Vish-u were here

It should be called the Indian Spring. The treesspread their branches out in a riotous show of colours. Its a time whendifferent communities rise early to celebrate the onset of summer with festivalsthat are called Vishu, Ugadi or just the New Year. It’s time for newbeginnings, when all the creatures of the earth pause for an instant to paytheir homage to the Sun that strides once more across the equator into thenorthern hemisphere. For those who live in, or belong to thesouthwest coast of Kerala, the day is celebrated as Vishu. It’s themorning of the matriarch. The eldest lady of the household wakes up earlier thanall the rest to prepare the display of ritual items such as a brass lamp, filledwith lighted wicks, a mirror, usually the beautiful ones that are made ofpolished metal at Aranmula, a gold chain placed on a fine white muslin clothwith gold borders next to a sacred book, most often a volume of the BhagwadGita, that has been kept open at whatever page she has happened to choose, thatwill foretell the fortunes of the family, and trays filled with the fruits andvegetables, that are grown from the immediate countryside. Theflowers of the Indian Laburnum Tree or Amaltas, known as Konha, that hang downin golden bells are also a must. It’s meant to signify the golden waistbelt of the child-god Krishna, who gave it to a young boy as a gift. It is saidthat when the priests guarding the image of Krishna in the temple where thelittle boy lived accused the child of theft, the golden belt flew into the treesand became the Amaltas blossoms. It now blooms at the time of Vishu all acrossthe Kerala countryside. The main meal is at lunchtime. One of themeanings of Vishu is supposed to be equal, so it’s a feast that everyoneshould be able to enjoy. That is to say the preparations are fairly simple. Inthe morning, it could be a basic gruel of Vishu kanji, boiled rice mixed withcoconut milk and jaggery. At lunch time, the traditions vary with the differentcommunities, but aside from the five basic divisions of sour-hot-bitter-salt andsweet tastes, there is an insistence on various items that should be golden asthe risen sun. They should be freshly-made of course. Aside from crunchy discsof banana, jackfruit, and small round poppadums, that really do go‘pop’ when mixed into the mound of rice, the dal itself is of a palegolden colour when doused with ghee. You could start with a bittergourd theeyal, a rich curried mix of fried gourds, coconut, tamarind and spices,that are meant to alert the taste buds. There are small amounts of stir-friedbeans, or cabbage (finely sliced and mixed with grated coconut), smidgeons ofginger tamarind relish, raitas with tomato, cucumber or banana, pale coconutbased curries of black eyed beans, squashes, snakes gourds, pumpkins and melons,that are called erisseries, Thallaseries and changanasherrries, or olan, Balanand Ravan (spot the wrong names if you are not from Kerala) or the all-in-onedish called aviyal, that includes a bit of all the above. NorthKeralites will include small frying saucers of rice dumplings called kunhikaltappam, others will call them uniappam. There are steamed pancakes of riceflour with jaggery at the centre, and mounds of sticky halwa made from fruitssuch as banana, jackfruit or pineapple. Best of all, however, are the payasamsmade with cow’s milk, with tiny grained rice, if it’s the authenticone, and fortified with a can of condensed milk, or the pradamams, dal cooked incoconut milk, or with small hand-rolled adas of steamed rice paste, made goldenwith jaggery and fried cashewnut. Vishu is Kerala’s goldenmoment.