Titty Androgynous, Chinese Terrorist

Apparently, Dean Jones* did not say the terrorist has got another wicket. Inside sources have a completely different story. DJ in his South-Australian drawl said, this is true, Hashim Alma** has got another terrific wicket. Ten Sports***, DJ's employer has sacked him.

The newest trend in world cinema NOW is to make indigenous versions of Shakespeare plays. Though I haven't watched Omkara, here are some movies that have been made and will be made.

• The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Do Aadmi Vadodara Se. *-ing: Paresh Rawal and Tinnu Anand
• The Merry Wives of Windsor: Gharwali Baharwali. *-ing: Anil Kapoor as the guy and Kader Khan and Satish Kaushik as guys in drag.
• As You Like It: Gaand. *-ing: Chhota Shakeel. Dawood Ibrahim was unavailable. The movie is about the Underworld. No, it is not about vampires.
• Measure For Measure: Inch For Yard. *-ing: Rahul Khanna and Om Puri. Directed by Deepa Mehta, this cross-atlantic-pacific-mediterranean-caspian movie is all set to expose Why Americans Must Stop Calling It World Series Major League Baseball. The game, after 100 years is now accepted in only ONE country, Cambodia.
• Romeo and Juliet: Heer Ranjha. *-ing: Anil Kapoor as Heer and Sridevi as Ranjha. When Sridevi finally married Bonny Kapoor, AK's brother, the movie failed to ring at the box office.
• Hamlet: Ye Yan. *-ing: Danny Denzongpa as the Emperor, Minister and the Prince. The director is toying with the idea of having DD play the Empress too.
• Julius Caesar: Working title: JC, The Passion Of The Christ. *-ing: Jesus Christ and yes, good guess, Mary Magdalene as Etu, Brutus.

Presence of fine-dining restaurants such as Chef & I, TK's Oriental Grill, Orient Express, House Of Ming, etc., cannot deter my wife**** from experimenting with Chinese cooking. Once in a couple of months, she is beleaguered by a certain sense of plat du jour*5 paroxysm.

This oddball disposition is usually displayed on Saturdays*6. After shopping for non-germane*7 stuff, we reached home at 2030 hours.

• My wife started with finely chopped vegetables. After about three minutes, she brought out a food grater and started finely shredding the vegetables.
• Next she mixed all these vegetables with copious amount of water and Maida. Apparently the binding material for the manchurian*8 is water. OK, I am kidding. It is Maida and eggs.
• She deep-fried this batter not before burning our heels*9.
• She then boiled the Hakka noodles and transferred the boiled contents with finely shredded vegetables into a Chinese wok*10.
• She then brought out an Indian tawa and added liberal amounts of packaged Tomato puree into it. After dropping in other unidentifiable objects, she then transferred the manchurians into the simmering concoction.
• Finally, we sat down to eat at 2300 hours.

The fact that I am writing this post is a testament to my wife's chef-d'oeuvre. We ate at Orient Express last night.

Yours jackiechanga.

* Born Dean Mervyn Jones was a prolific cricketer who revolutionized the form of chewing gum while batting. Any other details relating to DJ are merely statistical. Also, DJ is distantly related to, this is true, Roshan Mahanama. I am yet to decipher the connection.

** Born 20 odd years ago is the authoritative water boy of the South African team. With a batting average marginally above Anil Kumble's, he is a formidable cricketer against Papua New Guinea. Spotted at training sessions, Hashim Reshammiya was caught getting out to shadow practice, by which, I mean, Sourav 'Bachcha' Ganguly has an edge over HA. HA (not Ha-ha), a devout Muslim was found genuflecting reverentially (Salat) after a Brett Lee's bouncer. Ha-ha.

*** A very imaginative name for a fashion couture channel. I specially recommend the Umm al Qaim special where men in burqas sashay their derrières.

**** Self-proclaimed world-class cuisine experimenter. We are on a search to find anyone who will endorse this belief.

*5 French for inedible food.

*6 It occurred on the Saturday that just went by. My BIL called me around 1930 hours, wanting to know my SNL plans.

I said: I can't go out tonight.
He said: Why?
I said: I am going to have an early dinner and turn in before 2300 hours.
He said: Eh?
I said: Yes.
He said: Eh?
I said: My wife is cooking tonight.
He said: Alright. Goodluck. Swing by incase you feel sick. Antiseptic, ya know.

The last I heard of him, he was partying till 3:00 and got home after a heavy dose of caffeine.

*7 On Friday evening, we bought two packets of Hakka noodles (undone), Spring Onions, Capsicums in Tiranga colors, Garlic, Carrots, Mushrooms, Bitter Gourd, Lettuce, Broccoli, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Tortellini, Fusilli and Benito Mussolini. In addition, we also bought Parmigiano, Paneer, Mozzarella, Cheddar, Stilton, Brie and Camembert cheeses.

I said: Do we need all these for Chinese cooking?
She said: Yes.
I said: It is unheard of.
She said: Go read Saroj's Punjabi Cookbook.
I said: Are we making Maggi Da Hakka?
She said: No.
I said: So, why are we buying ingredients for Continental cooking?
She said: Incorrect. Contingency.

I quickly paid the bill and sneaked in a very big loaf of bread and eggs.

*8 The only manchurian I am aware of is The Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh.

*9 Not just another idiom.

*10 It is so big, we do not have a shelf to store it. In places like Macau, Mumbai, Manila, Cairo, etc, a few families could have lived under it's shelter.

*11 Titty Androgynous: Remake of Titus Andronicus in Bengali. Recommended for family viewing.