I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part IV -- A Tribute To Madiba, The Foodie!

As the news is still sinking in, the news of the Madiba leaving us, I was reminded of his book, The Long Walk To Freedom (this is one book I just cannot get tired of, despite having read it twice!). There were several accounts and incidences in his book that showed his immense love for great food that started off early on in his life. These episodes kept flashing in my mind ever since I got to know of his death.

Mandela and his little friends used to roam around his village in the Eastern Cape looking for berries, fruits, wild honey and warm milk straight from the udder which they so relished. But the most endearing account was the one of his early days in Qunu, of how he and his little friends mischievously stole a squeaking little piglet, took it into the Veld and roasted it. That Mandela claimed was the tastiest pork he had ever had. I can very well imagine that feeling of excitement, which definitely added to the taste and flavour! 

True and loyal to his Xhosa traditions, he loved the local delicacies like sour milk, but he was open to experimentation when it came to food. The Long Walk To Freedom talks of an incidence of his clumsiness in adapting to the use of eating chicken with a knife and fork! His grand-daughter Ndoyiya recounted a conversation on that incident that she had with Mandela - Mandela, then 14, had gone for a dinner with his childhood crush's family. He had trouble using a fork and knife, causing a chicken wing to fly off his plate. Ndoyiya is quoted to have said “When he talked about it, and he was 90 at the time, he still told that story with such intensity that the embarrassment of the moment hadn’t left him.”

As a young lawyer in Johannesburg in the 1940s, the Madiba was struggling to make ends meet, but once, he could not resist the temptation of buying a huge piece of ham from a deli - this was detailed graphically in his book! That's so much like me, I too cannot resist the temptation of juicy chunk of ham!

In Johannesburg, as Mandela got involved in the political movement, he got exposed to a cross-section of people. The book has accounts of how he relished food from various cultures ranging from peanut butter - white bread sandwiches to spicy Indian curries that a Mrs. Pillay used to make for him when the Treason Trials were on!

The day he proposed to Winnie Madikizela, it was over a spicy Indian meal. He had hoped to impress Winnie, but the spiciness of the Indian cuisine was a bit too much for her to handle! He did have a soft corner for spicy Indian food, that was a proof of his big heart and more importantly, a highly evolved appreciation for the best in food. 

While at Robben Island, the quality of food was Mandela's frequent complaint to the prison authorities. He rallied the political prisoners around to demand better quality of food and they did meet with success.

Years later, the Madiba was shifted to Pollsmoor prison and Victor Verster prison. Conditions over there were much better, as far as food was concerned. At Victor Verster, before his release, Mandela was assigned an apartment, alongwith an Afrikaner butler, who was provided by the jail authorities. Mandela gave a detailed account of how he savoured his captor's superb cooking! Indeed, food can win you over, melt your heart and fill it with love!

Today, on the Net, I found an article on a Kenyan site, about the Madiba's love for food. His personal chef Xoliswa Ndoyiya said, ”One of his favourite was the Malva pudding (a baked treat topped with ice cream or custard or strawberry trifle) and Mandela would “just eat it up.” he was well versed in making traditional South African fare. Collections of Mandela’s favorite recipes have been published in a cookbook “Ukutya Kwasekhaya,” (loosely translating to home food in Xhosa language), which was authored by Ndoyiya. Another writer, Anna Trapido, chronicled Mandela’s life from a culinary standpoint in a biography called “Hunger for Freedom” - I would be immediately ordering this book from Flipkart! 

Despite his global stature, the Madiba always craved for his traditional cuisine, food that he grew up on - Umphokoqo, a porridge made from maize meal and sour milk, sweet chicken among other delights. 

I will always remember Madiba not only for his political stature and greatness, but also for his immense love for great food. I am pretty sure, had the Madiba been alive, he would have agreed with my statement "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!"

I Will Always Miss You, Madiba!

This morning, I had just started for work and had just hit the road, when I received a mail from my parents on my Blackberry. The mail said that Nelson Mandela had passed away!

That was a devastating news! I wept all the way, as it was in many ways a personal loss. This was the toughest drive to office I ever had.

The Madiba, for me, was an immensely inspiring figure.

I first heard about Mandela in the mid-1980s when newspapers in Zambia, almost on a daily basis, carried stories on the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa. Being a frontline state, Zambia had sheltered ANC activists and the President, Kenneth Kaunda was at the forefront, campaigning against South African policies. 

That consciousness, naturally, seeped down to Zambians, including those we interacted with. Schools too had discussions on the struggle, that's how I learnt about Mandela!

Much later, I bought his book The Long Walk To Freedom in 2009 and till date, I have read it twice, both the times with great interest. 

It amazed me on how could there ever be a man like him! He was pragmatic and not dogmatic like the guys we had in India. This pragmatism endeared him to not only South Africans, but also the world!!

His wrinkled and gnarled, yet ever smiling face spoke of a pain of the past yet optimism for the future. His persona was quite like an aging Banyan tree - strong, wrinkled yet firmly grounded, and ever ready to provide shelter, hope, inspiration and comfort to lesser mortals like me!

Perhaps he couldn't have lived much more, he was already 95. He lived well, accomplished what he had set out to achieve and had inspired an entire generation, all over the world!

Indeed we should thank God he was amongst us. Perhaps, remembering him fondly and learning from his ideals and inspiring personality would be better than mourning his demise!

Still, I will miss your presence in the world! I will always miss you, Madiba! And yes, I will indeed miss the smart Mandela shirts you used to wear!

Ubuntu - "I Am Because We Are"

I picked this up from Neeti's newsfeed on Facebook. The piece goes as follows:

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. 

When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. 

When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''Ubuntu, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?'' ('Ubuntu' in the Xhosa culture means: "I Am Because We Are")

This is so true, "I" is defined by the people around me, my surroundings and my environment. Ironically, there would be no "I" without them.

An interesting fact is that Nelson Mandela belongs to the Xhosa tribe. Perhaps it was this Ubuntu spirit that has laid the foundation of the post-Apartheid South Africa!

Such is the spirit of my homeland, Africa!

Invictus And The Madiba

One great leader who had always fascinated me is the Madiba, Nelson Mandela.

The reasons for the fascination are many. For one it is the Africa connection - I had known of Mr. Mandela since 1984 or so, when the anti-Apartheid struggle was at its peak. At that time I was barely 8. Newspapers in Zambia were full of news on the anti-Apartheid struggle and Mandela. One just just could not miss that.

The second was the way Mr. Mandela maintained his dignity and guarded his sanity despite 27 years of his incarceration, which is in no way a small achievement. He came out of the Robben Island prison and literally took his nation from isolation to the center stage of the world.

Thirdly, and certainly, not lesser in importance, Mr. Mandela passed on the baton after a single term as president of the Rainbow Nation. How many world leaders have actually had the guts to do that? Our own stalwarts, in India, desperately clung on to power till they died, little did they concentrate on building systems and structures to serve the country. However, Mandela created a system that was independent of him, that lives on, despite his not being active on the political front.

Fourthly, the Madiba envisioned a nation of unity, not a nation divided by sectarianism. He walked the talk, when he supported the Springbok rugby team in the face of severe opposition. He selected the Day of the Vow, which was celebrated to commemorate the victory of the Boers over the local Zulus in 1838, in the Battle of Blood River, where over 3000 Zulus were massacred. The majority had long viewed the Day of the Vow as an oppressive celebration. However, the Madiba prevailed, and today, the Day of the Vow is celebrated as the Day of Reconciliation to foster national unity.

A few years back I read the Madiba's autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom. More recently I saw Invictus that captured the journey of the Springbok rugby team - a symbol of Apartheid from the lows of ignominy to the heights of winning the World Cup. That was all because the Madiba rallied the Rainbow Nation's support for the Springboks. The Springboks, thanks to their skipper, Francois Pienaar on the other hand, matched the trust the nation, and the Madiba had reposed in them. Imagine how well can Indian politicians leverage use cricket to harmonize India, but I can trust them for never doing it. It's rather sad we, in India, never had a Madiba.

The Madiba's nature came out very well in an interview Francois Pienaar gave on Invictus, on how he developed a deep bond with the family.

The Madiba has had his style-statement - the Madiba shirt - shirts printed with African motifs, in the pan-African colour combination of black or green or yellow or red. He broke out of the mould - the conventional, stiff dressing style of world leaders.

The movie Invictus, as well as his autobiography did allude to the fact that Madiba drew the strength of his character from a poem, Invictus, written by William Ernest Henley, an English poet, way back in 1875. That shaped his attitude in the years after he left Robben Island.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

If such powerful words could steer the Madiba to greatness, imagine what they can do to all of us!

Waka Waka, the Time for South Africa!

As the Bafana Bafana get ready to take on the world, no one can dispute that the South African nation and its identity have come of age.

If one looks at history of sport, in recent times, hosting of major sporting events have coincided with a new wave of growth for the host country, an epochal change. I can recall that the Seoul Olympics were followed by the emergence of South Korea as a major economy and a member of the OECD. The Beijing Olympics was a harbinger of China's emergence as an economic superpower. (I hope the same for India with 2010 Commonwealth Games.)

Certainly, the FIFA World Cup will be a game changer for the Rainbow Nation as well!

But in September 2008, as President Thabo Mbeki was making way for Jacob Zuma, I alongwith others watched with bated breaths, with a deep sense of fear on what was going to happen next. Was South Africa going to go the Zimbabwe way?

Today I can happily say that I have been proved wrong.

And the credit for keeping the Rainbow Nation intact goes to the Madiba, Nelson Mandela, who despite his 27 years in prison at Robben Island had the grace to forgive and forget.

On assuming office in 1994, post-Aprtheid, despite apprehensions, Mandela laid the foundations of a new resurgent nation but also forged ties with his captors. There are numerous examples that Mandela's moderating influence that are obvious, many will never be known in the public domain.

One of them was the transition from the old Afrikaans national anthem, Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (of the Apartheid era) to the present harmonius multi-lingual anthem of the anti-Apartheid hymn, Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika along with the Die Stem.


Most of us are familiar with the movie, Invictus, which was based on the real life incident of 1995, in which Mandela inspires the whole nation, which had been torn apart by 50 years of racial tension, to support the Springboks, white majority rugby team led by François Pienaar. Mandela used sports as the glue that made the communities stick together. Of the people I know who have seen Invictus have nothing but pure admiration for Mandela.

A lesser known incident that healed quite a few wounds was the renaming of the Day of the Vow, a commemoration of the bloody victory of the Boers over the native Zulus in 1838. The Day of the Vow was regarded by the masses as a symbol of racial subjugation. In 1994, Mandela's government renamed the Day of the Vow as the Day of Reconciliation, with the intention of fostering reconciliation and national unity.

Even today, his sobering influence on the country is visible all over the Rainbow Nation.

A recent example of the sobering influence was the way the Zuma government handled the situation following the murder of the white-right wing leader, Eugène Terre'Blanche.

Mandela's graciousness was evident when he gave up office after his first term, preferring to groom and mentor his successors. This leads me to think how different India would have been, had Nehru done the same.

Now that the foundation for a multicultural nation is fairly strong, South Africa is well poised for success at the world stage. And I also hope the Bafana Bafana suceed in the World Cup.

As Shakira sings, "Waka Waka", this is truly the Time for South Africa!

Bombaypolis Moments....

A series of photos, spontaneous mobile grabs, collected over my past few years in Bombay....

The centre of gravity of the city is shifting from traditional business areas like Nariman Point, to newer areas like Bandra Kurla Complex and Andheri Kurla Road. Bandra Kurla Complex, though swanky, lacks the culture and warmth of town!

Not only does Bandra Kurla Complex suffers from a lack of "culture", it looks like a dusty dump, with swanky outcrops, that seem totally out of place.... That's much unlike town, which does have a reasonable green cover, like the evocative banyan tree at the junction of J. Tata Road and H.T. Parekh Marg, at Churchgate.....

But why complain? I am told Andheri-Kurla Road is worse... it's chaotic, crazy, noisy, dusty, you name it, it's all there....

While the commuting lifeline remains the train, some of us are brave enough to drive long swanky cars to work. I guess that would be something like a slow suicide, the traffic kills you....

But commuting by autorickshaws has its interesting moments. Not only do you have to struggle to get an auto to take you from point to point, you also run the risk of getting a bad back as the autos race over the famed crater-ridden roads, which our holier-than-thou BMC would care to repair.

But when you come across graffiti like this on autos, you forget the trouble and laugh it out... But I wonder if the autowallah doesn't want to be kissed or is he warning other drivers to be careful and mot "kiss" his auto?

I once came across an interesting taxi driver, who was playing a crossword while the cab had stopped on a traffic signal. That was real inspiring...

Having India's busiest airport, the CSI Airport is an excellent place for airliner-spotting. Besides the biggies operating out of CSI Airport, one also gets to spot exciting carriers from exotic places like Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, etc. etc.

CSI airport rarely sleeps, but with a slowdown, fewer Indians are taking to the , one is getting to see lesser and lesser crowds at the airport. Sights like this have become common now.....

Landing into CSI Airport has always been an interesting experience. The sight of the mighty Western Ghats is amazing, like this shot. This looks even better in the Monsoons, with a carpet of green covering the mountains. But this heavenly sight soon gives way to the repelling squalor of the slums. While the world-over and closer home, in Delhi, the political focus is on beautification of cities, in Bombay, the elected leaders thrive on slums.

Talking of food, Bombay has quite a few decent options for exotic fare, but does anything match up with a sinful Vada-Pav? Guess not...

Being on the coast, gives an additional dimension to the skyline of the city. The beauty of Marine Drive at night is matchless. Similarly, nothing beats the sunset at the beach...

I hope to continue this blog in the near future with interesting pictures and anecdotes from this city - the metropolis of Bombay, Bombaypolis.....

Africa Is Where My Heart Lies...

I can't describe the excitement I felt when I went through the slide show on Lake Malawi on The New York Times Style magazine yesterday. Was reminded of the day when flying down from Lusaka to Bombay that day in March 1987, when I gazed at wonder at the distinctive shape of the northern tip of Lake Malawi from a height of 35,000 feet - it was an awesome sight.
And yes the slide show of on Lake Malawi confirmed what I always thought - Lake Malawi is indeed beautiful.
But its not only Lake Malawi that is beautiful - the entire southern Africa is. I can never forget rolling savanna grasslands with the typical trees, the anthills, the clear waters of the rivers, etc. etc.
And the colourful culture - tribal customs, colourful clothes, soulful music and gleeful faces.
Nothing describes my feeling more truely than "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba's song "Africa Is Where My Heart Lies..."

Random thoughts and a few unanswered questions...

1. South Africa in turmoil again - the revered statesmanly South African President Thabo Mbeki is making way for the strident, radical Jacob Zuma. Is the Rainbow Nation going the Zimbabwe way?
2. Blasts in Islamabad - you reap what you sow. Will they will ever learn this lesson?
3. Terror in India - the limp, soft state probably thinks this is an answer to our population woes, is that right?
4. Obama v/s the Republicans - the journalists are best at sensationalising what they hear. Was the comment "putting lipstick on a pig" a sexist remark after all?
5. The Fed is bailing out Wall Street with a US$ 700 bn package - is capitalism dead as we know it? Or is it a return to socialism - state support and intervention?