Dear Friends,
This is an episode I may never be able to forget nor have I been tempted to attempt it ever.
A relative and an admirer of mine wanted help in cooking for a large number of people for our family function. So I suggested we all organized our workloads in such way that each will be responsible to make 2 or 3 dishes sharing time slots in the same kitchen.
It was a novel idea and was a huge success except for the main sweet dish we call 'payasam' (a porridge) with milk and sugar as base. This relative's daughter was to prepare the main sweet dish while I was concentrating on mine nearby.
The daughter kept the dish on boil mode asking her mother to keep stirring it and went on some errand. Her mother poured some payasam into a glass to taste. I saw her taste it and also saw how half spill over a dirty counter. It was scooped into the glass again. In the few seconds and before her daughter could come in, she poured the dirty stuff into the big dish saying we should not waste anything!!
I knew what that payasam will taste like later on. Sure enough the payasam curdled and the entire dish was gone as soon as the small amount of that scooped stuff was poured in.
At such times it is wise not to think of the wastage. One can keep it separately and drink it too without spoiling the entire thing meant to be served to all guests.
I still wonder about such kind of philosophy even now. Whenever I am confronted with a choice I never have second thoughts, I just junk such things rather than suffer a thoroughly spoilt dish.
The guests were commenting about the payasam. The daughter was so puzzled but dint know how it got spoilt. I dint reveal nor did her mother as she was afraid of the reaction from her daughter.
Mahalakshmi.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Avakka and Thangai (Mango Pickle and Younger Sister)
Dear Friends!
Let me explain some terminology so that you can understand what I want to convey today!
Avakka is an Andhra special pickle made of raw mangoes, fine powders of chilli and mustard, salt and enough sesame oil to soak the cut mangoes.
Akka is elder sister in Tamil.
Thangai is younger sister in Tamil.
What does an Avakka, akka and thangai have in common you might wonder. There is, there is.
My husband's sister had made some avakka and shared it with us before going away to Abu Dhabi last month.
My brother-in-law (husband's brother) has come down. As I was serving him food, he wanted to taste the avakka pickle at home. Just to keep the conversation going I told him it was not av'akka but thangai pickle!
He dint understand and I asked him to guess why I was saying thangai instead of av-akka for this pickle.
He came up with some other ingredients for the thangai pickle instead of the usual ones for avakka! He tried taking a few more guesses. I hinted that he could just ring up Abu Dhabi and say the pickle was nice. Even then he just could not connect!
Then I asked him who was in Abu Dhabi? He named his sister's husband who works there! I had to tell him the connection by asking the following questions :D
Where is your sister?
She made the pickle.
She is your thangai.
So this is not akka pickle but a thangai pickle :D
We all had a laughing session after that.
Then later in the day today, I was asked to make the Andhra peanut powder (groundnuts, salt, chilli and other masalas) for someone and I had run out of stock of peanuts.
So I requested my brother-in-law to buy some raw peanuts from a nearby shop.
When I opened the packet I was surprised to find dried green peas in them!
He innocently asked me whether I dint want the dried green peas (Green chana or battanna)! Then I knew again that he had translated the pea to green peas and bought dried green peas instead of groundnuts or peanuts!
I knew I had not communicated properly to him what exactly I wanted.
We should never presume that everybody knows everything that we know.
May god give us patience to extract work from others by communicating in simple and effective way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Let me explain some terminology so that you can understand what I want to convey today!
Avakka is an Andhra special pickle made of raw mangoes, fine powders of chilli and mustard, salt and enough sesame oil to soak the cut mangoes.
Akka is elder sister in Tamil.
Thangai is younger sister in Tamil.
What does an Avakka, akka and thangai have in common you might wonder. There is, there is.
My husband's sister had made some avakka and shared it with us before going away to Abu Dhabi last month.
My brother-in-law (husband's brother) has come down. As I was serving him food, he wanted to taste the avakka pickle at home. Just to keep the conversation going I told him it was not av'akka but thangai pickle!
He dint understand and I asked him to guess why I was saying thangai instead of av-akka for this pickle.
He came up with some other ingredients for the thangai pickle instead of the usual ones for avakka! He tried taking a few more guesses. I hinted that he could just ring up Abu Dhabi and say the pickle was nice. Even then he just could not connect!
Then I asked him who was in Abu Dhabi? He named his sister's husband who works there! I had to tell him the connection by asking the following questions :D
Where is your sister?
She made the pickle.
She is your thangai.
So this is not akka pickle but a thangai pickle :D
We all had a laughing session after that.
Then later in the day today, I was asked to make the Andhra peanut powder (groundnuts, salt, chilli and other masalas) for someone and I had run out of stock of peanuts.
So I requested my brother-in-law to buy some raw peanuts from a nearby shop.
When I opened the packet I was surprised to find dried green peas in them!
He innocently asked me whether I dint want the dried green peas (Green chana or battanna)! Then I knew again that he had translated the pea to green peas and bought dried green peas instead of groundnuts or peanuts!
I knew I had not communicated properly to him what exactly I wanted.
We should never presume that everybody knows everything that we know.
May god give us patience to extract work from others by communicating in simple and effective way.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Household Expenses
Dear Friends,
This morning my mother was walking down memory lane. She had this story to tell for today, though I have heard it many times, I will record it for posterity for you all!
Her aunt's daughter-in-law was always given a fixed amount as household expenses by her husband each month. She would be very fond of deep frying papads, snacks, tiffins like puris, brewing strong South Indian coffee, etc., and her excuse for making anything special had to have a strong reason as her husband would scold her if she were to ask for more money before the month ended. She had to account for every little household expense for him. They had a large family those days with their children alone numbering about 7 or 8.
It seems she would invite some guest or the other and take that as an excuse/opportunity to make special items for them and feed the entire family to sumptious meals and tiffins. Her provisions for the month would be over within a fortnight.
She would account under the heading 'guests' to escape her husband's questioning. She must have been a very popular host serving all her guests with so much affection.
Those were the days when women stayed strictly at home to look after the family. The sole earning member would be the man. This was in the late 1930s.
Atithi Devo Bhava!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
This morning my mother was walking down memory lane. She had this story to tell for today, though I have heard it many times, I will record it for posterity for you all!
Her aunt's daughter-in-law was always given a fixed amount as household expenses by her husband each month. She would be very fond of deep frying papads, snacks, tiffins like puris, brewing strong South Indian coffee, etc., and her excuse for making anything special had to have a strong reason as her husband would scold her if she were to ask for more money before the month ended. She had to account for every little household expense for him. They had a large family those days with their children alone numbering about 7 or 8.
It seems she would invite some guest or the other and take that as an excuse/opportunity to make special items for them and feed the entire family to sumptious meals and tiffins. Her provisions for the month would be over within a fortnight.
She would account under the heading 'guests' to escape her husband's questioning. She must have been a very popular host serving all her guests with so much affection.
Those were the days when women stayed strictly at home to look after the family. The sole earning member would be the man. This was in the late 1930s.
Atithi Devo Bhava!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Unconditional Love
Dear Friends,
We all know unconditional love is got from one's parents as a matter of course and most times it is also taken for granted.
In a Tamil TV serial 'Tendral' which is about the struggle of a young girl to do her engineering at any cost and what all she has to undergo to achieve that is what the story line is all about. The father who does not like this daughter now starts liking her a lot and takes her to a garment shop to buy her new clothes as her college is about to start. This is the first time he is buying her clothes out of love and affection. Seeing this particlar episode reminded me of my own two sisters.
The eldest one is a very affectionate type and treats my youngest sister as her own daughter though she is younger by only 8 years. I remember how the eldest would take the youngest to shops in T.Nagar and buy her good sets of clothes to wear to college, then to office once she got employed and the for her marriage. This kind of love is pure gesture without pre-conditions. It comes from the heart.
It makes both happy to be able to do for another and for the other to recieve it.
When I recall such beautiful and unforgettable moments, I feel we have to be born in such close knit families to experience such unconditonal love. We are blessed because we are born in certain families where all are there for one another. It takes some effort on the part of every member in such family to give our love unconditionally so that there is happiness in the family circle.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
We all know unconditional love is got from one's parents as a matter of course and most times it is also taken for granted.
In a Tamil TV serial 'Tendral' which is about the struggle of a young girl to do her engineering at any cost and what all she has to undergo to achieve that is what the story line is all about. The father who does not like this daughter now starts liking her a lot and takes her to a garment shop to buy her new clothes as her college is about to start. This is the first time he is buying her clothes out of love and affection. Seeing this particlar episode reminded me of my own two sisters.
The eldest one is a very affectionate type and treats my youngest sister as her own daughter though she is younger by only 8 years. I remember how the eldest would take the youngest to shops in T.Nagar and buy her good sets of clothes to wear to college, then to office once she got employed and the for her marriage. This kind of love is pure gesture without pre-conditions. It comes from the heart.
It makes both happy to be able to do for another and for the other to recieve it.
When I recall such beautiful and unforgettable moments, I feel we have to be born in such close knit families to experience such unconditonal love. We are blessed because we are born in certain families where all are there for one another. It takes some effort on the part of every member in such family to give our love unconditionally so that there is happiness in the family circle.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Bajji Bonda Temptations
Dear Friends,
Yesterday as I got off the auto on a main road I crossed over and went into the famed Adyar Bakery to buy some wheat bread and stuff.
The aroma of deep frying of savories wafted through the air from a nearby tiny shop just adjacent to this super store cum bakery.
The bajji and bonda kadai has been there since the past 30 odd years. Its still functioning from the same side-lane off the main Sardar Patel Road.
The moment we smell of the stuff all the advise from our doctors to keep cholestrol down goes vanishing into thin air. Off we head towards to see what is frying in the pan for the day. I go there very, very occasionally. Yesterday I was wondering why. I came away from work sooner than normal.
Standing amidst a sea of humans - all eager to buy anything hot and devour them in no time.
There were a host of them from the frying pan to the huge tray from where it was packed quickly against verbal orders from all around.
There were molaga (mirchi or chilli) bajjis, bondas (with and without stuffed potato curry), medu vada, cutlets, pakoras, onion vadas and some sweets too like badushahi.
All of the savories are made from the bengal gram flour with little variations and consistencies in mixing the dough. The vada is made from urad or green dal.
The sweet is made from refined flour or maida as we call it.
The common factor here for the wonderful taste is the oil in which all these are deep fried.
They bring one big pan of oil to a boil then start off with the batches of sweet for the day. Then continue to deep fry all the savories one after the other in the same hot oil for as long as there are people asking for stuff. By 9pm they close shop.
Its transfat, its reused oil, its darkish oil, its bad for our heart and is full of bad cholestrol, etc., etc, Yet our heart yearns for such kind of things. Our feet drag us there. The aroma is over powering to resist. We throw all caution and good advice given by our doctors and well wishers and have a dig at these.
If this indulgence is once in a while then its ok but for those who have this compulsion it gets difficult as the blocks in arteries can never be cleaned whatever excercises we may work at every day. Like actress Shabana Azmi said in a recent interview that putting on weight for roles demanding is fun and reducing is possible later but whatever happens to the greasy deposits along the blood streams which no excercising can take away. This is a valid point.
Take care and walk away from deep fried items if you can.
Mahalakshmi.
Yesterday as I got off the auto on a main road I crossed over and went into the famed Adyar Bakery to buy some wheat bread and stuff.
The aroma of deep frying of savories wafted through the air from a nearby tiny shop just adjacent to this super store cum bakery.
The bajji and bonda kadai has been there since the past 30 odd years. Its still functioning from the same side-lane off the main Sardar Patel Road.
The moment we smell of the stuff all the advise from our doctors to keep cholestrol down goes vanishing into thin air. Off we head towards to see what is frying in the pan for the day. I go there very, very occasionally. Yesterday I was wondering why. I came away from work sooner than normal.
Standing amidst a sea of humans - all eager to buy anything hot and devour them in no time.
There were a host of them from the frying pan to the huge tray from where it was packed quickly against verbal orders from all around.
There were molaga (mirchi or chilli) bajjis, bondas (with and without stuffed potato curry), medu vada, cutlets, pakoras, onion vadas and some sweets too like badushahi.
All of the savories are made from the bengal gram flour with little variations and consistencies in mixing the dough. The vada is made from urad or green dal.
The sweet is made from refined flour or maida as we call it.
The common factor here for the wonderful taste is the oil in which all these are deep fried.
They bring one big pan of oil to a boil then start off with the batches of sweet for the day. Then continue to deep fry all the savories one after the other in the same hot oil for as long as there are people asking for stuff. By 9pm they close shop.
Its transfat, its reused oil, its darkish oil, its bad for our heart and is full of bad cholestrol, etc., etc, Yet our heart yearns for such kind of things. Our feet drag us there. The aroma is over powering to resist. We throw all caution and good advice given by our doctors and well wishers and have a dig at these.
If this indulgence is once in a while then its ok but for those who have this compulsion it gets difficult as the blocks in arteries can never be cleaned whatever excercises we may work at every day. Like actress Shabana Azmi said in a recent interview that putting on weight for roles demanding is fun and reducing is possible later but whatever happens to the greasy deposits along the blood streams which no excercising can take away. This is a valid point.
Take care and walk away from deep fried items if you can.
Mahalakshmi.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Coonoor Trip
Dear Friends,
Today I got time to continue where I left off about our family trip to Ooty and Coonoor trip some years back.
Needless to say this was also a wonderfully calm and beautiful place with greenery all round.
It was early morning when we had taken the taxi to reach Ooty. Coonoor comes first on the way. While going up those hills we could see students standing in the morning assembly and singing some prayers. Schools were visible from the roads. There are many residential schools this these two places.
Flowers on the roadside were so attractive that I had to control my urge to stop the car and pluck them all!
Jackfruit and other fruit bearing trees grew wild in the valleys and there were lots of monkeys and elephants feeding freely from nature's bounty.
We came to see Coonoor from our hotel in Ooty later.
We saw the Pastuer's Institute and spent time there. Then it was the Sim's Park across the road.
This park has a lot of rare and aging trees brought and planted by Sims centuries ago.
As usual we enjoyed walking in the garden. When we came out I wanted to buy some of those squashes and jams made by the cottage industry run by the government. The counter had items listed but there was not a single soul inside the cabin to sell! We kept waiting for someone to come. I remember the time was around 3pm and the counters close down beyond 4.30pm. We were told that the lady manning the counter had gone to get some kerosene oil and groceries for her officer (during office hours). Then she appeared huffing and puffing with some excuses about how they have to take care of their superiors' needs too. We bought some jams. While we were waiting for this counter to open I observed something very unusual happening near the ticket counter of Sims' Park. I think nobody even pays any attention to what goes on in such places.
Entrance tickets are sold at this counter which is normal practice.
The fellow at the entrance takes your ticket and lets you in which he does. He has to tear it in half before allowing visitors in. He dint do that. Neither did he return back the tickets to those going inside the park unless they insisted on it.
He collected many tickets in this fashion and would head off to the counter. There he would reach for a glass of water, take a few sips and put all the tickets collected from visitors in a very discreet manner inside the counter. A kerchief would always be there in his hand to hide this activity from prying eyes.
The man at the counter would pass on those tickets to new entrants wanting to purchase the tickets to visit the park inside. This just went on several times. Since we had to wait for the squash and jam counter to open we observed this activity keenly. Otherwise we would never have noticed such an event happening.
What a way to cheat the government. What a way to earn money by recycling sold tickets to gullible visitors.
The employees seemed to know all this and perhaps had a cut in all these deals for they looked away when all this took place at the counter.
I can never forget this event at all, as its deeply embedded in my memory as if it happened just yesterday.
Then we visited a cherry tree farm. Brought back a lot of cherries home and made a gooey jam out of it. The cherry was so naturally reddish pink in color and quite sour. Only sugar needed to be added and we had this wonderfully tasting jam of cherries.
The sight of nature so close makes us wish we had a place here to call our own. to grow vegetables in our backyard and to enjoy the fresh, cool air day in and day out. To let our eyes feast on those beautiful flowers seen everywhere due to the cool weather alround the year.
Enjoy your day.
Mahalakshmi
Today I got time to continue where I left off about our family trip to Ooty and Coonoor trip some years back.
Needless to say this was also a wonderfully calm and beautiful place with greenery all round.
It was early morning when we had taken the taxi to reach Ooty. Coonoor comes first on the way. While going up those hills we could see students standing in the morning assembly and singing some prayers. Schools were visible from the roads. There are many residential schools this these two places.
Flowers on the roadside were so attractive that I had to control my urge to stop the car and pluck them all!
Jackfruit and other fruit bearing trees grew wild in the valleys and there were lots of monkeys and elephants feeding freely from nature's bounty.
We came to see Coonoor from our hotel in Ooty later.
We saw the Pastuer's Institute and spent time there. Then it was the Sim's Park across the road.
This park has a lot of rare and aging trees brought and planted by Sims centuries ago.
As usual we enjoyed walking in the garden. When we came out I wanted to buy some of those squashes and jams made by the cottage industry run by the government. The counter had items listed but there was not a single soul inside the cabin to sell! We kept waiting for someone to come. I remember the time was around 3pm and the counters close down beyond 4.30pm. We were told that the lady manning the counter had gone to get some kerosene oil and groceries for her officer (during office hours). Then she appeared huffing and puffing with some excuses about how they have to take care of their superiors' needs too. We bought some jams. While we were waiting for this counter to open I observed something very unusual happening near the ticket counter of Sims' Park. I think nobody even pays any attention to what goes on in such places.
Entrance tickets are sold at this counter which is normal practice.
The fellow at the entrance takes your ticket and lets you in which he does. He has to tear it in half before allowing visitors in. He dint do that. Neither did he return back the tickets to those going inside the park unless they insisted on it.
He collected many tickets in this fashion and would head off to the counter. There he would reach for a glass of water, take a few sips and put all the tickets collected from visitors in a very discreet manner inside the counter. A kerchief would always be there in his hand to hide this activity from prying eyes.
The man at the counter would pass on those tickets to new entrants wanting to purchase the tickets to visit the park inside. This just went on several times. Since we had to wait for the squash and jam counter to open we observed this activity keenly. Otherwise we would never have noticed such an event happening.
What a way to cheat the government. What a way to earn money by recycling sold tickets to gullible visitors.
The employees seemed to know all this and perhaps had a cut in all these deals for they looked away when all this took place at the counter.
I can never forget this event at all, as its deeply embedded in my memory as if it happened just yesterday.
Then we visited a cherry tree farm. Brought back a lot of cherries home and made a gooey jam out of it. The cherry was so naturally reddish pink in color and quite sour. Only sugar needed to be added and we had this wonderfully tasting jam of cherries.
The sight of nature so close makes us wish we had a place here to call our own. to grow vegetables in our backyard and to enjoy the fresh, cool air day in and day out. To let our eyes feast on those beautiful flowers seen everywhere due to the cool weather alround the year.
Enjoy your day.
Mahalakshmi
Monday, June 28, 2010
My Dream House
Dear Friends,
As a family we had the opportunity to check out Ooty while on a visit to Mysore in 2003 . We were busy sight-seeing entire days and were booked on the last but one day to see Belur-Halebid which was Rs.100 odd per person. Per chance I started reading a board on which sights nearby were mentioned against rates per head. Ooty was also the same price per head as Belu trip and I knew instantly that we were very near Ooty which our family had never visited earlier. When I requested a change from Belur to Ooty the guys agreed without any protest! We were asked to report at the same place like on all previous days at around the same hour.
Next day we were packed into a mini van with 10 others and went up the hill through Bandipur. I kept joking and asked my sons to look out for the notorious Veerappan but all we could get to see were some wild elephants blocking roads and some deer in passing.
A couple of hours later we were in Ooty. We were all so surprised and so happy being in such a beautiful place. It was cool. It was green all round. There were beautiful gardens all over the place. On the slopes were tiny bungalows, big hotels, tea gardens, vegetable patches - I wanted to get down and feel the lettuce and cauliflowers, had they allowed me to.
We saw only a couple of places like the lake and the botanical garden, as the driver insisted we have breakfast and lunch and then shop for things like tea, homemade chocolates, etc. even though all of us were interested in seeing more places.
Then by 4pm we were all bundled into the van and before long we were on our way back to Mysore. We could buy fresh carrot, cherries, etc but dint seem to have enough of Ooty that day.
Our sons were so happy about this trip, they said they wanted to study in some college in Ooty if they can. Alas, there was no engineering college there otherwise I would have somehow managed to fulfil their wish. Both started wishing to live in Ooty in future. As they were about to get enrolled in their engineering courses that year in Chennai, I knew it would take some time before planning something on these lines as I liked the hill station too.
Before they left for higher studies abroad, I wanted the family to revisit Ooty another time but at our pace, so we booked into a hotel and stayed there for 3 days not forgetting to book our return from Ooty to Mettupalayam by the mountain rail.
This time we visited nearby Coonoor which is lovely too. I feasted my eyes on the flowers in the botanical gardens first, then off we went to check how milk and cheese were processed in the only dairy in Ooty. Then we checked many smaller joints for breakfast and dinner (we ate some of the best phulkas and sabjis in a small rajasthani hotel but could not get the dal batti) as lunch time was sight-seeing time with steamed corn cobs, fresh fruits and vegetables even as we travelled in a local tourist car.
We saw almost everyhting there was to see. The weather was so beautiful. The clouds touched our hotel in the mornings. We hunted for patches of vegetables gardens everywhere we passed bt but could not get anywhere near them. Then our guide took us to a tea plantation. We promptly stopped near the outlet selling their produce of tea but the factory itself was closed for the day due to the weekly machinery maintainence schedule. This we missed seeing.
But we could buy very good tea from the plantation's very own outlet.
Then we went to a farm where some special cherries grew. I got them and made them into a jam later. It was sour and very good to taste in the sweet jam.
A day was devoted to Coonoor where we went to the Pastuer's Institute where my sis's in-law worked for a very long time. Then just across the road, we walked into the Sim's Park. There are about 2 or 3 incidents about Sim's Park which I shall share with you in my next blog! Let me get Ooty details out first.
There was half day still left at Ooty on the last day and I wanted to check out the vegetable market. The fruits and vegetables were all so very fresh, just plucked out of the ground from farms around. It was a riot of colors which I may have seen for the first time in India - deep purple capsicum and cabbage, beautiful oranges, yellows, deep greens, deep violet in brinjals and beans, the whitest in cauliflowers and lightest green in cabbages.
After feasting my eyes on nature's colors, I began to compare the prices between Chennai and Ooty. I was very disappointed as the prices were just the same.
Then I went in search of the spices and readymade jams, jellies and juices.
Passion fruit juice was the best of the lot. I am still using the cinammon sticks, nutmeg and mace to flavour my pulaos.
The thought of lugging so many things back was a deterent, nevertheless, buy I did to my heart's content.
I made sure I hunted for the passion fruit too and then there was a fruit called Bamblimaas. I have never seen it before but usually we mothers use 'bamblimaas' as an endearment for our kids when they are roly poly, rounded and cute as babies.
I can never ever forget this trip for one thing though!
On the last but one day when we went up the hill to see a view from the telescope, we paused to buy some table raddish which a relative from Chennai strongly recommended among other things like having dinner at the Rajasthani hotel, tasting passion fruit juice, buying freshly baked Warki and Eclairs at the local bakeries!
She had suggested we eat the table raddish raw. Never imagined such a little thing to pack such a punch as a natural laxative! It was so strong that I felt my stomach cramp even while the juicy thing went down the gullet. Through the evening and well into the next morning I got very weak from visiting the washroom with the table raddish bent on cleansing my insides, inside out!! But managed to take some medicines which we had carried and shopped for all our last minute items. I bought 2 kgs of the Warki especially made for us freshly at 10am! The Warki is a multi-layered baked item which feels hard on the outside, roundels but is very crisp and melt-in-the mouth made from refined wheat flour, butter, salt and sugar.
My sons were eager to sit by the window in the Blue Mountain but as soon as the train started chugging out of the station I had to put out my head to puke and all through I did just that. I will never forget the little table raddish all my life ever!! :D
The little raddish taught me never to indulge in anything new about which we dont know anything about, especially while on a holiday and travelling. What a way to learn the lessons of life and the teacher could be as little as a table raddish for all you know. If possible bring back these new things to experiment when you are back home but never try untested things while travelling.
Coming back to my dream home - I am still dreaming of a house on a patch of land somewherre in Ooty or Coonoor or Kodaikanal or these days Yercaud is fast taking over my senses. My mind is building a beautiful cottage in one of these beautiful hill stations. I see a garden with vegetables and flowers in full bloom. I drink hot tea in the afternoons while sitting on a lounge chair overlooking the valley.
How can I ever forget the Rose Gardens? If it is Ooty, my dream cottage should overlook these Rose Gardens. I imagine many pass through this garden while I admire all the roses in so many shades and sizes. Yes my dream home is somewhere near this rose garden for sure. If its Yercaud, its going to be the horticulture garden where annual flower festivals are held.
I shall dream on until I make this for real.
Appulu, my father, taught me to dream about the lovely things of life. He was always an optimist.
Appulu I miss you, but know that your soul keeps following me and blessing me.
One day I shall make this dream too come true. That's my promise to myself.
Dreams dont cost us anything except the effort to turn them into reality, God willing.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
As a family we had the opportunity to check out Ooty while on a visit to Mysore in 2003 . We were busy sight-seeing entire days and were booked on the last but one day to see Belur-Halebid which was Rs.100 odd per person. Per chance I started reading a board on which sights nearby were mentioned against rates per head. Ooty was also the same price per head as Belu trip and I knew instantly that we were very near Ooty which our family had never visited earlier. When I requested a change from Belur to Ooty the guys agreed without any protest! We were asked to report at the same place like on all previous days at around the same hour.
Next day we were packed into a mini van with 10 others and went up the hill through Bandipur. I kept joking and asked my sons to look out for the notorious Veerappan but all we could get to see were some wild elephants blocking roads and some deer in passing.
A couple of hours later we were in Ooty. We were all so surprised and so happy being in such a beautiful place. It was cool. It was green all round. There were beautiful gardens all over the place. On the slopes were tiny bungalows, big hotels, tea gardens, vegetable patches - I wanted to get down and feel the lettuce and cauliflowers, had they allowed me to.
We saw only a couple of places like the lake and the botanical garden, as the driver insisted we have breakfast and lunch and then shop for things like tea, homemade chocolates, etc. even though all of us were interested in seeing more places.
Then by 4pm we were all bundled into the van and before long we were on our way back to Mysore. We could buy fresh carrot, cherries, etc but dint seem to have enough of Ooty that day.
Our sons were so happy about this trip, they said they wanted to study in some college in Ooty if they can. Alas, there was no engineering college there otherwise I would have somehow managed to fulfil their wish. Both started wishing to live in Ooty in future. As they were about to get enrolled in their engineering courses that year in Chennai, I knew it would take some time before planning something on these lines as I liked the hill station too.
Before they left for higher studies abroad, I wanted the family to revisit Ooty another time but at our pace, so we booked into a hotel and stayed there for 3 days not forgetting to book our return from Ooty to Mettupalayam by the mountain rail.
This time we visited nearby Coonoor which is lovely too. I feasted my eyes on the flowers in the botanical gardens first, then off we went to check how milk and cheese were processed in the only dairy in Ooty. Then we checked many smaller joints for breakfast and dinner (we ate some of the best phulkas and sabjis in a small rajasthani hotel but could not get the dal batti) as lunch time was sight-seeing time with steamed corn cobs, fresh fruits and vegetables even as we travelled in a local tourist car.
We saw almost everyhting there was to see. The weather was so beautiful. The clouds touched our hotel in the mornings. We hunted for patches of vegetables gardens everywhere we passed bt but could not get anywhere near them. Then our guide took us to a tea plantation. We promptly stopped near the outlet selling their produce of tea but the factory itself was closed for the day due to the weekly machinery maintainence schedule. This we missed seeing.
But we could buy very good tea from the plantation's very own outlet.
Then we went to a farm where some special cherries grew. I got them and made them into a jam later. It was sour and very good to taste in the sweet jam.
A day was devoted to Coonoor where we went to the Pastuer's Institute where my sis's in-law worked for a very long time. Then just across the road, we walked into the Sim's Park. There are about 2 or 3 incidents about Sim's Park which I shall share with you in my next blog! Let me get Ooty details out first.
There was half day still left at Ooty on the last day and I wanted to check out the vegetable market. The fruits and vegetables were all so very fresh, just plucked out of the ground from farms around. It was a riot of colors which I may have seen for the first time in India - deep purple capsicum and cabbage, beautiful oranges, yellows, deep greens, deep violet in brinjals and beans, the whitest in cauliflowers and lightest green in cabbages.
After feasting my eyes on nature's colors, I began to compare the prices between Chennai and Ooty. I was very disappointed as the prices were just the same.
Then I went in search of the spices and readymade jams, jellies and juices.
Passion fruit juice was the best of the lot. I am still using the cinammon sticks, nutmeg and mace to flavour my pulaos.
The thought of lugging so many things back was a deterent, nevertheless, buy I did to my heart's content.
I made sure I hunted for the passion fruit too and then there was a fruit called Bamblimaas. I have never seen it before but usually we mothers use 'bamblimaas' as an endearment for our kids when they are roly poly, rounded and cute as babies.
I can never ever forget this trip for one thing though!
On the last but one day when we went up the hill to see a view from the telescope, we paused to buy some table raddish which a relative from Chennai strongly recommended among other things like having dinner at the Rajasthani hotel, tasting passion fruit juice, buying freshly baked Warki and Eclairs at the local bakeries!
She had suggested we eat the table raddish raw. Never imagined such a little thing to pack such a punch as a natural laxative! It was so strong that I felt my stomach cramp even while the juicy thing went down the gullet. Through the evening and well into the next morning I got very weak from visiting the washroom with the table raddish bent on cleansing my insides, inside out!! But managed to take some medicines which we had carried and shopped for all our last minute items. I bought 2 kgs of the Warki especially made for us freshly at 10am! The Warki is a multi-layered baked item which feels hard on the outside, roundels but is very crisp and melt-in-the mouth made from refined wheat flour, butter, salt and sugar.
My sons were eager to sit by the window in the Blue Mountain but as soon as the train started chugging out of the station I had to put out my head to puke and all through I did just that. I will never forget the little table raddish all my life ever!! :D
The little raddish taught me never to indulge in anything new about which we dont know anything about, especially while on a holiday and travelling. What a way to learn the lessons of life and the teacher could be as little as a table raddish for all you know. If possible bring back these new things to experiment when you are back home but never try untested things while travelling.
Coming back to my dream home - I am still dreaming of a house on a patch of land somewherre in Ooty or Coonoor or Kodaikanal or these days Yercaud is fast taking over my senses. My mind is building a beautiful cottage in one of these beautiful hill stations. I see a garden with vegetables and flowers in full bloom. I drink hot tea in the afternoons while sitting on a lounge chair overlooking the valley.
How can I ever forget the Rose Gardens? If it is Ooty, my dream cottage should overlook these Rose Gardens. I imagine many pass through this garden while I admire all the roses in so many shades and sizes. Yes my dream home is somewhere near this rose garden for sure. If its Yercaud, its going to be the horticulture garden where annual flower festivals are held.
I shall dream on until I make this for real.
Appulu, my father, taught me to dream about the lovely things of life. He was always an optimist.
Appulu I miss you, but know that your soul keeps following me and blessing me.
One day I shall make this dream too come true. That's my promise to myself.
Dreams dont cost us anything except the effort to turn them into reality, God willing.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
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