iyers and idlis

Yes!! You guessed it right!! we are paying tributes to all iyer's specially living in the remote parts of southern Tamil nadu. Idlis and dosas are the first things you will notice within the living space of an iyer in your neighborhood.

An Iyer is an iyer and will always be an iyer, especially when it comes to eating. What more can an Iyer ask, if he has idlis as breakfast and dosas as snacks within his reach.

This is true for everyone, including myself as I used to have idlis and dosas as my breakfast & snacks during my college days in pune. there we have a mess "geetanjali", which is a perfect example of relationship between an iyer and idli,dosas... idlis and dosas with sambar and thenga chutney is all what an iyer requires to completely fulfill his dietary needs. Apart from iyers, all other peoples especially Punjabi's have started to hangout at these places. At Saravana Bhawan, Delhi; you will find people mostly Punjabi's sharing a piece or two. Further if you go beyond normal idli's you will find varieties of species of idli's down south. you will be surprised to find idli's with beer down south after a movie which had become a huge hit had this particular scene where the hero gulps down a plate full of idli's with a mug of beer as the side dish.

Fortunately, I have not seen any Iyer eating idli with beer as side dish. But we can say that there are nearly 18 varieties of idli dishes prepared by a iyer who sits near the railway station in ramanathapuram, tamil nadu. What else apart from well settled Iyers, a fundamentalist iyer can boast of. The sambar's made as side dish for idli's are different from the normal sambar an iyer makes at home. The sambar made for idli's are sort of mixed one with specially grounded thengai with karuvapellai. Even the thengai chutney are specially prepared by using the gundu thengai, which is even more sweeter than the normal one, as they are dried under sun. Even the dosas have different varieties.

An iyer at any part of the world would prefer to have idli, dosas with thengai chutney as he knows the "in & outs" of the preparation of these dishes, which he can comfortably eat. Its a great achievement for iyers to prepare various dishes in the name of combinations of mixing idlis with dosas. An idli mixture can be used to prepare dosa, which is generally thick and the new dish is named as "utthappam". Similarly, when the idli mixture is combined with the dosa mixture along with karuvapellai and onions, the dish is known by "onion utthappam". Generally an iyer mami is known for her hands on experience in experimenting and creating new dishes and by testing it on her family. At any hour, you can see the "mami" preparing some dishes which would be tested on "mama" first and then the "ambi's" come into pictures.

Kaapi is the commonest beverage, you would typically find at an iyer's place. "Filter kaapi" as known by, tastes differently in each household. Some would put less chikri mix or some would put more chikri mix, which is generally a base for preparing the "filter kaapi". In case you wish to have the "taste of idli, dosa with thengai chutney along with a strong filter kaapi" do find time to visit your nearest iyer friend. Till then you would find yourself wanting to practically experience the relationship between the 'iyer & idlis'.

risen to die

I think the tragedy with most of Iyers is about probing the lifestyles of its immediate family members which may not be relevant to the occassion they are gathering for. Its true that we can't force the people to think above the demarcated lines, which every one is used to now. The same curd rice have begun to change into dalmakhni-roti for the migrated iyers. Spurtly adding to that; the drift in the generation gap has emerged to an extent which can break a well knitted family, the broadning of gap becomes more wider than thought elseworth. Some times its spoils the relation ship and further adding to that, the lack of involvement and predictability are two factors that kill any relationship. Sometimes its the dual between a father and son, erst its between the mother and the daughter. Recently I have seen many iyers, who despite living in the nuclear family feels the lack of space unto each other; thus by forcing the relationship to strain.

Iyers predictably famous for settled well off at USA, have now started to make their presence within the Indian Market in various other fields. Sometimes I feel that this is also one of the reasons why the relationship are becoming too much pain for everyone. Particularly for those who are in BPO/ITES segment, with unstable workshifts; the quality time spent with the family reduces to a margin below null. Further to add to that; the demanding aspirations of parents adds more fuel to this relationship, which sometimes make the next generation feel uncomfortable towards the older generation.

Further most of next generation believe in hip-hop culture due to their working environment and the needs of relaxation being fulfilled by these so called hip-hop culture, makes them vulnerable; towards the lethargic attitude of older generations; which predictbly makes them the uncomfortable towards the so called attitude of next gen.

It requires some quality time between the old gen and next gen to sit together and have a platform built by trust and identifying the space for each others privacy, so as to avoid the death of nuclear family into electrons family. Till then, the gen gap would "rise to die" in an uneventful manner