Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle

How I chanced upon it: Browsing through Blossoms on a day when I was hell-bent on picking up a new writer or a new genre, I found Pamuk's The White Castle in a tiny collection of Faber Firsts books. It was the beautiful cover which mesmerized me! The creamy-white of the castle against the nice blue background was quite different from the rest of the books there. I did buy the book with some trepidation though; a friend was doing her M.Phil thesis on Pamuk's novels and I had so far only encountered him when we were discussing dissertations. That kind of put me off him for a while. Am glad I did pick him up finally. As an important aside: the novella length of the book played a crucial part in the decision ;).

The journey: I started reading the novel with a lot of interest after I read the blurb. It was short, simple and thankfully, did not even attempt to be a brief outline which leaves out only the ending, as some blurbs tend to be. Though...on a third read, I think it kind of short charges the story...The great enthusiasm I began with was followed by sincere diligence as I tried to go at half my usual reading pace- the kind of respect an unfamiliar author usually requires. I would read each word, run it over in my head and wait for the images to form. A few days of this, I must have reached the 20 page mark (the book is 145 pages in my edition), and I couldn't wait to abandon the book and pick up something else. The book lay in my already burdened bag, and I tried to ignore its presence as I restlessly sat through long bus rides, wishing for something to read. When I finally picked up the book again, it was because I did not want to suffer the wrath of the reading deity (there isn't one?!) for abandoning a book half-way (have sinned enough already). Some authors, some books, take time. There is no instant passion. Often, they start off as a disappointment. I think that is what happened with Pamuk's Castle. This time when I picked it up, after persevering through the next 20 or so pages, I think I finally found that point in the book from where on I was hooked. After long pages of not much happening, within the span of a few pages, the relationship between the two main characters takes on such a startling turn, or rather is developed in such a deft manner, it leaves you breathless!

To begin with a central idea that has to do with the self and the other as mirror images is setting oneself quite a challenging task, given the reams written on this concept in theoretical writing. Given this, the stages that he potrays in the relationship- from aversion to tolerance, attachment, love (even amorous), may be predictable, but there are two things that keep you hooked to the writing- one is the images he creates with his writing; intense, real and make you feel like you are inhabiting not just the world of the characters but their bodies, the second is the manner in which he brings the novel to a close...it is stunningly done. Ok, I tried looking for something more descriptive and less general than that, but can't find the words for now :)

Would I ask you to read it?: Definitely yes, and you will probably enjoy it/be taken in even more if you haven't earlier come across the discussions around 'self' and 'other'. Pick it up only if you have the time and the space to be startled out of your wits though.

on the babel myth

"the confusion of tongues is not to be explained as diversification or change of language in our sense of the term. The commentators explain it, not as a new creation but as a reshuffling of letters and sound by God and the attribution of new meanings to old words- thus ensuring a mutual lack of comprehension."- A.Ewert

how to make mutton biryani at home a.k.a how to put a weekend to productive use

cloistered at home with an upset stomach and the internet for company, i spent an entire day lusting after pics of mutton biryani. when the weekend happened, and with a chef-in-the-making for company, could not resist the temptation to try out cooking biryani at home. here is a photo documentation:

we began with arranging all the ingredients, chopping board and other paraphernalia around ourselves. trust me, makes for a great picture. sample this:

then it was chop, cut, grind, till we had all the ingredients for the marinade.
what we added:

next, mixed all the ingredients, with a lot of devotion (for a demonstration of what that means, look here)and stuck the marinated mutton into the fridge for some 4 hours, or till we could stand the delay no longer, though i would suggest sticking to the 4 hour time period. and when you remove the mutton from the fridge, do note the change in color.

this is before we stuck the mutton into the fridge:

and this...

is after.

next, we took a thick bottomed pan, and placed the meat right at the bottom (if you are using raw meat like we did, instead of cooking it till 3/4ths done before adding it to the rice, add a good amount of oil to the meat while marinating it). this was the first layer.

then the second layer, of rice and a final layer of rice marginally more cooked than the one in the second layer. separated the two with some mint, coriander and fried onions. finally, what we had is this:

after coming this far, now, you have to forget all about the biryani and let it cook, slowly. (don't forget to seal the pot with some dough to seal the flavours in). after a good 30 minutes, crack open the dough and, well...indulge :)

tip: DO NOT go overboard with the mint and the coriander as we, ok, as i did, gave a bitterish taste to the biryani.

also, half the fun of the process was the partner. what with the advice and the i-told-you-so's and the gleam in the eye...intoxication is twice as pleasurable when shared ;)

oh! and the final product... :)

on popular demand, invitations to the next biryani weekend will be posted ;)

discovered today

with time and the net on hand, and having tired of porn, orkut and facebook (somewhat in that order), did some random surfing for food blogs today and food related articles. well, food crazy company contributed no small deal to the spike in interest :) so it began with attempting to search for a simple and nice fish recipe, found none which means i will fall back on my creativeness, came across a zillion interesting things on food though. here is a list, in a completely random order.

-salt block cooking- don't know if this is just the latest fad, by which i mean i don't know if this will last, but people seem to be going gaga over salt block cooking which involves cooking food on a block of salt. not any block of salt, and that is the catch, the salt blocks of choice are apparently himalayan salt blocks from pakistan. what caught my attention, was the description of how the process induces a mild flavor into the food without making it salty. that is one lesson in subtlety i would love!

-the borough market in london- saw pics of the market that were titillating! will not attempt a description or a history as its done much better here and here. but suffice to say, there is one more thing to dream about when i dream the Ph.D abroad dreams :)

-the cat and mutton- found a link to this restaurant in one of the articles mentioned above. and what are the things that caught my attention? let me count, the name. hell, there is a contextual connection between cat and mutton as the website claims but love the seeming randomness of it. the seating arrangement; feels like those buried-in-books dreams about people, conversation and awesome food could come true here. which is just my way of saying the place looks like a dream, not that they don't happen closer home (the conversation, people and food that is) and the website...hmm...the fonts, the colors and sigh, the menus!

-chubby hubby- a food blog with pics that make you hungry, nice conversation on food, restaurant reviews, recipes etc always linked up to personal observations, tit bits, experiences. in other words, what a food blog should be.

a growling tummy and the kitchen beckon, so back to my fishy solitude. do check out the links meanwhile and we could sigh or quarrel over them, raising imaginary toasts if unable to meet in the real ;)

new look!!

yipee!! finally found a look i like for the blog and much brighter than the last one.

contentment :)

introspection

maybe its about sunday afternoons being conducive for introspection or maybe its the feeling that finally the M.Phil is coming to an end, but now that i am inching closer to finishing the thesis, it feels like i am set on a straitjacketed path. everyone now expects me to take the next logical step; begin a Ph.D, and after that take up a job in academics and if i do good research then publish books, attend seminars and conferences and etc etc. when i began the MA or the M.Phil there was an open-endedness,it wasn't a logical transition for me from the one to the other but i was quite happy when it happened. now even though one part of me is really excited about beginning a Ph.D and living the university life for a while longer, at some level there is a resistance to the idea. it almost feels like from this point on, i can write up the story of the rest of my life, at least in terms of the major events. what i would really like to do, maybe a year from now, is to take a trip, a really long trip, stop at various places around the world, take up jobs in these places and live for not less than 3 months in each. and live life...not as a tourist, but for a brief while as close to being a native as possible. guess at some point i have to come back to a "proper" job but before that happens and life gets too settled, i hope to live the dreams of travel and adventure that i built as a teen within the confines of home.

inexplicably happy

had to capture this moment, because it is coming after an entire day spent moaning and ranting and raving. not that anything has changed drastically between yesterday and today, some things that depressed me madly yesterday in fact continue, friends being far away, and too much of lethargy to combat and all that jazz. but inexplicably there is a feeling of calm...something much quieter than joy or happiness and much more subtle. acceptance, pause, rest are closer to what it feels like this instant. and a hint of a drive, energy, something that has eluded me for quite a while now.

was looking around the room today towards afternoon, and realized this is one of those rooms that i might have liked to visualize myself living in. loads of light through the day, and if i leave the door and the window open, a cool breeze and a cane chair. the rest is the usual furniture...compact, filled with things but with enough of a hint of space. funny, how i haven't taken this in before, well, amidst the noise of a thousand buildings being demolished all around me, i guess these small joys do go unnoticed :).

don't know how tomorrow will turn out to be, maybe i'll be back to the moaning and the lethargy, but for now, it feels like i have found something, re-discovered rather, this space as mine. for now, this moment and this feeling are priceless.