I tawt I taw a puddy TAT

What's the deal with the Tweety tattoo? Yesterday, as I was coming out of the neighborhood grocery store, I saw this huge White woman with a muffin top, with a Tweety tat!!! Oh the horror!! Don't get me wrong, I'm fat myself, but I don't let my flab hang out just 'coz it's summer! Anyway, back to the woman...I wouldn't even have noticed her if I hadn't seen a tiny little Tweety tattoo on her exposed lower back! Really!!?!? Tweety??? I mean seriously...!?

Is this some sort of a new trend? I'm all for tattoos, in fact, I love all forms of body art. If tattoo didn't hinder my chances of getting employed, I would've gotten at least a 50 by now. I believe that tattoo, like any other form of art, defines you. It says a lot about your personality. I wonder what Tweety tattoo says about your personality! But this woman wasn't the first, unfortunately! I've even seen men with Tweety tats... Tweeties on ankles, necks, forearms, lower legs, you name it! When did it become trendy to have a Tweety tattoo? And I thought only fairytale and butterfly tats were annoying!!

In search of perfect Ful

The last week of December 2008 was perhaps the best week of having breakfast. That week was different. It was unique. It was oh soooo good! And there was only one thing that made it so good - no, not that dreamy Arab - Ful Medames, a.k.a Egyptian Fava beans. If that makes me sound pathetic, so be it....you cannot judge until you've tried it!! FulMedames was a part of the Arabic breakfast I used to have, which also included pita, baba ghanoush, feta cheese, labneh, hummus, and eggs. But Ful always overshadowed these other insignificant things! The whole week that I was in Dubai, that's all I used to eat for breakfast....Ful Medames with pita.

After coming back from Dubai, I started to miss Ful. I knew I shouldn't have gotten attached to it, especially since I knew I wasn't going to be able to have it for more than a week. I thought Ful was going to be like an exotic affair you had in a foreign land....intense, but gone in a week never to be seen again. Every morning I had it, that's what I fooled myself into believing. I started counting down the days we had together. The week was up, I was back at my place having carbs for breakfast. Life was dull without Ful. And that's when I decided to make Ful, simply because I had to have it.

I'm not a good cook....I know only 3-4 things at the most, and those are barely edible. But I decided that I had to do it if I wanted Ful. I searched the net for Ful Medames recipes, and (un)fortunately, there were a gazillion Ful recipes out there...and each one different. I figured out it wasn't going to be an easy task trying to get Ful back in my life, but that's the price I have to pay. And so, the search began....

The first recipe I checked called for canned fava beans. I thought to myself, that shouldn't be difficult, I mean they have all kinds of canned beans...black, red, butter, kidney, black-eyed, etc. Turns out, it's more difficult than I thought. The local grocery store didn't have it, so I went to Whole Foods and even they didn't have it. So I went to Trader Joes but no luck there either. I finally went to an ethnic store in West Philly and was lucky to get dried fava beans (not canned). Because of this, I decided to look for recipes that required dried fava beans instead of canned ones.

The first time I made Ful, it turned out really disgusting...not even remotely close to what I used to have in Dubai. The peels of beans made it hard to chew, it didn't have a smooth texture, and left a bad taste in my mouth. So, after a couple of weeks, I decided to try another recipe. For this one, I soaked the beans overnight, peeled them, and cooked them in pressure cooker. Still a bad taste. A month later, I tried another recipe where I soaked them, peeled them, and simmered them for 2 hours. No luck....still left a bad taste.

By this time, I was down to enough beans to make Ful for 2 more days. Day before, I thought I should give it one more try. So I soaked the beans overnight, and did not peel them. Yesterday, I cooked them for 4 hours, seasoned them with cumin, and added olive oil, parsley, de-seeded and chopped tomatoes, and chopped onions. That made the taste a little more bearable, but still not good enough. What happened to the creamy texture of my favorite Ful? During this time, I had also been to a couple of middle-eastern restaurants that served Ful, but nothing as good as the one I had in Dubai.

I have enough beans left to make it one more time, and if I don't do it right this time around (or come close to it), I'll have to give up on Ful....and I don't want to do that. It is good for my health, it's filling, and it's high in fiber, protein, L-dopa and iron, and low in carbs and fat...they're everything a person could ask for. But it seems like I'll have to give up on them...on Ful, which will forever remain an exotic dish of the middle-east. But I have one more shot, so the quest continues.......

India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters hypocrites!

Yep, that's what the new Indian National Pledge should look like...seriously!! It would fit perfectly! Just to make it clear, I am in no way being "unpatriotic", as someone is bound to say it. Indian hypocrisy... I don't even know where to begin! I've come across so many people in my life who have strong beliefs and are ready to kill anyone who goes against these beliefs.....as long as it's not themselves!! When it comes to themselves, there's always some "valid explanation". Hah!! As for us Indians, we're hypocritical in many ways, including religion, racism, and several other beliefs, which I'll talk about in subsequent posts.

Religion, in my opinion, hasn't done good to anyone. It has started one war too many. Hindus consider themselves peace-loving, and bask in the glory of not having attacked any nation in a long, long time. It might be true, but the bloodshed we do within our country is far worse than attacking a nation. We discriminate people based on their caste, gender, religion, and class. We treat our househelp like shit, we don't let the guy who collects trash come in through the front gate, and we don't use the same utensils that a Muslim had used before. And at the same time, we scream for equality. What about us minorities who scream "caste" when it comes to getting into a college but not for anything else? Why is it that we play the caste card or the religion card only when it's convenient for us, and not at other times? Hah....and then you want equality! And 2002 Gujarat riots, anyone?

When it comes to racism, we Indians think that because we aren't White, we can scream racism whenever we want and get the sympathy votes. At the same time, we treat Africans in India like shit; we outcast them, label them, and call them pirates and carrier monkeys. We believe it's okay to discriminate against a White person in India but not okay for the White person to do the same, even when they're in minority. When people come to our country, we expect them to act according to our culture, but we take no efforts whatsoever to do the same when we're in their country. And when they beat us because we didn't do it, we scream racism. Yes, it is racism at times, but hun, when you're in Rome, do as the Romans do!

India is a democracy, and we have fundamental rights including right to freedom and equality, right against exploitation, and cultural and educational rights. Why then, are those freaky Hindu extremists bringing down women in certain parts of the country? Why is sex still a taboo? Hello...how did we become the second-most populous nation? Oh right, babies just fall into our laps, don't they? From the land of KamaSutra to the land of sexually repressed men?

And then some...Cows are sacred, Hindus don't eat meat (at least they're not supposed to), and we don't kill animals. How come we have a huge leather industry then?

Yes, we are hypocrites, but the worst part is that we're not ready to accept this fact. We're always blaming and pointing fingers at other cultures and countries, but we overlook what's happening in our own backyard. When we do it, it's right, but when they do it, it's always wrong. GROW UP!!!

Cab driver from heaven?

So, I was in Manhattan last week, mostly for leisure...okay, entirely for leisure! Anyway, it was Sunday night and I was tired from standing all day at the Met, so by the time I went for dinner at 8, I was totally pooped out. I had just made a phone call and instead of putting my phone in my handbag, I put it in my jeans front pocket. After the dinner was over, I took the cab back to my hotel, and almost dozed off in the cab. I paid the driver with my credit card instead of cash because I only had 10 bucks and the fare was more than that. Despite this, I made sure I tipped the cab driver, and THANK GOD I did that! About half an hour after crashing on the bed, I decided to charge my phone for the next day, and to my HORROR, I realized I did NOT have my phone with me!!! EEEEKKKKSSSSSS....NOT ANOTHER PHONE...I thought. So I called up my phone and someone answered, someone who didn't speak English, but the sweetest words I've ever heard came out of this mouth..."Phone...Lexington Avenue?" I said yes, yes, oh yess....please don't say no!! Some more sweet words came outta his mouth, "Am on Brooklyn Bridge, call after 15 minutes". And obviously, I did!

He said he was on 4th and 49th, so he should be at my hotel in 5 minutes! I went down, and saw a cab parked across the street. I called my phone again, and he said it was him. I went up to the cab, expecting something weird, like the driver asking for a ransom or something. But nopes, he didn't!! All he said was, "Call phone, see it's yours. No give to wrong person."!!!!! OMG....Can you believe that? He was not only nice, but also smart!!! I gave him 30 bucks, considering I had gotten the phone for free with a 2-year contract with AT&T, but I honestly think I didn't give him enough. I mean to think if it, my phone was an unlocked Samsung Blackjack II, with unlocked GPS and a cracked Garmin Mobile XT which retails for about $99!!!! And to add to that, losing it in a city which you're just visiting and need it more than ever!?!?! He could've easily sold that thing and made at least about a $100 bucks! But he did NOT do that.....he is going to have some awesome karma someday!

But yeah, good cab drivers do exist, whether you like it or not! I know most of you who drive in NYC are going to disagree with me, but c'mon, how many times have you had a cab driver go out of this way and return your phone, and not ask for something in return?