Bond and bonding

 

 

Rama Rama Rama Pahimam... the sound of pure bliss coming from the corridors of my traditional home. My Ammamma's chanting. Chanting mantras, shlokas etc., while doing her daily chores was her practice which we kid observed adoringly, her ability to remember each verses of Ramayana was amazing. Her daily routine begins at sharp 4'O' clock in the morning. The first thing which she would be doing is (adupu tekal) that is cleaning and polishing the mud stove with cow dung and mud water. Which not only sanitizes the kitchen but also purifies it. The mud stove would be lit up with chopped woods or fallen dried branches collected from orchards which would be stacked on attics/ tattu of the adukala/ kitchen. She used to  stand on the kitchen platform and would pull out the required woods for lighting up the aduppu. Once lightened water would be kept for boiling for her bath. The next ordeal is milking the cow,🐄 we children would follow her to the (touithu) cowshed. Ammamma would call out to her cow very affectionately, all the cows and calfs kept in the( touithu) have names and respond by mooing accordingly. She would feed the cows first with Kaalitheta/ cow feeds, and the calfs with fresh banana. They licked her hands with affection, an eye-catching sight indeed with the morning breeze cooling down your body and mind. The calfs would now be allowed to drink milk of the mother cow before milking. Ammamma will take out one cow from the cowshed and would tie her up to a tree near by for milking.She would keep a patram/vessel for milk,  and with a slight pat to the cow's (adikku)udder with water she will start milking. All this while Ammamma will be continuing her chanting of mantras and we kids would be observing her with utter silence. This morning scenario was a bliss worth watching absorbing the nature's nector. Sometimes during her milking sessions we would play a prank. The cow would be tied in such a way that the cow 🐄 would be facing the side opposite to  Ammamma; while milking, her hind legs would be tied down and  Ammamma would be sitting under her udder and milking her. Ammamma won't be able to see the one standing in front of the cow. Seeing the cow tied down we naughty and now courageous children would feed the cow with banana🍌 which was  really dangerous, for the cow seeing the feed would start kicking her legs to reach the feed,which might hurt Ammamma too. This sudden dis balance results in the spilling of the milked milk in the vessel, on to the ground, doing the bhumi pujan. We all within a second would vanish out of her sight hiding. The day then turns into a day of lathi charging by Ammas. All the excitement of the morning were out on clouds and our eyes would be doing the sharavarsham(raining tears), with, in between thunder of sobs.

 

Ammamma after her bath would do tulsi pooja. And the daily chores of activities will begun. One of Ammamma's daily activity included churning of curd into butter. This was the most exciting one as we all would crowd around her for the freshly churned butter. During her churning which takes approximately one to two hours she will be telling us stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.This stories of her was once again refreshed to me after a long time, when I read it through AmarChitra Katha books, which I used to buy for my children. After the churning these curd mutkas with the churned butter in them would be hanged high up on Urri to keep away the cats and other pests. These high hanged Urris would be our next target of prank. Oh what a wonderful childhood we had. We were completely bonded by the threshold of nature and were resting in the lap of innocence blissfully.

 

Now coming to my story as I told you, the cows and cowshed or thouithu were an ordeal of every household in Kerela on those days. Where, not only cow for milking were kept, but bulls and 🐂 oxen too were kept for the farming purposes also. There was a thouithu in my Acchama's place too. It so happened that one of Acchama's cow got lost while grazing. After the milking session all the cows are usually taken for grazing to the fields or parambu/open areas of the owner, and they would be grazing till evening and will return back on one call lining up for their evening feed of Kanji vellam. Even if they get lost, that is, they wander away in search of mate for mating and returns themselves safely to the place where they are reared within a day or two. Now my Acchama's cow didn't return even after a week, a complaint was registered in the Panchayat about the loss. After a week, some of the native villagers spotted the cow, with somebody, in an another field and reported it to Acchama. In Acchama's place the cows were taken care by our Valiamma(Bua) and Valiamma had given a particular name to each cow of hers. She went to Panchayat and reported about the latest developments in the case. The person was summoned but inspite of accepting that the cow is not his, he started arguing and claiming the cow to be his.The argument continued and there was no way to prove whose, the cow was. So the Panchayat decided to go and see the cow itself. All villagers, Valiamma and the other man went to the field where the cow was tied down. Seeing the cow, Valiamma recognised immediately,

and called out to her "Sitakutty"..........the cow 🐄 gave a large mooing sound and ran towards Valiamma and started licking her hand. The case solved Valiamma got back her 🐄 cow.

 

The bond was so strong in those days that not only humans but animal too were tied down by sheer love.

 

Blessed and blissful era.

 

 

Begun bhaja/ Brinjal fry

Brinjal Round

Brinjal is an authentic vegetable used in all house hold in every part of India. This is a rich source of Vitamin"C" and helps in controlling blood sugar and heart diseases.

Ingredients

1. Bharta Brinjal- 2 
2. Tumeric powder-1 tsp
3. Red chilli powder-1 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil for deep frying

Method

Cut the Brinjal into two halves first and then into broad pieces. Apply tumeric red chilli powder and salt. See pic below 👇 Keep aside for ten minutes for marination. Heat oil in a kadai/wok, when hot deep fry the marinated brinjal pieces two at a time to retain the crispisiness and also to fry evenly. See pic blow.👇

Fry until brown and crips.


The Brinjal fry/Begun bhaja is ready to be served.

This is an accompaniment of a lunch or dinner menu. This fry can also be called as veg fish fry of vegeterains or veggans.

My mom's easy recipe. And all time favourite of Bengalis and of course mine too a half bong

Pic: self clicked.

Eyewear

Running down the memory lane.......I would like to take you all to some memorable incidents of my childhood, which led me, to my first spectacles. In those days television and music system were a luxury item, and a very few houses used to have a Television. The one who was owning a television was considered richest in that colony. And the children of that house would boast about it and their attitudes too would be of showy prince or princess with pride. All  the near by people will crowd around in that house for watching the TV programmes or movies, which Doordarshan telecasted on weekends. I  a movie addict, too, was a frequent visitor to my neighbours house to watch the weekend movies till we owned a television. The year was 1982 the year of Asian Games and the introduction of colour to the Indian television by Doordarshan. From that year full fledged telecast started and Doordarshan became a National Broadcaster. The colour was introduced for the live telecast of the Opening Ceremony of Asian Games which was being held in Delhi India, and for the upcoming sports events. A real proud moment for India and Indians and the occasion too was a big ordeal. In order to watch the Asian Games,my family too bought a television I was flying high boasting about the television to my friends in school and my neighbours. In order to check the colour telecast, Doordarshan was telecasting its first Hindi film  on television.The film was Geet Gata Chal,which was to be shown at 5.30pm on a Sunday. Our living room had turned into a cinema hall, curtains drawn lights off,  Sofas sidelined and sheets laid for sitting on ground. All our neighbourhood had come over to watch the film. The drawing room was overcrowded. I was feeling high over heels and was sitting right in front of the television.  Me,  a Bollywood freak used to think sitting in front would take me closer to my hero. And since the television was now my own, the feeling of my hero in front of me was more realistic to me. I never used to budge even a little for any one. Oh !oh!  I forgot to tell one thing. This precious television was always kept high on a showcase so that nobody would reach it or touch it. So you see,  me sitting in front will have to protrude my neck long enough /high enough like a giraffe🦒 to watch my hero. The film started with the beautiful title song🎵 Geet gata chal o sati......I and all my viewers were fully engrossed in the movie and were in the peak of enjoyment  when the television started humming khar......khar......khar....khar..khar....... khar...villian was the FAN of our neighbours, staying on second floor, below our flat.They belonged originally to Dhaka so they usually visited during vacations to this house, most of the time their house  used to remain locked without maintenance and this led  to a creaky sound in thier ceiling fans. The khar khar sound of the fan was so strong that it not only gave a splitting sound to your ear, but lines on the TV screen as well. Those days technology wasn't that hi-tech so these problems were there, even if you run your mixie the screen of your television got disturbed. Thus a perfect time slot had to be maintained for your cooking and watching television. The whole excitement of watching the film was lost. "Pura kachumbar ho gaya"  The film couldn't be watched any further. Everyone moved out slowly with a drawn face. All excitement of watching the film drew into anger😠but since fighting and fight with neighbours wasn't our ordeal so had to be calmed down myself 🥶.  The neighbour down stairs never used to stay long, but whenever they came our TV would definitely turn into a dabba.  Me a ardent TV addict used to find out various methods to watch my movie. One such method was sneek peek. There was a building close to ours which was a feet apart. Those days windows of houses were very huge. One was least bothered about privacy etc.Thus I used  to sneek into my neighbours drawing room, from my balcony. And my neighbours too was kind enough to keep their windows open for us to sneak into.  This was my practice every Sunday. For Doordarshan  used to show movies only on Sundays. Now to my story these immense watching of television took a toll on my vision. And at a tender age of 12yrs I owned my spectacles. My beautiful eyes was forever behind the eye wear. Amma was the most shattered.  I was now called as Chasmish,  or chasmulli, by my siblings and teased along by my friends in school.  Till now I am a chasmish but now I feel this chasma is my glamour. And I feel this lifts my personality. I am still a Bollywood freak and love watching films. Thanks to the technology and network which kept my company during this lockdown period and lol!! My mobile phone, which is my best friend now who helps me writing down all these to reach you all.😊

Pic courtesy Google images. 

Paccha tiyal without the roasted masala. All greens tiyal

A combination dish

Green tomatoes

Raw Banana

Green pumkin

Cluster beans

Raw papaya

Cluster beans, raw banana, raw papaya, green pumkin,green tomatoes. You can make your own green vegetable combination.

Cluster beans, raw banana,raw papaya and green pumkin are a good source of Vitamins and fibre.

Ingredients

1. Cluster beans- 100 gms

2. Raw papaya- 100 gms

3. Raw banana- one

4. Green pumkin,- 100 gms

5. Green tomatoes- 2

6. Green chillies-5

7. Grated fresh coconut-a cup

8. Coriander seeds- 2 tbs

9. Tamarind pulp - 2 tbs

10. Curry leaves a few

11. Coconut oil -2 tbs

12. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

13. Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp

14. Salt to taste

15. Water- 3 glass

Method

Cut the vegetables into small pieces including tomatoes. Keep aside. In a pan (earthern pot would be better) boil the vegetables adding tumeric powder, salt and two glassess of water, excluding tomatoes. Once half cooked add the tomotoes and cook well until soft and cooked.Grind together grated fresh coconut,green chillies,and corainder seeds to a fine paste. Keep aside.

Dry roast the meethi seeds and grind it to a powder. Keep aside. Soak the tamrind in a glass of water. Extract the pulp.

Keep aside. Place the pan with the boiled vegetable on gas stove on medium flame. Pour the tamrind extract, let it boil for five minutes. Add the grounded paste and boil further for two minutes. Switch off the flame add the powdered meethi seed powder,

curry leaves and two table spoon coconut oil. Paccha tiyal is ready to be served with rice.

Pic courtesy Google and self click.

Swagger

The river

In this post I will be taking you all to my  native place Kerela. Kerela as you all know is a full fledged bounty of nature and my grandparents, Ammamma's and Acchama's place was an abode of nature's bounties. Green paddy fields, coconut groves, mango groves beetlenut groves banana plantations, cashewnut trees, jackfruit trees, coffee shrubs,pepper vines,beetle leaves vines, vegetables, tamarind tree, flower bushes etc. In the midst of all these were ponds, where one can have a bath in the morning as well as in evening. These ponds were usually used by women flock for bathing and washing clothes without wasting one's time going to the riverside. There were wells too which would be attached to the kitchen and one or more well would be there in the mango orchards for watering and irrigation purposes.

Our most enjoyable part of the year was the summer vacation. Vacation in those days meant, visiting our grandparents and most importantly cousins especially, the maternal ones. All my cousins from different parts of the country too, would be visiting Ammamma during summer holidays. Thus a huge crowd. We all enjoyed our holidays sharing clothes,toys,books,singing,howling and crying. Learning different languages were the most interesting part, tamil, marathi, bengali and most common Hindi. The whole house would turn out to be a warehouse of noice,chitter and chatter.

To avoid chaos Ammamma had a disciplined schedule for all of us. All children should get up early by 5.30 and should do their clean up routine,Brushing bathing etc. Modern facilities of pipes and separate bathrooms were not there in my Ammamma's place and not even a electric connection. So the huge crowd of people taking bath in the bathroom were time consuming as well as hectic schedule since water had to be drawn from the well. So the kids battlion was taken care of by Amma who was everyone's adorable(Mausi) Cheriayyamma and also the naughtiest one.The pond being small for the battlion, Amma would gather everyone and would take all of us to the river. The river was a bit far from our house. The track eleven 🚶 was  very interesting with Amma moving ahead and we children at her back chatting and doing all odds without her noticing. On reaching the river 🏞️ we all would jump into the river swimming, shouting, and catching fish 🐟 with the mundu. The best part was the bet on diving. One should dive standing on one's spot and holding one's breath should come out wading🏊 through from the other end. The winner is the one who  can hold the breath longer. Amma the village bele used to be the winner always. After the hectic schedule of bathing and washing we all would be relishing "KANJI" (rice gruel) with loads of ghee (neyyu) kondatam, appalams, papadams, chamandi pudi (chutney) and kadagu manga(tender mango pickle). Oh!! What a lovely break fast that was.

After breakfast everyone (children)should move out and should only be seen at Lunch time. All ladies would take over to prepare the lunch menu singing and sharing their daily experiences and enquiring about other family members etc. Amma used to be the happiest sitting in the warmth of her mother's love as well as love of sis-in-laws. She was a free bird here unloading all her responsibilities, for, the rest of the year she will be doing the same routine work in the confinements of the four walls. Lunch too would be sumptuous with all goodies and everyone would move out for the afternoon slumber.

Evening session was full with activities. Since there was no electricity "Ranthal" lantern were used. All the lantern glasses were to be cleaned with ash to remove the smokiness. All these cleaning and lighting the diyas were done by the children. Diyas would be kept in all corners of the house and also in the Puja room.  Sandhya Aarti would be done by Ammamma alongwith the nama japa by children.

Our holidays were divided into two parts first fifteen days in Ammamma's place and next fifteen days in Acchama's place. Acchama was a  strict personality with loads of love for her grandchildren. She was very possessive of her grandchildren and wouldn't allow us  to play around in the open or inside since she felt we would fall and would hurt overselves. She thought us to be fragile city breeds who wouldn't be able to adjust to village livings. So in Acchama's place we were extra vigilant, while playing and talking. On one such holidays there was an event in my Acchama's place, my great grandfather's 80th birthday. All were busy greeting the guest and feasting, between all these hustle and bustle we kids were brushed aside. Taking this opportunity  all of us sneaked out to the mango orchard and began our naughty activities. My sis was the naughtiest in our group and also a Tom boy. She had a plan  to show everyone that we city brats were no less than the nadan kuttigal( village born and brought up ones). So now, she, with the help of all of us,moved a huge rock and moving it towards the well, plunged it into the well. Splash 💦💧a huge loud noise emerged. We all got frightened and hid ourselves behind the bushes far away from anyone's reach. The sound was so huge that everyone came to the spot and started searching for us. But we due to the fear of us being scolded didn't budge from our hideouts or made any noise. All was panic  striven and thought we might have slipped into the well. Acchama called helpers  who came with buckets and ropes. Amma started crying, hearing her sobbing, my sis too lost her control and strated crying out loudly.  We all came out from our hideouts trembling with fear and sobbing. Everyone gave us a sharp look. Amma cajoled us and took us inside and lol!! Amma the policewali started beating us black and blue. My Tom boy sis got ENTANGLED in her own web of mischief. And all her Swagger faded away with tears rolling down her cheeks.
My little sis our Tom boy is still known by her mischiefs. She was smart enough to avoid Amma's warth and canning. Me on the other side was the (dholki) doldrums of Amma.

Self clicked pictures

Cheera Avial/ Green chaulai saag

Green Chaulai is a very good source of  Vitamin 'C'. It contain good dietery fibre which is very good for digestive health and it's laxative properties gives a relief to constipation. It's  a complete meal with immunity boosters. 

Ingredients

1. Green Chaulai- 1 kg

2. Raw mango - 1small

3. Green chillies- 5

4. Grated fresh coconut, a cup

5. Turmeric powder-1tsp

6. Shallots-5

7. Cummin seeds-1 tsp

8. Coconut oil-1 tbs

9. Salt to taste

10. Water- half glass. 

Methods

Clean the Chaulai nicely. Chop the green chaulai and raw mango into small pieces.

In a large pan put the chopped chaulai along with chopped raw mango, salt, turmeric powder and half glass water.  Cover and cook until done. It should be cooked well but no extra water. If you find it watery do drain the extra water. Grind together grated coconut, greenchillies, shallots and cummin seeds to a coarse paste.

Add this coarse paste to the cooked Cheerai/Chaulai, mixing well,cook for two minutes on a low flame. Remove from flame and add 1tablespoon of coconut oil.

Your Cheerai Avial is ready to be served. You can serve it as an accompaniment or with steamed rice.

Pic courtesy Google images

Kulthi/Horsegrain/(Muthira and raw papaya puli)curry.

Horsegrain/Kulthi dal is a staple food mostly consumed in Southern parts of India. This miracle food is a rich source of vitamins and fibre. It is a very good food to keep your Kidneys healthy. One should include this health booster in one's menu. In Malayalam it is known as Muthira.

Ingredients

1. Kulthi dal- 100gm

2.Rawpapaya-50gm(half papaya)

3. Green chillies-2

4. Whole red chillies-2

5. Grated fresh coconut- a cup

6. Tamarind pulp- 2 tbs

7. Cummin seeds- 1 tsp

8. Tumeric powder-1tsp

9. Salt to taste

10.Shallots(Madras onion)-6

11. Coconut oil-2 tbs

12. Water - 4 glass

Method

Clean dal dry in a sieve (chalni) and remove any impurities present in it. Heat a wok/kadai and dry roast the dal on low flame for few minutes until you hear crackling sound. The dal breaks open while roasting.

Transfer it into a bowl, let it cool. Take a lemon size tamarind and soak it in lukewarm water for 10minutes. Extract the pulp and keep aside. 

Cut the raw papaya into small pieces

Grind together grated fresh coconut, green chillies, whole red chillies and cummin seeds  in a mixie. Keep aside.

 

Wash the roasted Kulthi dal nicely. In a cooker cook the Kulthi dal alongwith the raw papaya pieces, adding tumeric powder,salt and two glasses of water, six whistle. Transfer the papaya  kulthi dal mixture into a pan. Dilute the tamarind pulp with the remaining two glasses of water. Pour the tamarind water into the pan of papaya dal mixture, mix well. Place the pan on stove and let it boil for ten minutes. Add the grounded masala(gratedfreshcoconut,red chillies,greenchillies,and cummin paste) to the pan and boil further for 5 minutes. Switch of the flame.  

For the tempering chopp the shallots finely into small pieces.

Take a tempering pan, pour two tbs coconut oil, when hot add the chopped shallots and fry until brown. Pour this tempering over the curry and mix well.

Kulthi dal raw papaya puli is ready to be served.

(Pic courtesy Google images)