Monday, October 28, 2013

Post Card Art








Post Cards are a fun way of communicating. Postage (for hand written post cards) is only 50 paise. Create your own art work or messages on post cards and send them to your near and dear. I was inspired to do so by Russell Menzies and here they are - my first batch, ready to go out!










Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Cholesterol Season

The Cholesterol Season

The season after the rains is the season for feasts, the season to watch your weight. For nearly two months the South West monsoon rains lash the land, bringing relief and joy to farmers. The onset of monsoon ushers in the month of Aashada or Aadi when everything grinds to a halt. No new projects are undertaken, nothing new is started; it is considered an inauspicious month. There are no holidays and nothing to celebrate.

The month following Aashada is Shravana, which heralds the coming of the festivals. There are, of course, the festivals of Naga Panchami and Bheemana Amavasya but Varamahalakshmi is considered the major Hindu festival to open the season. This is a pooja traditionally performed by the women of the house. Thankfully, the men are allowed to partake of the grand feast that typically consists of payasam (a sweet dish made by boiling rice or broken wheat or vermicelli or just milk with sugar till it thickens to half its consistency, adding cashews, raisins, pistachios, almonds, etc. and flavouring with saffron and cardamom), aamvade (though in my house, traditionally, we make a steamed version), a beans curry and/or a raw banana curry, kosumari (a salad made from soaked green gram dal and diced cucumber or raw mango, spiked with chopped green chillies, garnished with curry leaves and coriander leaves and tempered with a pinch of hing and mustard seeds heated in oil till they sputter), yellow dal, plain rice to be had with sambar, rasam (tili saaru) and curds. The list makes your mouth water, doesn’t it?

Around the same time, the people of Kerala rejoice in the celebration of Onam, the harvest festival to commemorate the Vamana Avataram of Lord Vishnu and the annual homecoming of King Mahabali. Onam is characterized by the Ona Pookalam, a colourful arrangement of the petals of different flowers on the ground, a kind of floral “rangoli” carpet. The festival is not complete without the Onam sadya, a feast fit for kings, with more than twenty five dishes like thoran, kaalan, avial, sambar and others, topped by pal payasam (payasam made from milk) as the grand finale.

The next major festival is Krishna Janmashtami. This is a favourite with kids, for this is when they get to eat murukku (or chakli, hand-made spirals of rice flour, tempered with salt and jeera and deep fried), uppu seedai (similar to chaklis but shaped into small marbles) and vella seedai (here the salt and jeera are replaced by jaggery and elaichi and the marbles are larger). Sufficient quantities are prepared to last a week or more and children get to have them every day. Of course, the elders tuck in, too!

If Janmashtami tickles the taste buds, the next major festival has the juices flowing. Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated typically with some delicious preparations like modaka (or kozhukattai), medu vade, vellappam and the ubiquitous payasam.

There is a bit of a gap after this, and the festival season moves into top gear with Dassara. Aha! Homes are decked up for the ten day festival characterised by the display of dolls, the womenfolk visit the homes of their neighbours, relatives and friends to view the displays and the whole country is in a holiday mood.  Saraswathi Pooja and Ayudha Pooja are celebrated on the ninth day of Dassara by worshipping books, musical instruments, machines, tools, tackles and instruments which are then allowed to remain at rest for at least one day. All work comes to a standstill. The feasting, however, goes on regardless because Dassara also stands for ten days of gastronomic delights that leave one gasping for breath! Payasam (of course), kosumari, vade, and a different sundal every day.

The next major festival and perhaps the biggest of them all, Deepavali, sees the gastronome shifting into overdrive. Kilos, nay, tonnes of sweets are made, sold and consumed in those three days. Deepavali traditionally is the time for bonus payments and the sudden abundance of the moolah, albeit for a fleeting while, obscures the penury and brings out the generosity and bonhomie in everyone. And what better way to show it than by exchanging sweets? Milk sweets are the favourites, though among the wealthier classes, badam, pista and kaju sweets take preference. And a description of the food is best avoided here, for it would need many many words to do justice to it!

And then comes Sankranthi-Pongal when you can have sweet pongal, made from rice, jaggery and dollops of ghee. You get only a brief breathing space before it is time to celebrate Ugadi habba with holige and vade!

All these festivals tend to fatten one up and send the cholesterol levels up North. It is time to put on your walking shoes, don your gym wear, go forth and burn away the calories, for this is the Cholesterol Season!



Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Bommai Kolu

 Bommai Kolu

The old lady stood at the foot of the ladder, arms on her hips, supervising and directing the operations. The little boy sat in front of an open trunk in the attic, un-wrapping the dolls stored inside and handing them down carefully. His two sisters sat at the foot of the ladder, receiving the dolls handed down and dusting them.

The little boy was covered in dust and cobwebs but he was happy. He was allowed to get up into the attic only twice a year, just before Dasara and immediately after. This was something he loved to do. His sisters too were enjoying their chore; chattering away to each other while cleaning and getting the dolls ready to be put on display.

The little boy climbed down and relaxed on the floor watching them. His work was done. It was over to the ladies now.

The display steps, or “kolu padi” as they were known, were not easy to set up. It took a couple of stools, a number of biscuit tins, stacks of books, boxes, planks and the ingenuity of the grand lady to put it all together. She was a past master at this, having done it for the last so many years. She instinctively knew which tins would over go which stools at the two ends, to achieve level and balance. Finally, when the planks were in place and the whole assembly was checked for stability and passed, the steps were covered with a couple of off-white “veshtis”. It was hard toil, but the result was satisfying. The dolls could now be arranged on these steps. Granny took care of the two steps on top while the girls busied themselves with the bottom three. Traditionally, the number of steps was always an odd number.

It would be a few years before the youngest of the family would join his three siblings in Bangalore. Being old enough to climb up the ladder to the attic, he would gleefully join them in the work.

Slowly, the display took shape. At the centre of the top step was placed the “Kalasa” holding a pomegranate surrounded by mango leaves. By its side, the two “marapachi” dolls (traditional dolls, a man and a lady, made of a dark wood and dressed up in colourful costumes) were placed. On either side were displayed the Shiva-Parvati and Rama-Sita sets. On the next lower steps were placed the other sets like the Radha-Krishna-Gopikas and the marriage procession sets. The bottom-most couple of steps were given over to the single dolls, the porcelain statuettes and myriad others collected over the years.

The Dasara display was ready. Neighbours, friends and relatives would be invited to view the display. Every day a different kind of sundal would be prepared and distributed to all visitors.

Some seasons the children would create a “park”. They would spread sand (collected from the neighbouring construction site) on the ground near the display, carefully wet it and sprinkle mustard seeds over it. They would make roads and walkways and place tiny toys at strategic points. A couple of days later the mustard seeds would begin to sprout and the “park” would look green and attractive.

Now the grand old lady is no longer there. The “children” are all much older and two of them have children of their own. But the tradition continues to this day. This year too, if you take some time off to visit our home, you can see the “bommai kolu” display and savour the sundal of the day!

Happy Dasara!
Dasara habbada hardhika shubhashayagalu!