My special co-brother

My mother picked the required quantum of coriander leaves from the field in front of my ancestral house in Birthi village in Udupi district in Karnataka, washed it in water drawn fresh from the well and ground the same with appropriate quantities of tamarind, green chilies and a little grated coconut. The aroma of the chutney could be experienced from a distance of 100 meters or more. Even the water used in washing the grinding stone was not wasted. It was mixed with rice (boiled rice soaked in water overnight) and a little coconut oil. Viola! You have the tastiest item for your breakfast which no Kellogg or similar junk food routinely taken off the shelves of the supermarkets by the modern people can match. This was around fifty years ago.

Imagine my surprise when the coriander chutney and even the water used in washing the mixer was presented to me for my dinner in a flat in Ahmadabad in 2004. I had gone to Ahmadabad for inspecting my bank’s main branch in the city and paid a visit to my co-brother who was manager in a nationalised bank in the city. He was staying alone and prepared the item for eating the ‘ganji’ in the mornings. He also prepared the payasam of rice flakes (Paradi). After a month of tasting all kinds of Guajarati food from Rajkot to Surat this dinner was like elixir and the eating experience was unforgettable. He is known for his culinary expertise and hospitality. He entertained not only those staying alone like him but also families of colleagues. When he gave me a small box full of the said chutney at the airport for my young daughter who likes it very much I was really touched. Last week when he visited Bangalore for some health problem he did not forget to bring the chutney for my daughter.

His one more trait is to bring items liked by us whenever and for whatever reason he visits our place. Last week he also brought onions in bunches,(You may find this in Mangalore stores with an astronomical price tag) mangoes, brinjals and South Kanara style mango pickle. This he did  even when we were in Delhi. He packed some rice coconuts and other items in a big gunny bag and brought it for us all the way from Saligrama to Delhi despite harassment by coolies and even security personnel as those were the days when Delhi was reeling under Punjab militancy. Such is the nature of my very special co-brother.    

Green Tea the present day Sanjeevani

When I stood before the mirror in my suit at a resort in Munnar I could see my waist line bulging like the one you see in the idols of lord Ganesha. Though I generally have a small paunch lovingly bequeathed by my late mother the one I saw in the mirror was a little alarming which I attributed to binge eating during Diwali and assumed would vanish with a strict diet regime. Though I felt a marginal decrease in the waist line the paunch itself was refusing to vanish. My earlier attempts at weight control practiced over a period of 30 years include eating cucumber just before meal, toatally avoiding rice, eating for sometime only millet, running fast in the mornings, walking a short distance every hour among a whole lot of such idiosyncrasies.

The next day our taxi driver took us to the tea museum where a gentleman made a short speech on the virtues of tea drinking. He was saying that there are hardly any obese people in the whole of Japan and China and this he said was because of their love for tea. He further said that the Sanjivini plant brought by lord Hanuman in Ramayana to bring back to life Rama and Lakshmana was none other than the green tea. So immediately on reaching Bangalore I rushed to the departmental store to get the green tea where the sales girl told me organic tea is much better. Needless to say I opted for that. I in turn promoted the same to my niece who tells that only change she observed on consuming green tea was the terrible hunger and stomach cramps she started experiencing. I too started experiencing that. Last week my co-brother visited us and I promoted green tea to him also and I am yet to hear his experience. I and my daughter who started drinking the wonder drink are certainly eating more! Exactly after four months of drinking various brands of green tea and sometimes organic tea now with ginger also recommended by my doctor when I went for treatment of a nagging cough I found to my horror that there is a slight increase in my waistline! In the meantime departmental store owners are going to their banks laughing all the while because of the increase in sales of not just green tea being promoted by me but also increased sale of other food items. Is this not a better way of fighting recession? I wonder why this didn’t strike the pundits in the finance ministries of European countries.