No one can resist the temptation of having a couple of hot idlis drowned in delicious sambar. Imagine coconut chutney (thenga chammandi) is accompanying this heart stopping combination! A ship can easily float in the mouth now, isn’t it? I can see it from here, from this desert.
The homesick, expats of India always long for this. In their yearning for being in the company of their much cherished traditions, they definitely recreate whatever they followed in their beloved home in India. Many a time, these acts of re-building the tradition do not go beyond symbolism, to put it with a little displeasure.
I have a very funny story to tell about the coconut chutney or otherwise called in Malayalam “ thenga chammandi”. Let me take you to an innocent childhood. A childhood that has been cared and showered with affection by a rustic, down to earth old woman with the help of another equally old woman.
Grandma is the best thing on the earth that was ever created by God. Like everyone else, I too had a woderful grandma. She was very sincere in her love and very serious in our up bringing. Of course, the ignorance and innocence of a village grown woman was evident in her too.
She could never help us in our home work. She could never even read a word in Malayalam, because she was illiterate. Interestingly, the only home work I used to do in my lower classes were copy writing. Malayalam copy writing in two lined book and English in the four lined book. But, still, luckily, we had a good Brother to compliment grandma’s ignorance. He took over the responsibility of educating us well. He did his job the way a brother is expected to do. Not even a day passes by in my life without remembering him.
Ask no more. These were the words the care- taker of the orphanage used to tell the inmates in the famous Dickens story Oliver Twist, while disbursing the gruel. Oliver twist recollects those stories so vividly in his “memoirs”. I can never draw a parallel with any of the incidents that happened to Oliver Twist in my childhood days.
I just quoted those infamous words, only to tell you that my grandma too used to utter these words in disgust when she runs out of our favourite thenga chammandi. But for the similarity of the words, there is no comparison possible between any of the people in the strory and my grandma.
We two brothers, ie the one who is just elder to me and myself used to consume a lot of chutney while eating idlis and dosas. We sit together always for the food sessions. Laced with a lot of love and affection, grandma serves us idlis with delicious chutney. But, she innocently utters the words ‘ask no more’. She receives an immediate response from both of us. We needed a lot of chutney to eat each idlis. Making a big quantity of chutney was very difficult, because we did not have a mixer at our home. Meenakshiyamma makes the chutney on the crushing stone. She could make it for us. She never gets tired of serving us. Even a half part of a coconut was not enough to satisfy our needs.
We two never left her. We sit at the table itself, making all types of nuisance to her. Disgusted grandma shouts the same words many times - ask no more. We are unmoved. I tap the plate with spoon or hit the plate on the table. My brother even turns violent sometimes. He throws the plates and spoons. We have some bent spoons at our home even now! Still she had never beaten us nor even uttered a word that might hurt us.
She used to wake up at 4 in the morning along with her aide, and prepare all our breakfast and lunch by the time we get ready for school. She considered it her solemn duty. This spirit deserves a salute indeed. The commitment was unconditional. The attitude was unmatched. The love was no holds barred.
After a long battle of nerves between grandma and the two of her grandsons, grandma surrenders. Coconut is ground, made chutney and served. Meenakshiyamma never complained about the extra efforts for our sake. It could be very difficult for the two elderly women to cook food as they have to depend on crushing stone to crush the coconut and cook in primitive wood stove. We had no gas stove or a mixie at that time. We quietly consume the extra chutney and leave the scene quietly. This was a regular scene in our house for a long time.
Recaling those events now makes us a little embarrassed, though it evokes laughter at times. Whenever we remember our grandma, we could never help reminiscing these incidents. With a sense of apologies to our loved grandma, may I offer a few petals of gratitude in her memory
This story taught us a lesson too. Never say no to a child. Whenever little Govind demands something, which I can not meet, still I say yes and then, slowly divert his attention from his objective. This saves a lot of our energy. We need not fight with him, make him cry and then patch up with him.
I get another opportunity to remember my beloved grandma and of course our Meenakshiamma when Govind fights for the things he needs! Perhaps, while enjoying the best facilities at the Heaven, grandma must be rejoicing the events that unfold here. The hunter is now hunted!
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