I am from the city of Ahmedabad ( Gujarat), my husband is from the city of Indore ( Madhya Pradesh) Our house is a mixture of indori and Gujarati culture. Our food is all mixed up now, I love this idea of our marriage. We have taken what is best from each other’s culture and made our own. Things we don’t like of our respective backgrounds we have left them. I love the idea of a multi culture marriage you can bring a lot in the marriage plus for me it has given me a lot of exposure. The only draw back of an Indian multi cultural marriage is that it gets difficult to adjust with the families ( which is an important expectation in India) because you don’t fit in to the families proto types, but I think ” you are not getting married for you parents, you need to get married because you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. ”

Below is our multi cultural food. We make this every Sunday for our lunch. The gram flour pulla are done in indore style. We are so fond of these pullas, in Indore they are eaten with green chutney or tomato ketchup,  it is eaten as a snack. At my house pullas are done differently, they are eaten with traditional Gujarati potato sabji called sukhi bhaji, it’s a whole meal and thus we eat them for dinner. So now we make this guju sabji with Indori pullas in our house. A perfect Sunday lunch….

 

People ask us how did you both possibly end up together?, as we both are from extreme opposite backgrounds, Sid family is extremely traditional and my family is very modern.

In fact when me and Sid  were just friends, he would tell us , he would not mind settling down with a girl his mother choose for him. We use to tell him he would not get along, he is too modern and his dreams are much more than settling with traditional girl. As for me, MBA was a way of running away for a typical arrange marriage my family was planning for me. I never wanted to settle with a person whose world is too small, who starts and ends with the same bunch of people around him.

Then a funny thought came to my mind, what if we had actually settled for what our families choose for us..??

Then I would have settled with mr. Boring…yes…I had a crazy crush on him cause I though he was the right match for my family (being that well brought up Indian girl ). I even asked him out…thank the heavens after getting confused for a long time… he said no…otherwise I probably be bored of life itself,  it would be like watching sanskar channel all day ( it’s TV channel in India which talks about values, god, godmen etc…it’s so boring I can’t  even complete a 5 minute challenge of watching it) I did not know of him doing much other than getting up early in the morning to play golf , work and early bed time…his mummy must be real proud of him…what a good boy…but I could not have possibly handled such strict decipline..and no fun in life..so I thank him for such a wise decision…

then I would have maybe got married to mr. vain…

Yes someone showed me this man in one of the so-called page 3 parties in the city. Other than him being the center of attention dancing as if he owned the city, in this dark night party where I could hardly see much with my naked eyes, he was wearing sunglasses.( eye gear suppose to wear in the day to protect from the sun)..seriously…I asked if he was having conjuctivities? So this person completely in awe of him tells me , “oh he owns this, he is this person’s son , has these many cars and whatever.”.. I was like So?according to me he was trying too hard, dancing like wannabe John Travolta in pulp fiction, who had just got a cataract operation done….I was wondering how can he see in the dark with sunglasses on, I thought it would be really funny if he missed a step ….I guess with him I would be fed up all my life…counting his money and his branded clothes…ha ha …

or what would have happened if Sid had married a girl who his family would have approved…she would be like the girls in the Indian TV serial proto type.

His mom would have been super happy, she would probable start her day at 6 by touching all the family elders feet, then make tea  for the whole family, going to the temple, actively involved in family politics and wearing all her jewellery everyday, covering herself from top to bottom, never thinking of wearing a bikini 😉 ..but was Sid fit to live this kind of  life?

Thus every thing happens for the best for everyone, only the right thing will fall in place….yes we had our cultural differences, our fights, our misunderstanding regarding each others families but we have learnt to get past all this and make our own life…I am glad we saw past all this and got married, cause the more you wider your horizon, the more options you get and thus you will get a chance to settle with the best for you. Sometimes safer options are not always the best options, one needs to take the leap of faith as a  wise person told me better is the enemy of the best..

cause eventually All has to be well 🙂

Along with this also sharing recipe of INDORI PULLA

( serves 4)

2 cups of gram flour/ chaane ka aata

1 onion finely chopped

2 green chiles finely chopped

1/2 cup of finely chopped coriander

1-2 tsp of red chilli powder

1/2 tsp hing or asafoetida

1 tsp turmeric

1 to 2 tsp sugar

1 tsp lemon

oil for cooking

salt to taste

 

Method :

mix all the ingredients, add about 1 cup of water so the batter becomes  runny.

heat a flat-iron griddle or a non stick pan. Apply 1-2 tsp oil on the griddle. If using non stick pan than no need to apply 1-2 tsp oil on the griddle. Take a big spoonful of the pulla batter. Pour it on the griddle. As soon as you pour it, quickly spread the batter in a circular manner to get a thin and round pulla . Pour some oil on the top and edges. Once cooked on the bottom flip it and cook the other side. Serve Hot…

Indori pullas are a combination of hot, sweet and tangy taste. The seasoning in them is on the heavier side, thus I find them more tasty to eat.

p.s what would have happened if I had not married this fun-loving mad husband if mine…would I be into cooking, photography, etc, would I be having so many interests, enjoying, laughing and being the person I an today…I highly doubt.