Bill Bryson has inspired me indeed....one of the standing themes in the thunderbolt kid is the visiting state fair which comes in once a year....and much to his disgust the minimum age of entering the strip show tent is raised every year.....
Reminds me very much of the annual trade fair which used to happen on island grounds (the fair not the stripping, my god a couple of those in the island grounds...there would have been riots...damn...)in madras around pongal time (January), and would continue on until April. Used to be chaotic but man was it an occasion!
So couple of days back, I call my "former pain in the back now beloved" sister and shes like "dey (Yo) am at this fair grounds kind of place". So i go "quick try and find the panju mittai" (cotton candy), and shes like "dont think its going to be available here". I tell her that shes crazy...can she at least find the big vadam (huge rice fried papad), last attempt: look for the milaga bajji (chilli bajji). Nothing except the cotton candy was found. I was really disappointed about the big vadam though.
The reason for the frantic questioning was this, panju mittai and milaga bajji were staples which could be found on the marina beach. But this big vadam could be found only in this trade fair. It used to be this huge thingie, around the size of a bike tyre, sprinkled with chilli powder and bits of heaven.
The first thing which I used to do in this trade fair was search for the vadam guy, scout the place out (Bryson used to scout out the strippers tent, what priorities man) and guide whoever i was with in that direction. I have had various disapproving uncles tell me that it looked suspicious, whats the oil its made of etc etc. But we never did care did we.
To make sure you balanced the thingie on the newspaper in which it was wrapped, make sure it doesnt fly away in the wind, make sure you dont get sand on it, make sure the dogs dint pounce on it, make sure that other greedy kids dint finish off theirs and pounce on yours, make sure you eat fast enough so that you could pounce on the kid eating slower than you.....little vadam eating tam kids bringing in their knowledge of physics, biology, maths and part jedi/part sith skills into play .
After doing this over and over again over quite a few years the quest for the big vadam never ceased.
Wonder how the trade fair is doing these days....
Showing posts with label madras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label madras. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Thunderbolt Kid and Paneer Soda
So i picked up The life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson yesterday. As always brilliantly written, unputdownable, bringing a brilliant perspective on growing up in the rampant consumeristic market that was the post WW2 USA. A constant refrain is that he might have been one of the last generation to actually see diversity, independence rather than the uniformity which is found in this day.
"Happily," Bryson writes, "we were indestructible. We didn't need seat belts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn't require child-safety caps on our medicines. We didn't need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees and elbows when we went skating. We knew without a written reminder that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn't have to worry about what we ate because nearly all foods were good for us: sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, coffee kept us alert and purring productively."
Growing up in Madras in the 1980s, I was amazed at how many of my childhood experiences closely mirror Brysons observations. Hot muggy afternoons with not much to do. Parents who really were not overprotective. Tv with very few channels. Loads of comics. Eyes being opened to books. The occasional visit out to watch a movie. and on and on.
One of the observations which really hit home was the lack of standardisation in the products and brands out there. A telling example was Nehi soda, a sort of liquid bubbling acidic concoction the way he puts it, the bubbles whizzing up your nose. And you know what i could taste it, I know exactly what he was talking about. 30 years and a lot of miles separates us but i still got what he meant.
Any kid who would have grown up in Madras(Chennai), India in the 1980s would know exactly what i was talking about. The drink was called paneer soda (not the cottage cheese from up north but literally meant soda flavoured with rose essence.Premium commodity this or so we were told). A heavy chunky green bottle (in a fight with a Coke/Pepsi bottle a paneer soda bottle would pulverize a ton of them for a midnight snack) with a kink in the throat. Also called goli soda (there can be huge arguments on whether paneer soda is indeed goli soda, but they were the same for me...so there). Goli stood for marbles the kind you played with, this was what was used to seal the bottle. Breaking it open was a delicious ritual itself. Put a finger or a thumb on the goli and hit the finger hard, wrong angle could break your finger but the right angle produced a delightful sounding "phat" a fizz and a plop (the goli settling in the kink).
And the drink itself would pretty much burn its way down your throat, find ways of escaping while doing so. All possible escape routes were explored, from up the nose, to going up to the brain, freezing it in the process, and make its way out through the ears. You would gasp for breath, make sure the goli wasnt blocking the way and do it all over again. Fairly masochistic. And there were millions of kids around me doing the same.
Was trying to remember whether i glimpsed the paneer soda bottle which would line the shelves of any potti kadai (literally a shop the size of a small box) the last time I was home. Dont really think so, was all pretty much bottles of kinley/Coke etc etc. Madras is one of those cities which doesnt give up so easy, am sure there are paneer soda bottles out there and on my next visit am going to get some!!!!
Happily enough i googled paneer soda while writing this and i believe the paneer soda is a registered trademark, how bout that?
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=paneer+soda&sid=9f8146bc0ad80cf8f90473f5272a22e6#/pages/Paneer-Soda/41374158804?sid=9f8146bc0ad80cf8f90473f5272a22e6&ref=s is the link to the facebook fan page for paneer soda
There must be hundreds of similar rituals in my boyhood and am determined to put down as many as possible before i lose all my grey cells.
Coming Soon: Early morning milk runs :)
"Happily," Bryson writes, "we were indestructible. We didn't need seat belts, air bags, smoke detectors, bottled water, or the Heimlich maneuver. We didn't require child-safety caps on our medicines. We didn't need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees and elbows when we went skating. We knew without a written reminder that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn't have to worry about what we ate because nearly all foods were good for us: sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, coffee kept us alert and purring productively."
Growing up in Madras in the 1980s, I was amazed at how many of my childhood experiences closely mirror Brysons observations. Hot muggy afternoons with not much to do. Parents who really were not overprotective. Tv with very few channels. Loads of comics. Eyes being opened to books. The occasional visit out to watch a movie. and on and on.
One of the observations which really hit home was the lack of standardisation in the products and brands out there. A telling example was Nehi soda, a sort of liquid bubbling acidic concoction the way he puts it, the bubbles whizzing up your nose. And you know what i could taste it, I know exactly what he was talking about. 30 years and a lot of miles separates us but i still got what he meant.
Any kid who would have grown up in Madras(Chennai), India in the 1980s would know exactly what i was talking about. The drink was called paneer soda (not the cottage cheese from up north but literally meant soda flavoured with rose essence.Premium commodity this or so we were told). A heavy chunky green bottle (in a fight with a Coke/Pepsi bottle a paneer soda bottle would pulverize a ton of them for a midnight snack) with a kink in the throat. Also called goli soda (there can be huge arguments on whether paneer soda is indeed goli soda, but they were the same for me...so there). Goli stood for marbles the kind you played with, this was what was used to seal the bottle. Breaking it open was a delicious ritual itself. Put a finger or a thumb on the goli and hit the finger hard, wrong angle could break your finger but the right angle produced a delightful sounding "phat" a fizz and a plop (the goli settling in the kink).
And the drink itself would pretty much burn its way down your throat, find ways of escaping while doing so. All possible escape routes were explored, from up the nose, to going up to the brain, freezing it in the process, and make its way out through the ears. You would gasp for breath, make sure the goli wasnt blocking the way and do it all over again. Fairly masochistic. And there were millions of kids around me doing the same.
Was trying to remember whether i glimpsed the paneer soda bottle which would line the shelves of any potti kadai (literally a shop the size of a small box) the last time I was home. Dont really think so, was all pretty much bottles of kinley/Coke etc etc. Madras is one of those cities which doesnt give up so easy, am sure there are paneer soda bottles out there and on my next visit am going to get some!!!!
Happily enough i googled paneer soda while writing this and i believe the paneer soda is a registered trademark, how bout that?
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=paneer+soda&sid=9f8146bc0ad80cf8f90473f5272a22e6#/pages/Paneer-Soda/41374158804?sid=9f8146bc0ad80cf8f90473f5272a22e6&ref=s is the link to the facebook fan page for paneer soda
There must be hundreds of similar rituals in my boyhood and am determined to put down as many as possible before i lose all my grey cells.
Coming Soon: Early morning milk runs :)
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