The Play Area

It was the start of a beautiful evening. The sun was flirting with the clouds scattered in the sky and was making them blush away. A lazy breeze had just kicked in. There were many kids in the play area. Few women were chatting here and there watching their kids play. Nuzat sat on one of the benches there. The long day of work had frustrated her and she needed some fresh air to get the annoyance out of her mind. There was a lot of energy and noise around her but her thoughts were drifting away to the long conference calls, unfinished emails and brain storming sessions that had defined her day. Earlier today she had a heated conversation with her manager. He was forcing her to take additional work and putting pressure on her. She didn’t know if it was the respect, fear or just humility that she had not been able to refuse him.

She saw a mother approach the play area with her infant daughter. The little girl was immediately attracted to the wood chips scattered across the play area and started brushing her fingers on that. There were few older girls in the age group of four to five running around the play area in their scooters. One of them saw the little girl arrive and ran towards her calling out her name.

“Manu! You look so cute today”, she exclaimed. “Oh aunty, she is very pretty”, she addressed the mother. She then touched Manu’s cheeks and patted her head gently. She was dressed in a pink top and denim capris. She was in middle of her praises when Nuzat heard another shout of Manu’s name from a distance. She saw a girl in a yellow dress scooting towards them and she too appeared very excited.

“Manu, Oh, you are so cute!”, the girl in yellow dress remarked. But before she could say anything more, the girl in the pink top almost shouted. “I saw Manu first! Look I can even pick her up”, and she grabbed Manu with all her power and picked her up.

Nuzat found this quite amusing. The reaction of the girl in pink was so spontaneous. It was almost a mark of possession, of pride and protection, as if Manu belonged to her. Manu tried to wriggle away from all this. Her mother had a smile and was obviously enjoying the praises. The two girls were still fussing over Manu when Nuzat noticed another one approaching. This one was dressed in a white skirt and red top. It looked like that the girl in white was meeting Manu for the first time. The two girls introduced Manu to her and asserted how cute and pretty Manu was. She agreed. They then boasted of how they can pick Manu up. The girl in white declared that she could also pick Manu up. Then few seconds later, the girls decided to do a race in their scooters and ran away to play.

At that moment Nuzat’s phone rang. It was her manager. She decided not to pick it up. The ring died off and a sound of voice mail beeped in. She decided to hear it later. As she looked up again at the play area, she saw the three girls in the slide in front of her. Something was not right among them this time. The girls in pink and yellow were scowling at the one in white.

“You lied to us. You said you have been to Manu’s house. You don’t even know where it is!”, shouted the girl in pink.

“We are not talking to you, please don’t follow us”, added the girl in yellow.

The girl in white simply walked away and started rolling in her scooter again. Nuzat was amazed by what she had just heard. When the barriers of experiences are scarce, the flow of expressions becomes a matter of ease. Right and wrong are simplified. She stood up to return to her flat. She knew how to deal with her manager.

Few days later in the play area she saw the three girls chatting and rolling on their scooters again. They appeared happy and looked like their conflicts were resolved. Perhaps there wasn't any to start with. Nuzat felt unsure.

Oh So Chard!

Think Green! that's what I thought when my hubby came home one day from his office with a bag full of green leafy things. It was not spinach or mustard leaves, definitely not coriander. That's what my 6 years in US has done to my world of green vegetables. So I asked him what they were. It took him a second and he said, 'That's Chard'. One of his colleague has a home garden and it had graciously come from there.

Well I had no idea what Chard was, so I wrote this word down first and then next morning when it was time for lunch, I googled. First line in wiki read - 'Chard also known by other common names such as Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights (due to the bright and vivid spring colors when they are cooked or provided as a medley of vegetables), seakale beet, and mangold, is a leafy vegetable.' Then few more minutes into google and I got the impression that it can be cooked similar to spinach. And that's what I did.

I'm not a fan of green vegetables. Right from cleaning to cutting to cooking them appears a cumbersome process. But it was something about the vibrant red, yellow and creamy stems of Chard, that when thinly cut on top of the green cushion of leafs beneath, kept my enthusiasm going. After seasoning of cumin, black mustard and methi seeds with quick stir fry of onions and garlic, I finished it off with some coriander and pepper powder.

The result was a delicious green vegetable (that's the whole reason I'm writing this post). I could relate the taste to the radish leaves that my mom cooked and I absolutely loved. So if you haven't tried Chard yet, bring it home.