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I was talking about the invasion and insurrection by the North-Indian wheat product called suji (Bombai Rava) of our South Indian rice-suji (Idly Rava). And how it had to be sieved to remove the dirt and pebbles and silk-white worms. But the big question was that worms can be removed but how can one remove their eggs?
This gag reminds me of the dig that our sharp-tongued English Don, Basudeb Ghosh, at our Faculty Hostel at IIT KGP in 1970, used to poke at a goat-bearded (but otherwise clean-shaven) Sardarji in the Archie Dept:
"One can grow beards but can one grow brains?"
But our housewives soon found out the answer...roast the little devils (I mean the eggs, not the brains). So, as soon as the monthly quota of suji was brought home and sieved, they took a frying pan and placed it on the stove and let it heat up. And then (with or without adding a spot of ghee) pour the entire suji into the hot pan and ladle it to and fro it till it turned brownish. And hope that it stayed worm-free till the next payday. And store the roasted suji in empty Ovaltine tins.
This Ovaltine was yet another luxury item for rich kids and prudes who didn't like their coffee. It was an expensive imported thing manufactured originally in Switzerland and came as brown chocolate-flavored malt granules that were supposed to kick-start you as soon as you drank them dissolved in hot milk. Of course it was yet another food fad like Cocoa and Horlicks. It was a costly placebo.
These Ovaltine granules were prone to soak atmospheric water vapor and turn wet...hygroscopic. So as soon as you wrenched out the replaceable lid of a new Ovaltine dubba with a screw driver, you were confronted with a thick white moisture-proof tin cover that had to be cut open expertly by Father with his pen-knife. The bonus for us was a thick white round tin discus over the possession of which we all fought. For, we could take a pair of scissors and cut out 30-odd sharp triangular pieces of the thick metal sheet that could be used as tips to our arrows that could puncture mom's suji-sieves ;)
All things in this world have their uses...not excepting mothers-in-law...
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I was talking about the invasion and insurrection by the North-Indian wheat product called suji (Bombai Rava) of our South Indian rice-suji (Idly Rava). And how it had to be sieved to remove the dirt and pebbles and silk-white worms. But the big question was that worms can be removed but how can one remove their eggs?
This gag reminds me of the dig that our sharp-tongued English Don, Basudeb Ghosh, at our Faculty Hostel at IIT KGP in 1970, used to poke at a goat-bearded (but otherwise clean-shaven) Sardarji in the Archie Dept:
"One can grow beards but can one grow brains?"
But our housewives soon found out the answer...roast the little devils (I mean the eggs, not the brains). So, as soon as the monthly quota of suji was brought home and sieved, they took a frying pan and placed it on the stove and let it heat up. And then (with or without adding a spot of ghee) pour the entire suji into the hot pan and ladle it to and fro it till it turned brownish. And hope that it stayed worm-free till the next payday. And store the roasted suji in empty Ovaltine tins.
This Ovaltine was yet another luxury item for rich kids and prudes who didn't like their coffee. It was an expensive imported thing manufactured originally in Switzerland and came as brown chocolate-flavored malt granules that were supposed to kick-start you as soon as you drank them dissolved in hot milk. Of course it was yet another food fad like Cocoa and Horlicks. It was a costly placebo.
These Ovaltine granules were prone to soak atmospheric water vapor and turn wet...hygroscopic. So as soon as you wrenched out the replaceable lid of a new Ovaltine dubba with a screw driver, you were confronted with a thick white moisture-proof tin cover that had to be cut open expertly by Father with his pen-knife. The bonus for us was a thick white round tin discus over the possession of which we all fought. For, we could take a pair of scissors and cut out 30-odd sharp triangular pieces of the thick metal sheet that could be used as tips to our arrows that could puncture mom's suji-sieves ;)
All things in this world have their uses...not excepting mothers-in-law...
1.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all
2.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
All things bright ...
3.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them high and lowly,
And ordered their estate.
All things bright ...
4.
The purple headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;−
All things bright ...
5.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,−
He made them every one:
All things bright ...
6.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
We gather every day;−
All things bright ...
7.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
All things bright ...
(Amen)
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
All things bright ...
3.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them high and lowly,
And ordered their estate.
All things bright ...
4.
The purple headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;−
All things bright ...
5.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,−
He made them every one:
All things bright ...
6.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
We gather every day;−
All things bright ...
7.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
All things bright ...
(Amen)
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