Is it possible to open a newspaper or switch a news channel without hitting upon the impact of the two Asian giants on the rest of the world?

I think not, as India and China hit the headlines with unerring accuracy every day in every way. In some circles, the two names have been linked to concoct the concept of Chindia.

While pundits of politics and experts of economics pontificate on the ramifications of the large strides the giants are making on the global map, I humbly limit myself to watching the impact at the micro, nay, nano, level in my own little cosmos, as I spend my time shuttling between Mumbai and Shanghai.

One of the most visible and delicious ways of viewing the cultural connections is watching the way cuisines make inroads between the two countries.

In Shanghai, in the spate of a few months, Indian restaurants have begun to grow and grow like Topsy, with two of them neck to jowl in Thumb Plaza in Pudong, singing and dancing to Bhangra beats to make their presence felt.

Just a year ago, when I came to Shanghai on my first visit, my husband took me to an Indian curry place. It was in a lively setting, with a curved bridge and jars of spices enticingly lining the entrance. There was an English menu, the main deciding factor for us to venture into new eateries.

It was great to see familiar Indian dishes on the menu and we ordered a perennial Indian favourite...Tandoori Chicken, which is usually huge hunks of a succulent, spicy, superbly seasoned, ravishingly red, broiler cooked in an earthen oven or tandoor.

But what we were served seemed more like a mild salad of onions, tomatoes and capsicum with little slivers of chicken dotting the plate.

"This is not Tandoori chicken", we protested.

But the waiter was adamant. "This is the tandoori chicken our Chinese customers like," he said with final authority.

So we ate our meal with resignation and a soupcon of disappointment but if we did not protest more, it was because we are aware how Chinese cuisine has been altered beyond recognition in India and this was just a mild case of Touche in the battle of battered recipes.

While Indian Roti Paratha has a corner in many food courts in Shanghai in the last five years or so and there are at least a dozen popular places serving very authentic Indian cuisine in Shanghai alone, Chinese food made inroads into Indian restaurants a few decades ago.

So we in India have had a lot of time and leisure to contort Chinese cuisine and mould it into a medley of spices for a sea change into something rich and strange.

My earliest favourite link to Chinese food is a comic strip of Dennis the Menace in which Joey and Dennis are digging away with toy shovels in their garden and Margaret is standing by, arms akimbo and with in her usual sullen, superior look on her face.

"Margaret, why don't you help us dig a tunnel to China? " asks Dennis

"Because I don't like Chop Suey" says Margaret.

This was in the days of old when perhaps digging a tunnel would have been the only plausible way of reaching the heart of China and Chop Suey was believed to be the real Mc Coy of Chinese food.

The American version of Chinese cuisine, with Chop Suey and Chow mein, travelled across the world. Chinese food in India began as a local variant of the American Chinese food and transformed itself to suit the local palate.

The first entrant, which is still a hot favourite, was Chinese sweet corn soup, made from creamed tinned sweet corn thickened with corn flour paste and topped with chopped spring onions.

Over the years, Chinese food crept out of restaurants and into the street food and grocery stores.

Today, there is hardly any town in India, where you will not find "Chinese dishes" in the most humble of restaurants and cafes and handcarts selling Chinese noodles and soup are a familiar sight in any street corner.

However, it is unlikely that any man, woman or child from China will find any familiar taste, texture or recipe, compared to the food eaten in China.

"Indian Chinese" food is delicious, spicy, addictive and popular and it has been tailored and customized to create a purely vegetarian variant and even a version which eschews onion, garlic and ginger which are taboo among some communities.

Food is not the only connection to China for the common man in India. Feng shui is as much a favourite topic as the Indian Vastushastra in designing homes and offices and Chinese Kites, fireworks and Santas add to the festive scene through the year.

Chinese history is taught in major detail in undergraduate classes and the contribution of Chinese travellers to ancient India is a lesson learnt by every school child.

I guess there is no need to dig a tunnel to China anymore!

(China Daily 05/27/2006 page4)