New Indian Woman: Letter 3
A place to visit, soil to stomach, interesting articles and tip on precious photos
A place I love to visit
Finally, states across India are opening up and removing bulk of the restrictions imposed during the peak of the pandemic. And I hear people getting excited about the opportunity to go out again, meet friends and relatives and generally have fun. Of late, I have been asking my friends about the where they want to go the most - the answers vary - from temples, to hotels, to resorts, to movies, to parties and so on. And every time I share where I want to go the most, I can hear people laugh at it. Guess where, vegetable market! I cannot explain the joy I feel when I see rows and rows of people selling fresh vegetables and fruits and people, picking, choosing and buying them, interacting with the vegetable vendors. Despite the crowd, the vendors recognize their regular customers, remind them their favourite veggies are back in season and so on.
Once, I was a regular weekend shopper at these markets. Nowadays I go to a Farmer's market that comes to our neighborhood on a fortnightly basis. That means I do end up stocking for 2 weeks! I enjoy buying this organic produce from the few vendors who come there rather than going to the nearby supermarket and buying attractive looking produce packed in plastic covers. And sometimes, I go out of control on these fortnightly jaunts and end up buying lots, like in this picture !
Yes, and I make sure it lasts and none of this goes waste. Once we buy, there is some more activity lined up - washing all of the vegetables and allowing them to dry, inside the house. And then, we make a list of these, pack them in cloth bags and stock up the fridge - the sturdy ones for the following week at the bottom and the ones that need to be used up first, at the top. And that is just the beginning..
From soil to stomach
A very important activity happens every Sunday, at my place. That is the meal planning! I find it extremely challenging and my family members pitch in to decide what we should make with the vegetables we have. This helps us arrive at interesting dishes and combinations with the same set of veggies that tend to repeat during a season. Planning out the breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 7 days, is not a small step. It gives lots of benefits. One is bound to have questions on why something like this should be done. You may even think this is quite boring and predictable. Actually, the truth is quite the opposite.
Initially I started making a meal plan for logistical reasons. But, slowly, I realized there are many more questions around meals, that play a huge role in this most important activity of putting the food on the table.
So, I invite you to these 2 episodes where I discuss these points in great detail.
Gender Literacy
I bet you have all heard of Digital Literacy campaigns. Simply put, this is one of the reasons why "Computers" and basic information about computers get taught right from school. All of us would agree that in this day and age, this is absolutely critical. Then, what about gender literacy ? When will that be taught ? And who will teach that ? Many of our homes have gender bias entrenched in our daily living and hence it is important children are made aware of the baggage around gender and the importance of performing roles across gender. I came across an interesting case study that inspired me to write this article in the Deccan Herald.
What I came across :
Yes, I want to refer the case study mentioned above. Please read it to understand the experience of the individuals who participated in it.
https://www.mitraindia.org/new-frontiers-in-working-towards-gender-equality-and-child-rights/
A tip
Festive season also means sharing photos with friends and relatives. Most often, we receive photos via Social Media or WhatsApp. And after some months, when your phone storage is full, you delete all photos and videos. It is OK to delete most of these. But some of them do turn out to be precious, right ? So what happens to these precious photos received by you ? I share these photos to my Google photos - a simple tip to make sure your precious memories are there for you to visit again..