My childhood was
such a joyful one, cozy and comfortable, pampered and fondled, and taken care
of, as a princess of the house. I enjoyed this status all through my life even
after the birth of my two younger sisters. I am 4 and 5 years older to them, so
I used to be the first preference of my parents and relatives to shower their love
or gifts.
When my grand
parents come from the villages of East Godavari area, they used to bring
wonderful things of eatables to us children. Among them I still remember were
those called as BURRA GUNJULU( these are the seed of the Palm tree fruits
kept in the small clay hillock for a while till they get a little seedling.
Then they dig them out and crack them and find white soft very sweetish core of
the seed, which tastes wonderfully) And if these same seeds are kept in the
hillock for some time we used to get THEGALU which look like sticks, with full
of fiber to clean our teeth, while we eat them and clean and brush our stomachs
as your so called broccoli do in western
countries. We used to burn them on fiery
coals and eat them, sometimes we used to
boil them with a little salt in a pot of
water, and eat them. It would be a great exercise to the jaws and teeth to eat
them. In between these THEGALU there is
used to be thin tender stick within, and at the end of it hanging a soft
material which tastes very sweet to eat. We used to call it CHANDAMAMA. I do
not know why we were told to call it as the MOON of the sky, but we used to be
very proud to show it to our friends while eating it.
They used to bring JAGGARY big chunks of them,
and also they used to boil them to a
thick liquid which we used to call as JAGGARY PAANAKAM. My mom used to prepare BIG
rice and black gram Buns which were prepared on the big dish on the fire. We
used to eat this Jaggary paanakam with
those big buns and sometimes with GARELU, These Garelu are a favorite
item of food which my mom used to prepare for the guests definitely, or on the occasions
of birthdays, festivals etc. Sometimes we used to eat
Chicken curry with GARELU. It is a rich food with black gram preparation.
They used to bring
Jack fruits which were the produce of
our fields in our village. These JACK Fruits were the very famous of that area
with special taste of its own. Very sweet,
and known as RAVULAPALEM PANASA. My dad used to get a big sharp knife, my mom
used to bring a bowl of GINGELY oil and
my dad used to dip the knife in the bowl and also his hands in the oil while he
used to cut the fruit. We used to play
with the seeds of the fruits in the jack. Sometimes my mom used to burn them on
the fire or cut them into little pieces and cook them with mutton, into a tasty
curry.
We used to have a funny riddle on this jack
fruit, like THANDRI GARA GARA ( dad is very rough one) THALLI PEECHU PEECHU( mother is dried grassy grassy) BIDDALU
RATHANA MANIKYALU( children are like diamonds and Rubies) MANUMALU BOMMA
RAALLU( grand children are like useless and stable stones)
We also used to get
MELONS, which we used to enjoy in the
heat of the summer. Some time they used
to bring big PUMPKINS AND ASH GOURDs too. These PUMKINS were for the tasty gravy
DHAPPALAM prepared by mom. After we used the Pumpkin we used to take all
the seeds and mix them with the ask of the
fire stove in the home and dry them on a CHETA,(prepared by the leaves
of the palm trees) and keep them on the top of the house and they were dried up , we used to bring
them down after three days or so, and sit and open the seeds to eat the core of
seeds which were so tasty. Usually my
mom and aunty used to help us to eat them while they sit and chit chat about so
many things in the world. Or while listening to songs in the radio.
IN 1956 it self my dad used to have a small
speaker box attached to the Radio which could be carried to any room in the
house. I used to keep it in my lap and
used to wonder how can this box could speak and sing the songs. One day my dad opened the box to repair it a
little, I almost put my head in side it to look whether there are any men and
women in it. I saw small small Alluminium stick like things connected to one
another. I thought they must be the men in miniature size, looked at them with
wondrous eyes for long time. We also used to have GRAMA PHONE, even that was
great asotinshment to me, I wondered the
dog in the middle of the black gramophone plate might be singing it, when I
asked my dad about that he told me that it was listening to its Master’s voice.
I did not understand much at that time , nor even now for that matter. My dad
used to have all new songs of the films, among them I love the song, NEELA LA
KANNULO MELA MELA MELLA GA NIDHURA RAAVAMMA RAVE, and also the song EE JEEVITHAME SAFALAM RAAGASUDHA MADHURAMU
PREMA KADHA PHALITHAMU, I used to being asked by my dad and relatives to dance
for that song, so one day I felt I must dance on a floor like the kings palace,
with a flower in the hall. So I pestered my dad to make a floor like that , until
and unless I do not dance. So my dad literally bought a big flowry carpet for
me to dance on it. Can you imagine it?? Great dad , know?
They used to bring BRINJALS OF SPECIAL
TYPES They used to have thorns on its
stems like the rose flowers . My mom used to tell us, that they are called MULLA VANKAAYA, She used to cook them in special way, that curry was known as
GUUTHU VANKAYA KURA ,
she used to hum a song about that curry, which
I still remember, GUTHU VANKAYA KUROI
BAVA, KORI CHESINAANOI BAVA. ( I
prepared this stuffed bringjal curry for you my love, I prepared it with all my
love for you)
They also used to bring EETHA KAYALU (SMALL DATES)
which were so tasty to eat, we used to have a tree in our compound in
BANDAR Police quarters, these small
dates used to be green in bunches hanging from the tree, every day we used to
observe them till they turn up into yellow color, and then red, we used to
throw stones at them and gather the fruits under the tree and eat them. My grandparents also used to bring SEEMA CHINTHAKAYALU ( fruits look like tamarind fruits but with
white pulp cases with a black seed in between them) These fruits are of different colors , white,
pink etc. They taste sweet and sour too
in less percentage. We love them to eat.
When I go to our village me and my youngest
aunty, MARY used to go outside the village where these trees are there, we used
to threw stones at the fruits and collect the fruits and come home. Sometimes we both used to go to the small
brook that goes in between the village
to get a pot of water, we used to clean the water by
rubbing a small seed called INGILI GINJA
on the stone and mix its fluids in the water. All the dirt used to go
down the pot, and good and pure water used to be there to drink on top of the
pot.
They used to bring
TAMARIND CAKES too for household
purpose, along with ARESALU, AND
PONGADAALU lots of them in a big dish.
Preparing these eatables was a great feat in the villages, the previous
day they used to soak the fresh rice from the fields in the water for a
day, and they used to pound the rice into fine flour after dried the rice
thoroughly for a few hours, usually two
or three women from the neighborhood
come to help mom and grand mom to prepare them , so they used to sit whole
night to prepare these rice cakes by
pouring the flour in the right density of jaggary paanakam and make them into a
big morsel called CHALIVIDI and make them into small cakes and fry them. It
needs real skill to make them without being spoiled at any juncture of preparation.
So as it used to be the process of the moon light nights, outside the house, we
children used to sleep after the CHALIVID was prepared, and in the morning we
used to have big pots of ARESALU. The
left over Chalividi used to be mixed in little water and they used to make them
into PONGADAALU. Oh there used to be
many eatables when my grand parents come to our home. We used to wait for them
like anything, and we used to feel very sad when they go to their villages. My
parents used to purchase new clothes for them and give good food to them and
make them to take rest as long as they like, and used to purchase all things
they wanted to have and send them happily from our home. My dad’s sister
SUBBALAXMI used to come to our home
sometimes, she used to have pure silk skirts and blouses and half saries, and
she used to have some books which she used to read them for me, She used to
have a long hair which was plated into long JADA with three balls of thread at
the end. I used to wear them sometimes, and we both used to play many games,
one of them was OPPULA KUPPA VOYYARI BHAMA’ this game is very funny with these
long plates and three balls at the end of the plate. I forgot what they use to
call those balls, if any one remember the name let me know. She taught me one
song with dance once. I forgot that also
now. I used to sing and dance for a long time. Its about an young girl with a
little house in a nice grove waiting for
her husband, Poor aunty she never could
fulfill this dream in her life, she had had much difficulties with her married
man and left the in laws house and brought to her parents home. She is is still
alive in our village. I must visit her when I go home. Once I visited , but not
for long time. How easily we forget all those wonderful days and wonderful
people whom we loved in our childhood. ! I regret for my callous mind.
