Sweet Nothings

Twenty hours of total flight time couldn’t take RR senior far enough that we couldn’t sit across each other and chat for hours. Thanks to technology (skype) family can’t be kept at bay, you are answerable for every minute of your time. A snippet from the conversation-
RRJ: Achcha what do you do when you are not talking to me?
RRS: Ahem, I do some important things ….. and after work for some time I sleep.
Conversation takes a detour and sometime later.
RRS: And what do you do when you are not talking to me?
RRJ: I think about you.
Oooh what a shot, score two-love, junior leading…… the audience in raptures, they absolutely love it!

No-Frills Biryani

On a break from steaming hot Chennai, it has been the most relaxing time in months. At parent’s in Bangalore, the kid busy with visiting mama, husband away in Brazil and parents busy hosting the hulla-gulla, has given me ample time for everything including an attempt at the food for the soul: chicken biryani. While biryani recipes get as elaborate as one wants but the one that works for me is one with minimum frills. Things you need:

• 1 kg chicken or 8 chicken drumsticks
• 2 onions (finely chopped)
• 6 pods of garlic (grated)
• 1 tablespoon of ginger (grated)
• 4-5 peppercorns (ground)
• 1 tomato (chopped)
• 1 green chilli (chopped)
• 1.5 level teaspoon garam masala
• 1 level teaspoon turmeric
• 1.5 teaspoon dhaniya powder
• 0.5 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 bayleaf
• 4 cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 2 cardamoms
• salt for taste
• juice of 1 lime

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• 3 cups of rice
• 3 pods of garlic (chopped)
• 0.5 cup pudina leaves (finely chopped)
• 0.5 cup dhaniya leaves (finely chopped)
• 0.5 teaspoon garam masala
• 2 teaspoon salt

Take a liberal amount of oil ( around 5-6 tablespoons) in a large frying pan or wok/kadhai on medium heat. When the oil is reasonably hot put the chopped onion and let it fry till it looses it’s shape and crunchiness (say for around 10 mins). Put the grated ginger garlic, green chilli and pepper corn (wait 2 mins). Add the bayleaf, cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms. In another couple of minutes add the tomato, the powders, lime juice and salt and cover the pan so that the paste doesn’t become too dry. Once the tomatoes become part of the paste add the chicken and cook fully covered for 20 minutes on medium heat and 20 more minutes on low heat. In another pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the garlic. Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes before adding 6 cups of water and garam masala and salt. Let it come to a boil and cover until cooked. Mix mint and coriander leaves in the rice. In a big pan put half of the chicken in a layer then put half of the rice and spread it over the chicken. Layer the remaining chicken and put the final layer of rice. Now with a big serving spoon toss the biryani a few times without making it too homogeneous. It is ready to be eaten and any mild raita makes an ideal accompaniment.

O Mentor Where Art Thou

A meeting with one of my favourite students has given me the rudest of shocks. There I was, a little smug of my ability to connect as a normal human being with the students specially a few of the under graduates and there he was telling me what a false idea that was. Just three years ago this bright little kid had his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm for anything challenging about mechanics and asking questions which made me learn and relearn. Unquestionable ability, the desire to learn and discuss being right there, all that we, the teachers, had to do was to expose him to the wonderful world of mechanical engineering. Now graduating, not a kid anymore, the student is convinced that mechanical engineering: academia or industry is just not for him. While I respect the growth of a person and their quest for their calling in life, but I can’t deny the sense of deflation I feel. There is something hugely wrong in our academic system, instead of inspiring a few who don’t even want to consider engineering as an option we are managing to do exactly the opposite. And I come to know of this transition in one of my favourite students after three years!

Seeing parallels between parenthood and being a teacher comes naturally to me perhaps because both happened to me around the same time. The under graduate student is like a newly arrived who slowly picks up the basic skills and the language of his/her profession for survival in the later life. We the teachers like parents must provide the infrastructure, we must convey the passion for our subject, but more importantly we have to spend some quality time. Even when the student wants to run to his/her peers we must want to share their joys as well as anxieties of these growing years. In this mad rush to satisfy all the demands of academia and self-growth perhaps it is easy to forget these are young minds who come to an academic institution with hope and aspirations. We cannot let them come and go without ever being involved with them.