Grandmother & her Clay Pots

When I'm bored, I go to my granny and ask her to tell a story. Let it be horror, life story, a tale from scripture; she never disappoints me. She has all the holy books by heart. She had a great interest in reading when she was young, and I have redempted many old books like "Lachhama" and "Kaa" from my house in a very rusty condition. I guess that's what it does to you. When you are young, you are the most delightful thing, that people desire to retain you, admire you. But it fades with time: books and life.

My Jeje Maa (grandmother) is literally a box of surprise and humour. Whenever I feel slightly inquisitive, or get sceptical, she's the destination. I question every festival we observe blindly and every family drama we celebrate in the name of ritual. Do you know that people say you can't sleep facing the south? It's because when Lord Shiva sent his followers to get a suitable head for Ganesha, he explicitly mentioned someone who's sleeping facing the south. So if you do this, there's a chance that Shiva's disciples may come and abstract your head. When I questioned if Shiva exists in another universe and is looking for a head, she ignored me. Like is it possible? Time travel and loopholes? But forget it. He's Lord Shiva. He can do anything. She doesn't like my many intriguing 'whys'. She gets annoyed for sure, yet she takes an interest. Her hobby includes watching the Prarthana channel. Like, only the Prarthana channel. God knows what is so addictive there.! 

(Noone can disturb her during Chaura Puja. I went for the pictures)

Anyways, since this is about her and the clay pots (Mati Handi), we can manifest her other jobs later. At her time, people didn't use the utensils we use now. Everything was of clay, sustainable, natural, you know! And she says, dishes cooked in those tasted different as if the pot added another twist and texture to the recipe. She had some 3-4 clay pots, 1 for nonveg and others, veg. Small pots for curries and beverages. What makes me excited is that I have pictured it so well and cute in my mind, lol. You take pots and pour water, keep that on a Chula while your husband brings wood from the Jungle. You cook rice in an old aesthetic way; you both eat on leaves and sleep on mats, lmao. 

(the pots I was talking about, so pleasing, minus the black smoke hehe)

We can just imagine these things, per se. She cooked so much with the pots that she didn't have to add oil while cooking further, she says. The kadais were well layered with oil, delivering an aroma of vintage village life. For spatulas, they made the outer part of coconut joined with bamboo sticks. Moreover, when she got angry, she used to throw those pots hard and break them. How exciting!! Get mad, wreck dishes, make the family starve. Fair enough.! More to mention, the Jagannath temple of Puri still uses earthen pots (Abadha Kudua), and there's a village Kumbharpada, where the villagers get a living making these.

(just the sight of abhada makes my mouth, watery)

I have never had anything from the clay pots. If you get a restaurant that cooks traditionally, tell me, please, please. The only clay thing I had as a child was Ghadi Pathuli, a mud-made cooking set appearing like small clay pots. In Odisha, we celebrate the Akshaya Tritiya festival when foods are offered to Goddess Tulsi in these cute, coloured, and decorated pots. My grandmother was kind enough not to throw these and let me play with them. 

 

(We like rituals, and the pithas it bring🌼)

We have something for cats in our family. Tbh, my cat Cho is THE best thing that happened in lockdown. He keeps us busy. He always sleeps, but we keep staring at him. He runs and breaks things, scratches, sneaks, and performs every other thing a diabolical cat does. He keeps us busy, looking for him. Cats just eat 5 times a day, play, annoy, sleep, sleep the whole day in good weather, and are still cute. And God knows how much I do and flatter my mother to give me attention, and all goes in vain. I envy my cat's life, concisely. According to my granny, her own sons don't ask much of her, and Cho sleeps on her lap. He's the best son; she calls him Bijuli (lightning), for he sprints fast enough. He has several names. For instance, Gulia because he has gulis (balls) lol.

(Cho will be an year old, still he only replies in "meow")

Maa doesn't eat anything before her morning Puja because there's an illogical aspect to it that God gets angrier if you have food before offering him. Also, worshipping and listening to Bhagavata are some of her best hobbies besides gossiping and occasionally bombarding offensive Odia proverbs. Our home is a warzone, typically. The weird but sweet thing about her is she doesn't want to die of Corona because then no one will be touching her or taking her to the crematorium. And, exactly why I'm sharing it!? I was supposed to write about clay pots, but things morph. Don't @me.✌🏻

I would tell her that I have written something good about her and will get a warm oil massage in return. Hurray!! Things have started seeming nicer. Busy playing Kacha Kaudi with Maa. See ya, soon🦋