In the year 1971 people in India had not really heard about Pizza's and Levi's. Most of them didn't, that is. Courtesy an American Stepmom, I had heard eaten, worn and loved both these items.
My Mom (I am going to shun the 'step') loved cooking. In Bangalore, in the 70s, she was able to get most of the ingredients of her western recipes in Russell Market. We would often come home from school to find something exotic cooking in the oven. The oven was something unique. It was like a tin box with shelves and a door that just sat on the normal gas chulhas that we have. It was ingenious and workable. Later when mom got one of those round electric ovens, she found it not as efficient as the simple gas-top one.
The pizza's bases were handmade, not one of the bread things we get so easily these days. The toppings were usually keema and Amul cheese. It worked, I tell you, like a charm. Pizza days were a big hit. It was nearly the end of 80s when pizza's started appearing on the menu's of fast food restaurants. I rushed to eat them, reminded of the glory days of eating pizza's in Bangtalore. I was disappointed with the bread bases, the vegetarian toppings of the early pizza. It has improved vastly now but I am not crazy about it anymore. The taste of Mom's thin crust handmade pizza's will linger in my memory forever.
Sometime in 1972 or 1973, my Mom made a quick trip to America to visit her ailing mother. When she got back, she brought for me an american classic; A pair of Levi Strauss jeans. Again, in those days it was not yet something youngsters died for, simply because they did not know of it. The way the pair of jeans was 'treated' is worth recounting. It was soaked in water overnight, then washed, its legs twitsted into knots and beaten to soften it. I was told that a 'new' looking pair of jeans was just not done, it had to look worn and faded to be really valuable. Needless to say I practically lived in those jeans.
Again it was nearly the 80s when the jeans mania hit the middle class. The only way of procuring a pair of Levi's was to have someone bring a pair back to you from USA. Ah, those were the days when jeans were lovingly ironed to sport trouser like creases, or even dry cleaned! How boring it is these days to just walk into a showroom and buy a pair of any brand of jeans. We used to feel like conquistadors when our beloved relative returned from a trip abroad with a pair of jeans for us that sported this label.
My Mom (I am going to shun the 'step') loved cooking. In Bangalore, in the 70s, she was able to get most of the ingredients of her western recipes in Russell Market. We would often come home from school to find something exotic cooking in the oven. The oven was something unique. It was like a tin box with shelves and a door that just sat on the normal gas chulhas that we have. It was ingenious and workable. Later when mom got one of those round electric ovens, she found it not as efficient as the simple gas-top one.
The pizza's bases were handmade, not one of the bread things we get so easily these days. The toppings were usually keema and Amul cheese. It worked, I tell you, like a charm. Pizza days were a big hit. It was nearly the end of 80s when pizza's started appearing on the menu's of fast food restaurants. I rushed to eat them, reminded of the glory days of eating pizza's in Bangtalore. I was disappointed with the bread bases, the vegetarian toppings of the early pizza. It has improved vastly now but I am not crazy about it anymore. The taste of Mom's thin crust handmade pizza's will linger in my memory forever.
Sometime in 1972 or 1973, my Mom made a quick trip to America to visit her ailing mother. When she got back, she brought for me an american classic; A pair of Levi Strauss jeans. Again, in those days it was not yet something youngsters died for, simply because they did not know of it. The way the pair of jeans was 'treated' is worth recounting. It was soaked in water overnight, then washed, its legs twitsted into knots and beaten to soften it. I was told that a 'new' looking pair of jeans was just not done, it had to look worn and faded to be really valuable. Needless to say I practically lived in those jeans.
Again it was nearly the 80s when the jeans mania hit the middle class. The only way of procuring a pair of Levi's was to have someone bring a pair back to you from USA. Ah, those were the days when jeans were lovingly ironed to sport trouser like creases, or even dry cleaned! How boring it is these days to just walk into a showroom and buy a pair of any brand of jeans. We used to feel like conquistadors when our beloved relative returned from a trip abroad with a pair of jeans for us that sported this label.
