Shopping the Big Basket way!

 

Throughout my married life, right upto the striking of Covid, all the groceries were bought by my husband. I saw that a list was made and food was on the table. He did the buying of all the groceries-- which included meat, toiletries, cleaning agents and fruit. In typical fashion he went with his list to Royal Mart or Food World and did all the household purchases.

Then Covid struck and put paid to all his visiting of stores and bringing home the bacon so to speak. I started by ordering from Naamdharis, but soon after a few months, I moved to Big Basket, which my classmate who has come home to retire in Bangalore from Dubai, suggested.

Her husband still prefers going to the SBI store in that huge campus, but I lazily prefer Big Basket. If you list up all your needs and it mounts to Rs 1200 and over, you get FREE delivery. That’s all I was looking for and all the brands I was used to using all my life. I know the brand I like and no shortchanging there.  Over time I have come to realise that Big Basket is definitely the cheapest online store in the city. 

The best part since I am checking what’s on sale I stumble on great stuff that we have forgotten to enjoy for years --- Mum used to make us Weikfield jellies. Ah ha! One could get it in Mango,  Strawberry and Orange. Trying it out after years one does not have to solidify it in the fridge any more. They have a setting agent which sets it outside the fridge really well. So the guys are enjoying a couple of bowls of Aunty Sheela as we called it, cause of a very obese Aunt.

I like their chicken cause I have taken over the cooking. The men were complaining about too much oil and the veggies tasted awful. If the chicken is cleaned and sold as chillie chicken bits, --no cleaning and cutting for me. My chicken dish is done in 20 minutes or less. The men enjoy the drumsticks too, so those I pressurise for them to enjoy a well cooked dish. Before the chicken had to be cleaned and cut. Three cheers to Fresho and Big Basket.

I can choose the trays of eggs I want that come safely and unbroken-- unlike those from Royal Mart in a plastic bag. Invariably one or two would be broken. Now the egg tray can be returned and reused and the same with the Fresho Banana. Return the box, they reuse it. And the best part, there are two types of bananas -- the small or baby Robusta and the regular. We prefer the small Robustas and ofcourse the Yellakis.

Water melons, grapes, oranges, the prices are all comparable with the market and one does not get short changed if the item is bad or raw. Just send off a mail to customer care and they replace it or put the cash into your wallet. I have much more control of what’s being bought and nothing is getting wasted since I order only what we require.

 

When it comes to mixtures or snacks -- I have only liked the Halidram’s quality. They have a great variety like the Aloo Bhujia and the Khatta Meetha which we enjoy and ofcourse I love the salted peanuts. Just plain, none of that crappy masala on them. Usually I had to buy bags of them from the US on my return, no more. They are available in a great brand called Jabsons.

Paneer is another favourite and one can get all varieties. I order the Amul creamy ( malai) one or even the Milky Mist is not bad in contrast to the hard and tough Nandini paneer. Reminds me of the great stuff we used to eat in Gupta market as kids. Soft and springy cubes in a gravy of spinach and cream. The spinach comes fresh from the farm in Hoskote.

And my North Indian delights like dried mango and Amla which I have not eaten in years. Bags of the stuff come in and I chomp away in delight. Elaichi rusk, Fat brinjals for pickle, big cauliflowers for hardly anything. Infact it's tough to bring up the bill to 1200 as everything is so cheap.

And for the building I get great deals when ordering the cleaning stuff. In Royal, we just were stuck with one or two brands. Here there is so much which can be ordered in a clump to  get a better deal. The cleaning women are happier with the floral scents in the floor sanitizers and they get to choose what makes them happy. Everything can be ordered and we don’t have to drive down to get it for free. 

 

 

 

The Wing Commander from Pilerne

Written for the Pilerne Church journal being published this month-----

 

My Dad-- Wing Commander Anthony Michael Furtado was the second youngest of seven Furtado siblings born to Hipolitho Joaon Furtado and Maria Augusta Furtado. My grandfather went from Pilerne as most young men did in those days to Nairobi, Kenya and carved out a comfortable life for himself there. He married the stunningly beautiful Maria Augusta Furtado, whose Father according to what relatives have told me was called Bwana and built the Cathedral in Mombasa, Africa. They settled in Bangalore, South India, because it was closest in climate quality to Nairobi. But my grandfather never forgot Pilerne and the family was always taken ‘home’ to the village for their holidays.   In Spite of being the youngest boy, Tony as he was affectionately called, was very focussed and was the apple of his parents eye. After finishing his schooling from St. Joseph’s European Boys’ High School as it was called in those days, he went on to Loyola College Madras to do his pre-University. After which he came back to Bangalore and did his Mechanical Engineering from the oldest (1917) and most renowned Engineering College in Karnataka --- UVCE which has world-wide recognition.    A sportsman through all his school and college life, Dad was remembered by many of his peers as being a great sportsman, besides scoring well in academics. In fact for as long as I can remember, the cupboards in my grandparents’ home were filled with gleaming trophies and medals, all belonging to him, made of pure silver as was the tradition in the day.    Once he graduated, he joined the Indian Air Force as an aeronautical engineer and was posted in his early years to New Delhi and Ambala. After a short return stint in Bangalore, he was then posted to New Delhi, where he remained for most of his career. We, his children, were lucky to have studied in two of the most prestigious schools in New Delhi -- The Convent of Jesus and Mary for us girls and, St. Columba’s for my brothers.   Just before his final posting, Dad was posted to Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong. Those were two of his happiest years in the beautiful North East of India, which was quite unspoiled in the early 70’s. He was part of the group of officers who planted hundreds of cherry blossom trees in the Air Force Station in Upper Shillong. He would pile us all into his Standard Herald car and drive up and down the hills to Kurseong and Darjeeling, Bhutan and the tea gardens of Jorhat. But he never forgot coming home to Pilerne at least once every year.   My sister Christine who lives in Perth, West Australia remembers -- “We’d go to Pilerne with Dad and Mum for our holidays. One room had ripening mangoes kept on hay and we could eat as many as we liked. We would stand in line near the well and Dad would pour ‘corsos’ of water over our heads and we had our baths in the open. Then we sat under the mango tree and sang, “Underneath the mango tree my honey and me ----” Dad took us to the fields where Vishnu climbed a coconut tree and gave each of us a tender coconut. We walked down for Mass to the church and the other way to the spring to fill bottles of pure, spring drinking water. At night we caught fire flies in a jar and waited to go running to stop the poi man at least three times a day.”   My brother Mark who also lives in Australia says -- “he remembers eating mangoes with Dad and his walks with him from Candolim to Sinquerim beach!” Dad retired as a Wing Commander commanding 5 Ground Training School in Jalahalli, Bangalore. We all have memories of his complete support of his parents in their old age and his eldest brother, who had a large family. I remember him flying down from Delhi to help his brother who was in trouble, always the responsible one.   Once he retired Dad spent months at a time in Pilerne, which most of the village folk tell me about. Often he came to Pilerne with my sons and their friends and inspite of being a tough serving officer Dad, he was a kind and generous grandfather, paying off my second son’s Medical college bond in St. John’s Medical College Bangalore. He said, “Give the boy wings and let him go and achieve his dreams.” His granddaughter Valerie says it was her grandfather who inspired her to become a Civil Engineer in Perth W Australia.   It was through his persistence that I wrote my first book with Pilerne as my muse -- “Above the Ricefields of Pilerne.” The book can be bought off Amazon or Flipkart and hopefully many a Pilernekaar can enjoy it. For now the baton has been passed to me, to come to Pilerne twice a year, to keep the old homestead standing. Soon we hope to make Pilerne a more permanent abode to enjoy in our retired life.   Dr Marianne Furtado de Nazareth

 

A podiatist is extremely important for a diabetic

 

Having been diabetic since the age of 40, my endocrinologist who was also my son’s lecturer in St. John’s Medical College -- Dr Jyothi Idiculla has taken care of controlling my sugars over the decades.

However diabetes is a disease that tests your will power and it is difficult to control even if you are a semi controlled person. Complete control is necessary or a regimen of tough exercise. This fact has been drummed into my head by my cardiologist son, who checks on my Fitbit every single day and he lives in Tennessee! The guy in the UK too -- that’s the thumbtacks in me.

However my sons and I have seen how badly my father suffered in his final years and literally his toes fell off as he lay on the hospital bed in the Military Hospital.I was aghast when I breezed into his room with his request for cheese twists from Durga Bakery.

“Dad!” I said, “ here are your cheese twists,” and looked down under the bed at a small brown object. I pushed it with my foot thinking it could be something missed by the cleaners when my Mum in a shocked tone said, “ It’s Dads toe!”

The bile rose in my throat and I realised my Dad was dying and fast. The image has NEVER left me and gave me nightmares for years. I harassed my endocrinologist about ways to look after my feet and also bought a foot spa when someone was selling it second hand from abroad.

I never, ever, wear open shoes. Always closed and with socks and get my feet done at a salon every month. You cannot have their inexperience cause a problem for you.Ofcourse I tell them I am diabetic and to be careful.  Which they have been over the years.

However a friend introduced me to the podiatrist in Batas when I was really young in my early 20s and just married. That guy did the feet of the owner of Woodlands who then poached him from Batas and set him up in Woodlands with his own ‘clinic’. He has been there over the decades. In the same little room with its two chairs on which they work diligently -- doing a really professional job on your feet.

Over the years I got lazy and kept going only to the salon, but suddenly I remembered them when my feet began to get painful corns. I run everyday on the Tender -Sure Pavements and so painful corns had started to sprout. I never use a corn cap as it moves as we walk and hurts the wrong area of the foot. A professional podiatrist is the only way forward.

My husband had never had his feet done so I insisted he come. Will drag him there every three months as it is expensive @ Rs 800 a trip BUT it saves you much more expensive trips to the doc. If you look after your feet right?  Feet are important, never forget that.

I have a really old friend who has lost his leg. It was a horrific situation but either chop off his leg or he would die. He is managing but one can see he is not the same man we knew. Diabetes is a slow and debilitating disease. It eats at your immune system and kills you faster than a normal person. My son has warned me that if I want to be there for my grand girls weddings I have to take my diet and lifestyle in hand.

It’s hard -- who does not want to sleep in?? Who  wants to be pounding the pavement before pollution sets in at the ungodly hour of 6am? Who wants to eat and be cool with everything available? Who has to switch off all sweets and chocolates and maybe eat a sugar free thinggie once in a while, when someone takes pity and sends you some? I can eat fruit rather than food and even that -- drat-- is bad for me.

Piles of organic chickoos from the farm ripening and smelling divine. Jackfruit that my friends say are delicious, also from the farm. Mangos by the bucket full, also delicious and from the farm and the endocrinologist says -- ah! Ah! No no no! Oranges from Nagpur and watermelons from all over. Grapes which I could kill for. None of them allowed.

BUT I want my eyes and my feet so I look the other way. Thank God vadas are fine and anything with chickpeas especially humus or peanut butter with my chappatie. Life is tough as a diabetic, so get those feet seen to, every month, every single month. I can assure you Dad probably did it for a reason -- to teach me to be prudent and the only way which works with me -- he shocked me by dropping his toes.

As my son said, don't feel sorry for yourself. There are a lot of worse things you could get and suffer debilitatingly with it all your life. 

 

Mango trees going crazy with Climate Change

Maybe 3 fruit from the first flowering.

 The two trees planted by my grandfather -- Hipolitho Joao Furtado, in the property, probably over 100 years ago, have lost all sense of the seasons with climate change. I guess most fruit trees have it in their DNA, as to when to flower and when to fruit.

I noticed them flowering the first time in November/December of 2020 and what a rash of flowers on both trees. Ah ha! I thought, never mind it’s the wrong season, but we will get lots of fruit. How utterly wrong I was. That was NOT the season for the flowers, which need to be pollinated by bees, butterflies and mosquitoes.  So most of the flowers fell off and just made a huge mess on the cobbles below, staining them with ‘deek.’ Plus we humans are great interferers and so the garden is regularly gassed with fogging machines, to get rid of all insects. The circle of life be damned, we and our precious blood need to live!

Then came another round of flowers in January. Lots and lots of flowers again and I thought, “ wow! Lots of fruit this round hopefully.” Not a hope! Since again, where were the pollinators and there was a sudden squall of rain, which finished all the flowers. Thick carpets of unpollinated flowers were swept up and thrown into the compost heap. The trees had wasted their energy on flowers which were never to fruit.

ONE fruit from the second flowering

I was devastated. Absolutely no fruit I thought staring at the leafy branches from one of the empty flats in the building. Then suddenly I saw two sizes of fruit. Maybe just 3 or 4 fruit, which were fist sized and the same pitiful number of smaller fruit. Be grateful for small mercies. But I thought what if they never grew bigger and never had a chance to grow to their full size? It’s common in fruit trees to have lots of fruit fall off and go to waste. If these 4 or 5 fell off there would be nothing.

Then I went to water the pots in the empty flat today and stared at the branches. They had begun to sprout hundreds of flowers, yet again. REALLY??? I thought? This is the correct season and maybe there was hope yet, for a crop. But my scientist friends say -- it’s NOT the quantity of flowers-- they need to be pollinated. If we are gassing the insects, what hope did they have to turn into fruit?

The third flowering

Like one brilliant sibling said -- go out and buy your fruit.wonder where the person grew up as it’s not an acceptable answer for all of us who grew in this property. I guess there is no joy found in growing your own fruit any more like my Dad and Grandpa did. We have a generation who have no concept of the circle of life and it makes me feel fulfilled when I am able to convert a few of the hundreds of students I teach to--- Respect Nature and she will respect and give you generously in return.

Hoskote our Shangrila

Lucky we don't depend on these fruit at all. We grow our own graft trees and get hundreds of fruit from our own farm which thankfully has plenty of bees and insects to pollinate the flowers.