Grandma’s recipes

Two grandmother cookbooks have recently hit the stands. Cooking at Home with Pedatha on Andhra vegetarian fare by Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain, gives the recipes of 85-year-old Pedatha, eldest daughter of former President V.V.Giri. Priced at Rs 450 for 87 pages, the recipe instructions are easy to follow and pleasingly presented. Whether you are a gourmand or a gourmet, you will find the recipes quite ‘hot’ and perhaps have to cool off with a glass of buttermilk.

Andu Paati’s Cookbook is the translated version of the Tamil original of a great grandmother, Andal Rangaswamy, published by the Thirumalai Charity Trust. The recipes are quintessentially south Indian Brahmin cuisine with easy to follow steps and measurements.  Andal Paati, who is also a painter, music enthusiast and gardener, seems to have a huge fan following among the younger generation. Price Rs 250.
 
Vaikuntha Ekadashi: In the Vaishnava tradition, Ekadashi is considered the most important day. It falls on January 10, 2006, on the 11th day of the Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of the moon) in the ninth month of the Hindu lunar calendar. According to the Vishnu Purana, observing Ekadashi vrata on this day confers a benefit equivalent to observing a vrata on all the Ekadashis in the year.

It helps conquer rajasik (aggressive) and tamasik (inertia) tendencies. Also called Guruvayoor Ekadashi and Mokshada Ekadashi, Lord Sri Krishna preached the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra on this day. Entrance through a sanctified door called the ‘Vaikunta Dwaram’ in Vishnu temples is said to assure one of moksha or salvation.
 
Big B is ‘Indian of the Year’: A DNA poll recently voted superstar Big B as ‘Indian of the Year’. We all respect and admire Amitabh Bachchan for his acting prowess and the grace and dignity with which this senior citizen conducts himself. Now we have got to know about his rootedness in Indian values. In a recent interview, Amitabh Bachchan says, we owe success and fame not to our talents but to blessings from our elders. If he has achieved anything in life, he says, it is because of his parents’ blessings.

A ‘Grandeur man’ indeed! An example of one who follows the saying from the Taittiriya Upanishad, “Maatru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava”—be one for whom the mother is god, be one for whom the father is god. No wonder Bachchan, with his success in the second phase of his career, achieved with dignity and integrity, has scored high with this newspaper’s readers.