THE SACRED IDLIS AND THE SPIDEY BIRIYANI

                                                 

"Idly" the typical south Indian dish might be the top most in most of the south Indian hotel menu card. This baked savory cake made from by steaming a batter consisting of de-husked fermented black lentils and rice is the most significant member of the south Indian breakfast items. Having a little bit of aversion to this celebrated food item neither am I going to gloat about the goodness of idlis nor am I going to write down the recipe in this blog.

Served in pairs these idlis are yoked along with different varieties of sambar,chutney and idly podi. Be it from the local snack cart, the hospital canteen, the roadside hotel, the five star restaurant one can always save time placing the orders instead of hunting through the various names of dishes.. Whoa! It always has the top position in the card or you can just place the order without even glancing at the menu card.


It’s the breakfast served at home any day of the week. In any typical south Indian feast served during celebrations and functions such as the house warming ceremony, marriages etc. .. The flat, round idlis are the ones that welcome you apart from your smiling hosts. The easy preparation is the main culprit for their fame.

My aversion to idlis has always ridiculed people. It happens to me many times I recall the very first time I said no to an IDLY

 I sat down on the corner chair of the neatly lined rows in the dining hall. Happy chattering of relatives as friends all around was filling the air with a positive energy. The catering employees were moving around in a rush. First pouring water into my glass, placing a clean green banana leaf, placing a sweet and next when he was about to serve the idly I told "No please. I don’t want them.". He looked at me with a question of "Why? “but moved on. People sitting next to me ask this question immediately “Why did you say no to the Idli?". Hearing this from every other human being I meet. I reply" simple I don’t like them" with this answer I realize I've made myself the extraterrestrial from planet " no-idlis". 

Sigh!! That’s the story of how I got used to those stares form people
After some deep research I found what makes these people like Idly. The following reasons have been given by my relatives who are the die-hard fans of Idly.

• REASON 1: They are easily available. Easily digestible.
• REASON 2: In the era of low quality food products Idlis have always been considered safe. Its just dough, baked and fresh at the temperature such as the steam microbes die. No oil used, No artificial flavours.

• REASON 3: Being the brainiest person by doing such a smart work and keeping themself healthy.

Having found this out I wondered “Yeah the reasons are true. My bad !!! I still don’t like idlis.". With this I lived my life facing the taunts of people when they see me have indigestion due to bad oil in the Dosa or Puri or the food poisoning due to some other dishes. “We told you so. Behold and believe the power of the sacred Idli. You atheist!!" their chants haunted me for many years. But as we know every dog has a day. I was hoping for mine.
One fine day the miracle happened, we went on a family tour. As we were having our dinner my sister leaked out the news to me. “Do you know what happened last time in my mom’s place?" she asked I told " No I don’t! What happened?". She told "We went to buy parcel for my mom that day. The shopkeeper neatly wrapped four fluffy Idlis with chilly and coconut chutney and gave it to us. We handed it over to mom when we returned home. She opened it and started tearing a little piece of idly. After two such tries she found 2GB SANDISK MEMORY CARD. in it . " ."What????" I shrieked ." Yes. We did" My aunt joined in. " What else did you do ?" I asked laughing." We gave it back to the shopkeeper and scolded him." She said in a dull voice fiddling with the chappathi on her plate. “Oh that explains the change of your routine menu." I said. she nodded.

 Happy that the sacredness of the idli has been proved wrong by the shopkeeper’s memory card. I muttered a silent thanks to the Idly turned into a FORTUNE COOKIE well it doesnt contain the paper with a saying but sure worths more ..A 2GB memory card. I couldn’t stop smiling. But if the uncorruptable Idly can be corrupted where is the food security and the quality going towards??

This reminds me of another incident that happened a few years back.

good quality chicken biriyani

 One fine day my friend had this urge to eat good Biryani. As a loving father his dad went to buy Biriyaani from this famous shop. On returning my friend's brother eagerly opened the parcel but found a dead body of Argog's grandson staring back at him from the biryani. His dad took this to the shopowner , called the cook and showed him his marvelous spider biryani parcel.  The owner said that they were ready to replace the biryani with a new parcel.My friend's dad didn’t agree. After a huge argument he took back the money he paid for the parcel plus the petrol charges for this return trip. Happy that he evaded the chance of turning his son into Spiderman or the food poisoned spider man  he returned home. When I asked him why dint you go to the health inspector he sadly said they have a tie with a few hotels.Well we know how... What about those who ate biriyani that day from that hotel? I dont know . Now that I have narrated the episodes of the “Fortune Idly and the spidey biryani”. Let’s just be cautious not to fall into such traps and make our lives free from such Downpours