THE CHOOLAH
Cooking! A chore for some, drudgery for some others, just a mundane exercise for yet some. But, actually done with love, it touches the soul, not to mention the hungry belly.
Think about it! If there ever was, it is this that is the most sensorially rich experience. The colours, the variety of tastes, the aroma, the sounds, and the very textures. Doesn’t that complete the experience?
In a series of posts under this section, I thought we could talk about the many interesting components of this art.
Some memories….
Location: Jhaapal. A small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, where my maternal aunt and her husband owned much of the land. Memories include the lush fields, the water pump that we loved to wash up at, the simple village folks, the open-air sleeping arrangements, waking up to the clear blue skies… and the kitchen where our meals were cooked.
Memory Focus: Food being cooked on traditional clay stoves that used firewood as fuel. The first segment of a sensorial experience- the Choolah ( clay stove).
If I close my eyes I can still smell the fire wood burning, hear the crackling sound of embers, and salivate at the thought of the food being cooked.
The main operator of this entire process had to wake up ahead of time to trigger the stove into action. Scraps of paper, dry twigs, and match sticks were needed to start the fire. Then a piece of cardboard would be used to fan the fire into an active state. Of course that would induce smoke, as could be witnessed through the cook’s watering eyes. Once that settled, cooking could begin. Weigh that against our kitchens of the modern day. Something like that would set off the smoke alarm big time!
Once the cooking was done of course the fire had to be doused too. Water would be sprinkled to complete the job. The re-lighting process… just as tedious.
The modern day stove activates the burner at a click of the lighter.
No mess, no smoke, no tears. Tech. smart devices now are silent, efficient, can be timed for the completion of a job, and what’s more, can even self-clean.What a long way we have come! Bottom line is, one of a human being’s innate desire is to fill his stomach. Which is what makes cooking also a spiritual experience.