What an idea, Montek Ji!

Declare tea as national drink, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Something’s fishy when someone hailing from Punjab comes up with an idea of declaring tea as the National Drink. A man who may have been drinking lassi all his life, asks for tea to be declared as National Drink?

If not Lassi, he would have still “drank” Ghee more.  Ok, he chose tea but he should have been more specific. Tea with milk or without milk. With Sugar or without sugar. A citizen should know which tea he has to drink in order to take pride. Very important, thus! 😉

This statement of Montek Singh gained many comments on Twitter, Facebook and even from certain celebrities.
“I’m very sad that Tea has been chosen as the National Drink of India” – Kofi Annan said at a press conference.
Anu Malik forced a India TV correspondent to take his interview where he said, “Main iss statement pe do lavz hi gaana chahunge – Ek Garam chaai ki pyaali ho.. Oop Oop Cha.. Seene se lagane waali ho. Thank you! ”
Karan Johar was upset about how the Indian government neglected his contribution towards the Bollywood Cinema.

Vijay Mallya was heard stating, “Already this National Airline is finishing off my airline. Now what will this National Drink do to my drinks? I only trust Chris Gayle now”

 If this idea comes into effect, it will surely have after effects. Mamata Banerjee shall declare BournVita as the Official drink of West Bengal in order to honour Derek O’ Brein and his contributions towards TMC Bengal. (Don’t Arrest Me!)
Pakistan shall declare Green tea as their National Drink.
More such Montek-alike ideas can arise like National Puppet – Manmohan Singh, National Concern – Salman Khan’s Marriage (bunk! 😛 ) and Ajmal Kasab can be declared as National Guest. There are so many probabilities.

And there are probabilities even for other drinks to compete for the National Drink’s berth.

Shikanji, Nimbu Paani and Nariyal Paani spark a patriotic feeling within more than the tea does. And when we say, Tea we refer to a colonial drink. The Indian version is Chaai.

And what is the status of Ganga Jal? Is it not enough polluted to be our National Drink?
“Given the never ending inflation, scams and new taxes, the national drink ought to be not tea, but the common man’s blood.” – Chetan Bhagat  “and also his tears”

aam!

Its summers and ‘ab ras barsega’ but here “aam” does not mean Mangoes. The strawberries love to rival them. Here ‘aam’ means the common.
“He is not fashionable, but talking about him is the fashion, He do not follow trends, but trends are made for him, He is not there in any consideration, but he is the center of every thought process. Who is he? He is The common man.”
– Animesh Shukla
In this post, I talk about what power do the common people possess.

Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri and Clark Kent are two such common man and we’ve all grown up seeing what power these common man possess. Even Peter Parker but I disagree to regard him as common man. Well, obviously he wasn’t one. He was Spiderman.

Power may not always mean Super-human abilities. For me it means the human super abilities, as I said, that everyone possesses. It is only on us to realize this possession of ours.
For the Indian common man, the two unique features of this human super ability has been rage and silence. Mahatma Gandhi, a common man once has been the epitome of this ability. The Indian common man has been practicing with this power since a century now when Satyagraha was first launched. The latest is the episode of Anna Hazare. The common man kept silent even though all was happening in front of his eyes despite being under the table, but he did borne a rage which was rightly so in cashed by India Against Corruption to fight against the wrong. I believe every revolt that we see and every movement that we observe are nothing but different versions of Satyagraha because silence is the best way to utilize rage. Keep silence, but don’t be quiet.

Bollywood has produced two perfect examples of what common people can do if they take matters in their own hands.

Emerging from the darkness of an underground network, we come across a well-lit metro train in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata coming to a halt with scores of dead bodies inside. Then the movie skips 2 years to show a pregnant lady finding her lost husband. The twist in the movie surely surprises us when it is found that she was neither pregnant, neither she was finding her husband because he was already dead. She was there to avenge the death of his and the thousands in the metro killing the wrong doer. The Kahaani of the movie surprises us, but Vidya Bagchi’s role mocks at the system of not being able to do something in 2 years that was done by a lady in a few days time.

A city under seize. 5 bombs threatening to go off. The administration, in turn, turning all its resources up-side-down. The plot turns upside down when the man behind all this is found to be just another common man who seeks justice for those killed in the local train blasts in Mumbai and not by knocking on the doors of the court. By taking the pesticide himself to kill the pests that have been dirtying the city ever since. “Aapke Ghar Me Cockroach Aata Hai To Aap Kya Karte Hai Rathore Sahab, Aap Usko Palte Nahi Marte Hai. Ye Charo Cockroach Mera Ghar Ganda Kar Rahe The, Aur Aaj Mai Aapna Ghar Saaf Karna Chahta Hu.Mujhe Yakin Hai ki Jo Train Blast Huye wo Sirf Ak Terrorist activity Nahi Thi, Wo Ak Bahot Bada Saawal Tha, Aur Wo Sawaal Ye Tha Ki Bhai Hum To Tumhe Isi Tarah Marenge, Tum Kya Kar Loge ? Yes, They asked UsThis Question On A Friday, Repited It On Tuseday And I Am Just Replaying On A Wednesday.” The movie is not about the train blasts that rocked Mumbai in 2005. It isn’t so much to do about terrorism and counter-terrorism but it is an eye opener for the common man to realize his status and power.

With great power comes great responsibility. The movies above show what responsibility the common people can take in their hands if they come out to use their power. The two movies above have influenced me to write this post but while going through the dialogues of “A Wednesday”, it had influenced me a bit further today.

“Mai wo hoon jo aaj Bus aur Train mein chadne se darta hai, Mai wo hoon jo kaam pe jaata hai toh uski biwi ko lagta hai ki jung par jaa raha hai, Pata nahi lautega yaa nahi, Har do ghante baad Phone karti hai ki Chai pee ki nahi? Khana khaya ki nahi? Darasal wo ye janna chahti hai ki mai zinda hu yaa nahi. Main wo hoon jo aaj bus aur train mein baithne se darta hai. Main wo ho jo kaam par jata hai to uske biwi ko lagta hai jung pe ja raha hai. Main wo hoon jo kabhi barsaat mein phansta hai, kabhi blast mein. Main wo hoon jo kisi ke haath mein tasbeeh dekh ke shak karta hai aur main wo bhi hoon jo aaj kal daadi badhane se aur topi pehenne se ghabrata hai. Jhagda kisi ka bhi ho, bewajah marta main hi hoon. Bheed to dekhi hogi na aapne, bheed main se koi ek shakl chun lijiye, main wo hoon. I am just the stupid common man”

Will we always keep waiting like this for someone we love, to die before we do something? It is we who need to make amends. We the common people!  

Survival of the cook-iest.

Chef Gusteau’s sole message in life was, “Anybody can cook”. The message seems as a sub topic in the culinary section of “Nothing is impossible”. But indeed, Anybody can cook. Even rats. There was Remy who cooked and cooked phenomenally. He finally become one but he was dying to become a chef. Coming to terms, that was all fiction. In the real world, unlike the fictitious, one may become a chef to survive.

He may become a cook to fight his quest for survival.

Lets be very honest. Cricketers don’t earn much money. They just get their match fees, some money from their boards, money that come as awards. Done. The players at the IPL earn in crores. Not much. Or to say that cricketers are those men who take the ‘only’ on cheques too seriously. How will a person survive in such low incomes. Economics was all wrong. They only mentioned the poverty line and never referred of the Posh line also known as the elite line. Living below the elite line is like these present living, then ancestors don’t have any feelings for the fifth generation that will come ahead. So, to survive in such low incomes needs some measure. One such desperate measure, as I mentioned, is cooking.

To no surprise, they even get sponsors here. Their photos show as if they have found the right measure for survival and it is ultimately the food that fills anybody’s stomach. They’re just cooking that food.

Survival is a very subjective term. For teenagers like us, for the culinary record, survival means the complete opposite to “dying without junk food”. Thus, quest for survival for teenagers can make them cook Maggi. This may either coax the mothers to eventually cook junk food for us rather than seeing their children facing such difficulties cooking. This may either help us teenagers find our cooking talent! 🙂 This may either help the chefs all over the world come to terms with a new innovation; if sugar is added instead of salt, if tea making material is added instead of masala.
Or it may atleast help us test our smoke detectors and exhausts fitted in our homes. Quest for survival has never been so easy.

I am so sure there is a cook hidden behind each of us. Probably we don’t recognize it or we prefer to stay lazy, or you have your secret recipes that you don’t want to reveal to the world. Hmm.. but Why be a cook? 
The fight for survival made the primitive men invent fire, what big thing is being a cook? Food maybe the basic need for living but cooked food is of prime priority. Potatoes can’t be bitten into like strawberries, and Brinjal can never make it your salad plate. You may eat Fruits, Dry Fruits, Salads and for everything else there’s cooking. (Like a mastercard!)
I am not denying any arguments of somebody surviving on Fruits and Salads, but that way you may be challenging Kareena Kapoor for the title of zero figure and of course the lightest person of your age. Oh. Wait. If you are an Indian, yes, I am denying. We can’t live without spices and oil. If not quest for survival, the love of these two can make them a cook.

It is for you to judge that how good I cooked this blogpost up with all the spices and tadkas but before leaving just one tip – Quest for survival will no doubt make you a cook, may it mean a bad cook. 

 

 

Topic by history teacher at my school, Birla High School. This was a tough homework! 😀