Samaithu Paar (Cook and See)- Cookbook by Meenakshi ammal

Amma learned to cook only after her marriage.   As Appa was in a transferable job, she was cut-off from her family for most part of her life.  With no telephone, letter being the only mode of communication, her cooking evolved by trial and error.  Later when telephone became available, she would sometimes call her favourite sister-in-law to consult about a recipe.  For the most part though, she was dependent on Samaithu Paar (Cook and See) cookbook written in Tamil by Meenakshi ammal.  There were three volumes of this book with the recipes catering specifically to the Tamil Brahmin Community.  It was Amma's Bible.

Festivals were always crisis times because each festival has a prescribed menu.  Amma would frantically thumb through her Samaithu Paar book, trying to figure out which volume had the recipe, reading and re-reading as she tried to get a hang of it.  I would be co-opted as the the helper to grind spices or rice or whatever needed to be ground using the traditional stone grinder (called Aatu kal in Tamil. The apparatus consists of a stone base with the middle hallowed into a cup like shape and a stone pestle).  Together, and sometimes with Appa roped in, we would stumble through the prescribed menu.  When Amma  finally put it all together before Gods as offering, there would be a huge sense of accomplishment.  We had done it! 

When I went to US for Ph.D., I was presented with my own copy of Samaithu Paar or Cook and See.  My copy is in English as I cannot read or write Tamil.  There are no pictures, measurements are in obsolete terms, and recipes are written in very quaint language.  But it is a book that helped me start my life in the University town.  

Over the years, I have referred many cookbooks and food blogs but Samaithu Paar remains the book to be consulted in times of crisis.

Today was one such day as it is a festival called Thiruvathirai. I do not know much about its significance other than it is for Lord Shiva.  Festivals in our house were celebrated not for religious reasons but for the food. The traditional menu for this festival is a rice sweet dish called Kali and a vegetable stew called Kootu.  The past many years my Periamma (Appa's eldest brother's wife) was in Delhi and she would call me over to have the lunch with her. This year she is not there and I decided to make Kali and Kootu.  I looked up the food blogs, consulted my sister-in-law but the fear of the unknown remained.  So this morning, I took out the worn out copy of Samaithu Paar and with its gentle guiding managed to make both the dishes. 

 Sumitra came in just as I had finished cooking.  She was the first to taste both the dishes.  According to her it was tasty.  So mission accomplished.

 

What is in a name?

 Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Indian politicians of course have a different take on it.  Calcutta became Kolkata, Madras became Chennai, Bombay became Mumbai and so on so forth.  Occasionally, there will be a demand to change the names of cities with Muslim names.  Of course, it became a reality in UP where Allahabad was renamed Prayagraj.

Shiv Sena, the ruling party of Maharashtra, has recently decided to do away with localities that have caste names. 

Tamilnadu has been ahead in this.  In 1979, MGR, then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, decided to remove caste surnames from road/street names.  They also decided to remove the honorifics bestowed by the Britishers.  So Sir CV Raman Road became CV Raman Road.  Dr. Rangachari Road became Ranga Road (I do not know why Dr was removed.).  Dr. Nair became Doctor road (Nair being the caste surname had to be removed).  Sir Desikachari and his wife Lady Desikachari each have a road named after them.  Lady Desikachari road became Lady Desika road and Sir Desikachari became Desika Road.  My brother mourns his loss of both Sir and Chari (caste name) in one go.

In Delhi, road names give you a glimpse of the rich history-global as well as Indian.  After the assassination of Olaf Palme, Swedish Prime Minister, one of the roads was named after him.  JNU, of course, stands on Nelson Mandela Marg (Marg = Road in Hindi).  There is Pritiviraj Road named after Prithiviraj Chauhan one of the early Kings of Delhi, Lodhi Road is a nod to the Lodhi kings who ruled, Akbar, Shahajahan, and Arungzeb Roads were named after the Mughal Emperors.  Unfortunately, Aurungzeb is currently persona non grata.  When APJ Abdul Kalam, the erstwhile President of India, died, Aurungzeb Road was renamed as APJ Abdul Kalam Road.  It makes no sense as this road straddles Akbar Road and ShahJahan Road.  There used to be Dupliex Road (nod to the French Governor General) but it got converted to Krishna Menon Marg.  Similarly, Curzon Road, named after Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, got converted to Kasturba Gandhi Marg.   And the biggest idocities of all was to rename Connaught Place and Connaught Circus (named after Duke of Connaught) after Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi by Shiela Dikshit, then Chief Minister of Delhi.  Fortunately, people are smarter.  We simply call it CP.  Then there are road names whose origins are lost in the mists of time.  We have no clue about the origin of Ch, Jhandu Singh Marg.

The best story of road name, however, comes from Kolkata.  At the height of Vietnam war, the Left Government of West Bengal decided to change the name of the road on which the US Consulate stood.  Overnight Harrington Road became Ho Chih Min Sarani (Sarani = Road in Bangla).  Needless to say, the Americans were not amused.