She is tall and hunched and that she has back pain is evident from the back support she wears. “Backpain is no ailment. It doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is being idle. I cannot sit doing nothing. Since I am comparatively free these days, I have begun to knit something for my grandchildren abroad,” says Geeta Devi.

Geeta Devi is one of the great-grand-daughters-in-law of the man after whom the famous Dharam-Karan road in Ameerpet is named. But that’s not Geeta Devi’s only claim to fame. After various stints as an entrepreneur, Geeta Devi has also made a mark in Hyderabadi cuisine. “Deccani to be precise,” she clarifies.

“I have cooked at various food fests in star hotels all over the country. My cooking is definitely Deccani, but since we belonged to the Mathur family of UP and settled here even before the 1800s, the way we prepare our food preparation is a little tweaked; it is different in the way we use our meat and spices. Otherwise it is the same Deccani cooking which emphasis on slow cooking, use of meat in various dishes and the likes,” she says.

After successfully turning author in 2005 by writing easy ways to cook Deccani food, Geeta Devi has come out with her second book titled, Jewels of Nizam: Recipes From The Khansamas of Hyderabad. The book’s gist says ‘a delectable mix of Arabic, Mughlai and traditional South Indian influences, today’s Hyderabadi cuisine is the legacy of the Nizams of Hyderabad, whose khansamas were skilled in the use of spices to bring distinctive flavours to the table.’

Geeta Devi dug into the 400-year-old history of the royal kitchens of the Nizams to present an array of Hyderabadi recipes. The book has signature dishes like Patthar ka gosht and Paneer Golkonda to Haleem. Then there is the famous Kacche gosht ki biryani and Jhinge ka achaar, Shahi tukde and Anokhi kheer. “This book in many ways reveals the secrets behind a range of delicacies that will surprise gourmands,” she beams. The USP of the book being easy to follow recipes in vegetarian snack to a complex main course of mixed meats.

The finals seeds of writing her book happened when she and her husband were in the US visiting their daughter. After the family would go to sleep, “My husband and I would settle down to write these recipes. We did all this because we were thoroughly motivated by my elder daughter. She in a way forced us to sit and pen down recipes which have been handed down over generations. My husband would write as I would dictate,” she smiles. Geeta Devi is married to Dharam Karan’s great-grandson Ashok Kumar, who retired as a Chief Engineer.

How does Geeta Devi have access to all these recipes and dishes? “As a family that has been closely associated with the Nizams over the years we have also learned the dishes. Dining in their homes allowed our elders to access their food and Nizam’s family loved their food and meat. My family and my husband’s family have been passionate about food. And after getting married, I had access to their recipes as my mother in law was an avid cook. Cooking during that time was mostly subjected to the availability of the raw materials. That’s how there are a variety of wheat dishes and so was the case with meat. To make the best use of the goats and their spare parts the family over the centuries have mastered many recipes, says Geeta Devi.

Doesn’t it bother her to share the recipes? What is wrong in sharing recipes if we share the recipes that stay forever? If we keep them as a secret, they will slowly die with the generation. There is also the fact that no two hands can cook the same.” What Geeta is bothered about is distortion of the recipes by people and presenting it as authentic Hyderabadi food.

That Geeta Devi is passionate about her interest — cooking, is evident from the dishes she prepared for our photo shoot. Besides, biryani, there was achari chicken, gongura mutton, mutton chops and a dessert of custard apple kheer. “It is the season for custard apples and I have been wanting to try them for a long time. My husband cannot resist desserts and we are both diabetic, so I seldom prepare desserts,” says Geeta Devi.

Geeta says the secret to good cooking is using fresh ingredients which she prepares at home. She also has a terrace garden where she grows double beans, a few spices, everyday common leafy vegetables and some vegetables. “The task of watering the plants is my husband’s. It is an extended workout for him after our morning yoga and walk. This is because he needs meat in every meal and I mix mutton for him with all vegetables so that he is a happy man when he sits to dine. And I totally believe the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Food / by Prabalika M. Borah / Hyderabad – October 10th, 2013

The key to V Raghunathan’s happiness lies in his lock collection. In the last 30 years, he has gathered over 700 kinds from across the country. The fascination began back in 1984 when Hyderabad-based Raghunathan went to Kashmir. “Our guest house had an unusual old lock. I exchanged it with the caretaker,” he says. Since then he has been hooked—lock, stock and barrel, forever searching for more exotic locks.

“Collecting locks is a passion. I just love them and will travel any distance to procure one. I used to visit the flea markets in Ahmedabad to add to my collection. It is great fun deciphering some of them. I have seen locks, which would need more than one individual to open them,” says Raghunathan, CEO of GMR Group’s Varalakshmi Foundation.

There is a staggering range of shapes and sizes in the collection. Padlocks, chest locks, door locks, trick locks. He has locks in shapes of fruits, revolvers, buckets, pots, plants, scorpions, camels, lions, horses, cows, dogs and even cats.

And there are other unusual locks as well. For instance, a lock for which a key has to be inserted inside another key to open it. Then there is a rare lock from Aligarh. A fascinating one is a copper combination lock, which has a number of discs. Each disc carries an Arabic inscription— either a letter or a phrase. It appears that any combination of the discs yields an Arabic couplet and one particular couplet opens the lock. What is striking about this lock is that all the combinations of letters end up forming a verse from the Koran.

Raghunathan has also written a book about his lifelong passion—Locks Mahabharata Mathematics. The book mixes Draupadi, a lock with five keys or Jarasandha— who could be split apart but whose two halves could never be kept separate—split locks and symmetries. He has linked all of these characters and their life with math.

Divided into 10 chapters, Locks Mahabharata Mathematics has stories ranging from that of Draupadi, to Yudhishthira’s gamble, to Shukrayacharya and Kacha. Keeping them company are chancy locks, interacting keys and binary stars.

“Locks have been part of my life for nearly as long as I have been married, some 30 years.  Though I am not a mathematician by a far shot, I am deeply interested in the subject. And finally, I am as well read on the Mahabharata as any reasonably educated Indian. So it was only a matter of time before the three overlapped somewhere,” says Raghunathan.

“It was while reading a story about how Draupadi came to acquire five husbands that it struck me that she wasn’t unlike one of the locks in my collection— one that needed five keys to open it. From there the leap to the world of polynomials, especially the quintics—equations of fifth degree—which have five solutions, was merely a logical one,” he points out.

At a literal level, the book provides a contemporary take on the Mahabharata stories for the younger generation. It also presents mathematics in a far more interesting light than a standard text.

“The book brings the lock-making craft of highly skilled artisans of a bygone India to the present generation. Perhaps the book provides enough fodder to engage both the right and left sides of the brain,” he laughs.

LOCKED IN

●  There is a staggering range of sizes in the collection. They range from one that weighs no more than 5 grams to one that weighs 30 kg. The longest is over 3.5 ft in length while the smallest is about half a centimetre.

●  He has locks from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Kashmir and West Bengal.

●  The lock with five keys is from Rajasthan.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Swati  Sharma / October 13th, 2013