The Return of the Butterfly- Book Review

I purchased it the day before I took the train to Chennai. It was the perfect reading material.
I was first introduced to the Butterfly by my brother. She is, in her own words, a sophisty, convent-educated socialite.  She lives in, thank heavens, in Gulburg, in Lahore, with her husband Janoo (who is a loser), and her son Kulchoo (who, unfortunately, is turning out to be a loser too just like his father). Janoo does not like party-sharty while Butterfly thrives on it.
Moni Mohsin introduced Butterfly to the readers of The Friday Times and later she compiled some of these articles into The Diary of The Butterfly.
The Return of the Butterfly continues with Butterly's trysts with trying to lead a normal life with GT (oho get-togethers baba) and parties despite the Taliban banning things like Basant. Her only problem is that Kulchoo is becoming exactly like Janoo.  He even puts up a poster of Occupy Wall Street in his room. Initially Butterfly thinks that this is a good thing and that her darling son is thinking of making lots of money but Janoo soon shatters this illusion when he explains to her what Occupy Wall Street really is all about.  It is enough to break her heart. But Butterfly is resilient and she is soon back preoccupied with things that matter to her the most.
I love the Butterfly.  She is silly and yet, there are times when she makes the most devastating statement about the political situation in Pakistan.

Darwin awards and men

Okay, originally I was going to title this post as "Men are Idiots" but prudence prevailed.
Darwin awards are given to those human beings who improve our species by removing themselves from the gene pool (The Supreme Sacrifice, if you will).
The Christmas edition of British Medical Journal this year carries a study about sex difference in idiotic risk behaviour. The results are unsurprising . It is just as we have always suspected. Males are significantly more likely to receive the Darwin awards than females. As the report in Science says: "We now have scientific evidence that men are idiots."
Post Script:
I was going to write about the latest Rajnikanth movie. No, I have not seen it and I will never see it. Is it only me who is nauseated with the idea of a 60+ man romancing a girl about his daughter's age? All the newspapers are carrying reviews but no one seems to be bothered by this romance. 

Section 309 of Indian Penal Code deleted

The new government has not inspired much hope in me. The less said about Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti and the VHP and the RSS the better. The HRD minister has been taking decisions which at best can be said to be arbitrary. In this gloom the only good news came in today when the Government decided to delete the section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. With this suicide is no longer a criminal offense. It never made any sense to me that a person who has been driven to commit suicide is clapped up with a criminal charge instead of provided psychiatric help to deal with their desperation and depression.
Now if the Government would only see sense and decriminalize homosexuality.

Crocheted Table Cloth

Last year I embarked on my fourth crocheted table cloth. The first one I made when I was in grad school. It was largely completed in the plane while traveling (It was those days when one could carry crochet needles safely on the plane). The second one was completed partly in Colarado and partly in Bangalore. It was after that I took a vow never again. Till I made one for my student when she got married. This is the fourth one- the easiest as I only had to make fifteen motifs and stitch them together. It was fun to do and looks very pretty on my table. 

I now get back to cross-stitch. I purchased few patterns this year and I need to complete them before I embark on any more crochet.

Arugula Chickpea salad with sweet potato soup

On Sunday we harvested the arugula as well as spinach.  This was the third crop of the spinach. The previous two had bee enjoyed by the peacocks and the nilgais. The peacocks also took one crop of arugula leaves at which point I put a green netting to prevent them from entering.

Today's menu, therefore, featured arugula leaves. I made a salad using chickpeas, potatoes, red radish and cucumbers.  I heated one tablespoon of olive oil and added cumin seeds. When they crackled, I added the chickpeas and potatoes and sauteed them for a bit. Seasoning was with salt, black pepper and lime juice. In the end I chopped arugula leaves and mixed it in.

I also made soup with one sweet potato, carrot, and onions. Today I used green chillies as spice. It was a nice meal to have with rotis.
Meantime, the spinach bed has been cleared and we have planted strawberries. I did not know that one can grow strawberries in Delhi. My gardening bible- A Sahib's manual for the Mali by Alick Percy-Lancaster- merely said that the strawberry plants should be planted 1 1/2"apart.  I saw some plants last year and tentatively broached the subject with Nanku Ram ( In many ways he is like Angus McAllister of Blandings Castle and one needs to be cautious will approaching him). He was most receptive- only telling me to get it from Rajdhani Nursery as they have the plants that would bear fruit.  So let us see whether we get strawberries this year or not.