Indian food in Minneapolis

Well, this post could also be called "how not to have a life". Yes, it is incredibly cold in Minneapolis & I do not want to know exactly how cold it is for the fear of slipping into depression, & I do not have a whole lot to do - except work - & assorted & repetitive disillusionments on the treadmill.

Minneapolis has a thriving cultural scene including great music, theater & opera. I'll probably go to all of them in time. Right now, the only non-professional reason to get out of my hotel room is the animal desire to eat. Ghastly, right?

And though I like to believe that I belch with equal appreciation be it a Biriyani or a burger with fries, lately I've been stuck to the Taste of India. I've heard from many people here that it is the best Indian restaurant in these parts. That may indeed be so; in fact, the daal is not bad at all, though the mutton & chicken curries are bathed in fats a lot more than I'd like.

You can imagine my lifelessness when I say that I usually pack myself a carry out; however, I like to wait at the restaurant while they prepare my food & never call in advance. What do I have to do with my time anyway (except writing nonsensical posts like this)? In the process, I look at the waiters & the flood of Caucasian & homesick brownies like me at the restaurant. And I read & re-read the menu.

It turns that the menu boasts of 'Kashmiri scallops'. Hullo! Scallops in Kashmir? And Banarasi Biriyani - yes, that may be close to Lukhnow (erstwhile oudh ) but isn't Varanasi more about the Kachauri gali as you listen to the bells in the Vishwanaath temple & the cows burping? What in the world is a Chicken Josh - Rogan Josh made with chicken - as you might have guessed. And Madrasi mutton - if ever there was an oxymoron...While Chennai provides ample delectable & mouth-watering recipes, I have never quite thought that mutton was one of them.

While these sharp & rather parochial differences melt away in spite of the snow in chilly Minneapolis, food-in-general is complete banana oil. No two chutneys are alike, & nobody quite makes khichdi like you do.

S!

This I believe

This I believe is a show on NPR. National Public radio is one of the best parts of being in the US. While we extrapolate an anti-Bush & anti-aggressive-foreign-policy stance to anti-America in general, NPR is one of the many glorious contradictions to such generalizations. While you may read my thoughts on NPR here, I took on the subject of one of it's programs to say this:

"How we behave in unmanned traffic signals says a lot about who we are."

- This I believe

That song in your head

Remember that song in your head that you cannot rid of?

I recently read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. I've only started recently reading on Neurology, & as a book, I perhaps rate "Phantoms in the brain" slightly higher than this one by Sacks only because I understood a lot more & a lot more was explained. However, the sheer variety of ways in which we appreciate music is quite unfathomable as are the number of minuscule ways in which this fine balance can be upset. And this is particularly why this book is closer to our lives while "Phantoms" - while still about the human brain - does not quite connect at the same level.

If you've ever wondered about music, like it or dislike it, but cannot ignore it, this is the book to read to find out a lot more about how & why it affects us.

I cannot listen to music while doing something else. It is good to know that this is 'NOT' a condition. :)