Monday, March 14, 2005

Umm…yummy, yummy!!

I am just back from a walk round our complex. It is rare that I do such good things to feel fit. The reason today, however is quite different. After an uneventful but hectic day at college, I came back home at around 8:30 PM. Today is Karadaiyan Nonbu (a function) and the moment I landed at home, amma was waiting. After I washed my hands and feet, she made me sit in the puja room and tied the nonbu charadu (a yellow colour thread) round my neck. The customary namaskaram sessions followed. First thatha and patti, and then amma and appa (with the usual sarcasm that I show;)).

And then was time for dinner. It was one of the most delicious dinners I have had in the last few days. This is indeed a rare occurrence, me saying that I ate well, given the pathetic eater that I am. Interesting menu there. First, I had two pieces each of Vella adai and Kaara adai (Imagine them to look like medhu vadaas, the difference being that vella adai is made of jaggery and kaara adai is made out of rice). Ah yes, there was also a generous helping of Vennai (butter), as I rejoiced every mouth of that adai that went in.

Now, to the usual course of dinner – there was amma’s famous thakkali rasam. (She is brilliant with it, I should say) with thayir pachadi (raitha) for a side dish. Fine slices of thakkali (tomato) garnished with fresh looking coriander leaves and of course kadugu thallichufied (for the lack of a more fitting English word, I resort to using Tanglish), the pachadi was a delight!

While I was feeling almost three fourth full and contemplating on making the move, my mom, pushed in a copious amount of rice into the plate. As I nibbled away happily, the verum saadham (plain rice) that I am so fond of, amma was back with buttermilk. I ain’t an ardent fan of moar saadham but today there was a nice side dish. Maangai thundam!! I was delighted raw mangoes were back in Chennai. Neatly cut and with a right amount of chilli powder and mustard, Maangai thundam was the gateway to eater’s heaven. After all that, I got up with great difficulty, quite amazed at what I had achieved for the day’s quota of food. Amma was amused and she had to say, “at least with this reason, try walking.”.Too much hmm…..

Now am back after the walk and I thought thrice before typing this down, coz I would probably see people steaming (first my sis, hey – I thought of you when I ate the food, ok?). Couldn’t resist. Now, before people pounce on me… am off!!!

21 comments:

Sriram said...

Hey...one of my Tam colleagues was telling me about this function today. When i asked her what it is about she said all she knows about this is that she will get yummy food by the time she goes home and all she has to do is getting a thread tied by her mom... :)

Anonymous said...
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Unknown said...

Guess you had a nice dinner. That's nice. Shall pray to God on your behalf. Seekiram Vivaaham Praaapthirasthu!!!

@sriram..

SubhapraNAdhA Bhavathee srutheenAm
KaNDEshu Vaikuntapathim varaaNAm
BhadhnAsi noonam MaNipAdharakshE
Mangalyasoothram maNirasmijALai


Meaning:
Young unmarried girls desire the Lord as their husband . On the necks of these Sthrees, You(Padhuka of Lord) help the Lord tie the Mangala Soothram in your role as Bruhaspathy and recite auspicious utterances. You spread Your auspicios rays from Your gems as Thaali Saradu to be used by the Lord.

Thus young girls desiring marriage adorn the Maasi Saradu and offer prayer to be blessed with vivaham to a suitable Bhaagavathan.

Mr G said...

Hi Anu...
No pouncing will come from me, at least...
Being from thousand miles away, I am certainly an outsider on what refer to your traditions...
Thanks to details in your post and Piggy's comment I get an idea about what it could be about...
However, for info-sake, could you tell me a bit more regarding the meaning of this ceremony...
Glad you enjoyed the food...
I'm sort of a gastronomic nut... And your post sounded both tempting and interesting...
:)

hUmDiNgEr said...

really mouth watering...;))

Anonymous said...

Ah! Your first bit of comment spam. As your readership base grows, folks like Anonymous above will try and lead them to blogs and sites like the ones above. Time to start moderating.

Eroteme said...

That sure was a wonderful dinner. Never heard the thing that piggy said, before. Thanks for sharing that Piggy. Is that a Vaishnava rendition or is it common across all Tamilians?
I find this a pretty cute function that Tamilians have. It sure is flattering to know that some girl somewhere is praying for you. :-)
Why don't guys do that? I think guys should do something like this too.

Chakra said...

I wd always remember the day for yummy yummy 'kozhakattai's that my amma used to make. When my wife mailed abt a similar menu last nite, I could only sigh!

pachadi, thakkali rasam, thachchi mamm... my gawd... u sure hav kicked up a lot. I might book a flight back to india.. so much for a good food. :)

Anu said...

Piggy!!!Romba Nandri!! ;)
Btw, I hand over the stage to you, to answer questions related to the function!! I know nothing more than what you have mentioned..But, I should say a big thanks for adding on the explanation..

Sriram,ur colleague almost did what I did..went back home to eat..:)

Mrgonsings, I am redirecting you to Piggy for explanations!!

Surya, I hope u managed to have some good food after reading this..:)

MO, I should say you are amazing..you slip in a technical point even within such a non techy discussion..But that is crucial!! I know, I need to do something about Mr.Anonymous..

Eroteme, so, is it flattering?? :) Ok!
Interesting suggestion there..but who is gonna start on it?

Chakra..thats a good enough reason to come back to India...Please do!!:)

Vani Viswanathan said...

paavi!
menakkettu u made me read this at a time when i'm wondering what to eat for dinner....too lazy to go out, nothing here!
hmm...cha, vennai, adai, my stomach is growling thinking of what i'll be eating for dinner here! :'(
btw, nombu enna good husbandsukka? i thot its for the well being for our brothers! damn, i'm changing traditions!!!
hmm..as tho mention of adai isn't enough, u had to remind me of the rasam also...i'm complaining to every possible indian here that i want rasam! muuuaaahhhhh!

saranyan r said...

nice menu. why don't post some pics as well.

my mom makes them too. I ask her to make them when I'm around and she happily obliges :)

Unknown said...

Thaks a lot. Now that I am given the responsibility of explanation, I can add some more to it. Married women also adorn this saradu for the welfare of their husband.

@Eroteme.. it's not just a vaishnavite tradition. Being from Srirangam I had this explanation. The Shaivites celebrate this to emulate the devotion of Savithri and her love for her husband, Satyavan.

And more so this is not a tamilian function alone. The North Indians celebrate a similar function as Karwa Chauth(thou' not in the month of Masi).

saranyan r said...

eroteme, its definitely not a Vaishnava function. As piggy said, its common to Hinduism in general.

Why men don't do it.... back then it was a completely male dominated society and men made all the rules :)

Twin-Gemini said...

"kadugu thallichufied" can be easily referred to as seasoning. I learnt this after coming here to the US :-)

"Mangai Thundam" - Are you referring to Vadumanga by any chance? This is the first time I am hearing this term.

And am glad to see that you dont complain about your mom's cooking. I used to (like many) and am suffering enough for that...I get to eat my own cooking :-)

And I noticed that you are an engineer turned into a Journalist (from your blogger profile)? Really? What made you turn away from Engg., and what into Journalism?

Chakra said...

Anand- thanks for the term. I was thinking abt a suitable word for "kadugu thaalichufied". :)

Anu said...

Saranyan, I will try and manage to get some pics of "Mangai thundam" and probably rasam..I am sure my mom is gonna get really curious if I walk into our kitchen with a digi cam and start clicking!! :)..Let me see..

Piggy, thanks for assisting!!

Twin-gemini, chakra..
that is a nice equivalent "seasoning" but it still doesn't convey the feel of thalichufying..you get what I mean?

Twin-gemini,
and now to ur questions one by one.
-->Mangai Thundam" - Are you referring to Vadumanga by any chance? This is the first time I am hearing this term-->
No.its not vadumanga. I am talking about maangai cut into small cubes (or cuboids, depending on the precision to which it is cut ;)). We add salt, chilli powder and again "kadugu thalichufy". its yum, believe me!

<--And am glad to see that you dont complain about your mom's cooking.-->Nope, my mom cooks really well. I am a poor eater but my mom is a great cook!!Esp. with the rasam and Paal payasam!! I hate beetroot but..

<--and I noticed that you are an engineer turned into a Journalist (from your blogger profile)? Really?-->
Why? you don't believe me? ;)..yes, I am..God promise!:)

<--What made you turn away from Engg., and what into Journalism?-->

Not easy to answer that in a comment. That is a big story.

Ok let me make it as brief as I can get. I don't hate engineering as a discipline but I didn't quite fit into a software profession. I felt that I was meant for something different, wanted a profession that would take me closer to people, their lives, a job that would be more "creatively fulfilling",if you get what I mean - that's why journalism. That explanation doesn't actually do full justice to my decision. Nevertheless, I guess it answers much of it! oof..what a looooooooong comment!:)

Twin-Gemini said...

Mangai Thundam - Dont think I have had it at home, but have had it in the beach, without the Kadugu. Must be pretty good.

But I didnt tell you that my mom doesnt cook well, should we have a competition? :-) Regardless of how she cooks or what she makes, it was quite natural for us to complain :-)

Pretty nice. One of the rare instances where I am hearing someone moving professions as varied as this. Not many people take up a career to get a sense of satisfaction in their lives - most of what I have seen have been for better money and comforts, you seem to be a bit different in that aspect. Wishing you well on that endeavour!

Anu said...

@twin-gemini,
well yes, actually I didn't mean that.

I am a good girl, I acknowledge my mom's cooking:)

No, no, no competition please..all moms have their own specialities. Let's enjoy that!

And thanks a ton for your wishes!:)

Anonymous said...

Hey! Thanks for updating the link to my blog. Needed a place to flaunt my mediocre photographical skills.

About the career change question, maybe you should think of creating one long FAQ post to which you can link on the sidebar. Would save you a lot of comment replies.

Not everyone fits into every career. But I doubt your assertion saying software and people don't mix. Its hard to relate them I know but just take a look at your blog. Social software!

Its a much debated topic. Shirky.com has cool articles on it.

Thanx for the link again.

wookie said...

Yummyyyyyyyyyyyyy.My stomach's growling and mouth's watering!!Hey I am big fan of your sister's Tamil expressions-got to know of you through her blog.

Anu said...

Mo..that rates as the longest comment that you have written on my blog!! Its longer than some of your posts..;)

Yeah, your FAQ idea is indeed worth trying, but it will give answers to people who really don't want to know about it!! Why waste their time??;))

Software and people mix, yeah, probably. But that is subjective. I was talking out of my own experience. No debates now, Please..You know why!!

Wookie, welcome here..I did see you on my sis's blog..I know she writes funny expressions..I have great fun reading them..:)
Thanks for dropping by!!