Rickshaw wallah woes

It's a fine art, the stacking of cases on a rickshaw: there are no ropes to hold it in place. Only gravity, and a fine sense of balance. It's a mild winter sun, making it easy for the rickshaw puller. In summer the same trip will be gruelling.

In this photo, you can see the license number of the rickshaw. I wrote earlier, about the rickshaw wallahs of Delhi, and their never-ending fight to earn a living, given the artificial restrictions on getting a license (confiscations of unlicensed rickshaws are a good source of income for officials).

In 2012, the courts ordered the Delhi Government to treat Non-Motorized Vehicles (NMVs) as an integral part of city traffic (instead of treating them as an unwanted nuisance). Rickshaws were to be legalized by providing a system of open registration. This has been happening now, and I hear from the Manushi website that random confiscations of rickshaws have reduced.

In Sep 2014, the Union Urban Development Ministry has ordered the Delhi Government to create lanes for NMV vehicles on all arterial roads without delay. Let's see how long that takes! 

My new jacket

It is winter now, and Fab India has started to stock several jackets for women. I bought a new blue jacket a couple of days ago, and yesterday I wore it for the first time. I teamed it with an orange linen kurta.

As soon as I wore the jacket, I fell in love with it. Especially the easy laid-back yet formal look! And the pockets, lord, they were super useful!! As the day progressed, my phone, my pen, money, little chits of paper, coins...everything found its way into two spacious pockets.

By evening, I was hooked good and proper.

I was going to become a Jacket-Wearing-Person.

I would be just like my friend Debashish from Ahmedabad, who works in heritage conservation, and wears the kurta-jacket combination often on walks and lectures. This was going to be my new look!

And then came the rub. I discovered that the jacket was Matka Silk.

Matka is the local term for rough hand spun silk fabric. It feels and looks a bit like tweed, except that it is single-colour. It's a soft fabric, so if you provide inner lining cloth, you can make great jackets with it. Often there are rough irregularities in the fabric, which gives it a charm all its own. The best thing about matka, though, is that it always drapes softly and adapts to the contours of the body.

So what's the problem, you ask? The problem is that I've more or less given up buying silk. Especially after I visited the silk making village near Bangalore and saw the moths being boiled to death. Not a pretty sight.

The jacket was a quick impulse buy, I didn't even stop to see what the fabric was. I just assumed it was cotton. But I've bought it now, and I'm a little bit stuck here. Should I give it up? Aaaaagh, No! Maybe I should just gift it to someone. I'm telling you, parting from this jacket is going to be a very difficult thing :-)

Here's a closer look in sunlight, clicked in my car.
You can see the Matka fabric more clearly in this one. 

I'm going to miss my Gaajar ka Halwa !

All through Dec-March, I have been enjoying the taste of fresh, bright red winter carrots:

Go on, admit it. They look fantastic, don't they?

During the rest of the year we get these orange ones; they are small and stubby and not very interesting.

"Regular" carrots for sale at Chittaranjan Park
These orange ones always remind me of Brer Rabbit, for some reason :)

Then along comes winter, and the long red ones start appearing in the markets. They're so juicy and sweet that I often end up buying more than I need!

This year I've eaten an unusually high number of winter carrots. I've julienned and grated them into several salads. I've diced them small into biryanis and pulaos. I've sauted them with other winter vegetables as a stuffing for rolls. But what I've enjoyed the most - my favourite winter carrot treat - has been Gaajar ka Halwa.

I suspect this is North India's favourite winter dessert, because I know very few people who don't like it. What's not to like about a mixture of carrots, milk and sugar? :) :)

Hot Gaajar Halwa from my kitchen, just before the garnishing
Now that spring is here, I am going to have to say goodbye to this :(

The markets are still carrying several winter vegetables; although in a few weeks it will be all gone.

I am not a big fan of radishes, but lots of people love them and winter is when the best ones make their appearance. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor has a whole bunch of radish (mooli) recipes here. My favourite among them is mooli paratha.

Fresh winter radishes in Delhi's bazaars

Another winter specialty is broadbeans or sem phalli.
 This year the crop in Rajasthan has fared really badly due to frost.

But the best part of winter is all the green leafy vegetables that appear in the market. Spinach, amaranth, mustard greens, fenugreek, there's lots to choose from! In general we don't eat leafy vegetables in the monsoons, so when winter comes, it's great to be able to add these to the diet.

What a pleasing sight!

The last couple of weekends, we have been indulging ourselves with paalak ke pakode (spinach fritters). It's really super-tasty, and Sanjeev Kapoor's video is very good. So here's the video recipe; watch it, it will make you salivate!

If you cannot follow Hindi, then the English language recipe is here. Spinach will be in the markets all through spring, so you can try this recipe next weekend. The entire family will clamour for more. Let me know how it goes!!