Cooking up a storm

Sometimes I feel like throwing my flatmate out.

At other times, I feel like throwing him a party.

So it was my flatmate's birthday yesterday and I decided to have a cooking extravaganza for all the people he is close to.

On Friday night, we went to shop for stuff at Mustafa, which is this place where you get everything. Yes I mean everything. From frozen fish to gold jewellery. From jaggery to carpets. From make-up to DVD players. You name it, they have it. They even fly in mangoes and other fresh food from India. I buy most of my Indian spices there because I know for sure they would be there.

The tough part of course is to make the sales assistants understand what on earth you want. The place is too big for you to wander around looking for what you want, so inevitably you end up asking the staff otherwise you'd be there forever. And by forever, I really mean forever, since it's a 24-hour place. Now the problem is that there is some Indian stuff that does not have an English equivalent, and since most of the staff at Mustafa are local Indians as opposed to Indians from India, they don't know the typical Indian terms we use. So most of the time, you either get blank stares or head-shaking.

Friday night is a bad time to go there because it's crazily crowded - half of the Indian population in Singapore seems to be at Mustafa from Friday night till the wee hours of Monday morning. The crowd is a mixed one, as Singapore now has a growing population of people from not just Tamil Nadu but from many others states as well, and it's interesting as you end up hearing bits of their conversation as you walk through the alleys.

Here are some snippets I heard.

Husband picks up packed of Basmati rice.
Wife - Nahin nahin yeh wala rice nahin!
Husband - Arre ispar 'Daawat' likha hai na... aur kya chahiye?
Wife - *SIGH*

Kid with empty trolley - "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
**Trolley crash**
Kid - "Sorry sorry!"
Man - *string of tamil words to his wife* ("Yeh aaj kal ke bache..."?)

Me - Excuse me, I am looking for Lakme kajal.
Sales assistant - All Lakme Nuri.
Me - Huh??
Sales assistant (to colleague) - Nuri! Nuri!
Nuri - WHAT??
Sales assistant - Lakme Lakme!
Nuri - Oh.
(motions me to follow her)
Me - ??

**More trolley crashes**
"Sorry..."

"Excuse me..."

**string of gujrati words**

Me - Excuse me, I am looking for papdi...
Sales assistant - What?
Me - Papdi?
Sales assistant - Uhhh... papad??
Me - No no, papdi...
Sales assistant - Uhhh...

**string of punjabi words**

Me - Excuse me, I am looking for a kitchen towel holder...
Sales assistant - Kitchen towels? Over there.
Me - No no, kitchen towel HOLDER...
Sales assistant - Holder? I dunno... *string of tamil words to her colleague who then points me in the right direction*

**More trolley crashes**
"Sorry..."

**String of tamil words**

Me - Excuse me, I am looking for disposable cutlery.
Sales assistant - Eh?
Me - Disposable cutlery... err... plastic cutlery? You know... forks and spoons...
Sales assistant - Oh, plastic forks and spoons? Third level, ma'am.

**More trolley crashes**

Guy who looks like a university student - Abbe woh honeydew hai, honeydew! Kya samajh ke utha laya?
His friend (looks at the large round object in his hands) - Achha? Yeh honeydew hai??

She - Itna saara dhaniya??? Lekin do din mein khatam ho jayega na?
He - Kar denge baba!
(Newlyweds off on honeymoon in two days?)

Girl (crazily loading her trolley) - Arre tum kuchh toh help karo!
Guy - Main kya karoon?? (Confused look)

Boy in batata puri section - But I want the kind nani makes.
Mom (exasperated) - Yahan nahin milega. Chalo. Late ho raha hai!
Boy - **Grumble grumble**

**More trolley crashes**
"Excuse me.."
"Sorry sorry!"

Me - Do you have pani puri?
(Prepares to say all paryaywachi shabds for pani puri - golgappa, gupchup, pani patasha, etc.)
Sales assistant - Over there, near the cashier.
Me - Whoa. He understood!

Finally I was done. Here are the after-effects of all the Mustafa-shopping. I'm gonna send all this pictures to Mom who thinks that I have forgotten to cook ever since my post-grad study activities put a stop to my culinary activities.















Jaljeera in the making. I like to keep the mint leaves large rather than shredded, so those who not like leaves floating about in their drinks have the option to leave them out.





















Jaljeera's ready!
















The making of the hottest release of the year - Mirchi ke pakode
















Pani puris are ready for consumption. Lemme warn ya, the pani is super-hot -- just the way I like it! :P
















Bhaji in the making
















Pavs waiting to be buttered up
















Bhaji is ready!
















My very special home-made low-calorie gulabjamuns, affectionately known as low-cal gulabos (I know what you're thinking, American Pi, they missed you too!)


The guys who came for the party seemed to be fascinated by Frodo and Fat Chick. It was the first time I'd seen guys not wanting to let go of soft toys.















One of the guests wanted to give Frodo's hair a new look. Presenting Frodo with spiked hair!





















Fat Chick perches on the knee of another guest.




















My pink gerberas sit pretty in their vase.




















Setting up the birthday cake - That's me on the left and Clueless on the right.
















'Durgati' of the cake in a matter of seconds - bole toh, waat lag gayi!

Happy birthday, flatmate! Hope you had fun. And oh, another thing. If you dare to forget my birthday, I'll really throw you out. :)