I climbed a mountain

“Nina”
“hmm”
“What is your favourite song?”
“Which language?”
“any”
“hmm, that is going to be difficult. I listen to so many songs.”
“Pick one in each language”
“Ok in Hindi,well, I like Zindagi ka safar the most”
“Zindagi ka safar? Why?”
“I watched the movie when I was 14 years old on Doordarshan. I didn’t know much Hindi, in fact I hated Hindi. I never understood the ka and ke of hindi. While I was watching the movie, I didn’t understand a single dialogue,and half way through the power went off, by the time the power came back I had missed most of the movie. So here I am watching a hindi movie with no clue as to what the story is all about and all of a sudden the actor started to sing the song, I understood what he was singing. I understood every bit of that song. It was like someone opened the curtain that was blocking my eyes until that time. I could feel the pain in his voice. I understood the meaning of the song and it was the most realistic song I have ever heard until that moment. The song made me love Hindi, the way the language was used to describe the feeling. Rotey Rotey Zamaaney Mein Aaye Magar, Haste Haste Zamaane Se Jaaenge Ham , that is so beautiful, don’t you think so?”
“So you like Kishor Kumar!”
“hmm”
“English?”
“English, is very very difficult. I listen to the songs according to my mood. I have so many collections”
“But what is the one song you listen often?”
“It is difficult to pick one song, I like Anne Murray’s A little good news a lot”
“Which song is that?”
“You haven’t heard it?”
He shook his head
I sang the song for him

I rolled out this morning
Kids had the mornin’ news show on
Bryant Gumbel was talkin’ ’bout the fighting in Lebanon
Some senator was squawkin’ ’bout the bad economy
It’s gonna get worse you see,
we need a change in policy

There’s a local paper rolled up in a rubber band
One more sad story’s one more than I can stand
Just once how I’d like to see the headline say
“Not much to print today, can’t find nothin’ bad to say”, because

Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town
Nobody OD’ed, nobody burned a single buildin’ down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today

I’ll come home this evenin’
I’ll bet that the news will be the same
Somebody takes a hostage, somebody steals a plane
How I wanna hear the anchor man talk about a county fair
And how we cleaned up the air, how everybody learned to care
Whoa, tell me
Nobody was assassinated in the whole Third World today
And in the streets of Ireland, all the children had to do was play
And everybody loves everybody in the good old USA
We sure could use a little good news today

“That is such a nice song” He replied
“Oh yes, it is. When ever I feel depressed, I listen to the song and sing along, “I sure could use a little good news today”!
He started to laugh
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you are funny”
“Why do you say that?”
“I was expecting you to choose some romantic song as your favourite. instead you picked the most unusual song.”
“You think I am weird?”
“heavens No. Weird? You? Oh Nina!.. Sorry I didn’t mean Oh Nina, I meant Oh Heavens, Nina you are not weird. You are unusual and I am not saying that in the bad way”
“oh like that”
“Nina, each moment I spend with you, I learn something new”
“I thought it is the other way around”
“What do you mean?”
“I learn so much from you. You make me think. Anyway,What is your favourite song?” I asked him
“King of pain”
“Police?”
“Yeah, you like them?”
“Not much, I like few of their songs like Every breath you take and Roxanne. My dad loved The police. But I like Sting though” I turned to look at him sheepishly.
“Really? Which song”
“I said, I like Sting!” I replied again
He stared at me for a few seconds and then said “oh”
“Why?”
“His eyes. Have you seen his eyes? They are deep set and full of expression”
“You have a thing for eyes, don’t you?”
“hmm” I mumbled
“Tell me Nina,What is so special about eyes?”
“I don’t know how to explain. You can see a person in their eyes”
“How?”
“When I look at your eyes, I see concern, love, understanding and compassion, I don’t know how to explain that”
“you can see all that in my eyes”
“Oh yes”
“What do you see in my eyes now?” he asked
I looked at him.His iris was light brown. I had never noticed until now how clear his iris were. There were like glass. I had brown eyes, but my iris wasn’t as transparent as his.
“What do you see Nina?”
“Happiness” I replied
“hmm, you are right Nina. I am so happy to be with you. I look forward to this time I get to spend with you”
‘Then don’t go, don’t go and fight the war, attend all the classes and write the exam’. I wanted to tell him that. But I couldn’t.
“Oh I forgot. I have been wanting to ask you this, tell me one thing you wouldn’t do” He asked
I didn’t know what to answer. There were a million things I wanted to do. I never thought about something that I wouldn’t do.
“tell me” He asked again
“Wait let me think. I can tell you a million things I wanted to do. I have never thought about something I wouldn’t do”
I tried to think. Nothing came to my mind. What is one thing I wouldn’t do? All I could think of were the things I wanted to do. I wanted to travel around the world, I wanted to see the 7 wonders, I wanted to see northern lights, I wanted to go back to Malaysia, damn, those aren’t the answer to his question.
What is one thing I wouldn’t do?
I won’t eat sushi, snake or rabbit. But I felt that is such a stupid answer.
I don’t like to wear revealing cloths, I don’t like to wear jewelry, I don’t like to wear make up.
Gosh none of those come in the category of something I wouldn’t do. I suddenly realised what I wouldn’t do
“I will never go against my ethics. That is one thing I wouldn’t do” “Wait there is more, I won’t sell my body, I won’t sell my soul” I told him
“wow” he replied
“What is one thing you wouldn’t do?” I asked him
“That is easy. I won’t live without you” He replied
There are certain moments in life you realize there isn’t anyone more stupid that you on planet earth. It was one such moment.
I climbed a mountain to answer his question, while the answer was right next to me.

Does anyone know recipes of any Indian food that can last few days without refrigeration? I am looking for main meals.

17 thoughts on “I climbed a mountain

  1. I think lemon rice might stay good. Check out mahanandi she has a good recipe. I think you should not use ur hands to handle anything always use a spoon.

    I have heard that this stays for a couple of days. But I dont have first hand experience

  2. Hey what about curd rice,

    One day earlier you mix rice, milk, salt and a tblspoon of yoghurt and it will become curd rice next day..Temper some oil with green chillies, curry leaves, mustard, urad dal, coriander and add to the rice. Let me know if u are fixed on this dish. I will send u a detailed recipe..

  3. Hello Sarah,

    I read your blog every day. My afternoon lunch won’t go inside if I don’t read your blog. I was so busy(another word for laziness) that i finally created a gmail for leaving comments here. I learned a lot after reading your blog. I always admire you about how much you went through and how brave you are. I wish all the happiness in the world for you everyday.

    -Nandini.

  4. Try parathas, tomato chutney, poha. pack dry poha,sugar and coconut. Whenever you want to eat soak poha in water for couple of mins and squeeze the water out mix it with sugar n coconut and eat. Grind red chilli, red onion, garlic, tomato and salt to smooth paste. Splutter mustard seeds and bengal gram in oil and add the ground mixture and keep the flame in meduim and make it dry and pack it. Will stay good for 4-5 days outside. Always worked for me. Hope this helps.

  5. curd rice and achar is a sure bet. But don’t touch it with hand, pack three separate curd rice for three days.
    Thick paratas with Mint or corriander chutney(no coconut added) is another option
    poori and Kachori also last 3-4 days. But soggy and you need pickles with it

  6. Revathi: Can you send me a curd rice recipe elfintrot@yahoo.com

    Gini: Which one? Kudam puli one?

    Shri: I have salted fish in my pantry.. I only know how to make chammanthi.. If you have a recipe for the curry could you please email me elfintrot@yahoo.com

    Nandini: Thank you.. I don’t get poha here.. I get that flat thingy that is white in colour( aval?) Can I do the same with that?

    Asha: Do you know if yogurt will stay outside without refrigeration?

    I was told that, people usually make food for long distance train journey in India and take it with them.. what do they take?

  7. sarah, i have a frend who makes methi parathas while travelling (they are called theplas) – a mix of wheat flour and besan, and it stays fresh for weeks, she told me.

  8. Sarah, my family was one of those that made tamarind rice (puliyogare) and curd rice and took on long journeys. For puliyogare, you just need to cook basmati rice and mix a ready made mix such as MTR mix according to directions.

    The trick with making curd rice is to make it with milk and add a spoonful of yogurt. That way when you open it a day later, the milk has fermented to yogurt, and isn’t too sour. Of course this would work only if you’re going where the temp is really hot, like Indian Railways 2nd class compartment :), but not if you’re going to stay in an AC suite.

    Also I’ve seen North Indian friends taking pooris, potato subzi (http://www.bawarchi.com/bihar/bihari103.html) and sweet sour tamarind chutney (http://www.indianvegetarian.com/recipes/SweetAndSourTamarindChutney.html).

  9. yes the meen vevichath with kudampuli and meat fry–ularthiath. Is it very hot in Canada now? If temperatures are only in their low 20s(C) then lots of veggies and things will stay fine overnight and then you can reheat them in the morning and it should keep till the afternoon.

  10. Why don’t you take a cooler with you. Curd rice will stay, you have to add more milk to it. My aunt does that when she used to take bombay jayanthi ( 3 days to Kerala).

  11. This comment is not relevant to your post..but coz i dint find your mail ID anywhere in the blog i thought i ll post it here..

    Just wanted to say why I love reading this blog..althought most of the entries are quite sad and heart wrenching..it teaches me a lot..It has taught me how to feel good about the little good things in life..I used to feel sad coz am half deaf and when someone used to make fun of me on that..i would feel that God conspired so that folks could make fun of me..but now I find it quite ordinary when I read the turmoils you have gone through..I almost wish sometimes your blog was just a story..neways wish you have more happiness through your kids than the sadness you had in your past..thanks for inspiring..

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