 By Samir Shukla
Step aside white fluffy American bread, watch out tortillas and Italian bread. Slide over pita, your cousin from the East is here, and it is staying. Naan is one of the most popular breads that accompanies Indian food. It is that fluffy bread baked in tandoor ovens, served plain or infused with garlic, onions, mint, or other flavors, and it goes with just about anything. It has now made American supermarkets its home.  By Samir Shukla
The late afternoon sun shining through the thin, white curtains exposes blemishes strewn about the fabric. The curtains are parted in the middle, filtering the sun and creating swirling shadows on the wooden floor and the nearest wall. The curtain covers the sliding doors leading to the deck of a third-floor condo overlooking a man-made pond. Standing on that deck, on this bright day, I notice many more shadows, on the brick sidewalks, on the water, in the grass.  By Samir Shukla
We are in the Canadian Rockies. It is mid-August. The paper maps of the national parks we are visiting, Banff and Jasper, give a sense of place that the GPS on our rented car simply can’t duplicate. Our love of national parks has brought us to western Canada for this summer trip. After exploring many areas and the stunning scenery of Banff, we are standing on a glacier in the Columbia Ice Fields near Jasper National Park, a twin park to the more famous Banff. It’s cold. The temperature is probably around 45 degrees but feels much colder as the wind is kicking, swooshing down the mountain, bouncing off the ice and making the air feel thinner. Just a half hour earlier, before the ride up here (on a tank-like ice explorer with giant wheels), we were about half a mile down the mountain in sunny 75 degrees.  By Samir Shukla
On a recent fall day, while pondering my place in the grand cosmos, sitting outside a fast-food joint munching on hot French Fries, I started thinking about the philosophical nature, the simple goodness and multi-purpose usage of that all-American vegetable. Ketchup. The ultimate flexible condiment. It goes with anything. We eat it with our sandwiches and fries and countless other foods as well as with some of our favorite Indian dishes. It is chutney when chutney is missing. Dip a piece of hot onion naan or dhokla or a samosa into ketchup and plop it into your mouth. The stars will look brighter.  By Samir Shukla
During an early November trip to the Florida Keys, while wading in knee-deep blue water, I gazed at the schools of tiny fish hovering around my legs, quickly swimming away at the slightest movement I made. In the distance I spotted a floppy pelican dive into the water and emerge with a mouth full of fish and salty water. I thought of the billions and billions, maybe trillions, of creatures lurking in the seas and bodies of waters around the globe. Of course, I’m only talking about those visible to our eyes, forget about the microscopic life forms. It is an unfathomable number. |
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