Yesterday morning, my host mother and I woke long before the sun was up to take oil baths- a tradition of Diwali. Before bathing, the two of us had tea and coffee, then my host mother gave me a spoon full of yellowish oil to put at the top of my hair. I rubbed it into the part and then headed off for a shower. When we were both finished bathing, my host mother helped me into my new sari that was bought as a gift for me (from my host mother's cousin Ahalya) while I was in Chennai. When the wrapping, twisting and tying was finished I put on some purple and gold bangles and my host mother lent me a gold chain and earrings. She also gave me a purple bindi, so I matched everywhere! My host dad got up a few minutes later and bathed, and then the three of us sat in our living room with the neighbors and chatted for a few minutes before taking some photos and then heading off with my host mother's sister's family to the Murugan Temple (where my host mother and I sat and watched the homam and puja for three hours). We all walked around the temple, watched the puja and then left to go to breakfast at Annapoorna!
After finishing up with breakfast, we went to our neighbor's (Vadivu) parents home to visit and give sweets. We stayed for about an hour and a half. I felt bad because I was so tired, and my host mother sent me into the bedroom to sleep...luckily we went back to their house today and I was sure to participate in ALL the happenings to make up for it! We left and went back to the apartment for a few hours before we, and my host mother's sisters family left for lunch in the city. Later we went over to Piriyanga's house to burst crackers for a few hours before going to dinner at the Jenny Club- the fanciest building in Coimbatore. There were LOTS of people there, including Rianna (the other exchange student from New York) and her host family! It was fun to see so many people that we knew, and the dinner was great! We started off with some spring rolls (very different to what we have at "Chinese" food restaurants in the US) and gobi-65 (cauliflower fried in chili powder). For dinner, we all shared nan with several different graveys (including paneer! My favorite!) and had mango milkshakes for desert. It was a fantastic day, and a fantastic Diwali! It was so nice to spend so much time with all of the family again (I haven't seen a lot of them since Surya, my host brother, left for Oregon two months ago), I had lots of fun!
6 comments:
I always want to comment, but all I can really say is "wow"... You clearly didn't get your writing skills from your dad!
Diwali sounds like an amazing amount of fun (4th of July X 10). The pictures you sent via Picasa illustrate what a huge festivity it is - fireworks everywhere, people in the streets smiling, and everyone is dressed so beautifully! You and Mahesh looked beautiful and we really enjoyed seeing more pictures of Prabak.
What is a homam? What is the purpose of the oil in the hair? Are you writing the recipes down??
Reading this, I feel like I spent Diwali with you! Thanks. I missed it this year! :(
Please see if you can find out for me what the "-65" stands for in Indian restaurants' "Chinese" menus. A lot of menus have one or more dishes with 65 in the name. I have no idea where it comes from, and why "65" instead of, say, "64" or "66" or "42" or "91" or.... whatever... No one I've asked has an actual answer.
Sounds like you're having a lot of fun. I hope so!
haha! Dad, to answer your questions: Homam is a religious ceremony that is similar to a puja where a firepit is built and all of the offerings are burned. When Mahesh and I went to that one temple and sat for three hours, we were watching a homam.
The oil in the hair is mostly just a tradition. Mahesh thinks that there must be a reason, but doesn't know...
Yes! I actually have just started a little "recipe box" where I've written down the recipe for Paneer Butter Masala and put it inside! When I learn how to cook some more I'll keep those too!
Sara- this a great question! I was wondering about it myself one day and I asked Raviselvam (the counselor who is also a host dad). He told me that is is because a long time ago, it was chicken that they made, and it's called "65" because the chicken should be 65 days old when it's killed...I knew he was kidding, but is was funny! We asked the waiter and he didn't know either. No one seems to know!
No one I've asked seems to know, either. One of those (many) mysteries of life in India! :D
I'm wondering if it might be a corruption of a word in some Chinese or Indian language that describes the dish, but sounds something like "seeets-ti-fiy." And got misunderstood as "65."
Maybe I'll try googling it. Until then, Raviselvan's joke is as good an answer as any! :D
I love the way Indian guys like to tease. with such serious, straight faces. I'm gullible enough that I tend to fall for it — for a moment, anyway. ;)
OK, I googled it. Raviselvan is not alone.
Check out this link:
http://www.moxon.net/india/a_limca_please.html
Thought I would paste them here...those are just great!
I have two versions stories regarding the origin of Chicken 65, but the most convincing one is detailed at the end.
Story 1: The story goes that an English traveller visiting Kerala in 1965 asked a chef to make this dish. The traveller expressed his contentment at the result and left, whereupon the bar staff tried the remainders, having never seen anything like it before. The result certainly was good and Chicken 65 was born, there being no other name for it.
Story 2: As legend has it, in all the kallu (country liquor) bars, the favourite 'food fight' is: who can eat the maximum number of chillies? It is a symbol of machoism to be able to eat the most chillies. An enterprising hotelier capitalised on this and cooked up the dish Chicken 65, denoting that 65 chillies were used for every kilogram of chicken. After this there have been many variations in the preparation but I am yet to find out if there are 95 chillies in Chicken 65. If yes, I need to visit the doc tomorrow. ;-)
Story 3:I was in Madras/Madurai in March 1995 and I asked the same question about Chicken 65. It is actually chicken who are reared to a maximum of 65 days before slaughtering so that the flesh is tender and sweet. Over here we call it spring chicken.
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