AFVOA Newsletter of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 01 / 2021 Page 92 of 123 A few other points need to be kept in the background while going through the narrative. In 1967 – not only were gas burners few and far between, neither had wet grinders hit the market. In fact, we did not even have a mixie during those days. Lack of these ‘time saving’ gadgets did help in making sure that we had better health, for we were compelled to use elbow grease to grind etc. Also, as only one burner was used at a time, we had to use our little grey cells to plan and ensure that items were laid out appropriately. The time that we were to have the sambar ready was 5.30pm, as the Mela was to be formally thrown open to the public by 06.00 pm. A vehicle had been arranged so that all the items made by the ladies could be easily carted to the Mela Grounds. Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements. ~Marcel Boulestin Soon after lunch, we commenced ‘Operation Sambar.’ We had a large aluminum vessel - barrel shaped body with a narrow neck, which could conveniently hold 120 ladles of sambar. We had bought onions the previous evening from Kadir the vegetable vendor. The onions were peeled and sautéed and ready for use in the sambar. Using our granite stone grinder, my wife ground the necessary masala to be used for the sambar. She had already soaked the required quantity of imly – tamarind in water. The tuwar dal had been cleaned and placed inside the pressure cooker and was being cooked on the Nutan stove (an energy efficient multi-wicks kerosene stove promoted by Indian Oil Company). Soon enough, the pressure cooker whistled along, indicating that the dal was cooked. The pressure cooker came down and the large aluminum vessel with the required quantity of soaked and strained imly water took its place. The dal, ground masala as well as the vegetables were added. The mixture was allowed to boil and at the appropriate moment salt was added. A trifle later, being the official taster at home, I was asked to taste the sambar and give my expert opinion. On tasting, I did feel that the sambar was a little thick. Some water was added, and the mixture was allowed to boil again. When next tasted, it appeared that there was a little too much salt. Again, some more water went in and the mixture was once again set to boil. In all these machinations, we just did not realize how time went by. We heard the rumblings of the one tonner coming up and an officer came in to check if we could hand over the sambar to him. We reluctantly told him, that it would take a few more minutes. As he was already behind schedule, he requested