In Love with South!!

My blogger friend Rahul Bhatia blogs at Rahul's Blogs and Collections. He served the Indian Navy and traveled all around the world. Anything he writes from mouth watering Samosas to South America, is an interesting read. Rahul is one blogger friend who never fails to read a post and comment and his support is unstinting to the fellow bloggers. Many times, he has taken me around world tours with his travelogues. When I asked him for a guest post, he didn't think twice and send me the post even before I realized that he accepted to send me one. :-) Now over to Rahul...

                                                                       

Many years ago, Agastya Muni was once traversing from North to South India and encountered Vindhya Mountains. As he was unable to pass, he requested the mountains to provide passage to his family. The mountain bent in reverence so that the family could pass. After that the sage decided to stay back and settle down in South India. Anyone living south of Vindhyas was called a Madrasi in times when I was born. It is a race of people usually referred to as Dravidians who were original inhabitants of India prior to invasion of Aryans from Mongolia/Central Europe. Most of them are distinct from their physical features, short built, slightly dark complexioned, barring a few exceptions like Hema Malini and Aishwarya Rai.  However, this post is more about my affinity for these people and their food than tracing their history.

As far as my memory goes as a child, my best friends in school were South Indians! They were less egoistic and also less crass. Besides, their food is something that could never wean me away from them. My mother packed paratha (a kind of bread) and beans which I detested as a kid! So I would play the Tom Sawyer’s trick with my gullible friend Ashok who carried tender fluffy Idlis (steamed rice pan cakes) in his lunch box! I would lie to him that though I love French beans I am willing to exchange my lunch box for those Idlis! He apparently was tired of eating them at home and handed over his lunch box which was polished even before the recess bell rang! This was oft repeated and the time just moved on. I would wait for Idlis to arrive from Mrs Subramanium , my mother’s  co-worker in school, with equal gusto.

One day a massive stone arrived with a Shiv Linga at home! I realized that my mother too fell for this insatiable love for South Indian food that she got a grinding stone! Mixer, grinders and food processors were still a few lightning years away. Enthusiastic, I too practiced and learnt the fine art to grind the rice and dal for batter of making dosas( rice pancakes)!! It was a good exercise for the tummy too, as long as the gorging of dosas the following day could be curbed.

While leaving school I got a call to attend the Services Selection Board interview at Bangalore for entry to the National Defense Academy! My first trip down south alone!  It was a three night’s journey from Delhi to Bangalore via Madras.  The train halted at Kazipet junction and I was stomped with the variety of food ranging from tamarind rice, curd rice, medu vada, upma and the works! The tingling flavor of the food still resides somewhere deep in the taste buds! The best was yet to come, when the train arrived at Madras junction and I was hungry even before sunset. The train to Bangalore was to leave around 10 PM at night, so I headed for the cafeteria! I asked the vendor for plain dosa and he told me that three of them would cost 60 p(less than one Rupee!) My eyes opened wide in wonder and disbelief as I feasted on five dosas in one go!!

In the years that followed in the college the South Indian fare would rule the roost, in company of Vijayshankar  and Madhavan( both  South Indian friends )! I tried Kerala Cafes of the neighborhood till one fine day I landed in Kerala itself in the Naval Academy, at Cochin. Hotel Maharaja used to churn out the best dosas which we got by dispatching our civilian bearers if we were unable to visit Woodlands in town on Sundays! In the intervening years of bachelorhood I explored every possible vista like various Udipi hotels and Kamat chain in Mumbai , Bangalore and many other cities. My best friends were Ravi and Ramesh (South Indians) now in the Navy!

After quitting the Navy, I got an opportunity to travel around and I managed to discover places which offered the best South Indian fare. The love for this wholesome snack and meal became a family addiction post marriage. I remember that after finishing a hearty breakfast at Ranjit  Sinhji Institute in Hyderabad, we went to explore the town. The feet were jammed outside Swathi Tiffins where the intense aroma of gunpowder chutney and filter coffee was so overpowering that we halted for another round of Idli ,Sambhar and coffee.

The lovely food has gone places as one can eat fluffy Idlis and crisp Dosas at Murugan Idli Shop in Singapore or Saravana Bhavan in NewYork with as much ease as at MTR in Bangalore or Chutneys in Hyderabad.

My entry in the blog world is more a happy coincidence as I was keen to pen my thoughts that often drifted like clouds in my head. Even here, I have been fortunate to make friends from all over the world. Some of them once again happen to hail from South with whom I get easily attracted as a North pole of a magnet!  

PS: Image Kind courtesy Google