid curry.
That’s basically how your body has been built over many years. But then you spend time with others, and you miss some forgotten notes and flavours that help you to feel alive. Some herbs and spices do help. I repeat that often.
Hence a mustard curry of Seabass is recommended for those who are prone to the Seabass & Rendang switching games.
Conflict creates a need for management
Seabass & Rendang leave the Ampitheater for quieter reflection sometimes.
Let’s take an example which is currently of interest to many in this world perhaps. This is my understanding of how the real estate mafia works in some condominiums.
- Identify the weakest tenant to inflict some kind of pain and suffering.
- Create nuisance through security staff and others behind the scenes to get the tenant frustrated
- Send visitors at odd hours to ring the bell to create some fear and confusion
- Create some disturbance through construction, lifts not working, disruption in water supply or electricity. The tenant will most likely continue for at least 1 year
- Around 7th or 8th month send real estate agent to check if the tenant is moving
- Real estate agent then goes to the landlord and asks to jack up the rent by at least 20-30%
Seabass & Rendang continue the con-games
You may receive a gift voucher sometimes as a small token of “appreciation”.
I had to force someone to go out on a date. I’m a poor man’s wife and a poor man’s daughter.
Now the story continues of more pressure tactics.
- Create a lot of confusion through rumour mongering so that the tenant is confused about rents or the situation with respect to the facilities which are not being fixed
- Around 9th-10th month create more disturbance through high noise creating construction or people so that tenants are frustrated and forced to leave.
- The landlord now has a few days to polish up the house and get a new tenant. In fact, he/she may already have a few other options in hand.
- Now the loop is completed with tenant getting shortchanged – having suffered the worst of the construction noises and the poor facilities management. Every move costs the poor tenant some money.
- The new tenant arrives and peace reigns for 4-6 months then the same cycle is repeated.
- You then visit temples, churches, or other so-called holy sites/pilgrimages to sing praises to the lord. You wish to prove to others that you are the innocent victim here who has worked really hard in life and deserve that so called holier than thou reputation. Or you wish to spend the badly earned money in your own way of getting “Atonement”. Actually, it’s a loss either way- you feel good only temporarily.
Seabass & Rendang Consumption Habits
In the last 3 years, I have lived in 2 apartment complexes in Bengaluru and honestly, this is the same cycle or pattern that I see repeated.
Unfortunately, the management, the staff, the real estate agents and the apartment owners are all the ones who have the background and have played this game multiple times with innocent and naive victims who come as tenants.
While I am generalizing, this sweeping statement may not do justice to a few genuine people around.
But as it so happens, most of them will pretend not to see this injustice or prefer not to get involved in “troublesome” matters. Some take the easier option. They say, “Either Seabass or Rendang”. Some will say, “Neither Seabass nor Rendang”. 🙂
I leave a thought here for those who are laughing their way to the bank through such cheating tactics- you will see every possible manner of ill health and misery unleashed upon you when you do this to others by trying to act over smart.
Travelling along a little further in Memory
Today you have the power or the money to do so- tomorrow in your old age, you will suffer as you remember all the misdeeds you have done. You have made your fortune on the basis of the miseries and cheating of other men and women whose curses will land on your head.
No god can save you and no man, woman or child will ever have a good word or good blessing for you or others of your ilk who have been part of this same con game. I saw it happen multiple times with a few elderly relatives. We had to put severe restrictions on some.
Why are you hellbent upon limiting the choices of others with forceful regulations? Good question.
Well, some of these others may be miscreants. So, it’s a little difficult for blind people to sift out the tiny pebbles from the good rice grains.
For those who want more notes on this please read Nexus. It describes in greater details about the strategies employed by this kind of mafia.
Seabass & Rendang with a Mafia Connection
I call it a mafia because it is fairly unregulated, and it is driven on tactics of subversion, coercion, violence, confusion and conflict. This is a hotbed for more ill-gotten money to be made by let’s say another shadow party here- the legal system.
They would like more conflict- it’s in their interest in fact to incite it in order to gain from others misery.
An analogy of unproductive destructive behavior to help illustrate.
I gave tea and biscuits to a few temporary workers who came to clean my apartment. One of them cleaned up the teacups and saucepan. Afterwards I found there was a power tripping in the kitchen. And two screws were missing from the saucepan I used to make the tea. I found one of the missing screws and fixed it. The other was gone.
I called in an inhouse electrician. And he pointed out how to fix the kitchen power trip- someone had flipped a switch on the fuseboard there.
I showed him another light that wasn’t working due to faulty wiring (I thought). He said the light bulb was the issue and I asked him to get a replacement.
He left with the bulb and never returned.
Now I am wondering whether it was in fact the faulty wiring. I see the same flickering problem in many other lights.
What is the point of this anecdote?
A missing screw in an innocuous saucepan is a very small thing. A very big thing in a factory with a machine/tool that is tampered with -may cost a lot of money. Or more importantly human lives.
Perhaps that’s the point that I’m trying to make here.
Conjectures for Fishy Seabass & Rendang stories
Any one individual is actually quite powerless in this unholy mix especially when there are others in that group who try to brainwash and alter that individual’s point of view.
For example, there are those who say Seabass (bhetki) is best in fish fry. Others say make it with mustard. Yet others like me want to try it in Doi Maachh which maybe traditionally made with Catla (Katla- Carp) or Rohu.
There are people who play in tag teams through various incidents of “good cop” behavior which are supposed to stand out against the purported “bad cops”.
The bad cop in this mix was apparently the manager or app from where I did the booking for the temporary cleaners.
I learnt from the team leader there that the owner/manager had taken some money from them for joining and the money was blocked as a collateral.
The owners would receive payment from me today. While the workers would receive it after 3-4 days. Now the app runs through rotation of the workers money and rotation of the customer’s money. Interesting, how it works.
Seabass & Rendang memory jog
Who is the villain in the entire piece? I think it maybe the banking system which is unable to give proper loans to some people who resort to this other tactic.
Or perhaps this is the lure of interest free loan and obviously convenient way out for cunning app developers/promoters. The same app software is then relaunched with another new face/name with slightly modified features through another entrepreneurial team.
Perhaps you are now ready to join this new team. By now, the previous app already has all the data required for them to have mapped you.
Do you want data privacy, or do you want to have some form of convenience to live in a jungle/maze of apps and people?
We have seen cases earlier for example of car rental apps, trading and housing rental apps getting completely hijacked one way or the other.
Some people made a whole lot of money, and some others lost a whole lot of human lives. Does the first group connect with the second lot and their miseries?
Unfortunately, I am too young to be blind and too old to be able to sit quietly and suffer that unfair question silently forever.
The final bottom-line sad truth is that- they get away with it sometimes despite the knowledge, despite the faith and despite the good karma of some individuals.
You want to survive in this world of so-called adulthood governed by immature children at the highest level? Then you have to take to communication routes which can actually be accessed by these children or their parents. Because if not today– we hope that the world can be a better place someday in the future.
Some Pointers for Seabass & Rendang Lovers
So, these are the tools employed to score points over others-
- Building your home to higher levels
- Garden and dogs
- Cars and other automobiles
- Machines and factories
- Teams and teammates who will back you up in your so called “vision” or “mission”
- Arms and ammunition (tools) to defend or inflict war and conflict upon others
- Healing centers for curing ailments
- Monasteries, temples and other historical relic centres
- Training camps for different kinds of teams
- Internal structure, roles and responsibilities for team members
- Assigned system of scoring in points for resources needed to continue
- Seasonal and timely activities for morale boosting engagement or higher level of commitment by the team members or players
It sounds like fun when you see it as a game. Not so fun when you see it rolled out in your own life with actual real losses instead of virtual losses. Loss of people you care about deeply, loss of place to stay, loss of relationships, monetary/asset loss and most importantly loss of your own self-identity.
Seabass & Rendang with or without Family
For some people the word “family” is quite misunderstood or confused. For others it maybe more fluidly defined. Unfortunately, in a world where we have people moving across and forging different kinds of relationships, as you move in life, your family does get a bit scattered. And the people you consider as family may not be there for you.
They lured you in and then cast you off- conveniently after having extracted everything.
At some point you are so brain washed that you cease to see humans as humans – see them only as people to score over or use in your own version of this “game”. People you said are your family- turn around and say, no, you are not family.
It’s actually horrible and inhuman but then you are a cog in the wheel. Being used by people who have become so similar to machines that sometimes machines tend to have more feelings than them!
Seabass & Rendang -both cooked with Love
Toggling between the virtual and the real world can be quite painful for some people who may be described as “addicts” in their own way. This is addiction similar to addiction of TV, drugs, sugar, success, work, love, money or anything that helps to release endorphins or serotonin for you.
You think that exercise is a healthier way for achieving this perhaps- then you see that even an obsessiveness with that leads to a different kind of addiction in your life. You get addicted to power games with self and others.
Hence, I remind myself of this line which I heard many times, but I had to live that life to see the true meaning behind the adage- “Pride comes before Fall”.
Quite simply put, Autumn will follow Monsoons. 🙂
Leaves will fall and you will see how procrastination on dealing with many issues shoved under the carpet eternally will lead to the mirror cracking from side to side.
So, Mirror cracking (which apparently brings bad luck) reminds me more of Shallots here. 🙂
Clearly history repeats itself.
I used these shallots to make the Rendang paste. It’s also something which is used a lot to make sambar which is a lentil-based soup or stew. I hope to have some good Idli, sambar and vada in my next outing when I do have a chance to venture outside.
Here I am busy using shallots to make a Thai veg curry instead of enjoying a beach holiday in Langkawi or Thailand.
Unfortunately, some of us are made slaves by others who roam around freely dispensing Gyan. Quite oblivious to the fact that they are shirking off their own responsibilities while they assign tasks to others.
Recipe Background for Rendang
I had seen the other side of the moon as well and found that it’s a really dark and desolate place unlike how it seems from Planet Earth. Poetry around the moonlit night and music for the soul beckons sometimes, but not when there is conflict and stress.
Hence it’s a very simple understanding now at this age- we navigate between the various shards of the pierced self-reflections on that cracked mirror.
Anyone who has tried to dismiss your point of view has perhaps not been able to live your life and your truth. Communication is sometimes really futile.
But I still try.
Here’s the recipe for Rendang which a colleague shared with me from Indonesia. Her family hails from Padang and I loved the Rendang there when I visited on some work many years ago.
The recipe is slightly modified at my end based upon what I found locally. Anyways, I believe each family kitchen has its own variation of Rendang. I cooked it with trepidation because, it has been such a long time since I made it last.
Happy Father’s Day to Fathers who are Alive
I remember very fondly cooking it for the first time during a Hari Raya holiday. We had celebrated it remembering my father who was a good cook.
Also, made other times for my helper to take for her Sunday outing with her friends. You give a lot and then you face the hard truth. Nothing you do helps a few family members who only like to receive and don’t like to give back.
They might give somethings to others instead which helps them to stand out like jackass cockatoos on the podium with a mike.
You cannot change the spoken and unspoken biases of the entire universe. People come from different contexts which are built over many years of their own life experiences.
Seabass maybe better than Tuna tainted with Mercury
I have my own bias. For example, I would much rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
But then my knees gave up at some point because I was weighed down by so much of spoken and unspoken troubles and cares of others in my life.
Sounds like a motherhood statement. But, there’s a reason I share this.
Somebody went down on his knees once upon a time- later denied and ran away to lie down with others. I have sat for days and hours in silent crypts trying to let the many layers of deposits of others muck flung in haste to help them perhaps look better and chaste. So, here’s the thing- it still comes back.
Perhaps this is a good time to share this learning as a gift for Father’s Day. My Father is no more. In fact, this week is also my grandmother’s death anniversary. June is a difficult month for me personally.
There’s one more big hurdle ahead of my grandfather’s death anniversary.
I send my love and prayers for all those who are perhaps going through some trials and tribulations in their lives as well. I wish life was easier. But then, I remember that I had unexpectedly happy days also earlier. And I grabbed those days with two arms as well. Somehow, I’m struggling to embrace the bad days now. 🙂
Rendang has been Canned before
Rendang can be stored for many days I am told. Some of them are cooked with a lot of fat and spices that might act as preservatives. The version I make here is with a fatless beef cut gifted by a friend who used to be my neighbour.
I don’t eat too much of beef because I find it easier to digest white meat/fish these days. But Rendang is a good dish to make for special occasions. It’s even better if you can share it with others.
My friend here is kind and gentle most of the days unless really troubled. She is someone with whom I can share the Seabass & Rendang.
So, I cook this hoping her parents see a few good days ahead. Troubles shared help to reduce the burden. She has her birthday ahead this month and I won’t be there to celebrate with her. But I hope some of you can help her celebrate instead.
Her son is a handful, and I think most boys are at that age. I have struggled with an overgrown manchild myself who acted weirdly at the age of 7 or 8 (counting in marital years).
Pet owners (Psst… cooler to call pet “parents” now) can perhaps share more on how to manage dogs or cats of that age.
I delayed this Rendang cooking for a while since I didn’t get the right ingredients.
One of the ingredients missing is turmeric leaf which was mentioned in the original recipe. I’ve made this time without it, I guess each version of the dish may have something added and something subtracted. It tastes good, nevertheless.
Footnote
I wasn’t born with a Silver Spoon
I don’t bargain because you are not worthy of that
When you chose a relationship and then questioned whether
That was stronger than ties of blood or water
Drink my blood, drink my water, drink my coffee, drink my tea
Drink every ounce of whatever helps to give you satisfaction.
Because you were never meant to understand
Anyone else’s point of view
While you looked outside with faulty eyes
And looked within with even more faulty memory lines
Everyone else stood out and yet you couldn’t see
The very person standing or sitting next to you
Learning, helping and dedicating his/her life
So that you could eat, you could sing and you could enjoy
That blessed space which you could call a home.
You went to then create havoc by unleashing your vitriol
And turned around to accuse others who were
Simply trying their best to keep the peace.
Today I speak up at last
Because you are acting too loose and too fast
With those who helped you to save face
And your elders to save their names
With some kind of outwardly saving grace.
Unfortunately, I saw the emptiness and even more vicious apathy
Behind the silence of some.
I saw how you escaped by choosing
To be an ostrich that laid an egg
And then tried to con its way by pretending
To be lost- and completely out of the way.
Easy come, easy go-
Once twice thrice and multiple times in life
You don’t deserve any kind of good humour
You don’t deserve any kind of ill humour either.
You deserve to see the worst unleash for yourself
And those you embraced with false words
Of love, hope and kindness.
Cling on and grab on to whatever you can get from brothers.
And then even your own you discard
In a bid to protect your own name.
Your name is mud.
Your game is really cows cud
Easily the worst possible excuses from
Any Man, Woman and Child
May you see this unfold in your own little worlds
Instead of just a simulation game or a pilot model
Which you are observing from afar with amusement
That’s the only way some people can feel somethings.
-Melting Lemon Drop 15.06.2025
1. You can use chicken instead of beef and the cooking time reduces significantly
2. Rendang goes better with plain white rice. But can be had with roti, parathas as well
3. If you are using a fatty cut of beef and use more spices, this will be oilier. You can actually store this for more number of days. The oil and spices act as preservatives. Beef Rendang
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Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
