Showing posts with label Lochna Menon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lochna Menon. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A Taste To Remember
Written by: Lochna Menon aka Loe.
The strong lemon scent is the first thing that assaults the senses when the most loved of Thai soups, Tom Yam is placed on the table. There is not one person that I know of, that does not love Tom Yam or more generally, Thai cooking. Thai cuisine is known for its fragrant and spicy dishes across ages, race and borders that range from stir-fry dishes which were historically influenced by the Chinese traders and merchants, to curry, soups and dessert. Although most Southeast Asian delicacies are similar, Thai cuisine is definitely unique and distinct from others as it is healthier and uses less spice comparatively but relies more on herbs and vegetables for ingredients.
Thai cuisine greatly reflects the life of its people. Because Thailand was and is largely Buddhist, it has according to Buddhist teachings been reluctant to eat ‘strong’ meat and generally prefers to eat chicken, fish and shrimp. Thai cooking is quick and easy to cook as it uses less meat and spice, but healthier because it uses little or no oil and salt. Its clear and simple methods makes it easy to prepare and the ingredients itself are cheap, accessible and easy to grow in one’s own backyard which is a common practice among the locals.
Gayray is one of the instructors at a cooking school located along the Chiang Mai “backpacker’s alley” located near the Sompet market. She runs the business with her sister, Moon and they offer classes for half day and full day twice a day, seven days a week. The half day program is different from the whole day program in two ways – it is an hour shorter and it teaches the students to cook four dishes, as opposed to the full day program that teaches six. According to Gayray, she says that teaching cooking is more than just a business.
“It is a great place to meet people from different cultures and it makes me happy when they leave happy.”
Every morning and evening, she takes her students on a short trip to the local market that is abundant with fresh vegetables, meat and assorted rice and noodles. She explains that Thai cuisine uses two types of rice – white rice and sticky rice. The former is grown in paddy fields in the lowlands and is eaten with soup and curry whereas sticky rice, or gluttonous rice is grown on the highlands where water is scarce. Traditionally, farmers used to bring sticky rice balls with them to the paddy fields as it was cheap and filling. Today, sticky rice is used in desserts and can be eaten with mango or durian, a regional fruit. Brown rice, or unprocessed paddy rice is the most nutritious but also the most expensive of all rice. Ironically, the phrase to “eat brown rice” in Thailand is a well known adage that means to ‘be punished’ since brown rice is hard and difficult to chew.
The other staple food in Thailand, besides rice, is noodles. Like other regional cuisine, Thai food includes a variety of noodles, such as rice noodles that is similar in appearance to the Chinese “kuey teow” noodles, ‘glass’ noodles that derives its name from its transparent form, egg noodle and the like. Gayray plants most of the herbs and vegetables in her own garden, which, she admits, is more extensive than the regular ones. Galanga (Thai ginger), ginger, Thai ginseng, eggplant, tomatoes, spring onions, lemongrass, hot basil, chillies, sweet basil and lemon basil are among the many herbs that grow in her backyard. Galanga is different from the ordinary ginger because it has a more pungent aroma and it tastes sweet rather than sour.
Before she begins a class, she always makes sure to give each of her student a ‘taste’ of Thai food by serving a dish with beetle nut leaf, fried grated coconut, ginger cubes, peanuts, fresh chilies, lime cut into cubes, onions and a sweet sauce made from palm sugar, tamarind juice, salt and water. She does this because she says that this dish is traditionally used as a dish to welcome guests and also because by folding and containing all the ingredients within the beetle nut leaf and eating it, one is able to savour the different tastes – salty, spicy, sweet, sour, and bitter.
A graduate from the Chiang Mai University, Gayray previously worked as a tour guide but when she could no longer ignore her love for her Thai culture, she decided to share her passion for cooking with other people. Many have claimed that Thai cuisine actually is a variant of Chinese cuisine. Gayray explains that this is not the case.
“Thai cooking uses more coconut milk, depending on the region and uses sugar instead salt. Chinese cuisine uses a lot of oil and is cooked over a high flame,”, explains Gayray.
Gayray is something of a tourist herself and has traveled to European countries where she used to cook in exchange for lodging and spare change. She says that despite the variety in her experiences of different cuisines while traveling widely, Thai cuisine is still the best. When asked about what she thought was the best aspect of Thai cooking, she says that Thai cooking is very “emotional”.
“To cook Thai food, you must be emotional or the food will not have any taste,” says Gayray.
The strong lemon scent is the first thing that assaults the senses when the most loved of Thai soups, Tom Yam is placed on the table. There is not one person that I know of, that does not love Tom Yam or more generally, Thai cooking. Thai cuisine is known for its fragrant and spicy dishes across ages, race and borders that range from stir-fry dishes which were historically influenced by the Chinese traders and merchants, to curry, soups and dessert. Although most Southeast Asian delicacies are similar, Thai cuisine is definitely unique and distinct from others as it is healthier and uses less spice comparatively but relies more on herbs and vegetables for ingredients.
Thai cuisine greatly reflects the life of its people. Because Thailand was and is largely Buddhist, it has according to Buddhist teachings been reluctant to eat ‘strong’ meat and generally prefers to eat chicken, fish and shrimp. Thai cooking is quick and easy to cook as it uses less meat and spice, but healthier because it uses little or no oil and salt. Its clear and simple methods makes it easy to prepare and the ingredients itself are cheap, accessible and easy to grow in one’s own backyard which is a common practice among the locals.
Gayray is one of the instructors at a cooking school located along the Chiang Mai “backpacker’s alley” located near the Sompet market. She runs the business with her sister, Moon and they offer classes for half day and full day twice a day, seven days a week. The half day program is different from the whole day program in two ways – it is an hour shorter and it teaches the students to cook four dishes, as opposed to the full day program that teaches six. According to Gayray, she says that teaching cooking is more than just a business.
“It is a great place to meet people from different cultures and it makes me happy when they leave happy.”
Every morning and evening, she takes her students on a short trip to the local market that is abundant with fresh vegetables, meat and assorted rice and noodles. She explains that Thai cuisine uses two types of rice – white rice and sticky rice. The former is grown in paddy fields in the lowlands and is eaten with soup and curry whereas sticky rice, or gluttonous rice is grown on the highlands where water is scarce. Traditionally, farmers used to bring sticky rice balls with them to the paddy fields as it was cheap and filling. Today, sticky rice is used in desserts and can be eaten with mango or durian, a regional fruit. Brown rice, or unprocessed paddy rice is the most nutritious but also the most expensive of all rice. Ironically, the phrase to “eat brown rice” in Thailand is a well known adage that means to ‘be punished’ since brown rice is hard and difficult to chew.
The other staple food in Thailand, besides rice, is noodles. Like other regional cuisine, Thai food includes a variety of noodles, such as rice noodles that is similar in appearance to the Chinese “kuey teow” noodles, ‘glass’ noodles that derives its name from its transparent form, egg noodle and the like. Gayray plants most of the herbs and vegetables in her own garden, which, she admits, is more extensive than the regular ones. Galanga (Thai ginger), ginger, Thai ginseng, eggplant, tomatoes, spring onions, lemongrass, hot basil, chillies, sweet basil and lemon basil are among the many herbs that grow in her backyard. Galanga is different from the ordinary ginger because it has a more pungent aroma and it tastes sweet rather than sour.
Before she begins a class, she always makes sure to give each of her student a ‘taste’ of Thai food by serving a dish with beetle nut leaf, fried grated coconut, ginger cubes, peanuts, fresh chilies, lime cut into cubes, onions and a sweet sauce made from palm sugar, tamarind juice, salt and water. She does this because she says that this dish is traditionally used as a dish to welcome guests and also because by folding and containing all the ingredients within the beetle nut leaf and eating it, one is able to savour the different tastes – salty, spicy, sweet, sour, and bitter.
A graduate from the Chiang Mai University, Gayray previously worked as a tour guide but when she could no longer ignore her love for her Thai culture, she decided to share her passion for cooking with other people. Many have claimed that Thai cuisine actually is a variant of Chinese cuisine. Gayray explains that this is not the case.
“Thai cooking uses more coconut milk, depending on the region and uses sugar instead salt. Chinese cuisine uses a lot of oil and is cooked over a high flame,”, explains Gayray.
Gayray is something of a tourist herself and has traveled to European countries where she used to cook in exchange for lodging and spare change. She says that despite the variety in her experiences of different cuisines while traveling widely, Thai cuisine is still the best. When asked about what she thought was the best aspect of Thai cooking, she says that Thai cooking is very “emotional”.
“To cook Thai food, you must be emotional or the food will not have any taste,” says Gayray.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Always On The Run
Written by: Lochna Menon.
The people of Burma has suffered from countless human rights abuses since the military regime took over the government in 1968. Inflation, forced labour, low wages, rising unemployment, violence and injustice are now a common occurence in Burma. The Burmese people have been leaving their homeland for nearly six decades now, in search of refuge in neighbouring countries like Thailand. Most of them are comprised of the indigenous people and minorities living at the border who are at a great risk of violence at the hands of the military.
As statistics stand, there are more than 3000 Burmese refugees and temporary IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) at the border between Thailand and Burma. Other asylum seekers flee towards the borders of Laos, India, China, and Cambodia. These undocumented migrants face a lot of problems and are exploited for cheap labour while constantly living in fear of deportation. Local people do not understand the reason behind why there are Burmese refugees in Thailand, and the media often depict them in a negative light; Burmese refugees and asylum seekers become scapegoats for crimes and a means for nationalist advancements in host countries.
Burma has the highest number of child soldiers. These children are kidnapped from the safety of their homes and forced into the military. As the numbers stand, there are more than 300,000 child soldiers and this number is increasing each year. It has been said that the military prefers to use children because they are “more docile and less resistant”.
Thailand has no clear long-term policy towards Burmese migrants. It changes with the change in government. He says that previous government’s policies were more tolerant than the current one that requires migrants to bring a temporary passport as proof of their nationality. Previously, the undocumented migrants were all housed at refugee camps, but recent years have seen the government allowing them to integrate within the Thai society and allowing them to work to make a proper living. The inconsistencies of policy decisions shows that Thailand is not willing to commit to helping the Burmese refugees in the long run, nor continuously help fight for their rights.
Saya Aung Myo Min is an exile from Burma, who took part in the democratic uprising in 1988, which was organised by university students and subsequently resulted in a mass crackdown and a stricter regime. Forced to leave the country, Myo Min registered with the United Nations Human Rights Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which led to them granting him the status of refugee. Saya Aung Myo Min then co-founded the Human Rights Education Institute for Burmese (HREIB) in 2000, a organization that has tried and still tries to cultivate a human rights culture among the disallusioned Burmese who are exposed to numerous human rights abuse. The organization also assists Burmese migrants in Thailand.
HREIB targets the Burmese people themselves, using creative methods to change and open their minds to the concept of human rights and how to view violence as an abuse rather than just a daily phenomenon. They strive for a social transformation, to inculcate human rights awareness into every aspect of daily lives and to achieve this, they target community elders and leaders hoping to create a ripple effect. HREIB is actively pursuing three projects – women’s rights to combat domestic violence and rape, children’s rights to combat child trafficking and child soldiers of which Burma is reported to have the highest rate; and rights for the sexual minorities.
HREIB has many activists within and outside of Burma. In order to achieve a social transformation, Saya Aung Myo Min explained that coordination between the different agents was vital. Every year, HREIB has a meeting to discuss success stories, problems, to catch up with local news, and discuss government policies and upcoming threats.
HREIB faces many obstacles in their struggles; obstacles which are invisible to the UN Security Council table who remain quiet to protect their own national interests in Burma. Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a multilateral regional institution prefers to focus on economic growth and dare not interfere with the Burmese government out of respect of its rhetoric of non-intervention. Also, some of HREIB members at the border were assassinated and the assassins could not be located. All these increase their risk and vulnerability for the Burmese people within and outside the country, but Saya Aung Myo Min is still determined to push on. He says that he wants to tell his people not to leave, but to stay and fight.
Saya Aung Myo Min sees a positive vision for the future as he feels that his efforts are slowly but surely bearing fruit. The programs organized by HREIB are slowly gaining momentum and he says that the childrens’ program is the most successful as children are more receptive whereas the women’s program is the most difficult seeing as most men do not see domestic abuse as abuse at all but rather the norm.
In Burma, on the other hand, the public is becoming more vocal about their disappointments and is showing resistance against human right abuse in Burma is on the rise. Saya Aung Myo Min feels that there is still hope for freedom for the Burmese, and that one day, he will return home.
The people of Burma has suffered from countless human rights abuses since the military regime took over the government in 1968. Inflation, forced labour, low wages, rising unemployment, violence and injustice are now a common occurence in Burma. The Burmese people have been leaving their homeland for nearly six decades now, in search of refuge in neighbouring countries like Thailand. Most of them are comprised of the indigenous people and minorities living at the border who are at a great risk of violence at the hands of the military.
HRIEB founder, Myo, symbolically has Burmese freedom on his back
As statistics stand, there are more than 3000 Burmese refugees and temporary IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) at the border between Thailand and Burma. Other asylum seekers flee towards the borders of Laos, India, China, and Cambodia. These undocumented migrants face a lot of problems and are exploited for cheap labour while constantly living in fear of deportation. Local people do not understand the reason behind why there are Burmese refugees in Thailand, and the media often depict them in a negative light; Burmese refugees and asylum seekers become scapegoats for crimes and a means for nationalist advancements in host countries.
Burma has the highest number of child soldiers. These children are kidnapped from the safety of their homes and forced into the military. As the numbers stand, there are more than 300,000 child soldiers and this number is increasing each year. It has been said that the military prefers to use children because they are “more docile and less resistant”.
Thailand has no clear long-term policy towards Burmese migrants. It changes with the change in government. He says that previous government’s policies were more tolerant than the current one that requires migrants to bring a temporary passport as proof of their nationality. Previously, the undocumented migrants were all housed at refugee camps, but recent years have seen the government allowing them to integrate within the Thai society and allowing them to work to make a proper living. The inconsistencies of policy decisions shows that Thailand is not willing to commit to helping the Burmese refugees in the long run, nor continuously help fight for their rights.
Saya Aung Myo Min is an exile from Burma, who took part in the democratic uprising in 1988, which was organised by university students and subsequently resulted in a mass crackdown and a stricter regime. Forced to leave the country, Myo Min registered with the United Nations Human Rights Commisioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which led to them granting him the status of refugee. Saya Aung Myo Min then co-founded the Human Rights Education Institute for Burmese (HREIB) in 2000, a organization that has tried and still tries to cultivate a human rights culture among the disallusioned Burmese who are exposed to numerous human rights abuse. The organization also assists Burmese migrants in Thailand.
HREIB targets the Burmese people themselves, using creative methods to change and open their minds to the concept of human rights and how to view violence as an abuse rather than just a daily phenomenon. They strive for a social transformation, to inculcate human rights awareness into every aspect of daily lives and to achieve this, they target community elders and leaders hoping to create a ripple effect. HREIB is actively pursuing three projects – women’s rights to combat domestic violence and rape, children’s rights to combat child trafficking and child soldiers of which Burma is reported to have the highest rate; and rights for the sexual minorities.
HREIB has many activists within and outside of Burma. In order to achieve a social transformation, Saya Aung Myo Min explained that coordination between the different agents was vital. Every year, HREIB has a meeting to discuss success stories, problems, to catch up with local news, and discuss government policies and upcoming threats.
HREIB faces many obstacles in their struggles; obstacles which are invisible to the UN Security Council table who remain quiet to protect their own national interests in Burma. Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a multilateral regional institution prefers to focus on economic growth and dare not interfere with the Burmese government out of respect of its rhetoric of non-intervention. Also, some of HREIB members at the border were assassinated and the assassins could not be located. All these increase their risk and vulnerability for the Burmese people within and outside the country, but Saya Aung Myo Min is still determined to push on. He says that he wants to tell his people not to leave, but to stay and fight.
Saya Aung Myo Min sees a positive vision for the future as he feels that his efforts are slowly but surely bearing fruit. The programs organized by HREIB are slowly gaining momentum and he says that the childrens’ program is the most successful as children are more receptive whereas the women’s program is the most difficult seeing as most men do not see domestic abuse as abuse at all but rather the norm.
In Burma, on the other hand, the public is becoming more vocal about their disappointments and is showing resistance against human right abuse in Burma is on the rise. Saya Aung Myo Min feels that there is still hope for freedom for the Burmese, and that one day, he will return home.
"Never Give Up" reflects the efforts of
the organization 22 years after their earliest, most turbulent days
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Profile: Lochna Menon
Lochna. In Sanskrit, it means sight. But by no means do I have good sight! What I do have is a vision, to learn more, to become more empowered, to inspire and be inspired. I’m currently pursuing a double major in International Studies and Writing. International Studies, because it teaches me about the different aspects of what it means to be international – be it history, politics, migration, globalization, feminism, and writing because it gives me an outlet to express myself. During free time, I usually read or write; I read books, blogs, poetry and manga (my favourites are Lee Hyeon Sook, Kaori Yuki, Keats, Larkin, John Clare, and ‘Comfort Woman’ by Nora Okja Keller) and write poems. My ambition is actually to become a writer, but I also want to become a journalist because my goal is to inspire and be inspired, and journalism seems like a good way to live. However, I also realize that I am still very young and very green – as cliché as that sounds. That’s why I’m very happy to meet new people and new cultures.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
