So this is what Diwali is all about

I spent Diwali in Delhi and what a great experience it proved to be.

We woke up in the morning, took a bath and after wishing everyone a happy Diwali sat down to a sumptuous breakfast of Poori Aloo followed by Chai made the Punjabi way.If you don’t make your tea the Punjabi way I strongly suggest you do. It will bring a new sense of meaning and upliftment to your life - as it did to mine.

The Poori Aloo was fantastic. The Poori’s kept arriving the way immigrants do at big cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Non stop! I would have eaten at least 10 to 15 puris alone and everyone else would have done the same.

Accompanying the Poori Aloo was this wonderful red peppery tomato dish with onion seeds in it. It was the first time I had tasted a dish like this and it was sheer bliss. Every meal in Delhi, come to think of it was!

After breakfast, we chatted for a while, ate some dry fruits and mithai (as you do) and then retired for a well earned snooze. It was going to be a long evening and we had to make sure we were well rested for it.

At about 6, we ventured downstairs once again. After a final dash to distribute more sweets and to buy some Muthi – a deep friend flatbread of sorts we prepared for the evening Pooja – the predecessor to the evening’s fireworks.

I didn’t understand much of the Pooja but I realised you don’t have to to appreciate its beauty or relevance to life. As a ritual it simply refocuses us on the things that matter - family for instance.

What I like about Hinduism is that it is tolerant and unoppressive. Hinduism doesn’t ask you to sacrifice much – and the emphasis is on life in this world as well the next.

The Pooja complete we sit down to another incredible meal – of a pulao type rice with all sorts of exotic Indian spices in it plus two forms of lentil and a paneer cooked in tomatoes, onions and spices. All accompanied by that other Punjabi staple – paratha!

Diwali is a totally vegetarian affair and no alcohol is consumed in this day as a tribute to its significance. People make up for this abstinence however with parties the day before – and after! Diwali parties start at 12 midnight and then anything goes – scotch, beer, vodka the lot – the party ends at 6 am the next morning with a breakfast cooked by the host.

I decided to give the parties a skip. Tired out by the day’s festivities I stayed home and watched a movie with the wife. We chose the Godfather which was brilliant as it always is and stayed up till 2.30 am.

We then went to bed and got some sleep. With the firecrackers subsiding we were finally able to.

Singapore-Delhi-Singapore - Via Air India

I flew Air India from Singapore to Delhi. A week after I bought my ticket I read a slightly alarming news article. No it wasn’t the one about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston potentially getting together again. It was much worse. It was about airline pilots at Air India going on strike and about 50% of all flights being canceled.

Naturally it was with a bit of trepidation that I approached my departure date. Would there even be a plane on the tarmac? Luckily there was - and I made my date with Delhi without a hitch.

The flight was interesting and started in the most promising manner possible – with only 3 people ahead of me at the check-in counter. That’s the wonderful thing about flying an airline nobody else wants to. They treat you like you’re the only customer in the world which in Air India’s case you’re not too far off from being. Or so, I felt at least!

I found the announcements to board the aircraft quite interesting. “Business class passengers and those with infants please board first” said the ground stewardess loudly over the microphone. “Other passengers”, she admonished sternly, “please stay in your seats!”

I can see why she was so stern about this. In India, public transport very rarely waits for passengers to board. The drivers are always in one flipping hurry and take off whenever they feel like. This, I think, has trained Indians to psychologically believe that all forms of transport secretly conspire against them and take great pleasure in leaving before they’ve had a chance to board. This feeling – though purely psychological and without basis - invariably rises to the surface at airports as well. So when a boarding call is made, the Indian contingent rush to the gate like Salman Khan is about to walk through it. It’s okay – every one will get a seat. This is an airline not the BEST after all.

AI on economy drive
Air India I believe is not doing very well financially. I read a report in the newspaper a few days ago where the Finance Minister of India said the airline would need a cash injection of $620 million to stay afloat. He suggested the airline go on an austerity drive.

He’ll be pleased to know it has. When you ask for a glass of orange juice on Air India today, you’ll find they’ll give you a cup with less than a third of juice in it! That’s what happened to me. I told the stewardess why bother to even pour me such a small quantity of juice. By the time she hands it to me it will have evaporated thanks to humidity. Is the cup half empty or half full? Neither. The real question is whether it’s 1/3 empty or 1/3 full. AI – being all very original once again.


Travel back in time

I thought all airlines used air bridges these days. Air India doesn’t. They take you back in time, give you a bit of nostalgia when you land in Delhi. The aircraft door opens and lo and behold you find an airline bus waiting for you on the tarmac (yes just like the old days). Passengers cram into it and are taken to the airport departure lounge. It’s not a bad experience. Except that if you aren’t one of the first 40 passengers you have to wait for the second bus which from what I could see could take a while.

All in all – no complaints
The flight was good. It took off, it landed, the food was nice (you could choose between chicken, mutton and fish) – and the staff pleasant. End of day what more can you really ask off from an airline. Except, I’m tempted to say, being a fellow with rather long legs…a bit more space between the seats?

Life is full of surprises - including the ones you give yourself while cooking

I did a bit of cooking today - tried my hand at some lentils, okra and aubergine (dal, bhindi and baigan as it’s called it in India).

I must admit I took myself completely by surprise. The dal was simply smashing – better than any restaurant I’ve been to – even the ones at Little India. How did I do it?

First I took a large onion, chopped it as finely as possible – vertically and then horizontally across. I heated a pan with olive oil in it, put in a generous heap of chopped garlic from a bottle - very generous - about two tablespoons; all of course while I had the dal in a saucepan of water – on the boil at the same time.

A tip – when you boil a lentil you get this white stuff at the top…skim it off with a spoon and throw it away – it keeps the flavour nice and clean.

After adding the garlic, I added a generous amount of chopped ginger as well, and stir fried it around on a medium flame. I understood the role that onions and garlic play in taste when I was actually cooking up an Italian pasta dish the other day which I just had to do after watching the Goodfellas with Joe Pesci and De Niro.

It was so amazing (both the movies and the pasta) it made me realise that at the heart of all great flavour is the onion, garlic and ginger! But you have to cook them right.

After adding the ginger, I added some jeera. It took me a while to figure out which packet had fennel in it and which one had jeera - ultimately I let my nose decide. And luckily it didn't let me down.

I also added a ½ teaspoon of garam masala to the pan. Garam masala is such a fragrant spice, I actually prefer its scent to anything produced by Chanel, Lagerfeld or YSL. Bad news if you’re sitting beside me but good news if you’re a guest to one of my dinners.

After the garam masal I realised I wanted some colour in my dish. So, although it wasn’t Holi yet, I added some tumeric. Tumeric is a great spice. Besides being good for you, it adds a lovely yellow colour that looks just amazing on your table.

I stir fried all of this, taking care to roast the spices and the onions. Roasting the spices and onions is key to Indian cooking; it took me years to get this (but then again it takes me years to get anything!). Once I did however, I never looked back. The roasting releases the flavour so when you add the ingredients – the meat, fish or veg it’s like Heidi Klum just met Seal The impact is truly momentous.

After the roasting, I added the dal which is now nicely soft and stir fried it all together. To garnish I add some lemon juice and some finely chopped – bruised - coriander. Why do I bruise my coriander - brute that I am? It releases the flavour.

It also reminds me of one of my favourite lines from Herrick – “a flower must be bruised in order to give off its perfume.” He was of course alluding to the fact that a woman feelings must be injured before her greatness and strength of character can truly shine through.

It‘s a line by Herrick by the way not me – so don’t look like I have issues. I don’t. But I can forgive you for believing Herrick does!

The garnish is added - the dish is ready. I have boiled some choice basmatic rice – the longest grains ever as an accompaniment (basmati btw is the only rice that is medium GI if you're into that kind of stuff). The rice comes from Pakistan not India. Sorry I'll try and ensure it's from our side of the border next time.

What I've also done is made some baigan and bhindi which I have stir fried in a masala sent to me by my mother. How red the dish is - almost like a bride who has seen her groom for the first time! The beauty of chilli's from Kashmir - no other chilli's comes even close to them.

I sit down and eat. There is an explosion of flavours in my mouth. For once the world has come together nicely - even if it's only on my palette!

Flights of fancy

Flew to KL on Wednesday - was booked on a 7am flight which I predictably missed. SIA was kind enough to put me on the next flight at 8.30.

Ever noticed how powerful airline ground-staff suddenly look when you miss a flight? Suddenly instead of them doing their best to smile – you are. Well if you want them to give you the next available seat that is.

Have you ever flown business class? I was upgraded once on SIA. No it wasn’t because they realised who I was (though that would have been nice). They were just low on non-veg meals in economy so to make amends upgraded me.

Space the final frontier
The thing that gets me about airlines is how miserly they are with space between seats. I think there is a huge opportunity to create a new class – one in between economy and first – where the only benefit is a few more inches between you and the guy ahead. I reckon sales would really take off (no pun intended).

Flight between KL and Singapore
It’s so short I wonder why airlines bother with things like tea and coffee for example. One minute they hand you your cup, the next they ask for it back. I think to save time they should just go around the aircraft with their trolleys, hand people their coffee and as they reach for it – take it back and throw it away! That’s the only way they’ll be able to complete the service in the time it takes to get to KL or back.


A little appreciation goes a long way
Although it doesn't seem like it, I do appreciate the stuff airlines do to make our journey more comfortable. Like ensuring seats with minimal space between them, keeping the number of toilets to an average of 1 per every 40 people and in the case of Air India guaranteeing a strike during every peak travel period like Diwali this year for example!

I am being overly critical.

There are some airlines that are just outstanding. Singapore Airlines is one. Jet Airways is another. I flew Jet a few months ago to Mumbai and they were very special indeed.

They were as good as SIA – and 50% cheaper. Their food was excellent, entertainment not bad at all and service pleasant and efficient.

SIA is very good too – particularly in the long haul sector. The entertainment choices are mind boggling. You’ll have to fly for a month before you go through all of them!

Speaking of flying, I’ll be off to Phuket on Monday
Attending the iMedia conference there - should be interesting. Then it’s off to Delhi for me to celebrate Diwali. Then back to some more serious work in Singapore. Until then, have fun. I know I will.