Diwali sweets

 

One more foodie festival Deepavali is over .

Well most will not be happy with me for reducing a pan global Hindu festival into just a foodie one but for a radical foodie all festivals are an excuse to indulge .

Having been born and brought up in a hardcore vegetarian Mylapore in Antha kalathu Madras I knew Deepavali meant sweets and savouries .

My mother learnt all the tricks to make kai muruku to Juicy Jangiri from pakkathu veetu maamis and in style too .

Her Badushas were to die for, and she would leave nothing to be bought from shops  even those yellow crispy mixtures .

Preparation would start a few days before Deepavali  and she would prohibit me from entering the kitchen as she knew my hands were adept at snatching a ladoo or dipping into a jamun or a handful of murukku .

These preparations were made mostly to return for the goodies expected from the one hundred thousand and one laxmipathys and vaidyanathaswamys ..

 Therinjukko not for you gobbling elllamme in malayalam of course .

Of course my father working in Tamilnadu Secretariat would bring his office ordered packet of sweets they got at special price and made in shudh ghee from Agarwals in Broadway .

Shuddha neyyaakkum .

We did have a Mudaliar family next door who wickedly gave us succulent mutton Biriyani during any weddings in thier family .

whispers of thier idlis with mutton curry on Deepavalli mornings were in the air..

Avaathulle Deepavalikku kari pannuvaalam !! Shiva Shiva 

But we too sadly went veggie on that day .

By mid day tired after bursting all the crackers our stomachs would be bursting with south indian sweets discovered till date from all our neighbours .

Those days life was like that.

We never had much borders on anything though castes ,religion, languages were all mentioned ,

but when it came to sharing we the malayala maama pasanga were just like the mudaliar payyans and those iyers and iyengaar aathukaar or Basheer Bais or Robert aathulle 

And food was the most common denominator indeed .

Life was simpler

So were humans .

They were more humane .