jayantiblogshere

PUDCHYA VARSHI LAUKAR YAA ! Come early next year … Ganapathy Bappa has not been generous this year.   Not atleast to us Bangaloreans. What is supposed to be a thanksgiving celebration after a good monsoon, hardly feels so this year. This year’s Ganapathy festival marks the beginning of a year long drought as the monsoon spell normally ends with the Ganapathy visarjan.   This year, the newspapers were abuzz with pleas from corporators and the government requesting people to buy eco friendly Ganapathy and immerse them in artificial tanks and not pollute the water bodies.     Here is the total count of Ganapathy idols at our apartment complex that were kept for visarjan. Not bad - about 50% of people have heeded to the call and have chosen to buy an unpainted clay version of the elephant god rather than go with the painted version.   In the south; ok atleast in my family we always got home a clay Ganapathy.   Those we...

Coconut tree climber Bangalore is never short of coconut trees. C oconut trees were everywhere before the concrete jungle took over. In apartments like ours where   a few lucky trees survived the axe when the builders started construction are today a welcome respite to the little greenery left in urban spaces. The coconut trees are not maintenance free. They need sprucing up.   The coconut produce is big business . It is normally leased out to the person who also climbs up to fell the produce and trim up the tree.                       He was at work this morning and so I gave my swimming practice a miss. The coconut tree climber. Muniyappa climbs coconut trees. He fells the coconut, cut the dry leaves off the branches and makes a living out of the per tree wages and by taking a portion of the produce that he plucks. His is a dangerous job.    It is not just about the dange...

This wholesome breakfast of puttu pazham on a lazy Saturday morning   has some history to it.   This puttu maker was one more of my impulsive buys somewhere near wayanad on a long drive from Bangalore.   Made out of two simple coconut shells, this is the medium that steamed puttu for a long time until the stainless steel kozha was invented.  I had no intention of actually making puttu out of them. I only wanted it to be ornamental piece in my drawing room or my kitchen. For months it has been lying around unused.   Today I decided to use it for what it was originally crafted for.     And wow , what was otherwise called kozha puttu did come out just as well if not in teh same shape  it would have in a stainless steel funnel. With a small hole on one corner of the coconut shell it fits wells into the steam rising out of the cooker. A 5 to 8 minutes of   steaming    and a quick, filling and healthy breakfa...