Seasoned

Bamboo

BAMBUSA VULGARIS

Mary saved the best shoots for the house when they started emerging out of loamy soil from their backyard at Sircep in Mizoram. “All are best but some are cut above the rest. How do we know this? During the bad years, these are the shoots that the little rats attack the first. Someone told me rats and humans share a lot in common. Perhaps it is the food. Touché,” Mary says immediately grabbing a piece of wood that May. By July, Chinzah, her husband grew desperate. He was waiting for the weekly market to start so that he could reach first and sell of all the bamboo shoot. “It rained so hard last few weeks in June. I will have to sell this off before the real monsoon sets in, else all of it will rot,” Chinzah said while preparing to leave for the market.

The children came home early that day. When they were leaving for school they overheard Chinzah telling Mary that she should prepare some pork and rice for supper as he will come back with his friends. Mary’s kitchen was filled with pungent smells of young shoots slowly melting pork fat with spinach, when children entered the house. “Is Papa buying me the new football today?” asked the elder one. “Wait till he comes. The house needs repairs too. Pray that all of it sells,” she told the children.

By evening, Mary had changed the curtains, flowers in the vase, fixed a leaking tap and put a new table cloth. It was five in the evening. “Two hours to supper. Looks like I was super-efficient today … So the boys are not going to drink at home this evening and come straight for supper,” she wondered. The children also returned from the football ground and started to hover around the kitchen. At about, 6:30 the youngest of the lot, Tetei, started clapping her hands, when saw two flashlights near the doorstep. “He’s back! Daddy’s back!” saying this Tetei woke-up Angel, her exhausted elder sister.

Mary went to unlock the door, when she saw Ramanga, Chinzah’s friend helping her husband to climb the stairs. “Tell the children to go back to bedroom,” Chinzah said. She noticed that the large sack of bamboo shoot was not there. “It seems we are thieves. The bamboo that grows in our backyard is not ours,” said an angry Ramanga helping his friend to settle on the couch.
“Who called you a thief? What happened?” she asked trying to sift through the first aid to cover Chinzah’s bruised feet. “They have passed a new law that makes all the bamboo shoot collection illegal in this country,” Chinzah blurted out.

In 2012, Mizoram barred its residents from selling bamboo shoot in the open market. Aided by Young Mizo Association, the state administration came down heavily on the indigenous tribes eking a living out of Bamboo shoot to run paper mills in Assam. Chinzah and many others lost their livelihoods that July.

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Banana

MUSA BALBISIANA / ACUMINATA

Ranjit Tadvi, a farmer growing bananas by the bank of Narmadas near Jhagadia in Gujarat invested heavily in a farm in the low lying area situated in the flood plains of the river. When Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam – one of the biggest dam projects in India – became operational in 2004, Tadvi and many others was assured by the local leaders that he should stop worrying about floods from now.

“This is a multipurpose project. Flood control is one of the great benefits of the dam,” assured the local leader.

Tadvi was evacuated by a team of disaster response force last year. For three days, Tadvi and 1200 others from neighbouring villages remained in the relief camps. When he returned, he was greeted by a thick layer of mud inside his house. Mud had enveloped most of his banana farm. The next thing he heard was that heavy rains and the floods have damaged over 2500 hectares of banana crops which accounts to about 90 percent of the banana produced in the state.

A month later, Narendra Papervala, a news reporter informed that the height of the dam will be further increased to stop the flooding. “This would mean 245 villages will go under water before the water hits the dam gates,” he said last year. Tadvi is yet to understand the calculus of the submerging villages by increases dam waiting for rivers to submerge more villages when it rains

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Beef

BOS PRIMIGENIUS INDICUS

India is unofficially the largest exporter of cattle parts. But not everyone would acknowledge it so quickly.

Four years ago, a confused someone someone (SS) needed help with her homework. Afraid to ask her parents for the taboo associated with eating / consuming beef, she embarked on a fascinating ride in the internet. The question was simple: What are 13 things made out of cows besides beef? So she quickly typed in this question and kept expecting the answer. For one whole year, no one came to help her homework. It was only after alcohaulin ass (AA), saw the post. AA immediately thought of ‘askthemeatman’, her / his trusted friend and here’s what AA posted:

“Beef By-Products
For as long as animals have been used for food, by-products have been important to humans. Cattle provide us with many by-products parts of the cow other than beef – which are used to create industrial, household, health, and food products, many of which you consume or use every day:

Food:
Gelatin comes from the connective tissue of cattle and is used to make many of the foods we often eat: candies, dairy products, desserts, diet products, jellies and marshmallows.

Household Products:
You’d be surprised at the number of products in your home made with cattle by-products No matter where you live, you likely have several of the following products in your home made from fats and proteins:

Candles
Ceramics
Crayons
Cosmetics
Deodorants
Detergents
Floor Wax
Insecticides
Insulation
Linoleum
Mouthwash
Paints
Paper
Perfume
Plastic
Photographic film
Shaving Cream
Soaps
Synthetic Rubber
Textiles
Toothpaste

Pharmaceuticals:
Since cattle are organically similar to humans, our bodies easily accept medication or a treatment made with animal components:

Blood factors (for treating hemophilia, killing viruses and making anti-rejection drugs).
Chymotrypsin (promotes healing of burns and wounds).
Collagen (used in plastic surgery and to make non-stick bandages).
Cortisol (anti-inflammatory).
Glucagon (treats hypoglycemia or low blood sugar).
Heparin (anticoagulant used to treat blood clots).
Insulin (for treating diabetes or high blood sugar).
Pancreatin (aids in digestion of food).
Thrombin (coagulant which helps blood clot).
Vasopressin (controls intestinal and renal functions).
Vitamin B-12 (prevention of B-Complex deficiencies).

Textures/Apparel:
Cowhides provides us with leather, which is used to make clothing, shoes, boots, belts, purses, wallets, gloves, luggage, and automobile and furniture upholstery.

Travel:
Cattle by-products help us to get us where we’re going- whether it’s by land, air or sea:

Antifreeze contains glycerol derived from fat.
Asphalt contains a binding agent from beef fat.
Beef fats and proteins are used to make auto and jet lubricants, outboard engine oil, high performance greases, and brake fluid.
Glue from beef protein is used in automobile bodies.
Tires have stearic acid, which makes rubber hold its shape.”

Did SS finish the homework? We still do not know. A one year wait to know 13 uses of cattle with someone called alcoholin ass, who has now gathered 1185 points by answering 130 questions, responding it with a list. Was it worth waiting for the answer?

The wait was definitely its worth for Ahmedabad police in Gujarat in 2009 when it seized 6,000 kilogram of beef from a mini-truck near Subhash Bridge area of Ahmedabad after waiting for three hours. The police did not do much. Most of the action was undertaken by the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members who apprehended the truck and stripped the driver and others and paraded them in underclothes, while policemen from Ramol police station waited and watched.

Jaylit Yogesh, the local VHP member ensured that police arrested four persons in this connection. The police to local news-reporter even on the record that the mini-truck carrying beef was coming towards Subhash Bridge when the VHP members apprehended it. When the truck driver noticed a Tata Qualis car driven by VHP members following him, the police replaying the whole action for media said that truck which was ahead of the car tried to overtake it. “But the truck failed,” said a police official describing it with cinematic climax.

The publicly humiliated and later arrested driver of the truck after a long interrogation named one Iqbal Chipa of Ahmedabad, who earns a living by animal slaughter and beef trade.

On that same day, the local VHP unit assisted the Naroda police in rescuing 17 cattle from consumed by humans from a truck near Nana Chiloda area of Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Highway. The police arrested the driver while the cleaner managed to flee.

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Betel

PIPER BETLE

Due to their unique aromatic flavor and tender taste, betel leaves from Dhinkia gram panchayat of Jagatsinghpur district are a favorite among paan-eaters across the country.

“Many in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and other cities like the betel leaf of Dhinkia area because of its extra large size, pungency and thick stalk. These unique qualities are not found in other betel leaf varieties in the country,” said Brunaban Das, a betel vine farmer of Dhinkia, who has been growing the vines for the last three decades.

But the fate of at least 5,000 betel leaf cultivators of Gobindapur, Patana, Dhinkia and other villages in Jagatasinghpur district now hangs in balance due to the presence of a large number of armed police in Gobindapur since the past two months.

The tender leaves need to be dispatched to marketplaces within two days after being plucked. But due to the tension created by police presence in the villages, millions of betel leaves are rotting in the houses of farmers as buyers are scared to come to these parts to procure the crop. “Many betel leaf cultivators of Dhinkia areas are spending sleepless nights after incurring heavy losses,” said Bijaya Jena, a betel leaf farmer of Gobindapur.

“Seven lakh betel leaves are rotting in my storehouse. I have suffered a financial loss of Rs 50,000 as I am unable to dispatch them. Altogether about 25 lakh betel leaves are rotting in the houses of farmers in Dhinkia. Non-availability of cold-storage facilities are adding to the woes of cultivators,” said Ajit Swain, a farmer in Dhinkia.

“Farmers of these areas used to sell paan worth Rs 20 to 30 lakh every month. But since the last two months nobody comes to our village to purchase paan,” said Prafulla Jena of Gobindapur.

For the past eight years, betel leaf cultivators of Dhinkia gram panchayat have been resisting South Korean steel giant Posco’s plan to acquire over 4,000 acres of land in the district for an integrated steel and power plant. “The betel leaves from our areas are considered the best in the world. But the authority is hell bent on destroying our betel vines for industrialization,” said Amarbar Swain, a farmer of Dhinkia.

“The district administration is planning to acquire my three acre betel vine fields in Gobindapur to establish the steel plant by Posco. I hoped to earn at least Rs 60,000 by supplying betel leaves to Mumbai one last time before my lands are taken away, but the presence of armed police here is making it impossible for me to sell my crop,” said Shatrughan Jena of Gobindapur.

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Cardamom

ELETTARIA

In the 1990s, Sebastian Joseph from Palaghat developed the Njallani, a variety of cardamom that now accounts for 70% of all of the spice grown in India. Until Joseph came up with the Njallani, though, conventional yield per hectare (around 2.5 acres) of the crop was 200-250kg. Njallani increased that to 1,500kg.

Joseph discovered Njallani by accident. He has an apiary on his farm; bee-keeping, he thought, would bring in additional income. The bees helped cross-pollinate different varieties of cardamom on his farm and Joseph’s idea was born watching them do that. He isolated varieties that had emerged from cross-pollination (through the simple expedient of throwing a net over them to prevent the bees from sullying the strain) and marked each of them. He then counted the output of these plants, in terms of number of cardamom berries, or capsules. He picked the high-yielding varieties among these, and cross-pollinated them.

A decade later, he developed a variety that produces 120-150 berries (per plant) compared with the 30-40 of normal varieties. He named this Njallani, his family name.

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Cauliflower

BRASSICA OLERACEA

William, a British national travelling in the Himachal is puzzled. While trekking along the remote banks of the Satluj, he was thrilled to see jeeps carrying fresh cauliflowers. For the first couple of meals, however, he got cabbages in three different dhabas. The dhaba owners simply apologized and refused to take money. But none could explain to William this crucial linguistic difference between the two gobhis.

“But I did ask for ‘Gow-bhi’”, William said to his new friend, Premchand, who he met in a dhaba, where no one spoke in English except Premchand.

“You should say “ful gobhi” for cauliflower—,” Premchand tried to explain before William interrupted: “And ‘half-gobhi’ for cabbages?”

Premchand almost chocked laughing at William. “NO, my friend! ‘Patta-gobhi.’ ‘Patta’ means leaf and ‘phul’ means flower,” Premchand said with a smile.

“That’s beautiful. What does ‘gobhi’ mean then?” William asked.

“Gobhi means a gobhi. Why you ask? Add patta it is cabbage, add phul it becomes cauliflower,” Premchand insisted.

William quietly took out his smart phone and started learning Hindi.

“Some say cabbage is bandh (closed) gobhi and some call cabbage a gobhi,” he read out aloud to his friend.

Even the internet could not solve his confusion till date.

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Chilli

CAPSICUM ANNUUM

Saurabh “Newton” Paul stayed up all night drinking in his college dorm after returning back from his summer holidays to start a new year.  After having a heavy breakfast on that humid July morning, Newton slept peacefully till afternoon only to be woken up by a power cut. Irritated by all the sweat and noise outside his room, Newton decided to abandon sleep for yet another day of debauchery and celebration to mark the start of the academic year. It seemed some people had just arrived with goodies from home. He ventured to one of the rooms.

A short young man and the college football team’s goalkeeper were eating, sharing stories about the holidays. Newton, drained by the sweat, suddenly decided that food might just keep all the heat and the humidity away. The young man, a resident of Nagaland in India’s north-east had just returned with some pickle from home. “Hey man! Go easy on the pickle. This is a very deadly chilli,” warned the young boy offering him a piece with two slices of bread. Newton’s memories of having fresh chilli pickle suddenly took over him; he likened the pungent smell to spicey pickle that his mother would make. “I can lots of chilli pickle,” Newton. The goalkeeper placed a bet of Rs. 100 against Newton eating one whole chilli. However, to test waters, Newton decided to play safe and wanted to examine it first. These chillies are a mix of red, green and yellow and grow in several parts of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.  Newton tried the bamboo shoot first, which usually accompanies these chillies. “What is this? It smells foul but tastes nice. I think I can easily eat the pickle if you can do away with bamboo shoot,” was his immediate reaction.

The young man smiling at him urged him to eat the chillies as well. Newton ate one. For an eternity of a second, Newton appeared as if nothing happened. Then suddenly, he started running. He ran to the bathroom, almost blinded by the pungency! Later that evening, he was found eating jaggery near the student’s dining hall bhy his companions, well ahead of the dinner time and covered with sweat. Sticking his tongue out, Newton asked the young man, “What the hell was that you gave me this afternoon?”

“That’s what we export to the police in many countries …,” laughed the young Naga lad, “they use it for crowd control. It’s called Raja Mircha.”

Putting the bottle away, he added: “But it does not work on me, man.”

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Cinnamon

CINNAMOMUM VERUM

Our little town suddenly discovered cinnamon in ways that you can’t even imagine.

The local shopkeeper insisted that this new variety is much cheaper and is a product of India. Diabetics celebrated the readily available spice which would now replace their craving for all sweet things. Everybody bought cinnamon in large quantities. “Forget importing cinnamon from Lanka,” the baker said as he sprinkled generous amounts of the powdered spice on the doughnut. Cinnamom laced candies, chewing gums and even soft ice cream dispensed by vending machines started having that sharp and sweet flavor in this little town. Neeta Mehra went overboard and bought a kilogram of cinnamon to bake cakes and cream rolls. Within a month, she made the spice her mascot for her boutique bakery called Cinnamehra.

In a year’s time, some school children probably addicted to Cinnamehra, and all things Cinnamon, complained of stomach aches and reached her husband’s clinic – the only one in the town. Almost all the parents said that knew of him and his wife’s bakery chain. After collecting samples from at least four school children and a bunch of teenagers, who complained of similar stomach ache, Dr Mehra made an astonishing discovery. All of them were highly addicted to cinnamon and regularly visited his wife’s cake shop. That night, he quietly connected his computer to the internet and found that spices board, a body to regulate trade of spices in India, has issued a warning. The warning said that cinnamon’s evil twin, Cassia has flooded the markets across the country. It smells and tastes like cinnamon, but has a higher level of a toxic chemical called Coumarin, which causes intestinal ulcers if consumed in excessive quantities. To his shock, he found out that coumarin extracted from cassia barks are used to make rat poison, while the genuine Cinnamon mostly comes from Sri Lanka. When he walked up to his wife, she was devastated. It was difficult to convince her to shut her shop.

The next morning he went to the local shopkeeper and insisted that he wants cinnamon. He took the sample and matched it with coumarin levels of Ceylon cinnamon. The results were positive for Cassia. The news spread like wildfire from the laboratory where Dr Mehra tested it. “How do I tell my customers? What if people blame us for serving them wrong cinnamon – and now you charging them for visits?”, was the first thing Neeta aunty asked when Dr. Mehra reached the house. Cinnamehra died an instant death that day, while angry diabetics attacked the local shopkeepers. But nobody could tell cinnamon from cassia. “It was as if Ravana, the mythical ruler of Lanka, had just cursed our little town,” said the local priest.

The Indian government is still trying to control the trade of cassia in the guise of cinnamon, but evil twins don’t die easily.

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Clove

SYZYGIUM AROMATICUM

The clove study involved 36 men and women diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Three groups of patients consumed one, two or three grams of cloves for 30 days in capsule form, while a fourth consumed none of the spice.

At the end of the study, regardless of the amount of cloves consumed, all those who ingested cloves showed a drop in glucose, triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels. Blood levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol were not affected among the clove eaters. Those who did not ingest cloves experienced no changes.

“The people who would benefit the most are those who have impairments in their blood sugar,” said Richardson. “These are the 40 million people with metabolic syndrome who are pre-diabetic, people with type 2 diabetes, and even the severely diabetic and the severely overweight – although they may not benefit as much because the impairments in their insulin are much, much worse.”

Richardson cautioned, however, that consumers should not simply start dousing their food with cloves and cinnamon. He noted, for example, that cinnamon in powder form is rendered ineffective by contact with saliva, and its lack of solubility in water can result in an unwanted build up of the spice in the body.

Instead …

Stud an onion with several cloves when making a homemade sauce, stock, broth or stew.
Embed a few cloves into a piece of meat before cooking.
Add to cauliflower, broccoli or cabbage dishes (this will aid digestion).
Use cloves to make bread sauce.
Use cloves to make mincemeat or a Christmas pudding.
Add ground cloves to biscuit or cake dough for a spicy sweet treat.
Add to your mulled wine ingredients.
Use cloves in your apple sauce.
Add to stewed fruits such as apples or rhubarb.
Add to barbeque style sauces.
Flavor soups with whole cloves.
Flavor boiled or fried rice with several cloves.
Use to make sweet breads or muffins.
Add to pumpkin or sweet potato pie.
Add to curries and other spicy foods.
Add to rice pudding and other milk-based sweet dishes.

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Coconut

COCOS NUCIFERA

The discovery process for this huge Indian deposit was accidentally initiated in the year 1908 when Herr Schomberg, a German chemist identified the presence of monazite in the sand remnants of contaminants of coir imported from Kerala.

Encouraged by the great demand in those days for thorium oxide in gas mantle, Schomberg established the first plant at Manavalakurichi (MK) in 1910 for separation of monazite and later another plant at Chavara. Subsequent to the arrest of Schomberg on charges of being a German spy during the first world war, both his plants at Manavalakurichi and Chavara were closed down. The London Cosmopolitan Mineral Company established in the year 1914 in London took over these plants and continued operations. In 1920, Hopkins and Williams (H&W), yet another London based English Company started operation at Manavalakurichi and Chavara.

The first export of ilmenite from Chavara took place in the year 1922 and the Indian ilmenite maintained a virtual monopoly in the world market as basic raw material for titania pigment (white) till 1940 when four plants belonging to Travancore Minerals Ltd. (TMC), Hopkins & William Travancore Ltd. (H&W) and Fx Pereira & Sons (FXP) together exported as high as three hundred thousand tons of ilmenite from Chavara. From a position of such a virtual monopoly in 1940, the demand of Chavara ilmenite however, dwindled in subsequent two decades due to variety of reasons like demand for better quality, labour unrest, difficulty in shipping, etc. Meanwhile the unbridled export of monazite continued till 1947 when the Govt. of India realised the strategic importance of the mineral and placed an embargo on its export. Around this time, to be precise on August 18, 1950, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) was incorporated as a private limited Company under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, jointly owned by the Government of India and the then Government of Travancore-Cochin.

The immediate objective of the new company was to setup a chemical plant for processing of monazite for the recovery of thorium and uranium values in the form of concentrate and separate all the rare earths as mixed Rare Earths (RE) chloride. Accordingly in 1952, IREL setup a Rare Earth Plant at Alwaye, Cochin with an initial capacity of processing 1500 tpa of monazite based on the technology provided by the Societe des Products Chemiques des Terres Rares (now Rhodia Inc). The Company was also entrusted with the responsibility for setting up a Thorium Plant at Trombay to convert a part of the thorium concentrate to pure thorium nitrate for its application in the area of gas mantle making. From 1955 to 1998, IREL operated this plant on behalf of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and supplied thorium nitrate to gas mantle industries and nuclear grade thorium oxide for research and development work related to utilization of thorium in the Indian nuclear energy programme. Only recently the plant has been closed as it has outlived its life.

Mining of heavy minerals will affect the coir and coir products depended population of the area. One of the major agricultural products of the area is coconut that grows widely along these coasts. Apart from selling coconuts as an edible good, people are involved in manufacturing coir from the husk of the coconuts. Coir and coir products are exported in a large scale and its local use is also considerable.

Modern societies have begun to understand the importance of coir as an incomparable eco-friendly substance. Many of the fishing dependant households consider coir and coir products manufacturing as an additional source of income. Coir extraction process from the husk is complicated and requires brackish water to treat and soften it. The physico-chemical condition of the water is crucial for this process, as its variation might affect the quality of the coir strands. Once mined, the backwaters of the area will get more exposed to the sea, thereby changing the physicochemical parameters of the water.

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Cumin

CUMINUM CYMINUM

Ramesh Sindhav is busy in his workshop at Hansalpur, a village in Gujarat that produces the finest cumin in the country. All of the cumin is traded at Unjha, a town known for Asia’s biggest cuming market. Armed with a soldering iron, Sindhav is creating a trespasser warning system through a maze of electronic circuitry which would protect his cousin’s cumin fields. While demonstrating his device to his relatives and some local farmers including his cousin, Kapil, Sindhav explains that when a stray buffalo or a goat would try to cross the field, a sensor would detect its movement and a text message would be sent to his cousin’s cellular phone. To ward off the stray cattle from the boundaries, Ramesh says, the sensor will also generate a low frequency electric shock. After explaining, Ramesh realizes the confusion amidst the audience and quickly adds, “The pastures will have industries now, so obviously the cattle would stray.”

Kapil, who recently returned from Zimbabwe after working as a forest guide in a sanctuary, is thrilled with his younger cousin’s innovation. “We used to do this to wild animals back in Zimbabwe but now we will have to do this to our own,” says Kapil after that initial excitement over the device. Kapil could not ignore threat of the device that could sour their relationship with the pastoralist community, the Maldhari grazier.

Recently, the Gujarat government in its bid to increase capital investment in the state announced that about 50,000 hectares of land from 26 villages would be acquired for a special investment region, which in future would be a hub of automotive parts. When Kapil and around 10,000 farmers and grazers from these villages reached Gandhinagar, the state capital, with their tractors, a government minister admonished them for refusing land deals for their farm land. Even the local supporters of the government chose to stand on the side of the farmers. Later, the government decided to shrink the size of the investment zone by the end of 2013.

While cumin farming may have been saved to a great extent due to the protests, the pastoralists have not been spared. “Earlier, cattle never entered fields. We would not lead them to someone’s fields. But if the pastures go, then we all will have to find ways ward off cattle from cumin farms,” says Jethabhai, a grazer attending Ramesh’s demonstration.

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Curry Pata

MURRAYA KOENIGII

More than three years since UAE banned import of curry leaves from India, the product is easily available in the country, thanks to smuggling of the leaves from neighbouring Oman. Curry leaves, used in many Indian dishes, had been banned in the UAE after consignments from India were found to have more than the accepted level of pesticide.

“Indian curry leaves were banned after our inspectors found more than the accepted level of pesticide. A few shipments were regularly monitored after a serious food poisoning case in Al Qusais in Dubai in which a few children died. Our investigation found that the food last consumed by the victims had curry leaves that contained more than the allowed level of pesticide,” says a local municipality official from Dubai.

Dubai Municipality officials inspected and fined many vegetable traders for illegally selling smuggled Indian curry leaves but the trade continues to flourish.

A box of curry leaves costing Dh150 is sold for Dh200 and Dh250 and even after paying a fine of Dh2,500, traders make good money.

Since then there has been no change in the government’s policy and some vegetable traders stopped import Indian curry leaves and switched to curry leaves from Sri Lanka. Between 500 kg to one tonne of curry leaves were sold in the UAE per day before the ban.

After Dubai Municipality banned import of Indian curry leaves, its price shot up in the market and traders began smuggling the leaves through Oman and mixing Indian curry leaves with the Sri Lankan variety.

“The price of a kilo of curry leaves is now Dh40 and a small packet costs Dh 3. The price was only Dh 10 per kilo before the ban. Now traders spend Dh4500 to bring one trailer of curry leaves into the UAE through the Oman border. First, they import the leaves to Oman and from there it is brought to the UAE through the land borders. The curry leaves are hidden inside the trailers and kept with other vegetables to avoid being seen by inspectors,” said a trader.

Vegetable vendors don’t sell the leaves inside their shops but keep the boxes of leaves inside parked containers or trailers to avoid being seen by health inspectors. Indian curry leaves coming to the UAE are grown in Tamil Nadu state and brought to Kerala for export through the airports there.

Since it takes four to five days for the product to reach here, traders or farmers use strong pesticides to preserve the aroma and green colour of the curry leaves. While some grocery owners and traders are not aware of the health hazards involved, others are doing it knowingly to cater to customer demand. “Even though Sri Lankan curry leaves are available, nobody is buying it because it does not have the strong aroma of Indian curry leaves. People who are used to Indian curry leaves won’t use alternative products,” said a trader in Sri Lankan curry leaves in Dubai.

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Garlic

ALLIUM SATIVUM

“Eating onions and garlic adversely affects one’s consciousness,” says Sarika. “Why? Because the modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance influence every living thing – human, animal, or plant – and we learn from the Vedic literature that onions and garlic are in the lower modes of nature: passion and ignorance. In spiritual life one should cultivate the mode of goodness and avoid the lower modes in order to advance. Of course many Hindus eat onion and garlic because they are just members of Hindu religion, but not spiritual practitioners.”

Ajay continues, “Sattvic foods are rich and abundant in Prana, the universal life force. Onion, garlic and caffeine are taboo in a sattvic diet as they cause denseness in the body. According to the Vedas, sattvic foods are juicy, wholesome and pleasing to the heart, providing subtle nourishment for positive vitality. What makes sattvic food so unique and pleasurable is that all dishes are prepared and served fresh.”

Anil concludes, “As a devotee of Krishna and a practicing Bhakti-yogi, I don’t eat garlic and onions because they cannot be offered to Krishna.”

palandu lasunam sigrum alambum grjanam palam
bhunkte yo vai naro brahman vratam candrayanam caret

(Padma Purana, Brahma Khanda 19.10, spoken by Suta Gosvami)

O sages, one who eats garlic, onions, sigrum (a kind of plant), turnips, bottle gourd and meat, that person should observe a candrayana fast.

vrntakam jalisakam kusumbha smantakam tatha
palandu lasunam suklam niryasan caiva varjayet
grjanam kinsukan caiva kukundanca tathaiva ca
udumbaram alavun ca jagdhva patati vai dvijah

(Hari Bhakti Vilasa 8.158,159, from Kurma Purana)

One should not eat eggplant, banana leaves, sunflower leaves and asmantaka leaves, onions, garlic. One should not eat sour gruel (a thin watery pouriage) or the juice of the tree. One should also give up turnips and beetroots, carrots, kinsuka, forest figs, and white pumpkin. If the twice born persons eat these things, they all become fallen. By eating garlic and onion one becomes sinful and as atonement one should perform Candrayana. (Garuda Purana 1.97.3 (68-71))

Onion, shit-thriving pigs, Selu, garlic, Goplyusa (milk of a cow before the lapse of ten days from calving), Tanduliya (a grain growing in faecal rubbish) and mushrooms— all these are to be avoided. (Skanda Purana 40.9)

“Garlic and onions are both rajasic and tamasic, and are forbidden to yogis because they root the consciousness more firmly in the body”, says well-known authority on Ayurveda, Dr. Robert E. Svoboda.

Tsang-Tsze said that these pungent vegetables contain five different kinds of enzymes which cause “reactions of repulsive breath, extra-foul odour from perspiration and bowel movements, and lead to lewd indulgences, enhance agitations, anxieties and aggressiveness,” especially when eaten raw.

Bindu reinforces, “Among Hindus many people discourage eating onion and garlic along with non-vegetarian food during festivals or Hindu holy months of Shrawan and Kartik. However, shunning onion and garlic is not very popular among Hindus as compared to avoiding non-vegetarian foods, so many people do not follow this custom. Jains not only abstain from consumption of meat, but also don’t eat garlic and onions as they emit strong smells as well as root vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, radish, turnips, etc.) as doing so kills the plant and they believe in ahimsa.”

Most Vaishnavas do not consume either onions or garlic. However in our research we find it for a varied myriad of reasons:

(i) Such foods are of the food category of Rajas and Tamas. They cause a disturbance, and even pain and sickness to those who eat them. Especially if you are not used to eating them and find them slipped into a meal – painful air, diarrhea, are often side effects – symptoms of the modes of passion and ignorance.

(ii) Such foods cannot be offered to the Deity.

(iii) Such foods impair Deity worship by their profound and even bad smell, and their repeating nature so as to effectively disqualify the sadhaka from performing Deity worship as laid down in the Hari Bhakti Vilas, and Bhaktirasamrta Sindhu (even Hing and Ginger are taboo, never mind onion and garlic) regarding making sure that such foods that repeat upon one, and that food in general is thoroughly digested before one performs the pujas.

(iv) Onion and garlic are considered to grow below the ground, and thus, tamasiki in nature, many chaste Vaishnavas would not partake of them.

(v) Such foods are not native to devotional cooking (see (i), (ii) & (iii)) being introduced from other countries (karma bhumi – outside of dharma-bhumi) like so many other things.

(vi) References to their origin as being derived of animal sacrifice, as evolved from the sin of stealing the offering and when caught for that by her husband throwing that to a distant place where due to its being impregnated with life invoking mantras took the seed form as red daal, red onion and white onion.

Onions and garlic are mentioned in various shastras as being in rajas and tamas gunas: passion and ignorance. They are supposed to promote / agitate desires, so a carefully observant Vaishnava will want to avoid the partaking of such foods. Of course, the highest principle is that we take only what Krsna and his devotees take: Prasādam. However, both of these are mentioned in Ayurveda, which one could partake of for health reasons (although for cooking we use hing / asafoetida for this flavor.) (Jayo Das, ACBSP, 1999.)

I found a few people/devotees made this modern ideal logic. Even though as stated in the earlier message of Srila Prabhupad, “EVEN for medicinal reasons we do not take (onions and garlic)”. I wonder who they offer it to then, or do they “eat verily only sin” as mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita 3:13.

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Ginger

ZINGIBER OFFICINALE

David Haokip was busy removing weeds from his ginger farm in 2003. With some savings, he started farming on a slope close to the village boundaries in Karbi Anglong in southern Assam. The sun was slowly setting behind Sinhasan Hills (literally the Throne hills), as tiny mosquitoes sucked blood from his naked feet.

Oblivious to the mosquito bites, Haokip plucked a parthenium plant in full bloom which was encroaching on the humus that produced what has been considered as the world’s best organic ginger. As he prepared to call it a day and started trekking up to his hut, he heard gun shots.

Suddenly memories of a violent past started playing back in his head. Only a few years ago, Haokip and his father had sought refuge in densely forested slopes of Sinhasan Hills in Karbi Anglong from suffering ethnic conflict between his tribe, the Kuki clan and the Nagas in the remote corners of Nagaland. Haokip’s father trekked 300 kilometres with his relatives and reached Karbi Anglong’s forests to escape the conflict and raise his children in peace.

He knew something was up in the other villages since one year, when Kuki families started growing their most favoured rhizome, Ginger on the slopes of these mountains. “A child’s first gift is ginger and chicken feather,” he says.

That evening Haokip saw a Karbi man, whose face he recalled from his earlier visit to the land record office in Diphu, with a Kalashnikov racing his vehicle along with two others towards his village. David ran towards the village assembly. “This land belongs to the Karbi tribe. You cannot grow your ginger here and damage our forests. Either pay for the damages or stop growing ginger”, the Karbi man announced and left.

After two days, John, a local Kuki Revolutionary Army commander told David and the other villagers that they will provide all the security but the ginger farmers must pay some money to fund their own army. “We knew something was happening in the big markets where the ginger we grew fetched a great price. If it was for land, they would have asked us to vacate, but all they needed was a cut and even our boys say they will provide security if we pay them some money,” says David recalling his days from a relief camp in Diphu. Within a week, Karbis imposed a blockade seizing thousands of tonnes of ginger from the trucks going to the mainland, while Kuki militia went on a rampage, pillaging Karbi villages. Thousands of people became homeless and turned towards relief camps.

Karbi Anglong, an area recognized under the sixth schedule of the government with its own constituent council within the provincial administration of Assam is riddled with contradictions. The strife related to ginger trade took several other forms and affected different communities. While Indian constitution upheld the indigenous rights of the dominant Karbi community in the region by bringing it under the sixth schedule, other tribes living in the region were ignored. After much bloodshed and displacement, some rights of these fringe groups have been recognized, leaving many others unhappy. In the last 10 years or so since first ethnic clashes broke out to control the ginger trade among several other factors, four hundred thousand people had to move to relief camp to save their lives from various protection and extortion agencies operating in the area.

David, who now works as a daily wage labourer in Diphu finds the strife absolutely confusing. “I have to now buy ginger in this town. It is not free for Karbi people either,” says David. However, he remains hopeful. “I heard our ginger has done really well in some foreign country. Why can’t we grow it together and get back to the old days?”, he asks.

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Jaggery

SACCHARUM BARBERI

There are different accounts about how riots engulfed Muzaffarnagar in Western Uttar Pradesh, which also happens to be India’s biggest jaggery market. Mohammad Salim, a sugar mill worker from Shamli, does not want to get to the details of what started it. Although his tiny hamlet was untouched by communal riots, in which Muslims and Jats were at each other’s throats, his family decided to shift. “Look! What the riots have got us into. 80,000 tonnes of jaggery were left to rot in the Mandi,” Salim. When riots started in Muzaffarnagar, which many believe is a family feud, not a single worker was seen in the mills.

After a month or so since the riots hit the mandi, with nobody to harvest the standing sugarcane crop, the mill owners and rich farmers, mostly from the Jat community sought government’s intervention. “The police officials who looked the other way when the riots started, the government officials who never visited us for over 15 days in the relief camps … suddenly all of them realized that the importance of mill workers and farm hands,” says Salim, whose wife gave birth to a son in the relief camp. Most of the farm hands refused to cut the standing sugarcane crop last December. Time was running out for the big farmers, as sowing wheat during the peak of winter would lead to a crop failure. In some areas such as Khandla, the arrogant farmers just burnt the standing sugarcane. “Nobody wants to talk about the riots now. The vultures are supporting them, so these farmers have also started dreaming big. They think they will make jaggery this year without the help of local Muslim boys,” says Santosh Lal from the Gud Mandi (Jaggery market).

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Lime

CITRUS X LATIFOLIA

The forest department is contemplating digging trenches along the boundaries of Hoollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary — excluding areas identified as elephant corridors — to reduce incidents of man-elephant conflict.

Chief conservator of forests (Upper Assam) J.M. Kouli made this announcement at a public meeting held at the community hall of Hatigarh Tea Estate today. Mariani Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi organized the meeting to discuss ways to mitigate man-elephant conflicts plaguing villages and tea estates in the surrounding areas of the sanctuary. Residents of the affected areas and senior forest department officials attended the discussion.

As a long-term measure to minimise elephant depredation, the department will carry out a study to explore the possibility of digging trenches along the edges of the sanctuary, Kouli told The Telegraph.

“On an experimental basis, we will see whether the number of elephants (straying into human habitats) comes down,” the chief conservator said.

But around six places, which the forest department has identified as elephant corridors, will not be disturbed, Kouli said. Efforts will be also be made to increase available food and water inside the sanctuary, so that elephants do not frequently venture into nearby villages, tea estates or to the Bhogdoi river. The possibility of farmers taking up lemon cultivation and floriculture on the fringes of paddy fields will also be taken up by the agriculture department, Kouli said.

Elephants often damage ripened paddy fields. Terming the meeting as a “positive step”, MLA Kurmi said for the first time the forest department had sent a top official to hear the “people’s woes”. He hoped the decisions announced at the meeting would be implemented.

“I have been raising the problem at the highest level of government for several years. Now I hope the government will do something,” Kurmi said.

The MLA has been distributing flashlights and has joined the people in driving away the elephant herds at night. He said forest minister Rakibul Hussain had promised to visit Mariani soon to take up this issue. Forest department sources said the sanctuary, with an area of 20.48 square km, is an ideal habitat for two to three elephants but over the last nine years, the population of elephants has gone up to over 40, forcing the animals to come out of the forest frequently. The sanctuary is home to elephants, leopards, jungle cats, civet cats, mongooses, Chinese pangolins, Indian foxes, barking deer, sambar deer and Malayan giant squirrels apart from gibbons. There are 291 species of birds are found in the park, including the white-winged duck.

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Moong Daal

VIGNA RADIATA

My dad used to call moong daal a poor man’s feast.

A study in contrast applies perfectly to this famous dessert. According to him, it was the most abundant produce in the state of Haryana in Northern India while he was growing up, and hence the cheapest. And yet, it is used to make the most coveted sweet of that region. The recipe is simplicity personified, and yet so hard to master! I could never understand why my mom only made it on birthdays and Diwali, seeing that it only used 3 basic ingredients. Now, I do. This has got to be the most tedious, time consuming and fattening dessert ever! Don’t get me wrong – I still love eating it. It’s just that making it is so … tedious.

So, I learnt from my mom and only make it for Diwali (not even birthdays are that important now!) However, all said, it is still worth the effort. This dish is so rich that it hides small imperfections very well, so you can’t really go wrong with it. Even if you don’t do it exactly right, it will still turn out delicious! Unlike my mom, I make a small(er) batch of Moong Daal Halwa which saves me quite a bit of time and effort. Larger quantities of the daal take that much longer to roast.

Remember that when you decide to make your Moong Daal Halwa. If you can do a larger quantity, then the good news is that this keeps very well in the fridge or freezer. Here is how I make this yummy dessert:

Yellow moong daal – 1cup
Ghee/ clarified butter – 1cup
Sugar – 1 1/2 cup
Besan/Gram Flour – 2 tbsp
Water – 3-4 cups
Saffron – 8-10 strands soaked in 1 tbsp cold milk (optional)
Raisins, almonds and cashews to garnish

Soak moong dal in 3-times the amount of water overnight (You dont have to be very accurate here, just eye ball it). Drain and remove as much water as you can, then coarsely grind the daal. You don’t want to have a very runny mixture, so try to use as little water as possible. In a heavy bottomed kadai, heat the ghee till you see bubbles rising.

Add two tbsp besan (chickpea flour), and brown it. Now add the daal while stirring continuously. Initially the mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan, so make sure you force it off while stirring. Roast this mix (on medium heat) till the daal changes color and becomes deep brown. At this point, it will also separate from ghee, so you will know. Now add the water, saffon-milk and sugar’ again stirring till you attain the desired consistency. Garnish with raisins and nuts and serve!

Consumption habits for moong bean foods were assessed by the free word association method and interview techniques. Four groups of closely related products and perceived quality were revealed. The largest group comprised sweets and snacks, which were associated with unhealthiness, expensiveness and sensory liking. Another group consisted of ‘split daals’ associated with convenience and healthiness. It appeared that under different circumstances food choices vary and are influenced more by socioeconomic restrictions then by consumer perception and preferences. Scenario analysis based on consumer perception, preferences, practices and nutritional value of products revealed daals as the most promising food for innovation. As a result, PEC LTD. will be procuring 40000 tonne of split daal for 2013-14 & 2014-15 under Dal Roti Scheme of the Haryana Government. The Approximate monthly requirement of all processed pulses is around 3,500 Mts.

The procurement is from registered suppliers through e-procurement process at NCDEX spot exchange Ltd. The rates offered for the purchase center includes all Govt. duties and taxes (exclusive VAT), expenses like transportation, transits loss, insurance, packing articles (PP bags etc.) and packing charges etc. to deliver the goods on F.O.R. basis at various destinations of Confed in the State of Haryana as may be prescribed by PEC. Currently the ‘Khaap Panchayats’ have lauded this effort, as it will provide a boost to the flailing local economy. Ironically it is these very ‘khaaps’ that have been instrumental in passing dictates, which often leads to subjugation of women and honor killings.

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Onion

ALLIUM CEPA

The conflict between onion traders and farmers took a new twist on 2011, with traders boycotting the auction of the commodity at the Lasalgaon onion marketyard in Nashik.

Onion prices had crashed following the arrival of a late winter crop and imported ones. The fresh dispute brought up by the traders was that porters in the market yard were not working properly, causing loss of onions in handling and transport.

They demanded that the porters should pick onions that spill out of vehicles in the market yard and pack them properly in gunny bags.

The traders had earlier demanded that farmers should cart onions in gunny bags of 50 kg each and not in loose (bulk). They had gone on strike to this demand, after which a meeting with officials was held and farmers were given time till March 1 to start carting in onions in 50 kg bags.

Earlier, the farmers had boycotted the auction in protest against the traders’ practice of discounting 2 kg onions per quintal for loss in storage and handling.

Sources said with commodity arrivals on the rise and traders resorting to pressure tactics, the onion markets were heading for a glut and a further price crash as the commodity being harvested was highly perishable and could not be stored.

In 2013, a kilo of onions cost about Rs. 60 in India. While production has been affected because of drought conditions in Maharashtra, the largest onion producing state in the country, experts say hoarding of onions by many traders has caused an artificial crisis.

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Pea

PISUM SATIVUM

Better fill your food basket with desi items. The falling rupee has led to a spike in the prices of imported food items, which is likely to reflect in retail prices in local shops. “The price of a kg of green peas, which was Rs 40 per kg in the wholesale market around the same time last year, has doubled to Rs 80,” Shankar adds. Similarly, white peas price has increased from Rs 30 per kg last year to Rs 45 per kg now.

Pulses arrive via V O Chidambaranar Port in Thoothukudi to the city. Pulses like green peas and white peas are mainly imported from countries like Canada and Australia, most of them are GM varieties. “The increase in the prices of pulses like green peas and white peas is unbearable and households are forced to forego these nutritious items due to huge price hike,” says M Thannoor, a resident of Sowripalayam. Now also due to non-availability of local produce from UP, there is an added shortage. Further, the situation in Aligarh, one of the largest growing areas of peas, after the communal violence erupted a week ago continues to cause concern. Eight people have died in the violence and the city continues to be under curfew. The trouble began at a spot which had a past history and if the police and district authorities had firmly intervened, the violence would not have been spread by interested forces.

In one incident, a person, Arshad Salim of Bhojpura was murdered while going to work on his fields. The local police officer got his illiterate widow to put her thumb impression on blank papers and then it was stated that he was killed due to enmity over some money matter. This was a clear case of a communal killing, which was sought to be covered up.

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Pepper

PIPER NIGRUM

Perhaps emboldened by the safety guaranteed by 12,000 km of separation, the creator of the pepper spray has offered Lagadapati Rajagopal a far more potent weapon.

“The member (Rajagopal) should practise Ahimsa and self-control — that is better than pepper sprays,” Kamran Loghman, the creator of the tool that is widely promoted as a non-lethal self-defence weapon, told The Telegraph newspaper one snow-battered Washington DC morning.

Loghman should know. After helping train law-enforcement and military officers in more than 40 countries, including India, on the use of pepper sprays between 1988 and 2005, he now teaches Indian philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. A former consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Loghman said: “Its (the pepper spray’s) use for anger is not justified – it is not for the purpose of controlling other people when you’re angry.”

He added: “The pepper spray was developed for law-enforcement as a low level of force against those who are a physical threat to police officers or bystanders.”

A canister of pepper spray costs between Rs 300 and Rs 500 in Delhi, where some distributors ship out as many as 1,000 cans a month after the December 16 gang rape and murder.

Rajagopal, who represents Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, a state known for some of India’s spiciest cuisine, pulled out a can of pepper spray just before a bill to carve out Telangana state was tabled. Eyewitnesses said Rajagopal released the contents of the can in the air and continued to do so even while some fellow members of Parliament grappled with him.

Pepper sprays typically contain about 10% of concentrated extracts of red chillies – Oleoresin capsicum – diluted with an appropriate solvent and are intended to disable attackers through their near-instantaneous physiological impacts.

A campus safety publication of the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), police department lists the physiological effects of pepper sprays — they can trigger involuntary closing and tearing of the eyes, uncontrollable coughing, retching and gagging. Inflammation and swelling of the throat lining may restrict the size of the airway although it will remain large enough for oxygen flow and survival. Almost all MPs hit by the spray today spoke of similar problems.

Respiratory functions of people exposed to pepper spray typically return to normal within 10 to 45 minutes, the UCB publication said.

If Rajagopal had indeed used pepper spray — some cried out “gas” and “chemical”— they need not worry too much. A study by the FBI and the US Army had two decades ago determined that pepper sprays have no long-term health effects. The active ingredients of pepper spray are usually a concentrated mix of compounds called capsacinoids, including one called capsaicin. “Capsacinoids can cause pain and burning sensations over exposed area of the skin, eyes, nasal and oral tissues,” Theodore Chan, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of California, San Diego, and his colleagues wrote in a paper in the journal Forensic Sciences.

Most politicians in India cannot claim to be complete strangers to pre-emptive irritants as they usually undergo baptism by tear gas in their formative years in public life. But tear gas and pepper spray are not the same. While pepper sprays contain a natural but highly concentrated compound from red chillies, tear gas is a synthetic compound — usually based on a chemical called phenacyl chloride that can cause severe irritation to the eyes, said Rana Singh, founder of Aax Global, which supplies homegrown pepper sprays for retail nationwide.

“Unlike pepper sprays, tear gas is purely a law-enforcement product, it is not available for public use,” Singh added. The capacity of pepper sprays to temporarily and non-lethally disable attackers has helped them emerge as self-defence weapons, particularly for women.

Pepper sprays sales across India, according to suppliers and distributors, have grown over the past decade with a sharp spurt after the Delhi incident of a young lady’s inhuman rape and subsequent murder on December 16, 2012.

“It used to be a super-niche market,” said Singh. “But after the December incident, orders went ballistic for nearly a year.” A Delhi-based supplier, Mukesh Kumar, said his company procures both imported and domestic pepper sprays and sells them retail and online. “We manage to sell about 500 to 1,000 cans every month,” he said. Singh estimates the Indian market for pepper sprays is still modest — about Rs 10 Crore. “But we see a big change,” Singh said. “Earlier, men used to gift pepper sprays to their friends or wives. Now we see women themselves coming out and buying them.” Using red chilli powder to overpower a physically or numerically stronger enemy is one of the oldest tricks in the trade.

Indians have had a tradition of using red chilli powder as a weapon. One of the most memorable tales is told in the 1987 Hindi movie Mirch Masala in which a group of women use chilli powder to bring to his knees an amorous subedar (played by Naseeruddin Shah) who pursues a woman (Smita Patil). In more recent times, the powder is sometimes in the news because petty criminals continue to fool police and escape from custody by sprinkling the tried and tested substance.

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Pork

SUS SCROFA DOMESTICA / FALCONERI

Arguably, it is pork which the Nagas pursuing studies in Guwahati miss most. “Believe me, we just can’t think of a life without pork,” says 21-year-old Vizolenuo Tungoe, third-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery student of the Regional Dental College in Guwahati.

“Given its special place and attachment to customary Naga rituals, we cannot think of a dish without pork. We’re so fond of it; we just love it,” she says. “In fact, we devour pork with relish every time we get it.” Vizolenuo loves pork so much that she bought an oven only to prepare the meat in the hostel. “As we (boarders) are mostly tribals, there’s no restriction but we ensure that it is cooked outside the kitchen so as to not hurt the sentiments of those who do not eat pork.” Vizolenuo misses the ‘free clothing’ of Nagaland. “It is conservative here so we cannot dress as freely in Guwahati as we do in Nagaland,” she says. “We’re made to wear salwar. I’ve never worn it in my life! We’re so used to wearing jeans.”

About her teachers, she says they are very learned and helpful. “The only problem is the language. Some often tend to deliver lectures in Assamese, interspersed with English,” she complains.

What she likes is the locals’ love for their culture and traditions. “One should be proud of one’s cultures and traditions. Sadly, this is not the case with Nagas. We’re so westernized. We’re a bunch of blind imitators of western culture.”

Now Vizolenou is a ‘Zeme Naga’ is one of the sub-groups of ‘Zeliangrong’ people. The ‘Zeme’ inhabit the North-eastern states of India. ‘Zemes’ reside in Dima Hasao of Assam, Tousem Sub-Division of Tamenglong district, Senapati district of Manipur and Peren district of Nagaland. They are also thought to be residing in Tripura. They have close ethnic / cultural affinities with three other cognate tribes: ‘Liangmai’, ‘Rongmei’ and ‘Inpui’ (Puimei) Nagas of Manipur, Assam and Nagaland. ‘Zeme’ professes ‘Paupaise‘ (indigenous belief system), ‘Christianity‘ and ‘Heraka‘.

Now ‘nazu’ means ‘new year’, a 10 day long festival (February 20th to 30th). This festival is very ritualistic as well as entertaining in nature and is celebrated before the sowing of seeds to earn blessings for the good harvest throughout the year. It is celebrated with great pomp and show by feasting, singing , dancing and merry making. The following rituals are observed: During this ten days ‘kajiwa’ (village king) will initiate and give all the necessary announcements. And wherever he goes he has to carry ‘akha’ (wine) in a cup and drop drops of wine as a sign of giving one tenth the offering to ‘Aniiza Kajiwa’ (supreme god) and also asking for blessings. Every household will hang fish and pork wrapped in ‘arunga’ as sacrifice to ‘Aniiza Kajiwa’. Those households with male members will post a bamboo outside the house. On the tip of the bamboo, ‘Awiiphrii’ along with fish and pork will be tied.

Ningol Chakkouba is the age-old traditional festival observed in every Meitei household every year on the second day of the Meitei lunar month Hiyangei, which normally falls during October-November. The married daughters and sisters, generally referred as Ningol of the family, are formally invited by their parents and brothers at their parental home for a special lunch. Ningol Chakkouba is a social institution which demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between brothers and sisters. On the day of Ningol Chakkouba, the married sisters and daughters come with sweets and seasonal fruits to their parental home, where they cook lunch along with their brothers. They dine together with joy remembering the old childhood and youth days. After lunch the male members (brothers and father) present gifts to their sisters and daughters, and in return they bless their brothers and father for good fortune, health and prosperity. One interesting fact is that there is no observance of any kind of religious rites or rituals during Ningol Chakkouba. It is a secular event of Manipur. The main food items served are fish, chicken and pork.

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Potato

SOLANUM TUBEROSUM

On a train to Shantiniketan in West Bengal in the summer of 2012, Suketu, a post-doctoral student is miffed with the demands made by his young nephew. “He wants these potato chips? I tell him to eat jhal muri (an Eastern snack-mix made of puffed rice and spices) but he wouldn’t listen,” he says scratching his head. “These companies lure them with foreign potatoes, promise higher returns because of which farmers end up taking more loans. The result is this: a farmer sells these potatoes for Rs. 6 per kg while a kilogram of chips costs Rs. 350 (57 grams for Rs. 20),” he says trying to hush up his eight year old nephew.

When a fellow passenger possibly ignorant about the skewed economics of potato trade in West Bengal – one of the highest producer of the tuber – informed Suketu about Kisan Credit Cards, a form of low interest loans for farming, he was enraged. “Only 900,000 farmers out of 10 million farmers have got this facility. And guess what? Since many suffered losses due to blight and other diseases, they had to sell off their cold storage bonds to prepare their fields for winter crops,” Suketu said muttering something against Bengali bhadralok (gentlemen), which was barely audible. The passenger moved to another seat as he started pontificating loudly about the skewed economics of potato.

As more and more fields have been brought under the imported Atlanta potatoes in Bengal, preferred by multinational potato wafer manufacturers, demand for cold storage to keep the potatoes disease-free among the farmers have gone up in Bengal, often increasing their burden of debt.

Later in 2012, in Burdwan district, about 60 kilometres from Santiniketan, five farmers killed themselves as they could not sell their potatoes due to lack of cold storage and companies’ refusal to buy these crops. In that same year, the CPI (Maoist) issued a threat to all money lenders and banks in Southern West Bengal on behalf of the farmers to face the wrath of peoples’ courts or forego the loans. In November 2013, to ensure that farmers in West Bengal get a better share of profits, the Chief Minister banned the sale of potatoes outside the state in the open market, although multinational companies procured the potatoes at a much cheaper rate from various parts of Bengal.

Suketu has been trying hard to demystify the potato trade in his state but his nephew, he says, still demands potato chips while watching cartoons on TV.

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Prawn

DENDROBRANCHIATA

The hunt for the prized solar shrimp has begun. As reports of motorized canoes netting the prized solar shrimp poured in on Wednesday, boat owners cried foul and demanded immediate action by the Director of Fisheries against the activity.

Nandkishore Verlekar, however, told Herald that the department has not received any instances of violation of the ban on fishing by the motorized canoes.

An agitated President of the Cutbona Boat Owners Association, Patrick D’Silva, however, claimed violation of the fishing ban by the motorized canoes. “The Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott” is demanding extension of the fishing ban period to 60 days, but they have started fishing even before the 45-day ban period has ended”, Patrick said.

He claimed that the motorized canoes are fishing with double motors and are not authorized to use winch while fishing. “There is absolutely no mechanism in place along the coast to check violation of the fishing ban by the motorized canoes”, he said.

Patrick called up Fisheries Director Nandkishore Verlekar this evening and lodged his complaint over the violation of ban by the motorized canoes. He demanded that the Fisheries Director alert the police as well and mobilize staff of the Fisheries Department to check the violations as landing of the prized solar shrimp has taken place in the Cansaulim-Velsao belt, Vasco, Salcete and Canacona.

The Fisheries Director, however, maintained there’s no ban on fishing by motorised canoes as per the Supreme Court orders.

“Motorised canoes are permitted to fish with a single motor and without winch. So far, my department has not come across any violations”, he said, adding that his office will receive report from the staff on Thursday.

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Rice

ORYZA SATIVA

Till recently, Muniappa, a ‘staffer’ from Andhra Bhawan — a cafeteria attached to South Indian state Andhra Pradesh’s official residence in New Delhi — used to avoid questions about Telengana. Earlier in 2014, the state of Telengana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh to become 29th state of the Indian Federation leading to protests. When asked, what would happen to Andhra Bhawan if Telengana comes into being, Muniappa, hailing from Nalgonda, would say ‘Andhra meal’ will remain the same. “They will have to look up to Telengana for rice. We grow the best,” says Muniappa, indifferent to the ongoing agitation that has separated 10 districts from the larger Andhra Pradesh.

Nalgonda was a focal point of the protests to demand a separate Telengana state. In 2009, when Raj Kumar in Timmapur village of Venkatapuram mandal in the neighbouring Warangal district, immolated himself to protest the arrest the agitation’s biggest leader, K Chandrasekhar Rao, people in Nalgonda rose up but violently burning down buses, shutting shops and blocking roads. Every time Rao or other leaders of the movement were arrested, Nalgonda, which can produce about 2.5 tonnes of paddy from a single – possibly the highest in country, was shut down. After the re-organization of states bill was passed by Indian parliament in February 2014, Muniappa one evening quietly tells his guests: “We do not eat this” – pointing towards the meal – “in Telengana.” Despite growing so much rice, the Telangana meal is usually dry comprising of sorghum and millet as staple diet. “Rice is mostly exported,” he adds with a grin.

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Saffron

CROCUS SATIVUS

At Pampore in Kashmir, weddings used to be planned well in advance, says 70 year-old Abdul Wani recalling his own wedding. His father, Bashir Wani, went around Pampore discreetly enquiring about saffron crop from the fruit sellers. The fruit sellers, who frequented the fields during its cultivation would exchange their fruits and bring back saffron petals. “Some of the farmers in Avantipora were really doing well those days. Exporters would wait outside their houses as Pampore started offering best variety of saffron to the world by early 60s,” says Abdul Wani. After finding out that one Hamid Saraf’s crop would do really well, Wani Sr. told him that he was ready to buy all the harvest for his son’s wedding. “He did this with the rice too. All of us do this in Pampore for our weddings. We reserve the best crop for community feasts,” says Wani Jr.

In the 90s, things changed drastically, as Wani remembers each day of the ordeal when the valley was caught between Indian forces and the radical separatists. “We still lived quietly for most of the 90s despite witnessing many young faces turned into a martyr or an encounter kill depending on which side you’re on. But then, these forces started acquiring our fields to build their garrison units. Now the farmers were angered,” says Wani. It took six years for the Central and the State government to realize that what they were doing to the saffron fields. In 2006, against the backdrop of violence, government stopped all construction near the saffron fields. “While the construction of garrison was started by the forces, the government banned anyone from building a house near the saffron fields. Where will the people go?” says Wani.

The state’s intervention did not stop there. May be in order to bring more disgruntled people into mainstream, the government started national saffron mission. “We were asked to abandon our traditional methods and instead avail funds from the government to build borewells to irrigate the fields,” he says. The scheme launched in 2010 never took off. The money for the borewells and other irrigation tools was allegedly siphoned off, with an enquiry being conducted by government on its own officials. As India went into elections in 2014, locally strong political organizations have called a mass boycott of the elections. On April 14, two youths were gunned down by the security forces terming them as militants. For people involved in the saffron cultivation, there are bullets coming from all sides. Wani says weddings are now planned but depending on the bandhs (shutdowns) or curfews by the police.

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Salt

SODIUM CHLORIDE

Sarita Gujjar sweeps shiny white crystals from her courtyard in Nama town near Asia’s largest alkaline lake, Sambhar in North-western state of Rajasthan. Beyond her courtyard, as far as one’s eye can see, lay tiny mounds of these crystals crisscrossed by tractors’ tyre marks. “There is so much salt here that even if it snows Nama, you will have people earning money by selling snow,” she says. Her husband is nowhere to be seen. “If you go inside the lakebed, you will probably find him digging a pit on the lakebed. But why would you risk your life through the maze of wires. Stay here,” she tells me, showing power cables emerging out of the lake bed in the distance.

Later I learn that these cables are covered with salt and sand and extend up to a mile inside the lakebed, from where Sarita’s husband and thousands of other workers pump out the brine to extract salt crystals. Often, men, women and cattle fall prey to these power cables, while the local government does not even recognize the salt manufacturing activity in this part of the lake. Rajasthan government, I am being told, has decided to look the other way even as 400 salt manufacturers illegally pump out the brine from Sambhar’s lakebed.

Waiting for over an hour for Sarita’s husband, I could see silhouettes emerging from the mirage that has settled over the Sambhar Lake’s dwindling lake area on that hot April noon. It is difficult to distinguish who is who. All of them were covered with white crystals but Sarita quickly identifies her husband. “That’s him,” she points out. Still baffled, I wait for dust … err…salt to settle. Finally Parsvnath emerges. “I was working in Gujarat till last year but it became difficult for us to live there. The money is good but we did not have any house. The government has started evicting all the salt pan workers so we had to move,” he says, as Sarita prepares his meal. “Here the money is not great. There is a lot of risk too but I think we will not be evicted,” Parsvnath compares Nama and Rajula, a town in coastal Gujarat known for its salt pans.

A kilogramme of salt probably costs about Rs 20 but Parsvnath says that it only costs 40 paise to manufacture one. The daily wages are mostly used to pay debts to the money lenders attached to each salt pan owner. “We are given a loan right at the start of our jobs to buy essentials and then the daily wage is spent on paying back that loan,” he says. When I ask him, if all this is worth the salt, he says this is better working as brick kiln labourer.

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Turmeric

CURCUMA LONGA

When Lily was hit by her alcoholic husband for the first time that summer in Alleppey, her mother begged her not to call the cops. In the second instance when her husband beat her up on that same day after two years of their marriage, her neighbours said that going to a hospital is inviting trouble in the whole area. George kept sleeping throughout that morning, while women from the neighborhood took their turns to visit Lily and her mother. “We are so relieved that you are here with Lily, Bella chechi. Imagine police coming and ruining this marriage. Even doctors do that these days and then courts get involved. If you do not want the police involved, you have to pay all these people. I will tell my husband to speak to George,” a distant aunt of George said this while consoling a semi-conscious Lily and her mother.

Lily wiped her tears, and then her bruised forehead. Puzzled by the yellow-orangish hue on her fingers mixed with blood, tears and sweat, she looked at her mother. “That’s manjal (turmeric). Did you put it?” Lily asked her mother. “No, she did,” her mother pointing to George’s aunt. “How does it matter? What matters is that you and your husband don’t get into any trouble,” the aunt said beaming at her. “Auntie, it is what he becomes after drinking alcohol that worries all of us. He wants to pawn the gold, so that he has enough to drink,” said a teary-eyed Lily.

By evening, the pain on her forehead was gone. Allepey fingers – the variety of turmeric that George’s aunt had smeared on her bruised forehead – that year had fetched the maximum price in the New York multi-commodities exchange for its quality. It is the presence of Curcumin, an organic compound found in Turmeric that decides the quality and it is believed that curcumin heals wounds too. Perhaps, for many of these women who endure their husbands, in-laws and neighbours, mixing turmeric with blood helps to move on. In 2005, the Kerala State Commission for women found that Allepey and a neighbouring district, Malappuram recorded a highest number of cases of domestic violence due to dowry. In 2012, when the commission came back to the district, it recorded 28 such fresh cases.