Love is in the air-my top 5 love songs

Love is in the air…

In my personal opinion Valentine day in India is just a gimmick ushered by the combined efforts of the media and product selling companies but I must admit that it is difficult to stand uninfluenced..

Every time I switch on the TV, a gentle piano music greets me with tempting pictures of platinum bands of love. I notice this week that red roses have found a place among bitter and bottle gourds on my local sabziwalah’s cart .Everyone is talking ‘what are u doing on valentines’ in my aerobics class and even the instructor has moved to ‘quit playing games with my heart ‘from the regular fast beats of Venga boys numbers. While I have become more observant of my fuchsia bougainvillea blossoms in the balcony, inadvertently I have just been listening to love songs on my ipod while rolling out chapattis in the kitchen too…such is the influence of this gimmick...can’t help secretly hoping for a gift from my husband on the valentine..Sigh..

This afternoon when I was rapt kneading the dough with Billy Joel cooing in my ear ‘shes always a woman to me ’I got thinking about what my favourite love song is..A very complicated task when you try to confuse your brain in picking out your favourites...but there has to be some very special numbers that transport you to a different world..a world of sheer love and joy.

The rose I negotiated for free from sabziwala after buying two large laukis has a cast a spell and under its magical influence I am attempting below this very difficult task of picking my personal top five love songs..do comment on which ones are yours :)

Frank Sinatra-Strangers in the night

A song which existed much before Frank Sinatra remodelled it with his doobee doobee do and popularised it for the album of the same title. This song meant a huge comeback for Sinatra’s languishing singing career and also won him a Grammy  for the best male singer. But personally for me this song is special because It was ringing in our heads when we met each other for the first time. The lyrics pretty much describe what was the meeting like and is a favourite for both.

John Denver-Annie’s Song

John Denver wrote this song while on a skiing trip in Aspen with his wife Annie. It is the soul stirring lyrics that make this song a winner. The tune is simple and the accompanying piano is pleasant. The poem like lyrics describe the beauty of love manifested in all the colours of nature.

Jalte hai jiske liye-Talat Mahmood from the film Sujata

Much as I thought that I would keep it an all English numbers affair, guess its not being fair to my mother tongue music I grew up listening. This song comes from one of my favourite movies too -Sujata , that was an official Cannes entry in 1959 from India. Talat mahmood has done perfect justice to the delicate lyrics penned by Majruh Sultanpuri sahib.This is a very gentle song and an element of innocence stands out in the way it has been filmed where Sunil Dutt is humming this song to Nootan over phone.

Unchained Melody-Righteous Brothers

This song is the most recorded song of the 20^th century. Again, it existed in the musical circuits long before but got its due from the movie ‘Ghost’ and thats where I heard it too for the first time. So although many singers have tried their vocal chords on this song, for me it is the Righteous Brothers’ version that sticks out. If there is any song that perfectly describes the pinning for love..it is this. Anyone who has been away from their love would instantly relate to the lyrics that stirr ones desperation to a new level.

How Deep is your Love-Bee Gees

My all time favourite band and my favourite love song. This is probably the first English love song I heard as I child and brings back all the memories of my growing up years every time I hear it. I only realised the intensity of the delightful lyrics in my teens and later. A very melodious number and rightfully won a Grammy too.

The songs that I had difficulty picking against-

Crazy little thing called love-Queen

Tu Hi Re-OST Bombay

Always on my mind-Elvis Presley

Close to you-Carpenters

Simplest Banana bread ever

Today, we woke up to a dark and gloomy morning and found on the news channel that the morning sun had been driven away by the Thane cyclone …More rain, super speed winds and a chilly temperature have been prophesised to keep us indoors well till the new year arrives.

What a bummer…I am thinking as I see my plans for a long drive to the sunlit countryside crumble in the rain. Husband is refusing to come out of the cosy comforter and my heart is sinking for a trip that never took off and a dark dreary day that will have to be spent indoors staring the rain from the window sill.

Leaving my husband to be better lazy goose than I am, I pop into action and head straight to the kitchen from the bed. On a day like this nothing lifts the spirits better than a warm banana bread and a steaming cup of coffee served straight on the bed.

From the corner of my eye I can see two old bananas in the fruit basket, blackened, crying to be consumed or waiting to be trashed. As it happens these overripe bananas which appear to be beyond the state of consumption are going to be the star ingredients of my breakfast.

Here goes my tribute to CycloneThane(with prayers that it does not cause loss of life or any damage)

This is a no fuss recipe and I love it for its simplicity and the fact that bananas which have lost the visual appeal are put to best use allowing their wonderful fruity flavour to shine out.

Ingredients

1/2cup sugar-unlike other cake recipes you  don’t have to powder it…less work!

½ cup mashed bananas-I prefer to use the bananas which appear to be goners and beyond use. However please don’t use the ones where fungus is visible on the fruit after peeling also. Two small bananas or one big one should suffice. Just peel the banana and mash it with the back of a fork. I like to leave chunks and not make it creamy .You can do it whichever way you prefer.

1 egg

½ cup oil-feel free to use healthy oils like canola or olive oil instead of the regular vegetable one

2/3 cup flour-again feel free to use whole wheat flour (regular atta)instead of the usual refined flour

1/3 cup curd-lends a nice moistness to the cake

1tsp vanilla essence

1tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

1/4tsp salt

1/4cup Chopped nuts, raisins

Here we go

1. Take a big bowl and whisk sugar into the mashed banana

2. Add the egg and whisk

3. Add curd and vanilla essence and whisk again

4. Sieve in the dry ingredients (flour+baking powder+soda+salt) together into the banana mix.

5. Fold in the dry mix with gentle upward moves and Do not vigorously mix with round movements. Do not worry about the small lumps as they give a fluffy texture to the cake on baking.

Note: If the mixture appears too fluidic, add one or two spoonfuls of flours as appropriate.

6. Add the nuts

7. Pour the mixture in a greased 4X8 baking dish

8. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until done. Cake is considered done when a fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The rain has paused already as I am admiring the gently rising light brown cake in the oven and brewing the coffee. The heavenly warm smells whiffing from the oven to the bedroom have already made my husband sit up in anticipation..

*Here in the pic I have added some grated dark choclate on top of the batter just before baking..It lends a wonderful choclaty twist to the banana cake!