Happy Gudhi Padwa! A new year awaits us. Let us embellish it with wonderful unique experiences. How can these experiences be? Let me explain these through the metaphor of the "gudhi padhwa chutney", a mix with which the day would begin during my parents' days. I follow the tradition.
What is it made of? It has the fresh neem leaves, tamarind pulp/extract (you can use the raw mango slices as well), a little salt, a pinch of asafoetida, cumin seeds and sugar/jaggery as its ingredients. Like Aai, I, too, use just a drop or two of water to make it a smooth paste.
Now let us look at the taste of each one of these ingredients, extremely healthy. The tender neem leaves taste bitter, tamarind is tangy, salt has the salty feel without which food cannot be swallowed, asafoetida is pungent, while cumin seeds taste warm, earthy, while sugar/jaggery makes it sweet, and just the right amount of water binds it all together.
Is not that the recipe of our daily lived lives, too? Our experiences, too, are often bitter, sometimes pungent, rarely astringent, even bitter, unavoidably salty n sour. Happiness and joy add sweetness to life, while a teardrop or two enriches the humane awareness, right?
Well, let us throughout this year, and beyond, enjoy this unique mix with verve and vivacity. Happy Padwa! Happy New Year!
Pratima@ The seven tastes remind me of the 'seven seas' tablets which Papa made the staple diet alongwith our morning milk, warm, glassful, and enriched with the powdered wheat essence that Aai prepared so painstakingly.
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