green family

I have thought long about the life then and now. Women pursuing careers seriously have a direct bearing on waste generation!They are aware and hence give a premium for quality.They are short of time, so convenience is paramount.They have more disposable income, so take away foods,ready to eat food stuffs are part of her life.

Let us take one at a time.

Being concerned with quality is right for the family for wrong for the environment. Yes, they opt for more off the shelf products which are packaged. Let us take some examples. Wheat used to be taken to the mill in jute bags and ground atta would be brought back in huge containers or strong cloth bags. They would be stored in huge dubbas to last for a month. Now atta is bought in one kilo packets.They come in polythene packets.They are quite small and cannot be recycled for any other purpose, so end up in the dustbin.Invariably it is also branded which means that the stuff is transported for long distances from their factory site and adds to fuel costs and global warming. Family health is important and the women perceive branded food products to adhere to hygiene standards better than the ones in the local kirana shops.

We have seen in this example as we started on quality, we have come to the idea that time is in short supply for her and also she can pay more for quality and its convenience and labour saving time.All the three are intertwined.

Another important aspect is the hectic travel lifestyles that we have come to adopt. Travel puts a heavy strain on the environment. OF course the most obvious is the fuel cost of travel, be it bus, train, car or plane. Longer travel in earlier days meant packing food for the family to last the entire two or three days. Nowadays since ready to eat foods are available and they are also appear quite hygenic, it is natural that generally people have preferred to buy them than carry inconvenient huge food baskets. The other day I was waiting in a station to receive a friend. I saw the tap which had a label drinking water being used by the vendors and coolies and not by a single traveller. All of them had packaged water bottles with them. Water bottles have contributed singly to the maximum damage to environment, but they are more hygienic and convenient. All other food items are use and throw, be it chips or fruit juices or soft drinks or tea cups. We hated the tea glasses and now left with throwaway cups!

Take idli batter for one, the greatest invention of mankind to help the working woman in chennai! The plastic bag cannot be used in the house for any other purpose and it goes directly into the waster paper basket.

See I am now on a guilt trip.I am beginning to feel quite bad for patronising convenience foods, hygienic foods and labour saving items in the grocery list.

Is it okay to balance and plant a tree every month?

We were a green family - part II

If appa was a zero wastage person, amma scaled new heights. It was such a talking point in the family circles that my cousin one day remarked, " chitti does not waste anything, including sunlight!"She made this remark one day while coming into our house. The front porch was fully bathed in sunlight and the floor space was dotted with plates and baskets full of stuff which were gettting dried in the sun with not an inch unutilised.

Amma fully lived up to the reputation. We had a garbage pit in the backyard and I used to wonder how often we collected compost from the same. Not very often. Then what happened to all the bio degradable waste that we should have generated when we were kids? It was simply that we did not waste them, we consumed them!

Let me see. All the edible peels of fruits and vegetables were not thrown off but were either consumed in the raw or were recycled as chutney. Chow chow, orange peels I distinctly remember the 'tugayal' transformation. Banana peels were used directly in flowering plants, as they make them flower more. They were also used to treat the various insect bites that we used to be subjected to. A gentle rub on the affected part and even after the caterpillar sting leaves the skin bumpy and itchy, it will be cured within a few minutes.There was no question of peeling apples, mangoes and guavas; we would wash them well and consume right away.No wastage. Potatoes were mostly used with the coat on.If it is the greens, the leaves were separately used for the 'masiyal' and the stems for sambhar. Only the roots were left to be thrown into the garbage pit.

We had mangoes, lemon, tamarind, guava, cashew , blueberries and 'ilupa' tree in our compound. So it was an year round activity of harvesting and immediately drying them and then utilising them. You must be wondering about the 'ilupa' tree. Bats used to particularly like the fruits and would eat them and drop the seeds. Athai would forage the area and collect the seeds.They would be drying in the sun. Once it becomes a sizeable amount, we would sit together and chisel away the outer cover and salt away the kernel. Over a period of time the kernels would be collected and taken for extracting oil.It is believed the oil is very auspicious for lighting lamps. The residue of the process was again used as 'arappu podi' to clean oily vessels. No we did not buy the magic vim liquid, whose one drop will clear a sink full of oily and grimy vessels.

Of course, raw mangoes, tamarind used to be harvested and dried extensively and used in its myriad forms.

I remember monthly rations time. Every single item delivered used to be wrapped like a cone in a newspaper and tied with a jute thread. No packaging, no plastic pouches. We had specific vessels for oils and we used to carry them and fill them with pure oil. Yes, it meant doing research and being a vigilant consumer. The quality used to be identified with a specific shop or the oil mills in the neighbourhood.They had to earn it and not lazily piggyback on an international brand!The newspapers used to be evened out and used to line the shelves in the kitchen. Jute thread will be carefully rolled and used. Again zero wastage in the entire process. I now compare with my monthly shopping bags and the waste is almost as much atleast in volume to the items bought for use.

It is amazing to think about it now.

I will be back after a short break, please dont go away.

We were a green family

A few days back I read an interesting article in a leading newspaper. The author was saying about the 'green' concepts which used to be a part and parcel of her mom's everydaylife.She mentioned about worn out socks being recycled and used as scrubber to remove the tough stains in the cooking vessels, much before the 'scotch brites' of the world.

Immediately my mind went back to my early childhood days and the 'zero garbage' which was the religion for us those days. Of course it was a natural way and no tags were attached then.

Let me start with appa. He was a professor in a college, and used to get lots of reading materials. Some of it used to be on one side of the sheet only. After being done with them, he will carefully put them aside and amma used to stich it into a notebook. Of course we believed in community work and all of us used to pitch in. These were used as 'rough note books'. I still remember my teacher in 6th standard, aghast at the 'handmade' and a very rough 'rough note book'.These note books were also used by appa and amma for writing 'sriramajayam'.

Appa used the 'used envelopes' in the same way that Gandhiji was said to use them. He would open them out and reverse it and the odd shaped paper will be used for solving maths problems (for us of course!).Amma also used to total her shopping 'account' in them deligently.

Envelops which were of better quality were retained as such. The existing address portion will be superimposed with a small strip of white paper, and it is now ready to be used as a fresh envelope! Yes you guessed it, the strip will invariably be the reverse side of another envelope!

Again, I dont remember going to a shop and buying gum. I see such varied and stylish and colourful gums that kids use so readily these days for their project work. We used a simple cooked rice and water system as our standard gum material. Of course when we had extensive decoration work during 'kolu', we made a colourful paste from maida. It used to be a big process, and neem stick used to be the glue stick to ladle out the glue on to the colour papers.I also remember the colourful resins which used to ooze out of the 'drumstick' tree in our backyard. It can be used as a gum, but it was used more for play and fooling around and not for any serious work!

Appa used to get answer papers for correction from the University. The postman used to deliver them in huge bundles, wrapped in 'meenakshi gaada' cloth. No it was not a simple job of tearing it open and throwing the cloth and the brown paper covers into the dustbin. We used to remove the cloth carefully along the seams. It used to be washed and then given to the dhobhi for bleaching. At the end of an 'exam season', we would have a fairly large collection of these clothes in all shapes and sizes. Amma used to sit and match the clothes as per the shapes and stich them as hand towels, napkins, pillow covers and cloth bags. Needless to add, we were also drafted in to this 'kudisai tozhil'.

The brown paper covers will be used to send back the answer sheets to the university; yes you got the drift, by pasting them with a white paper.

There were no fancy 'gillette' razors those days. Appa used the 7 o' clock blades for his shave. He used to preserve them for I guess four or five shaves. He used to write the dates on which he used them on the flap of the cover. We were not allowed to use them even for any 'urgent' work.After the fourth or fifth time, he used to release them for 'general usage"!

Just a minute, we will take a short break! I will be back. Dont go away.

Pune sizzles

This was the lead story in all newspapers yesterday in Pune. The temperature had crossed 42.6 degrees and it definitely was lead story material no question about that.(did I give away that I have a newspaper connection somewhere?). I could not believe that Pune could record such temperatures. But then the newstory mentioned that the earlier occasion was in april 1981. I was very much here in Pune then. I do not recall ever feeling very hot and huffing and puffing in Pune ever.It could be that I was busy and buzzling about to notice and comment on such trivial matters as summer temperatures. It is also possible that mind plays games with us sometimes. Perhaps J also has a point when she says, it is usual for everyone to believe that the current year is the worst summer whereas when we look up the met office records invariably they are wrong.

It happens more often in cities like Pune or Bangalore where the senior citizens feel the city has changed beyond comprehension due to rapid urbanisation.As an outsider you are made to feel that somehow you are to blame for the state of the weather.

I immediately asked for a aircooler to be installed at home. They came instantaneously and while they were fixing it up I thought I never could believe that I would be having a aircooler at home in Pune. When I had come here for the first time after marriage, I was told that our house does not have a single fan. I panicked in the true Madrassi fashion, who needs her roti, kapda and makan with fans. But I was assured that I would never need one. After a few days I insisted that I need a fan. A rickety old table fan of unknown vintage was dragged out and fixed in our room. It used to circulate lot of air alright but made such a noise that it disturbed S. I slept through and he would get up and switch it off. Which is when I would wake up and quietly switch it on again. This game went on for a while and it had to stop sometime. It was a great event at home when I came back from office and was told to inspect the new ceiling fan installed. It called for some sort of celebration.

And now more than 25 years later, an air cooler ushered in such a happy mood.

I was also amazed at the sharp contrast in the climate and environment when I had come here last in October. It was unusually cold and it was with great difficulty I used to go for my morning walks. The pathway from my house to the jogging track used to be lined with flower beds and flowers of all shapes and colours used to be inviting and pleasing the eye. My mood used to lift immediately and I would be floating on a bed of euphoria throughout my walk. The jogging track used to be lined with asoka tress and the mist would be clearing slowly and sharp and pencil straight yellow rays would be piercing through.The lawns and the entire campus used to look painted a vivid green. It was good to be alive.

Now the campus looks forlorn and the roses are there no doubt but they are shrunk and want to be left alone.The saving grace is the jasmine bushes.The white scented flowers cover the entire bush and the nithyamalli flowers and the jasmine together waft into the house and give a joyous feeling. Y used to say thank god there is summer, we can have mangoes. I want to say now thank god for the summer, for there is mallippo.

Tambaram chalo

I have been planning a visit to MCC campus for quite sometime now.It is a sure sign of middle age to want to go back to one's college and to revisit your childhood home. If they happen to be one and the same, then the nostalgia is really powerful.It is precisely what is happening to me. Christian college campus is where I spent my childhood/college days and I also graduated from the same college.
Jay and shyama joined up with me on this trip. It is more than twenty years since we left the campus after appa retired from there. I have visited the college on a few occasions but they were business trips. This was a leisurely one with only one agenda; trip down memory lane. And it was perfect. The weather was mild and actually chilly with pleasant breeze blowing.Thick dark clouds were looming perfectly over the cricket field and the view from the stadium was just what the doctor ordered. We sat there and gazed and gazed. The world seemed to stand still and the only sound was the rewinding of the mental tape!There were no students or any activity at this time, perhaps study holidays really mean the students are holed up in their rooms and busy with their books on that wonderful mid morning time.But we had no complaints.We remembered the few cricket matches we had seen and the small round rocks painted white which appeared just the same as they did so long ago.But this time there were lots of deer dotting the horizon and nibbling at the grass. We were surprised at this new addition to the campus. Saha asked us if we had deer during our time to which I said, no. But were there any other animals she wanted to know. I said yes, kulla nari, keeri pillai, lots of onan, and of course snakes. Wont you feel scared to live here was her other pertinent question. I felt quite a hero first and then a guide on a wild life safari!
Our next halt was of course 20, staff quarters. We went there as if it was still our house. thankfully the place was locked and we went around taking a roll call of all the trees and plants which formed part of our landscape and defined my childhood/early adulthood. Naaga pazha maram was not visible amidst the invasion of the bush right up to the edge of the house. Mundiri marams were also absent. But the tamarind tree was well and alive and kicking as also the illupai tree and the neem tree in the front yard. Somehow the frontyard appeared to have shrunk. The concept of size seems to have made a definite shift. Some of the lilies lining the front porch were still there, but not the malli chedis which used to be amma's favourite. We would be asked to remove the leaves meticulously just after rains and predictably tiny buds will cover the entire plant soon enough.Amma will go ecstatic with each jasmine flower and so would we.
The car shed is covered now; no more roasting of cashew there i guess.The study sitout is also covered.The washing stone was still being used and i remembered quickly climbing up on that when i spotted a snake. It is hardly a foot high and how i felt safe there, i cannot comprehend now. But then it does not matter.
We went around and spotted all the 'tourist spots', miller statue, water tanks, cafeteria, coop stores, ladies lounge and snake room."You have really studied in a very good college mommie" was the perfect end to a wonderful time spent on the campus.

saarang

It is a ritual with me and a pleasant one at that, to make a pilgrimage to IIT madras, during their annual cultural festival in January. It started during my college days when one of our friends was doing her masters in chemistry. Later Raja did his undergraduation there and we were officially invited to select programmes.
IIT quiz programme used to be unique and a must see;must hear event,participation of course was out of question.I remember the huge lecture theatre with the teams sitting near the dias and the hall bursting to capacity. I witnessed audio/visual rounds only during that quiz programme. They played a soulful number of talat aziz and asked that the singer be identified.Quiz took on a multi dimensional and high intellectual quotient after that experience. Their just a minute programme was legendary. Many versions used to be heard; how one should not repeat, one should not be irrelevant and the viewers/other participants will be literally on their toes to point out fine points of error in those JAM sessions.One of our cousins used to be an avid JAM participant and would boast to us that she walked away with the prizes;grrrrrr.

The concerts in the Open Air Theatre , again had a charm and aura of their own and it is this which kept me going year after year. Students used to come with their pillows and generally lounge on the steps; it was not so crowded then as it is now, with the jazz and rock concerts.

I have enjoyed balamurali krishna in a jugal bandi; ustad amjad ali khan's melocious renderings;ganesh kumaresh violin;inter collegiate light music;inter collegiate dance contests.The place and the people have a magic , no doubt about that.

This year it was mainly to soak in the ambience; Gajendra circle was decked up in unusual colours of green fountain and glittering blue string lights. The food stalls; the village theme; lucky ali relayed off site near the food stalls gave us a peep view of the inside of OAT(Entering the same was well , impossible)But we pacified ourselves that the music was average at best and hence we did not miss anything.

Took a stroll deep into the campus and relived our MCC days.We dont need an excuse to slip back to Tambaram days and mcc campus.

So long saarang...we shall be back.

invite to a family function

I had been invited to the 'aayushhomam' function of a relative. Nothing unusual in that. But then i was meeting a hoarde of relatives after a very long time. Also, this family has been generally out of touch with the rest of the family branch. They were now reaching out, as their small granddaughter all of 8 years old, was particularly asking to meet all those relatives with whom grandma seems to have had such good time. You know now, how the kiddoo has been spending her time with grandma! They have a voracious appetitie for 'old stories'and i can quite imagine the elder relative slipping into the joys of her youth.So the NRI kid wanted all the fun of meeting these characters in flesh and blood and this function was got up for that purpose.

I remember my aunts regaling us with their stories of childhood at Mysore; Ontikoppal to be more exact. Yes, their childhood was full of fun and frolic in the railway quarters there. There were repeated reference to Kala and Bora, the two servants.All of us know that railway officials have this non monetary perquisitive.They used to heat up hot water for them, in the geyser-less days, it must have been quite welcome, more so in a place like Mysore. They used to accompany them to nearby places and were always around. They remember the rose plants which used to be in full bloom, kitchen garden and its produce; the dussera celebrations and the 'stick man walking on stilts' which used to scare them no end; how their father used to dress up for attending the 'darbar' function;their grandfather who used to decorate the kolu and get it set up, starting atleast a month in advance of the festival; their journeys in the train to arisikere, maddur , harihar and the thrill of being waited upon by railway staff at these stations and the eatables that they used to bring to them; their school which was bang oppositite their house and their grandfather used to come to the school to give them 'prasad' of milk as soon as he finished his pooja, much to the chagrain of my aunts; how they used to find comfort and warmth in his blanket in the winter evenings, when he used to hold them close, and recite slokas and songs; the temple nearby and the road to chamundi hill.

All their nostalgia, fed into my nostalgia for the times when i used to enjoy their stories, wide eyed and extremely captivated. So much so, recently when i had been to Mysore, I made it to Ontikoppal and looked at the railway quarters there. Spotted the school, and was looking at the few houses bang opposite. My dad and uncle, hand in hand in oversized trousers and my aunts in pigtails and flowing skirts flitted across.Slice of life!