Mango-pineapple pachadi...
Onam felt like the mango-pineapple pachadi I had made....sweet and sour...
Sweet, because, far away from Maveli's land, I could celebrate a lovely Onam with a bunch of multinational kids pouring over the athappoo, licking the ada pradhaman off the banana leaf, wearing Sohan's cream-coloured kurta and jeans.
Sour, because, ammumma and appuppa were in Trivandrum, achamma and achacha were in Ramanathapuram, maman, mami & baby cousin in Kansas and ileyamma, ileyachan and cousins in Gujarat.*
And I thought of my ammumma...
And of the lovely Onams we used to have....
One day, I think it was the day before Thiruvonam, we would all gather at Chathannoor, my dad's home. Mind you, my dad has 10 siblings....add in the families and you know the numbers I am talking about! Appuppa would be waiting for us, sprawled out on his wooden sofa. All the ladies would gather in the dark cavernous kitchen, its high roof darkened with soot from many a smouldering fire...how many stories would the soot be able to tell.....of the innumerable kanji and puzhukku prepared for the workers in the paddy fields, of the occasional chicken that would've been chased all over the yard before ending up with a fistful of spicy chillies in the blackened claypot....
After the sadya, everyone would leave, with a "poyittu varatte" to my appuppa...loosely translated that means, "We'll return." And return we did, every year, for an Onam together...
The next day we would gather at my mom's home in Trivandrum. This was a smaller gathering for you need to do the math only for four families. Ammumma would busy about, fussing over the tiny details, muttering at her horde of kitchen helpers. My dear ammumma was eternally fretting over the inordinate use of kothumbu, the most prized part of the coconut tree used as firewood. Finally, after a thousand frets and fusses, the sadya would be laid out on banana leaves and ammumma's yummy ada pradhaman would usher in the grand finale....
Yesterday, I thought of ammumma...
And of ada pradhaman...
I made the ada pradhaman, not the Double Horse instant variety, but the kind that is simmered over a slow fire for three hours, with jaggery and coconut milk, the way ammumma would have made it....
But I missed ammumma, and the Onams at her place...with all of us together.
*For those not familiar with Mallu, all these refer to grandparents, uncles and aunts
Sweet, because, far away from Maveli's land, I could celebrate a lovely Onam with a bunch of multinational kids pouring over the athappoo, licking the ada pradhaman off the banana leaf, wearing Sohan's cream-coloured kurta and jeans.
Sour, because, ammumma and appuppa were in Trivandrum, achamma and achacha were in Ramanathapuram, maman, mami & baby cousin in Kansas and ileyamma, ileyachan and cousins in Gujarat.*
And I thought of my ammumma...
And of the lovely Onams we used to have....
One day, I think it was the day before Thiruvonam, we would all gather at Chathannoor, my dad's home. Mind you, my dad has 10 siblings....add in the families and you know the numbers I am talking about! Appuppa would be waiting for us, sprawled out on his wooden sofa. All the ladies would gather in the dark cavernous kitchen, its high roof darkened with soot from many a smouldering fire...how many stories would the soot be able to tell.....of the innumerable kanji and puzhukku prepared for the workers in the paddy fields, of the occasional chicken that would've been chased all over the yard before ending up with a fistful of spicy chillies in the blackened claypot....
After the sadya, everyone would leave, with a "poyittu varatte" to my appuppa...loosely translated that means, "We'll return." And return we did, every year, for an Onam together...
The next day we would gather at my mom's home in Trivandrum. This was a smaller gathering for you need to do the math only for four families. Ammumma would busy about, fussing over the tiny details, muttering at her horde of kitchen helpers. My dear ammumma was eternally fretting over the inordinate use of kothumbu, the most prized part of the coconut tree used as firewood. Finally, after a thousand frets and fusses, the sadya would be laid out on banana leaves and ammumma's yummy ada pradhaman would usher in the grand finale....
Yesterday, I thought of ammumma...
And of ada pradhaman...
I made the ada pradhaman, not the Double Horse instant variety, but the kind that is simmered over a slow fire for three hours, with jaggery and coconut milk, the way ammumma would have made it....
But I missed ammumma, and the Onams at her place...with all of us together.
*For those not familiar with Mallu, all these refer to grandparents, uncles and aunts
your home looks awesome!! feels happy ... like onam :)
ReplyDeleteThis blog has a universal flavour. i could easily transpose the onam enviromment to a that of pongal festivities and certainly believe your mango -pineapple pachadi and the mango-neem flower pachadi we make for pongal are "thesaurical".
ReplyDeleteP.s :I recollect your many prizes for athapookalam contests in All Saints.Moral of the story-Kudumbam valuthakumbol athapookalam cheruthakum.
Thanks, Arch :)
ReplyDeleteTrust you Sachu, to come up with "thesaurical"! Good one!!!
Yup, I also thought of All Saints' days especially when all the kutties were busy plucking the petals and pouring over the design on the floor...we used to have such fun! nice moral of the story!!!
Lovely flashback tho' a bit nostalgic! Had a stroll down memory lane reliving those joyous days...Onam was a bliss!
ReplyDeleteNow with all our unnikkannans far away, celebrating Onam with a grandgala traditional sadya, athappoo... and what not... we've had a ready made instant one back home here! paradoxical?
hey, nice post...:) :)
ReplyDeleteHope your Onam was fun...
Yes amma, that instant sadya was one of the triggers for this post...
ReplyDeleteThanks Rekz,Onam was a well orchestrated one and a half day celebration :)
I liked what you wrote about the stories the soot could tell. Wonderful! That made such a lovely read. Did you really make the three-hour-simmered payasam??!! Though I have never tried the Douible Horse instant one, I end up making my own version of a quicker one. T6hough nowadays I don't even do that. We are all the boli-palpayasam fans in our home! ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd GOSH!!!! You have a Chathanoor connection??! The world IS small. :)
Yes dear, I did! and it turned out to be oh-just-so-perfect, just like ammumma's!!! Hmmm...looks like Chathannoor has produced quite a few gems :)))
ReplyDeleteFinally I got to see that you had another lovely Onam as it should be. The athappoo is lovely and the aura with the single flowers around looked like a signature touch of your little ones. I loved your musings of past onams. The eternal fretting over the kothamboos brought back forgotten memories of my grandma too. Classic! And I am glad that you made the 3 hour simmering ada prathaman. That is the one thing I yet have to learn, though I make the seymia payasam quickly. I tried the double horse quicky thing and it was a tragic disaster - learnt my lesson to never try the quick one again. Took me back to the 80s!
ReplyDeleteGosh Stells, so this kothumbu fixation seems to be more pervasive than I'd thought :)
ReplyDeleteDo try out the 3 hour payasam...it's not too much of a hassle, you just have to keep adding the 3rd, 2nd and 1st thengapaals and stir it once in a way...and it's super yummy!