Tuesday In India: If Love Had A Voice, What Would She Say?

Love is in the air.

And Cadbury Silk wants you to care about it.

The sweets giant has just hit the headlines with its new social media campaign for the upcoming Valentine's day in India. Not just to tickle your brains with nostalgic memories but also to launch a limited edition pack for lovers.

Kind of worn but cute.

Basically, Cadbury asked Twitter users to share their first love memories (using #FirstLoveIs), then integrated the best lines to create personalized sweet doodles. I'm sure there will be at least one which will make you smile (perhaps, blush) so check them here.

For me, the campaign brought back the memories of that Turkish chewing gum 'Love is' with liners about love - it was extremely popular in Post-Soviet countries in the 90s.

Well, great things need to be modified, not forgotten. Nice one, Cadbury. I can see teenagers chit-chatting about this at school and fighting for a piece of sweet bar.

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your favourite promotion on social media channels? Leave a comment or Tweet me, let's chat!

Tuesday In India: Some Sort Of Nostalgia

“Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. Amore or Pyar makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for second eyes of man and woman meets.”

Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

Tuesday In India: Oh Holy Train, Or Should You Rather Walk?

Some people actually think I was Indian in my past life.

This idea became rather strong when I started taking local Mumbai trains.

I wasn't trying to save money.

I was trying to save precious time.

And you know what I'm taking about if you spend 4 hours daily, commuting between A and B.

Now if you are thinking London's trains are crowded, think again.

In India 'crowded' takes a whole new meaning.



You probably still have your jaw dropped.

It's all right.

It took a bit of time to get mine closed. Well, you can't ride a train like that with an open mouth, can you?

Today I just remember my first time in that moving sandwich trying to see the positive side and thinking - "No wonder you'll rarely meet Indians with traditional western fears of small spaces, big crowds or public traveling.You can't really fear something you must face daily, can you?"

Well, I survived. I became extremely flexible and I can hold my bag on one finger for over an hour now. I also know how to move in group as one breathing organism and actually appreciate wind blowing on my face.

I guess it's always how you perceive the situation and every curse appreciated can become a blessing.

P.S. It's interesting that during 3 months of my daily train journeys in Mumbai, I haven't met a single western buddy. Oh, perhaps it's just a coincidence.Or maybe not. I like to put myself into that special category, you know :)

Tuesday In India: Only Read When You Eat

For me, it feels silly to talk about food unless I’m trying to sell it.

I don’t like to splash my saliva around imagining food. I rather sit and eat. And please don’t be misguided by tiny me - I eat a lot.

 Cooking Mess: making potato pancakes for my Indian colleagues

Tearful and disappointing - that's how I could describe my first Indian food experience. It’s funny to remember but it was simple rice and vegetables that tricked me the very first time. I mean, it was just that - rice and vegetables but beautifully mixed with masala and fried chilli pieces. My poor stomach (previously befriended by salt and pepper only) couldn’t take it without whining and moaning. And gulping a bucket of water after a spoonful bite...

Alert: danger in the plate 

Then, step by step, it got better. My stomach became more open to tasting experiences. Eventually, after months of back and forth… Love was light ignited. I became a real fan of Indian food experience. And that’s exactly what I mean.

Not only food in the plate matters. But experience. Sitting with people, chatting, sharing food, having hands busy tearing rotis, chapattis, naans, mixing in some onions with a drop of lemon juice, dipping into incredibly flavored gravies and sauces and chutneys...

If you still aren't seduced, check my Top 9 Favorites and open your mouth wider for new exciting flavors:

1. Pav bhaji - one of the most popular snacks in India as well as one of the most sinful bites to your belly (as pav is usually buttered on all sides). Pav means bread and Bhaji in Marathi means vegetable dish. One of the best pav bhajis I’ve ever had was in a little restaurant in Pune where I actually had to wait for over 45 minutes to get a seat. Indians love this snack! 

2. Vada pav is native to my beloved Maharashtra. In few words, it’s a very simple Indian burger consisting of fried potato sandwiched between two slices of a pav (bread). Easy and filling!

 Smiling Eyes: vada pav seller at the station

3. Momos – it’s a type of dumpling served with red spicy sauce. I’ve tried so many momos places and the best ones, surprise surprise, were cooked by simple street vendors in Pune. Of course I first made tens of my friends eat there before I risked with my own spoiled European stomach.

4. Masala Dosa – the first Indian dish I started eating religiously. Masala Dosa is basically a fermented pancake stuffed with spiced potatoes, usually served with white coconut and red vegetable chutneys. If you don’t take my words for granted, listen to CNN Go that listed masala dosa on World's 50 Most Delicious Foods in 2011.

Mouth watering masala dosa

5. Palak paneer - a dish made from spinach and paneer - Indian version of cottage cheese. I love its creamy rich texture and beautiful green colour. It also makes me feel like I'm eating spoons of health and wellness.

6. Butter Chicken – marinated chicken cooked in a special sauce made from butter, tomato puree and various spices. Once I got myself involved in my own experiment where I ate butter chicken every single day for a week, and still couldn’t get enough of it. Says a lot!

7. Bhindi Bhaji or Bhindi Sabzi – a very popular Indian dish, easily made and yummilicious. It’s basically fried okra (or lady fingers) in a dry curry. A very popular choice on my lunch menu.

8. Aloo tikki chole chaat – the best Indian snack for me! Made with spiced potato patties, chutneys, chola masala, onions and special sauces, it stimulates your tasting buds in a very interesting way.

 Find Of The Year: aloo tikki chole chaat

9. Baingan Bharta - primarily made from a smoked eggplant mashed with vegetables and some masala. I love its soft texture and special smoky smell; goes very well with rotis as well as rice.

Eventually, you might also want to know that I call myself an Indian food pro without a degree because:

 • I eat with hands like dogs bark
 • I can cook half of these dishes myself (without Youtube's help!)
 • I know where to find Masala Dabba (container for spices) and how to use it
 • I don’t cry after chilli dishes (only sweat!)
 • I eat onions with my food like it’s tomato sauce.

P.S. Did you cry when you had your first Indian dish? Share with me your Indian food experiences, I’d love to hear I'm not alone.

Tuesday In India: Why Oh So Silent?

You will be surprised to know how surprised I was that I was never able to verbalize it.. To let it out. To share it on the paper.

It was like heavy, undigested meat stuck in my stomach.

Like a mucus ball glued in the end of my throat in the morning shower.

Like a tiny needle in a huge pillow full of feathers. You know it's there and you can't sleep.

I was living only that moment, only today, and today was never shared. Not even tomorrow.

You wouldn't believe it.

I lived in India for almost 3 years and I have never written a word on it.

Not a word on that experience which was maddeningly moody, extraordinary wonderful, sometimes haunting till tears or diarrhea and…oh so very different.

For a person who prefers texting instead of calling, it’s rather weird.

For a person who is a pure copywriter at heart, it’s unforgivable.

But this flood is starting to come out.

Sparkling, muddy, uncontrollable water of memories, ideas, adventures will flood me and you every Tuesday.

Otherwise, I'll be haunted forever. My Muse said so. She actually Tweeted Me.

Me On Writing: The Young and The Restless

Writing is my shaking ladder to survival.

I went through poetry, haiku and short novels in my early teens to marketing and public relations in my official adulthood, and I never stopped admiring the absolute and eternal power of Word.

Writing to me is like stretching your back in the morning. Unavoidable.

Like banging the ball into the ceiling when neighbors are arguing upstairs. Totally ordinary.

Like turning around to look at the passer-by to find him already staring back. Bewildering magic.

I love writing.

Like reading before sleep. Like dancing when no one's watching. Like eating an apple with one hand. Like kissing my boyfriend’s eyelashes.

It’s all about this passionately growing feeling.

Is it mutual?

Muse, stay close and keep breathing on my neck. It thrills me till matchless madness.