I, Marine Biologist

Back when i was an aggressive idealist (i was in high school then), i decided to “blaze my own trail in life”. So, instead of taking up engineering, which was what was expected of me, i enrolled in college to study zoology. Five years, many many lemons and gallons of lemon juice later, I passed out of University with a Masters Degree in Marine Biology. This was last month. More lemons followed. Then, last week, I was appointed Junior Research Fellow at the Center for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi (under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India). What this means is that I am an underpaid Indian scientist. A Marine Biologist, to be precise. I try to stop smiling about it, but fail miserably.

My work is expected to involve spending time on board a research vessel (FORV Sagar Sampada) and in laboratories, studying various living things (NOT just fish) from the ocean deapths.

I’ll admit that I’ve spent my first week of work doing absolutely nothing. I expect that to change next week, when I embark on my cruise on board Sampada. We cast off on Monday and i know i’ll probably spend a lot of time being sick, but i’m really looking forward to sailing! Yippie!!

Sipping Lemon Juice, singing One hand in my Pocket, smiling.

Filed under: my li'l life, travel, work

psychoactive addictive stimulant of choice – filter kaapi

I love coffee. I am addicted to coffee. On a normal day, i drink upwards of 5 steaming cups. But do not misunderstand me. I am not one of those people – who frequents cafes* and believes that if one goes to a cafe often enough and orders every type of coffee on the menu, one will eventually find a favourite.

Remember Joe Fox’s line from You’ve got mail?

The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

Being born into a tamil brahmin family in Kochi, South India, this “defining” choice was made for me at birth and I probably started drinking south indian filter kaapi at the age of 2 or 3. Thats right folks, i was hooked to a psychoactive stimulant drug at a very, very young age. It probably explain a lot……. anyway……..

I was very surprised recently, when friends in kerala didn’t know what a coffee filter was! For, in my family, making kaapi is a day-to-day ritual**. (Especially with my grandmum who gets really offended if you walk into the house around 4 in the afternoon and dont go straight to the kitchen looking for your kaapi).

It is my personal opinion that if there is a heaven, its probably coffee brown in colour, smells like freshly roasted and ground coffee. And everyone only drinks filter kaapi, of course.

(Singing the beatles tune – Kaapi in the Sky with Murukku).

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* – Yes, I do visit coffee houses and cafes, but never for their coffee. (I’m sorry – not a fan of ridiculously expensive but equally ridiculously insipid coffee). I always go for the company. Never for the coffee. NEVER.

**-Recipe for Perfection:
We buy freshly roasted and ground coffee poweder (with ZERO percent chickory – i HATE chickory) and prepare decoction using a filter. The filter is usually made of stainless steel and looks like this (these are my grandmum’s):

The scientist in me is itching to explain the workings of this apparatus, so here goes:
The coffee powder (around 3 spoons full) is added to the upper perforated cup of the filter apparatus (which rests on the lower cup). The plunger is places on it gently and then boiling water is added over it. The whole setup is allowed to stand while the piping hot water percolates – slowly and solely by the action of gravity – through the coffee powder. The decoction collects in the bottom cup in about 20 minutes. The decoction is mixed with milk and sugar.
Result – Heaven in a Cup.

Filed under: coffee, kerala, my li'l life