My collections-Final Part

This post had to be for i had to finish what i had started. Although i feel there can be no end to my collections which of late seem to have diversified into rocks and right now i feel lost without one which i had found while i was at my sister's place.It was a beautiful ochre coloured , transluscent and smooth to touch very cool piece. i had picked it up from the roadside, brought it home and washed it and placed it on the grilled planter ( a rather large contraption which held at least 4 large pots and was fixed to the boundary wall) to dry. My sister tells me that the ochre rock still sits there pretty and bright but only visible to her and those who knew i had placed it there.
Now that should be my latest hobby...collecting rocks and pebbles.

Before that i collected anything and many things that people would generally throw away. So you would find all kinds of empty bottles...dried branches of trees and shrubs...fused bulbs...cleaned and washed pots of sizes ranging from a tiny one which came along with the Amul Kulfi to slightly larger ones ( which come with syrupy sweetmeats) as being an integral part of my collection and these are generally only visible to people after i have done something with them. Something could be just anything done with the object in a way which satisfies me tremendously.
No! none of my creativity is original though because in my mind's eye i have already seen versions of it elsewhere and what i do is generally a serious attempt to cut boredom. The fact of the matter being that i get bored too easily with settings around the house.
 i look at glossy pictures of well done up rooms with expensive objects and the only thing that comes to my mind is,''Gosh! i would be so bored to see the same thing over and over again,all the 365 days in a year. "
 So what i do is an inexpensive way to deal with this weirdness of mine.And what i do is very simple and really price less.
Which is to place things in an attractive way for few days and when i am bored replace it with something else.While the replaced item hibernates in the store room or garage to be used in some different configuration later.
But of all things i get bored with easily, it is rather strange how i can never have enough to do with fused bulbs.
 i am anguished when i see that now i might not have enough as the entire house is replaced with power saving bulbs which are too twisted and too new for any creative flash to occur now but i'm sure with my weirdness intact i might later discover a novel way to exhibit it later.Or maybe i am saying this to console myself and do away with my anguish which was magnified by one email forward which informs me that the fumes inside are poisonous. So i chide myself never to attempt messing with these in a way that i normally do with the other plain bulbs.

As i look disdainfully towards my basket which contains my limited collections and my favourite tool, memories of childhood and my convent school comes flooding in. Memories of how and where i had my first encounter with ubiquitous bulbs used as a decor. i saw them first in the lounge next to the principal's office and was taken away completely at the sheer beauty and enigma of it.
 i was still in the primary school and the class teacher had sent me to the principal's office on errand.So while i waited to be called inside i  fidgeted and looked around and my eyes caught sight of the bulb hanging there with a brilliant foliage of cheerful bunch of Pothos/Devil's Ivy/Money Plant/ right next to the wall unit that held the school shields and trophies. i remember being mersmerised by the mystery that surrounded the bulb and the beauty of Pothos to such an extent that the assistant to Sister Theckla,(our Principal then) Ms Bona had to come and jolt me to back to alertness and remind me of my duty for which i was there.
Back home Ma could not have enough of my story as i narrated to her how our sisters in the convent had created such a beautiful decoration piece with bulbs and i nagged her to irritation demanding explanation from her as to how the bulb was made empty to be a container that could hold the plant.
Ma could only shake her head and tell me with not much conviction though that the carpenters at school who looked into the school furniture had prepared it for the school exclusively . i know now that it was her only soft way to get me to shut up once and for all and to leave her in peace so that she could attend to her other chores.
i never had the courage enough to ask at school because we were mortally terrified of our sisters.At school a mere sight of sisters hushed us to pin drop silence what to talk of approaching them freely with a question that did not pertain to academics.This was then and i am doubtful if class 3 or class 2 kids still feel that way in a convent or it could be that i was too inhibited and scared of NUNS who seemed to loom large in their habits and found them inaccessible to inquiries due to my own silly beliefs and prejudices.
Anyways Ma gave all of us a pleasant surprise one fine day.
i come back home from school to be greeted with these beauties at the landing near the entrance door. She had asked one of our carpenters to do the job with the fused bulbs and soon the house was seeing these hung in all those places which needed some greenery to spruce it up.
But not only did those areas look attractive, the Pothos surviving in just water soon became the exhibition gallery of sorts for all the colony aunties who would on seeing them would be amazed at the art form and exclaim with joy at my Ma's green thumb and  good fortune.

For it is a belief among the locals that Pothos only survives in homes which is blessed with plenty of money.i guess then hence the name -Money Plant.

 i grew up seeing these all around the house and also later in my own room when i was in college and i remember my friends getting attracted by this piece and asking me how the bulb was made thus to which i would just shrug casually and tell them how Ma got it made from the local carpenter. i never made an attempt to learn or to know even how the carpenter did the job. i assumed all the while that he may be having a specific tool to accomplish the delicate task with much ease.

Much later as i settled down into a busy family life for my child was a toddler then, i realised one day that i needed something more to keep me cheerful and brush away my tiredness.Just a small nap in the afternoons with the child would not do.i realised that other than weaning and cooking i loved doing up the house.And because i never had that much free time for myself to conjure enough creativity i decided one fine day to try my luck at the fused bulbs that had accumulated in the store room.

As my first step to beautifying the empty narrow walls, i thought of  creating the lovely planters on my own with the help of that tool of mine which had a heavy pointed edge...just adequately heavy to make a hole and later get rid of he bulb's contents and make it fit and proper for his non fussy and cheerful creeper that only needs enough water to thrive.

Needless to say then that success was not achieved instantaneously. After a couple of broken bulbs and a few nicks here and there i managed to get the hang of the rhythmic beat and the force/pressure that is required to first make a tiny hole and keep jabbing till he hole is completely free of the sealants and is wide enough for the tube with the filament to slide out.
i cannot say that even now i am successful at all my attempts as sometimes though i may have the bulb intact in my hand, the holder too comes out like this bulb that i was preparing recently.

But i never give up. Not on this holderless bulb which is still lying in my basket for my sudden flash of creativity nor my attempts at making planters out of fused bulbs.
Yes the house does have many of these placed directly or otherwise where all my branches and twigs come to my rescue so far as creativity is concerned. Just like this thrown away branch of a guava tree which was varnished and hung on the wall to be an amazing holder for my bulb planters.

Then there is this dry Cycas branch picked up from the terrace that looks so pretty. Solitary and turned naturally at an interesting angle in an empty dry wine bottle it looks artistic on it's own.Actually i was meaning to convert the wine bottle into a lampshade which is taking more time than i had anticipated so for the time being this arrangement suffices.

My collections have never once deserted me whenever i have this sudden urge to change.There is always something to be done with these and some area in the house always has an exhibition space for these .So out they come into my eager hands from their hibernating grounds to satisfy my restless self and brighten a bleached and naked area.In a way that even a boring staircase landing looks attractive with ordinary rocks,  dry branches and some greenery.
Thank God i get bored only with sights around the house and nothing else...
Thank God that i am one crazy collector who feels everything and anything has a potential which is latent and can be best brought out with one's crazy ideas.
And thank God my tool keeps me going at it...for i am one happy soul to see Pothos hanging everywhere around the house...rich and oh! so brilliantly vareigated and such an adorable green that does not ask for much... just plain water and one casual look to make you smile.

Ingenuity + Perfect Tools = Joy + Satisfaction

Each time i go to this road called Pantheon Road which boasts of the largest number of small eateries i never miss out to grab a bite of the grilled cheese and vegetable sandwich from the vendors out there.Not that i can't prepare that myself at home but my chutneys don't taste as piquant as theirs and no matter how hard i try, i am unable to slice cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes to that perfect thinness/thickness that is a key ingredient of a  delectable and oh ! so ! filling sandwich.
Of course that requires some skill and a lots of practice but observing them while they get busy with their orders and doing their jobs casually in a jiffy chatting with their assistants about mundane matters requires  not only a sincere sense of entrepreneurship but some secret ingredients and definitely some specific tools .

Maybe i am saying this to console myself.As though if i had those tools and the secret ingredient was known to me i would stop being a street food lover and perhaps become the best sandwich maker who might put Balaji or Manoj out of business.Now these two gentlemen can never forget the ever so hungry me who they greet with a smile and offer with great delight all their new varieties of sandwiches. And much to their chagrin i go to them for my standard Vegetable Cheese non grilled but original piquant chutney laced and gently spiced sandwich.

But honestly i was very fascinated with the knife that they use to chop the vegetables into that perfect slice. And to my amazement the best sweets and snacks outlet in town Sree Mithai also has a sandwich corner apart from all types of chats where i noticed the proud seller using the same knife happily cutting roundels of onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, boiled potatoes to the ever increasing order of his plain or grilled vegetable sandwiches.

The lovely cooking shows on Travel and Living channel on TV leave me high and dry when i see Kylie Kwong using a special knife to match her skills while Nigella Feast only makes me more hungry when she uses her bare hands and lots of  i should say erotic sounds from her mouth and whips away to God's glory with her sophisticated kitchen equipments.
Then i try to remember the ever so humble Yan who always said,'' If Yan can cook so can you" and convince myself to keep trying.

 i finally gave up one day and instead ran to Balaji/Manoj , the sandwich maker and asked him to tell me the secret of his chutney and pleaded him to get that special knife for me.
The secret he divulged too quickly and without fuss for which i am grateful to Balaji. But there was a funny glint in his eyes like that of a prankster who knows the outcome already and is laughing within himself and trying hard not to give it away.
Regarding the knife he said that he would have to place an order and that i should come and collect it later.
Judging my sincerity he explained that the knife is made to order and it actually is a ''hashhaw'' blade.
Trusting him to get the knife i left after having my fill and reminding him once again that i shall be back for my hashhaw blade next evening.He nodded and got busy and i thought i have achieved partial success as i was already loaded with the chutney recipe while the blade was on it's way to help me prepare that perfect slice of cheese vegetable sandwich.

That knife, the hashhaw blade i came to know soon enough is the toothed and jagged Hacksaw blade which is made toothless and sharp to make it perfect for the job.

Necessity rightly they say is the mother of invention.Man has known that since time immemorial.And while i munch at those lovely sandwiches just when i am too hungry to think anything or see anything it is strange how i drifted to my favourite tool that i cannot do without.In fact i am often afraid of misplacing it or losing it. And hence that favourite tool is always tucked away safely as if it was a priceless piece of jewellery.i remember misplacing it once and how every nook and corner of the house was ransacked to retrieve it which left the house in such disarray that it took me a whole tiresome day to put things back to where they belong.

For that tool is just the perfect weight and size to do what i need it for.Just like the hacksaw blade which is indispensable for these sandwiches so is this highly utilitarian tool of mine which was originally meant to be a bottle opener.

Broken at the usable end but not on purpose but only because of wear and tear and still having a strong head this piece of tool is indispensable for what i do with thrown away fused bulbs.What i do is nothing original but how i do it is what i am so proud of. i know many of my friends have tried it but have given up just like how i gave up on those sandwiches. And just like how i still run to Balaji/Manoj for my perfect sandwich so do my friends come to me each time they want the used bulb object d art and they never ask me for my tool to try it for themselves because they know that only i have perfected that art of the perfect pressure with the help of this tool that sees their bulb in full piece without any damage to the glass or to the holder but made beautiful enough to hang them around the house.

Why i had to tell all this is because this post is a prequel to my next post which should be the sequel of my earlier post ' My Collections-I '. i somehow felt like sharing all that i do for the simple reason that i feel happy doing these things and i know if it makes me happy it will surely make others happy too.In a way this post of mine should be considered to be a tribute to all the street food chefs , their indigenous tools and secret spices.Together they have not only made eating out fun but also given us satisfaction and loads of joy.
And so has my tool kept me satisfied for the last twenty years ever since i found a good use of it as i picked it up from the trash can into which my husband had thrown it after it was broken and was considered unfit for any use.

i just thought that since i talked so much of the sandwiches and that special blade in this post of mine that it is only fair to introduce the great chefs and their best.So in manner of sequence:

                                                                  Balaji and Manoj

                                                           Manoj and his favourite tool

                                          Ready with his ingredients and tools including a spare

                                           First butter and a generous layer of green chutney

                                            cucumber rounds sliced to that perfect thickness

                                                     followed by onions, boiled potatoes

                                                last of the vegetables-tomatoes placed on top

                             Cheese gratings -amount optional-top bread ready with butter and chutney

                                                             Dash of the secret spice

                             Ready to be sliced into convenient bite sized squares with that special knife

                                                     Sliced into 9 equal square pieces

                                     Boxed and ready for takeaway with tomato ketchup satchets

i know i meant this post to be something else but it wrote itself. i had not intended it to center round sandwiches but sadwiches stole it's way into my post and so did Manoj with his hasshaw blade and his ingenuity.So all i can say for the time being is BON APETIT...till my next post.