OK

A seedling sown carefully under the wraps of mud and cocopeat

Watered with utmost care, neither too less nor too much

Exposed to enough sunlight

Despite the intensive care, the poor seedling doesn't take bloom,

Lo and behold, without an iota of doubt, the entire pot is moved

Or the mud is dug into, to look for anomalies.

Not once is the seedling ever blamed, it's no fault of the seed, after all –

Everyone would agree without batting an eyelid.

And then when it does bloom, there's so much joy we seek in the little things

Talk of it as though the growth took place because of our care.

Well, let's take the pride if we want to.

The plant wouldn't know a thing, for it’s blooming where it’s planted.

 

In another realm,

Something regular goes amiss

Draws two red lines, when detected

Turns into a tiny sac

Letting out beats per minute, heard through an amplified technology

And it's a real being, a real thing!

Boom! And it changes the whole world for the one carrying it

Every person, with some basic empathy, who gets to know this, offers so much advice and care

For just like the plant, it's an inkling, with a greater potential to grow, after all.

If it's water & sunlight for the plant,

It's good emotions, food and supplements for the tiny sac.

It’s a dependent, after all, anything the carrier inputs, would be its direct output – a tiny reflection

What manifests as a tiny sac, goes on to take different shapes while being afloat…

Whether the mud and cocopeat go through painful changes or not, as the plant tries to expand,

The tiny sac takes up all the space it can –  causing a plethora of changes for the person carrying it – hormonal and what not.

A pleasant feeling this is, unique, and exclusive.

Every movement would want to be documented, just like the flowers blooming.

It could very well be a mundane activity, a routine, like the sunrise and sunset,

But the person carrying it feels every ray of its expansion

To revel in the beauty of the tiny being –  the stretches, moves and the gestures.

What it does when it's out, is public

What it does within, is something that I'd call my own, MINE, in BOLD.

If you'd care to empathise, you'd exactly feel the thrill ride with me,

If not, then you're just an onlooker, seeing my body grow horizontally.

That there are so many emotions running beneath, like a current, is an experience of its own.

And just when I was thinking of these itsy-bitsy movements, there's a sign quite vividly visible on the monitor – OK.

Folded fists, with the thumb sticking out.

It isn't like an imagination of cloud formations resembling different countries on the sky,

The radiologist acknowledges it too, equally excited for me.

It's a real tiny sac that has grown all the way up to say OK when it's still afloat.

Creation, THUS, is a beautiful journey.

Each, to one's own, as I progress.

God's great.

A Curcumin Pongal.

 

Happy Pongal. A harvest festival when everything around is bountiful – fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers. An inevitable part of this festival is of course sugarcane and fresh turmeric. Needless to say that all our festivals are tied to both spiritual, religious and health factors. In fact, they’re timed and aligned to the changing seasons of the year, which makes a lot of scientific and logical sense.

Let’s delve a little deeper into the fresh turmeric, because it caught most of my attention due to its sheer richness in medicinal properties. Turmeric’s most active compound, curcumin — has many scientifically proven health benefits, such as the potential to improve heart health and even helps fight cancer. It's a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

You don’t have to be an advocate of Ayurveda in order to begin including this wonder root in your diet – All it takes is to understand its internal body healing benefits, aside from it being a great skincare product of nature.

Here are a couple quick recipes with fresh manjal aka turmeric root.

Recipe1: Turmeric salad: it’s your direct dosage of curcumin.

Take about 5 full pieces of fresh turmeric. They look very similar to ginger. Peel the skin of it, either using a knife or a peeler – peeling fresh turmeric is akin to the peeling of ginger. As you begin feeling the surface of turmeric lying beneath its skin, you will see its bright orange shade, along with the fresh scent of the turmeric root that begins emanating, right from the start, not to forget the yellow color that it leaves on your fingers.

Once peeled, finely chop the turmeric, into tiny pieces. Add the juice of half a lemon into the chopped turmeric bowl, add required salt. Now for some seasoning, take a teaspoon of gingelly oil and temper it with mustard seeds, 2 chopped green chillies, a few chopped curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. Once they are mildly sautéed, toss this into the bowl of chopped turmeric. Garnish with a sprig of chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy this fresh curcumin dose as it is, or with a few scoops of curd rice. You’ll definitely get a very native taste of turmeric though, which could be prominent right in the first spoon, however, that’s negligible when you look at the overwhelming health benefits that this root has to offer. So go ahead and enjoy this crunchy salad!

In case you develop an aversion towards the prominent taste of fresh turmeric, then you can also add a couple of finely chopped turmeric root to your regular cucumber salad. This way, there’s a mix of flavours, rather than just the turmeric flavour standing out.

 

 

 Recipe2: Turmeric pickle:

Turmeric powder is an inevitable ingredient in all pickles. This one, will have turmeric stealing the limelight!

For the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup of fresh turmeric – grated. You can alternatively cut the root into small pieces and pulse-grind it in a mixer so that it comes out in a grated format.

Salt – desired quantity

Red Chili powder – desired quantity

 Asafoetida – 1 teaspoon

Fenugreek powder – half teaspoon

1 cup of tamarind juice

Jaggery powder – one tablespoon

Coriander powder – one teaspoon

Gingelly oil – 1 to 2 tablespoons.

A sprig of curry leaf.

Heat 2 tablespoons of gingelly oil in a pan and add 1 cup of freshly grated turmeric root to it. Spread it evenly in the pan so the oil blends with the grated turmeric. Begin adding salt, red chili powder, asafoetida, coriander powder, fenugreek powder and jaggery powder, and sautee well, along with a sprig of curry leaves. Ensure the flame is kept at low so the contents don’t begin to get burnt. Mix well after adding these ingredients and then add 1 cup of tamarind juice. Blend well and cook on low flame until the raw smell of tamarind goes away and the turmeric mix begins to thicken. Check salt and chili powder levels to suit your taste. Add additional gingelly oil as needed. When everything is cooked well, you will see the grated turmeric, assuming a thick reddish orange blend – the oil thus begins to separate. Temper with mustard seeds and a pinch of asafoetida. You now know you have to turn off the stove and let it cool before you could bottle this away to store. This pickle can be stored outside for a day or two. If you decide to keep it longer, then refrigeration works best.

After thought:

Either ways, inclusion of this wonder root in your diet is a direct route to a disease-free health system. Thanks to our ancient tradition and festivities, which focus on health and spirituality in equal degrees. One cannot do anything without good health – no wonder health is considered wealth! Don’t wait to fall sick to begin eating healthy – so let’s get back to our roots...!

Note: The above recipes are part of my creative experiments in the kitchen.