ARTICLE :

 DAHI- CHEWRA & PAAN LEAVES

 LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 25/X/2021

 The day demand for betel leaves goes up when there is some festival or ritual. One feels good to give them away. May all blessings of the deity’s be showered on all those who offer them. I hope our friends also pray for us.

The betel leaf they say signifies freshness and prosperity. One bite acts like a mouth freshener. The burst of betel flavour is unbeatable. Prosperity is bound to come as one has three vines growing. Our Bai is one of the regulars in doing pooja. She has all the right to pick and choose the best leaves. I dedicated all the leaves to the Indian team to perform their best in the most awaited match.

What more could I do to make pooja a blessing for every family? I pull out the watering hose and wash the leaves till they look nice and glossy and worthy as an offering. We let people select the best ones from the vines of their choice.

Milkman too collects the leaves when he comes to deliver milk packets. Generally, the ladies do the honours of collecting and boiling the milk. That day it just happened that I was there at the door and the milk man arrived. He was carrying about eight packets. Though I am oblivious of matters of the kitchen, the amount looked a little too much, unless my wife had plans to make some pudding. Generally, with the ‘packet milk’ she makes curds. Something was amiss.

My mouth was watering already with all the puddings I could think of. Would it be Caramel or Walnut custard, Fruit cream or even Kheer? Though one has to restrict intake of sugar these days, there is no restriction on letting one's sweet imagination fly. My only wish is to use our homemade ‘Vanilla’ from the vine which one is nurturing.

It was a revelation for me when my wife told me minus 'two packets', the rest are for the Bai. I remembered that once she was telling my wife that they have ‘black tea’ at home, as milk is unaffordable. The other times they use dry lemon grass which I give her generously when we trim the bush, as an alternative for tea leaves.

Then why so much milk? I asked. There is some ritual they perform when they make ‘Dahi-Chewra’. Why packet milk? She could have taken normal milk from the village. Well, she learnt it from my wife as she sets the curds with packet milk & bai wanted to do the same.  Wow! I said. Later we came to know it was the ‘Tehrveen’ of her father-in-law. This special meal was in his remembrance as she could not visit her native place due to the pandemic.

That day she left early, took my permission to pluck the leaves and pushed off. My wife was about to start the curd making process after dinner when she opened the refrigerator. Our madam had forgotten her milk packets. Wife rang her up but then it was too late in the night. There was no way that the curds would set before morning. That night they ate just chewra and slept. One could only pity them.

It being Karwa Chauth yesterday, one was expecting people to collect paan leaves for pooja. Our lady did not pluck anything. Probably she wasn’t in a mood to do pooja for reasons best known to her.

In the morning as I was clicking photos, I saw the moon through the camera. It looked so beautiful, so I took a shot. Now that one knew it would be KC moon, one waited for the evening for it to rise.

With the India-Pak T-20 on, one was glued to the TV. It was when the last two overs were left to be bowled, we heard someone shouting, ‘dikh Gaya, dikh Gaya’. People throng to our lane as the moon is first visible from here. More than the wives, husbands were excited. After their better halves would see them through a sieve, they could run back to the match.

Ladies too obliged and did everything quickly, not realising many would suffer shock and paralysis at the way Pak defeated India ruthlessly and mercilessly. It was time for many to break their TV sets. How many ‘mothers and sisters’ were cursed, that the Indian teams’ relatives would know due to the hiccups. The same channels which were singing praises should stop transmission to mourn the loss. Good that I went to sleep after the third Indian wicket fell.

I shall request my Bai to make Dahi-Chewra for lunch today as I am in mourning or should I wait for the ‘thirteenth day’? I wonder!!!!!!!!!

JAI HIND

© NOEL ELLIS