Dear Anonymous

You are not really a blogger if you haven’t come across the Anonymous comments. Like ‘em, hate ‘em or filter ‘em but you cannot really ignore them. My relationship with anonymous commenters is as old as my blog. Initially they always invoked a sense of mystery. Some of them left really sweet and meaningful comments while others provided constructive criticism. Some tried playing hide n seek with comments like “guess who” and “I-Know-you-but-you-don’t-know-me”. 

 Off late anonymous comments received are mostly spam. They have a common format, first few lines will appreciate the post you have written and the next few lines will advertise various stuffs ranging from beauty products to MBA colleges. Over the years depending on the content of the anonymous comments I have either acknowledged or ignored them.

Few days back I received a comment on my post about streetfood of Jammu (see the picture above).  The comment was neither about what I had written in the post nor was it a spam. It just didn’t make any sense writing that down (or rather copy pasting it from Facebook) on my blog post which in no way bared any similarity or connection to it. I tried to brush it off as soon as I read it but it refused to go out of my mind. It stayed at the back of my mind constantly nagging me and taunting me. It felt like it was an encoded message which had to be decoded. I started to feel a restlessness akin to something you feel when you keep failing a stage of candy crush saga over and over that too just by a small margin.

And then suddenly just like that it hit me. There it was a very sexist comment hidden very subtly in a seemingly inconsequential message. What Mr/Ms Anonymous wanted to convey was that just like in the message my blogpost (written by a girl) got a lots of comments. Had it been written by a guy it would have been on the receiving end of ridicule or may be nothing at all. Now call me crazy or overdramatizing but I do have a talent for reading between the lines. I have an uncanny knack for such things and more often than not, they turn out to be true. My intuition and sixth sense were in celebrating mode having cracked this mystery comment. But I was far from any celebrations. Now I am really up for any kind of constructive criticism but Anonymous here seems to be a riddle-talker. Riddles are fine with me but what baffles me is that if you are really that bothered by something that it is forcing you to spend some time and post a comment on someone’s space, at least leave the comment right. Talk what’s really in your mind as it is you are taking support of an anonymous id.

I don’t think anyone who is into blogging chooses topics that will please people. It’s not freelancing or a newspaper article that you need to keep readers preference in mind. I for one chose and write about topics that either interest me or are of some significance in my life. I have never thought that “Oh My God, what will people think if I post this on my blog”. It is my space and I will post anything I want to. Moreover it is your distinct style of writing and the topics you choose on basis of which you will have a reader base. All blogs that I follow have something distinct about them. Each person has a different style of writing and different topics to talk about. I respect that and it is exactly this quality that makes blogging so interesting, diverse and fun.

Now attributing the popularity of my blog to the fact of me being a girl is a very Victorian assumption. I mean c’mon you gotta be really dumb to believe or accept an absurd theory like this. I do agree that being a girl there are some benefits but does not mean that everything comes easy. To explain with an example, while waiting at an autorickshaw stand, the richshaw-wala may give you preference over the guys by stopping in front of you but the ultimate decision of whether he will go to your specified destination or not will be decided by him. Your being a girl will not play any role in the scope of his decision. Similarly your gender may give you a platform but it’s your talent and hardwork which will take you forward. So please erase the assumption that states Girls have it easy.

And finally about this whole anonymous thing. Have you ever wondered why people resort to anonymity while posting stuff online? What drives them to hide their identity on normal webpages and discussion posts? According to a survey 40% of anonymous user fall in the age group of 19-29 years. The menace of anonymous users is so huge that many websites have stopped accepting anonymous comments. I feel it’s fair enough. You have an opinion and you want to talk about it too, so what is stopping you to disclose your identity. Say bad things, call a spade a spade but atleast be a man (or a woman) to come out of the closet and own up to your actions. Even if you are posting as anonymous it is not that difficult to figure out who you are and from where you are active with the help of numerous widgets and softwares available. These tools will definitely give you a clue. Atleast mine did.

I wonder what Mr/Ms Anonymous has to say to that.

P.S Also read me talk about anonymous commenter s here

Award Time

Awards make me happy. Period. But when I was bestowed with not one but two, my happiness knew no bounds. It felt like I am a mini celebrity. However I did keep procrastinating this post because of the tremendous amount of work involved in both the awards. Before I start to brief about the awards I want to convey my heartfelt thank you to Sai Charan and Vishal for nominating me.

First award in line is the Liebster Award. This comes with a set of questions created by the person who has nominated you. Here are the rules:

1.       Link back to the blogger who has nominated you

2.       Nominate ten more bloggers and pass the award to them

3.       Answer all the questions given to you

4.       Create your own ten questions set for the nominees

5.       Let them know that they have been nominated

      Liebster is a German word for “dearest” and this award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. I was nominated for this award by Sai from Beyond Barriers and below are my answers to his questions.

1.       What is the happiest moment in your life till now?

It was when my little niece was born. I was away from home, saw her when she was almost 2 months old but I was so so so happy. 

2.       Describe one embarrassingly funny experience you had.

Well, I have had many such moments. Luckily I have some of them documented on Rendezvous. There is not one, not two but three of ‘em. Find them here, here and here.

3.       If a genie grants you three wishes, what would you ask for?

My first wish would be to keep the genie with me always and then I will use my other two wishes as and when I need to.

Actually the first three things that came to my mind were so stupid and shallow that I couldn’t bring myself to write it down here. So I came up with the above answer which come to think of it is not bad at all. Hmmm, good thinking! *Pat on the back*

4.       Mention about an adventurous trip you went on and what makes it memorable.

Well, the question is sad. Sad because it reminds me that my life is so non-adventurous. Anyhow there was this one trip some million years ago, a trekking trip with group of close friends. Some mountain climbing, beautiful waterfalls, a little fun here and there and finally lots of cramps followed by a sick leave on Monday. There was this another trip with a near-death experience in the sea, catch more of that here.

5.       In future, if you were chosen for the Nobel Prize, which field would it be in?

Literature, I hope.

Interesting choice of questions, I hope my answers did justice to them. Coming back to the award, just like always I dedicate this award to all those who drop by my blog and are the reason I am still writing. As far as the questions are concerned, there were originally ten questions, Sai narrowed them down to five and lazy as I am, I have just one question for you guys.

1.       Who according to you, will win this season of big boss? 

Don't make a face. Big Boss is the flavor of this season ;)

Okay then, coming to the second award. It's the Blog-of-the-Year 2013 award by Vishal. I am so excited about it that while I am typing, mentally I am air kissing and reciting my vote of thank you's as if its a best actress award. It would be really unfair if I don't talk about my little audience of readers. Those of you who take out time to visit my page and leave behind sweet comments. And then those of you who visit and leave no trace behind. If it weren't for this invisible kinda support you guys provide, I guess I would have got bored of blogging long back. If I have come this far its only because of the love, encouragement and appreciation that I have received from you dear friends

I would like to nominate the following bloggers for this award.

R Ramesh - Global Madrasi
Sai Charan - Beyond barriers
Chandana - The Girl at the first avenue
Praveen Pandey - न दैन्यं न पलायनम्
Abhi - एहसास प्यार का..
Basically Blah -  A Touch of Tabasco
Vishal - Scripting the story of life

Congratulations to the winners :)

Love:
Sepo

Dedicated to Jammu - An insight into the street food

The first few weeks of any trip back from home for outsiders are always filled with longing, nostalgia and terrible bouts of homesickness. This post is a result of all those emotions. Live any any big city, shop in malls and eat in fancy places but none of these can match the charm of your chotta shehar, local bazaar and the thaeli ki delicacy’s. It’s just like eating pani puri in a restaurant and from a local vendor. The former is spick and span without dirt or flies but it never has and never will match the exquisite taste and the saliva that sprouts when you see the puri being dipped into various concoctions right in front of you. Getting passed from bhaiya’s hands to your mouth and aahh the blast of different flavours

Gol Gappe wale uncle

 Though it’s only been around 2.5 years since I left Jammu, I find a lot of difference in the lifestyle of people. I was quite surprised to spot a Porsche and a Land Rover on one of my recent visit to town. Jammu also boasts of having a branch of all major food chains – KFC, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and Mac-D etc. There is an outlet of Cafe Coffee Day right in front of my erstwhile school. Sipping coffee with my friend I saw a huge throng of girls from my school rushing to buy drinks and shakes after school. I was astonished that they were easily buying stuff from a place where the average cost of any beverage is more than Rs. 50. When I was a little girl the only after school guilty pleasure was an orange candy costly some 5 rupees. On some days my mother used to give me 10 rupees and I used to be on cloud#9 the entire day and wait eagerly for the school to get over because 10 rupees meant I could have Chocó-bar. Having 50 rupees to spend back then was unimaginable. Looking back I don’t think I regret this.

People and their lifestyle may have changed but thankfully the love for street food remains. In every nook and corner of the city you can always spot a street vendor selling something or the other. I feel there is nothing that gives a better insight into a places’ cultural heritage than its street food. Our Jammu street food is no different. It is a clear reflection of the fact that we Jammuties like our food to be tangy and spicy.

The best thing about street food is that it’s made right in front of our eyes, which is so stimulating. Who hasn’t experienced saliva filled mouth as one looks on how the butter melts on the hot tawa and how the pav’s (buns) are generously smouldered with it.

The guy is cutting Khimbh and next to the banana's is the Kachallu

 One street food which is spotted in almost every part of India (except maybe south) is pani puri. Popularly known as gol-gappa’s in our part of the world, they are a clear favorite of all. People from all spheres are seen devouring its taste. There are some vendors selling gol-gappas since ages at their specific places. In every neighborhood there is a particular place and person who you know would be available from morning to evening to satisfy your craving for something sour and spicy. Close in competition are kachaloo’s. Kachaloo basically belongs to the family of potatoes. The boiled vegetable and pulses (black eyed peas and moong) is served in gravy of tamarind and various other spices. Old Jammu city is a famous shopping joint for ladies for clothes and accessories and equally popular for street snacks. The shopping in the old city area is utterly incomplete without a healthy dose of these spicy treat. What is all the more special about these savouries is that they are so light on the pocket!

Me and my friend enjoying Khimbh

 Another popular snack is the tangy kimbh. Kimbh is a relative of the orange family and is extremely sour so the dish contains an ample amount of red chillies. We had a dhabha just outside our college and Vikhram Bhaiya the chef used to prepare the spiciest Kimbh ever. It used to set our stomachs on fire and after that we used to walk almost half a kilometre in opposite direction (our college was in outskirts with no soul in sight) to a tinny-tiny shop that selled those round fruit flavoured candies.  

The unhealthy but very tasty Hot Dogs!

Hot Dogs may belong to America but we have our very own desi versions of it. Our version comprises of a stale bun with boiled potatoes, tikki and dollops of mayonnaise. Sounds awful but tastes awesome. Talking about buns, channa kulcha is another popular kind of food which as the name suggests has a filling of kabuli channa with liberally applied butter. The sellers are usually seen on cycles near the BC road and outside schools. Pav-bhaji on wheels sells like hot-cakes near the Bahu-Plaza area in evenings. The aaloo-tickki vendors are also very famous. Crisp aaloo-tickii’s with spicy chutney, a little curd and some salad is pure bliss. Then there are different types of pakoda’s and one special kind which is called gul-gulle’s soft spongy batter fried besan served with spicy radish chutey flovered with tamarind.

Gul-Gulle with mint chutney and salad

 Over the years Chinese food has been made very famous by the Ladaki students who come to Jammu for college and studies. Momo shops are mushrooming in every locality. These light and healthy snacks have a huge fan following. If you are a non-vegetarian you have to try fried mutton momo’s at Momo Hut. It is so tasty that just thinking of it has brought water into my mouth. Another popular dish of Ladakh available at Momo Hut is Thupka, it is momos and noodles all together in a pool of soup (chicken/mutton). The disk is very popular, healthy and supposedly helps keeping warm against the cold weather but somehow I don’t like it. Other popular Chinese snacks served are soups, Manchurian and noodles. There is this one shop that servers hakka noodles with gravy. The noodles are cooked in Indian style and there is nothing “hakka” about it but it is still so great.

The un-hakka noodles and gravy

 Walking on a hot scalding summer day can be a torture. But not in Jammu. Here, one is greeted with refreshing cool drinks after every few steps. Who wouldn’t enjoy a drink of sugarcane juice or rho on a hot day or the tangy jaal-jeera and other numerous varieties of juices available? 

Jal-Jeera

Carrot Juice

And if you are not a juice person there is always kulfi falooda. There is a shop which has been serving kulfi since very very long. My grandparents have had kulfi there and it continues to be the most loved kulfi-wala in the entire Jammu. Even the workers and waiters have not changed there since my childhood days.

The Kulfi

Agreed it is cool and chic to sit and eat inside a fancy restaurant but it is also very boring. Street food is all about eating in the open air, dropping bits of food on your clothes and not worrying about it, no tissues or finger bowls. Just you, the open aroma, the food and the satisfaction the taste buds. Nothing beats the fun element attached with the street foods. Hope you liked the post.

Love:
Sepo