Title: On a Shoestring to Coorg

Author: Dervla Murphy / Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Pages: 255 / Price: 450

Best known for her 1965 book Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, adventure writer and eternal tourist Dervla Murphy is a legend of travel documentation and Irish cycling. On a Shoestring to Coorg is a thrilling account of her second visit to India, with her 5-year-old daughter Rachael.

The travel is thrilling because Murphy travels to India with little money, no concrete plans on where exactly to go and by which way, and no one to call her own in the alien land. She makes friends on the way — each one unique in his character and habits, made more so by her descriptions born out of keen observation of their idiosyncrasies and incongruities; travels to the most adverse and remote locales in south India, explores uncharted paths walking, moving on carts and buses and boats and notes down everything with piercing clarity and objectivity.

She loves India, which draws her repeatedly to her, but the love is not imbued with dramatic sentimentalism leading to heaps of unstudied praise. She loves India as she would love her own country — being critical where it needs to be, and also praiseful in places where it deserves. This lends the book a balance not always found in writers who are inundated by an overflowing sympathy for a foreign people or an alien culture. Often writers cross the threshold of restraint in their show of generosity for a different culture and exaggerate even the mundane chores of daily life to something quaint and exhilarating when actually they are not so.

Objectivity is the hallmark of a great writing and Murphy is a master of that, even to the extent of being disparaging at times of certain Indian ways which are obnoxious and irksome to one inured to a different standard of civility in the western world. She is wary of the intrusiveness of Indians in the personal space and their definition of cleanliness at times surprises her. But beyond individual stupidities or cultural drawbacks, Murphy sees the larger picture that is India — her glorious history and heritage, the simplicity and naturalness of life against western showbiz, the varied topography and climatic diversity, the capacity of the people to endure the hardships of life with resilience and equanimity, and the spirit with which they accommodate and accept an outsider as their own. These unique attributes of India are what stand out in this book and make it an informative and valuable document for both Indians and outsiders who want to have a view of India from a different perch and perspective.

Behind all her critical takes on India, lies Dervla Murphy’s deep love for the country and a deeper connect she feels with her that gives her the strength to embrace the difficulties of life here voluntarily, with a kind of persistence and gumption not naturally expected of a foreigner in the 1970s India, when travel and staying facilities, especially in the hinterlands, were largely rudimentary and unsavoury.

But if objectivity is her strength, brevity is not. The book is lengthy when gauged against the limited spatial dimension it covers and the detailing too minute and intricate to sustain patience. Many of the insignificant incidents which could have been dropped for the sake of pith make the book unnecessarily weighty and delay the more important turns and twists in the journey which are of greater interest to the reader.

Dervla Murphy has the eye of a cinematographer which forgets that its medium is not the camera but the printed letter, which needs a different idiom of expression.

source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Book Review / by Diptiman Chakraborty / September 23rd, 2018

The rich and distinct culture of Kodagu, the land of dense hill jungles, is reflected in the clothing and food habits of its inhabitants. Historically, paddy is the major crop in the region. Though paddy fields are gradually disappearing in these fertile valleys owing to many reasons, rice is still the staple food in Kodagu and comes on the platter in various forms.

The traditional staples like kanji (Conjee or ‘rice gruel’) and koolu (boiled rice) are served along with salt and pickle. Other rice dishes like paputt (steamed rice cake, cooked with coconut gratings), noolputt (rice noodles), kadampoott (rice dumplings, also called kadamboott), etc are served along with a curry. Votti (akki roti) with pajji, a mild spicy chutney is a popular breakfast item. Sannakki — fine, small rice grains with a sweet fragrance — is commonly used in these preparations. While some rice dishes have just ceremonial significance now, many find a place among popular recipes.

Curried variations

Curry is a word with Dravidian origins for the Indian spicy sauce preparation of vegetables or meat. A number of South Indian languages, including the Kodava language, use the word karri (curry) while in Kannada it is called sambhar. Grated coconut and seasoning are the inescapable features of a quintessential Kodava curry. While kooth (mixed vegetable curry) is a common vegetarian dish here, any sort of rasam, sambhar or dal curry is called kanni.

Pepper is grown in Kodagu and is one of the common spices used. Parangi malu, a small but fiery chilly, is grown in the kitchen gardens. This ‘chot-mensin-kayi’ spice is used in several preparations.

A majority of Kodagu people consume non-vegetarian food as well. Koli (chicken) curry, meen (fish) curry, kuri yerchi (mutton) curry or pandi (pork) curry are prepared from small cut pieces of meat which are well-seasoned and curried. While the gravy meats are called curry, the fried variants are called barthad. There is one vegetarian variant made of brinjal called the baine barthad.

For dessert, there is thambutt (a sweet dish prepared from bananas and grated coconut), kuvaleputtu (a sweet dish made of jackfruit, steam cooked and served in banana leaves), baale puttu (another sweet dish prepared from bananas), akki payasa (a sweet pudding made from rice) and others. Akki payasa is a traditional dish made for almost all the festivals.

There are a few other sweets that double up as snacks in Kodagu, which are however not native to the region. Some of them are the round chiroti, the crescent-shaped kajjayya and the doughnut-shaped badava kajjayya.

Festival food

Thambutt (also called thambittu) is popularly made during Puttari, the harvest festival which occurs in the month of November or December. During the wedding feasts, and especially during the annual feasts of Kail Polud (a martial festival) and Putthari, meat is permitted. Pandi curry is prepared for both these festivals.

But on Kaveri Changrandi, the feast of the river goddess, meat and alcohol are strictly prohibited. Neer dose (which is of Tulu origin and is a crepe made of unfermented rice batter) and kumbala (pumpkin) curry is made during the festival.

Certain fruits and vegetables are generally cooked in the months when they are readily available. Baimbale (bamboo) curry, kaad mange (wild mango) curry, kemb(colocasia) curry, therme thoppu (fern) curry, kummu (mushroom) curry and pineapple curry are some of the seasonal vegetarian delicacies.

There are seasonal chutneys such as mange (mango) pajji, chekke (jackfruit) pajji and kaipulli (lime) pajji as well. Kuvaleputtu is usually prepared around May, in the season of jackfruit. Some dishes are prepared from chekke kurru (jackfruit seeds) as well.

Chana Kande (elephant yam), tapioca and Puttari Kalnji are also grown in Kodagu. Puttari Kalnji is a kind of yam plant which grows as a creeper. Its fruit is cooked during the Puttari festival, hence the plant gets its name.

Kakkada (Karkataka or ‘of the crab’) is a month in the Kodava calendar which is similar to the Aashada month in the Kannada calendar. On the eighteenth day of this month (called Kakkada Padnett), a certain herb called the kurunji thoppu (Justicia wynaadensis), also referred to as maddu thoppu (medicinal leaf) or aatisoppu (Aashadha leaf), is plucked and an aromatic, purple juice is obtained from it. This juice is believed to have various medicinal benefits and is hence consumed on that day. A dish called madd-putt and a sweet porridge, called madd-payasa, are prepared with this juice. A fattened chicken, labelled as kakkada koli, is cooked on this day and eaten.

A kind of vinegar called puli neer is prepared and used in several dishes. A special native kind of vinegar called kachampuli (Coorg vinegar) is peculiar to Kodava meat dishes. This vinegar is made from a Garcinia gummi-gutta, a wild fruit. Kachampuli gives the pandi curry its unique taste.

Orange, butter fruit, guava, papaya and other fruits are also widely grown and consumed in Kodagu. But they have not gained the culinary popularity of the traditional three: banana, jackfruit and mango. Any visitor to a home in Kodagu gets a welcome coffee drink. Of late, Kodagu has become famous for homemade wine, prepared from different fruits, and chocolates.

Chef Naren Thimmaiah says, “Awareness about regional Kodava cuisine is high since it is distinct. The classic combinations — noolputtu and koli curry, kadambuttu and pandi curry, paputtu and erachi curry never fail to please. Crab and fish curries are usually eaten with akki rottis or rice. We take these pairings for granted, but they owe everything to uncounted generations of gifted women.”

The people of Kodagu have developed their cuisine from what was readily available in Kodagu and in the best way possible. Various curries and other dishes are prepared from the fruits, vegetables, plants and meats found in the region. While some of the food items of the region have evolved locally, some have been inspired by the food culture of the neighbouring regions.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum / by Mookonda Kushalappa / September 16th, 2018