I was coming back home from "the home" in train. In the next coupe, there were around 10-12 kannadiga men singing kannada and haindi songs as and when they came to mind. The balding man in the old couple sitting opposite me was occassionaly following the tune of familiar old hindi songs by tapping on his thigh as his wife listened dispassionately. I was wondering what these kannadiga men where doing singing songs randomly. My initial thoughts were they were playing Antakshari. But when I listened closely, it became clear, that was not the case. They were singing just like that, one song leading onto the next. I should say that I was kind of relieved, for, the image of grown-up men playing antakshari had made put a scowl on my face. Antakshari was not by any measure my remotest idea of 'games'. Too bad that this seemed to be the only game everyone wanted to play whenever we went for picnics from school and college.
It was around 8.00pm. The old couple had alighted at Ottapalam. Now there was a 30ish young man sitting opposite. The young couple in the side berth in the coupe had opened a plastic cover and started devouring the food in a wrap in it. Soon, the young man too succumbed to the salivating aromas reaching him. He too opened a packet from his bag. It had a plastic wrap around the rectangular package. Inside it was again a layer of newspaper wrapping. The innermost was the plantain leaf wrap. I think it had kept safe a couple of chappathis and some curry for the last few hours. So he started eating. Midway through his meal, a kannadiga who was seen walking up and down the compartment a couple of times came up to this guy. He asked, "Did you all get this from the train or did you bring it from home?" The surprised young man (without showing any surprise) told he got it from home.
By the time he completed his meal, I too had succumbed to the wafting aromas and opened my own carefully prepared wrap from home. It had brown rice, fish curry, long beans upperi and beef roast. Aaah...even now the thought makes me salivate. Later I was thinking.... Almost every single mallu on that train would have opened a pothi sometime in the night. It was a well known method of packing food for long journeys. I cant help but marvel at the "Locally appropriate and entirely affordable" technology. An added advantage is that it is easily disposable and bio-degradable. And waterproof too! Gosh...truly ingenious.
And this has been practiced over centuries by mothers in evey home, long before any aluminium foil came into existence.The striking thing about the plantain wrap is how it preserves the flavours. Once the leaf is rid of its moisture by passing it over a flame, it just browns up and becomes tougher and water resistant. The flavors are kept tight and packed. If anything, it adds the smoky, leafy flavour of its own to the rice.
A little surprising was the ignorance of the Kannadiga, after all he is from a neighbouring state. Yeah but plantains are not grown in all parts of that state. So they may not know.
Long live plantains and their packages which will continue to feed many more mouths on numerous journeys
back and forth.
This pic is courtesy google. I'm cursing myself why I dint photograph mine. But then this post was not born then....
It was around 8.00pm. The old couple had alighted at Ottapalam. Now there was a 30ish young man sitting opposite. The young couple in the side berth in the coupe had opened a plastic cover and started devouring the food in a wrap in it. Soon, the young man too succumbed to the salivating aromas reaching him. He too opened a packet from his bag. It had a plastic wrap around the rectangular package. Inside it was again a layer of newspaper wrapping. The innermost was the plantain leaf wrap. I think it had kept safe a couple of chappathis and some curry for the last few hours. So he started eating. Midway through his meal, a kannadiga who was seen walking up and down the compartment a couple of times came up to this guy. He asked, "Did you all get this from the train or did you bring it from home?" The surprised young man (without showing any surprise) told he got it from home.
By the time he completed his meal, I too had succumbed to the wafting aromas and opened my own carefully prepared wrap from home. It had brown rice, fish curry, long beans upperi and beef roast. Aaah...even now the thought makes me salivate. Later I was thinking.... Almost every single mallu on that train would have opened a pothi sometime in the night. It was a well known method of packing food for long journeys. I cant help but marvel at the "Locally appropriate and entirely affordable" technology. An added advantage is that it is easily disposable and bio-degradable. And waterproof too! Gosh...truly ingenious.
And this has been practiced over centuries by mothers in evey home, long before any aluminium foil came into existence.The striking thing about the plantain wrap is how it preserves the flavours. Once the leaf is rid of its moisture by passing it over a flame, it just browns up and becomes tougher and water resistant. The flavors are kept tight and packed. If anything, it adds the smoky, leafy flavour of its own to the rice.
A little surprising was the ignorance of the Kannadiga, after all he is from a neighbouring state. Yeah but plantains are not grown in all parts of that state. So they may not know.
Long live plantains and their packages which will continue to feed many more mouths on numerous journeys
back and forth.
This pic is courtesy google. I'm cursing myself why I dint photograph mine. But then this post was not born then....
