Down by the memory lane - A nostalgia

"Paal ice, cup ice, cone ice" - the voice sounded loud and grave. In that scorching heat of April when schools remain closed for summer the iceman is strolling his ice cart and selling the morning made ice creams rather I would say "popsicles". Kids in the streets are playing outdoors not too responsive of that sultry heat. Hearing the bell and voice of the iceman they run to their respective homes to get coins (yes just coins). "Give me a rose milk ice", "give me paal (milk) ice", "give me orange ice", the kids asking for their choice of ice cream handing 25 paise to the ice cream man. Some are still contemplating over what to pick waiting to see what kajana (treasure) he has. He slowly opens his crate and takes out one by one those popsicle and hands off to the kids. His price for cup ice (ice cream cup or cone) is at the max one rupee. All kids got their deal and started enjoying their no plastic wrapped, mildly sweetened popsicles.

This was how most of our childhood days were spent especially those summers. There were no summer camps, no tuition and no extra curricular classes. All we did was play! play! and play! till we all got tired or hungry.

Remember the times when we used to run to a neighborhood anna's (brother) shop and ask for a then mittai (honey chocolate), orange mittai (a naturally flavored candy), murukku etc with no other thoughts in mind. Those shop owners filled their glass jars with such goodies every morning and by evening most of them got emptied. Though sugar was naturally involved we never had cavities or tooth decay. Parents never feared that kids will get fever or catch cold because of infection or poor hygiene though there'll be air of warnings at times but not much. The shop owners just used to hand off these goodies with their bare hands, not using disposable gloves. All wrappings were done with just plain papers that were bio-degradable. Plastics were hardly involved!

Tired of playing, we would run home to eat those steamed panam kizhangu (sprouts of asian palmyra palm tree) or steamed yams, boiled corn or peanuts. Our friends had a regular vendor for panam kizhangu (pictured below), an old lady. She gives the best kizhangu and gives us a piece of advice to eat jaggery after having the kizhangu as these shoots are supposed to increase your "pitha" (reference to ayurveda) and hence the jaggery.

(picture sourced from internet)

My friend's friend's parents were running a mobile cart stall infront of a high school near our home, in which they sold hot hot spicy peas sundal. The taste of it is incomparable. The usually store the sundal in a glass container covered well so it stays fresh. Indeed at later times I tried recreating this recipe with no big success. I couldn't really get close to that taste. It had a subtle taste of masala and saunf. This couple used to bring their cart in the afternoon and park it in a shade and make their hot sundal waiting for the school bell. By the time the school is empty their cart would have been emptied. If I wanted to buy this sundal (which usually happens almost every weekend) I would usually go early afternoon else I'll have to see the empty cart.

Some snacks like roasted pattani (dried peas), nellikkai (goose berry or amla), elandha pazham (jujubi or bher) and elandha vadai (sweet and spicy jujubi patties), javvu mittai (those stretchy candies which can be made into watches and shapes) all flashes into memory at times. We were surrounded by such traditional snacks those days. What we get now are those boxed, processed snacks rich in trans fats and hydrogenated oils that's been stored for days in plastic bags. Along with snacks our kids taste chemicals too. Study reveals, plastic release dioxin which can cause hormone imbalances leading to early puberty in girls. It is a potential carcinogen and can cause reproductive issues in humans.

Our next generation will never get to experience such a carefree life anymore. Kids are put under pressure to do good, they are racing now leading to all childhood stress, obesity and even diabetes. Environment is polluted. Everywhere it's plastic! plastic! and plastic!. In a tropical country like India all the wastes were usually bio-degradable and became compost that fertilized the lands. This has become a thing of past. We are leaving our great practices and rich culture behind to follow something that cause cause an un-repairable damage. Shouldn't we stop and think what we are feeding to our new generation? Can't we spend that extra minute to make some unprocessed snack for our kids? Afterall they are the pillars of support for the next generation. It is our job to curb use of plastics, recycle/reuse things, eat healthy, feed healthy and stay healthy.

Hope you all got a nice flashback of your childhood days. Enjoy!

Forgotten past - a little chatter

India is very rich and diverse in culture as everyone know. We were good innovators too. Even in olden times we got ways to use best tools to grind, sort, mill all the grains. These mechanical tools are forgotten these days. My post is intended to bring back all those good old memories of the forgotten past :-)

Ammi Kal (mechanical stone grinder) - First and foremost is famous "Ammi kal" which is basically a very thick granite stone that has been surfaced and a thick granite stone roller rolls on top to grind masalas (spices), chutney's etc. The items to be ground/crushed are placed in the bottom slab while people move the roller with their hands to grind/crush them. The chutneys or spices ground this way usually had some "extra" flavor in it. I remember there would be people coming on the streets shouting asking if your ammi kal needs to be resurfaced or made rough. They used to shout in their loud voices like this, "Ammi kuthardhu kodakkal thurardhu". In mid 90s, the ammi kal slowly lost its luster and got replaced by an electric blender/mixer that does the job with a press of button. Luckily till this date my parent's home has this ammi kal and my mom uses it at times though not regularly.

Kal Ural or Kuda kal or Aattu kal (Stone grinder) - Years back when we were kids, there used to be a big stone bowl shaped thingy with a small round pit and a roller like the one above sitting inside that pit, in almost everyone's backyard. It was used to grind batters for idlis/dosas/adai or vadai. My grandmother used to soak rice and dhal every few days and hand grind religiously in that stone grinder. She would keep moving the urad dhal with one of her hands and swing the roller into clockwise rotation or anticlockwise rotation. Idlis made with the hand ground batter fermented with no issues and were fluffy and soft. Those stone grinders called "Kal Ural" or "Aattu kal" in Tamil, used to be a part of everyone's household. Ladies never had to go to gym to do upper body strengthening or pushups or weights. Their arms went naturally stronger with this equipment. Now with time constraint and stress we lost this wonderful equipment to what we call the current day "Wet grinder" which is again a push button electrics.

Yendhiram - India is a land of agriculture. The countries produces a lot of pulses, grains. seeds etc. Each family owned some piece of land and did a self sustained life. Now in-order to process these grains what they used is a again a type of stone grinder which had 2 heavy round stone slabs with a hole to put the grains in and a wooden handle on the top slab. The bottom slab stayed still why the top slap was rotated (holding the wooden handle) to crush the pulse or grain to hull them. It was how women in the neighborhood and family also socialized. They used to sit with this chore in the mid afternoon after lunch and do it all the way until evening while singing songs, telling stories etc. During my school days one aaya (helper) used to come to our home to husk moongdal and urad dhal. She would usually start the process in the morning and take a break for her lunch and a coffee. By evening most of it will be done. The husks were used as a fodder for cattle. My brother and I used to sit with mouth opened to watch this whole process. I have even used it a couple of times. I tell you its very heavy and takes 2 people to do this chore. Imagine how stronger the arms would get. This tool is called "Yendhiram" in tamil meaning "machine". We have given this to grain mills now that are commercialized and forgotten them.

picture sourced from internet

Muram (winnowing basket) - Muram or winnowing basket looks like a flat tray or dust pan with no handle. It is typically used to remove stones or dust or husk that are still mixed with grains/seeds. They were usually made out of bamboo. The grains or seed mix is first layered in this pan, the mixture is fanned and thrown into air. Wind blows away the lighter chaff leaving the actual grain behind. In old times it is usually the job of old ladies in the family to do this work while younger ones attended other chores. I remember when I was young, my grandmother used to grind paper and apply it on the basket. This is usually done to protect the basket from any pest infections. This again was a kind of workout for the ladies during those no gym times.

There are more like brass uruli (brass vessel) that cooked authentic foods, kalchatti (soapstone saucier to make special dishes like sambar, kootu kinds), eeya chombu (a heavy vessel with an alloy of tin and zinc used to make rasam in), man chatti (clay pot) that cooked the best fish etc.

With this fast paced world, we are all in a hurry. We left all these treasures behind and run to gyms or look for personal trainers. These equipment used to be the trainers those days. Our kids get to see all of these in museums or if luck would prevail in their ancient villages. Isn't our duty to bring back all those good that were part of our very own society. Lets start thinking about it. Till then Enjoy!

Uma