“A little bit of this and that
A little thin a little fat!
Now that’s the best way to go!
A little high and a little low!”
Today is the 266th day of the year and this is my 266th full lenght blog! Of course the same number for the sketch!
“oru alavu” That was the standard quantity used by my mother!
read on!
Anyone who tells you that money is not important run away and go back and listen to him or her after you have enough money!
Now please do not get me wrong! Money is not everything but money is very important! All you have to decide is ALAVU!
Yes, that in my mother’s mixture of tamil and malayalam means quantity!
Like Rajni says in Muthu, Kaiyil konjam kaasu irunthaal, Neethan atharku ejamaanan
Kazhuthu varaikkum kasu irunthal, Athuthan unakku ejamanan. which means that if you have some money in your hands then you are its owner but if you have money upto your neck it is your owner! Basically it means that you must be the owner of your money and not its slave!
You need to know how much money is needed for you to be comfortable. You must know your brake!
Of course now this blog was and is not about money!
When my mother used to make any dish, she always made the best one! Be it Baigan ka bhartha or aloo paratha or even a sambar! It was always the best and the most delicious!
So whenever someone used to ask her about the recipe, she always used to tell to add this spice or that ingredient and tell Oru allavu! In hindi she used to tell “apne andaz ya hisaab” which means that you add that ingredient as per your taste which actually we later realised was based on experience!
The same ingredient and masalas you give to someone else and the taste would not be the same! Many of my aunties and other relatives would constantly have this complaint that the dish does not taste the same! Even the Upma which I hate when made by her would taste so nice! My aunty would be surprised and say oh come on, it is only Upma! But it was true! Apart from her usual ‘alavu’ here the added flavour was ghee roasted shallots!
But then many always felt my mother was either not telling the complete recipe or she was telling them the wrong one!
It used to be the same with me! Now of course my mother had couple of tricks up her sleeve like the upma above and like roasting the onions before making aloo bonda or adding roasted ginger to the podimass (A potato dish with grated coconut and boiled potato) but overall when she made the dishes it was so tasty!
The only way to learn that was to cook with her! Which is exactly what I did! I used to call her and make her sit on a chair and I used to cook with her! Then over a period of time I understood the alavu!
Most of the recipes we see online or otherwise the quantity of most of the ingredients are fixed like half or quarter tea spoon! But most cooks do not use any spoons! They always use their hands and the quantity is decided on the spot and with experience!
I have always believed that anything more is bad and mostly everything in life is always a balance! An ‘alavu’! Even most of the self help books always tell you to get a balance! Even most gurus try to tell you to get a work life balance!
Hope you find your balance or Alavu in life!
Like how the birthday celebrity Usha Nadkarni gives a balanced act in her movies and TV!
Have great weekend!
Shubh ratri!
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