India, COVID-19 status and my theories

When COVID-19 reared its ugly head last year, I was petrified. Not for myself living in another country but for my fellow countrymen and women living in India. With such a vast population, diverse cultures and people at all rungs of the social ladder, it is impossible to implement any kind of measures and expect to handle all this with our less than perfect public healthcare system. 

Or so I thought.....the government and administrators, irrespective of party affiliations, did an admirable job of containing the spread in initial days. While the economy did suffer and is yet to recover as in most parts of the world, and we did lose many lives, the statistics and status are so much better than what I feared! Of course I am not celebrating yet as we are by no means out of the woods and we are yet to deal with any mutating variants. Just saw a post in news about how it will be another seven years of living with the virus at current rates of vaccination around the world! But there is still the mystery of how India fared as well as it has.

I agree with common expectations but immunologists such as herd immunity, but I do have a theory of my own. I cannot help but attribute a good percentage of these numbers simply to the food we eat as Indians. The sheer number of vegetables and fruit we use is mind boggling. I often tell my daughter she is lucky she was born with Indian roots as she would never have heard or experienced some of the food otherwise. How many of her friends from her international school in Qatar would even know of ridge gourd, snake gourd or flat beans! Don't even get me started on my all time favourite Sundakkai or Turkey berry as they are better known. No dish in the world would beat Sundakkai sambar for me and I have many delightful memories from my childhood associated with this dish. The list of course is endless and I am barely scratching the surface here. Let us not go after the new superfoods only, but also remember and use native /indigenous products from our own countries. India has long used millets and lentils which are recognized superfoods today and there are so many more that need to be revived. 

So my fellow Indians and others from various parts of the world; don't fall into the trap of eating processed food and regular veggies only. Go back to your roots and use other less used veggies and fruit. Eat healthy as much as you can and of course exercise. Good immunity is what we can aim for and work hard on. I am sure our bodies will be in a great position to fight this and any other diseases in store for us in the future. 

Baking!

I have always been a fairly decent cook. I have tried various cuisines, and mostly my expertise is in savory dishes. Never been fond of sweets/desserts and also never tried to make them. Of course I have tried the occasional Kesari and payasam with my mother's recipes and tips. They have always come out ok. When it came to baking, I have also gone savory. I have made Au gratins, which have come out great. I have also successfully Indianised them to suit our taste buds.

However, baking desserts is something I never did, thought of doing or had the slightest idea of how to either! When I had my LG, it suddenly hit me that I was now a mother. It was now my duty to feed her and her little friends dishes that they would love (in future of course, considering she was only a month old and only BF then). That, I was certain was going to include cakes, brownies, muffins and the like. Panic hit! Then my ever amazing mom made payasam on the day she turned one month old. This got the ball rolling and I decided to celebrate her birthday every month (on the date she was born) until she turned one year old. Celebrate that is by making some dessert and making her wear new clothes. The dessert of course has always been only for us so far (since she is only five months old now), poor baby!

Since I hated Indian sweets even more and they were quite complex in their recipes for my taste, I turned to baking. I baked my first ever cake the day my LG turned one month old. My resourceful husband came back with several bags of flour when I asked him to buy one. This also was an important factor in ensuring that I had to bake more and challenged myself to do so before the infamous little weevils made the flour their food. Thus started my baking endeavour with one good reason and several sillier reasons. But amazingly, I have in five months baked about seven cakes and many batches of muffins! I am happy to report that not only can I bake decently, but I have also finished the bags of flour that my husband bought! :)

Now I am an official baker, stocking chocolates, raisins, cinnamon, baking powder, flour etc., Me! Can you imagine? Maybe you can if you have always baked; but me! One challenge faced and passed with decent colours. It has been fun. Let me know if you are like me and need some motivation and tips to start baking. Would love to help start up all the fun and fun it has certainly been! :)