Lost in Translation

As much as I like the movie, this post is not about the movie 'Lost in Translation'. It is about little things that we never thought we need to know and are not taught in ESL classes or for that matter in schools.

A friend needed a ride to the halal store and dear hubby decided to oblige. Once there my friend asked me which daal was supposed to be split yellow lentils. She needed to shop for a recipe of daal palak (spinach with lentils) she had seen online. So we browsed through the rack of lentils in all colors. Is it daal masoor without skin, the one that looks orange/peach but turns yellow on cooking or is it daal moong without skin, the one that is yellow both before and after cooking. I suggested daal channa based on my interest in cooking. She picked daal masoor and returned home happy to cook for a few friends from across the globe. The cooking went well and the spinach lentil dish worked out fine. She later sent me a link to the online recipe and upon checking it I found it referred to 'yellow split gram lentils'. Now what on earth is that.

Upon googling the unfamiliar phrase for daal I discovered that gram lentils refers to daal channa. However, that is not the point. The point that I am vaguely alluding to is how many things need active translation and interpretation when you leave home and find abode in a place where rice has an expiration date. I grew up with the idea that the older the rice you cook the better it is.

The idea is that when you translate garam masala and achar it is not the same thing. When you use fry or saute for 'bhoonanaa' it is not the same thing and when you cook daal from walmart it is no where near the truck driver daal maash that you find at little shacks lined up around GT road. It is just never the same thing.