ALTER IDEM

Whenever a farmer comes to my doorstep selling vegetables, I buy them. The other day, one of the regulars dropped in. This time, he had only ash gourds. Since my own ash gourd vine was looking good, I had to tell him that I didn't want any. He then expressed a desire to see the vine - to check out the variety, etc... Soon after seeing it, he told me that the vine would produce only one gourd and that I should be offering it to some temple instead of using it! Well! I hadn't heard this one before! Though nobody knew why, every single person advised me against using the ash gourd if it turned out to be the only yield from that vine. And, 'Give it to some temple' was the final line that everyone added! You know, as far as vegetables and beliefs go, the ash gourd is one that has many attached to it... each one of them, meaningless and without logic. My mother believed that a whole ash gourd should not be cut with a knife by people whose parents were alive. Fortunat...

There is a belief among farmers - that for best results, seeds of flowering plants should be sown during the period of the waxing moon & seeds of vegetables & fruits, during the period of the waning moon. The same belief holds good for planting cuttings/ saplings of flowers/ vegetables & fruits. Of course, there is no logic or scientific explanation to this - only a psychological comfort that one has begun correctly! Early summer is the best time to grow vegetables, if one can ensure plenty of water to the plants. But, for most of us, summer is the time for vacations - quite inconvenient to provide constant attention. Early monsoon is also okay, but, the saplings could waste away if heavy rains set in just after sprouting. Of course, the quality of seeds are very important. Sometimes, seeds that are more than a year old don't sprout at all :( The grower's woes begin right from the moment the seeds are sown - ants simply love them. The organic method is to spri...

Alter Idem turns two today :) For no particular reason, I began by sharing a favourite short story. While thinking of a post to mark the first b'day, I decided to start a tradition - of sharing short stories on Alter Idem 's b'days - preferably, stories that have been with me for ages after I have read them. Here's Annayya's story....set, I think, in the 1950s-60s. Annayya, a Brahmin from Mysore, goes to the US for higher studies. He settles down well to the American way of life, food habits,..... Often, Annayya's lady-friends ask him questions about Hinduism and to be better equipped, he begins to read books on Hinduism! Soon, he develops a genuine interest and spends a lot of his free time in the library - reading books on Hinduism. One day, Annayya chances upon a newly published book by an American, on customs and rituals among Hindus. He flips through the pages - references to verses from ancient texts, photographs, detailed descriptions of the v...

You can classify travellers in these parts into two main categories, i) the indifferent local - born and brought up here, he takes his green surroundings for granted. ii) the city dweller aka the tourist traveller- for him, every step is a moment to be clicked and captured. And then, there is the 'in between i) & ii)' traveller like yours truly! As the number of years that I have lived here is inching closer to my number of years in big city, I'm neither indifferent to nature, nor do I gush over every other landscape. Take this scene for example .... The local traveller is speeding on his tractor. While the tourist traveller may have spent his few moments behind the tractor gaping at the unusual vehicle, I spent my few moments noticing the verse on the trailer! Hudugiya hinde hodre goLu Nanna hinde bandre dhooL Loosely translated, it means 'Follow a girl, woe. Follow me, dust' Flawed rhyming, wrong punctuation and o...

Over there! That man in the lungi ! He is the umbrella repairer! A nomadic umbrella repairer, in fact! His dress, his paraphernalia and his sudden appearance in mid-June....make me wonder if he has hopped out of an R.K.Narayan book! Calling out ' Koday repayri? ' (Umbrellas for repair?), he walks along the length and breadth of the town and repairs umbrellas at his client's door step, except, on market days. On this day, his clients come to him. You'll find him near the bus stand, the busiest part of the town on market days. Now, if you live in the Malnad, the brolly is one of your most important accessories for at least three months. Mid-June to mid-September, everyone lugs one around. Losing/ misplacing umbrellas is a common occurrence. When regularly used, umbrellas are prone to some common complaints. The most common one is of the cloth/ spokes slipping off at joints - such a nuisance! A simple looking problem, but, try fixing it! Within no time, you'...

Twice, on Alter Idem , I have written about my dates with Kannada movies - here and here . Well! Music class is quite irregular now and the only silver lining is that I don't have to suffer jhalaks of Kannada movies. Today, the Kannada news channels were going on and on about the arrest of 'Sandalwood' actor 'Challenging star Darshan'- for abusing his wife of 7 years or so. The actor has been sent to jail - at least for the weekend and, in a strange way, I'm pleased! You'll understand me when I tell you why! On 4 occasions, I have suffered the same bits of the same 'Darshan movie'. No doubt, the 'bus fellows' switch on the movie at the same vantage point :/ On all 4 occasions, I sat down to a very heavy dose of violence as Darshan, playing the top cop of a small town takes on the local goons. Later, at home, he receives a call from his amma - she has chosen a bahu . With a 'your choice is my choice', cop cuts the call- to...

This flower, Glory Lily , blooms around Ganesh Chaturthi . It is locally known as Gowri Hoovu (Gowri flower). I was under the impression that this plant was a weed. We didn't plant it and I don't know how it came to be there. I noticed the plant about 2-3 years ago, when it bloomed for the first time. Since the flower is so unique, I decided to keep the plant. Today's edition of the local newspaper carried an article on the flower. Gowri hoovu is called so, because, it is considered to be a special offering to the Goddess on the day of Gowri pooja ( Ganesh Chaturthi eve, usually). What tickled me was the botanical name - Gloriosa superba . According to the article, the gora scientists exclaimed 'Glorious! Superb!' when they saw the flowers for the first time and decided to name the flower so!! This tickled me so much that I decided to google it up. I couldn't locate the last bit of information ... maybe, it is a tall tale!! However, I came ac...