A Touch of Spain in Japan

" Spain Mura" - Ise-Shima, Mie-Ken Japan 



A Buddhist Temple in Ise, Mie-ken Japan

Sushi...

                                                                      SUSHI

I developed a taste for "sushi" when I re-visited Japan as a teacher on JET programme. My interest in the history of sushi deepened as I sampled and enjoyed various types of sushi during my stay there. That's when I realized that the world of sushi is so vast. Each prefecture has it's own kind of sushi. 

I particularly enjoyed "Tekone sushi", a speciality of Ise, Mie prefecture. It is fish piled on rice but is well-mixed. My Japanese friend's mother introduced me to this new kind of sushi as a part of my ongoing study of sushis.

Sushis have made traditional Japanese cuisine more famous worldwide. I have been reading about different types of sushis lately. "Nigiri-zushi" and "Maki-zushi" are quite popular everywhere and naturally I too enjoyed it's flavours. Nigiri-zushi as we all know it is basically a clump of sushi rice (folding vinegar into rice) pressed together and decorated with a topping of raw fish or cooked fish. I read that Nigiri means “press in the hand".It is best to have it at restaurants than at home.

The traditional sushi takes a long time to prepare. Funa-zushi from Shiga Prefecture is one of the oldest. Fish is pickled in rice and salt for about half a year and allowed to ferment. When it matures, you have a thin slice of the fish accompanied by hot water. It's quite delicious actually.

Maki-zushi reminds me of swiss rolls for some reason. Maki-zushi or Nori-Maki is rolled sushi and is again very popular in other countries too. A bamboo rolling mat is used here to wrap the sushi rice and various ingredients in nori (seaweed).It is then sliced.Maki-zushi can be easily prepared at home. 

Sushi doesn't always have raw fish. Some are just seasoned with sake, vinegar and soy sauce. Ingredients are at times just mixed in sushi rice and then seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. Talking about raw fish, I love sashimi too ( raw fish served by itself ).  

For some, life is a bed of roses...For others a constant struggle...And for some life is a never ending pain… Life sure has difficulties but in spite of these challenges and problems we should be willing to try our best…

It is important to think positively and responsibly about every situation once the storm of anger, denial and tears have passed. Sometimes life is sweet and sometimes bitter. Life is sometimes happiness and sometimes sadness... " Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam " Such is the reality and truth of life ! 

There’s more to life than happy endings. Such is life !What is important is to live positively by living today to it's fullest. One life to live ! " Zindagi na milegi dobara..."



Taiko performance at Sake Matsuri (Festival)





Red chillies from Kalimpong...Was told that these are used in pickles.



Asi es La Vida !

Meet Life ! A child is first greeted by life at time of birth... Then Life is a series of introductions... Gradually  as time passes by , life introduces us to joys,laughter,sorrows,tears,pain and dreams...It introduces us to new emotions everyday. We meet expectations and disappointments through life and we have to live and accept each meeting. Some introductions of life are pleasant, some unpleasant. But we have to mingle with all aspects of life and we have to interact with all the experiences it introduces us to.Through the journey with life, one has to greet every chance and every opportunity that comes our way...There is no escape from these moments life makes us meet. Through people and places, life acquaints us with ourselves as well...It acquaints us with our strenghts  and weaknesses as well...It also gives us hope. Such is life. Asi es La Vida...Life continues as usual.   

KALIMPONG

INDIA

Famous Sakes& Shochus introduced at a Sake event recently ...

Recently I was honoured to assist a delegation of Presidents and owners of Sake & Shochu Brewers in introducing exclusive sakes and shochus at Wasabi restaurant, Taj Mahal Hotel. It was really nice interpreting for them and getting introduced to sake brewing process.

Mr. Hideharu Ohta (Pres. DAISHICHI Brewery, Fukushima-established in 1752), Mr. Ryuichiro Masuda (Masuizumi Junmai Daiginjo), Mr. Sudo (Pres. Sudohonke) & Mr. Watanabe (Pres. Kyoya Shochu Distillery founded in 1834) introduced their best sakes and shochus in India at the hotel and the Japanese Embassy Matsuri (festival). It was a great honour and pleasure to meet them.
I am looking forward to learning more about sakes and sharing my knowledge with you in the coming days. So I have decided to have a separate section that will talk about sakes and how best we can absorb it in our daily lifestyle and cooking. My mother has been using sake in Indian cooking since the 80s when she published a book on healthy Indian cooking in Tokyo which catered to Japanese tastes. Inspired by her, I would like to share some tips to acquaint you with Sake so that you could welcome it in your house too. Sakes complement a lot of Indian dishes too.

SHOCHU

Shochu is Japan's traditional distilled hard liquor. Authentic shochu is distilled once unlike beer. It is mainly made from sweet potatoes but it is also made from barley, rice, buckwheat, brown sugar, dates, sesame’s seeds and various vegetables.
It derives it's characteristics from sake and koji. Shochu is on par with Scotch/Whisky. Shochu can also be used for marinating and seasoning. It enhances the taste of ingredients and softens the smells of meat and seafood.
Shochu can be served chilled, warm, hot, and straight on the rocks .It can be added to cocktails. Sweet potato Shochu can be served tea ceremony style.

SAKE

Lately I have been reading a lot about how Sake (Sa-ke) is made. Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice. Sake is known as Japanese rice wine around the world. There is so much of information available on the internet regarding sake brewing. It was interesting to sharpen my knowledge about Sake.

In honorific Japanese it is referred to as O-sake. Actually sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. In Japan, Japanese rice wine is known as 'nihonshu'.

It can be served cold, lukewarm or hot. Sake is usually drunk in small porcelain cups or wooden box like cups but now there are different ways of serving it. It can be served straight or can be used in cocktails now.

There are pasteurized sakes and those that are not.  Sake can also be used in cooking, sauces and marinades.There are various varieties of sake. For instance Junmai Diginjo-shu, Junmai Ginjo-shu, Junmai-shu etc. Junmai Daiginjo-shu is a very special brew of pure rice with rice polishing ratio of below 50 %.  Junmai Ginjo-shu's rice polishing ratio is below 60% and Junmai-shu's is below 70%.

 Sake is produced by a brewing process which may be similar to that of beer yet very different. Rice is used in case of sake instead of barley which is fermented to make beer.  Sake is called rice wine and is compared to beer at times. But Sake is a unique type of fermented alcohol. Sake would be the only beverage in the world using koji. Koji is one of the key ingredients in sake brewing.  Basically there are five elementsinvolved in brewing Sake-

Water, Rice, Yeast, Land, Weather and Technical Skill

I would like to talk about the Sake brewing process at length sometime. To summarize Sake is a result of brewing process that uses lots of water and rice-

1. Polished Rice is washed, soaked and steam cooked without water. Steam is brought through the bottom of the rice. The steaming method is called 'koshiki'.

2. Then the rice is mixed with yeast and 'koji' (rice cultivated with a mold).

3. The whole mix is allowed to ferment with more rice/koji/water added in 3 batches over 4 days.

Fermentation occurs in a large tank (the process is called 'shikomi'...the quality of rice, the degree to which koji mold has propagated, temperature variations and other factors are different for each shikomi) .There are different methods of fermentation.  

4. This mash ('moromi') is allowed to sit from 18-32 days after which it is pressed ('joso'), filtered ('roka') and blended.

[ SAKE BREWING PROCESS :  POLISHING  RICE (Seimai)-->  WASHING & SOAKING--> STEAMING (koshiki) & COOLING--> KOJI MAKING(seigiku)--> YEAST STARTER (moto)--> MASH (moromi)-rice/water/koji added in 3 stages over 4days --> PRESSING(joso)--> FILTRATION(roka)--> PASTEURIZATION--> AGING/MATURING ]

                                             Bunraku

In Japan, another traditional performing art Bunraku is delightful too. It’s a refined form of puppet theatre which involves music played on ‘shamisen’ (a three-stringed instrument… which I tried to play once).In Bunraku the story is narrated through singing. It has been popular and widely acclaimed since 16^th C.

                                                        Monsoon Trip

                                   Darling Darjeeling...         

 In August 2011, I went on a Monsoon trip as I call it. I visited Darjeeling, Gangtok and Kalimpong with my parents. While this may not have been an ideal time to visit the East because of monsoons, we enjoyed ourselves even in the rain. I have a lot to say about these places but I would like to begin with Darjeeling (West Bengal, India) .

We travelled via Mirik where we stopped for a revitalizing hot cup of Darjeeling tea and delicious pakoras. I loved this picturesque route . It was such a pleasure to finally see the lush green tea gardens and I thoroughly enjoyed the drive on the winding roads in such pleasant weather. Mist was gradually descending on us in patches on our drive and that added to the mood and delighted us.   

When we first arrived in Darjeeling, fog greeted us and yet in patches of visibility we could catch a quick glimpse of the mountains, impressive architecture of one of the schools and illuminated lamps along the pavement which left a lasting impression on our minds. Darjeeling was enveloped in thick mist that night on our arrival but the energy and positive aura of the place reached me even though the place was hidden from the eye.

My trip to the zoo and Himalayan Mountaineering Institute the next day in Darjeeling was interesting. Reading about the magnificent mountaineering stories at the museum in HMI inspired me to reach new heights in life. That afternoon I went shopping in the busy streets and visited some nice cafes like Glenary Cafe as well. We made a quick trip to Keventers restaurant and the famous Das Studio too which brought back fond memories for my father. I wanted to visit the famous club too but unfortunately I couldn’t because of the constraints of time. My parents had a lot to tell me about all these places as they’d visited Darjeeling in their youth. It was a trip down memory lane for them.

On my second and last day there we went up to Tiger Hill early in the morning to experience the beautiful view of the Kanchanjunga mountains (the third highest peak in the world) but the weather conditions prevented us from witnessing the sunrise in those mountains. On our way back, we stopped at the small Ghum Station of the Darjeeling Himalayan  Railway to take photographs of the Toy train.It is the highest railway station in India.  I could not visit the Gompa nearby but took a wonderful snap of the Gompa from a distance. That picture will inspire me to visit it someday.

I could not leave Darjeeling without buying Darjeeling tea. I bought tea at Golden Point where they were kind enough to make us taste samples of various teas before buying. Walking along the “chaurastha” (chowrasta)was fun. We visited some of the gift shops there and I liked that the shop owners did not coerce us into buying things but instead told us the history of the place and offered to guide us to make our trip more interesting. 

   

The generosity of  the people of Darjeeling touched me and the imposing British architecture of some schools impressed me a lot. Everything there left a lasting impression on my travel memories. Everyone there offered me knowledge and served affection with flowing generosity. I felt a part of them.

The permanent mist in Darjeeling at the time actually refreshed my senses and calmed my tired city mind. The rain washed streets cleared my mind and opened my heart to new possibilities. Rightly Darjeeling mesmerized and charmed me completely. Two days was too short a visit and I’m thirsty for more experiences that Darjeeling invites me to.

The atmosphere there relaxes your mind and lures you to dream. The students walking on the road encourage you to pursue paths of knowledge again. There is something about the atmosphere there that makes you a poet. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but give it a chance and Darjeeling will embrace you with all it’s beauty, energy and warmth. It will transport you to a serene world of peace and caring.

I fell in love with Darjeeling right away- The misty weather, the people and streets bustling with energy and positivity, the streets lined with benches, the roads alive with students, toy train, cafés beckoning you to piping hot cup of tea and mouth-watering delicious confectionary can never be forgotten.The romance with darling Darjeeling has just begun and it will reach greater heights in times 2 come as and when I visit it time and again. I fondly refer to Darjeeling as “Darling Darjeeling” as this place in just two days made me fall for it easily and took a place in my heart immediately.

A statue of Buddha from Kalimpong-My favourite !

The Himalayan Earthquake

It was very unfortunate that a strong earthquake struck East India too in September 2011. Once again Nature showed how it can attack our lives without warning and how powerful it is that it dominates and threatens our very existence with it’s strength and force all the time.

My friends in Darjeeling and Sikkim told me how traumatic this experience was for them. It was devastating for them…I fervently hope that they’re able to rebuild their lives and abandon the painful memories and fear of this tragic incident. I feel terrible about all the painful experiences and challenges they had to endure during repeated tremors and landslides. The quakes combined with weather, landslides, electricity cuts and road blocks made it worse for them and the rescue operators though the Army and National Disaster Response Force managed to carry out successful rescue operations with it’s strength and iron-like determination.

I remember how peaceful it was to spend my vacation there a couple of weeks back. It was so serene and calm. I did not know then that in weeks to come this peace and tranquillity would be robbed by forces of nature and destroyed by the powerful hands of earthquake.

When I visited the East in August, on our journey to Gangtok we got stuck on the road for about five hours due to a landslide and as darkness started engulfing the area in the evening we feared that we may have to spend the night on the road. I remember how tiring and unpleasant that experience was but it cannot compare to the fearful experience of those people who must have been stuck on the road in darkness and rain in this earthquake.   

Earlier on this year Japan suffered from an earthquake far worse than this. There was immense destruction and loss of lives there despite their efficient disaster management system. The rest of us are not so well prepared to deal with such calamities in comparison to Japan. Most countries do not take this that seriously and do not realize that the shadows of massive destruction by natural calamities are always present in our lives even if we adopt a careless attitude and choose to ignore it.

We must take strong measures to create earthquake proof buildings and seriously educate the people in dealing with such events. In this recent quake, it was reported that some died of stampede somewhere in Bihar. The lack of knowledge creates people to panic and make matters worse at times like this when it is so essential to try hard to safeguard all our lives. Organizing earthquake drills in schools and neighbourhoods is required to prepare people for such eventualities. Maintaining earthquake kits as well as informing everyone about evacuation routes and places is equally important. In Japanese schools, earthquake drills are held regularly to equip the students in dealing with such events. As a student in Japan in the early 80s, I remember these earthquake drills where we were taught to get under our desks and hold onto the legs of the desk till the quake lasted.We were also given these cushions that could be converted into hoods to protect our heads at that time. 

In Japan, we always maintained an earthquake kit. The earthquake kit contained water, first-aid kit, canned food, can opener, candles, matchbox, flashlight, radio, batteries, medicines, cash & change, passport, some clothes etc. Such a kit aids you in your survival after severe destruction caused by a quake. The world is forever vulnerable to such natural calamities but the absence of knowledge within communities to deal with such disasters makes it all the more dangerous for all of us. A good disaster management system has to be adopted in all countries to train us to respond to such events.  

http://nickiworldtranscendingcultures.blogspot.com/p/japans-die-hard-courage-in-adversity.html

Sikkim



A Gompa in Gangtok, INDIA...By Simrit



DARJEELING by Simrit...INDIA



THE PAST ...

I often hear people say that to move on in life you must forget the Past. And there are some who want to forget their past because they are not proud of it. I don’t believe that as I feel that one can move on in life with your past. One must be proud of one's past as it has been a part of your life. What actually belongs to you is your past as we do not know what the future holds.

 The Past is valuable and stands as testimony to the life you have led. Without a Past, a person would be incomplete and life unaccounted for. As a History student , I have studied Past and have always given importance to it. The facts of a nation’s past are preserved and studied. Past always remains, past is always present even if locked in books and time or buried deep in our hearts. We just have to acknowledge it and seal the cracks of the past if any to move on with the present, to have a pleasant Present and look forward to a calm Future. One also has to look back to understand the events in the past or to bid farewell to any unpleasant memories of the past for a better future. If the past has been good to you then all the more we should appreciate it as the Past has made us who we are today. Either way a Past has to be respected and not forgotten. Past whether it is pleasant or not can’t be ignored. One should be proud of the past even if it may have treated you roughly or made you struggle.

 Cherish the Past and learn from it …A past can’t touch you. So why do we fear it or run away from it ? A past has it’s own place i.e. in the past or in a time that has already passed. But it sure can haunt you if you run away from it.  

 If you try to strangle your past you will feel only suffocated and uncomfortable in times to come as it’s a part of you. One can’t erase History. One has to preserve History. We have to remember who we are and where we came from as said in the movie “The Last Samurai”. This also applies to people who are settled abroad away from their home countries. While they may have changed their nationality they still must not forget their origin.  

  Past is a proof of  one’s identity and gives a glimpse of who you really are or for some it stands witness to the fact how far they can go to stand up for what they believe in…The mistakes from the Past stand to be great lessons in life. A Past that may have been painful has to be addressed with time and dealt with thoroughly to be free from it.

 Don’t be a slave to your past and don’t let it dictate your present completely but learn from it and don’t be embarrassed about it.  By denying your past, you are denying yourself an important part of yourself. Acceptance of your struggles in the past will make you work harder to do well for yourself. Walk into your past, do not abandon it…

Yin & Yang in a Relationship

HEAVEN OR HELL - THE TWO SIDES OF MARRIAGE…

There are two opposite sides or two aspects of marriage...There are two realities of a relationship as life cannot be perfect. These two co-exist like the two opposite but complementary poles of Yin and Yang of Taoist Philosophy or Darkness and Light.

There are two faces of marriage. There is happiness and sadness...It’s alright if the balance is maintained but the day the evil twin takes over the relationship or that side becomes more dominant and only sadness prevails, the marriage becomes a living hell…that’s when the law of love gets violated. At such times the balance of equality would be lost in that relationship and there will be only be disturbance. Everything in life has a Yin and Yang aspect and these two sides survive with each other to create the reality of life. Like many natural dualities a man and woman are also manifestations of Yin and Yang. Whenever one side rules over the other, there will be imbalance and the relationship will disappear.  

Sometimes the side you oppose is the most closest to you. So one must not take someone for granted and lose them in bits and pieces in your relationship with them everyday. Just don’t be on the wrong side.

Follow your heart. In a relationship worth saving, don’t give up so easily, so simply. If you feel something is worthy saving, be it your dreams, conscience or relationship fight for it. But in life you have to establish some parameters…There’s no point fighting for a love that is not willing to be saved. I say this as much as I believe in love and commitment.

 Marriage should be a new beginning where love should be the important part of both lives. Both should try to give all the happiness in the world to each other emotionally. But if unfortunately that love withers away and has no chance of surviving whatsoever in the darkness of insecurities and distrust or any other reason, then one may just have to walk away from it and make it a decent parting rather than degrade each other every moment and in turn create bitter memories to last for a lifetime.

At such a turn of life the love that held the couple together once turns into pain that embraces them now only to stifle them. All have the right to be respected and honoured in love. One does not deserve to be constantly nagged at and put down or be let down constantly. One doesn’t have to withstand a series of insults and injuries everyday. 

 At times like this a person cannot always bear things thinking they’ll change or one day you’ll find happiness in that relationship. If you want to be happy then you have to choose that path in life and sometimes embark on it alone unfortunately. Happiness in short is the making of your own choice.

Love is not conditional and it should not ask you to sacrifice self-respect. If one bears it all quietly…one will get only deeply hurt in the soul. In your heart, there should be a place for forgiveness but not at the cost of endless suffering.