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Ruminations On The Eve Of Thirukarthigai

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by PushpavalliSrinivasan, Nov 22, 2007.

  1. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Ruminations on the eve of Thiru Karthikai
    I remember those days when we used to pound aval (beaten rice) at home for Karthikai festivl. My mother used to buy paddy, that also a specific variety. The previous day she would boil the paddy. She would tell that we should put off the fire at muthu kothi stage. Next morning the paddy would be spread out in a cloth and handful of paddy would be fried in a mud chatti and when it just starts fluttering it would be put into the stone ural. Two ladies would pound it with wooden ulakkais ( long wooden stumps fitted with iron rims at the edge.)Only experienced persons could do this job. This technic was called maRRu ulakkai. When one person put the ulakkai into the ural, the other person should lift her ulakkai up. When inexperienced persons try to do this job there will be clash of ulakkais, I had learnt this technic and so I used to pound aval every year for Karthikai before my marriage. Even the paddy should be fried in the right patham and should be pounded immediately. Oue neighbour used to come to our house for pounding and we used to help them. The hand pound aval’s taste was superb. Those days nel poRi also was made at home only. In our house we never used to buy aval and pori. Only on the Kartikai deepam day my mother used to make the urundais. The smell of vella paku itself was so sweet. Nilakkadalai and cut coconuts were added to the paku with aval and nel poRi. How I long for those yummy yummy…tasty urundais!
    But after my marriage when I went to Jamshedpur there in my mother in law’s house
    we didn’t have the facility to pound aval. My mil was very orthodox and she would not buy aval from shop. For Karthikai she used to make bhundhi ladu and rava ladu. So the traditional aval and nel urundai were not made.
    I wonder if any one still pound aval at home.
     
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  2. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    Hey pushpa mam,

    You brought old memories..my granny used to pound her nel for her daily rice itself..and used to tell us...kutthina arisi romba balam...it is true..but today rice ..comes to us sans the bran...and polished...

    nel pori is a saleable commodity at home (that is paranthu pogum)..but not aval pori..somehow...don't know why.. me and dd wait for this to make mixture when ds and FIL have the sweet urundai....

    yes..i also have seen this maaru ullakkai..can do single handedly but it needs practice and precision to do maaru...during the avakkai season we used to have two ladies coming home to pound chillies, mustard and salt...gone are the days....
     
  3. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Shanthi,
    Thinking about avakkai also kindles my fast memories. We had two mango trees in our house at Kancheepuram. We used to get nearly 600 to 700 hundred mngoes and both were pickle varieties. As you have mentioned in our place also tribal ladies used to come and they would pound chillies, mustard and turmeric. My mother was born and brought up in Tirupathi and so was an expert in making all kinds of pickles. My favourite pickle is avakkai, but now due to high BP I had to forego pickles. Yet temptation succeeds. Even when my sister came to our house last month from Hyderabad,, I told her to bring a small bottle of avakai. Every year I used to make avakai, but as we both have BP I stopped making for the last 3/4 years. H.......m What to do? Just I have to get satisfied thinking aout the past!
     
  4. Anandchitra

    Anandchitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Pushpavalli
    Such a nice writeup about the preparations for karthigai deepam. This is such a special festival. Both parents and inlaws the focus was on food and all the deepams. No one I knew pounded the paddy but I did get used to it when we lived in a small town. Its interesting to see that ulakkai and the workings of it. Thanks for reminding us of these. Happy Karthigai.
     
  5. sunkan

    sunkan Gold IL'ite

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    dear pushpa,
    u reminded us of the olden days again, yes we also had that ulakkai and payaru and ulundu used to be broken in with ulakkai and i have ground in yendram also.. we used to get these from dharmadhanapuram in mayawaram where my grandfather had lands...every year as it comes oil will be applied and left in sunlight before we put it in yendram and break it into two,the right amount of paruppu with the right amount of pressure to move it..those great days all at home...i still have a mango tree and make avakkai every year though never eat much pickle but help all by distributing..sunkan
     
  6. Shanvy

    Shanvy IL Hall of Fame

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    hey pushpamam,

    I also can't have pickle as i am on low salt diet for my heart... what i do is reduce the salt, and oil..but still the pickle holds good for a year...that is if the mango is goo...try it...u can have a little pickle...no harm...:queen
     
  7. Vandhana

    Vandhana Silver IL'ite

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    Dear Pushpa Mam,

    Nice blog. Brought back some lovely memories. Though i do not have any experience using the Ullakai, have seen lot of women use it. Its just amazing. the perfect sync that the two women have. Also the rhythm that the ullakai makes, nice to listen to....

    Here in the US, we get only Muttai pori. So have to make do with thick aval that i dry roast myself to make the urundais!! But i do remember, back home, mom and MIl will tell the pori kadai karan, a week in advance to get the pori ready for them.
     
  8. Sriniketan

    Sriniketan IL Hall of Fame

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    Thanks for starting this 'ulakkai' topic at this time.
    I used to remember the 'ulakkai and ural' in our house.
    but my mom and grandma used to go to the shop where they roast and give the poris.

    Vandhana, how do you dry roast the thick aval, for me the result is not that much good.
    I used to fry it in oil and do that.

    sriniketan
     
  9. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear AC,
    Yesterday morning when I was just surfing the TV, I saw in Samskar channel a demonstration of Yoga. The yoga master was giving demonstration of our age old physhical activities like pounding, Thayir Kadaithal, grinding in stone yendiram, and grinding in ammi etc. After watching this my thoughts wandered to the good old days ( or may be bad ) because manual work is considered taboo by present generation. According to me even putting kolam is an exercise to our hip, knees and fingers. But nowadays stickers had replaced kolam.
    As you say Karthikai is observed as an important festival. Even people used to say" KalyaNama Karthikaiya?" if they find people making elaborate arrangements for some small function. Thanks for sharing your views.
     
  10. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sundari,
    Ulundu, payaru udaithal was the first and foremost aospicious function of a marriage of yester years. The stone yendiram would be decorated with manjal, kumkumam and flowers and sumangalis would start the yendiram singing "Laksmi KalyaNa Vaibokame!" After this only other arrangements for the marriage will take place.
     

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