A medley of melodies recreates a scene. Amidst the green coconut grove,Iam seated opposite a small water body.Verdant green shoots have sprung all around the pool.White garden roses are waving at me.All around it is calm and quiet.I want that moment frozen .I want to believe that,that moment will reveal something to me.Some everlasting truth,some epiphany.I want the green shoots to speak to me, convey their deepest mysteries: Tell me why they are so beautiful, why the most harmonious music is in the rustle of their stalks, the song of the birds or the lap of the waves? Why even the noblest of painters will find it difficult to match the colors of Nature; the russet of the sunset, the green of the leaf,the crimson of the rose, the white of the Lily and the blue of the sea.Can the green stalk answer my question? Why all Nature is in me? :The roar of the wind, the might of the ocean,the gentleness of the Zephyr or the tranquility of the mountain.Iam everything and everything is me.I will have no other work.I will bide my time under the giant banyan, looking at the sparrows building their nest or the trunk spiralling its roots into the burrows.I will be alone.Leaning against the massive girth, awaiting my call, waiting for the skies to open and spill the raindrops.
Jan 2022
Culinary trends at home
Food cooked at home has its distinct flavor while food cooked in hotels tastes almost similar. Thinking about home food reminds me of my Grandmother and my Aunt. My Grand mother was a cook whose repertoire was mainly pickles, pacchadi ( Chutney in Telugu) non-vegetarian curries and lentil soups. In the neighborhood she was famous for her culinary skills and neighbors used to talk about the flavors that wafted from her kitchen when she cooked Kandipulusu or prepared Minumula pacchadi. She was not great about the vegetarian curries but because of the liberal use of spices and chilies she was an expert with non-veg dishes. As children we looked forward to the hot ,steaming rice served alongside fiery Chepala pulusu or Royyela pulusu (Fish or Prawn curry) prepared by her. When I was away from home for months together because of my boarding school studies, these dishes kept me connected to home and warmed my heart as I morosely gulped bland fare in my hostel mess. Kodigudla pulusu or miriyam was another one of her favorite curries. One interesting thing about Grandmother was the way she cooked the dishes entirely by herself. She would not allow others to do what she could do herself, and kept to all the related things like crushing, grinding and roasting, seated before the oven in those (Pre LPG) days. She was fastidious about the taste and refused to tone down the levels of chilly powder , even for her daughter; my Aunt who was quite a contrast to her mother.
My aunt was a teacher and had to rush to her school everyday in the morning with her small tiffin box. In the little time she had in the morning, my aunt would prepare mostly vegetables boiled and treated with a little oil and some spices. She would cook: Chikkudukaya, Dondakaya,Vankaya,Bendakaya, Potlakaya, Birakaya, Tomato or green leaves. She was a vegetarian and maintained a different set of cutlery and cooked when she was not an interruption to the general household cooking which was always large because we were a joint family. But whenever she cooked some vegetarian dishes like munagaku (Drumstick leaves) considered to be a rich source of Iron or Avisaku( Green leaf said to have the property of flushing extra water from the body) my Aunt would send some portion to Grand mother. My Aunt was very good at preparing the sweet dishes and on Sundays and other holidays , we could see her making delicious sweets like: Ravva laddu, Kajjikaya, Payasam , Kesari, Kobbarivadalu, Gavvalu, Kammarkat, Mysorepak and other delicacies. She was known to be a versatile snack maker and was known to prepare snacks at very short notice. On the aspect of cooking there was always squabbling between my Grand mother and my Aunt.
My Grand mother would ridicule my Aunt’s preference for vegetarian fare and used to mix up the pans and ladles often, which were carefully kept aside by my Aunt to cook her vegetarian dishes. In her turn , Aunt would call the slaughter of animals for meat Jiva Himsa and would say so much of oil and spice was not good for the body. Both were however fond of their coffee and would have only coffee two times a day; in the morning and in the afternoon post lunch. Tea was strict No. We as children used to pester both Grandmother and Aunt for eatables and on days when the attic was clean, we roasted onions on the embers of the kitchen fire and ate them on the sly. Both my Grand mother and my Aunt stuck to their respective styles of cooking, and were never reconciled; my Grandmother , too proud to change her habit and my Aunt gentle and conscious about her values. As I grew up I enjoyed both the styles of cooking and had perhaps the best of both the worlds. Now looking back, especially as they are no more, I have come to believe, their preference and taste was actually an extension of their personality.