Season changeth -Vepampoo

Opened the door of the rear verandah today morning and the heady smell of 'vepampoo'(flower of neem tree)wafted in and hit my nostrils with its unique and heady smell.There is something indescribable about the smell of vepampoo;it is unique;and as you are smelling it, you will invariably see a few flowers gently falling to the ground and wobbling slightly on the way down;some flowers do get caught up midway in some spider web and keep dangling for a while before a strong breeze blows them over.Amma used to religiously collect and make 'pungent' dishes out of it. Hence I also look forward to collecting those fresh flowers during this season. You must spread a mat just below the tree;but then the flower is so delicate it might not remain there when you come to collect the day's harvest in the evening;you should have a mechanism of collection and storage every hour of so.To circumvent this process i resort to plucking the entire bunch of flowers and then removing individual flowers from the stem. While you are at this exercise,you get a bonus of being enveloped by its heady fragrance.
Amma used to fry them in ghee and give us to be had with hot rice and salt sprinkled on it. It is a hot favourite with me, especially when my palette longs for something simple and different from the sambhar/rasam tirade for weeks at a stretch.She used to make chutney out of vepampoo which is also quite unique and patented by her. Somehow not got around to making this as part of a monthly menu.Rasam from vepampoo can be made in a jiffy and though there are not very many takers for the same, i make it now and then and athai and me are ardent consumers!
The fresh stock of vepampoo for the new year is delivered by the 'season' courier
and i am all ready to take delivery of the same!!